Mass al fresco
GREENSBORO — A holy anticipation grew to a crescendo May 10 as many North Carolina Catholics attended open-air Masses and received Our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time since pandemic restrictions began eight weeks prior.
Greensboro’s Our Lady of Grace Church offered three outdoor Masses in English, Spanish and Latin. Individuals and families knelt in the grass six feet apart as they worshiped together for the first time since March 14. Tears started flowing as Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” filled the air in the familiar voice of Andrew O’Connor, the parish’s music director.
“People were elated, joyful and showing great piety,” O’Connor said. “I think this is going to bring a renewed vigor of people’s faith because they’ve been without the Eucharist for so long.”
As unusual as the current situation is, emotions ran high at open-air Masses in Greensboro once before. In the fall of 1941, the nation faced a different global crisis – the Second World War. As the
U.S. prepared to enter the conflict, Greensboro hosted thousands of troops on break from the rigors of mock warfare in Eastern North Carolina.
St. Benedict – Our Lady of Grace’s “mother church” – ministered to the Catholic troops offering hospitality and a multitude of outdoor Masses to accommodate crowds. The optics were starkly opposed to those on May 10, however. Several hundred servicemen huddled together to worship, and there appeared to be no limit on congregation size.
Greensboro native Monsignor Joseph Showfety, then 14, recently recalled the events. “They used the stoop for Mass, and the men would kneel on the same level as the hall or in the middle of the street,” he said.
“They (the police) blocked off Elm, Eugene, Greene, and the priest would say Mass outdoors, and people would sit out on front porches to watch the whole thing.”
Monsignor Showfety also noted that the pious soldiers caught the attention of many in the Protestant community, including a nearby Presbyterian minister who was so impressed with the young men’s midnight fast prior to Mass that he talked about it on the radio.
Spiritual warriors Benedictine Father Eugene Egan and Benedictine Father Cornelius Diehl offered the Masses as did Father James P. McLarney of Chicago and “The Catholic Hour” radio program. The church’s four-Mass schedule swelled to nine before it was all over, and an estimated 800 soldiers attended one service. A week later, there were about 2,000 troops at the Sunday Masses.
St. Benedict came of age in its wartime role, making a deep impression on people in Greensboro and across several states. With influence beyond its usual scope, the parish unified thousands and brought Jesus in the Eucharist to scores of servicemen, spiritually fortifying them before they headed into the bloodiest war in history. Today, this fortification is as crucial as ever.
— Annie Ferguson, Correspondent
White Mass offered to pray for those caring for others during the COVID-19 pandemic
CHARLOTTE — A “White Mass” was offered May 9 at St. Patrick Cathedral to pray for those on the front lines caring for people stricken with the COVID-19 virus.
The special liturgy is so named by the white uniforms traditionally worn by doctors and nurses and others in the healing profession of medicine. It is an opportunity to ask God’s blessing upon the patient, doctor, nurse and caregiver alike.
The White Mass was streamed live on the cathedral’s YouTube and Facebook pages, kicking off a Catholic health care ethics conference held online May 9 by the St. John Paul II Foundation, in partnership with the Diocese of Charlotte and Belmont Abbey College.
It was celebrated by Father Cory Catron of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, who reflected in his homily on Mary’s title of “Health of the Sick” (“Salus infirmorum”), one of her titles listed in the popular Litany of Loreto.
The prayer, which dates from the Middle Ages, has been invoked by the Church during plagues throughout history. In the present COVID-19 pandemic, the Litany of Loreto can be a particularly meaningful prayer for those sick in body, mind and soul, Father Catron noted in his homily.
Mary is called “Health of the Sick” because “Mary is mother, and Mary is disciple,” he said.
Mary is the mother of Jesus, and she was given to us by Jesus on the cross to be our spiritual mother, he noted.
“Mary is our mother, so she cares for us in our infirmities,” he said, just as our parents took care of us when we were sick as children.
“Who is it that we think of taking care of us when we are sick, particularly when we were children? It’s our mother. Just as our earthly mother cared for us when we were ill as a child, so also as children of the Heavenly Father in His Son Jesus Christ, our spiritual mother, our heavenly mother, cares for us when we are infirm.”
Mary is also called “Health of the Sick,” because she was Jesus’ first and greatest disciple, and everything she did pointed to Jesus, to the Truth.
“Jesus went about healing the sick, and Mary accompanied Him as He did this,” Father Catron said. Similarly, Mary accompanies those who do the work of healing today.
Health care “is an act of charity … an act of mercy, and it’s one that must be tempered by the truth,” he said.
Being a disciple means being a learner, someone who seeks the truth, he explained.
“In everything that we do, if we are to attain the glory of God, if we are to be made holy by our labors, it must be in union with the will of God, it must be with the heart of Jesus Christ.”
“This is important now more than ever,” he said, when we don’t always see ethical medical practices.
“Even now in the midst of the present crisis, we have discussions of: are vaccines being developed ethically, are certain measures being taken correctly,” he said. “We can hardly hope to heal in the name of Jesus Christ if we do not seek to do the will of the Father who sent Him.”
Seek out the truth, seek to be real disciples of Jesus Christ and bring His mercy into the world with the help of Mary’s motherly care, Father Catron said.
“May our hearts be open to always reflecting the mercy of God given to us in Jesus Christ, to seeking His truth, and invoking His mother as ‘Health of the Sick,’” he prayed.
The health care ethics conference, “Converging Roads,” offered continuing education for health care professionals to help them practice the highest ethical and medical standards of their profession. Originally scheduled as an in-person event, the third year of this conference was held online.
“This conference is incredibly important for Catholics working in health care to attend so they can continuously be educated on where their faith and practice intersect,” said Jessica Grabowski, the Charlotte diocese’s Respect Life program director.
— Kimberly Bender and Patricia L. Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald
Pictured at top: Image from "Blessed Virgin Mary, health of the sick,” located at the Oratory of the Hospital Universitario Austral in Pilar Partido, Argentina.
More online
Learn more about the Litany of Loreto: https://aleteia.org/2018/05/05/this-litany-to-the-virgin-mary-is-one-of-the-most-popular-litanies-of-the-church/
Learn more about what a White Mass is: http://www.cathmed.org/resources/white-mass-planning-resources/
Mercy in a pandemic
MOCKSVILLE — Sisters of Mercy aren’t ones to shy away from an epidemic. Ever since the Civil War, members of the order have cared for North Carolinians suffering from serious widespread diseases – yellow fever in the 1860s, AIDS in the 1990s, and now COVID-19. The sisters’ ministry of caring is a marvel to many, especially their patients.
And it’s been that way from the beginning. Caring for the sick has been an integral part of the order since its founding in Ireland by Catherine McAuley in 1831 and its arrival stateside in 1843.
Therefore, when Mercy Sister Martha Hoyle heard that her Mocksville health clinic was likely closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the thought of leaving her patients went against every fiber of her being.
“As Sisters of Mercy, we’re the first ones in. We couldn’t just drop them. That’s not right,” she says.
Pictured are Mercy Sister Susie Dandison and Mercy Sister Martha Hoyle at the health clinic in Mocksville., and a pharmacist and tech working on medicine in the clinic’s pharmacy. (Photos provided)
The health clinic operates within the Storehouse for Jesus, an entirely volunteer-run resource center that also includes a pharmacy and other services. It’s designed to serve those most in need in Davie County, especially the uninsured. Sister Martha uses her nursing and advocacy skills in her ministry at the center. Mercy Sister Susie Dandison is a Spanish-English translator there and is loved by the Hispanic population as well as the parishioners of St. Francis of Assisi Church as a true ‘madre.’
A native of Argentina, Sister Susie began teaching Spanish to Davie County children in 1999. Two of her former pupils now help with translating at the storehouse. “We could use more!” she says as she takes stock of how much the Storehouse for Jesus does for the community. “The organization, the coordination and willingness to work is amazing. The food. The clothing. It’s an incredible place. For this little town to have that offering, it’s a credit to the community here.”
They considered temporarily closing the Storehouse for Jesus because its volunteers are older and among those most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus. Many of them are seniors, including both Mercy sisters.
Sister Martha jokes, “Hey, what are you talking about? Who’s old?” She had her concerns, too, but knew they had to do something. So she called the director emeritus, Dr. George Kimberly, and worked out a compromise to keep the clinic open during the pandemic.
The pharmacy would remain open on Mondays and Wednesdays. Only patients who needed to see a doctor would go inside, and then they’d enter only from the side door and use as many precautions as possible, including personal protective equipment and other distancing and safety measures.
“People are so grateful that we’re there. It’s some kind of connection. We’re there because we want to be there and get blessed by doing it,” Sister Martha says. “The hardest part is not being on the regular schedule. The patients don’t have somewhere to go as often as they’re used to.”
She also notes that it’s difficult not being able to keep up with their patients who have been admitted to a hospital, due to restrictions on visitors. The sisters have been particularly concerned for a blind man who had been sick and has no family. They suspected he had COVID-19 and were later relieved to learn that he tested negative. “We try to keep up with them. It’s difficult not being able to be totally present to them,” Sister Martha says.
The health clinic isn’t taking new patients right now, but when someone comes with a serious health issue, the doctor and Sister Martha will see them. Many of their patients have chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes that need to be monitored.
“We’re a Band-Aid so they don’t have to go to the hospital,” Sister Martha explains.
The pharmacy uses a drive-up station to process prescription refills, and the storehouse’s food program uses a similar drive-through modification: one station for orders and another for pick-up.
At 87, Sister Susie is one of the most vulnerable – and valuable – of the volunteers. She has been calling patients from home to let them know there is food and the pharmacy is open. She translates via phone for Spanish-speaking patients being seen at the clinic. “I’m taking as good care of myself as I can while doing as much as possible from here,” she says.
Inside the Storehouse for Jesus, the doctor on duty and Sister Martha dress in full PPE. “I look like someone’s mummy,” Sister Martha jokes. “I have a mask, face shield, gloves and fluid-resistant gown.”
All humor aside, the sisters know well the importance of caring for others during an epidemic.
Sisters of Mercy and the Yellow Fever Epidemic
In the late summer of 1862, a ship from Nassau, Bahamas, docked in Wilmington, stocked with bacon and other food. Full of gratitude and eager to get the goods to their soldiers on the battlefield, the residents of the port city waived the yellow fever quarantine restrictions in place at the time.
A few days later, physicians reported several cases of yellow fever. They had learned that several sailors aboard the Nassau vessel had been ill, and when the sailors came ashore to get water from local residents Mr. and Mrs. C.P. Bolles, the couple contracted the disease.
Years later Mrs. Bolles wrote about the epidemic and those who risked their lives to care for the sick – including the Sisters of Mercy who were sent by Charleston Bishop Patrick Neeson Lynch at the request of Father Thomas Murphy. Led by Mother Teresa Barry, three Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy left Charleston for Wilmington: Sister Mary Augustine Dunne, Sister Mary Patrick Collins and Sister Mary Peter Sullivan. There are accounts of additional religious sisters in the area, including the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, who ministered to soldiers during the war.
“The disease spread rapidly, after the first two weeks our physicians had more than they could contend with, and Charleston was quick in responding to the call for assistance, sending her physicians, and nurses, as many as were needed, a dozen or more Sisters of Mercy,” Mrs. Bolles recounted.
“As I made my way over to the window one day about the middle of October to see if the weather cock across the street on the pinnacle of the Cape Fear Bank Building, indicated any change in weather, feeling so desperately hopeless, with no one near me but my husband who was too ill to realize the situation. As I looked out I saw all windows closed with no sign of life save the Little Sisters of Mercy darting across the streets – flitting from door to door, entering to administer to the sick and dying.”
Divine Providence in the Lives of the Sisters
More than 1,000 people died in Wilmington’s yellow fever epidemic, which lasted from the first week of September until Nov. 6, 1862. That day, a heavy snowstorm quelled the raging outbreak, and no new cases were reported. The three Mercy sisters ministering in Wilmington returned to Charleston.
Although North Carolina weather is famously unpredictable, a snowstorm on the coast in autumn must have been considered an act of God. The Sisters of Mercy have noted His hand in their ministry during this current pandemic, too.
Right before the COVID-19 epidemic hit the United States, a local plant in Mocksville that had just changed its PPE supplier gave the sisters’ clinic two boxes of N95 masks, gloves and fluid-barrier gowns.
“It seemed like it was way too much, and then it wasn’t,” Sister Martha says. “I’m amazed constantly at this place.”
When those supplies began to run out last month, a supporter approached the sisters asked them if they needed masks at the clinic. Soon, Sister Martha was connected with Kat Manzella of Jamestown who runs Kisses4Kate, a nonprofit that helps children with cancer and their families in a variety of ways, including sewing masks and gowns for Brenner Children’s Hospital.
Two days later, Manzella delivered 75 individually-packaged masks, made using her personal funds, to Sister Martha in Mocksville.
“Sister Martha was just so cute and grateful. She said she’s praying for us and that we were all miracle workers. She is actually the miracle. I can’t do what she does,” Manzella says. “It has given me great joy to have the opportunity to help Sister Martha and Sister Susie. God always watches out for His servants.”
The supply quickly ran out at the clinic and on April 23, the sisters received another 100 masks made by Catholic laywomen of the Triad, including Manzella of St. Pius X, Barbara Markun of Our Lady of Grace, January Mills of St. Paul the Apostle, Karen Black of Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Shannon Flaherty of Christ the King.
“Our patients can’t believe someone would do this for them. We can’t hug them now, but we’re a hugging
group,” Sister Martha says. “Being able to give them a mask is almost like giving them a hug from a distance.”
The sisters also note regular support and communication from the motherhouse in Belmont and help from community members as well as their local Knights of Columbus Council 12610 of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Mocksville.
“We struggle with getting medicines, and people are donating their stimulus checks without our asking,” Sister Martha marvels.
“There’s an old hymn I’d sing when caring for AIDS patients: ‘He’s An On Time God.’ When I get in a stress, I start humming that. God’s going to come when He’s ready, and it’s always the right time.”
— Annie Ferguson, correspondent
Kat Manzella and others sew masks at Kisses4Kate that they are donating to local community groups and ministries in need. 