Category: Diocese of Scranton News

DUSHORE – Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as the principal celebrant for a Mass of Thanksgiving at Saint Basil’s Church, Dushore, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.

The Mass will commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the first Mass offered in the present church. While the actual anniversary took place in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision was made to delay a public celebration until this year. Father Thomas J. Major, Pastor, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, will concelebrate the Mass. A dinner will be held in Saint Basil’s Hall following the Mass.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish has established a committee of volunteers to help prepare for the Sesquicentennial celebration. The committee is handling reservations, decorations and the dinner following Mass.

“As we prepare to gather in prayer to celebrate the Eucharist together, we will be celebrating the entire community of faithful Catholics who have made Saint Basil’s Church their home for 150 years,” Bishop Bambera said. “Over all of that time, the people of Sullivan County have done Christ’s work by celebrating life, teaching people about our faith, feeding families, clothing the poor and converting hearts to the Lord.”

The beginning of Catholic life within the present boundaries of the Diocese of Scranton can trace its roots back to the Dushore-area of Sullivan County. The first two Catholic settlements in northeastern Pennsylvania were near Silver Lake Township, Susquehanna County, and along the Loyalsock Creek in Sullivan County. Both settlements preceded anthracite mining and the logging, lumbering and tanning industries.

The history of Saint Basil’s Church itself dates back to the early 1800s.

In the 1830s, numerous Catholic settlers lived along the Loyalsock Creek but they did not know how to establish a Catholic Church. In 1836, one of the settlers contacted Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, then Bishop of Philadelphia, asking him to visit the people of Dushore.

When the visit took place, Bishop Kenrick advised the people to buy enough land for a cemetery and clear a place for a small chapel. Two years later, the work was complete.

The first Church of Saint Basil’s was a small log chapel, which was dedicated on July 4, 1838. Priests would visit Dushore to celebrate Mass periodically until 1852 when Father James McNaughton was appointed the first resident pastor.

As the congregation continued to grow, the building of a new church was authorized.

The cornerstone of the present church was set by the Most Rev. William O’Hara, Bishop of Scranton, on Oct. 28, 1868. The first Mass was celebrated in the church on the Third Sunday of Lent, March 12, 1871. Bishop O’Hara celebrated a dedication Mass for the church on Sept. 7, 1873.

The church was built of native stone that was quarried about four miles from Dushore and hauled by the parishioners and their neighbors by teams of oxen. The lime was brought 40 miles via horses.

The church was not fully decorated and furnished until 1876 when the frescoes were completed and the pews were installed.

In 1878, the first Fourth of July parish picnic took place and in 1879, the church steeple was erected and the church bell installed.

Many improvements have been made to the physical properties of Saint Basil’s over the years, which include a church renovation in 1960 in which major improvements were also made to the rectory and the cemetery was reorganized. The church also sustained damaged when an EF-1 tornado, with maximum wind speeds of 110 mph, hit Dushore on April 15, 2019.

There have been many vocations to the religious life from Saint Basil’s Church over its history including numerous priests, several brothers and dozens of nuns.

“Our parishioners have so much to be proud of, just as their forefathers had when they attended that first Mass on that third Sunday of Lent in 1871,” Father Major said. “Without so many faithful people there would be no celebration. This anniversary celebration will remind us all that we are joined together by our Baptism into Christ and we continue to be bound together through His presence in the Eucharist.”

All are invited to attend the Mass of Thanksgiving that will be celebrated by Bishop Bambera on Sept. 17, 2022. Anyone who would like to attend the dinner following Mass should contact the parish office at (570) 928-8865 or email ihmparish@ptd.net.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Humanity can no longer ignore the cries of the earth that is suffering due to greed and the excessive consumption of its resources, Pope Francis said.

In his message for the World Day of Prayer for Creation, the pope said the current climate crisis is a call for men and women, especially Christians, to “repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive systems.”

“The present state of decay of our common home merits the same attention as other global challenges such as grave health crises and wars. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience,” he wrote in his message, released by the Vatican July 21.

The theme of the World Day of Prayer for Creation, celebrated Sept. 1, is “Listen to the voice of creation.”

Reflecting on the theme, the pope said that there is “a kind of dissonance” when one listens to the “voice of creation.”

“On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home,” he said.

The pope said the earth has fallen “prey to our consumerist excesses” and to a “tyrannical anthropocentrism,” an attitude in which people think they are the center of the universe. Such an attitude is at odds “with Christ’s centrality in the work of creation.”

Exaggerated self-centeredness, he said, has led to the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of countless and has greatly impacted the lives of the poor and vulnerable indigenous populations.

“As a result of predatory economic interests, their ancestral lands are being invaded and devastated on all sides, provoking a cry that rises up to heaven,” he said.

Furthermore, the pope said, younger generations feel “menaced by shortsighted and selfish actions” and are “anxiously asking us adults to do everything possible to prevent, or at least limit, the collapse of our planet’s ecosystems.”

Pope Francis said the Vatican’s July 6 accession to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement was made “in the hope that the humanity of the 21st century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.”

While the goal of limiting the increase of the earth’s temperature “is quite demanding,” the pope said it also serves as a “call for responsible cooperation between all nations” to confront the climate crisis by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Presenting the pope’s message at the Vatican press office July 21, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said Pope Francis’ message served as a call for bolder action by world leaders attending “this year’s COP27 and COP15 summits on climate change and biodiversity.”

“The planet already is 1.2°C hotter, yet new fossil fuel projects every day accelerate our race toward the precipice,” Cardinal Czerny said. “Enough is enough. All new exploration and production of coal, oil and gas must immediately end, and existing production of fossil fuels must be urgently phased out.”

In his message, the pope highlighted the need to change “models of consumption and production, as well as lifestyles” and transform them into something respectful of creation and integral human development.

“Underlying all this,” the pope wrote, “there is need for a covenant between human beings and the environment, which, for us believers, is a mirror reflecting the creative love of God, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying.’

“The transition brought about by this conversion cannot neglect the demands of justice, especially for those workers who are most affected by the impact of climate change,” the pope added.

He also expressed his hope that the COP15 summit on biodiversity, which will be in December in Montreal, will adopt new agreements that will “halt the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species.”

Emphasizing the principles needed to prevent “the further collapse of biodiversity,” the pope appealed to the mining, oil, forestry, real estate and agribusiness industries to “stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, to stop polluting rivers and seas, to stop poisoning food and people.”

“How can we fail to acknowledge the existence of an ‘ecological debt’ incurred by the economically richer countries, who have polluted most in the last two centuries,” Pope Francis said.

“Even the economically less wealthy countries have significant, albeit ‘diversified’ responsibilities in this regard,” he added. “Delay on the part of others can never justify our own failure to act. It is necessary for all of us to act decisively. For we are reaching a breaking point.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) – This year’s annual Labor Day statement from the U.S. bishops touts two bills awaiting action in Congress as being helpful to children, women and families: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and an expansion of the federal child tax credit.

“Even before current economic uncertainties, women – especially women of African descent and Latina women – earned less than their male counterparts, including when doing the same work with the same qualifications,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, in the statement.

“They filled the majority of direct care jobs, experiencing increased risk of injury, high stress, and exposure to illness while earning low wages. They were the majority of caretakers for their loved ones, yet many lacked adequate family and medical leave policies. These and other economic challenges continue to affect working families and children,” Archbishop Coakley said.

The statement, “Building a Just Economy for Women and Families,” dated Sept. 5 – Labor Day – was released Aug. 31.

Noting that this was the first Labor Day since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Archbishop Coakley said: “This unique moment necessitates a society and an economy that supports marriages, families and women; it demands that all of us reach across political aisles and work diligently to reframe social policies in ways that are pro-woman, pro-family, pro-worker and, thus, authentically pro-life.”

He suggested that both the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the child tax credit expansion fulfill that goal, calling the former one of the bishops’ “policy priorities.”

“There is currently no federal law requiring employers to provide short-term, reasonable accommodations to pregnant women in the workplace and the PWFA would do so. Common requests include being able to carry a bottle of water, a stool for jobs that involve long periods of standing, or lighter duty for jobs that entail heavy lifting,” he said.

“Women in low-wage and physically demanding jobs, disproportionately held by women of color, are regularly denied these simple accommodations and terminated or forced to take leave without pay. A number of states already have laws like this in place; however, pregnant women in every state should be protected by these standards.”

The bill has passed the House, but awaits action in a Senate running out of days on its calendar. “No woman should be forced to risk her or her child’s health, miscarriage, preterm birth, economic security or losing insurance benefits just because she requests a short-term, reasonable, pregnancy-related accommodation,” Archbishop Coakley said.

The archbishop used the statement to press for passage of an expanded child tax credit.

“In 2021, the CTC provided financial relief for families who were having difficulty making ends meet. Families largely spent this money on food, energy bills, housing payments and other basic needs. With rising inflation, continuing to expand this tax credit would be critically helpful to families forced to choose between buying food and filling up their gas tanks,” Archbishop Coakley said.

“Congress should move forward with a CTC proposal that has no minimum income requirement, includes families with mixed immigration status, is available for the year before birth, and is offered to every child — regardless of the size of the family,” he added. “The CTC was enormously effective at reducing child poverty in 2021 and we should not regress from this progress.”

Passing both bills, Archbishop Coakley said, “would have a profound impact on family stability, especially for families who are financially vulnerable.”

He also voiced themes common in the annual Labor Day statement, among them federal paid leave policy, just wages and the right to organize. “We have long called for a system in which the whole of society enjoys fundamental human needs including nutrition, affordable housing, education, and health care,” the archbishop said.

“The efforts of labor unions have helped union workers fare better during the pandemic than nonunion workers, as they were more likely to maintain their pay and their jobs,” he added.

He also lauded the efforts of organizations funded through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development that “work on low-wage workers’ rights and training, in an effort to eliminate labor trafficking and related workplace abuses such as wage theft.”

Archbishop Coakley took note of the death 20 years ago of Msgr. George G. Higgins, head of what was then known as the bishops’ Social Action Department and who either wrote or consulted on multiple decades worth of Labor Day statements.

“He was a fervent advocate of economic justice for all, working closely with unions and union organizers, including Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and received many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Archbishop Coakley said.

“May the spirit and example of Msgr. Higgins inspire us, ” he said, “that we might have the wisdom to build up justice and improve the lives of workers and their families as he did throughout his life.”

 

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

SCRANTON – As the entrance hymn ‘Vivien Con Alegria’ began, some people in the crowd happily clapped along with the fast-moving beat. Others clutched their cell phones to record the moment.

With the sound of joyful music echoing outside of the Cathedral of Saint Peter, there was no denying the presence of the Holy Spirit as the 2022 Hispanic Heritage Mass for the Diocese of Scranton got underway shortly after noon on Sept. 10, 2022.

“This is great for the Spanish community. We all come from different countries,” Rufino Cano, a parishioner from the linked parishes of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross in Scranton, said.

An estimated 500 people attended the Mass, which was celebrated entirely in Spanish. The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist.

The Mass helps to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month that is a time to celebrate the history, culture and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

“It’s a way of acknowledging our culture,” Catalina Valladares, a parishioner of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Cresco, said. “I think this is a very big accomplishment for the Hispanic community in the diocese.”

Hispanic Heritage Month began on Sept. 15 and runs through Oct. 15 each year.

Brenda Bonilla, a parishioner of the linked parishes of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross in Scranton, was moved by the Eucharistic celebration.

“You feel alive. You always feel alive. It’s the music, it’s the people, it’s the prayers, it’s the hymns, it’s everything!” she said. “I was very humbled to see the whole Hispanic community from the whole diocese unified together in one place, in the Mass, which is the best place that we can be together.”

Michael Garcia, 19, and his brother Sebastien, 16, travelled nearly an hour from Saint Matthew Parish in East Stroudsburg specifically to attend the Eucharistic liturgy.

“It was amazing. It was breathtaking, seeing all the priests from all around the parishes and all these people gathered together to celebrate this beautiful Mass,” Michael said.

“It really means a lot to me, all these cultures are all together in one place,” Sebastien added.

During his homily, Bishop Bambera reminded the faithful of their true origins.

“No matter how justifiably proud we are of our countries of origin, the heritage that we cherish and seek to nurture and pass from one generation to the next – our origin is not Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, the United States or any other land,” the bishop noted. “Our true origin – the reason for our time together this day – and the source of our life, our hope and our salvation is Jesus Christ.”

The bishop encouraged unity among all people. He also encouraged the faithful to serve one another as brothers and sisters and to become credible witnesses of the Savior.

“Thank you for working together to build bridges, to make unity a reality in our communities and to serve those among us who are most in need,” Bishop Bambera said. “I am so grateful for you who represent the Hispanic community in our local Church. You are a blessing beyond words and our hope for the future.”

Following the Mass, a three-hour reception was held across the street from the Cathedral at the Diocesan Pastoral Center. The crowd enjoyed food and many musical and dance performances by parishioners from various parishes.

“That is important to create more community, to know other Spanish people from other corners of the diocese,” Cano said.

“It’s the only way that we can get to know that we’re not by ourselves. It’s not my parish in a little corner, it’s not the next parish in a little corner, it’s all of us together – bringing the whole community together walking in our faith,” Valladares added.

The Hispanic Ministry Office of the Diocese of Scranton put the Hispanic Heritage Month Mass and the reception together. Funding for many programs like this comes from generous gifts to the Diocesan Annual Appeal.

 

An estimated 500 people attended the Diocese of Scranton’s annual Hispanic Heritage Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.

Following the celebration of the annual Hispanic Heritage Mass, everyone in attendance was invited to enjoy food and fellowship at the Diocesan Pastoral Center. (Photo/Eric Deabill)

 

Above: Before the beginning of Mass, flags of countries of Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America were brought into the Cathedral.

Right: Mass attendees listen to Bishop Bambera’s homily.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The death penalty is an affront to human dignity that offers no solace to victims and denies the possibility for conversion of those who commit serious crimes, Pope Francis said.

The growing calls around the world for an end to capital punishment are “a sign of hope” for the church, the pope said in a video message released by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network Aug. 31.

“Capital punishment offers no justice to victims, but rather encourages revenge. And it prevents any possibility of undoing a possible miscarriage of justice,” he said.

“From a legal point of view, it is not necessary,” the pope added.

At the start of each month, the network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention. For the month of September, the pope dedicated his prayer intention for the abolition of the death penalty.

In his video message, the pope said the death penalty was unnecessary because society “can effectively repress crime” without denying those who offend “the possibility of redeeming themselves.”

The death penalty, he said, is “morally inadmissible” because it destroys life, which is “the most important gift we have received.”

“Let us not forget that, up to the very last moment, a person can convert and change,” the pope said. “The commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ refers to both the innocent and the guilty.”

Concluding his prayer intention, Pope Francis called on “all people of goodwill” to rally together to end capital punishment and prayed that “the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country.”

In 2018, Pope Francis ordered a revision of the catechism’s paragraph on capital punishment to say that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and to commit the church to working toward its abolition worldwide.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With St. Teresa of Kolkata’s death 25 years ago, there is an entire generation of young men and women who did not see much about her life and legacy, serving “the poorest of the poor.”

That meant it was time to put her back in the spotlight, said a panel of those who were promoting a new documentary about the life of this saint, known popularly as Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity.

At her beatification in 2003, St. John Paul II called her a “courageous woman whom I have always felt beside me.”

Mother Teresa was “an icon of the good Samaritan” who went “everywhere to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor. Not even conflict and war could stand in her way,” the late pope said.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said at a news conference hosted at Vatican Radio Aug. 31 that the Knights made this film “to reach a new generation with the witness and example of Mother Teresa” and to inspire them.

Produced by the Knights of Columbus, “Mother Teresa: No Greater Love,” had its Vatican premiere Aug. 31, ahead of its release to more than 900 theaters Oct. 3 and 4.

“Thank you for all the efforts made to capture the life of this saint, whose life and testimony have borne much fruit,” wrote Pope Francis, who canonized her at the Vatican in 2016.

“Thank you for promoting this type of initiative that helps, in a creative manner, to make accessible the zeal for evangelization, especially for the young generations promoting the desire to follow the Lord who loved us first,” the pope said in an Aug. 25 letter written to Kelly, replying to news of the Vatican premiere.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Ganxhe Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents in Skopje, now capital of North Macedonia, on Aug. 26, 1910. On Sept. 5, 1997, she died of cardiac arrest at the motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.

The documentary, by Emmy award-winning filmmaker, David Naglieri, features archival footage and interviews with dozens of commentators who knew Mother Teresa personally. It was filmed on five continents, providing interviews with many Missionaries of Charity and offering on-the-ground images of their work following in Mother Teresa’s footsteps, serving in what Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston called “the most hellish places” on earth to “bring the light and the love and the mercy of God.”

The cardinal was overcome with emotion at the news conference, recalling attending a talk Mother Teresa gave in the 1960s before her work was widely known and when he was still a young brother preparing for ordination as a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

He said, “this was one of the most inspiring talks I ever heard in my life.” He and the small number of people who had come to hear her speak, he said, “we were all weeping after a while, we were aware that we were in the presence of holiness.”

The documentary shows the work Mother Teresa inspired and, “when she was feeding the hungry or holding the hands of someone as they lay dying, she was treating them as she would the most important person in her life, Jesus Christ himself,” Kelly said in a media release.

“She was teaching us to have a heart that sees, and if we can learn to see as she did, the world would be a radically different and, I would say, better place,” he said.

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) – Marianite Sister Suellen Tennyson, who was kidnapped from the convent of her educational and medical mission in Yalgo, Burkina Faso, in early April, has been found alive and is safe after nearly five months of captivity, a congregational leader of the Marianites said Aug. 30.

“She is safe,” Marianite Sister Ann Lacour said. “She is on American soil, but not in America. She is safe.” She said Sister Suellen was recovered Aug. 29 and the sisters in the congregation have spoken to her. “She eventually will get back to the United States,” she added.

Sister Ann told the Clarion Herald, archdiocesan newspaper of New Orleans, that she spoke with Sister Suellen by telephone.

At least 10 armed men were involved in the attack in which Sister Suellen, 83, was abducted, the Marianites of Holy Cross said in an electronic newsletter at the time of the abduction.

Since then, there had been no news of her whereabouts or condition.

Sister Ann said when she spoke with Sister Suellen, the missionary did not actually “know where she was.”

“She’s totally worn out,” Sister Ann said. “I told her how much people love her, and she doesn’t have anything to worry about. I told her, ‘You are alive and safe. That’s all that matters.'”

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond said he received a text from Sister Ann and was overjoyed that she had been freed. When Sister Suellen was abducted – barefoot and in the middle of the night – she had left behind her blood pressure medication and her glasses.

The congregation said Sister Suellen, the former international congregational leader for the Marianites of Holy Cross and native of New Orleans, was sleeping when the men burst into the convent, ransacked the living quarters and kidnapped her, leaving behind two other Marianite sisters and two young women who also lived in the convent.

“There were about 10 men who came during the night while the sisters were sleeping,” Sister Ann said in an e-bulletin April 6. “They destroyed almost everything in the house, shot holes in the new truck and tried to burn it. The house itself is OK, but its contents are ruined.”

Sister Ann said she was told by the two younger women living at the convent that Sister Suellen was taken from her bed with “no glasses, shoes, phone, medicine, etc.”

The other two Marianites at the convent in Yalgo – Sister Pauline Drouin, a Canadian, and Sister Pascaline Tougma, a Burkinabé — were not abducted and did not see many of the details.

“They say the two young women who live with them saw what happened and told them (the details),” Sister Ann said. “They think there were more men on the road. They have heard nothing from or about Suellen since she was taken.”

Sister Ann said Sister Pauline and Sister Pascaline were quickly relocated to Kaya, Burkina Faso, about 70 miles from Yalgo.

She also said the Marianites contacted both the U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso and the U.S. State Department and received assurance that this was “a high priority case for them.

The congregation also contacted the apostolic nuncios to the U.S., Burkina Faso and France as well as the Vatican’s secretary of state and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the U.S.

Yalgo is in northern Burkina Faso, not far from the border with Mali. Reliefweb, a humanitarian information source on global situations, reported in April that in the past two years, Burkina Faso’s northern and eastern regions had seen a “sharp deterioration in the security situation … due to the presence of nonstate armed groups.”

Sister Ann, who has visited the Marianites in the country, said Sister Suellen was serving as a pastoral minister, “to wipe tears, give hugs, import a smile. She really did support the people that work in the clinic that the parish runs,” adding that people walked for miles to get help from the clinic.

Bishop Theophile Nare of the Kaya Diocese, said Sister Suellen was abducted overnight between April 4 and 5 and taken to an unknown destination by Unidentified Armed Men (UAM).

The bishop said the kidnappers vandalized the convent where Sister Suellen lived in community with other religious women before taking her to the unknown destination.

According to media reports, Burkina Faso, one of the 10 countries in the Sahel region of Africa, has been facing rampant violence occasioned by political crises, which gives a fertile ground for the proliferation of extremist groups.

The city of Yalgo borders the province of Soum, where armed groups are particularly active. In this area, attacks against civilians have increased according to reports.

Ruby Faucheux Keefe, a childhood friend of Sister Suellen’s said she was thrilled to hear Sister Suellen was safe in U.S. custody. “I’ve been thinking about her every day. This has made my day. We grew up together.”

Keefe remembered how the two loved to dance and talk on the phone or in person. The last time Sister Suellen was in town, Keefe recalled how much her friend expressed her love for being in Africa, even though it was very primitive.

“She told me she didn’t have hot water,” Keefe said. “I thought I don’t know how she did it at our age, but she loved it.”

“I just feel so great to hear that she’s been found,” she added.