Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
The Catholic Spirit
Scenic, prayerful atmosphere awaits pilgrims at La Crosse shrine
Photo by Bob Metcalf
News with a Catholic heart
September 29, 2011
12-13
TheCatholicSpirit.com
IN THIS ISSUE
Marathon man Epiphany priest dedicates race to dad, vows to donate all pledge money to Catholic school
New anatomy lab gets archbishop’s blessing St. Catherine University students and professors to approach study of cadavers with faith, ‘deep gratitude’ — page 4
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
What does Oprah have to do with a local priest running the Twin Cities Marathon? Plenty, if you’re Father Alex Carlson, associate priest at Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Last winter, he decided to run the marathon in honor of his father, Bernie, who died of cancer in 2003. His goal for a finish time is where Oprah Winfrey comes in. “I want to beat Oprah’s time [in the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.], which is four hours, 29 minutes and 15 seconds,” he said about his goal for the annual marathon, which is Oct. 2. “That should not be a problem.” In fact, this mark is more than just a casual goal. There’s money involved. Since he started his training back in May, he has been seeking pledges, which he will donate to Epiphany School. Among the monetary promises he has received is an intriguing one for a parishioner. “One person said, ‘$5 a mile, but $10 [a mile] if you beat Oprah’s time,” he said. Thus, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Not that Father Carlson is worried. After all, he has been running up to 53 miles a week and has logged about 360 total miles. He recently completed an 18.5-mile run that actually was the final 18.5 miles
October is Respect Life Month Read how a fetal surgery photo taken 12 years ago continues to serve the pro-life cause. — page 5
If you build it, will they come?
PLEASE TURN TO PRIEST ON PAGE 6
Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
Father Alex Carlson, associate priest at Epiphany in Coon Rapids, goes for a run at Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. He has been training since May and will run in the Twin Cities Marathon Oct. 2.
Don’t wait: Jump on Facebook and vote for Basilica Minneapolis landmark competing for $125,000 grant The Catholic Spirit If you have put off getting on Facebook, now is the time to jump on board and help the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis secure a grant to help restore the sacristy and narthex to their original beauty. American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation opened voting Sept. 20 for Partners in Preservation, a community-based program that will bring $1 million in preservation grants to historic places in the Twin Cities. People who “Like” Partners in Preservation on Facebook can vote once per day through Oct. 12 for their favorite historic place. The Basilica of St. Mary is one of 25 sites chosen to PLEASE TURN TO COMPETITION ON PAGE 5
File photo
While the church works to build up its social media outreach to ‘millennial’ Catholics, a new study reveals some surprising information about young adults’ Internet use. — page 9
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SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Great hope for our church’s future The following is the last in a two-part series.
That They May All Be One Archbishop John C. Nienstedt
Our young people had a tremendous religious experience at World Youth Day in Madrid
I would like to pick up on the World Youth Day experience that I attended in Madrid, Spain from Aug. 16 to 21. In my column Sept. 1, I finished commenting on the first three days on which we had attended catechetical sessions of our Catholic faith: day one’s theme: “Firm in the Faith,” day two: “Rooted in Christ,” day three: “Go Out to All the World.” At 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon, all the pilgrims from our archdiocese, some 300 strong, gathered in the Church of “Real Concepcion” for Mass. We were joined by pilgrims from New Ulm and Winona. The Scripture readings emphasized, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” (Romans 10:15) as well as Jesus’ command, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). In my homily, I asked those gathered to reflect on what had been the primary message they had heard the past three days and how that message would likely stay with them. Secondly, I asked them to share in what ways they could bring the good news they had received here in Madrid back home to family, friends and colleagues. PLEASE TURN TO AT WYD ON PAGE 8
The Catholic Spirit
Archbishop Nienstedt’s schedule ■ Friday, Sept. 30: Retirement dinner for Rabbi Schwartz in Detroit, Mich. ■ Saturday, Oct. 1: 1 p.m., St. Paul, University of St. Thomas: Tommies vs. the Johnnies football game. ■ Sunday, Oct. 2: 7 p.m., Minneapolis, St. Lawrence Church and Newman Center: Opening Mass and blessing of students. ■ Monday, Oct. 3: 10:30 a.m., St. Paul, The St. Paul Seminary: Meeting with administration. 11:35 a.m., St. Paul, The St. Paul Seminary: Holy Eucharist, followed by lunch with seminarians. 5 p.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Bio-Medical Ethics Commission Mass and dinner. ■ Tuesday, Oct. 4: 8:30 a.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Scheduling meeting with staff. 1:30 p.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Archbishop’s Cabinet meeting. 5:15 p.m., Minneapolis, St. Olaf Catholic Church: Catholic Services Appeal benefactor Mass and dinner. ■ Thursday, Oct. 6: 8:30 a.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Planning for “lectio divina” at the University of St. Thomas. 9:30 a.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Meeting with staff. 11:30 a.m., Mendota, Church of St. Peter: Archdiocesan Champions for Life Awards luncheon. ■ Sunday, Oct. 9: 8 p.m., St. Paul, University of St. Thomas: “Lectio divina.” ■ Monday, Oct. 10: 6 a.m., St. Paul, St. John Vianney College Seminary: Holy Hour and Holy Eucharist, followed by breakfast. ■ Monday-Tuesday, Oct, 10-11: USCCB Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, CEIA Plenary Assembly in Chicago, Ill. ■ Wednesday, Oct. 12: 8 a.m., St. Paul, St. Catherine University: Board meeting. 7 p.m., St. Paul, Town and Country Club: LEGATUS Dinner. ■ Thursday, Oct. 13: 9 a.m., Eden Prairie, Pax Christi Catholic Church: The Catholic Spirit conference on communications. 11:30 a.m., St. Paul, Town and Country Club: Retired priests luncheon. 3 p.m., St. Paul, The St. Paul Seminary: Board of trustees meeting.
Big on service, not on waste
The Catholic Spirit’s mission is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It seeks to inform, educate, evangelize and foster a spirit of community within the Catholic Church by disseminating news in a professional manner and serving as a forum for discussion of contemporary issues.
Vol. 16 — No. 20 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT Publisher BOB ZYSKOWSKI Associate publisher
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by Catholic Spirit Publishing Company.
Published bi-weekly by the Catholic Spirit Publishing Company, a non-profit Minnesota Corporation, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102 (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102. www.TheCatholicSpirit.com e-mail: catholicspirit@archspm.org USPS #093-580
The St. Croix Catholic Faith Formation community will host a biomedical conference for lay people from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, in St. Michael’s social hall, 611 S. Third St., in Stillwater. The “Christian, Remember Your Dignity” conference will focus on the sacred nature of the human person and what the Catholic Church teaches about life and death issues. Dr. Hanna Klaus, director of the Natural Family Planning Center of Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker. She has served as a Medical Mission Sister in more than 30 countries around the world and will speak on “The Truth About the Human Person.” Other speakers will address dignity in dating, dignity in the womb, dignity in the medical field and dignity in dying. Mass will be celebrated at 7:30 a.m. at St. Mary, 423 S. Fifth St., Stillwater, before registration begins at 8:15 a.m. Cost for the day, including continental breakfast and lunch, is $25. Registration forms are available at WWW.SCCFF.NET. For further information, call (651) 351-3175.
Mass for those grieving death of a baby Parents who have experienced the death of a baby before or after birth are invited to attend the Mass for God’s Children at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, 1900 Wellesley Ave., St. Paul. Fellowship will follow Mass, downstairs in Steiner Hall. Grandparents, siblings, other family members and friends are also welcome. Parents who have not yet had the opportunity to formally commemorate their child’s life are encouraged to come early to sign their baby’s name in the Book of Life. Families will also have the opportunity to donate a “memory box” to St. Joseph’s/St. John’s Hospitals in memory of their baby. Mass is sponsored by God’s Children, an apostolate of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life.
White Mass to honor health care workers
JOE TOWALSKI Editor
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Archbishop John Nienstedt and the Guild of the Catholic Medical Association of St. Paul and Minneapolis invite Catholic health care professionals to the annual White Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, in St. Mary’s Chapel at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. The White Mass gathers health care professionals under the patronage of St. Luke to ask God’s blessing upon patients, doctors, nurses and attendants. For more information about the White Mass, sponsored by the Office of Marriage, Family and Life, or the Catholic Medical Association, contact Sonya Flomo at (651) 291-4488 or FLOMOS@ARCHSPM.ORG.
Correction ww
co m w.warn ersstellian.
A story about St. Paul Seminary in the Sept. 15 issue incorrectly stated the number of lay students and seminarians enrolled this fall. There are 30 new seminarians and 14 lay students.
“Farming ought to be regarded as a sacred calling to take care of the land and to bring forth the food and fiber that sustains the community.� Rev. John McCullough, executive director and CEO of Church World Service
Local News from around the archdiocese
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
The Catholic Spirit
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Locally grown: Hill-Murray students connect with area farmers By Kathryn Elliott For The Catholic Spirit
On the last school day of homecoming week at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, local farmers Brian and Leslie Axdahl came to the cafeteria to display a rainbow bounty of peppers, squash, tomatoes and corn. They walked around lunch tables and greeted students, who were gearing up for a pep rally later that day. Every Monday, Nancy Lynch, cafeteria director from Taher, Inc., the company that provides Hill-Murray’s food, picks up 75 to 100 pounds of fresh produce from the Axdahls’ farm in Stillwater. Earlier in the week, a small mob of middle school students got to shuck about 300 ears of corn — the last of the Axdahls’ harvest. The same group returned Friday to greet the Axdahls at their display. It’s all part of a statewide “Farm to School� program connecting participating schools to local farmers. The program — which improves access to fresh, local foods for schools and opens new markets for area farmers — is sponsored by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Eating food from farmers down the road also fits with Hill-Murray’s mission as a Catholic Benedictine institution that is committed to simplicity and frugality, said school spokeswoman Sheri Lunn. “It’s provided not only a connection with the earth and the people who grow [the food], but also really reinforced our focus on community,� Lunn said. Student council co-president Taylor Mills said Hill-Murray has done a good job of encouraging students to eat healthy. Last school year, she said, the cafeteria’s
Seventh-grader Noah Smith, right, cleans ears of corn with classmates Sept. 21 at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. Helping him are, from left, Nicolette Soutor, Maria Anastasi,
Dianne Towalski/The Catholic Spirit
Seventh-grader Noah Smith, right, cleans ears of corn with classmates Sept. 21 at HillMurray School in Maplewood. Helping him are, from left, Nicolette Soutor, Maria Anastasi, Elise Potvin, Erica Steigauf, Marco Tettamanzi and Je Hee Lee.
once-a-week food bar, which served allyou-can-eat fruits and vegetables for 50 cents, was extremely popular.
A learning experience The program works with about 120 public school districts, but Catholic schools like St. Hubert in Chanhassen, St. Therese in Deephaven and Holy Family High School in Victoria also have contacted the
institute to request Farm to School packets to use with their healthy eating programs, said Emily Barker, an IATP program assistant. Lynch, who lives in Scandia, said she already was passing by the Axdahls’ farm twice daily going to and from school, so the pick-up was a short detour. She said small farmers struggle delivering to multiple sites.
The program has been a learning experience for Lynch. She has had to become more aware of what is in season. Necessary communication between Lynch and the Axdahls has forged a close partnership. For example, Lynch had never been concerned about frost before, but when a cold spell hit Minnesota three weeks earlier than expected, she immediately thought of the Axdahls, she said. Junior Joe McGrath, who was in the cafeteria for study hall during the Axdahls’ visit, immediately went up to their table and began swapping hot pepper stories with them. McGrath’s family members grow many varieties of pepper — tomatillo, Caribbean red, habanero — in their garden, and he was wondering if they could purchase the plants locally from the Axdahls. The answer was yes. “If it’s locally grown, you can taste the difference between that and mass produced,� said McGrath.
Looking to the future With their 450-acre farm consisting mostly of sweet corn and green beans, the Axdahls supply many Minnesota wholesalers during the growing season. The farm was started by Brian’s dad more than 30 years ago and uses a sweet corn harvester developed by Brian himself. The machine can fill 100 large mesh bags in an hour; hand-picking for the same time might yield one bag. “This is great,� Leslie Axdahl said about the Farm to School program. “If we can get kids to understand — programs like this are the future of small farmers.�
%$#"!
– Metro Magazine
" "! – Pioneer Press
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 The Minneapolis Club 729 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis
" – City Pages " – Star Tribune
5:30 p.m. Social Hour 6:30 p.m. Dinner Honoring Susan Morrison for her lifelong generosity in support of the spiritual, social and educational needs of our Catholic community. Reservations for individuals and tables of ten are now available. Visit www.ccf-mn.org or call 651-389-0300.
www.TheCatholicSpirit.com
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
New anatomy lab gets archbishop’s blessing of how to work with one another.”
St. Catherine University students and professors will approach cadaver study with faith, ‘deep gratitude’
Church supports research The Catholic Church, which has permitted medical research autopsies since the Middle Ages, instructs that there be a decorum in the treatment of human bodies, said Paul Wojda, an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas who teaches a bioethics course.
By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit
St. Catherine University student Lindsey Kolnick discovered that an anatomy textbook tells only part of the story. Now, as she seeks real-life knowledge about the human body, the student in the school’s doctorate of physical therapy program is among the first to work in its new human anatomy lab, the second largest of its kind in Minnesota. “We have the invaluable gift of being able to continue our anatomy education right here on campus,” Kolnick said. “Having access to these anatomy labs affords us the opportunity to work hands-on with the human body, teaching us so much more than we could learn from any book.” On Sept. 19, Archbishop John Nienstedt blessed the 3,600-square-foot anatomy lab on the University’s St. Paul campus at a service and reception for financial contributors to the lab’s construction. Comprising two separate labs — one that will serve more than 500 students in eight St. Catherine programs this year and another for students in the physician’s assistant program the university plans to introduce next year — the new anatomy lab space draws attention to the scientific benefits of educating future professionals and also the faith dimensions of respecting and caring for the bodies of human donors.
Faith meets science The anatomy lab blessing highlighted the complementarity of science and faith, Archbishop Nienstedt said.
“The efforts to communicate the importance of the donation, of the gift, I would say that’s probably in some ways the most important thing, especially in a Catholic context where we understand all of creation is gift,” he said. Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit
Archbishop John Nienstedt blesses one of two new human anatomy labs in the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health at St. Catherine University Sept. 19.
“It’s our faith that really gives us the profound reverence and respect that we have for each human person as a son or daughter of God,” he said. “And the science helps us, it leads us to foster [and] promote the discovery of that human body — what makes it tick, what makes it run — and to promote, in the end, therapies for healing and discoveries that will give us new insights into how we can live better.” The anatomy lab represents a new expression of St. Catherine’s teaching mission, in that it’s now located on its campus, said St. Catherine University President Andrea Lee, IHM, who also acknowledged the spiritual and ethical issues that are involved. “Our students, our professors and, indeed, all of us will approach this work with honor and reverence, with faith and careful thought, with humility and deep gratitude,” she said. Many windows offer abundant natural
light in the anatomy labs, which have combined space for 18 cadavers; the lab currently in use has six. The lab space is part of a $1.1 million remodeling project on Mendel Hall’s fourth floor. Students should have the same experience in the new lab as in the University of Minnesota’s lab where St. Catherine students previously did anatomy lab work, said Cort Cieminski, DPT associate professor and anatomy lab director. The need for the lab arose in 2010 when the University of Minnesota informed St. Catherine it could only accommodate its students for one more year. One of the new anatomy lab’s benefits is that students will be able to learn from students, said Penelope Moyers, dean of the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health. “It’s the interaction that’s going to occur not only among faculty and students but students to students, future professionals to future professionals,” Moyers said. “That in itself forms the foundation
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection” (CCC No. 2300).St. Catherine plans to hold a religious service for students in the anatomy lab at the start of each semester. The chance to help advance medical study for future generations at St. Catherine was one reason Peter and Patricia Frechette decided to contribute to the lab’s construction. The anatomy lab will be important for the University’s new physician’s assistant program and for its nursing program, said Patricia, who with her husband attends the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Having the anatomy lab on campus will benefit the entire university, Cieminiski said. “It is a great opportunity, one that we are so very thankful for on a day-to-day basis to have,” he said. “We are wonderfully made. It’s not an accident that this tissue sits next to this tissue and it’s meant to do a certain function in life. And what a joy to be able to [study] that in our own facility here.”
Hearing Tests Set for Senior Citizens Announcement — Free electronic hearing tests will be given all next week Monday thru Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. The tests have been arranged for anyone who suspects they are not hearing clearly. People who generally feel they can hear, but cannot understand words clearly are encouraged to come in for the test, which uses the latest electronic equipment. Everyone, especially those over age 55 should have an electronic hearing test once
a year. Demonstrations of the latest devices to improve clarity of speech will be programmed using a computer to your particular needs — on the spot — after the tests. See (and HEAR) for yourself if newlydeveloped methods of correction will help you understand words better. Tests will be performed at one of 20 convenient Greater Twin Cities Avada Hearing Care locations.
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SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Fetal surgery photo still making an impact Photographer Michael Clancy has become champion of pro-life cause
compete for a grant of up to $125,000, with the rest of the money to be distributed to the remaining sites based on recommendations from an advisory committee. “If ever there is a time to get on Facebook to do something good, this is it,” said Emily Carlson Hjelm, development director for the basilica since 2005. “We have someone in our office who has resisted Facebook for years and years, and after all this time, she said if there is ever a time to do it, it’s now.” The basilica would use the money to completely restore the sanctuary and the narthex, which is the entrance to the basilica, she said.
For The Catholic Spirit
Capturing the truth It is what happened next that has become a significant part of Clancy’s story and has lead to his ongoing mission to tell the truth of that experience. “Someone in the operating room came from behind and tried to stop me from taking more photos. Obviously, I had captured something they didn’t want me to get,” Clancy said. “After we left the operating room, Dr. Bruner was very angry with me, and it was then I knew he was going to deny what happened and the truth of the photo I had taken.” The photo was published in the Tennessean Newspaper and USA Today; staff members at Vanderbilt Medical Center publicly denied its veracity and continue to do so today. Dr. Bruner has said the baby was anesthetized and did not move his arm in a purposeful manner. Clancy said the photo clearly revealed the challenges of keeping an unborn baby sedated during surgery, which was a situation he believes doctors and other staff members wanted to suppress. “The only thing I’ve done is fought for this picture from the very beginning,” Clancy said.
Still not easy The story of the photograph has many additional layers. Having survived a difficult childhood and other challenges, Clancy, 55, who is nominally a Baptist, said Christ “came into my life when I asked him,” just three months before the photo in the operating room was taken. While Clancy does not regret the opportunities he has had to meet so many people whose lives have been touched by
Competition for grant generates a lot of excitement CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Julie Pfitzinger In 1999, freelance photojournalist Michael Clancy accepted an assignment that would change his life in unexpected ways. Clancy was sent by USA Today to an operating room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn., to take photos during a procedure intended to correct the spina bifida of a 21-week-old boy in utero. A medical assignment like this one was atypical for Clancy, but he welcomed the opportunity. During the operation, something extraordinary happened. The tiny hand of baby Samuel emerged from his mother’s womb, his fingers curling around the finger of surgeon Dr. Joseph Bruner. Samuel had received no anesthetic directly, but Clancy said the mother had received a dose similar to what would be given to a woman during a Cesarean section, administered approximately 30 minutes earlier than usual to make sure the baby received enough to sedate him as well. Right away, Clancy realized the baby was no longer fully sedated. He quickly took four photos in a row, which resemble a video when they are watched in succession, showing the emergence of Samuel’s hand.
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People, candles take a toll
CNS photo by Michael Clancy
During an in-womb procedure to correct spina bifida on a 21-week-old fetus, the baby’s hand grips the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner in an operating room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 19, 1999. Photographer Michael Clancy, right, captured the moment for USA Today. Since then, Clancy has made the photo available to pro-life organizations for brochures, posters and websites.
Hear Clancy speak Michael Clancy will be the featured speaker at the 3rd Annual Banquet for Life, sponsored by North Side Life Care Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, Oct. 13. The event, titled“Turning the Tide: Let Every Child Be Welcomed Into Life” will be held at the Metropolitan in Golden Valley and will feature a reception and dinner. For more information or for reservations, call (612) 522-6589 or visit WWW.NORTHSIDELIFECARE.ORG. To learn more about photographer Michael Clancy and his story, visit his website at WWW.MICHAELCLANCY.COM.
this photo, it has taken him far from his comfort zone. He also struggles to deal with the loss of his career as a freelance news photographer, which occurred several years after the publication of the photo. “I’ve done 115 public speaking events so far, and I’ll tell you, I’m so shy that every one of them is still uncomfortable for me,” Clancy said. “People pour their hearts out, and that means so much, but in some ways, I just have so much responsibility with this photo. It can be a burden.” Clancy has seen young Samuel Armas twice since that fateful day in the operating room — once in 2003, when the two of them were invited to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., during debate over partial-birth abortions, and once in 2007,
Respect Life program focuses on why ‘life matters’ at all stages The new eight-part “Life Matters” series, covering life issues from conception to death, is the centerpiece of the 2011-12 Respect Life program that begins with Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 2 this year. The “Life Matters” series, available in English and Spanish, covers topics including abortion, contraception, the death penalty, persons with disabilities, embryo research, end-of-life issues, reproductive technologies, and love and marriage, according to a news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Read more at WWW.USCCB.ORG/ RESPECTLIFE. — Catholic News Service
when the two attended an event for a pregnancy care center. Now 12 years old, Samuel occasionally uses a wheelchair or wears braces on his legs, but is otherwise living a normal life, Clancy said. Clancy published a book last year called “Hand of Hope: The Story Behind the Picture” and fully realizes the ongoing importance of the photo, especially to those involved in the pro-life movement, a cause he now champions. He has been a featured speaker at National Right to Life conventions in Florida and Washington, D.C. “It is so wrong what is happening to unborn babies, and to be honest, I have heard stories that haunt me,” Clancy said. “But I also believe that God’s miracles are happening every day.”
“Throughout our 100-plus years, the building has had its challenges,” Carlson Hjelm said. “We’ve had candles in those spaces and hundreds of thousands of people through the doors, and the wear and tear on the building is evident from the plaster that is corroding on the walls and the ceiling of the sacristy and the narthex as well as the actual structural integrity of those spaces,” she said. “The money would not only help make the spaces aesthetically beautiful, but also repair the spaces so they are sound and safe.” The restoration would also provide a glimpse into what the inside of the church could look like if it could be restored to its original splendor, she added. The sacristynarthex work needs to be done and the grant would provide needed funding. On Sept. 22, Carlson Hjelm said she was checking the Facebook page often because the basilica was neck and neck with its two fiercest competitors — the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand and the Swedish Institute. “There is a lot of excitement early on and voting once is awesome, but this is not going to happen unless people get behind it and vote every day,” she said. “Whatever you have to do to remind yourself — incorporate it into your daily routine through Oct. 12.” Setting up an account and voting is quick and easy, she said. “I’m sure everyone knows someone in their lives who can help them to sign up and cast their vote.” The Basilica of St. Mary will host an open house with refreshments from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, to show visitors what needs to be done in the sacristy and the narthex, she said. But don’t wait until then to “Like” the Partners in Preservation page and cast your vote each day for the Basilica of St. Mary, she said. “It’s your chance to make a difference.”
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Priest seeks Blessed Mother’s intercession for race CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The Memorare
of the course that he will tackle for real next Sunday.
Father Alex Carlson said the Memorare is his favorite prayer. He prays it before every run:
Turning to his ‘go-to prayer’ Helping Father Carlson through this effort will, hopefully, be the Blessed Mother, whose intercession he will seek in the moments before the race starts in downtown Minneapolis at 8 a.m. (Mall of America Field). In this, the 30th running of the event, there will be 11,200 participants. “Before I go on any run, especially if it’s a long one that I know is going to be tough, I pray the Memorare [prayer to the Blessed Virgin],” he said. “It’s my favorite prayer. I often tell people this is the prayer to use when you’re in trouble or when you need help. It’s my go-to prayer, it’s the first one that comes to mind when people ask me to pray for them.” As much as he is able, Father Carlson sticks to his training regimen, recording miles on his watch as he runs and later logging them onto his computer. In addition to the Memorare, he also looks to one of his favorite Scripture verses, which he had printed on the holy card he had made for his ordination to the priesthood May 29, 2010. It’s from Psalm 90: “Let the favor of the Lord be upon us: Give success to the work of our hands, give success to the work of our hands. (v. 17)” “I have added: And give success to the work of my feet,” he said. “I need my feet to run the marathon.”
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
“What a way to step up and represent our school. . . . He’s keeping his [pledges] a secret right now, but the money will be donated to our school.”
Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
Father Alex Carlson is hoping to raise at least $4,000 in pledges for Epiphany School in the Twin Cities Marathon.
Web of support So far, he has been impressed – and blessed — by the support of the parish and school communities. People have seen him running and cheered him on. One parishioner even scolded him for running in bad weather. Also, students at the school have made small posters with messages of encouragement.
His list of supporters includes the school’s new principal, Laurie Jennrich, who came to the school this fall after working at Cretin-Derham Hall for the previous 16 years. During that time, Carlson was a student at the school, playing varsity football for two years before graduating in 1998. “We’re so proud of him,” she said.
Father Carlson has a goal of $4,000 and said he is confident of reaching it. He is hoping for cool, dry weather on race day, and would like to see some parishioners and students show up on the course to cheer him on. “One morning, I was running and it was a 13-mile run,” he said. “I was right at the two-mile mark and some parishioners recognized me. . . . They started saying, ‘Go, Father, go.’ That definitely pushed me for the rest of those miles and many more after that. If anyone wants to do that on the morning of the marathon, I would be very grateful.”
Featuring: John Allen Jr. Lisa Hendey Paul Henderson Matthew Warner Lino Rulli Lou Carbone Archbishop John Nienstedt
“The proclamation of the Gospel remains the primary service
that the church owes to humanity.” Pope Benedict XVI
Nation/World 7 Pope tells German leaders godlessness poses new risks for society
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
News from around the U.S. and the globe
By John Thavis
is often antagonistic toward faith, he said. Meeting with Orthodox representatives Sept. 24, the pope urged Christian churches in Germany to speak up jointly in defense of human life “from conception to natural death” and defend “marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation.”
Catholic News Service
On a four-day visit to Germany, Pope Benedict XVI warned that godlessness and religious indifference were undermining the moral foundations of society and leaving its weakest members exposed to risks. He repeatedly mentioned the duty to protect the unborn, and proposed this as an area where Catholics and non-Catholics can help resist ethical erosion. The pope, making his first official state visit to his homeland, said after arriving Sept. 22 that he had come “to meet people and to speak about God.” He took that message to the country’s political leaders, to the church’s ecumenical partners, to the Catholic faithful and, through the mass media, to the German people. When the pope stepped off his plane in Berlin, the German capital, he was greeted by President Christian Wulff and Chancellor Angela Merkel. At a welcoming ceremony at the presidential Bellevue Palace in Berlin, the pope defended the church’s voice in public affairs and said that to dismiss religious values would “dismember our culture.” Wulff, in his own speech to the pope, agreed that the church’s message is needed in modern society. But the president, a 52-year-old Catholic who is divorced and civilly remarried, added that the church too is challenged by important questions today: “How compassionately will it treat points of rupture in the lives of individuals? How will it approach points of rupture in its own history or the wrongdoing of members of its clergy?”
Parliament main event The pope’s main event in Berlin was his speech to the German parliament, the first time he has addressed a legislative body. The pope said that belief in God was the
The Catholic Spirit
Nazism like ‘acid rain’
CNS photo / Damir Sagolj, Reuters
Pope Benedict XVI pays his respect to the victims of the Nazis’ Birkenau death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, May 28. “To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man is almost impossible — and it is particularly difficult and troubling for a Christian, for a pope from Germany,” he said.
foundation for Western progress in law, social justice and human rights. Germany’s Nazi past, he said, illustrates that without justice, the state becomes “a highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss.” The pope later met with Jewish representatives and said the Nazi “reign of terror” in his homeland showed what people are capable of when they deny God. “The supposedly ‘almighty’ Adolf Hitler was a pagan idol, who wanted to take the place of the biblical God,” he said. Celebrating Mass in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium for 70,000 people, the pope appealed for a better understanding of the church, one that goes beyond current controversies and the failings of its members. On the plane carrying him from Rome, the pope told reporters he understood the feelings of German Catholics who have
left the church because of clerical sex abuse, but he urged them to work against such crimes “on the inside.” The pope later met with five sex abuse victims in Erfurt, an encounter that left the pontiff “moved and deeply shaken.” The pope presided over major ecumenical events Sept. 23 in Erfurt, the town where Martin Luther was ordained and site of an Augustinian monastery where he lived for several years. Meeting with Lutheran leaders, the pope prayed for Christian unity and said ecumenism today faces threats from both secularization and Christian fundamentalism. “God is increasingly being driven out of our society. . . . Are we to yield to the pressure of secularization?” he asked. The pope also cautioned against viewing ecumenism as a type of negotiation. The best path to Christian unity is witnessing the Gospel courageously in a society that
veloped around the world. With Maathai’s assistance, the United Nations Environment Program adopted a worldwide tree planting campaign in 2006. More than 1 billion trees were planted within months, and the campaign has set a goal of planting 14 billion trees, the Green Belt Movement reported. Maathai’s efforts in founding the Green Belt Movement and on behalf of human rights in challenging former Kenyan dictator Daniel arap Moi led to her being awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. In 1989, Benedictine College named Maathai as a co-winner of its Offeramus Medal, established by Mount St. Scholastica in 1957 to recognize alumnae “who have served others significantly in the spirit of Christ.” Sister Thomasita Homan, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, got to know Maathai in the mid-1980s while she was director of alum-
nae affairs at the college. She maintained that friendship for more than two decades, even attending the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in 2004. “To a person, she really affects you in a way that it’s not just a story,” Sister Thomasita told Catholic News Service Sept. 26. In 1971, Maathai became the first woman in East Africa to receive a doctoral degree, graduating from the University of Nairobi. She received a master’s degree from the University Pittsburgh in 1966 before returning to Kenya.
In encounters with the faithful in Erfurt and Freiburg, the pope did not enter into details of the contentious issues that have divided German Catholics, such as priestly celibacy, women’s ordination and church teaching on homosexuality. Instead, the pope preached the importance of living the Gospel and held out German saints as models of the “radical” embrace of Christ. In Erfurt, a city in former East Germany, the pope said at a Mass that Nazism and communism had been like “acid rain” for Christianity. But the oppression and difficulties in those dark years left many Catholics with a stronger faith — stronger, perhaps, than under current freedoms. Addressing German lay leaders in Freiburg Sept. 24, the pope said the church in Germany was “superbly organized.” Then he asked: “But behind the structures, is there also a corresponding spiritual strength?” He said that small Christian communities may be a promising path to renewing the church’s impact on society. At a prayer vigil in Freiburg, his talk to the youths emphasized that human efforts to make a better world were never enough, and that only faith in God cuts through the darkness of suffering and evil. At a Mass on his final day in Freiburg, the pope told an estimated 100,000 people that agnostics who are troubled by the question of God are closer to the kingdom of God than “routine” Catholics whose hearts are untouched by faith.
Briefly Wangari Maathai, 71, was Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, a Catholic environmentalist and political leader who became the first black African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to empower women to work for environmental, economic and social justice, died Sept. 25 after a bout with cancer. She was 71. A graduate of Mount St. Scholastica College — now Benedictine College — in MAATHAI Atchison, Kan., with a degree in biology, Maathai became widely known and respected for her efforts on behalf of environmental sustainability through tree-planting campaigns that de-
Archbishop believes fight over law will undermine marriage New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told President Barack Obama in a Sept. 20 letter that his administration’s
fight against the Defense of Marriage Act will undermine marriage and create a breach of church-state relations. The law, called DOMA, defines marriage as between one man and one woman. “It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your administration insists on doing,” he said. Archbishop Dolan noted the church’s position recognizing “the immeasurable personal dignity and equal worth of all individuals, including those with samesex attraction” and said “we reject all hatred and unjust treatment.” “I am convinced that the door to a dialogue that is strong enough to endure even serious and fundamental disagreements can and must remain open, and I believe that you desire the same,” the USCCB leader wrote. — Catholic News Service
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SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Four more parishes exceed Catholic Services Appeal goal Four additional parishes have exceeded their 2011 Catholic Services Appeal goal bringing the total number of parishes over goal to 90. The CSA has currently raised more than $9.4 million to help those most in need within this archdiocese. The four new parishes are: ■ St. Dominic, Northfield ■ Immaculate Heart of Mary, Minnetonka ■ St. Joseph the Worker, Maple Grove ■ St. John Neumann, Eagan Parishes that previously exceeded their goal are: St. John the Evangelist, Hopkins Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville St. Peter, Richfield St. Timothy, Blaine St. Stanislaus, St. Paul St. Ambrose, Woodbury Blessed Sacrament, St. Paul All Saints, Minneapolis St. Lawrence, Minneapolis St. Michael, Pine Island St. Andrew, Elysian St. Joseph, Miesville The Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul
Assumption, St. Paul Corpus Christi, Roseville St. Mary of Czestochowa, Delano St. Michael, St. Michael St. Anne/St. Joseph Hien, Minneapolis Our Lady of Lourdes, Minneapolis Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers St. Hubert, Chanhassen St. Luke, Clearwater Nativity of Our Lord, St. Paul St. Mary of the Lake, Plymouth St. Michael, Stillwater St. Peter, Forest Lake St. Michael, Kenyon St. Helena, Minneapolis Ascension, Norwood Young America St. Bartholomew, Wayzata St. Adalbert, St. Paul St. Genevieve, Centerville St. Bonaventure, Bloomington St. Albert, Albertville St. Rita, Cottage Grove Our Lady of Victory, Minneapolis St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anthony Risen Savior, Burnsville St. Jude of the Lake, Mahtomedi Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul St. Canice, Kilkenny St. Vincent de Paul, St. Paul
St. Patrick, Jordan St. Thomas the Apostle, Corcoran Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Minneapolis St. Anne, Hamel St. Peter, Mendota St. Joseph, West St. Paul St. Francis of Assisi, Lakeland Holy Family, St. Louis Park St. Patrick, Faribault St. Margaret Mary, Golden Valley St. Patrick, Edina Our Lady of Grace, Edina St. Francis Xavier, Taylors Falls St. Pius V, Cannon Falls St. Paul, Zumbrota St. Nicholas, New Market St. Michael, Prior Lake St. Paul, Ham Lake Guardian Angels, Chaska St. Charles, Bayport St. John the Baptist, Hugo St. Bridget of Sweden, Lindstrom St. Joseph, Taylors Falls Lumen Christi, St. Paul St. Cecilia, St. Paul Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Paul St. Rose of Lima, Roseville
St. Louis, King of France, St. Paul St. Francis De Sales, St. Paul St. Agnes, St. Paul Sacred Heart, St. Paul St. John of St. Paul, St. Paul St. Odilia, Shoreview St. John Vianney, South St. Paul St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hastings St. Henry, LeSueur Nativity, Madison Lake St. John the Baptist, Savage Most Holy Trinity, St. Louis Park Good Shepherd, Golden Valley St. Nicholas, Carver St. Joseph, Waconia St. John the Baptist, Dayton St. Katharine Drexel, Ramsey It is not too late to give a gift. If you would like to make a pledge/gift to the Appeal, please go to WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG/APPEAL to donate online; or, if you have questions, contact the Development and Stewardship Office at (651) 290-1610.
At WYD, pope urged youth to share good news with others CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 After Mass, there was time to grab a bite to eat and then head back to the Palacio de los Deportes to view the Way of the Cross, presided over by the Holy Father. Earlier that day, our pilgrims had visited the beautifully ornate stations that had been set up in the open air between the Plaza de Colón and the Plaza de Cibeles. During the Way of the Cross, the World Youth Day cross was carried by various groups of youth representing the 196 countries from around the world. After praying at each station, the cross was handed over to another group of pilgrims. It was a solemn invitation to those present to participate in the sorrows and sufferings of Christ as a result of war, persecution, domestic violence, abortion, terrorism and natural disasters. In his remarks at the end of the prayer service, the Holy Father said that the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for each of us should prompt us to ask what we can do for him in return. The answer lies in taking upon our shoulders the suffering of the world and in doing so to be joined to him who shares with us (con-solatio) the experience of suffering. To suffer with compassion out of love for another allows us to become a person who truly loves. The icon of the cross, the pope reminded us, is not a sign of failure, but rather an expression of self-giving love, the love of both the Father and the Son. Finally, he urged us to remain steadfast at the foot of the cross as Mary did, asking her to sustain us through the nights of our suffering.
Meeting seminarians On Saturday morning as our pilgrims made their way on foot to the Cuadro Vientos Air Base, the Holy Father celebrated Mass for hundreds of seminarians at the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almuderia across the plaza from the royal palace. During the course of his homily, Pope
CNS photo / Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo
Pilgrims set down the World Youth Day cross as they take part in the Way of the Cross in Plaza de Cibeles in central Madrid Aug. 19.
Benedict told these priestly aspirants that they should spend their years of formation in interior silence, unceasing prayer, constant study and gradual insertion into the pastoral activities of the church. He urged them to identify ever more closely with Jesus, who is servant, priest and victim. In a particular way, he urged them to ask Jesus to teach them how to be close to the sick and the poor “in simplicity and generosity,” being “unconditional defenders” of the dignity of the human person. At the end of the ceremony, the Holy Father announced that he would soon declare as a doctor of the universal church St. John of the Cross, to whose intercession he commended all priests and seminarians. (Here I ask you to keep in your
prayers the 19 new seminarians and the 50 returning seminarians from this archdiocese who will be attending our two seminaries this year!) Late that evening, Pope Benedict stopped on his way to the prayer service at the air base to greet the young residents at the San José Foundation. The home is directed by priests and religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God for boys and girls with physical and psychological disabilities. I watched this encounter on television and was moved by the compassion and love with which the Holy Father greeted each one of these young people. The evening prayer service at Curatio Vientos was planned to take place in three segments. First, there would be a procession of the World Youth Day Cross along with an icon of the Blessed Mother by young pilgrims from various nations. The second part was to be a Scripture service in which the Holy Father would preach. And the third part was to be exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed by Benediction.
Unexpected storm But just as the Holy Father was about to speak, a great wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It picked the World Youth Day Cross up in the air so that it came crashing down on the head of one of the bishops in the front row. It tore the Holy Father’s zucchetto off his head. It also collapsed the tents that had been prepared for eucharistic devotion during the night. Twice the master of ceremonies approached the Holy Father, indicating that he should leave. Both times, the pope smiled and shook his head “no.” This was all captured on television. The pilgrims loved it! When the rain stopped, the pontiff chose not to read his prepared remarks, but invited all present to begin the period of adoration. It was a remarkable capitulation on the part of the Holy Father to a
sudden and rather disconcerting change of plans. The next morning, the Holy Father expressed concern as to whether the pilgrims were able to get enough sleep despite the weather. In his homily, he addressed to those assembled the question that Jesus asked in that day’s Gospel, “Who do you say I am?” Peter, the pope said, responded in faith and so should we. But faith is a gift that starts with God and involves the surrendering of our whole person to him. At the same time, Jesus refers to “his” church. The pope pointed out that Christ cannot be separated from the church anymore than the head can be separated from the body. Following Christ means walking at his side in communion with the church. We must not walk alone. And once we encounter Christ, we want to share him with others. Go forth, the Holy Father instructed the pilgrims, as missionaries to other young people and share with them the good news you have heard!
Wonderful experience At the end of the Sunday liturgy, Pope Benedict announced that the next World Youth Day would be in Rio de Janeiro during the year 2013. The World Youth Day Cross was then transferred from the youth of Spain to those of Brazil. The pontiff then said goodbye in seven different languages to this massive crowd. This was for me the fifth international World Youth Day I have attended and it was as impressive as any before it. To look out at a crowd of 2 million Catholic youth celebrating and sharing their faith gave me a great sense that, for all our past failings, there is great hope for the future of the church! These young people had a tremendous religious experience, for many of them a deep conversion. I pray and ask you to pray that the effects of this event on their daily lives will remain and grow ever stronger with their return home. God bless you!
“Communication, while enhanced by technology, rests on the power of the message and the authenticity of the communicator.” Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz.
This Catholic Life SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Opinion, feedback and points to ponder
If we build it, will they come? The Oct. 13 Archdiocesan Communications Day — the brainchild of The Catholic Spirit that is coming to reality thanks to a partnership among the newspaper, the archdiocese and the Coalition of Ministries in the Archdiocese — is evidence this local church intends to I was all set to tell you about a new website with an be in the game. eclectic mix of stories and videos that Catholics will We’re bringing in experts in communicating and love. using new media — names like John Allen, Lisa But you probably won’t go there. Hendey, Matthew Warner and others — to build the I was going to tell you all about knowledge base and set a foundation for a solid vision CATHOLICHOTDISH.COM because it’s for communicating in our archdiocese. (You can pretty cool, with its newsy items register at HTTP://TINYURL.COM/COMMUNICATIONSDAY.) and blogs on issues and activities Leaders in parishes and ministries across the today’s Catholics are interested in. archdiocese and across the Upper Midwest are invited, I hesitate, though, because a and we’ll be sharing best practices that work locally, new study of the media habits of too. Catholics reports that few We’re all doing more, though. Catholics — even “millennials” The archdiocese has updated its online effort — (under age 30) — are going to the WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG — to be a much more effective Internet for things resource. religious or spiritual. The Catholic Spirit now has five “It’s not that websites, more than 21,000 followers on Bob Zyskowski Catholics aren’t Twitter, an active Facebook page and an online or using new e-newsletter. All those digital means media,” the study found. “They just connect people to faith-forming aren’t using these to do Catholicism in information, authentic church teaching, any great number.” multimedia presentations with upbeat ? music and inspiring videos of local Presumptions debunked Catholic activities. The study by CARA, the Center for ? Most parishes have websites, but Applied Research in the Apostolate at there’s good news and bad news there: Georgetown University, found that ? CARA found that of all Catholic despite the conventional wisdom, ? websites, parish websites had been millennial Catholics do not visited by the greatest percentage of overwhelmingly prefer reading content ? Catholics. The bad news? Only 14 online compared to print: Results percent of Catholics had visited a parish showed a 32 percent preference for ? website. That means 86 percent had not. online, 33 percent preference for print, and 35 percent with no preference. (The Sobering facts study had a margin of error of plus-orThe CARA study, commissioned by the minus 2.8 percent.) Catholic Press Association (of which The That’s reassuring for those of us who Catholic Spirit is a founding member), publish The Catholic Spirit and frankly has a wealth of statistics about Catholics have tired of hearing that younger and media use today. It found that the ? generations don’t read things in print. majority of Catholics prefer to get their Yet, here’s the thing: If Catholics aren’t religious and spiritual information via ? in the new media game, are we failing to traditional means. They prefer to receive respond to Christ’s command to “Go ? a diocesan newspaper in print form into the whole world and proclaim the rather than online. Gospel to every creature” (Mark: 15:15)? ? In fact, the survey summary notes, If the church improved the way it does “Few Catholics report doing anything ? new media, put more resources into it, with new media that is related to religion learned how to better use it, would we ? and spirituality at all,” and, “Millennials do a better job of fulfilling Jesus’ are not more likely than older Catholics command in this both/and — digital to say they have done anything online . . and print — media landscape? . related to religion and spirituality,” and in fact, “Millennials are less likely than Making the effort to reach out ? older Catholics to access any type of This era of transition in the flow of religious or spiritual media content.” ? information has leaders of lots of Here is CARA’s analysis: organizations — not just the church — ? The current discourse surrounding scratching their heads. The Catholic Catholic new media is often very rosy ? Spirit, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and and optimistic. The data do not match Minneapolis, and Catholic parishes and this conversation — yet. ministries are right in there with Traditional media sources continue to everyone else trying to figure out how be more often used and preferred by best to connect with a variety of Catholics for religious and spiritual audiences. For the church, the audience content. Although certainly millennial includes both those who do and who don’t practice the faith. PLEASE TURN TO CHURCH ON PAGE 10 Lord knows we’re trying.
New research reveals surprising information about ‘millennial’ Catholics and Internet use
Commentary
The Catholic Spirit
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Fostering religious literacy is among church’s top communications challenges John Allen Jr. is a senior correspondent with National Catholic Reporter and an author who is frequently seen on CNN addressing Catholic issues. He will be a member of a panel at Archdiocesan Communications Day Oct. 13 addressing challenges the church faces in the area of communications. The Catholic Spirit recently asked him a few questions on the topic. From your viewpoint, what’s the biggest challenge facing church communicators today? The single greatest challenge is probably religious illiteracy because we live in world in which many people lack even a basic background in religious matters. Ordinary folk and shapers of opinion alike often carry around a bundle of myths, misconceptions and false assumptions about what various religious groups teach and do. When a question about the Catholic Church comes up, therefore, it’s not ALLEN enough merely to answer it. You’ve got to anticipate how that answer might be understood, based upon what this person or outfit already thinks about the Catholic Church, and then supply whatever context is needed so the answer can be appropriately understood. What is one way the church and its communicators should address that challenge? What church communicators need to realize is that their problem is rarely text, but rather context. That is, most information about the church is fairly easy to identify and communicate. The problem is that simply presenting that information often doesn’t get the job done because first you have to work through the popular filters which shape how that bit of data is likely to be understood. Let’s take an example: Suppose someone asks you how many people work at the Vatican, and you’re not in a wise-guy mood, so you don’t go with John XXIII’s famous response: “About half!” The correct answer is that roughly 2,800 people work for the Roman Curia, which is the central government of the church, and another 1,900 work for the Vatican City-State. Leave it at that, and people might think it’s a massive infrastructure — which coheres with the images people imbibe from sources like “The Da Vinci Code.” With the right context, however, the picture changes dramatically. Consider: There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, so if you applied the same ratio of citizens-to-bureaucrats to the federal government in the United States as we see in the Catholic Church, there would be only 500 people on the federal payroll, rather than the 2 million who currently hold federal jobs. In context, in other words, the answer doesn’t point to a huge multi-national conglomerate, but a very small central administration that wouldn’t have the tools to micro-manage the church even if it wanted to. Why should people attend this Communications Day event? Catholics are supposed to be evangelizers of culture; Pope Benedict XVI has called the entire church to a “New Evangelization.” In the world in which we live, the media and social communications have a profound effect on shaping culture. This event can help people become more effective communicators and, therefore, more effective evangelizers.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Commentary
/ This Catholic Life
In bad economy, we Catholics are called to walk the talk
Editorial Joe Towalski
The Gospel calls us to reach out to all, even strangers, who need our help
Don’t be surprised if you begin hearing more at your parish about the terrible toll our nation’s economy is taking on families and communities. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, recently sent a letter to his fellow bishops, urging them “to continue [to] do all you can to lift up the human, moral and spiritual dimensions of the ongoing economic crisis,” which shows little sign of ending anytime soon. His letter follows a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau that 46 million people lived in poverty in the United States in 2010, including 16 million children. The overall poverty rate — 15.1 percent — increased for the third consecutive year. Also increasing was the number of people without health insurance.
Answering the call “Widespread unemployment, underemployment and pervasive poverty are diminishing human lives, undermining human dignity, and hurting children and families,” Archbishop Dolan wrote. “I hope we can use our opportunities as pastors, teachers, and leaders to focus public attention and priority on the scandal of so much poverty and so many
without work in our society.” To that end, the bishops have created a special “Unemployment and Poverty” page at WWW.USCCB.ORG that features resources for bishops, pastors and other church leaders to educate the faithful and advocate on behalf of the poor and jobless. We Catholics of the archdiocese are in no way immune to the consequences of a broken economy. Many of us have family members or friends who have lost jobs, suffered layoffs or faced the stress and fear of potentially losing a job because of cutbacks. In some cases, we ourselves are the
ones coping with these challenges. While Archbishop Dolan’s letter was directed at bishops, we should all answer the call to raise awareness and help those in need, whether they are people we know personally or strangers. That’s what the Gospel, what Jesus, calls us to do. The closing lines of the bishops’ pastoral reflection “A Place at the Table” includes this quote from the First Letter of John: “If anyone is well-off in worldly possessions and sees his brother in need but closes his heart to him, how can the love of God be remaining in him?
Practicing Christ’s message: Antidote to bullying pandemic As I have loved you, so you should love one another. This is how I will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35) Although bullying has been around for generations, and affects nearly all children, solutions have been evasive. No school is immune to the bullying behavior, nor can any school completely inoculate itself from this type of virus. Since the advent of Internet and social networking, cyberbullying is a pervaPeter Noll sive strain of bullying that can have devastating consequences. Unfortunately, society, perhaps unwittingly, encourages and perpetuates inappropriate behavior toward others. We are inundated by media filled with “humor” that belittles a person’s God-given personality traits or appearance; we are subjected to political campaigning that attempts to disparage oppositional viewpoints; we are exposed to news that aims to capitalize on rude remarks that are degrading and promote prejudice. Catholics and Catholic schools, however, have advantages in terms of both preventive and prescriptive measures in dealing with how members of our community treat one another. We’re fortunate that — because of the Catholic identity of our schools — we have access to moral teaching that can help us create environments where harassment is not tolerated. In “Gaudium et Spes,” the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI enjoined Catholics to respect the dignity of all human persons by reminding us that “by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human
Faith in the Public Arena
mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.” Our challenge, today, is to continue to instruct and model a fundamental belief in the dignity of every human person because God created and loves that person. Locally, special interest groups are attempting to hijack the conversation about bullying in schools and the halls of government. The groups promote a narrow agenda aimed at creating protected classes of citizens, using the schools to propagate their ideology. Over the past several months, we have witnessed this scenario play out in the Anoka-Hennepin School District. There, under the guise of promoting tolerance, various groups are demanding that the school system implement policies and educational initiatives that generate acceptance for “alternative lifestyles” contrary to both human flourishing and the universal moral law. The “good news” is that we as Catholics are called to be countercultural. We must resist and not condone such practices, which are aimed at re-shaping society. At the same time, we must vigorously combat the root cause of bullying — a lack of respect for the dignity of each human person based on their beliefs or lifestyle. Christ’s redemptive message and requirement for Christians to love one another has taken on a sense of urgency in a society filled with contradictory messages. Civility, motivated by Christ’s message to love our neighbor, must be the expected behavior of everyone in the Catholic school community — teachers, administrators, parents, volunteers and students. Nevertheless, a culture of incivility permeates contemporary society. Educators in
both public and private schools have a formidable task in combating the bullying epidemic. To that end, many of our educational institutions have adopted specific anti-bullying programs. The National Catholic Educational Association’s Department of Boards and Councils has developed a framework to design a school antibullying plan (WWW.NCEA.ORG/DEPARTMENTS/ NABCCCE/SAFETYRESOURCES.ASP).
Multiple responsibility Central to a Catholic response to bullying is the recognition of the family as the primary social institution and respect for the primacy of parents as the first educators of their children. The principle of respect for all human persons should be instilled in children beginning at an early age through teaching and modeling within the home. To assist parents in this awesome responsibility, Catholic elementary and secondary schools should augment and support the family in a complementary fashion. There are no panaceas for preventing bullying behavior from infiltrating our Catholic schools. Still, the best antidote is developing a plan — in the home, in our churches and in schools — centered on recognizing the face of Christ in all people. The plan should incorporate the core principles and assets of our Catholic faith and our Catholic communities: the fundamental beliefs and traditions of our faith, respect for the dignity of all human persons, and trust in the wisdom and competence of servant leaders in our local communities of faith. All that must be permeated with the healing power of Christ’s clarion call to love one another as he has loved us. Peter Noll is the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s education director.
Children, our love must be not just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine.” So what can we do? ■ We can dig a little deeper when it comes for our parish’s Sunday collection and for second collections that benefit organizations helping the poor. We can use the savings from foregoing a night of eating out, or a week’s worth of coffee shop visits, to send a contribution to Catholic Charities, Sharing and Caring Hands, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development or another antipoverty organization. ■ We can volunteer our time for a parish ministry that helps the unemployed or families struggling for other reasons. We can help at food shelves, which are seeing larger numbers of the working poor. We can help our neighbor feeling the pinch of a tight budget with a project or errand. ■ We can visit the bishops’ “Unemployment and Poverty” page to learn more about the church’s views about the economy and how we can bring hope to those in need. ■ And, of course, we can pray. We can bring help and inspire hope. That’s what Archbishop Dolan is asking all of us to do. That’s what we, as Catholics, are called to do.
Church still needs traditional media CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Catholics are using new media frequently, they have yet to use it for religion and spirituality in any great number. Will they ever? How can this be achieved? Those are unanswered and difficult questions. But what can be concluded is that creating content in new media does not mean people will use it. The era of broadcasting is over. In a narrowcasted world, people have to be aware of and want to visit and use your content. The signs from the research suggest that too few Catholics are aware of and using the religious new media resources that have been developed. When it comes to Catholicism, more often than not, traditional media still have the broader reach in a “new media” age. It is the “yet” in the above statement that presents the challenge. It’s clear from the CARA study that our church needs to continue to accommodate those who prefer their religious information in print. The challenge is, can we skillfully take advantage of the potential — note, potential — of new media. There’s a bit of “if we build it, they will come” hopefulness in all of our digital media efforts. It’s clear, too, though, that the better the online content and the better the new media execution, the better the church’s chances of bringing the Gospel to more of God’s people. We know if we don’t build it, and build it well, we don’t have a chance they’ll come. Bob Zyskowski is associate publisher of The Catholic Spirit and a blogger on CATHOLICHOTDISH.COM.
This Catholic Life / Commentary
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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Blue mouth, red face has Notre Dame coach under fire The following guest column was first published Sept. 19 in the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. It was written by Peter Finney Jr., executive editor and general manager. ust a pooch punt from the towering icon called “Touchdown Jesus” in athletic homage to Christ’s eternally upraised arms, Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly, with bulging carotid arteries and a limited vocabulary heavily skewed to four-letter words beginning in Peter “f” and “s,” is the Finney Jr. poster child for Catholic coaches gone wild. And for hypocrisy at the highest levels of Catholic academia. Anyone with a DVR, a cable subscription to ESPN and even a rudimentary level of ESP could have predicted what might happen when Notre Dame hired Kelly in December 2009 from the hinterlands of Cincinnati to resurrect a moribund football program whose last national championship was in 1988, before the dawn of the cellphone. It wasn’t a question of if Kelly would implode. It was a question of when.
J
Guest Column
Sideline ranting At $3 million a year, Kelly’s fiduciary responsibility at Notre Dame is to win games and justify Notre Dame’s $15 million a year deal with NBC, which somehow has found the university still marketable despite its miserable on-field fortunes over the past quarter-century. But in a 23-20 loss to South Florida to open the 2011 season, Kelly showed that his irrational sideline demeanor in Cincinnati, which often flew below the radar because of the limited audience, apparently is hard-wired into his personality. In a series of sideline rants that would
have made even George Carlin blush, Kelly spewed four-letter words at his quarterback, who threw a red-zone interception. NBC’s cameras caught everything, as ABC used to say, “up close and personal.” No lip reading was necessary. OK, so what’s the big deal? Aren’t these 18- to 22-year-old athletes big enough and tough enough to accept abusive language from a coach — foul-mouthed tirades they’ve probably heard since high school — and simply move on? That’s not the fundamental question and totally misses the point, says Edmund Rice Christian Brother John Casey, a former secondary schools executive with the National Catholic Educational Association who now lives in New Orleans after having spent many years as principal of Rice High School in central Harlem. “We are an incarnational faith,” Brother John said. “How we act counts.” A case in point. In his extensive research on how Catholic secondary schools live out their mission, Brother John discovered that coaches have enormous influence on teenagers — perhaps more than any other persons on the faculty. That’s because of the enormous blocks of time coaches have with students before, during and after practice. “When they’re just sitting around, that’s when kids talk about their life and what’s going on,” Brother John said. “They rely on their coaches to give them some direction and some sense of where they should go, especially if you have someone who is successful and who you relate to.”
No free passes Whenever Brother John had to rein in a coach who had crossed the line with
abusive language, he called him in immediately. “You have to sit down with people and say, ‘We are trying to be authentic and transparent and be who we say we are. We’re a Catholic school, and we say we’re a faith community, and the experience of that language is inappropriate,’” Brother John said. How would a coach react after having been called on the carpet? “The good coach looks at the ground, shuffles his feet and says, ‘Yes, Brother, I understand,’” Brother John said. “They’re not stupid, but they get carried away, and they’ve lived in a society that permits an awful lot of that stuff.” Why shouldn’t Kelly be given a pass because he’s dealing with young adults rather than teenagers? “Look at Drew Brees with the New Orleans Saints,” Brother John said. “Last year we had a faculty retreat, and we used Drew Brees as the model for the way in which he deals with people. He’s had a great deal of trouble in his life, and he doesn’t mouth off. I think colleges sometimes wrap themselves up in that mantle of, ‘Well, we’re in college and not in high school.’ No, good behavior has to be consistent all the way through, because if the pros can do it, then the high schools and colleges can do it, too.” It’s too soon to see if Kelly has gotten the message. He issued a cryptic nonapology after the South Florida game, saying, “What I have to recognize is that I’m on TV all the time. (I need to) do a better job of understanding when that camera is on me. It seems like it’s on more than I’m used to. So I’ll have to do a better job of controlling my emotions.”
Not exactly, “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.” In other words, blame the red light, not my blue tongue. “It’s terribly embarrassing [for Notre Dame], because part of it is integrity — are you what you say you are?” Brother John said. “He doesn’t have to tone it down. He has to change behavior, and that’s where somebody has to say it’s inappropriate. It’s not acceptable behind closed doors, either, because what you’re teaching your kids then is that you have two faces — your private life and your public life.”
Playing like a champion A final embarrassing twist. Notre Dame’s Collaboration for Ethical Education offers a “sports as ministry” initiative for youth called “Play Like a Champion Today” (PLC). The fundamental idea is that coaching kids and teens is a “ministry.” In the spring 2011 newsletter, Clark Power, the program director, wrote a poignant column about getting a phone call from a mother whose son had dropped out of sports “after being belittled for an entire season by a coach, who continuously called into question his manhood.” “Fortunately, this young man was doing well in therapy and regaining his sense of self-esteem and confidence,” Clark said. “Unfortunately, however, his peers were subjected to similar verbal onslaughts. Who knows how many more children this coach was continuing to hurt?” At a PLC leadership conference, participants get Rudy-like visits to the Notre Dame locker room, dinner in the press box and even have guest speakers from the school. As long as Kelly remains recalcitrant and unconvinced that he’s done anything wrong, he shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for an invitation to address the PLC. Anyway, we’ve seen him turn purple before.
Learning hard lessons about complex nature of poverty, hunger ur youngest daughter, having just graduated from Boston College, moved to Seattle to spend a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She is working there for a nonprofit that collects food for poor people and advocates for government food programs.
O Intellect & Virtue John Garvey
We have to combat the cause of hunger, not just fight the symptom, and we can’t agree on what the cause is
It can’t be an easy program for a young person. For one thing, JVC, in order to build community among the volunteers, encourages them to give up their iPhones, iPads, iPods and laptops. We Skype with her just once a week, when she has time to slip away to a wifi spot at the local Starbucks. One day recently, about a month into her work with the JVC, my daughter found herself down in the dumps. She is a gentle and idealistic soul, the sort who gives her last $5 to a panhandler and then can’t afford to ride the bus home. But her work was teaching her some hard lessons about the complex nature of poverty. One of her team’s leaders explained to her that although her group collects 31 million pounds of
food each year (leftovers from Costco and bakeries and other commercial producers), it would take far more to feed all of the hungry people just in their part of Washington. Meanwhile, on her way to work in the morning (when she has cash for the bus), she has begun to notice the large number of poor and mentally ill people who ride with her.
No simple fix for hunger The problem that she is dealing with seems both enormous and intractable. And her boss told her that even if they could feed everyone, that wouldn’t solve the problem. It turns out that, when you give a poor man a meal, he becomes hungry just a few hours later. The thing about hunger is that there is no straightforward fix, not even one that can be achieved through arduous means or huge amounts of money. We have to combat the cause of hunger, not just fight the symptom, and we can’t agree on what the cause is. Is it the education system? (And if it is, is it that we don’t spend
enough money? Or because teachers’ unions prevent needed reform?) Is it the decline of the family? Government housing policy? Drugs? Racism? Laziness on the part of the "have-nots"? Greed on the part of the "haves"? Or perhaps it’s some combination of all of these problems. And each of these causes is as intractable as the problem of hunger with which we began.
We live in a fallen world It all serves as a reminder that we live in a fallen world. We are mere human beings. Some among us are always doing the wrong thing. We all take our turns: We are always hating and coveting and acquiring unfairly at others’ expense. That is the meaning of original sin. God made us good in the beginning. And from the beginning we have always found ways of frustrating his design. My wife and I consoled our daughter by telling her that this dilemma is no reason to stop feeding the hungry. Jesus told us that we
will always have the poor with us. He understood what she is just coming to realize. But Jesus also said that, when the Son of Man returns in glory to welcome the just into heaven, he won’t dwell on their policy achievements; he will focus on their personal attempts to do what is right: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:35). Idealism is contagious, especially among the young. But as much as we all want to save the world, we will never enjoy the satisfaction of solving the big problems such as hunger and poverty. We can only take our satisfaction at the retail level. The people that we help, having recognized Christ in them, will at least not be hungry tonight. That’s a good thing. John Garvey is president of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His column is distributed by Catholic News Service.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
La Crosse shrine: A sanctuary for the soul By Dave Hrbacek and Julie Carroll The Catholic Spirit
Two busloads of teens from St. Pius V in Cannon Falls pulled into the parking lot of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., the morning of Sept. 11. The sun lit up the beautiful structures and gardens nestled in the blufflands of western Wisconsin. After their three-hour ride, the 51 seventh- through 12th-graders were antsy to get out and climb the paved path leading to the church, the shrine’s crown jewel. The peaceful and prayerful atmosphere of the place turned their high energy into serious reflection, as the youth marveled at Please see the scenery before them. related story “It’s really beautiful,” said Anna on page 14 Priore, a home-schooled high school senior who came with her sister, Caroline, a junior. “I knew something nice was going to happen,” she said on the ride home. One of the pleasant surprises of her visit came when she learned of an altar inside the church containing a relic of her confirmation saint, Maria Goretti. “There was a beautiful painting of her, too,” Anna said. “It almost moved me to tears.” The experience had a similar impact on Caroline, who said it confirmed her desire to be a nun someday. She watched a video on the bus ride down that mentioned a collection to build a home for contemplative sisters. “It’s the perfect place [for such a home],” Caroline said. “I’ve always felt like I’d like to join a convent someday. . . .” Such anecdotes are music to the ears of trip organizer Debbie Bauer, who runs the faith formation program for youth at the parish. And, no doubt, she will pass along the stories to the anonymous donor who covered the cost of the bus ride for the youth. During a parish staff meeting, Bauer said, “we were concentrating on the Blessed Mother, and the doorbell rang. I went to the door and there was a gentleman who goes to Mass here. He gave me a check for $2,000 and said, ‘You get coach buses and you take the faith formation kids down to Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine.’ “It was holy goosebump time,” she added.
‘An extraordinary place’ Cardinal Raymond Burke, former bishop of La Crosse, founded the shrine with the intention that it would be
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe ■ Website: WWW.GUADALUPESHRINE.ORG ■ Email: GMARCO@SHRINEOFOURLADY.COM ■ Phone: (608) 782-5440 ■ Address: 5250 Justin Road, La Crosse, WI 54601 ■ Directions: The shrine is approximately three hours from the Twin Cities and six miles south of downtown La Crosse. From Interstate 90 east, exit to Interstate 53 south (to downtown La Crosse). Go straight through downtown La Crosse to the south side of the city, where the road will become routes 35 and 14/61. (The road name changes to South Avenue and then again to Mormon Coulee Road.) As you reach the far south side, turn left (east) on Highway 14/61 and go 1.4 miles to Justin Road. Turn right on Justin Road and look for signs to the shrine. ■ Hours: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Sept. 1 to May 31) and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (June 1 to Aug. 31) ■ Mass: Monday through Saturday — 12:15 p.m.; Sunday — 9:30 a.m. (Latin), 11 a.m. (Spanish), 1 p.m. (English) ■ Rosary: Monday through Sunday — 9 a.m. at the Pilgrim Center ■ Reconciliation: Monday through Saturday — 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and following 12:15 p.m. Mass; Saturday — 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.; Sunday — following 9:30 a.m. Mass, noon to 1 p.m., and following 1 p.m. Mass ■ Divine Mercy Chaplet: Thursday — 3 p.m. ■ Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and rosary: Monday through Saturday — 3:30 p.m. ■ Evening prayer and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament: Monday through Saturday — 4 p.m.
Left, people file into church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis.
Below left, visitors tour the Memorial to the Unborn. Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit
“a place of pilgrimage, an extraordinary place to which the faithful might come at any time, but especially in times of special joy and of special need, to be renewed in faith and grace.” It was completed in 2008. On the third anniversary of the shrine church in July, Pope Benedict XVI affiliated it to his papal basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. With this affiliation comes the opportunity for pilgrims visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to gain plenary indulgences once a year if they receive the sacraments of confession and Eucharist, and pray for the Holy Father’s intentions. A plenary indulgence promises escape from the temporal punishment the pilgrim deserves for sins committed and forgiven. A winding, flower-lined meditation trail at the shrine leads visitors through more than 100 acres of woodlands. Along the way pilgrims can stop to pray at devotional areas, bronze relief Stations of the Cross and the mysteries of the rosary depicted in blue and white tile. The first stop for most visitors is the pilgrim center, where they can view an orientation film, dine at the Culina Mariana Restaurant or purchase items at the gift shop. Pilgrims then set out on a path that leads to a small chapel housing a pyramid of blue votive candles. It’s about a 10-minute walk to the Romanesque church, where Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation are offered daily. Inside the 35,000-square-foot stone structure, visitors will find several side altars devoted to saints, some with first-class relics displayed. A 98-foot dome is decorated with a turquoise sky and gold-leaf stars in the same formation as those that illumined the sky in Mexico on Dec. 12, 1531, the date of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s final appearance to St. Juan Diego. Thirty-one stained-glass windows throughout the church depict scenes from Mary’s life. A mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe is prominently displayed above the marble altar. Beyond the church, visitors encounter a memorial to the unborn, which serves as a resting place for several babies who died before birth. The memorial includes a flower garden, reflecting pool and bronze sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Unborn, cradling three babies of different nationalities in her arms.
Above, from left, Caroline and Anna Priore of St. Pius V in Cannon Falls pray at the shrine.
Visitors can light candles for their prayer intentions at a chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Julie Carroll / The Catholic Spirit
An outdoor Stations of the Cross and rosary walk complete the pilgrims’ half-mile journey. The youth from St. Pius V spent about four hours walking, praying and listening to a tour guide explain the significance of the shrine’s features. For Bauer, the faith formation director, the timing of their trip couldn’t have been better. “This is our kickoff for our faith formation classes,” she said. “How beautiful that we can do this. . . . [Our Lady of Guadalupe] is our mother. I want these kids to understand what a wonderful mother she is, and she wants us to come and see her.”
Archdiocesan pilgrimage ■ What: Join Bishop Lee Piché on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. ■ When: Friday, Oct. 21 ■ Cost: $55 ■ Includes: Coach bus ride, shrine tour, lunch, light dinner, time for personal prayer and Mass ■ Registration: Sign up by Friday, Oct. 7, at the archdiocesan website, WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG, or call the Office of Marriage, Family and Life at (651) 291-4488.
Travel & Pilgrimages 13 Unveiling the image’s
hidden meaning
Black ribbon — The black ribbon around Mary’s waist shows that she is expecting a child. For the Aztecs, the trapezoidshaped ends of the ribbon also represented the end of one cycle and the birth of a new era.
Clouds — In the image, the Virgin is surrounded by clouds, showing that she is from heaven. The indigenous greeted people they believed came from God with the expression: “Among fog and among clouds.”
Flowers — Nine golden flowers, symbolizing life and truth, adorn Mary’s dress. The flowers are made up of glyphs representing a hill and a river. The indigenous people considered hills the highest points of encounter between God and people. Viewed upside down, the flowers take the shape of hearts with arteries coming out, representing life, which originates from God.
Sun — There are three suns represented in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The first sun, not visible in the image, is cosmic, casting light on the Virgin’s left side and creating a shadow. Golden rays from the second sun, behind her, signify that she is the “Mother of Light” and greater than the Aztec sun god, whom she eclipses. The third sun is represented by the fourpetaled flower on her tunic, indicating that she is about to give birth to the “Almighty Sun.”
Four-petaled jasmine — The only four-petaled flower on Mary’s tunic appears over her womb. The four-petaled jasmine represents the Aztecs’ highest deity, Ometéotl. While Ometéotl remained distant, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows that the one true God chose to be born of a woman, making himself accessible to all.
Cross medallion — Around her neck, Mary wears a gold medallion engraved with a cross. For indigenous people, the medallion symbolized consecration, so the medallion around Mary’s neck meant that she was consecrated to Jesus.
Hands — The indigenous people expressed prayer not only by the hands, but by the whole body. In the image on the tilma, Our Lady of Guadalupe is shown in a position of dancing prayer, with her knee bent in movement.
Mantle and tunic — Mary’s rosetinted, flowery tunic symbolizes the earth, while her turquoise, starry mantle represents the heavens. The mantle also indicates that she is royalty since only the native emperors wore cloaks of that color.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child . . . .” — Revelation 12:1-2 The four-and-a-half-foot-tall image of Our Lady of Guadalupe imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak in 1531 depicts a young pregnant woman encircled by rays of sunlight. With her dark complexion and mixture of indigenous and Spanish features, Our Lady of Guadalupe represents the unity of all people. She gazes downward with the tender, loving expression of a mother gazing at her child. For Mexico’s indigenous people, the image contained rich symbolism. Sources: Official website of the Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico (WWW.VIRGENDEGUADALUPE .ORG.MX); Secrets of the Image website, Knights of Columbus (WWW.SECRETSOFTHEIMAGE.ORG/EN/INDEX.HTML).
Moon — The Virgin stands on a crescent moon. The Aztec word for Mexico, “Metz-xic-co,” means “in the center of the moon.” The moon also symbolizes the Aztec moon god, fertility, birth and life.
Angel — An angel with eagle’s wings appears below Mary’s feet. According to Aztec belief, an eagle delivered the hearts and the blood of sacrificial victims to the gods. The angel holds up the pregnant Virgin, signifying that the child in her womb is the offering that pleases God.
Story of a miracle: Our Lady appears to St. Juan Diego By Julie Carroll The Catholic Spirit
After the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, Franciscan missionaries seeking to convert the Aztecs to Christianity destroyed their temples and idols. The missionaries claimed they were acting in the interest of the people’s spiritual wellbeing, but the death of their gods left them with a sense of hopelessness. Other Spaniards enslaved the indigenous people, whom they considered less than human. “If God does not provide a remedy from His hand, this land is about to be lost,” Mexico’s first bishop, Franciscan Friar Juan de Zumárraga, wrote in a letter to the king of Spain. On Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an indigenous Catholic convert, was walking to the city of Tlaltelolco in central Mexico to attend Mass. As he approached a hill called Tepeyac, a rainbow
appeared amidst shimmery white clouds and he heard a woman calling his name. “Her dress shone as the sun, as if vibrating, and the stone where She stood, as if shooting rays,” according to the “Nican Mopohua,” one of the earliest written accounts of the Guadalupe apparitions. “Her splendor was like precious stones, like a jewel, everything that is most beautiful, She was. The ground dazzled with resplendence of the rainbow in the fog. The mesquites and the cacti and all the other plants that usually grow there looked like emeralds, the foliage like turquoises, and their stems and thorns shone like gold.” Speaking in the local language, Nahuatl, the dark-complected woman identified herself as Mary, the Mother of God. She instructed Juan Diego to tell the bishop that she would like a “sacred house” to be built in her honor on the hilltop. The skeptical bishop asked Juan Diego to return with proof that what he was say-
Powerful image
the tilma was first housed, but the tilma, made of a delicate plant fiber, remains remarkably well-preserved to this day. For 116 years the unprotected image was exposed to the elements until 1647, when it was put behind glass. During that time, countless people touched the tilma and burned candles and incense near it. Acid was once spilled on the tilma and a bomb detonated beneath it, but still it has survived. Today it is displayed in Mexico City’s Basilica of St. Mary of Guadalupe, one of the world’s most visited Catholic shrines. Pope John Paul II proclaimed Juan Diego a saint on July 31, 2002. He also declared Our Lady of Guadalupe “Queen of All America.” Her feast day is Dec. 12.
The very fact that the image has lasted nearly 500 years could itself be considered a miracle, according to some experts who have studied the tilma. Over time, humidity and salt buildup eroded the stonework of the church where
Information in this article is derived from “Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego: The Historical Evidence” by Eduardo Chávez, postulator for the canonization cause of Juan Diego.
ing was true. Again Mary appeared to Juan Diego, asking him to gather some flowers growing on the normally barren hillside. She wrapped the flowers in Juan Diego’s “tilma,” or cloak. When Juan Diego opened his tilma to present the flowers to the bishop, the men were astonished to find the Virgin’s image miraculously imprinted on the fabric. As word of the miracle spread, people flocked to the site to venerate the image, which the Franciscans named after the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain. Soon thousands of indigenous people sought to be baptized.
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Travel & Pilgrimages
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Pilgrimage: Traveling with a spiritual purpose By Father Michael Van Sloun
churches and also include Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem) in Rome; St. Lawrence outside the Walls; and St. Sebastian’s. Other mainstays include a papal audience and a visit to the Vatican Museums. There are key spiritual destinations in the countryside, many which are associated with important saints: Assisi and Sts. Francis and Clare; Milan and St. Ambrose; Bologna and St. Dominic; Monte Cassino and St. Benedict; Siena and St. Catherine; and Padua and St. Anthony.
For The Catholic Spirit
Pilgrimage has been part of the Christian tradition for centuries. A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey to a sacred place. The journey can be near or far — as close as a neighboring church or as distant as halfway around the world. It can be a daytrip, a 10- to 14-day excursion or any other duration. Years ago, people went on pilgrimages in larger groups for safety, to protect themselves from bandits on unfamiliar roads in foreign lands. Today, many prefer to go in groups for ease in travel, to enjoy the benefit of a local guide, to have the opportunity to celebrate Mass and share in other forms of communal prayer, and to experience fellowship with other believers.
Why go? There are a number of good spiritual reasons to make a pilgrimage. For many it is like a retreat, a time away from home and the regular routine to concentrate on the spiritual life without distractions — a time for prayer and meditation, learning and enrichment. For others, it is a time of intercession, an opportunity to pray for a special intention or an occasion to offer thanksgiving for blessings received. Centuries ago, a pilgrimage was commonly assigned as a penance to make satisfaction for sins committed. There are a number of things that a pilgrimage is not. It is not a vacation, a time to sit back, take it easy and relax. It is not a commercial tour, a time for sightseeing, entertainment, cultural experiences and fine dining. It is not a shopping trip, a
Other possibilities
CNS photo / Ammar Awad, Reuters
A pilgrim kisses a stone at the third station of the Via Dolorosa during a Good Friday procession in Jerusalem’s Old City.
time to go to specialty stores to get mementos and souvenirs for yourself and gifts for family and friends back home. A pilgrimage normally has some of these elements, but the itinerary — the schedule of sites to visit and the activities to be done there — is designed around the spiritual goals and objectives of the trip.
The ultimate trip There are three premier pilgrimages, trips that have been made by Christians for centuries, journeys of inestimable spiritual value. The pilgrimage that ranks above all others is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to visit the Holy Land. Major sites include the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem; his
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childhood home, Nazareth; the location of his early ministry, Capernaum and the area around the Sea of Galilee; and his final destination, Jerusalem. The second-most revered pilgrimage is to walk in the footsteps of St. Paul. He made three missionary journeys and covered an immense amount of territory in Turkey and Greece. The main sites are Ephesus in Turkey and Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth and Athens in Greece. Another excellent option is to visit the foundations of the church in Rome and Italy. There are four major pilgrimage churches in the Eternal City: St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. Some authorities list seven pilgrimage
Devotion to Mary is another important reason for a pilgrimage. The foremost Marian shrines are at Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico, Medjugorje in Bosnia, Czestochowa in Poland and Knock in Ireland. There are many other highly-esteemed spiritual destinations: Santiago de Compostela in Spain; Notre Dame, Chartes, La Salette and Mont-Michel in France; Oberammergau and the great cathedrals of Munich and Cologne in Germany; Canterbury in England; Goa in India; Mount Nebo in Jordan; and Mount Sinai in Egypt. Pilgrimages need not be to far-away places. A short trip can be made to a sacred site in one’s locality: a neighboring parish church, a shrine, the cathedral of the diocese, a monastery or convent, or a retreat house. Pilgrimages to holy places help us on the most important pilgrimage of all, our journey through our human life on earth to our eternal destination with God in heaven. Father Michael Van Sloun is pastor of St. Stephen in Anoka.
St. Casimir’s Fall Festival and Polka Mass Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011 • 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Mark your calendar! Festivities begin with a 10 a.m. Polka Mass featuring John Filipczak and the Classics.
All you can eat Turkey Dinner served until 3:30 p.m. $9 adults; $5 kids ages 6-10; 5 and under are free.
Silent Auction • Theme Baskets • Raffle • Cake Walk Familiar Booths and Games for Kids!
ALL SAINTS CHURCH
FALL FESTIVAL
Call (651) 774-0365 for more information 930 E. Geranium Ave. at Forest St., St. Paul
Sunday, October 2 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Mass 10 a.m. Main Raffle: $2,500 in cash prizes. Two drawings for a Jax Cafe Brunch for 2. Two raffle tickets to Vikings/New Orleans Saints game at the Dome on 12-18-11 which includes Jax Brunch for 2 plus 2 bus tickets to the game.
POLISH DINNER Live Music, Refreshments, Flea Market Silent Auction, Raffles and Prizes All Saints is located at 5th St. & 5th Ave. N.E., Mpls.
Current and local news at www.TheCatholicSpirit.com
“Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.” St. Augustine
The Lesson Plan SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Reflections on faith and spirituality
The Catholic Spirit
15
To whom do you give credit for the fruit of your labor?
A
n old gardener was digging his plot as the priest came walking along. “George” said the priest, “it is wonderful what God and man working together can do.” George replied, “Yes sir, but you should have seen this garden last year when he had it all to himself!” This old story nicely connects today’s first reading from Isaiah and the Gospel according to Matthew. The garden was a ruin as was IsaDeacon iah’s vineyard, and it Gerard becomes a thing of Christianson beauty through the hard work of George and the grace of a loving God. George is on the brink of the same error we see in Matthew’s tenants, he is in danger of the misguided belief that it is the work of his hands alone that has produced the beautiful garden. The misguided idea that everything we have is the result of our efforts alone is common to most of us. Like George, we want to believe that at the moment of our greatest achievement we alone deserve the
Sunday Scriptures
Readings
For reflection
Sunday, Oct. 2 27th Sunday in ordinary time ■ Isaiah 5:1-7 ■ Philippians 4:6-9 ■ Matthew 21:33-43
Many athletes point to heaven when they make a good play. How do you point to God when you celebrate a success?
credit. It is the quintessentially American ideal of the self-made person. Yet, we would do well to remember that everything we have is a gift from God. Certainly, we must cooperate with God and do our part, but we must resist the prideful notion that we can somehow achieve apart from God and thereby withhold from him his portion of the fruit of our effort and his share of the credit. We not only grow in humility when we
realize that it is the generosity of God that allows us to succeed. Also, we are relieved of the anxiety that comes from depending solely on the outcome of any particular endeavor. By faithfully contributing our talent we can rest assured that God will handle the results, but this does not guarantee that we will be successful in everything we do.
God knows best In joining our efforts with God’s, we
must also accept the fact that he knows what we need better than we do. The results may not be what we wish them to be, they may not even make sense at all. By putting the results firmly in the hands of God, we are relieved of the stress and worry that plague the life of modern man. God’s gift to us is a world filled with the resources to provide for the needs of all. How we choose to utilize those resources is our gift to God, our contribution in his act of creation. We can shirk our duties completely and produce wild grapes. We can work with the resources God has given us and then exclude him and live as if he is not an integral part of all we accomplish, selfishly refusing to share these fruits with their rightful owner. Rejecting laziness and hubris, we can choose to humbly acknowledge that, as servants of a loving God, all we have and produce belong first to him. “Please, God, give each of us the grace to produce abundantly, not for ourselves, but for your greater glory.” Deacon Gerard Christianson is in formation for the priesthood at The St. Paul Seminary for the Diocese of Rockford, Ill. His home parish is St. Paul of the Cross in Park Ridge, Ill., and his teaching parish is Our Lady of Grace in Edina.
Daily Scriptures Sunday, Oct. 2 27th Sunday in ordinary time Isaiah 5:1-7 Philippians 4:6-9 Matthew 21:33-43 “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious . . . think about these things.” — Philippians 4:8 After attending a religious workshop where the speaker had made one too many negative comments about women, I felt drained of life. As I drove home, I was filled with discouragement and cried out to God. Moments later I happened to hear an interview with a well-known musician on public radio. Not only was his voice filled with joy but when they played a piece of his unique liturgical music my spirit was immediately lifted. This week, notice which people and situations sap your energy and which fill you with hope.
Wednesday, Oct. 5 Jonah 4:1-11 Luke 11:1-4 How would your attitude toward others change if you knew you are forgiven? Thursday, Oct. 6 Bruno, priest, or Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, virgin Malachi 3:13-20b Luke 11:5-13 Our awareness of how our prayers are being answered deepens as we let go of the desire to control how they are answered. Friday, Oct. 7 Our Lady of the Rosary Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2 Luke 11:15-26 Instead of changing our perception, it can be more comfortable to accuse someone of doing evil.
Monday, Oct. 3 Jonah 1:1 — 2:2, 11 Luke 10:25-37 It is humbling to realize that we never know who will be God’s presence in the world.
Saturday, Oct. 8 Joel 4:12-21 Luke 11:27-28 Keeping an open heart and mind is a constant challenge.
Tuesday, Oct. 4 Francis of Assisi, religious Jonah 3:1-10 Luke 10:38-42 Our actions are most fruitful when they flow from the knowledge that we are loved without condition.
Sunday, Oct. 9 28th Sunday in ordinary time Isaiah 25:6-10a Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 Matthew 22:1-14 “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance.” — Philippians 4:12
A woman recently shared with me her lifelong struggle to become financially secure. It seems she was raised in a family that believed money was evil so, though she was unaware of it, she kept sabotaging herself. Through prayer and counseling she was able to break the self-destructive pattern. Paul points out that what is important is true detachment based not on negative messages but on the freedom of spirit Christ desires for us.
Romans 4:1-8 Luke 12:1-7 So often we focus on the wrong thing.
Monday, Oct. 10 Romans 1:1-7 Luke 11:29-32 What we focus on and what is really important are often very different things.
Sunday, Oct. 16 29th Sunday in ordinary time Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b Matthew 22:15-21 “We give thanks to God always for all of you.” — 1 Thessalonians 1:2 A friend and I were discussing the people who have been most important in our lives. After the obvious ones like our spouses and children, we both agreed that an overwhelming number of the people who have influenced and supported us have been members, both lay and religious, of various parishes and religious communities. While our styles of prayer and images of God have changed dramatically over the years, there has always been someone able to understand and help us through times of transition and change.
Tuesday, Oct. 11 Romans 1:16-25 Luke 11:37-41 Notice all the ways we avoid the call to change our hearts. Wednesday, Oct. 12 Romans 2:1-11 Luke 11:42-46 Criticism comes easier than compassion. Thursday, Oct. 13 Romans 3:21-30 Luke 11:47-54 It takes courage and humility to examine your intention and motivation before speaking. Friday, Oct. 14 Callistus I, pope and martyr
Saturday, Oct. 15 Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the church Romans 4:13, 16-18 Luke 12:8-12 We can choose to reject mercy and forgiveness and live in despair.
The daily reflections are written by Terri Mifek, a member of St. Edward in Bloomington and a certified spiritual director at the Franciscan Retreat House in Prior Lake.
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The Lesson Plan
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Taking a closer look at the re-translated Roman Canon The following is the next in a series of articles regarding the new Roman Missal, which will be used in the United States beginning Nov. 27, the first Sunday of Advent. n the last article, we introduced Eucharistic Prayer No. 1, otherwise known as the Roman Canon. It is a beautiful and ancient prayer, well worth our time and consideration as we prepare to receive the revised translation of the Mass. Like most of the eucharistic liturgy, this prayer has been re-translated, and the version we will hear on Nov. 27 will be quite different than the one we currently use. Following the preface dialogue and Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy), the prayer begins:
Questions about the new missal? In November, The Catholic Spirit’s series on the Roman Missal will try to answer questions about the new texts and their use. If you have a question that has not been addressed in the series, you may send it: ■ By email to: CATHOLICSPIRIT@ARCHSPM.ORG. Please write “Roman Missal” in the subject line. ■ By postal mail to: “Roman Missal,” c/o The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102. Please include your name, parish and daytime telephone number.
I
Lift Up Your Hearts
“To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord”
Right from the very beginning of the prayer, we are reminded of the interior direction of the Mass — we are praying to the Father. However, this turning toward the Father is always accomplished through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life — no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). This is always the case, but it takes on special significance in the liturgy. In the liturgical life of the church, and especially in the Mass, Jesus Christ continues to call out to the Father, “Thy will be done.” The whole paschal mystery, that is, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, made present in the Mass, is a mystery that finds its source and meaning in loving sacrifice — Jesus Christ holds nothing back from the Father; he refuses to say “no” to the will of the Father. Indeed, Christ’s whole life and ministry is a “yes,” a fiat upon which the words of his mother, Mary, are based. By means of our baptism, we are all joined to Jesus Christ, the one who said, and continues to say “yes” to the Father. The call to be holy is the call to make our lives resonate with this yes; to make our lives bear witness to our loving obedience to the commands of love of God and love of neighbor. To be a saint means to say “yes” to the Father in all things, as Jesus does. And so at the Mass, as we hear the “yes” of Jesus in the raising up of his body and blood, we must make our own lives ring with this response. We join our struggles, our triumphs, our dreams and our fears to the offering of Christ so that we might be holy. It is through the
Father John Paul Erickson
Coming up next
“In the Mass, Jesus Christ continues to call out to the Father, ‘Thy will be done.’
”
FATHER JOHN PAUL ERICKSON
prayer of Christ, through the loving “yes” of Christ, that we are made to ring and resonate with the beauty of sanctity. The prayer continues: “that you accept and bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices,” While the words spoken here by the priest celebrant refer to the bread and wine, which will soon become the actual body and blood of Christ, it is also a reminder of the sacrifice that every single Christian is called upon to offer on the altar at Mass. We are all called, priest and laity alike, to offer up our own “yes;” we are all called to offer up the sacrifice of loving obedience to the commands of love. These are the acceptable gifts and offerings that the presentation of the bread and wine represent. And it is only when we offer these gifts willingly to the Father, through Jesus, that they can be raised up and made to be something extraordinary —the life of Christ in the world. The prayer continues: which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with your servant Benedict our Pope
■ Oct. 13 — The Roman Canon, part 3 ■ Read past articles in the new missal series online at THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM.
and John our Bishop and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith. Remember that the Eucharistic Prayer is just that — a prayer. And prayer is oftentimes a petition. Sometimes, petitionary prayer gets a bit of a bad rap. Sometimes, even very good people can start to feel guilty that they are asking God for all sorts of things, rather than limiting their prayer to praise and adoration. But Christ himself, the master and teacher of prayer, commands us to “ask for our daily bread.” Prayers of petition are most certainly not less worthy than other forms of prayer. In fact, petitionary prayer should form the foundation of our spiritual lives, for it is always an admittance of dependency and our need for God. This cannot but be good.
Shepherds need our prayers And so we offer the prayer of the Mass for the church and her shepherds. The shepherds of the church, starting with the Holy Father right down to the bishop of the smallest diocese in the Catholic world, desperately need our prayers. They have been called by God to an immensely difficult vocation, and they rely upon the prayerful support of all God’s people to stand fast in the faith despite the buffeting winds and frightening waves of the world and their own weaknesses. It is our duty as Catholics to pray for them, and we do just this when we offer the Mass. Father John Paul Erickson is director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship.
Stewardship: Responding to the call of discipleship By Mike Halloran
chist, greeter, St. Vincent DePaul volunteer), diocesan programs (Catholic Services Appeal) and the universal church. The challenge, then, is to understand our role — our vocation — as disciples of our Lord, and to respond generously to Jesus’ call by putting our gifts to work in building up his kingdom on earth. God gives us this divinehuman workshop, this world and church of ours. The Spirit shows us the way — stewardship is part of the journey.
For The Catholic Spirit
This is the last article in a three-part series about stewardship. Read past articles at THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM. In the last two editions of The Catholic Spirit, we shared the “why” of stewardship as well as stories of generous stewards from across our archdiocese. I would like to conclude this series with more excerpts from “Stewardship: a Disciple’s Response” — the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter on stewardship.
How will you respond?
From the letter As members of the church, we are called to be disciples, followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. This has astonishing implications as Jesus does not call us as nameless people in a faceless crowd — rather he calls each one of us individually by name. God has provided each of us with unique gifts — intending for each of us to play a distinctive role in carrying out his divine plan. Mature stewards understand what unique gifts God has given them; they understand their strengths and passions — what they love to do —what gives them joy. However, acknowledging our gifts and blessings is only one-half of the equation. Just as important is putting these gifts of ours into action in service to the Lord.
Therefore, all members of the church have their own role to play in carrying out Christ’s mission of proclaiming and teaching, serving and sanctifying: ■ Parents: by nurturing their children in the light of the faith in the home and parish (daily prayer and attending weekly Mass as a family; enrolling them in faith formation or Catholic school) ■ Parishioners: by working in concrete ways to make their parishes true communities of faith and vibrant sources of service to the larger community (serving our brothers and sisters in need in our local communities and foreign missions) ■ All Catholics: by giving generous support — time in prayer, money and personal service to their parish (cate-
During the month of October, most parishes in the archdiocese conduct a “stewardship renewal/commitment” effort, encouraging their parishioners to reflect on how God has uniquely blessed them and inviting them to give back to God and his church a portion of these gifts to build up his kingdom. Please use this time to consider how you will respond to God’s call to discipleship in your parish. “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). Mike Halloran is director of the archdiocesan Office of Development and Stewardship.
“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth . . . for wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.” Proverbs 23:4-5
Retirement Planning SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
The Catholic Spirit special section
The Catholic Spirit
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Financial advisers see planning through Christ’s eyes By Kathryn Elliott
But people around Jesus had to catch the fish and bring them to market so God could work, Bauman said. His role as a financial adviser is to mobilize things on the temporal side so that God can provide. “I am a servant in their situation. They’re the stewards of their money. My responsibility is . . . teaching,” he said. Clients need to know “how many fish they have,” Bauman said, adding that in tough financial times that may mean conservative, low-risk decision-making. Bauman said even when he has to deliver “bad news” — that a client’s financial picture may not allow for everything that was desired — it gives the client freedom to move forward. One of the ways God uses him, Bauman said, is simply to listen to the life stories and personal concerns of his clients. It’s not dramatic, he said, and many times he doesn’t know exactly how God used him. “Money is a hammer — it’s a tool. It’s something that helps you live your life, not the other way around,” Bauman said.
The Catholic Spirit
Three faith-based financial advisers recently talked about how they approach financial planning by bringing Christ into their workplace. Dan Kuplic, a financial adviser and member of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville, owns an Ameriprise Financial franchise that allows him nearly the same flexibility as an independent financial adviser. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has invited Kuplic several times to give a “Faith and Finance” talk at its engaged couples’ weekend. “Money isn’t the root of all evil: love of money is the root of all evil,” Kuplic told The Catholic Spirit. Although many folks think of retirement as a time to rest in luxury, Kuplic said he’s met many Christians who don’t want to stop their “work” of building the kingdom of God on earth as they get older. “When you get to heaven, God says ‘Well done good and faithful servant,’ not: ‘you took the last 15 off?’” Kuplic quipped. Kuplic said his advice fluidly incorporates the “economic realities” his clients face and the principles of Christian discernment. Practically speaking, he said, there are three “bandits” on the road to retirement that folks should anticipate: ■ First, their cost of living rises under fixed income. ■ Second, they need good health insurance. ■ Third, medical emergencies and standard health conditions bring unexpected costs.
Fishing for stewardship After 14 years in the business, Luke Bauman decided to start his own company, Bauman Financial Group. Bauman used the analogy of Jesus multiplying the fishes to illustrate his role in helping clients’ achieve material well-being. Jesus used fish, a financial commodity of the day, to provide for the people, said Bauman, a member of St. Peter in Delano.
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10 ways to prepare for retirement ■ Start saving, keep saving ■ Know your retirement needs ■ Contribute to your employer’s retirement savings plan ■ Learn about your employer’s pension plan ■ Consider basic investment principles ■ Don’t touch your retirement savings ■ Ask your employer to start a plan if none is available ■ Put money into an Individual Retirement Account ■ Find out about your Social Security benefits ■ Ask questions Source: U.S. Department of Labor website: HTTP:// WWW.DOL.GOV
As a faith-based financial adviser at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Kevin Bonine said that part of stewardship is recognizing that everything is a gift from God. “My level of peace, well-being and comfort is directly related to the gifts God gave me,” Bonine said. Bonine encourages clients to explore how their decisions now will enable them to honor God with their money, leisure and volunteer efforts in retirement. Locally, Bonine said he worked with a retired couple that moved from a town in Wisconsin to the east side of St. Paul because they wanted to live and serve in a less fortunate community. Although non-Christians make such altruistic decisions too, only a Christian is motivated by his or her response to God’s love, Bonine said. “I can’t plan for that, but I can respond to it and strengthen it as I guide them,” he said.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Retirement Planning
Socially responsible investing looks beyond bottom line By Adeshina Emmanuel Catholic News Service
While people often draw a line between religion and business, proponents of socially responsible investing in the religious community are devotedly parked at the intersection of faith and finance. Socially responsible investing involves screening companies to ensure that their business practices and ventures match an investor’s ethics and don’t harm people or the environment. The faith community has been a vocal advocate of this approach. Laura Berry, a Catholic, is the executive director of the New York-based Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors representing more than $100 billion in invested capital. “As Catholics we can be generous, make donations, support local structures [and] parishes, but there’s so much more we can do by really paying attention to how we invest and what we choose to invest in,” Berry said.
What do I value? Enterprises that profit from abortion, contraceptives or war, or companies with a history of environmental violations, human rights offenses, degrading work conditions or unethical business practices might raise red flags for the socially responsible Catholic investor. This kind of investing approach is not a new phenomenon or trend. As early as the 16th century, Quakers
CNS photo / Lee Celano, Reuters
A worker scrapes oil from a beach after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Port Fourchon, La., in 2010. Oblate Father Seamus Finn, director of social justice for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, called the oil spill in the Gulf Coast a key example of the importance of investors raising ethical concerns.
refused to invest in the slave trade, citing adherence to religious beliefs in human equality. In the 1970s and 1980s, many investors pulled their capital from com-
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Retirement Planning
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Investors wield powerful evangelization tool CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 nancial factors, investments have increased potential to underperform. “The question one should be asking as a social investor isn’t, ‘Are my returns better or worse?’” Berry said, addressing the criticism. “The question we should be asking is, ‘What do I value, and what does my faith call me to do?’” Despite some skepticism, socially responsible investing has gained more popularity during the last decade. In 1995, there were 55 socially screened mutual fund products in the United States, with about $12 billion in assets; by 2007, those figures had ballooned to 260 funds worth $201.8 billion in assets, according to the Social Investment Forum. Berry mentioned the subprime housing lending debacle that mushroomed in 2007, leading to record numbers of foreclosures, as an example of why investors should be outspoken about corporate responsibility. She noted that faith-based investors filed several resolutions in the early 1990s urging tighter regulation for subprime loans given by companies involved in housing lending. Many analysts and critics
“The question we should be asking is, ‘What do I value, and what does my faith call me to do?’
”
LAURA BERRY Executive director, Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility
contend the loans are predatory and high risk. Oblate Father Seamus Finn, director of social justice for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Washington, cited the 2010 BP oil rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf Coast as a key example of the importance of investors raising ethical concerns. BP had been cited for more than 750 violations by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration before the disaster.
Father Finn, an advocate for shareholder activism and a board member with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, said investors lacking social conscience promote a “prevailing economic and business philosophy” that says financial decisions can be reached “without first considering the social impact of those decisions. “In fact, behind all of those decisions, people’s lives are impacted,” said Father Finn, who added that socially responsible investing is “an opportunity for Catholics and the church to extend its missionary activity into the business world.” Socially responsible Catholic investors can try to screen companies by researching their reputations and portfolios. This process can be done through independent research or through a third party. Shareholder resolutions are one way investors can press companies for change on specific issues. Attending annual meetings or contacting a company’s investor relations department to speak up about ethical concerns is another option.
Helping locally Investing in underprivileged communities is yet another way investors can keep their finances in line with their faith. Lura Mack, who coordinates community investments for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, an international congregation of more than 800 sisters based in Adrian, Mich., said that most of the sisters’ $4.5 million investment portfolio consists of community investments. Community investing provides investments and loans to community-based organizations that offer alternative financial services to low-income individuals to improve underserved communities. Some of these organizations are involved in housing lending and providing capital to small businesses. They also support essential community services like child care and health care. “It comes back to the ‘do you give a man a fish, or do you teach him how to fish?’ question,” Berry said. As she sees it: “Community investing is the most powerful tool in teaching folks to fish.”
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Arts & Culture SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Exploring our church and our world
The Catholic Spirit
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Catholic Chorale begins new season of sacred music
CNS photo / Bob Roller
Emilio Estevez, writer-director-producer of “The Way,” gestures as his father, actor Martin Sheen, who stars in the movie, looks on prior to a screening at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., last February.
Good acting, spiritual themes mark ‘The Way’ Emilio Estevez directs his father Martin Sheen in film set along the famous Spanish pilgrimage route By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit
Admit it, you loved Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlett on “The West Wing.” You’ll have yet another reason to value this actor, who happens to be Catholic, when you see his new movie, “The Way.” The film is terrific — a great story superbly told and acted, with great scenery, with crisp, believable, thought-provoking dialogue, perfect soundtrack, characters you want to know better — the whole enchilada of what makes a satisfying evening before the big screen. Catch the trailer at HTTP://THEWAY-THE MOVIE.COM/INDEX.PHP#/TRAILER. The premier is set for Oct. 7 in New York City, which is more than a bit ironic.
One for fly-over land Emilio Estevez, the writer/director and son of the movie’s star, is quick to say he thinks “The Way” will appeal to people who live between Manhattan and Glendale, Calif. As he pitched this movie about a pilgrimage to movie industry executives in both New York and Hollywood he said he could see their eyes glaze over. They’re not interested in making movies for thinking
people, he said, preferring films with nudity and things blowing up. “They call this fly-over country,” Estevez said during a promotional stop in the Twin Cities. “I call it the United States.” During a Q&A after a screening in Maple Grove, Estevez was thanked for not being afraid to make a movie that had spiritual aspects and didn’t have the kinds of scenes that require a PG-13 or R rating. In the film, Sheen plays a curmudgeon — a California country club ophthalmologist who doesn’t approve of his adult son going off to see the world. There’s a poignant scene at the start when Sheen is driving his son to the airport and Sheen’s character, Tom Avery, is defending the life he’s chosen. Son Daniel, played by Estevez, responds, “You don’t choose a life, Dad. You live it.” That’s what this movie is about; although, of course, it’s much more complex and fulfilling than that. The “way” of the film’s title is the Camino de Santiago, the thousand-yearold pilgrimage route from southern France through the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Blessings are said to come to those who complete the journey to where tradition holds the remains of the Apostle James (“Santiago” in Spanish) are preserved in the Cathedral of Santiago. Daniel Avery sets out to walk the 480 miles but dies in a storm shortly after starting. When father Tom comes to claim his
body, he decides to complete the journey his estranged son started.
Journey as metaphor What Tom Avery learns along the way about himself — and the difference between a life you choose and a life you live — makes for great movie watching. The reasons one walks the Camino have a lot to say to everyone about our own journey through life and the approach we take on our journey: Do we walk it alone or do we jump in with others and accept both the rich rewards and the potential hurts? Along with the movie “The Help,” this new Sheen-Estevez vehicle could help Hollywood see that people are tired of the “crap,” to use Estevez’s word, that is on today’s movie screens. That there was something religious and spiritual about the movie he was pitching scared away agents and producers alike. The reaction “The Way” is receiving as Sheen and Estevez make a 35-city bus tour to screen the movie before live audiences is telling them — and hopefully film executives — that this type of movie plays well to the majority of the country. “The Way” will be in theaters in October. Don’t miss it, and maybe, just maybe, Hollywood and New York City will realize there are profits to be made from movies that are valued by folks who have a spiritual life, who practice a religion and who live in fly-over country.
The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale begins its 2011-2012 season of sacred music in October at St. Agnes Church, 548 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. The chorale sings at nearly all the 10 a.m. Sunday Masses from mid-October through the solemnity of Corpus Christi. The Saint Agnes Schola Cantorum sings the proper of the Mass in Gregorian chant at the 10 a.m. Sunday Masses throughout the year. The Saint Agnes Chamber Choir sings at the 5:15 p.m. Mass the first Saturday of each month from October through June. Robert Peterson, chorale director, noted a few of the notable upcoming Masses: ■ Oct. 1: The chamber choir opens the season at 5:15 p.m. with Hans Leo Hassler’s “Missa Secunda.” ■ Oct. 23: Those who are attending the Mozart Society of America Conference in the Twin Cities will be at St. Agnes to hear Mozart’s “Missa Longa in C.” Peterson will be a presenter in one of the MSA’s sessions. ■ Nov. 2: The “Mozart Requiem Mass” will be part of the 7:30 p.m. Mass to celebrate All Soul’s Day. ■ Dec. 24: The Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve draws many people from across the metro area. The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale was founded in 1956 by the late Msgr. Richard Schuler, who served as its director until shortly before his death in 2007. He was pastor of St. Agnes from 1969 to 2001 and moved the chorale to the parish in 1974.
Reader Inquiry Tell us about the saint who inspires you most All Saints Day — Nov. 1 — is a holy day of obligation that honors all the saints of the church. In anticipation of this feast day, The Catholic Spirit would like to know: “What saint’s story inspires you the most? Why?” Send us your answer, 200 words or less, and we’ll print a selection of responses in the newspaper’s Oct. 27 issue and online at THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM. Send your answers either by email or postal mail: ■ By email to: CATHOLICSPIRIT@ ARCHSPM.ORG. Please write “Saints” in the subject line. ■ By postal mail to: “Saints,” c/o The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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Calendar
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Paul — October 15: 4 p.m. Mass followed by a taco fiesta, games, entertainment and more at 1801 LaCrosse Ave.
Parish events Women’s club garage sale at St. Thomas the Apostle, Corcoran — September 28 to 30: 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday ($4 bag day) at 20000 County Road 10. Rummage sale at Holy Name, Minneapolis — September 29, 30 and October 1: Preview sale 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday ($1 admission), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday ($1 bag day) at 3637 11th Ave. S. “Taste of Como” Oktoberfest at Holy Childhood, St. Paul — September 30: Sample food, beer and wines by many vendors. Enjoy German music and dancing. Cost is $15 in advance and $20 at the door at 1435 Midway Parkway. Go green sale at St. Joseph, New Hope — October 1: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 8701 36th Ave. N. Bargain bag sale at 2 p.m. Craft fair at St. Stanislaus, St. Paul — October 1: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 398 Superior St. Features more than 20 crafters, silent auction and bakery. Chili Fest at St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier, Taylors Falls — October 1: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 490 Beach St. Features chili, chili dogs, beer cheese soup, silent auction, country store and more. St. Mary parish Harvest Bazaar at Bellechester Community Center, Bellechester — October 1: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 101 First St. Church Ladies’ bake sale and lunch includes soups, sandwiches and pies. Vendors will sell jewelry, crafts, candles, Christmas items and more. Blessing of the animals at St. Joseph, Rosemount — October 1: 11 a.m. at 13900 Biscayne Ave. W. Features music and prayer, as well as collective and individual blessings. Fall sale at St. Mary of the Lake, Plymouth — October 1 and 2: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at 105 Forestview Lane. Will include crafts, product consultants, collectibles and food. Fall festival at St. Francis of Assisi, Lake St. Croix Beach — October 1 and 2: Pet blessing at 10 a.m. Saturday and festival activities, including a spaghetti dinner, begin at 6 p.m. at 16770 13th St. S. Mass at 10:30 a.m. Sunday followed by games and a raffle drawing. Festival at St. Peter, Mendota — October 2: Noon to 4 p.m. at 1405 Hwy 13. Features food, games, boutique vendors and more. Visit WWW.STPETERS MENDOTA.ORG. Fall Festival at St. Casimir, St. Paul — October 2: 11a.m. to 4 p.m. features a turkey dinner served until 3:30 p.m. and a polka Mass featuring John Filipczak at 10 a.m. at 934 Geranium Ave. E. Festival at All Saints, Minneapolis — October 2: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 435 Fourth St. N.E. Festivities include a Polish dinner, live music, raffles, silent auction and more. Dinner tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. For tickets call (763) 561-4756. Festival at St. Patrick, Shieldsville — October 2: Mass at 10 a.m. followed
Don’t Miss Candlelight rosary procession Bishop Lee Piché will lead the 9th annual Candlelight Rosary Procession Oct. 7 from the Minnesota State Capitol to the Cathedral of St. Paul. Gathering at the Capitol begins at 6:30 p.m. with the procession at 7 p.m. During the procession, prayer will be for families and a greater understanding of the sanctity of marriage and family life. For more information, visit WWW.FAMILY ROSARYPROCESSION.ORG. by a roast pork dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 7525 Dodd Road, Faribault. Also features live polka music, crafts and more. ‘A Taste of Guardian Angels’ at Guardian Angels, Oakdale — October 2: 4 p.m. at 8260 Fourth St. N. Features music written by parish music director Roger Stratton and parish members John Becker and Will Pitts. Fall festival at St. John Byzantine, Minneapolis — October 2: Mass at 10 a.m. followed by festival until 4 p.m. at 2201 Third St. N.E. Features ethnic foods, bingo, games, a bake sale and more. Rummage sale at St. Joseph, Hopkins — October 6 to 8: 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 9:30 to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at 1310 Mainstreet. Saturday is $1 bag day. Rummage sale at Holy Childhood, St. Paul — October 6 to 8: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday (bag day) at 1435 Midway Parkway. Fall festival at St. Peter, North St. Paul — October 7 to 9: 5:30 to 9:30 Friday includes bingo, video arcade games pizza and more. Continues Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday features a chicken dinner and games from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2600 N. Margaret St. Festival at Holy Trinity South St. Paul — October 7 to 9: Begins Friday at 5 p.m. with Bingo Bonanza for adults 21 and over. Continues Saturday with a taco dinner at 6 p.m. followed by a live auction. Festival opens Sunday at 11:30 a.m. with a tractor pull, turkey dinner and more at 749 Sixth Ave. S. Oktoberfest at St. Therese, Deephaven — October 8: 3 p.m. at 18323 Minnetonka Blvd. Activities include German food, silent auction, kids carnival, Boogie Wonderland, beer garden and a polka Mass at 5 p.m. Marriage retreat at St. Joseph, Delano — October 8: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 401 N. River St. For information, visit WWW.DELANOCATHOLIC.COM. ‘Booya in Bayport’ at St. Charles, Bayport — October 8: Noon to 9 p.m. at 409 N. Third St. Also features silent auction, games, live entertainment and a drive-thru booya stand. For information call (715) 760-1704. Fall festival at St. Joseph, Waconia — October 8: Noon to 11:30 p.m. at 41 E. First St. Event includes games, concessions, polka Mass at 4 p.m., a spaghetti dinner and street dance. For information, visit WWW.STJOSEPHWA
CONIA.ORG.
Fall festival at St. Thomas More, St. Paul — October 8: 1 to 7 p.m. at 1079 Summit Ave. Festival features food, games, Segway rides and a variety of entertainment. Benefit concert for Catholic Charities’ Spanish counseling services at St. Casimir, St. Paul — October 8: 7 p.m. at 934 Geranium Ave. E. Features international music and dance and sacred music. Suggested donation is $20. Refreshments will be served following the concert. Faith on Fire Weekend at St. John, Little Canada — October 8 and 9: Three presentations by best-selling author Steve Ray Saturday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at 380 Little Canada Road. For a complete schedule of the weekend, visit WWW.STJOHNSOFLC.ORG. Festival at Holy Rosary/Santo Rosario, Minneapolis — October 9: 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 2424 18th Ave. S. Chicken dinner and Mexican foods, games, raffles and more. German Day and dinner at St. Boniface, Minneapolis — October 9: Polka Mass at 10 a.m. followed by an authentic German dinner and dancing from 11 a.m to 2:30 p.m. at 629 N.E. Second St. Take-out available. Festival at Holy Name, Minneapolis — October 9: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 3637 11th Ave. S. Event includes a pancake breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to noon, kids’ games and face painting, live music, bingo and more. Visit WWW.CHURCHOFTHEHOLYNAME.ORG. ‘The Council that Changed the Church: 50th anniversary of the calling of Vatican II’ presented at St. Odilia, Shoreview — October 11: 9 to 11 a.m. at 3495 N. Victoria. Presented by theologian, author and speaker Arthur Zannoni. For information, call (651) 484-2777. Oktoberfest tent party at St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — October 14: Live band Uncle Chunk performs from 7 to 11 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door and include food, live entertainment, a raffle ticket and a drink ticket. For people age 21 and up. Wine and beer tasting at St. Peter, Richfield — October 14: 6 to 9 p.m. at 6730 Nicollet Ave. S. Wine and beer tasting with hors d’ hoeuvres, silent and live auctions, a pop tasting for grades 6 to 12. Childcare available. Cost is $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Festival at Blessed Sacrament, St.
Minnesota Sinfonia chamber orchestra performs at St. Olaf, Minneapolis — October 15: 7:30 p.m. at 215 S. Eighth St. ‘Angels and Demons in the Catholic tradition” at Holy Spirit School, St. Paul — October 15: 3 p.m. at 515 Albert St. S. Peter Kreeft will speak. $5 donation suggested. Fall Art and Architecture tour at St. Thomas More, St. Paul — October 15: 6 p.m. at the East campus church, 1079 Summit Ave. Father Joseph Weiss will lead the tour, and wine and hors d’oeuvres will follow. Suggested donation is $10. RSVP to (651) 227-7669. Family festival at St. Austin, Minneapolis — October 16: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4050 Upton Ave. N. Features a ham and scalloped potato dinner, bake sale, face painting and more. Fall festival and booya at St. Mary, St. Paul — October 16: Begins with a polka Mass at 10:30 a.m. at 261 E. Eighth St. Booya, bake sale, flea market, games and more from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Homemade quilts and covers bingo at Sts. Peter and Paul, Loretto — October 16: 2 p.m. at 145 Railway St. E. Bingo card cost of $10 includes a hot meal, 20 games and door prizes. Additional cards $5. Free bike drawing for children 14 and under.
Single events 50-plus Second Sunday Supper event at St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis — October 9: 5 p.m. at 4537 Third Ave. S. Includes social hour, bratwurst supper and celebrate Oktoberfest at 7 p.m. with concertina music by Art Ohotto. Cost is $10. Call (952) 884-5165.
Other events Art and craft show at St. Paul’s Monastery, Maplewood — October 1: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2675 Benet Road. KC fall bingo at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — October 2: 2 p.m. at 21304 Church Ave. Cards are $7 for one, $12 for two and $15 for three. Snacks and beverages available. KC trivia night at Knights of Columbus Marian Hall Events Center, Bloomington — October 7: Team check-in from 6 to 7 p.m., trivia from 7 to 10 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Cost is $20 per person until 5 p.m. on 9/23, then $25. For information, visit WWW.KOFC3827.COM. Highland LifeCare Center 2nd annual benefit banquet at Lumen Christi, St. Paul — October 15: 6 to 9 p.m. at 2055 Bohland Ave. Mary Ann Kuharski will speak. Cost is $40 per ticket or a table of 8 for $320. For information, visit WWW.HIGHLANDLIFE CARE.ORG.
Calendar Submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, seven days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and institutions. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your press release. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication in the calendar: • Time and date of event. • Full street address of event. • Description of event. • Contact information in case of questions. E-MAIL: CALENDAR@ ARCHSPM.ORG. (No attachments, please.)
FAX: (651) 291-4460. MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
League of Catholic Women lights up to end 100th celebration The 600 members of the League of Catholic Women will wrap up a yearlong 100th anniversary celebration with events on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8-9. The events are the The last of 12 social and Catholic Spirit spiritual gatherings planned to note a century of service. The “Celebration of Light” will take place at the Minikahda Club Oct. 8. The evening affair will be reminiscent of the formal parties that took place in the early 1900s. On Oct. 9, Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn will celebrate the 10 a.m. Mass at St. Olaf in Minneapolis with Father Mark Pavlic, pastor. A reception will follow in Fleming Hall. During the past 100 years, the league has provided support for single mothers, seniors, women veterans and children, especially at Risen Christ School in Minneapolis, where many members have served as tutors. This centennial year, the league is launching Minneapolis Network to help north Minneapolis nonprofits build community. It also started an outreach for women veterans and wives of veterans to help them after deployment.
News Notes
Sacred Heart hits 100 Sacred Heart Church in Robbinsdale
celebrated its 100th anniversary with a variety of special events throughout the year, highlighted by a concluding centennial Mass with Archbishop John Nienstedt on Sept. 25. The founding members of Sacred Heart planned the Great Catholic Picnic on July 4, 1910, which provided about $500 to start a church building fund, according to “A History of Faith,” an article about Sacred Heart Church. The parish was established Aug. 12, 1911, when Bishop John Ireland signed the official papers of incorporation and the first Mass was celebrated in the new church on Christmas Eve later that year. A rectory, school and activities building were built and connected to the church campus over the years. The history article also noted that Father Bryan Pedersen, pastor, has continued the legacy of the prior pastors and parishioners to serve and worship in Robbinsdale.
New senior affiliate The Little Sisters of the Poor — Holy Family Residence in St. Paul is now an affiliate of Catholic Senior Services of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché said, “The Little Sisters of the Poor bring a unique and very profound Catholic character to the CSS collaboration to serve seniors.”
Scholarships get a bump The University of St. Thomas School of Law received an additional $850,000 in scholarship funds in honor of the school’s 10th anniversary, thanks to the generosity of 15 law firms. Thomas Mengler, dean of the law school, said that donors have contributed more than $100 million since the School of Law was re-established.
Legacy for CCF volunteer The Catholic Community Foundation will present Susan Morrison with the 2011 Legacy of Faith Award, which is given annually to an individual or family in recognition of their leadership and philanthropy in support of the Catholic community. The award will be presented Oct. 26, at the foundation’s annual banquet. Morrison has MORRISON been a community volunteer and philanthropist for 50 years and has served on the foundation’s board since 2002. For more about the Catholic Community Foundation, visit WWW.CCF-MN.ORG.
Tribunal studies healing attributed to Archbishop Sheen Catholic News Service The fact that James Fulton Engstrom celebrated his first birthday Sept. 16 is amazing. In fact, some would call his life a miracle. Considered stillborn one year ago after his mother’s healthy pregnancy and “a beautiful, short labor,” James was without a pulse for the first 61 minutes of his life. It was only when doctors at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill., were ready to call the time of death that his little heart started beating. His parents, Travis and Bonnie Engstrom, believe James is alive because of the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a candidate for sainthood. On Sept. 7, a tribunal of inquiry was sworn in to investigate the tot’s alleged miraculous healing. Joining James and his family at the ceremony in Peoria were Bishop Daniel Jenky; Andrea Ambrosi, postulator for the cause; and members of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation board, some of whom are relatives of the late archbishop. Peoria is the late archbishop’s home diocese. His cause was officially opened in 2002. The Sheen Foundation centralized its operations in the diocese in 2007.
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“When we allow God’s love to influence the whole of our lives, then heaven stands open. . . . Then the little things of everyday life acquire meaning, and great problems find solutions.” Pope Benedict XVI, speaking Sept. 23 at the Marian sanctuary of Etzelsbach, Germany
Overheard 24
The Catholic Spirit
Quotes from this week’s newsmakers
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 “The Catholic bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by you and your administration to strengthen marriage and the family. We cannot be silent, however, when federal steps harmful to marriage, the laws defending it and religious freedom continue apace.” — Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, in a Sept. 20 letter to President Barack Obama criticizing his administration’s fight against the Defense of Marriage Act
Hill-Murray’s historic homecoming Above, Steve Austin, who attended Hill-Murray School in the early 1980s and Bob Bitzen, a 1984 graduate, look at a memorabilia display during the 50th anniversary and homecoming celebration at the school Sept. 24. It kicked off a year of events celebrating the school’s 50 years of graduates. The Maplewood school was established when Archbishop Murray Memorial High School for girls and Hill High School for boys consolidated in 1971. The event honored the history of both schools — whose graduating classes started their senior year in 1961. A Hall of Fame breakfast, 5K run, carnival and concessions were part of the day, as well as the school’s homecoming football game and music by The Rockin’ Hollywoods. While looking at the 50 years of history displayed in the school’s varsity gym, Don Talbot and his wife Margaret, both 1963 graduates, remembered the camaraderie of the students at both schools. “We made lifelong friendships,” Don said. “We still get together with friends from the ’62 and ’63 classes. They were almost like one class.”
Above, Cassie Atkinson, 6, bounces down an inflatable slide, one of the attractions for children at the carnival. Cassie’s mom, Barb Atkinson, is a 1989 graduate and Cassie’s grandfather, Frank Asenbrenner, was the school’s first principal, serving from 1969 to 1990. During a breakfast earlier in the day, Asenbrenner was inducted, along with five others, into Hill-Murray School’s first Athletic Hall of Fame class for his support of Pioneer athletic programs. Right, Senior Tessa Cichy cheers for a Hill-Murray touchdown during the homecoming football game. The Pioneers fell to the South St. Paul Packers, 16 to 7.
“The Gospel that Christians proclaim is a Gospel of mercy, love and forgiveness. We believe that the death penalty is not compatible with the Gospel. The common good and public security can be achieved in other ways. The Gospel calls us to proclaim the sacredness of human life under all circumstances.” — Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta and retired Bishop Kevin Boland of Savannah, in a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Sept. 21 execution of Troy Davis, who was put to death for his conviction in the 1989 murder of an off-duty Savannah, Ga., police officer
“We live in the richest country in the world, even with our deficit challenges, and yet the vast majority FATHER SNYDER of the country is content to go to bed at night without thought for the one out of every six Americans who are struggling simply to get by. That has to change. And it’s up to us to change it.” — Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, speaking at a national Poverty Summit held Sept. 18-19 in Fort Worth, Texas.that would make assisted suicide legal in the commonwealth