This Lenten series features a different person each week. Nothing in particular connects these people, other than my desire to ask them a few questions. They may not be the questions you would have asked, but I hope you might appreciate their answers nonetheless. TL
Father
Eugene Hensell, the presenter of our shared parish mission
March 13-16, is a Benedictine priest from
St.
Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana. Newman students have
toured St. Meinrad as part of past Kentucky Spring Break trips. An Indiana
native, Father Hensell was ordained a priest in 1969. He has spent much of
his priesthood studying and teaching sacred scripture, and is currently
associate professor of scripture at St. Meinrad School of Theology. He is a
contributor to various church-related publications.
Henry
Brady graduated in May with a natural resources degree.
He left almost immediately to work with
Christian
Appalachian Project in Kentucky. Henry, or "Hank" as he’s known
to the folks in Kentucky, is from Germantown. He first visited CAP as part
of a Newman Spring Break trip. CAP was founded by Father Ralph
Beiding in 1957. Volunteers, ranging in age from post-college to senior
citizens, work in 12 counties in Eastern Kentucky offering housing, adult
education, elderly, child and family development, and disability services.
Bishop
Thomas Rodi is the bishop of the
Diocese of Biloxi, Miss. He is originally from New Orleans.
These have obviously been challenging months for Bishop Rodi and his
people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Students traveling to Biloxi
to assist with recovery efforts had an opportunity to meet with Bishop
Rodi and hear, first hand, his assessment of the situation and his great
hope for the people of his diocese and their future.
Sister
Madeline Dorsey is a
Maryknoll Sister who was serving in El
Salvador when four American churchwomen were killed by National Guardsmen
on 2 Dec. 1980. Three of the four slain ministers — Sisters Maura Clarke
and Ita Ford, and lay volunteer Jean Donovan — were members of the
Maryknoll religious order. The fourth, Sister Dorothy Kazel, was an
Ursuline. The four women were ambushed on a remote stretch of road,
their vehicle was stripped and burned and the bodies buried.
Father
Michael Joncas
is a theology professor at the
University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a visiting professor at the
University of Notre Dame. He is probably best known for his liturgical
compositions, including “No Greater Love,” “We Come to Your Feast,” “A Voice
Cries Out” and “On Eagle’s Wings,” which was identified in a recent survey
as the most popular song featured in worship. During Holy Week 2003,
Mike became afflicted with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which manifests itself
by a rapid onset of weakness and/or paralysis of legs, arms, breathing,
muscles and face. It is quite rare, affecting only one to two people in
every 100,000.