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A good education

Posted on by Fr. Steven Marchand

There’s a common joke in religious education that the answer to every question in religion class is “Jesus.”

I once made the mistake of sharing that with students in a class, and for the next three weeks, the only answer I ever received to any question was “Jesus,” delivered with a knowing smile.

There is, of course, a kernel of truth here. As the Word of God made flesh, the fulfillment of the law and prophets, the perfect man, God-among-us, the whole of the cosmos is recapitulated and made new in the person of Jesus Christ. St. John expresses this beautifully in the prologue to his Gospel: “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (Jn 1:3), which Paul echoes in the letter to the Romans: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom 11:36).

Now, this is either true or it isn’t. As believers, we affirm that it is true. This centrality of Christ is reflected in the centrality of crucifix, tabernacle, and altar in Catholic churches. St. John Henry Newman saw its ramifications for education. Writing about the nature of university education, Newman contended that to not teach theology in schools is to deny a foundational and necessary aspect of human knowledge. Those universities and schools which do not include theology as part-and-parcel of the curriculum are not true universities at all. By excluding theology, they betray their claim to be institutions exploring universal, or all, learning.

Who, then, is the best teacher of the knowledge of God? Say it with me — “Jesus,” of course. This is why we as Catholics live not “by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). We hang on to Jesus’ words, or gather them up as so many pearls of great price. In the words and deeds of Jesus we find the culmination and personification of the entire pedagogy of God throughout salvation history.

And how does He teach? What is His method? He teaches primarily through parable and metaphor. In other words, imagination. The Gospels are teeming with imaginative examples drawn from creation. The one “through whom all things were made” now uses these very things as a bridge to bring us from creature to creator. We might even say that creation was made from the beginning to serve this very purpose.

Who can forget what Jesus says when He commissions His disciples? He does not send them as bloodless facilitators of an abstract something. He sends them as “sheep among wolves” who must be as “cunning as serpents and yet innocent as doves” preaching Him who is the “bread of life,” giving us His “flesh for true food, and [His] blood for true drink.” To help us understand what it means to reject God, Jesus tells us of a householder who plants a vineyard and has a right to its fruit. He sends his son, the heir, to gather it up, but the workers of the vineyard cast him out and slay him. If we do accept Him, our faith is like a “mustard seed, which grows into the greatest of plants, in which all the birds of the sky find rest.” When He wants to teach us about the forgiveness of sins, he performs a miracle of healing and orders the man to “take up your mat and walk” so that we have an image for what takes place in the soul.

How, then, does Jesus teach? By moving us from the natural to the supernatural. Jesus came down to Earth so that He might lift us up to heaven. Or as the medieval school-men would put it, God’s supernatural grace is freely bestowed on us to raise up and perfect our human nature.

Jesus gives us an example from experience or nature to teach divine things. Our imagination is what bridges the gap; it allows us to see the divine in the ordinary.

It takes a good and powerful imagination to understand what God wants to do in our lives, what it means to follow Him. A good education will cultivate that sense of wonder that is necessary for the imagination to take flight. These are the natural things on which a supernatural life of faith can be built. Without it, we can sputter with C.S. Lewis’s Professor Kirk, “What do they teach them in these schools?!”

If we would grow in faith, we must become like little children and sit at the feet of the divine master and teacher. To whom shall we go? Why, to Jesus, of course.

— Father Steven Marchand is administrator of St. Ambrose Church in Bristol and St. Peter Church in Vergennes.

—Originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

 

 

 

‘The Cycle Show’

Posted on by Valerie Parzyck

“The Cycle Show” is an educational, interactive, multimedia, fertility awareness workshop that allows girls to understand what is happening to their bodies as they mature and uses a respectful style with colorful materials, scarves, music, and fun games.

Dr. Elisabeth Raith-Paula, a German physician, created the workshop that recently took place at St. John Vianney Parish in South Burlington.

Kari Beadner was introduced to the Cycle Show in Germany and brought it to the United States, and the response to the debut workshop was so positive she knew she needed to spread it across the country.

In 2019 she reached out to Leah Jacobson, CEO of the Guiding Star Project, to see about adding the Cycle Show to her centers. The Cycle Show has been to 11 states so far.

The night before the workshop, Kari offered a 90-minute parent workshop which gave an outline of what would be discussed the following day. This helped the parents to become familiar with the same terminology used during the workshop to spur further discussions with their daughter at home.

The Cycle Show format allows for open and honest communication between parents and their daughters about these topics which is a relief compared to shame and embarrassment. Parents will like that the Cycle Show uses all the senses in a way girls will understand and retain. It respects the idea that parents are the first teachers when it comes to sex education. There is no religious teaching, discussions on sexual morality, or contraception.

The Guiding Star Cycle Show is an excellent tool to explain menstrual and fertility health to prepubescent girls.

For more information, go to guidingstarproject.com/product/whats-going-on-in-my-body-all-about-the-female-cycle-periods-and-fertility-2.

—Valerie Parzyck is director of family faith formation and youth ministry at St. John Vianney Church in South Burlington.

 

Pope’s health improving; he keeps some appointments

Posted on by Catholic News Service

Pope Francis is breathing easier after undergoing intravenous antibiotic treatment for pulmonary inflammation, the director of the Vatican press office said.

“The pope’s condition is good and stable; he has no fever, and his respiratory situation is clearly improving,” Matteo Bruni, the director, said in a statement Nov. 27.

Early Nov. 25 Pope Francis canceled his day’s meetings because of “flu-like” symptoms and that afternoon he went to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for a CT scan of his lungs.

“The CT scan ruled out pneumonia, but showed pulmonary inflammation that was causing some respiratory difficulties,” Bruni said Nov. 27. “For more effective treatment, a needle cannula was placed for the infusion of intravenous antibiotic therapy.”

The IV access was visible on the pope’s right hand Nov. 26 as he sat next to an aide in the chapel of his residence for the midday recitation of the Angelus.

In a direct broadcast to St. Peter’s Square, where thousands of people were waiting for the customary Sunday appointment, the 86-year-old Pope Francis told them, “Today I cannot come to the window because I have this inflammation problem in my lungs.”

The aide, Msgr. Paolo Braida, read the pope’s commentary on the Sunday Gospel reading and the pope’s appeals for peace and greetings to groups of pilgrims present in the square.

But the pope led the recitation of the Angelus prayer and took the microphone back at the end to wish people a happy Sunday and to ask for their prayers.

In the text read by Msgr. Braida, Pope Francis also asked for prayers for his trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 1-3 to address COP28, the U.N. climate change conference.

Bruni said that “to facilitate the pope’s recovery, some important engagements scheduled for these days have been postponed” to a date when he can “devote the desired time and energy to them.”

Other appointments, “of an institutional nature or easier to support given his current health condition, have been maintained,” Bruni said.

And, in fact, Pope Francis met early Nov. 27 with Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña Palacios, his wife and entourage. The pope and president spent 25 minutes speaking privately in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope’s residence. Vatican Media photos of the pope blessing the president show that the IV access had already been removed.

The pope, who will celebrate his 87th birthday Dec. 17, had undergone surgery in 1957 to remove part of one of his lungs after suffering a severe respiratory infection. He has insisted the operation has had no lasting impact on his health.

Pope Francis was hospitalized March 29-April 1 for what doctors said was a “respiratory infection.” He tested negative for COVID-19 at the time.

— Cindy Wooden, CNS

They came to teach: The Sisters of St. Joseph in Vermont

Posted on by Kathleen Messier

Religious communities of Catholic women have long been an integral part of Catholic education in Vermont, though their stories are seldom fully told. The histories of parochial schools often gloss over how they came to be staffed by nuns. The journey of the Sisters of St. Joseph to Vermont deserves closer examination.

St. Peter School, Rutland

According to the brief answers completed in 1899 by Father Thomas Gaffney, pastor at the time: “The first parochial school was opened … in a house on West Street with one teacher, and about 50 pupils. It was continued without intermission till 1865 when the old building became too small for its purpose. The next school, now the parochial residence, was built in 1867 and opened the same year with two teachers … [and] about 100 pupils in all. This was conducted by lay teachers till 1873. … Sisters of the order of St. Joseph from Flushing [New York] came to Rutland to take charge of them. …”

Many Irish families wanted their children to be educated in local schools. While school attendance was not compulsory at the time, secular schools in Rutland and environs expelled Catholic students for not attending classes on Holy Days of Obligation or even for refusing to own a Protestant Bible.

From France to the United States

The origin of this congregation of women religious is traced to Le Puy, France.  The order was founded by Jesuit Father Jean Pierre Médaille in 1646 and was given canonical status under the patronage of St. Joseph in 1650. The sisters served rural Dioceses in southern France for the next 150 years until the French Revolution claimed many through imprisonment or martyrdom.  The dispersed survivors were reorganized in Lyon, France, by Mother St. John Fontbonne in 1807. Through her work, the first community of Sisters of St. Joseph was formed in the United States in 1836 at the request of the bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis. The sisters spent the next 11 years there, growing their congregation and serving the community. From Carondelet, new communities were found in Philadelphia in 1847 and Brooklyn (Flushing) in 1856.

Father Charles Boylan, pastor of St. Peter Parish, had two cousins who were members of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Flushing – Sisters Borgia and Mary John Boylan. He hoped that his family ties would prove beneficial and wrote to Mother Teresa Mullen, superior of the Brooklyn congregation, in 1873 requesting assistance from the Sisters of St. Joseph. Mother Mullen, however, could not accommodate his written request. Father Boylan, unsatisfied with her reply, devised an alternate plan, and she found his in-person plea more effective. Mother Austin Keane, along with Sisters Irene Branagan, Patricia Lorrigan, Anastasia Brown, and Paul McGuire volunteered to teach in Rutland. They left Flushing on Sept. 5, 1873, and arrived in Rutland the following day. They began classes on Sept. 16, 1873.

Rough Times – Hope for the Future

The sisters’ early days in Vermont were marked by the challenges of making cultural adjustments to rural life. Within four years of their arrival, Sisters Anastasia, Irene, and Patricia died. Mother Keane returned to Flushing in 1874. Fire destroyed the old rectory that was serving as their convent in 1875. Meanwhile, more sisters from Flushing were sent to Rutland to encourage the hope of a successful religious community.

Despite discouraging defeats, Burlington Bishop Louis deGoësbriand decided that the Sisters of St. Joseph in Rutland should be formed into a separate congregation and not be dependent on a distant motherhouse. In a diary entry for August 17, 1875, he wrote: “Today I informed Mother Theresa [sic] suprioress of the house of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Flushing, Long Island, that I desired a separation and a Novitiate for our Sisters in East Rutland.”

Soon thereafter, the congregation in Vermont increased in number in large part due to local vocations and a steady supply of sisters from Flushing sent until the Vermont community could sustain itself. In 1879, Father Boylan built St. Joseph’s Convent in Rutland as a residence for the four sisters. What seemed like an extravagant endeavor to accommodate only four women religious in 1882 housed 20 Sisters of St. Joseph by 1886.

Principally devoted to education, the Sisters of St. Joseph taught students at St. Peter School, Christ the King School and Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland; St. Michael School in Brattleboro; St. Francis de Sales School, Sacred Heart School, and St. Joseph’s Business Schools in Bennington; St. Mary School in Fairhaven, and St. Anthony’s Kindergarten in White River Junction.

The sisters also staffed the Loretto Home for the Aged in Rutland for several years.

The Sisters of St. Joseph continued as a diocesan entity until they united with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 2001.

Sharing in their neighbors’ struggles since arriving in Vermont in 1873 made them an integral part of the lives of the people they served in the Diocese of Burlington.

“Stimulated by the Holy Spirit of Love and receptive to the Spirit’s inspiration, the Sister of St. Joseph moves toward profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction.”

Sources:

Gaffney, Rev. Thomas (ca. 1899). Questions for Historical Sketch – St. Peter Catholic Church, Rutland, Vt.

deGoësbriand, Bishop Louis. Diary of Louis deGoësbriand, first Bishop of Burlington, 1853-1899. Aug. 15, 1875. Burlington, Vermont. Archives of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

Hannon, Rev. Patrick T., Davidson, Jim and Helen, eds. (2000). Home – A History of St. Peter’s Parish, Rutland, Vermont. Rutland, Vt. 37-75.

Malone, CSJ, Mary M. (2017). Anything of Which a Woman Is Capable – A History of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the United States, Vol. 1. (2017). Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. 397-410.

One Hundred Years of Achievement by the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, 1853-1953. (1953). Lowell, Mass., 158.

Sisters of St. Joseph – Revised Constitutions. (1988). Introduction.

—Kathleen Messier is the assistant archivist for the Diocese of Burlington. For more information, email Archives@vermontcatholic.org.

—Originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

 

Knights assist with donation to Morrisville pregnancy resource center

Posted on by Submitted Article

The Lamoille Valley Pregnancy Resource Center hopes to open its doors in the upcoming year and plans to offer a variety of free services to women facing an unplanned pregnancy. These services will be available regardless of income, race, religion, national origin, age, marital status.

In October, Executive Director Eliza Giard learned of an opportunity to acquire a free exam table from a counterpart in Keene, New Hampshire. The only problem was moving it.

Excited with this news, she contacted Father Jon Schnobrich, pastor of Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Morrisville who then contacted the Knights of Columbus Grand Knight for help.

At the council business meeting on Nov. 8, this urgent need and opportunity to assist the LVPRC  was discussed. Realizing that the council did not have the proper resources to move the exam table, a motion was made to pay a moving company to do the job. The motion was unanimously approved after discussion. Greg Sargent, owner of Sargent’s Moving was recommended, and he was happy to assist.

Just days later, Giard was offered an ultrasound machine at zero cost from an organization in Manchester, New Hampshire. Hearing that, Sargent offered to move both pieces of equipment  to Morrisville at a very reasonable rate, saying, “This is a special load, connected to my church.”

For more information contact Eliza Giard at Lamoille Valley Pregnancy Resource Center, PO BOX 1160 Morrisville, VT 05661, 802-302-5022, or lamoillevalleyprc@gmail.com.

Destination Dubai: Pope heads to climate conference to press for action

Posted on by Catholic News Service

When Pope Francis visits Dubai in the United Arab Emirates Dec. 1-3 to address the opening of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, he will be the first pope ever to attend one of the global gatherings that began in 1995.

The visit marks yet another unique effort by this pope who — in honor of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi — has made caring for creation a hallmark of his pontificate and has repeatedly reminded people that actions speak louder than words.

His presence, anticipated speech and private bilateral meetings at the 28th conference, known as COP28, will add further strength to his many urgent appeals that nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transition swiftly to clean energy sources and compensate countries already harmed by the effects of climate change.

“We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes,” he wrote this year in “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”), a follow-up document to his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home.”

Pope Francis had timed the release of his 2015 encyclical on humanity’s responsibility to care for creation to coincide with final preparations for the COP21 conference in Paris. And a number of experts believe that document had a deep impact on the successful adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement, a binding agreement for nations to fight climate change and mitigate its effects.

The pope, likewise, timed the release of “Laudate Deum,” which presented an even stronger critique of global inaction and indifference, ahead of the climate conference in Dubai, saying the meeting “can represent a change of direction, showing that everything done since 1992 (with the adoption of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change) was in fact serious and worth the effort, or else it will be a great disappointment and jeopardize whatever good has been achieved thus far.”

Some Catholic advocacy organizations that have been pushing for global action for years believe the pope’s participation at COP28 is going to help convince leaders to make stronger commitments.

Lindlyn Moma, advocacy director of the Laudato Si’ Movement, told Catholic News Service Nov. 20, that “Pope Francis really recognizes that we are in a climate crisis and he is going to COP to make sure that everyone hears this message,” which is the same message in “Laudato Si'” eight years ago, but “not enough people have heeded to that call.”

What needs to be done at COP28, Moma said, is “an agreement that is very clear on the phase out of fossil fuels.”

The intergovernmental International Energy Agency “has released countless reports since two years ago saying that we can have no more investments in oil and gas, in any fossil fuels, if we need to meet the targets of remaining at 1.5 degrees, which by the way, is being threatened,” she said. The Paris Agreement set the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

COP28 in Dubai could mark a watershed moment for some kind of promise to end fossil fuel exploration and expansion, and to phase out existing production.

The United Arab Emirates is a major producer and exporter of oil, producing at least 4 million barrels per day. The president-designate of COP28 is Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who wears multiple hats: UAE minister for industry and advanced technology; its special envoy for climate; chairman of the renewable energy company, Masdar; and group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Al-Jaber met with the pope Oct. 11, just one week after “Laudate Deum” was released with its pointed mention that “gas and oil companies are planning new projects” in the UAE, and its clear call for “decisive acceleration” in transitioning to clean energy sources.

“The fact that (al-Jaber) went to meet him, immediately after ‘Laudate Deum’ was released, it really says that his message came out strong and clear,” Moma said.

Vatican News reported that during that visit, al-Jaber expressed the United Arab Emirates’ appreciation for Pope Francis’ “unwavering advocacy for positive climate change to advance human progress,” and they discussed the crucial role faith communities can play in addressing climate change.

COP28 will co-host a “Faith Pavilion,” which Pope Francis will help inaugurate Dec. 3. It is the first-ever pavilion of its kind at a COP event and will host events Nov. 30-Dec. 12 with religious leaders, faith-based organizations, scientists, political leaders, youths and Indigenous people.

The pavilion will also showcase the “Abu Dhabi Interfaith Statement for COP28,” which was signed by 28 faith leaders, including Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, at the end of a special summit there Nov. 6-7.

The statement called for “inclusive dialogue, during and beyond COPs, with faith leaders, vulnerable groups, youth, women’s organizations and the scientific community to forge alliances that strengthen sustainable development,” and it “demands transformative action to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach and serve affected and vulnerable communities.”

Pope Francis and Egyptian Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar, are expected to sign the same statement at the COP28 summit.

“The interfaith pavilion at COP28 signifies the recognition of the crucial role that religious communities can play in addressing climate change,” Musamba Mubanga told CNS. She is Caritas Internationalis’ senior advocacy officer for food security and climate change and will be part of the Holy See delegation at COP28.

“This inclusive approach acknowledges the multifaceted nature of climate challenges, incorporating ethical, moral and cultural considerations alongside scientific and political dimensions,” she said.

And, she added, the hope is that “this collaboration will translate into tangible actions, motivating parties to adopt climate-conscious actions and contribute actively to climate change mitigation.”

Pope Francis made his hopes for COP28 clear in “Laudate Deum”: “May those taking part in the conference be strategists capable of considering the common good and the future of their children, more than the short-term interests of certain countries or businesses. In this way, may they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame.”

— Carol Glatz, CNS