St. Anthony Messenger December2020_January 2021

Sharing the spirit of St. Francis with the world VOL. 128/NO. 6 • DEC. 2020/JAN. 2021 • PUBLISHED BY FRANCISCAN MEDIA

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Celebrating Christmas during COVID-19

page 36

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VOL. 128 N O. 6

DEC./JAN.

20/21

30 30 Health-Care Heroes:

New York City Nurses

COVER STORY

ABOVE and COVER: In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, health-care workers everywhere have responded with courage and compassion.

By Rita E. Piro

A pair of nurses explain how their faith helped them cope with the unique challenges of caring for COVID19 patients in New York City.

18 Crèche in the Heart of Pittsburgh COVER: TRACEY BERGLUND; ABOVE: COURTESY OF ANNA PEDOTE

By Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller

A labor of love for the only American architect to design a building at the Vatican, this annual Nativity scene is a source of light and hope in his hometown.

24 Christmas in Bethlehem

with Orthodox Christians

By Alberto Elli and Claire Riobé

Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics fill the sacred spaces they share in the Holy Land with a rich harmony of songs, symbols, liturgies, and reverence as they celebrate the birth of Christ.

36 A COVID-19 Christmas

By Susan Hines-Brigger

In the midst of these uncertain times, here are five ways to rethink your Advent and Christmas season.

42 Praying on Paper

By Terry Hershey

Journaling is a chance to give a voice to what’s inside.

COMING NEXT

ISSUE

A profile of Deacon Art Miller, an author and radio host who has spent years fighting for justice and equality

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Saint Day

T

he saints were real people with real stories—just like us! Their surrender to God’s love was so gen-

erous that the Church recognizes them as heroes and

of the

heroines worthy to be held up for our inspiration. Join Franciscan Media in our daily celebration of these holy men and women of God. Sign up for Saint of the Day, a free resource delivered right to your in-box.

Saints featured in the months of December and January include . . .

St. Juan Diego

Mary, Mother of God

December 6 The absence of historical facts is not an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists.

December 9 The fact that Our Lady appeared to a simple peasant has been viewed as a sure sign of Mary’s care for the “little people” around the world. St. Juan Diego played a major role in the recognition of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

January 1 The feast of Mary’s title, “Mother of God,” has a long history and is rooted in the faith of the people. Viewing Mary as our mother has many meanings and ramifications, all of which enrich our faith and point us toward her son, Jesus.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton January 4 Convert, wife, mother, widow, teacher, religious—Elizabeth Ann Seton did it all. Yet she was an ordinary woman of her time who lived life in an extraordinary way. She has had a profound influence on women religious and on the Catholic school system in the United States.

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St. Nicholas

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VOL. 128 N O. 6

“Wherever Francis of Assisi went, he sowed seeds of peace and walked alongside the poor, the abandoned, the infirm, and the outcast, the least of his brothers and sisters.”

DEC./JAN.

20/21

—Pope Francis, “Fratelli Tutti” (#2)

SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS 10 Ask a Franciscan

13 POINTS OF VIEW

14 At Home on Earth | Kyle Kramer

Who Assigns Patron Saints?

Learning to Love What Is

12 Franciscan World

16 Faith Unpacked | David Dault, PhD

12 St. Anthony Stories

17 Editorial | Susan Hines-Brigger

13 Followers of St. Francis

50 Faith & Family | Susan Hines-Brigger

Brothers and Sisters All

ALL IMAGES FALL UNDER PUBLIC DOMAIN USAGE RIGHTS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

50

Throw Open the Doors to Christ

Credit to St. Anthony

A Call for Fraternity

Cynthia Perkins

CULTURE

46 Media Reviews

Moving Forward with Faith

49 48 Film Reviews

Book Briefs TV | The Vow Podcast | Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Boobs: The War on Women’s Breasts

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 Dear Reader 5 Your Voice 6 Church in the News

7

51 Lighten Up and Pete & Repeat 52 Reflection

Over the Moon StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2020/January 2021 • 3

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dear reader Endings and Beginnings

PUBLISHER

O

ne of my favorite tasks at the end of the year is to start filling out my brand-new yearly planner, transferring things from the previous one and plugging in new upcoming events and plans. It feels like a fresh start and, boy, do we need one.

It is also a natural time for reflection on what has happened during the past year and what we look forward to in the coming one. In this issue, we try to do the same thing—to look at where we are, with all its challenges, and to help move ahead into the new year.

In her article “Health-Care Heroes: New York City Nurses” (page 30), author Rita E. Piro highlights two nurses and a chaplain who were on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis this past year and how their faith helped them get through. My article “A COVID-19 Christmas” (page 36) provides suggestions for families on how to celebrate Advent and Christmas in a different way because of the pandemic. On the other end of the season, in “Praying on Paper” (page 42), author Terry Hershey encourages us to take some time to reflect on and process our thoughts and feelings through the act of journaling.

This has been a difficult year, for sure. But in the birth of Christ, we celebrate the arrival of the hope we long for right now. All of us at Franciscan Media wish you a very blessed Christmas and New Year.

Daniel Kroger, OFM PRESIDENT

Kelly McCracken EXECUTIVE EDITORS

Christopher Heffron Susan Hines-Brigger

FRANCISCAN EDITOR

Pat McCloskey, OFM ART DIRECTOR

Mary Catherine Kozusko MANAGING EDITOR

Daniel Imwalle

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Sandy Howison

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Sharon Lape

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Susan Hines-Brigger, Executive Editor

Ray Taylor

PRINTING

Kingery Printing Co. Effingham, IL

illustrator COVER

Tracey Berglund is an illustrator who also writes. She was born in Brooklyn, and her work can be seen in the New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, the American Bystander, and even on the walls of the United Nations and in Melinda Gates’ office. She has two sons and a teenage turtle. She has lived and worked on five continents and is a member of the National Society of Cartoonists and the Society of Illustrators.

TERRY HERSHEY writer Praying on Paper PAGE 42

Author Terry Hershey divides his time between designing sanctuary gardens, sharing his practice of mindfulness, and savoring this life. He is the founder of Hershey & Associates—an organization that provides resources, seminars, and retreats on the themes of pausing, sanctuary time, and our need to slow down “to let our souls catch up with our bodies.”

JULIE TRAUBERT

writer and freelance editor Book Reviews PAGE 46

Julie Traubert is a freelance writer, copy editor, and proofreader and has worked with the staff at St. Anthony Messenger for five years.

She became editor of the Bookshelf column in January 2018. In addition to her journalistic work, she supports the academic needs of English-language learners in her local school district.

To subscribe, write to the above address or call 866-543-6870. Yearly subscription price: $39.00 in the United States; $69.00 in Canada and other countries. Single copy price: $4.99. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. See FranciscanMedia.org/subscriptionservices for information on your digital edition.

Writer’s guidelines can be found at FranciscanMedia.org/ writers-guide. The publishers are not responsible for manuscripts or photos lost or damaged in transit. Names in fiction do not refer to living or dead persons.

Member of the Catholic Press Association Published with ecclesiastical approval Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved.

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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 128, Number 6, is published 10 times per year for $39.00 a year by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-6498. Phone 513-241-5615.

Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional entry offices. US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, PO Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8.

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POINTSOFVIEW | YOUR VOICE Feedback from a Recent Reader Survey: At first I thought it was goofy, but now I make sure to do it every time!

—On Pete & Repeat

I know it’s for kids (and I was introduced to it as a kid), but I enjoy the brief mental challenge.

—On Pete & Repeat

I always tear this page out and send it to my prison pen pal.

—On Pete & Repeat

I watch Mass online and pray the rosary daily.

—On prayer life during the COVID-19 pandemic

Prayer has become more important to me.

I’ve also become more involved with an online Catholic book club and have attended more online programs, such as a Lourdes virtual pilgrimage and a virtual retreat given by my local diocese.

—On prayer life during the COVID-19 pandemic

I try to pray more, especially for people I can no longer see. I have become more aware of others’ giftedness and am thankful for all.

—On prayer life during the COVID-19 pandemic

.S.P.S. TION ed 10 Friars Street, 5615. addiddress ngers, AIM, 8.

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I love these. I learn from them and I feel as if I’ve visited in a way. I also learn about places I’d like to visit someday.

—On articles about shrines and pilgrimages

Since I don’t travel, these articles open up a new world for me.

—On articles about shrines and pilgrimages

Respect Starts at Home

I am writing in response to Mary Long’s letter to the editor in the October issue of St. Anthony Messenger (“Bring Back Moral Teaching”). In the last sentence of her letter, she writes, “If we can’t get mothers to respect the lives of their babies, how can we get our children to respect life?” I was reminded of an observation by the late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who had formerly performed abortions but had a change of heart after learning about prenatal development. He would go on to become an advocate for

unborn children.

During his keynote speech at the Ohio Right to Life Society’s annual convention in Cleveland in September 1980, Dr. Nathanson said: “I teach medical students at Cornell and Columbia. The problem of low medical ethics is not in the medical schools, but with parents. You don’t learn respect for life in high school, [and] you don’t learn decency in college, nor ethics in medical school. The way parents bring up their children accounts for their attitudes.”

Louis H. Pumphrey, Shaker Heights, Ohio

Politics an Unwelcome Addition

I have been enjoying St. Anthony Messenger magazine for the past five years. But in the past few issues, I’m starting to see a trend I don’t like or appreciate: politics. And with the October issue: sensationalism. Author Patrick Carolan starts his I’d Like to Say column (“Don’t Be a Single-Issue Voter”) with this statement: “We are living in a perilous time.

Our nation is as divided as it was during the Civil War.” We most certainly have problems in this nation, but using sensationalism just adds fuel to the fire. I’ve seen other articles and columns that have basically made the same point but did a far better job of delivering it. If I want to hear about politics and sensational statements, I can always go to social media, the Internet, TV, radio, and newspapers. I don’t want to have to read it in this fine magazine.

So please keep to the basics of the Catholic faith as you have done so well for many years.

Please don’t change.

Michael Martin, Riverside, Rhode Island

Ideas Worth Sharing

I’m writing in regard to October’s I’d Like to Say column, titled “Don’t Be a SingleIssue Voter,” by Patrick Carolan. Thank you for including such a clear, balanced piece of writing! I have been hoping to see or hear something on the issue of how to respect life across the board and maintain a consistent pro-life ethic regarding a variety of issues. Mr. Carolan’s column is the first I’ve seen, and it is excellent. I am copying it and sending it to friends. The “Vote to Reflect Catholic Values” section is so relevant.

Julie Lantis, Rapid City, South Dakota

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church IN THE NEWS

people | events | trends

By Susan Hines-Brigger

STATUE DEDICATED TO MOTHER CABRINI IN NEW YORK CITY

NEW DOCUMENTARY ON POPE ADDRESSES SAME-SEX UNIONS

I

statue of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron of immigrants, was installed on October 12 in Battery Park in New York City. The statue overlooks Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said the statue, which was designed by Jill and Giancarlo Biagi, shows the saint “in motion and taking care of children” and it “does her justice,” according to a press release from the Diocese of Brooklyn. Bishop DiMarzio is the cochairman of the Mother Cabrini Memorial Commission.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and fellow members of the commission were also in attendance at the ceremony.

In 2019, Mother Cabrini received the most nominations in the “She Built NYC” competition but was not selected for a statue to be built in her honor. The program was created to get more statues honoring women throughout the five boroughs of the city. Following protests, Governor Cuomo announced the city’s commitment to ensure Mother Cabrini was permanently honored.

Mother Cabrini is known as the saint of immigrants.

Herself an Italian immigrant, the saint was the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and, according to the news release, established 67 hospitals, schools, and orphanages.

In related news: Colorado observed its first Cabrini Day on October 5 in place of Columbus Day. In February 2020, the Colorado House approved a measure doing away with the state’s observance of Columbus Day and instead created the Cabrini observance. The Colorado Senate approved the change in early March 2020, and Governor Jared Polis signed the bill into law.

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CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: COURTESY SAINTHOOD CAUSE OF CARLO ACUTIS; TOP RIGHT: GREGORY A. SHEMITZ; LOWER RIGHT: IPA/SIPA USA/REUTERS

A

CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: CNS SCREENSHOT/NOTICIEROS TELEVISA VIA YOUTUBE; RIGHT: CARLO ALLEGR/REUTERS

n the documentary Francesco, released on October 21, Pope Francis said that while he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, same-sex civil union laws could provide legal protection for couples in long-term, committed relationships, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). The comments represent his most public declaration of support for same-sex unions since becoming pope. The documentary, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, tells the story of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and tackles some of the main themes of his pontificate through a series of interviews on topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, and sexual abuse.

The pope’s comments on same-sex unions, however, grabbed headlines the day of the film’s release. The pope has repeatedly said that parents should not and must not disown a child who is gay. But he has also maintained that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it. What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” he said in an interview featured in the film. Some are now saying that the quote was actually drawn from three different clips in the original 2019 interview by Valentina Alazraki, a correspondent for the Mexican television station Televisa.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the future pope advocated for same-sex civil unions in an attempt to block the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010.

On the day after its premiere at the Rome Film Festival, Francesco received the 18th Kinéo Prize in a ceremony in the Vatican Gardens. The Kinéo Movie for Humanity Award is awarded to those who promote social and humanitarian themes. A number of Vatican officials attended the ceremony, including Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.

FIRST MILLENNIAL BEATIFIED

POPE NAMES FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN CARDINAL IN UNITED STATES

O

CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: COURTESY SAINTHOOD CAUSE OF CARLO ACUTIS; TOP RIGHT: GREGORY A. SHEMITZ; LOWER RIGHT: IPA/SIPA USA/REUTERS

CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: CNS SCREENSHOT/NOTICIEROS TELEVISA VIA YOUTUBE; RIGHT: CARLO ALLEGR/REUTERS

T

housands of people gathered in Assisi on October 10 to celebrate the beatification of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis at the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels, reported CNS. Prior to his death from leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, Carlo created an online database of eucharistic miracles around the world.

Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal legate for the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels, read the decree from Pope Francis, which stated, “With our apostolic authority, we grant that the venerable servant of God, Carlo Acutis, layman, who, with the enthusiasm of youth, cultivated a friendship with our Lord Jesus, placing the Eucharist and the witness of charity at the center of his life, henceforth shall be called blessed.”

Acutis’ parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, then processed toward the altar carrying a reliquary containing their son’s heart. The reliquary was engraved with one of Carlo’s well-known quotes: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

During his homily, Cardinal Vallini said that Carlo was a “normal, simple, spontaneous, friendly” teenager who used modern forms of communication to transmit the “values and beauty of the Gospel.”

For him, the cardinal said, “the Internet was not just a means of escape, but a space for dialogue, knowledge, sharing, and mutual respect that was to be used responsibly, without becoming slaves to it and rejecting digital bullying.”

n October 25, Pope Francis announced that he will be creating 13 new cardinals, including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, head of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, reported CNS. The archbishop, along with the others, will be elevated to the College of Cardinals at a November 28 consistory at the Vatican.

Following the announcement, Archbishop Gregory released a statement saying, “With a very grateful and humble heart, I thank Pope Francis for this appointment, which will allow me to work more closely with him in caring for Christ’s Church.”

Cardinal-designate Gregory will be the first African American cardinal from the United States.

In response to the news, Archbishop José H. Gómez of Los Angeles, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said: “By naming Archbishop Wilton Gregory as a cardinal, Pope Francis is sending a powerful message of hope and inclusion to the Church in the United States. . . . The naming of the first African American cardinal from the United States gives us an opportunity to pause and offer thanks for the many gifts African American Catholics have given the Church.”

POPE PUBLISHES ENCYCLICAL ON FRATERNITY, SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP

O

n October 3, the day before the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis traveled to Assisi where he celebrated Mass and signed his latest encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (“All Brothers”), reported Vatican News. The theme of the encyclical is fraternity and social friendship.

Prior to releasing the encyclical, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Francis. He did not preach a homily but rather sat in silence for several minutes before resuming the celebration of Mass.

The pope said that, as with his previous encyclical “Laudato Si’,” St. Francis served as an inspiration for him while writing this one.

“In his simple and direct way, St. Francis expressed the essence of a fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate, and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives,” the pope wrote.

In the encyclical, the pope also notes the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on his writing. The pandemic, he said, exposed “our false securities. Aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident. For all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all.”

The pope calls people to rediscover the concept of “who is our neighbor?” and challenges society to find ways in which to become more fraternal with one another. The encyclical is available at vatican.va.

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people | events | trends

SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL TO STEP DOWN

S

aying “the time has come for new leadership,” Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, announced on October 20 that she will be stepping down as the head of the organization in March 2021, reported Religion News Service.

She has served in that role since 2004.

Sister Simone, a member of the Sisters of Social Service, gained notoriety for her support of the Affordable Care Act and, in 2012, helped organize the first “Nuns on the Bus” tour. Since then, she has led six cross-country trips focused on tax justice, health care, economic justice, comprehensive immigration reform, voter turnout, bridging divides in politics and society, and mending the gaps in wealth and access in our nation.

POPE SIGNS APPEAL FOR PEACE

O

n October 20, Pope Francis joined Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and other Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and Buddhist leaders gathered to affirm their communities’ commitment to peace, dialogue, fraternity, and assistance to the poor and needy, reported CNS. The meeting of religious leaders, which took place in Rome’s Capitoline Square, was organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a

Catholic group of laypeople founded in 1968. The theme for this year’s event was, “No one is saved alone: Peace and fraternity.”

Since St. John Paul II’s interreligious prayer for peace in Assisi in 1986, each year, the Sant’Egidio community has invited religious, political, and cultural leaders from around the world to gather to continue the dialogue and pray for peace. In the 2020 appeal for peace, the group wrote: “Today, in these uncertain times, as we feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that threatens peace by aggravating inequalities and fear, we firmly state that no one can be saved alone: no people, no single individual!

“No one can feel exempted from this. All of us have a shared responsibility. All of us need to forgive and to be forgiven. The injustices of the world and of history are not healed by hatred and revenge, but by dialogue and forgiveness.”

2020 CHRISTMAS STAMP FEATURES OUR LADY OF GUÁPULO

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he United States Postal Service announced in October that the 2020 Christmas stamp will feature a detail of an 18th-century painting of Our Lady of Guápulo by an unknown artist in Cuzco, Peru. The original painting is from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. According to the museum’s website, the image originated as a copy of the Spanish Virgin of Guadalupe, commissioned in 1584 by a confraternity of merchants in Quito, Ecuador. Named for the sanctuary in nearby Guápulo where the miracle-working image was venerated, it was invoked by devotees who sought the Virgin Mary’s aid and protection.

POPE GIVES TED TALK ON CLIMATE CHANGE

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n October 10, Pope Francis joined more than 50 speakers to address the issue of climate change as part of the global TEDx Countdown initiative (countdown.ted.com), according to a press release.

The event, which was broadcast live on YouTube, featured speakers from around the world, ranging from scientists to poets, who presented “actionable and research-backed ideas, cutting-edge science, and moments of wonder and inspiration,” according to a press release about the program. In his talk, which was filmed at the Vatican, the pope said: “As the term countdown suggests, we must act urgently. Each one of us can play a valuable role if we all set out today—not tomorrow, today.

“Science tells us, every day more precisely, that we need to act urgently—I am not exaggerating—this is what science tells us, if we are to have any hope of avoiding radical and catastrophic climate change,” he said. “This is a scientific fact.”

He added that concern for the environment must go hand in hand with concern for people, especially the poor and marginalized, who are most impacted by climate change and natural disasters—a major theme of his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’.”

He invited people to take “a journey of transformation and action, made not so much of words, but above all of concrete actions that cannot be postponed.”

Countdown is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action.

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church IN THE NEWS

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The Season of Giving It is in giving that we receive.

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To support the Franciscan friars with a Christmas offering, visit StAnthony.org or call 513-721-4700.

The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St., Ste 1 • Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492 | December StAnthony.org • Franciscan.orgStAnthonyMessenger.org • 513-721-4700, ext.

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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN

By Pat McCloskey, OFM

Who Assigns Patron Saints?

How is the patron saint of an occupation, a country, or a group of people decided? Specifically, how did St. Nicholas come to be the patron saint of brides, grooms, children, bakers, and pawnbrokers?

As a Lutheran, I find your “Saint of the Day” digital resource fascinating but think that we are missing out by not having examples of historic saints.

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Father Pat welcomes your questions!

ONLINE: StAnthonyMessenger.org E-MAIL: Ask@FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Ask a Franciscan 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202

All questions sent by mail need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Why Pray the Rosary?

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WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org

WE HAVE A DIGITAL archive of Q & As, going back to March 2013.

To get started, go to StAnthonyMessenger.org.

Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, Jesus, moral issues, prayer, saints, redemption, sacraments, Scripture—and many more!

Both my children, graduates of Catholic schools, are studying the Bible and want to know where it says that we should to pray the rosary to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus.

B

ecause the Old Testament has 150 psalms, some early Christians began to recite 150 Our Fathers, the prayer that Jesus gave us. That practice later morphed into praying the rosary as we know it.

This is one way that Mary’s prophecy that “from now on will all ages call me blessed” (Lk 1:48) is fulfilled. Praying the rosary can help people to cooperate as generously with God’s grace as Mary did. Praying the psalms continues to nourish the spiritual life of everyone who does so.

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Pat McCloskey, OFM

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n the Roman Catholic Church, most patron saints of occupations and groups of people are not officially assigned. In 2000, Pope John Paul II designated St. Thomas More (martyred in 1535) as the patron saint of legislators and diplomats.

Identifying patron saints may be the most democratic practice in the Catholic Church. They are identified through some major or minor incident in the saint’s life.

St. Nicholas is linked to pawnbrokers because of the bags of gold that he anonymously donated to three young women who lacked marriage dowries. Pawnbrokers eventually incorporated this symbol (three balls instead of three bags) into their signs, some of which still exist.

The Franciscans had a role in the 14th-century development of the montes pietatis (forerunners of pawnbrokers) because existing banks wanted to deal only with people borrowing large sums of money. Think of the growth of savings and loan associations (and credit unions) in this country to finance buying a house, a car, higher education, or a similar need.

The feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 6.

Saint of the Day is also one of our books. I contributed to the original in 1975 and have updated it four times since then.

Martin Luther objected to venerating saints because some of his contemporaries acted as though the saints have a power independent of God. In fact, they point us to God. Luther retained a devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Quick Questions and Answers

The centurion’s prayer in Matthew 8:5–13 is used at Mass with a changed wording: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Does this restrict Jesus’ healing power to a person’s soul?

No, it does not. The Church has adapted the centurion’s prayer so that it applies to everyone who prays it. In this liturgical context, “soul” means the whole person (body and soul).

When and by whom was Our Lady of Guadalupe declared “Patroness of the Americas”?

In 1895, Pope Leo did this. In 1945, Pope Pius XII called her “Queen of Mexico and Patroness of the Americas.” In 1999, Pope John Paul II repeated that declaration and made her feast on December 12 an obligatory memorial (always celebrated) on liturgical calendars in the Americas. In fact, most countries around the world have one or more national shrines honoring Mary, often connected to an apparition received in that country.

Silent Night,

Holy Night Light a candle in memory of a loved one or for your special intention.

When you light a candle on StAnthony.org this Christmas season, it will burn for three days at the National Shrine of St. Anthony in Cincinnati, Ohio.

LIGHT A

Some Mass prayers seem to characterize God as being just like humans. For example, the third eucharistic prayer refers to the apostles and all the saints “who have pleased you throughout the ages.”

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The Franciscan friars are ready to light a candle for you!

God is obviously not “just like” humans, but if all our prayers emphasize that difference in order to acknowledge God’s status as “pure spirit,” that would eventually make God seem very distant.

Ascribing human organs or characteristics to God (hands, feet, anger, pleasure, etc.) has its dangers, but rigidly rejecting those comparisons would hardly nourish the growing relationship that an adult faith requires. Your quarrel here is not really with the Catholic liturgy but with the Scriptures on which it is based.

Christmas Candle StAnthony.org

The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St, Ste 1 Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492 513-721-4700, ext. 3219 StAnthony.org

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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS “Our father St. Francis says that love lightens all burdens and sweetens all bitterness.”

—Blessed Mary Frances to her sisters

FRANCISCAN WORLD

Brothers and Sisters All

By Pat McCloskey, OFM

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AT THE AGE OF 25, Mary Frances (1819–1876) joined the Secular Franciscan Order.

The following year, she and four companions established a congregation that eventually became the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. Later she encouraged the founder of the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis.

She made her first US foundation in 1858. The sisters were engaged in home nursing and hospital ministry. Some of them nursed soldiers during the Civil War. Today her sisters minister in the United States, Brazil, Senegal, Italy, and the Philippines.

She was beatified in 1974.

Her feast is December 15.

—Pat McCloskey, OFM

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WANT MORE? Learn about your favorite saints and blesseds by going to: SaintoftheDay.org

This is the official text published by the Holy See. Pope Francis signs this encyclical after celebrating Mass in Assisi on October 3.

ST. ANTHONY STORIES

Credit to St. Anthony

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t. Anthony has always been there for me when I needed his help in recovering small things, but I have never lost anything of real importance until COVID-19 arrived.

Taking all the necessary precautions, I went shopping one day for some necessities. As people lined up behind me at checkout, I started to feel stressed. I used my credit card to pay and left in a hurry. The next week, I went for some more groceries, feeling a bit more relaxed—until I discovered that my credit card was missing!

After returning home, I searched for it, but it was nowhere to be found. Then I really started to panic. I prayed to St. Anthony to help me find it, but nothing turned up that evening. After a restless night of sleep, I felt compelled to check a shirt pocket—nothing in that one. But I was prompted again to look in another shirt pocket. Imagine my great surprise and relief. There was my credit card, tucked inside.

—Martha Bullock, New Haven, Kentucky

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CARMEN FONTANEZ

Seeking first to become a Trappistine nun in France, she founded a congregation to care for the sick.

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MARY FRANCES SCHERVIER

n October 3, 2020, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi and signed “Fratelli Tutti,” his encyclical on fraternity and social friendship.

Citing the encyclical’s title from St. Francis’ Admonition 6, Pope Francis writes: “With these words, St. Francis of Assisi addressed his brothers and sisters and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavor of the Gospel. . . . St. Francis expressed the essence of a fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate, and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.”

After recalling Francis’ 1219 visit to Sultan Malik al-Kamil, Pope Francis references the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” signed in Abu Dhabi with Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb on February 4, 2019.

Pope Francis notes that St. Francis simply spread the love of God. The pope concludes the introduction by urging everyone to remember that they are all members of a single human family sharing a common home.

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FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS

ST. ANTHONY

Serving the Overlooked

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARMEN FONTANEZ

help women who struggle along the periphery.

Cynthia Perkins She credits a higher power. “I want to share God’s love with other people, the same love that was shown to me when I was on the streets,” Perkins, a mother of three, says. “I want to give back. I want to show women that there is another way of life. If I can do it, they can too.”

It’s a daily uphill climb. According to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 25 percent of homeless people in the United States also suffer from mental illness. It’s a two-headed monster that Perkins battles daily in her work. Her response is heartfelt and inherently Franciscan: “The people we serve challenge me to stay loving and kind when they are being difficult.”

Staff at Franciscan Peacemakers try to heal the wounds in their community; many times, they feel wholly outmatched. “We don’t always have enough resources to meet the needs of all the women. It’s hard leaving work, knowing many of the women we serve do not have a safe place to go,” Perkins says. But this follower of St. Francis isn’t wired to back down: The charism of Francis gives her strength.

“Let us begin again,” a statement penned by the poor man of Assisi, was a rallying cry both to heal and to rebuild the kingdom of God. Eight hundred years later, Perkins is continuing the work of rebuilding the community and its most endangered citizens.

“St. Francis ministered to the poor and outcasts of society,” she says. “I feel we do the same thing by sharing God’s love with those who are experiencing difficulties in their lives: the poor, the homeless, those who are addicted, and those who some overlook.” Visit FranciscanPeacemakers.org to learn more.

—Christopher Heffron

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FRANK JASPER, OFM

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f you’ve ever met a Wisconsin resident, state pride will surely surface—and with good reason. From the home of the Green Bay Packers, Wisconsinites are known for their staunch work ethic and their gracious midwestern hospitality. But the Badger State has a battered heart. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, as many as 4,538 residents experience homelessness on any given day. Milwaukee, in particular, is beset by homelessness, prostitution, and human trafficking.

Milwaukee-based Franciscan Peacemakers has been on the front lines of these crises since 1995. The organization’s mission, as its website states, is to minister “primarily to women engaging in prostitution but also to the homeless and families living in poverty.”

Cynthia Perkins is a jewel in the crown of this organization. Her work as a peer support specialist with Franciscan Peacemakers encompasses street outreach, distributing food and hygiene supplies, and managing the hospitality center.

She understands the needs of women in crisis because she used to be one. Originally from Mount Union, Pennsylvania, Perkins grew up in an abusive household. After losing several family members in short succession, Perkins dropped out of high school.

Eventually, she landed in Wisconsin, where she faced homelessness, sexual exploitation, and drug addiction. Her life was spiraling. Enter Franciscan Peacemakers.

“While I was on the streets, Franciscan Peacemakers would minister to me by giving me food and resources,” she says. “They kept me uplifted and encouraged me to leave the streets.” In 2018, Perkins entered Franciscan Peacemakers’ Clare Community Recovery Program, which paved the way to healing and wholeness. Now she uses her experiences to

The National Shrine of St. Anthony is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consecrated in 1889, it includes a first-class relic of St. Anthony and serves as a center for daily prayer and contemplation.

The Franciscan friars minister from the shrine. To help them in their work among the poor, you may send a monetary offering called St. Anthony Bread. Make checks or money orders payable to “Franciscans” and mail to the address below.

Every Tuesday, a Mass is offered for benefactors and petitioners at the shrine. To seek St. Anthony’s intercession, mail your petition to the address below. Petitions are taken to the shrine each week. viSit our webSite to:

StAnthony.org

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mAil poStAl communicAtionS to:

St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498

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POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH

By Kyle Kramer

Learning to Love What Is

Kyle Kramer

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nyone who knows me—or reads my column—knows I frequently lament leaving the organic farm and hand-built, energyefficient home where my family and I spent 15 years. That was over six years ago, and I still miss that homestead deeply, even though, most of the time, I still think it was the right decision to leave. It’s a wound that has never fully healed—less painful now, but still a dull ache of grief that won’t go away.

Because of this unresolved grief, I’ve still not found a way to dwell fully on the eight rugged acres where we now live, nor in this house that someone else built. I’ve tried. I garden, hunt, make firewood, explore the woods. I keep our house in good repair and make various improvements. But I’ve never felt that I fully belonged here, and my wife and I both sense that we will not stay here for the long term.

A STRUGGLE FOR MANY

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling somewhat homeless in my own home. Certainly, in far more extreme and unjust ways, that’s been the experience of so many who have come to this country as slaves or immigrants or refugees, or the First Nations people who have become marginalized and often displaced on their own native soil.

On some level, I think this feeling of homelessness has afflicted even European colonizers and their descendants, who have never fully learned how to belong in this place.

Throughout our tenure on this continent, we

have had, in the judgment of an indigenous person whose story I read lately, one leg still in the boats that brought us.

When you feel a lack of connection and belonging, a lack of being at home, it becomes very difficult to learn from a place what it would teach you, to care for it as it requires, and to feel safe and sheltered and satisfied.

That unfilled need opens the door to addictive behavior (mine has been workaholism) and other forms of unease.

On the cultural level, we have become obsessed with power, entertainment, wealth, consumerism, political polarization, and all of the other maladies that currently afflict us in the not-so-United States.

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THE PRACTICE OF FORGIVENESS

I was out in our woods recently, mulling all of this over for the millionth time, when three words came to me, whispered by God or the trees or both: “Love what is.” This revelation may not have knocked me off my horse and blinded me, but it definitely felt divine in origin—and consequential.

In the wake of that revelation, I got a strong sense that loving what is must begin and end in forgiveness. It isn’t our property’s fault that it is steep, rocky, tree-shaded, and thin-soiled land, struggling even to grow grass. It’s not our house’s fault that I didn’t build it, or that the people who did build it didn’t care as much as I do about efficiency and design.

Here is the divine invitation: Might I love

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EarthandSpiritCenter.org

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LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: EXTREME PHOTOGRAPHER/ISTOCK

Kyle is the executive director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, which offers interfaith educational programming in meditation, ecology, and social compassion.

He serves as a Catholic climate ambassador for the US Conference of Catholic Bishopssponsored Catholic Climate Covenant and is the author of A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt (Ave Maria Press, 2010).

He speaks across the country on issues of ecology and spirituality.

He and his family spent 15 years as organic farmers and homesteaders in Spencer County, Indiana.

and accept this land and this house for what they are, rather than what I wish they were?

Doing that, of course, would mean recognizing how many unreasonable demands I have put on my own circumstances, and setting aside the high standards and perfectionism that have driven me most of my life. They have been a key part of my hope and work for a better world, but they have also been a source of misery and discontent.

It isn’t easy to unlearn these lifelong habits of mind and heart, but those three words have become a mantra of sorts for me. As I’ve repeated them to myself, I’ve begun to see that it’s not just about loving these eight acres and this home. It’s about loving my job for what it is—a mixture of deep satisfaction and headaches. It’s about loving Louisville, my adopted city, even though it is riven with racial injustices and many other challenges. It’s about loving my country, despite the damage we have inflicted on our democracy, our various peoples and communities, and our land. To love what is means to love all of what is. All loves are interconnected.

CULTIVATING LOVE AND CHANGE

Loving what is doesn’t mean becoming complacent about the need for personal or societal change, though. On the

HELPFUL

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contrary, I think cultivating this kind of love is the only way we move forward. It won’t be a big, technocratic government that solves our problems. It won’t be the unfettered free market, which tends to create a few big winners and many destitute losers, along with devastated ecosystems. It won’t be the Sean Hannitys or Rachel Maddows or any pundits of the chattering class.

It will be us, deciding to love ourselves and each other as we are, to love our places as they are, even as we challenge ourselves and each other to do better. For we can do much, much better than we’re doing. But how to walk down this path of loving what is? Fortunately, my feet know these steps. For though I am a far-from-perfect spouse, father, and son, I—at least on my better days—have found ways to love my wife, our kids, and my parents as they are. Though it is harder, sometimes I even love myself.

I’m also wrapped in a Christian tradition that has this kind of forgiving love at its core. After all, isn’t this what the Christmas miracle of Incarnation is really about? Didn’t God, clothed in the flesh of Jesus, show us how to love what is? Didn’t Jesus love his often-clueless disciples, along with sinners, tax collectors, and even cruel Roman oppressors?

Didn’t God show us that we, too, can love in this way— exactly because this is how God loves us?

EMBRACE THE SEASON WITH LOVE

If you are getting a lot of angry posts coming across your social media, consider fasting from your feeds for the season of Advent. Wrestle with the “fear of missing out” as a spiritual discipline.

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LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: EXTREME PHOTOGRAPHER/ISTOCK

This Advent, try to focus on one person you find difficult to love and make it a daily practice to wish that person well. Notice how this feels in your body. Notice how you resist it. Honor how justified you feel in resisting it. And then keep doing it anyway.

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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH UNPACKED

By David Dault, PhD

Throw Open the Doors to Christ

PODCAST:

The Francis Effect podcast can be streamed live at FrancisFXPod.com.

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WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org

ne afternoon during my sophomore year in college, I went down the hall to visit my friend Brian. As I walked into the room, his roommate looked up and yelled at me, “Hey, Dault, were you born in a barn?”

I stood there for a moment, completely confused. It turns out I had left the door open when I walked in, and this was a way of telling me to shut it. But I had never heard this phrase before, so it took me a minute to get the drift of what I was being asked to do.

Since that afternoon, I have thought about that exchange every once in a while and wondered, What’s so bad about being born in a barn?

A BIBLICAL WELCOME

I’m really not a person who is all that eager to close doors.

Christmastime gets me thinking about another person who was born in a barn. The second chapter of the Gospel of Luke relays some of the few details about the birth of Jesus. We’re told that Mary “wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (2:7).

So Luke’s Gospel tells us what the world looks like when a door is shut and when welcome is not extended. But a moment later, the Gospel does an about-face and gives us a picture of what hospitality looks like: A group of shepherds, tending flocks in the hills near Bethlehem, is visited by an angel. The angel tells them that a child has been born, and they will find him lying in a manger.

Luke’s writing tells us that the shepherds were so quick to drop everything and go to see this child that they got there while the baby Jesus was still lying in that same manger.

And, unlike the innkeepers and others who refused Mary and Joseph any real welcome, the Bible stories tell us that the Holy Family opened the doors wide, and many came to visit with them in the days following the birth of Jesus.

This is one of the ways we can be aware of when the Holy Spirit is active in our midst: At those places in the world where God is active in the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Spirit throws open those doors that all too often we want to close.

STEP FORWARD

As we come to this month of December, we are coming to the close of one of the strangest and most stressful years of my memory.

It would be so easy to simply close the door on all that we have endured—the sickness, violence, and loss—and to embrace whatever changes the new year might bring us.

But Christ’s invitation to the manger is not a call to forget the past and the wounds we endured. We are not called to shut the door on memory and fade into a blissful amnesia.

Instead, the promise of that little baby, lying in swaddling clothes, is a promise of new life and life in abundance. As the poet W.H. Auden once put it, the promise of the manger is that, for once in our lives, “Everything became a You, and nothing was an It.” So much will be changing as we move into this new year. In some ways, it is a bit terrifying to think about. So terrifying, in fact, that we may not simply shut the barn door, but also shut our eyes and our hearts to the possibilities and the good that may yet come.

But the child Jesus is welcoming us to step forward, and the door is open. Maybe being born in a barn is not such a bad thing.

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David hosts the weekly radio show Things Not Seen: Conversations about Culture and Faith.

He also cohosts The Francis Effect podcast with Father Dan Horan, OFM. He lives with his family on the South Side of Chicago.

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David Dault, PhD

POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL

By Susan Hines-Brigger

A Call for Fraternity

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f you were looking for a word to describe the state of the world today, a few that might come to mind are fractured, contentious, or unfriendly. It’s hard not to see and feel it.

Given his latest encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti” (“All Brothers”), it’s evident that Pope Francis is very aware of it too.

The pope’s desire to change that narrative, though, became clear when, on October 3 of this year—the day before the feast of St. Francis of Assisi—he stood in front of the saint’s tomb, celebrated Mass, and then signed the encyclical. The title borrows from the phrase St. Francis used to address his brother friars.

St. Francis, the pope says, was once again an inspiration for his writing. “This saint of fraternal love, simplicity, and joy, who inspired me to write the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’,’ prompts me once more to devote this new encyclical to fraternity and social friendship,” the pope writes.

From the start of the encyclical, the pope does not couch his words. The first section of the document, titled “Dark Clouds over a Closed World,” addresses extreme nationalism, disregard for the most vulnerable among us, lack of universal human rights, misuse of the environment, and, unfortunately, the list goes on.

He points out that, during the writing of the letter, the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading throughout the world.

The experience, he says, was a startling example that “aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident. For all our hyperconnectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all. Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing—or to refine existing systems and regulations—is denying reality.”

He also calls out the way that words such as democracy, freedom, justice, and unity have been twisted and used as tools for domination or used to justify any action. With his own words, the pope provides us all with a much-needed and harsh reflection necessary for us to move forward as brothers and sisters.

BEGIN AGAIN

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A REALITY CHECK

But naming our challenges is just the beginning. The pope then provides a roadmap for us to change our direction toward a more fraternal society. He uses the parable of the good Samaritan to unpack the question of “Who is our neighbor?” and reminds us that we each have an important role to play in bringing about change.

Pope Francis writes: “Each day offers us a new opportunity, a new possibility. . . . Let us take an active part in renew-

Pope Francis talks with leaders of Franciscan orders at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, on October 3, 2020.

ing and supporting our troubled societies. Today we have a great opportunity to express our innate sense of fraternity, to be good Samaritans who bear the pain of other people’s troubles rather than fomenting greater hatred and resentment.”

We can do that, he points out, by helping to create a society that embraces dialogue and understanding and promotes tolerance and acceptance of others. Such an environment, he says, would help “contribute significantly to reducing many economic, social, political, and environmental problems that weigh so heavily on a large part of humanity.”

FROM REFLECTION TO ACTION

With this document, Pope Francis calls us to action. But where do we begin? As Pope Francis did, look to the life of St. Francis and the model of fraternity he provided. Read the encyclical (available at vatican.va) not in the spirit of just another Church document but rather as a living document.

Approach it with the mindset of taking in the wisdom of a beloved family member or friend from our older generations. Finally, reflect on it and what it is calling you to do.

In many ways, the message of this encyclical is nothing new. The themes of fraternity, equality, love of others, and more are cornerstones of our faith, after all—or at least they are supposed to be. Pope Francis obviously thinks they are themes that bear repeating.

“Love,” he writes, “is more than just a series of benevolent actions. Those actions have their source in a union increasingly directed toward others, considering them of value, worthy, pleasing, and beautiful apart from their physical or moral appearances. Our love for others, for who they are, moves us to seek the best for their lives. Only by cultivating this way of relating to one another will we make possible a social friendship that excludes no one and a fraternity that is open to all.” These are wise words. Maybe we should start listening.

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A labor of love for the only American architect to design a building at the Vatican, this annual Nativity scene is a source of light and hope in his hometown.

By Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller hen Pittsburgh architect Louis D. Astorino was at the Vatican in the mid-1990s, a project engineer took him to where a life-size crèche was stored and put one of the Magi’s crowns on his head.

“I have a wonderful picture of that,” he says. Astorino was in Rome to oversee the construction of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, which he designed for popes to celebrate daily Mass. He is the only American architect to design a building in the Vatican. The experience with the Wise Man’s crown set the wheels in motion for another distinction—bringing a replica of the spectacular display of the true meaning of Christmas back to his hometown in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The statues that he saw in storage in the Vatican were part of a life-size crèche that, for years, was displayed in St. Peter’s Square during the Christmas season. “When they showed me all the pieces and the stable, I asked if it had ever been replicated,” Astorino says. “They said no. So I asked if it could be replicated for Pittsburgh, and they told me to talk to Cardinal Rosalio José Castillo Lara, the president of the Vatican government at the time. I saw some pictures of how

it was set up, and it was mind-blowing. I had this crazy idea that we could do this in Pittsburgh.”

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Pittsburgh needed a crèche. The nuts and bolts of the project wouldn’t be anything like larger commercial projects, but there would be obstacles. It couldn’t go just anywhere, even after it was created.

When the United States Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that Nativity scenes were not permitted on public property, that meant that the small one then displayed at the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh had to come down. In the subsequent move to secularize the Christmas season in the city, a downtown department store’s traditional Christmas tree was renamed the Unity Tree, and December became known as Sparkle Season. All across the nation, there were few places for Jesus in the holiday that was really his.

Astorino was not discouraged by that court ruling, and in the 1990s he worked with others to locate a private space to set up a small crèche in Pittsburgh. But after someone complained when it was on display, the city officials said that

PAUL MARCUCCI

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PAUL MARCUCCI (5)

The life-size crèche built by local architect Louis D. Astorino places the emphasis of the seasons of Advent and Christmas squarely on the birth of Jesus.

Against the backdrop of Pittsburgh’s city lights, various figures populate the Nativity scene, including a camel, the Magi, shepherds, and an angel heralding Christ’s birth.

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the site was indeed public property, not private.

“So we had to take it down,” says Msgr. Ronald Lengwin, vicar for Church relations in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He has also been the host of Amplify, a Sunday program on local KDKA radio, for more than 45 years. Decades ago, he worked with a committee to bring the Christian message of the season back to the city.

“Then Lou saw the crèche in St. Peter’s Square and came back and said, ‘We ought to do this,’” he continues. “I told him, ‘You’re crazy. You’ll never get permission from the Vatican to do it.’”

Astorino did get the approval to proceed. But there was still the problem of where to put it. “We had to find the right place,” he says.

That prayer was answered when Thomas Usher, then the chairman of US Steel, obtained permission to have it displayed on the corporate plaza—a piece of private property in front of the US Steel Tower on Grant Street. It was the perfect location in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

PAUL MARCUCCI (5)

CRAFTING THE CRÈCHE

Donations from multiple sources made the project a reality.

Many individuals, groups, and businesses became involved in maintaining the crèche in the years to come.

Astorino commissioned the original sculptor, renowned Italian artist Peter Simonelli, to duplicate the figures, which are similar to the ones that the Vatican displayed. The figures are made out of wire-mesh forms over wooden armatures,

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with hands and heads made from papier-mâché over clay.

It took the artist six months to complete the Holy Family, the Magi, two shepherds, and several animals. The Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Pittsburgh had the garments ready when the shipment arrived. They carried on the Vatican’s tradition of having communities of women religious design and sew the garments for the figures in their crèche. Several Pittsburgh-area religious communities were initially involved in that part of the project.

“Three of our sisters are seamstresses, and they had material—some of which was donated,” says Sister of the Holy Spirit Cindy Ann Kibler, who assists the diocese’s seminarian and deacon formation programs. She keeps the ball rolling by coordinating the dressing of the figures in the Nativity scene and the storing of the outfits.

“When the sisters made the first outfits, they had no dimensions for the three Wise Men, but they prayed about it and went ahead, and even made crowns for them,” says Sister Cindy Ann. “But the figures already had crowns when they were taken out of the shipping crates, and it turned out that they matched the outfits that the sisters made.”

Sister Bridget Miller, now in her mid-80s, is one of the original seamstresses and continues to wash, iron, mend, and replace the garments as needed. Her long-ago degree in home economics included many classes in sewing and tailoring, so she was a natural for dressing the figures.

“We asked for donations from fabric stores, and since they knew what we were doing, they were very generous,” Sister

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Getting the crèche ready every year is a group effort. The Sisters of the Holy Spirit and friends wash, iron, mend, and replace figures’ garments as needed.

One of the later additions to the Nativity scene, the figure of a camel is draped with colorful garments by a friend of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit.

Bridget says. “And being that we were in community, we had lots of materials in our sewing room. So we used some of that.”

The stable was built at the Civic Light Opera Construction Center, following plans from Vatican architect Umberto Mezzanna. It’s 64 feet wide, 36 feet deep, 42 feet high, and weighs 66,000 pounds. Cranes are needed to lift the panels that weigh 800–1,000 pounds each. Realisticlooking rocks are made out of Styrofoam.

The crèche and the original figures debuted in Advent 1999. The ecumenical Christian Leaders Fellowship, made up of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and nine other denominations, now sponsors the crèche. Their bishops or representatives participate in the opening services and blessings every year.

“This is not just a Catholic crèche,” Sister Cindy Ann says. “It’s a wonderful evangelization tool that brings some light into the darkness of our society. It gives me hope and encouragement and slows me down to make sure that I stop and smell the roses because I know that faith is greater than any trial or tribulation. It helps bring my faith alive, and I am truly honored that our sisters were invited to be part of it and have continued to be part of it.”

selling memorabilia to raise funds for the upkeep and other needs of the display. He has met countless people who come from near and far for reasons as different as they are.

Some make it a family affair to teach their children the real meaning of Christmas. There have been marriage proposals at the crèche and annual return trips to mark those memories.

“Many people say that they remember when, as a child, their family placed the Nativity set under the tree as the crowning moment of finishing the decorations,” Msgr.

Lengwin says. “It was the last thing they did. They remember a time when they had a childlike faith. It was a simple but strong faith, and they yearn for those days once again.”

The priest has heard stories about how the Nativity touches some of the city’s most vulnerable people.

Sometimes on cold December nights when the streets are nearly deserted, a few homeless individuals might be found sitting in silence on a wall around the crèche. The security guards who patrol the property don’t ask them to leave. They likely would have been asked to move on in other places in the city, maybe even if they lingered too long in one of the churches that are decorated for Christmas.

But here, where a re-creation of the birth of Jesus Christ glows in the night, they are welcome to stay. They can pause for a while to meditate on the incarnation of the Son of God. Maybe the sight of the infant and his family, the shepherds, and the visitors to the stable takes them back to memories of

A WORK IN PROGRESS

An estimated 250,000 people visit the site every year. Msgr.

Lengwin, who coordinates some of the planning, has spent many evenings greeting visitors, passing out brochures, and

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF LOUIS D. ASTORINO

Sister Mary Lou Witkowski, SHS, is hard at work, adjusting an outfit for one of the shepherd figures for the crèche.

PAUL MARCUCCI (4)

Sister Bridget Miller, SHS, seated second from the right, is one of the original seamstresses for the Nativity figures’ outfits.

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better Christmases past.

The Nativity set from Msgr. Lengwin’s childhood has held special meaning for him his whole life, and he still displays it for the season. He has treasured memories of his early Christmases, and he’s touched when he sees mothers bringing their children to the display in Pittsburgh. That image was the inspiration for an addition to the crèche.

“My sister and I decided to have a figure of a woman created after our mother died,” he says. “The figure stands off to the side of a little boy, and they are carrying fruit. We never named her because she stands for all the women who brought their children to visit the child Jesus and the mothers who bring their children now to the crèche. You see so much instruction going on when a mother holds her child’s hand, and you see them pointing to the figures and telling them about the infant Jesus.”

Other figures were added over the years. Simonelli created the first addition—an angel that hangs over the crib—in 2000. Later came a camel, a kneeling shepherd and two other shepherds, two more angels, a reclining cow, and several other animals.

“It’s through its beauty and its sense of wonder and mystery that a man-made scene of Christ’s birth can open our hearts and inspire us when we want to express gratitude to God for all we have received,” Msgr. Lengwin says. “The crèche is a visual sermon to meditate on Christ’s birth so that we might understand God’s incredible love for us.”

Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller is an author and editor whose work has been recognized with numerous journalism awards, including from the Catholic Media Association. Mother of three and grandmother of two, she lives in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband, two rescue dogs, and two rescue cats.

ABOUT THE ARCHITECT

LOUIS D. ASTORINO, who has since retired from L.D. Astorino and Associates, which he founded in 1972, is no stranger to thinking big. The design of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit is one of his most treasured projects and one that he said he felt called to. He describes that experience in his book, A Pencil in God’s Hand: The Story of the Only American Architect to Design a Building in the Vatican.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF LOUIS D. ASTORINO

His architectural firm also designed landmarks such as Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park, and numerous construction and restoration projects in the region and beyond.

PAUL MARCUCCI (4)

Architect Louis D. Astorino (center) stands with family in front of the life-size crèche in Pittsburgh. His grandson Jack, granddaughter Sophia, and daughter, Christine, are on the left. His wife, Jean, daughter-in-law, Gina (with granddaughter Ava), and son, Louis P. (with grandson Louis) are on the right.

The Chapel of the Holy Spirit is outlined in red in the lower right of this photo.

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Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Construction of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit began in 1993 and was completed in 1996.

Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

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Christmas in Bethlehem with

Orthodox Christians

By Alberto Elli and Claire Riobé

or Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, the celebration of Christmas begins around the time many American Catholics are taking down their ornaments and packing away their Nativity sets. Visitors to Bethlehem from all faith traditions can look forward to a rich tapestry of rituals to celebrate the birth of Christ.

While Latin, or Roman Catholic, Christians celebrate on December 25, the Orthodox celebrations begin in January

and include solemn processions, beautiful hymns, and liturgies in a variety of languages.

Because they follow different calendars, members of the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Christian, Coptic Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas Eve on January 6 and Christmas Day on January 7. Those who belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land celebrate on January 18 and 19.

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TOP RIGHT: DEBBIE HILL/CNS PHOTO

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GARO NALBANDIAN (3)

Theophilus III, the Greek Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem, prepares for a Divine Liturgy in the Basilica of the Nativity. Its recent extensive restoration work has revealed the mosaics on the upper walls. Many Greek Orthodox Christians from the region and around the world participate.

Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics fill the sacred spaces they share in the Holy Land with a rich harmony of songs, symbols, liturgies, and reverence as they celebrate the birth of Christ.

TOP RIGHT: DEBBIE HILL/CNS PHOTO

GARO NALBANDIAN (3)

s

TOP: Palestinian Manan Abu Abuyash holds Maram as she lights a candle.

LOWER LEFT: Boy Scouts with bagpipes contribute their talent to a Christmas procession. LOWER RIGHT: Since Ottoman times, members of the Kawas security force provide crowd control for Christians’ public celebrations.

GREEK ORTHODOX: THE ‘MOTHER CHURCH’ LEADS THE WAY

In the Middle East, more Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church than to any other Christian group, an estimated 65,000 in Israel and the Palestinian Authority Territory. The Greeks, Armenians, and Latins (Roman Catholics) share Bethlehem’s Basilica of the Nativity, each group having certain rights there under the Status Quo agreement (see sidebar on page 26). The centuries-old agreement, created in response to tensions over schedules and the use of spaces in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, details which Churches are responsible for specific sites and when they can conduct their religious services.

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Status Quo: Sharing Churches

On the afternoon of January 5, Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox patriarch makes a solemn entrance into Bethlehem and is greeted by Greek Orthodox Christians and visitors from around the world. He is also officially greeted by representatives of the Palestinian Authority, whose territory includes Bethlehem.

The highlight of the Greek festivities is the procession to the city’s Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The president of the Palestinian Authority often attends the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on January 6, as he does for the Franciscans’ celebration on December 24.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem bears the title of “Mother Church” of the Christian Churches. Its patriarch is regarded as the direct successor of James the Just, the first bishop of Jerusalem (Acts of the Apostles 12:17, 15:13, and 21:18).

SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS: CELEBRATING IN THE LANGUAGE OF JESUS

The morning procession of the Syrians to the Basilica of the Nativity begins at the Armenian monastery. The atmosphere is solemn but joyful; the air is filled with the sound of the drums and bagpipes of Scout groups around Bethlehem.

At 3 p.m., the Syriac Orthodox community descends into the Cave of the Nativity and later celebrates in Aramaic the first of its three Christmas liturgies on an altar between the choirs of the Greeks and the Armenians. “Most young people no longer speak Aramaic,” says Abouna (Father) Shimon, a Syriac priest serving in Jerusalem.

The Latin-rite St. Catherine of Alexandria Church adjoins the Basilica of the Nativity.

BETHLEHEM’S BASILICA of the Nativity dates to the fourth century, when St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, initiated its construction. The current building dates from the 12th century. Its artwork of the Magi caused Persian invaders in the seventh century not to destroy it because these men looked like them.

Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and many other churches were not so fortunate.

Tensions over schedules and the use of spaces in Bethlehem and Jerusalem caused Sultan Osman II in 1757 to issue the Status Quo agreement, affirming that current arrangements should continue, as well as indicating who is responsible for specific areas and when they can conduct their religious services. The agreement was reconfirmed in 1852 and 1853.

Originating in southeastern Turkey, it was the first language of Jesus and many early Christians in the land where he lived. After the liturgies, the Syriac clergy meet in front of the basilica with dignitaries from the Palestinian Authority, who offer greetings first to the Greeks, then to the Syriac community.

Christmas in Bethlehem also requires patient waiting because several Christian communities are celebrating in the same church, following one another throughout the day. The Syriacs must wait until midnight before they begin their second Christmas liturgy, celebrated on a small altar in the Armenian part of the basilica “loaned” to them for the day.

LEFT: GARO NALBANDIAN; RIGHT: RPARY/ISTOCK

A Syriac monk displays an ancient book with the biblical text written in Aramaic, Jesus’ first language and the most common one spoken by Jewish people in that area during his lifetime.

Major renovations (such as the spectacular ones carried out very recently in Bethlehem and earlier at Holy Sepulchre) must be jointly agreed upon and financed by the Greeks, the Latins, and the Armenians. Each group designates a representative to work jointly on all Status Quo issues.

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LEFT: GARO NALBANDIAN; RIGHT: ELIAS HALABI (2)

The Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox clergy there were joined after 1342 by Friars Minor, whom Pope Clement VI designated as the Roman Catholic Church’s official representatives.

Father Arsanios Al Orshalimi from the Coptic Orthodox Church in Ramallah (Palestinian Authority Territory) joins in celebrating Christmas Mass in Bethlehem.

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LEFT: GARO NALBANDIAN; RIGHT: ELIAS HALABI (2)

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A procession through Bethlehem is a key part of how Orthodox Christians from Ethiopia begin their celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Father Samuel Aghoyan leads the Armenian Orthodox community at Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The Armenians have a large presence in the Old City.

In the choir, women and men alternately sing psalms and antiphons as a tribute to the newborn child. “We attach great importance to singing,” says Father Shimon. The small assembly is made up of about 40 faithful, most of whom come from Syriac Orthodox families in neighboring villages.

The Syriac Orthodox meet in the early morning on January 7 for the last of three Christmas celebrations. They read from the Gospel of St. Luke in the basilica and then in the Cave of the Nativity below. The festivities end in the afternoon at the Armenian convent before the Syriacs depart for Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas with their families.

The Syriac Church traces its origins to the Church of Antioch, founded by the apostles Peter and Paul. Its spirituality is marked by asceticism and a liturgy inherited from the early Christians of Jerusalem, with a rich heritage of hymns.

The Syriac Orthodox Church today has nearly 300,000 faithful worldwide.

Jesus, the Epiphany, and his Baptism as a single feast.

The Ethiopians celebrate not in the basilica but in a small monastery in Bethlehem. A celebration in Manger Square uses African rhythms to herald the arrival of their patriarch.

They observe a long fast before this feast.

The midnight Mass on Christmas is preceded by the singing of long hymns and the reciting of psalms. After the liturgy, families usually join in a common meal. They may then play a type of hockey game, minus the ice.

COPTIC AND ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX: FASTS AND FEASTS

The Coptic Orthodox Church is present in Egypt and Ethiopia. Because they celebrate in Bethlehem on different days, the Copts are able to use the Armenians’ main altar in the north transept.

In the second century, Christmas and Epiphany were celebrated in Egypt on the same day. Now they are separate feasts. In fact, for centuries Christians celebrated the birth of

ARMENIAN ORTHODOX: A FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND PRAYER

Father Samuel Aghoyan is the superior of the Armenian community at Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

Every year, on January 18, he goes to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

In the Basilica of the Nativity, the Greek and Armenian Orthodox both have altars on the main level of the church.

At their altar in the north transept, they celebrate a lengthy Christmas vigil presided over by the Armenian patriarch, currently Nourhan Manougian.

“The Holy Land is the cradle of Christendom, where Christ was born, died, and rose,” explains Father Samuel.

“To live this festival in Bethlehem, within the Armenian community, is, therefore, something truly unique for every Christian, whether Armenian or not.

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One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen twenty twenty-one twenty-two

Baptism, and [the] Epiphany. This was the practice among early Christians until the fourth century, when other Christian denominations separated the holidays.” He notes that Armenian Orthodox Christians outside of the Holy Land celebrate Christmas on January 6.

“For rituals, I must say that music is very important to us. The Armenian community is renowned for its choirs and songs. I don’t like the organ that Catholics play during their celebrations. It’s too noisy,” he says with a laugh. “It is much nicer naturally, a cappella!”

Monks sit near the low, narrow door through which each person must humbly pass in order to enter the Basilica of the Nativity.

Latins Celebrate on December 25

Roman Catholics (known locally as “the Latins”) gather in Bethlehem on December 24 to welcome the Latin patriarch, who comes from Jerusalem. The Friars Minor assemble in front of the basilica to accompany him into the church. The friars have represented Roman Catholics in this basilica since the 14th century and work closely with the Latin patriarch, who presides at the midnight Mass celebrated in St. Catherine Church, which adjoins the basilica.

The Mass concludes with a procession into the basilica and down to the Cave of the Nativity, where a statue of the infant Jesus is placed on a silver star under an altar used by the Greek Orthodox. Masses are celebrated throughout the day in the nearby Grotto of the Manger.

Because special tickets are needed for the Mass at St. Catherine Church, many Catholic pilgrims join in a Mass at the Shepherds’ Field Chapel in nearby Beit Sahour.

Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, prays in the Cave of the Nativity.

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—Pat McCloskey, OFM

ABOVE: SHUJAA 777/ISTOCK; INSET: GARO NALBANDIAN; LOWER LEFT: CNS PHOTO/MUSA AL SHAER/REUTERS

This silver star marks the place where Jesus is believed to have been born.

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The Armenians start with a procession preceded by Boy Scouts to the Basilica of the Nativity. The first liturgy begins around 2 p.m. at the altar above the Cave of the Nativity. They then have two liturgies—in the evening and during the night—at their altar in the northern transept of the basilica.

Around midnight, representatives of the Palestinian Authority hear the Armenian patriarch’s message in the cave where Jesus was born. The festivities end around 6 a.m. on January 19.

All liturgies are celebrated in classical Armenian.

Approximately 1,000 Armenians live in Jerusalem, many of whom join in the celebration. They are joined by pilgrims from all over the world. For local Christians and pilgrims alike, regardless of their faith tradition, the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ in the Holy Land can be a powerful experience of Christian unity.

“The mosaic of rituals and traditions that are observed among the various Christian communities, especially on Christmas, must not allow the world to forget that this is a time of peace,” says Father Aghoyan. “The Christmas celebrations are not meant as a spectacle staged for pilgrims but a witness, in the name of Jesus, in the name of his love, because we are all brothers.”

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This text is adapted from six articles by two authors in the Winter 2019 issue of the Holy Land Review, used with their permission. Marie-Armelle Beaulieu, chief editor of the French version of the Holy Land Review, assisted with this article. For information about events at the Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, DC, visit MyFranciscan.org.

Alberto Elli, a connoisseur of ancient languages and history, has long been fascinated by the rituals and traditions of Orthodox Christians.

Claire Riobé is a student of journalism and international affairs who completed a one-year internship with the communication department of the Custody of the Holy Land.

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Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months

Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date 15. a. Total Number of Copies (Net press run) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,601 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,393 b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) 1. Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,475 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,166 2. Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 3. Paid Distribution Outside the Mails including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 4. Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail®) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,122 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,052 c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,489 d. 1. Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies

included on PS Form 3541 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,395 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,193 4. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail

(Carriers or other means) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3) and (4)) . . . 2,904 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,693 f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,898 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,182 g. Copies not Distributed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,211 h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,781. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,393 i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94% I certify that all information on this form is true and complete. _______________________________________________ Daniel Kroger, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher | 9/28/2020

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HEALTH-CARE HEROES:

NEW YORK CI 30 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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A pair of nurses explain how their faith helped them cope with the unique challenges of caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNA PEDOTE

s the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic took hold around the world, health-care workers became international heroes. Pope Francis called them “the saints next door.” Videos featuring them in circumstances ranging from deeply tragic to profoundly inspirational appeared all over the media. Military fighter jets did flyovers of hospitals in their honor.

Politicians, royalty, and celebrities stood shoulder to shoulder with regular citizens nightly in neighborhoods, applauding and cheering them on.

Nurses in particular were singled out for praise, and rightly so. All across our nation, nurses did not hesitate to answer the clarion call to serve, to be and bring Jesus to the suffering, despite the danger to their own lives as well as to those of their loved ones. Working alongside nurses, hospital chaplains responded to the spiritual needs of patients with grace and courage (see sidebar on page 33).

Two nurses share their stories from the front lines of the pandemic.

:

(LEFT TO RIGHT) Anna Pedote, Hayleigh Ciprello, and Kerry Franklin are just three of the thousands of nurses and other health-care workers who answered the call when COVID-19 overwhelmed New York City. Despite the risks to their own health, they cared for patients under the extreme circumstances caused by the virus.

CITY NURSES

By Rita E. Piro

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New York Stats

New York Army National Guard Soldiers of the 133rd Composite Supply Company, part of the 53rd Troop Command, warehouse and inventory the initial shipments of a FEMA field hospital for setup at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Anna Pedote: ‘God Gave Me Strength’ LEFT: At a pre-pandemic birthday celebration, nurse Anna Pedote is surrounded by her nephew Christopher and nieces Caitlin, Valerie, and Daniella. This and other joyful memories help to keep her going while she cares for COVID-19 patients.

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urse Anna Pedote says: “I remember one COVID patient I was caring for telling me he couldn’t breathe. I immediately told him to lie on his stomach and proceeded to cup and clap his back for what seemed like an eternity. When he started feeling better and his blood oxygen level increased, I was able to stop for a few moments—until I realized I had eight more patients just like him that needed my attention. There was never enough of me to go around.” Pedote, an emergency room nurse for 16 years, continues, “I became a nurse to help people, to ease their suffering, but COVID-19 just would not let me.”

All the city’s health-care workers were hailed as heroes, but none more so than the thousands of hospital nurses who became the front line for the COVID-19 war starting in late February. Recalls Pedote: “The plan that was put in place was to have the nurses screen patients. If they met the COVID-19 criteria— fever, shortness of breath, cough—we would give them a mask, place a mask on ourselves as well, and escort them to an isolation room.

The nurse would then don personal protective equipment and go into the isolation room.

Most contact with physicians was done via telephone. We, the nurses, were the ones with the patient the whole time. If patients were negative, they would go home. If not, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] was called for further instructions.”

New York City, the Big Apple, the City That Never Sleeps, started to shut down.

Remembers Pedote: “Airports, train stations, businesses, and schools were all closing. It seemed as if overnight my hospital became like a MASH unit. There were patients in beds and on gurneys everywhere, including in our cafeteria. A tent had been set up outside the ER for less seriously ill patients. We had nurses from every unit flowing into the ER to help us.

“Nurses from other hospitals around the city—and eventually the nation—were brought in to help. The patients we saw would go from bad to worse and sometimes to dying in just a matter of hours. It was a full-time job just to keep replenishing oxygen tanks.”

This same scenario played out daily in Pedote’s life for months, and she could not help but be affected. “I would come home late at night crying. It was impossible to decompress, to sleep more than just a short time.

I know that it was only God who gave me the strength to continue. I would pray every morning before going in that God would be with me and give me what I needed to get through another day, to help me help these very sick people.”

It was only normal that Pedote was afraid to be around so many sick patients, but she never hesitated to return every day to the ER. “That’s my job, and it’s what I do and what I want to do,” she says. “The worst part for me was that no one really wanted to be around me. Friends, family were all afraid. I totally understand, but that was hard.”

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PHOTO COURTESY SISTER MARY PREENIKA DABRERA, CSJ

The hospital ship USN Comfort was dispatched to the New York City waterfront, convention centers were converted into hospitals, and hotels and state university dormitories were outfitted for less serious cases. Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to the sick around the world, set up a 14-tent, 68-bed field hospital in the city’s famed Central Park, just across from Mt. Sinai Hospital Center.

LEFT: SR. AIRMAN SEAN MADDEN; TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF ANNA PEDOTE; TOP RIGHT: FILO/ISTOCK

With nearly 489,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 32,900 deaths tallied

by October, New York City has been the nation’s hardest hit location. Fatalities from the virus rose to 800 per day during April and May. Its high rate of transmission overwhelmed the state’s health-care facilities, both public and private, and the city’s 200-plus hospitals and urgent care centers quickly overflowed with seriously ill patients of all demographics.

Sister Preenika Dabrera, CSJ, Pastoral Minister

Sister Preenika Dabrera drew strength from her fellow Sisters of St. Joseph. LEFT: In front, Sisters Mary Ann Cashin and Preenika Dabrera; in back, Sisters Catherine Fitzgibbon and Eileen Kelly. RIGHT: From Holy Spirit Convent, Suffolk County, Sisters Maura Costello, Rosaleen Scheller, Preenika Dabrera, and Lynn Caton.

A MEMBER OF THE Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood, New York, Sister Preenika Dabrera, CSJ, works as a pastoral care minister at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, a Catholic hospital on Long Island. By the time COVID-19 arrived in New York in early March, Sister Preenika was already aware of the devastating virus from conversations with her family in Sri Lanka.

In her normal routine as a chaplain, Sister Preenika would provide the spiritual component of the healing process to both patients and their families. Every day, she freely visited patients, offering spiritual direction, counseling, prayer, conversation, the Eucharist, and often just a hand to hold.

PHOTO COURTESY SISTER MARY PREENIKA DABRERA, CSJ

LEFT: SR. AIRMAN SEAN MADDEN; TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF ANNA PEDOTE; TOP RIGHT: FILO/ISTOCK

“My family knew of the virus much earlier than we did, and they kept warning us here to expect much devastation,” she says. “That was in January, and by the end of February they canceled their plans to come visit me, but here in America we were still going about our lives in the normal way.”

and the nurses would wheel the patient’s bed as close to the door as possible.”

Such a deviation from the intimate, personal nature of pastoral care was difficult. “I found it very upsetting,” says Sister Preenika.

“It was so hard to try to comfort patients over the phone, and it was difficult to end the calls.” Dealing with such serious sickness, stress, and sorrow every minute of the day had a profound impact upon Sister “The nurses were Preenika. The community of sisters with whom she lived provided the support she needed to so good about continue serving the needs of the hundreds of staying with the seriously ill patients.

patient, holding the phone so they could see or hear us as we prayed with the patient or spoke with them.”

That all changed when COVID-19 arrived. “We could no longer see the patients or walk through the units. Every floor was limited to just the doctors and nurses who worked on that unit,” explains Sister Preenika. “The nursing home next to the hospital was completely sealed off to volunteers and visitors.” As the hospital filled with seriously ill patients, she and the other ministerial staff were prohibited from actually being with patients. “We had to minister to the patients over the phone,” she says.

“The nurses were so good about staying with the patient, holding the phone so they could see or hear us as we prayed with the patient or spoke with them. When someone needed anointing, the priest was only allowed to stand by the door and say the prayers,

“The sisters were there for me every day.

Without hearing patients’ personal or family info, they listened to my stories of the patients, and they held each of them in prayer. We did little fun activities together. When we watched movies together, they made sure to choose films without violence or hospitals. They made my favorite foods to cheer me up. And we ate lots of ice cream,” she laughs.

“They also gave me lots of space to stay in silence and pray so I could renew my spirit and energy. I appreciated that because I needed time alone to process the hard things patients, family, and staff shared with me.“ Though today Sister Preenika is engaged in more of the usual ministry activities she enjoyed before COVID-19, she will always remember all those whom God brought to her to touch.

“I will forever hold in prayer every patient and family with whom I spoke and prayed and comforted,” she says softly.

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Lea Vischio: ‘No Spiritual Closure’ e received our first positive patient in mid-March,” and stories and memories with friends and family. There was remembers Lea Vischio, a labor and delivery nurse no spiritual closure from having the Mass of Christian Burial in New York City for 35 years. “She was in labor with mild in the manner in which we knew.”

COVID-19 symptoms. I held up her baby from across the Vischio’s situation grew worse when, five days after her room so she could see, then transferred the baby to the nurs- father’s death, she herself exhibited symptoms of COVID-19. ery. Mom and baby were only united upon discharge days “I got swabbed and I was positive, although I never really later.” A mother of three herself, Vischio could empathize had any doubt. I locked myself in my room, and my husband with the new mother’s suffering. “She was not able to hold, would leave food at the door.” hug, or kiss her newborn. It was the complete opposite of Other family members, including her mother and sister, what’s usually done after a birth. I could feel the emotional who had been exposed to her father prior to his hospitalizapain this first-time mother was experiencing. COVID-19 tion, also contracted the virus, though Vischio experienced turned something that should be so beautiful into something the most serious case. “There were some benefits to being a so cruel and unnatural.” nurse and having COVID-19,” she says. “I was able to moniWhile the COVID-19 virus hit different parts of New tor my vital signs, oxygen saturation, and perform breathing York City to varying degrees, every hospital exercises. But it also proved to be very was over capacity. Hospitals were limited to anxiety-provoking. There was the cononly patients and employees. “I realized this stant fear of your condition worsening “I also knew there was going to be something serious when and, of course, the possibility of ending were lots of prayers they started to ban visitors,” recalls Vischio. up on a ventilator. While I did have some being said for my “Every floor had become a COVID floor, serious moments that brought me to the recovery. . . . You and units were closed off from traffic. You very hospital in which I worked for my cannot imagine how weren’t allowed to be on a unit unless you own treatment, I was able to avoid the comforting it is to worked there, no matter who you were.” ventilator.” know that people are For Vischio, COVID-19 became a battle She smiles as she remembers: “I also on both the work front and the home front. knew there were lots of prayers being praying for you.”

On March 27, while working at the hospital, said for my recovery. I have a cousin, she received a call from her sister that they Rev. Nick Mormando, OFM Cap, at the were bringing their father to the emergency room because he Franciscan Friary of St. Pio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was having trouble breathing.

I think he had every province praying for me. You cannot “When my father was brought to the ER, I did not suspect imagine how comforting it is to know that people are prayCOVID-19,” she recalls. “He hadn’t been exhibiting any ing for you.” symptoms, and I just thought, at 86 years old, he was expeCARRYING OUT THE MISSION OF CHRIST riencing another bout of congestive heart failure. I wasn’t The COVID-19 experiences of these two nurses are a microallowed into the ER but was able to find out that he had indeed tested positive for COVID-19. Later that evening after cosm of what the vast majority of the nation’s nearly 3 million registered nurses had to face as the deadly virus marched my shift, I was able to secure permission to see him. I had across the United States, filling hospitals coast to coast and to put on full PPE [personal protective equipment] and was allowed only a few minutes with him. Leaving him that night border to border. Confirmed US cases swelled to over 7 million by the end of September, with more than 205,000 deaths was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Not attributed to the virus. The same scenes of the frantic fight being able to be with him or even involved with his care was between life and death that first appeared in New York City and still is extremely difficult for me to come to terms with.” hospitals reappeared state by state, city by city, town by town, Her father declined rapidly, succumbing to COVID-19 as the epicenter of the virus changed frequently. only three days later, leaving Vischio and her family bereft Talk of a COVID-19 vaccine is heartening, but many with little ability to take comfort in their treasured faith variables and questions remain. Today, Pedote and Vischio rituals. All the Roman Catholic dioceses had ordered their are working under more normal circumstances than durchurches and cemeteries closed; the deceased were being housed by undertakers in special refrigerated trucks or ware- ing the period from March to August. Pedote can still see every patient by whose side she stood as she provided them houses for weeks before they could be dealt with properly. with treatment, or held their hand as they gasped for air, or “Being a devout Catholic family, it was and still is awful not who asked her to call their family or say a prayer with them. having been able to grieve in our traditional way,” reflects Vischio thanks God every day for bringing her through her Vischio. “My father was a founding pillar of our parish and own battle with COVID-19 and waits for the day in 2021 community. There was no wake where we could share hugs

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RITA E. PIRO

“W

RITA E. PIRO

when she and her family can have their father’s funeral Mass and give him the send-off he deserves.

New front lines of nurses and other health-care workers queue up every day, ready to engage in and bear witness to the mission of Jesus the healer. “You are an image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ that continues to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ, who drew near to and healed people with all kinds of sickness and who stooped down to wash the feet of his disciples,” says Pope Francis. “Let us pray for nurses.”

Maternity nurse Lea Vischio holds a portrait of her father, Angelo, walking her down the aisle at her wedding. Both Lea and her father battled COVID-19 in the same hospital where she worked. He passed away after just three days while she fought the virus for a month.

Her husband, John, says of that time: “My greatest concern was that her personal life and professional life were colliding. She barely had a moment to realize what happened to her father when she became infected herself. There was no room to breathe, emotionally or physically.” Also pictured is the couple’s youngest child, Adam Angelo, 27, named in honor of his grandfather.

Based in New York City, Rita E. Piro is an award-winning freelance writer who has written multiple articles for St. Anthony Messenger. She has been on the faculty of an all-girls Catholic high school in New York City for 29 years.

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A COVID-19 Christmas

By Susan Hines-Brigger

or most of us, December 1 is the starting line for the mad dash through the Christmas season toward the finish line that is Christmas Day. For some people, that race starts even earlier. But, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, that race might be put on hold for now. Or, at least it will take a different course.

Family celebrations may be held on Zoom.

Presents may be shipped rather than personally delivered. Midnight Mass may be celebrated in front of a computer screen rather than gathered in your parish church.

Yes, Christmas might be a little bit different this year, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose the spirit or meaning of the season.

Luckily, the reason we celebrate is a timeless story that will help carry us through any obstacles we may face.

If we think about it, the very first Christmas took place in the midst of chaos. Mary, a young girl, found herself with child. Joseph, her fiancé, was faced with the reality and lifechanging implications of the situation. They had to leave their home and travel miles, only to be turned away when trying to find shelter. Eventually, they welcomed their son in a manger filled with hay and animals.

If that doesn’t sound unsettling, I don’t know what does. But, despite all that, it ended up being a great blessing for us.

Perhaps, then, we should look upon the challenges of this year as an opportunity to once again embrace the spirit and joy of Christ’s birth. And while such a celebration may not look as it has for us in recent years, there are things we can do to embrace the spirit of the Advent and Christmas season. Here are five suggestions for celebrating this glorious time in the midst of COVID-19.

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ISTOCK IMAGES: LEFT: GALINA SHARAPOVA; RIGHT: KAJA KIKI

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ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP: WILD PIXEL; BOTTOM: KSENIA SHESTAKOVA

In the midst of these uncertain times, here are five ways to rethink your Advent and Christmas season.

1) Think Small

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ccording to Amazon, the company’s sales increased 40 percent to $88.9 billion in the second quarter of this year, compared with $63.4 billion in the second quarter of 2019. While that’s good news for them, it has not been the story for the small businesses that were drastically affected by the shutdown.

Many have had to close their doors. Others are hanging on in hopes that things will begin to look up. And that’s where we can come in to help.

It’s very convenient to hop on to the Amazon website or the site of another large retailer to buy Christmas gifts. We know that they’ll be on our doorstep within a day or two, and then we can cross that off our list. But why not seek out something unique and a little less mass-produced and, in the process, help a smaller business? There are many small vendors and companies that create a wide range of one-of-a-kind gifts that you can often personalize for the recipient, such as handmade rosaries or crosses.

On a broader scale, maybe we should also start to think small in other ways too. Perhaps this is a good time to rethink whether we really need all the material items that we put on our lists and buy for others. Do we really need that new outfit and shoes or that bigger TV? Will it make our lives infinitely better if we get that new phone?

This would be a good time to go through the things you have and think about what you really need and what might benefit someone else more. Removing the weight of material goods can be a very freeing experience.

s

2) Shop with a Purpose

ISTOCK IMAGES: LEFT: GALINA SHARAPOVA; RIGHT: KAJA KIKI

ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP: WILD PIXEL; BOTTOM: KSENIA SHESTAKOVA

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f there is one thing this past year has made clear, it is the reality that, at any given moment, we may need help from other people through no fault or action of our own. If you have been able to weather this storm mostly unscathed, congratulations. Unfortunately, many others have not. Knowing that, we might want to offer help to those who may not have fared so well or who find themselves in an unfavorable or difficult life situation.

Perhaps instead of buying a friend or family member a new sweater or book, donate that money to an organization that will make a difference in the world. There are many different ones that provide opportunities to help underprivileged families throughout the world with the most basic of needs, such as water and clothing. (See sidebar on page 40 for some suggestions.)

For instance, through Catholic Relief Services (CRS) you can donate money and sponsor things such as a child’s education, a health exam, or a community watering station.

The gift catalog on the CRS website (CRS.org) also offers a wide range of ideas.

Another organization working to help those in need is

Catholic Charities. It helps families with affordable housing, provides disaster relief, and offers other means of assistance to those in need. According to a press release from the organization this past August, the agency “distributed nearly $400 million in emergency COVID-19 assistance to people across the United States and the US Territories during the past four months. Emergency help consists primarily of food, rental assistance, personal protective equipment, baby supplies, and emergency quarantine housing.”

There are also many local organizations in your area, including your own parish, that probably need some type of assistance, whether it be monetary or for things like clothes and household items.

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Or if, like me, you’ve been too busy in recent years to send out Christmas cards, consider sending them out this year.

Include a short personal note or update on yourself or your family. It would probably be welcomed considering how difficult it’s been to get together with people this year.

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CHRISTOPHER BERNARD/ISTOCK

oneliness has skyrocketed during the long months of isolation brought on by the pandemic. Nursing homes, hospitals, and even our own homes at times have been on lockdown in order to keep ourselves and others from getting sick.

I was unable to visit my dad for months at his nursing home prior to him passing away last summer. I know the isolation took a toll on him—and my sisters and me. During that time, phone calls and video chats facilitated by the workers helped soothe the loneliness and sadness just a little bit.

Unfortunately, because of the ebb and flow of the disease, for many that loneliness has not faded despite the small steps we have taken to try to get back to some semblance of normal. Considering that, the technology that we both love and sometimes loathe was built for just this type of situation. It has become a lifeline to those we would otherwise be separated from.

But technology is not the answer to everything. Many people are not blessed to be able to have such technology or the capability to use it. Because of that, we should remember that there is nothing quite like receiving a handwritten letter or card.

Have your kids or grandkids make cards for residents at a local nursing home or hospital. You might also ask your parish office if there are members of the parish whom you or your kids could reach out to. That connection may make a world of difference to someone feeling alone and isolated— especially at this time of year.

ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP: OMG IMAGES; BOTTOM: HALF POINT

3) Share the Love L

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CHRISTOPHER BERNARD/ISTOCK

ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP: OMG IMAGES; BOTTOM: HALF POINT

4) Have Fun T

hese days, it seems as if my e-mail in-box is filled with articles on how to deal with or relieve the stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

One suggestion I’ve seen more than a few times is to stop and take time to do something you enjoy in order to take your mind off the uncertainty and bad news we seem to be surrounded by on an almost daily basis.

I must confess that since most of my kids’ activities have been canceled or curtailed because of COVID-19, I am enjoying the extra time our family has to spend together. This year, maybe we’ll finally have time to do all the things we always intend to do each year, such as driving to look at lights, decorating the house, Christmas caroling, or watching Christmas movies together.

Maybe this year we’ll actually have time to all sit together for dinner and light the candles of our Advent wreath on a more regular basis—something I’m embarrassed to say we have not done consistently since the kids were little.

Whatever it is your family decides to do, have fun doing it and rejoice in the blessing of time spent together.

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5) Regain Your Focus

A Helping Hand If you and your family are looking to help others in need this holiday season, here are some organizations you might consider.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS.org) As the official international Catholic relief and development agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, CRS carries out the commitment of the bishops to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas.

Catholic Charities (CatholicCharities.org) Catholic Charities works to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of goodwill to do the same.

inally, and most importantly, let’s take advantage of this time to refocus on the true meaning of the season—Christ’s birth. Advent and Christmas are not about the trees, gifts, decorations, or cookies. They never have been. This year, let’s make an effort to remember that.

These are unprecedented times. This Christmas season will be like one we’ve never seen before and hopefully will not see again in our lifetimes. Our lives, traditions, and sense of normalcy have been thrown into disarray. In spite of that, though, on Christmas Day we will still celebrate the birth of Christ.

Every year when I watch the classic Christmas special How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the Dr. Seuss book, I am struck by one particular line in the show. After trying to stop Christmas from coming, the Grinch is shocked to see the Whos down in Whoville still celebrating. The sight makes him wonder: “‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more.’”

Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to take those words to heart. Yet every year I get sucked back into the whirlwind that has become the Christmas season.

Maybe this year—with all its twists and turns and trials—will force me to stop and remember that Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more.

Susan Hines-Brigger is an executive editor of this magazine and has written its Faith and Family column for almost 20 years.

Catholic Campaign for Human Development (usccb.org/committees/catholic-campaign-humandevelopment) The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic antipoverty program of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Heifer USA (Heifer.org/usa) A branch of Heifer International, Heifer USA helps small-scale farmers deliver fresh, nutritious food to reliable markets by providing them with training, education, and resources needed to sell their products for a fair price.

LILIBOAS/ISTOCK

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (StJude.org) The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of the hospital’s founder, Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion, or a family’s ability to pay.

40 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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Praying

on Paper

Journaling is a chance to give a voice to what’s inside.

I

replenished, and spiritually hydrated.

So, welcome to our journaling journey, as we uncover, embrace, and savor. I’m so glad we are on this journey together.

Gratefully, life seems to ignore the script we have in our mind. And when that happens, we walk. We walk toward, or we walk away.

Either way, we begin a journey—a pilgrimage to find or restore or give or heal or embrace or to forget or bury, or perhaps, just to have the deck of our world reshuffled.

In writing, we honor who we are and what is inside. We give it a voice. Journaling as self-care. And self-care is our invitation to self-love, befriending our own heart.

Even with the cleansing, soul care is owning the gift of the “not-easy-to-see” stuff. We

OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP: EYESTALK/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: MUNDUS IMAGES/ISTOCK

By Terry Hershey

love to write. Since I was a boy, paper and pencil have been on my list of favorite things. Now, I’ve added a nib pen. As a boy, I journaled. I still do. Some years, writing every day.

All journals have this in common: They give voice to what is inside. They become a safe space. In that way, journaling is like a sanctuary. A time and a place that allows us— gives us permission—to pause. To look inside and to embrace what is here, what is alive and well. To embrace our enoughness.

Think of this “sanctuary” space as a dose of grace; bestowing gifts upon us . . . stillness, gladness, calm, mystery, delight, discovery, learning, and peace. This resonates because it is in our DNA to be renewed, nourished,

42 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP: EYESTALK/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: MUNDUS IMAGES/ISTOCK

are, every single one of us, wounded. That is a gift. We are, every single one of us, broken.

And that is a gift. We are blessedly human, and we do indeed walk one another home.

Befriending our woundedness is not a solo act. Yes, I know. It doesn’t always feel that way.

I look but don’t see any gift. Because I see brokenness and woundedness as impediments or disabilities, to be tidied up, overcome, or prayed away. What I don’t see is that, in the invitation to befriend my “untidy” self, is an invitation to embrace the beauty and the wonder within.

I will admit that there is comfort donning my cape, morphing into Mr. Tidy OCD, an emotional life fix-it hero. And I know why.

It distracts and protects me because there’s a part of me that is afraid to pause, to befriend my scattered and wounded self. To let myself be loved for being this wonderfully messy imperfect me. Grace, it turns out, is WD-40 for the soul.

There are significant issues in our world (in my world) that invite and require investment and healing, and I want to show up.

I want to bring my real self, my whole self, and spill light in any small way that I can.

But today reminded me that I cannot forget, in my fixation to “make sense” of everything . . . along the way (even the messy way). I don’t want to miss the small gifts of life, the serendipitous gifts of grace, the presence of the holy, and the gentle dose of the sacred reflected in our everyday and extraordinarily ordinary world.

Our soul cannot thrive without nutrients.

It becomes anemic or withered or weak. We experience a loss of creativity, joy, presence, listening, vibrancy. And an absence of peace.

Which leads to the question: What or who is feeding that part of my soul that nurtures peace and well-being? Where is that place which doesn’t require performance or manipulation or retribution? Where do we go for sustenance?

EMBRACE THE JOURNEY

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it,” author Ashley Smith writes. “Notice the bumblebee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

Really? That’s your advice, Terry?

I do know this. When we stop the noise, we make (allow) space to practice the sacrament

of the present—in the specific, the mundane, the daily, and the particular. I am here—to see, to listen, to touch, to give, to heal. And the first person to tell about it is yourself. That’s why you journal. I know that’s why I journal.

However, like anything available to replenish us, to help us grow, and to walk us toward maturity, our Western mindset intervenes with anxious questions. Does this journaling come with instructions? (Hoping, I’m sure, there is something less vexing than what comes with any IKEA project.) Our Western mindset gets in the way and wants to find the agenda first. What do I get from this? There must be a payoff.

But here’s the deal: Life isn’t a contest. Or a test. Or a beauty pageant.

Who knows? You just may find a new you.

Or, more importantly, rediscover the you that has been buried under the clutter and press of the hectic. One that is more aware, present, energized, real, authentic, and fully alive. The journey is not only about what we do. It is about what we don’t do. What if I become a better me, not by addition, but by subtraction?

OK. You still want an agenda? I can’t do any better than Mary Oliver’s words: “Pause.

Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

It helps to know that catharsis is a good thing, to write without editing, letting go of the question, “Am I doing it right?” Here’s a new word for you: balter. It means to dance with no need for polish or public opinion.

Think of journaling as baltering with a pen in hand. Free to doodle or draw or paint.

BECOME LIKE A CHILD

Speaking of pause. It helps to remember that there are two kinds of pause. One is passive—be still. Catch my breath. I breathe out.

The other is active pausing; I am attentive.

I am conscious in this moment. I own and take responsibility for this life. This day. This moment. I breathe in.

Then I write what I see, hear, taste, touch, and smell, just to tell myself about it. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the wonder. Which is why I like to think of the journaling as dedication to the child within us: Because like it or not, our childhood stays with us forever, regardless of our age. And I hope that we do, at times, continue to behave childlike. (Jesus seemed to think it was a good thing—something about entering the kingdom of heaven and all that.)

vulnerability

The culture we live in tells us that strength is primarily power and control. What would it mean if power is found in vulnerability? ...

In what ways is vulnerability—tenderness, humility—a power that we have? What does it mean to be strong on the inside?

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LEARN TO SAUNTER

So, let us feed our soul. For starters, we can let go of our wiring that sees any

endeavor as a transaction or tactical device to “improve” one’s life, propelled to best in class. A need to perform or achieve attracts fear-based or self-interested people, and life calls for lovers.

Franciscan teacher John Duns Scotus helps here. He tells us that God did not create genus and species.

God only created “thisness” (in Latin haecceitas). He said that until we can experience each thing in its specific thisness, we will not easily experience the joy and ubiquity of divine presence.

Thisness: to embrace (and be embraced by) the sacrament of the present moment, the here and now in all its ordinariness and particularity. In other words, I can’t be present in general. I’m invited to be present to this person, this conversation or event or conundrum.

Right here, right now.

I love John Muir’s reframe about hiking. “I don’t like either the word or the thing,” he wrote. “People ought to saunter in the mountains—not hike! Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word.

Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy

Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so, they became known as sainte-terre-ers, or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”

Thisness invites savoring and gives birth to wholeheartedness, joy, empathy, compassion, and connection. In the sacrament of the present, fear and striving do not own us, and we welcome our imperfect parts. When everything must be weighed and measured to be of value, down the road, (gratefully) something snaps.

While I sit on the back deck, the sun sets over the Kitsap Peninsula (the expanse of land west of Seattle and Puget Sound). The sky, as if batter poured from a pitcher, turns an effluence of slate blue and vermilion. Spires of hemlock are backlit and silhouetted like hand puppets on an immense screen. I stand for some unknown reason, singing, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.

Was a good friend of mine . . .” at the

FOTOSEARCH IMAGES: ABOVE LEFT: ALMAZOVA DOLZHENKO; ABOVE RIGHT: ROCKETCLIPS

Childlike behavior may even help one to stay pure at heart and to live life simply. Simplicity is always a wonderful thing because it invites us to live smack-dab in the middle of the present moment. To embrace the sacrament of the present. It just may be that we’re not childlike enough.

So I Googled childlike. The first two pages referred me to articles or sites about “childishness.” Go figure. We still haven’t moved past that? I remember when I was young I was encouraged (maybe persuaded?) to grow up, to be an adult. To give up my childlike ways.

But since when did childlike become a jeopardy or a hazard?

Harry Chapin introduced the song “Flowers Are Red” by telling the story of his secretary’s son. Her kindergartner son brought home a report card that read: “Your son marches to the beat of a different drummer. By the end of the year, he’ll be like everyone else.”

My friend Ed tells me this story. His mom said that one day he was sent home with a note that read: “It’s not that Eddie is not doing well in school.

It’s that the things he does well in, we don’t give grades in.” Now we’re talking.

You know, like sparking laughter or reaching for a surge of joy. Sitting on the grass and maybe even rolling in it.

Putting on some music and dancing unabashed. Or baltering if it’s your style. Running through a sprinkler.

Celebrating the colors of the rainbow.

Tell me what you feel, what makes you smile real big, what makes your heart glad. And tell me the names of people who are a part of that journey with you. Remember this: That child within never left you.

44 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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top of my lungs and do a little boogie with my dog, Conroy, who hasn’t the foggiest idea what’s come over me but is a sucker for a party and plays along nonetheless.

I let the moment melt around me before I gain my composure and give myself some sort of reality check: a quiz requiring justification for what I’m feeling and why. And then it hits me. I can’t tell a soul about my dance at twilight without coming face-to-face with who I was pretending not to be and the energy it required to maintain that image.

When I lived in Southern California, I spent three days a month at a Benedictine monastery out in the high desert.

It was my periodic trek to a place where I could slow down long enough to pay attention. Truth is, I wanted to learn how to be alone with myself and like it because I wasn’t very good at that. And I wanted to learn how to be alone with God and like it because I wasn’t very good at that either.

On one visit, a friend asked one of the monks, “What exactly do you do here?”

“We pray,” the monk replied simply.

“No, really,” my friend persisted. “I mean besides that.

What do you really do?”

“It is enough just to pray,” the monk told my friend.

“It is enough,” I tell my dog, standing on the deck absorbing the summer sky, “just to boogie.” Just to boogie under the inexplicable marbled canopy of dusk. Just to feel your lungs swell and your heart flutter. Just to cheer the sun as it sets and not give a damn about some need to fight back

the tears, standing spellbound in the salty prism for twilight rainbows.

Thisness.

Not a bad way to start a conversation. “Where did you find or embrace thisness—the gift of enough—today?”

Portions of this article were excerpted from The Gift of Enough: A Journal for the Present Moment (Franciscan Media).

Terry Hershey is an author, humorist, inspirational speaker, dad, ordained minister, and golf addict who is smitten by French wine. He is the author of This Is the Life, Sanctuary, The Power of Pause, and Soul Gardening. His work has been featured on The Hallmark Channel, CNN, PBS, and NPR. You can find more of his work at TerryHershey.com.

To order a copy of the journal, go to:

Shop.FranciscanMedia.org.

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StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2020/January 2021 • AM 45 10/9/20 8:14

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By Julie Traubert MONTH BY MONTH WITH MARY

WHEN POETS PRAY

BY MARILYN MCENTYRE Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

BY GUIDO GANDOLFO, SSP Pauline Books & Media

F

or those looking to enrich their lives with Marian devotion, this little volume is the perfect way to start the new year. Author Father Gandolfo has been passionate about Mary throughout his ministry and teaches that if we have a close relationship with Mary, we become closer to Jesus.

A Marian liturgical feast is the focus for each month’s reflection, filled with insights and prayers that help you connect with Mary in daily life. Father Gandolfo says that our Mother is always walking by our side: “[She] knows our problems, defends us from dangers, and will lead us to safe ground.”

W

hen you think about it, a poem can be like a prayer, slowing us down, eliciting feelings, connecting us to our spirituality. Author and poetry teacher Marilyn McEntyre has gathered poems by many, including Hildegard of Bingen and Robert Frost, as well as an anonymous truck driver in Ghana, and has shared her reflections to help us see the similarities between poetry and prayer.

McEntyre includes a creative afterword in which she invites readers to become the poet, suggesting prompts such as adding a verse to a favorite hymn or writing a prayer using favorite words or lines of a poem.

THE MONASTERY OF THE HEART

BY JOAN CHITTISTER BlueBridge

H

A LITTLE CAMEL FOR BABY JESUS WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED

BY MARIA GIANOLA Pauline Books & Media

T

his story follows 7-year-old Joel, the son of the Magi’s stableman. Joel travels with his father and the Wise Men to see the new baby Jesus and wonders what gift he can give. The author is also the illustrator of this beautifully rendered children’s book.

The lesson lovingly conveyed here is that when you do kind things for others, you do them for Jesus.

ICONS

music

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books

podcast tv & streaming

film

video

e-learning & online 10/30/20 9:22 AM

TOP RIGHT: HBO; LOWER RIGHT: ABC AUDIO

aving lived in a monastery for more than 50 years, beloved and prolific author Sister Joan Chittister has much to teach in regard to Benedictine spirituality. She offers her most recent book as an invitation to “seekers”—those looking for God, meaning, community—to turn to the Rule of Benedict to find in this ancient lifestyle a new path to exploring spirituality.

Sister Joan demonstrates how Benedict’s ideals of justice, equality, peace, and honoring the earth and all people are so important in today’s often divisive and violent world. Based on such simple principles, The Monastery of the Heart is inspiring.

Television Show of the Year The Vow (HBO)

W

hen Keith Raniere founded NXIVM (pronounced necks-ee-um) in 1998, his self-professed motivation was to help individuals realize their full potential. On October 27 of this year, Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking and racketeering—just to name a few. HBO’s nine-part series The Vow plunges into this multilevel marketing cult, its mysterious leader, and the survivors who brought the organization to the ground.

The series focuses on three people primarily: Mark Vicente and Sarah Edmondson, NXIVM leaders-turnedwhistleblowers, and Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg, who struggles to free her daughter from the cult. NXIVM expats have charged Raniere, among other leaders in the organization, with facilitating a sex ring—and with good reason.

Deep within the NXIVM structure is a secret society of women called DOS (dominus obsequious sororium). Managed from afar by Raniere, the women in DOS submit to a masterslave dynamic, must provide damaging collateral, and are branded with the leader’s initials on their skin.

The series addresses important questions, such as: Why would anyone sacrifice their personal freedom to achieve

Keith Raniere, founder of NXIVM

personal greatness? The women and men recruited by NXIVM are not naive. They are independent, successful, and formidable. But Raniere seemed to instinctively identify cracks in their foundations. Using his intellect, he gained entry and, ultimately, control.

We’re introduced to survivors, family members, attorneys, and cult experts who guide viewers through the NXIVM maze. But the one to watch for is Edmondson, former executive and member of DOS, who bears both the physical scars of her branding and the emotional scars that cut much deeper. Her descent into the cult was precipitous; her emergence is a study in reclaiming one’s power.

Early in the series, Vicente says something sobering: “Nobody joins a cult,” he says. “They join a good thing.” The Vow shows us that even the strongest can lose themselves to the siren song of a pied piper.

Podcast of the Year Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher)

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TOP RIGHT: HBO; LOWER RIGHT: ABC AUDIO

g&

By Christopher Heffron

hen Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide on August 10, 2019, in a Manhattan jail cell, the financier and prolific sex offender took his secrets with him. But this much we do know: Accusations against Epstein were filed as far back as March 2005 in Palm Beach, Florida. In fact, wherever he traveled, crimes of a sexual nature soon followed.

His residences in New York City; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New Albany, Ohio; and the US Virgin Islands became houses of horror for many young women.

The sheer scale of his crimes is unimaginable—but they are researched, documented, and deconstructed with authority by ABC News in Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein. Hosted by Mark Remillard, who is supported by a team of investigative journalists, this 10-episode podcast explores Epstein’s early life in Brooklyn and his mysterious rise to power, as well as his crimes and the network that aided and abetted him.

Truth and Lies introduces listeners to a dizzying number of Epstein survivors who recount their experiences.

Among them is Maria Farmer, who was a promising New York artist before her life was upended by Epstein’s “patronage.” Michelle Licata and Courtney Wild came from humble

CULTURE 1220_0121.indd 47

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backgrounds and were groomed by Epstein and his network of helpers. Indeed, many of the victims came from broken homes or abject poverty.

The survivors’ testimonies can be draining for listeners to endure, but that pales in comparison to the horrors they faced. These witness testimonies, bubbling over with righteous anger, are part of their healing journey. It’s our duty, those of us on the periphery, to listen.

Epstein’s death left far more questions than answers— and survivors were denied a measure of justice. For some, though, hope remains. Theresa J. Helm, one of many Epstein accusers, had this to say at a New York hearing in 2019: “The last 17 years has been a dark corner in my story. I’m here today because it is time to bring light to that darkness, and it’s time to replace that darkness with light.”

HAVE A FAVORITE CULTURE ITEM YOU WANT US TO REVIEW? Let us know about it: MagazineEditors@FranciscanMedia.org StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2020/January 2021 • 47

10/30/20 9:22 AM

CULTURE

By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP

Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP

IN CASE YOU

MISSED IT Hope Gap (2019)

Fisherman’s Friends (2019) The Way Back (2020) Clouds (2020) Tesla (2020)

?

WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org

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riter-director Aaron Sorkin’s latest film, streaming on Netflix, is deeply felt historical theater on parade. It’s been more than 50 years since the events portrayed took place, but the story still resonates as it engages audiences about democracy, the judicial process, and the illegitimacy of the Vietnam War. We meet the mismatched but dedicated group of protesters who want to be seen and heard as the death count of American soldiers in Vietnam mounts. Yippie anti-Vietnam protester Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen); his pal Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong); preppy Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), cofounder of Students for a Democratic Society; Boy Scout leader David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch); Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins); John Froines (Danny Flaherty); and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp) go to Chicago to peacefully protest the war during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. They beg the Chicago Police Department to prepare for possible unrest but are ignored. They apply for and receive permits to rally and march.

When a riot breaks out, the seven are arrested for conspiracy, along with Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the leader of the Black Panthers. The trial comes down to who started the riot (the protesters or the police?) and what is on trial (the protests or the ideas behind them?).

Sorkin’s gift is his ability to make sense out of a complicated trial. William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) looks disheveled but represents the seven men without care for his own well-being. Bobby Seale’s attorney never shows up, and Seale is eventually granted a mistrial based on the judge’s racial bias. Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) rules his courtroom with an iron fist rather than with objectivity or understanding and lets it be known that he disapproves of the men and their ideas.

Sorkin provides insight into the personalities of those on trial (four of them, anyway; three are left underdeveloped). The role of the federal government becomes clear when former Attorney General Ramsey Clark (Michael Keaton) is asked to testify on behalf of the defense.

Once the trial starts, the film becomes a terrific courtroom drama. The conversations between Abbie Hoffman and Hayden are brilliant. The acting is superb, and the bad ’60s haircuts and styles are realistic. The Trial of the Chicago 7 has something to say about nonviolence, police brutality, and politics— and may launch conversations about judicial reform.

A-3, R • Rioting, violence, racial prejudice, language.

48 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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BOOBS: THE WAR ON WOMEN’S BREASTS: WAYMARK PRODUCTIONS AND CINEMA LIBRE STUDIO; OVER THE MOON: NETFLIX AND GLEN KEANE PRODUCTIONS

Sister Rose:

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: COURTESY OF NETFLIX/NIKO TAVERNISE

Sister Rose is a Daughter of St. Paul and the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. She has been the award-winning film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger since 2003 and is the author of several books on Scripture and film, as well as media literacy education.

OVER THE MOON BOOBS: THE WAR ON WOMEN’S BREASTS

BOOBS: THE WAR ON WOMEN’S BREASTS: WAYMARK PRODUCTIONS AND CINEMA LIBRE STUDIO; OVER THE MOON: NETFLIX AND GLEN KEANE PRODUCTIONS

LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: COURTESY OF NETFLIX/NIKO TAVERNISE

D

ocumentarian Megan Smith, whose husband died of cancer 11 years ago after he chose to adhere to the accepted “standard of care,” decided to make a film about his story and question the meaning of “standard of care” used in US health care. During the process she learned about mammograms, the accepted standard of diagnostic care to screen for breast cancer, and decided that this was a film that urgently needed to be made. Why the title? To grab the attention of women so they could learn about problems with mammography that were not reported and “the myths we are being told.” The film does not cover all the issues; she is following up with a book.

The problem begins with clinics not being obliged to notify women that they have dense breast tissue; then when radiologists notice density, they automatically increase the amount of targeted radiation on the breast without telling the patient.

Today, 38 states mandate that clinics notify women when they have dense tissue, but patients end up going back for more mammograms and more radiation without being told about the risks. The FDA is supposed to regulate mammography, but any monitoring of the amounts of radiation women receive is minimal.

Through interviews with doctors who use nontraditional diagnostic tools such as thermography in combination with ultrasounds, Smith tells us that there are safer ways to detect cancers without repeated radiation. However, since the 1980s, mammograms have become a multibillion-dollar-a-year business, and insurance companies often will not pay for any other diagnostic procedures.

This film is important and unique, and the information provided is compelling. It is like watching a PowerPoint presentation on film because every fact stated or revealed comes with the reference for the research. Smith hopes that women will become aware about what mammography is doing to their bodies and ask doctors for alternative, safe diagnostic procedures that are much cheaper than a mammogram.

Not yet rated • Medical views of mammograms.

Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings.

A-1 General patronage

A-2 Adults and adolescents

A-3 Adults

L Limited adult audience

O Morally offensive

F

ei Fei (voice of Cathy Ang) lives happily with her parents in a small city in China. As they prepare mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) tells her stories of Chang’e (Phillipa Soo), the goddess who lives on the moon, forever mourning her intended husband, the warrior Houyi (Conrad Ricamora), who died. Father (John Cho) looks on his family with love but is shaken when Mother dies. Four years later, when the lovely Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh) shows up with her annoying son, it becomes evident that they will soon become a blended family. Fei Fei resists.

Fei Fei, who loved Mother’s stories, has become interested in science. She thinks if she can make a rocket and go to the moon, she will prove to Father that Mother’s love is eternal because the moon goddess is real. After quite a journey, Fei Fei learns that if you can love another, love only grows.

Over the Moon is a beautifully crafted animated musical from Sony Image Works and streaming on Netflix, directed by Glen Keane and written

by Audrey Wells. Traditional Chinese instruments are used throughout, and one of the songs is in English and Mandarin. Much effort was made at authentic representations of Chinese architecture and customs, with the family at the center.

Not yet rated, PG • Loss, death, grief.

Source: USCCB.org/movies

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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH and FAMILY

By Susan Hines-Brigger

Moving Forward with Faith

Susan welcomes your comments and suggestions!

E-MAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Faith & Family 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202

?

WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org

A TOUGH TIME

For most of us, this has not been a good year.

Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, there were racial issues, economic uncertainty and job loss, deadly wildfires, and an election. Did I miss anything? On a more personal level, my father passed away, and my son left home and traveled across the country for college.

It’s no wonder then that, according to numerous reports and surveys, stress levels in America are running extremely high. Don’t believe me? Just Google “stress levels 2020.”

And then, just in case I’m not acutely aware of how stressed I am, every day when I open my e-mail in-box, it is filled with messages and newsletters offering suggestions for how to deal with that stress. Spoiler alert: It’s not helping.

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Susan has worked at St. Anthony Messenger for 26 years and is an executive editor. She and her husband, Mark, are the proud parents of four kids—Maddie, Alex, Riley, and Kacey. Aside from her family, her loves are Disney, traveling, and sports.

Some days, I find it very tempting to just pull the covers over my head and stay in bed.

Working at home because of the pandemic can make that even more tempting. But I can’t. My kids can’t. None of us can. So we throw back the covers and take that first step out of bed. And then we take another and another.

Put one foot in front of the other.

FALLING BACK ON FAITH

But even though we push ahead, that doesn’t mean that the underlying issues with which we’re struggling go away. Dealing with uncertainty is uncomfortable.

And nothing says uncertainty quite like the year 2020 has. We like to believe that we have control over our lives and how they play out. This current situation does not sync with that.

I was going to use the example of the poem “Footprints in the Sand” to illustrate the idea that we should always have faith that God is walking with us—and at times carrying us— when we are struggling. But then I read about the contentiousness and litigation over the authorship of the poem and decided it was a little bit too much like 2020 to use.

The concept and image, though, still work.

When my kids were little, I remember them wanting to walk and run ahead all the time.

But then they would eventually get tired and want to be carried. Right now, we’re all getting tired and would like someone to carry us.

That is where our faith comes into play.

We will finish the chapter of this year and then turn the page to begin the next one that will lead us into 2021. We don’t know what will happen. What we do know, though, is that we just have to put one foot in front of the other and take the next step, knowing that Christ is by our side.

50 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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TOP RIGHT: PUBLIC DOMAIN/CYRAXOTE; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE

Susan Hines-Brigger

very year at Christmas, at least one of my kids and I hunker down on the couch under a blanket and spend an evening binge-watching all the old-school animated Christmas specials. One of my favorites, ever since I was a kid myself, has been the Rankin/ Bass cartoon Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.

The show tells the story of how the character of Santa Claus and many of the traditions associated with him came to be.

At one point in the show, Kris Kringle is captured by the character of the Winter Warlock.

Eventually, Kris softens the heart of the warlock, who tells Kris he wants to be good but just doesn’t know how.

Cue the iconic song “Put One Foot in Front of the Other.”

It is one of those songs that, with its catchy melody and words, crawls into your head and stays there for what seems like forever—or at least the entire Christmas season.

It’s also a song that seems especially appropriate right now.

MC KOZUSKO/SAM; COMPOSITE FOTOSEARCH: NATIVITY: RFCANSOLE, WALKING: VENCAVOLRAB

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TOP RIGHT: PUBLIC DOMAIN/CYRAXOTE; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE

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NEW YEAR NURSES

ORTHODOX

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RESOLUTIONS

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SNOWMAN SYRIAC

DID YOU KNOW?

I

f you ever visit the Washington National Cathedral, check out the church’s northwest tower, and you will find a gargoyle in the likeness of the Star Wars villain Darth Vader.

According to the cathedral website (cathedral.org), in the 1980s while the two west towers were under construction, the cathedral held a design-a-carving competition for children. Third-place winner, Christopher Rader, submitted the drawing that was later sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter and carved by Patrick J. Plunkett, before being placed on the tower.

TRIVIA QUESTIONS 1: In front of which building is the Nativity scene located in Pittsburgh?

2: Who is the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem?

TINSEL

3: Who is the first millennial to be beatified?

TRIAL

4: When was the Status Quo agreement issued?

TREE

WINTER

WREATH YULE

HINT: All answers can be found in the pages of this issue.

ANSWERS: E-mail your answers and captions to: MagazineEditors@FranciscanMedia.org, or mail to: St. Anthony Messenger, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202

These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two.

So look and see if you can name Eight ways in which they’re not the same.

(Answers below)

GET THE FUN FOR BOOK

ALL AGES!

Go online to order: Shop.FranciscanMedia.org For ONLY $3.99 Use Code: SAMPETE ANSWERS to PETE & REPEAT: 1) Sis’ headband has a stripe. 2) There is an extra flare at the top of the blue firework. 3) The white firework is larger. 4) The red firework has an extra tail. 5) The yellow firework has rotated. 6) A hill is now visible behind Sis. 7) The time on Pete’s watch has changed. 8) Pete’s collar is longer.

MC KOZUSKO/SAM; COMPOSITE FOTOSEARCH: NATIVITY: RFCANSOLE, WALKING: VENCAVOLRAB

brainteasers | games | challenges

StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2020/January 2021 • 51

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reflection

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

ROBERT AX/ISTOCK

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, “It will be happier.”

52 • December 2020/January 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org

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