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January 8, 2009 |
| The Joy of Georgie |
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 "You're the big brother. You will have to look after Joe." My sisters spoke, pretending to be serious, and exchanging playful glances with each other and me. On this good advice, my older brother George, who was 48 years old and had Down's syndrome, came to live with me at St. Mary's Rectory in Catasauqua, PA. Little did we realize how true the words of my sisters would become. At the rectory, Georgie contributed in countless ways. He was a community builder par excellence. Two weeks had not gone by before he had given each person on the rectory staff a nickname. In the Old Testament, God gave Abram a new name to claim him as his own, and so Georgie quickly claimed us as part of his family. Through a playful "boo," an occasional hug, and a pat on the back, Georgie brought to the rectory an ease that became infectious.
When he announced that he would be going for a week's vacation with one of his sisters, everyone was up in arms at what they would do while he was gone. He also was a wonderful companion for me. I learned the evening TV schedule (something I hadn't known for many years), and our time together gave me an opportunity to stop, pause, and enjoy.
From the very beginning, Georgie knew that he was looking after me and so many others. Once after celebrating a Mass for our dear mother, I must have looked a little down to him. He gave me a pat on the back and said, "Don't worry. Mom is in heaven. You have me."
Giving and receiving are intertwined. We never do one exclusively. In the case of my relationship with my brother, it is not a cliché to say I have received much more than I ever gave. That's the nature of Christian community. The love of Christ calls all of us to be good givers and good receivers and so to love.
Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D.
Archbishop of Louisville
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Did you know . . .Catholic Liturgical Calendar  | |
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 Sister Visitor Center
A Call to Service . . .
The Sister Visitor Center is an emergency assistance program that provides help with the most basic of human needs: food, clothes, furniture etc.
For more information, donation dropoffs, and ways to serve, go to:
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Quick Links |
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 Busted Halo
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| The Mass . . . Encounter Commitment |
 In the entry area of most Catholic churches we encounter the baptismal font or at least some small representation of the font. This baptismal area, standing between the outside world and the inner sanctum for worship, brings us face to face with our rite of passage that we made in those waters of baptism. This water symbolizes the power of water to destroy, to cleanse, to refresh --- to give new life.
At our baptisms, we go down into these waters or have them poured over us as a sign of our death to the ways of sin and self-centeredness, and come out of the font a new person, a Christian. We "put on Christ" and spend the rest of our lives trying to live out our baptismal commitment. So each time we put our hands into these waters as we come and go, let us renew our faith with the Sign of the Cross and make this gesture a recommitment to our Christian mission of being Christ in the world.
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A Saint . . . and the Catholic School System
By the age of twenty-nine, Elizabeth was a widow and mother of five children.
Originally from New York, she found herself staying with friends in Italy soon after her husband's death. Her friends impressed her with their strong Catholic faith and Elizabeth began spending a lot of time visiting Catholic churches in Italy. Upon returning to New York, she decided to become Catholic and within a year was received into full communion with the Catholic Church.
As a young mother, inspired by faith and a need to find a way to support her young family, Elizabeth opened a school for girls, which led her to be the foundress of the American Sisters of Charity and laid the basis for the United States Catholic school system.
After accomplishing so much in such a short time, Elizabeth died in 1821 at the age of forty-six. In 1975 Elizabeth was canonized as the first native-born North American saint. We celebrated her feast day on January 4 and we know her today as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
"Her journey of faith points to the reality that in all of us there is a longing to know God and to draw closer to him."
United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Contact Us |
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Catholic Connection, Archdiocese of Louisville
Maloney Center, 1200 S. Shelby Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40203
502-636-0296
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