HOW FITTING! Bishop Michael Izen, left, and Bishop-elect Kevin Kenney inspect a crosier Aug. 4 at The House of Hansen in Chicago. The bishop-elect was there to be measured for vestments before his Oct. 28 ordination and installation as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The House of Hansen has been the choice for vestments of several bishops-elect in the archdiocese. Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Williams of Camden, New Jersey, for example, was an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese when he accompanied Bishop Izen to the shop before Bishop Izen was ordained April 11, 2023.
JOY From left, Charles Bulger, Thomas Hellenbrand, Jonathan Jue-Wong and John Rosenwinkel react to remarks made during their First Vows Profession Mass for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) Aug. 10 at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. Father Karl Kiser, provincial of the USA Midwest Province, was the celebrant at the Mass. The four men spent two years in formation at the Jesuit novitiate in St. Paul. At the end of the profession Mass, they were given their next assignments.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Aug. 16 “Practicing Catholic” radio show included a discussion with Deacon Dan Gannon about the Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation, and an interview with Father Joseph Johnson about his return to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul as the rector. The program also included a talk with Bishop Michael Izen about back-to-school time and the importance of Catholic education. Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm org/faith-and-discipleship/ practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
The Lord won’t ask us, ‘What did you study?’ ‘How many degrees do you have?’ ‘How many works did you accomplish?’ No, no. The Lord will say, ‘Come with me because I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was persecuted and you protected me.’ That is the theme of the final exam on which we will be judged.
Pople Francis at the Vatican Aug. 12 addressing members of the general chapters of the Dominican Missionary Sisters of St. Sixtus, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and the Vocationist Fathers. All four religious orders, the pope said, were founded to support and educate young people from poor families who would not otherwise receive the education they needed and the guidance necessary to discover their vocations.
NEWS notes
The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul is debuting a new direct admission pathway for high school seniors interested in a nursing career. Students applying to the university’s Susan S. Morrison School of Nursing for fall 2025 and beyond will be accepted directly into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, rather than after completing their first semester at St. Thomas. The change assures accepted applicants a place in the nursing cohort before they begin their time at the university, removing the need to apply and complete a competitive admissions process during their first year of college. “When students are admitted via the direct pathway into nursing, it decreases their stress in the first semesters of college,”
Annette Hines, executive director of the nursing school, said in a statement. “Students will also be able to identify as a nursing major and start seeing themselves as nurses from the very beginning of their St. Thomas experience.” To be considered for direct admission, high school seniors must have a GPA of 3.75 or higher and apply to the university by Dec. 1. Once on campus, students must complete prerequisite courses and maintain good academic standing.
Catholic Extension — which assists dioceses and ministries in the poorest regions of the United States — has announced seven finalists from around the country for its 2024-2025 Lumen Christi Award — and a religious sister in the Diocese of Duluth is among those being considered for the highest honor bestowed by the Chicago-based nonprofit. Benedictine Sister Lisa Maurer of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth coaches college players on football and faith at the College of St. Scholastica, next to the monastery. Sister Lisa is also committed to all the student athletes in the college’s 22 athletic programs. She said her role as a coach opens the door to discussions about life’s struggles, and coaching can be used as a “real-life application of how we live as people.” Finalists for the award receive $10,000 for their ministries. The recipient will be selected this fall and given a $25,000 grant, along with a $25,000 grant for the nominating diocese.
The Minnesota Catholic Conference, which is the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in the state, is urging people in this election season — and in all elections — to study the candidates and issues through the lens of Catholic social teaching, which stands on protecting the inherent dignity of all people as made in the image and likeness of God. “This fundamental belief is central to how we engage in public life, including how we vote,” the MCC states (see “Inside the Capitol” column, page 17).
ON THE COVER LaTasha Mays, right, senior program manager at Catholic Charities Hope Street for Youth shelter in Minneapolis, and Novolia Tindall, case manager, look over items at the center’s newly-opening closet Aug. 19. Residents at the shelter experiencing housing instability will be able to come in and select clothing items.
The Catholic Spirit is taking a three-week break. Please watch for our next print edition Sept. 12.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
COURTESY BISHOP MICHAEL IZEN
JESUIT
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP
ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
Praying for a Church that is always young
was privileged to be at St. Peter’s Square on the 24th of April 2005 as Pope Benedict inaugurated his ministry as bishop of Rome. As an undersecretary in one of the Vatican offices, I had one of the best seats in the square. While the bishops and cardinals would have all been closer to the new Holy Father, we lowly monsignors were in the first few rows looking head-on at the altar and at St. Peter’s Basilica. I’ll never forget it.
I had already been working in Rome for nine years and had been blessed to work with the new pope on a number of projects when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. I had heard that at age 78 he was looking forward to retirement — and yet the Holy Spirit working through the cardinal electors had chosen him as the successor of Peter. I was thrilled to be there in the square praying for him as he received the pallium and the fisherman’s ring.
I remember being particularly moved by his homily that day and especially intrigued by the insistence of this 78-year-old pope that the 2,000-year-old Church was not only alive but also “young.” He elaborated that the young Church “holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way toward the future.”
I’m always grateful when I’m reminded about the youthful vigor of our Church. I recently had the great privilege of celebrating Mass for youth of our archdiocese who had spent the week at Extreme Faith Camp, now held at Trinity Woods in Trego, Wisconsin. The setting is spectacular, just perfect for helping middle schoolers, high schoolers and adults to encounter Christ
Orando por una Iglesia siempre joven
Tuve el privilegio de estar en San Pedro el 24 de abril de 2005 como Papa Benedicto inauguró su ministerio como obispo de Roma. Como subsecretario en uno del Vaticano oficnas, tenía uno de los mejores asientos en la Plaza de San Pedro. Mientras que los obispos y todos los cardenales habríamos estado más cerca del nuevo Santo Padre, nosotros, los humildes monseñores, eran en las primeras filas mirando de frente al altar y a Basílica de San Pedro. Nunca lo olvidaré.
Ya llevaba nueve años trabajando en Roma y había tenido la suerte de trabajar con al nuevo Papa en una serie de proyectos cuando todavía era el cardenal Ratzinger. Había oído que a los 78 años esperaba jubilarse... y sin embargo el Espíritu Santo obraba a través de los cardenales electores lo habían elegido como sucesor de Pedro. Estaba emocionado de estar allí en la plaza rezando por él mientras recibía el palio y anillo de pescadores.
Recuerdo que me conmovió especialmente su homilía de ese día y me intrigó especialmente la insistencia de este Papa de 78 años en que la Iglesia de 2.000 años no sólo estaba viva pero también “joven”. Explicó que la joven Iglesia “tiene dentro de sí el futuro de el mundo y por lo tanto nos muestra a cada uno de nosotros el camino hacia el futuro”.
Siempre estoy agradecido cuando recuerdo el vigor juvenil de nuestra Iglesia. Yo recientemente tuvo el gran privilegio de celebrar Misa para los jóvenes de nuestra arquidiócesis que habían pasado la semana en Extreme Faith Camp, que ahora se lleva a cabo en Trinity Woods en Trego, Wisconsin. El entorno es espectacular, perfecto para ayudar a estudiantes de secundaria, preparatoria y adultos para encontrar a Cristo y la verdadera comunidad cristiana en medio de cuerdas altas y tiro con arco y aventura acuática. El nivel de participación en la Misa me indicó de inmediato que algo especial había sucedido esa
and true Christian community amid high ropes, archery tag and aquatic adventure. The level of participation at Mass tipped me off right away that something special had happened that week, and the testimonies that were shared by the campers after Mass confirmed my suspicion. The young people spoke with an amazing depth of their experiences at adoration, or in confession, or in small group sharing. I drove home with a heart filled with hope for what God was doing in his young Church.
I experienced that same youthful zeal as Bishop Izen, Bishop-elect Kenney and I gathered for our annual weekend with the seminarians from our archdiocese, this year at Dunrovin Christian Brothers Retreat Center, just north of Stillwater. It’s a time for prayer and fraternity that culminates with the celebration of the Rite of Candidacy for those seminarians entering first theology.
I found myself counting my blessings as our new vocations director, Father Mark Pavlak, introduced the 17 men who will begin their seminary studies for our archdiocese in just a few weeks. They are an impressive group, already accomplished despite their youth. Given that 13 of our seminarians were ordained to the priesthood last May, we had anticipated that our numbers would be lower this year. God, in his goodness, however, had other plans for his young Church and for our archdiocese in particular.
Our seminarians –– all 60 of them –– are a diverse group. When they finally had a free afternoon, some went canoeing, others played volleyball, soccer or Ultimate Frisbee. Some went exploring through the marsh (an annual event that they call “swamping”), and
semana, y los testimonios que fueron compartidos por los campistas después de la misa confirmaron mis sospechas. Los jóvenes hablaron con un increíble profundidad de sus experiencias en la adoración, o en la confesión, o en grupos pequeños intercambio. Manejé a casa con el corazón lleno de esperanza por lo que Dios estaba haciendo en su Iglesia joven. Experimenté el mismo celo juvenil que el obispo Izen, el obispo electo Kenney y yo nos reunimos para nuestro fin de semana anual con los seminaristas de nuestra arquidiócesis, este año en Dunrovin Christian Brother Retreat Center, justo al norte de Stillwater. Es un momento para oración y fraternidad que culmina con la celebración del Rito de Candidatura a aquellos seminaristas que ingresan a la primera teología. Me encontré contando mis bendiciones como nuestro nuevo director de vocaciones, el Padre Mark Pavlak, presentó a los 17 hombres que comenzarán sus estudios de seminario para nuestra arquidiócesis en apenas algunas semanas. Son un grupo impresionante, ya logrado a pesar de su juventud. Dado que 13 de nuestros seminaristas fueron ordenados sacerdotes en mayo pasado, teníamos anticipamos que nuestras cifras serían menores este año. Dios, en su bondad, sin embargo, tenía otros planes para su joven Iglesia y para nuestra arquidiócesis en particular. Nuestros seminaristas ––60 en total–– son un grupo diverso. Cuando finalmente tuvieron una por la tarde, algunos fueron a hacer piragüismo, otros jugaron voleibol, fútbol o Ultimate Frisbee. Algunos se fueron a explorar el pantano (evento anual al que llaman “swamping”), y otros jugaban juegos de mesa con reglas demasiado complejas para cualquier persona mayor de 30 años (incluso con la título de derecho). Lo que me emocionó, sin embargo, fue su deseo común de escuchar las llamado del Señor, a hacer su voluntad y servir a su Iglesia. Estaban gritando en el campo de juego, pero me ganaron para entrar a la capilla cada mañana para nuestra Hora Santa.
Ojalá hubiéramos grabado en vídeo los testimonios de los seminaristas veteranos que compartieron sus experiencias este verano. Mientras que algunos construyeron viviendas e infraestructura en un
others played board games with rules far too complex for anyone over 30 (even with law degrees). What thrilled me, however, was their common desire to listen for the Lord’s call, to do his will and to serve his Church. They were hooting and hollering on the playing field but beat me into the chapel each morning for our Holy Hour.
I wish that we had videoed the testimonies of the veteran seminarians who shared their experiences this summer. While some built homes and infrastructure in a barrio outside of Lima, Peru, others poured themselves out as Totus Tuus missionaries working with children and teens in our archdiocese, or in learning pastoral skills for the care of the sick, or in traveling to Mexico for a summer of Spanish studies, or in serving in our parishes. Whatever they were doing, they looked for opportunities to give witness to others about what Christ has done for them. I am really proud of them and suspect you would be, too.
I found myself deeply grateful to our seminarians and their families, as well as to Father David Blume, who served the last nine years as our vocations director and worked diligently at promoting a culture of vocations in our archdiocese, along with Patty McQuillan, the administrative assistant in the Office of Vocations. I thank God, as well, for the seminary personnel — priests, deacons and laity — who are so expertly forming these men. We are blessed.
Especially as we prepare for a new school year, please join me in praying not only for our seminarians but for all the youth of our archdiocese, that they might know God’s love, respond to his varied calls and keep our Church always young.
barrio fuera de Lima, Perú, otros se entregaron como misioneros Totus Tuus trabajando con niños y adolescentes en nuestra arquidiócesis, o en aprender habilidades pastorales para el cuidado de la enfermo, o en viajar a México para un verano de estudios de español, o en servir en nuestro parroquias. En cualquier cosa que estuvieran haciendo, buscaban oportunidades para dar testimonio de otros acerca de lo que Cristo ha hecho por ellos. Estoy muy orgulloso de ellos y sospecho de ti también lo sería.
Me sentí profundamente agradecido a nuestros seminaristas y sus familias, así como al Padre David Blume, quien sirvió los últimos nueve años como nuestro director de vocaciones y trabajó diligentemente en promover una cultura de vocaciones en nuestra arquidiócesis, junto con Patty McQuillan, asistente administrativa de la Oficina de Vocaciones. Doy gracias a Dios también para el personal del seminario (sacerdotes, diáconos y laicos) que están formando tan expertamente estos hombres. Estamos bendecidos.
Especialmente mientras nos preparamos para un nuevo año escolar, únanse a mí en oración no sólo por nuestros seminaristas sino para todos los jóvenes de nuestra arquidiócesis, para que conozcan la amar, responder a sus variados llamados y mantener nuestra Iglesia siempre joven.
OFFICIAL
Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointment in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective September 9, 2024
Reverend Michael Selenski, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul in Osseo while the current pastor, Reverend Dennis Zehren, is on sabbatical. This is in addition to his assignment as parochial vicar of the same parish.
Wings of healing
Mia Yang, a community hospice nurse at Our Lady of Peace Residential Hospice in St. Paul, holds a monarch butterfly during OLP’s annual Butterfly Release and Memorial Celebration Aug. 8. The event, which drew about 300 people, honored those who have died while in OLP’s care, and their family members. “The butterflies were just special,” said Corine Goodrich, whose husband is a resident of OLP. “We feel very blessed to have this place and to be able to be here at this beautiful center.” According to Amy Cotter, bereavement services director, the butterflies are meant to symbolize both grief and hope. “It mimics our Christian hope in resurrection,” she said. “Our loved ones (who died) have changed forever, but they’re still with us. They might have flown on, but they’re forever in our hearts, and we’re forever in relationship with them.”
Small groups in archdiocese find structure yet flexibility in PECS
By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit
An international model of faithbased small groups is finding a home in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis less than a year into its implementation as part of Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s vision in his 2022 pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
The model — Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) — is designed to strengthen parish life through small groups and encourage people to share their faith and hope in Jesus Christ with each other — and then the broader community.
Rick Goulart of Our Lady of Grace (OLG) in Edina said he knows one person in his small group who began talking with his postal carrier about Jesus’ love, and over time, the postal worker asked about joining the Church at OLG through its Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) program.
“That’s spreading the good news door to door,” Goulart said.
Popular in parts of Europe, South America and Africa, the archdiocese’s approach to PECS marks the first time the model has been introduced across an entire diocese. More than 1,220 small groups with over 16,000 participants were established in the archdiocese during Lent this year.
The goal at OLG is to have everyone in the parish be part of a small group, said Jessica Balzarini, the parish’s associate for discipleship. It will take time, Balzarini said, but some foundations are being laid.
PECS provides a structure that is fruitful when used consistently, while also allowing flexibility to meet the needs of any number of small groups, archdiocesan officials have said.
Seven elements of a PECS meeting are: Praising God with songs and prayers; sharing recent experiences of God and participants’ responses to him; a teaching element and discussion, with content depending on a group’s focus; parish announcements; intercessory prayer for people in and outside the group; and prayers for one another’s petitions within the group.
“The way that our international partners have talked about it is the seven moments of a PECS small group are like the skeleton of a body,” said Gizella “Gizzy” Miko, PECS group facilitator in the archdiocese’s Office of Discipleship and Evangelization (ODE). “They help give it the structure that protects what’s essential.”
There is flexibility to minister to a particular need in a special way in a small group, while maintaining the seven elements that together make PECS effective, Miko said.
Miko traveled to Milan, Italy, at the end of May with Laura Haraldson, the ODE’s facilitator of implementation, to talk about the archdiocese’s experience with PECS at the 34th International Seminar of Parish Evangelization Cells. They learned from other groups around the country as well, Miko said (see sidebar).
DRAWING CLOSER TO JESUS CHRIST
Gizella “Gizzy” Miko and Laura Haraldson of the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization (ODE) are primary facilitators of small groups and implementing Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter in the archdiocese. They traveled to Milan, Italy, around Memorial Day weekend to share experiences with about 125 people from around the world at the 34th International Seminar of Parish Evangelization Cells, May 24-26.
Haraldson said she came away with at least three important points to emphasize.
“We know that Parish Evangelization Cells must come from that soil that begins with adoration, regular prayer in adoration of our Lord, and then also that infusion of the Holy Spirit,” Haraldson said.
“Another exciting takeaway for me was ... that PECS (groups) are really ideal ways to approach small group ministry with our youth,” she said. “That was an affirmation that this can go in so many different directions.”
And third, the importance of drawing more people into the formation, sharing and evangelizing that PECS is designed to facilitate through pastors continuing to work with parish executive cell teams and with parishioners, Haraldson said.
In addition, people at the conference appreciated hearing from representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which is the only diocese in the world that is encouraging all parishes to be involved with PECS, Haraldson said.
Bishop Joseph Williams –– then an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese and now coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey –– was at last year’s conference with Deacon Joseph Michalak, director of ODE, and others. The backing and presence of a bishop and other archdiocesan leaders has been important to the international movement, Haraldson said.
“Gizzy was able to speak to how parish evangelization cells were rolling out in our archdiocese coming off of Lent,” Haraldson said. “She was able to give an inspirational message of hope, of how this might look when an entire diocese dives in.”
Miko said she, too, was excited about the PECS model being effective among youth, with
priests from Uganda and Spain explaining their experiences with PECS in youth ministry.
Another important realization for Miko during the conference was that the PECS model, chosen by Archbishop Hebda for the archdiocese, has been approved by the Vatican and is effective in countries around the globe.
“This is successful in France, Ireland, England, Uganda, Guatemala, Spain and so many places,” Miko said. “It’s not something we made up. It’s international. There are so many small group systems that are awesome, and I’ve used many of them in the U.S., but I’ve never seen any of those go beyond the U.S.”
Another key point is PECS helps form missionary disciples who can bring the good news of Christ to others.
“We know the Church exists to evangelize,” Miko said. “And so, if these small groups evangelize, then they will help us become more of what we are.”
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–– Joe Ruff
COURTESY LAURA HARALDSON Miko presents a talk May 26 on ways the Holy Spirit has been active through PECS in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
COURTESY MARTHA MIKO
Gizella “Gizzy” Miko talks with Archbishop Mario Enrico Delpini of Milan, Italy, during a break in the May 24-26 international seminar on the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS).
Retiring priests: Years of public ministry
FATHER MICHAEL ANDERSON, 67, retired from ministry July 1; he has subsequently served the communities of Benedictine Living Community-Regina and Alina United Health hospital, both in Hastings. He was pastor of St. Joseph in Lino Lakes from 2015 to 2024, St. Bernard in St. Paul (1995-2015) and Holy Name in Minneapolis (1990-1995). He was parochial vicar of Our Lady of Grace in Edina (1986-1990) and associate pastor of Our Lady of the Lake in Mound (1983-1986). He was chaplain of Serra Clubs from 1992 to 1998.
FATHER TERRENCE “TERRY” HAYES, 83, retired from ministry in September 2023, after serving as pastor of Our Lady of Victory in Minneapolis for 30 years. Father Hayes was canonical administrator of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Hastings from 1995 to 2008. He was associate pastor of then St. Austin in Minneapolis (1979-1993) and assistant pastor and parochial administrator of Annunciation in Minneapolis (1972-1979).
PECS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
Danielle Blanshan, 28, a member of Epiphany in Coon Rapids, leads a small group of about seven women in their 20s and 30s who organized out of the Catholic Softball Group in the archdiocese. In addition to softball, Blanshan’s small group meets once a month to more deeply explore their faith in a PECS-based group.
“I love the community and talking about my faith,” Blanshan said.
The PECS model is effective, in part because it provides a variety of entry points for people to participate, and a framework in which to keep the conversation going, she said. It is a blessing to hear several viewpoints while steering the meeting forward, Blanshan said.
People who are quiet or shy might not offer a lot of small talk, but they could be ready to share as a conversation takes a more theological turn, Blanshan said.
“It rounds out the opportunity for everyone,” she said. “That, and I love the prayer at the end, the healing prayer or the intention prayer. That’s pretty cool.”
At first, Blanshan said, she asked people to write down their prayers so they could be read to the group. That was not popular with everyone, so “then I opened it up to a more ‘popcorn’ style of conversation and people were more
FATHER PAUL JARVIS , 66, retired July 1 after ministering as parochial vicar of St. Bridget in Minneapolis from 2016 to 2024. He was pastor of Christ the King in Minneapolis (2015-2016), St. Joseph in Rosemount (2011-2015), Guardian Angels in Chaska (2007-2011) and parochial vicar of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis (2006-2007) and Our Lady of Grace in Edina (2004-2006).
FATHER KENNETH O’HOTTO , 70, retired July 10 after serving as pastor of St. Mary in Waverly for 13 years. He was state chaplain for the Knights of Columbus from 2011 to 2015 and ministered as pastor of then-St. Michael in West St. Paul (20032011), pastor and parochial administrator of St. Anne in Le Sueur (1990-2003), and associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul (1984-1990)
FIND A SMALL GROUP
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Discipleship and Evangelization is making it easy for people to join small groups that promote prayer, community and evangelization. An interactive website map can be searched by parish and small group types, topics, times, locations, days and targeted stages of life.
The website is archspm groupvitals com/groupfinder Or use a cellphone to scan the QR code to go straight to the site.
— Joe Ruff
willing to share,” she said.
“There is structure, but there is still some flexibility,” to the PECS model, Blanshan said.
Goulart, 71, said he leads a small group of about 12 people at Our Lady of Grace.
“The power of the PECS model, I think, is its design to regularly connect with people on their personal journey of faith outside of Sunday services, to meet them where they are emotionally, spiritually,” he said.
Goulart said he titled his group Be Calm Amidst the Chaos, and it has helped people from their late 30s to early 40s and into their late 70s share life’s stressors, such as family conflicts, anxiety or loss. Studies have included St. Gregory of Nyssa’s fourth century
and St. Dominic in Northfield (1980-1984). He was chaplain for the Commission on Scouting at the chancery from 1984 to 1990. While at Blessed Sacrament, Father O’Hotto taught at then-Blessed Sacrament School (1984-1990). He was chaplain for the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Department while at St. Anne in Le Sueur (1996-2003), for West St. Paul and Mendota Heights police departments (2004-2011) and for police at six Minnesota State Fairs (2006-2011).
FATHER MICHAEL SLUZACEK, 71, retired from ministry Aug. 1 after serving as director of pastoral formation at The St. Paul Seminary since 2019. He served as sacramental minister at St. Wenceslaus in New Prague (2019-2023) and on the pastors’ review board at the chancery for the first half of 2019, after having served as an appointee on the board from 2009 to 2012. He was a regional vicar at the chancery from 2011 to 2015 and a chaplain for local councils in the Knights of Columbus from 2010 to 2019. His parish work included ministry as pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton (2006-2019), pastor and rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul (20042006), pastor of St. Michael in Stillwater (1992-2004), parochial administrator (1998-1999) and pastor of St. Mary in Stillwater (1999-2004) and parochial vicar of St. John the Baptist in Savage (1991-1992). He was assigned outside the archdiocese for two years after teaching at St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul (1983-1989) and serving as associate pastor of the Cathedral (1980-1983).
homilies that centered on the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes, he said.
The group will meet Year Two’s focus on the Mass and the Eucharist this year as it helps implement the archbishop’s pastoral letter, and it is laying the groundwork for an effective Year Three focus on parents as the primary faith educators of their children, Goulart said.
Patty Beissel, 71, leads a small group using the PECS model at St. Raphael in Crystal. At 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass Aug. 4, all 13 members brought up the offertory gifts. “That draws attention to small groups,” Beissel said.
“When I asked my small group (about bringing up the gifts) the hands went up” in affirmation, Beissel said. “Nobody commented. The hands just
went up.”
At first concerned about forming a small group because “we did that years ago and I didn’t like it,” Beissel said she responded after a homily at her parish that stressed God’s presence to those who might be afraid.
She is happy she did. The PECS format encourages people to share without putting them on the spot and making them uncomfortable, Beissel said. It also helps the group leader keep participants on track when the conversation begins to veer off topic, she said.
“In my group, there is an order to it,” Beissel said, explaining that she honors people’s time by starting promptly at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and ending promptly at 11:30 a.m., with an open invitation to stay longer as people might desire.
“I play songs, it sets the tone for the meeting,” Beissel said. “I write the intercessions. There is trust in our group, and organization.”
Other small groups at the parish also are doing well, Beissel said, and she sees the benefit as people know each other better and are naturally kinder, more open, caring and sharing. Beissel herself plans to start a second small group, this one for couples.
Beissel said she is grateful to the archbishop. “I believe in his dream,” she said. “I believe this is how we get more people excited about the faith.”
What is it like for a priest to retire?
By Josh McGovern
The Catholic Spirit
“I didn’t know what my future was going to be when I decided to retire,” Father Michael Anderson, who retired on July 1, said. “But I kept thinking, I still want to be able to live out this life I feel called to (the priesthood).”
Father Anderson was ordained in 1983 and was first assigned to Our Lady of the Lake in Mound. In 1986, he was assigned to Our Lady of Grace in Edina, then St. Bernard in St. Paul, where he stayed for 20 years until 2015. Father Anderson then served as a priest at St. Joseph of the Lake in Lino Lakes. He said he was graced with the ability to stay in communities for a long time.
The priesthood, as described by Father Michael Van Sloun, the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is a vocation, not a job or a career, and does not end when a priest retires.
“It (the priesthood) is a lifelong commitment,” Father Van Sloun explained. “If a priest retires as a pastor or from another ministry, he does not cease to be a priest. As Scripture says, ‘You are a priest forever.’ See Ps 110:4; Heb 5:6; 7:3, 17, 21, 24. Most priests continue in some form of ministry after turning 70.”
If a priest retires as a pastor or from another ministry, he does not cease to be a priest. As Scripture says, ‘You are a priest forever.’
Father Michael Van Sloun
confessions, or preside for a baptism, funeral or a wedding. Senior priests also serve as hospital chaplains, either full time, part time, or for occasional coverage, lead pilgrimages, provide spiritual direction, teach courses, and offer workshops, retreats, Bible studies and other programs.
In 2009, Father Anderson was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. In 2022, he awoke one morning and found he couldn’t walk. His previously diagnosed condition had caused this degeneration. After going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, doctors offered surgery that had a 50/50 chance of being successful to help him walk again. Father Anderson decided then that he would rather learn to live the way he was.
Congratulations to Father Paul Shovelain
Father Michael Tix, a vicar general of the archdiocese, agreed with Father Van Sloun.
on the 10th Anniversary
“Priesthood isn’t a career, but a vocation and grounded in the Scriptures of being a priest forever,” Father Tix said. “In this sense, while retiring from active ministry, a retired priest continues to live in the ways of a priest that includes his praying for the Church in the Liturgy of the Hours, celebrating Mass, and other ways that he can fulfill his vocation of service to the Church.”
New Brighton, MN
“There happened to be somebody at St. Joe’s (in Lino Lakes) who passed away, who had used an electric wheelchair, and the family had given it to the parish,” Father Anderson said. “The maintenance guys gave it to me. From 2022 until my retirement in June, I was able to do ministry at St. Joe’s in the wheelchair, but it was limiting.”
everything I need,” said Father Anderson, who now lives in Hastings. “It gives me the opportunity to do stuff that (I) was really limited on doing as a pastor over the last several years. I didn’t realize how much I was missing: anointing people, walking with them in their challenges of life and just being able to be a word of encouragement about that future for us, that future of going home. Coming here, it put me right in the center of everything I was missing.”
Father Paul Jarvis, another recently retired priest, said, “The archbishop asks all retired priests to help in whatever way we can. I help with Masses, confessions, funerals and a few weddings whenever I can. I think serving is a form of prayer.”
Father Jarvis currently lives at the Leo. C. Byrne Residence, an independent living residence for retired priests in St. Paul.
their own family celebrations,” Father Tix said. “Our retired priests also help our active priests through their shared wisdom, mentorship and support — all of which is a great blessing that is much appreciated.”
“They’re as busy as they want to be,” Father Van Sloun said of retired priests. “There’s plenty of opportunities to go out and help. … The ministry of retired priests is greatly appreciated. Archbishop (Bernard) Hebda often speaks of the blessing that retired priests are to the archdiocese, how grateful he is that retired priests continue to serve, and how the spiritual gifts of retired priests continue to enrich the Church. Similarly, active priests and parishioners are deeply grateful for the ministry of retired priests.”
Father Tix explained that in most cases, a retired priest wanting to do parish work depends on individual contacts between retired and active priests and parishes that are most familiar with the retired priests. Father Tix added, “that network is always easily expandable to other priests and parishes wanting or needing help.”
When asked if it’s difficult for priests to retire, Father Tix said, “I can imagine that for some, retirement will be difficult because of a dramatic change in their routine and administrative tasks of a priest serving as a pastor, and for others the change will be welcomed.”
However, with exceptions, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis does mandate retirement at age 75.
“The archbishop can grant permission for a priest to serve in an assignment beyond the age of 75,” Father Van Sloun said. “Early retirement may be granted for medical or other special reasons. Whatever the age or circumstance, the priest sends a letter to request retirement to the archbishop, and the archbishop alone grants permission.”
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ~ John 1:29 of his ordination to the priesthood!
While St. Joseph was wheelchair accessible, Father Anderson’s condition made it difficult to go to hospitals, make sick calls and bless houses.
As the Father loves us, so we also love you!
“Things like that were ... enough to think, ‘It would be better for me to find a place more handicap accessible.’ It would also bring a new person to St. Joe’s who would be a little bit more capable of meeting all of the needs of the parish, instead of setting them into my limitations.”
Congratulations to Father Derek Gilde on his ordination to the priesthood! New Brighton, MN
Retired priests are still able to remain sacramental ministers at parishes as “visiting priests.” Additionally, they can offer weekend or weekday Masses, hear
In December 2023, Father Tix asked Father Anderson if he’d ever considered retiring. At the time, Father Anderson expected to work another three years, but after considerable prayer, he felt more peace with the idea of retiring.
Father Anderson soon found in the care facilities he regained what he felt he’d been recently missing. Without administrative tasks such as parish financial meetings, Father Anderson said he felt like he could get back to the bare bones of being a priest.
“I have access to anything and
Congratulations to Father Michael Skluzáček on his retirement from active ministry!
Brighton, MN
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
~ 2 Timothy 4:7
“The Byrne Residence is a bit like a daily retreat,” Father Jarvis said. “I find myself being more deliberate in small, everyday things. Less asking for this and that, and more opening myself up to what God has for me ... including what God has for me to do in my senior, more medically challenged years.”
Father Michael Skluzacek, recently the director of pastoral formation at The St. Paul Seminary, retired Aug. 1, and is also a resident of the Byrne Residence. Father Skluzacek plans to continue ministry by mentoring new soon-to-be pastors in the Diocese of New Ulm.
“I plan to keep busy,” Father Skluzacek said. “I also plan to do pilgrimages. I’m looking at a pilgrimage to Poland next year and I’d love to travel, so hopefully I’ll be doing some traveling. ... I don’t plan to be bored. I plan to keep busy, but not at the pace that I used to work.”
Father Skluzacek plans to say Mass every day and help other priests in parishes who might need his assistance with daily Masses and confessions.
“The generosity of our retired priests in helping at parishes is huge as they help priests in active ministry to get away for renewal opportunities like retreats, vacations, and just being able to attend anything from wedding receptions to
As welcome as retirement may be, Father Van Sloun said there’s too great a love for the priesthood for it to end at retirement.
“It’s part of their blood,” Father Van Sloun said. “The Church teaches that it actually changes your character. There’s an indelible mark on your character, the priesthood is. Baptism is, too, but you’re not a priest just when you ‘go to work.’ It’s amazing when you’re ‘off duty’ how much ministry you still have an opportunity to be able to do. Right now, I go walking through the grocery store and somebody recognizes me as a priest and oftentimes comes over and says, ‘Can you give me a little advice on this or that?’ ... Bishop (Fulton) Sheen was really a great, prominent bishop in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He said priests don’t have office hours.”
Currently in the archdiocese, there are 13 priests over the age of 70 who are serving as pastors and three serving as parochial administrators. Five priests retired in the last year. Fathers Kenneth O’Hotto and Terrence Hayes also retired as of this publication (see page 6).
St. Jerome Church
Saturday, September 14
‘Father Fred’ remembered for deep faith and love of simple things
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
Richard Rohlfing thought nothing of driving an hour and a half from his home to the funeral of Father Frederick Meyer Aug. 14 at St. Agnes in St. Paul. Father Meyer, who was a priest for 68 years, died Aug. 1 at age 93.
Rohlfing wanted to say farewell to a priest he met in 1974 when he served Mass shortly after Father Meyer’s arrival at Nativity in Cleveland, where he served for 18 years. Rohlfing became “quite loyal” to Father Meyer and followed him in 1992 to his next assignment at St. Henry in St. Henry. Father Meyer served there for 13 years, with Rohlfing in the pews for Mass throughout that time and taking numerous photos of the priest at various Masses and events.
“He was a big influence on me,” said Rohlfing, who is married and has a 14-year-old daughter. “I went to his last Mass at St. Henry, his going-away Mass. One of the things he said, which still sticks with me, is ‘If I have offended anybody here, I hope you forgive me. And if any of you have offended me, know that I forgive you, too.’”
Father Meyer, the oldest of four, always insisted on being called “Father Fred,” said his niece, Dr. Vicki Oster, who regularly spent time with him over the years, including his last six years at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Holy Family Residence in St. Paul.
“He was just a man of deep faith, and he really liked the simple things,” said Oster, 59. “He loved to be outside in nature. … Starting I think in the seminary, he said he always made it a point to take a walk every single day to get outside in nature.”
“He loved simple things like that,” she said. “He never had a TV. He listened to the radio.”
Father James Reidy, one of only two members of Father Meyer’s 1956 ordination class of 18 who is still living, said he was a “very kind man.” Father Reidy was able to attend the funeral Mass at St. Agnes, where Father Meyer served during his earlier years of ministry. The homilist for the Mass, Father Ken O’Hotto, noted Father Meyer’s 49 years of active ministry, and said at one point he served at a parish in the Le Sueur area near where Father Meyer was serving.
“Father Fred loved being a priest,” said Father O’Hotto, who has been a priest for 44 years. “He was a kind man, a good priest, a man of faith, a priest who loved to celebrate the Mass, to celebrate the holy Eucharist.”
Steve Dembouski was another altar server who served alongside Father Meyer at Mass, starting in 1979 and continuing for nine years at Immaculate Conception in Marysburg, where Father Meyer served as parochial administrator from 1977 to 1992.
“I really appreciate the way he (celebrated) his
Masses,” said Dembouski, 54. “He always said I wasn’t serving for him, I was serving with him because it was for God.”
When Father Meyer retired in 2005, Dembouski and his wife, Lisa, helped him with various tasks at his apartment in Le Sueur and later helped him with legal and healthcare matters. They helped him move to St. Paul and the Little Sisters’ Holy Family
Residence six years ago and continued to help with his care.
“He was so gentle and sweet,” said Lisa Dembouski, 55. “Now, he didn’t always come across that way to people. You had to get to know him for a little while. But, once you knew him and you understood him, he was just like a little teddy bear.”
Like her husband, Lisa knew Father Meyer while she was growing up. He baptized her youngest sister, who later became a Carmelite nun. Lisa credits Father Meyer with helping facilitate that vocational calling. Father Meyer, who grew up in St. Paul, also baptized all five of the Dembouskis’ children. Now, Steve and Lisa attend Sts. Peter and Paul in Mankato (Diocese of Winona-Rochester).
Over years of spending time with Father Meyer, who also was close friends with Lisa’s father, they noticed one particular aspect of his behavior.
“Whenever we would (leave), he never wanted to tell my wife goodbye,” Steve recalled. “It would always be, ‘Keep the faith.’ Never wanted to say goodbye because that meant he might not see you again.”
Geri and Jim Korman will forever cherish a gift they received from Father Meyer on their wedding day in 1987. Jim, the priest’s nephew, and Geri asked him to be a concelebrant at their wedding Mass at St. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights. At the reception, Father Meyer handed them a present: “the most beautiful crucifix,” Geri said. “And that crucifix ... through the whole 37 years, (has) hung on our wall.”
“Every time you look at that crucifix, you’re thinking of Father Fred,” she said. “We’ll always have that (crucifix) in our family and we’ll pass that down to our kids someday.”
Geri Korman participates in the Seven Sisters Apostolate, a local ministry that offers Holy Hours for specific priests every day of the week. In 2019, a member of the group, Deb Thielen of St. Michael in Stillwater, began making quilts for retired priests with the goal of making one for each retired priest in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
During the annual retreat in 2022, which took place at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings, Geri Korman noticed a striking quilt displayed on a table, a quilt made by Thielen’s sister as part of a ministry called Appreciated and Loved.
“It drew me in, this quilt, and I had to go look at it,” said Korman, who belongs to a Seven Sisters Apostolate group at her parish, St. Therese in Deephaven. “And unbeknownst to me, here was Father Fred’s name and ordination date. It was for him.”
She added: “I was so grateful that he was getting this quilt because he certainly deserved that for all the years of his beautiful service and vocation. We’re so grateful for his vocation to serve the Lord.”
F ind out.
eology Day is an event for people seeking a deeper spiritual life or understanding of their faith and its place in their everyday lives. It is an opportunity to learn from and interact with the theologians at Saint John’s School of eology and Seminary and each other in the Benedictine tradition of community.
eology Day events are now being listed in the Catholic Spirit weekly newsletter and online calendar!
e Resurrection of the Dead, and the Life of the World to Come by Fr. Michael Patella, OSB
Join Fr. Michael as he draws from Scripture and Tradition to discuss the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead along with its implications for us now and in the hereafter on: Thursday, September 26 - 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
St. Bartholomew Catholic Church 630 E. Wayzata Blvd Wayzata, MN 55391
Participation is FREE, but registration is required. Go online to Theologyday.com or call 320-363-3560.
COURTESY RICHARD ROHLFING
In this July 12, 2009, photo, Father Frederick Meyer smiles after Mass at St. Henry in St. Henry during a celebration of the parish’s 150th anniversary.
NATION+WORLD HEADLINES
uU.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule. The Supreme Court Aug. 16 declined to allow the Biden administration to enforce portions of a new regulation expanding Title IX protections from sex discrimination to include students who identify as transgender while legal challenges to the rule proceed. In April, the Department of Education released its finalized regulations under Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law requiring women and girls have equal access and treatment in education and athletics, which department spokespersons argued broaden the rules governing educational institutions that receive federal funding to ensure that no person experiences sex discrimination. The regulation was challenged by several states, which argued that broadening the scope of the law could dilute its intended purpose of protecting women’s athletics. In its unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court found that all of the justices agreed the disputed changes, including the central issues involving sexual orientation and gender identity, could remain blocked, although four justices would have favored allowing unchallenged portions of the rule to go into effect. Administration officials have argued the new regulation is necessary to make sure students can access schools “that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.” However, Jonathan Scruggs, Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior counsel and its vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives, welcomed the high court’s decision in a statement and said the administration was “ignoring biological reality, science, and common sense.”
uWorld Humanitarian Day highlights a record sacrifice of aid workers in war zones. As the world commemorates World Humanitarian Day 2024, the latest figures were released on the dire circumstances aid workers face in war zones as they relieve the suffering of civilians caught in the crossfire. Humanitarian Outcomes, an aid research advocacy group, published its 2024 Aid Worker Security
Report Aug. 15, which stated that “2023 was the deadliest year for aid workers ever recorded, with fatalities more than double the annual average.” Humanitarian Outcomes is supported by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. According to the report, which was compiled by the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), 595 aid workers were victims of major attacks in 2023, including 280 who were killed in 33 countries. More than half of these deaths (163) were aid workers killed in the first three months of the conflict in Gaza, mostly as a result of airstrikes, the group stated. Citing data from the Humanitarian Access SCORE Report, the UN said the number of aid workers killed in Gaza was “an unprecedented number for a single context in such a short period.” In an editorial posted on the Caritas Internationalis website, JeanYves Terlinden, director of the International Cooperation and Humanitarian Unit of Caritas Europa, blamed the “continued complicity of the EU (European Union) and US in violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), double standards, and the increasing politicization of humanitarian support” for the growing death count in Gaza. Among the dead, Terlinden said, were two Caritas workers: Viola, a 26-year-old lab technician who was killed along with her husband and infant daughter when Israeli forces attacked St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza in October where civilians were sheltering; and Issam Abedrabbo, 35, a pharmacist who was killed with his two sons, leaving a daughter orphaned.
uThe death penalty fuels “poison” of revenge in society, Pope Francis says. Capital punishment promotes a deadly attitude of revenge and denies the possibility of change in the lives of incarcerated people, Pope Francis said. “The death penalty is in no way the solution to the violence that can strike innocent people,” the pope wrote in the preface to a new book on prison chaplaincy. Capital executions, “far from bringing justice, fuel a sense of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civil societies,” the pope wrote. And
rather than continue the cycle of violence, governments “should focus on allowing prisoners the opportunity to truly change their lives, rather than investing money and resources in their execution, as if they were human beings no longer worthy of living and to be disposed of.” The book featuring the pope’s preface, titled “A Christian on Death Row,” shares the experiences of Dale Recinella, a lay Catholic prison chaplain and licensed attorney who, along with his wife, has accompanied people on death row and in solitary confinement in Florida prisons since 1998. The book, published by the Vatican publishing house, was set to go on sale Aug. 27. In light of the upcoming Holy Year 2025, the pope wrote, Catholics should “collectively call for the abolition of the death penalty.”
uPilgrims flock to rainy Lourdes to celebrate feast of the Assumption at Marian shrine. The national pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Lourdes Aug. 12-16 attracted a record number of pilgrims. The French national pilgrimage is organized by the Assumptionists — a congregation whose priests and brothers are known in France for publishing the biggest daily Catholic newspaper, La Croix. “There was a great momentum in 2023 given the 150th anniversary” of the pilgrimage, said David Torchala, director of communications at the Lourdes sanctuary. But this year, “we are talking about 20% more,” he said. “Between 15,000 and 20,000 people attend the Assumption Mass, on the sanctuary’s large meadow,” Torchala said. The Lourdes baths, closed due to the pandemic, are now fully reopened. For many sick and disabled coming to Lourdes, bathing in the pools fed by the spring that Our Lady pointed Bernadette to in an apparition is the highlight of the pilgrimage.
uNew USCCB secretariat will advocate for justice and peace. Jill Rauh, the executive director of a newly created secretariat at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pledged to support the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the USCCB’s
domestic anti-poverty initiative, after some expressed concern about the future of that project following some staff layoffs. Rauh oversees the work of the new Secretariat of Justice and Peace, announced Aug. 6. The new office will serve four bishops’ committees to advance the social mission of the Church through formation, policy analysis, advocacy and outreach. Before her new appointment, Rauh was director of education and outreach for the Department of Justice and Peace, from 2017 to 2024. CCHD, which was founded in 1969 as the National Catholic Crusade Against Poverty, has been moved to the USCCB’s Office of National Collections, but the Secretariat of Justice and Peace will continue to collaborate with the anti-poverty initiative, Rauh said.
u A Wisconsin Catholic agency asks the Supreme Court to intervene on being denied religious exemption. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior asked the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 9 to overturn a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court the group argued discounted its religious identity. The group filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a March 14 ruling that Catholic Charities is not exempt from paying into the state’s unemployment insurance system because its operations aren’t primarily religious under the statute. Wisconsin law states religious employers in the Badger State are eligible for an exemption from its unemployment benefit program if they operate primarily for religious purposes. The state argued, however, that the Catholic Charities Bureau does not meet that standard. The bureau is seeking an exemption so that it can participate in an alternate program, the Church Unemployment Pay Program, established by the Wisconsin bishops in 1986, according to its court filings. They argued the Church’s program provides the same level of benefits to unemployed individuals as the state’s system but calls their program “more efficient.”
— CNS and OSV News
Responding ‘with generous hearts’ to those experiencing
By Rebecca Omastiak
The Catholic Spirit
People from around the country attending an advocacy forum Aug. 8-9 toured two Catholic Charities-run sites in the Twin Cities dedicated to assisting those experiencing homelessness: the Dorothy Day Place campus in St. Paul and Hope Street for Youth shelter in Minneapolis.
With a 12.1% increase in the population experiencing homelessness nationwide between 2022 and 2023, attendees of the Catholic Charities USA’s Advocacy Forum: Convening on Practical Solutions to Homelessness discussed national and local challenges and opportunities and ways to raise awareness of the issue at the local and federal levels.
“It was an inspiring and energizing two days to come together with individuals from organizations that are doing similar work in our region, to discuss not just the challenges that we are facing as we work to serve our neighbors, but really the opportunities and the ideas that exist for us to collaborate better and have more of an impact,” Lorna Schmidt, vice president of public policy and government affairs with Catholic Charities Twin Cities, told The Catholic Spirit.
Roughly 35 people attended the advocacy forum. Present were representatives of both Catholic Charities USA and its nationwide agencies, including in Rochester; St. Cloud; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Sioux City, Iowa; and Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison and Superior in Wisconsin. Members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Twin Cities parish representatives and community members also attended.
During the forum, attendees talked about challenges they face in addressing the issue of homelessness — and paramount is a lack of affordable housing.
“In our nation right now, we have an affordable housing crisis,” David Werning, director of social policy engagement for Catholic Charities USA, told The Catholic Spirit. “And ... not only are incomes not keeping up with the cost of living or affording a house, (but) the supply is also not keeping up with the need.”
The Minneapolis gathering was one in a series of nationwide events focused on the issue that so far have taken place in Oakland, California; St. Petersburg, Florida; Dallas; and Philadelphia. Phoenix is an upcoming forum location. A virtual forum will be held later this year. Ideas and information gathered at the forums will guide the creation of a white paper to support advocacy efforts that will be delivered to the U.S. Congress and will inform planning for a national summit on homelessness in 2026, Lucreda Cobbs, deputy vice president of administrative and regulatory affairs with Catholic Charities USA, who presented at the forum in Minneapolis, told The Catholic Spirit.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda opened the second day of the forum with a prayer. He thanked God for those who gathered, praying, “They remind us of what can happen when we strive to do your will and place our gifts — no matter how great or how meager — at your service.”
“In your kindness, we ask your blessing as well on our brothers and sisters who lack housing or food or medical care or the support of family and friends,” the archbishop prayed. “Help us to see you in them and to respond with generous hearts. Let them find at Catholic Charities throughout our country places of
respite and joy where they can experience your loving care and encounter the gentle gaze of your son, Jesus.”
Housing and advocacy
One avenue the U.S. Congress is considering to address a lack of affordable housing is easing restrictions on the use of faith-based and nonprofit organizations’ land to develop such housing — a proposal that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops backed in July.
Forum presenters highlighted another avenue: Catholic Charities USA’s Healthy Housing Initiative — which, in collaboration with Catholic healthcare systems, seeks to address chronic homelessness through permanent supportive housing and social services. Presenters shared the program’s progress thus far in five pilot cities: Detroit; Las Vegas; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis; and Spokane, Washington.
As conversation shifted to possible solutions to the experience of homelessness, in addition to increased funding and development of affordable housing options, forum attendees mentioned advocacy for more zoning law changes, changes to certain requirements for housing intake forms, improved access to mental health and chemical health services, and community education efforts to reduce stigma.
Forum presenters encouraged participants to consider ways to advocate on behalf of the communities they serve — including through calls and letters to lawmakers and participation in public forums.
Michael Griffin, director of social ministry at St. Olaf in Minneapolis, told The Catholic Spirit he was reflecting on how to weave the parish’s experiences with underserved community members into advocacy efforts.
“We serve hundreds of people every month with our outreach ministries and have had a legacy of doing that for well over 50 years … as a parish community, we can do something, and we need to do something. We’re compelled to do something,” Griffin said. “I think it’s taking these stories of what we experience every day ... being able to say this is our lived experience every day, that we are responding to the needs that literally come to our door every day.”
“This is what we ought to do in our faith,” Griffin continued. “A gathering like this (advocacy forum) ... helps re-energize, it helps give an outlet for the importance of sharing that story and the many, many ways that we can share it.”
Attendees discussed ways to advocate for those facing the effects of homelessness locally and nationally, including those under the age of 25 and those over the age of 55 (see sidebar).
Youth experiencing homelessness
LaTasha Mays, senior program manager at Catholic Charities Hope Street for Youth shelter in Minneapolis’ Hiawatha neighborhood, works regularly with youth experiencing housing instability, including those leaving volatile home situations and those who are unhoused.
Mays led people attending the forum on a tour of the Catholic Charities-run emergency shelter for youth ages 18 to 24, which opened in 2022. Across its programs, Catholic Charities Twin Cities assists more than 25,000 people per year, including those who seek support at the nonprofit’s four emergency shelters and two day centers, including the Dorothy Day Place campus’ shelter, housing and social services space.
Mays said Hope Street — which consists of 25 rooms with private bathrooms — is typically at capacity. With an average 39-day stay, Mays
said trauma-informed staff help residents in their transition to more permanent housing.
Indoor common spaces at Hope Street include tables clustered near a kitchenette and games, like foosball. A shared patio sits under the shade of nearby trees.
Services include meals, laundry, medical care, case management, counseling and job readiness training, plus art and music therapy.
“A menu of therapeutic services is what we’re working on,” Mays said.
Mays said working toward stability includes helping Hope Street youth secure work — some area businesses, like Wildflyer Coffee, partner with Hope Street in hiring.
Another goal in building stability is offering clothing choices for residents. With funding from the Kiwanis Downtown Minneapolis Club, Mays said a new California Closets custom-designed clothing closet for the shelter was installed in August, along with new clothing to fill it. Mays said residents will have the option to select clean and seasonably appropriate outfits from the closet. “When we look good, we feel good,” Mays said.
Mays said services offered through Hope Street are geared toward assisting people at a critical age. Helping youth establish stability can prevent future experiences of chronic homelessness, for example, Mays said.
Representatives of nearby counties — like Washington County — have visited Hope Street to learn how they might replicate the model in other parts of the region, Mays said.
Mays said she wants to make Hope Street feel like home, so residents feel like they are part of a family. One goal, Mays said, is to create an “alumni network” of young adults who help guide current residents through the experience. It’s often helpful for youth to learn through the example of their peers, Mays said.
Recalling a moment when she sat on the patio with a resident who was having a difficult day, Mays said being present and listening was
enough for the resident demeanor.
“Sometimes all people she said.
Older adults experiencing homelessness
Since 2008, Catholic Charities’ Elders program in Minnesota help older Minnesotans housing. However, as Schmidt an advocacy forum presentation, has historically had a waitlist.
Legislation was proposed session of the Minnesota the Homeless Elders program reduce waiting periods for who need support from During a state Senate Health Services committee hearing of such change, Carol Atkinson-Sullivan her testimony as an older experienced homelessness to the Homeless Elders program. Through the program, able to apply for a Section and in 2022, secured a place bedrooms. Her son — who 2020 that left him paralyzed and with aphasia — was nursing home in which with her.
“Had I not been referred would not be alive and my of the state and forgotten Sullivan said, in part, during “Having a stable home has blessing. My son and I are recovered immensely … on improving my own health, able to process and recover traumatic year of being homeless.”
experiencing homelessness
to display a change in need is to be heard,” experiencing Charities’ Homeless Minnesota has sought to move into stable Schmidt indicated during presentation, the program waitlist. proposed during the 2023 Minnesota Legislature to increase program capacity and for older Minnesotans the program.
Health and Human hearing last year, in support Atkinson-Sullivan shared older Minnesotan who homelessness and was introduced program.
program, Atkinson-Sullivan was Section 8 housing voucher place with two who suffered a stroke in paralyzed on his right side able to leave the he resided and move in referred to this program, I my son would be a ward forgotten about,” Atkinsonduring the hearing. has indeed been a are together, and he has . I’ve been able to focus health, too, and I am recover from a very homeless.”
The natural reflex and the tough questions
Werning said thinking about how to support those experiencing homelessness is, for most people, “the natural reflex.”
“If it’s not ‘that’s my brother, my sister,’ (then) ‘that’s my fellow man,’ if you will, or ‘my fellow human being,’” he told The Catholic Spirit.
Taking action, he suggested, requires asking some personal questions.
“I think most people would say absolutely we need to care for each other, and we need to care,” Werning said. “But then what happens in our own lifestyles? And how are we living that manifests that desire or that principle? Am I living beyond my means? Do I have too much? And might I change my life and how would that affect other people? I mean, those are tough questions that I don’t think we ask ourselves often or if at all, sometimes.”
‘Plant the seeds that one day will grow’
Mike Rios-Keating, director of culture and belonging with Catholic Charities Twin Cities, offered a prayer during the forum’s first day — “Prophets of a Future Not Our Own” written for Cardinal John Dearden of Detroit by then-Father Ken Untener for a 1979 Mass for Deceased Priests.
“We plant the seeds that one day will grow,” Rios-Keating read, in part. “We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along
EXPERIENCES OF HOMELESSNESS
In its 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) indicated roughly 653,100 people in the United States experienced homelessness on a given night in 2023. This count marked the highest number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night since reporting began in 2007, according to the AHAR. It was a 12.1% increase compared with the 2022 AHAR, which estimated 582,500 people in the U.S. experienced homelessness on a given night.
In reporting demographics of those experiencing homelessness in 2023, the AHAR indicated roughly 24.4% were 24 and younger while roughly 21.2% were 55 and older. Roughly 54.5% of those experiencing homelessness were aged 25 to 54.
Additionally, the 2023 AHAR indicated that for the first time, communities provided data on the number of people experiencing homelessness who “were elderly or near elderly.” The report indicated that among adults experiencing homelessness, roughly 28% were over the age of 54, 20% were ages 55 to 64, and 8% were over the age of 64.
The rise in homelessness the report noted at 2023’s start continued a pre-pandemic trend seen from 2016 to 2020, when homelessness also increased. HUD suggested some resources have now expired or wound down — including resources made available during the COVID-19 pandemic — contributing to the increase in homelessness. HUD also noted an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time — the result of rental housing market changes and the winding down of programs dedicated to preventing eviction and housing loss, HUD suggested.
The 2023 AHAR indicated an overall 9.4% decrease in youth ages 25 and younger experiencing homelessness on their own, from 2017 to 2023. However, the report indicated a 15.3% increase in unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness from 2022 to 2023. According to the report, the number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness observed in 2023 is similar to the number in 2020, just before the pandemic’s onset.
Meanwhile, according to the 2023 Minnesota Homeless Study — a project of the St. Paul-based Amherst H. Wilder Foundation’s Wilder Research — there were an estimated 10,522 Minnesotans experiencing homelessness on a given night. It was a roughly 7.5% decrease compared with 2018 data, which estimated 11,371 Minnesotans experienced homelessness on a given night. The study noted that the decrease masks year-over-year fluctuations in homelessness, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented housing assistance funding. Although the study is typically conducted every three years, the last study conducted before 2023 was in 2018, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023 Minnesota Homeless Study noted those ages 24 and younger are disproportionately affected by homelessness relative to their population in the state. Additionally, the number of adults 55 and older experiencing homelessness in the state has increased, according to the study. These are trends that are also happening nationwide, David Werning, director of social policy engagement for Catholic Charities USA, told The Catholic Spirit.
According to the 2023 Minnesota Homeless Study, fewer children and youth (ages 24 and younger) are experiencing homelessness on their own in the state — a 17% decrease since 2018. However, children and youth still account for a significant portion of the population experiencing homelessness — four out of every 10 people (or 40%) statewide, according to the report. The study indicated that the number of adults over the age of 55 experiencing homelessness has increased (7% from 2018 to 2023) statewide.
— Rebecca Omastiak
ADVOCACY RESOURCES
Those interested in advocacy efforts can sign up for Catholic Charities Twin Cities’ action alerts, which notify subscribers about ways to connect with lawmakers, how to attend Homeless Day on the Hill in St. Paul, and opportunities for educational events. Learn more at cctwincities org/advocate
Those interested in Catholic Charities USA’s national work to address homelessness and in signing up for action alerts can visit catholiccharitiesusa org/advocacy-1/action-center/#/
Presenters at the Catholic Charities USA’s Advocacy Forum: Convening on Practical Solutions to Homelessness in Minneapolis referenced the principles of Catholic social teaching. Learn more about key themes at the center of the Catholic social tradition online at usccb org/resources/themes-catholic-social-teaching
Read about legislative advocacy and how to reach out to elected officials on the issue of homelessness by visiting catholiccharitiesusa org/publications/advocacy-basics
— Rebecca Omastiak
the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”
Griffin suggested it takes many minds working together to address the issue of homelessness.
“None of us can do this on our own or even in small groups,” he told The Catholic Spirit. “We really need a more pervasive response from all people, especially people of faith.”
He continued, “ We don’t have to be experts except in our daily experience and be able to share from that daily expertise and have it make a difference — it’s significant.”
Schmidt agreed.
“You don’t have to be an expert to have a valid opinion,” Schmidt told The Catholic Spirit, “and advocacy can start very small and local by reaching out to a local lawmaker, it could be a city council member, county board member, your state representative or state senator.”
Participation in advocacy, Schmidt suggested, lets policymakers know “simply by showing up, that you care about this work, as a way to elevate its importance, keep it on their agenda. ... Advocacy starts with a conversation and an opinion, and we’re all capable of that.”
LaTasha Mays, left, senior program manager at Catholic Charities Hope Street for Youth shelter in Minneapolis, gives a tour of the facility Aug. 8 to attendees of the Catholic Charities USA’s Advocacy Forum: Convening on Practical Solutions to Homelessness.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FAITH+CULTURE
By Christina Capecchi
For The Catholic Spirit
Last summer, Brian Ragatz was hired as president of all-boys St. Thomas Academy (STA) in Mendota Heights, a full-circle moment for the 44-year-old alum. He’d led multiple Catholic schools in the archdiocese and then the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence based in Minneapolis. He and his wife, Anne, belong to Assumption in St. Paul and have a son, George, who will be a sixth grader at STA this school year.
Ragatz took a break from back-to-school preparations to reflect on his first year at the helm.
Q Catholic education is part of your love story. You met your wife, Anne, in grade school — at St. Joe’s in West St. Paul — hung out in college — at St. John’s (University in Collegeville) and St. Ben’s (College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph) — and then reconnected when you were both teaching at Nativity in St. Paul.
A We’d always joke with the kids: Look around the classroom. Maybe you’ll get married to someone in this class. The scowls!
Q The student newspaper predicted you’d be head of STA one day — and so did the yearbook!
A Pretty crazy! My closest friends give me a little grief about it. But I love being able to tell that story. It’s humbling.
Q Your whole life has been preparing you for this position. How did it feel to step into it?
A It feels great. I’m so blessed. I go to the chapel every day.
This was my dream job, and when I was approached about it, it didn’t take long to realize it’s still my dream job. I remember praying about it, and I just felt this wonderful feeling of comfort. I thought, “Wait, is it that easy?” Prayer isn’t usually the express checkout line. I recognized this is where I’m meant to be. The boys are the best. That’s what drives me. I have the bell go off in my office, even if I’m in the middle of a meeting. I do everything I can to get up when that bell rings to engage the kids in the hallway. They give me hope, energy and life — and push me to become better. We did something small this year that I implemented: We read the mission statement before every meeting. To
develop boys into men of character — that’s our promise. No matter what we’re bringing into that meeting — we may have opinions and know it’s going to be a fiery meeting — we have to start with that mission. That centers everybody.
Q This isn’t an easy time to be head of a Catholic school.
A It is a divisive time. You can’t please everybody, but you can remain grounded in the mission and in what’s in the best interest of the school. Sometimes what’s in the best interest of the school is not what you want to do. Trust me — there are things that could’ve made my life a whole lot easier if I had made a different decision. But what’s in the best interest of the school?
People say: How Catholic are you? What do you mean? On a scale of one to 10? Our focus is to be unapologetically Catholic, capital “C,” and lowercase “c” — they can be both/and. You can have your faith and it can also be universal. For every kid who comes in here, our job is to not only teach them the ways of academics but the ways of Christ, regardless of what faith they bring in. There’s this fundamentally powerful story of Jesus Christ and you don’t have to be Catholic or Christian to recognize the beauty and sorrow of his life.
Q What makes a great leader?
A Great leaders continue to evolve. They’re good communicators, they have
afraid of the answers. I’m trying to make that more prevalent. In order to stay curious, you have to ask questions. That’s going to ground you and help solidify the decisions you make. Initially, I was anxious about having to see someone in the hallway after they’d given advice I had not taken. But the majority of people will say: I can get on board with this even if it’s not what I first wanted. I just want to know you heard me. Tell me your decision-making process!
Q Good listening and humility are key. Can you give an example of those traits in action?
empathy, they have skills in community engagement and crisis management. The best leaders provide a sense of belonging and a sense of innovation. At the end of the day, the best leaders meet you where you’re at. You can push them to be better, but you have to allow yourself to be pulled, too.
Q You made a memorable first impression as president. A year ago, you began your first Workshop Week by greeting every single staff member by name. You’d studied the yearbook.
A I was nervous. It was the first thing I did — I got the microphone, and I wanted to say each person’s name. There were 111 people. I knew that if I screwed one person up, everyone would laugh it off and say good job, but that person would feel terrible. I did it. And it didn’t matter what else I said all day. That was what mattered.
Q You emphasize kindness and curiosity.
A Being curious, from an educational standpoint, means recognizing I don’t have to be the smartest guy in the room. I’m usually not. I seek perspectives from a lot of people. Number one, I have to seek the perspective of the kids. I created a legacy advisory group where I have some retired teachers as well as our longest tenured teachers to offer input.
One thing I learned is we can’t be afraid to ask questions because we’re
A We lost a student, Bennett Kotok, who died (of natural causes) his freshman year at Creighton (University in Omaha, Nebraska). This was a guy everyone loved. When he passed away, there were these bracelets that the boys made and wore. It’s not part of the uniform. You don’t get to wear bracelets here. There was a decision made that you could wear the bracelets for a week. Well, people were still grieving. One of the military instructors who helped make the decision to wear it for a week recognized quickly that this bracelet was helpful for them in their grieving, and we’re here to support kids. He said, “You know, I think we messed up on this one. I own it.” So, he got up that morning at formation and said, “We don’t always get it right, and this time we didn’t get it right.”
I believe that moment was pivotal to show the boys. It wasn’t an email. There was no better way than to demonstrate that in front of 560 young men: that it’s OK to get it wrong, to take accountability and make it right.
Q How refreshing. The confessions that politicians are afraid to say are often so powerful: I was wrong; I don’t know; I changed my mind.
A You build trust with that kind of honesty.
Q Let’s talk about cellphones and wellbeing, teaching the whole child.
A There are a lot of new studies about social media and a great book called “The Anxious Generation.” The neuroscience is there, but what’s equally important is how to develop what’s in their hearts and souls. We do these minute check-ins where our counselor will meet with every PLEASE TURN TO Q & A ON PAGE 19
COURTESY MICHAEL MURRAY PHOTOGRAPHY
St. Thomas Academy President Brian Ragatz greets a student on the school’s campus in Mendota Heights.
Plastic surgeons group questions gender surgeries for teens
By Gina Christian OSV News
Agroup of Catholic medical professionals is hailing recent remarks by U.S. plastic surgeons questioning surgical interventions for teens experiencing gender dysphoria. The physician-led Catholic Medical Association (CMA) –– which represents some 2,600 health care professionals –– stated in an Aug. 15 news release that it “applauds the recent statements from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) … regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in adolescents.”
In an Aug. 12 article published by the Manhattan Institute’s quarterly City Journal, ASPS was cited extensively regarding the performance of “chest and genital surgical interventions for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria.”
The article’s author, Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir, quoted a July acknowledgment he had received from ASPS that “the existing evidence base (for the practice) is viewed as low quality/low certainty,” and that there is “considerable uncertainty as to the longterm efficacy” of such procedures.
Sapir noted that “plastic surgeons are increasingly finding themselves in the hot seat of gender medicine lawsuits” filed by those seeking to reverse the interventions, with “at least seven” ASPS members named as defendants in close to two dozen lawsuits.
In 2017, one ASPS member performed a double mastectomy on a plaintiff who at the time was just 13 years old and had received less than a total of two hours of evaluation from the surgeon and a psychologist –– despite demonstrating a long history of mental and emotional distress, wrote Sapir, citing details from the legal complaint.
The City Journal article, titled “A Consensus No Longer,” said ASPS comments marked the “first big fracture” in the apparent U.S. medical consensus over gender interventions for teens, a unity that had been forged particularly by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society –– and one that has so far withstood a growing trend among European nations to halt the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries in adolescents with gender dysphoria, due to concerns over problematic evidence.The Cass Review –– a final report issued in April by Dr. Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, whom the U.K.’s National Health Service appointed in 2020 to conduct an independent analysis of its gender identity services –– found that evidence supporting gender interventions
for children and teens was both insufficient and fraught.
Additionally, the Cass Review noted that WPATH and the Endocrine Society had engaged in a “circularity” of approach by citing each other’s statements, rather than, as Sapir wrote, “conducting a scientific appraisal of the evidence.”
In its press release, CMA said that current treatment recommendations by WPATH, the Endocrine Society and the American Medical Association “only make the suffering of these patients worse, and are contrary to the treatments now adopted by many countries including England, Scotland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand.
“These countries have prioritized psychological care over medical gender affirming interventions,” said CMA.
While “gender dysphoria is a psychological diagnosis,” said CMA, “gender ideology is a belief system based on a false human anthropology which undermines the intrinsic value and uniqueness of the human person.”
Dr. Michelle Stanford, CMA president, said in the news release that “gender ideology is blind to the abundant scientific data already published on the treatment of gender dysphoria.”
She added that “physicians promoting it ignore the harms this belief causes to thousands of confused young patients.”
CMA said in its release that it “understands that these patients are indeed suffering and deserve the most compassionate and best medical care, as was noted in CMA’s position paper, ‘The Ideology of Gender Harms Children,’ released last year.”
The association said, “systematic studies show that compassionate psychological care allows up to 85-90% of these adolescents to resolve their dysphoria without the harmful and irreversible effects of pubertal blockers, cross-sex hormones and mutilating surgery.”
CMA’s annual educational conference, which will be held Sept. 5-7 in Orlando, Florida, will include speakers “who have been hurt by this ideology and the long term health problems they now suffer as a result,” said the organization in its release.
“From our first days in plastic surgery residency training, we were taught that there are no surgical solutions to psychological problems and that remains true today,” said CMA board member and plastic surgeon Dr. Al Oliva, who is also a member of ASPS, in the news release.
“CMA stands with ASPS and other medical associations that bravely speak the truth about evidencebased treatment of gender dysphoria in adolescents,” said CMA in its release.
Educators blame screen time, pandemic for uptick in special needs, developmental disabilities
By Tom Tracy OSV News
Two key educators associated with Head Start of Miami-Dade County in Southern Florida and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami worry about an uptick in youngsters with specific developmental disabilities and special needs.
It is thought that excessive electronic device screen time among the very young and possibly the lingering impact of the coronavirus-related lockdowns of 2020 and reduced in-person socialization are likely key factors driving the trend.
Maria Riestra-Quintero, president of the Florida Head Start Association, who spoke at an Aug. 9 conference in Miami, talked to the Florida Catholic, Miami’s archdiocesan news outlet, about her concerns.
“We have seen an increase recently in children with all sorts of developmental delays — mainly in speech and language, and we think it has to do with use of tablets in the early years,” she said, adding that 90% of the brain “develops in the first five years of life and with a (electronic device) tablet a child doesn’t have a feedback loop.”
“If we are having a conversation I am asking you questions, you are responding to me then that is what we call a feedback loop and that develops receptive and expressive language,” said RiestraQuintero, who is assistant director of early childhood programs in the Head Start/Early Head Start Division of Miami-Dade County’s Community Action and Human Services Department.
She refers to the screen time usage guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which has detailed recommendations on managing a child’s screen time according to age. Screen time includes interaction with smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, TVs and computers. The academy recommends:
uUntil 18 months of age limit screen use to video chatting along with an adult (for example, with a parent who is out of town).
uBetween 18 and 24 months, screen time should be limited to watching educational programming with a caregiver.
uFor children 2-5, limit noneducational screen time to about one hour per weekday and three hours on the weekend days.
SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER NELS GJENGDAHL
Stay with Christ in the Mass
“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The Gospel readings in the last few weeks have been a progressive revelation of the gift of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, culminating in this moment of decision. Jesus has laid before the people the gift of his very self as the bread of life. It was now their time to decide if they wanted to walk with him and receive this gift, or if they wanted to no longer accompany him. This same choice is placed before us each day that we attend Mass. We are presented with the gift of receiving holy Communion, but he asks of us as well, “Do you also want to leave?” I know from my time both as a priest
ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ
What can I do for my kids who don’t practice the faith?
Q I am a parent of three kids, all of whom I tried to raise in the Catholic faith. One of them seems to have very little interest, one is relatively hostile and one still goes to church. None of them live with us anymore, but I wish that I could do something to strengthen their faith. Is there anything that I can do?
A Thank you for this question. I regularly speak with parents who are in a similar predicament. You and your spouse have done your best to pass on the faith to your kids. Oftentimes, when our kids do not embrace the faith, not only do we ask the question “what did I do wrong?” but we also ask the question “what can I do now?” I would like to address that last question by offering some points to consider.
There are still three very powerful things that parents can do to help their kids with the faith. First, there is almost nothing more powerful than the witness of an authentic Catholic life. As you know, one of the things that turns people away from faith more than almost any other is hypocrisy or inconsistency. When
DAILY Scriptures
Sunday, Aug. 25
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32
Jn 6:60-69
Monday, Aug. 26
2 Thes 1:1-5, 11-12
Mt 23:13-22
Tuesday, Aug. 27
St. Monica
2 Thes 2:1-3a, 14-17
Mt 23:23-26
and before becoming a priest, I would fulfill my physical obligation of attending Mass, but I would be mentally distracted from the great gift in front of me. I would allow my mind to wander about to more “interesting” or “entertaining” ideas. Rarely were they evil thoughts, but mostly they were thoughts that I found more enjoyable, such as sports or my afternoon plans. As I grew in my faith, I would work to stay focused on the gift of the Eucharist. And so, the Enemy had to use new tactics to get me to leave our Lord mentally during Mass. I would focus on whether I thought the priest was pious enough in how he celebrated the Mass. I would judge the value of the Mass by the quality of the music or if the homily was beneficial to me. I would even find myself leaving the Lord in that moment by judging if the people around me were distracted (I was quite the hypocrite). I am aware that distractions are quite common, but what are we to do with these temptations to leave the Lord mentally at Mass?
We must return first to what Peter and Jesus said. Peter stated, “You have the words of eternal life.” Before us at Mass is the very one who offers us life eternal. No other distraction, however benign, entertaining or pious it may
our actions do not match up with our words, people will more quickly believe our actions than they will believe what we say. Now, that being said, you do not have to be perfect. That is impossible. Sometimes the witness of our own limitations and weaknesses can point to the truth and the grace found in Christ.
For example, I once spoke with a parent who expressed frustration over the fact that she would continually tell her kids not to yell at each other only to lose her temper with her kids and yell at them. She shared how she disliked being such a hypocrite in this regard. Her observation makes sense, but I wanted to remind her that if her kids saw her sin, then they should also see her ask for forgiveness. Consider this: What if you were a perfect parent and perfect disciple of Jesus? Once your kids get to a certain age where they realize that they are not perfect disciples and they are not perfect parents, they might abandon the faith because “my mom or dad could live this, but that’s only because they were better than me,” and they might disqualify themselves.
Second, we can never underestimate the power of a parental blessing. In the Old Testament, fathers of a family were considered the priests of that family. They would be the ones who were able to offer the sacrifice and extend a blessing to the rest of their family. In the new covenant, we all have been made into what you might call “kingdom priests.” Because of that, a parent has the right, the ability, and even the duty to bless their children. While both moms and dads can bless their kids, the father’s blessing is exceptionally powerful. I always encourage fathers to extend their hands over their children and trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads. This might be weird at first, but it means something and does something. A parent’s blessing can be very powerful.
Third, regardless of whether your kids remain at
sound, can offer us eternal life. It is only in Jesus where life in heaven can be found. The more we pay attention to how amazing that gift is, the more it will crowd out the other distracting thoughts.
And second, we must pray for the gift of even greater faith in the Eucharist. Notice that Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” We must ask the Lord for an increase in our own faith in the Eucharist. God recognizes that we are only human and that it takes a supernatural gift of faith to be able to see his presence in the consecrated host. So, we should ask for even more of that grace. As was stated at the Second Council of Orange and repeated at the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum), “Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 154).
Each time we have the gift to be present at the Eucharist, let us respond to the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit and recognize what a joy it is to be in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist: Body, blood, soul and divinity.
Father Gjengdahl is formation director and dean of men for The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.
home or if they have moved on, moms and dads are commissioned to pray for their children. And when I say “pray for their children” I mean dedicated prayer of intercession. This goes beyond simply saying, “Oh, and also for my kids.” This is entering prayer and fasting for your kids’ salvation. I know that my own mom would regularly bring all of us kids before the Lord in prayer every single day. I know she also embraced regularly fasting for us in some way, shape or form. She did this for those of us who practiced the faith regularly, and she did this for those of us who struggled to practice. Parents should pray for all their children, even those who seem to be “doing OK.”
One last thought for those parents who might fall into the trap of self-condemnation. You may look back on how you raised your kids and accuse yourself of having failed. That might be true. In this life, it is possible to fail. It is possible to have done the wrong thing. But what if you had been a perfect parent? Even then, there is no guarantee that they would embrace the love of God. How do we know this? We know this because God is the perfect father. And God’s own children turn away from him, even though he is perfect and perfectly loves them. People turn away from the love of God. Why would we be surprised if our own children would turn away amid our own imperfect witnessing to God’s love?
The grace you are praying for, that your own children experience, let that same grace comfort your heart. That same love that you want your kids to know and say yes to, say yes to that love in your own life. If we are not willing to do that, nothing else we do will make a difference. The story isn’t over. There is time to say yes.
Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church
2 Thes 3:6-10, 16-18
Mt 23:27-32
Thursday, Aug. 29 Passion of St. John the Baptist
1 Cor 1:1-9 Mk 6:17-29
Friday, Aug. 30
1 Cor 1:17-25 Mt 25:1-13
Saturday, Aug. 31 1 Cor 1:26-31 Mt 25:14-30
Sunday, Sept. 1
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Monday, Sept. 2 1 Cor 2:1-5 Lk 4:16-30
Tuesday, Sept. 3 St. Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church 1 Cor 2:10b-16 Lk 4:31-37
Wednesday, Sept. 4
1 Cor 3:1-9 Lk 4:38-44
Thursday, Sept. 5 1 Cor 3:18-23 Lk 5:1-11
Friday, Sept. 6 1 Cor 4:1-5 Lk 5:33-39
Saturday, Sept. 7
1 Cor 4:6b-15 Lk 6:1-5
Sunday, Sept. 8
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 35:4-7a
Jas 2:1-5
Mk 7:31-37
Monday, Sept. 9
St. Peter Claver, priest 1 Cor 5:1-8 Lk 6:6-11
Tuesday, Sept. 10 1 Cor 6:1-11 Lk 6:12-19
Wednesday, Sept. 11 1 Cor 7:25-31 Lk 6:20-26
Thursday, Sept. 12 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13 Lk 6:27-38
Friday, Sept. 13
St. John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27 Lk 6:39-42
Saturday, Sept. 14
Exaltation of the Holy Cross Nm 21:4b-9 Phil 2:6-11 Jn 3:13-17
Sunday, Sept. 15
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 50:5-9a Jas 2:14-18 Mk 8:27-35
FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI
Start at home, but don’t stay there
You may recognize these oft-quoted words from St. Teresa of Kolkata: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”
Beautiful, right? Except — does that really sound like the Mother Teresa we know? The one we saw in the streets and slums of Kolkata, bending down to those covered in filth, lifting the dying from the gutters?
No. It doesn’t. Because she never said it.
These famous words from Mother Teresa are a twist of what she said, in her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1979:
“And so, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and the fruit of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor, it is Christ. And if we really believe, we will begin to love. And if we love, naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, our next door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world.”
The movement of her message is essential. We don’t go home, yank the curtains closed, and shut ourselves safely inside with our families. We don’t go back to our parishes, lock the doors and concern ourselves only with the people inside.
We are called to start first in our own homes, certainly. But then, following in the footsteps of our Lord, who went out to the people — over and over, every day of his life, ministering to messy humans in all their sin and suffering — we are called to go out to our neighbors, to strangers, even to our enemies.
We are called, by the power and grace of our baptism, to love and serve a broken, sinful world.
I hope I don’t scandalize your faith by revealing that the saints did not say all the words we often attribute to them. (It always helps to Google before you quote Augustine or Aquinas or anyone!)
What would you do for the cross?
This story was recounted by Father Ferdinand Schönwälder to Father John Lenz in his book, “Christ in Dachau” (Manchester, NH: Sophia Press Institute, 2023, 219-21).
Many of the priests interred at Dachau, one of the more notorious concentration camps of the Second World War, were used as laborers, including working on a farm that was owned by the SS (the Schutzstaffel, or Nazi Protection Squads, infamous for their brutality). Along the side of the road to this farm was an old, weathered cross. Roadside crosses like this were common in Bavaria and Austria at that time.
Each morning as the priests were marched through the fields on their way to work, one SS officer in particular would kick the cross. Father Schönwälder recalled that this officer seemed to take great pleasure in kicking it every time he passed. “The cross was old, and the wood was rotten,” he said, “and every time the man kicked at it, the cross seemed to groan.”
But then one day, as the group was being marched to the farm camp, one prisoner broke from the line and went directly to the cross with some pegs to repair the base so it would remain upright.
And so, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and the fruit of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor, it is Christ. And if we really believe, we will begin to love. And if we love, naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, our next door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world.
St. Teresa of Kolkata
But what we do know for certain is what Jesus Christ said to us. Thank God for the abundance and richness of the Gospels. Because when it comes to the relationship between faith and family, home and world, Jesus offers us challenging words.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies” (Mt 5:43-44).
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26).
“And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother’” (Mt 12:49-50).
God loves families, of course. This most intimate and important community of human life is where we begin
A prisoner breaking the ranks in this way was cause for immediate execution. All the guards raised their rifles and the officer in charge called a halt to the march. Then he screamed at the young man that he would shoot “the swine” if he didn’t immediately get back in line.
The young prisoner, it turns out, was a seminarian. And as the infuriated guard approached the cross ready to trample it, the seminarian raised his arms and declared firmly, “No one shall damage this cross as long as I am here.”
The SS officer froze, completely taken aback.
No one can explain why the young man was not already dead. Officers who shot prisoners who broke the line in this way were rewarded with cigarettes, three days of leave, and 20 marks. But not one of them fired their rifles. The rest of the workday was
our days on earth and where we first learn how to love.
Yet the formation that we receive at home is not meant to stay at home. It is meant to prepare us to go out into the world, a world that desperately needs our truth and service but will also reject our Christian witness. So, we must start with the home and those closest to us, in our efforts to be peacemakers. But then we must go out — as St. Teresa said (truly said), from our home to our neighbors, then to our country, and ultimately to the whole world.
Right now, we can see ever more clearly the deep and desperate need that our world has for the love of Christ. May we not keep it locked up at home but go out to share what we have been given.
Fanucci is an author, speaker and founder of Mothering Spirit, an online gathering place on parenting and spirituality at motheringspirit com
spent in a kind of stunned and uneasy silence, even among the guards.
Later, the seminarian was called in before the commanding officer. Many of the priests in the camp began to pray for him assuming that he would be executed. Instead, the young man returned to the prisoner barracks and reported his conversation with the officer. He had in fact planned to execute the young man, even chiding him, saying what a pity it would be to die for “something so futile.”
But the seminarian said, “I just told him that it is our duty as Christians to protect the cross even if it means death.” The officer listened and told the young man that the next day he should get the men and supplies he needed and repair the cross, which he did.
What would you do for the cross?
Friends, we cannot sit idly and quietly when our faith is derided and our God is mocked. I hope I would have had the courage of that young seminarian to act as he acted. I pray for that kind of courage for all of us.
Sept. 14 is the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Let’s join together and “break ranks” as needed and show our friends, neighbors and our world that we take our duty seriously, and we will defend the cross of Christ, no matter the cost, and there is nothing futile about it.
Lord, grant us strength, courage and a deeper fidelity to our faith, that the world would know without a doubt, we belong to you. Amen.
Stanchina is the community leader for Women’s Formation at Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire Institute and the award-winning author of more than a dozen books. Visit her website at LizK.org
iSTOCK PHOTO | BRIANAJACKSON
Encounter the love of Christ in holy matrimony
My own vocation of marriage is positively reinforced every time I witness the goodness, beauty and truth of the sacrament of holy matrimony. This year I have been blessed to attend, witness and assist as deacon at a number of weddings — three included close relatives of mine, which made the ceremonies extra special.
As the couple’s consent to marry is sought and declared, the sacramental wedding rites remind me that my first obligation in performing my duties as a man of God is to my wife — to love my spouse as “Christ loved the Church” (Eph 5).
As we encounter Jesus in sacred Scripture — a daily discipline of the Catholic Watchmen — and listen to his words, we take seriously the defining purpose and unitive nature of marriage. Sacred Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gn 2:18). Where two commit to come together freely as one, they consent to live out this life of commitment: faithfully, fruitfully and forever. It is how families begin — families so vital for society to flourish.
It is good for all of us to be reminded as witnesses when we attend a wedding that it is a covenant or a partnership of life between a man and woman that is ordered to their well-being. This well-being includes the unitive nature of the spouses and –– God willing –– the procreation and growth of a family. This is what the author of life tells us and that is who we can always trust.
As the Scriptures tell us, and as the Church teaches, the vocation of marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. God himself is the author who molded
Industrialism and the disappearance of local community
Last month, we started to look at some of the Catholic Worker’s critique of the modern social order. We focused especially on what happens when creative work becomes displaced from its role as one of the main unifying centers of life.
We are starting to see at this point that the Worker’s critique comes from the perspective of life on the land, and that the ills it diagnoses are primarily results of breakup of a land-based economy. It is an agrarian vision directed against key features of industrialism.
We might be able to dismiss this as a quaint, idyllic fantasy, distracting us from the real world, if it weren’t for the fact that this agrarianism was plainly the beating heart of Catholic social teaching in encyclicals like “Rerum Novarum” and “Quadragesimo Anno.” For Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, as well as for the popes, the ultimate solutions to our modern maladies can only come by rediscovering a social order where most of us have more intimate connections with the land. Without this piece, any movements for justice and peace are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
It starts with the sacrament of holy matrimony and the love for one another that couples profess on their wedding day. Neighbors, parishes, workplaces, the broader community and greater society flourish as a result.
this complementary effect to prevail in the bond of marriage, because men and women are created in the image and likeness of God, who is himself love. This complementarity is what Jesus himself taught and reemphasized in his public ministry, which we read in the Gospels. This unbreakable union of two lives recalls for all of us God’s plan from the beginning, for “no longer two, but one body” (Mt 19:6).
Being active in a marriage through recognizing and sharing each other’s strengths and skills — as well as shortcomings –– demonstrates how complementarity works both naturally and supernaturally.
Naturally, it is about how we are created as men and women in God’s likeness and image to love God and neighbor. Supernaturally, it is a self-gift to one another in living out the virtues of faith, hope and charity. And down the road, couples are called to teach their children to grow in their faith with the sacraments and to feed, heal and guide them to their vocations. That is the formidable duty of the Catholic Watchman as provider,
One of the most problematic aspects of industrializing the world is the social fragmentation it has produced. Previous columns have illustrated the way that strong communities are held together by the social bonds created by the local production of the necessities of life. But it is the very nature of the industrial/ consumer economy that it has progressively taken the means of such production out of the hands of local communities and placed it in the hands of large, external organizations and institutions. Food, medicine, childcare, transportation, employment, entertainment, education, clothing, eldercare and housing are provided almost exclusively from outside of families, neighborhoods, towns and parishes.
This is a monumental social change, for it amounts to the outsourcing or externalizing of a community’s social bonds. It amounts, really, to the destruction of the social bonds, and to the practical destruction of local communities. For real communities have never been just people who live near each other, but people who take care of the business of life together. But when we are all consumers, rather than producers, we cease to need one another and share little more than geographical vicinity. We are strangers in our own neighborhoods. We no longer need one another, we need Amazon, banks, Target, healthcare, big oil, social workers and auto service centers. As we know each other less, fear and suspicion increases, loneliness mounts, we become more isolated, children grow up playing inside, and our phones become our best friends.
We lose our sense of independence. In a local economy, we can rest relatively secure, confident in our ability to make ends meet, regardless of what happens in the wider world. But we are now dependent for most of the practical things that make life go around on those large impersonal institutions
protector and leader of the family.
It starts with the sacrament of holy matrimony and the love for one another that couples profess on their wedding day. Neighbors, parishes, workplaces, the broader community and greater society flourish as a result. Immense joy, some challenges, some sorrow and much responsibility come with marriage. Trusting and holding on to God’s word is what gives vitality to marriage and family life. Witnessing the sacrament of holy matrimony gives pause to pray for the couple and for married life and the family — the vital cell of a healthy society.
Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen com for existing tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or any other questions regarding ministry to men, contact him at gordonbird@rocketmail com
and corporations that have radically monopolized the production of goods and services.
As this happens, our personal identity inevitably shifts, because our “community” shifts. Today we increasingly become less members of concrete, tangible, visible communities sharing the tasks of living together — extended families, neighborhoods or parishes — and more members of invisible bureaucracies and legal entities that apply everywhere but exist nowhere. Our flesh and blood histories and relations cease to matter, and we are abstracted into case numbers and policy holders and account profiles. Being such a number is increasingly what it means to be a “member of a community.” As a good Minnesotan I am not prone to hyperbole, but by any estimation of the situation, this is not a pretty picture.
In future columns, I’ll spell out the implications of this “radical monopoly” more fully and begin to suggest some things the Church can do now to actively regain some independence and community life. But it may be worth pointing out before closing that the sort of critique I have been making — following here both the Catholic Worker and the popes’ social encyclicals — is not one that is easily categorizable on our current socio-political spectrum. It is neither the “conservative” argument that government and institutions are curtailing our economic freedom, nor the “liberal” argument that reform of institutions is necessary to fix a broken system. It is the Catholic argument that community, local dependence and local economy are the only alternatives to social atomization.
Miller is the director of the Center for Catholic Social Thought at Assumption in St. Paul. He is the author of “We Are Only Saved Together: Living the Revolutionary Vision of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement,” published by Ave Maria Press.
CATHOLIC OR NOTHING | COLIN MILLER
our moment. Let’s go!
and register at CatholicsAtTheCapitol.org
Voting with a Catholic conscience
Human Dignity, which MCC staff has distilled into a resource for all Minnesota Catholics called “On Human Dignity.” This important summary offers valuable insights into how contemporary issues — such as abortion, war, poverty, assisted suicide and gender — relate to the concept of human dignity. We urge Catholics to study this declaration
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to vote, we as Catholics are called to do so with a focus on the dignity of the human person, recognizing that every person is made in the image and likeness of God. This fundamental belief is central to how we engage in public life, including how we vote.
To help Catholics prepare to vote, Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) has created a collection of resources, including specific information on Catholic social teaching, faithful citizenship, human dignity, and guidelines for parish and Church organizations. These resources can be found at mncatholic org/election2024
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching (CST) offers a framework for how to build a just society that promotes human flourishing. It is not a set of ready-made policy prescriptions, but more like a mental model to help see and discern with the mind of the Church. CST reflects the Gospel’s call to love our neighbor, promote the common good and uphold the dignity of every human person. These principles give Catholics the tools to build a more just society and put back together what the world tries to divide. When voting, it’s essential to reflect on the Catholic social teaching framework. It is often said that no candidate or party perfectly embodies all the Catholic Church’s teachings. But by prioritizing issues that most directly affect human dignity and the common good –– which may not be the same in each election or candidate race –– we can allow Gospel principles to properly inform our vote.
Faithful citizenship
To help form our conscience and unpack some of the relevant principles of Catholic social teaching, Catholics can turn to the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” as an important resource to guide voting decisions. This resource does not prescribe specific votes but instead provides a foundation for forming one’s conscience. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that our conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1783). We must form our conscience before informing ourselves on the issues if we hope to transform our state.
Human dignity
In April 2024, the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released “Dignitatis Infinita,” a Declaration on
because the Church is not a partisan organization entity, we must make sure that our individual advocacy efforts are kept distinct from the Church’s teaching voice. Our guidelines for parish and Church organization political activity clearly lay out which activities are prohibited, and which are permissible.
Ultimately, voting is an expression of love — love for God, love for neighbor and love for the world we inhabit. And though it is not necessarily the most important part of being a faithful citizen, it is certainly an important one. By casting our ballots with a well-formed
Give a Gift to Future Catholics
God has blessed each of us with countless gifts. As Catholics, we are called to be stewards of these gifts and return them with increase to the Lord. Often, we do this by giving back and paying it forward — to our children, to our church, and to our community.
We can live our faith and values by investing not only our time, treasure, and talent, but also by creating a legacy of love that will benefit generations to come. That investment can begin with you. It begins with an endowment.
Endowments are a Gift for Today, Tomorrow, and Forever
An endowment is a fund that is invested and provides annual grants to your parish or favorite charity forever. Through a contribution to an endowment, your commitment to the causes you care about continues beyond your lifetime. An endowment is a reflection of our faith that is both charitable and perpetual in nature, which helps build the future and create a lasting impact.
conscience, we participate in the civic life of our community in a way that reflects our deepest values and hopes for society.
“Inside the Capitol” is a legislative update from Minnesota Catholic Conference staff.
Give Today, Create a Legacy for Tomorrow
There are many ways to give to an endowment and support the causes close to your heart. One option is to establish a perpetual endowment fund at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota (CCF). With this option, you can name one benefiting organization or many to receive any portion of the annual distribution from your fund. Meanwhile, you can rest assured that CCF will invest and manage your gift prudently and in alignment with our Catholic faith. Another option is to give to an existing endowment fund stewarded by CCF, such as your parish or school endowment. These endowments are invested, grow, and yield annual grants to fund ministries, providing consistent and reliable financial support. Your gift today will benefit your parish or school every year — forever.
At CCF, we are grateful to partner with Catholic institutions and with individuals like you who want to align their treasure with their Catholic values. Together we can build a vibrant and sustainable Catholic community for generations to come. Getting started is easy. Contact CCF to learn more about endowment funds and how we can support your charitable giving goals.
Idon’t know how not to be Catholic; it is so intertwined in who I am and how I see the world.
I am a cradle Catholic and never have had a big “aha!” moment or a lightning bolt experience like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. My faith story is more of a quiet constant in my life.
My parents each had reversions in the 1980s through the Charismatic Renewal, which embraces the works and movement of the Holy Spirit, a personal relationship with God and building community. This laid a strong foundation as they learned more about their Catholic faith in the early 2000s. Some of the biggest influences in my early life were witnessing my parents’ daily prayer, learning about the depths of the Mass as an altar server, going to adoration as a family, and being surrounded by families who also prioritized faith.
When I went to college in the Diocese of Duluth, I was lucky to find friends who loved their faith and liked to have fun.
Having friends like this helped as I made the Catholic faith my own. They introduced me to the teachings of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and The Great Adventure Bible Timeline. In fact, with every move and new chapter, God has provided me with a strong community. I love having friends from all walks of life but have found that I also need close friends who share my faith and values.
Now in my 30s, I have appreciated the time to be with God and recharge at Pacem in Terris, connect with other Catholic healthcare workers and invest in one church versus parish
Why I am Catholic
Anna
Altman
hopping. I am grateful that my immediate family still shares the faith, and especially for my mom, who is my prayer warrior.
That all said, I have not had a life free of challenges and do not come from a perfect family (who does?). I have had my share of desolation, questioned my faith and God’s plans and given him a piece of my mind. At times, the extent of my prayer life can be “God, it’s just me and you, help me get through this day.” I am a work in progress. And yet, as my friend Father Ben Hadrich would say, “God is faithful.” That is the main reason I have never left: Through it all, God keeps showing up. He shows me that he is there, loving me unconditionally.
I think faith is like love. There are feelings and emotions involved, but it is also a daily choice: to keep choosing God and his Church. Meanwhile, he keeps choosing us, usually within that “still small voice” (1 Kgs 19:12).
Altman, 37, is a member of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul. A nurse practitioner, she is studying to be a certified Fertility Education and Medical Management (FEMM) teacher and is slowly saving up for a house. She spends her free time enjoying many things: her immediate and extended families, live music, time outdoors, traveling and quality time with friends.
“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholiCSpirit@arChSpm org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
CALENDAR
PARISH EVENTS
For updated information on parish festivals, please see the online parish festival guide at theCatholiCSpirit Com/feStivalS
Fall Rummage Sale — Sept. 12-14: 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. at St. Gabriel the Archangel, 1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins. Household objects, shoes, crafts/yarn/ fabric, clothing, books, furniture, jewelry, yard goods, toys, holiday, hardware, electronics and tools. $1 Bag Day on Saturday. StgabrielhopkinS org
“Something So Big” Musical — Sept. 13: 7 p.m. at DoubleTree Hotel Bloomington, 7800 Normandale Blvd., Minneapolis. 7 p.m. on Sept. 19, 20 and 21 at St. Mary, 267 E. Eighth St. Ste #100, St. Paul. SomethingSobig live
WORSHIP+RETREATS
“Unwrapped Presents” Silent Retreat for Men and Women — Aug. 23-25: 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Presented by Father Charles Lachowitzer. Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord — we studied them in our youth and received them at confirmation. Chances are some of these gifts are still unwrapped. kingShouSe Com
SPEAKERS+SEMINARS
We Are Only Saved Together: New Book Reading and Reception with Colin Miller — Aug. 29: 6:30-8 p.m. Assumption, 51 Seventh St. W., St. Paul. There will be a reading and reception of Colin Miller’s book, “We Are Only Saved Together: Living the Revolutionary Vision of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement.” RSVP at CatholiCSoCialthought org
Dead? Or Just Dead Enough? — Sept. 5: 6:30-8:30 p.m. at St. Raphael, Marian Hall, 7301 Bass Lake Road, Minneapolis. Spend an evening with two extraordinary advocates for the lives of vulnerable patients, Dr. Paul Byrne and Elizabeth Graham. Learn how to make medical decisions that respect and protect God’s gift of life.
SCHOOLS
Celebrating 65 Years of Education — Aug. 24: 5 p.m. Mass, reception in the CSSR Hall to follow at 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center. St. Alphonsus School is officially closing after 65 years of educational service. Celebrate this achievement with the school families and staff.
OTHER EVENTS
Catholic Camporee — Sept. 6-8: Rum River Scout Camp, 15659 St. Francis Blvd. NW, Ramsey. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Scouts BSA, and American Heritage Girls are invited to a weekend of faith and fellowship. Events include: BB guns, archery, obstacle courses, confession, crafts and more. Whole units are invited to register or individuals may come with various meal plans from which to choose. More information online at SCoutingevent Com/250-aCCSCamporee2024.
Sandwich-Making Service with Twin Cities Catholic Singles — Sept. 7: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at St. Clement, 901 24th Ave. NE, Minneapolis. Join Twin Cities Catholic Singles and Holy Cross Young Adults to assemble sandwiches for our neighbors in need. Lunch and bingo to follow. Open to ages 18-45. Email tCCatholiCSingleS@gmail Com to learn more about our community. tinyurl Com/43tmz64a
ONGOING GROUPS
Calix Society — First and third Sundays: 9-10:30 a.m., hosted by the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. In Assembly Hall, Lower Level. Potluck breakfast. Calix is a group of men, women, family or friends supporting the spiritual needs of recovering Catholics with alcohol or other addictions. With questions, call Jim at 612-383-8232 or Steve at 612-327-4370.
Career Transition Group — Third Thursdays: 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. The Career Transition Group hosts speakers on various topics to help people looking for a job or a change in career and to enhance job skills. The meetings also allow time for networking with others and opportunities for resume review. hnoj org/Career-tranSition-group
Caregivers Support Group — Third Thursdays: 6:30 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. For anyone juggling the challenges of life, health, career and caring for an aging parent, grandparent or spouse. guardian-angelS org/event/1392201-2019-09-19-CaregiverS-Support-group
Gifted and Belonging — Aug. 25: 6-8 p.m. at Harmon Park, 230 Bernard St. W., West St. Paul. Providing Catholic fellowship for young adults with disabilities. Gather to share a time of prayer and reflection, followed by games and social activities. Invite friends and bring a caregiver as needed. For more information on monthly activities and/or volunteer opportunities, call Megan at 612-456-1572 or email giftedandbelonging@gmail Com
Natural Family Planning (NFP) — Classes teach couples Church approved methods on how to achieve or postpone pregnancy while embracing the beauty of God’s gift of sexuality. For a complete list of classes offered throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, visit arChSpm org/family or call 651-291-4489.
Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sundays: 2-4 p.m. at St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 3949 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. Learn more about this group of lay Catholic men and women striving to observe the Gospel by following the example of St. Francis. 651-724-1348
Quilters for a Cause — First Fridays: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 Roselawn Ave. E., Maplewood. Join other women to make quilts to donate to local charities. Quilting experience is not necessary but basic machine skills are helpful. For more information, call the parish office: 651-771-1209. faCebook Com/profile php?id=100087945155707
Restorative Support for Victims-Survivors — Monthly: 6:30-8 p.m. via Zoom. Open to all victims-survivors. Victim-survivor support group for those abused by clergy as adults — first Mondays. Support group for relatives or friends of victims of clergy sexual abuse — second Mondays. Victim-survivor support group — third Mondays. Survivor Peace Circle — third Tuesdays. Support group for men who have been sexually abused by clergy/religious — fourth Wednesdays. Support group for present and former employees of faithbased institutions who have experienced abuse in any of its many forms — second Thursdays. Visit Safe-environment arChSpm org/healing or contact Paula Kaempffer, outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, at kaempfferp@arChSpm org or 651-291-4429.
Secular Franciscan Meeting of St. Leonard of Port Maurice Fraternity — Third Sundays: 2:15-3:45 p.m. at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. General membership meeting of Secular Franciscans who belong to the Fraternity of St. Leonard of Port Maurice. Any who are interested in living the Gospel life in the manner of St. Francis and St. Clare are welcome.
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Q & A CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 kid for a minute. “How’s it going?” We believe not having phones available to the kids during the school day is a way they can develop their brains and just look up, talk to people. That’ll help their brains and their hearts! How you perform might get you the grade. How you deliver might get you the job. But how you sustain that and connect with people is what will get you that promotion and help your marriage and family.
Q Sleep is also crucial to mental health. It sounds like Community Time helps, giving the students an open hour late in the school day to jumpstart evening homework and get to bed earlier.
A Clubs can meet then, kids can get tutoring or take a mental break and go play basketball. It helps the kids learn to make decisions and manage unstructured time.
Q How often is Community Time?
A Every day.
Q What do you know for sure?
A I know what I love. I know that I love my faith, I know that I love my family, and I know that I love St. Thomas Academy. My life revolves around those three things — and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
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THELASTWORD 2 seminarians undertake pilgrimage of physical endurance and spiritual devotion
By Tim Montgomery For The Catholic Spirit
Adevotion to the Virgin Mary inspired two seminarians in the Twin Cities to share a pilgrimage in body and spirit. They planned to walk more than 150 miles from the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Patrick Storms, 19, and Aiden Nicholas, 19, set out July 30 as part of renewing their devotion to Mary, culminating in an Aug. 7 consecration at the shrine. What began as a challenge of physical and spiritual endurance became more focused on a spiritual commitment as the two seminarians traded their walking gear for meditation and prayer after suffering heat exhaustion and road fatigue while hiking more than 50 miles.
“I was in a seminary class that went to the shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin,” said Storms of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, soon to be in his second year at St. John Vianney College Seminary (SJV) in St. Paul. “And on our way there, one of the seminarians from my class told me the story of how he went from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse to the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion (near Green Bay). He walked the whole way there, 238 miles, with a couple of seminarians from his diocese. As I heard him tell the story, I thought — that’s amazing, I wanted to try to do something like that.”
Storms first met Nicholas — who is also entering his second year at SJV — in shared classes at the seminary. In addition, Storms and Nicholas, a member of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville, were Totus Tuus teammates at Sts. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee as they participated in this summer’s catechetical program for grade school children and high school youth. They worked well together, and eventually decided to walk together on a Marian pilgrimage as part of their Marian Consecration — a formal, 33-day period of prayer that ends with a prayer of consecration.
Like the seminarians who made the Marian pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, they traveled light. They carried no food or money of their own, relying on the Lord’s providence and the charity of those along the way for lodging and sustenance. They brought water, rain ponchos and light camping gear. And at the suggestion of Father Joseph Johnson, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, they brought a cellphone for emergencies — as an act of kindness for their loved ones. They also brought with them prayers in their hearts, rosaries and crosses hand-carved by a grandparent of one of their Totus Tuus teammates.
“I would hold that cross and keep reminding myself I was walking with Christ and carrying his cross like Simon of Cyrene,” said Nicholas, recalling their struggles on the trek. “I would also finger the beads on the rosary and say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, living God of mercy, I’m a sinner’ over and over again as a way of uniting every step with his Passion.”
Storms and Nicholas arranged to spend their first night on the road at St. Rita in Cottage Grove. They emailed the parish office ahead of time, and Father Mike Reinhardt, the parochial administrator, welcomed them when they arrived with a meal of pork chops and sweet corn, though Storms didn’t feel much like eating. After about nine hours of walking nearly 25 miles with temperatures hovering near 90 degrees, both men felt the effects of heat exhaustion.
“When we were in the middle of the day and still had nine miles to go in the heat and blisters were forming on my feet with each painful step,” Storms recalled, “Jesus was there and taking those steps with me. As painful as it was for me, he suffered first. He did this first; and this was a way for me to do it myself.”
They traveled a shorter distance on the second day, and lodging for the night was planned for them by a parishioner at St. Rita who worked in the parish office. Mary Jo Norum gave her telephone number to Storms and Nicholas with instructions to call at the end of their walk that day. They called her when they arrived at St. Joseph in Prescott, Wisconsin, at the confluence
COURTESY NANCY SCHULTE PALACHEK
of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. Norum, just across the river in Denmark Township, hosted the travelers for the night and packed them off the next morning with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, beef jerky and $10. She also gave them contact information for her brother in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, farther along their proposed route.
Nicholas and Storms followed U.S. Highway 10 almost 20 miles that day to Ellsworth, Wisconsin, and found lodging for the evening at St. Francis of Assisi. Storms had been there just two weeks earlier with Totus Tuus and had mentioned his plans for a Marian pilgrimage to the pastor, Father David Olson. Father Olson now welcomed two wet and weary pilgrims dressed in rain ponchos for shelter from rain that fell during the last 20 minutes of their hike.
At one point, during a moment of silent prayer, Storms said it felt almost as though Jesus and Mary were
on either side supporting him and carrying him along, like an injured athlete hobbling off the field with the support of teammates. In stopping at St. Francis in Ellsworth, the pilgrims had made it to the Diocese of La Crosse, though not to their planned destination within the diocese. They had passed through sweltering heat and pounding thundershowers, suffering heat exhaustion and bruised and blistering feet. They decided to end their walk, but not their pilgrimage.
“I think God is calling them to a different kind of suffering than they planned or wanted,” said Storms’ mother, Mary Urdahl, by telephone at the time. “Stopping was the prudent thing to do. But knowing these men’s determination and faith it was harder for them to (decide to) stop than to continue.”
There were several days of feeling lost and helpless, separated from their goal of making a Marian pilgrimage on foot from Minneapolis to La
Crosse. But Storms later noted that when people find there’s nothing anyone can do, they need to rely totally on God.
On Aug. 7, the pilgrims reached the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, though not in the way they had planned. They were rested from their long walk and had spent time at home thinking about their experiences and praying about the future before driving to La Crosse. It was not how they expected to get there, Nicholas’ mother, Sarah, commented, but maybe they had learned that God doesn’t always work in ways people expect. They had prepared physically and spiritually to renew their Marian Consecration, their devotion to Mary, on that day. And there they were. After a period of prayer and meditation, they said a prayer of consecration together at the Marian shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“Even though it didn’t go as planned,” Sarah Nicholas concluded, “I thought it was a very successful pilgrimage.”
ABOVE LEFT Aiden Nicholas, left, and Patrick Storms recite a prayer of consecration to the Virgin Mary Aug. 7 in the Shrine Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. TIM MONTGOMERY | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ABOVE RIGHT Patrick Storms, left, is blessed by his mother, Mary Urdahl, and Aiden Nicholas is blessed by his mother, Sarah Nicholas, outside the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis after Mass July 30, as the men prepare to walk to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.
TIM MONTGOMERY | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Aiden Nicholas, left, and Patrick Storms in the Shrine Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., Aug. 7, the day they recited a prayer of consecration to the Virgin Mary.
