By Cathy Blankenau Bender
Editor-in-Chief
I participated in a Catholic Media Association webinar last week about evangelizing through media. Gretchen Crowe, editor-in-chief of OSV News, began the webinar saying we live in a noisy and polarized landscape, and Catholic journalists, therefore, can play a vital role: to inform and to inspire.
The average homily in America’s Catholic churches lasts about eight minutes, she pointed out. Compared to all one could learn about the Catholic Faith, and all the questions that arise about how to apply the faith and live it out today? “Eight minutes a week is not enough.”
It wasn’t difficult for me to see her point. One of the hardest parts about creating each issue of the Southern Nebraska Register is that there is never enough space to include all I want to include! The mission of our publication, since its founding nearly a century ago, is “Spreading the Good News of Christ and His Church since 1932.” Many weeks, as I put together each issue of the paper, I look at that motto and ask rhetorically of the staff members who chose it, “But do you know how much Good News there is?”
Several years ago, one of the religious sisters of our diocese sent me a lovely letter with the recommendation that we print Marian prayers in the Register. She hoped they would encourage people in devotion to the Blessed Mother, particularly in May, since the month is dedicated to the Mother of Jesus. I thought it a wonderful idea at the time, but every May since then, I would start filling the 16 pages of the (printed) Register with those prayers in mind, but after placing all the files of first Communion photos and Confirmation photos, and items for the Charity and Stewardship Appeal, and the Nebraska Catholic Day of Giving, and so many other important items that exemplified the Good News being carried out in the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln… there just wasn’t room.
But it’s working out this year!
The existence of a page of Marian prayers in honor of a month dedicated to Mary, could easily lead one to ask, “why?” Well, this is a chance for Catholic journalism to delve into that, and allow our diocesan priests to use all their eight minutes this Sunday to preach about the Gospel (John 14:1-12: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You can prepare yourself to hear those homilies with resources on our “Prepare and Proclaim” page!).
So why is May Mary’s month? In 2020, National Catholic Register blogger Marge Fenelon explained the history of spring customs in ancient times, in which people thanked goddesses for new blooms, and in medieval times, which centered on the practice of expelling winter, as May 1 was considered the start of new growth. She then answered how Catholics began to mark the month of May for the Mother of Jesus:
“The idea of a month dedicated specifically to Mary can be traced back to Baroque times. Although it wasn’t always held during May, Mary Month included 30-daily spiritual exercises honoring Mary.
“It was in this era that Mary’s Month and May were combined, making May the Month of Mary with special devotions organized on each day throughout the month. This custom became especially widespread during the 19th century and remains in practice until today.
“The ways Mary is honored in May are as varied as the people who honor her.”
Isn’t that beautiful? “The ways Mary is honored in May are as varied as the people who honor her.” Mary is truly mother to all of us.
This weekend provided examples of different ways Mary is honored—and different ways she reaches her children on earth. On Sunday, April 26, Dennis Kellogg, our director of communications, oversaw the special screening of a documentary about a Marian apparition. “Our Lady at the Center” was shown at North American Martyrs Church in Lincoln and at the Hastings Museum Theatre in Hastings.
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Photos by Dennis Kellogg and courtesy North American Martyrs
About 200 people watched the film, which tells the story of Our Lady of La Vang, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vietnam in 1798. Executive producer Dr. Elysabeth Nguyen, producer Dr. Scott Nguyen—siblings who grew up in Nebraska—and writer/director Bradley Zint made the trip to Nebraska to present the film. Dr. Elysabeth Nguyen, who led the efforts to build a shrine to Our Lady of La Vang at Christ Cathedral in the Diocese of Orange, presented Bishop James Conley with a statue of Our Lady of La Vang.
I love the image of Our Lady of La Vang, depicted in traditional Vietnamese clothing, and I thought of it this weekend when I received a photo of Pope Leo XIV on his trip to Africa. He is pictured near a statue of Our Lady of Bisila, patroness of Equatorial Guinea. Local tradition states the apparition was the Virgin Mary, appearing as a beautiful woman with Black skin, in traditional clothes and carrying her Child in a wrap on her back in a way familiar to the village where she appeared. Approval for the local devotion was granted by the Vatican in 1986. It is another reminder of how the Blessed Virgin often appears with elements of the local culture.
When Mary appeared in Vietnam, she shared the love and care of the Lord and spoke to her children in that place and time just as they needed to understand her, just as when Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531 and left her image on his tilma; as she appeared to St. Bernadette in France in 1858 and led to the healing springs of Lourdes; as she appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917 and thousands witnessed the Miracle of the Sun; and in many other places and many other times.
It is my hope that the prayers included in this Register will provide a way for our varied readers to grow close to Mary, each in your place and time.
