holycrossdurham-durham-nc

Sign up for a spot in the Holy Cross Backyard Garden (new name)

communications@holycrossdurham.org (Anna R) — Mon, 20 May 2024 20:22:45 GMT

The Holy Cross Backyard Garden Ministry

(HCBGM)

A new name for our Holy Cross Gardening Ministry:

A gardening opportunity that makes a difference

Click to join the HCBGM

and start planting!

About the HCBG Ministry

One of the ministries of the

Holy Cross Coalition for a Beloved Community .

Our parish garden ministry - now the Holy Cross Backyard Garden (HCBG) has three roles:

To provide an opportunity for parishioners and our neighbors to 'rent a garden bed' for the season, to grow vegetables for their home use.
To work together to grow, tend and harvest vegetables that we donate to Catholic Charities' Durham Community Food Pantry.
To build fellowship. Our new ministry name - Holy Cross Backyard Garden (HCBG ) - refers to the garden's location in Holy Cross's back yard - and the backyard-style fellowship that grows along with our garden plants. We hope to incorporate some fellowship opportunities for our gardeners this season.

Garden Beds to Rent for the Growing Season

We have 19 4-ft x 8-ft planting beds available for a seasonal 'rental' fee of $35 per garden bed, up to two garden beds per household. T he 'rental fee' helps cover the cost of gardening supplies. Vegetables grown in these garden beds are for use by the gardener.
We also have 10 10-ft x 4-ft 'Mercy Beds ' where all gardeners help to grow and harvest vegetables for delivery each week to Catholic Charities' Durham Community Food Pantry. All garden beds are labeled with the garden member's name or the Mercy name

All are welcome to join this ministry (including non-parishioners).

But why garden?

Click here to 'Dig Into' the Benefits of Gardening .

Click here to sign up for a garden bed .

Ready to join the Holy Cross Backyard Garden Ministry this year?

Click here to sign up via Flocknote.

Click here to make your $35 donation per garden bed via Holy Cross's

Online Giving platform or bring your donation to the parish office,

in an envelope with Holy Cross Garden Ministry in the check's memo line.

About our Garden Name

Why the new garden name? To emphasize the fellowship aspect of gardening and our garden's location. Our garden is in our church's back yard, where we often gather as a community for fellowship ... so, we are incorporating some of that fellowship into our gardening time, too.

And what about that saint? As Christians, we have a close relationship with those whose ministries provide role models for all of us.

St. Fiacre of Breuil has a unique story with a gardening connection.

Click to read his story in the Harvard Magazine .

All of us who have been part of the Holy Cross garden for a while have walked past the little statue of St. Fiacre dozens of times, but may have missed him, as he stands at the base of the mailbox near the garden entrance. We will be posting a sign naming the garden in his honor soon, using funds that were donated a while ago by a parishioner for naming the garden. The statue of St. Fiacre was donated by Lorie and Eric Crump, two of our initial garden members. Their son dug the first garden bed.

A few ground rules (No pun intended).

All garden volunteers and garden bed renters are asked to help with garden maintenance tasks, at least once a month. We will have a task signup list available.

About the HC Backyard Garden (HCBG)

This ministry began about 11 years ago, with one small garden bed dug as a school project by one of our then-young parishioners. When Deacon Phil and Anna Rzewnicki joined Holy Cross, someone asked what they liked to do. Gardening was their response and the parishioner walked them over to that small garden bed and asked what they thought. First suggestion was to add some soil, and then to plant some collards. That single garden bed yielded enough collard leaves for the Durham Catholic Charities (CC) Durham Community Food Pantry staff to provide about a dozen families with collards for their Thanksgiving diner. The garden has continued to grow over the years, with parishioners and others from the Durham community 'renting' garden beds for their own use. In time, nine 4-ft x 12-ft CC Mercy beds' were added, providing a significant source of fresh vegetables for clients of Catholic Charities Durham Community Food Pantry.

A Few "Ground" Rules (no pun intended)

All garden bed 'renters' keep their garden beds weeded and harvested regularly throughout the growing season, and 'put their gardens to bed' by clearing out weeds and mulching for the late fall and winter seasons.
Walking paths within and between garden beds need to be weeded regularly. Volunteers are invited to help.
All garden bed renters (and other volunteers) take turns helping with our nine (Catholic Charities) Mercy beds. This includes planting and weeding during the week and weekends, and harvesting on Monday mornings and packing for delivery to Catholic Charities Durham Community Food Pantry (DCFP) on Tuesday morning.
A Flocknote DCFP Harvest signup link will be sent to our registered gardeners, asking for at least two gardeners to help with the harvest once a month. This will be an open group; others can join as helpers throughout the growing season.
If a garden bed renter will be away for awhile, he/she should arrange for someone to harvest what ripens while they are away and notify the garden coordinator, providing the sub's name and contact information.
Vegetables left unattended for a period of time (and at risk of spoiling) will be harvested and donated to the DCFP before they expire, so as to not waste the food.
Harvested vegetables can be stored in a home refrigerator from Monday evening until the Tuesday morning delivery date, and should be brought to the DCFP delivery on Tuesday.
The kitchen counters and refrigerator need to be wiped down, and the counter sanitized after use in preparing the vegetables for delivery.
We will try to schedule a few 'field trips' to other community gardens in the area to share experiences.
We will utilize services provided by the NC Extension Service, including soil testing to determine what if any amendments are needed for our garden soil.

Volunteers are invited to help with the Mercy beds. If interested in helping as a volunteer, send an email message to garden@holycrossdurham.org.

We have a community approach to our gardening: meaning, all gardener members take turns helping to plant, weed and harvest the nine Mercy beds , as well as tending to their own garden beds. We will use our Flocknote network to sign up gardeners and volunteers to help maintain the 'sharing beds;, keeping them weed-free during the growing season, and to take turns harvesting from the Sharing beds and preparing them for delivery.

We will begin preparing the soil and planting on June 10, weather permitting (or as soon as possible after that). Contact Lorie Crump at garden@holycrossdurham.org

Click here to sign up via our HCBG group in Flocknote.

Each Saturday between 10 AM and 12 PM from January to March, volunteers are needed to prepare beds for spring planting. Each Tuesday morning, vegetables grown in the Sharing beds are harvested, rinsed, bagged and delivered to the Durham Community Food Pantry whose clients really appreciate the fresh produce. This is one of our gardener's Mercy opportunities.

On Becoming a Playwrite

communications@holycrossdurham.org (Anna R) — Sat, 04 May 2024 01:22:01 GMT

Parishioner Spotlight

On Becoming a Playwrite | Renee Nixon, Holy Cross Parishoner

Holy Cross children and adults have enjoyed performing in and watching plays that Renee has written, directed and produced at Holy Cross and in community theatre venues for decades.

Creativity originates from both the mind and heart.

Source: Bianca Vinther, Oct 4, 2021, 4 min read

Renee's newes t pr oduction , WEDDING DAY WORRIES, is up for several more since its initial performances in 2023. Following are her responses to an online interview with Holy Cross Communications.

When did you get involved in theatre? And Why?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been on stage for one reason or

another. either dancing, doing speeches and a little acting in high

school plays. I think my mom had me start performing because I am a

true introvert (most people don’t believe me) and she wanted me to

get out of my shell.

What was your first production?

The first play that I produced was Blindsided in 2010. It was the story

of a talk show host trying to win an Emmy and dealing with drama on the

show and behind the scenes.

How many plays have you produced since then?

In total, I’ve produced six plays. After Blindsided , in 2017, I did WORRIED: The

House Tour. Attendees saw 10 monologues as they toured a model

home. Then in 2018, I put WORRIED on stage with 12 monologues

and 2019, I staged WORRIED 2.0. Then the world shut down. In

2022, I was a part of Bloom Theatre Festival and had 2 10-minute plays performed: SON and DAZED. In 2023, I staged WEDDING DAY WORRIES.

Where does your inspiration for the story line come from?

My inspiration comes from everywhere: conversations I’ve heard or had,

TV, movies, and music.

Share a list of your awards, and the number of your productions:
In 2019, my play, DAZED & STUNNED was selected for

the Fade to Black Theatre Festival in Houston, TX.

In 2022, I won the Broadway World Regional Award for Best Director- Until The Flood. I directed the streaming play in January of 2021 for Burning Coal Theatre.

In 2023, my monologue, TEST was selected for THE FLOW Monologue Festival in Houston, TX.

In 2024, my play, WEDDING DAY WORRIES won 6 Broadway World Regional Awards i

What would you say to our younger parishioners about getting started

in the arts? How to know which path to follow?

My advice to anyone (youth or adult) who is interested in getting into the arts: Do It. Take classes, read and write. There is no clear path, you just have to take the first step. Let your imagination fly. You are never to old to follow your dreams.

Anything else you’d like to add?

If you aren’t creative, support the arts. All artists need support. Go see a play, watch a movie, go listen to a band, go to a gallery. Support.

College Scholarships for Holy Cross High School Grads

tech@holycrossdurham.org (Kevin Green) — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:22:58 GMT

Holy Cross High School Graduates: It's time to

apply for Holy Cross College Scholarships.

View details and application links below.

Holy Cross is now accepting applications for the parish's two college scholarship opportunities. Children of Holy Cross parishioners who are graduating from high school this year are encouraged to apply for the following Holy Cross College Scholarships.

Click the links above to open the application forms, then download, print and complete the applications. Scan the completed forms and send the scanned file by email to: scholarships@holycrossdurham.org .

> Completed applications must be

sent by Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Holy Week Schedule

tech@holycrossdurham.org (Kevin Green) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:56:46 GMT

Holy Week 2024

March 25-March 31, 2024

Tuesday, March 26

No communion service or Mass at 8 AM
Please consider joining us at the Chrism Mass at 10 AM at Holy Name of Jesus, 715 Nazareth St., Raleigh, 27607
Parish office open

Wednesday, March 27

No communion service nor Mass at 8 AM

Thursday, March 28

No communion service nor Mass at 8 AM.
Holy Thursday Mass begins at 7:00 PM.
Altar of Repose begins immediately after Mass and ends at 9:30 PM

Friday, March 29

Living Stations of the Cross, outside (weather permitting) at 11:30 AM
The Passion at 3 PM

Saturday, March 30

Easter Vigil begins outside (weather permitting) at 7:30 PM

Sunday, March 31 (Easter Sunday)

Mass at 10 AM
Easter Egg Hunt immediately after Mass

Monday, April 1 & Tuesday, April 2

Parish office closed for Easter holiday

When We Walk By

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 15:53:55 GMT

Read about homelessness and join in small group discussion sessions on the topic. Sign up for each session at the links below.

Holy Cross Coalition for a Beloved Community is hosting monthly book parties as part of a social justice education initiative to discover more about poverty and homelessness in Durham.

Parishioners are asked to purchase the book, When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America by Kevin Adler and Donald Burnes and gather to read and discuss the book.

Participants in the book parties can bring floor pillows, camping chairs, and blankets to get comfortable to read or they can sit at an available table to read for thirty to forty minutes. After the reading session, participants join discussion groups to talk about the book. Snacks will be served.

All parties start at 11 AM and end at 12:30 PM. They take place in the Holy Parish Hall (Cross Multipurpose Room).

Casserole Ministry | Beef Noodle Casserole

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 00:01:45 GMT

HOLY CROSS CASSEROLE MINISTRY | Beef Noodle

BEEF NOODLE CASSEROLE

SERVES 8 to 10

Casserole Recipe

1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 (10 ounce) can cream of

1 cup onion, chopped mushroom soup

1 (16 ounce) can whole 1 (8 ounce) package cream

kernel corn, drained cheese, cubed

1 (8 ounce) package 1 cup milk

noodles, cooked and drained 1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Brown ground beef and onion until tender. Drain well.

2. Add all other ingredients, stir and pour into the casserole pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Casserole Procedural Instructions

Pick up aluminum casserole pan at church (in Gathering Space)
Prepare Casserole recipe at home, using recipe above.
Place prepared casserole in aluminum pan. Do not overfill the aluminum baking pan. Leave 1/2 inch at the top to cover and allow for easy transportation and stacking.
After cooling, tightly cover the baked casserole with heavy-duty foil to prevent freezer burn or drying out during storage.
Freeze covered and baked casserole at home.
Bring the filled aluminum pan next weekend to the chest freezer in the Church Kitchen with the detached description below taped to the casserole.
Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours (overnight).
Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven, covered with aluminum foil for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through the middle.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEEF NOODLE CASSEROLE – SERVES 8 TO 10 PEOPLE

Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours (overnight).
Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven, covered with aluminum foil for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through the middle.

Durham CROP Hunger Walk

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 05:33:20 GMT

Thank you, all who participated in or donated on behalf of the

Holy Cross 2024 Durham CROP Hunger Walk team.

A final report will be posted as soon as it is available.

Donations continue to be accepted for

the 50th Durham CROP Hunger Walk

(Blog post updated April 5, 2024)

Debbie Hilliard, who has been our parish's CROP Hunger Walk team captain for many years, reports that the CROP Walk team is currently tallying up the results for this year's event, and will provide details for our 2024 parish participation and the overall total as soon as the information is available. The update will be posted here and will be shared with our parishioners via a Flocknote ENEWS message.

> It's not too late to make a donation to the 2024 Durham CROP Hunger Walk.

Click here to make your 2024 Durham CROP Hunger Walk donation securely on-line.

Casserole Ministry Recipe

Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:09:15 GMT

Holy Cross Casserole Ministry

BAKED SPAGHETTI (SERVES 8 to 10)

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups meatless spaghetti sauce
8 ounces shredded Mozzarella cheese

Process

Cook spaghetti and drain. Meanwhile, cook the ground beef and onion in a large skillet until the ground beef is browned and onions are soft.
Mix the spaghetti, ground beef mixture, and spaghetti sauce together. Pour into the casserole pan. Top with Mozzarella cheese.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Casserole and Procedural Instructions:

Do not overfill the aluminum bake pan. Leave 1/2 inch at the top to cover and allow for easy transportation and stacking.
After cooling, tightly cover the baked casserole with heavy-duty foil to prevent freezer burn or drying out during storage.
Freeze baked casserole and return next weekend to the chest freezer in the Church Kitchen with the detached description below taped to the casserole.
Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours (overnight). Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven, covered with aluminum foil for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through the middle.

Coalition for a Beloved Community Monthly Book Party

comm.member@holycrossdurham.org (Don Baker) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:26:14 GMT

Holy Cross Beloved Community launches Justice Education Initiative and Monthly Book Party

The Holy Cross Coalition for A Beloved Community is launching a justice education initiative this year to discover more about poverty and homelessness in Durham.

Beginning Saturday, February 27 at 11 am, Holy Cross will hold monthly book parties where people can gather to read and discuss the book, When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in American by Kevin Adler and Donald Burnes. The book is available at Amazon.com or other booksellers. Youth activities during faith formation classes will include poverty and homelessness simulations, discussions, and an Expo in May.

Fall activities will include guest speakers and presenters, a retreat, and listening sessions. The goal is to develop ways that the parish can work together to address the concerns of poverty and homelessness in our

Durham Community.

If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.

- Marian Wright Edelman, President Emerita of Children’s Defense Fund

2024 Lenten Liturgical Schedule

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 02:51:47 GMT

Holy Cross 2024

Lent at Home with CRS Rice Bowl: Visit crsricebowl .org to learn about the impact of your Lenten alms, stories from around the world, meatless meal recipes and more

Lenten Liturgical Schedule

February 13 | Shrove Tuesday: Pancake Supper: 7 PM

February 14 | Ash Wednesday Services: 8 AM & 7 PM

Fridays in Lent | Adoration : 6:30 PM and Stations of the Cross: 7 PM

March 5 Tuesday | Holy Cross Penance Service & 1st Reconciliation: 7 PM

March 28: Holy Thursday | Service: 7 PM

Good Friday | March 29 | Stations of the Cross : 12 PM and Service: 3 PM

Easter Vigil | March 30: 7:30 PM

Easter Sunday | March 31: 10 AM

___________________________________________________________________________

Staff Holiday Schedule | 2024

Monday, January 1 (& Jan. 2) | New Year’s Day
Monday, January 15 (& Jan. 16) | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Thursday, March 28 | Holy Thursday
Friday, March 29 | Good Friday
(Catholic Center & Holy Cross will close at Noon on Holy Thursday, March 28)
Monday, April 1 (& Apr. 2) | Easter Monday
Monday, May 27 (& May 28) | Memorial Day
(Catholic Center & Holy Cross will close at Noon on Friday, May 24)
Thursday, July 4th Independence Day
(Catholic Center & Holy Cross will be close at Noon, Wednesday, July 3)
Thursday, August 15 | Feast of the Assumption
Monday, September 2 & September 3 | Labor Day
Catholic Center & Holy Cross will close at Noon on Friday, August 30
Wednesday-Friday, November 27 – 29 | Thanksgiving
Monday, December 9 & 10 | Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Tuesday, December 24 –Tuesday, December 31 | Christmas Season

New for 2024 : Floating Holiday . Catholic Center & Holy Cross employees may elect to be off on one of the four Federal Government Holidays listed below:

Monday, February 19 Presidents Day
Wednesday, June 19 | Juneteenth National Independence Day
Monday, October 14 | Indigenous Peoples Day/Columbus Day
Monday, November 11 | Veterans Day

2024 Holiday Schedule | Holy Cross and Diocese of Raleigh Catholic Center

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 01:54:13 GMT

Following is our updated 2024 Holy Week Schedule.

Monday, March 25 | Parish office is closed

Tuesday, March 26 |

No communion service nor Mass at 8 AM
Please consider joining our parishioners and others at the Chrism Mass, 10: AM at Holy Name of Jesus, 715 Nazareth St., Raleigh, 27607
Parish office open

Wednesday, March 27 | No communion service nor 8 AM Mass

Thursday, March 28 |

No communion service nor Mass at 8 AM.
Holy Thursday Mass begins at 7:30 PM.
Altar of Repose begins immediately after Mass and ends at 9:30 PM

Friday, March 29 |

Living Stations of the Cross, outside (weather permitting) at 11:30 AM
The Passion at 3 PM

Saturday, March 30 | Easter Vigil begins outside (weather permitting) at 7:30 PM

Sun., Mar. 31 (Easter Sunday) |

Mass at 10 AM
Easter Egg Hunt immediately after Mass

Mon., Apr. 1 & Tue., Apr. 2 |

Parish office closed for Easter holiday

Christmas Weekend Mass Schedule

communications@holycrossdurham.org (Anna R) — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 04:22:35 GMT

Remembering our deceased brothers and sisters

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 22:23:58 GMT

Funeral Announcemen t: Franklin (Frank) Delanor Boone, Sr.

Frank Boone, Jr., announced the death of his father, Franklin (Frank) Delanor Boone, Sr., 81, on December 15, 2023. Funeral arrangements have been made with the Holloway Funeral Home .

Viewing and Funeral Mass : 10 AM, Friday, December 22, 2023 at Holy Cross Catholic

Holiday Season Liturgical Schedule

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 06:55:00 GMT

Christmas Weekend Mass Schedule

Saturday, Dec. 23

Regular 4 PM Mass (4th Sunday of Advent)

Sunday, Dec. 24

10 AM (4th Sunday of Advent)
4 PM Christmas Eve (Vigil Mass)
7 PM Christmas Mass (instead of Midnight Mass) | Caroling begins at 6:30 PM)
Christmas Day | Monday Dec. 25, 10 AM
New Year’s Day | Monday, Jan. 1, 10 AM

A Shout-out to the parish Men's Society for Grounds work

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:44:50 GMT

A Shout-out for the Holy Cross Men's Society

Members of the Holy Cross Men's Society have been busy with fall yardwork at the parish grounds, as shown in this photo collage . They'll be back at work next Saturday, October 28, when they also will be helping with the Holy Cross Sharing Garden's compost area and finish other yardwork. The Holy Cross Sharing Garden team appreciates their support. Parish men and boys interested in helping are welcome to join this project. Start time is 8 AM. Click here for more photos from their first yard work day.

> Interested in learning more about the Holy Cross Men's Society? Click here to access their group in Flocknote, and join the group to receive their messages . You can unsubscribe from the group at any time.

Welcome to Our Road to Sainthood

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 21:11:07 GMT

Introducing Our Road to Sainthood (OR2S)

A New Young Adult Ministry at Holy Cross

"We are all called to be saints at every phase of our lives; we are all on the road to sainthood!" — Jason Martin, coordinator of Our Road to Sainthood ( OR2S ), a new young adult ministry based at Holy Cross, for those age 21 and above.

> Click to add yourself to the OR2S contact list

Early in our journey, as children in the church, we encounter saints as framed images, as statues on pedestals and places of significance around the church or maybe even in our homes. We are told stories of their great abilities, their extraordinary relationships with God, the supernatural gifts they may possess and how they shared those gifts with others. All the while, as young Catholics, we are encouraged "to be like them," to be "saintly."

Our relationship with God is fostered through preparation for and receiving our Sacraments of Initiation, and we are reminded constantly of our potential to achieve great and holy things!

The elders of the parish are recognized and revered for their years of dedication to practicing their faith, for the many ways they have given to the community and to the Church. Many of them may be referred to as "saints" as a reflection of their love for God, the hardships they have overcome, and the many sacrifices they have endured throughout their lives. These seasons of our Christian lives and these accomplishments in our lives as Catholics represent the on-ramp at the beginning of our journey or approaching that far-off mile marker towards the end of our trip: a distant memory or distant destination, marked with indicators of noteworthy progress along the way.

Remember: Everyone who makes it to Heaven is a saint, and the path to becoming a saint starts simply, with a "yes" — saying "yes" to God at some point within the context of our lives, continuing to turn towards His will and staying in that lane.

In many ways, the impact and contributions of young adults in the church goes unseen, unknown or untapped. Consequently, the sense of direction that is provided early on doesn't account for some of the detours that our journey may entail.

Young adults are those who have graduated from being pupils of the Faith to being its practitioners.

Young adults have moved into the roles of employees and entrepreneurs, homeowners and homemakers, parents and public servants, trainers and taxpayers, organizers, administrators, facilitators and faculty members. Each one of these roles includes a "yes" to God's plan! Some are still sorting out their role and response.

Just as families, local communities and the government need their contributions, so, too, does our church. Young adults have the accumulated experience to be competent and independent, responsible and reliable. Unlike the youngest members of the congregation, young adults have full agency and the authority to make effective decisions. They possess the foresight to plan, the capacity to organize, the ambition to initiate change and the vitality to see those plans come to fruition. These are just a few of the ways that one's God-given gifts and abilities can be shared.

Again, unlike the youngest members of the parish who are being taught new lessons about the saints and who are continually encouraged to be "saintly," young adult parishioners are left to stand firm on their "Catholic upbringing," distant and fading lessons from Catholic school or Sunday School classrooms, or maybe from the condensed curriculum of RCIA courses.

While we strive to remain stable in our faith throughout adulthood, the uncertainties and challenges of life can shake our foundations. Young adults are on the longest stretch of the road to Sainthood; the part where structural integrity is tested and reliable maintenance and technical support may be necessary.

Welcome to "Our Road to Sainthood" — an initiative at Holy Cross Catholic Church of Durham to gather, encourage and embolden young adults of the parish (age 21-plus) to recognize their invaluable role — to participate in and contribute to the life, health and growth of our beloved Church, both locally and universally.

Young adults are invited to indicate their interest and register to attend sessions which will begin in the near future.

> Here's the signup link again .

Each session will include sharing faith, fellowship and food! After a brief presentation of content supporting the central theme of the session, attendees will have an opportunity to interact with their peers through group discussions and to meet representatives from the many ministries of Holy Cross. Participants will learn more about the countless ways our God-given talents, time and treasure can add to the vitality and longevity of the church — our spiritual home on Earth — while on the road to our eternal home, Heaven, the home of all saints!

— Jason Martin previously coordinated the Young Adult Scripture Study Group at Holy Cross for many years. That ministry has evolved into this new opportunity for young adults: Our Road to Sainthood (ORTS)

Vacation Bible Camp - Who Is My Neighbor?

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 17:09:21 GMT

Holy Cross Vacation Bible Camp 2023

July 24-28, 5:30-7:30 PM

at Holy Cross

Register children and/or sign up to be a 2023 Vacation Bible Camp volunteer

See list of volunteer roles (Junior High to Adult) at the end of this post.

VBC 2023 Theme: Who is My Neighbor?

Click here to download and complete a VBC registration form for each camp participant in your household. Printed copies of the form are also available at the table in the our church gathering space.
Send completed registration form(s) for each child who is participating, as an email attachment to Carolyn Ross-Holmes, ( faithformation@holycrossdurham.org ), our director of faith formation, or place it in the bin on the Faith Formation Director's office door.
See volunteer opportunities below and send an email message to faithformation@holycrossdurham.org if you would like to help.

Our theme this year – Who Is My Neighbor? – will take children on a journey of discovery, learning more about God’s great love and what it means to be a neighbor and to live out our faith. This theme responds to the Great Commandment and Pope Francis' powerful encyclical Fratelli Tutti , which literally meaning “all brothers”. It is a call from St. Francis of Assisi (ca. 1181–1226) to his Franciscan brothers and sisters to follow a way of life marked by the Gospel.

Children will learn that neighbors are more than people who live next door, more than the people in our families or communities. Through five carefully chosen Bible stories, Who Is My Neighbor? leads children on a journey to discover more about God’s great love. From looking at how to be a neighbor to diving into what it means to live out our faith, this interactive VBC series will lead children deeply into Bible stories focused on God’s care and compassion for neighbors close at hand and around the world.

The Bible passages begin with the Great Commandment and the story of the Good Samaritan. Each day starts with relationship-building, joint worship, music, prayer, and a dramatic presentation of a Bible story.

Children and volunteers will make new friends, sing fun songs, join in activities and games, do art projects, help with our Sharing Garden harvest, and dig into the Bible. And of course, they will also have a meal and snacks to sustain them.

Volunteer Opportunities for Teens and Adults

Share your talents with our campers!

Help with the check-in table
Lead activities: art, music, dramatic presentation and more
Prepare and serve the evening meal
Help with snacks
Help clean up at the end of each day.

Ready to Volunteer?

Send an email message to DRE Carolyn Ross-Holmes ( Faithformation@holycrossdurham.org ). Include what you would like to help with: arts & crafts, music, drama, meals/kitchen duty, check-in table, something else?

Thank you for sharing your time and talents, and helping to create a great experience for our children.

What is the Synod on Synodality - and how you can participate

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 21:29:53 GMT

An Update on the Synod on Synodality

Who is participating in the Synod on Synodality?

Deacon Phil shares this updated, posted recently in Our Sunday Visitor

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed more than 450 participants, including dozens of religious men and women and laypeople from around the world, to attend the first general assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality in October.

And that list is not even complete, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, told reporters at a Vatican news conference July 7. More names are going to be added to the list of nonvoting members, such as experts and representatives of non-Catholic Christian communities, he said.

For now, the list of voting members is complete, numbering 363 cardinals, bishops, religious and lay men and women — a first in the history of the synod. Pope Francis made significant changes to who can be a voting member of the synod on synodality and he gave women the right to vote in the synod.

Out of the 364 members who can vote, which includes the pope, 54 are women — either lay or religious; the number of cardinals appointed as members also is 54.

More than a quarter of all the voting members, that is 26.4%, are not bishops, according to the 21-page list of the appointments released July 7 by the Vatican.

Those the pope appointed to take part in the Oct. 4-29 synod include 169 cardinals or bishops representing national bishops’ conferences; 20 cardinals or bishops representing Eastern Catholic churches; five cardinals or bishops representing regional federations of bishops’ conferences; and 20 heads of Vatican dicasteries, which includes one layman, Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.

Attendees from the United States

The bishops appointed to attend from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are: Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas; Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; and Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.

The pope also appointed five religious men and five religious women to represent the International Union of Superiors General and the Union of Superiors General.

There are an additional 50 papally appointed members, the majority of whom are cardinals and bishops, but they include 11 religious and one layman and one laywoman. Those from the United States include:

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago
Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego
Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston
Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle, and
Jesuit Father James Martin.

Continental assemblies, ordinary council and delegate presidents

Another novelty is a large group of non-bishop voting members who represent the “continental assemblies” and are named “witnesses of the synodal process.” There are 10 members in each group divided by continent:

Africa
North America
Latin America
Asia
Eastern Churches and the
Middle East
Europe, and
Oceania, for a total of 70 individuals who are all priests, religious or lay men and women.

The group for North America includes:

Richard Coll, executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the USCCB in Washington
Cynthia Bailey Manns, the adult learning director at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minnesota
Catherine Clifford, a theology professor and expert on the Second Vatican Council
Canadian Sister Chantal Desmarais, a Sister of Charity of St. Mary
Father Iván Montelongo of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas; and
Sister Leticia Salazar, chancellor of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California.

Among the 16 who are part of the synod’s ordinary council are:

U.S. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey
Canadian Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec; and
Australian Archbishop Anthony C. Fisher of Sydney.

Nine members will serve as delegate presidents of the assembly and they include:

Bishop Flores of Brownsville
Coptic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak
one priest, Italian Father Giuseppe Bonfrate
one nun, Mexican Sister of St. Joseph María de los Dolores Palencia; and
one consecrated laywoman, Momoko Nishimura of Japan.

Pope Francis will serve as president and Cardinal Mario Grech as the synod’s secretary-general.

The list of nonvoting members is not complete, Cardinal Grech said.

The list released July 7 included two spiritual assistants: British Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe and Italian Benedictine Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini. All synod participants will be expected to attend a three-day retreat before the synod begins in early October.

All of the 57 nonvoting “experts and facilitators” listed as of July 7 are priests and religious and lay men and women. They include: U.S. Sister Maria Cimperman, who is a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart; Jesuit Father David McCallum; and Australian theologian Tracey Rowland.

The theme of the synod is: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” and synod members will be called upon to continue to carry forward a “process of spiritual discernment” that was begun in 2021 and continue with a second synod assembly in 2024.

Source: Our Sunday Visitor by Carol Glatz, July 7, 2023

Crayons to Calculators

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 18:31:22 GMT

Holy Cross is accepting donations for the DPS School Supply Drive through August 11 . Click to download this 'greatest needs' list , and watch for sales while shopping. Drop off your purchased items in the bins located in the gathering space at Holy Cross Church.

Crayons2Calculators (C2C) was founded in 2006 with the vision of equipping every Durham classroom with appropriate school supplies to enable students’ learning, growth, and academic success. In the 15 years since its founding, Crayons2Calculators has contributed significantly toward meeting the “school supplies gap.” Each year, the organization serves over 1,000 teachers and distributes more than $100,000 worth of supplies.

Holy Cross has supported this drive for several years, and is doing so again this year.

DPS - Fast Facts

C2C’s services cover the 53 schools and roughly 32,000 students in the Durham Public School district, many of whom cannot afford school supplies.
15,311 Durham children – roughly one in four – live at or below the federal poverty level.
Further, the share of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch across all DPS schools ranges from 17.29% to 99.01%.
In total, over half (51.56%) of all DPS students qualified for free and reduced lunch in the 2020-2021 school year.

Thank you for your support of the 2023 C2C campaign.

You are Tree

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 17:20:50 GMT

You are Tree

A poem read by parishioner Joyce Ellis at the

2023 Holy Cross Father's Day Celebration.

You are Sequoia. Towering and majestic, ancient and new, withstanding millennia of tempests and turbulence.

You are Oak. Upright. Undaunted, emitting bittersweet scents that repel fear and inertia, firmly planted in faith and an abiding Love.

You are Sycamore. Tree of Zacchaeus, climbing and climbing, holding aloft our children’s dreams no more deferred, gazing upward, eyes fixed on the prize.

You are Cedar. Calming and comforting.

You are Boabab, born of African earth, borne on the wings of thousands gone; thriving and surviving in the deserts of America, nourished by the eternal food.

You are Acacia. Ancestral. Resilient. Biblical. Timeless.

You are Holy Cross, Men of God. Our Trees of Life, of Love.

— Joyce Ellis, read at the 2023 Holy Cross Father's Day Celebration.

Caribbean Mass Celebrates Parish Roots

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 18:25:08 GMT

Holy Cross Celebrates Caribbean Culture and Cuisine

Sunday Mass and reception on June 4 was celebrated Caribbean style

Fr. Jeffrey M. Ott, O.P, pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Atlanta, GA., was our guest Mass celebrant, and Mickey Mills (in the photo above) added a Caribbean rhythm to our hymns, with his steel pan, a musical instrument created from a oil drum that is cut to size (or left whole), and tuned to be a tenor or base pan.

Originally from Trinidad and now living locally, Mr. Mills has been in the Carolinas for many years, and goes to local schools to educate students about the history of the pan and teaching them the art of playing it. This type of music is very popular in the Caribbean. After Mass, the Holy Cross Caribbean community served a delicious luncheon featuring Caribbean cuisine.

Parish Connection: This liturgy is celebrated annually in loving memory of the late Dr. Norman Cordice, DDS, and in celebration of the his rich Caribbean heritage. It is hosted by Holy Cross parishioners with Caribbean ancestry.

The first Holy Cross Mass was celebrated on December 5, 1939, at Dr. Cordice's dental office, for what was the beginning of the history of Holy Cross Catholic Church. He is credited as an early organizer and founding member of this church.

Dr. Cordice was born in St. Vincent, West Indies, and came to the United States when he was a teenager. He attended medical school at Meharry University, Nashville, Tenn., before he came to Durham and opened his practice. His exemplary work and Christian devotion set him apart as a church and community leader in Durham. Dr. Cordis was a faithful member of Holy Cross from 1939 until his death in 1987. — Content provided by parishioner Gemma Harris.

The Caribbean is home to 17 sovereign island nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago (on the continental shelf of South America).

> Note: The Caribbean region includes more than 7,000 islands, islets, and keys in total. Although the majority of these are tiny and uninhabited, most Caribbean countries are nonetheless a collection of multiple islands (a scenario also common in Oceania ). Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/caribbean-countries

Sr. Irene McCormick, Religious, Martyr (1938-1991)

Sun, 21 May 2023 12:00:00 GMT

May 21-27 | Sr. Irene McCormick, Religious, Martyr (1938-1991)

After thirty years teaching in Western Australia, Irene McCormack, a Sister of St. Joseph of the

Sacred Heart, felt called to mission work in Latin America. An “overwhelming experience of the

unconditional, gratuitous love of God” had joined a powerful social conviction: that “to continue

to spiritualize what it means to be poor and not to work with the poor in a third-world situation is

…a way of evading history, the real world.”

McCormack was born in Kununoppin, Western Australia, a small rural locality. In her youth she

was said to be vibrant, determined, fun-loving; and an avid Australian football fan. McCormack

was initially educated by the Sisters of St. Joseph, and then boarded at Santa Maria College,

Perth, she is said to have developed her two great loves: serving God and educating youth. At 15,

she wanted to be a religious sister. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1957, professing her

first religious vows the following year.

McCormack was a teacher in Western Australia for the next 30 years. She was a petite woman

and popular teacher and principal, but also known as feisty and demanding. She was an

accomplished golfer and tennis player.

After decades teaching in Australian schools, she became a Peruvian missionary worker in 1987.

She first worked in El Pacifico, a low income suburb in San Juan de Miraflores, Lima, and Santa

de Perola in Distrito de San Martín de Porres. On 26 June 1989, she was sent to serve in

Huasahuasi, high in the Andean highlands. McCormack and her companion, Sister Dorothy

Stevenson RSJ, were asked to supervise the distribution of emergency goods by Caritas Peru.

McCormack continued her ministry of providing poor children with library facilities to aid their

school homework, which they otherwise would not have had. She also trained extraordinary

ministers of Holy Communion as well as visiting parishioners in the outlying districts.

On 17 December 1989, the Catholic priests in Huasahuasi were warned of danger from Sendero

Luminoso (Communist Party), so they and the two sisters left the village for Lima. McCormack,

however, felt that the church could not abandon the villagers at this time, so she and Stevenson

returned on 14 January 1990. Huasahuasi went 12 months without a resident priest. During this

time McCormack and Stevenson served the people, providing spiritual leadership by regularly

conducting services as no priests were available to go to the village.

On May 21, 1991, Sendero rebels invaded the town. After seizing Sr. Irene along with four local

men, they subjected them to a public “trial” as agents of “Yankee” ideas and then shot them

each in the back of the head.

In October 2010, Australian media report McCormack’s possible recognized sainthood. Daily

Telegraph reported that Peruvian and Australian Catholic clergy expected submission to the

Vatican for McCormack’s sainthood. Congregational leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister

Ann Derwin, said that people in Huasahuasi, already regarding McCormack as a saint demanded

this.

The Irene McCormack Catholic College in Butler, Western Australia, was named after McCormack. The school was founded in 2000. (Sources: Give Us This Day, Blessed Among Us May 25, 2023)

Durham CAN Update

Fri, 19 May 2023 01:09:46 GMT

Durham Congregations and Neighborhoods

DURHAM CAN UPDATES

NOTE: Holy Cross is a dues paying member of Durham CAN. Future plans: the Holy Cross CAN Core Team will relaunch in September 2023. Following is information of current actions that Durham CAN is supporting.

Durham City Council Updates

Durham CAN leaders will be meeting with the Durham City Manager to discuss the concern that there be prioritized funding for a bilingual code enforcement inspector for Neighborhood Improvement Services to better

serve Spanish speaking families.

Additionally, CAN has joined forces with Housing for New Hope in support of their proposal to preserve the Carver Creek Apartments as affordable housing and prevent families from losing their homes. CAN has called upon both the City and County governments to prioritize $6 million in funding to preserve the affordability of 48 units of housing rented to low-income residents 55 and older. The funding would enable the Carver Creek residents to stay in their homes as well as provide for the construction of an additional supportive housing complex across both properties in the future. County Commissioners support the funding request. However, the City Council is still assessing the request and has yet to establish a position.

Durham County Commissioners Updates

Durham CAN will request that County officials allocate American Rescue Plan funds to bolster planning and infrastructure to address the homeless community's needs for a downtown day shelter. The funding would assist Urban Ministries of Durham in planning and launching a public-private partnership aimed at the construction of a downtown day shelter.

The Downtown Day Shelter would:

Preserve UMD's downtown location
Maintain UMD's services to the downtown community
Expand basic, medical, and social services to Durham's unsheltered community
Provide an integrated continuum of care and services for our most vulnerable neighbors
Provide permanent supportive housing as well as transitional housing

Burton Magnet Elementary School Receives National Magnet School of Distinction Award

Thu, 18 May 2023 22:04:05 GMT

Holy Cross Partner Burton Magnet Elementary Receives National School of Distinction Award

Holy Cross has been a community partner with the staff of Burton Magnet Elementary School for almost a year. Recently, Burton was named a National Magnet School of Distinction .

To receive the award, Burton had to submit a detailed application to be scored by a panel of educators. The

school was judged on demonstrated ability to raise student academic achievement, promote racial and socioeconomic diversity, provide integrated curricula and instruction, and create strong family and community partnerships that enhance the school’s theme.

Holy Cross is proud of the support we have provided, as a community partner, to assist the Burton staff with earning this achievement.

Unita Zelma Blackwell, Freedom Fighter

Tue, 09 May 2023 22:16:25 GMT

May 13 | Unita Zelma Blackwell, Freedom Fighter, (1933-2019), Blessed Among Us

Unita Zelma Blackwell was born March 18, 1933 on a plantation in Lula, Mississippi, where her parents picked cotton. The same life awaited her; there were few other options for a Black child in the Delta. At fourteen, she quit school at the end of eighth grade to work in the fields.

“Life was just a matter of surviving.” Yet something made her think there was more: A conviction that “something is wrong with this world we live in.” In 1957, following the birth of her son, she fell into a coma. As she hovered on the side of death, she felt God speak to her: “You shall not die. You has work to do.” She recovered and set out on “a process of looking” for her deeper purpose.

The turning point came in 1964 when organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee came to her town and talked about registering to vote. She responded to the call, crossing a line of armed white men at the courthouse. She lost her job, but she crossed to the other side: “Overnight, I went from field hand to full-time freedom fighter.” Blackwell became an organizer for SNCC, participating in countless marches and demonstrations. She was arrested over seventy times and was one time held for eleven days with 1,100 demonstrators in a livestock pen, sleeping on the concrete floor, subjected to abusive strip searches. “I don’t think most people today … have any idea of the price that ordinary Black Mississippians have paid, she said.

She was selected a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) delegate and traveled with other delegates to the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey to plead its case to be seated to represent Mississippi. Although the Convention failed to accommodate the MFDP, Blackwell continued her civil rights work. By 1967, she was a Community Development Specialist in Mississippi for the National Council of Negro Women.

In 1976 she was elected mayor of her town, Mayersville, becoming the first African American woman mayor in Mississippi. As mayor, Blackwell led the effort to pave streets and install street lights and sewers in the black section of Mayersville. She also spoke out on poor housing conditions which disproportionally affected her constituents. Blackwell was elected Chair of the National Conference of Black Mayors in 1989. She died on May 13, 2019.

QUOTE: “I was fearful; I was scared, but … I kept going anyway. . . . I say, well Lord, if I die, I am going to die trying; I’m going to die fighting for freedom.’” (Sources: Give Us This Day, May 2023, Liturgical Press and BlackPast.org) View a video here .

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 21:38:36 GMT

April 30 | Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday

Another picture that our Lord loves to use is that of the shepherd who goes out to look for the sheep that is lost (Mt 18:12). So long as we imagine that it is we who have to look for God, then we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about: he is looking for us. And so we can afford to recognize that very often we are not looking for God; far from it, we are in full flight from him, in high rebellion against him. And he knows that and has taken it into account. He has followed us into our own darkness; there where we thought finally to escape him, we run straight into his arms. So we do not have to erect a false piety for ourselves, to give us hope of salvation. Our hope is his determination to save us. And he will not give in!

This should free us from that crippling anxiety which prevents any real growth, giving us room to do whatever we can do, to accept the small but genuine responsibilities that we do have. Our part is not to shoulder the whole burden of our salvation, the initiative and the program are not in our hands: our part is to consent, to learn how to love him in return whose love came to us so freely while we were quite uninterested in him.

Also we can let ourselves off that desperate question “Am I in the right place?” “Have I done the right thing?” Of course, we must sometimes acknowledge sins and mistakes and we must try to learn from them; but we should not foster the kind of worry that leads to despair. God’s providence means that wherever we have got to, whatever we have done, that is precisely where the road to heaven begins. However many cues we have missed, however many wrong turnings we have taken, however unnecessarily we may have complicated our journey, the road still beckons, and the Lod still “waits to be gracious” to us (Isaiah 30:18).

If we let these things really speak to us, we can surely accept the Lord’s invitation, indeed his command to cast all our cares upon him (1 Pet 5:7) and let him care for them. We can give space in our hearts for Christ to dwell there, and it is faith that gives him space (Eph 3:17). We can let him dethrone us from being God in our own hearts, and establish there his own rule. We can then let him give us to ourselves, just as at the beginning he gave Adam to Adam, Then we can receive from him all that is ours, all our faculties, all our freedom, our capacity to take initiatives, to make our own decisions, so that our own true independence no longer challenges God’s sovereignty but is precisely a most wonderful expression of it, as we receive our freedom day by day, minute by minute, from the creative love of God.

From Prayer by Simon Tugwell | Simon Tugwell, O.P., a member of the English Province of the Dominicans, works in the Historical Institute of the Order in Rome. His books include The Way of the Preacher (1979), and Early Dominicans which he edited for the Classics of Western Spirituality series.

St. Mark the Evangelist

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 05:15:00 GMT

April 25 | St. Mark, Evangelist, Patron of Notaries & Barristers, 12-68 A.D.

Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is mostly identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (The verse states that when Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark’s mother.)

Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul’s refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas’ insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison, so we may assume the trouble did not last long.

The oldest and shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus’ rejection by humanity while being God’s triumphant envoy. Probably written in Greek for Gentile converts in Rome – after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70 – Mark’s Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a “scandal”: a crucified Messiah.

Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him “my son”), Peter is the only one of the Gospel sources, others being the church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the church at Antioch (largely Gentile).

Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the twelve apostles. We cannot know for certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked” (Mark 14:51-51).

According to tradition, in AD 49, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark travelled to Alexandria and founded the Church of Alexandria – today, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and the Coptic Catholic Church trace their origins to this original community. Aspects of the Coptic liturgy can be traced back to Mark himself.

Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains. He is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. Coptic tradition says that he was martyred in 68.

The winged lion is Mark’s symbol. The lion derives from Mark’s description of John the Baptist as a “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel’s vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel 1) to the evangelists.

(Source: Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media)

— Deacon Phil Rzewnicki, OFS

Holy Cross College Scholarship Applications Now Available

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 22:01:43 GMT

The Holy Cross College Scholarship Committee encourages all college-bound high school graduates to apply for Holy Cross College Scholarships.

Click the link below to open and download the
Holy Cross 2023 College Scholarship application.

Click the link below to open and download the
Holy Cross Mildred Walker Pinkard Scholarship Application

When completed, scan and send to the email address provided on the application form.

St. Anselm

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 18:39:24 GMT

April 21 | St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church (1033-1109)

St. Anselm, who was born in Burgundy, spent the better part of his life — from the age of seventeen until he was fifty-nine —in the Benedictine abbey of Bee in Normandy. He attained the office of abbot, and there he might happily and productively have lived out the remainder of his days. In 1092, however, during a visit to England, he was compelled, much against his desires, to accept the vacant see of Canterbury. As Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of the British Isles, Anselm displayed the same gifts for leadership and pastoral discernment he had displayed in his years as abbot. His tenure was marked, however, by continuous tension with the reigning monarch, William Rufus, as well as his successor Henry I, over the independence of the church from lay political control. Twice he was compelled to go into exile, while the Vatican applied pressure on his behalf. He returned to England for a final time in 1106 and achieved a reconciliation with King Henry, but his death followed three years later.

Despite his ecclesiastical accomplishments, Anselm’s place in history owes far more to his contributions as a theologian. He is renowned, in fact, as the “father of scholasticism.” In his Proslogion he defined the task of theology as “faith seeking understanding” — a definition that has ever since justified the application of reason to the mystery of Christian faith.

He was not however, a proponent of “natural theology.” Theological understanding, for Anselm, was ultimately rooted in the gift of faith, and not in unassisted reason.

Anselm is also distinguished by his personal character. A winsome portrait by his fellow monk, Eadmer, puts less emphasis on Anselm’s than on his fully redeemed humanity. Eadmer dwells with particular attention on Anslem’s tenderness as an abbot who always preferred to lead his flock by loving exhortation and wise example rather than by punishment or harsh discipline. He documents Anselm’s tears over a wayward youth, and describes his habit of nursing sick brothers by his own hand. And so, while he was a father to those who were well, he was a mother to the sick: or rather, he was father and mother to the sick and the sound alike. Hence, many of them with any private trouble hastened to unburden themselves to him, as if to the gentlest of mothers, and this was particularly the case with earnest zealous young men.

His care and concern extended to the very poorest people; he opposed the slave trade. Anselm obtained from the national council at Westminster the passage of a resolution prohibiting the sale of human beings.

COMMENT : Anselm, like every true follower of Christ, had to carry his cross, especially in the form of opposition and conflict with those in political control. Though personally a mild and gentle man and a lover of peace, he would not back off from conflict and persecution when principles were at stake.

QUOTE: “No one will have any other desire in heaven than what God wills, and the desire of one will be the desire of all, and the desire of all and of each one will also be the desire of God.”

(Source: All Saints by Robert Ellsberg) — Deacon Phil Rzewnicki, OFS

Book Club Invitation | Catholics for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 02:08:14 GMT

A Death Penalty Book Group For Holy Cross, held virtually

Nancy Jones, director of the Raleigh Diocese’s death penalty abolition group, C atholics for Abolition in North Carolina , is leading a virtual book group. This book promises participants a prayerful and discerning six weeks together. This book an excellent channel of bringing to light the evolution of Church teaching and to illuminate Pope Francis’s 2018 statement, “The death penalty is inadmissible, and Catholics should work for its abolition.”

First Virtual Meeting: Tuesday, April 25, 6:30 to 8 pm.

Meeting dates: April 25, May 2, 9, 23 and 30th (30th TBC due to Memorial Day)

For information or to register, contact Greg Roche groche90@gmail.com . REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED and limited to 12.

Virtual sessions will be held on Tuesdays, beginning April 25, 6:30-8:00 PM. See flyers in our parish gathering space at church, or contact Holy Cross parishioner Greg Roche for more information.

> Read this recent Diocese of Raleigh news article on this topic.

All Holy Cross Youth Invited To Our Earth Day Art Competition

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 21:12:53 GMT

Calling Holy Cross Youth
to our 2023 Earth Day Art Contest.

We Can Change the World if We Recycle and Reuse.

Holy Cross invites each of our young parishioners — pre-K through grade 12 — to tap their 'inner artist' and create a message for our 2023 Earth Day celebration, which will take place on the weekend of April 22-23

Details

Entry can be whatever art form the artist chooses.
All entries must contain 100% recycled, recovered, or reused materials with the exception of paints, dyes, adhesives, and canvas.
Entries should include no food matter.
Entry dimensions: No larger than 24 inches x 36 inches.
Entries must be suitable for general public viewing.

Age categories:

Pre-K to Second Grade
Third Grade to Fifth Grade
Middle School (6 to 8)
High School (9 to 12).

Criteria for Judging:

Entry must be original artwork
Entry must be submitted by the deadline: April 9 | Bring entries to Holy Cross
Entry should NOT display names of commercial products, companies or organization
Entry should reflect the Earth Day theme: “We Can Change the World If We Recycle and Reuse”

Winner in each age category will receive a gift card for art supplies.

Join the 49th Annual Durham CROP Hunger Walk

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 23:16:17 GMT

Help to Make a Difference | Join the 49th Annual Durham CROP Hunger Walk - as a walker or a donor, or both.

The needs of the hungry in and around the City of Durham and worldwide are greater than ever. The annual Durham CROP Hunger Walk helps to make a difference.

Holy Cross had great youth and adult participation last year; let's do it again this year. Invite friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to join you in this fun, family-friendly event with music and educational activities for all ages. Those in your circle of friends and colleagues can help in this cause by donating in your name, or joining you on the Holy Cross team and soliciting pledges of their own.

> Click to join the Holy Cross Catholic Church team.

> Click here to donate, showing your support for one or more of our Holy Cross walkers .

Our team is growing each day. Click here to see who has signed up and to make a donation. Check back periodically to support others as they join the team.

Scriptural Reference

Matthew 25: 35 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25

Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me. .... ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Background

The Crop Project began in 1947 when farmers were asked to donate food and seed crops to our hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia. The first CROP Hunger Walks took place in Bismarck, North Dakota (1969), and York, Pennsylvania (1970). Since then, CROP Hunger Walk events have been held in hundreds of communities, large and small, raising millions of dollars to eradicate hunger and poverty.

Get Involved

Hunger is one of the greatest injustices facing our world, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Ending hunger is possible in our lifetime. You can help make it happen. Register for our local CROP Hunger Walk , and raise funds in support of your participation. Your involvement will take us one step closer to ending hunger once and for all.

You can help this cause by donating in support of one or more of our Holy Cross CROP Hunger Walk team members, or by joining the team as a walker and soliciting donations in your name. Our team is starting to grow; check back periodically to see who else has signed up and make a donation to support their walk or sign up and start collecting donations for your participation. Click here to make a donation

Mercy Opportunity at Families Moving Forward | March 22

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 20:11:38 GMT

Help Provide Dinner for Families Moving Forward | March 22, 5 PM

Holy Cross is scheduled to provide dinner for guest families at Families Moving Forward on Wednesday, March 22. Volunteers are needed to serve guest families and clean up after the meal. Volunteers must be 18 years or older and not enrolled in a Durham Charter or Public School. Families Moving Forward provides temporary housing, case management and connection to community resources to help parents and their children in the crisis of homelessness.

Volunteers' Arrival time: 5 PM | Serving & Clean-up: 5:30 - 7:00 PM

Location: 300 N. Queen Street, Durham

If you can help, please contact Ava Thompson .

A Hidden Life

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 19:44:50 GMT

March 16 | Franziska Jagerstatter, Wife and Mother, 1913-2013

On August 9, 1943, Franz Jagerstatter (in photo above), an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic, was beheaded by the Nazis for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army. Having determined that the Nazis were a demonic force, he believed it would endanger his soul to take the military oath. Neighbors thought him mad — or at least a religious fanatic. His pastor and even his bishop tried to dissuade him.

The one person who stood by his side was his wife Franziska. Naturally, she would have preferred not to lose her husband, the father of their three daughters. But she honored his conscience and did nothing to dissuade him from his path.

The letters Franz and his wife exchanged after his arrest reflect their deep love for one another. “Dearly beloved husband,” Franziska’s letters begin. Trying her best to spare Franz the details of her difficulties, she hoped for the best, while constantly expressing her submission to God’s will.

On August 8, 1943, Franz wrote to Franziska: “Dear wife and mother, I thank you once more from my heart for everything that you have done for me in my lifetime, for all the sacrifices that you have borne for me. I beg you to forgive me if I have hurt or offended you, just as I have forgiven everything …. My heartfelt greetings for my dear children. I will surely beg the dear God, if I am permitted to enter heaven soon, that he will set aside a little place in heaven for all of you.”

Franz was beheaded and cremated the following day. In 1946, his ashes were reburied in St. Radegund, Austria near a memorial inscribed with his name and the names of almost 60 village men who died during their military service. He was beatified in Linz, Austria, on October 26, 2007. His “spiritual testament” is now in Rome’s St. Bartholomew Church as part of a shrine to 20th-century martyrs for their faith. Blessed Franz’s liturgical feast is celebrated on August 9.

After learning of his death, his wife wrote, “I have lost a good husband and exemplary father for my children….However, the loving God had ordained things to be otherwise, and our beautiful union was lost. I already look forward to our reunion in heaven where no war can any longer separate us.”

While the war lasted, Franziska suffered scorn from her neighbors as the widow of a traitor. Local embarrassment about Franz’s witness endured for many years. But Franziska lived to see his memory gradually honored, and finally, in 2007, to attend the ceremony of his beatification. She died on March 16, 2013, shortly after her hundredth birthday.

QUOTE: “It was a long Good Friday. But I feel I am closer to Easter now.”

Sources : Give Us This Day and Franciscan Media

Note: A book entitled Franz Jagerstatter: Letters and Writings from Prison by Erna Putz (Editor)

and a 2019 film A Hidden Life directed by Terrance Malik documents their stories.

Read more here ( New Oxford Review — Surviving Family Members of Martyrs: What does holiness look like for a father, mother, carpenter, architect, entertainer, writer, mechanic, software engineer, teacher, doctor, nurse,

pipe-fitter, welder, small business owner?

A Hidden Life — the Movie

Movie review / The movie — A Hidden Life — is available to stream at Spectrum TV, Redbox, Prime Video, Apple TV or on your Roku device.)

Photo: Catholicmatch.com (Love stronger than death)

Introducing our Safety and Security Ministry

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 18:55:37 GMT

Holy Cross Preparing to Launch a Safety and Security Ministry

For the past few months, a team of Holy Cross parishioners has been developing a new church ministry — the Holy Cross Safety and Security Ministry

"The Holy Cross Safety and Security Ministry's mission is to provide for the overall safety, health and welfare of our parish family and community, during their participation in our church-sponsored activities and events, including our parish's faith formation and outreach initiatives," reports Quincy Purvis, coordinator of this new ministry. Quincy previously prepared the parish's Emergency Preparedness Plan .

Also serving on the team are Marian Johnson-Thompson, Anthony Wilson, and Nadine Goodwin-Blake. In developing the ministry, the volunteers "discussed the CPI Camera and alarm system, adding the committee's leadership team as users on the CPI network so they can access the panic alert feature and have access to the surveillance camera views.

A new page is being added to our parish website with more information about this new ministry and how parishioners can participate. Watch for additional information coming soon.

Lent at Holy Cross - 2023

amrzewnicki@gmail.com (Anna Rzewnicki) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 04:55:14 GMT

Experience Lent & Easter Week at Holy Cross

February 22 - April 6, 2023

Click to read about the season of Lent

Scroll down to our liturgical schedule and other Lenten opportunities at Holy Cross.

Stations of the Cross

7 PM on Fridays during Lent, beginning February 24 , led by Deacon Phil. We will alternate the prayers, using the Standard Stations of the Cross and the Black Catholic/Social Justice Stations of the Cross.
> Couples for Christ will lead the Stations of the Cross on March 31.
Holy Cross Lenten Penitential Service : Tuesday March 14, beginning at 7 PM.
Holy Cross Mass Schedule: Week of April 3: Daily Masses only on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4 and April 5.
Diocesan Chrism Mass, Tuesday, April 4, at 10 AM , Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral. Chris Cameron will receive the blessed oils for Holy Cross. The Presentation of the Holy Oils at Holy Cross will be on Holy Thursday.

- Lenten Programs -

CRS Rice Bowl

Start the Lenten Season in solidarity with our global family. Each Lent, Catholic families across the country unite to put their faith into action through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through CRS Rice Bowl, families learn about how our sisters and brothers across the globe overcome hardships like hunger and malnutrition, and how through Lenten alms, we have the power to make the world a better place for all.

Greener Lent

Holy Cross is once again participating in the Greener Lent program, which helps participants to be more mindful of their meat consumption and its impact on climate change and on society’s most vulnerable members. The program builds on of Pope Francis' letter, Laudato Si' - Care for our Common Home. Following are three videos that provide insight, with viewing options for all ages.

The Pope, the environmental crisis, and frontline leaders: Laudato Si video
An animated video for teens and adults . A copy of the Pope's letter appears at the end of this video
An animated clip for younger children

Four levels of fasting suggested by the Greener Lent program

Good Samaritan: Abstain from beef, but eat other meats
John the Baptist: Abstain from beef, reduce other meats
Mary, Mother of God: Abstain from beef, eliminate other meats
Dorcas (Tabitha): Abstain from cheese – a new option if you are a vegetarian

> For more information and to sign up for the program, visit www.greenerlent.org .

Knights of Columbus Lenten Fish Fry Schedule

Starting time: 4:30 PM for each location

March 3 & March 17 | Holy Infant Catholic Church
> 5000 Southpark Dr, Durham, NC 27713
March 10 & March 24 | Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
> 810 W Chapel Hill St, Durham, NC 27701
March 31 | Holy Cross
> 2438 S. Alston Avenue, Durham, NC

Holy Week Schedule at Holy Cross

April 6, 7 PM | Holy Thursday Mass
> Twelve children will be selected for the Washing of the Feet.
> Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be immediately after Mass until 10 PM.
April 7 | Good Friday: Mass at 3 PM and Stations of the Cross at 12 PM
April 8 | Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil: Mass at 8:30 PM
April 9 | Easter Sunday – Mass at 10 AM

Liturgical Ministry Training

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:42:33 GMT

Liturgical Ministry Training, Saturday, Feb. 25, 11 AM

Liturgical Ministry Training | For those serving at Mass

Training for all of Holy Cross's Liturgical Ministers will be on Saturday, February 25, at 11 AM, at Holy Cross.

Lector Training with Chris Cameron
Sacristan Training with Judy Gardiner
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist /Holy Communion (EMHC) Training with Deacon Phil
(Note: Beginning with the first Sunday of Lent, February 26, two or three EMHCs will be needed at Mass: two if the the Deacon is present; three if he is not. At the Saturday Vigil Mass, only one EMHC is needed.
Altar Server Training will be conducted by Fr Pius, Jackie Ellis, and Tim Daaleman
Usher Training ( including youth ) will be conducted by Anthony Wilson

> Pizza Lunch will be served for those attending Liturgy Training.

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes - February 11

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 08:00:03 GMT

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes — February 11

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the

apostolic constitution Ineffabilus Deus . A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858,

a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. Thus began a series of 18 visions ending on

July 16, 1858. During an apparition on March 24, the lady identified herself with the words: “I

am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely

more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Creed. She

also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary, conceived without sin.”

During the interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white

in the shape of a girl.” She used the word aquero, a dialectic term meaning “this thing.” It was “a

pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She

wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette

was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address for the word

“you” (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated

her with dignity.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of

people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world.

Pilgrims renew their faith and find healing in the waters of the grotto’s spring. In 1862 Church

authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the reverential honor of

Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was first celebrated

worldwide in 1907.

COMMENT : Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more, of faith.

Church authorities have recognized over sixty miraculous cures, although there have probably

been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’s healing

miracles — now performed at the intercession of his mother.

Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with

renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. There still may be

people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the

words that introduce the film, The Song of Bernadette:

“ For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

QUOTE: “Lo! Mary is exempt from stain of sin, Proclaims the Pontiff high; And earth applauding celebrates with joy Her triumph, far and high. Unto a lowly timid maid she shows Her form in beauty fair, and the Immaculate Conception truth Her sacred lips declare”.

(Unattributed hymn from the Roman Breviary).

(Source: Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media)The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Lent Begins

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 21:14:29 GMT

Lent: A Time of Penance, Fasting and Almsgiving

Lent is an annual period of forty days — beginning on Ash Wednesday — for Roman Catholics, set aside for penance, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for the coming celebration of Easter. It is modeled in part on the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert prior to beginning his public ministry. The penance, fasting, and almsgiving are meant to lead the believer to ongoing conversion and a deeper faith in the Lord who redeemed us. (Lent begins this year on February 22. (Holy Cross will celebrate Shrove Tuesday - Mardi Gras - on February 21. Watch for details coming soon.)

The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for “spring.” Lent lasts six Sundays and forty weekdays, concluding on Holy Thursday with the celebration of the Lord’s Last Supper.

Historically, Lent was the proximate period of preparation for catechumens getting ready for Baptism. The Rite of Christian Inhiation for Adults recaptures this historical thrust by preparing the elect for initiation. During Lent, all baptized Christians are called on to contemplate and renew through penance and prayer their own baptismal commitment. This commitment implies walking the way of the Cross to the glory of the Lord’s Resurrection.

The rich, liturgical color of royal purple cloaks the season in its penitential vesture. Simplicity and austerity quietly whisper images of the barren desert. Flowers are absent; music is sparse and the church quietly, but firmly, heralds its reflective “time out.” Things have noticeably changed. As people and as church, we enter the poustinia* of serious penitential and baptismal reflection. We take stock and assess our growth in the Christian life. We ask ourselves. “Where is there need for healing and reconciliation in our lives?”

Lent is a time of conversion, of metanoia, a complete turning away from sin into the loving arms of our loving God. “What we are about when we observe this liturgical time is the correction of our habits, in order to relearn normative Christian behavior,” (National Catechetical Directory) first as a church, then as individuals. While it is a somber time, it is marked by a spirit of joy. As Christians we know the rest of the story, Christ was victorious over the power of sin and death. While it is no doubt a time of serious reflection and interior conversion, we are joyful because we know that Easter joy awaits us. Christ the Liberator continues to heal, strengthen, and free us from the bondage imposed by ourselves and by the world.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are communal disciplines of Lent. The Lenten disciplines are not for private edification; rather, they are to build up the entire church. One fasts in order to share. In antiquity, those who did not have enough to share were instructed to fast and use the money they saved on food to give to the poor. Prayer, fasting, and sharing are the agenda for the entire community. Many parishes gather during Lent for light soup suppers in which money normally spent on a hearty meal is given instead to the poor.

*(Russian word for desert) In Christian spirituality, it a small sparsely furnished cabin or room where a person goes to fast and pray, but which is less austere than a hermitage.

Deacon's Corner | Feast of the Presentation of our Lord | February 2

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 20:15:05 GMT

Deacon Corner—Feast: Presentation of the Lord | February 2

Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews who obeyed the Law of Moses. Jewish Law prescribed that two ritual acts needed to take place for a firstborn son.

First, a mother of a newborn son was ritually unclean for seven days, and then she was to “spend thirty-three more days in a state of blood purity” (Leviticus 12). m During these forty days she was not to “touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled.” For this reason, today’s feast has at times been called the “Purification of Mary.”

Second, the father of the firstborn son was to “redeem” the child by making an offering to the priest of five

shekels so that the priest would then present the child to the Lord (Numbers 18:16). Recall that the firstborn

male of all the Egyptians, animals and children, were killed during the tenth plague, but the firstborn males of

the Israelites were spared. Thus, this offering made for the firstborn son in the Temple was a way of ritually

redeeming them in commemoration of that plague. Since Jesus was presented in the Temple for this redemption, today’s feast is now referred to as the “Presentation in the Temple.”

“Candlemas” is also a traditional name given to today’s feast because, as early as the fifth century, the custom

of celebrating this feast with lighted candles developed. The lit candle symbolized Simeon’s prophecy that

Jesus would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.”

Lastly, this Feast has been referred to as the “Feast of the Holy Encounter,” because God, in the Person of Jesus, encountered Simeon and Anna in the Temple.

Today’s feast is celebrated in our Church forty days after Christmas, marking the day that Mary and Joseph

would have brought Jesus into the Temple. Though Mary was pure and free from sin from the moment of her

conception, and though the Son of God did not need to be redeemed, Mary and Joseph fulfilled these ritual

obligations.

At the heart of this celebration is the encounter of Simeon and Anna with the Christ Child in the Temple. It is

in that holy encounter that Jesus’ divinity is manifested by a human prophet for the first time.

At His birth, the angels proclaimed His divinity to the shepherds, but in the Temple, Simeon was the first to understand and proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the World. He also prophesied that this salvation would be accomplished by a sword of sorrow that would pierce the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Anna, a prophetess, also came forward and “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:38). Thus, these ritual acts were also a moment in which Jesus’ divine mission was made manifest to the world. - (Source: My Catholic Life)

Deacon's Corner | January 16, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 04:48:56 GMT

Deacon's Corner, January 16, 2023

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Click here for details about the Diocese of Raleigh's celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A reflection by Deacon Phil

To honor Dr. King, I wanted to find published information on an incident that occurred while I was a recent high school graduate in Chicago. I recalled that I was disturbed by the news of rocks being thrown at Dr. King. It was at a peaceful demonstration at a park near where I lived on the south side of town. I had at the time much respect for the man who was advocating for equal rights for African-Americans by non-violent methods. I felt shame as a citizen of Chicago that this was occurring against a man who had received the Nobel Peace Prize (1964) for his civil rights work.

The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and Al Raby, was created to challenge systemic racial segregation and discrimination in Chicago and its suburbs. The movement, which included rallies, protest marches, boycotts, and other forms of non-violent direct action, addressed a variety of issues facing black Chicago residents, including segregated housing, educational deficiencies, income, employment, and health disparities based on racism and black community development.

The Chicago campaign began in July 1965, when local civil rights groups invited Dr. King to lead demonstrations against segregation in education and housing as well as employment discrimination. Chicago activist Albert Raby, leader of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), asked the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to join them in a nonviolent campaign to achieve fair or open housing in the city.

On January 7, 1966, King and the SCLC announced plans for a Chicago Freedom Movement, a campaign that marked the expansion of their civil rights activities from the South to northern cites. King and his family moved to a Chicago slum at the end of January to bring attention to housing conditions of tens of thousands of black Chicago residents, while CCCO organized mass nonviolent protests in the city.

On August 5, 1966, during a march at Marquette Park, an all-white Chicago neighborhood, to promote open housing, black and white demonstrators were met with intense racially-fueled hostility. Bottles and bricks were thrown at them. Dr. King, leader of the march, was struck by a rock. King admitted in a post-march interview that he had seen many anti-civil rights demonstrations in the South but none that was as hostile and violent as the one he experienced in Marquette Park.

Dr. King faced the challenge of mobilizing Chicago’s diverse African American community of nearly one million people. He cautioned against further violence and worked to counter the mounting resistance of working class whites who were fearful of the impact of open housing on their neighborhoods. Dr. King stayed in Chicago until January 1967, while Jesse Jackson settled permanently in the city to lead the Chicago branch of Operation Breadbasket. In 1968 the U.S. Congress passed the 1968 Fair Housing Act, as the most direct result of the Chicago Freedom Movement.

Source: Momodu, S. (2016, August 31) Chicago Freedom Movement BlackPast.org

Holy Cross Youth News | Piedmont Deanery Middle School Retreat

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 23:32:07 GMT

Piedmont Deanery Middle School Retreat Participant Encourages Holy Cross Students to participate this year.

by Azalea Lewis, Holy Cross Faith Formation, Fifth Grade

On October 9th, I went on the Piedmont Deanery Middle School Retreat with Ms. Ava. First, we did human rock, paper, scissors, then a relay dressing activity. When we were done, we wrote a note on a little mirror and then wrote a letter to someone in our family. After we ate lunch, we decorated water bottles. Then we did a rely game to wash a dish. I went to Reconciliation with Father Pius. After that, everyone went to Mass and then

went home.

I wrote this to encourage more kids from Holy Cross to go on the retreat this year.

Note: The retreat was held at Camp Chestnut Ridge in Efland, N.C. shown in the photo above.

Holy Cross Youth News | Remembering our Ancestors

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:32:25 GMT

Holy Cross Youth News Blog
Remembering our Ancestors: Holy Cross Youth Visit Stagville Plantation

Photo: Holy Cross youth see fingerprint of a child who worked on a brick wall at the Stagville Plantation when it was active. Article by Brianna R. Redwood, 6th grade, Holy Cross Middle School Faith Formation student.

In celebration of All Souls’ Day in 2022, the Holy Cross Middle School class toured the Historic Stagville

Plantation located in Durham. We were able to walk the same grounds of our ancestors and learn about the enslaved women, men and children who worked long days in the fields and kitchen under the hot sun and bad conditions.

What is Historic Stagville Plantation, you ask?

Well, it was one of the biggest plantations in North Carolina. We learned that before it became a plantation, it was a stop on a major trading road used by the Native Americans. As we walked through the plantation grounds covered by shady trees, old brick foundations, wooden barns, gravel paths and weeds, we learned that at one time, years ago, the land was covered with houses, barns, and enslaved people cooking and working the fields. The tour guide showed us a tiny little shell that she said was found in what was an old slave house and asked us if we knew what it was. I knew that it was a cowrie shell. She said that they knew it came from the enslaved people, because cowrie shells are native to Africa, not North Carolina. The enslaved people brought these shells with them as a reminder of where they came from. It made me remember what my mom tells me, “Never forget where you came from”.

We learned that there were also talented engineers, brick masons and carpenters who were enslaved at Stagville. During the tour we visited a small two-level brick house where the enslaved people lived. Did you know that the bricks used to build their houses were made by the slaves who lived there? When the bricks were shaped and formed, they were left out in the hot sun to cook and dry so that they could be used for homes. The enslaved children had to carefully flip the bricks so that the bricks would cook evenly. You could actually see the thumb and hand prints of the children left behind.

Another place we got to see was the Great Barn. The Great Barn was built by enslaved builders and carpenters. The tools that the carpenters used to build this barn can be seen in the marks that they left in the wood. It was cool to think that the souls of all the enslaved people had left their mark, still visible so many years later.

After the tour we returned to where the enslaved people lived. We each read a prayer celebrating, remembering, and honoring the souls of the enslaved people that once lived on the Stagville plantation. All in all, it was a fun experience. I learned a lot about the history of Stagville. We ended our field trip with pizza and breadsticks.

THE EASTER TRIDUUM | April 6-8

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:21:39 GMT

Explaining THE EASTER TRIDUUM, Thursday, April 6 - Saturday, April 8

The Easter Triduum is the “mother of all feasts.” All other feasts of the year hinge on this great feast. While each Sunday stands on its own as an observance of the paschal mystery, the entire liturgical year is in forward motion toward the fundamental commemoration of our Christian faith: the redemptive action of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.

It is understood that the early Christians remembered Jesus’ saving event in a special way during the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Jesus, the new paschal lamb, passed from death to life. While the early Christians continued to observe Jewish Passover, it took on a new significance in light of Jesus’ saving action. There was probably a gradual break from the traditional Jewish Passover.

The focus of the feast in Rome was primarily on Christ’s resurrection and exaltation. The Council of Nicea (325) definitely set the date on the first Sunday after the first full moon in the spring. This way, Easter would not fall during the annual Jewish Passover feast.

Jesus’ pasch includes his suffering, passion, death, and — most of all — his passage from death to new life through the resurrection. The feast of Easter is the ritual proclamation and embodiment of the saving act of Jesus’ resurrection and glorification.

HOLY THURSDAY | The Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins the Triduum. It commemorates the Last Supper and is a living memorial of the institution of the eucharist and of the Lord’s Passover in which Jesus left us sacramental signs of his new covenant. In this new covenant, Jesus promised to be with us through the signs he inaugurated (especially the eucharist). Through the mandatum — the washing of feet — Jesus reminds us of the self-sacrificing nature of his love. Jesus, servant of the human race, loves us to his death. Jesus, servant of all, washes the feet of those he serves and instructs his disciples to go and do the same. We share in the servanthood of Christ. In John’s Gospel, there is no eucharist of bread and wine. John’s eucharist is the washing of feet. The implication? Go, do this in memory of me! The “Ceremonial of Bishops” asserts that the liturgy of Holy Thursday recalls the unconditional love of God and the height and the depth of that love — even unto death.

GOOD FRIDAY | The liturgy of Good Friday begins in silent prayer. There are three parts:

The liturgy of the word, with John’s account of the passion and the general intercessions
The veneration of the cross; and
The Communion, using bread consecrated at the Holy Thursday liturgy. Jesus’ death will return him to his former state, to the state that was his before he was sent to this life’s sojourn by his Father.

The intercessions of Good Friday are a sign of the priestly function of God’s people. All are gathered together in the sacred assembly to offer prayers on behalf of the entire world. The veneration of the cross reminds us of the good news inherent in the cross: the instrument of torture became a sign of salvation and love for all humanity. Part two of this great three-day feast culminates with the reception of Holy Communion. The faithful then leave in silence.

THE EASTER VIGIL | The entire celebration of this Vigil takes place at night, beginning after nightfall on Holy Saturday and ending with dawn on Easter Sunday. There are four parts to the liturgy of this most holy night:

The service of fire/light
The liturgy of the word
The service of baptism, and
The liturgy of the eucharist.

The Easter Vigil calls forth the symbols that illuminate our existence and that occur in all liturgies.

We are people of the cross.
We are chrismated into the ecclesial community.
We are people of the light and the water of baptism incorporates us into the paschal mystery.
We are people of the table: We are eucharistic people.

Source: Word and worship workbook by Mary Birmingham

Baptism of Jesus | January 9

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 04:33:30 GMT

January 9, 2022 | The Baptism of the Lord

Why is Jesus baptized? He is sinless and has nothing of which to repent. He does not need to be baptized. Nevertheless, at the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus dramatically demonstrates his solidarity with sinful Israel by going into the same waters that the repentant crowds have been entering. In this way, Jesus shows that he has come to unite himself with sinners, and he foreshadows how he will bear the sins of humanity at the climax of his mission on the cross.

According to the Catechism, Jesus “allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death”. Catechism 536).

He is coming to “fulfill all righteousness." That is, he is submitting himself entirely to the Father’s will: Out of love, he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. The Father’s voice responds to His Son’s acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in His Son. The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to “rest on him.” Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism “the heavens were opened” – the heavens that Adam’s sin had closed – and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.

In this sense, Jesus and John act in accord with the Father’s plan and “fulfill all righteousness.” Looking at Christ’s baptism in light of the cross and resurrection, Christians can see that “Jesus loaded all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem reflects the Patristic tradition of seeing the story of Noah and the flood as prefiguring Jesus and his baptism. As the dove of Noah’s ark signified the renewed peace between God and man, so the dove descending on Christ points to the reconciliation he will bring about between God and all humanity. “Just as salvation came in the time of Noah by the wood and the water, there was the beginning of a new creation, and as the dove came back to Noah in the evening with an olive branch, so, they say, the Holy Spirit came down on the true Noah, the Author of the new creation, when the spiritual dove came down upon Him at His baptism to show that He is the One Who, by the wood of the cross, confers salvation on all believers, and Who, toward the evening, by his death, gave the world the grace of salvation.” *

*St. Cyril of Jerusalem, The Bible and the Liturgy

(Source: The Gospel of Matthew, Catholic commentary on Sacred Scripture, Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri)

Kwanzaa

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 02:54:41 GMT

Kwanzaa (December 26 - January 1) is a time for families and communities to come together to remember the past and to celebrate African American culture.

The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa

Content is from the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

Click the NMAAHC link for daily reflections, recipes and more.

Kwanzaa: a time of learning, family and celebration.

DAY 1: UMOJA (oo-MO-jah)

UNITY : Stresses the importance of togetherness for the family and the community which is reflected in the African saying: "I am We," or "I am because We are.)

Day 2: Kujichagulia (koo-gee-cha-goo-LEE-yah)

SELF-DETERMINATION: Requires that we define our common interests and make decisions that are in the best interest of our family and community.

Day 3: UJIMA (oo-JEE-mah)

COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY: To build and maintain our community together and make our sister's and brother's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Day 4: UJAMAA (oo-JAH-ma)

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS: To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses AND TO PROFIT from them together.

Day 5: NIA

PURPOSE: To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Day 6: KUUMBA

CREATIVITY: Kwanzaa is a time of learning, family and celebration.

To do always as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Day 7: IMANI

FAITH: To believe with all our hearts in our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

___________________________

During the week of Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture.

Each day they light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities, such as reciting the sayings or writings of great black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing a meal of African diaspora-inspired foods.

The table is decorated with the essential symbols of Kwanzaa, such as the Kinara (Candle Holder), Mkeka (Mat), Muhindi (corn to represent the children), Mazao (fruit to represent the harvest), and Zawadi (gifts). One might also see the colors of the Pan-African flag: red (the struggle), black (the people), and green (the future), represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people of the African diaspora by Marcus Garvey.

Click to learn more about Kwanzaa at the national Museum of African American History & Culture - Smithsonian website .

St. Stephen

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 05:15:00 GMT

Deacon's Corner | December 26, St. Stephen, Deacon and First Christian Martyr, (c. 34)

All we know of Stephen is found in Acts of the Apostles, 6-7. It is enough to tell us what kind of

man he was. At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists (Greek-speaking

Christians) complained against the Hebrews (Hebrew-speaking Christians) because their widows

were being neglected in the daily distribution.

So the twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit and six others. Stephen did great wonders and signs among the people. Apparently he also liked to engage his fellow Jews in public disputation over the life and teachings of Christ, and for this he was

denounced before the Jewish Sanhedrin.

As the story is recounted in Acts, Stephen was interrogated before the high priest. Responding to the charge of blasphemy, he delivered a long sermon chronicling the history of God’s covenant with his servants Abraham and Moses before rising to a shocking rhetorical climax. In a bold charge, he turned the accusations against the Jewish leaders themselves:

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As

your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they

killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now

betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.

His audience responded with predictable outrage.

Stephen was driven from the city and stoned to death. But he did not die before receiving a vision of the open heavens with “Jesus standing at the right hand of God,” and before praying for the forgiveness of his murderers.

The death of Stephen marked a new foundation for the early church. Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of God had given way to the proclamation of Jesus himself. But the continuity was underlined to the fact that the disciple met the same fate as his Master. Dying, like Jesus, with words of forgiveness on his lips, the martyr was vouchsafed a vision of Christ in his glory, a pledge of the reward that awaits all who remain faithful to the end. Stephen is the patron saint of deacons. Like him, may we learn to forgive our persecutors and pray, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

- Source: All Saints by Robert Ellsberg

Holy Cross Christmas Mass Schedule | 2022

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 20:18:18 GMT

Holy Cross Christmas Mass Schedule

Celebrate Christmas
and start the New Year with Mass

December 24, 2022 - 5 PM | Christmas Eve Vigil Mass

December 24, 2022 - 9 PM | Christmas Eve Vigil Mass

December 25, 2022 - 10 AM | Christmas Day Mass

December 31, 2022 - 5 PM | Vigil Mass: Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God

January 1, 2023 - 10 AM | Mary, Mother of God Mass

St. John of the Cross

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 02:37:30 GMT

December 14 | John of the Cross: Priest and Doctor of the Church, 1541-1591

From a spiritual Canticle by John of the Cross: The knowledge of the mystery hidden in Christ Jesus

Though holy doctors have uncovered many mysteries and wonders, and devout souls have understood them in this earthly condition of ours, yet the greater part still remains to be unfolded by them, and even to be understood by them.

We must, then, dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures. However deep we dig, we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.

For this reason the apostle Paul said of Christ: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The soul cannot enter into these treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labors, and unless it first receives from God very many blessings in the intellect and in the senses, and has undergone long spiritual training.

All these are lesser things, disposing the soul for the lofty sanctuary of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ: this is the highest wisdom attainable in this life. Would that men might come at last to see that is it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for the divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.

Saint Paul, therefore, urges the Ephesians not to grow weary in the midst of tribulations, but to be rooted and grounded in love, so that they may know with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth – to know what is beyond the knowledge – the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God.

The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate. While many seek the joys that can be gained though it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it.

Quote: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw love out.”

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, December 14

Coalition for a Beloved Community Mercy Opportunity

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 05:59:46 GMT

Mercy Opportunity

Coordinator for Racial Justice and Reconciliation

The role of the Coordinator for Racial Justice and Reconciliation is to coordinate, create, and inform the faithful of opportunities to better understand how racial injustices, in society and in the Church, impact the dignity of all people, and to help the faithful explore how we can find meaningful ways to reconcile ourselves with the past, to bring to light those voices that have been silenced, and to promote equity, peace, and justice to all of God’s creation. The Coordinator may accomplish this mission using many different methods, including but inot limited to:

Creating resource lists of books and videos
Providing opportunities for small group discussions
Inviting speakers to come to the parish, and
Developing partnerships with other groups inside and outside of the parish, and inside and outside of the Catholic Church.

Introducing Coalition for a Beloved Comunity

amrzewnicki@gmail.com (Anna Rzewnicki) — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 23:02:38 GMT

Introducing

Coalition for a Beloved Community

The Social Action and Evangelization Ministry at Holy Cross has evolved over the years, and now has a new name and framework – the Coalition for a Beloved Community – which better reflects what this ministry does and how its members work together toward shared goals and objectives, explains Ava Thompson, coordinator of the ministry. Quincy Purvis assisted with planning.

The Social Action and Evangelization Ministry began at Holy Cross in 1971 with distribution of food at Thanksgiving and Christmas to families with food insecurities and insufficient resources, Ava explains. “The ministry has gone through several evolutions and expanded to include advocacy and global solidarity, as well as direct services and outreach locally," she said.

Social Action and Outreach is changing to be more inclusive, with a community approach that welcomes all parishioners to answer their Baptismal Call to be disciples of Jesus and share his love with others.

“The Coalition for a Beloved Community enables our whole faith community to help bring about better care, reduce poverty and hunger, and fight the root causes of hate and racism for all members of society.

Helping to make this transition are our inaugural Coalition members:

Truman Crump
Sofia Frank
Denra Laville
Quincy Purvis

“We welcome our inaugural Coalition members,” Ava said. Others who are interested in joining are asked to sign up at the the Beloved Community ministry link in our Flockntoe network.

Click here to add your name and preferred contact information to the Beloved Community group in our parish Flocknote network.

You will receive Coalition updates and service opportunities sent via Flocknote to your email inbox or texted to your phone. To contact Ava directly, send an email message to socialaction@holycrossdurham.org .

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults | RCIA

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 14:31:45 GMT

A pathway to the Catholic Faith

Perhaps you are married to a Catholic and are bringing your children up in this faith tradition. Or you attended a wedding or funeral of a friend or loved one and would like to explore this faith tradition more deeply. Maybe it is an interest in Catholic social teaching or an experience of the sacraments. Or perhaps you have a friend or family member who is Catholic and their present life is an inspiration.

The Catholic Church has a special process to help you learn more. It’s called RCIA – the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It’s a program that honors the faith journey of an individual. Entering the RCIA is not a commitment to joining the Roman Catholic Church. The RCIA is, rather, the process through which persons may join or complete their initiation into the Catholic faith.

Is RCIA for me?

The program is for three groups of people:

People interested in finding out more about being a Catholic Christian.
Those who have decided they wish to be baptized in the Catholic Church.
Those who were baptized in another faith, and would like to become Catholic.

How does RCIA work? It consists of four periods of formation which are marked by rituals that celebrate what has been completed and call a person into the next phase.

The Inquiry or Precatechumenate
The Catechumenate
The Lenten period of Purification and Enlightenment
Mystagogy or a time of deeper understanding of the mysteries.

RCIA at Holy Cross seeks to fulfill what the Church has instructed in the Second Vatican Council’s document Ad Gentes:

14. Those who have received from God the gift of faith in Christ, through the Church, should be admitted with liturgical rites to the catechumenate which is not a mere exposition of dogmatic truths and norms of morality, but a period of formation in the whole Christian life, an apprenticeship of sufficient duration, during which disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher.

The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites.

(Source: James Lachance and David Lynch, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Burlington, NC)

To find out more, please contact Deacon Phil Rzewnicki, OFS, deacon@holycrossdurham.org or call (919) 961-0206.

A letter from the Pastor and our new Director of Religious Education

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 20:51:55 GMT

Parents' Meeting after Mass this Sunday (Sept. 11)

Faith Formation Resumes Sunday, September 25

“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” – Luke 18:16

A Letter from our pastor and director of religious education ( August 2022 )

Dear Parents,

We, as Catholics, have the joy of experiencing the fullness of our faith through receiving the sacraments, participating in the Mass, observing Holy Days, praying, and through instruction in faith formation classes for children.

All these opportunities are for the purpose of developing a relationship with God our Father, and living out the teachings in our very humble everyday lives, in how we respond to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Holy Cross Faith Formation classes begin on Sunday, September 25, 2022, 11:15 AM - 12:30 PM

______________________________________

A few initial Faith Formation details

All children will gather in the front pews of the church for music with Ann Daaleman, a parishioner and music instructor, from 11:15-11:30 AM, before reporting to their respective areas for formation classes.
K- 5 classes will be held in the social hall (non-sacramental students).
1st year of First Communion class will meet in the (TBD).
2nd year of First Communion class will meet in (TBD).
Middle School grades will meet in the church.
Confirmation Class will meet in the library.
High School students will meet in (TBD).

Children who have received the sacrament of Reconciliation and Holy Communion will be given instruction that prepares them for the joyful and honorable experience of being an altar server.

Our older students are invited to serve as lectors and ushers. This is a wonderful way for our youth to participate in the Mass and gain a deeper understanding about all the various parts of the Mass and service to others. I appeal to you to join us in encouraging your child to serve in some way and support their participation. This is a great opportunity to begin experiencing “the living of their faith through service” to the church family. They have another opportunity for living out their faith in the broader community by volunteering at one of the Catholic charities in the Raleigh/Durham area.

In accordance with the Diocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection, our parish has a Safe Environment Team. The team coordinates the training for all the Catechists/Faith Formation and other volunteers who may come in contact with your child or children, on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect. A background check is also conducted, as required clearance of all volunteers working with our children.

The registration fee for classes is $20.00 per child. The fee is requested to help defray the cost of curriculum materials, supplies and other learning resources for our students.

A copy of each child’s baptismal certificate is required for our records if this sacrament was done at another parish.

All children are welcome, whether you can afford the registration fee or not. Place completed registration forms in a sealed envelope marked Faith Formation and drop the envelope in the collection basket during Mass. You also can drop it off at the church office during our Tuesday-Friday office hours, or mail it to the church address: Faith Formation, Holy Cross Catholic Church, 2438 S. Alston Avenue, Durham, NC. 27713.

Parents are the primary and the best influence in their children’s faith-growth and in their religious and moral development. Attending Sunday Mass is part of your child’s faith development and an essential requirement if they are in a sacramental class. Parents of youth in the sacramental classes are expected to attend the workshops necessary for the preparation of these sacraments. You will be informed of the dates of these workshops in advance.

It is requested that the parents walk children to class, stay with them until their catechist arrives and pick them up promptly at 12:30 PM.

Our first parent meeting will be held on Sunday, September 11 at 11:15 AM in the parish Fellowship Hall.

We are grateful for your sincere support in the important development of your child(ren)’s faith and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Blessings,
Rev. Pius Wekesa, pastor: pastor@holycrossdurham.org

Carolyn Ross-Holmes, director of faith formation: faithformation@holycrossdurham.org

Gloria Burton Honored for service as Diocesan and Holy Cross Gospel Choir Director

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 19:02:19 GMT

Gloria Burton, Diocesan Gospel Choir D irector, Recognized for Years of Service

Gloria Burton, director of the Diocesan Gospel Choir, retired earlier this year. At the African Heritage Mass held on August 21, 2022, at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham, she was presented with a special recognition award by Bishop Zarama for her many years of service to the Diocese of Raleigh and to the AAMEN office.

Equally important is the place in which she was recognized: at Holy Cross Catholic Church, where she had also served as choir director.

The distinct musical character of Holy Cross that she helped develop continues to shape its worship and ministries today. As Gloria explained, “I tell the choir that they need to make the words they sing transfer to and touch people. We are worshipping and praising God through our music, which helps reveal him to us in amazing ways.”

Gloria shared her gifts to coordinate the music for the 2022 African Heritage Mass, provided the gospel music for the diocesan funeral of Monsignor Thomas Paul Hadden – the first diocesan African American priest – and countless other AAMEN activities, said Jennifer Jones, AAMEN & NAC Administrator. “Her musical talents will be missed; however, we wish her a happy retirement!”

You can read more about Gloria Burton’s work in this earlier NC Catholics profile .

Photo by Renee Nixon

Holy Cross Welcomes RTP-area Tamil Catholic Community for Third-Sunday Mass

amrzewnicki@gmail.com (Anna Rzewnicki) — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 22:04:52 GMT

Holy Cross welcomed the RTP Tamil Catholic Community for their Lenten Retreat and Mass on March 21, the first of their third-Sunday Masses at Holy Cross.

On Saturday, March 19, Holy Cross Catholic Church welcomed members of the RTP Tamil Catholic Association for their Lenten retreat, led by Fr. Larry Searles, SJ, parochial vicar at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Raleigh. The retreat concluded with Mass celebrated by Fr. Pius.

First of ‘Third Sunday’ Ethnic Masses at Holy Cross

The Lenten retreat was the first of what will be an ongoing relationship between Holy Cross and the RTP Tamil Catholic community. Its members, who are members of other Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Raleigh, will be celebrating Mass in the Tamil language at Holy Cross on the third Sunday of each month, at 3 PM. With Easter occurring on the third Sunday this year, the RTP Tamil Catholic community will be at Holy Cross on the fourth Sunday, April 24.

About 70 people attended the March 19 retreat, including children who participated in their faith formation class with their teachers in the multipurpose room, while the adults were on retreat in the worship space.

The event reflects the RTP Tamil Catholic Association’s mission: “Support Tamil Catholics in worship through regular Roman Catholic Mass and prayer, celebration of religious feasts and festivals, and to pass on this tradition to future generations.”

Children depict the Stations of the Cross

The Lenten retreat included praying the Stations of the Cross, with children in the roles of Jesus carrying the cross, the Roman soldiers, Veronica wiping Jesus’ tears, Mary, and the crowd.

A luncheon break featured traditional Indian food, tea and coffee. The retreat concluded with Mass ‒ with hymns and prayers in the Tamil language ‒ celebrated by Fr. Pius, pastor at Holy Cross. Also present at the retreat was Fr. LourduRaj Alapaty, a chaplain at Wake Med and priest in residence at St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Father Alapaty, who was ordained 33 years ago for a diocese in India, has been in Raleigh for 10 years. He was one of the visiting priests serving Holy Cross while we awaited the appointment of our current pastor, Fr. Pius Wekesa.

Members of the RTP Tamil Catholic Community are predominantly from Tamil Nadu, the 10th largest state in India. Christianity in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, is the second largest religion in the state. According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, landed in Malabar Coast (modern day Kerala) in AD 52. In the colonial age many Portuguese, Dutch, British and Italian Christians came to Tamil Nadu.

Their website states the organization’s objectives:

Support Tamil Catholics in worship through regular Roman Catholic mass and prayer, celebration of religious feasts and festivals and to pass on this tradition to future generations.
Provide religious instructions in Tamil, support Tamil culture & heritage, complement the ministries of the Roman Catholic Church and support charitable causes.

Fr. Pius is completing arrangements for Catholics in the Triangle from several African countries to similarly have an ethnic Mass each month at Holy Cross. Updates will be posted when details are available.

Faith Formation 2022

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:05:28 GMT

Holy Cross Faith Formation 2022 begins for K-12 youth

(Photo above shows one of our prior Faith Formation groups)

Holy Cross's opening meeting for this year's Faith Formation program was held on January 9, was attended by more than a dozen parents and other adults, including individuals who indicated an interest in volunteering to help make a great faith formation season for our children.

Holy Cross Faith Formation is currently enrolling students for the 2021-22 liturgical year. Please complete t his registration form for each of your children, for K-12 Religious Education, and preparation for First Communion. Preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation is already under way. Interested in helping with the program this year, or need more information? Send an email message to our Faith Formation director Carolyn Ross-Holmes

Introducing our new pastor, Fr. Pius Wekesa

amrzewnicki@gmail.com (Anna Rzewnicki) — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 06:11:28 GMT

Fr. Pius to Celebrate His First Mass at Holy Cross on July 4, 2021

On June 29, Fr. Pius Wekesa, currently pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., will join Holy Cross as our new pastor. He will celebrate his first Mass at Holy Cross on Sunday, July 4, at 10 AM. His Installation Mass will be at Holy Cross on July 18, at 10 AM.

Earlier this year, Fr. Pius met at the parish office with a few members of the Holy Cross Finance Committee, and paused for a photo at what is now his new office.

Fr. Pius comes well recommended by his parishioners at St. John the Baptist church. Two of the parishioners stopped by at Holy Cross while in Durham for an appointment earlier this year. They said they “wanted to see where our pastor was going.” During a tour of Holy Cross, they paused at the door to the sanctuary and, with a smile, said their church “could fit in your sanctuary.”

They also shared information from a document prepared for an Outstanding Civic Community Award honoring Fr. Pius. In it, the parishioners stated that they were “blessed to have a priest (who) represents all the good that the church proclaims.”

The document notes that one of Fr. Pius’ most outstanding characteristics are his charismatic disposition and demeanor. “He is genuine in his actions and words. … support of civil rights and social justice is truly a part of his fabric.”

He also recognizes a “great need for the religious education of our youth,” and has a commitment to evangelization and outreach to non-Catholics in the community, the documents states.

"We are pleased to welcome Fr. Pius to Holy Cross," said Ron Patterson, chairman of the Holy Cross Pastoral Council. "His commitment to the religious education of our youth and to social justice are aligned with our Mission and Vision statements:

"... addressing the needs of the Durham community and the people of God through direct service and promotion of social justice. We proclaim the Gospel by our lives: evangelizing, educating our youth and practicing a spirituality that finds God in all things." (Read our full vision and mission statements.)

Fr. Pius has served as chaplain of the Roanoke Rapids Knights of Columbus Council, and is chaplain for the Swahili community in the Diocese of Raleigh, offering Mass in Raleigh on the second week of each month.

About Fr. Pius

Born on December 30, 1962, in Kenya, the fifth in a family of 10 children, Fr. Pius was ordained a Catholic priest on October 28, 1995, the Feast of Saints Simon & Jude, in Kenya. His first priest assignment was at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Rush - Rochester, New York. On June 27, 2014, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Fr. Pius received his bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York in 2003, and a master’s in communications from North Carolina State University in 2009. In a recent conversation, he said he enjoys soccer and running.

He recently moved into his local residence in Durham, with the assistance of several of his former parishioners and Deacon Phil Rzewnicki, who served as interim administrator of the parish as Holy Cross awaited the assignment of our new pastor.

Fr. Pius comes well recommended from his current parish, whose members – in a document prepared for an Outstanding Civic Community Award honoring him – stated that they were “blessed to have a priest (who) represents all the good that the church proclaims.”

Following are a few highlights from the awards document, shared by two of his parishioners who stopped by at Holy Cross while in Durham for an appointment. They said they “wanted to see where our pastor was going.”

During a tour of Holy Cross, they paused at the door to the sanctuary and, with a smile, said their church “could fit in your sanctuary.”

One of Fr. Pius’ most outstanding characteristics is his charismatic disposition and demeanor, the award document states. “He is genuine in his actions and words. … support of civil rights and social justice is truly a part of his fabric.”

He also recognizes a “great need for the religious education of our youth,” and has a commitment to evangelization and outreach to non-Catholics in the community, the documents states.

Born on December 30, 1962, in Kenya, the fifth in a family of 10 children, he was ordained a Catholic priest on October 28, 1995, the Feast of Saints Simon & Jude, in Kenya. His first priest assignment was at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Rush - Rochester, New York. On June 27, 2014, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace | The story of our St. Mary statue

Sun, 06 Jun 2021 01:05:47 GMT

The Story about the Holy Cross Mary Statue and Prayer Garden

A scene from the early years of Holy Cross finds Father John A. Risacher, S.J., our first priest, in the shade of mimosa and magnolia trees−praying, reading, teaching−Dreaming.

According to the written accounts of late Holy Cross parishioners Anne Duncan and George Thorne, "It was perhaps in this tranquil place that he envisioned a Grotto in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes. Near the bottom of a hill, recessed among trees, within sight of a bubbling brook, she would stand."

In 1944, Father Risacher's vision bore fruit and Our Lady's Grotto was now complete.

Constructed from Hillsborough stone with a flat surface for flowers at the Holy Mother's feet and a monstrance used for benedictions, the stone formed a protective archway: At the base of the statue, water flowed from the spring and in this sacred space, Mary stood for decades, a loving symbol of "Holy Hope" and devout prayer. A place of contemplation and thanksgiving.

In 2021, the Holy Cross Men's Society commissioned artist Shambo Medina to create a new vision of Our Lady. Shambo's vision−perhaps fueled in part by his formative years (as our very own Austen Palmer: Baptism, First Communion, Holy Confirmation, High School of Religion)−was one not just about "art making," but of communion.

"This process brought me deep healing. … I prayed to the Great Mother for guidance each step of the way−from the choice of colors to the actual painting. Each day I washed her and offered incense. With my hand in hers, I asked her to guide my heart and my hands. I felt her presence."

An Afro-Expressionist mixed media artist for fifteen years, Shambo's "art-making" tells stories that matter−whether in acrylic or clay, oil or paint, two-dimensional or three−he seeks to evoke the secular and spiritual, "to express the beauty and frustrations of life."

Our temporary artist-in-residence expressed deep gratitude to the Men's Society and the Altar Society for their support and the gift of an unexpected transformation.

And now as we await the beginning of still another Holy Cross journey with the July arrival of our new priest, Reverend Pius Wekesa, the Holy Mother, in her appointed place and arrayed in holy splendor, welcomes him to her home.

Author: Joyce Ellis, Holy Cross parishioner

Note: A hand-crafted wrought iron bench created by Willie Alston, friend of the parish, provides a comfortable place to sit while praying and reflecting in the Mary Garden, located along the south wall of the church. Some of the iron used in the bench came from England.