THE FAMINE (AN GORTA MOR) AND THE CHURCH

THE FAMINE AND THE CHURCH

by

Timothy J. Meagher, Archivist

Catholic University of America

The memories of Ireland’s Great Famine (1845-49) would echo through Irish and Irish American history. Many Famine exiles turned their energies to building up the Catholic Church in America. Indeed, the power and influence of such Famine survivors in American Catholicism was remarkable.

Just a rough count reveals that at least 16 of the 89 bishops of the United States in 1890 had grown up in Ireland during the Famine. The first three rectors of the Catholic University of America, John J. Keane, later Archbishop of Dubuque; Thomas J. Conaty, later Bishop of Los Angeles; and Denis O’Connell, later Bishop of Richmond, had also grown up in Ireland during some or all of those bleak Famine years.

This group of Famine survivors among the Catholic Church’s hierarchy also included the two most important and powerful men in the American church at that time, or at any time in its history, for that matter:  Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore and Catholic University’s first chancellor, and Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul. John Ireland was 8 years old when the Famine hit his native Kilkenny. Hunger and disease carried off his aunt and uncle, forcing his parents to take in a brood of young cousins. Eventually, Ireland’s family, the cousins included, emigrated to America.

Gibbons suffered even more from the Famine’s havoc. His father, Thomas, died from Famine fever in 1847. and two years later Gibbons sister also died. Young James was so distraught at her death he refused to eat for several days.

How did these paragons of the American church remember the Famine? John Ireland did his best to forget – at least publicly. America and the future, not Ireland and its past, became his passion.

Gibbons, too, loved America, but he did not forget the Famine. For Gibbons the Famine could only be understood as part of God’s “mysterious providence.” To him, “the Famine had been sent to send the Irish upon a mission to America where they would build the church in the greatest republic in the world.”

Ireland’s suffering had produced America’s salvation, perhaps, but the pain of the sacrifice of people never really went away.

Jewish Sam Miller on Catholics

Excerpts from an article written by non-Catholic Sam Miller -- a prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman:

Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do you know -- the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to that Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%.

The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students.

The Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people -- not just Catholics -- in the United States today.

But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.

Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church; 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed.

Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia. This is not a Catholic problem.

A study of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priests that have probably been totally weeded out by now.

Walk with your shoulders high and you head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non-governmental agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: "Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls." Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions.

Be proud that you're a Catholic.

List of Prison and Jail Locations throughout the Cleveland Diocese

                        Diocesan Ministry to the Incarcerated

CUYAHOGA COUNTY

Rev. Frank Godic, Pastoral Care Services and Health Affairs
7911 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102, 216-431-5900.
For general jail and prison resources, please call:

Parish Life Office, 216-696-6525, ext.3500

St. Edward Church, 419-289-7224
Cuyahoga County Jail

1215 West 3rd Street

Cleveland, OH 44113
216-443-6000

Rev. Mr. Martin Thiel, 216-443-6182; 216-749-0414
Parish Life Office, 216-696-6525, ext. 3500

Rev. Neil Walters, 216-581-2852

North Royalton City Jail
14800 Bennett Road
North Royalton, OH 44133
440-237 -8686

Euclid City Jail  

545 East 222 Street

Euclid, Ohio 44123
216-289-8522

St. Christine Church, Euclid, Rev. Patrick Henry, 216-261-1410

Sr. Elaine Theresa Burrows, SIW, St. Thomas More Church, 216-749-0414

Northeast Pre-Release Center

2675 East 30 Street

Cleveland, OH 44115
216-771-6460

Rev. James O'Donnell, 216-566-0531
Mrs. Linda Catanzaro, 216-348-4119

Cuyahoga County Detention Home

2209 Central Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44115

216-443-3300

Rev. James O'Donnell, 216-566-0531

Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Institute
4321 Green Road

Highland Hills, OH 44128

216-464-8200

Rev. James Masek, 440-842-5533

ADULT FACILITIES:         

Ashland County Jail

1205 East Main Street
Ashland, OH 44805
419-281-9009

GEAUGA COUNTY

Geauga County Jail
13281 Ravenna Road
Chardon, OH 44024
440-286-4031

St. Helen, Newbury, Rev. Mr. Will Payne, 440-564-5805
St. Edward, Parkman, Rev. John Burkley, 440-548-3812
St. Lucy, Middlefield, Rev. John Burkley, 440-548-3812

Geauga County Youth Center
13300 Aquilla Road

Chardon, OH 44024
440-285-2222, ext. 5340

MEDINA COUNTY

Medina County Juvenile Detention
655 Independence Drive

Medina, OH 44256

330-764-8408

St. Francis Xavier, Rev. Mr. Dan Norris, 330-725-4968

Medina County Jail

555 Independence Drive
Medina, OH 44256
330-725-0028

St. Francis Xavier, Rev. Mr. Dan Norris, 330-725-4968

Grafton Correctional Institute
2500 South Avon Belden Road
Grafton, OH 44044
440-748-1161

Rev. John Seybold, 440-926-2364
Rev. Mr. John Rivera, 440-327-4426

LAKE COUNTY

Lake County Youth Detention Center
53 East Erie Street

P.O. Box 490

Painesville, OH 44077

440-350-3159

St. Anthony of Padua, Fairport Harbor, Mary Rininger, 440-354-4525

Lake County Jail

104 East Erie Street
Painesville, OH 44077
440-350-5601

St. Mary Parish, Painesville, Marty Hillier, 440-354-4381
St. Anthony of Padua, Fairport Harbor, 440-354-4525

LORAIN COUNTY

Lorain County Detention Home
9967 South Murray Ridge Road

Elyria, OH 44035

440-326-4040

St. Agnes Parish, 440-322-5622

Lorain Correctional Institute

2075 South Avon Belden Road

Grafton, OH 44044

440-748-1049'

Rev. Charles Ryba, 440-236-5095

Mrs. Rita Bowen, 440-322-5622, ext. 17

Lorain County Jail

9896 Murray Ridge Road
Elyria, OH 44035
440-329-3718

Rev. Albert Krupp, 440-322-5622

Mrs. Rita Bowen, 440-322-5622, ext. 17

Lorain/Medina CBCF

9892 Murray Ridge Road

Elyria, Ohio 44035

440-323-3233

Rev. Albert Krupp, 440-322-5622

Mrs. Rita Bowen, 440-322-5622, ext. 17

North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility

2000 South Avon Belden Road

Grafton, OH 44044

440-748-5000

Fr. Charles Ryba, 440-236-5095

Mrs. Rita Bowen, 440-322-5622, ext. 17

LUCAS COUNTY

Mohican Juvenile Correctional Facility

1012 ODNR Mohican 51

Perrysville, OH 44864

419-994-4127

St. Peter Parish, 419-994-4396

WAYNE COUNTY

Wayne County Jail
201 West North Street
Wooster, OH 44691
330-287 -5770

St. Mary of the Assumption, Wooster, Rev. Steve Moran, 330-264-8824

SUMMIT COUNTY

JUVENILE FACILITIES:

Boys Village Ohio, Inc. (Smithville)
2803 Akron Road

Wooster, OH 44691

330-264-3232

St. Mary of the Assumption, Wooster, Rev. Steve Moran, 330-264-8824

Summit County Jail

205 East Crosier Street

Akron, OH 44311

330-643-2113

Mr. Dell Rogers, 330-688-6412, ext. 467

Summit County Juvenile Detention Services
650 Dan Street

Akron, OH 44310
330-643-2960/330-643-2962

St. Martha Parish, 330-376-5144

Youth Development Center
996 Hines Hill Road

Hudson, OH 44236
330-656-2282

St. Mary Parish, Rose Gordyan, 330-653-8118, ext. 227

St. Helen, Newbury, Rev. Mr. Will Payne, 440-564-5805 

PLAQUE HONORING WWII HEROES RESCUED

PLAQUE HONORING OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL’S WWII DEAD RESCUED


The Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial (GCVM) was created as a living memorial to honor those Greater Clevelanders who lost their lives in wars of the 20th Century. They are memorialized at the GCVM website http://www.clevelandvetsmemorial.org/.

Recently a plaque honoring the parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who lost their lives in World War II was rescued from possible oblivion when it was announced the church was being closed. It is currently in the office of Frank Piunno, NCR, Inc., Mayfield Hts., Ohio. He is the nephew of Michael J. Piunno, who is among those listed on the plaque. A smaller reproduction of the plaque is pictured here held by Russ Davis.

Davis and JC Sullivan, Vietnam War U.S. Army veterans and members of the Italian American War Veterans Post 34, have taken up interest in the names on the plaque. They discovered a number of gaps in information at the GCVM memorial site. They are asking the Italian-American community of greater Cleveland if they can help. Missing from the memorial site are:

BARBERA, SALVATORE. No photo or unit information. Died in No. Africa, 1943.
CALCO, WILLIAM M. Died in Italy. No photo or other information.
CELLURA, ANGELO T. No photo.
ELLIS, EDWIN. Non-battle death at Alexandria AAF, LA. No photo or other information.
FUSCO, RALPH A. No photo.
LONGO, JOSEPH A. No photo.
NOTARO, ANTHONY. No Photo
PIUNNO, MICHAEL J. No picture or unit information.
SWEENEY, JOHN R. No photo
TODARO, FRANK. No photo or unit information.
PETRARCA, FRANK J. No unit information. Medal of Honor information has been sent to the website.

The following parishioners are not listed on the website:

CINKEVIC, ANTHONY; D'ANGELO, JERRY; IAVENNA, JAHN; IOFFREDDO, JOSEPH; KABALA, CHARLES; RIZZOLLO, MICHAEL; SANTELLI, ALBERT; SCARVELLI, SAM; VAIRETTA, STEVE.

If any readers can help fill in the blanks please contact Russ Davis (usprep1987@aol.com) or Sullivan (osullivan9@roadrunner.com).

Irish Catholics stand united in defending their faith

Author:   "De Bard"

God knew the fallibility of man when He created him, yet He gave him free will. Through His love, He also offered forgiveness. Jesus knew well the weakness of man; He was sent by the Father to experience it and to encourage those who had fallen victim to that weakness to accept forgiveness and return to the Father. When He said Thou art Peter - the Rock - and upon this rock I will build my Church, Jesus knew well that he was giving his religion into fallible human hands; didn Peter betray Him as Adam had betrayed the Father.

Throughout time there have been, and still are, countless saintly clerics who followed Peter, but there have also been a few who have fallen victim to the human frailty that God built into us to test us. Our faith has experienced everything from corrupt clergy to an unprincipled Pontiff yet we have survived. Our history is pockmarked with tales of greedy prelates who coveted earthly wealth and pleasures, brutal treatment of others in Inquisitions, and betrayal of the innocent by pedophile priests. Yet forgiveness - the healing message of Jesus - continues and the true Church still survives.

In the past, the misbehavior of a few Catholic clergy drove some away to seek God elsewhere and we experienced the formation of other religions; some even disagreed with, or thought they could improve on, the message of Jesus and formed still more protesting congregations. But they all fell victim to the fallibility of man. Through the years, there have been immoral Ministers, rotten Rabbis and corrupt Clerics among those who claimed to be the Lord laborers.

One saving grace is that most follow a moral and just God and believe in God message of forgiveness. However, there are some among them who profess a hatred of the original followers of Christ papacy in order to justify the existence of their own breakaway religion. That is why the Ancient Order of Hibernians - the oldest Catholic lay organization in America - has suffered the arrows of adversity from anti-Catholic bigots throughout our history and indeed, it provided the reason for our very formation. Today, the intolerance of those who hate the original followers of Jesus consistently highlight the few criminals among Catholic clergy and ignore non-Catholic transgressors. That is why we must stand tall, as our fathers did, in the face of anti-Catholic rhetoric and provide a united, defending wall against such intolerance. Our predecessors were needed then and stood to the task; we are needed now!

De Bard

Letter from Fr. Jerry Ragan re faithful Catholic clerg

The last 18 years have not been easy ones for most priests as we've as we been shamed by too many of our brothers doing unspeakable evils to vulnerable children and too much secrecy in trying to cover up those crimes. Many of us would have left the ministry long ago if it had not been for the support and encouragement of so many faithful Catholics who stood by us. For a Boston Catholic to still have such a deep love for the Church and a willingness to speak up for the many good priests and bishops who are faithful to their vows and their people is remarkable. Jack Meehan you are a blessing to me and I thank you.


In Christ,

Fr. Jerry Ragan,
1420 Monte Sano Ave.
Augusta, GA. 30904
706-733-6627

Homecoming - A Daughter's Lenten Reflection

by
Susan M. Moutin

FEBRUARY 15, 2010 


Ashes mean something different to me this Lent. As I am marked with this sacred symbol, my heart connects to a two-chamber urn sitting on my mother’s old dresser. One chamber is now filled with her ashes.

After a two-and-a-half-year struggle with breast cancer and then leukemia, my mother Maryhelen (nicknamed Mother Mary when she gave birth to my youngest sister on Christmas) died on the feast of the Assumption 2008. How appropriate this day of death was for a woman born and raised in the Parish of St. Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin), who then spent most of her adult life in two Marian parishes: Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Mary.

My mother was a woman of faith. She regularly sang in our church choirs and was active in Christian women’s groups. Our family was devoted to Mary and rarely missed the weekly devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help or Mass on the five first Saturdays. Like many choir members who were active when the church shifted to the use of the vernacular after the Second Vatican Council, she struggled at first and missed the beauty and awe of Latin hymns. But as liturgical renewal progressed, she gradually adapted and came to love the sacred hymns of John Rutter as well as the folksy musical style of the St. Louis Jesuits and Marty Haugen.

St. Ignatius Loyola invites us to reflect on our experience to see how God’s hand has been with us not only in consolation and joy but in desolation. A large portion of his Spiritual Exercises invites the retreatant (and each of us, at any time) to delve more deeply into the life of Christ and engage in Christ’s interaction with the world of his time by using our senses and imagination to place ourselves in the stories. We can imagine ourselves as characters mentioned in the stories and even as characters who may have been left out. As we move toward Holy Week, exercising our imagination on the stories from Christ’s passion and death can bring unexpected insights.

The Lenten readings are rich: the temptation in the desert; the transfiguration; the parable of the fig tree; the parable of the lost sheep; and the woman caught in adultery. As we enter each story we deepen our understanding of Jesus. Retelling the stories helps us to keep Christ alive in our own life.

As I begin another Lent, reflecting on my mother’s dying process has been a profound spiritual preparation for the season. The family was “blessed” by having six weeks with her after a first serious death scare on July 4. During these weeks she said goodbyes from her bed or, on the days when she could manage it, from the living room recliner. The hospice workers who visited each day noted that she was one of the few people who gave away their wardrobe before they died. My sisters, nieces and I had helped her sort through her simple clothing while she specified where each piece was to go: relatives, friends, St. Vincent de Paul Society or Goodwill Industries. She told stories about many of the pieces: what she wore at special events like Knights of Columbus parties, family weddings and baptisms and first Communions, which she never missed.

She agonized about what to wear in the casket. I thought she had resolved the issue when she decided on the outfit she wore for my oldest son’s December wedding several years ago. But now we were in July. One hot steamy night as we sat up talking—because the nights provided the most anxiety and fear for her as she approached death—she told me she had been reconsidering the choice. “It might be too warm,” she said. “Mom, I don’t think it will matter,” I replied, wondering if she would remember this conversation in the morning. She was worried about the appropriateness of a winter-weight garment, as if knowing she would die in summer.

But what overwhelmed me, my dad and my siblings was the constant daily parade of people into the house, people whose lives she touched: her sisters, our cousins, in-laws, neighbors, hospice volunteers (she herself had been one), lionesses (she was a member of the Lions Club), bridge partners, food bank volunteers (she was one), choir members and others. On an average day we received more than 40 phone calls from people checking in on her. Sometimes I wished the phone would stop ringing.

Culling through boxes of photos and recounting the great stories associated with them reminded me of how we as a faith community cull through the images and words about the life of Jesus, the key moments and relationships we will always remember because they have become something of who we are as a Christian family.

In the last six weeks of her life, Mom received daily Communion at home during a visit from the young pastor or pastoral associate. No matter what had happened in the preceding day or anxiety-producing night or what pain she was in when Father Brian came, her reply to his question, “How are you today, Mary?” was always: “Oh, I’m a little bit better.” Yet more than 10 times in those six weeks, near-death experiences brought Father Brian and his sacred oils to anoint her for the journey that seemed so long in coming. I commented in her eulogy that she was anointed so many times she likely slid right into heaven.

The last week was by far the most difficult. On the day she died, she entered into a state that hospice caregivers know well—the body’s oxygen supply diminishes. She was unable to communicate with us from about noon that day until about 3. Then, to our amazement, she called for my dad and reached over to hold his hands. She became quite anxious and thrashed about (another expected pattern in the death process).

But what happened next will be etched in my heart and soul forever. About an hour before her death she reached out her arms and began distinctly saying, “push me, pull me, push me, pull me.” Mom was not speaking to any of us in the room. I had no doubt that she was being greeted by angels and her deceased sisters and brother, whom she missed so much (she was the oldest of eight children born in close succession, and they were very close).

Those were her last words. “Push me, pull me.” Then she became quiet. I felt her soul slipping from her body. We gathered my siblings and dad around the bed and began to pray: Our Father; Hail Mary. We all touched her. I put one arm around dad’s shoulder as he sat on his walker next to the bed, and had one hand on mom’s foot. I instinctively began praying the Memorare, a prayer that had been renewed as a deep part of my own spiritual journey when I struggled with some issues years earlier. Then from the deepest recesses of my memory I prayed aloud the novena prayer to the Mother of Perpetual Help. Mom took five or six deep breaths and died.

If there is such a thing as a peaceful death, we were blessed with one for mom. Now, less than four feet from the side of that bed, my mother’s ashes sit, awaiting the day she will be joined by my dad and then interred in their plot in the parish cemetery.

I remember and relive day after day the journey to my mother’s death because it brought all of us closer to our own destiny and to God. So it is with the Lenten journey. This is a time to remember the life, suffering and death of Jesus Christ because it brings all of us closer to the Resurrection.

Susan M. Mountin is director of the Manresa Project, a vocation discernment intiative at Marquette University, where she has served for more than 30 years as a campus minister, administrator and adjunct professor of theology.