Editor's Note
Thank You, Father Fernando
This month we have a new columnist in Spanish: Father Carlos Arce, Diocesan Vicar for Hispanics. He succeeds from Father Fernando Torres, who began the column in the first issue of NC Catholics during his own term as Vicar. For more than five years, Father Torres has been a joy to work with. I have heard his writing described as “poetry.” And FaithCatholic, our publishing partner, has used Fr. Torres’ column in their national edition. I’m deeply grateful to Father Torres for all his work, and for the blessing he has been to our Spanish-speaking readers.
Much is made of the influx over the last 20 years of Hispanic immigrants into our Diocese. One hundred years ago, however, another wave of Catholic immigrants came to North Carolina and, like the Latinos, had an important and beneficial impact on our Church. I’m speaking of the Lebanese, who fled religious persecution in their own country and settled in our state, particularly “down East,” in towns like Rocky Mount and Farmville and New Bern.
Diocesan historian William Powell makes a statement that might apply to our immigrants of the present day. “In the early 1900’s,” he writes in Tar Heel Catholics, “Lebanese immigrants were the only group of foreigners to settle in North Carolina in numbers so substantial that for a time they comprised nearly a majority of the Catholic population of the state.”
The Lebanese were historically members of the Maronite Rite of the Catholic Church, but they adopted the Latin Rite in North Carolina, and became strong supporters and builders of churches in our Diocese.
On July 24th, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Sharbel Makhluf (1828-98), a priest born in Lebanon. Saint Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek out his blessing and prayers, and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage and cures. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1977.
In May I met Marianne Smith, whose account of growing up Catholic in Nazi Germany is the subject of this month’s cover story. She shared some wonderful, joyous moments in her life. At the same time, she faced dangers and sorrows as a child, and heartbreaks as an adult, that many of us manage to escape.
I recorded our conversations, and the thing that struck me on listening later was Marianne’s frequent and hearty laughter. There is a piece of popular advice one hears these days: “Live well, laugh often, love much.” It was clear that despite extraordinary, even desperate circumstances, Marianne had always managed to follow this prescription.
- Rich Reece