i n s i d e

Michael Burbeck Ordained a Transitional

DeaconY e a r o f F a i t h

Diocesan Schools Explore Catholic

Beginnings in North Carolina

W o r d o n f i r e

Evangelizing Through Beauty

hroughout this month, many of us will attend ceremonies for those graduating from high school and colleges/universities.

At such a significant period in their lives, the graduates are seriously discerning their “next step” along the way. I often advise them not to ask the question, “What am I going to do with my life?” Such a question implies that we are the ones in control.

The real questions to ask are, “Lord, what is it that You are asking me to do? What is Your divine plan for me?” Such discernment reflects the genuine spirit of humility: seeking to understand who we are in the sight of God while ever dependent on His divine assistance. When we ask these questions, we must be willing to listen to the Lord, for He will truly speak to our heart. And in saying “yes” to His holy will, we are always filled with joy, peace and confidence. This practice is not merely for graduates or those in a period of serious discernment in life. Every day each of us must be willing to ask the same: “What is it, Lord, that you need me to do this day? How can I be most faithful to that for which you have created me and which you have entrusted to me?” Daily, we must renew our “yes” to what the Lord asks of us and “yes” to where He wishes to lead us. In this month of May, we honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In her response to the announcement of the Archangel Gabriel, in her endurance of the sorrows attendant on the passion and death of her Son, she perfectly taught us what it means to say “yes” to God’s holy will even when it is radically different than what we expected, more challenging than what we could have imagined, and even a bit confusing and startling. However, when we repeat her declaration, “Let it be done to me according to your Word,” we imitate Mary’s trust that “nothing is impossible with God.” In this month of May, we also thank God for the gift of our mothers, living and deceased. How grateful we are to them for their witness and example of saying “yes” to the beautiful vocation God entrusted to them. Many times that “yes” was spoken by them even when it meant incredible sacrifices and heavy crosses. Yet, their deep faith in the Lord’s abiding presence provided the strength and grace they needed. We best honor our mothers in and through our own faithfulness to all the Lord asks of us.

Renewing Our Yes to God’s Holy Will

I extend sincere congratulations and best wishes to all those who will be graduating this month. Go where God leads you. Go where God needs you. Make your first priority the nurturing of your faith and your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. For as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said to a gathering of young people, “If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in faith, you will encounter the source of true happiness and joy...do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ.” Always do so in the sure and certain hope that He will accompany you along the path and provide the grace, wisdom and enlightenment you need. Remember, He also gives you His Mother as your Mother. Stay close to her and imitate her faith and trust in God’s holy will. In this way, you will experience joy, peace and confidence at this exciting moment in your life and always. Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for our graduates, our mothers and all those we love and serve!

In this month of May, we honor

Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She

perfectly taught us what it means to

say “yes” to God’s holy will even

when it is radically different than what we expected, more

challenging than what we could have imagined, and even a bit confusing and

startling.

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NC Catholics 2 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org Liturgical Calendar: St. Joseph the Worker May 1 | St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church

f r o m t h e b i s h o p

NC Catholics 2 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

el hispano Católico

20 Papa Benedicto XVI: Pastor, Educador, Pontífice

Obispo Burbidge

22 Renovar nuestro sí a la santa voluntad de Dios

Año de la Fe

23 Escuelas Dioc-esanas Exploran Principios Católicos en Carolina del Norte

nuestra catedral

24 Éxito en Santa Ana

insidethis issue

From the Bishop2 Renewing Our Yes

to God’s Holy Will – Bishop Michael F. Burbidge

Voices in our Church12 Together

in Our Heritage – Father Marcos Leon

12 “Francisco: Ve y Repara Mi Iglesia” – Padre Carlos N. Arce

From the Editor 13 Around the Diocese

Year of Faith 14 Diocesan Schools Explore

Catholic Beginnings in North Carolina

Word on Fire 15 Evangelizing Through

Beauty – Father Robert Barron

One Faith One People 16 Success at St. Ann

Bishop’s Annual Appeal 17 The Bishop’s Annual

Appeal Helps Foster Vocations

Parish Ministry Profile30 Handmaids of the Blessed

Sacrament – St. Catherine of Siena, Wake Forest

Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge

PUBLISHER

Frank MorockDIRECtOR OF COMMUNICAtIONS

May 2013 • Vol. 10 : Issue 5

Richard ReeceEDItOR IN CHIEF

Anjanette WileyADVERtISING MANAGER

Bishop Michael F. BurbidgeFather Carlos Arce

Frank MorockFather Marcos Leon

Kate Turgeon WatsonAnjanette Wiley

CONtRIBUtING WRItERS

Paul TomasCONtRIBUtING PHOtOGRAPHERS

Lettie BandatRANSLAtOR

Patrick M. O’BrienPRESIDENt/CHIEF EXECUtIVE OFFICER

Elizabeth SolsburgDIRECtOR OF CUStOM PUBLISHING/

EDItORIAL DIRECtOR

Patrick DallyARt DIRECtOR

InnerWorkingsPRINt MANAGEMENt

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St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church May 2 | Ss. Philip and James, apostles May 3 | Sixth Sunday of Easter May 5 | Ascension of the Lord May 9 | St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i, priest May 10

t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s

e l h i s p a n o C a t ó l i c o

Michael Burbeck Ordained a transitional Deacon

On Saturday, April 6, in a solemn ceremony at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh, seminarians Michael J. Burbeck was ordained to the Transitional Diaconate, the penultimate step on the way to his ordination, hopefully, to the Priesthood in 2014. Referring to his vocation, Deacon Burbeck recently wrote, “Certainly pursuing this calling has not always been easy, yet I have found in it more of an adventure and more joy than I ever would have found following my own way.” In his homily at the ordi-nation, the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge spoke directly to the deacon-to-be: “To be on fire with the Lord and His Gospel,” he said, “you must be close to the fire, the One who is the Light of the World. You must strive, like Peter and John in our First Reading, to be known by others as a faithful companion of Jesus. Thus, above all else, you are to be a man of prayer. “Together,” he concluded, “we ask Our Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary and all the angels and saints, to grant you His amazing grace, so that you will bow in humble service and wash the feet of oth-ers; so that you will preach the one true glory, Christ Crucified, and through the faithful witness of your life proclaim each and every day The Light of Christ, the Risen Lord who lives and reigns forever and ever.” Photos by Paul Tomas.

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Seventh Sunday of Easter May 12 | Our Lady of Fatima May 13NC Catholics 4 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

May 13 | St. Matthias, apostle May 14 | St. Isidore May 15 | St. John I, pope and martyr May 18 | Pentecost Sunday May 19 | St. Bernardine of Siena, priest May 20

Paul Nicholas Cottrill

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Death of Father Robert F. Shea

The Rev-erend Robert F. Shea, 85, died Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Southern Pines, NC. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on June 14, 1927, to the late John F. Shea and Ce-cile Marie Grondin. Father Shea was also preceded in death by his two siblings, Edward Shea and Theresa Cerilli. Father Shea was ordained a Catholic Priest for the Diocese of Raleigh at Sacred Heart Cathedral by the Most Reverend Vincent S. Waters on May 19, 1955. During his priestly life, Father Shea served in many parishes throughout North Carolina, when the Diocese of Raleigh comprised the entire State. His assignments to priestly ministry included the following: the Missionary Apostolate at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Newton Grove; Saint Mary, Goldsboro; Saint Ann, Smithfield; Saint John the Baptist, Tryon; Our Lady of Lourdes, Monroe; Holy Rosary, Lexington; Saint Francis of Assisi, Lenoir; Holy Trinity and Our Lady of Atonement, Kinston; Immacu-late Conception, Durham; Saint Mary, Wilmington; Saint Luke the Evangelist, Raleigh; and Saint John the Baptist, Roanoke Rapids, from where he retired in the year 2000. Following retirement, Father Shea continued to generously serve many parishes in priestly ministry, including Saint Anthony of Padua, Southern Pines; Sacred Heart, Pinehurst; as well as the community at Saint Joseph of the Pines. Fr. Shea’s Funeral Mass was cel-ebrated on April 4 at Saint Anthony Catholic Church, with the Most Rever-end Michael F. Burbidge, Principal Cel-ebrant, the Reverend Joseph G. Vetter, Homilist, and Diocesan and Religious Priests as Concelebrants for the Mass. Interment followed at Saint Anthony of Padua Cemetery. Thomas Sean Duggan Ryan William Elder

NC Catholics 6 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org St. Christopher Magallanes, priest and companions, martyrs, May 21 | St. Rita of Cascia, religious NC Catholics 6 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

11th Annual Ignited by truth Attracts 2,000

he 11th Annual Ignited by Truth Catholic Conference convened April 12-13, 2013, at the North Carolina State Fair-

grounds in Raleigh. Including scores of walk-ins on Saturday, some 2,000 people attended the Conference. The purpose of the annual conference is “Bringing to light the truth of the teachings of the Catholic Church and igniting in our hearts a love for our Faith.”

The Keynote Speaker for this year’s conference was Dr. Scott Hahn. He is the author or editor of over forty books, including best-selling titles like Rome Sweet Home and The Lamb’s Supper. He is the editor of the academic peri-odical, Letter & Spirit: A Journal of Catholic Biblical Theol-ogy, and co-editor of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Among the other speakers were Michael Barber, Ph.D., and Lila Rose. Michael Barber was thirteen when, after listening to a couple of taped lectures by Dr. Scott Hahn, he told his father he wanted to get his Ph.D. in Theology and become a professor. Dr. Barber is now a Research Fellow for the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, founded by Dr. Scott Hahn, and is Professor of Theology, Scripture and Catholic Thought at John Paul the Great Catholic University. Lila Rose, a recent UCLA graduate, has dedicated herself to building a culture of life and ending abortion. At age fifteen, Lila founded Live Action, a pro-life nonprofit which specializes in investigative journalism, media and youth education. Live Action works to expose abuses in the abortion industry and advocate for human rights for the pre-born, using new media to educate and mobilize both local and national audiences. Live Action also hosts the leading social media presence for the pro-life movement. Lila currently serves as President. In addition to the main presentations, the conference offered breakout sessions for youth and Spanish speakers, a chapel for Eucharistic Adoration and ongoing celebration

Death of Sister Irene Regina, IHM

Sister Irene Regina, IHM, formerly Irene McConnell, died on March 25 after a brief illness at the age of 76. Born in Philadelphia, Sister entered the IHM Congregation in 1954

and professed her first vows in 1957. She taught in elemen-tary schools in Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia and North Car-olina, where she taught 8th grade at Sacred Heart Cathedral School in Raleigh from 1987 to 1992. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at Camilla Hall, Immaculata, PA, on April 2.

of the Sacrament of Penance. The conference concluded on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. with Mass celebrated by the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge. In his homily, Bishop Burbidge noted, “This year’s Ignited by Truth Conference is held as we continue our celebra-tion of the Year of Faith. You have come here today to be strengthened in Word and Sacrament and to grow in the knowledge of your faith. You have listened to wonderful speakers and have been enlightened. You have purchased books and materials that will assist you. All of this will help you in sharing your faith with others. “However,” the Bishop concluded, “above all else, you real-ize that the most effective way of bringing that faith to others is to let them the see the joy that is yours in your encounter with the Risen Lord and in the following of His Gospel.”

Dr. Scott Hahn was the Conference’s Keynote Speaker.

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St. Rita of Cascia, religious May 22 | St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, virgin May 25 | Most Holy Trinity May 26 | St. Augustine of Canterbury, bishop May 27 | Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary May 31

Sisters Retiring After three Decades at Avila Retreat Center

They weren’t raised in the same family, or even the same town. And the two religious sisters aren’t part of the same religious order. But, make no mistake; they are sisters to each other. For three decades Sr. Damian Jack-son and Sr. Carol Ann May (known as Sr. Cam) have led the Avila Retreat Center in Durham. Inside a spacious meeting room at Avila, the pair sits in white rocking chairs. Quietly, Sr. Damian invites Sr. Cam to scoot her chair in a little closer to the conversa-tion. Outside the windows, birds chirp and a lawnmower hums. The two have a shared history, each woman seeing the other through the loss of both of her parents. Together they have cleaned rooms, tended gar-dens and managed Avila. They’ve sat down to thousands of meals together. Each knows the other’s stories and personality type, and can laugh about it. “We’re like this,” said Sr. Damian, holding her hands up on opposite sides

of her body. “And it works beautifully.” Sr. Damian, who belongs to the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, was raised in Baltimore and dabbles in nature photography. A member of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Sr. Cam was raised in Philadelphia and has a penchant for music, including her autoharp and q-cord instrument. This summer they’ll start a new journey. At 82, Sr. Damian, Avila’s director, will retire at the end of June. And Sr. Cam, assistant director, 63, will leave Avila on medical retirement; she’s in the initial stages of Alzheimer’s, a condition she speaks about freely. Before they took on their roles at Avila, they actually met on a retreat. “I was on silence,” said Sr. Damian about the type of retreat. “But she talked to me.” They have been talking ever since – to each other, to their staff (whom they call ministers of hospitality), to the volunteers and guests of Avila. Their priority has always been for the retreat center to be a home of hospi-tality and healing. Each woman has a favorite place on

Avila’s 51-acre campus. For Sr. Cam, it’s the lower back lawn’s labyrinth, a path to be walked as spiritual medita-tion. “The prayer circle is one of the best mediums to get people to center themselves … because they are mov-ing, but at a much slower pace,” said Sr. Cam. “Walking in those circles, you’re aware.” Sr. Damian’s favorite spot is the meditation chapel, where she likes to sit on her pillow and pray. On a ledge in the chapel are long, green vines from a plant that belonged to her mother. If asked about memories, they can rattle off a list. Quickly completing each other’s sentences and often filling in the gaps of who, when and where. There were beloved traditions, such as an annual crab fest where Sr. Damian, Sr. Cam and Bishop Joseph Gossman would serve steamed crabs to volun-teers and staff. Then there were the people they remember - the NBA play-er who volunteered to clean the ceiling, the Duke brain surgeon who dried the dishes and the Sister artist who painted and prayed in the hermitage (a small, one-room house for total solitude). And there were 18 years of 8th grade students from Our Lady of Lourdes School in Raleigh who, over time, lined more than a mile of path with stones. For the Sisters, three decades of ministry yield plenty of memories. And for those they served on retreat, the time has meant a deeper connection to Christ. “I have always benefited greatly from my visits to Avila and will be forever grateful to Sister Damian and Sister Cam for the gift they have been to the Diocese of Raleigh,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge. “They’ve provided a sacred place and welcom-ing atmosphere … they’ve opened the doors to the priests, religious and lay faithful throughout the Diocese as well as to people of all faith groups.” Reflecting on a career that started with teaching and evolved into direct-ing a retreat center, Sr. Damian feels the presence of the Lord. “Everything is inspiration of the Spirit,” she said. “Avila is a simple place, but it’s simply beautiful.”

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Diocesan Group Prepares for World Youth Day in Rio

This summer 22 young adults from the Diocese of Raleigh will join three million from throughout the world. The destination: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The occasion: World Youth Day. The reason: a pilgrimage. “This is not a tourist trip,” grinned Kath-erine Angulo, director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese. “It’s a pilgrimage … a gift of the Catholic Church and one of our traditions. Everyone is going to take one little carry-on suitcase and survive in a very humble way.” World Youth Day is six days of catechesis, celebration and prayer. It’s a combination of small-group events, such as thought sharing, and large-scale events, such as Stations of the Cross. Two of the most anticipated happenings are the Papal Welcome Ceremony and the Vigil of Youth with the Pope. The presence of newly elected Pope Francis in Brazil – the world’s largest Catholic country – is a much-awaited occasion

given that he’s from Argentina, which borders Brazil. “There’s going to be a lot of blue and white everywhere … the Argentina flag. So get ready for it,” said Ms. Angulo, who traveled to Rio in January to see the accommodations and visit the WYD office. “I’m very excited that our par-ticipants are going to be the first World Youth Day eyes and ears connecting with this Pope. It’s always, for me, a priority to help the youth and young adults under-stand the concept of universal Church and how beautiful that is.” Ms. Angulo isn’t alone in her excite-ment. Caryn Walsh, youth minister at St. Mark in Wilmington, is attending WYD for the first time. She’s looking forward to seeing the Pope and taking courses from theologians. She hopes the experience will deepen her faith so she can come home to Wilmington and inspire the youth she works with to connect more deeply to their faith. “I’m trying to embrace it all,” explained Mrs. Walsh, who said she’ll learn to live without certain comforts of home such as

her hair straightener and traditional food. The solution, she says, will be wearing ponytails and trying new dishes. Learning to offer it all up to Christ is advice she received from her husband John, who at-tended WYD in Sydney, Australia in 2008. Pope John Paul II announced the commencement of WYD in 1985. The first one was held at a Diocesan level in Rome in 1986. Since then WYD has grown to a global event occurring every two to three years. It’s been celebrated in countries throughout the world, including Poland, the United States, the Philippines, France and Germany. Participants must be at least 16 years old to attend. Each WYD has a theme. This year’s theme, which was chosen in 2011 by then Pope Benedict XVI, is “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Kellie Cook, a parishioner at St. Raphael the Archangel in Raleigh, attended WYD 2008 in Sydney and WYD 2011 in Madrid, Spain.

She’s making her third WYD pilgrimage this summer. “Everybody’s journey is so unique. Even among a crowd of millions, I’m one … able to obtain what God has in store,” said Ms. Cook. “A pilgrimage is about the ups and downs. I’m excited to see what Rio will bring.” For the 22 pilgrims from the Dio-cese, there are a few activities already planned, including a 12-mile walk to the Vigil Mass. The group will stay in a hotel across from Copacabana Beach and it will be wintertime in Brazil, so they can expect temperatures around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Those at home in the Diocese may follow the pilgrims via social media, news stories and blogs. “Many pilgrims have been sponsored by parishes or deaner-ies and their responsibility is to tell the story,” said Ms. Angulo. “I hope among all of us we’re able to have a beautiful map of the journey for everybody … we are the legs and hands and the ones car-rying the water bottles, but everybody in this Diocese will have the experience to see the journey.”

Diocesan Youth Ministry Director Katherine Angulo (center, striped shirt) traveled to Rio de Janeiro in January to familiarize herself with the accommodations and other logistics of the pilgrimage. She stands here with other pilgrimage leaders in front of the famous

statue of Jesus that overlooks the city.

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Joseph Hughes Receives 2012-2013 Lewis Award

At a special Mass on April 24, 2013, at St. Peter Church in Greenville, the 2012-2013 Msgr. Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching was presented to Joseph “Joe” Hughes, 6th – 8th Grade Social Studies

teacher at St. Peter School. The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge celebrated the Mass, with Msgr. Lewis as homilist and concelebrant. Also concelebrating were Fr. Justin Kerber, C.P., Pastor of St. Pe-ter, and St. Peter’s Parochial Vicar Fr. Edward Wolanski, C.P. Mr. Hughes has been teaching at St. Peter’s for twenty-three of his twenty-five years of teaching. According to Dr. Joseph Nelson, Principal of St. Peter School, “Mr. Hughes appears to have come into the teaching profession by divine intervention.” Joe Hughes was working in the con-struction industry in 1990 when he came to the attention of Brother Robert LaFave, O.S.F., who was Principal of St. Peter’s at the time. Brother Robert recognized Mr. Hughes’

talent at relating to students as well as his scholarly interest, especially in History. Over the years, Mr. Hughes’ classes have amassed a large wall of First, Second and Third place award plaques from their participation in local, state and national History Days competitions. Mr. Hughes attended St. John Vianney Preparatory Seminary, Costal Carolina Community College and gradu-ated with a BA in History and philosophy from St. Joseph Seminary College. Before joining the faculty of St. Peter in 1990, Mr. Hughes was a graduate assistant at East Carolina University; taught Religion and PE at St. Pius X Catholic School in Greensboro, NC; and has taught at Pitt Community College in Greenville, NC. Mr. Hughes resides in Greenville with his wife, Elaine. They are the parents of a son, Joseph, Jr., who is a student at East Carolina University in Greenville. In his homily, Msgr. Lewis spoke of the necessity of includ-ing God in a “complete” view of the world and a complete life. Catholic schools and teachers like Mr. Hughes provide that crucial component to education, Msgr. Lewis said, while excelling at teaching the sciences, arts and humanities. In accepting the award, Mr. Hughes said that family and faith were the most important gifts he had been given in life. He praised his colleagues and the administration of the school, and thanked the students: “Because of you,” he said, “I have the best life I could possibly imagine.”

Mr. Joseph Hughes accepts the 2012-2013 Lewis Award at a special Mass at St. Peter

Church in Greenville.

Catholic Charities Holds Annual Gala

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh held its Third Annual Celebrate God’s Gifts Gala Saturday, April 27, 2013, at the Marriott Hotel in Raleigh. The event, hosted by the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, drew more than 300 people. The Gala serves as an annual fundraiser for the Diocesan agency. The highlight of the event is the presentation of the Bishop F. Joseph Gossman Community Service Award, named in honor of Bishop Emeritus Gossman. The 2013 Award recipients are Ron and Jeanette Doggett, longtime benefactors of numerous charitable causes. They include support of such organizations as Catholic Parish Outreach, Habitat for Humanity, and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Due to their commitment and support of the Diocese, North Carolina State University Campus Ministry is named in their honor. In a tribute video to the Doggetts, Mr. Peter Werbicki, President/CEO of Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, noted how his agency was providing some five million pounds of food each year to the counties it serves. With the help of Ron Doggett, who assumed a leadership role in a Food Bank campaign, the agency now provides fifty million pounds of food each year. Former Governor Jim Hunt, also commenting in the video, commended Mr. and Mrs. Doggett for their con-

cern for those in need. “We don’t have two finer citizens in North Carolina,” the Governor said. “They are wonderful leaders, because they are wonderful people. It’s one of the great joys of my life to be their friend.” Bishop Burbidge spoke of how special Ron and Jeanette were to Bishop Gossman and now to him. “You are special to the Diocese of Raleigh, your family, and all those who know you and all who love you,” the Bishop said. “You are a source of inspiration to us and you will always have our affection and prayers.” At the end of the event, Bishop Burbidge announced to those in attendance the appointment of Mr. Gary Skinner as the new Executive Director of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Raleigh.

Bishop Burbidge presents the F. Joseph Gossman Award to Jeanette and Ron Doggett at the Catholic Charities Gala.

NC Catholics 10 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

Diocese Offers Special Needs Interactive Workshop

The Diocesan Department of Catholic Formation and Evangelization is offering a workshop to catechists titled “Special Needs IN Catechesis: Encountering Christ in All Learners.” This interactive workshop will address the “why” and “how to” of catechesis for learners with disabilities. There will be a focus on autism spec-trum disorders, ADHD and intellectual and developmental disabilities. The workshop will target children and teens with disabilities. However, strategies could be applied to include adults in the life of the parish.

Anne Masters, M.A., who is the Direc-tor of Pastoral Ministry with Persons with Disabilities in the Archdiocese of Newark, President of the Religion and Spirituality division of the AAIDD, and board member of The New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Ministries, will facilitate the workshop.

topics to be included are:

• Pastoral sensitivity to the needs of families

• How learning is impacted by various disabilities

• Strategies for behavioral and commu-nicative supports

• How to make and adapt materials and new resources

“We want to continue to offer par-ishes resources to help as many people as possible to understand the teachings of our faith as far as their abilities allow,” said Mrs. Di Sano. “We want children and adults requiring specialized instruc-tion to have access to the sacraments, because each person is created by God and therefore part of one human family.” The workshop is June 14, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes, Raleigh. Complimentary lunch will be provided. There is no charge for this event, however pre-registration is required by June 7. For more information, contact Mary DiSano (919)821.9710 or email: mary.disano@raldioc.org

Gary Skinner to Head Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh

The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge has an-nounced the appointment of Mr. Gary Skinner as executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh. Mr. Skinner was selected following a national search in which 19 candidates were seriously evaluated. The Catholic Charities Board of Directors unani-mously recommended Mr. Skinner, who takes on the

executive director role formerly held by Kathleen Walsh, who retired last year. Mr. Skinner previously served as assistant director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh for 12 years. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Skinner holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Centre College in Kentucky and a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with extensive experience in the mental health field prior to his employment by Catholic Charities. He lives in Wake Forest with his wife Ann and daughters Genevieve, 10, and Claire, 5. They attend Sacred Heart Cathedral. During his 12 years as assistant director, Mr. Skinner led the effort to develop a data system to accurately record services and track results of services. He has also coordi-nated the mental health services of Catholic Charities.

Mr. Skinner has chaired key staff committees within Catholic Charities in the past year to develop the agency’s plan on how to reduce poverty in N.C. through collabora-tions with other charitable entities, and has been in charge of grant writing for the agency and worked with regional directors on all grants written by Catholic Charities. Mr. Skinner said he’s looking forward to continuing the leadership Miss Walsh provided for 23 years. His new role includes defining, refining and prioritizing aspects of Catholic Charities, while also increasing the organization’s visibility. “If people know who we are, who we serve and what we do, they’re more likely to partner with us in many different ways,” said Mr. Skinner. Another goal, he said, is to increase the presence of parish-level social ministry. This would include implement-ing programs such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (a national organization) at Diocesan parishes. Currently three parishes in the Diocese operate a St. Vincent de Paul group. “Enabling the Diocese to respond to the next natural disaster is important, too,” said Mr. Skinner. “To be able to do that there needs to be proactive planning. It’s our job to help parishes and communities plan.” The goal of reducing poverty in eastern North Carolina remains constant for Mr. Skinner and Catholic Charities, which oversees eight regional offices. Annually the agency serves more than 70,000 people in need of services such as counseling, emergency assistance, access to health-care, disaster response and lawful immigration status. “This appointment reflects recognition of Gary’s dedi-cated service throughout the years, his numerous admin-istrative abilities and leadership skills and his great desire to serve the Lord, His Church and His people, especially those in most need,” said Bishop Burbidge. “I am confi-dent that Gary will inspire the staff, volunteers and all those associated with Catholic Charities at this exciting time in the life of our Diocese.”

Gary Skinner

an Francisco de Asís recibió este mensaje del Señor mientras oraba ante el crucifijo de San Damián. Inmediatamente comenzó a reparar los templos, hasta que comprendió que Dios se refería a los bautizados. El vivía en una sociedad

profundamente dividida por clases económicas, sociales, religiones, guerras, privilegios, etc. Asi fue que empezó a transformar la Iglesia al hacer opciones radicales de vida. San Francisco optó por lo pobres, por la paz, la fraternidad, la sencillez, la ecología, el servicio a los demás, la evangeli-zación, la oración, la cercanía, etc. En pocas palabras, nos mostró una nueva manera de ser Iglesia, que no es más que volver a los propios orígenes.

Nuestro Santo Padre escogió el nombre de Francisco precisa-mente para realizar la misión que ahora le encomienda el Señor. El Papa Francisco sabe que nuestra Iglesia necesita de transfor-maciones radicales y muy profundas para enfrentar los grandes desafíos actuales. Ha

comenzado con una serie de gestos, actitudes y palabras proféticas renunciando a privilegios, acercándose a los pobres, saliendo de las propias seguridades, rompiendo protocolos, lanzándose a la misión, liberándose de ataduras, optando por la sencillez, la ternura, la espontaneidad. Él ha traído esperanza viviendo la frescura del evangelio en el seno de una sociedad necesitada de vida. Con sus elocuen-tes acciones ha comenzado a cuestionar la vieja forma de vivir y a mostrar que en la Iglesia es necesario priorizar la misericordia. Nos invita a ser pastores “con olor a oveja”, a no limitarnos a administrar el trabajo parroquial que nos atrofia y enmohece, a renunciar a una Iglesia autorrefer-encial que nos pone paranoicos y autistas, a confiar en la desproporción de Dios. Al igual que a San Francisco y al Papa, también a no-sotros nos invita el Señor a “reparar su Iglesia”. Reparamos su Iglesia cuando transformamos nuestras devociones en auténticos cambios de vida, cuando nos lanzamos a la misión en busca de los alejados, cuando renovamos nuestra pastoral priorizando a la persona en lugar de lo legal, cu-ando enfrentamos con ternura y vigor evangélicos los retos actuales. Hermano(a): “Ve y repara la Iglesia del Señor”. – Padre Carlos N. Arce, Vicario para los Hispanos

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. (John, 17:21) For the past few years the African communities

in our Diocese (Igbo, Swahili and French-speaking) have come together and celebrated the Eucharist in the various languages with our Bishop. These African communities represent more than twenty countries on their continent of Africa. This gathering celebrated the unity of our faith in one baptism, and the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic faith we share.

Following the suggestion of Bishop Burbidge, in 2012 the English-speaking community was included in the celebration, as well as all of our AAMEN chapters. Reflecting on the pastoral letter articulating the vision of Bishop Vincent S. Waters’, we all gather in one place under the guidance of the Holy Spirit just as at the first Pentecost, and through our

Shepherd give thanks and praise to the Almighty God for bringing us together in this place which we now call home. The African Heritage Mass has become very popular not only within our Diocese of Raleigh; but we are beginning to draw friends and family from across the nation to our celebration. This year, we will gather on Sunday, November 24 at Our Lady of Lourdes. This liturgy will be the closing liturgy for our Diocesan celebration of the Year of Faith, and an opportunity to express gratitude to God for the vision of Bishop Waters. In this month of May, dedicated to our Blessed Mother, African Ancestry Catholics may reflect especially on her apparition in Kibeho, Rwanda (1982). I think also of Our Mother of Africa, in her chapel in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There, holding the Christ Child, she looks down upon us and her Divine Son gestures toward the bas-relief on the chapel wall, spanning the experience of Africans in America from slavery to emancipation. May the celebration of Pentecost, through the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, continue illuminating us to be faithful to our Church and her teachings. – Father Marcos Leon, Vicar for African Ancestry Catholics

SI“Francisco: Ve y Repara Mi Iglesia”

together in Our Heritage

V o i c e s i n o u r c h u r c h

p a s t o r ’ s p e r s p e c t i v e l a n a t u r a l e z a d e n u e s t r a f e

NC Catholics 12 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

n April, Raleigh’s Madonna House celebrated its 35th anniversary. Madonna House is an apostolate founded in Canada in 1947 by Catherine DeHueck Doherty in Can-ada in 1947. Its members are lay men and women and priests dedicated to loving and serving Christ through

promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience. At the request of local Bishops, they serve throughout the world in missionary field houses such as the one in Raleigh.

The women of Madonna House – Theresa Davis, Echo Lewis and JoAnne DeGidio – pray together and separately, liturgically and contemplatively. In addition, they are a house of hospitality where lay Catholics come each day to pray and to talk and to seek prayers for their intentions. The-resa refers to this aspect of their service as a “chitchat apostolate.” “Our foundress said the most effective apostolate is the chit-

chat,” she says. “A lot of things take place over a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies. It’s so simple, yet people may end up talking about the deepest things in their hearts.”

This year Echo, after ten years of writing and research, has pub-lished a biography of Catherine Doherty titled Victorious Exile: The Unexpected Destiny of Katya Kolyschine (Madonna House Pub-lications, www.madonnahouse.org/publications). One reviewer has written, “Among the biographies of Catherine DeHueck Doherty, Echo Lewis’ Katya is a shining star, giving us the heart of one of the extraordinary lay apostles of our times.” I’m reading Victorious Exile as this issue of NC Catholics goes to print, and finding it a beautiful story of a truly beautiful person.

A beautiful experience for me was seeing how God’s love obvi-ously touched the hearts of some 200 people who prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 7, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Southern Pines. Bishop Burbidge participated and Msgr. Jeffrey Ingham presided. The event was the culmination of a novena that began on Good Friday. The Chaplet is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades, and offered in atonement for sins.

A couple of weeks after that Sunday, I was visiting St. Cath-erine of Siena Church in Wake Forest, to learn about a spe-cial parish ministry there (See page 30.) While I was there, St. Catherine’s pastor, Fr. Philip Tighe, gave me a tour of the parish’s magnificent new church building, now under construction. It was my first look at the structure, and I told Fr. Tighe it was “pretty amazing.” “It’s pretty,” he replied with a smile, “but it’s just a building. It’s God who’s amazing.” – Rich Reece is editor of NC Catholics

Around the Diocese

I

f r o m t h e e d i t o r

Catholic Center to Move this Month

The Catholic Center, which houses the administra-tive offices of the Diocese of Raleigh, will be moving to a new location in early 2013. The Diocese has purchased a three-story building, located at 7200 Stonehenge Drive in Raleigh, on the corner of Stonehenge Drive and Creedmoor Road. It is located three miles from the I-440 beltline and one mile from the I-540 beltline. Built in 1987, the new facility will replace the cur-rent Catholic Center, located on the Nazareth property, originally purchased by Fr. Thomas F. Price in 1897, and now designated as the site for the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Campus. The present building was constructed in 1965 as an orphanage to replace the old orphanage on the land. In 1977, the orphanage closed and the building was modified to serve as the Diocesan administrative building. Even with periodic repairs, the current Center is in poor condition and would require extensive cost to renovate, while still lacking adequate space for staff. For those reasons, the purchase or con-struction of a new administrative building had been in the planning stages for a number of years when discussions for a move began when Bishop F. Joseph Gossman served as Bishop of Raleigh. The Stonehenge Drive building has approximately 42,000 usable square feet. It will allow the Tribunal, Pro-Life Office and the Office of Divine Worship, currently located at three different sites, to be in the same building as the rest of the Catholic Center staff. The building was purchased after thorough review and investigation of the condition of the Stonehenge Drive facilities and systems and upon the unanimous recommendation of the Diocesan Finance Council. The building was purchased from unrestricted reserves at the Diocese which accumulated over time from unrestricted gifts and estate proceeds and also as year-end operat-ing budget surpluses which occurred over many years. The purchase price was at a cost well below the costs of new construction and also well below the appraised value from 2008. No funds from the Cathedral Campus Campaign were used in the purchase of the building. The planned move is scheduled for mid-May.

Y e a r o f F a i t h

Diocesan Schools Explore Catholic Beginnings in North Carolina

uring the Year of Faith, in Catholic school classrooms across the Diocese, students are learning about the history of their parishes and the Diocese of Raleigh. Classroom activities from quizzes to plays to field trips are ad-dressing the special focus of Pillar II in the Year of Faith Resource Booklet :

History of the Diocese.

“Every person in the Diocese should know when and how, through God’s grace, our Diocese was founded,” said Sr. Rose Marie Adams, Executive Director of Catholic Formation and Evangelization. Teachers and catechists have found various and creative ways to teach parish and Diocesan history:

Sacred Heart Cathedral School, Raleigh held a Faith Quiz Bowl. Blue vs Gold teams made up of students from kindergar-ten through 8th grade answered questions related to Diocesan history and their religion curriculum. Some sample questions:

Q: How many Bishops have served in the Diocese of Raleigh?

A: 5

Q: Which city is not in the Diocese of Raleigh? • Greenville • Greensboro • Kitty Hawk

A: Greensboro

Sixth graders at St. Paul Catholic School, New Bern per-formed a play weaving together scenes from parish and Diocesan history. The supplemented the presentation with a Powerpoint depicting important people and places. From the play:

“ST. PAUL HISTORY,” SCENE 12: “St. Paul’s Church has begun…time passes; by 1850 there are 30 souls in the parish, mostly converts. There was another Catholic presence in New Bern during this time. Seven Sisters of Mercy of New York and a chaplain were sent to care for wounded soldiers in Beaufort and in 1862 ended up in New Bern caring for the wounded and sick. They were housed in the John Wright-Stanley House. By the time the War was over, 16 sisters had served in New Bern. In 1860 there were seven Catholic congregations in the state with 350 members. By 1868 St. Paul’s had 110 members.”

“Part of the Year of Faith is teaching about the Cathedral, the history of the Diocese and the life of Father Price,” said Mr. John Bunting, religion teacher at St. Ann Catholic School, Fayette-ville. Mr. Bunting and Mr. John Rock travelled with a group of students to Raleigh to visit the land where Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral will be built and to tour Sacred Heart Cathedral. “Where you have been is part of who you are,” said Mrs. Rosa-lie Innacelli, Assistant Superintendent of Schools. “When students in Catholic schools and faith formation classes learn the history of their Church in our State, their sense of identity as North Caro-lina Catholics and as people of faith becomes stronger.”

D

NC Catholics 14 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

Students of John Paul II Catholic School in Southern Pines have been studying the life of Father Thomas Frederick Price, the “Tar Heel Apostle.”

W o r d o n F i r e

IEvangelizing through Beauty

n his masterpiece Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh implicitly lays out a program of evangelization that has particular relevance to our time. “Brideshead” refers, of course, to a great

manor house owned by a fabulously wealthy Catholic family in the England of the 1920’s. In the complex semiotic schema of Waugh’s novel, the mansion functions as a symbol of the Catholic Church, which St. Paul had referred to as the “bride of Christ.” To Brideshead comes, at the invitation of his friend Sebastian, Charles Ryder, an Oxford student, devotee of the fine arts and casual agnostic. Charles is overwhelmed by the sheer majesty of Brideshead’s architecture and the sumptuousness of its artistic program, which includes magnificent painting and sculpture, as well as a fountain of Bernini-like delicacy, and a chapel which was a riot of baroque decoration. Living within the walls of the manse, Charles mused, was to receive an entire artistic education. The beauty of the place would entrance Charles for the rest of his life, drawing him back again and again.

In the course of his many visits, Charles came, of course, to know the inhabit-ants of the house, Sebastian’s strange and beguiling family. Especially through Sebastian’s mother, the aristocratic and devoutly Catholic Lady Marchmain, he became familiar with the moral demands of the Catholic Church, especially as they pertained to Sebastian’s increasing prob-lem with alcohol. For many years, Charles joined Sebastian in his friend’s rebellion against these strictures, but in time, he came to appreciate their importance, indeed their indispensability. Finally, at the very close of the story, we learn that Charles, the erstwhile agnostic had come to embrace the coherent philosophical system of Catholicism and to worship the Eucharistic Lord who was enshrined in the beautiful chapel at Brideshead. Many years after entering that chapel as a mere aesthete, he knelt down in it as a believer. This brief and utterly inadequate summary of Waugh’s narrative is meant simply to highlight a ryhthm that obtains,

I would argue, in effective evangelization. The best evangelical strategy is one that moves from the beautiful to the good and finally to the true. Especially within our cultural matrix, so dominated by relativism and the valorization of the right to create one’s own system of meaning, commencing with either moral demand or the claim to truth will likely raise insu-perable blocks in the person one wishes to evangelize. (Who are you to tell me how to behave or what to believe? How can you be so arrogant as to think that you should impose your thought patterns on me?) This is precisely why moralizing and intellectualizing are often non-starters in regard to persuasion. But there is some-thing unthreatening about the beautiful. Just look at the Sistine Chapel Ceiling or the Parthenon or Chartres Cathedral or Picasso’s “Guernica”; just read The Divine Comedy or Hamlet or The Wasteland; just watch Mother Teresa’s sisters working in the slums of Calcutta or Rory McIl-roy’s golf swing or the movements of a

ballet dancer. All of these work a sort of alchemy in the soul, and they awaken a desire to participate, to imitate, and finally to share. Hans Urs von Balthasar, one of the great advocates of the aesthetic ap-proach to religion, said that the beautiful claims the viewer, changes him, and then sends him on mission. The pattern is more or less as follows: first the beautiful (how wonderful!), then the good (I want to participate!) and finally the true (now I understand!). A young man watches a skillfully played game of baseball, and it awakens in him a profound desire to play as well as those whom he admired; and then the actual playing of the game teaches him, from the inside, the rules and rhythms of baseball. A completely inadequate way of drawing a kid into the world of baseball would be to start with a clarification of the rules or with a set of drills. Rather, show him the beauty of baseball, and he will want to play, and having played, he will know. The same applies, a fortiori, in regard to religion. I might suggest that the evangelist start with the Sainte Chapelle or the life of Francis of Assisi or the Little Flower’s Story of a Soul or Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain or Gre-gorian chant, or perhaps best of all, a carefully executed liturgy of the Roman rite. These would function in the manner of Brideshead, captivating even the most bored agnostic. Then, the wager goes, the captivation would lead to a desire, perhaps vague at first, to participate in the moral universe that made those artistic expressions possible. And finally, the participation would conduce toward a true and experiential understanding of the thought patterns that undergird that way of life. First the beautiful, then the good, then the true. I wonder whether this winsome aesthetic approach might prove more frutiful in a postmodern culture so instinctively skeptical of dogma either intellectual or moral.

– Father Robert Barron is an author, speaker and

theologian. He is also the founder of the global

media ministry Word on Fire (www.WordOnFire.

org), which reaches millions of people by utilizing

the tools of new media to draw people into or back

to the Catholic Faith.

O n e F a i t h , O n e P e o p l e

“ISuccess at St. Ann

am overjoyed! I was confident that we would reach our goal, but this is truly remarkable and an indication of the dedication and commitment

of our parish community.”

That was the reaction of Fr. Marcos Leon, pastor of

St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton, as his parish

exceeded its $1.5 million Cathedral Campus Cam-paign goal. As of mid-April, more than $2 million in pledges have been made. Of that total, approxi-mately $745,000 is ear-marked for the Cathedral Campus, which includes the parish’s commitment for the 2012 and 2013 Bishop’s An-nual Appeal. The remainder of the money will be used to

build a much needed parish center. Fr. Leon said by ex-ceeding the goal, the parish will now be able to enhance the planned center to in-clude additional classrooms, a commercial kitchen, extra storage rooms and offices. Fr. Leon attributed the success of the campaign to the dedicated work of the various committees in the parish and to prayer. He said the parish said a special prayer after each Mass. “This was a community-wide effort,” Fr. Leon said. “It at-tests to the power of prayer.” St. Ann plans to break ground on its new build-ing next spring and have it dedicated in time for Christ-mas, 2014.

OVER $59 MILLION

RAISEDSO FAR

Thank youfor your

GENEROSITY!

Holy Redeemer Kicks Off Campaign

In April, Holy Redeemer by the Sea Church in Kill Devil Hills kicked off the Cathedral Campus Campaign with a total goal of $994,139. The figure includes $377,011 for the Cathedral project and $141,128 for the 2012 and 2013 BAA. The re-maining $476,000 of the goal is ear-marked for restoration of Holy Trinity by the Sea Mission Church in Nags Head that sustained heavy flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. “Rebuild my Church” is the theme of the Kill Devil Hills’ Campaign. “We are using the words

Our Lord spoke to St. Francis,” said Fr. Bill Walsh, OSFS, pastor of the parish. “The parish is committed to renovating

Holy Trinity by the Sea Mission. Part of that restoration is to raise it about ten feet to alleviate it from any future flooding. We have wonderful people, loyal to the Church,” Fr. Walsh said. “I am extremely hopeful, we will reach our goal.” As of April 22, more than $59,000,000 has been pledged to the Cathedral Campus Campaign.

Additional photos of Holy trinity by the Sea restoration and updates on the Cathedral Campus

Campaign can be found at www.holynamecathedralnc.org.

Holy Trinity by the Sea Chapel undergoing repairs following two

hurricanes that caused flooding to the church in Nags Head.

NC Catholics 16 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

B i s h o p ’ s A n n u a l A p p e a l

the Bishop’s Annual Appeal Helps Foster Vocations

Juan Carlos Garcia is in his 2nd year of college at Santa Maria Guada-lupe Seminary in Mexico City. He and Noe Ramirez, also in his 2nd year of college, are graduates of North Moore High School in Robbins, NC, and pa-rishioners of San Juan Diego Catholic Mission in that community. Brought to the United States when they were young children, the two men were active in their parish community. When Fr. Bill John Acosta-Escobar arrived at San Juan Diego as pastor in 2005, Juan and Noe were in middle school. They told their new priest that they were interested in the Priesthood. “They were always at the church,” Fr. Acosta said. “As high school students, I observed them closely and saw how much they enjoyed serving at Mass. They asked if they could accompany me on parish visits, especially to the sick. Whenever a priest would visit the par-ish, they took the opportunity to speak with him, asking him about the Priest-hood, especially if he was happy in his vocation.” When Noe and Juan were in their junior year of high school, Fr. Acosta asked them what they planned to do when they graduated. Both told him they were interested in enrolling in the seminary. At that point, Fr. Acosta introduced them to Diocesan Vocations Director Fr. Ned Shlesinger. “While families are vital to the formation of priestly and religious vocations,” Fr. Shlesinger said, “it is also impor-

HOW tO GIVE

The 2013 Bishop’s Annual Appeal will be conducted in parishes beginning the first week of April. Information on the 2013 BAA, the ministries it funds, the people it serves and the 2013 BAA videos are available at BAA.dioceseofraleigh.org. On that web page, you will be able to set up direct bank account withdrawals, schedule recurring payments, make stock donations and subscribe to receive pledge reminders by email.

tant for vocations to be nurtured by the parish community and the pastor. A joyful priest is influential to any person discerning a vocation to the Priesthood.” “Ever since I can remember my parents found it impor-tant that I and my brothers and sisters knew our faith, and what it meant to be Roman Catholic,” Noe said. “It actually seemed as if the parish was a second home. My parents never asked me if I wanted to be a priest, but thanks to their belief in the importance of our faith, I discovered God’s calling.” Juan agreed and noted how Fr. Acosta’s allowing him and Noe access to the daily work of a parish priest played an important part in their decision. “The many times that I assisted Fr. Acosta at Mass and ac-companied him when he visited families, I saw that he was happy, active, and at peace,” Noe said.

Noe and Juan are two of the 21 men in formation for the Priesthood in the Diocese of Raleigh. In Mexico City, they are joined by Erik Reyes, a 1st year college student, who is also from a Mexican-born family and a parishioner of Sa-cred Heart Church in Whiteville. Fourteen seminarians are enrolled at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia,

two are studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and two are in pastoral years in the Diocese. The annual average education cost per seminarian is $30,000, plus additional items such as medical insurance. The Bishop’s Annual Appeal is the primary source of income for the Vocations Of-fice, with approximately 16 percent of the BAA or approximately one-million dollars going toward priestly formation. “By supporting the BAA,” Fr. Shlesing-

er explained, the faithful are helping to make sure there will be priests to minister to their children and grandchildren.” In the case of Noe Ramirez, Juan Carlos Garcia and Erik Reyes, Fr. Shlesinger noted, “These men, if by God’s grace they become priests for the Diocese, will not be priests only for the Latino community, but priests for all the faithful, since they are fluent in both English and Spanish.”

Fr. Bill John Acosta

Bishop Burbidge with seminarians Erik Reyes, Noe Ramirez and Juan Garcia at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

T

c o v e r s t o r y

By Rich Reece

om and Debbie Lindsey’s son Joshua was more than six months old before they learned he had cerebral palsy. “We no-

ticed some delays in development, and the pediatrician thought his reflexes weren’t right,” Debbie recalls, “but he was born several weeks premature, so we thought perhaps he just needed to catch up.”

When the diagnosis came, Debbie says, “Of course we were worried and upset, but we already loved him and by then we had ‘lived into it.’ And we didn’t know how severe the symptoms might or might not be eventually.” Still, Debbie believes, “It was like God had prepared us.” At the time, she was studying occupational therapy, so she noticed some of Joshua’s symptoms earlier than another parent might have. “I really had wanted to work with children with disabilities,” she explains, “and I had worked with kids who had cerebral palsy. In fact, when Tom and I were engaged I’d actually asked him if he would be open to adopting a child with a disability.” Tom smiled. “I thought about it, and I said yes.” That was 30 years ago. Today Joshua shows many of the symptoms of his disability: difficulty with muscle control and coordination, involuntary movements. He requires a motorized chair to get around. Yet he

is someone who has clearly thought a good deal about his life and, while his speech is effortful, it’s strong and clear. In conver-sation, he is articulate and often funny. Most of all, like his entire family – Tom, Debbie and his younger siblings Jessica and Isaiah – he is devoted to his Catholic faith. Part of living that faith – since his Confirmation at St. Cath-erine of Siena Parish in Wake Forest and today at St. Luke the Evangelist in Raleigh–has been proclaiming God’s Word as a reader at Mass. “I had seen my mom read in church,” he says. “And I always liked to read out loud. To hear the words makes it easier for me to understand them. I also like to proclaim the Word.” Because the ambo at St. Luke is raised, Joshua reads from his chair and uses a body microphone. “When you’re reading,” he says, “it’s almost like the Holy Spirit is reading and not you. It always lifts my spirit and enriches my faith.” “Joshua loved being in plays and musicals in high school,” Debbie says. “He’s always had that love of being out in front of people.” “I’m grateful for my parents sending me not to a private school for disabled students, but for keeping me at home with our family and sending me to regular school,” Joshua says. He also received a degree in psychology from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, NC. “I was always lucky to be treated the same as others,” he says. “They acknowledged my disability but didn’t allow it to be the most important thing about me.” Besides reading at Mass, Joshua has helped at St. Cath-erine with middle school and high school faith formation, and he is a Knight of Columbus.

NC Catholics 20 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

S

J

t. Paul wrote, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” 1 Cor. 1:18. It’s a message which Joshua and his family have implicitly embraced.

Speaking of his disability, Josh says, “It’s been hard for me to adjust. When I was a kid, I always thought that someday God was going to heal me and I’d get married and have kids and a job and the disability wouldn’t be a problem. I thought if it didn’t go away, then we’d figure out some solution that would make it easier. By the time I graduated from high school I realized the disability was permanent. If you take the analogy of life being like a road and you’re a driver, it was like a rock hit my wind-shield. All I saw in the future was blackness. But because my faith is in God, I know that there has to be something different. Otherwise I wouldn’t see the point of this [the disability]. But I believe the significance of life is in the eternal. I can’t live without faith and hope.” Joshua says he has been empowered in the last couple of years by the Sacrament of Penance. “I think regular Confession is important to strengthen the believer, keep him on the right path,” he says. “I know it has helped me deal with the day to day struggles with my disability, and the feelings of loneliness that come with that.” Joshua’s disability is something the family accepts without much conscious adjustment. “It’s what we know,” Tom said. “You love him, so you do what you need to do.” But faith and hope, Debbie agrees, are crucial in the life of the Lindseys. “We have bad days,” she says. “I would say that a typical bad day is when everybody is busy, running here and there to different commitments, or trying to get too much done in too little time, and we are short on time and short on patience with each other. I don’t think this is too different than a lot of families without a disabled member, but when you have someone in the family who needs extra help and extra time to do things or to have things done for him, it can make a busy day without enough time more stressful. “I don’t know if others think that fami-lies like ours, with a disabled member, always act loving and full of joy, but that is not true. The same things go on in our family that go on in every family: jealousy, fights, teasing. We definitely have days when we have acted less than Christian and have said things to each other we wish we hadn’t. “On the other hand, I do think that all of us, Joshua probably most of all, have had to learn to have extra patience with daily situations that are less than positive, and a fortitude to find ways to do things even when they may seem impossible at first. This, plus a heightened sensitivity to others with difficulties and challenges,

and a deepened faith in God gained from having to lean on Him for help, have been the blessings Joshua’s disability has brought to our family.” Joshua’s younger sister Jessica has never experienced anything special about “adjusting” to having a brother with a disability. “When I’d visit friends,” she says, “yeah, it was different. But home is just normal. Maybe I’ve learned more patience, or toler-ance of people who are different, but home is just normal, the way we’ve always been.” Two years ago the Lindseys were joined by Rafael Diaz, a student sponsored by the Guatemalan Student Support group founded by a UNC professor and operating out of Chapel Hill. “He’s adapted really well,” Debbie says.

oshua says he used to be uncomfortable with people praising his accomplishments or saying he “inspired” them. “When they said I had done a good job I didn’t know if I really had done well or they meant I had done well for someone with a disability. But eventu-ally I thought about Jesus and how people were

healed just by touching His cloak and I thought, okay, if it makes people happy to see me, who cares how they get to that happi-ness? Just let them be happy and be thankful and grateful.”

Joshua’s favorite scripture passage is from Isaiah (53:3): “He was spurned and avoided by men,/ a man of suffering, accus-tomed to infirmity,/One of those from whom men hide their faces,/ spurned and we held him in no esteem.” “That’s what I was struggling with,” he says, “but now I think – I hope – people see God through my weakness.” “Everyone’s given a cross and you do what you need to do,” Debbie says. “But I think Joshua does inspire people when he’s out in front and doing things in the church. They think, ‘Wow, why should I complain?’” The Lindseys stress how blessed they’ve been by the support

of their parishes. “They have been very accepting and supportive of Joshua – treating him as an equal in helping him to participate in and serve various min-istries from music to reading to youth ministry to the Knights of Columbus; helping our family be able to go to the March for Life in Washington, DC, each year by renting an accessible bus and helping us out through the journey; and most recently, by generously donating funds through a bake sale to help Joshua fulfill his dream of being in an acting showcase in Orlando this summer for prospective Christian actors. “God has been very good to us,” she says. “When Joshua was little, I prayed for three gifts for him: strong faith in God, self-esteem to be able to deal with the world, and a sense of humor. All those prayers have been answered.”

ARenovar nuestro sí a la santa voluntad de Dios

lo largo de este mes, muchos de nosotros asistiremos a las ceremonias de aquellos que se gradúan de la escuela y de la universidad. En un periodo tan importante en sus vidas, los graduados están seriamente discerniendo el

“siguiente paso” a lo largo de su camino. A menudo les aconsejo que no se pregunten, “¿Qué voy hacer con mi vida?” Esta pregunta implica que nosotros estamos en control. Las preguntas que verdaderamente debemos hacernos son: “Señor, ¿qué quieres que yo haga?, ¿Cuál es tu plan divino para conmigo?” Tal discernimiento refleja el espíritu genuino de humildad al tratar de entender quiénes somos ante Dios a medida que dependemos de su ayuda divina. Cuando formulamos estas preguntas, debemos estar dispuestos a escuchar al Señor, porque Él le hablará verdaderamente a nuestro corazón. Y al responder “sí” a Su santa voluntad, nos llenamos siempre de alegría, paz y confianza. Esta práctica no es meramente para los que se van a graduar o para quienes se encuen-tran en un periodo de serio discernimiento en su vida. Cada día cada uno de nosotros debemos estar dispuestos a hacernos la misma pregunta: “¿Qué es, Señor, lo que quieres que yo haga este día?, ¿Cómo puedo ser más fiel para lo que Tu me has creado y a lo que me has confiado?” A diario, debemos renovar nuestro “sí” a

lo que nos pide el Señor y “sí” a donde quiere Él guiarnos. En este mes de mayo, honramos a María, la Madre de Jesús. Ella nos enseñó perfectamente lo que significa decir “sí” a la santa voluntad de Dios, incluso cuando lo que esperamos es radical-mente diferente, más difícil de lo que nos podemos imaginar e incluso un poco confuso y sorprendente. Sin embargo, cuando repetimos

sus palabras: “Hágase en mí según tu palabra”, imitamos su confianza al creer que “para Dios nada es imposible. En este mes de mayo, tam-bién agradecemos a Dios por su regalo de nuestras madres, vivas y fallecidas. Qué tan agradecidos estamos con ellas por su testimonio y ejemplo al decir “sí” a la bella vocación que Dios les encomendó a ellas. Muchas veces ese “sí’ fue dicho por ellas aunque

significara increíbles sacrificios y cruces pesadas. Sin embargo, su fe profunda siempre en la presencia del Señor les dio la fuerza y la gracia que ellas necesitaban. Honramos mejor a nuestras madres por medio de nuestra fidelidad y en todo lo que nos pide el Señor. Extiendo sinceras felici-taciones y mejores deseos a todos aquellos que se gradúan este mes. Vayan a donde los guie Dios. Vayan a donde los necesite Dios. Háganlo siempre con la segura y cierta esperanza que Él les acompa-ñará a lo largo del camino y les brindará la gracia, sabiduría e iluminación que ustedes necesitan. Recuerden, Él también les dio a Su madre a ustedes. Manténgase cerca de ella e imiten su fe y confianza a la santa voluntad de Dios. Así, experimentarán la alegría, paz y confianza en este tiempo de su vida y siempre. María, Madre del Perpetuo Socorro, ¡ruega por nuestros gradua-dos, nuestras madres y por todos aquellos que amamos y servimos!

CELEBRACIÓN DEL AÑO DE LA FE EN LOS DECANAtOS DE NEWtON GROVE Y NEW BERN

La conmemoración de los 50 años del Concilio Vaticano II y vigésimo aniversario de la promulgación del Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica ha impulsado a la Iglesia a celebrar el año de la fe que comenzó el 11 de octubre y finalizará el 24 de Noviem-bre de 2013. La Diócesis de Raleigh en cabeza de Nuestro Obispo Mi-chael Burbidge, elaboró recursos para la celebración de este acontecimiento(http://www.dioceseofraleigh.org/how/evangeliza-tion/dor-yof-resources.aspx) de tal manera que aprovechemos cada oportunidad en la parroquia y en sus celebraciones para utilizar este material y “ofrecer sus propias ideas creativas y dones para mejorar y resaltar este año tan importante en nuestra Iglesia” (Reverendísimo Michael Burbidge, Agosto 1 de 2012). Por ello, el Ministerio Hispano de la Diócesis de Raleigh presenta el programa que llevará durante cuatros sesiones en

los ocho Decanatos a través de conferencias, actividades, mesas redondas y reflexiones que un grupo de sacerdotes y lideres par-roquiales han preparado para todos ustedes. Hacemos una cordial invitación para que todas las parroquias y misiones de la Diócesis nos acompañen, de manera particu-lar las comunidades a las cuales pertenecen los dos decanatos donde se concentrará la celebración. Aproveche esta oportunidad para que profundice, fortalezca y comparta lo aprendido con los miembros de su parroquia. Programación para el Decanato de Newton Grove y New Bern:

MAYO 18 DE 2013: LA MORAL CRIStIANA: LA FE VIVIDA,

Parroquia Holy Spirit, 400 Academy Heights Rd., Kinston NC 28504. Costo: 5 dólares por persona. Para esta Cel-ebración, contaremos con el cuidado de niños entre las edades de 3 a 9 años

NC Catholics 22 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

O b i s p o B u r b i d g e

DEscuelas Diocesanas Exploran Principios Católicos en Carolina del Norte

urante el Año de la Fe, en los salones de clases de las escuelas católicas a lo largo de la Diócesis, los estudiantes aprenden acerca de la historia de sus parroquias y de la Diócesis de Raleigh. Las actividades de exámenes de preguntas, dramas y paseo de escuela abordan el enfoque especial del Pilar

II en el folleto en torno a los Recursos del Año de la Fe: Historia de la Diócesis.

“Cada persona en la Diócesis debe saber cómo y cuándo, a través de la gracia de Dios, fue fundada nuestra Diócesis”, dijo la Hermana Rose Marie Adams, Directora Ejecutiva de Evangelización y Formación Católica. Maestros(as) y catequistas han encontrado varias y creativas formas para enseñar la historia parroquial y Diocesana:

La escuela Catedral del Sagrado Corazón en Raleigh, llevó a cabo un examen de Fe. Se formaron equipos, Azules contra Dorados, de estudiantes desde el Kínder hasta el Octavo grado para responder a las pre-guntas relacionadas a la historia Diocesana y el curriculum de la religión; algunas preguntas son:

P: Cuántos Obispos han servido en la Diócesis de Raleigh?R: 5

P: ¿Cuál ciudad no está en la Diócesis de Raleigh?• Greenville • Greensboro• Kitty HawkR: Greensboro

Los estudiantes del sexto grado de la Escuela Católi-ca de San Pablo en New Bern realizaron una obra de teatro tejiendo escenas de historias de la parroquia y de la Diócesis. Complementaron la presentación con un Power-point que representa lugares y personas importantes. De la obra:

“LA ESCENA 12 DE LA HISTORIA DE SAN PAB-LO: “La Iglesia San Pablo comenzó…el tiempo pasa; en 1850 hay 30 almas en la parroquia, la mayoría conversos. Había otra presencia Católica en New Bern durante este tiempo. Siete Hermanas de la Misericordia de Nueva York y un capellán fueron enviados a cuidar a los soldados heri-dos en Beaufort y en 1862 terminaron cuidando en New Bern a heridos y enfermos. Les dieron hospedaje en John Wright-Stanley House. Al terminar la guerra, 16 hermanas estaban sirviendo en New Bern. En 1860 habían siete congregaciones Católicas en el Estado con 350 miem-bros. En 1868 San Pablo contaba con 110 miembros”.

“Parte de el Año de la Fe es enseñar sobre la Cat-edral, la historia de la Diócesis y la vida del Padre Price”, comentó el Sr. John Bunting, maestro de religión en la Escuela Católica Santa Ana de Fayetteville. El Sr. Bunting y el Sr. John Rock, viajaron con un grupo de estu-diantes a Raleigh para visitar el lugar donde será constru-ida la Catedral del Santo Nombre de Jesus y para conocer la Catedral del Sagrado Corazón”. “En el lugar que has estado es parte de quién eres”, dijo la Sra. Rosalie Innacelli, Asistente del Superintendente de las Escuelas. “Cuando los estudiantes de escuelas Católicas y de clases de formación de fe aprenden la historia de su Iglesia en nuestro Estado, su sentido de identidad como Católicos de Carolina del Norte y como personas de fe se hace fuerte”.

A ñ o d e l a F e

Éxito en Santa Anastoy muy contento! Estaba confiado en que lograríamos nuestro objetivo, pero esto es

verdaderamente extraordinario y una indicación de la dedicación y el compromiso de nuestra comunidad parroquial”.

Ésta fue la reacción del P. Marcos Leon, párroco de la Iglesia Católica Santa

Ana en Clayton, al superar la meta de la parroquia de $1.5 millones de dólares

para la Campaña del Campus de la Catedral. Para mediados de Abril, más de $2 millones de dólares en promesas se han hecho. De ese total, aproximadamente $745.000 dólares está destinado para el Campus de la Catedral, que incluye el compromiso de la parroquia a la Campaña Anual del Obispo 2012 y 2013. El restante del dinero será utilizado para construir un centro parroquial. El P.

Leon dijo que al superar la meta, la parroquia podrá mejorar el centro previsto para incluir salones de clase, una cocina comercial, oficinas y más espacio para almacenamiento. El P. Leon atribuye el éxito de la campaña a la dedicación de los varios comités en la parroquia y a la oración. Explicó que la parroquia hacía una oración especial después de Misa. “Esto fue un esfuerzo comunitario”, dijo el P. Leon. “Esto es evidencia del poder de la oración”. Santa Ana planea la construcción del nuevo edificio en la próxima primavera y la dedicación a tiempo para la Navidad del 2014.

Holy Redeemer inicia su Campaña

En abril, la Iglesia Holy Redeemer by the Sea en Kill Devil Hills inició la Campaña del Campus de la Catedral con una meta total de $999.139. Esto incluye $377.011 para el proyecto y $141.128 para la Campaña Anual del Obispo 2012 y 2013. El restante $476.000 de la meta será destinado para la restauración de la Misión de la Iglesia Holy Trinity by the Sea en Nags Head que sufrió fuertes inundaciones por el huracán Irene en el 2011 y el huracán Sandy en el 2012. “Repara mi Iglesia”, es el lema de la Campaña de Kill Devil Hills.“Estamos usando las palabras que Nuestro Señor dirigió a San Francisco”, explicó el P. Bill Walsh, OSFS, párroco de la

parroquia. “La parroquia está comprometida a reparar la Mis-ión de Holy Trinity by the Sea. Parte de la restauración es le-

vantarla diez pies de altura para elevarla y resguardarla de las inundaciones en el futuro. Tenemos personas maravillosas, leal a la Iglesia”, comentó el P. Walsh. “Tengo gran esperanza que lograremos nuestro objetivo. Hasta el 22 de Abril, más de $59.000.000 se han hecho en prome-sas en torno a la Campaña del Campus de la Catedral.

Fotografías adicionales de la restauración de Holy trinity by the Sea y actualizaciones en torno a la Campaña del Campus de la Catedral se pueden encontrar en la página www.holynamecathedral.org.

ELEMENTOS DIOCESANOS

• La Catedral de Santo Nombre de Jesús

• Salón de Reuniones

• Instalaciones de Estacionamiento

• BAA 2012

ELEMENTOS PARROQUIALES

• Ayuda a los Pobres

• Proyectos de Instalaciones de la Parroquia

• Mejorar el Ministerio de la Parroquia

• Reducir la Deuda de la Parroquia

Una campaña para los fieles de la Diócesis de Raleigh

“¡E

SE HAN RECAUDADO MÁS DE $59

MILLONES DE DÓLARES

¡GRACIAS POR SU

GENEROSIDAD!

El Templo de Holy Trinity by the Sea está en reparación después que dos hura-

canes causaran inundaciones a la Iglesia de Nags Head.

NC Catholics 24 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

N u e s t r a C a t e d r a l

L a C a m p a ñ a A n u a l d e l O b i s p o

La Campaña Anual del Obispo ayuda a fomentar las vocaciones

La respuesta de mi comunidad al entrar al seminario has sido abrumadora. No creo que mis padres puedan sentirse más orgullosos y mis amigos respondieron con una actitud positiva; incluso a algunos amigos protestan-tes les agradó mí idea de servir al Señor en esta manera especial. – Juan Carlos Garcia, seminarista Diocesano

Juan Carlos Garcia está en su segundo año universitario en el Seminario de Santa Maria Guadalupe en la Ciudad de México. Él y Noé Ramírez, también en su segundo año de universidad, se graduaron de North Moore High School en Robbins, Carolina del Norte, y son feligreses de la Misión Católica de San Juan Diego de esa comunidad. Los trajeron a los Estados Unidos cuando eran niños, los dos jóvenes fueron muy activos en su comunidad parroquial. Cuando el P. Bill John Acosta-Escobar llegó a San Juan Diego como párroco en 2005, Juan y Noé asistían a la secundaria. Ambos expresaron a su nuevo párroco, que les interesaba el Sacerdocio. “Siempre estaban en la Iglesia”, dijo el P. Acosta. “Como estudiantes de la preparatoria, los observaba de cerca y veía como disfrutaban servir en Misa. Me preguntaban si podían acompañarme a las visitas pastorales, especialmente a los enfermos. Cuando un sacerdote visitaba la parroquia, ellos aprovechaban la oportunidad para hablar con él, cuestionando su Sacerdocio, especialmente si era feliz con su vocación”. Cuando Noé y Juan cursaban en el octavo grado, el P. Acosta les preguntó qué planes tenían después de la gradu-ación. Ambos contestaron que estaban interesados inscribirse en el seminario. En ese momento, el P. Acosta los presentó al Director de Vocaciones Diocesano P. Ned Shlesinger. “Las familias son de vital importancia en la formación de las vocaciones sacerdotales y religiosas”, dijo el P. Shlesing-er, “pero también es importante para las vocaciones nutrirse por la comunidad parroquial y el párroco. Un sacerdote alegre influye en cualquier persona discerniendo su vo-cación Sacerdotal”. “Desde que yo me acuerdo, para mis padres era impor-tante que mis hermanos y hermanas y yo conociéramos nuestra fe, y lo que significaba ser Católico Romano”, dijo

Noé. “Realmente parecía como si la parroquia era mi se-gundo hogar. Mis padres nunca me preguntaron si quería ser sacerdote, pero gracias a sus creencias en la importancia de nuestra fe, descubrí el llamado de Dios”. Juan está de acuerdo, y explicó que fue una parte impor-tante en su decisión el que el P. Acosta les permitiera tener acceso al trabajo diario de un sacerdote en su parroquia. “El hecho que yo participara en la iglesia y ver los desafíos que enfrenta mi iglesia local me hizo consciente, y de alguna manera, responsable en hacer algo al respecto. “Todas las veces que ayude al P. Acosta en Misa y cuando lo acompañaba a visitar las familias, siempre lo vi feliz, activo y en paz”, comentó Noé.

Noé y Juan son dos de los 21 hombres en la formación Sacerdotal en la Diócesis de Raleigh. En la Ciudad de México, les acompaña Erik Reyes, un estudiante universitario de primer año, quien además, es de familia nacida en México y feligrés de la Parroquia Sagrado Corazón en Whiteville.

Catorce seminaristas están matricu-lados en el Seminario de St. Charles Borromeo en Filadelfia, dos estudiando en el Pontifical North American College en Roma y dos en los años pastorales en la Diócesis. El costo anual para la educación de un seminarista es de $30.000, mas artículos adiciones tales como, seguro médico. La Campaña Anual del Obispo es la fuente primordial de ingresos

para la Oficina de Vocaciones, con aproximadamente 16 por ciento de la Campana Anual del Obispo o aproximadamente un millón de dólares para la formación sacerdotal. “Al apoyar la Campaña Anual del Obispo”, explicó el P. Shlesinger, los feligreses están ayudando a asegurarse de que habrá sacerdotes para atender a sus hijos y nietos. Sería maravilloso si cada parroquia pudiera fomentar la vocación al Sacerdocio. Sin embargo, cada parroquia y cada familia puede ayudar asegurar las vocaciones para el futuro apoy-ando a aquellos hombres que han dado un paso adelante al responder al llamado de Dios”. En el caso de Noé Ramírez, Juan Carlos Garcia y Erik Reyes, el P. Shlesinger explicó, “Estos hombres, si por la gra-cia de Dios llegan a ser sacerdotes para nuestra Diócesis, no serán solamente sacerdotes para la comunidad Latina, sino sacerdotes para todos los fieles, ya que con fluidez dominan el Inglés y el Español.

Como contribuir

La Campaña Anual del Obispo se llevará a cabo en las parroquias comenzando la primera semana de Abril. Información en torno a

la Campaña Anual del Obispo 2013, los ministerios apoyados, la gente que sirve y los videos de la Campaña Anual del Obispo 2013 están disponibles en la página web BAA.dioceseofraleigh.

org. Allí, usted podrá configurar retiros bancarios, programar pagos periódicamente, hacer donaciones de bienes y recibir recordatorios de la promesa por medio de correo electrónico.

e l h i s p a n o C a t ó l i c o

Joshua proclama el mensaje de la CruzÉl y su familia han abrazado su discapacidad con fe, esperanza y amor

oshua, hijo de Tom y Debbie Lind-sey, tenía más de seis meses cuando le descubrieron parálisis cerebral. “Nos dimos cuenta de algunos retra-sos durante su desarrollo, y el pedia-

tra pensaba que sus reflejos no estaban bien”, recuerda Debbie, “pero nació varias semanas prematuro, así que pensamos que tal vez él necesitaba ponerse al día”.

Cuando nos entregaron el diagnóstico, dijo Debbie, “Por supuesto que estábamos preocupados y molestos, pero ya

lo amábamos y para entonces ya habíamos vivido con eso.’ No sabíamos que tan grave serían los síntomas o tal vez no se presen-tarían”. Todavía, cree Debbie, “Era como si Dios nos había preparado”. En ese tiempo, ella estudiaba terapia ocupacional, por lo que descubrió algunos de los síntomas que presentaba Joshua antes que otros padres de familia. “Yo quería trabajar con niños discapacitados”, explicó ella, “y había trabajado con niños que padecían de parálisis cerebral. De hecho, cuando Tom y yo estábamos comprometidos, le pregunte a él si estaría abierto a adoptar un niño discapacitado”. Tom sonrió. “Lo pensé, y dije sí”. Eso fue hace 30 años. Hoy Joshua muestra muchos de los síntomas de su discapacidad: dificultad en el control de músculos y coordinación, movimientos involuntarios. Él requiere de una silla motorizada para poder movili-zarse. Sin embargo, él es una persona con una mente clara pensando mucho sobre su vida y, aunque tiene que forzar su voz, es fuerte y clara. En conversación, articula y bromea. Sobre todo, como toda su familia –Tom, Debbie y sus hermanos menores Isaiah y Jessica – es devoto a la fe Católica. La parte de vivir esa fe –desde su Con-

firmación en St Catherine of Siena en Wake Forest y hoy en St. Luke the Evangelist en Raleigh –ha sido proclamar la Palabra de Dios en Misa. “Miraba a mi madre leer en la Iglesia’, mencionó él. “Y a mí siempre me ha gustado leer en voz alta. Escuchar las palabras es más fácil para mí entenderlas. También me gusta proclamar la Palabra”. Ya que el ambón en St. Luke es alto, Joshua lee desde la silla y utiliza un micrófono pegado al cuerpo. “Cuando estás leyendo”, explicó él, “es casi como si el Espíritu Santo es el que lee y no la persona; siempre levanta mi espíritu y enriquece mi fe”. Joshua ama actuar en obras de teatro y musicales en la preparatoria”, comentó Debbie. “Él siempre ha tenido ese amor de estar frente al público”. “Estoy agradecido por mis padres que no me enviaron a una escuela privada para estudiantes con discapacidades, sino por dejarme en casa a lado de nuestra familia y por enviarme a una escuela regular”, añadió Joshua. Él también recibió un grado en Psicología en la Universidad de St. Andrews en Laurinburg, NC. “Siempre tuve suerte al ser tratado como los demás’, comentó Joshua. “Reconocieron mi discapacidad pero no permitieron que fuera lo más im-portante de mi”. Aparte de leer en Misa, Joshua ha ayudado en St. Cath-erine con la formación de fe para los de la secundaria y

Por Rich Reece

J

NC Catholics 26 May 2013 | www.DioceseofRaleigh.org | www.NCCatholics.org

preparatoria, y también es perteneciente de los Caballeros de Colón.

San Pablo escribió: “Bien es cierto que el len-guaje de la cruz resulta una locura para los que se pierden; pero para los que se salvan, para nosotros, es poder de Dios” 1 Co 1:18. Es un mensaje que Joshua y su familia han adoptado

implícitamente.

Hablando en torno a su discapacidad, dice Josh, “Me ha sido difícil ajustarme. Cuando fui niño, siempre pensé que algún día Dios me sanaría, que me casaría, que tendría hijos, un trabajo y que la discapacidad no sería un prob-lema. Pensé que si no se iba, se nos ocurriría una solución para facilitar las cosas. Cuando me gradué de la preparatoria me di cuenta que la discapacidad era permanente. Si tomas la analogía de la vida como un camino y tú el conductor, es como una roca golpeando el parabrisas. Lo único que vi en el futuro era o