Our Lady of the Holy Souls 1003 North Tyler Street - Little Rock, 72205 “Encounter Jesus, Serve Others.”

Fr. John Marconi, Pastor [email protected]

Deacon John Hall Deacon Lawrence H. Jegley (Retired) Susej Thompson, Pastoral Music Director Wendy Floriani, Director of Youth Faith Formation Denise Dumars, Director of Youth Ministry Laura G. Humphries, Parish Life & Stewardship Director Susie Williams, Facilities & Events Coordinator Shelley Tienken, Business Manager Nan Connell, Accountant Cindy Stabnick, Pastoral Secretary Stacey Matchett, Church Secretary Nancy Handloser, Principal

Church Office: (501) 663-8632 • Website: www.holysouls.org • E-mail: [email protected] Facebook: www.facebook.com/OLHSAR Church Office Hours: Closed School: (501) 663-4513 • Cafeteria: 501) 663-6125 • Extended Care: (501) 663-7438

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY) - APRIL 19, 2020

The article below, which was printed in the April 11, 2020 issue of the Arkansas Catholic magazine, is reprinted with permission from the Arkansas Catholic newspaper - Malea Hargett, editor, and Fr. Greg Luyet. Catholics During 1918 Pandemic Experienced Similar Reality To Today! DÉJÀ VU No public Mass in state during 1918 influenza pandemic By Father Greg Luyet Special to Arkansas Catholic

Lent 2020 will be remembered as the time of “social officials was overkill. At the same time, he expressed the Church’s distancing,” the failure by some to believe health officials, commitment to be a good citizen by keeping the doors closed leading to an exponentially rising number of infected people, as the pandemic added more infected and sick people each many of whom died. It will be the Lent, and perhaps longer of day. He observed how “ . . . a churchless Sunday is for a great no public Masses, except in enclosed convents and the House many persons in this land the embodiment of gloom. But the of Formation. Yet, maybe it will also be a time of deepening silver lining said to accompany every cloud, is in this case a appreciation of the Mass. greater appreciation of the Mass when its public celebration The Diocese of Little Rock and many others throughout shall have been restored, for we know of several persons who the world have experienced times when the public celebration realize now that they never appreciated the Mass until” they could of the Eucharist could not occur due to an epidemic. The not attend. influenza pandemic of 1918 was one time when Arkansans According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the flu killed went weeks without being able to participate in the Mass. about 7,000 people in Arkansas, several times more than the In the Oct. 26, 1918, issue of The Guardian, the state lost during . predecessor to Arkansas Catholic, a priest editor wrote how At first, health officials in Little Rock downplayed the lethality he believed that the closing of churches by the public health (Continued on page 3) Reflection on This Sunday’s Readings FIRST READING: Acts 2: 42-473 disciples who saw him, heard him, and touched him. Our belief is different from theirs, and it faces challenges they “Team Spirit” did not know. Some teams have a life of their own. A good team is not The First Letter of Peter says, “You may have to suffer just a collection of talented individuals. It is individuals working through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith together in such a way that they create something new and … may prove to be for praise.” Gold is precious, but it is better. perishable when tested by fire. Faith is more precious than You can have inadequate members in a good team as gold. When tested by fire it only grows stronger. long as the team sustains all the members. Some teams Our faith may feel weak at times, but those are times for take the ball field, some of them prepare a meal, and some of testing. God is present to us, arms filled with promises, ready them keep a parish alive to its gospel call. The team that formed in the years after Jesus died was to steady our vision and shore up our hope. Faith is not fact. that kind of a group. They taught and prayed, served, and lived It is faith. It struggles deep within the soul, and it survives. It in community. This “Easter team”—the church—worked so is tested only that it might grow stronger. well that miracles happened and their numbers increased. Written by Paul Turner. Copyright © 2010, Resource Publications, Inc., 888-273- God was blessing the work they did. 7782, www.rpinet.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Lectionary One of the hallmarks of Christianity is that it is not a faith Bulletin Inserts, Year A: First and Second Readings. for loners. Even though each of us meets God intently in the privacy of our hearts, we meet God fully in the communion of the faithful. You can support your parish community in many ways. GOSPEL: John 20:19-31 You can learn with others, worship in the assembly, do acts of charity with a group, and just spend time with your friends “Get Real” there. When you do, you build God’s Easter team. Those of us who flatter ourselves that we have a “realistic” Written by Paul Turner. Copyright © 2010, Resource Publications, Inc., 888- view of the world may listen to the first reading today and say, 273-7782, www.rpinet.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from “Get real!” when we hear Luke’s account of the early, Elysian Lectionary Bulletin Inserts, Year A: First and Second Readings. days of the Christian movement. All seems to be rosy, lots of wonders are performed, everyone shares selflessly, they eat together in “exultation,” and the Lord added to their numbers? SECOND READING: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Well, who wouldn’t be attracted to a group like this? From the wind that swept through the upper room at “Testing Faith” Pentecost as the Spirit of God blew over the face of the waters Faith is not fact. Our belief in the resurrection of Jesus in Genesis, and the fire that appeared over each disciple as the comes from our trust in the promises of God and the faith light appeared at the dawn of creation, Luke’s intent in Acts is of those we love. We call it faith and not fact because it is to show a new creation, a restoration of creation’s original an assurance that comes from deep within our souls. Faith goodness through the working of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit comes with a confidence that the God who made us in who continues to make us into the Body of Christ. goodness has destined us for eternal goodness. We may occasionally, like Thomas in the Gospel, say, But there are times when our faith is tested. We “Get real!” but our ultimate reality in the Spirit is to work continually undergo trials that make us question the goodness of the to make our Christian community a new creation, one in which world and the Creator who made it. We want to believe in others will find God’s joy and beauty. Jesus, and yet we do not have the advantage of the first Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co. -2 - DÉJÀWE VU NEED MORE! (Continued from Page 1) of the flu, overwhelming the medical system along the East of the deaths, have been fearlessly distressing, because if (sic.) Coast. Dr. Jacob Crossan Geiger representing the United family conditions. I hope it will abate soon.” In another letter, Bishop States Public Health Services in Little Rock is reported in the Morris goes on to confide in his sister that the weather had been Sept. 20, 1918, edition of the Arkansas Gazette saying, bad and he believes that increased the fatalities. He described “Spanish influenza is simple, plain old-fashioned la grippe.” the conditions in Little Rock “as bad as war.” The pandemic conditions worsened within a matter of Though the circumstances required “social distancing,” weeks. Each day Dr. Geiger published in the newspaper the people longed to stay connected with neighbors with whom they numbers of those sickened by the flu and who had died. The could not congregate. To satisfy this desire, people stayed on the military, on the other hand, banned the publication of the telephone all day. The calls became so numerous that Dr. Geiger huge number of dead and infected. By the beginning of had to issue a warning in the Arkansas Gazette that the phones October, the newly established Arkansas Board of Health are needed for business and for medical emergencies. If people established statewide quarantine for all communities in could not control their telephone use, Dr. Geiger ordered, the Arkansas. Church leaders petitioned for an exemption from telephone circuits would be shut off to “social” use. the ban on gatherings, but in many places, such as Fort Like Catholics in 1918, we find ourselves unable to attend Smith, the exemption was denied. The closing of churches Masses in our parishes. Like them we hunger for the Eucharist. in Arkansas meant that parishioners could not participate in The men and women who suffered the influenza pandemic of the Mass. Throughout October 1918, the way the Church in 1918 went on to live their faith more deeply. They faced a war, a Arkansas lived its faith changed. pandemic, and anti-Catholic laws and misunderstandings from As an acknowledgement of the pandemic, Bishop John neighbors, especially those whose families had recently emigrated B. Morris relaxed, somewhat, the “regulations of Lent” in 1919. from Germany. At the time, Catholics were required, unless dispensed, to Though our technology is different, our telephones potentially fast every day during Lent. As a pastoral response to the connect us to each other and to Masses livestreamed from suffering of the Catholics of Arkansas, Bishop Morris wrote Arkansas and across the globe. In 1918, the wrote letters that he “found it opportune to dispense the faithful of the that rarely reached ordinary people. In 2020, we can pray with diocese during this Lent from abstinence from flesh meat, Pope Francis as he blesses us with the Eucharist from St. Peter’s except on Fridays, Ash Wednesday, the Ember Days and the Basilica while we are sitting in Arkansas. morning of Holy Saturday.” WE NEED Yet another event impacted by the quarantine was the Father Greg Luyet is the diocese’s judicial vicar and prefect of the House ordination of Father Otto Butterbach to the priesthood. Bishop of Formation. MORE! Morris ordained him at a closed Mass held in the Cathedral with only seminarians and local clergy attending Oct. 12, 1918. Fr. Butterbach served as a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock for 42 years. In Tontitown, Sgt. Giacomo Zulpo was killed in action Sept. 15, 1918. A requiem Mass was celebrated Oct. 8, 1918. The Guardian reported that the “catafalque was draped with The Arkansas Catholic is our main vehicle for communicating the American and Italian flags.” By Oct. 15, the “month’s mind” during this crisis. Contact the diocese to sign up for the print could not be celebrated due to the quarantine. The month’s version (www.dolr.org). The digital version is for free and mind is a Mass celebrated on the one-month anniversary of available to everyone in your family, coming to each member death. in their own personal email account. Signing up is simple: The 1918 influenza spared very few families, causing 1. Log on to www.digital.arkansas-catholic.org and sickness and death to visit many homes in Arkansas and sign up for free. across the world. Dr. Geiger, who was the public health officer, 2. Click the red “Sign Up” link. got the flu as did his wife, who died from pneumonia which 3. Register for your free account and set up your was associated with the influenza. password and hit “Submit.” You will probably never According to diocesan archives, Bishop Morris himself need to use this password again unless you log in from did not escape the flu. He wrote several letters to family your browser rather than from the email you will get members describing how the flu impacted him physically, every Tuesday afternoon with a link to access the latest edition. emotionally, and practically. In a letter to his sister, Ellen Stritch 4. Click the red link and you now have access to the of Nashville, dated Oct. 24, 1918, Bishop Morris describes digital edition, plus all issues back to 2002.” the influenza as having “been extremely fatal here, and some - 3 - COLLECTIONS/STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

Weekend Collections – April 4 & 5 $ 14,938 April 11 & 12 $ 18,900 Total April Collections $ 33,838 Total April Budgeted Collections $ 115,000

Actual Collections (7/1/19 -3/31/20) $ 1,013,257 Budgeted (7/1/19 - 3/31/20) $ 1,152,000 Amount in deficit of Budget $ (138,743)

Children’s Collection - April $ 0

Maintenance Fund $ 1,323 An Act of Spiritual Thank you for supporting our church. Communion My Jesus, I believe that YOU are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.

I love YOU Thank you for using Online Giving. Parishioners who use above all things, the service are pleased with how easy it is to set up and and I desire manage. If you have not yet signed up for Online Giving, to receive YOU please consider this option. This is the perfect time to be- into my soul. gin donating online with the cancellation of Masses due to the Coronavirus. Holy Souls Parish needs your continued Since I cannot support! Visit our parish website at www.holysouls.org. at this moment receive YOU sacramentally, come at least Responding to the Word This Week spiritually Thomas changes his doubts to firm faith into my heart. when Jesus comes to him. How has my faith grown through I embrace YOU this Lent and Easter season? as if YOU Jesus, thank you for . . . were already there and *To reflect on this Sunday’s readings online, go to unite myself www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041920.cfm wholly to YOU.

Never permit me to be The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock is committed to pro- separated from YOU. tecting children and young people. If you are aware of abuse or have been abused by Clerics, Church volun- teers, or Church workers, please contact the State of Amen. Arkansas Hotline for Crimes against Children at 1-800- 482-5964 and the Chancellor for Canonical Affairs, Dcn. Matthew Copytright @ A. Glover, (501) 664-0340 ext. 361. For pastoral assistance please 2019www.LittleRockPrayerCards.com LRPC-01009 contact the Victim Assistance Coordinator for the Diocese of Little Rock: Laura Gosponer, (501) 664-0340, ext. 425. Diocese of Little Rock, 2500 N. Tyler St., Little Rock, AR 72207. Thank you to Tom Kirchner for sharing this prayer card which he created. - 4 - Grateful Stewards of God’s Gifts . . . Laura Humphries, Parish Life & Stewardship Director OUR PARISHIONERS -- Sherry Wortsmith; Corky Zaloudek; Becky Price; Observing the boldness of Peter and John and Robert Carter; Joe & Pat Kirchner; Lillian Henriquez; Mary Adney; Rob Mondy; Bob perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary Skarda; Rosie Searle; Jessica Remsing; Kate Evans; Benjamin Stuart; Charlie men, the leaders, elders, and scribes were Baker; Greg Sheard; Micki & Robert Fitzpatrick; Judy Caldarera; Glennabell amazed, and they recognized him as the McCumpsey; Rita Williams; Kay Loss; Tina Pinter; Henry Schulte; Pat Keogh; Janet companions of Jesus. Acts 4:13 Davis; Dorothy Ehlebracht; Andy Gentry; Nick Kirchner; Annette Wahlgreen; George Loss; Alice Henry; Pearl Gentry; David Smith; Annabelle Giardina; Sally Place; Judy Sims; MaryAnn Stafford; Pat Kirchner; Phil Marks; and Pat Have I ever been as bold as Peter and John? More often, King. I’m sorry to say, I have been silent in the face of much less OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS -- Carl Calhoun; the Jonathan adversity. What is it that keeps us silent? Or, at least, less Forte Family; the Petty Family; Betty Franzetti; Scott Helmbeck; Katie than bold? Ridicule? Rejection? The fear of losing a friend? Ehemann; Alice Humphries; Clem Egleston; Ronny Troillett; Natalie Miller; Perhaps even physical harm? All are legitimate concerns. Jim Hollowell; Kathleen Stafford; Lindsay Newsom, Jerry Hall; Michael But today’s first reading should embolden us since we are Taylor; Theresa Carle; Suzanne Hawkins; Rosemary Kraft; Anne Peterson; told that Peter and John were “uneducated, ordinary men.” Nicole Harris Hulse; and Chris Ashcraft. Yet their example today is extraordinary. It should help us to be courageous, considering that their boldness came THOSE WHO HAVE DIED -- Patti Jacuzzi, sister of Gil Caver; and Libba only days after they had essentially denied Jesus and Rose, aunt of Chad Fitz and great aunt of Sullivan and Josie Fitz. scurried away in fear. Our task isn’t necessarily to amaze OUR SEMINARIANS -- especially Jonathan Semmler, and Joel Brackett. people. What we are asked to do, what we should be inspired to strive for, is to be recognized as “companions of In order to keep our bulletin prayer list up-to-date for the sick, names will remain on Jesus.” An excerpt from Living Faith the list for four weeks. Then their name will be written in the Book of Intercession where they will be remember during every Mass. To continue for another four weeks, Last Sunday we all celebrated Easter in a very different please call the church office. way than in years past. I am sure most of us cannot remember a time when we weren’t in Mass on Easter. While we did celebrate in front of our computer screen or television, REGISTRATION FOR NEW MEMBERS Registration for new members is completed in the church office it was certainly different. However nothing can stop the or online by visiting our web page, www.holysouls.org. Please beauty of Easter, nothing can stop the faith we profess, contact the church office or go online at www.holysouls.org if Christ is very much alive in our hearts. We may not be in you have moved, changed your telephone number, moved the church building, but we are with him and he is with us. from your parent’s home or graduated from college. We can be “companions of Jesus” in the way we live and RCIA love each other. We can all be prayer warriors offering If you are interested in becoming Catholic, please contact Cindy prayers for those in the medical community that works Stabnick at 501-663-8632 or [email protected]. tirelessly to confront this virus. We can pray for all those RETURNING CATHOLICS affected by the virus. We can pray for a vaccine and If you are interested in returning to the Catholic Church, please ultimately a cure. We can pray for our world to heal and be contact Cindy Stabnick at 663-8632 or [email protected]. a better place, where we can all live and love one another. SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION If there is someone that needs our help, financially or Saturdays from 2:30 to 3:30pm and Wednesdays from 4:30 to 5:00pm or call the church office for an appointment. emotionally, please contact the church office leaving a message or contact Laura at [email protected]. CHURCH VISITS We want to help. God bless you all. Encounter Jesus, Serve The Church is open from 7am-4pm (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Others. & Friday), enter through the chapel door or handicapped door. The Church is open on Wednesday from 7am till 5pm; on Saturday from 2 till 3:30pm; and on Sunday, from 8am till 4pm. On those days enter through any of the doors. BAPTISM Baptisms are scheduled on an individual basis. Please call the church office for more information.

Please return your Rice Bowl by placing it through the SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE mail slot in the Church Office door or by mailing us a Contact the church office a minimum of six months in advance. check (please put RICE BOWL on the info. line).

- 5 - ATTENTION TEENS What can Catholics do when Masses are canceled? 1) Spend time in prayer every day 2) Read and reflect on Sunday’s readings (see p. 2) 3) Watch Fr. John’s Mass online. His Mass is livestreamed on Saturday evening at 4 p.m. You can watch it live at that time or anytime after the conclusion of the filming. Go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ OLHSAR). 4) Visit www.dolr.org - Catholic Resources During Coronavirus Crisis including: Thousands of teenagers from across the country are Prayer Resources gathering on Sunday nights for the BIGGEST YOUTH NIGHT Mass online options EVER. It’s called ProjectYM Live and each week it’ll fea- Free Daily Scripture & Reflections ture some of the biggest speakers and worship leaders in Adult Faith Enrichment the Catholic youth ministry world. Children Faith Enrichment Our parish is signed up to participate – all your teenager 5) Subscribe to the Ark. Catholic Newspaper has to do is head to PROJECTYM.COM/WATCH this Sun- 6) Project YM Live Sunday Nights for teens (see p. 6) day at 7pm Central. 7) Pray the rosary The broadcast starts at 7pm CDT, but plan to log in a 8) Visit Holy Souls Church for private prayer time few minutes early to make sure they’re on when it starts. You can access the event on any device with a web browser (enter Church through Handicapped Door or Choir Door) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: – but the faster the connection, the better. 7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Although this event is geared at teenagers, parents are invited to watch along with them! (all Church Doors open) Wednesday: 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Saturday: 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Sunday: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. 8) Go to Confession Wednesday: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Saturday: 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Due to the cancellation of Masses due to the Coronavirus, Fr. John will be offering most of the weekday Mass Inten- tions when he offers his private daily Masses. His Sunday Robert Flynn Mass, which is being recorded and placed on Facebbook, Memorial Golf Tournament will be offered for the Intentions of Parishioners. All other Sponsored by the scheduled Mass Intentions will be rescheduled when our Holy Souls Men’s Club parish Masses resume. Tuesday, April 21 WHY: Robert Flynn Memorial Ellen & Dalton Dailey by Kathy & Ray Hightower Scholarship Fund Wedneday, April 22 (Funds 12 semester scholarships at Holy Souls School per year.) Mildred & Raymond Peters by Lujean & Eddy Peters WHEN: Saturday, May 16, 2020 Thursday, April 23 Shotgun Start - 8:30 a.m. Adele Villarreal by Fr. John Marconi NEW STARTING TIME Friday, April 24 WHERE: Country Club of Ark. Joseph Herring by Yenid Herring in Maumelle Sunday, April 26 WHO: Individuals Intentions of Parishioners and/or teams Scramble (4 Man) COST: $85 per person Petitions of the CONTACT: Jim Lareau 258-2422 / [email protected] Ministry of Praise or Kelley Renard 231-3582 / [email protected] April 2020 Pope Francis’ Registration form available at www.holysouls.org Intentions: In case of postponement due to the Coronavirus, Those those suffering from addiction, everyone signed up will be notified. may they be helped and accompanied. - 6 - God’s Word for Children