By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Alaska bishop named to Dallas
WASHINGTON | Pope Francis has named Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, Alaska, as bishop of Dallas. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement Dec. 13.
Bishop Burns was born Oct. 7, 1957, in Pittsburgh. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and holds a master of divinity degree and a master of arts degree in theology from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1983 and ordained as a bishop in 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as bishop of Juneau.
During 2016, Bishop Burns has been a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Administrative Committee and the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. He is also chairman of the USCCB Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.
Bishop-designate Burns succeeds Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, who headed the Diocese of Dallas before he was appointed by Pope Francis as the first prefect of the Vatican's new Laity, Family and Life Dicastery, in August 2016.
The Diocese of Dallas comprises 7,523 square miles in the state of Texas, with a population of 4,056,215 people of whom 1,320,737, or 33 percent, are Catholic.
Bishops send condolences after terrorist bombings
WASHINGTON, D.C. | Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), offered condolences, prayers and words of support Dec. 11 for those involved in this weekend's bombings in Cairo, Turkey and Somalia, as well as the church roof collapse in Nigeria. Here is the full statement:
"As we enter the Third Week of Advent, we are reminded that even the shadow of violence and terrorism cannot obscure the light of our coming Savior. St. Mark himself was no stranger to the persecution of Christians. Those who gathered to worship the Lord at his cathedral this morning in Cairo are family to us. We draw near to our Coptic brothers and sisters in prayer, sorrow and comfort. And we are confident in the healing power of our Lord Jesus Christ. The lives lost strengthen the faith of Christians everywhere and offer a testament to the great privilege of worshiping God in peace. This weekend has witnessed the darkness of violence reach into many places, including Turkey, Somalia and the church building collapse in Nigeria. But the light still shines! Today let us offer a special prayer for all those facing persecution."
Latin America churches get $3.8 million in grants
WASHINGTON | The U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America approved 204 grants totaling over $3.8 million at its meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, in November. Approved projects support pastoral work in countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
“These grants are bringing the faith to those on the margins, uniting us here in the United States in a special way with our brothers and sisters on the peripheries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The record high amount granted this year is only possible through the generosity of so many committed Catholics in our country,” said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and subcommittee chairman.
Grants approved support projects such as lay leadership training, seminarian and religious formation, prison ministry, and youth ministry, including the following projects:
- In Cuba, the Archdiocese of Havana received a grant to provide bioethics training to permanent deacons so they can accompany the faithful according to the Church’s teachings on abortion, euthanasia, and other issues. Twenty deacons will participate in 10 workshops through the program and support ministries in parishes and mission houses on the periphery of La Habana.
- In Guatemala, the Parish of San Pedro and San Pablo serves 17 ethnically, socially, and economically diverse communities that have little formal or religious education. This parish received a grant to train adults and young adults to become leaders of Christian formation and coordinators of small faith communities. Catechists will also receive training to prepare adults and children in the reception of the sacraments. Overall, the project will train more than 400 committed laity.
- Several extraordinary grants were also approved following Hurricane Matthew’s path of destruction across Haiti and Cuba and for Ecuador to assist in the reconstruction or repairs to four churches damaged by this year’s earthquake.
- One grant was also approved from the Special Collection for Haiti for the reconstruction of a parish church in the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince.
Grants are funded by the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America, which celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year. The 2017 collection is scheduled for the fourth Sunday in January, but some dioceses take it up on other dates. In the Archdiocese of Miami, it is taken up in March.
More information about the Collection for the Church in Latin America and the many grants it funds, as well as resources to promote it across the country, can be found at www.usccb.org/latin-america.
U.S. bishops approve canonical step for four sainthood causes
BALTIMORE | During their annual fall General Assembly here, the U.S. bishops approved the canonical consultation of four causes for beatification and canonization: Julia Greeley, sought by Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver; Sister Blandina Segale, S.C., sought by Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Father Patrick Ryan, sought by Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee; and Father Bernard Quinn, sought by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn.
Episcopal consultation is a step in the Catholic Church’s process toward declaring a person a saint.
- Julia Greeley was born into slavery in Hannibal, Missouri, sometime between 1838-1848. At an early age, she suffered at the hands of a slave owner, who destroyed her right eye while beating her mother. She was freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and entered the Catholic Church while in Colorado, receiving the sacrament of baptism in 1880. As a lay Franciscan, closely affiliated with the Jesuits at her parish, she was actively involved in promoting the faith and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She became known by her acts of charity and mercy to those living on the margins of society, in spite of living in extreme poverty herself. Greeley died in 1918.
- Sister Blandina Segale, S.C. was born in 1850 in Cicagna, Italy. She and her family immigrated to the United States in 1854 and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her education and life was strongly influenced by the Sisters of Notre Dame, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She joined the latter community at 16. Sister Blandina was sent to work in schools, orphanages and hospitals in Trinidad and Cincinnati, Ohio; Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Pueblo, Colorado. She became a defender of the poor, the sick, the marginalized, Native Americans, and Mexican and Italian immigrants. She often visited jails and became involved in issues such as human trafficking and juvenile delinquency. She died in 1941, at 91 years old.
- Father Patrick Ryan was born in 1845 in County Tipperary, Ireland. His family immigrated and settled in New York. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1869 in Nashville, Tennessee, and was pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul’s Parish for six years. He gave his life in ministering to his flock. In 1878, he died at 33 years old, when his community in Chattanooga was struck with a yellow fever epidemic that took the lives of hundreds. In the midst of the epidemic, Father Ryan is reported to have been seen going from house to house in the worst infected areas of the city to find what he could do for the sick and the needy. Besides ministering to the sick and dying during the epidemic, one of his greatest accomplishments was to open a private academy and a parish school under the direction of the Dominican Sisters.
- Father Bernard Quinn was born in 1888 in Newark, New Jersey. He was the son of poor Irish immigrants. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1912, and served as a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn. There, he worked unceasingly to promote the faith, and priestly and religious vocations among African-Americans, and helped those in most need. In 1918 during World War I, he volunteered for military service and was assigned to France where her ministered to the sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals. Upon his return to Brooklyn, he reached out to African-American groups and established the St. Peter Claver Church in 1922, a ministry for black Catholics in the community. With the growth of homelessness among African-American children even prior to the 1929 Depression, Father Quinn founded an orphanage that was twice burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Putting his life at risk, he successfully built the orphanage for a third time. He went on to build a parish school, convent and parish center that welcomed everyone regardless of their race or religion. He went on to establish additional missions throughout Brooklyn.
- More information on the sainthood process is available at: www.usccb.org/about/public-affairs/backgrounders/saints-backgrounder.cfm.
Multicultural parishes 'a growing phenomenon' in U.S.
WASHINGTON | Culturally diverse parishes are the fastest growing type of parish in the United States, according to a report on Cultural Diversity in Catholic Parishes presented to the bishops at their fall General Assembly in Baltimore.
The report was presented by Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. The two-phase study was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
“The Catholic Church in the United States has always been a very diverse entity, but it is the first time that all available data was brought together to map this diversity nationwide in remarkable detail,” said Archbishop García-Siller. “It is also the first time that parish life was looked at from the point of view of the experience of diversity. Multicultural parishes are a growing phenomenon in the United States. This is what makes this study so fascinating and ground-breaking.”
The first phase identified the populations and parishes in the United States that are known to serve specific racial, ethnic, cultural, and/or linguistic groups communities using a variety of sources. In all, 6,332 (36 percent) of parishes were identified as multicultural or as serving particular groups of Catholics.
The recently concluded second phase consisted of in-pew surveys in multicultural parishes across the U.S. Over 11,100 adults completed the survey with topics ranging from race, primary language spoken at home, marital status, sacramental life, parishioner attitudes about cultural diversity, parish understanding of different cultures, welcoming of new parishioners, interacting with priests of different cultural backgrounds, staff reflection of cultural diversity of parishioners, tension between different cultural groups, among other topics. To facilitate and encourage participation, the study was translated into 20 languages at the request of the local pastors.
Some of the key findings, as they relate to religious practices include:
- The largest segment of parishioners in multicultural parishes (37 percent) are of the Post-Vatican II Generation (born 1961 to 1981), and are between the ages of 34 and 54.
- Those with school-age children in multicultural and ethnic communities are much more likely to enroll children in a Catholic school than the general Catholic population. Enrollment is most common among multiracial and Vietnamese respondents, and is least common among foreign-born Hispanic or Latino parents.
- Regarding religious participation, 83 percent of respondents have received their first Communion and 77 percent have been confirmed.
- 76 percent consider themselves “active Catholics.” Nine percent are “returned Catholics” who may have left the faith for a period of time and have now returned. Eight percent indicate they are “converts” to Catholicism. Two percent are “non-Catholics,” most often attending Mass with a Catholic relative. Five percent are “inactive Catholics.”
- 67 percent of respondents are registered with their parish and 83 percent say this is their primary place of worship.
- U.S. born black or African American respondents are most likely to be personally involved in multiple ministries or activities (other than Mass attendance).
As they relate to the parish experience of diversity for each group, the findings are:
- Widespread majority agreement among all sub-groups that “having people of different cultural backgrounds enriches the parish.”
- Few feel like an outsider in their parish. The group most likely to do so are foreign-born Hispanic or Latino parishioners (36% agree).
- Many agree that they have a role in the “decision-making” of their parish. Those most likely to “strongly” disagree with this are Koreans (51%) and Hispanics or Latinos (28%).
- Foreign-born parishioners are more likely than U.S.-born parishioners to believe their parish should be providing pastoral care for refugees and immigrants.
CARA said the study reveals some important trends, and provides the following conclusions:
- The Catholic Church in the United States is one of the most culturally diverse institutions in the country and it will become even more diverse in the future.
- Parishes, schools and colleges, hospitals, charities, and other ministries need to adapt and prepare for this growing diversity.
- In the pews, many of those who are most comfortable with growing diversity are those who immigrated to the United States, though African American Catholics are one of the most likely to say they welcome diversity in the parish and that diversity enriches parish life.
- Those who are descendants of previous waves of immigration from Europe appear to be the least comfortable with diversity and less willing to engage in parish life beyond attending Mass.
Archbishop Garcia-Siller asked the bishops to consider how the data speaks to their local realities and how these findings may affect the way local dioceses plan, set priorities and allocate resources for the continuation of the mission of the Church. He reminded them of Pope Francis’ call to a pastoral conversion and to put the entire church in a “permanent state of mission.”
The report is available at: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/cultural-diversity/upload/Cultural-Diversity-Summary-Report-October-2016.pdf.
