Power of Prayer Like in My Parish? Freedom + Most Rev
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Southwest Kansas Catholic Book on first Native priest; See Page 11 Newspaper of the CatholicRegister Diocese of Dodge City Vol. XLIX, No. 10 • Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014 Honduran family Father Mazouch: Grateful for the What is journeys to stewardship Kansas seeking Power of Prayer like in my parish? Freedom + Most Rev. John B. from fear Brungardt By DAVID MYERS Bishop of the Southwest Kansas Register Catholic Editor’s Note: Ana’s name has been Diocese of changed for this story. Dodge City or 10 minutes, Ana felt the cold steel Fof a gun held to her head. “But you will receive power when the For 10 minutes, the mother of three holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will children thought she would die at any be my witnesses …” (Acts 1:8). moment, and when that moment never tewardship Renewal comes alive in a par- came, it was nothing short of a milagro ish with a Stewardship Fair and with Lay (miracle). S When the Register spoke with the Witness Talks. We have read many Steward- diminutive woman from Honduras, she ship articles in the SKR, the parish bulletin, and was only six days in the United States and websites, and have heard our priest or deacon living with family members. The relief preach about Stewardship. Those catechetical she felt was palpable. She and her two efforts are good, but I have found that God’s sons were safe, and she soon would be call to be a grateful steward hits home with the reunited with her husband and seven-year- personal and practical touches of Lay Witness old daughter, from whom they separated Talks and a Parish Stewardship Fair. before crossing the border. She was at Lay Witness Talks: peace. Finally. And she no longer had to Your priest may ask you, or you may vol- face the inevitability of her two sons being unteer, to present a short talk near the end of forcefully indoctrinated into a gang. a Mass. This talk is a heartfelt story of how Having a gun pressed to her head was you and your family have deepened your walk not the first time Ana felt heart-crushing with the Lord in being a grateful steward of fear, and it wouldn’t be the last. But it His gifts. This is not bragging, but an authen- was the moment when the family finally tic witnessing of God’s blessings. Please see decided it was time to leave. Eric Haselhorst’s column on Page 5. You can With the help of an interpreter, Ana described the day she encountered the also visit dcdiocese.org/stewardship. Click gunman. She was at work in a restaurant on Stewardship Renewal Resources, then when a gang of thugs flew through the scroll down to “Role of Adult Lay Witness.” front doors. Photo by David Myers Included are sample talks and outlines to get “They wanted to steal,” Ana ex- Father Charles Mazouch holds the chalice that once belonged to Father Emil you started. Jesus, who loves you, will help plained. “There was a councilman with Kapaun. In August of 2013, Father Mazouch was given five months to live. you proclaim the Good News with great joy bodyguards. They wanted money. The in your Lay Witness Talk! bodyguards began to shoot their guns By TIM WENZL the cause of a hole in the esophagus. Parish Stewardship Fair: because they thought that they wanted Archivist During this time, tube feeding was man- Sometimes called a Ministry Fair, this to kidnap the councilman. There were a n August of 2013, Father Charles datory, hopefully allowing time to heal parish event promotes the many activities, lot of gunshots. A lot of customers were IMazouch was diagnosed with Stage the esophagus in hopes of him being councils, and committees that spread the injured. The ones that died were one of IV cancer of the esophagus; cancer able to eat and drink again. But during Gospel truths of hospitality, prayer, forma- the robbers and a bodyguard.” that had also spread to the liver, lymph this time, complications occurred and tion, and service. There are many formats that Because Ana was a witness to the shoot- nodes, into the bloodstream. He was Father Mazouch became weaker and may fit your parish, large or small: a big fair ings, she surely would be killed, too. given five months to live. weaker. After several stents were put in the gym or cafeteria after Masses, where “I ran and went out the back door, and Father Mazouch spent the fall of 2013 in and taken out of the esophagus, and each committee has a table with volunteers one of them pointed his gun at me. But, by in and out of hospitals for different not being able to eat or drink for two who explain their ministry; a fair showcasing the grace of God, he didn’t shoot. I don’t procedures and surgeries, mainly from know why he didn’t kill me. When this Continued on Page 14 each of the four pillars of stewardship on four kind of thing happens in my country, they different weekends in the gathering space of shoot you for sure. It was a miracle.” the church; a continuous promotion of the Why didn’t she go to the police? OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT various ministries in the gathering space, one each weekend over several months; etc. “The police and the gangs are linked,” The Most Rev. John B. Brungardt, Bishop of Dodge City, Please see more ideas at www.dcdiocese.org/ she said. “I would be dead.” issued the following appointment: If it was just about her safety – going stewardship. Click on Stewardship Renewal While continuing on a medical leave of absence, Father Charles Mazouch to work and getting home without being Resources, then scroll down to “Purpose of was appointed parochial administrator of St. Joseph Parish in Ashland and Holy victimized – they might have stayed. Time and Talent Ministry Fair,” and “Tips Spirit quasi-parish in Coldwater, effective August 4, 2014. But then there were the children. Ana for a Successful Ministry Fair.” Let us pro- Father George Fajardo, a priest of the Diocese of Sorsogon in the Philippines, explained that when children enter the mote the great ministry activities of our par- is appointed parochial vicar at St. Anthony, Liberal, and St. Alphonsus, Satanta, ninth or tenth grades, they are approached ish with a Stewardship Fair! May the Lord effective September 15, 2014. by Mara members wanting to “train them of Stewardship, Jesus Christ, be with you. By order of the Most Rev. John B. Brungardt to report who goes in and out of the colony Let me know how I can assist in your parish Sister Janice Grochowsky, CSJ, JCL, Chancellor Continued on Page 24 Stewardship Renewal this Fall. Page 2 September 14, 2014 The Southwest Kansas Register Pilgrimage to Mexico City ‘Another Way’ With the Most Rev. John B. Brungardt Fellowship ~ Unique dining ~ Tours of significant Catholic locations his summer we have been meditating on how the Many opportunities for private prayer ~ Daily Mass T“world” affects us. It prefers to seduce us with the velvet glove. When that doesn’t work, it will take the soft Oct. 19-25, 2014 (7 Days, 6 Nights) glove off the hard fist, to terrorize us, to mock us, and to intimidate us. • Round trip Among the sites visited At times, this will take the form of an actual, organized, bus service will be (clockwise from persecution of the Christian faithful. We see this hatred of from Dodge left) Basilica of Our Lady Christianity everywhere in the East today, and in the West. City to the of Guadalupe; Teotihu- + Most Rev. Ronald Think of Syria, think of Iraq, think of Nigeria, to take only M. Gilmore Wichita cian Pyramids; Cuautit- the most obvious ones. Think of the blind eye the West lan de Romero Rubio; Bishop Emeritus Airport turns to these things. Persecution is alive and well in our Church of Tlatelolco; of Dodge City world. • Round trip Metropolitan Cathedral At times, it will try to turn the timid from their religion airfare from by mockery and jest. It calls them dupes for believing in Wichita to because the world has Mexico City outmoded doctrines about abortion, about marriage, about family, even about the Eucharist in Oklahoma. No other its own accomplices • All Hotel religion is held up to such mockery, ridicule, and scorn deep in our own hearts. accommoda- today. All the beautiful people are doing this. They take There we find the natu- tions especial delight in finding Christians who are hypocrites, ral desires to be liked, saying one thing, and doing another. Mockery is alive and to be well thought of, • Ground well in our world. to be admired, to be transporta- At times, it resorts to direct threats. We are not qualified influential, to be secure tion while in for certain positions because we are Christian. We are not in our wealth. Sin Mexico City welcome in certain places because of our moral convic- has long since intro- tions. We are barred from the public square, because duced chaos into those • Tickets for religion has no place there. We are attacked by Judges desires, and the world attractions in all over the country, because it is the thing to do. We are thrives on that chaos the itinerary brought to heel in our business relationships: if our con- within us. The world, those who hate us, they • Two group science stands in the way of business, conscience goes, or are alive and well.