CHARLOTTE — Priests from the Diocese of Charlotte are gathering this week for two days of continuing education.
“One of the goals for us is to refresh and enhance our knowledge of the faith and our pastoral ministry skills,” said Father Patrick Hoare, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, who helps to organize the yearly event.
The speaker for this year’s annual colloquium, held June 21 and 22, is Father Robert Pesarchick, vice president for academic affairs and professor of systematic theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. Father Pesarchick earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a Master of Divinity from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary as well as his licentiate in sacred theology and doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is speaking on the Catholic theology of holy orders.
“We will be able to reflect on the nature of the priesthood and who the priest is called to be in God’s plan in the Church,” Father Hoare said.
The colloquium topic is especially appropriate this year, as the priests also gathered with Bishop Peter Jugis for Mass on June 21 to honor those priests who are celebrating jubilee anniversaries in 2018 and the two priests of the diocese who are retiring this year: Father Wilbur Thomas, pastor of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville, and Father Carl Del Giudice, pastor of Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte. Bishop Jugis offered Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte for the jubilarians and the retirees.
“We honor those celebrating their dedication and faithfulness to their call for orders,” Father Hoare said.
These continuing education colloquiums allow pastors to grow in their faith and skills, and they also provide time for fellowship. The program is funded by the seminarian and priests’ continuing education collection that is taken up each year at Easter.
“We’re scattered across 46 counties in western North Carolina and we don’t spend a lot of time as priests together – depending on where we’re stationed,” Father Hoare said. “These meetings allow us to spend time together and catch up.”
— Kimberly Bender, Online reporter
CHARLOTTE — When St. Gabriel Church was researching opportunities to make a grant through its Pope Francis Initiative fund, the Sisters of Mercy Focus on Haiti was at the top of the list. An extension of the parish’s tithe, the fund seeks to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those in need through substantial one-time grants.
Pictured: St. Gabriel parishioners Chris Brown and Bryant Brewer joined Mercy Sister Jill Weber on a trip to Gros Morne, Haiti, to see the progress of the Sisters’ Mercy Focus on Haiti outreach efforts. (Photo provided by Chris Brown and Bryant Brewer)
“The Sisters of Mercy have been with St. Gabriel from its founding in 1957,” notes Father Frank O’Rourke, pastor. “Our Pope Francis Initiative and Mercy Focus on Haiti is a natural fit and keeps us together in service to the Kingdom.”
Following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the Sisters of Mercy chose the isolated city of Gros Morne for their Mercy Focus on Haiti outreach. This region of 150,000 has no paved roads and is a difficult, five-hour drive from Port-au-Prince. Many there live in extreme poverty. The $50,000 grant from St. Gabriel to the Sisters of Mercy supports a range of programs that help extremely poor women obtain the skills, resources and confidence to improve their lives.
St. Gabriel parishioners Chris Brown and Bryant Brewer joined Mercy Sister Jill Weber on a trip to Gros Morne in February to witness these programs in action. They shared their experience at a recent presentation, enlightened about the complexity of the issues in Haiti and the great value of supporting good stewards working directly with the Haitian people.
The group toured a school, a hospital, a home for the elderly, a center for women, and other programs run or supported by the Sisters of Mercy. They witnessed images of desperate poverty but also signs of hope and lives being changed.
Brewer recalled attending daily Mass in a church that is still only partially reconstructed from the 2010 earthquake. Even at this pre-dawn weekday Mass, priests, deacons, altar servers and many parishioners were present, with music and hymns in French Creole.
“Walking out of the Mass and seeing the sun rise in a country full of despair, you get a sense of hope,” he said.
Although the challenges are enormous and complex, Mercy Focus on Haiti is alleviating suffering among some of the most marginalized people on earth.
— Darby McClatchy, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Darby McClatchy is the communications coordinator for St. Gabriel Church.
Mercy Focus on Haiti
The Pathway to a Better Life program serves extremely poor single mothers who truly live without hope. They lack clean water and latrines, have leaky roofs and no source of regular income, and often go without food. This program provides training, support and materials to build skills and confidence to improve their lives and homes.
The Agronomy Program provides vital instruction on gardening, protecting crops and raising small livestock. One simple but highly effective example has been providing resources and instruction for making an insect trap that dramatically reduces sweet potato crop destruction.
Through the Chateau d’Eau program, 15 mountainside villages have been equipped with a 500-gallon rain collection cistern. In addition to providing a source of water for these isolated communities, the program helps prevent injuries common to children who trek steep hillsides carrying 5-gallon, 40-pound water jugs.
The Maison Bon Samaritan offers a place to sleep and an atmosphere of dignity and respect for 23 elderly and frail adults who don’t have a family and would otherwise sleep on the city streets.
For more detail and to learn about other Mercy Focus on Haiti programs, visit www.mercyfocusonhaiti.org.
PHILADELPHIA — Former Charlotte resident Leo Tiburcio, a seminarian studying for the priesthood with the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) in Philadelphia, was ordained a transitional deacon May 26 at the Miraculous Medal Shrine.
He was ordained by Bishop Alfonso Cabezas, CM, bishop emeritus of Villavicencio, Colombia.
“Vincentians are called to go out into the poor, to be humble, to be modest and to be zealous missionaries,” said Vincentian Father Emmet Nolan, formation director. “Vocation is born within the womb, and being ordained at the Miraculous Medal Shrine signifies how Mary always manages to manifest herself within the poor. In a time when the world has lost its way, Mary reveals herself through the seminarians that we are always very close to her heart.”
Tiburcio was vested with the deacon’s vestments of a stole and dalmatic – the same hand-made dalmatics first worn by the deacons at the canonization Mass of St. Catherine Labouré in 1947. St. Catherine Labouré was a novice with the Daughters of Charity, a religious order founded by St. Vincent de Paul, when she received the apparitions of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, during which the Blessed Mother asked that the medal be widely distributed.
Originally from Cholula Puebla, Mexico, Tiburcio grew up and worked in Charlotte until 2009, when an encounter with the Vincentians at his parish grew into a call to enter the seminary and begin formation to enter the order.
Deacon Tiburcio is pictured (front row, second from left) with Vincentian Father Stephen Grozio, provincial for the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission; Bishop Edward M. Deliman, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Bishop Alfonso Cabezas, CM, bishop emeritus of Villavicencio, Colombia; Bishop Timothy Senior, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Vincentian Father Emmet Nolan, formation director of the Theologate; and fellow newly-ordained Deacons Luis Romero, Noe Ramirez and Anthony Raymundo.
— Danielle Ferrari
CHARLOTTE — The Catholic News Herald recently received six awards for its work in 2017 from the Catholic Press Association of the U.S. and Canada.
The awards were presented during the Catholic Press Association’s annual conference June 13-15 in Green Bay, Wis.
Winners were:
- First Place, Best Single Ad with Color for “Spend Time in the Presence of the Lord” by Tim Faragher, Patricia L. Guilfoyle and Kevin Eagan
- First Place, Best Chart or Infographic for “Catholic Charities Week” by Kathleen Durkin and Tim Faragher
- First Place, Best Layout of Article for “Living Stones” by Patricia L. Guilfoyle and Tim Faragher
- Second Place, Best Newspaper Website by Kimberly Bender
- Third Place, Best Annual Report of Diocesan Finances for “My Soul Proclaims the Greatness of the Lord” by Tim Faragher and Bill Weldon
- Third Place, Best Editorial Section for “Viewpoints” by Patricia L. Guilfoyle
— Catholic News Herald
ASHEVILLE — The weekend of May 19-20 saw St. Eugene Parish provide an opportunity to look at itself and its parishioners regarding the challenge of “going green.” This annual Going Green weekend event was sponsored by the parish’s Care of Creation – One Earth, One Home ministry. After every Mass, parishioners were invited to visit multiple exhibits demonstrating the effects of good stewardship on the environment.
Pictured: Care of Creation volunteer JoAnne Gance displays local plants that were given out for free to attendees at St. Eugene Church’s recent “Going Green” event. (Photos provided by Tracey Barnes)
It was a local effort to respond to Pope Francis’ letter “Laudato Si’” (“Praise Be”), which addresses everyone’s responsibility to respect the planet.
St. Eugene’s Care of Creation ministry had booths on such things as honey gathering, caring for the habitats of native flora and fauna, energy conservation methods, recycling goals for the parish, and consumers’ efforts to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags.
There were activities for children, too. One of the favorites was creating a bird nesting bag, a mesh bag full of wonderful odds and ends that birds can use to build nests. This crafts table and the “Birds, Birds, Birds” booth were hosted by Tom Tribble and other volunteers from the National Audubon Society.
Free plants were also available to attendees to take home, thanks to the generosity of parishioners who brought them from their own gardens.
St. Eugene Parish has been at the forefront of environmental efforts in answer to the pope’s call, notably with the installation of solar panels on the roof of the church building. The parish has saved more than $13,800 in electricity costs over the past two years, and it has aided other churches in the Asheville area and throughout North Carolina who want to follow its example.
The parish has also eliminated Styrofoam cups and other single-use, disposable items in their events and “coffee and doughnuts” after all weekend Masses, and recycling of other items is encouraged.
An all-electric car was also on display during the “Going Green” weekend, thanks to the efforts of Phil Murphy. Parishioners listened to the benefits of buying a car similar to the Nissan electric car on their next purchase of a family automobile. Robert Sipes, vice president of Duke Energy, and Ned Doyle from the Energy Innovative Task Force told people about Duke’s Free Home Energy House Call. Alice Wyndham from Energy Savers Network signed up parishioners for a free “home weatherization” as well as volunteers to help with the work.
— Cynthia Gibbs, special to the Catholic News Herald. Cynthia Gibbs is a member of St. Eugene Parish in Asheville.