The Courier - August 2020

The

COURIER

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

August 15

Mapping It Out August 2020

Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org

How to Intimately Learn Catholicism

By CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

From usccb.org

�ifteen years after Richard Louv’s bestseller The Last

Child in the Woods was published, it is more relevant than ever. I’m fascinated by his insights on the “naturedeficit disorder” ailing kids.

I was struck by a passage about his 1950s Midwestern childhood: “I knew my woods and my fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten dirt paths. I wandered those woods even in my dreams.”

His knowledge of that place was so intimate, so vivid that it continued in his dreams, flashing like a movie reel. I want that for my kids, an elixir for the hightech, low-attention world forming young minds.

Louv sees it the same way. “Nature is reflected in our capacity for wonder,” he wrote.

Shortly after I started reading Louv, I came upon a book that put legs on my yearning. Make Map Art: Creatively Illustrate Your World, written by the sisterbrother pair Salli Swindell and Nate Padavick, is a tool kit to turn readers into map makers – complete with compasses, cartouches, legends and landmarks.

Salli and Nate’s line art is folksy and simple. Their lines are not parallel. Their squiggles don’t always connect. The goal is not perfection. It is, in fact, imperfection – evidence that the maps are hand drawn, not computer generated.

USCCB: Weakened Fair Housing Rule Fails to Promote Dignity of Human Person

A map bursts with old-timey charm. When was the last time you pulled out a map from the glove compartment and used it as a guide?

Salli and Nate’s maps feel nostalgic and whimsical, like an invitation to silence the phone and study nature.

Maps “define our place in the world, inspire daydreaming and ignite the wanderlust in all of us,” they wrote.

“Maps are about remembering.”

Yes! Suddenly I was compelled to map out the island Mapping, cont'd on pg. 4

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2020 – Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it would terminate the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation (AFFH) issued in 2015 and replace it with a new rule on fair housing titled Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Charities USA filed comments in March 2020 on HUD’s proposed changes to the AFFH rule. The comments urged HUD to withdraw the proposed rule because it weakens the definition of AFFH, fails to address barriers to fair housing, reduces community engagement, and diminishes the role of Public Housing Authorities.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, chairHousing, cont'd on pg. 4

INSIDE this issue

Preparations Underway... page 5

Reaching Out to 'Nones' in Your Family page 6

'Pray and Love: This Is What We Must Do' page 7

2

Pope to Youth: 'Send a Hug' to the Elderly

Articles of Interest

Preparations Underway...____________________5 Reaching Out to 'Nones' in Your Family_____6 'Pray and Love: This Is What We Must Do'___7 Little Sisters Have Big Win...______________8

The Courier Insider

Australian Catholic Students..._______________9 Build the Kingdom_______________________10 ...Reopening Our Catholic Schools___________11 What Is a Parish?_________________________12 The Abolition of Man and Woman_______13 Diocesan Headlines_______________________14

The Holy Father's Intention for

August 2020

By COURTNEY MARES

VATICAN CITY, July 26, 2020 (CNA) - Pope Francis asked young people Sunday to reach out to the elderly, especially those in nursing homes, to send a message of encouragement amid the loneliness of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the memory of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, I would like to invite young people to make a gesture of tenderness towards the elderly, especially the most lonely ones in homes and residences, those who have not seen their loved ones for many months,” Pope Francis said after the Angelus prayer on July 26.

“Dear young people, each of these elderly people are your grandparents. Do not leave them alone. … They are your roots,” the pope added.

Pope Francis suggested that young people can use the “inventiveness of love” to “send a hug” to an elderly person in their community by making a phone or video call, sending a card, or making a visit when safety measures allow.

The Roman Catholic Church commemorates Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary, on July 26. They have been a part of the Church’s liturgical calendar for many centuries.

The pope said that their memorial is an opportunity to give grandparents “a big round of applause.” Connection with one’s roots is important, he said, quoting the Argentine poet Francisco Luis Bernárdez, who wrote: “The blossom of a tree comes from what it has

underground.”

Reflecting on Sunday’s Gospel, Pope Francis said that Jesus “proposes to involve us in the building of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

He pointed to the example of the merchant who finds the pearl of great price and the person who finds treasure buried in a field in Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Matthew.

“Both the man and the merchant in these two parables sell everything they have, thus renouncing their material security,” he said.

“From this it can be understood that the building of the Kingdom requires not only the grace of God, but also the active willingness of humanity.”

“Everything is done by grace, everything!

We need only have the willingness to receive it, not to resist grace: grace does everything, but it takes my responsibility, my willingness,” he said.

Today people’s lives can become “mediocre and dull” when a person is content with “attractive but fleeting things” and does not go in search of real treasure, the pope said.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is the opposite of the superfluous things that the world offers, the opposite of a dull life: it is a treasure that renews life every day and leads it to extend towards wider horizons. Indeed, those who have found this treasure have a creative and inquisitive heart, which does not repeat but rather invents, tracing and setting out on new paths which lead us to love God, to love others,

The Courier is the official publication of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester 55 West Sanborn, P.O. Box 588, Winona, MN 55987 Vol 111 - 8

Most Reverend John M. Quinn, Publisher Matt Willkom, Editor Nick Reller, Associate Editor Telephone: 507-858-1257 Fax:507-454-8106 E-mail: nreller@dowr.org Publishing Schedule: Monthly - Deadline for advertising & articles is the 10th of the month prior.

(ISSN 0744-5490) August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Hug, cont'd on pg. 14

The Maritime World We pray for all those who work and live from the sea, among them sailors, fishermen and their families.

Deacon Paul Tschann: appointed to diaconal ministry at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Mazeppa, effective July The Most Rev. John M. Quinn, Bishop 1, 2020. of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, announces the following appointments: Residency

Officials

Rev. Gregory Parrott: assigned to live in residence at the rectory of St. John Rev. Thomas Niehaus: incardinated Vianney Parish in Fairmont, effective into the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and July 14, 2020.

Minneapolis, effective June 16, 2020.

Minnesota Catholic Conference Incardination Mr. Adam Bemmels: appointed to a Deacon Paul Tschann: granted incar- three-year term on the Minnesota dination into the Diocese of Winona- Catholic Conference Education Rochester, effective May 19, 2020.

Committee, effective July 10, 2020.

Parochial Administrator Excardination

Rev. Prince Raja: appointed to the Office of Parochial Administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Adams, St. John the Baptist Parish in Johnsburg, Queen of Peace Parish in Lyle and St. Peter Parish in Rose Creek, effective July 1, 2020.

Diaconal Ministry

Where to Find the Courier

Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hard copies of the Courier are currently not available in our churches.

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Hard copies of the Courier are available in the churches of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester at the first weekend Masses of each month.

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An online version may be viewed at www.dowr.org /offices/ courier/index.html

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To be added to the home delivery list, readers should send their names and addresses to:

Deacon Richard Aho: appointed to diaconal ministry at St. Augustine Parish and St. Edward Parish in Austin, effective July 14, 2020.

Deacon David Blake: appointed to diaconal ministry at Queen of Angels Parish in Austin, effective July 1, 2020.

Child Abuse Policy Information The Diocese of Winona-Rochester will provide a prompt, appropriate and compassionate response to reporters of sexual abuse of a child by any diocesan agent (employees, volunteers, vendors, religious or clergy). Anyone wishing to make a report of an allegation of sexual abuse should call the Victim Assistance Coordinator at 507454-2270, Extension 255. A caller will be asked to provide his or her name and telephone number. Individuals are also encouraged to take their reports directly to civil authorities. The Diocese of Winona-Rochester is committed to protecting children, young people and other vulnerable people in our schools, parishes and ministries. The diocesan policy is available on the diocesan web site at www.dow. org under the Safe Environment Program. If you have any questions about the Diocese of Winona-Rochester’s implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, please contact Mary Hamann at 507-858-1244, or mhamann@dowr.org.

Diocese of Winona-Rochester The Courier 55 W Sanborn St. Winona, MN 55987 or nreller@dowr.org

Mary: Our Spiritual Mother Immaculate Heart of Mary

On September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I will again have the privilege of renewing the consecration of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Through the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which can also be done individually or for a family or parish, we entrust ourselves and all we have and do, to the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Blessed Mother loves us dearly and wants nothing more than for us to be close to her Son, Jesus. Her will is completely united with the will of God, and she knows better than we do what is good and necessary for our salvation.

Under her protection and with her maternal intercession, she can help us along our journey, as we seek to live lives of holiness and virtue.

In these troubling times, when we are beset by a public health crisis, violence and outrage over ongoing systemic racism, and a society that does much to lead us away from God,

Rejoice in Hope Bishop John M. Quinn Bishop's Calendar

Deacons: Icons of Christ the Servant

On August 23, at 2:00 p.m., 11 men will be ordained deacons for the Diocese of WinonaRochester. As members of the clergy, deacons are configured to Jesus Christ the Servant and are sent forth to assist the bishop and his priests with ministry of the Word, Liturgy, and Charity. Once ordained, they will minister in their parishes and communities in our diocese throughout southern Minnesota. This ministry is exercised not only by preaching and teaching the faith, but also especially by reaching out to those in need, who may be on the margins of society. This service of charity can take a wide variety of forms, including prison ministry, visiting and bringing Communion to the homebound, and being active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The ministry of ordained permanent deacons dates all the way back to apostolic times, when men were chosen

August 2, Sunday 3:30 p.m. - Mass and First Profession of Vows - Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George - St. Mary’s Church, Alton, IL

and ordained to care for the poor, especially the widows and orphans. The Second Vatican Council restored the practice of ordaining men as permanent deacons for ministry in the Church, and these 11 men are the third class of permanent deacons ordained in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. I am grateful to the many people who were instrumental in the men’s formation, especially their spouses and families, and I ask for your prayers for these candidates as they finish their final preparations for ordination and begin their ministry as deacons. Those who would like to view the ordination are welcome to watch the livestream of the event, which will be accessible from our diocesan website, and on our Facebook and YouTube pages.

Supreme Court Decisions

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several decisions which have wide-reaching implications for the Church and people of faith. While several of the rulings are victories for religious freedom, the Bostock ruling essentially redefines the meaning of sex to include sexual orientation and sexual identity. In doing so, the court championed the idea that gender is a social construct and can be changed at will, and said that employers are required to treat people according to their preferred gender, and not their biological sex. While the Church is against unjust discrimination, treating someone according to their God-given sex is simply acknowledging a fact of biology.

Employers – whether a Church institution or a private individual – must be free to speak and live according to the truth that God has created us male and female, and that our sexuality is a gift from God and not something to be manipulated. This ruling has already prompted additional lawsuits against institutions unwilling to compromise their religious beliefs, so we must continue to pray and work for religious freedom in our country.

August 15, Saturday 5 p.m. - Final Mass - Assumption Church, Canton

August 3, Monday 10 a.m. - Mass and Final Profession of Vows - Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George - St. Mary’s Church, Alton, IL

August 16, Sunday 2 p.m. - Profession of Perpetual Vows - Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan - Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption, Saginaw, MI

August 14, Friday 2 p.m. - Mass and Installation of Lector and Installation of Acolyte - IHM Seminary, Winona

August 20, Thursday 10:31 a.m. - Guest Speaker on Real Presence Catholic Radio

Fortunately, there were several recent cases where religious freedom was upheld by the Supreme Court, including:

• Little Sisters of the Poor: Even after the federal government recognized the right of this religious order to not include contraceptives in their health care plans, due to their Catholic faith, several states continued to try and force them to do so.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court once again sided with the sisters, ruling that they are free to act in accordance with their religious beliefs.

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Catholic school teachers: In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court recognized the right of Catholic schools to hire teachers who will both teach and live according to the Catholic faith. This is an important victory for religious freedom, as it gives the Church, and not the government, the rightful authority to select who will model and pass on the Catholic faith to our children.

• Blain Amendment: In this case, the state of Montana had barred a tax-credit program for private schools, because some of the funding went to students of religious schools. The Supreme Court ruled that religious organizations should not be discriminated against in programs which are open to all, and if parents choose to send their children to a religious private school vs. a secular private school, they should still be eligible to receive government funds for private school students.

Unfortunately, 37 states, including Minnesota, still have so-called “Blaine Amendments,” which prohibit government aid from going to religious schools. These amendments are a holdover from antiCatholic policies of the 1800’s, when the parochial Catholic schools were seen

1 p.m. - Holy Hour and Bishop's Cabinet Meeting

August 22, Saturday 5 p.m. - Holy Hour and Prayer Vigil with Permanent Diaconate Candidates - Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka, Winona August 23, Sunday 2 p.m. - Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon - Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka, Winona

to be in direct competition with the mostly Protestant public schools.

This victory is good news and a step towards equal treatment for those families who desire to send their children to Catholic school.

Seminarians

3 From the Bishop

�ear Friends in Christ,

we would do well to seek the Blessed Virgin Mary’s help and prayers. I encourage you to consider consecrating yourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary if you have not already done so, or, if you have previously made the consecration, to renew it and strive to deepen your love and devotion to the Blessed Mother as your spiritual mother. This issue of the Courier (pg. 4) contains a copy of the personal prayer of consecration that can be prayed individually, and there are many available resources to aid you in doing the traditional 33-day preparation leading up to the consecration, typically done on a Marian feast day. Two well-known resources are True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort and 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley. Those who have done the consecration will attest to its powerful spiritual effect on their lives and how it has helped them to have an ever deeper relationship with Mary, our spiritual mother.

As we head into the new school year, we are blessed to have twenty young men in formation for the priesthood for the Diocese of WinonaRochester. This year, we will not only have several seminarians at both Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona and Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, but some will also be spending a pre-formation “propaedeutic” year with the seminarians in the Diocese of La Crosse. As these men seek to grow and mature in their relationship with the Lord, our Vocation Director Fr. Jason Kern is working with the seminarians and those involved in their formation to place them in the program that will best assist them in their human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation.

Please keep our seminarians in your prayers, that they may become holy men of God and wisely discern God’s will for their life. Please also continue to encourage other young men to consider the priesthood, as sometimes all it takes is gentle encouragement to be open to the call from our Triune God. Blessed are you!

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Rev. John M. Quinn Bishop of Winona-Rochester

August 27-29, Thursday - Saturday Region VIII Bishops Provincial Meeting Fargo, ND August 29, Saturday 5:15 p.m. - Confirmation - St. Theodore’s Church, Albert Lea August 30, Sunday 10 a.m. - Mass and Installation of a Pastor - Fr. Matthew Wagner - St. Mary Church, Caledonia August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Mapping, 4

Prayer for Personal Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

cont'd from pg. 1

that has become our refuge this summer. We have played beneath its gnarled oaks and soaring eagles. We have felt the pulse of the Mississippi River, the island’s clock, setting a pace entirely our own.

Mapping it out tested my knowledge of the island. You cannot map something if you do not know it well. Google Earth provided a helpful reference. Studying the island’s hooks and nooks made me feel like a girl scout again.

Just as the doodles can be crooked, the landmarks can be quirky. Salli and Nate call it your “personal geography.” So I marked trees that had meaning to us – “bent oak,” “climber,” “eagles perch” – and delineated the “short cut,” “picnic spot” and “garden.”

Salli and Nate point out that anything can be mapped: future goals, passions, memories of your hometown.

It occurred to me what a rewarding challenge it would be to map out Catholicism. Just as a budding arborist turns to a tree field guide, my reference already exists, a comprehensive summary of our faith: the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This book gets a bad rap as a stuffy rulebook.

But it is poetic and probing, a distillation of salvation history, an introduction to saints and Scripture elegantly curated.

The catechism shines a flashlight on life’s biggest questions. What is a soul? See part 1, section 1, paragraph 33. What is the goal of human existence? Refer to part 3, section 1, paragraph 1719.

It is our map of the oldest Christian faith.

My edition is only as tall as my hand, and when I hold it, I feel awe, mindful of the treasures

Housing, cont'd from pg. 1

man of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, and Sister Donna Markham OP, PhD, president & CEO of Catholic Charities USA, issued a statement in response to HUD’s announcement:

HUD’s replacement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule undermines efforts to promote fair housing and human dignity. Discriminatory practices such as redlining, disinvestment from communities, discriminatory practices in selling or renting homes, and racial and economic segregation have undermined fair housing for generations and continue to harm communities of color today. HUD’s new rule minimizes the affirmative responsibility to promote fair housing by removing clear guidance and effective accountability.

Fair housing regulations remain one of the key tools for addressing long standing inequities and historical disadvantages and must be strengthened, not weakened. As the U.S. bishops wrote 45 years ago in The Right to a Decent Home, "an absence of racial discrimination is no longer enough. We must insist upon effective programs to remedy past injustice." Let us renew this call to action to ensure all people have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.

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tucked within.

Wouldn’t it be silly to practice Catholicism and miss out on this excellent guide? Wouldn’t it be ungrateful – irresponsible even – to inherit this faith but pass it up before reading its handbook?

To be a good steward – of land or of faith – is to do your homework, to get to know something well. That knowledge paves the way to gratitude and caretaking. And so just as I study the island this summer, cedar by cedar, I’ll be turning over the catechism, stone by stone.

Christina Capecchi is a writer from Inver Grove Heights. Her Catholic column, Twenty Something, is nationally syndicated.

Bishops to President: Rescind Order Excluding Undocumented in Apportionment of US House Seats

I, ______________, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in your hands, ever Virgin and Immaculate Mother of God, the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before: In the presence of all the Heavenly Court I choose you, this day, oh Mary, for my Mother and Patroness.

I deliver and consecrate to you - to your Immaculate Heart my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to you the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.

I also consecrate to your Immaculate Heart all the members of my family; protect their souls and bodies, their spiritual and physical integrity.

Fulfill in me and through me your heavenly plan for these troubled times.

I want to be an instrument in your hands for The Triumph of Your Immaculate Heart as you have prophesized in Fatima.

Amen.

From usccb.org WASHINGTON, July 22, 2020 – On July 21, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce ordering that undocumented people counted in the 2020 Census be excluded from consideration when determining the number of U.S. Representatives each state is allotted in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration issued the following statement: As we have stated before, we urge all people to be counted and fully included in the Census.

Counting the undocumented in the Census and then denying them and the states in which they

reside their rightful representation in Congress is counter to the Constitution and a grave injustice. Furthermore, such a policy makes people feel invisible and not valued as human beings.

This action is simply wrong and divisive. We follow the lead of Pope Francis, who has noted that in the face of ‘profound and epochal changes’ that the present moment offers ‘a precious opportunity to guide and govern the processes now under way, and to build inclusive societies based on respect for human dignity, tolerance, compassion and mercy.’ We urge the President to rescind this Memorandum and instead, to undertake efforts to protect and heal our nation and all who are living in our country.

To learn more about participation in the U.S. Census and information-sharing visit the Justice for Immigrants website: justiceforimmigrants.org.

Preparations Underway

for a New Formation Year at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary Executive Director Catholic Foundation of Southern Minnesota mherman@catholicfsmn.org

By FR. ROBERT HORIHAN

�or the past several years, the pattern has repeat-

ed: the seniors return first to prepare themselves for their final year in the house; the new seminarians arrive a few days later to begin the orientation program and their experience of priestly formation; and the rest of the men show up after another few days to continue honing their openness to the Lord’s will for their lives. On August 18, 2020, this cycle will recur once again as the men of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary (IHMS) begin to occupy the facility after a longer than usual residential hiatus produced by the COVID19 pandemic.

While there is typically a three-month period in which the seminary is largely unoccupied, save for the faculty priests and a handful of guests now and then, 2020 saw the seminary community disperse not in May but in March as the seminarians returned to their home dioceses to pursue forma-

Congratulations!

Since our kick-off, the following parishes have met their goals for the 2020 Catholic Ministries Appeal:

All Saints New Richland Holy Family Kasson St. Ann Slayton St. Casimir Winona St. Joseph Waldorf St. Luke Sherburn St. Mary Lake Wilson St. Rose of Lima Lewiston

tion in a rather different setting. Formation did not cease, by any means, but the IHMS faculty continued to reach out and provide guidance from a distance, while many of the men lived with priests of their respective dioceses who gave in-person mentoring and support. The Lord certainly did not call a halt to the divine work of stirring up the Spirit in the hearts of these men, even though they were absent from the physical facility of IHMS. At the same time, the seminary community remains a unique and distinctive place for men to come together in one place with the common intention of discovering the Lord’s will for their lives, and thus the faculty of IHMS have been at work during the summer to prepare for a return to onsite formation when the fall semester arrives.

As noted above, the facility will begin to fill up once again on Tuesday, August 18, and by the end of that week, over 50 men from 14 different dioceses will be living in the halls. Of course, given that the world is continuing to grapple with the reality of COVID-19, activity will be carefully monitored to ensure social distancing and other protocols are properly observed, all in an effort to keep the seminarians and those they encounter as safe as possible.

Obviously, though the seminarians will be

Catholic Foundation

Monica Herman

5

Fr. Robert Horihan

returning to the building, the year ahead will hardly be a resumption of the status quo. New procedures will be in place to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19, including the aforementioned social distancing procedures, as well as mask usage, frequent cleaning and sanitation

Preparations, cont'd on pg. 10

Stewardship Saint

Saint Martha One of Jesus' Closest Friends Just before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, his close friends, Martha, her sister, Mary, and brother, Lazarus, entertained Jesus at their home in Bethany (John 12:1-8). Martha “served,” while Mary anointed his feet. It is in the simple statement, “Martha served,” that we recognize Martha for her witness to stewardship. She isn’t a prolific evangelist, she doesn’t work miracles. She simply serves Jesus.

Jesus may have been a frequent visitor to Martha’s home and perhaps this is one of the reasons the Gospel of John reveals to us that “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (11:5). This unique statement in the gospel informs us of the special relationship Jesus had with Martha and her siblings. And, as another one of Jesus’ visits to Martha’s home affirms, Martha continues to be concerned that Jesus be served. Like any good steward, hospitality was very important to Martha (Luke 10:38-42).

What is most revealing about Martha is on the occasion of the death of Lazarus (John 11:144). Martha takes an active role, going out to meet Jesus to let him know what happened to her brother while Mary stays at home. Jesus assures her that Lazarus will be raised from dead.

With courage and conviction, Martha confesses her deep faith in Jesus Christ: “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” And then Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and

the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” When he asked Martha if she believed this, she replied: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:24-27).

The feast of St. Martha, a witness to service who confessed her faith in Jesus, is July 29. She is the patron saint of homemakers, cooks, domestic workers, waiters and waitresses, and hotel employees.

August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Missionary Discipleship

6

Reaching Out to

'Nones' in Your Family

�a have not met anyone who does not have family member who has drifted away

from the Church. Some of them are young.

Some of them are brothers and sisters.

Some of them are spouses. Some of them are angry at the Church. Some of them disagree with certain teachings. Some just don’t see the need to encounter Christ through his Church. All of them are people we love, and we want their happiness.

In a world still in the throes of the pandemic and everything that comes with that, so much of evangelization is harder.

There may be God’s own wisdom in spending time focusing on the people closest to us in this time. But how do we lead drifted family back to an encounter with Christ and a decision to follow him?

This particular month is an especially good month for refocusing on this: August ends with the feast days of two saints who will guide us, St. Monica and St. Augustine of Hippo (August 27 and 28).

Augustine was raised by his faithful mother and pagan father and refused Christianity in dramatic ways in his early adulthood. But he became one of the most prolific converts to the faith ever, and his theology still has an enormous impact on how we practice the faith today.

Monica is the unsung heroine, however—she never stopped praying for her wayward son and reaching out, offering witness, trusting in God, and more. All this in the midst of what was clearly a difficult marriage and her own challenges with addiction. We can—and should—ask for Augustine and Monica’s intercession in our prayers for our drifted family.

I will suggest a novena at the end of this article.

But, what else can we do?

All of my suggestions come from a book that I recommend to all dealing with this challenge, Brandon Vogt’s Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to Church.

(And it works for other family members as well.)

1. Dedicate daily prayer for this person. Seems obvious, but do we do it? Our prayers are used in ways that are mysterious, but powerful. Do this, consistently, before you do anything else.

This can be the novena prayer below, or your own heartfelt prayer, a rosary, etc.

2. Maintain relationship. If you have a good relationship, great. Keep it up. If you don’t, mend it. The following steps happen within relationship.

3. Be a peaceful witness. Life isn’t always easy, but if you can radiate God’s own peace, you open the door to conversation rather than argument.

4. Set a time to talk and hear why he/she doesn’t practice the faith. If your relationship is sound, and you are at peace,

August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

ask this person if they would be willing to tell you why they don’t attend Church anymore.

Make it a “set apart” conversation if you can, over coffee or lunch. Pray “Come, Holy Spirit,” and ask in this way: “I care about you, and I just want to understand you better. Do you mind telling me why you don’t practice the faith anymore? I promise just to listen. Your chance to tell me what you think.” If they agree to share, keep to your word. Be quiet and listen, no reactions, no judgments! Then end by thanking them for sharing this with you. If there are parts of their story you can affirm, do so.

5. Propose a second conversation. “I would really like to share where I am coming from in my walk with God. Would you give me space to do that? Could we do coffee again? I really appreciated hearing this.” And if she/he are willing, set it up. Note: you are offering to share your story of why you believe in God and practice the faith through his Church. This is witness, not apologetics. There is a place for apologetics, but not in this first conversation—you want to affirm relationship, not arguments.

6. Finally, what happens next depends on the person’s challenges with the faith and openness to more conversation. If he or she is open and has issues with a Church teaching, find someone who can respond to that in charity. If it is a matter of time management, see if you can help with that or encourage him/ her to make time. If your loved one doesn’t see the point of attending Church, talk about the Eucharist. One tip: often people who have intellectual problems with the faith are not going to return based on responses. They need to know Jesus Christ first, and, when they do, Christ will help them through their intellectual problems. First things first.

If your family member is unresponsive to all of this, back off a little (you don’t want to be perceived as a nag) and increase your prayer. If this person lives with you, one of my favorite prayers is to pray over the person’s pillow and ask God to send that person dreams of Jesus Christ he or she cannot ignore. And remember that God wants your family member to return more than you do: He is on the job, so be at peace.

Southern Minnesota: let’s pray this novena [text box to the right] together this month.

Susan Windley-Daoust

Director of Missionary Discipleship swindley@dowr.org

Novena Prayer to Ss. Monica and Augustine August 19-28 St. Monica, you believed that Jesus Christ had a plan for your life and for your husband and your children. In periods of great personal trial, you persevered and did not waver in your confidence that God would save your family. Your husband encountered the Lord on his death bed, and your son Augustine repented of rejecting your faith, and devoted his life to Jesus Christ. I ask for your powerful intercession, to join your prayer with mine for ___________.

St. Augustine, you know how difficult life is without the peace of Jesus Christ. You shared your misery and many attempts to find something other than God to fulfill your deepest desires. You shared your joy in finding your way home through the grace of God. I ask for your powerful intercession, to join your prayer with mine for _____________.

Almighty God, out of love, I ask you to help him/her return to You through Jesus Christ and his Church, for his/her happiness, healing, and salvation. In Jesus’ name I pray— Amen.

This Is What We Must Do' Todd Graff

Director of Lay Formation & RCIA tgraff@dowr.org

Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us…. The consciousness that, in Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto death, must inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for him, and, with him, for others. Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ.

-Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, #1, #33

� reetings of Peace, and Blessings in these Summer Days!

I was having a phone conversation the other day with one of my older sons, and he was lamenting that, early in this COVID-19 pandemic, we had discussed our hope that this scourge might be something that could bring our country together and unite us. And, now, we have seen how even a pandemic that has taken over 130,000 American lives (and counting) could still be ‘weaponized’ as a source of partisanship and political polarization. Few things speak more clearly to the spiritual poverty of our nation than this.

For most of this summer, I have been on a voluntary furlough from my work with the diocese due to the circumstances relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

This has given me a chance to spend a little more time reading, reflecting, and praying.

While I continue to marvel at the beauty of our world, and the wonder of our human dignity, I have to admit that there is much that saddens me in the time we’re living. It is clear to me that anger, fear, resentment, contempt, and hatred are strong motivators for human thinking and acting. And, these can be exploited and manipulated in the most clever and masterful of ways by the technological tools available to us. Original sin clearly marks our human experience, and the evil one knows well how to divide us from our loving God, and from one another.

Christians, of course, have the antidote to this poison within our faith tradition. It is the way of selfsacrificial love demonstrated by our Crucified Lord as he hung on the Cross for our salvation. But, sadly, I

believe that this same poison that has so sickened the political and civic culture around us has also found its way to infect our Church and to divert our attention, and to turn our hearts, from the God who is Love (Deus Caritas Est).

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Catholic ministry and well-known author, teacher, and evangelist, recently posted a YouTube video on, “Social Media and the Catholic Culture of Contempt.” In it, he describes the “vitriol, negativity, personal attacks, and outright calumny that come regularly from selfprofessed Catholics,” and of the “hateful, vituperative, venomous words” that have been written to and about him on social media sites by fellow Catholics. He speaks of such expressions of “mean-spirited mob action” within the Catholic community as being “dismaying and disedifying in the extreme.”

Perhaps most distressing, he attests to how this spirit of utter contempt for one another within the Church is a very potent “counter witness” to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a society which so desperately needs the mercy, love, and compassion of the Body of Christ.

A particularly painful expression of this for me has been the public and well coordinated attacks on our Holy Father by many prominent Catholic figures, web sites, and media sources. The lack of charity and respect for Pope Francis, and for his office, is a source of very deep sadness to me. Through many years of service in the Church, never have I witnessed such utter disregard for the teaching and pastoral leadership of a pope. It is dismaying, misguided, and undermining of Catholic teaching and tradition!

So, where to look for guidance in such troubled times for our world, and for our Church?... Not surprisingly for those who know me, I will turn to Pope Francis himself.

In a stirring and beautiful homily given this past February at a church gathering in Italy, Pope Francis reflected on the gospel reading taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Speaking to Jesus’ command to, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44), our Holy Father offers us this path of Christian discipleship: Pray and love: this is what we must do; and not only with regard to those who love us, not only with regard to our friends or our own people. The love of Jesus knows no boundaries or barriers. The Lord demands of us the courage to have a love that does not count the cost. Because the measure of Jesus is love without measure. How many times have we neglected that demand, behaving like everyone else! Yet his commandment of love is not simply a challenge; it is the very heart of the Gospel. Where

the command of universal love is concerned, let us not accept excuses or preach prudent caution. The Lord was not cautious; he did not yield to compromises. He asks of us the extremism of charity. This is the only legitimate kind of Christian extremism: the extremism of love (Pope Francis, Homily at the “Mediterranean: Frontier of Peace” meeting in Bari, Italy / February 23, 2020).

7 Lay Formation & RCIA

'Pray and Love:

If following the path of Christian love sounds too vague or idealistic of a solution, then I would suggest that we meditate on where it led Jesus – on the road to Calvary and to the Cross. It was there that Jesus taught us the way of love, which is the way of forgiveness, of self-sacrifice, of bearing another’s burdens, of absorbing evil without retaliation, of accepting suffering as redemptive – and, ultimately, of salvation. As Pope Francis reminds us, “[Jesus] did not point a finger at those who wrongfully condemned him and put him to a cruel death, but opened his arms to them on the cross. And he forgave those who drove the nails into his wrists (cf.

Lk 23:33-34).”

It is a path we will only be able to walk with grace and in prayer. Our Holy Father encourages and guides us in this: “Ask God for the strength to love. Say to him: ‘Lord, help me to love, teach me to forgive. I cannot do it alone, I need you.’”

I will conclude by returning to my recent phone call with my son… Our conversation didn’t end on a note of despair. Despite the divisiveness which even a pandemic couldn’t help to heal in our country, he told me that he would continue to hope, to care for those around him, and to focus on the positive change he could make in his circle of work and community, and among his family and friends. Thank you for continuing to choose love, my son! Deo Gratias!

Today let us choose love, whatever the cost, even if it means going against the tide. Let us not yield to the thinking of this world, or content ourselves with half measures. Let us accept the challenge of Jesus, the challenge of charity. Then we will be true Christians and our world will be more human.

- Pope Francis, Homily in Bari, Italy, 2/23/2020

August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Life, Marriage & Family

8

Little Sisters Have Big Win in Supreme Court Decision

WASHINGTON D.C., July 8, 2020 (CNA) - The Little Sisters of the Poor had a victory at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, nine years into the religious order’s bouts of litigation over the Obama-era “contraception mandate” which obliged employers to provide for contraceptive coverage for employees through their health care plans.

“For over 150 years, the Little Sisters have engaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated by a religious calling to surrender all for the sake of their brother,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority.

“But for the past seven years, they—like many other religious objectors who have participated in the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today’s decision— have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Courage Apostolate Publishes Online Chaplain's Handbook

By KEVIN JONES

DENVER, July 29, 2020 (CNA) - The Catholic apostolate Courage has published online the latest edition of its chaplain’s handbook to better help clergy and others ministering to people with same-sex attractions and their families.

“Since we believe that the handbook can be helpful to many people involved in ministry, not only those who are formally serving as Courage or EnCourage chaplains, we wanted to make it as accessible as possible,” Father Phillip Bochanski told CNA July 28.

The Courage apostolate aims to help people with same-sex attractions practice their Catholic faith and live according to Church teaching. It was founded in New York by Father John F. Harvey, OSFS in 1980 at the request of then-Archbishop of New York Cardinal Terence Cooke. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Courage meeting, held Sept. 26, 1980.

The apostolate’s goals are chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, and good example.

A partner organization, EnCourage, was launched in 1985. It aims to provide spiritual support for parents, spouses, and other relatives of people who have same-sex attractions or identify as LGBT. Its goals similarly emphasize prayer and dedication, but also formation, charity, unity and witness.

The 40th anniversary edition of the Courage August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Peter Martin

Director of Faith Formation and Life, Marriage & Family pmartin@dowr.org

In a 7-2 decision, the Court’s majority sided with the sisters in the latest round of lawsuits against them over the mandate, this time brought by the states of Pennsylvania and California, who argued that the exemption crafted by the Trump administration for organizations with religious or moral objections to the mandate shifted the cost of providing contraceptive coverage to the states and was procedurally flawed.

“We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption,” the majority found. “We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects.”

The near decade-long court battle of the Little Sisters of the Poor dates back to 2011, when the Obama administration required employers to provide

and EnCourage chaplain’s handbook is now publicly available at the Courage website, couragerc.org.

Previously, the handbook was only distributed within the apostolate.

Bochanski has served at Courage International since 2015, and as executive director since 2017. For him, the 40th anniversary year of Courage is a time to be “mindful of the rich legacy we received from our founding members.”

Courage founder Father Harvey had invited the first members to compose the Courage goals themselves.

“The language and priority of the goals comes directly from the needs and desires of our founding generation,” said Bochanski. “Revising and expanding the handbook, and structuring it on a discussion of the goals, seemed the perfect way to celebrate our legacy and to hand it on to the next generation of Courage and EnCourage members.”

The handbook’s latest edition is an opportunity “to present the insights we have received over the past four decades, both from the rich development of the Church’s pastoral teaching, and from the shared experience of our members.”

It is the first edition to have an entire section dedicated to the EnCourage apostolate. Despite the similar structures of Courage and EnCourage meetings, Bochanski said, their members have different experiences, questions and needs.

The handbook has a Jubilee prayer for the Courage and EnCourage apostolates. It discusses topics like establishing a Courage chapter, publicizing local chapters, guidelines for the use of personal testimonies, questions of sexual identity and gender identity discordance, and collaboration with other groups.

cost-free coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations, and “emergency birth control” in employee health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Although the Obama administration granted an “accommodation” to the Little Sisters and other objecting religious non-profits, the sisters sued the government in 2013 saying the process still required them to essentially give a “permission slip” for contraceptive coverage to be delivered through their health plans.

In 2016, a divided Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts and instructed both the administration and the non-profits to reach a compromise where cost-free contraceptive coverage could still be offered to employees while respecting the moral objections of religious groups.

In 2017, the Trump administration granted a religious and moral exemption to the mandate for the sisters and other objecting groups, but then the states of Pennsylvania and California filed lawsuits saying that the burden of providing coverage was being shifted onto the states and claiming that the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act in setting up the exemption.

The Supreme Court took up their case against the states in January, hearing arguments by phone in April following the coronavirus pandemic.

The handbook includes Catholic teaching on same-sex attractions and sexual morality: excerpts from the Catechism on the Catholic Church; documents from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2006 document Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care. The U.S. bishops’ document is included in the print edition of the handbook, but not in the internet version due to reasons of copyright.

Bochanski said making the chaplain’s handbook public would help respond to false understandings of the work of the Courage apostolate.

He said “there are more than a few people in the Church and in the wider society who have misunderstandings, or have been told deliberate mischaracterizations, of our approach to ministry.”

“Some individuals and groups opposed to the Church’s teaching use such mischaracterizations in an attempt to discredit our apostolate or marginalize it,” he continued. “I am hopeful that, by posting the Handbook online, we will have a greater opportunity to speak for ourselves to anyone interested in understanding our approach, and in doing so finally put these misunderstandings to rest.”

The latest handbook edition was drafted with comment from Courage staff, members and chaplains of Courage and EnCourage, the apostolate’s board of directors, bishops on its episcopal board, and diocesan staff responsible for granting church approval and imprimaturs.

Bochanski characterized the handbook as “the work of many hands, minds and hearts.”

Handbook, cont'd on pg. 15

Australian Catholic Students Urge Bishops to 'Reject Unambiguously' Women's Ordination Director of Youth & Young Adults, alofy@dowr.org

CNA STAFF, July 20, 2020 (CNA) - Australian Catholic students have sent an open letter to the country’s bishops ahead of the upcoming Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in the country, urging the bishops to remain committed to the Church’s teaching and reject calls for the ordination of women.

“Many submissions to the Plenary Council have made the laudable recommendation that women be more effectively integrated into the existing governing structures of the Church,” says the letter, which was signed by more than 200 students and alumni associated with the Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA).

The lead signatory was the president of the ACSA, Alexander Kennedy.

“However, it was with great sadness that we note many submissions have called for a change to the very constitution of the Church also willed by Christ,” they added. “We call on the Plenary Council

Ministry Leaders to Examine Engagement with Young People From usccb.org

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2020 - On Saturday, July 25, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, in collaboration with other offices at the USCCB and joined by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFYCM), will convene a yearlong intercultural process with young adults and ministry leaders.

The initiative, entitled Journeying Together, is meant to explore the Church’s engagement with young people of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and mobilize the faithful on issues and concerns related to culture and race in the United States. It is based on Pope Francis’ call for encounter and dialogue in his 2019 apostolic

exhortation Christus Vivit. Due to health concerns with the novel coronavirus, the initiative will primarily take place online from July 2020 through May 2021, with an anticipated live gathering next summer, pending health and safety directives.

The process will feature intracultural and intercultural digital gatherings and conversations with young adult delegates and key ministry leaders from different cultural communities including African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, European Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, and Native Americans, as well as immigrant groups, migrants, and refugees. The conversations will be facilitated by young adults in response to Pope Francis’ encouragement of young people to be “protagonists” in the Church’s mission of evangelization. The initiative, led by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, will include collaboration with the USCCB’s Secretariat for Catholic Education; Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis; and Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, and chairman of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, said of this initiative, “This dialogue comes at an incredibly important time in our nation’s history where we find ourselves

any tokenistic program or powerwrangling we have seen in some of the Plenary submissions.”

The letter was also critical of certain assumptions about the path young people wish to see the Church take in the coming years.

“Young people desire an authentic relationship with Christ; this will not be facilitated by a committee,” said the letter. “We believe true reform of the Church will not come from merely shifting resources from one committee to another, but in the rediscovery of, conviction about, and love for the Catholic faith by every Catholic.”

Some papers have called for what the ACSA letter described as “the dilution of truths of the faith,” which they say “stand to alienate young people and society at large.”

“Why should anyone take the doctrine and mysteries of Christ and His Church seriously if her members do not,” they asked.

“We call on the Plenary Council to recommit the Church in Australia to the timeless truths of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Church for twenty centuries,” said the letter.

Youth & Young Adults

Aaron Lofy

and the Bishops of Australia to reject unambiguously all calls for the ordination of women.”

The Fifth Plenary Council is scheduled to take place on October 3-10, 2021, in Adelaide, Australia, followed by a second assembly July 4-9, 2022 in Sydney. The dates were pushed back from their original schedule in October 2020 and mid2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The students' letter explained that they fully support the respect owed to the roles women play in the Church, but that they, like St. Pope John Paul II and his successors, do not believe that these roles extend to ordination to the priesthood.

Instead, they have “wholehearted support for the integration of women into even more prominent roles in areas such as sacred theology, communications, evangelization and (insofar as lay people are able) governance.”

ACSA Vice President Claudia Tohi added that “This letter expresses our longing to share Christ with others unashamed, with clarity and with the help of our leaders.”

“Truth,” said Tohi, “is not determined by the mood of the times, nor is it a mere abstract concept. Truth is a person, the Son of God who gave up His life for the salvation of all humankind.”

The emphasis on the lay vocation, they said, would be “far more encouraging of women than

9

engaged in a serious conversation about race and racism, with calls for meaningful and lasting social reform, a movement led in large part by young people across the country and around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic also has affected communities of color most significantly. Over the course of the next year, it is my hope that we can have honest conversations on these and other issues impacting young people and on how we can move ahead on the important questions of race, culture, and community. We have been very intentional about making sure every cultural family has their voice represented and a seat at the table as we journey together. The bishops are looking forward to learning from the young people and those who accompany them.”

The delegates within the Journeying Together process, including bishops, young adults, and local ministry leaders, will seek to involve their peers in the dialogue and mobilization aspects of this yearlong experience. The goal of the initiative is to help the Church better engage and respond to the realities facing young people of all cultural backgrounds.

For more information about the process, go to www.usccb.org/journey2020.

oly Spirit, comforter of hearts, A Prayer for Healing Victims of Abuse �ear the cries of our brothers and sisters � heal your people's wounds

�od of endless love,

ever caring, ever strong, always present, always just: You gave your only Son to save us by his blood on the cross.

�entle Jesus, shepherd of peace, join to your own suffering

the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

who have been gravely harmed,

and the cries of those who love them.

Soothe their restless hearts with hope, steady their shaken spirits with faith.

Grant them justice for their cause, enlightened by your truth.

and transform brokenness into wholeness.

Grant us the courage and wisdom, humility and grace, to act with justice.

Breathe wisdom into our prayers and labors.

Grant that all harmed by abuse may find peace in justice.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. ©2014, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

10

Build the Kingdom �his past week I was reflecting on the

Vocations

fact that I have become frustrated with the way things are. I certainly have my political, ecclesial, and societal opinions, but my point is not so much to lament my areas of disagreement with this or that decision or group of people, but rather I am experiencing an overall frustration and perhaps disappointment or grief over the way things are in the world.

It is easy to dismiss by simply stating, "Well, things were bad in this century or that one too." And, while I am not dismissing the historical fact of societal change and the reality of every age having its own particular struggles, I am simply admitting my own need to suffer the frustration at the state of things in our world. By just acknowledging the struggles, I already have come to terms with the fact that I am not in control and need to both accept reality and surrender it into the hands of God. However, it is insufficient to admit my powerlessness without admitting my potential to be a source for good in the world as well. Just as I cannot control the problems, I also cannot control the solutions, but I can have a particular influence

Preparations,

with the people God has put in my path; I can have honest and candid conversations with them, neither just complaining nor going forward blindly with the way things are.

The Catholic Christian is called today to have a particular ability to discern both the good and the bad as we make our way in the world, but we are also called to particular action in both the spiritual and the physical world in which we live. Through prayer, fasting, and living in the sacramental life of the Church, we are already participating in a mystical reality of uniting our intentions for the world in prayer. We have to see the truth of the power of this reality and the good it confers. Along with our spiritual sacrifices, we must continue to truly understand and decipher how God is calling each of us in a unique way to build up the Kingdom of God. As society continues to demonstrate unrest and discord, we must be agents of stability, hope, and peace witnessed in our love for Jesus Christ.

We must be rooted in truth which always guides us through confusion and misinformation. We must learn to serve and understand rather than just lamenting the problems put before us in society.

By learning to let Jesus be the way of our joy, the truth of our stability, and the life that sustains us in hope, we can learn the art of living in gratitude for God and for His constant work in our lives, as “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose

Rev. Jason Kern Director of Vocations jkern@dowr.org

(Rom. 8:28).”

God calls us to let Him be our Shepherd when we feel afraid or distressed. God continues to use even the worst of times to bring about the salvation of those who hope in him.

A testimony to this hope is that at the time of writing this article, we are preparing to accept our seventh new seminarian for the fall of 2020. God is calling young men with particular gifts to serve the Church in our time. They need formation because the culture has also sold them the same false goods so many of our young people have come to buy into, but they are ready to live a counter-cultural life for Jesus Christ. By adding seven men, we will be blessed to have 20 young men in seminary formation for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. Will you please pray for these men who have felt this call by God? They look at the problems in society and the world and wonder what their experience of the Church will be when they are ordained. May their hearts be encouraged to live for Jesus and to serve His Church, the People of God.

cont'd from pg. 5

practices, and careful monitoring of visitors. By engaging in such efforts, the seminary community hopes to serve not only her own members but also the wider society by investing in the common work of combatting the virus that has so dramatically impacted the world which we all share.

Of course, alongside these new procedures will be the practice of the familiar and time-tested hallmarks of the formation process: the daily celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours; frequent personal prayer and communion with the Lord; regular conversations between formation faculty and seminarians; fraternity among the men, expressed especially in shared meals; and classes and conferences exploring various facets of the work of discernment and the priestly life, to name but a few. All of this activity is meant to aid the men of this community—both priests and seminarians—in keeping their “eyes fixed on Jesus” (cf. Hebrews 12:2) so that they may respond to his promptings in every situation and give themselves generously to him in the service of the world’s salvation.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary serves seminarians from: Archdiocese of Milwaukee Diocese of Cheyenne Diocese of Crookston

August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

L to R: IHM Vice-Rector Fr. Martin Schaefer, Bishop John M. Quinn and IHM Rector Fr. Robert Horihan

Diocese of Duluth Diocese of Gary Diocese of Green Bay Diocese of Madison Diocese of Marquette Diocese of Peoria Diocese of Rapid City Diocese of Saint Cloud Diocese of Sioux City

Diocese of Sioux Falls Diocese of Winona-Rochester

We are excited to welcome the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, to the list of dioceses we serve.

Fr. Robert Horihan is the rector of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona.

Guidelines for

Reopening Our Catholic Schools 11 �he final months of the 2019-2020 Catholic school

year presented challenges and frustrations never experienced before. The good news is that our Catholic schools have realized we are adaptable; students and teachers are more resilient than ever, and, collectively, the Domestic Church is alive and well. Therefore, reopening schools for the 20202021 school year, in the midst of this pandemic, is critical for all our communities. Schools have a tremendous role in the health, well-being, growth, academic learning and spiritual development of their students and families.

We anticipate that COVID-19 will continue to circulate. It is imperative that everyone in the school community take steps to reduce transmission and provide our schools an opportunity to reopen safely. To ensure the safety of our staff and students, the five greater Minnesota diocesan superintendents collaborated as a task force to create guidelines and protocols for Catholic schools to implement, as well as recommendations that promote education, health and safety.

Bishops Back School Choice Funding Bill

By Christine Rousselle

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 28, 2020 (CNA) - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has offered its support for a new school funding bill, as Catholic schools grapple with the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The School Choice Now Act would provide onetime funding to scholarship-granting organizations, who would be authorized to allocate those funds to parents. The funds could be spent on private school tuition or expenses associated with homeschooling.

Parents would be able to pick whatever educational institution they think is best for their child.

Catholic schools have endured a “triple whammy” this spring, Jennifer Daniels, the associate director for public policy in the USCCB’s secretariat for Catholic education, told CNA on Tuesday.

This “triple whammy” is families losing jobs, the suspension of Masses and their Sunday collections to offset tuition costs, and the cancellation of spring fundraisers.

“All of those things had a severe impact on a school’s bottom line budget,” Daniels explained.

“We’ve seen thus far that 138 Catholic schools announced permanent closure already. And through some internal surveys we did, we found approximately 10% of schools were still uncertain about their ability to open in the fall.”

If that number remained true across Catholic schools, said Daniels, 500 Catholic schools are at risk of not reopening.

Catholic Schools

Marsha Stenzel

Superintendent of Catholic Schools mstenzel@dowr.org

received from the state and federal govThe following areas were addressed: Operational Practices, Health and Well Being, ernment agencies as well as Catholic Curriculum and Instruction, and Creating and Mutual and the American Academy of Maintaining Community. These guidePediatrics. lines can be found on the DOW-R A long-distance learning website (dowr.org) and each DOW-R We ask each plan is also being prepared Catholic school’s website. The docu- of you for in the event the in-school ment is named COVID-19 Preparedness model will be mandated to Guidance: A Path of Students’ Return to your prayers close by county, state or fedSchool Fall 2020. for the entire eral regulations.

Reopening our Catholic schools will The education of our rely on careful observance of the COVID- Catholic school children, in collaboration 19 Preparedness Guidance. The next community with parents and guardians steps include school reopening comas the primary educators, is mittees to develop the school-level pro- during this foundational to the mission cess and procedures to implement the unprecedented of the Church. Values and requirements listed in the document. morals are learned through Individual schools will respond with an time. both hardship and opportuaction plan for each of the four areas nities. The environment of listed within the guidelines. School leaders are our Catholic schools helps our students required to confirm their action plan is consisgrow in their faith. We ask each of you for your tent with the requirements of the Preparedness prayers for the entire Catholic school commuGuidance Plan. Action plans will be available for nity during this unprecedented time. We thank our all stakeholders to view on each individual school priests, administrators, teachers, and staff memwebsite. When implemented at the school level, the bers who sacrifice their time and efforts for the DOW-R guidance will foster a culture of health and education of our children. Thank them for their safety in order to keep all of our children, employleadership and love as we entrust them with the ees, and community safe and healthy. education of our children. Together, with Christ at Additional guidance from the Office of Catholic the center, our Catholic schools will continue to be Schools will take place at weekly administrative places of spiritual, academic, social, and emotional Zoom meetings. The guidance will be updated when additional information and requirements are development.

In an email campaign, the USCCB requested that Catholics contact their senators to encourage them to support the bill.

“Please join the USCCB in asking the U.S. Senate to include additional relief for Catholic schools in the emergency relief package currently being negotiated,” says the campaign “As the Senate prepares its next aid bill, we ask that the next COVID relief package include immediate assistance to families through federally-funded scholarships.”

The bill is sponsored by Sens. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) and Lamar Alexander (R-South Carolina).

The bill would also provide federal tax credits for those who contribute to scholarship-granting organizations, as well as permit states to “create their own tax credit scholarship program that works for the unique needs of students in their state.”

"All parents, regardless of income or circumstance, should be able to decide which school best meets their child’s needs, whether that school is public or private," Alexander, chairman of the Senate education committee, said in a statement published July 22.

"The School Choice Now Act provides scholarships to students to have the opportunity to return to the private school they attended before the pandemic—and gives other students a new opportunity to attend private school,” he added.

Daniels told CNA that she was in favor of the payments to families, rather than direct support to schools, as schools primarily rely on enrollment figures.

“We want to give families certainty

to re-enroll their children in our schools, and give families the resources they need to make the best decisions for their children,” she said.

In some states, public schools are either not opening for in-person classes, or are adopting a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction, while private schools are planning on operating as normal. This is prompting some parents to consider switching to private schools or homeschool.

The Diocese of Manchester, which will be having in-person classes in the fall, is even offering a partial scholarship to anyone who transfers to a diocesean school from a non-Catholic school.

Congress needs to move fast on this, said Daniels, as the start of the school year is only a few days away in parts of the country.

“The bishops themselves have been highly engaged. The staff with the USCCB has been highly engaged in trying to get federal help for our Catholic schools for months,” she said.

“We really need Congress to act as quickly and swiftly as possible, in order to get that aid out as quickly as possible to our families.”

August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Ask a Canon Lawyer

12

What Is a Parish? �or readers of the Courier, it might

seem silly to ask, “what is a parish?"

After all, the parish is where most of us find our primary spiritual “home” and community, and where we have our most direct experience of the Catholic faith. But we can still learn a lot from looking at how canon law understands the concept of a parish.

The Local Church

To get a sense of what a parish is, it’s helpful to first go back and look at how canon law defines a diocese.

Canon 369 tells us:

A diocese is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop for him to shepherd with the cooperation of the presbyterium [i.e., the priests serving under the direction of the bishop], so that, adhering to its pastor and gathered by him in the Holy Spirit through the gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative.

The Church’s diocesan structure is overwhelmingly based on geography or location, similar to the way that the United States of America is broken up into individual regional states. This harkens back to the predominantly local character of the early Church. For instance, when St. Paul writes to the Church in Corinth or Ephesus in the New Testament, he’s actually writing to the precursors of our modern dioceses.

Canon 374 §1 goes on to say: Every diocese or other particular church is to be divided into distinct parts or parishes.

So, if a diocese is a portion of the people of God, then a parish is a portion of a portion of the people of God. Canon 515 §1 further elaborates:

A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a parish priest as its proper pastor under the authority of the diocesan bishop.

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Who Belongs to a Parish?

There is such a thing in canon law as a “personal Jenna Cooper parish,” which is a parish established for the pastoral Tribunal Coordinator & Judge care of a specific group of people. For example, in the jcooper@dowr.org early 20th century, in cities with large immigrant populations, it was common for there to be personal parishes for each major ethnic group. In a city near help us to grow in Christian charity. where I grew up in New York, within an area of three The territory-based parish system also helps square miles there was an Italian personal parish, a ensure that no Catholic is overlooked or falls through Polish personal parish, and an Irish personal parish! the cracks. This is especially true in that pastors Here in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, the St. and parish priests have a spiritual responsibility Thomas More Newman Center in Mankato is estabto everyone in their parish, that is, to all Catholics lished as a personal parish for the pastoral care of dwelling in their territory without exception (and the local college students and university community. actually, this spiritual responsibility technically even However, most parishes are territorial, or based extends to the non-Catholics living within the parish entirely on geography. Many Catholics are surprised boundaries). Even if a Catholic never got to learn that they become an official memaround to signing up at their parish, or ber of a parish simply based on what Do y if they’ve been lax about frequento address they have! (See can. 372.) u ha a qu v e e ing the sacraments, the Church s That is, if you as a Catholic live in tion cano a n b doesn’t leave them orphaned, l o a a certain parish’s territory, you woul ut w tha d t l but still officially assigns a pasy i k are automatically a member ou answ e to s e e tor to be concerned about their r e e of that parish, regardless of d he Ema re? il welfare. whether or not you rememjcoo In addition to this, sacper@ bered to register at the pardow with ramental records are kept at ish office. (Though of course, r.org "C parishes. Any sacrament that ques ourier registering with your local tion occurred within a parish’s parish is still a good idea for subje " in the boundaries are recorded at that other reasons, especially since ct lin e. parish. This is a particularly useit helps the parish know who ful system in cases where the sacyou are.) raments were administered in an emergency, such as when a newborn Why Have baby with grave health concerns is bapGeography-Based Parishes? tized at a hospital. Since we know that the parish Catholics are free to attend Mass and otherwise of whatever territory the hospital happens to be in participate in the parish life of any parish, even is the one that will record the baptism, this ensures one with a territory other than the one where they that the fact of the infant’s baptism will be properly themselves live. Still, all other things being equal, noted and not forgotten, even in the midst of a crisis. the Church does see a value in the geography-based Similarly, every Catholic has a “master record” of parish system. their sacramental life kept at their parish Church of For one thing, belonging to a parish based simply baptism. Every time a Catholic takes a major step in on one’s address helps us to pray and form Christian their life of faith—e.g. when they receive the sacracommunity with those whom God in His providence ment of Confirmation, get married, are ordained a has made our literal neighbors—as opposed to priest, or enter into consecrated life—a notification potentially picking and choosing a community based is sent to the parish where they were originally baponly on how much we personally happen to like the tized. This shows that the Church cares about our people involved, or by how many superficial things life story as it unfolds, as each life story is precious we have in common. Geography-based parishes can to God.

The Abolition of Man and Woman This article was first printed in the Wall Street Journal.

� he commonplace assumption of American liberalism, that courts merely preside over contests of

rights, conceals the limitless power of the judiciary to decide questions of truth without thinking deeply or even honestly about them. Bostock v. Clayton County is a case in point. Justice Gorsuch claims, in writing for the majority, that the Court’s decision to include LGBT identity under Title VII’s definition of “sex” is a narrow ruling about “sex discrimination” in employment, leaving concerns like locker rooms and religious liberty for future litigation. But underneath the false modesty of this declaration lies a much more fundamental decision with vast implications. The Court has intervened in the most bitterly contested question of our time—a question of philosophy before it is a question of law—and codified a radical new conception of human nature with a dubious ideological history. It has inscribed the abolition of man and woman into law.

The entire argument of the case, repeated ad nauseam throughout its thirty long pages, is that adverse employment decisions based on LGBT status are necessarily a form of “sex discrimination.”

Why? Because it is impossible to make these decisions without treating similarly situated individuals differently, based on their sexes. If a male employee

September 1 is the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation In 2015, Pope Francis established World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation as an opportunity for individuals and communities “to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

In stewarding creation, we must recall Pope Francis tells us in Laudato si’ that our bodies place “us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings”.

Therefore, we must learn to “accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning” and value our bodies in their femininity and masculinity.

You can learn to become a better steward of all of creation with the Minnesota, Our Common Home resources including a 6-week study guide and the “Ecological Examen” – a prayer resource. Find these by visiting www.MNCatholic.org/OurCommonHome.

13 Faith in the Public Arena

By DAVID CRAWFORD, MICHAEL HANBY and MARGARET HARPER MCCARTHY

who “identifies” as a woman were in fact a woman instead of a man, he would not have suffered adverse treatment. Hence, Justice Gorsuch confidently tells us, “she” is necessarily the victim of discrimination based on sex.

The argument would be laughable were its implications not so humanly disastrous. Crucial to observe are the argument’s presuppositions. Justice Gorsuch thinks that a man who “identifies” as a woman is similarly situated to a woman who “identifies” as a woman. For him to think this, he must assume that the relationship between our embodiment as male and female and our personal subjectivity (as expressed in “identity”) are essentially arbitrary and that they therefore lack any organic or natural unity. These assumptions then imply that a man who “identifies” as a woman might really be a woman, that to be a woman is a mental state, that we really are Cartesian “ghosts in the machine.” Without such assumptions, Justice Gorsuch could not claim that such a man and woman are similarly situated.

These are metaphysical judgments. Yet Justice Gorsuch naively fails to recognize that the crux of his argument relies on and effectively codifies them. The question of sex discrimination in employment is relatively unimportant compared to the momentous imposition by law of these very questionable philosophical propositions with their vast implications for society.

It is impossible to redefine human nature for just one person. When a fourth-grade girl is required to affirm in thought, word, and deed that a boy in her class is now a girl, this does not simply affirm the classmate’s right to self-expression. It radically calls into question the meaning of “boy” and “girl” as such, thereby also calling into question both her own “identity” and that of everyone in her life, from her mother and father to her brothers and sisters, and all of her friends and relatives. As well it should. If each of us is defined by a sexual or gender “identity” only arbitrarily related to our male and female bodies, now relegated to a meaningless biological substrate, then in fact there is no longer any such thing as man or woman as heretofore understood. We are all transgender now, even if gender and sexual identity accidentally coincide in a great majority of instances.

To settle questions of truth by force of law is a characteristic of totalitarian regimes. And this example shows just how totalizing this ruling really is. It requires everyone to live for all public and practical purposes as if what they know to be true in their pre-ideological experience of reality—an awareness we drink in with our mother’s milk—were officially false, a “stereotype.” Even worse, it requires everyone to live for all public and practical purposes as if what they know to be false were officially true. Ironically, what is now “true” is nothing but stereotypes, that bundle of mannerisms, dress, make-up, and hairstyles by which one imagines what it feels like to be a woman or a man. Worse still, it prefers them especially when they are at odds with ones’ actual sex. The war on pronouns, an assault upon the very language by which we recognize a world in common, follows of necessity. What we are dealing with here is nothing less than a war on the very principle of reality itself. And everyone has just been pressed into service.

There is no totalitarianism so total as that which claims authority over the meaning of nature.

Increasingly we find the courts assuming this authority, though this power is typically exercised in part unconsciously, or even ignorantly, and in part dishonestly and subversively, all under the pretense of “neutrally” mediating between interests, rights, powers, and authorities. Or in this case, simply parsing “plain English.” But this is bosh, and no one believes it. Not for a second.

The burdens on free speech, free exercise, and perhaps most fundamentally, free thought, are obvious. But the burden on the basic unity of human society is even weightier; for the Court has just abolished the fundamental fact on which every civilization depends, indeed on which the human species depends. We have just been pushed over the edge.

It’s breathtaking.

As C.S. Lewis said in The Abolition of Man, we will now need the “beneficent obstinacy of real children for preserving the human race in such sanity as it still possesses.” We can only hope that such children will come along to point out the naked truth to our new Emperors.

David Crawford, Michael Hanby, Margaret Harper McCarthy are professors at the John Paul II Institute.

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In the Diocese

14

Hug,

cont'd from pg. 2 and to truly love ourselves,” Pope Francis said.

“We are called upon to assume the attitude of these two Gospel figures, so that we too may become healthily restless seekers of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a matter of abandoning the heavy burden of our worldly sureties that prevent us from searching and building up the Kingdom: the covetousness for possession, the thirst for profit and power, and thinking only of ourselves,” he said.

One sign that a person is on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven is “creativity,” the pope explained. “Creativity is what … gives life,” he said, “And it gives,

and gives, and gives... It always looks for many other ways to give life.”

“Jesus, who is the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value, cannot but inspire joy, all the joy of the world: the joy of discovering a meaning in life, the joy of committing oneself to the adventure of holiness,” Pope Francis said.

After his Angelus prayer, Pope Francis said that he was praying that a new ceasefire agreement concerning the Donbass region “will finally be put into practice.”

There have been more than 20 ceasefires declared since 2014 in the ongoing conflict between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian military which has killed more than 10,000 people.

“While I thank you for this sign of goodwill aimed at restoring the much desired peace in that tormented region, I pray that what has been agreed will finally be put into practice, also through an effective process of disarmament and mine removal. This is the only way to build trust and to lay the foundations for the much needed and long awaited reconciliation by the population,” the pope said.

Catholic Charities Welcomes New Development Director Submitted by SHEILA COLLOM

WINONA, July 27, 2020 - Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota would like to announce Lori Lonergan Brennen as the new Development Director. Lori comes to us from her recent position as a Principal Gift Officer at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Over the past six years in that role, Lori proudly shares her success at personally raising gifts totaling over Lori Lonergan Brennen $70 million dollars.

Lori is a native of Southeastern Minnesota and graduated from Southland High School in Adams before obtaining her MBA from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Her love of life-long learning has her currently enrolled as a fellow in Saint Mary’s Education and Leadership Doctoral Program. She and her husband, Tim Brennan, reside in Rochester.

Lori loves fundraising because of all the good that is achieved by the dollars raised and looks forward to embarking in this newest chapter in her life.

Catholic Charities serves the 20 southernmost counties of Minnesota spanning the territory from the Mississippi River to the South Dakota border. With a mission to serve the poor and vulnerable, the marginalized, the alienated, and the stranger, Catholic Charities’ staff and volunteers serve people without regard to religion, race, gender, or ability to pay. Offices are located in Winona, Rochester, Mankato, Worthington, Albert Lea, Austin and Owatonna. For more information, please visit its website: www.ccsomnorg.

Sheila Collom is the director of administrative services for Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota.

The Televised Mass Is Offered Every Sunday Sioux Falls - KTTW Channel 7 at 7 a.m.

Sioux City - KPTH Channel 44 at 8:30 a.m.

Mankato - KEYC Channel 12 at 7:30 a.m.

Digital Channel 12.2 or Charter Channel 19 NEYC at 9:30 a.m.

Digital Channel 7 (DirecTV) or Channel 11 (DISH) KMNF at 9 a.m.

Rochester/Austin/Mason City KIMT Channel 3 at 7:30 a.m.

MyTV 3.2 at 9 a.m.

NEW Twin Cities - WFTC Digital Channel 29 or Channel 9.2 at 11:30 a.m.

Southeastern MN - HBC Channel 20 at 3 p.m. (repeated Wed. at 3:30 p.m.)

Winona/La Crosse/Eau Claire - WLAX/WEUX Channel 25/48 at 7:30 a.m. and on our website, dowr.org (click "Weekly Mass") August 2020 w The Courier w dowr.org

Handbook, cont'd from pg. 8

Sister Thelma (Mary LeRoy) Vetsch, SSND, 97, professed in 1944, died July 9, 2020, in Notre Dame Health Care, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mankato.

A native of St. Michael, she graduated from Good Counsel Academy in Mankato in 1941. She entered the SSND candidature that same year and professed first vows in 1944.

She was an upper grade teacher, administrator and librarian in several Minnesota, North Dakota, Washington and Iowa Catholic schools. She also served in various capacities at Holy Childhood Parish and School in St. Paul for 26 years.

In the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, she taught at St. John the Baptist, Mankato (1944-45) and St. Mary, Worthington (1957-58).

In her retirement years, she was the librarian for the Good Counsel Learning Center in Mankato (2012-15).

She is survived by her sister Rosie Zachman; her nieces and nephews and their families; her friends, colleagues and former students; and her sisters in commu-

15

In the Diocese

“Fundamentally, our approach is based on the pastoral insights of our founding director, Father John F. Harvey, OSFS, whose memory is still quite vibrant whenever we gather, especially with our older members,” he told CNA. Each handbook has been shaped by the apostolate chaplains’ insights, especially those of the second executive director, Father Paul Check, Bochanski said.

“As we gather with our members at chapter meetings and conferences, we learn from their experience and questions what techniques are most effective in pursuit of the goals,” he said. “As we talk to clergy and others in ministry, we understand which questions are most important to those on the ’front line’ of pastoral ministry at a given point in the life of the Church.”

“As we encounter challenges and criticisms from others who take a different pastoral approach, we are motivated to present and express the Church’s teachings more clearly,” said the priest.

“As questions of sexuality and sexual identity become an increasingly important part of our discussions as a Church and as a society, I believe Courage International is well equipped to contribute to those discussions with a clear witness to the authentic teaching of the Gospel and the Church. Our new Handbook is an important part of our efforts to make such a contribution.”

Courage International plans to translate the new edition of the handbook into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Polish and Lithuanian.

The apostolate recently named a new assistant director, Father Colin Blatchford. The 36-year-old served for over two years as chaplain for Courage and EnCourage in the Diocese of Knoxville.

He was ordained a priest in 2014, graduated from KenrickGlennon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Ave Maria University in 2006.

“It is with zeal and a healthy fear of the Lord that I look forward to taking on this new role. I look forward to serving the apostolate and growing in my knowledge, understanding, and compassion for those whom it serves,” Blatchford said July 27.

While he remains a priest of the Knoxville diocese, Blatchford will reside in Connecticut’s Diocese of Bridgeport. His position will begin Sept. 8 at Courage International headquarters in Trumbull, Connecticut, a town just outside of Bridgeport.

Bishop Richard Stika of the Diocese of Knoxville praised Blatchford’s devotion to sharing the Catholic faith and his “very compassionate heart.”

“He possesses an ability to connect with people of all ages, but especially young people, with understanding and empathy,” Stika said.

The addition of Father Blatchford will help the apostolate do more outreach to clergy and others in ministry through conferences and local presentations. It will help provide Bochanski with greater outreach to Latin America, where, he said, “there is increasing interest in the pastoral support that our apostolate provides.”

The advent of the novel coronavirus and related restrictions on in-person gatherings has had the “biggest impact” on the apostolate’s ministry, its ability to gather in local chapters, and its ability to hold local conferences, Bochanksi told CNA. Local Courage and EnCourage chapters are now meeting by phone or by video, and this allows them to welcome members from other parts of the country without local chapters.

The apostolate had to move its annual conference online, after originally being set to meet at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois.

“There have been unexpected blessings from our response to these limitations, however,” he said. “Both our conferences were held online, and we had more than twice the number of people register for each ’virtual’ conferences than we typically are able to welcome in person.”

The annual conference, held via Zoom webinar July 25-26, drew registrations from more than 30 countries, with several hundred participants from Latin America. Simultaneous translations to Spanish were available.

Speakers included Sr. Helena Burns, FSP; Fr. Sean Kilcawley, director of the Office for Family Life in Nebraska’s Diocese of Lincoln; Father Glenn Sudano, CFR, a founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal; Dr. Stephen Hopkins, a Nashville, Tenn.-based psychologist who produced the film “Portraits of Courage”; and Deacon Hilmar Pabel, the Courage and EnCourage chaplain in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Obituaries

nity, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and SSND Associates.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Clemens and Josephine (Dehmer) Vetsch; her sister Greta Anderson; her brothers, Emory, Gene, Francis and LeRoy; and another sister who died at birth.

Because of the pandemic restrictions on public gatherings, the funeral for Sister Thelma will be held at a later date.

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August 2020

• The Courier