November 2, 2016 // Uncategorized

Around the Diocese: November 6, 2016

Todays Catholic

Mass for Secular Order

MISHAWAKA — The Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, will preside at a Mass with special connections to followers of St. Francis, locally and globally.

The Mass, at 11 a.m. Nov. 19, will include a lifetime profession by 14 laypeople as members of the Secular Franciscan Order. Priests from around the diocese will concelebrate in the chapel of St. Francis Convent, 1515 Dragoon Trail, Mishawaka.

The Secular Franciscan Order is an international order founded by St. Francis and recognized by the Catholic Church. It comprises more than 700 fraternities and some 400,000 professed laypeople who have committed themselves to follow Christ in the footsteps of Francis. The saint’s original rule for this Third Order, alongside friars and Poor Clare nuns, highlights a call for humility, joy, peace and justice, a love for the marginalized and the poor in spirit, care for creation and connecting everyday life intimately to the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

All are welcome to attend the Mass, which will be followed by a reception in the St. Francis Convent auditorium. The choir of Queen of Peace Parish in Mishawaka will provide music during the Mass.

“We are blessed to welcome Bishop Rhoades to celebrate Mass and to oversee the profession rite for the largest group of candidates our fraternity has ever helped to form,” said Sister Agnes Marie Regan, OSF, spiritual assistant for the fraternity. “Bishop Rhoades continues to inspire us with his own love for Franciscan charism and charity, as well as a missionary spirit akin to the heart of Pope Francis.”

The Immaculate Conception Fraternity, has 60 professed members and meets monthly at St. Francis Convent. The fraternity is active at Our Lady of the Road and Bridge of Hope/Hannah’s House. For more information, visit immaculateconception.sfousa.org or contact Linda O’Neil, OFS, minister at 574-250-3688, [email protected]; or Sr. Agnes Marie Regan, OSF, at 574-259-5427.

The candidates for profession are:

Sarah Belisle, St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Elkhart

Joella Carll, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Lakeville

Cathy Catral, St. Therese Little Flower Church, South Bend

Diego Delgado, Queen of Peace Church, Mishawaka

Anita Harker, Queen of Peace Church, Mishawaka

Marcy Salkay, St. Michael Catholic Church, Plymouth

Chantal Vigbedor, Queen of Peace Church, Mishawaka

Randolph Thomas, Queen of Peace Church, Mishawaka

Deborah Feece, Holy Family Church, South Bend

Dennis Feece, Holy Family Church, South Bend

Kathy Fuchs, St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Elkhart

Daniel Kreager, St. Matthew Cathedral, South Bend

Diane Kreager, St. Matthew Cathedral, South Bend

Jeff Shafier, St. Therese, Little Flower Church, South Bend

 

Herbeck to speak at Rejoice! Women’s Retreat

On Dec. 2-4, Debbie Herbeck, nationally known author and evangelist, will present the keynote address at the Rejoice! Women’s Retreat at Lindenwood Center at Ancilla College. This overnight weekend retreat offers women a rich, spiritual opportunity to be refreshed and renewed in the Lord during the preparation season of Advent. Lindenwood is a beautiful setting in which Herbeck will present a four-part reflection focusing on Mary, the Mother of Mercy and the Scriptural understandings of mercy, as well as her own faith journey.

Raised in a Jewish home, Herbeck came into Catholicism after a personal encounter with God in college. She lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., with her husband, Peter, and is a mother to four adult children and grandmother to four toddlers.

After meeting St. Teresa of Calcutta, she found herself called in a unique way. For the past 30 years she has served in ministry to young women, especially with junior high and college girls. Herbeck developed and leads “Be Love Revolution;” a ministry that helps young women know the personal love of Jesus so they can live freely and confidently. It aims to empower them to spread love they found to all they meet. She also helps lead “i.d.9:16,” a ministry that equips young adult Catholics to live as intentional disciples and to respond to the call for a new evangelization. Her books include “Safely Through the Storm: 120 Reflections on Hope,” “Firmly on the Rock: 120 Reflections on Faith,” and “Love Never Fails: 120 Reflections on Love.” She and Peter co-authored “When the Spirit Speaks: Touched by God’s Word.” 

Speaking on Our Lady in light of Advent, Herbeck will focus especially on Mary’s role as a “channel of God’s mercy.”

She explained: “As I was praying the Magnificat, I heard the line “for He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.” From the Old Testament to the New, God’s mercy came to fruition in Mary. Mary allows it to be born in her in a real way.”

Highlighting the events of Mary’s life as described in Scripture, she will discuss the Annunciation, finding Jesus in the temple, the wedding at Cana, Calvary, the upper room at Pentecost and also unpack “what Mary is doing as a woman.”  She hopes to highlight Our Lady’s humanity in the midst of saying, “Yes” to divinity. She recognized how Mary lets go of control and fears that we, too, face in everyday life, as she learns to ponder and entrusts her family to God. The question of “what can we learn from Mary?” will be asked.

During the retreat, Herbeck also hopes to extend to women a practical call to love and speak to women where they are in their lives. As mothers, daughters and wives, how can women be instruments of God’s mercy and love, opening themselves to “now allow Jesus to be born inside of them in a certain way?”

She plans on focusing on a sense of hope in the midst of an uncertain post- election time and following the example of Mary as found in the New Testament. She aims for participants to “feel refreshed and empowered to go out and be God’s love in the world.”

Her presentation style will be engaging, yet familiar. She is quick to acknowledge that the success of the retreat will rely on the Holy Spirit, active in the Divine Liturgy and Holy Hour of Adoration that will accompany her reflections. In addition to time for personal prayer, the retreat will also afford plenty of opportunities for fellowship with the other participants.