Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • June 21, 2024 3 Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) June 21, 2024 Volume 41, Issue 22 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 —BILLING — Aimee M c Lendon —CIRCULATION— Robin Peeler —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production/Advertising: 228-702-2109 Billing: 228-702-2109 Circulation: 228-702-2100 Photography: 228-201-2132 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Billing: amclendon@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: rpeeler@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.gulfpinecatholic.com —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18 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 JULY 5— News copy and photos: Due JUNE 25, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due JUNE 25, 10 a.m. Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule July 6-13 Bishops’ Retreat, Gloucester, MA July 17 Bishops’ Day of Refection, Indianopolis, IN, 8 a.m. July 17 Eucharistic Congress, -21 Indianopolis, IN BY BISHOP LOUIS F. KIHNEMAN III Bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). When I first arrived as your bishop over seven years ago, I visited with some of the homeless who are ministered to by the St. Vincent de Paul Society at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Biloxi. There was a particular circumstance that left my heart crushed. There was a young woman who came in seeking assistance with a baby in her arms after her boyfriend had kicked her out of the place they were living. We were unable to place her anywhere. St. Vincent de Paul volunteers called all the organizations that might help and there was no place for her to go. We finally had to place her in a hotel. That experience really changed my perspective of what I was walking into as the bishop of Biloxi. The homeless have had a place in my heart for many years, but that experience impacted me on an entirely different level. When I was a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, we opened a shelter there. After that particular experience with the homeless young woman and her infant, I was determined to establish something similar here. The deaths of some of our homeless during the heat of last summer, amplified the need and spurred our trans- forming the old Mercy Cross gymnasium and field house in Biloxi into a day center for the homeless and less fortunate. One day, when we stand in judgment before God, He is going to show us those we encountered in need, and He will ask us Bishop Kihneman The Lord hears the cry of the poor what we did during our time on earth to help them. Indeed, that is the question He poses to each and every one us: What did we do to help feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner? As Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Last week, we experienced a very pow- erful and moving event as our Eucharistic Lord with the pilgrims of the St. Juan Diego route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage made their way through South Mississippi. Hundreds of the faithful par- ticipated in the pilgrimage -- singing, pray- ing, honoring, and worshiping the Lord through Adoration of the Blessed Sacra- ment and participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As a people of the Eucharist, we are also called to mission! Consider the words of Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo: When we celebrate the Eucharist we proclaim the great redemptive act of Christ and we commit ourselves to continue His work in the world by living a life of love and sharing. This is what the early Christians did in order to show their iden- tity. They recognized the Lord in the break- ing of the Bread and they were recognized as Christians by their sharing of the bread (Acts 2, 44-47). The Eucharist, therefore, was an act by which they expressed their religious identity, an identity based on their relationship to God and to their fellow human beings. When the Disciples of Christ trans- late the love of God -- which they expe- rience in Christ in the Eucharist -- into their everyday lives, into their relation- ship with each other and with other human beings, then they are building a new society, a new creation. ( The Eucharist and Mission -- Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, India , Québec, Friday, June 20, 2008) As Eucharistic people and through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we are called into relationship with one another, especially the poor and those who live on the margins of society. The establishment of the Mercy Cross Center is a powerful sign of our commitment to continue the Lord’s work, and it is root- ed in our identity as Eucharistic people. This ministry is already bearing fruit, (See Pg. 1 -- Jennifer William’s report for more details) and I am most grateful to Jennifer, Deacon John Jennings, Pam Leach, Peter Stephens, and the entire staff of Catholic Charities of South Mississippi for their efforts to get the Mercy Cross Center up and running. One of the things that has touched me deeply is the fact that all the groups in our area who minister to the homeless have said “yes” when we have asked for their assistance. That tells me that this is from the Lord. I believe the Lord wants this to be fruitful and that the Lord wants us to minister to our homeless brothers and sis- ters and help them to find a way to get back into society and, if needed, to find employ- ment. The Mercy Cross Center is not to be a permanent residence. It is meant to be transitional until we can help them find housing. It takes all of us to minister to the peo- ple who are the neediest among us. Yes, we need to place things in the hands of Jesus, but in the words of St. Teresa of Avila, “Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours, yours are the eyes with which He looks with com- passion on this world.” SEE BISHOP’S COLUMN, PAGE 11