Sunday's Saint of the Day

St. Rosalia

Facts

Feastday: September 4
Death: 1160

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St. Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses and Quisquina, was a descendant of the great Charlemagne. She was born at Palermo in Sicily. In her youth, her heart turned from earthly vanities to God. She left her home and took up her abode in a cave, on the walls of which she wrote these words: "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ." She remained there entirely hidden from the world.
She practiced great mortifications and lived in constant communion with God. Afterward she transferred her abode to Mount Pellegrino, about three miles from Palermo, in order to triumph entirely over the instincts of flesh and blood, in sight of her paternal home. She is said to have appeared after death and to have revealed that she spent several years in a little excavation near the grotto. She died alone, in 1160, ending her strange and wonderful life unknown to the world. Her body was discovered several centuries later, in 1625, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII. Her feast day is September 4th.

Gonna be rough

Fall 2016 for Louisiana football fans is lost.

  LSU blew a chance to be elite this year and now are looking at a 7-5 season, 8-4 if everything comes together.  A far cry from the hoped for 10-2 or even 11-1.  Reasons are numerous and reserved for another post when not so disappointed.

Then we have the New Orleans Saints, a once proud winning franchise going in the wrong direction fast.  So tonight I will bite the bullet and make a Saints prediction.  I really believe they can be worse than what I'm about to predict.  Make no mistake, this is a bad team that will probably get Drew Brees killed and Sean Payton wishing he would have walked away.  So for this year I now predict 6-10.  This is probably too optimistic as the Saints are that bad.

Football fans in these parts need to suck it up.  Our teams will be letting us down in 2016.

One Catholic Priests looks at war and abortion; both evil, perhaps not equal

War and Abortion

September 3, 2016 by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

There’s some fuzzy thinking among Catholics on the issue of abortion and war. The argument goes like this: “Vote Democrat and innocent babies get killed through abortion. Vote Republican and innocent people get killed in an unjust war. Since you’re going to end up with killing either way, let’s ignore those issues and focus on the economy.” The subtext is, “I’m going to vote Democrat even if their candidate does support partial birth abortion.”
The present Democratic president…winner of the Nobel Peace Prize no less…has been pretty adept at killing people with  America’a vast and indomitable military machine, and Hillary Clinton does not come across as Little Miss Muffet. Looking at the historical record I suspect Democrat presidents and Republican presidents have both been happy to send our soldiers out to war.
But should someone make the case that war and abortion are both just as bad, there are some other points to make.
It is actually possible to think these things through. All it takes is a little bit of time and a little bit of thought. It is actually possible, therefore, to make a sensible moral decision in these matters.

First you have the question of proportion. How many people are being killed through abortion and how many people are being killed in American military action?I don’t have the precise statistics, but the deaths from the wars are in the thousands and the deaths from abortion in our country alone are in the millions. Because of the difference in the number of deaths these two issues are not morally equivalent.

Second, we must consider the ‘innocence’ of the deaths. The death of one totally innocent, vulnerable unborn child who is incapable of self defense must be more morally outrageous than the killing of an armed opponent in war. With abortion the child killed in the womb is attacked totally and has not even the idea of proper self defense or intentional involvement. An opposing combatant has chosen (at least partially) to take up arms and be involved in a possible killing himself.

Third, we must consider who perpetrates the killing and their knowing involvement and participation. A soldier who goes into combat is trained to kill, however, he is also trained to kill only as a last resort. A good soldier is first trained to avoid killing and to take the enemy prisoner if at all possible, and he is supposed to treat the prisoner humanely. In war this does not always happen, but consider the abortionist or one who procures an abortion: in every case they set out intentionally to kill and to do nothing but kill an innocent human being. Politicians who support abortion therefore enable those who wish to kill an innocent and defenseless child. Even if the particular war is unjust, the soldiers and politicians who instigated the war were doing so (even if in a debased way) not to promote killing, but to promote a final goal of justice and peace.

Fourth we must consider the possibility of self defense. An enemy combatant can arm himself and fight back. An unborn child is attacked while totally defenseless and is unable to defend himself in any way.

Fifth, we must consider the innocent deaths of those who have died in American military action. In the Middle East the largest numbers of those killed have been killed by fellow Islamic terrorists, not by American soldiers. Along with this. we must consider the intention of the American soldiers. They have not intended to kill innocent civilians, even if some have been killed. Furthermore, they have been trained not to promote the terrorist attacks that have killed so many, but to stop them–even at the expense of their own lives and through their military operations.

Notice that the arguments above are not concerned with the justice or the injustice of any particular military action, and I am certainly not banging the American war drum and saying war is good. If anything, I tend toward my Amish roots of pacifism when it comes to war, but This is a separate argument altogether, and one that can be properly put by those who wish to argue one way or another.

However, to say that involvement in a war in which people are killed is the moral equivalent to abortion is lazy, dumb, or willfully rebellious against simple truth.

Ahead of her canonization we remember these 7 lessons from Mother Teresa

7 Lessons from Mother Teresa

What does the devil hate the most? And what does it mean truly to forgive?

Diane Montagna

September 2, 2016September 3, 2016

© Antoine Mekary / ALETEIA

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VATICAN CITY — Why is Calcutta everywhere? What does the devil hate the most? And what does it mean truly to forgive? The postulator of Mother Teresa’s cause of canonization, Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., Superior General of the Missionary Fathers of Charity, today at a press conference on Sunday’s canonization offered seven lessons we can learn from the saint.
Also present were several people closely linked to Mother Teresa, including Sister Mary Prema Pierick, M.C., Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity (the third Superior General of the Order, after Mother Teresa as founder, and Sister Nirmala); Marcílio Haddad Andrino, who was miraculously cured through intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa, and his wife Fernanda Nascimento Rocha.
Asked about the relic that will be present at the Rite of Canonization on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, Fr. Brian explained “the relic is a large relic of blood.” The reliquary, he said, is made of wood from various holy sites that represented the various works of mercy. One is from the shrine of St. Charbel of Lebanon, one is from a confessional, he said.
7 Lessons we can learn from Mother Teresa offered by the postulator of her cause.
1. She’s the perfect Saint for the Year of Mercy
Mother Teresa was so aware of her need for mercy before God. She was very much at home with her own poverty. The Year of Mercy is first of all a reminder to all of us that before God we all stand in need of mercy; so in this we are all poor; we stand as a beggar in need of his love, of his forgiveness – of his mercy.
2. This is Mother Teresa’s message: Calcutta is everywhere
As Mother Teresa, we can call this reality of our interior poverty the “Calcutta of the heart,” and indeed, the “Calcutta of my own heart!” Mother Teresa used to say: “Calcutta is everywhere.”
3. Forgive and (truly) forget
She was always ready to show mercy and forgiveness to others. Mother Teresa said,“We need lots of love to forgive and we need lots of humility to forget, because it is not complete forgiveness unless we forget also. … Very often we say we have forgiven but we cannot forget. And as long as we cannot forget, we really have not forgiven fully.”
4. Regular confession
For Mother Teresa it was not a matter of habit or routine, but of meeting the mercy and love of God each time anew.
5. God’s love for sinners
“The devil hates God. And that hatred in action is destroying us. Making us commit sin, making us share in that evil. … So that we too share in that hatred and [this] cuts us off from God. But there is where the wonderful mercy of God comes. … And this is what the devil hates in God, that tenderness and love of God for the sinner.”
6. The Dark Night
Among other things that Mother Teresa’s spiritual experience of solitude, of an absence of consolation from God, might mean, this “dark night” also explains why Mother Teresa had such a great capacity for mercy. The experience of darkness compelled her to depend continuously on the mercy of the Lord, and therefore to be always ready to show mercy to others.
Mother Teresa said “yes” to the darkness, which was a terrible way to suffer for someone who loved God so deeply. “I have come to love the darkness – for I believe now that it is a part, a very, very small part of Jesus’ darkness and pain on earth.” [You have taught me to accept it [as] a spiritual side of ‘your work’ as you wrote -] “Today really I felt a deep joy – that Jesus can’t go anymore through the agony – but that He wants to go through it in me – More than ever I surrender myself to Him – Yes – more than ever I will be at His disposal.”
In this “yes” of Mother Teresa there is all her holiness and all of our Christian faith: all of what is asked of us to do and all of what we can do. Jesus does the rest.
7. Mother Teresa is a saint for everyone
Precisely because she was able to share the suffering of Jesus, she understood that she was loved in a special way by God.
Mother Teresa is a saint for everyone, for the poor and the rich, and for our time, devastated by so much violence and aridity of heart, because she has shown that the evil/misery that we all carry within us, can be forgiven and that, grasping the merciful and secure hand that Jesus extends to us, our darknesses can be overcome.

Diane Montagna

Diane Montagna is Rome correspondent for Aleteia’s English edition

- See more at: http://aleteia.org/2016/09/02/7-lessons-from-mother-teresa/?utm_campaign=english_page&utm_medium=aleteia_en&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1472879970

The awfully violent year for Catholic nuns across the world

Bolivian nun kidnapped and raped the latest sister to face violence

• In Global Church
• Inés San Martín
  September 2, 2016
  VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

(Credit: Expreso.press)

The kidnapping and rape of an 81-year-old Catholic nun in Bolivia is only the most recent assault on a woman religious, after recent incidents in both the United States and Argentina, as experts on religious life say that the threats faced by Catholic sisters are on the rise.

ROME- An 81-year old nun was kidnapped and raped by four men on Tuesday night near Bolivia’s largest city, after assailants intercepted her car as she was coming back from a pastoral meeting.

The attack comes against the backdrop of several other recent cases of violence against religious sisters.
In a statement released by the Bolivian bishop’s conference and the diocese of Coroico, some 60 miles from La Paz, two of the men who raped the religious sister were wearing police clothes. After assaulting her, they took her truck, using the excuse that it was implicated in a drug trafficking case.
According to the statement, the attack on the elderly sister was “cold and calculated,” perpetrated by gangs related to organized crime who want to take over some Church-owned lands.
The bishops asked the authorities to “defend the people, institutions and groups that work for the common good” from the individuals and groups that “search their own benefit, through violent acts and lacking any humanity and ethic.”
This “violent, inhuman and criminal act” against the religious sister is far from being the only case of violence against nuns in the last year.
Not 10 days ago, the United States was shocked to hear about the cold-blooded murder of two nuns in one of Mississippi’s poorest counties. Sister Paula Merrill, a nun with Kentucky-based Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, and Margaret Held, a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were killed in their home by Rodney Sanders, 46, a man who had been living in a small metal shed across from the religious women.
On Thursday 24th, a small community of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, who’ll be declared a saint by Pope Francis on Sunday, were attacked in Argentina. Beaten and tied by three men who took all the money they had in their home, roughly $3,30, their assailants remain unknown.
Earlier in the year, on March 4, four sisters from the same religious order were murdered in Yemen, together with 12 other people. These Missionaries of Charity were killed when Islamic fundamentalists entered the home for the disabled and elderly which the women operate in Aden.
The superior of the home survived by hiding. Father Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian Salesian priest who had been living in the home since Holy Family Parish in Aden was sacked and burned in September, is still missing.
Pope Francis referred to them as “martyrs of indifference,” saying that these “are the martyrs of today…they gave their blood for the Church, (yet) they are not in the papers, they are not news.”
According to official Vatican statistics, there are roughly 700,000 professed Catholic sisters in the world, with the most recent growth coming in parts of the developing world such as Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where both chronic lawlessness and also, in some instances, anti-Christian persecution are often part of the social landscape.
As a result, many experts on religious life believe the perils faced by members of religious orders, and probably especially women, are destined to increase.

A look at some potential future Pope's; just because

Turkson a credible successor to Francis, but not the only one

• In Analysis, Vatican
• John L. Allen Jr.
  September 2, 2016
  EDITOR

Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson will head the new Vatican office to promote integral human development. (Credit: CNS/Tom Tracy.)

For those who will be looking to support continuity with Pope Francis in the next papal election, African cardinal Peter Turkson is certainly at the top of many lists, but there are other plausible candidates, including one who may surprise you.

Not that there was any real mystery about it, but Wednesday certainly confirmed that Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana is very much part of Pope Francis’ inner circle, one of those senior churchmen upon whom he most relies to carry out his agenda.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis created a new Vatican department for human development, combining several previous agencies including one for justice and peace headed by Turkson, who at just 67 remains one of the younger figures at the senior levels of Francis’ papacy.
Francis legendarily is his own man, far less dependent upon aides or advisers to craft his important decisions than most leaders who head important global institutions. Even so, looking around, there are a handful of key figures who clearly enjoy this pope’s favor and represent architects of important parts of his agenda.
Beyond Turkson, some of those figures include:

• Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
• Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, coordinator of the pope’s council of nine cardinal advisers.
• Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, Germany, a key Francis ally in his two synods of bishops on the family and head of the pope’s new Council for the Economy.
• Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines, president of the global Catholic charitable group Caritas.
• Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, an important theological resource for Francis.
• Bishop Nunzio Galantino, secretary of the powerful Italian bishops’ conference.
• Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who runs the pope’s personal charitable outreach in Rome.
• Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, appointed by Francis as rector of Argentina’s Catholic University, and largely perceived as one of the pope’s ghostwriters.
• Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, head of pope’s commission for the protection of minors and a figure whose whose own personality and style clearly are in sync with the Francis vision of ecclesiastical leadership.

For Vatican-watchers, one unavoidable question implied by such a list of papal favorites comes down to this: Is there a possible successor among them?
Right now, there is absolutely zero indication of any health crisis around Pope Francis, any flagging energy, or any imminent end to his reign. However, merely as a thought exercise, Roman dinner tables sometimes find themselves occupied by curiosity over who might be best positioned to carry forward the Pope Francis project when Francis himself is either unable, or unwilling, to continue.
The central voting issue in the next conclave, which is the event when a pope is elected, will almost certainly break down along the lines of continuity or discontinuity with Pope Francis - in part because conclaves to some extent always function as a referendum on the papacy that’s just ended, and in part because Francis has set a bold course for the Church that has excited many in Catholicism and alarmed others who may feel it represents too much of a break.
What we might call the “discontinuity” party will certainly have its candidates, among whom someone such as Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, currently the Vatican’s top official for liturgy and a staunch conservative on matters of doctrine, may well figure prominently.
The question is who the candidate of the continuity party may be, and there’s a good chance that at least in the early rounds, one of the figures listed above and associated with the Francis approach will seem the obvious choice.
Certainly, there’s a solid argument to be made for Turkson. He’s a polyglot, speaking multiple languages fluently, he’s charismatic and projects well on TV, and obviously there would a definite buzz around the idea of a “black pope.”
Moreover, he’s got deep credentials both as a local bishop and now as a Vatican official, and would be taken seriously as the kind of leader whose experience would position him to lead.
In all honesty, however, the pro-continuity camp might feel even more comfortable with Parolin, 61, who as an Italian and a veteran of the inner workings of the Secretariat of State just oozes a capacity to govern, yet whose kismet with Francis does not make him a stereotypical product of “the system” or the old guard.
The knock against Parolin, of course, is that electing an Italian might strike some of the electors most sympathetic to Francis as a step back, a return to an Italian-dominated Church not sufficiently aware of, or open to, the rest of the world.
In unpacking the possibilities, it’s important to remember that one defining feature of the continuity camp is a sense that Francis represents a healthy break with the ways of the past, moving beyond a stifling version of tradition that sometimes, these folks believe, left the Church hobbled in its ability to adapt.
They might be willing to think past the usual protocol that says to be a serious papal candidate one must already be a cardinal, and if that’s the case, here’s a plausible wild card candidate to be the one to pick up the Pope Francis mantle: Krajewski.
On the surface, it seems a silly idea. Aside from not being a cardinal, he’s also just 52, and conventional wisdom would say that’s far too young to be elected a pope - the last two were 78 and 76, respectively, at the time of election. His position also carries no real policy responsibility, so he might not posses quite the gravitas one typically looks for in a pope.
On the other hand, the possibility of resignation changes the calculus a bit, meaning you’re not necessarily saddled with a pope for life, and Krajewski has a great deal going for him. As a Pope Francis man, he’s obviously identified with the agenda of this papacy, but as a Pole he also represents a more traditional form of Catholic life that might be reassuring to some conservatives, and he also embodies the St. John Paul II legacy.
After the last week, in other words, two things now seem inarguably true. One is that Turkson is an important runner to represent the future of the Pope Francis project the next time the Church finds itself needing to pick a pope, and the other is that he’s not quite the only figure advocates of continuity with this pope could see plausibly stepping into that role.

As a Pope he was "Great" and now a revered Saint

   

Pope Saint Gregory the Great

Facts

Feastday: September 3
Death: 604

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Pope Saint Gregory I, also known as the Great, was the Pope of the Catholic Church between 590 and 604 AD.
Gregory was born around 540 in Rome. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Although the Western Roman Empire had collapsed long before his birth, many ancient Roman families still commanded great wealth and influence in the city. Gregory was born into one such family. His great-great-grandfather was Pope Felix III who reigned from 483 to 492. (Astute readers may suspect this to be a scandal, but this was at a time before the clergy took vows of celibacy.)
His father was named Gordianus, and he was a senator and a Prefect of Rome. Gordianus also held a position in the Church with the title of Regionarius, but there are no records from the time which describe the post. Gregory's mother was Silvia, also from a noble family. Silvia's sister (Gregory's aunt), Pateria are both recognized as saints in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Gregory had a brother, but nothing is recorded, neither his name or his fate.
Gregory's family was very wealthy and owned estates on the island of Sicily which provided income.
When Gregory was just two years old in 542, the Plague of Justinian swept through the region. This plague was caused by a now-extinct strain of Yersinia Pestis, more commonly known as the Black Death. The plague was the most severe outbreak of deadly disease the world had ever known and remained the worst such incident until the Black Death in the 14th century. About a third of the population in Italy was wiped out by the disease.
In addition to disease, the barbarian Ostrogoths sacked Rome in 546. The Franks attempted an invasion in 554. Both of these incursions were short lived. It is unclear how these massive events impacted Gregory's development as a child, but it is thought his family retreated to Sicily during part of that time. Peace followed in Italy after these upheavals.
Gregory was well educated and excelled in all his studies. He also became an expert in law. He excelled so much he became the Prefect of Rome, just as his father had been. Gregory was only 33 years old.
After Gregory's father had died, Gregory had the family villa in Rome converted into a monastery. Today the monastery still stands as the San Gregorio Magno al Celio. This famous monastery fell into ruin in the following centuries but was restored during the 17th and 18th centuries.
As a monk, Gregory was hard and strict. When a monk on his deathbed confessed to stealing three pieces of gold, Gregory ordered he be left to die alone. After the poor monk had died, Gregory ordered his body thrown on a dung heap along with the three coins. Then, in a turn of heart, Gregory offered 30 Masses for the deceased monk.
Pope Pelagius II, who reigned from 579 to 590, chose Gregory to serve as an ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople.
The Pope had a problem with the Lombards invading from the west. Gregory was ordered to request military aid from the emperor. But the emperor felt there were greater threats to the east, and he refused Gregory's request.
In 590, Pope Pelagius II died, and Gregory was proclaimed pope by acclamation. This was not something Gregory wanted, but he accepted the burden nevertheless.
Gregory made clear he preferred the monastic life in a series of writings praising it. He also referred to himself as a servant of God. The habit remains in practice to this day and many clergy still refer to themselves as servants.
Pope Gregory was famous for the emphasis he put on missionary work. He sent many people out to bring many to Jesus and into the Church. Anglo-Saxon Britain was, at that time, still on the frontier of Christendom. It was Pope Gregory who dispatched St. Augustine (of Canterbury) to Kent in 597 (not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo).
Pope Gregory made many changes to the Mass, some of which remain today, The position of the Our Father in the Mass remains where Pope Gregory placed it.
He emphasized the aspect of service to the poor for deacons. The number of deacons was increasing in number and they were seen as less essential as extensions of the Bishop than they were in the early Church. Deacons were often tasked with giving alms to the poor, and at least one was assigned to each church and ordained for this purpose.
Pope Gregory may have also established "cantus planus," known in English as plainchant. Most today know this style of singing as Gregorian Chant. The melodious, monophonic music is known throughout the Church and closely associated with medieval monasteries. Gregorian chant gives us the oldest music we still have in the original form, some dating to the centuries just after the death of Gregory. It remains a matter of some dispute just how involved Pope Gregory was in the development of the style. Some music historians argue the credit is a misattribution that rightly belongs to his less famous successor of a century later, Gregory II.
Pope Gregory was well known for his alms to the poor, and he gave quite generously of the riches donated to the Church by the wealthy people of Rome. Everything from money to land was given to the poor in some fashion. He made clear to his subordinates that their duty was to relieve the distress faced by the poor.
He ordered his clergy to go out into the streets to find and care for the poor in person. Any clergy who were unwilling to go into the streets and help the poor were replaced. Assets of the Church were liquidated to provide income for alms. Clergy doing this work were paid four times a year and given a gold coin as a sort of bonus.
When a famine struck Rome in the 590s, Pope Gregory ordered the Church to use its assets to feed the poor. At that time, the Church controlled nearly two thousand square miles of land, overseen by the clergy and used to generate income. Now, instead of selling the produce of the land, Pope Gregory ordered it shipped to Rome and given away for free. In this way, he saved thousands of people from certain death.
Pope Gregory himself refused to eat until his monks returned from their work of handing out food.
He also made certain to dine with a dozen poor people at each meal.
Gregory is widely considered the be the first medieval pope, and he was a prolific writer.
Because of his great respect for the poor, it was Pope Gregory and the Church that became the most respected --and obeyed force in Rome and across Italy.
From the time of Gregory onwards, the people looked to the Church for government rather than the distant and indifferent emperors in Constantinople.
Pope Gregory suffered from arthritis in his last years. He died on March 12, 604 AD. He was immediately proclaimed a saint by means of popular acclaim.
Saint Gregory's relics remain in St. Peter's Basilica to this day.
In 1969, the Second Vatican Council moved Saint Gregory's feast day from March 12 to September 3 so it would not fall during Lent. During Lent, there are no obligatory memorials. The Eastern Orthodox Church also venerates Saint Gregory, honoring him on March 12.
Both Anglican and Lutheran Christians also venerate Pope Saint Gregory.
He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers

In the Archdiocese of New Orleans we work to get the formerly incarcerated resettled

Cornerstone Builders

Cornerstone Builders is a re-entry program for formerly incarcerated men and women based on rehabilitation through service.
Cornerstone Builders is grounded in the belief that community service equips people with the skills and assets necessary to be responsible, productive citizens. This prisoner re-entry program acts as the foundation of a transformative experience that benefits not only the individual, but also the families and victims of crimes and society.
Our Re-Entry 72 program provides support services to persons within the first 72 hours of release from local correctional facilities.
Cornerstone Builders provides free family bus rides to prisons through our Bus Project and mentorship to children whose parents are incarcerated through our Cornerstone Kids Mentoring Program.
We also organize an Annual Symposium for Systemic Change at which participants discuss strategies to end mass incarceration.

Mass incarceration is the final chapter in the struggle from slavery to this day. – Ronnie Moore, renowned New Orleans civil rights leader

A Vision of Justice

a judicial system of fairness and mercy

Cornerstone Builders promotes a fivefold vision of justice in terms of rehabilitation and re-entry for the individual and systemic change in the criminal justice system:

• RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: spiritual healing, reconciliation, and transformation
• CIVIC JUSTICE: rehabilitation through service
• JUSTICE REINVESTMENT: advocacy for public dollars to be spent on rehabilitation and job creation for returning citizens rather than mass incarceration
• SOCIAL JUSTICE: promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity
• ECONOMIC JUSTICE: economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions or other
  associations.

Re-Entry 72

Helping Former Inmates Invest In Themselves

Re-entry 72 is an initiative of Cornerstone Builders in conjunction with the local sheriffs’ offices to provide emergency housing, immediate employment and support services to persons within the first 72 hours of release from local correctional facilities.
Studies have shown that immediate employment and shelter assistance within this crucial period of time greatly reduces the likelihood of recidivism. In Louisiana, 48 percent of ex-offenders are likely to be back in jail within 5 years. However, if released prisoners are able to find and hold a job for 3 years, that rate drops by more than 50 percent.
Based on an AmeriCorps program, Re-entry 72 connects former inmates to community resources including substance abuse and mental health counseling, legal aid, food and clothing. Participants are able to earn an income and receive intensive case management while looking for a job.
In 2015, the program served 60 newly released prisoners.

If I get [the person] to hook up to the resources as well as to his [probation officer], I have addressed recidivism because 5-10 percent go back to jail within the first 72 hours. – Ronnie Moore

Cornerstone Builders Bus Project

Family Reunification

Since 2007, Cornerstone Builders’ Bus Project has been providing free monthly bus service for New Orleans families who have loved ones in Louisiana detention facilities.
By providing free transportation for family visits, we promote healthy relationships, encourage a network for family support, provide an incentive for good behavior by inmates, and inspire better cooperation between inmates and prison officials.
Cornerstone Builders’ Bus Project travels to all 13 state correctional facilities and connects hundreds of family members with incarcerated loved ones each year.  Bus trips are paid for by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and a group of cyclists called “NOLA to Angola” who raise more than $20,000 a year for the program.

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Cornerstone Kids Mentoring Program

Empowering At-Risk Youth

Cornerstone Kids is a mentoring program for children ages 4-18 who have at least one incarcerated parent.
This program relies on volunteers from the community to provide support and encouragement to the children. Mentors make a one-year commitment to develop a positive relationship with the mentee.
Through one-on-one activities and group meetings, mentors provide support and encouragement that promotes trust, confidence, enthusiasm, personal growth, and positive thinking.

Annual Symposium for Systemic Change

Working together to end mass incarceration

Louisiana has not only the highest incarceration rate in the country, but the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world. Every year, Cornerstone Builders hosts a symposium that concentrates on systemic change in the criminal justice system with the goal of ending mass incarceration.
Our Annual Symposium for Systemic Change actively engages more than 150 individuals in the issues of criminal justice reform.
Government officials, non-profit leaders, religious clergy, local business owners and formerly incarcerated individuals come together to discuss strategies to end mass incarceration.
A major emphasis is on the revision of sentencing laws and re-entry bills. Louisiana has the most legal restrictions on employment for ex-prisoners of any state in the nation. We also discuss national trends to end mass incarceration.
Join us at the next symposium on Friday, October 21, 2016 from 9am – 2pm at St. Agnes Catholic Church (3310 Jefferson Hwy, Jefferson, LA). Register now by contacting Angela Wattler at 985-966-3846 or SystemicChangeSymposium@gmail.com.

The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:22-24

Cornerstone Builders is one of 4 local organizations participating in the Vincentian Re-entry Organization Project led by the National Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The organizing project rebuilds lives through leadership development and collective advocacy.

Volunteer or Donate Today

Support our efforts to end mass incarceration and recidivism of former inmates. Your donations and volunteer time can help us change the way people view the criminal justice system and help the formerly incarcerated to become productive, contributing citizens.

Current leader of Missionaries of Charity speaks of Mother Teresa's witness of faith

FEATURE: Sr. Prema: ‘Mother Teresa Was Icon of Unity’

During Briefing on Canonization, Leader of Missionaries of Charities Tells ZENIT How Soon-to-be Canonized Saint Showed Christianity as Religion of Peace

September 2, 2016Deborah Castellano LubovEschatology, Saints and Blesseds

Photo of Sr. Prema by ZENIT's Deborah Castellano Lubov

“Mother Teresa has been an icon of unity, tolerance, acceptance, and of loving each person.”
Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, the current Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious institute founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, said this to ZENIT in the Vatican this morning. She was responding to how the figure of Mother Teresa of Calcutta can help make India understand that Christianity is a religion of peace as often times in the country, there is religious intolerance toward minorities and Christians.
The German nun noted how loved Mother Teresa was: “We saw this at her funeral. Everyone was there,” she said, noting how faithful of  other religions are drawn to Mother’s selfless example.
“India has a love and great respect for Mother,” she said, smiling. “Everyone saw the sanctity, even in their own religious concept.”
The sister stressed how Mother Teresa’s legacy still can actively bring together those who otherwise could have remained indifferent.
Sister Prema was one of those speaking at the briefing this morning in the Holy See Press Office. In her intervention, she noted how she met Mother Teresa in 1980 and how impressed she was by her, and how touched she was to have received the crucifix from her.
“She was our mother and teacher,” she said, adding, “she lived religious life with so much joy and enthusiasm that we all wanted to be close to her.”
Turning to how down-to-earth Mother Teresa was, Sr. Prema shared with the journalists how Mother shared the dormitory with the other sisters, always had meals together with them, and never would tolerate being treated differently than the others.
“She never accepted anything that was not the same for the other sisters,” Sr. Prema said, noting, “She loved us and continues to bring us closer.”
“She never did anything to lead others to herself, but only to Jesus and Mary,” she said. “Mother’s love for Jesus was put into action.”
“Even in old age,” Sr. Prema recalled, “she tried to be the first one in the chapel to show Jesus how much she loved him.”
Speaking on how Mass always empowered Mother, the Superior General noted how after Mass, Mother was always there to take on whatever needed to be done.
“She guided us in how to live in a practical way the high demands of total surrender and trust, always with a smile,”
“I believe Mother’s smile was her gift to Jesus and the world,” she said noting how in the midst of the sadness in the world today, people need joy and hope.
The sister highlighted the soon-to-be canonized saint’s obedience, noting, “If a doctor prescribed medicine, she took it like an obedient child.”
Speaking on Mother’s vision of the world and people, she explained that “everyone is infinitely loved by God, and that everyone is meant to love and be loved.”
Sr. Prema noted how Mother Teresa was insightful and was very aware that without people realizing their own worth and being loved by God, they would not be at peace.
Her true poverty, sharing the pain with those around her, was another distinguishing mark of Mother. This legacy inspires the Missionaries of Charity to fulfill their mission.
Rather than one saying that “she loved the people of Calcutta,” Sr. Prema explained, it would be more correct to say, “She loved the individual sufferer and wanted to make a difference in each individual’s life.”