The Catholic Spirit - January 31, 2013

Youth march for life in U.S. capital

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Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

The Catholic Spirit News with a Catholic heart

Getting ready for Lent

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Catholic Schools Week • Jan. 27 — Feb. 2

Secret’s out: Award winner leads St. Helena School

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Beautiful stained glass windows and a well-behaved daughter in church brought Jane Hileman to membership at St. Helena in Minneapolis.

That was in 1988. Now, exactly 25 years later, she is putting both the parish and school on the map as one of 12 principals in the nation to be honored with a Distinguished Principal Award from the National Catholic Educational Association.

She will receive the award in April at the NCEA national convention in Houston, Texas.

Best-kept secret “We always talk about this [St. Helena School] as being our best-kept secret,” said Hileman, 56, who became an English teacher at the school in the fall of 1995, with all three of her daughters enrolled, then became principal three years later. “Even though it’s only a stone’s throw from the light rail [in south Minneapolis], nobody knows about it.”

When Hileman and her husband Jim, now married 30 years, moved to Minneapolis, they didn’t know about St. Helena either, though they only lived a short distance away. When a neighbor told them about it, they decided to come to Sunday Mass. They were nervous, however, because one of their daughters always brought a full tank of energy to every liturgy.

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

PLEASE TURN TO DISTINGUISHED ON PAGE 10B

Jane Hileman, center, principal of St. Helena School in Minneapolis, helps fifth-graders Heiry Rocano, left, and Cindy Lor with reading in the school library. Formerly an English teacher, she enjoys the chance to work with students.

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Risen Christ School could become bilingual — 9B Visitation sisters inspire new building for science, tech — 11B

Catholics must stand for religious liberty, human life, archbishop says The Catholic Spirit Religious liberty is a cornerstone of American society — a foundational freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.

But “the current [presidential] administration seems to be attacking the very thing this country was founded on,” said Staci Scherber. “So many people have sacrificed so much, often giving their lives for the rights we have. I think it’s important for each one of us to do what we can.”

Scherber, her husband John and six of their 10 children — all members of Mary, Queen of Peace in Rogers — gave witness to those beliefs with others from around the archdiocese who gathered Jan. 20 at the Cathedral of St. Paul for a Holy Hour for Religious Liberty, Marriage and Life.

The event coincided with a nationwide call by the U.S. bishops to advance a movement on behalf of life, marriage and religious PLEASE TURN TO HOLY ON PAGE 5B

“So many people have

sacrificed so much, often giving their lives for the rights we have. I think it’s important for each one of us to do what we can.

”

STACI SCHERBER Holy hour participant

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JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

D.C. district judge says HHS suit is ‘premature’ Catholic News Service The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Jan. 25 dismissed a lawsuit filed against the federal contraceptive mandate by the Archdiocese of Washington and its co-plaintiffs, saying the case is premature in light of the government’s “promises to amend the mandate.”

“Importantly, this ruling was not based on the merits of our case,” said a statement issued by the archdiocese.

“In fact, the court’s ruling today places the onus squarely on the government,” it said, “to fulfill its binding commitment to address the religious freedom concerns” of the archdiocese, The Catholic University of America, the Consortium of Catholic Academies, Archbishop Carroll High School and Catholic Charities of D.C. “This requires the government to revise its HHS mandate in a way that truly respects our right to serve all those in need without violating our religious beliefs,” the archdiocese said.

Future challenges possible U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the ruling, saying that “if after the new regulations are issued, plaintiffs are still not satisfied, any challenges that they choose to bring will be substantially different from the challenges in the current complaint.”

Jackson was referring to the federal government stating that it will publish notice of proposed rulemaking in the first quarter of this year and issue a final rule on the mandate before August. In the meantime, the Obama administration has in place a

“The court specifically noted that the archdiocese and its co-plaintiffs have the right to file a new complaint if the government does not make a meaningful change to the mandate by the March deadline.

”

FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON STATEMENT

“safe harbor” period that protects employers from immediate government action against them if they fail to comply with the mandate.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requires employers, including most religious employers, to include coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and some abortion-inducing drugs free of charge, even if the employer is morally opposed to such services.

The requirement, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, has a narrow exemption that applies only to those religious institutions that seek to inculcate their religious values and primarily employ and serve people of their own faith. It does not include a conscience clause for employers who object to providing such coverage.

One proposed accommodation from the government would allow those employers who object to providing contraceptives to pass on the costs of the mandated coverage to their insurance carriers or a third party, rather than pay for them directly.

But many dioceses are self-insured, and Catholic officials say the policy would offer no fundamental change.

Jackson’s decision “was based on two commitments the government made to the court in this case and others: first, that the mandate as currently written will never be enforced against us; and second, that the mandate will be revised in a way that addresses our religious freedom concerns by March 31, 2013,” the Washington archdiocesan statement said.

“The court specifically noted that the archdiocese and its co-plaintiffs have the right to file a new complaint if the government does not make a meaningful change to the mandate by the March deadline’” it added. “The court made clear that ‘it would not look favorably upon the government’s failure to comply.’”

“We are hopeful that this ruling will ensure that Catholic and other religious entities will never be forced to engage in practices that violate our religious beliefs,” it added.

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Men’s conference offers chance to work on ‘spiritual fitness’

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Kurt Fasen of St. Henry in Monticello is looking forward to a valuable four-hour chunk of time he will spend at the University of St. Thomas Field House in March.

He’s got the date marked on his calendar — Saturday, March 16. That’s when the annual Archdiocesan Men’s Conference will take place, from 8 a.m. to noon. Another person who’s got that date circled is Archbishop John Nienstedt, who will be one of the featured speakers.

“Going to an event like this is like spiritual fitness,” Fasen said. “Just like you need to exercise to be physically fit, you have to take opportunities like these to remain spiritually fit.”

A year ago, Fasen came to the event, which was his first men’s conference.

He brought his oldest son, Joe, who is now 18 and a senior in high school.

This year, he is hoping to take Joe and his second-oldest son, Ray, 12.

“I was skeptical of going last year,” Kurt said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be worth my time, I didn’t know what to expect. I was encouraged by a few friends to attend, and I didn’t regret it. It was probably one of the best morning sessions I’ve attended in a long time — a very long time. It was great to see the archdiocese take the time to put this on.”

Football coach to speak Beginning at 7 a.m., there will be eucharistic adoration, reconciliation and registration. The conference officially begins with Mass at 8, followed by the speakers.

One of them will be University of St. Thomas head football coach Glenn Caruso. His team advanced to the NCAA Division III championship game last month, falling to Mount Union 28-10 in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl Dec. 14. It was the first-ever appearance in the title game for the Tommies.

For those who think they may not have the time to come to the conference, Fasen has an answer.

“Everyone today leads busy lives, and it’s easy to say, ‘I’m too busy,’” he said. “But, I encourage men to take part of a day and allow yourself the chance to get closer to God.” The conference is sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life. Cost is $20 for adults and $10 for students. To register, visit HTTP://GIVING.ARCHSPM.ORG/MC or call (651) 291-4488. Registration is also available the day of the conference.

“A person’s a person no matter how small.”

Sign carried at the national March for Life Jan. 25 by a youth from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Local News from around the archdiocese

JANUARY 31, 2013

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Pro-life marchers not deterred by Minnesota deep freeze

Ali Gardner, a member of the Cathedral of St. Paul, holds her 2week-old daughter Claire during the prayer service.

Eligh O’Sullivan, a member of St. Michael in St. Michael, waits for the rally to start at the state Capitol.

Top, Joseph Curren from Divine Mercy in Faribault bundled up to attend the rally with his dad, sister, grandmother and aunt.

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Pro-life supporters marched in below-zero temperatures to the state Capitol grounds Jan. 22 during Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s annual March for Life and rally on the Capitol steps in St. Paul. The day began with an ecumenical prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

During the service, Bishop Lee Piché recognized the many teenagers and young adults present and thanked them for giving hope to the future of the pro-life movement. Afterward, many braved the cold to march to the Capitol while others stayed to pray at the cathedral. The day marked the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Catholic Spirit photos

by Dianne Towalski

Steve Kintgen prays in the Cathedral before the prayer service. He is a member of St. Mary in Milaca, Minn.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

By Maria Wiering For the Catholic Spirit

Hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates flooded the National Mall Jan. 25 for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Among them were 130 youth and chaperones from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who traveled by bus more than 1,000 miles to attend the event.

This year’s march marked the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. Marchers held signs reading “40 Years Too Many” and “Stop Abortion Now.” One sign in particular struck Phillip Reid, 25, a seminarian from St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi: “Young people are going to be the generation of life.”

All generations should be generations of life, said Reid, who is studying pre-theology at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.

“It’s awesome to see so many people embracing, and really working for, the gospel of life in the world, and it’s great to have a sense of hope Read more that this could change about the because we want it to national change,” he said.

This was the third March for year the archdiocese Life on has coordinated a trip to the march. Bill Dill, page 8B coordinator of marriage preparation and youth ministry in the Office for Marriage, Family and Life, led the group, which included 11 people from the Diocese of Superior, Wis. The youth and adult leaders attended a morning Youth Rally and Mass for Life at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md., sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington, before joining other marchers on the National Mall.

The size of the crowd — which some early estimates have placed as high as 650,000 attendees — impressed Joe Munsterteiger, 16, who attended the event for the first time.

“I didn’t realize so many people were pro-life,” said Munsterteiger, a parishioner of St. Henry in Monticello. “I don’t get how the government can just not look at this and realize that they need to stop [abortion].”

Local youth

make loud pro-life statement at national

March for Life

Maria Wiering / For the Catholic Spirit

Marchers from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis carry the archdiocesan flag during the annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Jan. 25.

in changing our world and building up the gospel of life,” he said. “It’s really on them.”

Strength in unity

Archbishop supports youth Archbishop John Nienstedt walked alongside the archdiocesan youth as the crowd made its way down Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Supreme Court Building. He said he marched to show support for the young people, whose enthusiasm he found inspiring.

“It’s important for the bishop to be where the people are,” he said.

Archbishop Nienstedt concelebrated Mass the night before at the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The main celebrant was Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities.

Abortion is among the “key issues of our times,” Archbishop Nienstedt said during the march. “In the future, hopefully we can have a society without abortion.”

A group of 25 first-year theology students from St. Paul Seminary also marched with the archdiocese.

Father Jeff Huard, the seminary’s director of spiritual formation, said it is valuable for men who will be priests to see the

Maria Wiering / For the Catholic Spirit

Caleb Burggraff and Joe Munsterteiger, parishioners of St. Henry in Monticello, march along Constitution Avenue.

march’s impact on young people, and “the potency it has to convert hearts for life, for a lifetime,” he said.

Some marchers found significance in the number ‘40,’ which in Scripture denotes a period of suffering or trial. “We’ve been wandering in the desert for 40 years,” Cardinal O’Malley said during his homily Jan. 24, referring to the Israelites’ tribulation after escaping Egypt.

Father Huard is hopeful for a pro-life Promised Land, but said there is much work to be done.

“There is a new day and there is a new movement among young people clearly in a pro-life direction, but I think we need . . . a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and a lot more Blessed Mother Teresas to

affect the world and make the change,” he said.

Father Erik Lundgren, an associate priest at Divine Mercy in Faribault, served as the chaplain for the archdiocesan group. The national march was the seventh he has attended, he said.

“The first time I ever went, there was a lot of momentum in Congress and in the presidency, and there was a lot of hope we could change [abortion laws] soon,” he said. “There’s a very different climate now, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s as serious an issue as it ever was, so we really need to dig in even deeper.”

Young people have responded to that call, he said.

“The youth are called to lead the charge

While in Washington, the group also visited the Holocaust Museum and attended the Students for Life of America National Conference, which featured prolife speakers and workshops. The group returned to St. Paul Jan. 27.

Karen Holdvogt, 28, a Spanish teacher at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria, brought seven students from the school’s pro-life club on the trip. She said she hoped the experience gives them a sense of unity in the pro-life movement.

“It’s so important because they see so many people from throughout the country, and they don’t feel so isolated in their own cause,” she said.

Holdvogt was a 21-year-old college student when a pregnant, unmarried friend gave her baby up for adoption rather than abort. The action fortified her own prolife convictions, she said.

“Walking through that and seeing how important life is just really solidified for me how important it is,” she said. “It was a hard thing to do, but it was a beautiful thing to do, too.”

This year’s 40-year anniversary causes her to wonder what needs to be done to end abortion, she said. There have been an estimated 55 million abortions in the United States since Roe v. Wade.

“How do we need to change our prayer, action and our education to get this to stop?” she asked. “Forty years is way too long.”

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JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Holy hour focuses on religious liberty, life, marriage CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B liberty through prayer, penance and sacrifice.

Archbishop John Nienstedt, who led the holy hour, cited concerns during his homily with the Obama administration’s approach to issues of life and liberty.

“The administration has, it seems to me, given into a Godless secularism that seeks to marginalize the place of faith in our society,” he said. “In rejecting the truths proposed by religious faith, in seeking to contain and diminish it, this secularism has, at the same time, effectively devalued human life as well as religious liberty.”

The secular culture’s assault on human life can be seen in the toll taken by legalized abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling 40 years ago, said the archbishop, who noted that more than 50 million unborn children have lost their lives since then.

The religious liberty of those who oppose abortion is now threatened by the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed rule to require most private and religious employers to include coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and some abortion-inducing drugs free of charge, even if the employer is morally opposed to such services, he said.

But it doesn’t stop there. Several states have legalized physician-assisted suicide, threatening the lives of the terminally ill and elderly. And, Archbishop Nienstedt said, “human life is further undermined by the dismantling of the most fundamental unit of society, namely the family,

“As believers and as citizens, we must robustly

engage in the political process by voting with a properly formed conscience and by continually letting our elected officials know that we expect them to protect the God-given rights of life and liberty.

”

ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT

by seeking to redefine marriage.”

The Year of Faith, which runs through November, offers an opportunity to engage in the “new evangelization” and “turn back the powerful incursions of secularism against the dignity of human life and the freedom to practice our faith,” Archbishop Nienstedt said.

“With charity, civility and persistence, ‘whether in season or out of season,’ we must insist on the Church’s right and the rights of individuals to put our God-given liberties at the service of human life without the government forcing us to disobey our own teaching by leveling fines on our institutions or by taking away their accreditation, by penalizing private employers who have conscientious objections against immoral practices, or any of the other means the government has at its disposal,” the archbishop said.

“As believers and as citizens, we must robustly engage in the political process

by voting with a properly formed conscience and by continually letting our elected officials know that we expect them to protect the God-given rights of life and liberty,” he added.

Alan and Kathy Loch, members of St. Timothy in Maple Lake, were among those who attended the holy hour. They brought four of their children, Kathy said, “so they know the importance of praying for religious liberty, marriage and life” and to “show our support for our faith.”

The Scherbers were also determined to convey a lesson to their children.

“We want our children to realize how important these issues are and that we will not always have the freedoms we have if we don’t pray and sacrifice for them,” Staci Scherber said. “We were excited to have the opportunity to be with our archbishop for this. It is too easy in our culture to take things for granted and think we will always have the rights we have.”

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Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.

Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, So that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome — for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us — this great land will always be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Get ready to Pay It Forward for LENT The Catholic Spirit is kicking off its Pay It Forward project for this year’s Lenten season.

The project is based on the New Testament parable of the stewards and its lesson that good stewards don’t just maintain what is given to them — they help it grow.

Here’s how to participate: Tell us in no more than 300 words how you — individually or as a group of friends, family members or co-workers — would use your talents to “grow” $100 to help as many people as possible this Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The Catholic Spirit will select up to three ideas and give $100 to the author of each winning submission to put his or her ideas into action. The winners will have the 40 days of Lent to “pay it forward” and make a positive difference.

The Catholic Spirit will announce the winners in the Feb. 14 issue and write about the winners’ experiences in its Easter issue.

Submit your ideas: ■ By e-mail to CATHOLICSPIRIT@ARCHSPM.ORG. Please write “Pay It Forward” in the subject line.

■ By postal mail to “Pay It Forward,” c/o The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.

The deadline for entries is Thursday, Feb. 7. Please include your name, address, parish, email and daytime telephone number so that we may contact you.

Questions? Call 651-291-4444

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

State’s bishops raise concerns about medical treatment form

By Joe Towalski The Catholic Spirit

Among the most difficult medical decisions are those that must be made when patients can no longer speak for themselves. For that reason, more people are turning to various forms of “advance directives” to outline their wishes regarding medical treatment ahead of time.

Minnesota’s bishops, however, recently issued a new pastoral statement raising ethical concerns about an endof-life medical care form known as “Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment,” or POLST. “We believe that there are sufficient and significant ethical concerns that argue against its use for advancecare planning,” the bishops said in a statement titled “Stewards of the Gift of Life.”

Like advance directives, POLST forms aim to help ensure a patient’s wishes for medical care are carried out in the final stages of life. But, while advance directives allow patients to state treatment preferences, POLST forms constitute standing medical orders signed by a physician or another health care practitioner who can issue such orders.

POLST forms are increasingly being used around the country and were endorsed by the Minnesota Medical Association in 2009. Many hospitals and long-term care facilities — including Catholic health care providers — are using them.

Various concerns A joint study committee composed of members of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the state’s bishops, and the Catholic Health Association of Minnesota studied the issue in depth for more than a year to give the bishops guidance on the issue, said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director. Committee members included doctors, nurses, ethicists, lawyers and health care providers.

The archdiocesan Commission on Biomedical Ethics was also consulted on the issue, he said.

One concern the bishops have about POLST forms is that they fail to acknowledge that patients can’t truly give informed consent for treatments when the variables surrounding a future medical condition are unknown.

“From a Catholic perspective, making a morally sound decision regarding end-of-life care calls for informed consent based on information related to the actual circumstances and medical conditions at a particular moment,” the bishops said.

“For both patients and providers, it is difficult to determine in advance whether specific medical treatments will be absolutely necessary or optional,” they note.

“Though we have some ability to determine a person’s course of illness, we do not have absolute certainty.

Therefore, any tool created to guide medical management must take these predictive limitations into consideration.”

More online Read the full text of the Minnesota bishops’ statement “Stewards of the Gift of Life” at MNCC.ORG.

POLST forms risk oversimplifying the medical-decision making process, the bishops said.

“Decisions depending upon factors such as the benefits, expected outcomes, and the risks or burdens of the treatment are oversimplified by ‘one-size-fits-all’ checkboxes, without the benefit of clinical context,” they said. “As a result, using POLST bears the risk that an indication may be made to withhold treatment that, under certain unforeseen circumstances, the patient would want to receive.”

Teresa Tawil, a gerontological nurse practitioner working in the Twin Cities, said the biggest problem with a POLST form from her perspective is the potential for it not to be current with a patient’s changing health care status.

“This is why a prewritten document has its limitations,” said Tawil, who served on the MCC-CHA study committee and is a member of St. Raphael in Crystal. “A designated power of attorney who acts out of Christian love for the patient and is educated in the patent’s current medical situation and . . . the overall burden of illness is crucial to guiding morally sound care.”

The bishops’ statement raises additional concerns about POLST. Among them are: ■ The forms might be used for patients who are not terminally ill as a form of assisted suicide or euthanasia.

■ The form permits but does not require a patient’s signature (or the signature of a legally designated health care agent), and thus raises concerns about having a patient’s true informed consent for important decisions.

■ POLST lacks a conscience clause for health care professionals who may have concerns about medical orders

they are asked to fulfill.

Alternatives available In discouraging the use of POLST forms by Catholics and Catholic health care providers, Minnesota’s bishops point to better alternatives, including the Minnesota Catholic Health Care directive and accompanying guide.

The directive meets the state’s legal requirements and reflects the Church’s teachings on end-of-life care. (The form and guide can be accessed at WWW.MNCC.ORG/ RESOURCES/MN-CATHOLIC-HEALTHCARE-DIRECTIVE-2.)

In “Stewards of the Gift of Life,” the bishops also support the appointment of a health care agent who can speak for a patient and act in his or her best interests.

And they call for “renewed efforts to educate the Catholic community and other interested persons in the rich tradition of our Catholic teaching on end-of-life care.”

“We need to start having these conversations with our family members, with our loved ones, as uncomfortable as they may be,” Adkins said. “We need to express our own wishes and make sure that when we are pursuing end-of-life care that it is consistent with our own Catholic faith and objective moral norms.

“And,” he added, “we need to look for people in our lives who can help us make those decisions. Otherwise, we leave our families in a difficult position of trying to discern what our wishes might be or how to handle these things.”

The MCC said a future goal is to develop a resource that lays out in “a more substantive and developed way” a Catholic perspective on end-of-life care that helps people understand the various resources available to them.

The sick, caregivers can gain indulgences on World Day of Sick

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

The sick, their caregivers and any Catholic who prays for or lovingly assists someone who is ill can gain an indulgence with prayers and service on or around the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, which the Catholic Church marks as World Day of the Sick.

A special Mass and services marking the Feb. 11 day of prayer for the sick will be celebrated at the shrine of Our Lady of Altotting in Germany. Catholic faithful can receive one indulgence each day Feb. 7-11 by joining observances at Altotting or at any church or shrine designated by their local bishop, according to the Vatican decree announcing the indulgence.

Catholic health care professionals, volunteers and family members of the sick who cannot attend a special World Day of the Sick service “can obtain the same gift of a plenary indulgence if, during those days, they generously offer at least a few hours of loving assistance [to the sick] as if they were offering it to Christ the Lord himself,” and fulfill the prayer requirements in a timely manner.

The sick and the aged who cannot attend special serv-

Local observance Bishop Lee Piché will celebrate a Mass commemorating the World Day of the Sick at 10 a.m., Feb. 9 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

The sick, health care workers and caregivers are especially invited to attend. The Mass will be followed by time for individual prayer, blessing with water from Lourdes and a reception in the Cathedral’s Hayden Hall.

For more information, visit WWW.CURATIOAPOSTOLATE.COM.

ices can obtain the indulgence by “spiritually participating” in them, particularly if the Mass in Altotting or a local World Day of the Sick Mass is being broadcast on a local television or radio station.

The Vatican decree also said a partial indulgence is available in early February “to all the faithful every time they turn to the merciful God with a contrite heart” and pray for the sick.

Serving the suffering An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven.

The faithful can claim it for themselves or offer it on behalf of someone who has died, the decree said.

The decree, which the Vatican released Jan. 28, was signed by Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro, head of the Vatican tribunal that deals with indulgences and with matters related to the sacrament of penance.

Those wishing to obtain an indulgence must pray for the sick, recite the Lord’s Prayer, the creed and invoke the intercession of Mary. In addition, they must fulfill the normal conditions for obtaining an indulgence: sacramental confession, communion and praying for the intentions of the pope.

Cardinal Monteiro de Castro said Pope Benedict XVI authorized the special indulgences “so that the faithful, truly repentant and moved by charity and the example of the good Samaritan, with a spirit of faith and a merciful soul, would place themselves at the service of their suffering brothers and sisters.”

In addition, the cardinal said, the pope hoped Catholics who are sick would endure “the pains and adversities of life, raising their hearts to God with humble trust and offering witness to the faith.”

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Latino community shines light on Conversion of St. Paul

Members of Assumption parish in Richfield process through the streets around the church during the Festival for San Pablo Apostol Jan. 24. (The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul).

Homemade candles are carried in the procession and blessed during the Mass.

Members of the Latino communities of Assumption in Richfield and Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Minneapolis gathered at their respective churches to celebrate The Festival for San Pablo Apostol Jan. 24 and 25.

The celebration is relatively new in the Twin Cities area, started at Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in 1999 by a group of people from Axochiapan in the state of Morelos in Mexico. St. Paul is the patron saint of the town of Axochiapan.

The celebration here begins on Jan. 24 with a procession of homemade candles to be blessed at Mass, followed by food and dancing. Several dance groups, including the Aztecs, Chinelos, Viejitos and other folkloric dance groups participate. The feast continues the next day and concludes with Mass. At the end of the Mass the stewards of an image of St. Paul pass the image to the new stewards, who will take it home and keep it until the next celebration.

During the year, the stewards invite people from the community to come to their home one day a week to pray the rosary and share a meal.

A few weeks before the celebration, the candles are made and decorated. A group gathered to finish the candles Jan. 12. Far left and left, a mold is dipped into melted wax to create a decorative flower. Above, the finishing touches are put on a candle.

Photos by Dianne Towalski & Jim Bovin

Hearing Tests Set for Senior Citizens Announcement — Free electronic hearing tests will be given all next week Monday thru Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.

The tests have been arranged for anyone who suspects they are not hearing clearly.

People who generally feel they can hear, but cannot understand words clearly are encouraged to come in for the test, which uses the latest electronic equipment.

Everyone, especially those over age 55 should have an electronic hearing test once

a year. Demonstrations of the latest devices to improve clarity of speech will be programmed using a computer to your particular needs — on the spot — after the tests.

See (and HEAR) for yourself if newlydeveloped methods of correction will help you understand words better.

Tests will be performed at one of 20 convenient Greater Twin Cities Avada Hearing Care locations.

Call 1-877-328-9161

www.avada.com ©2013 HHM, Inc. 304

TheCatholicSpirit.com

“You can’t just sit around waiting for change to happen; you have to get up and make it happen.”

Youth activist Rueben Verastigui, speaking to the national March for Life youth

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Nation World THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

News from around the U.S. and the globe

JANUARY 31, 2013

At March for Life, young people carry on fight

Briefly

By Carol Zimmermann

Catholic education sways decision for religious life

Catholic News Service

Participants at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 25 demonstrated just how determined they are not only by showing up in such large numbers on a bitter cold day but by continuing a 40-year tradition of protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion.

“Forty years ago, people thought . . . the pro-life movement would eventually disappear,” Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley told the crowd assembled on the National Mall for a rally prior to the march along Constitution Avenue to the front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

He noted that Nellie Gray, founder of the annual march who died last year, “was not going to allow that to happen” nor was the pro-life movement.

“The march grows stronger every year,” said the cardinal, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Catholic education in high school and college is a significant factor for men and women choosing to enter a religious order, according to an annual survey of sisters and brothers who recently professed final vows.

The report, “New Sisters and Brothers Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life” is based on a survey conducted by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and commissioned by the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

Christian all-stars tapped to help scandal-ridden sports

New torchbearers Various media outlets put the estimate for this year’s March for Life crowd at between 500,000 and 650,000.

Many speakers praised the resiliency of the crowd, braving a cloudy 20-degree day and standing on snow-dusted ground, but they also spoke of the pro-life movement getting re-energized by young people who are becoming the movement’s new torchbearers.

This year’s march and rally took place three days after the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision to better accommodate participants, since the official Jan. 22 anniversary was the day after public ceremonies for the presidential inauguration.

CNS photo / Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review

Madeline Bauer of St. Paul stands in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 25.

Hundreds of high school and college groups were scattered throughout the rally crowd; their members, often in matching hats, were texting, taking pictures and creatively protesting by wearing pro-life stickers on their faces and carrying placards in the backs of their jackets.

Cardinal O’Malley read a tweet to the crowd from Pope Benedict XVI, which aid: “I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a

culture of life.”

Rueben Verastigui, youth activist, had a specific message for the crowd’s youths.

“You can’t just sit around waiting for change to happen; you have to get up and make it happen,” he said. He urged them to get involved in pro-life work and if they feel they are alone they should remember this experience. “Look around, we are not alone. We are not the future of the pro-life movement; we are the pro-life movement!” he said.

In an effort to flex its moral muscle in the professional sports arena, the Vatican has invited top-tier Christian athletes Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin to help bring ethical values back to a scandal-ridden world of sports. The Pontifical Council for Culture is planning to host an international conference on re-instilling values in sports this spring, inviting representatives from top world governing bodies like FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football), the International Cycling Union and the Italian National Olympic Committee.

— Catholic News Service

Social networks need more logic, less ranting, pope says

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

Social media need to promote more logic, kindness and Christian witness than bluster, star-status and division, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Given that the online world exposes people to a wider range of opinions and beliefs, people need to accept the existence of these other cultures, “be enriched by it” and offer others what “they possess that is good, true and beautiful,” the pope said.

Christians are called to bring truth and values to the whole world — online and off — remembering that it’s ultimately the power of God’s word that touches hearts, not sheer human effort, he said in his message for World Communications Day.

Portals of truth, faith The theme of the 2013 celebration — marked in most dioceses the Sunday be-

fore Pentecost, this year May 12 — is “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelization.” The papal message was released on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists, Jan. 24.

Social media “need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation,” the pope said.

Social forums need to be used wisely and well, which means fostering balanced and respectful dialogue and debate, he said, and paying special attention to “privacy, responsibility and truthfulness.”

Too often, popularity — garnered either from fame or strategic powers of persuasion — determines the “significance and effectiveness” of online communication, not “intrinsic importance or value,” he said.

Catholics can “show their authenticity” by sharing their hope and joy, and its

source in Jesus Christ. Catholics also should give witness by the way they live their lives and how their “choices, preferences and judgments” are fully consistent with the Gospel, he added.

Quite voice of reason Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, told reporters during a briefing that the pope is asking everyone to take responsibility for creating a more humane culture online by being respectful, honest and contributing to the growth and well-being of individuals and society through social networks.

Very often in new media “the more provocative I am, the more strident, the more extreme I am in my views, the more attention I get,” he said. But, he said, the pope “is calling for the importance of the quiet voice of reason; we need moderation, reason and logic, otherwise our debates are going nowhere.”

Pope has new App-titude, lets users follow live events The Vatican launched a new “Pope App” on the eve of the release of the pope’s World Communications Day message, which is dedicated to social networks as important spaces for evangelization.

The new app provides live streaming of papal events and video feeds from the Vatican’s six webcams. It sends out alerts and links to top stories coming out of the Vatican’s many news outlets, and carries words and images of Pope Benedict XVI. “The Pope App” went live Jan. 23 for iPhone and iPad, while an Android version is expected to be ready at the end of February. It’s currently available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian.

— Catholic News Service

”One language sets you in a corridor for life.

Two languages open every door along the way.”

Frank Smith

Catholic Schools Week JANUARY 31, 2013

A Catholic Spirit special section

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Risen Christ School could become bilingual

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

When Marisol Duran was choosing a school for her boys, now 7 and 9, she had to decide between the faith and values found in Risen Christ School in Minneapolis and instruction in her children’s native Spanish language found at a public school.

While Duran is glad she chose Risen Christ for her sons, she may now be able to find both faith and instruction in Spanish at the Minneapolis Catholic school by the time her 2-year-old twins are ready for kindergarten if Risen Christ goes ahead with plans to become a two-way English and Spanish immersion school.

“If it turned eventually bilingual, it would be a great asset just to the school and drawing more people in because not all the schools can offer those three components: faith, values and academics,” said Duran, who attends Ascension parish in Minneapolis.

With the goal of helping its students – 75 percent of whom are English language learners – overcome an achievement gap with native English speakers, Risen Christ this year will design its own program with the help of language experts. They will coordinate instruction in Spanish and English so all students will become bilingual and biliterate.

Risen Christ is one of 12 Catholic pre K-8 schools in the country chosen to participate in the Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools of the Innovation Institute for Catholic Educators, a partnership with the Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education of Boston College and the National Catholic Education Association.

In addition to receiving assistance in

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Teacher Gail McCollum, second from right, helps eighth-graders Yeneira Rosario, left, Diego Romero and Argentina Lerma during reading/literature class at Risen Christ School in Minneapolis. Under a new proposal, students at the school would become bilingual in English and Spanish.

developing a custom program, Risen Christ will have the chance to network with the other schools and receive mentoring and coaching during the three-year implementation, said Helen Dahlman, Risen Christ president. The school’s board will review the plan that will be developed this summer and, after considering cost and other factors, decide whether to move ahead with it in 2014, she said.

While immersion has become widely used in public schools, Catholic schools are only beginning to embrace it as they enroll more English language learners,

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Dahlman said. Studies show two-way immersion is most effective, she added.

There are a number of learning models that involve different percentages of Spanish to English in the classroom, said Heather Gossart, co-director of the Innovation Institute for Catholic Educators.

What they have in common is that students who are native to each language become models for each other.

English-only proponents endorse twoway immersion because it’s inclusive and all students benefit, she said.

Said Dahlman, “It gives them an advan-

tage in careers in the future. It is already important for people to be able to speak a second language. It makes you much more marketable when you’re looking for a job in whatever field if you can speak another language.” Two-way immersion also honors both cultures, she said.

Teaching students in their native language helps them learn a second language more effectively because without literacy in their own language, they are likely to fall behind when they reach middle school, Dahlman said. “What we’ve been noticing is when children come into our school, they don’t have a literacy background in either of the languages and so you can’t teach them English when they have no foundation in literacy in their native language.”

Taking students out of their regular classes for added English as a Second Language instruction isn’t enough to help them succeed, Dahlman said.

If it decides to implement two-way immersion, Risen Christ will do it one grade at a time, starting with kindergartners in the fall of 2014, she said. The program will require that the school recruit and retain fluent Spanish speaking teachers, she said, adding that Risen Christ currently has four.

Two-way immersion represents a “game changing initiative, a new way of looking at education,” Gossart said.

“Basically, what the program is going to teach schools is how to stop thinking in majority/minority terms and start thinking bilingual,” she said. “You’re not teaching English students to speak Spanish or Spanish students to speak English, you’re teaching them to be totally bilingual so that their core curriculum is going to be taught.”

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Catholic Schools Week

CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Distinguished principal still loves helping out in the classroom CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B So, Jane carefully chose a strategy to help manage the high-octane child.

“We sat in the back,” she said. “The stained glass at St. Helena’s is absolutely gorgeous. The sun was coming through, she had all this color from the stained glass on her face and behaved beautifully, so I thought that was a sign from God that we had found the right place.”

Now, it is Jane who convinces many parents that the school is the right place for their children. Although enrollment is not as high as she would like, due to a tough economy and competition from public charter schools that are free of charge, it has remained steady the last few years. In fact, the current number, 165, is exactly the same as it was when she arrived.

That’s comforting, especially as some other Catholic schools have struggled.

“That’s just not going to happen to St. Helena,” she says, almost defiantly. “In spite of the tough times that are going on right now, our fundraising has been great.

We made $43,000 in the marathon [for nonpublic education]. That’s over 240 bucks per kid in this school.”

Here’s maybe the best part, financially — neither the parish nor the school has debt. Pride in that simple fact runs deep.

“I’m not going to go into debt running this place,” Hileman insists. “If we have to fund raise more, we will.”

‘Hands-on principal’ How does she do it? The answer is simple – plenty of what she calls elbow grease. It’s all part of being a “handson principal.”

“A lot of what I do is physical labor around this place,” she said. “It’s a labor of love. I’m not afraid to paint a wall, I’m not afraid to do many other things that brighten this place.”

The thing she dislikes the most about her job is sitting in her office attending her laptop. In her view, that is an

annoyance that takes her away from what she loves most — the kids.

“When we’re meeting on the first day of school, she has the enthusiasm of waiting for [students] to come back,” said first-grade teacher Sue Olive, who started teaching at the school in 1972 and is the longest-tenured of St. Helena’s 13 teachers. “It [school] has become her family, in many ways. She knows everybody’s name.”

And, there are a few names she likely never will forget, even though they no longer attend the school. One of them is Fred Tilbury, who was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer as a kindergartner and died several years later. The school had a benefit for him when he was in first grade, called Shave Heads for Fred. At the time, Hileman said it was the first time she had dealt with a terminally ill student during her career in education.

Another memorable student is Mary Streiff, who graduated from the school and went on to the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. She graduated from the school last spring and now attends the University of Minnesota.

Hileman took a practical interest in Streiff during her eighth-grade year, when family troubles led to her staying elsewhere for a while. The student’s troubles were visible, and Hileman decided to intervene by taking her to and from school for two straight months.

“Mary’s just a very gifted kid who wasn’t dealt the best hand in life,” Hileman said. “Mary was pretty quiet by nature and especially at this point. We talked a lot about literature. And, being an English teacher, I absolutely loved doing that. We talked about where she was in her book and how far she had gotten. She was always reading a great classic, and usually one that I had read.”

Ensuring success Hileman still finds her way into the classroom, even as she scours the hallways wearing the many hats of a principal whose administrative staff consists of one secretary.

One of her favorite jobs is helping kids who are strug-

Faribault

Minneapolis

St. Paul

BETHLEHEM ACADEMY (507) 334-3948 www.bacards.org Please call to schedule a visit.

CRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL (612) 545-9700 www.cristoreytc.org Stop by any Tuesday through April at 7 p.m. or please call to schedule a visit.

CRETIN-DERHAM HALL HIGH SCHOOL (651) 690-2443 www.c-dh.org Please call to schedule a visit.

DELASALLE HIGH SCHOOL (612) 676-7600 www.delasalle.com Please call to schedule a visit.

SAINT AGNES SCHOOL (651) 925-8700 www.saintagnesschool.org Open House: April 14 at 1 p.m. or please call to schedule a visit.

Fridley

Visit a local Catholic high school . . . and find out how you can AIM HIGHER in your education and in life! www.aimhigher.org

gling with their classwork. Seeing Hileman sitting at a table reading books with kids brings a smile to the face of long-time librarian Nancy Rivers — plus a few memories.

Rivers has two children who were taught by Hileman, including one who was in the same grade as one of Hileman’s daughters. In fact, Rivers said her daughter Megan has a love of literature today because of her grade school English teacher at St. Helena.

“Megan just adored her and learned a lot,” Rivers said.

“I could see how much she [Hileman] loved teaching, how much she loved the kids and how she wanted the kids to succeed. She would do whatever she needed so that the kids would have success.”

Hileman, it seems, has a way of energizing and rallying people around her and the school. Even her own husband, Jim, finds himself pushing a broom or swishing a paint brush in the halls and classrooms of St. Helena. A retired project manager for McDonald’s fast food restaurants, he now takes orders from his wife at school every day.

But the huge smile she often flashes indicates he is not at all under tyrannical leadership. In fact, during their long weekends at the cabin during the summer, she happily lets him fish while she hunches over her laptop getting ready for the upcoming school year.

She is reluctant to accept high praise for her work, but will eagerly do so for the benefits it will bring to the school.

“I think it’s funny that I even got this award because I have tunnel vision,” she said. “I’m St. Helena. I love this place. This is why I’m here. I didn’t want to be a principal, so when I’m done being a principal, I’m not looking for any other place to be a principal. When I’m done here, I’m done.”

Hileman is the first NCEA Distinguished Principal Award recipient from St. Helena School and the 10th principal from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to receive the honor.

TOTINO-GRACE HIGH SCHOOL (763) 571-9116 www.totinograce.org Please call to schedule a visit.

Maplewood HILL-MURRAY SCHOOL (651) 777-1376 www.hill-murray.org Please call to schedule a visit.

Mendota Heights

SAINT THOMAS ACADEMY (651) 454-4570 www.cadets.com Please call to schedule a visit.

VISITATION SCHOOL (651) 683-1700 www.visitation.net Please call to schedule a visit.

Plymouth PROVIDENCE ACADEMY 763-258-2500 www.providenceacademy.org Please call to schedule a visit.

Richfield ACADEMY OF HOLY ANGELS (612) 798-2600 www.academyofholyangels.org Open House: April 25 at 6 p.m. or please call to schedule a visit

St. Louis Park BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S SCHOOL (952) 927-4176 www.bsmschool.org Please call to schedule a visit.

Victoria HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL (952) 443-4659 www.hfchs.org Please call to schedule a visit.

Catholic Schools Week

JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Visitation sisters inspire new building for science, tech Integrating faith and education through STEM

By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit

The science and technology building nearing completion at Visitation School in Mendota Heights is inspired by its cloistered nuns, administrators say.

The sisters who have operated the school since 1873 have always pioneered new fields of learning for women, and this year they have prayed and advocated for the construction of a new building for the study of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

After a blessing ceremony with the sisters, construction began this past fall and was completed for a Jan. 24 grand opening, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, cofounder of the Visitation Order.

The STEM center includes a machine shop, large and small assembly areas for Upper School engineering classes and Middle and Lower School LEGO robotics, plus a practice area for the school’s awardwinning FIRST Robotics team, which had been renting warehouse space in downtown St. Paul. It will provide building space for messy experiments and various tools — band saws, half-ton metal shears, drill presses, soldering irons.

The STEM center is the first phase of an ambitious two-phase $10.5 million construction endeavor called VHM, for Visitation Heart & Mind.

Phase II, the Heart, will include a new school entrance, additional classrooms and study areas.

The VHM project flowed from a strategic plan developed by the school’s trustees and a master site assessment that identified a STEM center as a priority. That goal has been repeatedly reinforced by research confirming the pressing need to strengthen the STEM instruction received

by American students, particularly girls.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has emphasized an increasing need for STEM literacy in order to stay globally competi-

Kristi Anderson The Catholic Spirit

The acronym ‘STEM’ refers to education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. It is a hands-on, activity-based learning style that is designed to bolster confidence and interest in these disciplines. Numerous schools across the nation are offering STEM curriculum, including many Catholic schools in the archdiocese.

St. Jude of the Lake School, Mahtomedi Photo by Andy King

A robust science education is a crucial component of Visitation’s curriculum, as demonstrated by eighth-grader Joie Phelps, left, senior Claire Wendlandt and fifthgrader Abraham Yosef.

tive, pointing out that women hold only 24 percent of STEM jobs in the U.S. workforce.

Most importantly, says Mother Superior Sister Mary Denise Villaume, a 1956 graduate of Visitation, the project is in keeping with the school’s mission and commitment to educating students “not for school but for life.”

“Prayer has been at the center of our planning,” Sister Mary Denise said. “Visitation has a well earned reputation for a strong humanities program. That will continue, and the new building will enhance our STEM curriculum and allow us to grow to continue to meet the needs of 21st-century graduates.”

Students, for their part, seem excited to settle into the STEM center.

“I’m lucky enough to be part of this project and to see the good it will do for incoming students,” said junior Kate Azar, who serves as electrical lead for the school’s robotics team. She noted that

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100 percent of Visitation graduates who were on the robotics team have gone on to take STEM classes in college and many are now majoring in engineering.

The school’s concerted outreach to alumnae excelling in STEM fields also has spurred students, Azar said.

The rigorous study of science is informed by Catholic roots, said Dawn Nichols, head of school.

“The STEM center we are building will not simply train our students in science, technology, engineering and math, because science and the practice of other professions without a moral grounding can be a dangerous thing,” she said. “We at Visitation know that individuals trained to participate in the highest levels of science and technology need to be grounded in faith. They need to have an understanding of the importance of ethics and a moral compass that leads them to a respectful and grace-filled application of their training.”

St. Jude of the Lake School, Mahtomedi, is committed to several initiatives of STEM education. They are currently a candidate for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, which, if authorized, will make them one of only three Catholic schools in the country with this designation.

“At St. Jude, we are paving the way for Catholic education for the future,” said Jennifer Cassidy, principal. “As the only Catholic elementary school pursuing the IB in the Midwest, we are taking bold steps to respond to the changing landscape in education today. The IB program, which is the ‘how’ we teach, is a framework that ties all of this together.”

The school recently secured funding to upgrade its science lab, which will be unveiled in April.

“St. Jude is focused on developing the whole child – body, mind and soul,” said Cassidy. “In today’s changing educational climate, schools need to respond to these changes, differentiate ourselves, and prepare our students for the 21st century world we live in. We are committed not only to providing the best environment PLEASE TURN TO SCHOOLS’ ON PAGE 12B

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Catholic Schools Week

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Schools’ science efforts rooted in faith CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11B for learning, but the very best ways to learn – the best of both worlds.”

The school is currently seeking funding to add an innovative technology center that will provide students access to the technology and resources needed to study such topics as engineering, robotics, graphic design and more.

“We believe strongly that this whole, well-rounded education is important,” she continued, “and we have invested heavily in the success of our programs with the time, talent, and treasure that it takes to help our students succeed. As a Catholic school, the foundation of this learning is our faith. So while we develop skilled young people, we want them also to have the morals and values to put these skills to good use and make a positive impact on the world.”

St. Croix Catholic School, Stillwater This year, St. Croix Catholic School is implementing a new middle school STEM program, Project Lead the Way. Beth Lilja, a fifth-grade teacher the school, focused her graduate research project on STEM in the classroom and was thrilled to learn that St. Croix would be implementing the PLTW program.

“It is exciting knowing the students will be exposed to authentic hands-on applications that will enhance their confidence in pursuing STEM in the future,” she said.

One of the first challenges the fifth-graders faced was utilizing their knowledge of gears and simple machines to construct various mechanisms.

After learning the design and structure of mechanical gears, they began a Hands and Feet of Christ project in which their task was to design a mechanism to help per-

sons with limited mobility.

“The reasons behind implementing STEM are limitless and all backed by research,” said Lilja. “The access to exceptional curriculum is such an amazing opportunity for the kids. Typically students are able to experience STEM with items found around the house, but with PLTW, the hardware is real and the technology is similar to what is used by engineers today.”

Audrey Anderson, middle school science teacher and alum of SCCS, also feels the STEM programs significantly benefit her students.

“Not only is STEM engaging and challenging, but students can bring their own experiences and expertise to a particular engineering problem and at the same time learn from their peers’ experiences and expertise,” Anderson said. “There is no ‘one way’ to solve an engineering problem, and students quickly learn how to design the best solution within a particular set of constraints.”

“STEM education inspires students differently than traditional programs for two reasons,” she continued. “First, there can be many solutions to the same engineering problem. In traditional science programs, you either have the right answer or the wrong answer. But in STEM, each solution and invention has a unique set of advantages, disadvantages and implications for the real world. This empowers students to excel because they each feel like they have something to contribute.”

“The second reason is that STEM challenges students to think about the purpose of their learning,” Anderson added, “which is to become a better citizen and community member. Why do we do science and engineering?

What is the purpose of our brains or our skills? Not to make as much money as we can, or to fix our problems in the fastest and easiest way possible, but to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

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“Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see. It is above them and not contrary to them.”

Blaise Pascal

This Catholic Life JANUARY 31, 2013

Opinion, feedback and points to ponder

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

13B

Robust Christianity revolves around faith, hope and love

S

t. Paul famously tells the Corinthians that there are “three things that last: faith, hope, and love.”

At this Pauline prompt, the Christian tradition has identified these three as the “theological” virtues, meaning those features that come as a unique gift from God and that serve as the structuring elements of a properly spiritual life.

They also today are massively misunderstood, and this misunderstanding has, I would contend, contributed mightily to the dismissing of religion in many circles of our increasingly secularist society.

The theological virtue that causes the most trouble is faith. This is because, in our culture besotted with the physical sciences, faith is construed as simple-mindedness, credulity and superstition — a poor pre-scientific substitute for real knowledge.

As I often have argued before, auFather thentic faith does not lie on the near Robert Barron side of reason; it doesn’t fall short of reason’s demands or lurk in a subrational or irrational darkness.

Rather, real faith is a surrendering on the far side of reason, a leap into darkness to be sure, but a darkness beyond, not prior to, the illumination of the sciences and philosophy.

This implies, of course, that the person of real faith reverences reason in all of its forms and refuses to accept the myth of a “war” between religion and science. Moreover, scientists who are religious believers as well — think of Georges Lemaitre, or George Coyne, or Stanley Jaki, or John Polkinghorne — readily accept the fact that reason is surrounded on all sides by something akin to faith.

No scientist could get her work off the ground unless she accepted on faith the proposition that the world in its entirety is intelligible; and she couldn’t move forward with her projects unless she accepted, without personal verification, the findings, research and experiments of thousands of others; and she couldn’t bring her studies to fulfillment unless she conceived of an intellectual goal that was not entirely available to her rational gaze.

Therefore, the theological virtue of faith involves absolutely no sacrifice of the intellect.

“Real love can be as tough as

nails. Compelling an addict to get help, or questioning a dysfunctional style of life, or calling someone to real conversion all involve the willing of the good of the other.

”

FATHER ROBERT BARRON

Commentary

God is master In the wake of an event such as the Newtown tragedy or the Christmas tsunami of 2004, many will wonder how Christians can possibly exercise the virtue of hope.

The deaths of innocents at the hand of a madman or of hundreds of thousands through natural disaster would seem to preclude the possibility of hoping in a loving God who actively cares for the world that he has made.

But hope, as G.K. Chesterton pointed out, has little to do with conventional optimism. The person of authentic hope is not compelled to hold that suffering, tragedy, conflict and the deaths of innocent people will simply disappear through the intervention of God. Take a good hard look at the Bible. Every page of the Scriptures was written by someone who believed passionately in God, yet the Bible is filled with accounts of tragedies and disasters of all stripes: rape, murder, genocide, military collapse, political distress, etc.

Jeremiah hoped in the Lord, and he watched the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians; David hoped in Yahweh, even as he was relentlessly pursued by Saul; Paul hoped in God, and he himself was mocked, tortured and finally put to death.

An optimist might think that God’s existence is irreconcilable with evil, but a person of hope never assents to such a naïve proposition. To hope, in the theological

sense, is to know that God finally is the sovereign master of the universe and hence that the drama of both nature and history is, at the end of the day and despite all darkness, a divine comedy.

When the great English mystic Julian of Norwich said, “All will be well, all manner of things will be well,” she was not chirping optimistically about the disappearance of evil; she was exhibiting hope that God’s triumph is assured.

Willing the good of the other The third theological virtue is love, and like its counterparts, it too is often flattened out and trivialized.

For many, to love is equivalent to being a nice guy, or in Flannery O’Connor’s formulation, “having a heart of gold.” In his great autobiography, “The Seven Storey Mountain,” Thomas Merton remembered a professor of his in England who said that love was, essentially, “being a gentleman.”

Now there is nothing in the world wrong with being a nice guy or having a heart of gold or being a gentlemen, but you can easily achieve all three of those states and not have love.

Love is not really about fitting in and being friendly and getting along; it is willing the good of the other as other. It is truly wanting what is best for another person and then concretely doing something about it.

This means that real love can be as tough as nails.

Compelling an addict to get help, or questioning a dysfunctional style of life, or calling someone to real conversion all involve the willing of the good of the other — and none will cause people to characterize you as a nice guy. This is why, by the way, the God who is love is not a kindly Santa Claus who magically makes troubles disappear.

There are indeed three things that last: faith, hope, and love. A robust Christianity revolves around them.

But we must be careful lest those terms lose their bite.

Father Robert Barron is the founder of the global ministry, Word on Fire, and the rector/president of Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Word on Fire will be releasing “The New Evangelization” documentary this year. Learn more at WWW.WORDON FIRE.ORG.

14B

Commentary

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

/ This Catholic Life

Reputation, the Hall of Fame and real character

N

Intellect and Virtue John Garvey

When you know where you stand, the shadow you cast is not so important

True heroes

ot one baseball player was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. It was a shutout, only the second one in 40 years.

Perhaps it was to be expected.

There was little appetite for celebration when so many of the newly eligible candidates were tarnished by the steroid scandal of the last decade.

“After what has been written and said over the last few years, I’m not overly surprised,” tweeted pitcher Roger Clemens, who, along with Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, was among those turned down.

I found myself thinking of Cassio, whose drunkenness cost him his job as Othello’s chief lieutenant: “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.”

“The summer of

1998, when Sosa and Mark McGwire dueled to set a new single-season home run record, seems like a bad 3-D movie with styrofoam monsters and heroes with lifts in their shoes.

”

JOHN GARVEY

Fallen stars In sports, reputation really is everything. Dopers, who spent years enjoying terrific reputations, based on achievements, we now see as tainted.

They have fallen in our esteem and ruined our memories of their glory days.

The summer of 1998, when Sosa and Mark McGwire dueled to set a new single-season home run record, seems like a bad 3-D movie with styrofoam monsters and heroes with lifts in their shoes. Lance Armstrong’s

story of surviving cancer and winning the Tour de France seven times has lost its ability to inspire.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Perhaps a man’s character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.”

The dopers’ problem was that they lost sight of the real point. The reputation and adulation that come with victory are only worth having for

those who earn them. Those who pursue them unworthily are just chasing shadows.

That’s why the opprobrium that the dopers now face is deserved punishment. The pursuit of fame is no crime. But it’s wrong and pointless to gain it by cheating. It is a shame that those who cheat may, even briefly, eclipse players such as baseball great Hank Aaron, who won our admiration honestly.

A good reputation is a desirable thing, but the downfall of these sports heroes helps put it in proper perspective. Reputation is only a shadow. Character is the real thing.

Consider the case of St. Jeanne Jugan, who founded the Little Sisters of the Poor. She lived a life of heroic virtue, caring for hundreds of elderly poor people and founding an order that still does that work today.

In 1852, a priest who was appointed superior general of her order directed her to retire into a life of obscurity. When she died 27 years later, the younger members of the order didn’t even know she was its foundress.

Most of us would resent such treatment. It’s the kind of injustice that inspires people nowadays to sue and write tell-all books. And who among us would not sympathize with her?

But St. Jeanne was an extraordinary person and a good example for people who care about fame. She did what she did for the poor and for Christ, not for popular acclaim.

When you know as clearly as she did where you stand, the shadow you cast is not so important.

Garvey is president of The Catholic University of America in Washington.

Powering up for Lent The following first appeared as a post on the USCCB Blog, which is maintained by the media relations staff of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Commentary Sister Mary Ann Walsh

Make a commitment to staying positive and countering the negative on social media

Post on Facebook. Send a tweet.

Less than a month before Ash Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI has called on Catholics to get into social media. He blesses the world of Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Facebook. He calls social media the new “agora,” the “open public square in which people share ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and forms of community can come into being.”

The pope lauded the latest communications breakthroughs in his 47th World Communications Day message, “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelization.” World Communications Day is marked in the U.S. on May 12.

Sanctifying the Net For Pope Benedict, social media is an opportunity. A Lenten exercise for us may be to help social media be worthy of the papal endorsement. We need to sanctify the Net. Here are some steps: ■ Go positive to counter the negative. The Web is filled with snide and snarky comments, so offer a counter-balance. When you see meanness, an untruth or bias, gently correct for the record.

■ Pray for the nay-sayers and character assassins who hide behind anonymity. Writers marked by mean speech reflect inner pain.

■ Resist knee-jerk responses. Ask how someone on the receiving end will feel before flinging a verbal slice and dice.

■ Lent is a time for alms-giving, so seek out worthy charities to which to donate. Catholic

Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl is one.

Catholic Charities agencies are always in need.

■ Share where you’ve seen God during the day and use pics. God’s there in the kids who make us

laugh, the beauty of a flower, the images of love that touch our hearts. God’s also there in starving children and fragile elderly begging for help.

■ Research sites that help you pray. The U.S. bishops at WWW.USCCB.ORG/BIBLE offer daily readings from Scripture with a reflection. The Irish Jesuits at WWW.SACREDSPACE.IE use simple music and reflections to draw one to contemplative ground. Share what you’ve found with friends.

■ Remember that how you say something may be even more important than what you say.

■ Converse with people with whom you do not agree and seek common ground from which both of you can move on.

■ Establish you own creed for social media behavior — don’t deal in put downs, think before you type, find something positive to contribute to the conversation, don’t text while driving and don’t text while someone is sharing real time with you.

■ Have the strength to power down.

If social media get in the way of your relationship with God, family or friends, let yourself power down. Don’t check the computer until you’ve said good morning to God. Let the day’s last thoughts center on thanking God for his graces rather than a news flash from the Drudge Report.

■ Send a tweet to Pope Benedict at @pontifex and download his app to your cellphone or iPad so you can easily check in with him for his wisdom.

Social media can touch hearts, notes Pope Benedict in the 2013 World Communications Day address. “When we are present to others, in any way at all, he says, “we are called to make known the love of God to the furthest ends of the earth.”

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, RSM is director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

The Lesson Plan Reflections on faith and spirituality

JANUARY 31, 2013

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

15B

Why do we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday?

The following is a condensed version of an article by Father Michael Van Sloun, pastor of St. Stephen in Anoka, that first appeared in 2008 in The Catholic Spirit.

The imposition of ashes is a solemn ritual that signals the beginning of the holy season of Lent. The ceremony is distinctive; there is no liturgical action like it throughout Get the entire church year.

ready

Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13 this year, marks the start of Lent.

The ashes come from a previous Palm Sunday. The palms are burned, the ashes collected and then crushed into a fine, sooty powder and placed into bowls.

The ashes are blessed by the priest during the Ash Wednesday Mass — Feb. 13 this year — after the homily. Then, in a Communion-like procession, people are invited to come forward and the ashes are applied to each person’s forehead in the shape of a cross as the minister says either, “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15), the usual prayer, or “Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), the older, more traditional invocation.

Ashes symbolize two main things in the Old Testament.

Video online Watch Father Michael Van Sloun talk about Ash Wednesday: HTTP://BIT.LY/VRT Y8L

CNS photo / Mike Crupi, Catholic Courier

A man receives ashes on his forehead during an Ash Wednesday service in this file photo.

Death, repentance

Ashes are equivalent to dust, and human flesh is composed of dust or clay (Genesis 2:7), and when a human corpse decomposes, it returns to dust or ash.

For example, Abraham told God, “I am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27), a reference to his human mortality.

Jeremiah described death as a “valley of corpses and ashes” (Jeremiah 31:40).

Ashes are an ominous sign, and we use them on Ash

Wednesday to remind ourselves of our own impending deaths. Death may come sooner, or it may come later, but it will surely come.

And if death is coming, we need to be prepared, and the time to prepare for death is now, and the way to prepare is to live according to God’s ways.

When the prophet Daniel shamefacedly clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes, they were a sign of his people’s contrition for their rebellion, wickedness and PLEASE TURN TO ASHES ON PAGE 16B

Our Lord offers sure avenue to restore sanctifying grace, charity

Y

ou won’t be alone if your mind turns to the sacrament of marriage during Sunday’s second reading. This portion of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (12:31 to 13:13) is among the more popular of our wedding texts.

While it is certainly appropriate to the sacrament of marriage, it also is strikingly appropriate to the sacrament of penance.

When Paul writes about a love that endures all things, a love that never fails, a love that is greater even than faith and Deacon Luke Marquard hope, he is writing about the supernatural gift of love, the theological virtue of charity by which “we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1822).

This theological virtue of charity is a gift from God, conferred upon us only

Sunday Scriptures

by divine grace, and poured into our When we commit grave sin, we fall hearts by the Holy Spirit. We receive this from this state of grace. When we fall gift when we receive sanctifying grace. from this state of grace, we lose charity.

This is the grace first given to us when It is when we have lost this gift, when we are baptized, the grace that is infused charity no longer abides in our souls, into our souls to make us holy and when we do not have love, that we capable of eternal merit, the grace that is become clashing cymbals. We become necessary for nothing; we gain salvation. nothing.

Charity remains Without love, Readings in us so long as we nothing that we do Sunday, Feb. 3 remain in the state is profitable toward Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time of sanctifying grace, eternal life — even ■ Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 and it is those things that ■ 1 Corinthians 12:31 — 13:13 ■ Luke 4:21-30 strengthened seem good and through reception deserving of reward. of holy “If I give away Reflection Communion, everything I own, How has the sacrament of penance participation in the and if I hand my strengthened your relationship with sacramental life, body over so that I God and neighbor? What will you prayer and use of may boast but do do to reinforce your commitment to sacramentals. not have love, I the sacrament during this Year of Our goal is to gain nothing” (1 Faith? always remain in Corinthians 13:3). the state of Thanks be to God sanctifying grace, to always allow the for the sacrament of penance, a virtue of charity to remain in our souls. sacrament that restores sanctifying grace, Sometimes, however, we fall short of this a sacrament that restores charity. God’s goal. love for us is so great, his mercy so

abundant, that he provides us with an avenue for restoration.

Our Lord is so understanding of our weakness that he established this sacrament of reconciliation. When we humbly and contritely approach the Lord in this sacrament, confessing our sins with firm purpose of amendment and willingness to complete our penance, the Lord forgives our sins, restores us to the state of sanctifying grace, and once again pours charity into our souls.

Let it be our prayer that when in our weakness we lose this most valuable gift of charity, our faith in God’s abundant mercy will lead us quickly to the place of restoration, so that our gifts, our actions, indeed our very lives, infused once again with supernatural love, will lead us to our everlasting reward.

Deacon Luke Marquard is in formation for the priesthood at St. Paul Seminary for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His home parish is Divine Mercy in Faribault; his teaching parish is St. Peter in Forest Lake.

16B

The Lesson Plan

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Ashes are plea to God for mercy Lenten regulations for fasting and abstinence Here are the church regulations for fasting and abstinence during Lent: ■ Everyone 14 years of age or older is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, all the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.

■ Everyone 18 or older, and under 59 years of age, is bound to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

■ On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, only one full meatless meal is allowed. Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one’s needs, but together they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted. When health or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige.

■ Catholics should not lightly excuse themselves from these prescribed minimal penitential practices.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15B treachery (Daniel 9:3).

When Jonah warned the Ninevites that God planned to destroy their city because of their corruption and depravity, the people covered themselves with sackcloth and ashes as a sign of their intention to turn from their evil ways (Jonah 3:6,10).

Ashes are a plea to God for mercy and compassion, pardon and forgiveness.

Moreover, they are a public admission of guilt, an expression of sorrow for sins that have been committed, a promise to reform and a pledge to resist temptation in the future.

We, too, are sinners. When we come forward to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are saying that we are sorry for our sins, and that we want to use the season of Lent to correct our faults, purify our hearts, control our desires and grow in holiness so we will be prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy.

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Daily Scriptures Sunday, Feb. 3 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 1 Corinthians 12:31 — 13:13 Luke 4:21-30 Monday, Feb. 4 Hebrews 11:32-40 Mark 5:1-20 Tuesday, Feb. 5 St. Agatha, virgin and martyr Hebrews 12:1-4 Mark 5:21-43 Wednesday, Feb. 6 St. Paul Miki and companions, martyrs Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 Mark 6:1-6

Tuesday, Feb. 12 Genesis 1:20 — 2:4a Mark 7:1-13

Thursday, Feb. 7 Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24 Mark 6:7-13

Wednesday, Feb. 13 Ash Wednesday (Day of fasting and abstinence) Joel 2:12-18 2 Corinthians 5:20 — 6:2 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Friday, Feb. 8 St. Jerome Emiliani; St. Josephine Bakhita, virgin Hebrews 13:1-8 Mark 6:14-29

Thursday, Feb. 14 Sts. Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishops Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Luke 9:22-25

Saturday, Feb. 9 Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21 Mark 6:30-34

Friday, Feb. 15 (Day of abstinence) Isaiah 58:1-9a Matthew 9:14-15

Sunday, Feb. 10 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11 Monday, Feb. 11 Our Lady of Lourdes Genesis 1:1-19 Mark 6:53-56

Saturday, Feb. 16 Isaiah 58:9b-14 Luke 5:27-32 Sunday, Feb. 17 First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Romans 10:8-13 Luke 4:1-13

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From Age to Age

JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

17B

Is long-term care the right choice for your loved one?

T

he senior living industry can be confusing. What’s the difference between long-term care and assisted living?

Does my loved one need memory care?

With skilled medical professionals and treatment services on site, long-term skilled nursing offers the highest level of care available outside of a Dena Boheim hospital. Individuals who choose this option can lead fulfilling, relatively independent lives.

When a senior’s functional capacity for daily living is diminished by chronic health issues, long-term illness or a prolonged recovery, a system of professional care in a residential setting is called for.

Usually, long-term skilled nursing includes: ■ 24-hour residential setting.

■ Registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurse, physicians and specialists.

■ Coordination with physicians and pharmacy.

■ Rehabilitation therapy.

■ Dietary services addressing resident needs and preferences.

■ Three nutritious daily meals, plus snacks.

■ Social and recreational activities.

■ Family counsel meetings that integrate the family into each resident’s plan for care.

In addition to medical services, you’ll find a staff and a setting focused on help-

such that self-care is neither practical nor safe, long-term skilled nursing can be the ideal choice.

Some needs develop gradually

Focus On Seniors

“If no one else is available to step in as

caregiver, and if the individual’s needs are such that self-care is neither practical nor safe, longterm skilled nursing can be the ideal choice.

”

BECKY URBANSKI Benedictine Health System

ing each resident with the tasks of daily living, which include bathing and personal hygiene, dressing, mobility and transportation, meals and medication management.

When is long-term care necessary?

When health needs imperil safety and the tasks of day-to-day living can no longer be effectively managed, skilled

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nursing is often the best choice. You’ll find that three kinds of people seek long-term skilled nursing: First, some need long-term skilled nursing because their primary caregiver — perhaps a family member or a friend — is no longer able to provide the care.

If no one else is available to step in as caregiver, and if the individual’s needs are

Second, many choose long-term skilled nursing after a prolonged illness or as the effects of aging increase the individual’s dependency.

The need probably develops gradually, paralleling the slow realization of how much change has occurred. So it’s not unusual for family and friends to discuss the need for care and share the decision.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of recognizing how capably the individual can care for himself or herself, and how safely he or she can manage the tasks of daily living.

When the risks appear high, choosing long-term skilled nursing can be a relief to everyone involved.

Third, some have quick and urgent needs for care. A stroke, heart attack or accident can immediately change life circumstances, and a long-term skilled nursing program will offer the best way to ensure maximum care.

Boheim is director of marketing at Benedictine Health System. This month’s Catholic Senior Services article is provided as a service of Benedictine Health System, an affiliate of CSS. Visit WWW.CATHOLICSENIORSERVICES.ORG or call the Catholic Senior Services Help Line at (877) 420-6461. For more information about Benedictine Health System, go to WWW.BHSHEALTH.ORG, or email INFO@BHS HEALTH.ORG.

18B

From Age to Age

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

St. Thomas to host programs for those 50-plus The University of St. Thomas Selim Center for Learning in Later Years in St. Paul has announced its winter and spring schedule of educational programs and short courses that are tailored for those 50 and older.

The programs range from dinner and lunch discussions to six-session short courses. The programs are designed to be affordable, with fees ranging from $20 to $80.

Among the offerings: Short courses These lecture programs begin in February or April and generally meet once a week for six weeks; they are taught by faculty and community experts. Topics and speakers are: ■ “Studying and Praying the Psalms” with Arthur Zannoni.

■ “The Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock” with James Snapko.

■ “Psychology and Aging” with Ben Denkinger.

■ “Islam in a Global World” with Noreen Herzfeld.

■ “Classical Music Exploration and Appreciation” with Susan Anderson-Benson and friends.

■ “A Patchwork of Ireland: History, Poetry, Song” with Jim Rogers and friends.

■ “Interfaith Reflections on Death and Afterlife” with Terry Nichols, Rabbi Amy Eilberg and Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh.

■ “Women and the Old Testament” with David Penchansky.

■ “History of the Greek Economic Catastrophe” with John Mazis.

■ “East Asia Before 1800: Tradition and Change in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam” with P. Richard Bohr.

■ “The Beholder’s Share: Why Do We See Politics the Way We Do?” with Steven Maloney.

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life is good

■ “Healthy Cooking Just for You” with Executive Chef Ken Grogg.

Distinguished Educator Program Retired military history professor Joseph Fitzharris will speak May 16 on “Colonel Sibley, the 3rd Minnesota, and the Dakota Uprising of 1882.”

Fitzharris also will receive the Selim Center’s Annual Distinguished Educator Award for his many years of service to the center.

Lunch’n Explore Robert Brown will lead an April 12 discussion on “Issues and Trends in American Education,” and Ronald Bennett will lead a May 3 discussion on “Leadership as an Ethical Obligation.”

Dinner Discourse Janeen Massaros and John Lundblad will lead an April 18 dinner discussion on “Difficult Conversations: Managing Family Conversations About Issues Affecting Aging Parents.”

Online Courses Two music courses are available through April 15: “Understanding Music and Culture” and “Let’s Hear It for the Girls,” about the popular music of women in America.

Consultation and Go-to-College programs The Selim Center coordinates a program that allows those 50 and older to attend regular undergraduate academic courses on a space-available basis. The fee is $80 per course.

The center also offers one-to-one peer consultation services that have been expanded to include personal-computer consultation and legal and financial planning.

For more information, call the center at (651) 962-5188, or visit the center’s website at WWW.STTHOMAS.EDU/SELIMCENTER.

Hall of Famer Stan Musial remembered as ‘great man’ and ‘committed Catholic’ A funeral Mass was held Jan. 26 at St. Louis Cathedral Basilica for Stan Musial, the Hall of Fame outfielder-first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Musial, a Catholic who played all 22 of his major-league seasons with the Cardinals, died Jan. 19 at age 92 at his home in nearby Ladue, Mo., surrounded by family.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, a former auxiliary bishop in St. Louis, celebrated the funeral Mass. Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Tenn., who as a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese was Musial’s pastor in Ladue, will preach the homily.

Musial, frequently called “Stan the Man” for his hitting prowess, won seven National League batting championships.

At the time of his retirement following the 1963 season, he held 17 major league batting records.

In 2011, during ceremonies at the White House, Musial was awarded the Medal of Freedom, considered the nation's highest civilian honor.

Musial, who was of Polish descent, was long involved in growing the sport of baseball in Poland. He was involved with PLEASE TURN TO STAN ON PAGE 21B

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”

Oscar Wilde

Arts & Culture Exploring our church and our world

JANUARY 31, 2013

Catholic News Service

Reading someone else’s mail may be frowned upon, but peeking at the secret conversations of others does offer sort of a guilty pleasure.

With “Strengthen Your Brothers,” however, no guilt is necessary.

Author Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle invites everyone to read letters he wrote to his priests in the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., where he was bishop from 2006 to 2010, and the Archdiocese of Seattle, where he was installed in December 2010.

The text reflects the paradox that sometimes quite ordinary men perform extraordinary tasks in the very person of Christ. Indeed, Archbishop Sartain addresses this unique calling in one-third of the book, “Priestly Identity in Christ.”

The second third of the book addresses “Priestly Practicalities,” such as “Advent Loneliness.” The last section speaks of “Priestly Prayer.”

An interesting aspect is that while Archbishop Sartain is speaking to his priests, and we readers are essentially eavesdropping, much of what he says could have been written to laypeople. For instance, when he speaks of Advent loneliness, he uses a layperson friend as his spokesman. Loneliness is not a feature of a dearth of activity or the absence of people; it is something else, a longing that anyone, not just priests, might experience.

In “Priestly Prayer,” Archbishop Sartain writes of the necessity to “accept life as it is and offer it to

In a previous edition, The Catholic Spirit asked readers to send in their favorite Catholic movies. The following are three of the responses.

My favorite Catholic movie is “The Sound of Music” because of its depiction of religious life. The convent is front and center throughout the entire movie. Maria wants to be a nun, but God has something else in store for her. We experience Reverend Mother’s joy in her song “Climb Every Mountain.” The beautiful church is the setting of Maria's marriage. And at the end, the nuns defy the Nazi authorities to protect the Von Trapp family by hiding them in the convent. I also like Hitchcock's “I Confess” (1953) with Montgomery Clift as a priest who is willing to be accused of murder rather than break the seal of the sacrament of confession.

“In the tradition of the

great letter writers such as Alexander Pope and, of course, St. Paul, Archbishop Sartain has composed epistles that treat important matters while maintaining the warmth of faith and love.

Carmencita F. Crespo St. Hubert Catholic Community Chanhassen

” CHARLOTTE MILLER

God” since much of life involves “navigating through situations as they are.” He reminds us of the wisdom in the contemporary expression, “It is what it is.”

The title of the book is taken from a portion of the Passion narrative of Luke. At the Last Supper, in the intensity of the moment as Christ is instituting the Eucharist, an argument breaks out about who is the greatest. Jesus then tells Peter that he has prayed Peter’s faith will not fail, fully realizing Peter’s faith will, in fact, fail. But Jesus also knows that Peter will turn back.

And after turning back, returning to his faith, Peter, who will have exhibited much weakness, must “strengthen (his) brothers.”

Letter writing is close to a lost art — what with emails, texts and tweets. Composing well-written let-

ters with depth of thought as well as tender emotional investment is almost unheard of. And yet here are 31 letters that are poetic yet practical, uplifting yet challenging.

Each letter ends with an actual signature, “+ J. Peter Sartain,” to serve as a reminder that the chapters are letters, not tracts.

In the tradition of the great letter writers such as Alexander Pope and, of course, St. Paul, Archbishop Sartain has composed epistles that treat important matters while maintaining the warmth of faith and love.

Miller taught at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, Ark., for 31 years and moved to Illinois upon retiring. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from St. Gregory University in Shawnee, Okla.

The Church of Saint Paul 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd NE, Ham Lake

With no need to explain why or how, my hands-down favorite is “A Man For All Seasons.” But since you ask that I tell why this is my choice, I’ll try to do so.

St. Thomas More lived the faith with courage. The film is brilliantly written, photographed and acted and fully deserves all the Oscars it won, and they are many.

The film brings us intimately into More's mind and heart, helping us to understand who he was and how his family loved him. The screenplay also puts More’s life in stark contrast to the vanity of the king and his court. Somehow, the script does all this with absolutely no shred of sentimentality or drippy preaching. This movie has the most famous cut on action of all film history. An incredible achievement!

Scott Brooks Holy Family St. Louis Park My favorite Catholic movie would be “Our Lady of Fatima,” which I watch every time it shows on TV. The three children who saw the visions of Our Lady had such amazing faith at so young an age — and throughout their lives to their deaths — even though they were persecuted and ostrasized by the townspeople.

Judy Coleman St. Thomas the Apostle St. Paul

Annulment Questions?

Staff members of the Archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the Declaration of Nullity process at the

Cathedral of St. Paul 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul, MN

TheCatholicSpirit.com

19B

Readers weigh in on Catholic movies

Archbishop’s ‘epistles’ convey depth of his love for priests Charlotte Miller

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

and

Basilica of St. Mary

88 N. 17th St., Minneapolis

Ash Wednesday, February 13 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

For more information contact the Tribunal at (651) 291-4466

20B

Calendar

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Lenten Dinners The following is a list of parishes and schools hosting fish fries or dinners during the Lenten season. For a complete listing visit WWW.THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM. February 14: St. Jerome, Maplewood — soup supper follows Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. at 380 E. Roselawn.

February 15: St. Peter School, North St. Paul — 4 to 7 p.m. at 2620 N. Margaret St. Guardian Angels, Chaska — 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 217 Second St. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1621 University Ave. N.E. St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — 4:30 to 7 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Holy Family Maronite Church, Mendota Heights — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1960 Lexington Ave. S. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hastings — 3:45 to 5 p.m. and 5:15 to 7 p.m. at 600 Tyler St. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at 510 Hall Ave. St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the corner of E. 29th Street and 32nd Avenue S. February 21: St. Jerome, Maplewood — soup supper follows Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. at 380 E. Roselawn.

February 22: Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1621 University Ave. N.E. St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — 4:30 to 7 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Holy Family Maronite Church, Mendota Heights — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1960 Lexington Ave. S. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at 510 Hall Ave. St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the corner of E. 29th Street and 32nd Avenue S. February 28: St. Jerome, Maplewood — soup supper follows Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. at 380 E. Roselawn.

March 1: St. Peter School, North St. Paul — 4 to 7 p.m. at 2620 N. Margaret St. St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — 4:30 to 7 p.m. at 1757 Conway St. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1621 University Ave. N.E. Holy Family Maronite Church, Mendota Heights — 5 to 7 p.m. at 1960 Lexington Ave. S. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at 510 Hall Ave. St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis — 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the corner of E. 29th Street and 32nd Avenue S. Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — 5 to 7 p.m. at 21304 Church Ave.

Dining out Annual spaghetti dinner at Pope John Paul II School, Minneapolis — February 2: 4:30 to 8 p.m. at 1630 Fourth St. N.E. Cost is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and children 12 and under and $30 per family.

KC chili feed at Knights of Columbus Hall, Shakopee — February 8: 5 to 7:30 p.m. at

tion, call (651) 771-8494.

Don’t Miss

Open house at Convent of the Visitation School, Mendota Heights — February 5: 9:30 a.m. at 2055 Visitation Drive. For students entering grades pre-k to 5.

Rite of Election set for Feb. 17 The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion will be celebrated on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 1:30 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

The rite marks the beginning of the final period of preparation of catechumens (those not baptized) for the sacraments of initiation, ordinarily celebrated at the Easter Vigil.

From the time of the Rite of Election until the time of their initiation, the catechumens are referred to as “members of the elect.”

During the Call to Continuing Conversion, those individuals already baptized who are preparing for entrance into the Catholic Church are recognized.

WWW.ICC

1760 Fourth Ave. E. Cost is $7.50 for ages 11 and older and $3 for children ages 5 to 10.

each, call (763) 788-9062 or visit SONLINE.ORG.

Fish fry at St. Patrick of Cedar Lake, Jordan — February 8: 5 to 8 p.m. at 24425 Old Hwy.13 Blvd. Cost is $12 for adults and $5 for children ages 4 to 12.

St. Richard’s annual Mardi Gras Mask-aRave at the Bloomington Hilton Chop House, Bloomington — February 9: 6 to 11 p.m. at 3900 American Blvd. W. Features dinner, music, dancing, games and more.

Tickets are $65, $55 for seniors. Reservations are required by Feb. 4. Visit WWW.ST RICHARDS.COM.

Roast beef dinner at St. Cecilia, St. Paul — February 10: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2357 Bayless Place. Cost is $9, children 8 and under eat free. Also features a silent auction.

Men’s Club beef and sausage dinner at Guardian Angels, Chaska — February 10: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 217 Second St. W. Cost is $11 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Homemade sausage $4.50 per pound.

Takeout is available.

Mardi Gras pancake breakfast at St. Richard, Richfield — February 10: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 7540 Penn Ave. S. For information, visit WWW.STRICHARDS.COM. Pancake and sausage breakfast at St. Catherine of Spring Lake Township, Prior Lake — February 10: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 4500 220th St. E. Cost $6 for adults, $3 for children ages 5 to 12 and $20 per family.

Parish events Oldies Dance with Live Band Rocka-Rolla and Village Tavern at Church of St. Mary’s, St. Paul — February 2: Doors open at 5:30 p.m., band plays from 6 to 9 p.m. at 261 E. Eighth St. Live in Upson Hall 50s and 60s Rock-n-Roll music and Old Time Polka music. Snacks and refreshments provided, soda-pop available for $1. Cost is $10/person or $25/family. For information, visit WWW.GREATGATHERINGS.ORG/OLDIES-DANCE. 50th ordination celebration for Father Stan Maslowski at Guardian Angels, Oakdale — February 2 and 3: 5 p.m. Mass Saturday and 7:30, 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday Masses at 8260 Fourth St. N. After each Mass there will be food and beverages and the release of his new book “The Last Homilies, What I Want to Say Before I Die”. The book will be available for a gift of $10.

Why Be Catholic? Series at St. Paul, Ham Lake — February 7: Thursday evenings, Feb. 7 to March 21 at 7 p.m. at 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. N.E. No cost. Register by calling Chet at (612) 910-6893 or emailing SAA13UBB@HOTMAIL.COM. Mid-winter concert at St. John Neumann, Eagan — February 8: 7 p.m. at 4030 Pilot Knob Road. Features the adult, teen, Latino, filipino, children’s and bell choirs. Refreshments to follow.

Cabaret Dinner Theatre at Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights — February 8 and 9: 6 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. N.E. Buffet dinner followed by music and a variety show, “On the Road: Songs About the Great American Road Trip.” Tickets are $30

Fabulous February festival at St. Pius X, White Bear Lake — February 9 and 10: 6 to 9 p.m.

Saturday features auctions, music, raffles and food. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday features a pork dinner, raffles, country store, book nook and more. Located at 3878 Highland Ave. KC Bingo at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — February 10: 2 p.m. at 21304 Church Ave. Kids are welcome. $7 for one card, $12 for two, $15 for three. Snacks and beverages available.

Prayer/ liturgies World Day of the Sick with Bishop Lee Piché at the Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul — February 9: 10 a.m. at 239 Selby Ave. The World Day of the Sick is intended to bring healing, encouragement and spiritual strength to those who are sick, to those who work in healthcare and to those who are friends and family caring for a sick loved one.

Singles 50-plus Second Sunday Supper event at St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis — February 10: 5 p.m. celebrate Mardi Gras, wear beads and your favorite celebratory hat, 6 p.m. dinner and 7 p.m. talk by Ben Welter, author of ‘Minnesota Mayhem’ at 4537 Third Ave. S. Cost is $10. Call (952) 884-5165 or visit WWW.SECOND-SUNDAY.ORG.

School events Family Fun Night with Prizes and Meatballs at St. Joseph School, Rosemount — February 1: 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 13900 Biscayne Ave. Features games, auctions and raffles and a spaghetti dinner until 7 p.m.

Learning festival and new student registration at St. Charles Borromeo School, St. Anthony — February 3: 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2727 Stinson Blvd. For children entering PreK to grade 8. For information, visit WWW. STCHBSCHOOL.ORG. Kindergarten information night at St. Jerome School, Maplewood — February 4: 7 p.m. at 384 Roselawn Ave. E. For informa-

Open house at Holy Family Academy, St. Louis Park — February 5: 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 5925 W. Lake St. For students entering grades pre-K to 8. For information, visit WWW.HFAMN.ORG. 11th annual Empty Bowls Benefit at CretinDerham Hall, St. Paul — February 6: Lunch is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and dinner is 4 to 7 p.m. at 550 S. Albert St. Guests are invited to purchase a ceramic bowl made by a student and then enjoy a meal of soup and bread.

Free will donations of $5 to $10 per bowl are requested.

Kindergarten information night at St. Peter School, North St. Paul — February 7: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 2620 N. Margaret St. For information, visit WWW.STPETERSNSP.ORG. Kindergarten information night at Holy Trinity, South St. Paul — February 12: 6:30 to 8 p.m. at 745 Sixth Ave. S. For information, call (651) 455-8557.

Other events ‘Women and the Politics of Freedom’ at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul — February 7: 7:30 p.m. at the Anderson Student Center, 2115 Summit Ave. Helen Alvare will speak. Co-sponsored by the Pro-life Center at the University of St. Thomas Law School and the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture. To register, visit WWW.STTHOMAS.EDU/LAW/EVENTS. Catholic Athletic Association Hall of Fame dinner at Mendakota Country Club, Mendota Heights — February 11: Social and silent auction at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. at 2075 Mendakota Drive. Please join us as we induct Bob Doane, Ted Steichen and Bob Tschida into the CAA Hall of Fame.

Cost is $125 per couple. For information, call (651) 227-1741.

Retreats Silent Weekend Retreat for Men and Women at Christ the King Retreat Center, Buffalo — February 1 to 3: at 621 First Ave. South. Theme is “Every Journey Needs a Pathway to God” presented by Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn. Suggested offering is $160. For more information or to register, please visit WWW.KINGSHOUSE.COM, call 763-682-1394 or send an email to CHRISTTHE KING@KINGSHOUSE.COM. Day of recollection for caregivers at Annunciation, Minneapolis — February 16: 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 509 W. 54th St. Event for caregivers includes Mass, adoration, conferences, and the sacrament of reconciliation. A caregiver is anyone who lives, works or regularly visits persons with serious illnesses or disabilities. Cost is $15 with lunch provided. For information, or to register, call (651) 291-4543 by Feb. 8.

Women’s Lenten retreat at Holy Spirit, St. Paul — February 23: 8 a.m. to noon at 515 S. Albert St. Explore “Faith in the New Evangelization” with prayer, sacraments, reflection and a presentation by Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn. Cost is $10, Register online by Feb. 20 at HTTPS://GIVING.ARCHSPM .ORG/LWR. Women’s Lenten retreat at Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights — February 23: 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. N.E. Speaker is Gina Bauer. Cost is $10 and lunch is included. Reservations required by February 5 by calling (763) 788-1897.

21B

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

‘Stan the Man’ co-chaired papal visit

St. Louis Cardinal baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial tips his hat to the crowd before he throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the start of the 2006 World Series in St Louis. Musial, a Catholic, died Jan. 19 at age 92. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2011

by President Barack Obama and over the years was supportive of charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18B a Little League project in Poland, helping to build a training and conference center for coaches, trainers and players all over Eastern Europe.

He also helped out in the St. Louis area as well, including at the St. Vincent Home for Children, a residential treatment center for children with educational, emotional and behavioral difficulties. Giving back and helping others “gives you a great feeling,” he said.

The slugger met Blessed John Paul II, including twice before Blessed John Paul ascended to the papacy. Musial said they first met when he was archbishop of Krakow, Poland. In 1971, he dropped in on then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who received him even though he was ill with a bad cold.

“I tried to tell him that I was a baseball player, and that my father was born in Poland,” Musial recalled in 1988, after his first meeting with Blessed John Paul at the Vatican. The two had

CNS photo / John Sommers II, Reuters

some trouble communicating, but when Musial returned to Poland two years later, Blessed John Paul was already speaking fluent English, he said. “He probably doesn’t remember it, but I do,” Musial said.

Musial was co-chair of Blessed John Paul’s 1999 pastoral visit to St. Louis.

“Alleluia! A great man! A superb athlete!”

Cardinal Dolan said in a blog posting within hours of Musial’s death. “Married seven decades to his beloved Lil; proud father; committed Catholic — he readily admits one of the highpoints of his life was getting to know his fellow Pole, Blessed John Paul II; never missed Sunday Mass; no steroids or drugs; no brawls, enemies, or DUI. Just a gentleman, day-in-day-out reliable, never complaining or demanding; no controversy or foul language.”

Cardinal Dolan recalled when, at age 10, he and his brother met Musial at the St. Louis airport: “‘Hi Stan,’ we blurted out. ‘The Man’ looked at us. ‘Whaddaya say, sluggers?’ Never forgotten it. I was 10-foot tall.”

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22B

JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Getting the royal treatment Marilou Eldred, right, president of the Catholic Community Foundation in St. Paul, gets a royal knighting from King Boreas (Steve Cortinas), second from left, during a special ceremony at the foundation headquarters in St. Paul.

Members of the St. Paul Winter Carnival Royal Court were on hand to present Eldred with the Spirit of 76 Award. At far left is Ashleigh Hayes, the 2012 Aurora, Queen of the Snows and a graduate of the University of St. Thomas.

The award recognizes outstanding volunteer efforts in the community.

(Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit)

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Pope Benedict XVI, at his weekly general audience Jan. 23

Overheard JANUARY 31, 2013

Quotes from this week’s newsmakers

Cathedral shines during Crashed Ice events

At left, on the steps of the Cathedral of St. Paul, Father Erich Rutten, director of campus ministry at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, watches the final race of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship.

More than 100,000 people crowded around the Cathedral of St. Paul Jan. 26 to watch the event. Above, racers clear the first jump after the 45-degree drop at the start of the 400-meter track.

Below, Michael Johnson, center with brown hat, who attends the Cathedral of St. Paul, watched the action on one of the big screens set up around the track.

At right, racers come down a small hill just before the steepest and sharpest curve in the track.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

23B

“It’s not just the lucidity of our arguments, but about the effect our words have on others. Our task is to CARDINAL O’MALLEY present the truth with civility, empathy and clarity. Being compassionate about the Gospel of life is about building a new civilization with love.”

— Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on ProLife Activities and the main celebrant at the National Prayer Vigil for Life in Washington, D.C.

“Many of you left your homes early this morning for this annual youth parade which is the Revelry for Christ, but the Lord reserved another moment for you to show the world that the youth of today can show solidarity.”

Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

— Archbishop Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro, speaking after a Catholic samba group known as Revelry for Christ changed its plans for a parade and instead led a religious procession to Rio’s metropolitan cathedral after the Jan. 27 nightclub fire that killed more than 230 people, many of them university students

‘Change Begins With Us’ is theme of annual Day on the Hill gathering The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition is sponsoring its annual Day on the Hill Feb. 21.

“Change Begins With Us — Day on the Hill 2013” is the organization’s annual policy briefing and lobby day. Participants gather at RiverCentre The in St. Paul for an Catholic Spirit opening prayer, keynote speaker and issue briefings. This year’s keynote speaker is Sayyid M. Syeed, National Director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances.

After lunch there will be a short rally at the Capitol followed by meetings with

News Notes

legislators. The Minnesota Catholic Conference is a sponsoring member of the JRLC. Cost is $40 until Feb. 17 when it goes up to $45. For information and registration, visit WWW.JRLC.ORG.

travel to approximately 25 parishes and schools throughout the month.

To sign up to be a host parish/school, call (763) 502-0792 or email INFO@FATIMAONLINE.ORG. A full schedule of the tour will be posted at WWW.FATIMA ONLINE.ORG by the end of February.

Our Lady of Fatima ‘The Voice’ star visits Statue to tour archdiocese his childhood school

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will host a tour of the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima during the month of April. The tour begins with a Marian Congress April 6 at St. Joseph in West St. Paul. Bishop Lee Piché will be the keynote speaker. The statue will then

Nicholas David, who became famous as a contestant on NBC’s, “The Voice,” returned to his childhood school to thank the students for praying for him while he competed on the show.

Watch a video of his visit to St. Joseph School in Rosemount Jan. 17 at

WWW.THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM.

Providence Academy wins Quiz Bowl tourney The 8th Grade Quiz Bowl team from Providence Academy in Plymouth took first place out of nearly 50 teams at the annual Archdiocesan Quiz Bowl tournament in December.

The team is coached by history teacher Bernard Carpenter and current Providence Academy junior, Lila Anderson. Anderson brings quiz bowl team experience as a former member and also as one of 11 contestants selected nationwide to compete in Teen Jeopardy later this school year.

24B

JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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How do I live in communion with God?

Learning more about our faith The Catholic Spirit’s 4-page Rediscover: pullout section in each issue of 2013 highlights a new Rediscover: theme for you to reflect on and discuss with others.

Coming up FEB. 14: What is Lent?

‘The Jesus way’: Building community, connecting to the Church

I

HEART OF THE MATTER Father MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

often hear the comment, “I can believe in Jesus and be his follower, but I do not need to be member of the Church or belong to a parish.” My reply is, “Sorry, that is not the way that Jesus set it up. Jesus was a community builder. To try to make it on your own is not the Jesus way.”

Jesus gathered 12 disciples around him. He taught them as a group. They prayed and traveled together. He appointed them as the leaders and foundation stones of his new community (see Luke 22:29-30; Ephesians 2:20). Jesus said, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

He founded “my church,” and he expects those who accept him and his Gospel to belong.

Christianity is not a private affair.

Discipleship is not a solitary activity. The cross reveals two basic types of relationships: the vertical beam represents our relationship with God, and the horizontal beam

The Catholic Spirit • January 31, 2013

represents our relationship with neighbor.

Baptism not only unites a person to God, it also incorporates a person into the Body of Christ, the Church.

Don’t miss out The first generation of believers clearly understood this. They gathered regularly and “devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles and the communal life, the breaking of the bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Community is a constituent element of Christianity.

Catholics belong to the Church universally and to a parish locally. The parish is built on the pillars of worship and education-formation. It is where believers come together to pray and be fed by Word and sacrament, as well as to receive religious instruction in order to grow and deepen in Please turn to CHRIST on section back page

Rediscover-faith.org

“The cross reveals two basic types of relationships: the vertical beam represents our relationship with God, and the horizontal beam represents our relationship with neighbor. Baptism not only unites a person to God, it also incorporates a person into the Body of Christ, the Church.”

Father Michael Van Sloun

Togetherness Last Saturday, I went out for a couple of hours to run some errands. When I got home, my 3-year-old son Walter came up to me and said: “Daddy, I am so happy you came back!”

I had only been gone a couple of hours, but I could see and feel his joy.

Children crave togetherness, and in their craving I think we see the face of God. The Scriptures tell us, “The delight of God is to be with the sons of man.” God delights in being with us.

CELEBRATING When we are spiritually healthy we CATHOLICISM crave this togetherness with God and others. But when we are too busy, too tired, too angry, too hungry or too Matthew discontented, we tend to avoid KELLY togetherness.

Learning to be with ourselves, learning to be with God and learning to be with others are at the heart of walking with God. Sometimes we cannot stand to be in our own company.

And, if we must, we distract ourselves in a thousand different ways so that we don’t really have to be with ourselves.

Learning just to be with God is one of the most important pleasures of life. But oftentimes the silence and stillness of prayer can be excruciatingly difficult.

And being with others is always full of surprises. At one moment joy overflows; then, in an instant, it can turn to turmoil and heartache.

Togetherness requires one thing above all else: time. Not five minutes here and there, but the kind of carefree timelessness that has no schedule, the carefree timelessness that is just waiting for something wonderful to happen.

It is out of this togetherness that a sense of belonging emerges. We “Learning to be belong with God, but often we sense that because we are with ourselves, don’t not spending enough (or any) time just being with God. Once we learning to be start spending time with God with God and regularly, the sense of belonging emerges. learning to be This togetherness with God is with others are at one of the most beautiful gifts of the Christian life. It is the the heart of togetherness that places God at the center of our lives and the center walking with of our relationships, which leads God.” to dynamic relationships and parishes.

Matthew Kelly Togetherness like this is attractive and contagious — just like the love of God.

Reserve time for God What would it take to make your parish the most dynamic parish in America? How dynamic would your parish be if everyone was actively seeking this togetherness with God? Let’s find out!

Each day for the next week, set some time aside just to be with God. Talk to him, listen to him, or just be with him.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary.” If you are weary, go to Jesus each day for a few minutes and just be with him. He will lighten your load.

Invite God into your life in a new way today. God desires to have a powerful communion with his children, but he will not force himself into our lives. He knocks and waits at the door of our hearts to be invited in.

I think you will find that if you rediscover this togetherness with God, it will bring new life to your relationships in a thousand different ways.

Kelly is an international best-selling author, speaker and founder of The Dynamic Catholic Institute.

The Catholic Spirit • January 31, 2013

Tragedy strikes, a sermon Woman loses daughter, gains deeper faith as she reaches out to others

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

One homily changed Jean Rief’s life.

The words of a new priest at her parish, Guardian Angels in Chaska, helped her become more than someone who just attended Mass every Sunday to keep guilt at bay.

In fact, she was transformed into someone who developed a personal relationship with God, forging an unshakable trust in him and in the relationships he gave her at the parish.

Eventually, countless volunteer hours paved the way for a paid position at the parish as a pastoral minister. Mostly, it is a ministry of presence. Sometimes, it’s a ministry of shared pain and grief.

Dealing with adversity Rief knows a thing or two about those. Just three weeks after a riveting and challenging homily delivered in 2008 by her new pastor, Father Paul Jarvis, her oldest daughter, Amanda, 20, died in a house fire in Wisconsin, where she was going to school. About two years after that, her marriage of 25 years came to an end when her husband decided to leave.

Before the life-changing homily, it was the fear of these types of events that kept her from going deeper in her faith.

“I always wanted a relationship with God; I knew that I needed him in every aspect of my life,” said Rief, 50, who has three children still living. “But I very consciously kept him at arm’s length because I knew so many people who had a great relationship with God, but . . . they had tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. . . . And, I just thought, ‘I don’t want that.’”

The little praying she did outside of Mass was simply a plea for God to protect her family from harm. It was a prayer driven by fear. And, it was fear such as this that Father Jarvis confronted when he delivered the words that changed her life.

“He talked about the fear that we all have, an overriding fear that prevents us from being in full communion with God,” Rief said. “He said, ‘I want you to go in front of a crucifix or a picture or whatever has special significance for you and name out loud that fear. And, just ask God to take that away from you, take if off your shoulders so that you can be in full communion with God.’ I just thought, ‘It’s time to let go of the side of the pool. It’s time for me to do this.’ I couldn’t wait to get home and do the homework. He always called it the homework.”

Her “homework” took place in front of a crucifix in her home. She knelt down and said a simple prayer, but one that came from deep in her soul: “I want you in my life. I want you with me. I can get through anything if you are with me.”

Little did she know that the “anything” she referred to would come in less than a month.

“Three weeks later, we got the call about our daughter [Amanda],” she said. “I have to admit, I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? It’s happening already?

“It was horrendous. I got the call from the medical examiner in Door County, Wisconsin, just saying that there was a house fire at her college and the three students that were in the house all died, and she was one of them. I thought, ‘She doesn’t live in a house. What do you mean?’

“I just didn’t believe it. As I’m talking, my husband pulls up the computer screen and there’s the house that’s on fire in front of me as I’m talking to her [medical examiner]. I just thought, ‘This is so unbelievable.’ I hung up the phone and thought, ‘This can’t be true.’ But, I knew it was. . . . I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’”

Jean Rief enjoys her work as a pastoral mi in their lives.

“It’s not just about me and stool — love God, love yo You can’t do it. . . .We ne

and faith just grew [by] leaps and bounds good to be of service to people.”

Eventually, she decided to apply for a job which centered on data entry, was not a fi cided. So, they created a new position — pa her.

“She is out-of-this-world amazing at it, b istries to the parish,” said Father Jarvis, w Joseph in Rosemount.

Sensing that her own tragedy might prov Transformation begins the chance to walk with someone in the pa Of course, Rief was right — she couldn’t do this. And, that’s precisely the same cross as she — the loss of a child. the realization that put her back on her knees in front of the crucifix “Last Christmas, 2011, I got a call the day and in the pews at Guardian Angels. one was here and wanted to see a priest,” That’s when the real transformation began. not available. They asked if I could come “I couldn’t get enough of surrounding myself lost her child a few with God, however I could do that,” she said. that she [had not bee “So, I started attending daily Mass as often as In her own words mas. I got here and work allowed. I started volunteering at the front in front of the altar in Visit Rediscover-faith.org desk here as a volunteer receptionist. I started “I didn’t say anyth to watch a video of Jean Rief visiting the homebound, I started visiting the church was already imprisoned. And, all of those things kept opennext to her, and she talking about her journey ing up doors. Relationships blossomed and grew, dren’s graves are righ of faith.

No room for Facebook envy

n sticks

German researchers have put a name to the phenomenon many of us have experienced: Facebook envy.

Scrolling through glowing updates and showy photos — picturesque holidays, gourmet dinners, exotic vacations, beach-ready bodies — takes a toll, leaving one in three browsers feeling less satisfied with their lives. And, many of us set ourselves up for disappointment, researchers found, by comparing the number of birthday greetings we amass with our friends’ tallies and how many “likes” our postings generate versus theirs.

Social media present us with more opportunities to compare and contrast than ever before, and these fragments pop up when we’re already down — at the beginning of a long week, at the end of a bad day. It’s a far cry from 20th-century social networking, when a REFERENCE friend would share her vacation photo album along POINTS with a face-to-face conversation that left you feeling more human, even if you’d just added Waikiki to your Christina travel list.

But God didn’t create us for comparison. He created CAPECCHI us for individuality — counting the hairs on our heads, designing unmatchable fingerprints — to live out unique purposes on this earth. The key is to live in communion with God so we can bask in that unconditional love and fulfill that one-of-a-kind purpose.

This requires time and trust: spending time in conversation with God and then trusting in his master plan. It gives us the wisdom to say yes to certain things and, equally important, no to others. We begin to move along a path that feels just right, creating a certain What can you do flow or momentum.

Our daily lives this week to correspond with our spend more time deepest values, our in conversation highest priorities and with God? our greatest gifts.

I’m grateful to know many people who clearly are living in communion with God. I think of a neighbor who halted a high-paying career to be a stay-athome mom. The day I met her she told me she hasn’t looked back, hasn’t missed it once. I could sense her inner peace and soon met the fruits of her labor: her bright, happy kids.

I think of a cousin who unlocks the arts for teenagers: teaching them to write, breaking down literature, directing plays and coaching them for speech tournaments. Outside the classroom she gardens, sews and sings in her parish choir.

I think of a family friend ushering in his 70th birthday, traveling the globe, delighting in his grandchildren, seeing the divine in the every day.

These people are quick to laugh at themselves. Their humility is grounded in self-knowledge: They know who they are and who they aren’t and they make no apologies. And, best of all, they’re enjoying themselves.

Fulfilling God’s will hasn’t sentenced them to lives of austerity; it’s opened them to lives of abundance.

For reflection

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

nister at Guardian Angels in Chaska, and uses her experiences to help people through the difficulties

my God; it takes all of us. Father Paul used to talk about that three-legged ourself, love your neighbor. If you take one of them out, you topple over. eed each other to guide us and to inspire us and to live out our faith.”

Jean Rief in my heart. It always feels

b at the parish. The position, t for her, the interviewer deastoral minister — and hired

bringing so many new minwho is now the pastor at St.

ve useful, she eventually got arish who was asked to carry . y after Christmas that someshe said. “But the priest was down. . . . This mother had w months prior, and I knew en] looking forward to Christshe was laying on the steps n a crumpled heap, sobbing. hing, but I just sat down. The y darkened. I just sat down e just clung to me. Our chilht next to each other [at the

parish cemetery]. I can just sit between them; she does all the time. We just sit between them and ask them [the deceased children] to help us.

Her son was 19, a year younger [than Amanda].”

‘Indescribable beauty’ Thanks to her openness to God and to a deeper faith, Rief and the other grieving mother now are friends. In fact, she has made many new friends since becoming active in the parish. And, that’s the lesson she has learned when it comes to belonging — both to God and to his church.

“It’s not just about me and my God; it takes all of us,” she said.

“Father Paul used to talk about that three-legged stool — love God, love yourself, love your neighbor. If you take one of them out, you topple over. You can’t do it. . . . We need each other to guide us and to inspire us and to live out our faith.

“Without a doubt, it’s who we are with one another that defines us.

I think how we live with each other now is how we’re going to live forever. So, those relationships are so important.”

And so is the decision to invite God in, and thus begin a life of what Rief calls an “indescribable beauty.” For those who are thinking about taking the next step in their faith journey, Rief has two simple words of advice: Don’t wait.

Created in God’s image “To be a Catholic should be something liberating,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York tweeted last June. “Something fun. We aren’t Puritans, are we?”

This high-profile cardinal with a Midwesterner’s heart is another shining example of life in communion with God. Cardinal Dolan is performing a crucial role in his inimitable way, like no other could or would. He has followed God’s will from St. Louis to Milwaukee to New York City, developing into a national leader our Church needs.

The word communion comes from “communis,” which means common. And so, to live in communion with God means to dwell in common ground and mutual love, ever realizing our creation in his likeness and image. When you’re doing that, there’s no room for Facebook envy.

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

Rediscover-faith.org

United in Faith, Faith, Hope and Love

Second talk: Living in communion with God

By Joe Towalski The Catholic Spirit

The world is filled with distractions that steer us from life’s most important questions, including “How do I find God’s purpose for my life?” and “How do I live in communion with God?” The latter will be the focus of a free, 90-minute multimedia talk by Father Michael Keating at 7 p.m., Feb. 18, at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton. It will be repeated Feb. 19 at St. John Neumann in Eagan and Feb. 21 at Our Lady of Grace in Edina (see schedule at right). (“Finding God’s purpose for my life” will be the topic of an earlier Father Keating set of talks Feb. 4, 5 and 7; see The Catholic Spirit’s Jan. 17 Rediscover section or visit WWW.REDISCOVER-FAITH.ORG and click on “events” for more information.)

Both talks, and two more slated for March, are part of the 2013 Rediscover: Faith Speakers Series.

Father Keating, associate professor in the University of St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies department, said his presentation will aim “to present a way of perceiving freshly the remarkable adventure of our faith.”

Living in communion with God requires prayer, reception of the sacraments and acts of love, he said, “but all these stem from the truth that God has poured his love into our hearts.”

Many voices — those in the mass media and others — steer people away from God, often leaving them feeling empty and alone. The Church, Father Keating said, has something to offer them.

“The Church is the true home of everyone, and of everything truly human,” he said. “St. Philip Neri once said that those who seek anything but Christ don’t

know what they are looking for. His point was that all of our desires, however we experience them, are echoes of the one desire for the living God. If we try to satisfy ourselves elsewhere, we end up discouraged, unfulfilled, and trapped within ourselves.”

“If the Church were only a human thing with various activities and services, she wouldn’t have much to say to that desperate longing,” Father Keating added. “But the Church has one great possession, or rather is possessed herself by that One who is the treasure we all long for. Those who come to the Church looking for God in Christ won’t be disappointed. They’ll find themselves in a world larger than they thought possible, opening out into eternity.”

Relationships key Being connected to a parish community plays a key role in nurturing a deeper communion with God, he said.

“It is a great truth that God desires to meet us very personally and intimately, but it is also true that he is not in the least individualistic, and he brings all those he touches into relationship with others,” Father Keating said.

“All the images we are given to describe who we are point to this: branches of a vine, stones in a temple, parts of a body, citizens of a kingdom,” he said. “The parish is the key place, after the family, where we express our communion with God and grow more deeply into it. Of course, this isn’t always the way people experience parish life, [so] we’ve got work to do there.”

All are invited to attend the talk, he said. “It is specially geared to “those who are looking for more in their life with God; who have perhaps irregularly attended Church, maybe grew up in a Catholic home, and have a desire to go further in their faith, but don’t know how to go about it.”

Christ is present in Church, universally and locally Father Van Sloun, continued from first page

and be more vulnerable to temptation.

More online

Some object, “There are many problems faith.

Visit REDISCOVERin the Church; I’m better off on my own.”

It is a major error to be away from the FAITH.ORG and click on Not so. The Church is holy even while community, something St. Thomas “news” to read an its members are sinners. The apostles were proved. He was absent when the disciples additional article by far from perfect and they had their share gathered in the Upper Room. Off by Father Van Sloun: of disagreements, but they dedicated “Connecting with himself, he lost a chance to see Jesus. Not themselves to building the Church and God at your only that, he missed Jesus’ gift of peace accomplished far more together than they local parish.” and forgiveness, he failed to receive his ever could individually. commissioning and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and he did not have his weakened Likewise, no parish is perfect, but faith reinforced and strengthened (see John 20:19-29). membership is indispensable. Christ is present in the Those who are not connected to a parish miss the same Church, both universally and at the parish, and it is a spiritual blessings that Thomas missed. rich source of grace.

Stronger together There are serious risks staying apart from the parish community. There is little or no spiritual support, encouragement or protection, and it is more likely that a person will grow lax in prayer, stray from the truth

To follow Jesus is to be a member of the Body of Christ, and the local unit of his body is the parish. It is crucial to belong.

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

Download the Rediscover: App The new Rediscover: app for iPhone, Android and iPad will be released soon.

It will feature exciting new functionality to support your faith journey, all in one place.

Visit REDISCOVERAPP.COM for more information and to sign up to be notified when it is released.

More online Rediscover website: Rediscover-faith.org Facebook: Rediscover Faith • Twitter: @RediscoverFaith • YouTube: Rediscover Faith

The Catholic Spirit • January 31, 2013

Rediscover-faith.org

Finding God’s Purpose for My Life Monday, Feb. 4 New Brighton: St. John the Baptist Tuesday, Feb. 5 Eagan: St. John Neumann Thursday, Feb. 7 Edina: Our Lady of Grace Presented by Father Peter Laird

Living in Communion with God Monday, Feb. 18 New Brighton: St. John the Baptist Tuesday, Feb. 19 Eagan: St. John Neumann Thursday, Feb. 21 Edina: Our Lady of Grace Presented by Father Michael Keating

Overcoming Life’s Challenges Through God’s Grace Monday, Mar. 4 New Brighton: St. John the Baptist Tuesday, Mar. 5 Eagan: St. John Neumann Thursday, Mar. 7 Edina: Our Lady of Grace Presesnted by Father Andrew Cozzens

the way

Keeping God at the Center of My Life Monday, Mar. 18 New Brighton: St. John the Baptist Tuesday, Mar. 12 Eagan: St. John Neumann Thursday, Mar. 21 Edina: Our Lady of Grace Presenter to be announced soon Talks in Spanish will also be given. Go to Rediscover-faith.org for dates, times and locations

Save the date for the 2013

Rediscover: Catholic Celebration

Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

Registration opens in April

A w s pe ra cia p l a r Ca ou th nd o l s e ic S ct pi io rit n

2 0 1 3 C AT H O L I C S E RV I C E S A P P E A L ARCHDIOCESE

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The Catholic Spirit JANUARY 31, 2013

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Catholic Services Appeal

CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Appeal helps those in need, forms tomorrow’s leaders As we prepare for the penitential season of Lent, it is fitting to reflect back with gratitude on the generosity of the Catholic faithful of this archdiocese who make possible so many of the vital ministries provided by our local Church.

One shining example of such generosity is our annual Catholic Services Appeal (CSA). Last year, nearly 60,000 Catholic households pledged $9,763,000 to the CSA — Archbishop well surpassing our goal for John C. the third straight year. My Nienstedt sincere thanks to all who supported our Appeal!

The Catholic Services Appeal funds services that no one parish or individual can do alone — providing food and shelter, educational resources and spiritual support to individuals who are disabled, imprisoned, hospitalized or in nursing homes.

The CSA also serves low-income seniors, pregnant mothers, refugees and immigrants. Its funding helps prepare our seminarians for the priesthood, provides care for our retired priests, and goes beyond our borders to help our 65,000 brothers and sisters at our mission in Venezuela.

THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE

Called to serve This year, the Catholic Services Appeal will be celebrated in our parishes the weekends of Feb. 2-3 and 9-10. The theme of the Appeal is: “All the earth is filled with His Glory” — Isaiah 6:3.

This is the song of the angels as they praised the Lord God in heaven. Following their joyful acclaim, the Lord asks whom he should ask to serve. The prophet humbly responds, “Here I am Lord, send me.”

Like Isaiah, we are each called to serve, but we do not always know how. For more than four decades, the CSA has helped care for those most in need — offering food, shelter and material support. It has also formed tomorrow’s leaders — developing students in a life of faith and service through our Catholic schools and seminaries.

Reflecting God’s glory

$

Gifts to the Catholic Services Appeal help to shine the light of God’s glory throughout our local Church. When we provide funding to the various ministries supported by the Appeal, we enable many others to reflect God’s glory

Archbishop’s schedule ■ Friday, Feb. 1: 6 p.m., St. Paul, Cathedral of St. Paul: Private wedding ceremony.

■ Monday-Thursday, Feb. 4-7: Dallas, Texas, National Catholic Bioethics Center bishops’ workshop.

■ Sunday, Feb. 10: 2 p.m., St. Paul, Cathedral of St. Paul: Confirmation.

8 p.m., St. Paul, University of St. Thomas: “Lectio divina.”

■ Monday, Feb. 11: 6 a.m., St. Paul, St. John Vianney College Seminary: Holy Hour and Holy Eucharist, followed by breakfast.

10:30 a.m., St. Paul, The St. Paul Seminary: Meeting with administration.

11:35 a.m., St. Paul, The St. Paul Seminary: Holy Eucharist, followed by lunch with seminarians.

■ Tuesday, Feb. 12: 8:30 a.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Scheduling meeting with staff.

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

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

6 p.m., St. Paul, Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront: St. Paul’s Outreach Minnesota benefit banquet.

■ Wednesday, Feb. 13: 9:30 a.m., Mendota Heights, St. Thomas Academy: Liturgy for Ash Wednesday.

■ Thursday, Feb. 14: 9 a.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Meeting of the Caleb Group.

12 p.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Lunch with newly ordained priests.

3 p.m., St. Paul, St. John Vianney College Seminary: The St. Paul Seminary/St. John Vianney College Seminary board meeting.

■ Friday, Feb. 15: 11:15 a.m., Brooklyn Park, Church of St. Vincent de Paul: Liturgy for archdiocesan annual staff retreat day.

through the works of their ministries.

A generous gift to the Catholic Services Appeal is one way that we can be part of the many ways in which our local Church shares God’s glory with thousands of people 365 days a year.

“All the earth is filled with His Glory.” Let this theme of the 2013 Catholic Services Appeal inspire each of us to recognize the presence of God in our lives and express our gratitude to him by offering our generous support.

May God’s glory shine brightly in your life and may God bless you and your loved ones.

HOW TO GIVE There are several ways you can donate to the Appeal. To make an online donation, go to HTTP://APPEAL.ARCHSPM.ORG. The archdiocese also accepts gifts by check, credit card, automatic bank withdrawal and stock.

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. 18 — No. 3

MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT Publisher

SARAH MEALEY

Checks can be mailed to: Catholic Services Appeal, 328 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul, MN 55102. For more information about how to give, please call (651) 2901610.

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted

by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by Catholic Spirit Publishing Company.

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Classified advertising: (651) 290-1631

Published bi-weekly by the Catholic Spirit Publishing Company, a non-profit Minnesota Corporation, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102 (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460.

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Catholic Services Appeal

JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Bus tour highlights impact Appeal ministries are making The Catholic Spirit Diane Francois and her husband Craig contribute to the Catholic Services Appeal because they know it supports a variety of good works, including vital services for those most in need.

Still, when they heard that a CSA Ministry Discovery Visit Jan. 23 would make a stop in Minneapolis at Catholic Charities’ Hope Street program, which helps homeless youth and young adults, they decided to pay a visit.

“The homeless shelter was a surprise to me,” Diane said. “I didn’t know we had a shelter for these kids, so I wanted to find out more about what they had to offer for these children.”

Buses filled with CSA supporters visited CSA-funded ministry sites that day. In addition to Hope Street, buses also made stops at Catholic Charities’ Higher Ground emergency shelter and transitional housing facility in Minneapolis, St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis, and St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, where riders heard about the archdiocese’s mission in Venezuela.

Another tour Jan. 28 featured visits to the St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity, Catholic Charities’ Family Services in Maplewood, and St. Ambrose of Woodbury for another presentation on the Venezuelan mission. (See page 6A.) Craig Francois said he was impressed to learn about the work Hope Street is doing to help young people in need.

Most of the young people leaving Hope Street “are finding stable shelter and getting some skills to move on in their lives,” said Craig, who attends St. Joseph in Rosemount with his wife. “This is just a temporary stop because they need it.

Their family environment isn’t able to support them. So, the fact that they’re going to school and the fact that . . . they’re able to find a more stable environment to live in, I think that’s the impressive part.”

But it’s not the only ministry doing vital work, Dianne added. “With the programs the [CSA] supports, everybody should get on board and give . . . because they do such good work out there for all people, everywhere,” she said.

Meeting the needs Visitors reboarded their buses following the site visits for one final stop — at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Jan. 23 and Guardian Angels in Oakdale Jan. 28 — for dinner with Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Piché as well as brief presentations about CSA-funded ministries.

At the basilica, participants heard from: ■ Father Greg Schaffer, a priest of the archdiocese who heads its mission in the Diocese of Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela.

“To have an archdiocesan mission is a real blessing for the archdiocese itself,” said Father Schaffer, who serves at Jesucristo Resucitado parish in Venezuela.

“We are making a big difference in so many ways.”

The parish serves an estimated 65,000 people who live in 11 barrios, or neighborhoods. Father Schaffer said he and Father Tim Norris celebrate about seven Masses each weekend — two at the church and the rest out among the people. Unemployment hovers around 75 percent.

“We as church are there to walk with them and try to make a difference — trying to meet their spiritual needs as well as their material needs,” Father Schaffer said.

The mission includes a parish center, medical clinic, dentist office and soup kitchen that serves 150 people MondayFriday, he said. And it collaborates with a neighboring parish that runs an orphanage for boys.

“When people from the archdiocese PLEASE TURN TO CHARITIES ON PAGE 6A

Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

Students from St. Helena School in Minneapolis entertained the crowd during dinner at the Basilica of St. Mary following the Catholic Services Appeal Ministry Discovery Visit Jan. 23.

Ministry Discovery Visit sites ■

The St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity

The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity develops the next generation of Church leaders through formation of men for the priesthood and diaconate and preparation of laity and religious for service in the Church and society.

■ Catholic

Charities Family Service Center

The Family Service Center provides temporary housing for Ramsey County families experiencing homelessness. As many as 55 adults and children can stay at the Family Service Center for a maximum of 30 days. Families receive housing and employment search resources and other services to help them transition from homelessness to stable housing.

■ The

Venezuela mission

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis began a mission in the Diocese of Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela in 1970. Over the past four decades, priests from the archdiocese have served in various parishes and capacities in the Venezuelan church. The mutual interchange of people, cultures, gifts and faith between the parish of Jesucristo Resucitado in San Felix and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is the goal of the Venezuela Mission Partnership.

■ Hope

Street for Homeless Youth

Hope Street, a program of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, offers a secure, supportive environment to help teens experiencing homelessness to determine their options. Hope Street collaborates with Minneapolis Public Schools to provide homelessness prevention services that identify youth at risk of homelessness and provides support services to those individuals. Hope Street’s continuum of services includes an emergency shelter and a transitional living program.

■ Higher

Ground

Open 365 days a year, Higher Ground’s emergency homeless shelter offers a warm place to rest and spend nighttime hours. A light dinner and breakfast are served and shower facilities are available. Limited health care is also available. The facility’s Pay-for-Stay program offers 80 beds, lockers, linens, showers and access to employment resources to men trying to escape the streets. The money guests pay for shelter is held in trust to be used as rental deposits when they move into permanent housing. Higher Ground is a program of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

■ St. Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Andrea Simonett, right, program director of Catholic Charities’ Hope Street shelter for homeless youth in Minneapolis, talks with Jim Rylander, left, and Cathy Olinger of St. John the Baptist in Savage, during the Catholic Services Appeal Ministry Discovery Visit Jan. 23.

Helena Catholic School

St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis has been providing solid academics and laying a moral foundation for children in grades K-8 since 1926. Its mission — like the mission of other Catholic schools — is to develop the spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical character of each child in partnership with parents and the parish community. There are currently 165 students enrolled at the school.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

CARING FOR THOSE MOST IN NEED “If we want to have any success in the future, we have to invest in the people who are going to be running the future — and that’s the youth.”

“A lot of us that are in this work, we want to change the world, we want to end homelessness. Not one of us is going to do that, but we all can play a small part. I think at the end of the day, if you feel good about what you’ve done [and] you feel like you’ve tried your hardest to make a difference, then together we’ll end up making a difference.”

— James Lewis Unit manager, Hope Street, Catholic Charities

“The people here always point you in the right direction. They see I have potential and that is boosting my confidence and making me stronger. If I didn’t have Hope Street, who knows where I’d be as a teenager right now — somewhere on the street doing something illegal. This place helps you get your responsibilities together.”

— Mack Client, Hope Street, Catholic Charities

“The scariest thing a mother and a child will ever have to deal with is not having a place to live, and these places like Catholic Charities are a blessing.

We can focus on our goals. Places like this give [us] hope.”

— Kimberly

IN THE OW WOR

Mom and client of Family Service Center, Catholic Charities

“What I’m called to do as a Christian is to help the poor, and a majority of these guys are in that state. I’m here to uplift them and give them a second chance. I believe that’s what God sent me to do.”

“What’s in it for me? To see if I can help somebody. . . . If you can help just one person, that’s what makes my day.”

— Joseph Denkins Jr. Employee, Higher Ground, Catholic Charities

“We are doing God’s work — God’s work is to help the needy ones who cannot sustain themselves.”

“When I see someone who says, ‘Oh thank you for that language training,’ or ‘thank you for finding this housing for us,’ that appreciation is so important. Our immigrant population doesn’t have a sense of entitlement; they are so grateful for what they get.”

— Hemlal Kafle Migration and Refugee Services, Catholic Charities

HOW YOUR CONT

“You can go through life and ignore other people, or you can go through life and build relationships. Christ went around building wonderful relationships when he was on earth, and I think that’s what we’re taught to do: build up wonderful relationships with each other and support them as we go along. In turn, they support you on your journey.”

— Marjorie Spagl Caregiver support, Aging Services, Catholic Charities

“It’s a place for all the priests who have served the archdiocese faithfully all these years. . . . The residence gives them an opportunity to live with other priests with common interests.”

“This is our opportunity to give back to them.”

— Deacon Phillip Stewart Administrator, Byrne Residence for retired priests

Clients and sta ministries fu Catholic Serv talk about how th supporting tho forming tomor

$2,432,029 Supported Catholic elementary and high school education, as well as campus ministry at our Catholic universities.

$1,146,841 Housed the homeless, guided new parents, provided prenatal care, and supported elderly needs through Catholic Charities.

$1,602,066 Formed seminarians for the priesthood, housed retired priests in our Byrne Residence, and provided prison and hospital chaplains.

$1,80

Rebates returned t fund their own loc

$9,300,000 TOT

All the earth is filled with

Catholic Services Appeal 5A FORMING TOMORROW’S LEADERS

N EIR WN RDS

“A faith-based education is centered completely around Jesus Christ on the knowledge that children are so much more than academic and physical beings. That they are innately spiritual beings, and a faith-based education gets to the core of who the children are. It helps them learn to make decisions based upon what’s right versus just what knowledge tells them.”

— Debra King Principal, Pope John Paul II Catholic School, Minneapolis

“I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools. It’s hard to separate it from my everyday life, it’s just part of who I am. It’s not just going to church on Sunday morning — it’s also helping others, it’s social justice, and it’s responsibility, not just to our local community but to our world.”

“We have a responsibility to show others when we leave this building how we live out our Christian faith.”

— Jessi Weakley Middle school teacher, Pope John Paul II Catholic School, Minneapolis

“My Catholic school has taught me to help others without expecting anything in return and being there for people, even people I don’t know.

The teachers are there for us, so I want to be there for others — like Jesus was for everyone.”

— Sade Eighth-grade Catholic school student

aff members of nded by the vices Appeal ese ministries are se in need and rrow’s leaders

TRIBUTION

“We all value the gift of our young people. We are intensely proud of them. They fill us with great hope. Our local Church is committed to supporting them and accompanying them throughout their lives. Without the Catholic Services Appeal, Archdiocesan Youth Day would not have been possible.”

“We also reach out to those with disabilities and provide support for caregivers. These initiatives make Christ very visible to people who are challenged to live with joy in unique situations.”

“I have heard it said many times that our culture is experiencing a crisis of leadership. The annual Men’s Conference provides men from across the archdiocese an opportunity to clarify their vision and strengthen their commitment to living their responsibility as Catholic leaders today and models for future leaders.”

— Jean Stolpestad Director, Archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life

“Serving is an important part of being Catholic because it’s part of the Gospel; it’s a non-negotiable part of the Gospel. So we are not truly loving God if we are not truly taking that love that we receive from him and trying to share that with those around us. . . .”

“Every Catholic should support a seminarian in some way — through their prayer, through time and service, through whatever they financially can contribute. We need that presence of Christ within the sacrament of holy orders and in all those sacraments that priests bring to help us begin that transformation and continue that transformation of holiness.”

— Father John Floeder

HELPS

1,330

to parishes to help cal ministry needs.

$556,404 Aided our mission in Venezuela serving a parish of 65,000 households.

Provided spiritual guidance to the women of our Archdiocese, supported our Native American and Latino communities.

Director of seminarians, St. Paul Seminary

$883,252 Engaged our youth and young adults to deepen their faith. Promoted the sacredness of life, encouraged married couples, and guaranteed assistance for those with disabilities.

$878,078 Set aside for the printing, mailings, and administrative costs of the CSA.

TAL CSA GOAL

h His glory.

“It’s important for all of us to discern what our vocation is and ask God what is [his] greatest dream for our lives, which is our greatest happiness. The men come here with genuineness and they say, ‘God you show me. I want to meet you in prayer and I want you to show me what is your will for my life.’”

“And they leave different men [compared to when] they come. Every man who has left the seminary, predominantly, has said, ‘I’m so grateful for the time at St. John Vianney. It’s formed who I am today and made me a better man in the way I serve my family, the way I serve my parish, the way that I interact for the common good.’”

— Father Michael Becker Rector, St. John Vianney College Seminary, St. Paul

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8

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Catholic Services Appeal

CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

Sharing Christ’s love with others Tim and Helen Healy, members of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, met in the late 1980s while serving as missionaries with NET Ministries in West St. Paul. There they deepened their love with Christ, with each other and with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. As the chair couple for the 2013 Catholic Services Appeal, they now are sharing that love with others.

Reaching out to others

By Kristi Anderson For The Catholic Spirit

After their years with NET Ministries in West St. Paul, Tim Healy became a youth minister at St. Rose of Lima, Roseville, while Helen taught fourth grade at St. Jerome School in Maplewood. The couple dated and eventually married. Due to a job opportunity, they moved out of the archdiocese for six years.

“That is when we realized how much this archdiocese has to offer,” Helen said.

“We missed the wonderful seminary, the beautiful churches, the holy priests, all the ministries, schools and great leadership, and the abundance of adoration chapels. We were so happy to move back to be closer to family and live again in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”

“We have supported the [Catholic Services Appeal] every year since we moved back from Wisconsin,” Tim added. “We feel strongly about the good works that are done by this archdiocese.

The CSA is the mechanism that enables us to help so many people in need. We are glad to help build God’s kingdom here along with so many other generous people.”

The CSA is an annual collection that helps offset the general operating and program expenses of archdiocesan programs. The goal for the 2013 Catholic Services Appeal is $9.3 million and is shared by 197 parishes across the 12county archdiocese.

“We support the CSA because we love our faith and we want to share it,” said Helen. “This experience as chair couple has helped us realize just how many people the appeal reaches. The message of Christ and what he did for us on the cross is spoken through the Catholic Church, but there are so many that can’t hear the message.

“The appeal reaches those that may be hungry, lonely, neglected, uneducated and even those babies in danger of losing their lives to abortion,” she continued. “The church has always served those in need. In our diocese, the CSA provides the resources to reach out with the hands of Christ to the needy in our community.”

Areas of impact The Healys, who have seven children between the ages of 5 and 18, feel

Charities CEO, principal among speakers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3A come down to visit, they are touched by the experience,” Father Schaffer said.

“But it also changes them. It makes them more aware of the needs in our world.”

■ Tim Marx, CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Marx, who has headed the agency since early 2011, said he is often asked, “How’s it going?”

His response: “Catholic Charities is a strong and vital organization” that is helping to feed, shelter and help others in need. “Business,” however, “is too good.”

Marx noted that the poverty rate in the state has increased by double digits since 2007 — some 600,000 Minnesotans now live in poverty.

“For the first time in 30 years, we at Catholic Charities have had to turn people away from the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul,” he said.

Marx said Catholic Charities continues its commitment “to serve those most in need. . . . But we also need to let the community know what’s going on around [it] and build awareness” among individuals, parish communities, businesses and government to create more opportunities to move people out of poverty.

■ Jane Hileman, principal St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis.

“Right now, we have 33 percent of our children who qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program,” said Hileman, who noted that many of the school’s parents are working two jobs but are still in poverty. “So support here is very, very important.”

Two years ago, Hileman was asked to appear in the Catholic Services Appeal video, in which she talked about one of her former students, Mary Streiff.

Hileman had taken Streiff under her wing when the girl’s home life became troubled. Streiff improved her grades, graduated in 2008 and went on to attend Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield.

“We never collected a penny from Mary, but she will be one of the best [citizens] out there for this community, and that’s because of people like you,” Hileman told those gathered at the basilica.

“I have a Mary story every year,” she said. “And that’s what keeps me coming back, because I get people like you that are out there to help the Marys in this world.”

“We have such a great opportunity to come together as an archdiocese, to pool our resources and have an important effect on our community.”

Tim Healy fortunate to raise their kids with the help of the “wonderful Catholic schools and churches that the Catholic Services Appeal supports.”

As part of their responsibilities as chair couple, they tour many different ministries throughout the archdiocese.

“A highlight for us was visiting St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis,” said Helen. “The staff there is filled with the love of Christ and it is so evident in the students. Just walking down the hall

you can feel Christ’s joy.”

The couple hopes that everyone will take a look at the areas in their lives that are impacted by the appeal.

“We have such a great opportunity to come together as an archdiocese, to pool our resources and have an important effect on our community,” Tim said.

“Jesus calls each one of us to care for the poor, the widows, the homeless and those in need. We can all come together and make a difference.”

Archbishop thanks parish leaders for CSA support The Catholic Spirit During the second of the Ministry Discovery Visits Jan. 28, people involved with the Catholic Services Appeal traveled by bus from several parishes to see firsthand how CSA funds are used.

Parishioners, priests and parish staff from Taylors Falls to Lakeville to Miesville toured and learned about ministry at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, at Catholic Charities Family Services Center in Maplewood, and at St. Ambrose parish in Woodbury, where Father Greg Schaffer shared how CSA funding support his work at the archdiocese’s mission in Venezuela.

Archbishop John Nienstedt thanked the several hundred parish leaders at a dinner held at Guardian Angels parish in Oakdale.

“Your support is crucial to the success of the Catholic Services Appeal,” the archbishop said. He praised former CSA co-chair Pat Regan for the idea to use the buses from his company — Minnesota Coaches — to better highlight appeal dollars at work in the community.

“Once people see where their CSA dollars are going, they get inspired,” the archbishop said. “This is really the heart of the Gospel.”

Helping the homeless Every night 65 homeless people in Ramsey County — about 21 families — aren’t left out in the cold because donations to the Catholic Services Appeal offer them shelter.

From grandparents to infants, from single

parents to school children, Catholic Charities Family Services Center offers them all a place to stay.

Cornered by Goodrich Golf Course, Aldrich Arena and the Ramsey County Care Center, in Maplewood, the 12-year-old family shelter is much more than a shelter, program manager Alanna Hinz told the CSA Ministry Discovery visitors as they toured the facility.

Along with safe bedrooms with private toilet and shower facilities, the Family Services Center offers a medical and dental clinic, a laundry room, a playground, counseling, a computer lab, a learning center, plus three meals a day.

Children are bused to the schools, and tutoring for them is available. Adults can use the computer lab for job searches, plus they attend mandatory classes to help them with things such as life skills and financial literacy, Hinz explained.

June Jordan, senior program manager with Catholic Charities, said the facility is “very, very dependent” on support from the Catholic Services Appeal to continue operating.

She noted that the family shelter has a 40-50 percent success rate in getting its clients from homelessness to rental housing, yet the Maplewood center is always full.

In December, 42 parents and their children had to be turned away; the number has been as high as 400 people unable to be served because there were no more rooms.

Catholic Services Appeal The Catholic Spirit

Bob and Monica Rivers, who recently moved from Guardian Angels parish in Oakdale to a lake home where they attend St. Mary in Le Center, donate with confidence to the archdiocese’s Catholic Services Appeal because they know their money goes to ministries such as Catholic Charities.

“They do such good work,” Monica said, and Bob chimed in, “It’s just run properly. We like to see when we donate to a charity that the dollars go to the people they’re trying to help.”

Martha Eberhardt, who belongs to St. Ambrose in Woodbury, donates to the CSA because “there’s a lot of need out there,” and Angie Sowada of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul added, “It’s the good service they have.”

Jeff Olson of St. Joseph in Lino Lakes took the tour of Catholic Charities Family Services Center in Maplewood as part of the CSA’s Ministry Discovery Visit Jan. 28. Afterward, he said he knew Catholic Charities had several facilities in

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JANUARY 31, 2013 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

WHY DO YOU CONTRIBUTE TO

THE CATHOLIC SERVICES APPEAL?

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the Twin Cities area, but didn’t know of the Maplewood family shelter.

What did he think?

“Impressive. Impressive — and sad at the same time,” Olson said. “I asked how many people had to be turned away because they only had a limited capacity, and the numbers they gave show the need is still there. It has to be a bit of a heartbreaker for the staff.

“From another perspective, though, they probably get a lot of thank yous, smiles and hugs,” Olson said, “and a lot of satisfaction being able to see some of the residents grow and find their way out of homelessness.”

Olson said the tour of the family shelter made the efforts to assist homeless people more realistic, and it’s motivating when you understand your donations are going to good causes.

“It’s one thing to have somebody tell you about a good cause, and another to go see the facility yourself,” Olson said. “It makes it real for you.”

Stewardship Day speaker to address 9 best practices in parish stewardship ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t Charles Zech, professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University, will be one of the presenters at Region VIII Stewardship Day, April 20, at St. Peter in Mendota. The Catholic Spirit recently interviewed him about the gathering and on the topic of stewardship. An edited version appears below.

“If a parish emphasizes

stewardship, and raises all kinds of money, but does not become a more spiritual place, it has failed.

Give a little preview of what you will be talking about at the April 20 gathering.

First, stewardship is more than just about money. It is also about time and talent, with the major study to look at more than just the treasure ultimate goal of increasing the component of stewardship. It also examined time spiritual life of parishioners. If a and talent along with parish spiritual practices. parish emphasizes stewardship, The three most effective intentional parish and raises all kinds of money, stewardship practices are: but does not become a more ■ Appoint a parish stewardship council (separate spiritual place, it has failed. from the finance or pastoral councils) that Second, there is a lot of understands that its role entails increasing parish anecdotal evidence about “what works” and what “doesn’t work” time and talent, as well as treasure.

ZECH ■ Utilize a variety of lay witnesses (both in a stewardship effort. The bulk parishioners and non-parishioners) who can relate of my presentation is concerned with examining their stewardship journey. data on the impact of both “intentional” ■ Include stewardship as a key component of the stewardship efforts (like sponsoring lay witness presentations) and unintentional efforts — things a parish pastoral plan, so that every ministry understands its role in promoting stewardship in parish should be doing anyway, but might also the parish. impact stewardship (like building community) — on time, talent and treasure.

Attracting and keeping younger Catholics is This is the first major stewardship study to look at always a challenge. What are some things parishes outcomes beyond just money. The title of my might consider doing to reach this demographic presentation, “Myths and Realities,” reflects my and catechize them about findings about a variety of good stewardship? parish activities that are Even more than their assumed to be effective at Save the date parents, younger Catholics generating stewardship. It ■ What: Region VIII Stewardship expect financial transparency turns out that some are Day for (arch) dioceses of Minnesota, and accountability on the part effective and some aren’t.

North Dakota and South Dakota of the parish leadership. If we want them to contribute more You’ve written “Best ■ When: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., financially, we need to show Practices in Parish Saturday, April 20 them how the money is used, Stewardship.” Based on your ■ Where: St. Peter, Mendota but also give them a voice in research, what are the top ■ Presenters: Archbishop John financial and other parish three best-practices that Nienstedt, Father Darrin J.G. Gurr, decisions. And, get them encourage better Charles Zech and Nathan Dungan. involved in parish ministries stewardship among church ■ Registration information: that interest their age cohort, members?

WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG. like social action.

“Best Practices” was the first

”

The following list of best practices has been developed from extensive research done with Catholic parishes on a national level. This is an edited version from the Parish Stewardship Tool Kit. You can access the entire kit online at: WWW.ARCHSPM.ORG/DEPARTMENTS/DEVELOPMENT-STEWARDSHIP.

1.

2.

Be a welcoming parish that takes community building seriously. Parishes need to warmly welcome all members. Everyone has something to contribute.

Appoint a stewardship committee. Parishes that have an active and involved stewardship committee are more successful because the parishioners take an active role in planning and implementing a stewardship program.

3.

Be accountable to your parishioners. Showing parishioners where their gifts are used and how their time and talents are being managed can lead to a broader understanding of stewardship and a greater sense of fulfillment. One way to share this message is by developing and communicating a Parish Stewardship Accountability Report.

4.

5.

Seek annual commitments. Stewardship requires a commitment on the part of parishioners.

Set goals. Vibrant parishes have a shared vision and goals that support that vision. Goals should be set for all ministries. They should be challenging, yet realistic and, when possible, measurable. The parish also needs to report on the progress made toward reaching their goals.

6.

Communicate with parishioners. The message of stewardship should be communicated many times over the course of the year — utilizing many media sources.

7.

Identify lay witnesses. An important part of stewardship education is the testimonies presented to parishioners by individuals whose lives have changed as a result of stewardship. Stewardship is a part of the internal change of heart or conversion process we know so well from the Scriptures — stories of men and women who became compelled to put their faith into action.

8.

Be grounded in prayer. Several parishes have their own stewardship prayer and they invite all households to pray the stewardship prayer during the renewal season and at periodic times throughout the year.

9.

Ask for help from the Office of Development and Stewardship. Most strong stewardship parishes have not done it alone. Call (651) 290-1610.

8A T

HE

Catholic Services Appeal

CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 31, 2013

6

ways

TO GIVE

Registered parishioners will receive a letter in the mail along with a personalized pledge envelope. Blank pledge envelopes are available in parish pews or in parish literature racks.

Please fill out the pledge envelope information and return it to your parish.

DONATE ONLINE

TRANSFER STOCK

This is a quick and easy way to make your yearly donation. Go to HTTP://APPEAL.ARCHSPM.ORG/ GIVING.HTML to make your donation online. You can use your credit card or bank accounts.

Transferring appreciated stock directly to the Catholic Services Appeal is both easy and tax deductible. Contact Jennifer Beaudry, development officer, for more information at (651) 291-4529.

WRITE A CHECK You can make your check payable to The Catholic Services Appeal and mail it along with your pledge envelope directly to your parish or to: Development and Stewardship Office, 328 Kellogg Boulevard West, St. Paul, MN 55102.

CREATE AN AUTOMATIC BANK WITHDRAWAL Instead of a one-time gift, consider spreading your pledge throughout the year. Both the pledge envelope and the online giving site allow you to create a weekly or monthly gift withdrawal from your credit card or bank accounts.

MAKE A PLEDGE GIFT Gifts to the CSA can be pledged over a 10month period. By spreading your commitment over 10 months, you can increase the size and impact of your gift.

SEEK MATCHING FUNDS It may be possible to double your gift to the Catholic Services Appeal through a matching gift. Many employers (and former employers, for retirees) match the charitable gifts of their employees. Check with your employer’s human resources department to see if it will match your charitable contribution. Complete its matching gift form (or fill one out online) and send it along with your gift information to the archdiocesan Office for Development and Stewardship.

archspm.org TheCatholicSpirit.com