Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • March 20, 2020 3 Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) March 20, 2020 Volume 37, Issue 15 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 APRIL3 EDITION— News copy and photos: Due MARCH 26, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due MARCH 26, 10 a.m. March 24 Confirmation, St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Pascagoula (includes St. Mary, Gautier, and Sacred Heart, Pascagoula), 6 p.m. March 28 Gals & Auction, Notre Dame Seminary, 6 p.m. March 29 Confirmation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Lumberton (includes St. Joseph Mission, Poplarville), 11 a.m. March 31 Finance Council, 2 p.m. April 1 Confirmation, St. Elizabeth Seton, Ocean Springs, 6 p.m. April 2 Presbyteral Council, 10:30 a.m. April 5 Palm/Passion Sunday USCCB launches ‘Walking With Moms in Need’ yearlong parish service project BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. Catholic bishops are being asked to invite the par- ishes in their dioceses to join a nationwide effort called “Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service” from March 25 of this year through March 25, 2021. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kan- sas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Con- ference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, announced the new ini- tiative on the National Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children Jan. 22, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy across the country. The new program has its own website, www.walkingwithmoms.com , with “re- sources, outreach tools and models to assist parishes in this effort. Resources will con- tinue to be added to the site, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secre- tariat of Pro-Life Activities. “As the church and growing numbers of pro-life Americans continue to advocate for women and children in courthouses and leg- islatures,” Archbishop Naumann said, “the church’s pastoral response is focused on the needs of women facing pregnancies in chal- lenging circumstances.” This pastoral response to pregnant women and mothers in need “has long been the case” for the church, he said, but added the Year of Service will “intensify” this response. The launch date of the program marks the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s en- cyclical “Evangelium Vitae” ( “The Gospel of Life” ). The encyclical, the eleventh of his pontificate, forthrightly condemns abortion and euthanasia, the major attacks on human life at its beginning and end. It also contained what several observers at the time called the strongest expression ever of church teaching against capital punishment: It says the cases of justifiable use of it today are “very rare, if not practically nonexistent.’’ Through the Year of Service, parishes are asked to complete a simple inventory of the resources currently available in their local area, assess the results and identify gaps, and plan and implement a parish response based on their findings. In “recognizing that women in need can be most effectively reached at the local level,” Archbishop Naumann explained, the year of service “invites parishes to assess, communicate, and expand resources to ex- pectant mothers within their own communi- ties.” The Year of Service is divided into five phases of parish action: ▪ Phase 1: Announce the Year of Service and begin building a core team (March 2020). ▪ Phase 2: Launch parish inventory pro- cess (May 2020). ▪ Phase 3: Share inventory results and begin assessment and planning (September 2020). ▪ Phase 4: Announcement and Commit- ment to Parish Response (January 2021). ▪ Phase 5: Celebration and Implementa- tion of Parish Plans (March 2021). There are suggested steps for implement- ing each phase along with sample announce- ments, sample intercessions, homily helps and a prayer activity. For example in Phase 1, the steps include appoint a parish leader; begin assembling a parish core team; establish a parish support network; and announce the “Evangelium Vi- tae” anniversary and Year of Service; pray for pregnant mothers in need as a parish community; and begin planning the parish’s first core team meeting. “We pray that ‘Walking with Moms in Need: A Year of Service’ will help us reach every pregnant mother in need, that she may know she can turn to her local Catholic com- munity for help and authentic friendship,” Archbishop Naumann added when he an- nounced the nationwide effort in January. For updates on news around the diocese, and from the Vatican and Catholic News Service , as well as previous issues of the Gulf Pine Catholic in full color, visit www.gulfpinecatholic.com Bishop Kihneman’s homilies are available in video and audio form on the Diocese of Biloxi’s website. To access these homilies, visit www.biloxidiocese.org.