Love sewn into every stitch
Love sewn into every stitchCHARLOTTE — St. Vincent de Paul Church’s usually quiet Ministry Center Assembly Room was anything but quiet in April as sewing machines hummed and students began the annual “Quilts of Love” project.
Thanks to support from the pastor Father Mark Lawlor, the parish’s faith formation staff, donations from parishioners, an excellent team of volunteers, and the enthusiasm of faith formation students, 12 one-of-a-kind lap quilts were crafted over two Saturdays earlier this month.
The annual project serves both as a Lenten outreach program for the parish and as a way for students to earn service hours. Since the program began nine years ago, students have created and delivered more than 180 quilts to parishioners in the Charlotte area.
The quilts were blessed at the 11:30 a.m. Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 23, by Father Lawlor. Following the blessing, each quilt was packaged in a gift bag along with a bottle of holy water, a rosary, prayer cards, a handwritten “Story of the Quilt” by the student, a history of the project, a parish bulletin and other religious information. Students then surprised the recipients by personally delivering their quilts following the Mass.
Each nine-block lap quilt consists of a white 12-inch-by-12-inch center block bearing a Christian symbol drawn by the student. The students then select eight more similarly-sized blocks from a wide variety of colored and patterned cloth. Once the nine blocks are sewn together, a different cloth color and pattern are chosen to create a four-inch border around the perimeter of the quilt. To complete the quilt, a fleece backing is added to provide the warmth and weight of the quilt. To keep the quilt top and bottom from separating when laundering, the quilt is “tied” down at the four corners of the center block.
Quilts were delivered to parishioners in nursing homes, the homebound, people in rehabilitation or hospitalized, or otherwise identified by the parish to receive a quilt.
— Peggy Gibbons, Special to the Catholic News Herald
Pictured: St. Vincent De Paul students proudly display their newly-crafted lap quilts in front of the Ministry Center Chapel. Pictured are Jose Mata Esqueda, Nataline Suaris, Susan Morales, Jessica Garcia Lopez, Edward Haro, Jaime Alipzar, Emily Morales and Juan Dios Lopez. Not pictured are quilting team instructors Drenna Hannon and Imelda Panzer. (Photo provided by Peggy Gibbons)
ASHEVILLE — A dissident group recently attempted to ordain a woman as a Catholic priest at a non-denominational church in Asheville.
Abigail Eltzroth went through a simulated ordination ceremony April 30 at Jubilee Community Church that was presided over by Bridget Mary Meehan, who presents herself as a Catholic bishop. The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a Sarasota, Fla.-based group that does not accept Catholic teaching on the priesthood, organized the event.
Eltzroth, 64, reportedly identifies herself as Catholic, having converted from Presbyterianism in her 50s. She told the Charlotte Observer that she intends to start a community in the Asheville area.
"I hope that Catholics in the diocese will understand that it would be sinful to receive a fake sacrament from a woman priest and that includes attending a fake Mass," said David Hains, communication director for the Diocese of Charlotte.
The Church follows the will of Jesus Christ in selecting only men to receive the sacrament of holy orders. Because God chose to become incarnate as a man and He chose 12 men to be His apostles, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord Himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible."
The Church recognizes a priest to be an "alter Christus" (“another Christ”) who is called by God and ordained by the Church to act "in persona Christi" (“in the person of Christ”) in building up the Church. Because Jesus Christ was a man, those who act "in persona Christi" and are an "alter Christus" must also be men. Only a validly ordained priest can celebrate a valid Mass.
The Church’s understanding of ordination is rooted in Scripture as well as the writings of the Church Fathers, who battled heretical groups that also attempted to ordain women early in Church history.
St. John Paul II reiterated Church teaching in 1994, when he declared in his apostolic letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis," "The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful."
Attempted ordination of a woman is automatic excommunication for both the person attempting the ordination and the person attempting to be ordained.
The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests traces itself back to the attempted ordination of seven women on a ship cruising the Danube River in 2002. According to its website, the group has 16 "inclusive" communities in California, Kentucky, Florida, New Hampshire, New York and Ohio.
— Catholic News Herald. CNA/EWTN News contributed.
Photo from the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests website.