Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • October 4, 2019 3 Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) October 4, 2019 Volume 37, Issue 3 The GULF PINE CATHOLIC , published every other week, is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Editorial offices are located at 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532. Periodical postage paid at Gulfport, MS. —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The GULF PINE CATHOLIC 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —PUBLISHER— Most Rev. Louis F. Kihneman —EDITOR— Terry Dickson —PRODUCTION / ADVERTISING — Shirley M c Cusker —CIRCULATION— Debbie Mowrey —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production /Advertising: 228-702-2109 Circulation: 228-702-2127 Photography: 228-702-2144 FAX: 228-702-2128 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: dmowrey@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.biloxidiocese.org —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18.00 per year. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address. Allow three weeks for changes of address. —DEADLINES for OCTOBER 18 EDITION— News copy and photos: Due OCTOBER 10, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due OCTOBER 10, 10 a.m. Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule Oct. 7 de l’Epee Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 10 Seminary Board Meeting, Notre Dame Seminuary Oct. 13 Red Mass, Nativity BVM, 11 a.m. Oct. 14 Priest Convocation, 4 p.m. Oct. 18-19 Deacon Workshop, Sacred Heart Center, Dedeaux Oct. 19-21 Equestrian Order of Holy Sepulchre Conference, Charleston, SC U.S. delegation brings V Encuentro results to pope, Vatican BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A delegation of U.S. bishops and laypeople came to Rome to share with Pope Francis and Vatican of- ficials the joyful experiences and valuable recommendations that came out of last year’s Fifth National Encuentro. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Ange- les, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Catholic News Service that he was looking forward to announcing “the good news” about what they’ve learned and how the process has been unfolding. “When we talked to the Holy Father” as they were still preparing for the September 2018 event, the archbishop said forming and inspiring missionary disciples across the na- tion “was our dream, and now we can share with him that it is happening.” Archbishop Gomez along with Bishop Nelson J. Perez of Cleveland, chairman of the USCCB committee on cultural diversity in the church, and Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda of Detroit, chairman of the subcom- mittee on Hispanic affairs, led a delegation to the Vatican Sept. 13-18. They were present- ing the “Proceedings and Conclusions of the Fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Encuentro representatives from the United States meet with German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van-Elst, delegate for catechesis at the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, at the Vatican Sept. 16, 2019. Encuentro representatives were in Rome to present findings from the Fifth National Encuentro to Pope Francis and Vatican officials. CNS photo Ministry,” and they spoke with CNS Sept. 16. The materials they have been shar- ing offer a summary of the challenges, opportunities, rec- ommendations and successful practices when it comes to pastoral care and accompaniment of Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States and their call to be mis- sionary disciples. The national gathering of V En- cuentro in Grape- vine, Texas, was a historic gathering of Hispanic/Latino leaders in ministry, delegates from dioceses, church movements, schools and Catholic or- ganizations from across the United States. The bishops estimated more than 1 million Catholics had participated in parish, dioce- san and regional encuentros in the two years prior to the Grapevine meeting. One of the things they are telling the Vati- can, Archbishop Gomez said, is that “Latinos in the United States are excited about their faith.” “The church in the United States is alive, it’s a young church” with an estimated 50 percent of Catholics who are 18 or younger being of Hispanic or Latino origin, Bishop Cepeda told CNS . “It is wonderful,” he said. “They are bringing in the future of the church, but at the same time, they are the ‘now’ of the church,” which brings “a lot of joy and hope.”   Bishop Perez told CNS he’s telling Vati- can officials how excited people are to “actu- ally be missionary disciples” going to places Pope Francis has called “the peripheries.” People have been going “to places where the church isn’t always present,” he said, like prisons and street corners, and to those who may feel disenfranchised, like young people and undocumented workers. “The political climate in the United States with immigration and our undocumented brothers and sisters has been very challeng- ing, in fact, very painful,” Bishop Perez said. But the encuentro process, which began at the grassroots level in 1972, “providen- tially created the space, the forum, for people to come together and share their uncertainty, their fear and feel the support, the warmth of a Christian community,” he said. Bishop Cepeda said this moment has prompted the church to be “the voice of the voiceless. It’s a moment for us to bring them out of the shadows, to be able to work for a reform, an immigration reform that is inte- gral and that does not separate families.” “We want to be the voice of a nation that welcomes immigrants and we will be the ones transforming our church and our nation if we do so,” he said. Archbishop Gomez said the increasing presence of Hispanic and Latino Catholics and the work and visibility of the encuentros is “helping Latinos to understand they are an integral part of the life of the church and the life of society in the United States and it’s calling them for leadership.” “I hope that helps everybody in the Unit- ed States see that Latinos really want to par- ticipate in the life of society and that brings real immigration reform in our country,” the archbishop said. To advertise in the Gulf Pine Catholic, call 228-702-2109 for more information.