Mass Intenons for the Week: Saturday, May 23 4:30 pm Mass: see weekend intenons below Sunday, May 24 Mass: Intenons of our Parish Family +Bill Siarny, by Kathleen Rathbun +Bernie Tennes, by Ray & Carol Idalski +Jim Boehmer, by Spring Boehmer Monday, May 25 Tuesday, May 26 10:00 am Mass: +Fr. Joseph Aubin Thursday, May 28 10:00 am Mass: +Fr. Jim Lothamer, by Theresa Benjamin Friday, May 29 10:00 am Mass: +Carol & Karen Noel, by D Roenbucher Saturday, May 30 4:30 pm Mass: see weekend intenons below Sunday, May 31 Mass: Intenons of our Parish Family +Josephine Ostrowski, by J Nowak, D Kiplinger +William Siarny, by Carol & Ray Idalski +Mike Sevenski, by the Papranec family Wednesday, May 27 10:00 am Mass: +Bey Crowner, by D & J Foster St. Mary THE COMMUNITY OF St. Ann www.stmarycharloe.org parishoffi[email protected]& 807 St. Mary’s Blvd. • Charloe, MI 48813 Fr. Dwight M. Ezop, Pastor Dcn. Thomas J. Fogle, Permanent Deacon 312 South Main St. • Bellevue, MI 49021 MAY 24, 2020—THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD Daily Masses are being celebrated by Fr. Dwight—they are available for you to watch at our parish website and our parish Facebook page. View our website at: www.stmarycharloe.org The Facebook page is: Community of St Mary & St Ann
Transcript
Mass Intentions for the Week:
Saturday, May 23
4:30 pm Mass: see weekend intentions below
Sunday, May 24
Mass: Intentions of our Parish Family +Bill Siarny, by Kathleen Rathbun +Bernie Tennes, by Ray & Carol Idalski +Jim Boehmer, by Spring Boehmer
Monday, May 25
Tuesday, May 26
10:00 am Mass: +Fr. Joseph Aubin
Thursday, May 28
10:00 am Mass: +Fr. Jim Lothamer, by Theresa Benjamin
Friday, May 29
10:00 am Mass: +Carol & Karen Noel, by D Rottenbucher
Saturday, May 30
4:30 pm Mass: see weekend intentions below
Sunday, May 31
Mass: Intentions of our Parish Family +Josephine Ostrowski, by J Nowak, D Kiplinger +William Siarny, by Carol & Ray Idalski +Mike Sevenski, by the Papranec family
Fr. Dwight M. Ezop, Pastor Dcn. Thomas J. Fogle, Permanent Deacon
312 South Main St. • Bellevue, MI 49021
MAY 24, 2020—THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
Daily Masses are being celebrated by Fr. Dwight—they are available for you to watch at our parish website and our parish Facebook page.
View our website at: www.stmarycharlotte.org The Facebook page is: Community of St Mary & St Ann
2 The Catholic Community of St. Mary and St. Ann www.stmarycharlotte.org
SACRAMENTS
Anointing of Sick: Inform the Parish Office prior to elective surgery or when someone is homebound or hospitalized. Baptism: Contact Fr. Dwight Ezop Marriage: Contact Deacon Tom Fogle Becoming Catholic: Contact Brian Epkey
BULLETIN INFORMATION
Bulletin Deadline: Monday afternoon Bulletin Article Submissions: If your organization is holding an event we are happy to post it in the bulletin, as space allows. Writing, proofreading and submitting an announcement is the responsibility of the sponsor-ing group. All bulletin content is subject to review by the pastor and/or parish staff and content may be edit-ed or declined. See the parish website for all bulletin submission guidelines.
Knights of Columbus Tim Howard (St. Ann).……….…..…...…..…..517-231-7738 James Wyszynski (St. Mary)……...……......517-582-6000 Scouts: Brian Epkey…………………….……....….517-543-4319
PARISH MINISTRIES Sick & Disabled Ministry Micki Lothamer (St. Ann)……...……..………….269-763-9551 St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry (St. Mary)……………..……….517-543-4319 x26 General Assistance (St. Mary)………………….517-599-3167
ST. MARY SCHOOL & CHILDCARE School……………………………………………………......517-543-3460 Child Care & Pre-School…………..…...….....517-543-4319 x22
ST. ANN CAMPUS 312 South Main St. • Bellevue, MI 49021
269-763-9372
ST. MARY CAMPUS 807 St. Mary’s Blvd. • Charlotte, MI 48813
517-543-4319
COMMUNITY OF ST. MARY AND ST. ANN DIRECTORY
MASS SCHEDULE Saturday: 4:30 pm
Sunday: 8:00 am, 11:15 am Wednesday: 7:00 pm Thursday: 10:30 am
Friday: 9:00 am
RECONCILIATION AND ADORATION Wednesday: 6:00-7:00 pm, Saturday: 3:00–4:00 pm
Some Thoughts on Memorial Day Memorial Day began in 1868 as a day to remember all those who died in the Civil War. Now it honors all United States citizens who died in war. Unfortunately, that meaning
of Memorial Day often gets lost when we see it as the “unofficial” start to our summer holidays.
Congress encouraged Memorial Day as a time to remember all who have died in war (combatants and innocent civilians) and as a day to renew our efforts for just and lasting peace throughout the world. Memorial Day is a traditional time to go to the cemetery to tend and decorate the graves of loved ones. If you happen to be headed to a ceme-tery for this purpose, make sure to stop and pray for those whose graves are marked with United States flags. These are the graves of those have served in our nation's armed forces, a number of whom lost their lives in combat. As we continue to understand more about the toll combat has taken on the men and women in our armed services, make sure to pray also for those have returned with wounds visible or invisible and for their fami-lies. Let us also pray for the day when peace is known throughout our world. Returning to the Public Celebration of Mass
After a good deal of discussion and reflection, I have decided to adjust the dates for our parish’s return to the public celebration of Masses, Adora-tion and confession. We will resume these public celebrations beginning Tuesday, June 2 at our St. Ann location. Here’s what the schedule will look like:
Tuesday, June 2 St. Ann, Bellevue 6:00 PM Adoration and confessions 7:00 PM Mass
Wednesday, June 3 St. Mary, Charlotte 9:00 AM Mass 6:00 PM Adoration and confessions
Thursday, June 4 St. Mary, Charlotte 9:00 AM Mass
Friday, June 5 St. Mary, Charlotte 9:00 AM Mass
Saturday, June 6 St. Mary, Charlotte 3:00 PM Adoration and confessions 4:30 PM Mass
Sunday, June 7 8:00 AM Mass St. Mary, Charlotte 9:30 AM Mass St. Ann, Bellevue 11:15 AM Mass St. Mary, Charlotte
This will be the pattern we will follow for subse-quent weeks. Please note that the only real change is the new 9:00 AM time for the Wednesday daily Mass at St. Mary. The weekend Mass schedule will remain the same. During this time, we will be lim-ited to 25% seating capacity at both worship sites. You can read more about how our parish is imple-menting our diocesan guidelines in my letter includ-ed in this bulletin. That letter will also be mailed to all parish households this week and will be posted on the parish website along with other useful infor-mation.
This adjustment in the return date is being made in order to provide our parish community with adequate time to clean and prepare our churches, train key volunteers, inform as many members of our parish community as possible, and to make sure that everything is in place and ready to welcome folks back to Mass in a safe manner.
I know that this timeline for return to public Masses is perhaps slightly different from that used by other parishes around us. Our situation is unique, in that we have two worship spaces that need to be adequately cleaned and prepared. Out of consideration for everyone’s health and safety, I believe that this revised timeline is a prudent step that will help us to return to public worship in a way that safeguards our health and helps to pre-serve the beauty of our worship. I appreciate eve-ryone’s understanding and continued prayer as we make these preparations.
Training for Eucharistic Ministers and Assistants
(continued on next page)
4 The Catholic Community of St. Mary and St. Ann www.stmarycharlotte.org
IN SERVICE TO OUR NEIGHBOR
Reflections from the Saints
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40
Here are the salary guidelines to qualify for food assistance through the St Vincent de Paul food pantry:
People in household: 1 Annual $24,980/Monthly $2,082/Weekly $480
People in household: 2 Annual $33,820/ Monthly $2,818/Weekly $650
People in household: 3 Annual $42,660/ Monthly $3,555/Weekly $820
People in household: 4 Annual $51,500/ Monthly $4,292/Weekly $990
People in household: 5 Annual $60,340/ Monthly $5,028/ Weekly $1,160
People in household: 6 Annual $69,180/ Monthly $5,765/ Weekly $1,330
People in household: 7 Annual $78,020/ Monthly $6,502/ Weekly $1,500
People in household: 8 Annual $86,860/ Monthly $7,238/ Weekly $1,670
For each additional family member add: Annual $8,840/ Monthly $736/ Weekly $170
St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Pantry
MORE FROM FR. DWIGHT
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” - St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“Whoever cares for the poor lends to the Lord, who will pay back the sum in full.” - Proverbs 19:17
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:20
“Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where He will.”
- St. Bede the Venerable
“For if the sacred liturgy holds first place in the life of the Church, then the Eucharistic Mystery stands at the heart and centre of the liturgy, since it is the font of life that cleanses us and strengthens us to live not for ourselves but for God and to be united to each other by the closest ties of love.” - St. Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei, 1965
Training for Eucharistic Ministers and Assistants There will be three training sessions in order to
make sure our Eucharistic Ministers and their as-sistants will be up to speed on the revised process that we will use for the distribution of communion. By “assistants” I mean the members of our parish Knights of Columbus and others who will be ac-companying and assisting our Eucharistic ministers for the distribution of communion. The sessions are scheduled as follows:
Thursday, May 28 7:00 PM St. Mary, Charlotte Monday, June 1 7:00 PM St. Mary, Charlotte Tuesday, June 2 7:30 PM St. Ann, Bellevue
Please do everything you can to attend. Those who worship primarily at St. Mary should attend one of the sessions there, while those who wor-ship primarily at St. Ann should attend the session there. The training offered during these sessions is intended to make sure that our revised commun-ion procedures go as smoothly as possible.
The heart-piercing flash of time when the wife’s eyes lock with her husband’s as she steps into the lifeboat, but he stays on board the listing ship. The wailing and crying as mothers and children are ripped apart on the platform at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The well-loved cousin who leaves his far-flung relatives’ home after a visit, everyone know-ing he will never pass that way again. The emotion-al farewell. The final, bittersweet call. The last hug and tender kiss on the teary cheek. History, litera-ture, and everyday reality are thick with dramatic goodbyes.
Departures can be painful, none more than the mysterious finality of a soul’s departure from this life. For those without faith, confusion deepens the pain. Without God there is, after life, just the void. The real absence. Emptiness, chaos, and guesswork about what frightening reality awaits behind the curtain. Today’s Feast of the Ascension is a peek behind that curtain and what the believer sees is life, fulfillment, and hope. In the Ascension, we have a preview of coming attractions and much, much more. Forty days after His Resurrection from the dead, the disciples witness the Lord go away. But they are not sad. Saint Luke relates that the dis-ciples were full of joy upon returning to Jerusalem after witnessing Jesus’ Ascension on the Mount of Olives. Jesus had gone away but had not died. He had departed but was fully alive. Christ showed that there was an alternative path, a different way to “do” leaving time and space.
Most memory is happy memory. We naturally for-get what causes us pain and embarrassment and more easily retain what brings smiles and light. Our Catholic religion serves us well when it remembers truths on our behalf. The Church tells us year in and year out where we came from—God. It reads to us at Mass the stories of our salvation. It reminds us that death and suffering are painful but not the end. And in the Ascension the Church preserves the very positive memory of man’s greatness. The As-
cension reinforces our dignity. It is a shot of vitamin B right into the spine. We stand taller and straight-er when we know that we are meant to live forever in the Father’s house in heaven.
Many modern biologists point to a pile of wet clay and say, “Look, here is man.” Modern visual artists often show bloody, suffering, degraded man and say, “Look, here is man.” Sensualists sell the un-clothed body to the lustful and say, “Look, here is man.” Pontius Pilate stood the broken and bloody body of Jesus before the rabble and said the same, “Ecce Homo.” Today the Church asks its believers to gaze up at the Ascension and to say, “Here is man too. Here is the body restored, in all of man’s resplendent power.” It is not enough for us to guess about our origins. We must reflect upon our destination. Where we are going says more about us than where we came from. Man is not a small pile of dirt. He is not his broken jaw, his foreclosed home, his failed marriage, or his carnal desires. He is these things, but he is more. Man is great be-cause God is great. At Mass the priest says, “Lift up your hearts,” and the people respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” Indeed. Today we marvel at the spectacle of the God-Man Jesus Christ ascend-ing to heaven and to home. From that high place, and only from there, can we properly gauge our dignity. The Ascension should not invite speculation about the number of rooms in the Father’s man-sion, or how exactly the Lord zoomed up into the clouds. The Ascension is about what comes next. It’s about our dignity. It teaches us that self im-portance is nothing. It is union with God that makes us great and makes us happy.
Lord Jesus, You were from Mary biologically but from the Father theologically. On this Feast of the Ascension, You return to the Father’s house. Help all who believe in You and who belong to You in the Church to one day join You in that heavenly home forever and ever.
8 The Catholic Community of St. Mary and St. Ann www.stmarycharlotte.org
9 The Catholic Community of St. Mary and St. Ann www.stmarycharlotte.org
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FAITH FORMATION
FAMILY CHAT AFTER MASS If needed, you can review the Sunday readings or hear the homily again from myparish app.
The Ascension of the Lord In their last earthly encounter with Jesus, we hear that the disciples worshipped, but they doubted. This seems to be a paradox. How could the disciples worship Jesus Christ and at the same time doubt the truth of his identity? But Jesus is not concerned with their doubt, just as he was not concerned with their betrayal in Jerusalem. He exhorts them to make disciples of all nations. Even when we, like the disciples, doubt and deny and are imperfect, we are still called to be missionaries of his Good News.
Have you ever felt insecure and unready, yet excited and hopeful about something new? Jesus left his followers in the care of the Holy Spirit. How do we feel the presence of the Spirit today?
Living the Word Images are important reminders of people we love. That is why we carry photos in wallets and phones, or place them on our dressers, desks, of living room walls. Similarly, the presence of religious art in the home can be a way of remembering our relationship to God. Look for images or statues that resonate with your family and display them in your prayer space or in your children’s rooms.
Taken from Celebrating Sunday for Catholic Families 2019-2020 by Kara O’Malley, published by LTP
Youth Ministry Grades 9-12
For more information contact Kristina Priesman at [email protected] or 517-543-4319
Upcoming Events:
May 26/27: Confirmandi Interviews by appointment at St. Mary's
May 31: Confirmation 3pm at St. Mary's
June 4: Senior Mass 7pm at St. Mary's
June 6: Theology of the Body 5:30-7pm at St. Mary's
TBD: VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL leadership roles
July 17-19: Steubenville virtual/small group retreat TBD
July 26-29: St. Mary's/St. Ann's Youth Retreat
First Communion First Communion will be celebrated on the Feast of
the Body and Blood of Christ, June 14, at 3 pm.
Mass will only be for the First Communion Candi-
dates and their Families. Mass will be livestreamed
for anyone who want to watch and participate.
Confirmation Confirmation will be celebrated for our High School Students on Pentecost, May 31, at 3 pm. The Mass will only be for the Confirmation Candi-dates, Sponsors, and family. Mass will be livestreamed for anyone who wants to watch and participate.
Baccalaureate Mass SENIORS: Our Senior Mass will be held on Thurs-day, June 4, at 7pm at St. Mary's. Please check your email for some information that Mrs. Pries-man is looking to collect. If you didn't receive an email, please reach out to Mrs. Priesman at, [email protected].
Q. I’ve heard of the Magisterium, but I don’t really know what it is. Who is on it? And what do they do?
A. I like your question. The Magisterium is one of my favorite things to speak about! What is the Mag-isterium? Let me try to answer this question on a more personal level rather than on a purely aca-demic level.
Jesus promised his disciples, before He ascended to Heaven, that the Holy Spirit, His Advocate, would come and lead us into all truth. Furthermore, He promised that He would be with us until the end of time. The Magisterium is one way this happens.
The main reason we need the Magisterium is that Jesus, while on earth, did not (and could not) address every question of faith and every moral question that would arise in our minds and hearts. When we look around today at our world and our culture, we find many new questions of faith and morality coming forward. For example, what sort of new medical technology is permitted? Is cloning okay? Is it okay for scientists to do research on em-bryonic stem cells? What about modern social is-sues that come up like gay marriage or so called “same sex civil unions?” Or regarding our faith, how do we reconcile our belief that God created the world with theories of evolution?
These are all questions that were not directly addressed by Jesus, right? Well, on one hand we can say, “No, Jesus did not address them.” But on the other hand we can say, “Yes, Jesus continues to address these questions every day!” How do we say this? That’s what the Magisterium is.
The Magisterium is simply another way of saying that Jesus Himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is still alive and active in this world. Specifically, the Magisterium refers to the way that Jesus is alive and active in our world regarding all our contempo-rary questions that come up in the area of faith and morality. Jesus does answer the questions of evolu-tion and creation that scientists bring up. Jesus does answer moral questions about civil unions, cloning, embryonic stem cell research and much more. How does He do this? Through the pope and
the bishops when they teach in union with the pope.
The Catholic Church believes that when the pope, or the pope with the bishops, teaches some-thing as true, it is indeed true. And if we want to be in union with Jesus we must believe it! This is a way of Jesus helping us each and every day to sort through the many difficult questions that arise in our modern world. And as we look to the future, I am quite certain that many other issues that have to do with faith and morality will arise. When these questions come up we will not have to answer them alone. Jesus gives us the pope and bishops to guide us into what is true. When we believe this, stay in union with them and let them guide us, we are, in fact, letting Jesus Himself guide us.
So the Magisterium is a wonderful gift from God! Just make sure you see this gift as one of the many ways Jesus Himself continues to be alive and active in our lives!
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Financial Support: received May 9 - 22
St. Mary and St. Ann
Goal (2 weeks) $ 21,134.60
Offertory Donations - mail or in person $ 10,632.00
e-Donations $ 6,999.00
Total $ 17,631.00
Above/Below Weekly Goal $ - 3,503.60
YTD Parish Offertory Summary as of May 22
Year to Date Goal $ 486,095.80
Collected Year to Date $ 478,265.94
Above/Below YTD Goal $ - 7,829.86
Parish Mortgage Budget Summary as of May 22
Monthly Mortgage $ 5,119.00
Year to Date Goal $ 54,372.00
Collected YTD $ 30,626.00
Above/Below YTD Goal $ - 23,746.00
Our Parish Mission Statement Proclaiming the teachings of Jesus Christ, we, the community of St. Mary and St. Ann provide a positive
worship and educational environment for all, emphasizing the core values of our Catholic faith.
Things To Know about our Parish and School Operation at this Time
Fr. Dwight is live-streaming weekend and daily Masses via our parish website and Facebook.
Our Parish Office at St. Mary is open and staffed.
St. Mary School continues to operate via online teaching.
Family Formation and Youth Ministry continues to operate via online sessions.
Our St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Mary continues to serve those in need.
Our childcare program is suspended for now.
Your continued financial support is vital during this time. Please seriously and prayerfully consid-er signing up for Online Giving. At this time, espe-cially, online giving is the safest, most effective way for you to contribute to the ongoing mission of our parish. To sign up, go to our parish web-site: stmarycharlotte.org, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘Give’ box.
FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
For the time being, our church buildings will remain open for quiet prayer at the following
locations and times:
St. Ann location: Sunday, 9:00 am—Noon
St Mary location: Monday - Friday, 8:30 am—5:00 pm
Saturday, 10:00 am—3:00 pm Sunday, 10:00 am—Noon
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A very sincere Thank You for your ongoing and generous financial offerings, especially at this uncertain time. It is so appreciated!
Pop Can Drive Thursday, May 28 6-7pm at St. Ann
THANK YOU so much to everyone who has already shared their returnables! We are super excited about how much we have already collected. With Memorial Day weekend, we hope that you will consider collecting your returnables for us and bring them to St. Ann's on Thursday this coming week. THANK YOU! Proceeds benefit our Youth group.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all na-tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20
There is no world bigger than a monk’s cell. Those four, high walls shape thought like hard, steep banks contain the flow of a river. Rock curtains hanging on both sides force the raging river to carve a path through the landscape, always forward, always deep-er. Here the tall banks stop the pounding river from pouring over into the plains. There the low banks allow the gentle current to run low and straight. A river without banks is a lake. And a mind without borders is a puddle—no forward movement and too shallow to sustain life. Borders, limits, and guardrails have expansive effects, paradoxically. A frame makes a painting burst to life; orderly lanes push traffic for-ward; and the edge of a canvas focuses the artist’s skill. Big thoughts start with boundaries. That’s why big thoughts happen in small spaces. Many thou-sands of monks’ minds were molded by the limits of the four, cold walls of their cells. And these scholar monks and saint monks gave birth to what we now call Europe.
Today’s saint was a model monk who lived his whole life in an English monastery, although he occasionally traveled to neighboring communities to teach young scholars. Venerable Bede’s cell and monastery were nothing like those impressive stone structures with soaring arches and large courtyards, which still stand as icons of medieval Europe. Bede lived long, long before that golden age of monasticism. He died less than two hundred years after Saint Benedict, the founder of monasticism. The monasteries of Bede’s era were more like farms, where the monks lived in a dormitory above a large chapter room or perhaps even in crude huts huddled around a squat stone church. These first simple efforts to plant religious life into English soil matured, over centuries, into a network of enormous English monasteries. And these monasteries, in their fullest flower, grew into the universities, towns, schools, hospitals, lodges, cathedrals, and trade centers of England itself, a rich garden of Catholicism known in medieval times as Mary’s Dowry. Venerable Bede and his monastic brothers planted. Later generations harvested. And King Henry VIII then confiscated the garden and handed it over to his friends, who uprooted its most
beautiful plants. Ironically and sadly, the tombs of many English saints, including Venerable Bede, lie today in Protestant churches.
From his cell in remote England, Bede was enmeshed in the Church matters of his day. He became involved in the long simmering dispute over the date of East-er, promoted the practice of using Christ’s birth as the starting date for calendars, translated Christian works from Latin or Greek into Anglo-Saxon (to the immense good of the growth of the Church in Eng-land), and authored numerous works, the most fa-mous of which is a history of the Church in England until his days. He was, in short, a prolific and wide-ranging scholar. In 1899 Pope Leo XIII honored that reputation by naming him a Doctor of the Church, the only native of England to be so honored.
Thomas à Kempis, in his spiritual classic The Imita-tion of Christ, writes that every time a monk leaves his cell he comes back less a man. It is in the cell that the monk learns everything he needs to know about himself, the world, and God. It is inside of our voca-tions that we find God’s will and our own fulfillment. A deep and abiding commitment to a specific person, a specific religion, a specific home, job, school, par-ish, spouse, and family is the stuff of life. Wandering is fun for a while. Commitment, though, is more ex-citing in the long run. The banks of the river must be built up. The edges and borders stacked high. The rails set in place. Then, and only then, life starts to be lived. To go deeper, not wider. To run those roots down deep into the moist soil. When we leave the four corners of our commitments and vocation, it may be liberating for a while, but time rectifies the deception. Our vocation is our home, and in that home we find happiness, make others happy, and satisfy the divine plan of the God who made us.
Bede the Venerable, we see in your life a model of commitment to one place, one idea, one love, and one Church. We ask your intercession to aid all schol-ars, all monks, and all who waver, to stay at their desk, their kneeler, or their work bench to fulfill the task at hand.
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was born on September 26, 1897, in Concesio, Italy. Or-dained in 1920, he spent many years working in the Vatican Secretariat of State. While there, he orga-nized the Vatican’s massive relief work for political refugees during World War II. After being named “Pro-Secretary of State” in 1952, Montini was ap-pointed Archbishop of Milan the following year and became known as the “archbishop of the workers.” He revitalized the diocese, preaching the Gospel’s social message and promoting both Catholic educa-tion and the Catholic press.
Pope John XXIII named Montini a cardinal in 1958 and soon after announced the Second Vatican Council. During the Council, however, Pope John XXIII died, and the well-respected Montini was elected on June 21, 1963, to succeed him, taking the name Paul VI. Committing himself to continuing the work begun by John XXIII, he continued the Council and then overcame resistance to imple-
ment reforms in the areas of liturgy, Church gov-ernance, and the attitudes of Catholics toward oth-er religions. Though controversies surrounding ide-as and encyclicals, especially 1968’s Humanae vitae, can be seen as overshadowing his pontificate, the reality is that Paul VI’s papacy and writings aimed constantly at working toward lasting justice and peace. He brought a message of human rights, hu-man dignity, and human development to the world.
Known not only as a brilliant but also as a deeply spiritual, humble, and gentle man, Paul VI never failed to glimpse the radiant beauty of the transfig-ured Lord. It seems no coincidence, then, that his earthly life ended on the Feast of the Transfigura-tion of the Lord, August 6, 1978. Pope Paul VI asked that his funeral be simple, and it’s this kind of hu-mility that was remembered as he was beatified on October 19, 2014, and continues to shine forth to-day.
