Local News June 2008
Woman’s Craft Gives Church Display of Faith
Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
June 20, 2008 -Catholic parish leaders in Gilbert could have easily gone to the catalog and ordered a shiny "monstrance" to display the consecrated host that Catholics believe is the transformed body of Jesus Christ. Monstrances can be fetched for as little as $150, while some Web sites offer bejeweled, gold ones for as much as $26,500.
But parishioner Mary Josephs had her own ideas for the young parish, founded six years ago and more than a year away from meeting in a building on its own campus.
For 2 1/2 years, Josephs has painstakingly cut, pounded, soldered, sanded and polished raw silver into a monstrance that will be presented at the 9 a.m. Mass on June 29 to St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church at its temporary meeting place, Gateway Pointe Elementary School, 2069 S. Delatorre Drive. It will replace one the parish has borrowed from another church for its adoration, or "holy hour," which is carried out at the chapel at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center on the first Friday of each month. <read story>
DIOCESE OF PHOENIX ANNOUNCES FORMATION
OF THE OFFICE OF NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING
PHOENIX (June 20, 2008) The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix, has announced the formation of a new office, the Office of Natural Family Planning, effective July 1. As part of the existing Office of Marriage and Respect Life of the Diocese of Phoenix, this new office will serve as the focal point of the Catholic Church’s teaching regarding natural family planning (NFP).
The new office will be staffed by the existing employees of the Phoenix NFP Center, a separate, non-profit organization that has been promoting natural family planning for the Phoenix area. The transition for those employees from the center to the office, which is also effective July 1, will be seamless as the new Diocesan office will be located at the current center headquarters at St. Mark Parish, 400 N. 30th St., Phoenix. All the normal business of the Center will be conducted under the auspices of the new Diocesan office. Afterward, the Phoenix NFP Center will continue to maintain its corporate identity and explore a new role in supporting the NFP mission of the Diocese.
“The decision to form this office is part of an overall plan to more clearly identify the Church’s teaching on NFP, marital chastity, and responsible parenthood as part of marriage and family life,” said Michael Phelan, director of the Office of Marriage and Respect Life for the Diocese of Phoenix. “Our objective is to better evangelize, coordinate information about and access to NFP programs and courses, and to communicate our mission effectively to the younger generation.”
Natural family planning is a way to cooperate with the natural pattern of fertility and infertility designed into our bodies by God to achieve or postpone pregnancy. NFP, unlike contraception, does not purposely cut off the possibility of conception. Rather, NFP empowers a couple to choose freely when to engage in sexual intercourse and when to abstain using their knowledge of whether that act of intercourse will likely result in pregnancy.
No longer the old rhythm method, NFP is based on advanced science, and has been demonstrated to be 99% effective in avoiding pregnancy when a couple understands their fertility and practices the method correctly. Moreover, couples who live NFP in their marriages report tremendous marital satisfaction and enhanced communication.
More information on natural family planning can be accessed by going to the web site of the Diocese of Phoenix at http://www.diocesephoenix.org/mfrl/MFL/nfp.html. A new web site on natural family planning, which will include information on class registration and payment, will be available to the public in mid July by accessing www.phxnfp.org.
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DIOCESE OF PHOENIX ORDAIN THREE MEN IN CEREMONIES AT CATHEDRAL
PHOENIX (June 7, 2008) The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix, conferred the sacrament of priestly ordination on three men in ceremonies today at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, 6351 N. 27th Ave., Phoenix.
“We rejoice in every vocation in the Church, for each one builds up the Body of Christ,” the bishop said. “With special joy, in these days, we thank God for priestly vocations because of our great need for priests, particularly in a diocese that is growing so quickly.”
Fr. Don Kline, diocesan director of vocations, sees this year’s ordination class as part of a continuing trend. “They’ve spent a significant amount of time in formation and in preparation for this day and they are ready,” Fr. Kline said. “I am very grateful to Our Lord who had called these men to the priesthood. Our world needs heroic men like this to remind us that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!”
The three men ordained — Jose Jesus Lopez, Matthew Lowry and Arthur Nave, Jr. — range in age from 27 to 34 and come from different backgrounds. They, likewise, have traveled different roads in coming to their decision to embrace the vocation of priesthood.
Lopez said he first felt called by Christ to be a priest when he was only 10 years old, but the road to ordination was difficult at times. As a native Spanish-speaking man, he said his greatest challenge was becoming fluent in English. However, he believes that challenge he faced will prove to be a great benefit for him in his future ministry.
“The Lord calls me to serve the people of God in the Diocese of Phoenix and to be a bridge between two cultures, Mexican and American,” Lopez said. “I hope to understand the diversity of the American culture in order to communicate and preach the good news to them.”
Equipped with a degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State University, Lowry was working at Motorola when he began to question what his career meant to him in the big picture of life. He volunteered in youth ministry at St. Theresa Parish in Phoenix where he began to realize his ultimate calling in life.
“I soon realized that I wanted to give all for God and for me that meant going to seminary to find out if God was calling me to be one of his priests,” Lowry said. “I discovered that he was calling me.”
Since he was a child, Nave began thinking about the possibilities of becoming a priest, but when he entered high school, he began to discover other interests as most teens do and put his thoughts of a vocation on the back burner. That changed when he had a bicycle injury that left him with a head injury requiring 15 stitches.
“After this accident, the calling of the priesthood crept back into my life,” Nave remembered. “During the last half of my junior year in high school, I found that the diocesan priesthood was clearly calling me.”
All of the men being ordained echo the sentiment that prayer will be the best aid as they begin their ministry. As Jose Jesus Lopez put it, “Pray for us — and all who work in the Lord’s vineyard. Please continue to pray for seminarians, sisters, priests and married couples to be witnesses of Christ in words and deeds.”
NOTE: Andrew Junker and Ambria Hammel of The Catholic Sun contributed significantly to this story. A profile of the priests that will be ordained, authored by Junker, can be accessed at: http://www.catholicsun.org/2008/june5/local/ordination-bios.html
CATHOLIC SUN’s MANAGING EDITOR J.D. Long-García
WINS EGAN AWARD FOR JOURNALISTIC EXCELLENCE
PHOENIX (June 2, 2008) J.D. Long-García, managing editor of The Catholic Sun, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Phoenix, is one of seven winners of the 2008 Egan Award for Journalistic Excellence. The announcement was made recently at the Catholic Media Convention in Toronto, Canada.
The award recognizes journalists who have written about humanitarian and social justice issues for Catholic publications in the United States. Long-García was recognized for his in-depth reporting on the immigration issue.
All winners have been awarded a trophy and an all-expense paid trip to visit the Middle East to see Catholic Relief Services-supported programs that aid Iraqi refugees. The trip will provide the journalists with an opportunity to witness first-hand the work of CRS, to meet the people uprooted from their homes by violence in Iraq, and to write about the plight of Iraqi refugees “living in limbo.”
“J.D. continues to excel in finding that spot where our Catholic faith intersects with hot-button issues,” noted Rob DeFrancesco, editor of The Catholic Sun. “And it is through his unparalleled reporting that readers of The Catholic Sun continue to get to the story behind the story, and with it, hopefully a new understanding and appreciation for the lives and families impacted.”
The finalists for the Egan Award were judged by a distinguished panel of judges from the secular media, including Keith Jenkins, Multimedia Director for The Washington Post; Tamara Jones, The Washington Post; and Rachel Zoll, national religion reporter with The Associated Press.
Now in its 13th year, the award is named after Eileen Egan, CRS’ first professional staff layperson, who devoted four decades of her life to assisting refugees and helping the poor in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
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To read the winning articles, visit http://crs.org/newsroom/egan-award/winners/2008.cfm
