Hello from Carbon Baptist Church

Dr. Bill Coker will be our speaker this Sunday morning.

Please come, and you will be certain to enjoy his message. We must remember, God feeds us through his Word.

March 9 and 10 is fast approaching, remember you must have a ticket to attend the Wabash Valley Ladies Unity Night at the Maryland Community church. The tickets are free. Please see Karen Cox for tickets at 812-691-0346. The dates once again are March 9, at 7 p.m., and March 10, at 2 p.m. The message will be “God loves Broken People.”

Praise Practice is Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 6 p.m., and cell group meets after at 7 p.m. Charles Mullenix is teaching the class on the Book of Daniel. Everyone is invited to attend.

Sunday School Hour is 9:30 a.m.

Worship Hour is 10:30 a.m.

Have a great week in the service of the Lord.

Carbon United Methodist Church

I was looking for something to read last week and ran across an old book that had been in a discard bin from the library. The name of it was “Joshua: A Parable For Today,” by Joseph F. Girzone. On the back, it said that General Norman Schwarzkopf found comfort in reading it before the beginning of Desert Storm. Hmmm.

It turned out to be a simple story of a quiet, unassuming, gentle man, a wood carver who settled in a small town, such as we have here in Clay County. Over a period of about six months, the people of the area came to know him either as a deep and profound advocate of what Christ would say and do in our modern world, or they came to despise him as an anti-religion trouble-maker. Regardless, he changed everyone he came into contact with. As one plunged deeper and deeper into the book, it became clear that this Joshua was actually Jesus Himself appearing in our modern world. Quite a thought provoking read!

OK, if this man showed up in our neighborhood, how would we react to Him. Would we listen to what He was trying to get across to us? Or would we come to hate Him for trying to change our way of life, our very religious traditions, that are so important to us. His premise was that in establishing all the rules, regulations, dogmas, traditions of our various churches we have forgotten what Christ really preached about simply loving our fellow humans and have become exactly like the Pharisees who were so despised for all their strict adherence to rules. Do we really “simply love our fellow humans?” Is that our top priority? Shouldn’t it be?

The Town Country Men’s Lenten Breakfast will be at our church next Saturday, March 3, at 8 a.m. Men, if you have not attended one of these yet, plan to do so. There will be four more during the time of Lent. If you want to know more about them, call Les Webster at 446-0086. There are several different groups of men in the area who have their own Lenten Breakfasts. If you cannot come to ours, go to one of the others. I don’t know what one group is called, but I do know that my son Jeff is speaking at it this morning about his involvement in prison ministry our of Kokomo.

Forget the rules and regulations. This is the time for you to attend church and learn more about what Jesus has to offer you … and what you have to offer Jesus.

Bee Ridge Church

Upcoming events at Bee Ridge:

Ansil Harpold will be our guest speaker this Sunday. Come listen to his inspirational message.

Bee Ridge Church is located 1 1/2 miles north on Kennedy Crossing Road. We are the brick church on the top of the hill. Sunday School for all ages begins at 9:15 a.m. Worship Service and Children’s Church begins at 10:30 a.m.

Our church congregation is growing and we welcome new members or visitors anytime. Come join us for worship. Jeff Bridgewater is our Pastor, and can be reached at 812-241-3036 or e-mail: jeffbwater@yahoo.com. Hope to see you this Sunday.

Brazil First United Methodist Church

Since the middle of January, Pastor Steve Loft has been sharing messages on prayer, using the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for developing our own prayer lives. That series came to a close last Sunday, however, the hope of growing by developing our prayer lives has not. Many members of First UM Church are joining other churches in a prayer movement called “Seek God for the City.”

WayMakers publishes a prayer journal that helps ordinary people pray with relevance, clarity and biblical hope. It is encouraging to know others are praying in similar ways. The journal has a page for each day that includes two short passages from the Bible, a brief but powerful prayer following each passage and a prayer focus for the day. As an example, the prayer focus for Thursday was “youth.” People were encouraged to pray for teens to commit their lives to Christ, make wise choices, develop solid friendships, and have open communication with their parents. Most people would agree these are great ways to pray for the youth of our community.

In addition to this prayer focus, worshipers at the church will be encouraged to “Be All There” in their daily lives. One of the amazing things about Jesus was his ability to really be present in the moment and notice people around him who needed his help. In the time leading up to Easter Sunday, the congregation will be encouraged to fully live each moment of life.

A young man by the name of Jim Elliot wrote the following words in his journal. “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” The congregation at First United Methodist of Brazil invites you to join in living each day to the fullest. Sunday worship gatherings are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., with small groups meeting between services, from 10:10 to 10:50 a.m. The building is located at 201 N. Meridian Street in Brazil.

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Church is located at 19 North Alabama Street with Father Harold Rightor officiating. For information call: 448-1901 or e-mail: annunciationchurch@msn.com News or articles for this column should be e-mailed to: boilerfanburk@aim.com Information for this article must be submitted by Wednesday evening.

Mass schedule: Saturday, 6:30 p.m., Sunday 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Tuesday 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday at 9 a.m.

We extend our sincerest sympathy to Sally Maccarone and her family at the loss of Sally’s husband, Joe. Sally is one of our cantors who volunteers a great deal of her time to Annunciation. Pray for eternal peace for her husband and comfort for Sally and her family.

The morning Ash Wednesday service was well attended by many. Now that we are officially in Lent, it is time for reflection. Reflection of what our Lord sacrificed for all of us. Reflection of our faults, imperfections and weaknesses. Reflection on how to correct our imperfections. Reflection on how we can be the best versions of ourselves. Reflection on how we can always be willing to serve each other to light the way to the God we are seeking. May this Lent be one of faithfulness and spiritual growth for all of us.

The Lady Knights will host an Indoor Yard Sale today from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Kennedy Crossing. Breakfast and lunch items will be available. Come join us and look through all the treasures for sale!

The Parish Council continues their appeal for donations for new windows in the Rectory. The older windows are causing our utility bills to remain the same even with the installation of the new heating and cooling system. Any donations are welcome!

Remember the Bingo Hall provides entertainment every Sunday evening. Grab a friend and join other parishioners for rounds of Bingo at Kennedy Crossing!

Soup and bread will be offered in the Parish Center each Friday evening at the conclusion of the Stations of the Cross service. The menu for March 2 is vegetable soup, clam chowder and cream of broccoli soup plus delicious bread.

Reconciliation services at Annunciation will be on March 13 at 7 p.m. Reconciliation services are also scheduled for March 4, at St Joseph (Rockville), March 8 at Sacred Heart of Jesus at 1:30 and St Benedict at 7 p.m., and St Paul (Greencastle) on March 21 at 7 p.m.

The Knights of Columbus will have their fish fry at Kennedy Crossing on March 9 from 4-7 p.m. St Benedict and Sacred Heart (Clinton) will host fish fries on March 16 from 4-7:30 p.m. St Joseph (Rockville) will host their fish fry on March 23 from 4-7 p.m. Support our Parish and the other Deanery Parishes by attending their Lent fish fries.

The Lady Knights will host another luncheon for the Ladies of Annunciation at the Lake House Restaurant on March 17 at 11:30 a.m. Bring your family or friends for a fun afternoon and get to know your Church family.

Praise and prayers are extended to all of our adults and children enrolled in religious education classes for their commitment to our faith. The RCIA have five enrolled who will soon be members of our faith. Our young teens in the Confirmation group are attending their retreat at St Mary of the Woods on March 4. In years past, this has been an enlightening and educational retreat! Our First Communion children have made their first reconciliation and are anxiously preparing for their First Communion.

Meetings for the Shawl Ministry are the 2nd Wednesday of the month beginning at 2:30 p.m. in the Parish Center. Anyone is welcome to share talents and join in this ministry to assist those in need of our community. Contact Dawn at 812-778-9665 for more information.

Please continue to pray for the Parishes of St Joseph — Universal, St Ann and our sister Parish Holy Rosary. Welcome any unfamiliar faces you see at our Masses!

Pray that Lent guides those that have left our faith or Parish back to their home. Pray for an insightful and prayerful Lent. Pray that we are always charitable and compassionate towards others. Pray that we are the best versions of ourselves in Glory to God.

Blessings ~

Brazil Bible Fellowship Church

We had a great evening of fellowship and challenge last Sunday night as we watched “Courageous” and enjoyed the popcorn and drinks with our church family and several guests. If you have not seen it, you really should. Besides encouraging and exhorting the men to be the leaders in their homes it also included some great humor.

The four main characters portrayed four different family settings that are quite common in our society. Regardless of their home situation, each of them were challenged to be God’s kind of leader in their life and home. It is not only a challenge but it offers great hope that one can be what God wants them to be.

The Sunday morning message from Joshua 1:5-9 was also very good. The title of the message was “How to Be a Victorious Christian.” The first point was victory begins by believing that God can be trusted. Joshua had to believe that God was going to be with him just like God was with Moses. Sometimes we think God’s promises are good for everyone else but God does not mean it for me. We must believe what God says rather than doubt Him.

In order for Joshua to lead right he had to know how and in what way to lead. God said that the “book of the law shall not depart from his mouth and he was to meditate day and night.” God does not leave us guessing what is right and wrong.

He is very clear. It is right there in the Bible. Just like Joshua had to know the law so he could lead well we also need to know God’s will. Victory begins by knowing what I need to do. Get into the Bible and let the Bible get into you. Think about it which is what meditate means. As we know what God wants us to do then the final point is we must obey.

God told Joshua to be strong because He was with him. Joshua had God’s directions in the law but that would do little good if Joshua did not act. He had to obey. We must know what the Bible says and then we must do it. That was the challenge from Pastor Gordon this last Sunday.

Beginning Sunday, March 4 we are starting a men’s and women’s study at 6 p.m. They will meet the 1st and 3rd Sunday’s each month. The men will be studying the book of 1 Timothy that is designed to encourage the men to be God’s kind of leader.

The study guide is written by John MacArthur Jr. The ladies will be studying the Book of Psalms using a study guide written by Warren Wiersbe. If you would have any interest in being a part of these studies please call Pastor Gordon at 240-3003.

Our service times are Sunday School at 10 a.m.,Worship at 11 a.m., and youth group will be meeting at 6 p.m., at the Jackson Elementary School gym. We invite you to join us as we seek to know God by knowing His Word and then applying it to our lives. That is the passion that Pastor Gordon has for us and we invite you to see for yourself. You will find us South of town on State Road 59 directly across from the 4-H Fairgrounds. We are also on facebook and also on the web at www.brazilbible.org.

Benwood Mt. Lebanon Church

Good Morning from Benwood Mt. Lebanon Church.

Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Sunday School all ages; 10:30 a.m. Morning Worship

Children’s Church Leaders are Cheryl McKinney and Caitlynn McKinney.

5 p.m. AWANA; 7 p.m. Evening Worship

Wednesday at 7 p.m. Prayer/Bible Study

Thursday at 9:45 a.m. Ladies Bible Study

FROM THE PASTOR

This week’s message is “Living in Victory” Our scripture for this message is found in 1 John 5:1-12

Sunday Night is AWANA Talent Night, starts at 6 p.m. You never know who talented your children are until you have experienced an AWANA Talent Show!

The Valentine Banquet on Saturday was attended by around 75 and everyone seemed to have a good time. Thanks to the trustees, and the deacons along with their wives for taking care of all the arrangements. Also a big thank you to Dave Henry who presented a program of harp music after the meal.

Take your aluminum cans to Wallace Disposal and tell them to credit the Benwood Mt. Lebanon account. They will send a check to the church that will be used for various mission projects.

AWANA NEWS (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed)

Our annual AWANA Talent show is this Sunday. Everyone is invited to come out and see the incredible talent of our AWANA kids. AWANA starts as normal at 5 p.m., and the talent show starts at 6 p.m. The AWANA kids are bringing grocery items this month to be donated to the Clay County Food Pantry. The annual AWANA Grand Prix is coming up on March 25 and the kids are busy working on their cars. AWANA is for children age 3 through 6th grade.

Questions from Pat:

This weeks question is : What two things did God tell Abraham that his offspring will be as numerous as? Look for the answer in Genesis 22.

E-mail your answer to me by Wednesday at pmann228@hotmail.com question:

Answer to last weeks question:

Elisha healed the waters of Jericho by puttingsaltinto the spring.

Make sure and get your question for Pastor Dick to me by Wednesday, Feb. 29!

I have made it my goal to read the Bible front to back again this year, I was off to a really good start and then fell behind a couple of days because I would think, no I didn’t read that correctly and then I would go back and reread the whole chapter. I do understand why the Bible is a best seller. You read it and reread it and find things you missed the first time and it is exciting, mysterious, but it is not a cliffhanger, you know what happens at the END.

We are located two miles north of US 40 on the Knightsville Road, or two miles east of SR 59 on Rio Grand Road.

Church Phone Number: 446-0531

If you do not have a church home we invite you to come worship with us.

We are a non-denominational church that worships God through Jesus Christ.

Until next week, stay safe and God bless!

First Baptist Church

Welcome to the services of First Baptist on South Walnut Street in Brazil this final week of February. This Sunday is our Donut Fellowship before Sunday School classes. Come early and fellowship with all ages sharing conversations, donuts and breakfast drinks. Sunday School begins at 9:30.

Worship service begins at 10:30 with praise, prayer, and giving. Pastor Mark will bring the morning message. There is an adult-staffed nursery available. Also the children are dismissed from the sanctuary for their worship kid-style. An enclosed elevator is available to assist you if stairs are difficult.

Evening programs begin at 5:30 with AWANA Club for preschoolers through 5th grade. The teens also meet for Youth. There is adult evening service at 6 p.m., followed by choir practice.

Teen Girls’ Bible Study meets with Mrs. Stacey Thompson on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday Noon Bible Study meets in the fellowship room at 12:15.

ROCK service is Thursday at 7 p.m. This is an alternative worship for those unable to attend on Sunday as well as another time of worship and praise. This service will have a different message and style of worship.

We encourage you to use these 40 days of Lent to try to become the same kind of people Christ talked to his disciples about becoming during his own walk towards Good Friday, and ultimately Easter morning. Lent is ideally a time of deepening our spiritual life and our connection to Christ.

The first week of March, Sunday School classes using the uniform lesson texts will be studying Luke. This study is just one way you can follow Jesus’ journey to the Cross.

Center Point United Methodist Church

It is hard to believe, but one week from tomorrow we will be having our 4th Annual Mission Event! And … you are invited!! Grab a friend, and join us Sunday, March 4. If you want to attend the free concert by Graybeard come at 2 p.m.

Then, at 3 p.m. our Pie Auction will begin. Chris Pell will be auctioning off scrumptious desserts made by our local bakers. We will even have some yeast rolls and homemade noodles. You are sure to find something you like.

The auction usually lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. Afterwards you can enjoy a chili supper in our family life center. It is a freewill offering. So, give what you can.

All funds raised will be donated to The Rock ministry in Clay City. These people are there to meet the needs of the children of the southern portion of Clay County.

I am sure I do not have to tell you that when you do anything there are costs involved. Heat, lights, building upkeep, supplies for the restroom, cleaning, etc. And that does not even take into consideration materials used to help the children.

So, each year our mission event wants to help a ministry cover some of those costs. When we all work together we can make a difference. Join us in this effort.

Tomorrow Pastor Bob Kumpf will be reading from I Peter 3:18-22. The message is titled “Ah … the Rainbow!” He writes, “This is another message of hope sent to all the people who were being persecuted and living in fear because of their faith in this man named Jesus and His promise of new life.

“It is a letter to those good people who wonder why an all-powerful, all-loving and merciful God isn’t protecting them. Why would God allow the evil and powers of the world to allow bad things to happen to them? Sound familiar?

“Peter is urging them to remember that Christ had to suffer and die so that they would have the promise of eternal life, long after they faced the temporary hardships they were facing. He encouraged them to look forward in expectation to what God had prepared for them and to ‘keep looking up’! Peter reminds them of the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood represented by the sign of the rainbow. It’s a beautiful thing and a constant reminder from a faithful God. After the storm the sun (son) will come out and cover everything with His glory. Keep looking up!”

People needed encouragement in biblical times and … guess what … people need encouragement today. God gives that to us through His word. But, people don’t always read His word. So, we have to share it with them. Be in God’s house tomorrow. Be encouraged.

Peniel United Methodist Church

The end of February is upon us and we can be thinking of spring around the corner! What a great winter – so far. The Lenten and Easter season has begun. We invite everyone to join us. Our Sunday School begins at 9:45 and Church Services at 10:45. It is truly a family atmosphere! You will feel welcome!

A belated “Happy Birthday” to one of our very special members, Anna Mae Swearingen. We miss her singing with so much joy in the choir and always a cheerful smile. She has been a little under-the-weather, but we hope her 90th birthday was a good one!

Volunteers are needed to help with Junior Church. A sign-up sheet is provided in the entry. Also, a list for the flood buckets and layette kits can be found there — another helping project provided by Peniel congregation.

The Men’s Lenten Breakfast will be held March 3 at 8 a.m., at Carbon.

March 7 the Bible Study/Prayer Group will meet at 6 p.m., with Choir Practice following at 7 p.m.

The Administrative Board Meeting is scheduled for March 8, at 7 p.m.

Canned fruits are needed by the Brazil Food Pantry. Donations can be left in the entry.

The scripture for Sunday is Isaiah 62; 1-5 and Roman 8:18-27.

Pastor Pippin’s message is “Suffering and the Bible” and for the children — “Obey the Rules!”

Kennedy Crossing Rd., Brazil

For more information, contact Pastor Pippin at 443-8489.

Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church

Worship hour is 9-10 a.m., with Pastor Randy Dragan.

Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church is located five miles east of SR 59 on Billville Rd., Brazil.

Everyone is welcome.

Community Missionary Church

Pastor Ken Thomas opened service with greetings to all and giving praise and thanks to the Lord in prayer as God has been good to his people in Indiana with weather that has been the mildest that we have known for a winter thus far.

Brother Thomas remarked, “that being kind many times is better than being right.” After prayer, Peg Parksey led the congregational singing and Brother Thomas called for tithes and offerings, then led the doxology.

He then asked the congregation for spoken and unspoken request for prayer, those sick in the hospital, shut-ins and our military in harms way, as the congregation prayed with him.

The special number was sang by Peg Parksey, whom always has a wonderful song to sing for us and was enjoyed by all.

Pastor stated “There is no place safe these days, except in the arms of Jesus.” In life we have temptation on every hand and it’s hard daily for some not to give in to temptation. You will not get off scott free. Likewise, when yielding to temptation, you are “in” or “out.” You cannot ride the fence. You either walk beside him not knowing or you walk “with” him knowing that you belong to God.

To know him we must keep our mind on the things of God. You are known by the company you keep, the placed you might be found in, and your actions or reactions to others. We must be justified in things we do and say.

For example, Noah was justified and in accord with God. Being righteous he was loved by Jesus. Noah wasn’t perfect, he was a sinner too, but he walked with God. He acknowledged his sins and was forgiven. Noah built an ark as God directed and at that time, God “shut up” the door. This done as Noah acted as God had directed and his family and all on board were saved to populate the Earth.

God does the impossible for those whom walk with him. We read in Exodus 12:1-13 where God’s people were saved by blood being put over there door and they were saved as they had walked with God. The blood washes away sin. God will pass over you if you have the blood of Jesus.

You cannot be deceived by the deceiver. You are either in or out. Every once in awhile, we might try to take God’s place and pass judgement on someone.

What we do affects others, and then God may take over and discipline us.

Luke 15:10 There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Come visit us this week. Sunday School is at 9:30 a.m., Morning Worship is at 10:30 a.m. and Evening Service is at 6 p.m.

Ladies Bible Study invite young ladies as well as adults to join them for this study on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Brother Thomas and Beverly and the congregation invite young and old to join us for a day of blessings.

William Byrd (c.1580)

In July 1586, some like-minded souls were invited to a gathering at the house of Richard Bold, former Sheriff of Lancashire, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire. A contemporary description tells us that the guests were “received with every attention that kindness and courtesy could suggest”. Music was probably performed, as the host was a known enthusiast, and it was, on the face of it, a pleasant and relaxed occasion.

That, though, is unlikely to have been the case. The guests at Bold’s house were Catholics, or at least Catholic sympathisers, and in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign that meant all present were putting their lives in danger. Since 1581, reconciliation to the Catholic church had been an act of treason and a further law in 1585 made sheltering a Catholic priest an offence punishable by death.

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Even so, we know of three important people who were present: Henry Garnet, a Jesuit priest who would be executed after becoming entangled in the Gunpowder Plot; poet Robert Southwell, an energetic promoter of the Catholic faith, who was to end his life hanged, drawn and quartered; and composer William Byrd. As Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and one of the leading cultural representatives of Elizabethan England, why was he there? For such a prominent establishment figure, this was a big risk.

It is difficult now to understand how music could flourish in these circumstances. Byrd is, arguably, the greatest composer of sacred music England has produced and it seems remarkable that he achieved these heights as a Catholic in Protestant England during a dangerous period of religious persecution.

Over the next nine months, a tour of Byrd’s music will offer an opportunity to get closer to this exceptional composer. Andrew Carwood and the innovative vocal ensemble Cardinall’s Musick, who have recently finished recording all of Byrd’s sacred music to Latin texts, are about to embark on a UK tour that will take them from Canterbury in the south to Leeds in the north, from St David’s in Wales to Orkney in Scotland.

A special attraction is that the tour will include places with a direct connection to Byrd himself. The most important is the church at Stondon Massey, Essex, where the composer lived for the last 30 years of his life. Carwood explains that this was still countryside in Byrd’s time “but Ingatestone Hall is nearby, the home of the Petre family who still own it today, and Byrd knew the family and the house well. This was a very Catholic area. Celebrations of mass were regularly held at the hall, which has priest holes and all the other devices that were commonly used for hiding priests and religious vestments.”

Another historic venue is Arundel, ancestral home of the Dukes of Norfolk. As England’s most prominent Catholic family, they seem to have enjoyed a highly privileged position. Arundel was a well-known centre for Catholics who refused to attend Anglican services and the library holds many of Byrd’s own publications of his music, together with unique choir books dating from before Henry VIII’s break with Rome.

Throughout history, music and religion have had a tortured relationship. By reuniting Byrd’s sacred music with places of his own time, Cardinall’s Musick is hoping to encourage audiences to contemplate how that relationship turned toxic in the Tudor era. It is also worth remembering that this is only part of a much wider story of oppression – from the persecution of Jewish composers in Nazi Germany to the hardline crackdown on music under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Catholicism that marks out Byrd as a composer born of religious strife will be much in focus on the tour. Every programme will feature one of his three masses, arguably Byrd’s greatest achievement, written in his later years when he risked being most open about his religion. In addition, Carwood will provide a spoken background at each concert, as he feels audiences cannot appreciate music that is so “emotionally real” if they do not understand the context in which it was written.

“I think the music contains great eternal truths,” he says, “but what we can’t recreate is the contemporary political situation. There isn’t the same adrenaline if we aren’t living in dread of that rap on the door. If the music was being performed with a priest celebrating mass, they didn’t know if this was the last time they would see him before he was taken away and executed. That will have given the performances an intensity we can’t recapture today.”

The big question is to what extent this added element of danger was a source of inspiration for Byrd. A parallel case often cited is Shostakovich, who composed some of his greatest music amid the political repression of Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union. Did Byrd, too, rise to the heights of a work such as the Mass for Five Voices because he had a burning inner message to impart?

“In my opinion, Byrd is a step above all the other Renaissance composers in Europe,” says Carwood. “I love Palestrina, Lassus and Victoria, but none of them equals Byrd’s level of imagination. What he had over them is this unique life experience with his deprived Catholicism. His choice of texts is imbued with an astonishing emotional fervour, which you just don’t find with Palestrina, sitting in the relative security of Rome.”

Carwood says it is normal for Byrd’s music to hold some hidden message to the Catholic community. “This isn’t like something out of The Da Vinci Code, with the letters of the text carrying a secret message about the invasion of England. But Byrd does rearrange the verses of a psalm so that you get a different perspective on it, or cherry-pick the verses, as in ‘Deus venerunt gentes’, where he talks about the blood of the saints being spilled on the ground. That is believed to be about the martyrdom of Catholics, very much a statement about what was going on at the time.”

Given how close Byrd’s profession took him to the monarchy, it is extraordinary how he avoided serious trouble. “Perhaps it’s a bit romantic,” says Carwood, “but Queen Elizabeth loved music. She must have known who he was, as he was in the Chapel Royal, and that he was a Catholic. We have a truly beautiful anthem that he wrote specifically for her, and it’s so much more than Byrd merely paying lip-service. Maybe there was some tacit agreement between them.”

Whatever the reason, Byrd was never imprisoned and lived to the ripe old age of 83, dying at Stondon Massey in 1623, a wealthy man with several properties to his name. As audiences on the Cardinall’s Musick tour are taking in the glories of Byrd’s three settings of the Catholic mass, they may well wonder which was the more impressive of his achievements. Was it that he composed some of the greatest music of the Elizabethan era or, more simply, that he survived?

The Cardinall’s Musick tour of the music of William Byrd starts at Wigmore Hall, London, on March 5

www.cardinallsmusick.com

Talk about it

A Mitchell native is launching a Catholic radio station to cover the Sioux Falls diocese.

The station is scheduled to go on the air in May, concluding a five-year process that Kevin Culhane and his wife, Margie, did together.

Kevin Culhane said the inspiration for the venture came when he and Margie went on a three-week pilgrimage to France in 2007 with several parishes, including Holy Spirit Parish in Mitchell.

“We spent a week in Lourdes and went to the grotto where the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette, saw the water from the rock, but more importantly it was the faith demonstrated by the tens of thousands of people going there daily hoping for a miracle that was awe-inspiring,” he said.

The Culhanes came back to South Dakota with renewed faith and a conversion of heart.

Kevin Culhane said he was a “cafeteria Catholic” prior to his trip to France. He didn’t practice the faith religiously; he believed some of it and wasn’t sure about other parts.

“That’s how I lived my life until 2007, when I experienced the deep, profound love for the Blessed Mother and for the Catholic faith,” he said.

The Culhanes continued to own and operate two radio stations in Yankton — KVHT FM and KVTK AM — until making a final decision in 2010 to sell the stations and commit full-time to creating a Catholic radio station. Kevin Culhane was part-owner of KMIT in Mitchell from 1984 to 1992.

“It was almost like getting smacked in the head and ‘You should’ve had a V8,’ ” he said. “I was smacked in the heart and God said, ‘Come home and listen to what I’m telling you.’ ”

Culhane said there are 18,000 AM and FM radio stations throughout the U.S. Ten percent of those are Protestant stations and 185 are Catholic stations.

His goal is to reach all faiths, but he hopes the most immediate result is that all Catholics — practicing and non-practicing — will find hope, comfort and inspiration from the programming.

South Dakota, east of the Missouri River, hosts 135,000 Catholics in 150 parishes.

The radio station, which will be dubbed “The Lamb,” will air on 91.3 FM — call letters for Mitchell and Sioux Falls is KSTJ and for Aberdeen and Ipswich is KAJF. Locators to amplify the signal will be located in Yankton and Brookings.

The format will include talk shows with some music, but the emphasis will be on teaching the Catholic faith. Local programming, including people from the Mitchell area, will be featured on the station as well.

Specifically, the rosary will be offered multiple times per day, mass will be aired daily, along with other devotional programming, Kevin Culhane said.

The station will also be affiliated with the EWTN Global Catholic Television Network and the Ave Maria Network.

“It’s just a teaching tool more than anything, to bring Christ to the Christian community,” Culhane said.

The station will be supported through sponsorships, gifts from donors and on-air fund drives. Culhane said this is a $1.3 million campaign, some of which came from the sale of the couple’s two stations in Yankton.

Long-range plans to bring Catholic radio to the entire state are in the works, he said. He hopes to reach out toward Rapid City diocese in the future. “But you have to learn to crawl before you walk,” he said.

Anyone interested in supporting the Culhanes’ effort can contact them at 605-275-4659.

Illustration by Chris Huber/Republic

Photo courtesy The Bishop’s Bulletin Margie and Kevin Culhane want to bring their faith to the airwaves.

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Yet Rubio’s religious profile is even more complicated than that, given his close ties to an evangelical church in Miami.

It’s a mix — a “faith journey,” as his office put it — that has some wondering whether the rising Republican is trying to be all things to all people, and what other surprises may be in his past.

He’s a practicing Catholic but enjoys the sermons of a Southern Baptist-affiliated church, his office said, adding he has long crossed into both faiths.

The revelation that Rubio, 40, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints drew quick comparisons to another Mormon, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In just over a year in office, Rubio has vaulted to the top of the shortlist of running mates.

Pundits questioned whether two Mormons can share a ticket, overlooking that Rubio belonged to the faith for only a few years as a child. Still, the never-before-told history caused a stir. Rubio’s “Mormon surprise,” read a banner on CNN.

The Mormon roots were teased Thursday morning by the publisher of Rubio’s forthcoming memoir, An American Son, while a more detailed telling came from the news website BuzzFeed.

Rubio’s family was introduced to Mormonism when they moved to Las Vegas in the late 1970s, where relatives were already living and involved in the church, BuzzFeed reported.

“It wasn’t long before the Rubios were sitting down with Mormon missionaries, reading the Book of Mormon and preparing for baptism,” the story read.

The story, quoting Rubio’s cousin, said Rubio’s father, Mario, did not join because the church’s strict moral code clashed with his work as a bartender.

The family left the Mormon church by the time Rubio was 12, according to Rubio’s office, and he received First Communion in the Catholic Church a year later. After returning to Miami, Rubio was confirmed, and he was married in the church.

But as he got older, Rubio started to attend Christ Fellowship in Miami, a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Though he had substantial debt, due to mortgages and student loans, Rubio gave about $50,000 to the church over a period of years last decade. He also gave to the Catholic Church, his office said.

In the 2000 Florida House Clerk’s Manual, Rubio described himself as Catholic. Two years later he listed himself as Baptist, then two years after that, he identified himself as Catholic.

“Around 2005 Marco began to return to his Catholic roots,” according to a time line provided by the senator’s office, which added, “He enjoys the sermons and the excellent children’s ministry at Christ Fellowship, and still attends often.”

In Washington, Rubio has said he attends daily Mass.

The dual nature — is he Catholic or Protestant? — has caught the eye of observers.

“Is Marco Rubio talking out of both sides, the better to court the Catholic and the evangelical votes?” Eric Giunta, a Catholic columnist for the online publication Renew America, wrote after the November 2010 election that catapulted Rubio onto the national stage as a U.S. senator.

“The Variations” is the first novel by John Donatich, director of Yale University Press. Like Yale, the novel is set in New Haven, Conn. Father Dominic’s church presides over a neighborhood where decades of poverty have taken a dire toll. “Empty bottles of beer and cheap whiskey littered the corners of the lot; Dominic turned out early every Sunday morning to clear them before Mass. How he hated the clink of glass against glass in the garbage bag, hollow and carnal like a laugh track.”

But Dominic also appreciates “the tired maturity of the city’s faith — the kind that knew better than to reach a conclusion, that believes despite the contrary evidence, despite the improbability of redemption. His church was needed here.”

Those passages offer a sense not only of the book’s themes — a church struggling for relevancy in benighted lives, a priest’s hard work in the face of his discontent — but also of Donatich’s writing style. His sentences are fluid yet succinct. They deal with complicated topics such as faith and doubt, God and godlessness, but they do so with brevity, grace and specificity.

The author is more inclined to describe the clink of empty liquor bottles in a trash bag, a sound we all recognize, than the swish and flutter of angel wings, a sound that only some claim to hear. Thus “The Variations” speaks to all: Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Muslim. Believer or nonbeliever.

Dominic is at a crossroads. His church is scheduled for closing by the diocese, and he wonders if perhaps he ought to shut down too — as a priest, that is. He has always had a fascination with the secular life, with its fast cars and its sexual freedom.

He writes a blog with his spiritual musings that catches the eye of a New York magazine editor, a woman he soon becomes attracted to, but before he can decide if it’s time to take off the priest’s collar and see what he’s been missing, he argues online with critics of a deity: “Your legitimate gripe,” he writes, “is actually with the Church, which really in the end is nothing more than the social management of the wildness of spirit institutionalized within religion.”

The novel also includes a mesmerizing subplot about the church’s organist, a young African-American musician who is learning to play the Goldberg Variations under the tutelage of Signora Lotito, an elderly woman with fierce opinions about craft: “Inspiration, she tried to show him, was the end of hard work, not the beginning.”

Johann Sebastian Bach’s elegant work — an aria and 30 variations, first published in 1741 — was the wellspring, Donatich explained recently from his Yale office. “The book started out as a nonfiction book about the Goldberg Variations.” But he decided to make his search a spiritual one instead of a scholarly one: “I wanted to write about someone who gets up every day and tries to do good. What would that be like, to live the spiritual life?”

As a journalist who covered Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania for years, I can understand the Tea Party’s infatuation with him. It’s his anger. It is in perfect synch with the constituency he is wooing.

Even at the height of his political success, when he had a lot to be happy about, Santorum was an angry man. I found it odd. I was used to covering politicians who had good dispositions — or were good at pretending they had good dispositions.

Santorum was different. You could easily get him revved by bringing up the wrong topic or taking an opposing point of view. His nostrils would flare, his eyes would glare and he would launch into a disquisition on how, deep down, you were a shallow guy who could not grasp the truth and rightness of his positions.

Late in his 2006 re-election campaign, for example, when Santorum was seeking a third term in the Senate, he was set off by a question from a public school teacher at a street fair in Harrisburg who said she was “so sorry that some of our money paid for the education of your children in Virginia.” The Santorums had been home-schooling some of their children in Virginia through a program run by the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. After a fierce exchange with the woman, Santorum sarcastically complained: “It’s just a curious bias of the media around here. It’s wonderful. One person says something negative and the media rushes and covers that. The wonderful balanced media that I love in this community.” It’s a YouTube moment.

Santorum had reason to be peeved. He was running against the Democrat Bob Casey. He was trailing by double digits and knew he was going to lose. He was not a happy camper, but then he rarely is.

As he has shown in the Republican debates, Santorum can be equable. The anger usually flares on matters closest to his heart: faith, family and morals. And if, by chance, you get him started on the role of religion in American life, get ready for a Vesuvius moment.

Outside of these areas, he was more pragmatic. Then and now, Santorum held predictably conservative views, but he was astute enough to bend on some issues and be — as he put it in the Arizona debate — “a team player.”

In the Senate, he represented a state with a relentlessly moderate-to-centrist electorate so when campaigning he emphasized the good deeds he did in Washington. Editorial board meetings with Santorum usually began with him listing federal money he had brought in for local projects.

People who don’t know him — and just see the angry Rick — don’t realize what a clever politician Santorum is. He didn’t rise to become a Washington insider through the power of prayer. He may say the Rosary, but he knows his Machiavelli.

That said, Santorum’s anger is not an act.  It is genuine. It has its roots in the fact that he had the misfortune to be born in the second half of the 20th century. In his view, it was an era when moral relativism and anti-religious feeling held sway, where traditional values were ignored or mocked, where heretics ruled civic and political life. If anything, it’s gotten worse in the 21st, with the election of Barack Obama.

Leave it to Santorum to attack Obama on his theology, of all things. He sees the president as an exemplar of mushy, feel-good Christianity that emphasizes tolerance over rectitude, and the love of Jesus over the wrath of God. Predictably, Santorum is angry at that version of Christianity. He sees it as weak tea.

As a fellow Catholic, I understand the roots of Santorum’s Christianity. We read the same Baltimore Catechism, the Cliffs Notes of Catholicism for grade school children in our era. At Mass, we inhaled incense and recited the Credo. From an early age, we both ingested large doses of Catholic theology and its elegant practitioners — Augustine, Jerome, Aquinas.

And there we part ways. Like many American Catholics, I struggle with the church’s teachings as they apply to the modern world. Santorum does not.

I once wrote that Santorum has one of the finest minds of the 13th century. It was meant to elicit a laugh, but there’s truth behind the remark. No Vatican II for Santorum. His belief system is the fixed and firm Catholicism of the Council of Trent in the mid-16^th century. And Santorum is a warrior for those beliefs.

During the campaign, he has regularly criticized the media for harping on his public statements on homosexuality, contraception, abortion, the decline in American morals. Still, he can’t resist talking about them. These are the issues that get his juices flowing, not the deficit or federal energy policy.

For instance, I can’t think of many Catholics — I can’t think of many priests — who would want to get into an argument over the use of contraceptives. Santorum is, of course, the exception.

In 2010, Santorum delivered a little-noticed speech in Houston to mark the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s address in the same city before a convention of Protestant ministers. Kennedy went before the group to alleviate fears that if a Catholic was elected president of the United States, the Pope would rule America. As Kennedy said at the beginning of his speech: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”

Santorum went to Houston not to praise Kennedy but to bash him. To Santorum, the Kennedy speech did permanent damage because it led to secularization of American politics. He said it laid the foundation for attacks on religion by the secular left that has led to denial of free speech rights to religious people. “John F. Kennedy chose not to just dispel fear,” Santorum said, “he chose to expel faith.”

In Santorum’s view, Kennedy’s speech led to a debasement of the first freedom — the freedom of religion — so that it is now on “the lowest rung of interests to be considered when weighing rights against one another.”

But to grasp the full weight of Santorum’s argument you have to hear him out:

Ultimately Kennedy’s attempt to reassure Protestants that the Catholic Church would not control the government and suborn its independence advanced a philosophy of strict separation that would create a purely secular public square cleansed of all religious wisdom and the voice of religious people of all faiths. He laid the foundation for attacks on religious freedom and freedom of speech by the secular left and its political arms like the A.C.L.U and the People for the American Way. This has and will continue to create dissension and division in this country as people of faith increasingly feel like second-class citizens.

One consequence of Kennedy’s speech, Santorum said,

is the debasement of our First Amendment right of religious freedom. Of all the great and necessary freedoms listed in the First Amendment, freedom to exercise religion (not just to believe, but to live out that belief) is the most important; before freedom of speech, before freedom of the press, before freedom of assembly, before freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances, before all others. This freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, is the trunk from which all other branches of freedom on our great tree of liberty get their life.

As so it went for 5,000 words. It is a revelatory critique of the modern world and Santorum quoted G.K. Chesterton, Edmund Burke, St. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther King to give heft to his assertions.

That said, it was an angry speech, conjuring up images of people of faith cowering before leftist thought police. Who could rescue us from this predicament? Who could banish the secularists and restore religious morality to its throne?

For Rick Santorum, those are rhetorical questions.

Tom Ferrick Jr. is senior editor of Metropolis, a Philadelphia news and commentary Web site. He has covered government and politics in Pennsylvania since 1974.

Pioneers Missionaries (1)

Presumably, the first Assistant ever assigned to St. Leander’s Church was Father Francisco B. M. Bettencourt, a native Portuguese.  He came to San Leandro on October 1, 1878 and remained there until 1882.  However, I could not find either his birthplace or the date of his arrival in California, much less any news about his background.
After further research, I learned that Bettencourt was a true pioneer and a missionary.  While reading the book “Hallowed Were The Gold Dust Trails” (1), I came across some precious information about Bettencourt.  The book, may I add, even though subtitled “The Story of the Pioneer Priests of Northern California”, is actually the history of the Catholic Church in the Mother Lode and other mining areas.
In the book’s appendix with reference to Siskiyou County we read: “There were many Portuguese people in Hawkinsville by now and, on December 12, 1879, a mission was held in that town, conducted by Father Francisco B. M. Bettencourt.”  Also in the appendix, but in reference to Trinity County, it is stated: “The fly-leaf in the Register of the parish notes that Father Bettencourt baptized in Weaverville in 1879 and 1890.  He probably was on tour of the towns in the north giving missions to the Portuguese.”
Bettencourt’s travels took him to Yuba County, where he adminstered the Sacrament of Baptism at New York Flat and Brownsville in May 1879, and at Bangor, New York Flat, Brownsville and Indiana Ranch in January 1880.  Ultimately, sometime in 1879, Bettencourt officiated at several baptisms in Sacramento County.
Monsignor John Vieira Azevedo died in Sacramento on April 2, 1957.  He was 75 years of age, and a native of Pico Island, Azores, where he was born on November 25, 1880, the son of Joao Vieira and Maria Inacia Azevedo.
Azevedo Entered Angra’s Seminary on Terceira Island, from where he transferred in 1902 to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California.  There he completed his Theological Studies, and was ordained a priest on November 20, 1904, at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Sacramento.
Apparently, Azevedo was the first Azorean student ever to graduate from St. Patrick’s Seminary, and the first alumnus ever to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of his ordination, which occurred in November 1954.  At one time Azevedo was also St. Patrick’s oldest alumnus still living.
After a brief stay at the Cathedral in Sacramento (immediately after his ordination), Azevedo was sent to Siskiyoui County, where he served in a couple of parishes, first at Yreka and then at Fort Jones, site of a clan of Portuguese miners.  His next assignment was at Sutter Creek in Amador County.  In 1909 he returned to Sacramento and was put in charge of establishing a national parish for the local Portuguese community.
On February 2, 1913, a beautiful new church was dedicated and names St. Elizabeth (1271-1336), after the beloved and saintly Queen of Portugal.  Azevedo ws honored with the title of Monsignor in May 1948.  He retired in 1955, the year I first met him, when I visited Sacramento a week after my arrival in California from the Azores.
A story is told that, during the Depression, parishioners often left live chickens on the front porch of St. Elizabeth’s parish house.  Rosa Piedade, Azevedo’s sister and housekeeper for many years, would use the surplus to operate an informal kitchen to serve the numerous transients seeking food, which they ate while sitting on the back stairs. (2)
(1) Henry L. Walsh, S.J., University of Santa Clara Press, Second Edition 1947.
(2) Lionel Holmes and Joseph D’Alessandro, Portuguese Pioneers of the Sacramento Area, Portuguese Historical and Cultural Society, Sacramento 1990.

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Sr Joan Doyle visits a disadvantaged family in Cerro Candela in Lima, Peru

WHEN Mercy Sister Joan Doyle finally accepted a call to religious life at 23, she assumed her vocation would be “behind a piano teaching music”.

Her recent appearance in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall to help launch Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion appeal for 2012 shows God had other plans for her.

Sr Joan is in partnership with Caritas on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, dedicated to bringing hope, healing and education to a people struggling under a burden of immense poverty.

A people so poor, when a family member dies they must go door to door and to people in the streets to find sufficient money for a burial.

Here a mother’s greatest fear is their children will be lost to the criminal gangs so prevalent in this Peruvian capital of about nine million souls.

And here a “gap year” can last the rest of a person’s life.

Yet the Forbes-born Mercy Sister, who has been on mission in this harsh, barren part of the world for the past 15 years, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There have been many special blessings being with these people in their poverty,” she said.

“Every day I witness their resilience, their deep faith and strong sense that God is always with them.

“For example even going past a church on the bus, they will bless themselves.

“Their example has been a great influence on my own faith and, seeing their sufferings, my own concerns pale into insignificance.”

But even the poorest and simplest of lives can have some consolations.

“These people have a great zest for life and sense of celebration”, Sr Joan said.

“They spend what is a lot of money for them on events like First Communion.

“I’ll be thinking: ‘Gosh, how are they going to eat next week?’

“But they are content to live from day to day.”

Their shared hardships also create a greater sense of solidarity.

“They stick together for survival,” Sr Joan said.

“The closest to this spirit I have seen in Australia was in Brisbane last year during the floods when large numbers pitched in to help less fortunate community members.”

Sr Joan still remembers the night – “January 15, 1994″ – when as a 43-year-old, she took the momentous decision to leave Australia on mission to a foreign land.

Looking back, she sees preparations had been underway for a while.

After about six years teaching mainly at Chatswood Catholic Girls’ High, she’d finally “escaped the classroom”.

She was on a Christian Brothers youth apostolate team, running retreats throughout NSW for students in Years 10 to 12.

An immersion trip with young people to India and Pakistan in 1986 proved a turning point.

“I became much more aware of real poverty,” Sr Joan said.

“I felt called to alleviate such injustice, but didn’t quite know how or where … I assumed my work would be Australia.”

Studies in social work were undertaken. This led into work in Child Protection with the NSW Department of Community Services.

“This gave me a close-up look at effects of poverty in our own backyard,” Sr Joan said.

“It was very tough work, though it did make me more determined to do something to make a real difference.”

Meanwhile, she was keeping in touch with two of her Mercy Sister friends working in Chile.

One of them had returned to Australia and Sr Joan and several other women had gone out for dinner on that fateful night in 1994.

“My friend from Chile was talking about the enormous need for a mission to Lima in Peru,” she said.

“Another friend turned to me and said: ‘Surely it must be clear what you need to do?’

“I remember being so excited I couldn’t sleep that night.

“I also remember being worried about my parent’s response as I was very close to them.

“However, they were tremendously accepting.”

Sr Joan arrived in Chile in May 1996, stayed a few weeks then was off to Lima in Peru to visit one of the Mercy Sisters there.

“When I saw the extreme poverty there, I thought this must be where I was truly meant to be,” she said.

“I stayed only a year in Chile before settling in a house in Lima with two other congregation members.

“This was in the northern zone where many fleeing their village homes during decades of guerilla warfare had settled.”

So what’s daily life like in Lima? What are some aspects of the people’s lives which have impressed or moved her?

“I’m especially touched when these people die,” Sr Joan said.

“The way they leave this world highlights their extreme poverty.

“The cemetery for the poor in a way reflects their lives: headstones scattered higgledy-piggledy on a hillside.

“They will sing, pray, talk and drink all night in the presence of the deceased person – much like an Irish wake.

“Next day the coffin is carried to three places of significance to the person.

“The coffin carriers give three bobs of respect at each of these places on the way to burial.

“There’s a tremendous impact in seeing how these people live and die in poverty but have acceptance of this.”

When Sr Joan first arrived in Lima, she found the level of sickness disturbing.

“Nearly every household we visited had at least one sick person,” she said.

“The sickness was often related to pollution in the air or water.

“One such household was a hillside shack.

“Inside the children were frequently having to squat with diarrhoea.

“It turned out the local government agency had run out of water purifying tablets.”

Through witnessing such situations, Sr Joan quickly came to realise health education was the key.

Then Caritas came on board and suddenly there were enough resources to plan significant projects.

“These days we write up a project for Caritas to approve and fund,” she said.

“Our whole aim is to empower people to help themselves by training local leaders.

“These leaders can teach others preventative measures such as seeking medical help when health problems first emerge.

“Awareness of proper hygiene is also obviously of major concern – a major goal this year is to widen the sanitation program.

“Then there’s nutrition – there is actually an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables but often what little money people have goes on foods with poor nutritional value.”

Finally, Sr Joan has a message for the people of Queensland.

“There is still so much that needs to be done in Lima.

“However, on behalf of these impoverished people, I would like to thank you.

“Your generosity to Project Compassion and other Caritas appeals has already helped many and will help many more.

“I feel moved by this generosity – especially considering Queensland has had its own disasters in the recent past.

“Yet people are still prepared to reach out to others in need.

“It’s very encouraging for all of us.”