The Dialog

By TheDialog

By TheDialog

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — The “full social and legal effects” of state lawmakers’ decision to legalize same-sex marriage “will begin to manifest themselves in the years ahead,” said the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

“Today the Minnesota Senate voted to redefine marriage in Minnesota. The outcome, though expected, is no less disappointing,” the conference said in a statement.

The state Senate in a 37-30 vote gave final approval May 13 to a same-sex marriage bill. The state House passed the measure May 9. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed it May 14. Read more »

By TheDialog

A celebration of the tenth anniversary of solidarity between the Diocese of Wilmington and the Diocese of San Marcos, Guatemala, will take place on Sunday, June 2, at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Glasgow. Mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., followed by a luncheon.

Representatives from the Diocese of Wilmington (back row), visit with residents of San Marcos, Guatemala. (Photo courtesy Brother Chris Posch)

St. Margaret of Scotland is located at 2431 Frazier Rd., Glasgow. For more information and reservations, Bill Mitchell (302) 836-6006 or billMitchell@verizon.net.

One of the young Guatemalans from the San Marcos Diocese. (Photo courtesy Brother Chris Posch)

By TheDialog

Alma mater influences work in State Department

WILMINGTON – Lisa Krzywicki, a 2000 gradaute of St. Mark’s High School, told senior class leaders that her time at the school played a key role in her leadership development.

“It was at St. Mark’s that I realized it is perfectly okay to openly display my faith by being a Eucharistic minister at school Masses and participating in class retreats (and) it was at St. Mark’s that I met the teachers and leaders who would help me grow and develop who I was spiritually, strengthening and sharpening my faith, which I carry with me today,” she said. Read more »

By TheDialog

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned against “gentrification of the heart” as a consequence of comfortable living, and called on the faithful to “touch the flesh of Christ” by caring for the needy.

The pope’s words came in a homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 12, when he canonized the first Colombian saint, as well as a Mexican nun and some 800 Italians martyred by Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

Pope Francis kisses the relics of blessed Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, also known as “Madre Lupita,” the Mexican co-founder of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary and the Poor, during her canonization Mass at the Vatican May 12. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

Mexico’s St. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963), the pope said, gave up a “comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to love the poor and the sick.”

“How much damage does the comfortable life, well-being, do,” the pope added, looking up from his prepared text. “The gentrification of the heart paralyzes us.”

The Mexican saint, known as Mother Lupita, “knelt on the floor of the hospital before the sick, before the abandoned, to serve them with tenderness and compassion,” and in doing so, “touched the flesh of Christ,” he said.

Pope Francis said the Mexican founder of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary and of the Poor sets an example for everyone “not to retreat into oneself, into one’s own problems, into one’s own ideas, into one’s own interests in this little world that has done us so much damage,” but to share God’s love with the needy “through gestures of delicacy and sincere affection and love.”

The pope also praised St. Laura Montoya (1874-1949), the “first saint born in the beautiful land of Colombia,” as a “spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples, in whom she infused hope” and taught about God in a way that “respected their culture and was not opposed to it.”

“Mother Laura” founded the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena, who today “live and bring the Gospel to the most remote and needy places, as a kind of vanguard of the church,” he said.

“She teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the other,” the pope said, “to overcome indifference and individualism, welcoming everyone without prejudice or constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have, which is not our works or our organizations” but “Christ and his Gospel.”

Pope Francis also paid tribute to the approximately 800 people in Otranto, southern Italy, who in 1480 were decapitated by invading Ottoman forces for refusing to convert to Islam.

“Where did they find the strength to remain faithful?” the pope asked. “Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate the ‘heavens opened,’ as St. Stephen said.”

The pope then prayed for “those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence,” and asked God to “give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.”

Before praying the “Regina Coeli” at the end of Mass, Pope Francis called on the Otranto martyrs to “help the beloved Italian people look with hope to the future,” and invoked the intercession of the new Mexican and Colombian saints in bringing peace to their troubled homelands.

Colombian and Mexican pilgrims, waving or wearing their countries’ flags, were notable in the crowd filling the square on the sunny Sunday morning.

All the day’s news saints “pose questions to our Christian life,” the pope said at the conclusion of his homily, which he delivered in a mix of Spanish and Italian. “How am I faithful to Christ? Am I able to show my faith with respect, but also with courage? Am I attentive to others? Do I recognize when someone is in need? Do I see in everyone brothers and sisters to love?”

By TheDialog

The diocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life offers three marriage-preparation programs for engaged couples at locations throughout Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The office provided the following schedule.

Read more »

By TheDialog

St. Mark’s celebrates school’s namesake

WILMINGTON – St. Mark’s High School celebrated the feast of St. Mark on April 25 with a Mass celebrated by two alumni, Fathers Jim Nash (Class of 1980) and Tim Nolan (’84), along with Fathers Charles Dillingham and John McVoy.

Students, faculty and staff were joined by the school’s board of directors, alumni association board, parents association officers, alumni who are parents of current seniors, and several other parents. The alumni chorus performed with the current chorus.

Father Nash, in his homily, concentrated on the part of Mark’s gospel in which Jesus tells his followers that those who spread the Word will “pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them,” according to the school. Father Nash told the community that the intent of this passage was not literal, but was meant to instruct us about living the Gospel. The scorpions are symbols of venomous actions and poisonous things in our world today, and Jesus was instructing us to stand up for the good and Holy beliefs that we have as Christians, even in the face of the darkness that exists.

After Mass, faculty and staff celebrating milestone anniversaries were recognized. Three staff members – Catherine Culnane, Hilda Kraiss and Thomas Parkins – marked 40 years at the school this year.

Knights of Peter Claver and ladies auxiliary, offering initial scholarships

The Knights of Peter Claver Council No. 383 and its ladies auxiliary are sponsoring scholarships to promote Catholic education at the grade school, high school and college level.

Three awards will be presented for the 2013-14 academic year. A grade school student will receive $500, a high school student $750, and a college student $1,000. Interested candidates should go to the Knights link at www.stjosephfrenchst.org and download the application, which are due by May 31 to the Knights of Peter Claver, Council 383, 1012 French St., Wilmington, DE 19801. For more information, call (302) 658-4535.

Ministry of Caring seeks resident volunteers

WILMINGTON – The Ministry of Caring is seeking young men and women to participate in the 2013-14 CapCorps Stigmata Volunteer Program, which is based at the Joseph Bakhita House in the Quaker Hill neighborhood of Wilmington.

The CapCorps volunteers will work on behalf of the poor while living a simple lifestyle in community with each other. Participants are eligible to participate jointly as AmeriCorps volunteers and, therefore, eligible for an education award when their service concludes.

Positions are available at several Ministry of Caring locations, including the Francis X. Norton Center, the Job Placement Center, emergency shelters, Samaritan Outreach, Emmanuel Dining Room, childcare centers and at the administrative office. More details are available by contacting Marie Keefer at the Ministry of Caring, Sacred Heart House, 917 N. Madison St., Wilmington, DE 19801. She can also be reached at (302) 428-3652 or mkeefer@ministryofcaring.org.

An application is available at www.ministryofcaring.org/capcorps-stigmata-program.

The Ministry of Caring was founded in 1976 by Brother Ronald Giannone, the Capuchin Franciscan priest who remains its executive director.

Casino night brings in bounty for Benedictine Programs

RIDGELY, Md. – The annual spring benefit for Benedictine Programs and Services, a casino night held April 20 at the Hyat Regency Chesapeake Bay, raised more than $340,000 to help improve the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities. Approximately 270 attended the event, which featured a circus theme with slot machines and table games.

While the winnings went to the clients of Benedictine, the players were eligible for baskets of wine and trips to New York City, Annapolis, Alexandria, Va., and to the host hotel.

Earlier that day, an open house and dedication took place at the two new senior care homes outside Ridgely, for which ground was broken a year before under the direction of Benedictine Sister Jeannette Murray, the longtime executive director who died March 21. At the fundraiser, the board of directors announced the Sister Jeannette Murray Award, which will recognize staff members for outstanding service, and unveiled a portrait of the late Benedictine.

St. John the Beloved band recognized at festival

WILMINGTON – The St. John the Beloved School Advanced Band earned a superior rating at the 2013 National Catholic Band Festival, which was held April 20 at Villanova University. It was the only band from Delaware at the event.

More than 30 bands from Catholic schools in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland participated in the festival. Each band receives 15 minutes to perform, and a panel rates the bands good, excellent or superior. Bands are rated for following the score, intonation, timing, overall sound and other criteria.

Ray DiVirgilio, the director, said there are eight students in the advanced band, all seventh- and eighth-graders. There is a bell player, two clarinetists, two alto saxophonists, a French horn player, a flutist and a drummer.

By TheDialog

WORCESTER, Mass. — Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester pleaded not guilty May 7 at a Wakefield, R.I., courthouse to charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

According to the Boston Globe, the bishop was released on personal recognizance after his attorney, Bill Murphy, told 4th Division District Court Judge Walter Gorman that the bishop waived his right to an extradition hearing. Bishop McManus is due back in court May 28.

The bishop was arrested May 4 in Narragansett, R.I., after allegedly being involved in a collision and driving away from the scene.

Bishop McManus, a Rhode Island native, shares a family home with his siblings in Narragansett.

In a May 6 statement, the bishop said he made a “terrible error of judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner. There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

He also asked for forgiveness from the people he serves and family and friends in the dioceses of Worcester and Providence, R.I.

Bishop McManus, 61, has been bishop of the Worcester diocese since 2004. He previously served for five years as an auxiliary bishop in Providence.

Last year, he was in the news for objecting to an invitation to Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to speak at the commencement ceremonies at Anna Maria College in Paxton, which is part of the Worcester diocese.

The Catholic college retracted its invitation to Kennedy and asked the bishop not to attend the ceremony, saying his presence would be a “distraction.”

By TheDialog

More than 300 people turned out for Padua Academy’s first Wiffle Ball tournament, which was held Aprll 28 to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House of Wilmington. The students, teachers and spectators raised $6,650, according to Padua teacher Michael Sheehan, who organized the event. It was originally scheduled for Father Tucker Field next to St. Anthony of Padua School but was moved to Rockford Park to accommodate the anticipated turnout.

The photos were taken by Don Blake of DonBlakePhotography.com.

Phenomenological Phive teammates Anna Trolio, Paige Sioma, Danielle Delgado and Kristen Holowka cheer.

Andrea Giordano is up to bat as her Kung Fu Panda teammates Emily Hayes, Bridget Hughes and Karlee Panella, all sophomores, cheer her on.

Junior Caitlin Cooke takes a swing for her team, the One Hit Wonders.

By TheDialog

The Dialog/www.DonBlakePhotography.com

Bishop Malooly presided this morning at the annual Blue Mass, which is held for police officers, emergency medical technicians, firefighters and members of the military. The Mass was held at St. John the Beloved Church in Wilmington. Father Anthony Giamello, associate pastor at St. John the Beloved and a chaplain in the Delaware Air National Guard, delivered the homily. (See Father Giamello’s homily here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWZ6H3zXLzM )

Although a Catholic Mass, those of all faiths were welcomed.

After Mass, first responders and their families were invited to the parish hall for a luncheon.

The Delaware State Police Pipes & Drums play as Bishop Malooly prosses out during the annual Blue Mass. The Dialog/www.DonBlakePhotography.com

Thomas Donlon of the New Castle City police prays with his children, Josh, 11, and Madilyn, 8, who attend St. John the Beloved School. The Dialog/www.DonBlakePhotography.com