21, 1998
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
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JIM and ANN CAVERA
Grandpa Smith died on July 31. Born in the mid-
of the first World War, he and his older brother
in the flu epidemic of 1918. After
abandoned them, they shuffled, unwel-
from one relative to another until the Depres-
1929. No one wanted two extra hungry
to feed and so, at ages 13 and 15, they
a freight train and never looked back. They
for themselves until World War II came along.
'then, they were men enough to put on uniforms.
provided the closest thing they ever had
and so there they stayed. Many of those
The last adventure
who made it home from the War got married and
fathered the baby boom generation that is still dri-
ving our economy. My father's generation provided
the heartbeat for this century.
My mother, brother and I followed him from
Jacksonville to Charleston, S.C. There we sat on the
side s of bridges and fished till our shoulders and
legswere sunburned. We climbed over rubble at
Fort Sumter and heard stories of pirates and trea-
sures that he said might still be buried in the sand
beneath our feet. In New London, Conn., we
walked in snow for the first time while he worked
on nuclear subs. At Yorktown, Virginia, we waited
until the tide ebbed, and then collected lead balls
left over from colonial battles. You see, to H. T.
Smith, life was agrand adventure and every day
was a gift of unlimited possibilities. We went along
for the ride.
I was the "new kid" in school nine times in 12
years. From one base to the next my brother and I
bounced along in the back seat of the car along with
other things Morn gathered up at the last minute; a
washtub full of plan.s, the broom and mop and, once,
a puppy. We knew a few things for certain in our
uncertain lives: We knew we were responsible for
packing bur own Stuff and for keeping up. We knew
that good people can be found everywhere. We knew
that a home does not depend on the house you put it
in. All were valuable things to'learn at a tender age.
My mother asked only one thing in life and that
was that my father would become a man of fafth. Her
prayers finally persuaded him that faith is the only
logical answer to questions asked by an illogical
world.
In the sixties he retired for a while to a cabin by a
lake full of fish in Florida. From his boat he some-
times looked up to catch sight of rockets being
launched from Cape Kennedy. That's where he was
when men first walked on the moon. In between fish-
ing, he made time to get his high school diploma and
a degree from a community college. He lost his final
battle to an enemy who, eventually, always wins. The
sweet irony is that, in losing this battle, he left us this
time for the greatest adventure of all.
m By ANN CAVERA
1999 Yearbook will describe parishes of the diocese
is another in a series
rticles on "Parish future, parish
PAUL R. LEINGANG
Message editor
The yearbook is a source of
address and telephone directory
information about the offices of
the diocese and the parishes and
other institutions and agencies
within the diocese. It also serves
as an official record of the dio-
cese -- and therefore a point of
annual comparisons.
For example, the 1989 edition
noted that there were 87 dioce-
san priests and 11 priests of reli-
gious orders who were active in
the diocese; there were 73
parishes, and the total Catholic
addresses, phone
Mass schedules, and
facts about the Church in
Indiana are cur-
being gathered for the
edition of the Yearbook of
I Catholic Diocese of Evans-
Jubilarians
and Betty Jo (Mattingly) Simpson of Evansville cole-
their fiftieth wedding anniversary with a Mass of Thanks-
and reception on July 25 at Good Shepherd Church,
They were married July 15,1948, at St. Mary Church,
ey are the parents of four sons: James of Wixom,
John, Jeffrey and Jerel, all of Evansville. They have
;randchildren, and one great.grandchild. Mr. Simpson
from Red Spot Paint in 1987 after 47 years. Mrs. Simpson
after 27 years at Schultz Clothing Store.
population was reported at
84,532.
The 1998 edition reports there
were 70 diocesan priests and 10
religious priests active in the
diocese (a drop of 18 priests);
there were 70 parishes (a drop
of three), and the population
had risen to 88,903 (an increase
of 4,371).
The yearbook also reports on
the numbers of baptism, wed-
dings, deaths and other statis-
tics in the parishes of the dio-
cese.
Questionaires are mailed each
year to request information to
draw up the "'Parish Profile.'"
Information is gathered by the
Chancery in cooperation with
other diocesan offices.
The yearbook will continue to
be a source of comparison, as
deaneries continue meetings in
the fall, to work on solutions for
staffing parishes in the present
and in the future.
According to projections
made by a task force examining
parish staffing needs, the year-
bcx)k for 2004 will show only 44
diocesan and religious priests
available to staff the parishes.
U.S. Ruthenian Catholic Church
restores married priesthood
By JERRY FILTEAU
Catholic News Service
were duly submitted to and
received bv the Holy See. The
date of promulgation was July
15 but the statutes were made
public in mid-August.
There are about 200,000
Ruthenian Catholics in the Unit-
ed States in four church juris-
dictions the Pittsburgh
Archeparchy, or Archdiocese;
and the eparchies, or dioceses,
of Passaic, N.J.; Parma, Ohio;
and Van Nuys, Calif.
Among Catholic Eastern-rite
church jurisdictions in North
America, only the Pittsburgh
Metropolia the archdiocese
and its dioceses together is a
church "sui iuris," having large-
Iv self-governing status. This is
tecause, unlike other Eastern-
rite jurisdictions in the Wesi, it
is not under the jurisdiction of
a mother church in its home
area, the Carpathian mountains
of Western Ukraine.
The Ruthenian Church's deci-
sion to restore its tradition of
married priesthood in the ',Vest
could have major ramifications
for Catholic-Orthodox ecu-
menical relations.
The Vatican, at the insistence
of the Latin-rite bishops of the
United States, in 1929 imposed
mandatory celibacy on all East-
ern-rite clergy ordained in or
sent to the United Statt.
The decision led to the depar-
ture of an estimated 225.0t
Eastern-rite Catholic in the
United States to ¢thKioxy.
WASHINGTON (CNS) --
The Byzantine-Ruthenia n
Catholic Church in the United
States has restored its tradition
of admitting married men to the
priesthood nearly 70 years after
the practice was forbidden.
In new particular church leg-
islation to take effect Sept. 1, the
church's Council of Hierarchs
(bishops) has declared that the
"special restrictive norms
imposed by the Apostolic See
(since 1929) are no longer in
force, and thus, in the Metropo-
lia of Pittsburgh, marriage is not
an impediment to presbyteral
orders."
The law restoring married
priesthood is among 59 new
statutes of particular law
approved by the Ruthenian
Catholic bishops.
Other church matters governed
by the new statutes include: the
eparchial (diocesan) assembly,
priests' councils, parish pastoral
and Financial councils, seminary
training, regulations for acolytes
and lectors, lifestyle of clerics,
evangefization, catechisms, Chris-
tian initiation, marriage prepara-
tion, Friday abstinence from
meat, ecumenism, finances, eccle-
siastical offices and holy days of
precept.
The statutes were promulgat-
eKt by Metropolitan Judson Pro-
cyk of Pittsburgh after they
In deciding to end the restric-
tive norm imposed since 1929,
the Council of Hierarchs cited
"the very clear direction of the
Second Vatican Council's
Decree on the Eastern Church-
es" and other church docu-
ments "which direct a return to
the original patrimony of the
Eastern Catholic Churches."
They also pointed out that
there is a married clergy in the
Latin Church in the United
States, mainly of former Episco-
pal priests who have become
Catholic and received special
permission to be" ordained to the
Catholic priesthood. They said
this practice "has been imple-
mented without scandal to the
faithful of the Latin Church."
For-the first time, parishes
will be allowed to designate lay
people as extraordinary minis-
ters of the Eucharist. These may
be men or women, but the num-
ber to be appointed is restricted
to one per 75 communicants.
The new particular legislation
continues the constant tradition
of the East" of prohibiting women
from serving at the altar.
It says nothing, however, about-
women se,ing as readers or can-
tots. Father Nicholas R2k. Rach-
ford, Parma diocesan communi-
cations director and a member of
the Commission on Canonical
Affairs which drafted the new
legislation, said current l)licy
admitting women to thee litur-
gical roles remains in plate.
