53 minute read
Editorial | Susan Hines-Brigger
Be Pro-life. Wear a Mask.
When the majority of people hear the term pro-life, they immediately equate it with the issue of abortion—full stop. The reality, though, is that the pro-life issue is much broader than that. Saints, popes, and the US bishops have all addressed the issue and said so.
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These days, as we face down the challenges of COVID-19, we have to adjust our way of thinking and living. What being pro-life looks like right now is taking precautions to protect those who are most vulner“Do to others able. And one of the easiest whatever you ways to do that is by wearing a mask. Yet doing something so would have them do to you.” simple and selfless has some—Matthew 7:12 how turned into a hot-button political issue with people crying out that being asked to wear a mask is infringing on their civil rights. But what about human rights, such as a person’s right to life? Isn’t that the tagline of the pro-life movement? It’s time for us to move from a me-centric view to a more we-centric one.
JUST THE FACTS
Many people who choose not to wear masks cite reports from early on in the crisis when the World Health Organization, the US surgeon general, and others questioned the effectiveness of masks. Those organizations have since reversed their stances, based on new information.
According to an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) “reviewed the latest science and affirms that cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities. There is increasing evidence that cloth face coverings help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others.”
Director of the CDC, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, explained: “We are not defenseless against COVID-19. Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus—particularly when used universally within a community setting. All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.”
We are in unprecedented times and uncharted territory, so we all must allow for some flexibility to learn about the virus and, if necessary, change course. And we must similarly adapt our roles for the health and safety of all. Right now, that means wearing masks to protect ourselves and others.
CALL TO ACTION
In 1971, Roman Catholic pacifist Eileen Egan introduced the “seamless garment” concept as a way to describe a holistic reverence for life in all its stages, incorporating issues such as unjust war, capital punishment, social injustice, and other issues that affect people’s lives. “The protection of life,” she said, “is a seamless garment. You can’t protect some life and not others.” In that same vein, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin often spoke of the “consistent ethic of life.” The issues were individual, he noted, but at the heart of them all was valuing and defending human life. “When human life is considered ‘cheap’ or easily expendable in one area,” he once told a group, “eventually nothing is held as sacred and all lives are in jeopardy.”
Even St. John Paul II alluded to this idea in his 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Culture of Life”) when he wrote: “Therefore every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church’s very heart. Today this proclamation is especially pressing because of the extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless. In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence, and war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale.”
Certainly protection of vulnerable people during a pandemic would fit into those philosophies.
AN ACT OF LOVE
Do you remember the old acronym WWJD—What Would Jesus Do?—that was so popular in the ’90s? Well, if we asked ourselves that question right now given our current situation, I’m pretty sure the answer would be that Jesus would wear a mask and tell his followers to do so, too, because it’s the loving thing to do.
Being pro-life can manifest itself in many different ways, and those ways can change as new situations arise. Now, amid a devastating worldwide pandemic, that means wearing a mask to protect our brothers and sisters. It’s the right thing to do.
From Grief to Healing
From Grief to Healing
By Stephen Copeland
Pediatric cancer is no longer a death sentence. But for the parents of children who have lost their battle, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital provides a program for processing their grief.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL (2)
In August of 2006, Wendy Avery returned to her Ohio home, feeling as if she was trying to jump back onto a spinning merrygo-round. For an entire year, her world had stopped, but everyone else’s kept spinning. How does one simply hop back on? How does one rejoin the dance when the music has been muted?
In December 2005, she and her family had been thrown off the merry-go-round with full force when their youngest child, Nick, was diagnosed with leukemia at 14. With her husband’s support, Avery made her home in Memphis, Tennessee, 12 hours away, to be with her son as he fought for his life at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Avery leaned on the St. Jude community of people who understood the horrors and complexities of cancer. She says that she also leaned on God during that time and consistently felt his presence. Once, after bursting into tears upon seeing a pile of Nick’s clothes, she heard an audible voice confidently say to her, “Wait and see what I will do.”
Everything had led to this moment, she felt, where God was going to miraculously heal her son and author a story that would lead others to Christ. The family’s previous vacation had included a visit to the hospital, where they had been impressed by its positive culture, infrastructure, and especially the people. Avery remembers Nick innocently and shockingly saying, “If I ever get cancer, this is where I want to go.”
Six months later, he was diagnosed with leukemia.
The first Day of Remembrance was approved by St. Jude Hospital in 1999. It eventually led to a full program of care for bereaved parents, which has become a model for other hospitals worldwide.
GOD’S PLAN It was science that brought the cure rate Nick quickly went into remission, and Avery up to 50 percent in a half decade, and that felt that God’s plan of healing was in motion. rate continued to improve. Today the surBut just two and a half months after he vival rate for pediatric leukemia is 94 percent. completed chemotherapy, Nick relapsed and The survival rate for all pediatric cancer at St. returned to St. Jude for further treatment. Jude is 80 percent. Four days after returning to the hospital, he Science made St. Jude a world leader in suffered a sudden and unexpected brain bleed. pediatric oncology. It also created space for After emergency brain surgery, he was admitthe hospital to eventually shift its focus to ted to the ICU. further developing its patient-care compo
Now Avery felt that her prayers were met by nent, including spiritual and palliative care. silence, and her presence was met by absence. In 1999, Powell’s idea for the Day of She felt God had betrayed her. Remembrance was approved. St. Jude ven
Nick died that same month. tured into the complicated space of grief
Avery returned home to a merry-go-round and loss. Powell calls this complex space of that had not stopped spinning—to someimmense suffering “spiritual distress”— how find the strength to bury her son, grieve, where there is a “broken connection in and move forward while everyone else’s life relation to one’s personal life and the Holy carried on normally. She felt lost. Other,” someone’s perception of At St. Jude, she had at least been Nick Avery in the spring of 2006 God, life, or ultimate reality. When surrounded by families who were there is a trauma, it is only natural going through something similar. to try to assign meaning to it. Avery But now she felt disconnected from that community as well. experienced spiritual distress whenever she was forced to
“There was no bereavement care for families, if you can confront the reality that what she had perceived to be God’s believe that, even at St. Jude,” Avery says. “So I went back plan had brought her to a dead end of divine absence. home to Ohio, and I was trying to figure things out myself.” “There are two types of suffering most commonly associ
However, St. Jude did have an annual Day of Rememated with spiritual distress,” Powell says. “One is more exisbrance for bereaved parents to gather, celebrate their tential, and it’s called spiritual seeking. Those are big queschildren’s lives in the very place they had ended, and connect tions like: ‘Why does God allow suffering? Why does God with others who had endured similar traumas. Avery and her allow children to die?’ The second type of spiritual distress is family attended in 2007 and again in 2008. And it was there, more personalized. It creates this relentless rumination about in her second year attending, that Wendy Avery met Brent meaning. So, if you’re one of these people who believes that Powell. everything happens for a reason, there has to be a reason SCIENCE AND PATIENT CARE child’s death. It makes you wonder why God is allowing this When St. Jude chaplain Brent Powell first pitched his idea for to happen to your family. I had a mother the other day say to a Day of Remembrance back in the 1990s, he, like practically me, ‘Why does God hate me so bad?’ She just had a second everyone else ahead of his time, was met by resistance. child diagnosed with cancer.”
The slogan at St. Jude is “finding cures, saving children.” Without a safe space to process these raw questions, where But Powell’s idea had nothing to do with either of these. In could parents turn? When Avery shook Powell’s hand that fact, it was the opposite: creating a space for parents and day in 2008, that was the beginning of another beginning— guardians whose children could not be cured. when St. Jude went from leading the charge on the frontiers
The weight of trauma, death, and grief has always been of science to also leading the charge on the frontiers of the difficult to address, but developing programs around these soul when science fell short. impossible issues was an even more countercultural idea at associated with your child’s illness and potentially your the time. Why invest in something focused on the messiness HUMAN CONNECTION of grief? The cautiousness of hospitals to create a space for bereaved
St. Jude has always had two major components—science parents reflected fear, confusion, and hesitancy. Justin Baker, and patient care—but the former had to evolve more quickly chief of the Division of Quality of Life and Palliative Care because of pediatric cancer’s dismal survival rate. At the at St. Jude, has seen this firsthand. “People are so afraid to time of the hospital’s founding in 1962, pediatric cancer was address that level of potential suffering that it’s just so much essentially a death sentence. The survival rate for leukemia, easier for us, as a society, to plow ahead, put our heads down, the most common form of pediatric cancer, was 4 percent. avoid them in the grocery store, and turn the other direcThe name of the hospital is fitting: St. Jude is the patron tion,” he says. “So there is this notion of, ‘Don’t bring up their saint of desperate situations and lost causes. pain; these people have already suffered enough.’ This con
A bereaved parent herself, Wendy Avery was a key resource for St. Jude’s bereavement program.
clusion was really out of a good place, but it was frankly an ignorant place.”
The annual Day of Remembrance was a good start, but more needed to be done for bereaved parents. Powell knew it. Baker knew it. Avery knew it.
A parent advisory council was formed in 2009 to obtain feedback for developing more focused levels of palliative care. Despite the heaviness of her own pain, Avery agreed to be a part of the council with several other bereaved parents.
That group spurred the creation of a specific bereavement program at St. Jude. For a year and a half, Avery made presentations to different departments within St. Jude to raise awareness of this void in palliative care. One morning in 2010, she walked into a boardroom to present the appeal to the four most powerful people at St. Jude, including the CEO at the time, Bill Evans, and the current CEO, James Downing. Afterward, Avery remembers Evans responding, “It seems like we need to make this a priority.”
A quality-of-life program now serves families wrestling with the trauma of finality and saying goodbye. Parents like Avery reach out to other parents who have lost a child. For four months in a row, grieving parents receive a call from a fellow parent in the program, helping them return to the merry-go-round of life. If they want a mentor, they are introduced to someone in St. Jude’s mentor program. If they want resources, they are con
Justin Baker is chief of the Division of Quality of Life and Palliative Care at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His mission is to make sure parents who have lost a child are not forgotten.
nected with resources in their hometown.
In the past decade, St. Jude’s program has become a model for other hospitals around the country and around the world. St. Jude relies on bereaved parents for their educational programming and recently hosted an international symposium to help other hospitals and organizations ensure that bereaved families aren’t forgotten in the race to find cures and save lives. “No institution has parents integrated into its programming the way that St. Jude does,” Baker says.
Christine and Kevin O’Brien lost their daughter, Catie, to a rare form of cancer in 2009. The couple struggled to talk about the grief and trauma their family endured. But when they
attended their first Day of Remembrance in 2011, they felt less alone. They found space to process the complexity of their grief with each other.
“There, in a room with so many other families, you didn’t have to say anything,” Christine says. “You could just hug them. You could just be with other people where no words were necessary, and when words were spoken, they were completely understood.”
For the past seven years, the O’Briens have served on the parent panel with Avery, whom Christine describes as “the beginning of a comet who has blazed a path.” The O’Briens’ journey through the “dark night of the soul” is now a light for others. “Grief has a cost that everybody pays,” Christine says. “I’m really proud of St. Jude. I have watched 10 years of profound growth.”
Because of medical advances, pediatric cancer is no longer a death sentence, but programs like these exist to serve the broken souls of families whose children aren’t included in the success stories. Science might serve the 99 sheep, but St. Jude also seeks out the one on the margins—the one for whom science just wasn’t enough.
“I think that this gets to this aspect of the Gospel message,” Baker says. “Suffering is not something to be avoided. It is something for us to experience together, come together around, and recognize there is not a solution to it. The solution really is opening your heart and being available. If you are willing to sit in the middle of the suffering with that person and just listen to them, it makes all the difference in the world, for both of you. What a beautiful thing it is to be able to share that.”
COPING AND CARING
Grieving people find different ways to cope with their suffering. Avery has a two-word tattoo on her forearm, with the word Positive stacked on top of the word Negative, symbolizing love built upon suffering. Positive Negatives was the name of a band that Nick and his friends started in middle school. Her tattoo is a replica of Nick’s own drawing of the band’s logo, which she found under his bed after he died.
Next to chaplain Brent Powell’s desk is a sketch that one of his 17-year-old patients gave him. It features a three
dimensional clock that is broken into pieces. His patient said that his bone-marrow transplant experience “shattered his perception of time.” The image captures suffering and grief—the space in which Powell, Baker, and Avery all serve—where time does not heal and never has.
“I recently began to make the connection between my love of photography and what I do as a chaplain,” Powell says. “What I do as a chaplain is locate light. Sometimes that light is wearing scrubs. Sometimes it’s the cashier in the cafeteria. It’s a child’s face. It’s a mother’s tears. But if you think about the concept of incarnation, it becomes the light of God present in the moment.”
Next to the sketch of the broken clock in Powell’s office is a wooden art piece featuring a painting of St. Francis surrounded by nature’s symbols, Brother Sun and Sister Moon. Francis, with his arms open, stands upon text that reads: “Make me an instrument of your peace.” This was another gift from a patient back in 1990, days after Powell’s sister was killed when her car was hit by an 18-wheeler. Powell was used to coming to work each day at St. Jude to take care of
St. Jude chaplain Brent Powell, a wounded healer himself, helps grieving people find ways to cope with their suffering. His office contains inspirational artwork given to him by patients over the years.
his patients, but during those days his patients took care of him. He says they still do.
“The plan is that God incarnates in human flesh,” Powell says. “So we become God. I struggled for a while with whether or not God cares, but then it sort of hit me: Yes, God cares. How do I know that God cares? The answer to that is because I care. Because you care. Because there is a doctor here who cares. There are people who care and who put their lives into this, and that is nothing more than God caring.
“So yes, God does care, because I see it being acted out in his people.”
Being willing to enter into another person’s suffering can be intimidating, but Powell says: “When you risk being with the suffering, it involves an intimacy that transcends everyday normalcy. You’re never the same.”
Stephen Copeland is an author and storyteller. He is a former staff writer and columnist at Sports Spectrum magazine and has also been published in Christianity Today. Stephen blogs regularly for Franciscan Media and has contributed to St. Anthony Messenger’s Followers of St. Francis column. His article “A Brief Lesson in Holy Foolery” appeared in our November 2019 issue. To learn more about his work, visit CopelandWrites.com.
About St. Jude Hospital
ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL was founded in 1962 by the late actor Danny Thomas. A devout Catholic, he once threw his last seven dollars into a collection plate at Mass, promising God, “Show me my way in life, and I’ll build you a shrine.”
Soon after, he became a successful actor, and he never forgot his promise. Today St. Jude specializes in the treatment of childhood cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases, including sickle cell disease, immunodeficiency, and blood disorders. The original building has expanded into a campus covering 66 acres. St. Jude, which treats about 8,500 children every year, freely shares its medical findings and research. Although the average cost to treat a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia—the most common type of childhood cancer—is about $300,000, families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food. As Danny Thomas believed, “No child should die in the dawn of life.”
CATHOLICS GUN CONTROL
Tension surrounds the issue of gun control. Taking a look at what the Bible says and understanding Jesus’ message of nonviolence can provide guidance.
CATHOLICS & GUN CONTROL
By Richard B. Patterson, PhD
COMPOSITE IMAGES: LADY: BAONA/ISTOCK; CHURCH INTERIOR: BOGGY/FOTOSEARCH W hen I was in the third grade, our teacher was a kindly old nun named Sister Rosemary. One day she suggested to us that it was sinful to have a toy gun. Even then, for better or worse, I questioned things. As a result, I rejected what sister said, wanting to hold on to my beloved Hopalong Cassidy cap gun.
I didn’t have much exposure to guns in the small town where I grew up. Other than Sister Rosemary, guns were not talked about much in religion class or in church. In general, they seemed to be viewed as instruments used in war, by those employed to protect us, or for hunting.
I still don’t own a gun and do not have a concealed weapon permit. But I am thinking about it, especially in light of a mass shooting last year in my hometown of El Paso.
First of all, let me be clear that there is nothing in our Catholic teaching that says it is wrong to own a gun or even a semiautomatic weapon. Rather, it’s what we do with guns that becomes the issue. Catholic teaching indicates that we have the right, even the obligation, to defend ourselves and our loved ones, even when killing someone is the result. And Catholicism continues to teach that war can be justifiable.
Having said that, it should also be noted that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has consistently favored a total ban on assault weapons (19 specific military weapons identified by the US Congress in 1994), better control of firearm sales, and limited access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition holders. Further, in a somewhat obscure footnote to a position paper issued in 2000, they noted: “However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions—i.e., police officers, military use—handguns should be eliminated from our society.”
REFLECTING ON THE BIBLE
Some would argue that gun control is a political issue, not a moral one. And indeed politicians are visible these days, arguing either for the rights of gun owners or for the right to be safe. Much of it is rhetoric with no significant change.
Perhaps the morality exists at a larger level. Perhaps the issue isn’t so much about right and wrong as it is about trying to live a life that is as consistent as possible with Jesus’ message.
I believe that, to fully grasp the impact of Jesus’ revolutionary message, we have to read the entire Bible. What one
sees working through nonviolence had been the Old Testament mistaken. is violence—lots of it! And much of that THE INHERENT violence is not only QUESTIONS OF condoned but caused NONVIOLENCE by God. God is referred What I came to see to, among other things, was that the violence as “Lord of Heaven’s within me was the Armies.” God intervenes very reason for me to time and again to tilt choose nonviolence. the scales of battle on You, I, and most peobehalf of his Jewish ple I know are quite nation. God leads the Memorials for victims of mass shootings, like this one outside a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, capable of violence. Jews to victory in batlast year, have become all too familiar in today’s world. This violence causes people to question The path of nontle after battle (except their safety and to consider owning a gun for protection. violence means that I when they doubt or make every attempt to reject him). We cheer David’s killing of Goliath. We rejoice reject violence as a solution. when Esther saves her Jewish people from genocide and the Yet I also know that, if someone were to try to inflict harm bad guy Haman is executed. on my loved ones, I would respond with aggression. And, yes,
But in the Old Testament there are also hints of what is I still cheer when Shane shoots and kills Jack Wilson at the coming. Isaiah calls us to reflect on the days to come when end of Shane. I still cheer when Rocky Balboa decks Apollo swords will be hammered into plowshares and spears into Creed. And I definitely cheered when Black Panther returned pruning hooks. Ecclesiastes notes that not only is there a to beat up Erik Killmonger. time for war but also a time for peace. At several points in Am I a pacifist? I’m afraid not. Pete Seeger’s words in his the Old Testament, there is the hint of a future new order. song “Bring Them Home” resonate with me: “One thing I
It is only within the context of the violence of the Old will confess/I’m not really a pacifist/If some army invaded Testament that we can fully appreciate the power of Jesus’ this land of mine/You’d find me out on the firing line.” message of love and forgiveness. The focus is no longer on In making my own personal decisions regarding gun payback to our enemies. Jesus suggests something different. ownership, I must first decide to what extent I can embrace the fundamental nonviolence of Jesus’ message. There is A PATH OF PEACE OR VIOLENCE? no way around the fact that he calls us to love our enemy In the late 1960s, many of my fellow students in college and I and turn the other cheek. Furthermore, his Sermon on the were faced with the reality of the Vietnam War and the draft. Mount is a clear invitation to a peaceful lifestyle based on Several friends of mine chose to go the path of conscientious justice and nonviolence. objection. I opposed the war but was not sure I could be a What do I as a Catholic do with that message? Ignore it? conscientious objector. I studied the issue—the Church’s Water it down? Well, surely he didn’t mean I should love the teachings on war, Thomas Aquinas’ analysis of “justifiable neo-Nazis or that white supremacist who shot up the El Paso war.” And yet I kept coming back to one sad fact about Walmart. What did he mean? Was Jesus nothing more than a myself: I had a history of being violent. naive idealist?
When I was young, it would take little to provoke me to Those who acknowledge Jesus’ message will nonethebecome aggressive. I won probably as many fights as I lost, less suggest that the message must be weighed against harsh but my fists were my typical reaction to confrontation. So realities. That tension is summed up nowhere better than I faced that hard truth and thought: How can I claim to be the decisions being made about allowing church members to nonviolent given that history? I would be a hypocrite. Instead, attend services armed. I chose the path that took me into the Army for four years. Sadly, some of the most heinous mass shootings in our
It was during my preparation for the Army that I fired country have occurred in churches and synagogues. As such, every weapon available, including bazookas, flamethrowers, I have had people admit to me that they now attend church and grenade launchers. I also fired semiautomatic weapons, services armed. Many Church officials are trying to decide which were beginning to make their appearance. I was defihow to respond. Should we forbid weapons at services and, if nitely not a marksman, and I was always aware that shooting so, how do we monitor that? Will I need to empty my pockpractice was enabling me to kill someone. ets and pass through a metal detector before being allowed in
It didn’t occur to me until much later that perhaps to attend Mass? Should I carry my weapon, prepared to prothere was some contradiction between all that violence and tect my family and fellow church members if a mass shooter Jesus’ message. I also came to see that my understanding of barges in and opens fire?
WEIGHING YOUR FEAR
As we contemplate our personal decisions regarding gun ownership, we are faced with a parallel spiritual decision: How much power do I give to fear? How many of my decisions (such as purchasing a gun) do I make out of fear?
It is not as simple as saying, “Well, I believe the Lord will protect me.” There were people of deep faith who were killed at the El Paso Walmart that August morning. Faith in God is not some sort of bulletproof vest.
And yet Jesus talked about fear a great deal, saying again and again to his followers (and to us): “Don’t be afraid. I am with you always.” In the face of torture and execution, many of his followers faced their enemies with love.
Our recent history reflects the political power of nonviolent resistance in the works of great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Were people like Gandhi or King afraid? Did modern saints like Maximilian Kolbe and Dietrich Bonhoeffer have fear as they faced the executioner? Undoubtedly. Yet fear did not make their final decisions.
I was faced with a choice in which fear was a major factor in 2001. I was signed up for the New York City Marathon— then 9/11 happened. It was only a week before when the decision was made to let the marathon take place. We were informed that of some 35,000 registrants, over a third dropped out. I understood why.
In the terrible days after those attacks, we did not know what to expect. Placing thousands of runners on a bridge would seem to be providing an easy target. I considered dropping out myself but concluded that it was a decision I did not want to make out of fear. My fear, after all, would empower others. I went and completed the run, but not without some moments of fear.
WE MUST BE PEACEMAKERS
So it is these days. The fear in El Paso is considerably higher than I’ve ever seen in my 40-plus years living here. We are seeing horrifying public service announcements on television that portray school shootings. And protective legislation is not forthcoming.
I heard last week that El Paso churches are considering locking the doors shortly after Mass starts and limiting access thereafter. What came to me was the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” Do I weep with him and pray, hope, and work for a better way, or do I resign myself to harsh realities and say instead, “Lock and load”?
I was talking to a young man who believes Jesus’ message has become watered down. The essence of that message is that we are called to be peacemakers. No exceptions. No qualifiers such as “except when.” That calling needs to inform any decision I make regarding owning a gun.
Richard B. Patterson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who lives in El Paso, Texas. He has had a number of articles published in this magazine, including “Why Am I Still Catholic?” (October 2019). The knotted gun Non-Violence was originally created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd as a memorial tribute to John Lennon after he was shot and killed in New York City in December 1980. The Non-Violence Project Foundation is a nonprofit organization promoting peace and social change through education. For more information, visit Nonviolence.com.
”WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES ON.” —John Lennon
To make any progress toward a safer environment, we need to address several issues:
• Assault weapons have no place in a citizen’s armory; neither do high-capacity ammunition clips.
• If you decide to carry a weapon to protect yourself and your family, then do so with proper training, and secure your weapons so that children do not have access.
• Continue to demand of lawmakers effective legislation to include thorough background checks.
Actions you can take in your everyday life to reflect Jesus’ message of nonviolence:
• Embrace a nonviolent lifestyle as much as possible. This includes praying for your own enemies—the family next door with their loud Saturday night parties, the driver who not only just cut you off but also flipped you off in the process, the source of a childhood hurt, and the countless others who hurt and offend us. In other words, make your own decision about what Jesus meant when he asked you to love your enemy.
• Identify your fears and try to address them spiritually.
• Speak out against unjust violence—be it war, abuse of migrants, bullying, veteran suicides, or the many other manifestations of tolerance of violence in our society.
casting a NE
Over the past 40 years, National Evangelization Teams have reached out to more than 2 million youths across the United States and beyond through retreats and personal testimonies. They offer potential “nones” a reason to stay.
By Susan Klemond
When Dani Kuhl was in middle school, she knew about God and her Catholic faith, but she sought fulfillment in other things. A few years later, she met college-aged youth ministry leaders from the National Evangelization Teams (NET) at a retreat and was struck by their fire for the faith.
Kuhl, 20, was so inspired that she joined NET herself. She and 11 other young adults spent nine months traveling thousands of miles around the Midwest, Texas, and Louisiana in a 15-passenger van to bring that same fire for God to youth who were searching as she once had.
During the 120 retreats they gave at Catholic parishes and schools during the 2018–19 school year, Kuhl believes she and her teammates planted seeds of faith in the young people they met. At the same time, she’s experienced growth in her own relationship with Christ.
“It’s been really cool to see how, in such a short amount of time, the Lord is able to come into these youths’ hearts and make himself known,” says the Hampstead, New Hampshire, native. “Oftentimes you see them walk into the church and come out of the church very different.”
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, NET teams stopped traveling and offering
ET of faith
retreats on March 15. During the last part of NET’s 2019–20 year, 334 retreats were canceled. NET teams will begin offering retreats again this fall. The ministry also is building and testing virtual retreats for locations unable to host in-person events.
As Church leaders, parishes, and youth ministries seek ways to stem the exodus of young people from the Catholic Church, each fall, NET Ministries sends vanloads of faithfilled young adults out of its West St. Paul, Minnesota, headquarters to share the Gospel and Catholic faith with middle and high school students. With their youth and zeal, the diverse teams of missionaries have shared their faith with millions of teens around the country over the past 40 years through retreats and the witness of their own lives.
Their witness comes at a time when many Catholic youth have drifted away from the Church, some as early as age 10, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit research center affiliated with Georgetown University.
The popular culture pulls and confuses young people, distracting them from thinking deeply about life’s important questions, says Mark Berchem, NET founder and president. The weakening family structure and lack of catechesis also are factors in young people leaving the faith, he says.
“They’re not leaving because they’re opposed to Church teaching,” says Berchem. “They’re not leaving because of a scandal. They’re not leaving because they’ve had a well-thought-out, reasoned period of time and added the pros and cons and decided it’s not worth it. They’re just drifting.”
Many young people haven’t really heard the Gospel, so NET seeks to present it in language they can understand while also witnessing to it in their own lives, he says.
“We have to convince people, young people in particular, that God is real and alive and interested in our life and that he loves us, and no matter what dumb, stupid, or wrong things we do, he’ll always welcome us back,” Berchem says.
Young adult volunteers travel in 15-passenger vans to share their fire for the Catholic faith with middle and high school students across the country.
Dani Kuhl (second from left) joins with the youth who are attending a Confirmation retreat. In the 2018–19 academic year alone, NET Ministry teams led 1,375 retreats in 1,000 parishes.
FROM EXPERIMENT mas and lead small sharing groups. However, TO ENDURING MISSION some content has been adapted in response to During three weeks in January 1980, the first shorter attention spans and societal problems experimental NET team of 12 young adults that now affect kids at younger ages. traveled around the Diocese of Winona in From September to May each year, teams southern Minnesota and led 18 high school of eight to 14 members either travel through retreats. Other dioceses in the region heard dioceses in different states giving retreats, or about the retreats and requested them. focus on a single diocese or parish as a disci
NET has continued to grow and has minpleship team. Most are retreat teams, but NET istered to more than 2 hopes to add disciplemillion young Catholics ship teams to allow team at more than 32,000 retreats in the United States, Canada, Australia, “Pre-NET, I didn’t really think to go deeper in my members to minister for a longer period of time in the same location, Guam, Honduras, faith at all. They definitely Berchem says. Mexico, Germany, sparked that.” NET team members Malaysia, New Zealand, —Mitchell Longsdorf, 18 range in age from 18 to Nicaragua, Uganda, and 29, with an average age Ireland. of 20. In 2018–19, they
In the 2018–19 acacame from across the demic year alone, 175 members served on 17 country, as well as Ireland, England, Canada, teams in the United States and Scotland. They and Spain. Their diversity—including distinct led 1,375 retreats in 1,000 parishes, reaching personalities—helps youths from different over 100,000 youth with the Gospel message. backgrounds relate to them and see different
“We were just trying to be faithful to a call facets of the Church and the faith, Berchem to evangelize and to use our gifts and experisays. ences to help other people,” says Berchem. That’s been the experience for Francis “Over time, we realized that God’s invitation Shackleton, coleader of a diverse team that and call for us was much bigger than what we served the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese expected.” in 2018–19. “Everyone is so different in so
NET’s mission, message, and retreat strucmany ways,” says Shackleton, a 20-yearture have maintained the same elements since old from Salisbury, Massachusetts, who the beginning, Berchem says. NET teams completed his second year of NET service. present talks, personal testimonies, and dra“Different experiences and different trials that
people face, and you’re all put together on things they’ve been hiding.” this team for whatever reason you may never For young people, participating in NET know—but the Lord obviously knows what retreats or parish-based activities can be life he’s doing.” changing. Allie Schmitzer, 14, often attends monthly ‘THEY MADE CATHOLIC COOL’ NET events at her parish, St. Joseph in West One thing team members have in common St. Paul, Minnesota. She finds NET team is their youth, which helps them gain teens’ members easy to talk to, especially when they confidence. They understand lead small sharing groups. youth culture and retreatTheir “investing in me has ants’ experiences, fears, and had a real impact on me temptations. because I want to do the
Dani Kuhl recognizes she same for someone else,” says is almost a peer to the high Schmitzer. Her parents served school students she meets on on NET, and she hopes to retreats. serve as well.
“We’re able to say, ‘Hey, I Getting to know NET walked in your spot. I know team members based at his exactly what you’re going parish, St. Peter in Forest through,’” she says. Lake, Minnesota, while he
Sometimes young people was in middle school helped share their hurts. “You’re Mitchell Longsdorf underhearing rough situations that stand his faith and how to are going on either at school live it. Now 18, he joined a or in their families,” says NET team in 2019. Kuhl. “That’s always someMark Berchem, NET founder and current “When I was in sixth thing you don’t want to hear, president of the organization, speaks through eighth grade, they because you don’t want them at a NET Ministries training event. NET made Catholic cool,” recalls to be hurting like that.” ministers to millions of young Catholics. Longsdorf. “I always wanted
Francis Shackleton has to be with the cool kids had similar experiences. “It opens your eyes. crowd. Seeing teenagers live out the faith the You wouldn’t know a lot of them put on way they did was really inspirational for me.” masks, but dig deep and the Lord allows them For Longsdorf, it didn’t stop there. “For to open up. You can see all this hurt and these them to take a step farther in investing in
NET teams bring together a diverse group of young adults with different personalities and backgrounds. What they have in common is their youth, which helps them connect with teens.
The eucharistic procession is one of the most moving and memorable experiences at Lifeline, a monthly NETsponsored event for middle and high school youth. More than 1,000 teens participate in the event at NET headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota.
me really inspired me to dive into my faith,” he says. “Pre-NET, I didn’t really think to go deeper in my faith at all. They definitely sparked that.”
‘COWORKERS IN THE VINEYARD’
NET serves in more than 110 US dioceses at the invitation of the bishop or archbishop and works with youth ministers and parishes.
“We’re at a time right now in the history of the Church where we need everyone who’s interested in youth to work together,” says Berchem, who has overseen NET’s growth for over four decades. “The challenges facing our young people are enormous, and no one diocese, parish, or organization can tackle the challenge by themselves. We have to cooperate, and the diocese and NET really work hard at that.”
In its home archdiocese of St. PaulMinneapolis, NET sponsors a monthly outreach event called Lifeline for middle and high school youth. On the first Saturday evening of the month during the school year, buses from within and outside the archdiocese drop off more than 1,000 teens at NET headquarters. The event includes Mass, talks by youth leaders, and fellowship with friends.
Francis Volkmuth, a high school junior from Faribault, Minnesota, doesn’t miss many Lifelines. The 16-year-old comes to meet friends and learn about his faith, which he says has helped him respond to other students’ faith questions at his Catholic high school.
NET’s reach has extended well beyond St. PaulMinneapolis to dioceses across the country. In the New Orleans Archdiocese, NET Ministries has been a source of blessings, according to Archbishop Gregory Aymond. “Not only has their ministry in our parishes and schools brought young people into a deeper relationship with the Lord Jesus, but some of those same young people from our archdiocese have joined the National Evangelization Teams themselves to give back what they received,” the archbishop says.
“I particularly appreciate that NET works within our existing parish and school structures to help those places become more vibrant faith communities,” he says. “NET has been both a light of the new evangelization and an example of young people becoming coworkers in the Lord’s vineyard as lay ministers.”
NET team members attend five weeks of preservice training, which includes instruction in catechesis and evangelization and helps prepare team members for their life’s calling. Among NET alumni are two bishops, 68 priests, 39 religious sisters, and 10 religious brothers.
For team leaders like Dani Kuhl and Francis Shackleton, the opportunity to work with young people and the training they receive have helped them grow in their faith. These experiences also have helped prepare them for the future.
Shackleton, who has served as a NET team member for two years, is considering serving on the ministry’s mission staff at NET’s headquarters and discerning a call to the priesthood. “I want to take everything that I learn this year and bring it to my life,” he says.
Nor are those life lessons lost on Kuhl, who treasures these months on the road—even when crammed in a van. Living and working together may take team members out of their comfort zones, but they say it helps them learn about selfless love. “Even just being two or three weeks on the road, you know these people really well,” says Kuhl. “You know their tics, their mannerisms; you know what they like and what they don’t like. You certainly become a family.”
Traveling from retreat to retreat, or even just working each day with the same parish youth group, NET team members know they won’t always see fruit from their efforts. But that doesn’t take away from each day’s adventure of seeking God, riding in a van, and bringing the Gospel to youth.
“What’s been the most fun?” asks Kuhl. “Riding the wave of it. Seeing where the Lord takes us down the river, landing on a beach somewhere and being like, ‘OK, we’re here for the day. Let’s rock it!’”
Susan Klemond is a freelance writer from St. Paul, Minnesota. She enjoys writing about the Church—both the institution and its members.
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ANDREA BOCELLI on Music and Miracles
The voice of Andrea Bocelli lifts up the new movie Fatima. But his talent is well grounded in faith.
By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
For most Catholics, the story of Fatima is a familiar one. Beginning in May 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal. The visions culminated in the “miracle of the sun” in October of that year. The appearances of the mother of Jesus, under the title of Our Lady of Fatima, were deemed “worthy of belief” in 1930 by the bishop of Leiria-Fatima.
Pope Francis entrusted the world to Mary on March 11 this year at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Now a new movie, Fatima, is scheduled to open August 28. This film focuses on peace, faith, and Mary’s motherly care for us.
The music for Fatima is by renowned Italian composer Paolo Buonvino, who composed the two original songs for the film, “Gratia Plena” and “Gloria,” and then asked worldfamous tenor Andrea Bocelli to sing them. It is Bocelli’s first contribution to the soundtrack of a film.
I had the opportunity to interview Bocelli by e-mail in May. His answers reflect a man of deep faith and love for Our Lady, the rosary, and the world.
GRATITUDE AND GOOD TIDINGS
You sing two songs for the new film Fatima. What are your thoughts about Mary’s message of prayer and peace for us today?
The three shepherd children and sacred apparitions are surrounded by a powerful message of love. As Mary was for the children, she is for us an essential and constant presence in our daily lives. Her luminous presence is central, as she intercedes for us—this is a profoundly beautiful and distinct feature of Catholicism.
What did it mean to you to sing Paolo Buonvino’s “Gratia Plena” with children who sing in 12 languages?
It was a moving experience. Maestro Buonvino is a composer of great sensitivity. I remember when he composed “Gratia Plena,” he asked me to listen to it. I am grateful for his insistence: This is a deep, inspired song of genuine beauty, a perfect match to the two musical pieces [taken from the album Sì] featured in the film.
The second song, “Gloria,” is filled with human reality, grace, and gratitude. What does this song mean to you, and how can it inspire people?
Gratitude is indeed at the heart of this musical piece. The first part is contemplative, reminding us of the miracle of existence and of what an immense gift life is. The refrain evokes, in a graceful and joyful way, a luminous mantra: The word Gloria represents a celebration, prayer, and festive announcement of good tidings. The verses encourage a reflection on the beauty and preciousness of life itself, including the pain and tears we shed; on our time on earth; and on the eternal time where Mary awaits us like a loving mother.
You were close to St. John Paul II, and you seem to have a special connection to Pope Francis. Can you talk about what Pope Francis and his pastoral agenda mean to you? What hopes for the world do you share?
I greatly admire his desire to reestablish the core, founding values of the Church. I believe Pope Francis is a blessing for all of us, a true giant, eager to dedicate himself to others without any reservations and with immense greatness. He is a man of goodwill, capable of simple and profound words. [He is] a man of God [and a] source of hope and inspiration for us all.
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
What inspired you to create the Andrea Bocelli Foundation [ABF]? What do you hope to achieve with the work of the foundation?
The Andrea Bocelli Foundation [AndreaBocelli Foundation.org] was established in 2011 by myself and my family to give back after being inspired by the love and positivity received from fans and other partners from around the world. I am proud that the foundation has since grown into
ABOVE: In Haiti, Andrea Bocelli and his family witness the distribution of 24,000 gallons a day of clean water provided by his foundation’s Water Truck Project in the community of Citè Soleil.
Bocelli meets future students at the building site of a new primary school in Muccia, Italy.
Bocelli meets with young musicians from the Music Academy of Camerino, Italy, in 2016.
an independent nonprofit led by world-class professionals who oversee the development of projects in Italy and abroad.
The foundation’s primary mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty and social exclusion through projects that promote the overcoming of these barriers. Our hope is that our beneficiaries are enabled to express their full potential.
Since its inception, ABF has raised over 30 million euros [about $34 million], resulting in key initiatives such as the construction of eight schools in Italy and Haiti that offer daily access to a world-class education to over 3,000 students.
How important is it for children to sing, to be introduced to music at an early age?
When rooted in the core principles of respecting others and transmitting positive values, education through music and song is an incredibly effective answer. It can be the seed for a journey leading toward a powerful path of self-awareness, transforming both ourselves and our community. This is exactly why many of ABF’s projects are focused on using music education as a tool for empowerment.
The foundation has, in fact, developed innovative music education methodologies, which have been proven to be very effective in the development of the young [people] we work with.
This programming is currently being advanced even further, thanks to the second phase of ABF’s COVID-19 fundraiser, which aims to create innovative distance-learning platforms to help youth everywhere gain access to quality education.
How would you explain what music does for the human heart and soul?
Music is like a dear friend, one that never leaves your side. It is a universal language with the strength and ability to affect our conscience, helping us to be better. Music is also a source of spiritual enrichment, which is why knowing its language can be useful for everyone, not just for those wanting to make it a profession.
When music embraces beauty, it soothes us, makes us grow, heals us by directing us toward rectitude. It can also lead us toward a fuller mystical experience.
The three peasant children kneel in the presence of the Lady.
Lucia, the oldest of the visionaries, tells her parents about the apparitions.
The mayor speaks with the local priest as a military official looks on.
The story opens in the late 1980s with an American author, Professor Nichols (Harvey Keitel), arriving at the cloistered Carmelite convent in Coimbra where Sister Lucia lives. He knows about the apparitions at Fatima and wants to talk with her about his doubts and her faith regarding them. To his questions, she finally responds with spirit, “I can only give you my testimony; I don’t have answers for everything.” Sonia Braga plays the role of the aging nun.
The story of the 1917 apparitions is then told through flashbacks. A “lady more brilliant than the sun” with a rosary in her hand appears to Lucia dos Santos (Stephanie Gil) and her younger cousins Francisco (Jorge Lamelas) and Jacinta Marto (Alejandra Howard). The children must overcome many challenges and obstacles to keep their promise to the Lady to pray the rosary and meet her every month.
There is a subtle rivalry between two mothers, the Virgin Mary (Joana Ribeiro) and Lucia’s mother, Maria Rosa dos Santos (Lúcia Moniz). Lucia is caught between them. The children had promised one another that they would keep the Lady’s appearance a secret, but Jacinta lets it out and it gets back to Maria Rosa. She is a strong and proud woman but very anxious because of the war. She insists that Lucia stop this nonsense that is sure to draw the attention of neighbors and maybe the antireligious civil authorities. Over the course
Lucia, her mother, and a friend stand in front of a crowd of onlookers.
of the film, Lucia finds a way to obey these two compelling women in her life.
Another conflict occurs between the aggressive, atheistic authorities ruling Portugal at the time and the faith of the crowds that grew to 70,000 to witness what would become known as “the miracle of the sun.” Artur Santos (Goran Visnjic), the mayor and provincial administrator, is an atheist caught between his wife’s faith and maintaining his authority in front of his superiors. The film’s color cinematography gives it a historical look, using some sepia tinting at the beginning. It was shot mostly in Portugal, and the terrain resembles the hardscrabble rural landscape of the time.
Marco Pontecorvo directs Fatima. He also cowrote it along with Valerio D’Annunzio and Barbara Nicolosi. Nicolosi says: “I asked myself, Why did Mary come? The only answer is because this is what a mother would do.
“When I first started writing,” she continues, “I told the producers, ‘Let’s make this about motherhood.’ There is this little girl (Lucia), with a mother distracted by war, and Lucia realizes she will become a mother too. When she’s looking out over the crowd on that day of the miracle of the sun, she has become the mother of the world, called to take on a pastoral motherhood.” For more about the film, visit FatimatheMovie.com.
There are three children in the film, and you have three chilDuomo in Milan, included “Amazing Grace.” Why did you dren. What do you think the role of faith is in raising healthy, choose this song? well-adjusted children who care about God and others? Although this song is not tied to Catholicism, I am very
Faith is what my life revolves around, a gift that I try to attached to it. I liked the idea of sharing this 18th-century cherish and nurture, a daily source of support. Transmitting Christian thanksgiving hymn (inspired by the conversion of it to my children has always been a priority, inspiring them its author). It is a classic, and its powerful melody can move by example. I believe faith should be a crucial aspect in evus deeply. eryone’s life, and I am happy to inspire others each time the What do you hope the audience will take away from the film opportunity arises. I am deeply thankful to my parents—and [Fatima]? to the community I have been a part of for many years— I believe this is a foundational and universal story, even who taught me honesty, sacrifice, beauty, optimism. From for those who don’t share the gift of faith. The message of them, I also learned the importance of respecting others and love surrounding the three shepherd children, the sacred nature. Their teachings guided me throughout life like a beaapparitions, and the Sanctuary of Fatima is accessible to evcon. I am now responsible for passing those same Christian eryone: Love and beauty are inherent in all of what is good. values on to my children. I hope the film will inspire SIGNS OF FAITH AND HOPE embracing their relationDo you have a special prayer ship with God more fully and that you pray every day? unconditionally. This will keep
I have an intense and daily them away from the trap of relationship with prayer. I indifference, a problem that, at believe it represents a powerleast where I come from, needs ful, continuous renewal of our attention. The holy Scriptures life. Faith is not something we have strong things to say about can take for granted: Like any firmly condemning those who other discipline, it requires are tepid and half-hearted in commitment, perseverance, their faith. sacrifice. To grow and nurture If you have one wish, one our faith, we need to comply prayer, for the world right now, with very simple practices. We what would it be? need to “bend” toward prayWe are all invited to ing, quite literally. Known as “the world’s most beloved tenor,” Andrea Bocelli has sold over 90 contribute, making the world
What is the role of the million records worldwide of classical and pop music. we inhabit a better place. Madonna in your spiritual life? Everyone can do their part, Does the rosary have a special meaning for you? using the tools they have and the talents they received from
Reciting the holy rosary is one of the most intense God. I believe the vast majority of people want peace, believe moments of the day. This devotional practice opens up a in nonviolence, and should be allowed to live with dignity, path full of discoveries, both personal and extraordinary. reaching their full potential. Tangible actions are crucial to As I mentioned, I believe prayer is a fundamental aspect of translate hope into actual change. I trust we can all make a a path of faith, representing a source of constant renewal in difference by offering our small—yet irreplaceable—contrithe life of those who practice it. I am devoted to Our Lady bution, allowing beauty and goodness to triumph. and dedicate part of my prayers to her. I visited Lourdes as a My wish and main prayer for the world is that of peace child and recently went on pilgrimages to Medjugorje. The and global repudiation of war. Peace is the most simple and Virgin Mary is a constant and solar presence in my family’s immediate thing humans should strive for. However, it is life and mine. often undermined by the mystery hiding behind conflicts
What role does God play in your artistic life? Your daily life? and disputes. This is a mystery because conflict is clearly an
All human talents are gifts from God. I do not hold any intellectual error that unfortunately people can’t seem to personal merit for having a voice with a pleasant and recogunderstand. No matter how intelligent, people are not able nizable timbre. . . . Heavenly gifts are meant to bring beauty to overcome this obstacle. I am optimistic, though, and I and joy to the world. That is, unless humans decide to make hope it will happen soon. an improper or incorrect use of such gifts, out of their own those who have faith toward free will, which is the first and most precious gift of all. I Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP, is the founding director of the Pauline Center for have always trusted the divine will, committing myself with Media Studies in Los Angeles and an award-winning film critic for St. Anthony total confidence in his plans. Messenger. She recently received a doctorate of ministry with a concentration in
Your “Music for Hope” concert at Easter, sung live from the film and pastoral communication.
