The Newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg July 4, 2014 Vol 48 No
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The CatholicWitness The Newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg July 4, 2014 Vol 48 No. 13 Through the laying on of hands, and the consecratory prayer that followed, Bishop Ronald W. Gainer ordains Father Kyle Sahd, a native of Holy Trinity Parish in Columbia, to the priesthood. Father Sahd’s first assignment is as parochial vicar at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Hershey. See page 7 for coverage of the ordination. CHRIS HEISEY, THE CATHOLIC WITNESS The 2 - Catholic Witness • July 4, 2014 St. John the Baptist Parish Commemorates Corpus Christi with Blessing of Crucifix, Eucharistic Procession By Jen Reed sylvania. Years of damage from the el- The Catholic Witness ements took their toll on the cross and Christ’s body. When Father Brommer On the Solemnity of the Most Holy presented it to Tom Lauer for restora- Body and Blood of Christ – the Feast of tion, the crucifix was faded and cor- Corpus Christi – members of St. John roded. Pieces of it were missing, in- the Baptist Parish cluding a gouge in in New Freedom Christ’s chest, and c o m m e m o r a t e d it was covered in Christ’s institu- cobwebs and dirt. tion of the Eucha- Mr. Lauer spent rist with a Solemn nearly six months Mass that included restoring the cruci- the blessing of a fix. He filled in the beautifully restored holes with patch- crucifix, followed ing, and removed by an outdoor Eu- the nails that had charistic Proces- still been attached sion. from its mounting in Saints Peter and During the Mass, Paul Church. He Bishop Ronald lovingly cleaned W. Gainer, who and repaired every blessed the cruci- inch of the crucifix, fix, also formally and then stained installed Father it to return it to its Joshua Brommer previous glory. as pastor. Father Brommer had been “As I was work- serving as the parish’s administrator ing on the crucifix, it almost felt like I for the past year. was going back 2,000 years, to when it The search for the crucifix began a had just been removed from Calvary,” year ago, as Father Brommer sought Mr. Lauer told The Catholic Witness. one to hang above the stained-glass “Working on it was very serene,” he said. “I cleaned Christ’s teeth, his eyes, window of the Resurrected Christ lo- his hair, his whole body. It felt like it cated behind the altar. The parish’s was real, because of the detail and life- Director of Liturgy, Tom Lauer, soon size corpus. It was an amazing experi- located one, which belonged to the ence to care for the body of Christ.” former Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Following the restoration, the cru- New Kensington, Pa., outside of Pitts- cifix was laid in the parish atrium so burgh. Saints Peter and Paul Church that parishioners could see it up close was built in 1859 for Polish Catholics before it was hung in the sanctuary. working in the area’s mills, factories Workers from Kinsley Construction and mines. A 14-foot crucifix of oak spent more than two days in meticu- lous care to hang it. wood was fashioned for the church, “Now, when we pray the Our Father CHRIS HEISEY, THE CATHOLIC WITNESS and graced its sanctuary, until the at Mass, and look at the crucifix, it’s Above: The restored crucifix, which initially was carved for Saints Peter and Paul church was closed in 1984. Church in New Kensington, Pa., which was home to Polish Catholics from 1859 an emotional experience,” Mr. Lauer until its closure in 1984. Eventually, the ornate crucifix said, “because we can visibly see that Right: St. John the Baptist parishioner and Director of Liturgy Tom Lauer, who wound up in a barn in the small bor- our prayer to the Father is through his restored the crucifix. ough of McDonald in western Penn- Son.” Father Sylvan Capitani, former pastor, and Father Joshua Brommer, current pastor, lead members of St. Bishop Ronald W. Gainer focuses on the Eucharist as John the Baptist Parish in New Freedom in a Eucharistic procession on the parish grounds June 22 to com- he carries a monstrance in a Eucharistic procession to memorate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. celebrate Corpus Christi Sunday June 22. The July 4, 2014 • Catholic Witness - 3 Seeking the Gateways Out of Poverty By A.B. Hill The Catholic Witness There is an oft-repeated parable that goes some- thing like this: One day a group of villagers was working in the fields by a river. Suddenly someone noticed a baby floating downstream. A woman rushed out and rescued the baby, brought it to shore and cared for it. During the next several days, more babies were found floating downstream, and the villagers rescued them as well. But before long, there was a steady stream of babies floating towards them. Soon the whole village was involved in the many tasks of rescue work: pulling these poor children out of the stream, ensuring they were properly fed, clothed, and housed, and integrating them into the A summer event for all incoming high school • Praise and Worship Music life of the village. freshmen through 2014 graduates will be held at • Eucharistic Procession and Adoration of the Before long, however, the village became ex- St. John the Baptist Parish, 315 North Constitu- Blessed Sacrament Led by Bishop Ronald W. hausted with all this rescue work. Some villagers tion Avenue in New Freedom, on July 30 from Gainer suggested they go upstream to discover how all these babies were getting into the river in the first 3-8:30 p.m. “Our goal for this gathering is the same as our “The Catholic Youth Experience will offer place. Had a mysterious illness stricken these poor goal for everything that we are involved with as high school teens and recent graduates an oppor- children? Had the shoreline been made unsafe by the Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry: an earthquake? Was some hateful person throw- tunity to gather together with others from around bringing youth and young adults and their chap- ing them in deliberately? Was an even more ex- the diocese for interactive field games, a picnic hausted village upstream abandoning them out of erones closer to Jesus Christ and to a deeper un- dinner, a concert and a Eucharistic procession and hopelessness? Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament led by Bishop derstanding of the Church and what it means to be “Don’t you see,” cried some, “if we find out Ronald Gainer. It will offer them a great chance to Church,” Mr. Williams said. how they’re getting in the river, we can stop the play and pray with hundreds of high school youth Cost is $5 per person. Youth chaperones are also problem and no babies will drown. By going up- from throughout our diocese,” said Rob Williams, invited to attend. All clergy, religious sisters and stream, we can eliminate the cause of the prob- lem!” (Credit: Bread for the World) Director of the Diocesan Office of Youth and seminarians are complimentary. One group of state legislators is similarly con- Young Adult Ministry, which is sponsoring the Parishes and schools are asked to register as a cerned about the “rescue work” being done in event. group and provide their own chaperones. Indi- Pennsylvania to address the effects of poverty. The day’s schedule includes: viduals who are not connected with a parish or The House Majority Policy Committee commis- • Opening Prayer sioned a study to identify barriers that low-income school group should contact the Office for Youth • Interactive Field Games Pennsylvanians face when attempting to reach • Picnic Dinner and Young Adult Ministry at 717-657-4804 for ar- self-sufficiency. In April 2014, the committee re- • Sacrament of Reconciliation rangements. leased the preliminary findings of their “Beyond Poverty” report. • Concert Featuring Diocesan Youth and Young Register online at www.hbgdiocese.org/event/ “Government spends nearly a trillion dollars Adults, Concert Headliner Mathias Michael and cyx-catholic-youth-experience. The registration annually on programs to fight poverty, yet there Musical Guest “Fusion” deadline is July 25. are still 1.6 million Pennsylvanians struggling to make ends meet,” said Representative Dave Reed (R-Indiana), chairman of the policy committee. “Clearly we must readjust our focuses.” Solemn Novena in Correction Twelve barriers were identified: the breakdown A photo caption of of family support systems, lack of child care, the the display of the Sta- downturn in the economy, inaccessible health Honor of Our Lady tions of the Cross at care, criminal records, financial illiteracy, inad- the State Museum of equate education, homelessness, mental health of Mount Carmel Pennsylvania in the issues, hunger, substance abuse, lack of transpor- June 20 edition mis- Carmel of Jesus, identified Dan Ernst. tation, and a “benefits cliff” where upward move- Mary and Joseph Mr. Ernst, the co- ment in an economic bracket results in loss of ser- chairman of the 150th vices before a family is able to provide for them 430 Monastery Road, Elysburg anniversary committee independently. of St. Joseph Parish in Identifying barriers that entrap families in pov- Daily Masses July 8-15, 7 p.m. with Hanover, was pictured erty is the first step of the Empowering“ Oppor- Novena Prayers and Sermon during the viewing of the paintings. tunities: Gateways Out of Poverty” initiative that July 16, Feast of The correct date for seeks to establish effective and sustainable solu- Prince of Peace Par- tions to poverty in the Commonwealth.