Diocese of Dodge City welcomes Father Jimmy Barrozo 
Nearly 20 years ago, a young man on the road to the priesthood found himself serving as transitional deacon to a kind priest by the name of Father Angel Dy.
Three weeks ago, the two met again when Msgr. Dy, who most recently served as pastor at parishes in Fowler, Meade and Plains, greeted his former deacon as he stepped off a plane in Wichita from his native Philippines.
For Msgr. Dy, the meeting signified the beginning of the end of 11 years serving in the Diocese of Dodge City. For Father Jimmy Barrozo, who had never before visited the Unites States, it was the beginning of a new adventure, and a chilly one at that. Winter storm advisories left the two priests, as well as vicar general, Father Robert Schremmer, staying in a hotel that first night.
But soon, Father Barrozo, a stranger in a strange land, found himself being introduced to those who would become his spiritual family.
Who is your neighbor?
Immigrant couple paints
portrait of an American family
Pictured at right: Daniel and Myra Sanchez, with their children (clockwise from upper left) Alejandra, 7, Tanya, 12, Diego, 4, and Omar Isaac, 2.
It was a dark and rainy night in Great Bend when two cars passed fatefully on Main Street; a girl in one, a boy in the other, a quick wave from each to the other becoming the first official signaling of a shared lifetime to come.
“He was in the truck with his coat on and I was out of the truck getting wet,” Myra Sanchez explained of their first meeting, a few minutes later in the parking lot of a bowling ally, her voice raising in excitement at the memory. “I said, ‘You know what? It’s raining! Look at me!’ And he said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ and he gave me his coat.”
“I was like --,” Daniel Sanchez said, miming his inability to speak when he first laid eyes on Myra.
Eleven days later the two were married.
“When we got married we didn’t even know each other’s last names,” said Myra from the living room of their Great Bend home, her arm around the couple’s daughter, Alejandra, 7. “It was love at first sight.”
Cuban bishops: prepare for
Pope's visit with works of mercy
Havana, Cuba, Jul 2, 2015 / 12:13 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In preparation for Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba this fall, the bishops of the island nation are asking the faithful to perform acts of mercy during the first Fridays of July, August and September.
“Pope Francis never stops talking about mercy,” the bishops said in a June 29 message. “The first Sunday after his election, he mentioned it 13 times. And he just recently called for the celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy which will begin December 8 this year and conclude November 20, 2016.”
Mercy “is nothing less than ‘reaching out with our heart’ to others,” the bishops continued. “Sometimes it seems we live in a heartless world. Everywhere we come across moral, spiritual, social, intellectual, physical and material poverty…and we also find people who have hardened their hearts in the face of human suffering.”
In light of this situation, and to prepare for the Pope’s Sept. 19-22 visit, the Cuban bishops asked people to perform works of mercy for those in need on the first Fridays of the next three months. They also requested “special times of prayer and fasting,” as well as community prayer vigils Sept. 17-18.
The goal of these initiatives is “to ask for God’s help so that he would dispose the hearts of all Cubans so they would listen to and receive the message of hope and mercy that Pope Francis will bring to us,” they stated.
Pope Francis “wants to show us his closeness at a moment when, thanks to his mediation, hope has been breathed into our national life by the new possibilities of dialogue that are taking place between the United States and Cuba,” the bishops continued. “What he is doing is very great and important, as the universal pastor of the Church, in searching for reconciliation and peace among all the peoples of the earth.”
Recalling visits to Cuba by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, the prelates voiced excitement for the Pope’s visit as a “Missionary of Mercy.”
“We, the bishops of Cuba, are praying that the teachings that Pope Francis will give us will move all of us to grow in faith and hope, so we may be able to learn to have a heart full of mercy for everyone.”
Following the footprints of the Magi
By David Gibson
Catholic News Service
So much shows in a person’s face. I’m sure this is one reason so many people head home for Christmas -- to see the faces of those they care about most.
Gazing into the faces of people we love has a way of reminding us not only of “who” they are, but “how” they are.
The face speaks; it has a language all its own.
The often unspoken “words” of this unique language can express affection, warmth, concern. Whether others are hopeful or not also may show in their faces.
The human face is a revelation.
Honestly funny – comedian Jim Gaffigan
blends faith, humor in new TV show
By Adelaide Mena
Washington D.C., Jul 2, 2015 / 03:10 am (CNA) - God and comedy clubs are not generally something most families throw together; then again, most families don’t create a cable comedy show either.
But for Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan, this mix of faith and funny is a vital part of their family life – a life that they draw upon in creating their latest project, a cable TV show.
“Mixing these worlds – the world of standup comedy and one’s faith – can provide conflict and humor,” said Jim Gaffigan, who co-wrote and stars in The Jim Gaffigan Show.
His wife Jeannie, the other comedic mastermind behind the show’s script and the new program’s executive producer, hoped their family’s experience mixing spheres of personal, religious and public life would appeal to other families navigating a sometimes strange world.
“It’s normal families that are in this very abnormal situation and all the things that inform their interactions with other people. And there’s a lot of comedy in that,” she said. “People relate to it. People laugh at it.”
The new show will premiere on TV Land July 15, and preview episodes are already available online at www.jimgaffigan.com. Many of the plots in the new series, the couple explained, come from their personal experience of living as a Catholic family in lower Manhattan: a neighborhood where spotting hipsters and bohemians is much more likely than spying a family with five kids.
Funny has been a part of this family’s dynamic for years: the couple met in 2000 and began working together, getting married in 2003. While raising their family, the couple worked on writing and creating comedy shows like “Beyond the Pale” (2006) and the Grammy-nominated “Mr. Universe” (2012), which Jeannie produced and Jim starred in and performed. The duo also worked together to write Jim’s 2012 comedic memoir “Dad is Fat,” and a second collection of essays, “Food: a Love Story,” which was published in 2014.
Most of the new show is set in an exact replica of the fifth-story, two-bedroom apartment the family recently moved out of, or in the surrounding New York neighborhood. In the opening episodes available online, fictionalized versions all seven members of the Gaffigan family make an appearance, along with other characters Jim and Jeannie’s personas run into during daily life.
Jim said that when writing the show, the Gaffigans focused on the contrast between a relatively normal family life and the offbeat reality of New York and the comedy club scene as a means of connecting with a wide audience. “We wanted to present it as this conventional family in this unconventional world, and that’s really what it is for every family in America,” he said in a recent press call.
Jeannie elaborated that this contrast also comes from their desire to be honest about themselves. “It’s a show about our lives; this is what we do.”
“We made a decision not to hide any of the spectrums of our life. There’s the Church and there’s the comedy club and they’re sort of diametrically opposed,” Jeannie explained, saying that she and her husband sought to show the reality of both parts of their lives without disparaging either.
The blend of experiences and seemingly incongruous situations also grew out of the reality of living in New York City, she said, a place of “all sorts of people, all sorts of faiths, all sorts of lifestyles, all sorts of attitudes.”
Given that faith and the generally secular world of comedy rarely mix – especially on cable TV – Jim said that the tensions the show explores offer some new comedic ground. “The good thing is that these topics, or even these angles into comedy, are fresh.”
Talking about – and even laughing about – the tensions surrounding religion can be a teaching opportunity too, Jim said. He described such humor as a way of neutralizing the challenge of hiding one’s faith in order to tackle the challenge of surprising an audience.
“They’re either going to assume I’m going to bag on religion or they’re going to think that I’m going to say something that they’re not going to relate to and I sort of love that challenge,” he commented.
The experiences the Gaffigans have had in their lives work their way into the characters as well as the plot, the couple explained. “We just write what we know, and the priest character that we write in the show was based on some really fantastic people that we have in our lives,” Jeannie said.
Jim added that when writing the role of the pastor, “we’re fighting any of the cliches of a priest character.” The couple tried to ensure that he was “not a bumbling buffoon or alcoholic” but a source of wisdom.
As in the Gaffigan’s real life, the religious characters of the show are integrated into the fictional Gaffigans’ world. In a future episode, a priest is invited to go to a late-night show taping with Jim’s character, a situation based on a real-life events with the priest who married them.
This mixing of secular and religious allows for the exploration of Jim’s character’s faith and uncertainties with bringing this aspect of his life into the public square. “Some of the message is that it’s my fear – most other people don’t care, and I’m projecting that fear on other people.”
“Jim’s character is less religious than me, so Jim’s response to that is similar to my response 10 years ago,” he said.
This honest look at faith and doubt, along with its lighthearted approach, Jeannie said, allows the show to deal with its characters’ faith in a way that’s neither too sweet nor too dour. “I think Jim and Jeannie seem Catholic and being flawed without being stereotypical cartoons of what people would perceive a Catholic family to be.”
Jim pointed to an example of dialogue between the Jim and Jeannie characters where the faith informs the comedy in this frank way.
“When Jeannie’s mad, she might say, ‘I don’t want to raise five kids by myself,’ he explained. “And Jim would say, ‘You’re going to divorce me?’”
“No! I’m Catholic,” Jeannie’s character jokes. “I don’t believe in divorce. I would murder you.”
Even if the characters joke about these normal tensions between spouses, ultimately creating the show was a family affair – one that both Jim and Jeannie participate in, open their family life to and hope fans find fresh and engaging. “Hopefully, whether they’re brand-new or not, they’re unique and true to our experience.”
Christmas traditions around the world
By Margo MacArthur
Catholic News Service
The Christmas customs that unify Christians worldwide center around Nativity scenes, Christmas trees, carols, gift-giving and Christmas dinner. In fact, religious celebrations and secular pageantry have merged to produce a season of good cheer for all.
Christmas in England, for instance, gave the English-speaking world the Christmas tree. During the reign of Queen Victoria, trees were first brought indoors and decorated with apples to satisfy Prince Albert’s longing for a custom from his German childhood.
On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, visitors to English homes are given tiny wrapped boxes containing sweets or gold coins. It seems that Father Christmas (a tall, red-robed version of Santa Claus) accidentally dropped some coins down the chimney when delivering gifts centuries ago, and the English have included gold coins among their gifts ever since.
Love life, have fun
a Pope Francis pep talk to Special Olympians
Vatican City, Jun 19, 2015 / 03:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis met with Italy's top Special Olympics athletes on Friday, encouraging them and all athletes to make sports a place for loyalty, human dignity and joy.
“It is my hope that you all might live the upcoming games in a joyful, passionate, serene manner: have fun,” he said.
The Pope held a June 19 audience for Italy's 150 delegates to the Special Olympics 2015 World Games. The event will be held in Los Angeles, Calif. July 25 to August 2.
During his remarks, Pope Francis reflected on the promise of sports. “It is beautiful and meaningful that young people and adults find in sport and participation in competitions, including at an international level, an incentive to live their life fully,” he said. “It is a challenge, and you have accepted it and ‘taken the field’.”
“I encourage you to continue in your efforts to help each other to discover your potential and to love life, to appreciate it in all its limits and above all, its beautiful sides.”
The Pope also encouraged the Special Olympians to make friends from around the world.
The Special Olympics were founded in the U.S. in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to provide sports and athletic opportunities for the mentally disabled. Over 4.4 million athletes in 177 countries take part in over 81,000 games and competitions each year, according to the website of the Special Olympics’ 2015 world games.
Pope Francis said the athletes had chosen sports as “an experience of development and growth, in the presence of a condition of fragility and limitation.”
He told them that sports is a way to learn “to participate, to outdo oneself, to strive together.”
“All this helps you to become active members of society and also of the Church; and it helps society itself and the Church to overcome all forms of discrimination and exclusion.”
He encouraged the athletes to be faithful to this ideal of sports.
“Do not let yourself be contaminated by a false sporting culture, that of economic success, victory at any cost, and individualism,” he continued. He praised amateur sports’ culture of “gratuity” and of “sport for sport’s sake.”
“We must protect and defend sport as an experience of human values: competition yes, but in loyalty and solidarity. Dignity for every person: always! No one must feel excluded from sport,” said Pope Francis.
He said the world of sports and the Church can work together to restore the “true meaning” of sports in its “educational, playful and recreational” aspects and to restore its cultural and social dignity.
Diocese accepting adult religious Scouting awards
The Diocese of Dodge City Catholic Committee On Scouting is accepting letters of nomination for adults who have provided exceptional service as an adult leader in Catholic Scouting ministry or other groups serving youth that have contributed to the spiritual development of Catholic young people. Although these awards are given by the Catholic church, the recipients do not have to be a member of that faith to be considered.
A Vatican two-wheeler: Teen mechanics restore motorbike for Pope Francis
By Andrea Gagliarducci
Turin, Italy, Jun 21, 2015 / 06:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - A group of teenagers at a Salesian-run professional school in Italy have restored a motorbike as a gift for the Pope.
The motorbike, an Itom 50 model that dates back to the 1960s, was present in Turin during Pope Francis’ meeting with Salesians at the House of Valdocco, the motherhouse of the Salesian congregation.
The teens plan to give it to the Pope in a private audience in the Vatican in the near future.
About 10,000 young people gathered June 21 in front of the Church of Mary Auxiliatrix in the quarter of Valdocco in the city of Turin. Many came from the Salesian schools and oratories in Italy and other parts of the world.
When Pope Francis came out of the Church to address young people with a short speech and to give a blessing, he could see the motorbike on his right side.
The restoration of the motorbike was done by the Salesian Professional School in Bra, a town in northern Italy.
“Students, with the help of a teacher, disassembled the motorbike, and then they restored it, repainted it in white and yellow (the colors of the Vatican flag), and re-coated it with zinc,” Gianfranco Morra, one of their teachers, told CNA June 21.
He said that the school proposed the project in a letter to Pope Francis. “We got a positive response from the papal entourage, we have been told our initiative was welcomed,” Morra said.
Their letter to the Pope explained the story of the Professional School of Bra, which was founded in 1959 with its first courses focused on carpentry.
“Then, we had classes of industrial mechanics, automotive mechanics, and we started a new repair shop with new workshops and tools, so we have a wide space to train our students,” the teacher said.
He added that the school now has about 600 students. About 90 of them are taking classes on car and motorbike repair.
Morra said that students and teachers “are waiting to be invited to go to a private audience to Pope Francis, to give the Pope the motorbike in person.”
St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, started professional schools in Italy, with the aim of teaching young disadvantaged people job skills, a revolutionary idea in the 19th century. The year 2015 is the bicentenary of his birth.
After mass shooting horror, S.C. Catholics mourn with Charleston church
Charleston, S.C., Jun 18, 2015 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - A mass shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. drew prayers and sympathy from the state’s Catholics, aghast at the horror of the crime which may have had racial motivations.
“The inside of any church is a sanctuary. When a person enters, he or she has the right to worship, pray and learn in a safe and secure environment,” Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston said June 18. “For anyone to murder nine individuals is upsetting, but to kill them inside of a church during a Bible study class is devastating to any faith community.”
Bishop Guglielmone offered his deepest sympathies on behalf of all Catholics in South Carolina to the families of the victims and the church members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“I pray that everyone affected by this horror will feel the comforting presence of our Lord surrounding them during this difficult time.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh tweeted: "We pray for those killed in the violent church shooting in Charleston. We also pray for their families and all those who mourn their death."
A white gunman fatally shot three men and six women at the historic black church June 17 after an evening prayer meeting and Bible study. Three people survived.
The shooter sat in the church for almost an hour before he stood up and opened fire.
Local authorities have not publicly identified the victims. Church members, friends, and family told the Charleston Post and Courier that the dead include Pastor Clementa Pinckney, 41, who was also a state senator.
Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pinckney, told NBC News that an eyewitness said the gunman sat next to the pastor during the Bible study.
The gunman reportedly told one woman who survived that he was letting her live to tell everyone what had happened, Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, told the Charleston Post and Courier.
James Johnson, who had become friends with Pinckney through civil rights activism, said the feeling after the shooting was “very numb; it’s sad.”
“No one expects to go to church to worship their God and be shot dead,” said Johnson, a chapter president of the National Action Network civil rights organization.
The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was arrested in North Carolina on Thursday.
He had been jailed twice previously on a trespassing charge and a separate controlled substance charge. His Facebook page shows him wearing a jacket with the apartheid-era South African flag and the flag of Rhodesia, USA Today reports.
Local law enforcement and federal authorities are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.
According to Sylvia Johnson, the gunman told the church members “I have to do it. You rape our women, and you’re taking over our country.”
Hundreds of people gathered at another Charleston African Methodist Episcopal church for a June 18 prayer vigil.
African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister was among the speakers.
“What crime did they commit? They were guilty of believing because they were in a holy place, no such thing could occur,” he said.
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South.
The church community dates back to before 1816. A founding member, Denmark Vesey, led a slave rebellion in 1822 that resulted in the burning of the church and drove its members underground. The church reorganized in 1865, and hosted a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in April, 1962.