‘THE CHURCH NEEDS YOU TO PROCLAIM JESUS CHRIST’ Bishop Richard F. Stika (center) was the principal celebrant for St. Patrick Parish’s 50th-anniversary Mass on May 31. With him at the altar are (from left) associate pastor Father Joseph Hammond, CHS; Deacon Jim Fage; and pastor Father Pat Garrity. View more photos at dioceseofknoxville.org. Photo by Dan McWilliams

Bishop Richard F. Stika began his homily at the golden-anniversary Mass for St. Patrick Parish in Morristown on May 31 by looking out at the assembly and commenting on a particular—but appropriate—color of attire worn by many in the pews.

“Was there a sale on green T-shirts here?” he asked.

St. Patrick outgrew its 1959 church long before its current building was dedicated in 2002. The new and much larger nave still could not hold all of the worshipers gathered for the 50th-anniversary celebration, with many having to stand while others sat in the daily Mass chapel that was formerly the back half of the old church.

Longtime pastor Father Patrick Garrity and associate pastor Father Joseph Hammond, CHS, concelebrated the Pentecost day anniversary Mass, with St. Patrick Deacons Jim Fage and Bob Smearing assisting. Sabra Buchanan, one of a handful of charter parishioners remaining at St. Patrick, was among the gift bearers.

Morristown was part of the 34-county mission field served by Father Emmanuel F. Callahan in the first decade of the 20th century, according to St. Patrick’s silver-anniversary history publication. Mass was celebrated in the homes of area Catholics in the 1930s and ’40s. Liturgies moved to the Kingmyer Hotel dining room and the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. building before finding a longer-lasting home in the Morristown City Hall.

Bishop William L. Adrian established Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville in 1955 and made the surrounding eight counties its mission territory, with Father Albert Siener as the first pastor. Father Siener then began the effort to start a parish in Morristown for the approximately 70 Catholics who lived there.[%END%]

A five-acre lot was purchased for $12,000 from Mary Graves Baker of Knoxville, a former Morristown resident, in February 1956. Father Bernard Niedergeses succeeded Father Siener as pastor later that year. Fundraising efforts for a new building, a move from the city hall to the courthouse for Mass, and the choice of a church design by architect and future Deacon Milton Robelot of St. Dominic in Kingsport all led up to an important day: Aug. 25, 1958, when ground was broken on an $85,720 church.

The Catholic Extension Society suggested the name St. Patrick to recognize a $10,000 donation made to the parish by Alice Tierney in memory of her father, Patrick Tierney. The name was adopted Sept. 25, 1958, and the first Mass was celebrated on St. Patrick’s Day, 1959. Bishop Adrian dedicated the new church May 27, 1959.

Bishop Stika compared the pioneering efforts of St. Patrick’s early parishioners to an act of Blessed Mother

CHURCH LADIES Bishop Stika poses with women of St. Patrick Parish in Morristown after the 50th-anniversary Mass. They are wearing traditional costumes and later demonstrated traditional dances. Seen above are (front row, from left) Vanesa Montepeque, Erika (no last name available), Elia (no last name available), Sister Isabel Gonzalez and (back row, from left) Rosie Rodriguez, Marisol Montepeque (partly hidden), Aurora Moreno, and Carolina Gil. Photo by Dan McWilliams

Teresa, who once tossed a Miraculous Medal onto a piece of property next to the house of the president of Albania because she wanted to purchase the land for a soup kitchen.

“Such was her faith that today if you go to that nation and stand next to the president’s palace, there’s a home for the dying, a soup kitchen, and a facility to take care of those most in need,” said the bishop.

“Fifty years ago, people gathered together in this area to do something spectacular. Through a donation of a particular parishioner and through the help of the Extension Society, the Catholic parish of St. Patrick’s was founded.

“Fifty years ago this parish began to give glory to almighty God, and that’s why it’s so spectacular that you gather together in your green shirts and your festive costumes, with your smiling faces, to celebrate the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst. . . .

“What a spectacular way that is to sing a song of praise to God, not so much just by saying, ‘we belong to St. Patrick’s’ but actually belonging, actually making a difference.”

Bishop Stika issued a challenge to St. Patrick parishioners, specifically targeting the younger ones, for the years between the 50th and 75th anniversaries.

“The church needs you to proclaim Jesus, and I have no doubt at all that there are people in this church today, men and women, who are thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or to religious life,” he said.

“They just need the rest of you to nurture that and to pray for them.

“I hope I come back to this parish many times, especially to celebrate a first Mass with a new priest or to celebrate with a family who has given their daughter to the church to proclaim the Gospel as a religious or [their son] as a deacon or as a brother. That is a sign of a church very much alive, not only the number [of families] in a parish but also the vocations that come from that parish.”

50th-ANNIVERSARY FESTIVITIES Emmalee Christensen, 4, the daughter of Erica and Chuck Christensen of St. Patrick Parish, uses a portable climbing wall provided by the Climbing Center at River Sports in Knoxville. Photo by Dan McWilliams

At least two priests now active in the Diocese of Knoxville came from St. Patrick: Fathers Tony Dickerson and Patrick Resen.

The parish has grown from about 290 families to more than 700 since Father Garrity—St. Patrick’s longest-serving pastor—arrived in August 1997. At that time, 100 families had just left the parish rolls to join the newly established Holy Trinity Parish in Jefferson City.

Many Catholics from around the country move to Hamblen County to work in one of its two large industrial parks, said Father Garrity, and they find a welcoming parish in St. Patrick.

“The vast majority of the parishioners have no other family here, and so the parish becomes the family,” he said.

Younger parishioners are keeping St. Patrick revitalized, he said.

“Since I’ve been here, the mean age of the Knights of Columbus has been going down, and the mean age of the Council of Catholic Women has been going down,” said Father Garrity. “The numbers are growing, but the average age of these groups gets to be younger and younger.”

Father Garrity said the anniversary “helps people get focused on who we are.”

“You can see the large cultural diversity—Hispanics and Anglos from all over the United States and Canada and a lot of Filipinos. It helps us get a better sense of who we are as a family because we are growing.”

A picnic, featuring games for children as well as hamburgers and hot dogs grilled by the Knights of Columbus, followed the anniversary Mass.

Parishioner Juanita Clifton came to St. Patrick in 1967. She well remembers the 1959 church building and said she “can’t believe” how the parish has grown.

“There were probably a hundred families, if that many, when we came here, and now there are 700.”

Mrs. Clifton is involved in many parish activities.

“I sing in the choir, and I help in the office,” she said. “Several of us from the church work at the Daily Bread [Community Kitchen], and I belong to the women’s club.”

Pat Flederbach, an aunt of Father Resen, is a 35-year parishioner of St. Patrick. She calls it a “wonderful, wonderful” parish.

“I came from a big parish in Chicago. There were 10 priests, but you couldn’t know them—they didn’t have time for you. It’s wonderful here. Everybody wants to meet everybody else.”

Mrs. Flederbach recalls Masses with about 50 people attending in her early days at St. Patrick.

“We went downstairs afterward and had coffee and doughnuts,” she said. “You met everybody, and it was a good welcome for new people.”

Retired rectory housekeeper Mary Wilson arrived at St. Patrick in 1974, intending to stay only a short time.

“The Department of Employment Security sent me here to replace somebody for a week while she had a sprained ankle,” she said. “I came and I never did see the lady. I don’t know where she went, but after a length of time I announced that I was ready to go whenever she came back. They had a talk with me, and they hired me.

“I’ve been here ever since,” she added with a laugh.

Although the parish’s buildings have grown, the community’s spirit has remained constant, said Ms. Wilson.

“To me the people are still more or less the same. They have the same spirituality and the same compassion they had when I came here. I guess that’s why I’m still here.”

Ms. Wilson joined the Catholic Church during Father Louis Junod’s years as pastor, 1977 to 1982.

“I finally got nosy and wanted to know everything that the Catholics knew, and I started asking questions. One of the priests asked me, why didn’t I take instruction, and I did just so I could learn what all they were thinking. I started liking Catholics, and I converted to Catholicism, and here I am.”

Ms. Wilson said she “just loved” all the priests she worked under at St. Patrick. She praised the current pastor, although she also likened him to a “little Dennis the Menace.”

“Oh, my gracious alive. I give Father Patrick credit for my still being here in the health I’m in and the happiness and the joy I’m in because every day was like a holiday,” she said but added, “although I was always ahead of him—he doesn’t realize it.”

Click for more photos of the St. Patrick anniversary celebration.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Each and every one of the world’s 408,000 priests should feel loved, respected, valued, and supported in his vocation to bring the Gospel to an increasingly secular—but still open—world, said Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

The Brazilian cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, said the 2009-2010 Year for Priests, which begins June 19, must recognize the new challenges and possibilities Catholic priests face.

Pope Benedict XVI called for the special year to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, who was famed for his priestly ministry.

The aim, however, is not to organize a historical commemoration, but to look realistically at the world in which priests live and work and to recognize that the horrible abuse perpetrated by some priests has harmed the reputation of all priests, Cardinal Hummes said.

“Many priests in the world have been wounded by what has happened in recent times—pedophilia and other crimes that the media has publicized and that are true and extremely serious, especially pedophilia in which the victims are minors whose lives often are damaged forever,” Cardinal Hummes told Catholic News Service in early June.

“These are terrible crimes that must be judged and punished,” he said.[%END%]

But justice also requires people to recognize that the vast majority of the world’s priests have never been involved in any kind of abuse and instead give their lives to Jesus and to serving the church and humanity, he said.

“We must say to priests that we are proud of them and that we recognize they are a group that is very special for the church and society,” the cardinal said. “We must recognize who they are and what they do and tell them that we love them and want to be alongside them to support them.”

Cardinal Hummes is not looking for a yearlong commitment to baking pies for priests or smiling at them more than usual; he’s looking for study and discussions and meetings and laypeople rolling up their sleeves to work alongside their priests.

And he’s definitely not looking for some 1950s style of keeping the celebration in the church or the parish hall, avoiding the wicked world outside.

“The post-modern, urban, relativistic, secularized culture is the dominant culture,” he said, and the temptation is to say, “’Oh, it is impossible to engage this society. We should remain in our corner, with our little group, closing ourselves into a ghetto,’” the 74-year-old cardinal said.

But the world still is the place where priests are called to live with joy and “to evangelize with the certainty that it is possible to bring the Gospel to this new society and not demonize it, not ignore it, and not be discouraged by it,” he said.

Cardinal Hummes is convinced that men and women are looking for the love of God and salvation in Jesus, but “maybe not with an approach that starts with doctrine and morals.” Once people meet Jesus, he said, “then come doctrine and morality as a form of following that Jesus who attracted me, enchanted me, enlightened me. It is then that you begin talking about what it means to follow Jesus in practice; that’s morality.”

Cardinal Hummes said that showing support for priests includes sharing responsibility with them for parish life and for mission.

“Sometimes laypeople help their priests but think that if things don’t go well, it’s the priest’s responsibility—it’s his church. But, no, the church is all of ours,” he said.

Obviously, any discussion about the world’s priests includes talk about the priest shortage, a situation the cardinal insists is not exaggerated.

“We have too few priests,” he said. “Several countries face a very worrying, very difficult future because the number of priests has fallen so drastically.”

Vatican statistics have reported an increase in the number of priests in the world in the past few years, but that increase has not kept pace with the increased number of Catholics in the world, not to mention the world’s growing population.

The Statistical Yearbook of the Holy See, recently released with figures gathered Dec. 31, 2007, reported that there were 408,024 priests in the world. Five years earlier the number was 405,058.

The yearbook also provided tables illustrating Cardinal Hummes’s point about the increased number of priests not keeping up with the increasing population. According to the yearbook, there were 2,810 Catholics for each priest in the world at the end of 2007, whereas there were only 2,642 Catholics per priest at the end of 2002.

Although the significant growth in the number of priests in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe may mean some of those men would be available to minister in Western Europe and North America, Cardinal Hummes said local communities should give rise to local vocations.

“A local church having its own priests is a sign of vitality,” he said.

Copyright 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
 

—Roseanne Nichols Maryville

Most germs are not pathogenic
In regard to getting germs by shaking hands, the chances are probable you will because germs are as numerous as the stars. Fortunately, most are not pathogenic unless you are immunocompromised or you or your partner have a nosocomial infection. Germs, however, are smarter than we are and mutate in self-defense. Unless we are in a sterile environment bubble, there is little we can do about it. When you are aware you have an infection, you can abstain from shaking hands or drinking wine, in which case you should be at home and not out spreading germs. Germs also help us build our resistance.

—Carolyn Luetgens, BSMT (ASCP) Whitwell

We welcome letters to the editor and carefully consider all submissions. Letters should be 350 words or less and will be edited for grammar, style, clarity, and length. Submit them by e-mail, mail, or fax: mary@dioceseofknoxville.org, P.O. Box 11127, Knoxville, TN 37939-1127, 865-584-8124. Letters to the editor reflect the opinions of their authors and not those of the editorial staff or the publisher.
 

• Monday, June 29, for the July 12 issue
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Sports teams often choose nicknames that invoke relentless and overwhelming power. For example, on the collegiate level, there are the Green Wave, the Red Storm, and the Crimson Tide. The names are meant to intimidate the competition and invigorate fans. Anyone who knows what it is to be hit by a major squall at sea knows the fear that such a phenomenon invokes.

Today’s Scriptures relate to such tempestuous occurrences. The first instance comes from the Book of Job, in which God takes offense at the audacity of Job’s complaining. Poetically, God takes Job to the beginning of the world and the creation of the oceans. Imagine the raw power of all the water in the world bursting forth at the same time. What a terrifying sight that would have been! Yet the greater power was that of God, who quieted the cataclysmic uproar by “shutting the sea within doors” and “stilling the proud waves.”

The surging of the Sea of Galilee was hardly poetic for the disciples in today’s Gospel. It was quite real and utterly frightening. They could feel the virtual certainty of imminent death. They were scared to the bones. So much more were they mystified when Jesus calmed the storm. Mark uses understatement when he writes that they were filled with great awe.

Great awe indeed! The fishermen were forced to question their previous understanding of who Jesus was. They were struck to their souls.

That’s the effect of Jesus’ calming a storm. It takes a lifetime to figure out what kind of power Jesus had. In fact, it takes more than one generation. Christians through the ages have meditated on the power of the Lord. Paul, in the second reading, calls that power “love.” Moreover, that “love of Christ impels us.” Yes, what keeps every one of us Christians going is nothing less than the love of God, which is the greatest force in the universe.

It is the same power that created the heavens and the earth and is now engaged in recreating the earth. In the beginning the waters and all the forces of nature were tamed. In the present re-creation, Christ will subdue the forces of sin and death. And we are invited to participate in that re-creation.
 

The God of ‘plan B’

Even when things go wrong, the Lord is still in charge.

June 28, 13th Sunday
in ordinary time
Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43

An important insight has emerged from the creation v. evolution debate. Unbelievers question whether Christians believe God directly willed every individual facet of the created world or did he just throw the dice, allowing our world to be haphazard. The best answer I have seen is the one that admits God threw the dice—but the dice were loaded. God always is in charge, even when things go wrong.

The Book of Wisdom applies this principle regarding the most devastating reality in our lives—death. This inspired document admits “God did not make death.” But when sin came about because of the envy of the devil, God rebounded with “plan B.” God used the subsequent reality of death, Paul tells us, to be the means by which he can pluck us from the realm of sin to join him in heaven.

Today’s Gospel gives us two examples of plan B. Jesus was preaching “close to the sea” so everyone would be able to see and hear him. Lo and behold, someone came close enough to touch his cloak. With plan A thwarted, Jesus makes the best of it. Thus, he cures the woman suffering with hemorrhages. In addition, he takes the occasion to give her, publicly, his peace.

Then, in yet another plan B caused by Jairus’s interrupting his sermon, Jesus stops speaking and goes to cure his daughter. That plan B was foiled by the news that the girl had died. Jesus responds with yet another plan B. He brings the 12-year-old back to life. Thus, Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, illustrates that God can and does use death to raise us to new life.

In the second reading Paul shows how we can join God in dealing with the failure of plan A. Paul was taking up a collection to help the Christians in the Holy Land who were hit by famine. Famine is not part of God’s plan. It calls for a plan B.

The Corinthians’ abundance is the “stuff” of a plan B. It can be transformed from a gift of God to the Corinthians (plan A) to an act of charity that saves the people in Judea from starvation (plan B). Opportunities to initiate plan B are plentiful. What Paul did we can do likewise.
 

Resistance

God’s grace gives us power to overcome our troubles.

July 5, 2009, 14th Sunday in ordinary time
Ezekiel 2:2-5
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6
 

One certainty in life is that if you introduce something good into a bad situation the first reaction you will encounter is resistance. The television detective Kojak immortalized this principle, quoting Clare Boothe Luce’s saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Actually, our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel exemplified this concept some 2,600 years earlier.

When God sent the prophet Ezekiel to the Israelites, he warned him that he would be facing a people obstinate of heart. So why should he go if he was going to raise opposition? God answers that question: “Whether they heed or resist . . . they shall know that a prophet has been among them.”

There is even a more cogent answer. Although good always meets resistance, the good, if carried through, will always prevail. Paul applies this principle to himself in the second reading. Paul met a lot of opposition in his time from outside the church and from within. He also encountered resistance from within himself. He experienced what he called a “thorn in the flesh.” No one knows for sure what Paul was referring to, but we are fairly certain it was a chronic physical pain. Later he lists in full all the categories of resistance he fought against, including weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints.

With such an intimate knowledge of all kinds of conflict, Paul comes to an inspired conclusion: “My grace is sufficient, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul had prayed to be rid of the problems in his life, seemingly to no avail. Then God told him he already possessed the power to overcome. It is nothing less than God’s grace. Divine grace uses whatever resistance is raging against us to sculpt us into the perfect tool God needs to accomplish his saving work in our world.

We can look to Paul as proof that by God’s grace, weakness can be the means by which power reaches perfection. Or we can look at today’s Gospel. Jesus goes back to his hometown and meets opposition. As is so often true, the people who knew him best offered the most brutal resistance. In that environment, not even Jesus could perform many miracles.

Nevertheless, he persisted. He became ultimately powerless at his crucifixion. There, at Jesus’ weakest moment, his power reached perfection.

WEEKDAY READINGS

Monday, June 22: Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:12-13, 18-20, 22; Matthew 7:1-5
Tuesday, June 23: Genesis 13:2, 5-18; Psalm 15:2-5; Matthew 7:6, 12-14
Wednesday, June 24: Solemnity, the Nativity of John the Baptist, Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66, 80
Thursday, June 25: Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16; Psalm 106:1-5; Matthew 7:21-29
Friday, June 26: Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22; Psalm 128:1-5; Matthew 8:1-4
Saturday, June 27: Genesis 18:1-15; Luke 1:46-50, 53-55; Matthew 8:5-17
Monday, June 29: Solemnity, Peter and Paul, apostles, Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 34:2-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19
Tuesday, June 30: Genesis 19:15-29; Psalm 26:2-3, 9-12; Matthew 8:23-27
Wednesday, July 1: Genesis 21:5, 8-20; Psalm 34:7-8, 10-13; Matthew 8:28-34
Thursday, July 2: Genesis 22:1-19; Psalm 115:1-6, 8-9; Matthew 9:1-8
Friday, July 3: Feast, Thomas, apostle, Ephesians 2:19-22; Psalm 117:1-2; John 20:24-29
Saturday, July 4: Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29; Psalm 135:1-6; Matthew 9:14-17
Monday, July 6: Genesis 28:10-22; Psalm 91:1-4, 14-15; Matthew 9:18-26
Tuesday, July 7: Genesis 32:23-33; Psalm 17:1-3, 6-8, 15; Matthew 9:32-38
Wednesday, July 8: Genesis 41:55-57 and 42:5-7, 17-24; Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; Matthew 10:1-7
Thursday, July 9: Genesis 44:18-21, 23-29 and 45:1-5; Psalm 105:16-21; Matthew 10:7-15
Friday, July 10: Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30; Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40; Matthew 10:16-23
Saturday, July 11: Memorial, Benedict, abbot, Genesis 49:29-32 and 50:15-26; Psalm 105:1-4, 6-7; Matthew 10:24-33

Father Brando is the pastor of St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga.