Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • April 5, 2019 6 Serving the Community within the Diocese of Biloxi with Dignity & Respect. There is a Difference... Riemann Service A Riemann Family Company Phone: 228-539-9800 www.RiemannFamily.com Letter to the Bishop Dear Bishop Kihneman: Sincere thanks for your diocesan check of $40,745.92 in support of the 2018 Retirement Fund for Religious collection. Please extend our heartfelt gratitude to your parishioners for their ongoing support of senior religious and their communities. Since the collection was launched, contributions from your diocese have totaled $853,786.15. Generosity to the collection enables our office to distribute financial and educational assistance that help religious communities provide for older members while continuing to serve the People of God. Proceeds offer much-needed support for medications, nursing care, and other day-to-day necessities. A portion of the appeal also underwrites programming and education that promote long-term retirement planning. These resources focus on helping communities to reduce costs, enhance eldercare, and identify additional sources of income. Joined with the 32,000 elderly sisters, brothers, and religious order priests who benefit from the Retirement Fund for Religious, I offer a daily prayer of thanksgiving for all whose love and sacrifice make the work of our office possible. May God bless you and your parishioners. With gratitude, Sister Stephanie Still, PBVM Executive Director Pope to beatify martyrs, visit Marian shrine on trip to Romania BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Visiting Romania May 31-June 2, Pope Francis will stop at six destinations, including a popular Marian shrine in the Transylvanian region. He also will beatify seven bishop-martyrs of the Eastern-rite Romanian Catholic Church, who died during a fierce anti-religious campaign waged under the com- munist regime in Romania. His visit to the predominately Orthodox country will be his 30th foreign trip after visiting Morocco in late March and Bulgaria and Macedonia in early May. The trip will include visits to the Romanian Orthodox and Roman Catholic cathedrals, celebration of a Latin-rite Mass and an Eastern-rite Divine Liturgy, as well as separate meetings with political leaders, young people and families as well as members of the Roma community. He will visit the capital, Bucharest, the cities of Bacau, Iasi, Sibiu, Blaj and the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, a neighborhood of Miercurea Ciuc and an impor- tant place of pilgrimage for Hungarian Catholics, especially on Pentecost, which is June 9. The overwhelming majority -- almost 82 percent -- of Romania’s 20 million inhabitants say they belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church led by Patriarch Daniel. About six percent of the population identifies itself as Protestant and over four percent identify as Catholic, belonging either to the Romanian Catholic Church -- an Eastern rite -- or the Latin rite. The Vatican released the following schedule March 25, leaving out the exact times for a number of events. Times listed are local, with Eastern Daylight Time in parentheses. Friday, May 31 (Rome, Bucharest) -- 8:10 a.m. (2:10 a.m.) Departure from Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport for Bucharest -- 11:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.) Arrival and welcoming ceremony at Henri Coanda International Airport in Otopeni, near Bucharest. -- Courtesy visit with President Klaus Iohannis and meeting with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila in the Cotroceni Palace. -- 1 p.m. (6 a.m.) Meeting with civil and political leaders and members of the diplomatic corps at the Cotroceni Palace. Speech by pope. -- 3:45 p.m. (8:45 a.m.) Private meeting with Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel at the patriarchal palace. Meeting with members of the Orthodox synod at the patriarchal palace. Speech by pope. -- Joint Prayer of the Our Father in the new Romanian Orthodox cathedral. Greeting by pope. Pictured are six of seven bishops of the Eastern-rite Romanian Catholic Church who died during a fierce anti-religious campaign waged under the communist regime in Romania. Pope Francis recognized their martyrdom and will beatify them in Romania June 2. Clockwise: Auxiliary Bishop Vasile Aftenie of Fagaras and Alba Iulia; Bishop Ioan Balan of Lugoj, Auxiliary Bishop Tit Liviu Chinezu of Fagaras and Alba Iulia; Bishop Valeriu Traian Frentiu of Oradea Mare; Bishop Ioan Suciu, apostolic administrator of Fagaras and Alba Iulia; and Bishop Alexandru Rusu of Maramures. Not pictured is Father Alfredo Cremonesi, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. CNS photo/courtesy Romanian Catholic bishops’ conference SEE POPE ROMANIA SCHEDULE, PAGE 7