April 23, 2020 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
thecatholicspirit.com
Front lines A hospital chaplain reflects on inspiration; a local nurse treats New York City patients. — Pages 10-11
Triduum overview In large numbers, Catholics joined virtual retreat, sought Easter drive-by blessings. — Page 5
Feeding the hungry Archbishop Hebda serves Easter Sunday dinner to homeless in St. Paul. — Page 6
Distance learning Teachers, parents, students still adjusting to learning at home. — Page 12
MASS PRODUCTION DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, delivers the homily during Mass April 14 in the church’s adoration chapel that was recorded and livestreamed. With public Masses suspended in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, priests like Father Johnson are coming up with creative ways to serve their congregations. Seeing a growing need to offer spiritual content during these times, Father Johnson pulled out some camera equipment and began shooting video of both daily and Sunday Masses. Parishioner Martin Gawarecki, right, does the filming, and is part of a group that includes an acolyte, cantor and deacon. For more on what Father Johnson and other priests are doing, see story on page 13.
Rural worries Catholic farming leaders reflect on economic impact on food and work. — Page 14
Pandemic hymn COVID-19 prompts Father Joncas to compose new hymn drawn from Psalm 23. — Page 19
Priest team in works for COVID anointings By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
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s the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota continues to climb, Bishop Andrew Cozzens is leading efforts to build a team of priests who can respond to requests for anointing of the sick for people who may be in danger of death from the novel coronavirus. On April 17, he and Archbishop Bernard Hebda sent a letter to priests seeking volunteers, and by the next day, the response had already been generous, he said. “Basically, we want to be prepared for the worst, even though we’re hoping for the best,” he said. “The Church always has special care for the dying, and we especially want to give them peace of conscience, and the sacraments can do that.” The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis already has about 10 chaplains who regularly minister in hospitals, but the archdiocese’s leaders thought it was wise to expand that team during the pandemic. Following the lead of the archdioceses of Boston, Indianapolis and Chicago, these priests will be specially trained to properly wear personal protective equipment and follow protocols to anoint in a way that minimizes their risk of contracting the virus or spreading it to others. Archdiocesan leaders plan to identify 10 to 15 priests for the team. Candidates must be under 50 PLEASE TURN TO COVID TEAM ON PAGE 8
Pope: Now is time to build a just world By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service As the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a risk it will be struck by an even worse virus — that of selfish indifference, Pope Francis said. This dangerous virus is “spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me. It begins there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor and sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress,” he said in his homily at a Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19. The current pandemic instead must compel people to prepare for a “collective future” that sees the whole human family as one and holds all of the earth’s gifts in common in order to be shared justly with those in need, he said. “This is not some ideology: it is Christianity,” and it mirrors the way the early Christian community lived, the pope said at the Mass, celebrated privately at Rome’s Church of the Holy Spirit, which houses a shrine dedicated to Divine Mercy. The Mass was celebrated on the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s declaration that the Sunday after Easter would be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. The Divine Mercy movement was founded in the early 1900s by Polish St. Faustina Kowalska, who said Jesus told her he wanted a feast of Divine Mercy as a refuge and shelter for all souls. In his homily, Pope Francis noted that St. Faustina said Jesus told her, “I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my mercy.” The Lord always patiently and faithfully waits for people to recognize their failings and sins and to offer them to him “so that he PLEASE TURN TO JUST WORLD ON PAGE 9
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APRIL 23, 2020
PAGETWO NEWS notes
2 p.m. The time of the 72nd Annual Family Rosary Procession event May 3. While in years past, the procession took place between the Minnesota State Capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul, this year’s event will be livestreamed online from the Cathedral. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens will crown a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, pray the rosary and offer Benediction. For more information, visit archspm.org or minnesotarosaryprocessions.org.
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The number of men’s religious communities in the archdiocese that include religious brothers, according to the Official 2020 Minnesota Catholic Directory. The feast of St. Joseph the Worker, May 1, is Religious Brothers Day, during which the Church honors their presence and ministry. For more information, visit religiousbrothers.org.
73 EDITED PHOTO FROM SCREENSHOT COURTESY BASILICA OF ST. MARY
CITY BLESSING Looking out into snow flurries, Archbishop Bernard Hebda raises the Eucharist in a monstrance from the steps of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis to bless the city following Easter Sunday Mass April 12. The archbishop concelebrated the Mass, which was shot on video and livestreamed, with two other priests, Father John Bauer, Basilica pastor, and Father Harold Tasto. Near the end of Mass, he processed out of the church with the Eucharist for the blessing. There was a small choir assembled to sing, with all members standing a safe distance apart. The pews were empty due to COVID-19-related restrictions on public Masses in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The number of students who competed in the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence’s third annual Big Bang Catholic STEM Fair. On April 6, those Catholic elementary school students in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis logged into Facebook Live for the first C-STEM virtual awards ceremony, which was moved online because of social distancing requirements to mitigate spread of COVID-19. Soleil Ehalt from St. Joseph Catholic School in Waconia won in the third-grade to fifth-grade category for her project, “Which basil does best,” as she tested potting soil, yard dirt and hydroponic systems for growing the best plant. Potting soil won out. Bridget Bower from Holy Spirit Catholic School in St. Paul won for grades six through eight as she ran tests for bacteria on nine samples of holy water from holy water fonts in four churches. Four samples had high levels of bacteria, one had none. Ehalt and Bower each won a trip to tour the Vatican Observatory in Tucson, Arizona.
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The birthday Margaret Mallinger celebrated April 3, when members of her family gathered outside the senior living complex where she lives with her husband, Austin. The couple regularly attend Mass at Cerenity Marian of St. Paul, and family members often accompany them. This time, the family couldn’t enter the facility because of precautions being taken against COVID-19. But young and old, they came bearing homemade signs, birthday treats and a bouquet of flowers. Some wore cloth masks to guard against transmission of the coronavirus. Margaret and Austin watched through a window, smiled and enjoyed the day. Read the story at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
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PANDEMIC PERSPECTIVE A nurse in New York City wipes away tears as she stands outside NYU Langone Medical Center as New York Police Department Mounted Police and other units cheered and thanked health care workers April 16 during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine Coronavirus Research Center, the world surpassed 2.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases April 21, with more than 176,000 COVID-19 deaths. That day, the U.S. reported more than 820,000 confirmed cases with more than 45,000 deaths. Minnesota reported April 21 a total of 2,567 confirmed cases and 160 deaths.
#QUARENTINEWITHCOZZENS Bishop Andrew Cozzens will answer questions from young adults during a livestreamed Q&A 7 p.m. April 23. Hosted by Enzo Randazzo from the archdiocese’s Office for Marriage, Family and Life, the livestream will be available on Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Find it at facebook.com/ ArchdioceseSPM or via the hashtag #QuarentineWithCozzens.
REDISCOVER:Hour On the show that aired April 17, Rediscover:Hour host Patrick Conley interviewed speaker Joel Stepanek on young adult ministry; Relevant Radio’s Mary May and Karin Freihammer on the firstever Christ Brings Hope Award National Broadcast April 24; and newlyweds Anne and Jordan Spinharney, who didn’t let COVID-19 derail their wedding. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 a.m., Saturdays at noon, and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Find past shows at rediscover.archspm.org.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 25 — No. 8 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor
The number of children at St. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights who colored pictures of a butterfly or Easter lily that through the Easter season will grace more than 40 windows in the church gathering space. The windows face a lower parking lot in the back of the church, so people can admire the children’s work while maintaining proper COVID-19 social distancing. Easter Sunday, Father Brian Fier braved heavy snowfall to bless parishioners as they drove by to see the pictures. Teresa Neuman, director of faith formation at the parish, said staff members are reaching out to parishioners in creative ways, including a Flocknote email invitation that encouraged families to participate. Children also wrote about things for which they are grateful. One girl noted simple pleasures: “I am grateful that I still get to eat macaroni and cheese and chicken pot pie.“
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The number of months the Home Missions Appeal is delayed in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis because of COVID-19 restrictions. Initially planned for the weekend of April 26, the appeal now will be held Oct. 18, along with World Mission Sunday. Both efforts support dioceses that struggle to provide basic pastoral services such as Masses, sacraments and religious education. Now, the mission appeal in October will cover dioceses around the globe, including the U.S. To learn more, contact Deacon Mickey Friesen at friesenm@archspm.org.
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The year Earth Day was first established annually on April 22. The newly formed Archdiocesan Care for Creation Team encouraged Catholics to spend time in nature and then join their team via Zoom for prayer that evening to mark Earth Day’s 50th anniversary and the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.” In the document, Pope Francis calls for “an ecological conversion,” explained Adam Fitzpatrick, social mission outreach coordinator for the Center for Mission in the archdiocese, who is coordinating the new team. “And that means not just the actions and the systemic change that we need, but also a reflection on how we live our lives.” For more information about the Archdiocesan Care for Creation Team, visit centerformission.org.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS
COVID-19 and the sacraments
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nless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24). As I sat and prayed on Holy Saturday morning, I thought of this verse as my heart ached because the Church could not gather to celebrate the sacred Easter Triduum. I prayed that this time of being in the tomb as the Church would bear fruit for the salvation of souls. I want to invite you to join me in that prayer. I am aware that many of you share this pain I have, because you have expressed it to me in your letters. I am grateful to receive these letters as they expressed the deep love that you have for Our Lord’s presence and his very life, which is shared with us through the Eucharist. I also love the Eucharist, and I have given my life for this gift. I love the line of St. John Paul II, who described his priesthood by saying, “I was ordained a servant of the Eucharist.” Due to that love for the Eucharist, the decision made by Pope Francis and every bishop in the United States to suspend regularly scheduled public Masses has been so painful for us all. I understand that many people are upset because they feel they are being deprived of God’s help at the time when they need it the most. It is very important to recognize, however, that although most of the faithful are deprived right now of holy Communion, God’s grace is even more available to those same people because of this situation. What we need is the faith to access this grace. Let me explain. The sacraments are gifts to us because they bring us God’s grace. Grace is the very life of God that is shared with us. But, it is important to understand that many of the sacraments are continual sources of grace, not simply moments when we get grace
COVID-19 y los sacramentos
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menos que un grano de trigo caiga al suelo y muera, sigue siendo sólo un grano de trigo; pero si muere, produce mucho fruto” (Jn 12, 24). Al sentarme y orar el Sábado Santo por la mañana, pensé en este versículo como me dolía el corazón porque la Iglesia no podía reunirse para celebrar el sagrado Triduo pascual. Oré para que esta vez de estar en el sepulcro como la Iglesia diera frutos para la salvación de las almas. Quiero invitarlos a unirse a mí en esa oración. Soy consciente de que muchos de ustedes comparten este dolor que tengo porque me lo han expresado en sus cartas. Estoy agradecido de recibir estas cartas al expresar el profundo amor que tenéis por la presencia de Nuestro Señor y por su propia vida, que se comparte con nosotros a través de la Eucaristía. También amo la Eucaristía, y he dado mi vida por este don. Me encanta la línea de San Juan Pablo II, quien describió su sacerdocio diciendo: “Fui ordenado siervo de la Eucaristía”. Debido a ese amor por la Eucaristía, la decisión tomada por el Papa Francisco y todos los obispos de los Estados Unidos de suspender regularmente las Misas públicas programadas ha sido tan dolorosa para todos nosotros. Entiendo que muchas personas están
and then we move on. For example, baptism is not a one-time reality that happened in the past, but a continual source of grace for us to draw upon. As Christ himself told the woman at the well, “The water I shall give will become ... a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14) or, as he said in John 7 (37-38): “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” Baptism marks our soul forever with a sacred character, and it causes the Holy Trinity to dwell in us. This indwelling of the Holy Trinity is a continual fount of grace, of life-giving water. Day in and day out, we can draw on the graces of our baptism to live in communion with God, if we exercise faith and pay attention to the presence of the indwelling Trinity. The same is true with the sacrament of confirmation, which continually gives us strength to stand strong in witnessing to our faith, if we live in a state of grace and draw upon the graces through faith. It is also true of the sacrament of marriage, which forms an unbreakable sacramental bond within the couple and can be a continual, daily source of grace for them to learn to love as Christ loved. These sources can be impeded by sin, but they are strengthened by faith. Thus, we have the ability to continue to live a sacramental life, a life in communion with God every day regardless of whether or not we receive holy Communion. It is also true that the sacraments are not the only ways to receive grace. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear, “(God) himself is not bound by his sacraments” (CCC 1257). God can give grace in many different ways and often does. For example, in our life of daily prayer or reading the Bible he can speak to our hearts and enliven his grace in us. Or when we make some act of sacrificial love for him through fasting, or giving up something
molestas porque sienten que están siendo privadas de la ayuda de Dios en el momento en que más la necesitan. Es muy importante reconocer, sin embargo, que aunque la mayoría de los fieles están privados ahora mismo de la santa Comunión, la gracia de Dios está aún más disponible para esas mismas personas debido a esta situación. Lo que necesitamos es la fe para acceder a esta gracia. Déjame explicarte. Los sacramentos son dones para nosotros porque nos traen la gracia de Dios. La gracia es la vida misma de Dios que se comparte con nosotros. Pero es importante entender que muchos de los sacramentos son fuentes continuas de gracia, no simplemente momentos en los que obtener la gracia y luego seguimos adelante. Por ejemplo, el bautismo no es una realidad de una sola vez que sucedió en el pasado, sino una fuente continua de gracia para que nosotros la dibujemos. Como Cristo mismo le dijo a la mujer en el pozo: “El agua que daré se convertirá en... un manantial de agua que llega a la vida eterna” (Jn 4, 14) o, como dijo en Juan 7 (37-38): “Venga a mí y beba. Quien crea en mí, como dice la Escritura: ‘Los ríos de agua viva fluirán desde dentro de él’”. El bautismo marca nuestra alma para siempre con un carácter sagrado, y hace que la Santísima Trinidad more en nosotros. Esta morada de la Santísima Trinidad es una fuente continua de
that we love, these acts often open us to receive more grace. When we exercise our faith, we then receive the grace to say “yes” to whatever God is asking of us. We know that God promises to be with us in every trial and to share with us the peace of his love in those trials. Jesus said, “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (Jn 16:33). What this means is that in a time like this when we are confined to our homes and unable to attend Mass, there is actually more grace available to us. God in his love always provides for us, and he will not punish us for what is beyond our control. If we respond rightly to this trial, precisely because we don’t have the normal comfort of going to Mass and holy Communion, we can actually grow more spiritually in this time. My firm hope and prayer is that all of us as a Church can go through this painful experience together. You may disagree with the prudence of the archbishop to cancel public Masses, but you can still offer the pain of this sacrifice for your own salvation, and for the salvation of your loved ones and of the world, not to mention for the thousands who are dying from this disease. If all of us from the midst of our pain of not being able to be together at Mass and receive holy Communion unite that pain to the pain of Jesus on the cross, then there will be a torrent of graces that flow out upon the world in this time. It will create a deep longing for the gift of holy Communion in many, and we will receive even more grace when we finally get to return to Mass regularly. This is the promise of Jesus to us in our suffering, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24). Let us pray that this time in the tomb for us as a Church might produce abundant fruit in the Resurrection.
gracia, de agua que da vida. Día tras día, podemos aprovechar las gracias de nuestro bautismo para vivir en comunión con Dios, si ejercemos fe y prestamos atención a la presencia de la Trinidad residente.
través del ayuno, o renunciando a algo que amamos, estos actos a menudo nos abren para recibir más gracia. Cuando ejercemos nuestra fe, entonces recibimos la gracia de decir “sí” a todo lo que Dios nos está pidiendo.
Lo mismo es cierto con el sacramento de la confirmación, que continuamente nos da fortaleza para ser fuertes al testimoniar nuestra fe, si vivimos en un estado de gracia y nos basamos en las gracias por medio de la fe. También es cierto en el sacramento del matrimonio, que forma un vínculo sacramental inquebrantable dentro de la pareja y puede ser una fuente continua y diaria de gracia para que aprendan a amar como Cristo amó. Estas fuentes pueden ser obstaculizadas por el pecado, pero son fortalecidas por la fe.
Mi firme esperanza y oración es que todos nosotros como Iglesia podamos pasar juntos por esta dolorosa experiencia. Puedes que no estén de acuerdo con la prudencia del arzobispo para cancelar las Misas públicas, pero todavía pueden ofrecer el dolor de este sacrificio por su propia salvación, y por la salvación de sus seres queridos y del mundo, por no mencionar por los miles que están muriendo de esta enfermedad.
Así tenemos la capacidad de seguir viviendo una vida sacramental, una vida en comunión con Dios todos los días, independientemente de si recibimos o no la santa Comunión. También es cierto que los sacramentos no son las únicas maneras de recibir la gracia. Como deja claro el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica, “(Dios) mismo no está atado por sus sacramentos” (CCC 1257). Dios puede dar gracia de muchas maneras diferentes y a menudo lo hace. Por ejemplo, en nuestra vida de oración diaria o de lectura de la Biblia puede hablar a nuestros corazones y animar su gracia en nosotros. O cuando hacemos algún acto de amor sacrificial por él a
Si todos nosotros, desde medio de nuestro dolor, no poder estar juntos en la Misa y recibir la santa comunión unimos ese dolor al dolor de Jesús en la cruz, entonces habrá un torrente de gracias que fluyan sobre el mundo en este tiempo. Creará un profundo anhelo del don de la santa Comunión en muchos, y recibiremos aún más gracia cuando finalmente podamos regresar a la Misa regularmente. Esta es la promesa de Jesús para nosotros en nuestro sufrimiento: “A menos que un grano de trigo caiga al suelo y muera, sigue siendo sólo un grano de trigo; pero si muere, produce mucho fruto” (Jn 12, 24). Oremos para que este tiempo en el sepulcro para nosotros como Iglesia produzca abundantes frutos en la Resurrección.
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APRIL 23, 2020
LOCAL
Social distance dance party
SLICEof LIFE
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Kim Skavnak, center, of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park, dances with her daughter, Ella, left, and dog, Roxy, while DJ Joe Masek, right, plays music to create what he calls a “social distance dance party” in the Skavnaks’ neighborhood April 11. With people following Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order, Masek, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul who operates a business called Impact Entertainment, wanted to draw people outside to do something fun. Skavnak, Masek’s cousin, jumped — literally — at the chance to get out of her house with her daughter, as well as her husband, Bryan, and son, Ethan. “I think it was awesome to have it, one, be my cousin, and, two, to see the neighbors out and having a smile on their face and bringing some joy to this time where we’re all isolated and have worries and concerns. And, we can do 30 minutes of just dancing and living life,” she said. Masek said he started going out into neighborhoods the first week of April, and he plans to continue taking dance party requests. He said he plays the music loud enough for people nearby to dance in their own yards, to comply with social distancing guidelines.
LOCAL
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
Bishops bestow Easter blessings in midst of pandemic — and a snowstorm By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit It snowed, but it didn’t matter. It was windy, wet and cold, but people piled into their cars April 12 to receive an Easter Sunday blessing from Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens. Many waited bumper-to-bumper in a line that stretched eight or nine blocks from Interstate 94 to Selby Avenue in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. “Happy Easter,” the bishops called out to people in each passing vehicle, which by the end of two hours numbered in the hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand. “May Almighty God bless you, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” “That goes double for those in the back,” Archbishop Hebda called out, smiling, to one car filled with family members. The blessing was extended in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that prompted suspension of public Masses from March 18 at least through May 4 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It occurred in the midst of an order from state health officials to keep a social distance of about 6 feet from one another, to work at home when possible and to avoid mixing in groups of more than 10 people. Many businesses are closed, and certain activities are not allowed at others, such as dining in restaurants. The Easter blessing is one example of many ways the bishops, priests and deacons across the archdiocese are doing whatever they can to share the faith in a time of face masks and stay-at-home orders. Parishes are livestreaming Masses and liturgies (see story on page 13), and offering online prayers and faith formation materials. Priests are doing drivethrough confessions, eucharistic adoration, and Masses and other events that allow people to remain in their cars and still see one another. Archbishop Hebda presided at a livestreamed Easter Sunday Mass from the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The Mass was the final event in a virtual Holy Week retreat offered by the archdiocese that began seven days earlier, on Palm Sunday. In a separate effort Easter Sunday, the archbishop helped serve the noon meal at a homeless shelter in St. Paul run by Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis (see story on page 6). To invite people to the Easter blessing in St. Paul, the bishops used a video on Facebook and YouTube. “We really want to wish you a blessed Easter Triduum,” Bishop Cozzens said in the video. “And actually, this coming Easter Sunday, as we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, we would love to see you in person.” As snow swirled around them while they offered blessings, the bishops said they didn’t expect to cause a traffic jam. But their joy at seeing people was infectious. The archbishop lost his zucchetto to the wind and picked it up from the sidewalk at least
JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Bishop Andrew Cozzens, foreground, and Archbishop Bernard Hebda bless people in one of hundreds of vehicles that lined up for an Easter Sunday blessing April 12 in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. twice, and joked about it. They braved the cold and said hello to everyone. The blessing was an example of living out what the archbishop encouraged in his Easter homily, as he urged the faithful to be witnesses to the joy of the risen Christ and to serve others, particularly during hardships wrought by the coronavirus and the fever, respiratory illness and sometimes deadly complications it causes, COVID-19. “We have to be joyful even in the midst of a global pandemic,” the archbishop said. “We have to be able to give witness by our service, by our outlook, by our joy, that we believe there is more to life than what we see in these days. And that we have a share in Jesus’ resurrected life.” The archbishop delivered a similar message of hope at the Easter Vigil Mass April 11, in his homily, livestreamed from the Cathedral. Entering the church for the vigil was “gutwrenching,” the archbishop said, because there was no congregation. The Easter fire and the procession of flame from candle to candle, believer to believer, did not take place. But, he said, the series of Old Testament readings tracing salvation history from the Garden of Eden through the flood in Noah’s time and Pharaoh’s enslavement of the Israelites, to the New Testament and Jesus’ death and resurrection, demonstrate that God is patient, and the faithful remain his sons and daughters through all trials and hardships. God will
never break his covenant of everlasting love, he said. The bishops missed seeing people during the Triduum, the highest holy days of the Church. But they hoped the faithful would participate in the virtual Holy Week Retreat — and people responded. Words of faith, hope and love were offered throughout the weeklong retreat. Livestreamed and recorded from a number of sites in the archdiocese, the daily retreat included prayers, guided Scripture readings and Mass each morning. Each evening included a talk or Triduum liturgy celebrated by a bishop. Presenting the talks were Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Cozzens, Father Peter Williams of St. Ambrose in Woodbury and Father John Ubel of the Cathedral. The website for the retreat, archspm.org/ holyweekretreat, recorded nearly 38,000 unique viewers and many return visitors, and on Facebook it drew 72,000 people, including 10,000 for the archbishop’s Easter Sunday Mass. The talks and liturgies continue to be available on the site. Many viewers expressed their gratitude in Facebook posts. Ervin Stoss of St. Rose of Lima in Roseville posted online, “These mornings and evenings are just what I need at this stage of the year and my life!” “This has been a real treat during this time to stay home,” wrote Claudette Bougie, a member of St. Peter in North St. Paul. “Love the prayers in the morning and the talks in the evenings. Look forward to the retreat each day. Thank you.”
Pre-synod parish small groups pushed back one year due to COVID-19 By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Parish small groups planned for the fall as part of the Archdiocesan Synod process will be delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced the schedule change to priests in a letter April 13. The delay was made to “keep our focus on our parishes and schools without any distraction” during the pandemic, he said. The parish consultation process with small groups was originally scheduled for this fall. With the revised schedule, parish small groups are now scheduled for fall 2021. The format will remain the same: six sessions over six weeks to dig deeper into focus areas by
examining Scripture, Church teaching and contemporary cultural context. Archbishop Hebda plans to announce the initial set of focus areas later this spring, which will be based on information gathered from the prayer and listening events, as well as the information gathered for the bishops’ “ad limina” visit with Pope Francis in January and the results of the Disciple Maker Index, a parish-based survey offered in February. The deanery consultation dates and process scheduled for late January and early February 2021 remain unchanged. The archdiocese has 15 deaneries, geographic areas comprising several parishes. Each deanery has been assigned one Saturday to meet. Pastors and up to 10 representatives from
each parish will meet that day to “pray and work together to discuss the focus areas,” explained Father Joseph Bambenek, assistant director of the Archdiocesan Synod. With the parish consultation now scheduled for fall 2021, the Synod Assembly is expected to occur in spring 2022. Based on the results of the Synod Assembly, Archbishop Hebda will release a pastoral letter, which is intended to lead to a pastoral plan to for the archdiocese’s future. In the letter to priests, Archbishop Hebda thanked them for their help in making “the first year of the Synod process so fruitful.” Between September 2019 and March 2020, 19 general Prayer and Listening Events and 11 focus sessions were held
across the archdiocese. Archbishop Hebda attended each one, and Bishop Cozzens was present at many of them. These events gave Catholics the chance to pray, share and listen to one another discuss what is going well in their parishes and the archdiocese, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing the archdiocese and its parishes. The Synod team counted 8,143 people at these events. Attendees contributed 35,026 comments, which have all been read. “That data was categorized and analyzed and all of the individual comments have been available for my review,” Archbishop Hebda said. More information about the Synod process is at archspm.org/synod.
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LOCAL
APRIL 23, 2020
Archbishop Hebda’s Easter meal service highlights homeless’ needs in pandemic By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit After celebrating Easter Sunday Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda made an important stop in St. Paul. He helped serve a noon meal to the homeless at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Dorothy Day Place, which includes a shelter, social services and long-term, low-cost apartments for people in need. He and Tim Marx, Catholic Charities’ president and CEO, who also helped cook the meal, worked with several others at the serving line April 12, with gloves and masks on to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “It’s certainly important to be sharing Easter joy,” the archbishop said. “The new life that comes with Jesus transforms, or it should transform us, to want to serve others. This is out of a sense of gratitude for what Jesus offered. This is a chance to give back.” Before the archbishop arrived, Marx described some of the needs at Catholic Charities, including at least 5,000 cloth face coverings to help protect clients and staff against the virus. People who want to donate can drop items off at Catholic Charities’ distribution center at 341 Chester St. in St Paul. Catholic Charities’ website also has specific information and FAQs about creating and delivering homemade face coverings. Donations and volunteers also are needed, and the call is out under
Catholic Charities’ “Be the Helper” campaign, Marx said. That can include serving meals or working in the distribution center, or donating soap, body wash, sanitizing wipes and other hygiene items, as well as cleaning supplies, food and other goods, he said. Recently, Catholic Charities moved about 60 elderly people who might be particularly vulnerable to the virus from the St. Paul shelter to a nearby hotel. A similar move with about 50 people occurred at Catholic Charities’ shelter in Minneapolis, Marx said. Across the street from Dorothy Day Place in St. Paul, Ramsey County is running an isolation space for people who are homeless and might have the virus, Marx said. People are not allowed into Dorothy Day Place unless their temperature is taken and it is not elevated, Marx said. Those accepted into the facility are given a wrist band before they go into the dining area or seek other services. Catholic Charities’ homeless shelters are among others in the state helped by $26 million of a $330 million COVID-19 relief package passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Walz. But with Catholic Charities’ shelters dependent on private resources for more than 90% of their costs, more government assistance is needed, Marx said. “We are burning at least $1 million of additional expenses a month” because of changes required by COVID-19, Marx said.
COURTESY MIKE RIOS-KEATING, CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS
Archbishop Bernard Hebda helps serve the noon Easter meal at Catholic Charities’ Dorothy Day Place in St. Paul April 12. Tim Marx, Catholic Charities’ president and CEO, wearing a yellow shirt and blue baseball cap, also is part of the serving line. That kind of expense is likely to continue, particularly because homeless shelters are, in effect, part of the health care system, and social distancing and other efforts to prevent spread of COVID-19 and other diseases that might become prevalent are difficult if not impossible in the current shelter environment, he said. People involved in helping the
homeless will be working toward solutions to the social distancing challenge and other needs in a postCOVID-19 world, Marx said. Even the current crisis is far from over, and a second wave is possible, he said. “When this is over, how do we ‘do shelter’ in a way that is healthy?” Marx asked. “We have to figure out how to do this much better.”
APRIL 23, 2020
LOCAL
Archbishop grateful Catholics desire Mass return, but says restrictions are consistent with faith By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Amid calls for Archbishop Bernard Hebda to lift the temporary suspension on public Masses he put into place last month, he remains “convinced that the restrictions that have been placed on public Masses and the administration of some sacraments are consistent with our faith,” he said in an April 17 letter. “The Gospel calls us to respect and defend the lives of our families, neighbors, and especially the most vulnerable. This sometimes requires sacrificing our own desires for their good,” he said. “‘There is no greater love, than to lay down your lives for your friends,’ Jesus said the night before he died. How could we as his disciples receive the sacraments without thought or care for the safety of others? The Eucharist is re-presentation of Jesus’ own sacrifice, and he commands us to follow his example by making sacrifices in how we live out our faith and enter into the Church’s sacramental life.” In a letter to Catholics addressed “Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ” and posted to the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop Hebda expressed gratitude for the way Catholics have supported their parishes and schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order. Archbishop Hebda suspended public Masses March 18, the day before Walz announced a peacetime state of emergency in Minnesota to help fight the virus. He later issued a twoweek stay-at-home order beginning March 27, and then extended that to at least May 4 to slow the spread of the virus and give health care experts and institutions more time to prepare for the projected peak numbers of patients statewide. In the weeks since Archbishop Hebda suspended public Masses, he has heard from some Catholics asking for liturgies to resume, and from others who implore him to curtail the limited public ministry currently allowed. “I am grateful that so many have felt free to express their emotions with me during the pandemic: support, sadness, confusion, anger,” the archbishop wrote in the letter. “Some think our restrictions have gone too far, others not far enough. There are many questions: Why aren’t churches ‘essential services’? Why can people go to a liquor store, but holy Communion is unavailable? How we can live our faith under these circumstances? These questions reflect that we are suffering. Please know that I sympathize with your hurt and am inspired by your love for the sacraments, your parish, and the Church.” Still, he said, “As reflected in the recent extension of the stay-at-home order in our state, the crisis requires that the temporary measures that we adopted are still needed to protect the public good. For that reason, Archdiocesan directives currently in force (including the dispensation of the Sunday Mass obligation) will remain at least until May 4.” Catholics’ sacrifice of not participating as usual in public Masses “seem to be benefitting our community,” he said, noting “Minnesota’s hospitals and health-care providers have so far been able to keep up with the number of people needing lifesaving medical care.” But, he said, “public health officials say the precautions being taken must continue for the immediate future. Our archdiocese stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters all over our country and around the world as
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
ACCW HONORS FOUR LAYWOMEN The Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women is recognizing four women from across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with its annual Laywoman Volunteer Awards, which recognize the awardees’ involvement in their respective parish-level Council of Catholic Women, parishes and communities. The following information was provided by the ACCW. Awardees are traditionally recognized at the ACCW’s annual spring convention, but it was canceled due to COVID-19. The organization will honor the winners at a later date. To learn more, visit accwarchspm.org.
Agnes Dynes • Holy Childhood, St. Paul
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Archbishop Bernard Hebda finishes the recessional at the end of Easter Sunday Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis April 12.
EASTER DUTY? One of the traditional precepts of the Church establishes that Catholics should “humbly receive [their] creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.” As explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2042, the precept “guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.” The timing of the obligation, however, is qualified in Canon 920 of the Code of Canon Law, which specifies, “This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.” Father Tom Margevicius, archdiocesan director of worship, and Susan Mulheron, archdiocesan chancellor for canonical affairs, clarified that the current pandemic — and especially the resulting suspension of public Masses until at least May 4 — qualifies as a just cause for fulfilling this obligation at another time this year. Father Margevicius pointed to a line from the archbishop’s April 17 letter: “How could we as his disciples receive the sacraments without thought or care for the safety of others?”
we together strive to overcome this public health crisis. We are hoping and praying that the actions we have taken here will mitigate the pandemic and help us return to familiar public interactions, even if it may be some time before we return to ‘normal’ life in society.” In the letter, Archbishop Hebda reiterated that confirmations at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis will not take place in May or June, and pastors of affected parishes have been permitted to celebrate the sacrament at their own parish or reschedule for later in the year at the Cathedral or Basilica. He closed the letter with prayers for the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. “Please find comfort in the fact that priests continue to celebrate Mass on behalf of the Church and for your intentions every day,” he wrote. “I am delighted to hear that via technology, many of you, though not physically present, have been uniting yourselves with the Eucharistic sacrifice being offered and making a spiritual communion. I am hopeful that we will continue to find new and creative ways of living our faith while doing our part to stem the pandemic, always mindful of the best advice of public health experts.”
Agnes Dynes, 83, has served as her parish’s CCW president four times, the St. Paul Deanery president for 27 years and in other various ACCW offices. She has also served as an election judge and has been a board member and lead parish delegate for a local nursing home. She was instrumental in establishing the “Tree to Remember” program in Como Park. While undergoing cancer treatment in 1980, Dynes was inspired to form a sewing group to make bed pads for cancer patients and organized annual supply drives for a St. Paul cancer hospice center, Our Lady of Good Counsel (which is now Our Lady of Peace Home). Known as a generous listener, she attends daily Mass, cleans the church sacristy weekly, and serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and the chair of her parish cancer mission. She also volunteers at the annual parish rummage sale, funeral lunches and turkey dinners, and has donated sewn and baked goods to craft sale fundraisers. She supports ACCW’s annual Appalachian Christmas Project and efforts to provide solar ovens to women in Africa. The archdiocese’s Office for Marriage, Family and Life awarded her its Champions for Life Award in 2016.
Cindy Barta • Divine Mercy, Faribault An active member of Divine Mercy’s CCW for 13 years, Cindy Barta, 62, has served as her council’s vice president and president, and is seen as a graceful and calm leader. She has coordinated parish efforts with its Latino ministry, especially a Lenten Soup Supper. She coordinates an annual meal, including dozens of homemade cookies, for Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis. She also helps take May Day plants to local elder care residences and bakes for deliveries for homebound parishioners. She has served the Faribault community by holding various offices in its Kiwanis club and organizing many of its community service projects and fundraisers. She has held roles in the local 4-H club, including 15 years as club leader, as well as a show coordinator at the Rice County Fair and working with judges as an interview coordinator at the Minnesota State Fair for 12 years. She has been an instructor and local administrator of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ semi-annual Firearm Safety Program, which teaches youths safe use of long guns for hunting. She also served on the development committee for Nerstrand Elementary, a local charter school.
Jayne Taylor • St. Bridget of Sweden, Lindstrom Jayne Taylor, 65, is involved in The Baby Blanket, which helps Chisago Lakes families obtain basic material needs and life skills. Described as a “servant leader,” she coordinates its Hannah’s Arms program, which includes craft classes and educational speakers for parents, and helps them earn baby items for their home. She has also been involved in other pro-life organizations. At St. Bridget, Taylor and her husband, Tim, started a weekly Sunday Bible study for adults, and Jayne recently organized the parish’s first ministry fair in 14 years. She is an extraordinary minster of holy Communion and regularly spends time with an elderly nun in a longterm care facility. She has facilitated youth formation classes, serves as a funeral sacristan and volunteers in the parish office. Each summer, she hosts young adults involved in the Totus Tuus summer program. Taylor honed her leadership skills while serving 26 years in the U.S. Navy. She recently helped to establish the Military and Emergency Response Ministry to honor people who provide military and emergency services. Taylor is also part of the parish’s Seven Sisters ministry of daily prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for their pastor. In Taylor’s case, that’s ACCW’s spiritual adviser, Father Dave Kohner.
Patricia Reinardy • St. Pius V, Cannon Falls Patricia (Pat) Reinardy, 79, has been a CCW member since 1963 and has served in various leadership capacities, including three terms as her council’s president and as a deanery president. She has been ACCW’s legislative commissioner since 1991 and her deanery’s secretary since 2000. She helped her council reorganize in 2017 and, with her local CCW, has organized blood drives, marriage retreats, Christmas bake sales, and wine and cheese events for the parish community. For the past 12 years, she has taught religious education and helped coordinate first Communion Masses. She serves as a lector, greeter, usher, sacristan, homebound minister and as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. She volunteers at her local food shelf and participates in her parish’s quilting ministry, which benefits people in need. She also supports and has participated in a variety of charitable causes, including collecting supplies for international missions and local outreaches. Her efforts also support the parish’s Knights of Columbus and Catholic Heart Work Camp, World Youth Day and pro-life causes, including Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. — The Catholic Spirit
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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
APRIL 23, 2020
Unchartered waters in coronavirus pandemic Archdiocese and its parishes urge support from the faithful, seek government assistance By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit As parish director of St. Joseph in New Hope, Dean Rademacher watched collections decline after public Masses were suspended March 18 to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Compared with budget projections and past giving patterns, collections were down at his parish about 12% in the first two weeks after the suspension. In the first two weeks of April, they dropped further, to a 28% decline. Hopefully, they are leveling off, Rademacher said, as public Masses remain suspended at least through May 4. Because the parish has a solid electronic giving program among parishioners — about 30% of its weekly collection is online — it is faring better than some, said Rademacher, who is also chair of the Association of Parish Business Administrators in the archdiocese. “If you didn’t have social media and online giving, if you were (simply) gathering on Sunday, that’s really hard,” he said. Not only are public Masses suspended and people lack that weekly touchpoint with their parish, people also have lost jobs or been furloughed, and some are cutting back on expenditures because they fear for the future. Across the archdiocese, there is a wide range in the decline in weekly giving since the start of COVID-19. “We have some parishes that have experienced significant declines on a year-over-year basis,” said Thomas Mertens, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer. “We are trending in the right direction and have seen improvement from earlier data due to the good work in the parishes.” A decline in weekly collections has occurred across the country, said Nic Prenger, CEO of Prenger Solutions Group in Omaha, which helps parishes, dioceses and schools modernize their development programs. He speaks weekly to 30 dioceses and works directly with 100 parishes. “Parishes that are struggling are the ones who hadn’t yet moved to online giving,” Prenger said. “If you’re a parish that relied on cash and checks, your offertory is probably down 50 to 80% each week.” St. Joseph has taken steps to make up for its lost revenue, Rademacher said. Some among the staff of 35 employees are not working; their services are
COVID TEAM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 years old and have no underlying health conditions. Ideally, they will also be geographically spread across the archdiocese. Bishop Cozzens hopes the team can be assembled and trained by the end of April. “If at all possible, we want to provide ways for (the dying) to receive the sacraments,” he said. “But given the grave, negative effects of contracting this disease, we have to be extra cautious. And so, we wouldn’t just send in a priest without proper training and protection and consideration of his own personal condition.” Priests will be trained to go into hospitals, nursing homes or residential homes to offer anointings, also known as the sacrament of the sick and formerly known as extreme unction. Anointing of the sick is part of last rites, which include confession and holy Communion. When a person at risk of imminent death is unable to confess or receive the Eucharist, only anointing of the sick is administered.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Archbishop Bernard Hebda processes in an empty Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis for Easter Sunday Mass April 12. Public Masses are suspended in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to help prevent spread of COVID-19. not immediately needed because of social distancing restrictions, such as weekend child care, he said. Several employees quietly stepped up and said they had the financial means to temporarily reduce their hours and their pay. That’s been the extent of staff changes thus far, but if parish giving or government loans do not fill the budget gap, more changes will be necessary, he said. One source of help is the federal CARES Act of COVID-19-related assistance to individuals and businesses. Under that law, $349 billion was set aside for Small Business Administration loans, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, for businesses to meet two months of payroll. Loans can be partially forgiven if the money is used for staff salaries, interest on debt, utilities and other immediate needs. St. Joseph is among at least 80 parishes in the archdiocese that have applied for the PPP loan. The archdiocese also has applied for the loan for its Catholic Center, Mertens said. There was some concern that parishes might face strings attached to the money that could threaten their independence as religious institutions, archdiocesan officials said. But Minnesota Catholic Conference staff believe that the risk of burdensome government mandates is low vis-à-vis the benefits of the program — if the loans are forgiven or paid off in a timely manner. And while the program has run out of money, Congress could renew it, and parishes and schools are strongly encouraged to continue applying, the archdiocese has counseled. St. Michael in St. Michael has received a PPP loan and expects it can soon bring back six furloughed parish
Some of the archdiocese’s hospital chaplains and parish priests have already anointed Catholics sick with COVID-19, Bishop Cozzens said. Current chaplains have been trained at the hospitals they serve on how to protect themselves from contracting the virus, he noted. “What we want to do is provide priests who can back up those (chaplain) priests if the hospitals get busier, as well as provide priests who could do the same at homes and even in nursing homes, if possible,” Bishop Cozzens said. While precautions that can be taken during anointing have been long established, the Holy See has clarified how to minister to COVID-19 patients, Bishop Cozzens said. For example, during anointing of the sick, the priest anoints the head and hands of the person receiving the sacrament with a holy oil known as oil of the sick. To minimize contact between the priest and COVID-19 patients, priests are allowed to use a sterile cotton ball or swab, rather than their fingers. Ahead of the anointing, the priest prepares the cotton
employees, said Dave Ferry, parish administrator. The parish is down just slightly in weekly collections, a testimony to the generosity among its 2,000 families, with more than 7,000 parishioners, Ferry said. Several large gifts from parishioners with the financial means to help also have been important, he said. About one-third of St. Michael’s weekly collection is through parishioners signing up for electronic giving, and just before Christmas the parish started an online giving option, which has helped, he said. Raising awareness among parishioners about online giving has increased collections in that avenue, he said. Masses are being livestreamed, a capability the parish added a week before public Masses were suspended, and an effort that had been primarily geared toward the homebound and elderly, Ferry said. People are grateful for the online option for liturgies. That also includes streaming perpetual adoration, which has been moved from the chapel to the church to allow for social distancing, he said. The parish is offering drive-through confessions, and it drew a large group of parishioners to a special Palm Sunday event of giving out palms and providing an opportunity for people to donate to the parish. While things are going pretty well at St. Michael, Masses remain suspended and nothing is being taken for granted, Ferry said, particularly as the state’s stayat-home order continues through at least May 4 and people’s business and employment situations face changes. “We’ve got some runway in front of us,” he said. “There’s no telling how this might tail off.” Another potential source of assistance for parishes is the Catholic Community Foundation’s Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund, which is seeking donations to help hard-hit parishes in the archdiocese. Thus far, more than $990,000 has been raised and 17 parishes have been invited to apply for the first round of grants, said Anne Cullen Miller, foundation president. A particularly important opportunity for giving to the fund opened up April 19 and runs through April 26, Miller said. An anonymous donor gave $200,000 in matching funds, so money raised up to $200,000 will be worth up to $400,000 in parish and school grants, she said. Rademacher said his parish is working hard to keep parishioners connected. It reaches more than 1,500 members through Flocknote emails about parish events and opportunities. About 1,600 families, with 4,700 people, belong to St. Joseph. “One of the blessings of coronavirus is it is making us connect in unexpected ways,” Rademacher said. “We have a parishioner in her 80s who is doing Zoom Bible study now. She had never used a computer before.”
ball with the oil and places it in a sealable plastic bag. After its use, the cotton ball is sealed in the bag and both are burned. The team of priests in the archdiocese will receive training online from leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago, which in early April created its own team of 30 priests to anoint COVID-19 patients. Longtime Twin Cities hospital chaplain Father Jerome Fehn is also assisting with training the local team. Anointing of the sick is generally available to anyone who has an illness that could cause death. However, because the novel coronavirus is highly contagious, the new anointing team in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is prepared only to respond to COVID-19 patients near death, Bishop Cozzens said. “In the case with COVID, you wouldn’t want to uselessly endanger someone else to get the disease, even the priest,” he said. “If it’s very clear that the person is not going to die, but they do have COVID, we would probably recommend they not be anointed until it’s clearer they’re going to die — if, God
forbid, that comes.” Someone requesting the sacrament for a person who may be dying from COVID-19 should contact his or her parish, which will alert the priest team’s coordinators. Those coordinators will assess the situation and assign a priest from the area for anointing. Bishop Cozzens noted that the anointing of the sick prays for healing — even if it’s spiritual, not physical healing — as well as offers special graces and the forgiveness of sins to help a dying person prepare for death. But, he said, should a person die without receiving the anointing of the sick, that doesn’t mean that they died without the graces that flow from that sacrament. “God never denies grace to those who need it and ask for it,” he said. “We know that the sacraments are the surest way to receive grace, but God’s not bound by the sacraments, and so if someone’s not able to receive the sacraments, that doesn’t prevent them from receiving the grace that leads to salvation, because God desires to save all of us.”
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
NATION+WORLD Church professionals: Prepare now for post-pandemic ministry By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service While church lockdowns remain the norm in much of the country, parish management and ministry professionals say now is the time for parishes and dioceses to find ways to creatively keep the faithful engaged when the weekslong coronavirus hibernation ends. “This moment in crisis needs to be approached not as a short-term problem, but as a moment in which really smart strategic decisions about the future that have been put off for a long time now need to be made,” said Patrick Hornbeck, professor theology at Fordham University. The focus, Hornbeck and others advised in interviews with Catholic News Service, must be on the future so that when the lockdowns end, parishioners realize the Church remains vibrant, and that the role of the laity in building the community of faith is more important than ever. They also cautioned that harsh staff and ministry cutbacks in the face of tight cash flows could seriously endanger the restart of normal parish activities and have severe consequences far into the future. Their advice revolved around several key actions: uClergy especially, but also parish staff, must communicate with parishioners. Check-in calls to parishioners, emails inviting people to keep in touch with each other and social media posts all can build a sense of community despite widespread physical separation and accompany people through a troubled time. uBetter integrating of new technologies into ministry on the heels of new ventures in online streaming of Masses and prayer services. uTransparency in operations, including finances, so that people feel encouraged to offer financial support now or in the future when they are able. uSharing responsibility between laypeople and clergy in parish and diocesan ministries and operations, thereby taking full advantage of the expertise and creativity people have as the Church maneuvers through uncertain times. “One of the things we’ve been encouraging parishes to do is that now is the time to communicate more with your people not less with your people,” said Matthew Manion, faculty director of the Center for Church Management at Villanova University. “There can be a tendency not to get in the way of people’s lives. But in reality, in a crisis situation people look to their leaders for hope,
and the Church can be one of those voices, probably the strongest voice,” he said. Mario Enzler, director of the master’s degree-level ecclesial management program at The Catholic University of America, echoed that call. “I am encouraging clergy to reach out within their flocks,” he said. “Let people understand it is through this crisis that we can discover the meaning and beauty of hope.” New technologies make communication much easier today. Online streaming of Masses has been the most common form of outreach to the faithful since the lockdowns began in mid-March. Some parishes have seen that online Mass participation, at least during Holy Week and Easter, is greater than actual Mass attendance. Rick Krivanka, executive director of the Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma, Ohio, and former director of pastoral planning in the Diocese of Cleveland, said he believes people are embracing the online liturgies. The key, he suggested, will be engaging them as life returns to normal. “People are finding it uplifting,” Krivanka said. “They are understanding it is our own responsibility about not only following a routine about going to Mass every Sunday, but now people are finding very uplifting experiences because of the personal initiative they have to take (to find an online Mass).” Knowing that people are turning to online liturgies provides Church leaders an opportunity to find new ways to creatively use technology in ministry. Naturally, the goal is to have people worshipping in community when the stay-at-home orders end; the virtual reception of holy Communion isn’t possible because Catholic faith is rooted in the Eucharist, Fordham’s Hornbeck said. Hornbeck, an Episcopalian, suggested that “virtual forms of religious engagement” can be seen not so much as “an either/or with the physical ways of engagement, but as both/ and.” Such a realization can lead to online streaming of Bible study, prayer services, book discussions and even perpetual adoration to allow more people to become involved in or return to parish activities, said Chris Lowney, a management consultant and author of “Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church.” “This moment is making us finally build up our muscles in terms of using technology to be more creative,” Lowney explained. “That’s a point we cannot lose right now. The fact is that under duress, we’re being forced to do things in new ways, things frankly we should have been learning five years ago, 10 years ago.”
JUST WORLD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 can help us experience his mercy,” the pope said. Even the disciples, and especially St. Thomas, experienced fear and doubt, failing to believe in the risen Lord right away, the pope said. Jesus doesn’t scold them with a sermon because “he wants us to see him not as a taskmaster with whom we have to settle accounts, but as our father who always raises us up,” just like any father would when his child falls, the pope said. “The hand that always puts us back on our feet is mercy: God knows that without mercy we will remain on the ground, that in order to keep walking, we need to be put back on our feet,” he said.
NATION+WORLD HEADLINES u Pope calls for a ‘contagion’ of Easter hope, peace, care for poor. In an Easter celebration like no other, Pope Francis prayed that Christ, “who has already defeated death and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,” would “dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end.” The pope’s traditional Easter message before his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) still mentioned countries yearning for peace, migrants and refugees in need of a welcoming home and the poor deserving of assistance. But his Easter prayers April 12 were mostly in the context of the suffering and death caused by the coronavirus and the economic difficulties the pandemic already has triggered. Missing at the Mass were dozens of cardinals concelebrating and tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world packing St. Peter’s Square. Yet millions followed on television, by radio and by livestream as the Easter “Alleluia” was repeated and the Gospel account of the disciples finding the empty tomb was proclaimed both in Latin and in Greek. u Pope Francis has agreed to postpone by one year the next gatherings of the World Meeting of Families and World Youth Day. “Because of the current health situation and its consequences on the movement and gatherings of young people and families,” the World Meeting of Families in Rome will be pushed back until June 2022 and World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, will be pushed back until August 2023. u FEMA issues guidelines to ensure ‘equal protection’ for all COVID patients. National Right to Life April 16 praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency for issuing guidelines to ensure equal protection for all patients with COVID-19 to prevent rationing of health care. A couple of weeks before the FEMA guidance, the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued its own. Across the country, a critical shortage of personal protective equipment for medical personnel who are treating patients who have the highly contagious virus as well as a lack of equipment such as ventilators has prompted some U.S. hospitals to consider instituting a blanket DNR, or “do not resuscitate” order, for COVID-19 patients despite their wishes or those of their family. u Four U.S. bishops’ committee chairmen implored the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure COVID-19 vaccines not connected to abortion. They were joined by the leaders of several health care, bioethics and pro-life organizations in an April 17 letter to Dr. Stephen Hahn, FDA commissioner. The leaders said they support efforts to quickly develop “an effective, safe and widely available vaccine” but said they are aware that of the vaccines in development, “some are being produced using old cell lines that were created from the cells of aborted babies.” u Celebrating 93rd birthday, pope emeritus is well, secretary says. Retired Pope Benedict XVI “is well,” although the coronavirus pandemic restrictions meant he received no visitors April 16, his 93rd birthday. He did, however, receive a special present, a pre-publication copy of “Benedikt XVI: Ein Leben” (“Benedict XVI: A Life”), an almost 1,200-page biography written by Peter Seewald, who collaborated with the retired pope on several bestselling books. The volume will be released in German in May. u Pope creates coronavirus commission to respond to pandemic. In a statement published April 15, the Vatican said the goal of the commission, which will be led by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, is “to express the Church’s concern and love for the entire human family in the face of the of COVID-19 pandemic.” The dicastery will work with other Vatican offices to coordinate the work, which includes “an analysis and a reflection on the socioeconomic and culture challenges of the future and proposed guidelines to address them.” u Vatican names new director of its financial watchdog agency. More than four months after Pope Francis named a new president for the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, the leadership roster of the agency was completed with the naming of a new director and vice director. Giuseppe Schlitzer, a professor of international finance who has held senior posts at Italy’s central bank and the International Monetary Fund, was named director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority April 15. — Catholic News Service
Right now, he said, the world is undergoing a “time of trial” and, like St. Thomas, “with our fears and our doubts, (we) have experienced our frailty. We need the Lord, who sees beyond that frailty an irrepressible beauty,” like a crystal that is delicate, but precious and transparent before God who lets his light of mercy “shine in us and through us in the world.” The most beautiful message on the feast of Divine Mercy, the pope said, comes from St. Thomas, “the disciple who arrived late,” but for whom the Lord waited, not leaving him behind. “Now while we are looking ahead to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind. The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish indifference,” he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic “reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer,” he said. “We are all frail, all equal, all precious.” “May we be profoundly shaken by what is happening all around us: The time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family,” the pope urged. “Let us welcome this time of trial as an opportunity to prepare for our collective future,” the pope said, because without a vision that embraces everyone, “there will be no future for anyone.” “Let us show mercy to those who are most vulnerable, for only in this way will we build a new world,” he said.
10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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By Dave Hrbacek • DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Marcus Milless is a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, where his ministry includes serving health care professionals caring for COVID-19 patients.
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ather Marcus Milless remembers the year he was known as “Cancer Boy.” He was a senior at St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul in fall 2009. In July of that year, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. He spent the entire school year undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It was not at all what he had envisioned for his final year in minor seminary. But today, standing outside of Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis where he has spent the last two-and-a-half years serving as a hospital chaplain, the 32-year-old priest knows his cancer journey motivated him to pursue hospital ministry. Having faced the prospect of dying before college graduation helps him understand what patients and their families struggle with, especially with the coronavirus infecting and, in some cases, killing more and more people in the U.S. and around the world. Then, there’s what medical personnel — doctors and nurses — face as they deal with an ever-increasing number of patients and stare down the threat of getting the virus themselves. It all adds up to being in the eye of a storm that is likely to rage on for months, and trying to help people through it. “I think it’s accurate to say it’s the front lines here at the hospital,” he said in an April 2 interview with The Catholic Spirit. “I was talking to a few nurses that have been dealing with some of the patients who have suspected COVID-19 and (some) who have had COVID. And, one of the things I mentioned to them, I said, ‘You’re like the Navy Seals. You’re going in for these rescue missions.’ And then, (one of them) said, ‘I love that, Father. No man left behind.’” Ironically, Father Milless almost was left
behind at the start of his senior year at SJV while battling cancer. After his diagnosis, he was “very nervous” and filled with questions about the disease and his future. What he thought would be a year cruising down what he called “easy street” toward graduation (and then entering The St. Paul Seminary the following fall) turned into a fight for survival. He even thought about leaving SJV to move back home to concentrate on his battle against Hodgkin lymphoma. “I’ll never forget one night after chemo; I was feeling really sick, and on a natural level (was) like, ‘Where is God in this?’” he recalled. “I could not see God. So, I started praying the rosary. And, I just had this sense of the Holy Spirit with me, and this grace. Here I am, (age) 22, dealing with this and the Lord just showing me the grace in the midst of suffering. And that prepared me.” Though he scaled back his activities, reducing his class load and studying alone in his room, he learned valuable life lessons that today aid his ministry to those who are sick and those who are grappling with deep issues like suffering and how to find God in the midst of it. “I discovered that it’s not what I do that makes me a child of God, but who I am,” he said. He graduated on time from the University of St. Thomas and enrolled at The St. Paul Seminary in the fall, as he had previously planned. In summer 2012, he did hospital chaplaincy at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, and was ordained a priest in May 2014. “I just sensed, in the midst of suffering, that Christ was present and didn’t abandon the people,” said Father Milless, who has been cancer free since graduating from SJV. “I got to see that firsthand at North Memorial and learn from Father (James) Livingston.” He said the seed of his desire to become a hospital chaplain “grew a little bit more” from
that experience. The final piece was meeting long-time hospital chaplain Father Jerome Fehn a few years ago at a gathering at St. Olaf in Minneapolis. Father Fehn talked about his experiences, and Father Milless expressed interest in the ministry. “And, he wrote me a card (later) and he said, ‘It’s a great life. I’ve spent 36 of my 39 years (of priestly ministry) as a hospital chaplain,’” Father Milless said. “He said it’s a very life-giving ministry.” In August 2017, an opening came up at Hennepin County, and Father Milless jumped on it. He deals with the ordinary and the dramatic, like the time last summer when a baby was born at only 22 weeks and nearly died. After a week in the neonatal intensive care unit right after birth, the infant took a turn for the worse and suffered cardiac arrest. It was a Saturday night, and a nurse started doing chest compressions, even though the baby weighed just 1 pound. The baby improved overnight, but survival was still in doubt the next morning. So, Father Milless was called in to baptize the baby. “I got the water and said, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father,’” said Father Milless, who recently was reassigned to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in south Minneapolis, beginning May 4. “And as I said, ‘The Father,’ the baby started crying. And, I poured the water over, and the mother and father started crying, and the nurse started crying.” The baby ended up pulling through and was discharged four months later. Father Milless walked away from that moment firmly believing in “the grace of baptism” and that “God does work in extraordinary ways.” He knows he could face many more situations like this as COVID-19 afflicts an increasing number of people and hospitals prepare for an influx of patients. As doctors and nurses get
ready to meet the phy ventilators and oxygen to meet their spiritual the presence of Christ into the room of COV ministered to them ov other side of protectiv to at least have visual spiritual care to family “One of the things t on is (the Gospel of) Jo the hour of Christ, an this hour with him. “This hour will defin to stay in the midst of that the Father will pr Ministering on the f opportunities for him with people, as they b death because of the C recalled a recent conve said she was afraid of d God was in the midst “These are things th that, normally, people said. “But, as everyone (over their faces), the coming off, and we re with God. And, it’s a m words of truth, and of It’s also a time to be he recently got tested was negative — even t of having any contact tested positive. He said practical and the spirit adds up to a principle walks the hospital’s ha “I just want to make love of Jesus, but not t
APRIL 23, 2020 • 11
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• The Catholic Spirit
ysical needs of patients with n, Father Milless gears up l needs with prayer and t. He said he is not allowed VID-19 patients, but has ver the phone and on the ve glass that allows him contact. He also offers y members of patients. that I’ve been meditating ohn 12,” he said. “This is nd Jesus wants us to stay in
ne us, and so we’re called f the suffering and trust rovide for us.” front lines has created to talk about the faith begin thinking more about COVID-19 pandemic. He versation with a nurse, who dying and wondered where of this health crisis. hat are being brought out e wouldn’t talk about,” he e is putting on the masks masks of their souls are eally see where people are at moment to really speak the f resurrection and of life.” e practical, which is why for the coronavirus — it though he is not aware t with someone who has d he tries to apply the tual in his ministry, which that guides him as he allways: e sure that I’m bringing the the virus.”
COURTESY THERESE STEINHOFF
Leona Hernandez, right, holding daughter Diane, left the Twin Cities to use her nursing skills to care for COVID-19 patients in New York City. Also pictured, from left, are her husband, Tony, and sons Cruz and Maximilian.
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eona Hernandez was enjoying life as a mother of three young children. About a year ago, the parishioner of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul had stopped working as a nurse so she could be home full-time with Maximilian, 6, Cruz, 3, and Diane, 2. The COVID-19 pandemic radically changed her future. As she continued staying home with her husband, Tony, and the kids, following Gov. Tim Walz’s stayat-home order, she began praying about the possibility of going back to work. There were two compelling reasons: No. 1., Tony’s realty business had screeched to a halt and they needed to boost their finances, and No. 2., she has valuable nursing experience that is desperately needed. She could have made the safe choice and found a job locally. She didn’t. Instead, she chose to go into the eye of the COVID-19 storm: New York City. In late March, she began her discernment process about going back to work. She knew the need was great in New York, and she also knew her five years of experience working in an intensive care unit would be a perfect fit. So, she did some research to find a travel nurse agency that would help her find a temporary job in New York. She applied and got an offer within two days. “It was Friday (April 3),” said Hernandez, 33, in an interview with The Catholic Spirit April 10. “We happened to be on our way … (to pray the Stations of the Cross while walking in their Mendota Heights neighborhood). And, it was raining.” The call came as they were leaving their
house, and Hernandez accepted later that day. She left for New York April 14. Hernandez said she will be serving for eight weeks at two hospitals in New York City, and said she is certain to be caring for COVID-19 patients. New York leads the nation in both number of cases and deaths, and Hernandez is well aware of that. “Yeah, I am scared,” she said. But, overruling the fear opens the opportunity to care for patients who are quarantined in a hospital room and have even more fear than she does. “So many people who are very ill and are alone, I think, is really awful,” she said. “So, while I feel anxiety and sadness about entering that environment, I really am grateful to also be able to be with people at that time who are otherwise alone. To my knowledge, they’re not even seeing chaplains or priests. And, I can’t imagine how awful that would be to be alone.” With the many deaths occurring, she knows she may care for COVID-19 patients who die on her watch. That’s where she will draw on her experience as an ICU nurse, her job for five years after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2011. “I do think that it’s a very big honor to be with someone as they are dying,” she said. “I’m sad about it, certainly, but I am also grateful to be able to spend a short amount of time serving and helping in that environment.” Despite the exposure to COVID-19, she said she is confident about the precautions being taken at the hospitals. She will be given an N95 mask to wear, and will wear a surgical mask over that whenever she enters
a patient’s room, plus a face shield over that. She will have a full-length gown and gloves, which she will discard at the end of each of her 12-hour, four-times-a-week shifts. After work, she will walk to an empty apartment where she will be staying for the entire eight weeks. She immediately will put all of her work clothes in the laundry and will stay in the apartment until her next shift. Working in risky situations is not new for her. She worked in a pediatric ICU in the Twin Cities and regularly saw children with serious illnesses. “I was frequently around viruses that were even more dangerous to children than COVID,” she said. “I would care for children at work, and then I would come home to my children. That was a risk. And, I certainly was as careful as I could be. … I just think that it’s an area where we’re meant to serve at this time. We can be smart about using what we have to protect ourselves. But then, I do think that a lot of it comes down to just trusting that these are people who need to be cared for.” She intends to bring her faith to the bedside of people she cares for, praying out loud in some cases, and offering words of comfort in others, all of it driven by a conviction to serve and affirmed by a peace she felt in the days leading up to her departure from the Twin Cities. “I have so much faith and trust that (God) will work through me,” she said. “I do think that someone who’s there and is praying — even if it’s silently — and speaking peacefully, I think that that does make a difference, even in a horrible situation.”
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
APRIL 23, 2020
FAITH+CULTURE
Distance learning a work in progress at Catholic schools By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit
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avid Sorkin’s training as a firefighter came in handy last month when, as principal of St. Hubert Catholic School in Chanhassen, he had to devise a rapid response to the coronavirus. After deciding to close the school, he led his faculty to prepare digital resources for students — in the span of two days. “When you’re a firefighter and you’re going into a stressful crisis, you have to stay calm and be focused on the task at hand,” Sorkin said. “That training helped me prioritize and deal with the most pressing issues first.” It’s been a baptism by fire for the 91 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as they adjust to the distance learning necessitated by last month’s closures. Teachers curated a mix of digital resources to make it possible: Google Classroom and Zoom for live online meetings, an app called SeeSaw for younger students, an array of emailed print-outs, access to specialized websites such as Brain Pop Jr. and prerecorded video instruction. Now several weeks in — many took their regularly scheduled spring break and some allowed an additional week off for planning — teachers, parents and students describe the experience as a work in progress. They express gratitude that the initial efforts went as well as they did and that certain adjustments were made swiftly. “The biggest challenge is re-tooling a practice very quickly that was made for in-person delivery,” Sorkin said. “But it’s also been our greatest achievement. This helps reveal the depth and the strength of a Catholic education.” That means educating the whole child, with a hearty emphasis on the emotional and spiritual dimensions — more important than ever during a pandemic — thanks to livestreamed Mass, intimate Zoom prayer and even bedtime stories recorded by teachers, which were offered to St. Hubert’s students the first day school was closed. “We’re working really closely with families,” said Molly Hancock, a fourthgrade teacher at St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater, who is seeing excellent attendance based on what students submit daily. “We want to provide the best educational product that we can for them, and it’s up to the family how they want to use it. We’re going back to the principle that parents are the primary educators.” Responding to their feedback is key, Hancock said. In the early weeks, parents requested more print-outs rather than Google documents to limit their kids’ screen time, as well as more lead time to print those materials. At St. Hubert, the most common challenge was the difficulty in meeting due dates because of a limited number of devices in a house shared by multiple kids, as well as limited internet bandwidth also in demand by parents working at home. Adjusting due dates to allow for 24 hours on any given assignment eased that burden, Sorkin said. Encouraging students to take more responsibility for their work — and, thus, free up their parents to work at home —
Molly Hancock, a fourth-grade teacher at St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater, teaches from home as her sons, Jimmy and Robbie, work on their schoolwork. Distance learning began in schools across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to close their campuses last month. COURTESY MOLLY HANCOCK
FIVE TIPS FOR DISTANCE LEARNING Distance learning is unchartered territory, which calls for extra patience across the board, says Andrew Hey, the counselor at St. Joseph Catholic School in Waconia. He’s been repeating that message and offering free video counseling to St. Joseph families grappling with a strange new reality. “This is hard for all of us,” Hey said. “If you just survive this pandemic, that’s pretty good. It doesn’t mean you have to make some huge artistic achievement. We’re just trying to get by.”
Here are his tips for distance learning: 1. Establish a schedule. Kids do better when they have structure and they know what to expect. Parents do, too. 2. Exercise regularly. “Exercise is really important right now,” Hey said. Getting outside benefits your body and your mind. And psychologically, it keeps you from feeling cooped up. 3. Maintain your hygiene. Even though you’re not going anywhere, it’s prudent to bathe, get dressed and make yourself feel presentable. “It makes you feel good and makes it a lot easier to stay productive,” Hey said. 4. Talk to someone. Counselors are offering online sessions — some at a discounted rate — that can make a profound difference. Otherwise, find a friend to talk through your feelings. 5. Lean on your faith. Even when you cannot attend Mass, embracing your faith will help you cope with the demands of distance learning. — Christina Capecchi
is another part of the equation, he added. Learning how to follow instructions enables students to become more selfsufficient — a practical takeaway from distance learning, said Amy Halstrom, a sixth-grade teacher at Good Shepherd School in Golden Valley. Initially, she fielded many questions from students that were answered by going back and re-reading her instructions. But younger students, especially those who cannot read, require hands-on guidance from parents. Jaclyn Davern’s daughter, a fourth grader at St. Odilia School in Shoreview, quickly took to Google Classroom, so the mom of two primarily aids her second-grade son, administering his spelling tests and prodding him in other subjects. Reducing the workload without compromising fundamentals has been warranted, Halstrom said. In her first four days of distance learning, she had doled out more than 700 assignments, a
number she has since cut back. Instead of a 6.5-hour school day, most kids are completing their schoolwork in about 2.5 to 3 hours, she said. Halstrom considers that reasonable, especially given the screen time involved. “I don’t think we should be trying to fill 6.5 hours of work,” she said. Hancock echoed that observation. “We’re figuring out our priorities and helping our families who can’t get to everything every day so they can prioritize, too,” she said. “It’s important to keep the expectations high for the kids but be very flexible if they need flexibility.” That can help students and their parents. “It’s nice to hear, ‘If you can’t do this, don’t worry about it. We’re all in this weird thing together right now. Do your best,’” Davern said. Sometimes the technology fails a parent who is doing her best. Two of Halstrom’s students could not get into
Zoom despite various attempts. Trying to be a technician and troubleshoot for parents remotely can be draining, said Halstrom. But when it’s working, the technology can allow her to customize learning for advanced students and for lagging ones. She plans to use Zoom’s break-out rooms and prepare different exercises tailored to different learners. Now that students are familiar with online learning platforms, many teachers plan to continue using them in some capacity when schools re-open. Faculty say they are prepared to resume May 4, the current date given by Gov. Tim Walz, but are braced for what seems like a more realistic outcome: to remain closed through the end of the school year. DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, which already used online learning on snow days, set up block scheduling so students focus on half their classes each day. It has created a nice flow, said senior Diana Truong. The Advanced Placement tests that will be administered later this spring have been shortened, which also relieved some pressure, she said. Add in the fact that she no longer has a daily commute, and Truong said she’s now getting more sleep and doing more yoga. “I feel like I’m able to focus now,” she said. “I’m not waking up and laying in my bed, dreading the day.” Paul Pribyl, a personal trainer in Eagan whose business has slowed since the COVID-19 outbreak, also sees the silver linings of distance learning. He helps teach his oldest child, a first-grader at Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan. “I’ve learned to be patient and find ways to encourage her,” Pribyl said. He tries to make learning at home fun and has earned the nickname “DJ Daddy.” “I want to enjoy this time,” Pribyl said. “And I’m hoping we can use the time to make us better as a family. Hopefully that sticks, and it’s not just, ‘Now that life returns to normal, do we get back into the rat race?’”
APRIL 23, 2020
FAITH+CULTURE
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
Technology helps parishes reach out to strengthen community By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit As 8 a.m. approaches, Father Joseph Johnson prepares for daily Mass with a vital new assistant: a video camera. Due to stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the pastor of Holy Family in St. Louis Park — like many pastors across the archdiocese — has embraced technology to livestream Mass and connect with parishioners. Holy Family’s simple camera system, used in the past to broadcast Mass downstairs for overflow or parents with a fussy child, was upgraded two years ago to accomodate high definition cameras. “We’re still doing Sunday Masses from the main church, but now holding daily Mass in the adoration chapel,” Father Johnson said. “We had one camera system wired but not fully operational, and we had to start another one from scratch.” Back on March 10, the staff at Holy Family spent a lot of time discussing what was happening with the coronavirus, and the impact on parishioners. The parish already used Flocknote, a communications tool using emails and text messages, for weekly parish news. As coronavirus policies and precautions started changing almost daily, Father Johnson began sending out the Flocknote messages. “Eventually his messages included more spiritually based and parish-life type reflections, as it became clear that we’d be able to provide less to people physically, and would need to do more to meet their needs virtually,” said Lisa Bearth, communications coordinator at Holy Family. “Social distancing doesn’t have to mean spiritual distance,” Father Johnson said. “We’re using Flocknote to lift the spirit, with YouTube links to
pieces of music and artwork.” “I’m now spending three hours a day either making videos for our YouTube channel or putting together uplifting Flocknote messages,” he added. “It’s reinventing pastoral ministry.” Father Johnson created special YouTube meditations for Holy Week. He has also developed personal YouTube messages for targeted groups, sending greetings to college students now at home doing online coursework, encouragement to high school seniors to help them acknowledge their grief, and a nod to second-graders awaiting their first Communion. “Every category of people is experiencing this differently, and it’s important to speak to them with their particular concerns,” said Father Johnson. “That’s what Jesus would want to do — connect with people where they are at.” Holy Family’s newest initiative is a virtual parish talent show, which will be uploaded to YouTube. “These times present a unique opportunity to restore the parish as a spiritual family,” Father Johnson said. “That’s what we all need now, that sense of belonging. I may be isolated, but I’m not alone.” At St. John the Baptist in Jordan, similar efforts are underway to help parishioners stay connected to one another. Father Neil Bakker, who has served as pastor for just under two years, was particularly equipped to take on this challenge. He worked in information technology for 10 years, in technical and business capacities. “The archbishop dispensed Catholics from their obligation to attend Sunday Mass on March 15; that same day, I ordered all the equipment necessary to set up livestreaming onsite,” he said. “The key to good streaming is the audio. It has to be clear and consistent,” Father Bakker said. “We
understood this from the beginning, and worked hard to make it high quality. We also installed an FM transmitter so that parishioners could come and sit in the parking lot in their cars and listen to Mass.” St. John the Baptist sends emails to parishioners with the weekend liturgy guide, along with the livestream link, to make it easy for people to know where they can find the Mass. “As the weeks have gone on, we have enhanced the streaming by overlaying Mass prayers as they happen during Mass, as well as other enhancements to help people feel like they are really experiencing Mass at home, not just watching a television program,” Father Bakker said. Parishioners are grateful for the opportunity to “attend” Mass and feel connected with their parish family. “I’ve received dozens and dozens of emails, texts and phone calls from parishioners, thanking me for rapidly installing a quality system,” Father Bakker said. “I’ve been edified by getting photos from families as they ‘go to Mass’ in their living rooms.” St. John the Baptist also added a YouTube channel on March 17. As of April 13, more than 15,000 people had viewed videos of daily and weekend Masses as well as Holy Week services. “I’ve done a few videos for our school students as well, and now that we are through Triduum, I hope to do more of that,” Father Bakker said. “In a small community, the parish is the heart and center, where people gather not only to worship God, but to be connected to one another.” He added: “By making our parish visible in a quality way online, people still feel that connection, and they are able to enter into the inestimable value of the sacrifice of the Mass, the perfect worship of the Father in Christ.”
FAITH+CULTURE
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
APRIL 23, 2020
Rural worries COVID-19-related anxieties loom on many fronts in U.S. farming communities
In this time of great uncertainty, we look to leaders. With concerns about personal and communal health, the economy and employment during this coronavirus pandemic, a bright spot can be leaders in business who show exceptional faith. They might infuse the workplace with a sense of hope, make personal sacrifices to keep staff on the payroll, or carry on and carry others with them, trusting in the Lord’s love and mercy.
Crisis reveals character. Every year, The Catholic Spirit celebrates executives and owners of secular businesses who lead with their Catholic faith with our Leading With Faith Awards. We’ve honored people who have shown Christ-centered leadership in times of plenitude and in times of stress. More than ever right now, we can show our gratitude to these leaders, who keep their eyes on Christ and serve as an example for everyone. Please lift up these women and men by nominating them for a Leading With Faith Award. Some criteria: • Nominees must live and work at a secular business or organization (not a parish, Catholic school or Catholic institution or entity) within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis (12-county metro area). • Must bear witness to the mission of the Church through their conduct, and be a member of a parish within the archdiocese. •B e active in some type of leadership position, such as a business owner, executive, director, manager or supervisor. • Nominations must include specific examples of how the nominee lives out the faith in the workplace. If the person making the nomination does not work with the nominee, please include comments from people at the nominee’s workplace, such as a supervisor or coworker.
Nominations can be submitted through MAY 1 at
TheCatholicSpirit.com/LeadingWithFaith An awards luncheon with Archbishop Bernard Hebda is scheduled for Aug. 13 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
M
aking a living as a farmer in the United States has never been easy. But the coronavirus pandemic has added new layers of complexity for farmers and the people living in the small towns that dot the rural landscape. The issues have to do with planting, harvesting, production, health, prices and housing — all of which have to do with people. “In Ohio, we were hearing from one of our chapter leaders who was concerned about farmers,” said James Ennis, executive director of St. Paul-based Catholic Rural Life. “Because they do a lot of work themselves, if they get sick, who’s going to help them?” In Catholic Rural Life’s chapter in Owensboro, Kentucky, “they were concerned about the farmworkers. They weren’t getting enough farmworkers. Usually they get a lot of migrant workers coming from Mexico. And that’s not happening,” Ennis said. “What’s going to happen if those workers can’t come into their particular area of Kentucky?” That’s a serious issue, “especially when consulates and embassies were starting to reduce services,” said Mike Stranz, vice president for advocacy at the National Farmers Union. Farmers relying on immigrant labor to harvest crops are “in a tough spot,” he agreed. “We’ve talked with the State Department. They have become more flexible about immigrant workers changing employers while they’re here.” “We’re definitely watching the issues of farmers, but now is the time that crops need to be planted and crops need to be harvested,” said Lorette Picciano, executive director of Rural Coalition, which focuses on immigrant farmworkers and minority farmers. Social distancing is a dream to farmworkers. Picciano spoke of workers from Mexico who line up at a bridge at 1 a.m. each night to be scrutinized by U.S. immigration authorities in Texas in time to be packed into a van that leaves at 6 a.m. to drive them to farm fields. In some migrant communities in Florida, she added, 15 will sleep in a building that has just one or two bathrooms. “All the relief that’s in the stimulus package cannot go to someone who is not documented,” Picciano told Catholic News Service, adding farmers are “not necessarily getting tested” and “not getting payments.” “I’m a Catholic, and how can we make sure our government does its duty to supply Americans with what they need during this emergency?” she asked. “It’s devastating, and there’s a lot of work to do.” The health of farmworkers is precarious. Picciano cited the case of a date-packing plant in California’s Coachella Valley where “the COVID-19 was already found in one worker. They cleaned everything, then they found that eight more workers were infected,” she said. Ennis was told by a Catholic Rural Life chapter in Davenport, Iowa, that a Tyson pork processing plant in nearby Columbus Junction suspended operations after some workers there were found to have the coronavirus. “That was really scary. It’s a big deal when it’s 1,400 jobs and they decide they’re going to suspend operations,” he said. “That was disconcerting and a big deal — a really big deal. That’s impacted that community very significantly.” Dairy and livestock markets “have seen significant impacts already,” Stranz said. “It’s not a matter of supplies, it’s a matter of shipping and demand. It’s how people are eating. It would normally take decades (to alter consumer preferences), but it’s happened in a matter of weeks.”
CNS
Casondra Myers and Ellen Henslee prepare food orders April 3 at Front 9 Farm in Lodi, Ohio, during the coronavirus pandamic.
He added, “Dairy is particularly hard hit by this. Other than getting rid of cows, you can’t slow production. They need to be milked three times a day. ... The price of dairy futures went down 40% in two weeks, and those prices were low to begin with. We’re seeing a lot of threats to dairy farmers and farmers who were already hurting.” One case in point: school lunches and breakfasts. “That demand has dried up, and there’s been a glut of milk in that side of the market, where retail food and milk consumption is probably up,” Stranz said. “It’s tough to flip a switch and get milk flowing through a different channel. They can’t all of a sudden go from getting lunch milk and it all going to supermarkets.” Nebraska was one of a dwindling number of states — there were just eight as of April 9 — that did not have a blanket stay-at-home order, according to Sandra Renner, farm and community director of the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons. But the closure of schools by most districts presents two other problems. “These kids rely on two meals a day from the school system. They’re not going to be doing much learning from their computer” if they’re hungry, Renner said. That is, if the computer can access the internet. “I think it’s a little trickier to think about e-learning, because broadband is limited here and in many rural places,” she said from her home in West Point, Nebraska. “The school has to get a little bit of a sense of what would work here.” Despite long-held assumptions about what rural America looks like, “Nebraska has had a lot of changing demographics in the last 30 years,” Renner added. “You wouldn’t think of Nebraska as a melting pot, but 87 languages are spoken across the state. But most of the information being put out by state agencies initially was in English, and in some cases still only in English.” And, to ward off the coronavirus-induced economic catastrophe for some Nebraskans, the center launched an emergency loan fund, she noted. “We’re also a lender, so we’re taking care of that,” Renner said. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach to get these emergency loans processed in a timely fashion.” Ennis wryly noted how some Kansas farmers have long seen themselves as “socially isolated,” but that now even the simple pleasure of sitting in a cafe for a cup of coffee and a pastry is denied them. Catholic Rural Life, he said, was planning a livestream for May 15 — the feast of St. Isidore, patron saint of farmers — to pray “for the protection of farmworkers and farmers and food-processing workers in rural communities.” He’s been following some rural priests’ own livestreaming. “For some priests, they’ve opened up their lives more to parishioners, where they don’t usually share night prayer with their parishioners,” Ennis said. “It’s powerful. I’m just seeing all the comments on the side, the appreciation for what Father’s doing in this regard. ... It’s phenomenal. It’s creative.”
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
HEALTH+WELLNESS Seniors adjust to life during pandemic By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit
T
he coronavirus pandemic has changed daily life for people of every age. Seniors face additional challenges. Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions have a higher risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19. And those living in senior facilities — from independent to assisted living to nursing homes — face restrictions on visitors and requirements for social distancing in dining and activity rooms. Many are finding ways to cope, on practical and spiritual levels, in a new reality. Rosie Klehr, 80, said she has lived in an assisted living apartment at The Gardens at St. Gertrude’s in Shakopee since last May, when visitors could come and go and residents felt free to eat and socialize in groups. Now, although family members live nearby, she can’t see them in person. Meals are delivered to her apartment instead of the dining room. She talks with family members by phone and two nieces have sent care packages. Still, Klehr makes good use of her time. Playing cards has been a passion for decades. Klehr’s favorite, 500, is off the table today because it requires four players, but she plays other card games in her apartment with a staff member — usually gin rummy or kings in the corner. Klehr watches Mass on television every day and other programming on an in-house channel. And she exercises regularly. Klehr lifts two-pound weights while seated to help maintain her strength. A few residents at a time spread out in the in-house chapel and activity room to join in exercise sessions. For other seniors confined during the pandemic, Klehr advised, “Keep busy and
Butch Geng, 72, stands in front of his northeast Minneapolis home where he spends all of his time these days except for occasional trips to the grocery store. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
the time will go fast. Read a book. Go for a walk.” Faith also helps in a time like this, she said. “I keep praying every day.” Jon Voltz, a long-term care resident in his 90s at Catholic Eldercare, Minneapolis, also turns to prayer, specifically the rosary. “I pray for the church doors to re-open with priests there to say Mass, hear confessions, anoint the sick and help heal the hurting,” he said. “Praying the rosary is a good, active step,” Voltz said. “It’s the most constructive way to deal with challenging times.” The hardest part of dealing with restrictions, he said, is being confined. But he understands the need for precautions and hopes restrictions can be lifted soon. Butch Geng, 72, has lived in his northeast Minneapolis home for 31 years. He has five children, ages 36 to 52. All six text group messages to each other morning and night to check on how everyone is doing. He recently used Zoom video conferencing to talk with all of his children. As a smoker, Geng wants to limit his exposure to others, so when he does leave the house, usually for groceries, he shops
early in the morning to encounter fewer people. Sometimes his children drop something off when Geng doesn’t want to risk leaving home and getting sick. “Most of the time I’m isolated,” he said. “I only have my dog here, so that’s a little tough. You feel somewhat lonely.” He does have a circle of friends to call who are going through the same thing. A parishioner of Holy Cross in Minneapolis, Geng normally golfs seven days a week in the summer. After golfing with friends April 20 and seeing others not practicing proper social distancing, he plans to be very cautious through the summer in making any plans to golf. “I’m usually pretty active and not home too much,” he said. Now, he plays with his dog in the backyard and takes it on neighborhood walks. Geng advises people at home alone to figure out a daily routine that will be healthy, including calling friends. Joan McGrath, 80, lives in an apartment complex in White Bear Lake, where three close friends also live. In good weather, they walk downtown and near the lake while practicing social distancing. It helps to have conversations, she said. “We have no touch, so yes, the voice is what we have.” For fun, the group put together two
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scavenger hunt lists — for the east and west sides of Highway 61 — to challenge others to find specific things during the walk. “We found all kinds of things,” she said, “including chickens.” On Easter Sunday, the women drove separately to the homes of six friends, rolled down their car windows, honked their horns and shouted “Happy Easter.” “That was our Easter parade,” McGrath said. “As a rule, I think of myself as a positive person and I’m trying to stay that way.” Yet some effects of the pandemic are difficult. One is not being able to physically be with her family. Another was watching a livestream of Easter Mass from her parish, St. Pius X, and seeing an empty church. “That was hard,” she said, “not being there with all the people and praying.” While McGrath uses a computer, she knows others in her generation are not tech-savvy. “I think that’s a vulnerability,” she said. “I don’t want to be the vulnerable generation. But we are a prayerful generation. The first thing we do is turn to prayer. I don’t know what you would do if you didn’t have faith and believe in God.”
APRIL 23, 2020
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FOCUSONFAITH
SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER LEONARD ANDRIE
Every path leads somewhere
At a hotel near Notre-Dame des Victoires in Paris in 1887, two names were listed in a guest registry on the same day: St. Therese of Lisieux and Friedrich Nietzsche. St. Therese and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, stayed at the hotel as they prepared to travel to Rome to ask for the Holy Father’s permission for 15-year-old Therese to enter the convent. On the same evening, Nietzsche, an atheistic philosopher, stayed there, too. G.K. Chesterton once remarked that in every age, God provides a saint that is contrary to the spirit of the age. This is certainly true with St. Therese’s “spiritual childhood,” which stands in sharp contrast to our modern age of nihilism and despair. For Nietzsche, God is dead and therefore there is no universal truth nor objective standards of morality. Any talk of morality, for Nietzsche, was just a mask covering up one’s own subjective preferences and will to power. Devoid of a universal morality, Nietzsche’s world was simply left with “my will” versus “your will.” In this Godless world, authentic hope vanishes and no ultimate meaning remains. Around 1,900 years earlier, we get the sense that our two disciples on the road to Emmaus tasted Nietzsche’s world. Addressed by the Living One, they looked downcast (Lk 24:17) and spoke with a melancholic tone that they “were hoping” this Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel (Lk 24:21). However, this Jesus was “put to death” and along with him, their hope was, too. Thankfully, light suddenly broke in. Referring to all that was written about him in the Scripture, the Risen One began to heal their faith and buoy up their hope. As he spoke to them, their hearts burned within them (Lk 24:32). Beautifully, they begged, “Lord, stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over” (Lk 24:29). In the midst of their despair and pain, they asked for his presence. In a world of dark shadows, can we not ask for this great gift as well? “Lord, stay with us!” Indeed, God gives a saint to contrast the spirit of every age. In
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
Confirmation basics
Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments, and it belongs to a special group of sacraments, the sacraments of initiation, along with baptism and Eucharist. Confirmation imparts the gift of the Holy Spirit, intensifies the gift received at baptism and completes baptismal grace. Once confirmed, the person is no longer considered a beginner in the faith who is dependent upon the faith of others, but rather someone who is mature, takes initiative, and is responsible for one’s own relationship with Jesus and is actively involved in the body of Christ, the Church. A duty. The Church teaches that “the faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament” (Canon 890). A baptized Catholic is expected to seek and receive the sacrament of confirmation. Prerequisites. Baptism is required before a person is eligible for confirmation, and proof must be provided with a baptismal certificate. The candidate must have faith, a basic understanding of the sacrament, a genuine desire to receive it and be able to renew one’s baptismal promises. Age of reception. At one time in the early Church, all three sacraments of initiation were administered together, whether as an adult or an infant. Today, all three sacraments are administered together as the culmination of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), but separately for those who are baptized as infants. In the Latin rite, the appropriate time for confirmation is “the age of discretion” (Canon 891). It is customary for the bishop to establish a policy for the appropriate age in a diocese. It may be as early as second grade or as late as high school. A person of any age can be confirmed if there is danger of death. Preparation with prayer. The two essential components for preparation for confirmation are prayer and study. Since
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St. Therese’s path of trust and love moved her toward the New Jerusalem, resulting in joy and communion with Eternal Love.
our age where autonomy, honor and power reign, the Lord gives us saints like St. Therese. For the “Little Flower,” the way is not up (my will and my way), but rather down (humility, trust and confidence in God’s will and love). Happiness is found not by becoming big, but rather by becoming little. St. Therese reminds us that you become a great human being (or better, a saint!) by becoming a trusting child of the loving Father. As we all know, every path leads somewhere. Sadly, in 1889 Nietzsche had a mental breakdown and suffered from mental illness until his lonely death in 1900. St. Therese, on the other hand, soared in love for and communion with Jesus, whom she called her “fiancé,” through her suffering until her death in 1897. Looking at the crucifix and surrounded by her sisters, she uttered those beautiful final words, “Oh! I love him! My God, I … love … thee!” It was her final oblation made to merciful love. Every path leads somewhere. Nietzsche’s path of nihilism and despair led him away from Jerusalem, resulting in nihilism, despair and loneliness. St. Therese’s path of trust and love moved her toward the New Jerusalem, resulting in joy and communion with Eternal Love. Allow the Risen Christ to encounter you this Easter, to stay with you and to guide you in the way of trust and love. In doing so, God willing, you will be able to write your name in the book of life (Rev 20:12). Father Andrie is pastor of St. Therese in Deephaven. He can be reached at fr.andrie@st-therese.org.
the candidate intends to be bound more closely to Christ and his Church, private and communal prayer are indispensable — personal prayer alone each day and communal prayer each weekend at Mass. It may be beneficial to keep a prayer journal. A pre-confirmation retreat is highly recommended and may be required. Good works and community service are the natural outcome of prayer. It is necessary to be properly disposed and in the state of grace to receive the sacrament, so the candidate should approach the sacrament of reconciliation first. Preparation with study. It is critical to learn more about the faith before taking a major step in the life of grace. The candidate is to enroll in a pre-confirmation catechetical program, a series of classes or presentations with a curriculum that covers the Trinity — particularly the Holy Spirit — as well as prayer, the sacraments, the Church, the creed, the commandments, and living the Christian faith as a committed adult. The candidate should attend the sessions, listen attentively, participate actively, read the materials and fulfill the program requirements. Participation in the parish youth group may also be required. Sponsor. Each candidate is to have a sponsor, someone to serve as a spiritual mentor and companion. The person must be at least 16 years of age, fully initiated, actively practicing the Catholic faith, and not the candidate’s mother or father. It is desirable for the baptismal godparent to serve as the confirmation sponsor to emphasize the unity of the two sacraments (Catechism, No. 1311; Canon 893). The sponsor helps the candidate as a role model, guide and resource, and offers prayer, support and encouragement. The sponsor is able to testify before the community regarding the candidate’s faith, intention, moral character and readiness, and takes “care that the confirmed person behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent in the sacrament” (Canon 892). Ideally, a spiritual partnership between the newly confirmed and the sponsor will continue for many years. Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This column is part of an ongoing series on confirmation.
DAILY Scriptures Sunday, April 26 Third Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14, 22-33 1 Pt 1:17-21 Lk 24:13-35 Monday, April 27 Acts 6:8-15 Jn 6:22-29 Tuesday, April 28 Acts 7:51–8:1a Jn 6:30-35 Wednesday, April 29 St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church Acts 8:1b-8 Jn 6:35-40 Thursday, April 30 Acts 8:26-40 Jn 6:44-51 Friday May 1 Acts 9:1-20 Jn 6:52-59 Saturday, May 2 St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church Acts 9:31-42 Jn 6:60-69 Sunday May 3 Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 36-41 1 Pt 2:20b-25 Jn 10:1-10 Monday, May 4 Acts 11:1-18 Jn 10:11-18 Tuesday, May 5 Acts 11:19-26 Jn 10:22-30 Wednesday, May 6 Acts 12:24–13:5a Jn 12:44-50 Thursday, May 7 Acts 13:13-25 Jn 13:16-20 Friday, May 8 Acts 13:26-33 Jn 14:1-6 Saturday, May 9 Acts 13:44-52 Jn 14:7-14 Sunday, May 10 Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 1 Pt 2:4-9 Jn 14:1-12
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
COMMENTARY FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | JASON ADKINS
A time for choosing in politics
In his homily during the “Extraordinary Moment of Prayer” March 27, Pope Francis addressed the Lord Jesus this way: “You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgment, but of our judgment: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.” In that moving homily, Pope Francis invited us during this long Lent to convert and hope in the Lord. In doing so, we turn away from sin and live in solidarity with others. Already, we see in this coronavirus crisis creative models of hope and solidarity, even in the political realm. Here in Minnesota, state legislators have worked collaboratively to put aside differences and pass legislation to help those who are working on the front lines to address coronavirus and those most vulnerable to its effects: health care workers, the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and the homeless. God willing, we will be able to contain this virus and rebuild together. But we must take this opportunity to continue to build on a foundation of solidarity and human dignity. Much, including our politics, cannot go back to the way it was before. It is, as Pope Francis says, a time for choosing.
True and false choice The slogan “my body, my choice” is dead. Coronavirus killed it. This pandemic has made clear that, like with all our choices, what we do with our bodies and the spaces we occupy with them have an impact on others. And in a global village, we are all connected. So much of modern life is driven by an ethic of
consumption, in which we demand a plethora of choices to satisfy needs, both real and perceived, and expect instant gratification. Yet we cannot structure a healthy society around the maximization of consumer choice and the ongoing liberation of the willing self. In fact, our political culture is so bereft of a sense of solidarity and the common good that decades of financial deregulation, the re-working of other regulatory structures to favor big business and political insiders, and the disintegration of civil society and traditional social norms have led us to a place where the solution to a major crisis is the erection of a police state and the printing of fiat money. We have ourselves to blame for bringing the consumer culture to politics. Increasingly, citizens view legislators as consumer-satisfaction agents, who are responsible for giving them what they want, regardless of its effect on others or the harm it may do to themselves — more legal forms of gambling, recreational marijuana, even assisted suicide. The mere fact that someone wants a certain type of legislation allegedly gives it legitimacy. This “get mine” ethos of our political life is the enemy of solidarity. It sees the good as essentially private, locating it in one’s own satisfaction. It fails to see us living within a fabric of relationships, where we find both our happiness and our well-being. Coronavirus could help us recalibrate and re-evaluate our relationships — familial, social, ecclesial and economic. We thought we were independent so long as the global supply chain worked. But what happens when it does not? Who can we lean on then? Can we afford to not be in right relationship with those around us? It is a time for choosing.
Choosing a politics of solidarity This fall, Americans will go to the polls to elect new legislators and officials. Perfect candidates don’t exist, and we will always disagree with each one on some issues. But we must identify real leaders who are focused on fostering a society of right relationships, and who promote solidarity with the unborn, the disabled, the economically disenfranchised and the vulnerable, rather than choose those who cater to what they believe is the latest desire of 51% of political consumers. We cannot become ambivalent or discouraged by
FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI
He’s got the whole world in his hands My son slides onto the piano bench and starts to play. Decades ago, I sat at the same piano and plunked out the same tune. The swinging rhythm rushes back to me now, familiar as a campfire song. “He’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole world
in his hands.” Today’s news reports are too awful for the kids to hear. I turn off the radio and let the music fill the room instead. Each note feels like prayer in these weeks when I’m struggling to pray. Where is God in this pandemic? How can I explain what’s happening to my children? When will life go back to normal? Each line of the song hangs in the air like an answer. Not the solution I want — the miraculous cure or the disappearance of the disease. But an answer all the same: The whole world is in God’s hands. This truth keeps me going, day after day. “He’s got my brothers and my sisters in his hands.” Last night, my family gathered for a video call. From across the country, my siblings and parents popped on the computer screen where I normally conference with colleagues. In our virtual family reunion, we laughed and lamented. We shared jokes and drinks. We made our dogs wave to each other across the miles. The ordinary moments we need during an extraordinary time.
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… my children are the ones teaching me how to pray: to trust we will be carried and to believe we will be held.
iSTOCK PHOTO | CHOREOGRAPH
When we signed off an hour later, I watched each face disappear. I wanted to reach out through the screen and hold them close. But I reminded my anxiety that they are in God’s hands, too. “He’s got the teeny tiny babies in his hands.” As I listen to my son play verse after verse, I sway in the kitchen with the baby in my arms. Born during the pandemic, our tiny boy will never know the world that came before. But he is new joy and fresh hope even now. He is in God’s hands, too. After the piano falls silent, the song lingers in my head. Later that night, I reread words of faith that have carried me through fear and grief: “If there is anywhere
Catholic schools have endured numerous costs in helping to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including transitioning to alternative learning platforms and additional sanitation measures. As the federal government provides education stabilization assistance to all schools, and the state considers its own forms of COVID-19 assistance, nonpublic schools need to be included. As Catholic schools played their role in responding to closure rules and guidance from the state, they should also be part of aid packages to mitigate those costs. Call legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz and ask them to treat nonpublic schools equitably in COVID-19 education assistance programs. Gov. Tim Walz: 651-201-3400 Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka: 651-296-4875 Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent: 651-296-4166 Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman: 651-296-4280 House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt: 651-296-5364 what seems like the limitations of the moment. We must embrace the hope that we can build stronger solidarity — solidarity that starts in our homes and communities but that is reflected in our political choices. Pope Francis concluded his March 27 homily as follows: “Embracing his cross means … finding the courage to create spaces where everyone can recognize that they are called, and to allow new forms of hospitality, fraternity and solidarity. By his cross we have been saved in order to embrace hope and let it strengthen and sustain all measures and all possible avenues for helping us protect ourselves and others. Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.” Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.” The mystic Julian of Norwich wrote these words in her book “Revelations of Divine Love.” Fitting for our time, she lived during the Black Death. She, too, knew a world of suffering on a staggering level. Yet her faith sang out the same truth as the Gospel spiritual now on repeat in my living room. We are always kept in that same precious love. He’s got the whole world in his hands. What’s more, the hands that hold us are no strangers to sorrow. Jesus rose with wounds, the scourge of his suffering. His hands — still holy, still bleeding — were Easter proof and lasting truth. Whatever comes next, we can comfort and console each other with refrains of love. Is it any wonder that in times of crisis, the old songs and ancient words are what carry us through? Parenting during a pandemic means anxiety and uncertainty. No matter our children’s age, we want to protect them from the worst that life (and death) can bring. But this time my children are the ones teaching me how to pray: to trust we will be carried and to believe we will be held. He’s got you and me, sister. You and me, brother. The whole world in his hands. Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on vocations at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville. She is the author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at motheringspirit.com.
COMMENTARY
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
APRIL 23, 2020
YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY
last word, to succeed in my own plans dresses up like faith and hope only to be painfully exposed at the first smattering of failure. Hope is not the equivalent of my getting what I want, even when what I want is a great good: health or stability or peace on earth.
Hope cannot be quarantined Like most of the rest of the world, my husband and I spent the Triduum crouched over my little laptop streaming the Holy Week services. And, while for once in my life I was actually grateful for the technology that made this possible, it was a far cry from all my Easter heart would hope. Yours too, I’m sure. But on Easter Sunday, we had the special privilege of livestreaming the Mass that my brother, a priest, concelebrated. As family and friends signed on to the broadcast, one by one, their faces appeared on screen, blossoming like a face-bouquet. And though a formidable spring snowstorm erupted outside pummeling my hyacinth and crocus with inches of heavy, wet flakes, when my brother emerged vested in Easter robes, it was like a shot of holy victory to my soul. This virus — and the devil and any hateful, destructive havoc he may unleash upon humankind — they may keep us from receiving the sacraments temporarily, but what they cannot quell is our hope. Faith, hope and love: These can never be quarantined. Maybe it’s good for us, as a Church, to burn a bit with deprivation, with desire for holy, sacramental encounter, like so many of the great saints deprived of the
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Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Man is not the only actor on the stage of history, and that is why death does not have the last word in it. The fact that there is this other person who is active is alone the firm and certain anchor of a hope that is stronger and more real than all the frightfulness of the world.”
Hope is not the equivalent of my getting what I want, even when what I want is a great good: health or stability or peace on earth. ISTOCK PHOTO | ANUT21NG
Eucharist in their last, most desperate hours, moments when you’d think they needed it the most, like Sts. Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe, or any of the Christian martyrs. Maybe we should make a conscious effort to remember that this strange and trying season of our world’s history is still a part of the salvation story, even instrumental to it. When I first started having serious health problems, I got into the habit of praying before every doctor visit — before the MRI or mammogram or blood test: “Jesus, I love you more than anything, and I’m going to love you 45 minutes from now when the results come back. And I know you love me and nothing in this test is going to change that. So, we’re good.” I know, it’s so elementary as to be
embarrassing, but it always managed to settle my heart. It arighted me when I was in fear about the future. But that is what the reality of Christian hope does: It must radically realign my relationship to fear, because hope doesn’t live in my body, or my mind or in an earthly outcome. It cannot be touched by disease or economic collapse. Hope is a gift given by a good and generous God who in unspeakable love imagined and brought into being the Incarnation, the source of all hope. My work is to beg, every single day, for a new infilling of it. Many “hope imposters” parade through our culture. Pope Benedict XVI has written so convincingly about the “parody of faith and hope” that leads to an imagined utopia. Too often the desire to get my own way, to have the
and the Church failed to protect my vulnerability during a very disordered time in the Church. As a result of my hidden trauma, I have disordered tendencies myself to sin that are difficult to overcome. The chains of bondage are broken when we come to grips with this truth about ourselves. We are all broken! God allows free will. He never forces himself on anyone! When we fail to recognize that we need his healing power, we turn to the greatest disorder, self-righteousness. Each of us is called to “die of self,” unite our bodies to the sufferings of Christ. This, my friends, is our universal call to holiness.
However, the counsel from MCC and omissions in the accompanying news story about the new MN presidential primary law risk creating an inaccurate picture of its impact on priests and religious (“Archbishop Hebda shares MCC counsel with clergy,” March 12). I have writings published elsewhere about primaries and party-affiliation issues. For now, I will focus on one key area of omission. For the vast majority of Minnesota’s history, the party caucusconvention system has been used to participate in the nomination of partisan candidates for president. Participating in a party’s candidate selection is taking an active part in a political party, whether through a caucus or a closed primary. This new law, though not without flaws, does not necessitate a greater prohibition on clerical activism in political parties than was already the case.
Check your hope. Have you placed it in quarantine? Then perhaps it wasn’t really hope but an unfortunate imposter. To re-anchor your hope, to “make it stronger and more real than all the frightfulness of the world,” remember Jesus and his Church will long outlast this moment in history. He loves you. You’re good. Jesus, your word says that “suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:4-5). I beg you to increase in me the kind of hope that springs from the reality of your Sacred Heart and the promise of life with you. Kelly is a spiritual director, retreat leader and the author of seven books, including the award-winning “Jesus Approaches.” Visit her website at lizk.org. The Catholic Watchmen column by Deacon Gordon Bird will run online only this month at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
LETTERS What ‘love’ means Elizabeth Rosenwinkel correctly states in her letter (April 9) that to love one another is Jesus’ greatest commandment. She asserts that this means we must accept others without question, particularly those who are transgender. Where Ms. Rosenwinkel errs is in her definition of love. St. Thomas Aquinas stated that to love was to will the good of another. To accept someone’s sin is not loving them. Jesus told the woman accused of adultery, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11). He does not tell her go and keep on committing adultery. Certainly we are not to condemn those with gender dysphoria, but we are not loving them by going along with their mistaken identities; we are leading them away from Christ. God created them the gender they were born with, who are we to question God’s judgment? Melanie Hogan St. Joseph, Taylor’s Falls
Unite sufferings to Christ First and foremost, people who identify themselves as transgender are children of God. They are loved dearly by our Creator and loving Father. God does not look into our eyes and see our identity as it relates to the culture like we do. We created these labels, not God. I cling to my own wounds, abuse from a childhood I’ll never get back. My family
Carol Longsdorf St. Peter, Forest Lake
Clergy and partisan politics Archbishop Hebda’s “Office of Priest Overrides Party” message explains well why current canon law instructs priests “not to have an active part in political parties.” The relevant sections of Title III Sacred Ministers or Clerics also apply to consecrated religious, including nuns, that take scared vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In Canon 285 there is the additional prohibition on sacred ministers or clerics assuming elected or appointed “public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power.” Permanent deacons have exemptions. These sections of canon law empower the religious and the laity to fulfill their rightful roles and help avoid many potential conflicts of interest.
John P. Augustine Holy Trinity, South St. Paul Editor’s note: Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, addresses questions raised by Augustine: The author’s point is not entirely clear, as he seems to agree with counsel provided to the bishops of Minnesota by Minnesota Catholic Conference staff that voting in Minnesota’s new closed presidential nominating primary is playing an “active part” in a political party. Archbishop Hebda’s decision to pass along that guidance to clergy was
a prudent course of action because priests and deacons may not have fully understood the implications of the new primary voting system, and the potential that their names could be made public. The writer suggests that there was no need to announce a new prohibition, because participating in the caucus system, still in place but no longer used for the presidential nomination, is also engaging in party politics. And he is correct that the caucus system was and remains a partisan activity. But a presumption that informed the MCC guidance is that priests were also not participating in political caucuses. The MCC guidance spoke to the new primary system and its implications for disclosure, but it should not have created the hue and cry it did from a few priests. It did not announce any new principle or prohibition, nor suggest that clergy refrain from doing anything they were likely not doing in the first place, namely, participating in the caucus system. The presidential nominating primary is different from the secret-ballot primaries held to winnow the field of general-election candidates and that do not require people to attest to a party platform as a condition of receiving a ballot. There is no prohibition on clergy participating in those primaries. Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.
APRIL 23, 2020
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
Pandemic inspires Father Joncas’ new hymn ‘Shelter Me’ By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
Publications, which has helped him make it available for free. The song includes three verses and a refrain: ypically, it takes Father Michael Joncas several “O shelter me, O shelter me: the way ahead is dark and weeks or a month to compose a hymn. difficult to see. O shelter me, O shelter me, all will be His newest hymn took about seven hours. well if you only will shelter me.” Titled “Shelter Me,” the hymn was inspired by the The song is written in first person, which is unusual novel coronavirus pandemic and for hymns meant to be sung with others, Father aims to provide comfort and hope. Joncas noted. But he thinks it works, given the shared Father Joncas, a prolific liturgical experience of the pandemic. The first verse speaks to the composer whose best-known hymns recollection of peaceful intimacy with God. The middle include “On Eagles’ Wings,” said he verse acknowledges a loss of that peace, while the third woke up in the middle of the night verse speaks to hope for that peace to return: “Within March 25 with a “nagging idea.” your house I’ll find my peace, trusting in your mercy He had been praying about the you have sheltered me.” coronavirus, and wondered if music “It’s about intimacy with God,” he said. “In the FATHER could play a special role in these middle (of the hymn) you’re just really aware of the MICHAEL JONCAS uncertain times. situation in which you live. … I know that God is there, “What popped up was, but I don’t feel it, it’s a different thing. And not maybe there is a way to to be afraid of that. That’s part of prayer, too.” pray about this that also Scripture is always While the hymn was written with the involves song and that COVID-19 pandemic in mind, it is widely multivalent. It can apply applicable, Father Joncas said. “Scripture is would touch people at a different level,” he said. in new and different ways always multivalent. It can apply in new and But, he wondered, what different ways depending on what your life could people possibly want depending on what your situation is,” he said. “Just like people use to sing at this time? ‘On Eagles’ Wings’ for funerals, but it’s also life situation is. ... Then he thought of appropriate for baptisms and weddings and Psalm 23, which begins lots of stuff. … This is not limited to the This is not limited to the “The Lord is my shepherd, pandemic, but it is certainly arising out of that there is nothing I shall pandemic, but it is experience.” want.” The psalm has long Father Joncas said he has been moved certainly arising out been used as a reminder by news stories of nurses working on the of God’s closeness to of that experience. COVID-19 front lines throughout the United his people, even amid States, and how they are overwhelmed, Father Michael Joncas suffering. without enough personal protective equipment “That’s so deeply and unable to save their dying patients. ingrained in people’s “That stuff is hard, ” he said, emotion evident in his consciousness,” he said. “By writing a paraphrase of voice. “And I think in a way this prayer arises out Psalm 23, I could make it really, really connect to what of that.” we’re doing today. We know we have intimacy with As is his habit, Father Joncas has continued to tweak God. We beg that we continue to have intimacy with God. But right now, we’re kind of walking though the valley of the shadow of death.” For Father Joncas, 68, an artist in residence and a research fellow in the Center for Catholic Studies at Look for The Catholic Spirit advertising insert from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, the short time it took for the hymn to go from an idea to a basic composition was a sign that “there must be something in all copies of this issue. good about it.” The next day, he sent it to his publisher, GIA
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‘SHELTER ME’ 1. Shepherd and sheep, my God and I: to fresh green fields you led my steps in days gone by. You gave me rest by quiet springs and filled my soul with peace your loving presence brings. REFRAIN: O shelter me, O shelter me: the way ahead is dark and difficult to see. O shelter me, O shelter me: all will be well if only you will shelter me. 2. Yet now I tread a diff’rent way; death dogs my path with stealthy steps from day to day. I cannot find your peaceful place but dwell in dreary darkness, longing for your face. REFRAIN 3. I will look back in days to come and realize your faithfulness has led me home. Within your house I’ll find my peace, trusting that in your mercy you have sheltered me. the hymn, only finishing fine-tuning the arrangement of the basic score, with a melody line and piano, on Holy Thursday, April 9. But he’s already worked on an arrangement with parts for soprano, alto and bass vocalists with the addition of woodwinds, and is now working on a chamber music version, with instrumental parts appropriate for a small orchestra. With a laugh, he attributed having time for composing multiple arrangements to being under Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order. But, he noted, to his dismay, that his piano is out of tune, something he can’t have fixed until the order is lifted. He hopes that people who sing and hear “Shelter Me” will experience God through it, and “that experience would be comforting to them,” he said. “This song is about tenderness.”
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SAINT JOHN VIANNEY SEMINARY
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
APRIL 23, 2020
THELASTWORD
‘When this is over’ Minnesota writer offers the world a spiritual antidote for the coronavirus By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit
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he coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruptions in people’s daily lives, hampering or blocking the ability to go to work, attend school or celebrate public Mass.
But losses also fall into little things people might take for granted — meeting friends for coffee, dropping a child off at a birthday party or shaking someone’s hand.
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Thoughts about the missing pieces to everyday lives percolated in the mind of Laura Kelly Fanucci, a writer and parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove. Finally, one night in mid-March, while feeding her newborn son, she put down her thoughts in the form of a poem. She typed it on her smart phone — next to a shopping list for her family of seven. Fanucci, 39, whose column “Faith at Home” runs in The Catholic Spirit and nationally, posted the poem the next morning on her Facebook and Instagram accounts — and she was amazed to see how quickly it struck a chord with people around the world. The poem was soon shared millions of times. Halle Berry, Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and Maria Shriver shared it. The producer of Kelly Clarkson’s television show asked her to become part of its web-based broadcast. The poem’s appeal was universal. Fanucci has lost count of how many languages in which it now appears. “It took on a life of its own, which was just amazing to see,” said Fanucci, the program director of the vocation-focused Communities of Calling Initiative at the Collegeville Institute at St. John’s University in Collegeville. Simple and direct throughout, the poem concludes: “When this ends, may we find that we have become more like the people we wanted to be, we were called to be, we hoped to be, and may we stay that way — better for each other because of the worst.” Pastors emailed about using it in sermons. Musicians asked about setting it to music. The poem is being used in a public art project in England that includes people writing what they are looking forward to once the pandemic ends. It can be found on her website, laurakellyfanucci.com. Fanucci loves seeing how people have made the poem their own. High schoolers asked about printing it in their yearbook. Teachers use it in distance learning, encouraging children to write their own poetry. Some people write the poem in chalk on sidewalks. One woman emailed Fanucci
It took on a life of its own, which was just amazing to see. Laura Kelly Fanucci
CNS
Laura Kelly Fanucci, a writer and parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, authored a poem about the coronavirus pandemic that has garnered international attention.
When this is over, may we never again take for granted A handshake with a stranger Full shelves at the store Conversations with neighbors A crowded theater Friday night out The taste of communion A routine checkup The school rush each morning Coffee with a friend The stadium roaring Each deep breath A boring Tuesday Life itself. When this ends, may we find that we have become more like the people we wanted to be we were called to be we hoped to be and may we stay that way — better for each other because of the worst.
a photo of a beautiful quilt she was making that incorporates words from the poem. Fanucci appreciates being able to offer people some hope and light. “It was born out of my own worry and anxiety about everything that’s going on, but it’s been this really beautiful thing,” she said. “I think it resonated so deeply because it taps into … all those ordinary things that we really miss right now. … We don’t want to take those things for granted anymore.” With a laugh, Fanucci added, “As a writer, I don’t know if anything I’ll ever write again will be read by that many people.” She added that her prayer as a writer, at a deeper level, is “God help me be a channel for whatever you might want to speak to people.” Fanucci wonders if the poem was a piece of hope that people needed. She also wonders if we will eventually go back to everything on her list. Will we still shake hands or will we find another way to meet and greet each other? And might people change from this experience for the better? She recently talked with one of her older sons about stores reserving a shopping hour each day for the elderly, handicapped or immunocompromised. Her son asked her, “Well, why didn’t we always do that?” When we talk as Catholics about the common good, she said, maybe that’s something we can keep going.