Bishop Jugis celebrates World Day for Consecrated Life Feb. 2
CHARLOTTE — The annual Mass for the World Day For Consecrated Life this year fell on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Feb. 2.
The sunny day lent itself to an outdoor ceremony, where Bishop Peter Jugis performed a rite of blessing of candles for Candlemas. He also blessed dozens of the religious brothers and sisters who gathered for Mass, sprinkling them with holy water before everyone processed, candles in hand, into St. Patrick Cathedral.
The annual Mass is an opportunity for Bishop Jugis to thank the religious men and women from across the Diocese of Charlotte for their decades of service to Christ and His Church.
Religious men celebrating special jubilee anniversaries this year include two Benedictine monks from Belmont Abbey in Belmont: Father Francis Forster and Father Arthur Pendleton (55 years).
Religious women celebrating special jubilee anniversaries include: Mercy Sister Mary Julia Godwin, Mercy Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally, and Mercy Sister Mary Agnes Solari (70 years); Sister of Providence Katherine Francis French and Sister of St. Joseph Emma Yondura (50 years); and Sister Sheila Richardson, ESA, and Sister Ginsy Simon, SVP (25 years).
During his homily, Bishop Jugis noted that this year is the 22nd anniversary of the World Day for Consecrated Life, which was instituted by St. John Paul II in 1997.
He told the religious men and women that “You are sacred to God as consecrated persons because of your special vocation of consecrated life.”
Bishop Jugis explained that the word sacred seems to say a lot more than just “holy to God,” or “dedicated to God” or “devoted to God” – all of which are indeed true of the consecrated life. But the use of the word sacred means that there is something more being communicated.
“You are sacred to God,” he told them.
He noted that Catholics appreciate the connection between the feast of Mary and Joseph consecrating their child to God and the Church’s celebration of consecrated life. Both are declarations of someone who is sacred to God – consecrated to Him.
“It is such a beautiful vocation, such a beautiful calling to which you have responded so generously and are living so faithfully, because you do have a very special role to play in the Church as a witness to that holiness,” Bishop Jugis said.
We should pray for God to give the grace of a vocation to consecrated life to more young men and women, he said, so that this vocation of sacredness is able to shine forth even more beautifully, more powerfully, in even greater numbers in the Church today.
“More young people need to be, by our prayers, encouraged; asking God to embrace the vow of poverty, renouncing personal ownership of material possessions to be totally for God,” he said. “To embrace the vow of chastity, renouncing marriage and children and family life for the sake of the Kingdom of God, to be totally free for God.”
More young people need to embrace the vow of obedience, renouncing one’s own willfulness to bring one’s will into conformity to God’s Will, he continued. This is what it means to be sacred and totally for God, he explained: to belong completely to Him without any other distractions.
“Such a beautiful and powerful vocation, and as the Church teaches, also essential to the life of the Church – the consecrated life,” he continued. It is “essential to the mission of the Church.”
“Before anyone can go out to be a witness for Christ in the world and to evangelize, we have to be holy. We have to know Christ. We have to be living in His love – because it is Christian life lived which is attractive to those who are drawn to the Church,” Bishop Jugis said.
People are not just drawn by the Word of God that is proclaimed to them, but what they see lived in the Christian life, the holiness of the Church – living in Christ’s love and having a personal relationship with the Savior.
“Truly, you consecrated persons are like a leaven in the Church, lifting up that call to holiness, lifting up that call to be sacred to God,” he told the consecrated women and men.
“That is something so beautiful, so attractive, which others outside of the Church, as they take a closer look, say, ‘I want that. Whatever it is they have, I want that holiness of the Church for myself also.’”
“You consecrated religious are a special, shining, brilliant, strong sign of that sacredness because of your consecrated life,” Bishop Jugis emphasized.
“Thank you for the witness of your consecrated lives, joyfully living in Jesus’ holiness and grace. We pray that you will continue to inspire all of us in this local Church to a closer following of Jesus,” he said.
At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop Jugis joined members of more than 11 religious communities from across western North Carolina in the Family Life Center at St. Patrick Cathedral for a luncheon in their honor.
One of the jubilarians this year, Providence Sister Katherine Francis French, has worked in both education and nursing over the past 50 years in several states. She is now serving parishes around the Charlotte diocese with their adult education needs.
She said of her religious vocation, “It’s been wonderful. I enjoy my relationship with the Lord and also the full sense of community, the comradery with sisters, no matter what religious order we belong to.”
She said she thinks there is something special when religious communities get together “that we feel that binds us together even though we are not in the same community.”
Sister Katherine said being a part of a community “is so special. It is a special charism that we share. Ours happens to be to honor Providence; that God is always watching out and taking care of you.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
