Bishops of the Arizona Catholic Conference Statement on Brush & Nib Decision

 Vol. 2, No. 32
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019
 
It’s that back to school season
I will be continuing my visit of schools this week and next.  Friday of this week, I will celebrate Mass with the students and faculty at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School.  This midtown  Tucson parish has been around since 1930, and since 1949 in its current church.  The subsequent elementary school and middle school was a childhood experience for many local Catholics. I always try to visit with the students and tour the schools on these visits.  Sts. Peter and Paul school, led by Principal Charlene Roll, has nearly 400 students this year.
 
On Sunday (Sept. 8), I will celebrate Mass at the University of Arizona in the Student Union Grand Ballroom. The Mass of the Holy Spirit traditionally takes place after the first week of classes.  I celebrated this Mass last year to a gathering of 800 students and St. Thomas More Newman Center parish families. You might call it the spiritual start of the semester for our newly-arrived college students and the larger parish family. The Mass begins at 5 p.m.
 
Farewell
Yesterday, many members of our diocese said goodbye to Ms. Marty Hammond, former executive assistant in our Vocations Department, who had worked for our diocese for 26 years. She passed away Aug. 25 after a long illness. It was touching to see many of the priests she had worked with over her career with our diocese at Mass – Msgr. Raul Trevizo, Father Miguel Mariano, Father Pat Crino, Msgr. Al Schifano, Father Ricky Ordonez and Father Jorge Farias Saucedo. 
 
There also were priests there who had come under the guidance and watchful eyes of Marty as they went through seminary. She was, in many ways, a kind of den mother to the seminarians as they worked their way to priesthood. Her tenure within the Vocations Department was one of dedication, love and care. Bishop Emeritus Gerald F. Kicanas, who worked with Marty for many years, was the principal celebrant, and Father Miguel Mariano, now pastor at St. Odilia Parish, offered the homily.
 
Later yesterday, many of our Pastoral Center staff went to Our Lady of the Valley in Green Valley for a memorial Mass for our former Real Estate and Risk Management Specialist, David Miller, 83,  and his wife , Dale.  Both died Aug. 25.  Dale passed away of natural causes, and David died just a short time later after suffering a fall with head injuries.
 
David joined the Diocese in February 2007 and retired in May or June 2014.
 
I have one more passing to relay to Update readers.  Please pray for the soul of Deacon Robert Carlin, who served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish for many years.  Deacon, who was ordained in June 2003, died Aug. 31. He had served at SEAS since 1983.  He also served at three hospitals as a chaplin and wrote and published a book “Quietly Moving Mountains: A Witness,” about his life and his faith. Please pray for his wife, Amelia, and his family at this time.
 
 
Happy Anniversary St. Rita’s
I will celebrate Mass with the pioneer family members of St. Rita in the Desert parish on Saturday (Sept. 7). This Mass will serve as the starting point for a campaign to raise money for restoration of the original Shrine of St. Rita, built in either 1935 – back in the days when Vail was home to ranchers. The shrine was built in memory of Dr. Jokichi Takamine by his widow, Caroline Takamine Beach.
 
It was not until 2006 when the needs of the ever-growing Vail community led to the construction of a second church building just east on the same property next to the Shrine.
 
This Mass is a lovely way to remember the origins of this faith community as it embarks on a new mission to restore the small shrine that served and continues to serve its community so well.
 
By the way, while Dr. Takamine himself has no direct connection to Tucson or Vail, he developed a fungus grown on rice enzyme that he  named it Takadiastase. About 1890 he came to the United States and completed research in the isolation of adrenalin. I read on Wikipedia, that “The production of Takadiastase for medicinal use was taken over by the Parke-Davis Co., with whom Takamine was associated for the remainder of his career. He maintained close ties with Japan, aiding its development of industrial dyes, aluminum fabrication,  nitrogen fixation, the  electric furnace, and the manufacture of Bakelite.”
 
Welcome
To Father Edward Vella, CSsR, who joins us from Redemptorist Community in Chicago, Illinois. He will be working as Rector of Our Lady of the Desert Conventual Church and also at the Redemptorist Renewal Center.  During his ministry, he has worked at parishes in Midland, Grand Rapids and Trenton, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at the Redemptorist Retreat Center in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. He also worked as a missionary in Brazil from 1987 to 2001.
 
To Father Simon Ityo, VC, who joins us from Makurdi, Nigeria.  Father will be ministering at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Tucson.