Catholic News Around Indiana
Compiled by Brandon A. Evans
Diocese of Evansville
Mater Dei, Holy Family: Two principals named for 2010-2011 school year
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Two principals have been named for the 2010-2011 school year, one at Mater Dei High School in Evansville, and the second at Holy Family School in Jasper.
Christopher Tanner has been named principal at Mater Dei. He replaces Tad Dickel, principal at the high school since 2007 who is its newly announced executive director.
The Board of Trustees of Mater Dei High School made the announcement that Tanner is the new principal. “After an extensive search that included several well-qualified individuals, Christopher Tanner was chosen to continue to build on the strong tradition of excellence in Catholic education at Mater Dei,” said Dickel.
As principal, Tanner will serve as the chief academic officer and will have direct oversight over academics, extracurricular activities, athletics and spirituality. He will report directly to the executive director.
Donna Halverson, diocesan director of schools, said, “I am very pleased that Chris Tanner has been selected to serve as principal of Mater Dei. He will be a tremendous asset to the school, and I look forward to seeing the school continue to grow under his leadership.”
He said, “I look forward to working with the staff, students and parents at Mater Dei High School. The tradition at Mater Dei in both academics and extracurricular activities is second to none. I am excited to continue and improve upon these traditions with a strong faith-based approach.”
Dickel’s selection as the first executive director of Mater Dei High School is a result of the direction approved by Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger and announced in December of 2009 to change the governance model of Evansville’s two Catholic high schools.
Using the new model, Mater Dei and Memorial continue to collaborate and share common practices in many areas, while each is governed by its own board of trustees and led by its own executive director.
Memorial’s executive director is expected to be named this summer.
Sally Sternberg is the newly named principal at Holy Family School. She replaces Jeanne Heltzel, Holy Family’s principal for the last 10 years.
For the past nine years, she has been an educator in public schools in southwestern Indiana. She currently is the math department chairperson and a math teacher at Southridge High School in Huntingburg.
Photo caption: Christopher Tanner has been named principal at Mater Dei High School in Evansville; Sally Sternberg has been named principal at Holy Family School in Jasper.
Second graders are connected by prayer
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Priorities can change in an instant — sometimes because of a devastating diagnosis. Marty Horning knows that well.
She’s the DRE at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville, and recently talked about how her priorities — and those of her entire family — have changed since her grandson, Jonathon, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
“I was at the Catholic Center at a DRE meeting, and Lisa called me. She said, ‘Mom, Jonathon has muscular dystrophy.’ I just cried. [The late Benedictine] Sister Geraldine was there, and I just broke down.
“Everyone prayed, and the prayers are still coming.”
Jonathon knows he has “sick, sore muscles,” but he doesn’t know he has a disease. His family knows more than they care to know, Marty said. “By the time he is 10 to 12, he may be in a wheelchair,” she said, adding, “it’s not a pretty thing.”
She said she is inspired by her daughter, Lisa, who is a “dynamic, spiritual, spirit-filled person. She’s doing so well with it,” with a determination that “we have it. We are going to work with it.”
When Marty shared the news about Jonathon with the teachers at St. Ben’s, they took it to heart. At the time, he was a second grader at a Catholic school in Fort Wayne, preparing to make his First Communion.
The two second grade teachers at St. Ben’s, Abby Adler and Kelley Coppens, “took him on as a prayer partner” and encouraged their students to pray for him and his family “for whatever God’s will is.”
They prayed for him all year, and this spring they made him a personalized quilt.
Marty was with the students the day they started working on it. Children were choosing colored pieces of fabric, when Kelley asked, “Marty, do you know what this is? It’s your grandson’s quilt.”
“I got really choked,” she said, remembering how diligently they worked on the project and how they prayed for Jonathon as they put it together.
Sometimes she “kinda wonders what Jonathon is going to teach all of us” as he struggles with the progression of the disease. She is sure that “God has a message through Jonathon.”
(For these stories and more news from the Diocese of Evansville, log on to the website of The Message at www.themessageonline.org)
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Feast day of St. Theodora Guérin inscribed in diocesan liturgical calendar
FORT WAYNE—Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades received a letter in April from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which gave official approval for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to inscribe the Oct. 3 feast of St. Mother Theodore Guérin (St. Theodora Guérin) into the Proper Liturgical Calendar of the Diocese.
This is the culmination of a process that actually began in 2008 under Bishop John M. D’Arcy, when an initial request was sent to Rome petitioning for St. Mother Theodore’s inclusion in the diocesan calendar.
According to liturgical law, the Mass prayers specially composed for an individual saint’s celebration cannot be used in a particular place unless he or she is officially inscribed in a binding liturgical calendar. There are three official liturgical calendars that affect our diocese: The General Roman Calendar (this includes all the major annual liturgical celebrations, and also the feasts of those saints who have the broadest appeal to the universal Church), the liturgical calendar for the United States (which incorporates holy men and women of special significance to our country, such as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Blessed Junípero Serra), and our proper diocesan calendar.
Since St. Mother Theodore is not currently in the universal or U.S. calendars, her addition to the diocesan calendar is an important occasion for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
She will henceforth be commemorated on Oct. 3 (the date established by Rome at her canonization in 2006) as an obligatory memorial in this diocese, meaning that her Mass should be prayed annually on that date, unless it falls on a Sunday.
Unfortunately, as timing would have it, Oct. 3 falls on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time in 2010, so her memorial cannot be observed here until 2011.
The reason all these liturgical rules exist is to ensure that a particular calendar does not become overloaded with saints, and also to ensure that any saints present on a local calendar are recognized there as strong examples of the faith
St. Mother Theodore Guérin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 15, 2006. She came to the United States in 1840 and founded the Sisters of Providence.
Photo caption: A statue honors St. Theodora Guérin on the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception grounds at the location of the former academy.
Medjugorje Conference, pilgrimages influence diocesan priests, seminarians
By Diane Freeby
NOTRE DAME — Many priests within the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend say their own vocations have been strengthened by graces received in Medjugorje.
A Vatican commission is studying the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
At least two of the newest seminarians credit their experiences of the Blessed Mother in Medjugorje with helping them discern and prepare for the priesthood.
Seminarian Daniel Davis recently shared his story at the 22nd National Conference on Medjugorje, held in May at the University of Notre Dame.
Parishioners of St. Therese in Fort Wayne, Davis and his family have attended the conference for many years, but 2008 was especially meaningful. It was at Mass during the conference that Davis says he discerned his call to the seminary. As an act of thanksgiving, Davis went to Medjugorje the following year and was accepted into the seminary a few months later.
“Medjugorje heightened my devotion to Our Lady, my devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and prepared me for life in the seminary,” recalls Davis. “While I was there, Our Lady showed me many things. She definitely helped me to prepare for spiritual life in the seminary. It excited my desire to have a deep spiritual life.”
Another area man, Marian High School graduate Robert Garrow, will enter the seminary this month. He was also in Medjugorje last summer with a group including Father Daryl Rybicki, pastor of Corpus Christi Church in South Bend.
Father Rybicki, who devotes time every year to help at the Notre Dame conference, has been to Medjugorje several times, only after entering the priesthood. Father Rybicki says going to Medjugorje “reenergizes” him, especially after hearing confessions there, where lines are long and hearts and lives are often changed.
“The reality is, I think you come back having had that experience of seeing God at work in people’s lives,” shares Father Rybicki. “I think for a priest, that’s a refreshing kind of thing because it gives some credibility to the vocation and to the work of Christ and His Church.”
“People obviously are experiencing some sort of change in their life,” says Father Rybicki. “When you see it happen in such great numbers, that to me is one of the fruits. Hopefully people can take that experience and take the messages and make them part of their life from that point forward.”
Photo caption: Father Daryl Rybicki oversaw all liturgical elements of the three-day National Conference on Medjugorje at Notre Dame. Father Rybicki, who also does some work for Redeemer Radio, says technology provides a wonderful opportunity to share with countless others.
Catholic parishes join hands in Matthew 25 ministry
By Karen Clifford
SOUTH BEND — Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County builds homes with volunteers in partnership with those in need of adequate housing. The Matthew 25 ministry supplies volunteers and monetary donations to the building of a home each summer for low income families within St. Joseph County. Currently 40 area churches participate, seven of which are Catholic.
Gene Cavanaugh, who coordinates the Matthew 25 ministry at Sacred Heart Parish in South Bend, explains the concept of the organization. “In Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus tells his followers that when we help those who are poor, broken-spirited or desolate that we are in fact doing what we do for Him. This ministry is important, as it helps us to love and serve others and by so doing show our love for God.”
Matthew 25 coordinator Daniel Tychonievich from St. Matthew Cathedral adds, “The Habitat Ministry represents the ideals of good Christian stewardship. It assists people to change their lives and the lives of their family. For some partner families, it is the first time that they have ever lived in a house, and for other families, the children may become the first in the family to ever go to college. It can help end a cycle of poverty by giving the families a hand up and the perspective that all things are possible.”
Gwen Johnson, assistant to the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County, notes that the entire building of a home by Matthew 25 volunteers takes place over an eight to 10 week period. Habitat for Humanity’s construction crew does the first step in the home building process by digging and pouring a foundation. Then the crew meets with Matthew 25 volunteers at Habitat’s retail store and builds walls for the new home. The walls are put on a flatbed truck and like the Amish tradition of “barn raising,” the walls of the home are put in place at the home site.
Cavanaugh recalls the excitement of Sacred Heart volunteers as they helped put the walls in place. “It is pretty exciting to see how much goes up in one day from what starts out at the beginning of the day as a concrete slab or a floor over a basement.”
Photo caption: Matthew 25 volunteers from St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend stand before a home in progress for Habitat for Humanity.
(For these stories and more 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
Site at 56th and Delaware Now Diocesan Cemetery
Story by Steve Euvino
MERRILLVILLE—For the first time in more than 30 years, a cemetery has been added to the diocesan system. Officials from Gary Diocesan Cemeteries announced they are taking over Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery and have plans to bring the site up to diocesan standards.
A sign is already in place at the cemetery noting that the grounds at 56th and Delaware are a diocesan cemetery.
Cemetery crews and others are working to clear away old trees and remove brush from fence lines along the perimeter of the cemetery.
Crews will also be resetting all the old monuments, spraying for weeds, and cutting grass. Two people have also been hired to begin putting the cemetery records onto a burial space manager program.
According to Michael Welsh, chief operating officer for Gary Diocesan Cemeteries, this new addition is more than 150 years old and has not had much work done since the 1960s. Father Roy Beeching, SSPP pastor and director of Gary Diocesan Cemeteries, began the process when he started thinking about fixing up the neglected cemetery. He contacted Welsh and told him that, of 40 recent burials, the vast majority went to other graveyards and only two went to the parish cemetery.
“Half of the people didn’t know we had it,” Father Beeching said of the SSPP cemetery located north of property belonging to the Salvatorian Fathers.
After meetings with Bishop Dale J. Melczek, the SSPP parish council, and the Diocesan Cemetery Board, Father Beeching and Welsh secured approval in May to make the grounds a parish cemetery.
Welsh estimated that the cemetery covers 3.5 acres, with a little more than one acre still open for sale. Currently, Welsh said, the cemetery has about 1,000 people buried there, with space for 1,400 graves.
(For this story and more news from the Diocese of Gary, log on to the website of the Northwest Indiana Catholic at www.nwicatholic.com)
Diocese of Lafayette
Haiti interpreter shares a message of thanks
By Kevin Cullen
LAFAYETTE — Fifteen years ago, Father Bob Klemme was on a mission trip to Haiti. By chance, he met a bright-eyed 14-year-old youth in the village of Grand-Savanne, 2½ hours from Port-au-Prince.
Father Klemme — then associate pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Carmel — was shocked when the boy spoke to him in English, not Creole. Fritzner Guerrier explained that had grown up in a Catholic orphanage, and had been bilingual all his life.
When Father Klemme learned that Guerrier was not attending school, he felt called to help him. And that changed the life of Fritzner Guerrier forever.
“I feel the spirit of God was working in me,” said Father Klemme, now pastor of St. Patrick Church, Oxford, and St. Charles Church, Otterbein. “I immediately said to myself, ‘This guy has to go to school. He knows English too well to not go to school.’”
He first gave a Haitian priest the $100 needed to enroll Guerrier in a local school, and later he paid school and living expenses to send Guerrier to a school in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Guerrier completed high school, then a one-year baccalaureate program in the national school.
“Without Father Bob, I would be one of the worst people, with no education,” Guerrier said during a recent visit to Lafayette. “The orphanage kicks you out at age 14. I was out, living with an aunt in that small village.”
He now works as a professional interpreter. He has been hired to interpret for volunteers on mission trips to Haiti from the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Lafayette; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Carmel; St. Mary Church, Anderson, and St. Thomas Aquinas Church, West Lafayette. He has interpreted for the 16 trips to Haiti made by cathedral volunteers.
Before the January earthquake hit Haiti, Guerrier also worked for the United Nations in Port-au-Prince. Since then, he has interpreted for several medical mission trips.
Photo caption: Father Bob Klemme and Fritzner Guerrier (Photo by Kevin Cullen)
(For this story and more news from the Diocese of Lafayette, log on to the website of The Catholic Moment at www.thecatholicmoment.org)