BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY
This past Saturday, March 4, I was blessed to celebrate Mass at our Diocesan Catechetical Conference. You can see and learn more about the Conference from the pictures and article in this week’s Beacon on page 4 and on our social media. In the years before 2020, the annual Catechetical Conference was always well attended. We had a “virtual conference” in 2021 and a “hybrid” conference in 2022, with limited attendance in person and a larger attendance virtually. Therefore, this was my first time, as bishop, to be able to celebrate Mass at the Conference. I would have been happy to celebrate Mass for our catechists and catechetical leaders at any location, but this year I had the privilege of presiding at Mass on the grounds of St. Elizabeth University, Convent Station. Our Diocese received the additional blessing of being hosted by the University staff and the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Gary Crosby, Dr. Anthony Santamaria, and all those at St. Elizabeth University. I thank them not only for hosting the Conference but also for making St. Elizabeth a strong Catholic University that educates a diverse student population and offers a warm welcome and strong support to students from some of our under-served and inner-city communities. To learn more about St. Elizabeth University, I encourage you to visit its website.
On the first two weekends in Lent, two very important moments made a great impact on the Church throughout our Diocese. As I shared in my column last week, we had the beautiful Rite of Election at our Cathedral on the First Sunday of Lent (Feb. 26), during which we welcomed 156 people as “the elect,” who will be baptized and confirmed, and who will receive their First Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. Then, six days later, we convened our Catechetical Conference. This experience for me was not only a blessing but also a reminder of the wonderful leadership “team” that we have in our diocese. An important part of that team, under the leadership of Father Paul Manning, our vicar for Evangelization, is Father Yojaneider Garcia, who has led our Office of Faith Formation and Catechesis as its director for a little over a year. Together with Father Manning and Father Garcia, many other staff members and volunteers worked, planned, prepared, and organized these two events back-to-back. I know that all those who attended either the Rite of Election or the Catechetical Conference received many blessings because of the hard work, dedication, and enthusiastic spirit of our leaders.
I offer an additional “Thank You” to the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, the founders of St. Elizabeth University, for welcoming us to their beautiful, historic Holy Family Chapel located on the University Campus. I have celebrated Mass in Holy Family Chapel a number of times during the past few years, so I knew it would be a wonderful setting for the Mass at the Catechetical Conference. In sharing information about the Mass with me, Father Garcia included another detail: the story of Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich would be shared at the end of the Mass. This was fitting, as her shrine and tomb are located within the chapel itself. When I arrived, and again when I celebrated the Mass, I began to appreciate what a wonderful connection was made by introducing our catechists and catechetical leaders to Blessed Miriam Teresa, some for the first time.
Consequently, at the end of Mass, after we had recognized catechists who have been serving for five to 50 years, one of the Sisters of Charity, Sister Margaret McCann, offered a brief reflection on the life and example of Sister Miriam Teresa. Processing to the shrine (where Blessed Miriam is buried), we offered a prayer, requesting her intercession. Then all those in attendance were invited to visit her tomb as well, to offer private prayers, and to spend some time learning about her life and holiness. In her writings, Blessed Miriam Teresa reflected on her vocation, “As I understand it, God’s purpose in my life is this in general: To teach all people Our Lord’s promise that “All who love Me will keep My Word; and My Father will love them and We will come to them and make our abode with them.’” As participants prayed at the Shrine of Blessed Miriam Teresa, many were reminded that handing on the faith is a remarkable gift by which we lead others to God and possibly inspire future saints.
I hope that most, if not all, in our Diocese have at least heard of Blessed Miriam Teresa, but I realized at Saturday’s Mass that we could do more to promote Blessed Miriam’s cause, praying, if it is God’s will, that it leads to her being canonized as a Saint of the Church. Those who would like to learn more or help others to get to know Blessed Miriam can find a great deal of material and information available online, especially at an excellent page on the website of the Sisters of Charity.
On that page, you can read about Blessed Miriam’s life and the progress of her cause, as well as watch two brief videos. One is a four-minute introduction to the saint, and the other is a nine-minute biography. EWTN, in its series They Might Be Saints, presents a 30-minute episode on Blessed Miriam. Released in 2020, it is available on YouTube.
As I thought about Blessed Miriam, I realized that this would be a good opportunity to make sure that everyone knows (or remembers) that we have not one but two “potential saints” here in our diocese. The other candidate is “Servant of God” Benedictine Brother Marinus La Rue, who was a hero in the Korean War and then a monk at St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton. The USCCB approved Brother Marinus’ cause for beatification and canonization in June of 2021, soon after I arrived in the diocese. As with Blessed Miriam’s cause, however, we owe a great deal of gratitude to our Bishop Emeritus, Bishop Serratelli. As I looked online for some information about Brother Marinus and his cause, I realized that one of my favorite websites, “Franciscan Media,” has an excellent article on Brother Marinus.
Near its end, in a section entitled The Journey to Sainthood, the article states:
The process of recommending a person for canonization, full of research and investigations, is long and easily stalled, but Father (Sinclair) Oubre says that, thus far, it has been “smooth sailing” for Brother Marinus. Vatican guidelines instruct that a sainthood cause must be officially initiated by the bishop of the diocese in which the person passed away. In this case, that responsibility falls to Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. In a meeting with Father Oubre and Lunney on October 13, 2017, the bishop gave his blessing. “He told us he wants to do anything he can to help move this thing forward,” says Father Oubre.
Like the teamwork of our diocesan leaders mentioned above, the cooperation of those leaders involved in the cause of Brother Marinus is having good effect in its promotion. Father Pawel Tomczyk, currently serving as a full-time faculty member at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall, continues to serve as the postulator of the cause. Father Michael Parisi, one of our Vicars General and pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish, serves as episcopal delegate. Dr. Mary Mazzarella, director of our Diocesan Respect Life Office, along with other members of our team, have helped to advance the cause over the course of these past five years.
Mentioned in the “Franciscan Media” article is Father Sinclair Oubre, a pastor in the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, and a member of the “Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America.” He has and continues to work tirelessly to promote the cause of Brother Marinus. If you would like to find out more or be in touch with Father Oubre, he can be reached at [email protected]; (409) 749-0171; or 1500 Jefferson Dr., Port Arthur, Texas 77642.
As we continue our journey of Lent and give thanks for all the good things happening in our Diocese, let us also give thanks for those who inspire us with their lives of holiness, especially for Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich and Servant of God Brother Marinus LaRue.