Catholic News Around Indiana
Compiled by Brandon A. Evans
Diocese of Evansville
Building Bridges: Workshop focuses on Latino culture
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Carolyn Leffert is the parish secretary at Mary, Help of Christians Church in Mariah Hill. Last Monday, two days after she attended a workshop at the Guadalupe Center in Huntingburg, she was still talking about what she had learned.
The workshop, entitled “Building Bridges — Creating Healthy Relationships,” was attended by an equal number of Hispanics and Anglos.
It was given by Venezuela native Maura Robinson, who talked about the Latino culture, its customs, rituals, social structure, needs and concerns.
Robinson presented the information in both English and Spanish, and the participants were immediately asked to divide into two teams, and build half of a paper bridge between two chairs — without exchanging a word between the teams.
When asked what she learned from the exercise, Tita Prado said that the teamwork showed her “together we think better” and that “people of different languages can work together.”
Robinson agreed, noting, “when we talk about differences, it’s more that we are the same. This exercise is about learning to communicate.”
She began her presentation by asking participants about the term “culture,” then suggested it is “what you learn from your parents. And what is North American culture? You may say ‘apple pie,’ but it’s a mixture of cultures.”
She wanted the Anglos to know — and the Latinos to be reminded — that the core values of the Latino culture involve the family structure, which emphasizes “we” not “I.”
Just as the European-American population is very diverse — with German-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans — the Latino population is also very diverse, she said. “There is not just one look of Hispanics,” she said, noting European, Incan and African influences.
The term “allocentrism” can be applied to the Latino culture. That means its members “think in terms of the group. It’s a family affair. It keeps us united. It’s the group mentality, depending on friends and family more. We tend to take care of them more.”
Photo caption: Acuzena Dubon, Tita Prado and Chuyita Prado listen as Maura Robinson talks about the Latino culture, its customs, rituals, social structure, needs and concerns during a June 19 workshop at the Guadalupe Center in Huntingburg.
Juneteenth draws parishioners, soup kitchen clients, health care providers
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
About 200 people took part in the Juneteenth kickoff celebration at the facilities of St. John the Apostle Church in Evansville, on June 13.
“It was well attended and I think it went well,” said Bless-ed Sacrament Sister Jane Nesmith, pastoral life coordinator of the parish. “It was a great opportunity for the Sunday afternoon soup kitchen people to interact with the larger community.”
St. John has the only Sunday afternoon soup kitchen in the area, serving an average of 150 people each Sunday.
On June 13, eighteen vendors offered various health related services to parishioners and visitors. Gina Moore sang “We Are Family” to emphasize “that we are all part of the family,” Sister Jane said.
Rev. Dr. Matory Bailey, an EVSC principal and the pastor of Little Valley Missionary Baptist Church in Evansville, spoke about “how remembering history helps us to move forward with a deeper sense of gratitude,” according to Sister Jane.
Private health matters were not revealed, but Sister Jane said there “a couple of crucial things related to blood pressure and to diabetes” discovered by several of the people who stopped at the various health booths.
Juneteenth is also known as “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day,” according to Wikipedia. It commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the United States, and is celebrated on June 19.
Photo caption: Dawnelle Neighbors awaits visitors to her booth at St. John the Apostle, to discuss breast health and cancer awareness. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang)
(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
No briefs available this week
(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
Third State Title in Six Years: Niners repeat as 'Kings of the Diamond' for Class 3A
INDIANAPOLIS — Coming off a state title, this year’s Andrean baseball team went into a mini-slump, losing three straight. Coach Dave Pishkur pulled the team together and set down some simple rules: If you don’t run out a play or hustle, you’ll be pulled. “Play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, and things will work out,” Pishkur said. And they did.
Andrean did lose two more games that season, but the Niners also won 20 more, including the state championship June 19 at Indy’s Victory Field, a 6-1 decision over Jasper.
“We’re a hard-working team,” pitcher Ken Mahala said before the game. “We don’t accept failure… and it paid off.”
Mahala went the distance on the mound against Jasper, fanning seven and allowing five hits and the one run. He also helped his own cause at the plate, breaking up a scoreless tie in the third inning, lacing a bases-clearing double down the left field line to give the Niners (29-6) a 3-0 lead.
Andrean added three more runs in the fourth inning, and had it not been for Jasper’s Scott Wendholt doing a Willie Mays impression in center field, the Niners could have padded the lead more.
Coming off a 2009 state championship with a team loaded with senior leadership, Mahala said this year’s Andrean club “pretty much came together as a team. Early on, we battled with each other instead of playing together.”
This year’s Niners had six seniors on the roster, to go with 14 freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.
“I’m so proud of this team,” said Pishkur, picking up his 751st career win, all at Andrean. “We had a bunch of sophomores who got their feet wet and gained confidence.”
Pishkur noted that although his team had a comfortable lead, his “heart was pumping” that final inning, especially after Jasper had scored in the sixth on a towering home run. Mahala did give up a one-out single in the seventh, but when his infield turned over a game-ending double play, Andrean had its third state title in six years.
The 3A championship, Pishkur said, “feels every bit as good as the first two. It does not get old. It’s an awesome feeling, and I’m so proud of our seniors.”
(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
'The situation in Haiti is so ugly ...'
By Caroline B. Mooney
WEST LAFAYETTE — When members of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish recently visited Haiti, they saw a long, slow recovery ahead for the country devastated by a Jan. 12 earthquake.
John Ginda, treasurer and past president of the Haiti Committee at St. Thomas, has made 12 trips to Haiti since 2001. He was there with two engineers from the parish to assess damage incurred by their sister parish, St. Francis Xavier in Jacmel. Its church, rectory, four schools, four chapels, a convent and a library were destroyed or heavily damaged.
Father Delmas Camy, pastor of St. Francis, e-mailed Ginda with this report:
“The situation in Haiti is so ugly and dirty and it doesn’t make the newspapers here. The rainy season (April to July in Haiti) beats Jacmel … into subhuman conditions. Even animals cannot survive in such a situation of life. These people can no longer withstand five months more like that. Too bad they might not survive after having been narrowly saved after the earthquake. … The Haitian state puts down their arms as if everything is put in fine. And the news will say that all is well in Haiti.”
The quake, which killed more than 250,000 people, struck the poorest nation in the Western world.
Ginda said the sloppy, muddy conditions make rebuilding more difficult and living conditions worse. Some people are living in homemade shelters made of bed linens stretched over branches with palm leaves woven into panels to extend the sheet houses. Camps are cramped and disease prone.
Many roads are often impassable.
“If you want to go somewhere fast, get on the back of a motorcycle taxi,” Ginda said, “though it’s hard to look down when you are only eight inches from the edge of a cliff while you are hanging onto the back of a bike.
“Our engineers have ideas on how repairs should go forward, but we are trying to get folks in Haiti to work with us,” Ginda said. “There is a lot of progress going on, but to say things will be done in five years might be optimistic. It could be longer.”
Classic car makes parish stops for raffle to benefit seminarians
By Caroline B. Mooney
A unique fund-raiser benefitting the financial needs of diocesan seminarians is off to a speedy start.
Twenty-seven Knights of Columbus councils in the diocese have gotten enthusiastic support from many pastors in the raffle of a 1965 “Milano Maroon” Corvette Stingray, appraised at $39,000. Tickets cost $10 each.
Raffle proceeds will be placed in a newly established “Knights of Columbus Seminarian Endowment Fund” to serve the financial needs of diocesan seminarians.
“Several parishes without K of C councils have asked to participate and are selling tickets through their parish office, Holy Name Society or Serra Club,” said David Pauley, raffle marketing and promotion chair. “Several seminarians also have assisted in the promotion and sales events at their home parishes. Catholic Radio FM 89.1 has been running an advertisement up to five times each day and has information on its Web site.”
Since the fund-raiser began May 1, many councils have sold nearly half of their raffle tickets. Tickets are still available from Knights of Columbus members and can be requested online at www.priestforever.org.
(For these stories and more news from the Diocese of Lafayette, log on to the website of The Catholic Moment at www.thecatholicmoment.org)