Wednesday Update

Vol. 2, No. 29, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019

Vol. 2, No. 29
Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019

It’s back to school
Many of our Catholic schools began their fall semesters earlier this week. Several will start school tomorrow, and the last three will open on Monday and Tuesday of next week.  This is a great time to introduce  or to reintroduce your student to include prayer in their days as they embark on a new school year.
 
Lord Jesus,
I ask for Your help as I begin this new school year.
Allow me to experience Your presence in the many blessings You put before me.
Open my eyes to the new challenges and exciting opportunities that this new school year brings.
Open my heart and mind to new friends and new teachers.
Give me a generous spirit to be enthusiastic with my studies and courage to accept new opportunities. Help me to be attentive to my teachers and let me experience Your presence in my new friends.
Jesus, inspire me to do my best this year!  Amen    
from https://www.scsba.ca
 
Let’s also pray for school safety through the years and for wisdom and love to guide our teachers, our principals and all parents and grandparents sending their students to school.
 
 
Knights of Columbus
I am in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the 137 ^th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus.  It is an amazing gathering.  Yesterday morning there was an opening Mass with what seemed to be thousands of Knights and their families. I later learned that there were approximately 2,500 people and approximately 250  bishops at the conference.
 
The role and benefits of the work done by the Knights  in our dioceses is hard to fathom.  I know in Tucson our Knights always are working to assist at their parishes with fundraising and volunteering at events.
 
Another way the Knights help is through special projects. In our diocese, the Msgr. Don H. Hughes Assembly at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish has hosted the annual Mass and Dinner with the Bishop, a banquet that has raised thousands of dollars first for Priests Retirement Fund. The project continues by now assisting the Seminarian Education Fund. By the way, the Mass and Dinner this year will take place on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020.  You have no doubt eaten Knights pancake breakfasts or participated with many of their other fundraisers.  Several KC assemblies also host Priest Appreciation Dinners each year in different parts of our diocese.
 
I also learned from the convention website that “Since the launch of its Christian Refugee Relief Fund in August 2014, the Knights of Columbus has raised more than $18 million. As of Dec. 31, 2017, more than $16 million has already been distributed to provide food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care to persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
 
Congratulations Franciscan Sisters
The new leadership team for the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, will have a distinctly Southwest flavor with all five having served in the Diocese of Tucson. Take a look at the included photo, and I am certain many of my Update readers will recognize someone.

Franciscan Sisters Leonette Kochan, Myra Jean Sweigart, Jane Kinate, Theresa Feldkamp and Natalie Binversie were elected by members of the congregation June 24 and installed July 21.

Sister Kochan, who had been serving as diocesan Office of Life and Human Dignity coordinator, returned briefly to Tucson in July and will return to Manitowoc for good in late August. She was elected Third Councilor. Originally from Francis Creek, Wisconsin, she was missioned in Tucson where she previously served as principal of Santa Cruz Catholic School, Tucson and Immaculate Conception Catholic
School in Yuma. While we are proud of Sister, we are going to miss her.  Good luck!

Sister Binversie was elected Community Director for a second term, previously serving 2013-19. Before being Community Director, she was a teacher in the primary grades, Novice Directress and spent time at Santa Cruz and San Xavier Catholic schools.

Sister Sweigart likewise was re-elected First Councilor and Treasurer General.  Originally from Cambridge, Ohio, she has a background in elementary education as teacher and principal, including time at San Xavier.

Originally from Wrightstown, Wisconsin, Sister Feldkamp was re-elected Second Councilor she has a background in elementary education as teacher and principal, including time at Immaculate Conception and San Xavier.
Sister Kinate, also from Wrightstown, was elected Fourth Councilor. She has been in education all of her life, teaching in Manitowoc for the past 20 years. She also spent time at Immaculate Conception.

The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity were founded 150 years ago on Nov. 9, 1869 in Manitowoc.  The Sisters presently serve in Arizona at San Xavier Mission, San Miguel High School and the Diocesan Office in Tucson; Immaculate Conception School, St. Francis Catholic School and Yuma Catholic High School in Yuma; St. Anthony of Padua School and Parish in Casa Grande; and St. Andrew Parish in Sierra Vista. Sisters also serve in Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.
 
Bishop Emeritus Kicanas to be honored for support of Bethlehem University
 
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Tucson, will receive the   “The Archbishop Pietro Sambi ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Award for Services to the Bethlehem University Foundation” in recognition of his support of Bethlehem University and the endowed scholarship named in honor of Bishop Kicanas.
 
The honor is given by the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and will be awarded Nov. 14 at the Vatican embassy in Washington DC.
 
“Palestinian students formed at Bethlehem University make a big impact on their society,” Bishop Kicanas said in a July 22 press release announcing the award. “Whatever we can do to support them in developing their talents and gifts will contribute to the realization of the world of peace and justice that God intends. During my visits to Bethlehem University, I found it a vibrant place, teeming with energy and hope, even in the midst of often very difficult circumstances.”
 
The knights’ Northwestern Lieutenancy will be presented  “The Pio Cardinal Laghi Founders Award for Outstanding Support to Bethlehem University” for its support of the foundation, especially of the Sir John McGuckin Mentoring and Internship Program.
 
To register for the event, visit bufusa.org/event-registration-2019-annual-awards-reception.
 
Come home . . . online
If you haven’t seen our new website at  www.diocesetucson.org I encourage you to do so soon.  The site has been redesigned and over the next several weeks, our Communications Department along with each of our Pastoral Center ministries will be reworking pages, making certain to include easy-to-find, easy-to-use information.
 
We're updating most of the site, but one section that already has seen a great deal of updating is our Youth ministries area.  You can access this key ministry by clicking on the Youth icon on the home page.  You will find listings of several programs yours or other parishes may have in place for youth, and more specifically, we included a contact list for all parishes with youth programs.
 
I welcome your comments and suggestions about our diocese’s webpages.  Please email your ideas or suggestions for the website to [email protected]