Month: April 2021

 

EMMITSBURG, Md. (CNS) – When the world shut down last year because of the pandemic, the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton decided it was time to reach outward.

The question was how — when, for a time, people couldn’t even visit the shrine in Emmitsburg? The answer was simple, profound and one that Mother Seton, America’s first native-born saint, would have appreciated: Pray.

So, buoyed by dedicated staff members and seminarians from nearby Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, the shrine in the Baltimore Archdiocese created a prayer hotline last April that has proven so successful, it plans to continue well after COVID-19 has receded.

To date, over 2,000 calls have been logged, and many of them have turned into relationships that have changed the lives of people on both ends of the line.

The hotline — (866) 202-4934 — is available between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. (EDT). The shrine also has a prayer request page on its website, https://setonshrine.org/prayer-requests-2.

“We are sometimes the only ones they talk to; the only ones who say their name,” said Rebecca Corbell, evangelization programs manager at the shrine. “Having that connection; having a person who knows your name builds a relationship that is so powerful.”

And this effort isn’t limited to just calls. One of the staff members on this project writes to 12 death-row inmates a week. The hotline team also proactively calls people in the shrine’s vast database to see if they need prayers.

“It’s a way to do pastoral work and to be with people amid the pandemic,” said Christopher Feist, a seminarian from Leonardtown, Maryland.

The prayer hotline is part of the extensive evangelization efforts of the shrine, as it marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Mother Seton. In January, the shrine released “Seeker to Saint,” a film on her life. Other short films on various aspects of her life and spirituality will be released later this year.

The shrine also instituted virtual tours of its historical buildings, attracting thousands of people and groups from as far away as Alaska. They are so popular that the shrine plans to continue them into the future.

In addition, the shrine plans an exhibit in July of artifacts from Mother Seton’s life that were recently donated by the Sisters of Charity of New York, one of the orders that traces its lineage back to Mother Seton.

There also are also plans to expand the shrine’s Seeds of Hope retreat program for underserved populations later this year.

“The shrine is a basilica, a museum and the real home of a saint, and we have a mission as a place of prayer and pilgrimage to draw people closer to our Lord,” said Rob Judge, executive director of the shine.

“Through programs like the prayer hotline, we connect people to Mother Seton and a life and legacy that is relatable and inspiring,” he said. “She is a true saint for our times, and we increasingly find that her message resonates with people today.”

Mother Seton valued friendship as evidenced by her voluminous correspondents with friends over her lifetime, Judge said.

“The prayer line is enabling her shrine to form friendships with people who need God’s healing love and to know that in Mother Seton, they have a friend in heaven,” he said.

The seminarians, who are from the Archdiocese of Washington, said they jumped at the chance to participate in the program. “We wanted the experience of being with people and to bring their concerns to God and to show we care and to bring God’s love to them,” Feist said.

The idea of cold-calling people — not to sell them anything but to offer to pray with them — can be intimidating, they say. But in the end, “you’re going to connect with people who Jesus wants you to and nobody else,” said Benedict Radich, from Rockville, Maryland.

Sometimes the reaction is “are you sure you’re not asking me for money?” said Caleb Gaeng, who is from Bowie, Maryland. “But it’s beautiful to be with someone who God has put me with; someone who needs prayers at just that moment.”

Prayer requests deal with everything from loneliness and illnesses to issues with jobs, families and addiction, said Karen McGrath of Taneytown, Maryland, and the first person hired on the prayer team.

“People need to tell their stories,” she said. “Part of this is just standing with them before God, asking for the things they need.”

She recalls how one man called in January and was distraught. She tried to express how he needed to see how God is with us and in each other.

Recently, he called back to say that her advice helped and “that he was able to look at Jesus and say, ‘Thank you.'”

A prayer ministry comes easy to her, she said. She’s the mother of five sons and a daughter — “so I pray a lot.”

As for the future, the shrine now sees the hotline — borne in the depths of the pandemic — as an essential part of its mission, Corbell said.

“These are our people,” she said. “We need to be doing this.”

 

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Although Catholic leaders across the country called the April 20 jury verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial a moment of justice, they also stressed there is still a lot of work to do to move toward healing.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of Minneapolis and St. Paul called the verdict — which found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty on all counts for his role in the death of George Floyd last spring — “a sobering moment for our community.”

“The decision by a jury of peers punctuates the grief that has gripped the Twin Cities in these last months and underscores the soul-searching that has taken place in homes, parishes and workplaces across the country as we together confront the chasm that exists between the brokenness of our world and the harmony and fraternity that our creator intends,” he said.

The archbishop said he was praying for healing in the nation’s communities in this challenging time and for comfort for the Floyd family and for all who mourn and seek justice.

In an April 21 statement, Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory said he echoed Archbishop Hebda’s call for “peace and nonviolence in all of our communities.” He also urged people to renew their commitment to respect each other and remember their shared humanity.

Other bishops around the country echoed this response soon after verdict was issued as many were gathered outside in Minneapolis and around TV sets and phones across the country awaiting the jury’s decision in the late afternoon that came after more than 10 hours of deliberation over two days.

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said the “just verdict” should bring “more than a sigh of relief,” stressing that it should “spur us on in the peaceful but persistent struggle for racial justice, for genuine police reform and toward the creation of peaceful cities and neighborhoods.”

He also said the continued work is up to everyone in “overcoming racism, prejudice and other injustices.”

Similarly, Bishop Michael W. Fisher of Buffalo, New York, said the jury’s “verdict of accountability” was an “important step in healing the deep wounds of racial tension.”

He said the image of Floyd’s confrontation with police and the final moments of life, “will forever challenge us and must always compel us to create a more compassionate and just society, where all enjoy equal rights and protections under the law.”

Chauvin’s high-profile trial was three weeks long and included testimony from dozens of witnesses and hours of video footage. But just because the trial is over does not mean underlying issues are resolved, another bishop said.

“We must still face the reality that we are not done with racism,” said Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri. “In our own communities, including in the Diocese of Jefferson City, individuals are being humiliated and denigrated because of their race. Their human dignity is being crushed and defiled because they are seen as ‘other’ or ‘less than.'”

In a statement, he said, “Violence motivated by racism must stop,” and he asked people to pray for this to happen, urging an “awakening of consciences in every American, but especially in our faithful.”

Bishop John E. Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, president of Pax Christi USA, added his voice to those who said the verdict in the case of Floyd’s death could be the start of something new, saying it “marks the beginning of an era of accountability for the violation of human dignity and the taking of human life by those in power.”

He also said the jury’s decision affirms the message “shouted on our streets for nearly a year: George Floyd’s life matters, Black lives matter. Let us pray that a precedent has been set that will allow people of color to know that their lives are to be protected by law enforcement and that there will be consequences when they are not.”

The bishop pointed out that what happened to Floyd was not an isolated event, saying: “There are many other families who are longing for this kind of justice and recognition of the worth of the lives of their loved ones; we must work to make this verdict the norm rather than the exception.”

The nation’s bishops were not the only Catholic leaders to publicly react to the long-anticipated verdict. Leaders of Catholic organizations also were quick to issue statements or respond on social media to the jury’s decision and its implications.

Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, offered prayers for Floyd’s family and similarly echoed the call for the nation to do more.

“While there may be a brief sense of relief that justice has been served, ” she said, “we must acknowledge that, as a country, we still have a lot of work to do to eradicate the pervasive racism and continued disregard for human life that continues to play out in communities across the country.”

She said Catholic Charities “remains committed to addressing issues of inequality and discrimination, by leading conversations on race, speaking up for the under-served and providing resources to remain educated on this systemic issue.”

Similarly, Mercy Sister Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, said the verdict in the Chauvin case should bring people together in a renewed commitment to racial and social justice.

She also said the nation’s Catholic health care ministry sees racism as a public health crisis and is “committed to addressing health disparities and achieving health equity. ”

Other sisters responding to the verdict included the general council of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, who said: “the nation takes the collective breath that Mr. Floyd was denied.”

The sisters said they grieve the loss of Floyd’s life and pray that Chauvin “may come to understand the monumental consequences of his lethal actions.”

And like many others, they urged Americans to take action against racism that “for too long has imperiled the lives of our Black brothers and sisters, sickened our souls and debased our democracy.” They said they would similarly step up, saying they would “commit to doing all we can to that end.”

Sister Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille, who is a longtime activist against the death penalty, similarly viewed the verdict as a sobering call to do more.

In an April 20 tweet she said: “The conviction of one individual is a small measure of justice when we have a system that remains plagued with centuries-worth of racism in the law and in practice. I pray that this will be a catalyst for real change.”

Lay leaders also responded to the trial’s outcome which captured so many people not just in the past three weeks but in the last 11 months since Floyd’s death.

John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a Washington-based advocacy group, echoed the sense of a “deep breath of relief for this decision,” but he similarly coupled with an acknowledgment of the ongoing challenge ahead.

“We can never forget that George Floyd and many others killed by police violence begged for breath they were denied. In that remembering, the struggle for justice continues,” he said.

Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, likewise noted the somberness of this case, saying that while people cheered the verdict, “the bitter reality of the Chauvin case is that George Floyd remains deceased” as do other Black men and women who were killed by police officers in the past year.

“No single verdict can restore justice for the Black and Brown communities so devastated by official violence and real oppression,” she said.

But she also recognized steps that can be taken, like ones happening now on Trinity’s campus.

“We believe that the most effective way to create social change is to make sure that our Black and Latina graduates have opportunities to become leaders in a wide range of professions, forging pathways in places where persons of color have been excluded or under-represented for far too long,” she wrote.

McGuire acknowledged that the campus effort “may seem like a long way from that Minnesota street where George Floyd lost his life,” but she sees it as a step in the right direction.

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Without prayer, everything crumbles and any initiatives for church reform will just be proposals by some group and not the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said.

“Everything in the church originates in prayer and everything grows thanks to prayer,” the pope said April 14 during his weekly general audience.

If there is no prayer, the church becomes “like an empty shell” that has lost its bearings and “no longer possesses its source of warmth and love,” he said, and it ends up being made up of groups of “entrepreneurs of faith” that are well organized and busy with charitable activities but lack faith.

Continuing his series of talks on prayer, the pope reflected on the role of the church as a school of faith and prayer.

“The breath of faith is prayer,” the pope said. “We grow in faith inasmuch as we learn to pray,” and over time, especially after crises or difficult periods in life, “we become aware that without faith, we could not have made it through and that our strength was prayer.”

That is why groups or communities that are dedicated to prayer “flourish in the church” and can become “centers of spiritual light, small oases in which intense prayer is shared and fraternal communion is constructed day by day,” breathing life into the church and society itself, he said.

“Praying and working in community keeps the world going,” Pope Francis said.

When the devil wants to attack the church, he starts with sapping its strength by hindering prayer, he said.

For example, he said, “we see this in certain groups who agree to promote church reforms, changes in the life of the church” and they may be very well organized and have wide media outreach, “but you don’t see any prayer.”

The groups may have interesting ideas and proposals, but these only emerged from talking and through the media, not prayer, the pope said.

“Prayer is what opens the door to the Holy Spirit,” who inspires the path forward, he said. “Changes in the church without prayer are not changes made by the church, they are changes made by groups.”

Prayer gives people strength, he said, leading one’s life “securely forward” no matter how lowly, imperfect or weak one’s life may be.

“Holy women and men do not have easier lives than other people” since they have problems, too, and face opposition, he said. But with prayer, the saints “nourish the flame of their faith” and even though they often “count for little in the eyes of the world, they are in reality the ones who sustain it, not with the weapons of money and power, of the communications media and so on, but with the weapon of prayer.”

Christians, he said, should ask themselves whether they pray and reflect on how they pray, for example, “like parrots or do I pray with my heart?”

Do people pray with the church or “do I pray a bit according to my ideas and then make my ideas become prayer? This is a pagan prayer, not Christian,” he added.

The essential task of the church, the pope said, is to pray and to teach people how to pray and to hand down the “lamp of faith and the oil of prayer from generation to generation.”

“Without faith everything collapses; and without prayer faith is extinguished,” he said. But as long as “there is the oil of prayer,” the lamp of faith will always be lit on earth.