Catholic News Around Indiana
Compiled by Brandon A. Evans
Diocese of Evansville
St. Mary’s Feeding Clinic helps child prepare for sacrament
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Rebekah Grider’s eyes light up when she talks about her First Communion dress. And she claps her hands with joy as she tells her mother she wants to wear a veil — not flowers — on her hair on that special day.
Her mother’s eyes fill with tears at the mention of the day, a day she thought might never happen.
Summer Grider and her daughter live in Pocahontas, Ark., but they stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Evansville for eight week so Rebekah could receive treatment at the Feeding Clinic at St. Mary’s Hospital.
Nine years ago, Rebekah was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, a combination of birth conditions that can include a small or displaced lower jaw and a tendency for the tongue to fall back in the throat. Since she was two-and-half months old, she has depended on a feeding tube to get the majority of her nutrients.
Her younger bothers, Jacob and Matthew, born in 2004, have a milder version of the sequence.
In 2006, Summer heard about the Feeding Program at Children’s Hospital in Richmond, Va. She and her three children spent eight weeks there receiving daily therapeutic meals and speech and recreational therapy under the direction of Elizabeth Clawson, the behavioral director of the program.
Clawson explained that the children with the sequence “have trouble moving food from the tongue to the teeth and chewing.”
The act of chewing food is “so automatic” for most people, she said. “They think it comes so naturally, but it’s a pretty complicated skill. The tongue has to move. The jaws have to be strong enough, and the cheeks have to support the food on the teeth.”
Children with the Pierre Robin Sequence often don’t learn to chew naturally at a normal developmental stage “because they aren’t taking anything by mouth and learning to chew. They miss the window of development.
“It’s hard to go back to teach that later. And the older they get, the more scared they get.”
Photo caption: Elizabeth Clawson hands an unconsecrated host to Rebekah Grider. The nine-year-old was born with Pierre Robin Sequence which causes her difficulties in chewing food. For the past eight weeks, she has been receiving treatment at the Feeding Clinic at St. Mary's Hospital in Evansville. Part of the treatment has included preparing Rebekah for her First Communion later this spring at her home parish in Pocahontas, Ark. Elizabeth is a licensed clinical psychologist with the feeding program. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes)
Source and Summit youth retreat: ‘They fall in love with Jesus’
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Lisa Rauscher has three children, ages 8, 6 and 10 months, so no one’s ready to attend the Source and Summit youth retreat yet, but their ages didn’t deter Lisa from sitting in on the retreat for parents which was held last Saturday at the Little Sisters of the Poor auditorium in Evansville.
Speakers included Deacon Vince Bernardin from Christ the King Church in Evansville and Father Tony Ernst, pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Haubstadt, Holy Cross Church, Fort Branch, and St. Bernard Church in Snake Run.
Their talks paralleled the talks for the youth a few blocks away at Reitz Memorial High School, and the day included Eucharistic adoration and time for private confessions.
Lisa said the topics “apply to parents with children of all ages,” adding, “It’s very important for parents to seek spiritual growth themselves and renewal because that will spill over into the faith life of the family.” About 55 parents attended the retreat.
Over 550 youth and chaperones were at the 2011 Source and Summit retreat which focused on “The Fruit of the Holy Spirit — Seeing and serving Christ in the poor — and the Capital Sins.”
Patty Schneier was a featured speaker at both the youth retreat and at the parent retreat. She’s a life-long Catholic and mother of three from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. In her speeches, she often talks about discovering Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” which marked the beginning of her speaking ministry.
On Saturday, she spoke both with the male and female participants at the high school. As she talked with the young women, she reminded them of Jesus’ words, “This is my body, given for you. Take it.”
She encouraged them to follow Jesus as they prepare for marriage, which will become a time when they can echo those words to their spouses.
She noted that for generations and generations, children had been considered a “blessing.” Now, because of legalized abortion, she believes “children are considered mistakes.”
“God’s love,” she said, “is always fruitful,” she said, adding, “If you never heard this before — you are the fruit of love — that’s what new life is.”
Photo caption: Alyssa Singer, a parishioner at Corpus Christi Church in Evansville, prays the Chaplet of Divine Mercy during the 2011 Source and Summit youth retreat in Evansville. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes)
(For news from the Diocese of Evansville, log on to the website of The Message at www.themessageonline.org)
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Sister Mary Scullion and Joan McConnon to jointly receive ND’s 2011 Laetare Medal
NOTRE DAME — Sister Mary Scullion, a Sister of Mercy, and Joan McConnon, co-founders of Project H.O.M.E., an organization devoted to ending homelessness in Philadelphia, will jointly receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2011 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics, at Notre Dame’s 166th University Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 22.
“In their work for the homeless of Philadelphia, Sister Scullion and Joan McConnon have splendidly answered the Gospel summons to brotherly love,” said Notre Dame’s president, Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins. “Serving the unsheltered Lord on the streets of their hometown, they have provided an example for others to serve likewise in cities worldwide.”
The daughter of Irish immigrants, Sister Scullion, executive director of Project H.O.M.E., was graduated from St. Joseph’s University and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1976. She earned a master’s degree in social work from Temple University in 1986.
Joan McConnon, associate executive director and chief financial officer of Project H.O.M.E., is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University who earned a master’s degree in taxation from Drexel University in 1989. Before returning to Philadelphia to work for the homeless, she worked for six years as an accountant at GTE and Corning Glass.
Sister Scullion and McConnon, both Philadelphia natives, founded Project H.O.M.E. (an acronym for Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, and Education) in 1989, first providing emergency shelter for some 50 homeless men, then forming a community and establishing more permanent supportive residences for chronically homeless men and women who sought food, clothing, medical care, employment and a sense of dignity.
The project has grown dramatically, now including 480 units of housing and two businesses which provide employment to formerly homeless people.
Of the homeless people participating in its programs, 95 percent have not returned to the streets, and it is widely credited for having reduced Philadelphia’s homeless population by half.
Lourdes Dinner Dance planned to sponsor pilgrim
By Lisa Everett
SOUTH BEND — For each of the past 50 years, Knights of Columbus Council 553 in downtown South Bend has sponsored an all-expense paid pilgrimage to Lourdes for someone who is suffering from an illness or injury. Ranging in age from small children to the elderly, these pilgrims have experienced not only the healing power of the Lourdes baths but also the spiritual fruits of this famous shrine which attracts over 5 million visitors annually.
Besides seeking donations to cover the cost of the yearly pilgrimage, Council 553 hosts an annual Lourdes Dinner Dance and silent auction. This year’s event will be held on Saturday evening, May 7, at the Knights of Columbus Clubrooms, 553 E. Washington St., in downtown South Bend.
The most recent beneficiary of this annual fundraiser was Michael (Mick) Linsdell, who traveled to Lourdes this past September along with his wife, Erika.
Mick, himself a member of Council 553, spent all of May 2010 and most of June in the hospital with recurrent mini-strokes. Physicians found a blockage in his brain and he underwent surgery to insert a stent.
Erika recalls how weak Mick was, physically and mentally, when they began their pilgrimage. He was unsteady on his feet, and his speech was still slurred. Once in Lourdes, however, Erika realized that he was being supported by a strength that was not his own.
“I went there with no expectations,” Mick remembers. “It was a wonderful experience. I found it very moving. There was definitely a spiritual feeling about the place. There seemed to be a peace there, despite so many people.” The candlelight processions in the evenings were particularly beautiful, Mick noted. One night he and Erika walked up to St. Bernadette’s Church for a bird’s-eye view. As long a climb as it was, it did not tire him like he expected — he literally felt lifted up.
One of the highlights of the trip for both of them was a morning jaunt by train up the mountain Pic Du Jur near the village of Lourdes. “It was breathtaking to see the surrounding area and the Pyrenees mountains,” Erika remembers. “Being up there felt like you were being filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Sacred Heart program bringing Catholics back to Church
By Laurie Kiefaber
WARSAW— Over the years Catholics have left the Church for various reasons, including those needing an annulment and misunderstandings with priests. Sacred Heart Church in Warsaw started the Catholics Returning Home Ministry (CRHM) last year and it’s bringing people back.
This is the second year for the program and the third session of the ministry. Linda Nycz, William Landrigan and Shirley Waldschmidt are members of the ministry committee and organize six meetings to discuss different topics. These include changes since Vatican II, a walkthrough of the Mass, the sacrament of Penance and “The Creed: What Catholics Believe.”
During sessions, people have relayed many reasons why they left the Church. Waldschmidt said a number of people are under the false impression they cannot apply for an annulment.
“As soon as they got divorced, they thought they were out of the Church,” she said.
Some have been intimidated by the process of annulment and worry about being “interrogated,” Waldschmidt said.
Landrigan said many of the Protestant faiths have not helped matters either.
“There’s the liberalization of Protestant religions and various churches with a lively message,” he said. “They appeal to Catholics who have not been catechized sufficiently. They’re impressed by the entertainment and don’t know enough about sacramental life.”
However, some Catholics don’t attend any church after they leave.
“They say they’re Catholic even though they’re not attending,” said Waldschmidt.
Session participants fill out an anonymous questionnaire, describing why they are attending, hopes and expectations, fears and apprehensions, feelings about Church and God and questions they would like answered. Those attending also discuss their faith and share faith stories.
Before CRHM sessions begin, Sacred Heart celebrates a Mass where people are invited to drop names of fallen-away Catholics in a bowl and pray for them. CRHM committee members never know how many people will attend the sessions ahead of time, but there have been plenty of names in the bowl.
“If one comes, it’s successful,” Landrigan said. “If one person needed to be redeemed, Jesus would have come. … We put out the welcome mat.”
Photo caption: Sister Joan Hastreiter, a Sister of St. Joseph, and Sacred Heart parishioners place names of those inactive Catholics they are praying for in the prayer bowl during the Lenten Mission. The theme for the mission was “Falling in Love with God” and Wednesday night’s speaker, Msgr. Bernard Galic, pastor of St. Aloysius, Yoder, spoke on faith in God.
(For news from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, log on to the website of Today’s Catholic at www.todayscatholicnews.org)
Diocese of Gary
Giant statue of Our Lady to have permanent home in diocese of Gary
Story by Steve Euvino
SAINT JOHN — It stands 33 feet, 8 inches and weighs 8,400 pounds. Made of stainless steel, it draws crowds wherever it goes. For the past decade, the statue of Our Lady of the New Millennium has made its way around the Archdiocese of Chicago. Now it will have a permanent home – in the Diocese of Gary.
Traveling on a flatbed truck with a hydraulic lift, the statue will arrive at St. John the Evangelist this Sunday, April 10. For now, the statue will be located in the southeast parking lot of the church at 107th and Olcott. A dedication ceremony will be held the afternoon of May 22.
The statue is the dream-come-true of the late Carl Demma, a Chicago businessman and cradle Catholic who first envisioned such a statue at age 9. Continuing his service to the Church as an adult, he never lost sight of a statue to Our Lady for Chicago. At age 51, operating on his own, Demma commissioned Charles Parks, a Wilmington, Del., sculptor, to create the statue. Demma sold his Brighton Park business, Liquorama, to help fund the $500,000 project.
Parks completed the statue Jan. 15, 1999. Fourteen days later, Demma transported the statue to St. Louis, where the visiting Pope John Paul II fulfilled an earlier promise to Demma and blessed the gigantic statue.
Demma, whose health had been failing and who lost two daughters to a blood disorder, died shortly after he saw his dream become a reality and a popular draw around Chicagoland. Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George blessed the statue on Mother’s Day 1999 at Holy Name Cathedral.
The statue was in downtown Hammond in spring 2004 for a cleaning by a local business. Francine Demma, Carl’s widow, who has owned the statue, was contacted by SJE pastor, Father Sammie Maletta, five years ago about moving the statue to the Shrine of Christ’s Passion, which is adjacent to the church. Francine eventually visited the shrine and felt it would be a fitting home.
(For news from the Diocese of Gary, log on to the website of the Northwest Indiana Catholic at www.nwicatholic.com)
Diocese of Lafayette
No briefs available this week
(For news from the Diocese of Lafayette, log on to the website of The Catholic Moment at www.thecatholicmoment.org)