Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:09

Hour of prayer for Sisters April 21
The Downtown Serra Club of Wichita invites the diocesan family to an hour of prayer in thanksgiving for all religious sisters Sunday, April 21, in the newly renovated Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The services will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A rosary and Litany to the Blessed Mother will be prayed. After silent prayer, the service will conclude with Benediction.

Friday, 12 April 2013 09:34

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Barack Obama April 11 awarded the Medal of Honor to famed Korean War chaplain Father Emil Kapaun, presenting it to the priest’s nephew, Ray Kapaun, nearly 22,604 days after his uncle’s death in a prisoner of war camp.
“He should have got it long time ago,” Joe Ramirez, a war veteran, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Houston. He was baptized by Father Kapaun July 19, 1950, the day after their regiment had landed in Korea.
“He deserves about three or four of them,” another soldier-friend of the priest, Herbert Miller, told CNS.
Father Kapaun was born on Holy Thursday at 11:30 a.m. April 20, 1916, to two hardworking parents in a little farmhouse in Kansas. He grew up an ordinary child in ordinary times, but God was calling him to something greater.
“Now one remembers little things about him which were not significant then, but which might have let you know what sort of man he would be when the going was difficult,” Father Edward Malone, a Benedictine priest and professor, is quoted as saying in a 1954 biography of the priest written by Father Arthur Tonne.
When he walked into a room, Father Kapaun seemed to light up the room, fellow soldier Mike Dowe said in an April 4 interview in Rosslyn, Va.

Monday, 08 April 2013 12:52

The Most Rev. Michael O. Jackels, bishop of the Diocese of Wichita has been appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa. He will be installed May 30.

Archbishop-elect Jackels said in a statement: “It has been a great experience for me to pray and work with the priests, religious, and lay faithful of the Diocese of Wichita, to yoke ourselves together, sharing responsibility to continue the mission of Jesus in his Church here. Thanks be to God! I am confident that I will be able to say the same about the Catholic faithful in the Archdiocese of Dubuque.”

He continued, “It is with no little sadness that I prepare to leave the Diocese of Wichita. But in light of Mary’s response to God’s call to be the mother of the Savior, or of the example of Pope Francis who cheerfully took up a new and demanding ministry, how could I not say ‘yes.’ Let us pray for one another in this time of transition.”

Monsignor Robert Hemberger, the diocesan moderator of the curia, stated that the diocese is sad Bishop Jackels is leaving us. “During his eight years here, he has worked so hard to get to know the people and customs of this place. He tried to reach out to people of all ages, locations, ethnic groups, and ways of life,” he said.

Monday, 08 April 2013 08:58

The Most Rev. Michael O. Jackels, bishop of the Diocese of Wichita has been appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa. He will be installed May 30.

Archbishop-elect Jackels said in a statement: “It has been a great experience for me to pray and work with the priests, religious, and lay faithful of the Diocese of Wichita, to yoke ourselves together, sharing responsibility to continue the mission of Jesus in his Church here. Thanks be to God! I am confident that I will be able to say the same about the Catholic faithful in the Archdiocese of Dubuque.”

He continued, “It is with no little sadness that I prepare to leave the Diocese of Wichita. But in light of Mary’s response to God’s call to be the mother of the Savior, or of the example of Pope Francis who cheerfully took up a new and demanding ministry, how could I not say ‘yes.’ Let us pray for one another in this time of transition.”

Monsignor Robert Hemberger, the diocesan moderator of the curia, stated that the diocese is sad Bishop Jackels is leaving us. “During his eight years here, he has worked so hard to get to know the people and customs of this place. He tried to reach out to people of all ages, locations, ethnic groups, and ways of life,” he said.

Msgr. Hemberger added that when Bishop Jackels arrived in the diocese he said his primary goal was to help people know Jesus better. “Religious education and formation was his highest priority. He wanted even more for the young people of today than he received as a young person. He felt that way also when teaching adults about Jesus in ways they could relate to and remember.

“When Bishop Jackels first came here, I mentioned that the people of Wichita had been praying for a bishop who is a good shepherd,” he said. “The shepherd knows his own, gathers and protects, nourishes and lays down his life. Our prayers were answered. Bishop Jackels did all those things. We wish him well and the church of Dubuque the blessings of what he learned here.”

Bishop Jackels was appointed the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Wichita on Jan. 28, 2005, and was ordained on April 4, 2005. Bishop Jackels had been working in Rome for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when it was decided he would succeed Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted who had been transferred to Phoenix.

Archbishop-elect Jackels will continue to lead the Diocese of Wichita as its administrator until he is installed in Dubuque. After that time, a diocesan administrator will be selected for Wichita.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque covers 17,403 square miles and consists of 168 parishes and 202,601 Catholics. It has 216 priests and 91 permanent deacons.

Bishop Jackels is also a member of the Subcommittee on the Catechism in the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He succeeds Archbishop Jerome George Hanus, a Benedictine.

Thursday, 04 April 2013 10:56

One of the purposes behind a gathering March 13 at Hartman Arena in Wichita was to help the 5,000 Catholic school students there understand that they are more than members of a parish, they are members of a diocesan church.
That purpose was magnified at the Youth Rally and Mass sponsored by the diocesan Catholic School Office. All 6,000 at the rally understand, in a way that they’ll never forget, that they are members of a faith that crosses all borders, one that goes back 2,000 years.
Cheers erupted after it was announced before the afternoon Mass that white smoke was pouring out of the smokestack at the Vatican. When it was learned that it would be about an hour before the new pope’s appearance, Bishop Michael O. Jackels began Mass.
After Communion – perhaps the result of timing by the Holy Spirit – Pope Francis walked out on the balcony of the Vatican to the thunderous cheers of the crowd watching on a huge screen via an internet feed.

Thursday, 04 April 2013 10:35

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ means more than eternal life, it means a new way of living, Bishop Michael O. Jackels said in his Easter vigil homily at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita.
That new way of living is characterized by living in a personal relationship with God, he said. “Having the blessed assurance that we are loved unconditionally – harboring none of the fears that others have, especially suffering and death.”
That new way of living is also characterized by caring for those most in need, he said, honoring God’s plan for marriage and family, holding human life as sacred, and respecting the dignity of every person.
“The closer we draw to God, the less we desire wealth, fame, power and pleasure, Bishop Jackels said. “The more we realize that these cannot give happiness and peace, the more we are drawn to someone outside ourselves, transcending time and space … and the more, too, we live life here and now differently.”
Bishop Jackels added, “Jesus rose to a new way of living that was new to the world…an evolutionary leap into a new way of living.”

Thursday, 04 April 2013 10:33

About 372 catechumens and candidates participated in the Rite of Election this year and were scheduled to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil at their parishes.
There were two Rites of Election celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday, Feb. 17, one at St. Francis Church in St. Paul on Sunday, Feb. 24, and one at Holy Cross in Hutchinson on Sunday, March 3. Totals for 2013: catechumens - 151; candidates for full communion - 211.