The
COURIER
St. James the Apostle July 25
July 2020
Keys and Crowns
Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org
The Pope, His Flag, and a Priest's Labor of Love BY MAGGIE SONNEK
�atican City, spanning 100 acres with a population of
1,000 people, boasts one of the most iconic and recognizable flags in the world. And that yellow-and-white flag has fascinated Father William Becker since boyhood. A native of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, the priest has studied flags from his youth. His recent book, Vatican Flags: Keys & Crowns Since 1800, is a labor of love spanning 30 years of research. In 2018 it was published by a network of flag specialists, the North American Vexillological Association. Father Becker currently serves two parishes in Plainview (St. Joachim) and rural Kellogg (Immaculate Conception). Ordained a priest in 1988, he has also worked in chancery, seminary, and academic settings. After undergraduate work at Saint Mary’s University in Winona, he studied theology in Rome, completing a doctorate in 1994. While there, he began to study papal flags as a pastime. A return trip for sabbatical research provided another bite at the apple in 2009. “I was able to access Vatican state archives and Italian state libraries. Those experiences provided even more material for the book,” he says. The internet, too, coughed up a trove of treasure. “For eight years, I saw the Vatican flag up close and studied its Papal States progenitors,” his book explains. “I learned that not until the past century did the term ‘papal flag’ imply a uniform design, for in the Papal States, flags varied.” The Papal States were a small principality in central
USCCB Migration Chairman Opposes Proposed Elimination of Protection for Asylum Seekers From usccb.org
Italy, ruled by the pope until Italy seized them in 1870. In 1929, the “Lateran Treaty” between Italy and the Pope established Vatican City as the new papal state. The Vatican also governs several further enclaves housing
Book, cont'd on pg. 4
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued new proposed rules on asylum on June 15 with comments due on July 15. The new proposed rules would, among other changes: allow immigration judges to summarily deny applications before the asylum-seeker can see a judge; redefine the term “particular social group” in asylum law to effectively eliminate asylum for those fleeing domestic violence or gangs; and raise standards for initial asylum interviews. The following statement was made by Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington, and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration: “These proposed asylum regulations will have devastating consequences for those seeking protection in the United States who are fleeing domestic violence or persecution from gangs in their home countries. The Catholic Church teaches us to look at the root causes of migra-
Asylum, cont'd on pg. 4
INSIDE this issue
May We Be Profoundly Shaken page 5
Seeds of Faith...
On Dispensations page 8
page 10
