April 2014 | c at h o l i c v i . c om
The Season of LentIn an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com2
The Magazine of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands Most Reverend Herbert BevardPUBLISHER
Father John Matthew FewelEDITOR
Sarah Jane von HaackMANAGING EDITOR
Jenny BisGRAPHIC DESIGNER
Charlotte BanksLillia KingADVERTISING
Bernetia AkinPROOFREADING
Deacon Emith FluddCIRCULATION
Brother James Petrait, OSFSWEBMASTER
www.FAITHcatholic.com
Inside this issue
4 from the editor's desk
6 spotlight on youth
9 reflection
10 holy week 2014
12 cover story The Season of Lent.
14 journey of faith Nancy Soto.
15 saint of the month St. Bernadette: Discover the
Hidden Treasure.
16 theology 101 The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep it Holy.
18 in the know with father joe I Don't Like My Pastor – What Can I Do about it?
19 spiritual fitness How Much Are You Really Willing to Give up for Lent?
20 special report
22-25 parish calendars
25 ¡buenas noticias!
PLEASE SUBMIT news, digital photography and advertising for the May 2014 issue of The Catholic Islander by
APRIL 7, 2014
Submit news and articles to: [email protected] advertisements to: [email protected]
April 2• 10 a.m. Deanery Meeting,
Chancery, St. Thomas
April 3• 10 a.m. Deanery Meeting,
St. Ann Church, St. Croix• 6 p.m. Cathedral Renovation
Committee Meeting, Sts. Peter and Paul Hospitality Lounge
April 4• 10 a.m. Sts. Peter and Paul
School Principal’s Meeting
April 5• 6:30 p.m. Mass, Our Lady
of Perpetual Help Church
April 6• 4 p.m. March For Life, St. Croix.• 5 p.m. Mass at St. Patrick Church in Frederiksted.
April 8• Haitian Ministry Meeting,
Chancery, TBA
April 9• 6 p.m. Child Protection
Review Board Meeting, Hospitality Lounge
April 12• 6 p.m. Confirmation, Our Lady
of Mount Carmel Church
April 13• 11 a.m. Confirmation,
Holy Cross Church, St. Croix
Bishop's Holy Week Schedule
April 15Noon, Chrism Mass, St. Patrick Church, Frederiksted, St. Croix
Holy Thursday, April 177 p.m., Mass of the Lord’s Supper, St. Joseph Church, Mt. Pleasant, St. Croix
Good Friday, April 183 p.m., Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and Mass of the Pre-Sanctified, St. Patrick Church, Frederiksted, St. Croix
Holy Saturday, April 196:30 p.m., Easter Vigil, Holy Cross Church, Christiansted, St. Croix
Easter Sunday, April 209:30 a.m., Mass, St. Ann Church, Barrenspot, St. Croix
Bishop’s Calendar
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From the Bishop’s Desk
In the Son of God, we have the Light of the World and the Word. We reflect Light and Word by His saving power, in our own being and reflected in others. The Light of Christ and the Word are everywhere in the sights, sounds and the spiritual realities of the sacred Lit-urgy. It is both eternal and unknowable in its completeness; for it is fathomless, and yet is the very place to which our re-demption draws us.
The dialogue between faith and reason (Lumen Fidei 33):
In the life of St. Augustine, we find a significant example of this process whereby reason, with its desire for truth and clarity, was integrated into the hori-
zon of faith and thus gained new under-standing. Augustine accepted the Greek philosophy of light, with its insistence on the importance of sight. His encoun-ter with neo-Platonism introduced him to the paradigm of the light, which, de-scending from on high to illumine all re-ality, is a symbol of God. Augustine thus came to appreciate God’s transcendence and discovered that all things have a cer-tain transparency – that they can reflect God’s goodness. This realization liber-ated him from his earlier Manichaeism, which had led him to think that good and evil were in constant conflict, con-fused and intertwined. The realization that God is light provided Augustine with a new direction in life and enabled him to acknowledge his sinfulness and to turn towards the good.
All the same, the decisive moment in Augustine’s journey of faith, as he tells us in the Confessions, was not in the vision of a God above and beyond this world, but in an experience of hearing. In the garden, he heard a voice telling him: “Take and read.” He then took up the book containing the epistles of St. Paul and started to read the 13th chapter of the Letter to the Romans. In this way, the personal God of the Bible appeared to him: a God who is able to speak to us, to come down to dwell in our midst and to accompany our journey through his-tory, making Himself known in the time of hearing and response.
Yet this encounter with the God who speaks did not lead Augustine to reject
Faith and Reason
O ur faith journey, like St. Augustine’s, exists in two worlds. Faith in the tran-scendent God above is not separate from the world of sights and sounds where Jesus walked among us and is among us, in the most holy Eucharist and at
holy Mass where we are summoned to Calvary – to His very Passion.
light and seeing. He integrated the two perspectives of hearing and seeing, con-stantly guided by the revelation of God’s love in Jesus. Thus Augustine developed a philosophy of light capable of embrac-ing both the reciprocity proper to the word and the freedom born of looking to the light. Just as the word calls for a free response, so the light finds a response in the image which reflects it. Augustine can, therefore, associate hearing and seeing, and speak of “the word which shines forth within.” The light becomes, so to speak, the light of a word, because it is the light of a personal countenance, a light that, even as it enlightens us, calls us and seeks to be reflected on our fac-es and to shine from within us. Yet our longing for the vision of the whole, and not merely of fragments of history, re-mains and will be fulfilled in the end, when, as Augustine says, we will see and we will love. Not because we will be able to possess all the light, which will always be inexhaustible, but because we will en-ter wholly into that light.
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From the Editor's Desk
Two Caribbean Cardinals Created On February 22, Pope Francis created 19 new cardinals in a
moving ceremony that included the participation of Pope Emer-itus Benedict XVI. Two of the cardinals created that day were Bishop Kelvin Edward Felix (right), 81, from Dominica, West Indies, Archbishop emeritus of Castries, and Archbishop Chibly Langlois (left), 55, Haitian, Bishop of Les Cayes.
A ZENIT article released the next day stated: "The ceremony was the culmination of an intense week which began with the third meeting of the Council of Cardinals and ended with the Consistory, where cardinals from around the world spoke on the theme of the family."
The newly created Cardinals are a tapestry of various backgrounds, ranging from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state to Cardinal Langlois, the first cardinal from Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley OFM Cap, archbishop of Boston and member of the Council of Cardinals that advises the pope on the governance of the church, expressed his joy after the yesterday’s ceremony.
In a brief interview with ZENIT, Cardinal O’Malley said the Con-sistory “indicates a continual growth and renewal” in the church:
“The Holy Father has obviously chosen extraordinary indi-viduals from different parts of the globe, many of them being the very first from their regions, which is a wonderful way of recognizing the universality of our church.”
When asked what direction the church is going with the selection of these new cardinals, the American prelate had no doubts of Francis' course. “I’m sure the direction will be that of the joy of the Gospel,” he said. ◊
All that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to be, comes from you, and you alone, and, is yours, O Lord my God!
Lent is a time of introspection and self-examination. Putting aside something accustomed, favored, familiar, is a spiritual method of evaluating, recognizing or acknowledging our de-pendency on God. It is also an offering of ourselves to God from whom everything we have and everything we are comes. It is taking a practice common to daily life – of limiting something's presence or influence in our life for the purpose of growth, health, education, financial benefit or love – and, for 40 days, applying that principle to deepening our union with God.
Whatever we favor or love in the life we are living now is only there because of the eternal need God placed in every one of us to love only our Lord. In each of us, the tendency toward any sort of preference is an infinitesimal glimmer of the intense desire of our souls for one and only one, satisfaction: perfect and complete union with our God.
The holy souls in purgatory are highly favored by the removal of every last vestige of the world to which we are so accustomed, habituated, and with which we are so familiar, to behold only the glory which lay ahead, for them and for us. With the veil drawn back – removed forever – they behold, yet at a distance, the face of God.
While we dwell in this world, we behold the face of a crucified Savior. During these 40 days, as we await His Passion, like Him, we crucify our desires, our passions, awaiting in self-denial and expectation the glory of Christ victorious to be revealed to us and in us, when, at last, we will behold Him as He is. ◊
ABy Father John Matthew Fewel
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Local News
Annual Priests’ Retreat Father Steven Thorne of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia gave this year’s annual retreat to the Virgin Islands’ priests. He spoke of the reaction of St. Peter, who, at one point, said to the Lord, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
As priests, we are confronted with this hard reality and realization of our human sinful condition, and yet the Lord is not willing that we should depart from the calling He has given to us. Like St. Joseph, Father Thorne offered that our acceptance of our fatherly role comes with the Lord's continual assurances and steadfast help. Who am I? We each have a totally unique answer to that question, and yet our uniqueness finds expression in the supreme gift of rendering ourselves totally; our lives, totally; and our energies, totally – to the family of God who become our own family, as well.
The retreatants enjoyed the company of Bishop Bevard for the three days. Father Neil Scantlebury and the people of Holy Family Church hosted the retreat and provided wonderful meals. ◊
(l-r) Father Boniface Blanchard, Father Eduardo Ortiz-Santiago, Father Anthony Abraham and Father Neil Scantlebury enjoy the fraternity of their annual retreat time together.
(l-r) Father Eduardo Ortiz-Santiago, Father Kerly Francois, Father Anthony Abraham, Father Wieslaw “Wesley” Bejor, CSsR, Father Neil Scantlebury (pastor of Holy Family Church), Bishop Bevard, Father Steve Thorne (retreat master), Father Louis Kemayou, Father Patrick Lynch, CSsR, Father John Fewel, Father Simon Opira and Father Boniface Blanchard.
Msgr. Jerome Feudjio, vicar for priests, who plans and looks forward to the yearly priests’ retreat, but could not be present for this year’s priests’ retreat, is shown here processing during opening ceremonies at the Keys and Sword Benefit Gala held last month at the Frenchman’s Reef Marriott.
35th Anniversary of Independence The St. Lucian community celebrated its 35th anniver-sary of independence during the 9:30 am Mass at St. Ann Church on February 23. Father Ignatius Cetoute celebrated the Mass. Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, the invited celebrant, was in Vatican City for the Consisto-ry, where Pope Francis made Archbishop Kelvin Felix a cardinal. ◊Father Ignatius Cetoute
Visit the website of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands at www.catholicvi.com
Read The Catholic Islander online at www.catholicislander.com
Lenten Youth RetreatOn Saturday, March 22, 2014, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church hosted a Lenten youth retreat for ages 12 -19. The guest speaker was Msgr. Charles Pope from the Diocese of Washing-ton. Msgr. Pope is the pastor of Holy Comfort-er, St. Cyrian Parish in Washington, D.C.
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Spotlight on Youth
Sts. Peter and Paul School Sts. Peter and Paul School administration, teachers, parents and staff hosted this year’s highly successful International Food Tasting Night on February 15 at Sts. Peter and Paul School. An outstanding menu was prepared representing many nation-alities: Indian, Filipino, Italian, Chinese, Caribbean, Spanish, Mexican and French. The culinary efforts were overseen by Chef
Corey, Sts. Peter and Paul School’s culinary arts teacher, with assistance from students, parents, administrators and staff members.
Set up in the school’s multi-level court-yard under its beautiful fire tree, the event progressed into the late hours as guests strolled among the kitchen booths, sampling delicious creations such as saag and rhoti under the Indian flag, Caribbean callalou soup, oxtail stew and authentic and delicious
enchiladas y burritos at the Mexican cocina.Proceeds from the ticket sales will
help ensure high quality and high energy education of Virgin Island Catholic school students in St. Thomas. To cap the festivities, the much touted cash raffle sent home three lucky winners with cash prizes of $1,000, $2,500 and a grand prize of $10,000. It was a most successful and enjoyable evening.
Chef Corey and family
Black History Month The end of Black History Month at St. Joseph High School was marked with a show on February 28. The show, attended by all of the students and teachers, was held in the St. Joseph Church Hospitality Lounge. Participants read poetry, sang, danced and played musical instruments.
(l-r) Bria Mitcham, grade 11; Kristina Diaz, grade 12; Father John Mark, principal.
Protection of Children
The Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands is
committed to protecting children from all harm. If
you have knowledge of any church worker who may have
abused a minor, please contact the diocesan child protection coordinator, Callista Julien, at 340.778 0484 or 340.772 4214.
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St. Patrick School FBLA members gathered after Mass in front of St Joachim and Ann Church with Msgr. Kosak. (l-r) M. Thom-as-Lewis, C. Brow Henderson, adviser, Rosaline Estrill, parent, Amayah Estrill, president, Danielle Peter, vice president, Msgr. Michael Kosak, Daron Cole, historian, M'Kaila Caines, secretary, Joyce Caines, parent, Maria Peter, parent, Kayla Cole, reporter, Magdalene Joseph, parent, and Elizabeth John-Baptiste, principal/adviser.
The high honors students display their certificates.
The honor roll students display their certificates.
St. Joseph School
Poetry Out Loud Contest Winners (l-r): Third place: Euripide Carpio, grade 10; first place: Kristina Diaz, grade 12; second place; Julissa Moolenaar, grade 10.
Poetry Out Loud Students at St. Joseph High School entered the “Poetry Out Load” competition in the school library. Six students participated in this event sponsored by the Virgin Islands Council for the Arts, which also provided judges. Competitors each memorized and presented two poems. After the poems were read, the judges selected three students. Kristina Diaz, grade 12, received a certificate and $100 for first place; Julissa Moolenaar, grade 10, received a certificate for second place; and Euripide Carpio, grade 10, received a certificate for third place. More competitions will be held with the winners from other schools until the territory winner is selected and sent on to the national competition in Washington, D.C.
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com8
Local News
Mass of Healing Beginning with the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, the people of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church celebrat-ed a Mass of Healing and prayer service on February 10. Father Eduardo Ortiz-Santiago said the Mass and anointed several elderly parishioners, along with those who are suffering through illnesses and any kind of disease. This is an annual practice of the OLPH congregation and always yields much fruit in the spirit and health of mind and body for the participants, and for all those for whom they interceded in prayer and supplication.
Men’s Workshop More than 20 men attended the men’s work-shop led by Father William Jarema of Colorado Springs, Colorado, on February 15 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
World Marriage Day Couples from Holy Family Church were given certificates signed by Bishop Bevard. (l-r): Mr. and Mrs. Baly, Mr. and Mrs. Vanterpool, Mr. and Mrs. Casey, and Mr. and Mrs. Callwood.
Catholic Charities’ April Food Drive
Please collect the following items at your church, school or workplace and bring them to Catholic Charities:
• Powdered milk, rice, lentils and beans• Infant formula and baby food• Canned meat and vegetables
Lenten Stations of the Cross during final stages of the renovation of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Altar servers Dante, Nathan and Emmett Joseph, stood at foot of altar with framed pictures of the stations which were each held in turn. Beautiful permanent stations of the Cross will soon take their place around the cathedral interior. Deacon Wilfredo Acosta led the recent Friday Lenten observance.
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Reflection
There are no reporting requirements for those committing abor-tions here in the territory. So aborted babies do not exist politically or socially. They are not even statistics – because there are no sta-tistics for them. Their unfortunate mothers, frequently underage, at-risk victims of abuse, are denied critical health care oversight and protection from the unscrupulous abortion industry.
Adding insult to injury: sea turtles and their eggs in the terri-tory get full protection from the federal government under the Endangered Species Act. Federal law provides protection to sea turtles and their eggs with criminal penalties as severe as $100,000 and a year in prison if you “take, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap or capture any marine turtle, turtle nest and/or eggs.” It is a most deplorable and convoluted twist of fate that unborn babies would be better off under the protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service than under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – which offers them no protection.
Richard Stith wrote a very powerful article, “Abortion is more than murder.” He says that the word murder does not say enough
Father E. Patrick Lynch, CSsR, is pastor of St. Patrick Church, Frederiksted, St. Croix. Father Lynch also is the superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese, and is the long-time head of the diocesan pro-life movement. As an educator and the top school ad-ministrator for the Diocese of St. Thomas, Father Lynch is commit-ted to the safety, education and the rights of all young people to the full benefits of the rich life for which God created them. In addition to the many duties which his spiritual, clerical, ministerial and professional engagements demand, he leads a monthly prayer vigil, a group that meets in front of local abortion facilities. As he relates in this article, such abortuaries, in the Virgin Islands, are actually pri-vate doctors' offices, and so are not visibly identified, as are Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills on the mainland U.S.
Faceless and Defenseless in the Virgin Islands
n the U.S. mainland, it is not un-common for abortion providers to face scrutiny, criminal charges and even prosecution for violating
any of a number of laws and regula-tions that when flouted or blatantly and criminal-ly disregarded, can bring severe penalties, even the closing of such facilities where injury and death spread beyond the targeted unborn to mothers, who are often underage, and often unreported victims of incest, molestation and rape.
By Father E. Patrick Lynch, CSsR
to express adequately the full horror of abortion. “Murder” con-jures up only a single lethal act against an adult stranger. Abortion is far more than that:
1.) Abortion involves extraordinary violence, deliberate dismem-berment, while the child is still alive.
2.) Abortions are not typical murders: The victim is not an adult, but a helpless child. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI pointed out, in 1991, that abortion is part of “a true war of the mighty against the weak ... with the complicity of states, colossal means have been used against people at the dawn of their life ... worse than ordinary murder.” When we read of troops or terrorists slaughtering the weak – the very old, the very young, the very disabled – this seems more inhuman than the killing of vigorous adults. When a blind man is robbed of his wal-let, we react more forcefully than when a sighted person has his wallet stolen. The thief is not only wrong, but shameful. Abortion reasons shamelessly that because the unborn child is dependent and helpless, he may be killed.
3.) The most horrific part of child killing is betrayal. It is worse for a caretaker (a lifeguard, a nurse, a family member) to kill than for a stranger to do so, because the evil of betrayal is added to the evil of murder. If there is a life, then there is a child; if a child, then a mother; if a mother, then a betrayal.
And not just any betrayal. Parental duties are the most funda-mental we can imagine. The killing of strangers eats away at our community from the outside in; accepting the killing of our own children rots us from the inside out.
Mother Teresa, in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, said, “If a mother can kill her own child, what is left?”
During this season of Lent, when, the entire Catholic popula-tion of a world held captive by a culture of death ought to be a powerful and united voice for Christ and the innocent unborn, make your voice heard in prayer and petition to Our Lady, Refuge of the Poor and the Helpless, to intercede for these, the tiniest, most helpless and defenseless of her children.
Give in support of Catholic Charities of the Virgin Islands and all organizations that are seeking to end this travesty of human rights. Make it a Lenten observance to fast, do penance and offer a daily or weekly rosary for an end to the scourge of abortion in our islands, the whole Caribbean and the world.
Killing unborn children is a grave injustice and cruelty of the most heinous kind, wherever it takes place. In the Virgin Islands, though, it takes on an even more tragic complexion.
Holy Week ScheduleApril 13-20, 2014
St. CroixHoly Cross ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6 p.m. On Sunday, Masses are at 7:15 a.m. in Spanish and at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. in English.Holy Thursday: The first of three Tenebrae prayer services will be on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be bilingual at 6:30 p.m. Adoration will follow. Good Friday: Tenebrae will be at 8:15 a.m. A bilingual Stations of the Cross proces-sion will begin from Sacred Heart Chapel to Holy Cross Church at 1 p.m. The Seven
Last Words will be prayed bilingually at 2:15 p.m., and a bilingual Celebration of the Lord’s Passion will be at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: Tenebrae will be at 8:15 a.m. The Easter Vigil Mass with Bishop Bevard will be at 6:30 p.m.Easter Sunday: An Encuentro procession and Mass in Spanish will be at 7 a.m., and Masses in English will be at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Sacred Heart ChapelPalm Sunday: Mass will be at 9 a.m.Easter Sunday: Mass will be at 9 a.m.
St. Ann ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with
Days of Holy Week
Palm Sunday is on April 13.Holy Thursday is on April 17.Good Friday is on April 18.
Holy Saturday is on April 19.Easter Sunday is on April 20.
a Saturday Vigil Mass at 5 p.m. On Sunday, Masses will be at 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. A procession will precede the 9:30 a.m. Mass.Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration will follow.Good Friday: A three-hour service that includes the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Stations of the Cross and the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion will begin at noon. Con-fessions will be heard from noon to 2 p.m.Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: The Sunrise Mass will be at 5:30 a.m. and the Solemn Mass with Bishop Bevard will be at 9:30 a.m.
St. Joseph ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin on Saturday with a procession at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Vigil Mass at 5 p.m. On Sunday, a procession at 6:30 a.m. will be followed by an English Mass at 7 a.m. A procession at 8:30 a.m. will be followed by Spanish Mass at 9 a.m.Tuesday: 10:30 a.m. Procession and Mass.Wednesday: 6:30 a.m. Daily Mass.Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be bilingual at 7 p.m. with Bishop Bevard. Adoration of the Bless-ed Sacrament follows at 8:30 p.m. and will continue until midnight.Good Friday: A bilingual Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 2 p.m. A bilingual Celebration of the Lord’s Passion will begin in the church at 3 p.m. Bishop Bevard will preside at Mass, which will be followed by the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.Holy Saturday: The bilingual Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: Mass in English will be at 7 a.m., Mass in Spanish will be at 9 a.m. and an English Mass will be at 11 a.m.
Holy Week 2014
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St. Patrick ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin on Saturday with a procession before the Satur-day Vigil Mass at 6 p.m. On Sunday, Masses will be at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Parishioners will meet with congregants of other denomina-tions for an ecumenical procession through the streets of Frederiksted at 10:30 a.m.Tuesday: Noon, Chrism Mass with Bishop Bevard.Holy Thursday: The first of three Tenebrae prayer services will be on Thursday at 8 a.m. The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacra-ment will continue until 10 p.m.Good Friday: Tenebrae will be at 8 a.m. The Seven Last Words will be prayed at noon, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be prayed at 1 p.m., the Stations of the Cross at 2 p.m. and the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion with Bishop Bevard will be at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: Tenebrae will be at 8 a.m. The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: Masses will be at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.
St. Thomas and St. JohnSts. Peter and Paul CathedralPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with a Saturday Vigil Mass at 5:45 p.m. On Sunday, Masses will be at 6:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. in English and 12:30 p.m. in Spanish. Processions from Sts. Peter and Paul School will be at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will continue until midnight.Good Friday: The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion for children will be at noon. The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion for adults in English will be at 3 p.m. The living Stations of the Cross in Spanish will begin from Davis Funeral Home at 4 p.m. and end at the church for the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion in Spanish at 5 p.m.Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: Masses in English will be a Sunrise Mass at 6 a.m., 8 a.m., and a Solemn Mass at 10:30 a.m. A Spanish Mass will be at 12:30 p.m.
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Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s
mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish." - Pope Francis’ 2013 Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi Message
Holy Family ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6 p.m. On Sunday, the first Mass will be at 7 a.m. A procession will begin from the Our Lady of Cassi Hill Shrine at 9 a.m., followed by a second Mass in the church.Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will continue until midnight.Good Friday: Stations of the Cross will be prayed outdoors at 2 p.m., followed by the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: Sunrise Mass will be in the Our Lady of Cassi Hill Shrine at 5 a.m., followed by Masses in the church at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.Our Lady of Perpetual Help ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6:30 p.m. On Sun-day, Masses will be at 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.Good Friday: The Stations of the Cross will be prayed at Magens Bay at 5:30 a.m. Stations of the Cross will be prayed again at the church at 2 p.m. The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion will be at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7:30 p.m.
Easter Sunday: Sunrise Mass will be at 5:30 a.m. A second Mass will be at 9 a.m.
St. Anne ChapelPalm Sunday: Celebrations begin with Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday Mass will be at 8 a.m. Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will follow.Good Friday: Stations of the Cross at 2:30 p.m. and the Celebration of the Lord's Passion at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: Vigil Mass at 7 p.m.Easter Sunday: Mass at 8 a.m. followed by an Easter egg hunt.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel ChurchPalm Sunday: Celebrations will begin with a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6 p.m. On Sunday, the first Mass will be at 7:30 a.m. A second Mass will begin at 9:30 a.m. All Masses will begin with the benediction of palms inside the church.Holy Thursday: The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will continue until midnight.Good Friday: The Stations of the Cross will be at 2 p.m. followed by a Celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 3 p.m.Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil Mass will be at 7:30 p.m.Easter Sunday: Masses will be at 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
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Pray to your Heavenly Father in secret, and in secret He will hear you ... and in secret He will repay you.
Over the last several decades, there has been a marked and ongoing transformation in the Catholic Church. The change I men-tion here is perhaps not one you might ex-pect. In more churches than I care to count,
confessionals – which in generations passed saw regular and frequent use by faithful Catholics – have been turned into mop and storage closets; or altered and remodeled into larger, furnished, accent-lighted, face-to-face reconciliation rooms.
Coinciding with this change, for differ-ent and varied reasons, and yet linked in an
arguably predictable cause and effect relationship, has been the wholesale aban-donment or minimization of the sacra-ment of penance, or reconciliation.
In churches where more modern rec-onciliation rooms were built to accom-modate what seemed like a more open and less onerous style of receiving abso-
The Season of LentIn an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation
I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com12
13
Cover Story
lution from a priest, there manifested no vast movement toward, nor the antici-pated preference for, the newer, “friend-lier, non-threatening style” of confession. Confessions to a priest – anonymous or face-to-face – have plummeted to such a low level that the standing joke about the abandonment of the practice of frequent and regular confession, is that people have stopped sinning! Oh, glory and hallelujah!
The obvious, towering and truly fright-ening effects of sin in our culture put such an irresponsible and cynical fantasy to rest, however.
Confession, which is articulating or tell-ing one's sins to the priest, who acts in the person of Jesus Christ to grant absolution or remission from guilt, and to restore sanctifying grace and life to the soul, is so painful, humiliating, and difficult, when there is true contrition of heart, that some-times – often – just the thought of the con-fession which will be the only way of re-mitting the sin, if temptation is yielded to, becomes itself a marvelous deterrent and an aid in avoidance of sin in the first place.
It is a tragedy beyond words that the aban-donment of the sacrament of reconciliation in recent decades has led to a terrible in-crease in the practice of unworthy, fruitless and sacrilegious holy Communions.
In the novel reconciliation environment that discourages, if it doesn't disallow, an-onymity, mortal sins are more apt to be
concealed from the priest, due to simple embarrassment; rendering the sacrament itself, sacrilegious.
The reality of the intimate touch that takes place between the flesh of the com-municant and the flesh of Jesus, when holy Communion is received, worthily, or un-worthily, takes on a diabolical character when received in a state of mortal sin, of the sadistic and tortuous intimacy poison-ing the touch of those hands that whipped and lacerated the sacred flesh of Our Lord, drove spikes into his sacred and tender hands and feet, pressed in abominable mockery the plaited crown of thorns into his sacred, sorrowing, brow, and, ultimate-ly, drove the lance into his Sacred Heart.
The perhaps unforeseen effect of taking the anonymity out of confession and turning the sacrament into a face-to-face encounter, at best, or a mere counseling session, at worst, has been the shying away from the intrinsic and inescapable awkwardness of articulating and divulging serious sins to a priest.
Thus have been deprived millions of sin-ners, whose forebears benefitted from the compassion and mercy of our Church, who used to, at all times, beckon poor sinners to steal quietly and anonymously into that secret room, spoken of in the Scriptures, to unburden their souls of all sin, be they mor-tal or venial, and be healed; all sin forsaken, forgotten – separated from us “as far as the east is from the west.”
The two new confessionals at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral
At Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Char-lotte Amalie, Bishop Hebert Bevard has had installed two confessionals, constructed in the old style of the anonymous confession-al. These beautiful and ornate prayer closets date from the period of our cathedral’s con-struction and sit invitingly, conveniently, and most aesthetically in the narthex at the front of the cathedral.
Bishop Bevard has long requested, in every church in the diocese, of which the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul is the model church, that the Sacrament of Reconciliation be offered before, and after, every Mass, and that these times be published in parish bulletins.
Beginning with this Lenten season, make it a part of your own practice and sacra-mental life – especially as a Lenten offering anticipating the Passion of Our Lord in the coming Holy Week – to take up the most ef-ficacious, laudable and holy practice of reg-ular, frequent and thorough confessions at your church, to a priest. Anonymous con-fession is your right and it is always provid-ed for, along with face-to-face confession.
If it isn’t already a part of life in your parish, begin today to re-establish and to teach the thorough examination of conscience, along with the practice of frequent and regular confessions among young people at home and, particularly, in church schools and youth groups.
May the spiritual fruits of this holy sea-son of Lent, Holy Week and the season of Easter increase the frequency and fervency of the worthy reception of the sacraments of the church by each of her fully initiated members. May these fruits be prodigious – multiplying and returning to our diocesan family for decades and decades to come, until the Lord returns for us!
Pray to your Heavenly Father in secret, and
in secret He will hear you ... and in secret He will repay you."
By Father John Fewel, editor
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com14
“I was born in New York, lived with my parents, three brothers and one sister. My mother was the very faithful Catholic who took us to Mass every week. I had 12 years of
Catholic education in New York. After my high school graduation, my parents relo-cated to St. Croix with my sis-ter and me. When we moved to St. Croix, we started to go to
I
Journey of Faith
f you meet her today, you’re likely to find Nancy Soto on St. Croix in church or helping drive some of her elderly neighbors to Mass.
Nancy has been a part of St. Patrick Church for many years, singing in the choir, lead-ing as a cantor, even serving on the parish council. Though a quiet woman and unassuming, Nancy’s faith journey is a story that many can relate to – a story of heartbreak and, with God’s help, healing.
Nancy Soto
By Paul McAvoy
St. Patrick Church in Frederik-sted,” she says.
Later in life, Nancy relates, she became less and less dili-gent in attending Mass. As her mother grew older, and Nancy began caring for her needs, Mass again became a more regular practice.
“My mother did not drive, so she walked to church. When she got up in age, I began driv-ing her to church, and I start-ed going again,” she explains. Nancy was soon noticed for her singing voice and was asked to join the choir. “That’s the part where the Lord started working in me,” she says. Nan-cy had always enjoyed singing, and found herself going to St. Patrick Church more often.
At this time, Nancy was going through problems in her life. She describes this period as one of great challenge. “I was with-drawn, hurt, I didn’t want to talk to anybody other than my chil-dren and my mom, they were my source of comfort. I was feel-ing depressed, I just wanted to be left alone,” she admits. “That was really when I had a change in my life. I started to pray more often and turn towards EWTN and all the Christian shows I could find on TV.”
Going through this “des-ert period” of her life, Nancy found herself needing her faith more than ever: “I found that after I went to Communion, I felt good. I was revived; I could sing when I got home; I was fine.” But after a few days, she was back into feeling closed off and hurting again. That’s when
she realized she needed God to be a bigger part of her life.
“The message I always heard was to ‘Let go and Let God,’ and that was true ... he was not letting me go.”
Nancy started receiving more pamphlets and booklets with her charitable donations, and those materials also helped her. She started being more active in her parish by continuing in the choir, soon graduating to be-ing a song leader. Then she was nominated to the parish council, where she eventually served as president.
Through letting the Lord work in her life, she was able to come out of her depression and blossom in her faith, help-ing herself and those around her. The more she prayed and got involved, the more she could see the change in herself.
Today, Nancy is retired (and thoroughly enjoying it) and spends more of her time at St. Patrick’s. She’s grateful for where her faith has brought her, challenges and all. “The Lord has really worked on me,” she says, noting that her journey helped make her the person she is today. “It’s inspir-ing, and humbling ... I love my Catholic faith. And, like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved.” Her message is simple: “Trust in God, turn to Jesus when you are unsure, ask His help – you may not get the answer right away, but keep asking and trusting and it will be answered in His time. God can see the big picture and He will take care of you.” ◊
The message I always heard was to ‘Let go and Let God,’
and that was true … He was not letting me go."
very once in a while, we are able to catch a vivid glimpse into the mind of God. When this happens, we see that God’s
ways are not the world’s ways. The life of St. Bernadette (1844–1879) provides us with a stunning example of this.
Bernadette’s life is hardly the kind of story the world takes note of or celebrates. She was a frail child from an impoverished family in Lourdes, France, yet St. Bernadette was chosen to re-ceive and to communicate a great treasure to humanity.
On February 11, 1858, God’s mother appeared to her, dressed in blue and white. She smiled at Bernadette and made the sign of the cross with a rosary of ivory and gold. She would appear to Bernadette 17 more times, telling her to pray for sinners, to do penance and to have a chapel built in her honor.
Many people did not believe Bernadette when she spoke of her vision and she had to suffer much. However, after Our Lady told Bernadette to dig in the mud, from which a spring began to flow, many came to believe – because miracles happened with this water.
St. Bernadette eventually became a nun, but she remained humble and did not want to be praised. The hidden treasure that was the life of St. Bernadette managed to yield the harvest of the Marian shrine at Lourdes, which attracts more than 5 million pilgrims each year. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1933.
PHOTO ▶ Wikipedia©
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S t . Be r n a d e t t e | A p r i l 1 6
Saint of the Month
How Can I Tell My Mom I Don't Like
Surprise Visits?My mom “surprised” me by flying in for a visit. I had other plans for that weekend, and her unannounced trip really threw a
monkey wrench into them. How can I pre-vent this from happening again without
making her feel rejected?
Regrettably, some parents have difficulty understand-ing that their adult children have the right to live their own lives and make their own plans – and they must be respected. There are two possible reactions to this situa-tion, and both have merits.
The first reaction might consist of receiving your mom with the love and respect she deserves, then engaging in a conversation in which you discuss how important it is to you as an adult to have your own plans, responsibilities and schedule. You can emphasize that you would rather communicate about plans than be surprised. This allows you to turn the annoyance of this situation into an oppor-tunity to raise the level of understanding between you.
The second reaction (which does not necessarily ex-clude the first) is to incorporate your mother into your weekend plans and appreciate your time together. Re-member the words of Leviticus 19:3, “Each of you revere your mother and father.”
By Dr. Gelasia Marquez, a psychologist and family counselor.
Conflict Resolution
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Discover the Hidden Treasure
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Theology 101
The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to
Him.” (Dt 30:19-20)
The Catholic Islander / March 2014 / www.catholicvi.com16
The gift of the Ten Commandments “is the gift of God Himself and His holy will.” Specifically, the “10 words” are the words of God that “point out the condi-tions of a life freed from the slavery of sin.” They show us a path of life that sums up and proclaims God’s law and will “make explicit the response of love that man is called to give to his God.”
The third gift: Remember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy.
The “third word” refers to the gift of God making the Sabbath holy. The first creation
story of the Book of Genesis recounts God’s creation of the world. It explains how, on each of six days, God brought forth another aspect of the created order until the world was complete. God then rested from His work on the seventh day, blessing it and making it holy.
The beauty of the Sabbath lies precisely in the fact that the source of its holiness is God, not us. It is set apart by God for God and is thus goodness itself, so we can then trust fully in its sanctity.
Further, because God is the source, this gift is about love. And it is in this love that the true richness of the commandment comes to the fore. For example, in Exodus
20:10, God explains to Moses His view of what it means to fulfill this command-ment: “You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates.”
In other words, all are to partake of the goodness and abundance of the Lord on His day. All creation belongs to God, not us, and therefore is sacred, made holy by God just like the Sabbath. It follows, then, that no one would be excluded from the rest and benefits of this day.
The proper responseSince the essence of the commandment
is that God rested from His work on the seventh day and made it holy, a proper re-sponse to this gift is simply to do the same. The Catechism teaches that the Sabbath was entrusted to Israel to keep “as a sign of the irrevocable covenant.” It was a day set apart not only for rest from work, but also for the praise of God in thanksgiving for the gift of creation and His saving actions on behalf of Israel.
For Catholics, the Sabbath, along with the totality of the Law, prefigures and pre-pares for the Christ event, which fulfills the Sabbath and the Law. The Gospels all recount that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. “Because it is the ‘eighth day’ following the Sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s resurrection. For Christians, it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day – Sunday.”
The celebration of Sunday, then, fulfills not only the moral command inscribed by nature in our hearts to worship God, but also the moral command of the Old Cov-enant, “taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of His people.” This, of course, occurs in the Sunday Eucharist, which “is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice.”
The way of lifeThe Third Commandment teaches us
that the way of life demands the celebration of the Lord’s Day. “Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated ... and is to be observed as the foremost holy
The Sabbath: woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 Die Bibel in Bildern
17
Bible Geography Facts
The Desert of SinThe Desert of Sin, also known as the
Wilderness of Sin, lies between the city of Elim and Mount Sinai, according to the Book of Exodus (16:1). It was the sight of the “grumbling” of the Israelites against Moses and Aaron after their escape from Egypt, and of God raining down manna from heaven in response.
The wilderness forms a wedge be-tween the gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, tapering south to the mountains near Sinai. The area covers more than 20,000 square miles, or double the size of the Promised Land east and west of Jordan. The annual rainfall (except in drought) is between 10 and 20 inches. Acacia, tamarisk and palm trees are the primary trees and grow in valleys.
�Source: http://bibleatlas.org/sin_desert.htm
Did you know?“Sin” in the name “Desert of Sin”
does not mean “sinfulness.” Since the word literally signifies “the moon,” many biblical scholars believe the name probably refers to the Semitic moon deity, Sin, who was worshipped widely around the entire periphery of pre-Islamic Arabia, the Levant and Mesopotamia.
�Sources: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible and Encyclopedia Biblica.
The story of the Israelites’ journey from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land has a large cast of characters. Test your knowledge of biblical figures and name this person:
This Levite was gifted with eloquent speech
and a “golden” touch.
Aaron (brother of Moses)
By Doug Culp, the CAO of the secretariat for pastoral life at the Diocese of Lexington, Ky.
day of obligation in the universal church.”In addition, everyone should enjoy “ad-
equate rest and leisure to cultivate their fa-milial, cultural, social and religious lives.” This means refraining from work or activi-ties that “hinder the worship owed to God.”
In the Gospels, Jesus actually was ac-cused of breaking this commandment on a couple of occasions. One such incident is related in Matthew 12:1-8 (see also Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5). The passage tells us about Jesus responding to the protests of the Pharisees against His disciples for pulling off heads of grain to eat as they walked through a field on the Sabbath. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that King Da-vid’s men had once eaten the holy bread, normally reserved for the priest, and that the Law allowed priests on Temple duty to break the Sabbath rest without guilt.
Jesus then says something of utmost im-portance: “I say to you, something greater than the Temple is here. If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ (a reference to Hosea 6:6), you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Now, Mark’s version (2:27) of the incident includes another statement by Jesus right before the last sentence above that goes straight to the heart of the matter: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath.”Jesus’ response affirms that God is the
sole source of the holiness of the Sabbath and that God’s intention for all creation is for it to share in His goodness and mercy. In the story of what immediately followed this encounter with the Pharisees over the grain, Matthew 12:9–13 (see also Mark 3:1–6, Luke 6:6–11, and John 5:1–8) tells us that Jesus is questioned upon His en-trance into the synagogue as to the legality of curing someone on the Sabbath (other passages put the question in Jesus’ mouth). Jesus ultimately gives us the definitive an-swer and reveals to us the will of God on the matter: “Clearly, good deeds may be performed on the Sabbath.”
Put another way, goodness and mercy
QUIZ!
The gift of the Ten Commandments 'is
the gift of God Himself and His holy will.' ...
They show us a path of life that sums up and proclaims God’s law
and will 'make explicit the response of love that man is called to
give to his God.'"
shall flower even on the Sabbath, for it was God’s goodness and mercy that created the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created so that we might participate in the life of God, who is Good itself and therefore our great-est good. This is to say the Sabbath was created so that we might have life and have it more fully, which is the very aim of any true act of mercy. Consequently, works of mercy also constitute appropriate activi-ties on the Lord’s Day.- Quotes are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2168–2195).
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com18
These are two great questions that I hope one answer will address. As
people who love our faith and are invested in the way our local parish lives it, it is in-evitable that we will run into situations where we argue or differ over something. This actually can be a good thing. Right at the root of the problem is the fact that we all have emotion tied to our experience of the local church; if no one cared, that would be the real tragedy.
Right now, it seems to me we are in a contentious time in the history of the church. The Internet seems overrun with people who want to fix the church and who seem more than willing to sacrifice chari-ty, or even basic Christian ideas, in their pursuit of more followers for their cause.
In the Know with Father Joe
I Don't Like My Pastor – What Can I Do about it?
Q: Dear Father Joe: I have some serious concerns about the way my priest is running our parish. What do I do about it? And when do I go to the bishop
to ask him to transfer our pastor?
It’s a tragedy.How should we, as lovers of Christ, han-
dle these conflicts?As we look into this, I want to share a
great quote from St. Augustine: “In essen-tials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.”
So the first step, as always, is to pray. If you’re a world-class worrier like I am, then whatever troubles you have with your priest tend to pop into your head quite often. Each time it does, offer a prayer to God. Say something simple like, “God, I give this person to you.” Praying is not a lack of action or a cop-out – it’s a concrete response to pain. By offering the situation and/or person to God, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and start the process of convicting and healing.
After prayer, the next step is to make sure you are avoiding gossip. There is so much talk out there, so many wounds that never had to happen simply because we don’t talk to each other as much as we talk about each other. Be bigger than that! Each time you are invited to “discuss Fa-ther,” offer a simple reminder to people that talking about it won’t make it better, but prayer will.
The next step is to go see your priest. Ask for some time to talk about what is going on and ask questions when you get there. A simple rule for your discussion can be this: You don’t know what you don’t know. By asking questions, instead of accusing, you leave room for the truth to come out.
By approaching this situation in the way you have, you are obeying the directive that Jesus gave us in Matthew 18. You are giving your priest a chance to explain why he does what he does and seeing if the two of you cannot reconcile and work together with Jesus for the salvation of the world. If
By Father Joe Krupp
In the Know with Father Joe
As people who love our faith and are invested in the way our local parish lives it, it is inevitable that we will run into situations where we argue or differ over something. This can actually be a good thing ... if no one cared, that would be the real tragedy."
that does not work, what’s next?This is when you take the next step and
contact your bishop. Write him a letter that you sign and explain what you see and how you have responded so far. Ask him for a response to your letter. If you’re feeling particularly helpful, enclose an envelope with a stamp and your address on it!
Like many people, our bishops are busy. It may take him a bit to get back with you – make sure you pray while you wait.
It may be that the bishop addresses this issue in private with your priest and that you never find out the specifics. If, after a reasonable time has passed, you haven’t re-ceived an acknowledgement of your letter, you may want to call the bishop’s office to ensure the letter was received. At that point, you might also request a meeting to discuss the issue, if it does not appear to have been resolved. Remember, your goal is not to fix the situation, but to be faithful to what God has called you to: addressing the issue.
I hope this is helpful. As both a layper-son and a priest, I’ve been involved in situ-ations like these and it can be very painful. I pray that God will lead and guide you each step of the way.
Enjoy another day in God’s presence!
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How Much Are You Really Willing to Give up for Lent?
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By Sister Ann Shields
In an interview, the boy’s father said how proud he was of his son. He said, “My son made his mother cry, but saved hundreds of mothers from crying for their children.”
Very few of us in life will be faced with such choices, such decisions. But this Lent is an appropriate time to ask ourselves: How willing am I to sacrifice for the needs of others? How willing am I to go out of my way to help another in distress? Jesus clearly told us: “Love one another as I have
loved you.” Am I willing to put others first and me second? Jesus gave His life for us that we might live eternally. He sacrificed everything. Are we really His disciples? Are we willing to follow him through the cross – whatever form it may take – so that others may be saved – not only in this life but for all eternity?
Pope Francis has made it very clear that we, as Chris-tians, need to reach out beyond our comfort zone to meet the needs of others, not
just in material ways, but by listening, by showing respect, by demonstrating mercy and compassion. We must see each person’s infinite dignity, especially when they can’t see it themselves because of sin, severe hardship, tragedy or hopelessness.
Reaching out to others takes time – and today we just don’t seem to have enough time. Let’s take time this Lent to find a concrete way in which we can deny ourselves by putting the needs of others
– especially the poor – before our own. And remember that “the poor” includes those who may not be financially poor. What about the disabled, the mentally challenged, the sinner who needs forgiveness – from you? What about the ostracized in your own family or extended family? What can you do about generations of feuding in your family? When are you going to end it? Who is going to be the first to reach out, to make a bridge, to cancel debt?
few weeks ago, I came across an article that astounded me. You may have seen it. In January, a 15-year-old Pakistani boy was on his way to school with a cousin. A man stopped and asked the boys for directions to the school they were attending. They pointed to the school and the man went
on. The 15-year-old then told his cousin that he thought the man was a suicide bomber and needed to be stopped. While others backed away, this young man challenged the bomber. He caught up to him and begged him not to detonate the bomb he was sure the man was carrying. The stranger became agitated and pulled the cord, killing himself and the boy. About 2,000 students were in that school, but no one there was hurt.
Spiritual ExerciseThere are so many ways in which we can honor the Lord this Lent and put our own relationship with Him and with others on a more solid foundation. There are many lonely, broken people who simply need befriending. They are all around you if you have eyes to see, a willing heart to listen and a willingness to be present with them – to spend time you think you don’t have so that wounds can be healed. Simply ask the Lord to show you how.
Be the Lord’s servant this Lent in a particular way, to a particular person.
If you take up this challenge for Lent, you will become more of a true disciple of Christ and a more generous and com-passionate human being. If you are willing to tell me of your successes and failures (and there will be both), write to me at 230 Collingwood, Suite 240, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Your identity and the identity of those you serve will be protected, but I may be able to use your stories in future articles so that your example can lend courage and hope to others to step out and love, as Christ has asked.
Spritual Fitness
20
First “firsts”Pope Francis’ election marked the first time in 100 years the
conclave had arrived at a consensus on only the fifth ballot. In ad-dition to the selection of the papal name of Francis, the reigning pontiff was the first non-European pope in modern times, the first South American pope and the first Jesuit pope.
Pope Francis’ first encyclicalOn June 29, 2013, Pope Francis promulgated his first encycli-
cal, entitled Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith). The encyclical was intended to complement two previous encyclicals Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had written on the theological virtues of charity (Deus Caritas Est) and hope (Spe Salvi). In his introduction, Pope Francis acknowledged that Benedict XVI had nearly finished a first draft of an encyclical on faith, and that he had taken up the work and added “a few contributions of my own.” The encyclical reflected on the origin of faith and the road to communion with
Pope Francis’ Year of “Firsts”
O
Other notable “Francis firsts” • In June 2013, Pope Francis named a commission of inquiry to inves-
tigate the activities of the Vatican Bank, also known as the Institute for Religious Works. The institution has been under scrutiny for years because of questions about whether some accounts might actually be fronts for money-laundering schemes. The actions by Pope Francis led to the bank disclosing its annual report for the first time in 125 years.
• In October 2013, Pope Francis called his first Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangeliza-tion.” The synod will take place October 5–19, 2014.
• On February 22, 2014, Pope Francis appointed his first cardinals, with Pope emeritus Benedict XVI making a rare appearance at the ceremony. Significantly, nine of the 19 cardinals come from South America, Africa and Asia, including some of the poorest places on earth, such as Haiti and the Ivory Coast.
ne year ago, on March 13, 2013, Proto Deacon Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauren stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s
Basilica to inform the world that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, had become the first Pope Francis. It was the beginning of a remarkable year of “firsts.”
God that opens up before us. The release of the encyclical corresponded to the Year of Faith,
which began on October 11, 2012 (the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church) and concluded on November 24, 2013 (Solemnity of Christ the King). The goal of the initiative was conversion and the rediscovery of faith so that all members of the church could become credible witnesses of truth.
Pope Francis’ first World Youth DayPope Francis celebrated his first World Youth Day as pope in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 23–28, 2013. The theme for the celebra-tion was “Go and Make Disciples of all Nations.” (Matthew 28:19) The final Mass of the event drew between 3.2 million and 3.7 mil-lion people, making it second only to the 1995 World Youth Day Mass with Blessed Pope John Paul II, held in Manila, Philippines, where the crowd was estimated between 4 million and 5 million.
Pope Francis’ first apostolic exhortationOn the Solemnity of Christ the King (November 24, 2013),
Pope Francis brought the Year of Faith to its conclusion with the issuance of his first apostolic exhortation, entitled Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The 200-plus page exhortation was issued primarily as a response to the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 7–28, 2012) called by then Pope Benedict XVI to study the theme: “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Faith.” This same synod, which began the Year of Faith, had actually requested that this exhortation be writ-ten, and Pope Francis was happy to oblige.
In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis did not attempt to address the “countless issues” surrounding evangelization or to “offer a definitive or complete word on every question which affects the church and the world.” Instead, his aim was to present guidelines that he hoped would encourage the church in a “new phase of evangelization.” Throughout his treatment of various themes, it is God’s merciful love that serves as the common foundation. God has loved each one of us first and continually seeks out every per-son with this message of salvation.
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com
Special Report
21
Order of MaltaVirgin Islands Area
The Order of Malta is raising funds for His Excellency, Bishop Bevard’s
Catholic Scholarship Program through the sale of commemorative bricks. The bricks will be installed in the Rosary Garden at Our Lady
Of Perpetual Help Church. This is a great way to remember a loved one or express gratitude to
God for answering a prayer. Your message will last forever.
î Call 774.2166 for information
The Catholic Islander / April 2014 / www.catholicvi.com22
Catholic Daughters of AmericaCourt 2049 meets at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral’s Hospitality Lounge on the third Saturday of every month at 3 p.m.
Charismatic prayer▶ Prayers in Spanish are offered at Sts.
Peter and Paul Cathedral’s Hospitality Lounge on Mondays at 6 p.m.
▶ Holy Family Church holds evenings of charismatic prayer on Mondays at
7 p.m.
Divine Mercy Chaplet ▶ Altar servers from Sts. Peter and Paul
Cathedral and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church lead the Divine Mercy Chaplet at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral on Mondays at 3 p.m.
▶ The chaplet is prayed at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Tuesdays at 3 p.m.
Holy Hours/Eucharistic Adoration▶ St. Therese Chapel-Divine Mercy
Shrine has Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. until Benediction at 5:30 p.m. (Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.) and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. until Benediction at 1 p.m.
▶ Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church has Exposition on Tuesdays from 7:30 a.m. until Benediction at 6 p.m. and on Fridays at 6 p.m., followed by Mass at 7 p.m.
▶ Holy Family Church and St. Anne Chapel have Holy Hours with Exposition and Benediction on Fridays at 6 p.m., followed by Mass at 7 p.m.
Intercessory Prayer GroupA team is prepared to pray for the needs of all who ask at Holy Family Church on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Knights of Columbus Council 6187 meets at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral’s Hospitality Lounge on the first and third Sunday of every month at 10 a.m.
Legion of Mary▶ Presidium María, Arca de la Alianza,
holds meetings in Spanish at Sts. Peter
St. Thomas Calendar
and Paul Cathedral’s Hospitality Lounge on Sundays at 2 p.m.
▶ Presidium Mary, Mystical Rose, meets in Holy Family Church’s classroom on Sundays at 3 p.m.
▶ Presidium Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, meets in the St. Anne Chapel Hall on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
MagnificatMagnificat, an international ministry to Catholic women, meets at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral’s Hospitality Lounge on the first Saturday of every month at 8 a.m.
Men’s prayer groupThe Sons of Joseph and Mary meet at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Our Lady of Fatima devotionThe Children of Mary lead a devotion to Our Lady of Fatima at Holy Family Church on the first Saturday of every month at 4 p.m.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help devotionsDevotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help are prayed before Mass on Wednesdays at:▶ Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral at 6:45
a.m. and noon▶ Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church at
6:15 p.m.▶ Holy Family Church at 6:50 p.m.▶ St. Anne Chapel at 7 p.m.
Pro-lifeBound 4 Life USVI, the diocesan pro-life group, meets at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church every other week. There is also a pro-life Holy Hour and Mass at 6 p.m. on the first Friday of the month. For more information, visit Facebook.com/bound4lifeUSVI or call the OLPH Church office at 340.774.0885.
Pro-life rosaryPray a pro-life rosary at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Wednesdays at 5:45 p.m.
Rosary walkSts. Peter and Paul Cathedral hosts a rosary walk on the first Saturday of every month at 7 a.m., followed by Mass at 7:30 a.m.
St. Joseph WorkersThe St. Joseph Workers meet at Holy Family Church’s Columban Hall on the second Sunday of every month at 9:30 a.m.
St. Vincent de Paul SocietyThe Young Vincentians meet on the third Sunday of every month at 11:30 a.m. The adult members meet on the fourth Saturday of every month at 3:30 p.m. Both groups meet in Holy Family Church’s classroom.
World Apostolate of FatimaThe World Apostolate of Fatima meets at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Thursdays at 7:30 a.m.
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St. Croix Calendar
Adult education▶ The St. Patrick Alumni Association offers
an After School Tutorial Program, which is coordinated by Sister Claina Letang, ICM. They are now also operating as a Public Computer Center, which is part of the ViNGN Digital Literacy Program. It is open to the public during scheduled mornings to mid-day.
▶ The Religious of the Good Shepherd offer adult education classes in Spanish at the Good Shepherd Center Monday through Friday. These courses include Spanish writing, English as a Second Language and computer courses in Windows, Word, Excel and Internet.
Bible study Holy Cross Church hosts Bible studies in McAlpin Hall on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9 a.m., following morning Mass.
Carmelite spiritualityThe Our Lady Star of the Sea Community shares Carmelite spirituality in the St. Joseph Church Hospitality Lounge and Learning Center on the fourth Sunday of each month at 1 p.m.
Charismatic prayer▶ St. Patrick Church has charismatic
prayer in the chapel on the third Friday of each month at 6 p.m.
▶ St. Ann Church has charismatic prayer in Marian Hall on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
▶ The Cenacle of Our Lady of the Rosary Intercessory Prayer Group meets at the Franciscan House on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
Cursillo prayer group The Cursillo movement hosts a Spanish prayer meeting in the St. Michael Chapel at St. Joseph Church on the last Monday of every month at 7 p.m.
Cursillo UltreyaCursillo members meet for Ultreya in the Cursillo office at St. Joseph Church on Thursdays after the 7 p.m. Mass. Meetings are in Spanish.
Devotions to St. Gerard MajellaPray a devotion to St. Gerard Majella at Holy Cross Church on Tuesdays at 8:45 a.m.
Divine Mercy ChapletSt. Joseph Church hosts Divine Mercy
devotions on the fourth Sunday of each month at 3 p.m. The hour-long program includes the chaplet, prayers, Adoration and teachings of the Divine Mercy by Father John Mark.
Franciscan spiritualityThe Our Lady of the Angels fraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis shares Franciscan spirituality at Franciscan House on the fourth Sunday of each month at 3 p.m.
Rosary Prayer GroupCenacle of Our Lady of the Rosary Prayer Group meets at 10 a.m
Holy Hours/Eucharistic Adoration▶ Holy Cross Church has Holy Hour
following the 8:15 a.m. Mass, followed by Eucharistic Adoration until 1 p.m., on the first Friday of every month.
▶ Holy Cross Church has Eucharistic Adoration with confession from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Friday.
▶ St. Patrick Church has a Holy Hour with Exposition and Benediction on Fridays after the 8 a.m. Mass.
▶ St. Patrick Church has a full day of Eucharistic Adoration on Wednesdays
▶ St. Ann Church has a Holy Hour with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, evening prayer and Benediction every Friday at 5:30 p.m. except First Friday, when holy Mass is celebrated at 5:30 p.m.
▶ St. Joseph Church has a full day of Eucharistic Adoration every Tuesday beginning with Holy Mass at 6:30 a.m. and concluding with Benediction at 6 p.m.
Knights of ColumbusHoly Cross Council 6482 meets at Holy Cross Church’s McAlpin Hall on the first and third Thursday of every month at 6 p.m.
Legion of MaryPresidium Mary, Our Lady of Grace, meets in the Holy Cross Church rectory on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
MagnificatMagnificat, an international ministry to Catholic women, meets at Franciscan House on the third Sunday of each month at 3 p.m.
Neo-Catechumenal WayThe Neo-Catechumenal Way leads a
Celebration of the Word at St. Joseph Church on Mondays and Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help devotionsDevotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help are prayed at:▶ St. Patrick Church on Wednesdays at
6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. ▶ Holy Cross Church on Wednesdays and
Saturdays at 8:45 a.m. ▶ St. Joseph Church on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Rosary for the unbornSt. Joseph Church hosts a bilingual English/Spanish rosary for the unborn on Fridays at 6 p.m.
Santo NiñoSt. Joseph Church hosts devotions to the Santo Niño (the Holy Child Jesus) on the first Saturday of every month at 4:30 p.m. The sacrament of reconciliation is offered during this time.
Shepherds of Christ AssociatesThe Shepherds of Christ Associates meet for prayer in the St. Michael Chapel of St. Joseph Church on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. and on the second and fourth Sunday of every month at 5 p.m.
Spanish prayer and reflectionPray the rosary and share reflections on the readings of the coming Sunday Mass at Holy Cross Church on alternate Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Meetings are in Spanish.
World Apostolate of FatimaThe World Apostolate of Fatima meets in the chapel at Holy Cross Church on Tuesdays at 5 p.m.
Need spiritual direction? Sister Patricia Alexander, W.I.F., is available for spiritual direction at Franciscan House on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Call 340.778.5773 for an appointment.
Deacon Hyacinthe George is available for prayer and counseling at St. Ann Chapel on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
St. John Calendar
All-night vigilOur Lady of Mount Carmel holds an all-night vigil on the first Friday of each month after the 7 p.m. Mass.
Charismatic prayerOur Lady of Mount Carmel Church hosts an evening of charismatic prayer on Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Eucharistic AdorationOur Lady of Mount Carmel Church has Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction on Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Free MealsOur Lady of Mount Carmel Church’s Kallaloo Kitchen: Food for the Soul feeds the needy in the parish’s Guadalupe
Hall on Mondays and Fridays at noon. Volunteers are welcomed.
Legion of MaryPresidium Mary, Queen of Angels, meets in the Guadalupe Hall of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Tuesdays at 6 p.m.
Men’s FellowshipMen’s Fellowship meets the first and third Sunday of each month.
Spanish MassOur Lady of Mount Carmel has Spanish Mass at 6 p.m. Sundays.
Eventos Mensuales
• Oración Carismática • Las oraciones en español se ofrecen en el Salón de
Hospitalidad de la Catedral de San Pedro y san Pablo los lunes a las 6 p.m.
• La Ultreya • Los jueves después de la misa de las 7 p.m. los cursillistas
tienen su Ultreta. Las reunions en el trailer, en la oficina del Movimiento de Cursillos, y son en español.
• Legión de María • El presidium hispano María, Arca de la Alianza se reúne en el Salón de Hospitalidad de la Catedral de San Pedro y San Pablo
los domingos a las 2 p.m.
• Nueva Misa en Español • La iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen de la isla de Saint John está ofreciendo una misa en español todos los domingos a las 6 pm .El celebrante oficial es el padre Eduardo Ortiz Santiago,
párroco de la comunidad hispana de la catedral.
• Oración y Reflexión • Se reza el Santo Rosario y se comparten las reflexiones de las lecturas del domingo siguiente, en la iglesia de Holy Cross los martes alternados a las 7 p.m. Las reuniones son en español.
• Rosario por los no nacidos • La iglesia de San José invita a los rosarios bilingües en español
e inglés por los no nacidos todos los viernes a la 6 p.m.
• Santo Niño • En la iglesia de San José se rezan las devociones del Santo
Niño (el Santo Niño Jesús) los primeros sábados de cada mes a las 4:30 p.m. Durante este tiempo se ofrecen confesiones.
Protección de niños
La Diócesis de Sto. Tomás en las Islas Vírgenes está comprometida a proteger a los niños de
todo daño. Si Ud tiene conocimiento de algún empleado de la iglesia que haya abusado de algún
menor, favor de comunicarse inmediatamente con la Coordinadora Diocesana de la Protección de los Niños, Calista Julien, al 340.778.0484 or
340.772.4214.
Visite los sitios web de escuelas católicas
Sts. Peter and Paul School www.spps.vi
St. Joseph High School www.sjhsvi.com
St. Mary School www.hcccstx.org
Lleva tu cámara digital a la iglesia! E-mail tus imágenes de la parroquia o eventos de la escuela a
Esta publicación está disponible de forma gratuita a la parroquia a la comunidad gracias a la generosidad de nuestros anunciantes.Por favor, apoye a sus empresas.
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Visit the website of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands at
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Visit the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on Facebook at
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