St. Anthony of padua
Inside
STUDENTS PRACTICING GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP WITH THE PAPER GATOR
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n 2015, Pope Francis wrote the encyclical Laudato si’ (On Care For Our Common Home). The pope asks all of us to consider the words of St. Francis of Assisi, who called the Earth “our sister.” He asks everyone, not just Catholics, to work together to shape a healthy future for the planet. One small way we can support the Earth is through recycling. We now have an easy way to do that — the Paper Gator. Katie O’Neal is a fourth-grade teacher at St. Dominic School. Last fall, she worked through Quincy Recycle to acquire a Paper Gator. The Paper Gator, located on the west side of the school, can recycle paper, magazines, newsprint, phone books, hard and softcover books, wrapping paper, and junk mail. Each Katie O’Neal’s students enjoy using the Paper Gator, as they learn about the time it is filled, the school receives money. good stewardship of our planet. The students in Mrs. O’Neal’s class go around the school each day to collect recyclable materials for the Paper Gator. “The Paper Gator gives people a reliable place to bring their recycling,” Mrs. O’Neal says. “It promotes stewardship of our planet by cutting down on what goes in the trash and instead, recycling paper waste.” Many people in the rural areas around Quincy don’t have access to a recycling service. The Paper Gator is an asset to the whole community. Anyone can recycle items there, and it’s accessible 24 hours per day, seven days a week. In addition to being a service to the community, St. Dominic students are continued on page 5
FEBRUARY 2022
2 Stewardship: Becoming Fishers of Men and Women 3
Where Grace Moves In, Guilt Moves Out
4 Meet Katie Klauser A Parishioner Actively Living the Faith and Embodying Stewardship in Action 6 The Seven Sisters Apostolate: Prayerfully Supporting our Parish Priests and Deacon 7
Valentine’s Day The Feast of a Christian Martyr
St. Anthony of padua
Stewardship:
B ecoming F ishers
of
Men
and
W omen
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hether you hold a high-profile position, such as parish council president, or have more of a behind-the-scenes role as a coordinator of a parish ministry, God has called you – as a parish leader – to help build His Church. This challenge is just as important as the call of any other Catholic leader, including the earliest disciples. When Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, He urged a group of fishermen, “Come follow me.” Jesus promised if they laid down their nets and followed Him, He would make them fishers of men. These men were among His original disciples, and they knew Christ’s call was so important that they left their secular occupation to follow Him. Just as He did with the fishermen, Jesus calls each of us today. He is not necessarily asking us to leave our secular careers, but He is asking us to put Him first in our lives and to share His message of love with others. God truly wants us to serve Him and to build His Church through the secular occupations we have chosen. It is through the Church that new disciples are born, and it is in the Church that disciples continue to mature. Forming disciples of Christ is the most important work that can be done on earth, and each of us has been called to play an active role in this work. So, how do we go about building the Church? Where do we find the plans? Some people mistakenly think that building the Church – in particular, building our own parish or diocese – is no different than building a successful business. Indeed, the purpose of building the Church is to change hearts – a goal that only God can accomplish. Secular society has not prepared us for this work. However, the Holy Spirit – sometimes referred to as the “Architect of the Church” – has the plan. In order to implement this plan, we must become good listeners. We must open 2
ourselves to the workings of the Holy Spirit as He transforms us and guides us to carry out God’s work and to serve as His instruments on earth, building the Church together with Him. This is where spiritual exercises, such as retreats, come into play. A retreat offers the individual an opportunity to spend time alone with the Lord, allowing God to draw the person deeper into the mystery of who He is, who we are and what He is doing in our lives. Stewardship retreats can offer parish leaders the opportunity each year to spend time with the Lord as He directs them in the ways of discipleship. As leaders, we must take time to meditate on the Scriptures and allow Jesus to open up His Word to us. Then, as we grow deeper in our understanding of what God wants of us, we can exclaim, just as the first disciples did on the road to Emmaus, “Our hearts are burning within us” (Lk 24:32). God has placed an extremely important call on the lives of all parish leaders, no matter how big or small the role. It is vital to understand how we, as parish leaders, can best answer His call. What, in particular, is the Lord calling each one of us to do? He most likely is not asking us to drop our nets, but to pick them up and become “fishers of men.” We must discern how we can most effectively cast our nets for Him.
A Letter From Our Pastor
WHERE GRACE MOVES IN, GUILT
MOVES OUT
Dear Parishioners,
W
here grace moves in, guilt moves out. I saw this saying on a sign in front of a Protestant church recently. There are many wonderful reflective tidbits of note whenever passing by Protestant churches. As I have said in homilies and meetings in the past, more often than not, when you pass a Catholic church and read the sign in front, it says “Bingo — Friday at 7 p.m.”! Not knowing where the saying came from, I Googled it and found a few references and YouTube videos by Christian authors and preachers. But where it came from is really not as important as what it means for us, especially during the upcoming season of Lent, which begins in early March. Unlike God, Who is infinite — endless power, endless time, endless love, endless mercy — we as human beings are finite, i.e. we only have so much power, time and energy. And as I sometimes counsel in the confessional, if
we are going to make more room for God in our lives, we who are finite are probably going to have to do some “internal housecleaning” — pitch out a few things and make room for God to be more and more and more a part of our lives. And I believe in a unique way, when God moves in — when grace moves in — the ungodly things in our life, including guilt, move out. I have found this to be very real in my priesthood when I am called to administer last rites to dying people and their families join me in praying the beautiful Prayers of Commendation of the Dying. Many times, family members share with me that they have been away from Church for a while, even a very long time. In many of these cases, those same family members share with me (after the funeral of a loved one) that they are back at church and wish they had made that step to “come home” with their deceased
relative a long time ago. But for a variety of reasons, they just couldn’t make that first step. My brothers and sisters, allow the Lord to enter your hearts anew this Lent. Maybe taking just a few minutes of prayer, maybe reading Sacred Scripture for a few minutes, maybe extending a hand of reconciliation to an estranged relative or friend, maybe doing that deliberate random act of kindness for your neighbor or co-worker, maybe celebrating the Sacrament of Penance… let some grace move into your heart and, rest assured, some guilt will move out. And once some grace moves in, be ready for the Lord to embrace you, forgive you, and love you more and more and more! Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Tom Donovan Pastor
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St. Anthony of padua
MEET
Katie
A Parishioner Actively Living the Faith
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n the sermon on the mount, Jesus instructs His disciples to be lights unto the world saying, “your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16). At the heart of Christ’s message is the stewardship practice of sharing our time to spread the love of God through acts of service. For the past eight years, Katie Klauser has been a light in our St. Anthony of Padua community. She has embodied the stewardship spirituality of discipleship by offering much of her time to the parish. “Serving others provides a certain kind of joy that’s hard to describe,” she says. Katie jumped into parish life and ministry with both feet! She has assisted in almost every facet of our parish community. At Mass, she has served as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. Within the parish community, she has served
Katie Klauser with her husband, Scott, and daughters, Ellie and Ava
behind the scenes by generating the parish directory booklet, organizing various parish events, and creating parish flyers and brochures. In addition, Katie has been a humble leader for St. Anthony of Padua by being a member of the Stewardship Committee and the Marketing Committee for St. Dominic School. She also
serves on the school board for St. Dominic’s and is the Assistant Director of Birthright. Most recently, Katie has taken on the task of handling St. Anthony of Padua’s social media and online content — creating event flyers and posting banners on the various social media accounts to inspire faith. Katie finds great happiness in continued on page 5
“The satisfaction of helping other people or particular causes brings so much joy to my life. When I give of my time, I feel like I’m fulfilling God’s call and am doing what is pleasing to Him.” — Katie Klauser
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e Klauser
and Embodying Stewardship in Action helping others, which drives her to do more. “When I see a need for something, I try my best to do what I can to help because that’s what God calls us to do,” she says. Through her sharing of time, Katie has grown in faith and devotion — specifically cultivating a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. “I pray to the Holy Spirit a lot to help keep me going and to help guide everything I do,” Katie says. While her involvement with the parish can create a busy schedule for her at times, this only encourages Katie to surrender to God the Holy Spirit even more. “The satisfaction of helping other people or particular causes brings so much joy to my life,” she says. “When I give of my time, I feel like I’m fulfilling God’s call and am doing what is pleasing to Him.” Katie is living proof of how sharing our time is a
profound response to God’s love. Her stewardship spirituality drives her relationship with God and is the foundation of her life of discipleship. She offers all of her fellow parishioners encouragement to share a portion of their time with God and our parish. “It’s a great way to connect with other parishioners while doing God’s work,” she says.
GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP WITH THE PAPER GATOR continued from front cover
learning to be more mindful about waste. “The students get very excited to see the Paper Gator fill up,” Mrs. O’Neal says. “They are more conscious of how they take care of the items they use to help recycle more.” Mrs. O’Neal is excited to see this project come to fruition. She tried to acquire a Paper Gator about two years ago, but it was cost-prohibitive for Quincy Recycle. Now, it’s great to have a way for those in the broader community to recycle and support St. Dominic School.
“The Paper Gator gives people a reliable place to bring their recycling. It promotes stewardship of our planet by cutting down on what goes in the trash and instead, recycling paper waste.” — Katie O’Neal
The Paper Gator can be found on the west side of the school and is available anytime.
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St. Anthony of padua
THE SEVEN SISTERS APOSTOLATE:
Prayerfully Supporting our Parish Priests and Deacon
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t Catholic churches all across the state, country, and world, there are good and holy men leading people to Christ as priests. They offer their lives to Jesus and pray for all of us, their parishioners. But how often are all of us, as parishioners, praying for our priest? They urgently need our prayers, as well. An important ministry at our parish is the Seven Sisters Apostolate. This ministry’s work is simple — each person has a day each week where they commit to spending an hour in prayer specifically for Fr. Tom Donovan, Deacon Harry Cramer, or Fr. Don Blickhan. Each of them has a group of seven parishioners praying for them. Ministry member Bonnie Grist prays for Fr. Tom on Saturdays. Preferably, the hour would be spent in church or at Eucharistic Adoration. But the hour can also be prayed at home. “Fr. Tom has just been great for our parish,” Bonnie says. “He has been such a blessing. We keep him busy. All of our priests need prayer, so I thought it was a good idea.” Bonnie feels this ministry is a great way to give back to Fr. Tom for all he does. “I think many parish priests have a lot on their plates,” she says. “This is the least I can do.” The Seven Sisters Apostolate was started in 2010 by Janette Howe, who felt a calling to pray specifically for the Rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minn., Fr. Joseph R. Johnson — she was so appreciative for all he did for her and her family. In 2011, while Janette was praying a Holy Hour for Fr. Johnson, she heard the words “Seven Sisters.” She felt a calling to invite six other women to pray for one hour, per day, specifically for their pastor and for a deepening of his devotion to the Blessed Mother. The Seven Sisters Apostolate is a behindthe-scenes, silent ministry. The women aren’t in
this ministry to draw attention to themselves — instead, the ministry exists with the sole purpose of supporting Fr. Tom, Fr. Blickhan, and Deacon Cramer. The sisters are asked to pray for the priest’s physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs. Bonnie’s Seven Sisters group gets together periodically. They have also taken Fr. Tom out for lunch a few times. As Bonnie notes, this ministry also benefits all those involved. It allows for extra time in prayer at the service of someone else. She would invite anyone to start another group of seven. It’s been a huge blessing to her life. “The Holy Spirit pushed me to get involved in this ministry,” Bonnie says.
If you would like to learn more about the Seven Sisters Apostolate, or get involved, please call Bonnie Grist at 217-222-7344. 6
Valentine’s Day
The Feast of a Christian Martyr
C
andy, flowers, romantic dinners, and excuses for wooing are the common traditions we associate with the once-pagan holiday known as Valentine’s Day. Dangling cupids, candy “message” hearts, and faux longstemmed roses clutter every card store, waiting for that lastminute purchase. The question is — how did this over-commercialized holiday really begin? There are a few stories surrounding the history of Feb. 14 and St. Valentine himself, all dating back to the Roman Empire. The 14th day of February was a day set aside to honor the goddess Juno, queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. The following day, Feb. 15, began the feast of Lupercalia — a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. As part of the festival traditions, there was a name drawing among the young people. The names of young Roman women were written on slips of paper and placed into a jar. Each young man would draw a young
woman’s name from the jar, and the two would be partners for the duration of the festival. Sometimes the pairing lasted an entire year, and often, the couple would fall in love and later marry. At the time, Emperor Claudius II was involved in many bloody
and unpopular campaigns, and he was having a difficult time recruiting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that soldiers were reluctant to join because they did not want to leave their loves or families. continued on back cover
Before his death, it is said that St. Valentine left a note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine.” Although the truth behind the St. Valentine’s legend is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and, most importantly, romantic figure. 7
St. Anthony of padua
2223 St. Anthony Rd. | Quincy, IL 62305 217-222-5996 | www.stanthonypadua.org
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St. Dominic School of St. Anthony of Padua Parish 4100 Columbus Road | Quincy, IL 62305 | 217-224-0041
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Valentine’s Day
With this in mind, Claudius decreed all marriages and engagements cancelled in Rome. During this time, St. Valentine was a priest in Rome, and he and St. Marius secretly married young couples. For this, St. Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who sentenced him to be beaten and then executed by beheading. He suffered this martyrdom on Feb. 14, around the year 270 AD. Before his death, it is said that St. Valentine left a note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine.” Although the truth behind the St. Valentine’s legend is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and, most importantly, romantic figure. It is no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France. Over time, Feb. 14 became a time for lovers to exchange sweet messages, making St. Valentine the patron saint of lovers. The date was often
continued from page 7 commemorated with the sending of poems and simple gifts. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that Feb. 14 was the beginning of the avian mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of February — Valentine’s Day — should be a day for romance.
