Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • February 2, 2024 3 Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) February 2, 2024 Volume 41, Issue 12 The GULF PINE CATHOLIC , published every other week, is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Editorial offices are located at 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532. Periodical postage paid at Gulfport, MS. —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The GULF PINE CATHOLIC 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —PUBLISHER— Most Rev. Louis F. Kihneman —EDITOR— Terry Dickson —PRODUCTION/ADVERTISING — Shirley M c Cusker —BILLING — Aimee M c Lendon —CIRCULATION— Robin Peeler —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production/Advertising: 228-702-2109 Billing: 228-702-2127 Circulation: 228-702-2100 Photography: 228-201-2132 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Billing: amclendon@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: rpeeler@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.gulfpinecatholic.com —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18 per year. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address. Allow three weeks for changes of address. —DEADLINES for FEB. 16— News copy and photos: Due FEB. 8, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due FEB 8, 10 a.m. Feb. 3 Installation Mass for Fr. Daniel Martinez Patiño, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Parish, Biloxi, 4 p.m. Feb. 5-7 National Bioethics Workshop, Dallas, Texas Feb. 9 Mass & School Visit, Our Lady of Fatima Elementary, Biloxi, 9:30 a.m. Feb. 10 Mass & TET Celebration, Holy Family Parish, Pass Christian, 10 a.m. Feb. 11 Mass, Nativity BVM Cathedral, 11 a.m. Feb. 14 Mass & School Visit, Resurrection Elementary School, Pascagoula, 8:15 a.m. Feb. 15 Foundation Meeting, Biloxi Pastoral Center, 3 p.m. Feb. 17 Mass & TET Celebration, Vietnamese Martyrs Parish, Biloxi, 4 p.m. Feb. 18 Confirmation, St. Joseph Mission, Poplarville, 9 a.m. Dear Bishop Louis, I greatly appreciate our friendship, which has strengthened since the begin- ning of the full-scale war. I am thankful for the invitation to visit you last January, for a series of constructive meetings in which I could share the situation in Ukraine and ask for prayer and support. You are with us for the second year and we are extremely grateful for your solidarity, participation in the struggle and generosity. During this year, the social kitchen in Zhytomyr was working without stopping, where every day more than 500 people can get hot and tasty meals. Due to the lack of funds, we were thinking about reducing the activity of the social kitchen, but thanks to the help of the benefactors, and in particu- lar of your diocese, it continues to work as before. Caritas-Spes of our Diocese helps in distributing food and other needs of those who to come to our cen- ters. During this year, also thanks to your help, we equipped our parishes and other social and pastoral centers with autonomous electric and thermal boil- ers. Now they are provided with heat and energy, which is produced, regardless Bishop Kryvytskyi Letter from Ukrainian Bishop Vitalii Kryvytskyi, SDB, bishop of Kyviv-Zhytomyr, to Bishop Kihneman of external circumstances. Air pumps and geothermal heating were installed in our seminary. With an autonomous power supply, most of our centers can function even in the event of the black- out. Part of the aid also was used for the purchase of generators. We were forced to do this in the winter, because many of our regions (especially the Kyiv region) experienced a blackout due to shelling of our infrastructure. We encountered large and unexpected expenses, such as fuel generators. The autonomous water supply was renovated in two parishes (in Kyiv and Korosten). Moreover, many of our par- ishes have set up so-called “points of invincibility” (a place where anyone in need can warm up, have access to hot tea and means of communication). We have also noticed that during the war people close themselves off and desperately need communication with others, first of all in the bosom of the Church. Therefore, for pastoral initiatives, for which we desperately needed funds, we used the help of the benefactors to finance separate diocesan days for chil- dren, teenagers and young people, and organized family retreats and children’s camps, while creating communities in which God helps us survive the difficult con- ditions of war. We are grateful for your kindness and support that is of great help for us during these difficult times. I would like to invite you to visit Kyiv and our diocese whenever it is possible. I will be glad to host you in Ukraine, where you have many friends that you don’t know yet. I assure you of our daily prayers for our benefactors and brothers and sisters in Christ. May God bless you and your diocese this New Lord’s Year! God bless America! God bless Ukraine! In Jesus Christ, Vitalii Kryvytskyi, SDB Bishop of Kyviv-Zhytomyr SEE BISHOP VIITALII’S COLUMN IN SPANISH, PAGE 7