here - Diocese of Austin

Transcripción

SEPTEMBER 2013
T H E
V O L U M E 3 1, N U M B E R 8
O F F I C I A L
P U B L I C A T I O N
O F
T H E
D I O C E S E
O F
A U S T I N
Catholic schools adjust to meet students’ needs
BY MICHELE CHAN SANTOS
CORRESPONDENT
As students began classes
this fall in Catholic schools in
the Diocese of Austin (CSDA),
they may have noticed new approaches to teaching, as well as
schools that are more responsive to children with learning
differences.
Compelling change is happening throughout CSDA.
“I’m excited about being able
Mary in downtown Austin is
experiencing one of the most
dramatic changes. St. Mary has
switched to a “Blended Learning Model,” where students in
different grades are in the same
class and each student has their
own electronic device, provided
by the school.
“Technology integration is
occurring more and more in
our schools with students participating in 1 to 1 iPad and lapBlended learning
top programs and Bring Your
The Cathedral School of St. Own Device (BYOD),” said Dr.
to investigate the needs of the
schools and really meeting the
needs of students in our community,” said Misty Poe, assistant superintendent of CSDA.
This academic year follows
the successful Celebrating Catholic Schools 2013 event, which
featured priest and celebrity chef
Father Leo Patalinghug and
raised more than $110,000 for
school tuition assistance.
Periodical
Postage Paid
at Austin, Texas
TED LAKOSKI,
the Head of the
Lower School
at St. Gabriel’s
Catholic School
in Austin, welcomes students
on the ¿rst day
of school. (Photo
courtesy St.
Gabriel’s Catholic
School)
Austin Diocese
6225 Hwy. 290 East
Austin, Texas 78723
BISHOP’S
INTERVIEW
Bishop recounts his
experience at World
Youth Day 2013.
Page 19
Ned Vanders, superintendent of
CSDA.
Robert LeGros, the new
principal of the Cathedral school
(and most recently a teacher
there for the last five years),
explained that grades three and
four will be together, as will
grades Àve and six, and seven
and eight. The students will be
using Chrome books, laptops
and netbooks.
The Blended Learning Model “blends face-to-face learning
with computer-mediated activities,” LeGros said. “This model
keeps the children’s interest
and is fast-paced.” The faculty and administration of the
school spent most of last year
researching this way of teaching.
“We realized this would be the
perfect model for our students,”
LeGros said.
In the classroom, teachers
will present a concept, and using their computers, the students will solve problems related to that concept. This approach “frees the child to grow
and move at their own pace,”
LeGros said. “It empowers the
child to excel. Once they master
a concept they can move on.”
The blended approach also
teaches the students time management, interpersonal skills,
creative problem-solving skills
and decision making, he said.
One of the biggest advantages to this approach is allow-
ing children at different levels
to progress at their own pace.
If a student has easily mastered
the concept, he or she can move
on to another area. A student
struggling with the concept can
receive one-on-one instruction
to help them through it.
“The parents are excited,”
LeGros said. “Our teachers are
very well trained in this model.”
LeGros is one of seven
new school leaders at CSDA.
The other new principals are
Morgan Daniels at St. Dominic
Savio Catholic High School in
Austin, Kelly Laster at Holy
Family Catholic School in Austin and Mary Lou Anderle at
Sacred Heart Catholic School
in La Grange. At St. Gabriel’s
Catholic School in Austin, Dan
McKenna is the new Head of
School and Ted Lakoski is the
Head of the Lower School. Dr.
Judith Knotts is interim Head of
School at St. Michael’s Catholic
Academy in Austin.
More inclusive
One of the long-term goals
for CSDA is to make Catholic
schools more accepting of students with learning differences,
Poe and Vanders said. To that
end, an increasing number of
CSDA schools have academic
language therapists on campus.
An example of a Catholic
See SCHOOLS on Page 3
OUR LADY OF
GUADALUPE
ANNUAL
MEETING
Hundreds gather to
celebrate Our Lady of
Guadalupe in August.
Page 4
Knights of Columbus
meet in San Antonio.
Page 8
ESPAÑOL
Su Santidad, aÀcionado
al fútbol, pide a jugadores ser verdaderos
modelos a seguir.
Página 30
2
THE MISSION OF THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
As the of¿cial newspaper for the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Austin, the CATHOLIC SPIRIT is dedicated to providing information, education and formation for the Catholic community
of Central Texas. This mission calls for the newspaper:
• to provide readers with an understanding of our Catholic
faith and traditions;
• to be a primary source of information on Catholic issues
relevant to the community;
• to be a unifying element for faith communities, both rural
and urban, throughout Central Texas;
• to show respect for and appreciation of all cultural groups
and traditions;
• to emphasize topics af¿rming the Catholic community and
life, while acknowledging the humanity of the community and
examining, with courage, topics that challenge and encourage
growth in the faith;
• to carry a commitment to social justice that will support
the renewal of the church in Central Texas.
HOW TO SUBMIT INFORMATION
Deadline for submission of articles or information for the
CATHOLIC SPIRIT is the 10th of the month for publication in the
following month’s edition.
Deadline for the October issue is Sept. 10.
You can submit material in any of the following ways:
• E-mail to [email protected].
• Mail to CATHOLIC SPIRIT, 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723.
For additional information, call (512) 949-2443 or e-mail
us at [email protected]. CATHOLIC SPIRIT has
unrestricted editing rights.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Readers are encouraged to express their opinions on
articles published in CATHOLIC SPIRIT. Letters to the editor provide a forum of discussion for the local Catholic community.
The views expressed in the letters do not necessarily represent those of the editor or the publisher of CATHOLIC SPIRIT.
Letters to the editor should be limited to 250 words.
Name and full address of the writer must be provided,
though name will be withheld from publication on request.
We reserve the right to edit or withhold all letters. Please
e-mail to [email protected] or mail to Editor, Catholic Spirit, 6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
Subscription rates are $12 for one year. To subscribe,
send check payable to Catholic Spirit to CATHOLIC SPIRIT,
6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Members of a parish
in the Austin Diocese may receive the newspaper for a reduced rate. Contact your parish staff for more information.
ADDRESS CHANGES OR DUPLICATE MAILINGS
Send all address changes to CATHOLIC SPIRIT, 6225 Hwy.
290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Please include your parish’s
name and city. If receiving duplicate copies of the
CATHOLIC SPIRIT, call (512) 949-2443 or e-mail
[email protected].
STAFF
Publisher: Most Rev. Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin
Editor: Shelley Metcalf; (512) 949-2400,
[email protected]
Assistant Editor: Christian R. González; (512) 949-2400,
[email protected]
Advertising: Shelley Metcalf;
(512) 949-2400, [email protected]
Spanish translation: Gina Dominguez
Columnists: Barbara Budde, Mary Lou Gibson and
Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.
Correspondents: Burnie Cook, Amy Moraczewski,
Enedelia Obregón, Michele Chan Santos and
Mary P. Walker
VOICES
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Working together for good in his name
BY BISHOP CURTIS J. GUILLORY
GUEST COLUMNIST
nation, then that is the spirit with which we must
approach the difÀcult issues that face us. St. Paul
also calls us to the honest assessment of situations,
not just going on what we have heard about issues.
This means we must become involved.
Our diocese is very diverse economically,
racially and ethnically. Not a single liturgy on
Sunday is attended by just one economic bracket
or one ethnic group. All come to the table of the
Lord to partake of his Body and Blood so as to be
transformed into his likeness. We no longer see
each other as “us vs. them,” but rather as sisters
and brothers.
In July, 3 million young people gathered in Rio
de Janeiro to celebrate World Youth Day with Pope
Francis. Some of the young people were asked what
impressed them most about the gathering. Their response was that young people from different parts
of the world gathered together and were united in
faith. One said, “For the Àrst time I realized that
the human race is one.” To some this may be too
idealistic or far-fetched, but, really, do we have any
choice? We must either learn to respect and love
each other or we will perish. I believe that so much
of what divides people is that they are not able to
see beyond appearances or differences. For them,
different cultures pose a barrier.
There is the story told of an Asian and an
American next to each other in the cemetery burying their loved ones. The Asians have a custom
of placing food on the grave, rather than placing
Áowers, to express their love for the deceased. The
American asked the Asian, “When will your loved
one come to eat the food?” The Asian responded,
“When your loved one comes to smell the Áowers.”
Both had the same objective –– to pay respect and
express love for the deceased –– but they each had
different cultural ways of doing it. As members of
the body of Christ, we are able to see each other
with the eyes and heart of Christ.
As we follow world events abroad and at home,
it is alarming how much and how deep divisions
exist between races, ethnic groups, and nations.
The Sunnis and the Shiites cannot come together.
The Palestinians and the Jews are at odds. In our
church, for lack of better words, there are the
conservatives and the liberals. In our nation there
is the divisive debate on immigration. The verdict
in the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman trial
brought out a latent racial divide. Many of the
issues are not discussed sincerely and honestly.
Some issues like race are so sensitive that no one
wants to express their honest opinion because of
fear of being misunderstood. Until we can discuss
honestly, the divisiveness will not only remain but
will get worse.
The fact is, the government, the courts, etc., can
assist in solving those problems but cannot solve
them completely, because these issues are matters
of the heart, and conversion is needed.
Reflecting on the divisive issues that we
face, I prayerfully read St. Paul’s First Letter to
the Corinthians (12:12-30). Paul speaks about
unity and variety in the body of Christ –– the
church. There was division in the Church of
Corinth about who had the most gifts and the
most important gifts. Paul uses the image of the
body with its many parts to show that the body
of Christ –– the church –– is one. Christ is the
head of the body –– the church. Certainly that
image of Paul can assist us in healing our own
divisions.
The Catholic Church is not a society or a
club, nor is it made up of one group or another. Rather, the church is the body of Christ
to which all the baptized belong. We live and
move and have our being in Christ. We follow
the teaching of Christ and his church so that
BISHOP CURTIS J. GUILLORY has led the
we might live more deeply in him. Further- Diocese of Beaumont for more than 13 years.
more, through our baptism and strengthened He is the ¿rst African-American to be named
in conÀrmation we can pray the Our Father bishop of a diocese in Texas.
and promise to strive to make present on earth
the kingdom of heaven, which is a kingdom of
peace, inclusiveness, and compassion. In addition, we are interconnected, because we are one
The Diocese of Austin has issued the followin Christ, though many. We cannot wash our ing notice:
hands of the problems other members are fac• Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Duc
ing or even may have created.
Thanh Dao is hereby requested to contact Deacon
If we are going to have a strong and lasting Don Gessler at (512) 949-2483.
OfÀcial notice
EIM workshops in the fall
The Ethics and Integrity in Ministry policies of the Austin Diocese were established in
2002 to educate Catholics on how to help prevent sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable
adults. According to the policies, clergy, all employees and those volunteers who minister
to youth or vulnerable adults in the diocese are required to complete an Application for
Ministry, which permits the diocese to run a criminal background check. Additionally, all
new applicants are required to attend a three-hour EIM workshop for adults within 60
Catholic Spirit subscribes to Catholic News Service
days of their EIM application submission. Every three years thereafter applicants must
(CNS) and is a member of the Catholic Press Association.
attend either an EIM refresher course or another three-hour EIM workshop to ful¿ll the
Copyright 2013 by the Austin Diocese. All rights rerefresher requirement.
served. Reproduction of any editorial content, photograph,
As of Sept. 1, anyone needing an EIM workshop will register online through their EIM
art or design is prohibited without written permission of the
account.
From the diocesan homepage (www.austindiocese.org) click Of¿ces & Minispublisher CATHOLIC SPIRIT (ISSN 0896-2715) is published 11
tries and scroll down to Ethics & Integrity in Ministry Of¿ce. Click on EIM Workshops for
times annually (monthly except one issue in July/August)
information on how to access your EIM account and sign up for a workshop.
by the Austin Diocese. Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, publisher,
If you have forgotten your password/login information, there is information provided to
6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, TX 78723. Periodicals Postage
help you navigate to your EIM account. If you do not have access to a computer/Internet
Paid at Austin, Texas.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Catholic Spirit, or if your EIM account is archived, please contact your parish or Catholic school EIM site
6225 Hwy. 290 E., Austin, Texas 78723.
administrator to assist you in registering for an EIM workshop.
For more information regarding the diocesan EIM policies, visit www.austindiocese.org
or call (512) 949-2400.
September 2013
3
CENTRAL TEXAS
Catholic schools look at increasing enrollment, special needs
SCHOOLS
Contined from Page 1
school working with students
who have learning challenges
is St. Louis Catholic School in
Austin.
Heidi Pickerill is the reading and dyslexia specialist at
St. Louis Catholic School. She
is an integral part of the campus and has been working
with students with learning
differences at St. Louis for
more than 14 years. Pickerill
works four days per week.
This year, she will be
teaching students using the
renowned Take Flight program. The two-year program
is designed to be taught four
days per week, by a certiÀed
academic language therapist,
for children with dyslexia age
7 and up.
“Our program is not labeldriven, so I can work with any
student who is struggling to
gain literacy,” Pickerill said.
“Many children who do not
have a dyslexia diagnosis can
still benefit from the Take
Flight program.”
She loves her job.
“I tell people all the time
that I have the best job. I get
to witness all these big and little successes every single day.
I can’t think of a better way to
spend my day than to be on
this literacy journey with these
amazing children,” she said.
Billie Bagley, the counselor
at St. Louis, said the great
advantage of having Pickerill
on campus is that it “allows
students who want a Catholic education but who have a
learning difference to still get
a Catholic education. In the
past, many Catholic schools
didn’t offer these types of services. It’s a huge benefit of
having her here on campus.
All our teachers are willing to
work with students who have
different learning needs.”
Pat Romanies, principal
of St. Louis, said the students
and the parents seem to appreciate Pickerill’s role at the
school.
“When Heidi gets to the
classroom to pick up the children she works with, all the
kids want to go with her. She is
so kind and wonderful with the
children. The parents love her
and they are familiar with her
and her program,” Romanies
said.
At St. Austin Catholic
School, the academic language
therapist is Tara Cevallos. Cevallos evaluates and treats students
with dyslexia and other learning
differences; she works at the
school 15 hours per week.
Barbara Kennedy, principal of St. Austin, said this hire
came about because some time
ago, a number of the St. Austin
students were going to academic
language therapy “either very
early in the morning or in the
evening. It’s an hour at a time,
four days a week, it’s pretty
intense.” A group of parents
approached Kennedy to see if a
language therapist could work at
the St. Austin campus.
“I’m excited to say we have
hired her for the coming year,”
Kennedy said. “She has so much
knowledge and wisdom to help
the kids. She is helping diagnose
students early on and Tara has a
wonderful toolbox of resources
for the teachers.”
Enrollment
Another goal of CSDA is to
increase the number of students
attending Catholic schools in the
Austin Diocese.
At the various Catholic
school campuses, schools are
creating “enrollment management teams,” Vanders said.
“Enrollment is not just the job
of the admissions director, but a
team effort of teachers, parents
and alumni. The teams are looking at their marketing and communications efforts to see where
improvements can be made.”
One new technique is to get
on the radar of young families
by sending welcome letters to
the parents of newly baptized
babies at local parishes, saying
“We’ve got a desk waiting for
you in Àve years,” Vanders said.
Online, there are numerous ways to learn more about
BISHOP JOE VÁSQUEZ celebrated Mass with Holy
Family Catholic School in Austin on Aug. 22 at St. Vincent
de Paul Parish. (Photo by Jean Bondy)
Catholic schools. The CSDA
site, www.csdatx.org, is popular with families. The CSDA
Facebook page (type Catholic Schools in the Diocese of
Austin in the Facebook search
Àeld) also has photos and updates from schools all around
the diocese.
Although by now most of
the schools have already started
classes, Poe emphasized that
nearly all of the schools in
CSDA have open enrollment,
and it’s not too late to register
for this academic year.
“If you realize the school
you are in is not a good Àt, you
can always apply to a Catholic
school,” Poe said.
Scholarships presented for Catholic school tuition
PARKER SCHOOL UNIFORMS and Catholic
Schools in the Diocese of Austin (CSDA) collaborated to provide students with $1,000 scholarships for
Catholic school tuition. Elaine Allen won one scholarship, which she gave to Terrie and David Lipscomb
who will use it for their children’s tuition at St. Joseph
Catholic School in Bryan (photo above). Rosa Maria
Telles won and donated it to her granddaughter who
attends St. Ignatius Martyr School in Austin (photo in
center). Elvia Andarza also won $1,000, which she
used for her sons’ tuition at the Cathedral School of
St. Mary in Austin (photo at right).
(Photos courtesy Jean Bondy)
4
CENTRAL TEXAS
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Hundreds gather to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe
BY ENEDELIA J. OBREGÓN
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Hundreds of faithful pilgrims
braved the heat on Aug. 3 to
show their devotion to Our Lady
of Guadalupe by marching in a
procession around a South Austin neighborhood that culminated
with a Mass at San José Parish.
Bishop Joe Vásquez celebrated
the Mass.
During the procession, a
truck carried the image of Our
Lady of Guadalupe as well as musicians who led the participants in
hymns. Members of the Rosary
Crusade led the rosary.
While the feast of Our Lady
of Guadalupe is observed on
Dec. 12, this diocesan-wide event
was held Aug. 3 to avoid conÁicting with parish events in December, said Edgar Ramírez, diocesan
director of the OfÀce of Hispanic
Ministry.
“By doing this, we continue
celebrating The Year of Faith,
by giving witness to our neighbors of our Catholic faith and its
power to bring people together
–– even when it’s neither her
feast day nor feast month,” he
said. “That by itself is a celebration.”
The celebration was headed
by the OfÀce of Hispanic Ministry and included the Guadalupana Society, the Legion of
Mary, the Cursillo Movement,
the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
for Spanish-speakers, the Christian Family Movement - USA,
the Rosary Crusade, San José
Parish and the diocesan OfÀce
of Worship.
In his bilingual homily, the
bishop paraphrased remarks by
Pope Francis during his visit to
the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil during World
Youth Day in July.
“When the church looks for
Jesus, it always goes to the house
of Mary and knocks on the door
and asks her to show us Jesus,”
the bishop said. “We look for
Mary because she always takes us
to Jesus.”
Bishop Vásquez said that as
Catholic Christians, we need to
maintain hope and be a people
of hope.
“In the difficulties of life,
God never leaves us,” he said.
“We have to be a people of hope.
Why did we process today? It’s a
journey. Life has a destiny that
will end one day. But we are
never alone. We walk following
Christ.”
He said we need to allow ourselves to be surprised by God and
open our eyes to the many ways
God works through us.
“We need an openness to
allow ourselves to be surprised
by God,” Bishop Vásquez said.
“God is always working in us.”
We also need to live in joy.
“Christians are joyful, never
gloomy,” the bishop said.
For those who participated,
the opportunity to venerate Our
Lady of Guadalupe was also an
opportunity to share an important part of their culture.
Rosaura Acosta, vice president of the San José Guadalupana chapter and member
of the diocesan Guadalupana
council, said about 20 churches
participated in the celebration.
Different parishes took on different responsibilities. The host San
José chapter, for example, made
500 rosaries so everyone in the
PILGRIMS PROCESSED through
the neighborhood
surrounding San
José Parish in
Austin prior to Mass
celebrating Our
Lady of Guadalupe
on Aug. 3. (Photos by Enedelia J.
Obregón)
procession could pray the rosary.
Acosta, 66 and the mother
of seven, grandmother of 18 and
great-grandmother of 10, put
some of her granddaughters to
work making rosaries.
The work that goes in to celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe
is both a spiritual and cultural
endeavor, Acosta said.
“Nothing would have happened if our Blessed Mother had
not said ‘yes’ to God,” she said.
“She plays a very important part
in salvation.”
The Guadalupanas are also
working to ensure the next generation of faithful remember why
Our Lady of Guadalupe is so important to the Hispanic culture.
“We are working with our
spiritual director, Father John
Boiko, to develop workshops
for Religious Education staff so
they can know who (Our Lady
of Guadalupe) is, why she was
dressed the way she was and
about the apparitions. We need
to teach our young people be-
cause they are not going to do it
just because their parents did.”
Eva Barrón, secretary for the
diocesan Guadalupana Council,
said for her and her family, the
devotion is central to the Mexican culture. She noted that the
Virgin’s apparition to San Juan
Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac
near Mexico City in 1531 is the
only one in which she left an
image.
“She had never done this
anywhere else,” Barrón said of
the image she left on San Juan
Diego’s cloak. “Part of our role
as Catholics is to bring people
closer to our faith –– to Jesus.
And that’s exactly why she came,
to draw people to her son. She is
a great evangelizer.”
Barrón said she is pleased the
anti-abortion movement carries
images of Our Lady of Guadalupe since she is Protectress of
the Unborn and also Patroness
of the Americas.
“In her image she is shown
wearing a belt,” Barrón said. “In
the Aztec culture, that indicates
she is pregnant. It shows that life
is precious and a gift from God.”
Bishop calls men to leadership during annual Mass
BY BURNIE COOK
CORRESPONDENT
On the warm morning of
July 20, a congregation of more
than 300 met at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin where Bishop
Joe Vásquez celebrated the Àfth
annual Men’s Mass. Singing was
led by the Compline Choir of St.
Louis King of France Parish in
Austin, directed by Father Larry
Covington with Chris Oelkers
accompanying on the organ.
The Mass was sponsored by
the Central Texas Fellowship of
Catholic Men (CTFCM).
The readings came from the
Book of Exodus (12:37-42) and
the Gospel of Matthew (12:1421). In Exodus we heard about
how the “children of Israel”
left Egypt; in the Gospel the
Pharisees are beginning to plot
against Jesus and “He withdrew
from that place … to fulÀll Isaiah the prophet.”
In his homily the bishop
recognized the new pontiÀcate
of Pope Francis and shared
some personal reÁection. Pope
Francis’ papacy began on the
feast of St. Joseph, who has very
special afÀliation with fathers
for he is the father Àgure of the
Holy Family.
“He’s also a Joe,” Bishop
Vásquez joked.
Ken Ciani, vice president
of Central Texas Fellowship of
Catholic Men, as well as a parishioner of St. John Neumann
Parish in Austin, said he appreciated that Bishop Vásquez
brought positive attention to
fathers who brought their sons
to the Mass. There was also
applause for the 1988 deacon
class who was in attendance
with wives.
Ciani especially liked the
bishop’s point that we need to
be living our faith in church but
also in our daily lives. He said it
is important to remember that
we are called to imitate Jesus.
We must let our actions speak,
without shouting, and we must
not be afraid to let the Spirit
guide us, he said.
Jonathan Herrera, a member
of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Austin, felt challenged to
be more of a leader in his parish
and in his home. He hopes he
and his wife, working together
as a partnership, can continue to
have a positive impact on their
son and daughter.
Vince Cortez, a parishioner
of Emmaus Parish in Lakeway,
says that he and his wife are
both active in the church. They
have children who are 11, 5, 2
and 6 months.
“To follow God [is] to Ànd
his purpose in life,” he said. We
should also not lose sight that
we can “be in communion with
God through prayer [and the]
Mass.”
There was also a reception
after the Mass, which allowed
men to visit with one another.
Dennis Daniel, who with his
wife attends St. John Vianney
Parish in Round Rock, was a
special guest at the reception.
Daniel wrote a book entitled
“Man Up!: A Practical Guide to
Being a Dad,” which was published last March. He has been
married for 34 years, and had
three grown children and one
grandson.
Daniel is a proponent of
“quiet leadership and let your actions speak louder than words.”
As a member of Knights of
Columbus, he also supports the
bishop’s remark for men needing to be leaders.
The mission of Central
Texas Fellowship of Catholic Men (CTFCM) is “to encourage and empower men to
deepen their relationship with
Christ, their family, their community, other Catholic men
and to live their faith in everyday life.” They also feel an
important Bible verse for men
to know is Proverbs 27:17;
that reads “as iron sharpens
iron so one man sharpens another.” CTFCM spreads their
mission through three steps:
conversion (results in committed followers), transformation
(activates laborers for evangelization) and mobilization
(develops growing, serving
Christians).
The second annual Austin Catholic Men’s Conference will be Feb. 22. The
theme will be “Man to Man.”
For more information, visit
www.ctfcatholicmen.org.
September 2013
5
CENTRAL TEXAS
Teen’s faith afÀrmed in the midst of suffering
BY MARY P. WALKER
When Victoria Hoelscher
describes her summer as the best
of her life, she is not talking about
a resort vacation. The six weeks
she spent in Ghana as a medical
intern challenged her faith, clariÀed her career goals, and taught
her that those who are materially
poor can be rich in joy and love.
A graduate of Holy Trinity Catholic High School and
member of St. Mary Parish in
Temple, Hoelscher received a
full four-year scholarship to Barry
University, where she is majoring
in biology and chemistry. This
scholarship also included an “enrichment fund” that she could
use to study abroad.
Having volunteered in hospitals in her community, Hoelscher
wanted an educational experience
in a medical environment where
she could help those in need. She
searched online and found Projects Abroad, an organization that
matches volunteers with worthy
projects.
She accepted a medical internship in Ghana, a small country in West Africa, and was there
from May 11 to June 21.
Hoelscher spent three days a
week in the Koforidua Regional
Hospital and two days a week
visiting orphanages and schools.
“I was able to work in the
pediatric ward, surgical ward,
operation theater, laboratory and
emergency ward, and my faith
was tested in almost each of these
areas,” Hoelscher said.
The government hospital
serves the poor, and its resources
are strained. Patients have to wait
for hours or even days for tests.
With only three operating rooms,
there are also long delays for necessary surgery. In the meantime,
they suffered in pain waiting
their turn. When they needed
medicine, their families had to go
out of the hospital to a pharmacy
and buy it –– if they could afford
the cost. Often members of an
extended family pooled their
money to purchase the medicine.
“If you were poor and
couldn’t afford the pain medication, you just didn’t get it,” Hoelscher said.
She also witnessed children
suffering and dying of preventable diseases because their parents did not know the signs of a
serious illness and did not bring
them to the hospital in time for
treatment.
It was impossible for Hoelscher not to compare the health
care typically available in the
U.S. with what she saw in Ghana. She questioned how a loving
God could allow such suffering, especially when it involved
children.
“It pained me that all I could
do for the suffering kids was to
hold their hands and talk to them
in a language that they did not yet
understand,” she said.
Through prayer, she realized
that God was giving her and
others the opportunity to give
aid and comfort, and be part of a
solution to these problems.
“This experience greatly tested and strengthened my faith
while opening my eyes to a part
of the world that could still use
much help,” Hoelscher said.
Life in Ghana is hard. Although there are modern cities,
many Ghanaians live in mud and
stick houses, have only two sets
of clothes, and eat rice and soup
at every meal. Yet, Hoelscher
noticed that for them, faith and
family are much more important
than material comforts, and they
seemed to be happier than many
families she knows in the U.S.
“I found myself wishing that
every family in developed nations
VICTORIA HOELSCHER, a graduate
of Holy Trinity Catholic High School and
member of St. Mary
Parish in Temple,
treats the head wound
of a young patient in
Ghana. She spent six
weeks in the West African country working
in a hospital and helping children in orphanages and schools.
(Photo courtesy
Victoria Hoelscher)
could watch these families and
see what true happiness is. In the
Bible, it speaks about how the
poor are extremely blessed, and
I experienced this firsthand!”
Hoelscher said.
While there, Hoelscher was
quickly welcomed into the family life of the community. She
stayed in the home of a woman
who treated her like a member
of her family –– teaching her to
cook and giving her chores to
do. Every night she played with
the neighborhood children and
felt as if she were part of their
families, too.
Hoelscher also shared in the
challenges of the community.
Although the house had elec-
Cedarbrake offers weekend retreats
Writing Your Story, a weekend retreat with Maria Scaperlanda, will be held Sept.
13-15 at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center in Belton. The weekend will explore
writing as a tool for fostering intimate prayer. No writing skills are required, only
a willingness to ponder and listen with pen in hand. This retreat is open to both
men and women. The cost is $155 for a shared room and $185 for a private room.
“The Shack,” a weekend retreat, will be held Oct. 4-6 at Cedarbrake Catholic
Retreat Center in Belton. Sister Lois Dideon will discuss how we meet Christ in our
world today, especially in the midst of struggle. Cost is $155 per person for a shared
room and $185 for a private room. For more information, contact Cedarbrake at
(254) 780-2436 or [email protected].
Black Catholic Men’s Conference is Oct. 24-27
The National Black Catholic Men’s Conference will be held Oct. 24-27 at the
Wyndham South Hotel in Austin. The purpose of the conference is to provide a
forum for African- American men to speak to the critical issues and challenges facing the African-American male community, in particular the Catholic community.
Workshops will be held at the hotel. An evening worship and praise service will be
held Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. at Holy Cross Parish in Austin. There will be singing performances by the award winning and highly acclaimed men’s group “Men On Fire.”
The registration fee is $150 or $75 for active duty military and students. To register,
contact Johnnie Dorsey at the diocesan OfÀce of Black Catholics at (512) 949-2449
or [email protected].
tricity and running water, these
services would go out for long
periods. As a result, they could
not rely on the modern appliances we take for granted. A
rooster woke them up at about
5:30 a.m. She washed her laundry by hand every morning so
that it could dry outside during
the day. Getting to the hospital
required about a half mile walk
to a place where she could hail
a taxi, and about a mile walk to
the hospital after the ride. The
household went to bed when it
got dark.
Hoelscher hopes that by
sharing her experiences, others
will feel empowered to use their
talents and Ànancial resources
to make life better for those
who are suffering from poverty
and illness. She reminds us that
although we may not be able to
solve these complex problems,
Christian compassion and even
small charitable donations can
help.
Before the trip, Hoelscher
thought she might want to become a missionary surgeon.
Now she describes herself as
“100 percent sure,” and cannot imagine not going back to
Ghana.
“I was given the opportunity
to serve many people in small
ways and in the process realized
what God is calling me to do
with my life,” she said.
Dominican Sisters host house warming
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist will host a Housewarming Celebration and Blessing Sept. 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. Everyone is invited to
celebrate the completion of the Àrst Texas facility on the priory site, a temporary
mission convent. Join the sisters as well as Bishop Joe Vásquez and Bishop Wm.
Michael Mulvey for a tour of the convent, barbecue and an update on the progress
of the larger planned priory. For more information and for directions to the site,
visit www.sistersofmary.org/housewarming-texas-mission-house.html.
Red Mass is Oct. 3 at the Cathedral
Bishop Joe Vásquez will celebrate the 22nd annual Red Mass Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. at St.
Mary Cathedral in Austin. Kim Daniels, spokeswoman for Cardinal Timothy Dolan,
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will be the featured speaker. The
Mass marks the beginning of the judicial year and invites all legal professionals. For
information, call (512) 949-2444 or e-mail [email protected].
Weekend retreat for struggling couples
Do you feel alone in your marriage? Are you frustrated or angry with each other?
Do you argue … or have you just stopped talking to each other? Does talking about
it only make it worse? Retrouvaille (pronounced retro-vi) helps couples through difÀcult times in their marriages. For conÀdential information about Retrouvaille or
how to register for the program beginning with a weekend on Oct. 4-6, call 1-800470-2230 or visit www.helpourmarriage.com.
6
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
CENTRAL TEXAS
Panel discusses work place safety in Texas
The April 17 explosion at
the fertilizer plant in West was
the catalyst for a summer forum
on workplace safety and workers’ rights by the newly-formed
Catholic Charities of Central
Texas Junior Board.
The evening event was a fundraiser for the Catholic Charities
Disaster Relief Fund to help the
people of West. Guest speakers
were Alex Winslow, executive
director of Texas Watch; Cristina Tzintzún, executive director
of the Workers Defense Project;
and Jeff Patterson, executive
director of the Texas Catholic
Conference.
The CCCTX Junior Board
was created earlier this year
as a medium for young adults
ages 21 to 39 who are committed to promoting the works of
Catholic Charities and becoming
leaders in the church through
effective community action,
said Christina Vehar, marketing
associate for CCCTX.
“After the West explosion
the Junior Board started to dialogue about why this happened,”
Vehar said. “What’s happening
in other places? What’s in place
to protect workers?”
While the CCCTX is used
to responding to disasters, they
are usually natural disasters, she
said.
Andrea Martin, 26, said
young adults want to be involved in social justice issues
but don’t always know how to
express it.
“It’s important to keep your
faith strong,” she said. “Volunteering expresses our faith and
social justice. The habits we
build now will carry us through
to when we have families and to
another generation.”
Kristina Pekkala, 23, said
workplace safety is a pro-life
issue.
“A workplace that puts
people in danger goes against
Catholic social teaching,” she
said. “It violates human dignity.”
Martin agreed, “People are
being exploited and their rights
and dignity are being violated.”
The three speakers discussed
workplace safety in Texas.
Tzintzún noted that Texas
is the only state that does not
require private employers to
carry Workers Compensation
Insurance, which is a state-regulated insurance system that pays
the medical bills and some lost
wages of employees injured on
the job.
This is a serious problem
among construction workers,
she noted, since Texas –– in
which 50 percent of the workforce is undocumented –– leads
the nation in the number of
workplace injuries and deaths.
There were 83 deaths in 2011,
according to the Texas Department of Insurance.
“Many workers injured on
the job are dropped off at hospitals and emergency rooms,”
she said. Because they have no
insurance and can’t afford to pay
the hospital bills, “the bills are
not paid and we the taxpayers
pay for it. It’s short-sighted.”
That also leaves families
without a wage earner due to
injury or death.
As for having OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) inspect worksites
for safety violations, Tzintzún
pointed out that it would take
137 years for OSHA to inspect
every worksite in Texas because
OSHA has so few inspectors.
Winslow said West is an example of how workplace safety
–– or lack of it –– affects an
entire community.
“If you don’t have a safe
workplace, you don’t have a safe
community,” he said, noting
that schools and homes were
damaged and the whole community was affected.
Patterson said many undocumented immigrants work in
unsafe conditions because they
often have no other recourse if
they are injured.
“That’s why we need to
understand the importance of
immigration reform,” he said.
“Everyone deserves a chance
to live a productive life and earn
fair wages.”
Tzintzún and Patterson
agreed that working together
makes a difference. They noted
that the collective efforts of
labor unions gave rise to the
middle class. As union membership has declined, income
inequality has grown.
“With the decline of the
labor movement, we’ve also
seen a decline in work safety,”
Winslow said.
Tzintzún noted the correlation as well, “We’re seeing working conditions get worse and
worse, student debt is rising and
inequality is the worst it’s been
in 100 years. It’s estimated that
40 percent of the jobs will be
low-wage jobs by 2020. We’re
at a critical juncture.”
Patterson said the bottom
line is that people are being exploited and their human dignity
is not being respected.
“There are many out there
who don’t have a voice,” he
said. “We need you to be their
voice.”
For information on the Junior Board and a list of panel
speakers, go to www.ccctx.org/
juniorboard.
For more information on the panelists
Texas Catholic Conference (www.txcatholic.org) is the statewide association of the Roman
Catholic dioceses of Texas. The major function of the TCC is to be the public policy arm of the
bishops of Texas before the Texas Legislature, the Texas delegation in Congress and state
agencies. The public policy issues addressed by the TCC include institutional concerns of the
church as well as issues related to Catholic moral and social teachings.
Texas Watch (www.texaswatch.org) has helped provide a platform for Texas consumers on
insurance, nursing home resident and patient protection, workplace safety, and consumer law
issues in legislative and regulatory activities. Members have provided testimony to legislative
committees, participated in consumer legislative lobby days and testi¿ed in regulatory rulemaking activities.
Workers Defense Project (www.workersdefense.org) is a membership-based organization
that empowers low-income workers to achieve fair employment through education, direct services, organizing and strategic partnerships. WDP works to address workplace abuse faced
by low-wage workers.
Austin City Council upholds workers’ rights to just wages
MORE THAN 200 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, clergy and lay leaders
from Austin Interfaith and Workers Defense Project rallied outside Austin’s
City Hall to call on the city to uphold its agreement with Marriott developer
White Lodging to pay fair wages to construction workers in exchange for $3.8
million in tax incentives. The city of Austin threatened to revoke the incentives
when it was discovered that not all workers were being paid just wages.
Bishop Joe Vásquez joined the group and gave this statement to the Austin
City Council, “I come today standing in the long tradition of Catholic support
for workers and worker rights. Pope Leo XIII in his ground breaking encyclical letter, ‘Rerum Novarum,’ addressed the plight of workers in the late 19th
century. He recognized the importance of just wages, worker safety and the
right to organize and to enter into bargaining agreements with employers.
In 2011, the city, the developer, and the workers
agreed on the payment of prevailing wages for
workers and it is important that all parties now live
up to those agreements. A fair wage for workers is
not only good and right for workers; it is good and
right for everyone! That is what Pope Leo saw in
1891 and it is still true today in Austin, Texas. I ask
our city of¿cials to stand by the agreement that was
made to pay workers prevailing wages because it
is good for all.”
Later that evening, the city council did agree to uphold the agreement and issue the incentives only if
White Lodging continues to pay fair wages throughout the construction process. (Photos by Enedelia
J. Obregón)
September 2013
7
CENTRAL TEXAS
Fullness of Truth focuses on evangelization
It was standing room only
at Santa Cruz Parish in Buda as
the Fullness of Truth Catholic Evangelization Ministries
brought speakers, books, CDs
and DVDs to promote “The
New Evangelization: The Bible,
the Eucharist and the Family of
God” to Central Texas.
The conference featured
Scott Hahn, one of the best
known converts to Catholicism,
who is president and board
chairman of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and
an author and teacher. Other
speakers were Michael Barber,
author and senior fellow for
the St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology and a professor of
theology, Scripture and Catholic
thought at John Paul the Great
University; and John Bergsma,
author and associate professor
of theology at the Franciscan
University in Steubenville, Ohio,
also a convert to Catholicism.
The event also offered the
rosary, the sacrament of reconciliation, the chaplet of Divine
Mercy and a vigil Mass.
Christian Peña, a parishioner
at St. Ignatius Martyr Parish
in Austin, said she attended to
strengthen her faith after returning to the church three years
ago. Peña, 27, became inactive
following her conÀrmation as a
teenager.
“I felt something was missing,” she said about returning to
Catholicism. “So I’m buying a lot
of books because I want to learn
more about my faith.”
Windra Sugiaman of St.
Lawrence Parish in Sugarland,
drove from the Houston suburb with her three daughters
because she had always wanted
to see Hahn.
Sugiaman, who grew up Buddhist, attended Catholic school
in her native Indonesia and converted in middle school. While
her parents were unhappy at
Àrst, they eventually converted to
Catholicism.
“My mother-in-law told me
about Scott Hahn and she gave
me CDs and books,” she said. “I
like him.”
Bergsma was the Àrst speaker
of the two-day conference in July
with the topic “Mass Conversion:
How I Discovered the Eucharist
in the Church.” He recounted his
journey from becoming a Protestant minister to his conversion in
2001 after attending Notre Dame
University to pursue his doctor-
ate in theology.
Bergsma said he questioned
the Protestant beliefs of sola Àde
–– faith alone is all that’s needed
for salvation –– and sola scriptura
–– that the Bible is all that is necessary for faith and practice and
since it is it is a direct revelation
from God has divine and Ànal
authority.
As an example, he used his
experience as a preacher in a
small community where a woman moved in with her boyfriend.
He told her it was wrong. She replied, “I am saved by faith alone.
It doesn’t matter what I do. Jesus
will look at my faith alone.”
“We know when we knowingly do something wrong it’s a
mortal sin,” Bergsma said.
In an inner-city neighborhood, he noticed many small,
cash-starved denominations
proselytizing and doing the
same work.
Wouldn’t it be something,
he wondered, if we could all be
on the same page and we had
one church and then we’d have
enough money to do what was
needed?
He realized that couldn’t
happen because Protestant denominations each had their own
interpretation of the Bible.
“The Bible alone could nev-
er be the source of Christian
unity because each one of us
had our own interpretation of
the Bible. There was no core, no
authority or arbiter or judge who
could make correct interpretations,” he said.
Sola scriptura, he said,
“makes everybody into their
own pope, every believer decides what scripture means. This
is religious relativism.”
It was at Notre Dame that
he met the type of Catholic he
never thought existed: a highlyintelligent person Àlled with the
Holy Spirit who knew Scripture.”
“I thought ‘I’m going to
convert him or he’s going to
convert me,’” said Bergsma,
who was conÀrmed and entered
the Catholic faith on Feb. 24,
2001, at St. Matthew Co-Cathedral in South Bend, Ind.
Barber talked about “The
Bible and the Rosary: How
to Hear the Word of God in
Prayer.”
Too many Catholics, he said,
don’t know how to pray other
than prayers learned by rote. We
forget that prayer is a conversation that involves talking and
listening. That leads to building a strong relationship. Too
often, people pray to ask for
something but forget the second
part, which is listening. It also
requires time.
“In order to have a good
relationship with someone you
have to talk to them,” he said.
“It’s the same with the Lord.
You also need to be in constant
communication.”
When you love someone,
Barber said, you talk to them
more than an hour a week. He
likened prayer to a couple falling
in love, spending time together,
talking and getting to know one
another.
If we don’t communicate often, that relationship falls apart.
The same happens with prayer.
The deÀnition of a disciple
is student, or someone who
studies. Catholics cannot be full
disciples of Jesus if they have
not studied Scripture, he said.
Knowledge of Scripture also
is necessary for evangelization,
he said.
“All the learning is for nothing if we don’t pray,” he said.
“The new evangelization begins
with us. It’s easiest to hate the
sins of other people rather than
our own. But ours are the ones
we can do something about.”
For information on upcoming conferences, go to
www.fullnessoftruth.org or call
877-21-TRUTH.
Diocesan
Census
Help us update our database
Have you recently moved? Has your e-mail address changed? Have you
recently been married? Have you moved to a different parish? Or, have
there been any new additions to your family? If so, please update your
contact information at www.austindiocese.org/censusform or by
contacting the Stewardship and Development Office at the Diocese of
Austin at (512) 949-2400.
You can also Àll out the form below and mail it to:
Diocese of Austin, Stewardship Office, 6225 Hwy 290 E, Austin, TX 78723.
Full Name:__________________________________________________
Spouse’s Full Name:__________________________________________
Primary Parish (name & city):____________________________________
Mailing Address:______________________________________________
City: ___________________ State: _________ZIP: ___________________
Home Phone #:_______________________________________________
Cell Phone #:________________________________________________
E-mail address:_______________________________________________
Spouse’s e-mail address:_______________________________________
Do you receive more than one copy of the Catholic Spirit each month?_______
If yes, under what name does each copy come?_____________________
___________________________________________________________
Previous Address (within last 3 years)
Street Address: ______________________________________________
City: ___________________ State: _________ZIP: ___________________
**The Diocese of Austin does not sell or share information from our mailing lists. Thank you
for helping us update our database. If your information changes in the future, please call
(512) 949-2400 to let us know.
8
IN OUR WORLD
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Knights of Columbus meet in San Antonio
BY JORDAN MCMORROUGH
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Boston Cardinal Sean P.
O’Malley highlighted the new
evangelization in the pontiÀcate of Pope Francis in an
Aug. 6 keynote address to
the Knights of Columbus supreme convention in San Antonio.
“Following Pope John
Paul and Pope Benedict, Pope
Francis is challenging us to
embrace the new evangelization with new ardor, with new
boldness and with great love
for all those who God places
in our path. He is calling on
all of us to be missionaries
in our own communities,” he
said.
“In this new millennium, business as usual is not
enough. We must be a team
of missionaries, moving from
a maintenance mode to a missionary one,” he added.
He told his listeners they
must ask themselves, “What
does it mean to live in a culture of unbelief; a culture
which does not even know
it does not believe because
it still lives on the residue of
Christian civilization?”
Cardinal O’Malley replied,
“Pope Francis is ever warning against a self-referential
church turned in on itself. He
tells us to open the doors, to
invite other in and so that we
can go out and invite.”
The cardinal emphasized
that being a faithful disciple
of Jesus Christ in the Catholic
Church “is much more than a
head trip.” It is a way of life
together; and the whole person is engaged in the process.
Education for the journey
must therefore be experiential,
personal, engaging and lifegiving, he added. “We learn
discipleship the way we learn
a language, by being part of
a community that speaks that
language. The Boston archbishop stressed that young
Catholics must be mentored
in the faith by others, either
peers or older Catholics who
are walking the walk.
“In today’s world, we must
promote the Catholic way of
life, which is increasingly alien
in the secular world, where
our concern about unborn
children or the sacredness
of marriage makes us appear
quaint and even nettlesome,”
he explained. “We need mentor s: parents, grandparents,
godparents, teachers, youth
ministers, neighbors, who are
ready to pass on the faith.”
According to the cardinal, Pope Francis is calling
on Catholics to embrace the
vision of reality that is the
church’s faith and that values
each and every human being,
and stresses responsibility to
love and serve each other,
especially the most vulnerable.
The word that Pope Francis repeats over and over, he
said, is “tenerezza,” or tenderness.
In his inaugural Mass on
the feast of St. Joseph, Cardinal O’Malley recalled, the
pontiff spoke about protecting people, showing loving
concern for each and every
person, especially children,
the elderly, those in need. The
pope said, “We must not be
afraid of goodness or tenderness.”
“He points to the heart of
Joseph, his tenderness which
is not the virtue of the weak
but a sign of strength of spirit
and a capacity for concern
and compassion, for genuine
openness to others, for love,”
said the cardinal.
Noting that “some people think that the Holy Father should talk more about
NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH LEADERS are pictured during the opening Mass of the
131st annual Knights of Columbus convention Aug. 6 in San Antonio. Pictured in front,
from left, are Cardinals Theodore E. McCarrick, Justin Rigali (partly obscured), Sean P.
O’Malley, Donald W. Wuerl, Thomas Collins, Timothy M. Dolan, James M. Harvey and
Raymond L. Burke (far right). (CNS photo courtesy of Knights of Columbus)
abortion,” Cardinal O’Malley
said he thinks Pope Francis
“speaks of love and mercy to
give people the context for
the church’s teaching on abortion. We oppose abortion,
not because we are mean or
old-fashioned, but because we
love people. And that is what
we must show the world.”
He continued, “We must
be better people; we must love
all people, even those who advocate abortion. It is only if
we love them that we will be
able to help them discover the
sacredness of the life of an
unborn child. Only love and
mercy will open hearts that
have been hardened by the
individualism of our age.”
In reference to the United
States as being an immigrant
church, Cardinal O’Malley
spoke of the significance of
the Holy Father’s Àrst trip as
pope to the Italian island of
Lampedusa to underscore his
concern for the plight of immigrants.
“When the Holy Father
went to the island of Lampedusa, he threw a wreath of
flowers into the sea where
thousands of refugees have
perished in the modern day
coffin ships that bring refugees from North Africa,” said
the cardinal, noting that Pope
Francis talked about the globalization of indifference ––
indifference to the suffering
of others, to the fate of the
unborn, the elderly, the handicapped, the mentally ill and
the immigrants.
We must overcome this
indifference and help people to see that the church’s
teaching is about loving and
caring for everyone, he explained, quoting the pope who
told the Brazilian bishops at
World Youth Day: “We need
a church capable of rediscovering the maternal womb
of mercy. Without mercy
we have little chance nowadays of entering the world
of wounded persons in need
of understanding, forgiveness
and love.”
Added Cardinal
O’Malley, “The truth isn’t
a wet rag that you throw in
someone’s face, but a warm
cape that you wrap around
a person, to protect and
strengthen them.”
The prelate cited the
post-abortion ministry Project Rachel as being the kind
of combination of mercy
and truth that the church’s
pro-life efforts need to be
about.
“Our efforts to heal the
wounds of society will depend
on our capacity to love and to
be faithful to our mission,”
the cardinal insisted.
Pope: Recognizing sin, accepting mercy is key to salvation
BY CINDY WOODEN
Jesus told his disciples that
the entrance to heaven is like
a “narrow gate,” not because
God has made salvation so
difÀcult, but because people
find it difficult to recognize
their sinfulness and accept
God’s mercy, Pope Francis
said.
Jesus is “the gateway to
salvation,” the pope said Aug.
26 before reciting the Ange-
lus with visitors in St. Peter’s
Square. “The gate that is Jesus
is never closed; this gate is
never closed, it is always open
and open to everyone, without distinction, without exclusions, without privileges.”
The pope said he knew
some people would be skeptical and say, “But Father, surely I am excluded, because I
am a great sinner. I have done
so many things in my life.”
But the pope insisted,
“No, you are not excluded.”
“Jesus prefers the sinner,
always, in order to pardon
him, to love him,” Pope Francis said. “Jesus is waiting for
you, to embrace you, to pardon you. Don’t be afraid: He’s
waiting for you.”
Commenting on the day’s
Gospel reading, Luke 13:2230, the pope said the narrow
gate that is Jesus is not the
entrance to “a torture chamber.”
But Jesus asks “us to open
our hearts to him, to recognize ourselves as sinners, in
need of his salvation, his for-
giveness, his love, needing the
humility to accept his mercy
and to be renewed by him.”
Being a Christian does
take some effort, he said. It is
“not having a ‘label,’” but living and witnessing to the faith
“in prayer, in works of charity,
in promoting justice, in doing
good. For the narrow gate
which is Christ must pass into
our whole life.”
Pope Francis urged the
tens of thousands of people
gathered in St. Peter’s Square
not to be afraid “to pass
through the gate of faith in
Jesus, to let him enter more
and more into our lives, to go
out of our selÀshness, our being closed in, our indifference
toward others.”
Jesus, he said, can light up
a person’s life with “a light
that never goes out.” The
light of faith is not Áashy or
momentary like Àreworks, he
said. “No, it is a soft light that
always endures and that gives
us peace. That is the light that
we meet if we enter through
the gate of Jesus.”
September 2013
9
IN OUR WORLD
Pope Francis denounces atrocities in Syria
BY CINDY WOODEN
Pope Francis called again for
an end to the Àghting in Syria,
denouncing the “multiplication of massacres and atrocious
acts,” including the suspected
chemical weapons attack that
left hundreds dead.
As U.N. weapons inspectors
received permission from the
Syrian government Aug. 25 to
visit the site of the alleged attack,
Pope Francis said the “terrible
images” of the dead, including
children, “push me once again
to raise a voice so that the roar
of the weapons would stop.”
“It is not clashes, but an
ability to meet and to dialogue
that offers prospects for a hope
of resolving the problems,” the
pope said after reciting the An-
gelus with visitors in St. Peter’s dren, and ask them to keep
At the same time, he said
Chaldean Catholic Bishop
Square.
their hopes for peace alive,” the he prayed that the leaders of Antoine Audo of Aleppo told
Once again the pope asked pope said.
both sides in the conÁict as well Vatican Radio Aug. 26 that
the crowd to join him in prayHe asked the international as leaders in the international Pope Francis was calling for a
real commitment by the international community to encourOnce again the pope asked the crowd to join him in praying age dialogue and negotiations
that Mary, Queen of Peace, would intercede to stop the in Syria.
“If there were a military in¿ghting that has raged in Syria since March 2011 as rebels tervention, I think this would
lead to a world war,” the bishop
try to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.
said. “There is this risk.
“Let’s hope that the pope’s
ing that Mary, Queen of Peace, community to pay more atten- community “would be gifted appeal will promote a real diawould intercede to stop the tion to the conÁict in Syria and with much wisdom and much logue between the parties in
Àghting that has raged in Syria help the nation’s people “Ànd a prudence” as they decide how conÁict,” he said. The objecsince March 2011 as rebels try solution to this war that is sow- to move forward.
tive must not be more Àghtto oust Syrian President Bashar ing destruction and death.”
“We must do so in a way ing, but acting so that “the
Assad.
Archbishop Mario Zenari, that these crimes, these mas- people will be free to move
“From the depths of my the Vatican nuncio to Syria, sacres never happen again,” around, travel, communicate
heart, I want to express my told Vatican Radio Aug. 25 that the archbishop said. “We must (and) work.”
closeness in prayer and solidar- looking at the images of the al- Ànd the most appropriate and
“This is what we hope for:
ity with all the victims of this leged chemical attack, “I hear opportune means to react, ways An international effort that will
conÁict (and) all those who are the cry of these children, these that will not complicate the help dialogue and not make
suffering, especially the chil- innocent victims.”
situation.”
war,” he said.
MEDICAL SERVICES
DIRECTORY
WEIGHT LOSS
Ideal Weight Loss
Medical Clinics
This will be your LAST Diet
No drugs 100% natural Medically monitored
Lose ONLY fat Preserve lean muscle
Anthony Hicks, MD, MPH
4100 Duval Rd., Bldg IV, Ste 202, Austin
(512) 577-6181
12912 Hill Country Blvd, Bldg F, Ste 238, Austin
(512) 470-9470
To advertise in the Catholic Spirit Medical Services Directory, call (512) 949-2443,
or e-mail [email protected].
www.LastDietATX.com
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
OPTOMETRY
ORTHODONTICS
The Vitae Clinic
Oak Hill
Eye Care
Braces for Children and Adults
Jeremy Kalamarides, D.O.
The Jefferson Building
1600 W. 38th St, Ste 115
Austin, TX 78731
512-458-6060
The Vitae Clinic, Inc., provides wellness, prenatal, delivery and
postnatal care for women, expectant mothers and babies in accord
with the teachings of the Catholic Church in conformity with the
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare services.
Examination & Treatment
of Eye Disease
Lasik Surgery
Contact Lenses & Optical
David W. Tybor, O.D.
Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
(512) 288-0444
6000 W. William Cannon
Bldg A, Suite 100, Austin
www.oakhilleyecare.com
Michael Dillingham, D.D.S.
2 convenient locations in Austin
Call (512) 836-7924 or (512) 447-5194 to
schedule a complimentary consultation
FAMILY PRACTICE
EAR, NOSE AND THROAT
FAMILY & INTERNAL MEDICINE
Joseph M. C. Leary, M.D.
William Stavinoha, M.D.
Diplomate, American Board of Otolaryngology
Pediatric and Adult
Including Ear Diseases Sinus Surgery
Thyroid and Neck Surgery
6811 Austin Center Blvd., Ste. 300
Austin, Texas 78731
(512) 346-8888
Dominion Family
Healthcare
Family Practice –– Board CertiÀed
11671 Jollyville Road #102
Austin, TX
(512) 338-5088
www.stavinohamd.com
Board certiÀed in Family
Medicine & Internal Medicine
(512) 834-9999
6301 Parmer Ln. W. Suite 102
Austin,TX 78729-6802
THYROID & ENDOCRINOLOGY
10
IN OUR WORLD
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
‘Mystery priest’ focuses on message of God’s love
BY JAY NIES
An unlikely chain of events
made him not only a national
celebrity but a stand-in for every
priest who has ever ministered
to the faithful in an emergency.
But Father Patrick Dowling
–– who was dubbed a “mystery
priest” and a “guardian angel”
after praying with a woman
trapped in a wrecked car in
northeastern Missouri –– hopes
all the hype surrounding his
simple deed won’t overshadow
the real message.
“God loves us, he is here
close to us, and when we’re in
trouble, he’s there,” said Father
Dowling.
That, he believes, is why
God gave him, a priest of the
Jefferson City Diocese, a chance
Aug. 4 to minister to 19-year-old
Katie Lentz while Àrst-responders worked to free her from her
mangled car on Highway 19
near Center.
“I try to be a priest, not a
hero,” he stated. “And I did
what a priest does. And every
priest that I know, if they would
pass by an accident, they would
stop and do what I did.”
Father Dowling encountered a line of stopped cars and
flashing lights while traveling
between Sunday Mass assignments.
He asked a local sheriff’s
deputy for permission to approach the car and pray with
its occupant. The deputy at Àrst
said no, thinking the sight of a
priest would scare Lentz. But
after asking her, he told Father
Dowling to go ahead.
“The rescue workers are
people of faith and prayer,” Father Dowling told The Catholic
Missourian, the diocesan newspaper. “They were all praying.
I have no doubt that the Most
High heard their prayers, and
I was part of his answer ... but
only one part.”
The priest approached the
young woman, who was looking out from the mangled vehicle that had been struck headon with such force that it was
tipped up on its side.
Father Dowling anointed
her, gave her absolution and
prayed with her while she and
the rescue personnel waited for
stronger equipment to arrive
so they could free her from the
sturdily built automobile.
He then stood out of the
way, praying the rosary silently
for about an hour while she
was being extricated from the
car and moved to a medical
helicopter.
“I did the priest part, but
gosh, how that rescue proceeded from that time on was amazing,” he said. “They’re all people
of faith and love. I’m convinced
that the Most High Himself
took care of them –– you know,
blessed their work.”
Once he was conÀdent that
the woman would be OK, he
shook the deputy’s hand, walked
to his car and drove away.
A few days later, KHQATV in Quincy, Ill., aired a segment about the incident, noting
the priest seemed to come from
nowhere and that his image had
not been captured in any of the
photos taken at the scene.
The story spread from there
to numerous media outlets and
branched out all over social
media, fueling rampant speculation about the “mystery priest’s”
possible identity.
Several people interviewed
noted that Lentz’s prospects for
survival seemed to turn while
the priest was ministering to
her. Some wondered aloud if
he could have been a guardian
angel or even if his arrival had
been miraculous.
Father Dowling, who does
not watch TV, mentioned
anointing the woman to a fellow priest, who told him, “The
media is looking for you!”
By then, the story had been
reported all over the world.
Father Dowling contacted
the family and later went to
Quincy to visit Lentz in Blessing
Hospital’s intensive care unit.
When Lentz saw him, she
reached out, shook his hand
and cried.
Media learned Father Dowling’s identity when, in clarifying
some points in an article about
the incident on the National
Catholic Register website, he
included his name in the readers’
comments section.
Dozens of TV, radio, print
and Internet outlets all over the
country inundated Deacon Dan
Joyce, diocesan communication
director, with requests to interview the priest. The requests
keep coming and Father Dowling’s telephone has been ringing
about 200 times a day.
A native of Kilkenny, Ireland, he was ordained a priest
of the Jefferson City Diocese
in 1982. He currently serves in
prison ministry and in parish
ministry to Spanish-speaking
Catholics.
Highlights of the media attention include interviews on
ABC’s “Good Morning America,” EWTN’s “The World
Over” with Raymond Arroyo,
and Telemundo, a Spanish-language cable network; and in the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA
Today, a national newspaper in
Ireland, and the priest’s hometown paper in Kilkenny.
He has been quick to
point out that God’s grace is
at the heart of every priest’s
ministry, and that moments
such are these are part of why
God called each of them to
the priesthood.
Having received the sacrament of anointing of the sick
himself, Father Dowling is
abundantly aware of its power
to give hope and healing.
“The sacramental anointing
... it means hope,” he said. “You
can very easily fall into despair
when you’re in trouble. And it
restores hope.”
Pope, a soccer fan, asks players to be role models
BY CINDY WOODEN
With admiration and big
smiles all around, the lifelong
soccer fan Pope Francis met the
star players and coaches of the
Argentine and Italian national
soccer teams hoping to compete
for the World Cup in 2014.
The teams were led to the
Clementine Hall in the Apostolic Palace Aug. 13 by Argentine captain Lionel Messi, a
forward currently playing for FC
Barcelona, and Italian captain
Gianluigi Buffon, a goalie currently playing for Juventus FC.
The two teams were in
Rome to play a “friendly” match
in the pope’s honor Aug. 14;
the game had no bearing on the
process of qualifying for the
World Cup tournament. Argentina defeated Italy 2 to 1.
Pope Francis said he was
relieved it was a friendly, but it
would still be difÀcult to know
for whom to cheer.
Claudio Cesare Prandelli,
the Italian coach, said he was
about to ask the pope if he
would attend the match, but
Pope Francis anticipated the
question and told him that the
Vatican security already considers him “undisciplined,” leaving
the impression that it would be
asking too much to have them
arrange a trip to Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
In a brief speech to the players, coaches and referees, Pope
Francis encouraged everyone
involved with professional soccer
to maintain the spirit and passion
of it being a game, a team sport.
“Even if the team wins” the
game, he said, without beauty,
graciousness and team work,
both the team and the fans lose.
“Before being champions,
you are men, human beings with
your talents and your defects,
heart and ideas, aspirations and
problems,” Pope Francis said.
“Even if you are stars, remain
men both in your sport and in
your life.”
He asked the players to take
responsibility for the fact that
for millions of people, young
and old, they are heroes and
role models.
“Be aware of this and set
an example of loyalty, respect
and altruism,” he said. “I have
conÀdence in all the good you
can do among the young.”
The pope, who follows
soccer, knows that in Europe
the game has been plagued by
incidents of players and fans
making racist comments about
players from Africa. He told the
players they must be models of
inclusion, working to “perma-
nently eliminate the danger of
discrimination.”
When teams are committed to good sportsmanship, he
said, everyone in the stadium
grows, “violence disappears”
and “you’ll start seeing families
in the stands again.”
Pope Francis also asked the
players to pray for him, “so that
I too, on the ‘Àeld’ where God
has put me, can play an honest
and courageous game for the
good of all.”
Speaking to reporters after
their audience with the pope,
Messi –– who did not play in the
Italy-Argentina match because
of an injury –– said the best way
for the players to respond to
what the pope said was to give
fans a clean and exciting game,
and to live upright lives.
“Without a doubt, today was
one of the most special days of
my life,” he said. “We have to
excel on and off the Àeld.”
Buffon, who gave the pope
a ball signed by all the Italian
players, was asked if he thought
meeting the pope might spur the
miracle needed to ensure that
Italy and Argentina make it to
the World Cup Ànals.
“Our job is to work hard to
make sure we’re in the Ànals,”
he said. “If Pope Francis does
miracles, I think they’d be for
more important things.”
Buffon said the pope asking
for the players’ prayers was another sign of his “humility and
humanity.”
Julio Humberto Grondona,
president of the Argentine soccer association, asked the pope
to bless Argentine soccer “so
that the stadiums would be like
they were when you Àrst experienced the emotion of being
a fan.”
POPE FRANCIS receives a soccer ball as gift from Italy’s goalkeeper and captain, Gianluigi
Buffon, during a private audience at the Vatican Aug. 13. Argentina played Italy in a friendly
soccer match Aug. 14 in the pope’s honor. (CNS photo by L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
September 2013
11
IN OUR WORLD
Efforts to weaken conscience protections continue
BY PETER FINNEY JR.
Fine print contained in
the Affordable Care Act has
weakened conscience protections for physicians who oppose abortion, sterilization
or other medical practices on
religious or moral grounds, a
doctor and ethicist told the
American Academy of Fertility Care Professionals.
Dr. John Brehany, executive director and ethicist of
the Catholic Medical Association, said with the passage of
the new health care law, commonly called Obamacare, “the
federal government is posing
real threats to faithful health
care professionals.”
“While Obamacare itself
does have a couple of conscience-protection provisions
built in, the fact is, if you look
at the big picture, which are
the old federal laws and what
was achieved from 1973 to
2004, we are now missing
some important protections,
and we are now vague on how
these old laws will carry forward into the future,” Brehany said Aug. 10 during told
the academy’s annual gathering in New Orleans.
One such old law is the
Church amendment of 1973,
for example, to shield individual and institutional health
care providers from forced
involvement in abortion or
sterilization.
“While there are those old
federal protections that go
way back, Obamacare actually
muddies the picture,” he said.
Brehany said in December
2008, just before President
George W. Bush left office,
the Department of Health and
Human Services wrote new
regulations to implement existing federal laws “to give
teeth and some guidance and
enforcement provisions that
had never been done before.”
The regulations required compliance by professional medical societies, Brehany said.
“One of the Àrst things the
Obama administration said
was ‘we’re rescinding that,’”
Brehany said. “It took them
two years to do it, and they
just said they were modifying
it. In between, they passed
Obamacare in March 2010,
and they didn’t clarify what
they were doing until February 2011.”
On Feb. 18, 2011, the
Obama administration announced a partial rescission
of the Bush administration’s
regulation protecting the
conscience rights of health
care workers. HHS said parts
of the 2008 regulation had
“caused confusion and could
be taken as overly broad.”
The 41-page Ànal rule issued that day summarized
and responded to the ma-
jor themes of the more than
300,000 comments received
by HHS during a lengthy
public-comment period on its
proposed rescission.
More than 97,000 individuals and organizations supported the move to rescind,
with most saying the 2008
rule “unacceptably impacted
patient rights and restricted
access to health care and conÁicted with federal law, state
law and other guidelines addressing informed consent,”
HHS said.
Nearly 187,000 comments
opposed the proposal, expressing the conviction that “health
care workers should not be
required to perform procedures
that violate their religious or
moral convictions” or that rescission “would violate the First
Amendment religious freedom
rights of providers or the tenets
or the Hippocratic Oath, and
would impact the ethical integrity of the medical profession.”
“While the department
carefully considered these
comments, we do not speciÀcally address them because
this partial rescission does not
alter or affect the existing federal health care provider conscience protections,” the HHS
Ànal rule said.
Under the previous rules,
physicians had been protected
from discrimination if they
had moral or religious objections to participating in
“several kinds of health care,”
such as training in abortion
procedures, performing abortions or surgical sterilizations
or prescribing artiÀcial contraceptives.
According to Brehany, the
new HHS rules indicate there
is full conscience protection
only for medical professionals who “object to performing abortion –– period. That’s
it. It doesn’t say, facilitating,
helping, paying for. It says
performing abortions, period.
This is a strategic attack on
religious freedom.”
“The point is, if you look
at trends in federal law and
this administration, they are
weakening or certainly muddying the waters of having
clear and certain protections
for rights of conscience,” Brehany said.
Other threats to conscience protection for physicians have come from doctors
themselves, he said. Dr. Julie
Cantor, writing in the New
England Journal of Medicine
in 2009, said “conscience is a
burden that belongs to the individual professional; patients
should not have to shoulder
it.”
Cantor wrote that because
patients rely on doctors for
their health care, they should
expect them to be “neutral
arbiters.”
“Federal laws may make
room for the rights of con-
science, but health care providers ... should cast off the
cloak of conscience when patients’ needs demand it,” Cantor wrote.
Dr. R. Alta Charo of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison suggested in 2007 that medical societies could deal with “refusing physicians” by enforcing
their own ethical standards and,
“in this way, lay the groundwork
both for individual health care
providers to see their way clear
to serving patients even in ways
that violate their own preferences and beliefs as well as to
assist courts in determining the
customary and standard practice
in medical malpractice cases
based on refusal of service or
medical abandonment.”
Brehany said the recent
delays in enforcing some provisions of Obamacare have
created a cloud over the nation’s health care system.
“Some have suggested that
the plan all along was that
Obamacare would fail and
there would be such a mess
–– who’s paying the hospital, who’s paying the doctor,
what’s a patient entitled to?
–– that only the federal government could quickly step
in and say, ‘Here’s the rules,’”
Brehany said.
“This has created incredible confusion, incredible expense and a lot of anxiety, and
that’s a very bad thing, and it’s
wrong,” he said.
Teams Ànd Áooded-out Filipinos at parishes, centers
BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Teams of relief workers
visited evacuation centers
and Catholic parishes-turnedshelters across a wide area of
the Philippine capital as they
began assessing the needs of
thousands of people who Áed
homes inundated by Áoodwaters.
Since Aug. 19, about
300,000 people have been displaced since around Manila,
according to government reports.
The death toll Aug. 21 remained at eight, the government reported.
“The Áood is quite expansive. It’s very similar to last
year’s Áoods. It’s very severe,”
said Joe Curry, country representative for the U.S. bishops’
Catholic Relief Services, who
visited Àve evacuation centers
Aug. 21.
“We expect a long period
of the people staying in the
evacuation centers,” he said.
The Áooding was caused
by days of seasonal monsoon rains and an offshore
typhoon. While waters began receding late Aug. 20 in
some sections of the densely
populated city, Curry said
some people could be in
the evacuation centers for
weeks.
“Conditions in evacuation centers are very poor.
It’s congested everywhere. In
two of the schools, I think the
average number of people is
80 per classroom. People are
sleeping in chairs just to make
space,” Curry said.
“Next to one parish hall,
it’s just open air; 600 people
are sleeping on a basketball
court,” he added.
Another CRS team visited
eight evacuation centers, Ànding similar conditions, Curry
said.
Despite their predicament, Curry found the people
to be taking their situation in
stride.
“There’s a lot of persever-
ance, I think, a quiet perseverance,” he said. “People are
just very resilient. They just
take these kinds of shock and
they move on and keep going. There are very few complaints. They try and do the
best with what they have.”
Curry said CRS planned
to coordinate the delivery of
aid with Caritas Philippines
and begin distributing sleeping mats, blankets and hygiene
products no later than Aug.
26.
Earlier, Cardinal Luis
Antonio Tagle of Manila
appealed for unity to meet
the challenges of the disaster, which affected more than
500,000 people, reported the
Catholic news portal ucanews.
com.
“In this time of crisis, I’m
appealing to everyone, let us
help one another in little or
big ways to lessen the pain of
those who have suffered from
this bad weather,” Cardinal
Tagle said in a radio broadcast.
“I hope this scourge of
Mother Nature will result in
deep cooperation among our
people to ease the pain of
those who may have lost their
loved ones, their properties,
homes,” the cardinal said.
On Aug. 20, the government reported that more than
half of Manila was under water, and people made their
way through chest-high water
to evacuation centers.
Southern Manila was most
affected, Curry said.
“The poorest people
live in the flood-prone areas. (In) one area along the
river, 12,000 were evacuated.
Last year it was the same
thing. Those families were
displaced for several weeks,”
he said.
The flooding follows the
Aug. 17 collision of a ferry
boat and a cargo ship in the
waters off the Philippine central island of Cebu in which at
least 50 people died.
Both ships were carrying a
combined 800 passengers and
crew, authorities said. The ferry sank quickly in about 150
feet of water and the cargo
ship was damaged, according
to ofÀcial reports.
About 750 people were
rescued while an additional 68
remained missing Aug. 19, according to authorities. Rescuers suspended the search for
survivors because of high seas
caused by the same storm that
swamped Manila.
In a telegram to Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu City,
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
Vatican secretary of state, said
Pope Francis was saddened by
the “tragic loss of life” in the
accident.
“He assures all affected
of his closeness in prayer
and commends the victims
to the loving mercy of almighty God,” the cardinal’s
message said. “The Holy Father invokes divine strength
and comfort upon the grieving families, the injured and
those involved in the rescue
efforts.”
12
IN OUR WORLD
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Priests Ànd physical health is important spiritually
BY CHAZ MUTH
On a recent hot summer evening, a group of lacrosse players
gathered around a fellow athlete
on the Gonzaga College High
School Àeld before the start of
their game.
The 35-year-old man with
perspiration beading on his forehead was more than just another
player leading them in a prayer.
He was a priest.
When Father Mark Ivany
Ànished the blessing and lifted
his right hand in the air in the
sign of the cross, he shouted
out to the other players to give
it their all. They ran to their assigned positions on the Àeld to
await the coach’s whistle, signaling the game’s beginning.
Father Ivany isn’t ofÀcially
the team’s chaplain. In fact, this
is not an official team, but a
group of students, alumni and
friends who gather throughout
the summer for recreational
sports.
“I’m not really a gym kind
of guy, but it’s important to me
to stay in shape, so this is one
of the ways I get exercise,” said
the pastor of Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in Washington.
The other players didn’t cut
Father Ivany any slack during
the game, but the dark-haired
priest with the toned physique
and megawatt smile was swift
as any of the young athletes, and
just as aggressive as he threw the
ball to score one for his team.
This kind of activity is more
than just recreation for the
priest, who was an All-American
lacrosse player at Massachusetts’
Merrimack College in 2000.
“Physical fitness and
the priesthood have a lot in
common,” Father Ivany told
Catholic News Service. “The
healthier I am, the longer I
can be a priest in service here
on this earth.
“I love being a priest, so I’d
like to do it as actively and as
engaged as possible. So, staying healthy and eating well and
staying in good shape I think is
going to add to my service as a
priest.”
The rising rate of obesity
among all Americans is not lost
on church leaders or the priests
themselves.
Msgr. Rick Hilgartner, executive director of the Secretariat
of Divine Worship for the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops,
noted that modern technology
and transportation advances
have helped create a more sedentary life for humans in the
past century, and that includes
priests.
A testament to a different
lifestyle of a bygone era can be
found in stories about Cardinal
James Gibbons –– Baltimore’s
archbishop from 1877 until his
death in 1921. When he was a
young priest, he would use a
rowboat to cross the Baltimore
Harbor to say Mass for the prisoners at Fort McHenry, Msgr.
Hilgartner said.
“That would have been pretty exhausting simply to get in
the boat all by himself and row
all of the way across the harbor
to get to celebrate Mass,” he
said. “Certainly in a time before
cars, priests even making visits
to homes or going to visit the
sick, would have been on foot,
or perhaps on horseback.”
Other duties for a parish
priest 150 years ago would have
been chopping wood, light
farming, carpentry and other activities that would have required
physical excursion.
It’s one of the reasons why
this 45-year-old priest makes
time in his schedule to work out
in the gym and to run. In fact,
running has become a passion
for him, and he has participated
in marathons in recent years.
“If I take seriously being a
good steward of the gift God has
given me –– the gift of myself,
my body, who I am as an instrument for the Lord –– then I
need to take care of that,” Msgr.
Hilgartner said.
“Just like a musician would
take care of his instrument, or
any person who works with tools
would take care of their tools.
For us as priests, one of our tools
is who we are, as a minister of
the Gospel, as we give ourselves
over so that Christ can use us. We
have to take care of that gift that
we give over to the church, that
we give for the Lord.”
While Richard Nichols, a
Jesuit scholastic studying to be a
priest, attended Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Or-
ange, N.J., he began the popular
CrossFit training. It’s an intense
fitness regimen that includes
weight training and varied functional movements performed at
a high-intensity rate.
Nichols is in prime physical
condition, with the physique of
a bodybuilder, and he’s helped
form a CrossFit club at Gonzaga
College High School in Washington, where he teaches math.
He views his body as a gift
from God and says his physical
potential should be developed
as intensely as his intellect or
spirituality, to show reverence
for that gift.
It’s a philosophy that Father Eugene Hemrick has been
touting to his fellow priests for
decades, through his popular
column and books, and in his
role as director of the National
Institute for the Renewal of the
Priesthood.
The 75-year-old priest is an
avid golfer and has been a competitive runner throughout the
years, and believes more priests
should pay closer attention to
their physical health.
Too often priests get so
caught up in their ministries,
they neglect their physical wellbeing, Father Hemrick told CNS
as he was playing a few rounds
of golf.
“In ministry, when you are
dealing with a lot of people day
in and day out, and you are trying to respond to them and stay
alert, there is nothing like being
in good shape to be alert, be
able to concentrate and focus,”
he said.
As Father Rob Walsh prepared for Mass at the Catholic
Student Center at the University
of Maryland in College Park,
he said in an interview that his
exercise regimen helps him keep
balance in his life, and in turn,
that makes him a better priest in
his role as chaplain at the school.
Maintaining a balance of
ministry, continuing study, socializing and physical exercise
is a concept that was stressed
to him in seminary, and he’s
steadfast that his ministry will
suffer if he doesn’t continue that
equilibrium.
It also will help him stay
in better shape as he ages, and
will allow him to continue
his work for the church for
many more years than if he
didn’t exercise regularly, Father Walsh said.
“We need to not be thinking, ‘I can retire whenever
I feel like it if my health
isn’t good enough,’” he said.
“That’s not an attitude I want.
I want an attitude of ‘I want
to serve God as best as I can,
for as long as I can.’ He’s
given me certain gifts to do
that, and I need to take care
of those gifts.”
For Father Ivany, maintaining a healthy lifestyle provides
him with the right attitude to
serve God properly.
“When I work out. When I
eat right, I feel better,” he said.
“When I feel better, I’m happier, and I think the world needs
more happy priests.”
Story on Benedict’s ‘mystical experience’ story is untrue
BY CINDY WOODEN
Archbishop Georg Ganswein, retired Pope Benedict
XVI’s longtime personal secretary, said a story about the
pope resigning after a “mystical experience” was completely invented.
“It was invented from alpha to omega,” the archbishop said Aug. 24 in an interview on Italy’s Canale 5 television news. “There is nothing
true in the article.”
In a report Aug. 19, the
Italian service of Zenit, a
Catholic news agency, said
someone who had visited
Pope Benedict “a few weeks
ago” had asked him why he
resigned. “God told me to,”
the retired pope was quoted
as responding before “immediately clarifying that it was
not any kind of apparition of
phenomenon of that kind, but
rather ‘a mystical experience’
in which the Lord gave rise in
his heart to an ‘absolute desire’ to remain alone with him
in prayer.”
When Pope Benedict announced his resignation in
February, he said he had done
so after intense prayer and
that he intended to live the
rest of his life praying and
studying.
Some Vatican officials
and Vatican watchers were
surprised by Zenit’s report
of Pope Benedict telling an
anonymous visitor that his decision was the result of some
form of extraordinary “mystical experience” rather than
a decision made after long
and careful thought and deep
prayer. Catholics traditionally
would consider that kind of
intense prayer a “mystical experience,” although not something extraordinary.
Explaining his decision to
resign to a group of cardinals
Feb. 11, Pope Benedict had
said: “After having repeatedly
examined my conscience before
God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to
an advanced age, are no longer
suited to an adequate exercise of
the Petrine ministry.”
He also told the cardinals
that he wanted to dedicate
the rest of his life to serving the church through his
prayers.
Since stepping down Feb.
28, retired Pope Benedict has
led a very quiet life, far from
the public eye, although he
did accept Pope Francis’ invitation to be present July 5 for
the dedication of a statue in
the Vatican Gardens.
Living in a remodeled
monastery in the Vatican Gardens, along with Archbishop
Ganswein and four consecrated laywomen, he occasionally
welcomes visitors, especially
friends, former students and
small groups accompanying
former students. The meetings are private and rarely reported in the news.
RETIRED POPE BENEDICT XVI has returned to the
Vatican to live in a monastery in the Vatican Gardens.
(CNS photo by L’Ossevatore Romano via Reuters)
September 2013
13
IN OUR WORLD
Muslims help defend Christian churches in Egypt
BY JAMES MARTONE
The violence in Egypt began at dawn Aug. 14 when the
Egyptian military and police
used bulldozers and tear gas to
clear out camps of people protesting the ouster of President
Mohammed Morsi in early July.
Morsi was supported by the
Muslim Brotherhood, which
wants Egypt to have an Islamic
inspired government.
In addition to the Àghting at
the camps, mobs began attacking
Christian churches, schools and
convents, claiming the Christians
supported Morsi’s ouster.
When Catholics in Berba
were tipped off that their southern village could be next, they
acted fast.
WORSHIPPERS PRAY in the Chaldean Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Cairo Aug.
18. Christians, making up 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, have coexisted with
the majority Sunni Muslims for centuries. Violence erupted periodically, especially in the
impoverished south, but the attacks on churches and Christian properties in the last week
were the worst in years. (CNS photo/Amr Abdallah Dalsh, Reuters)
JOE WOLF
JODY SUPAK
245-519-1492
[email protected]
Killeen, Harker
Heights, Copperas
Cove, Granger
979-968-5332
[email protected]
LaGrange, Giddings,
Somerville, Texas
A&M
EDDIE MAZUREK
DOUG SUPAK
512-301-1218
edwin.mazurek@
kofc.org
Austin, Smithville,
Blanco, Bastrop,
Wimberley
979-968-5332
douglas.supak@
kofc.org
Bryan-College Station,
Brenham, Caldwell
TED PATAKI
DWAIN DUNGEN
512-983-6303
theodore.pataki@
kofc.org
Cedar Park, Taylor,
West Austin
979-732-1557
dwain.dungen@
kofc.org
Fayetteville, Columbus
LOUIS BARRON
CLINT HAJOVSKY
512-750-7491
louis.barron@
kofc.org
Pflugerville, Hutto,
Elgin
254-295-0430
clinton.hajovsky@
kofc.org
Temple, Rockdale,
Hearne, Mexia
PETE PEREZ
RICKY ADAMS
512-743-2315
[email protected]
Central Austin
254-644-2802
ricky.adams@
kofc.org
Waco, West
PHILIP REYNA
CHARLES GUENAT
210-789-9683
philip.reyna@
kofc.org
Round Rock, North
Austin
254-939-1981
charles.guenat@
kofc.org
Temple, Belton
DOUG DEGROOT
WILLIAM JENSEN
512-294-2406
douglas.degroot@
kofc.org
Georgetown, Marble
Falls, Burnet
512-282-2656
william.jensen@
kofc.org
Dripping Springs,
South Austin
They and other Christian
leaders got on their phones
and called their Muslim friends,
neighbors and colleagues who
all had the same message:
"They were told, 'Don't
be afraid, we will guard your
churches,' and that is what
happened," said Sister Darlene
DeMong, a Canadian member
of the Congregation of Notre
Dame de Sion who has worked
and lived in Egypt since 1978.
She was in Berba at the time the
warning came Aug. 16.
When she and two other
sisters left the parish convent
to stay with village families,
"groups of (Muslim) village men
showed up to guard it" Sister
Darlene told Catholic News
Service Aug. 22.
The men positioned themselves in front of the Catholic
church and its development center, as well as in front of Berba's
other Christian facilities, Sister
Darlene said from the order's
Cairo residence.
"The day went by peacefully
and we returned home about 6
p.m., but the men stayed outside
our house and in front of the
church and the development
center all night, and we had no
problems, Alhamdulilah," said
Sister DeMong, using the Arabic
for "praise be to God."
Egyptian human rights
groups report that a growing
number of Christian institutions are under attack in the
general state of violence that
has engulfed the country since
early July, when Egypt's military
overthrew the elected Islamist
president, Mohammed Morsi,
following mass popular protests
against him.
The rights groups say such attacks have intensiÀed since Aug.
14, when the country's security
forces used bulldozers and tear
gas to vacate two Cairo camps
where thousands of pro-Morsi
demonstrators and been living.
Hundreds were killed in the siege.
Sister DeMong said that on
Aug. 18 in Berba, about 150
miles south of Cairo, the parish
priest made special note of what
the village's Muslims had done to
protect their Christian neighbors.
"He thanked them, and they
could hear it through the sound
system," she said.
About 10-15 percent of
Egypt's 82 million people are
Christian, most of them Coptic
Orthodox. Egypt has 200,000300,000 Catholics, most of them
of the Eastern Coptic rite. The
vast majority of Egyptians are
Sunni Muslims.
Join Our Winning Team.
Do you have what it takes to
be a success helping Catholic
families plan for their future?
• Professional level income
potential.
• Create your own schedule.
Learn more about our team,
which is rated A++ by AM
Best. Call 979-968-9800.
Life Insurance • Disability • Retirement Products • Long-Term Care
There is no more highly rated life insurer in North America
TOM SUPAK AGENCY
SERVING THE AUSTIN DIOCESE
Tom Supak, General Agent
979-968-9800
[email protected]
Call Tom to learn about career opportunities.
14
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
IN OUR WORLD
March on Washington anniversary draws crowds
BY MARK PATTISON
By the thousands they came
to the National Mall in Washington, people of all ages, races and
religions, to stand in the shadow
of the Lincoln Memorial Aug.
24, just as hundreds of thousands had done 50 years earlier.
In 1963, those at the March
on Washington were galvanized
by the words of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr., whose “I Have
a Dream” speech electriÀed a
nation and pushed it, sometimes
against its will, to guarantee civil
rights to all Americans.
In 2013, participants in the
commemoration took note of
how far America has come in
the past half-century, but also
acknowledged how far America
has to go.
While the original march
had as its tagline “For Jobs and
Freedom,” the Aug. 24 anniversary event’s informal tagline was
“jobs, justice and freedom.”
The program in 1963 had 15
speakers, including three prayers
–– one of them an invocation by
then-Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle
of Washington. In contrast, the
Aug. 24 event had more than
four hours of speakers, most
of them limited to two minutes
before the music swelled and the
microphone was cut.
That allowed for a broader
palette of issues to be raised,
including immigration reform,
women’s rights, gay rights and
“Trayvon’s Law,” an effort to
reverse “stand your ground”
laws in states. The effort is
named for Trayvon Martin, the
teen whose killer was acquitted
in July by a jury instructed on
Florida’s stand-your-ground law.
“Both Martins –– King and
Trayvon –– were unjustly proÀled,” said Michael Eric Dyson,
a sociology professor at Georgetown University and one of the
march’s Àrst speakers.
Clayola Brown, the first
woman president of the A.
Philip Randolph Institute, said
the 2013 march was about “jobs,
justice and freedom, the same
topics as they were then.” The
institute is named for the man
who Àrst conceived of a march
on Washington in 1941 to pressure President Franklin Roosevelt to end hiring discrimination by the federal government
and headed the 1963 march.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
a Catholic who is House minor-
ity leader, said of King, “He
would want us to honor him
by realizing his dream.” She
added that Congress needed to
amend the 1964 Voting Rights
Act, considered by many to be
the capstone of the civil rights
movement. A key portion of the
act was struck down in June by
the Supreme Court.
Pelosi reminded the crowd
of King’s warning against “the
drug of gradualism” and how it
needed to be replaced by “the
Àerce urgency of now.”
The Rev. Joseph Lowery,
a United Methodist minister
who worked in the civil rights
struggles of the 1950s and 1960s
and who followed King as head
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, spoke near
the program’s end, seated in a
wheelchair.
Noting that there are African Americans serving as presi-
dent and as attorney general,
Rev. Lowery, 91, said, “Everything has changed, and nothing
has changed. That’s how it is in
America.”
“We go back home to complete the unfinished task. ...
We’ve come a long way, but
we’ve got a long, long way to
go.” He then led the crowd in
a chant: “We come up here to
commemorate, but we go back
home to agitate.”
CAROLYN HOPKINS of Stockton, Calif., holds a sign honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. as people marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a seminal action
in the civil rights movement. (CNS photo by Nancy Phelan Wiechec)
Upcoming Event
Sept. 13-15: Writing as Prayer
SEPT. 13-15, WRITING AS PRAYER
Join us for a weekend exploring writing as a tool for fostering intimate prayer. We will use guided writing
exercises, visual and musical props to invite participants into spiritual conversations with the sacred. Music
minister Anne Klock will provide the sacred music for this retreat. NO writing skills are required. Led by
author Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda. Open to men and women. Cost: $185 (private room), $155 (shared room)
OCT. 4-6, “THE SHACK” WITH SR. LOIS DIDEON
“Meet Me at the Shack ~ Love, Papa” So you’ve read The Shack. Have you wondered why God put this book
in your hands? Would you like to spend the weekend with others who have been touched and challenged by
it—reflecting, unpacking, sharing and experiencing God? The weekend will include presentations, time for
discussion, guided imagery and relaxing beauty. Cost: $185 (private room), $155 (shared room)
OCT. 14, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
The fourth gospel is written in great poetic language by John often telling two levels of stories at the same
time. This day will be an opportunity to enter more deeply into the Woman at the Well story and the Eucharist
Discourse in Chapter Six. Brian Egan, Cedarbrake Director, will present. Cost: $35 (incl. lunch)
NOV. 1-3, THE ART & HEART OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE WITH FR. ALBERT HAASE, OFM
“Seek first his
kingship
g p over yyou.”
Matthew
M
atthew 66:33
:33
5602 N. HWY. 317, BELTON, TX 76513
P.O. BOX 58, BELTON, TX 76513 (mailing address)
Based upon his best selling book and DVD, Catching Fire, Becoming Flame: A Guide for Spiritual Transformation, this weekend retreat focuses upon some of the important elements and attitudes of a vibrant spiritual
life: prayer, surrender and trust, confronting temptations, and experiencing God’s presence in our everyday,
ordinary life and routine. The retreat draws from our rich spiritual tradition and expresses its wisdom in Fr.
Albert’s inimitable preaching and teaching style. Cost: $185 (private room), $155 (shared room); all meals incl.
TO REGISTER FOR AN EVENT: (254) 780-2436, [email protected] or
www.austindiocese.org/cedarbrake, click on “upcoming retreats”
Visit us online!
WEBSITE: austindiocese.org/cedarbrake
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/cedarbrake
September 2013
15
IN OUR WORLD
Pro-life advocates encouraged by legislation
BY ZOEY DI MAURO
With the recent success of
abortion-related legislation at the
state and federal levels, is the end
in sight for pro-life supporters?
The country watched as
Democratic State Sen. Wendy
Davis of Fort Worth Àlibustered
against a bill to toughen abortion
regulations, only to have it passed
later in a second special session
and signed into law by Gov. Rick
Perry.
In North Carolina, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed
a law that tightens regulations
on the state’s 16 abortion clinics, bans abortions based on
the child’s gender, and expands
conscience protections for health
care providers. It takes effect
Oct. 1.
In Virginia, the busiest abortion clinic in the state was forced
to close because of safety regulations recently passed by the
General Assembly.
“With the single exception of
Oregon, every state has enacted
some restriction on abortion,”
said Chris Thompson, a lawyer
with Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organiza-
tion based in Arizona focused
on religious freedom, same-sex
marriage and pro-life issues.
This summer on Capitol
Hill, the House passed the Pain
Capable Unborn Protection Act
to prohibit abortion nationwide
after 20 weeks of gestation, approximately the stage at which
scientists say unborn babies are
capable of feeling pain. Supporters called it “the most important
pro-life bill to be considered in
the last 10 years.” It is unlikely to
be passed by the Senate, but supporters still claimed the House
vote as a victory.
Despite pro-life successes
in state legislatures, judges have
blocked enforcement of some of
the laws pending the outcome of
court challenges to their constitutionality.
On July 22, a federal judge
in North Dakota judge enjoined
a new law to ban abortion after
the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which could be as early as
six weeks. In Wisconsin, a law
requiring that abortion doctors
have admitting privileges at a
nearby hospital and that women
see an ultrasound before having
an abortion was blocked by a
judge while a legal challenge by
Planned Parenthood makes its
way through the courts. A similar law was blocked in Alabama
July 23.
Though the Supreme Court’s
decision in Casey v. Planned
Parenthood permitted reasonable limitations on abortions,
supporters of legal abortion say
the recent legislation oversteps
Casey’s boundaries.
But according to recent polling, a majority of Americans support some restrictions on abortion, especially late-term abortion.
Fifty-nine percent of Americans
said they would support a federal law banning abortion after 20
weeks of pregnancy, according to
results of a HuffPost/YouGov
poll released in July. But the poll
also shows many Americans
remain conÁicted in their views.
A study released Aug. 15
by the Pew Research Center’s
Religion & Public Life Project
showed 49 percent of Americans
consider it morally wrong to have
an abortion.
Dr. Marcella Colbert, a physician and director of the Respect
Life OfÀce for the Archdiocese
of Galveston-Houston, said laws
in Texas and other states to
strengthen abortion regulations
are “pro-woman.”
“This is putting in basic stan-
dards of medical practice,” she
said. Colbert said injury or death
from botched abortions are not
unheard of and might be avoided
by more stringent safety regulations and oversight. “If we’re going to have (abortion), at least we
should have it in a way that does
not directly affect the physical
health of the mother.”
“Why someone would oppose legislation that actually
gives women more information
to make a very difÀcult decision
and improves safety standards”
is confusing, said Jackie Bonk,
director of the pro-life ofÀce for
the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C. “I
just don’t see how anybody can
object to that.”
While they are disappointed
by legal challenges, supporters
of the bills say they hope they
end up at the Supreme Court,
where perhaps the justices will
reconsider Roe v. Wade, the 1973
decision that legalized abortion
on demand in the U.S.
Challenges could come from
different types of litigation ––
including challenges to the federal requirement that employers,
regardless of their moral views,
provide contraceptive coverage
for their employees. Thompson
said there’s an important clash
between religious liberty and
the Affordable Care Act. Movements by some states to defund
Planned Parenthood or to prohibit late-term abortions could
also come before the Supreme
Court.
“If the 5th Circuit (Court of
Appeals) upholds Texas’ version
of the (20-week) law after the 9th
Circuit struck down Arizona’s
version, the entry of the Supreme
Court to settle the debate may
be likely,” said Thompson, and
could lead the court to revisit
Roe.
Justice Antonin Scalia in a
wide-ranging interview about
the court in 2012 said abortion
should be left to lawmakers, not
judges.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
a supporter of keeping abortion
legal, commented in two interviews that she remains hesitant
about the scope of Roe, saying it
went “too far, too fast.”
Bonk, in Raleigh, is engaged
in both activism and outreach to
those affected by abortion.
“This battle is not going to
be overcome with assault and
hammers but with love and compassion. We really have to suffer
and walk with our brothers and
sisters,” she said.
A Memorial as Remarkable as Your Life.
Now Available
Garden of Serenity
Create
Your
Legacy
With Us
Plan for your future... And Theirs
Planning your ﬁnal arrangements is a responsible decision, and is one of
the most caring gifts you can give your loved ones. The Dignity Memorial®
professional provider network is here to guide you...every step of the way.
You’re invited to tour our newest garden, Garden of Serenity.
Upright Monument Section | Hedge Estates
Benches | Private | Peaceful
The caring professionals at Dignity Memorial® will gladly give you a tour
of the cemetery so you can select the type and location of cemetery
property that is right for you and your loved ones. Regardless of whether
your choice is burial or cremation, permanent memorialization of
your life and legacy is a lasting heritage for you descendants.
www.PrepaidFunerals.Texas.gov
www.catholicfdn.org
For more information about how to include the Catholic church in your will or estate plan,
contact Scott Whitaker at (512) 949-2441 or [email protected]
Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks
Funeral Home and Memorial Park
6300 West William Cannon Drive | Austin, TX 78749 | 512-892-1172
www.CookWaldenForestOaks.com
16
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
IN OUR WORLD
Monks’ outreach is part of new evangelization
BY CINDY WOODEN
Even before retired Pope
Benedict XVI set up a pontiÀcal
council for new evangelization
and convoked a world Synod
of Bishops on the theme, a new
group of Benedictine monks
was using Latin and liturgy to
reach out to those whose faith
was weak or nonexistent.
Now they’ve added beer to
the blend, and people are Áocking to the monastery in Norcia,
the birthplace of St. Benedict,
about 70 miles northeast of
Rome in the Umbrian countryside.
But for the 18 members of
St. Benedict’s monastery, life is
still about prayer.
“If the prayer doesn’t come
Àrst, the beer is going to suffer,”
said Father Benedict Nivakoff,
director of the Birra Nursia
brewery and subprior of the
monastery.
The monks in Norcia initially were known for their liturgical
ministry, particularly sharing
their chanted prayers in Latin
online –– http://osbnorcia.org/
blog –– with people around the
world.
But following the Rule of
St. Benedict means both prayer
and manual labor, with a strong
emphasis on the monks earning
their own keep.
After just a year of brewing and selling their beer in
the monastery gift shop and
through restaurants in Norcia,
Ànancial self-sufÀciency seems
within reach, and the monks are
talking expansion.
“We didn’t expect it to be
so enormously successful,” said
Father Cassian Folsom, the U.S.
Benedictine who founded the
community in 1998 and serves
as its prior. “There’s been a huge
response, and our production
can’t keep up with the demand
and the demand continues to
grow.”
But even with the talk of
expanding the brewery, and
perhaps exporting some of the
brew to the U.S., the Mass and
the liturgical hours are still the
centerpiece of the monks’ lives.
“Our life is very much uniÀed by the liturgy, which forms
a kind of skeleton around which
everything else takes shape,”
Father Folsom said.
Many visitors tread a path
between the church and the gift
shop and, increasingly, from the
crates of beer to the church.
Father Nivakoff said the
monks began brewing Aug. 15,
2012, with three goals: contributing to the monastery’s selfsufficiency; solidifying bonds
with the town; and reaching out
to people who are “turned off
by religion.”
For those who wouldn’t
think of going to Mass, he said,
the monastery gift shop gives
them a contact with the monks
“in a setting and over a product they feel comfortable with.
There’s a spiritual gain for them,
even though they aren’t looking
for it.”
In many circumstances, Father Nivakoff said, “we have
to preach the Gospel without
preaching the Gospel –– just
through the example of Christian charity and being kind to
people.”
The monks’ Mass, often celebrated using the extraordinary
or pre-Vatican II rite, and their
beer may appeal to different
people, but Father Nivakoff
said the beauty in both can open
people to God.
After years of study and
research, including Father Folsom’s visits to Trappist breweries in Belgium to see how the
monks ensure their business
does not disrupt their prayer
and community life, the monks
in Norcia decided to make two
Belgian-style beers –– a “blond”
and a dark, which has an alcohol
content of 10 percent.
The dark’s alcohol content
is much higher than U.S. beers,
but is similar to the “tripel”
Belgian Trappist beers. It also
goes well with the food of Norcia –– famous for pork sausage
and wild boar –– and traditional
Italian drinking habits in which
wine or beer accompanies a
meal, Father Nivakoff said.
Celebrating their one-year
anniversary Aug. 14 with an
open house and beer tasting, the
monks imbibed along with their
visitors –– something that does
not happen every day, or even
every feast day.
“It’s too valuable to drink
ourselves,” Father Nivakoff
said. However, when mistakes
are made in the brewing or bottling, some of the foamy liquid
makes it to the refectory table
and “no one’s upset.”
Making sure the mistakes
are kept to a minimum is
the responsibility of Brother
Francis Davoren, a native of
Dallas who is the brewmas-
Tax-Deferred Annuities
Do Your Long-Term
& Retirement Savings
Plans Stack Up?
'ĞƌƌŝW͘DĂƌƟŶĞǌ
ƵƐƟŶͬĂƐƚƌŽƉͬ
dĂǇůŽƌͬ^ŵŝƚŚǀŝůůĞ
ϱϭϮͲϯϬϯͲϱϵϯϲ
Create
Your
Legacy
With Us
dŽŵŵǇ&ƌĞŝ
>ŽƩͬtĞƐƚƉŚĂůŝĂͬ
dĞŵƉůĞ
ϮϱϰͲϵϴϱͲϮϮϰϯ
Monica Mikeska
dĞŵƉůĞ
ϮϱϰͲϳϲϬͲϯϲϱϯ
ĂƐĞ,ŽůůƵď
ƵƐƟŶͬtĞŝŵĂƌ
ϵϳϵͲϳϮϱͲϭϭϭϭ
Securing Families’ Lives Since 1901
z
ter or “head brewmonk.” He
had some experience helping
a home-brewing friend before
joining the monastery, but is
still learning even after studying at breweries in Belgium
and having a Belgian brewer
travel to Norcia to teach.
“The biggest challenge for
me has been going from learning theory to actually putting
that into practice,” he said. “Because beer is a natural product
–– it has live yeast in it –– it can
tend to have a mind of its own.
“Beer is something that often can break down barriers,”
he said. “The beer is a catalyst”
for bringing people together and
giving them something to talk
about, but the conversations at
the monastery often do not end
with the beer.
Father Basil Nixen, the novice master, said the beer enterprise has raised the morale of
the monks and reinforces their
sense of community because all
the monks are called on to help
with some aspect of producing,
bottling, distributing and selling
the beer.
“People come to the monastery for the beer,” he said, but
they leave realizing God brought
them to Norcia to meet him.
IRAs
z
Rollovers
3.15
APY
*Includes Current Yield +
ϭ͘ϬϬй&ŝƌƐƚzĞĂƌĚĚŝƟŽŶĂů/ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ
WĂƚƐǇ͘tŝůĞǇ
>ůĂŶŽͬ<ŝŶŐƐůĂŶĚͬ
ƵƐƟŶͬ,ŝůůŽƵŶƚƌǇ
ϯϮϱͲϯϴϴͲϰϲϵϴ
>ǇŶĚŽŶDŝĚĚůĞƚŽŶ
tĞƐƚͬdŽƵƌƐͬtĂĐŽ
ϮϱϰͲϴϮϮͲϭϵϯϯ
ůƵĐŬŚŽůƚ
tĞƐƚƉŚĂůŝĂͬ>ŽƩͬ
ƵƌůŝŶŐƚŽŶͬĂŵĞƌŽŶ
ϮϱϰͲϴϱϰͲϭϭϰϳ
*Interest rates are subject to change.
Minimum guaranteed rate is 1.50% .
,ŽŵĞKĸĐĞ͗^ĂŶŶƚŽŶŝŽ͕dĞǆĂƐ͘η^hϵ͘ϭϯ
Are you looking for a JOB?
www.catholicfdn.org
For more information about how to include the Catholic church in your will or estate plan,
contact Scott Whitaker at (512) 949-2441 or [email protected]
%*
Are you interested in working for the Diocese of Austin, Catholic Charities of Central
Texas or a local parish or Catholic school? If so, visit www.austindiocese.org and
click on “Employment.” Job postings have a link to the application for employment,
which can be mailed or submitted electronically.
September 2013
17
IN OUR WORLD
Charismatic movement is a gift to the whole church
BY FRANCIS X. ROCCA
During World Youth Day
celebrations in Rio de Janeiro,
July 23-28, many worshippers in
the crowds could be seen swaying from side to side, arms raised
in the air, wearing rapt or joyous
expressions on their faces.
Such scenes, along with onstage appearances by celebrities
such as Father Marcelo Rossi,
a mega-church pastor whose
records and movies regularly top
the charts in his native Brazil, testiÀed to the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal’s strong inÁuence on the
church in Latin America today.
As the church continues
to lose members in the region
with the world’s largest Catholic population, the charismatic
movement stands out as a source
of hope, not only for fending off
the formidable competition of
Pentecostal Protestantism but for
raising morale among the faithful
as a whole.
Though not even half a century old, the movement claims
that at least 120 million Catholics in 238 countries have been
“baptized in the Holy Spirit,”
according to a 2012 document
published by International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services. The movement, which
started in the U.S., reports fast
growth in Asia and Africa. But
the world’s largest concentration
of charismatics today is in Latin
America, where 16 percent of
Catholics identify themselves as
participants.
One of the movement’s pioneers was Jesuit Father Edward
Dougherty, founder of Brazil’s
Seculo 21 Catholic satellite television channel.
When the Louisiana native
moved to Brazil in 1966, he
discovered a country where, as
in most of Latin America, vocations and Mass attendance rates
had languished. He also learned
that a recent Catholic movement
to promote social justice in the
region had led, in some cases, to
neglect of otherworldly values.
“I felt very much a strong
emphasis on liberation theology,
which I say is very horizontal,”
Father Dougherty told Catholic
News Service in Rio. “There was
a need for spirituality.”
Meanwhile, Pentecostal
Protestants were enthusiastically
spreading their message to great
success among the traditionally
Catholic population.
Pentecostals “talk about the
spiritual needs of the people,” Father Dougherty said. “Often their
churches, their temples, are more
open than the Catholic churches,” and their pastors more willing to visit people in their homes
than Catholic clergy are.
Some Pentecostal churches,
especially non-denominational
institutions such as Brazil’s Universal Church of the Kingdom of
God, also preach the “prosperity
gospel” of material well-being
through faith in Jesus Christ. It
was a message with obvious appeal in a country such as Brazil,
where, despite recent economic
growth, the per-capita gross
national product is only $12,100.
The Pentecostal movement
has continued to rise, from 6
percent of Brazil’s population
in 1991 to 13 percent in 2010,
according to a recent Pew Research Center study based on
Brazilian census data. In the same
period, the Catholic share of the
country’s population fell from
83 percent to 65 percent. A 2006
Pew survey of Pentecostals in
Brazil found that 45 percent were
converts from Catholicism.
Although the Catholic charismatic renewal has strong ecumenical roots, and its members
have often worshipped together
with Pentecostals, it also functions as a vehicle for retaining or
winning back Catholics tempted
by the Protestant alternative.
Like Pentecostalism, charismatic Catholicism emphasizes
the Holy Spirit, features faith
healing and speaking in tongues
and is spread by door-to-door
evangelists. But the important
roles it gives to Mary and the
Eucharist ensure that charismatic
devotion has a clear Catholic
identity.
The movement also encourages social service, Father
Dougherty said, noting that it
draws its inspiration from the
church’s foundational event, the
Àrst Pentecost, when Jesus’ dis-
Looking for a Sales
Management Opportunity?
7UDLQLQJVXSSRUW
0DUNHWLQJVXSSRUW
5HFUXLWLQJVXSSRUW
&RPPLVVLRQERQXV
If you are a life insurance professional with
5+ years sales experience & a proven track
record of recruiting & training new agents,
we want you!
Call Dawn Fanfelle at
1-800-292-2548 ext 168
or email [email protected]
www.cliu.com
+RPH2I¿FH6DQ$QWRQLR7;*$5
ciples “went out to the streets”
to preach and help the needy as
soon as they were Àlled with the
Holy Spirit.
Strong Catholic identity has
been crucial to the movement’s
acceptance by the church’s hierarchy in Latin America, many
of whom had initial reservations
about its unfamiliar forms of worship and largely lay leadership.
One early skeptic was Argentine Jesuit Father Jorge Mario
Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.
“Back at the end of the 1970s
and the beginning of the 1980s,
I had no time for” charismatics,
the pope told reporters on the
plane returning from Rio July
28. “Once, speaking about them,
I said: ‘These people confuse a
liturgical celebration with samba
lessons!’”
“Now I regret it,” he said.
“Now I think that this movement
does much good for the church,
overall.”
“I don’t think that the charismatic renewal movement merely
prevents people from passing
over to Pentecostal denominations,” Pope Francis said. “No!
It is also a service to the church
herself! It renews us.”
“The movements are necessary, the movements are a grace
of the Spirit,” the pope added,
speaking of ecclesial movements
in general. “Everyone seeks his
own movement, according to
his own charism, where the Holy
Spirit draws him or her.”
A PILGRIM raises his hands in song during the World
Youth Day closing Mass on Copacabana Beach in Rio
de Janeiro July 28. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)
18
IN OUR WORLD
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Local youth travel to Brazil for World Youth Day
“They are the Àrst group of kids
to see him at a World Youth
Day event. They were excited
beyond the rock star thing.”
Among the 3 million or so
Teenagers attending were
faithful who attended World Amanda Arrisola, 16; Sara MyYouth Day in Rio de Janiero, ers, 17; Katherine Myers, 17;
Brazil, were 10 teenagers from Emily Myers, 16; Emanuel MarHoly Family Parish in Copperas tinez, 17; Adan Rivas, 16; Valeria
Cove on their Àrst trip to this Fernandez, 16; Matthew Spears,
international event.
16; Timothy Fajardo, 18; and
They spent 18 months sell- Tamarah Milne-Myazoe, 16. All
ing tacos, cleaning cars at car are students at Copperas Cove
washes and holding garage sales High School except Fajardo,
to help pay their way to Brazil who graduated in the spring,
in July.
and Rivas, who just moved with
The trip strengthened their his family to El Paso. Students
faith and forged a bond that from St. Elizabeth Parish in
these youngsters will never for- PÁugerville and St. William Parget. High on the list of favorites ish in Round Rock also traveled
was seeing Pope Francis in his to Brazil.
Àrst international outing. Aside
Arrisola said it was new
from seeing the pope, they youth director Meghan James
heard familiar prayers recited in who suggested attending WYD,
different languages, exchanged which got everybody excited.
A GROUP OF TEENS from Holy Family Parish in Copperas Cove was one of three groups
Áags, buttons and rosaries with James told them it would be lot
from the Austin Diocese that attended World Youth Day in Brazil in late July. Bishop Joe
people from around the world of hard work to raise money for
and took lots and lots of photos. the trip; thankfully, the payoff
Vásquez also attended the celebration. (Photo courtesy Janie Vasquez)
It wasn’t always fun: they were was beyond their expectations.
8 miles from the main event
“It was overwhelming,” Arsites, it was cold, it rained, they risola said. “There were millions wouldn’t think that so many tent-like confessionals was also some Portuguese –– as did some
of the others.
got up early and went to bed of people and everybody was youth would be involved with a highlight.
“I know some Spanish so
“I felt like a whole differlate. But those who are eligible there for the same reason. You church. It was different lanthat helped,” she said. She also
plan to attend the next WYD in
wishes they had brought Texas
Krakow, Poland, in 2016.
For parent and chaperone “I could feel Jesus radiating ... The same thing happened and U.S. Áags to exchange. She
Kristina Williams-Myers, the when I saw the pope. I really felt his presence. Everyone plans to bring both to Poland.
Spears said attending Mass
expression on the youngsters’
“was amazing” and saying the
faces upon seeing Pope Francis really listened intently to his words.”
–– Emanuel Martinez, youth from Holy Family Parish in Copperas Cove rosary “was really cool … each
was priceless.
decade was in a different lan“This is the Àrst pope they
guage,” he said.
will really remember,” she said.
Praying daily at WYD also
guages but the same Word.”
ent person,” she said. “It was
strengthened his prayer life and
Seeing the pope the first powerful.”
time was very emotional. “EvMartinez, who graduates helped him deal with the frustraerybody was screaming and next year, said he was “look- tions of dealing with the crowds.
“It made me realize prayer
crying,” she said.
ing for a faith booster,” and he
can get me out of any situation,”
The life-changing moment got it.
for her occurred when the pope
“You could say I’m a born- he said.
Williams-Myers said the trip
stopped to hold and kiss a baby. again Catholic,” he said. Seeing
“The fact that he reached the gigantic Jesus statue was a was also an opportunity for her
own renewal.
out was incredible,” she said.
powerful experience.
“Sometimes you get stagSara Myers said the experi“I could feel Jesus radiatence has helped her enjoy at- ing,” he said. “The same thing nant,” she said. “It helped me
tending church more and it has happened when I saw the pope. remember why I’m Catholic.”
At the event, she said, “you
strengthened her faith.
I really felt his presence. Every“Some people say, ‘why one really listened intently to his truly feel that you are the church,
one body. That was awesome!”
bother?’” she said. “God doesn’t words.”
Adults need to recognize
Rivas said his Àrst reaction
control your life. But if you follow God, he will guide you in upon hearing the group might that today’s young people will
go to Brazil was, “Ooh! Travel!” not follow the faith just because
the right path.”
Once he was there, he was they are told to do so.
She liked attending Mass,
“This generation needs
with people praying in their own impressed at everyone celebratconcrete answers to their
languages, as well as attending ing their faith.
“I wish we could have got- questions,” she said. “We
a vocations fair that included a
presentation by people building ten more people to go or gone have to be cognizant of that.
to fewer events,” he said. “There We need to communicate that
schools in Africa.
“It made me think I can do was so much. We were very with love and really listen and
be respectful of their questhat,” she said. “It gave us a lot tired.”
Fernandez said the experi- tions and answer those questo think about.”
Katherine Myers, who is an ence brought her group closer tions even when it’s hard.”
The next WYD will be in
altar server, said seeing the pope and made them realize just how
universal the church is. They July 2016 in Krakow, Poland. It
was “phenomenal.”
“He was about 10 feet met youth from Iraq, South Ko- is open to youth ages 16 to 35,
WHILE IN RIO DE JANEIRO, many of the pilgrims visited
away,” she said. “He looks so rea and Kuwait and exchanged although anyone over the age of
the Christ the Redeemer statue, which stands atop Corcomuch younger in person. He gifts with kids from Ireland and 18 signs up independently. For
vado Mountain and overlooks the city. (Photo courtesy
more information, visit www.
looks very peaceful and holy.” Argentina.
Janie Vasquez)
She wishes she had learned krakow2016.com/en/.
Going to confession in the
September 2013
GOOD NEWS
19
World Youth Day was an experience of faith
BISHOP JOE S.
VÁSQUEZ is the ¿fth
bishop of the Austin
Diocese. He shepherds more than
530,000 Catholics in 25 Central
Texas counties.
Editor: Bishop, at the end of
July you attended World Youth Day
in Brazil. Tell us about your experience.
Bishop Vásquez: World Youth
Day 2013 was a very uplifting and afÀrming experience for me as a bishop.
This is my third opportunity to participate in World Youth Day –– I visited
Toronto in 2002 and Madrid in 2011;
and once again I was amazed by this
impressive gathering of young people
from every corner of the globe. Approximately 3 million people were at the
closing Mass with Pope Francis, which
was held on Copacabana beach in Rio
de Janiero. As I looked down the beach,
I could see people from all parts of the
world waving their country Áags. It was a
marvelous sight to behold. The question
arises, “Who has the ability to gather so
many people from all over the world for
a spiritual event –– our Holy Father!”
Blessed John Paul II initiated World
Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI continued the tradition and this year Pope
Francis welcomed millions of pilgrims to
Brazil. I just couldn’t help but be proud
to be Catholic!
Throughout my experience at World
Youth Day, I was very impressed and
hopeful with the youth and young
adults of our church. They walked great
distances in the cold, rainy weather and
they stood for hours waiting for Mass.
And yet there were times of quiet in the
midst of such an immense assembly of
people. Several times at these moments
of prayer, Pope Francis called for silence,
and there was an immediate reÁective
silence, which was beautiful.
So often we hear our youth are disenchanted with the church and its teachings, but after witnessing World Youth
Day, I can see that our young people are
very engaged. They are asking deep, serious questions about life, about purpose
and service, and about wanting to be involved with the church. It is a great sign
of hope to see this gathering of millions
of youth from all over the world who
want to put Christ at the center of their
lives and want to serve the church.
Editor: What were some of the
speciÀc highlights?
Bishop Vásquez: During World
Youth Day, there were different sites
located throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro where the youth would come and
receive catechesis on the Catholic faith.
I had the privilege of listening to two
excellent presentations –– one given by
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York
and the other given by Cardinal Sean
O’Malley of Boston. Both were amazing
because they both connected with the
BISHOP JOE VÁSQUEZ took this photo the morning of the closing Mass for World Youth Day. The youth from
all over the world were gathering in preparation for the arrival of Pope Francis. “As I took this photo, I could sense
the excitement of the people as they waited for the Holy Father to arrive and celebrate the Eucharist,” the bishop
commented. (Photo by Bishop Joe Vásquez)
youth. As I listened to the presentations,
it was obvious that their message resonated with the young people. Our youth
want to encounter Jesus Christ.
The cardinals spoke about some
very difÀcult and challenging topics,
with both of them admitting that there
have been errors made and there have
been faults within the church. Yet, the
Catholic Church remains a great sign of
hope because Christ promised that he
would be with us until the end of time.
The church remains faithful to Christ
and the mission entrusted to her, which
is to proclaim Christ to the world.
The other highlight was witnessing
Pope Francis as he visited the people
of Rio. Every time he went through
the streets, he spent time with the people. He wanted to communicate with
the people. He sought to get to know
them just like any good pastor would.
And the people were obviously drawn
to him. He began his visit at the Shrine
of Our Lady of Aparecida, patron of
Brazil. There the pope said, “Today,
looking forward to the World Youth
Day which has brought me to Brazil,
I too come to knock on the door of
the house of Mary –– who loved and
raised Jesus –– that she may help all of
us, pastors of God’s people, parents
and educators, to pass on to our young
people the values that can help them
build a nation and a world which are
more just, united and fraternal.”
Pope Francis quickly won the
hearts of the Brazilians and everyone
who was gathered for World Youth
Day. And at the end of the gathering,
Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer
told the Holy Father that the country’s
door would be permanently open to
him and called on him to “just enter
without knocking, because there will
always be a place for Your Holiness in
Brazilians’ hearts.”
I thought this was a marvelous
expression of the door as a sign of
welcome and reception and knowing that the Holy Father would always
be received there. He visited people
who were ordinary folk and he met
with government ofÀcials and bishops.
Watching him move in and among the
people, and watching him pray with the
people was impressive. Not only was he
visiting a country, he was building the
faith of young people and all who came
into contact with him. And at the end
of his visit, the pope admitted that being
in Brazil and being with so many young
people was an opportunity to have his
own faith strengthened as well.
Editor: Pope Francis seems
to really have ignited the faith in
Catholics throughout the world.
What do you think of this?
Bishop Vásquez: Yes, I agree.
I think this is because he has taken a
different approach from our previous popes. That is not to say that our
previous popes were any less men of
faith or men of God and that is not to
say that they didn’t make a signiÀcant
contribution to the church. However, I
think Pope Francis has added a dimension of simplicity and humility, which I
think people Ànd appealing –– he has a
very pastoral, down-to-earth approach.
He himself is living a simple life. He
has chosen not to live in the papal
apartments in the Apostolic Palace,
but to live in a suite in the Vatican
guesthouse, which is a simple house
for ofÀcial visitors. He is a man who
comes from serving people in poverty.
In Argentina, he lived among people
who were poor and he visited them
just like a pastor. Even though he was
archbishop, he traveled through the
country, through the city the way that
ordinary people traveled.
While he was in Rio, Pope Francis
traveled in the open-air popemobile
and he stopped and walked among
the people. As he traveled through the
crowds, people showered him with
Áowers, soccer jerseys, Áags and other
gifts. The people’s response to him
and their love for him was beautiful to
witness and his response to the people
was equally moving. He takes babies
and kisses them. He blesses the sick.
He embraces those who are incapacitated. He spends time with people. He
is not afraid. He is conÀdent of the
role that has been entrusted to him.
I loved what he told the youth at
one point about the faith being revolutionary. “Peace, consolation, gentleness, courage, serenity and joy, which
are all fruits of the Holy Spirit, Ànd a
home in our heart, so our very being is
transformed; our way of thinking and
acting is made new, it becomes Jesus’
own, God’s own, way of thinking and
acting. Dear friends, faith is revolutionary and today I ask you: are you willing
… to enter into this revolutionary
wave of faith? Only by entering into
this wave will your young lives acquire
meaning and thus become fruitful!”
Editor: What is your prayer for
Pope Francis and for the church as
we go forward?
Bishop Vásquez: Of course, our
prayer for our Holy Father is always
that God will continue to protect
him, watch over him, guide him and
inspire him so that he may continue
to be the Vicar of Christ that we need
at this particular moment in time. Every Holy Father, of course, deals with
many issues because it is a universal
church. My prayer is that our Holy
Father will speak the words of Christ
and will continue to renew and motivate us. Especially during this Year of
Faith, I pray all of us will be conÀdent of our Catholic faith and not be
afraid of expressing it and communicating it with others. I pray we are all
as he has said –– revolutionary.
20
GOOD NEWS
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
St. Giles known as one of ‘Holy Helpers’
BY MARY LOU GIBSON
COLUMNIST
Giles was a hermit who lived in
the woods near the River Rhone in
France in either the seventh or eighth
century. Much of what is known
about him comes from legend. One
popular legend says that he lived on
herbs and the milk of a young deer.
He became one of the most widely
known and most popular saints of the
“SAINT GILES AND THE HIND”
painted by the Master of Saint
Giles. (National Gallery, London)
Middle Ages based on a story written
about him in the 10th century.
According to this account, Giles
was born in Athens and became famous for giving alms to the poor and
working miracles. Paul Burns writes
in “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” that
to escape the notoriety of being
known as a miracle worker, he set sail
from Athens and reached Marseilles.
From there, he went into the
woods and met the deer who supposedly nourished him with her milk
and a legend was begun. Burns gives
this account of Giles and the deer: “a
local king (maybe the Gothic King
Flavius) led his hunting parties into
the wood following the tracks of the
deer, but she escaped by hiding in
Giles’ cave. One of the huntsmen
shot an arrow at it and when the king
and a bishop went to see where it had
gone, they found Giles wounded by
the arrow.”
Rodney Castleden writes in “The
Book of Saints” that Giles later
prayed that his wound would not heal
saying “my strength is made perfect
in weakness.”
The king offered Giles money in
compensation, which Giles at Àrst
refused. He eventually accepted on
the condition that it should be used
to build a monastery. This was done
and Giles became its Àrst abbot. The
monastery was where the town of
Saint-Gilles near Nimes, France now
stands. A large community developed
around the monastery. Sadly, it is
gone now after being damaged by the
Albigensians in the 13th century.
Another legend that boosted
Giles’ popularity concerns a king who
sought his spiritual advice. Some say
it was Charlemagne. This king asked
for Giles’ forgiveness for a sin he did
not dare confess. According to David
Hugh Farmer writing in the “Oxford Dictionary of Saints,” Giles was
celebrating Mass when the sin was
revealed to him by an angel. He told
this to the amazed king who admitted
the sin and repented.
The known facts of Giles’ life
are that he was probably born in
the seventh or eighth century and
that he built a monastery near Arles
in Provence. This site was on the
pilgrimage routes between Rome and
Santiago de Compostela, the pilgrim
way of St. James. Burns writes that
the legends about St. Giles gave the
monastery importance and attracted
pilgrims.
Giles died about 710 and his cult
spread all over Europe. Every county
in England except Westmorland and
Cumberland had churches dedicated
to him, more than 160 in all. The
most famous of these is St. Giles at
Edinburgh, a major shrine, and St.
Giles Cripplegate, London. At least
15 locations in France are named
after him. His feast on Sept. 1 is
celebrated by all English-Benedictine
monasteries. It is not on the General
Roman calendar.
His churches are often found at
road junctions where travelers could
visit while they had their horses shod
in nearby smithies.
St. Giles is included in the list of
Fourteen Holy Helpers, a popular
group of saints that people pray to
especially for recovery from disease.
Devotion to the Holy Helpers is
especially strong in parts of Germany,
Hungary and Sweden. He is the
patron saint of beggars, black smiths,
cripples, lepers and the woods. Giles
is depicted in art wearing a Benedictine habit with a deer and arrow.
MARY LOU GIBSON is
a member of St. Austin Parish in Austin.
She is a retired state
employee.
The John Paul II Life Center’s Beneﬁt Dinner
Embrace a Better Choice!
Patr
Patrick
t ickk Madrid,
Mad
drid
id EWTN
EWTN
radio host, author of more
than 20 Catholic books
Collin
Coll
lliin Raye,
ll
Raye Catholic
Cathholilic
convert and Country
Music recording artist
Sh
Sheila
heil
ila LLiaugminas,
iaugminas
i
News Director of
Relevant Radio
Thursday, Dec. 5 2013 - 7:00pm
at the AT&T Conference Center - Austin
Tickets, sponsorships or to donate go to www.jpiilifecenter.org
Our three fold mission:
sOPERATEA#ATHOLIC/"'9.OFlCEThe Vitae Clinic
sPROVIDEsonograms TOMOTHERSFACINGUNEXPECTEDPREGNANCIES
sOFFEReducationABOUTCHASTELIVINGFERTILITYCAREANDMORE
7TH3TREET3UITE!USTIN48ssINFO
JPIILIFECENTERORG
GOOD NEWS
September 2013
21
The ‘dream’ of home ownership involves the heart
BY BURNIE COOK
COLUMNIST
Some individuals believe, “home
is where the heart is.” As of Aug.
3, my wife and I have made our
“home” in Austin for one year. It
has been a worthwhile experience;
however, before the end of 2013, we
will undertake a new transition. My
wife and I and our dog will move
from a single bedroom apartment to
a three bedroom home that we are
having built about 20 miles north,
thus moving out of Austin to Leander. All this change is causing me
much excitement and a little anxiety.
Building a home has been and continues to be a stressful ordeal, but
we’ll get through it. For as another
old saying goes, “If God brings you
to it; he’ll bring you through it.”
Jeremiah 29:5 says, “Build
houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits.” I cannot
address the concern of having a
garden at this time for I don’t know
the size of the yard. Yet I think it
is worth noting how eco-conscious
one can be during such an endeavor,
be it home building or home buying
and remodeling. Home building
certainly has given us more choices
than originally expected.
In the building process, we have
been able to choose a home site (a
lot), a Áoor plan as well as some of
the building materials. These include
details of the house façade (brick,
stone, a mixture or other), kitchen
cabinets (made of wood or another
material), cabinet hardware (knobs,
handles, etc.), appliances (energyefÀcient or based on looks and/or
functionality), countertops (laminate, granite, glass or other things),
optional Àreplace (wood burning
or gas), any additional plumbing
concerns in a laundry room and or
in the owner’s suite and bathroom
(what are the pipes made of; will
they make effective efforts on water
preservation and/or conservation)
and Áooring throughout (natural
wood, bamboo, laminate, tile, carpet).
Home buying can be a trying
ordeal, too. Touring houses, making
offers and being rejected, all for the
REGISTER TODAY!
3RD ANNUAL
n
Ho
me
Ann
u
Monday, October 28th, 2013
Matern
it
y
tion
cia
Entry Fee: $100 /player
includes golf, fajita dinner,
and player’s bag
CHARITY GOLF
CHARITY
GOLF
TOURNAMENT
TOURNAMENT
sake of Ànding one’s “dream house”
seems to be just that, a dream.
For those of us on a budget,
Ànding the perfect house in terms
of location, size, eco-friendliness
and affordability is nearly impossible. I would love to build a home
with solar panels and made of
environmentally conscious materials
on a piece of land where we could
grow a garden and let our dog run
free, but my wife and I are not in
such a Ànancial position right now.
However, this will not stop us from
making our new house a home
when we move in later this year.
Just because it does not have every
single element of our “dream home”
does not mean it won’t be a happy
home!
Whether we live in a newly built
house, a remodeled home or an
apartment, home is indeed where
the heart is. We are called to care
for and respect all that God has
given us in this life –– from the
environment that surrounds us to
the loving hearts of our neighbors,
friends and family.
Pope Benedict XVI said some-
thing similar at World Youth Day in
Australia in 2008, “My dear friends,
God’s creation is one and it is good.
The concerns for nonviolence,
sustainable development, justice and
peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for
humanity. They cannot, however, be
understood apart from a profound
reÁection on the innate dignity of
every human life from conception
to natural death: a dignity conferred
by God himself and thus inviolable.”
BURNIE COOK
and his wife
Maggie are
parishioners
of St. Vincent
de Paul Parish
in Austin. He
enjoys spending
time with family and friends. Aside
from the environment, his other
passions include marketing communications, ¿lm, music and the
arts. Look for “Passage of Green”
on Facebook and Twitter.
Job opening at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston
St. Mary’s Seminary is searching for an experienced musician with liturgical training experience who will be responsible for the planning, rehearsing
and performance of the musical aspects of the liturgical life of St. Mary’s
Seminary Program of Priestly Formation. This formation program trains
the future priests of the Catholic Church of Galveston-Houston and much
of the state of Texas through the 13 dioceses represented at St. Mary’s.
The Seminary musician will be an important part of this preparation for the
priesthood, working with the seminarians on a daily basis. Primarily, this
person will provide daily accompaniment of Lauds, Vespers and Mass on
organ and/or piano.
For more information, go to www.smseminary.com or send letter of interest
and resume to [email protected].
Registration begins at 11:00am
Shotgun start at 1:30pm
Four Person Scramble Format
Registration, Sponsorships, and Information:
(512) 864-7755 or www.thematernityhome.org
To advertise,
call Shelley
at (512)
949-2443.
COURAGE OF AUSTIN
Homosexuality and Hope
Call Fr. Becker: (512) 863-3041
(must dial area code from Austin)
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.couragerc.net
Trips to Scotland, France, Ireland, Shrines of Europe and much more...
ranging from $3,599—$4,699 for 2013.
Prices are ALL-INCLUSIVE w/airfare from anywhere in the continental USA
Italy/Switzerland: Oct. 5-17, Oct. 6-18, Oct. 12-24, Oct. 19-31, Oct. 26-Nov. 7 ...
Italy Regular: Oct. 5-13, Oct. 12-20, Oct. 19-27, Oct. 26-Nov. 3 ...
Holy Land: Oct. 7-17, Oct. 8-18, Oct. 14-24, Oct. 15-25, Oct. 21-31, Oct. 22-Nov. 1,
Oct. 28-Nov. 7, Oct. 29-Nov. 8, Nov. 1-11, Nov. 2-12, Nov. 4-14, Nov. 5-15 ...
Poland: Oct. 5-16, Oct. 6-17, Oct. 12-23, Oct. 19-30, Oct. 26-Nov. 6 …
Italy/Lourdes/Fatima: Oct. 5-17, Oct. 12-24, Oct. 19-31, Oct. 26-Nov. 7 ...
www.proximotravel.com
713-393-7161 | 855-842-8001
Carmela A. Dupuis - Executive Director
email: [email protected]
Abortion in your past?
1-877-WeCare2
1 - 8 7 7 - 9 3 2-2 7 3 2
[email protected]
www.austindiocese.org/projectrachel
GOOD NEWS
22
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
Natural Law is essential part of morality
BY REV. TADEUSZ PACHOLCZYK, PH.D.
COLUMNIST
People sometimes use the phrase
“moral compass” to describe the
innate sense of right and wrong that
human beings have. President Obama,
for example, recently mentioned in one
of his speeches how we need to, “keep
our own moral compass pointed in
a true direction.” Although he didn’t
spell out what that true direction might
be, his remark nevertheless highlighted
something that all can agree upon,
namely, the importance of being
guided by a moral compass.
When functioning properly, this
moral compass (a.k.a. our “conscience”), not only encourages us
from within to “do good and avoid
evil,” but also sets off internal alarm
bells when we are tempted to carry
out evil acts. Some acts, such as
murder, torture, theft and adultery
will trigger those alarm bells almost
universally, irrespective of time period, culture or upbringing within a
particular society.
No society erects statues to honor
their greatest adulterers, or to celebrate
their most proliÀc murderers. When a
genocidal leader is cast in marble, it is
to memorialize qualities like courage or
leadership, not murderous proclivities.
The fact that certain actions like
murder and adultery are wrong and invariably harmful, and readily perceived
as such, leads to what is known as
the “Natural Law.” The Natural Law
signiÀes that we can know through
our powers of reason what is right and
wrong, and that our reason can thereby
guide us toward an ethical life. Becoming aware of the Natural Law through
a carefully formed moral compass is
an essential part of what it means to
be human. Those who invoke Natural
Law appeal to self-evident principles
that can be known by all humans.
Catholic teachings about morality
also rely on the notion of Natural Law.
The Second Vatican Council, to consider but one example, describes our
moral duty this way: “Deep within his
conscience man discovers a law which
he has not laid upon himself but which
he must obey.”
The Natural Law, nonetheless, is
not a speciÀcally Christian idea, but has
its origins in pre-Christian thought. A
number of ancient Greek philosophers
discuss the notion. Cicero, the Roman
lawyer and writer (106-43 B.C.), has a
famous passage wherein he describes
the Natural Law:
“There is in fact a true Law ––
namely, right reason –– which is in
accordance with nature, applies to all
men, and is unchangeable and eternal.
By its commands it summons men
to the performance of their duties; by
its prohibitions it restrains them from
doing wrong. To invalidate this Law
by human legislation is never morally right, nor is it permissible ever to
restrict its operation; and to annul it
wholly is impossible.”
He also notes how the Natural Law
cannot be “one thing at Rome, and another at Athens; one thing to-day, and
another to-morrow; but in all times
and nations this universal law must forever reign, eternal and imperishable.”
Despite its constancy and universality, the demands of the Natural
Law are not easily speciÀed or deduced, free of disputation or debate.
Some people today, in fact, inÁuenced by the hedonism and relativism of our age, would go further and
outright deny the existence of the
Natural Law.
Interestingly, though, whenever
a serious crisis or threat to civilization arises, the validity of natural law
reasoning tends to reassert itself. Such
a resurgence occurred, for example, at
the end of World War II, during the
Nuremberg trials and in the prosecutions against those who had perpetrated heinous crimes against humanity. Nazi defendants objected to being
placed on trial for simply following the
orders of their superiors and the laws
of their country. Most of their actions
were recognized as being legal under
the judicial system of the Third Reich.
They were ultimately found guilty,
nevertheless, of violating a higher law
to which all nations and peoples are
subject.
Sir Hartley Shawcross, the British
prosecutor, stressed that there could
be no immunity “for those who obey
orders which –– whether legal or not
in the country where they are issued
–– are manifestly contrary to the very
law of nature from which international
law has grown.” The prosecutors at
Nuremberg built their case on the fact
that, in the Ànal analysis, the laws of
man and of nations are subject to the
laws of God and the Natural Law.
To discern the Natural Law and
thereby perceive our moral obligations requires reÁection, reason and
discipline. The darkening of our reason
and the weakening of our will that has
subtly infected us because of sin can
make it challenging, even two millennia
following Cicero, to properly grasp our
natural moral obligations. The Natural
Law, nevertheless, represents an essential core of universal morality, serving
as a key foundation for ethics, and an
antidote to the lawlessness that tempts
us in every age.
FATHER TADEUSZ PACHOLCZYK,
PH.D. earned his
doctorate in neuroscience from Yale.
He is a priest of
the Diocese of Fall
River, Mass., and
serves as the Director of Education
at The National
Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. For more information, visit
www.ncbcenter.org.
Collection for Catholic Relief Services
The special collection Catholic Relief Services was taken up March 9-10. For more information about this collection, visit www.usccb.org/catholic-giving/opportunities-for-giving/catholic-relief-services-collection/. If your parish Ànds an error, call the diocesan Finance OfÀce at (512) 949-2400.
Parish
Total
Austin Central Deanery
Austin, Holy Cross
$230.00
Austin, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$1,131.56
Austin, St. Austin
$4,242.82
Austin, St. Ignatius
$1,960.51
Austin, St. Julia
$580.96
Austin, St. Mary Cathedral
$2,954.13
Austin, San Jose
$3,216.50
Austin Central Deanery Total
$14,316.48
Austin North Deanery
Austin, Holy Vietnamese Martyrs
$1,687.00
Austin, Sacred Heart
$2,287.00
Austin, St. Albert the Great
$4,159.00
Austin, St. Louis
$2,076.40
Austin, St. Theresa
$4,784.00
Austin, St. Thomas More
$6,305.02
Austin, St. Vincent de Paul
$2,482.00
Cedar Park, St. Margaret Mary
$5,299.74
Lago Vista, Our Lady of the Lake
$1,609.36
Austin North Deanery Total
$30,689.52
Austin South Deanery
Austin, Dolores
$1,030.00
Austin, St. Andrew Kim
$220.00
Austin, St. Catherine of Siena
$5,795.88
Austin, St. John Neumann
$6,995.25
Austin, St. Paul
$2,803.15
Austin, St. Peter the Apostle
$1,616.00
Austin, San Francisco Javier
$418.00
Lakeway, Emmaus
$1,330.00
Austin South Deanery Total
$20,208.28
Brenham/La Grange Deanery
Brenham, St. Mary
$639.00
Chappell Hill, St. Stanislaus
$405.00
Dime Box, St. Joseph
$302.00
Ellinger/Hostyn Hill, St. Mary
$474.00
Parish
Total
Fayetteville, St. John
$1,553.00
Giddings, St. Margaret
$1,271.00
La Grange, Sacred Heart
$1,372.96
Lexington, Holy Family
$278.00
Old Washington on the Brazos, St. Mary $178.75
Pin Oak, St. Mary
$301.00
Rockdale, St. Joseph
$694.97
Somerville, St. Ann
$457.00
Brenham/La Grange Deanery Total
$7,926.68
Bastrop/Lockhart Deanery
Bastrop, Ascension
$1,668.53
Elgin, Sacred Heart
$879.08
Lockhart, St. Mary of the Visitation
$2,697.47
Luling, St. John
$622.70
Martindale, Immaculate Heart
$370.00
Rockne, Sacred Heart
$792.38
Smithville, St. Paul
$948.00
String Prairie, Assumption
$545.00
Uhland, St. Michael
$212.63
Bastrop/Lockhart Deanery Total
$8,735.79
Bryan/College Station Deanery
Bremond, St. Mary
$700.00
Bryan, St. Anthony
$697.88
Bryan, St. Joseph
$1,114.00
Bryan, Santa Teresa
$160.00
Caldwell, St. Mary
$1,205.00
College Station, St. Mary
$3,777.37
College Station, St. Thomas Aquinas $4,249.36
Frenstat, Holy Rosary
$285.00
Hearne, St. Mary
$421.00
Bryan/College Station Deanery Total $12,609.61
Georgetown/Round Rock Deanery
Andice, Santa Rosa
$4,534.00
Corn Hill, Holy Trinity
$775.00
Georgetown, St. Helen
$6,001.20
Parish
Total
Granger, Sts. Cyril and Methodius
$1,155.75
Hutto, St. Patrick
$1,532.00
Manor, St. Joseph
$183.39
PÀugerville, St. Elizabeth
$3,417.77
Round Rock, St. John Vianney
$4,972.77
Round Rock, St. William
$10,210.06
Taylor, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$415.46
Taylor, St. Mary of the Assumption
$1,750.05
Georgetown/Round Rock Total
$34,947.45
Killeen/Temple Deanery
Belton, Christ the King
$1,992.00
Burlington, St. Michael
$154.90
Cameron, St. Monica
$546.00
Copperas Cove, Holy Family
$5,012.00
Cyclone, St. Joseph
$190.00
Harker Heights, St. Paul Chong Hasang$4,615.00
Killeen, St. Joseph
$2,343.64
Marak, Sts. Cyril and Methodius
$229.00
Rogers, St. Matthew
$315.00
Rosebud, St. Ann
$214.15
Salado, St. Stephen
$1,127.00
Temple, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$1,239.00
Temple, St. Luke
$3,772.00
Temple, St. Mary
$2,160.00
Westphalia, Visitation
$654.00
Killeen/Temple Deanery Total
$24,563.69
Lampasas/Marble Falls Deanery
Bertram, Holy Cross
$71.00
Burnet, Our Mother of Sorrows
$669.01
Goldthwaite, St. Peter
$165.00
Horseshoe Bay, St. Paul the Apostle $2,201.00
Kingsland, St. Charles Borromeo
$635.60
Lampasas, St. Mary
$441.30
Llano, Holy Trinity
$426.40
Lometa, Good Shepherd
$132.00
Marble Falls, St. John
$462.66
Parish
Total
Mason, St. Joseph
$443.83
San Saba, St. Mary
$326.90
Sunrise Beach, Our Lady of the Lake
$202.00
Lampasas/Marble Falls Total
$6,176.70
San Marcos Deanery
Blanco, St. Ferdinand
$556.03
Buda, Santa Cruz
$4,645.66
Dripping Springs, St. Martin de Porres $1,492.80
Johnson City, Good Shepherd
$273.81
Kyle, St. Anthony Marie de Claret
$1,783.65
San Marcos, Our Lady of Wisdom
$550.65
San Marcos, St. John
$8,466.98
Wimberley, St. Mary
$1,664.90
San Marcos Deanery Total
$19,434.48
Waco Deanery
China Spring, St. Phillip
$429.75
Elk, St. Joseph
$177.00
Gatesville, Our Lady of Lourdes
$561.34
Hamilton, St. Thomas
$146.00
Lott, Sacred Heart
$189.00
McGregor, St. Eugene
$1,411.17
Marlin, St. Joseph
$590.65
Mexia, St. Mary
$445.12
Tours, St. Martin
$377.00
Waco, Sacred Heart
$410.00
Waco, St. Francis on the Brazos
$597.75
Waco (Hewitt), St. Jerome
$3,198.04
Waco, St. John the Baptist
$60.00
Waco (Bellmead), St. Joseph
$1,035.54
Waco, St. Louis
$3,966.12
Waco, St. Mary of the Assumption
$40.00
Waco, St. Peter Catholic Center
$70.32
West, Church of the Assumption
$3,450.00
Waco Deanery Total
$17,154.80
Grand Total
$196,763.48
GOOD NEWS
September 2013
23
It’s time to push for comprehensive immigration reform
BY BARBARA BUDDE
COLUMNIST
Recently I read the story of
Manuel. He came to the U.S. when he
was 9, went to school, learned English,
became skilled in the construction
business, met and married his wife
Juanita and provided for his family,
including his two children. Manual
was a good husband and father, a law
abiding, tax-paying citizen and a model
in the community. However, he was
cited for a broken tail light and when
he went to pay the $75 Àne, he was
detained by Immigration and Custom
Enforcement (ICE) because he did not
have proper documentation. He was
given a choice by ICE to Àght the detention and deportation, in which case,
they assured him that they would also
pick up his wife, which would leave
their children as wards of the state, or
he could just quietly be deported back
to Mexico. Like the movie “Sophie’s
Choice” from several decades ago,
Manuel was faced with an impossible
decision, abandon his family or cause
his children to be parentless in their
own country –– the country he had
come to know as his.
Manuel’s story is one reason among
many that our country desperately
PEOPLE RALLY for comprehensive immigration reform near the U.S.
Capitol in Washington. (CNS photo/Rafael Crisostomo, El Pregonero)
needs comprehensive immigration
reform. In an April editorial, Bishop
Joe Vásquez wrote, “We believe that
each person is created in the image and
likeness of God; therefore, we have
to speak out when there is an affront
to human dignity, when there is human trafÀcking and when families are
blown apart because they are forcibly
separated by hundreds of miles.”
I have heard many arguments about
why we should not reform our immigration system, but most of them seem
to be rooted in fear. We are afraid that
immigrants will take too many jobs, or
drive down the minimum wage; we are
afraid that our culture and language will
be drastically changed; we are afraid of
“amnesty;” we are afraid of criminals
and terrorists. The truth is that comprehensive immigration addresses these
issues: millions are already here and
working and beneÀting our society, and
legalizing these workers will beneÀt our
economy even more; immigrants assimilate within a generation and enrich our
culture; the reform is not amnesty, but
earned citizenship that will be long and
arduous; a reformed system will help us
to keep track of those coming into our
country.
However these arguments are not
the most important. The truth is we
need to support comprehensive immigration reform because we are Kingdom people! In August we heard Jesus
tell his disciples, “Do not be afraid
any longer, little Áock, for your Father
is pleased to give you the kingdom.”
(Lk 12:32) We are God’s people Àlled
with God’s grace to reveal the kind of
community that can exist when we are
open to God’s grace and love. It is a
community that does not live in fear,
but welcomes the stranger, feeds the
hungry, clothes the naked and cares for
the sick and imprisoned.
We can choose to let politics and
politicians deÀne us, or we can let our
baptism and our faith deÀne us. If so
we will tell our politicians, who work
for us, that we want to be a community of light and faith, a community
that will not force fathers like Manuel
to be deported, but will help him and
millions of others to live and thrive in
this great country of ours.
The U.S. bishops have a website,
www.justiceforimmigrants.org, where
we can sign a postcard to send to our
Congressional Representatives and
Senators. There is detailed information
on the reforms that the bishops recommend and information on immigration
reform not from a politician’s perspective, but from our faith perspective.
Together, we can act as people of faith
and reform our immigration laws in a
way that acts on the values of our faith.
BARBARA BUDDE
is the diocesan
director of social
concerns. She
can be reached at
(512) 949-2471 or
barbara-budde@
austindiocese.org.
Special Collection for the Holy Land
The special collection for the Holy Land was taken up March 29. For more information about this collection, visit www.myfranciscan.org. If your parish Ànds an
error, call the diocesan Finance OfÀce at (512) 949-2400.
Parish
Total
Austin Central Deanery
Austin, Cristo Rey
Austin, Holy Cross
$817.00
Austin, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$609.94
Austin, St. Austin
$1,427.84
Austin, St. Ignatius
$2,949.48
Austin, St. Julia
$230.00
Austin, St. Mary Cathedral
$1,439.00
Austin, San Jose
$1,392.27
Austin, University Catholic Center
$885.98
Austin Central Deanery Total
$9,751.51
Austin North Deanery
Austin, Holy Vietnamese Martyrs
$2,077.00
Austin, Sacred Heart
$2,166.00
Austin, St. Albert the Great
$1,980.00
Austin, St. Louis
$6,595.68
Austin, St. Theresa
$1,733.00
Austin, St. Thomas More
$4,988.38
Austin, St. Vincent de Paul
$3,995.00
Cedar Park, St. Margaret Mary
$2,240.06
Lago Vista, Our Lady of the Lake
$899.00
Austin North Deanery Total
$26,674.12
Austin South Deanery
Austin, Dolores
$603.61
Austin, St. Andrew Kim
$135.00
Austin, St. Catherine of Siena
$2,884.75
Austin, St. John Neumann
$2,634.09
Austin, St. Paul
$2,126.61
Austin, St. Peter the Apostle
$1,253.00
Austin, San Francisco Javier
$235.00
Lakeway, Emmaus
$2,590.00
Austin South Deanery Total
$12,462.06
Brenham/La Grange Deanery
Brenham, St. Mary
$1,686.44
Parish
Total
Chappell Hill, St. Stanislaus
$392.05
Dime Box, St. Joseph
$575.00
Ellinger/Hostyn Hill, St. Mary
$564.00
Burton, Sacred Heart
$155.00
Fayetteville, St. John
$1,666.00
La Grange, Sacred Heart
$2,115.14
Lexington, Holy Family
$134.00
Pin Oak, St. Mary
$123.00
Rockdale, St. Joseph
$365.00
Somerville, St. Ann
$315.00
Brenham/La Grange Deanery Total
$8,090.63
Bastrop/Lockhart Deanery
Bastrop, Ascension
$1,404.00
Elgin, Sacred Heart
$371.08
Lockhart, St. Mary of the Visitation
$2,324.21
Luling, St. John
$487.70
Martindale, Immaculate Heart
$286.00
Rockne, Sacred Heart
$535.00
Smithville, St. Paul
$764.00
String Prairie, Assumption
$236.00
Uhland, St. Michael
$228.50
Bastrop/Lockhart Deanery Total
$6,636.49
Bryan/College Station Deanery
Bremond, St. Mary
$1,200.00
Bryan, St. Anthony
$699.28
Bryan, St. Joseph
$3,492.00
Bryan, Santa Teresa
$1,123.00
Caldwell, St. Mary
$597.75
College Station, St. Mary
$2,867.40
College Station, St. Thomas Aquinas $2,071.50
Frenstat, Holy Rosary
$314.00
Hearne, St. Mary
$563.00
Bryan/College Station Deanery Total $12,927.93
Georgetown/Round Rock Deanery
Andice, Santa Rosa
$1,046.00
Parish
Total
Corn Hill, Holy Trinity
$684.00
Georgetown, St. Helen
$4,238.50
Granger, Sts. Cyril and Methodius
$838.00
Hutto, St. Patrick
$168.00
Manor, St. Joseph
$500.00
PÀugerville, St. Elizabeth
$731.00
Round Rock, St. John Vianney
$1,514.76
Round Rock, St. William
$8,762.00
Taylor, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$210.00
Taylor, St. Mary of the Assumption
$1,500.86
Georgetown/Round Rock Total
$20,193.12
Killeen/Temple Deanery
Belton, Christ the King
$4,340.00
Burlington, St. Michael
$206.00
Cameron, St. Monica
$230.00
Copperas Cove, Holy Family
$4,045.00
Cyclone, St. Joseph
$261.00
Harker Heights, St. Paul Chong Hasang $3,837.00
Killeen, St. Joseph
$1,619.64
Marak, Sts. Cyril and Methodius
$537.00
Rogers, St. Matthew
$61.93
Rosebud, St. Ann
$276.00
Salado, St. Stephen
$466.00
Temple, Our Lady of Guadalupe
$845.00
Temple, St. Luke
$3,313.00
Temple, St. Mary
$1,937.00
Westphalia, Visitation
$619.00
Killeen/Temple Deanery Total
$22,593.57
Lampasas/Marble Falls Deanery
Bertram, Holy Cross
$143.60
Burnet, Our Mother of Sorrows
$393.50
Goldthwaite, St. Peter
$129.00
Horseshoe Bay, St. Paul the Apostle
$939.00
Kingsland, St. Charles Borromeo
$915.00
Lampasas, St. Mary
$393.00
Parish
Total
Llano, Holy Trinity
$540.65
Lometa, Good Shepherd
$30.00
Marble Falls, St. John
$404.33
Mason, St. Joseph
$435.06
San Saba, St. Mary
$164.00
Lampasas/Marble Falls Deanery Total $4,487.14
San Marcos Deanery
Blanco, St. Ferdinand
$431.50
Buda, Santa Cruz
$1,920.98
Dripping Springs, St. Martin de Porres $1,588.62
Johnson City, Good Shepherd
$157.00
Kyle, St. Anthony Marie de Claret
$1,846.46
San Marcos, Our Lady of Wisdom
$490.65
San Marcos, St. John
$1,227.00
Wimberley, St. Mary
$660.75
San Marcos Deanery Total
$8,322.96
Waco Deanery
China Spring, St. Phillip
$746.00
Elk, St. Joseph
$226.00
Gatesville, Our Lady of Lourdes
$538.75
Hamilton, St. Thomas
$96.00
Lott, Sacred Heart
$60.00
Mexia, St. Mary
$601.34
Tours, St. Martin
$567.00
Waco, St. Francis on the Brazos
$310.22
Waco (Hewitt), St. Jerome
$2,418.06
Waco, St. John the Baptist
$60.00
Waco (Bellmead), St. Joseph
$674.00
Waco, St. Louis
$2,744.75
Waco, St. Mary of the Assumption
$912.25
West, Church of the Assumption
$1,436.00
Waco Deanery Total
$11,390.37
Grand Total
$143,529.90
24
BULLETIN BOARD
Retreats.........................
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
For Your
Information
Bishop Joe Vásquez will bless the
new Catholic Charities of Central Texas
building in Bryan on Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m.
This is an opportunity to tour the facility
and meet the staff and learn about the
services offered in the Brazos Valley. For
more information, contact CCCTX in
Bryan at (979) 822-9340.
St. Helen Parish in Georgetown
will host a Women’s Catholic Scripture
Study on Tuesdays from 9:30 to 11:30
a.m. in the St. Rita Activity Center. This
year’s study will be on “David and The
Psalms.” It offers opportunities for deepening relationships with God, for group
discussions and for making friendships
with women from around the diocese.
Classes begin Sept. 10. For information,
call (512) 864-7660.
Catholic Scripture Study of Austin
will begin meeting again Sept. 11 at 9:30
a.m. at St. Louis Parish in Austin. The
weekly two-hour Bible study consists of
prayer, small group discussion and guest
lecturers. This year the course will study
Joshua and James. The class meets on
Wednesdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Register online at www.cssaustin.org. For
more information, contact Rosemary
Howard at (512) 345-3687.
Young adults are invited to the next
installment of Theology on Tap on Sept.
11 at Fadó Irish Pub in Austin. Deacon
Dan Lupo will discuss conversion and
forgiveness. Live music and fellowship
will begin at 6 p.m. and the presentation
starts at 7 p.m. For more information,
contact Jennifer Kodysz at (512) 949-2467
or [email protected].
Priests, deacons, sponsor couples
and marriage preparation volunteers
are invited to the Together in God’s Love
Facilitator Training Sept. 12 or 14 from 10
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the diocesan Pastoral
Center in Austin (choose date that works
best for you). The Together in God’s
Love Marriage Preparation Program
covers all of the new guidelines of the
U.S. bishops for marriage preparation, is
available in English and Spanish, offers an
easy-to-use DVD and facilitated discussion/activity format and allows couples to
waive their $60 marriage license fee. For
more information, contact the diocesan
Family Counseling and Family Life OfÀce at (512) 949-2495 or sara-lockey@
austindiocese.org.
Pax Christi Austin meets the third
Sunday of every month at 7 p.m. at the
Father John Payne House at St. Ignatius
Martyr Parish in Austin. Pax Christi is
the Catholic peace and justice movement
that works and prays to create a world
that reflects the peace of Christ. For
more information, contact Bob Rankin
at [email protected].
Catholic Scripture Study of Cedar
Park will begin meeting Sept. 18 from
6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Cedar Park. The course will also
be offered on Thursdays from 9:30 to 11
a.m. beginning Sept. 19. The weekly Bible
study consists of prayer, small group discussion and guest lecturers. This year the
course will study Joshua and James. For
more information, contact Bob Gorski
at (512) 636-2927 or bobgorski7@gmail.
com.
The Catholic Healthcare Guild will
host an evening of fellowship and formation around Catholic health care ethics
Sept. 19 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Casa Chapala in Austin. In this session, participants
will be able to “Ask the Ethicists” moral
questions related to the end of life. The
panel will include Dr. David Zientek, cardiologist with ethics degree from Loyola,
and Father Lou Brusatti, associate professor of Religious and Theological Studies
and Director of the Center for Religion and
Culture at St. Edward’s University in Austin. Members of the Catholic Healthcare
Guild are free; guests and non-members
are $10 each, appetizers included. Register
by e-mailing [email protected]
as space limited.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Austin (CCRA) will host its
monthly Mass Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. at St.
Patrick Parish in Hutto. Father Robert
Becker will celebrate the Mass. For more
information, contact Sabrina Perez at
(512) 466-7669 or visit www.ccraustin.org.
The Dominican Sisters of Mary,
Mother of the Eucharist will host a
Housewarming Celebration and Blessing Sept. 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. Join the
sisters as well as Bishop Joe Vásquez
and Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey for
a tour of the convent, barbecue, and
an update on the progress of the larger
planned priory. For more information
and for directions to the site, visit www.
sistersofmary.org/housewarming-texasmission-house.html.
An introductory session on natural
family planning will be held Sept. 26 at
7 p.m. at St. Austin Parish in Austin. The
cost is $20 per couple. To register contact
the Austin Fertility Care Center at (512)
474-2757 or [email protected].
Bishop Joe Vásquez will celebrate
the 22nd annual Red Mass Oct. 3 at 6
p.m. at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin.
Kim Daniels, spokeswoman for Cardinal
Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, will be
the guest speaker. The Mass marks the
beginning of the judicial year and invites
all law makers and legal professionals. For information, contact Margaret
Kappel at (512) 949-2444 or [email protected].
On Oct. 6 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. a
Life Chain will be formed in Georgetown. Participants will meet at the Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown
where pre-printed pro-life signs will be
distributed. Participants will stand (or
sit), and pray as they hold signs up for
the trafÀc to read the message of love
of children and the message of life. For
more information, contact Scott and
Julie Tefft at (512) 863-0039.
Writing Your Story, a weekend retreat with Maria Scaperlanda, will be
held Sept. 13-15 at Cedarbrake Catholic
Retreat Center in Belton. The weekend
will explore writing as a tool for fostering
intimate prayer. No writing skills are required, only a willingness to ponder and
listen with pen in hand. This retreat is
open to both men and women. The cost
is $155 for a shared room and $185 for
a private room. For more information,
contact Cedarbrake at (254) 780-2436 or
[email protected].
The women of St. Albert the
Great Parish in Austin will host a
women’s retreat entitled, “The Power
of Forgiveness: Finding Healing and
Hope,” Sept. 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. in the Parish Hall. The day will be
presented by Cheryl Maxwell, director
of the OfÀce of Worship for the Austin
Diocese. Doors open at 9 a.m. with
coffee and refreshments. Forgiveness is
something we all struggle with, and this
retreat will help us Ànd the grace and
mercy of God’s love in our own lives.
The cost is $25, which includes lunch
and materials. For more information and
reservations, contact Janice at (512) 8367839 or [email protected].
Married couples: Do you feel alone
in your marriage? Are you frustrated or
angry with each other? Do you argue …
or have you just stopped talking to each
other? Does talking about it only make it
worse? Retrouvaille (pronounced retrovi) helps couples through difÀcult times
in their marriages. For conÀdential information about Retrouvaille or how to
register for the program beginning with
a weekend on Oct. 4-6, call 1-800-4702230 or visit www.helpourmarriage.com.
“The Shack,” a weekend retreat,
will be held Oct. 4-6 at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center in Belton. Sister Lois
Dideon will discuss how we meet Christ
in our world today, especially in the midst
of struggle. Cost is $155 per person for a
shared room and $185 for a private room.
For more information, contact Cedarbrake at (254) 780-2436 or cedarbrake@
austindiocese.org.
“The Gospel of John,” a day of reÁection, will be held Oct. 14 from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat
Center in Belton. The fourth Gospel is
written in great poetic language often
telling two levels of stories at the same
time. This day will be an opportunity to
enter more deeply into the Woman at
the Well story and the Eucharist Discourse in Chapter Six. Brian Egan will
be the presenter. The cost is $35, which
includes lunch. For more information,
contact Cedarbrake at (254) 780-2436 or
[email protected].
Golf tournaments..........
St. Stephen Parish in Salado will
present the second annual Charles Davis
Four Person Golf Scramble Sept. 14 at
Mill Creek Golf Club in Salado. Registration begins at 8 a.m. The cost is $90 per
person, which includes greens fees, carts,
refreshments and team prizes. For more
information, contact Gene Martinka at
(254) 535-4036.
Catholic Charities of Central
Texas will host the Àfth annual Angels
of Hope Brazos Valley Golf Tournament Sept. 20 beginning at 9 a.m. at the
Briarcrest Country Club in Bryan. For
more information, contact Vancy Mayes
at (979) 822-9340 or vancy-mayes@
ccctx.org.
The third annual Emmaus Golf
Tournament will be held Oct. 5 at
Flintrock Falls Golf Course. In addition to supporting Emmaus Parish in
Lakeway and its 50-plus growing ministries, this year’s event will support Lake
Travis Crisis Ministries, an all-volunteer,
ecumenical, Christian outreach mission
that provides food, love, prayer, Ànancial assistance and encouragement to
those in crisis in the Lake Travis area.
Sponsorships are available. Visit www.
emmauslakeway.com/golf for details
and to register.
The eighth annual Golf Tournament benefiting Mobile Loaves
& Fishes at St Margaret Mary Parish
in Cedar Park will be held Oct. 14 at
Teravista Golf Club in Round Rock.
Registration will begin at noon with
a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. The cost
is $125 per individual player, which
includes 18 holes with a cart and one
dinner. There is a $50 discount for
couples: husband/wife, father/son,
or mother/daughter registration combination playing on the same team.
Additional dinner guests are welcome
with the purchase of a dinner ticket
for $10. To register contact, Brian
Van De Walle at (512) 762-2210 or
[email protected]
or register online at www.mlf.org.
Send in your items!
CATHOLIC SPIRIT offers this page, “For Your
Information,” as a “community bulletin board.”
Items of general interest of upcoming parish and
diocesan events, including parish social events,
will be printed at no charge at the discretion of
the editor. The deadline for material is the 10th
of the month, with publication occurring the
łrst week of the following month. Material may
be e-mailed to catholic-spirit@austindiocese.
org or faxed to (512) 949-2523.
BULLETIN BOARD
Parish and community events................................
September 2013
Holy Trinity Parish in Llano
will host its annual Fried Chicken
Dinner Sept. 8 from 11 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. at St. Mark’s Hall, which is next
to the church. Plates are $9 in advance
and $10 at the door. Drive through,
walk in and dine in plates will be
available. Dinner includes fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, green
beans, rolls, dessert and iced tea.
A meeting on the 2014 changes in
Medicare will be held Sept. 12 from 1
to 3 p.m. in Wozniak Hall at St. Louis
Parish in Austin. Texas Department of
Insurance HICAP coordinator, Norma
Almanza, will present the changes in
Medicare for 2014, including the federal
care reforms. She will also answer questions about Medicare and related insurances. Almanza will speak in English and
Spanish. For more information, contact
Coral Migoni-Ryan at (512) 454-0384,
ext. 206.
The Bible Timeline with Jeff
Cavins, a 24-part Bible study that
spans the entire Bible and discusses
major characters, places, and events
that weave together the history of salvation, will beginning Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at
Christ the King Parish in Belton. It will
continue on Monday evenings in the
parish hall from 7 to 9 p.m. Registration
Burse
The Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women has completed a burse for
the Clerical Endowment Fund (CEF)
in honor of Pope Francis.
The totals for the burse as of June
30, 2013, are listed below by council.
Austin Council
$329.00
Brazos Valley Council
$348.00
Central Council
$1,221.00
Eastern Council
$1,218.50
Northern Council
$2,448.00
Southern Council
$923.00
Temple Council
$587.00
Western Council
488.00
Previous Balance
$3,920.71
Total
$11,083.21
The Clerical Endowment Fund provides low-cost loans to parishes. Interest
from the loans is used to educate diocesan
seminarians. For information, contact either Father Ed Karasek at (254) 826-3705
or Mary Ann Till at (512) 353-4943.
25
will be available after all Masses starting
Aug. 24-25. For more information, call
Krissie Lastovica at (254) 939-0806.
St. Joseph Parish in Cyclone will
host the 68th annual Cyclone Picnic
Sept. 22 on the parish grounds. Plates
of sausage and home-fried chicken will
be served from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for $8
each. Live music by the Praha Brothers will go from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. An
auction will begin at 2 p.m. Activities
include bingo, face painting, train rides
and much more.
The Schoenstatt Movement of
Austin will host the annual Seeds of
Grace Gala Sept. 26 at the Chateau
Bellevue in Austin. Enjoy a catered
meal, silent auction, video presentation
about the shrine and a keynote speech
by Msgr. Michael Sis. Tickets are $100
per person. Proceeds will go to support
the building of the Àrst Marian Shrine
in Austin. Visit http://seedsofgrace.
eventbrite.com/ or schoenstatt.us for
more information about the gala and to
purchase tickets.
St. Paul Parish in Austin will hold
its annual Fall Festival Sept. 27 from 6
to 10 p.m. and Sept. 28 from noon to
10 p.m. on the parish grounds. Activities
include food booths, pony rides, games,
train rides, cake walk, bingo, live music
and a silent auction.
Father Ron Rolheiser will present
a retreat Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at St. John Neumann Parish in Austin.
Father Rolheiser is a noted theologian,
author, and currently, president of the
Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. The theme for the retreat is “The
Journey of Discipleship – Sustenance
for the Long Haul.” Registration is $30
online or $40 at the door. Father Rolheiser will also be the keynote speaker
at a dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. at St.
John Neumann Parish in Austin. He will
discuss “Struggling to Keep a Mellow
Heart in a Bitter Time.” Dinner will be
provided; the cost is $40 per person.
Registration for both events is available
at www.rolheiserfallretreat.eventbrite.
com.
St. Ignatius Martyr Parish in Austin will host its annual Fall Fest Sept.
28 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the parish
grounds. Activities include live music,
games for all ages, a variety of foods,
bingo and much more. For more information, call (512) 442-3602 or e-mail
[email protected].
St. Michael Parish in Uhland will
host its annual Jamaica Festival Sept.
28-29 on the parish grounds. There will
be food and games for all ages. Saturday
festivities start at 6 p.m. and end at midnight. Sunday festivities start after the
11:30 a.m. Mass and end at 9 p.m. There
will be DJs and local bands providing
music for both days.
Sacred Heart Parish in Austin will
host its 10th annual Fiesta Sept. 29 from
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the parish grounds.
This family friendly event will feature
live music, dancing, a variety of food
and drinks, a mini-train, face painting
and much more. For more information,
contact the parish at (512) 926-2552 or
[email protected].
St. Mary Parish in String Prairie
will host its annual Homecoming Festival Sept. 29 on the parish grounds. The
day begins with Mass at 10 a.m. Beef
barbecue plates with all the trimmings
will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There will be live music, an auction starting at 1:30 p.m., food booths, children’s
activities and horse rides. Everyone is
welcome.
St. Elizabeth Parish in PÁugerville will host its annual Fiesta Sept. 29
from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the parish
grounds. Activities include a variety of
food booths, entertainment, games for
all ages, face painting, a petting zoo and
more. Fiesta festivities will kick off with
dinner and bingo after the 5 p.m. Mass
on Saturday.
San Francisco Javier Parish in
Austin will host its annual Jamaica Sept.
29 from noon to 10 p.m. on the parish
grounds. Activities include games for all
ages, bingo, cake walk, entertainment, a
live auction, live music and more. For
more information, visit www.sfjcc.org.
“Turning Point: The Greg Hall
Story” will be presented by the Frontline Faith Project Oct. 5. Deacon Greg
Hall is a deacon of the Archdiocese of
Galveston-Houston whose expertise
helped rescue 33 Chilean miners. The
Frontline Faith Project is an outreach
program of Mary’s Touch, which is a
radio program that shares stories of
devotion, courage, faith and miracles.
Frontline Faith provides MP3 players,
preloaded with seven hours of inspirational Protestant and/or Catholic content, to members of our armed forces
throughout the world. “Turning Point:
The Greg Hall Story” will be held Oct.
5 from 9 to 11 a.m. (breakfast will be
served) at St. Edward’s University and
that evening from 6 to 11 p.m. (includes
dinner and a live auction) at Pebble
Creek Country Club in College Station.
For more information, call (512) 3639147.
Holy Family Parish in Lexington
will host its Fall Festival/Picnic Oct. 6
on the Parish Activity Center grounds. A
meal of fried chicken, noodles and all the
trimmings will be served beginning at 11
a.m. A country/live auction will begin
at 12:30 p.m. Activities include music,
food, games for all ages and more. For
more information, call the parish at (979)
773-2500.
St. Mary Parish in Mexia will host
their annual barbecue lunch Oct 6. Barbecue plates and take-out will be served
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. An auction will
be held as well as country store, bake
shop, and children’s games will continue
until 4 p.m.
The National Black Catholic
Men’s Conference will be held Oct.
24-27 at the Wyndham South Hotel
in Austin. The overall purpose of the
conference is to provide a forum for
African- American men to speak to the
critical issues and challenges facing the
African-American male community,
in particular the Catholic community.
Secondly, the conference is calling and
challenging young men to discern the
call to priesthood, brotherhood and the
diaconate. Workshops will be held at the
hotel. An evening worship and praise
service will be held Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. at
Holy Cross Parish in Austin. There will
be singing performances by the award
winning and highly acclaimed men’s
group “Men On Fire.” The registration
fee is $150 or $75 for active duty military and students. To register, contact
Johnnie Dorsey at the diocesan OfÀce
of Black Catholics at (512) 949-2449 or
[email protected].
Pastoral support for victims of sexual abuse
The Diocese of Austin is committed to providing con¿dential and compassionate care to victims of sexual abuse, particularly if the abuse was committed by
clergy or a church representative. If you have experienced abuse by someone representing the Catholic Church, please contact the diocesan coordinator
of pastoral care at (512) 949-2400.
Apoyo pastoral a las víctimas de abuso sexual
La Diócesis de Austin se compromete a proporcionar ayuda con¿dencial y compasiva a las víctimas de abuso sexual, especialmente si el abuso fue cometido
por el clero o un representante de la iglesia. Si usted ha sufrido abusos por parte de alguien que representa la Iglesia Católica, por favor comuníquese con el
coordinador diocesano del cuidado pastoral al (512) 949-2400.
How to report an incident of concern
The Diocese of Austin is committed to preventing harm from happening to any of our children or vulnerable adults. If you are aware of sexual or physical
abuse and/or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult, state law requires you to report that information to local law enforcement or the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at (800) 252-5400 or www.dfps.state.tx.us. Additionally, if the suspected abuse is by clergy or an employee or volunteer of any
diocesan parish, school or agency, a Notice of Concern should be submitted to the diocesan Ethics and Integrity in Ministry Of¿ce at (512) 949-2400. The l
Notice of Concern can be found at www.austindiocese.org (click on the link HOW TO REPORT ABUSE). Reports may be made anonymously.
Cómo reportar un caso de abuso
La Diócesis de Austin está comprometida a la prevención del daño que se cause a cualquier niño o adulto vulnerable. Si usted está enterado del abuso
sexual o físico y/o abandono de un niño o adulto vulnerable, la ley estatal requiere que se reporte esa información a la policía local o el Departamento de
Servicios Familiares y de Protección del Estado de Texas al (800) 252-5400 o al sitio: www.dfps.state.tx.us y además, si la sospecha de abuso es por parte
del clero, empleado o voluntario de cualquier parroquia, escuela u organización de la diócesis, se debe enviar un Reporte de Abuso y debe ser presentado a
la O¿cina de Ética e Integridad en el Ministerio de la diócesis al (512) 949-2400. El Reporte de Abuso se encuentra en nuestra página de Internet diocesana:
www.austindiocese.org ( Haga click en la liga COMO REPORTAR UN CASO DE ABUSO). Estos reportes pueden ser hechos de manera anónima.
ESPAÑOL
26
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
La Jornada Mundial de la Juventud fue una
experiencia de fe
Jornada Mundial de la Juventud, hubo
diferentes lugares a través de la ciudad
de Río de Janeiro donde la juventud
obispo de la Diócesis
venía y recibía catequesis sobre la fe
de Austin. Es pastor
Católica. Tuve el privilegio de escuchar
para casi 500,000
dos presentaciones excelentes –Una
católicos en 25
dada por el Cardenal Timothy Dolan
condados en el
de Nueva York y la otra dada por el
Centro de Texas.
Cardenal Sean O´Malley de Boston.
Editora: Señor Obispo, a Ànales
Ambas fueron asombrosas por que
de Julio usted asistió a la Jornada
ambos conectaron con la juventud.
Mundial de la Juventud en Brasil.
Mientras escuchaba las presentaciones,
Díganos sobre su experiencia.
era obvio que sus mensajes resonaban
Obispo Vásquez: La Jornada
en la gente joven. Nuestra juventud
Mundial de la Juventud 2013 fue una
quiere encontrarse con Jesucristo.
experiencia muy ediÀcante y aÀrmante
Los cardenales hablaron sobre
para mí como obispo. Esta es mi teralgunos tópicos muy difíciles, ambos
cera oportunidad de participar en una
admitiendo que ha habido errores y que
Jornada Mundial de la Juventud –visité la iglesia ha incurrido en faltas. Aún así,
Toronto en 2002 y Madrid en 2011; y
la Iglesia Católica sigue siendo un gran
una vez más estuve sorprendido por
signo de esperanza por que Cristo proesta impresionante reunión de gente
metió que estaría con nosotros hasta el
joven de todos los rincones del planeta. Àn de los tiempos. La iglesia permanece
Aproximadamente tres millones de per- Àel a Cristo en la misión conÀada a ella,
sonas estuvieron en la Misa de clausura la cual consiste en proclamar a Cristo al
con el Papa Francisco, la cual se llevó a mundo.
cabo en la playa de Copacabana en Río
El otro momento relevante fue ser
de Janeiro. Mientras miraba hacia abajo, testigo de la visita del Papa Francisco a
hacia la playa, pude ver personas de
la gente de Río. Cada vez que iba por
todas partes del mundo ondeando las
las calles, pasaba tiempo con la gente.
banderas de sus países. Fue una maraÉl quería comunicarse con la gente.
villosa vista. La pregunta es, “¿Quién
Buscó conocerlos como cualquier pastiene la habilidad de juntar a tanta gente tor haría. Y la gente obviamente era
de todo el mundo para un evento espiri- atraída a él. Comenzó su visita en el
tual? –¡Nuestro Santo Padre!” El Beato santuario de Nuestra Señora de ApareJuan Pablo II inició la Jornada Mundial cida, patrona de Brasil. Ahí el Papa dijo
de la Juventud, el Papa Benedicto XVI
“Hoy, esperando con ansias la Jornada
continuó la tradición y este año el Papa Mundial de la Juventud la cual me ha
Francisco dio la bienvenida a millones
traído a Brasil, yo también vengo a
de peregrinos a Brasil. ¡No pude evitar
tocar en la puerta de la casa de María
sentirme orgulloso de ser Católico!
–quien amó y crió a Jesús- para que ella
A través de mi experiencia en la
nos ayude a todos, pastores y gente de
Jornada Mundial de la Juventud, estuve Dios, padres y educadores, a pasar a los
muy impresionado y esperanzado con
jóvenes los valores que pueden ayudarla juventud y los adultos jóvenes de
les a construir una nación y un mundo
nuestra iglesia. Ellos caminaron grandes más justo, unido y fraterno”.
distancias en el frío y lluvioso clima y
El Papa Francisco se ganó rápido
estuvieron de pie por horas esperanlos corazones de los brasileños y de
do escuchar la Misa. Y aún así hubo
todos los que se habían reunido para
momentos de silencio en medio de una la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud. Al
asamblea tan inmensa de gente. MuÀnal de la reunión, el Vicepresidente
chas veces durante estos momentos de de Brasil, Michel Temer, dijo al Santo
oración, el Papa Francisco pidió silencio Padre que las puertas del país estarían
y hubo silencio reÁexivo inmediato, lo
cual fue hermoso.
Muy a menudo escuchamos que
nuestra juventud está desencantada
con la Iglesia y sus enseñanzas, pero
después de ser testigo de la Jornada
Mundial de la Juventud, puedo ver que
nuestros jóvenes están muy comprometidos. Están preguntando serias
y profundas preguntas sobre la vida,
sobre el propósito y el servicio, y sobre
querer estar involucrados con la iglesia.
Es una gran señal de esperanza ver esta
reunión de millones de jóvenes de todo
el mundo que quieren poner a Cristo en
el centro de sus vidas y quieren servir a
la Iglesia.
Editora: ¿Cuáles fueron algunos
de los momentos más relevantes?
Obispo Vásquez: Durante la
E L O BISPO J OE S.
VÁSQUEZ es el quinto
permanentemente abiertas para él y lo
invitó a “entrar sin tocar, por que siempre habrá un lugar para su Santidad en
los corazones de los brasileños”.
Pensé que esta era una maravillosa
expresión de la puerta como signo de
bienvenida, recepción y de que el Santo
Padre siempre será recibido ahí. Él visitó a gente ordinaria y se reunió con los
representantes del gobierno y obispos.
El verlo moverse entre la gente y verlo
orar con la gente fue impresionante.
No solo estaba visitando un país, estaba
construyendo la fe de los jóvenes que
entraron en contacto con él. Y, al Ànal
de su visita, el papa admitió que estar
en Brasil y estar con tantos jóvenes
fue una oportunidad para fortalecer su
propia fe también.
Editora: El Papa Francisco
parece realmente haber avivado la
fe en los Católicos alrededor del
mundo, ¿Qué piensa usted de esto?
Obispo Vásquez: Sí, estoy de
acuerdo. Creo que es por que ha
tomado una aproximación diferente a
la de nuestros papas anteriores. Esto
no quiere decir que nuestros papas
anteriores fueron menos hombres de
fe u hombres de Dios y tampoco es
decir que no hicieron una signiÀcante
contribución a la iglesia.
De cualquier manera, creo que el
Papa Francisco ha agregado una dimensión de simplicidad y humildad, la cual,
pienso, la gente encuentra atractiva –él
tiene una aproximación muy pastoral,
muy sencilla. Él mismo está viviendo
una vida simple. Ha escogido no vivir
en los departamentos papales en el Palacio Apostólico, sino vivir en una suite
en la casa de huéspedes del Vaticano, la
cual es una casa simple para visitantes
oÀciales. Él es un hombre que viene
de servir a la gente en la pobreza. En
Argentina, él vivió entre la gente pobre
y los visitaba solo como un pastor. Aún
cuando era Arzobispo, viajaba a través
del país, a través de la ciudad, de la
misma manera en que la gente ordinaria
viajaba.
Mientras estaba en Río, el Papa
Francisco viajó en el abierto Papamóvil
y paró y caminó entre la gente. Mientras viajaba entre la gente, la gente le
bañaba con Áores, playeras de equipos
de futbol, banderas y otros regalos. La
respuesta de la gente hacia él y su amor
por él fueron algo bello que atestiguar y
su respuesta hacia la gente fue igualmente conmovedora. Él toma a los
bebés y los besa. Bendice a los enfermos. Abraza a aquellos discapacitados.
Él pasa tiempo con la gente. No tiene
miedo. Tiene conÀanza en el papel que
se le ha conÀado.
Me encantó lo que dijo a los jóvenes
en un cierto momento, sobre que la fe
es revolucionaria. “La paz, el consuelo,
la gentileza, el coraje, la serenidad y el
gozo, los cuales son frutos del Espíritu
Santo, encuentran un hogar en nuestro
corazón, de manera que nuestro mismo
ser se transforma; nuestra manera de
pensar y actuar. Querido amigos, la fe
es revolucionaria y hoy les pregunto:
¿están dispuestos…a entrar en esta ola
revolucionaria de la fe? ¡Sólo entrando
en esta ola sus jóvenes vidas adquirirán
signiÀcado y por lo tanto se convertirán
en fructíferas!”
Editora: ¿Cuál es su oración por
el Papa Francisco y por la iglesia
mientras seguimos avanzando?
Obispo Vásquez: Por supuesto,
nuestra oración por nuestro Santo Padre es siempre que Dios los continúe
protegiendo, lo cuide, guíe e inspire
para que pueda continuar siendo el
Vicario de Cristo que necesitamos en
este momento particular. Cada Santo
Padre, claro está, lidia con muchos
asuntos por que es una Iglesia universal; por lo tanto, abarca muchos
temas y problemas y también hay
muchas cosas buenas sucediendo. Mi
oración es que nuestro Santo Padre
hable las palabras de Cristo y continúe renovando y motivándonos.
Especialmente durante este Año de
la Fe, oro por que todos nosotros
tengamos conÀanza en nuestra fe
Católica y no tengamos miedo de expresarla y comunicarla con otros. Oro
por que todos seamos, como él lo ha
dicho –– revolucionarios.
EL OBISPO JOSÉ
VÁSQUEZ Tomó esta
fotografía la mañana de
la Misa de clausura de
la Jornada Mundial de
la Juventud. Jóvenes de
todo el mundo se reunían
en preparación para la llegada del Papa Francisco.
“Mientras tomaba esta
foto, pude sentir la emoción de la gente mientras
esperaban la llegada del
Santo Padre para celebrar
la Eucaristía”, comentó
el Obispo. (Foto por el
Obispo Vásquez)
September 2013
ESPAÑOL
Jóvenes locales viajan a Brasil para la Jornada Mundial
de la Juventud
POR ENEDELIA J. OBREGÓN
CORRESPONSAL
Entre los aproximadamente 3 millones de Àeles que
atendieron la Jornada Mundial
de la Juventud en Río de Janeiro, Brasil, se encontraban
10 adolescentes de la Parroquia de la Sagrada Familia, en
Copperas Cove en su primer
viaje a este evento internacional.
Ellos pasaron 18 meses vendiendo tacos, limpiando autos
en centros de lavado de los
mismos y llevando a cabo ventas
de garaje para ayudar a pagar su
viaje a Brasil en Julio.
El viaje fortaleció su fe
y formó un lazo que estos
jóvenes nunca olvidarán. En
su lista de cosas favoritas se
encontró el ver al Papa Francisco en su primer salida internacional. Además de ver
al papa, escucharon diversas
oraciones conocidas recitadas
en diferentes lenguas, intercambiaron banderas, botones
y rosarios con gente de todo
el mundo y tomaron muchas
fotos. No siempre fue divertido: los eventos principales
estaban a 8 millas, hacía frío,
llovía, se levantaban temprano y se acostaban tarde. Pero
aquellos elegibles, planean
atender la próxima Jornada
Mundial de la Juventud en
Cracovia, Polonia, en 2016.
Para la madre y chaperona
Kristina Williams-Myers, la expresión de los rostros de los
jóvenes al ver al Papa Francisco
no tuvo precio.
“Este es el primer papa que
realmente recordarán”,dijo.
“Son el primer grupo de jóvenes
que lo vieron en un evento de la
Jornada Mundial de la Juventud.
Estaban más emocionados que
si hubieran visto una estrella de
rock”.
Los adolescentes que asistieron fueron Amanda Arrisola, 16; Sara Myers, 17;
Katherine Myers, 17; Emily
Myers, 16; Emanuel Martinez, 17; Adan Rivas, 16; Valeria Fernández, 16; Matthew
Spears, 16; Timothy Fajardo,
18; and Tamara Milne-Myazoe, 16. Todos son estudiantes de la escuela preparatoria Copperas Cove excepto
Fajardo quien se graduó en
la primavera, y Rivas, quien
apenas se mudó con su familia
a El Paso. Estudiantes de la
Parroquia de St. Elizabeth en
PÁugerville y la Parroquia de
St. William en Round Rock
también viajaron a Brasil.
Arrisola dio que la nueva
MIENTRAS EN RIO DE JANEIRO, muchos de los peregrinos visitaron la estatua del Cristo Redentor la cual
se encuentra en la cima de la montaña Corcovado que
domina la ciudad. (Foto cortesía de Janie Vasquez)
27
UN GRUPO DE ADOLESCENTES de la Sagrada Familia en Copperas Cove fue uno de
tres grupos de la Diócesis de Austin que asistió a la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud en
Brasil a ¿nales de julio. El Obispo José Vásquez también asistió a la celebración. (Foto
cortesía de Janie Vasquez)
directora de juventud, Meghan
James fue quien les sugirió
asistir a la Jornada Mundial de la
Juventud, lo que emocionó a todos. James les dijo que tomaría
mucho trabajo juntar el dinero
para el viaje; afortunadamente la
recompensa fue mejor que sus
expectativas.
“Fue abrumador “Arrisola
dijo. “Había millones de personas y todos estaban ahí por
la misma razón. No creerías
que tanta juventud está involucrada con la Iglesia. Fue
en muchas lenguas, pero la
misma Palabra”.
El ver al papa por primera vez fue muy emocional.
“Todo mundo estaba gritando y llorando,” dijo.
El momento cambiador
de vidas, para ella, fue cuando
el papa paró y abrazó y besó a
un bebé. “El hecho de que él
se acercó fue increíble,” dijo.
Sara Myers dijo que la experiencia le ha ayudado a disfrutar más ir a la Iglesia y ha
fortalecido su fe.
“Algunas personas dicen,
‘¿por qué molestarse?’” dijo.
“Dios no controla tu vida.
Pero si sigues a Dios, Él te
llevará por el buen camino”.
A ella le gusto asistir a
Misa, con gente rezando en
sus propias lenguas, también
atender una feria de vocaciones que incluyó una presentación de personas construyendo escuelas en África.
“Me hizo pensar que yo
puedo hacer eso,” dijo. “Nos
dio mucho en qué pensar”.
Katherine Myers, quien
es una servidora de altar, dijo
que ver al papa fue “fenomenal”.
“Estaba como a diez pies
de nosotros,” dijo. “Se ve
mucho más joven en persona.
Se ve lleno de paz y santidad”.
Confesarse en los confesionarios de carpa fue también algo resaltable. “Me sentí
como una persona diferente,”
dijo. “ Fue poderoso”.
Martínez, quien se gradúa
el próximo año, dijo que estaba buscando un “reanimador de su fe,” y lo encontró.
“Puedes decir que soy un Católico nacido-de nuevo” dijo. “Ver
la gigantesca estatua de Jesús fue
una experiencia poderosa”.
“Pude sentir a Jesús radiante” dijo. “Lo mismo sucedió cuando vi al papa. Realmente sentí su presencia. Todas las personas escucharon
con atención sus palabras.”
Rivas dijo que su primera
reacción al escuchar que el
grupo podría ir a Brasil fue
“¡Oh, viaje!” Una vez que estaba ahí, estaba impresionado
con ver a todos celebrando
su fe.
“Desearía que hubiéramos
llevado a más gente, o haber
ido a menos eventos,” dijo. “
Había tanto – que hacer-. Estábamos muy cansados”.
Fernández dijo que la experiencia la acercó más al grupo y le hizo darse cuenta de
cuán universal la Iglesia es.
Ellos conocieron jóvenes de
Irak, Corea del Sur y Kuwait
e intercambiaron regalos con
jóvenes de Irlanda y Argentina.
Ella desearía haber aprendido más portugués, como
otros hicieron.
“Sé algo de español, así
que eso ayudó,” dijo. También
desearía haber llevado banderas de Texas y Estados Uni-
dos para intercambiar. Planea
traer de ambas a Polonia.
Spears dijo que atender
Misa “fue increíble” y rezar
el rosario “fue realmente emocionante….cada misterio fue
en una lengua distinta,” dijo.
El orar diario en la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud
también fortaleció su vida de
oración y le ayudó a lidiar con
la frustración de lidiar con el
gentío.
“Me hizo darme cuenta de
que la oración puede sacarme
de cualquier situación,” dijo.
Williams-Myers dijo que
el viaje fue también una oportunidad para su propia renovación. “A veces te sientes
atascado,” dijo. “Me ayudó a
recordar por qué soy Católica”.
En el evento, ella dijo
“sientes que realmente eres
la Iglesia, un cuerpo. ¡Eso es
maravilloso!”
Los adultos necesitan
reconocer que la juventud
de hoy no va a seguir la fe
solo por que se les diga que
lo hagan.
“Esta generación necesita
respuestas concretas a preguntas,” dijo. “Tenemos que
reconocer eso. Necesitamos
comunicar eso con amor y
realmente escuchar y respetar
sus preguntas y responder a
esas preguntas inclusive cuando sea difícil”.
La próxima Jornada Mundial de la Juventud será en Julio
de 2016 en Cracovia, Polonia.
Está abierta a edades de 16 a
35, aunque cualquier persona
mayor de 18 años puede inscribirse independientemente. Para
mayor información visite www.
krakow2016.com/en/.
ESPAÑOL
Prelado de San Antonio durante homilía hace eco de
reto del papa de ‘ir y servir’
28
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
POR JORDAN MCMORROUGH
En la Misa de apertura de la
131era suprema convención de
los Caballeros de Colón el 6 de
agosto, la Àesta de la TransÀguración, los asistentes escucharon
comentarios de felicitación por
sus esfuerzos caritativos, así
como un reto a hacer más por
la reforma de inmigración.
En su homilía, el arzobispo
Gustavo García-Siller de San
Antonio recibió a 2,000 asistentes en el gran salón del hotel
JW Marriott Hill Country Resort
con las palabras de apertura del
Papa Francisco pronunciadas
durante la ceremonia de bienvenida de la Jornada Mundial
de la Juventud en Río de Janeiro
diciendo: “¡Es bueno para nosotros estar aquí!” ... ¡Es bueno
para todos nosotros estar juntos
en torno a Jesús! Es él quien nos
da la bienvenida y está presente
en medio de nosotros aquí”.
“¡Estos son también mis
sentimientos, hermanos obispos, sacerdotes, caballeros y
miembros de sus familias!”,
dijo el arzobispo ante una
asamblea que incluía 11 carde-
nales, docenas de arzobispos
y obispos y más de 100 sacerdotes. “Es bueno para nosotros estar aquí en presencia del Señor, reunidos desde
todo el mundo”.
El arzobispo García-Siller
describió su reciente peregrinación hasta Brasil como muy
festiva y muy reconfortante,
junto con muy agotadora, comentario que suscitó risa entre
la audiencia. Él también dijo que
estuvo llena de luces y sombras,
tema que revisitó durante toda
su homilía.
“Reunirse allí con el Santo
Padre y más de 3 millones de
creyentes en la playa de Copacabana fue un evento muy
emotivo, muy inspirador”, él
dijo.
“Río es una ciudad hermosa,
pero hay sombras también, las
favelas donde viven los más
pobres, en un país donde ha
habido muchas protestas recientes contra el gobierno debido
a la situación empeorada y desesperada de muchos de sus
ciudadanos, que son nuestros
hermanos y hermanas”, él continuó. “Hubo días de sol brillante y días de lluvia fuerte, días
de luces y sombras, como todos
EL ARZOBISPO
DE SAN ANTONIO García-Siller
saluda Caballeros
de Colón y sus
familiares durante la
131era convención
anual de la orden
fraternal católica el
6 de agosto en San
Antonio. (Foto CNScortesía de Caballeros de Colón)
los días de nuestras vidas”.
Diciendo que “hay mucha
luz en nuestra celebración de
esta mañana”, el arzobispo de
San Antonio elogió a los más
de 1.8 millones de caballeros
que el año pasado contribuyeron
70 millones de horas de servicio
en causas benéÀcas, incluyendo
trabajo de socorro tras el devastador tornado en Oklahoma
City y la explosión de la planta
industrial en West, Texas.
“Sus principios de caridad,
unidad, fraternidad y patriotismo son vitales para la iglesia
y nuestro país y las naciones de

Ayúdenos a actualizar nuestra base de datos
¿Ha cambiado de domicilio recientemente? ¿Ha cambiado su dirección de correo electrónico? ¿Se ha casado recientemente? ¿Se ha cambiado de parroquia? o ¿Han habido
nuevas adiciones a su familia? De ser así, por favor actualice su información de contacto
en www.austindiocese.org/censusform o contactando a la Oficina de Corresponsabilidad y Desarrollo en la Diócesis de Austin al (512) 949-2400.
También puede llenar la forma que se encuentra a continuación y enviarla a: Diocese of Austin, Stewardship Office, 6225 Hwy 290 E, Austin,TX 78723.
Nombre Completo:__________________________________________________
Nombre Completo de su Esposa(o):______________________________________
Parroquia (nombre & ciudad):__________________________________________
Dirección de correo normal:____________________________________________
Ciudad: _________________________ Estado: _________Zip: _______________
Teléfono de casa #:__________________________________________________
Teléfono celular #:__________________________________________________
Dirección de correo electrónico:_________________________________________
Dirección de correo electrónico de su esposa(o):_____________________________
¿Recibe más de una copia del Catholic Spirit por mes?_________________________
De ser así, ¿a qué nombre llega cada copia?_____________________________
Dirección previa (dentro de los pasados tres años)
Calle: ____________________________________________________________
Ciudad: _________________________ Estado: _________Zip: _______________
**La Diócesis de Austin no vende ni comparte información de nuestras listas de correo. Gracias por ayudarnos a
actualizar nuestra base de datos. Si su información cambia en el futuro, por favor llame al (512) 949-2400 para
comunicárnoslo.
todo el mundo”, dijo el arzobispo García-Siller. “Los principios
que guían son faros en la oscuridad, dándonos luz para ver
claramente nuestro camino de
peregrinación como discípulos
del Señor resucitado”.
Él describió a San Antonio
diciendo que “la iglesia está viva
aquí, nuestro pueblo está lleno
de fe y estamos creciendo. Estas
son historias de la luz”.
Sin embargo, él reconoció que también hay muchas
sombras. “No se encuentran
solamente aquí en el sur de
Texas, sino también en todo
Estados Unidos y en muchas
otras partes del mundo. Uno
de los asuntos más difíciles
es la constante migración de
pueblos, en muchos casos debido a la violencia en sus patrias, a la carencia de empleo,
a la pobreza profunda y, de
hecho, a la gran miseria”.
Monseñor García-Siller
citó otra vez al papa Francisco, quien dijo recientemente
durante una visita a la isla
mediterránea Lampedusa: “La
iglesia es madre y su atención
maternal se expresa con especial ternura e íntimidad a
aquellos que son obligados a
huir de su propio país y existen entre el desarraigo y la
integración”.
Allí el pontíÀce habló conmovedoramente acerca de la
“globalización de la indiferencia” respecto a los inmigrantes, cuya situación apremiante,
él dijo, es como una “espina
dolorosa en mi corazón”.
El Vaticano informa que
en el 2012 en el mundo había
unos 16 millones de refugiados oÀcialmente reconocidos
y 28.8 millones de desplazados
internamente. Además, estima
que 21 millones de personas
han sido contrabandeadas, incluyendo 4.5 millones para la
explotación sexual y 14.2 millones para trabajo esclavizado. El papa Francisco, dijo el
arzobispo García-Siller, enfa-
tiza que Dios continúa preguntándonos: “¿Dónde está
tu hermano cuya sangre clama
a mí?”.
“En nuestra nación estamos en un debate muy controversial sobre un asunto doloroso y difícil: reformar nuestro
sistema actual de inmigración,
que está claramente descompuesto, poniendo en riesgo
11 millones o más de nuestros
hermanos y hermanas, temerosos de ser detenidos y deportados, separados de sus
familias. Esto está sucediendo
hoy día en una escala sin precedentes en nuestra historia
estadounidense”, según el arzobispo García-Siller.
“Este no es un asunto liberal o conservador, un asunto demócrata o republicano,
es un asunto para todo patriota, todo ciudadano y todo
hombre o mujer de fe. Es un
asunto humano, un asunto
moral. No podemos ser indiferentes ante esto”.
Especialmente en el sur de
Texas, él dijo, “estamos muy
preocupados por nuestros
hermanos y hermanas indocumentados, especialmente por
aquellos que han sido separados de sus familias o que
están amenazados diariamente
con tal separación. Tenemos
que llevar la luz del Evangelio
a los lugares ocultos, los lugares desolados, los vecindarios
y los centros de detención”.
El arzobispo García-Siller
señaló: “Algún día estaremos
parados delante del trono de
Dios y tendremos que responder a la pregunta del Señor:
‘¿Dónde está tu hermano? ¿Tu
hermana?’”.
El arzobispo cerró diciendo que durante su peregrinación a la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud escuchó al
Santo Padre llamar a la acción
a los jóvenes de la iglesia. Él
les recordó: “La vida de Jesús
es una vida para los demás. Es
una vida de servicio”.
September 2013
ESPAÑOL
29
Cientos se reúnen para celebrar a Nuestra
Señora de Guadalupe
POR ENEDELIA J. OBREGÓN
CORRESPONSAL
Cientos de Àeles peregrinos
se enfrentaron al calor el pasado
3 de agosto para mostrar su
devoción a Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe, al marchar en una
procesión alrededor del Sur de
Austin, la cual culminó con una
Misa en la Parroquia de San
José, celebrada por el Obispo
José Vásquez.
Durante la procesión, un
camión llevó la imagen de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y a
los músicos que dirigieron a los
participantes a través de himnos
mientras que miembros de la
Cruzada del Rosario dirigían el
rosario.
Mientras que la fiesta de
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
es observada el 12 de diciembre,
este evento celebrado en toda
la diócesis fue llevado a cabo
el 3 de agosto para evitar un
conÁicto con los eventos parroquiales de diciembre, según
dijo Edgar Ramírez, director
diocesano de la OÀcina del Ministerio Hispano.
“Al hacer esto, continuamos celebrando El Año
de la Fe, al dar testimonio a
nuestro prójimo de nuestra
fe Católica y de su poder para
hacer que la gente se junteaún cuando no es el día de su
Àesta ni el mes de la misma,”
dijo “eso por sí mismo es ya
una celebración”.
La celebración fue encabezada por la OÀcina del Ministerio
MATACHINES
celebraron
a Nuestra
Señora de
Guadalupe
afuera de la
Parroquia de
San José en
Austin el 3 de
agosto. (Foto
por Enedelia
J. Obregón)
Hispano e incluyó a la Sociedad
Guadalupana, el Movimiento
Familiar Cristiano-USA, la Cruzada del Rosario, la Parroquia de
San José y la OÀcina diocesana
de Culto Divino.
En su homilía bilingüe, el
obispo parafraseó comentarios
hechos por el Papa Francisco
durante su visita al Santuario de
Nuestra Señora de Aparecida
en Brasil durante la Jornada
Mundial de la Juventud en Julio.
“Cuando la iglesia busca a
Jesús, siempre va a la casa de
María y toca en la puerta y le
pide que nos muestre a Jesús,“
dijo el Obispo. “ Buscamos a
María por que ella siempre nos
lleva a Jesús“.
El Obispo Vásquez dijo
que como Católicos Cristianos,
necesitamos mantener la esperanza y ser gente de esperanza.
“En las dificultades de la
vida, Dios nunca nos deja,“
dijo. “Tenemos que ser gente de
esperanza. ¿Por qué salimos en
procesión hoy? Es un viaje. La
vida tiene un destino que terminará un día. Pero nunca estamos
solos. Caminamos siguiendo a
Cristo”.
Dijo que necesitamos permitirnos el ser sorprendidos por
Dios y abrir nuestros ojos a las
muchas maneras en las que Dios
trabaja a través de nosotros.
“Necesitamos una apertura
que nos permita ser sorprendidos por Dios,” dijo el Obispo
Vásquez. “Dios siempre está
trabajando en nosotros“
También necesitamos vivir
gozosos.
PEREGRINOS
marcharon en
procesión en el
vecindario
alrededor de la
Parroquia de
San José antes
de la Misa en
celebración de
Nuestra Señora
de Guadalupe el
3 de agosto. (Foto
por Enedelia J.
Obregón)
“Los Cristianos son gozosos, nunca tristes, “ dijo el
Obispo.
Para aquellos que participaron, la oportunidad de
venerar a Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe fue también una
oportunidad para compartir
una importante parte de su
cultura.
Rosaura Acosta, vice presidenta del capítulo de San José
de las Guadalupanas y miembro del Consejo Guadalupano
diocesano, dijo que cerca de
20 iglesias participaron en la
celebración. Diferentes parroquias tuvieron distintas responsabilidades. El anÀtrión,
el capítulo de San José, por
ejemplo, hizo 500 rosarios de
manera que todos pudieran
rezar el rosario.
Acosta, 66 y madre de siete, abuela de 18 y bisabuela
de 10- puso a algunas de sus
nietas a trabajar haciendo rosarios.
El trabajo empleado en
celebrar a Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe es tanto espiritual
como cultural, dijo Acosta.
“Nada habría pasado si
nuestra Santa Madre no hubiera dicho ‘sí’ a Dios,“ ella
dijo. “Ella juega una parte importante en la salvación”.
Las Guadalupanas también
están trabajando para asegurar
que la próxima generación de
Àeles recuerde por qué Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe es
tan importante para la cultura
Hispana.
“Estamos trabajando con
nuestro director espiritual, el
Padre John Boiko, para desarrollar talleres para personal
de Educación Religiosa de
manera que puedan saber
quién es (Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe), por qué estaba
vestida del modo en que lo estaba y acerca de las apariciones.
Necesitamos enseñar a nuestra
gente joven por que ellos no lo
van a hacer sólo por que sus
padres lo hicieron”.
Eva Barrón, secretaria del
Consejo Guadalupano, dijo
que para ella y su familia, la
devoción es central a la cultura Mexicana. Ella notó que
la aparición de la Virgen a San
Juan Diego en el cerro del
Tepeyac cerca de Ciudad de
México en 1531 fue la única
en la que ella dejó una imagen.
“Ella no había hecho esto
en ningún otro lado,“ Barrón
dijo de la imagen que ella dejó
en el ayate de San Juan Diego.
“Parte de nuestro rol como
Católicos es traer a la gente
más cerca de nuestra fe – a
Jesús. Y eso es exactamente el
por qué ella vino, para atraer
gente a su hijo. Ella es una
gran evangelizadora”.
Barrón dijo estar complacida de que el movimiento anti-aborto lleve una imagen de
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
ya que ella es la Protectora de
los no-natos y también la Patrona de las Américas.
“En su imagen se muestra usando un cinturón,” dijo
Barrón.“En la cultura Azteca,
eso indica que estaba embarazada. Lo que muestra que
la vida es preciosa y un don de
Dios”.
ESPAÑOL
Su Santidad, aÀcionado al fútbol, pide a jugadores ser
verdaderos modelos a seguir
30
POR CINDY WOODEN
Con admiración y grandes
sonrisas por todos lados, el papa
Francisco, aÀcionado de toda
la vida al fútbol, se reunió con
los jugadores estrellas y entrenadores de los equipos nacionales de fútbol de Argentina e
Italia que tienen la esperanza de
competir por la Copa Mundial
en el 2014.
Los equipos fueron liderados hasta la Sala Clementina
del Palacio Apostólico el 13
de agosto por el capitán argentino Lionel Messi, delantero
que juega actualmente en el FC
Barcelona, y el capitán italiano
Gianluigi Buffon, portero que
juega actualmente para Juventus FC.
Los dos equipos se encontraban en Roma para jugar un
partido “amistoso” en honor al
papa el 14 de agosto (Argentina
dominó a Italia 2 a 1); el juego
no tiene inÁuencia alguna en el
proceso de clasiÀcación para la
Copa Mundial.
El Papa Francisco dijo que
estaba tranquilo porque era un
partido amistoso, pero que aun
así sería difícil saber por quién
vitorear.
Claudio Cesare Prandelli,
el entrenador italiano, dijo que
estaba a punto de preguntarle
al papa si asistiría al partido,
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
pero el Papa Francisco anticipó
la pregunta y le dijo que la seguridad del Vaticano ya lo considera “indisciplinado”, dejando
la impresión de que sería pedir
demasiado que ellos hicieran
arreglos para un viaje al Estadio
Olímpico de Roma.
En un breve discurso ante
los jugadores, entrenadores y
árbitros el Papa Francisco alentó
a todos los involucrados en el
fútbol profesional a mantener el
espíritu y la pasión de que este es
un juego, un deporte de equipos.
“Aunque el equipo gane” el
juego, él dijo, sin belleza, gracia
ni trabajo en equipo, tanto el
equipo como los aficionados
pierden.
“Antes de ser campeones
ustedes son hombres, seres humanos con sus talentos y sus
defectos, corazones e ideas, aspiraciones y problemas”, dijo el
papa Francisco. “Aunque ustedes sean estrellas, sigan siendo
hombres tanto en el deporte
como en sus vidas”.
Él pidió a los jugadores
asumir la responsabilidad por el
hecho de que para millones de
personas, jóvenes y viejos, ellos
son héroes y modelos a seguir.
“Estén conscientes de esto y
ofrezcan un ejemplo de lealtad,
respeto y altruismo”, él dijo.
“Tengo confianza en todo el
bien que ustedes pueden hacer
entre los jóvenes”.
El papa, quien sigue el fút-
bol, sabe que en Europa el juego
ha estado plagado de incidentes de jugadores y aÀcionados
haciendo comentarios racistas
sobre los jugadores de África. Él
les dijo a los jugadores que ellos
deben ser modelos de inclusión,
trabajando para “eliminar permanentemente el peligro de la
discriminación”.
Cuando los equipos están
comprometidos con la buena
deportividad, él dijo, todos en
el estadio crecen, “la violencia
desaparece” y “uno comenzará
a ver otra vez familias en las
gradas”.
El Papa Francisco también
les pidió a los jugadores que
oraran por él, “de modo que yo
también, en la ‘cancha’ en que
Dios me ha puesto, pueda jugar
un juego honesto y valiente para
el bien de todos”.
Hablando con reporteros
después de su audiencia con el
papa, Messi, quien no jugó en el
partido Italia-Argentina debido
a una lesión, dijo que la mejor
manera en que los jugadores
pueden responder a lo que dijo
el papa es a dándole a los aÀcionados un juego limpio y emocionante y llevando vidas rectas.
“Sin duda alguna, hoy ha
sido uno de los días más especiales de mi vida”, él dijo. “Tenemos que destacarnos dentro y
fuera de la cancha”.
A Buffon, quien le regaló
al papa un balón Àrmado por
todos los jugadores italianos, se le
preguntó si pensaba que reunirse
con el papa podría estimular el
milagro necesario para asegurar
que Italia y Argentina llegaran a
las Ànales de la Copa Mundial.
“Nuestra tarea es trabajar
arduamente para asegurar que
estemos en la Ànal”, él dijo. “Si
el Papa Francisco hace milagros,
creo que serían para cosas más
importantes”.
Buffon dijo que el que el
papa pidiera las oraciones de
los jugadores es otra señal de su
“humildad y humanidad”.
Julio Humberto Grondona,
presidente de la asociación argentina de fútbol, le pidió al
papa bendecir el fútbol argentino “de modo que los estadios
sean como eran cuando usted
experimentó por primera vez la
emoción de ser un aÀcionado”.
EL PAPA FRANCISCO recibe una pelota de fútbol como
regalo del portero y capitán, Gianluigi Buffon, durante una
audiencia privada en el Vaticano el 13 de agosto. (CNS
foto por L’Osservator e Romano a Reuters)
Podemos reformar nuestras leyes migratorias
POR BÁRBARA BUDDE
COLUMNISTA
Recientemente escuché la
historia de Manuel. Él vino a los
Estados Unidos cuando tenía 9
años, fue a la escuela, aprendió
inglés, se volvió habilidoso en
el negocio de la construcción,
conoció y se casó con su esposa Juanita y proveyó para su
familia, incluidos sus dos niños.
Manuel era un buen esposo y
padre, respetaba la ley, era un
ciudadano que pagaba impuestos y un modelo en la comunidad. De cualquier manera,
fue citado por una luz trasera
rota y cuando fue a pagar la
multa de $75, fue detenido por
El Servicio de Inmigración y
Control de Aduanas de Estados
Unidos (U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, o ICE
por sus siglas en ingles) por no
tener documentación adecuada.
ICE le dió la opción de pelear
la detención y deportación, en
cuyo caso, le aseguraron que
también detendrían a su esposa,
lo cual dejaría a los niños bajo
el cuidado del estado, o podría
calladamente ser deportado a
México. Como en la película “La
opción de Sofía” de hace varias
décadas, Manuel se enfrentó con
una decisión imposible, abandonar a su familia o causar que
sus niños estuvieran sin padres
en su propio país- el país que él
mismo había llegado a ver como
suyo propio.
La historia de Manuel es
una razón entre muchas por las
que nuestro país necesita una
reforma migratoria integral. En
la editorial de Abril, el Obispo
Vásquez escribió, “Creemos
que cada persona está creada
a imagen y semejanza de Dios;
por lo tanto, tenemos que hablar
cuando existe una afrenta a la
dignidad humana, cuando existe
tráÀco de personas y cuando las
familias son destruidas por que
están forzadamente separadas
por cientos de millas“.
He escuchado muchos argumentos sobre porqué no debemos reformar nuestro sistema
migratorio, pero la mayoría de
ellos parecen estar enraizados
en el miedo. Tenemos miedo
de que los inmigrantes van a
ocupar demasiados trabajos, o a
bajar el salario mínimo; tenemos
miedo de que nuestra cultura
y lenguaje sean drásticamente
cambiados; tenemos miedo de
una “amnistía”; tenemos miedo
de criminales y terroristas. La
verdad es que una reforma integral se ocupa de esos temas: millones ya están aquí y trabajando
y beneÀciando nuestra sociedad,
y el legalizar a estos trabajadores
beneficiará nuestra economía
aún más; los inmigrantes asimilan la cultura en una generación
y enriquecen nuestra cultura; la
reforma no es la amnistía, pero
una ganada ciudadanía que será
larga y ardua; un sistema refor-
mado nos ayudará a mantener
un seguimiento de aquellos que
están llegando a nuestro país.
De cualquier manera, estos
argumentos no son los más
importantes. ¡La verdad es que
necesitamos apoyar una reforma
migratoria integral por que somos gente del Reino de Dios!
En Agosto escuchamos a Jesús
decir a sus discípulos, “No teman más, mi rebaño, ya que su
Padre se complace en darles el
Reino“. (Lc 12:32) Nosotros
somos la gente de Dios llena de
la gracia de Dios para revelar el
tipo de comunidad que puede
existir cuando estamos abiertos
a la gracia y al amor de Dios.
Esta es una comunidad que
no vive con miedo, sino que
da la bienvenida al extranjero,
alimenta al hambriento, arropa
al desnudo y cuida al enfermo y
al encarcelado.
Podemos escoger el dejar
que la política y los politicos
nos deÀnan, o podemos dejar
que nuestro bautizo y nuestra fe
nos deÀnan. De ser así, diremos
a los politicos, que trabajan para
nosotros, que queremos ser una
comunidad de luz y de fe, una
comunidad que no forzará a
padres como Manuel a ser deportados, sino que lo ayudará a
él y a millones de hermanos que
viven y triunfan en este gran país
nuestro.
Los obispos de Estados Unidos tienen un sitio web, www.
justiceforimmigrants.org donde
podemos Àrmar una tarjeta postal
para enviarla a nuestros Representantes en el Congreso y Senadores. Hay información detallada
sobre las reformas que los obispos recomiendan e información
sobre la reforma migratoria, no
desde el punto de vista de un
politico, sino desde la perspectiva
de nuestra fe. Juntos, podemos
actuar como gente de fe y reformar nuestras leyes migratorias de
manera que actuén de acuerdo a
los valores de nuestra fe.
SITINGS
September 2013
31
FATHER ALBERT LAFORET
and Richard
Miscoe of Miscoe
Construction
prepared for the
installation of the
recently restored
rose window at
St. Mary Cathedral in Austin.
(Photo courtesy
Greg Vidal)
THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS from Sacred Heart Parish in Austin
provided tents for the parish’s Spanish Choir Talent Show on June 8.
(Photo courtesy Lupe Perez)
JUST BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED,
Msgr. John McCaffrey blessed those
teenagers from St. Joseph Catholic School
in Bryan who recently
earned their driver’s
permits or licenses.
After the blessing,
students and teachers
were surprised with
the presentation of a
new bus for the school.
(Photos courtesy Patty
Blaszak)
ST. LOUIS CATHOLIC
SCHOOL in Austin welcomed new families to their
school with a New Parent
Deck Party hosted by Father
Larry Covington. (Photo
courtesy Rosalie Dowling)
ST. IGNATIUS MARTYR PARISH in Austin held
a lock-in July 27-28 with more than 40 teens. The
Super Saintly Service Lock-In provided service
opportunities, games, fellowship, prayer and adoration. (Photo courtesy Lori Nava)
ALAINA ZACHMANN
made her ¿rst profession of vows with the
Salesian Sisters at
Holy Rosary Parish in
San Antonio on Aug. 5.
Zachmann is from Austin and was a parishioner of San Francisco
Javier Parish in Austin.
(Photo courtesy Christian R. González)
THE COUNCIL OF
CATHOLIC
WOMEN at
St. Mary Parish in Brenham served
more than
700 meals as
a fundraiser.
(Photo courtesy Angela
Chandler)
A GROUP OF TEENS
from St. Martin de
Porres Parish in Dripping Springs attended
Catholic Heart Work
Camp in New Orleans
this summer. Before
returning home, they
toured the city. (Photo
courtesy Allison Rice)
THE MIDDLE SCHOOL youth program at
Emmaus Parish in Lakeway introduced a
new program this summer for girls entering high school in the fall. “Verses 4 UR
Purses” was created to help girls be aware
of their God-given dignity as they deal with
pressures encountered in high school.
THE BRIGHT HORIZONS ministry
at Emmaus Parish provides a loving
and enriching experience for people
living with dementia, as well as
respite for their caregivers. (Photos
courtesy Paula Baczewski)
Send photos by the 10th of the month to [email protected].
32
C ATHOLIC S PIRIT
SITINGS
ST. MARGARET
MARY PARISH
in Cedar Park
started a new
Legion of Mary
group on July 16.
(Photo courtesy
Lynda Villasana)
THE YOUTH MINISTRY GROUP
from St. Anthony Parish in Kyle
performed various acts of service
throughout the community July
22-25. Various parish groups
provided meals for the teens
throughout the week. (Photos
courtesy George Mercado)
A PRAYER SERVICE FOR COUPLES
struggling to conceive
was held July 24 at St.
William Parish in Round
Rock. The evening
was sponsored by
the Diocese of Austin,
Sarah’s Hope & Abraham’s Promise Ministry.
(Photo courtesy Jen
Crowley)
ST. MARY, OUR LADY OF THE LAKE
Parish in Lago Vista held Vacation Bible
School June 10-14. The parish Knights of
Columbus also hosted a pizza party for
the parish’s altar servers. (Photos courtesy
Sherry Rodgers)
CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES
on the new church at St. Michael
Parish in Uhland. Parishioners will
worship in
a church
again soon.
(Photos
courtesy
Deacon Tim
and Teresa Vande
Vorde)
MSGR. JOHN MALINOWSKI
celebrated his 50th anniversary as
a priest on May 25 at St. Anthony
Parish in Bryan. He currently serves
as the dean of the
Bryan/College Station
Deanery and as a
chaplain at St. Joseph
Hospital in Bryan.
(Photos courtesy
Msgr. Malinowski)
THE GUADALUPANAS from San José
Parish in Austin made
rosaries for the Aug.
3 Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration.
(Photo courtesy Deacon Jose Mendez)
NOVICE RICKY
COTÉ professed his
¿rst vows as a monk
in the community of
St. Joseph Abbey in
Covington, La. on July
11. He is the son of
Rick and Cyndi Coté
of Austin. (Photo courtesy Simon Stubbs)
FATHER STEPHEN
NESRSTA joined in singing
a few Czech songs as he bid
farewell to St. John Parish in
Fayetteville and St. Mary Parish in Ellinger.
ST. JOHN PARISH held
Vacation Bible School
July 15-19. (Photos
courtesy Amy Babin)
Send photos by the 10th of the month to [email protected].
THE KJZT OF BRYAN held a garage
sale on Aug. 3 and
donated the proceeds
to the maintenance of
Mt. Calvary Cemetery, the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life
and RED-C Catholic
Radio Station (88.5
FM). (Photo courtesy
Liz Zemanek)

here - Diocese of Austin

Transcripción

Documentos relacionados

- St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church

Bulletin 08-14-2016 - Holy Trinity Church

Calendar of Events this Week Daily Mass Schedule