The Catholic Spirit - September 13, 2012

Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chastity speaker challenges youth

3 September 13, 2012

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Counting down to the Year of Faith

By Joe Towalski The Catholic Spirit

The Year of Faith set to begin in October is an opportunity for Catholics to walk more closely with Jesus and renew efforts to make his n a m e known and loved in the world, said the director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship.

“This year needs to be a chance for us as individual Catholics and Christians to renew our own commitment to the call to be holy, to the call to be disciples,” said Father John Paul Erickson. “I hope it’s a chance for all of us to recommit and rediscover the joy of the pilgrimage of the Christian way of life.”

Pope Benedict XVI announced last year that the Year of Faith would begin Oct. 11 — the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council — and coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It will run through Nov. 24, 2013, the feast of Christ the King.

He made the announcement in an apostolic letter titled “Porta Fidei” (“The Door of PLEASE TURN TO PREPARING ON PAGE 5

Joy

confirmed Photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Main photo, above: Mackenzie Willits of Holy Name of Jesus in Medina shares a moment of joy with Bishop Lee Piché after the Annual Mass for Persons with Disabilities Sept. 9 at the St. Paul Seminary. Willits was one of seven people with disabilities confirmed by Bishop Piché at the Mass, sponsored by the Archdiocesan Outreach to Persons with Disabilities of the Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

Inset photo: Megan McGraw, right, of St. Anastasia in Hutchinson (Diocese of New Ulm) and her daughter, Mary Catherine, participate in the Mass.

Megan, who comes every year and served as lector, said, “We wouldn’t miss this Mass for anything.”

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SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Minneapolis parish’s vitality was joy to see

That They May All Be One Archbishop John C. Nienstedt

History, tradition were on display at Church of St. AnneSt. Joseph Hien

One of the things I love most about being a bishop is making pastoral visits to our parishes. It is here where one gets a sense of the vitality of the faith that our actively practicing Catholic people possess. Being with them was what I desired in becoming a priest. It continues to be a great source of encouragement and joy for my ministry.

One such visit I recently made was to the Church of St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Church of St. Joseph Hien.

The Catholic Spirit

Historical roots

Photo courtesy of Hoc Nguyen

The Church of St. Anne has its origins in its mother church of St. Clothilde, which was located at what is now 11th and Lyndale Avenues and was founded by my predecessor, Archbishop John Ireland, on April 24, 1884. The first parishioners were of French descent.

The first church building, built in 1886, was destroyed by fire in 1894 but rebuilt a year later.

Within a few short years, the French-speaking parishioners began to move to other areas of Minneapolis, bringing about a financial crisis for the parish.

This led the pastor, the wellloved Father Damascus Richard, to petition in 1922 the archbishop to move the parish to a different location with a new church, specifically the corner of Queen Avenue and 26th Avenue North.

A six-room school was built and staffed by the Sisters of St. Benedict. Ground-breaking for the present church took place in 1948, and the completed edifice was conse-

The Catholic Spirit The Catholic Spirit’s mission is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It seeks to inform, educate, evangelize and foster a spirit of community within the Catholic Church by disseminating news in a professional manner and serving as a forum for discussion of contemporary issues.

Vol. 17 — No. 18 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT Publisher SARAH MEALEY Associate publisher

JOE TOWALSKI Editor

Red Mass for legal profession set for Sept. 30 at St. Thomas Chapel

Parishioners at St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis face a statue of the Blessed Mother during a celebration Aug. 19 of the 25th anniversary of the founding of St. Joseph Hien to serve Vietnamese Catholics.

crated in November 1960. The registration of parishioners continued to increase in the parish and school, so much so that an addition was built to the school and dedicated in 1964.

The vitality of faith in St. Anne’s parish is amply demonstrated by the fact that its families have given 12 priests, 23 consecrated religious women and four religious brothers to the service of the Church.

Finding a new home The Vietnamese community was established in the Twin Cities in 1976. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, forcing a Communist government on that southern country. Some 300,000 people from the South fled in rickety, make-shift boats, some reaching various destinations in the Pacific, some perishing along the way. About 70 families

finally made their way to Minneapolis.

After worshiping at several different locations, the Catholic Vietnamese community was granted a parish of its own by Archbishop John Roach in 1987, made possible by the purchase of a Lutheran church building, which was renamed St. Joseph Hien, to honor one of the Vietnamese martyrs canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.

But the size of the congregation soon outgrew the facility, and so in 2005, Archbishop Harry Flynn decided to merge St. Joseph Hien with St. Anne’s congregation, which at the time numbered only about 90 individuals, and to change the name of the Church to “St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien.”

The incoming Vietnamese numbered about 300 families. Today, PLEASE TURN TO PARISH ON PAGE 20

Those working in or studying the legal field are invited to attend the 62nd Annual Red Mass Sept. 30 at the University of St. Thomas Chapel.

Archbishop John Nienstedt will celebrate the Mass at 9 a.m., followed immediately by brunch.

Minnesota lawyers, law students, judges, civic leaders, academics, public officials and their families and friends are encouraged to attend the event, which is sponsored by the Lawyers’ Guild of St. Thomas More.

“Given the importance of just laws and policy for the promotion of the common good, this is a great opportunity for people of faith to gather and ask God’s blessing on the work of lawyers and the legal profession,” said Father Daniel Griffith, faculty fellow of law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. The cost is $50 for up to five people, which includes dues and brunch. The cost is $35 for up to five people for brunch only. Extra guests are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

RSVP by Sept. 22 to THOMASMOREMN@ GMAIL.COM. For more information, visit WWW.THOMASMOREMN.ORG.

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Local News from around the archdiocese

SEPTEMBER13, 2012

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Chastity speaker challenges youth to higher standard

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

American culture would have you believe that teen chastity is an oxymoron and that sexual purity among the young is unattainable.

But noted chastity speaker Jason Evert doesn’t buy it, and he is in a great position to know. He has spoken to teens around the country about this topic for the last 15 years, he said, and they are eager for his message of purity.

Evert is hoping for the same response here when he comes to speak in the archdiocese Oct. 2 and 3.

“After having spoken to over a million teens around the world, there is yet to be one single disrespectful audience,” said Evert, 37, who lives with his wife Crystalina and five children in Denver.

“They’re sponges when it comes to hearing this message, and I think that’s because I’m not presenting it based on fear, guilt and shame, but upon my respect for them — and I’m respecting them enough to challenge them to a higher standard than the world.”

Want to know more?

Jason Evert will present “Raising Chaste Teens,” an event for parents of junior high and senior high school students from 8 to 9:15 p.m., Oct. 2 at St. Joseph Church, 1154 Seminole Ave., in West St. Paul.

Cost is $10 per person or $15 per couple. Register online at WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG, or call (651) 291-4489 for more information. The event is sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

Hopeful signs Although the sexual revolution has been raging for decades and has caught many in its grip, Evert sees clear signs that it is on a downward cycle. He keeps a watchful eye on cultural trends and statistics and is encouraged by what the numbers are showing.

“The majority of American high school students are now virgins,” he noted. “Teen sexual activity rates have been dropping for about 20 years now. The teenage sexual activity rate among boys is going down twice as fast as teenage girls. So, there’s plenty of hope, but you never see it in the mainstream media.”

Evert will speak to audiences ranging from middle schoolers to parents of teens.

There may be skeptics in all three groups, but he considers chastity an appealing — and attainable — lifestyle.

In other words, the notion that the

most you can do is help teens protect themselves from disease and pregnancy is false.

His own life is a witness. He said that he was a virgin when he got married nine years ago. Even though his wife was not, which she often shares during his presentations, she experienced a deep conversion that propelled her to a life of sexual purity before she married Jason.

In fact, her testimony and their marriage can be an encouraging message for teens who have been sexually active, as well as for parents of teens who have made this mistake.

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“We have canonized saints, such as St. Augustine, who had premarital sex, who fathered a child out of wedlock,” he said.

“For the young people, I just want to remind them that it’s never too late. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done or where they’ve been. All that matters is where they go from here.”

Changing lives He has witnessed many transformations in the lives of young people, whom he spends hours conversing with after his talks. One time, he talked with kids at a New York school for seven hours. They

poured out their hearts to him about their troubled lives, suffering tragedies like abuse, neglect and abortion.

On another occasion, a girl came up and hugged him after a talk. She had been raped several years earlier, and her thenboyfriend denied it. She did not get the court conviction she was hoping for, and the boy moved out of state.

Then, years later, he came back to confess to his crime. Why? He had seen a video of Evert’s presentation at his school, and felt he needed to set things right.

Maybe the most remarkable story of all came when another person, this time an adult woman, saw Evert on video.

“One woman emailed me that she had seen the talk on a video — I think it was on YouTube or something — and she happened to be a stripper,” Evert said. “After she saw the video, not only did she quit stripping, but she took the video to the strip club to show the other strippers in the back room. And after quitting, she’s now a pro-life speaker.”

Advice for parents For parents wondering how to keep their kids chaste, Evert has two tips — be chaste yourself and turn off the TV. “Dad cannot be looking at swimsuit magazines,” he said. “Mom cannot be reading ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ (a sexually explicit novel). This is a virtue that is difficult to practice for everybody. And, it’s so easy to look at the teens as the ones who need to be fixed. But we need to take the cross upon our own shoulders as well.”

Part of taking up that cross can be as simple as the flip of a switch.

“Turn off the TV during dinner,” he said. “If your kid has a TV in his bedroom, he’ll spend on average 400 hours more watching television every year than a teenager who does not have a TV in his bedroom. It doesn’t take a lot of time to just flip off the TV and talk during dinner.

They say if you talk to your teens about everything, it will be easier to talk to them about anything.”

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

A new year, a new school

Above, Quinn Shannon, a second-grader at Community of Saints Regional Catholic School in West St. Paul and a member of Holy Trinity parish in South St. Paul, asked Archbishop John Nienstedt a question during the archbishop’s visit to the school Sept. 5. Archbishop Nienstedt celebrated Mass with the students and then visited each classroom asking, “Do you have any questions for me?” He was asked everything from, “How long have you been the archbishop?” to “What is that hat you wear during Mass?” and “What do those guys [the Knights of Columbus] do with their swords; are they sharp?”

The new school has 237 students in grades kindergarten to eight and 32 preschoolers. It is a cooperative effort bringing together kids from St. John Vianney in South St. Paul, St. Matthew and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes in St. Paul and St. Michael in West St. Paul, as well as 25 students from other area parishes.

Top right, third-graders, from bottom, Hayden Donkers from St. John Vianney, Sarellia Romo from St. Matthew, Jack Garvey from St. Michael and Joey Novack from St. Pius X in White Bear Lake work on following directions during a game in their classroom.

At right, third-grader Gabriana Haider from St. Matthew reads quietly in her classroom.

Theology of the body event weaves words, music and art

By Susan Klemond

versity of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

For The Catholic Spirit

Way of beauty

Anyone hungering for union and intimacy is eligible to receive a beautifully crafted invitation to the Lord’s divine banquet of love which will satisfy that hunger.

This invitation comes to the Twin Cities next month in the form of a performance weaving together spoken word, music and art. Through the beauty of art, speaker and author Christopher West, indie-folk band Mike Mangione and the Union and others seek to invite the audience into the truth about that deep longing and the meaning of human sexuality as found in Blessed John Paul II’s “theology of the body.”

“Life, yearning, suffering, love, our cry for intimacy and union — all begin to make sense when the Church’s teaching is properly framed and presented as the beautiful invitation that it is,” West said.

“This message desperately needs to be shared because, for lack of it, we are turning to so many false promises of happiness and fulfillment in the world today. And they lead to tragic suffering, disillusionment, and despair.”

More like an evening of theater than a lecture, “Fill These Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing,” will take place Saturday, Oct. 27 at the O’Shaughnessy Education Center auditorium at the Uni-

The idea for the event, which has been performed nationally and internationally, came from Pope John Paul’s “Letter to Artists” and a desire to make theology of the body themes “contemplatively present in color, shape and sound.” It is produced by the Cor Project, a team dedicated to sharing TOB. Profoundly spiritual, art can open the heart to beauty, which can “seize our hearts and transform us from within,” West said. “That’s our hope for this event in a nutshell, to lead people along the way of beauty.”

“Sometimes the heart even gets ahead of the head,” said Mangione whose band performs music directly and indirectly reflecting TOB. “Art has this ability to rumble the heart before it even makes sense in the head,” he said. “Words can cradle your mind and create an intellectual wrestling match while art can punch you in the stomach, steal your breath, and increase your heart rate all before the head has any clue something happened.”

However, the performance is not so much entertainment but the witnessing of beauty and the “enfleshing” of TOB, said Jen Messing, St. Charles Borromeo parishioner and founder of the St. An-

thony-based non-profit Into the Deep, which offers TOB-related retreats and is helping to coordinate the event.

The event’s message is not limited to practicing Catholics, said West, who called for “reaching beyond the bunker.”

According to Messing, “the event is made for reaching out to people who are not necessarily going to attend an average Catholic talk. It’s meant to be this place where you can invite somebody who feels skeptical about Catholic teaching or a place safe to bring somebody that might have fallen away from the church or someone who isn’t even Catholic but may feel comfortable coming to it.”

She also invited those who’ve heard West speak on TOB. “People that have already been exposed to TOB, they might have an attitude of been-there, done-that with Christopher West or TOB but the reality is those are the people we would like to take deeper, not to mention we’d like them to invite their friends,” she said.

“This event is meant to be an open door to explore what TOB is.”

Living life in 3-D During the performance West draws from material in his forthcoming book titled “Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing.” In addition to West’s presentation and the music, attendees can watch sand painter David Leiberg create

images depicting the story of creation, the fall and redemption, which will be projected on a screen.

Mangione and his band’s music, folktraditional and rock that includes violin and cello, has been played locally on Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current.

“My goal is to take the themes touched upon by Christopher and to get them to swim in the listener’s heart and head,” he said. “We want the music to be an opportunity to take what has been laid out to encounter it personally.”

To make the “Fill These Hearts” event happen, Messing pointed to a need for both volunteers and donors. Those interested in volunteering before or during the event, or who can make a financial contribution to cover the costs can send an email to INFO@FILLTHESEHEARTS.ORG, she said.

Experiencing beauty at an event like this can lead participants to beauty with a capital “B” — the Lord Himself who is the answer to our longing, West said.

“That is God’s destiny for us: to ‘fill these hearts’ with infinite satisfaction,” he said. “But in order to reach our destiny, we must learn to direct our desires according to God’s design. I call that living life in 3-D. And that’s what this event is all about.”

For more information and to order tickets visit www.fillthesehearts.org.

Local

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Preparing for the Year of Faith CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Faith”) in which he called for a deeper study of the catechism and the creed as well as more acts of charity.

Pope Benedict said the Year of Faith, which flows from his call for a new evangelization, was an opportunity to give “renewed energy to the mission of the whole church to lead men and women out of the desert they often are in and toward the place of life: friendship with Christ who gives us fullness of life.”

In the lead up to the official start of the year, Archbishop John Nienstedt is planning to release a pastoral letter later this month on the new evangelization.

And, Bishop Lee Piché will lead a pilgrimage Oct. 2 to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. (Watch upcoming issues of The Catholic Spirit for other local Year of Faith events as they’re announced.)

Leaven in society

lization.

“One of the true hallmarks of the Second Vatican Council was a reminder that the call to be holy is not just for priests, not just for nuns — it’s for everybody,” Father Erickson said. “Everybody has this call to take up their cross and follow Jesus. . . . We are called to be saints, nothing less.”

The council, he said, also said the church “needs to be where people are at . . . and to not be afraid to dive right into the current debates of the day.”

Being “where people are at” also is a theme of the new evangelization, Father Erickson added. Some current examples of this approach include Theology on Tap events that feature theology discussions for young adults in bar settings, or maintaining a faithful Catholic presence on blogs and popular social media sites.

Ideas for families

Connection with council

There are many ways families and individuals can enter more deeply into the Year of Faith and tune up their spiritual lives, said Father Erickson, who offered these suggestions: ■ Recommitting to regular prayer time in addition to attending Sunday Mass. This could include reading a psalm as part of evening prayer, reciting the Our Father or praying the rosary as a family.

■ Praying before meals and, once a week, taking turns reflecting on the basic truths of the faith and the creed.

“You don’t need to have a theology degree to reflect on these beliefs,” Father Erickson said. “Sometimes children have some very beautiful insights that can be very life-giving and life-affirming.”

■ Joining a Bible study group, going on a pilgrimage or spending 10 minutes a day or per week in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to be in the presence of Jesus. For those who have been in a spiritual rut, the Year of Faith “can be a great chance to begin again,” he said.

Proclaiming the faith in new ways that speak to the particular challenges of contemporary society was a major theme of the Second Vatican Council, Father Erickson said.

The council’s proclamation of the universal call to holiness also is deeply connected to the ideas of the new evange-

For more resources and information about the Year of Faith, visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website at WWW. USCCB . ORG / BELIEFS - AND - TEACHINGS /HOW-WE-TEACH/NEW-EVANGELIZATION/YEAROF-FAITH. This story contains information from Catholic News Service.

The need to recommit ourselves to the church and its mission is particularly important in a society that promotes individualism, materialism and the idea that science holds the answer to every human problem while casting religion as “a purely subjective matter that doesn’t have any wide import on society,” Father Erickson said.

The new evangelization, he said, holds that faith should not be relegated to a small corner of our lives but is “meant to be a leaven in all of society and that society is better when Christianity is heard and allowed to flourish.

Why? Because we believe it has the fundamental answers to the deepest questions of the human heart: Why am I here? What is the meaning of life?”

“The new evangelization seeks to answer these questions using the ever-ancient answers of Jesus, of faith, of the church — but expressed in bold, fresh ways,” he added.

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YEAR OF FAITH: PILGRIMAGE Bishop Lee Piché will kick off the Year of Faith with a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., on Oct. 2. There still are spots available, and the registration deadline is Sept. 29. For more information about the pilgrimage, visit WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG. Bishop Piché answered a few questions about the event by Catholic Spirit editor Joe Towalski. watchful eye over all her children and Why the Shrine of Our Lady of fellow pilgrims on the road.

Guadalupe as the destination?

There is something very appropriate What does the Guadalupe image about both a pilgrimage and a visit to the mean to you personally?

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in I had the great opportunity of seeing particular, as a way of marking the the original image of Our Lady of beginning of the Year of Faith.

Guadalupe in Mexico City during a brief First, we need to visit there in 1999. It impressed me think of the life of greatly as a very beautiful sign to help A pilgrimage faith as a journey. strengthen our faith. I did some reading When we say “yes” to takes time the Lord, he invites us about the apparitions, and became — page 16 to follow him, which convinced that Blessed Mary had a strong desire to bring about a new beginning of implies a pilgrimage faith for the indigenous people of of discovery and interior growth. So America, but also to bring a renewal of when we physically participate in a pilgrimage, we are reminding ourselves of faith for those who had come to America from Europe. the importance of making our way, the Furthermore, she wanted to help all necessity of taking concrete practical people find steps each a way to day, to peace and move closer communion to Christ of life, to and to his demolish kingdom. pagan Second, superstibecause Our tions that Lady of led to the Guadalupe destruction has such of so much special innocent meaning for human life, Catholics and to and all restore the people of dignity of faith in the human America, it person and is the unity of appropriate the human that we look family. to her for The silent inspiration CNS photo but eloquent and Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wis. witness of the intercession tilma and the image of the serene young as we strive to know and love her son. mother about to give birth was a She remarked to St. Juan Diego, “Am I powerful source of renewed hope. not your mother?” and she urged him to Along with the testimony of her place a greater trust in her maternal love humble messenger, St. Juan Diego, Our and care.

Lady of Guadalupe inspired thousands Growth in faith also means growth in upon thousands of conversions within a trust: We are being invited to renew and very short period of time. strengthen our trust in the Lord who is infinitely good, and in our spiritual Mother, Blessed Mary, who keeps a PLEASE TURN TO PILGRIMAGE ON PAGE 23

Collection will help Cathedral’s debt payment progress The Catholic Spirit Parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will take up a special collection at Masses Sept. 22-23 to help the Cathedral of St. Paul pay down the debt remaining from emergency exterior restorations made a decade ago.

The work from 2000 to 2002, which included replacing the Cathedral’s leaking copper dome, cost approximately $30 million. Capital campaigns, several archdiocesan collections and other fundraising efforts through the years — including one honoring Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn’s 50th anniversary as a priest in 2010 — have helped to repay much of that cost.

Today, the remaining debt stands at $6 million.

“The original Cathedral roof lasted

longer than [the builders] probably thought it would, and now it’s good for several generations to come,” said Father John Ubel, Cathedral rector. “But we have not finished paying for that work and that’s what this collection will help do.”

It took nine years to construct the exterior of the Cathedral after Emmanuel Masqueray was selected in 1905 to design the church, and another 43 years to complete most of the interior decoration, Father Ubel said. Similar to great European cathedrals, such construction is followed almost immediately by the need for preservation and maintenance efforts.

“In a cathedral like this, one of the big challenges is that you’re never done,” Father Ubel said.

Reducing the principal of the debt is necessary so the Cathedral can sustain its ministries and continue the work of on-

going restoration, he said. The Cathedral’s monthly interest payment on the debt is about $25,000.

Host to significant events The Cathedral is home to the archbishop’s chair — the “cathedra” — and it is considered his official church. In 2009, it was designated as the National Shrine of the Apostle Paul by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Catholics from around the archdiocese come to the Cathedral each year to celebrate confirmations and other events important in the life of the local church, including ordinations to the priesthood and the Rite of Election for catechumens being initiated into the church. In addition, the Cathedral hosts public tours as well as concerts and educational programs for the local community.

“Well over half the people who come to the Cathedral on any given Sunday are non-parishioners,” added Father Ubel, who also greets people on tour buses that arrive on many days at the church.

“Clearly this building attracts people from all over.”

The hospitality extended to visitors resonates with the intentions of Archbishop John Ireland, who initiated the building of the Cathedral and “saw the Cathedral as belonging to everyone,” Father Ubel said.

“If you go into the [Cathedral’s] Founders’ Chapel, you see that commemorative book listing all of the donations from people [to build the church], including from my relatives, and all the parishes,” he said. “Archbishop Ireland wanted to make it very clear that the Cathedral belongs to everyone.”

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Archdiocese names 2012 Champions for Life winners The annual Champions for Life Award winners will be honored at a luncheon Oct. 18 at St. Peter in Mendota. The awards, given by the Archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life, recognize the pro-life activities and achievements of Catholics in the archdiocese. Winners were named in five categories this year.

Stephen Thie, a recent graduate of St. Thomas Academy and member of Holy Spirit in St. Paul, is the winner in the youth category. He is honored for his work and leadership with STA’s Respect Life group.

His passion and dedication drew other students to join the group. He also was a member of the Archdiocesan Respect Life Youth Advisory board, and he has encouraged more young men to get involved in the pro-life movement.

The winner in the church, school or group category is Prenatal Partners for Life, which assists parents who learn of their unborn child’s poor diagnosis and connects them with parents who have been through this experience.

Mary Kellett of St. Raphael in Crystal is the founder of the group, and has gone through this experience herself. Her son, Peter, was born with a rare disorder and died in August 2011 at the age of 6. That experience movitated her to start the organization. She has received much support and guidance along the way from her parish.

Pat and Sandy Foley of St. Michael in West St. Paul are the winners in the team,

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Stephen Thie, second from right, helps carry the cross at the annual Good Friday Prayer Service for Life, which took place this year on April 6 at the new Planned Parenthood facility on University Avenue in St. Paul. Thie, a recent graduate of St. Thomas Academy, is the annual Champions for Life winner in the youth category.

Andrea Kullmann of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings is the adult category winner. She has been the executive director of the Hastings Life Care Center since 2009 and has been active in the pro-life movement for the last 26 years. Wisconsin Right to Life, Pro-Life Action Ministries

couple or family category. Pat has been the director of the Wakota Life Care Center since 1983, which is the year he and Sandy got married. Sandy uses her background as a nurse to help out at the center, and their seven children have been actively involved as well.

and Birthright are among the organizations she has served.

At Hastings Life Care Center, she has implemented innovative programs such as Earn While You Learn, 24/7 Dad, and Daddy Boot Camp.

A special award this year goes to Father Richard Hogan, who was active in the pro-life movement until his death on June 14, 2011 at the age of 59.

Father Hogan co-authored “Covenant of Love — Pope John Paul II on Sexuality, Marriage and Family in the Modern World” with his then-priest friend, Bishop John LeVoir of the Diocese of New Ulm. He also wrote two additional books on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and was an author and editor for the Image of God series, a textbook program for Catholic religion programs for gradeschool age children.

He also served as associate director of Priests for Life for five years, regularly appeared on EWTN and hosted the “Theology of the Body” TV series.

Father Hogan was pastor of St. Raphael from July 1, 2009 until his death. He also served at St. Mathias in Hampton, St. Mary in New Trier, Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park and St. John Vianney and St. Augustine, both in South St. Paul.

For more information or to register for the luncheon, visit WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG or call (651) 291-4506. Cost is $35, deadline is Oct. 4.

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Vocations

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Local women profess vows with growing order of Dominicans

By Kristi Anderson

TERRENCE J. MURPHY INSTITUTE

For The Catholic Spirit

for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy

An invitation to a Hot Topics: Cool Talk evening lecture

Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom: The View From Europe by the Most Rev.

Charles Morerod, O.P. Bishop of Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland

Four women with ties to the archdiocese recently took vows as Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Tenn.

Within this community of 284 sisters, 16 have Minnesota roots.

Taking first vows were: ■ Dominican Sister Josemaria Pence, a former parishioner of St. Helena in Minneapolis; and ■ Dominican Sister Ann Dominic Mahowald, a former parishioner of All Saints in Lakeville.

Bishop Lee Pichè was the main celebrant at the Mass for the Rite of First Religious Profession celebrated July 28. Both women attend Aquinas College in Nashville in preparation for their teaching apostolate.

In addition, nine women professed their perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on July 25. Included in this profession were: ■ Dominican Sister Sophia Lopez, who currently teaches at St. Croix School, Stillwater; and ■ Dominican Sister Karol Marie Zachman, a former member of St. Michael in St. Michael.

SISTER JOSEMARIA

SISTER ANN DOMINIC

Dedication to education

8 p.m. Wednesday, September 26 O’Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium University of St. Thomas s St. Paul Campus Free and open to the public For more information: (651) 962-4842 or www.stthomas.edu/murphyinstitute TMI0341_13

The charism of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation focuses on four major areas: contemplative focus, active apostolate, strong community life and love of the church.

“Responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, St. Dominic founded the Dominican Order for preaching and the salvation of souls,” said Dominican Sister Peter Marie, vocations director for the St. Cecilia Motherhouse.

“Our community carries out this mission through a rich prayer life and the apostolate of teaching,” she said. “We teach and administer in grade schools, high schools, and colleges in the United States, as well as in Vancouver, Canada, Australia and Rome. As Dominicans we are called ‘to contemplate, and to give to others the fruits our contemplation.’ Therefore, we must first be women of deep prayer, and then we can go out and preach Christ to our students.”

SISTER SOPHIA

Joyful service Nicknamed the Nashville Dominicans, the community has seen an upturn in numbers. They currently have 95 women in formation,

TheCatholicSpirit.com

PLEASE TURN TO NASHVILLE ORDER ON PAGE 9

SISTER KAROL MARIE

Seminarians urged to rely on authentic Catholic teaching Catholic News Service In a letter to seminarians of the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl encouraged them to rely on authentic Catholic teaching in their preparation for the priesthood, so that they will be able to share the truth of the church’s teachings with the people they will one day serve.

He urged them to look to the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a sure guide on what the church teaches.

“Your need to be well grounded in authentic Catholic teaching is important, first for your own participation in the great, living teaching tradition of the church,” the cardinal said in his Sept. 3 letter to the archdiocese’s 74 seminarians.

“One reason why you are required to take so many courses in Catholic teaching, history and philosophy is so that you are not only aware of the immense gift of the great Catholic tradition, but that you are also well prepared to access it, understand it, appropriate it and share it,” he added.

The cardinal titled his letter “Faith Seeking Understanding in the Life of the Seminarian.” He said that as priests, they will be ministering to people in a materialistic, secular world who, in their worldly culture and by alternative voices claiming to be Catholic, have been taught things that are counter to church teaching, especially in the area of sexual morality.

8

Vocations

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Always Christ, always faithful Benedictine Priests and Brothers of Assumption Abbey

For For more more information, information, contact: contact: Br. Br. Michael Michael Taffe, Taffe, OSB OSB Vocation Vocation Director Director vocations@assumptionabbey.com vocations@assumptionabbey.com www.assumptionabbey.com www.assumptionabbey.com 701-974-3315 701-974-3315

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499 Reasons for Hope 104 seminarians 74 lay people and religious in graduate theology programs 321 lay people enrolled in Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity develops the next generation of Church leaders through formation of men for priesthood and preparation of laity and religious for service in the Church.

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Vocations

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

9

Nashville order of Dominicans blessed with gift of vocations CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 with 21 postulants this year alone.

“We have been blessed in our community with the great gift of vocations,” said Sister Peter Marie. “They are talented and well-educated young women from various backgrounds.

“However, they all have in common a desire to give their lives in service to the church,” she said. “Young people are generously responding to the Lord’s call to give everything. They are seeking a life that is in many respects counter-cultural. Young women are drawn to our community by the gentle invitation of the Lord, and find here an authentic religious life that is joyfully lived in the heart of the church.”

On the rise The congregation has experienced a surprising trend over the last 15 years, steadily adding at least 15 women each year while the national trend shows a continued decline of overall sisters in religious life in the U.S. In 2005, the Center for Applied

Research in the Apostolate reported 68,634 religious sisters compared to the current 2012 study showing 54,018.

In addition, the median age of the congregation is 36 years old and 87 percent of the community is under the age of 65. Part of the increase is due to an influx of young women from Australia.

“As in the United States, our sisters missioned in Australia have witnessed an intense desire in the hearts of young people to hold back nothing when it comes to responding to the Lord’s call,” said Sister Peter Marie.

“They are seeking to live a consecrated life that lays their gifts and talents at the service of the church for the salvation of souls. It is evidence of the ever newness and timeliness of St. Dominic’s mission.”

To learn more about the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, visit WWW.NASHVILLEDOMINICAN.ORG.

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“Freedom of religion has been the driving force of almost every enlightened, unshackling, noble cause in American history.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, speaking to John Carroll Society members Sept. 10

10 T

HE

Nation/World CATHOLIC SPIRIT

News from around the U.S. and the globe

Water from Isaac still hampering recovery

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

It doesn’t really matter whether Isaac was classified as a hurricane or a tropical storm when it hit certain points of Louisiana.

What matters is the rain dumped on the region — as much as 20 inches from the slow-moving weather system — as it churned and curled its way around the Gulf Coast, into the Plains states and toward the Eastern seaboard before it finally dissipated.

Five deaths were attributed to Isaac, which many had feared would be a repeat of Hurricane Katrina seven years earlier, which caused 1,827 deaths.

But the relentlessly pounding rains left hundreds of people in shelters more than a week after the storm came through because their homes were still flooded.

CNS photo / Darlene Aguillard, courtesy Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities disaster relief volunteers distribute donated food and supplies to victims still surrounded by floodwaters of Hurricane Isaac in Paulina, La., Sept. 6.

much sense in trying to judge the two by their relative fury. “We look in Mississippi, there have already been 8,000 applications for assistance — 133,000 in Louisiana,” he told Catholic News Service in a Sept. 7 telephone interview. “What I think has been good is that in most places the local church community has been able to respond to the immediate needs of people. Their needs are going back home, cleaning up the messes that were made, getting the materials to clean up your house.”

As exciting and exhausting as disaster

relief may be, Spruell noted, “the real work of Catholic Charities really starts after the initial response is complete. What we do is we step in with case management services. They don’t get in the news because people sitting across the desk or a living room from each other, it’s not quite as photogenic as handing out relief supplies. But it’s integral to rebuilding people’s lives. We help them walk through FEMA, help them tie in with their insurance companies. It’s a step-by-step plan to help them restore their lives.”

Pope is first person signed up for World Youth Day

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

Germans are known for being punctual, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Pope Benedict XVI was the first person signed up for World Youth Day 2013.

Registration officially opened Aug. 28, and, according to organizers, the pope was the first pilgrim to be registered for the event, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 23-28.

Organizers said that more than 220 groups of young people from five continents signed up in the first 24 hours after registration opened. Pilgrims from the United States, Canada, Australia, China, Aruba and the United Arab Emirates were among the first of the early registrants.

Groups of up to 50 people are encouraged to book early, organizers said. Regis-

Briefly Pakistani court grants bail to girl accused of blasphemy The Pakistani Christian girl accused of blasphemy was granted bail Sept. 7 after three weeks in police custody.

The judge, who ordered the girl’s release on a bail of about $5,300, said there was insufficient evidence to justify continuing to hold Rimsha Masih in jail. However, the case against her was not dismissed.

Investigations continue both into accusations that Rimsha burned pages of the Quran — a violation of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws — as well as into the actions of Khalid Jadoon Chishti, a Muslim cleric, who was taken into police custody Sept. 2 after being accused of planting the pages of the Quran and burned pieces of paper in the girl’s bag.

Rimsha had been in police custody since Aug. 18. Her parents said she is 11 years old and has Down syndrome; a court appointed physician reported she was about 14 and is developmentally delayed.

Comparing to Katrina One similarity to Katrina: After the 2005 hurricane, much of coastal Louisiana breathed a huge sigh of relief, thinking the area had dodged a bullet — and then the levees broke. With Isaac, residents felt much the same, according to Carol Spruell, communications director for Catholic Charities of Baton Rouge. But “a day or so after the hurricane the bayou started to rise. The people here pitched in, sandbagging,” Spruell said, “but they said they’d never seen water get so high before.”

One big difference between Isaac and Katrina, according to Father Larry Snyder, executive director of Catholic Charities USA: “In the last seven years we have tried to put together a network of having local dioceses and local Catholic Charities (affiliates) having a disaster plan, so that when a storm of this magnitude comes everybody was prepared. That was missing in Katrina. In our assessment, this worked, and it worked well.”

Even so, Father Snyder said, there is not

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

tration should be done online on the official WYD Rio 2013 website, WWW. RIO2013.COM.

Making disciples The missionary outreach of young people is set to be a key focus of next year’s gathering, as the theme is from the Gospel of St. Matthew, “Go and make disciples of all nations!”

The opening Mass, the papal welcoming ceremony and the Way of the Cross celebration will be held at Copacabana beach, according to organizers.

The youth vigil and closing Mass will be held at the city’s Santa Cruz military air base.

The last World Youth Day was held in Madrid, Spain, in 2011 and was attended by more than 1.5 million people.

CNS photo / Paul Haring

The pope arrives to celebrate the final Mass of World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, in this Aug. 21, 2011, file photo.

Bishop convicted on one charge of failure to report abuse Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph was convicted Sept. 6 of one count of failing to report suspected child abuse and acquitted on another count in a brief bench trial.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence issued the verdict and quickly set and suspended a sentence of two years’ probation. The charges carried a possible maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

“I will pledge, both personally and in my capacity as bishop, to take every reasonable step to protect children from any abuse or misconduct perpetrated by clergy, diocesan employees or volunteers,” Bishop Finn said in a statement after the verdict. “I regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused.”

He is the highest ranking U.S. Catholic official to face criminal charges related to child sex abuse.

The case began in December 2010, after a computer technician discovered child pornography on a computer used

by Father Shawn Ratigan and turned it over to diocesan authorities. Authorities were not notified until six months later, when a search of the priest’s family home turned up images of child pornography. Father Ratigan pleaded guilty in August to five counts of producing or attempting to produce child pornography.

— Catholic News Service

A faithful, exclusive, lifelong union between a man and a woman

M

arriage is the intimate union and equal partnership of a man and a woman. It comes to us from the hand of God, who created male and female in his image, so that they might become one body and might be fertile and multiply (See Genesis chapters 1 and 2). Though man and woman are equal as God’s children, they are created with important differences that allow them to give themselves and to receive the other as a gift.

Marriage is both a natural institution and a sacred union because it is rooted in the divine plan of creation. In addition, the Catholic Church teaches that the valid marriage between two baptized Christians is also a sacrament — a saving reality and a symbol of Christ’s love for his Church (See Ephesians 5:25-33). In every marriage the spouses make a contract with each other. In a sacramental marriage the couple also enters into a covenant in which their love is sealed and strengthened by God’s love.

The free consent of the spouses makes a marriage. From this consent and from the sexual consummation of marriage a special bond arises between husband and wife. This bond is lifelong and exclusive. The marriage bond has been established by God and so it cannot be dissolved.

In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the priest or deacon, the two official witnesses and the congregation all witness the exchange of consent by the couple who themselves are considered to be the ministers of the sacrament. In the Eastern Churches the sacrament is conferred by the priest’s blessing after receiving the couple’s consent.

Permanency, exclusivity and faithfulness are essential to marriage because they foster and protect the two equal purposes of marriage. These two purposes are growth in mutual love between the spouses (unitive) and the generation and education of children (procreative).

The mutual love of a married couple should always be open to new life. This openness is expressed powerfully in the sexual union of husband and wife. The power to create a child with God is at the heart of what spouses share with each other in sexual intercourse. Mutual love includes the mutual gift of fertility. Couples who are not able to conceive or who are beyond their childbearing years can still express openness to life. They can share their generative love with grandchildren, other children and families, and the wider community.

As a result of their baptism, all Christians are called to a life of holiness. This divine calling, or vocation, can be lived in marriage, or in the single life, or in the priesthood or consecrated (religious) life. No one vocation is superior to or inferior to another. Each one involves a specific kind of commitment that flows from one’s gifts and is further strengthened by God’s grace. All vocations make a unique contribution to the life and mission of the Church.

The family arises from marriage. Parents, children, and family members form what is called a domestic church or church of the home. This is the primary unit of the Church — the place where the Church lives in the daily love, care, hospitality, sacrifice, forgiveness, prayer and faith of ordinary families.

Reprinted from “For Your Marriage” — ForYourMarriage.org — an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Marriage?

What does the Church teach about

Clarity on what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage and its stance regarding the upcoming marriage amendment are particularly important right now in light of inaccuracies and misperceptions about both that are circulating in the media and wider society. This special four-page section explains the Catholic view on marriage and why the church is supporting efforts to pass a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

4-page Special Section The Catholic Spirit September 13, 2012 Page 11

Catholic marriage: Sacramental, communitarian and missionary: Page 12 What happens if marriage is redefined? Page 13 Why is the marriage amendment necessary? Page 14 Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

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Marriage

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Catholic marriage: Revealing Christ, building community and reaching out to others

By JoAnn Heaney-Hunter “Spirituality” is a way to live out one’s religious beliefs. A spirituality of marriage, therefore, is a way to help husbands and wives live out the vocation of marriage in light of faith. Catholic marriage has a distinctive spirituality that is sacramental, communitarian and missionary.

Marriage is sacramental because it is a sign of Christ’s unbreakable love for his people. It is communitarian because it creates and deepens a permanent partnership of life and love. It is missionary because in Catholic marriage couples are called to share with others the good news of their relationship in Christ. A spirituality of marriage helps couples shape their attitude toward life and provides a framework for living one’s marriage in the light of faith.

In the Catholic tradition, a “sacrament” is a concrete expression of Christ in the world. The Eucharist, for example, is a sacrament. Within the eucharistic liturgy, through the priest’s words and actions, the physical signs of bread and wine become Christ really present.

Likewise, the Church believes marriage is a sacrament. In marriage, the couple’s life, love and witness can make Christ visible to others. All sacramentally married couples are invited to reveal Christ’s loving presence and generous action in the world.

Just as God is a Trinity of persons — a community — marriage also is communitarian. “Gaudium et Spes,” a Second Vatican Council document, says couples form a permanent, lifegiving community. We’ve already described this relationship as sacramental, a sign of Christ’s love in the world. Sacramental couples live as communities that reveal God’s blessings, reach out to heal the brokenness of the family and world, and share their gifts with those around them.

Enriching others

Sex and marriage: An expression of love that is open to new life The Catholic Church, in its official teaching, has always taken a positive view of sexuality in marriage. Marital intercourse, says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “noble and honorable,” established by God so that “spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit.” (#2362).

The Church’s positive understanding of sexuality is rooted in the teachings of Jesus that were, in part, drawn from the wisdom of the Old Testament. Both the Book of Genesis and the Song of Songs describe the basic goodness of sexual love in marriage. In the New Testament, Jesus began his public ministry with his supportive presence at the wedding feast of Cana, a further indication of the goodness of marriage.

Marital sexuality achieves two purposes.

The Church affirms, first, its role in creating new human life, sometimes called the procreative dimension of sexuality. In giving birth to children and educating them, the couple cooperates with the Creator’s love.

Second, sexual union expresses and deepens the love between husband and wife. This is called the unitive, or relational, aspect of sexuality.

The bond between the procreative and the relational aspects cannot be broken. Each sexual act in a marriage must be open to the possibility of conceiving a child.

Contraception is wrong because it separates the act of conception from sexual union. (See “Married Love and the Gift of Life” at USCCB.ORG for more on this topic.)

Recent church teaching has tried to integrate the two purposes of marriage into a single perspective, which sees marital sexual love as essentially procreative. Marital love is by its nature fruitful; it generates new life. The God-created expression of marital love, joined to an openness to new life, contributes to the holiness of the couple. The “call to holiness in marriage is a lifelong process of conversion and growth” (Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 408).

Like all the baptized, married couples are called to chastity. The Church defines chastity as “the successful integration of sexuality within the person” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2337).

Married couples practice the conjugal chastity that is proper to their state in life.

Couples live as communities when they experience the blessings that come from making a total commitment to another person. Making permanent commitments is becoming rare; sacramental couples demonstrate that it is possible.

Another blessing of marriage is children. A couple’s willingness to be open to the gift of children, and to demonstrate the generosity and sacrifice necessary to raise them according to Gospel values is a real blessing.

Couples also live as communities when they recognize and heal the brokenness in their individual lives and in their life together.

Brokenness is a part of everyone’s life; a spouse is in a unique position to heal the pain that inevitably arises in relationship. Couples create sacramental communities when they build a life of sharing — with each other, with their families, with local communities, with the Church. As couples grow in their love for each other, their communities of life and love enrich the larger communities in their lives.

Finally, sacramental marriages are missionary. Part of the joy of a faith-filled marriage is showing others what it means to be in a loving, Christ-centered relationship, and making known to others the gift of faithful married life and love.

Couples have the potential to show others what it means to embody the life of the Holy Spirit within them. Married couples, while never perfect, are missionary through the witness of their lives and love in the midst of the world. They are characterized by openness to the life of the Spirit within them, by loving service to their neighbors, and by sharing their talents and blessings with and for the local and global communities. As missionaries, married couples can witness Gospel values in their daily lives. A spirituality of marriage shows how couples reveal Christ, build community and reach out to others in love. It is a powerful way to describe how Catholic couples live out their vocation of married life.

The late Pope John Paul II wanted to find a new and compelling way to express this positive view of sexuality. He developed a strand of thinking about sexuality and its role in human life called “The Theology of the Body.”

The pope begins with the idea that each human being is willed for his or her own sake. Out of love, God created human beings as male and female, persons of dignity and worthy of respect. Also out of love, God established marriage as the first communion of persons. In marriage, man and woman totally give themselves to each other and, in this self-giving, they discover who they are.

The sin of Adam and Eve ruptured this original unity of body and soul. Sadly, we know the results: Too often women and men have become objects to be used and exploited. The salvation won for us by Jesus Christ began the process of restoring the lost unity of body and soul. This process is partly completed here; full unity will be restored in the next life.

The Church teaches that human sexuality is sacred. Within marriage, it fulfills its purpose as an expression of deep, faithful and exclusive love that is open to new life. Marital sexual relations involve profound openness and receptivity, a complete and mutual self-giving.

Sexuality is an important part of that incredibly rich and mysterious pattern in creation that comes directly from the mind and heart of God.

JoAnn Heaney-Hunter is associate professor of theology at St. John’s University in New York.

Reprinted from “For Your Marriage,” an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Reprinted from “For Your Marriage” — FORYOURMARRIAGE.ORG — an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Theology of the Body

Marriage

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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What happens if marriage is

REDEFINED?

Most of the following article has been adapted from “Marriage and Religious Liberty: Why the civil definition of marriage should matter to Catholics,” Minnesota Catholic Conference.

When a court or legislature adopts a definition of marriage as the union of any two people regardless of gender, legal experts — on both sides of the marriage debate — agree that there will be important consequences for society. Scholars from some of the nation’s most respected law schools have written that the issue impacts a host of other issues, ranging from religious liberty, to individual expression of faith, to education and the professions.

For example, these legal scholars (1) predict “a sea change in American law” and foretell an “immense” volume of litigation against individuals, small businesses and religious organizations. Those who do not agree with this new definition of marriage as a genderless institution existing for the benefit of adults — not children — will be treated under the law like bigots and will be punished for their beliefs.

This is already occurring: ■ Religious groups who have refused to make their facilities available for same-sex couples have lost their state tax exemption (2).

■ Religious groups like Catholic Charities in Boston and Washington, D.C., have had to choose between fulfilling their social mission based on their religious beliefs or acquiescing to this new definition of marriage. They have, for example, been forced to close their charitable adoption agencies.

■ Nonprofit groups are faced with abandoning their historic mission principles in order to maintain governmental contracts (for things like low-income housing, health clinics, etc).

■ Whenever schools educate children about marriage, which happens throughout the curriculum, they will have no choice but to teach this new genderless institution. In Massachusetts, students as young as second-graders were taught about gay marriage in class. The courts ruled that parents had no right to prior notice or to opt their children out of such instruction (3).

■ Wedding professionals have been fined for refusing to participate in a same-sex ceremony (4).

■ Doctors, lawyers, accountants and other licensed professionals risk their state licensure if they act on their belief that a same-sex couple cannot really be married. A counselor, for example, could not refuse “marriage therapy” to a same-sex couple because she doesn’t believe in gay marriage. She would put her licensure at risk (5).

■ People who believe marriage is between one man and one woman would be the legal equivalent of bigots for acting on their heartfelt beliefs. Refusal to accommodate and recognize “same-sex marriages” would be the equivalent of racial discrimination. Not only will the law penalize traditional marriage supporters, but the power of government will work in concert to promote this belief throughout the culture.

Beyond the U.S. The impact of same-sex unions is currently being felt beyond U.S. borders.

In Canada, for example, marriage commissioners in the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan must perform samesex marriages or resign, according to an article last May in The Catholic Register in Toronto.

The National Catholic Register recently reported that civil union between three partners has been registered

in Brazil, despite the constitution’s definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. “A Brazilian court earlier allowed homosexuals to marry under a ‘stable union’ status,” the article stated.

The same article also cited a new development in the United States in which the California State Assembly passed legislation in late August allowing judges the ability to declare more than two parents for a child; it applies to men and women, heterosexual and homosexual.

“This confirms everything we’ve been saying about the consequences of same-sex marriage,” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told the newspaper.

Citations

(1) Laycock, Douglas, Anthony R. Picarello, Jr. and Robin Fretwell Wilson. “Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts.” Found at WWW.GOODREADS.COM/AUTHOR/SHOW/5751998.ANTHONY_R_ PICARELLO_JR_.

(2) Capuzzo, Jill P. “Group Loses Tax Break Over Gay Union Issue.” The New York Times, Sept. 18, 2007, WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2007/09/18/NYREGION/18GROVE.HTML. (3) Parker v. Hurley, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Jan. 31, 2008, cited at WWW.CA1.USCOURTS.GOV/PDF.OPINIONS/07-1528-01A.PDF. (4) Elane Photography V. Willock, ADF - News Release, n.p., June 4, 2012, WWW.ADFMEDIA.ORG/NEWS/PRDETAIL/5537.

(5) Ward v. Polite, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 4 Oct. 2011, cited at WWW.CA6.USCOURTS.GOV/OPINIONS.PDF/12A0024P-06.PDF.

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Marriage

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Q& A

Why do we need a marriage amendment?

Minnesotans will vote Nov. 6 on a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The following questions and answers about the effort are an edited version of a Q&A provided by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

Why is this amendment needed?

The amendment is needed to protect the civil institution of marriage, currently codified in Minnesota statutes, from active attempts in the state courts and in the state Legislature to redefine it into a system of domestic partnerships or eliminate it altogether. Unlike a statute, a constitutional provision cannot be changed without the permission of voters.

Why is the Church promoting a constitutional amendment?

All citizens, including Catholics, must care about the government’s treatment of marriage because civil authorities are charged with protecting children and promoting the common good, and offering her insights about what will marriage is indispensable to both promote the common good, just as she purposes. does on a whole variety of issues: It is a reality that unites a man and a abortion, the economy, migration, woman and any children born from education and poverty. She attempts to their union. That is what marriage is; speak using points of reference accessible that is what marriage does. Government to all people: natural law, social science, supports this social reality; it does not experience, history and create it. tradition. In doing so, There are many the Church shows she types of loving, resources to is not defending a mere committed learn more religious doctrine, but a relationships in our about marriage truth that history lives that serve a shows is universal. variety of purposes, and the marriage but we don’t call them People may disagree amendment marriage. That is with the Church’s because marriage is position, but Catholics ■ Catechism of the more. It is about what are not disqualified Catholic Church. See #1601 kids need, not what from public debates to 1666. adults want. merely because what ■ “Marriage: Speaking the The Minnesota they know by reason is truth with love,” by Catholic Conference also supported by what Archbishop John Nienstedt, in (MNCC.ORG) makes The Catholic Spirit, Aug. 30, they believe God has 2012. Online at HTTP://THE available many revealed. To claim CATHOLICSPIRIT.COM/THAT-THEY-MAYresources on its website otherwise is a radical ALL-BE-ONE/MARRIAGE-SPEAKING to help Catholics and assault on free speech -THE-TRUTH-WITH-LOVE. the public understand and an affront to this ■ U.S. Conference of what the civil nation’s cherished Catholic Bishops’ marriage institution of marriage tradition of religious page. WWW.USCCB.ORG/ISSUESis and why it is worth participation in AND-ACTION/MARRIAGE-AND-FAMILY/ defending. important political MARRIAGE. questions, such as the ■ Unique for a Reason: Why Civil Rights movement.

Is the Church Marriage Matters — imposing its view of HTTP://MARRIAGEMATTERS.MNCC.ORG Isn’t marriage a marriage on others?

— a blog exploring the civil right?

One need not be importance of sexuality and Marriage is a civil religious to see the marriage sponsored by the right, but like every importance of civil Minnesota Catholic right it has limitations marriage to society, Conference. and responsibilities nor is the issue of ■ Marriage Protection attached to it. marriage a purely Amendment page of the religious or sectarian Every man and every Minnesota Catholic question. This is not a woman has a right to Conference. WWW.MNCC. debate about enter into marriage, ORG/ADVOCACY-AREAS/MARRIAGEsacraments, the but marriage as an AND-FAMILY/MARRIAGE-AMENDMENT. “sanctity” of marriage institution can only be or the private between a man and a dimensions of people’s romantic woman. Governments do not have the relationships, but instead civil marriage’s power to redefine marriage because it is a essential public purposes. permanent human institution that does In this debate, the Church is merely not owe its existence to governments.

5

Marrying a person of the same sex is not a civil right because same-sex couples cannot fulfill the core public purpose of marriage: bringing men and women into the only kind of union that can naturally make new life and give children mothers and fathers.

Is the Church discriminating against gay people?

Proclaiming the truth about God’s clear plan for marriage to be exclusively between one man and one woman is not discrimination. Through nature, we can recognize and understand that a man is male and a woman is female. Neither of these is discrimination; they are simply observations of natural law and the inherent complementarity of the two genders that were clearly made for one another.

The fact is that the marriage amendment does not take away anyone’s existing rights or legal protections. We are simply defending marriage from attempts to weaken it or turn it into something else.

The debate about the meaning of marriage is not one we have started, and we cannot remain silent as this very important institution is under attack. We recognize that some who oppose a marriage amendment and want to redefine marriage experience same-sex attraction. We do not “hate” them, just like we do not hate those who have divorced or committed adultery or any other sexual sins. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We must make a point to remind ourselves that every person has an inherent dignity. Like all other human beings, our brothers and sisters living with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God. As a result, the Catholic Church affirms that they “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in this regard should be avoided” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2358].

People with same-sex attraction, like others in society, are productive citizens,

loving parents, community servants, good friends or our beloved family members. Their fundamental human rights must be defended, and everyone must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice, oppression or violence against all persons.

But our love and compassion for our neighbor does not mean we are compelled to modify important public institutions to satisfy desires or validate relationships. People can live as they choose, but no one has the right to redefine marriage for all of society.

Is the Church working with other communities to support the marriage amendment?

Yes. The Church actively supports and collaborates with the Minnesota for Marriage campaign, a broad coalition of religious and secular groups committed to defending the institution of marriage in Minnesota. To learn more about the campaign, visit: HTTP://WWW.MINNESOTA FORMARRIAGE.COM. What can Catholics do to defend and promote marriage?

Catholics can put their faith in action by working with their pastor or parish committees, the activities of which are being supported by the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Because it takes money to speak in a democracy, Catholics are also encouraged to make a donation to Minnesota for Marriage. Donations can be made through HTTP://WWW.MINNESOTA FORMARRIAGE.COM. Catholics should also pray for the success of the amendment, for those involved, and that our message may fall on receptive ears. Most important, Catholics should witness to the truth of marriage by living their own marriages well and helping others do the same.

Ultimately, it is not enough to pass a marriage amendment. We must truly rebuild a culture of marriage and family life.

“I understand the anguish of the many Middle Eastern people who are every day immersed in sufferings of every kind.”

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking before his Sept. 14-16 visit to Lebanon

This Catholic Life SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Opinion, feedback and points to ponder

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Minneapolis pastor says papal visit to Lebanon brings hope

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Msgr. Sharbel Maroun smiles when he recalls a journey to his native Lebanon 15 years ago.

The pastor of St. Maron in Minneapolis is used to making the trip — he now goes three times a year.

But, that visit was special. Pope John Paul II was there to encourage the people of this hub of the Middle East.

“I went by myself,” said Msgr. Maroun. “I attended the pope’s youth liturgy [with] probably about 20,000 MSGR. MAROUN to 30,000 youth that were gathered. We finished at night and we walked to Beirut, about 25 miles. We walked all night in order to go and be ready for the Mass in downtown Beirut the next morning. I attended the liturgy. Close to 700,000 people were present.”

There was palpable excitement then that he was hoping to recapture this week as he prepared for another papal visit to Lebanon, this time by Pope Benedict XVI. Msgr. Maroun took a group of 45 with him, including a dozen of his parishioners.

He returns from his 10-day trip Sept. 20.

St. Maron’s parish is one of two Maronite-rite parishes in the archdiocese; the other is Holy Family in St. Paul. As is the case of the other “Eastern rites” within the Catholic Church, the Maronite rite is in full communion with Rome. Since the rite took shape in Lebanon, most Maronite Catholics are Lebanese.

Msgr. Maroun is greatly encouraged that the pontiff is landing on Middle Eastern soil to spend three days and not yielding to fear based on the ongoing violence in the region, which includes the current civil war in Syria. The pope’s words, the priest said, will in turn help persuade the Christians of Lebanon to resist the temptation to leave the volatile region.

“There’s so much division, violence, discrimination and bloodshed, and the pope is coming with a message of peace,” he said. “The pope is going there to say, ‘You stay here.’ And, I think his Mass with the youth on Saturday the 15th will play a very big role.”

Many Christians from the Middle East have left due to the violence, persecution and the lack of economic opportunities.

Msgr. Maroun is hoping the pope’s visit will create the resolve to remain, plus point a much-needed spotlight on the plight of Middle Eastern Christians and their need for support, especially from their fellow Christians in the West.

“The pope is trying to bring it to the front and I think the whole Catholic Church should adopt a way to try to support the Christians of the Middle East,” he said. “We need to pray for them, first

CNS photo / Dalia Khamissy

A boy lights a candle at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon Aug. 26 in Harissa, east of Beirut. Catholics were preparing for the Sept.

14-16 visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon.

For Pope in Lebanon, the pastoral is political

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service

When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Lebanon Sept. 14-16 — assuming spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria doesn’t force a last-minute cancellation of the trip — his purpose will be above all pastoral; and, as usual for papal trips, most of his remarks will focus on the spiritual.

Yet as the Syrian conflict exemplifies, the concerns of Christians in the Middle East are in many respects inseparable from politics; and however diplomatically the pope may word his statements, some will inevitably touch on the region’s political struggles and tensions.

Synod reflections Pope Benedict’s primary reason for visiting Lebanon is to deliver his document of reflections on the 2010 special Synod of Bishops, which was dedicated to Christians in the Middle East. At that gathering, bishops spoke out on a range of issues that included the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, dialogue with Islam and Judaism, and the emigration of Christians driven by persecution, military conflict and economic hardship.

Bishops at the synod also affirmed the value of “positive secularism” and of an idea of citizenship that recognized a person’s full rights and responsibilities in

society without reference to religious affiliation. According to Michael La Civita of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, these are strikingly new concepts for the region, where sectarianism still dominates public as well as private life.

Pope Benedict may draw on the bishops’ vocabulary of secular citizenship when he addresses Lebanon’s political, religious and cultural leaders in the presidential palace Sept. 15. He is also likely to renew his earlier calls for the protection of religious minorities. That cause has become an increasingly urgent one for Christians in the Middle East since the start of the Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave that started in December 2010, leading to the fall of dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and currently threatening the government of Syria.

Though they profess no love for the old regimes, many Middle Eastern Christians fear that revolution has further empowered Islamist extremism in the region, increasing the danger of attacks and persecution of the sort that Iraq’s Christians have suffered since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

According to Habib Malik, a professor of history at Lebanese American University, the pope in Lebanon will find an especially receptive audience for any talk of minority rights, since the country’s PLEASE TURN TO EXPERIENCE ON PAGE 16

of all. . . . There is a minority there that is helpless. Their churches are being either bombed or they [Christians] are being displaced.

“Take Iraq. Ten years ago, before the American invasion, we had a million Christians, but it’s 200,000 now. Where are the other Christians? Eighty percent left, which means the other 20 percent that are still there, with time, they will follow.”

‘Be not afraid’ Msgr. Maroun said that Lebanon is unique in striving to achieve political and spiritual balance. He noted a constitution that requires the president to be a Maronite Catholic, the prime minister be Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the house to be Shiite Muslim. In addition, the parliament is split 50-50 between Christians and Muslims.

“Only in Lebanon in the Middle East, Christians have freedom, only in Lebanon true freedom,” he said. “Only Lebanon would allow a patriarch to stand up on Sunday and say anything from the pulpit concerning justice and freedom, and criticizing the government. Only in Lebanon are the priests allowed to practice their faith freely with no persecutions and not being looked at as second-class citizens.”

When the pope has left and the flowers and rice are cleared from the streets where he has traveled, Msgr. Maroun hopes the Christians of Lebanon and throughout the Middle East will take to heart the message John Paul II delivered in 1997 and Pope Benedict reiterated last week: “Be not afraid.”

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Commentary / This Catholic Life

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Smartphones down: A real pilgrimage takes time, reflection

F

ather Caesar Atuire is not naive enough to ask his pilgrims to leave their smartphones at home.

However, the CEO of a Vatican-related pilgrimage agency does ask his pilgrims to at least look at the holy sites — perhaps even say a prayer — Cindy Wooden before clicking and capturing the moment in a photo, text message, Tweet or Facebook post.

Father Atuire, a Ghanaian-born priest of the Diocese of Rome, personally leads at least three of the pilgrimages he oversees each year for Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, which organizes spiritual travel from Rome for 40,000-50,000 people each year and assists about 700,000 pilgrims visiting the Eternal City annually.

More and more, he said, helping travelers become pilgrims means overcoming a fixation with images that completely overshadows experiencing the reality of setting off on a journey, meeting new people, exploring different cultures and entering into prayer.

People at audiences and Masses with Pope Benedict XVI see the pope through their camera lens, cellphones and iPads.

The same thing happens at Christian holy sites around the world, he said.

“What I insist with our pilgrims is live the experience and, if the experience is so powerful, then try to immortalize it with an image, but don’t start off with the image,” he said.

Analysis

Being present A second, similar modern obstacle to an authentic pilgrim experience is Facebook or other social networks and the general ease of communicating with others anywhere in the world.

Father Atuire talks about “being present, but absent.” He said, “I can be here with you, but all that I’m doing is geared toward telling people elsewhere what I’m doing right now. That’s a kind of absenteeism that’s becoming very pronounced even in our pilgrimages.”

The third big risk is speed, he said.

“It takes 90 minutes to fly from Rome to Lourdes,” and as soon as the plane lands, he said, people are calling home, “asking the kids to take the laundry out of the machine. And I say, ‘Wait a minute,

ple are in search of a deep religious experience, the body somehow needs to be involved,” so setting off from home and going on a pilgrimage is quite natural, not only for Christians, but also for members of most other major religions.

“Christian pilgrimage is all about encounters,” beginning with encountering other seekers and believers, but also being encouraged by them or learning from them how to move closer to the encounter with God. Unfortunately though, he said, too many people today focus so much on getting to the holy places that they lose sight of the fact that a pilgrimage is a journey: “The road is the pilgrimage and it prepares you for the encounter.”

While a pilgrimage is a purposeful break from one’s normal routine, it’s not a break from rules and good manners, he said.

“A pilgrimage is putting order into your life, going back to put real order in your life — order in terms of your relationships with other persons, order in terms of your relationship with God,” he said. “Sin is disorder, and a pilgrimage is an opportunity to recover that harmony that has been lost through everyday life. That’s why it’s a deeply religious experience.”

“A pilgrimage is putting

order into your life, going back to put real order in your life — order in terms of your relationships with other persons, order in terms of your relationship with God.

”

FATHER CAESAR ATUIRE

CEO of Vatican-related pilgrimage agency

Future plans CNS photo / Robert Duncan

Father Caesar Atuire, chief executive officer of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, a Vatican-related pilgrimage agency, talks about the pilgrim experience during a recent interview in his Rome office.

you still aren’t here.’”

People’s minds, hearts and souls need time to move from thoughts of work, home or school, Father Atuire said, so his agency offers catechesis on the planes. In addition, each morning guides conduct a brief meeting to remind people of where they are and what they’re about to do.

All people need a break from the daily grind now and then, he said. They need to get in touch again with their families, with nature, with themselves and with God. If a person isn’t traveling for work, they usually either are “running away from something or searching for something,” the priest said.

The key difference between leisure travel

and a pilgrimage is the search for a spiritual encounter, he said, and throughout history certain shrines and sites have become known as places with “a density of God’s presence,” he said.

Involving the body For the priest, who travels often, the three places that top his list for “spiritual density” are the chapel of Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher; the grotto where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France; and the Sea of Galilee in the silence of the early morning or late evening.

“I don’t think you can do anything but pray” in those places, he said.

“Religious experience has a corporal dimension,” Father Atuire said. “When peo-

Although often immersed in the nittygritty of chartering planes and buses, booking hotels and writing homilies for his pilgrims, Father Atuire does have a dream file, and it already includes a detailed itinerary. He just needs to find the time, the resources and the pilgrims.

One day, he said, he’d love to take a group to the Marian shrine at Kibeho, Rwanda, where young people reported apparitions of Mary in the 1980s; the local bishop has recognized the apparitions as authentic.

“It’s a region of Africa that is struggling to find peace, stability and growth” following the genocide of the 1990s, Father Atuire said. He would like to bring a group of pilgrims with him, “look into Our Lady’s message and see what signs of hope we can find there.”

Cindy Wooden is senior correspondent with the Rome bureau of Catholic News Service.

Experience of Middle East Christians holds lesson for West CONTNINUED FROM PAGE 15 Muslim and Christian populations are both composed of a variety of smaller communities, and moderate Muslims there are also “scared of the radical elements in their midst.”

Sensitive issues Yet, Pope Benedict knows from experience how sensitive a topic this is. In January 2011, after the pope denounced killings of Christians in Egypt and called for the protection of religious minorities, the Egyptian government recalled its ambassador to the Holy See, and the most prestigious university in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo’s al-Azhar University, suspended its interreligious dialogue with the Vatican.

An even more delicate topic for the pope during his visit will be the Syrian civil war. Some Christian leaders have op-

posed the fall of President Bashar Assad, and the Vatican has yet to take a stand on proposals for outside military intervention to end the fighting.

In Lebanon, the pope will also confront the sensitivities and complexities of local church politics. Historically a refuge for Christians in the Middle East (with a Christian population today of nearly 40 percent, the largest proportion in the region), the country is home to at least a dozen major Christian churches, including Eastern Catholics in communion with Rome, Orthodox and Protestants.

At the 2010 synod on the Middle East, bishops affirmed the importance of preserving the variety of ancient traditions of Eastern Catholicism, whose survival is especially threatened by emigration; but the bishops also warned against the dangers of confessionalism: an attachment to distinct identities in a spirit of tribalism that undermines Christian unity.

As Father Guillaume de Brute Remur, rector of Beirut’s Redemptoris Mater seminary, told Vatican Radio in August, Pope Benedict’s unifying message is urgently needed in Lebanon, “especially in the midst of Middle Eastern revolution, where Islam also arises with some force and a certain radicalism threatens the unity.”

Even as he addresses Christians who are now a minority in a country where they once predominated, Pope Benedict will also be speaking to a global audience. So he may choose to draw or suggest parallels between the church’s situation in the Middle East and that in other parts of the world.

ular West. For Bishop Gregory Mansour, who leads Maronite Catholics in 16 states on the East Coast of the United States, the Christian minority in the Middle East sets an example for the new evangelization through its network of social services, including schools and health care facilities.

Witnessing the faith

Such services are extensively used and highly valued by the region’s Muslim majority, Bishop Mansour notes, and thus constitute a powerful though nonconfrontational form of witness. Yet, the bishop says that the long and arduous experience of Middle Eastern Christians also holds another lesson for Christians in the West, and particularly in the United States: “Don’t be silenced by anybody.”

The Lebanon trip comes less than a month before the pope opens the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, a project aimed particularly at revitalizing the church in an increasingly sec-

“We deserve a robust freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom in the city square,” Bishop Mansour said.

“The message of Christians in the Middle East is not to be silent.”

This Catholic Life / Commentary

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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We are entrusted with a mystery worth living and loving

W

Sharing Faith Deacon Mickey Friesen

Each of us, by our baptism, has been given a share in this gift of faith to embrace and to pass on

hen people ask me to share my faith story, I am drawn back to a question I was facing when I was about 20 years old.

In a nutshell, the question was: “God, how are you really present to me in that little host I receive at Mass?” I just didn’t get it.

The question made me restless enough that I got up the nerve to ask my pastor about it. He said, “This is a very important question. Stay with it. Don’t settle for cheap answers.”

Living with this question has opened my eyes to the countless ways that Christ is present to me, with me and through me. The real presence of Christ is the source of my faith.

of our times.

We can consider how the mystery of faith that we celebrate at each Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life and mission. Each of us, by our baptism, has been given a share in this gift of faith to embrace and to pass on.

Leading us deeper The Year of Faith is also a year to deepen our evangelizing witness of Christ among us.

How do we share our faith in the 21st century? How is the life and mission of Jesus good news to this generation? How is the church living out the communion we share in each Eucharist. How is the Lord being made present today?

During this year, there will be many opportunities in parishes and across the archdiocese to consider the gift of faith and our witness to that faith.

One event I recommend is a daylong mission conference called, “Witnessing Faith” on Nov. 9.

It will offer a chance to explore the intersection between the faith we proclaim and the faith we practice.

As St. Francis of Assisi said, “Proclaim the Gospel at all times; if necessary use words.”

The mystery of faith has been entrusted to us. It is a mystery worth living and loving. It is a journey and a decision to follow and trust Christ.

Let us give thanks for the gift of faith and let us witness to the real presence of Christ for our world to see and hear.

Leading us deeper The Austrian poet Ranier Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young poet who was questioning his literary vocation. In one of those letters, Rilke counseled the young man: “I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves. . . . Live the questions now.”

The big and often unresolved questions of our hearts have a power to lead us deeper. The mystery of faith that we proclaim at each Eucharist is such a question worth living.

Soon, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. That will be followed by a Year of Faith.

It will be a great opportunity to reflect on the faith that has been handed on to us. It can be a time to listen to the ways that God’s Spirit is moving among us through the signs

Deacon Mickey Friesen is director of the archdiocesan Center for Mission.

Challenging the community to help people find pathways out of poverty

L

Faith and Justice Kathy Tomlin

There are several initiatives in the works to attempt to reverse the affordable housing shortage and the growing shelter demand

iving in poverty can be a source of isolation and “over-neighborliness” — all at the same time.

Taking one day at a time, many of the clients at Catholic Charities share a shelter with people they have never met before. While often they are isolated and alone in terms of their families of origin, sharing a shelter puts many in a position of sharing too little space for too long.

When I think of the togetherness (not like the togetherness chosen at the State Fair) and the luck of the draw that is theirs, I am struck with how gracious and hospitable many of our guests are with each other.

It must take real patience when you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel — with no job in sight and no place to call your own.

It could be so much better, both for our customers and for the community at large.

Making things better There are several initiatives in the works to attempt to reverse the affordable housing shortage and the growing shelter demand. Taking the long view, the Metropolitan Council is holding listening sessions throughout the metro area, “Thrive MSP 2040.”

“It is our view that the quality of life improves for everyone when a trained workforce has access to affordable housing that is located on transportation corridors and connects directly to the business and retail hubs in the region.

”

KATHY TOMLIN

These listening sessions are open to everyone in the Twin Cities who wants to contribute to the conversations about the quality of life of the region and the investments that need to be made now, in order to ensure a thriving metropolitan area for everyone.

The Metropolitan Council will respond by creating a 10-year regional plan for the metro area.

In addition, the Homes for All campaign is a legislative initiative developed by shelter providers, housing developers and advocates for supportive housing who have come together in an effort to end homelessness in Minnesota.

Remembering the early progress

made under Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 2004 business plan to end homelessness by 2010, this coalition is focused on the huge need that continues particularly in light of the Great Recession and the mortgage foreclosure crisis that has only just begun for some.

In 2011 Catholic Charities assisted 410 households to maintain their housing with homelessness prevention assistance, provided 415,191 nights of housing and shelter, and filled the Hope Street shelter for youth to capacity every night.

While this work is very important as people face crisis, in the end, this is not the solution we should be seeking.

We at Catholic Charities would like to be focusing our work, instead, on creating opportunities that make it possible for a job to pay for housing and all of the other necessities of life. While we strive to go down that road, the immediate need in front of us keeps us fairly grounded in meeting the immediate crisis.

However, we challenge the community to think about how we (all of us) can provide pathways out of poverty.

We believe two important keys to this path are workforce development strategies and the creation of affordable housing located throughout the metropolitan area.

It is our view that the quality of life improves for everyone when a trained workforce has access to affordable housing that is located on transportation corridors and connects directly to the business and retail hubs in the region.

It is our hope that these two strategies, among others, will make it possible for more of our clients to participate in the economic life of the region.

Kathy Tomlin is director of Catholic Charities’ Office for Social Justice.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Commentary

/ This Catholic Life

Strengthening, defending marriage is a matter of justice but rather an essential element, rooted in the nature of the human person created male and female.

The following is the seventh article in the series “Catholics Care — Catholics Vote.” The series, which will run until Election Day, Nov. 6, unpacks and explores the themes addressed by the U.S. bishops in “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their document on political responsibility. For past articles in the series, visit THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM.

Safeguarding the good

By Bethany Meola Marriage is clearly a big deal for Catholics.

Being married in the church is important to Catholics. Delving into Catholic teaching itself, Scripture is filled with references to marriage, and the church presents it as a vocation and as one of the sacraments, a visible sign of God’s gift of grace.

What might be more surprising is that, for Catholics, marriage is also a key public policy issue — one of six raised by the U.S. bishops when they reissued “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their call to political responsibility. This means marriage is not only something that matters to the doctrine of the church and the private lives of the people entering into it. It matters to all of society.

The reason it matters is because marriage affects the common good. In fact, the two are inseparably intertwined.

As the Second Vatican Council put it, “The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition

Bigstock photo

Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the bishops write that, in light of the tragic consequences of marriage’s breakdown or disappearance, especially for children, “policies on taxes, work, divorce, immigration, and welfare should help families stay together.”

They also advocate for wages that “allow workers to support their families” and for public assistance for struggling families.

In addition to urging policies that strengthen marriages and families, the bishops are deeply concerned with “intensifying efforts” to redefine marriage, namely proposals to remove sexual difference from marriage.

This is not “expanding” marriage, as the bishops see it, but rather redefining it and in effect dismantling it. Sexual difference is not an optional component of marriage

of that community produced by marriage and the family.”

Because the union of husband and wife is uniquely capable of welcoming new life into the world, the church describes marriage as the very “condition” for society’s existence.

The family founded on marriage plays a profound educational role in society.

Pope John Paul II taught that the family is “the first and irreplaceable school of social life,” where each person “learns what it means to love and to be loved, and thus what it actually means to be a person.”

This “dynamic of love” emanates from the total self-giving union between husband and wife.

Because of marriage’s unique contribution to society, all people should be concerned with its well-being. In “Forming

Both the bishops of the United States and Pope Benedict XVI have stated that defending marriage as the union of one man and one woman is, as the pope taught in one ad limina talk, “ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.”

Defending marriage does justice to the child by providing him or her with the best possibility of knowing and being loved by both mother and father together.

In contrast, redefining marriage asserts that mothers and fathers are interchangeable and denies a child the right to know both a father and a mother. It also obscures the core of marriage, namely the union of husband and wife founded on sexual difference.

Standing up for marriage can be difficult and often uncomfortable in today’s cultural climate, but it’s essential for the good of marriage itself and for the common good, especially for the welfare of children.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (WWW.USCCB.ORG) offers resources to help Catholics understand and articulate what marriage is and why it matters. Preserving, strengthening and defending marriage are matters of justice that should matter to everyone.

Bethany Meola is program specialist for the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

Events aim to communicate fundamental ‘yes’ of Gospel

O

ver the last several years, it has been my honor to participate in a number of “Reclaiming the Culture of Marriage” events that have been held throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at various Catholic parishes.

These evenings of fraternity, formation and prayer bring together a Catholic priest, a lawyer and a sizable group of the lay faithful in order to reflect on the great gift of marital love and the very real cultural threats being posed to it, including the alarming precedents of recent lawsuits and state legislation.

These events are evenings of renewal and re-focus for presenters and Father John audiences alike, especially as we apPaul Erickson proach a critical November vote.

These events have allowed me to take an active part in a mission to which our archbishop has called me. On the day of my ordination, with full freedom and with no reservations, I took a solemn promise to respect and obey the bishop of this local church. I take that promise very seriously, as flawed and frail as I am.

The archbishop, as our shepherd, has made it clear that the preservation of marriage is of pivotal importance through a reasoned defense, using not only sound theology but abundant social research. I willingly and joyfully join my voice to his in expressing serious concern about the disintegration of those moral norms that have been the bedrock of society for so long.

Faith in the Public Arena

Recognizing natural law Participating in these events has allowed me to offer an explanation, as limited as my abilities truly are, of what tradition calls “the natural law.”

Natural law is essentially connected to human reason, that awesome gift human beings have been given that allows them to recognize the nature, or meaning and

“Like all vocations, which it

surely is, marriage is demanding and requires selfmastery if it is to blossom into the full image of God’s love for his Church.

”

FATHER JOHN PAUL ERICKSON

purpose of things. Marriage does in fact have a nature, a nature not bestowed upon it by the dictates of the state, but rather found in the complementarity of the sexes and the simple fact that sex results in babies. Erotic love leads to new life and the state has an interest in the proper formation and protection of this new life.

Civil law must be based upon natural law, lest it become the simple will of the majority or the tyranny of the vocal minority.

Contrary to the pithy anecdotes of social libertarians, civil law does in fact have a role to play in the cultivation of the morality of its citizens, a morality that must be rooted in right reason and the acknowledgment of the natural law, that is, the “way things are.”

To promote through law a definition of marriage that is quite deliberately separate from the procreation and education of children is to radically alter the meaning of marriage and of that activity that is particular to it — sex, or what was once called without irony, the “marital act.”

The ‘yes’ in God’s plan But my participation in these events has also been a

true privilege because it has given me the chance to proclaim to all who will listen the tremendously rich and life-giving teaching of the church on the sacramental nature of the human body, on the call to holiness that is chastity, and on the connection between the vocation of marriage and the salvific plan of God. For far too long, the church’s position on so many issues, including the issue of sexual morality, has been presented as a fundamental “no” — a no to human happiness, a no to passion, a no to vibrancy of life.

But such a way of teaching the things of faith is a radical distortion of the words of Christ: “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” And again, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, that your joy may be complete.”

Speaking at “Reclaiming the Culture of Marriage” events gives me an opportunity to affirm and to communicate the fundamental “yes” that is God’s plan for marriage.

Like all vocations, which it surely is, marriage is demanding and requires self-mastery if it is to blossom into the full image of God’s love for his church. It also requires an acknowledgment that marriage is not ours to define, but rather a gift to receive and to cherish as it has been given by God. I hope to have many more opportunities to participate in these events, even after Nov. 6 comes and goes. The need to preach the “yes” of the Gospel will always remain until the return of the King.

Father John Paul Erickson is the director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship and a presenter for the Minnesota Catholic Conference “Reclaiming the Culture of Marriage” series. To find an upcoming “Reclaiming” marriage event near you, click on the “Upcoming MCC Event” button on the MCC website’s home page: WWW.MNCC.ORG.

“The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.”

Isaiah 50:5

The Lesson Plan SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Reflections on faith and spirituality

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

19

Who do you say Jesus is?

“J

esus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They said in reply, ‘John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.’ And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’”

This Sunday, we will once again hear this famous Gospel passage, and many preachers this weekend will probably focus on this ever-important question of Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?”

You might hear a homily in which the Deacon priest or deacon asks Brian Park the congregation something like this: “Who do you say Jesus is? Is he just a good teacher who lived 2,000 years ago, or is he the main character in some made-up story, or is he truly the Son of the Living God, and the Lord of your life? Who do you say Jesus is?”

If you hear such a homily this weekend, great! Every one of us needs to be able to answer the question: Who is Jesus to me?

Is he really the Lord of my life? Do I daily seek to do his will and obey his command-

Sunday Scriptures

Readings Sunday, Sept. 16 24th Sunday in ordinary time ■ Isaiah 50:5-9a ■ James 2:14-18 ■ Mark 8:27-35

Monday, Sept. 17 St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the church 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33 Luke 7:1-10 Tuesday, Sept. 18 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31a Luke 7:11-17 Wednesday, Sept. 19 St. Januarius, bishop, martyr 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 Luke 7:31-35 Thursday, Sept. 20 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 7:36-50 Friday, Sept. 21 St. Matthew, apostle, evangelist Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 Matthew 9:9-13 Saturday, Sept. 22 1 Corinthians 15:35-37, 42-49 Luke 8:4-15 Sunday, Sept. 23 25th Sunday in ordinary time Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

Responding to truth

Reflection Who do you say Jesus is? Do you ever try to form Jesus in your own image? How can you come to understand better who he truly is?

ments? Am I committed to following him no matter where he leads?

However, there can be a danger in putting too much focus on the question, “Who do you say that I am,” if from this question you think that you somehow get to decide who Jesus is; that you have the authority to determine Jesus’ role in the

Daily Scriptures Sunday, Sept. 16 24th Sunday in ordinary time Isaiah 50:5-9a James 2:14-18 Mark 8:27-35

Jesus is not John the Baptist. Jesus is not Elijah. Jesus is not one of the prophets. In this Sunday’s Gospel passage, Peter answered the question correctly — Jesus is “the Christ.”

James 3:16-4:3 Mark 9:30-37 Monday, Sept. 24 Proverbs 3:27-34 Luke 8:16-18 Tuesday, Sept. 25 Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13 Luke 8:19-21 Wednesday, Sept. 26 Sts. Cosmas and Damian, martyrs Proverbs 30:5-9 Luke 9:1-6 Thursday, Sept. 27 St. Vincent de Paul, priest Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 Luke 9:7-9 Friday, Sept. 28 St. Wenceslaus, martyr; St. Lawrence Ruiz and companions, martyrs Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Luke 9:18-22 Saturday, Sept. 29 Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 John 1:47-51 Sunday, Sept. 30 26th Sunday in ordinary time Numbers 11:25-29 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

world; that you choose whether or not Jesus is going to be a good teacher, a humble prophet, a made-up story or the Son of God. The fact of the matter is that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, the Savior of the world, and this is true no matter what any individual person believes about Jesus.

This truth, that we do not determine who Jesus is, can be a helpful reflection as we prepare to enter into the Year of Faith, because faith is ultimately a response that we make to truths which God reveals to us.

Through sacred Scripture and tradition, God has revealed to us who Jesus is, and it is our duty to respond to this revelation with an act of faith, by choosing to believe, with the help of God’s grace, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Faith always begins with what God has revealed to us, and then we receive these truths in a spirit of humility and gratitude.

We can only answer the question, “Who do you say that I am,” because Jesus has first revealed to us who he is — our Savior and our Lord.

Deacon Brian Park is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His home parish is St. Joseph in West St. Paul, and his teaching parish is St. Agnes in St. Paul.

Pope, at audience, says those who love Jesus want to pray

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

The more people love Jesus, the more they will want to spend time with him in prayer; and the more they pray, the more they will resemble him, Pope Benedict XVI said.

While God always listens to people’s pleas for help and is always ready to respond, “our prayer must first be an act of listening to God who speaks to us,” the pope said Sept. 5 at his weekly general audience.

Traveling by helicopter from the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo, about 18 miles southeast of Rome, Pope Benedict returned briefly to the Vatican for his first general audience there since late June.

The audience marked the beginning of a series of papal audience talks on prayer in the Book of Revelation, which the pope said was “a difficult book, but one that contains a great richness” because it presents readers with the prayer life of the earliest Christian communities.

From the Vatican

In the opening chapter of Revelation, God reveals himself as “the Alpha and the Omega,” which, the pope said, means God shows himself to be “the beginning and end of history. He takes to heart the requests of the assembly. He was, is and will be present and active with his love in the midst of the events of humanity.”

Being attentive to God But the Book of Revelation also teaches that priority in prayer must be given to listening to God’s word and responding with “praise to God for his love [and] for the gift of Jesus Christ, who brings us strength, hope and salvation.”

“Submerged under so many words, we are not used to listening,” nor do people seem to know how to make the time and find a quiet place where they can “be attentive to what God wants to say,” the pope said.

“The more we know, love and follow Christ,” he said, “the more we’ll want to meet him in prayer.”

“The more we pray with constancy and intensity, the more we will resemble him and he truly will enter into our lives and guide them, giving us joy and peace. And the more we know, love and follow Jesus, the more we will feel the need to encounter him in prayer,” the pope said.

20

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Parish congregation was truly being ‘church’

A joyful look back

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

they have grown to over 700 families. They are very ably served by the Congregation of The Mother Co-Redemptrix (CMC). Currently the pastor is Father Ignatius Nguyen Hai Durong, CMC. The parochial vicar is Father Hilary Tran Ha Nhuhn, CMC.

Beautiful Mass

St. Mark School in St. Paul kicked off its centennial celebration Sept. 9 with a special Mass and reception. The celebration will continue with events scheduled throughout the school year.

Above, Greg Walker, a ‘71 graduate, reminisces while looking through his class yearbook during the reception. At left, Father Humberto Palomino, pastor of St. Mark parish, speaks to parishioners and alumni during the celebration. Below, Keely Wojda, center, and Sharon Suess, right, serve cake during the centennial celebration.

Jim Bovin / For The Catholic Spirit

Visit Cuba

Its People & Culture

When I arrived for the anniversary Mass on Aug. 19, the priests and parishioners were all gathered on the front steps of the church building surrounding a statue of the Blessed Mother. The image was highly adorned with flowers and holding a rosary. Young girls and boys in colorful, native costumes, stood closest to the Virgin, facing her and silently moving from side-to-side. After vesting, I returned to this same spot, where I incensed the image of the Virgin.

A large choir of parishioners sang all the propers of the Mass in their native language. The music was beautifully melodic. I, of course, preached in English, but they had translated my homily in Vietnamese so the pastor read the text after I had finished.

During the Offertory, the procession was joined by the same group of young men and women whom I had met on my arrival. Their gestures were graceful and truly elegant.

The provincial of the CMC was there, seated in a place of honor. Eight or nine other priests also concelebrated.

At the end of the Mass, the provincial and I were presented with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers by four very young children in native dress. Entertainment and a dinner followed the liturgy.

What was so apparent to me about the large congregation assembled is that they understood the call of the Second Vatican Council to full and active participation in the Mass. And to be sure, the parish is intergenerational: The elderly, the middle-aged, young married couples with babies, youthful teens and lots of children were all represented. It was a marvelous reflection of a parish congregation truly being “church.”

I want to thank the leadership of St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien for bringing about this reality with the help of God’s grace. It was truly a joy to be with you.

I also want to thank my episcopal predecessors for the pastoral vision they demonstrated by providing ways to welcome the stranger into this archdiocese. Truly, we are all better off for their presence.

God love you!

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Touch of Lebanon Festival St. Maron Catholic Church 602 University Avenue, NE – Minneapolis

Saturday, September 22, 2012 1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 23, 2012 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Authentic Lebanese Cuisine, Games, Raffle, Silent Auction, Gift Shop, And Live Music.

Dancing by The Cedars Dabke Group

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

Father Thomas Merton

Arts & Culture Exploring our church and our world

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

21

‘Restless Heart’ offers inspiring profile of saint

“T

hou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

This famous line from the “Confessions” of St. Augustine (354-430) inspires both the title and the theme of “Restless Heart” (Ignatius Press) — a biographical profile of the bishop that manages to inspire while steering clear of sentiAdam Shaw mentality.

The movie draws on aspects of Augustine’s life from youth to old age. Though this necessitates that the leading role be shared by two actors — Alessandro Preziosi as the younger Augustine and Franco Nero as the older man — the casting is well done, so that the difference between the two is not jarring to the audience.

The narrative opens in the last year of the life of this great father of the church, as he faces the Vandals’ invasion of his diocese of Hippo Regius in Roman Africa, then goes back in time to guide the viewer through Augustine’s moving conversion story.

Born in Thagaste, North Africa, to a pagan father and a Christian mother, the young Augustine moved to the ancient metropolis of Carthage to study rhetoric.

There he rose to be a well-established lawyer, but one who believed that truth was unconnected to reality and belonged instead to the winning side in any given dispute.

Around this time, Augustine adopted the dualist Manichaean heresy, a development of Gnosticism that posited an ongoing cosmic battle between equally matched worlds of light and darkness. By his own later account, Augustine also gave way to debauched living.

Director Christian Duguay’s 127-minute

Movie Review

Cathedral rose window will be lit during Festival of Lights

CNS photo / Maximus Group

Monica Guerritore portrays St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, played as a young man by Alessandro Preziosi, in a scene from the movie “Restless Heart.”

long picture is arduous at times, though it mostly remains focused on the task at hand.

As it covers Augustine’s search for the meaning of truth and his eventual embrace of a heresy-free Christianity, the picture gives plenty of breathing room to the philosophical arguments with which he wrestled.

It also highlights the influence exerted on him by his mother, St. Monica (Monica Guerritore), and by his philosophical adversary — but future friend — St. Ambrose (Andrea Giordana), the bishop of Milan.

Less satisfactory however, is the treatment of Augustine’s career as a priest and bishop, which is touched on only at the

Fall Festival St. Michael Church of West St. Paul Saturday, Sept. 22 (4 to 7 p.m.)

Homemade Lasagna Dinner Sunday Sept. 23 (noon to 5 p.m.)

Silent Auction / Kids games / Hole-in-One Golf / Bingo / Pull Tabs / Bottle Lotto Mission Helpers / Beer & Pop / Hot Dogs & Burgers / Mini-Donuts / International Foods

$1000 Grand Prize Raffle Drawing at 5 p.m.

Fun for the whole family (651) 457-2334 www.stmikesfestival.s5.com

A t. e W st Sdition a r t Paul ce 1972 sin

Just 5 minutes south of downtown St. Paul. Take Robert St. to Annapolis then east to Wallner

beginning and end of the movie.

This is, nonetheless, a well-produced, colorful piece of cinema that communicates uplifting messages about the power of God and the importance of truth. As such, viewers of faith will likely find it extremely nourishing.

The film contains some violence and a cohabitation theme. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. For more information about the film, visit WWW.RESTLESSHEARTFILM.COM. Shaw is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

In honor of the Second Annual Cathedral Festival of Lights, the East Rose Window will be lit over the front doors of the Cathedral of St. Paul from dusk until 10 p.m. on Sept. 28.

The public is are encouraged to stop by and view the window, said Carolyn Will, spokesperson for the Cathedral.

Last year’s inaugural “Festival of Lights” event raised funds for the interior lighting in addition to other restoration projects.

This year’s “fund-a-need” will focus on adding the pontifical trumpet stop to the Great Cathedral Organs currently undergoing a much-needed restoration, will said.

The Festival of Lights is from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 28 at the St. Paul Hotel.

Learn more and register online for the event at WWW.CATHEDRALHERITAGEFOUNDATION.ORG.

22

Dining out

KC benefit breakfast at Knights of Columbus Hall, Stillwater — September 16: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1910 S. Greeley St. Cost is $7 for adults and $4 for ages 12 and under. Proceeds benefit the St. Croix Catholic School Marathon for non-public education.

Parish events Fall festival at St. Patrick, Inver Grove Heights — September 13 to 16: Begins with a rummage sale Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 3535 72nd St. (Sale continues Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to noon.) Event features family fun night Friday, 6 to 8:30 p.m., taco dinner and games Saturday, and food, games and a classic motor show Sunday.

Fall festival at Transfiguration, Oakdale — September 14 to 16: 6 to 10 p.m. Friday features live music, food, 5K walk/run and more at 6133 15th St. N. Continues Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m. with live music by The Dweebs at 8 p.m.

Fall festival at Guardian Angels, Oakdale — September 14 to 16: Community dance from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at 8260 Fourth St. N. Continues Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. with Mass followed by games, pasta dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. and a variety show. Mass at 11 a.m. Sunday followed by a chicken dinner, food, petting zoo and more.

Autumn Daze at St. Helena, Minneapolis — September 14 to 16: Hours are 6 to 10 p.m.

Friday with fireworks at 10 p.m. at 3204 E. 43rd St. Continues Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. with a parade at 10 a.m., and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Features live entertainment, games and more.

Annual Tent Event at St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — September 15: Features a craft fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Live music from Uncle Chunk and more from 6 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $15.

Coronation and Independence of Mexico and Central America dance at Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — September 15: 6 to 11:30 p.m. at 401 Concord St. Coronation at 7 p.m. with music and dance to follow.

Food available for purchase. Cost is $5.

125th anniversary celebration and fall festival at St. Lawrence Church and Newman Center, Minneapolis — September 15: noon to 4 p.m. at 1203 Fifth St. S.E. Visit WWW.UMNCATHOLIC.ORG. Respect Life 5K at St. Bonaventure, Bloomington — September 15: Check-in from

Saturday, September 15 Sunday, September 16

games, food, wine and more.

Don’t Miss

Shrimp and steak dinner at Knights Events Center, Shakopee — September 14: 5 to 8 p.m. at 1760 Fourth Ave. E. Cost is $12 for shrimp or steak and $15 for both. Childern’s meal available for $3.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will hold its fall formation day Oct. 16 at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton.

The day is titled “Evangelizing Parishes,” and will feature engaging speakers, formative information, and an opportunity to celebrate Mass as a local Church.

There is no cost for lay pastoral leaders — parish, school and archdiocesan staff — who are affiliated with the Archdiocese.

For information and to register, visit WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG. 7:15 to 7:45 a.m. at 901 E. 90th St. Run/walk begins at 8 a.m. Registration fee is $10. To register, call (952) 884-4372.

Fall festival at St. John the Baptist, Jordan — September 15 and 16: Polka Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday followed by live music. Fun continues Sunday at 9 a.m. with a chicken dinner, quilt auction, fun land for kids at 210 Broadway.

Fall festival at Holy Cross, Minneapolis — September 15 and 16: 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday features music by Dr. Kielbasa, Polish food and games at 1621 University Ave. N.E. Continues Sunday with polka Mass at 10 a.m., a chicken dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and more music, games and food.

Applefest at St. Anne, LeSueur — September 15 and 16: 5:15 p.m. Mass Saturday followed by a pork roast dinner. Continues Sunday with an outdoor polka Mass at 10 a.m. followed by a grilled chicken dinner.

Located at 511 N. Fourth St. Parish festival at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hastings — September 15 and 16: Begins Saturday with Golf Fun Day at Hastings Country Club and Mass at 4:30 p.m. Movie night and entertainment after Mass. 11:30 a.m. Mass Sunday followed by a chicken dinner at 2035 15th St. W. Visit WWW.SEAS PARISH.ORG. Parish festival at St. Michael, Farmington — September 15 and 16: 4:30 p.m. Mass Saturday followed by a pulled pork supper, bingo, a campfire and hayrides at 22120 Denmark Ave. Continues Sunday with Mass at 10:30 a.m., games and entertainment.

Fall festival at St. Canice, Kilkenny — September 16: Mass at 10 a.m. followed by a chicken and ham dinner served until 2 p.m. Activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. include crafts and country store at 183 Maple St. W. Festival at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Minneapolis — September 16: Mass at 10 a.m. followed a Marian procession through the neighborhood. Spaghetti dinner from noon to 4 p.m. with games and prizes at 701 Fillmore St. N.E. Fall Festival and Booya at St. Jerome, Maplewood — September 16: Outdoor Mass at 10:30 a.m. under the tent at 380 E. Roselawn Ave. Activities include pony

1001 7th St. E., Monticello (Next to Home Depot)

5 p.m. Bilingual Mass 6 p.m. FREE Street Dance Kids’ Games 6-8 p.m.

Latino Food Booth/Fry Bread Enter our Chili Contest with Prizes; Wild & Mild Categories O Texas Hold ’em Tournament 7 p.m.

O Beer Tent/Pull Tabs

FALL FESTIVAL Sunday • 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

O O O O O O O O O

Hilltop AutumnFest at All Saints, Lakeville — September 22 and 23: 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, adults only. Features a pork supper, beer, wine and silent auction. Continues Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with food and fun at 19795 Holyoke Ave.

Archdiocese sponsors fall formation day

St. Henry’s Catholic Church

Saturday • 6-11 p.m.

O O O O O

Calendar

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Weekend prizes worth over $10,000 Chicken Dinner 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. with one free bingo 5 p.m. Drawing — Grand Raffle: top prize $1,000.

Bingo O 50/50 Games Cake Walk and Sweet Shop O Silent Auction Watch the Vikings game on a big screen TV Video Games O AirMaxx Trampoline O Human Hamster Ball S.A.L.T. 12-2 p.m. O Latino Music 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Outdoor Food Concessions

Fall Harvest Festival at Delano Catholic Community, Delano — September 23: Polka Mass at 10:30 a.m. followed by a turkey dinner at 204 S. River St. For information, visit WWW.DELANOCATHOLIC.COM.

rides, kids games and a car show. Talent show from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Booya and many other foods available. Booya will be available at 6 a.m. for takeout. Visit STJEROME-CHURCH.ORG. Festival at St. Pius V, Cannon Falls — September 16: Polka Mass at 10 a.m. followed by dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 410 Colville St. W. Also features live music, games and a silent auction.

Health care forum at the Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis — September 16: 1 to 2:30 p.m. at 88 N. 17th St. Hear from leaders in the health care field and enter into civil dialogue about the issues.

‘Marriage Matters’ at All Saints, Lakeville — September 17: 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 19795 Holyoke Ave. Jason Adkins, director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference will speak.

Medical Ethics for the End of Life: A Catholic View, at St. Joseph, New Hope — September 18: 7 p.m. at 8701 36th Ave. N. The presentation by Deacon Stephen Najarian, M.D., will include: Catholic principles for guiding end of life issues; case studies; living wills and health care proxies; and sacraments to accompany the end of life.

Free will offering.

Block Party at Our Lady of Peace, Minneapolis — September 21 and 22 : 5426 12th Ave. S. Features Fat Lorenzo’s spaghetti dinner Saturday, food, rides and games all weekend. Visit WWW.OLPMN.ORG/ BLOCKPARTY. Festember International festival at Assumption, Richfield — September 22: Noon to 6 p.m. at 305 77th St. Features international food, games and music.

Touch of Lebanon Festival at St. Maron, Minneapolis — September 22 and 23: 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at 602 University Ave. N.E. Includes authentic Lebanese cuisine, games, raffles, gift shop and live music.

Fall festival at St. Rita, Cottage Grove — September 22 and 23: Begins at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday with a chicken dinner, 5 p.m. polka Mass, country store and bingo at 8694 80th St., Teen night from 7:30 to 11 p.m. for grades 6 to 11. Continues Sunday after 10:30 a.m. Mass with auctions,

son n Jen le G .

Fr and s inr hione Paris ou to the: vite y

Fall Festival at The Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul — September 23: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 239 Selby Ave. Features an official cornhole tournament (Bean Bag Toss), games and activities for all ages, petting zoo, live music by Metro Jam and a pig roast.

Fall festival at St. Timothy, Maple Lake — September 23: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 241 Star St. E. Features a chicken dinner, kids’ games, pie eating contest and more.

St. Francis de Sales parish festival at Highland Park Pavillion, St. Paul — September 23: Bilingual Mass at 10:30 a.m. Food served 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. includes the booya, hot beef sandwiches, tacos, tamales, pozole and more. Pull tabs, raffle, and games for children are also available.

St. Paul Police Band performs at 1 p.m.

Fall festival at St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — September 23: Noon to 5 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Features a home cooked spaghetti dinner, bingo, raffles and more.

Fall festival at Most Holy Redeemer, Montgomery — September 23: Mass at 10:30 a.m. at 206 Vine Ave. W. followed by a home-baked chicken and ham dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Music, children's games, televised NFL football games, homemade candy and crafts.

Festival at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — September 23: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 21304 Church Ave. Features a chicken dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., farmers’ market, cake walk, craft booth.

School events Septemberfest at Faithful Shepherd School, Eagan — September 21 to 23: Family fun night Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 3355 Columbia Drive. 5K run Saturday at 9 a.m.

Concert Saturday evening with Hairball and Arch Allies, gates open at 5:30 p.m. 11 a.m. Mass under a tent Sunday. Visit WWW.SEPTEMBERFESTROCKSEAGAN.COM.

Singles 50-plus singles potluck at St. Joseph, New Hope — September 23: 5 p.m. at 8701 36th Ave. N. Includes social hour, potluck dinner and games. Brats and hot dogs provided, bring a dish to share. Call (763) 439-5940.

HOLY CROSS CHURCH FALL FESTIVAL

At the corner of 17th Ave & 4th St. NE, Mpls. • (612) 789-7238

e Comn joi us!

September 15 & 16, 2012 Saturday — Music by “Dr. Kielbasa” Fun & Polish Food “Under the Tent” 5:30-9 PM

Sunday — Polka Mass at 10:00 AM Music by John Filipczak and the Classics Chicken Dinner served from 11 AM to 2 PM Adults $10; Children (under 12) $4.00 Fun & Polish Food “Under the Tent” 11 AM-5 PM

Refreshments, Games, Entertainment, Raffles!

23

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Catholic United Financial elects new leader Catholic United Financial, a not-for-profit fraternal life insurance company, has elected Harald Borrmann president and chairman of the board, effective Jan. 1, 2013. Borrmann has served as senior vice-president and secretary/treasurer of the company since 2009.

Borrmann has more than 30 years experience in the reinsurance The industry and holds a degree from Catholic Spirit the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business in marketing and finance.

He and his wife, Mary, live in St. Paul and have three grown children. They are members of St. Frances Cabrini in Minneapolis. Borrmann succeeds Michael McGovern, who has served as president and chairman of the board since 1998 and who will retire at the end of the year.

Pilgrimage can give faith a lift

“All My children” from 1995-98, will be the keynote speaker at the North Side Life Care Center’s annual Fundraising Banquet for Life. Roman had an abortion at age 18, and found healing through a pregnancy center in Los Angeles.

She will talk about her experience at the event, which takes place at 5:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan Ballroom in Golden Valley. For information or to register, visit WWW.NORTHSIDELIFECARE.ORG. The Legacies for Life Gala on the same night features Shari Rigby, who played the birth mother of the main character in the movie “October Baby.” (See story in the Aug. 30 issue of the Catholic Spirit.)

The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club in Lakeville, is a fundraiser for Pregnancy Choices Life Care Center in Apple Valley.

For information, visit WWW.MYPREGNANCYCHOICES.COM, and click on events.

News Notes

Festa Italiana to feature Mass

Obituary

After a very successful inaugural year in 2011, Festa Italiana, a celebration of Minnesota’s Italian heritage, will return to Harriet Island in St. Paul Sept. 21 and 22. The event is free and open to the public.

The event features a Patron Saint Festival Saturday, which begins with Mass at 4:30 p.m., followed by a recessional through the grounds. Father John Forliti will be the celebrant. For information, visit WWW.FESTAITALIANAMN.COM.

Deacon served Mendota parish Deacon James B. Seaton Jr. died on Aug. 27, 2012. He was 79.

Deacon Seaton was born July 4, 1933, and ordained a deacon for the archdiocese in 1989. He served at St. Peter in Mendota.

The Mass of Christian Burial was on Aug. 30 at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel in St. Paul. Interment is at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights.

He is survived by his wife Mary Anne, along with children, grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Actresses speak up for life Two professional actresses will be in the Twin Cities Sept. 20 speaking on Pro-life topics.

Lauran Roman, who played Laura on the soap opera

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 What are you hoping the pilgrims will experience on the Oct. 2 trip? What are you hoping to experience?

My hope is that we pilgrims will have an experience of the richness and beauty of our Catholic faith and devotional life, and that our time together at the shrine (as well as the travel there and back), along with shared prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist, will give each participant a significant uplift in faith.

Also, I hope that in some real way the pilgrimage will strengthen each one’s relationship with the Mother of God, who went before us on the same pilgrimage of faith, and with her son, Jesus Christ.

Those who have not yet heard the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe will, I hope, be greatly edified by the timely significance of the story of the apparitions and their fruit.

What would you like to say to people who are interested but are yet to register for the pilgrimage?

I would highly recommend that anyone who might be interested but hesitating should take a little “leap of faith” and sign up. I’m sure those who do will not regret it!

Stay connected.

Follow The Catholic Spirit on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CatholicSpirit

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24

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

‘Church lady’ calls bringing Communion to homebound ‘great gift’

By Dianne Towalski The Catholic Spirit

The “church lady” came after all.

Beatrice, who suffers from memory loss, was living in a nursing home in West St. Paul when her family decided recently to move her to a new facility nearly Works of 15 miles away.

She worried that the the “church lady” wouldn’t continue her weekly visits to bring Communion because she was too far away.

But, during the second week at her new home, Beatrice’s face lit up when the “church lady” found her.

Nancy McGrew, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion from St. Ambrose of Woodbury, has been bringing Communion to Beatrice for the past year.

“Did you have trouble finding it?” Beatrice asked during the visit. McGrew took the woman’s hand and answered, “Beatrice, I’d go anywhere to find you!”

McGrew has been bringing Communion to the homebound and nursing home residents like Beatrice for five years.

“Its humbling for me because her memory is not great, and to know that these visits have meant something is huge,” McGrew said. “Its not me, it’s the Lord working through me. I know that I’ve brightened her day, and she feels cared for by not only her family but by her church family as well.”

Despite Beatrice’s declining health, the

MERCY

Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

Nancy McGrew from St. Ambrose of Woodbury in Woodbury gives Communion to someone in a nursing home. McGrew has been bringing Communion to the homebound of the parish for about five years.

two have formed a strong bond. “We’ve built up a relationship and I’ve had that happen with several families, it’s pretty powerful,” McGrew said.

McGrew said what impresses her most about her ministry is the deep faith of the people she serves and their appreciation for the Eucharist.

“There’s something about feeding the soul with the Eucharist that people really cherish,” she said.

The people that McGrew visits are unable to leave their homes by themselves for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s short-term, like an illness or injury that keeps them from Sunday Mass. Some elderly people are still in their homes and have trouble getting around, while others are being cared for by family members or living in a nursing home.

McGrew visits each person at least once a week and is available more often when

someone’s health worsens or if he or she is nearing the end of life.

“When I bring the Eucharist to other people, I know I’m holding the body of Christ in the pyx (small case),” she said.

“When I go into homes, they’re just craving this nourishment. It’s because of the Holy Spirit working through me that I even feel like I should be doing this. It is such a sacred thing, it’s such a great gift to be able to do this for others.”

McGrew has gotten very close to some families and admits it is very hard when their loved one passes away.

“Its hard,” she said. “Especially when you’re there once or twice a week and it gets toward the end and you just know that it may not be much longer before they go home to the Lord.”

The families are very appreciative and talk about how important it was to their loved one to have someone visit and bring Communion, McGrew said. One family gave her a cross from their mother after she died and a CD they had played at her bedside.

“I feel like I’m a part of a very blessed ministry,” McGrew said. “It’s a very special ministry to be able to go into a person’s home and to be able to pray with them and have them feel comfortable, and know that when you come to them, you’re truly bringing the Lord with you.

“I think [this ministry] is part of who we are as Catholics and what we stand for as Catholics. This is definitely very much a spiritual work of mercy, taking care of the poor and taking care of the more vulnerable of society.”

“There should be no one who, entering the Cathedral, is not able to say — it is mine.”

Archbishop John Ireland, 1905

$6 million remaining debt from the emergency exterior restoration of the Cathedral in 2000-02.

PLEASE BE GENEROUS TO OUR MOTHER CHURCH IN THE SPECIAL SECOND COLLECTION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23