Possibly well intentioned but possibly sewing more seeds of confusion

 

Pope Francis to Catholic LGBTQ leader: ‘Thank you for your ministry’

By Joe Bukuras

CNA Staff, Oct 24, 2023 / 18:56 pm

A Kentucky man involved in LGBTQ Catholic ministry has posted a letter online he says he received earlier this month from Pope Francis thanking him for his work.

Stan “JR” Zerkowski heads the LGBTQ Outreach Commission for the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky. The commission is a “diocesan-wide effort of seeking, welcoming, accompanying, and ministering to the LGBT community.”

He also leads the LGBTQ+ Ministry at St. Paul Catholic Church in Lexington, a parish that has been the cause of controversy in the past, including for an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary draped in a gay pride flag posted on its website and a prayer to the Blessed Mother it shares under the title “Mother of Pride.”

The Holy Father’s handwritten note came in response to an email that Zerkowski wrote addressed to him on Oct. 10 explaining Zerkowski’s three LGBTQ ministries, two of which fall under the Diocese of Lexington.

“I told him about Fortunate Families. I told him what I do locally and nationally with parishes, hierarchy, educational institutions, and building intentional LGBTQ+ ministries,” Zerkowski shared in a Facebook post.

“I thanked him for opening the door to LGBTQ+ ministry and explained that it has been and still is a difficult ministry. I told him that his openness has saved lives, I know this firsthand. I mentioned that as the Synod [on Synodality] unfolds in Rome, he’s got a special place in my/our prayers,” he wrote.

Pope Francis’ response, translated into English in a photo Zerkowski posted online, said: “Dear brother, thank you very much for your email. Thank you for your ministry. I pray for you, please continue to do so for me. May the Lord bless you and the Madonna watch over you.”

“I understand fully that this note is not about me. This note is about us and our ministry. It is about you. It is an affirmation from the pope,” Zerkowski wrote. “My personal takeaway? The pope is listening. The pope cares.”

Zerkowski is the author of a memoir titled “Coming Out and Coming Home: A Gay Catholic Man’s Journey from Marginalization to Ministry, with a Few Miracles Along the Way.” Lexington Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv, wrote the foreword. 

In addition to leading the diocese’s outreach commission and the LGBTQ+ ministry at St. Paul’s, Zerkowski heads a ministry called Fortunate Families that offers resources and guidance to clergy, parishes, and schools to “discern and begin ministry to LGBTQ+ persons through intentional welcome and LGBTQ+ ministry” within the Church.

Fortunate Families’ website features testimonies by individuals who experienced a gender identity crisis, some of whom went through hormonal or surgical gender transitions. They still say, however, that they wish to be in communion with the Catholic Church.

One man, suffering from gender dysphoria, wrote in his testimony: “After a great deal of prayer and consideration and help from a therapist, I began hormone therapy. Physically, I am much better: my health has improved and my symptoms have subsided. Emotionally, I am struggling with how I will tell my wife and everyone else. I believe my path is to transition and to present as the female that I am. I believe it’s the only way forward, even though I do not know where the path will lead. I keep reminding myself to be not afraid and trust in God!”

The testimony continued: “I believe that it is okay to be transgender and Catholic. Jesus’ life on earth centered on caring for the poor and marginalized. No one was and is outside his compassion. As he said, ‘It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice.’”

CNA asked Zerkowski if the testimonies of individuals who underwent gender transition encouraged the practice.

“We listen to and share real stories just as Pope Francis has encouraged the Church to do via the Synod,” he responded in an email. “The stories are sacred.”

Also on the website is a book for mental health professionals called “The Gender Affirmative Model: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Transgender and Gender Expansive Children.” Its description says that “readers will learn how to facilitate and enable children to live in their authentic gender with necessary social supports.”

The book says that “influencing children to accept the gender that matches the sex on their birth certificate have been challenged, declared unethical, and evaluated as harmful to children’s well-being.”

Another resource, titled “This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Question and Answer Guide to Everyday Life,” says: “Your child, in having the freedom to explore who they are, may meet someone of the same gender, fall madly in love, and grow old with them, happier than you could have ever imagined.”

Asked by CNA if the two books contradict the Church’s teaching on same-sex relations and transgenderism, Zerkowski referred to the website, which says Fortunate Families provides a list of resources but “cannot endorse” them.

“We stand by Catholic social teaching about the dignity of the human person and the Gospel mandate to work together for the common good,” the website says.

News of the letter comes following reports that Pope Francis met at his residence in October with leadership from the U.S. LGBTQ organization New Ways Ministry, which was previously denounced by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office for causing confusion on sexual morality among the Catholic faithful.

A Catholic Parish overcomes hardships to persevere in community and hope

 

Kentucky parish marks second Christmas in a shed, amid both hardship and hope

By John Lavenburg

Dec 23, 2022

|National Correspondent

NEW YORK – For the second straight Christmas, parishioners of Resurrection Catholic Church in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, will celebrate Mass in a decidedly non-traditional setting – a 20-by-20 foot steel shed that exists at the end of a paved walkway in a parishioner’s backyard.

The shed, formerly a weight room, was converted into a worship space after the church building was destroyed by deadly tornadoes that swept across Kentucky on Dec. 10, 2021. Dawson Springs was one of the hardest hit communities, and like others, still has a lot of rebuilding left to do.

Crux was there on Dec. 19, 2021, when the Resurrection Parish community came together for their first Mass in the shed. About 60 people came together for the Mass led by Father David Kennedy and Deacon Mike Marsili. They brought the altar, tabernacle, crucifix and more  – all more or less unharmed – from the destroyed church.

The parish musician had just enough room in the back to sing into a microphone and play her 12-string guitar. Afterwards, they all came back up the walkway to the home of the property owners, Donnie and Rhonda Mill, for a post-Mass gathering.

For the past year, all of that has continued. The parish community has worshiped out of the shed every week, and gathered at the Mills’ home afterwards. In fact, Donnie and others believe that the difficult circumstances of the past year have actually made the parish community stronger.

“We had six families who had significant damage or total loss in our church community from the tornado, and of course everybody in the church experienced the effects of it, and has been involved in helping people get their lives back together,” Donnie told Crux. “And people tend to after Mass come to the house and hang around and talk to one another more than we did when we were coming out of church.”

“We’ve just built a stronger church community because of this.”

Marsili said the parish community has stuck together over the past year, responding to the hardships they and others in Kentucky have face.

“It’s one of those odd paradoxes where when a deep tragedy happens like what happened to us last year, where at first all you can see if the devastation, the damage, and the loss, but as you begin to see what comes out of that, God’s grace, God’s blessings are always bigger than whatever happens. It overcomes whatever tragedy.”

“When you see that in action, like we have seen it in the response to our individual parishioners, the response to our church, even the people who have sent donations, the people who have come by to see how we’re doing, that sort of thing has been monumental,” he added. “It’s been an opportunity to actually see what faith in action actually is … it’s very positive and uplifting.”

Keeping the Faith Alive

The reason Donnie was steadfast in converting the shed into a makeshift church just days after the tornado hit, and kept using it, was a desire to keep the small Dawson Springs Catholic community alive. He knew that if everyone joined a parish community in a neighboring county, that it would be difficult down the road to bring everyone back together in Dawson Springs.

That belief in the importance of having and maintaining a parish community Donnie credits to his father, who brought the Catholic faith to the small town of Marion, Kentucky, part of Crittenden County in the early 1960s. Marion is about 35 miles west of Dawson Springs.

As the story goes, as told by Donnie’s sister Elisa Mills, their father James Frederick Mills, known by all as “Jim Fred,” moved with their family from Union County to Crittenden County – the town of Marion in particular – to continue work as an electrician following World War II. There was no Catholic church in Crittenden County, so the family drove about 25 miles back to Union County for Mass every week.

Eventually, Jim Fred wrote a letter to then-Bishop Francis Cotton of Owensboro explaining the need for a Catholic Church in Crittenden County, who replied that he would put a church there if Fred could find enough parishioners to support it. He did. And after Cotton died in 1961, his successor Bishop Henry Soenneker kept good on his predecessor’s promise and sent a priest to Crittenden County.

The first Mass was in Fred’s basement on Aug. 5, 1962. From there they moved onto a rented house for Mass, before opening St. William Catholic Church in 1966, which still exists today.

“[Jim Fred’s] biggest legacy was St. William Catholic Church,” Elisa told Crux. “It’s remarkable that Donnie and Rhonda did this, but it’s really just a continuation of our legacy and our heritage.”

Donnie said he thought about that history a lot once they settled into the shed church in Dawson Springs.

“I thought about it a lot after the fact,” he said. “That plays a role in it because that’s always been important to me. It’s your church community. It’s not the structure, it’s the people.”

Breaking Ground on a New Resurrection Church

For the Resurrection parishioners, one difference between this year’s Christmas Mass and last is they can begin to look forward to breaking ground on a new church. Marsili, who’s been leading the project, said the site is ready for construction, they’re just waiting for final approval on the building plans the architect and contractor will soon deliver to the Diocese of Owensboro building committee.

Optimistically, Marsili said, they’ll break ground by late January-early February, and get into the building by the end of next year or early in 2024. Marsili acknowledged the long road ahead, but said whenever he gets down about that he reminds himself that the diocese didn’t even have to say yes to a rebuild.

“The fact that they could’ve said no but they didn’t, I just kind of think about that every time I get down about the whole process because we’re on our way to rebuilding and we are going to rebuild and that’s the reality that we’re living in,” Marsili said. “There’s no uncertainty. There’s no doubt.”

Bishop William Medley of Owensboro celebrated Christmas Eve at the makeshift parish last year. He told Crux that he “admire[s] them,” and the way they’ve stuck together as a community for the past year.

Catholic Charities always there; helping those impacted by the Kentucky floods

 

Kentucky Catholic Charities coordinates national aid amid devastating floods

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Aug 1, 2022 / 16:42 pm

Amid record flooding in Kentucky that has left at least 30 people dead, Catholic Charities of Lexington is collaborating with other Christian churches as well as Catholic Charities USA to provide aid to those affected. 

Edward Bauer, director of communications for the Diocese of Lexington, told CNA that none of the diocese’s churches or facilities have sustained significant damage, but the communities surrounding many parishes have been devastated and are in need of aid, with many homes and businesses flooded. 

The flooding began with heavy rains on July 27, leading to widespread flooding across at least five eastern Kentucky counties by the weekend. At least 18,000 people remained without power Monday, and reports suggest that entire towns — many of which are in already impoverished areas — have been inundated. Gov. Andy Beshear has described the disaster as one of the worst in the state’s history. 

The Catholic churches in the diocese have a strong collaborative partnership with other Christian communities, Bauer said, since at only 3% to 4% of the population, the majority of the people in eastern Kentucky are not Catholic, especially in the countryside. He said the Catholic communities in rural Kentucky have been working to provide what aid they can for the poor and needy, adding that another major problem has been that water supplies have been disrupted. He said the parish life director at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Hazard, Ky., told him they may not have clean water for weeks. 

Several other dioceses have contacted the Lexington bishop — unsolicited — to offer to take up second collections for the flood relief, Bauer said. He also said that the Catholic Charities office in Lexington has been in close contact with Catholic Charities USA, working to coordinate national relief efforts. 

The best way for people of good will to help is with cash donations, since the needs are constantly evolving, he said, which can be done through the local Catholic Charities website. Cash donations also allow the local Catholic Charities organizations to invest that money locally into small businesses, which further helps with recovery of a community, Bauer said.

The installation Mass of Archbishop Shelton Fabre in Louisville

 Historic installation of Archbishop Shelton Joseph Fabre heralded as ‘a new era’ for the Catholic church

By Stephanie Wolf

The Archdiocese of Louisville has a new archbishop.

Archbishop Shelton Joseph Fabre was installed Wednesday during a Catholic Mass held at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

Self-proclaimed “cradle Catholics” Larry and Louise Michalczyk showed up early to the service to witness what they called a historic moment in the city. 

“I think this is the start of a new beginning for the Catholic Church here in Louisville,” Larry Michalczky said. 

He pointed to Fabre’s history of elevating racial justice in his ecclesiastical work.

“And I think that’s particularly pertinent here in Louisville at this time,” Larry Michalczyk, who is white, said. “So he brings a new fresh face, new leadership and new experiences.”

Louise Michalczyk, who is also white, said he’ll face some immense challenges, “undoing some of the damage that has been done, within the church, within the diocese and within the community as well.” 

“We need a fresh start here in the community,” she said.

Fabre accepted his duty to lead the Archdiocese of Louisville “with the love of God in my heart.”

Pope Francis appointed Fabre to the post earlier this year. He’s the Archdiocese of Louisville’s fifth archbishop, its 10th bishop and the area’s first Black leader of the local archdiocese, which encompasses 24 Kentucky counties and more than 200,000 parishioners, in its more than 210-year history. 

Fabre, 58, came to Louisville from his home state of Louisiana, where he had been the bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux since late 2013. 

According to his biography on the Archdiocese of Louisville’s website, Fabre studied at the American College of Louvain and the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven in Belgium. He was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge in 1989. 

Fabre succeeded Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who had held the title since 2007 and retired in August on his 75th birthday.

A ‘message of joyful hope’

During a press conference in early February announcing Fabre’s appointment, Kurtz said the area parishes are “getting someone who is a deeply human person, a very healthy person, a holy man and, in a special way, a good pastoral bishop.”

“I’m both humbled and excited by this appointment by the Holy Father, and I pledge to serve the needs of this church to the very best of my ability,” Fabre said during that same press conference.

In March 2020, then-Archbishop Kurtz invited Fabre to give a virtual presentation of “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love.” Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, of which Fabre serves as chair, penned the anti-racism letter. It states that racism continues to have significant and harmful impacts on society, and it “has no place in the Christian heart.”

“While I recognize that our community has faced, what some may say, is far too great an experience of injustice and disregard for human life and dignity, I come to you with a message of joyful hope,” Fabre said during the February press conference. “I have great faith and great hope in the work already underway within our community regarding racial equality.”

He expressed a conviction that working together will help the local Catholic community in attaining “the promotion of life, charity, justice and peace as we endeavor to build an even greater civilization of love.”

Uniting the region’s Catholic community

Fabre will have his work cut out for him. 

In the months leading up to his appointment, local Black Catholics demanded that the archdiocese and archbishop do more to address the treatment of three parishes in Louisville’s West End. 

“Repeatedly, our assigned Black priest has shown disregard for our voices in managing and leading our congregations,” several parishioners wrote in an opinion column in the Courier Journal in November. 

They said Catholic leadership in the area had failed them on a number of levels, including not addressing concerns about mismanagement of funds and pervasive mistreatment from church leadership.

“Is it too harsh to label this racism?” the parishioners wrote. “No. It is the truth. Do we Black Catholics in struggling, small parishes in marginalized neighborhoods count as much as white Catholics in parishes with corporate and professional parishioners holding country club memberships and living in East End McMansions with four-car garages?”

Upon his appointment as archbishop, Fabre said he hopes Black Catholics in the archdiocese’s region, “will see in me someone who looks like them.” 

“Someone who knows them and wishes to speak with them,” he continued. “Someone who was sent here to serve all members of the archdiocese.”

That gives parishioners, like lifelong Catholic Lisa Johnson of Bardstown, hope.

Johnson, who is Black, said Fabre seems like someone who will listen, “someone who’s going to be available and approachable.” 

“And I think that’s the first step because that opens up the dialogue and opens up that opportunity to improve,” she said.

She was excited to be in attendance Wednesday, and said, “coming from a multicultural church,” the moment felt historic. 

“I know he’s well equipped,” Johnson said. “And I’m excited to see what he’s going to do.”

During his sermon Wednesday, Fabre said the local Catholic community is confronted with many unknowns and challenges, encouraging the attendees to “look to Christ” for hope. 

“We together face the challenges of COVID-19, the effects of past hurts and injustices, and the disregard of human life and dignity through racism,” he said.

He continued that he believes the Archdiocese of Louisville is its people, and that’s why they should face challenges, like racism, as a community. 

“We stand on the precipice of an exciting future,” Fabre said Wednesday. “However, the future will largely be determined by us standing together and keeping our eyes focused on Him, who unites us, rather than on the things that divide us.”

Fabre also noted other challenges he sees the church facing, including “aggressive secularism, assaults on religious freedom, the reality of poverty, and the need for healing the woundedness of marriage and family life.” 

Members of Louisville’s LGBTQ Catholic community have voiced concern over Fabre’s record of speaking against same-sex marriage.

In 2015, Fabre told a Louisiana newspaper that the church believes same-sex marriage is harmful to society, and advised against Catholics attending same-sex ceremonies or providing services for them.

And in early 2021, he put his name on a statement, along with other Catholic bishops, saying they were concerned by President Joe Biden’s executive order to extend federal sex discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. 

“Wednesday’s executive order on ‘sex’ discrimination exceeds the Court’s decision,” the statement said. “It threatens to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference or who uphold the institution of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman.”

During the February press conference, a reporter asked Fabre if he would welcome LGBTQ community members into the Catholic church. 

“I stand ready, certainly, to meet and to listen,” Fabre responded. “I hope they would find in me someone who is willing to listen to them, someone who is willing to journey with them, someone who is willing to invite them to come to know the Jesus Christ that we know.”

Faith communities resolve to rebuild and pray following tornado tragedy

 

Mourning, prayer and a resolve to rebuild follow devastating tornadoes

MAYFIELD, Ky. (CNS) — Mourning, prayer and a resolve to rebuild shattered lives, homes and businesses in Mayfield followed one of the most powerful twisters in U.S. history that leveled the city of 10,000 in western Kentucky overnight Dec. 10.

The Bluegrass State was the worst hit as numerous devastating tornadoes traveled across it and its neighboring states of Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri, leveling entire communities.

As of early Dec. 13, at least 34 people were confirmed dead, but rescue efforts were still underway in Mayfield and elsewhere.

Twenty of those who perished were in Kentucky, and six died when a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.

As members of two of Mayfield’s faith congregations came together to pray Dec. 12 amid rubble — piles of brick, metal and glass — prayers for their city and all of those affected by the ferocious mid-December twisters came from far and wide, including from Pope Francis and the U.S. Catholic bishops, and from close to home — Bishop William F. Medley of Owensboro, whose diocese covers western Kentucky.

A papal telegram conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said Pope Francis “was saddened to learn of the devastating impact of the tornadoes” in the Midwest and the South.

“He offers heartfelt prayers that almighty God will grant eternal peace to those who have died, comfort to those who mourn their loss, and strength to all those affected by this immense tragedy,” it said.

“With gratitude for the tireless efforts of the rescue workers and all engaged in caring for the injured, the grieving families and those left homeless, Pope Francis invokes upon all engaged in the massive work of relief and rebuilding the Lord’s gifts of strength and generous perseverance in the service of their brothers and sisters,” said the telegram, which Cardinal Parolin sent to Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio in the U.S.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said the destruction and devastation was “heartbreaking” and called for prayer and assistance for all those who were in the path of the storms.

“During this Advent season where we await in joyful anticipation for the birth of our Lord, we pray for those who have been injured, for those who have lost their lives, and for their grieving families and communities,” said Archbishops Gomez and Coakley. “May those who have been impacted by these storms find peace, comfort and hope in our faith and in God’s endless love.

“We also pray for the emergency responders and those who have begun the work of providing for the needs of the impacted in these communities in the recovery efforts,” they said in a statement issued late Dec. 11. “We entrust all our brothers and sisters in harm’s way to our Blessed Mother, and we ask for her continued protection and for her intercession in comforting those who are suffering.”

The two prelates urged Catholics and all people of goodwill to donate to recovery efforts and financial help for tornado victims by supporting the work of Catholic Charities USA: https://www.catholiccharities.us/campaign/ccusa-disaster-relief/c353051.

Bishop Medley in a Dec. 11 statement called on the Catholic community of the diocese “to unite in prayer … for all of the suffering that was caused by this disaster.”

He asked all parishes to take up a special collection over the Dec. 11-12 weekend to aid tornado victims.

The bishop also took note of the leveling of Mayfield’s candle factory, where 110 employees were working around the clock, which is customary during the Christmas season, according to news reports.

Initially, city officials feared the death toll among factory workers would reach 70. Late Dec. 12, a company representative told reporters that eight workers were confirmed dead and eight remained missing, but the rest had been accounted for.

“Many of those injured in the Mayfield candle factory were parishioners, and others represented migrants and the marginalized in our communities,” Bishop Medley said in his statement.

He added that through its Catholic Charities office, the diocese planned “to offer immediate help and services” for those displaced by the tornado and/or in need of immediate emergency financial help.

“I am proud of the many ways that your generosity always allows the Catholic Church to respond to the suffering and to families in crisis,” Bishop Medley said. “So I thank you in advance for your generous response to this terrible devastation. God will bless our generosity.”

In a Dec. 12 tweet, Bishop Medley said he visited the Catholic community of St. Joseph Church in Mayfield: “Fr. Eric Riley, the pastor, preached on the Advent and Our Lady of Guadalupe themes of hope and joy. Neighboring parish St. Jerome of Fancy Farm welcomed them.”

At a news briefing Dec. 12 in Mayfield, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear noted one tornado traveled 227 miles. “It didn’t take a roof, which is what we’ve seen in the past. It exploded the whole house. People, animals … just gone.”

“The very first thing that we have to do is grieve together,” he said, “and we’re going to do that before we rebuild together.”