Vatican City, Feb 9, 2015 / 04:23 pm (CNA) - Set to finish his encyclical on the environment next month, Pope Francis said during his daily Mass at the Vatican on Monday that Christians who fail to safeguard nature do not care about God's handiwork.
“A Christian who does not protect creation, who does not allow it to grow, is a Christian who does not care about God's labors” which are borne out of God's love for us, the Pope said Feb. 9.
His remarks were based in part on the day's first reading from Genesis 1:1-19, comparing God's creation of the universe with the Jesus' “re-creation” of that which “had been ruined by sin.”
Pope Francis announced to journalists on his way to the Philippines last month that plans to have his much-anticipated encyclical on man's relationship with creation finished in March.
A year ago this month, the Vatican had announced the Pope's plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was originally coined by retired pontiff Benedict XVI.
This expression, spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said at the time, describes not only how the faithful must respect the environment, but also how the nature of the person – masculine and feminine as created by God – must also be defended.
Pope Francis' first encyclical, entitled “Lumen Fidei,” or “Light of Faith,” was released in 2013. It was written by the pontiff as a completion of the work initiated by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who resigned before the document was finished.
During his homily Monday, Pope Francis turned to the day's Gospel reading from Mark 6:53-56, reflecting on the account of Jesus curing the sick, with those receiving healing simply by touching is cloak.
This healing marks the “second creation” the Pope said, which “is even more wonderful than the first.”
But while the “second creation” is more important, Pope Francis said that God has given the faithful the “responsibility” to care for the “first” creation – the earth – by helping it “to grow according to its laws.”
That said, “we are the lords of creation, not its masters,” and are therefore called to protect it.
With regard to the “second creation” brought about by Jesus, Pope Francis said we are told by Saint Paul in the Bible to become “reconciled to God” – adding that “reconciliation is the work of Christ.”
Pope Francis explained that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all engaged “in this re-creation.” In response, we are “to safeguard and nurture Creation,” allowing “ourselves be reconciled with Jesus.”
Emmaus House, a lifesaver for families and needy
By Charlene Scott-Myers
Special to the Register
In its 36-year history, Emmaus House in Garden City has served thousands of families, but it has been a lifesaver to women like Sandy Russell and Muna Ibrahim.
Sandy is the mother of eight children, Mona the mother of seven, “all growing and eating more,” as Sandy said. Both women have hard-working husbands struggling to make ends meet.
“My husband was switching jobs, and we were hurting trying to pay our bills, but we are catching up now,” said Sandy.
“The Salvation Army told me about Emmaus House. They give us vegetables, produce, bread, sweets, and blankets. I have three boys and five girls, the youngest 10, the oldest 18. My second oldest boy is 13, and he eats everything! I appreciate all the things that Emmaus House gives us.”
The extra food also really helps Mona Ibrahim’s family of seven children (the oldest 13, the youngest a year and a half). A native of Ethiopia, Mona moved to Garden City in 2008, living first in Houston after she left Ethiopia in 1992. Her husband works for Tyson, and she hopes to obtain a job as a translator soon.
Her children’s favorites are the breads and sweet rolls she brings home from Emmaus House. “They put tea and sugar on the bread, and they love it,” said the diminutive Mona, 34, who looks 18, and still dresses in her native Ethiopian vivid colors.
“I want to give my children opportunity,” she said, voicing the hope of every worthwhile mother. “I want my children to be happy.”
Emmaus House gives out 120 to 150 boxes of food every Wednesday and Friday to women like Sandy and Mona.
Located at 802 N. 5th Street, just north of St. Catherine Hospital and directed by Robin Marsh, Emmaus House also offers a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen.
Many Catholics and persons from other faiths are among the 120 volunteers at Emmaus House, however, among them Sister Roserita Weber, one of the Dominican Sisters working in Garden City.
“I pick up food boxes for three families who don’t have transportation,” she explained. “Last year, I delivered boxes to seven families, but now they have found jobs and bought cars, and are able to pick up their own boxes. Because I speak Spanish, I can help a lot of families.
“The churches of all denominations in Garden City and individuals donate to Emmaus House,” she added. “Some people bring food and money.”
It was Friday, delivery day for Sam’s Club and Dillon stores, which donate pies, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, and even gluten-free bread. Tysons also delivers chickens.
La Quita Clark is the Emmaus House food distribution manager, brimming with enthusiasm and devotion to her work.
“God just wanted me here,” she said. “He picked this job for me, and I am here because of God’s love.”
People must qualify for food boxes and meet government guidelines, and if they do, they are issued a card that allows them to come every two weeks for boxes of food.
Lorine Hewson, house manager, has worked for more than 35 years at Emmaus House.
“I started as a night staff person, and I told them I would stay for three months,” she said with a laugh. She sat at a table in a garage loaded with dozens of boxes, checking in each person who wished to receive a box of food.
Boxes are distributed Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 11 a.m., and again from 3 to 5 p.m.
Lorine also does the cooking for the homeless shelter. Winter sheltering services are available at Emmaus House from October 15 through April 30 for any adult or families in need. Intake for families or individuals seeking shelter is from 5 to 7 p.m. daily, which includes presenting a picture ID at the Garden City Police Department for a background check, as well as supplying a medical history.
All residents must be checked in by 7 p.m., unless prior arrangements are made. Residents must call ahead to confirm their rooms.
“We have had a bunch of people the past two years,” said La Quita, an Emmaus House employee for four years. “People also can walk in for lunch; breakfast is for people who sleep here.”
The Emmaus House offers residents breakfast, lunch, and dinner and a safe place to sleep in separate quarters for men, women, and families, storage space for personal belongings, phone and mail service, six bathrooms, and access to showers, as well as laundry facilities.
Meetings with case managers are provided free of charge.
A tour of the house revealed 10 beds for men upstairs, four beds and a rollaway bed for women downstairs, and two rooms for small families. Bunk beds with a double bed on the bottom and twin on the top and baby beds are available. Call (620) 275-2008 for more information.
St. Mary Parish, Catholic Social Service cultivated,
nurtured Emmaus House
By TIM WENZL
Southwest Kansas Register
Emmaus House, a homeless shelter, food pantry and soup kitchen, opened its doors at 802 N. Fifth in Garden City on Nov. 1, 1979.
The economy played a significant role in the need for a homeless shelter in Garden City. With the construction of the IBP beef packing plant just west of the city and the bust of the aircraft industry in Wichita, Garden City saw a large influx of people looking for work in 1979. The community lacked adequate housing and people were sleeping, eating, and camping in the dry Arkansas riverbed and the picnic shelters at the entrances to the city.
An Ad Hoc Committee of the Board of Directors of Catholic Social Service, appointed by Bishop Eugene J. Gerber, met Sept. 9 and Oct. 23 (1979) to evaluate services and make recommendations for addressing needs in the diocese. During this same time period, on Oct. 7, St. Mary Parish in Garden City held a brain -storming session about outreach ministry. Sister Frances Biernacki and Levita Rohlman working in the Garden City office of Catholic Social Service were members of St. Mary Parish.
Included in the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee was “The establishment of a home in Garden City to provide temporary quarters for families and individuals who have no place to stay.” The report also included the following information: “Between the meetings of the Committee, this problem was partially solved by individuals in Garden City. A suitable home was rented with the option to purchase and is being utilized by our agency to provide housing for transients and migrants, on a temporary basis.”
A big reason the shelter opened in less than a month after the parish meeting was the Rev. Mr. Gary Jarvis, a member of the Society of the Precious Blood, who began serving his deacon internship at St. Mary Parish in September.
“The homeless shelter was very important for Gary Jarvis,” recalled Levita Rohlman. “He had a passionate concern for the pressing needs of the poor. He was so enthusiastic that people jumped on his band wagon, and Emmaus House became a reality rather quickly.
“The name for the shelter was inspired by the Precious Blood Fathers and surfaced in a parish brainstorming session. The story ‘On the Road to Emmaus’ came up and the verse ‘They came to know him through the breaking of the bread,’ seemed to both define the purpose and the identity of the facility.”
The Garden City staff of Catholic Social Service collaborated with the St. Mary outreach committee to open Emmaus House. Parishioners donated approximately 1,000 hours of work to renovate the home. Carol Drake, a parishioner at St. Mary and a wife and mother, was the first director.
Emmaus House became a ministry embraced by the Garden City community. The Catholic Social Service staff and the Garden City Ministerial Alliance developed a strong connection in providing for the ongoing expenses and monetary needs of the shelter and guests. At least 10 of Garden City’s churches have provided monetary support for this ministry. The Ministerial Alliance continues to host community programs with music and a speaker at Thanksgiving and Christmas during which donations are collected to support the shelter.
Emmaus House was affiliated with Catholic Social Service until it became independent of the Agency on July 1, 1999. At that time the Diocese of Dodge City transferred title to the property. After the Garden City Deanery leg of the Catholic Social Service endowment drive in the 1990s, approximately $107,000 earmarked for the shelter was distributed to Emmaus House.
Editor’s Note: The Rev. Mr. Jarvis, C.PP.S., developed a strong relationship with St. Mary Parish during his deacon internship and received permission from his superiors to be ordained in Garden City. He was ordained by Bishop Gerber on Nov. 1, 1980, on the first anniversary of the opening of Emmaus House. Father Jarvis died in Kansas City, Mo., on July 24, 1988, following a month-long stay in a hospital due to viral pneumonia with complications.
Seminarians, priests, youth gather 
for sports, steaks and fellowship
It was the brainchild of Father Reggie Urban: monthly summer gatherings in which seminarians, priests and any interested young men could come together for an afternoon of sports, steaks and fellowship.
The first gathering took place in Great Bend June 14, during which participants played golf and basketball, followed by a social gathering in the evening at the parish rectory that included dinner.
Archbishop Romero a ‘martyr;’ pope favors his beatification
Catholic News Agency -- Pope Francis has authorized the promulgation of decrees recognizing the martyrdom of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, paving the way for his beatification.
The decision was the fruit of a Feb. 3 audience between the Pope and Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The theologians of the congregation for saints had unanimously recognized Archbishop Romero’s 1980 assassination as a martyrdom on Jan. 8.
The Pope’s approval was the last step needed before Archbishop Romero could be beatified.
Oscar Romero y Galdamez was Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 until March 24, 1980, when he was shot while saying Mass. He was a vocal critic of the human rights abuses of the repressive Salvadoran government, and he spoke out on behalf of the poor and the victims of the government.
No one has been prosecuted for his assassination, but right-wing death squads are suspected.
Archbishop Romero’s cause of canonization was opened in 1993, but was reportedly held up in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2000 to 2005; as part of the inquiry in a cause of sainthood, the doctrinal dicastery is charged with reviewing the subject’s writings to ensure they are free of error. Both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI hold Archbishop Romero in high regard.
En route to Brazil on May 9, 2007, Benedict told journalists that the Salvadoran “was certainly an important witness of the faith, a man of great Christian virtue who worked for peace and against the dictatorship, and was assassinated while celebrating Mass. Consequently, his death was truly ‘credible’, a witness of faith.”
During his Jan. 7 General Audience address, Pope Francis quoted Archbishop Romero’s saying that mothers experience a “martyrdom of motherhood,” and went on to quote extensively from one of the archbishop’s homilies, for the funeral of a priest assassinated by death squads.
And while on his flight to South Korea on Aug. 18, 2014, Pope Francis said it is “very important” to “quickly” move forward Archbishop Romero’s cause, adding that “for me Romero is a man of God, but the process has to be followed, and the Lord too has to give his sign... If he wants to do it, he will do it.”
Honoring Our Priests
Father Ted Skalsky: The presence of ‘pure caring’
Editor’s Note: Despite the Year for Priests concluding in June, the Southwest Kansas Register has chosen to continue honoring priests with this special feature in which readers are asked to share their stories of how a priest positively changed their life. Send your story to: Priest Stories, Southwest Kansas Register, 910 Central, P.O. Box 137, Dodge City, Kan. 67801 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I have been considering writing this tribute to Father Ted Skalsky as part of your Priest Stories series for some time now, and decided that today is the day.
Why? Because on this date 31 years ago, Father Ted witnessed the wedding vows that my dear husband Gene and I made to each other. He was the one who welcomed Gene into full communion with the Church almost 20 years later. He not only has seen us at our most joyous, but has helped us get through some of the deepest sorrows.
Says Pope Francis:
Humanity cannot exist without farmers
By Ann Schneible
Catholic News Agency
Vatican City - Pope Francis told farmers recently that in a world marked by wastefulness and extreme climate change, they have the important vocation of caring for the earth and providing for all of humanity.
“Care for the earth, making alliance with it, in order that it may continue to be, as God wants, the source of life for the entire human family,” the Pope said.
The Holy Father’s remarks were made in the Clementine Hall of the Papal Palace during a Jan. 31 audience with members of Italy’s National Federation of Farmers, who celebrate their 70th anniversary of their foundation this year.
The word cultivate, Pope Francis said in prepared remarks, “calls to mind the care which the farmer has for his land because it gives fruit, and this is shared.”
The Holy Father said that without farming, there is no humanity, and without good food, there is no life for “the men and women of every continent.”
He went on to describe farming as a true vocation which merits deserves to be recognized and valued, and warned against measures which penalize this “valuable activity” and dissuade new generations from taking an interest in this profession.
The Pope did note, however, that statistics indicate a growth in the number of students enrolling in agricultural studies.
Pope Francis went on to speak of two “critical areas” of reflection with regard to the farming profession: first, that of poverty and hunger which is still of interest to “a vast part of humanity.”
Noting how the Second Vatican Council “recalled the universal destination of the goods of the earth” (cfr Cost. past. Gaudium et spes, 69), Pope Francis said, “in reality the dominant economic system excludes much of their correct use.”
“The absolutizing of market rules, a throwaway culture” and food wastefulness of “unacceptable proportions, together with other factors, cause misery and suffering for many families,” he said.
In order to consider the second “critical area” of reflection on the farming profession, the Pope continued, it is important to remember “man’s call, not only to till the earth, but also to care for it.” (Gen. 2:15).
“Every farmer knows well how it becomes more difficult to till the land at a time of accelerated climate change”.
Pope Francis stressed the importance of acting swiftly to care for creation, calling on nations to collaborate with one another in this goal.
He then then invited those present in the audience to “rediscover love for the earth as ‘mother’ – as Saint Francis would say – from which we have taken and to which we are called to constantly return.”
Before bestowing his blessing on the participants, Pope Francis concluded by asking those present to pray for him.
Terry Deokaran to serve 
as pastoral minister in
Barber County
At right: Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore recently welcomed Terry Deokaran to southwest Kansas, where she is serving as pastoral minister for the parishes of Barber County.
Southwest Kansas Register: Where are you from, and how long have you lived in Sharon?
Terry Deokaran: I am from Hammond, Louisiana. I lived there for 27 years. Hammond is 50 miles north of New Orleans. As you may tell from my lack of Southern accent, I was not born there. I was born in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, in the middle of cornfields. What a blessing my roots are! The rural living in Sharon is not a total shock.
As of tomorrow, Sept. 5, I will have been in Sharon two months.
If you care about God's handiwork you'll protect nature, Pope says
By Ann Schneible
Msgr. Brian Moore retires to Wichita, 
but you can still ‘Ask a Theologian’
Although Msgr. Brian Moore, Director of Formation for the Diocese of Dodge City, has retired to Wichita, he will continue to serve as theologian for the Diocese of Dodge City.
“I remain a priest of this diocese,” he said at a recent cathedral luncheon held in his honor. “I continue to intercede for the bishop and the priests and the people of this diocese, and I will go on doing that and making myself available in whatever way that I can.”
A women's shelter or a graveyard – how '50 Shades of Grey' ends in real life
By Mary Rezac
Denver, Colo., Feb 11, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA) - Valentine’s Day plans do not typically include domestic abuse.
Yet thousands of couples are already pre-purchasing their movie tickets for “50 Shades of Grey,” a film which many critics are saying romanticizes and attempts to normalize violence against women.
“It brands violence as romance, it teaches women that sexual abuse and being a victim is hot or sexy, and it’s really the story of a seasoned predator,” said Dr. Gail Dines, founder and president of the international feminist organization Stop Porn Culture.
The movie “50 Shades of Grey” is set for an international release on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. The film is based on the first installment of a three-book series by British writer E.L. James, which has topped best-seller lists all over the world, including in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the series, wealthy, 29-year-old Christian Grey grooms naive 21 year-old Anastasia to engage in a sadistic sexual relationship.
More than 100 million copies have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into 52 languages, but its reception has been fraught with controversy. Many groups – from feminist activists and organizations against domestic violence to Christian leaders and Catholic bishops – are speaking out against the upcoming film, calling it misogynistic and a dangerous portrayal of violence as romance.
In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, N.Y., invited his fellow clergy to “(r)emind the faithful of the beauty of the Church’s teaching on the gift of sexual intimacy in marriage, the great dignity of women, and the moral reprehensibility of all domestic violence and sexual exploitation.”
Dines and others in her organization became so incensed by the media hype surrounding the film, they came up with a social media campaign to boycott the movie, but with an ingenious twist: take the $50 that would be spent on dinner and movie tickets for two, and instead donate it to a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Together with other organizations such as London Abused Women's Centre and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, they’ve been spreading the word with the hashtag: #50dollarsnot50shades. In just two weeks, their Facebook page has received thousands of likes, and the effort has been featured in dozens of publications, including The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post, Time Magazine and People Magazine.
“This is a protest to give the money to a battered women’s shelter, because that’s where Anastasia is going to end up,” Dines told CNA. “She’s not ending up in a beautiful lake house with a guy who adores her. If she’s lucky she ends up in a women’s shelter, and if she’s unlucky she ends up in a graveyard.”
Tanisha Martin, an empowerment coach and kung-fu master based in Colorado Springs, said the campaign was just the avenue she had been looking for to speak out against the film.
“I was seeing so many people excited to see the movie and reading the books and I thought, 'They’re not seeing the real abuse side of it,'” she said. “There is real abuse and manipulation going on, so when I saw the #50dollarsfor50shade, I thought, 'I’ve got to do that for my local community.'”
For Martin, the story of Anastasia and Christian hits very close to home. Her ex-husband was abusive in many of the same ways, she said.
Martin, like Anastasia, convinced herself that she could somehow love her husband out of his abusive tendencies. Anastasia ends up accomplishing this, and defenders of the movie tout it as a story of love, rather than of abuse.
“That is a very dangerous concept to latch onto and glorify,” Martin told CNA. “That would be wonderful, but it’s not the reality for most victims and it’s not the reality for me.”
“It’s confusing enough to be a victim, because most of the time you don’t even realize you are one,” she said. “Even though you see signs of abuse, you still think it’s different with you…and that’s the biggest problem.”
The media hype behind the series has been the most infuriating part to Dines, who said she’s been walking around in a sort of “feminist rage” ever since the release of the first book in 2011.
“They’re making out as if this caught on all by itself, but it wasn’t organic growth. There’s been a juggernaut of media behind this, and it’s selling to women an image that somehow if you love a sadist out of his (abuse) you’ll have a great life,” she said.
“When in reality, how '50 Shades' would end is that she’s running for her life to a battered women’s shelter, with children in tow, she’s got her front teeth knocked out, she’s got cigarette burns up and down her arm…she’s living off the grid without a bank account or a cell phone, cause these sadists never let go.”
The media celebration of the books and movies shows an irresponsibility and an ignorance about how violence against women is perpetuated, Dines added.
“You have a media who’s celebrating this violence against women,” she said. “No other group would be celebrated when they’re beaten and tortured like this, it would be considered an outrage. For any other minority group, if you had a film that would eroticize them being violated, people would absolutely be tearing down the cinemas in the streets. And what do we have here? We have a massive media juggernaut promoting it.”
Dines, who is also a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College in Boston, said she believes “50 Shades of Grey” has also caught on because we live in a culture where pornography is considered acceptable.
“If you want to understand the popularity of this, you have to look at the way pornography has literally hijacked the way people think about sex and sexuality,” she said.
As a sociologist, Dines said she has seen a lot of research about the effects of pornography on the brains of boys and men. The younger someone becomes addicted to porn, the more difficult it is to break away, she said. Furthermore, regular viewing of pornography is re-shaping the way boys’ brains are forming.
“We’ve got 40 years of experimental psychology research which tells us that the more porn men look at, the more boys look at, the more they believe it,” she said. “The jury’s not out about that – that has been known in the science literature for years and years.”
Fortunately, Dines said, her organization has seen a positive, international response to the #50dollarsnot50shades campaign in just a few days.
“It’s been unbelievable, it has gone viral, it’s fantastic,” she said. “People are e-mailing from everywhere saying they’re not going, they’re donating $50 to a battered women’s shelter, I’ve got e-mails from England, Australia, Brazil, Germany… it’s just incredible.”
Dines said she credits the huge response in part to women are tired of being silent in a pornography-obsessed culture.
“I think it speaks to the silent majority of women who are sick to death of this porn culture, because you know the media silences them,” she said, “and I think what we’re hearing now is them coming into their own and speaking out via our hashtag.”
“And I think it’s about time people started speaking out against a porn culture, because we’re so inundated with it, and really what this is doing is it’s speaking out against it,” she said. “It’s about women, and men who support women, making a stand, because this (series) is part of the porn culture, this did not come out of nowhere.”
Learn more about the #50DollarsNot50Shades campaign at: https://www.facebook.com/50dollarsnotfiftyshades/info
To make a donation to a women’s shelter operated by Catholic Charities, contact your local agency through: http://catholiccharitiesusa.org/our-impact/agency-spotlight/