Catholic journalism opened my eyes to Christ’s work

By Beth Donze
Clarion Herald

As I look ahead to my retirement at the end of this month, it really does seem like yesterday when Clarion Herald editor Peter Finney asked me to look into the first feature story for Kids’ Clarion, the new monthly section for elementary school children I had been hired to launch in the fall of 2000.

A Christ the King sixth grader named Brandon Dellucky had undertaken a letter-writing campaign urging public officials, safety agencies and pool manufacturers to warn of the dangers of above-ground pool ladders – and to consider redesigning the ladders altogether.

Brandon’s classmate, Taylor Velargo, had drowned in 4 feet of water in his backyard pool after getting trapped between the ladder’s bottom rungs.

Thankfully, the stories I went on to cover for the Clarion Herald in the ensuing 24 years were far less tragic, but it never ceased to be an honor to shine some light on “champions of hope” such as Brandon, or to call attention to all the other miraculous works performed by our local family of Catholic clergy, religious and laity.

Remember the first question asked in the Ninth General Synod – “What is your church parish doing well?”? The answers sum up what we try to do in every issue of the Clarion Herald: expose the good and become an instrument of hope and evangelization in the process.

Looking back on some of the stories I have covered, here are just a few of the reasons I am proud to be a Catholic journalist:

It’s rarely mentioned in the secular media, but Catholics founded Ozanam Inn, Café Reconcile and Second Harvest Food Bank, the latter of which is on track to provide 70 million meals annually within the next decade, nearly doubling its current capacity. Second Harvest even established a food pantry – the first hospital-based food pantry in the state – at University Hospital, so families of cancer patients would have one less thing to worry about. 

I love how Catholic Charities is at work 24/7, addressing everything from mental health counseling to the adoption option to disaster relief and helping the formerly imprisoned stay out of prison by helping them find employment.

What about the local nuns whose ministry is to care for terminally ill patients through the night – at no charge – so their families can have a break?

One religious sister told me her talent is sensing where people’s physical pain is. So, her ministry offers complimentary massage therapy to the poor, sick and elderly.

Treasured women religious

While we are on the subject of women religious, I will carry in my heart forever the love for Jesus that glows out of Sister Judy Gomila, Sister Beth Fitzpatrick and Sister Monica Ellerbusch, and the Irish pluck of Sister Vera Butler, who had the misfortune of arriving in New Orleans the day before Katrina to begin a homeless ministry. Her work, which started from a makeshift trailer, grew into the Rebuild Center, the astounding Catholic collaborative on the grounds of St. Joseph Church whose services include weekday meals, showers, medical care, art time, housing support and a mail room for those who have no address.

The Catholic clergy is awash with gifts. In past issues of the Clarion Herald, we learned that Father Mike Mitchell paints lifelike portraits; Msgr. Christopher Nalty makes a mean seared sesame tuna; and the monks of St. Joseph Abbey harvest honey, bake bread for the poor and build cypress coffins offering affordable and dignified burials.

Abp. Hughes still serving

Did you know that a former archbishop of New Orleans spends a few hours each week visiting residents of Lazarus House, a residence founded by a Catholic priest in response to the AIDS epidemic, and that is still a place where those who are HIV-positive can find hope?

One of my favorite stories of a layperson giving his gifts is of the man who would watch the person translating the Mass into American Sign Language, and then sign the words onto the palms of his deaf and blind parents – his mother at one side of him, his father on the other. An ambidextrous saint!

Did you know that Catholic inmates serving life sentences at Angola Penitentiary, many of whom completed coursework provided by the Loyola Institute for Ministry, serve in their chapel as Mass ushers, lectors, extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, musicians, singers and videographers? When Jesus said “All are welcome,” he meant it!

Working on Kids’ Clarion has especially attuned me to the myriad gifts of our youngest faithful.

I think of the St. Pius X sixth grader, born with limited use of her arms, who played the piano with her feet during our interview. She went on to be a Dominican valedictorian and an MIT-educated engineer.

I think of the unsolicited “I love yous” I receive from St. Michael Special students whenever I – a stranger – walk onto their campus. They love you first and without condition – just like God.

Student missionaries

Seventh graders from St. Charles Borromeo hit the streets of the French Quarter every spring to hand out toiletries, snacks and prayer cards to those in need; St. Matthew the Apostle has a club dedicated to spreading kindness; Ursuline’s “STEM for Others” class has students building sails and sending them to fishermen in Haiti; children, assisted by our archdiocese’s Mission Office, build solidarity with their peers in the developing world by playing their games, donating their spare change and praying the Mission Rosary.

Two students at Mary Queen of Peace Elementary School in Mandeville started decorating elastic hair bands to sell to their schoolmates after learning that many people in Haiti slept on dirt floors. Their cottage industry raised funds to build at least three houses!

It might not sound that special to you, but I consider it a privilege to have photographed the kids who will never forget the time they portrayed Veronica in their school’s Way of the Cross or a shepherd in the Nativity play.

I am indebted to the elementary school teachers – who work joyfully in the trenches to form and educate our children – who spoke so eloquently about their vocation in this year’s Q&A series in Kids’ Clarion.

Hidden sacred beauty

Being Catholic means we get to revel not only in the beauty of the people who make up the city’s rich tapestry of saints, but in the sacred art and architecture that surrounds us. My job has afforded me close-up views of St. Alphonsus Church’s partly hidden, second-floor stained glass windows; to climb to the top of the towering ambo at St. Mary’s Assumption; to examine the life-size stations of the cross statues at St. Roch Cemetery; to look over my own neighborhood from the dome of Our Lady of the Rosary Church.

Speaking of beauty, I was invited to New Mexico in 2013 to report on the work of the Black and Indian Mission Office, which involved a week of fellowship with the Catholic Pueblo Indians who live in the remote reservations along the Rio Grande. Witnessing the humility and zeal of the Pueblo, who have persevered in their Catholic faith despite modest means and a long history of persecution, took my breath away. Christ was everywhere you looked, from the tender way they treated their children and elders, to their insistence on sharing everything they had with strangers.

I’ll stop there, but I want you to know that I sometimes will get surprised looks when I share stories like these with my non-Catholic and lapsed-Catholic friends. So please, let the Clarion Herald know about your own faith-in-action endeavors so we can celebrate them.

I can’t leave without thanking the staffers who have passed on – Mike, Vernell and the incomparable Florence. I cherish my wildly talented work family of Cheryl, Christine, Frank, Jonelle, Mark, MJ, Peter and Ron – and Father Pat Williams – who were at my side after my husband’s sudden death in 2018.

Our staff, now blessed by two new writers – Kim and Macie – has kept the Good News coming through hurricanes, pandemics, office moves, weddings, ordinations, funerals and frozen computer screens.

We work hard to bring the best of our faith to you.

I will miss doing that.

Beth Donze was married for 27 years to the late Frank Donze, the love of her life. She is the proud mother of Caroline and Victoria, the mother-in-law of Chris, the daughter of Pete and Deedy and the lucky sister of Barbara, Jane, Peter, Tim and Michael. She can be reached at [email protected].