January 10 2016 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus

C A T H O L I C
D I O C E S E O F CO L UM B US
A journal of Catholic life in Ohio
J A N U A RY 1 0 , 2 0 1 6
THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
VO L U ME 6 5:1 4
W W W.CTO N L I N E .O RG
HOLY PLACES INSPIRE PILGRIMS
FROM COLUMBUS DIOCESE
2 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
Catholic Times 3
January 10, 2016
Holy Rosary-St. John gives special emphasis to ministry to young adults
The Editor’s Notebook
Pilgrimage
By David Garick, Editor
A pilgrimage is a search. It is a
journey to find spiritual truth. Most
often, pilgrimages lead to places of
special significance to our faith.
The first Christian pilgrimages
were made to sites connected with
the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. Written accounts
of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy
Land date from the fourth century.
Perhaps the most significant of
those was the pilgrimage of St. Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, who converted to
Christianity and ended the persecution of Christians in 313. St. Helena
journeyed to the Holy Land in 326
to worship at the holy sites. She arranged construction of the Church
of the Nativity in Bethlehem and
several other churches. She also
found the true cross of Christ on the
site where the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre was later built.
Pilgrimages were, and are, also
made to Rome and other sites associated with the apostles, saints
and Christian martyrs, as well as
to places where there have been
apparitions of the Virgin Mary. A
popular pilgrimage site is along
the Way of St. James to Santiago
de Compostela in Galicia, Spain,
where the shrine of the apostle
James is located. In North America, many people direct their search
to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.
Faith is the result of a spiritual
search. That search can be accomplished anywhere, even in your own
parish
and
your
own
home. But often that spiritual search can be fortified by a journey
to a place that has special spiritual
connection. A pilgrimage takes you
out of your normal environment and
opens you to deeper understanding
of your relationship to Christ.
Pope Francis has made a point of
urging pilgrimages during this Holy
Jubilee Year of Mercy. That is the
significance of the opening of the
Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica in
Rome and at cathedrals around the
world. Jesus is the Holy Door. We
journey to him in search of his mercy and his grace. That door swings
both ways. As we pass through the
Holy Door, we open the door of our
hearts and invite Christ to dwell
within us.
So a pilgrimage can be a once-ina-lifetime journey such as the ones
described in this issue of Catholic
Times. It may be a journey to a
place of spiritual reflection or a retreat center. It may be a simple trip
to enter the Holy Door at Columbus
St. Joseph Cathedral, or any of the
other cathedrals around America, to
receive the special plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis for
the Year of Mercy. There are many
possible geographic destinations.
But in every case, the real journey,
the true pilgrimage, is the quest to
find our personal connection to Jesus Christ. Now is the time to set
out on that journey.
Front Page photo:
Pilgrims wait at San
Giovanni Battista
Cathedral in Turin, Italy,
to view the Shroud of
Turin, which displays
an image many people
believe is that of Jesus
Christ.
Photo courtesy Father Timothy Hayes
FATHER RAYMOND E. LAVELLE
PASSED AWAY ON DECEMBER 31, 2015
Funeral Mass for Father Raymond E. Lavelle, 85, who died
at the Mohun Health Care Center in Columbus on Thursday, Dec. 31, was held Wednesday, Jan. 6, at Westerville St.
Paul Church. Burial was at St. Joseph Cemetery, Columbus.
He was born March 30, 1930 in Cleveland to Patrick and
Celia (McNulty) Lavelle.
He graduated from the college program at St. Meinrad (Indiana) Seminary in 1951, completing his philosophy studies
at the former St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Columbus
in 1953 and his theology studies at St. Vincent Seminary in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1957. He was ordained a priest on
May 25, 1957 in Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral by Bishop
Edward Hettinger.
During his ministry, he served on several diocesan boards
and committees. He also served in several parishes until
his retirement in 2000, spending part of his retirement
years as a hospital chaplain and assisting at St. Paul Church
before physical infirmities confined him to the Mohun
center for several years before his death.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Thomas and Daniel; and a sister, Joan. He is survived by a brother,
Robert; a sister, Maureen (George) Ploucha; and several
nieces and nephews.
CATHOLIC
TIMES
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By Father Joshua Wagner
As we at Columbus Holy Rosary-St. John Church enter the
season in which we celebrate
the new year with all of its
hopes and anticipation, we are
reminded of the importance
of beginnings and of youth in
the church. A big part of our
commitment to youth is also
a dedication to education and
Catholic values. We may no
longer have a school at Holy
Rosary-St. John, but we still
have a strong emphasis on
academic achievement, spiritual growth, and service to
others. So many of our young
people reflect those values in
the choices they make. They
are the future of the church,
and we want to share their
achievements as we begin a
new year.
We asked some of our
young adults to give us their
thoughts on the role Holy
Rosary-St. John has played
in their lives as they move
into adulthood, the ways the
church has helped them make
good choices, and how we can
continue to encourage youth
in the future as they face life’s
challenges.
Quentin Francis
Richala Thompson
Garyn Metoyer
Two of our young adult
members who have recently
gone on to college are planning to help others through
medical care. One, Garyn
Metoyer, is a Columbus St.
Charles Preparatory School
graduate and pre-med student
at the University of Cincinnati. He has volunteered at the
St. John Food Pantry, at food
pantries in Cincinnati while
completing his studies, and
in other nations as part of service projects. In addition to
his academic work, Garyn is
a research student at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. We
asked Garyn about his time
at Holy Rosary-St. John, and
he replied, “HRSJ served as
one of my earliest forms of
education. I have often fallen
back on these lessons of God
to help motivate me through
my academic career and hardships in college.” Garyn will
graduate in the spring and
is planning to start medical
school in the fall of 2016.
Another young adult whose
focus is on health care is
Richala Thompson, who is
studying hospital administration at Howard University in
Washington. Richala also had
a lot of fond memories about
how HRSJ encouraged not
only her spiritual growth, but
also her educational achievements:
“Holy Rosary-St.
John has always stressed the
importance of education,”
she said. “Since I was a small
child, I was asked to stand up
and be recognized for being
on the honor roll. This encouraged me at a young age to
be proud of my academic accomplishments because HRSJ
has always been proud.”
Another one of our young
adults is choosing a different
type of service; in this case,
public service. Quentin Francis is majoring in political
science at Eastern Michigan
University. Of his time at
Holy Rosary-St. John, Quentin recalls, “Being involved
with HRSJ helped me with
academic growth, as well as
to develop a strong faith to get
me through tough academic
times. Many of the homilies
helped me to mature in that
area and in my approach toward education.”
All of the students at Holy
Rosary-St. John participated
in community service while
growing up and have continued to prioritize it as they
have moved on in their young
adult lives. Quentin worked
on a statewide campaign to
raise funds for the United
Negro College Fund. Garyn
has volunteered in Honduras, South Africa, and China, and has devoted time to
food pantries and neighborhood beautification. Richala
volunteered with Eastmoor
Impact and with the Leap of
Faith Dance Academy, where
she taught ballet to younger
students.
At Holy Rosary-St. John,
Richala
participated
for
many years in the liturgical dance ministry. Quentin volunteered as an altar
server, lector, and extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, served meals at the
Community Kitchen, and assisted in distributing Christmas baskets to needy families. Garyn helped in the
food pantry and as a mentor. Each of them had a
commitment to service at
Holy Rosary-St. John and
throughout the community.
All of our youth and young
adults stress the vital role that
St. Edward New England Trip
The Edwardians, a ministry of
Granville St. Edward Church
for people aged 50 and older,
is sponsoring a seven-day, sixnight trip to Boston, Cape Cod,
coastal Massachusetts, and
New Haven, Connecticut from
Wednesday, June 8 to Tuesday,
June 14.
The motorcoach trip will include guided tours of Boston,
Lexington, Concord, and the
Massachusetts coast, stops at
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston and the Kennedy presidential library and
museum, and a day in New
Haven devoted to visiting the
headquarters of the Knights of
Columbus and sites associated
with the founding of the organization there in 1882.
The cost is $595 per person,
double occupancy (plus an additional $210 if single-room
occupancy is desired). It includes transportation, three
nights lodging in the Boston
area, one night in the New Haven area, and two nights elsewhere, plus seven breakfasts
and three dinners, with tips included. All other meal and tip
costs are the responsibility of
the traveler.
A $75 payment is due on signing, with all payments due by
Friday, April 1.
For more information,
itinerary, and reservations,
contact Linda Woolard at
(740) 323-3105 or
email lindawoolard@
windstream.net.
Holy Rosary-St. John played
in their lives. Quentin says
that Holy Rosary-St. John is
“like a second family” and
that members “want to see us
all succeed.” Garyn hopes
“that I can one day raise kids
of my own in this amazing
parish.” Richala shares how
important it is to her that
her parents and grandparents
were both married at HRSJ.
She calls Holy Rosary-St.
John “an extended family.”
We are so happy to have
been able to provide this
foundation, both spiritually
and in our emphasis on education, at Holy Rosary-St.
John. The support for the
parish has come from our
generous parishioners and
from around the diocese.
We do so much at HRSJ:
providing a role model for
youth, serving our neighbors
through our various social
service programs at the St.
John Community Center, and
generally being a light in our
little part of God’s wonderful
world.
If you would like to help us
continue to serve God and our
neighbors, I invite you to join
us at Mass on Sundays at 9:30
am with our Gospel choir. I
also invite you to join us on
Monday, Jan. 18 at noon for
our Martin Luther King Day
celebration. Pray for us as
well that we can bring to our
struggling neighborhood what
it needs to know God and to
turn a corner economically.
Last but not least, please consider a donation. Learn more
at hrsjchurch.org/donate and
sign up for our newsletter
while there.
Thank you to everyone who
makes our work at Holy Rosary-St. John possible. We
appreciate it, and our youth
who have been given such a
firm foundation on which to
build their lives of service are
thankful for it as well.
Have a very blessed
new year!
4 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
PRACTICAL
St. John Neumann Church to Offer Three Pilgrimages in 2016
STEWARDSHIP
Sunbury St. John Neumann Church will be offering
opportunities to participate in three pilgrimages this
year. Each trip offers a unique way to grow in your faith
and love for God. The trips include a mission trip to
By Rick Jeric
Sponsor
Did you find some peace during the past two
weeks? I know you did. I was able to find some
myself. Even though the Christmas season and
the holiday times are busy and can be exhausting, there is much peace to be found there. The
time with our families, interwoven with the love
of Jesus Christ, is peaceful just knowing that we
are together. Even if you experienced the loss of a loved one recently in
this past year, the love and support of Our Lord through our family and
friends is calming and peaceful. Our family has experienced this, and the
hope born of the Christ Child reminds us of the promise of eternal life,
which is the ultimate destination at the culmination of our life’s journey.
Our individual worlds are made up of our daily lives. We are struck by
what happens in the world itself, but we are most directly impacted by
what happens in our family, neighborhood, workplace, school, and parish.
That is where peace begins. New year’s resolutions are cliches and are
soon forgotten. Let us focus on real peace, beginning with me. If we
make the conscious effort each day to truly live a Christian life, we will
make a real difference. Peace begins with daily prayer, with how I treat
my spouse and children, on the road, with classmates and co-workers,
and with strangers. As the song says, “Let there be peace on earth, and
let it begin with me.”
This Sunday brings the Christmas season to a close liturgically. We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. At the same time, Ordinary Time begins.
Why did Jesus feel the need to be baptized? He certainly did not need it,
so what was the point? While it was clearly an important example and
symbol of His humanity, I believe he longed for the grace and strength of
His baptism Sponsor. I am not so sure that He needed a godparent, but
He had the same Sponsor as each one of us. The Gospel of Luke tells us:
“After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized
and was praying, Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon
Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from Heaven, ‘You are
my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” Jesus Christ, true God
and true man, showed us clearly that baptism initiates us as Christians
and paves the way to eternal life with Him. The Holy Spirit appeared, and
the voice of God the Father was heard. Our triune God – Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit – are all together, inseparable, yet three persons. This is
a great mystery, to be sure, but the grace that pours forth from our God
is freely offered. We only have to be open and accept it, as at our own
baptism. That same Holy Spirit was present at our baptism, lovingly and
readily welcoming us as our Sponsor. The same Holy Spirit is present as
we baptize our children and grandchildren. When we meditate just a bit
upon this, we cannot help but be transformed, knowing that our lifelong
Sponsor is God, the Holy Spirit.
Our practical challenge this week is to pray to the Holy Spirit. While
our God is one, but in three persons, we tend to focus more on God the
Father and Jesus Christ. Focus on and meditate upon the Holy Spirit. He
was there at our baptism and has never left our side. He strengthened
us with special gifts of grace at our confirmation. Pray for the strength
to live a Christian life as an example of faith, hope, and love. Do whatever it takes to stand with Our Lord in the waters of the Jordan, pleasing
to our Father.
Jeric is director of development and planning for the Columbus Diocese.
Catholic Times 5
January 10, 2016
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READY BROTHERS IN OSU BAND
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740-653-4633
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Brothers Cory (left) and Cody Faist, graduates of Columbus Bishop Ready High School
who both played in the school band, returned to their alma mater for homecoming,
wearing their Ohio State University band uniforms. They are pictured with Ready
band director Craig Lewis. Cory achieved his goal of dotting the “i” in the Script Ohio
formation twice during the 2015 football season – at a Cincinnati Bengals game in
Paul Brown Stadium and at the Ohio State-Minnesota game in Columbus. “I believe
that what helped me the most to get where I am today was the drive and thirst for
personal excellence instilled in me by the teachers and staff at Ready,” said Cory, a
2011 Ready graduate. The brothers also traveled to London and to the recent Fiesta
Bowl game in Glendale, Arizona with the OSU band. Cory is a physics (education track)
major at OSU and plans to teach physics on the high school level. Cody, who graduated
from Ready in 2015, is an engineering major and a member of the Green Engineering Scholars program. The two also are members of Columbus St. Cecilia Church and
graduates of the parish elementary school.
Photo courtesy Bishop Ready High School
St. Mary hour of code
Lancaster St. Mary School participated
in the 2015 Hour of Code in December, joining more than eight million
students from around the world.
Students learned about principles of
computer coding, the important role
computer programming plays in our
lives, and the opportunities available
in computer science. Eighth-graders at
the school participated in a Google hangout with Alex Mitchell, a college student
who was an intern at Google last summer. Mitchell, speaking from London, England,
shared his experience as an intern, the project he worked on, and his current studyabroad experience.
Photo courtesy St. Mary School
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Guatemala, a pilgrimage to Fatima and Lourdes, and
walking the Camino de Santiago.
In this Year of Mercy, 15 St John Neumann parishioners,
including Father David Sizemore, and four high-school
students will embark on their first international mission
trip to San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala, from Tuesday,
March 29 to Wednesday, April 6. “I’ve been eagerly anticipating a return trip to the San Lucas mission for years.
I’m thankful this time I get to take my three teenagers,”
said Kris Shade, one of the trip organizers. The group will
assist the mission with many projects including stove assembly, reforestation, house building, gardening, coffee
bean production, and anything else the mission needs
done. Go to www.sanlucasmission.org to learn more and
to support this organization.
In June 2016, the parish will lead a pilgrimage to Fatima and Lourdes. Pilgrims will visit many of the Marian
shrines in Spain and Portugal. Spiritual leaders for the
trip will be Father Sizemore; Father Michael Gribble,
retired former rector of Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral;
and Father Jonathan Wilson, pastor of Newark Blessed
Sacrament Church. The pilgrimage will take place from
Saturday, June 11 to Tuesday, June 21. The journey begins in Lisbon, Portugal where the pilgrims will visit historical and religious sites including Jeronimos Monastery, the Lisbon cathedral, and St. Anthony Church. From
Lisbon, they will travel to Fatima, Portugal, to see where
Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.
They will spend two days in Fatima and be provided some
personal time to spend in worship and to explore the basilica and its grounds. They then will travel to Lourdes,
France, to visit the site where the Virgin Mary appeared
in the Grotto of Massabielle to St. Bernadette. Here they
will have the opportunity to participate in a candlelight
procession and explore Lourdes and the places associated
with St. Bernadette. The journey will continue through
southern France’s Pyrenees to historic Carcassone before
ending in Barcelona, Spain.
For more information about the trip, contact Gary Dwyer at [email protected] or come to an informational meeting at the St. John Neumann parish offices,
9633 E. State Route 37, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Finally, pilgrims will travel to France and Spain to
walk the Camino de Santiago. The trip will provide two
options – the full route known as the Camino Frances
or the “Way of St. James,” or the shorter final portion
of the route. The full-route trip begins on Tuesday, Sept.
6 at St. Jean Pied de Port, France, and continues for
40 days, ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Santiago, Spain, on Saturday, Oct. 15. This
journey encompasses about 570 miles. Individuals who
choose the shorter route will join up with the full-route
pilgrims on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Villafranca del Bierzo
and travel with them the final 74 miles to Santiago.
People come to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago
for many reasons, including spiritual enlightenment,
adventure, freedom, and the camaraderie of the road.
At the end of the pilgrimage, all travelers will receive
the Compostela, a certificate of accomplishment given
to pilgrims on completing the Way of St James (both the
long and short routes). It has been issued to pilgrims by
the cathedral at Santiago since the Middle Ages.
Lynn and Gary Dwyer are coordinators for both the
Fatima-Lourdes and the Camino pilgrimages. “We
have been on previous trips through St. John Neumann,
and each trip in its own way has brought us into a closer
relationship with Jesus Christ. We have been blessed to
have been able to visit the Shrine of Knock in Ireland
and all of the sites in the Holy Land,” Lynn Dwyer said.
For more information about the Camino trip, contact
Gary Dwyer at [email protected] or come to an
informational meeting at the St. John Neumann faith
and family center at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17.
MARCH FOR LIFE TRIP TO WASHINGTON
Seats are still available on Danville St. Luke Church’s annual bus
trip to the March for Life in Washington.
The trip from Danville will be for four days and three nights,
from Wednesday to Saturday, Jan. 20 to 23. The cost is $320 for a
double room and $280 each for three or more persons in a room,
with checks payable to St. Luke Parish. This covers the ride on a
54-passenger bus, three nights at the Hampton Inn in Alexandria,
Virginia, and visits to various sites in Washington, with former St.
Luke parishioner John Durbin, a career courier with the federal
government, as tour guide.
ACE Program
The bus will depart Danville at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 20. The group will
have dinner in the Washington area that evening, tour the area on
Thursday, Jan. 21, and attend a vigil Mass at the National Shrine of
the Immaculate Conception at 6 p.m. On Friday, Jan. 22, there will
be more touring in the morning, the march itself at noon, and dinner that evening, with departure at 9 a.m. Saturday, a stop at the
Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania on the way home, and arrival
in Danville on Saturday night.
For more information, contact the church office at (740) 5996362 or Bobbie Thomas at (740) 398-9710 or (740) 427-4044.
Westerville St. Paul School sponsors an after-school care and enrichment program known as ACE. Pictured are some of the program’s
participants (from left): first row, Maddie Hill, Katrina Guther,
Connor Nicholas, and Adam Weithman; second row, Carys Behnen,
Andy Karas, and Michael Hunsaker. The state-licensed program for
St. Paul students in kindergarten through sixth grade is conducted
from 2:35 to 6 p.m. daily throughout the school year. It is designed
to provide children with an environment rich in age-appropriate music, science activities, creative construction activities, dramatic play,
and arts and crafts. Time also is set aside for homework and free
play, and there are theme parties throughout the year, including a
Christmas talent show and a Hawaiian luau. Photo courtesy St. Paul School
6 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
Lamp for
Blessed Sacrament
OPERATION WALK USA
QUESTION & ANSWER
by: FATHER KENNETH DOYLE
Catholic News Service
Q
. Some years ago, I was driving my car in
an unfamiliar area and felt a desire to stop
in a church and pray. I came across a huge barn
of a building with no sign on the outside, and
I wondered whether it might be “one of ours”
(i.e., a Catholic church).
I entered and saw a red candle lighted, to the
right of the altar, and I knew that I was “home.”
In more recent years, though, some of the Catholic churches I visit have no red light, and the
Blessed Sacrament is locked away in a chapel.
Perhaps this is just a quirk of my home diocese,
but I can’t help wondering: Why are we hiding
God? (Orange, California)
A
. The “sanctuary lamp,” to which you
refer, is actually required in a Catholic
church whenever the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. The General Instruction of the Roman
Missal (the GIRM, the church’s liturgical “rule
book”) says in No. 316 that “near the tabernacle a special lamp, fueled by oil or wax, should
shine permanently to indicate the presence of
Christ and honor it.”
Note that it need not be red, though certainly
that is the traditional color. As for your concern with the Eucharist’s being “locked away
in a chapel,” you should know that the GIRM
does provide an option (in No. 315) so that the
Blessed Sacrament may be reserved “either in
the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration” or “even in some chapel suitable for the
private adoration and prayer of the faithful.”
That chapel, though, must be “organically connected to the church and readily noticeable by
the Christian faithful.”
I am assuming that you have not seen the Eucharist literally “locked away,” since that would
preclude the chance for adoration. In our parish,
we have a separate eucharistic chapel. It can accommodate six to eight people, who may kneel
or sit in quiet meditation before the Blessed Sacrament.
Just outside this chapel, visible as one enters the
main body of the church, is a (red) sanctuary lamp
that is kept lighted throughout the day and night.
Far from “hiding God,” I believe this small but
prayerful place honors the presence of Jesus in a
special way and beckons people to visit.
Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle
at [email protected] and 40 Hopewell
St., Albany NY 12208.
Dozens of central Ohioans have
received life-changing treatment
through Mount Carmel Health
System’s participation in Operation Walk USA.
“How do I even begin to describe
the difference? I feel like this has
given me my life back,” said Daryl
Emch, a two-time Operation Walk
patient. “I work out three days a
week at the gym, and once again,
walking is my favorite form of exercise.”
Emch is one of more than 50 people who had surgery performed on
them by Dr. Adolph Lombardi Jr.
and Dr. Keith Berend of Joint Implant Surgeons at Mount Carmel
New Albany Hospital during the
past five years through Operation
Walk. The physicians performed
three of those surgeries this year
on Friday, Dec. 4.
That same day a special luncheon took place to reunite previous patient participants in the
program (Those who attended the
luncheon are pictured).
Although more than one million
hip and knee replacement operations are performed in the United
States each year, many men and
women continue to live with severe arthritic pain and immobility
because they cannot afford joint
replacement surgery.
Operation Walk provides all aspects of knee and hip replacement
treatment, including surgery, hospitalization, and pre- and post- operative care, at no cost to patients
who may not qualify for government assistance, have insurance,
or be able to afford surgery on
their own.
“These patients are living with
excruciating pain, which limits
their ability to do normal daily
activities, let alone function in a
work environment,” said Lombardi, president of Operation
Walk. “That’s why it means so
much to me to see my former
patients each year at the reunion.
It’s wonderful to see them on the
move, pain-free, and with a new
lease on life.”
Operation Walk is a volunteer effort on behalf of more than 55 volunteer surgeons and 40 participating hospitals in 23 states, and has
performed nearly 600 surgeries to
date.
For more information on
Operation Walk, visit
www.opwalkusa.com.
ST. PAUL BLANKET PROJECT
Students in fifth through eighth grades at Westerville St. Paul School in Westerville made no-sew blankets as a service project and donated them to the Run the Race Club. The club’s founder, Rachel Muha, contacted the St. Vincent
DePaul Society and requested gifts of blankets for the children who participate in her after-school program on
Columbus’ west side. Parents donated the fabric. and the students created the blankets. A total of 185 blankets
were taken to the Run the Race Club and distributed to children for Christmas presents. Photo courtesy St. Paul School
Catholic Times 7
January 10, 2016
SENIOR DINING CENTER
Sunbury St.
John
Neumann Church,
in
partnership
with
SourcePoint
of Delaware
County, recently opened
a senior dining center for
adults older
than 60. The
Sonrise Diner provides
hot meals on
Mondays and
Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Diners have several
options for a lunch that will meet their dietary needs, including low-carbohydrate and low-sodium meals. The food is prepared by Sourcepoint and delivered to the diner.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this service to our community,” said Father David Sizemore, pastor at St. John Neumann.
“This is part of a larger ministry called the Good Samaritan Ministry that we started earlier this year.” The ministry helps the parish coordinate and prioritize outreach activities for the elderly
and low-income individuals in the Sunbury-Galena community
and around central Ohio. The church is forming partnerships
with area nonprofit agencies and providing them with volunteers
and material assistance to help meet local needs.
“The Sonrise Diner is our first big initiative under the Good
Samaritan Ministry,” said Jim and Deb Shiley, ministry copresidents. “The Good Samaritan Ministry was formed after
a parish survey identified that St. John Neumann parishioners
were looking for more opportunities to volunteer and give back
to their community. This partnership has resulted in a positive
impact on the parishioners and the community.”
The Sonrise Diner serves about 10 people each day, but has
room for many more people. The current location in the lower
kitchen of the parish offices at 9633 E. State Route 37 can seat
about 40 diners. Once that number is reached, operations will
move to the parish faith and family center, where at least 100
diners can be served each day. The diner is open two days per
week, but can expand to a schedule of as much as five days if a
demand for lunches is shown.
“This diner has so much potential,” said Father Sizemore.
“We know from our parish survey that we have a significant
elderly population in our area. This diner is a way to help them
connect with each other, enjoy a hot meal and receive proper
nutrition, form friendships, share faith, and give them hope,
thus preventing issues that are often associated with social isolation in the elderly population.”
The Sonrise Diner is open to anyone 60 and older, regardless
of their income level. To reserve a meal, diners need to call
SourcePoint at (740) 203-2432 by 8:30 a.m. on the day they
want to eat. Sourcepoint representatives will help them choose
a meal that fits their dietary needs. For more information, contact Gloria Calcara at (740) 965-1358, extension 132.
Photo: Father David Sizemore, pastor of Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, and customers of the parish’s Sonrise Diner.
A HIGHER STANDARD
THAN FOR
CATS AND DOGS
Sometimes people will point out, “We euthanize
our pets when they suffer, and they are clearly
creatures of God, so why can’t we euthanize a sick
and suffering person who wants it? It seems like
we treat our dogs and cats better than we treat our
suffering family members.”
The way we treat animals, however, should not be
the measure of how we treat fellow human beings.
We keep animals as pets, but we don’t do the same
with humans. We use animals to make clothing and
food, but we don’t do the same with humans. For
all our similarities to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are aware of a fundamental difference in
kind between ourselves and our furry friends. We
are not meant to die as animals do, or be euthanized as they are. The death of a human is a more
complex event that has other important realities
associated with it.
In euthanizing a cat or a dog, an assessment about
the nature of the creature is rolled up into our decision to proceed. Our pets seem to process the
world around them mostly in terms of pleasure
and pain, oscillating between these two poles as
they instinctively gravitate towards pleasurable
experiences and engage in “mechanisms of avoidance” when they come up against pain or discomfort. Animals lack that uniquely human power to
reason about, resign themselves to, and allow good
to be drawn out of pain. Animals can’t do much
else in the face of their suffering apart from trying
to skirt around it, escape the situation, or passively
endure it. Because of our strong sense of empathy,
humans find it more emotionally acceptable to
“put the animal to sleep” rather than watch it suffer a long and agonizing death.
But it would be false empathy, and a false compassion, to promote the killing or suicide of suffering family members. As human beings, we have real
moral duties, and better options, in the face of our
own pain and tribulations. On an instinctual level,
we tend to recoil and do our best to avoid suffering, just like animals. But we are able to respond in
a way that animals cannot, and even willingly accept our suffering, which is unavoidably part of the
fabric of our human existence. None of us lives out
our life without encountering some suffering, even
if it may be purely internal, like the agony that
comes from loneliness, isolation, depression, or rejection. Every person must, in one way or another,
confront suffering along the trajectory of life, and
human maturity is partially measured by how we
deal with suffering.
MAKING SENSE
Out of Bioethics
Father Tad Pacholczyk
Those who live with serious disabilities, through
their determined and beauty-filled lives and example, remind us every day of the good that can
be drawn from suffering. The way they deal with
their struggles manifests the depths of what it is
to be authentically human. It is precisely disability,
with its disfigurement, impairment, vulnerability,
and dependence that challenges us to grasp the
outlines of our human journey in a less superficial
way, and to value human life and protect human
dignity in sickness and in health. Victoria Kennedy
spoke to this same point when describing Senator
Edward Kennedy’s final months:
“When my husband was first diagnosed
with cancer, he was told that he had only
two to four months to live. … But that prognosis was wrong. Teddy lived 15 more productive months. … Because that first dire
prediction of life expectancy was wrong,
I have 15 months of cherished memories.
… When the end finally did come—natural
death with dignity—my husband was home,
attended by his doctor, surrounded by family and our priest.”
As human beings, we reach beyond the limits that
suffering imposes by a conscious decision to accept and grow through it, like the athlete or the
Navy SEAL who pushes through the limits of his exhaustion during training. We enter into an awareness of something greater behind the veil of our
suffering when we come to accept it as an integral
component of our human condition. We also give
positive example, strength, and encouragement
to the younger generation as it witnesses our response to and acceptance of our own suffering.
Our trials and tribulations also teach us about our
reliance on God and the illusions of self-reliance.
On the other hand, if our fear of suffering drives us
to constant circumlocution and relentless avoidance, even to the point of short-circuiting life itself
through euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide,
we can miss those mysterious but privileged moments that invite us to become more resplendently
human, with all the messiness, awkwardness. and
agonies that are invariably part of that process.
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD, earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did postdoctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese
of Fall River, Massachusetts, and serves as director
of education at The National Catholic Bioethics
Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.
8 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
CATHOLIC WOMEN OF THE YEAR CHOSEN FOR 2015
January 10, 2016
Catholic Times 9
Faith
LIVING
What I Learned from Failing at Advent (Again)
The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women honored four women from around the Diocese of Columbus
as 2015 Catholic Women and Young Women of the Year for their dedication to the faith and their
commitment to serving Our Lord and all people whom they encounter. Pictured with Bishop Frederick Campbell are (from left): left photo, Woman of the Year Virginia Todd Hardy (Columbus Christ
the King) and Young Woman of the Year Emily Pina (New Albany Church of the Resurrection); right
photo, DCCW President Michelle McCormick, Woman of the Year Carol Ferguson (Cardington Sacred
Hearts), and Young Woman of the Year Emily Preston (Chillicothe St. Mary).
CT photos by Ken Snow
Women’s Retreat
JUBILEE MUSEUM VISIT
Third-graders at Gahanna St. Matthew School visited the Jubilee Museum in downtown Columbus. The museum is located in the former Holy Family School. The students are pictured in a room which has been set aside to retain the feel
of a 1950s-era parochial school classroom and includes a collection of dolls representing orders of religious sisters.
Photo courtesy St. Matthew School
Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, 9633 E.
State Route 37, is sponsoring its ninth annual
women’s retreat, “Becoming Women in the
New Evangelization,” from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 in the parish faith and family
center.
The retreat will be led by Kelly Wahlquist,
assistant director of the Archbishop Flynn
Catechetical Institute in the Archdiocese of
St. Paul-Minneapolis. She is the founder of
WINE: Women in the New Evangelization,
a contributing writer for CatholicMom.com
and the e-magazine The Integrated Catholic
Life, and author of the book Created to Relate:
God’s Design for Peace and Joy.
Wahlquist, who is married and the mother
of three children, weaves personal stories and
Scripture together with practical advice, allowing her audience to enter more fully into
Pope Francis’ call to live the joy of the Gospel
with missionary zeal.
The cost of the retreat is $40, including three
meals, plus a coffee and dessert social from 9
to 11 p.m. To register, visit http://www.saintjohnsunbury.org/womens-retreat. For more
information, contact Gretchen Hofer at (614)
975-7328 or Renee Brehm at (740) 972-9954.
My standard response, whenever anyone asks how
my Advent is going, is “Well, I’m failing.” I don’t say
it as a matter of course or as a habit, but because it’s
usually true.
This year was no different. In fact, if anything, this
year was the worst since I’ve been Catholic and trying
to actually observe Advent.
The weeks leading up to Christmas were a blur of
workworkwork, family obligations, extracurriculars,
juggling other people, and internal drama. There was
no time. None. Zero. Zilch.
I felt as though I was living in a whirlwind, and
when I paused on Christmas Day to reflect just what I
should have, could have, would have done differently,
I came up short. Either EVERYTHING would have
to be different in my life or ... I was just in a set of
circumstances that demanded waders and a super suit.
So, given that I’m something of an expert at failing
Advent (more than a decade of experience and four
kids later), I thought I’d share what this Year of
Advent Failure taught me.
Lesson 1: There are worse things than failure.
I’m a perfectionist, a control freak, a high achiever.
As such, I set my sights on nothing less than Total
Advent Domination™. I don’t just want to do Advent
right, I want to do it ALL.
If you’re thinking I set myself up for failure, you’re
right.
Over the years, I’ve learned and adapted my
approach. But I would never have done this (and
made Advent a more approachable season) unless I
had failed. I would never have thought to cut things
out or adjust halfway through or even take a bare
minimum viewpoint if I had achieved all my goals.
Goals are good. Everyone says so. It’s just that
sometimes, so is a reality check.
For me, Advent is a reality check.
It’s not so different than the time leading up to the
birth of a child, come to think of it. I’m always trying
to cram so much into those last four weeks before the
baby shows up in all his or her life-altering beauty.
The birth of my last baby, in fact, came as a result of
a car accident and was unexpected times one hundred.
You’d think I would learn ...
And yet, the failure of Advent is almost a gift. It’s
almost a reminder that a lack of failure would mean a
lack of trying. Absence of failure, for me, would mean
no plans at all, no attempts at gaining more holiness,
no trying to mosey closer to Bethlehem and the Baby
whose fault it is that we have Advent in the first place.
Finding Faith in
Everyday Life
Sarah Reinhard
Lesson 2: There’s always next year.
The only time I find this lesson helpful is after I have
at least an arm’s length between me and the Advent
failure I’m considering.
Because I don’t want to fail. Ever.
Whatever wisdom I may spout off, however helpful
I may be to others, the truth is this: I want to be able
to do that which I probably cannot (and should not)
do. My response to being told “No” is the mental
equivalent of a three-year-old throwing herself on the
floor kicking and flailing and screaming.
But here’s the beauty of our faith: Advent comes
every year. Every. Single. Year.
We can look 10 years in the future and there! Advent!
Just waiting for me!
Unlike the babies who don’t keep, this Baby does
keep. We get to prepare for Him again. And again.
And again.
When I look back over the years of failure and past
my abysmal attitude about how things have gone,
I see that the failures I have now are different than
the failures I had 10 years ago. Just as I see my kids
growing, I can see myself growing ... and there’s hope
that this will continue.
So next year, as I prepare to prepare, chances are that
I’ll achieve a different level of failure. And by God’s
grace, may that failure lead me closer to where I need
to be.
Christmas comes anyway.
That’s the thing about babies, isn’t it? They come
anyway. Whether you’re ready or not.
The crib may not be set up, the house may not be
clean, the car seat may not even be purchased. But
when that baby is ready, that baby is going to come.
Christmas is set ... for forever. December 25.
Whether I’m ready or not.
And on that morning, as the sun peeps over the
horizon in a blaze of orange and pink across bare
fields and into a room strewn with kids who have been
awake for HOURS, I’ll see that my Advent failures
aren’t as big a deal as I’d like to think.
In fact, maybe I needed the failure to make it to this
day. Maybe I needed to soften up, lighten up, open up.
Maybe the failure is part of His gift to me.
Sarah’s online at SnoringScholar.com. She’s a
wife, mom, and author, in addition to being a big
fan of coffee and chocolate. Her latest book, “Word
by Word: Slowing Down with the Hail Mary,” is
available both online and in bookstores.
DeSales Food Drive
Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School students donated more than 19,000 cans, plus $1,000 in cash, during
their annual holiday canned food drive to benefit neighbors in need. Pictured are (from left) : Ruth Tesfay, Grace
Whalen, Grant Rogers, Mary Kate Whalen, Hannah Woods, Dede Myers, Tyler Whalen, and Ben Whalen.
Photo courtesy St. Francis DeSales High School
10 Catholic Times/ January 10, 2016
January 10, 2016/Catholic Times 11
Lourdes and Fatima
By Margaret O’Sullivan
Columbus St. Patrick Church
There have been thousands upon
thousands of words written about
Lourdes and Fatima, movies and documentaries made, secular and religious
travelogues prepared, and lectures and
personal testimonies given. Before
going to visit these shrines recently, I
tried to absorb as much information as
I possibly could, not wanting to miss
anything at either site. However, I still
found myself woefully unprepared for
the experience.
From the time I was a small child, I
had heard about Lourdes and Fatima.
When I was seven years old, I was
particularly fascinated by Fatima, and
loved the idea of the Blessed Mother
appearing to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco – young Portuguese children
who clearly loved Our Lady, but had
no expectations of ever seeing her or
having her speak to them. They must
have been overjoyed!
For my first Communion, a neighbor
lady, Mrs. Miller, who had a son in my
class, gave me a small set of four statues: the Blessed Mother and the three
children of Fatima. It sat on my dresser at home until I took it with me when
I married and moved to Fort Benning,
Georgia, with my husband. When we
moved back to Columbus, the movers lost one small box of items, among
them my Fatima set. I can still picture
it in my mind. I remind myself that I
had nearly 16 years to enjoy it. It lasted the longest of my first Communion
gifts and was one I truly treasured.
The journey to Lourdes was an adventure for my husband and me. We flew
into Barcelona, Spain, rented a car, and
headed out with an Avis map and a lot of
confidence. Neither of us speak or read
Spanish or French, so the confidence
was definitely unwarranted. Barcelona
and Lourdes didn’t look that far apart
on the map, but we quickly discovered
that driving through the Pyrenees in a
strange car, on foreign roads, immediately following an eight-hour-plus
plane ride was going to be a challenge.
Europe is loaded with roundabouts
that aren’t marked anything like they
are in the United States (or was it our
inability to know what the signs said?).
We got turned around in the tiny nation
of Andorra and spotted a roadside inn
where we decided to clarify directions
to Lourdes. The manager at the desk
spoke French and a little English; her
co-worker, who apparently knew the
roads well, spoke Spanish and a little
French. The exchange of information from him to her to us was nothing
short of hilarious, punctuated with lots
of pointing at a map and hand signals.
With confidence somewhat restored,
we navigated the inn’s parking lot,
which was filled with cars and horses
when we came out (we really didn’t
understand the appearance of so many
unattended horses, but assumed that
the inn offered trail rides through the
mountains). We soon realized we were
indeed on the right road again.
We arrived in Lourdes that evening
and asked ourselves, “Are we seeing
this correctly?” Nearly every hotel and
shop had the name of a saint. We had
reservations at a hotel our pastor recommended, and found it and its owners and staff to be lovely. We stayed
two nights in a room overlooking the
Gave de Pau River, the same river that
runs alongside the grotto where Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary 18 times.
Mission to Mexico
By Bob Dye
Chillicothe St. Peter Church
Top left and top and bottom center: Scenes
from the grotto and the basilica at Lourdes.
Photos courtesy Margaret O’Sullivan
Our room had a crucifix in it. It is the
first room we have ever stayed in, other than in a private home or hospital,
that has displayed a crucifix. How refreshing not to be subjected to endless
political correctness.
Lourdes has more hotel rooms than
any other city in France, except Paris.
About six million pilgrims visit there
each year, undoubtedly for a variety
of reasons. We came with a long list of
people to pray for: our brother-in-law,
who has undergone surgery and has suffered nearly every day this year; a cousin and friends stricken with cancer; our
pastor and all the priests who faithfully
serve our parish; all our dear friends; all
our many family members, particularly
seeking protection for our nearly 100
nieces and nephews, great-nieces and
great-nephews, for all the days of their
lives, and to give thanks for more than
47 years of a blessed marriage.
We saw innumerable people in wheelchairs, many people who were elderly
and walking rather slowly, countless
young people who nearly sprinted
from basilica to grotto to Stations of
the Cross. We were surprised by the
size and beauty of the Basilica of the
Immaculate Conception. How did
they build such a spectacular structure
on that cliffside? We heard Mass in
French at the Rosary Basilica, a church
adjoining the original basilica that was
built to accommodate the growing
number of visitors, and we heard Mass
at the grotto in English. Both beautiful. Both peaceful.
But we didn’t know what treasure lay
ahead for us: the nightly candlelight
procession. Sure, we knew about it.
And sure, we heard that you had to
experience it in person to truly understand its impact. Oh my, how spectacular! On an otherwise ordinary weekday in September, thousands of people
walked in procession from the grotto to
Rosary Square, carrying candles, praying the rosary in many languages, and
singing Mary’s praises. I could feel
tears streaming down my face. How
Left: Crutches of people healed at Fatima.
Right: Our Lady of Fatima statue’s crown
includes a bullet that struck John Paul II.
beautiful! How fortunate I am to have
this opportunity!
I had been told there was a possibility
that I would be underwhelmed by Fatima after having seen Lourdes. I could
never be disappointed by anything
that pertains to the Blessed Mother. It
was simply a different experience than
Lourdes for lots of reasons, the main
one being that we were there for only
a few hours (we saw it as part of our
guided tour of Spain and Portugal).
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary
was being renovated, so we only got to
peek into it through narrowly separated
partitions. But Mass was being said
at the Chapel of Apparitions, and we
saw the beautiful statue of Our Lady of
Fatima. In her crown is one of the bullets
that struck Pope St. John Paul II in an assassination attempt on May 13, 1981.
He was shot on the feast of Our Lady of
Fatima, and he openly credited her with
sparing his life.
The crowds at Fatima are smaller
than in Lourdes (four million pilgrims
a year), but the faith is the same The
devotion to Our Lady the same. The
feeling of something greater than ourselves and the trappings of this world
is the same.
I would highly recommend Lourdes
and Fatima to anyone with the opportunity and even an inkling of interest
in visiting shrines to Our Lady. They
have an aura that I feel could never be
captured anywhere else.
Oh, and my missing set of statues
of the Blessed Mother and the three
children of Fatima? My husband purchased a gorgeous porcelain statue for
me as a replacement in the gift shop at
Fatima. Mrs. Miller would approve of
his choice. It graces my dresser and
reminds me to continue my lifelong
devotion to Our Lady.
A group of 22 pilgrims from the Chillicothe
area was called to take part in a pilgrimage
and mission trip sponsored this past summer
by Our Lady’s Outreach Network of Chillicothe St. Peter Church. Each pilgrim, with the
exception of three members of the Franciscan
Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who
live at the St. Peter convent, bore the expense
of the trip themselves. Many others were
and still are called in various other capacities
(prayer, fund raising, and support) to assist the
network in ways other than going on the trip.
We began preparing in October 2014, the
month dedicated to the rosary of our Blessed
Mother. Our three Franciscan sisters were
instrumental in preparing us spiritually and
preparing the way for the mission. Each week
during October, they would call all of us together for a rosary dedicated to the success
of the mission trip. We would gather in each
other’s homes, accompanied by the sisters and
a 25-inch- tall wooden statue of Our Lady of
Guadalupe we acquired from a previous trip
to Mexico. The weekly rosary group has continued meeting to this day.
Also in October, work began in earnest to organize and define our goals for the trip. The
initial stages of the planning were somewhat
problematic because of the language barrier
involved, but with time and perseverance, the
logistics were put into place, with contacts being made in Mexico and developed over time
to produce long-lasting, fruitful relationships
and an impression that will serve Our Lady in
the future.
On board were our pastor, Father William
The new chapel at Casa Hogar orphanage in Mexico,
built with the help of Chillicothe parishioners.
Hahn; Deacon Reed Hauser and his wife, Thecla; our three sisters; and several lay parishioners of varied backgrounds and vocations.
Most of the group left Chillicothe at 3 a.m.
Monday, June 29 for a 6 a.m. flight from Port
Columbus, arriving in Mexico City at 1:30
p.m. My wife, Kathy, and I, along with two
other parishioners, arrived a day earlier to prepare for their arrival. Mexico City is a very
large metropolitan area, with a population
estimated at more than 30 million. Our first
afternoon was spent getting everyone settled
into their accommodations, followed by Mass
at the cathedral. The group gathered for dinner
overlooking the zocalo (main square) before
turning in for the night.
We elected to stay at one of the many safe
and affordable hotels located adjacent to the
cathedral and the zocalo and surrounded by
See MEXICO, Page 13
The new Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, built in the mid-1970s in a circular style to allow her image to
be seen from anywhere in the building. It replaces a basilica built in 1709.
Photos courtesy Bob and Kathy Dye
12 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
A Journey to view the Shroud of Turin
By Father Timothy Hayes
Pastor, Columbus St. Timothy
“Lord, make us turn to
you, let us see Your Face,
and we shall be saved” –
Psalm 80.
Only rarely does the Church
choose to put on display the Sacred Shroud of Turin. It is the
personal property of the Holy
Father, willed to him in 1983
by the House of Savoy. Pope
St. John Paul II chose to leave it
where it has been for centuries,
under the care of the archbishop
of Turin. In 2015, the shroud
was on public display for a few
months in honor of the 200th
anniversary of the birth of St.
John Bosco. The last public
showing was in 2010, and the
next one, set by John Paul II,
will be in 2025.
As a pastor, I have often led pilgrimages to holy places around
the world. In 2014, I accompanied a group of pilgrims to
the canonization of popes John
XXIII and John Paul II. As part
of our journey then, we paid
a visit to the town of Termoli
Above: The Sacred Shroud of Turin, lit by enhanced illumination. Right:
Pilgrims in line to view the shroud. Below: Columbus St. Timothy Church
tour group in front of the Turin cathedral. Photos courtesy Father Timothy Hayes
in Italy, on the Adriatic coast,
where the final resting place of
St. Timothy, the disciple of St.
Paul, is located.
In our visit to that region, we
also made stops at Gargano, to
pay homage to the archangel St.
Michael; at San Giovanni Rotondo, to pray at the tomb of St.
Pio of Pietrelcina; at Lanciano,
where we learned about one of
the earliest Eucharistic mira-
cles; and at Manoppello, with
its image of the Holy Face, the
Volto Santo, a striking face with
open eyes and mouth, pointing
to the moment of the resurrection of Jesus.
Some of the pilgrims were so
taken by the Holy Face that
when it was made known that
the shroud would be on display,
it was natural to ask whether I
would lead a pilgrimage to Turin in 2015. After some thought
and prayer, I took this as an invitation.
The journey to Turin in May
2015 was truly a spiritual pilgrimage. We started in Fatima,
and made our way through Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy,
with stops along the way to
encounter many saints of the
spiritual journey – St. Teresa of
Avila, St. John of the Cross, St.
Ignatius of Loyola, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, St. Catharine
of Siena, and others associated
with famous sites along the
way, including St. John Paul
II, whose visits to these places
made history.
Each day, we were offered
wonderful insights into the delights of living with God at the
center of our lives. The various saints became more real
for us as we walked the lands
they called home, encountering
other pilgrims from all over
the world and experiencing
the welcome of those who live
there all the time.
By the time we reached the
journey’s goal, we were truly
ready to see something extraordinary. The rhythm of our days
had been to rise early, to travel,
and to visit each holy site in the
afternoon and evening. In Turin, it changed. We wanted to be
among the first to arrive to visit
the Holy Shroud. The theme
chosen by the Archdiocese of
Turin was L’Amore piu Grande;
that is, “The Greatest Love.”
We went early in the morning
to Turin’s cathedral, and were
delighted to find that our wait to
see the Holy Shroud was not too
long. As we moved along, there
was a sense of wonder and joy.
We were going to see something
we had only read about or seen
in pictures. Now, with our own
eyes, we would encounter the
relic that testifies to the suffering
of our Lord for each of us.
Our last stop before entering
the cathedral was a video that
prepared us for the image, orienting us to the markings on the
shroud. From there, we took
only a few steps until we realized that we were right there in
the presence of the holy relic.
We fell on our knees and we
were lost in prayer.
Mercifully, that day the crowd
was rather light, so we were not
rushed through. Prayer in various languages was offered over
the sound system. We could
look upon the linen and see
for ourselves the markings that
were identified with the face, the
thorn crown, the bloodstains,
and the marks of the scourging.
With the cathedral in subdued
light and the shroud in a special enhanced illumination, we
could be taken into contemplation of the Lord’s Passion.
When the time came for our
group to leave, it was not easy
to depart. However, when we
were given some free time, it
was possible to return to the
main body of the cathedral and to
be once again in the presence of
the shroud. A silent crowd sat or
knelt in the pews, watching the
pilgrims pass by in the sanctuary.
I was pleased to bring into the cathedral with me some souvenirs,
which I blessed in the presence
of the shroud for the pilgrims
who accompanied me and for
others who followed our journey
through social media.
As a pilgrim who had reached
my journey’s goal, I was renewed in my intention to continue as a pilgrim in my life as
pastor and priest. I give God
thanks for the invitation to
come to know more of the spiritual journey through leading
other pilgrims now and then.
If the Spirit invites you to
make a pilgrimage, realize that
the journey you take will bring
a new understanding of your
own world and new zeal to follow the Lord where He leads.
Safe travels!
Catholic Times 13
January 10, 2016
MEXICO, continued from Page 11
many cultural and Catholic sites of interest to us, including the Church of San Felipe Neri , La Profesa, the patron saint of
Father Hahn; the National Palace; and the
Temple Mayor (great Aztec temple), all of
which were within a five-minute walk of
our lodging.
The second day of our trip began early,
with a 30-minute bus ride and a sixhour guided tour (including Mass) at
the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
From the basilica, we proceeded back to
the hotel, where we once again visited
the cathedral, as well as other Catholic
churches and chapels, and had some free
time to explore the culture of the city.
On the third day, we checked out of our
hotel very early and boarded our bus to
Cholula, two hours east of Mexico City,
where we took the long uphill hike to
the Santuario Nuestra Señora de los
Remidios (Sanctuary Our Lady of Remedies), built atop a pyramid. From here,
we walked through the town of Cholula,
on our way to the Convent of St. Gabriel
and the town’s cathedral.
After mingling with local marketers
and vendors, we then boarded our bus
for a 30-minute trip to Puebla, a much
larger metropolitan area, with more
than two million people. Arriving in the
early afternoon, we stopped for lunch
at one of the many open-air cafes and
restaurants adjacent to its zocalo before
crossing over the square to the cathedral – a simply amazing, breathtaking,
awe-inspiring building. After tearing
ourselves away from there, we walked
the short distance to the Capila de Rosario (Chapel of the Rosary). If the beauty
of the basilica, cathedrals, and churches
they already had seen did not amaze the
pilgrims, they certainly were, I think,
overwhelmed and speechless by what
their eyes observed in the chapel. Many
of those eyes were glossy with tears of
overpowering joy.
After reciting one decade of the rosary,
we were off for the two-and-a-half-hour
bus ride through the mountains to Córdoba, a mainly agricultural community
of 250,000 inhabitants which happens to
be the sister city of Chillicothe.
There is one main east-west four-lane
highway from Puebla to Cordoba, and
sometimes the traffic can be challenging
if you are on a schedule. Our hope was
to arrive in Cordoba at around 7:30 p.m.,
have a late dinner, settle in for the night,
and begin our mission work the next
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day with a good night’s rest behind us.
Funny how plans carefully made turn to
folly. We were 30 minutes from our destination and traffic came to a complete
standstill for more than three hours.
After arriving after midnight and getting 22 people checked into their rooms,
it was a short night of sleep. Father
Hahn, Kathy and I had an early breakfast
meeting with the mayor of Cordoba and
his staff. The city of Cordoba welcomed
us with open arms and the people were
very, very hospitable. They provided us
with free transportation in the form of
new 14-passenger vans and translators.
We traveled to one of our mission projects – Casa Hogar, a privately run orphanage for children aged one to 18. We provided them with the funds to build a chapel
on their campus and helped them get it in
order. Father Hahn and Deacon Hauser
celebrated a special blessing of the chapel, with many of the benefactors present.
We had a party for the children and shared
in their mealtime. We learned that our
participation in the orphanage caught the
interest of the mayor, the governor of the
State of Veracruz, and eventually the federal government, which became involved
to the extent that Casa Hogar was successful in securing a federal grant to build a
new campus. Seeds planted by Our Lady
were bearing fruit.
We also visited the Seminario del Buen
Pastor (Seminary of the Good Shepherd) and spent time with Father Oliver,
Father Alfonzo, and the junior seminarians. We were able to provide them with
some much-needed technological assistance in the form of laptop computers
and network hardware.
Located within the same campus was
the Emmaus Senior Center, operated
by the Sisters of Charity of St. Anne. It
was a spiritually uplifting experience to
interact with people at the seminary and
the senior center, despite the language
barrier. We learned that our presence
was all that was required to communicate with them. All of us understood
why we were there.
We also renovated upgraded the kitchen, bath, and living area of a private
home. Through networking with the city
of Cordoba and DIF (a social assistance
agency), we plan to adopt a family and
to assist with upgrading and renovating
a new home each year.
We also had the opportunity to take
some side trips to agricultural communities that grow organic coffee and other
produce in the foothills surrounding
Cordoba. Central to the small towns is
Visiting a sick person at the Emmaus senior
center on the Casa Hogar campus in Mexico.
always the church. All activities of the
communities are connected with the
church schedule, which is the focal point
of their undertakings.
On our last day in Cordoba we attended
Mass at the cathedral, and Bishop Eduardo Leal invited our group to meet with
him privately. The bishop spoke fluent
English and was very grateful for our
mission work and looked forward to a
continued relationship with Our Lady’s
Outreach Network.
The time came all too quickly for us to
board the bus and depart the beautiful city
of Cordoba and say our goodbyes to the
friends we had made. In less than 90 minutes, we were in the port city of Veracruz
and once again experiencing the diverse
flavor of Mexican culture. Veracruz has
an energetic atmosphere, filled with lively
people enjoying their work and leisure in
the warm climate of a beach city. We had
time to break off into small groups and experience the neighborhoods within easy
walking distance of our hotel. Even though
it was a Sunday evening and a school night,
the neighborhoods and zocalos were very
much alive with music, live entertainment,
food and trinket vendors, and families
squeezing the last out of the weekend before they would return, like ourselves, to
their normal work week schedule.
Early the next morning, we departed
for home, eventually arriving at Port
Columbus just before midnight. All too
quickly our trip of a lifetime came to a
close. Just as the trip itself seemed unbelievable, it was unbelievable that it was
over. However, the outreach network’s
mission has a life of its own and is being
directed by Our Lady. Plans are under
way for a return visit this summer that
will include the parish group, building on the relationships that were born
on this trip. So far, we have 38 pilgrims
signed up to go.
14 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
The Baptism of the Lord (Cycle C)
The first direct revelation that Jesus is God’s Son
Father
Lawrence L. Hummer
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11;
Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7;
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
The classic Isaiah passage, which marks the opening of what scholars call II Isaiah, is the content of
Sunday’s first reading. It says nothing about baptism,
but lots about how much the Lord cares for the suffering Israel, and about what the Lord intends to do
to free the people from their suffering. Israel’s service
referred to her captivity in Babylon and the forced labor to which her citizens were subject as a result of
losing their battle of resistance.
The Lord’s voice proclaims that the Lord is proclaiming a highway in the desert “for our God.” It will
be a straight highway over level terrain, with the Lord
filling in the valleys and leveling the mountains. This
will reveal the Lord’s glory, which means his power to
transform nature itself. The Lord’s messenger (Zion/
Jerusalem) is told to cry out “Here is your God.” That
means redemption, for those who had been enslaved.
During the whole period of enslavement in Babylon,
the lowly and the poor had been left in Jerusalem to
suffer famine, hunger, and despair as the city lay in ruins and the economy was nonexistent. Now Jerusalem,
as the receptor of this word of redemption, is reassured
as the promise of the exiles’ return is imminent. After
years of suffering, those who first heard this message
must have been transformed. Even today, the echoes
of the promise hold out reason to hope for the future.
Besides redemption, another theme that emerges in II
Isaiah is an emphasis on the creative action of God. We
see this theme in the psalm response from Psalm 104. It
is called a hymn in praise of God the creator. The creative action of God is visible throughout this psalm.
Luke’s Gospel account of the baptism of Jesus skips
details, indicating only that Jesus had been baptized
“after all the people” also had been baptized. Luke
also has arranged things so that John already has been
imprisoned by Herod, before he allows Jesus to enter
the scene. This is similar to the way Luke began his
Gospel, announcing first the birth of John, followed
by the birth announcement of Jesus, followed by the
account of John’s birth. Only after clearing the stage
does Luke recount the birth of Jesus and other events
which follow from it, including his visit to the Temple
when he was twelve.
Here, Luke has allowed the passage of time to occur before picturing Jesus at prayer and describing
his vision of the heavens being opened and the Holy
Spirit coming upon him in the form of a dove, and
the voice announcing “You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.” Unlike Mark and Matthew, who make these events follow immediately
and quite publicly, Luke seems to make this a private vision and audition, which Jesus experiences by
himself, while he is praying.
The scene becomes the vehicle for a direct revelation to Jesus that he is God’s Son. We readers already
know this from the announcement scene of his birth to
Mary. As Luke presents the material, this is the first
time Jesus himself is informed of this directly. It is
useless to speculate that Mary would have told him
something of the angelic visit. All we have is what
Luke wrote, and this is what we are able to address.
Finally, the reading from Paul’s letter to Titus, although chosen for a Christmas reading, actually
speaks of saving us “through the bath of rebirth (literally, of regeneration)” which is clearly an allusion to
baptism. Not only are our sins forgiven, but through
this bath we are “renewed by the Holy Spirit,” ultimately to “become heirs in hope of eternal life.”
Father Lawrence Hummer, pastor at Chillicothe
St. Mary Church, may be reached at hummerl@
stmarychillicothe.com.
MARCH FOR LIFE PILGRIMAGE
A family pilgrimage to the March for Life in Washington, sponsored by Sunbury St. John Neumann Church,
will take place from Thursday to Sunday, Jan. 20 to 23.
A bus will leave the church, 9633 E. State Route 37, at
4 p.m. Jan. 20. Highlights of the trip will include Mass
at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, Jan. 21; the march on Saturday, Jan. 22; and a tour of Washington’s monuments
and historic sights the following day. The bus will be
back in Sunbury by midnight.
Prices range from $540 for a single-occupancy hotel room to $150 for sleeping in a church. To register online, visit www.saintjohnsunbury.org and search
“march for life 2016.” For more information, call Renee Brehm at (740) 972-9954 or Lorraine Vance at
(740) 965-2674.
www.ctonline.org
The Weekday Bible Readings
MONDAY
1 Samuel 1:1-8
Psalm 116:12-19
Mark 1:14-20
TUESDAY
1 Samuel 1:9-20
1 Samuel 2:1,4-8 (Ps)
Mark 1:21-28
WEDNESDAY
1 Samuel 3:1-10,19-20
Psalm 40:2,5,7-10116:12-19
Mark 1:29-39
THURSDAY
1 Samuel 4:1-11
Psalm 44:10-11,14-15,24-25
Mark 1:40-45
FRIDAY
1 Samuel 8:4-7,10-22a
Psalm 89:16-19
Mark 2:1-12
SATURDAY
1 Samuel 9:1-4,17-19;10:1a
Psalm 21:2-7
Mark 2:13-17
DIOCESAN WEEKLY RADIO AND
TELEVISION MASS SCHEDULE
WEEK OF JANUARY 10, 2016
SUNDAY MASS
10:30 a.m. Mass from Columbus St. Joseph
Cathedral on St. Gabriel Radio (AM 820), Columbus, and at www.stgabrielradio.com.
Mass with the Passionist Fathers at
7:30 a.m. on WWHO-TV (the CW), Channel 53,
Columbus. and 10:30 a.m. on WHIZ-TV, Channel 18, Zanesville. Check local cable system
for cable channel listing.
Mass from Our Lady of the Angels Monastery,
Birmingham, Ala., at 8 a.m. on EWTN (Time
Warner Channel 385, Insight Channel 382, or
WOW Channel 378).
(Encores at noon, 7 p.m., and midnight).
Mass from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee at
6:30 a.m. on ION TV (AT&T U-verse Channel
195, Dish Network Channel 250,
or DirecTV Channel 305).
DAILY MASS
8 a.m., Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in
Birmingham, Ala. (Encores at noon, 7 p.m. and
midnight). See EWTN above; and on I-Lifetv
(Channel 113 in Ada, Logan, Millersburg, Murray City and Washington C.H.; Channel 125 in
Marion, Newark, Newcomerstown and New
Philadelphia; and Channel 207 in Zanesville);
8 p.m., St. Gabriel Radio (AM 820), Columbus,
and at www.stgabrielradio.com.
We pray Week I, Seasonal Proper
of the Liturgy of the Hours
Catholic Times 15
January 10, 2016
Liberal racism bares its fangs
Given the politically correct hysteria that typically
surrounds any discussion of racism these days, I hesitate to use the term. But it’s hard to find another that
fits certain reactions to Synod 2015 from the port side
of the Barque of Peter.
Exhibit A: Shortly after the synod concluded, the
website of the German bishops’ conference posted
an article by one Bjorn Odendahl, proposing that the
great success of the New Evangelism in Africa is “because the people are socially dependent and often have
nothing else but their faith.” Moreover, Herr Odendahl
wrote, this “romantic, poor Church” is growing “because the educational situation there is on average at a
rather low level and the people accept simple answers
to difficult questions.” As for all those African vocations, well, “the growing number of priests is a result
not only of missionary power, but also a result of the
fact that the priesthood is one of the few possibilities for
social security on the dark continent.”
Exhibit B: In the aftermath of the synod, Cardinal
Godfried Danneels, archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, looked down his nose, cleared his throat,
harrumphed – and then told the Church in Africa that
it ought to stop criticizing the infidelity and rampant
individualism of post-Christian Europe, because “it is
possible that the crisis we have had here will spread
there, too, with all this entails. Africans may also experience a situation similar to ours. Then they might
call us up to see how we dealt with it.”
Exhibit C: Five weeks after the Synod, Paul Vallely,
author of an admiring biography, Pope Francis: The
Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism, took his subject
Faith Formation Program
An adult faith formation program known as
ASK – Adults Seeking Knowledge – will be offered three times in the first half of 2016 at Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, 9633 E. State
Route 37. Sessions are scheduled in the parish
faith and family center at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan.
28, Thursday, Feb. 18, and Monday, May 2.
ASK is an open-format question-and-answer
session where participants write down their
questions about the Catholic faith and have
them answered by Father David Sizemore, pastor of the parish, and-or a guest speaker. It is designed for active Catholics who want to deepen
their knowledge of the faith and for people who
just want to know more about the faith, such as
potential RCIA candidates.
ASK sessions start with social time, including food, drinks, adult beverages, and time to
submit questions, then follow with the speaker
answering questions for the rest of the evening.
For more information, contact Paul Stokell,
parish adult faith formation director, at (740)
965-1358 or [email protected].
THE CATHOLIC
DIFFERENCE
George Weigel
to the woodshed in a New York Times op-ed column
titled “The Pope’s Failure in Africa.” What was that
failure? Pope Francis didn’t challenge what Vallely
regards as African homophobia. And that, pace Mr.
Vallely, was a missed opportunity, because Africa
must “embrace” a “message of love, mercy, and inclusion” if it is “to become an accepted member of the
universal Church.”
Well.
To Herr Odendahl: It may be unfashionable in German Catholic circles to read the New Testament as
any sort of reliable record of early Christianity, but
do give it a try. Then, you might find out that the Lord
Jesus himself chose apostles of a “rather low” educational level, and that many people, perhaps simple
by your standards but not by the Lord’s, flocked to
him, and later to his apostles, because they found in
the community of the friends of Jesus new forms of
“social security.” (PS: The term “dark continent” has
certain malodorous connotations. Do try to avoid it in
the future.)
To Cardinal Danneels: If we begin from the fact that
Sunday Mass attendance in your country is something
on the order of four percent (as I’m told by one of
your brother bishops), it does seem somewhat cheeky,
and perhaps downright preposterous, to suggest that
Africans take lessons in churchmanship from their
putative Belgian betters. African Catholics are not interested in learning what to do with empty churches,
convents, and seminaries. As for blaming the ambient
cultural environment for Euro-Catholicism’s collapse,
that’s bad form, especially among those for whom
learning to make an examination of conscience was
an integral part of their sacramental formation. Please
consider another possibility: that Belgium and other
Catholic wastelands in 21st-century Europe did not
hear the Gospel and reject it because of cultural pressures. Might it be that these faith-free zones haven’t
heard the Gospel preached for quite a while?
To Mr. Vallely: You and those of your ideological
tribe do not determine who is “an accepted member of
the universal Church.” Moreover, if such acceptance
requires retrofitting the Gospel, ignoring the Magisterium, and diving into the quicksand pits of moral subjectivism, I don’t think you’ll find too many folks interested – in Africa, or elsewhere, for that matter. And for
you to describe Cardinal Robert Sarah as an exponent
of “bigotry” because he doesn’t accept the New York
Times’ view of the moral life and cautions against the
dictatorship of relativism borders on calumny.
Thus, a proposed new year’s resolution: no more
of these Stepin Fetchit knockoffs from progressive
Catholics, or indeed any Catholics, in 2016.
George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the
Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Prayer Space
Columbus St. James the Less
School dedicated a new Our
Lady of Guadalupe prayer
space at a service led by Father Clarence Williams, CPpS,
pastor of St. James the Less
Church. The space was designed by Jason O’Brien as
an Eagle Scout project. Jason
met with school principal
Yvonne Schwab several times
as he developed the blueprint, researched the needed
materials, made a budget to
determine the cost of the
space, abd built it with the
help of other Scouts, students, and adults. The space
is at the west entrance to
the school, which also serves
as an entrance to the church.
Photo courtesy St. James the Less
School
16 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
H A P P E N I N G S
Pray for our dead
ALTIER, David, 66, Dec. 19
Sacred Heart Church, New Philadelphia
MANNO, Joseph V., 78, Dec. 26
St. Catharine Church, Columbus
AMICONE, Brenda, 68, Dec. 18
Immaculate Conception Church, Dennison
McELROY, Catherine C., 72, Dec. 18
St. Elizabeth Church, Columbus
BARNETT, John W., 21, Dec. 26
Holy Family Church, Columbus
McGUIRE, John, 84, Dec. 30
St. Bernadette Church, Lancaster
BEZUSKO, Patricia A., 67, Dec. 18
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Marysville
MITCHELL, Dennis R., 68, Dec. 23
St. Elizabeth Church, Columbus
BISCHOFF, Matilda, 97, Dec. 23
St. Cecilia Church, Columbus
MITCHELL, Jane J., 100, Jan. 1
St. Mary Magdalene Church, Columbus
BORICH, Gretchen K., 77, Dec. 21
St. Paul Church, Westerville
MOCKLER, Barbara, 78, Dec. 25
St. Andrew Church, Columbus
BOWERS, Sandra A., 76, Dec. 24
St. Paul Church, Westerville
MOONE, Robert, 72, Dec. 25
St. John Neumann Church, Sunbury
CARPENTER, Ruth A., 75, Dec. 20
Holy Spirit Church, Columbus
MOONEY, Kathryn L., 88, Dec. 23
St. Bernadette Church, Lancaster
CUGLIARI, Josephine, 76, Dec. 25
St. Joseph Church, Dover
PEZZOT, Dino, 84, Dec. 27
St. Matthias Church, Columbus
DIXON, Cynthia A., 60, Dec. 23
St. Paul Church, Westerville
POHL, Christina M., Dec. 18
St. Christopher Church, Columbus
ECKENRODE, Margaret G., 87, Dec. 19
Holy Name Church, Columbus
RENTENBERG, Annette D., 53, Dec. 23
St. Joan of Arc Church, Powell
ESTEP, Lloyd, 80, Dec. 28
St. Margaret of Cortona Church, Columbus
ROCKWELL, Thomas H., 86, Dec. 25
St. Thomas More Newman Center, Columbus
FEERICK, Dr. John P., 65, Dec. 18
St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Zanesville
RUDAK, Stanley A., 95, Dec. 20
St. Timothy Church, Columbus
FOLEY, Grace L., 98, Dec. 22
Sacred Heart Church, Coshocton
RUSSELL, Mark, 32, Dec. 24
St. Matthew Church, Gahanna
GARNER, Ralph, 89, Dec. 23
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Grove City
RYAN, Mary A., 82, Dec. 27
Our Lady of Victory Church, Columbus
HAUSER, Kenneth L., 76, Dec. 18
St. Bernadette Church, Lancaster
SARKA, Helen F., 91, Dec. 20
St. Paul Church, Westerville
HENDERSHOT, Robert M., 68, Dec. 29
St. Joan of Arc Church, Powell
SCHEURELL, Ada, 87, Dec. 20
Holy Spirit Church, Columbus
HOOPER, Dorothy C., 89, Dec. 19
St. Michael Church, Worthington
SEGA, Brandon J., 25, Dec. 31
St. Agatha Church, Columbus
HRABLEY, Margaret, 86, Dec. 19
Immaculate Conception Church, Dennison
SELBY, Christy, 49, Dec. 27
St. Brendan Church, Hilliard
JOHNSON, Rita B., 74, Dec. 15
Our Lady of Peace Church, Columbus
SOPINSKI, Donna, 97, Dec. 17
Sacred Heart Church, New Philadelphia
KOLODZIEJ, Bruno J., 81, Dec. 24
St. James the Less Church, Columbus
TIBURZIO, Dolores A., 83, Dec. 22
St. Elizabeth Church, Columbus
KOVALCHIK, Irene M., 89, Dec. 19
St. Matthias Church, Columbus
VIDIS, Marguerite, 95, Dec. 22
Our Lady of Victory Church, Columbus
LIBERT, Donald J., 87, Dec. 24
St. Bernadette Church, Lancaster
WITALEC, Betty L., 76, Dec. 25
St. Francis de Sales Church, Newark
MAISCH, Diane M., 59, Dec. 25
St. Paul Church, Westerville
WUEBOLD, Patricia R., 78, Dec. 18
St. Cecilia Church, Columbus
Ethel L. Fitzer
Funeral Mass for Ethel L. Fitzer, 91,
who died Monday, Dec. 21, was held
Monday, Dec. 28 at Columbus St.
Mary Magdalene Church. Burial was
at St. Joseph Cemetery, Columbus.
She was a graduate of the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in
Columbus and held many positions
in the nursing field for approximately 35 years before retiring from the
CLASSIFIED
TOM & JERRY’S AUTO SERVICE
general surgery department at Grant
Hospital in Columbus in 1993.
She was preceded in death by her
parents, Stephen and Susan Pirik, and
husband, Albert.
Survivors include a nephew, Michael Pirik, operations manager for
the Diocese of Columbus. She also is
survived by two sons, a brother, and
six grandchildren.
Mary Ann Theado
Funeral Mass for Mary Ann Theado,
84, who died Thursday, Dec. 24, was
held Wednesday, Dec. 30 at Columbus
St. Francis of Assisi Church. Burial
was at Resurrection Cemetery. Lewis
Center.
She worked in the fiscal office of
Catholic Social Services for 25 years.
Catholic Times 17
January 10, 2016
She was preceded in death by her
parents, Clarence and Margaret Theado; and a brother, Clarence “Jack.”
Survivors include a son, Tim Pusecker; daughters, Julie Newman, Lisa
(George) Fulcher, and Karla (Chad)
Wilson; a sister, MarLou Brown; five
grandsons; and two granddaughters.
START YOUR DAY
A BETTER WAY!
1701 Kenny Road
614-488-8507
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
ST. MARY (German Village) SCHOOL
GALA AND AUCTION
The Boat House at Confluence Park
February 27 ~ 6:00 p.m.
Tickets $100 each or $900 table of 10.
Ticket includes: parking, cocktails and
non-alcoholic beverages, hors d’oeuvres,
dinner, dessert and coffee.
Visit www.stmarygv.com and
click on the”gala” link to purchase tickets,
become a sponsor or make a donation.
Holy Name societies, with refreshments. 614-221-4323
Back in His Arms Again Meeting
7 p.m., Panera restaurant, 782 N. State St., Westerville.
Monthly meeting of Back in His Arms Again group for
mothers who have experienced the loss of a child.
Holy Year Evening of Reflection at St. Paul
7 to 9 p.m., Activities center, St. Paul Church, 313 N. State
St., Westerville. Evening of reflection for the Holy Year of
Mercy, led by Stephen J. Binz, award-winning author and
biblical scholar. Call parish office for child care.
614-882-2109
8, FRIDAY
Urban Plunge Mass at Cathedral
5:15 p.m., St. Joseph Cathedral, 212 E. Broad St., Columbus.
Mass and reception marking conclusion of University of
Notre Dame’s annual 48-hour Urban Plunge inner-city
immersion experience in Columbus, coordinated by the
diocesan Office for Social Concerns and the Notre Dame
Alumni Club of Columbus.
614-241-2540
JANUARY
9, SATURDAY
Life and Mercy Mass in Plain City
9 a.m. Mass, St. Joseph Church, 140 West Ave., Plain City.
Saturday Life and Mercy Mass, followed by rosary and
confession.
7, THURSDAY
Cenacle at Holy Name
6 p.m., Holy Name Church, 154 E. Patterson Ave., Columbus. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, with prayers in
the Cenacle format of the Marian Movement of Priests.
Holy Hour at Holy Family
6 to 7 p.m., Holy Family Church, 584 W. Broad St., Columbus. Holy Hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament,
followed by meeting of parish Holy Name and Junior
9-10, SATURDAY-SUNDAY
Sister Miriam James at St. John Neumann
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, St. John Neumann Church, 9633 E. State Route 37, Sunbury. Talks by
Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, author of “Loved As
I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom
Through Jesus.” Saturday session in faith and family center open to all; Sunday talk in church sanctuary for teens
and parents.
740-965-1358
All fund-raising events (festivals,
bazaars, spaghetti dinners, fish fries,
bake sales, pizza/sub sales, candy sales,
etc.) will be placed in the “Fund-Raising
Guide.”
An entry into the Guide will be $18.50
for the first six lines, and $2.65 for each
additional line.
For more information,
call David Garick at 614-224-5195.
‘Happenings’ submissions
Notices for items of Catholic interest
must be received at least 12 days before expected publication date. We will
print them as space permits.
Items not received before this deadline
may not be published.
Listings cannot be taken by phone.
Mail to: The Catholic Times
Happenings,
197 East Gay St., Columbus, OH 43215
Fax to: 614-241-2518
E-mail as text to [email protected]
10, SUNDAY
St. Christopher Adult Religious Education
10 to 11:20 a.m., Library, Trinity Catholic School, 1440
Grandview Ave., Columbus. Discussion on “Mercy: Healing for the Modern Family” with Dan Thimons, director
of the diocesan Marriage & Family Life Office.
Our Lady of Peace School Open House
12:30 to 2 p.m., Our Lady of Peace School, 40 E. Dominion
Blvd., Columbus. Open house for parents of prospective
students.
614-267-4535
Kateri Prayer Circle at St. Mark
1 p.m., Aranda Center, St. Mark Church, 324 Gay St., Lancaster. Kateri Prayer Circle meeting to honor St. Kateri
Tekakwitha and promote Native Catholic spirituality.
740-756-7008
Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic Meeting
1:30 p.m., St. Patrick Church, 280 N. Grant Ave., Columbus.
Meeting of St. Catherine of Siena chapter, Lay Fraternities
of St. Dominic.
Prayer Group Meeting at Christ the King
5 to 7 p.m., Christ the King Church, 2777 E. Livingston
Ave., Columbus (enter at daily Mass entrance). Weekly
parish prayer group meets for praise, worship, ministry,
and teaching.
614-886-8266
St. Margaret of Cortona ‘Catholic Conversations’ Series
6 to 8 p.m., Hofbrauhaus, 800 Goodale St., Columbus.
Monthly “Catholic Conversations” series for anyone 21
and older, sponsored by Columbus St. Margaret of Cortona Church. Speaker: John Bradford of Wilderness Out-
reach on “How a Journey Into the Theology of Masculine
Spirituality Led to the Feminine Genius.” RSVP to [email protected] or [email protected].
Spanish Mass at Columbus St. Peter
7 p.m., St. Peter Church, 6899 Smoky Row Road, Columbus. Mass in Spanish.
706-761-4054
11, MONDAY
Bethesda Post-Abortion Healing Ministry
6:30 p.m., support group meeting, 2744 Dover Road, Columbus (Christ the King convent, first building west of
the church). 614-718-0277, 614-309-2651, 614-309-0157
Our Lady of Peace Men’s Bible Study
7 p.m., Our Lady of Peace Church, 20 E. Dominion Blvd.,
Columbus. Bible study of Sunday Scripture readings.
12, TUESDAY
Serra Club of North Columbus Meeting
Noon, Jessing Center, Pontifical College Josephinum, 7625
N. High St., Columbus. Serra Club of North Columbus
meeting. Speaker: Dan DeMatte of Catholic Youth Summer Camp. Reservations required.
Calix Society Meeting
6 p.m., Panera restaurant, 4519 N. High St., Columbus.
Monthly meeting of the Calix Society, an association of
Catholic alcoholics. Preceded by 5:30 p.m. Mass at Our
Lady of Peace Church, across street from meeting site.
Holy Hour at Columbus St. Francis of Assisi
St. Francis of Assisi Church, 386 Buttles Ave., Columbus.
Monthly Holy Hour following 6 p.m. Mass. 614-299-5781
EnCourage Ministry Monthly Meeting
6:30 p.m., EnCourage, an approved diocesan ministry
dedicated to families and friends of persons who experience same-sex attraction. EnCourage respects the dignity of every person, promotes the truth of God’s plan for
each of us, and focuses on sharing our love. Confidentiality is maintained. Call for site.
614-296-7404
Relevant Young Adult Ministry
7 to 8:30 p.m., Wyandotte Winery, 4640 Wyandotte
Drive, Columbus. Monthly meeting of Relevant ministry
for people 21 to 35, sponsored by New Albany Church of
the Resurrection. Cost $5. Light appetizers; wine extra.
614-855-1400
Prayer Group Meeting at St. Mark
7:30 p.m., St. Raymond Room, St. Mark Center, 324 Gay St.,
Lancaster. Light of Life prayer group meeting.
740-654-6928
13, WEDNESDAY
Turning Leaves and Tea Leaves
2 to 3:30 p.m., Martin de Porres Center, 2330 Airport Drive,
Columbus. Turning Leaves and Tea Leaves book club with
Dominican Sisters Marialein Anzenberger and Colleen
Gallagher.
614-416-1910
Youth Ministry Workshop at St. Paul
6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Room LL3, St. Paul Church, 313 N. State
St., Westerville. Workshop with author, speaker, life
coach, and ministry trainer and consultant Jim Merhaut.
Theme: “Hammer or Pebble: Family and Community Are
Powerful Youth Ministry Tools.” Sponsored by diocesan
Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Free. RSVP to
[email protected].
14, THURSDAY
Day of Reflection at St. Paul
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., St. Paul Church, 313 N. State St.,
Westerville. Day of reflection with Jim Merhaut. Theme:
“Rocking or Rolling: How’s the Ride on Your Spiritual
Journey?” Begins with Mass (optional); includes lunch.
Sponsored by Diocesan Association of Religious Educators; $20 for association members, $25 for non-members.
Contact Tina Bowie at Pickerington St. Elizabeth Seton
Parish.
614-833-0482
Women to Women Listening Circle at Corpus Christi
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Corpus Christi Center of Peace, 1111
E. Stewart Ave., Columbus. Women to Women program
for women of all ages and life circumstances. Begins with
soup lunch until noon, followed by listening circle. No
child care available on-site.
614-512-3731
Cenacle at Holy Name
6 p.m., Holy Name Church, 154 E. Patterson Ave., Columbus. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, with prayers in
the Cenacle format of the Marian Movement of Priests.
Holy Hour at Holy Family
6 to 7 p.m., Holy Family Church, 584 W. Broad St., Columbus. Holy Hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament,
followed by meeting of parish Holy Name and Junior
Holy Name societies, with refreshments. 614-221-4323
Theology on Tap Meeting
7 to 9 p.m., El Vaquero Restaurant, 3230 Olentangy River
Road, Columbus. Meeting of Theology on Tap discussion
and social group for young Catholics. Topic: Panel discussion with representatives of four organizations working to
combat human trafficking. RSVP to cbustheologyontap@
gmail.com or Columbus Theology on Tap Facebook page.
16, SATURDAY
Women’s Retreat at St. John Neumann
8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Faith and Family Center, St. John Neumann Church, 9633 E. State Route 37, Sunbury. Parish’s
ninth annual women’s retreat, “Becoming Women in the
New Evangelization,” led by author and speaker Kelly
Wahlquist,. Cost: $40 including three meals and 9-11 p.m.
coffee and dessert social. Register at http://www.saintjohnsunbury.org/womens-retreat.
Life and Mercy Mass in Plain City
9 a.m. Mass, St. Joseph Church, 140 West Ave., Plain City.
Saturday Life and Mercy Mass, followed by rosary and
confession.
Journaling Workshop at Corpus Christi
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Corpus Christi Center of Peace, 1111
E. Stewart Ave., Columbus. Workshop on “Journaling
the Journey: A Day of Writing Into Prayer” with Catholic
Times columnist Mary van Balen. Participants may bring
a personal photo or a journal. $25 fee includes lunch and
coffee breaks.
614-512-3731
Centering Prayer Group Meeting at Corpus Christi
10:30 a.m. to noon, Corpus Christi Center of Peace, 1111 E.
Stewart Ave., Columbus. Centering prayer group meeting,
beginning with silent prayer, followed by Contemplative
Outreach DVD and discussion.
614-512-3731
Workshop on Mandalas at Shepherd’s Corner
1 to 3:30 p.m., Shepherd’s Corner Ecology Center, 987
N. Waggoner Road, Blacklick. Workshop on “Mandalas
(geometric designs representing the cosmos) -- Journey
to the Stillpoint” with Dale Sparlin of Mindful Labyrinths. Registration deadline Jan. 12. Suggested donation
$7.
614-866-4302
Labyrinth Walk at Shepherd’s Corner
4 to 5:30 p.m., Shepherd’s Corner Ecology Center, 987 N.
Waggoner Road, Blacklick. Labyrinth walk with AmeriCorps volunteer Kate Lowry. Theme: “Learning from Dormancy.” Registration deadline Jan. 14. Suggested donation
$5.
614-866-4302
18 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
ART
focus on
Catholic Times 19
January 10, 2016
NEWS IN
PHOTOS FROM
AROUND
THE WORLD
Book review
TO THE MARTYRS
By Mark Zimmermann
Catholic News Service
For Christians, martyrdom remains a “never-ending story”
that stretches from Scripture
accounts of apostolic times to
today’s “amphitheater of YouTube,” Cardinal Donald W.
Wuerl of Washington writes in
a new book.
It’s titled To the Martyrs:
A Reflection on the Supreme
Christian Witness, released by
Emmaus Road Publishing.
Cardinal Wuerl has written
extensively on the Catholic
faith, including best-selling
catechisms and books on the
Mass and living the faith in today’s world.
The Greek root for the word
“martyrdom” means testimony. Pope Francis has called that
act “the supreme testimony,”
as Christian martyrs live and
die for Christ, imitating his
passion and death, and inspire
new generations of Christians
to follow Christ, wherever that
leads them.
Cardinal Wuerl notes that
from its earliest days, the Catholic Church venerated martyrs,
sometimes building churches
on the site of their deaths, always including their relics in
altars, and highlighting their
feasts in the church calendar.
The names of several martyred
saints are recited in the eucharistic prayers at every Mass.
All but one of the apostles
who walked with Jesus and
continued his work died as
martyrs, with only St. John
the Evangelist dying a natural death. The cardinal notes
how the Acts of the Apostles
tells the story of St. Stephen,
the first martyr and the first
disciple of Jesus to die for the
faith, who in his death by stoning imitated Christ’s prayerful
offering of his life on the cross
and forgave those who killed
him. Cardinal Wuerl writes
that those first Christians
shared Jesus’ life and “imitated
it to the end.”
The witness of the martyrs
helped keep the faith alive in
the catacombs during ancient
Roman persecution, and in the
underground church of eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union
during communist oppression.
Despite the atrocities of the
Reign of Terror in revolutionary France, great saints such as
St. Therese of Lisieux and St.
John Vianney arose in that land.
A million people attended
the 1984 funeral Mass for the
murdered Polish priest, Father
Jerzy Popieluszko. “Historians believe that day was the
beginning of the end for communism in Poland,” Cardinal
Wuerl writes. He also notes
that an estimated 1.2 million
people were murdered during
four decades in communist
China in an effort to eliminate
Christianity, but today, there
are an estimated 90 million
Christians there.
Tertullian’s famous words,
paraphrased today as “The
blood of the martyrs is the seed
of the church,” reflects how
the testimony of their lives and
deaths has inspired the Catholic Church’s growth around the
world through the centuries
following Christ’s life, death,
and resurrection.
Tertullian, an early Christian
writer from North Africa, in
197 AD wrote Ad Martyras
(“To the Martyrs”), which inspired the name of Cardinal
Wuerl’s book.
In the preface, Cardinal Wuerl
notes that he writes about martyrs with a sense of urgency:
“In many societies today, the
utterance of a simple phrase, ‘I
am a Christian,’ is a crime punishable by death,” he writes.
The cardinal recounts tragic
accounts of contemporary
Christian martyrs, such as
the beheading of 20 Egyptian
Coptic Christians by Islamic
State militants on a beach in
Libya in February 2015; and
Islamic gunmen from Somalia
storming a Kenyan university,
separating Muslim from Christian students, then shooting
Christians in an attack that left
147 dead. In India, Hindu extremists have murdered priests,
raped nuns, and burned Christian churches and homes.
Cardinal Wuerl writes, “I intend this book to be an act of
solidarity with those who today are suffering for the Christian faith.”
He said that as a priest and
bishop, he has heard personal
accounts of the “supreme testimony” offered by martyrs, after meeting with refugees who
survived Nazi and Communist
persecution, and with those
who in recent months have fled
rampaging Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
He also praises the witness
of Christians in Iraq and Syria
who have stayed true to the
faith practiced by their ances-
People pass through the Holy
Door of the Basilica of St. Mary
Major after its opening by Pope
Francis in Rome on Jan. 1. The
Holy Doors of Rome’s four
major basilicas are now open.
CNS photo/Paul Haring
A damaged church is seen near Imphal, India, after an
earthquake struck the region on Jan. 4.
CNS photo/Stringer, Reuters
tors in that land since the time
of the apostles.
He adds that at this juncture,
the world again faces a choice.
Cardinal Wuerl notes that too
often, government leaders, the
media, and even fellow Christians have remained silent as
Christians in other parts of the
world face ongoing persecution and martyrdom.
Cardinal Wuerl writes that U.S.
Christians must remain vigilant
in defending their religious
freedom against government
measures and a secular culture
seeking to keep the practice of
religion within church walls
and to prevent people from living out their faith in the public
square and remaining true to the
church’s teachings.
The cardinal quickly points out
that such assaults on religious
freedom are in no way equivalent to the religious persecution
faced by Christians around the
world, but both situations must
not be regarded with indifference or ambivalence.
He notes that in the 20th century, an estimated 45 million
Christian martyrs were killed
around the world. Silence, he
adds, should never be an option in the face of such inhumanity, as the world today faces ongoing atrocities against
Christians by the Islamic State,
and when Boko Haram militants in Nigeria kidnap nearly
300 Christian schoolgirls, who
vanished and soon disappeared
from the media’s news cycle.
“We must make it our mission to stand with those who are
suffering today,” the cardinal
writes. “We must stand in solidarity with them and re-echo
their testimony to all the world.”
Zimmermann is editor
of the Catholic Standard,
newspaper of the Archdiocese
of Washington.
Dixie Freeman comforts her 94-year-old disabled mother,
Nora Dell, on Dec. 30 at their home in Valley Park, Missouri, as
floodwaters approached the levee capacity. She needed help so
her mother, two dogs, and a cherished cockatiel could evacuate
the house, which does not have a telephone. She went to City
Hall to ask for help with the animals and transportation.
CNS photo/Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review
20 Catholic Times
January 10, 2016
PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY
By Deacon Felix Azzola, Columbus St. John the Baptist Church
Last Nov. 3, on a typical cloudy day,
29 pilgrims, mostly from Delaware St.
Mary Church, joined me and my wife,
Melanie, at the Columbus airport for a
memorable 12-day pilgrimage to Italy.
The flight was uneventful. But as soon
as we got on the bus from the Malpensa Airport to the cosmopolitan city of
Milan, we began to breath the Italian
air and culture, language, customs,
weather, etc., and to feel the sense of
becoming a large temporary family.
In Milan, we toured the La Scala opera house and the shopping center of La
Rinascente, and ended up at the city’s
beautiful Gothic cathedral, topped by a
golden statue of Mary. Inside, in a special chapel, is the tomb of St. Charles
Borromeo, whose feast is celebrated on
Nov. 4 -- the day we visited the tomb.
From there, we traveled to two special
Pieces of wood from Jesus’ manger, in
a glass case at the Basilica of St. Mary
Photo by David Sowers
Major in Rome.
places, usually not part of any common
pilgrimages: Pope St. John XXIII’s
hometown of Sotto il Monte, and my
hometown of Pradalunga.
I took the liberty of asking some of
the pilgrims to share the most cherished memories of their days in Italy
with me. With their permission, I will
quote some of their comments.
About the experience in Sotto il Monte, Kathy A. writes, “A PIME priest,
Father Guilio Mariani, beautifully
shared the story of this wonderful pope
and saint, of whom the current Pope
Francis so greatly reminds me. To see
his childhood home, especially the
room where he was born and the courtyard where he played, brought this beloved pope back to life for me.”
Sue P. adds, “Seeing the simple setting of the childhood of Pope John
XXIII and hearing of his family living
within that otherwise ordinary small
town, contrasted with the honor, recognition, and elegance of the position
he later held, was touching. I thought
of his plain beginnings leading to his
selection as pope when we were in the
Sistine Chapel.”
On Nov. 6, we went to my hometown. Again I am letting the pilgrims
speak. Kathy A. writes, “Another cherished memory was attending Mass in
the lovely little Forcella shrine to our
Blessed Mother with the family and
friends of Deacon Felix Azzola. Vincenzo, the brother of Deacon Felix,
Pope Francis waves to a Vatican crowd.
Photo by Debbi Lauder
Deacon Felix Azzola’s 2015 pilgrimage group at the Roman Coliseum.
Photo by Robert Sklar
played the organ at Mass, while other
family members did the readings. To
have the opportunity to spend time
at the shrine and later at the town of
Pradalunga’s charming restaurant with
these warm and welcoming Italian natives was a treat beyond measure. Language proved to be no barrier.”
Jody R. adds, “In Pradalunga, when
we walked into church and Vincenzo
(who reminded me so much of my
uncle Tolmino Centofanti) was playing on that beautiful organ, well, I just
had to cry. It was so awesome. Then,
having lunch with the family, eating
and singing, I felt like I went back in
time to when I was a little girl. ... It was
amazing!”
From there, we followed pretty much
the common itinerary of many pilgrims
-- Venice, Padova, Firenze, Assisi, and
Rome. At the top of the unforgettable
moments, in everyone’s estimation,
was a papal audience.
Donna O. writes, “Every city held its
own treasures. Rome is spectacular ...
every place you look, there is another
picture to be taken. However, the highlight of my trip was the general audience
with Pope Francis. I still can’t get over
the fact that we were in the first row and I
got great close-ups of the pope. My five
blessed rosaries will be items to be treasured for a lifetime. How many people
can say they have a rosary personally
blessed by a pope?”
Sue P. concurs: “At the top of the list
must be the papal audience. Lucky for
me that I did not have a camera at that
time, for I was able to look up into the
face of Pope Francis, just a few feet
away, as he passed by, and it was a beautiful face … so full of joy and serenity!”
One of the participants, Dave S., a
non-Catholic, sums up his experience
in this way: “I have never been tempted
to join the church in the 37 years I have
been married, but you led me to temptation. You were very close to doing
that in the things that we saw and the
devotion that you showed to us. Several times in this trip, I had a special
feeling of being closer to Jesus through
the contact that we had with the saints.
I was especially touched when I put
my hand on the tomb of St. Anthony.
I felt that he was there and putting his
hand out to me. This is something that
won’t be forgotten. It is one thing to
hear all the stories, but to actually see
and touch the places where they lived
made it even more real. It was indescribable to see the room of mementoes from people who had been helped
by the intercessions of Pope John.”
On the way back, the day after the attacks in France, we went through the
Paris airport. Being among the people
caught in the complications of our troubled world provided a sobering contrast to the times of prayer, reverence,
and joy of the preceding days. God had
protected us and blessed us throughout
our unforgettable pilgrimage.