Catholic News Around Indiana
Compiled by Brandon A. Evans
Diocese of Evansville
Newburgh parishioners help flood-stricken Tennessee residents
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
In early May, Joe Hardesty was sitting in his living room watching CNN report on the devastating flooding near Nashville, Tenn.
As he watched the news reports, he realized that the affected area was only about two hours away from southern Indiana.
He’s the youth minister at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh, and he quickly organized two mission trips to Antioch, Tenn.
There were 14 Newburgh parishioners in the first group which headed to Tennessee the end of May. The second group of 27 people spent three days the end of June helping out.
They worked with Catholic Charities and with a flood relief agency. “At first we helped a family living right on the edge of the river,” Joe said. “This affected so many people, and so many had no flood insurance.
“We helped with yard debris, and we power washed the house. Another day we gutted a condo all the way down to the studs.” The group removed drywall, molding, carpet, cabinets and linoleum.
They also put up drywall in the Antioch Baptist Church. “Everyone needed help.”
The second group was as-signed to help out in a trailer park. “Really low income,” he said. “We were assigned to a lady who was a native of Haiti with six kids.
“There was quarter inch mold in some areas — mold on mold — and they could not live there. We did new drywall and worked on a drainage system for her.”
He added, “It’s amazing what can be done with so many people.”
Every night the parishioners would gather and “talk about where we saw God, where we saw Christ in other people, about being Christ to one another, and about what we are called to be and hearing God in our lives.”
Photo caption: Joe Hardesty, above right, is joined by parishioners at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh, during a trip to Tennessee to help out after early May floods devastated the Nashville area. They include Kevin Halter, Sarah Woehler, Erin Hurm, Meghan Adamson, Megan Hardesty, Michelle Brown and Trisha Dunlap. He is the director of youth ministry at the Newburgh parish.
Class of 1985: Facebook connections bring about elementary school reunion
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Years ago, when Phyllis Bussing was teaching kindergarten at Holy Redeemer School in Evansville, she always sat behind her students during Mass.
A few weeks ago, she got to do something most teachers never do — relive that tender experience. This time it was different though because those kindergarteners are now adults with children of their own.
The reunion of the Class of 1985 came about thanks to connections made on Facebook. One of her students found her on that social internet site, “and once she found me, the others from that class became my friends on Facebook,” Bussing said.
The students and teacher began chatting and sending messages back and forth, and soon there was a discussion about having a class reunion. They recently gathered for Mass and dinner at Holy Redeemer. “Father Chris Forler introduced the class before Mass, and at the end of the Mass he said a special blessing for them,” Bussing said.
Maryann Webster, the principal at Holy Redeemer, gave the former students a tour of the school facilities, and then the group had dinner together. Bussing, along with their teachers Lynn Scheessele, Carol Will and Karen Seiler also attended the reunion as did Susie Bradley, the school secretary.
Classmate Heather Walters said her class had a “very strong bond together. We were with these kids for nine years.”
Many of the former students hadn’t been in their grade school since they graduated, Walters said. “It was as if we were in a time warp.” At one point during the reunion she said she “separated myself” from the activities and “went to the playground. I just went swinging on the swings. I can’t describe to you the feeling. It really was a reconnection” with childhood.
She discovered that “the way people were as children is the way they are as adults. The go-getters are still go-getters, and the shy, quiet ones are still shy and quiet. It was refreshing.”
The whole experience was “like a time warp. It was nice. It was really nice.”
(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
Mishawaka Antioch offers teens spiritual home
By Kay Cozad
MISHAWAKA — A new kind of youth ministry is taking Mishawaka by storm. Built around the national program, the Mishawaka area Antioch is a viable program that attracts private and public high school students from the surrounding area.
The Mishawaka area Antioch had its humble beginnings at St. Jude Parish several years ago under the faithful formation of Father James Stoyle, pastor there. Pulling youth from the surrounding parishes, who were unable to financially sustain their own youth ministries, Antioch offered biannual retreats and regular youth meetings there. With the transfer of Father Stoyle, Father Barry England took Antioch under his wing. Over the past several years the program has flourished, moving, as the spirit does, to areas it is most needed.
Today under the auspices of an enthusiastic young married couple, Chip and Virginia Leinen, the youth ministry in Mishawaka has transformed into a community youth ministry that invites youth from St. Bavo, Queen of Peace, St. Monica and St. Joseph to deepen their faith formation. “All the pastors are on board. For us to have four phenomenal priests gives us such security and allows us to be firmly rooted in the ministry,” says Virginia.
Currently the Antioch retreats are the springboard conversion event that invites the youth into a relationship with the Lord. “It’s an opportunity for teens to see others who are in love with their faith,” says Chip. During the weekends teens experience witness talks, time for prayer, music, games, skits, reconciliation and the Eucharist. The fall retreat is held at St. Bavo Parish, while the spring retreat is housed at Queen of Peace.
The heart of the retreats, says the Leinens, is the Eucharist, along with catechesis and community. “Eucharistic Adoration is at the center,” says Chip. “We try to promote that more than anything else.” Following the retreats the youth are invited to St. Joseph Parish’s Saturday evening Eucharistic Adoration from 8:30-9:30 p.m., where parishioners will witness the presence of up to 25 teens in reverent prayer.
Photo caption: These teens play a game on an Antioch Retreat in May at Queen of Peace Parish. They are from left, Michal Christleib, Michael Shakour of St. Anthony Parish, Francis McDonald of St. Pius X, Edward Manier of Holy Cross Parish and John Banes of St. Bavo.
Bishop visits Vincent Village
By Kay Cozad
FORT WAYNE — Vincent Village Executive Director Ann Helmke, Vincent Village staff and board members gathered to welcome special visitor Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades on June 30 for an informational meeting and tour of the organization’s complex. Following congenial introductions, those gathered with Bishop Rhoades viewed a short video promoting the history and essence of the Vincent Village program.
During a brief discussion the bishop came to know firsthand information concerning clients served, programs available and funding for the village. Following the discussion Helmke and a few board members served as tour guides as they walked Bishop Rhoades through the St. Hyacinth Community Center, the shelter, youth services and around the neighborhood where several abandoned houses have been rehabilitated by Vincent Village.
Vincent Village, formerly known as Vincent House, is located at 2827 Holton Ave. in Fort Wayne, and serves homeless families with children as a transitional shelter. It is the only one of its kind in Allen County, working to keep families together. According to Helmke, it began as a small shelter serving up to seven homeless families at a time in 1989, and has grown to the current organization that provides shelter, supportive services and affordable housing for an average of 60 homeless families each year.
The largest percentage of families served by Vincent Village is single female-headed, but the number of two-parent families have risen recently due to the economic situation in the area. Because the organization welcomes children, 70 percent of its clients are age birth through 18.
Helmke said the shelter, formerly the St. Hyacinth convent, provides a temporary home for up to 12 families. The former rectory holds two apartments used as part of the shelter program as well. “There are 60 families waiting to get in,” she said, adding that there is always a waiting list. Families enter the program according to the date of their application and begin an assessement process to identify their specific needs. The village is supported by 24 employees and provides services for two years, though families may stay in the homes for a longer period of time.
The 12 families in the shelter’s transitional setting are involved in intense case management services that assist them with life skills including budgeting, the dress for success program and parenting classes. The Literacy Alliance partners with Vincent Village to work with adults in the program to earn their GED, English as a second language and other important life skills.
Photo caption: Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades joins Vincent Village Executive Director Ann Helmke, right, and board member Marian Welling on a tour of the renovated houses of Vincent Village on July 30.
(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
Blessed Mother Teresa's Relics: 'Surprise visit from Mother'
GARY—An unexpected visit from one’s mother can be cause for alarm.
That is, unless the woman is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Relics of the humanitarian foundress of the Missionaries of Charity and candidate for sainthood made an unexpected stop in the Diocese of Gary July 17.
Joined by priests of the diocese, Bishop Dale J. Melczek celebrated Mass at St. Mark Church, where he blessed the relics — a lock of Blessed Teresa’s hair, blood, a rosary, crucifix, and her sandals.
Although Missionaries of Charity sisters do not grant interviews, Sister Marcella, the order’s regional superior, did describe the stop in Gary as a “surprise visit from our Mother.”
The relics are making their way around some of the order’s 50-plus convents in the U.S. and Canada, including 17 in Sister Marcella’s region, because of the ongoing centennial celebration of Blessed Teresa’s birth, Aug. 26.
They were only in Gary one day, after which they were taken to Chicago. They are to be returned to Calcutta by July 30.
Despite news coming quickly and 90-plus degree weather, several hundred people filled St. Mark for the Mass, after which they were permitted to venerate two of the relics.
Also, Missionaries of Charity Sisters, who have served this diocese from the former St. Mark convent since 1999, accepted the faithful’s prayer petitions to be taken to Calcutta.
Some of the people had met Blessed Teresa on earlier visits to this country. Others assist the Missionaries of Charity’s ministries in this diocese, including a soup kitchen and other community service. Others, such as Dr. Lou Miceli, worked with the sisters in Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake.
This visit of the relics, Miceli said, “really means that I have an example to follow. ‘Give yourself to Christ’ — those aren’t just words. I’m embarrassed and encouraged at the same time. I hope to get over my embarrassment and hope to be encouraged to do more.”
In his homily, Bishop Melczek noted that Jesus calls each person according to that person’s gifts and vocation to be “Christ’s light to people in our communities and our world — we have no better example that Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.”
(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
No briefs are available this week
(For news from the Diocese of Lafayette, log on to the website of The Catholic Moment at www.thecatholicmoment.org)