Sometimes, we are stuck in our own perspective, not even realizing it. Sometimes we see only what is in front of us, not the big picture. We can reflect on our perspective on our journey of faith as we celebrate Jesus’ transfiguration today. Jesus separated himself from the crowds as he journeyed up the mountaintop where he is changed and transformed. If we ourselves are going to be transformed by God, we need to block out the other voices that call out to us in the world, voices that can drown out God’s voice. It is God’s message that will transform us and renew us, that will help us get beyond our own perspective and to see things from the perspective of faith.
My name is Father Lincoln Dall. I come to you today as your brother in Christ, as a priest from the missionary Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. I come to you to share our stories and to share our perspective of what in means to be missionary in the United States. We might think of missionary territory as just existing in faraway lands, but we have mission territory right here in the US. We are actually the largest Diocese in the United State East of the Mississippi River in land, but we also have the smallest percentage of Catholics of any Diocese in our country, at about 2.3 per cent. Our Diocese, comprised on 65 counties in the state of Mississippi, has some counties with only one parish, and some counties without a parish at all.
I have been a priest for 15 year in the Diocese of Jackson. My first assignment as pastor was in the Mississippi Delta, the region of rich farmland that hugs the Mississippi River. I was pastor on three parishes and chaplain of two prisons located in Yazoo and Humphreys counties. My territory covered about 1,400 squares miles, but had only a total of 37,000 inhabitants. To put this in perspective, Orange County, which is its own diocese, is less than 1,000 square miles. The parishes in Yazoo City were about 25 miles from the parish in Belzoni, between which were no towns and not even a gas station, but only farmland, swamps, and bayous. While serving the Catholics of Humphreys county, that county had the highest child poverty rate and lowest median family income of any county in the US.
I currently serve as pastor in two parishes located in the towns of Raymond and Clinton. I am also vicar general of the Diocese, a post I have had for four years. I also am very active in prison ministry in the Diocese, serving as chaplain in two prisons.
From my accent, you can tell that I am not originally from Mississippi. I am actually from Chicago originally and grew up as a teenager in Santa Ana in Orange County. I started my career as an accountant, but felt God calling me to missionary work. I became a lay missionary, serving in Canada for three years, working in a soup kitchen and with the indigenous people there, and also for three years and in Ecuador, working in a mission site in a large rain forest jungle.
I spoke about serving as pastor in Yazoo City. There is someone from Yazoo City, Mississippi who one day could become a saint. Her name is Sister Thea Bowman. Born in Yazoo City in 1937 to an African American family, her father was a doctor and her mother an educator. Even though they were not Catholic, her parents felt that their daughter would receive the best education possible at the Catholic school run by nuns. Thea decided to become Catholic as a girl and at the age of 15, decided to become a nun herself. She joined the Franciscan sisters of perpetual adoration, the order of sisters that taught at her school. She taught English on the elementary school and college level. She became a great evangelizer in the Catholic faith, reaching out to people of different races and cultures. She also was an accomplished singer and musician, being one of the editors of the African American Catholic hymnal. She came back to our Diocese in the 1980s, serving in the office of intercultural ministry. She died in 1990 at the age of 52. I mention Sister Thea Bowman because her joyful spirit and creative approach to ministry represents the missionary spirit of our Diocese. We indeed have a diverse Catholic population in the Diocese of Jackson, with many Asian and Hispanic Catholics and a good number of historically African American churches.
We will be taking up a collection for the Diocese of Jackson today at mass. These mission funds we collect go to help our Catholic schools and the small parishes in the rural areas of our Diocese. I mentioned my prison ministry; some of these funds have helped expand our prison ministry and to purchase Bibles, catechisms, and rosaries for them. Some weeks we visit more than 200 prisoners. Another example of the use of our funds is the purchase of a copy machine for a small African American parish in the Mississippi Delta in the town of Indianola when the current copy machine stopped working.
I am glad to be able to visit your parish this weekend. As Catholics, it is important for us to have unity and solidarity, to share in the Body and Blood of Christ around the altar, and to share our experiences and stories with each other. Thank you for any help you can give. Be assured I will pray for all of you and for your parish. I ask for your prayers for our missionary Diocese as well.
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