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
Our brother’s keeper
CHARLOTTE — Boys living with HIV. Toddlers with disabilities abandoned by their families. Men who are mentally or physically disabled. These are the people a group of St. Ann parishioners recently traveled halfway around the world to care for in Warangal, India.
St. Ann Parish is a longtime supporter of the Missionaries of the Poor, a community of religious men who serve the poorest of the poor, people who have been cast off from society, in missions all over the world – in India, Jamaica, the Philippines, Africa, and even here in the Diocese of Charlotte in Monroe.
For the past three years parishioners have donated $100,000 to pay school fees for orphans and provide support to the Missionaries of the Poor in southern India, which runs two missions: Divine Mercy Orphanage, which cares for boys who contracted HIV at birth, and the House of Joy, a home for disabled boys and men. Parishioners visited the homes last month on an unforgettable mission trip that took them 17,000 miles from Charlotte to Warangal.
Lucie Tonon, whose husband Deacon Peter Tonon serves St. Ann Parish, was among the missioners.
“On this mission trip we worked in the apostolate and took a few side trips,” Tonon says, to see how St. Ann’s donations have been put to good use.
The Tonons have been longtime supporters of the Missionaries of the Poor, traveling to their centers in Jamaica, Haiti and Uganda over the past 14 years. She also helps the brothers with their mission in Monroe. Father Richard Ho Lung, founder of the Missionaries of the Poor, even asked her to manage the Holy Innocents Project in Jamaica, designed to house pregnant women and children.
Tonon admits she did not really want to go India. “In fact, I said ‘no, thank you’ three times prior to going this time. This year no one asked me to go, but I felt God calling me to go and to trust Him.”
Lucie Tonon colors with a resident at the House of Joy. St. Ann missioners, pictured at Christ the King Monastery, worked with the Missionaries of the Poor in India. (Photos provided by Father Timothy Reid)But the impact this mission trip and others have had on her faith is huge, she says. “The Lord teaches you something each and every time you go. Sometimes I feel it is one word, like a heightened sense of gratitude. When the poor are so appreciative of every little thing you give them, like a piece of paper and a crayon, why can’t we be appreciative of the things people give us in America?”
“The residents of these missions are your teachers, who give you lessons if you just watch them. Many residents have been left at the hospital or in the street by their family when the brothers pick them up. Their new family becomes their fellow residents and the brothers,” she explains.
What also touches her is how the residents who can walk fetch wheelchairs for those who can’t walk, and then happily bring those residents to the table to eat. “They care for each other like healthy families care for one another,” she says.
These mission trips “take you out of your comfort zone” but are very gratifying, says St. Ann’s pastor, Father Timothy Reid.
“We do whatever the brothers need us to do,” Father Reid says.”It’s nice to take the material blessings that we have and share them over there. I feel good about St. Ann supporting this mission, because we are not just supplying blankets, we’re sharing our faith.
“It enkindles more deeply the virtue of charity. Doing this type of trip brings out the very best in people. They become more generous. It increases their gratitude.”
Parishioners Chris and Steve Brunhuber also accompanied Tonon and Father Reid on the mission. For Chris, this was her second mission trip to India. She has also served on mission in Jamaica with the Missionaries of the Poor.
Brunhuber says of the difficult circumstances that have led to the boys and men being abandoned by their families, “It is heartbreaking, but through the brothers’ calling they truly live up to what the Lord calls us to do and that is to be ‘our brother’s keeper.’ The Missionaries of the Poor truly exemplify this phrase.”
She and Steve like to go on mission trips “because we enjoy serving others who are less fortunate and we enjoy supporting the Missionaries of the Poor. These experiences helped us grow spiritually and help us learn to see Christ in the eyes of all the people we serve.”
St. Ann parishoner Steve Brunhuber helps a resident while on mission in January at the House of Joy in Warangal, India.Brunhuber admits that she “never truly understood that expression until I became involved in these mission trips and worked directly with the people who needed love and kindness so much.”
“Although we have participated in other charitable outreach situations locally, these experiences have helped heighten our awareness of what is going on in the world, and whether we are giving locally or internationally we are trying to live by the fact that we are our brother’s keeper,” she says.
Tonon reflects on their mission experience, adding, “The brothers teach you how to pray and how to give God the glory in all they do. The brothers are dedicated servants, taking absolutely nothing for their time and hard work. They do what they do for the love of the Lord. They give all of themselves.
“So I come back each time and ask the Lord to teach me how to be more dedicated to Him, just one little step. Can I be obedient like the brothers? Can I love a little more or be a little more selfless? Can I remember the importance of praying before I do every little thing?”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior Reporter