St. Joseph Mission, Poplarville, celebrates Feast of St. Joseph
Father Fintan Kilmurray, pastor of St. Joseph Mission,
Poplarville, is surrounded by children, as he blesses the parish’s
elaborate St. Joseph Altar on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph.
Some of the children are dressed as members of the Holy Family.
Part of the celebration of St. Joseph’s Table or Altar is the Holy
Family partaking in the “Tupa-Tupa” or knocking door-to-door
for food and shelter before finding the Table. After the blessing,
the parish hosted a delicious meal with the leftovers being
distributed to the poor. For more photos, see page 24.
Photo/Terry Dickson.
Vatican, Rome gear up for canonizations
of John XXIII, John Paul II
By CindyWooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just over
five weeks before the canonizations of
Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II,
Rome hotels are reporting they are al-
most fully booked and the Vatican has
confirmed the Mass will take place in St.
Peter’s Square, despite knowing that hun-
dreds of thousands of people will have
to watch the ceremony on large video
screens.
Pope Francis had announced in late
September that he would proclaim the two
popes saints in a single ceremony April
27, Divine Mercy Sunday.
Less than two weeks after the date was
announced, the Prefecture of the Papal
Household issued an advisory that access
to St. Peter’s Square would be first-come,
first-served and warned pilgrims that un-
scrupulous tour operators already were
trying to sell fake tickets to the Mass.
With perhaps more than 1 million peo-
ple expected to try to attend the liturgy,
rumors abounded that the Vatican would
move the ceremony to a wide-open space
on the outskirts of town. But the Vatican
confirmed Feb. 27 that the Mass would be
held in St. Peter’s Square, just outside the
basilica where the mortal remains of the
two rest.
Blessed John Paul, known as a globe-
trotter who made 104 trips outside Italy,
served as pope from 1978 to 2005 and was
beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on Di-
vine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011. Blessed
John XXIII, known particularly for con-
voking the Second Vatican Council, was
pope from 1958 to 1963; Pope John Paul
beatified him in 2000.
See canonizations, page 10
Many of today’s papal ‘traditions’ were
Blessed John Paul’s innovations
By CindyWooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The first
anniversary of Pope Francis’ election
brought stories highlighting the unique
style he has brought to the papacy. Maybe
people have forgotten how much of what
passes today for papal “tradition” was ac-
tually an innovation of Pope John Paul II.
Frequent parish visits? Check. Joking
with and leading a big crowd in a chant?
Check. Sneaking out of the Vatican? Wait,
that was Blessed John Paul who’d head
out to go skiing or hiking. Pope Francis
categorically denied in February that he
had ever snuck out of the Vatican.
As John Thavis, the former Rome bu-
reau chief of Catholic News Service once
wrote: “If there’s anything Pope John Paul
II loved more than following traditions, it
was inventing new ones.”
The calendar of Pope Francis and of
the universal church is filled with annual
appointments established by Pope John
Paul, who is scheduled to become St. John
Paul April 27.
The day of the canonization is Divine
Mercy Sunday -- an observance Pope
John Paul decided in 2000 to put on the
church’s universal calendar the Sunday
after Easter. The Polish pope was a long-
time devotee of the Divine Mercy devo-
tions of St. Faustina Kowalksa, whom he
beatified in 1993 and canonized in 2000.
Presiding over the first universal obser-
vance of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001,
Pope John Paul quoted from his 1980 en-
cyclical “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich
in Mercy”): The cross and resurrection of
Christ speak and never cease “to speak of
God the Father, who is absolutely faithful
See papal traditions, page 9
Gulf Pine
Catholic
Volume 31 / Number 15
March 28, 2014
