The Faces of Suffering
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Southwest Kansas “F���� ������� ���� G�� ���� �� ������ ��� �����������.” atholic -- St. Augustine CNewspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City www.dcdiocese.org/swkscatholic Vol. LII, No. 14 Sunday, October 15, 2017 Diocese mourns Local Catholic celebrates friend, co-worker The faces Father Francis ‘Blessed’ Father Stanley Rother of suff ering Jordan Most Rev. John B. Brungardt Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City n an ambulance for the second ti me in two years. As a pati ent. Suff ering. Who are the Ifaces of suff ering? Disease, surgery, aging, desti tuti on: Our bodies are frail. The Lord formed us in our mothers’ wombs. We grow, weaken through disease, illness, and accident, then die. God is with us to our death and beyond. I think of Jesus healing the leper: “Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do will it. Be made “I thank the Lord clean’” (Luke 5:13). At ti mes, Jesus heals us. At ti mes, we trust that He is bringing us home. We every day for unite ourselves physically to our Savior’s suff ering on the Cross. Emotional trauma, mental difficulties, my vocation loneliness, addicti ons: Our minds are frail. The Lord gave us our as a priest.” reason and intellect to be rati onal creatures. At ti mes, we suff er these traumas through no fault By TIM WENzL of our own. At ti mes, we fail to choose His plan Archivist Emeritus through our own fault, leading to suff ering. God arden City- Father Francis will comfort us in these challenges. The Bible “Frank” G. Jordan, reti red teaches about the Samaritan woman at the Gpriest of the Diocese of well: “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘if you Dodge City, died Sept. 27, 2017, knew the gift of God and who is saying to you,’ in Garden City. He was 93 years “Give me a drink,” ‘you would have asked him old. In additi on to being a dioc- Photo by Charlene Myers and he would have given you living water’” esan priest, Father Jordan was a Oklahoma nati ve Father Stanley Rother is beati fi ed at a special celebrati on at- (John 4:10). We trust in Jesus to give us this Dominican Associate. tended by 15,000 people at the Cox Conventi on Center in Oklahoma City. Father living water, Himself, in our ti mes of emoti onal “The Father Frank Jordan I knew Rother is the fi rst u.S.-born priest to be beati fi ed. The priest, who was murdered suff ering. was a Wandering Man,” said in Guatemala in 1981, was on a hit-list, yet conti nued to minister to his fl ock. A Temptati on, narcissism, lack of charity, sin: Bishop Emeritus Ronald Gilmore, handful of local Catholics knew Father Rother, including Charlene Myers, who Our souls are frail. The Lord gave us free will that we may choose the good and avoid evil. But who presided at the funeral Mass. covered the beati fi cati on for the Catholic. “Though he reti red a year before See Pages 3, 4 we are weak. Through our ego and narcissism, I came,” Bishop Gilmore said, “he we fall to temptati on. We sin, turning away from was always moving to some place, God, each other, and ourself. Holy Scripture de- always in search of some thing. scribes Jesus’ pardon of the sinful woman: “So And that was a vocati on for him. Sister Renee Kirmer, ASC, dies I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one And that was an encouragement ichita--Sister Mary Renee Kirmer died to whom litt le is forgiven, loves litt le. He said to for us. Sept. 20, 2017. She was 81 and had been her, ‘your sins are forgiven’” (Luke 7:47-48). Note “Look at the Readings he chose Wa professed Adorer of the Blood of Christ how the Lord links love to forgiveness. When we for his Funeral Mass. The Spirit of for 57 years. The Mass of Resurrecti on was cel- forgive, we love. When we love, we forgive. Our the Lord was indeed upon him, as ebrated at the Wichita Center, with burial in the Compassionate Jesus will give us His grace during Isaiah said; he sent Father Frank Sisters Adorers’ cemetery. the suff ering of temptati on. to preach and to heal, and with She was born near Spearville on Dec. 28, 1935, How do we approach the face of suff ering in the oil of gladness in both tasks. the sixth child of Frank and Albina (Penka) Kir- others? In ourself? Pope Francis’ model fi ts: to He worked with what the Lord had mer, and bapti zed at St. John the Bapti st Church. encounter, to invite, and to accompany. Let us given him, his own idiosycrati c self, Her family later moved to Dodge City where faithfully encounter the face of suff ering, and de- and he used that self to build up she played soft ball, tennis and basketball. She velop a relati onship with the person. Let us gently the Body of Christ, as St. Paul said was valedictorian of her 1953 Dodge City High invite ourselves to assist, invite her into our lives in his lett er to the Ephesians. He School graduati ng class, and later worked there as a sister. Let us compassionately accompany knew, as St. John did, that he had for fi ve years as the principal’s secretary. him in suff ering, not giving up, not abandoning not chosen the Lord; he knew that She graduated in 1963 from Sacred Heart our brother. If I am suff ering, let me humbly ask the Lord had fi rst chosen him, and College, earning a bachelor’s degree in business for assistance, not turning inward. Jesus will help us, He loves us more than we can ask or imagine, that he was to go forth, and that and theology. She earned a master’s degree in especially we who suff er! Conti nued on Page 8 Conti nued on Page 8 Page 2 October 15, 2017 The Southwest Kansas Catholic How do we pray the way the saints prayed? ne of you asked me last week how to pray Every life of prayer is a wonder of two He can point out the sins, and the habits, and the way the Saints prayed. He was think- unique, unrepeatable, beings meeting one the rationalizations, and the manipulations, and Oing of St. Teresa of Avila and of St. John of another, as if for the first time, circling one the games we play: he can point out some of the Cross. another, feeling one another out, getting what holds you back from such a communion I should have answered the way an anony- comfortable with one another. In prayer, you with God. mous writer did in the late 14th century. The are one such unique being, the Almighty God is But he cannot live your adventure for you. writer of the Cloud of Unknowing went to the the Other. He wants nothing more than a deep You and the Lord must walk that always surpris- heart of it. and abiding communion with you. This is the ing, and sometimes painful, journey: the two of How can you do contemplative prayer? I am Adventure he is creating for you. you, alone with one another. Another Way at a complete loss, he said. For in all honesty, Any spiritual director is useful in only a How do I help you pray like the Saints. In all + Most Rev. I must admit I do not know. All I can say is I limited way. He can help clear the ground, honesty, I do not know. Only God knows, but Ronald M. Gilmore pray that Almighty God will teach you himself. for you, from his own hard-one experience at he will help you come to know, too. Bishop Emeritus of (Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 34) clearing the rock-strewn land of his own soul. Dodge City ather Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D., of Religious Studies and professor The event will take place from Fa renowned expert on the New of New Testament at The Catholic 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and includes lunch. Testament, an award-winning University of America, Father Col- Through the Parish-Diocese Stew- SCRIPTURE DAY professor, and a visiting scholar in lins served as a member of the fac- ardship Partnership, the Annual the Department of Religious Stud- ulty of theology at the Katholieke Scripture Day has no registration ies at Brown University, will discuss Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. fee. to address “Sexuality in the Bible,” at the an- He is the author and/or editor RSVP to Gayla Kirmer so orga- nual Scripture Day, Thursday, Oct. of 20 books on the New Testa- nizers can have an accurate meal 26 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of ment, and has written more than count: [email protected] Sexuality in Guadalupe in Dodge City. two hundred articles for scholarly or call (620) 227-1525. Jaime Gil Nunez will be providing and pastoral journals in the United the session in Spanish (see Page 10). States and abroad. the Bible The former dean of the School INFORMaciÓN espaÑOLA, PÁGINA 10 Great Bend Mission Bazaar, Nov. 11, to benefit Nigeria mission he annual Great Bend Mission Bazaar containers representing the prize packages to support the Dominican Sisters of of your choosing: TPeace mission in Nigeria, as well as the 1.