The Catholic Spirit - August 8, 2019

August 8, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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Promoting healing A survivor of clergy sexual abuse will help coordinate, publicize and organize restorative justice and other efforts for healing in the archdiocese.

— Page 5

Settlement agreement Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis continues to meet settlement agreement with Ramsey County stemming from civil charges related to clergy sexual abuse.

— Page 6

Supreme

Lay ministry Preparations for an archdiocesan synod in 2021 and a recent study are helping outline challenges and opportunities in lay ministry in the archdiocese.

— Pages 10-11

liturgy Archbishop Bernard Hebda prepares to preside at the opening Mass of the 137th annual Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention Aug. 6 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Several thousand Knights and dozens of bishops from across the country came for the three-day event. At far right is Phil Harter, grand knight of Anoka 2018 Council and convention co-chair. PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Retreats and pilgrimages

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A monastery in Washington, D.C., features replicas of sites in Christ’s life; a monument along the North Shore of Lake Superior honors a missionary priest who some believe may be canonized a saint; renovations are underway at a retreat center in Colorado where St. John Paul II rested during WYD 1993; Pope Francis announces themes for next three WYDs.

It’s always a wonderful experience.

It’s a reunion of sorts for me every year.

— Pages 13-15

Greg van der Hagen of St. Anastasia in Hutchinson in the Diocese of New Ulm lines up with fellow Fourth Degree Knights at the start of Mass. He is a former state deputy and current administrative assistant to State Deputy Marc Peters of St. Joseph of the Lakes in Lino Lakes.

Greg van der Hagen, Fourth Degree Knight, St. Anastasia in Hutchinson, on why he comes to the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention every year.

Catholic Grandparent Conference Saturday • August 24, 2019 • 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Church of the Epiphany • 1101 Hanson Blvd NW, Coon Rapids For more information and to register, visit www.CatholicGrandparenting.org

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

PAGETWO

“

We look to our Blessed Mother in our fight to end the threats to human life and a growing culture of death. She is our model and our example of how every human being should be treated as a gift at the beginning and end of life.

Bishop James Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey, in a July 29 letter to Catholics in his four-county diocese addressing New Jersey’s law allowing assisted suicide, which became effective Aug. 1. Bishop Checchio said the law points to “an utter failure” on the part of government and society to care truly, authentically and humanely for people who are suffering and vulnerable, especially those who have an incurable disease, as well as the elderly, infirm and people living with disabilities.

NEWS notes

7

The number of years ago St. Austin in Minneapolis united with St. Bridget to form St. Bridget Parish Community on Minneapolis’ Northside. After a discernment process, St. Bridget parishioners and parish leaders decided earlier this year to close and sell St. Austin. The St. Austin campus will celebrate decades of memories Aug. 17 with a 4:30 p.m. Mass and potluck dinner. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will preside, and priests who served at the St. Austin church at 41st Ave. N. and Thomas Ave N. will concelebrate. Former St. Austin parishioners and students are invited to share memories.

COURTESY PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUTH/STORYLINE PHOTOGRAPHY

INSPIRING YOUTH Bishop Andrew Cozzens distributes Communion during Mass July 28 at the Steubenville St. Paul Youth Conference at the University of St. Thomas. About 2,100 high school students and their leaders from 11 states participated in the annual event, which took place July 26-28. Organized by Partnership for Youth in Bloomington, the conference is an outreach of Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, and is designed to evangelize, equip and empower young people.

12

The time in the afternoon of Aug. 11 that parishioners at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton will gather with Father Kevin Magner, parochial vicar, to bless a new monument at the parish cemetery’s northwest corner, which is reserved for the burial of children ages 2 and under. The granite monument reads: “Ours for a Little While, With Jesus Forever.”

13

The number of presidents St. John’s University in Collegeville has had as it conducts a search for No. 14. In the meantime, Eugene McAllister will serve as interim president, St. John’s announced in a July 29 press release. He replaces Michael Hemesath, who stepped down Aug. 1 after serving as president for seven years. McAllister will serve until June 30, 2020. He was president of the University of Great Falls in Montana from 2003 to 2016.

11

The number of years Kelly Wahlquist has been assistant director of the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

Assistant director since the institute’s founding in 2008, Wahlquist recently was named director, succeeding Father John Klockeman, who has been assigned pastor of St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park. The institute’s two-year Pillars Program and additional offerings provide opportunities for lay men and women to go deeper in their Catholic faith. Father Klockeman plans to return to the institute this fall as an instructor.

100 DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LEADING WITH FAITH Vicky Iacarella receives her Leading with Faith award from Archbishop Bernard Hebda during an awards luncheon Aug. 1 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Iacarella was one of eight men and women honored by The Catholic Spirit for living their faith in the workplace. She belongs to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Olaf, both in Minneapolis.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 24 — No. 15 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief

The number of people gathered at an open house July 28 at former St. Andrew Church in St. Paul. The Twin Cities German Immersion School has owned the building since 2013, and it plans to raze the church to construct an addition to the school. A group called Save Historic St. Andrew has protested the plan. School board chair Julie Alkatout told the Star Tribune the gathering at the church was her idea to help the school and community mend ties. Tom Goldstein, a spokesman for the protesters, told the newspaper his group will continue to hope for a reprieve.

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AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS

Teams of prayer, service

T

“

he two-year preparation for an archdiocesan synod is going to be a large effort, and it is already a team effort.

In fact, it is a team of teams. Let me give you a picture of how many people are already involved.

The first group to be involved in the synod is a group of dedicated prayers.

The 25-member prayer team began meeting in the fall of 2018 and will continue meeting monthly throughout the process until spring 2021.

This is a diverse group of faithful, mostly lay men and women who believe in the power of prayer and have committed to praying daily for this important effort. Some of them will attend each of our prayer and listening events this fall and winter, and we have especially charged them with listening more deeply to what the Holy Spirit is saying through these events. We want this process to be steeped in prayer, as the main goal of the synod is to try to discern God’s desires for our archdiocese as we move forward.

The other team, which began meeting this spring, is the executive team. The 22 members (seven work full time in parishes, 11 are archdiocesan staff, and four are dedicated volunteers) were chosen for their expertise in helping us run the mechanics of the synod process.

We have two groups who have already helped us with consultation as we design and implement the process.

The first is the newly formed Lay Advisory Board, which has representatives from every deanery. At each of their meetings so far we have presented aspects of the preparation process for the synod and sought their feedback. Additionally, we formed a Priest Synod Advisory Group, just for the purpose of giving us advice about the synod.

The next group to form will be the Synod Preparatory Commission. This group will include various kinds of experts from theologians to writers. The preparatory commission is called for in the Vatican document about a diocesan synod, which can be found under the headline “Resources” on the home page of the archdiocesan website for the synod, archspm.org/synod.

The document says, “The members of this preparatory commission are chosen by the Bishop from amongst the clergy and other faithful who are distinguished by their pastoral prudence and by their professional competence and who, in so far as possible, reflect the various charisms and ministries of the People of God. Some members should be expert in the disciplines of Canon Law and Sacred Liturgy.”

The document also says that the preparatory commission “helps the Bishop in drawing up the synodal Directory, in his determining those questions to be proposed for synodal deliberation, as well as in the designation of the synodal members.”

The commission will help us discern what are the particular priorities that the synod consultation will focus on in year

two of preparation.

Believe it or not, still other groups will be formed! We have asked each parish to have a synod parish ambassador team, ideally of 12 members.

We will help train these folks, and they will help implement the synod at the parish level. We are asking pastors to help put together these teams even now.

Also, each parish will have 10 people who are chosen to represent that parish during consultations at the deanery level, which will happen in the early months of 2021.

Finally, there will be the members of the Synod Assembly itself on Pentecost weekend 2021. Each parish will be asked to nominate two synod members and one alternate. We will ask these nominees to participate in every level of the process from the parish small groups, to the deanery consultations to the training for the Synod Assembly.

Additionally, the document on synods requires that certain people be “ex officio” members of the Synod Assembly, including, auxiliary bishops (yeah!), vicars general, episcopal vicars

and vicars judicial, members of the Council of Priests (which is our deans or “vicars forane”) and some religious superiors who have houses in the archdiocese. It encourages the archbishop to appoint others also to ensure there is broad representation of the archdiocese.

What you can see from this process is that it is a work of the Church. This is one of the great gifts of the synod process: It is a chance for the Church to work together with our archbishop for the mission which Jesus gave us, “to go and make disciples” (Mt 28:19).

I’m confident that as we enter into this process together the Holy Spirit will surprise us, as he always does. As we are docile to the Holy Spirit, he will lead us to be more effective in helping spread the saving love of Jesus to all the people in the archdiocese.

Please continue to pray for this effort and please attend one of our prayer and listening events this year. Help us respond to the Holy Spirit so that we can find better ways to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our world.

Equipos de oración, servicio

nuestra Arquidiócesis a medida que avanzamos.

El otro equipo, que comenzó a reunirse esta primavera, es el equipo ejecutivo. Los 22 miembros (siete trabajan a tiempo completo en las parroquias, 11 son personal arquidiocesano y cuatro son voluntarios dedicados) fueron elegidos por su experiencia en ayudarnos a manejar la mecánica del proceso sinodal.

Contamos con dos grupos que ya nos han ayudado con la consulta a medida que diseñamos e implementamos el proceso. El primero es el recién formado Consejo Asesor Laico, que cuenta con representantes de todos los decanatos. En cada una de sus reuniones hasta ahora hemos presentado aspectos del proceso de preparación del sínodo y hemos buscado sus comentarios. Además, formamos un Grupo Asesor Sínodo Sacerdote, sólo con el propósito de darnos consejos sobre el sínodo.

El siguiente grupo que se formará será la Comisión Preparatoria del Sínodo. Este grupo incluirá varios tipos de expertos, desde teólogos hasta escritores. La Comisión Preparatoria está prevista en el documento vaticano sobre un sínodo diocesano, que se puede encontrar bajo el título Recursos en la página principal del sitio web arquidiocesano para el sínodo, ARCHSPM.ORG/SYNOD. El documento dice: “Los miembros de esta comisión preparatoria son elegidos por el Obispo entre el clero y otros fieles que se distinguen por su prudencia

pastoral y por su competencia profesional y que, en la medida de lo posible, reflejan la diversos carismas y ministerios del Pueblo de Dios. Algunos miembros deben ser expertos en las disciplinas del Derecho Canónico y la Sagrada Liturgia”.

El documento también dice que la Comisión Preparatoria “ayuda al Obispo a elaborar el Directorio sinodal, en su determinación de las cuestiones que se propondrán para la deliberación sinodal, así como en la designación de los miembros sinodales”.

La comisión nos ayudará a discernir cuáles son las prioridades particulares en las que se centrará la consulta del sínodo en el segundo año de preparación.

Aún así, ¡hay otros grupos que formar!

Hemos pedido a cada parroquia que tenga un equipo de embajadores parroquiales sinodales, idealmente de 12 miembros.

Ayudaremos a capacitar a estas personas, y ellos ayudarán a implementar el sínodo a nivel parroquial. Pedimos a los pastores que ayuden a armar estos equipos incluso ahora. Además, cada parroquia tendrá 10 personas que son elegidas para representar a esa parroquia durante las consultas a nivel de decano, que ocurrirán en los primeros meses de 2021.

Por último, estarán los miembros de la propia Asamblea sinodal el fin de semana de Pentecostés de 2021. Se pedirá a cada parroquia que nomine a dos miembros del sínodo y un suplente. Pediremos a estos candidatos que participen en todos los niveles del proceso, desde los

pequeños grupos parroquiales hasta las consultas de decano a la capacitación para la Asamblea sinodal.

Además, el documento sobre los sínodos requiere que ciertas personas sean miembros “ex officio” de la Asamblea de Sínodo, incluidos obispos auxiliares (¡sí!), vicarios generales, vicarios episcopales y vicarios judiciales, miembros del Consejo de Sacerdotes (que es nuestros decanos o “ vicars forane”) y algunos superiores religiosos que tienen casas en la Arquidiócesis. Alienta al arzobispo a nombrar a otros también para asegurar que haya una amplia representación de la Arquidiócesis.

Lo que se puede ver en este proceso es que es una obra de la Iglesia. Este es uno de los grandes dones del proceso sinodal: Es una oportunidad para que la Iglesia trabaje junto con nuestro arzobispo para la misión que Jesús nos dio, “ir y hacer discípulos” (Mt 28, 19).

Confío en que al entrar en este proceso juntos el Espíritu Santo nos sorprenderá, como siempre lo hace. Al ser dóciles al Espíritu Santo, nos llevará a ser más eficaces para ayudar a difundir el amor salvador de Jesús a todo el pueblo de la Arquidiócesis.

Por favor, continúen orando por este esfuerzo y por favor asistan a uno de nuestros eventos de oración y escucha de este año. Ayúdanos a responder al Espíritu Santo para que podamos encontrar mejores maneras de compartir las buenas nuevas de Jesucristo con nuestro mundo.

La preparación de dos años para un sínodo arquidiocesano va a ser un gran esfuerzo, y ya es un esfuerzo de equipo.

De hecho, es un equipo de equipos.

Permítanme darles una foto de cuántas personas ya están involucradas.

El primer grupo involucrado en el sínodo es un grupo de oraciones dedicadas. El equipo de oración de 25 miembros comenzó a reunirse en el otoño de 2018 y continuará reuniéndose mensualmente durante todo el proceso hasta la primavera de 2021.

Este es un grupo diverso de fieles, en su mayoría laicos hombres y mujeres que creen en el poder de la oración y se han comprometido a orar diariamente por este importante esfuerzo. Algunos de ellos asistirán a cada uno de nuestros eventos de oración y escucha este otoño e invierno, y les hemos encargado especialmente de escuchar más profundamente lo que el Espíritu Santo está diciendo a través de estos acontecimientos. Queremos que este proceso esté impregnado de oración, ya que el objetivo principal del sínodo es tratar de discernir los deseos de Dios para

I’m confident that as we enter into this process together the Holy Spirit will surprise us, as he always does.

As we are docile to the Holy Spirit, he will lead us to be more effective in helping spread the saving love of Jesus to all the people in the archdiocese.

SLICEof LIFE

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

AUGUST 8, 2019

Solanus on stage

SLICEof LIFE

Dr. Don Wessel of St. Michael in Stillwater performs as Blessed Solanus Casey in a play about the life of the Capuchin Franciscan friar July 28 at St. Patrick in St. Paul. Titled “Thank God Ahead of Time: A Drama about the Life and Times of Blessed Solanus Casey,” the play was written and produced by Molly Druffner, also of St. Michael, and performed by the John Paul II Players, which is comprised of participants from several parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The play was held two days before the July 30 feast day of Blessed Solanus, and raised $6,500 to help replace the roof on the new friary for the Franciscan Brothers of Peace in St. Paul, which is next door to St. Patrick. The friary is named in honor of Blessed Solanus, who was born in Wisconsin, confirmed and worked in Stillwater and served in Detroit. He died in 1957 and was beatified in 2017 by Pope Francis.

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AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Opportunities for healing in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis — for victims/survivors, their families and parishioners — are growing in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Healing circles of sharing and prayer, small group meetings in libraries, coffee houses and churches, public presentations and private meetings with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Tim O’Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, are among expanding efforts to help victims/survivors and others since December’s resolution of the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

To help coordinate, publicize and organize those efforts, and to search for new avenues of healing, the archdiocese has created a new position — Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Abuse Prevention.

Paula Kaempffer began work June 10. She has served in Catholic Church ministry for more than 40 years, including the last 12 as director of learning at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. She and her husband, Tom, live north of the Twin Cities. Their daughter, Martha, lives in Seattle.

Kaempffer said opportunities to discuss the impact of clergy abuse are important for victims/survivors and others across the archdiocese as people seek to grow from anger and other difficult emotions into healing.

“I think most parishes have not had an opportunity to talk about this issue,” she said.

Kaempffer’s office also is offering a listening ear and resources to help people who might face a variety of challenges, such as dealing with the emotions of a property crime or homicide, said Janell Rasmussen, deputy director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, the archdiocesan office that oversees its child protection efforts.

“Her outreach will be much broader than sexual abuse,” Rasmussen said.

A native of New York City and a survivor of clergy sexual abuse she suffered as an adult working in the Church, Kaempffer said she knows firsthand about the kind of healing that can take place.

“It takes a lot of personal work,” she said. “It takes a lot of inner strength to recapture the power that has been taken away from you (by an abuser). I have done a lot of that work through personal therapy and come out the other side. I’m grateful for that.”

Faith in God was an integral part of her healing, she said.

“I was blessed in that I never blamed God for it,” Kaempffer said of the abuse she suffered. “God didn’t do this to me. People made bad choices. But I do get when people blame God.” “We have to be careful of the language we use,” Kaempffer suggested. “We often say, ‘the Church did that to me.’ The Church didn’t do that. The clergy, or the hierarchy, did that to you. The Church is the people of God. And the people of God did not do that to you.”

Kaempffer said she contacted O’Malley shortly after

he was hired by the archdiocese in 2014. She had been through her own healing process, and she told O’Malley she wanted to help the archdiocese in whatever way she could. They began consulting on a regular basis, and when O’Malley and Rasmussen asked her to take the new position, she accepted.

Kaempffer’s experience with healing includes attending and learning from restorative justice efforts in the archdiocese led in part by Janine Geske, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and retired law professor. Geske helped bring the concept of restorative justice to the archdiocese about three years ago.

Kaempffer attended sessions with Geske that included healing circles of prayer and sharing at the Basilica in September and at St. Odilia in Shoreview in February. A number of other parishes in the archdiocese are offering similar healing sessions.

“I’m quite inspired by the concept and how it works,” Kaempffer said. “The idea behind restorative justice is to recognize the harm and to heal that harm.

There are different ways of doing that depending on what people need.”

Kaempffer said she plans to develop and publicize this fall a list of healing events, presentations on restorative justice, listening sessions and other opportunities in the archdiocese with dates, places and people to contact. Among other avenues, the list will be available on the archdiocese’s website at safeenvironmentspm.org.

Listening carefully to discern people’s needs and suggesting programs that might help them will be critically important aspects of her job, Kaempffer said.

“I think my first place is to listen,” she said. “Deeply listen to them. And ask them, ‘What would you like to have happen? What would you like to see happen in this situation?’”

“We need to let them take the lead,” she said of victims/survivors. “They may not know what they need. But they will know it when they see it.”

Getting people to understand and express their needs can take time, Kaempffer said, and she is willing to meet with people wherever they are comfortable.

She can be reached at 651-291-4429, kaempfferp@ archspm.org and in her office at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul.

In addition, Kaempffer said, there are a variety of resources, including referrals for professional counseling and pastoral assistance, that may be beneficial to some survivors. She is willing to help in whatever way she can, she said.

Kaempffer said she misses her colleagues at the Basilica, where she helped lead the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Bible study and other adult faith formation activities.

“I love the people there,” she said. “It’s been an honor to be part of it.”

O’Malley said he is pleased to have Kaempffer join the archdiocese’s efforts at healing.

“Paula has the experience, skill set, perspective and confidence to assist a wide variety of people,” he said.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Survivor of clergy abuse to coordinate outreach efforts

Paula Kaempffer

PROMOTING HEALING Tim O’Malley and Janell Rasmussen, director and deputy director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, are working with victims/survivors, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Paula Kaempffer and others to promote efforts at healing in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

Those efforts already have included: }Restorative Justice Discussion Feb. 10 at Church of Christ the King in Minneapolis with Archbishop Hebda and O’Malley. }Restorative Justice and Healing events with retired Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and law professor Janine Geske and others: Feb. 20 and May 6 at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake Feb. 21 at St. Odilia in Shoreview Feb. 22 at the Murphy Institute at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis Feb. 23 at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. } Peace, Healing and Justice event March 18 at Church of the Risen Savior in Burnsville with a prayer service

by Archbishop Hebda, an update on safe environment efforts by O’Malley and a listening session. }A Morning for Justice, Peace and Healing at Knights of Columbus hall at St. Wenceslaus in New Prague May 7, with surrounding parishes invited. Archbishop Hebda and O’Malley gave opening remarks, Geske led the session. }Restorative Justice event with Geske May 7 at Lumen Christi in St. Paul. }Peace Circles on fourth Monday of each month.

New parish planning committee driven by lay leadership

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit A new committee for parish planning formed by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is being driven by lay leadership and a desire to provide flexible and timely assistance to parishes.

“We are designed to help parishes examine and analyze their current situation relative to finances, demographics, sacramental ministry,” and other factors, said Marilou Eldred, committee chairwoman and a retired president of the Catholic Community Foundation and St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

The 20-member, Archdiocesan Parish Planning Committee includes three teams of four to five people each,

organized by geographical regions in the archdiocese known as vicariates.

The teams are designed to respond efficiently to needs and requests, come together with the executive committee and make recommendations to Archbishop Bernard Hebda, said Eldred, a member of Assumption in St. Paul.

Assignments could include following up on previous archdiocesan planning efforts or responding to requests for assistance from parishes or questions raised by senior leadership in the archdiocese, she said.

The archbishop sent a letter to priests June 3 about the initiative. The committee has been meeting once a month since April. Team visits to parishes seeking assistance began this August.

The first steps of any parish visit will include studying demographic, financial or other appropriate information and holding a listening session with the leadership of a parish, including the pastor, members of the parish and finance councils, trustees, the business administrator and when applicable, the school principal, Eldred said.

That allows direct and immediate involvement of those closest to whatever challenge or opportunity is being discussed, she said. The goal is to have parishes lead whatever changes are recommended, she said.

People on the committee teams have expertise in business, finance or other fields, experience in parish leadership or bring other gifts to the table.

Eldred has been involved in and

helped lead parish planning efforts in the archdiocese since at least 2010.

“We learned that listening must be a major part” of the approach, she said.

Russ Nolan, a member of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Delano, is new to archdiocesan planning efforts.

But he has been a parish business manager, parish council member and trustee. St. Maximilian Kolbe was formed about five years ago from the merger of St. Joseph and St. Peter parishes in Delano. That experience made clear to him the need for good communication when changes are discussed, Nolan said.

The planning committee also is determined to “be an active agent of change for the parish” that can offer suggestions and guidance, he said.

LOCAL

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

Archdiocese continues to meet Ramsey County settlement requirements Oversight is set to end early next year

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Meeting with victims/survivors, holding parish-wide restorative justice events and helping with seminarian formation are just some of the ways the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis continues to enhance its safe environment efforts and comply with a 2015 settlement agreement it entered into with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

That’s according to a report the archdiocese presented Aug. 6 in Ramsey County Court, the kind of appearance it has made every six months since the agreement was signed.

In the 20-minute hearing, Thomas Ring, Ramsey County assistant attorney, said the archdiocese remains in substantial compliance with the agreement. Ramsey County Judge Teresa Warner said she found the same, based on the report, Ring’s endorsement and testimony given by Janell Rasmussen, deputy director of the archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

Joe Dixon, attorney for the archdiocese, emphasized that the archdiocese “has really taken on the spirit of the agreement” and continues to take measures that go beyond its formal terms.

The reports are required under an agreement with Ramsey County on civil charges the county filed against the archdiocese in 2015, alleging it was negligent in the case of three brothers who were sexually abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul in 2010 and 2011.

The settlement agreement was amended in June 2016, when Ramsey County dismissed related criminal charges.

The latest report is the archdiocese’s seventh. The court’s oversight is set to end early next year. Warner said she is open to a Jan. 31 or Feb. 3 court date, whichever the county attorney’s office and the archdiocese agree upon, for what could be the archdiocese’s final report under the agreement.

Among the latest developments: uHaving earlier met settlement agreement requirements regarding restorative justice sessions, the archdiocese continues to promote them, with a growing number of parishes and ministries organizing presentations, prayer services and healing circles of prayer and sharing, the report said. At least 10 such events have been held since February. uThe archdiocese engaged with private donors and clergy to help fund a victim outreach initiative that includes an Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Abuse Prevention. Paula Kaempffer began work June 10. uFirst steps were taken to create an

electronic submission process for parish and school reports of compliance with background checks, safe environment training and a code of conduct.

Recommended by an external audit conducted last September by Rochester, New York-based Stonebridge Business Partners, the reports also will include spreadsheets documenting compliance for employees and volunteers. uThe archdiocese received spring audit reports with the requested spreadsheets from schools, parishes and parish-like entities. Those reports are being examined for compliance, with staff working individually with parishes and schools. uThe settlement agreement requires that the archdiocese conduct parish and school visits every seven years, and complete no less than 15 percent, or 43, parish and school visits annually during the agreement. This spring the staff visited 45 sites. uTim O’Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, and Rasmussen continue to be involved in formation efforts at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and St. John Vianney Seminary, both in St. Paul. uPolicy reviews and revisions continue. One change in the last six months: Parish trustees and parish council members must be current with background checks, safe environment training and a code of conduct, regardless of their interaction with minors

uThe settlement agreement requires the archdiocese’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth to train new safe environment coordinators at parishes and schools and revisit that training every three years. Eleven training sessions were offered between January and March. uThe archdiocese has developed a clergy assistance plan for all clergy.

Recent steps to assist clergy included a victim/survivor and his mother sharing their story during a training opportunity that 80 priests attended. They spoke of the impact of the abuse, the hope for healing, the role of the Church and the role of clergy. A psychologist offered a related presentation. And in June, O’Malley distributed a “Guidelines for Engaging in Healing Conversations with Victims of Abuse in the Church” to all clergy in the archdiocese. uThe archdiocese was discharged from bankruptcy and the bankruptcy case was closed Dec. 21, 2018. The settlement agreement requires that the archdiocese convene and participate in a one-day “Conference for Restorative Justice and Reconciliation within eighteen months of confirmation of the dismissal date.”

Planning for such a conference is underway. Rasmussen told Warner the event would be held before February 2000.

The progress report can be read in its entirety at safeenvironmentspm.org.

AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

NATION+WORLD

Bishops demand change in wake of Texas, Ohio mass shootings El Paso bishop meets with victims, family members; Pope Francis offers prayers, solidarity Catholic News Service While offering support and prayers, several U.S. bishops also expressed outrage that tragedies like the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 3 and 4 continue to occur.

“Mass shootings are not an inevitability. All human beings have the right to live without violence. To behave otherwise is to advance a lie,” Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich stressed in an Aug. 4 statement.

He said the Chicago Archdiocese “mourns and prays” for the victims of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, but it also stands “with their loved ones demanding an end to this deadly status quo.”

The archbishop, who lives in a city known for its own experiences with gun violence in recent years, emphasized that an end to such tragedies “begins with holding accountable our elected officials who have done nothing to address gun violence.”

Pope Francis joined other Catholic Church leaders expressing sorrow after the back-to-back mass shootings left at least 31 dead and dozens injured.

After the prayer called the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Aug. 4, the pope said he wanted to convey his spiritual closeness to the victims, the wounded and the families affected by the attacks.

He also included three people who died and 13 who were injured a weekend earlier during a shooting at a festival in Gilroy, California.

“I am spiritually close to the victims of the episodes of violence that these days have bloodied Texas, California and Ohio, in the United States, affecting defenseless people,” he said.

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik, who experienced a mass shooting in his own city in 2018 when 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue, said in an

A woman is overcome with emotion during a vigil in Dayton, Ohio Aug. 4, after a mass shooting that left nine people dead.

PHOTOS | CNS

Aug. 4 statement: “Over and over and over, we grieve as a nation for the victims of mass shootings, praying for the souls of those who have died and for the long recovery of those with wounded bodies and broken hearts.”

He stressed that these prayers must “also lead us to actions that will address the complex causes of these crimes.

Among those steps are limiting civilian access to high capacity weapons and magazines, addressing online sites that encourage violence, improving access to mental health care for those who may be prone to violence, and working to overcome the racism that contributes to some of these crimes.”

The bishop of El Paso, Texas, met with families of those who were killed and wounded during the Aug. 3 shooting at a Walmart in the city where he serves. He said in a statement following the meeting that his heart “was breaking,” after seeing the human toll of the crime.

“As a minister I am called to be present

Mourners hold lights high during a vigil near the border fence between Mexico and the U.S. Aug. 3 , after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas.

to those who suffered this attack and to their families. I need to do so with a sense of composure,” said Bishop Mark Seitz in the statement. “But as I visited with victims and those they love, my heart was breaking within me. Their questions are mine as well. Why the innocent children? Why the mothers with babes in their arms? Why should any human being ever be subjected to such violence?”

By early Aug. 5, the death toll in El Paso had climbed from 20 to 22 reported fatalities and 26 injured from what is, so far, the eighth-deadliest mass shooting on U.S. soil. Nine people were killed and 27 were injured in Dayton.

Lone gunmen were believed to be responsible in each of the shooting incidents in Texas, Ohio and California.

Bishop Seitz participated in an Aug. 4 evening vigil for the victims with other faith leaders as part of the InterFaith Alliance of the Southwest, less than a

mile from where the shooting took place, the local El Paso Times newspaper reported. Gathered with members of the Jewish community and other faiths, Bishop Seitz and others from the diocese lit candles and prayed for the victims.

Because of evil forces, God sent Jesus into the world, and when it appeared that evil had won after his crucifixion, Jesus proved otherwise, Bishop Seitz said.

“This is my hope for all who have suffered this violence today and for our community,” he said. “The Christ who suffered is in our midst. He is our companion. We trust he will raise up the fallen, bring healing to the victims and console our broken community.”

El Paso, too, will rise above the “terrible” bloody day, he said.

“Today let us mourn the dead and pray for them. Tomorrow let us recommit to love. And let us all brace ourselves for just action that will overcome the forces of division and build a more loving society,” he said.

Bishops object to Trump tweets on Baltimore Catholic News Service U.S. bishops who lead on such issues as cultural diversity, anti-racism and domestic justice objected Aug. 2 to a recent spate of tweets by President Donald Trump against the city of Baltimore.

They joined other Catholic leaders, including the archbishop of Washington, in calling for civility and respect in language.

“Painfully, for the past several weeks we find ourselves once more discussing how people, even our national leaders, use language that is divisive and disrespectful,” said a brief joint statement from three chairmen of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees. “Such

language is absolutely incompatible with the teaching of Jesus Christ.”

The statement came almost a week after Trump called the city “disgusting” and a place where “no human being would want to live,” among other insults.

It was signed by Bishop Nelson Perez of Cleveland, chair of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism; and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori was one of the

first Catholic bishops to speak out July 27.

“It saddens me to see Baltimore severely denigrated

by President Trump,” he said via Twitter. “Baltimore is near and dear to my heart. It is hometown to more than half a million people. Baltimore has its tragedies and challenges but also its strengths and opportunities. Many good people are working together to address Baltimore’s challenges and to build on its strengths.

They deserve the support of elected officials and their fellow citizens.”

In the Aug. 2 statement, the three bishops said that, “like Archbishop Lori, we were deeply saddened by the denigration of the city of Baltimore in recent public

discourse, especially given Bishop Fabre’s recent participation in a very powerful and fruitful listening session in that city on the issue of racism.”

They said constructive dialogue requires mutual respect and the “recognition that each and every person shares in the same inalienable human dignity regardless of their race or national origin.”

“If we embrace this vision of public discussion and dialogue, as we state in the bishops’ recent pastoral letter on racism, ‘Open Wide Our Hearts,’ the headlines we see all too often today will become lessons from the past,” they said.

Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory also spoke out on the comments by Trump

and others about Baltimore, saying those remarks and the responses they have generated “have deepened divisions and diminished our national life.”

“We must all take responsibility to reject language that ridicules, condemns, or vilifies another person because of their race, religion, gender, age, culture or ethnic background,” the archbishop said Aug. 1. “Such discourse has no place on the lips of those who confess Christ or who claim to be civilized members of society.”

The archbishop made the remarks in a Q-and-A with the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper.

NATION+WORLD

8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

Film looks at immigrants’ integration into US

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

Lucy Paw, a refugee from Myanmar who is sponsored by Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, recalls the terror in her home country faced by her and her three children: “Sometimes we cannot sleep. The gun and the weapon, dehdeh-deh-deh-deh,” she said, imitating the sound of machine gun fire. “Before we came to the United States, I prayed the rosary.”

Filmmakers Michael McGlinn and John Altman set out, in McGlinn’s words, to “elevate the conversation” about immigration with their new documentary, “Immigrants in the Heartland: Who Are We Following?”

“I know that immigration, and things under that umbrella, is a very divisive, contentious issue for a lot of people today,” McGlinn said. “I felt that John and I could make a film that serves as the backdrop of how we as Catholics should be dealing with any issue in our lives that might be divisive, contentious or confusing.”

Father Wesley Schawe, pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City, Kansas, remembered his baptism into advocacy: a 2005 immigrant rights rally downtown with 1,000 people on hand.

“I get into the bed of a pickup, and I’m handed a microphone,” at which point he said a prayer for immigrant rights, Father Schawe said. “I know I lost friends that day. There were people who saw that on the news and were ticked off. ... Here I was, taking a side, so to speak. And people go, ‘Look at that, that little Wesley that has come back and is offering a prayer in a language I don’t understand,’” he added.

McGlinn and Altman, of Sistine Films, will know soon enough to what extent they’ve succeeded, as “Immigrants in the Heartland,” funded in part by the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign, debuts online this month.

“I was intrigued by the subject,” McGlinn told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Kansas City, Missouri. “There were things I was sensing that it might be an interesting story,” he said, citing initiatives in his home Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, as well as in dioceses in neighboring Kansas.

“Some weeks later, we had this dialogue. I was at this table with some Spanish speakers. ‘You remember that time when you got up there? Did you really mean that, or did you just get up there?’ So we have those people who feel I betrayed them, and those who thought I did it insincerely. I was getting it from both ends!”

“Immigrants in the Heartland” features more than a dozen voices of native-born and immigrant Americans.

One, Greg Bole, an immigration legal assistance attorney for Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, recalls helping close the doors after a long day at the Domino’s Pizza where he worked in Anderson, Indiana, when he saw a truck drop off an undocumented woman from Mexico outside at 1 a.m. All the woman had was a sack with some belongings, a pillow, and a slip of paper bearing the address where her husband lived.

Among others interviewed are Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop John Brungardt of Dodge City, Kansas; and Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita, Kansas; and Bishop James Johnston Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

CNS ILLUSTRATION/SISTINE FILMS

Promotional material for the documentary “Immigrants in the Heartland: Who Are We Following?” by filmmakers Michael McGlinn and John Altman. The documentary is funded in part by the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign.

“She was hungry. And I was at a pizza place,” Bole said. While he had an inkling at the time that he wanted to be a lawyer, he added, “I realized I wanted to work with this group of people. Helping this woman find her husband and eat some pizza led me to believe I could help in a more substantial way.”

“It takes a lot to become an American citizen. And I am blessed to be one,” said Benedict Babaran, who was born in the Philippines. He added he especially likes the part in taking the citizenship oath that “you swear your allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Not to the government of the United States. Because the government may change.”

If you suspect abuse of a minor, your first call should be to law enforcement.

While some of the first-person accounts in “Immigrants in the Heartland” may be hard to hear, the filming process was surprisingly easy, McGlinn told CNS. “We submitted our (CCC grant) proposal Oct. 1 (2017), and we were in preproduction by December,” he said.

In a bit of a flip, the documentary is available for rental and sale online first, through whoarewefollowing.org. After a year, it will be made available for television.

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AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Once imprisoned, Chinese woman now guides others to the Catholic faith

By Catherine Sheehan Catholic News Service

By Elizabeth Bachmann Catholic News Service

A woman who was imprisoned for 20 years in China for being a faithful Catholic is helping Chinese migrants convert to the faith in Australia.

Teresa Liu, now 86 and living in Sydney, was imprisoned in Guangzhou from 1957 to 1977 by the Chinese communist government.

She was never given a trial and spent some of her sentence in solitary confinement — at one point for seven months straight.

Denied access to the sacraments and the Bible throughout her incarceration, Liu kept her faith alive by praying secretly in her cell.

“I could say the rosary only after I lie down in bed, secretly,” she said. “I felt very close to God at that time because in my heart I said, ‘Jesus, now I have nothing but you. Don’t let me leave you.’”

Liu’s crime was being a member of a Catholic lay organization, the Legion of Mary, which Chinese leaders considered an “anti-revolutionary” group.

Her other crime was remaining faithful to the pope by refusing to join the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

Following her release, Liu immigrated to Australia in 1980 with her husband, John Bosco Liu, who had been imprisoned for 22 years.

Now a devout and active parishioner at St. Michael Parish in Hurstville, in southern Sydney, Liu has spent decades catechizing Chinese migrants.

Providing them one-on-one faith formation in their own language — Cantonese or Mandarin — she has guided hundreds into the Catholic Church, said Father Janusz Bieniek, pastor and a member of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel.

“She is very supportive of all initiatives in the parish, especially the work of evangelization with people from China who are thinking of becoming Christian,” Father Bieniek told CNS. “She gathers them, talks to them, personally keeps contact with them and encourages them.”

Recently she was invested as a dame in the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in recognition of her “outstanding commitment to faith” demonstrated “through her Christian outreach to and conversion of many people in the Archdiocese of Sydney.”

Investiture in the order is the highest honor the Church bestows on laypeople and is given in recognition of extraordinary service to the Church.

Liu said she has forgiven her captors. “Those people

HEADLINES u Pope makes surprise visit to nun recovering from surgery. An elderly religious sister who worked for years in the kitchen at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the papal residence, was at her congregation’s house in Rome recovering from surgery when she received an unexpected visit July 28 from Pope Francis. The pope greeted Sister Maria Mucci, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as members of her congregation. “Just look!

My illness has made all the sisters of the Regina Mundi House who met the pope happy,” Sister Maria told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. u Supreme Court allows Trump administration to use funds for border wall. In a 5-4 vote July 26, the Supreme Court said the Trump administration could use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to pay for construction and repairs of a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. The order — one paragraph long

Pro-life groups’ campaign helps mothers at border

CNS

Teresa Liu at St. Michael Church in Hurstville in southern Sydney, Australia. were just doing their duty, their job. They also are victims of the communist system,” she said.

She was 25 when she was arrested, and newly engaged to her future husband. She had wanted to become a Carmelite nun but changed her mind when John Bosco Liu told her that he loved her.

Liu spent some of her sentence in the same prison as her husband, but the couple had only fleeting glimpses of each other during that time. Speaking or showing any signs of affection would have meant severe punishment for both.

As soon as she was free, she wrote to him expressing her love. They were married in 1979 after John Bosco Liu’s release. Their marriage lasted just 10 years, however. John Bosco Liu died of a heart attack immediately after receiving Communion during Mass. Liu was by his side at the time.

“I’m very grateful to God that he died peacefully and after receiving holy Communion,” she said.

Liu also lost her eldest brother, Paul, to the communist regime. He died in prison after serving a 15-year sentence, leaving behind a wife and eight children. Priests and nuns also were imprisoned, including Archbishop Dominic Tang ss, who spent 22 years behind bars without a trial.

“Pray for China,” Liu said. “The situation in China now in some ways is worse than it was for us. ... They want to destroy every religion.”

“Thank God I still have the chance to speak about my experience today. In the beginning, at first, I said, ‘Thank God.’ And my last word also is, ‘Thank God very much.’”

and unsigned — overturned an appellate court decision that froze the funds for work in California, New Mexico and Arizona. u Judge dismisses Covington Catholic

student’s suit against newspaper. A federal judge July 26 dismissed a $250 million lawsuit against The Washington Post by a Catholic high school student from Kentucky, ruling the newspaper’s articles and tweets about the student’s actions after the annual March for Life in January were protected by the First Amendment. Nick Sandmann sued the newspaper five months ago, claiming it was biased in its reporting of what happened at the Lincoln Memorial Jan. 18 — when Sandmann, wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, smiled just inches away from Nathan Phillips, a Native American leader, as Phillips chanted and beat a drum. u Bishop says hearts ‘heavy with sadness’ over shooting at festival. Hundreds gathered late July 29 at St. Mary’s Church in Gilroy, California, for a bilingual prayer service, invited by the city’s Catholic community “to

Shoelaces, rosaries, diapers, shampoo, Chapstick, baby wipes, water. Basic things that affirm one’s humanity.

These are the items that the #Bottles2TheBorder campaign recently provided for immigrant mothers and their babies as they crossed into America.

New Wave Feminists and Abby Johnson’s And Then There Were None organization, along with 50 other pro-life groups, sponsored #Bottles2TheBorder. In July, they took more than $133,000 in supplies and $72,000 in funds to respite centers on the Texas-Mexico border.

The trip marked the second visit New Wave Feminists made to the border in the past year. The feminist prolife group subscribes to an ethic that seeks to preserve dignity at all stages of life. Last December, they organized a similar initiative, delivering $10,000 to the respite center in McAllen, Texas.

“You have people fleeing for their lives. And the desperation, you can see it on their face. They just want to get their families to safety, and, as someone who works in the pro-life realm, I can recognize that desperation,” said Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, founder of New Wave Feminists.

Herndon-De La Rosa and Johnson, a Planned Parenthood worker turned pro-life advocate and founder of And Then There Were None, led a group of 30 women to the border.

Roasting in 110-degree heat, they unloaded more than 27,000 pounds of bottled water and other supplies from an 18-wheeler and onto a conveyor belt that carried them into the Catholic Charities respite center in McAllen. The women distributed the remaining supplies to other respite houses in Texas.

Each facility helps legal immigrants who have been approved and released from processing. The centers provide a night or two of shelter, food and travel instructions to wherever they are going.

Johnson and Herndon-De La Rosa said they would have donated supplies to immigrants in the country illegally who are at government detention centers if the centers accepted private donations.

“I don’t think that any one of us should support lawlessness, and I think that there should be a process for immigrating into the country, but I think that we also need to recognize that there are people here who need our help right now, even at the detention centers,” Johnson told CNS. “Just because someone has done something criminal doesn’t mean that their basic human rights should be ignored.”

come together and pray for all those affected by the senseless tragedy.” A day earlier, a gunman fired on the crowd attending the final day of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, killing a 6-year-old boy, a 13-yearold girl and a man in his 20s and injuring 12 others. Police shot and killed the gunman.

“Our hearts are heavy with sadness in the wake of the horrific shooting,” San Jose Bishop Oscar Cantu said in a statement. “I am grateful for the first responders and individual citizens whose quick thinking and professional actions saved countless lives.” u Vatican: Bones found at cemetery do not belong to missing woman. Results of a morphological analysis of bones and bone fragments found at an ossuary in a Vatican cemetery concluded that none belonged to Emanuela Orlandi, a young Italian woman who has been missing for more than 30 years, the Vatican press office said. The forensic team concluded its study of the bones July 28. However, an expert representing the Orlandi family requested about 70 bone remains be tested in a laboratory. Heeding the request, officials

catalogued those bone samples to be held by the Vatican police and be “available to the promoter of justice.” Orlandi, a Vatican City resident and the daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared in Rome June 22, 1983, when she was 15. u Catholic leaders object to reinstatement of federal death penalty. An announcement July 25 by the Justice Department that it is reinstating the federal death penalty for the first time in 16 years was unwelcome news for Catholic leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who have advocated against capital punishment. “The United States’ death penalty system is tragically flawed. Resuming federal executions — especially by an administration that identifies itself as ‘prolife’ — is wrongheaded and unconscionable,” said Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that champions restorative justice and an end to the death penalty. Currently, 61 men and one woman are on federal death row.

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Strengthening

Opportunities come into f

By Jonathan Liedl For The Catholic Spirit

W

ith the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis clear of bankruptcy stemming from the clergy sexual abuse crisis and preparations underway for a 2021 synod focusing on pastoral needs, leaders in the archdiocese believe the stage is set for revitalizing lay ministry.

“I feel we couldn’t be in a better place than we are now,” said Karl Kornowski, chairman of the Coalition of Ministry Associations, which brings together representatives from 14 ministry associations in the archdiocese, such as the Association of Parish Business Administrators and the Association of Coordinators & Religious Education.

At the same time, there’s a recognition that strong, well-supported lay ministers are needed now more than ever.

“Lay ministry is invaluable to the life of the Church today,” said Father Michael Tix, the archdiocese’s episcopal vicar for clergy and parish services.

“We’re at that point of time where we need to recognize the gifts that people bring, and want to bring, in service to the Church, and we need to recommit to engage in a deeper way.”

A recent study on the matter could be an important tool for those working to revitalize lay ministry. Funded by the Catholic Community Foundation, the study surveyed 69 active lay ministers in the archdiocese. The results will be presented at an archdiocesan professional development day Aug. 20.

The initiative “fit perfectly with CCF’s goal of increasing parish vitality in our local Catholic community,” said Anne Cullen Miller, foundation president.

“Lay ministers were very grateful to be asked what they thought,” said Deborah Organ, an adjunct professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and pastoral associate at Holy Rosary in Minneapolis, who led the initiative. “They’re passionate in their love for ministry and their love for God.” Put together and implemented by a team of 12, including Catholic university faculty, clergy, lay ministers, and a DEBORAH ORGAN religious sister, the survey painted a complicated picture of lay ministry in the archdiocese.

On one hand, Organ noted lay ministers surveyed had “deeply positive and passionate feelings” regarding their local parish communities, describing them as “welcoming,” “alive,” and “faith-filled.”

On the other hand, many lay ministers felt unsupported and overworked, while some expressed a sense of disconnect from the archdiocese and the wider Church.

Factors contributing to that unease could include the 2008 closing and restructuring of the archdiocesan Center for Ministry, which provided support for parish lay ministers, and financial constraints as a result of bankruptcy, observers suggested.

“Every time there is a ‘tightening of the belt,’ it often falls in the laps of our lay professional ministers, as the lion’s share of most parish budgets are in staffing,” said Kornowski, who also works as parish business administrator at St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park. “This pressure definitely affects the dayto-day lives of people who have dedicated themselves in service to the Church.”

AUGUST 8, 2019 • 11

Examples of lay ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis include, in photos clockwise from left, Totus Tuus summer program at Epiphany in Coon Rapids, theater production at Holy Family in St. Louis Park and an evening for married couples at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

g Lay Ministry

focus in lead-up to synod

The study brought up several concrete areas for improvement that could be considered as the archdiocese prepares for the synod. For example, a desire for more support for ongoing formation and education was a clear request from lay ministers who were surveyed.

“Lay ministers need to be professionally developed just like (employees) in the secular world,” said Kornowski. “Ineffective ministers make for ineffective parishes.”

Other participants in the study expressed worries about stagnant wages and an inability to support a family on what a lay minister can typically expect to make. The need for improved collaboration with clergy also emerged as an important issue to local lay ministers.

“These ministers understand the role of pastor, and believe that pastors are more effective if they work with their staff,” Organ said.

Building momentum Those involved in the study hope it will help give direction to the archdiocese going forward, especially as the local Church prepares for the 2021 Synod. “(With this survey), support for lay ecclesial ministers can be grounded in insights gained firsthand, yielding more efficient and effective results,” noted Cullen Miller.

According to those with a bird’s eye view of lay ministry in the archdiocese, there’s already some good momentum to build upon.

This has been evident in collaboration between the archdiocese and CMA. The archdiocese has worked to strengthen and raise the visibility of CMA and its represented ministry associations, Father Tix said. When a new youth

ministry director is hired at a parish, for example, they’re likely to be directed to CMA and the Youth Ministers’ Network.

“We see the value of what they’re doing in their networking and sharing resources with one another as we work together to live out the Church’s mission,” he said.

Father Tix, staff from the archdiocesan Office for Parish Services, and Father Charles Lachowitzer, the vicar general, often attend CMA’s monthly meetings, ensuring two-way communication between the archdiocese and lay ministers.

The collaborative spirit has been appreciated by those on the ground.

“The enthusiasm is palpable despite many challenges” Kornowski said. “We truly seem to all be ‘co-workers in the vineyard,’” he added, referring to a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s document on lay ministry.

In the area of ongoing education, Organ commended the recent work of The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, which provides accessible and affordable programs for lay ministers. Organ said she’d like to see lay ministry education offerings expanded in the archdiocese to meet a variety of needs.

These positive signs, Father Tix said, are important foundations to build upon as the archdiocese works to further strengthen lay ministry.

“Like anything, you’ve got to start from someplace,” he said. “Certainly more work can be done, but some pieces are falling in place.”

Kornowski said he hopes the synod can be an important step in the process, noting his desire for CMA and lay ministers to work collaboratively with synod leadership and serve as a “rich resource for them to pull from as needed.”

“I hope for a renewed spirit of optimism, excitement, and a chance to move onward and upward as a Church,” he said.

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

FAITH+CULTURE

Synod suggestion is music to committee members’ ears

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

W

hen the archdiocesan synod executive committee met in recent months to find ways to generate enthusiasm in the pews for prayer and listening events that begin in September, one member suggested singing a new tune.

Estela Villagrán Manancero, who also serves as the director of the Office of Latino Ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, suggested having a “synod song” to draw people together and attract them to the events aimed at bringing their voices and ideas to Archbishop Bernard Hebda as he shapes a pastoral plan for the archdiocese.

During a subcommittee meeting on prayer for the synod, several members were discussing songs that could be used for prayer gatherings throughout the pre-synod process. Manancero suggested having one song that everyone could use. Her singing background and work over the last several years with the V Encuentro process for Latino Catholics both locally and nationally motivated her to bring this idea to the synod’s executive committee.

The response to her suggestion was immediate and passionate.

“Everybody was (saying) ‘That’s fabulous, let’s do it,’” Manancero recalled. “That was definitely the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Father Joseph Bambenek, co-director of the synod executive committee, said a synod song “was nowhere on our radar screen until (Manancero) brought it up.”

The synod song will involve setting the Pre-Synod Prayer, chosen by Archbishop Hebda, to music. Crafting the melody will be Father Jan Michael Joncas, a priest of the archdiocese who has generated scores of liturgical music over the last several decades. Manancero said she has translated the prayer into Spanish so that Latinos can join in as well.

“It’s (a) beautiful, short prayer,” she said. “I think it will make the synod real (and) ours. ... I think it will be something we can identify with.”

She saw firsthand how a song can unify people during the V Encuentro process, which began in 2018 in dioceses across the country and culminated with a national gathering last fall in Grapevine, Texas. Spanish for “fifth encounter,” the program was designed to equip Latinos to deepen and share their faith.

Manancero joined thousands of delegates, including 22 from this archdiocese, at the Texas gathering.

In the V Encuentro process, she also saw the effectiveness of using small groups, a point she made to

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later visited. newborn, and to be able to see the He didn’t expect and concern for to show support he didn’t, but wanted to connect with a social worker, able the baby. He was Child Protective to Ramsey County of placing who pointed him tion about the process that the Services for informa told him later Police re and the baby with a family. born slightly prematu baby may have been doing well at the 5 pounds. He was weighed around hospital.

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ALSO inside

Class act

Thomas’ first The University of St. to earn a lay Spanish-speaking class d in theology graduate ministry certificate in December.

spent Christmas with A priest from Thailand community, hearing the Twin Cities’ Hmong who only speak their the confessions of those native language.

— Page 6

With so many Latinos in the archdiocese having gone through the V Encuentro process, Manancero said she expects they will “participate heavily” in the pre-synod events. Three will be offered in English and Spanish at the following parishes — Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, St. Stephen in Minneapolis and St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.

One event will be in English and Vietnamese, at St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis.

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“I think it will be unifying,” Father Bambenek said.

“It’ll show the importance of what we’re doing.”

Did you know that most of The Catholic Spirit readers receive free subscriptions through their parishes?

Nathan Leonhardt, a custodian at the Cathedral of St. Paul who found a newborn there Jan. 4, crouches in the spot where he discovered the baby in a laundry basket.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

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custodian Nathan athedral of St. Paul his typical evening Leonhardt was doing Mass Jan. 4 when he 5:15 to rounds following double door leading pushed open a tall exit. the Dayton Avenue laundry a round, green plastic rdt The door bumped . Leonha landing the foyer’s ; homeless men basket sitting on be someone’s laundry dy might it somebo thought Maybe visit the church. they prayed, he and women often and left it there while felt embarrassed of steps thought. down a short flight The 26-year-old walkedand climbed the stairs again. exit, to lock the exterior ed Teenage basket — a fleece-ti felt around He looked in the blanket. He gingerly in there,” and Mutant Ninja Turtles sure nothing was the blanket to “make clothes. He decided to finish just the basket was still thought it was later to make sure locking up and check noise. a heard gone. Then he he A small cry. ng the sound. A puppy?

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the synod executive committee when the idea of using small groups was being discussed. Manancero put her endorsement on the idea, noting how well it worked in V Encuentro.

“That is something that is so common in our culture,” she said of having small groups. “We feel that everybody has an opportunity to share their thoughts, and I think that’s a plus. Everybody feels important and that they contribute to the process.”

During the upcoming prayer and listening events, Manancero said, those who come will be divided into groups of up to eight people. They will share their thoughts and opinions within their small group, with someone writing down what they say. Then, at the end, a representative from each group will stand up and share a few remarks with Archbishop Hebda and all attendees.

As people prepare for the upcoming prayer and listening events at parishes throughout the archdiocese, executive committee members hope the synod prayer will be on their lips. Archbishop Hebda already has been using the prayer, and hopes others will do the same.

“He really wants this synod rooted in prayer,” said Therese Coons, director of the synod committee. “And, led by the Holy Spirit.”

Father Bambenek said putting a prayer like this into song has a way of “touching something in our hearts that raises us to a higher level.” As that happens, another benefit will emerge.

Pre-Synod Prayer “Come Holy Spirit Make our ears to hear Make our eyes to see Make our mouths to speak Make our hearts to seek Make our hands to reach out And touch the world with your love.

Amen.”

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ese Newspaper of the Archdioc lis of Saint Paul and Minneapo

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

14

January 12, 2017

being Newborn safe after edral Jan. 4 abandoned at Cath

Estela Villagrán Manancero suggested having a synod song for the upcoming diocesan synod. Other members of the executive committee enthusiastically agreed, and a priest of the archdiocese has been commissioned to set the Pre-Synod Prayer to music.

Hopeful presence who changed

woman An encounter with a continues to inspire her mind about abortion r. and sidewalk counselo a St. Kate’s student — Page 12

— Page 5

thecatholicspirit.com

AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

Catholics

to Holy Land Monastery replicates sites of events in Christ’s life, offers pilgrimages

By Elizabeth Bachmann Catholic News Service

D

eep inside layers and layers of heavy, cool stone lies a small chamber, about 6 feet by 3 feet, illuminated by the scarlet glow of hanging candles. Carved out of one jagged chamber wall, an unassuming bench stands empty. This is the tomb of Jesus Christ.

Zooming out and up 100 feet, one finds oneself overlooking, not the city of Jerusalem, but a tiny postage stamp of Middle Eastern horticulture and architecture in the great gray and white sea of Washington. This is the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.

This monastery, built in 1898 by two Holy Land Franciscans, features scaled replicas of the Tomb of Jesus, the Tomb of Mary, the Chapel of the Ascension, the Lourdes Grotto, the Anointing Stone, Calvary, the Gethsemane Grotto, and others. Hemmed with a terracotta-red pergola, the courtyard and sprawling secret gardens burst with blooms of every shade, their slender green arms beckoning visitors to explore its hidden chapels, icons and statues, and to discover the disarming allure of the Holy Land.

Father James Gardiner, a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, who is director of special projects at the monastery, said the gardens and the replicas are meant to “whet your appetite” for seeing the real things in the Holy Land.

“When people come here, they can get to experience how you’re going to have to scrunch down to get into the tomb of Jesus, how only a couple of people can actually fit in there,” Father Gardiner told Catholic News Service. “The things are to scale, so they can see the distance from the tomb and the anointing stone to Calvary, they can climb those stairs and see how high it is to get to Calvary if you were in the Holy Land.

Things like that, that give people a real time experience of being over in the Holy Land.”

In 1219, 800 years ago this year, the Vatican entrusted the safety and guardianship of the Holy Land to the Holy Land Friars of the Order of St. Francis, granting them the Custody of the Holy Land.

The Monastery of the Holy Land in America is currently home to 11 Franciscan friars, whose vocation is to safeguard the Holy Land, its sites and its peoples.

To fulfill their vocation, the friars aim to inspire Catholics to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for real, and then to facilitate that journey. The monastery offers opportunities for pilgrimages monthly, each of which is completely organized and scheduled by the monastery, from hotel reservations to meals to itinerary.

“We do everything for you except say your prayers,” Father Gardiner joked.

The friar tried to explain the experience and value of

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ABOVE Franciscan Father James Gardiner, director of special projects at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, spends time in the monastery garden in Washington June 27.

LEFT A replica at the monastery of the grotto in the Holy Land that commemorates the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

COURTESY THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY OF THE HOLY LAND IN AMERICA

visiting the Holy Land.

“Something just happens to you,” he said. “I’ll tell you this. I have yet to meet anyone on any pilgrimages ... who haven’t said as we are at the airport leaving how they hated to leave. They never say they had a good time, you know, they say, ‘I really hate to leave.

Something’s happened. Something has changed in some way.’”

The Franciscans’ particular association with the Holy Land began when St. Francis of Assisi embarked on his own pilgrimage there in 1219. According to historian Franciscan Father Michael Cusato, St. Francis was determined to make contact with the Muslim people.

“Francis’s intention, first and foremost, was to go and live as a brother among other peoples,” Father Cusato said. “His insight, from the spirit in the Scriptures, was that he was a creature among other creatures, that every living, breathing human person is a creature fashioned from the hand of God.” After two failed attempts, Francis succeeded in reaching the Holy Land, where he was met with the violence of the Fifth Crusade. In the midst of the blood

and the hate, Francis and Islamic Sultan al-Kamil spent eight days in peaceful and respectful exchange of ideas within the sultan’s tent.

This year, the monastery celebrates the 800th anniversary of that fateful meeting, which marked some of the first peaceful interactions between the two faiths.

A reserved historian, Father Cusato is less gung-ho about hopping on a plane to Jerusalem than his brother priest, Father Gardiner, who was preparing to embark on his fifth journey of this year. Father Cusato explained that for people who can’t or won’t journey to the Holy Land, the monastery can be a spiritual refuge.

“I think it is important to enter into the spirit of Jerusalem, the spirit of the holy places, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, not as if you are in the Holy Land yourself although that is a very viable option today ... but it’s important to walk and enter into the spirit of Jerusalem, the various holy places and the events that took place there,” Father Cusato said. “And you can do that here on the grounds of the monastery both within the church and the wider grounds.”

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

AUGUST 8, 2019

Monument on Lake Superior’s North Shore honors missionary priest

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

V

isitors to the North Shore of Lake Superior can inspire their faith as they take in the rugged, natural beauty of the region’s woods and waters.

In addition to those wonders, a monument honoring a heroic and inspiring 19th-century priest some believe may one day be canonized a saint sits just off the lake. It’s near the mouth of the Cross River, two hours north of Duluth along Highway 61 near the town of Schroeder.

Father Frederic Baraga and his Ojibwe guide made an epic landing at this spot in 1846 after a treacherous journey across the lake that began in the Apostle Islands about 50 miles away.

They had paddled out onto the lake in a flat-bottom canoe toward their intended destination of Grand Portage, home to indigenous people Father Baraga had hoped to visit.

Calm skies turned stormy, however, and pushed the small craft more than 100 miles off course. Father Baraga calmed the fears of his guide as they traversed the rough waters, and they landed at the mouth of what is now the Cross River, a name bestowed in honor of the small wooden cross Father Baraga and his guide erected shortly after their landing. The river lies within the boundaries of Temperance River State Park, a park that had 303,000 visitors in 2017, according to the Minnesota Department of Tourism.

The original cross was made out of tree branches, and was replaced in the 1950s by a granite cross erected by the Council of Catholic Women from the Diocese of Duluth. That cross still stands today, having been moved a short distance from its original spot to property owned by the diocese.

The cross is easy to get to, located just

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A granite cross honoring Father Frederic Baraga, who made a heroic landing on the North Shore of Lake Superior, sits near the mouth of the Cross River and overlooks the lake. down the road from the river’s mouth.

For those looking for additional historical information, there’s the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder. Its director, Erik Simula, has spent all of his 54 years living and working within sight of Lake Superior, starting in Duluth where he was born. He is well versed in the area’s history, including Father Baraga, who later became the first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette in Michigan.

Simula thinks a visit to the simple stone monument is well worth it, providing an opportunity to see a slice of history that includes a poignant example of how the Catholic Church

tried to minister to and develop relationships with native people of the region.

“The fact that the Cross River was renamed (from its original Ojibwe name) talks to the legend of that crossing of the lake by Father Baraga and placing a cross there,” Simula said.

“I think the Catholic priests at the time were usually well received by the native people, at least in this area.”

Father Baraga spent much of his time building relationships with the Ojibwe of the region, and walked many miles throughout the year to make visits, even during the winter. He was known by some as the “snowshoe priest” and

he endeared himself to the Ojibwe and even learned their language.

His legacy — and sainthood cause — is carried on by the Bishop Baraga Association in the Diocese of Marquette. His life story is told on the association’s website, and its director, Lenora McKeen, expressed certainty about his future canonization. He was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s a saint,” McKeen said. “It’s a matter of the Church recognizing that, because we hear constantly of people who pray to Baraga for intercession, and they believe they received a healing or some kind of guidance or divine providence.

He was such a saintly man so devoted to his faith that he can be an anchor for us, and we need that.”

Bishop Baraga was born in 1797 in Slovenia and came to the U.S. in 1830, seven years after having been ordained a priest in his home country. He spent the next 37 years ministering to Native Americans in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. He suffered a stroke in 1866 and died two years later. It was his love of the indigenous people that drove him to paddle through a storm to reach them, McKeen said.

“Should we have found ourselves in a situation similar to Baraga’s, chances are most of us would have turned around and gone back because it wasn’t safe,” McKeen said. “But he knew that going back meant he was not going to be able to reach the people that he knew needed him. And, he was willing to put his life on the line day after day to minister and bring the Gospel to the Native Americans, to the miners, to the fur traders, to everybody in the Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, the Great Lakes region, because it was that important.

Like his motto said: Only one thing is necessary, and that is to know, love and serve God. And, he did that well.”

AUGUST 8, 2019

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

Colorado retreat pope used in WYD ‘93 gets makeover

By Tom Tracy Catholic News Service

M

ountains don’t really change that much in 26 years. So it’s a fair bet that the view of Mount Meeker and its twin, Longs Peak, from the Camp St. Malo Retreat in Colorado is the same one St. John Paul II saw when he strolled the camp’s grounds in 1993.

The retreat center was made famous during the pope’s epic World Youth Day visit to Denver, considered a huge success for the Catholic Church in the U.S. and for the pontiff.

Situated on the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and just south of the town of Estes Park — the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park — Camp St. Malo is home to a picturesque 1930s-era Chapel on the Rock. Its formal name is St. Catherine of Siena Chapel.

When he asked to have a day or two of rest during that historic visit, the pope was escorted to this mountain site by then-Denver Archbishop J. Francis Stafford. The future saint blessed the chapel, walked the trails and took a siesta in the former conference center facility.

In 2011, a fire destroyed the retreat facility. The Denver Archdiocese later bought a church lodge down the road and created the Annunciation Heights facility for families and youth. It opened last year.

But the rustic trails and rosary walk that St. John Paul would have experienced have remained closed to the public following devastating floods and landslides in September 2013. Although heavy rains caused an estimated $1.2 billion in damage statewide, they left the popular chapel mostly intact.

The Denver Archdiocese is now in the process of restoring the St. John Paul hiking trail and a new memorial pavilion named in his honor, along with a refurbished rosary walk and outdoor Stations of the Cross.

A new Visitor and Heritage Center is

Oberammergau

PassiOn Play TOur

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The Chapel on the Rock, formally named St. Catherine of Siena Chapel, in Allenspark, Colo., near Estes Park.

already open and features a number of exhibits celebrating the ‘93 papal visit, including a display of St. John Paul’s walking stick, which was reportedly crafted for him by a member of the U.S. Secret Service.

Any chapel with so arresting a setting, and situated along the route to so popular a national park, is bound to attract local Catholics, wedding couples looking for a perfect church, as well as a trickle of spontaneous passersby.

“We see as few as 20 a day on the snowiest of winter days and as many as 500 a day in the busy summer months of June, July and August,” said Jim Richard, who with his wife is a full-time volunteer greeter and self-described docent at the chapel.

It isn’t yet clear when all of the restoration projects will be completed, but there is a possibility that the St. John Paul II Memorial Hiking Trail may be ready for public use by the end of the year, Richard noted.

Pope announces themes for upcoming WYD celebrations

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service Announcing the themes for the next three World Youth Day celebrations, Pope Francis called on young men and women to meditate on the path of Christian life that God has called them to walk.

Meeting with 280 young people from 109 countries who participated in a postsynod Youth Forum in Rome June 22, the pope said he hoped the themes of the upcoming World Youth Day celebrations will be a “harmonious coordination” between the synod process and the next international celebration of World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2022.

“Do not tune out the voice of God, who urges you to arise and follow the paths that he has prepared for you,” the pope told the young adults.

The Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life had asked bishops’ conferences

around the world to identify two young adult leaders to participate in the forum, which was held at a retreat center just south of Rome.

According to the Vatican, the themes chosen by the pope for the World Youth Day celebrations were: } For 2020: “Young man, I tell you, a rise!” (Lk 7:14) }For 2021: “Arise! I have appointed you as a witness of what you have seen.” (Acts 26:16) } For 2022: “Mary arose and went with haste.” (Lk 1:39) World Youth Day is celebrated annually on a local level and every two or three years with an international gathering with the pope. The annual Rome diocesan celebration with the pope is on Palm Sunday each year; the date of the celebration in other dioceses varies.

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16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER TOM WALKER

Embracing God’s gift of faith

Sister Della Boucher and members of her community of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were holding vigil during her final hours here on earth. One close friend asked this very faith-filled servant of God if she had any fear approaching death. Sister Della replied: No, but I’m very curious to know what Jesus looks like.

Our reading from Hebrews this weekend begins: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”

(11:1) This is one of many gems found in the Letter to the Hebrews, a book of the Bible that is more of an extended homily than a letter. The author is not so much giving us a theological definition of faith as providing one of many words of encouragement (13:22) found in Hebrews for early Christians.

After setting forth this way of understanding faith, we hear example after example of the icons of faith from salvation history.

For a little homework, I’d suggest you read all of Chapter 11 and at least the first four verses of Chapter 12 to get the full effect of what the author is proposing.

Today we hear about the faith of Abraham. Through faith, Abraham obeyed a call to leave home and head out not knowing where he was to go. (v. 8) Also, by faith he received the power to

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

Can we have a sense of humor about God?

Q . The Catechism defines blasphemy as “directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God — inwardly or outwardly — words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one’s speech; in misusing God’s name.” My issue is that humor about God would seem to be blasphemy by this definition, even if it is not done out of hatred or anger toward God. This is particularly hard for me, because humor is an important part of all my close relationships, and it is very hard to have a meaningful relationship with the Lord if I have to exclude many kinds of humor from it.

A . Thank you very much for your email and question. I am

moved by your depth of thought and eloquence in expressing your question. It is clear you have put a lot of thought into not only this question, but in your investigating and interiorizing the faith.

I see a couple of questions rising to the surface in your question.

I initially wanted to examine the nature of humor. C.S. Lewis has a section in his book “The Screwtape Letters” where he discusses the various kinds of humor and how most levels of humor are less harmful than many serious people think they are. I would look at the way that most humor turns on incongruity or apparent paradox, and how we are more often laughing at the incongruity than we are at the content of the joke. But that still doesn’t get us very far in this discussion.

The expression “failing in respect toward him in one’s speech” is the key phrase here. Taking a look at it in light of what I think you are asking regarding jokes and being able to laugh with God, the crux would seem to come down to the definition of “respect.”

You and your friends can joke around and make fun of each other because there is implicit and explicit respect in your relationship. If there weren’t, the words you say to each other would be considered spiteful or rude or even cruel. But the context of the conversation is between people who have a good relationship and who respect each other.

Expand this to parents. Parents have a natural and spiritual authority over their children. Therefore, children are to respect and obey their parents. Is it possible to love, respect and obey someone in authority over you and still be able to joke around with them? It seems to be entirely possible. And it often happens.

generate, (v. 9) even though he and Sarah were so advanced in age she laughed at the possibility. His faith allowed that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. (v. 12) Hebrews continues with a lengthy exploration of the faith of Moses (vv. 23-29) and others. Moses abandoned the power that came with being known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be ill-treated rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. (v. 25) The examples from Abel through Rahab look at those who often followed the unlikely or unpopular path, because they trusted in God’s word rather than the passing promises of this world.

This leads us into the next gem (12:1) which inspires and challenges us as follows: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us.”

Of course, in and through Jesus Christ, the list of witnesses started over in a radically new way and continues to grow.

Beginning with our Blessed Mother’s assent knowing that nothing will be impossible for God (Luke 1:37) and St. Paul who finished the race and kept the faith (1 Timothy 4:6-8), there have been so many examples through the ages of those who embraced with their whole lives God’s gift of faith.

Who are those numbered among the cloud of witnesses who inspire you? Who are the people of faith you have known both personally and through hearing their stories? Sister Della is one among many for me. Somehow, I think she already realized what Jesus looked like as her sisters prayed her home, and, God willing, she now gazes upon him face to face.

Father Walker is pastor of St. Michael in Prior Lake.

There can come a time when sons and daughters joke around with their parents, even to the point of poking fun at their quirks or something silly their parents once did. (“Remember that time Mom fell into the lake trying to get into the boat? And how Dad couldn’t pull her into the boat, so he just called out instructions to her while she swam to shore?”) This is only funny if there is a healthy and loving relationship between parents and children.

More than this, humor, joking, teasing can even be something that grows and enhances the relationship; just think of the good that can come from sharing mutual laughter about our mutual family. Now, when it comes to the Divine Being Who Is Lord of All, is it possible to have a sense of respect and a sense of humor?

Note that while we can make the analogy between the relationship we have with our earthly parents and our relationship with our heavenly Father, God is still, well, God. Because of that, it would be wise to venture ahead with care.

Too many people dismiss the seriousness of this point by merely jumping to the “God can handle jokes about him” posture. Yes, God can “take it.” But that is not the issue. The issue is whether love, obedience, and respect are present in our speech and actions regarding God and all that belongs to him.

God is owed all awe and respect. There is no way that we could ever truly understand the depth of respect and reverence we owe to God. Any half-hearted reverence on our part reveals that we have no real idea who God is and who we are in relation to him.

Yet “relationship” is the key word. This same God of the universe is also the Word Made Flesh who dwelt among us, so that we can be in real and personal relationship with him. He desires to make all people on earth his children, and he desires that his children come to him in loving trust as their Abba (“Dad”) in heaven. And real relationships involve all of the elements of, well, real relationships. This would seem to necessarily involve humor.

God made humor. Satan did not. Satan can only distort the good of humor. Like any other good thing that God has made, learning to properly use this gift is essential to its flourishing.

Therefore it seems to me that there can be, even with God himself, a good and joyful balance between a sense of respect and a sense of humor.

So, is there room for laughing with God? Yes. There is room for this because a healthy relationship with God must be a real relationship. And a real relationship often (if not always) involves sharing what a person actually thinks, including what one finds odd or silly or incongruous. Of course, there is a limit. Not everything that one finds funny has a place in every relationship. The determining factor is knowing the reverence we owe to God and striving to make sure that our language always reflects the respect we owe him.

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. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, August 11 Ninenteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 18:6-9 Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 Lk 12:32-48 Monday, August 12 Dt 10:12-22 Mt 17:22-27 Tuesday, August 13 Dt 31:1-8 Mt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 Wednesday, August 14 St. Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr Dt 34:1-12 Mt 18:15-20 Thursday, August 15 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Rv 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab 1 Cor 15:20-27 Lk 1:39-56 Friday, August 16 Jos 24:1-13 Mt 19:3-12 Saturday, August 17 Jos 24:14-29 Mt 19:13-15 Sunday, August 18 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 38:4-6, 8-10 Heb 12:1-4 Lk 12:49-53 Monday, August 19 Jgs 2:11-19 Mt 19:16-22 Tuesday, August 20 St. Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church Jgs 6:11-24a Mt 19:23-30 Wednesday, August 21 St. Pius X, pope Jgs 9:6-15 Mt 20:1-16 Thursday, August 22 Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary Jgs 11:29-39a Mt 22:1-14 Friday, August 23 Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22 Mt 22:34-40 Saturday, August 24 St. Bartholomew, apostle Rv 21:9b-14 Jn 1:45-51 Sunday, August 25 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 66:18-21 Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 Lk 13:22-30

AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

Searching for silver linings: grace after the storm

Business was good. So good, in fact, that the family company had become one of the largest breweries in New England, producing 300,000 barrels a year and supporting two generations of Geisels in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Theodor Jr. could envision the future. A secure, prosperous one. A business he could hand down to his 15-year-old son. A proud legacy.

He confidently took the helm when his father died.

Everything was mapped out.

And then, six weeks later, the unthinkable: Prohibition took effect, forever shuttering the family business.

Theodor felt rudderless. He dabbled in real estate but wasn’t compelled to pursue it. Finally he got hired as Springfield’s superintendent of parks. The park system included a fledgling zoo, where he often brought his son. It became a beloved part of his son’s childhood, a place he spent hour after hour sketching animals.

Theodor aided his son’s artistic endeavors, giving him the bills, horns and antlers of animals that had died, which his son incorporated into quirky sculptures. He was learning to think outside the box, to assemble body parts in unexpected ways to surprising effect. It was the perfect training for what would become the legendary career of Dr. Seuss.

I’ve been thinking about the role of change in our spiritual lives: its impact, our response. When something upends the status quo, we tend to operate less like a ballerina — leaning in, leaping forward — and more like a toddler being dragged out of a toy store, kicking and screaming.

Only looking back can we see the growth and grace that resulted, that wouldn’t have happened had we been allowed to remain burrowed in our warm little nest.

My friend Wendy broke her elbow in a biking

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Conscience and character

The concepts of conscience and character are not only little understood in our current culture, but when we hear these words, they often elicit a pause from us. If we have a sense we have not attained the ideal behavior or expectation of a Catholic Christian, we may be more inclined to shame ourselves than to develop a desire of becoming a more devout person. However, shame is a human aspect that alerts us we have acted against our value system. But many people in our current culture lack a solid understanding of what that is. Therefore, a well-developed conscience evolves from a clear, well-articulated value system.

But just how do we develop a clear, well-articulated value system? This begins by examining what we believe is most important in our lives and the life of our family, which will then help us determine the values we believe will most effectively lead us, for it is around our values that we mold our actions and decisions about the way we will live our lives.

If we value hard work and committed action, we will find the decisions we make will reflect our desire

“

Sometimes in the spiritual life we are like the toddler at the toy store: fists clinched, minds closed. We do not trust God’s master plan.

We cannot see the bigger picture, how the break-ups and breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. We forget that there is almost always an upside to being let down. iSTOCK PHOTO | EKATERINA79

accident three years ago. Being laid up forced her to look within. Soon the Iowa native was searching for job openings in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She filled out an application by typing only with her left hand, pecking away at the keyboard. She got the offer and made the move, beginning the adventure of a lifetime.

Now she looks back on her biking accident with gratitude.

“Ultimately, it was a blessing because it gave me the opportunity to reflect on the state of my life and acknowledge that I was ready to make some changes,” she told me. “Also, getting through the pain helped me fully realize that I had the strength to make such a bold move.”

I’ve been asking for stories of silver linings, and I haven’t been disappointed. At a birthday party on a sweltering Saturday, someone pulled me aside and described the bad teacher who had helped make him a good teacher. He learned so much from an experience he had wished away as a teen.

The following Saturday, at another birthday party,

I heard how a tornado knit together a neighborhood.

“Suddenly we all had the same weekend agenda,” a 50-something dad explained.

Neighbors shared hamburgers and power tools. Kids befriended other young explorers climbing fallen trees. Decades later, they remain close.

Sometimes in the spiritual life we are like the toddler at the toy store: fists clinched, minds closed.

We do not trust God’s master plan. We cannot see the bigger picture, how the break-ups and breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. We forget that there is almost always an upside to being let down.

But stories like these remind us. And Catholic spirituality is based on storytelling. We gather around water, with incense and oil, and we tell stories. We pray the mysteries of the rosary. And sometimes we find ourselves living them: sorrowful and joyful, glorious and luminous. Water turned into wine.

to provide our best efforts and follow-through in all we do. We will hold ourselves to a higher standard, as well as our family members, as we seek to offer our best efforts at work, in our relationships with others, as well as in our relationship with God. In accomplishing this task, this faith life will hold great importance for us, because it will be the impetus and platform from which we will make our decisions.

These decisions, if we have integrity, will have consistency and accountability with the core of our beliefs, which will be both a beacon of light for us, as well as a daily guide. It is our faith life that offers us a map of sorts, as we commit ourselves to live out of our value system each day.

ACTION CHALLENGE

For example, if we value respect and honest treatment of each person we encounter, we will understand that gossip and negativity cannot be part of our daily routine. We will treat each person as we would want to be treated, encouraging them to become the best of themselves in a troubled world.

We would do all we could to inspire and uplift them toward their goals, finding joy in their success.

If we value a close relationship with God, we would find ourselves incorporating daily prayer into our lives, as well as regular participation in the sacraments. We would find we are shaped and molded by our faith, as it offers us the transparent, encouraging guidance we seek to fulfill the goals we have set for ourselves.

Our conscience and character will be built on these precepts and will flourish in an environment of support and inspiration. We must actively seek these

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

Talk with your family over a mealtime this week about your value system. Share what you believe your core values are and strive to live them out in your daily lives.

fundamental aspects of life, for they are certainly not commonplace in our world today. However, we can change that. As we live our lives according to our clear, well-articulated value system, we will find our children will emulate these values and aspire to live by them in their own lives.

They will return the extra money the clerk gave them by mistake, rather than pocketing it for another purchase at a later time. They will forgo an invitation to a party that is certain to have underage drinking and no adult supervision. They will turn away from the offer to cheat on an assignment or test to procure a better grade. They will become a person of conscience and character in all they say and do, thereby bringing the essence of faith into every aspect of their lives. As parents, this is our most important task: to help our children learn to discern right from wrong and live according to the precepts of our faith.

No easy or simple task in this broken, troubled world.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

Sharpen your pencils for the school of love

Did you know the family is a school of love?

The Second Vatican Council declared this teaching, St. John Paul II deepened it and Pope Francis affirmed it. Our Catechism of the Catholic Church spells it out clearly: The family is “a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (No. 1666).

But after a long summer with kids crawling up the walls at home or a challenging season of family reunions or vacations, we might be doubting how well we care for those we’re called to love.

Take heart. A new school year is upon us — the perfect time to sharpen our pencils, roll up our sleeves and redouble our efforts to learn from this school of love.

No matter our vocation or stage of life, all of us are part of families — those we came from and those we choose to build. Family teaches, forms, tests and changes us.

But the family is not a school of success. For better or for worse, there are no grades, no awards and no graduation. We’re in it for the long haul. (How many of us have laughed or groaned that we’d never pick our family, but we’re stuck with them?)

Yet we can still move together toward love, inching forward in fits and starts, trying to grow in wisdom even when we fall back.

This school is no summer vacation, full of ease and escape. We have to work hard. We fail sometimes. We get in trouble.

But the beauty of this school of love is that we each get to specialize. We don’t have to be an expert in anyone else’s family problems or peccadillos. (What a

THE LOCAL CHURCH | ANGELA JENDRO

A worrier or a wildflower I love wildflowers. They sing to me the praises of God’s free creativity. I revel in their effortless beauty, delicate movements, and the sheer variety of color, size and shapes. They lift my heart on summer walks and have a calming effect on my over-taxed mind frenzied with the to-do lists, scheduling feats and worries for my loved ones, of a working wife and mom.

Wildflowers inspire reflection and turn my thoughts to God. St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) discovered in a field of wildflowers, an analogy to the spiritual life and her personal vocation that changed her life.

In her “Story of a Soul,” she wrote: “I understood how all the flowers God has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers. And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden.”

This flower-inspired insight relieved her anxiety that she couldn’t do the “great” kinds of acts like she

COMMENTARY

AUGUST 8, 2019

GROW IN LOVE u Pick your subject. Sometimes the people who seem hardest to love are precisely the ones God calls us to love. Rather than avoiding a particular relative you find repulsive, ask God for the strength and wisdom to meet them where they are — through conversation or prayer. You may never change their mind, opinion or behavior, but you can extend a glimmer of God’s mercy their way. u Gather your supplies. This year, the average family is projected to spend over $500 on each school child. (Please don’t let my kids see this, since there’s no way we’re spending that much on them!) But what matters most in the school of love is free for all. Joy. Forgiveness. Patience.

Encouragement. Peace. Pray for what you need most this year and keep your petition daily before your eyes. u Ask questions. Jesus’ approach with difficult people or sticky situations was to ask questions. Rather than leaping to judgment or condemnation, choose curiosity first. Keep asking questions until you get to the heart of the matter.

(Google “The 5 Whys” for a clever approach.) relief!) We simply have to learn how to love the particular people God gives us to love — and keep relearning how to love them over time.

In the school where I grew up, one sign caught my attention — and I notice every time I see it in other Catholic schools: “Let it be known to all who enter here that Jesus Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever-present teacher of all its classes, the model of its faculty, and the inspiration for its students.”

Could the same be said of my family? That Jesus Christ is the reason for our being? That God is our teacher and model? That the Spirit is our inspiration?

No family is perfect. But we can keep trying with love.

Sharpen your pencils. It’s back-to-school time, and all of us have plenty to learn.

Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on vocations at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville, Minnesota. She is the author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at motheringspirit.com.

read about in the lives of the saints or martyrs. In addition, it focused her energy on doing small things with great love which she described as the Little Way and bolstered her with enthusiasm. Paradoxically, this Little Flower’s Little Way came to influence millions of Christians, and Pope St. John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church in 1997.

In contrast to the whimsy of the wildflower is the paralysis of the worrier. Jesus juxtaposed these two dispositions in Matthew 6:24-34 and warned that we must choose between them.

Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. … Learn from the way the wildflowers grow.

They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? ...”

Jesus asks us, in effect, “Do you want to be a worrier or a wildflower?”

You can’t be both. The worrier takes the burdens of life completely on oneself, which leaves little to no room for trust in God or gifts from him. In contrast, the wildflower lives completely in trust of God and relationship of gift. The wildflower can focus on the task at hand which God asks of it, because it knows God will provide for everything else.

But you may say, it’s the worriers who get things done. They’re so responsible. Wildflowers are pretty, but just passive and weak. I have found, however, in observation of both myself and others, that worrying

iSTOCK PHOTO | LIGORKO

LET GO AND LET GOD To help ease worry: u Develop the right frame of mind by praying a psalm each day.

To begin, try Psalms 23, 46, 62 and 119. u Keep a journal of God’s blessings; look back on it when tempted to worry. Remember that you are God’s wildflower, for whom he provides every necessary thing (and more). u Keep a priority list and check it periodically. Make sure God remains first, and you are saying “yes” to the things that matter most. gives all the appearance of work but very little actual productivity. Worrying tends to trigger stress reactions and slow a person down, if not paralyze them with anxiety altogether. Wildflowers, on the other hand, look pretty and effortless, but retain a genetic hardiness that manages to survive the severest attempts at eradication — from fire, to flood, to weed killer — they just keep coming back…and spreading!

Jesus asks us to do a reality check. Only one thing can be at the top of the priority list, and thereby direct all the choices below it. If we choose God, everything else will fall into place. If we choose anything else — self, pleasing others, ambition, beauty, fame, wealth — God will be edged out and worry will overtake us.

Jendro, a member of Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, teaches theology at Providence Academy in Plymouth. A Catholic speaker and writer, her website is taketimeforhim.com

AUGUST 8, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR Music

FEATURED EVENTS The Gift of Masculinity in the Home, the World and the Church – Aug. 17: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at McNeely Hall, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Summer seminar of the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture, with keynote speaker Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on “How to Love Like a Man.” Co-sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization and Catholic Watchmen. Presentations by David Deavel (Chesterton on Men and Fathers), Father Mark Moriarty (The Gift of Masculinity in the Priesthood) and Vincenzo Randazzo (The Pursuit of Heroic Virtue: Embracing the Faith as a (Millennial) Man). Register at eventbrite.com/e/the-gift-of-masculinity-in-thehome-the-world-the-church-tickets-65035512970.

Cost: $25, light breakfast and lunch provided.

For more information, contact Mary Kay O’Rourke at mkorourke@stthomas.edu or Deborah Savage at pdsavage@stthomas.edu.

Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse – Sept. 4: 9 a.m.-noon at Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. Sponsored by Minnesota Catholic Conference, the gathering is Fall Study Day for Minnesota’s bishops and their advisers on public policy and Church teaching. This year, the public is invited. Keynote speaker Tim Carney, author of “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse,” will look at how failing social connections, such as declining rates of marriage and voting, church attendance and volunteer work, help explain the nation’s divisions.

Panelists include Dean Laura Bloomberg, University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs; Charles Marohn, founder and president of Strong Towns; Deacon Steve Pareja, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud; and Brad Finstad, Minnesota State Director of Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cost: Free. Online registration required at MNCatholic.org/AlienatedAmerica.

Summer Concert: Sarah & Skip — Aug. 16: 7 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8262 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Violinist Sarah Bertsch and keyboard player Skip James. guardian-angels.org.

Friends of St. Thomas More Summer Organ Concert Series — Aug. 28: 7–8 p.m. at St. Thomas More, 1079 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Performer Christopher Stroh. morecommunity.org.

Ongoing groups Calix Society — First and third Sundays: 9–10:30 a.m. at Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. A group of men, women, family and friends supporting the spiritual needs of recovering Catholic alcoholics. Kathy at 651-330-3387. calixsociety.com.

Dementia support group — Second Tuesdays: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. R.S.V.P. to sarnold@benedictinecenter.org.

Grieving with Hope — Second and fourth Tuesdays: 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at St. Ambrose, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. LeAnn at 651-768-3009. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

Job transitions and networking group — Tuesdays: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Bob at bob.sjtw@gmail.com. sjtw.net.

CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul.

Career transition group — Third Thursdays: 7:30–8:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. hnoj.org.

Healing Hope grief support — Second and fourth Thursdays: 6 p.m. at St. Timothy, 707 89th Ave. NE, Blaine.

Facilitator Bob Bartlett, licensed therapist. No fees or required registration. churchofsttimothy.com.

Parish events St. Peter’s historic church open house — Sundays through Labor Day: noon–2 p.m. at St. Peter, 1405 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota. stpetersmendota.org.

All Saints Catholic Church garage sale — Aug. 7-10 at All Saints, 19795 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville. allsaintschurch.com.

Screening of “Not Just Football” movie — Aug. 13: 7 p.m. at St. Thomas More School gymnasium, 1065 Summit Ave., St. Paul. morecommunity.org. Anzley Harmon at aharmon@morecommunity.org or 651-227-7669.

Fried chicken lunch and concert for archdiocesan Catholic deaf ministry — Aug. 18: noon–3:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 701 Fillmore Ave. NE, Minneapolis. Singer Kristine Wriding. 612-623-4019. olmcmpls.org.

Swing dance and dinner — Aug. 24: 5:30–11 p.m. at Sts. Peter and Paul, 150 Railway St. E., Loretto. saintsppta.org.

Updated listings of parish festivals — at TheCatholicSpirit.com/festivals

Prayer/worship Taize prayer — Aug. 16: 10 a.m.–8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Also Third Fridays. Simple chants based on Scriptures and periods of silence. Refreshments following. benedictinecenter.org.

Retreats Silent retreat weekend — Aug. 8-11 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net.

Meditation retreat — Aug. 9-14 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Life in the Spirit Day — Aug. 10: 8:30 a.m.–4:45 p.m at Immaculate Conception Church, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. ccro-msp.org.

Men and women’s silent weekend retreat — Aug. 16-18 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 624 First Ave. S., Buffalo. “The Sign of the Cross” presenter Fr. Charles Lachowitzer. kingshouse.com.

Men and women’s silent weekend retreat — Aug. 23-25 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 623 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Premiere of “Broken, Blessed and Sent” presented

by King’s House Preaching Team. kingshouse.com.

Conferences/workshops Healing Hearts grief support group — Wednesdays through Sept. 18: 1:30–3 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8261 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. R.S.V.P. to mpotts@guardian-angels.org. guardian-angels.org.

Catholic Grandparent Conference — Aug. 24: 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. at Church of the Epiphany, 1900 111th Ave. N.W., Coon Rapids. Speakers Mary Ann Kuharski and Father Joseph Bambenek. Adoration with Archbishop Bernard Hebda. CatholicGrandparenting.org.

Schools 50th Reunion Regina High School class of 1969 — Sept. 14: 5 p.m. at Airport Marriott Hotel, 2020 American Blvd. E., Bloomington. Register before Aug. 21, 2019. Karen at 612-729-3500. classcreator.com.

50th Reunion Archbishop Brady High School class of 1969 — Sept. 28: 5 p.m.–midnight at 317 on Rice Park Event Center, 317 Washington St., St. Paul. Reservations are now being accepted. Mary at (651) 600-9826. classreport.org.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication.

We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission.

Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/ calendarsubmissions

MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Pilgrimages Grandparents pilgrimage to the Holy Land — Jan. 7-16: Registration open. archspm.org.

Ad Limina pilgrimage for young adults — Jan. 9-18: Ages 21-35 apply with Enzo Randazzo by Aug. 15. randazzov@archspm.org or 651-291-4483. archspm.org.

Young Adults Catholic softball group — Tuesdays, beginning Aug. 20: 7 p.m. at Pioneer Park, 2950 Centerville Road, Little Canada. Fall registration open through Aug. 11. tinyurl.com/ CatholicSoftballGroup.

Other events Friday Night Youth Hang-Outs — Aug. 16: 6–8 p.m.

St. Richard’s Catholic Church, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield.

Side by Side Ministries event for youth grades five and up. sbsyouth.org.

Potluck picnic for widows and widowers Aug. 24: 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. at Church of St. Peter, 1250 S. Shore Drive, Forest Lake. R.S.V.P. by Aug. 19 to 651-982-2200. stpeterfl.org.

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ATTORNEYS Edward F. Gross • Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, Real Estate. Office at 35E & Roselawn Ave., St. Paul (651) 631-0616.

CEILING TEXTURE Michaels Painting. Popcorn Removal & Knock Down Texture: TextureCeilings.com (763) 757-3187.

CEMETERY LOTS Calvary Cemetery, single flat-marker grave (east end): value $1815; price $1000 (651) 739-8402.

Resurrection: 1 lot. Moved. Must sell. Price $1100; Value $1740 651-447-0724 St. Mary’s Cemetery: Lot 2, Row 26, Block 32, Section 17. $1500 Contact: austinadd@icloud.com.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES The Trojack Law Office, P.A. is looking for a well-organized bookkeeper to work part-time in our small law firm. Please contact our office by email and request details from John E. Trojack using John.Trojack@TrojackLaw.com.

News reporter/staff writer and member of the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis in St. Paul, MN. Primary duties are to report and write news stories, news and trend analysis, feature stories, news briefs and other stories as assigned for The Catholic Spirit newspaper and TCS online. Reports to TCS editor-in-chief/publications manager and works closely with the news editor. For education, experience, other requirements, and how to apply, please see https://rebrand.ly/TCS777 Parish Administrators sought by The Catholic Community of St. Joseph: A welcoming and hospitable Vatican II Parish in the historic river-town of Red Wing, MN, a mere 60-minute drive from the Twin Cities.

This year-round position is available now. It is full-time, though fewer hours are negotiable.

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GREAT CATHOLIC SPEAKERS

This Staff Person is responsible for overseeing Parish business functions including: financial reporting, budgeting, human resources, payroll, risk management,legal compliance, project management, office operations, fundraising, and facilities & grounds management.

Bachelor Degree or equivalent work experience necessary as well as proficiency in computer accounting systems. References required. Contact: Fr. Thomas M. Kommers tkommers@stjosephredwing.org

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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

AUGUST 8, 2019

THELASTWORD

EYE OPENING Local Catholics join Archbishop Hebda for CRS trip to Laos, Cambodia

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

W

hen Michael Wenger of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul served lunches to hungry elementary school students in Laos, he knew exactly why he had accepted an invitation to join his father, Brian, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and three other local Catholics on a trip to Laos and Cambodia sponsored by Catholic Relief Services.

The two Wengers and the rest of the group from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis learned that the food CRS provides is critical to keeping the students in school and fed during the school day.

Wenger said he was glad to see firsthand the difference CRS, which carries out the U.S. bishops’ commitment to serve the poor and vulnerable overseas, is making in impoverished countries.

“I thought that was beautiful, just being able to be with (the students),” said Wenger, 24, who came away from the June 22-30 trip pondering the possibility of someday working for a relief agency such as CRS. “I was kind of entranced in the moment” while serving lunches of rice and vegetables.

Later in the trip, the group visited the Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre in Laos.

There, they observed women learning and using skills to help earn money to support themselves and their families. At least some of the dozens of women there had been maimed by explosive devices and landmines that date to the military conflicts of the 1970s.

Among its projects, CRS provides monetary support and, in some cases, staffing to organizations like the center. The relief agency started shortly after World War II, when it began serving refugees displaced by that conflict. In 2018, it celebrated its 75th anniversary and now serves in more than 100 countries around the world.

Another person on the trip, Liam Moran of Our Lady of Grace in Edina, said he wanted to learn more about Catholic Relief Services, and he “jumped at” the chance to go to southeast Asia.

Moran, 34, was invited by his father-in-law, Steve Sefton, who also made the trip. He said his exposure to CRS had been limited to the agency’s Rice Bowl campaigns during his childhood in Anchorage, Alaska. The other local person on the trip was Tony Pohlen, who works for CRS and is a member of St. Frances Cabrini in Minneapolis.

Also joining the group was Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS. Brian Wenger said he was motivated to go on the trip after joining the CRS board in January.

He also is friends with Archbishop Hebda, whom he met while serving on the Archdiocesan Finance Council, which led to further advisory roles and regular dinners.

“I wanted to better understand what CRS is doing around the world,” said Wenger, 57, also a member of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul. “I’ve never been to Asia, and thought it would be a good place to better learn what CRS is doing.”

Archbishop Hebda also serves on the board, and is one of four Minnesotans among its 25 members. Another local board member, Mark Rauenhorst, helped organize the trip with his wife, Karen, a former board member, but they were unable to go. The fourth local board member is Chris Policinski of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

Wenger was so excited about the trip he invited

PHOTOS COURTESY LIAM MORAN

LEFT Vatvisa Keosalivong, right, of Catholic Relief Services talks during a visit to a school in Laos after CRS gave the students school supplies.

TOP From left, Steve Sefton and Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS, take a rickshaw ride to the home of a family in Cambodia participating in an inclusive education program supported by CRS. BELOW A teacher at Prey Ar school in Cambodia works with students on vocabulary and puzzles. his five oldest children to join him, and was thrilled that Michael accepted his invitation.

“I think it’s good for family members to experience the charitable work of the Church around the world,” Brian said.

“The vast majority of people in Cambodia and the vast majority of people in Laos are not Catholic, and yet we’re called to help all of our neighbors. And, that’s what Catholic Relief Services does.”

Wenger noted that CRS often goes to war-torn regions, which sometimes puts staff members at risk. Fortunately, he said, peaceful conditions exist in Laos and Cambodia, though there are residual effects from military conflicts in both countries. There also are water-quality issues and diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

“The joy and competency of the CRS staffs are very impressive,” Wenger said. “The significant improvement that they helped facilitate for the people of Cambodia and Laos is visible and critical to those people.”

Moran was similarly impressed, and he has spent time thinking about how he can continue to help.

His work in the banking industry has helped him see the financial side of life, and he sees that as an area in which he can make a difference, such as fundraising, he said.

“Being on the CRS trip and seeing the work they do really opened my eyes,” said Moran, who plans to continue donating to CRS and hopes to go on a future trip to countries where it serves. “It’s not as if I didn’t understand there were problems that existed in these parts of the world. I certainly was aware of that. You just have a different sense of it when you go and encounter them face-to-face.”

For more information, visit crs.org.