September 28 - North Texas Catholic

Transcription

North Texas Catholic
Bringing the Good News to the Diocese of Fort Worth
Vol. 23 No. 14
September 28, 2007
Vatican says food, water
must be provided to
vegetative patients
CATHOLIC CHARITIES MARCH — An estimated 500 people, all participants at the annual Catholic Charities USA
convention held in Cincinnati, march across the John Roebling Suspension Bridge Sept. 15 en route to the convention at
the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati. (CNS photo/E.L. Hubbard, CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH)
Catholic Charities delegates discuss
poverty, racism at convention
By Dennis O’Connor
CINCINNATI (CNS) — Singing “This Little Light of Mine”
and walking across a Civil
War-era suspension bridge from
Covington, Kentucky, to the
National Underground Railroad
Freedom Center in Cincinnati
Sept. 15, about 500 participants
at the annual Catholic Charities
USA convention demonstrated
their desire to lead the way out
of poverty and racism.
Echoing the convention
theme, “Crossing the Rivers of
Freedom,” the marchers followed
in the footsteps of numerous
former slaves making their way
to freedom. The final destination
for the delegates, the Freedom
Center, was named for the part
the Ohio River Valley played as
a stop along the underground
railroad.
“This is a wonderful way to
end a day of discussion about the
role racism plays in our society,”
said Shelley Borysiewicz, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities
USA.
Earlier in the day, Father
Bryan Massingale, a Marquette
University theology professor,
and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of
Las Cruces, New Mexico, led discussions focused on the Catholic
Charities 2007 briefing paper,
“Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common
Good.”
“From that discussion, and
then actually crossing the bridge
and coming up to a prayer service
at the Freedom Center, I think,
provides a thought-provoking
visual experience of people seeking freedom” from poverty and
racism, Borysiewicz said.
The Sept. 13-16 convention
was co-hosted by Catholic Social
Services of Southwestern Ohio,
Catholic Social Services of Miami
Valley, and Catholic Social SerSEE CATHOLIC CHARITIES’…, P. 14
By John Thavis
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In
a brief document approved by
Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican
said it was generally a moral
obligation to provide food and
water to patients in a vegetative
state.
Nutrition and hydration, even
by artificial means, cannot simply
be terminated because doctors
have determined that a person
will never recover consciousness,
the Vatican said Sept. 14.
Exceptions may occur when
patients are unable to assimilate
food and water or in the “rare”
cases when nutrition and hydration become excessively burdensome for the patient, it said.
The text was prepared by the
Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith in the form of a response to questions raised by the
U.S. bishops’ conference. It was
signed by U.S. Cardinal William
J. Levada, prefect of the doctrinal
congregation, and approved by
the pope before publication.
The congregation’s document strongly reaffirmed points
made by Pope John Paul II in a
landmark speech in 2004, when
he said nutrition and hydration,
even by “artificial” means such
as feeding tubes, should generally be considered ordinary care
and not extraordinary medical
treatment.
That was a key point, because
the church teaches that “extraordinary” means of treatment for
unresponsive patients can sometimes be discontinued.
The late pope’s speech prompted questions in the theological
and medical communities, and
the U.S. bishops’ Committee on
Doctrine submitted questions to
SEE ADMINISTERING…, P. 12
Hurricane Humberto hits Texas,
Louisiana; six churches damaged
By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) —
Hurricane Humberto, which
began as a tropical storm, made
landfall in Texas and Louisiana
Sept. 13. The storm’s high winds
knocked down trees and power
lines in the area and caused minor destruction, including water
damage and the loss of shingles
in six churches in the Diocese of
Beaumont.
The storm intensified when it
hit the eastern tip of Texas with
sustained winds of up to 80 mph
and heavy rains before weakening and going through Louisiana.
It was the first hurricane to make
landfall on the Gulf Coast since
Katrina and Rita two years ago.
Karen Gilman, editor of the
East Texas Catholic, Beaumont’s
diocesan newspaper, said she
SEE MOST DAMAGE…, P. 21
Bishop Vann addresses international gathering
of aviation chaplains at DFW Airport
By Joan Kurkowski-Gillen
Correspondent
Once, as a seminarian who
studied in Rome, and later, as a
parish priest who chaperoned
his share of religious pilgrimages, Fort Worth Bishop Kevin
Vann has had a taste of what
it’s like to minister to people in
airports.
Waiting to depart for Europe
during one excursion, the easygoing pastor recalled sitting in the
New York’s JFK Airport terminal
an extra four or five hours as
airline personnel rechecked all
the passenger luggage because
of a security issue. One frustrated traveler noticed the priest’s
Roman collar and began to vent
her frustration.
“Can’t you do something about
this?” she demanded, assuming a
member of the clergy could end
the delay.
In a reassuring tone, thenFather Vann reminded the passenger that safety, not speed, was
the priority.
“You don’t want to be 30,000
feet over the Atlantic and find
out you have a problem,” he
reasoned, trying to calm her.
More recently, the pastor was
traveling through LaGuardia International Airport in New York
when he was stopped by a fellow
passenger. She asked him to pray
for her autistic daughter.
“So I sat down and prayed
with her,” he says, recalling the
quiet moment of devotion. “She
gave me her daughter’s name,
and I still have it in my Liturgy
of the Hours [book of liturgical
prayers], where it’s a reminder
to pray for that family.”
SEE AIRPORT CHAPLAINS…, P. 7
Bishop Kevin Vann accepts a token of appreciation from Bishop Donald “DD”
Hayes, head of the DFW Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy and a member of the Gospel
Inspirational Fellowship Tabernacle Church Ministries in Fort Worth. Bishop Vann
spoke to an international gathering of aviation chaplains in early September at
American Airlines Conference Center, Fort Worth. (Photo by Joan Kurkowski-Gillen)
Page 2
NORTH TEXAS CATHOLIC, September 28, 2007
Diocesan
WORLD
Diocese of Fort Worth issues statement on removal
of pastor of Vietnamese Martyrs Church, Arlington
The following press release, including a statement from Bishop Kevin
Vann, was issued by the Diocese of
Fort Worth to the local news media
and posted on the diocesan Web
site (www.fwdioc.org) Thursday,
Sept. 20.
The pastor of the Vietnamese
Martyrs Catholic Church in Arlington has been removed from
office Thursday by Bishop Kevin
Vann after an investigation of allegations of past sexual harassment
of two women while the priest
served a parish in another state.
Bishop Vann informed the
superiors of the Congregation
of Mother Coredemptrix that he
was as of today removing Father
Bartholomew Hoa Thai Do from
his office as pastor of Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church in
Arlington as well as removing
his priestly faculties. Father Do
is a member of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix,
which ministers at the request of
the Bishop of Fort Worth to the
Arlington Vietnamese Martyrs
Catholic Church.
Bishop Vann said:
“My pastoral care and concern
for the Vietnamese people here in
our Diocese was preceded by the
care of my late predecessor, the
Most Reverend Joseph Delaney,
who saw the need to establish
parishes for the Catholics from
Vietnam present in the Diocese.
Because of this pastoral care,
the present situation and recent
developments are a cause of great
concern to me and the wider
Catholic community.
The results of our internal investigation are not convicting, yet
they are not exonerating either.
YOUTH DAY
COUNTDOWN
— A counter,
Since religious order priests
serve at the discretion of the
diocesan Bishop, and given all
of the difficulties, I will not be
accepting Father Bartholomew
Hoa Thai Do back as pastor
of Vietnamese Martyrs.
A pastor is needed who can
bring all parishioners together,
and who has no cloud of past
allegations about him, allegations which involve current
residents of our Diocese. As of
this date, I hereby remove Father
Bartholomew Hoa Thai Do’s
faculties.”
The Catholic Diocese of Fort
Worth invites anyone who wishes
to report sexual misconduct by
anyone who serves the church to
contact Victims Abuse Coordinator Judy Locke at (817) 560-2452
ext. 201 or Father Michael Olson
at (817) 560-2452 ext. 107.
seen Sept.
15 above an
entrance to
St. Mary’s
Cathedral
in Sydney,
Australia,
keeps track
of the days
until the start
of World
Youth Day
2008. The
opening Mass
for World
Youth Day
will be July
15 at Royal
Randwick
Racecourse in
Sydney. (CNS
photo/Nancy
Wiechec)
Pope Benedict’s Marian devotion keeps clear focus on Christ
By John Thavis
MARIAZELL, Austria (CNS)
— When Pope Benedict XVI came
to the Austrian Marian shrine of
Mariazell, he spoke a lot about
Jesus Christ and said relatively
little about Mary.
That was indicative of the
“style” of this pope’s Marian
devotion, which Vatican officials have described as prudent,
thoughtful, and very Christocentric.
In general, the pope sees attachment to Mary as a wonderful
way for the faithful to draw closer
to Christ, but has been wary of
anything that tends to exaggerate
or over-sentimentalize her role in
the church.
“We rest awhile with the
mother of the Lord, and we pray
to her: Show us Jesus ... the one
who is both the way and the
destination,” the pope said in his
sermon Sept. 8 to 30,000 people at
Mariazell, where a small statue of
Mary and Jesus has been drawing
pilgrims for 850 years.
Later, in a prayer liturgy at the
sanctuary, he noted that Mary
had received the fullness of God’s
grace and said, “We learn to look
always, like Mary, to Christ, and
to make him our criterion and
our measure.”
A week earlier, at a Marian
sanctuary in Italy, the pope recited six prayer intentions addressed to Mary — each of which
quickly proceeded to invoke the
lessons of Jesus.
When he first visited Mariazell
as a cardinal in 2004, church
sources said the pope gave a long
talk on the Christological focus of
Marian devotion.
In many ways, Mariazell
seems to fit that focus. It is not a
place of apparitions or spectacular events, and the devotion has
always been quiet and low-key.
It’s a small place unable to host
huge crowds, yet significant
in the religious history of the
region.
In the Mariazell area, images
of Mary always show her with
Christ, Vatican officials pointed
out before the trip.
When Pope John Paul II came
to Mariazell in 1983, he entrusted
Austria to Mary in a long prayer
that seemed to leave her figure in
high relief. The late pope had a
strong personal devotion to Mary,
and believed she had intervened
in 1981 to save his life, by guiding
a would-be assassin’s bullet away
from vital organs.
Pope John Paul’s episcopal
motto, “Totus Tuus,” meant “Totally Yours” and expressed his
dedication to Mary. He gave her
great space in his writings and
catechesis, and he consecrated
populations and continents to
her care.
As a young theologian, Pope
Benedict wrote little about Mary
and said that, at that time, some
of her ancient titles seemed exaggerated to him.
By 2002, in the book, God and
the World, he told an interviewer
that “the older I am, the more
important the Mother of God is
to me and close to me.” But he
also said that reverence for Mary
“should not lead us to forget the
`first’ of Christ: Everything comes
from him.”
For that reason, he opposed
a movement to grant Mary the
title of “co-redemptrix” or “coredeemer” with Christ, saying
it could give rise to misunderstandings.
In a 1985 book-length interview, he outlined six points
illustrating Mary’s proper importance to the faith. The first
was that Marian devotion helps
Christians understand Christ’s
incarnation.
“It is ... in direct service to
faith in Christ — not, therefore,
primarily out of devotion to the
Mother — that the church has
proclaimed her Marian dogmas,”
he said.
The other five points were:
— Mariology expresses the
correct integration between
Scripture and tradition.
— As a Jewish girl who became the mother of the savior,
Mary binds together the old and
new people of God, Israel and
Christianity.
— Correct Marian devotion
balances mind and heart, the lucidity of reason with the warmth
of affection for Jesus’ mother.
— Mary is the figure and archetype of the church as a mother,
and represents the church’s human face.
— In her virginity and motherhood, Mary sheds a new light on
the “mystery of woman.”
The pope summed up his
views by saying: “As a creature of
courage and of obedience [Mary]
was and is still an example to
which every Christian — man
and woman — can and should
look.”
In later years, the pope developed these ideas and enriched
them. And although, as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal official, he
was very cautious about reports
of Marian apparitions, he seemed
to widen his views on that topic,
too, saying that apparitions were
a spiritual “sign of the times”
POPE IN
AUSTRIA —
Pope Benedict
XVI waves
after visiting
the Cistercian
Abbey of the
Holy Cross in
Heiligenkreuz,
Austria, Sept.
9. (CNS
photo/Miro
Kuzmanovic,
Reuters)
that showed Mary’s connection
to Christ.
In God and the World, the pope
said he understands that many
people feel they can “talk” to
Mary in an unselfconscious way
that they would not dare to do
with Christ.
“This is the language of the
heart,” he said.
North
Texas
Catholic
Publisher:
Bishop Kevin W. Vann
Editor: Jeff Hensley
Associate Editor: Mary Martin
Secretary: Judy Russeau
Editorial Office: 800 West Loop 820 South, Fort Worth, Texas 76108, (817)
560-3300; FAX (817) 244-8839.
Circulation Office: Rita Garber, 800 West Loop 820 South, Fort Worth, Texas
76108, (817) 560-3300.
NORTH TEXAS CATHOLIC (USPS 751-370) (ISSN 0899-7020) is published
semi-monthly, except for the months of June, July, and August when it is published monthly, by the Most Rev. Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of the Diocese of Fort
Worth, 800 West Loop 820 South. Subscription rates are $24 for one year, $46
for two years, $68 for three years. Periodical postage paid at Fort Worth, Texas.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to North Texas Catholic, 800 West Loop
820 South, Fort Worth, Texas 76108.
Deadline for information for the North Texas Catholic is noon of Wednesday of
the week before the paper is published. The NTC is published two times a month
on Friday, except for the months of June, July, and August when it is published
one time each month.
The appearance of advertising in these pages does not imply endorsement of
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Page 3
Diocesan
Multiple locations across
diocese to participate in
National Life Chain Oct. 7
The annual National Life
Chain will be held Sunday, Oct.
7, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in multiple locations across the Diocese
of Fort Worth, in solidarity with
participants in more than 1,000
locations across the United States
and Canada. Life Chain participants will take part in the event
from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in each time
zone across North America.
Life Chain participants traditionally gather on well-traveled
roadways on the first Sunday
of October to offer silent witness to the value and dignity of
human life. Participants of all
faiths silently pray while holding professionally printed signs
with approved pro-life messages
for passing motorists to view,
gathering peacefully to display
support for life and opposition
to abortion.
Those interested in participating in this pro-life witness within
the Diocese of Fort Worth are
invited to choose from among
the multiple Life Chain locations
listed below. For more details
about the Life Chain at each site,
the local coordinators’ contact
information is provided.
For more information on
the National Life Chain, visit
the national Web site at www.
NationalLifeChain.org, or call
the Fort Worth coordinator, Julie
Vecera, at (817) 297-1557.
For information about opportunities to participate in pro-life
activities within the Diocese of
Fort Worth, contact Catholics Respect Life at (817) 623-2430 or visit
the organization’s local Web site
at www.catholicsrespectlife.org.
Life Chain locations within diocese
ARLINGTON
Pioneer Pkwy. at Fielder Rd.
John Gleason, (817) 457-9564
CARROLLTON
Frankford at Josey
Paul Kramer, (972) 492-2029,
[email protected]
CLEBURNE
W. Henderson St. (In front of
stadium)
Elizabeth Victory, (817) 558-9805,
[email protected]
LAKE CITIES / GRAPEVINE /
SOUTHLAKE
Southlake Blvd. at Village Center Dr.
Mary Solis, (817) 329-0402,
[email protected]
LEWISVILLE
Main St. at I-35
Judy Lance, (972) 436-2273,
[email protected]
LINDSAY
Hwy. 82
Ray & Joan Sedge, (940) 759-2153
DENTON
MANSFIELD
1200 University Dr.
Cheryl Spooner, (940) 206-8435,
[email protected]
Hwy. 287 at 157 (Cooper St.)
Kathi Miller, (817) 335-9258,
[email protected]
FLOWER MOUND
MUENSTER
Hwy. 2499 at Forest Vista
Myra Jean Myers, (972) 539-6770,
[email protected]
Hwy. 82
Martha Sicking, (940) 759-2907,
[email protected]
FORT WORTH
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS
3900 S. Hulen at Arborlawn
Julie Vecera, (817) 297-1557,
[email protected]
Rufe Snow at Loop 820 (Chick-fil-A)
Larry Stevens, (817) 847-6376,
[email protected]
GAINESVILLE
SPRINGTOWN
602 N. Grand Ave.
Catherine Bezner, (940) 665-4364,
[email protected]
Hwy. 199 at Hwy. 51
Barbara Estes, (817) 221-2636,
[email protected]
KELLER
TROPHY CLUB
Rt. 377 between FM 1709 and
Watauga
Alana Demma, (817) 337-1721,
[email protected]
Trophy Lake Dr. at Trophy Club Dr.
Brian Smith, (817) 491-1424,
[email protected]
WICHITA FALLS
Holliday St. and Broad St.
Mike Bahr, (940) 224-3221,
[email protected]
Responding
to God’s Call
Vocation awareness —
Want to transform your life?
Volunteer!
By Father Kyle Walterscheid
V
olunteers
don’t get
paid a thing,
so why do so many
people do it? What
benefit, if any, is there
to volunteering?
I would like to respond by
first asking what makes a Christian community? Is it simply
a people united by a common
faith, or does it require a much
deeper investment, such as putting common prayer and faith
into action?
The typical experience that
so many Christians go through
each week is the running to
church on Sunday as part of the
holy day of obligation, but does
Christianity require something
much deeper?
Indeed it does. For 10 years
of my life I was going to Mass
on Sunday and putting money
in the collection basket, thinking this was all there was to my
Christian duty — but something was missing. I was deeply
disconnected. I did not feel like
part of the community.
This experience recently
came up again in my life as a
priest. I have been celebrating
Mass once a month at the University Catholic Community
at the University of Texas in
Arlington for the past two
years for the Catholic Alumni
Association. We have Mass
and a meeting once a month.
Someone suggested something
significant was missing from
our newly formed community.
They suggested that we needed
Children and Youth Holy Hour to be observed Oct. 5
The Franciscan Friars of the
Renewal within the Diocese
of Fort Worth will lead a local
observance of the Worldwide
Children and Youth Holy Hour
Oct. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Patrick
Cathedral, 1206 Throckmorton
Street in downtown Fort Worth.
The event will include eucharistic
adoration, the recitation of the
rosary, and the crowning of the
statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
Father Kyle Walterscheid, director
of the Office of Vocations, is
shown walking out of Sacred
Heart Parish in Muenster
following his ordination to the
priesthood in May 2002.
Even then, he appeared
to be inviting people
to ask if they were
being called to a
vocation.
Young people within the Diocese of Fort Worth are invited to
gather at the cathedral to unite
their prayers with those of
schoolchildren who will also be
gathered Oct. 5 at the Basilica of
to do something more than
celebrating Mass and planning
meetings; we needed to come together to volunteer our time and
talent in a common project.
That’s it! A Christian community is made of volunteers
united by a common faith and
prayer who invest themselves in
the community by volunteering
their time and talent. This was
the bond that I was missing while
going through college and then
as a single Christian living out
on my own.
Volunteering is at the heart of
the Christian community! While
the Eucharist is the holy source
and summit of the Christian community, and common worship
unites us, without the common
bonds and interaction that volunteering brings, we will simply
not have a Christian community
for long. Acts 2:42 states four essential elements of the daily life
of the new Christians as: devoting themselves to the teachings
of the apostles, to the communal
life, to the breaking of the bread,
and to prayers.
Volunteering is part of the
communal life, and it doesn’t cost
a thing! That’s why it is countercultural. Our culture sees little or
no value to investing our time in
things that don’t add to the gross
national product. Our society
puts a dollar sign on everything
and everybody. Christianity does
not! Society tells us that money
will bring us happiness, yet we
know our happiness comes from
God. Volunteering helps us value
each other as persons and not as
objects created to make a quick
buck off one’s neighbor or for
big business.
This may be why volunteering
has doubled among teens in the
last 20 years, according to the
Corporation for National and
Community Service, a govern-
ment agency that tracks volunteering trends. It has also noted
that the number of college-aged
volunteers has increased 30
percent between 2002 and 2006.
Teenagers and young adults
seem to be catching on to the
true value of volunteering as
they search for a deeper meaning to life.
For college students, there
is a secondary benefit too.
Employers are now beginning
to look at volunteering as significant part of any résumé. If
two people are equally qualified
for a job, the job is most likely
to go to the one who has a better sense of service and has a
proven record of volunteering.
I was elated this past year to
provide recommendations to
employers many times over as
students who volunteered in
campus ministry asked me, as
their chaplain, to be a reference
for their employment opportunities.
As we volunteer in the community, we then receive the
deep bonds of knowing and
loving our neighbor, which
produces the joys and laughter
of life as well as the sharing of
sorrows and pains. Volunteering is an expression of love, and
it will go a long way in bringing
us to understanding God’s love
for us. Once regular volunteering is a part of our lives, then we
will be connected and fulfilled;
we will look forward to every
Mass and the holy Eucharist as
the source and summit of life.
Volunteering will transform
your life as God reveals to you
his love and your vocation.
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington
D.C. The national gathering has
been celebrated annually for the
past five years. In celebration of
the 90th anniversary year of Our
Lady of Fatima, Pope Benedict
XVI has granted an apostolic
blessing to all who participate
in the holy hour.
For more information about
the local gathering, contact Eileen Nelson at (817) 926-5399,
or Kim Ball at (817) 426-5085
or via e-mail to jc-kim-ball@
sbcglobal.net.
Father Kyle Walterscheid is the
director of Vocations for the
Diocese of Fort Worth. He can be
reached by e-mail to kwalterscheid
@fwdioc.org.
Page 4
Local faithful
to participate
in ‘40 Days for
Life’ campaign
Local Catholics will join members of other religious traditions
in observing “40 Days for Life,” a
nationwide ecumenical campaign
designed to call attention to the
sanctity of life at all stages. The
campaign began Sept. 26, and it will
continue through Nov. 4, according
to a flyer from Catholics Respect
Life, a pro-life organization within
the Diocese of Fort Worth.
Throughout the period of this
campaign, participants will hold
a vigil Monday through Saturday
evenings from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
outside the Planned Parenthood
abortion center, located at 301 S.
Henderson Street in Fort Worth,
where they will pray for an end to
abortion. Those participating are
also encouraged to fast and pray
throughout these 40 days.
It is expected that more than 80
cities in 32 states will take part in
this “largest simultaneous pro-life
mobilization in history,” states the
flyer. Catholics Respect Life has
volunteered to organize the local
efforts.
The pro-life organization is also
looking for volunteers to act as shift
leaders or to lead prayer during
the vigil. To volunteer, call Gisele
Ferguson at (817) 605-9269, or call
the Catholics Respect Life office at
(817) 623-2430.
Catholics Respect Life to
offer Mass in
honor of Our
Lady of Fatima
Catholics Respect Life, a pro-life
ministry in the Diocese of Fort Worth,
is sponsoring a Mass and procession
Saturday, Oct. 13, in honor of Our
Lady of Fatima. The Mass will begin
at 7 a.m. at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, 509 W. Magnolia in Fort
Worth, with Bishop Kevin Vann as
the main celebrant. The procession
will immediately follow the Mass.
For more information, call Nan
Wilsterman at (817) 346-0926 or
e-mail to nan4life01@hotmail.
com.
Bishop Vann to
preside at Mass
for children
who have died
before birth
On Oct 6, Bishop Kevin Vann will
celebrate the annual diocesan Memorial Mass for children who have
died before birth. The liturgy, to take
place at St. Mary of the Assumption
Church, 509 West Magnolia in Fort
Worth, will begin at 2 p.m. Refreshments will be served in the church
hall following the liturgy.
“The bishop’s intention is to bring
this special liturgical celebration to
those who have lost children before
birth through miscarriage, still birth,
or abortion, in order to help them
in the process of healing from their
loss,” said Chuck Pelletier, president
of the sponsoring organizations
— Mother and Unborn Baby Care,
and Catholics United for Life. Flowers will be provided for parents to
offer during the liturgy in memory
of their children, should they wish
to do so.
Reservations are requested but
not required. For more information
or to make a reservation, call (817)
738-1086, or e-mail to mubcare@
charter.net.
Sidewalk counseling, prayer
training to be
offered Oct. 6
Training for those seeking to offer
counseling and prayerful presence
in front of abortion centers will be
offered Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m.
to noon at St. Rita Church, 5550 E.
Lancaster Avenue in Fort Worth.
“Learn how, what, where, and why
we pray in front of abortion centers,”
invite training organizers. “Learn
how to approach couples entering
the abortion center and offer help,
love, and alternatives before they
enter.” Organizers invite everyone
to consider joining the people on
the sidewalk in front of the abortion centers who “offer prayer to
our Lord for those who participate
in abortion.”
For more information or to make
a reservation, contact John Bezner
at [email protected] or (940)
634-1434.
Fr. Charles Becker to speak at St.
Mary of the Assumption Church
The Fort Worth Queen of Peace
Center will host a presentation
entitled “The Blessed Mother Speaks
to the Apostles of the Last Times”
Tuesday, Oct. 16, at St. Mary of
the Assumption Church, 509 W.
Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth. The
event will begin at 6:45 p.m. with
the recitation of the rosary. Mass will
follow, and the presentation, given
by Father Charles Becker, will be
offered after Mass.
Fr. Becker, who has made over
40 pilgrimages to Medjugorje, has
developed rosary prayer groups
throughout the Archdiocese of
Chicago and has made frequent
appearances on the Eternal Word
Television Network (EWTN). He
will also offer the presentation at
St. Monica Church in Dallas at 7
p.m. Monday, Oct. 15.
For more information on either
presentation, call (817) 244-7733,
(817) 558-9805, or (817) 2448191.
Official Assignments
The following assignment has been made by Bishop
Kevin Vann:
Rev. Philip M. Binh Tran, CMC, has been appointed parochial
administrator of Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Arlington, effective
Sept. 20.
People
Events
&
of Importance for the
Church of Fort Worth
PRO-LIFE COORDINATORS MEET — Andy Rivas (left), executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference, listens as Kelly Shackelford, president
of the Free Market Foundation, outlines pro-life strategies during an Aug.
23 meeting at The Catholic Center in West Fort Worth. Pro-life coordinators
from throughout North Texas attended the planning session. (Photo by Joan
Kurkowski-Gillen)
DCCW Assembly to be held
Oct. 25
With the theme “Bringing Light
to Women in OUR World,” the Fort
Worth Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women (DCCW) will hold their
biennial DCCW Assembly Oct. 25
at Sacred Heart Church, 1501 9th
Street in Wichita Falls.
Keynote speaker Kay Keglovits,
a parishioner at St. Maria Goretti
Church in Arlington who is described
in promotional materials as a “dynamic and faith-filled presenter,”
will focus upon “Spirituality and
Women” in her presentation to the
assembly.
Bishop Kevin Vann will preside at
the assembly Mass.
Reports from officers will be
heard during the day; workshops
will be offered; and participants
will vote upon bylaw changes that
have been proposed and distributed
to members.
Each parish has been asked to
contribute a $25 gift or gift certificate, to be offered in a silent auction
in order to raise funds for the Fort
Worth chapter of the DCCW. The $20
registration fee for the day includes
lunch and assembly materials; the
fee is $25 if received after Oct. 15.
According to the mission statement for the national organization, the council “acts through its
membership to support, empower,
and educate all Catholic women in
spirituality, leadership, and service.
NCCW (National Council of Catholic
Women) programs respond with
Gospel values to the needs of the
church and society in the modern
world.”
For more information about registration for the assembly, contact
Betsy Kalina at (817) 275-0787.
Presentation
to be offered
on Vatican II at
Most Blessed
Sacrament
The diocesan office of Adult
Catechesis and RCIA will host a
catechetical presentation entitled
“Vatican II Almost 50 Years Later:
Catching the Spirit of Vatican II
with John Paul II and Benedict
XVI” Tuesday, Oct. 16, at Most
Blessed Sacrament Church, 2100
North Davis Drive in Arlington. The
program, to be given in the parish
hall from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., will
be presented by Douglas Bushman,
director of the Institute for Pastoral
Theology at Ave Maria University in
Naples, Florida.
Bushman “will help us to know
and understand the spirit and implementation of Vatican II, especially
from the writings and teachings of
Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict
XVI, and how this spirit can motivate
and shape the mission of catechesis
and evangelization in the church
today,” said Lucas Pollice, diocesan
director of Adult Catechesis and
RCIA. According to Pollice, the event
is a “perfect presentation for those
involved in catechesis at all levels
and for anyone desiring to learn
more about the legacy of Vatican II
and the New Evangelization.”
Bushman, a theologian, holds a
licentiate degree in sacred theology
granted by the pontifical faculty of
the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He has received national recognition for his work to develop the
teachings of Vatican II, Pope John
Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI.
For more information about the
presentation, contact Lucas Pollice
at (817) 560-3300 ext. 260 or e-mail
to [email protected].
Faith and Fiction group to
meet Oct. 18
“Faith and Fiction: Conversations
on Spirituality and Imagination,”
a venue for discussing novels and
films with themes that shed light
on the journey of faith, will meet
Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Catholic
Renewal Center, 4503 Bridge Street
in Fort Worth. The topic of discussion will be Peace Like a River, by
Lief Enger.
Those planning to participate are
asked to read the book, reflect on it
in light of personal experiences, and
come to the session with questions,
insights, or observations to share. A
potluck supper will be served at 6:15
p.m., and the discussion will take
place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Future dates and topics include
the following: Nov. 15, Possession,
by A. S. Byatt; Dec. 13, the film
“Joyeux Noel,” directed by Christian
Carion; Jan. 17, The Book Thief, by
Markus Zusak; Feb. 21, 84 Charing
Cross Road, by Helene Hanff; and
March 27, Wuthering Heights, by
Emily Bronte.
To ensure good conversation,
space will be limited. To reserve a
spot or for more information, call
the Catholic Renewal Center at (817)
429-2920 or e-mail to danluby@
udallas.edu.
‘Parental Survival Course’ to
be offered Oct.
27 in Keller
Dr. Ray Guarendi, a clinical psychologist, will speak at St. Elizabeth
Ann Seton Church, located at 2016
Willis Lane in Keller, Oct. 27. Dr.
Guarendi will present a program
entitled “Parental Survival Course:
Turning Trials to Triumphs” from
9 a.m. to noon.
Described by event organizers
as an “extremely entertaining”
presenter, Dr. Guarendi, the father
of 10 children of his own, will provide practical advice to parents. He
can be heard locally on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays from
noon to 1 p.m. on Catholic radio
station KATH 910 AM.
Tickets to the event at St. Elizabeth
Ann Seton are $10 per person or $20
per family. To order tickets, contact
Frank Laux at (817) 939-8594, or
for more information, visit online
at www.sjcktc.org.
St. Andrew to
offer Scripture
study program
St. Andrew Parish recently announced that it will offer Catholic
Scripture Study, a doctrinally based
Catholic Scripture study program.
Participants will meet weekly, beginning Monday, Oct. 1, from 9:30
a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the parish hall,
located at 3717 Stadium Drive in
Fort Worth. The classes will continue
through May.
All the major books of the Bible are
to be covered in a five-year cycle. The
weekly meetings will involve class
discussion, and material for study and
daily reflection will be provided.
The program is open to all people
who have an interest in Scripture and
the Catholic Church. Participants are
asked to commit to regular attendance
for the current year’s course.
For more information, call Alice
Curran or Michele Salcedo at (817)
927-5383. Childcare is available by
calling (817) 924-6581.
Ministry Formation Day in
Wichita Falls
set for Oct. 6
“Encountering the Living Christ”
is the theme of the diocesan Ministry
Formation Day, to be held Oct. 6
at Notre Dame High School, 2821
Lansing Blvd. in Wichita Falls. The
event is an opportunity for enrichment, fellowship, and development
of practical skills for ministry.
Ministry Formation Day, to be
offered in English and Spanish,
will begin at 8 a.m. with the viewing of exhibits. Registration and a
continental breakfast will follow
from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
The English keynote address will
be presented at 10 a.m. by Father
Nathan Stone, SJ, from Montserrat
Jesuit Retreat House. The Spanish
keynote, which will begin at 11:15
a.m., will be presented by Jesús López
of Los Angeles.
During the English keynote
address, a breakout session with
Spanish-language workshops will
be held, and while the Spanish
keynote is offered, English-language
workshops will take place. There also
will be a second round of workshops
in the afternoon, beginning at 1:30
p.m. After another opportunity
to view exhibits at 2:30, Ministry
Formation Day will conclude at
3 p.m.
All are welcome to attend. The
cost, which includes lunch, is
$25. Scholarships are available.
For more information, call The
Catholic Center at (817) 560-3300
or visit the diocesan Web site at
www.fwdioc.org.
‘Theology of
the Body’ workshop to be offered at St.
Maria Goretti
“Whether you’re married, engaged, or single; teen, young adult,
or older adult, it’s important to know
what it means to be made in God’s
image and likeness,” states promotional material for a “Theology of
the Body” DVD series to be offered
at St. Maria Goretti Parish, 1200
S. Davis Drive in Arlington. The
four-week series will begin Oct. 19,
with food and drinks being served
at 6:30 p.m. and the program starting at 7 p.m.
Based on an eight-part DVD series
by Christopher West, four weeks of
the program will be presented this
fall, and the remaining four parts
will conclude in the spring. “Christopher West unpacks John Paul II’s
‘Theology of the Body,’ translating
it into a language everyone can
understand,” information from the
parish states. “The human body is
a ‘theology,’” the material explains,
“because it is meant to be a sign of
God’s own life and love in the world.”
Each week of the series may be taken
independently of the other.
The cost is $5 per person for the
study guide and $5 per person each
week for pizza and drinks. To register
or for more information, contact
John Cox, director of faith formation at St. Maria Goretti, at (817)
274-0643 ext. 226 or by e-mail to
[email protected]. The deadline
for registration is Oct 14.
Page 5
People and Events
Ian Myers
earns Eagle
Scout award
Ian Matthew
Myers, a parishioner of
St. Vincent de
Paul Church
in Arlington,
achieved
Eagle Scout
rank with
Ian Myers
the National
Council of the Boy Scouts of America
(BSA). He accepted the award from BSA
Longhorn Council Troop 32 Scoutmaster Brian Polhemus at an Eagle Court
of Honor, held April 15.
Myers’ Eagle Scout project consisted of building a chess garden
at the Senior Recreation Center
located at 1000 Eunice Street in
Arlington. He received an award at
a special dedication ceremony from
Pete Jamieson, director of Parks and
Recreation for the city of Arlington
for the project, which consisted of
laying concrete foundations for three
custom-designed outdoor concrete
picnic tables and benches at the
recreation facility.
Myers, a member of the Order of
the Arrow Brotherhood, served as the
senior patrol leader for the Ad Altare
Dei pilgrimage tour, sponsored by
the Catholic Committee on Scouting in July 2007. He received the
Arrow of Light Award, the Parvuli
Dei Award, and the George Perdue
Award from Troop 32. He also
received the 125 Miler Award from
the BSA High Adventure canoe trip
to Ely, Minnesota.
Myers, a home-schooled student,
received the Bud Manley Youth
Leadership Award from St. Vincent
de Paul Church’s Men’s Club and
the parish’s Discipleship Award for
High School Youth, and has also
received numerous awards and
honors through various civic and
volunteer organizations.
A freshman student at Ave Maria University (AMU) in Naples,
Florida, Myers was awarded an AMU
Citizenship Scholarship and the
National Eagle Scout Association
Academic Scholarship. He is the
son of Larry Myers and Patty Myers
of Arlington.
St. Maria
Goretti Parish
to host blessing
of animals
Sept. 30
Series on
Catholic social
teaching continues at St.
Michael’s
St. Maria Goretti Parish will host
its annual blessing of the animals
Sunday, Sept. 30, at 2:30 p.m. The
procession of animals — everything
from dogs and cats to hamsters and
even horses — will take place behind
parish center, located at 1200 South
Davis Drive in Arlington.
This unique blessing is conducted
each year in remembrance of St.
Francis of Assisi and his love for
all creatures. St. Francis, whose
feast day is Oct. 4, wrote a Canticle
of the Creatures, an ode to God’s
living things, which included the
words, “All praise to you, Oh Lord,
for all these brother and sister
creatures.”
For more information, contact
Cindy Alford at (817) 274-0643 or
e-mail to [email protected].
St. Michael Church, located at
3713 Harwood Road in Bedford, is
currently hosting a series on Catholic
social teaching. The Thursday evening sessions, being offered through
Oct. 25, take place from 7 p.m. to 9
p.m. By participating in these seminars, according to information from
the parish, participants will gain
a better understanding of current
social justice issues, possible solutions, and how their faith is calling
them to action.
The next program, “Poverty,
Global Migration, and Effects of
World Trade,” will be presented Oct.
4 by Father Juan Molina of Catholic
Relief Service. Fr. Molina will present
in-depth introduction to Catholic
Relief Services and how it carries
on the work of global solidarity on
behalf of the U.S. Catholic community. A question and answer period
will follow the lecture.
Future topics to be covered include
the following: Oct. 11, “Health Care
and the Uninsured,” by Catholic
Health Association of Texas; Oct. 18,
“Abortion and Capital Punishment,”
by Bishop Kevin Vann; Oct. 25,
“Political Responsibility,” by Ralph
McCloud, diocesan director of Community and Pastoral Services.
Reservations are requested. To
make a reservation or for more information, call Martín Peña, director
of social outreach/pastoral care at
St. Michael Parish, at (817) 2838746 ext. 30 or e-mail to mpena@
smcchurch.org.
Viking Run set
for Nov. 3 at
Gateway Park
in Arlington
Bring the entire family to the
first annual Viking Run, to be held
Saturday, Nov. 3, at Gateway Park
in East Ft. Worth. The 1-mile timed
run/walk will start at 8 a.m., with
the 5K run/walk following at 8:30
a.m. A warm-up will take place
at 7:30 a.m. An awards ceremony
is planned immediately following
the 5K Race.
The run will benefit Nolan Catholic High School Project Graduation.
This program provides an alcoholand drug-free set of celebrations for
Nolan’s graduating class.
Join us for food, music, and lots
of fun, encourage organizers. Those
interested in participating may register online at www.Vikingrun.com or
at the park on race day beginning at
6:45 a.m. Race information packets
are available at Luke’s Locker, 1540
S. University Drive in Fort Worth,
(817) 877-1448. For more information, contact Mary Berger by e-mail to
[email protected].
Knights fall
festival set for
Oct. 6
The Knights of Columbus Council
#4709 will hold a fall festival Oct.
6 at the council’s hall, located at
3809 Yucca Ave. in Fort Worth. The
event will take place from 4 p.m. to
9 p.m. and will include face painting, a hayride, pony rides, a bounce
house, fishing pond, games, and
other entertainment. A variety of
foods will be available.
All proceeds from the purchase of
games, food, and beverages will be
used to help support the activities
of Council #4709.
For more information, contact
the Knights of Columbus at (817)
838-0223 or via e-mail to kc4709@
sbcglobal.net.
St. John Parish
to host annual
Fall Fest
Oct. 5-6
NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS — Nolan Catholic High School in East
Fort Worth recently announced that four of its seniors, (l. to r.) Andrea Meza,
Christine Dryden, Christopher Fitzer, and Catherine Samson, have been chosen
as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. These seniors are
among 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers
on the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test, designated as
semifinalists. “The entire Nolan Catholic High School family salutes the special
achievement of these four seniors,” said NCHS Principal Stephen Hiner. “They
are among the highest scoring entrants in the state of Texas.” About 90 percent
of all semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately
half of the finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners.
St. John the Apostle Parish’s annual Fall Fest will be held Friday,
Oct. 5, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and
Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m. to
9 p.m. The event, organized by
the Knights of Columbus Council
#8512, will take place on the church
grounds, located at 7341 Glenview
Drive in North Richland Hills.
The festival will include live entertainment, ethnic foods, games, a
“six on six” soccer tournament, and
craft items for purchase.
For more information, contact the
parish office at (817) 284-4811.
RECOGNIZING POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS — Knights of Columbus Council #9884 hosted its sixth annual Police and
Fire Appreciation Luncheon Sept. 15 at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Lewisville. The barbecue, which is held each year
on the Saturday closest to Sept. 11, is an opportunity to offer community recognition for the first responders in Flower
Mound, Lewisville, Highland Village, and Double Oak, and to express appreciation for the job that these men and women
perform each day. The police and firefighter crews attend as their schedules allow. Grand Knight Bill Miller presented a
certificate of appreciation to each of the fire houses and the police department of each community.
Our Lady of
Victory to host
annual fall festival Oct. 13
Our Lady of Victory School will
host its annual fall festival Oct. 13
from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the school
grounds, located at 3320 Hemphill
Street in South Fort Worth.
The festival will feature food, live
entertainment, music, games, an
obstacle course, a bounce house,
and rides. Information on safety
and nutrition will be provided by the
Texas Department of Transportation
and the Department of Health. The
Harris Methodist Mobile Health Unit
will offer mammograms and other
health screening services from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. Mammograms may
be scheduled in advance by calling
1-888-442-7747.
festival, contact Margaret Torres at
(817) 228-0730.
St. George
School to host
fall carnival
Oct. 13
Everyone is invited to come and
join in the fun and festivities at the
St. George School Fall Carnival Oct.
13 from noon to 8 p.m.
Carnival games for people of every
age, pony rides, and a “Spook House”
are among the planned activities. A
wide variety of foods will be available
to enjoy, including ethnic dishes,
roasted corn on the cob, funnel
cakes, hamburgers, and hot dogs.
Entertainment will include folklorico
dancers and dragon dancers.
St. George School is located
east of downtown Fort Worth off
of Belknap Street at 824 Hudgins
Avenue. The carnival will take place
on the school grounds, in the 800
block of Karnes between 121 Airport
Freeway and Maurice. For more
information, call the school office
at (817) 222-1221.
Lewisville
Knights to
sponsor youth
Soccer Challenge Oct. 13
The third annual Knights of
Columbus Soccer Challenge, sponsored by the Lewisville KC Council
#9884 and the Greater Lewisville
Area Soccer Association, will be
held Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Chinn
Chapel soccer fields in Flower
Mound from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The
district competition will follow on
the same day.
The competition is designed for
players to demonstrate their skill
with the penalty kick. Each player
will be allowed 15 consecutive shots
at the goal from the penalty line
(12 yards from the goal). The goal
will be divided into a series of five
scoring zones.
The Soccer Challenge is open to
all youth, ages 10 through 14, as of
Sept. 1, and living in communities
within the Lewisville ISD area (except
for The Colony, which will hold its
own event). Proof of age is required.
High school athletes are encouraged
to discuss the competition with
school athletic directors to avoid any
potential eligibility conflicts.
Full details can be found on the
Greater Lewisville Area Soccer Association (GLASA) Web site at www.
glasasoccer.org.
North Texas
Catholic
deadlines for
submission
The North Texas Catholic is published twice monthly, except during
the months of June, July, and August
when it is published monthly. The
deadline to submit information is
noon on the Wednesday of the week
before the paper is published.
Items for the Oct. 12 issue must be
received by noon on Wednesday, Oct.
3. Items for the Oct. 26 issue must
be received by noon on Wednesday,
Oct. 17.
Nolan Catholic
to host homecoming event
Oct. 19
All Nolan Catholic High School
alumni are invited to take part in
this year’s homecoming celebration Friday, Oct. 19 on the school
grounds at 4501 Bridge St. in East
Fort Worth. Former Nolan students
are encouraged to bring their family
members for a pre-game alumni
barbecue dinner to be served at 5:30
p.m. The first 100 alumni at the dinner will receive an alumni T-shirt.
Children in attendance will enjoy
the jump house and Viking face
“tattoos” compliments of the junior
varsity cheerleaders, according to
information from the school.
From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., current
students will be giving tours of the
school. At 7:30 p.m., the football
game will begin, with the Nolan
Catholic Vikings taking on John
Paul II High School. At halftime,
the alumni will gather in the south
end zone to form a spirit line,
welcoming the Vikings back for the
second half.
For more information or to RSVP
for the dinner by Oct. 9, call (817)
457-2920 ext. 1670, or e-mail to
[email protected].
Calix support
group meets
monthly at
Holy Family
Calix, a monthly support meeting for Catholics who are alcoholic
and others who are struggling with
addiction and seeking recovery, is
offered the first Saturday of each
month at Holy Family Church,
6150 Pershing Avenue in West Fort
Worth. The next meeting will be
held Oct. 6, beginning at 10 a.m.
in the chapel.
Calix meetings focus on enhancing spiritual growth through
sharing Eucharist, discussion, and
fellowship.
For more information, call Deacon Joe Milligan at (817) 737-6768
ext. 105.
Page 6
Diocesan
Seminarian Jack McKone receives
sacrament of holy orders as a deacon
Story and Photos by Kathy Cribari Hamer
A
ll nine siblings
were present at the
family’s home parish
of St. Rita in East
Fort Worth Sept. 8,
when their brother,
Jack Ells McKone,
was ordained to
the diaconate for
the Diocese of Fort
Worth.
But other special guests
were present as well, according
to Bishop Kevin Vann, principal celebrant and homilist. The
first guest, St. Paul, was present
through the second reading, “We know that all things
work for good for those who
love God….” The bishop also
named the seminarian’s father,
Peter, and his mother, Marcella,
who passed away in January
1987, and St. Rita Parish, Nolan
Catholic High School, and the
missions as strong contributors
to McKone’s vocation. “They
all worked together to bring us
to this moment and this place,”
he said.
Above: Seminarian Jack McKone takes his place in the front pew of his home
parish, St. Rita in Fort Worth, at the beginning of his diaconate ordination liturgy.
His father, Peter, and his sister, Donna, stand behind him offering their support;
all nine of his siblings were present for the Mass.
St. Rita was faithful to
prayer through difficult times,
Bishop Vann said, and “speaks
to you to be faithful to prayer.”
Mary, the mother of God, was
an example of saying “yes”
in all moments. The last guest
was the Lord, whose presence
would be reflected through the
sacraments and the word the
new deacon would proclaim.
“We rejoice with St. Paul,
St. Rita, Mary our mother, and
the Lord,” Bishop Vann said,
“as you say ‘yes’ to the word
of God, and ‘yes’ to serve the
Left: Jack
McKone lies
prostrate
as the
assembly
prays the
Litany of the
Saints.
Lord as his deacon.”
In a recent interview, Deacon
McKone said that the Lord
called him to service a long
time ago. “I was always called
— in God’s time.
“Looking back, I think of
the action of the Holy Spirit in
my life, and I don’t think I had
the maturity to be a priest in
my 20s. It’s a big blessing to be
a young person who answers
the call for a vocation, and it is
their whole life.” But it is also
a blessing, he said, for a man
with maturity who has experienced family or career.
By the time Jack McKone
came to the seminary, he had
enjoyed a career as a selfproclaimed “gear-head.” He
graduated from Nolan Catholic in 1970 and studied at The
University of Texas in Arlington, before taking a job at a car
dealership.
“Hey, if it had an internal
combustion engine in it, that
was pretty cool,” he admitted.
Left: Deacon
Jack McKone
assists
Bishop Kevin
Vann at the
eucharistic
table. Deacon
McKone is
expected
to finish his
seminary
training by
the end of
this semester,
paving the
way for his
ordination to
the priesthood
in January.
Above: Bishop Kevin Vann lays hands on Jack McKone, invoking the Holy Spirit
during the moment of ordination to the diaconate for the Diocese of Fort Worth.
God willing, Deacon Jack McKone will be ordained to the priesthood in January.
His career continued, and
he became manager of parts
and service at David McDavid
Automotive Group until 2001.
It was that expertise that led
him to where his heart was,
when Peter Flynn, director of
Finance and Administration
for the Diocese of Fort Worth,
asked him to work on five
donated school buses, and
help get them to Honduras,
where they would be given to
Fort Worth’s sister diocese in
Juticalpa.
A caravan of volunteers
drove through Mexico to Honduras and delivered the buses
to Juticalpa’s bishop, Bishop
Mauro Muldoon, OFM. On
the way, they dropped off Jack
McKone in Guatemala, where
he had previously worked as
a parish volunteer. It was May
2001, and McKone stayed there
until November 2002 as an
in-country representative of
St. John the Apostle Parish in
North Richland Hills and other
parishes of the diocese making
a contribution to mission work
in Guatemala.
Deacon McKone will finish
his seminary training at the
end of this semester, and his
priestly ordination is scheduled, God willing, for January. This diaconate ordination
previewed the next one, as he
was presented to the bishop,
lay prostrate in prayer, received
the sacrament of holy orders
through the laying on of hands,
was vested, and was presented
the Book of Gospels.
“When I had on the chasuble
and stole, I thought, ‘Wow, this
is real. This is really happening.’ It’s a feeling of honor and
weight,” he said, “and very
much a chosen-ness. It’s not
earned; it’s given.”
While he finishes this last
semester, the new deacon
will work at a parish, teaching Scripture, preaching, and
performing baptisms and
weddings. “The single most
important job a priest has is the
Word,” Deacon McKone said.
“To do it right is time consuming. It takes six to eight hours
to prepare a good homily.
“I think it is important to let
guys know what a joyful experience the seminary is. Sometimes I think people don’t follow the call because they think
they are not worthy. There are
even people who don’t receive
Communion because they
think they are not worthy. But
no one can make you worthy,
because we are all sinners.
“I’ve been looking at vocations for a long time. I’d look
at nuns and priests and say, ‘I
can’t do that.’
“But maybe I was relying
on my own effort too much,”
Deacon McKone said, “instead
of relying on God.”
Page 7
Diocesan
Airport chaplains from around the world gather at DFW
Airport to share insights, learn how to better serve the
millions who pass through the world’s airports each year
Story and Photos by
Joan Kurkowski-Gillen
FROM PAGE 1
Those travel experiences
mirror what goes on daily in
the lives of airport chaplains
around the world, the bishop
said in an address that opened
the 40th annual conference of
the International Association
of Civil Aviation Chaplains
(IACAC). The Sept. 9-14 event,
hosted by the DFW Airport
Interfaith Chaplaincy at the
American Airlines Conference Center in Fort Worth,
brought together 70 chaplains
from 24 countries. Designed to
showcase the value of airport
chaplaincy programs, the
annual gathering gives members an opportunity to share
ideas and explore the relationship between the church, the
chaplaincy, and the millions of
people they serve each year.
Chapels are found in 140
airports around the world, including 40 in the United States.
DFW International Airport has
five chapels located in Terminals A, B, C, D, and E. Deacon
Ed Scarbrough of the Diocese
of Dallas conducts a Sunday
morning Communion service
in Terminal D at 7 a.m. and
another at 8 a.m. in Terminal C.
The interfaith space is a place
where people of all beliefs are
welcome to pray, meditate, or
sit in quiet reflection.
Airport chaplains offer daily
or weekly worship services,
but most of their time is spent
walking through bustling
terminals where they minister to airline employees and
passengers. In his remarks,
Bishop Vann told the gathering
of airport ministers that they
are given unique opportunities to bring God to people that
pastors in regular parish life
simply do not have.
Travel, he pointed out, takes
away the security of routine
and the defenses we build up
in everyday life. When delays
or other problems occur, those
anxieties are heightened.
“We realize we’re not in
control and we’re not the sole
determiners of our destiny.
That brings us in conflict with
the current ethos and culture,”
the bishop said. In the selfsufficient Western civilization
and in a culture that is increasingly hostile to God, “travel
unsettles us.”
Above: Bishop Kevin Vann shares some of his experiences of ministering
to people in airports with members of the International Association of Civil
Aviation Chaplains. The organization’s 40th annual conference was held at
American Airlines Conference Center in Fort Worth Sept. 9-14.
Left: Father Michael Zaniolo (left), a chaplain at Chicago’s O’Hare
International Airport, and Marge Wick, who serves as the office manager
for the chaplaincy program at DFW International Airport, spend a moment
conversing with Bishop Kevin Vann at the airport chaplains’ conference.
But that unsettling can create
an opening and reawakening
to God.
“Even if it’s only for a moment,” he explained. “I believe
God’s providence places each
one of you in those openings to
faith in people’s lives.”
The bishop cautioned his listeners to be watchful for those
opportunities. Gate agents,
security personnel, baggage
handlers, flight crews, and
travelers are all part of the flock
God has placed in the life of an
airport chaplain.
“Be ready to respond to
those who cross our paths in
the airport,” he encouraged.
“Pray for wisdom and discernment as we meet the folks who
come our way.”
Father Michael Zaniolo has
spent the past six years dealing
with the anxieties that trouble
air travelers. The Chicago
priest, who celebrates daily
Mass in the interfaith chapel at
O’Hare International Airport,
says passengers often ask for
prayers and confession just
before they board a flight.
“When people are traveling,
they feel very vulnerable,” he
says. “The airport is not home
to anyone.”
Taken out of their comfort
zone, airport visitors feel a
sense of isolation as they’re
forced to navigate their way
around a strange environment.
“And air travel often makes
people more aware of their
own mortality,” Fr. Zaniolo
points out. “That’s one of the
reasons they request the sacraments.”
The chaplain says his presence in the airport is an outlet
for airport workers who spend
long hours inside planes or
standing behind ticket counters
and can’t get involved in parish
activities.
“The chapel is open 24 hours
a day, and when I’m walking in
the terminals, they have access
to a priest,” he explains. “They
have someone they can talk
to about their marriage, job,
or kids. Sometimes, I’m more
available than their own pastor
would be.”
Deacon Claudio Cimaschi’s
Above: Deacon Claudio Cimaschi, who serves in the chaplaincy program at Zurich Airport
in Switzerland, lifts his hands in prayer while the assembly recites the Our Father.
congregation includes a special
group of travelers. In addition to the 22,000 employees
working at the Zurich Airport,
the Catholic chaplain ministers to hundreds of refugees
from Africa and the Middle
East who arrive in Switzerland
seeking political asylum. The
immigrants live in a restricted
area of the airport for 10 to 15
days, while officials determine
their status. Deacon Cimaschi,
fluent in five languages, is
allowed access into the high
security zone.
“I hear their stories and give
them comfort, prayers, and
reflection,” says the airport
chaplain, who was enjoying his
first trip to Texas. “There are a
lot of tears.”
Most of the refugees have
escaped persecution in the
Sudan, Nigeria, or Iraq and
use French or English to communicate with Swiss airport
employees.
Deacon Cimaschi, a former
Air France agent, gave up a
lucrative promotion with the
airline “because the Lord called
me to follow him.”
That was more than 10 years
ago, and the church deacon has
never regretted the choice.
“I may have less pay and
maybe less praise, but there’s
more satisfaction,” the airport
chaplain asserts. “But you must
be filled with Christ. Only then
can you do this work.”
Page 8
Diocesan / State
Red Mass for those in legal profession
to be celebrated Oct. 19 at the cathedral
GIFTS HONORING MARY — In preparation for the observance of the Birth of
the Blessed Mother Sept. 8, students at St. Rita School in Fort Worth attended
Mass Sept. 7, bringing gifts of food to help feed the poor and homeless in the
school’s East Side community. The students were extremely generous in their
tribute to Mary, according to the school administration, resulting in donations that
filled the St. Rita pantry. Shown packing the donated items are seventh graders
(l. to r.) Zenaida Avelar, Madeleine Alonso, Joseph Hughes, and Taylor Templin.
The 2007 Red Mass, offered
for judges, attorneys, law school
professors and students, government officials, and those of
all faith traditions who work
in any capacity within the legal
profession, will be celebrated
at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at St. Patrick
Cathedral, 1206 Throckmorton
Street in downtown Fort Worth.
Bishop Kevin Vann will preside
as the celebrant and homilist. A
reception will follow in the Fort
Worth Convention Center.
According to the event’s organizers, the Red Mass is offered
to invoke divine guidance and
strength while initiating the legal
year. It is celebrated in honor of
the Holy Spirit as the source of
wisdom, understanding, counsel,
and fortitude.
The custom of celebrating the
Red Mass, said local attorney
Robert Gieb, who is organizing
this year’s liturgy, “originated in
Europe in the 13th century. The
Red Mass has also been traditionally identified with the opening
of the Sacred Roman Rota, the
supreme judicial body of the
Catholic Church. The inauguration of the Red Mass in the United
States occurred in New York City
on Oct. 6, 1928.”
Red Masses are held in Catholic churches across the country
each fall, including the annual
Red Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
in Washington, D.C., on the first
Monday in October. This Mass
is attended by the Justices of
the Supreme Court; members
of Congress; members of the
president’s Cabinet; diplomats;
and, at times, the President of
the United States.
Cathedral parking will be
available in the parking lot adjacent to the cathedral, on the
parish property between 12th
and 13th streets.
the Red Mass, contact Robert
Gieb at (817) 336-5681 or by e-mail
to [email protected].
Texas Catholic Conference to
host Scripture seminar Oct. 8-11 Mikhail Gorbachev to speak at UD Oct. 8
The Texas Catholic Conference
will host its 24th annual Scripture
seminar Oct. 8-11 at the Hilton
Austin Airport hotel, located
at 9515 New Airport Drive in
Austin. This year ’s theme is
“Matthew in Dialogue with Paul:
Jesus and the Kingdom of God
in Matthew and Paul; and Jesus
as the Wisdom of God in both
Matthew and Paul.”
Guest speakers for the seminar
are Father Andreas Hock, SSD,
assistant professor at St. John
Vianney Theological Seminary
in Denver, and Judith Ryan, assistant professor at the University
of St. Thomas School of Theology
at St. Mary Seminary in Houston.
Presentation topics include “Reward and Punishment,” “Love
and Inner Forces,” and “A New
View of Old Blessings.”
The Texas Catholic Conference, an association of the 15
Catholic dioceses in Texas, seeks
to encourage and foster cooperation and communication among
the dioceses and the ministries
of the Catholic Church within
the state.
All are invited to attend the
Scripture seminar. The registration fee is $225 and covers the
cost of seminar materials and
some meals. For more information or to register, contact Becky
Sierra at (512) 339-9882 or becky.
[email protected]. For more
information on the Texas Catholic
Conference, visit online at www.
TXCatholic.org.
Mikhail Gorbachev, former
president of the Soviet Union and
Nobel Prize-winning statesman,
will serve as the distinguished
guest for the University of Dallas’
Eugene McDermott Lectureship
on Monday, Oct. 8, at the Belo
Mansion, located at 2101 Ross
Avenue in Dallas. The event
includes a reception to be held
at 6 p.m., followed by the lecture, presented by Gorbachev
at 7 p.m.
TRIDENTINE MASS
Latin Indult Mass
: p.m. Sundays
St. Mary of the Assumption Church
 W. Magnolia, Fort Worth
High Mass Second and Fourth sundays
Low Mass First and Third Sundays
“We are honored to engage a
lecturer of President Gorbachev’s
caliber,” said Dr. Frank Lazarus,
UD president. “This is a rare
and special opportunity for the
university to share not only with
our students, faculty, alumni, and
friends but also with the entire
community.”
A limited number of general
admission seats are available for
$100; reserved seating packages
are available for $500 and up. For
more information about tickets
or sponsorship packages, contact
Carol Little at (972) 721-4046.
University of Dallas, visit the
university’s Web site at www.
udallas.edu.
Page 9
Diocesan / National
Franciscan Friars of Sacred Heart Province
begin celebration of 150th anniversary
The Franciscan Friars of the
Sacred Heart Province, based in
St. Louis, Missouri, have officially
begun a year of celebration to
mark the 150th anniversary of the
arrival of the friars from Germany
in the United States.
A local community of Franciscan Friars currently resides
at St. Maximilian Kolbe Friary
while also serving in ministry at
St. Francis Village, a retirement
community in Crowley.
Father Vincent Elsen, OFM,
although officially retired from
diocesan Hospital Ministry, is
always eager to respond to the
needs of the local church, according to Ralph McCloud, diocesan
director of Community and
Pastoral Services.
According to archival information, nine Franciscan Friars
originally settled in the Midwest
after arriving by steamship in
New York on Sept. 14, 1858.
The friars had left Saxony at the
invitation of Bishop Henry Damian Juncker of Alton, Illinois.
The group of friars was soon
established in Teutopolis, Illinois,
which became the headquarters
for the Sacred Heart Province.
The kick-off for the province’s
celebration of the sesquicentennial jubilee was a province-wide
convocation held Aug. 6-8 at Our
Lady of the Lake University in
Mundelein, Illinois. Author and
speaker Father Richard Rohr,
OFM, served as the main presenter and spoke of the need to
heal wounds of the past in order to
move forward into the future.
The next celebration of the
jubilee year was held at the
regional level at various locations throughout the province,
which stretches from Bayfield,
Wisconsin, to San Antonio and
to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Multiple regional prayer services took place Monday, Sept.
17, on the feast of the Stigmata of
St. Francis of Assisi. The theme
for the services was “Let These
Wounds Speak!” which, according to a press release from the
religious order’s communication
office, “highlighted the fact that,
in uniting human brokenness
with the dying and rising of
Jesus Christ and his Body, the
church, any person can come to
a new level of healing, hope, and
happiness.”
The focus of the services was to
connect participants with the sufferings of people throughout the
world, as all friars throughout the
province prayed together at the
same time in different places.
the Franciscan Friars of Sacred
Heart Province, visit online at
www.thefriars.org. For more
information about the friars’
ministry at St. Francis Village in
the Diocese of Fort Worth, visit
the village’s Web site at www.
saintfrancisvillage.com.
Franciscan Capuchins of Texas distribute
scholarships to Hispanic youth
The Franciscan Capuchins in
Texas recently announced that
10 students within the state have
been designated as recipients of
scholarships through the Franciscan-Capuchin Scholarship
Project.
The Texas Capuchins established this scholarship program
in favor of young Hispanic
students needing financial assistance to attain a college
education. The scholarships are
distributed based on financial
need, community service, past
academic achievement, and
projected studies.
The 10 recipients who each
received a $500 scholarship this
fall are Ericka Bustamantes,
Cecilia Cruz, Cynthia Dorado,
Julie Garcia, Belinda Lopez, Erica
Muñoz, Joel Perez, Alejandra
Sanchez, Luz Solorzano, and
Xochitl Villalpando.
“We congratulate the young
REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11
people who don’t give up on their
dreams, and who, through some
struggles, find ways to succeed
in their lives,” a Capuchin press
release states. “We are proud to
be an active part in the fulfillment
of their dreams.”
For those wanting to learn
more about the FranciscanCapuchin Scholarship Project,
call Father Oscar Guerendiain
at (214) 637-6673 or e-mail to
[email protected].
GROUND ZERO — Firefighters and police officers surround a reflecting pool Sept.
11 at New York’s World Trade Center site during a moment of silence marking the
sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York,
Washington, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (CNS photo/Mike Segar, Reuters)
Left: Franciscan
Father Christopher
Kennan, a chaplain
with the New York
Fire Department, calls
the names Sept. 9 of
five firefighters who
were killed in the
terrorist attacks on
the twin towers of the
World Trade Center
Sept. 11, 2001. (CNS
photo/Octavio Duran)
Page 10
Viewpoints
We are called to be heralds of the Gospel of Life
By Lucas Pollice
O
ctober is Respect
Life Month and we
celebrate Respect
Life Sunday on Oct. 7.
This is a time in which the Church
calls us to pause and ponder the Gospel
of Life, the “good news” that reveals the
sacredness and dignity of the human
person and of our great responsibility
to be witnesses to the immense gift of
human life and to build a true culture of
life in our society and culture.
This Gospel of Life, the great dignity
of the human person and the sacredness
of human life, is revealed from the very
beginning, in the book of Genesis, as
God completes the wondrous work of
his creation:
God created man in his image; in the
divine image he created him; male
and female he created them. God
blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the
sea, the birds of the air, and all the
living things that move on the earth.”
(GENESIS 1:26-27)
This profound passage reveals that
human beings, man and woman, are
the pinnacles of God’s creation, and
as creatures created in the image and
likeness of God, possess a dignity that
far exceeds the rest of creation. Human
beings were created like God, to share
in and possess his life. The dignity of
the human person as created in the
image and likeness of God is at the
heart of the commandment, “Thou shall
not kill.” While the commandment is
itself strongly negative and prohibitive,
expressing the absolute moral norm
prohibiting the willful killing of innocent life, the commandment in the light
of Genesis is far more positive, revealing the absolute dignity of each and
every human life, and the responsibility
of every person to respect, defend, and
promote human life in all stages and circumstances. As Pope John Paul reminds
us, “In giving life to man, God demands
that he love, respect, and promote life. The
gift thus becomes a commandment and the
commandment itself is a gift.” (EVANGELIUM
VITAE, THE GOSPEL OF LIFE, 52)
Thus, human life is indeed sacred,
and life belongs to God and not to man
alone. God alone is the Lord and Master
of life. He is the source and creator of
life, who out of love creates new human
life and also in his mysterious plan of
love calls man and woman to himself
through the sleep of death. This gift and
sacredness of human life is entrusted
to the human family as a great gift and
This gift and sacredness
of human life is entrusted
to the human family as a
great gift and responsibility
to be ministered to, to be
welcomed and treasured,
something of which to be in
awe, for life is indeed sacred.
Man is not the arbiter of life,
but rather the recipient and
treasurer of life.
responsibility to be ministered to, to be
welcomed and treasured, something
of which to be in awe, for life is indeed
sacred. Man is not the arbiter of life, but
rather the recipient and treasurer of life.
It does not belong to man to determine
when life begins or when it ends, but it
belongs to him the grave responsibility
of protecting, promoting, and defending the gift of God entrusted to him. As
John Paul II states:
With regard to things, but even more
with regard to life, man is not the
absolute master and final judge, but
rather—and this is where his incomparable greatness lies — he is the “minister of God’s plan.” Life is entrusted
to man as a treasure which must not
be squandered, as a talent which must
be used well. Man must render an account of it to his Master. (EVANGELIUM
Thus, the dignity and sacredness
of human life must be respected and
defended from its very beginning, from
the mysterious and remarkable moment
of conception in the mother’s womb. In
fact, the moment of conception, when
the gametes of man and woman meet,
in a real and certain way speaks profoundly of the miracle and sacredness
of life. For at the moment of conception, the divine and the human meet in
a marvelous miracle of creation, when
the man and the woman cooperate
with God as co-creators with him in the
creation of a new life that bears both the
This poster
depicting
Mary’s cousin
Elizabeth
greeting Mary
as she arrives
to visit her, and
the unborn
John the
Baptist leaping
in greeting of
the unborn
Jesus in Mary’s
womb, depicts
the theme of
the USCCB’s
2007 Respect
Life Program
— “The Infant
in My Womb
Leaped for
Joy.” Sunday,
Oct. 7 is
Respect Lie
Sunday.
October is
Respect Life
Month. (Poster
Copyright
© 2007,
United States
Conference
of Catholic
Bishops,
all rights
reserved.)
istic aspects already well determined.
Right from fertilization the adventure
of a human life begins, and each of its
capacities requires time — a rather
lengthy time — to find its place and
to be in a position to act.” (EVANGELIUM VITAE, THE GOSPEL OF LIFE, 60)
Human life must also be respected
until natural death, until the moment
when God through his providence calls
one from this life into the next. Thus,
man can never determine for himself
when life ends, or deliberately kill any
innocent human life at any stage of his
or her existence. The commandment
“Thou shall not kill” also prohibits the
willful taking of another’s or one’s own
life, whether through direct action or
acts of omission, to relieve suffering or
disease. As Pope John Paul states:
“Nothing and no one can in any
way permit the killing of an innocent
human being, whether a fetus or an
embryo, an infant or an adult, an
old person, or one suffering from an
incurable disease, or a person who is
dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either
for himself or herself or for another
person entrusted to his or her care,
nor can he or she consent to it, either
explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any
authority legitimately recommend or
permit such an action.” (EVANGELIUM
image of God and the unique image of
the parents. Far from being a mere biological act or phenomenon, the moment
of conception is the moment of creation,
the very beginning of the journey of life
for a unique and separate human being.
From that moment on, a new life exists,
a new life, though in a very simple
cellular form, bears personhood and
contains within itself everything that is
human, a physical body and a spiritual soul. Each and every person who
ever walked the earth was at one time
that new life growing within his or her
mother’s womb. Particularly through
the capabilities of modern science, conception and the very earliest moments
and days of human life reveal in a profound way the mystery and sacredness
of life, the miracle of conception and the
miraculous growth from two cells into
the complexity of the human body and
spirit. John Paul II bears witness to this
truth:
As Catholics, we are all called to be
the witnesses to the “Gospel of Life”
through our own lives, actions, and attitudes. This witness to life begins first
and foremost in the family, the “cradle
of life” where life is created, nurtured,
and loved. We also witness through our
actions and attitudes by supporting and
defending life in many ways through
prayer, education, public witness, and
political action and influence. The
month of October provides numerous
opportunities for us to support and
defend life and to help transform our
culture and society into a true culture of
life that welcomes and embraces human
life at all stages and in all circumstances.
May we all be ambassadors of life and
witnesses to the truth and beauty of the
Gospel of Life!
But in fact, “from the time that the
ovum is fertilized, a life is begun
which is neither that of the father
nor the mother; it is rather the life
of a new human being with his own
growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already.
This has always been clear, and ...
modern genetic science offers clear
confirmation. It has demonstrated
that from the first instant there is
established the programme of what
this living being will be: a person, this
individual person with his character-
Lucas Pollice is director of
Catechesis and Adult Faith
Formation and RCIA for the
diocese. Lucas holds a degree
in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville
and has a master’s degree in
theological studies from the Institute for
Pastoral Theology of Ave Maria University.
He is adjunct professor of theology with
the Cardinal Newman Institute in Fort
Worth. Lucas and his wife, Mary, have four
children, Cecilia, Nicholas, Timothy, and
Christian.
Page 11
Views
The Value of Human Life
‘we need truth’
By Cardinal Justin Rigali
S
ince 1972 the
Catholic bishops in the
United States have set
aside the first Sunday
in October as Respect
Life Sunday. On October 7, Catholics will
again pray for — and
renew their resolve to
bring about — a culture of life and an end
to the killing of innocent human beings,
especially those who
are vulnerable due to
their age, size, health,
or dependency.
The theme of the 2007
Respect Life Program — The
Infant in My Womb Leaped
for Joy — calls to mind an
extraordinary scene in Luke’s
Gospel (1:39-56). Mary, newly
pregnant with the Lord Jesus,
is visiting her elderly cousin
Elizabeth whose son, John,
will soon be born. The moment Mary’s greeting reaches
Elizabeth’s ears and John’s, the
tiny prophet announces to his
mother the Messiah’s arrival, as
if his entire being were exclaiming: Behold! The Lamb of God!
There was no confusion as to
what and who were nestled
under their mothers’ hearts. Yet
2,000 years later, many welleducated people do not know
— or claim they do not know
— the truth about human life
before birth.
In April the U.S. Supreme
Court upheld the federal ban
on partial-birth abortion, in an
opinion that explicitly recognizes the humanity of unborn
children and the grief women
experience after abortion. Yet
the killing of unborn children
at any stage of pregnancy remains legal, provided that the
lethal act is performed while
the child is mostly inside his or
‘If truth does not exist for man,
then neither can he ultimately
distinguish between good and
evil. And then the great and
wonderful discoveries of science
become double-edged....’
— Pope Benedict XVI
her mother’s body.
In June, President Bush
vetoed a bill to fund stem-cell
research requiring the destruction of human embryos, and
directed his administration to
investigate alternative means
of producing pluripotent stem
cells “by ethically responsible
techniques.” Yet some supporters of embryonic stem-cell
research continue to dismiss
concerns about destroying human embryos, because they are
“no bigger than the period at
the end of this sentence.”
We will not see the day
when all human life is respected and defended unless we
address a deeper problem. As
Pope Benedict XVI has said:
“If truth does not exist
for man, then neither can he
ultimately distinguish between
good and evil. And then the
great and wonderful discoveries of science become doubleedged: They can open up significant possibilities for good,
for the benefit of mankind, but
also, as we see only too clearly,
they can pose a terrible threat,
involving the destruction of
man and the world. We need
truth” (Homily at Marianzell,
Austria, Sept. 8, 2007).
Days after Pope Benedict’s
homily, the New Jersey Supreme Court claimed to have
no way of knowing the truth
about “when human life
begins.” Dismissing a lawsuit
against an abortion clinic which
concealed the truth about
abortion from women, the
court claimed there is “clearly
no consensus” on whether, as
a matter of “biological fact,”
the unborn child is a “human
being.” The court cited “moral,
theological, [and] ideological”
disagreement to ignore biological fact. We need truth.
Some ethicists suggest that
patients who apparently lack
conscious awareness — although otherwise healthy and
not imminently dying — can
be dehydrated and starved to
death because their lives are
not fully human but “vegetative.” This ignores the insight
expressed in 2004 by Pope John
Paul II and recently reaffirmed
by the Holy See under Pope
Benedict XVI, that “the intrinsic value and personal dignity
of every human being do not
change, no matter what the
concrete circumstances of his or
her life. A man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise
of his highest functions, is and
always will be a man, and he
will never become a ‘vegetable’
or an ‘animal.’” We need truth.
On this Respect Life Sunday,
we ask Catholics and all people
of good will to witness to the
truth about the incomparable
dignity and right to life of
every human being. This is no
sectarian creed. The “recognition of the inherent dignity and
of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation
of freedom, justice, and peace
in the world” (Preamble, United
Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child, 1989). And that is
the truth.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop
of Philadelphia, is chairman of the
USCCB Committee on Pro-Life
Activities.
The Ice Cream
of the Future
— and how being at home
in the Church helps link
Past/Present/Future
into a perfect unity
By Kathy Cribari Hamer
I
t was Amon Carter Stadium, in
the middle of a pretty good TCU
football game, and my son-in-law
Dustin brought me a snack: Dippin’
Dots. The ice cream of the future.
Dippin’ Dots, cryogenically encapsulated, flash-frozen
beadlets, are my absolute favorite food, especially
in the banana split flavor. In fact, real banana splits
cannot hold a candle to banana-split-flavored Dippin’
Dots.
If you did hold a candle to Dippin’ Dots, however,
they would simply melt — maybe even flash-melt
— into cream that is delicious anyway. That’s the
greatness of them.
While they are frozen, the dots crunch, tingle, and
sometimes freeze your mouth and paralyze your lips
until you feel like the dentist has injected you with a
local anesthetic for a root canal, and your words come
out sounding like the voice of ‘Rocky.’
Those side effects do not, incidentally, deter true
Dippin’ Dots devotees.
Dippin’ Dots are frozen with liquid nitrogen, and
the unusual technique and subsequent texture, give
the dessert its space-age second name: “The ice cream
of the future.” That day at the football game, the dots
gave me a sort of brain-freeze, which left me, well,
brilliant, for a few seconds, and suddenly I had this
thought:
“I really hope I live until ‘the future,’” I told my
children, “so that I can see if they are calling this ‘ice
cream of the present.’
“But if ice cream of the future becomes ice cream
of the present, Blue Bell will be ice cream of the past,
won’t it?” I asked. “Then what will be the ice cream of
the future?”
“If the old ‘ice cream of the future’ becomes ‘ice
cream now,’” my daughter Meredith interjected,
“what would you say if you were going to have some
ice cream? Would you say, ‘I am going to eat some ice
cream now,’ or ‘some now ice cream?’
“If you said, ‘I am going to have some ice cream
now,’ would that mean ‘ice cream that we have now,’
or would it mean ‘I’m going to have ice cream today?’” Meredith mused.
“It’s problematic,” I acknowledged, “but right now
my most important problem is that I can’t buy ice
cream of the future in every store.”
“Guess you’ll have to wait,” Meredith replied.
On the same weekend as the Dippin’ Dots football game, my youngest daughter Abby had come
to town, and one of the things she wanted to do was
attend Mass at TCU. The Catholic Community gathers
there every Sunday evening at 5 p.m., when Father
Charles Calabrese celebrates liturgy with students and
SEE HAMER, P. 22
Page 12
National / International
Administering food, water to patient in vegetative state is
morally obligatory, says new Vatican document
FROM PAGE 1
the congregation in 2005 to clarify
the issues.
After a lengthy study, the congregation released its responses
to two basic questions.
First, it said, administering
food and water to a patient in
a vegetative state is morally
obligatory “to the extent to which,
and for as long as, it is shown to
accomplish its proper finality,
which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient.”
“In this way suffering and
death by starvation and dehydration are prevented,” it said.
Second, the congregation said
it was not morally acceptable
to discontinue such care even
when physicians judge that the
patient will never regain consciousness.
“A patient in a ‘permanent
vegetative state’ is a person with
fundamental human dignity and
must, therefore, receive ordinary
and proportionate care which
includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even
by artificial means,” it said.
The congregation’s accompanying commentary explored
the reasons behind the church’s
teaching and explained a few
scenarios where exceptions
might apply.
It noted that the very expression “vegetative state,” which the
church reluctantly uses because
it is a common medical term,
is unfortunate and misleading.
Patients in this state maintain
full human dignity, right up to
natural death, it said.
Moreover, such patients are
not necessarily terminally ill and
generally carry on basic metabolic
functions. They are simply unable
to feed themselves, it said.
SCHIAVO VIGIL
— People pray in support
of keeping Terri Schiavo
alive during a protest
outside the Woodside
Hospice in Pinellas Park,
Florida, in this March
18, 2005, file photo.
The case of Schiavo, a
brain-damaged woman,
fueled debate and legal
wrangling about whether
a person in a persistent
vegetative state must
receive food and water.
Schiavo died 13 days
after her feeding tube was
removed March 18, 2005,
at the order of a Florida
judge. (CNS photo/Jim
Stem, Reuters)
“If they are not provided artificially with food and liquids,
they will die, and the cause of
their death will be neither an
illness nor the ‘vegetative state’
itself, but solely starvation and
dehydration,” it said.
The commentary said the
artificial administration of food
and water usually does not
impose a heavy burden on the
patient or the relatives, although
it acknowledged that the burden
could become notable when such
treatment continues for months
or years.
Nutrition and hydration does
not require excessive expense
and does not of itself require
hospitalization, it said.
“It is not, nor is it meant to
be, a treatment that cures the
patient, but is rather ordinary
care aimed at the preservation
of life,” it said.
In that sense, it said, the general ethical principle is that “the
provision of water and food,
even by artificial means, always
represents a natural means
for preserving life and is not a
therapeutic treatment. Its use
should therefore be considered
ordinary and proportionate,
even when the ‘vegetative state’
is prolonged.”
That was also the conclusion
of Pope John Paul’s 2004 speech
and reflects the development of
church statements over the last
50 years, the Vatican said.
In a brief discussion of exceptions to this basic moral principle,
the congregation outlined three
possible situations:
— In very remote or impoverished places, artificial provision
of food and water may be physically impossible.
— Because of complications, a
patient may be unable to assimilate foods and liquids, so their
provision becomes useless.
— In some rare cases, artificial
nourishment and hydration may
be excessively burdensome for
the patient or may cause significant physical discomfort.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a question-and-an-
swer commentary on the Vatican
document, also looked at the
potential exceptions.
It said there are medical
situations in which it is moral to
withhold nutrition and hydration — for example, a patient
in the last stages of stomach
cancer might refuse nutrition
and hydration because it causes
pain and produces little benefit.
But the vegetative state is not
itself a case of imminent dying
and, therefore, it is generally
not a burden to nourish such
patients, it said.
The USCCB commentary said
providing such nutrition and hydration could impose significant
financial burdens on Catholic
health care facilities, which are
sometimes obliged to bear the
cost of health care for families
that are poor or have no health
insurance.
“In the loving care that they
provide to such persons, with the
assistance of the entire Catholic
community, they can provide
concrete examples of the church’s
commitment to human life,” it
said.
In an interview with Vatican
Radio, U.S. Dominican Father J.
Augustine Di Noia, undersecretary of the doctrinal congregation, said the insistence on
nutrition and hydration as an
ordinary means of treatment does
not represent a change in church
teaching.
It should be remembered, he
said, that the person in a persistent vegetative state generally
does not face imminent death
and so is “not actually dying, in
that sense, any more than any
of us.”
“The church is not here enjoining a kind of excessive prolongation of life, but simply saying that
to withdraw nutrition and hydration is to end a life that would
otherwise continue naturally,”
Fr. Di Noia said.
What the congregation is also
saying is that the “quality of life”
frequently mentioned as a determining factor in medical care is
not a judgment that is “in our
hands to make,” he said.
He said the church teaches
that life is a gift from God and
that human dignity endures
through a person’s entire physical development — from the
mother’s womb to the moment
of natural death.
Editor’s Note: The text of the
Vatican document can be found at
the Vatican Web site at http://www.
vatican.va/phome_en.htm, then by
clicking the following links: Roman
Curia (the second circle graphic);
Congregations; Doctrine of the Faith;
Doctrinal Documents, where links
to both the Vatican document and
the accompanying commentary are
available.
Catholic leaders welcome Vatican documents on artificial nutrition
By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Catholic health care and ethical
groups thanked the Vatican
Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith for clarifying its stand
on artificial nutrition and hydration for patients in a persistent
vegetative state in a pair of Sept.
14 documents.
“The Catholic health ministry
is grateful for the clarification
provided today,” said Sister Carol
Keehan, a Daughter of Charity
who is president and CEO of the
Catholic Health Association, in a
Sept. 14 statement.
“Patients in a persistent vegetative state, while making
up a very small percent of all
patients, pose some of the most
challenging and heart-wrench-
ing situations for families and
caregivers,” she added. “This
clarification affirms the church’s
belief in the value of their lives
in spite of the circumstances of
their condition.”
The Vatican’s responses to
two questions posed by the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops
and its commentary on those
responses “provide a clear rejection of the claim of certain
theologians that the provision
of food and water for patients
in the persistent vegetative state
is not morally obligatory,” said
the Philadelphia-based National
Catholic Bioethics Center in a
Sept. 14 statement.
The USCCB questions were
prompted by confusion in the
United States over a 2004 talk
by Pope John Paul II in which
he said nutrition and hydration,
even by artificial means such as
feeding tubes, should generally
be considered ordinary care and
not extraordinary medical treatment.
“The [Vatican] commentary
takes pains to note that John Paul
II’s address stands in conformity
with previous tradition, and is
not, in any way, an innovation
or abandonment of previous
teaching,” the bioethics center
statement said, adding that
the commentary’s “review of
previous [papal and Vatican]
statements speaks to the claim
of those who have said John
Paul II’s address was completely
unexpected and without precedent.”
Sr. Carol said the latest Vatican
documents make clear that “the
provision of artificially administered nutrition and hydration to
patients in a vegetative state is
morally obligatory except when
they cannot be assimilated by the
patient’s body (and, hence, don’t
achieve their purpose) or cause
significant discomfort.”
In addition, she said, “artificially administered nutrition and
hydration cannot be discontinued
for a patient in a persistent vegetative state even when physicians
have determined with reasonable
certainty that a patient will never
recover consciousness.”
Sr. Carol told Catholic News
Service that she did not see a need
for any revisions to the “Ethical
and Religious Directives for
Catholic Health Care Services,”
most recently revised by the U.S.
bishops in 2001. The directives
guide Catholic health care facilities in addressing a wide range
of ethical questions, including
nutrition and hydration.
“The Vatican made clear they
were clarifying, not issuing new
doctrine,” she said.
Directives 57 and 58 state:
“There should be a presumption
in favor of providing nutrition
and hydration to all patients,
including patients who require
medically assisted nutrition and
hydration, as long as this is of
sufficient benefit to outweigh
the burdens involved to the
patient. The free and informed
judgment made by a competent
SEE VATICAN…, NEXT PAGE
Page 13
Lutheran Services staffer named
USCCB domestic social policy director
By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Kathy Saile, who begins work in
mid-October as director of domestic policy for the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops, said the thing
that “sold me on the position”
was the USCCB’s commitment to
integrate more closely the work
of the pro-life, social policy, and
Catholic Campaign for Human
Development offices.
Catholic social ministry “is
not piecemeal work,” said Saile,
who has been associate director
of public policy for Lutheran Services in America in Washington
since August 2004.
She previously worked as
director of the Office of Peace
and Justice for Catholic Social
Service of Central and Northern
Arizona and CCHD director for
the Phoenix Diocese, 2001-2004;
coordinator of social justice and
outreach ministries at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, 1997-2001; and as
a loaned executive to Catholic
Charities USA, May-July 2003.
Msgr. David Malloy, USCCB
general secretary, announced the
appointment Sept. 13.
“Kathy Saile brings to this
important position strong commitment to the Catholic Church
and its social teaching, impressive knowledge of key domestic
issues, and extensive policy and
advocacy experience,” he said in
a statement.
“Her service in diocesan social
ministry and here in the nation’s
Kathy Saile, who will begin her work as
the director of domestic policy for the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops in midOctober, is pictured in Washington Sept.
18. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)
capital will be great assets in helping the bishops articulate and
advance the church’s principles
and policies seeking economic
and social justice in our nation,”
he said.
Saile, 42, said her work in
Washington has brought her into
contact with an “interesting, diverse coalition” whose members
did not always agree on every
issue. One of those contacts was
Women’s Information Network,
or WIN, a group that promotes
the involvement in politics of
Democratic women who believe
a woman has a right to choose
abortion.
“It’s not always easy being
a pro-life woman in D.C.,” she
said. “But one of the things I chal-
lenged them on was the Democrats’ litmus test on abortion…. I
think the Democrats are hurting
themselves by having this litmus
test for candidates.”
One Catholic media outlet reported after Saile’s appointment
was announced that she “was a
2006 dinner-party speaker” for
WIN, “a group dedicated to empowering pro-choice women.”
The dinner in question, she
told Catholic News Service Sept.
18, involved about seven women
at a private home for a discussion
of faith and politics.
“The issue of abortion was
raised,” Saile said, “and I challenged people that it was not
mutually exclusive to be socially
progressive on issues like health
care, poverty, and housing and to
be pro-life.”
Saile holds a master’s degree
in social work from Arizona
State University and a bachelor’s
degree in organizational communication from Ohio University.
In a statement at the time of
her USCCB appointment, she
expressed thanks for “this opportunity to integrate my commitment to social justice and my
faith in my professional life.”
As director of domestic policy,
she will be the staff leader of
USCCB efforts on poverty in the
U.S., health care, hunger, housing, work, agriculture, the death
penalty, and other national issues,
working with the bishops’ new
Committee on Domestic Justice
and Human Development.
Vatican documents offer clarity on subject of
artificial nutrition, say Catholic health care officials
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
adult patient concerning the use
or withdrawal of life-sustaining
procedures should always be
respected and normally complied
with, unless it is contrary to
Catholic moral teaching.”
Ron Hamel, CHA’s senior
director of ethics, told Catholic
News Service in a Sept. 18 phone
interview that after Pope John
Paul’s 2004 talk “there was some
confusion about what it meant
concretely for Catholic health
care organizations.”
With its latest documents the
Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith “has clarified the
ambiguity and has essentially
reinforced the papal allocution,”
Hamel added. “The [Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]
has spoken, and the debate about
feeding tubes in patients [in a
persistent vegetative state] has
been settled.”
The Vatican documents also
“made it a bit clearer that there
is the possibility of exceptions,”
he said. Artificial feeding and
hydration does not need to be
continued, the Vatican commentary said, when the patient
can no longer assimilate foods
and liquids, so their provision
becomes useless; when a feeding
tube causes significant physical discomfort or leads to other
medical problems; or in remote or
impoverished places where feeding tubes are not available.
Some Catholic health care
facilities “are going to need to
look at their policies and practices
and possibly make some adjustments,” Hamel said.
But in general, he said, “I
don’t think this is going to affect
Catholic health care very much.”
Although there are no hard statistics on the matter, Hamel said he
thought that “not many” of the
estimated 10,000 U.S. patients in
a persistent vegetative state were
in Catholic facilities.
Much of the recent discussion
of the issue in the United States
has focused on Terri Schindler
Schiavo, the brain-damaged
Florida woman who died in
March 2005 after a court ordered
her feeding tube removed.
The Terri Schindler Schiavo
Foundation, founded by Schiavo’s parents and siblings after her
death, also thanked the Vatican
for issuing the documents.
“It is our fervent hope that
the clergy, religious, and those
who administer Catholic health
care, as well as the laity who
persistently ignored the basic
right to life of our daughter and
sister Terri, and who persist to
this day to dissent from this basic
moral teaching of the church by
claiming that Pope John Paul II’s
March 20th allocution is ‘up for
discussion,’ will begin to open
their eyes and hearts to the immutable and incontrovertible
truth reaffirmed by the Holy See
today,” the foundation leaders
said in a Sept. 14 statement.
INDONESIAN QUAKES — Villagers sit in front of their house, which collapsed
during a Sept. 12 earthquake, in Lais in Bengkulu province, Indonesia, Sept. 13.
At least two earthquakes were felt in the region, causing severe damage and
death. (CNS photo/Beawiharta, Reuters)
New edition of Catholic blessings
and prayers book published
By Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The
original Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers book, introduced
in 1989, was a big seller for the U.S.
bishops’ publishing office. In 18
years, it sold 150,000 copies — including 50,000 in its first year. The
book also spun off several shorter
paperback versions on specific
topics found in the original.
Now, a revised edition has been
published, and backers hope sales
approach the numbers they did
nearly two decades ago.
This edition, like the original,
was compiled by the staff of the
bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. While the first book had a
four-year gestation period — due
largely to acquiring Vatican approval for the texts of prayers
written specifically for the book
— the new edition of Catholic
Household Blessings and Prayers,
while first suggested about six
years ago, took about a year and
a half from start to finish.
How did that come about?
“It was never submitted for
confirmation to the Holy See,”
said Msgr. James P. Moroney,
executive director of the bishops’
liturgy office. It didn’t need confirmation, he added, because the
new texts in the book — accounting for more than two-thirds
of the new edition’s content
— aren’t new in themselves.
“This edition is drawn from
authorized texts that were already approved: the Manual of
Indulgences, the Book of Blessings, the Liturgy of the Hours,
and so forth — approved liturgical books,” Msgr. Moroney said
in a Sept. 10 telephone interview
with Catholic News Service. “All
the prayers come from sources
that the bishops previously reviewed.”
Like the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, issued
earlier this decade by the Vatican,
the new Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers is “a compen-
Above is pictured the cover of the revised
edition of Catholic Household Blessings
and Prayers. (CNS)
dium of devotional prayers and
blessings that are wonderfully
appropriate for households of
faith throughout the country to
use,” Msgr. Moroney said.
Checking in at around 600
pages, the new Catholic Household
Blessings and Prayers has 10 sections, including basic and daily
prayers, family prayers, prayers
for Catholic living, and excerpts
from the New American Bible for
times of need.
The original edition was used
by many parishes as a gift to
newly married couples or to new
parents as they prepared for a
child’s baptism.
To help promote the book,
USCCB Publishing, the publishing arm of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, will launch an
aggressive ad campaign in major
Catholic magazines and hopes
to reach an estimated 500,000
people with an e-mail and banner-ad marketing campaign.
The new Catholic Household
Blessings and Prayers costs $34.95
with quantity discounts for
as few as 10 copies. It can be
ordered from USCCB Publishing by phone at (800) 235-8722,
or on the Web at www.usccb
publishing.org.
Page 14
Anger, unease permeate Lebanon
after assassination of politician
By Doreen Abi Raad
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) — An
atmosphere of uneasiness and
anger permeated Lebanon in the
aftermath of the assassination of a
Christian politician just days before lawmakers were scheduled
to elect a new president.
A pro-government Christian
member of parliament and five
others were killed when a car
bomb blasted through a Christian suburb of Beirut Sept. 19.
Antoine Ghanem was the seventh
prominent anti-Syrian figure
to be assassinated in Lebanon
since 2005.
“We have had enough.
Enough,” said Aurore Rebehmed,
a 34-year-old Christian mother.
Immediately after hearing
about the blast, Rebehmed, who
said she was frantic, drove several
miles to check on her two young
daughters who were visiting their
grandparents, just a block away
from the explosion.
“I was only thinking, ‘What if
my children are
out playing in
the street?’” she
said. “When I arrived, my daughters were telling
me, ‘Look what
the bad guys
have done.’”
Antoine Ghanem
The attack ex(CNS photo/Mohamed Azakir, Reuters)
acerbated an already tense situation in Lebanon
since the war with Israel in 2006,
followed by a political stalemate
between the ruling majority and
the opposition, two political
assassinations, and a standoff
between Sunni militants and the
Lebanese army, in which some
400 were killed.
Rebehmed expressed worry
for her family’s safety.
“We don’t know who will be
the next one to be attacked or
where it will happen,” she said.
Maronite Father Joseph
Mouannes, secretary of the Lebanese bishops’ communications
commission, said the bishops
“strongly condemn this act.”
“It is a huge crime against
humanity, and it is a huge crime
against freedom and democracy,”
he said.
“They can’t stop freedom
and the dignity of a nation and
its people by killing people,” Fr.
Mouannes said. “They are not
able to kill the spirit of a nation,
the spirit of Lebanon, the spirit of
freedom, especially the freedom
of the Christian society and the
freedom of democracy.”
“We are praying to God to
protect our country,” said Fr.
Mouannes. “We have to elect a
president to build a new democracy — a free Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s parliament was
scheduled to convene Sept. 25 to
choose a successor to President
Emile Lahoud, whose extended
mandate expires in November.
Under the Lebanese Constitution,
the presidential post is reserved
for a Maronite Catholic.
Catholic Charities’ Vision Award presented to
Xavier University president, Dr. Norman Francis
FROM PAGE 1
vices of Northern Kentucky.
During the opening session
Sept. 14, Catholic Charities USA
officials presented the 2007 Vision
Award to Dr. Norman C. Francis,
president of Xavier University
of Louisiana in New Orleans, in
honor of his leadership in the city
after Hurricane Katrina.
After the floods following
Hurricane Katrina, Francis immediately went to work leading
the recovery of the severely
damaged Xavier campus. He also
chaired the governor’s Louisiana
Recovery Authority, managing
the recovery effort for the entire
state.
“Our Vision Award is presented to those who, in their life
and work, share Catholic Charities commitment to ensuring that
the needs of individuals, families,
and communities — especially
the poor and vulnerable — are
front and center in conversations about the kind of society
we want,” said Father Larry
Snyder, president of Catholic
Charities USA.
“In the face of one of the most
extraordinary crises this nation
has ever experienced, Dr. Francis
remained a voice of reason, possibility, and hope,” he added.
The university president said
he was “honored and pleased”
to accept the award.
Today, in the United States,
he said, “we have to deal with
catastrophes equitably, honestly,
and with moral values. And I am
happy to say Catholic Charities
has established a principle and
model for working together: We
have to work together across lines
— across race, across culture, and
across economic backgrounds.”
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
NEWSBRIEFS
Moral obligation to Iraqi people seen
for U.S. whenever troops leave
NEW YORK (CNS) — The United States has a moral obligation to
the people of Iraq that must be met regardless of when U.S. troops
ultimately withdraw from that country. That was the conclusion
of the panelists at “Exit or No Exit? Morality and Withdrawal
from Iraq,” a New York forum held Sept. 18 and attended by
450 people on the Lincoln Center campus of Jesuit-run Fordham
University. “We must distinguish between the ethics of intervention and the ethics of exit,” said Gerard F. Powers, director of
policy studies at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace
Studies at the University of Notre Dame and former director of
the U.S. bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace. “The
U.S. intervention may have been an optional, immoral war, but
the post-intervention U.S. involvement is not an optional moral
commitment,” he said. Quoting the U.S. Catholic bishops, Powers said that the U.S. intervention “has brought with it a new set
of moral responsibilities to help Iraqis secure and rebuild their
country and to address the consequences of war for the region
and the world.”
Pope warns against undermining
democracy in war against terrorism
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI warned
politicians against undermining the foundations of democracy
in their fight against terrorism. “Terrorism is a serious problem
whose perpetrators often claim to act in God’s name and harbor
an inexcusable contempt for human life,” he told a group of politicians promoting Christian democracy. Countries have a right
to defend themselves, he said, “but this right must be exercised
with complete respect for moral and legal norms, including the
choice of ends and means.” The pope’s comments came during
a Sept. 21 audience at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo
with some 200 members of the executive committee of Centrist
Democratic International, an international association of political
parties promoting Christian democracy. Pope Benedict said that
in democratic nations “the use of force in a manner contrary to
the principles of a constitutional state can never be justified.”
Southern California dioceses agree to
$198.1 million settlement
SAN DIEGO (CNS) — The Diocese of San Diego and the Diocese
of San Bernardino, which broke off from its southern neighbor
in 1978, agreed Sept. 7 to pay $198.1 million to settle lawsuits
with 144 victims of sexual abuse by priests between 1938 and
1993. The dioceses had originally offered $95 million to settle the
claims. The plaintiffs sought $200 million. Earlier in the year, the
San Diego Diocese filed for bankruptcy protection hours before
a trial was to begin in one of the first lawsuits alleging that the
church was responsible for sexual abuse by priests. The judge
in the bankruptcy case had recently threatened to throw out the
bankruptcy case if the church didn’t reach an agreement with
the plaintiffs. The settlement is one of the largest in the country.
Under the agreement, the San Bernardino Diocese and its insurer,
Catholic Mutual, will pay $15.1 million for 11 cases. The San
Diego Diocese will pay $77 million and Catholic Mutual will
cover another $75.7 million for a total of 111 cases. San Diego
will pay another $30.2 million for 22 cases involving members
of religious orders. A statement from the San Diego Diocese said
it hoped at least part of that amount could be recovered from
the religious orders.
Work starts on new Kosovo cathedral
dedicated to Mother Teresa
OXFORD, England (CNS) — Work has started on a new cathedral
in Kosovo dedicated to Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. “This
is a good project, and it has our government’s full backing,” said
Xhavit Beqiri, spokesman for the Kosovo presidency. “Mother
Teresa is a great authority worldwide and a positive symbol for
Kosovo. So I think the cathedral will have support from everyone
living here.” A groundbreaking ceremony in Kosovo’s capital,
Pristina, was held Sept. 5 at the 32-acre site, which will also include a Catholic cultural and educational center. Two days after
a 2005 groundbreaking ceremony, the site was damaged by a
grenade explosion. Bishop Dode Gjergji of Sape, Albania, who
is the apostolic administrator of Prizren, Kosovo, said donations
for the cathedral were being collected throughout Kosovo, which
forms part of Serbia and has been under U.N. administration
since 1999. Catholics make up only 3 percent of the 2.1 million
inhabitants of Kosovo.
Page 15
Good Newsmakers
Medical volunteers provide treatment on annual seven-day missions
FROM PAGE 24
derstanding between people of
different cultures.
Impressed by his parish’s
efforts to improve the quality
of life in a Third World country, Dr. Runyon suggested that
Holy Family add a new facet to
its partnership. With the pastor’s blessing, the Fort Worth
specialist began organizing a
team of doctors, dentists, and
nurses for a medical mission
trip to Catacamas and outlying
villages.
Finding willing participants
like Holy Family parishioner
Dr. Tracy Papa was easy. The
obstetrician brings an ultrasound machine on the trip to
check the condition of developing fetuses and their mothers.
Honduran women usually
deliver their babies at home or,
if they can find a ride, at the
maternity clinic in Catacamas.
But even that health facility is
not equipped to perform Caesarean sections, induce labor, or
offer prenatal screenings.
“The patients weigh heavy
on your heart,” says Papa, a
veteran of three trips. “There
are no ambulances, no pharmacies, and if a woman needs a
C-section, she has to find a ride
to Juticalpa.” Juticalpa is the
see city of the diocese and has
a population of around 35,000
— and a hospital.
The country’s lack of health
care accounts for its high infant
and maternal mortality rate,
she points out. One case that
the doctor came across this year
illustrates just how risky pregnancy is in Honduras.
While performing routine
physicals in a countryside
village, Dr. Papa examined an
expectant mother with very
high blood pressure. A strong
indicator of preeclampsia, the
pregnancy-related condition
can lead to seizures, kidney
damage, or death if left untreated.
“We were able to put her in
the back of a pickup and drive
her to the maternity clinic in
Catacamas,” the doctor says,
remembering the mother who
was days away from delivery.
At the clinic, nurses could
monitor the woman’s progress
during labor and administer
needed medication.
“So many times I want to
do more, provide more, but
that’s just not possible,” the OB
specialist adds.
The troupe of volunteer
doctors and nurses adhere to
an intense schedule during
their seven-day stay. Based at
a retreat center in Catacamas,
the North Americans travel to
outlying areas as much as four
hours away. After arriving to a
warm welcome from the entire
village, they work from sunup
to sundown, seeing as many
as 400 to 600 people in a day.
The pace is grueling, admits Dr.
Papa.
“It’s hot and frustrating because I can’t provide the level
of care I want,” says the doctor,
who often encounters patients
with conditions that could be
easily controlled with proper
medication. “But just being
there does something for them.
Everyone benefits from a kind
word or a gentle touch.”
Along with their stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs,
and other medical instruments,
the doctors bring a commodity most Hondurans cannot
access. More than $300,000 in
pharmaceuticals and medicine
were bought or donated for the
2007 mission trip. Dr. Runyon
rents a cargo plane to ship the
drugs and equipment to Honduras before the medical team
arrives.
Repeat volunteer Julie
Montague usually works in the
field assisting Dr. Runyon as he
extracts teeth, but this year she
stayed in Catacamas, dispensing medicine and supplies from
a retreat center hall-turnedpharmacy.
As the emergency room
nurse doled out skin creams,
antacids, and other pills, one
truth became evident. Small
gestures make a big difference
to people rich in faith but little
else.
“Just handing them a bottle
of vitamins makes their day,”
Montague says, recalling the
grateful smiles of barefoot
children and their parents. “We
may not make a difference in
the large scheme of their lives,
but what we can give them is
peace of mind and a sense of
hope.”
Examining the infants is
always a priority for the medical team.
“In that sense we do save
a lot of lives,” the nurse says.
“Just hearing their baby is
okay from someone viewed as
all-knowing, gives a mom the
boost of confidence she needs.
It’s a small victory.”
Americans may lead busier,
career-driven lives, but take
away the trappings of materialism, and people are basically the same everywhere,
Montague suggests. “They
want their kids to be safe and
healthy,” she says. “ They worry about their kids the same
“T
he patients weigh heavy on your heart,” says Dr.
Tracy Papa, a veteran of three trips and a Holy Family
parishioner. “There are no ambulances, no pharmacies,
and if a woman needs a C-section, she has to find a ride
to Juticalpa.” Juticalpa is the see city of the diocese and
has a population of around 35,000 — and a hospital.
RIGHT:
Dental lab technician Darryl
Clark, foreground, and Deacon
Mike Mocek, from Holy Family
Parish in Fort Worth, take a
break before a pickup bed
outfitted in part as a field
dental lab. The pace on the
seven-day medical mission
trips to Catacamas can be
grueling as literally thousands
of underserved rural residents
are seen for medical and dental
procedures, unavailable the
rest of the year.
RIGHT:
Men, women, and children
seeking medical and dental
treatment must wait for hours
on end outside the facilities that
serve as a field hospital of sorts
at the clinics provided by medical
volunteers from the Diocese of
Fort Worth.
way I worry about mine.”
A cradle Catholic who attends Good Shepherd Parish in
Colleyville, Montague considers her involvement in the last
two mission trips to be “one of
the most spiritual things I’ve
ever experienced in my life.”
Chiseling out time from her
hectic professional and home
life to serve the people in an
impoverished country is a way
of living out the tenets of her
Catholic faith. In return, she
is given the gift of witnessing
simple, unshakable faith.
Participating in Sunday
Mass with the local residents
is one of the highlights of her
journey. The villagers have no
money, so their offertory gifts
reflect their daily lives.
“They bring up vegetables
they’ve grown in the garden, corn tortillas, or chicken
they’ve cooked,” Montague
says. “It’s truly the fruits of
their labor, and it’s profound.”
When Montague and the
others fly out of Honduras after a week of heart-wrenching
charitable work, they leave
knowing there is much more
to do. A hospital in Catacamas could alleviate some of
the human suffering. Land
for a Catholic hospital was
donated and surveys completed. City officials promised
to pave the road and channel
additional power and water
to the site.
“We just need the money to
get it built and funded,” says
Dr. Runyon, who expects the
project to cost an estimated
$25 million. “The Hondurans
always ask when we’re going
to get started.”
The challenge of financing
the hospital frustrates him, but
despite setbacks, “I’m going to
keep doing these missions,” the
doctor insists.
Not returning to one of the
poorest corners of the earth
isn’t an option for the low-profile humanitarian.
With dusty, unpaved roads,
no cars, and hillsides full of
homes that are little more than
huts, Honduras is a picture
of poverty, “like you’ve never
seen. But the people are rich in
faith,” says Dr. Runyon, using
a medical term to describe the
outpouring of warmth and generosity he’s experienced. “It’s
infectious.”
Page 16
Scripture Readings
Oct. 7, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Cycle C. Readings:
1) Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
2) 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel) Luke 17:5-10
W
By Dan Luby
aiting tables is hard work, especially if you
do it right. Balancing the demands of finicky diners, passionate chefs, and intense managers on
a busy Saturday night can be like juggling chain
saws.
So when I see a server snubbed by prima
donna customers who act as if their food is being
served by a robot, it annoys me more than a little.
That’s why I find Jesus’ story about table
service in Sunday’s Gospel somewhat challenging. It ends with this rhetorical question: “Is he
grateful to that servant because he did what was
commanded?” The implied answer is, “Of course
not.”
Does that mean we shouldn’t say “thanks” to
a hard-working waiter or acknowledge a coworker’s job well done or express appreciation to
friends for loving support? Not at all. Gratitude
is an essential virtue for those who follow Jesus.
What it does mean, I think, is that we ought
not be in the habit of fulfilling our responsibilities with the expectation of rewards above and
beyond the reward of the work itself.
Baptism, and the membership in the body of
Christ which it confers, commits us to following
Jesus, to living in a way that makes evident the
presence and mercy and love of God. Every time
we celebrate Eucharist, every time we profess our
faith through the creed, every time we pray “Our
Father,” we reaffirm that central commitment to
be not only hearers, but doers of the word.
If we focus on our responsibilities as Christians — welcoming the stranger, challenging
injustice, doing good to those who injure us, and
loving with the abandon and openhandedness
of Christ himself — then we won’t obsess over
whether or not we are “properly” thanked. We
will know instead that we have expressed our
gratitude for the faith we’ve received by living it
out with generosity and compassion.
“With
the strength
which
comes from
God, bear
your share
of the hardship which
the Gospel
entails.”
– 2 Timothy
1:8
QUESTIONS:
What is one way in the coming week that I can imitate the love of Jesus
anonymously? Who is one person in my life to whom I might express
my gratitude more freely?
Copyright © 2007, Diocese of Fort Worth
Children must be guided early on with God’s law, says pope
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Young children must be guided from a very
early age with moral law so that
they will have direction as they
weather life’s storms and resist
its temptations, Pope Benedict
XVI said.
“God’s law must be impressed
on the soul from the beginning
‘like on a piece of wax,’” the pope
said, citing the teachings of St.
John Chrysostom at his Sept. 19
weekly general audience.
Early infancy “is in fact the
age that is the most important”
because it marks the time when
“the great directives that point
to the right course to [take in]
life” really take hold in a person,
he said.
Pope Benedict returned briefly
to the Vatican from his papal
summer villa south of Rome for
the weekly audience in St. Peter’s
Square.
The pope dedicated his talk to
the life and writings of St. John
Chrysostom, the fourth-century
doctor of the church and archbishop of Constantinople, now
Istanbul, Turkey. The 1,600th
Pope Benedict XVI
greets Cardinal
Sean P. O’Malley
of Boston during
his weekly general
audience in St.
Peter’s Square at
the Vatican Sept.
19. (CNS photo/
L’OSSERVATORE
ROMANO/Catholic
Press Photo)
anniversary of his death is being
celebrated this year.
The saint saw that humanity
must strive to first accurately
know “true doctrine” and then
translate it into one’s own life by
following moral principles and
virtues, the pope said.
St. John Chrysostom, he said,
urged people to provide chil-
dren early on with the “spiritual
weapons” they would need to
protect themselves later during
adolescence and the teen years
from “the violent winds” of lust
and other strong desires.
Aided by the virtue of temperance and a solid Christian formation, “well-prepared married
couples thus block off the road
to divorce,” he said.
Everything in life will unfold
“with joy, and [parents] can teach
their children the virtues,” the
pope said.
With the birth of a child, “the
three become just one flesh” as
the child is the bridge that connects the two parents creating
“a tiny church” — a domestic
church, he said, quoting St. John
Chrysostom.
St. John Chrysostom also reminded the lay faithful that they
are responsible for the salvation
of others, the pope said.
St. John Chrysostom said
that as social beings people are
not meant to just be interested
in themselves, said the pope.
Through baptism, every Christian becomes “king, priest, and
prophet” who is responsible for
bringing the truth of Christ to the
world, the pope said.
Among the 15,000 faithful
gathered in the square were
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of
Boston and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios of Boston.
The two leaders were heading a
100-member Catholic-Orthodox
ecumenical pilgrimage from
the United States to Rome, then
Istanbul, Turkey, and ending in
St. Petersburg, Russia.
St. John Chrysostom, whose
Western feast day was Sept. 13,
led the church of Constantinople
before the split between the Christian East and West and is venerated as a doctor of the church by
Catholics and Orthodox.
Page 17
Scripture Readings
October 14, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Cycle C. Readings:
1) 2 Kings 5:14-17
Psalm 98:1-4
2) Timothy 2:8-13
Gospel) Luke 17:11-19
By Jean Denton
L
arry has been a theater teacher at a public
high school for more than 20 years. Although his
entire life is intensely infused with his Christian
faith, he knows he can’t be proselytizing among
students. That’s not his mode of operating anyway. But he says, “I’ve never backed down from
saying to the young people, ‘You need to know
where your gift comes from, and it’s not from
me.’”
When Larry was coming of age, drifting
in and out of college trying to find himself,
he found Jesus instead. It happened during a
Catholic retreat to which he’d been invited by a
friend. The friend must have been an astute one
to recognize Larry’s need for faith and a seeming
desire to be persuaded. Once converted, Larry
says now, “It changed my life.” Totally.
“I instantly wanted to give something back to
God,” he says. Within two months he had formed
a theater company called The Agape Players,
and at age 21 he was leading the troupe around
his Southern California community bringing
performances of “Godspell” and the stories of
Paul (“The Servant”) and Peter (“The Witness”)
to Catholic churches and other small venues. He
hasn’t looked back, as his career has been alternately in youth ministry and theater — and often
a combination. Always though, in his work with
young people, in the performances and original
plays he produces, he shares the basic message
of Christ. His work has been unabashedly “for
God.”
I’ve heard conversion stories before. But the
way Larry’s conversion immediately compelled him to live every aspect of his life
for God was a notably radical response
to the gift of faith.
In reading the Scriptures for this
weekend, Larry’s life-changing attitude
came back to me in the passage from Timothy:
“If we have died with him, we shall also live with
him.” While the Gospel story about the leper
may suggest the message is about thanksgiving,
it was that reminder in Timothy that points us
back to a message of conversion in the Old Testament story of Naaman who was drawn, indeed
by gratitude, to change his life to live entirely for
God.
“I will no longer offer holocaust
or sacrifice to any other god
except to the Lord.”
— 2 Kings 5:17
QUESTIONS:
When have you felt such gratitude to God that you desired to “give something back”? How can you translate that desire into a lasting response?
Copyright © 2007, Diocese of Fort Worth
It’s an image we have trouble grasping, but we’re called to
Help God gather in the
By Jeff Hedglen
can clearly remember going
out in the fields as a child
picking raspberries. I was
not very good at the task as I was
more of a one for the basket and
two for me kind of kid. For me,
this exercise was a treat. Little
did I suspect that for a lot of
people harvesting crops is vital
for survival.
I remember when apples were
only available to us in the fall, and
the other fruits and vegetables
had their seasons too. These days
we can have pretty much any type
of fruit and vegetable we want,
any time we want.
Big city Kroger-shopping folks
like me, can easily lose sight of the
fact that many people around the
world are hard at work pulling
in the crop they have nurtured
all summer. They have prayed
for that magical mixture of rain
and sun to produce the optimum
yield.
Back when there were no
grocery stores, we were all more
aware that human life depended
on a good harvest. As the har-
I
In the words of St. Teresa of Avila:
“Christ has no body now but yours, no
hands, no feet on earth but yours, yours
are the eyes through which he looks
compassion on this world. Christ has no
body now on earth but yours.” Living
the implication of these words is the
way we live out the call of Jesus....
vest went, so went the town. So,
naturally harvest was a time to
celebrate. Imagine getting paid
twice a year, and your pay is
based on a number of variables,
some of which are in your control
and some of which are not. When
that payday comes and there is
enough money to make it to the
next harvest — there would be a
huge party.
For many of us, the days of being in tune with the ebb and flow
of the harvest are so far removed
from us that a very poignant image from the Gospels can pass us
by. “The harvest is abundant but
the laborers are few; so ask the
master of the harvest to send out
laborers for his harvest” (Matthew
9:37-38).
In this example Jesus is not
calling for fruit pickers to flock to
the orchards. Rather it is humanity that is the crop, and we are the
ones called to the harvest. Jesus
harvest
is letting us know that there are
many people who have yet to
be gathered up into his Church,
and it is up to us to make this
happen.
In the words of St. Teresa of
Avila: “Christ has no body now
but yours, no hands, no feet on
earth but yours, yours are the eyes
through which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no
body now on earth but yours.”
Living the implication of these
words is the way we live out the
call of Jesus to be laborers in the
fertile soil of the kingdom.
Most of the time people come
to know Jesus as a direct result
of another person. Think about
your own faith journey. I’ll bet
there are a number of people you
can point to who have helped
you come to, and grow in, your
faith. These people were Christ’s
hands and feet for you.
Everywhere we go in our daily
lives, we have the opportunity to
be the face of Christ to those we
encounter. It might seem silly to
think you can be the face of Christ
to the person you sit next to in
math class, or to the person in
the cubicle next to you, but this is
exactly what St. Teresa is getting
at in her famous quote.
If being Jesus’ hands and feet
seems too hard for you to accomplish on your own, you are right.
We cannot be Jesus on our own
power; we simply must make
ourselves available to the power
of the Spirit within us.
We make ourselves available
by doing our best to be Christlike with every move we make,
every step and every breath we
take. Too often we go through our
day on autopilot. We need to be
focused and intentional in our
thoughts, words, and actions.
If we see each person we come
in contact with as a person who
needs Jesus in their life, and we
realize that it we who are called
to be Jesus in their life, then we
just might become Jesus’ hands
and feet on earth, and in doing
so, we will bring forth a rich and
bountiful harvest.
Jeff Hedglen, youth minister at St.
Bartholomew Parish in Southwest
Fort Worth, is the principal organizer of Camp Fort Worth each
summer. Readers with questions
can contact Jeff at jeff@stbartsfw.
org.
Page 18
América
El 6 de octubre será el Día de
Formación en Wichita Falls
“Encontrando a Cristo Resucitado” es el tema del Día de
Formación. Este día se llevará a
cabo el sábado, 6 de octubre, en
Notre Dame High School, 2821
Lansing Blvd. en Wichita Falls.
Este acontecimiento es una oportunidad para el enriquecimiento
de todos los servidores y ministros de la diócesis, además de ser
una oportunidad para compartir
con compañeros y compañeras
de la Iglesia diocesana. El Día
de Formación es también una
oportunidad para el desarrollo
de habilidades y destrezas prácticas para la Evangelización en
las diversas parroquias de la
Diócesis.
Este Día de Formación, que
será ofrecido tanto en inglés como
en español, comenzará a las 8 de
la mañana, con la oportunidad de
visitar a los diversos exhibidores
de libros y materiales católicos.
Inscripciones y un desayuno
seguirá, a partir de las 8:30 de la
mañana hasta las 9.
Mientras la comunidad Hispana participa de diversos talleres
en español, a las 10 de la mañana
se ofrecerá la conferencia principal en inglés por el Padre Nathan
Stone, SJ, de la casa de retiro de
los Padres Jesuitas, Montserrat. El
Padre, quien es nativo de Texas,
pasó varios años como maestro
voluntario en Chile. El modelo
ignaciano lo inspiró, y entró a
la Compañía de Jesús en 1992.
Después de varios años de formación, fue ordenado sacerdote
en el año 2000, como miembro de
la provincia chilena.
La conferencia principal en español será a las 11:15 de la mañana
y será presentada por Jesús López
de Los Ángeles. López trabaja a
tiempo completo en el ministerio
de la evangelización en la comunidad hispana de Los Angeles.
Nacido en Michoacán, México,
López ha ofrecido conferencias,
cursos, y retiros a través de los
Estados Unidos, México, Perú, El
Salvador, y Guatemala. López y
su esposa Araceli son los padres
de tres niños.
Después del almuerzo habrá
una segunda ronda de talleres
que comenzará a la 1:30 de la
tarde. Varios de los temas serán
“Jesús ya hizo su parte, ahora te
toca a ti…”, “Para instruir o dar
temas, hace falta mucho más que
una lengua…” y “Los jóvenes
también necesitan atención…”
entre otros. Después de los
talleres se ofrecerá una última
oportunidad para visitar a los
exhibidores, y todo concluirá a
las 3 de la tarde.
Todas las personas que participan ahora, o estén pensando
en ofrecer sus servicios a la
parroquia en el futuro, pueden
asistir. El costo, que incluye
almuerzo, es de $20 por persona si se inscriben antes del
24 de septiembre; después de
esa fecha, el costo es $25. Hay
becas disponibles. Para más
información, llame el Centro
Católico al (817) 560-3300 o
visite nuestra página Web en
www.fwdioc.org.
Dios te llama
¿Estás escuchando?
El Obispo Kevin Vann te invita a un fin de semana
Vocacional
el 19 al 21 de octubre
Catholic Renewal Center
Todo joven soltero o soltera entre los años de 18-35 que tiene alguna inquietud
sobre la vida sacerdotal o religiosa está invitado.
El fin de semana se llevará a cabo en español. Cupo limitado.
Fecha limite: 1 de octubre
Para más información, comunícate con:
1 (888) 560-3370
Sr. Yolanda Cruz, SSMN Ext. 114
Sr. Elvira Mata, MCDP Ext. 273
Padre Kyle (817) 366-0439
www.fwdioc.org
FORMA DE INSCRIPCION
Fin de Semana Vocacional
Nombre: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Domicilio: ______________________________ Ciudad: __________________, TX Código Postal: ________
Edad: ________ Mujer: ________ Hombre: _______ Teléfono: ___________________ Otro: _______________
Parroquia: _________________________________________________ Ciudad: __________________________
Correo electrónico: _________________Selecciona uno: ____Soltero _____ Casado ____Divorciado ____Viudo
Envía tu forma a:
Centro Católico / Attn: Hna. Yolanda Cruz, SSMN / 800 W. Loop 820 S. / Fort Worth, TX 76108
GALAXIA REMOLINO Y GALAXIA ACOMPAÑANTE — La galaxia Remolino
y la galaxia Acompañante son vistas en esta imagen tomada por el Telescopio
Espacial Hubble. El Observatorio del Vaticano llevará a cabo una conferencia
internacional del 1 al 5 de octubre en Roma, sobre la formación y evolución de
galaxias discos. (Foto CNS/NASA)
Inmigración: Congreso detiene
su trabajo, pero iglesias
continuan trabajando
Por Patricia Zapor
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Los
esfuerzos del congreso para aprobar un proyecto de ley de reforma
de inmigración pueden haber sido
empujados hacia la lista de “quizás
después de la elección del 2008”,
pero en todo el país una amplia
gama de esfuerzos conectados con
la iglesia continúan intentando a
influenciar lo que el público en general piensa sobre los inmigrantes
y cómo ellos son tratados.
En Tennessee, un inmigrante
colombiano que ha servido
durante mucho tiempo como
intérprete de personas de habla
hispana en los tribunales de
Nashville ha autopublicado
una guía para los inmigrantes
sobre como ajustarse a su nuevo
hogar. En otra parte del estado,
las iglesias han estado intentando
apoyar las familias afectadas por
redadas de inmigración realizadas en parques de casas rodantes
durante la primavera.
En otras partes, agencias
eclesiásticas ayudan a la gente
a legalizar su estado, hermanos
y hermanas religiosos oran semanalmente fuera de los centros
de detención de inmigrantes,
activistas parroquiales cabildean
ante sus miembros del congreso,
y grupos en todo el país están
poniendo en agenda programas
educativos, concentraciones, y
eventos de oración por los inmigrantes y por los asuntos de la
inmigración.
La hermana Jane Burke, de las
Hermanas Escolásticas de Notre
Dame, quien dirige el programa
Justicia Para Inmigrantes, de la
Conferencia Estadounidense
de Obispos Católicos, dijo que
la orientación subyacente de
muchos esfuerzos relacionados
con la inmigración en parroquias
y diócesis es “llegarle a la gente
que está en las bancas” y ayudarle
“No tenemos que
debatir el asunto
para hablar los
unos con los otros”,
ella dijo. “Pero sí
necesitamos hablar
los unos con los
otros”.
La hermana Jane
Burke, SSND
a entender los principios básicos
de la enseñanza social católica y
cómo éstos aplican al trato de los
inmigrantes.
La misión es mucho como
edificar la paz, dijo ella a Catholic
News Service.
“No tenemos que debatir
el asunto para hablar los unos
con los otros”, dijo. “Pero sí
necesitamos hablar los unos con
los otros”.
De hecho, la hermana Burke dijo
que las técnicas de edificar la paz
están siendo enseñadas a la gente
que trabaja en todas las diócesis y
otros grupos religiosos para ayudar a los católicos a entender la
enseñanza de la iglesia, según ésta
se relaciona con los inmigrantes.
En esa misma línea, El Centro
Nacional de Vida Pastoral, con
sede en Nueva York, mediante
Catholic Common Ground Initiative, ha preparado un programa
que las parroquias y otros grupos
pueden usar para llevar a cabo un
diálogo sobre la inmigración. Un
folleto de 22 páginas esboza cómo
llevar a cabo una discusión sobre
la inmigración que será daba en
tres sesiones. Éste recomienda
usar materiales específicos, incluyendo el vídeo “La línea en
la arena”, producido por Catholic
Relief Services.
Page 19
América
Siempre tenemos que respetar
la dignidad del ser humano
¡Aunque esté en
estado vegetativo!
Por Pedro A. Moreno, OPL
Director, Instituto Luz de Cristo
V
eintenas de pacientes en los hospitales e instituciones
de cuidado medico del área metropolitana de Dallas y Fort
Worth se encuentran en lo que se define como un estado
vegetativo persistente, o EVP. Según una declaración de
la Asociación Médica Mundial, hecha en septiembre del
1989, además de haber perdido el conocimiento, el cuerpo
del paciente todavía mantiene las funciones necesarias
para continuar la supervivencia vegetativa. En esta declaración, la Asociación Médica Mundial reconoce que la
recuperación del estado vegetativo es posible, en especial
durante los primeros días o semanas, pero la tragedia es
que muchas personas en EVP viven por muchos meses o
años, si se les proporciona alimentación y otros medios
artificiales.
I
magínense ustedes por un momento que ésto le sucediese a algún miembro de su familia. ¿Cuál sería su
modo de proceder? ¿Qué es lo que espera Dios de nosotros
en este momento? ¿Cuál es la manera más apropiada para
que un seguidor de Cristo proceda bajo estas circunstancias? Estas mismas preguntas le hicieron los Obispos de
los Estados Unidos a la Congregación para la Doctrina de
la Fe, y hace tan solo dos semanas se recibió unas respuestas y una serie de comentarios a las mismas. El titulo de
esta declaración es Respuestas de la Santa Sede sobre Alimentación e Hidratación Artificiales. La serie de notas adicionales a este documento de la Santa Sede lleva por nombre
Comentario Vaticano a las Respuestas sobre Alimentación e
Hidratación Artificiales.
D
ios nos creo según su imagen y semejanza. Por ser
imagen y semejanza de Dios es que cada ser humano tiene
un alma inmortal dotada de inteligencia y voluntad. Por
ser imagen y semejanza de Dios tenemos dignidad, y es en
respeto a esa dignidad que tenemos que cuidar de cada ser
humano. No podemos contribuir o colaborar con un proceso que termine por quitarle la vida a otro ser humano.
A
limentación: nutrición ofrecida por vía natural o
artificial — es algo que no se le puede negar a ningún ser
humano, ¡aunque se encuentre en un estado vegetativo
persistente! Hidratación — el proporcionar líquidos y agua
sea por vía natural o artificial — es otro detalle importante
que no le podemos negar a otro ser humano, ¡aunque se
encuentre en un estado vegetativo persistente! Estos dos
elementos, la alimentación y la hidratación, son lo mínimo
que podemos ofrecerle a otro ser humano. Ofrecerle esto
a un enfermo no es algo extraordinario; estos dos detalles
constituyen cuidados ordinarios, proporcionados a pacientes que estén en este trágico estado de salud. Ofrecerle
alimentación e hidratación a un ser humano enfermo e
inconsciente es una manera de respetar que ese ser, que
ahora depende tanto de nosotros, es imagen y semejanza
de Dios, tiene dignidad, y es merecedor o merecedora de
nuestro respeto y amor. Necesitamos seguir estos pasos,
pues el amor y la vida van tomados de la mano.
Pedro Moreno es director diocesano del Instituto
Luz de Cristo. Sus escritos espirituales han recibido
múltiples premios de la Asociación de Periodismo
Católico de los Estados Unidos y Canadá. Vive en el
noroeste de Fort Worth con su esposa Maria Mirta
y sus tres hijas Maria, Patricia y Mirangela. Pedro es Laico
Dominico.
El Vaticano dice que se debe dar alimento y agua
a pacientes que estén en estado vegetativo
Por John Thavis
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
(CNS) — En un breve documento
aprobado por el Papa Benedicto
XVI, el Vaticano dijo que era
generalmente una obligación
moral darles alimento y agua a
los pacientes que estuvieran en
estado vegetativo.
La nutrición e hidratación,
incluso por medios artificiales,
simplemente no se puede suspender porque los doctores hayan
determinado que una persona
nunca recobrará conciencia, dijo el
Vaticano el 14 de septiembre.
Pueden ocurrir excepciones
cuando los pacientes no puedan
asimilar alimento ni agua, o en
casos “raros” cuando la nutrición
e hidratación se conviertan en
pesos excesivos para el paciente
en cuestión, se decía.
El texto fue preparado por
la Congregación de la doctrina
de la Fe en forma de respuestas
a preguntas presentadas por la
conferencia de obispos de Estados
Unidos. Fue firmado por el cardenal de EEUU William J. Levada,
prefecto de la congregación de
doctrina y aprobado por el Papa,
antes de su publicación.
En el documento de la congregación se reafirmó enérgicamente los puntos señalados por
el Papa Juan Pablo II, en un documento señero del año 2004, cuando
dijo que la nutrición e hidratación,
incluso por medios “artificiales”,
como tubos de alimentación, se
debería considerar generalmente
como tratamiento médico normal
y no extraordinario.
Eso fue un punto clave, pues
la iglesia enseña que los medios
“extraordinarios” de tratamiento
para pacientes que no responden
pueden a veces ser descontinuados.
El discurso del pasado Papa
originó preguntas de la comunidad teológica y médica, y el Comité sobre Doctrina de los Obispos
de EEUU presentó una serie de
preguntas ante la congregación,
en el año 2005, para que se aclarara
el asunto.
Después de un estudio extendido, la congregación dio a
conocer sus respuestas a dos de
las preguntas básicas.
En primer lugar, se decía, la administración de alimento y agua a
pacientes en estado vegetativo es
moralmente obligatoria “siempre
y cuando — y por el tiempo debido
— en que haya muestras de que
se cumple su propósito, que es la
hidratación y alimentación del
paciente”.
“De esta forma, se evita el sufrimiento y muerte por inanición
y deshidratación”, se decía.
En segundo lugar, la con-
Como se ve en esta foto archivada, la gente ruega por mantener a Terri Schiavo
viva, durante una protesta fuera del Hospicio Woodside, en Pinellas Park,
Florida, el 18 de marzo, 2005. El caso de Schiavo, una mujer con daño cerebral,
impulsó una extensa discusión legal alrededor del caso de personas en estado
vegetativo persistente: ¿deben recibir alimento o agua? Schiavo murió 13 días
después de que su tubo de alimentación fue retirado, en el 18 de marzo, 2005,
por orden de un juez en Florida. (CNS foto/Jim Stem, Reuters)
gregación dijo que no era moralmente aceptable descontinuar
el cuidado, incluso cuando los
médicos opinen que el paciente
en cuestión nunca recobrará la
conciencia.
“Un paciente en ‘un estado
vegetativo permanente’ es una
persona que tiene dignidad humana fundamental y debe, en
consecuencia, recibir cuidado
ordinario y proporcionado, en el
que se incluye, en principio, la administración de agua y alimento,
incluso por medios artificiales”,
se decía.
En comentarios que acompañaban la declaración de la
congregación, se exploraban las
razones que apoyaban las enseñanzas de la iglesia y se explicaban
algunos casos concretos en donde
se podrían aplicar excepciones.
Se hacía notar que la misma
expresión de “estado vegetativo”,
que la iglesia usaba con renuencia,
pues es un término médico, es
desafortunado y puede conducir
a engaño. Los pacientes que se encuentren en ese estado mantienen
completa dignidad humana,
precisamente hasta que llegue la
muerte natural, se decía.
Además, tales pacientes no están necesariamente desahuciados
y en general presentan funciones
de metabolismo básico. Simplemente no pueden alimentarse a
sí mismos, se decía.
En el comentario se decía que
la administración artificial de
alimento y agua generalmente
no impone una carga pesada
sobre el paciente o los familiares;
aunque se admitía que este cargo
podría llegar a ser notorio si tal
tratamiento se continuase durante
meses o años.
La administración de alimento
y fluidos no requiere excesivos
gastos, y por sí, el tratamiento no
requiere hospitalización, se decía.
En una breve discusión sobre
excepciones a este principio moral
básico, la congregación señaló tres
posibles situaciones:
— En lugares muy remotos o
empobrecidos, proporcionar artificialmente alimento y fluidos podría ser físicamente imposible.
— Debido a complicaciones,
un paciente podría ser incapaz
de asimilar alimento o fluidos,
de tal manera que lo que se le
proporcione sería inútil.
— En algunos casos muy raros,
la alimentación e hidratación
artificiales podrían ser excesivamente pesadas para el paciente o
podrían causar una molestia física
significativa.
La Conferencia de Obispos
Católicos de los EEUU (USCCB,
por sus siglas en inglés), en
un comentario de preguntas y
respuestas sobre el documento
del Vaticano, también se fijó en
posibles excepciones.
Se decía que hay situaciones
médicas en las cuales sería moral
suspender el alimento y la hidratación, por ejemplo, cuando un
paciente se encuentra en las últimas
etapas de cáncer estómacal, en la
cual dicho paciente podría rechazar
el alimento y los fluidos, debido
al dolor. Esto le produjera poco
beneficio. Pero el estado vegetativo
en sí mismo no presenta un caso
inminente de muerte y, por lo tanto,
generalmente no es una sobrecarga
proporcionada a la alimentación de
tales pacientes, se decía.
En el comentario de la USCCB
se decía que proporcionar tal
nutrición e hidratación podría representar la imposición de un peso
económico significativo para las
instalaciones católicas de cuidado
de salud, que se ven algunas veces
obligadas a afrontar los gastos de
cuidado de salud de familias que
son pobres o carecen de seguro
médico o de hospital.
Page 20
América
Elena SernaValenzuela sostiene
a su hijo, Diego,
durante una Misa al
aire libre en una calle
de Chicago, el 13 de
septiembre. Elena
perdió a su hermano,
Joel, hace cuatro
años, víctima de la
violencia de pandillas.
En la parroquia de
San Nicolás Tolentino
empezaron a celebrar
Misas este verano,
en respuesta a la
violencia que azota
la comunidad. Varias
personas que asistieron
a Misa han perdido
algún sér querido,
víctimas de la violencia
de pandillas. (Foto
CNS/Karen Callaway,
Catholic New World)
Empiezan obras de construcción de una
catedral en Kosovo dedicada a la Madre Teresa
OXFORD, Inglaterra (CNS)
— Han empezado las obras de
construcción de una nueva catedral en Kosovo dedicada a la
beata Madre Teresa de Calcuta.
“Este es un buen proyecto, y
tiene todo el apoyo de nuestro
gobierno”, dijo Xhavit Beqiri, vocero de la presidencia de Kosovo.
“La Madre Teresa es una gran
autoridad en todo el mundo y un
símbolo positivo para Kosovo, así
que creo que la construcción de la
catedral tendrá el apoyo de toda
la gente que vive aquí”.
“Esperamos también que
nuestro ministro de finanzas
encuentre fondos para esta construcción de la catedral”, añadió
Beqiri.
Beqiri le dijo a Catholic News
Service (CNS por sus siglas en
inglés, Servicio Católico de Noticias)
en una entrevista por teléfono, el
13 de septiembre, que los planes
para la construcción de la catedral
habían sido iniciados personalmente por el primer ex-presidente
de Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, de
quien ampliamente se informó
que se había convertido de la fe
del islam al catolicismo, antes de su
muerte en enero del año 2006.
“Los católicos han sido muy
importantes en nuestra historia,
especialmente en tiempos modernos”, dijo. “De este modo, la
idea de una catedral católica se
justifica no solamente para los
católicos, sino para todos los albaneses de Kosovo y de toda esta
región, como parte de Europa”.
Se llevó a cabo una ceremonia
de inicio de la excavación en la
capital de Kosovo, Pristina, el 5
de septiembre, en un lugar que
tiene 32 acres de extensión y en el
que también se incluirá un centro
católico cultural y educativo. Dos
días después de una ceremonia
de inicio de excavación en el año
2005, el lugar fue dañado por la
explosión de una granada.
Los católicos conforman solamente un 3 por ciento de los
2,1 millones de habitantes de
Kosovo.
A la madre Teresa se le dio el
nombre de Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu cuando nació en el seno
de una familia de etnia albanesa,
en Skopje, hoy día — Macedonia.
Viajó a la India como misionera,
y fundó la congregación de las
Misioneras de la Caridad en 1950.
A la madre Teresa se le dio el
premio Nobel de la Paz en 1979,
murió en 1997, y fue beatificada
en 2003.
El Papa hace llamado a cooperación
para reducir agotamiento de ozono
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italia
(CNS) — El Papa Benedicto XVI
hizo un llamado a una cooperación más intensa para reducir el
agotamiento del ozono, diciendo
que éste es un elemento importante para proteger los regalos de
la creación.
Los comentarios del 16 de septiembre fueron los más recientes
en una serie de declaraciones
ecológicas del Papa, quien se
ha enfocado últimamente en la
responsabilidad cristiana de salvaguardar el medioambiente.
El Papa señaló que el 16 de septiembre marcó el 20mo aniversario
de la aprobación del Protocolo de
Montreal, acuerdo que redujo las
emisiones de químicos que reducen la capa de ozono protectora de
la tierra en la estratosfera.
Él dijo que agotamiento del
ozono ha causado “daño serio al
ser humano y al ecosistema”. Los
expertos han vinculado el agotamiento del ozono con un aumento
en la radiación ultravioleta que
causa el cáncer de la piel.
El Papa dijo que el histórico
Protocolo de Montreal fue un
paso adelante importante para
atender el problema.
“En los últimos 20 años, gracias a una cooperación internacional ejemplar involucrando la
política, la ciencia y la economía,
resultados importantes han sido
obtenidos con consecuencias
positivas para las generaciones
presente y futuras”, dijo.
“Tengo la esperanza que esta
cooperación sea intensificada por
todas las partes con la orientación
de promover el bien común,
el desarrollo, salvaguardar la
creación, y fortalecer la alianza
entre el hombre y el medioambiente”, dijo.
El Protocolo de Montreal, que
ha sido firmado por 191 países, es
ampliamente considerado como
el acuerdo internacional más exitoso sobre asuntos ambientales.
Las diócesis sureñas de California
acuerdan pagar convenio por $198.1
SAN DIEGO (CNS) — La
Diócesis de San Diego y la
Diócesis de San Bernardino, que
se separaron de su vecino sureño
en 1978, el 7 de septiembre acordaron pagar $198.1 millones para
hacer convenios con 144 víctimas
de abuso sexual por parte de
sacerdotes,cometido entre 1938
y 1993.
Las diócesis habían ofrecido
originalmente $95 millones para
transar las demandas judiciales.
Los demandantes pedían $200
millones.
Anteriormente este año, la
Diócesis de San Diego solicitó
protección por bancarrota horas
antes que un juicio había de comenzar en una de las primeras
demandas que alegaba que la
iglesia es responsable por el abuso
sexual cometido por sacerdotes. El
juez en el caso de bancarrota había
amenazado recientemente con
desechar el caso de bancarrota, si
la iglesia no llegaba a un acuerdo
con los demandantes.
El acuerdo es uno de los más
grandes en el país. La Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles anunció en
julio un acuerdo para convenios
por $660 millones en 508 demandas.
Bajo el acuerdo, la Diócesis de
San Bernardino y su aseguradora,
Mutual Catholic, pagarán $15.1
millones en 11 casos. La Diócesis
de San Diego pagará $77 millones, y Catholic Mutual cubrirá
otros $75.7 millones para un total
de 111 casos. San Diego pagará
otros $30.2 millones en 22 casos
involucrando a miembros de
órdenes religiosas. Una declaración de la Diócesis de San Diego
dijo que ésta tiene la esperanza
que por lo menos parte de esa
cantidad pueda ser recuperada
de las órdenes religiosas.
“La realidad requiere admisión”, dijo el obispo Robert H.
Brom, de San Diego, al personal
diocesano, en una reunión unas
horas después que el acuerdo fue
anunciado. “Lamentablemente,
para nuestra vergüenza, esto
sucedió. Y estamos aprendiendo
más y más sobre las consecuencias del abuso sexual y cuán
horribles éstas son”.
Ya que los jueces estatales
habían permitido que daños
punitivos fueran solicitados en
varios de los casos pendientes,
la diócesis se arriesgaba a ser responsabilizada por cifras extraordinarias si esos casos hubiesen
procedido a juicio.
‘Jesus te invita al sacramento
del matrimonio’
Renovando el amor matrimonial / bendiciendo su unión
“Jesús te invita al sacramento del matrimonio” es
un programa de preparación
matrimonial para parejas que
quieren bendecir su unión, libre
o civil, con el sacramento del
matrimonio. Parejas ya casadas
pueden asistir para enriquecer
y fortalecer su matrimonio. El
objetivo de este programa es que
las parejas lleguen a conocerse
y comprenderse más profun-
damente, y así hacer crecer su
amor. El programa consiste de
seis semanas, empezando el
domingo, 7 de octubre, de las
2:30 p.m. a las 5 p.m., en el
Centro Católico, 800 W. Loop
820 S., Fort Worth. Es muy
importante que se registren lo
más pronto posible. Si desean
más información, favor llamar
a Suzanna Ordóñez al teléfono
(817) 560-3300 ext. 256.
Clases del método natural
para la planificación familiar
El método natural para la planificación familiar es un método
seguro, natural, de bajo costo, y
altamente confiable para evitar
un embarazo, lograr un embarazo, espaciar el tiempo entre
cada nacimiento, o para aceptar
y respetar su fertilidad, de modo
que no comprometa su salud
o sus valores personales. Las
clases en español empezarán el
domingo, 30 de septiembre, a las
10:30 a.m. en el salón parroquial
de la Iglesia All Saints, 214 N.W.
20th St. en Fort Worth. Es muy
importante que se registren lo
más pronto posible. Si desean
más información, favor llamar
a Suzanna Ordóñez al teléfono
(817) 560-3300 ext. 256.
Fiesta anual de Otoño
Iglesia Católica San Juan el Apóstol
7341 Glenview Dr.
North Richland Hills 76180
El viernes 5 de octubre (4 p.m.-9 p.m.)
y el sábado 6 de octubre (10 a.m.-8 p.m.)
Entretenimiento en vivo
Cosas hechas en casa
Comidas étnicas
Juegos
Torneo de fútbol (soccer) de 6 en 6
Compre para las fiestas / algo para todas las edades
¡Venga y acompáñenos en un fin de semana
lleno de diversión para toda la familia!
Organizado por Knights of Columbus Council 8512
Page 21
Diocesan / State / National
Special Collection:
Priest Care Fund
U.S. bishops pledge to use church
resources to stop human trafficking
Calling human trafficking “a
horrific crime against the basic
dignity and rights of the human person,” Bishop Gerald R.
Barnes of San Bernardino, California, said the Catholic bishops
“pledge to use the resources of
the church to help end this affliction.”
“We also pledge to use our
teaching authority to educate
Catholics and others about human trafficking,” said Bishop
Barnes, chairman of the U.S.
bishops’ Committee on Migration.
“It is hard to imagine that, in
the 21st century, fellow human
beings could be exploited and
forced to work in the sex industry and other industries against
their will,” Bishop Barnes said
in a statement dated Sept. 12
and released the next day by
the U.S. bishops’ conference in
Washington.
“As many as 700,000 persons
are trafficked globally each year,”
the bishop said, including an
estimated 17,500 trafficked each
year into the United States. “Men,
women, and children have been
forced to work in prostitution and
have been forced into different
types of manual labor, without
pay or protection.”
Human trafficking, Bishop
Barnes said, is “a modern-day
form of slavery, and it is the
largest manifestation of slavery
today.”
He cited Pope Benedict XVI’s
2006 statement, “Migrations: A
Sign of the Times,” in which the
pope deplored the “trafficking
of human beings — especially
women — which flourishes
where opportunities to improve
their standard of living or even
to survive are limited.”
Bishop Barnes also quoted
“It is hard to
imagine that, in
the 21st century,
fellow human beings
could be exploited
and forced to work
in the sex industry
and other industries
against their will….”
Human trafficking is
“a modern-day form
of slavery, and it is the
largest manifestation
of slavery today.”
— Bishop Gerald Barnes
Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of
Orlando, Florida, from his remarks at a 2004 press conference announcing the launch of
an anti-trafficking initiative in
central Florida: “The Catholic
Church ... in the United States
stands ready to work with our
government to end this scourge.
We cannot rest until trafficking
in human persons is eliminated
from the globe.”
While the church provides
social services to rescued human
trafficking victims, “much more
must be done,” Bishop Barnes
said.
“Catholics in our own country
can help, particularly by educating fellow Catholics and others
about the realities of this crime.
Parishes can serve as a meeting
place to discuss this issue and as
a center for action to help identify
survivors and provide them support,” he said.
“We call upon all Catholics to
seek ways to assist dioceses and
local governments in helping
survivors,” he added. “Catholics also can help educate fellow
Catholics and others about the
human consequences of this
crime.”
Bishop Barnes called for more
effective implementation of the
Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000, saying the law has
not protected survivors of human
trafficking or held accountable
nations which do not apprehend
or prosecute traffickers.
He also called on Congress
“to enact comprehensive immigration reform, which would
provide legal avenues for men,
women, and their families to enter the country and work legally
and safely.” He said, “Undocumented persons eager to find
work are easy prey for human
traffickers.”
Bishop Barnes said the U.S.
government must emphasize
the recovery and care of victims,
especially “child trafficking victims, who are most susceptible
to the long-term horrors of this
crime.”
Economic conditions in their
homelands often lead people to
seek work in another country
and that, combined with “demand in developed nations for
the services of the sex trade and
forced labor,” drives trafficking,
Bishop Barnes said.
“Human trafficking will never
be truly defeated without eliminating the consumerism which
feeds it and prosecuting those
actors in receiving countries,
including our own, that benefit
because of the exploitation of
vulnerable human beings,” he
said.
Most damage from Hurricane Humberto
is minor, reports Beaumont Diocese
FROM PAGE 1
went to sleep the night of Sept. 12
thinking there was no imminent
danger of a hurricane, but then
saw on the news in the middle
of the night that the storm had
intensified.
That was just before the power
went out in her home, as it did for
most of the Beaumont area. According to the local energy company, about 100,000 customers
were without power in the local
vicinity. Power was not expected
to be restored for a few days.
The damage at local churches
was primarily from lost shingles
or water damage caused by water
leaking under doors or through
windows.
Gilman told Catholic News
Service Sept. 14 that one of the
damaged churches still had the
tarps it used after Hurricane
Rita and they were immediately
put on the church roof when the
shingles were blown off by Hurricane Humberto.
“Most of the damage is minor
and a nuisance,” she said, adding
that there was primarily “a lot of
cleanup.”
One hardship is that the area is
still recuperating from Hurricane
Rita. One of the most damaged
Catholic churches from that
storm just reopened two months
ago, although workers are still
finishing the interior. Another
church, torn down because of extensive damage, still hasn’t been
rebuilt. Since Hurricane Rita,
parishioners have been attending
Mass in the parish hall.
Catholic Charities USA is collaborating with the local Catholic
Charities agency to assess poststorm damages, the needs of local
residents, and recovery efforts.
Agency officials were especially
concerned because the area has
been recently saturated with
large amounts of rain, making it
more prone to severe flooding.
Page 22
Diocesan
Campus ministry reaches Arizona State students with office on wheels
MESA, Arizona (CNS) — A
college campus is accustomed to
high-speed objects flying across
its grounds: students bicycling
down the mall, professors hurrying to their next class, a sport
utility vehicle adorned with
pictures of Pope John Paul II
disseminating campus ministry
information.
OK, so only students at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic
campus in Mesa will experience
that last example.
That’s because Father Michael
Goodyear, a Legionaries of
Christ priest who is chaplain of
Polytechnic’s John Paul II New-
man Center, recently outfitted his
SUV with pictures and messages
of his office’s namesake.
“When Bishop [Thomas ]
Olmsted [of Phoenix] asked me
to come to the Polytechnic and
initiate campus ministry, there
was no history of anything there,”
Fr. Goodyear said.
“We didn’t have an office
space, no Newman Center. There
was no list of Catholic students,”
he said. “We had nothing.”
Many of those challenges
remain for Fr. Goodyear, who is
entering his second year as chaplain at Arizona State University’s
east campus.
He still has no office on campus, but he did manage to procure
one on wheels.
“We thought, ‘What can we
do to get the word out that
we’re there and create a buzz on
campus and have a space?’” he
said. “What’s in our grasp is a
vehicle.”
He drives his “popemobile”
on campus and it serves as an
advertisement for the Newman
Center and as a mobile office.
Few students live on the
sprawling Mesa campus. Most
are commuters who attend classes
and leave. Fostering community
on campus has been difficult.
Hamer…
It was like being home.”
Abby described her parish,
St. Leo, where she and her new
husband, Chad, are members.
She explained how Chad, with
a Christian background, had
spent his deployment time
studying and learning about
the Catholic faith, and was
confirmed at St. Leo on Easter
morning.
“At our first Mass there, I
told Chad what everything
was. But going through it all together with him was like seeing
it for the first time. And when I
learned he was really liking it,”
she said, “it felt so good. The
Catholic Church is my home. It
is so familiar and so comforting. And it is the same everywhere.”
On a recent Sunday at her
own university, Abby got a
taste of how her present, her
past, and her future mixed,
and came out better than each
of them as one. She may have
felt disconnected from the new
class of TCU freshmen, but her
experience and musical training made her able to make
music with them and lead.
She may have missed the
past of her school and church,
but the joy and contentment
of her present life in another
Catholic community blended
and sweetened the loss.
And she may have been
doubtful about the future, in
a world that was becoming
boundless, but there she was, in
an environment that throughout her life had given her faith
and hope.
That day’s closing hymn,
which had been previously selected, was Abby’s favorite. She
strummed the rousing chords
and listened as her friends
sang, “Leaping the mountains,
bounding the hills, see how
our God has come to meet us!
God’s face is lifted, God’s voice
is joy....”
As for Meredith’s views
on my favorite ice cream, she
says she doesn’t like ice cream
of the future, so she is looking
forward to getting past that to
see what comes next. “But I do
need to know how far in the future we’re talking about, before
ice cream of the future is ice
cream of now. Will it be 2020
or 2050? Because I think I want
to wait and see what happens
after that.”
“Why don’t you like ice
cream of the future?” I asked
her.
“Because it’s too futuristic.
But if you write about this,”
my daughter Meredith said,
“please don’t mention my
name.”
Kathy Cribari Hamer, a
member of St. Andrew
Parish, has five children, Meredith, John,
Julie, Andrew, and
Abby. Her column is syndicated
in a number of the best Catholic
diocesan newspapers across the
U.S. In May of 2005, her column
received the first place award for
best family life column by the
Catholic Press Association of the
U.S. and Canada.
FROM PAGE 11
neighbors of the TCU campus,
in a simple gathering, music
provided by a small choir of
college students.
Abby has played guitar most
of her life and participated in
music ministry while she studied at TCU, but she had not
been back for more than a year.
On her return, visiting from
Seattle, she brought her guitar,
and sneaked into the room
during pre-Mass rehearsal. She
hoped to be allowed to play.
The music director, Stephen
Kinch, was playing piano, as
the choir practiced Mass parts.
Abby tip-toed to the front and
touched his shoulder lightly.
Stephen stopped playing,
jumped up, and enveloped
Abby in a bear hug, and
introduced her to the mostly
freshman choir. “This is Abby,”
he said, “guitar-player extraordinaire.”
Then he spoke to Fr. Charlie.
“We have a special guest tonight,” he said. And Fr. Charlie
opened his arms to Abby as
well.
It was just the way you
want things to be when you go
home.
What did that feel like,
I asked Abby later, and she
replied, “It was fun and humbling. I mean, this is where I
play guitar. I have been playing
here since I was in high school.
Father Michael Goodyear, a Legionaries of Christ priest and chaplain of Arizona
State University Polytechnic’s John Paul II Newman Center in Mesa, Arizona,
stands outside his sport utility vehicle adorned with pictures of Pope John Paul II
Aug. 15. (CNS photo/Andrew Junker, Catholic Sun)
“Getting started is not easy.
At the beginning, it’s going to be
slow, so I’ve tried to encourage
the students to work with it,”
Fr. Goodyear told The Catholic
Sun, newspaper of the Phoenix
Diocese.
His popemobile gives the students something to rally around,
he said.
“We want to take it out [to
go] hiking and, in the tradition
of John Paul II, kayaking, as he
would so often do with his students. We even have visions of
flipping the kayak upside down
and celebrating Mass on it like he
did,” Fr. Goodyear said.
But his popemobile reaches
beyond the campus, too.
“It’s evangelization 24/7,” Fr.
Goodyear said.
The car also features oft-repeated messages of Pope John
Paul. “Do not be afraid” and
“God is with you” adorn the
Toyota FJ Cruiser’s doors.
“It might just be a reminder
that somebody needs on the freeway or in the streets or parked at
the grocery store,” Fr. Goodyear
said.
He has worked with students
for 13 years and has found great
things happen when he challenges students “concretely into
taking the church and her mission
into their hands.”
Thankfully, the chaplain has
found a few students ready to
take on that responsibility.
Freshman Anthony Mancuso
said he got involved in the Newman Center because of the community it helps build.
“There are so many ups and
downs associated with college
that it is comforting to know that
there is a community and a God
always there to support you no
matter what the situation is,”
he said.
By Jean Denton
Copyright © 2007, Jean Denton
Page 23
Calendar
PRESENTATION ON ADDICTION
Author Constance Curry and her adult daughter, addiction counselor Kristina Wandzilak,
will offer a presentation at Good Shepherd
Church, 1000 Tinker Road, Colleyville,
Oct. 3, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The two
Catholic women, authors of The Lost Years,
will recount their family’s story of addiction and redemption. The presentation is
designed for youth in grades 9-12 and for
adults of all ages. The presentation will be
offered at no charge. For more information,
contact Mary Kelly at (817) 421-1387.
MEMORIAL MASS
Bishop Kevin Vann will celebrate the annual
diocesan Memorial Mass for children who
have died before birth. The liturgy will take
place at St. Mary of the Assumption Church,
509 West Magnolia in Fort Worth, Oct. 6 at
at 2 p.m. Refreshments will be served in
the church hall following the liturgy. Flowers
will be provided for parents to offer during
the liturgy in memory of their children,
should they wish to do so. Reservations
are requested but not required. For more
information or to make a reservation, call
(817) 738-1086, or e-mail to mubcare@
charter.net.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA MASS
Catholics Respect Life will sponsor a Mass
and procession in honor of Our Lady of Fatima
at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, 509
W. Magnolia, Fort Worth, Oct. 13. Bishop
Kevin Vann will celebrate the Mass at 7 a.m.
A procession will follow the Mass. For more
information, call Nan Wilsterman at (817)
346-0926 or e-mail her at nan4life01@
hotmail.com.
MINISTRY FORMATION DAY
Ministry Formation Day will be held Oct. 6,
at Notre Dame High School in Wichita Falls.
The event will begin at 8 a.m. with registration and a continental breakfast.
Many exhibitors from various publishers
and businesses will be present during the
day. There will be a choice of breakout sessions in English and Spanish. Father Nathan
Stone, SJ, the English-language keynote
speaker, will present “Encountering the
Living Christ.” A catered barbecue lunch will
also be included in the day’s activities. For
more information, contact Sister Elvira Mata,
MCDP, at (817) 560-3300 ext. 273 or visit
the diocesan Web site at www.fwdioc.org.
TALK ON BLESSED MOTHER
Father Charles Becker, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, will give a talk Oct. 16
at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, 509
W. Magnolia St., Fort Worth. This event,
sponsored by the Fort Worth Queen of Peace
Center, will begin with the rosary at 6:45
p.m. followed by Mass and Fr. Becker’s talk
entitled, “The Blessed Mother Speaks to the
Apostles of the Last Times.” For more information contact the Queen of Peace Center
at (817) 244-7733 or (817) 558-9805. Fr.
Becker will also speak in Dallas Monday,
Oct. 15. For additional Dallas details call
(214) 368-1966.
NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING
Natural Family Planning is safe, healthy,
and effective, according to the Couple to
Couple League. Many couples who use NFP
find that they grow in love and respect for
one another as they learn to appreciate
God’s design for marriage. The CCL offers
classes in the sympto-thermal method of
NFP. Since the class consists of four meetings at monthly intervals, engaged couples
are encouraged to attend a class starting
at least four months before their wedding.
For more information or to register for a
class starting Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at St. Peter
the Apostle Church, 1201 S. Cherry Lane,
Fort Worth, contact Bill and Mary Kouba at
(817) 370-9193.
ST. AUGUSTINE’S GROUP
St. Augustine’s Men’s Purity Group, a
ministry for men who struggle with sexual
impurity issues on the Internet and other
sources, meets regularly in Room 213 at
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School, located
at 2016 Willis Lane, Keller, and at 1301
Paxton (Padre Pio House) in Arlington. For
additional information, visit the Web site
at www.sampg.com, or e-mail to Mark at
[email protected].
To Report Misconduct
If you or someone you know is a victim
of sexual misconduct by anyone who
serves the church, you may
• Call Judy Locke, victim
assistance coordinator,
(817) 560-2452 ext. 201
or e-mail her at [email protected]
• Or call the Sexual Abuse Hotline
(817) 560-2452 ext. 900
• Or call The Catholic Center at (817)
560-2452 ext. 107 and ask for the vicar
general, Father Michael Olson.
To Report Abuse
Call the Texas Department of Family
Protective Services (Child Protective
Services)
1 (800) 252-5400
‘THEOLOGY OF THE BODY’
A “Theology of the Body” DVD workshop will
be held at St. Maria Goretti Parish, 1200
S. Davis Dr., Arlington. Christopher West
unpacks John Paul II’s Theology of the Body,
translating it into a language everyone can
understand. This workshop is based on an
eight-part DVD series by West with questions
and discussion to follow each presentation.
The first four-part series will begin Oct.
19, with the remaining four-week series to
conclude in the spring. Each week may be
taken independently of the other. Food and
drinks will be served each evening at 6:30
p.m. with the program beginning at 7 p.m.
The cost is $5 per person for the study guide
and $5 per person each week for pizza and
drinks. To register, contact John Cox at St. Maria
Goretti Parish in Arlington at (817) 274-0643
ext. 226 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Deadline for registration is Oct 14.
‘YES! I AM CATHOLIC’
“Yes! I am Catholic, 2007-2008,” will begin
Oct. 29 at St. Andrew Church, 3717 Stadium
Drive, Fort Worth. The series will be held
in the parish hall from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
“The Mystery Of Faith, A Study Series Of
The Mass” will be the topic for this series.
Class dates and speakers are as follows:
Oct. 29, “We Gather As The Body Of Christ
— Introductory Rites,” presenter: Bishop
Kevin Vann; Jan. 28, “We Come To Hear
The Word of God — Liturgy of the Word,”
presenter, Dr. Toni Craven, Brite Divinity
School, TCU; March 31, “We Come To Share
in The Supper of The Lord — Liturgy Of The
Eucharist,” presenter, Mary McLarry, retired
director of Worship, Diocese of Fort Worth;
April 28, “Sent Forth To Make a Better
World — Concluding Rites” and review of
series,” presenter, Father Tom Stabile, TOR.
For more information or to register for the
series, call (817) 927-5383. Childcare is
available by calling (817) 924-6581 24
hours in advance.
Adrian’s Floor &
The Tile Dentist
Tile Sales & Installation
• Floors • Walls • Decorative Tiles
Tile & Grout
• Cleaning • Sealing • Repairs •
Re-grouting/Recaulking of floors,
tubs, showers & more
New Sales & Installation
• Wood • Laminates
• Carpet • Vinyl • Tile
ST. RITA INTERNATIONAL FAIR
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL PICNIC
BLESSING OF ANIMALS
St. Rita’s 29th annual International Fair will
be held Oct. 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
day will come to a close with a celebration
of Mass at 5 p.m. This daylong event will
celebrate the multicultural community with
a festival of ethnic foods, entertainment,
silent auction, and games and activities for
families. The church is located at 712 Weiler
Blvd. in Fort Worth. For more information, call
the parish office at (817) 451-9395.
The St. Vincent de Paul 2007 annual parish
picnic will be held Sept. 30 from 1 p.m. to 6
p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 5819 W.
Pleasant Ridge Rd., Arlington. A barbeque
dinner, prepared by the St. Vincent de Paul
Men’s Club, will be served from 1:45 p.m.
to 5 p.m. The cost for meal tickets is $6 in
advance and $7 at the door. Children age
eight and under eat free. Entertainment
will be provided by the band “Flip Side.” A
silent auction will be held from 1 p.m. to 5
p.m. with games and family fun throughout
the day. The Men’s Club will be selling
meal tickets after each Mass. For more
information, contact the parish office at
(817) 478-8206.
The Blessing of Animals will take place
Sept. 30 behind the St. Maria Goretti Center,
1200 S. Davis Dr., Arlington, at 2:30 p.m.
This custom is conducted in remembrance
of St. Francis of Assisi’s love for all
creatures. St. Francis, whose feast day is
Oct. 4, wrote a Canticle of the Creatures,
an ode to God’s living things: “All praise
to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and
sister creatures.” For more information,
contact the parish office at (817) 274-0643.
ST. GEORGE SCHOOL CARNIVAL
All are invited to enjoy the fun and festivities
at the St. George School carnival to be held
Oct. 13 from noon to 8 p.m. Carnival games
where everyone is a winner, are among the
planned activities. A wide variety of foods
will be available to enjoy including egg rolls,
Mexican food, hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton
candy, funnel cakes, and more. A “Drive for
the Kids” sponsored by Dodge, will help raise
funds for the school. St. George School is
located east of downtown Fort Worth at 824
Hudgins Ave. The carnival will take place
on the school grounds, in the 800 block of
Karnes between 121 Airport Freeway and
Maurice. For more information, call the
school at (817) 222-1221.
SKINNER MEMORIAL RUN / WALK
St. Andrew School, 3304 Dryden Road, will
honor the spirit of Judi K. Skinner with its
14th annual 5K/1-Mile Fun Run/Walk Oct.
13. The 5K event will begin at 7:30 a.m.
followed by the 1-mile event at 7:40 a.m.
All entrants will receive a race T-shirt as
well as a pancake breakfast prepared by the
Knights of Columbus. The race is a memorial
to Judi K. Skinner, a dedicated parent who
was instrumental in the development of the
St. Andrew’s Spirit Club. Skinner lost her
battle with aplastic anemia in 1993. For the
5K run, awards are given to designated age
groups as well as the overall winners. All
participants in the 1-mile event will receive
ribbons. Entry fees are $15 per person or
$45 per family until Oct. 7. Forms may be
obtained by visiting the Web site, www.
standrewsch.org, or by calling the school
office at (817) 924-8917.
NOLAN HOMECOMING
The Nolan Catholic High School Homecoming
will be held Oct. 19. on the school grounds
at 4501 Bridege St. in Fort Worth. Alumni
and family are invited to a pre-game alumni
barbeque dinner at 5:30 p.m. The first 100
alumni at the dinner will receive an alumni
T-shirt. Kids will enjoy the jump house and
Viking face “tattoos” compliments of the
junior varsity cheerleaders. Current students
will conduct tours of the school from 6 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m. The Nolan Catholic Vikings will
play the John Paul II High School’s football
team at 7:30 p.m. Reservations for the dinner
are requested by Oct. 9 and may be made
by calling (817) 457-2920 ext. 1670 or by
e-mailing to [email protected].
PARENTAL SURVIVAL COURSE
Dr. Ray Guarendi, a clinical psychologist,
will speak at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Church, 2016 Willis Lane in Keller, Oct. 27
from 9 a.m. to noon. Dr. Guarendi provides
practical advice to parents since he himself
is the father of 10 children. Dr. Guarendi
can be heard locally on KATH 910 AM,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
from noon to 1 p.m. Tickets are $10 per
person or $20 per family. To order tickets,
contact Frank Laux at (817) 939-8594
or for information, visit www.sjcktc.org.
(817) 913-5579
VIKING RUN
www.adriansflooring.com
All are invited to the first annual Viking Run
Nov. 3 at Gateway Park in East Fort Worth.
The 1-mile timed run/walk will begin at 8
a.m., and the 5K-run/walk will begin at
8:30 a.m. with a warm-up at 7:30 a.m.
Participants may register at www.Vikingrun.
com or beginning at 6:45 a.m. on race day.
Race packets will be available for pick-up
at Luke’s Locker, 1540 S. University Dr.,
Fort Worth, (817) 877-1448. The awards
ceremony with refreshments and music will
follow the 5K race. All proceeds from the run
will benefit Project Graduation, a program
that provides an alcohol and drug-free set
of celebrations for Nolan’s graduating class.
For race information, contact Mary Berger
at [email protected].
Now Your Parents Can Live
At Home
Their comfort is our first priority.
Up to 24-hour care.
Hygiene asst., meals,
light housework, companionship,
custom care plans
Visiting Angels®
www.visitingangels.com/fortworth
(817) 224-9700
ST. JOHN’S FALL FESTIVAL
The Knights of Columbus #8512 will host its
annual fall festival Oct. 5 from 4 p.m. to 9
p.m. and Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The
festival, to be held at St. John the Apostle
Church, 7341 Glenview in North Richland
Hills, will include live entertainment, homemade items, ethnic foods, and games for
all. For more information, contact the parish
office at (817) 284-4811.
KC FALL FESTIVAL
The Knights of Columbus #4709 will host
its annual fall festival Oct. 6 from 4 p.m.
to 9 p.m. at 3809 Yucca Ave., Fort Worth.
All are invited to enjoy the day’s activities
including entertainment, hayrides, face
painting, bounce house, fishing pond, toss
game, cakewalk, pony rides, and more.
Various refreshment items will be available
for purchase. For more information, call
(817) 838-0223 or e-mail to KC4709@
sbcfglobal.net
ST. BONIFACE, SCOTLAND
The city of Scotland and St. Boniface Church
will join together Oct. 6 and 7 to mark
the town’s 100th birthday with a two-day
centennial and Oktoberfest celebration. The
event will include German sausage, historical tours and displays, a Scotland history
book, antique tractor show, unique vendors,
special centennial postal cancellation,
limited-edition centennial items, activities
for the children, home-baked goods, and a
dance featuring an authentic German band.
Bishop Kevin Vann will celebrate Mass at St.
Boniface Church, Oct. 7. All are invited to
join in the celebration of this special event.
For more information, call Jerry or Margaret
Smith at (940) 541-2285 or the Scotland
City Hall at (940) 541-2360.
COURAGE SUPPORT GROUP
Courage D/FW, a spiritual support group for
those striving to live chaste lives according
to the Catholic Church’s teachings on
homosexuality, meets every second and
fourth Friday evenings. For information, email to [email protected] or call
(972) 938-5433.
ST. JUDE FESTIVAL
St Jude Parish in Mansfield will host its 31st
annual festival Oct. 6 from 11 a.m. to 10
p.m. on the parish grounds at 500 E. Dallas,
Mansfield. A variety of food will be served
including turkey legs and ethnic food from
Italy, Mexico, and Czech Republic. Games will
include a new putt-putt golf event, petting
zoo, live pony rides, and much more. There
will be a silent auction and live entertainment all day with teen rock Christian band
“In His Hands” on center stage at 1:30
p.m. followed by a live Mariachi band from
4 p.m. to 6 p.m., adult Christian band “Not
Called Common” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
and rounding out the evening “Los Banditos
Clan,” well-known Mexican band. Plus many
other local artists, vocalists, and authentic
Mexican dancers will be present. Festival
entrance is free, as is parking. For more
information, call the parish office at (817)
473-6709.
MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER
A Marriage Encounter weekend will be held
Oct. 12-14 at the Catholic Renewal Center
of North Texas, 4503 Bridge Street in East
Fort Worth. A marriage enrichment program
designed to help couples deepen their relationship, Marriage Encounter is centered
on three principles: building communication
between husband and wife, nurturing the
commitment of marriage vows, and strengthening the couple’s faith. Reservations are
required, and space is limited. For more
information or to make a reservation, call
(817) 451-6005.
OLV FALL FESTIVAL
All are invited to join the celebration of Our
Lady of Victory School’s annual fall festival
Oct. 13 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the school
grounds at 3320 Hemphill in Fort Worth. The
festival will feature food, music (DJ, live
entertainment), games, obstacle course,
bounce house, and rides. Harris Methodist
Mobile Health Unit will be present from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. for mammograms (call 1888-442-7747, then choose option 1 then
option 2 to pre-schedule a mammogram).
TX-DOT and the Department of Health will
provide information on safety and nutrition.
For more information, call the school office
at (817) 924-5123.
Classified Section
INTERNAL AUDITOR
ACCOMPANIST
The Diocese of Fort Worth is seeking a
full-time auditor for our Internal Audit
program at The Catholic Center. Primary
duties will include reviewing and testing
the compliance with laws, accounting
procedures and policies, and administrative procedures and policies as they
relate to the temporal affairs of entities
of the Diocese of Fort Worth. Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in
accounting or related field, two to five
years experience in auditing or related
field, expertise in computer usage,
and knowledge of the Roman Catholic
Faith. Knowledge of the workings of the
Diocese of Fort Worth is helpful. English/
Spanish bilingual applicants are preferred. For a full job description and
application, visit the diocesan Web site
at www.fwdioc.org. The Diocese of Fort
Worth offers excellent pay and benefits.
If interested in this new position, e-mail
a résumé to [email protected] or
fax to (817) 244-8839, to the attention
of Mark Simeroth, director of Human
Resources. Application due date is Oct.
5. Qualified applicants will be contacted
for an interview.
An accompanist experienced with piano
and organ is needed for weekend Masses
at St. Matthew Church. Responsibilities
include rehearsals with two choirs
weekly, holy day Masses, availability
for parish funerals, weddings, and
major parish celebrations throughout
the year preferred. Applicant must be
familiar with post-Vatican II Catholic
liturgy. Send résumés to St. Matthew
Church; Attn: Sheila Patel, 2021 New
York Ave., Arlington 76010 or call (817)
860-0130, to apply.
HOME CAREGIVERS
Visiting Angels, a non-medical home-care
service, is seeking experienced caregivers for on-call positions, PT to live-in.
Great supplemental income. Call (817)
224-9701.
SERVICES AVAILABLE
Topsoil, sand, gravel, washed materials,
driveways, concrete, backhoe, and tractor services. Custom mowing lots and
acres. Call (817) 732-4083.
ADVERTISE IN THE
NORTH TEXAS CATHOLIC
Page 24
Good Newsmakers
For several years medical volunteers from our diocese have traveled to Catacamas, Honduras, to
Relieve Suffering
By Joan Kurkowski-Gillen
Correspondent
I
t’s a tragedy that the visitor from the
United States still recalls in detail.
A young mother was preparing tortillas
over a small fire pit on the family’s dirt
floor while her children played nearby.
One of the girls gave her brother an innocent push, and he stepped backward into
the pot of boiling corn meal. The burns on
his foot were severe. The visiting medical
team pooled together enough money to
send the injured boy to a surgeon in Juticalpa, Honduras.
“There are a lot of cases like
that,” says Dr. Bill Runyon,
remembering the hundreds of
sick and impoverished patients
he has met on mission trips to
Honduras. “We do what little
we can, but to them it’s huge.”
The one-week medical mission trip organized by the Fort
Worth oral and maxillofacial
surgeon each year provides
some remote villagers with
their only opportunity for professional health care.
“It’s a drop in the bucket,”
admits Runyon. The seasoned
professional knows the work
that 30 doctors and nurses accomplish in seven days can’t
meet the overwhelming needs
of even one small corner of
a country where intestinal
worms in children are common
but hospitals are scarce.
“That’s what mission work
is all about,” he adds. “We’re
serving our fellow human beings, who aren’t as lucky as we
are.”
The parishioner of Holy
ABOVE:
Dr. Robert Portman, M.D., listens to
the chest of a Honduran girl at the
medical mission at Catacamas in
Olancho Province, in the Diocese
of Juticalpa. Juticalpa is the sister
diocese of the Diocese of Fort Worth.
RIGHT:
Long lines of men, women, and
children seeking medical and dental
treatment at the clinics provided by
volunteers from the Diocese of Fort
Worth show how great the need for
treatment is in the Catacamas area.
Family Church in West Fort
Worth first became acquainted
with Central America while
serving in the U.S. Army.
“The Armed Services are
very active in providing medical support to indigent people
LEFT:
A makeshift dental chair, a table of
medical tools of various kinds, and
the waiting room intruding into the
procedural space show the need for
medical facilities in this far-flung area
of the Juticalpa Diocese.
3
Sept. 8 Jack McKone was ordained
to the diaconate at his family’s home
parish of St. Rita on Fort Worth’s
East Side, and all nine of his siblings
were present for the Mass (as
well as his dad).
6
ment between the Diocese of
Fort Worth and the Diocese of
Juticalpa, Honduras, the parish partnership program was
started to provide Honduran
Catholics with the financial
resources needed to build
chapels, schools, and retreat
centers. Meant to support and
enhance the church’s already
strong presence in the region,
the building projects were also
an opportunity to form bonds
of friendship and mutual unSEE MEDICAL, P. 15
MAILING LABEL: Please enclose label with address change or inquiries concerning mail delivery of your paper. Thank you.
Inside... This issue of the NTC
Life Chain is set for Oct. 7 at a
number of broadly distributed
locations around the diocese.
Eighteen of them and the contact
persons for each site are
listed on page 3.
all over the world,” explains
Runyon, who performed cleft
lip and palate surgeries in
foreign countries as a military
doctor.
A few weeks after his
discharge, the Fort Worth
native was sitting at Sunday
Mass when his pastor, Father
Joseph Pemberton, began
talking about Holy Family’s
ongoing involvement with San
Francisco de Asis Church in
Catacamas, Honduras. As part
of a long-term covenant agree-
Usually we only key local news
here, but this week, a lot of the best
news stories start on the outside
pages of the paper, so take a look
at this cool JP II, campus
ministry office on wheels.
22

September 28 - North Texas Catholic

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