The Catholic Spirit - December 15, 2011

Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

MINISTRY VISITATION INTERNS

The Catholic Spirit

Pair learn about service, prayer and sisters’ lives Page 3

HOOKED ON STEWARDSHIP Parishes share what’s landed them success Page 6

News with a Catholic heart

December 15, 2011

LOCAL

OLD TOYS GET NEW LIFE

TheCatholicSpirit.com

How would you spend $1,000?

St. Agnes students learn more about charitable giving thanks to one couple’s generosity

By Pat Norby The Catholic Spirit

Fifty-three seniors at St. Agnes High School in St. Paul are learning the joy of giving through Project Joy this year, thanks to the financial generosity of a couple who want to remain anonymous.

“The gentleman of the couple said that early in his life he was fortunate enough to be able to go around and give donations to different folks that were in need and it really touched his heart,” explained Jim Morehead, St. Agnes School principal. “He wanted to find a way to try to instill that feeling into others.”

The couple provided $53,000 so that each senior could give $1,000 to the charity of his or her choice.

“The hope would be that, obviously in the future, they would continue to give and pass it along,” Morehead said.

Educational experience Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

Fourth-graders Madison Dillon, left, and Natalie Wheeler clean donated toys in their classroom Dec. 12 at Nativity of Mary School in Bloomington. The school’s two fourth-grade classes collected used toys from other students to donate to the MORE Multicultural School for Empowerment, which serves many new immigrants and refugees in St. Paul’s McDonough neighborhood. The 30 students spent the day cleaning the toys, making sure all the pieces were included and installing batteries. They packed the toys in boxes and loaded them into a truck and minivan Dec. 13 for delivery. Parents of the MORE students will be able to pick out toys Dec. 15.

VIDEO: When it comes to making Christmas merry for families in need, Catholic school students deliver.

Visit our YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/TheCatholicSpirit.

Local priest featured in memorial calendar

By Kathryn Elliott The Catholic Spirit

A priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who served as a U.S. Army Chaplain in Iraq will be featured in the 2012 edition of a “Minnesota Fallen Heroes Remembered” calendar.

Each month of the calendar honors the memory of a Minnesota service member. The calendar’s “May” page features the story and photos of the late Father Timothy Vakoc.

Now in its third year, the calendar was started

by Patricia Boyd, a St. Paul resident who began visiting the grave of Tom Burnett Jr. at Fort Snelling National Cemetery following the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Burnett was among

the heroes who attempted to foil the hijacking of Flight 93 before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

Boyd’s few moments of prayer turned into hour-long stints when she noticed the nearby graves of military members who had recently died in the service, and she began visiting those, too.

Then Boyd started meeting service members’ mothers while they were visiting their sons’ graves.

“They always were worried about people forgetting their sons — what they did. I knew at that moment I had to do something,” Boyd recounted. The calendars have been a tribute ever PLEASE TURN TO CALENDAR ON PAGE 15

With guidance from Morehead as well as physics/chemistry teacher Karl Hendrickson and St. Agnes pastor Father John Ubel, the students chose an organization and researched it to be certain that it was in line with the mission of St. Agnes School and the principles of the Catholic Church.

Father Ubel said the research was necessary because some charities may PLEASE TURN TO ST. AGNES ON PAGE 9

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DECEMBER 15, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bringing a musical role model to my attention

That They May All Be One Archbishop John C. Nienstedt

Singer Taylor Swift’s music features pro-parent, pro-family lyrics

It has been said that, “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks,” but I am here to prove otherwise.

The setting for this story was the National Catholic Youth Conference, which was held this year from Nov. 17-19 in Indianapolis. Twentythree thousand young people were present.

Since we had over 130 youths participating in what I like to describe as a mini-World Youth Day celebration, I flew to Indianapolis from the bishops’ conference in time to preside at an evening liturgy for our own youths as well as for those from the other five dioceses of Minnesota.

It is difficult to describe the intense prayer, praise and song that characterize this gathering. Truly, it is for many participants a religious experience that touches their very souls. The talks, the dance, the song and the prayers are powerful, making connections with our young people in a way that solidifies their identity as Catholics.

Archbishop’s schedule ■ Friday-Saturday, Dec. 16-17: Buffalo, Minn., Christ the King Retreat Center: Retreat for men discerning the priesthood.

■ Sunday, Dec. 18: 2 p.m., St. Paul, Cathedral of St. Paul: Private baptism.

■ Monday, Dec. 19: 7 a.m., St. Paul, St. John Vianney College Seminary: Holy Eucharist, followed by breakfast.

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.

3 p.m., St. Paul, Chancery: The Catholic Cemeteries corporate board meeting.

5:15 p.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Mass and dinner with novices and staff of Jesuit novitiate.

■ Tuesday, Dec. 20: 8:30 a.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Scheduling meeting with staff.

9:30 a.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Archdiocesan Comprehensive Assignment Board meeting.

1:30 p.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Archbishop’s Council meeting.

■ Wednesday, Dec. 21: 9 a.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Meeting of the Caleb Group.

4 p.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Archdiocesan Office of Mission board of directors meeting.

■ Thursday, Dec. 22: 9 a.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Meeting with staff.

12 p.m., St. Paul, Town & Country Club: Archdiocesan employee Christmas luncheon.

Doing my homework After I had celebrated Mass for the Minnesota delegation, the archdiocesan contingent walked four blocks to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. I was seated at a table with 14 representatives from various parishes.

In the course of the meal, which was accompanied by loud background music and equally loud con-

The Catholic Spirit

versation, one young lady leaned across the table and asked, “Archbishop, what do you think of Taylor Swift?” I responded, “Who?” “Taylor Swift,” came the reply. I had to admit, “I’ve never heard of her.” There was a look of disbelief and horror on the faces all around.

Well, since that awkward moment, I have done my homework

and have become very impressed with this country music singer, a singer who has recently entered the field as a pop artist as well.

Taylor Swift, now 21 years old, began writing songs and poems while still a teenager. She started singing professionally when she was only PLEASE TURN TO TAYLOR ON PAGE 9

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.

MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT Publisher JOE TOWALSKI Editor

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by Catholic Spirit Publishing Company.

Subscriptions: $29.95 per year Senior 1-year: $24.95 To subscribe: (651) 291-4444 Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444 Classified advertising: (651) 290-1631 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.

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The Catholic Spirit To assist statewide efforts to defend and define marriage in the Minnesota Constitution, Archbishop John Nienstedt has issued a prayer intended for use as part of the Prayers of the Faithful at Mass.

The archbishop also encourages use of the prayer in eucharistic adoration chapels so worshipers can pray for the success of the state marriage amendment and all efforts to strengthen marriage, according to a letter posted on the archdiocesan website at WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG. He also is calling on Catholics in the archdiocese to embrace Fridays as a day of prayer and sacrifice for the success of the amendment effort.

The amendment, supported by Minnesota’s Catholic bishops, will appear on the 2012 ballot. It will ask voters: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?”

“The current struggle to defend and define marriage within our civil constitution demands a three-fold approach,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “We must educate our fellow citizens on the meaning and good of marriage. We must actively and resolutely promote widespread participation among our fellow believers in the support of a marriage amendment. And, most importantly, we must pray and offer sacrifice for the success of all endeavors that seek to protect and promote marriage.”

Copies of the prayer may be downloaded or ordered from the archdiocesan Office of Worship. For information, visit HTTP://WWW.ARCH SPM.ORG/DEPARTMENTS/WORSHIP.

Marriage Prayer

Vol. 16 — No. 26

BOB ZYSKOWSKI Associate publisher

Archbishop issues prayer for marriage

Appliances come with tons of packaging, most of which ends up in landfills. Not with us. We recycle nearly all waste we generate.

Visit www.warnersstellian.com/sustainability Edina Saint Paul Woodbury Apple Valley Maple Grove Mpls. Outlet Rochester

(612) 920-0640 (651) 645-3481 (651) 714-9790 (952) 891-4700 (763) 551-0888 (612) 825-6465 (507) 252-5552

Heavenly Father, Through the powerful intercession of the Holy Family, grant to this local Church the many graces we need to foster, strengthen, and support faith-filled, holy marriages and holy families.

May the vocation of married life, a true calling to share in your own divine and creative life, be recognized by all believers as a source of blessing and joy, and a revelation of your own divine goodness.

Grant to us all the gift of courage to proclaim and defend your plan for marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman in a lifelong, exclusive relationship of loving trust, compassion, and generosity, open to the conception of children We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Correction ww

co m w.warn ersstellian.

A brief in the Nov. 23 issue incorrectly reported that Archbishop John Nienstedt had been appointed to the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on Health Care Issues.

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.”

Blessed Mother Teresa

Local News from around the archdiocese

The Catholic Spirit

DECEMBER 15, 2011

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Visitation interns learn about service, sisters’ lives way with a sense of the church’s social justice teaching and of community, Sister Karen said.

“We’re rooted in this neighborhood and this neighborhood will benefit from the dedication and the good work of young adults, and young adults will benefit from living in this community — the north side commuSCHUMACHER nity — and being exposed to the spirituality of a long-standing religious community,” she said.

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

Thanks in part to a few detours, Beth Anne Cooper is now more sure of her path to a deeper prayer life as she spends the year growing in faith, sharing life and serving the north Minneapolis community while interning with the Visitation Sisters.

The first detour was her decision to drop graduate school plans and apply for the new Visitation Internship Program, a yearlong opportunity for young adults to extend the sisters’ north Minneapolis ministry while living in community near their monastery and learning the order’s spirituality.

Cooper, a Catholic and native of the Bronx, New York, who served in the Twin Cities last year with AmeriCorps, encountered another detour when she broke her leg this fall only a month into the program. Slowing down has meant focusing more on prayer to gain a solid foundation for tutoring and coaching youth at nearby Ascension School and assisting the sisters.

“I really am finding that prayer is where it all comes from,” she said. “It’s really what’s drawing me closer to God. It’s the basis for a lot of what I’m able to do in my service and I think the basis for where I’m going to go [after] this program.”

Mutual enrichment Cooper and fellow intern Kelly Schumacher are the first young adults to serve in the VIP program, which the Visitation Sisters started with funds from a vocationrelated grant, said Sister Karen Mohan, who leads the program.

“We thought that we might really have something to offer and to receive from

Looking ahead Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Visitation Sister Mary Frances Reis, left, Beth Anne Cooper and Linda Goynes fill Christmas gift bags for teens at the Visitation Monastery in north Minneapolis. Cooper is participating in the Visitation Internship Program, which involves service, fellowship and spiritual life with the sisters.

young adults coming, and indeed that was true,” she said.

For Schumacher, a Lutheran and a Chaska native whose previous service includes a year in Durban, South Africa, the VIP program offered the chance to live and serve in the same diverse community.

“I really felt like this program was speaking to a lot of my spiritual desires,” she said. “The way that I feel the spirit calling me to be in community, the way I felt the spirit calling me to serve and love others, and to be loved by others, required a certain amount of humility. To live in the community you’re serving can be a little scary.”

!

Schumacher has divided her time between teaching and working on curriculum for English as a Second Language classes, working with Cooper on Ascension’s after-school program and developing a resource book and expanding programming at the monastery.

Objectives for the September-June program are participating in community living, developing relationships, studying the spirituality of the order’s founders, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, and deepening their knowledge of the Catholic Church’s social justice teaching.

The sisters hope interns will understand the spirituality and live it out in their own

The sisters hope to host up to four interns per year, ages 20-35, male or female.

The program pays interns’ living expenses, medical insurance and a small stipend. Interns are not required to be Catholic.

Interns choose their service from among neighborhood ministry options. “It’s not a year when you’re spoon fed what you’re going to do next,” Sister Karen said.

“You’re given opportunities and then you run with it within certain parameters, parameters being the garden of the north side neighborhood.”

VIP interns are making great offerings to the poor and social justice, while desiring to grow in their faith, said Sister Mary Frances Reis. “They are very open to deepening their own faith,” she said. “We see it as an opportunity to pass on our charism to another generation.”

PLEASE TURN TO VISITATION ON PAGE 4

Sharing and Caring Hands is CELEBRATING ITS 27TH YEAR OF HELPING PEOPLE IN NEED, Thanks to your generosity!

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To learn more and see what a difference your tax-deductible donations make, or to donate online, visit our website: www.sharingandcaringhands.org

St. Patrick’s Guild

St. Olaf Catholic Church Store

Send your tax-deductible donation to: Sharing and Caring Hands, 525 No. 7th St., Mpls., MN 55405

1554 Randolph Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 (651) 690-1506

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• We provided eye exams and glasses for over 600 people last year, over 1/2 of them were children referred to us by schools.

• We gave thousands of showers last year to people with no other access to bathing facilities.

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• We gave out over 11,500 bags of groceries last year to people in need.

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Please help the poor and unfortunate. Assist the families and give help to the children.

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Local

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Hooked on

stewardship Two parishes share what’s landed good results in their communities

By Julie Pfitzinger

Photo courtesy of St. Odilia Church

For The Catholic Spirit

St. Odilia in Shoreview and St. Therese in Deephaven were both recently honored at the International Catholic Stewardship Conference in Orlando, Fla., for the creative and innovative steps they have taken around the topic of stewardship in their parish communities.

More than 1,000 people — pastors, parish leaders, development directors and others — from 156 different dioceses across the world attended the event, which included a wide variety of presentations and workshops about stewardship in all its various forms.

Making a PACT in Shoreview St. Odilia was the runner-up for the Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy Stewardship Award and received a second-place commendation. Five members of the nine-person parish stewardship committee attended the conference, enthusiastic about sharing with others what has worked at St. Odilia and learning from other parishes also working to enhance their own stewardship programs.

St. Odilia, with approximately 1,500 households, currently has more than 130 different ministries in which parishioners of all ages and interests can participate. A 40-page book called “Come Journey: A Guide to Parish Resources and Ministry Opportunities” is available for all parishioners, and the church also holds an annual ministry fair.

The invitation to stewardship is focused on what the parish calls “PACT with the Great Spirit,” with elements that include prayer, attitude, change of heart, trust, giving and service.

“When we were at the conference, PACT was

St. Odilia’s Hooked on Ministry booth, from left: Len Krenik, Jim Donnelly, Pat Keyes, Mike McCarthy, Deb Peters.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Minneapolis has threatened to fine a Hastings lawyer and her client up to $10,000 for making anti-Catholic statements in a Nov. 25 court filing.

The memo, written by Naomi Isaacson, president of Yehud-Monosson USA, Inc., and signed by attorney Rebekah Nett, referred to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher as a “black-robed bigot” and a “Catholic Knight Witch Hunter.”

It said the courts were “composed of a bunch of ignoramus, bigoted Catholic beasts that carry the sword of the church” and included other anti-Catholic slurs and allegations of conspiracy.

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights president Bill Donohue said in a news release on the organization’s website

Making a video

Visitors to the St. Therese website can immediately click on a video introducing them to the many facets of stewardship at the a great way for us to explain how we see Deephaven parish. The video was a runner-up stewardship at St. Odilia,” said Len Krenik, a in the Parish Stewardship Video Award category member of the stewardship committee. “We at the ICSC convention. had a lot of people ask us about this model, “I’ve attended these conferences for several which gave us a great opportunity to share how years and learned that other parishes had videos the Lord has blessed us here at the parish.” on their websites,” said Edward Smith, parish The group also sponsored a “Hooked on business administrator. “We have a Ministry” booth at the communications convention. Dressed in fishing committee here, so we garb, they handed out copies decided to see what we of their ministry booklets, could do.” examples of their time and The making of the video talent forms, sheets with the For information about the was an exercise in parish “PACT with the Great stewardship program at St. stewardship itself as the Spirit” prayer and goldfish Odilia in Shoreview, including all talents of many crackers. the information the parish parishioners contributed to St. Odilia stewardship compiled to present to the the project, including a committee members were also International Catholic photographer, an inspired by ideas shared by Stewardship Conference award individual with voice-over other parish representatives. committee, visit WWW.STODILIA.ORG experience who served as Jim Donnelly attended a and click on “Stewardship.” narrator, as well as the workshop called “The parish choir, which The website address for St. Welcoming Parish” hosted by Therese in Deephaven is WWW.STprovided the soundtrack. a Florida church, and three THERESE.ORG; the parish video is Activities both inside the points the presenter offered located on the home page. church and outside, regarding parish community including young spoke strongly to him.

The archdiocesan Office of parishioners tending the St. “The main focus of a church Development and Stewardship Therese community garden, is to bring people to Jesus has many resources for parishes, are prominently featured. including a Stewardship Tool Kit Christ. Once they are at the containing information on “With today’s church, the people don’t care implementing stewardship technology, videos like this what you know until they programs and other ideas. Visit one are relatively easy to know you care about them,” WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG and click on make,” Smith said. “From Donnelly said. “And they are “Offices” and then on monitoring our parish more likely to get involved and “Development and website, I know the video stay involved in parish life if Stewardship.” receives a lot of hits.” their friends are there doing

Lawyer could be fined up to $10,000 for anti-Catholic statements in court filing The Catholic Spirit

the same.”

Common challenges faced by stewardship leaders include drawing in young people, educating parishioners about stewardship and the full integration of parishes with members who speak two languages; this is an issue facing St. Odilia, which offers a 12:45 p.m. Spanish language Mass every Sunday.

According to Krenik, members of the St. Odilia stewardship committee are always willing to talk to stewardship committee members from other local parishes to share what has worked in their own community.

“It is so important for all of us to teach stewardship to the next generation,” he said. “If we don’t pass on the traditions of stewardship, they will be lost.”

that it is filing a formal complaint in Minnesota and Wisconsin against Nett, who is licensed in both states.

Yehud Monosson USA, Inc., a subsidiary of a Shawano, Wis., religious group called the Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology Inc., is involved in a bankruptcy dispute before Dreher. It owns several gas stations and convenience stores.

The judge pointed out 10 passages for which Nett and Isaacson could face sanctions of up to $1,000, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. A hearing is set for Jan. 4.

Dreher told Nett and Isaacson that she plans to order them to issue public apologies for the filing, according to the Pioneer Press. She also said she plans to require Nett, who runs Westview Law Center in Hastings, to undergo ethics training.

Resources available

Visitation interns reap program’s benefits CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Having benefited from the chance to learn some of the sisters’ spirituality and integrate her work and life in the same community, Schumacher plans to stay in the neighborhood when she gets married next summer. “We’re really excited to continue to be here and be in this neighborhood post VIP.” Barring any more detours, Cooper is pretty sure her next step will be graduate school in physical therapy, not the field she previously intended.

Through prayer and service, she’s had time to discern her call to be a lay leader rather than a religious sister.

“I think I was really searching to go deeper in my faith and to become more authentically who God created me to be,” she said. “I think it’s allowed me to take a step back and remember who I am and

“We see it as an opportunity to pass on our charism to another generation.

”

SISTER MARY FRANCES REIS Speaking about the Visitation Internship Program

what are my strengths and gifts and talents.”

For more information about the VIP program, visit WWW.VISITATIONMONASTERYMINNEAPOLIS.ORG or contact Sister Karen Mohan at VMONASTERY@AOL.COM.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Cathedral of Saint Paul

Church of the Holy Spirit

Church of St. Stephen

239 Selby Avenue, Saint Paul www.cathedralsaintpaul.org Christmas Eve: Daily Mass at 8 a.m.

No Confessions and no 7 p.m. Mass Office of Readings with Carols at 10:45 p.m. preceding Midnight Mass Christmas Day: Midnight Mass with Cathedral Choir and Brass 8 a.m. Mass with Cantor 10 a.m. Mass with Cathedral Choir and Brass 12 Noon Mass with Schola Cantorum and Brass 5 p.m. Mass with Cathedral Choir School and Chamber Orchestra

515 S. Albert Street, St. Paul Saturday, December 24 Nativity of the Lord Christmas Vigil Mass 4 p.m. Prelude featuring Children’s Choir 4:30 p.m. Mass 9:30 p.m. Prelude Featuring Traditional Choir 10 p.m. Mass Sunday, December 25 Nativity of the Lord Christmas Mass 8:30, 10:30 a.m. Mass Saturday, December 31 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Anticipatory Mass: 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, January 1 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 8:30, 10:30 a.m. Masses Saturday, Jan. 7 Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord Anticipatory Mass, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 8 Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord 8:30, 10:30 a.m. Mass For unto us a child is born, a son is given

525 Jackson St., Anoka Christmas Eve Masses: 4, 5:30 p.m., (7 p.m. Spanish), midnight Christmas Day Masses: 8, 9:30, 11 a.m., (12:30 p.m. Spanish) May this Christmas season be a special time of grace and blessing!

St. Vincent de Paul 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park Christmas Eve: 4, 6, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day: 7:30, 9, 11 a.m.

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: Saturday, Dec. 31: 5 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 1: 7:30, 9, 11 a.m.

Father Jack, Father Bennet, and the staff wish you a Holy and Blessed Christmas

Pax Christi Catholic Community 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie Christmas Eve: 4, 6, 8, 10 p.m.

Lessons and Carols: 9:30 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9, 11 a.m. www.paxchristi.com

Holy Cross Church 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis Christmas Eve: Children’s 4 p.m., midnight (Music begins at 11:30) Christmas Day: 8, 10 a.m. (English), 11:30 a.m. (Polish)

Church of St. Peter 1250 South Shore Drive, Forest Lake Christmas Eve: 4, 5:30, 11 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9, 11 a.m.

Carols begin 30 minutes before all Masses The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Dec. 31: 5 p.m.

New Years Day: 8, 9:30, 11 a.m.

Transfiguration Church 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale Christmas Eve: 4, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day: 8:30, 10:30 a.m.

Carols one half hour before each Mass

Church of St. Therese of Deephaven

St. Albert the Great Church E. 29th St. and 32nd Ave. S., Minneapolis (612) 724-3643 www.saintalbertthegreat.org Christmas Eve: 5 p.m. (children’s Mass), 10 p.m. (candlelight Mass) Christmas Day: 10 a.m.

New Years Eve: 5 p.m.; New Years Day: 9:30 a.m.

Church of St. Jerome 380 E. Roselawn Ave., Maplewood www.stjerome-church.org Christmas Eve Masses: 4, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day Masses: 8:30, 10:30 a.m.

O Come Let Us Adore Him

St. Maron Maronite Catholic Church 600 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413 Office: 612-379-2758 www.stmaron.com Christmas Eve/Children’s Christmas Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9 a.m., 11 a.m.

Our Lady of Peace 54th St. and 12th Ave. in South Minneapolis Christmas Eve: 5, 10 p.m.; Carols start 9:30 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9, 11 a.m.

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God Saturday, Dec. 31 Mass: 5 p.m.

New Years Day, Sunday, Jan. 1 Masses: 9, 11 a.m.

18323 Minnetonka Blvd., Deephaven Christmas Eve: 4, 6, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9 a.m.

New Years Day: 8, 10 a.m.

Blessings to you this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year

St. Anthony of Padua

St. Bartholomew Catholic Faith Community

Church of St. Charles Borromeo

630 E. Wayzata Blvd, Wayzata (952) 473-6601 www.st-barts.org Christmas Eve: 4, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day: 10:30 a.m.

Please join us to celebrate this blessed and holy season!

813 Main St. NE, Mpls. 55413 Christmas Eve: 4 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9 a.m.

New Years Eve: 4 p.m.

New Years Day: 9 a.m.

2739 Stinson Blvd., St. Anthony (612) 781-6529 Christmas Eve: Prelude 4:30 p.m.; Vigil 5 p.m.; Midnight Mass; Prelude 11:30 p.m., Mass at Midnight Christmas Day: 7:30, 9:30, 11:15 a.m.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church One Lourdes Place, Minneapolis Christmas Eve: 4, 8 p.m.

Carols begin at 3:30, 7:30 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9, 11 a.m.

Carols begin at 10:30 a.m.

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!

Nativity of Our Lord 324 S. Prior Ave., St. Paul Christmas Eve Masses: 4 p.m. upstairs and school auditorium, 6 p.m., midnight Christmas Day Masses: 7, 8:15, 11 a.m.

God’s Blessing on you this Christmas!

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church 920 Holley Ave., St. Paul Park Christmas Eve Masses: 4, 10 p.m.

Christmas Day Mass: 9 a.m.

New Years Eve Mass: 5 p.m.

New Years Day Masses: 8:30, 10:30 a.m.

All are welcome! Please join us!

All Saints Catholic Church 19795 Holyoke Avenue, Lakeville Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord Christmas Eve: 4, 4:15 p.m. (Murphy Hall); 6 p.m., 12 a.m. (midnight) Christmas Day: 9, 11 a.m.

Solemnity of Mary: Sat., Dec. 31, 5 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 1, 9, 11 a.m., 5:30 p.m.

Feast of the Epiphany:

Sat., Jan. 7: 5 p.m.

Sun., Jan. 8: 7:30, 9, 11 a.m.; 5:30 p.m.

Saint Richard’s Catholic Church 7540 Penn Ave S, Richfield www.strichards.com Christmas Eve: 5 p.m.

Christmas Day: 9 a.m., 11 a.m.

Epiphany Taizé Prayer, Fri, Jan. 6: 7:30 p.m.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, has come into the world. (John 1:9)

St. Katharine Drexel Church Ramsey, MN — 763-323-4424 Christmas Eve: 4 p.m.

Christmas Day: 10 a.m.

New Years Eve: 4:30 p.m.

New Years Day: 8, 10 a.m.

Masses at the Parish Center 7101 143rd Ave. NW, Suite G

St. Joseph 1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins — 952-935-0111 Christmas Eve: 4 p.m. St. Joseph’s; 4, 10 p.m. St. John’s Christmas Day: 8:30 a.m. St. Joseph’s; 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m. (Spanish) St. John’s New Year’s Eve: 4:30 p.m. St. Joseph’s New Years Day: 8:30 a.m. St. Joseph’s; 10:30 a.m. 3 p.m. (Spanish) St. John’s

“Keep faith in Jesus the migrant who continues to walk beside you.”

From a Dec. 12 pastoral letter to immigrants from the U.S. Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops

6

Nation/World News from around the U.S and the globe

The Catholic Spirit

DECEMBER 15, 2011

‘You are not alone or forgotten’

Pope: Late cardinal should inspire use of media to spread Gospel

In new pastoral letter, Hispanic bishops offer support to immigrants

Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped the legacy of the late Cardinal John Foley would inspire others to make the Gospel known through mass media.

In a telegram to Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, the pope expressed his sadness and condolences for the death of Cardinal Foley, 76, Dec. 11 in Darby, Pa., after a battle with leukemia. He had been residing at Villa St. Joseph, the home for retired Philadelphia archdiocesan priests.

To many, the cardinal was the voice they heard giving commentary during the pope’s Christmas midnight Mass.

For 25 years, beginning in 1984, his voice was heard not only in North America, but also Asia, Africa, Europe and, for many years, Australia.

CARDINAL FOLEY As head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications from 1984 to 2007, the cardinal took the lead in articulating Catholic policy with regard to the media. Last February he retired from his post as grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, a chivalric organization dedicated to supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and to responding to the needs of Catholics in the Holy Land.

Catholic News Service An emotional pastoral letter to immigrants from the U.S. Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops offers love, encouragement, welcome, sympathy and assurance that “you are not alone or forgotten.”

“We recognize that every human being, authorized or not, is an image of God and therefore possesses infinite value and dignity,” begins the strongly worded letter released on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12. “We open our arms and hearts to you, and we receive you as members of our Catholic family. As pastors, we direct these words to you from the depths of our heart.”

“We urge you not to despair,” said the letter signed by 33 bishops. “Keep faith in Jesus the migrant who continues to walk beside you. Have faith in Our Lady of Guadalupe, who constantly repeats to us the words she spoke to St. Juan Diego, ‘Am I, who am your mother, not here?’”

Spirit of solidarity The letter thanks immigrants for “the Christian values you manifest to us with your lives — your sacrifice for the well-being of your families, your determination and perseverance, your joy of life, your profound faith and fidelity despite your insecurity and many difficulties.”

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., told Catholic News Service the

CNS file photo / David Maung

A 38-year-old woman from Mexico, who asked not to be identified because she is undocumented living in Arizona, poses for a photograph inside her home in Tucson in this 2010 file photo.

bishops wanted “to reach out to the immigrant community and express our concern for them, to speak to them in a spirit of solidarity.”

Though there’s been interest in such a form of outreach for a while, Bishop Soto said there was a sense that it might especially be needed now, because from a political standpoint, it “does not look promising” for government action to improve the legal situation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

In the letter, the bishops expressed regret that some people have reacted to the economic crisis by showing disdain for immigrants. Some “even blame them for the crisis,” they said.

“We will not find a solution to our problems by sowing hatred. We will find the solution by sowing a sense

of solidarity among all workers and co-workers — immigrants and citizens — who live together in the United States.”

They reiterated the position they as individuals and as members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have taken in support of comprehensive immigration reform. Such legislation should respect family unity and provide “an orderly and reasonable process for unauthorized persons to attain citizenship.” It should include a program for worker visas that protect immigrants’ rights and that provides for their basic needs, they added.

Read the full text of the letter in English and Spanish at HTTP://USCCBMEDIA. BLOGSPOT.COM.

Government says girls under 17 must consult doctors to get Plan B The U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswoman said she was relieved that the Obama administration has decided not to allow the Plan B One-Step “morning-after pill” to be sold without a prescription to those under 17.

“Luckily, things did not go from bad to even worse,” Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications at the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, told Catholic News Service Dec. 8. “We’re pleased that they did not expand access to this very powerful drug.” McQuade said Plan B One-Step, known generically as levonorgestrel, “is 40 times more potent than comparable progestin-only birth control pills for which a prescription is required” even for adult women. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has long opposed overthe-counter sales of Plan B.

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“If an immigrant from Mexico is a child of God, . . . then we ought to render him or her honor and a welcome, not a roar of hate, clenched fists and gritted teeth in response to the latest campaign slogan.”

Archbishop Timothy Dolan

This Catholic Life DECEMBER 15, 2011

Opinion, feedback and points to ponder

The Catholic Spirit

7

Bishops offer blueprint for treatment of immigrants he U.S. Supreme Court announced this week that it would hear a case involving a controversial Arizona law that, among other things, makes it a crime under state law for illegal immigrants to work or try to find work, and that requires police to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest if they believe the person might be in the country illegally.

The law itself has spawned similar laws in other states that have taken a piecemeal and all-too-often overly punitive approach to regulating immigration in the absence of comprehensive reform on the federal level that is needed to fix a system that most people — regardless of their position on the issue — agree is broken.

The court can help provide some clarity about what provisions fall under the purview of the states and what more rightfully belong to the federal government in the interest of fairness and consistency for all.

Any immigration law, state or federal, must balance the need for secure borders and an orderly process with respect for individual human dignity, basic human needs and keeping families intact — all provisions supported by the Catholic Church and reiterated most recently in a Dec. 12 pastoral letter written by Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops in the United States.

T Editorial Joe Towalski

Immigration law should balance need for secure borders with respect for human dignity

Painful realities Their letter, released on the same day as the Supreme Court announcement, contains several passages notable for their heartfelt sentiments —

Learning more

“We will not find a solution to our problems by sowing hatred. We will find the solution by sowing a sense of solidarity among all workers and co-workers — immigrants and citizens — who live together in the United States.

”

U.S. U.S. H HISPANIC ISPANIC AND AND LLATINO ATINO C CATHOLIC ATHOLIC BISHOPS BISHOPS

not about ideas for political solutions but about the human dimensions of the immigration issue: ■ “We recognize that every human being, authorized or not, is an image of God and therefore possesses infinite value and dignity.”

■ “The economic crisis has had an impact on the entire U.S. community. Regretfully, some in reaction to this environment of uncertainty show disdain for immigrants and even blame them for the crisis.

We will not find a solution to our problems by sowing hatred. We will find the solution by sowing a sense of solidarity among all workers and co-workers — immigrants and citizens — who live together in the

United States.”

■ “It pains and saddens us that many of our Catholic brothers and sisters have not supported our petitions for changes in the immigration law that will protect your basic rights while you contribute your hard work to our country. We promise to keep working to bring about this change.”

■ “We are not going to wait until the law changes to welcome you who are already here into our churches, for as St. Paul tells us, ‘You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of God and part of God’s household.’”

■ “Keep faith in Jesus the migrant who continues to walk beside you.”

The feast of the Epiphany, to be celebrated Jan. 8, is an annual time when our Minnesota bishops ask us to remember the human face of the immigration issue, to welcome the migrants and strangers among us because they are part of the same body of Christ.

In anticipation of Immigration Sunday on that date, the bishops have set up a website — HTTP:// IMMIGRATIONSUNDAYMN.ORG — that recommends books and educational activities for youth, adults and parishes to learn more about today’s immigrants as well as the immigrant past that is so much a part of our own family histories.

Ultimately, the church cannot pass laws, but it can walk with immigrants and help the rest of us to better understand who today’s newcomers are, the challenges they face, and the impact the system has on their lives and the lives of their families.

And, it can help us recognize the God-given human dignity of these new arrivals, particularly the poor and marginalized — many of whom we see toiling every day in restaurants and hotels, factories and farm fields for low pay and few benefits, while often separated from spouses and children.

Christ recognized the image of God in the faces of the people he encountered. We, as well as our lawmakers and judges who make and review laws, must see with those same eyes to bring about immigration policies that are fair, just and humane for all.

Archbishop Dolan: Human dignity is ‘primary doctrine’ of the church Catholic News Service Calling the dignity of the human person “a primary doctrine” of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York told an audience at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana Dec. 6 that it must prompt Catholics “to treat ourselves and others only with respect, love, honor and care.”

That doctrine also means people must not be identified “with our urges, our flaws, our status, our possessions, our utility,” but each seen as “a child of God, his creation, modeled in his own image, destined for eternity,” he said.

The archbishop, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was delivering the inaugural lecture in the university’s new Project on Human Dignity.

“My identity, my personhood . . . does not depend on whether or not I have a green card, a stock portfolio, a job, a home

or even a college diploma,” Archbishop Dolan said. “Nor does my identity depend upon whom I am sexually attracted to, or to race, religion, gender, social status, bank account, passport or health insurance, but on my essence as a child of God.” The talk quoted from a wide variety of sources — from Blessed John Paul II to a formerly drug-addicted Vietnam veteran, from Voltaire to a 20-year-old ex-prostitute who went to World Youth Day in Toronto on a dare in 2002 and said it saved her life.

“When we mention Catholic doctrines, we usually mention the Trinity, the Incarnation, the redemption, the Eucharist,” the archbishop said. “I wonder why we never include the doctrine of the dignity of the human person. It’s pivotal; it’s way up there; it’s normative.”

Respect for life Despite what he called the “caricature

of the church . . . that it had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the noble enterprise of defending human rights,” Archbishop Dolan said the Catholic doctrine of the dignity of the human person “startled the brutality of the Roman world with its emphasis on the protection of life, respect for the person, care for the vulnerable, [and] defense of women, babies, children, families, elders and even slaves.”

“It gave rise to the greatest system of health care, education and charity the world has ever known,” he added.

The church that proclaims this doctrine “is not a shrill, crabby, naysaying nag, but a warm, tender, gracious mother who invites, embraces and nurtures her children, calling forth from within the truth, beauty and goodness she knows is within them,” the archbishop said.

The doctrine of human dignity dictates the church’s position on abortion, immigration and the death penalty, among

other topics, he said.

“If the preborn baby in the womb, from the earliest moments of his or her conception, is a human person — an ‘is’ that comes not from the catechism but from the biology textbook used by any sophomore in high school — then that baby’s life ought to be cherished and protected,” Archbishop Dolan said.

“If an immigrant from Mexico is a child of God, . . . then we ought to render him or her honor and a welcome, not a roar of hate, clenched fists and gritted teeth in response to the latest campaign slogan,” he added. “If even a man on death row has a soul, is a human person, an ‘is’ that cannot be erased even by beastly crimes he may have committed, then we ought not to strap him to a gurney and inject him with poison.”

Contributing to this story was Ann Carey at Notre Dame.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Commentary

/ This Catholic Life

The unforgettable Cardinal John Foley any will remember him as the voice doing the “play-by-play” during the pope’s Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Peter’s Basilica, something he did for 25 years up until two years ago.

Journalists will remember him as the archbishop who got them a radio or teleBob Zyskowski vision feed or a straight answer about what the church teaches and why.

Those of us in Catholic media will remember the Philadelphian who became a cardinal of the church for his hilarious stories, his love of puns and his commitment to his faith, to the church and to truthful Catholic journalism.

I remember John Patrick Foley as a mentor who became a friend.

Cardinal Foley, who died Dec. 11, at the age of 76, was the editor of Philadelphia’s Catholic newspaper when he hired me, just a 22-year-old, to be his news and sports editor back in 1974.

M

Reflection

Best of mentors I’m trying to avoid saying he was a demanding boss, because that would put too dark a tone on the reality of who he was.

What he was was a boss who set high expectations — for himself as well as others.

He could never understand why anyone would ever give less than 100 percent when they could inform, form and inspire God’s people through the work we did.

Because he held those high standards, he could hold the reins loosely and let a young colt like me run. I tried out the latest in graphics. I cropped photos tight and used them big. I covered everything from

high school football to the International Eucharistic Congress to the U.S. Supreme Court. When I reported on controversial issues, then-Msgr. Foley didn’t steer me away but defended their publication because he felt Catholics needed all the facts, and what better place for them to read them than in his favorite newspaper.

Along the way he taught me the importance of planning, the value of teamwork and collaboration, and the truism that Catholic media have nothing to fear from reporting bad news. His approach to Catholic news — one forged in part at Columbia’s School of Journalism and in part by his priesthood — was that Catholic media should tell every story, tell it honestly and tell it with compassion. And he showed us all how to be Catholic, how to live out our faith every day in all we do, with everyone whose life touched ours.

When we worked for him in the mid1970s we expected the monsignor to one day be named an auxiliary bishop. Instead he went right to archbishop; Pope John Paul II chose him to head the Vatican’s communication efforts. He became a cardinal in 2009.

I’d left Philadelphia in 1977, but through the years we’d see each other at Catholic Press Association conventions and correspond occasionally. He always helped me better understand the church and my faith. All his letters — every one — included “give my love to Barbara and the children,” never forgetting my wife and that he’d baptized two of our four.

When I think back, I appreciate that he taught me the valuable lesson of having a reason for whatever I was doing. But, even

Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

Cardinal John Foley celebrated Mass at St. Paul Seminary Jan. 6, 2011. He was visiting the Twin Cities to speak at the 100th anniversary celebration for The Catholic Spirit later that evening.

better, he showed me how to love the church, warts and all. The bureaucracy frustrated him and the politics drove him crazy, yet I don’t know how many times I heard him say, “I’ve never had an unhappy day as a priest.” It was a sentence he repeated last year when he came to the Twin Cities to help The Catholic Spirit celebrate its 100th anniversary.

He wowed ‘em in Minneapolis I thought the cardinal would be a bigname draw for our centennial celebration, so about a year in advance I invited him to be our keynote speaker in January 2011.

Needless to say he was a hit. He had several hundred people laughing aloud as he quipped with his host, Archbishop John Nienstedt, and told anecdotes from his years in the Catholic news ministry.

It was only after he left town that I was told he had leukemia but didn’t want me to know it.

Once he was diagnosed with that cancerous, blood disease, he had cleared his calendar for two events: the 2011 Catholic Media Convention in Pittsburgh and the 100th anniversary celebration of The Catholic Spirit in the Twin Cities. I can’t describe them, so you’ll have to imagine my feelings upon hearing that our friendship meant that much to him that he would honor his commitment to me knowing that he hadn’t long to live.

Thank God he made it to Pittsburgh last June. He was the keynote speaker there, too, and as we sat down for the centennial dinner I was asked to introduce the cardinal. I wasn’t expecting that, but frankly it wasn’t difficult. I’d watched Cardinal Foley through the years, and he was a master at self-effacing stories, at working an audience, at getting a message across clearly yet quickly.

The hard part, the lump-in-the-throat part, was finishing up the introduction by telling him — in front of several hundred people who work in Catholic media around North America — how much he meant to me. And how much I loved him.

“Requiesat in pace,” good and faithful servant.

Bob Zyskowski is associate publisher/general manager of The Catholic Spirit.

Is the marriage protection amendment discrimination?

The following column — the third in a series about the marriage amendment — is provided by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which advocates on behalf of the state’s bishops for public policies and programs that support the life and dignity of every human person. he reality of men and women falling in love and getting married (and in most cases, having children) is one of the basic operating assumptions people have about the world when they get up in the morning; it’s part of the natural order of things, like the sun rising in the East.

A diverse array of sources — including Scripture, theology, the artifacts of culture, social science, human experience and the complementarity Jason Adkins of our bodies, among other things — all confirm that man and woman are truly made for each other.

But those who seek to redefine marriage want you to believe that what you know to be true in your heart (but cannot always articulate) is really just irrational prejudice that you’ve imbibed from your family, your church or a culture conditioned to bully people who are different.

The argument goes: Sex differences, “gender identities” and the attendant cultural and legal institutions that follow from them — such as traditional, man-woman marriage — are merely social constructs that reinforce a “heterosexist” society.

Therefore, the privileged status given to man-woman marriage has to be eliminated, so that society can establish a regime of “marriage equality” which eliminates discrimination against the GLBT community and ensures everyone’s “right” to marry is protected.

Minnesotans are nice, tolerant, big-hearted people who want everyone to be happy, so the civil-rights language used to emphasize “discrimination” and “prejudice” can

T

Faith in the Public Arena

sometimes be effective in quieting people instinctively opposed to redefining marriage.

But the arguments of the “marriage equality” advocates simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Not ‘discrimination’ Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other and with any children born from their union. Marriage is a child-centric institution. It protects the common interest of children in being connected to their parents.

Therefore, when a man and woman form a union and take on all of the responsibilities that entails, society gives couples certain rights and benefits to aid them. Society privileges this union above other “loving, committed relationships” because it best promotes the well-being of children and the common good — the sum total of conditions that promote human flourishing.

By contrast, same-sex relationships cannot by their very nature produce children, and deny the importance to children of being raised by a mom and a dad.

Further, government has no interest in regulating romance through a system of love licenses, no matter how loving and committed same-sex couples may be.

Thus, natural marriage and same-sex unions are not the same and should not be treated as such by the law.

Making a legal distinction between them and privileging natural marriage is completely justified.

Still, doesn’t a marriage amendment that protects traditional marriage from attacks by judges and politicians discriminate against a group of people by denying them the “right” to marry? No. There is no absolute right to marry whomever we “love.” And there are many limitations placed on the right to marry: no immediate family members, no minors, no same-sex marriages, no polygamy and no polyamory.

In fact, all people are placed under the exact same

restrictions, and people struggling with same-sex attraction have the same rights as others with regard to marriage.

Furthermore, people are not legally harmed when they are not given something that, by its very definition, is impossible. It is impossible to recognize a same-sex couple as married because their union cannot be consummated by a sexual act capable of generating new life.

The impossibility of “same-sex” marriage has meant that it does not exist in Minnesota, and never has. And there is no right to something that does not even exist.

Again, the reality of marriage — in contrast to the fiction of same-sex marriage — is that it unites a man and a woman to each other with any children born from their union, it being irrelevant whether or not the couple actually has children. The law should, of course, reflect this reality and uphold the ideal.

Law should not, however, be used merely to validate people’s romantic interests or re-engineer society in opposition to right reason and the common good. Therefore, same-sex couples cannot be “married” in reality or in law.

To be clear, people should not be denied, simply on the basis of sexual orientation, access to basic human needs and the protection of rights that all should have by virtue of being a person created in the image and likeness of God and thus possessing inherent dignity and worth.

But that does not mean society must remake its bedrock social institutions, particularly those essential to the common good.

Members of the “GLBT community” have the ability to live as they please; no one is questioning that. But redefining marriage for all of society is a right no one should have, and it is not discrimination to say so.

Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference .To learn more about the church's defense of marriage, visit MNCC.ORG/ISSUES/MARRIAGE and MARRRIAGEMATTERS.MNCC.ORG (blog).

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

St. Agnes seniors earned education in philanthropy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 have a “good end result,” but they may violate Catholic teaching in the process of obtaining the result: such as using embryonic stem cells for research to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.

“There’s an education process in this,” Father Ubel said. “It requires you to look at it critically.”

At the beginning of the process in late October and early November, Father Ubel told the students, “You are intimately linked to why this charity is receiving this assistance.”

Now that Project Joy is near completion before Christmas, students will be calling the recipients of the $1,000 donations to set up a time to deliver the checks in person, if possible. Each student will also write a reflection about the feelings he or she experienced in giving the money.

Those reflections will be sent on to the donor couple, as they requested.

Hendrickson said that before working on this project with the students, he never realized how many international organizations were based in Minnesota, such as Friends of the Orphans, Healing Haiti and ProLife Across America.

“Pro-life organizations were at the top of the list” of charities that the students wanted to support, Hendrickson said. Other students chose educational organizations, including St. Agnes grade school. But the three school leaders steered the money elsewhere to avoid a conflict of interest.

Morehead said he encouraged students to choose a charity that had a connection to their life or the life of a sibling or because they had witnessed the good work that it does.

“They all have some story,” he said.

A personal choice Four of the 53 students sat down with The Catholic Spirit to talk about their selections.

Josh Gutzmann said he chose Healing Haiti because his aunt and uncle got to know the founder of the charity through their experience of adopting four children from Haiti.

“That was the first thing that came into my mind when I thought of charities, because of the good work they do in Haiti,” he said. “I knew what their mission was, but I looked it up just in case.”

The Christian-based charity provides food, water, housing and help with adoptions.

“They do a lot of work with Feed My Starving Children,” said Gutzmann, a member of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony.

Michael Harrington, also a member of St. Charles Borromeo, picked ProLife Across America because of how much the pro-life issue means to him personally.

Chosen charities Following is a list of the charities chosen by St. Agnes High School seniors to receive $1,000. (Note: Some students gave to the same charity.)

Sharing & Caring Hands St. Michael Broadcasting Vision for the Hopeless Int’l Camp Friendship Wildlife Forever Network for the Development of Children of African Descent Catholic Charities Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of the Church Francis Basket Food Shelf Dove Missions North Side LifeCare Center Lev La Lev Blue Star Mothers of America Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance Healing Haiti Minnesota Autism Pro-Life Across America Saint Agnes Scholarship Fund Help the Helpless Sisters of St. Peter Claver Catholic Charities; Hope Street Shelter Common Bond Communities New Life Family Services Children’s Hospital NICU Miracles of Mitch Laboure Society Catholic Charities: Dorothy Day Center Wakota LifeCare Center Project Ultrasound Missionary Sisters of Charity West Minnehaha recreation center St. Anne’s Place Minnetonka LifeCare Center Frogtown Association Lakes LifeCare Center Cradle of Hope Bridging Friends of the Orphans To Write Love on Her Arms Frogtown Development Corporation Doctors Without Borders Lakeview Hospice Klas Family Foundation Defending the Blue Line Foundation PIME Missionaries (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) Miami Children’s Hospital Holy Family Surgery Center Saint Jude

“I like to do a lot of pro-life work, whether it’s bake sales for pro-life, [being active] in our pro-life club at St. Agnes and praying in front of an abortion clinic,” he said. “Mary Ann Kuharski, the founder of ProLife Across America, actually goes to my church.”

Harrington said he knew of the organization and the work it does with women who are considering an abortion or may have had an abortion, and especially its mission of putting up billboards across the country. In fact, he knows some of the babies that have been featured on the billboards, which he learned are in about 30 states. “[Kuharski] said to my dad that they had been trying to raise money at different churches and weren’t having that much success, so I knew $1,000 could go a long way to help ProLife Across America,” he said.

Lessons learned Camp Friendship was at the top of Molly Connolly’s list. A member of Holy Childhood in St. Paul, she spent the past three summers at the camp, two as a volunteer and one as an employee.

Connolly was first inspired to volunteer at the camp because her brother, Sean, has Down syndrome and she was interested in special education at the time.

“Their mission is to provide a time for someone where they don’t have to feel different,” she said. “Camp Friendship was one of the best experiences of my life. It was so much fun and rewarding.”

Another student, Nikki Kimlinger, said she “wanted to give to the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital because my youngest brother, Matt, was born six weeks premature.”

The first prognosis was for him to be in the unit for a month, but he came home after just a week, she said.

Today, he is a typical busy kindergarten student at St. Agnes Grade School.

“The nurses have so much love and care for these babies,” said Kimlinger, a member of St. Agnes parish. “I’m hoping the money provides more technology to help these babies get better faster and be able to come home sooner.”

The four students said they have learned the lesson about giving that the anonymous donors were hoping for in their lives. And they expressed appreciation for the opportunity to be part of Project Joy. Gutzmann said, “I’m happy they did this, to teach us all how giving is such a good thing, especially around Christmas.”

Kimlinger added, “I found it interesting that they had $53,000 to give away and they didn’t just give it away on their own. . . . They allowed high school seniors to choose charities that meant something to them.”

Taylor Swift is aware of responsibilities that come with fame CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 14, living with, and being home-schooled by, her intact family in Nashville.

By the time she was 18, her album, “Fearless,” was the fourth best-selling album of all time. This year, her album, “Speak Now,” has set a Guinness World Record as the fastest-selling digital recording. Her singing tours have grossed more than $100 million.

And here is the best part: her lyrics are pro-parent and pro-family. She speaks about her relationship with Mom and Dad, on being nice, putting bullies in their place and backing up friends.

She has also publically acknowledged fathers who chaperone their daughters to concerts. And the message is getting communicated. The New York Times described her as “one of pop’s finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults.”

Aware of responsibilities It is refreshing to find a popular, musical role model who is focused on friends, friendship and family values. She is also aware of the responsibil-

“In a recent ‘60 Minutes’ interview, she said, ‘The truth of it is every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation.’

”

ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT Speaking about singer Taylor Swift

ity she carries by being in the limelight. In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, she said, “The truth of it is every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation.”

I am grateful to our NCYC “next generation” of Catholic youth for bringing Taylor Swift to my attention. They disproved the old adage that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.

God bless you!

Singer Taylor Swift performs at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Va., in this 2009 file photo.

CNS photo / Jonathan Tramontana

“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

The Lesson Plan 10

The Catholic Spirit

Reflections on faith and spirituality

DECEMBER 15, 2011

Mary restores order in history with her resounding ‘yes’

I

mmediately after Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” history is restored to the right order.

The order of sin and hopelessness is tossed totally into darkness and God brings hope to humanity. The silence is shattered and now God can work intimately in us.

Advent is that time that we prepare in eager expectation for this salvific event of history to be made alive in us at Christmas. But preparing is not just our human project, it is a response Deacon to what God is doing.

Kevin Abakisi That is what the readings in this last Sunday of Advent point to. It is not what we do that matters or will make Jesus come. The real question is: “Where will Jesus find us amidst all of our preparations?” It is not as much, “where do we find God,” as it is God working in us.

Jesus comes. Yet the fact that he comes puzzles us.

Why did God have to send his Son in the first place? Could not God have straightened out the mess of our fall from grace by simply giving orders from his throne?

Have you ever asked these questions?

Even with Christ’s birth, why was he not born in gracious circumstances? Surely, the Son of God is too holy to share lowly circumstances; he deserves more. Do these circumstances around Christ’s birth make

holiness, his love and his mercy. He always works according to his own plans; for “nothing is impossible for God.”

A lesson from Mary Mary teaches us how to respond to God’s plans, especially as we approach Christmas. Her humility allows God to do what he wants to do. We desperately need Mary’s humility and her willingness to trust the incomprehensible things God does.

Christmas is that time that God also accomplishes his plan in each of us, as he did with Mary.

Where is our “yes” in God’s plan? Can God have a place in us as we celebrate Christmas and live with us? How will we imitate his simplicity by giving him to others in desperate circumstances? Can Jesus find us with the homeless people living under bridges, the lonely immigrants, the seniors in nursing homes, the prisoners, or even the babies in their mother’s wombs? Will he find us reaching out to others as he did to us?

He comes as a baby yet he is all those people we count for nothing. Where will Christ find us at Christmas?

He chooses to come in simple means that we might see the simple needs of others. Then, the work of the Holy Spirit at that first Christmas will work in us. And once again Christ will be born not only among us but within us, so that our hearts and lives will resound in praise to the only wise God. To Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever.

Sunday Scriptures

Readings Sunday, Dec. 18 Fourth Sunday of Advent ■ 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 ■ Romans 16:25-27 ■ Luke 1:26-38

For reflection During this Advent season, have you responded like Mary to God’s plan for your life?

you wonder?

St. Athanasius said, “God became man that man might become god.”

That is why he came!

He made it this simple so that we might imitate his simplicity. His simplicity is his

Monday, Dec. 19 Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a Luke 1:5-25 Do you demand explanations or are you able to live with mystery?

Thursday, Dec. 22 1 Samuel 1:24-28 Luke 1:46-56 Notice what feelings arise when you imagine God looking on you with faith, hope and love.

Tuesday, Dec. 20 Isaiah 7:10-14 Luke 1:26-38 To remain open to the Holy Spirit we must put aside our limited vision of God’s dream for the world.

Friday, Dec. 23 John of Kanty, priest Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 Luke 1:57-66 We may have to break with convention as we step out in faith.

Deacon Kevin Abakisi is in formation for the priesthood at The St. Paul Seminary for the Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in Ghana. His teaching parish is St. Francis De Sales in St. Paul.

Daily Scriptures Sunday, Dec. 18 Fourth Sunday in Advent 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 “And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’”

— Luke 1:35 We all face moments of doubt and fear, when things look impossible. We wonder whether we will have the courage to challenge an unjust situation, or the faith to take appropriate risks and use our gifts. As we age, we worry how we will react when we face serious illness or the death of a loved one. The angel’s words to Mary reassure us that something greater than our fear is at work within and around us. Our challenge is to not limit the power of God’s creative and unconditional love.

Wednesday, Dec. 21 Peter Canisius, priest and doctor of the church Song of Songs 2:8-14 Luke 1:39-45 Waiting in hope often requires that we let go of the illusion that we are in control.

Saturday, Dec. 24 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Luke 1:67-79 The wisdom and faithfulness of the Holy Spirit continues to transform our lives.

Sunday, Dec. 25 Christmas Day Isaiah 52:7-10

Hebrews 1:1-6 John 1:1-18 “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.”

— John 1:11 The birth of Jesus appeared so ordinary to the casual observer that it went unnoticed by the vast majority of the people. What we call ordinariness continues to be an obstacle for us.

How often do we long for miracles and signs and all the while God continues to show up in our lives in the people, places and events that make up our everyday experiences? It is only when we see through the eyes of faith that we realize that nothing is only what it appears to be.

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.

The Lesson Plan

DECEMBER 15, 2011 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

11

Sacred sites of the Christmas story Take an Advent journey through the Holy Land

1

By Father Michael Van Sloun For The Catholic Spirit

The Incarnation is one of the greatest and most profound mysteries of our faith.

The story of Jesus’ birth is told in the infancy narrative, the first two chapters of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, and remembered at a number of sacred sites in the Holy Land.

Temple in Jerusalem 1 The

Israel Model of Temple at

Museum, Jerusalem.

5

Nazareth is the site of the Annunciation. The largest modern church in the Holy Land is the Basilica of the Annunciation. It has both an upstairs church and a lower level grotto chapel, and the cave behind the grotto altar is revered as the place where the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary (Luke 1:26).

The Church of St. Joseph next door is the place where an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:20), where Joseph took Mary into his home (Matthew 1:24), and where the Holy Family lived together after they returned from Egypt (Matthew 2:23).

What to do: When Gabriel announced Jesus’ birth, Mary replied obediently, “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Mary put God’s will ahead of her own.

The Christmas rush is a very dangerous time. It’s easy for our priorities to get out of line, for our lives to get out of balance. Jesus comes first. Jesus is the reason for the season. Our aim should be to please Jesus at all times, particularly in the days before we commemorate his birth.

Slow down. Take some deep breaths. Maintain balance.

Eat and drink in moderation. Get enough rest. Spend a reasonable amount on gifts. Enjoy socializing. Be cheerful and complimentary. Have good things to say about others.

Nazareth is the home of the Holy Family, the place where Jesus spent his youth with his parents, Mary and Joseph. It’s good for families to spend time together at home in the days before Christmas. Togetherness is the goal. Decorate the tree together. Wrap presents together.

Bake cookies together. Clean the house together. Watch a movie together. Share meals and snacks together. Visit the grandparents or relatives together. And, try to get along with each other when together.

2

Photos by Father Michael Van Sloun

The story of Jesus’ birth begins in the Temple with the announcement to Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25).

A replica of the Temple . can be seen at the Israel urch, Bethlehem epherds’ Field Ch Sh Museum on the outskirts of Jerusalem with the Shrine of the Book and portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display inside and a quarter-acre scale-model depiction of the Temple and the first-century city of Jerusalem on display outside.

What to do: Zechariah entered the sanctuary to burn incense while the people were outside praying (Luke 1:9,10).

Of all the ways to prepare for Christmas, prayer stands at the forefront. Pray at Sunday Mass at the minimum and at weekday Mass if possible. Pray before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Pray around the Advent wreath Church of the Na at home. Pray by reading and reflecting upon Matthew tivity, Bethlehem . and Luke’s infancy narratives. Pray alone as Zechariah prayed in solitude in the sanctuary.

2 Nazareth

Basilica of the Annunc iation, Nazareth.

Church of St. John the Baptist, Ein Karem.

3

tant to bookend our days with prayer when we get up in the morning and before we go to bed at night.

4 Bethlehem

4

3 Ein Karem The story continues in Ein Karem, a village southwest of Jerusalem that has two picturesque churches.

The Church of the Visitation is at the top of a hill on one side of the valley. The upper level commemorates the tender encounter between the Blessed Mother Mary and Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45), and the lower level contains the Rock of Concealment, the place where, according to tradition, Elizabeth set baby John the Baptist during the massacre of the Holy Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18). The rock surrounded and hid the Baptist when the soldiers arrived to kill boys 2 and under, and reopened and returned him to Elizabeth once they departed.

Across the valley is the Church of St. John the Baptist, the birthplace of John as well as the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. The courtyards at the entrances to both churches are decorated with ornate plaques with the text of two special prayers in a variety of languages: the Magnificat or Mary’s Canticle (Luke 1:46-55) at the first church and the Benedictus, or Zechariah’s Canticle (Luke 1:68-79), at the second.

What to do: Mary traveled to Ein Karem to help her elderly relative Elizabeth with her household chores. Most of us know someone who is older, homebound, sick, disabled or troubled and unable to do their duties. It would be a priceless gift to run an errand, fix something or complete a difficult job for them. Jesus wants us to lift a finger to help carry the heavy burdens that others have to carry (see Matthew 23:4; Luke 11:46).

Elizabeth told Mary, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” These words are part of the Hail Mary.

Advent is a perfect time to pray the rosary, particularly the Joyful Mysteries. In the Liturgy of the Hours, Zechariah’s Canticle is recited as part of Morning Prayer and the Magnificat as part of Evening Prayer. It is impor-

Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus, the principal site of the infancy narrative.

The Church of the Nativity is the oldest church in the Holy Land, built at the direction of the Emperor Justinian in the early sixth century AD. The birth crypt is below the main altar, the cave or stable revered as the place where Mary gave birth to Jesus (Luke 2:7). There is a star on the floor that commemorates the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2:2) with the Latin inscription “Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est” (“Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born”).

5 Other Bethlehem sites The Church of St. Catherine is next to the Church of the Nativity, a Latin Rite or Roman Catholic Church where the Latin Patriarch celebrates the midnight Mass that is telecast worldwide every year.

Manger Square is the plaza outside both churches where pilgrims gather to pray and sing carols.

The Milk Grotto is a small church south of the Church of the Nativity that honors the place where the Blessed Mother nursed the infant Jesus and where Joseph received the dream to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14).

The Shepherds’ Field Church is just outside of Bethlehem and commemorates the appearance of the angel of the Lord who announced the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:814). There are two caves where shepherds kept their sheep that have been converted into chapels, as well as a number of outdoor altars, all where Mass or prayer services can be conducted to celebrate the birth of Christ.

What to do: We must be sure that there is room in our inn (see Luke 2:7b), that we welcome the Christ child into our hearts.

We honor Jesus when we attend Mass on Christmas Eve, at midnight or on Christmas day. We also can watch Mass on TV with the pope from St. Peter’s Vatican Basilica in Rome or with the Latin Patriarch from Bethlehem.

We make Christmas a holy day when we put up a crèche or crib scene, sing Christmas carols, listen to spiritual Christmas music, say “Merry Christmas,” and give witness that we are his disciples by our love for others (see John 13:35).

Father Michael Van Sloun is pastor of St. Stephen in Anoka.

12

The Lesson Plan

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Jesus is source and model of our prayer The following is the Vatican text of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks at his weekly general audience Dec. 7.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we are considering the teaching and example given us by Jesus himself. In the “cry of exultation” recorded for us by the evangelists Matthew and Luke, Jesus gives thanks to the Father because he has willed to reveal the mystery of salvation not to the wise and learned, but to the “little ones” (cf. Matthew 11:25-30; Luke 10:2122).

This magnificent prayer has its source in Jesus’ profound communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit; as the eternal Son, Jesus alone “knows” the Father and rejoices in complete openness to his will. Indeed, “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Luke 10:22).

In this prayer, then, the Lord expresses his desire to share his knowledge of the Father with the “little ones,” the pure of heart and those open to the divine will.

In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ cry of exultation is followed by his words: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . . for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (11:28).

Jesus is the source and model of our prayer; through him, in the Holy Spirit, we can turn with trust to God our Father, confident that, in doing his will, we shall find true freedom and peace.

From the Pope

by it red pir nso ic S Spo Cathol The

IRE L AND: the other

Holy Land

Prayer, not activism, is key to evangelization Catholic News Service

With Father Dennis Dempsey

September 21 — October 2, 2012 For further information, please contact:

Martie McMahon The Catholic Spirit Phone: 651-291-4441 mcmahonm@archspm.org also go to: TheCatholicSpirit/ExploreIreland.com

exploreENJOY!

EXPERIENCE

The Catholic Church’s project of “new evangelization” faces two dangers: people thinking others will do the work and people so fired up to preach the Gospel, they forget to pray, said the preacher of the papal household.

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who preaches to the pope and top Vatican officials on the Fridays of Advent and Lent, dedicated his December 2011 series to lessons the church can learn from its own history of evangelization efforts.

Focusing Dec. 9 on the contribution of monastic orders beginning in the 5th century, Father Cantalamessa said their example is a reminder of “the importance of the contemplative life in view of evangelization.”

Father Cantalamessa said people sometimes tell him it’s hard to stay still and silent and pray when the world so obviously needs ministers and missionaries.

“It’s true. But imagine what would happen if a squad of firefighters runs so fast at the sound of an alarm to put out a fire, but once on the scene realizes that they have no tanks, not even a drop of water with them,” he said.

“That’s how we are if we run out to preach without praying,” he told the pope and curia officials. “One who prays without speaking does more evangelization than one who speaks without praying.”

“Life is God’s novel. Let him write it.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Arts & Culture Exploring our church and our world

The Catholic Spirit

DECEMBER 15, 2011

13

These children’s books would make great Christmas gifts Reviewed by Barb Fraze

“The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman,” by Meg Wolitzer.

Dutton Children’s Books (New York, 2011). 294 pp., $16.99.

Catholic News Service

The following children’s books are suitable for Christmas giving: “Black & White: The Confrontation Between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor,” by Larry Dane Brimner. Boyds Mill Press (Honesdale, Pa., 2011). 112 pp., $16.95.

Drama, conflict, adventure, marches, police, Ku Klux Klan — all these elements are contained in this nonfiction history of one of the big civil rights battlegrounds: Birmingham, Ala. The tale, told in a fairly straightforward manner from both sides, is gripping in itself, and the author even includes the stories of the children’s march on Birmingham. Excellent use of photos — some quite dramatic — from the 1960s, pull-out quotes and the use of black and white add to the graphic attraction of this book. Ages 12 and up.

“Friendship With Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks to Children on Their First Holy Communion,” edited by Amy Welborn, illustrated by Ann Kissane Engelhart. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 2011). 32 pp., $14.95.

This simple, faith-filled “conversation” is based on a chat Pope Benedict had with children in St. Peter’s Square.

Engelhart’s watercolors beautifully illustrate the questions and answers — not just related to Communion — that Welborn has chosen, and adults might find themselves inspired if they read aloud to their second-graders preparing for the Eucharist. Ages 7-10.

Wolitzer has woven a clever tale of young characters, each with his own conflicts and accomplishments. Like in Scrabble, she builds the pieces of the plot off each other, until they all come together at a national Scrabble tournament in Florida. This is an excellent read: part about growing up, part just adventure.

Bonus: occasional Scrabble tips. Ages 10-13.

“Secrets of Siena,” written by Dianne Ahern, illustrated

by Bill Shurtliff. Aunt Dee’s Attic Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich., 2011). 131 pp., $12.95.

This book, another in the adventures of Sister Philomena, has humor and mystery, but its main appeal is its travelogue- and history-in-disguise. The adventure of a young boy and girl spending the summer with their aunt, a nun, takes them from Rome to Siena to Avignon, France. Ahern does a delightful job of weaving in cultural and historical details with realkid impressions that will keep young readers turning the pages. Ages 8-11.

“Little Croc’s Purse,” written and illustrated by Lizzie Finlay.

Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers (Grand Rapids, Mich., 2011). 32 pp., $14.99.

Finlay’s humorous, colorful illustrations will draw in the listener, but her text sends a

Benedictine B enedictine Heritage Heritage JJourney ourney tto o IItaly taly Led byy Frr. Geoffrey ff y Fecht Fe and Frr. Eric Hollas

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subtle, nonpreachy message about values: honesty and resisting peer pressure. Little Croc finds a purse with money and turns it in to police, but not before being tempted by other options. Ages 4-7.

“Dragon Slayers: The Essential Training Guide for Young Dragon Fighters,” by Sir Wyvern Pugilist. Paraclete Press (Brewster, Mass., 2011). 224 pp., $23.99.

This book will not have mass appeal, but young readers who love fantasy can immerse themselves in a parallel world of slaying dragons — bad things, obstacles to good.

Sir Wyvern holds up as examples the chief dragon slayer (God) and other prominent slayers (the saints). The author’s engaging story-telling, occasional bravado and clever analogies will draw in the reader, and his low-key humor will help keep them turning pages. Maps and illustrations add to this book’s appeal. Younger children will enjoy the fantasy but will need help reading this. Ages 6-12.

“Snowflake Baby,” by Elise Broach, illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld. LB Kids (New York, 2011). 14 pp., 7.99.

If I had to pick one book for toddlers, this would be it! Simple two- and threeword sentences and fun, bright illustrations fill this cardboard book, good for little hands. It has seven lift-flaps to peek under, too. Adult readers, brace yourself: This is one of those books that will end with the child request of “Again!” Ages 6 months-3.

Barb Fraze has been reviewing children’s books for more than 20 years. Now she reads them to her grandchild.

14

Calendar

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Dining out

day afternoons. For information, call Judy at (763) 221-3040 or Al at (651) 482-0406.

Don’t miss

Singles group at St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn Park — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games. For information, call (763) 4250412.

Fish fry at Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington — Every Friday: 5 to 9 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Cost is $10.95. Call (952) 888-1492 for reservations.

Christmas sing-a-long at St. Bridget of Sweden

Chicken and rib dinner at Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington — Every Wednesday: 5 to 9 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Cost is $10.95. Call (952) 888-1492 for reservations.

An annual Christmas sing-a-long at St. Bridget of Sweden in Lindstrom will be held Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The event features parishioner Mike Hubbard, a professional musician for more than 40 years.

For information or directions, call (651) 257-2474.

St. Bridget is located at 13060 Lake Blvd.

KC Lumberjack breakfast at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — December 18: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 21304 Church Ave. Breakfast with Santa at St. Mary, St. Paul — December 18: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 261 E. Eighth St. Cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children.

Pancake breakfast at Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights — December 18: 8:30 to 11:45 a.m. at 4030 Jackson St. N.E. Free will offering.

Parish events Concert featuring parish instrumentalists and The Porch Pickers bluegrass band at St. Rose of Lima, Roseville — December 16: 7 p.m. at 2090 Hamline Ave. Treats will be served after the concert.

Prayers/ liturgies Compline prayer at Assumption, St. Paul —

CHRISTIAN

F O U N D AT I O N

Sundays through December 18: 7 p.m. at 51 W. Seventh St. The half-hour ecumenical prayer service will be sung by the Minnesota Compline choir. For information, visit WWW.MINNESOTACOMPLINE.ORG. Advent Vespers with the Sisters of St. Joseph at St. Catherine University chapel, St. Paul — Sundays through December 18: 4:30 p.m. at 2004 Randolph Ave. For information, visit HTTP://CSJPRAYER.NET/ADVENT-VES PERS-2011.

Taizé prayer service at St. Hubert, Chanhassen — December 15: 7 p.m. at 8201 Main St. Live Nativity at Our Lady of Peace, Minneapolis — December 18: 4 to 7 p.m. at 5426 12th Ave. S. Features the manger scene with carolers, hot chocolate and cookies. Donations will be accepted for the local food shelf.

Live Nativity at St. Joseph, Miesville — December 18: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 23955 Nicolai Ave. E. A light lunch will be served.

FOR

CHILDREN

AND

AGING

KC Rosary for Life on the feast of the Holy Innocents outside Planned Parenthood, St. Paul — December 28: Noon at the corner of Charles Avenue and Vandalia Street.

Blessing of timekeepers at St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis — December 31 and January 1: 5 p.m. New Year’s Eve and 9:30 a.m. New Year’s Day at the corner of E. 29th Street and 32nd Avenue S. Bring your Blackberry, iPhone or Android, your iPad, calendar or clock. We'll bless them as the good and useful tools they are for helping to keep us organized and on time, and commit ourselves to using our time thoughtfully in 2012.

/ Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: For Catholic singles to meet and make friends.

The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sun-

School events ‘A Very Hill-Murray Christmas’ variety show at Hill Murray School, Maplewood — December 15 to 18: 7 p.m. Dec. 15 , 16 and 17; 2 p.m. Dec. 18. Dinner Theatre Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and $6 for children under 12. To order tickets, visit WWW.HILLMURRAY.ORG.

Other events Advent retreat for healing at St. Paul, Zumbrota — December 17: Begins at 8 a.m. at 749 Main St. Retreat directors are Father Randal Kasel and Father Jim Livingston.

Features two talks, a healing Mass and individual prayer. Childcare will be offered.

For information, call (507) 732-5324.

‘The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge’ Christmas play at Open Window Theatre, Minneapolis — December 15 to 18, 21 to 23 and 27 to 30: Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. at 1313 Chestnut Ave. For information call (651) 955-9123 or visit WWW.OPENWINDOWTHEATRE.ORG.

15

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • DECEMBER 15, 2011

Calendar helps revive memories of loved ones who died in military CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 since, she said.

“It helps with their heartache to know that other people are thinking about their sons.”

Fallen soldiers’ families gather to share stories

Called to service

By Kathryn Elliott

Phyllis Vakoc, mother of Father Vakoc, recently received a copy of the calendar.

She’s been trying to decide where to place it in her living room at St. Therese of New Hope Residence so she can see it every day. It’s a “funny feeling” to look at his face — both wonderful and very hard, Phyllis Vakoc said.

“He’s alive when I look at his picture on the cover here — and you know he’s not,” she said.

Father Vakoc was born in Robbinsdale and attended Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park. After college, he felt called to the seminary and the priesthood.

He joined the Army Reserves Chaplain program and eventually was called to active duty. First, he was stationed in Germany, ministering to the soldiers while sharing life with them. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

While Father Vakoc was returning from a service at a forward operating base, a

The Catholic Spirit

How to order For more information about the calendars, call Patricia Boyd at (651) 699-6536 or email her at ED.PAT@COMCAST.NET. The calendars can be ordered through PAYPAL at HTTP://MILITARYHEROES FOUNDATION.ORG. They are also sold at Bobby and Steve’s AutoWorld, the St. Paul and Eden Prairie Harley Davidson stores and Indian Motorcycle in St. Paul.

For a recent count of Minnesota service members who have given their lives, visit The Military Salute Project web site: HTTP://MILITARYSALUTE.PROBOARDS.COM.

Louie said the calendars can also be a way to support fallen soldiers and their families in prayer — 365 days a year.

Families of fallen service members met Monday at Mancini’s restaurant in St. Paul to visit and tell stories about their loved ones. Many of the attendees have been or will be featured in the “Remembered” calendar.

Among those who attended were two brothers of Navy Seal Nicholas Spehar, a St. Paul native who died in an August helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Luke Spehar, a recent University of St. Thomas graduate and musician, performed several songs for the grieving families. He had sung two of his selfcomposed songs, “Citadel” and “The Champion,” before thousands of people at a West Coast memorial event for the Navy Seals.

“My Lord has pulled me through,” he sang softly. “I know he can pull you, too.”

While he sang, family members gripped each others’ hands and seemed to take solace in the music.

“This is the family you step into with something like this,” Spehar said, before his set began. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

At the funeral service for Nick Spehar held at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Luke sang his song “My Cross,” which held personal meaning for his younger brother. Nick had the song lyrics tattooed up and down his arm, Luke said.

He said he wouldn’t be ready to sing it again publicly any time soon.

At a time when many Americans are disconnected from thoughts of war, this is a way to “get to know” soldiers who have surrendered their lives.

Luke Spehar performs at local churches and Universities. To contact him or to purchase a CD, visit his web site, WWW.LUKESPEHAR.COM

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Luke Spehar performs one of the songs he wrote at an event Dec. 12 at Mancini’s Restaurant in St. Paul honoring families that have lost a loved one during or as a result of military service. Spehar’s brother, Nicholas, a Navy Seal, died in a helicopter crash in August and Luke sang his brother’s favorite song at his funeral at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

roadside bomb hit the Humvee he was in, causing massive head trauma. For five years after his injury, Father Vakoc struggled through infections and therapies, inspiring and blessing family, friends and strangers from his hospital bed.

He died unexpectedly in June 2009.

Prayer aid Linda Louie, a close friend of the Vakoc family, said she volunteered to sell 150 of the calendars to help raise money for the Bryan McDonough Military Heroes Foundation.

“When you see these pictures, you get a feel for who he really was,” said Louie, a parishioner at Epiphany in Coon Rapids.

“If Father Tim was here, we’d laugh and call him a ‘calendar pin-up boy.’ He was the kind of guy you could do that to.”

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

HANDYMAN

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WE DO 1,162 THINGS AROUND THE HOME! Catholic Owned Handyman Business: We will fix/repair remodel almost anything around the home. Serving entire Metro. Call today.

Mention this ad and receive 10% off labor.

Handyman Matters (651) 784-3777.

12068

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HARDWOOD FLOORS

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Sanding, finishing & install. Happy Holidays!

25% off with ad. Reasonable and profes10435 sional. Sweeney (651) 485-8187.

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HOME REPAIR

PAINTING

READING TUTOR

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Empower your child to master reading. OrtonGillingham certified tutor. 15 years teaching experience. VIRTUS trained. Contact Cathy at (612) 599-4598 or READING 12694 ISEASY@YAHOO.COM.

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TEXTURED CEILINGS

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Michaels Painting. Popcorn & Knock down Texture, Repairs. 40 Year Family Business (763) 12327 757-3187.

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Tile/Glass Block/Masonry/Concrete/Carpentry/Misc. home repair. 30 years experience. Insured. Call Steve (612) 532-3978.

WWW.SWISSTONECONSTRUCTIONSERVICES.COM. 10646

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For the finest job available. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM. Or call 699-6140. 7521 Dennis Heigl Painting Interior/Exterior Reasonable, fair pricing.

Free Estimates (763) 543-0998. 12048 Michael’s Painting. Ceiling, Wall Painting & Repairs. 40 Years In Business (763) 757-3187.

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ROOMMATE WANTED

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SWF looking for female roommate available 12/1 to share house in Lex/Hamline area, St. Paul. Must be employed, dependable, trustworthy. References required; $575 flat rate per month. If interested, call (651) 246-6021.

11988

UPPER UNIT DUPLEX East St. Paul Upper Unit 1 BR For Rent. Call 651-771-2044

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VACATION/FAMILY GETAWAY

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Home of single women in St Paul for 3rd roomie JMJINTHECITY@GMAIL.COM. 2079

SNOWBIRDS WANTED Panama City Beach FL. 1, 2, 3 bedroom monthly rentals available. 800-621-0551, 850-233-9340. WWW. FAMILYFUNBEACH.COM 12738

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ROSARIES

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WANTED TO BUY

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12327

Merriam Park Painting. Professional Int./ Ext. Painting. WP Hanging. Moderate Prices, Free Estimates. Call Ed (651) 224-3660. 11269

Just in time for Christmas: AmveJewelry sells jewelry and rosaries. Visit WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/ AMVEJEWELRY Handmade rosaries make a great gift.

$$$ for OLD SEWING Machines, Patterns, Fabric, Hankies, Postcards, Jewelry, Old Photos, Silver + Gold, Pipes, Lighters, Col3919 lectibles. (612) 823-8616.

“Every small act of kindness is like a light in this big tree: together with the other lights it can bring light to even the darkest of nights.”

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking Dec. 7 to citizens of Gubbio, Italy, before tapping a tablet computer and lighting the world’s largest electronic Christmas “tree,” erected on the face of Mount Ignio

Overheard 16

The Catholic Spirit

Quotes from this week’s newsmakers

Feast day prayers for life

DECEMBER 15, 2011 “Imagine what would happen if a squad of firefighters runs so fast at the sound of an alarm to put out a fire, but once on the scene realizes that they have no tanks, not even a drop of water with them. That’s how we are if we run out to preach without praying. One who prays without speaking does more evangelization than one who speaks without praying.”

— Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, speaking Dec. 9 to the pope and top Vatican officials

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Above: Ann Marie Heimel, left, of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, prays with her children, Olivia, far left, Joseph and Emily during a prayer service Dec. 8 in front of St. Paul’s new Planned Parenthood facility (pictured at right), which was scheduled to open this month. An estimated 120 people attended the event, which included praying the rosary on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. At far right is Jonathan Liebsch of St. Paul in Ham Lake, who made a poster of photos of his grandson, Andrew Liebsch, before and after he was born.

Right: Father Robert Grabner, associate priest at St. Augustine and Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, offers words of encouragement and petitions at the event. It was organized by local pro-life activist Kalley Yanta of Holy Family in St. Louis Park and sponsored by Pro-Life Action Ministries.

“My identity, my personhood . . . does not depend on whether or not I have a green card, a stock portfolio, a job, a home or even a college diploma. Nor does my identity depend upon whom I am sexually attracted to, or to race, religion, gender, social status, bank account, passport or health insurance, but on my essence as a child of God.” — Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaking Dec. 6 at the inaugural lecture for the University of Notre Dame’s new Project on Human Dignity

Note: News Notes will return in the Dec. 23 issue.

Holy Land Shopping Cart From the blessed tree of Olive, artists of Bethlehem (the birth place of Jesus Christ) build their masterpieces.

Hand Made by Christian Families From Bethlehem, Imported from ISRAEL. Olive Wood, Nativity Scene, Crosses, Ornaments, Holy Family, Gifts directly from the Holy Land.

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TheCatholicSpirit.com

May you have a

Blessed Christmas From the staff at The Catholic Spirit