Archive for category: Campaign of Mercy

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

As part of the Diocesan-wide Campaign of Mercy, the Messenger has been highlighting a corporal or spiritual work of mercy each month. For the month of June, the focus is on the corporal work, giving drink to the thirsty.

In preparation for Cincinnati Reds Opening Day, the baseball team of Holy Cross District High School, Latonia, stepped up to the plate to bring clean, fresh drinking water to their community at a Pure Life Project event at Cincinnati’s Freestore Foodbank, March 26.

The Pure Life Project, which works to bring healthy hydration, celebrated its partnership with Feeding America, as well as marked World Water Day, with the team stocking bottles of water for the food bank. Through the Pure Life Project, in 2024 over 6 million bottles of water have been donated to areas that need it most, including areas impacted by natural disaster and to charities that provide clean drinking water to families in need.

In the United States, an estimated 2.2 million Americans live in homes without running water or basic plumbing. Water insecurity disproportionately threatens low-income areas, and “the lack of a toilet, drinking water and other hygiene services can create added barriers among those experiencing homelessness, increasing stigmatization and reinforcing a cycle of poverty, according to an article from the University of California San Francisco.

Previously, the Holy Cross team had volunteered with the Freestore Foodbank as part of its junior day, and were invited back for the Cincinnati Reds kickoff, according to coach Rob Wormeling. Joining the students was Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who brought the event together in support of the project.

“It was awesome to go out as a team and do some community outreach,” said Mr. Wormeling. “I think it’s important in the fact that we are a Catholic High School — it’s a good representation of what we should be about in our community.”

From his perspective as coach, Mr. Wormeling thought that getting to meet Mr. De La Cruz was a “neat experience” for his players, but more than that the “people coming up to them, thanking them” was “eye opening.”

“A celebrity can play a role,” said Mr. Wormeling, “but even doing the smallest things for others … you’re not doing it to be seen, but you know that act is contagious.”

“Seeing the number of people who we got to help really made me feel like I was impacting our community in a positive way,” senior (now graduated) player Cooper Brue said.

“It is absolutely crucial for people to have a steady supply of clean water to survive in this world,” said Mr. Brue, “In my situation, I can go to my fridge, sink, pantry or even my hose outside to get clean water at any moment. It’s something you take for granted, and getting the opportunity to supply to people in this area clean water makes you feel really good. It’s something I hope other fortunate people get the opportunity to help with.”

Laura Keener

Editor

As the Messenger continues highlighting the Campaign of Mercy and its foundation — the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, this month we focus on the spiritual work of praying for the living. Praying for others strengthens the unity of the Body of Christ and brings us closer to Christ. It is intercessory prayer, praying to God on behalf of another. The Catechism teaches, “Since Abraham, intercession — asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy.” (CCC 2635) Praying for others is an act of love, strengthening the bonds within the Church and drawing individuals closer to God.

The Messenger caught up, April 4, with Tony Beyer and his mom, Mary Jo, to learn more about what began as a Lenten meditation 16 years ago and has developed into a yearlong global prayer for peace.

Music has always been a passion of Mr. Beyer’s. He’s been playing the piano “as soon as he could reach his grandparents piano,” Mrs. Beyer said. His home piano is a “theater piano” made by his grandfather in 1971, he proudly shares.

Mr. Beyer is one of the organists at St. Anthony Parish, Taylor Mill. He also plays the organ three Saturdays each month at Holy Name Church, Mt. Auburn, for the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants morning Mass. Naturally, his prayer meditation is replete with music, incorporating songs whose lyrics “voice my prayer intentions.”

These songs include, “Little Baby Yet Unborn,” by Dana; “Honesty” by Billy Joel; “Mama” by BJ Thomas; “In the Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics and “America, the Dream Goes On” by James Ingram. His prayer meditation begins with the Our Father, and includes the rosary, the Fatima prayer and the prayer to St. Raphael.

Mr. Beyer said that he began his prayer meditation during the 2009 election, when he began to see strong division during the election process and developed concern for the policies candidates were promoting.

“Since then, (I’ve) been worried about our nation,” said Mr. Beyer. “In 2009, I took it as my cue to research when each state was admitted into the Union” and to pray for each state by the order they were admitted.

Mr. Beyer begins his Lenten mediation 11 days before Lent actually begins so that he can include all of the states. Each day, he loads an image of the state’s capital on his computer to help focus his prayer. On the first day, he prays for the United Nations. “I hope that by praying at the UN building on my computer, it would be for the world over,” he said. The Lenten meditation ends on Holy Saturday, with prayers for Washington, D.C.

“I hope to bring the United States back to freedom and holiness and unity,” said Mr. Beyer. Mrs. Beyer limits his prayer meditation to 45 minutes each day, “because he’s not a monk,” she said laughingly.

Throughout the year, Mr. Beyer continues his prayer meditation for peace by including iconic cultural and familial places. A picture of Rockefeller Center and the Hollywood sign, focus his prayer for the American culture and the media. Mr. Beyer also pulls up photographs of prisons, “to pray for prison inmates to amend their lives and to bring an end to crime.” He includes pictures of colleges that family members have attended, “to pray for the professors and staff there,” he said.

He pulls up locations where his family members live, “to pray for peace in my family and to pray for other families, for peace in their families as well,” he said. His brother-in-law is from Poland, so he often includes a photo of Krakow, “so that they would be true to the legacy of His Holiness Pope John Paul II.”

Mr. Beyer said that he is driven by the famous adage that those who don’t learn their history are doomed to repeat it.

“What the world really wants is Jesus, but the world is too proud to admit to it,” he said.

Laura Keener

Editor

Announced in June 2024 by Bishop John Iffert, the Diocese of Covington, as part of its pastoral plan, has embarked on a three-year Campaign of Mercy. In support of the Campaign of Mercy, each month the Messenger has been highlighting a corporal or spiritual work of mercy and ways to connect to that work through service with either a diocesan or local social service organization, a parish group or as an individual. This month the highlighted work of mercy is bearing wrongs patiently.

Bearing wrongs patiently is not an acceptance of injustice or hurts, but a realization that change is slow and requires prayer and persistence. It is also an invitation to healing and forgiveness, two other processes that require time. This week, the Messenger highlights St. Patrick Parish, Taylor Mill, where a group of parents got together to pray for their children who have fallen away from the Church.

According to a 2009 report (revised in 2011) by the Pew Research Center, 10 percent of American adults are now former Catholics; 79 percent of former Catholics leave the Church before age 23.

Additionally, 50 percent of Millennials raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic today. A person born between 1981–1996, or between the ages of 44 and 29, are considered Millennials. Many parents and grandparents who held these children as infants as the waters of Baptism were poured over their head, who witnessed their joyful glow as they made their First Communion and who prayed with and for them at their Confirmation, are now carrying concern and hurt as they realize that the faith they intended to pass on to their children has been rejected.

Disheartened that two of his four children had walked away from the faith, John Zoburg, parishioner, St. Patrick Parish, Taylor Mill, approached Father Jeffrey VonLehmen, pastor, for advice.

“My wife and I were very concerned about our children, who we raised Catholic from the day they were born all the way through Catholic high school, Catholic grade school … we tried to be the best Christians we could be in living examples. We just didn’t understand it,” Mr. Zoburg said. Instead of an answer, Father VonLehmen tasked him with a project.

“He looked at me, handed me a book and said, ‘I want you to read this, and if you’re open to it, I’d like you to lead the parish through some kind of sessions wrapped around it.’ He told us we were not the only parents or grandparents to come to him with these concerns,” said Mr. Zoburg.

Together Mr. Zoburg and Father VonLehmen developed five monthly sessions using as a resource the book “Return: How to Draw Your Children Back to the Church” authored by Brandon Vogt and published by Word on Fire.

“It is excellent,” said John Schaefer, parishioner, St. Patrick Parish, who attended the sessions. In addition to sharing statistics on the percentages of children who leave home and leave their faith, the book also “highlights the notion of hope,” he said.

About 40 parents and grandparents attended the sessions, with each of their children having varying degrees of separation from the Church and from their parents. Mr. Schaefer is grieved with the most severe separation; his daughter hasn’t spoken to him in four years.

“One of the strongest things that came out of it (the sessions) was this notion of staying tethered to your children, not trying to beat them over the head with a Bible, not trying to force the Catechism into them, that most of them probably already have in them, but just staying connected, just staying lovingly as much as possible. And then, when the time arises in life, hopefully the seeds grow,” said Mr. Schaefer.

Mr. Schaefer finds consolation in the witness of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, who prayed unceasingly for her son to return to the faith. He continues to pray the prayer to St. Monica, for himself and for his daughter.

“Kudos to Father Jeff, who is a beloved spiritual director for us, to get this started and for having John Zoburg lead us through this really difficult thing,” said Mr. Schaefer.

For Mr. Zuborg, the prayers and techniques learned are bearing fruit. A year and half later, his oldest daughter has returned to the Church, her husband is in the OCIA program, and their two children will be baptized with their dad during the Easter Vigil this year.

“The book, it teaches you techniques of how to gently just introduce the topic of faith,” he said. For him, the opportunity came in the form of Bible study on Church history. His son-in-law is a scientist and has a natural curiosity about science and history.

“I just casually said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to this Bible study on the history of Church,’” said Mr. Zoburg. And then he shut up. He didn’t even ask them to join him. Later that week, his daughter asked if she and her husband could come along. “That’s what the book teaches, just dropping little seeds here and there, not to force. Not to say, hey, come to church with me,” he said.

Mr. Schaefer said that praying for children is a lifelong process. He remembered that his own father would pray for him and his five siblings who also strayed from the faith throughout their father’s lifetime.

“My father prayed for two decades, and you know, when he was on his deathbed, all six of us were back in the Church. It was a beautiful moment. You know, it’s a life- long thing. It’s the challenge, not only of the child, but it’s the challenge of the parent,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “Every heartbeat reminds you you’re still alive, every day is still a prayer for your children. That’s the trust.”

If you are interested in learning more about or in hosting similar sessions at your parish, contact John Zoburg at (859) 816-1645.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

As part of the Diocesan-wide Campaign of Mercy, the Messenger has been highlighting a different work of mercy each month. For the month of January, the focus is on the corporal work, clothing the naked.

In conjunction with the December work of mercy, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked focuses on aiding the most vulnerable. With temperatures falling, and snowbanks piling high, those without consistent shelter are at risk of frostbite and hypothermia, making warm clothes a necessity. Unfortunately, those that need warm clothes the most often have the least access. Whether it is low volume and high demand, or even cost, access to warm clothes is limited.

Thomas More University, Crestview Hills, students MaryKay Birtcil and Noah Francis, co-directors of Thomas More University Compassion Pantry, took note and are doing what they can to help. The Compassion Pantry typically focuses on nonperishable food items for students on campus, but the heart of the organization is in giving back. Ms. Birtcil and Mr. Francis met with their team of students and, in an effort to combat the lack of access, organized a shoe drive.

“I got the idea because I volunteered at the CCRU clinic, which is through the University of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University College of Medicine. They would see 45 patients a night that would come into the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky in Covington, and I noticed that one common thing among all the patients was that they really needed a new pair of shoes,” said Ms. Birtcil. “The people that come to the shelter,” she continued, “do a lot of walking so it felt like a really important need for them.”

While the Compassion Pantry primarily serves the immediate Thomas More community, Ms. Birtcil and Mr. Francis saw this as the perfect opportunity to give back.

“We receive a lot from our greater community,” said Mr. Francis, “we have partnerships with Panera, they donate all of their leftover bread every Sunday night. Master Provisions lets us come in and do some grocery shopping. We get  donations from High Schools and the alumni all the time. It is all one big family in Northern Kentucky. I think that, as much as people have helped us, we should also help people.”

Giving back to the community that has given the Compassion Pantry so much is a hallmark of the shoe drive. All of the shoes that are collected are going to be donated to the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky, to help them ncombat cold related injuries and illnesses.

The coordination of Ms. Birtcil, Mr. Francis, the Compassion Pantry team and the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky is a testament to the Northern Kentucky community and Mr. Francis said, their faith. “I would say faith does drive us in all aspects,” he said. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, Christ died for us, showing that love back into the community is our goal. I would say that is why we do everything.”

For those interested in donating to the shoe drive the drop off box is located inside the doors of the Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel, Crestview Hills, and to the left. The Chapel is on the campus of Thomas More University. The donation box will remain in the Chapel until Friday, Jan. 24.

“I hate when my feet are cold,” Mr. Francis said, “So I can only imagine what it is like for other people that don’t have roofs over their heads to not have shoes and warm feet.”