September 18 - The Catholic Commentator

Transcription

Commentator
T H E
C A T H O L I C
S E R V I N G T H E D I O C E S E O F B AT O N R O U G E S I N C E 19 6 3
September 18, 2015 Vol. 53, No. 16
Educator’s gather
for day of prayer,
education
PAGE 10
thecatholiccommentator.org
WHERE WILL IT END?
Reasons vary for rash of senseless violence plaguing society
Police officers, including two in Louisiana, killed in the line of duty.
A Virginia reporter and cameraman shot and killed on air.
The headlines are horrific. Yet, almost daily it seems, we are subjected
By Rachele Smith
The Catholic Commentator
Riots rage in Baltimore and Ferguson.
Nine people shot dead in a Charleston church.
SPECIAL SECTION
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September 18, 2015
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September 18, 2015
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to more and more images of destruction, violence and rampage. At its core,
criminal behavior can be shocking, especially when we think about the pain
and suffering of the victims and their
families. Often these cruel and immor-
al acts also raise many questions.
What is happening in our society?
Have we lost our ability to discern
right from wrong?
Is there anything we can do or must
SEE VIOLENCE PAGE 19
New annulment process ‘positive step’
By Richard Meek
A streamlined annulment process announced by Pope
Francis is a positive step for the Catholic Church and has
the potential to help many divorced Catholics in the healing process, according to Father Paul Counce, judicial
vicar for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
“The church is reaching out to people who are hurting,” said Father Counce said. “We’re making it easier for
them to lead lives of faith, to come to church, to come to
Communion.”
The Vatican released Sept. 8 the texts of two papal doc-
uments, “Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus” (“The Lord Jesus,
the Gentle Judge”) for the Latin-rite church and “Mitis et
misericors Iesus,” (“The Meek and Merciful Jesus”) for
the Eastern Catholic churches.
The changes, including the option of a brief process
without the obligatory automatic appeal, go into effect
Dec. 8, the opening day of the Year of Mercy.
Pope Francis said the annulment process must be
quicker, cheaper and much more of a pastoral ministry.
The pope’s revised policy provides that in some cases, annulments may be obtained in as little as a matter of weeks.
The pontiff emphasized he was not “promoting the
SEE ANNULMENT PAGE 20
2
FAIt H
The ighter ide of
| TREASURES FROM THE DIOCESE
L
Sacred Heart Church in Baton Rouge has a stunning
monstrance, which was designed by Brother Dom Suitbert Kraemer OSB. Brother
Suitbert was born in 1878 in
the Netherlands and died in
1947 in New Orleans. Black,
Starr and Gorham, one of the
oldest and prestigious jewelry companies in the country,
executed the monstrance,
which was donated to the
church by the Altar Society
in 1944. All of the work was
completed by hand. The design of the monstrance represents the Rod of Jesse, taken from the prophet Isaiah.
The monstrance was exhibited in New York on Fifth Avenue and later featured in
Liturgical Arts Quarterly
magazine. The monstrance,
in which the consecrated
host is displayed for adoration, is used during Benediction Exposition of the Sacrament. Photo courtesy of Mary Lee
Eggart, Sacred Heart Church archivist
| PICTURES FROM THE PAST
S
September 18, 2015
| DID YOU KNOW
Perfect/imperfect contrition
Since we are all humans and
therefore sinners, all of our sins require some type of penance and
contrition. According to The
Catechism of the Catholic
Church, penitents must
be “contrite of heart,
confess with the
lips and practice complete
humility and
fruitful satisfaction.”
Most
Catholics
are usually contrite of
heart, although for some
of us the humility element
can be a bit more difficult. Confessing with the lips, i.e., confession, is likely the most difficult part,
simply because in a busy society many
cannot find the time to spend in the confessional.
However, the church does offer two
types of contritions: a perfect contrition,
which will even allow a person to approach the Communion table despite not
having previously gone to confession, and
an imperfect contrition.
A perfect contrition, according to the
catechism, “arises from a love by which
God is loved above else.” A perfect contrition remits venial sins and obtains
forgiveness of mortal sins, which allows
the person to receive Communion, if the
person makes a firm commitment to go to
confession “as soon as possible,” accord-
ing to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church and the Code of Canon
Law.
The imperfect contrition,
which is a prompting of
the Holy Spirit, is a gift
of God. According
to the catechism,
the contrition
is “born of
the consideration of sin’s
ugliness or the fear
of eternal damnation
and the other penalties
threatening the sinner.”
By itself, however, an imperfect contrition cannot obtain
the forgiveness of mortal sins, but
it disposes one to obtain forgiveness
through penance.
The theological difference between the
two contritions lies in a person’s heart. If
the penitent is truly sorry for his or her sin
because it is contrary to the will of God,
and offends God, then it becomes an act
of perfect contrition as long as it is accompanied by the requisite condition to go to
confession as soon as possible, according
to Father Paul Counce, judicial vicar for
the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
If a person is simply scared of going
to hell, or “eternal damnation” as pointed out in the catechism, it’s “adequate but
not the right motive for sin,” according to
Father Counce.
The contritions date back to the 1300s.
Pope Francis’ visit
to the U.S. will be
highlighted in the
October 2 issue
of The Catholic
Commentator.
Don’t miss it!
thecatholiccommentator.org | Facebook.com/TheCatholicCommentator
An art exhibit sponsored and organized by the former Diocesan Cultural Committee was
held in 1971. Billed as the Angola Art Exhibit, the event, which was held at a local church
gym, featured more than 100 paintings from eight inmates from the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The proceeds, which ranged from $5 to $100 per painting, went to the individual artists. The Catholic Youth Organization was also part of the event. Photo courtesy of the Archives Department Diocese of Baton Rouge
Bishop Robert W. Muench Publisher
Father Tom Ranzino Assistant Publisher
Richard Meek Editor
Debbie Shelley Assistant Editor
Wanda L. Koch Advertising Manager
Penny G. Saia Production Manager
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Rachele Smith Staff Writer
The Catholic Commentator (ISSN 07460511; USPS 093-680)
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September 18, 2015
Local Catholics eager to see pope
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Shannon Baldridge is hardly
able to contain her excitement
as she talks about Pope Francis’
visit to the United States, especially Philadelphia. Baldridge
admitted she always wanted to
see a pope in person, and she
will have that chance when the
pontiff attends the World Meeting of Families as part of his visit
that will also take him to Washington D.C. and New York.
“I would have been excited to
seen any pope,” said Baldridge,
who is the director of marriage
preparation. “And it’s Pope Francis. I’ve been so excited with
him and what he’s done. I just
couldn’t be happier. I can’t believe it’s finally going to happen.”
Baldridge and respect life
coordinator Danielle Van Haute
will be participants in the World
Meeting of Families, scheduled
in the days leading up to the
pope’s stop in Philadelphia. Although they are looking forward
to attending the meeting, naturally the opportunity to see Pope
Francis will be the highlight of
the trip.
“I’m excited about the whole
trip, but seeing the pope is like
the crowning jewel at the top,”
Baldridge said.
Pope Francis will be the second pontiff Van Haute will have
had the opportunity to see in
person. Several years ago she attended an Easter Mass celebrated by St. John Paul II in Rome.
“(Pope Francis) is the vicar
of Christ,” Van Haute said. “He
is leading our church right now.
As a successor to St. Peter, it is
amazing to be able to be in his
presence, knowing all that the
Lord is doing through him right
now for the church.”
Bishop Robert W. Muench
will be spending time with the
pontiff, although not in Philadelphia. According to a statement
released by the Diocese of Baton
Rouge, the bishop will attend the
pope’s mid-day prayer service
with his fellow bishops Sept. 23
at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in
Washington, D.C. and later that
day attend the Mass of Canonization of Junipero Serra at the
Basilica of the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception,
also in the nation’s capital.
The statement said Bishop
Muench is “delighted that Pope
Francis will be visiting the United States next month.”
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Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York speaks Sept. 2 about a chair
Pope Francis will use when he celebrates Mass in Madison Square Garden. The Mass is set for Sept. 25. Photo by CNS
The statement also said the
bishop will “convey to the Holy
Father the affection, support,
loyalty and prayers of the members of the Diocese of Baton
Rouge.” Van Haute said she and
Baldridge will attend the Papal
Mass closing the World Meeting
of Families on Sept. 27. However, other plans regarding when
they will be able to see the pope
during his Philadelphia visit
have not been finalized.
“We are going to try to see him
whenever we can,” Baldridge
said with an excitement resembling that of a youngster anticipating Christmas morning.
She is also excited to attend
the meeting, saying she is looking forward to making contacts,
and finding other resources that
can be employed in the diocese.
“We’re going to get inspired,
get some of that good Holy Spirit
inspiration and bring that back
here and fire up our ministry,”
Baldridge said. “Hopefully, we
are going to get some outside of
the box thinking we can bring
back here. It’s a good place to
meet other people and share
ideas.”
Mr. D’s
She said the fact that families
will be able to bring their children, although unusual, “shows
that beautiful part of our Catholic church, the entire family,
should be involved in the church.
“We should all be involved in
learning and growth. All of these
Catholic families there in one
place, with the same purpose.
It’s exciting for me.”
Van Haute said she expects
to be overwhelmed by the meeting, given the impressive lineup
of speakers and breakout sessions. She said she hopes to be
able to take back the messages
she learns to strengthen the diocese’s existing ministries and
perhaps introduce new ideas.
“I’m so thankful it’s being
held in the United States and we
have the opportunity to go,” she
said.
I am hoping it’s a life-changing event,” Baldridge said.
“Maybe I’ll come back with a
new approach to ministry, at
least revitalized excitement
about it. Maybe the Holy Spirit
will awaken something in me
that has been waiting all this
time. It’s exciting to imagine the
prospects.”
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NATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL
Office of Evangelization & Catechesis
Celebrates the devoted years of the
CATECHISTS of the Diocese of Baton Rouge
HOLY ROSARY CHURCH
St. Amant
Deshay Savoy
20
Brenda Lasseigne
20
Stacey Brignac
20
Lindsay Duplessis
10
Barbara LeBlanc
10
Sherri Villar
10
ST. GEORGE CHURCH
Baton Rouge
Eleanor Henley
10
Molly Rose
15
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH
Baton Rouge
Marvel Martin
10
Stephanie Smith
10
Joy Thierry
10
Kevin Walker
10
Pamela Honoré
10
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH
Denham Springs
Daren O. Bourgeois
10
Sandra G. David
10
Roxanne C. Hamilton 10
William T. Messenger 10
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY/
ST. JOSEPH CHURCH
Maringouin
Joanna Hill
10
ST. ALOYSIUS CHURCH
Baton Rouge
Desha Martin
15
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH
Brusly
Susie Prejean
20
Julie Millard
20
Merilyn Bourgeois
20
Rita Ourso
20
Haley Clouatre
15
Sandra Hughes
15
David Rodrigue
15
Denise Babin
10
Joey Haydel
10
Jayne Jason
10
Chris Kershaw
10
Holly LeBlanc
10
Mike Vince
10
Mary Vince
10
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH
Zachary
Janet McClung
10
ST. JOSEPH CHURCH
Ponchatoula
Mary Hoover
10
ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER CHURCH
Pierre Part
Barbara Aucoin
10
also celebrating the....
Religious orders of BROTHERS and SISTERS
in the Diocese of Baton Rouge
RELIGIOUS BROTHERS
Brothers of the Sacred Heart
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
(Redemptorists)
Incarnatio Consecratio Missio (Vietnamese)
Indian Missionary Society
Misioneres de Cristo Maestro (Missonarios
of Christ Master)
Missionaries of St. Paul
Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Society of the Divine Word
St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart
RELIGIOUS SISTERS
Carondelet Congregation of
St. Joseph-Albany Province
Congregation of St. Joseph
Congregation of the Sisters of the
Holy Family
Daughters of Mary Mother of the Church
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady
Incarnatio Consecratio Missio
Marianites of Holy Cross
Mercedarian Sister of the Blessed Sacrament
Missionaries of Charity
Sister of Mercy Holy Cross
Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, MA
Sisters of the Congregation of the Mother of
Carmel
Sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament
Society of the Sacred Heart - U.S. Province
September 18, 2015
Appeals court rules against
additional religious groups’
mandate objections
CHICAGO (CNS) – Several
additional Catholic entities in
Indiana were among those told
by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals Sept. 4 that there is not
a substantial burden to their religious rights in the process they
must follow to avoid having to
pay for contraceptive coverage in
employee health insurance.
The 7th Circuit had ruled last
December in a case involving the
University of Notre Dame that a
process known as an accommodation for avoiding the mandate
does not substantially burden
the Catholic institution’s religious rights.
The latest ruling reiterates
many of the same points in finding that a different set of plaintiffs similarly should not be
protected from requirements established by the Department of
Health and Human Services for
avoiding the contraceptive mandate because of religious objections. The plaintiffs in the newest ruling include entities within
the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South
Bend, including Catholic Charities; St. Anne Home and Retirement Center; the Franciscan
Alliance, which is an Indiana
health care system; the University of St. Francis; and Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic publishing
company; as well as Biola University, a California Christian
school, and Grace College and
Seminary in Indiana (Biola and
Grace filed suit together in Indiana); and Specialty Physicians of
Illinois.
“We conclude that the (Affordable Care Act) does not impose a substantial burden on the
plaintiffs’ free exercise rights,”
the court said in a 2-1 ruling. It
continued for 60 days a stay on
the enforcement of the requirement, to give time for a lower
federal court to consider related
issues. Failure to comply with
the requirement to offer contraceptive coverage or follow the
procedures of the accommodation are subject to penalty of
substantial fines.
The 7th Circuit is among seven federal appeals courts to rule
against nonprofit religious organizations that argued that the
contraceptive mandate and the
opt-out system violate their religious rights. No appeals courts
have ruled otherwise.
Several of the religious institutions in the cases have filed
appeals with the Supreme Court.
The court will not announce additional cases for its next docket
until shortly before the term begins Oct. 5.
All of the circuit court decisions have come since the Supreme Court’s June 2014 ruling
that the owners of the Hobby
Lobby craft store chain and
similarly situated, closely held,
for-profit companies are entitled to be exempt from the contraceptive requirement. The appeals courts ruled in light of the
Hobby Lobby decision, finding
that unlike the for-profit organizations, the nonprofits had a viable alternative in what HHS calls
an accommodation for them and
that it does not infringe on their
religious rights.
Under the Affordable Care
Act, religious institutions such
as dioceses and churches that
object on moral grounds to the
use of contraceptives are exempt
from the requirement to provide
insurance coverage for them.
The religious nonprofit organizations in the cases do not
meet the HHS requirements for
an exemption, which requires
that the institutions be primarily
involved in inculcating the faith
and primarily serve and employ
people of the same faith.
Under the accommodation,
nonexempt organizations can file
a form with HHS or send a letter
to the agency simply saying they
will not provide the coverage. At
that point, a third-party system
kicks in for providing employees
with contraceptive insurance,
with no cost or further involvement to the religious employers.
Send your church parish, school and
organization news and photos to
Richard Meek, editor,
at [email protected].
September 18, 2015
5
Priests in diocese have faculties to absolve
By Richard Meek
Pope Francis’ extraordinary
announcement to extend to
priests worldwide the authority
to absolve women for the sin of
abortion has gained much notoriety, but is likely to have little effect in the majority of the dioceses in the United States, including
the Diocese of Baton Rouge, diocesan officials said.
Although church law generally requires a priest to have
special permission, called faculties, from his bishop to grant
absolution to a person who has
procured or helped another to
procure an abortion, the pope
said he decided “to concede to
all priests for the (Holy Year of
Mercy that begins Dec. 8) the
discretion to absolve of the sin
of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite
heart, seek forgiveness for it.”
A statement issued by the Diocese of Baton Rouge said the
pontiff’s statement “aligns well”
with his new initiatives offered
to the Catholic Church, particularly regarding the sacrament
of reconciliation. The statement
noted that since the mid-1980s
priests in the diocese have had
the faculty, or authority, to absolve through reconciliation the
sin and censure of excommunication, which are attached to an
“obtained abortion.”
“Although Catholic Church
law reserves jurisdiction over
this to the local diocesan bishop,
the bishop may in turn delegate
this faculty to his priests,” the
statement said. “Bishop Robert
W. Muench and his predecessors Bishop Stanley J. Ott and
Bishop (now Archbishop) Alfred
C. Hughes have indeed granted the priests of the diocese the
ability to be ministers of mercy
in this particular situation, in
order to make clear that the mercy and forgiveness of God are as
widely available as possible.”
Father Jamin David, pastor
at St. Mary Queen of Scotland
Church, Albany, and assistant
judicial vicar for the Diocese of
Baton Rouge, said the priests do
have the faculties to lift excommunication with an individual,
but the identity of that person is
never to be revealed. He added
that the priest should convey to
the penitent the gravity of their
sin and offer up the possibility of
lifting the excommunication.
He noted that confession ab-
Pope Francis recently announced he is extending to priests worldwide the authority to absolve woman for the sin of abortion. His
announcement is likely to have little effect in the majority of the
dioceses in the United States, including the Diocese of Baton
Rouge. Photo by CNS
solves the person of a sin, but
what the pope is allowing priests
to do is have the faculty to lift the
excommunication, which will
permit the person to be able to
receive the sacraments, especially Communion.
Father David said in some
cases grave sins carry with it the
penalty of excommunication,
abortion being one. Others include desecration of the Eucharist, physically attacking a pope
or the local bishop, or a clergy
member violating the seal of the
confessional.
He added that in some instances, including attacking the
pope or bishop, an order lifting
excommunication can only come
from the Vatican.
Father David said the pope’s
comments must also be taken in
the cultural context in which he
was raised and served the majority his ministry. The pope is from
Argentina and in South America
and Central America the local
dioceses tend to be a bit more restrictive, Father David said.
Pope Francis said one of the
most serious problems facing
people today is a “widespread and
insensitive mentality” toward the
sacredness of human life.
“The tragedy of abortion is
experienced by some with a superficial awareness, as if not realizing the extreme harm that such
an act entails,” while many other
women believe that “they have no
other option” but to have an abortion, the pope wrote in the letter,
released Sept. 1 by the Vatican.
The pressures exerted on
many women to abort lead to “an
existential and moral ordeal,”
Pope Francis said. “I have met so
many women who bear in their
heart the scar of this agonizing
and painful decision.”
When such a woman has repented and seeks absolution in
the sacrament of confession, he
said, “the forgiveness of God
cannot be denied.”
Pope Francis urged priests to
welcome to the sacrament women who have had an abortion,
explaining, “the gravity of the
sin committed” and indicate to
them “a path of authentic conversion by which to obtain the
true and generous forgiveness of
the Father, who renews all with
his presence.”
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told
reporters the pope’s letter “highlights the wideness of God’s mercy” and is “not in any way minimizing the gravity of the sin” of
abortion.
In his letter, Pope Francis also
granted another exception to
church rules out of concern for
“those faithful who for various
reasons choose to attend churches officiated by priests” belonging to the traditionalist Society
of St Pius X. Although the society is no longer considered to be
in schism and the excommuni-
cation of its bishops was lifted
in 2009, questions remain over
whether the sacraments they celebrate are valid and licit.
The pope’s decision was “taken with the faithful in mind” and
is limited to the holy year, which
runs through Nov. 20, 2016, Father Lombardi said.
Pope Francis’ letter also explained expanded opportunities
for obtaining the indulgences
that are a normal part of the
celebration of a holy year. Those
who are confined to their homes
can obtain the indulgence by offering up their sickness and suffering, he said.
Pope Francis also included
special consideration for people
who are incarcerated, touching
on the Old Testament tradition
of a jubilee year as a time for
granting prisoners amnesty.
(Catholic News Service contributed to this report.)
THE
EUCHARIST
IN THE
BOOK
OF
GENESIS
Dr. Brant Pitre
Notre Dame Seminary Theologian
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
following 6:00 pm Mass
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church
olomchurch.com
6
Q
September 18, 2015
Communion from priest only?/Clarifying passage in Scripture
It has been 30 years since I last
saw this happen, but at Sunday
Mass yesterday a couple and
their two children got up from a pew
in front of me just as Communion was
about to be distributed and walked
around our section of pews in order
to get in line to receive from the priest
instead of from a lay eucharistic minister. I am fighting being judgmental, but
I can’t believe that this still happens.
How might a priest deal with this? How
might those who witness it best react?
(St. Paul, Minnesota)
A
It is, of course, the same Eucharist whether received from
a priest or from a lay minister
and like you, I am a bit surprised when
someone feels compelled to make a
choice. You may have not seen it for
30 years, but my experience is more current. Up until a few weeks ago, there was
a man in our parish who consistently refused to take the consecrated host from
a layperson. (I say until a few weeks ago
because the man has since passed away.)
When the distribution of Communion began, he would remain in the back
of the church. At the end, when I would
go up to give Communion to those un-
The
to his knees when he reached the priest,
leaving the people behind him hardpressed not to fall in a pile on top of him!)
Somewhere in the Scriptures, it
quotes Jesus as saying that “my
house has many rooms.” I’m
wondering what he meant. Does it mean
that not all of us in heaven will see God?
(Cedar Lake, Indiana)
Q
Question Corner
Father Kenneth Doyle
able to negotiate the aisle (our floor is
sloped downward toward the altar), he
would walk over to me, fall to his knees
and take the host in his mouth.
I respected his choice and never made
an effort to change his behavior. In the
scope of things, I felt that his preference
was a small issue. For me, it came under
the heading of the “big tent” that embraces a wide variety of Catholics. (For safety
reasons, I did, some years ago, speak to
him about his habit of walking down the
Communion aisle and suddenly dropping
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as well as your local church parish
C
T H E
C A T H O L I C
A
The passage to which you refer
comes in John’s Gospel (14:2),
during Christ’s discourse to the
apostles at the Last Supper. In the New
American Bible (which is the version
from which our Mass readings are
taken), it is translated: “In my Father’s
house there are many dwelling places.”
The quote is subject to various interpretations, but no scriptural commentator, to my knowledge, takes it to mean
that some of those in heaven will not see
God.
Most commonly, it is seen as offering
reassurance to the apostles that they will
eventually be reunited with Christ even
after death. Quite likely, they were worried that Jesus was abandoning them,
and he endeavored to comfort them with
the knowledge that there was ample room
for them in his Father’s house, to which he
would soon return.
Notice that in the very next verse, Jesus says that he is going to prepare a place
for them and that he will come back to
take them there.
FATHER DOYLE is chancellor for public information and a pastor in the diocese of
New York. Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@
gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St. Albany,
NY 12208.
Find more ‘archived’ viewpoints from Father
Doyle or any of our columnists at The Catholic
Commentator Online under “Viewpoint” at:
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September 18, 2015
FAITH JOURNEY
7
Communicants must meet certain criteria to receive body of Christ
By Richard Meek
(Second in a series)
Holy Communion will always
be at the center of the Catholic
Church; it is what separates Catholicism from other denominations.
But not all who attend Mass
are necessarily eligible to receive
the body and blood of Christ. Father Paul Counce, judicial vicar
for the Diocese of Baton Rouge,
said canon law is clear that a
communicant must meet four
requirements, including having
fasted for at least one hour prior
to receiving Communion; be in
a state of grace, also known as
properly disposed; believe in the
doctrine of the Catholic Church,
including acceptance of the
bread and wine as the body and
blood of Christ and is not aware
of grave sins.
“The Eucharist is the source
and summit of our Catholic life,”
Father Counce said. “We want
to set the bar pretty high, but
it’s not in a restrictive or a mean
way. These are the holiest things
we possess. We don’t want it
trampled in the mud; we don’t
want it treated disrespectfully.”
According to Father Counce,
F
aith teaches us that divine
providence is somehow at
work behind the scenes
in the day-to-day events of
our lives. Ask yourself, How
did your parents meet? What
sparked the mutual attraction
between them? They probably
met by accident, or so it seemed
to them.
Whatever the explanation
might have been, the fact is that
God knew from all eternity that
you were to be born from these
two people. Only they could have
produced you.
Consider that God wanted
you to come to life. Jesus told
us he wanted our joy to be full,
and that included you. We don’t
understand these mysteries, but
divine providence is certainly a
factor in all of our lives, not only
on good days but also on bad.
Knowing this, we are often
puzzled about God’s silence, especially when we pray for him to
take on the role of a superhero
and come charging to our res-
canon law says that for a person to be properly disposed, the
communicant must be “prepared
spiritually and disposed and have
the right attitude.” He said the
key component is if a person is
aware that he or she has committed a mortal sin and not gone to
confession, then
the church expects that person
“not to approach
Communion until you have gone
to the church
and received absolution.”
However,
Canon 916 of the
Code of Canon
Law contains an
exception allowing a person to
receive Communion if he or she
makes an act of
perfect contrition (see page 2),
and resolves to
go to confession as soon as “reasonably possible.”
“The key thing is to be free
from mortal sin,” Father Counce
said. “If you are aware of mortal
sin, you should go to confession.
“If you are in a state of venial sin, it is forgiven by going to
Communion, or by the penitential rite at Mass.”
A person that receives Communion while not worthy still
may not be committing a mortal
sin, according to Father Counce.
He said the act is seriously wrong,
but the “understanding of the
person and what
they are attempting
to do will color what
is a mortal sin.
“They did something that is mortally sinful, but they
personally might
not have committed
a mortal sin. That is
for them, their confessor and their God
to decide,” Father
Counce said.
One area regarding eligibility to receive Communion
that has recently
been in the news
is the question of
unmarried individuals or individuals who are married but not in the church. Father
Counce stressed that a divorced
person who is not engaging in
sexual activity is eligible to receive Communion.
“You should go,” he encouraged. “You need those graces to
... individuals
who are married
but not in the
church, or
a divorced
person, who is
not engaging in
sexual activity, is
eligible to receive
Communion.
stay strong in your commitment.
Divorce alone does not disqualify someone from Communion.”
Two people who are married
outside of the church but are
leading a chaste lifestyle can receive Communion, he said. Also,
two individuals involved in a gay
relationship may also receive
Communion provided they are
not engaging in any sexual activity.
“The key emphasis of Pope
Francis is he is over and over
again urging ministers in the
church to emphasize mercy
above all in their ministry,” Father Counce said. “Not slavish,
but rather to God’s loving mercy
which seeks always to forgive, to
give another chance.”
Father Counce said equally as
important as being in a state of
grace is believing the body and
blood of Christ is present in the
Eucharist. He greeted with some
skepticism a recent report that
fewer than two-thirds of people who identify themselves as
Catholics actually believe Christ
is present. According to a survey
by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, only 46
percent of self-identified Catholics said they are aware of the
church’s teachings about the real
presence and agree.
Another 17 percent agree
Christ is present in the Eucharist
but claim they are unaware of
the church’s teachings.
“Polling data is very nebulous,” Father Counce said. “What
they are really saying is ‘I am inadequate to explain how it is and
why it is.’ But they are not necessarily denying it is Christ.”
When it comes to being aware
of grave sin, Father Counce said
“ignorance is generally an excuse for the culpability of sin.
You have to know you are doing
something wrong to do something wrong.”
“Insanity defense works before God, too,” he added. “The
appeal to conscious is not an appeal to do what you want to do.
Conscious is you have to obey
what you know God wants you to
do. It’s possible (to be unaware)
of some things.”
Father Counce urged one to
examine his or her conscience to
be certain they are not receiving
the Eucharist under false pretenses. However, he urges mercy
to those in the state of sin, and
said Pope Francis has shown a
desire to explore the possibility
of widening access to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
“We rejoice in this great gift,”
he said.
Trusting in God’s hidden hand
Spirituality
For Today
Father John Catoir
cue. We need to know why he is
silent.
One of the great spiritual
writers, Meister Eckhart, said
we should always take courage
because God will always save us
in the end, even if we have to endure what seems like his silence.
He meant that we should bear
patiently with God, even when
we do not fully understand why
he seems, to us, aloof at times.
We must learn to trust the Lord
always.
To remain accepting and
without complaint takes courage. But remember: A single act
of trust, based on your faith in
God’s love, is far more meritorious than a dozen professions of
faith. Trust in divine love in all
circumstances. The hidden hand
of God is always present.
You are responsible for your
thoughts and actions. Accept
that you have become who you
are largely because of your own
choices, the good and bad.
Therefore, as you move into
the future, think wisely. Do not
give in to any doubt about God’s
loving presence in your life.
Thoughts may come willy-nilly
into your mind, but you can weed
out the doubts and fears that sabotage your joy. You can say yes or
no to each and every thought.
Feelings follow thoughts, just
as actions follow feelings. Actions in turn lead to habits, and
habits determine your character
and destiny.
One little doubt about God’s
loving control over every situation can weaken your faith. But
trust God in all circumstances.
Trust him even when you think
you feel his silence. It will enable
you to rejoice even more when
he does come through for you, as
he always does. Therefore, when
the not-so-great times come,
find the courage to rejoice, antic-
ipating the victory.
The Lord is aware that life,
with its many sorrows, can be
a penance. We all pine for paradise. This yearning for God is
always with us.
Be at peace then and trust that
God will support you, not only on
good days but also on bad. His silence is an illusion. Your supreme
purpose in life is to save your soul
by trusting the goodness of the
hidden hand of God.
FATHER CATOIR writes on issues of
spirituality for today’s Catholic
for Catholic News Service.
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8
September 18, 2015
Pope calls on Europe’s parishes, religious houses to take in refugees
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Given the ongoing crisis of people
fleeing from war and poverty,
Pope Francis asked every parish and religious community in
Europe to take in a family of refugees as a concrete sign of hope
and God’s mercy.
“The Gospel calls us, asks us
to be near the least and the abandoned. To give them concrete
hope, not just say ‘Hang in there,
have patience!’ ” he said in an appeal after praying the Angelus
with those gathered in St. Peter’s
Square Sept. 6.
“Christian hope has a fighting
spirit with the tenacity of someone who is heading toward a sure
goal,” he said, while he encouraged all of his “brother bishops
of Europe – true shepherds,” to
support his appeal in their dioceses.
“In the face of the tragedy of
tens of thousands of refugees,
who are fleeing death because of
war and hunger” and are seeking a new life, the pope called on
“parishes, religious communities, monasteries and sanctuaries all across Europe to give concrete expression of the Gospel
and receive a family of refugees.”
God’s mercy is expressed
through the works of regular
men and women, he said, reminding people that Christ
taught that “whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of
mine, you did for me.”
Migrants wait for trains at Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary
Sept. 8. Photo by CNS
He said the gesture would
also be a concrete way to prepare
for the Holy Year of Mercy, which
begins Dec. 8.
The Vatican newspaper, L’Os-
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servatore Romano, said St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican’s
St. Anne Church would sponsor
their first refugee families soon,
as well as seek employment for
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The pope asked that two
apartments near the Vatican be
made available for the two families, said Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s
Basilica.
“The pope wants the apartments to be near where he is,
also to guarantee health care”
and other services available in
Vatican City State and not put
a burden on the Italian government, the cardinal said.
Before the Angelus prayer, the
pope said Christians must not be
closed up inside themselves, as
is often the case. “We create so
many inaccessible and inhospitable islands,” he said.
The most basic relationships
sometimes can become incapable of openness and mutual
exchange, such as families, associations, parishes, even nations,
demonstrating yet another example of human sin, he said.
He reminded Christians they
are called to open themselves
up to God and his word, and to
others, sharing the Word with
those who “have never heard it
or to those who have forgotten
it – buried under the brambles
of the worries and deceptions of
the world.”
Meanwhile, people of all religious beliefs must never give up
and give in to war, the pope said
in a message to an international
gathering for peace in Tirana,
Albania.
“We must never resign ourselves to war, and we cannot
remain indifferent before those
who suffer because of war and violence,” he said in a written message to those gathered for the interreligious meeting sponsored
by the Catholic lay movement,
the Community of Sant’Egidio.
“Violence can also be building
up walls and barriers to block
people who are seeking a place of
peace. It is violence to turn away
people who flee inhumane conditions in their hopes of a better
future,” the pope wrote.
Believing that peace is always
possible is not a sign of naivete, he said, but an expression of
one’s belief that “nothing is impossible” with God.
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September 18, 2015
9
Catholic policy advocates crossing fingers in advance of papal visit
WASHINGTON (CNS) –
There is no doubt that Pope
Francis’ impending visit to the
United States is generating a lot
of enthusiasm.
For some people, the rarity
of a papal visit to these shores is
reason enough to trek hundreds
of miles or more for the opportunity to be with him, or near him,
even if only briefly.
There are others, though,
who hope that the pope’s words
will provide a shot in the arm
for their work on public policy
issues.
Over the course of five days,
the pope will give homilies at
Masses in Washington, New
York and Philadelphia. He will
address the World Meeting of
Families, the United Nations
General Assembly, and be the
first pontiff to address a joint
meeting of Congress. Pope Francis will also meet with President
Barack Obama.
“We’re hoping and expecting
that he is going to speak on issues
of migration, and I’m hoping he’ll
talk about the dignity of those
who are seeking a better life,”
said Jeanne Atkinson, executive
director of the Catholic Legal Im-
“We are hopeful
he will follow in
the footsteps of St.
John Paul II and
help facilitate the
end of the use of
the death penalty
in this country and
point out the need
for reform within
our criminal justice
system.”
Karen Clifton
Executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing
Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty
migration Network. “I’m hoping
he’ll speak of compassion toward
refugees and asylum seekers.”
Atkinson has been tracking Pope Francis’ remarks. “He
made a statement about the
U.S.-Mexican border,” she said.
“He’s concerned with Syrian
economic crisis or an environmental crisis. We have a single
crisis of exploitation. ... Making
that known to our people is key
Visitors admire the altar being painted at the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Sept. 4. Pope
Francis will use the faux-painted altar for the canonization Mass of
Blessed Junipero Serra. Photo by CNS
refugees, trafficking, all that. He
very much speaks to what CLINIC does.”
As to whether the pope’s
visit will move the needle on a
long-stymied overhaul of U.S. immigration policy, Atkinson thinks
it depends on who’s listening.
“A person who is virulently
anti-immigrant, I don’t think
so.” However, she clarified, “I
think people are eager to hear
what he has to say, Catholics, of
course, but also non-Catholics.
I think he clearly speaks from a
position of moral authority – but
without an agenda, in a sense.
His agenda is the church’s agenda. I think people will listen.”
And should they listen, “I
hope it will cause people to
re-examine the church’s position
on immigration,” Atkinson said.
“The church has been a strong
force for immigration and immigration reform for decades.”
Opponents of the death penalty also hope the pope will mention their cause.
“We are hopeful he will follow
in the footsteps of St. John Paul
II and help facilitate the end of
the use of the death penalty in
this country and point out the
need for reform within our criminal justice system,” said Karen
Clifton, executive director of the
Catholic Mobilizing Network to
End the Use of the Death Penalty, in a statement emailed to
Catholic News Service.
Clifton recalled St. John
Paul’s appeal against capital
punishment during his January
1999 visit to St. Louis. The day
after his appeal, a death row inmate’s sentence was commuted
to life in prison.
“Pope Francis has been very
– and doing it with love. It’s such
a different tone than all of the
2016campaign foolishness that
we hear day after day.”
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10
The Catholic Commentator | September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 | The Catholic Commentator
11
Tasman: Grow the kingdom
By Rachele Smith
Teachers and administrators sing a gathering hymn as they welcome Bishop Robert W. Muench and other clergy from across
the Diocese of Baton Rouge during the processional of the 2015
Catholic Educators Gathering Mass. Photos by Rachele Smith |
Following Mass, educators take part in a commissioning service lead by Bishop Muench and Dr. Melanie Verges, superintendent of
Catholic schools.
LEARNING PROCESS
Catholic teachers gather
for day of prayer, education
W
By Rachele Smith
hile students enjoyed an added
day to their Labor Day weekend,
teachers from around the Diocese
of Baton Rouge gathered at the River Center
to collaborate, learn, and pray together.
According to Dr. Melanie Verges, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, 900 diocesan
educators attended the 2015 Catholic Educators Gathering on Sept. 4.
Reflecting on this year’s theme “Fruit of
the Spirit,” teachers and administrators began the day with a prayer service led by assistant superintendent of Catholic schools
Michael Miller. The service was followed by a
diocesan-wide review of student performance
where Verges congratulated those in attendance for living out the pillars of the Catholic
schools mission.
Verges explained that by continuing to promote high levels of learning and achievement
in the classroom, educators in the diocese
were instrumental in helping their students
once again exceed the national average on
standardized testing, scoring better than 70
percent of students across the country taking
the same test in the 2014-2015 school year.
In addition to a strong performance in core
subjects against national standards, diocesan
students also scored above national norms in
understanding their Catholic identity as measured through the Assessment of Catechesis
and Religious Education (ACRE). The test,
which is administered to fifth- and eighthgrade students yearly, showed that students in
the diocese continued to demonstrate a strong
understanding of Catholic faith, high morals
and social justice.
For high school students, the news was just
as good. Verges explained that the average
ACT composite score for students attending
diocesan high schools jumped .8 points to 24,
a number well above the minimum composite
score needed for TOPS qualification. For Louisiana high school graduates hoping to receive
state scholarships from TOPS, the minimum
composite ACT score is 20.
Verges also noted the Catholic Schools Office’s three-year goal of increasing the number of special education sites in the diocese,
up from six this year, its first, to 12 by 2018.
Following Verges’ comments, educators
were encouraged in their ministry by listening
to keynote speaker Robert Tasman, executive
director of the Louisiana Conference of Cath-
olic Bishops.
Teachers and administrators used the rest
of the morning and early afternoon to learn
from each other and other professionals in the
community. Breakout sessions featured an array of ideas for the classroom, including ways
to add inquiry-based activities to lesson planning and how to teach behavior expectations
and establish routines for a positive learning
environment. Other sessions involved strategies for developing a successful school development office as well as looking at school safety measures in the wake of recommendations
from the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission.
In anticipation of the diocese’s upcoming
school accreditation team visits this January,
educators also received information on updates to a classroom observation tool. Called
“eWalk,” the technology, which is already used
in the diocese, provides faster feedback to a
teacher.
The day concluded like it started, in prayer.
Bishop Robert W. Muench celebrated Mass
During one breakout session, educators study a video featuring a classroom teacher
instructing students. The video was used to enhance understanding of new criteria
that will be used in school accreditation visits this January.
Jeff Soileau shares information about Healthy
Lives, a wellness program with the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health Systems.
Healthy Lives was one of 44 exhibitors showcasing ways to assist educators in their ministry
of teaching.
and was assisted by several other priests from
across the diocese. Dr. Kevin Andry and Emily Froeba, teachers at St. Michael the Archangel High School, along with several of their
students, provided music and led the congre-
Thomas Macowski of RCL Benziger, a Roman
Catholic book publishing house based in Cincinnati, Ohio, enjoys showing a catalog to a teacher
during the Catholic Educators Gathering.
gation in song.
Following Mass, a commissioning service
for educators was held where teachers and
administrators offered their talents and affirmed their commitment to Catholic education in the diocese.
“Grow the kingdom of God here on Earth.”
That’s what Robert Tasman, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouraged educators to do this year in the Diocese
of Baton Rouge.
Tasman, who was the keynote speaker at the 2015 Catholic
Educators Gathering on Sept. 4, also offered a path for
teachers and administrators to grow God’s kingdom
by opening themselves to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
“It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that should burn
within our lives,” he said.
Tasman encouraged the 900 educators meeting at the River Center to watch out for the “selfie”
attitude that has enveloped society today, and instead focus on the Gospel, which is the road map
to a holy life.
“We have moved into an era of self-promotion,” he
added. “Now what we do is compete within the commerce of ‘likes.’ ”
Tasman explained that many people spend too much time wondering how
many ‘likes’ they received on social media posts.
Unfortunately, Tasman explained this attitude, which moves one away
from community and thinking about the care of others, is not consistent
with our faith. He encouraged teachers and administrators to be intentional
in not only responding to the directive of the Gospel, but also in following
the fruits of the Holy Spirit and upholding the dignity of everyone they come
in contact with, from classroom students and their parents to each other.
Tasman reflected on earlier statements by Pope Francis to protect human
dignity, adding that the pontiff called every violation of the dignity of a person an offense to God.
“Imagine God saying, ‘I’m disappointed in you.’ That would make me turn
around and try something new,’” Tasman said.
Tasman emphasized the important job teachers and administrators do
everyday in their education ministry, and he called on them to continue to
share one important gift of the Spirit as they return to their schools.
“Finally, love. Above all else, and if you do nothing else, love,” he said.
Tasman explained that love not only reorients the soul, but it also decenters the self. He added that love allows us to be gentle, patient and kind while
turning us into individuals we didn’t even know we could become.
But love, he said, also brings us to a point of surrender and sacrifice, especially as we learn that we must love in the easiest as well as the most challenging moments.
Is it worth it?
For Tasman, the answer to that question lies in his own discovery that
selflessness is not just an outright expression of love, but it is also the quickest way to happiness.
Dr. Kevin
Andry (on
keyboard),
a teacher
at St. Michael the
Archangel High
School,
leads
his band
students in
providing music for Mass. The musicians and choir members present encouraged
educators to unify and lift up their voices in worship.
12
September 18, 2015
Young Actors thrive in youth theater program
By Debbie Shelley
She’s hot tempered – she snarls, pushes people around, pierces them with her
sharp tongue and daggering eyes and
even breaks instruments over their heads.
But people love her as they watch her in
a battle of wills with her romantic lead,
a fortune seeker who is out to “tame her
will,” and discover she is not mean, simply
misunderstood in her quest for love.
Several Catholic schools students
were among a talented cast that recently
brought to stage the story of Katherina,
known as “the Shrew,” in William Shakespeare’s play, “Taming of the Shrew,” as
part of Theater Baton Rouge’s Young Actors Program.
Varland Owens, a St. Joseph’s Academy student, played the lead role of Katherina, or Kate, the daughter of Baptista
Minola, a lord in Padua, Italy. Minola,
played by Matt Myagi, a Catholic High
School student, is so desperate to get Kate
off his hands that he refuses to let anyone
marry his younger daughter, Bianca, who
has many suitors and is more charming
and mild-mannered, until Kate is married. Kate meets her match with Petruchio, who sees her as a challenge.
“This has been my favorite play since I
was two years old,” said Owens, who was
jubilant, in contrast to her surly character,
when interviewed. “I went to the library
when I was little. My mom told me I could
get a bag of books and a movie each week.
I saw this movie, ‘Kiss Me Kate,’ which is
a musical based on the play. My mom told
me, ‘You’re not going to like that.’
“We brought it home, and I was completely glued to the TV. I started quoting it. Then I made Mom buy ‘Animated
Shakespeare.’ ”
Owens regularly auditions for parts in
Theatre Baton Rouge.
“But this is my favorite show, so I had
to be here,” explained Owens, who sees
qualities of Kate in herself.
“I think I’m as strong willed and driven as Kate is. I don’t think I’m as harsh as
she. But I can take the passion I have and
fire in my spirit, and put it in her,” said
Owens. This was evidenced in her metamorphosis from joyous to foul-tempered
on stage.
Myiagi has been with the Young Actors Program since it started in 2011. He
was awarded the outstanding young actor award at Theatre Baton Rouge’s Beaux
Arts Ball on July 25. Myagi has learned a lot about versatil-
Created in God’s Image:
The Dignity of the Human Person
Saturday, October 10
Kickoff – 10 a.m.
Catholic Life Center, Tracy Center Ballroom
1800 S. Acadian Thrwy., Baton Rouge
Cost: FREE, includes lunch
ity in acting since being in the program.
He said it was a challenging transitioning
from playing a dark character, Jud Fry, in
the program’s last production, “Oklahoma,” to a comedic role, Minola, in “Taming of the Shrew.”
“This guy (Minola) is funny and gullible,” said Myagi.
He sees qualities of the good-hearted
Minola in himself.
“I like to see the good in people before
I judge them,” Myagi said.
Thomas Prochaska, also a CHS student, is in the cast as one of Bianca’s suitors, Hortensio.
“I’m a scaredy cat. I’m always nervous,” said Prochaska of his character. “I
am one of those yippy dogs who bark at
everything but cower when something
bigger comes along.”
Prochaska was Tiny Tim in Theater Baton Rouge’s first production of “A Christmas Carol” and has also regularly been in
Theatre Baton Rouge productions.
With each play, Prochaska learns
about his craft.
Caroline Fedducia, a student at Sacred
Heart of Jesus School, who has been with
the program since 2012, played Grumio
and was a member of the chorus. She normally does musicals, but knows having a
background in Shakespeare is important
in theater. The language of the play, which
she described as beautiful and witty, intrigued and challenged her.
“It’s Shakespeare, so you have to carefully read the scene to understand. The
language is complex, you have to know
what you’re saying, you just can’t read
words off a page,” she said.
Daniel Crump, St. George School student, who played Gremio, concedes he reluctantly joined the Young Actors Program,
but now wouldn’t be anywhere else. “It (acting), really became a passion,” he said.
He said the cast, crew and directors
become close during the rehearsals. “We
are family,” he said.
Sydney Hamilton, a SJA student who
plays a servant, said her role is important
in transitioning between scenes.
“You would think it’s a small part, but
in the bigger picture, you need the person
to bring people off stage and to help the
audience understand, ‘Okay, that’s what
they are going to do,’ rather than have
characters randomly leave the stage and
you don’t know what happened to them,”
said Hamilton.
She enjoys live theater because it requires actors to convey their emotions
strongly to connect with the audience.
Registration
Deadline
Wednesday,
Sept. 23
Pastors, All Ministers, Small Christian Communities and Others
who are interested in exploring the Bible in an effective way to
deepen our sense of community, become biblically literate and
encounter Christ in profound ways are invited to join
Keynote speake
r
Brian Butler,
Dumb Ox Min
istries
Please register!
This celebration of life will have something everyone!
Music by Greg&Lizzy; Kids track for ages 5-11;
Eucharistic adoration; and more!
Breakout speakers – Fr. Josh Johnson; David Dawson, Jr.; Danielle Van
Haute; Adam Fuselier; Sarah Denny; and Ariel Roland, LSMW.
The day will conclude with the
ANNUAL BISHOP'S
RESPECT LIFE MASS AT 4 P.M.
Visit www.MFLDIOBR.org to register and for more information
“Little Rock Scripture Study:
User-Friendly & Effective”
Sept. 28 • 6 – 8:30 p.m.
Room 104 in the Bishop Tracy Center,
1800 Acadian Thruway, Baton Rouge – A light supper will be served.
Presenter Cackie Upchurch, Director of Little Rock
Scripture Study and the associate editor of The Bible Today,
will speak about this proven and
easy-to-use method of Bible study for Catholics.
Contact Michele Johnson to register.
Office of Evangelization & Catechesis, Diocese of Baton Rouge
225-336-8760
September 18, 2015
13
HISTORIC OPENING – St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Hammond celebrated its 20th anniversary of the Falcons football program in a special way on Sept. 3. STA hosted its first regular season
varsity game to be played on the newly renovated field on the
school campus, and rededicated it in memory of Pete Valenti, the
Falcons first football coach who died in 1995. The stadium underwent a total renovation, including lights, press box, stands, scoreboard, play clocks and concession stands. Father Michael Miceli,
left, chaplain at St. Thomas Aquinas, says a prayer before the
game, surrounded by the Valenti family. The new scoreboard,
above, reflects the renaming of the field. Photos by Father Matt Dupré
2015-2016
Baton Rouge
Diocese
DiRectoRy
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14
MOVIE
REVIEWS
USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting
classifications:
A-I – General patronage
A-II – Adults and adolescents
A-III – Adults
A-IV – Adults, with reservations
L – Limited adult audience
O – Morally offensive
90 Minutes in Heaven
Samuel Goldwyn
Writer-director Michael Polish’s adaptation of the 2004 best-seller by Don
Piper (Hayden Christensen) tells the true
story of the Baptist minister’s near-death
experience following a devastating car
crash. After a brief vision of heaven, he
endures a torturous recovery marked by
unbearable pain. Yet the emotional toll
for his family, in particular his wife (Kate
Bosworth), is even greater. Though the
film’s celestial journey is overshadowed
by its medical narrative, it remains an inspiring tale about faith, hope and persistence. Considered as a whole, moreover,
its evangelical viewpoint on prayer and
the promise of eternal life is mostly consonant with Catholic doctrine. Disturbing
ENTERTAINMENT
Motion Picture Association of America
ratings:
G – General audiences; all ages admitted
PG – Parental guidance suggested; some
material may not be suitable for children
PG-13 – Parents are strongly cautioned
to give special guidance for attendance
of children under 13; some material may
be inappropriate for young children
R – Restricted; under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
NC-17 – No one under 17 admitted
images, some mature themes. A-II; PG-13
The Transporter Refueled
EuropaCorp
Kitschy addition to a trio of excessively
violent action flicks about a driver (Ed
Skrein) on the French Riviera whose
martial arts skills, prowess behind the
wheel and ability to keep his mouth shut
make him the chauffeur of choice for the
region’s abundance of questionable characters. Hired by a quartet of prostitutes
(led by Loan Chabanol) desperate to
break free of their servitude, he’s forced
to get involved with their scheme to
bring down the mobster (Yuri Kolokolnikov) controlling them after they kidnap his father (Ray Stevenson), a retired
British intelligence operative. Reviving
September 18, 2015
a franchise that first hit the pavement –
and the skids – in 2002, director Camille
Delamarre keeps most of the endless
violence gore-free. But the car chases
that represent his sometimes absurd
film’s other stock-in-trade all but wipe
out the Cote D’Azur’s mobile police force
while promiscuity and – in Dad’s case –
perversion, though kept off screen, are
treated as enviable perks of the James
Bond lifestyle. Pervasive harsh but largely bloodless violence, reckless disregard
for life, a revenge theme, strong sexual
content including a benign view of group
sex, a semi-graphic nonmarital encounter, some partial nudity and same-sex
kissing at least one use of profanity, occasional crude language. O; PG-13
The Visit
Universal
Delivering laughter as well as scares,
this horror-comedy will leave audience
members entertained yet also scratching
their heads as a 15-year-old budding moviemaker (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger
brother (Ed Oxenbould), a self-styled rap
artist, visit their grandparent’s Pennsylvania farmhouse and record how the elderly couple’s peculiar behavior becomes
increasingly menacing. Writer-director M.
Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”) tries
to cover too many bases and triggers some
unintended laughter along with the frights
and levity that the actors execute with great
aplomb. Using the movie-within-a-movie
device enables Shyamalan to offer a mild
critique of the compulsion to treat life as
mere narrative, to filter every experience
through a lens, screen or other electronic
device; nevertheless, any serious theme
is eclipsed by the tonally disparate film’s
humor and scare quotients. Much terrifying behavior and some nongraphic violence, an instance of rough language and
one rough gesture, some crude and crass
language, several instances of profanity,
brief rear female nudity, a drug reference,
a suicidal character, and some sexual banter, mostly contained in rap music lyrics.
A-III; PG-13
A Walk in the Woods
Broad Green
Seeking a remedy for his writer’s block,
an aging travel author (Robert Redford)
decides to defy his physical limitations
by hiking the 2,200-mile-long Appalachian Trail. Yielding to his concerned
wife’s (Emma Thompson) insistence that
he include a companion on the trip, he
reluctantly accepts the company of the
only volunteer he can find a friend from
his past (Nick Nolte) with whom, partly
by choice, he has long been out of touch.
As the domesticated scribe and his rolling stone of a sidekick lumber through the
forest, they compare notes on life, all too
many of which treat sexuality including
the bedroom escapades of their shared
youth as a form of entertainment. In
adapting Bill Bryson’s 1998 memoir, director Ken Kwapis takes viewers on a generally pleasant, though excessively talky,
expedition through landscapes that vary
from the soothing to the magnificent. Yet,
even as one sequence of his film celebrates
marital fidelity in the face of temptation,
another winks at a potential dalliance
with a married woman. Defective values,
including an ambivalent attitude toward
adultery, a nongraphic scene of aberrant
sexual activity, a glimpse of partial rear
nudity, much off-color humor, numerous uses of profanity, frequent rough and
crude language. L; R
War Room
Tri-Star
Prayer becomes the ultimate weapon for
a young family in crisis in this Christianthemed drama. The film’s battleground is
a McMansion in suburban North Carolina where an overtaxed wife and mother
(Priscilla Shirer) finds the demands of
her job as a real estate agent leave her
little time to focus on raising her daughter (Alena Pitts). As for her ambitious
but inattentive husband (T.C. Stallings),
with whom she constantly quarrels, his
work as a salesman keeps him on the road
where sinful temptations lurk, including
opportunities to be unfaithful. Riding
to the rescue is an elderly but feisty local character (Karen Abercrombie) who
recommends calling on God for help and
seeking his healing grace. As directed and
co-written by Alex Kendrick, this proselytizing message movie is heavy-handed
at times. But Kendrick’s intentions, like
those of his brother and script collaborator Stephen, are obviously sincere and
worthy, while their emphasis on piety, forgiveness and redemption, although cast
in evangelical terms, is nonetheless fully
compatible with Catholic teaching. Mild
domestic discord, some mature themes.
A-II; PG
For more Movie Reviews, visit
and look under
ENTERTAINMENT.
September 18, 2015
ENTERTAINMENT
1
I Bet My Life
I know I took the path that you would never want for me
I know I let you down, didn’t I?
So many sleepless nights
Were you, were waiting up on me?
Well, I’m just a slave unto the night
Now remember when I told you that’s the last you’ll see of me?
Remember when I broke you down to tears?
I gave you hell through all the years
Refrain:
So I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you
I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you
I’ve been around the world and never in my wildest dreams
Would I come running home to you
I’ve told a million lies
But now I tell a single truth
There’s you in everything I do
Now, remember when I told you that’s the last you’ll see of me?
Remember when I broke you down to tears
I gave you hell through all the years
(Repeat refrain.)
Don’t tell me that I’m wrong
I’ve walked that road before
And left you on your own
Please, believe them when they say
That it’s left for yesterday
And the records that I’ve played
Please forgive me for all I’ve done
(Repeat refrain twice.)
2
3
4
5
6
As teens move
into adulthood,
how should their
parents, and the
teens, navigate this
transition?
I considered
this question as I
listened to Imagine Dragons’ latest
release “I Bet My
Life.” Lead singer
Dan Reynolds, in
an interview, spoke
of this transition in
his life and how his
relationship with
his parents went
through a tough
period. He said that even though the relationship
had been strained and difficult, there was still a
bond.
This seems to be the case for the song’s protagonist. He describes how “I know I took the path
you would never want for me” and says “I let you
down, didn’t I?”
For this individual, the relationship between
him and his parents became so painful that he
“told you that’s the last you’ll see of me” and
“broke you down to tears.” Yet something happened that brought healing into a painful situation. Now he says to his parents, “Please forgive
me for all I’ve done.”
Most families face difficulties as teens discover
their individuality and move toward adulthood.
As a pastoral counselor and family therapist, I
have sat with many families as they attempt to
move through this time only to discover more
pain than success in this transition. But there are
ways to make the transition smoother.
First, it helps to remember that teens and parents are facing this transition but from different
perspectives. Communication based on genuine
listening is the foundation for success. This takes
patience, humility and perseverance by teens
and their parents. When listening to one another
On The Record
Charlie Martin
seems too difficult to attempt, go to a guide, or
counselor, who can help.
Parents need to tell their children often that
they love and accept them. This does not mean
that they approve of all of their decisions and
choices. However, always communicate that love
is given freely.
Parents are also called to protect the physical,
emotional and spiritual well-being of their child.
At times, this means they must enforce limits. For
example, all teens should have reasonable curfews
on how long they can stay out at night. But the
later the curfew, the more potential trouble. Parents can talk with their children about safety and
together can plan a reasonable curfew.
Teens need to see these limits as an act of caring, but both should negotiate the curfew times
when there is a special occasion and when safety
seems reasonably present.
When genuine listening has been established
by everyone in the family, teens need to share
their questions, dreams and challenges with their
parents. This dialogue can happen more easily
if parents affirm these aspects of their lives, give
advice only when directly asked, but reassert that
their love is always there for their teens.
Mistakes will happen. It may be necessary to
talk about the pain that a mistake can cause, but
such hurt should be expressed as one’s personal
experience, not as blame or fault.
If a family has a strong faith life, this will be an
asset for dealing with this transition. Prayer for
each other is always an act of love. I ask families
to go to Sunday Mass together.
Remember, in all aspects of life, and especially
in life’s transitions, we learn as we go. Control,
perfection and everyone being happy all the time
are illusions. Give up these illusions and focus on
improving your relationships with love, patience,
understanding and forgiveness.
MARTIN is an Indiana pastoral counselor who
reviews current music for Catholic News Service.
Write to: [email protected]; or 7125 West CR
200 South, Rockport, IN 47635; or like on Facebook at “Charlie Martin’s Today’s Music Columns”.
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Sung by Imagine Dragons | Copyright © 2014, KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records
Navigating a transition from teen to adult
7
15
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www.wordgamesforcatholics.com
ACROSS
1 OT book that precedes Ruth
5Landed
10 The Chosen People
14 Former overseer of the VOA
15 Cite Scripture
16 Vinegar (comb.)
17 Semi-monthly tide
18 Pope (II) who called for the
Crusades
19Relocate
20Sideways
22 Spiritual program
23 Slave of Philemon (Philem
15–16)
26Cargo
30 Popular Catholic TV sitcom actor Newhart
31 Lab animal
34Evades
35 Jonah was thrown into this
36 Architect Saarinen
37 Personal interests
38 Tree under which Jesus saw
Nathanael (Jn 1:47–48)
39Equip
40 Gifts for dad
41 “Am ___ your way?”
42 Cut into
43 Corner piece
44 Mon. of St. Pat
45 Burn without flame
46 The ___ church (family)
48 AKA Sinai
51 Street problems
56Stadiums
57 Saint Goretti
59 The Roman Pontiff
60 Confined
61 College of Cardinals’ task
regarding the pope
62 Not odd
63 OT historical book
64 Farm birds
65 Scholarship criterion
DOWN
1 Catholic actress Haver
2Applied
3 Direction (abbr.)
4 Stare with open mouth
5 He was called the “Dumb Ox”
6Damned
7Garments
8 Airport letters
9 Daniel was in the lion’s ___
10 Brother of John
11 Coll. course
12Contraction
13 Jacob made this dish for Isaac
(Gen 25:34)
21 Tree covered land
22Chafe
24 “___ your pardon”
25 Flightless bird
26Dough
27 Give the benefit of
28 Country bumpkin
29 Sins against the eighth Commandment
31 Changed the décor of
32 Got up
33 The ___ of Babel
35 Original or actual, for example
36 Letter-bottom abbr.
38 The Lord appeared to Moses in
this (Ex 3:2)
39 He walked with God (Gen 5:24)
41 ___ WHO AM (Yahweh)
42Mimic
44Crowd
45 Zeno’s followers
46 ___ of the firstborn (plague)
47 Shopping fun
48 One of the three in 1 Cor 13:13
49 Lyric poems
50Hire
52 Paul and Silas’ prison doors
after the earthquake (Acts
16:25–27)
53 Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23)
54 Fencing sword
55Transmit
57 Tom’s “You’ve Got Mail” co-star
58 Pub drink
Solution on page 18
16
VIEWPOINT
What will Pope Francis tell Congress?
| EDITORIAL
Pope’s
message clear
Pope Francis’ astonishing announcement regarding
the peeling away of the bureaucratic red tape that has
seemingly discouraged many
Catholics from seeking annulments stunned many observers, including clergy members
and canon lawyers.
Second-guessers are not in
short supply, as many are attempting to identify his logic,
especially as to why the announcement came on the eve
of the pontiff’s inaugural visit
to the United States. Some
have even suggested the Catholic Church is eschewing its
own principles by acquiescing
to the demands of modern society and basically giving those
mired in unhappy marriages a
convenient out and still remain
in the church.
Quite the opposite is, in
fact, true. Pope Francis’ new
annulment policy continues
the message of inclusion and
mercy he has been preaching
since 2013. He recognizes that
many Catholics are hurting,
feeling estranged by a cumbersome annulment process that
can take years to complete.
Yet the pope also understands that many of those
same Catholics are thirsting to
return to the church, hungering for the body and blood of
Christ. His message is an invitation to those Catholics who
perhaps have felt abandoned
by their church to return to
the flock, in much the same
way Jesus related the parable
of a shepherd who briefly left
his flock to save one wayward
sheep.
Contrary to what some are
pontificating, Pope Francis has
not, and cannot create a mutaSEE MESSAGE PAGE 17
September 18, 2015
Q
uite a few
well-known
writers have
been predicting
what Pope Francis
will say when he
addresses the Congress of the United
States on Sept. 24.
During his visit to
our country, he will
also speak to the
United Nations in
New York and to the
World Meeting of
Families in Philadelphia. These last
two talks have not
drawn as many pre- Father John Carville
dictions as the one
to Congress. The
theme of the Philadelphia meeting dictates
his speech’s content. However, those present
for his United Nations speech may hear some
themes of his talk to Congress repeated. This
pope is full of surprises, so it is intriguing
to guess what he will say. And, the hope of
making at least an educated guess forces one
to do some interesting reading.
Before he entered the Jesuit novitiate to
study for the priesthood, Pope Francis prepared for a career in the science of chemistry.
Like a scientist, his thought process goes
from facts to theory rather than like that of
his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Pope
Benedict XVI, who taught as a philosopher
and a theologian respectively. Both wrote
books on church doctrine that they hoped
would change human behavior for the better.
Pope Francis looks at facts of human suffering and wonders whether an adjustment in
the church’s doctrinal approach might give
some relief.
Both Pope Francis’ exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (the Joy of the Gospel), and
his recent encyclical on our duty to care for
the earth and all its creatures, Laudato Si’
(“Praised Be” my Lord), set out the pope’s
vision of the Catholic Church’s task at the
beginning of the 21st Century. The extortation called us as Catholics to be missionaries
of mercy and hope, while the encyclical asked
everyone, believers and non-believers, to heal
our planet and all its living things that have
been hurt by ecological devastation, great
economic inequality and tragic wars caus-
Another
Perspective
ing not only death but huge migrations of
people. His recent three-country visit to
Bolivia, Paraguay and Ecuador and his
upcoming visit to Cuba and the United
States, give him occasions to apply this
vision to specific areas of the globe.
How is Pope Francis going to apply
his vision to the U.S.? We are the largest
consumerist society in the world, behavior
the pope strongly criticizes in Laudato
Si’. From a spiritual point of view, we are
too materialistic. But from the economic
viewpoint of our global economy, what
would less consuming here do to “made
in” China, India, Japan, South Korea,
Thailand, Viet Nam, Philippines and
Mexico? Our consumerism is a great boon
to their job markets and overall economies. We are also the biggest throw-away
society, another target in Laudato Si’. Do
we really need a new wardrobe every year
or two? Still, our St. Vincent de Paul and
Goodwill stores, and through them the poor,
depend on hand-me-downs. Deliberately
living a simple, non-wasteful, lifestyle is
virtuous. That is why Jesus blessed the poor
in his Beatitudes. But trying to be poor in
a poor church, as Francis wants us to be, is
far more difficult in a prosperous, first-world
country than it is in a missionary third-world
country. God also loves a generous giver,
but that means you have to have something
to give. I am really looking forward to what
Pope Francis has to say to our Congress and
to us Americans about our wealth and our
lifestyle.
We Americans are also the world leader in
the use of fossil fuels. We have the most cars
that burn gasoline and use the most electricity created by burning coal, oil and natural
gas. The burning of fossil fuels creates
carbon dioxide which in turn causes global
warming. This may not be the only cause of
global warming – it may be naturally cyclic
as shown by periods of freezing and warming during past ice ages. But God has made
us caretakers of this good earth, and we are
responsible when we cause it harm. Our best
science proves that rapid increase in manmade carbon dioxide following the industrial
revolution has coincided with rapid global
warming. Pope Francis has said, and I would
think will say to Congress, that we have a
moral obligation to reverse this trend. It is
possible. Anyone who visited Los Angeles
40 years ago and has recently returned
there would tell you so. There is still some
evidence of CO2 in the form of smog, but
it has been reduced tremendously. The air
has a gray tinge now, instead of orange. The
Californians are still burning fossil fuel, but
they have cleaned up their emissions. I hope
that Pope Francis will note the clean up – in
cars, in power plants and in much of heavy
industry – even as he reminds us to take care
of Mother Earth.
Another area of excess that the pope
has written against is the gross diversity
in wealth between the richest one percent
throughout the world and the rest of us, especially the poor. He ties this into the tendency
to make an idol of uncontrolled markets.
Greed is a human sin which demands some
controls. Doing away with such in banking and investment companies helped our
country to cause the great world recession
of 2008. If we can believe reports in public
media, new laws have reinstituted necessary
controls since then. Pope Francis is the ideal
person to talk against greed. I hope that he
also is aware of what has been done to curb
it in banking and investments. The middle
chapters of Laudato Si’ were heavy on condemnation of greed and economic inequality.
One area in the encyclical I didn’t understand was how the prosperity of nations in
the northern hemisphere was somehow a
cause of poverty in the southern hemisphere.
Perhaps the address to Congress will throw
some light on this.
Immigration is such a critical problem
today that it may come much nearer the top
of the pope’s address to Congress. Care for
the immigrant, who is also often a refugee, is
such an important message of the Bible and
of Jesus himself. Pope Francis may have a
lot to say about our leadership role in a world
where wars in the near-east and in Africa are
causing huge displacements of people, while
drug wars in Central America and Mexico
together with poverty are driving increasing numbers across our border with Mexico.
Jesus seems to have foreseen this. “I was a
stranger, and you took me in” (Mt 25).
May God inspire Pope Francis, and
through him, our country and its leaders.
FATHER CARVILLE is a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge and writes on current
topics for The Catholic Commentator. He
can be reached at johnnycarville@gmail.
com.
| PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PRAY FOR US
Please pray for the priests, deacons and religious women and men in the Baton Rouge Diocese.
Sept. 22
Sept. 23
Sept. 24
Sept. 25
Rev. Henry W. Gautreau Jr.
Dcn. Clayton A. Hollier
Br. Warren Laudumiey SC
Rev. Matthew J. Graham
Dcn. William H. Holtman
Sr. Dianne Fanguy CSJ
Rev. William L. Greene
Dcn. Micheal J. (Shelley) Joseph
Br. Noel Lemmon SC
Rev. Paul A. Gros
Dcn. John A. Jung Jr.
Sept. 26
Sept. 27
Sept. 28
Sept. 29
Sr. Ileana Fernandez CSJ
Rev. Leo Guillot
Dcn. Robert J. Kusch
Br. Malcolm Melcher SC
Rev. Eric V. Gyan
Dcn. Thomas E. Labat Sr.
Sr. Dulce Maria Flores HMSS
Rev. Patrick Healy SSJ
Dcn. Ronald D. LeGrange
Br. Paul Montero SC
Rev. Ray Hebert SC
Sept. 30
Oct. 1
Oct. 2
Dcn. Albert Levy III
Sr. Janet Franklin CSJ
Rev. J. Clifton Hill CSSp
Dcn. James A. Little
Br. Marcel Riviere SC
Rev. Gordian O. Iwuji MSP
Dcn. Fallon H. Lorenz
Sr. Ana Luisa Galvan HMSS
Rev. Charbel Jamhoury
Dcn. Edwin J. Martin
Br. Xavier Werneth SC
Oct. 3
Oct. 4
Oct. 5
Rev. Joshua D. Johnson
Dcn. Wilbur P. Martinez
Sr. Carol Gonsoulin CSJ
Rev. Juel Kandula
Dcn. Robert McDonner
Br. James Burns SC
Rev. Jon C. Koehler
Dcn. John L. McGinnis Jr.
Sr. Mary Joel Gubler OP
September 18, 2015
VIEWPOINT
tion of church doctrine, which is rooted in the
words of Christ. But he has developed an avenue that essentially utilizes church doctrine
not as a deterrent, but as a welcome mat for
fallen away Catholics.
The pontiff wants those Catholics who are
seeking forgiveness, who are seeking mercy,
to understand there is a pew waiting for them.
Perhaps in the past those same church doors
may have appeared closed to many, but the
pope has swung them wide open.
His goal is not to increase numbers and is
not revenue driven, as some have speculated.
Rather, it’s a manifestation of his message of
love, especially to those who once felt unwelcome.
He has extended wide the arms of Catholicism, hoping to provide healing for those in
need of healing, a home for those who perhaps
felt alienated by the church they once loved,
and the ability to once again partake in the
spiritual nourishment that is the body and
blood of our Lord.
S
17
Priest retreat a sacrifice worth making
MESSAGE 
From page 16
ometime soon we will
witness the canonization
of Dorothy Day. For many
of us today, especially those who
are not Roman Catholic, a canonization draws little more than
a yawn. How does a canonization impact our world? Moreover, isn’t canonization simply
the recognition of a certain piety
to which most people cannot
relate? So why should there be
much interest around the canonization of Dorothy Day – who
in fact protested that she didn’t
want people to consider her a
saint and asserted that making
someone a saint often helps neutralize his or her influence?
Well, Day wasn’t the kind
of saint who fits the normal
conceptions of piety. Many of
us, no doubt, are familiar with
a basic sketch of her life. She
was born in New York in 1897
and died there in 1980. She was
a journalist, a peace-activist,
a convert to Christianity, who,
together with Peter Maurin,
established the Catholic Worker
Movement to combine direct aid
to the poor and homeless with
nonviolent action on behalf of
peace and justice. The movement remains vibrant today. She
served, too, on the newspaper
she founded, Catholic Worker,
from 1933 until her death.
Her person and the movement she started have powerfully inspired Christians of every
denomination to try to more ef-
From The Bishop
Bishop Robert W. Muench
Dear People of God of the Diocese
of Baton Rouge,
Your pastor will be attending a
mandatory priest retreat from Mon-
day, Oct. 5, through Thursday, Oct. 8.
I know this may affect certain regular
ministries, such as daily Mass and
funerals. The daily Mass schedule
in your parish can be adjusted as
determined by your parish priest to
meet the needs of your parish during
this retreat. While this is a sacrifice, I
consider this sacrifice worth making.
Regarding funerals, I would ask that
funerals be scheduled either before the
retreat begins or after, but not during, the scheduled retreat days. If this
is completely impossible, one of the
deacons from the diocese can provide
the needed funeral rites, namely the
vigil wake, funeral without Mass and
rite of committal. If a parish cannot
provide a deacon to lead these services, Deacon John Veron has agreed
to coordinate finding deacons who are
willing to help. In this case, a parish
staff member would contact the Office
of the Vicar General and Deacon Veron
will assist in providing a deacon for
that special need.
Over the years attendance at our
annual priest retreat has been remarkably consistent. Pressing ministry
could compromise and jeopardize our
commitment to these special opportunities. I hope this letter helps you understand and support our priests with
their commitment to their ministry. I
ask that you pray for our priests and
our diocese during these days, as they
pray for you as well.
In summary, every priest of the
diocese is expected to be present and
take part in the retreat. I appreciate so
much your affirmation and encouragement of our clergy who give so much of
their lives for our diocese. May God be
generous in leading us into the future
with hope.
Yours always in Jesus, the Good
Shepherd.
Dorothy Day – a saint for our time
fectively take the Gospels to the
streets, to try to bring together
Jesus and justice in a more
effectual way. She is invoked
today as the primary role model
for virtually everyone, Christian
and non-Christian alike, working in the area of social justice.
The honor is well-deserved.
She, perhaps better than anyone
else in her generation, was able
to wed together the Gospel and
justice, Jesus and the poor, and
take the fruits of that marriage
to the streets in an effective way.
That’s a rare and very difficult
feat.
Ernst Kasemann once commented that the problem in
both the world and the church
is that the liberals aren’t pious
and the pious aren’t liberal.
He’s right. Politics and religion
are both generally impoverished because the pious won’t
be liberal and the liberals won’t
be pious. You normally don’t
see the same person leading the rosary and the peace
march. You normally don’t see
the same person championing
both the pro-life movement and
women’s choice. And, you don’t
normally see the same person
scrupulously defending the
most-intimate matters within
private morality and having
the same moral passion for the
global-issues of social justice.
But that was Day. She was
equally comfortable leading a
peace march and leading the
rosary. Someone once quipped:
If you drew out what’s deepest
and best within both the conservatives and liberals and put
them through a blender, what
would come out is Day.
A second feature which characterized Day and her spirituality was her ability to simply act,
and to act effectively. She not
only had faith, she acted upon
that faith. She was a doer, not
just a listener; and she was able
to institutionalize her faith and
embed it into an institution, the
Catholic Worker, which not only
was able to minister directly to
the poor but was able to form
itself into something larger and
more permanent than the faith,
vision and power of a single
person. Dorothy was able to act
in a way that was bigger and
more effective than her own
person. There’s an axiom that
says: Whatever we dream alone
remains a dream, but what we
dream with others can become
a reality. Dorothy dreamed with
others and made that dream
a reality. Today, most of us
struggle both to act on our faith
and, even more so, to embed our
faith concretely into effective,
sustained community action.
Finally, Day can be an inspiration to us because she did the
right thing for the right reason.
Dorothy’s commitment to the
poor arose not out of guilt, or
neurosis, or anger, or bitterness
towards society. It arose out of
In Exile
Father Ron Rolheiser
gratitude. Her route to faith,
Jesus and the poor was rather
unorthodox. In the years prior
to her conversion she was an
atheist, a communist, a woman
ideologically opposed to the
institution of marriage and a
woman who had had an abortion. Her turning to God and
to the poor happened when
she gave birth to her daughter,
Tamar Theresa, and experi-
enced in the joy of giving birth
a gratitude that seared her soul.
In her autobiography, “The Long
Loneliness,” she describes how,
at seeing her baby daughter for
the first time, she was so overcome with gratitude that a faith
and love were born in her that
never again left her. Her passion
for God and the poor were fueled by that.
She was also an earthy saint.
She will, no doubt, be the first
canonized saint whose photographs show a woman with a
cigarette in her mouth. She’s a
saint for our time. She showed
us how we can serve God and
the poor in a very complex
world, and how to do it with love
and color.
OBLATE FATHER ROLHEISER, theologian, teacher and awardwinning author, is president of
the Oblate School of Theology in
San Antonio, Texas. He can be
contacted at ronrolheiser.com,
and on Facebook at facebook.
com/ronrolheiser.
Mission Statement
The mission of The Catholic Commentator is to provide news,
information and commentary to the people of the Diocese
of Baton Rouge, Catholics and their neighbors alike. In doing
so, The Catholic Commentator strives to further the wider
mission of the Church: to evangelize, to communicate, to
educate and to give the Catholic viewpoint on important
issues of the present day.
18
COMING EVENTS
September 18, 2015
St. Elizabeth Harvest Festival – St. Elizabeth
Church, 119 Hwy. 403, Paincourtville, will host its harvest festival on Sunday, Sept. 20, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Call
985-369-7398.
40 Days for Life will be held Monday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m.,
at St. George Church, 7808 St. George Dr., Baton Rouge.
For information, visit 40daysforlifebr.com, email 40day
[email protected] or call 225-242-0164.
St. Paul the Apostle fair –St. Paul the Apostle
Church, 3912 Gus Young Ave., Baton Rouge, will host its
fair on Sunday, Oct. 4, 10 a.m. – 6 pm. Call 225-383-2537.
Charismatic Mass – St. Joseph Church, 15710 Hwy.
16, French Settlement, will have a charismatic Mass on
Sunday, Sept. 27, 6:30 p.m. Call 225-698-3110.
Women in Spirit Meeting – Thursday, Sept. 24,
Pro Vita March for Life Pilgrimage Benefit Dinner
noon, at St. Joseph Cathedral Parish Activity Center,
Fourth and Main Streets, Baton Rouge. To RSVP, email
[email protected] or call 225-387-5928.
40 Days for Life Prayer Service – The fifth annual
interdenominational prayer service honoring the start of
– A Pro Vita dinner to raise awareness and money for
youth who cannot afford to attend the March for Life Pilgrimage in Washington, D.C., will be held on Thursday,
Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m., at Our Lady of Mercy Church Parish
Activity Center, 445 Marquette Ave., Baton Rouge. For
more information or to register, visit youthmarchforlife.
org or contact [email protected].
Life Fest – The Diocese of Baton Rouge will host Life
Fest on Saturday, Oct. 10, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the Bishop Robert E. Tracy Center Ballroom, 1800 S. Acadian
Thrwy., Baton Rouge. For information, visit mfldiobr.org
or call 225-242-0323.
Gentle Hands Memorial Service – Gentle Hands,
a ministry of St. Aloysius Church in Baton Rouge that
supports families what have suffered the death of a child
through miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death, will hold
a memorial service to remember those lives on Friday,
Oct. 2, 6:30 p.m., at St. Aloysius Church, 2025 Stuart Ave., Baton Rouge. For information, email4Gentle
[email protected].
PO Box 3316
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Complete presentation of Father Ssemakula’s book. Details/registration contact - [email protected].
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"a good day." Call 225-368-3100 for more
information.
THOMAS LUNDIN, CPA
Accounting and taxes for businesses,
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services. 30 years experience; professional, prompt and personal attention.
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the home, nursing homes and hospitals.
Licensed and bonded for private duty
care. 225-924-6098 or 225-667-0480.
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Donnie’s Furniture Repair & Upholstery. We do refinishing, repairs, caning,
painting of furniture and upholstery.
In business 43 yrs. Pick up and delivery.
10876 Greenwell Springs Rd. 225-2722577. See our showroom.
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pickup and delivery, free estimates, expert economical repair on all brands.
225-924-4337 or www.davesbicyclerepair.
com.
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money is mentioned. The ad must also state if there is an investment required.
PRESSURE WASHING
Patios, driveways, walks, carports, etc.
Retired male. Call 225-276-1841
Anthony's Furniture Specialties. We
restore hurricane damaged furniture.
If it's furniture we do it all! Refinishing,
re-upholstery, pick up and delivery, etc.
2263 Florida Blvd., BR. 225-413-2607.
HOUSEKEEPER
Mature, Dependable
20+ Years Experience. References.
Debbie
225-266-7655
legal notice
Anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of Rhonda Lynn Weil (nee Eiilis)
is asked to contact the Diocesan Tribunal
at 225-336-8755.
If you have something to sell, someone
to hire, a house for rent or sale, need a
housekeeper or someone to care for your
child, place an ad in the Classifieds!
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September 18, 2015
VIOLENCE 
From page 1
we sit back and witness more
senseless violence?
“A part of what is happening is that people want to shift
the responsibility of their anger
and bad behavior onto others,”
explained Doris Dawson, a licensed professional counselor
with Family Services of Greater
Baton Rouge.
Dawson, who has extensive
experience in counseling, including training under the respected
Duluth Model for treatment of
domestic violence offenders,
emphasized that unless there is
evidence of a true mental health
disorder, people must take responsibility of their behavior
and “be able to own it.”
Dawson noted that in many
people, this intense anger, which
causes poor choices, has been
displaced.
“What I mean by displaced is
that people bring to situations
grudges, antagonisms, fury and
indignations. I think they take
it from one situation and bring
it into a different scene, then
when something that is totally
irrelevant to what that person
has experienced someplace else
occurs, it tips that person off and
that person acts in that (violent)
way,” she explained.
Dawson added that at one
time in our society, the worst
thing people would do is have a
fist fight, then they were on their
way.
However, the ease of getting a
gun has changed everything.
“I really have strong feelings
about our right to bear arms. I
believe we have that right, but
I do believe that not everybody
knows how to handle a gun,” said
Dawson, who added that as a nation, we must have a different
type of system in place to screen
and guarantee that people with
mental health disorders and
criminal backgrounds do not get
guns.
Dawson noted that some violent behavior is a reflection of
poor impulse control. This can
happen when a person gets so
angry that he or she loses control
and simply acts on feelings. In
this case, a person has no sense
of understanding good or bad
consequences, of determining
right from wrong.
However, this is not an excuse.
“Our life consists of nothing
but choices and the consequences that we serve as a result of
those choices. If you make good
choices, you will have good consequences,” explained Dawson,
who noted many people are in
prisons because of poor choices.
According to Dawson, a
prime source for those choices,
anger, comes from many places.
For some, the feelings come from
the media, where watching images of shooting and other violent acts can desensitize one to
the real pain and grief associated
with these behaviors.
The media can also be especially troublesome for teens and
young children.
“(They) look at TV, and the
same person who died last week
is back on the screen this week.
So, you have a distorted view, and
if you are young and impressionable, that distortion can desensitize you to how fatal death is. It
can be confusing,” said Dawson.
In addition to the media,
Dawson said that some people
also develop deep anger issues
from sports. While some sports
enthusiasts believe that involvement in these physical games
can lessen feelings of anger for
many, Dawson noted that for a
select few, playing sports only
adds to their anger.
“You have some kids that
when they lose, they want to
fight. They get so entrenched
in winning. They don’t see the
sportsmanship or the camaraderie. Then others may be aggravated with someone (a team
member) who they feel didn’t do
his best.”
Coaches and other adults can
help with these issues, Dawson
said, but sometimes, adults, in
their role as parents, can un-
consciously transfer their anger
onto their children. Parental anger, which can come from many
sources, such as work, finances,
divorce or other family issues, is
very difficult for a child to discern, and interestingly, Dawson
noted that many adults trace
their own anger problems back
to childhood.
“Kids learn anger from their
parents,” she said. “We model
bad behavior and our children
pick it up and when they act it
out, we wonder whey they got
it from. They got it from us, the
people that they love who they
saw exhibit this behavior.”
Kids can develop anger from
other situations, such as being
bullied or watching the bad behavior of friends, or as Dawson
called it, “the streets.”
In some cases, this anger is not
seen for many years, and without
help, such as attending therapy
or learning life skills, that anger
can explode, possibly causing the
headlines we see today.
For Father Charles Landry,
pastor of St. Gabriel Church in
St. Gabriel, the violent behavior
we see in our society is a reflection of the violence some people
see in themselves.
Like Dawson, Father Landry
recognized the problem deeprooted anger causes in some
people, but he also feared that as
a society we are losing basic sense
of carrying for one another.
“I’m concerned that in our
society right now, we are asking the question, ‘What’s in it for
me?,’ and then if it’s not given, ‘I
have the right to get it,’ ” Father
Landry explained.
While this sense of self-rightousness can incur bad choices
and possibly violent behaviors,
Father Landry said we should
focus on our true calling as humans.
“We need to look to Jesus.
Jesus came to serve, not to be
served,” he explained.
By working for others and
serving one another, one can experience love and ultimately true
happiness.
“I learned early on that when I
did something for someone else,
I felt good. The joy in my life is to
watch someone else smile,” said
Father Landry.
He emphasized that as humans we have been given the gift
of free will so we have to discern
how we want to live. However,
if we base our free will by reading the Scriptures and ultimately
on love, then we decide that we
want to live with God.
“The beauty of our God is that
he is constantly calling us toward
him,” explained Father Landry,
who added that God’s love for us
is immense, and one way to feel
it is to love one another.
“Love isn’t love until you give
it away,” he said.
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ANNULMENT 
From page 1
Dedicated to Our Lady of the Cenacle
September 25-27
A Weekend of Prayer:
Refreshment for
Married Couples
Presenters: Lloyd and Jan Tate
October 3-4
Sept 17, 24; Oct 1,8
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September 22
Day of Prayer
Beginning the Year of Mercy
Accepting and Responding to
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Presenter: Rev. Doug Doussan
Two Day Prayer Experience
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Making Disciples for Jesus
Presenter:
Rev. John Baptist Bashobara
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nullity of marriages, but the
quickness of the processes, as
well as a correct simplicity” so
that Catholic couples are not “oppressed by the shadow of doubt”
for prolonged periods.
Father Counce explained that
the procedures announced by the
pope contain two basic differences. One is the new abbreviated
process, where if both parties are
not contesting the annulment
and are cooperating, then an annulment may be granted in as
little as five to six weeks.
In a significant shift, those decisions will be made by the local
bishop after consulting with the
tribunal.
The second major difference
occurs at the back end of the
more traditional process, where
no longer will each case be required to go to a mandatory appellate review. Father Counce
said that alone could lop off as
much as seven weeks or more off
a process that previously could
easily take a year or more, depending on the diocese.
Father Counce said the pope’s
emphasis is on being merciful
and pastoral and added the pontiff does not want Catholics to be
put off by the bureaucratic process or expense to obtain an annulment.
According to Father Counce,
the church will still challenge
couples to make difficult decisions but no longer make things
“more difficult in ways that were
simply uncalled for.”
“Frankly, our super cautious
approach over centuries has
sometimes simply been an obstacle in and of itself,” he added.
“We can find out the truth more
easily.”
Pope Francis said the changes
in the annulment process were
motivated by “concern for the
salvation of souls,” and particularly “charity and mercy” toward
those who feel alienated from the
church because of their marriage
situations and the perceived complexity of the church’s annulment
process.
Pope Francis also provided a
set of “procedural regulations”
outlining how his reforms are to
take place, encouraging bishops
in small dioceses to train personnel who can handle marriage
September 18, 2015
cases and spelling out specific
conditions when a bishop can issue a declaration of nullity after
an abbreviated process.
Those conditions include:
when it is clear one or both parties lacked the faith to give full
consent to a Catholic marriage;
when the woman had an abortion
to prevent procreation; remaining in an extramarital relationship at the time of the wedding or
immediately afterward; one partner hiding knowledge of infertility, a serious contagious disease,
children from a previous union
or a history of incarceration; and
when physical violence was used
to extort consent for the marriage.
Rather than wait until Dec.
8, Father Counce said the Diocese of Baton Rouge has already
stopped charging for annulments. He is also asking for patience as he and his staff develop
forms, flow charts and other administrative procedures to comply with the new process.
Father Counce said of the 110
annulments that passed through
the tribunal in 2014, up to 70
could have qualified for the new
abbreviated process.
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September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
1B
Your Catholic Wedding
Photo by Kleinpeter Photography
Special Supplement of
September 18, 2015
2B
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
When planning a wedding, couple must adhere to diocesan policies
A couple choosing to marry in the Catholic Church
should realize that their wedding is more than a public
display; it is a sacrament.
A well-planned liturgy gives insight into the importance the couple has placed on their wedding. But there
are some diocesan policies that pertain to weddings.
In the Diocese of Baton Rouge, weddings are not permitted on Sunday or on holy days of obligation. Nor are
weddings, even without the nuptial Mass, permitted after
3 p.m. on Saturday or days preceding the holy days of obligation.
Weddings on other weekdays must be scheduled to begin no later than 8 p.m.
There is no diocesan norm prohibiting marriage during
Advent or Lent. But, where weddings are scheduled
during these times of the church year, the couple should
be advised to take into consideration the special nature of
these liturgical seasons. In practice, the décor and liturgical arrangements determined by the parish during these
seasons take priority over the environment desired by the
couple for the wedding.
In the Diocese of Baton Rouge, weddings are usually to
be celebrated in the parish church where either the bride
or groom has a domicile, quasi-domicile or month-long
residence. With the permission of the pastor of either the
bride or groom and the pastor of the place of the proposed
wedding, a wedding may take place in some other parish
church. With the additional permission of the proper religious superior, a wedding may take place in a chapel attached to a religious house.
Weddings may not be celebrated out-of-doors, in com-
mercial halls, secular facilities or private homes.
In the Catholic Church, a marriage of two Catholics
normally takes place within a Mass. For a serious reason,
a marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic may take place at a nuptial Mass. Permission may also
be granted for a Catholic and a non-baptized person to be
married at a nuptial Mass for a grave reason.
When either the bride or groom is not Catholic, the
couple is encouraged to choose a wedding liturgy that
does not include Communion.
The wedding liturgy is complete whether or not there
is a Mass.
The bride and groom are the ones receiving the sacrament and they are also the primary ministers of the
celebration. There are also many other ministers at the
wedding, each having a special role in the service. Care
should be given that those persons asked to be ministers
during the celebration have a clear understanding about
what they are being asked to do and that they are people
of faith.
Because the marriage ceremony is a public act of worship as well, it should reflect the communal nature of the
sacrament, with the guests serving not merely as spectators, but more as participants in the marriage celebration.
They are called upon to pray, to sing and to witness the
love of Christ in the church and in society, to be signs of
Christian love and support for the couple as they begin
their married life.
The couple is encouraged to choose the readings, prepare the general intercessions and select the music for the
wedding liturgy.
The Diocese of Baton Rouge recommends that music
be chosen that is technically correct and of good quality.
That which is cheap or a trite musical cliché should not
even be considered.
The music at weddings should serve to emphasize the
sacred event, not distract from it. Music at a particular
wedding must be judged on how well it will enable this
particular group of people present at this wedding to
express their faith. Some churches require adherence to
parochial guidelines for wedding music in hope that the
suggestions contained there will offer even more help in
planning the celebration of the wedding.
There are several books available that contain readings from sacred Scripture that would be appropriate in
planning for a wedding. These books also contain relevant commentaries on the readings to assist the couple in
choosing the readings and the Gospel that would be appropriate for their wedding.
September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
Faith helps keep couple together for 70 years
By Richard Meek
Their eyes met, yet no words
were required. They knew each
other’s thoughts, much in the
same way they have for the past
70 years.
Their memories may be fading but what remains clear is
the love Paul and Pat Davidson
have for each other, their family
and their faith, perhaps no surprise since their son, Father Al
Davidson, is pastor at St. Joseph
Church in Pierre Part and his
uncle, Pat’s brother, was Bishop
Warren Boudreaux, founding
bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.
“We both have good dispositions, and we enjoy life,” Pat
Davidson said as the couple sat
in the breakfast room of their
Baton Rouge home on a recent
summer morning and recalled
their early struggles, the challenges of raising eight children
and their secrets for a happy
marriage.
“Not that we don’t disagree
but one of us will eventually give
in because it’s not worth it. Life
is easy now,” she said, with a loving nod to her husband.
“We’ve always been together,”
said Paul Davidson, whose hand
seldom left his wife’s.
Introduced at the age of 12,
the couple began their married
lives seven years later while Paul
was still serving in the Navy and
Pat was finishing her education
at Touro Nursing School. The
couple married on Aug. 15, 1945,
three days after Japan surrendered, signaling an end to World
War II.
But their courtship was far
from traditional. Paul was raised
in Franklin and Pat in Berwick,
presenting a unique set of obstacles. But the challenges would
become even greater when Paul
was attending LSU and had to
hitchhike to see Pat in New Orleans.
Paul Davidson admitted he
and Pat did not date or see each
other often but the feelings in
his heart told him his future had
already been decided. While in
special training for the Navy in
Corpus Christi, Texas, they married.
Even their wedding required
some finagling. Paul Davidson
had to negotiate four hours off
from his commanding officer to
celebrate the wedding, time off
that the newlywed had to make
“We’ve always been together,” Paul Davidson, left, said of he and his
wife, Pat. The Davidsons recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of Father Al Davidson, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Pierre Part, who celebrated their anniversary Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral. Photo by Richard Meek | The Catholic Commentator
up later that night.
The process was even a bit
more complicated for Pat since
Touro’s policy at the time prohibited students from getting
married. But the school’s administration allowed three students
to get married, so she was off to
Corpus Christ with her mother
and one of her sisters.
“When I was getting off the
train, I thought what am I getting myself into,” Pat Davidson
recalled with a smile. “But I
knew that was what I wanted to
do. We had been going out for so
long we almost knew what the
other one was thinking.
“We had a lot in common. We
were both Catholic.”
After a short honeymoon in
Berwick, Paul Davidson shipped
out for six months and Pat returned to school. However their
lives would be dramatically altered not long after the wedding
when Pat learned she was pregnant.
Paul Davidson returned several months later and the couple moved to Baton Rouge, still
without a car. In fact, the Davidsons would not own an automobile until after their fourth child
was born.
Paul graduated in 1950 from
LSU with a degree in chemical
engineering and worked in that
field for several years. But with
eight children to feed, clothe and
pay for college educations, he
recognized the need for a more
financially lucrative career, so
he began what would become a
50-year odyssey in the life insurance business.
His reward is his children
have earned a combined 15 degrees, a fact he recounts with a
great deal of pride. Father Davidson, a later in life vocation,
even celebrated his parents’ recent 70th anniversary Mass at
St. Joseph Cathedral.
“After the fourth one was
born we were trying to be careful, do the right thing, try to be a
good Catholic,” Pat said. “When
I got pregnant again (there is a
two-and-half-year difference between her fourth and fifth child)
I started crying. It all worked
out.“
Raising eight children required patience but Pat said
keeping a routine was critical.
Paul would get up early and feed
the oldest four children while
baking 36 biscuits so they would
be ready for Pat when she was
getting the four youngest children ready for school.
Going out to dinner was rare
but the family ate dinner together every night. Pat said when
the kids saw Paul’s car coming
down the street, usually around
5 p.m., they knew it was time to
get home for dinner.
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3B
4B
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
Marriage coordinator key to successful church wedding
By Rachele Smith
Wedding websites and magazines
abound with reminders and lists of
things to do before saying “I do.” From
selecting the invitations to bridesmaid
dresses to choosing the music and the
wedding cake, the number of decisions
that must be made can, at times, seem
exhausting.
But for an engaged couple, getting
married in a Catholic church can actually be a blessing, in more ways than
one.
In the Diocese of Baton Rouge, as in
other dioceses across the country, many
churches provide assistance to the engaged couple through a marriage coordinator. While normally not responsible
for the couple’s marriage preparation,
the marriage coordinator helps the expectant bride and groom as well as their
families in making decisions about the
wedding ceremony, assistance that may
actually make wedding planning easier.
Through the process, the sacrament
of marriage is preserved with the understanding that marriage in a Catholic Church reflects the union between
Christ and the church.
Cynthia Losavio, wedding coordinator at Christ the King Church in Baton
Rouge, explained that some couples
want to personalize their church marriage through such items as flowers,
dress and music. Although there are
some places in the ceremony where
this can be done, Losavio emphasized
that ultimately the focus must be on the
sacrament and on the couple as they exchange their vows.
“Everything we do (in planning for
the sacrament of marriage) has reverence for the sanctity of the space and
for the sacrament and the presence of
Jesus,” she said.
Losavio explained that typically couples want to decorate the church with
flowers and other elements, and while
these can be beautiful, sometimes they
are simply not allowed as they will take
away from the celebration of the sacrament. In addition, everything added to
the sacred place of the church must be
in line with the liturgical season.
“During Ordinary Time, most
churches already use greenery (in their
décor) so many brides will bring in simple flower arrangements,” noted Losavio, who added that in other seasons,
such as Christmas, most churches are
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already decorated with poinsettias and
other holiday arrangements, so there
would really be no need to bring in extra flowers.
Losavio said many couples like to
honor the role of the Virgin Mary by
bringing flowers to an area dedicated to
the Blessed Mother. This is not part of
the church rite, but many parishes allow it by putting “this in at an appropriate place so it doesn’t interrupt the
liturgy.”
At Christ the King, couples are encouraged to choose liturgical music
from an approved list. Many secular
songs, such as the traditional wedding
march, are not played in the church;
however, other songs the couple may
want to add, if suitable for a liturgical
celebration, can still be used for reflection, said Losavio.
In addition to offering suggestions
on music and flowers, wedding coordinators can also advise couples on other
elements of the celebration, including
Scripture selections, the use of a unity candle and the number and age of
children in the wedding party. Some
pastors may even encourage brides to
consider more conservative styles when
choosing their bridesmaid and bridal
gown dresses.
Since some church parishes can have
different regulations, Losavio recommended any couple planning to marry
in a Catholic church first contact the
pastor of the church where they would
like to marry and “ask any questions
beforehand.” Ultimately, the pastor,
in accordance with the diocese, determines how the marriage liturgy will be
celebrated in each parish.
September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
5B
Engaged Encounter offers spiritual approach to marriage
By Debbie Shelley
Love and romance are familiar to
engaged couples. A Catholic Engaged
Encounter (CEE) retreat allows them
to have a newer experience of love,
with God, who will cement their relationship as they prepare to partake in
an important sacrament of the church,
according to Eddie and Linda McClure,
local coordinating couple for CEE.
“A wedding is a day, a marriage is
a lifetime,” is CEE’s motto, Eddie McClure said.
Many people spend years preparing
for a successful career, and are the first
in line for job training. Couples spend
a lot of money and time preparing for
the wedding day. But how much time do
they take preparing to make their marriage last?” he asked.
The McClures, who have been married for more than 50 years and involved with CEE for 34, emphasized
how different CEE, which is recognized
nationally and internationally, is different from typical wedding plans because
it focuses on the covenant aspect of the
union of the two people. As highlighted
during the weekend, these couples are
in a period of betrothal, which comes
from Scripture.
“Betrothal is a time of spiritual
preparation, whereas engagement is
devoted to preparing for the wedding,
reception, honeymoon …,” Eddie McClure said.
A distraction-free atmosphere is
created during the weekend to help
couples focus exclusively on each other.
There are no group therapies or group
dynamics. Attendees are asked to put
their cell phones away, and the McClures receive many thanks from the
couples.
During the weekend, led by a team
of married couples and a priest, attendees are encouraged to privately talk
and reflect with each other on many aspects of marriage, from the viewpoint
of their own relationship. Among the
topics they have an opportunity to discuss include: their ambitions, attitudes
about God, sex, money, children, family
and their role in the church and community. The couples examine their own
individual personalities and combined
personalities in what is important to
them and how they handle different issues.
Members of a presenting team talk
about the sacrament of matrimony and
what it means to them individually and
how a great marriage can impact the
world, the McClures pointed out.
“This is not where we tell them what
to do,” said Eddie McClure, who said
the married couples offer their testimony and talk about the “lived experiences of marriage” to help CEE couples ex-
plore their attitudes and expectations.
Additionally, priests give reflections,
celebrate Mass and offer the sacrament
of reconciliation during the weekend.
“For some of them, it’s been years
since they’ve received the sacrament of
reconciliation,” said Linda McClure.
She noted that CEE is blessed to
have the support of Bishop Robert W.
Muench and the priests of the diocese.
Communication is a key issue addressed during a CEE weekend. The
couples receive information about active listening, conflict resolution and
sharing feelings.
They are further urged to address a
topic they have not discussed before the
weekend or struggle with.
Communication is the gateway to
intimacy, according to the McClures.
One of the most important intimate
relationships a couple can have is with
God.
“For the couple in love – who is love?
God is love,” said Eddie McClure. “You
are getting a couple at a time when they
are most open to God rather than just
being in love with each other.”
The time spent at CEE is the best gift
a couple can give and receive, according to those who attended a weekend.
“While the convenience and lower
cost of the Life Choice (one day precana program) was admittedly appealing, Lindsay and I did not want to miss
out on the opportunity to fully separate
ourselves from the distractions of our
busy lives in order to engage with one
another as we prepared for our lives
together,” said Eric Guerin. “Our open
and honest dialogue highlighted the
strengths of our relationship and emphasized areas for growth. It was wonderful to share the weekend with other
couples of our faith who also wanted to
deepen their relationship with one another and with God. It was the best gift
we have ever given each other.”
The next CEE weekend is Friday, Nov.
13 – Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Bishop Robert E. Tracey Center, 1800 S. Acadian
Thwy. For information and to register,
visit ceeofbr.org or call 225-337-2214.
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6B
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
Preparation programs offered by the Diocese of Baton Rouge
Contact your parish priest early in the
engagement so that he may assist you in
preparing for the sacrament of matrimony and recommend appropriate marriage
preparation programs offered through
the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Church parishes have all the forms necessary for
these programs. It is suggested that a couple participate in one of these programs
during the first months of their engagement in order to get the greatest benefit
from them.
Engaged Encounter
What is it? A weekend with an atmosphere that allows each couple to concentrate exclusively on one another, free
of the tensions and interruptions of the
world. It allows for engaged couples to
dialogue honestly and intensively about
their prospective lives together, including
their attitudes about money, sex, children
and their role in the church and society.
For whom is program appropriate?
Engaged couples marrying in the church
Time: Friday at 7:30 p.m. until Sunday
at 4:00 p.m.
Place: Bishop Robert E. Tracy Overnight Retreat Center and various other
locations
Reception Hall
Cost: $210 per couple
Number of participants: 25-32 couples
Contact: Engaged Encounter at 225337-2214 or get more information online
at www.ceebr.org.
Life Choice
What is it? A one-day workshop similar
in content to Engaged Encounter weekend.
The Life Choice (Pre-Cana) experience
combines talks and workshops without the
overnight stay. Couples have an opportunity to work on their relationship and explore various topics, including communication, finances, natural family planning,
sacrament, morality and sexuality.
Engaged couples marrying for the first
time
Time: Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Place: Bishop Robert E. Tracy Center,
1800 S. Acadian Thruway, Baton Rouge
Number of participants: About 35-40
couples (Register early as weekends fill
quickly.)
Contact: Shannon Baldridge, Diocesan
Marriage and Family Life Department
225-242-0323 or register online at mfldio
br.org/marriagepreparation.
Natural Family Planning
What is it? Natural family planning is a
way to postpone or achieve pregnancy by
observing the changes in a woman’s body
that naturally indicate her time of fertility
and using the information accordingly.
All engaged or married couples
Time and Place: Varies within the diocese; call the Diocesan Marriage and
Family Life Department 225-242-0164
Cost: varies
Number of Participants: Individual or
group
Contact: Call Danielle VanHaute, Diocesan Marriage and Family Life Department, 225-242-0164; or register online at
mfldiobr.org/natural-family-planning.
Remarriage Program
What is it? A program for engaged couples who have been married before and
are in a position to marry in the church.
Couples meet with a mentor couple to
discuss communication, friendship, former spouses, step-families, family background, step-parenting, conflict, money
management, sexual love and sacramental marriage.
We work with our clients to
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Our venue can be set up as
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Our food is prepared fresh
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Previously married couples able to be
married in the church
Time: Varies
Place: Sponsor couple’s home
Number of participants: Varies
Contact: Shannon Baldridge, Diocesan Marriage and Family Life Department 225-242-0323
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September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
7B
Marriage is a sacrament of God’s love
By Rachele Smith
A wedding celebration is often a happy and joyous occasion.
With family and friends “saving
the date,” a full agenda of parties
and other planning details in
full swing for many months, the
ceremony itself can become just
another social event.
But for the Catholic Church,
getting married is more than
just a date on a social calendar. It
is a sacrament and a visible sign
of God’s love.
Darryl Ducote, director of
the Office of Marriage and Family Life for the Diocese of Baton
Rouge, said since the Catholic
Church values marriage so highly, it wants to make sure that
couples considering a life together are ready, both spiritually and
psychologically.
As such, each couple wanting
to marry within the sanctions of
the Catholic Church must complete certain requirements to receive the sacrament of marriage.
This marriage preparation,
which should begin at least six
months before a planned wedding date, is designed to help a
couple in their chosen vocation
of marriage.
“The couple first meets with
their priest or deacon to see
if they are free to marry,” explained Ducote, who added that
some couples may be blocked
from a Catholic wedding if certain impediments, such as being
closely related or having a previous marriage are noted.
Couples who were married in
a civil ceremony but who would
still like a sacramental marriage
should also contact their priest
or deacon as soon as possible
as they must be married at least
six months before planning a
church wedding.
Once it is determined that a
couple is free to marry, they can
reserve a church.
Catholics wanting to receive
the sacrament must be married in a church. While some
may desire wedding ceremonies
conducted on the beach or in a
garden, the sacrament dictates
otherwise.
“(Marriage) is an act of worship and needs to be done in a
sacred place,” explained Ducote.
He said any Catholic wanting
to marry someone outside of the
faith must receive a dispensation to marry in a non-Catholic
worship space and have a clergy
member present as a witness.
In addition, before a marriage
takes place between a Catholic
and non-Catholic, Ducote noted
that the “Catholic party makes a
promise (with the acknowledgment of the partner) that they
will do everything in their power
to share their faith (with children).”
Within a certain time period
after meeting with their priest or
deacon, an engaged couple must
complete a pre-marital survey as
well as a pre-marriage program,
such as Engaged Encounter or “A
Redeeming State,” for those entering a second marriage.
The survey and programs are
designed to offer talking points
and possibly formation in handling difficult situations that
will, in the long run, help the
couple develop a lasting marriage.
Ducote added that one of the
last requirements in marriage
preparation is to meet with the
priest or deacon to plan the celebration of the liturgy.
In the past, Ducote said,
marriage preparation within
the Diocese of Baton Rouge often varied, albeit slightly, across
church parishes. However, at the
request of clergy, a committee
has been established to develop
a diocesan model that is more
consistent in purpose, content
and process.
While still in its infancy, the
committee has already established a concise purpose for
marriage preparation that includes not only providing basic
relationship skills, as proven by
scientific research, needed for
a successful marriage, but also
instruction in the unity of marriage and its role in the church.
Another purpose for marriage preparation developed in
this committee involves bring-
ing the basic message of God’s
love back to couples, something
Ducote noted is needed.
“A lot of couples come in and
don’t have a good faith anymore,
but they still want to get married
in the church,” he said.
For some it may be that they
just want a beautiful church
setting for their wedding while
others may realize from their
childhood instruction that this
is something that they just need
to do.
Marriage preparation, however, provides the perfect opportunity to “rekindle their faith,”
Ducote noted, and encourage
them to get involved in the community of the Catholic Church
once again.
Church ceremony blesses couples married in civil services
By Michelle Martin
Catholic News Service
CHICAGO – Couples who were married in civil ceremonies or had been
living together for years are taking part
in marriage preparation sessions and
retreats before participating in Catholic Church convalidation ceremonies to
bless their marriages.
In October 2013, a group of 10 couples who chose to participate in the sacrament of matrimony at St. Bede the
Venerable Church in Chicago were told
they were a living witness to the power
of love.
Father Esequiel Sanchez, pastor of
St. Bede, said: “I believe in you. I believe
you will teach the world what love truly
looks like.”
The Wedding of Cana program in the
Chicago Archdiocese aims to help couples understand the power of love – the
love God has for them and that they have
for each other.
Other dioceses have held similar ceremonies. There have been several in the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, according
to Monica Valencia, the archdiocese’s
director of media relations. In the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, one marriage convalidation ceremony included
63 couples, according to Deacon Arturo
Monterrubio, director of the Family Life
Ministry Office there. Another had 34
couples, although most group convalidation ceremonies include between two
and 10 couples.
During the convalidation Mass in
Chicago, the priest reminded the couples
that marriage is a lifelong commitment
to offer sacrificial love.
Before the ceremony, the couples
gathered in the church basement to line
up for the procession and to greet one
another.
Angela and Rodolfo Garcia said they
wanted to set a good example for their
young daughters, ages 5 and 1, and to get
closer to God.
“I’m really happy we did it,” said Angela Garcia, who has been married civilly to Rodolfo for 11 years. “It’s just an
experience that’s beyond words.”
Part of that, she said, was getting to
know the other couples who were part
of the ceremony. “It’s like a family,” she
said.
Helen and David Curtis were married in a civil ceremony 12 years ago.
They decided to go through with the
sacrament of matrimony to have a deeper connection with the Catholic Church
– Catholics who live together without
a sacramental marriage can not take
Communion – and to set an example for
their two daughters, ages 17 and 20, who
were raised Catholic and received all of
their sacraments of initiation.
“We were missing something,” David
Curtis said. “We were missing God in
our lives.”
They didn’t get married in the church
years ago because they didn’t think they
could afford a church wedding with all
the trimmings, Helen Curtis said.
“It was like, you have to have $30,000
to have a wedding,” she said.
While none of the couples in the 2013
ceremony had to break the bank for the
wedding, most of the women appeared
in white bridal gowns, carrying flowers,
with the men in suits or tuxedos. The
church was decorated with flowers, and
the music was provided by the church.
Several couples said they had small receptions or family dinners planned for
after the ceremony.
Father Sanchez said that it was right
to celebrate.
“We are filled with great joy because
we have 10 new families who are in full
communion with the church,” he said.
If experience serves as a guide, he
said, those families will be active parishSEE CIVIL PAGE 12B
8B
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
Need not be present to attend today’s weddings
WASHINGTON (CNS) —
The slogan “you must be present to win” certainly does not
apply to today’s weddings.
That’s because modern technology can enable guests to
virtually attend weddings they
cannot go to in person. These
guests don’t have to choose
whether to sit on the bride’s or
groom’s side or even dress up,
for that matter. They also don’t
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have to travel across country,
to another country or even stay
a few days in a far-away locale.
These “guests” also can see
the wedding right as it is happening, not days or weeks later, as was the case with videotaped weddings from days gone
by.
The modern bride and
groom have plenty of tools at
their disposal for sharing their
big day with far-flung friends
and family. An actual wedding
guest can set up a video call
through Skype or FaceTime or
film the wedding on a webcam
or video camera and broadcast
the footage though online sites
such as Google Hangout or
YouTube.
Couples can also use professional services such as
Idostream.com or mystream
ingwedding.com that offer the
necessary equipment including
a camera, tripod and even a
laptop with built-in broadband
wireless in case the wedding
site doesn’t have an Internet
connection. They also offer
professional videographers.
As part of the fee involved,
these services also provide
technical support to those recording the event and viewer
support for those watching the
ceremony.
The sites enable guests to
log on to a site and watch as the
wedding takes place.
Other couples use Ustream
and Livestream to broadcast
their wedding. With this service, the footage is sent to a
password-protected channel
that invited guests can access.
Although
live-streaming
weddings is the latest trend in
videotaping or photographing
the wedding should strive to
respect the sacred nature of the
liturgy.
It also notes that cameras
should not be positioned where
they might interfere with or
The modern bride and groom have
plenty of tools at their disposal for
sharing their big day with far-flung
friends and family.
the digital age where people
are eager to share all of their
big and even small moments
with close friends and those
only close through Facebook
connections, the tool shouldn’t
take away from the ceremony
itself.
Catholic weddings have specific guidelines about wedding
photography and videography
and individual parishes will no
doubt indicate these policies to
the bride- and groom-to-be.
The website catholicwed
dinghelp.com, sponsored by
the Catholic newsweekly Our
Sunday Visitor, notes that a
general stipulation for wedding photographers and videographers to remember is
that a Catholic wedding is “first
and foremost a liturgy that is,
the public prayer of the whole
church, not just a private ceremony for those present. People
distract from the liturgy. For
example, the area around the
altar is off-limits and use of the
center aisle is most likely discouraged.
Most Catholic churches
don’t allow the use of flash or
artificial lighting during the
wedding ceremony and ask
that furniture, flowers, plants
and candles remain in place.
St. Mary’s Church in Grand
Rapids, Michigan even encourages photographers and videographers to be familiar with
the Catholic rite of marriage as
part of their preparation.
It notes in its wedding guidelines that the “use of the church
for pictures is a privilege, not a
right of either the couple or the
photographer. All photography
or video before, during or after
the liturgy must respect the sacredness of the sacrament and
of the church.”
September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
9B
Deacon dads have special roles at children’s weddings
MILWAUKEE (CNS) — Deacon Dale Paczkowski
proudly walked his daughter Lisa down the aisle for her
wedding. Dressed in a tuxedo, he was on one side of Lisa
while his wife, Lucy, was on the other. After presenting
Lisa to Patrick Defors, her husband-to-be, he walked into
the sanctuary and into the sacristy where he performed
an almost superhero feat in record time.
“I had the best man help me change from my tux into
my vestments,” said Deacon Paczkowski, ordained a permanent deacon in the Milwaukee Archdiocese just two
months before his daughter’s November 2012 wedding.
“I came out after that, and a few of my relatives didn’t
know who I was, and were wondering why the presider
was late. It was exciting, but a little difficult to pull off.”
While he was hoping Lisa would ask him to preside at
the wedding at Three Holy Women Church in Milwaukee, he was ill prepared for the overwhelming swath of
emotions the family felt.
He said his daughter cried because she was happy and
excited, and he was amazed that he somehow managed
to get through the ceremony without crying.
As a deacon at Holy Family Church in Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, Deacon Paczkowski understands his primary
role as a deacon is to serve the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the lonely.
But in a church faced with a critical shortage of priests,
he and other deacons preach, baptize, conduct funerals
and communion services and witness weddings. With
the majority of deacons, married with families, juggling
life at home, jobs and church can be creative.
Much of the time, Lucy sits alone in the pew while her
husband preaches. She sat alone the day he presided at
their daughter’s wedding.
Stating that she is not a jealous bride, Lucy explained
that she made the journey through the diaconate with
her husband and the relationship between the two of
them and God continues to grow.
“His role as a deacon is an extension of our lives together,” she said. “It is the three of us working together.”
Dale Nees, deacon at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in
Racine, Wisconsin, recently presided over his son Peter’s
marriage to Errin. Since his daughter-in-law is Lutheran, the wedding wasn’t during a Mass, but he witnessed
the wedding ceremony.
“It is so hard to put into words how I felt. It was very
emotional. The whole preparation and getting ready for it
was very special to all of us. I did have the overwhelming
sense of how God had been working in both their lives
to bring them to that time and place to affirm their love
in God’s name. It was our love as parents that led us to
baptize them and nurture their faith life.”
He said the dual role of father and the person officiating at the ceremony requires balance to keep everything
together.
“And for me, it is a joy to be able to serve in those different capacities. I am always a deacon, no matter what
situation I am in,” he said. “I think that really is why it is
more about who you are than what you do.”
The formation director for permanent deacons in the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Deacon John Ebel has a son,
Christopher, who likely will be getting married soon.
While he is open to presiding at the wedding, he said he
is just fine being the dad.
“I don’t mind being the dad at the wedding,”he said.
“That is OK, too, and it is a big role, too. After all, I was
dad before I was deacon.”
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10B
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
Sharing faith is key part of married life
WASHINGTON (CNS) — When couples get married, they find they suddenly
share almost everything, but at the top of
that list should be faith, say marriage advisers.
Expressing faith together as a married
couple improves trust, communication
and each spouse’s relationship with God,
said Lauri Przybysz, coordinator of marriage and family life for the Archdiocese
of Baltimore.
“It is never too soon to practice a deeper spirituality in one’s marriage,” she said.
“At any time in a person’s married life, you
can take your relationship to a new level.”
She urges couples to learn about one
another’s prayer devotions and to be open
to differences in spirituality.
The challenge comes from the various
ways individuals practice spirituality, she
noted. While one spouse may have grown
up praying the rosary for instance, another may not have a strong tradition with
that prayer.
Przybysz said when her husband asked
her to pray the rosary before a long road
trip it took her a while to get used to that
request. Now, if he forgets to start the
prayer, she will often ask, “Aren’t we going
to pray the rosary?”
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Since prayer “is such an intimate
thing,” Przybysz said, couples may be shy
or need some guidance to practice praying
together. She suggested going on a retreat
together or attending a talk at a parish or
campus ministry.
“The couple could practice looking
into each other’s eyes and saying out loud
something they would normally say to
God,” she said.
In an online article on the U.S. bishops’
website, foryourmarriage.org, Przybysz
stressed that many couples even when
they are brought up in the same faith still
have different approaches to spirituality.
She also noted that these practices equip
them to overcome challenges and include
God during tough times.
In the book, “How to Pray with Your
Spouse: Four Simple Steps,” author Chris
Stravitsch compares a couple’s spirituality to the celebration of Mass and says
couples should follow the four steps of the
liturgy with one another.
He suggests that they set aside time to
focus on each other and God while seeking forgiveness for hurting one another
during the past week. They should learn
about God together by reading Scripture
or talking about pressing issues.
“Step three is to share your love,” Stravitsch advised. “After discovering God
together, you deepen your prayer and
intimacy by sharing your love with each
other,” he wrote. He noted a simple kiss,
resting in one another’s arms or caring
for a sick spouse are some ways of sharing love.
Finally spouses should serve one another in the mundane tasks of daily life.
Couples ought to remember that intimacy
continues in cooking, cleaning, household
chores, listening and working.
Joann Heaney-Hunter an associate
professor of theology at St. John’s University in New York agreed. “In marriage, the
couple’s life, love and witness can make
Christ visible to others,” she wrote in the
essay, “Marital Spirituality” on the bishops’ marriage website.
She wrote that married couples have
the opportunity to demonstrate total
commitment to another person. She said
couples create sacramental communities
when they build a life of sharing with each
other, with their families, with local communities, with the church.
A strong prayer life can nourish a couple’s commitment to one another. The
marriage website also offers many suggestions for improving the married relationship by taking turns choosing favorite
Scripture passages to reflect upon each
week, choosing a service project to do together or reading at least one book about
healthy relationships.
For Przybysz, the most important aspect for couples sharing their faith is to
find a way to appreciate the other’s spirituality. It often takes courage, humility
and kindness to invite one’s spouse to a
deeper relationship with God, she said.
“Married people need to go gently forward especially with a reluctant spouse,”
she said. The invitation to grow in faith
must not be a demand, but instead a charitable invitation, she added.
Then, the spouse who sees God in the
other will see the true beauty that comes
from a relationship with God.
September 18, 2015
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
A dream wedding
need not be a
financial nightmare
WASHINGTON (CNS) —
Somewhere along the line weddings became expensive celebrations.
Some people have long
dreamt about the exotic weddings they want or else they feel
pressured to go this route by
friends and family.
But such plans ring up a huge
tab that might need some reconsideration.
Although the U.S. Catholic
bishops have not spoken directly about wedding spending,
their website, foryourmarriage.
org, asks couples to think twice
about the bottom line in this celebration.
Although costs vary by region, the average modern wedding costs between $20,000 and
$25,000.
Hold on a minute, the bishops’ website essentially says,
asking couples in the section
“Budgeting for Your Wedding”
to consider what they want their
wedding to say about them and
their values.
The article asks some pointed
questions such as:
Are you willing to go into
debt, or put family members in
debt, because of this wedding?
Are you willing to focus time
and energy on the details of a
lavish wedding? Will this reduce
the attention you can pay to preparing for the marriage itself?
Do you feel comfortable with
the amount you plan to spend?
Have you considered this in relation to the needs of people in
your community?
The online article suggests
that, as with many things, moderation is key: “If you have a feeling that wedding expenses are
getting out of hand, they probably are.”
The site suggests that couples
ask for donations to a local food
bank or food pantry or that the
couple make a donation from
their wedding gifts to the parish’s social outreach committee.
It also urges couples to seek
practical ways to trim costs on
the wedding ceremony and reception.
Advice on trimming wedding
budgets is as plentiful as the
styles of flower arrangements
couples can choose from for
their big day. Bridal magazines
and blogs are full of do-it-yourself wedding ideas and how to
get married on a budget.
Some couples are going green
by using second-hand wedding
dresses or reception decorations. Others are assembling
their own wedding invitations,
making their own centerpieces
and flower arrangements.
The Knot, a website with wedding ideas and resources for engaged couples, says its top piece
of advice in trimming wedding
costs is to cut the guest list which
would reduce catering costs and
save on invitations and the number of centerpieces.
It also advised having the
wedding during an off-peak
season and not marrying on the
most expensive slot of the week,
Saturday night.
The site also notes that there
are plenty of ways to cut costs
on reception food and drink. It
urges couples to skip the main
course and just supply appetizers and drinks or offer beer, wine
and a signature cocktail instead
of a full bar. It also suggested ordering a small one- or two-tiered
cake for show that could be supplemented with a larger sheet
cake for guests to eat.
As for printing costs, the site
suggests ordering single-page
invitations and emailing “save
the date” notices.
These budget trims do not
need to take anything away from
the special day itself.
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11B
12B
CIVIL
From page 7B
ioners and faithful participants
at Masses.
Many of them have felt the
lack of connection with the
church, whether by not taking
Communion at Mass or by being ineligible to serve as a godparent or confirmation sponsor.
Bringing them back to full communion is a joy for the church
as well as for the couples, who
might have a greater understanding of what they are doing
than other couples, who never
had the experience of disconnection.
It’s not a decision that is for
everybody. Eighteen couples
CATHOLIC WEDDINGS
September 18, 2015
started the Chicago archdiocesan program in 2013 and eight
couples decided not to finish.
Some, Father Sanchez said,
were dealing with problems in
their marriages already. Others simply did not feel ready
to make a permanent commitment to their spouses.
The important thing is not
to judge the couples – whether
they go through with the sacrament of matrimony or not.
“There is no judgment, no
stigma,” the priest said. “Quite
the opposite. There is a lot of
support and a lot of prayer for
them. Our focus is not so much
to marry people as to educate
them about what marriage is.
It’s life-changing for them.”
Reception & Conference Center
The Davidson’s eight children asked those attending their parents’ recent 70th wedding anniversary to
share a few of their special memories. Also pictured are the newlyweds 70 years ago when Paul Davidson
was still in the Navy. Photo provided by Judy Owens
COUPLE 
From page 3B
“You didn’t get it if you didn’t,” Paul quickly inserted.
Mass was also a challenge, because of having
such a large family. So similar to the breakfast
routine, Paul would take four children to one Mass
and Pat take the other four at a different time.
“I can’t stand to sit behind someone with a baby
in church and crying,” Pat said “And I was not going to put somebody through that. Until they were
old enough to really behave we were not going to
take them to church.”
But they made time for the family to pray together, usually before the children went to bed at
night.
“We would not have made it without (faith),”
Paul said. “One thing we always said we never
had enough money but the Lord provided us with
enough that we needed. “
The Davidsons also have sage advice for young
couples to consider even before getting married.
“In the first place, before you marry somebody,
you got to know a little bit about what they like and
what they don’t like,” Pat said. “And whether you
can get along with what you do and what you don’t
want to do.
“A lot of these young people, I don’t think they
have any idea about who they marry.”
Once married, the couple advised a husband
and wife must be prepared to compromise and
never go to bed mad.
“She’ll even wake me up to kiss me good night,”
Paul said. And he joked that the secret to a successful marriage is to keep separate checking accounts.
“I take of mine; you take care of yours,” Pat Davidson agreed.
Financially, they may live out of separate accounts but when it comes to love for another, and
for their family, the Davidsons live from one heart.

September 18 - The Catholic Commentator

Transcription

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