November 2014 by St. Anthony Messenger

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Bret Baier Faith, Family, and Healing Joan Barthel on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton A Mother’s Memory of Homelessness How Catholics Understand Death The Boy Who Would Become Pope

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CONTENTS

ST. ANTHONY Messenger

❘ NOVEMBER 2014 ❘ VOLUME 122/NUMBER 6

ON THE COVER

30 Bret Baier’s Tale of Faith and Healing

In his new book, Special Heart, Bret Baier chronicles his family’s journey of coping with son Paul’s battle against pediatric heart disease. His family’s faith played a major part in the journey.

When their newborn son faced heart troubles, this FOX News anchor’s family found strength in their faith. By James Breig

Photo courtesy of FOX News

F E AT U R E S

D E PA R T M E N T S

14 The Boy Who Would Become Pope

2 Dear Reader 3 From Our Readers

As a young man, Jorge Bergoglio could be rowdy, studious, flirtatious, and fun. But God was calling him, all the while. By Elisabetta Piqué

4 Followers of St. Francis Brother Moises Gutierrez, OFM

6 Reel Time

20 Joan Barthel and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Julia Child, Sidney Poitier, Nancy Reagan— she’s written about all of them. But none has touched her as much as this saint. By Jeannette Cooperman

My Old Lady

8 Channel Surfing black-ish

10 Church in the News 18 At Home on Earth

36 Seeds of Gratitude, Fruits of Joy

An Unfiltered View of Nature

Here are six steps to becoming a happy, grateful person. By Dr. Robert J. Wicks and Tina C. Buck, MS

26 Live Well Conquering Stress

28 Editorial

44 How Catholics Understand Death Instead of an end, death brings us to the fullest experience of God, love, and truth. By Father Jim Van Vurst, OFM

Ebola: It’s Time to Confront Fear

52 The Spirit of Francis Reaching Out to Others

54 Ask a Franciscan

48 Give Me Shelter

Caring for In Vitro Newborns

A mother remembers the day her family became homeless. By Judy Eichstedt

56 Book Corner The Last Years of Saint Thérèse

58 A Catholic Mom Speaks Slow Down, Mom

60 Backstory

ST. ANTHONY M

DEAR READER

essenger

Mt. Tabor: Jesus Transfigured Between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee sits Mount Tabor, the most likely site where Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. The story, which includes appearances by Moses and Elijah, is told in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36. In the third century, Origen identified this mountain as the site of Jesus’ transfiguration. Three basilicas were constructed during the Byzantine era and another one during Crusader times. In 570, a pilgrim from Piacenza, Italy, wrote about visiting the shrine at Mt. Tabor. Benedictine monks once had an abbey there, and there was briefly a diocese Click here for more on Holy Land shrines headquartered there. In and pilgrimages. 1220, St. Francis visited the city of Acre to the west; he might have visited Mt. Tabor. A Christian church was destroyed in 1263 and replaced by a Saracen fortress. The Friars Minor arrived in 1631 and built the present church in 1924 over the previous structures. It is a popular place for retreat groups. May we continue to listen to Jesus!

Publisher/CEO Daniel Kroger, OFM Chief Operating Officer Thomas A. Shumate, CPA Editor in Chief John Feister Art Director Jeanne Kortekamp Franciscan Editor Pat McCloskey, OFM Managing Editor Susan Hines-Brigger Associate Editor Christopher Heffron Assistant Editor Daniel Imwalle Editorial Assistant Sharon Lape Advertising Fred Limke

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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 122, Number 6, is published monthly 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. U.S. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, P.O. Box 189, Congers, NY 109200189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8.

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: $3.95. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. See St AnthonyMessenger.org for information on your digital edition. Writer’s guidelines can be found at StAnthony Messenger.org. 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 ©2014. All rights reserved.

2 ❘ Nov ember 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

FROM OUR READERS

‘Offensive and Unnecessary’ The September issue of St. Anthony Messenger featured Ashley Judd on the cover. This actress is a militant pro-choice activist. She should not be on the cover of a Catholic magazine. The Tom Petty quote in the “News Briefs” section of the “Church in the News” column is offensive and unnecessary. Isn’t there enough Catholic-bashing in the mainstream media? Anthony DiFlorio III Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Church Needs Unity and Diversity I’m writing in response to several letters from other readers in the September issue that criticize your choices of articles—including those concerning the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, St. Hilde-

What’s on Your Mind? Letters that are published do not necessarily represent the views of the Franciscan friars or the editors. We do not publish slander or libel. Please include your name and postal address. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. Mail Letters, St. Anthony Messenger 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 Fax 513-241-0399

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E-mail MagazineEditors@ FranciscanMedia.org Facebook Like us! Go to: Facebook.com/ StAnthonyMessengerMagazine Twitter Follow us! Go to: Twitter.com/StAnthonyMag

Fr ancisca n Media .org

gard of Bingen, and several movie and book reviews. In particular, I’d like to respond to Dan O’Connor’s comment in the September “From Our Readers” column that, “The Church needs unification, not diversification.” Actually, what the Church needs is unification through diversity. The Church is catholic and diverse—and has been so from the beginning. Read some Church history and see that this is true! There is to be room for everyone, including those who have the courage—like St. Hildegard—to disobey their bishop when needed. The Church has always taught the primacy of conscience, as did Jesus. “Love God and love your neighbor” are the greatest commandments, not “obey the Vatican.” Jesus himself defied the authority of the day. That’s what the crucifixion was about! However, some people who crave order and hierarchy above all else will always need to be reminded of just that. Keep up the good work and keep us thinking! Susan K. Sack Union, Ohio

There Are Other Ways to Evangelize I appreciated some of the ideas in Martin Pable’s “Simple Ways to Share Our Faith,” but I wanted to respond to the following statement in the article: “Many Catholics have stereotypical images of ‘in-your-face’ evangelists: ‘Do you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior?’ ‘Are you saved?’ Such invasive approaches are neither necessary nor helpful.” It is completely unnecessary to belittle these phrases as not “helpful.” As a former Catholic—currently a Protestant active in sharing his faith—I appreciate the article’s emphasis on keeping things down to earth and sensitive to the needs and realities of the seeker. But I would

suggest that you not throw the baby out with the bathwater. These phrases are often used by young Christians who are excited about their newfound faith, while more mature evangelists may use them in the context of a fuller theological understanding. Jeff Bader Dittmer, Missouri

Pray First, Then Listen Martin Pable’s article, “Simple Ways to Share Our Faith,” was completely on target and very well written. I would only suggest that the first step be to pray rather than to listen. The phrase “speak to God about a person before you speak to a person about God” comes to mind. Without the Holy Spirit with us, we will accomplish nothing. When I pray before speaking to someone, I am always amazed with how my conversation goes. Joe Proctor New Albany, Indiana

Real Stories without Agendas I have never before written in to comment on any article. But the September issue had two of the very best articles I have ever read in your magazine. The articles “From Pain to Purpose,” by Jerri Donohue, and “The Praying Artist,” by Erin Brierly, both touched me deeply. These were reallife stories about everyday people struggling with sadness and finding the strength to carry on because of their faith. There were no political agendas or complaints about what the Church is or is not doing. Christi and Mark Tripodi, and Stephen B Whatley—thank you for inspiring me! Thank you for these two articles and please keep printing more like them! Coleen Caulfield Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey Nov ember 2014 ❘ 3

F O L L O W E R S O F S T. F R A N C I S

Embracing ‘The Other’

rother Moises Gutierrez, OFM, can credit his upbringing for introducing him to the meaning of living in a community. “Needless to say, community living came naturally for me since I came from a large family,” he says. When Brother Moises says “a large family,” he really means it. The youngest of 24 siblings, Brother Moises grew up in Leon, Mexico, with aspirations of becoming an engineer. From an early age, though, Brother Moises seemed to have the soul of a Franciscan. Simple living always appealed to him, and he found it easy to freely give his possessions away. “Even my mom never wanted me to work at her business because I would give stuff away for free,” he remembers. Although drawn to Franciscan spirituality during his college years after reading a book and watching a movie about St. Francis’ life, Brother Moises went on to pursue his studies in engineering. Following his graduation in 1990, he worked for a few years as a computer and systems engineer. But then, at age 28, he made a life-changing decision while on vacation in San Antonio, Texas. “I went to Mass there and I found out

Brother Moises Gutierrez, OFM

they were Franciscans. I got excited and, after Mass, I went to tell the priest that I was going to join the Franciscans in Mexico. He then asked me, ‘Why don’t you join the Franciscans here?’” Brother Moises recalls. The priest’s question, and Brother Moises’ answer, forever altered the trajectory of his life. He spent the next 15 years immersed in religious studies and higher education in the United States, obtaining a master’s in intercultural relations and completing an internship at the Harvard University Institute for Latin American Studies. In 2010, a Hispanic ministry coordinator position in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis opened up and was the perfect fit for Brother Moises. Now the director of the archdiocese’s Office of Multicultural Ministry, he is right at home in a richly diverse environment. The Office of Multicultural Ministry serves a wide international and domestic base, including immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as African American Catholics. Engaging opportunities are available for the various communities served, such as a certificate program for Hispanic lay

STORIES FROM OUR READERS Rosary Returned

Learn more about St. Anthony and share your story of how he helped you at AmericanCatholic.org/ Features/Anthony.

4 ❘ Nov ember 2014

When I was growing up, my mom would go to daily Mass at St. Albertus in Detroit. One day, returning to her seat after holy Communion, she noticed that her purse was missing—someone had stolen it! My mother always prayed to St. Anthony to intercede for her and encouraged our family to pray to him, as well. Immediately upon walking home from church, she had our whole family praying to St. Anthony to help us find it. She was not concerned about the purse or the money inside, but rather her 15-decade rosary. The next day, a lady came over to our house and asked for Mrs. Budnik. She told us that she found a purse in an alley containing a bill with our address on it and, sure enough, her rosary. We call St. Anthony “Mom’s saint.” —Dolores Budnik, West Bloomfield, Michigan

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

Click the button on the left to hear more about Brother Moises and multicultural ministry.

ST. CLARE OF ASSISI

Religious Reformer Clare (1194-1253) belonged to one of Assisi’s most aristocratic families. Before her, only noblewomen could enter monasteries; they lived on interest from dowries and rent from properties. Women from all levels of society could join Clare’s monastery. Nowhere else in medieval society were social classes so equal. Clare had a long fight for “the privilege of poverty,” the right to live on donations in response to the sisters’ prayers and good example. Two days before she died, she received it from Pope Innocent IV. –P.M.

CNS PHOTO/OCTAVIO DURAN

leaders, a black Catholic theology and spirituality program, and lunch-and-learn programs featuring specific cultures. For Brother Moises, the term “intercultural ministry” might more accurately capture the work his office does. “This is the beauty of intercultural ministry: we transform each other by sharing cultures, traditions, and values,” he says. In keeping with this idea, his office offers a Spanish language and Latino cultural immersion program for priests, deacons, and lay ministers. The famous story of St. Francis’ embrace of the leper is reflected in the sacred work Brother Moises’ ministry performs. “St. Francis knew that, by ministering to ‘the other,’ he would be transformed. I believe this is the meaning of the story of Francis embracing the leper,” he observes. There is a powerful dynamic at work when those in the minority of society are invited to celebrate their diversity. “They will transform us. And, just like St. Francis, we don’t need to go far away to find them— they are right in your own town,” says Brother Moises. —Daniel Imwalle

tal Digi as Extr

To learn more about Franciscan saints, visit AmericanCatholic.org/Features/Saintofday.

S T. A N T H O N Y B R E A D

Fr ancisca n Media .org

Send all postal communication to: St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498

Nov ember 2014 ❘ 5

PHOTO BY FRANK JASPER, OFM

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. To post your petition online, please visit stanthony.org, where you can also request to have a candle lit or a Mass offered; or you may make a donation to the Franciscans or sign up to receive a novena booklet.

REEL TIME

W I T H S I S T E R R O S E PA C AT T E , F S P

My Old Lady

SISTER ROSE’S

Favorite

Play-toFilm Adaptations

Oscar winners Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith star in Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady, based on his play.

The Big Kahuna (1999)

Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) arrives at what used to be a grand home in Paris. His father has died and left his middle-aged son a gold watch and the apartment. Mathias intends to sell the residence and move on with his life. After three failed marriages, he needs a fresh start. He blames his late father, an adulterer, for his own failures. Mathias enters the home and discovers an elderly woman, Mathilde Girard (Maggie Smith), and her daughter, Chloé (Kristin Scott Thomas), a teacher, living there. Mathilde informs him that, because of the ancient French system of viager, he cannot take possession of the house or sell it until she dies. What’s more, he must pay her over 2,000 euros a month, whether or not he lives there. Mathilde takes his gold watch as next month’s rent. Refusing to be thwarted, Mathias seeks out a real estate agent, which complicates matters further. As he tries to outwit Chloé, Mathias discovers she is having an affair with a married man. He uses this informa-

The Crucible (1996) You Can’t Take It with You (1938) A Few Good Men (1992) Our Town (1940)

6 ❘ November 2014

tion to blackmail her. They are both unhappy, middle-aged adults who cannot forgive their fathers. Israel Horovitz wrote My Old Lady for the stage in 1996, and has adapted and directed it for the screen. Smith, Kline, and Scott Thomas give fine performances that are, in turn, funny, sad, and a bit pathetic. There is also a mystery to be solved that holds our attention. The film shows that adultery has real consequences and that it’s never too late to grow up. If you don’t know going in that this was originally a play, you will discover it in several long soliloquies that Mathias delivers. This style doesn’t translate well to the screen. Not yet rated, PG-13 ■ Mature themes and sexual references.

Boyhood Writer/director Richard Linklater is one of my favorite filmmakers, and Boyhood does St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

COURTESY OF MATT LANKES, AN IFC FILMS RELEASE

Ellar Coltrane is garnering critical acclaim for his role in Boyhood, a film that was shot over an 11-year period.

PHOTO BY ZEITGEIST FILMS

not disappoint. It is a unique film, having been shot over 11 years using the same core actors. But viewers should know that Linklater, through his characters, will talk your ear off in the pursuit of existential meaning. Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is in the first grade and lives with his older sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), and mother (Patricia Arquette). Mom is raising the kids mostly on her own, but their good-natured dad (Ethan Hawke) has visiting rights. The family travels from one Texas town to another. Mom first marries an abusive, alcoholic college professor; then a good old boy who isn’t good with kids. The years pass, and Mason and Samantha grow up. There’s nothing fancy about Boyhood. This could be any family, except for the unusual questions about the meaning of life that Mason quietly pursues. In the end, Boyhood is a meditation on life, and I hope he never gives up searching. Rated L, R ■ Sexual references, domestic violence, teen drug and alcohol use.

He is Raoul Nordling (André Dussollier), a tall, distinguished man, who has come to talk. He is the French-born Swedish consul to France. The two men spend the waning hours of the night verbally sparring as gentlemen. Von Choltitz insists that he is only following orders, but Nordling tries to convince him to reconsider them. Von Choltitz is caught between a scarred conscience that won’t die and concern for his loved ones, whom Hitler is holding hostage unless von Cholitz carries out the orders to burn Paris. Diplomacy, a fine historical drama with superb acting, especially by Dussollier, imagines what the negotiations to save Paris may have been. The film is based on the French play by Volker Schlöndorff, who also directs the film, and Cyril Gely, who adapted the script. For all the conflicts and wars going on around the globe today, World War II is never far from the artist’s imagination, nor should it be from ours. Not yet rated ■ Mature themes and brief war violence.

Niels Arestrup and André Dussollier play men on opposing sides in the World War II drama Diplomacy.

Diplomacy (Diplomatie) It is August 1944. The aging Nazi Général von Choltitz (Niels Arestrup) has been posted to Paris after rising through the ranks during the war and killing thousands of Jews in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The Allies have landed on the French coast and are a couple of days away from Paris. Hitler has commanded von Choltitz to destroy the city. Bombs crash in the distance. Alone in his luxurious hotel room, von Choltitz is shocked when a man appears out of nowhere and uses a secret passage the Nazis never discovered. Fr anciscanMedia.org

Catholic Cl assifications A-1 A-2 A-3 L O

General patronage Adults and adolescents Adults Limited adult audience Morally offensive

■

The Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. See usccb.org/movies.

■

Find reviews by Sister Rose and others at CatholicMovieReviews.org.

November 2014 ❘ 7

CHANNEL SURFING

WITH CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

UP CLOSE

Wednesdays 9:30 p.m., ABC Bill Cosby is rightly credited for diversifying the ‘80s television landscape with The Cosby Show. What made the series tick—aside from its lightning-in-a-bottle cast—was that it featured an upper-middle-class Brooklyn family who just happened to be African American. Race was rarely on-topic. Rather, Cosby made sure the focus remained on the family. ABC’s black-ish is, in many ways, the longawaited successor to Cosby, but instead of making the topic of race a nonissue, the show puts it front and center. Anthony Anderson leads the cast as Andre Johnson, an ad executive in Los Angeles, with a bustling household that includes his doctor-wife, four children, and his father, played with cheeky humor by Laurence Fishburne. Andre is a character in constant struggle: climbing the corporate ladder in a mostly white industry; clinging to his racial identity in a nondiverse neighborhood; remembering past struggles while enjoying an affluent lifestyle. Anderson shines, as does the luminous Tracee Ellis Ross, as his wife, Rainbow. black-ish can teeter on the formulaic, but channel surfers should give it a look because it celebrates multicultural and intergenerational families—and that’s rare. The Johnsons are funny, crass, and wholly relatable. They just happen to be African American.

Forever Tuesdays, 10:00 p.m., ABC Absurdist fun, Forever is about Dr. Henry Morgan, a New York City medical examiner who harbors a secret: he’s immortal. Being 200 years old has its advantages, particularly with his profession. Like a latter-day Sherlock Holmes, Morgan’s powers of perception are incredible—and they come in handy when solving crimes. But the secret behind his immortality is a mystery even he cannot solve— and his pursuit of answers is what gives the show a lift. Ioan Gruffudd is effective as Dr. Morgan, as is Judd Hirsch as his friend who shares his secret. The premise of Forever is silly, but the series asks important questions: How important is one life? How do you make each moment count? It’s rare to find a show that penetrates surface-level issues such as mortality. Forever isn’t afraid to do so.

Going Deep with David Rees

National Geographic Channel, check local listings Do you know how to make ice? Tie your shoes? Kill a housefly? The science and methods behind these mundane tasks are reexamined with the irresistible dry wit of host and humorist David Rees. What makes this show so insightful is that it asks viewers to slow down and rethink the mindless routines that make up our day. Past episodes—which are also available at National Geographic Channel’s website—include how to flip a coin, how to dig a hole, and how to shake hands. What’s not to love?

Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross are parents to four energetic kids in ABC’s new sitcom black-ish. 8 ❘ November 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

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CHURCH IN THE NEWS

❘ BY DANIEL IMWALLE

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

Pope Francis Witnesses 20 Couples’ Vows

1 0 ❘ Nov ember 2014

congregations. The synod’s theme was “the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”

Two Priests Called on by Pope Francis to Confront Sex Abuse Upon Pope Francis’ designation, two US priests will assume top-level Vatican positions to take on child sexual abuse, reported CNS. On September 10, the Vatican announced that Father Robert W. Oliver will be the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors—a new role that is focused on assisting victims and developing preventative tactics toward sex abuse. With eight members presently serving, the commission is comprised of professionals in the fields of mental health and church and civil law, as well as a clerical sex abuse survivor. Pope Francis has indicated that the immediate concern of the commission should be improving the Church’s approach to protecting

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

happens. But my advice is this: never let the day end without having first made peace.” Speaking to the spiritual bonds of marriages, the pope said, “The love of Christ, which has blessed and sanctified the union of husband and wife, is able to sustain their love and to renew it when, humanly speaking, it becomes lost, wounded, or worn out.” Taking place just three weeks before the Synod of Bishops on the family, the weddings generated much discussion in the media about the Church’s teachings on New spouses exchange rings as Pope Francis, pictured in the marriage, divorce, and background, celebrates the marriage rite for 20 couples dursexuality. Some suging a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican September 14. gest that the inclusive nature of the weddings hints at changes to come, On September 14, Pope Francis while others view the event as presided over the marriages of 20 upholding the institution of marcouples, marking the first time the riage. pontiff has celebrated the sacrament In related news, on September 9 since he was elected in 2013, the Vatican announced that Pope reported Catholic News Service Francis chose 14 couples to attend (CNS). All of the couples were from October’s synod, two of whom are the Rome area, with ages varying from the United States. Jeffrey and between 25 and 56 and representing Alice Heinzen, of Wisconsin, and different social realities. For one couSteve and Claudia Schultz, of ple, the bride was accompanied by Louisiana, were the two US couples her daughter from a prior relationin attendance. The synod, which ship while the groom’s first marriage took place from October 5-19, had been annulled. Others had lived included 114 presidents of national together prior to their wedding. During the ceremony, Pope Francis bishops’ conferences, 13 Eastern Catholic leaders, 26 synod fathers, told the couples, “It is normal for a and 25 heads of Vatican councils and husband and wife to argue. It always

Father Robert W. Oliver, a Boston priest, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the new secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

N E W S B R I E F S N AT I O N A L A N D I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CNS PHOTO/MAZEN MAHDI, EPA

The fifth annual American Values Survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, showed that the role of religion in US public life has Americans divided. According to the survey, 46 percent of those responding were more concerned about government interference with the ability of people to freely practice their religion than they were with religious groups trying to get laws passed that force their beliefs on others. Conversely, 46 percent were more worried about the religious groups than the government.

Pope Francis will visit Turkey this November, after receiving a formal invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reported RNS. The pope’s trip to the

children. A source from the Vatican said that the commission will add new members from Asia and Africa in the near future. Father Oliver was formerly the Promoter of Justice with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, assisting Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley in evaluating accusations of clergy sexual abuse of minors. Father Robert Geisinger, SJ, will fill Father Oliver’s position as Promoter of Justice, where his responsibilities will include overseeing national bishops’ conferences procedural approaches to handling sex abuse allegations and administering the dismissal of guilty priests. Originally from Parma, Ohio, Geisinger has served as chief advisor to the Jesuit superior general in Rome since 2001. Fr ancisca n Media .org

A fourth-year seminarian dying of cancer was ordained on his deathbed by Bishop David Choby of Nashville. Father William Carmona was finishing up his theological studies in a Tennessee seminary and had planned to be a diocesan priest in Nashville when he was diagnosed with cancer last year. Bishop Choby rushed from Nashville to the San Antonio hospital where Carmona was a patient to perform the ordination. Carmona, originally from Antioquia, Colombia, was ordained on September 8 and passed away on September 10. Bishop Choby described Carmona’s dedication to becoming a priest in spite of the circumstances as an act that “reflects the Paschal Mystery.”

CNS PHOTO

Pope Francis sent a message to Steven Sotloff’s family, following the death of the journalist at the hands of ISIS militants. Sotloff was the second US journalist executed by ISIS, after James Foley’s beheading in August. A letter by Vatican Secretary of the State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read, “His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of your son and brother, Steven Joel, and he has asked me to convey to you his prayerful condolences. He entrusts Steven’s soul to the Lord and offers prayers for you and all who mourn his death.”

majority-Muslim nation will be the first since Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2006. Patriarch Bartholomew I, whose witnessing of Pope Francis’ installation as the bishop of Rome was the first by a leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, also invited Pope Francis to Istanbul after the two met last year. Highlights of the papal visit may include a commemoration ceremony for St. Andrew on his November 30 feast day and an opportunity to meet with Iraqi refugees taking shelter in Turkey.

For more Catholic news, visit AmericanCatholic.org.

On the heels of those appointments, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, of Poland, was placed under house arrest by the Vatican after being charged with sexually abusing boys while he was nuncio to the Dominican Republic. Wesolowski has been removed from the clerical state, prohibited from all priestly duties and rights.

Cause for Sister Miriam Teresa’s Sainthood Set to Advance Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, of Bayonne, New Jersey, was beatified on October 4 in Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, reported CNS. The beatification Mass—where she was declared Blessed Miriam

Teresa—was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The ceremony marked the first time an American was beatified in the United States. Baptized in an Eastern Catholic Church, Sister Miriam was the daughter of Slovakian immigrants to the United States. Only two years after entering the Sisters of Charity novitiate, Sister Miriam died from acute appendicitis in 1927, at the age of 26. Following her death, those close to her made it known that she had two distinct visions while she was in the novitiate—one of Mary and another where she walked with St. Thérèse. In 1964, Michael Mencer, at the time a third-grader from Newark, was Nov ember 2014 ❘ 1 1

Three Nuns Sexually Assaulted and Murdered in Burundi

CNS PHOTO/COURTESY XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES

Three Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary were brutally raped and killed in two separate incidents in the southeast African nation of Burundi, according to The Daily Beast. Sister

Sister Olga Raschietti, 75, is one of three Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary who were murdered in two separate attacks at their residence in Burundi. 1 2 ❘ Nov ember 2014

“Nuns on the Bus” Return for Third Tour For the third cross-country trip in as many years, the “Nuns on the Bus” project hit the road again on September 17, starting with a kickoff in Des Moines, Iowa. This year, the topic the nuns tackled was so-called political “dark money,” reported Religion News Service (RNS). “Dark money” refers to large donations from Super PACs and non-profit groups to specific political campaigns, which are undis- Father Michael Amadeo of Holy Trinity Parish closed to voters before elecin Des Moines, Iowa, speaks at an event tions occur. launching the “Nuns on the Bus” at the Iowa Sister Simone Campbell Capitol in Des Moines. led the tour across 10 states, before it wrapped up on October 20 in Denver, just two weeks before mid-term elections. According to Campbell, the nuns’ excursion had to do with promoting voter registration, and not specific political legislation. The bus’ first stop was in Davenport, Iowa, where Bishop Martin Amos was scheduled to honor Campbell with an award. The tour also provided an opportunity for the nuns to communicate with business leaders. “We want to say that 100 percent are welcome to the table of dialogue. But leave your money bags outside the door,” Campbell said.

Lucia Pulici, 82, and Sister Olga Raschietti, 75, were found dead in their convent in the capital city of Bujumbura, victims of a vicious assault. The convent served as a safe haven for women suffering from domestic violence. On September 7, Sister Bernadetta Boggian, 79, discovered the bodies and then led Father Mario Pulcini, superior of the Xaverian Missionaries in Burundi, to the scene of the crime. The following evening, Father Pulcini says he received a call from one of the sisters saying, “The murderer is still here.” Upon arrival at the convent, Father Pulcini found the body of Sister Boggian. She and three other

CNS PHOTO/ANNE MARIE COX, DIOCESE OF DES MOINES

cured of bilateral macular degeneration while he was in possession of a relic of Sister Miriam’s hair. The process to authenticate the miracle began in 2000, because the correspondence Mencer’s mother had sent to the Sisters of Charity had been overlooked. Nine medical consultants could not scientifically explain the cure; Vatican theologians then confirmed the cure as a miracle, followed by Pope Francis’ acknowledgment in December 2013. Sister Mary Canavan, former general superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, said of Sister Miriam, “Miriam’s life of aligning her life to the will of God is a model for all of us. . . . Her message that we are all called to holiness is significant to everyone in this troubled world, because it will take all of us to help bring about the reign of God.”

nuns had insisted on staying in the convent after the first murders. Police investigators are not currently considering the crimes to be fueled by anti-Christian sentiment, but rather revenge from a husband of one of the abused women sheltered at the convent. Three such men have been questioned by Burundi detectives. Pope Francis mourned the deaths of the nuns, whom he described as “generous witnesses of the Gospel.” He expressed his condolences in a telegram to the superior general of the Xaverian Missionaries. The pope said, "May their spilled blood be a seed of hope for building authentic brotherhood among peoples.” A St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

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The Boy Who As a young man, Jorge Bergoglio could be rowdy, studious, flirtatious, and fun. But God was calling him, all the while. B Y E L I S A B E T TA P I Q U É

14 ❘ November 2014

CNS PHOTO/CLARIN HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

N 1950, JORGE, age fourteen, began secondary school at Technical Industrial School No. 12 (now No. 27) at Calle Goya No. 351, in Floresta. Before he started, during the summer holidays, his father sent him out to work. “It’s something I am very grateful to him for, because work has been one of the things that did me most good in life,” said Bergoglio in The Jesuit. Since childhood, Jorge is not accustomed to taking holidays. He started working in the stocking factory where his father dealt with accounts. For the first two years, Jorge did the cleaning, and during the third he dealt with the administration. Then he started working in a laboratory with an unusual boss, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, from whom he learned that work must always be taken seriously. Esther was a Paraguayan and a communist sympathizer; years later,

during the dictatorship, her daughter and son-in-law were kidnapped, and then she herself was abducted together with two French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet. Later she was murdered by the military. Bergoglio’s gifts as leader became evident early on. “He was very intelligent, but not because he was a book-

worm, spending all his time studying, but because he understood everything very fast,” friend and classmate Hugo Morelli relates. “His intelligence was clearly superior to ours. He was always a step ahead of all of us. He was a kind of leader. During the whole of his time at secondary school, he was reprimanded only twice, St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

Would Become Pope

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

and once it was for a collective action.” Morelli explains: “There was a new teacher of Spanish who imposed herself on us very severely. We didn’t like her at all, we rebelled and wrote on the blackboard that we wanted our old teacher back, and we all signed, including Bergoglio. That’s how we got the collective reprimand.” Technical Industrial School No. 12, which specialized in nutrition, was rather special. “In the morning, we had two lessons on theory and in the afternoon plenty of practice. Sometimes we even butchered and processed the pork on site. In the end, only 10 of us got the diploma, and today six of us are still alive: three in Buenos Aires, two in Córdoba and one, well, one is in the Vatican,” says Óscar Crespo, former schoolmate and still a friend of Bergoglio’s. “We shared everything that can be shared at that age. We always met in a bar at the intersection of Avellaneda and Segurola, where we played billiards. On weekends we had ‘assaults,’ which is what we called our get-togethers, in the home of one of us, or went dancing at the club of the Chacarita neighborhood because there were many girls. Jorge was engaged to one of them from the neighborhood,” Óscar recalls.

A Call to Religious Life The story of twelve-year-old Jorge’s fiancée, Amalia Damonte, is well known. She was the daughter of Bergoglio’s neighbors. One day, Jorge declared his love and warned her that if she didn’t accept him, he would dedicate his life to God. “He said to me, ‘If I don’t marry you, I shall become a priest.’ But these were childish things. Even if, luckily for him, he didn’t marry me and now has Fr anciscanMedia.org

actually become the pope,” recalls Amalia Damonte today, age 76, always with a smile on her lips. “He gave me a letter with a drawing of a little white house with a red roof and had written: ‘This is the house I’ll buy when we get married.’” The story ends with a problem between Jorge’s family and their neigh-

Pope Francis flashes his famous smile as he arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. The son of working-class parents, Jorge Bergoglio (previous page) was no stranger to hard work. But he could also be a bold and mischievous child.

November 2014 ❘ 15

bors. When the parents of “Juliet of Flores” found the love letter, her father was furious, her mother tore up the letter, and both of them forbade the two young ones to continue seeing each other. As soon as he is elected pope, this interrupted love story with Amalia

Click the button to the left to hear an interview with author Elisabetta Piqué. becomes news in all the magazines and newspapers of the world. But the identity of Bergoglio’s real girlfriend, a more serious relationship with a girl who belonged to the group of friends he went dancing with, is still unknown. Why did that story end? “I discovered my religious vocation,” Bergoglio recalls in The Jesuit. Jorge Bergoglio—who, like John Paul II, became a seminarian when he was an adult—had normal relations with

his women friends, to the extent that one of them even made him doubt his vocation. “When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I had met at the wedding of an uncle of mine,” he said. “Her beauty, her intellectual radiance surprised me . . . [I]n a word, I was confused for some time, she kept on coming into my mind.” Bergoglio himself confessed in On Heaven and Earth: “When I went back to the seminary after that wedding, I couldn’t pray for a whole week, because when I wanted to do so, this girl appeared in my head. I had to reconsider what I was doing, I was still free because I was a seminarian; I could simply go back home. I had to rethink my decision. I went back to choosing the religious path—or let myself be chosen.”

From Dancing to Discernment “It’s something that comes from inside,” said Bergoglio about the tango, confessing that when he was young, when it came to dancing, he preferred

the milonga. He adored Juan D’Arienzo’s orchestra and never stopped listening to Carlos Gardel, Julio Sosa, Ada Falcón (who would later become a nun), and Azucena Maizani (to whom later he would impart extreme unction). But he was also open to more modern experiences; he admired Astor Piazzolla and Amelita Baltar. He also admits to having an ear for opera, which his mother used to play to the three older children, sitting around the radio every Saturday at two o’clock in the afternoon. At the age of ten, Jorge also took piano lessons. Besides music, dancing, soccer, and his group of friends, Jorge’s religious vocation was beginning to come out clearly. “There’s a story that makes it clear. During his second year, in 1951, Catholic religion was a mandatory subject at school,” says Óscar Crespo. “Zambrano, the teacher who taught this subject, asked which of us had not taken first Communion. I and another student stood up, and then he started a discussion.

“In the pages that follow, you will come to know Pope Francis better.” —Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap. Foreword to Pope Francis: Life and Revolution

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16 ❘ November 2014

JESUIT MINISTRY

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

“It was clear that he had already talked to Jorge because he told us, ‘Your classmate Bergoglio has offered to be your godfather in the San José de Flores Church.’ On the Sunday of that same week we took Communion and then Jorge treated us to dinner in his house. At 14 he already had the vocation of catechizing!” he says. So it was not a surprise when his friend finally joined the seminary of Villa Devoto in 1957. “I remember that much earlier, in 1952, Jorge and I went to work for four months in the Hickethier-Bachmann laboratory between Santa Fe and Azcuénaga,” Óscar says. “There we spent many hours together and chatted a lot. One day he told me, ‘I’ll finish secondary school with you, but I will not be a chemist. I’ll be a priest. And not a basilica priest. I’ll be a Jesuit, because I like going to the shantytowns, to the peripheries, being with people.’ “And that’s how it was!” Óscar says. “For years I used to drive him personally in my car, because he has never

had one, to the shantytowns. I stayed outside; he would go in as if there wasn’t any risk.”

Humble Jorge Apart from one interruption, Óscar always stayed in touch with the future pope. This is how he tells the story: “We used to go and visit him, and we’d eat roast beef at San Miguel. Once, when he was head of the Jesuits, we talked till something like four o’clock in the morning. “Then I lived abroad for many years and we lost touch. When I came back, I didn’t contact him because I’d heard that he was now a cardinal and I didn’t know how to treat him. A neighbor insisted that I go to see him, and one day she took me to the intersection of Triunvirato and Cullen, to the Iglesia del Carmen, at Villa Urquiza, where he was to say Mass. “When he saw me, Jorge, who was arriving on foot because he had got off the bus and had a very simple briefcase with him, ran to meet me. ‘Óscar!’ he cried and embraced me. He didn’t

stop talking, insisting that I join the group again, so much so that the priest of the church had to remind him that Mass was about to begin. From that moment on we have kept in touch and never stopped seeing each other.” Óscar’s last meeting with Bergoglio before he was elected pope took place on a Saturday. “Jorge called up a catering service, we ate cannelloni and drank wine, and it was a party full of comradeship. We recalled some stories from our school days. It got quite late and the catering [workers] had already gone home. As we were going away he said, ‘Guys, are you going to help me clear the table?’ We just missed having to wash up! “That’s what he’s like, a unique human being,” Óscar says. “For someone who has got where he has, he has never lost his humility.” A Elisabetta Piqué is a Rome-based correspondent for La Nación, Argentina’s largest daily newspaper. This article is excerpted from her new biography, Pope Francis: Life and Revolution (Loyola Press).

On November 2,

we will celebrate All Souls Day commemorating all of those who have died.

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November 2014 ❘ 17

AT HOME ON EARTH

❘ BY KYLE KRAMER

An Unfiltered View of Nature

After taking my first deer with a shotgun and my second with the front end of my Toyota, I decided that bow hunting was the most sportsmanlike: I had to be very close to the animal and therefore had to become a more skillful hunter. I love spending time in the woods, and I have pride Gaining in filling our family’s freezer Perspective by my own hand. It is a fearsome thing, however, to take Can you commit to going another creature’s life, and I meatless one or more days do it with a mix of reverence each week? and revulsion. Maybe I’ll eventually become vegetarian If you can find a provider again, but for now, I think for locally raised meat, can the least hypocritical way to you observe (or even help eat meat is to be willing with) the butchering? to deal firsthand with the blood and guts, just as Peter Ask your grocery store did when the risen Lord manager if the meat sold at said to him in a vision: the store comes from “slaughter and eat” (Acts Concentrated Animal Feed10:13). ing Operations. There’s a spiritual point here, too. Most of us have little direct knowledge of how the natural world meets our basic needs. We pay others to provide our shelter, clothing, water, and food. As I see it, though, the spiritual journey should connect us more and more deeply to God, to our inner selves, to others, and to the life-and-death cycles of God’s creation. True spirituality takes away the filters between us and the “really real”—even the messy and ambiguous parts of life, like meat on our table. A

Kyle Kramer, an organic farmer, is author of A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt (Sorin Books).

Getting in touch with where our food comes from can serve as a teachable moment about our lifestyles. 1 8 ❘ Nov ember 2014

tal Digi as Extr

Click here for more on this topic and to hear an interview with Kyle.

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

ears ago, I became a vegetarian— partly to be healthier, but mostly to impress a woman I was dating at the time. Eventually, I discovered that there are other important reasons. One is environmental: American meat animals are often raised in a way that guzzles grain, fossil fuels, and water, and we can get the same calories for less from a plant-based diet. Another is one of conscience: many meat animals are raised in “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations” (CAFOs), whose conditions are at least crowded and unnatural—if not also cruel and unsanitary. I still think eating little or no meat is a sensible choice, but meat has made its way back into my diet: to support local farmers whose husbandry I trust, and to make use of our hens when they are past their prime for laying. In recent years, I also have been hunting deer. Venison harvested humanely on our land and butchered in our own kitchen seems like one of the most responsible ways to eat meat.

PAID AD VER TISEMENT

Worried… Suff ffeering… In Need? Let the Franciscan Friars Pray for You BByy FFather ather PPatrick atrick QQuinn, uinn, TTOR OR

ichele Ferri was beside himself with grief at the murder of his brother. In his distress, he wrote to Pope Francis.

Then one night, the phone rang. Michele picked it up. “Ciao Michele. It’s Pope Francis..” And it really was the pope, calling to console this man in his sorrow!

Maybe you’ve heard this story – or of the other spontaneous acts of kindness that demonstrate the great humility and compassion of Pope Francis… His joyful embrace of a terribly defformed man. His telephone call to the parents of an American journalist who was slain mercilessly by terrorists in Syria. Imagine being comfforted, in your own worry, by the Holy Father himself ! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all receive such powerful, personal consolation in our times of trouble! While Pope Francis may not be able to call each and every one of us when we feel distressed, his pastoral kindness as Christ’s vicar on Earth is a blessed reminder that our Lord is not indiff ffeerent to our suff ffeeering! In His great mercy and love, God off ffeers His holy host of angels and saints to console us in times of trouble – like St. Anthony of Padua, who off ffeers unfailing consolation to the needy, the sick, the despairing and the downcast. When you are wracked with fear and worry, when the burdens of liffe seem too heavvyy to bear, I invite you to place your troubles at the feet of our blessed St. Anthony.

In fact, during our upcoming novena, I encourage you to let the Franciscan Friars pray to St. Anthony, our Franciscan brother, on your behalff. Let us carry your worries, whatever they may be, into St. Anthony’ss care.

give powerful consolation to the poor and needy where we work.

To take part,, simpl p y use the envelope inserted in this copy of St. Anthony Messenger. Your personal intentions will be included in our special Christmas novena to St. Anthony, which will beggin Christmas Day at St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysb y burg, Pennsyylvania. For strength, for hope, for comffort, for every reason imaginable, people praay to St. Anthony, whose powers of intercession are legendary! When a child drowned near the Basilica of St. Anthony, his mother promised to feed the poor if her son could live. Miraculously, her prayers were answered. The boy’’s liffe was spared! In return for St. Anthonyy’ss mercifful consolations, he asks only that we help others. As Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regular, we are called to follow in our brother Anthony’’s footsteps, living in poverty and humility, devoting our skills and talents to bring healing to those who live in phyysical and spiritual poverty. As with that phone call from the pope, we strive to bring Christ’s love to those who are suff ffeering through small, yet powerful, acts of kindness and mercy. Thouggh we ourselves live in poverty, we are able through friends like you, to

With help from caring Catholics like you, the Franciscan Friars bring Christ’s light into blighted, forgotten neighborhoods here in the U.S. .S . – and around the globe. Our ministries in seventeen countries bring hope to the poorest of God’s children. Liffe brings us all many trials and sorrows. Yeet the Gospel of Our Lord reminds us that, even in the midst of suff ffeering and pain, there is the possibility for joy – joy in God’s boundless love and His promise of ever-lasting liffe! e For the concern you show the less fortunate among us, may God’s love and blessings be alwaays y upon you. May His love shine brigghtly througgh you! Readers wishing to take part in the Franciscan Friars special Christmas Novena and support their ministr y to those suff ffeering in physical and spiritual poverty can respond by using the envelope inserted in this publication or by visiting www..thefranciscanffri r ars.org. Pope Francis I photo credit: ©Catholic News Service

Joan Barthel and

S St. Elizabeth Ann Seton S Julia Child, Sidney Poitier, Nancy Reagan—she’s written about all of them. But none has touched her as much as this saint. BY JEANNETTE COOPERMAN

N MAY 1993, Joan Barthel finished writing Oprah Winfrey’s autobiography. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, expected to sell at least 2 million copies, and Barthel’s editor predicted she’d be flooded with requests for celebrity bios. “And I think he was right,” she says, “and I think I would have fallen for it.” That September, just before the presses were inked, Winfrey pulled the book. Barthel hiked through the Connecticut woods and let the frustration and disappointment drain away. As peace settled, she decided it was time to write the book she’d wanted to write for almost two decades—a book on a very different kind of celebrity. Barthel had done a cover story on Elizabeth Seton’s canonization for The New York Times Magazine in 1975, and she’d found the first American-born saint fascinating. The ID line that ran beneath the Times story noted, “Joan Barthel is working on a biography of Elizabeth Seton to be published next year.” But life intervened.

Making Coffee from Shaved Carrots Not many journalists specialize in celebrities, crime, and Catholicism, but Barthel built a strong career from that mix. Early on, she snagged what was, in her mind, “the best job 20 ❘ November 2014

in American journalism”—staff writer for LIFE magazine. “I had total freedom, I could work at home, and it was a steady income. “And then,” she says with a sigh, “we all got fired.” The magazine had folded, fast as origami. The editor called her at home one morning to break the news. With a dual income, Barthel and her husband had been relatively carefree, enjoying city life in Manhattan and summers at a cottage in Connecticut. When the call came from LIFE, however, Jim Barthel, a professional photographer, had just quit his job to freelance. One night, they went to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner and realized when the check came that neither of them had enough money to pay. They returned the next day with the cash. Soon after, Jim pawned his camera to keep them afloat. Elizabeth Seton could have offered advice. She’d taken a far-worse fall, from a world of “calling cards on a silver tray” to sleeping on stone floors and making coffee from shaved carrots. Barthel didn’t yet have the luxury of researching Seton, however. She found work freelancing for a magazine called New Times, and wrote a cover story that led to a book, with a preface by author William St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

Writing American Saint—a project almost 40 years in the making—changed best-selling author Joan Barthel’s perspective on God’s role in her work.

PHOTO BY ELEANOR FOA DIENSTAG

Styron. The book was turned into an acclaimed TV movie. A Death in Canaan was true crime, not a saint’s life. It was a wrenching story about a teenager accused of killing his mother, threaded with powerful questions about truth, love, loyalty, and redemption. Barthel had barely finished the manuscript when her editor sent her a news clipping about a wealthy woman held captive by the sociopath who’d murdered her fiancé. So Barthel wrote another true-crime book: A Death in California. “Terrible title,” she says. Fr anciscanMedia.org

It, too, was turned into a TV movie, starring Cheryl Ladd. Then Barthel wrote Love or Honor, the true story of an undercover police officer who falls in love with a mob leader’s daughter and loses his identity in the process.

A Saint in Waiting Now and then, Barthel would glance up at the Seton cover story she’d framed for her office, a daily reminder to write that biography. She separated from her husband. Her beloved summer cottage burned to the ground, destroyNovember 2014 ❘ 21

Barthel has always been drawn to inspiring and passionate women, from pop singer Rosemary Clooney (right) to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Hiking with Superman Christopher Reeve proved to be an eye-opening experience and a lesson in quiet confidence for the writer.

/ISTOCKPHOTO © TOLGA_TEZCAN PHOTO GRAPHICS:

Actor Sidney Poitier and Barthel were both at the beginnings of their illustrious careers when she interviewed the Oscar-winning star of Lilies of the Field.

ing nearly all her books. She had a daughter to raise. And she had a knack for celebrity profiles that could keep them afloat. Early in her career, Barthel had interviewed an ebullient, slightly clumsy chef named Julia Child, who was just starting a TV show. (Julia served a French wine called Lillet at lunch; Barthel can’t remember the entrée.) Barthel also interviewed Sidney Poitier, for the Times drama section. “I was still inexperienced, and he was inexperienced at having money,” she says, smiling. “He had me to his apartment for dinner, and he had a cook for the first time. There was a little bell in the middle of the dining room table, and he didn’t know what it was for. He kept calling to the cook, and finally she said, ‘Oh, Mr. Poitier, just ring the bell.’” Years later, Poitier invited Barthel to sit with his family at a dinner in his honor. And the actor Godfrey Cambridge liked Barthel’s profile of him so much, he sent her a gorgeous crystal pitcher. “I can’t keep this!” she blurted to her editor. 22 ❘ November 2014

“Never resist a generous impulse,” he replied, “whether it’s yours or somebody else’s.” She kept the pitcher and the advice. “I’ve never forgotten it,” she says. “One day I was wearing an amber necklace, and a tollbooth collector said, ‘Oh, I love your necklace.’ I took it off and handed it to her—she thought just for her to look at. And I drove away.” She went on to profile Paddy Chayefsky, Nancy Reagan, Bob Hope, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Dan Rather, Mario Cuomo. With every interview, she learned something. She hiked halfway up a mountain with Christopher Reeve when he was filming Superman III. When he stopped for a picnic lunch and hiked back down, not bothering to reach the summit, she realized “that if you’re sure of yourself—not arrogant or proud, just confident—you don’t have to prove anything.” When she profiled Father James Gilhooley, a pastor in New York who organized a “March on Gracie Mansion” for affordable housing, she wound up marching with him, even though she was pregnant at the time. Faith and activism, she realized, were one.

The Time Had Come As Barthel found her own courage, she gravitated toward strong, spirited women: Gloria Steinem, Carol Burnett, Rosemary Clooney. A St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

CNS PHOTO/OWEN SWEENEY III, CATHOLIC REVIEW

profile of Oprah Winfrey led to the book deal. When it fell through, Barthel remembered Elizabeth Seton and felt an inexplicable sense of urgency. She started making regular trips to Riverdale to search the archives of the Sisters of Charity of New York. Years earlier, she’d tried to fictionalize Elizabeth’s story and wound up abandoning the manuscript in disgust. She knew she needed raw source material to find the truth that would bring Elizabeth to life. She’d begun gathering the available bits when Rosemary Clooney’s manager called. Clooney was making a comeback. Would Barthel consider writing her biography? Well, she needed a more practical project— no publisher had yet expressed interest in Seton—and she needed the $100,000 advance to keep doing her research. Girl Singer, published in 1999, was a hit. It bought Barthel just enough time. In 2000, two Sisters of Charity published Volume I of Seton’s collected writings. Journal entries, correspondence—Barthel now had all the material she needed. She traveled to Livorno, Italy, where Seton converted to Catholicism, and then to Emmitsburg, Maryland, which proved even more

inspiring. It was there, on donated land, that Seton established her order, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, and opened St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School. Today, Emmitsburg is the site of her national shrine. “There’s such a sense of her there,” says Barthel. “There’s a sense of peace, of calm and quiet. While I was there, a young man came

While writing her book, Barthel traveled to Emmitsburg, Maryland, to visit the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. It was in Emmitsburg that the saint established the Sisters of Charity.

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An Irrepressible Saint Elizabeth Seton converted to Catholicism at a time when her wealthy Episcopalian circle considered it a religion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;filthy immigrants.â&#x20AC;? She made a fairy-tale marriage, then lost her beloved husband to tuberculosis. Left with only his business debts, she raised their five children alone. Along the way, she gathered a band of women, calling them Sisters of Charity. Fighting poverty, grief, and ill health; defying bishops (one compared her character to â&#x20AC;&#x153;gold brocade, rich and heavy, how hard to handleâ&#x20AC;?); and cajoling donors, Seton laid the foundation for religious orders that spread around the world. They provide health care and education to this day. American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton could have been a ponderous book, grim and preachy. But Seton danced at George Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthday ball, and she led her Sisters of Charity with the same verve. Barthel lets Setonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lightheartedness shine through, describing the ordinary bits of her life as well as the milestones. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wish you joy of Miss Chippy,â&#x20AC;? Seton once told a girlfriend taxed with an annoying acquaintance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pray get her a husband if you can.â&#x20AC;?

CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ

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who was considering the priesthood. The sisters said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak to him. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here to discern his vocation.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And I thought, What a great place to come. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a prayerfulness about the place. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all because of Elizabeth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you realize that when she was born, there was no such thing as an American Catholic Church?â&#x20AC;? Barthel asks suddenly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Catholicism was called popery, and it was illegal in most colonies. When she converted, the only nun in New York was made of wax, an object of curiosity in a museum on Greenwich Street!â&#x20AC;? Barthel memorized Elizabethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world, so different from her own.

Finding Her Way Barthel grew up in a Catholic family in St. Louis, and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d gone to Catholic schools and daily Mass. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My mother was so strict, I called her maâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;am,â&#x20AC;? she recalls wryly. Intellectual curiosity came from her father, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d dropped out of school in fourth grade to work on the farm and â&#x20AC;&#x153;felt a lack. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d come home from work and pick up the encyclopediaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Rappâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s [grocery St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

store] was selling them for 99 cents— and read until suppertime.” Barthel was studious, quiet, devout. “I was measured for the habit,” she says. “I was to enter the convent the September after high school graduation.” Feminism stopped her. She found the crusade for equal rights exhilarating, and she just couldn’t see how a nun could be a part of it. She went off to college, then landed a job “mainly pouring coffee” at The New York Times. She wound up writing for Ms. and other national magazines. Of course, the more she learned about nuns and feminism, the more she realized how wrong she’d been. A Franciscan nun stood side by side with Bella Abzug and signed a piece of paper that said women should have the rights of men. Gloria Steinem wrote, “Women’s spirituality has been and continues to be one of the wellsprings of feminism.” Barthel felt a sharp anger at the Church in 1994, when girls were first allowed to serve at the altar. “My mother was 84 years old,” she says, “and for all those years, she’d scrubbed the marble steps. But until 1994, she had not been considered as worthy to approach the altar as a 10-year-old boy.” Barthel didn’t leave the Church, but she sought out churches that welcomed everyone equally: men and women, gay and straight, rich and poor. When she wrote her introduction to the Seton biography, she set the scene in April 2012, with the Vatican scolding the Leadership Council of Women Religious for promoting “radical feminist themes.” “Elizabeth Seton,” Barthel wrote, “was there at the beginning.”

‘At Whatever Risk, Yet Go Forward’ “You’re starting to channel her, Mom,” Barthel’s daughter teased. It felt like the highest possible compliment. “I don’t look forward to dying, but I really look forward to meeting her,” says Barthel. “I talk to her. I say, ‘Help me get a movie sale.’” Fr anciscanMedia.org

Almost four decades after that first cover story, Barthel finished the book it promised. Reviewers praised it without reservation. Then the hard work started: publicity. She summoned her nerve and called Carol Burnett: “I just liked her so much when I wrote about her. She was so open. Then I saw her again when I was doing Girl Singer, because she and Rosemary were friends.” Burnett gladly gave a blurb for the cover. “I know it by heart,” Barthel admits. She recites it, slow as poetry: “An amazing true story about a woman who beat all the odds. I plan to read it again and again.” She beams. “I thought, What can I send Carol Burnett to thank her? So I had a Mass said for her at the Old Cathedral” in St. Louis. This past January, Barthel spoke about Elizabeth Seton to the American Catholic Historical Association. Her knees knocked at the notion of facing all those academics. She used Seton’s family motto as her paper’s title: “At whatever risk, yet go forward.” Writing Elizabeth’s story has changed her. “I pray more,” she says. “I pray every day now, which I didn’t do before.” She remembers Elizabeth’s description of contemplative prayer: “one of those sweet pauses in spirit when the body seems to be forgotten.” She remembers how Elizabeth’s husband tried to bargain with God for his life, and how Elizabeth, despite her fierce love for him, prayed only that his desperation would bring him closer to God. “I never thought consciously and deliberately about doing God’s will until I wrote Elizabeth’s story,” Barthel says. “I never thought God had any role in the writing of my books. When I started on her project, I began to think, Why would I come back to her? Maybe it is God’s will.” She smiles, with the tender confidence of an old friend. “I believe she’d think so, too.” A Jeannette Cooperman is a staff writer at St. Louis Magazine. She has won regional and national awards for her features on social issues, health, religion, and education. Her previous story in this publication was “Joplin, Missouri: One Year Later.”

Click here for more on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

tal Digi as Extr

She danced at George Washington’s 65th Birthday Ball.

“An amazing true story about a woman who beat all the odds. I plan to read it again and again.” — Carol Burnett Available wherever books are sold.

www.joanbarthel.com November 2014 ❘ 25

LIVE WELL

❘ BY COLLEEN MONTGOMERY AND JIM BRENNAN

Conquering Stress

B tal Digi as Extr To hear more about ways to cope with stress, click the button below.

efore the sun rises, my dad and I wake up in houses 30 miles apart, yet our routines are strikingly similar. We shower, eat breakfast, and get centered. My dad begins with prayer, and then yoga. He practices deep breathing, progresses to stretching nearly every muscle, and then goes into disciplined exercises and balance poses. Me? I meditate. I put in my earplugs, listen to soothing music, cross my legs, and close my eyes. I focus on one thing only—either my body or my breathing. And after five or 10 minutes, I am ready for the day. These actions do not eliminate the inevitable stresses waiting for us in the day ahead. But they center us and place us on a firm and balanced foundation. By beginning the day within ourselves, we are able to tap in to our spirits and manage stress holistically.

The Damages of Stress Stress can wreak havoc on our whole person—mentally, physically, and emotionally. When we are anxious, stress chemicals and 2 6 ❘ Nov ember 2014

hormones are released that affect our bodies, which, over time, affect our health. Chronic stress can suppress our immune system, rendering us susceptible to illness and heightening our risk of chronic diseases. In the moment, stress interferes with our happiness, the quality of our relationships, and our overall quality of life. Stress can also cause us to be irritable, depressed, or angry. Physically, we may experience sleeplessness, headaches, stomach problems, or bodily discomfort such as neck or back pain.

Overcoming Stress Conquering stress can be broken down into three distinct steps. As you continue on your holistic journey, consider incorporating these thoughts and actions into your daily routine: ■ Tune in to your body. Common things to look for are increased or decreased appetite, upset stomach, muscle tension, headaches or migraines, and lack of sleep. Emotions that spring from stress can be moodiness, sadness, or apathy. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

When cares increase within me, your comfort gives me joy. —Psalm 94:19

Jim Brennan writes about health and fitness from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Colleen Montgomery is a registered clinical exercise physiologist and certified wellness coach. They collaborate on this column. Fr ancisca n Media .org

Quick Tips for Managing Stress

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Choose. Surround yourself with people you love. Pray. Have a one-on-one conversation with God. Talk. Express your feelings. Sweat. Go for a walk or a jog. Indulge. Take time for hobbies and interests. Organize. Prioritize and make lists. Breathe. Take slow, deep breaths when stress levels rise. Think. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

■ Recognize your stressors. Everyone responds to situations differently. What makes one person nervous may present an interesting challenge to another. Stressors can be big or small, acute or chronic, positive or negative. Traffic, laundry, children, work, marriage, divorce, deployment—the list is endless. What bothers you? What causes your stomach to turn or your neck to tense? Start with the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. ■ Understand stress management. Some of the most effective practices are breathing techniques, muscle relaxation exercises, and physical exercise. Deep breathing can even be done in the heat of the moment without anyone’s awareness. Exercise can help dissipate those stress hormones and release feel-good hormones as a replacement. Prayer, meditation, and yoga induce a calmer, more centered mind. When we are centered and focused, we are able to solve problems more effectively. We are better equipped to act rather than to react. Adopt appropriate techniques for your specific stressors. If your days start out rushed and stressful, wake up 10 minutes earlier to center yourself. Small, manageable steps like this can make a huge difference in your life. Take good care of yourself. When you start the day working on the internal, you will cultivate the resilience necessary to face the external.

Nov ember 2014 ❘ 2 7

EDITORIAL

Ebola: It’s Time to Confront Fear An epidemic is raging in West Africa. What can we do to help those affected? The 2014 Ebola epidemic brings up a host of interrelated issues: global poverty; consumerism; the role of the media; how we, as Catholics, should respond; and more. For one person, it’s hard not to feel completely powerless. Perhaps it’s tempting to hide behind our day-to-day duties, avoiding any kind of real change. As stories continue to surface about the outbreak, there is a lurking sense that fear is playing a big role here—and maybe it’s running away with the performance.

The Hydra That Is Fear In West Africa, the deadly impact of the Ebola epidemic has been, in no small part, exacerbated by fear-fueled reactions to the situation. In Monrovia, Liberia, an angry mob raided an already-overwhelmed clinic, looting crucial medical supplies and viruscontaminated bedding, as well as inadvertal Digi as tently releasing some 29 Ebola patients who Extr were quarantined there. As the mob clamored away, they were heard chanting, “No Ebola in West Click here to learn more Point!” (the name of the about the Ebola epidemic neighborhood where the and how you can help. clinic is located). As the mob’s chant indicates, denial is often the first response to a frightening scenario. Far from “no Ebola,” though, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 20,000 people will contract the virus in the next year. Still other experts have suggested models that show over 100,000 infected in the next 18 months. Beyond the deaths directly attributed to Ebola (at the time of this writing, 2,909), the outbreak has had unforeseen and damaging consequences. Terrified farmers in Sierra Leone fled their homes, leaving crops behind to rot in a nation where “malnutrition rates are among the world’s highest,” 2 8 ❘ Nov ember 2014

according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Moreover, the loss of the farmers’ crops will result in higher food prices across the impoverished region. Stateside, the epidemic is a news item that could easily get lost in the noise of our media. Flipping through the 24-hour news cycles on any given day, we are inundated— almost paralyzed—by the full-on assault of reports on natural disasters, violence, and all manner of calamities. We can easily become desensitized to the gravity of these horrendous events. Taking in even one day’s news stories can be a numbing experience. While some may channel their fear through knee-jerk panic, allowing apathy to creep in and take over is equally dangerous. Many of us are guilty of “passing the buck” of responsibility onto a nameless and vague “someone else” who will certainly take action in our place. As media consumers in the 21st century, it is all too easy to simply receive bad news, remain anonymous, and then do absolutely nothing to help.

What’s a Catholic to Do? In the spirit of fortitude, one of the four cardinal virtues, there are some proactive things we can do to help. First, get informed—knowledge can defeat fear and replace apathy with energy. The World Health Organization’s website (who.int) even includes an “Ebola response road map.” Second, if you have the financial flexibility, donating money to organizations that are on the front lines of the outbreak has a concrete and lifesaving effect. Catholic Relief Services takes donations at its website (crs.org) and directly provides aid to Ebola’s casualties. Finally, pray for the sufferers and their families. Our prayers bring us into solidarity with them, transcending all differences. As an antidote to fear and all its forms, praying focuses our attention on the pains of our wounded world. Let’s pray for fortitude in the face of fear. —Daniel Imwalle St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

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Bret Baier’s Tale of

Faith and Healing When their newborn son faced heart troubles, this FOX News anchor’s family found strength in their faith. BY JAMES BREIG

RET BAIER, anchor of Special Report, the 6 p.m. nightly news on the FOX News Channel, isn’t averse to puns on his name. In his first book, Special Heart, released this past June, he writes about the Three Baiers: Papa Baier; Mama Baier for his wife, Amy; and Baby Baier for his son, Paul. Such plays on a word might be an unconscious wish that the family’s recent history was just a fairy tale. Instead, it involved dealing with a dark reality—the possibility of Baby Baier’s death.

30 ❘ November 2014

Subtitled “A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love,” Baier’s book deals with his and Amy’s struggle to cope with Paul’s battle against pediatric heart disease. The journalist told St. Anthony Messenger that writing the book was “cathartic in a way. But I found a real joy in seeing the finished product and now find joy in getting feedback from people.” Such a positive emotion signals that the family is near the end of the severe trials that began when Paul was born in June 2007. At the time, Baier was chief White House corresponSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

PHOTO COURTESY OF FOX NEWS

dent for FOX News. He writes that he and Amy “were over the moon with joy when we found out we were going to become parents.” A prenatal checkup detected the possibility of “a slight heart echo,” but all seemed fine when they went to the hospital to welcome their newborn, who would be named Paul to honor Amy’s father. A difficult delivery brought the infant into the world with what seemed to be no lingering problems. That would soon change, however, and when it did, Bret and Amy rushed to God for Fr anciscanMedia.org

help. “I was born into a family that went to church every Sunday and valued the religion overall,” Baier says. “It was a big part of my upbringing.” Years of Catholic education, he continues, gave him “experiences that brought me closer to the Church. But college happened. A distance happened. I wasn’t going to church every Sunday. [Religion] wasn’t part of my daily routine. Amy was much the same way: born into a family that went to church every Sunday and valued the Church. But she had fallen away a bit as a young adult.”

Anchor of FOX News’ Special Report, Bret Baier (above) and his wife, Amy, were faced with the challenge of coping with the frightening heart disease their son, Paul (opposite page), has suffered from since infancy.

November 2014 ❘ 31

Paul Baier has made the incredible journey from being baptized in the ICU to putting with his father on a sunny day a few years laterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a testament to faith through the hard times.

(Above) Despite undergoing three heart surgeries and seven angioplasties, Paul Baier is full of energy and able to smile brightly with his dad from his hospital bed. (Right) As the Baier family grows, so does their faith. The prayers and support of friends, colleagues, and others going through similar situations helped the Baiers carry on in dark times.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FOX NEWS

32 â?&#x2DC; November 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

When they married, the couple went to Mass “occasionally,” Baier admits, “but it wasn’t a priority, nor was prayer, except when there were dire straits. But I had that upbringing that was clearly part of who I was.”

A Parent’s Nightmare

Such events, he continues, are sometimes dismissed as coincidences. “It felt better and more accurate to say it was part of a bigger thing,” Baier says. “Can I prove that? No. Could I definitively say it in my journalistic sense? No. But I think that’s where faith comes in—and hope and courage and love.” Asked if he could understand people who turn against God in such trying circumstances, the anchor replies, “I can understand where the feelings would take you because we went to some dark places at the beginning. I feel for people who go the other way. I think the journey is much easier if you know there are other footsteps next to yours.” Amy and Bret have walked alongside those footsteps for several years now. They have survived, in part, because they rely on each other. “It was a roller coaster,” says Baier. “I would be strong and up, and Amy would be down. Then she would be up, and I would be down. I’ve heard that couples have hard times through crises. This was a hard time, but we were tackling it together. It only made our relationship stronger because we were helping each other get through it. Our faith had a big part of it. We walked many times to the chapel in Children’s National and said a prayer. We had Paul

The couple would fall back on their Catholic underpinnings when Beth Kennedy, a substitute nurse in the hospital where Paul was born, noticed something that other medical personnel had not: Paul’s color wasn’t right. When a test for a bacterial infection came back negative, everyone but Beth was relieved. She insisted that more tests be conducted and that a doctor be consulted. The physician who was paged turned out to be Gerard Martin, head of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Martin’s experience, examinations, and tests led him to one literally and figuratively heartbreaking conclusion: Paul needed immediate surgery to correct multiple cardiac abnormalities. He was born with two arteries on one side of his heart, a hole in his heart, and a blocked aorta. Baier says that the diagnosis tapped “into everything I had always been told about prayer and the vehicle of the Catholic Church to get to where we needed to be.” Paul would eventually have three ARE YOU heart surgeries and seven angioplasties. He faces more in the future as he CHARITABLY INCLINED ? grows. Throughout their trials, the Do you own appreciated assets such as stocks, bonds or property? Consider a Baiers deepened their faith and refused charitable remainder trust with St. Anthony School Programs. to see anything but God’s providence Your benefits include: at work. While some people would be • Guaranteed fixed income for life tempted to blame God for Paul’s trou• Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual payments bles, the newsman says, “I think of it • Lower or eliminate capital gains taxes as a loving God who had a bigger plan • Charitable income tax deduction for Paul and for us.” That plan began • Lower your estate tax burden unfolding when Baier turned to social media to inform family and friends of Best of all you will help St. Anthony School Programs Paul’s impending surgery and the educate children with Intellectual Disabilities/Autism. threat to his life. “What we received back was prayers,” Return this coupon today for general information or call 724-940-9020, ext. 103 he recalls. “Absorbing those prayers liftName ed us up. It also enabled me to have Address perspective and look back at things City State Zip that had happened up to that point in Birth Date(s) and time. Beth Kennedy, the nurse that Amount Considering Cost Basis notices that Paul turns pale—we would have been home if it had not been for Phone Email her. We call her Beth ‘the Angel’ Jerry Gaughan, St. Anthony School Programs Kennedy. The fact that this cardiologist 2000 Corporate Drive, Suite 580 • Wexford, PA 15090 was driving by the hospital when the 724-940-9020, ext. 103 • jgaughan@stanthonykids.org www.stanthonykids.org page goes out. [He is] one of the preeminent cardiologists in the world.” Fr anciscanMedia.org

November 2014 ❘ 33

Reaching Out to Others Amy Baier was asked by St. Anthony Messenger to share some key tips for parents facing a similar crisis to what she and her husband encountered. “Find the best doctors possible, love on your child like crazy, and pray! Do these three things, and you have done all you can,” she says. “I was most concerned with making sure I could hold Paul as much as possible and sing to him and just touch his skin. We both asked a lot of questions, but eventually we just put our faith in God and put our faith in the doctors.”

Through prayer and effort, the Baiers turned Paul’s terrifying diagnosis into a “blessing”—an opportunity to cherish and focus on God’s gift of family.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FOX NEWS

baptized, which was really a powerful ceremony in the ICU.”

Support from Others

tal Digi as Extr

Guiding the Baiers through their troubles was another FOX News journalist, Brit Hume, whose adult son had committed suicide. Baier, who succeeded Hume in anchoring Special Report, says that “Brit’s early counsel was really important to me because I knew he knew the darker points of life and dealing with loss.” After his son’s death, Baier continues, Hume “turned to his church and the Bible—we’re of different [denominations] but the same mentality—so his advice and counsel were really substantive. He basically said, as hard as this is right now, it’s going to get better, and you have to trust in God and the doctors, and you have got to put it in God’s hands. It was a message that was recurring in prayers from people around the world. We got there eventually; it took us Click here for more a while, but we did.” on Bret Baier. Some people may react to the strengthened faith of the Baiers by saying that it’s easy to love God when the outcome is positive. Asked what would have happened to his faith if Paul had not survived, the newsman replies, “I’d like to say that we got to a place of ‘What is going to happen is going to happen.’ But I haven’t felt that. I have talked to many families who have lost children, and their courage and their grace after that has

34 ❘ November 2014

encouraged me that we could do the same thing.” Baier witnessed one family’s travail over their little girl, named Maggie, who was in the hospital at the same time as Paul. On the day after she died, her mother called the Baiers to see how their child’s surgery went. Baier would later meet Maggie’s father at a book signing. “I had never really circled back with the family,” the journalist recalls. “I was sensitive about privacy, and I didn’t want to be pounding them about that story. He came to a signing with a picture of Maggie and a prayer card from her funeral, and gave them to me. He said that his family is so grateful that Maggie is living on in the pages of Special Heart. I got up and gave him a big hug, and we’ve been communicating ever since.”

A Growing Family There is now another Baby Baier that the parents have to watch over: Daniel, Paul’s younger brother by three years. Asked what steps he and Amy have taken to assure that Daniel isn’t ignored with so much focus on his brother, Baier admits that “it’s a big issue that we think St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

about. He has handled it tremendously, but we are very sensitive to it. He has said, ‘I want a scar like Paul’s scar.’ And we said, ‘No, no, no, you really don’t.’ Their relationship has really developed, and they’re best friends. Before Paul’s [most recent] open-heart surgery, Daniel took out his plastic stethoscope and said, ‘Paulie, I’m going to give you a checkup right now so you don’t have to have open-heart surgery. I’m going to fix your heart right here.’ “Seeing that moment, you see the love between children. It’s really a powerful thing. We go to extra lengths to make sure Daniel doesn’t feel left out. We got him his own book that he signed and made sure he saw all the pictures of him in it.” Over the past few years and through multiple procedures on his son, Baier has often reflected on the troubling question of why children suffer and die. “It’s tough to rationalize and get your head around,” he admits. “I don’t know that it’s our job to ask why. It was our job to get through it. We had the mantra, ‘We’re one day closer to getting Paul home.’ Once we got to that, we could see—even though it might be a long way away—the light at the end of the tunnel. We could see an image: for Amy, of Paul running on the beach; for me, Paul walking down the first fairway. However we got there, that was the most important thing. Trying to rationalize why this is happening is a waste of energy. “When we look back, as crazy as it sounds, this was a blessing. It gave us a perspective about life, our family, and what’s important, and a purpose, a charity, and a cause.” The newsman has raised nearly $11 million for the hospital where Paul was treated. But even as far as his family has come, Baier knows that there are more trials on the way as Paul faces additional surgical procedures. “Our story is continuing,” he says. “We have hurdles ahead.” A

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N Not ot All Missions Are F Foreign! oreign! When Glenmar y Home Missioners was found ounded o 75 years ago, there were more than 1,000 counties in the United States without a Catholic presence. Today o , there are more than 300 counties in the South alone without a resident pastor or a Catholic church. The need remains in Mission Land, USA:

s 1.5 million people live within Glenmary’s mission territor y in Appalachia and the South.

s 0-3% of the population are Catholic and over 40% have no religious afﬁliation.

s Poverty levels are nearly twice the national average. We believve that the Catholic faith a is the best gifft we have to sharre! e Thanksgiving and Will you help us share this precious gifft this Thank beyond, as we serve the missions of the United States, by: + Becoming a partner in mission through monthly giving. Visit www.glenmary.org/bam. + Considering a bequest or annuity (minimum of $5,000). Contact Susan Lambert, slambert@glenmary.org. + Joining with us as a prray a er partnerr. Visit www.glenmar y.org/prayerpartner

James Breig has written articles for many Catholic publications, including this one. He is the author of Searching for Sgt. Bailey: Saluting an Ordinary Soldier of World War II (Park Chase Press, Baltimore). Fr anciscanMedia.org

November 2014 ❘ 35

Seeds of

Gratitude, Fruits of

Here are six steps to becoming a happy, grateful person. BY DR. ROBERT J. WICKS AND TINA C. BUCK, MS

BASKET: © ANATOLIY SAMARA/FOTOLIA, FIELD: © BRZOZOWSKA/ISTOCK

Joy

OMETIMES WE NEED to be brought to the edge of darkness to realize how much we’ve already been given by God to enjoy and celebrate. This can be the case even if we are religiously attuned, spiritually alert, and psychologically healthy. Life presents the unexpected often in a compounded way—a loved one becomes ill or dies, no job can be found, an addiction rages in someone close to you, a relationship falls apart, or you find yourself overwhelmed because you are caring for both adult children and aging parents. It is during these challenging times that a circle of grace is formed, if a healthy perspective, gratitude, and happiness

36 ❘ November 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

are cultivated. Otherwise, we are in danger of losing ourselves as the waves of circumstance come crashing down. New peace and joy are seeded when a healthy perspective is established. When we can see situations with greater clarity, we are willing to face what is actually before us. Unrealistic expectations are jettisoned; projections of blame, harshness, or self-attack are released. This does not mean that the crisis has passed, but how we view our world and our place in it has shifted. Poet John Milton said, “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life Fr anciscanMedia.org

and the world.” It is in these transformational moments that “a spiritual and psychological pearl of great price” can found: a healthier perspective that engenders contentment. This may not necessarily be the fulfillment of what you want next, but the realization of what you already have. Brother David Steindl-Rast, who went through the blitzkrieg of World War II, noted in his book Gratefulness that many leave their homes with a preconceived gratefulness list. He suggests tossing it out and considering all we encounter with the “eyes of surprise” (i.e., a healthy perspective). He says, “Even the predictable turns into surprise the moment we stop taking it for granted. . . . Surprise is no

When we attune ourselves to a healthier mindset, we are making room for the surprise of gratitude. Being grateful paves the way to being joyful.

November 2014 ❘ 37

Embracing a grateful attitude when life is tumultuous and uncertain brings stability, meaning, and spiritual depth to even the darkest moments.

more than a beginning of that fullness we call gratefulness. Do we find it difficult to imagine that gratefulness could ever become our basic attitude toward life? In moments of surprise we catch at least a glimpse of the joy to which gratefulness opens the door. More than that— in moments of surprise we already have a foot in the door.” Monk and mystic Thomas Merton deepens what Brother David states by noting further: “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us—and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”

Attitude Adjustment There are many ways in which we already express our thankfulness to the Lord through prayer, meditation, and worship. It is through this intimate relationship with God marked by gratitude that joy then both overflows and remains. With such an attitude of gratitude, we find that joy is contingent on an attitude that 38 ❘ November 2014

welcomes an internal filling up of us by an eternal source. The practice and prayers of gratitude accomplish this by clearing the debris from the past, disarming our sense of entitlement, and opening us up to new possibilities. A Jesuit priest who taught at Georgetown University once mentioned during a homily that he was walking to school one day and encountered a homeless man asking for money. The priest decided to give him some change he had in his pocket. When he did, the man thanked him and said, “Please pray for me.” The priest nodded, said he would, and then added almost as a matter of course as he was turning away, “Please pray for me, too.” At which point, the man said in return, “Why? What seems to be the problem?” The priest hadn’t really expected this and started to mumble some response. The man then took the priest’s hands into his, looked up at the sky, prayed out loud for him for a few seconds, released his hands, and wished him well. Later, during his evening prayer and reflection, the priest recognized that he was so surprised at this because he had prejudged the man and the situation. The grace given to explore the previous encounter in new ways opened up “eyes of gratitude” and his outlook to seeing people and events with fewer preconceptions. Being open and seeking not to be judgmenSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

tal are often quite elusive undertakings, no matter how aware we try to be. Even when we think we have a sense of openness and are sensitive to what is happening around us, often we are not. We can’t be, because we never have all the information. The true sensitivity and real wisdom that are at the core of a healthy perspective begin with recognizing this fact, by minding our predictions or evaluations of others. As Robert Emmons noted in his book Thanks!, gratitude is an attitude that has many worthy ideas and aspects. To be aware of them is a way of honoring both the importance and the difficulty of being a grateful person in a sometimes entitlement-driven society. He and others have noted that gratitude: • seems simple, but is quite complex. It can be viewed as an emotion, an attitude, and a way of living. It focuses us on appreciating what we have been given and fosters an openness to what else might come our way. • may be avoided because of fear. As a result, with a spirit of ingratitude, we will miss out on a plethora of positive emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, relational, and societal consequences opened by gratitude. • can be maximized through practice. Losses

or negative events aren’t diminished or avoided, but the meaning derived can be more positive. • takes on depth in the “dark times” that provides comfort.

How to Practice Gratitude With these concepts in mind, here are six simple—and we have found to be surprisingly powerful—suggested steps to refine your practice of gratitude: Start where you are. As a child of God, you are special simply because he has made you in his image and loves you unconditionally. Fully embrace your worth and be content with who and where you already are. Not to do so would be to miss the grace. Become like a child and allow wonderment to flow. Somewhere along the road to becoming an adult, many of us have forgotten to count the fireflies on a summer’s night, chase butterflies through the fields, and marvel at the perfection of a robin’s egg. Don’t be shy—jump in! Realize that time is of the essence. We can fail to acknowledge the impermanence of life or fall into the trap of an anxiety-driven life. Impermanence helps us realize how

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As much as we practice gratitude, joy is a skill that needs refinement and a healthy outlook on life. The gift of happiness is a divine one—celebrate it!

pressure-filled and fleeting our time on earth is—no matter how idyllic the setting. Recognize that everything is already ours. We do not need something or someone to be happy. This illusion can keep us stuck for a lifetime. Instead, realize with a truly grateful heart: we have everything we need whether we technically own it or not. Stay in the now. Being aware of the true fragility of life—namely, that we are dying and everyone else is dying too—helps us be grateful. It helps us to appreciate the people around us and the affluence that we already possess. Release illusions. Deep gratitude nourishes contentment by opening our eyes to the hidden, undeserved graces that show up each day. Most people are, unfortunately, oblivious to Click here for more these graces because they have on gratitude. predetermined what will make them happy and are, therefore, closed to everything else that is set before them.

tal Digi as Extr

Gratitude and Happiness Some people seem happy by nature; however, it can be nurtured in all of us. In his book 40 ❘ November 2014

Happiness, scientist and Buddhist scholar Matthieu Ricard offered: “I have . . . met human beings who were enduringly happy. More, in fact, than what we usually call happy: they were inbred with a deep insight into the reality and the nature of mind, and filled with benevolence for others. I have also come to understand that although some people are naturally happier than others, this happiness as a way of being, is a skill.” As in the case of gratitude, we may, because of our constitutional nature or other factors, have a predisposition to being a happy person. However, each of us has the opportunity to maximize our range of potential happiness. Obviously, it is not something wished into reality. Practice and careful approaches to developing stronger positive outlooks can make a difference. Ask yourself the following: • What or who brings you happiness? Do they or these relationships bring depth to your experiences? • Are you able to enjoy the gifts that are in your life now while being able to reframe unfinished business from the past? • How do you purposely savor life each day? • Do you have different (prophetic, encouraging, humorous, and inspirational) friends St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

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who help you cultivate gratitude and happiness? • What do you do that brings meaning to you? How can you do it more often?

Gratitude unlocks the

“

fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough . . . and more! It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”

—Melody Beattie, author of Codependent No More

• What are you putting off until . . . ? How can you do it sooner? Your responses to these questions can begin the process of appreciating the virtue of happiness. However, to strengthen your own sense of well-being, quality of life, and happiness, let’s take it even further by employing the following six steps: Take a deep breath. Examine your “alone times” (periods of solitude or silent reflection within yourself). Are they fulfilling? Can you grab a few more crumbs of alone time throughout the day to step back, reenergize, and approach the remainder of the day with wonder? ANSWERS TO PETE AND REPEAT Conduct an inventory. Explore your gifts and 1. A painting now hangs on the wall. shortcomings equally. If nega2. The curtain rod has a decorative finial on the tive thoughts intrude, set them end. aside. As practitioners in the 3. Dad’s shirt has a collar. helping profession, we often 4. Pete is no longer wearing a turtleneck. hear, “But I don’t have any 5. There is a potato on the plate with the turkey. strengths.” Engage trusted 6. The bowl of rolls is sitting atop a placemat. friends and allow them to share 7. There are no longer any dividers in the what they see in you. window. Compare downward. Con8. Dad is no longer smiling. sider how much you have compared to others and take

42 ❘ November 2014

the time to enjoy it. For example, taking a walk or breathing without pain is a pure gift that we often take for granted. Reward yourself. How can you lessen how much you take the people, activities, and things that you enjoy for granted? Take time to really engage each person you meet and mine the experiences you encounter. Be countercultural. Take a detour from the extremes of society and allow yourself to create a new path that celebrates simplicity and deep connections with others. Serve others with abandon. Explore your motivations, and if there is a sense of obligation, consider what it would take to let it go. If there is fear, allow God to intercede and fill any “gaps” that you may perceive. Flourishing in life takes effort. Walker Percy, in his book The Moviegoer, suggested that, “The search is what anyone would understand if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. . . . To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.” Life can be drudgery or an adventure defined by a healthy perspective, gratitude, and happiness. When we choose the latter, it reflects our willingness to accept God’s gift of joy that is freely and abundantly given to all of us who seek divine wonder. Not to do this is actually, in a word, dangerous. To return to physician and writer Walker Percy’s words, we can see why this is so. In one of his novels, he writes, “What if life is like a plane and we miss it?” Clearly, in today’s anxious, busy, and stressful world, this is so easy to do. And, given all that God has given us, this would be a terrible shame not only for us, but also for those in our lives who would benefit from our sharing the positive joy we experience within ourselves through gratitude and happiness. A Dr. Robert J. Wicks’ latest books include Perspective: The Calm within the Storm (Oxford University Press) and No Problem: Turning the Next Corner in Your Spiritual Life (Sorin Books). His website is robertjwicks.com. Tina C. Buck possesses an MS in pastoral counseling, works with children and their families, and writes on the integration of psychology and spirituality. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

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How Catholics Understand

Death Instead of an end, death brings us to the fullest experience of God, love, and truth. B Y F A T H E R J I M V A N V U R S T, O F M

s Catholics, we believe

and profess that once God gives life, it never ends. We live forever. What’s more, we understand that, whether living or deceased, we are all in relationship not just with God but also with all of our brothers and sisters. In a most special way, we never lose touch with our deceased loved ones. To put it simply, we are family in this life and in the next. In 1968, in his “Creed of the People of God,” Pope Paul VI proclaimed, “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers.” This phrase refers to the spiritual solidarity that binds together all those men and women of the past who have already or will at some future time enjoy the beatific vision through the attainment of salvation. While the Church formally recognizes the sanctity of men and women who in some way have distinguished themselves in the service of God and God’s people, the communion of saints includes all who partake in the fruits of redemption. Some saints are canonized; most are not. And so we believe that death is not the end of God’s gift of life, but rather merely the end of the beginning. In a sense, once we come to life, we are already part of eternity, though we can’t experience it until the moment of death when we leave “earth-time.” We enter

44 ❘ November 2014

into the presence of God with all the angels and saints and all our loved ones where we experience an unimaginable union of love, what the Apostles’ Creed refers to as “the communion of saints.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church reads in part: “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head” (#947). This statement describes the unity of the communion of saints with Christ as the leader. And #957 reminds us that this relationship St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

with the saints “is not a mere title of their example that we cherish in memory of those in heaven.” Rather it is an active and very much alive interaction with the saints that goes both ways. We are reminded that we also experience a communion with our own deceased loved ones. “Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective” (#958).

An Ongoing Relationship In the early Church, those men and women who shed their blood for their faith in Jesus Christ were held in special honor, and all who Fr anciscanMedia.org

believed knew they were still in relationship with those they had left behind. For us, the idea of our saints and their closeness to us is something we are most comfortable with and embrace as very natural. When we speak of patron saints of parishes, hospitals, schools, and such, we know these are much more than thoughtful remembrances or namesakes. It is our belief that these saints are present in a special way in their role as protectors and intercessors. Many may not realize that once Jesus came upon earth, he himself experienced the same deep emotional moments that you and I have when a loved one dies. Imagine what it must

Our relationships with loved ones do not end with death. Our faith reminds us that we are not separated, but rather in communion with them.

November 2014 ❘ 45

PHOTO BY BILL WITTMAN

have been like for Jesus to experience the death of his foster father, Joseph. Can we even imagine how much Jesus missed him, thought about him—his mind filled with memories of them working together? Consider Mary dealing with the loss of her husband, Joseph, the protector of her and Jesus—how lonely she must have been without him! Actually, it is not only through Church teaching, but also through a sense deep within

A funeral is a time for us to celebrate the life of a loved one while sharing our profound Catholic understanding of death with those in attendance.

tal Digi as Extr

our hearts and spirits that we are convinced that such relationships never end. The great Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner wrote: “The great and sad mistake of many people—among them even pious persons—is to imagine that those whose death has occurred leave us. They do not leave us. They remain. Death is, for the good, a translation into light, into power, into love.” More than a few people—a wife, husband, or mother—acknowledge sensing the presence of their deceased loved one in a way that they would be unable to express in words. Consider once again Mary’s experience. Can you imagine Joseph Click here for more not walking next to Mary as on this topic. she continued her journey on earth? Can you imagine Joseph not being with Mary at the foot of Jesus’ cross as his son suffered and died for us? Why would God ever separate people who loved each other on earth? God, who is love itself, brings those in heaven into an ever deeper relationship, though we may not be able to see them. Who of us has never experienced

46 ❘ November 2014

at significant times an inner hunger to be reunited with our parents or spouses or children? That is a hunger based on continued love.

A Matter of Heart In my 50-plus years as a friar priest, I have presided over hundreds of funerals. I am convinced that the funeral homily is the most important homily a priest can preach. There is never another occasion when there are so many people in church with so many questions about death and life after death. There may be fallen-away Catholics who may have forgotten the gifts of our faith. There are often Protestant friends, neighbors, or coworkers who are curious about “what Catholics believe.” In fact, there may be some present with little or no faith and have never heard what we believe spoken with conviction. Often, they are astounded. You may recall the wonderful fable The Little Prince. At one point the Fox says to the Little Prince, “I want to share with you a most powerful secret. It is this. ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.’” Our faith is indeed a matter of heart. Once we remind ourselves that we are never separated from our deceased loved ones, our life on earth takes on a new understanding. Our eyes may not see things differently, but no matter; it is the heart that changes everything.

Dear Mom and Dad What this means is that, as Karl Rahner reminded us, our deceased loved ones are always present to us and we to them. They see us and hear us. Yes, we can actually talk to them quietly in our hearts. I talk to my mom and dad every day, and I am convinced that they are always with me in my entire ministry. In fact, every time I enter the pulpit to preach, I ask them to be with me. Let me share with you part of my prayer each morning when I talk to my mom and dad: “Dear Mom and Dad, thank you for the gift of life you gave to Marianne [my sister, who is a nun] and me. Thank you for all the loving, tender care you gave to us as we grew up. Thank you for sharing your faith with us, for telling us about God, for providing us with such faithful examples. Mom and Dad, thank you espeSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

cially for supporting Marianne and me in our vocations—me to become a Franciscan priest and Marianne to become a Sister of Charity. “You knew that if we followed what we truly wanted to do in our lives, you would never hold your own grandchildren in your arms. And yet you gladly embraced that gift of us being children to the Lord.” And I always conclude with these words: “Dear Lord, they gave us to you. Now we give them to you. And, Lord, they deserve your special care.” It is a prayer that comes so naturally from a son to his mom and dad. One final point, which I believe is important and helpful: we know that on this earth, none of us is perfect. Every family has its emotional struggles and conflicts. That just comes from our frail and wounded human condition. But at the time of death, there is frequently a healing that can take place, a kind of forgiveness that can arise in our hearts, putting to rest some old hurts. That is why, even when there have been conflicts and struggles, people still weep for their loss. But something else happens after death. No sincere person can see God, who is truth itself, without experiencing that deep selfknowledge and understanding firsthand, which is just not possible on earth. It is at this time that we are healed. Some Christians believe that heaven is all about God and me—and no one else. They think that only God is there and there is no room or time for us to spend with others. How limited a view that is! Truly, heaven is about God and all of us together. God is not so insecure that, unless we love him, he is not happy. Do you know what makes God happiest? It is when he gazes on all his children and sees them loving one another. A Father Jim Van Vurst, OFM, received his graduate degree in psychology and has done pastoral counseling in mental-health clinics. Currently, he is associate pastor at St. Clement Parish in St. Bernard, Ohio, and is a contributor to Franciscan Media’s free e-newsletter A Friar’s E-spirations. Fr anciscanMedia.org

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Call for Details! 888-817-9538 November 2014 ❘ 47

Give Me Shelter A mother remembers the day her family became homeless. BY JUDY EICHSTEDT

SAT IN THE PARKING LOT of the homeless shelter, wondering how we ended up here. My husband and I exchanged looks of disbelief. I looked at our six children all piled up in the car, and feelings of failure overwhelmed me. What kind of parent was I that I could not provide a home for my children? I did not want to enter the shelter, but what else could we do? We could not keep living in the car—never a hot meal and only cold food to eat. We could not have a bath, and trying to sleep was impossible.

48 ❘ November 2014

“OK,” I said slowly, “everyone out of the car.” The first thing we did was talk to a social worker. She asked many questions. Do you drink or do drugs? “No,” I replied. Do you have any money? I smiled, because I wanted to scream that if I had money I would go to the Holiday Inn and not a shelter. “No, we are broke,” I told her. You’re expected to look for employment, she told us. “That is fine,” I said. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

The author stands in front of the shelter where she and her family sought refuge 31 years ago.

PHOTO BY DAVID CRENSHAW

My husband would love a job so we could get a place to live. I realize she had to ask the questions and tell us the rules of the shelter. I don’t fault her for that. However, in her office I felt as if I was unworthy and of no value at all. I get angry because many people seem to think that being homeless is a choice the poor make. Nobody wants to be homeless. They are homeless because they have no choice. You no longer have a job and without an income, you will end up on the streets. An illFr anciscanMedia.org

ness in the family wipes out your funds and homelessness steps up to greet you. You’re a single parent working a minimum-wage job and you are not able to make ends meet, so poverty grabs hold and hangs on dearly. No, the homeless do not choose to be homeless.

‘No Place to Go’ The social worker took us to our room. When she left I walked over to the bathroom and said, “OK, kids, everyone is taking a bath.” November 2014 ❘ 49

tal Digi as t Ex r

Most people would take a hot bath for granted; however, for us, it had become a luxury we could not afford. When it was my turn, I sat in the hot water and cried, partly because I could not hold it in any longer and partly because it felt Click here for statistics so good to be in a bathtub. and information on After the baths I checked out homelessness. the beds and laughed. It had been many months since I could stretch out in a bed. I was beyond grateful to be in the shelter, yet I so wanted a home and a place of our own. A buzzer rang. People came out of their rooms and went to the dining room. We followed the crowd. Dinner was beans and cornbread, coffee, and milk. It tasted great—or we were really hungry—and I was thankful for

Not long after leaving the shelter, the family enjoys a day of swimming. “It was a fun day,” recalls Judy. “It made us all feel as if life was normal again.”

The next day, my husband signed out of the shelter and looked for work. I took the children outside to play. A couple was arguing not far away. “You will get more help if I leave,” the father said. “No,” she replied. “I can’t do this alone.” “There is no other way!” he yelled. “What about the kids?” she pleaded. “Look, we have no choice and it has to be done,” he said, and he walked away. I felt sorry for her because she looked frightened and lost. She was crying and I wanted to say something. But what could I say? How could I tell her it would get better when I did not believe it myself? We went back to the room, hoping to shut out all the lost and hurting people. My husband returned, and by the look on his face I knew he had not found employment. I had hoped today it would all turn around for us. At dinner, I listened to the people around me. They were trying to come up with a plan to find a place and get out of the shelter. I was hoping to hear a great plan that I would use myself. It’s horrible when you don’t know what to do and you feel so hopeless.

PHOTOS COURTESY JUDY EICHSTEDT

A Painful Reality

Judy says she took photos like this one as often as she could while the kids were growing up, because “while homeless we were not able to take photos.” They didn’t have a camera.

50 ❘ November 2014

hot food. I looked around the room packed full of homeless people. Many were elderly and some were young couples with children. I was shocked to see just how many children were there. I could not believe that this many human beings had no place to belong. This was only one shelter, and if every shelter in America was full, how could that be? I just hung my head and prayed for us all. After dinner, I took the children to the TV room. It was filled with kids. As I sat there, I overheard a man on the phone begging someone to let him and his family stay with them. “We have no place to go,” he pleaded. “It won’t be for long.” In anger, he slammed down the phone and walked away. I knew he had been turned down. I understood how he felt because I had done the same thing, calling family and friends only to be turned down. Rejection from loved ones really hurts and causes you to feel unwanted and unloved.

One night as I tried to sleep, I heard someone crying. I understood that. They had to leave the shelter the next day and did not know what to do. It was a family of four who just ran out of luck—and time. The shelter was full and they could not stay there any longer. The shelter gave you three days and only let you stay longer if you found a job or the shelter was not full. “We can’t go back on the streets,” a woman cried. “Well, we have to,” a man replied. “Call your brother again,” she pleaded. “It won’t do any good. He won’t answer his phone now.” They left the next day and no one asked where they went or what happened to them. In a homeless shelter you will find broken people who have lost all hope—human beings lost and mostly invisible to the rest of the world, angry and bitter with broken hearts. Desperation fills the air and fear roams the halls. Disappointment is served up daily. The people have lost their dignity. Their dreams have vanished, never to return again. Yes, many have just given up. That night, my husband and I stayed up talking about what we should do next. Our St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

time at the shelter was nearly up. We prayed together, asking for God’s help. We needed a miracle—real fast. My time praying gave me the strength to go on and not give up.

Home at Last? When I woke up, my husband was gone— looking for work, I guessed. I took the kids to breakfast, but I could not eat. I was scared. I looked at two elderly sisters who clung to one another. More than likely they worked hard all their lives, and yet here they sat at a homeless shelter. What is wrong with this picture? I remember thinking to myself, Never will I forget these people and what they all have suffered. I promised God I would always reach out to the poor, even if all I had to give was a hug. My husband came back late, all smiles. He had found someone who helped find us a tiny apartment not far away. I had to ask him to repeat it in case I heard him wrong. Over and over I said, “Thank you, heavenly Father.” To say we were thrilled to have a place to go would be putting it lightly. How can you describe to anyone who has not experienced homelessness what it’s like when at last you have a place to belong? My children now could go to school like everyone else. We could cook hot food and take a bath whenever we wanted. As we got ready to leave and were walking down the hallway, my joy quickly turned to sadness as we passed a family who had not yet received their miracle. My thoughts turned to the human beings still in the shelter with no home of their own.

darkness and pain that no human being should ever suffer. All these years that have passed have not diminished our homeless experience one bit. In my mind, I still see the faces of the people in the shelter. I will never forget any one of them. I believe God wants me to remember all of them and to never forget to love them as he loves us all. A Judy Eichstedt is a freelance writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Whispers of Truth.

So that his work might continue...

A New Beginning It took us nearly a year before we got on our feet. It was very hard work to get utilities turned on and obtain furniture. We did not mind, however. We were used to hard work, and it felt great to be working toward a better life. We escaped poverty because someone reached out to us willing to help. Many people with kindness in their hearts helped lift us out of the pit where we were living. Caring people made all the difference in the world. This all happened to us in 1983, a time that changed our lives forever. We lived in Fr anciscanMedia.org

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November 2014 ❘ 51

THE SPIRIT OF FRANCIS

❘ BY MURRAY BODO, OFM

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

Reaching Out to Others

5 2 ❘ Nov ember 2014

Murray Bodo, OFM, is a well-known author. His books include Francis and Jesus and the forthcoming Enter Assisi: An Invitation to Franciscan Spirituality, both from Franciscan Media.

Pope Francis greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during an invocation for peace in the Vatican Gardens, June 8, 2014.

tal Digi as t Ex r

Click here for more on St. Francis and the Sultan.

Meeting the Sultan Early in 1220, St. Francis left the soldiers in the Fifth Crusade and visited Sultan Malik al-Kamil near Damietta, Egypt. A deeply religious man, the sultan recognized Francis as a holy man, sparing his life and giving him a safeconduct pass to visit the holy places in Palestine. The ivory horn that he gave Francis can still be seen in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. —P.M.

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE LONNEMAN

n the Feast of St. Francis in 2013, Pope Francis descended to the Assisi crypt and knelt where St. Francis is buried. I, who was present at the outdoor Mass that followed Pope Francis’ prayer at the tomb, thought that he seemed distracted. “I asked St. Francis for the gift of simplicity for me and for the whole Church,” he said afterward. This pope has brought to the Church this gift, the very core of St. Francis’ life and spirituality. First, there is the message St. Francis heard from the crucifix that hung in the rundown chapel of San Damiano outside the walls of Assisi: “Go and repair my house . . . . ” Second, the way St. Francis was to do that was revealed to him some time later, when he heard Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus sending out the Twelve. When Francis heard Jesus’ words, he exclaimed, “This is what I want, what I ask, and desire with all my heart.” Repairing the little church of San Damiano would be done

with stones, but repairing the Catholic Church itself was to be accomplished by living the Gospel. Thus, when Pope Innocent III called for a Fifth Crusade to take back the holy places in Palestine, St. Francis went to Damietta in Egypt, in the midst of the Crusade itself. He witnessed to the Christian Crusaders and to Sultan Malik al-Kamil how peace is only accomplished by living simply and in total dependence on the will of God. Pope Francis was aware of this story when he went to the Middle East earlier this year. Like Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis wanted to be present to the opposing sides in their claims on the Holy Land. “When I come out of myself, I meet God and I meet others,” said the pope. “How do you meet others? From a distance or up close? You must meet them up close.” This is Franciscan spirituality, not to hold back out of fear, but to embrace the other, even the enemy, as St. Francis did and Pope Francis does. We must allow ourselves to be transformed by God, then reach out to others just as we are. The rest is God’s work. A

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ASK A FRANCISCAN

❘ BY FATHER PAT McCLOSKEY, OFM

Caring for In Vitro Newborns I am an RN in a neonatal intensive care unit, taking care of preemies and very sick infants. Many of our babies are multiples, the result of in vitro fertilization. Some people have asked me how I can take care of these babies who were not conceived in a natural way. My answer is that the babies are here now, so I

feel I should take care of them. Is it against Catholic doctrine for neonatal nurses to take care of babies not conceived in the natural way? Does such a baby still have a soul? I would think so, but there may be disagreement about that. It seems to me that even if a baby was conceived in a petri dish, the hand

Miter’s Origins What is the history and significance of the bishop’s miter?

CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REU TERS

The pointed hat that bishops wear during liturgical ceremonies was once thought to have some connection to a head covering mentioned in the Old Testament texts about Jewish priests. According to James-Charles Noon Jr., in The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Catholic Church, that is not the case now. The miter can be traced to much more simple headgear for Greek athletes in pre-Christian days. The miter began to be worn by the bishop of Rome in the 10th century. At first, its use was permitted to certain other bishops; in time, it became standard for all bishops in the Western Church. Most Eastern eparchs or archeparchs (roughly equivalent to bishops and archbishops) wear a crown, although a few wear a miter. The back of the miter has two ribbons. The miter was white for centuries, but in more recent times it has been matched to the liturgical color of the feast.

5 4 ❘ Nov ember 2014

of God still played a part in that baby’s creation, or the child would not have survived and been born. Your answers are perfectly correct. It is not against Catholic doctrine for neonatal nurses to take care of babies conceived in this way. Also, each of these babies has a human soul. If they did not, you could not recognize them as human. They can be baptized and receive other sacraments. In August 1978, Mary Louise Brown was born in England, the first person publicly acknowledged as resulting from in vitro fertilization. Pope John Paul I offered prayers and good wishes for her future. He did not, however, reverse the Catholic Church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization. This practice jeopardizes the identity of the child because he or she could have up to five parents potentially in conflict: the mother and father who actually raise the child, the biological mother and father, and the woman who carried the fertilized embryo to term. Although some people argue that this procedure is a compassionate way of helping a childless couple, those same people tend not to mention that multiple zygotes are usually created from the same donation of eggs and sperm. When one or more zygotes have been successfully implanted, the remaining ones are usually discarded. Are they less human than the zygote successfully implanted? Does that part of the process determine who is human and who is not? No. The legal status of contracts intended to define rights and responsibilities of all parties to an in vitro fertilization is unclear. God is the ultimate author of life; St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

human beings should always be treated accordingly.

Sunday Mass Obligation I am 84 years old and am in generally good health. Am I still obliged to attend Mass on Sundays? Most mornings I have little energy in getting myself motivated. Yes, you are obliged to participate in Sunday Mass as your health permits. There is no upper age limit cutoff. Perhaps the main problem is the time of the Mass. Can you attend one on Saturday evening, later on Sunday morning, or on Sunday evening? The Sunday Eucharist reaffirms our Catholic identity, allowing us to hear the word of God together and to receive holy Communion as the people of God.

Secular Institutes I have heard that there is a secular institute founded by Father Agostino Gemelli, OFM. Could you give me a bit of background on secular institutes in general and this one in particular? Do you have a US address for it? According to the 2014 Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Almanac, secular institutes are “societies of men and women living in the world who dedicate themselves to observe the evangelical counsels and to carry on apostolic works suitable to their talents and opportunities in the areas of their everyday life.” Although they are not religious communities, they are presently under the jurisdiction of the Holy See’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; they are governed by canons 710-30 of the Code of Canon Law. The Missionaries of the Kingdom of Christ is a secular institute for women, cofounded in 1919 by Father Agostino Gemelli and Armida Fr ancisca n Media .org

Barelli (declared Venerable in 2007) to give witness to Gospel values in work, family, civic, social, and spiritual environments in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Their US headquarters are at the Hecker Center for Ministry, 3025 Fourth St. NE #10, Washington, DC 20017 (simkc.org). A men’s secular institute bearing the same title was founded by Gemelli in 1928 to spread the social reign of Christ through individual professions lived in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. The US contact is Father Gene Pistacchio, OFM, 100 Arch St., Boston, MA 02110. The 2014 edition of the OSV Catholic Almanac lists 31 secular institutes active in the United States and others active elsewhere in the world. It also identifies five secular institutes emerging in this country and another 11 pious associations of laypeople. Father Gemelli was awarded his degree as a medical doctor and surgeon in 1902, became an agnostic,

To hear Father Pat, click the button on the left. returned to his Catholic faith, and was ordained a Franciscan priest in 1908. He went on to found the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. Rome’s Gemelli Clinic (where St. John Paul II was treated several times) is named for him and is part of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. Father Gemelli helped overcome some of the Church’s initial suspicions about the emerging discipline of psychology. A

Father Pat welcomes your questions! Send them to: Ask a Franciscan, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498, or Ask@FranciscanMedia.org. All questions sent by mail need to include a selfaddressed stamped envelope. This column’s answers can be searched back to April 1996 at StAnthonyMessenger.org.

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Nov ember 2014 ❘ 5 5

BOOK CORNER

❘ BY CAROL ANN MORROW

The Last Years of Saint Thérèse What Our

Doubt and Darkness, 1895-1897

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By Thomas R. Nevin Oxford University Press 289 pages • $35 Hardcover/Kindle

Characters of the Reformation Hilaire Belloc

Reviewed by ROB LANGENDERFER, who has an MA in history as well as an MS in library science. He has reviewed 11 books for Library Journal and has been involved in young-adult ministry for the last 16 years.

Recommend

Francis: The Journey and the Dream Murray Bodo, OFM Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared M. Diamond Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It Jennifer Fulwiler Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln Janis Cooke Newman

5 6 ❘ Nov ember 2014

Thomas Nevin, professor of classical studies at John Carroll University and author of Thérèse of Lisieux: God’s Gentle Warrior, revisits the subject of the saint in The Last Years of Saint Thérèse: Doubt and Darkness, 18951897. During her final years, Thérèse of Lisieux experienced a crisis of faith. The introduction and preface of the book suggest that Nevin will demonstrate how Thérèse’s sister Pauline edited the saint’s autobiographical manuscript after her death to underplay Thérèse’s doubts and conform her writing to Church doctrine. The book covers some new ground in showing how the lives of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross influenced Thérèse. But, as Keith Egan of the University of Notre Dame points out in another review, at no point does the author look at the text systematically to show how Pauline’s changes affected the manuscript. When Nevin examines Thérèse’s use of the Bible, he accuses her of ignoring any passages that show a harsher side of Jesus. He does this to

such an extent that it comes across as a rather harsh treatment of her. Nevin then discusses Thérèse’s relationships with others in her Carmelite community, but this part of the book could have benefited from a more in-depth explanation. Kathryn Harrison’s Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and Joseph F. Schmidt’s Everything Is Grace: The Life and Way of Thérèse of Lisieux together provide a clearer picture of how life in the Carmelite community actually was. Nevin writes a great deal about how two atheists, Leo Taxil and Pierre Hyacinthe Loyson, affected St. Thérèse. But, considering that they are never mentioned in her autobiography, it would seem that their impact is somewhat speculative. Nevin’s writing style is complex, and that makes the book difficult to read in places. When he examines ideas under the microscope, his style hinders understanding because the concepts are complicated in and of themselves. Thus, the way he explores these ideas makes them even harder to understand. The book is interesting almost in spite of itself because the concepts expressed in the preface and introduction will act as hooks for readers. Drawn in by these concepts, readers will want to finish the book to see what insights they can gain and what secrets will be revealed—although those expectations might not be fully met. One of the appendices contains a section of Thérèse’s Manuscript C text, which relates most to her doubts—a useful addition for this book. The notes section contains 47 pages of clarification and additional detail on certain topics. The 25-page annotated bibliography at the end of the book will be helpful for readers who want to pursue the subject of Thérèse’s faith crisis in more detail. Readers who already have a solid understanding of the life of Thérèse will profit most from reading this book because it handles a particular aspect of her life during a very specific time. Joseph F. Schmidt’s Everything Is Grace: The Life and Way of Thérèse of Lisieux is an easier-to-read study that will provide a solid overall picture of Thérèse’s life. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

BOOK BRIEFS

Inspirational Saints and Icons Saint Thomas More Courage, Conscience, and the King By Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, and Patricia Edward Jablonski, FSP Pauline Books and Media 128 pages • $8.95 Paperback/Kindle

The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing By Daniel P. Horan, OFM Ave Maria Press 253 pages • $16.95 Paperback/E-book Reviewed by LESLEY DUGGAN, a former high school English teacher, who has eight years of experience as director of community outreach with a Catholic parish in northern Kentucky. The life of Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan intellectual tradition were an influential thread in Thomas Merton’s personal life, thought, and written works, asserts author Daniel Horan. He also challenges the reader to contemplate how, in a modern context, Merton’s Franciscan-influenced views are a relevant spiritual guide for self-exploration, as well as resources for engaging in interfaith dialogue and nonviolent peacemaking. Though I had little knowledge of the lives of Thomas Merton and St. Francis of Assisi, any apprehension was quickly put to rest as Part I provides a brief biographical overview of both spiritual icons. For the reader already familiar with either or both, Part II of the book’s four parts might be a starting point. Part II continues a biographical examination of Merton’s early life, including his conversion to Catholicism and his early desire to enter into the Franciscan community. Here, the author begins to reveal Merton’s Franciscan influence. I found Parts III and IV to be a more complex read because of Horan’s own intellectual credentials and his frequent citing of medieval scholars. While challenging at times, reading The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton is worthwhile: the author provides an insightful glimpse into the Franciscan world. Fr ancisca n Media .org

The 33rd volume in the “Encounter the Saints” series for children ages 9 to 12 features the life story of St. Thomas More. Young readers will find inspiration in More’s courageous decision to do what was right, not what was easy.

Renewed Ten Ways to Rediscover the Saints, Embrace Your Gifts, and Revive Your Catholic Faith By Robert P. Reed Ave Maria Press 128 pages • $13.95 Paperback First from the airwaves and now with the printed word, Father Robert Reed encourages Catholics to inject some energy into their faith. Reed explores 10 unlikely pairs of saints to show how their lives can help today’s discouraged Catholics engage in faith renewal.

A Passion for Life Devotional Edition By Joan Chittister Orbis Books 224 pages • $24 Paperback This devotional edition of A Passion for Life beautifully couples iconography by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz with Joan Chittister’s richly told stories of the lives of saints, prophets, mystics, and activists. This inspirational book brings readers closer to the lives of these icons. —D.I.

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St. Mary’s Bookstore & Church Supply 1909 West End Avenue • Nashville, TN 37203 • 800-233-3604 www.stmarysbookstore.com • stmarysbookstore@gmail.com Nov ember 2014 ❘ 5 7

A CATHOLIC MOM SPEAKS

❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

Slow Down, Mom ably not. In fact, I’m pretty sure I haven’t been. Most parents, myself included, spend a lot of time bemoaning all the things we have to do, places we have to run, attitudes we have to put up with. We’re so busy, we say. But then something like a professional wrestling match comes along and reminds us to stop and soak in these moments.

Time Is of the Essence

ILLUSTRATION BY MARY KURNICK MAASS

he other night I sat with my 12-year-old son, Alex, and watched wrestling. Yes, I said wrestling. Later that night, after the final match—is that what they call them in professional wrestling?—I posted the following message on my Facebook page: “I just spent the last three hours watching wrestling with Alex. Why? Because he asked me, and I’m very aware that at some point he’ll stop asking.” Such is the reality of parenting.

5 8 ❘ Nov ember 2014

Time moves on quickly; there is no turning back. Back when I started writing “A Catholic Mom Speaks,” Alex wasn’t even born. My oldest, Maddie, was a little over a year old. This month, she will turn 16. (When did I get old enough to have a 16year-old?) Maddie and Alex have been joined by two sisters, Riley and Kacey. I am blessed and have much for which to be thankful. I often wonder, though, if I am cherishing these years enough. Prob-

This isn’t just about my kids, though. No, there are too many things in life that we put off until tomorrow, thinking we have all the time in the world. Never did I become so painfully aware of this flawed thinking until my mom died rather suddenly a year and a half ago. In the time since, I have found comfort in all the times that I said yes to spending time with her. No one knows how much time we have. So why is it that we waste so much of it? After my mom’s death, and in light of that realization, I made myself a list of things to do to help me remember to savor the moments I have. Since then, I’ve tried my best to honor this list, but the upcoming holidays seem like a perfect reminder to stay the course. Here’s what I came up with: Pick up the phone. Make a call today to a friend. Oh, how often my friends and I have said we’ll get together, and then months go by without a word. Don’t get off the phone until you both have a date carved out to see each other. And stick with that date. Take care of you. Spend a day focusing on yourself. Do whatever it is that brings you peace and happiness. Amid the stresses of everyday St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

TIME TO BE AWESOME

One of my favorite things I’ve discovered on the Internet recently is Kid President—9-year-old Robbie Novak. Robbie and his brother-in-law, Brad Montague, create videos in order to promote awesomeness among people. One of their first videos was a pep talk for people. The message of the video is worth all of us taking a moment to stop and listen. Go ahead. Check out the video at kidpresident.com, and then find a way to go and be awesome!

life, oftentimes we allow our own needs to fall by the wayside. Follow the leader. Spend the entire day with your kids or grandkids, and let them take the lead and decide—within reason—what to do. Try not to let the practical get in the way. Challenge yourself. Is there something you would like to do, but are either too afraid or too intimidated to try? Push those feelings aside and expand your boundaries. And they don’t all have to be big things. Maybe it’s as simple as trying a new food, or as challenging as that book you’ve always wanted to write. Make the time. After my mom

died, I realized that one of my greatest blessings was the time I had spent with her in the kitchen. With four very active kids, it would have been easy for me to say I was too busy. But I sure am glad that I took the time to enjoy her wisdom and companionship. I wish now I could have had some more of that time. Send a card. When was the last time you sent an honest-to-goodness card—not an e-mail, e-card, or message on Facebook—to someone? Doesn’t it feel wonderful to get something in the mail other than bills? Brighten someone’s day with a message of caring and joy. Make the right choices. When

Click the button to the left to listen to Susan’s “Marriage Moments.” presented with conflicting events, such as whether to go to a social gathering or attend one of your kid’s recitals or sporting events, stop and think: In 20 years, which one of these will matter the most? I would venture to guess it would probably be the latter. Listen up. Both my dad and my kids have some of the best stories, and I love hearing all of them. When loved ones start sharing, stop and listen. You may discover something you didn’t know before. With two teenagers, this one is especially important for me to remember. So as my family gathers around our Thanksgiving table this year, I will be thankful for all the carpools, games, and other various activities to which I have to take my kids. For I am painfully aware that at some point I will no longer have those responsibilities—at least not fulltime. But most of all, I will give thanks for having this opportunity to be a mom. A

Do you have comments or suggestions for topics you’d like to see addressed in this column? Send them to me at “A Catholic Mom Speaks,” 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498, or e-mail them to CatholicMom@FranciscanMedia.org.

PETE AND REPEAT These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two. So look and see if you can name ILLUSTRATION BY TOM GREENE

Eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers on page 42)

Fr ancisca n Media .org

Nov ember 2014 ❘ 5 9

BACKSTORY

We Sometimes Stumble

anaging Editor Susan Hines-Brigger recently attended a workshop in Los Angeles that stirred her deeply. In our August issue, you read about the interview that Susan then had with Theresa

Flores, who has a horrific story of being a victim of sexual slave-trafficking. That’s a topic hard to hear about, let alone write about. Yet knowing more about modern slavery is the only way we can begin to do anything about it. Susan, herself a mom to daughters, did the difficult, excellent work of

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

bringing this story to you. Not long after the August issue came out, we received a letter from a concerned reader. This reader saw in Theresa’s story a general bias against Arab culture, especially Arab men, since the men who victimized Theresa were Arab. There are innuendos in Theresa’s telling of her story, wrote this very disappointed reader: “I find this to be an insult. . . . The Arab men I know have raised their sons to be so respectful of women and treat them with the utmost dignity and love! This is racial prejudice in its worst form . . . !” It’s a long letter, but you get the idea. We try always to anticipate every reader. If something can be read more than one way, in a way that wasn’t intended, we change wording. That’s an important part of editing, anywhere. We didn’t anticipate this reaction, and, generally when a subscriber raises a complaint, she speaks for many who don’t tell us. We editors talked about that letter for a long time. Yes, during design and proofreading, one or two of us had noticed a passage in Theresa’s retelling that might be misinterpreted, but hadn’t seen it as enough to call for a change. Father Pat reminded us that his own editorial decrying racism appeared in that very issue! And our shop helped produce the video Francis and the Sultan, about promoting understanding between Christianity and Islam. Yet none of that persuades anyone who feels the sting of prejudice. We should have anticipated the problem and fixed it. We think and pray pretty hard about what goes into this magazine. When all is said and done, our work is to promote justice and harmony, and nothing less, in the loving, open spirit of St. Francis.

Editor in Chief

6 0 ❘ Nov ember 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

REFLECTION

We promise to reverence

your creation as a gracious gift entrusted to us by you, our God. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology PHOTO BY FRANK JASPER, OFM

ST. ANTHONY M 28 W. Liberty Street Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498

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