Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

VATICAN CITY—The world must begin to realize its shared humanity in order to live peacefully, otherwise it risks falling apart in endless conflicts, Pope Francis said.

“Today, there is no time for indifference,” the pope said February 4 at a virtual event commemorating the first International Day of Human Fraternity.

“We cannot wash our hands of it, with distance, with disregard, with contempt. Either we are brothers and sisters or everything falls apart. It is the frontier, the frontier on which we have to build; it is the challenge of our century, it is the challenge of our time,” he said.

The pope was among several world and religious leaders who took part in the February 4 virtual event, which was hosted in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince.

Among those taking part in the online global meeting were Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University, and António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations.

The date chosen for the event marks the day in 2019 that Pope Francis and Sheikh el-Tayeb signed a document on promoting dialogue and “human fraternity” during his apostolic visit to the United Arab Emirates.

The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity was established after the pope’s visit to implement concrete proposals toward fraternity, solidarity and mutual understanding proposed in the document.

The event also included a presentation of the committee’s Zayed Award for Human Fraternity to Guterres and to Moroccan-born Latifa Ibn Ziaten.

Accepting the award, Guterres thanked Sheikh el-Tayeb and Pope Francis for “pushing humankind to come together in unity, in dialogue to promote peace, to promote fraternity, to promote the unity that is necessary to address all the challenges to defeat hate and to make sure that human solidarity wins the battles we are facing.”

Ziaten was honored for her work in France in promoting peace and dialogue to young people who often fall prey to extremist ideology. Ziaten established the Imad Association for Youth and Peace, which she founded after her son, a French soldier, was murdered in 2012 by a Muslim extremist in Toulouse.

Congratulating her for the award, the pope said that despite the pain of losing a child, Ziaten risked her life to “dare to say, ‘We are brothers and sisters’ and to sow words of love.”

“Thank you being the mother of your son, of so many boys and girls; for being a mother of this humanity that is listening to you, learning from you the path of fraternity,” he said.

Thanking the pope and Sheikh el-Tayeb for the award, Ziaten said the recognition “will really help me in my fight, my work today.

“I lost a son, but today I reach out to many children. Today I’m a second mother to many children I saved in detention centers, in homes, in schools so they don’t fall into hatred,” she said.

In his address, the pope began by greeting participants as “sisters and brothers” and affectionately greeted Sheikh el-Tayeb as “my brother, my friend, my companion in challenges and risks in the struggle for fraternity.”

The pope thanked the grand imam “for his company on the path of reflection and the drafting” of the document on human fraternity.

“Your testimony helped me a lot because it was a courageous testimony. I know it was not an easy task. But with you we could do it together and help each other. The most beautiful thing of all is that first desire of fraternity turned into true fraternity. Thank you, brother; thank you,” he said.

The pope also thanked Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salam, secretary-general of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, calling him “l’enfant terrible” of the project, a French expression meaning a successful person who uses unorthodox or innovative methods to achieve their goals.

The pope thanked Salam for his efforts and lauded him as “hard-working, full of ideas” and one “who helped us to move forward.”

Fraternity, he continued, not only means respecting and listening to others “with an open heart,” it also means remaining firm in one’s own convictions; otherwise “there is no true fraternity if one’s own convictions are negotiated.”

“We are brothers and sisters, born of the same father; with different cultures and traditions, but all brothers and sisters. And while respecting our different cultures and traditions, our different citizenships, we must build this fraternity, not negotiate it,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said the International Day of Human Fraternity was a moment of listening, of sincere acceptance and “of certainty that a world without brothers and sisters is a world of enemies.”

“It not only takes a war to make enemies,” the pope said. “It is enough with that technique—it has become a technique—that attitude of looking the other way, of getting rid of the other as if he or she didn’t exist.”

By Junno Arocho Esteves   I   Catholic News Service

BRIDGEPORT—When Alex Soucy and his friend Travis Moran got on the bus for Philadelphia to attend Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in 2015, they never realized it would be the start of a journey that would lead to the creation of an apostolate for young Catholics … at a time when they were leaving the Church.

“We had an unforgettable experience of encountering Christ in one another through our Holy Father’s message and through the grace of that pilgrimage,” Soucy says. “Each of us felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to respond to Pope Francis’ encouragement to be the missionary disciples that all Christians are called to be.”

Soucy is executive director of the Connecticut-based Crossroads 4 Christ, which focuses on developing communities of young adult disciples through weekly meetings that offer fellowship, faith formation, prayer and Eucharistic adoration.

Today, there are chapters around the state, including two in the Diocese of Bridgeport, at St. Pius X Parish in Fairfield and Church of the Holy Spirit in Stamford.

“I’m really happy to have Crossroads for Christ in the area because there is a definite need for young adults to come together, form community, and know they are not alone in their desire to live out the Catholic faith,” said Father Sam Kachuba, pastor of St. Pius X. “We’re fortunate at St. Pius to have space to offer, so C4C can have a home in the Fairfield area. We’re also benefitting because each gathering ends with a holy hour in Eucharistic adoration, and after the first few weeks, the group asked if they could invite the parish to join them. So now we have members of the parish coming for adoration on Tuesday evenings at 8 pm.”

Paola Pena, director of Student Ministries of St. Pius X, said starting a chapter of Crossroads in October was “a response to God’s call to create community out of a personal ache I had for a Christ-centered community.”

“Made painfully aware of this ache during quarantine, I finally responded to the call of the Lord to start a Crossroads chapter after three years of saying no,” she said. “The Lord will always have his way, and he has shown me his plan to give me life through this ministry and not leave me more exhausted. Those who have been attending also carry that ache within, and we’re watching how God is satisfying that ache by bringing us together in fellowship and adoration.”

The chapter recently completed two four-part series on the Eucharist and on prayer and will begin exploring Christ-centered friendship.

“Young adults just want the truth of Jesus Christ,” Paola said. “They don’t want the watered-down version of the faith. Crossroads helps us to learn how to live our lives with Jesus.”

C4C Fairfield meets at St. Pius X on Tuesday at the Faith Center Community Room with fellowship from 7 to 8 pm and with adoration in church sanctuary from 8 to 9 pm. For more information, contact ppena@st-pius.org.

The Church of the Holy Spirit chapter in Stamford meets Wednesdays with fellowship from 7:30 to 8:30 pm followed by adoration from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. For more information, contact c4cstamford@gmail.com.

The chapter was begun three years about by co-leaders Maria and John Midy.

“C4C has enriched our faith in many beautiful ways and has helped to define our vocation to love and to discern our mission as a young married couple,” Maria said. “We live in a busy city with young professionals and career opportunities, but no Catholic young adult groups that meet regularly….We have built a great community of Christ-centered friendships who share struggles and success in life in a hostile environment.”

She said their Crossroads friendships are a gift from God and are especially important when families are far away or not supportive of faith.

“Our model is rooted in Christ’s example of discipleship, so besides our weekly meetings for fellowship, adoration and prayer, we encourage collaboration with other groups or activities that will expand our horizons,” John said. “The Holy Spirit continues to spread the fire of the Gospel through our testimony of life. We trust that God has chosen us to be an instrument of his love for many who don’t know him yet or many who are lonely and have forgotten how great is our Lord.”

Soucy, who has been spreading the C4C message to parishes, left his job as manager of the state director’s office of the Nature Conservancy to work full-time with Crossroads. He attended Corpus Christi elementary and middle school in Wethersfield and then East Catholic High School in Manchester before entering Quinnipiac University, where he studied economics and finance and got a graduate degree in business administration. He is currently enrolled at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, pursuing a master’s in pastoral studies with a concentration in youth and young adult ministry.

“I was fortunate to have a Catholic education, and looking back I see that so many seeds were planted during those years,” he says.

In high school he recalls having a profound encounter with Jesus while on retreat, where he was forced to ask himself the question: “If Jesus is really God, what does that mean for my life?”

He and Travis were friends since high school and were involved in Catholic ministry in college. They went to Mass and adoration and had evening prayer with their faith community on campus and looked for similar opportunities after graduation.

“In Philadelphia, we were inspired by a group from Boston and being with a million other pilgrims,” he recalls. “The experience led us to recognize the true missionary aspect in daily life and the realization that we are being sent out to evangelize and spread the Good News and live lives of sacrificial love in the midst of our families and friends and day-to-day life.”

Travis along with Alex’s wife Jessica and other members came up with the name Crossroads 4 Christ while on a bus ride to the March for Life in January 2016.

“All of us at every moment in our lives are at a crossroads, whether to choose Christ or follow the ways of the world,” he said. “Young adults find themselves at a crossroads in their 20s and 30s, discerning their vocations when they find themselves living on their own for the first time, trying to build friendships and asking the big questions about faith and God and Jesus. So many young people have this hunger in their hearts that there is more and they are just waiting—they’re at the crossroads.”

The “4” represents the four pillars of formation, which are based on Scripture—intellectual, spiritual, relational and human. Each week, chapters explore a different pillar.

In the spring of 2019, several members, including Alex, felt called to leave their jobs and spread the mission. Last May, they held a week-long virtual conference and had 1100 attendees from 46 states and 28 countries. Father Joseph Gill of the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist and Father Sam Kachuba were among the presenters.

“Our mission is to develop communities of young adult missionary disciples,” he said. “Our goal is to lead people to Christ in his Church and to friendship with other faithful Catholics and to help them go out into the world to spread the Good News…There are many things that we hope to achieve, including culture change, an increase in friendship and an increase in formation, but the first thing, and the most important thing, is leading young people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and the pinnacle of that relationship is found in the most holy Eucharist.”

Given the influence of an aggressively secular culture in America, it is more important than ever to give young adults an opportunity to encounter Christ, he says.

“If we could do just one thing in our ministry, it would be to lead young adults to the most Blessed Sacrament.”

Parishes that have C4C chapters can enjoy an additional hour of Eucharistic adoration each week because the group’s holy hour is open to all parishioners.

Alex says his faith was strengthened by his family, which revealed God’s love to him in a very real way.

“When I was growing up, faith was just one of many things,” he recalls. “I was active in sports, played baseball through college and played alto sax in high school. Going to church on Sunday was one of the many things I did, but there were many people who led me to the faith and their witness influenced me.”

Many members of his family had an impact on him, most notably his parents and grandparents, including his “meme,” a French Canadian woman who had been in the convent and later married and had 11 children, three with special needs.

“I saw her throughout her life, caring for 11 children, and into her 80s until she died, she still cared for those with special needs,” he said. “She was living a life of radical love. When I went to Mass with her on Sunday, I could tell that was the highlight of her week. That was the source of the way she lived her life, and it influenced me.”

(Parishes interested in forming a Crossroads 4 Christ chapter can reach out to Soucy at info@crossroadsforchrist.org.)

BRIDGEPORT—As St. John Paul II said of young people, “The Church needs your energies, your enthusiasm, your youthful ideals, in order to make the Gospel of Life penetrate the fabric of society.”

How then will your Parish re-engage our children and teens in programs this fall? Imagine the possibilities of an Autumn 2021 after the vaccine. Finally, a return to some semblance of normalcy; a ‘new norm’ that we, especially our youth desperately seek and need.

Foundations in Faith recognizes that Parishes in the Diocese are currently poised to begin making plans now for Fall Religious Education and Youth Ministry programs.

Faith Formation teams are invited to imagine what the youth programs will look like post pandemic. It will be exciting to see how Parish teams leverage the new technologies that they used during the pandemic and enhance those tools with in-person community fellowship to draw the youth back in.

According to Kelly Weldon, Director of Foundations in Faith, “We have an historical and unique opportunity as we re-emerge and hit the reset button on how we approach our youth. How do we best empower them in their life long journey of encountering Jesus? It is imperative that we take time to ask the youth what they need and how they envision programs that will help them heal as they re-enter into community and actively participate in our Catholic Faith. As St. John Paul II taught us “The Church needs your energies, your enthusiasm, your youthful ideals”.

Foundations in Faith through the St. John Paul II Fund has funding available for Parishes in the Diocese of Bridgeport for Fall Religious Education, Youth Ministry and Faith Formation programs. Applications go LIVE on February 10 and are due April 2. Creativity, youth engagement in planning and innovation are encouraged.

Sign up to receive grant announcements and updates by visiting www.foundationsinfaith.org—Follow us on Instagram—foundationsinfaithbpt. Contact Kelly Weldon at kelly.weldon@foundationsinfaith.org with questions or interest in supporting or volunteering.

On the wall of Andy Knuth’s office is the finger-painting of a cross surrounded by the signatures of seven young students with the words, “Blessed are those who bless others.” Nearby is an eighth grade graduation photo of the same students, who were given a shot at a Catholic education… because of Andy.

Pictured: ANDY KNUTH, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Weston and retired founder and chairman of Westport Asset Management, believes in the mission of Catholic education.

Years later, those same students are in Catholic high school and preparing to go to college because of Andy, a man who believes in the mission of Catholic education and will do what has to be done to give a chance to students who might not otherwise get a chance.

Some are setting their hopes on University of North Carolina, Boston University and Boston College, others on University of Connecticut, Villanova and Quinnipiac.

“I like to think they progressed in their education because they knew I was supporting them and they didn’t have to worry,” says Knuth, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Weston and retired founder and chairman of Westport Asset Management. “I had a firsthand opportunity to see how these kids developed. I buy into Catholic education. If we weren’t supplying scholarships to kids, they couldn’t go to Catholic schools, and that’s very sad. They need it the most…and they appreciate it the most.”

And just as he is committed to providing them an education, they are equally committed to their education because of him.

Maureen Nelson recalls getting up at 5 am to take a bus to downtown Stamford and then transferring to another one that would bring her to St. Cecilia’s School. Coming home, she took a bus to her cousin’s house and then would go to her grandmother’s and wait until her mother’s coworker could pick her up and drive her home.

Today, Maureen, who is a senior at St. Joseph High School, hopes to pursue a career in medicine and has applied to Boston College and of Boston University.

“It would have been easier to go to public school, but my dad wanted my sister and me to go to Catholic school because they went to Catholic school in Haiti, and it meant so much to them,” she says. Knuth’s initiative began in 2007 at the invitation of a friend who is on the bishop’s scholarship committee and believes the best way to save Catholic education is one student at a time.

Knuth agreed to help reopen Sacred Heart School in Stamford, but when that plan faltered, his seven students, who were then first-graders, were transferred to St. Cecilia’s. From that time, he continued to support them every year right into Trinity Catholic High School. After it closed, they went to high school at St. Joseph’s in Trumbull and Notre Dame in Fairfield.

His commitment to Catholic education extends beyond what he has done for these seven students. Knuth also has provided other students with 4-year college scholarships, and others with scholarships to St. Joseph and Notre Dame students, in addition to giving assistance to 20 students at Assumption Catholic School in Fairfield.

“Andy’s continued commitment is a powerful endorsement of the vital work of our Catholic schools and a life-changing gift to their families,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano. “These students strive for excellence; however, they face very real financial hardships. His generous support allows them to stay on the path of transformational Catholic learning, where they can live out Christ’s call to discipleship.”

When he looks back on his involvement with the students, from childhood to their teenage years, Knuth says, “This has been an extraordinary experience for me and for them. If I had to pick out seven great kids, I couldn’t pick out any seven kids who would be better. I’ve worked with them for 13 years, and now to see them as seniors in high school is just remarkable. It has been a great experience for me and a great experience for them. If I was looking for a project to do, I couldn’t have found anything better.”

But his involvement goes beyond the financial because he has a special empathy for the challenges they face, and he sees similarities in his own life.

“My parents were great. We had no money, we had nothing. My mother told me, ‘If you want to get ahead in life you have to go to college,’” he recalls. “And I have been very fortunate in my life.”

Knuth grew up in West Caldwell, New Jersey, and later went to Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and like his students, he was the first person in his extended family to go to college.

His father Andrew dropped out of school after the eighth grade and grew up on a farm with six other kids.

“My father learned how to do mechanical things on the farm, and he became a really great mechanic,” Knuth says.

During the Great Depression, when his father needed a job, his brother came up with a solution: “My uncle Jake was panning for gold in the Snake River in Idaho, and he contacted my father and said, ‘You gotta come out here; there’s gold all over the place.’ So my father drove a rickety old Ford out to Idaho, and the two of them were so successful they bought a front-end loader to help pan for more gold.”

That venture ended, however, after a historic devastating flood hit the river.

Andy says his parents were “the best parents I could ever have.”

“We always had the support of our family, and they did everything they could to save money so I could go to college,” he recalls. “My mother was a telephone operator in those days, and it cost $1,200 to go to college.”

After Dickinson, he went to New York University for his MBA and got started in finance.

“I have been very fortunate in my life, very fortunate,” he says. “I don’t know why God picked me out to be so fortunate, but he did. And the key to my success was an education. The only way I can see to help kids who are in a difficult situation is through education. I see no other way.”

In addition to the scholarships that Andy provides, he and his daughter Jennifer Loya started a program at the Boys and Girls Club of Bridgeport to encourage young people to go to college, and through that initiative, they have sponsored the college educations of seven additional students.

Over the years, the seven Stamford students have met regularly with him, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they held Zoom sessions.

“There was great emotion from the kids when I told them I would pay for college or trade school,” he recalls. “For all of them, it would be the first time anyone in their families went to college. It was emotional for them, and it was emotional for me. At one meeting, a mother came up to me crying and put her arms around me and said, ‘If it wasn’t for you, my daughter wouldn’t be able to go to such a good school.’ That almost got me crying.”

Going to Catholic school was so important for Emilio Montero that to get to St. Cecilia’s he would take several buses across town. Now, a senior at St. Joseph High School, he has applied to colleges in the Boston area, in addition to Columbia and Villanova.

“I want to major in English because I love to write. I love reading and I like magazines like the New Yorker, which give me ideas to write about,” he says.

“I can’t say how grateful I am to Mr. Knuth. He is a really good person who cares about us,” Emilio said. “When my parents first told me about him and the financial aid, I didn’t know what it meant, but later I understood, and I have been praying for him every day since then.”

Ivan Martinez, a senior at St. Joseph’s, wants to be a math teacher and has applied to Boston College and Villanova.

“Because of Mr. Knuth, I have been able to go to Catholic schools. Without his help, I would probably not have the opportunity to go to college,” Ivan said. “Because of him I have been able to stay close to my Catholic faith, and that is very important to me and my family.”

Ivan says that he enjoys the meetings with Andy because it gives him a chance to learn more about his sponsor, and he feels a family bond with him and the other students.

Every time, the students would meet with Andy, Maureen Nelson, now a senior at St. Joseph’s, would sing a song to express how she felt.

“To me, there are no words to describe how amazing it feels that he took the time to care about us and our education,” she says. “The best way I could express it was to sing a religious song that my parents and I picked…and even that wasn’t enough to express the deep and profound gratitude I have for everything he has done. We are always filled with happiness to see him, and it warms our hearts that he is happy to see us. And we always pray for him.”

The first time she sang for Andy was when she was a third-grader. She sang a hymn that she performs in Creole at the Haitian-American Community Center in Stamford. She translated the song into English for Andy and said the words express what she feels:

“I’m only human, I am just a human, make me believe in what I can be and all that I am. Show me the stairway that I have to climb. Lord, for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.”

by Joe Pisani

January 28, 2021 — Bishop Caggiano has issued the following Decree Merging the Parishes of Saint Patrick and Sacred Heart. Use the arrow buttons to page through the document below.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Long before she burst into the public spotlight delivering her inauguration poem, Amanda Gorman got a standing ovation from fellow parishioners of St. Brigid Church in Los Angeles for reciting a poem she wrote about the parish.

And on Jan. 20, at the inauguration ceremony of President Joe Biden, parishioners watching this young woman on their TV screens — addressing political leaders and the nation at large about courageously rebuilding the country — applauded her all the more.

Floy Hawkins, former director of religious education at the parish for over 20 years, said her phone did not stop ringing after the inauguration, with friends asking if she saw, heard or knew about Gorman’s role.

“You see her? Look at that little girl!” fellow parishioners were saying because as Hawkins put it: “We still see her in a very endearing way.”

There also were plenty of Facebook and Instagram posts about this, but Hawkins said her generation doesn’t use social media as much, though they’re fine with texting.

And even though they were thrilled for Gorman, parishioners of the historically Black church didn’t see her performance as a “solo act,” because Gorman has always been at the parish with her twin sister, Gabrielle, and her mom. Hawkins felt that sense of family when cameras followed Gorman joining her mother when she finished her delivery.

St. Brigid’s pastor, Josephite Father Kenneth Keke, also didn’t just see Gorman in that moment but felt she represented the entire parish in South Central Los Angeles — which is predominantly African American but now also has a growing number of Latinos, Filipinos and white parishioners too.

“We are a community; everyone here is important,” the priest said. “Whatever belongs to the parish belongs to everyone; in our parish, the success of anyone is the success of all.”

It’s also the pride of all.

“Parishioners are very much proud of her,” the priest, from Nigeria, told Catholic News Service Jan. 22, adding that he personally knew she would go far. “She is a very, very intelligent young lady. The first time I saw her, I knew that one day she was going to be very important.”

This pride is displayed on the parish website with photos of Gorman and the words: “We celebrate and congratulate Amanda Gorman: 2021 inauguration poet. Youngest in history.” Similarly, the parish Facebook and Instagram accounts posted a single photo of Gorman at the inauguration with the words: “Our very own Amanda Gorman.”

Hawkins recorded that part of the inauguration and plans to watch it again. She told CNS that when she saw Gorman approach the podium and begin speaking, she was “in awe … to see such a young African American female be at such a pinnacle point of the world.” She also said it humbled her “from a spiritual perspective of God’s graces and mercies,” since she knew the national youth poet laureate from Gorman’s middle school days.

As adolescents, Gorman and her sister, went through a two-year training program at the parish and then received the sacraments of baptism, first Communion and confirmation on the same day.

When she graduated from high school to attend Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gorman received a scholarship donation from the parish. The pastor said she always returned to the church when she visited home.

In recent months, he hasn’t seen Gorman, who graduated last year, but he also hasn’t seen many of his parishioners due to coronavirus Mass restrictions.

Hawkins, in her role at the parish which numbered 750 families prior to the pandemic, was impressed by the Gorman sisters from the start, saying they were brilliant intellectually and socially with quiet but confident personalities.

She also remembered Amanda’s speech impairment that caused difficulty in saying certain letters, which the poet has overcome and spoken about. Hawkins once overhead a student asking Amanda why she talked the way she did, and Amanda replied that it was just her East Coast accent.

“I was so happy when I learned she had acknowledged publicly that she had a speech impediment, what a release for her,” Hawkins said.

Gorman, who had been writing and developing her own style since she was a young girl, was named the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles at 16, and it was around that time she wrote the St. Brigid’s poem that she recited at the end of a Mass commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The parish assistant choir director, knowing of Gorman’s work, had asked her to consider doing it.

That Gorman stepped up to the plate, then and now, is something Hawkins admires. When she saw her on the Capitol stage in her yellow coat and red headband, she knew Gorman had taken “ownership of the opportunity.”

“Sometimes people ask you to do something and you say: ‘Oh, I don’t know if I could do it,’” she said.

“I don’t get the sense that was her response when the first lady invited her to speak at the inauguration,” Hawkins added. “I believe she immediately said yes, as we are encouraged to say: ‘Yes Lord.’”

Hawkins prayed for Gorman before the poet introduced herself to the country as the “skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother” who can “dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one.”

But as she listened to the 22-year-old’s strong, clear voice she said to herself: “Glory be to God. … Look what you have done in the world!” And she felt the strong connection too — that the poet’s description of finding light in dark times was something the people of St. Brigid’s knew all too well.

What a time for our Catholic faith and our African American culture, she thought.

She also was pleased that Gorman, named the National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, “didn’t minimize or dismiss” the insurrection at the Capitol just two weeks before but spoke of not losing hope when terrible things happen.

Her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” speaks in part of a country “bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free” and adds: “We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation.”

It ends with the promise of rebirth and reconciliation, saying: “Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful … For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Father Keke said the poem reflected “what we preach here at St. Brigid’s” about liberation and redemption, which he said also is emphasized in the parish’s music and art. Her words on unity had a strong spiritual connection, the priest added.

The parish is planning to celebrate Gorman’s achievement in some small way soon and in a bigger way once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

And the country at large is already celebrating her. Just hours after the inauguration, Gorman’s books jumped to the top of best-seller lists.

“She is definitely a light, an inspiration to us all,” said Hawkins, who said the current buzz around Gorman simply validates who she is and will take her further than she ever imagined. She also has no doubt Gorman will continue to courageously move forward, but not alone.

“She takes God with her,” she said.

By Carol Zimmermann | Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Remembering the Holocaust and its victims is not only an act of solidarity but also serves as a warning to humanity that such horrors could happen again, Pope Francis said.

Before concluding his weekly general audience Jan. 27, the pope marked the observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day by calling on the world to “remember the Shoah” and to “be aware of how this path of death began, this path of extermination, of brutality.”

“To remember also means to be careful because these things can happen again, starting with ideological proposals to save a people and ending up destroying a people and humanity,” he said.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed around the world Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation in 1945 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland.

Operated from 1940 to 1945, Auschwitz was the Nazi’s largest camp and consisted of three parts: Auschwitz I, where many were imprisoned and murdered; the Birkenau extermination camp — also known as Auschwitz II — and Auschwitz III (Auschwitz-Monowitz), an area of auxiliary camps that included several factories.

Beginning in 1942, Auschwitz became the site of the mass extermination of over 1 million Jews, 23,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war and thousands of Polish citizens.

The Nazi’s systematic persecution and genocide led to the deaths of 6 million Jews in Europe.

Commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, the pope said the act of remembering is “an expression of humanity” and “sign of civility.”

Remembering “is a condition for a better future of peace and fraternity,” he said.

Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, issued a similar warning in her statement commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Today, as hateful voices continue to rise, denying or distorting the implacable reality of these facts, we have a universal responsibility to remember each and every individual whom the Nazis sought to erase from the face of the earth,” Azoulay said.

The day, she added, is also time to reflect “upon the choices of the individuals and governments that allowed this genocide to unfold.”

“It is also a call for vigilance and for action, to address the root causes of hatred and prevent future atrocities from happening,” she said.

In Germany, Catholic bishops marked Holocaust Remembrance Day with a call for decisive action against all forms of anti-Semitism.

“The memory of the Holocaust fills me with profound sorrow but also with shame because so many remained silent at the time,” the president of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, wrote on Twitter and Facebook.

He called on all people to join together to courageously oppose “anti-Jewish prejudice, conspiracy myths and every form of hatred in everyday life, at school or among friends.”

The “industrial murder of the Jews” had been at the end of a path “that began with hate speech, conspiracy myths and social exclusion. We must never go down that path again.”

By Junno Arocho Esteves | Catholic News Service

TRUMBULL—On Wednesday evening, January 27, faithful from around the diocese joined together at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Trumbull to pray for vocations in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

During a time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the faithful prayed that young men throughout the diocese would be open to hearing the call that God has placed in their hearts to become the living instrument of His love and mercy that priests are formed to be.

Father Ford, coordinator of the diocesan Vocations Team was the celebrant and homilist for the evening.

“A Vocation is born of the sufferings of many,” said Father Ford, quoting a prayer card which he found amongst his grandparents’ belongings. “Last spring we experienced what it was like for a temporary time to be without the graces of the Sacraments.” He explained that in some places around the world this is a more regular occurrence, because there are no priests.

“The responsibility of fostering vocations belongs to each and every one of us. We need priests in our diocese, we need priests in our Church, and so we gather here tonight in the presence of the Eucharist, brought to us by the hands of a priest,” Father Ford addressed the gathered.

“We ask him to stir up in us the courage to be his instruments,” Father Ford encouraged the gathered to aid in fostering vocations in their daily lives.

“Priests come from families, they come from the parishes in our diocese, our schools…all of the places we find ordinary everyday people…because that’s what priests are,” said Father Ford.

“Many have heard the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and indeed it takes a Church to raise a priest,” Father Ford said before allowing the congregation to pray silently before the Lord.

All necessary social distancing requirements were observed, and masks were mandatory.

(For more information on vocations in the Diocese of Bridgeport email: Vocations@diobpt.org.)

BETHEL—David Mallonee, current chancellor of the Knights of Columbus Pavia Council 48 in Bethel, recently discussed some of the finer operating points of the newly-arrived COVID-19 vaccine with Laura Vasile, director of health services and Shani Burkespecht, EMS services. He and his wife Susan joined brother knights and members of the Bethel community in participating in a weekly town-wide clinic to assist medical professionals in providing COVID-19 vaccinations to those priority groups most in need.

Upon hearing the news of the availability of a start-up program for the long-awaiting vaccinations, volunteers from Pavia Council wasted no time in responding to the call.

As demonstrated throughout 2020, the Pavia Knights have consistently stressed a can-do attitude in overcoming the pain and isolation of COVID-19 by taking baby steps of service to their Church and community in support of the needy, in response to natural disasters, or in assistance to members of their medical community in combating this pandemic.

MONROE— St. John XXIII Council 5987 of the Knights of Columbus will be hosting The Relics of the Passion at St. Jude Parish on Sunday March 7 at 2 pm. The service will take place in the church located at 707 Monroe Tpke., Monroe, Conn. This event offers you time for prayer and meditation as you contemplate the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The collection includes eight rare holy relics that would only be seen in collections generally found in Rome or the Holy Land. Included are:

The relic of the True Cross

A piece of stone from the table or room where the Last Supper was held

A piece of the Column of Flagellation

A piece of the Crown of Thorns

The effigy of the Veil of Veronica (touched to the original veil)

A replica of the holy nail which contains filings taken from the true nails that were imbedded in copies to make relics of a lower class

A piece of bone from St. Longinus, the centurion that pierced the side of Jesus

A thread from the cloth used as the wrapping for the Burial Shroud

“This prayerful and moving event is the perfect addition to your Lenten devotion this year,” shared Father Henry Hoffman, pastor of St. Jude. “The relics are set up across the entire front of St. Jude Church and are most powerful. The afternoon promises to offer you and your families a time for prayer and meditations as you contemplate the Passion of our Lord Jesus.”

Father Hoffman explained that Holy Week begins on March 28, so this opportunity is a great way to prepare and enter into the Holiest Weeks of the Christian calendar. “It is a wonderful moment to share with your family, a teaching moment for your children, or come alone for some quiet time with our Lord.”

“I have participated in this in the past as a reader and I can tell you from personal experience that it touched my heart in a very deep way,” continued Father Hoffman. “After this past year, where so many of us have been hurting from the effects of the COVID-19 virus, why not take our sorrows and burdens and lay them at the feet of Jesus on the cross. I believe that, especially this year, this presentation will have special meaning for all of us.”

“I will be there and I invite all of you to join me,” Father Hoffman said. “Lent is the time to spend some extra time in prayer and contemplating the relics of the Passion is the perfect way to do this. This is a very rare opportunity to view the actual relics of the Passion.”

The service will be videotaped and available for viewing on St. Jude’s website, stjuderc.org, on March 14.

VATICAN CITY—In preparation for the Sunday of the Word of God January 24, the Vatican issued recommendations for the day as well as reminders on respecting the sacred Scriptures.

For example, liturgical books should be high-quality texts and not photocopies, and the ambo is reserved for specific moments in the liturgy and prayer, and should not be used for making commentaries or announcements, said a note from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The note, released December 19, was signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah, congregation prefect, and Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary.

The note was a reminder that the Sunday of the Word of God, instituted by Pope Francis in 2019, is meant to reawaken in the clergy and the faithful “the importance and value of sacred Scripture for the Christian life, as well as the relationship between the word of God and the liturgy,” it said.

Though it is to be held every year on the third Sunday of Ordinary Time, which for 2021 is January 24, “a day devoted to the Bible should not be seen as a yearly event but rather a year-long event, for we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the risen Lord,” it said.

God continues to speak his word “and to break bread in the community of believers,” which is why Catholics need to “develop a closer relationship with sacred Scripture; otherwise, our hearts will remain cold and our eyes shut, inflicted as we are by so many forms of blindness.”

The note offered a few recommendations for the day, such as having the entrance procession with the Book of the Gospels, placing the Book of the Gospels on the altar and promoting the community celebration of Lauds and Vespers.

Much of the note, however, emphasized the importance of rereading and respecting the theological, ritual and pastoral principles surrounding the word of God proclaimed at Mass and other liturgical celebrations.

One should understand that “the books containing the readings from sacred Scripture stir up in those who hear a veneration for the mystery of God speaking to his people. For this reason, we ask that care be taken to ensure that these books are of a high quality and used properly.”

As such, “It is never appropriate to resort to leaflets, photocopies and other pastoral aids as a substitute for liturgical books.”

Because of the importance of the word of God, “the church invites us to pay special attention to the ambo from which it is proclaimed,” the note said.

The ambo is not “a functional piece of furniture, but a place that is in keeping with the dignity of the word of God, in correspondence with the altar,” which is why the ambo is reserved for the readings, the singing of the Responsorial Psalm and the Easter Proclamation.

“The homily and the intentions of the universal prayer can be delivered from it, while it is less appropriate to use it for commentaries, announcements or for directing singing,” it said.

The note also underlined the need to respect the arrangement of the biblical readings indicated in the Lectionary, “without replacing or removing them, and using only versions of the Bible approved for liturgical use.”

The homily should be used to help explain sacred Scripture and particular importance should be given to a period of silence for appropriately meditating on the word, it added.

Those who proclaim the word of God in the assembly, such as priests, deacons and readers, must be sufficiently prepared and familiar with the text to be proclaimed clearly and must avoid “all improvisation. It is possible to preface the readings with appropriate and short introductions,” however.

By Carol Glatz   I   Catholic News Service