Human trafficking 4A • St. John’s Bible 5A • Rose Ensemble 10A February 26, 2015 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
thecatholicspirit.com
THE
By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit
S
ister Simone Campbell calls it “grocery store missionary work,” and it’s one way she suggests Catholics support immigration reform and other justice issues. Engaging others in conversation, she said, is a good first step toward bringing about social change. “Whenever you stand in line, talk to the person in front of you or behind you about something that matters,” Sister Simone told an audience Feb. 17. “Ask what they think about immigration reform. Everybody’s got an opinion.” A member of the Sisters of Social Service and the executive director of Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby known for its Nuns on the Bus campaigns, Sister Simone spoke at St. Catherine University in St. Paul at its annual Breaking The Impasse forum. The forum is the sixth hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet’s social justice ministry, and co-sponsored by Network and a dozen local advocacy groups. With a focus on immigration policy reform, this year’s forum proved timely, following the action of a federal district judge in Texas Feb. 16 to block President Barack Obama’s executive order to ease some immigration policies for people who are living in the country illegally. Judge Andrew Hanen granted the request of Texas and 25 other states to temporarily block a planned expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to certain people who were ineligible for the original 2012 program, according to a Catholic News Service report.
As immigration divides the political right and left, Catholics call for dialogue in Congress and communities
WORD Franciscan Brother of Peace leader, a national pro-life advocate, dies
By Maria Wiering and Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Franciscan Brother of Peace Paul O’Donnell, a nationally regarded pro-life advocate and speaker, died Feb. 20 at his community’s residence in St. Paul. He was 55. Brother Paul died in his sleep, and his death was unexpected, said
Political impact Sister Simone outlined a history of U.S. immigration policy, and said a “tolerable” immigration reform bill that had been passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013 would have provided needed reform to the broken immigration system. It was first discussed at Breaking The Impasse in 2010. She blamed the influence of the Tea Party in Speaker of the House Please turn to IMMIGRATION on page 7A fellow Brother John Mary Kaspari. A funeral Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Feb. 27 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. A visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at St. Columba in St. Paul, with a 7 p.m. wake following. An early member of the St. Paul religious community, Brother Paul will be remembered for “his great
love, devotion and humility; his love for each of the brothers and their way of life; and his love and selfless outreach to the most vulnerable, especially in the rightto-life movement, the unborn, aged and disabled,” Brother John Mary said. Please turn to BROTHER on page 15A
ALSO inside
100 years since first Mass
Local pilgrimage
Cancer battle inspires
The Cathedral of St. Paul: a timeless monument to Catholics’ faith, dedication — B Section
Engage in family issues – and see Pope Francis – at the World Meeting of Families in September — Page 6A
Youth leader embraces God’s plan as disease weakens his body — Page 20A
Page Two
2A in PICTURES
“We need to show a healthy concern for creation, for the purity of our air, water and food, but how much more do we need to protect the purity of what is most precious of all: our heart and our relationships.” Pope Francis in his annual message for local celebrations of World Youth Day, published Feb. 17
NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit
Hamel homeschoolers get nod in WMF contest DOUBLE WEDDING Bob and Barb Stark, left, and Beverly and Cleon Ince hold photos of their shared wedding day, June 9, 1962. Twins Barb and Beverly married their husbands in a double wedding ceremony at St. Mary in Shakopee. The couples were among those who celebrated their marriages with a Mass on World Marriage Day, Feb. 8, at Ss. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee. Courtesy Ss. Joachim and Anne
A video by Catholic homeschooling families from St. Anne in Hamel earned an honorable mention in the 2015 World Meeting of Families’ Creative Video Contest to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. The oneminute video was one of nine highlighted by event organizers. It includes footage of children at Mass and in their home classrooms and reflections from homeschooling parents and their children. Watch it at bit.ly/1DLLpxM.
Hill-Murray earns top honors at state one-act fest Hill-Murray School in Maplewood was one of five Minnesota schools to receive the top rating of a “starred performance” from judges of the 2015 State One-Act Play Festival at St. Catherine University Feb. 13. A cast and crew of 20 performed Simon Levy’s adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby,” directed by Ben Ballentine.
National Catholic Sisters Week is March 8-14 St. Catherine University is commemorating National Catholic Sisters Week with a play and book discussion. “Rooted in Love: The Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang,” written and performed by Dominican Sister Nancy Murray will be 1 p.m. March 7 at the O’Shaughnessey Auditorium. On March 8, the book “Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation” will be discussed at the Couer de Catherine Building ballroom at 1 p.m. Both events are free, but tickets are required for “Rooted in Love.” Call (651) 690-6700.
Catechetical Institute taps new director RITE OF ELECTION Archbishop John Nienstedt greets catechumens and godparents from Divine Mercy in Faribault during the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of St. Paul Feb. 22. Greeting the archbishop are catechumens Damian Sutter, front left, Esbeida Nunez, Vanessa Paulino and Eva Mauwissen (not pictured: catechumens Max Sutter, Vicente Lira and Brianna Lira). Behind them are godparents Jessica Nunez, back left, and Leo Avalos. At right is catechist Justin Stroh, steward of faith formation at Divine Mercy. A total of 200 catechumens (those not yet baptized) and 451 candidates (those already baptized) are scheduled to come into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit
Keep sharing #SpiritOfLent photos
WHAT’S NEW on social media This week on Facebook, The Catholic Spirit asks, “What book has had the greatest effect on your spiritual life, and why?” What do you know about Red Cloud and the history of the American Indian tribes that once populated the High Plains? Bob Zyskowski bridged his education gap with “The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend.” He reviews The New York Times bestseller at www.catholichotdish.com, calling it “a book every U.S. citizen should read for its moral implications.” St. Bernard, Cologne; St. Thomas More, St. Paul; and St. Victoria, Victoria, are among parishes that appeared on Instagram @TheCatholicSpirit. Follow us for a glimpse of Catholic life around the archdiocese!
The Catholic Spirit is published bi-weekly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 20 — No. 4 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT, Publisher ANNE STEFFENS, Associate Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Father Peter Williams took the helm in January as director of the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul. He will remain vice rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Former director Jeff Cavins is the director of evangelization and catechesis for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and will serve as director emeritus on the institute’s board. In the last nine years, about 1,200 students have graduated from the institute, which is a two-year faith formation program for Catholic adults. “This is serving the Church in a very important time in terms of the hunger people have and being equipped spiritually to be built up in their faith,” Father Williams said. “We all have a part in it, but it’s the Lord’s work, and we get to share in it.”
MARIA WIERING, Editor
Throughout Lent, The Catholic Spirit is asking readers to join its social media community by following it on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and tagging Lent-related posts #SpiritOfLent. Our favorite Instagram this week comes from @OLL_YOUTH, the youth group of Our Lady of the Lake in Mound, with the caption “Taking some time to think and write down what I’m doing for Lent. What do you plan to give up?”
CORRECTION Due to an editing error, “Focolare members united by desire to love God, neighbors” included an incorrect date of the movement’s 2014 conference in Valparaiso, Ind. It was in July. We apologize for the error.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published bi-weekly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: catholicspirit@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
3A
M
y introduction to the Cathedral of St. Paul came by way of an invitation from two seminarians. In 2002, I was serving my first year as bishop of New Ulm. My two seminarians studying at St. John Vianney Seminary in St. Paul invited me up on a Sunday evening to attend a concert being held at the cathedral. I suggested that we have dinner prior to the event and so we did. However, our conversation ran over and by the time we reached the cathedral, only the back row was open. But that proved to be a huge advantage. As I sat as it were on the “back wall”, I could take in the breadth and depth of this magnificent structure. My eyes first surveyed the grand baldachino over the altar, then the expansiveness of the sanctuary, and the perfect symmetry of all the details. I then looked up to the dome, only to be THAT THEY MAY deeply impressed ALL BE ONE with this large reflection of the sun and the sky, Archbishop providing the John Nienstedt suggestion that all the world was welcome into the space below. Commentators believe that the architect, E.L. Masqueray, wanted to give the person in the pew the impression of being in a boat. In fact, completely surrounding the nave of the Cathedral, you will find a marble border carved in the pattern of waves. Again, sitting in that back row, I was reminded that the mission of the Church is to serve as a vessel, carrying the baptized through the raging seas of this world to the final port in the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, like the Gospel story, Jesus is with us in this boat, perhaps asleep in the stern, but always in charge, challenging us to believe in him. But as I looked around that night, I noticed that the most significant fact was that this huge but beautifully artistic structure was filled with
willing Catholics. What a beautiful sight! This is what Archbishop John Ireland had in mind when he commissioned its construction: a gathering space for the people of God to turn their attention and devotion to the Lord of Life. I have no doubt that this is what caused this great Church leader to break down in tears at the opening Mass on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1915. Even at that early date, he must have seen this extraordinary ecclesial structure achieving its potential. My next significant experience at this great cathedral was my Mass of Reception as coadjutor archbishop. The edifice was filled to capacity that day as family and friends, clergy, religious and lay leaders came together to celebrate who we were as a community in transition. I attempted to draw an analogy in my homily between the ministries of Ss. Peter and Paul to that of Archbishop Flynn and myself. While we both had different administrative styles and ministerial approaches, we were united in the basics of the faith. The unity of the local Church was a pre-eminent priority for both of us. Even today, I remain convinced of this great truth. Over the past seven years, the cathedral has been the site of some of my most treasured experiences as archbishop: countless celebrations of the sacrament of confirmation; the ordination of permanent deacons, priests and two auxiliary bishops; the reception of new Catholic school teachers and administrators at the beginning of the new school year; our celebration of life on Jan. 22 followed by a march to the Capitol; our May rosary processions; the beautiful chrism Masses and the celebrations of Holy Week, Easter and Christmas; the celebration for consecrated religious Feb. 2; the first Men’s Conference with an overflowing number of participants; the celebration of married couples in the spring; and even the occasional request to celebrate the sacrament of baptism for newborns. Indeed, the cathedral has served these past seven years as my own parish Church. But because of the pressing responsibilities of my office, I cannot be present on a daily basis to handle pastoral concerns, and so I want to acknowledge and thank the two rectors who have stood in my stead these past years, namely Father Joseph Johnson and Father John Ubel. They are men of great pastoral zeal and immense talent — and they have served the cathedral with great dedication and tireless service. I am so thankful to them both. One final experience worthy of mention here: In 2011, I was approached with a request to allow the Red Bull Crashed Ice event to take place in the front of the cathedral. In consultation with
the rector, I decided to let it happen. But as the track was being set up, I received an angry letter of complaint from a person who thought I was disrespecting this sacred space. I wrote back to say that the cathedrals of Europe often use their plazas for markets, parades, even bull fights. The present use by Red Bull was hardly an anomaly when one consulted the tradition of the Church and her history. Here we were permitting a secular event to use the space in front of the cathedral as a way of showing that the Church was concerned about the whole person, soul and body. What is more, the cathedral is a part of a community, a community that is made up of both believers and non-believers. Our allowance for the event on the cathedral grounds makes it clear that we are a part of the neighborhood and part of the common good that is our political community. Despite its challenges, I was glad to host the event, and was grateful to the cathedral parish community for their patience and for the sacrifices necessary to see it happen. That year on the last night of the Crashed Ice event, I deliberately walked through the interior of the cathedral while the contest was going on outside. I was impressed with the reverential atmosphere that I found. People were seated in prayer, walking around to inspect the interior detail, reading the brochures offered there. I thought, isn’t this what the cathedral is meant to be: an oasis of sacred space open to discerning believers and non-believers who wish to be touched by the mysterious presence of God? As Archbishop Ireland said on the occasion of the first Mass in this historic edifice: [This is] “… one great temple, that, in expressive manner, will symbolize, as no isolated effort can do, our Christian faith and Christian love, and will preach to the world of men around us the grandeur of that faith, the sublime holiness of that love.” As we begin this year of celebration in honor of the centenary of our magnificent Cathedral of St. Paul, let us reaffirm the vision of Archbishop Ireland and E.L. Masqueray by promoting and envisioning this handsome edifice as a powerful and enduring symbol of our Catholic faith, reaching out to the society around us with an attractive invitation to experience the joy, the consolation, and the grandeur of our belief in Christ. May the beauty of this house of God, which is also our house, call all the nations to believe in the one who has pitched his tent among us. May God bless you!
From the Archbishop
Cathedral an oasis for all seeking God’s presence
OFFICIAL His Excellency, the Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Effective March 2, 2015 • Reverend Michael Kaluza, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Mary, Queen of Peace in Rogers. This is a transfer from his previous appointment as pastor of the Church of Divine Mercy in Faribault and the Church of St. Michael in Kenyon.
La catedral un oasis para todos los que buscan a Dios Mi presentación a la Catedral de St. Paul llegó a través de una invitación de dos seminaristas. En el 2002, yo estaba sirviendo mi primer año como obispo de New Ulm. Mis dos seminaristas que estudiaban en el seminario de San Juan Vianney en St. Paul, me invitaron un domingo por la noche para asistir a un concierto que se celebra en la Catedral. Sugerí que cenáramos antes del evento y así lo hicimos. Sin embargo, se nos fue el tiempo con nuestra conversación y cuando llegamos a la Catedral, sólo la fila de atrás estaba desocupada. Pero eso resultó ser una gran ventaja. Cuando me senté, como recostado a la pared de atrás, pude disfrutar de la amplitud y profundidad de esta magní-
fica estructura. Mis ojos primero encontraron el gran baldaquino (estructura en forma de templo, con cuatro columnas que sostienen una cúpula) sobre el altar, luego la expansión del santuario, y la simetría perfecta de todos los detalles. Entonces miré a la cúpula, sólo para quedar profundamente impresionado con ese gran reflejo del sol y del cielo, sugiriendo la idea de que todo el mundo era bienvenido en el espacio debajo. Los comentaristas creen que el arquitecto, E.L. Masqueray, quería dar a las personas sentadas en las bancas, la impresión de estar en un barco. De hecho, rodeando completamente la nave de la Catedral, se encuentra un borde de mármol tallado como un diseño de olas.
Una vez más, sentado en esa fila de atrás, me acordé de que la misión de la Iglesia es servir como un buque, llevando los bautizados a través de los mares enfurecidos de este mundo al último puerto del Reino de los Cielos. De hecho, al igual que la historia del Evangelio, Jesús está con nosotros en este barco, tal vez dormido en la popa, pero siempre a cargo, desafiándonos a que creamos en Él. Pero mientras observaba esa noche, me di cuenta de que el hecho más significativo fue que esta estructura enorme, pero muy artística, estaba llena de católicos. ¡Qué hermosa vista! Esto es lo que el Arzobispo Ireland tenía en mente cuando le encargó su
construcción: un espacio de encuentro para el pueblo de Dios para que dirigiera su atención y devoción al Señor de la Vida. No tengo ninguna duda de que esto fue lo que hizo que este gran líder de la Iglesia rompiera en llanto en la misa de apertura el domingo de Ramos, el 28 de marzo de 1915. Incluso en esa fecha, debe haber visto esta extraordinaria estructura eclesial alcanzar su potencial. Mi siguiente experiencia significativa en esta gran catedral fue mi Misa de Recepción como Arzobispo Coadjutor. El edificio estaba lleno a toda su capacidad ese día, con familiares y amigos, Por favor gire a la pagina 19A
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Local
4A
Human trafficking at forefront of parish outreach By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit
For nearly 150 people gathered at White Bear Lake City Hall Feb. 17, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and St. Paul Police Sgt. Ray Gainey quashed the glamorization of prostitution as seen through Julia Roberts’ character in the 1990 film “Pretty Woman.” What they wanted to reveal instead was “one of the greatest human rights atrocities in our community” — sex trafficking, according to Choi. Attendees of the discussion panel sponsored by St. Mary of the Lake’s social justice committee caught a glimpse of how victims often enter in this form of human trafficking and what it does to them. In a video clip, a high school aged girl described through tears how a sense of isolation led her to run away from home with a friend. But instead of Awareness event encountering freedom, she 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. March 8 was sexually exploited. Annunciation Church, lower level Choi and Gainey said community room, combating human trafficking is a top issue for law 509 W. 54th St., Minneapolis enforcement in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. “These are kids from our own communities,” said Gainey, who also heads the Gerald D. Vick Human Trafficking Task Force. “If you have runaways in your community, you have this problem.” Sex trafficking can happen in any public place, Choi said, and because of social media, anyone is reachable from anywhere. Choi cited a U.S. Department of Justice statistic finding that 41 percent of human trafficking victims are younger than 18. A University of Minnesota study links poverty to sex trafficking. Choi said part of addressing the problem has been for law enforcement to change the mindset from seeing people who have been trafficked as criminals to seeing them as people in need of help and protection. “This is not how God intended them to be or how they started out,” he said. Gainey added
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Sgt. Ray Gainey of the St. Paul Police Department talks about human trafficking to attendees of a discussion panel Feb. 17 sponsored by St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit that victims often don’t know there’s a way out. Choi and Gainey credited Minnesota’s 2011 Safe Harbor Law — which provides shelter and services for victims — with setting the framework for the state’s success in convicting the men and women who force girls into sex trafficking. Hemlal Kafle, who coordinates Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ services for human trafficking victims and is the labor committee chair on the Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force, addressed the issue broadly by explaining how labor trafficking is as prominent as sex trafficking and takes many forms. Typically, victims work in service, hospitality and manufacturing industries, agriculture and construction.
Raising awareness In sponsoring the discussion panel, St. Mary of the Lake’s human trafficking committee wanted to make people aware of these crimes targeting vulnerable youth and adults so that they can help prevent them. Sara Walch, a parishioner and committee member, said human trafficking has been a major focus of the group since 2009. In addition to sponsoring awareness events, group members assemble care packages containing items that a survivor might need when she is rescued or escapes. The packages include a mini prayer shawl with a message. “Having something tangible to hand with that supportive message is that much more powerful,” Walch said. To distribute the care
packages to victims, the committee has partnered with Catholic Charities and Civil Society, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that offers legal and social services to victims of trafficking, sexual assault and abuse. When Walch had an opportunity to share lunch with a survivor, she learned how valuable the care packages are. “I could not believe her response,” Walch said. Of the packages, the survivor said, “I was naked. That was my world. That was everything I owned.” Father Ralph Talbot, pastor of St. Mary of the Lake, attended the event and said he is pleased with the continual support of parishioners to aid this ministry. White Bear Lake mayor and St. Mary of the Lake parishioner Jo Emerson said everyone needs to hear about the issue. “It’s in our midst, unfortunately,” she said.
Making progress “What we consider the more important piece of the puzzle is trying to support legislation against human trafficking,” Walch said, adding that the committee filed an amicus brief in a case against a website that Choi and Gainey referenced as a hub for sex trafficking. The group also supports recommendations of Shared Hope International’s Protecting Innocence Challenge, which urges individual states to enhance legislation that helps victims. While Choi and Gainey outlined what the State of Minnesota has done to combat human trafficking, Catholics have heeded the call of Church leaders from Pope Francis to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The discussion panel came just more than a week after the first International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking — which included a Mass Feb. 8 — designated by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the International Union of Superiors General. Father Talbot, who served as an assistant state attorney in Miami before entering the seminary, said faith communities can help by giving parents better tools and equipping kids with skills and giving them the “gift of courage through the Holy Spirit to say no.” Essentially, “forming sons and protecting daughters.” “This is a bigger picture of the dignity of the human person,” he said. “We have to put this in the same category as working against abortion and assisted suicide.”
5A By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit Four years after the St. John’s Bible was completed, its modern illustrations, called illuminations, continue to show how much Scripture has to say to people today — even as newer images and events in the world vie for people’s attention, said Donald Jackson, St. John’s Bible artistic director. He spoke Feb. 12 at Concordia University in St. Paul as part of the university’s St. John’s Heritage Bible Program. During the 15 years he worked to create the St. John’s Bible, Jackson said he was struck by the relevance of Scripture. “It is about the human condition and the struggles of life, and I saw myself all through it,” said Jackson, who lives in Monmouth, Wales, and is the official scribe and calligrapher to the Crown Office of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The St. John’s Bible is the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bible created in 500 years. It was commissioned in 1998 by St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville. Jackson and a team of calligraphers and artists completed the seven-volume work on vellum pages in 2011 at an estimated cost of $8 million received from donors. In an interview after his presentation, Jackson said the St. John’s Bible is timeless, but was also instantly dated when it was finished. Even the text, the New Revised Standard Version, changes as translators tweak it. Jackson said he is pleased at how the St. John’s Bible is used around the world. “The Bible has gone out of our hands, and it’s now doing its own thing.”
In the illumination opening the Gospel according to St. John in the St. John’s Bible, the detail behind the head of Christ is inspired from an image taken from the Hubble Space Telescope and lends a cosmic character to the entire action taking place. “The Word Made Flesh” by Donald Jackson, 2002, The St. John’s Bible, St. John’s University, Collegeville. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Local spiritual impact Deacon Roger Osborne and his wife, Pam, parishioners of St. Francis de Sales in Winthrop, in the New Ulm diocese, attended Jackson’s Concordia presentation after following the St. John’s Bible throughout its creation process. Deacon Osborne said after Jackson’s talk that he was impressed by “the spiritual insights he [Jackson] experienced as he was doing the illuminations and all the symbols he worked into them.” Madeleine Logeais also has found spiritual insights in the St. John’s Bible.
“It brings up lots of points about my faith that I have not thought about,” said Logeais, a senior at Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights who started a student group studying art in the St. John’s Bible in December. She described the Bible as modern but also timeless. “These things that it talks about like DNA — we will always have knowledge of DNA. It is now part of our lives,” she said, referring to the strands of DNA woven into the illumination, “The Genealogy of Christ.” Visitation School has offered other opportunities to experience
the St. John’s Bible since receiving from donors the St. John’s Bible Heritage Edition — a full-sized art reproduction — last spring, said Mary McClure, religion department chair. The St. John’s Bible gives students an opportunity to grow in wonder at creation and the truth of Scripture, while allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts, said Christine Malovrh, a Visitation history teacher who guides the study group. Malovrh, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, said she has also appreciated the chance to pray with the St. John’s Bible. Along with learning biblical stories and texts through their study of the St. John’s Bible, fourth-through-10th-grade students in religion classes at St. Hubert in Chanhassen are learning about Scripture’s use throughout Church history, said Mark Croteau, director of faith formation. The parish and Holy Family High School in Victoria share a St. John’s Bible Heritage Edition, a gift from donors four years ago, he said. Along with using the St. John’s Bible in religion classes, the parish displays it in the church’s narthex, opening it to illuminations appropriate for the liturgical season. Croteau said the St. John’s Bible helps students and parishioners recognize beautiful work that is incarnate — both the word of God and the work of human authors and people who have passed Scripture down through generations. “It’s both human and divine, very much in the way that Jesus is human and divine,” he said.
Local
St. John’s Bible creator, Catholic users, say work is timeless
CCF explores new approach to responsible investing By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit Catholic investors and Catholic institutions have typically used “negative screening” to avoid supporting companies with products or services that are anathema to Catholic values. But a new trend has emerged in “impact investing,” which takes a positive, activist approach to socially responsible investing, according to University of Notre Dame finance professor Martijn Cremers. “If you are strongly convinced something harms another person, you don’t want to invest in it,” Cremers explained. “You don’t want to make money through vehicles that harm people, but you want to do more than that.” Cremers spoke Feb. 11 at the 20th annual Investment Conference of the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. The conference each year offers an opportunity for CCF clients — individual donors and schools, parishes and other Catholic institutions that have endowments managed by the foundation — to learn how investment portfolios have been and will be managed. CCF president Anne Cullen Miller said inviting Cremers as one of the speakers was an effort by the
“As Catholics, we don’t want to be involved in business strategies based on ‘heads I win, tails you lose.’” Martijn Cremers, University of Notre Dame finance professor
foundation to continue to grow understanding that socially responsible investing is a way to live one’s faith. “We want to stress how important it is as Catholics to be Catholic in all we do,” she said. The conference, held at St. Peter in Mendota, drew a record attendance of more than 140 people.
Value plus virtue Cremers said the goal of impact investing is to
integrate investing with Catholic social justice principles. Keys to socially responsible impact investing, he said, include: • Purpose — one that contributes to human flourishing, advances human dignity and enhances the common good by fulfilling genuine human needs. That means the firm’s social impact is “an inherent part of the corporate strategy,” Cremers said. An example would be a business that creates value through fulfilling neglected social or environmental needs. • Priority — a priority to create value for everyone related to the business while keeping in right relationships. It recognizes people’s mutual dependence, shares both risks and benefits, and holds to a preferential option for the poor. • Practice — practices that efficiently and justly compete in the marketplace. Firms to invest in would not abuse power or control. “The Catholic Church teaches we are our brother’s keeper,” Cremers said. “As Catholics, we don’t want to be involved in business strategies based on ‘heads I win, tails you lose.’” Impact investing requires all three, purpose, priority and practice, Cremers said. The corporate strategy must be to advance humanity, while acting justly and returning market-rate gains.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
6A
Local
World Meeting of Families pilgrims urged to commit By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Susanna Bolle/For The Catholic Spirit
@TheCatholicSpirit captured moments from the WINE conference. Follow on Instagram.
Women gather for WINE First conference of new ministry equips attendees with tools to evangelize By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit On a cold St. Valentine’s Day, organizers of a new Catholic women’s conference did their best to set the hearts of close to 1,000 women on fire for Christ and to encourage them to share his love with others. The conference at Epiphany in Coon Rapids titled “A Heart Drawn by Love, Sent on Fire” featured speakers, Mass, music, shopping and fellowship. It was the first major event of a national ministry started in the Twin Cities called Women in the New Evangelization (WINE) in collaboration with the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In her keynote talk, St. Louisbased speaker and author Patty Schneier shared her testimony and explained how Christ equips people to spread the Gospel. “Christ calls us to make a lifetime decision to him and at the right time be sent forth to draw others to him through our words and example,” she said. She offered tips for evangelization including not hiding the Catholic faith and saying “yes’” when God asks a person to leave his or her comfort zone. Speaker and author Nancy Jo Sullivan, a parishioner of St. Peter in Richfield, told the women to “claim your royal identity in Christ” by smiling, listening, making eye contact, forgiving and “wearing your crown.” “I invite you to get up with a
smile on your face and look in the mirror,” she said. “The crown of God is fashioned just for you . . . live your story of love.” Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who presided at Mass, reflected on contrasting images of death from sin and abundant life appearing in the day’s Mass readings. “When we rely on ourselves, it brings death,” he said, “but when we surrender to Jesus, the incredible power of God comes into the world. Jesus is capable through his power of making all things new.”
excitement of women showing love for Christ and his Church. “It was a springboard for women from all walks of life to receive the encouragement to evangelize,” she said. Chelsea Moga, who attends Our Lady of Grace in Edina, said she wanted to find ways to grow in her faith and evangelize. “With all the materials we’re getting, I hope I make good use of them and [develop] good skills of evangelization to encourage people to come back to the Catholic Church,” she said.
Learning to evangelize
Uniting women
A pilot for future conferences nationwide, the Twin Cities event drew women representing dioceses and organizations around the country. “The goal of this conference was to give women this incredible mountaintop experience where they were having this time of relating with women around them who may be just like them, going through the same hardships or going through the same joys,” said founder Kelly Wahlquist, who emceed the event with local speaker and author Alyssa Bormes. Sharon Perkins attended the conference to discover how she could bring it to the Diocese of Austin, Texas, where she lives. The diocese likely will adapt the conference to reach its large Hispanic population, said Perkins, the diocese’s director of evangelization and catechesis. Perkins said she saw the
Following the conference, which replaced the archdiocese’s annual women’s retreat, women of all ages and backgrounds were invited to attend upcoming WINE activities, including a book club and a Theology on Tap-type event this spring. The name WINE was inspired by Mary’s words at the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5), said Wahlquist, who serves as assistant director of the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul. The ministry is seeking women to help establish WINE groups in their parishes, and it plans to launch the first groups this fall, Wahlquist said. The second annual women’s conference is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2016. For more information about WINE, visit womeninthenewevangelization. com.
Travel to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with Fr. James Spahn, of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, September 12-18, 2015 $2,499 Airfare and All-Inclusive Several trips to different destinations: the Holy Land; Italy; France; Portugal; Spain; Poland; Medjugorje; Lourdes; Fatima; Ireland; Scotland; England; Austria; Germany; Switzerland; Turkey; El Camino de Santiago; Greece; Viking Cruises; Caribbean Cruises; Budapest; Prague; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Domestic Destinations; etc We also specialize in custom trips for Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Prices starting at $2,499 ~ Prices are ALL-INCLUSIVE with airfare from anywhere in the continental USA www.proximotravel.com Call 24/7 508-340-9370 or 855-842-8001 anthony@proximotravel.com Carmela Manago~Executive Director carmela@proximotravel.com
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Catholics planning to join the local pilgrimage to September’s World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia — and see Pope Francis there — are encouraged to register soon due to limited space, said Jean Stolpestad, director of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life. The pilgrimage is Sept. 22-28. A fee of $1,875 covers airfare, a six-night hotel stay, breakfast and two dinners, motor coach transportation in Philadelphia and historic sightseeing. Registration for the six-day conference is separate; the basic cost for an adult is currently $125 and will rise May 1. For many meeting-goers, the main attraction is the event’s finale. Pope Francis is celebrating the closing Mass Sept. 27 as part of his first U.S. trip. Pope St. John Paul II started the World Meeting of Families in 1994. Co-sponsored by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family and held every three years, it is “the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families,” according to organizers. It is being held in the U.S. for the first time. Topics will include challenges facing American families, such as urban family concerns, but “the overriding universality of the Church is going to be very well represented,” Stolpestad said. Scheduled workshops are also expected to address marriage, separation, immigration, poverty, the elderly, childbearing, women in the family and the role of grandparents, she said. “It is for the average person in the pew,” she added. It includes a track for children ages 6 to 17. The local pilgrimage is partnering with all of Minnesota’s dioceses. For more information, visit bit.ly/1MNnwZy and www.worldmeeting2015.org.
Seafood Spectacular
Lenten Dinner Special
All you can eat Walleye and Shrimp $15.99 Every Friday Night!
Easter Sunday Champagne Brunch Sunday April 5 • 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. $18.99 – Adults; $7.99 – Kids 3 & under FREE
Make your reservations NOW!
651.457.2729 866 Smith Ave. West St. Paul
The Bustling Neighborhood Gathering Place
www.cherokeetavern.com
7A Continued from page 1A John Boehner’s decision not to bring it to his chamber’s floor for a vote. Because in ensuing years Congress has yet to vote to reform immigration policies, the president took what Sister Simone characterized as small, judicious steps via executive order. Opponents of the order have called it an overreach of executive power, and maintain that immigration policymaking rests solely with the Legislative Branch. The executive order block by the Texas judge “wasn’t totally unexpected,” Sister Simone said, “but the White House and the Justice Department are quite confident the executive order will stand up once it gets past this judge” [upon appeal]. Sister Simone put names and stories to those impacted by U.S. immigration policies. She told of Ida, a 17-year-old born in the United States, who had to drive her parents to work because she, as a citizen, was able to obtain a driver’s license, something her parents, who are undocumented, could not. There was Jackie, a 19-year-old community college student in Phoenix who worked part time, who struggled to raise her twin 12-year-old siblings because her parents had been deported. Finally, there was a woman who had crossed the Mexican border, whose dead body was found under a bush in the southwest American desert. When her body was turned over, she was found to be covering her child, who had also died. “Isn’t that how we all got here — parents wanting to do better for their families?” Sister Simone asked.
Bipartisan push In January, a group of Catholic leaders urged fellow Catholics in Congress to set aside “partisan bickering” and support the U.S. bishops’ efforts on behalf of a comprehensive immigration reform, calling it a sanctity of life issue and an important step in building a culture of life, according to a Catholic News Service report. “Our nation’s inhumane and flawed immigration policies leave migrant women, children and families abandoned by the side of the road,” the group said in a letter released Jan. 20, two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Among the more than 100 signers of the letter were the presidents of at least 31 Catholic universities as well as bishops, men and women religious, former staff members at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the heads of various institutes and social action agencies.
Local
Immigration benefits U.S., says local economist
Participants in the Trail for Humanity pro-immigrant rights caravan protest in front of the U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., Aug. 15. There is a new initiative by leaders of U.S. Catholic colleges and universities supporting humanitarian actions for minors coming across the U.S.-Mexico border. CNS/ David Maung, EPA On Jan. 14 the House voted 236 to 191 to block funding for President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration, which included deferring deportations for millions of people who are in the country illegally. In her presentation, Sister Simone pointed to the U.S. war on drugs and trade policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ), which she said have generated the large influx of undocumented people from Mexico and Central America. Sister Simone estimates that only 30 percent of Mexican citizens have benefited from NAFTA. The other 70 percent are Mexicans primarily from rural areas who have suffered from the trade agreement, she said. “U.S. economic policy is driving global migration,” Sister Simone said. The United States faces the challenge of integrating immigration reform with trade agreements, she said. “We the people need to stand up and do what’s right for our nation and our world,” she added. “Immigration is the glory of our past and the hope for our future. We benefit greatly from our immigrant brothers and sisters,” Sister Simone said, “but we have to face up to our responsibility to justice.”
‘Immigrant capital’ Bruce Corrie, an economist who has spent 15 years documenting that immigrants are assets, provided data supporting Sister Simone’s assertion on immigration’s benefits. Corrie, an associate vice president of Concordia University in St. Paul, told the forum audience that immigration reform could come about if the country’s leadership would stop ignoring the data that looks at immigrants in
the bigger economic picture. “The historical truth is that immigrants are a net asset,” Corrie said. His term Sister SIMONE “immigrant capital” is intended to help others understand that, rather than a drain on the economy, “immigrants are consumers and tax payers. Immigrants jump-start the economy.” He cited several examples, including the successful acclimation of the Hmong, the Cambodian tribe people who came to the U.S. at the end of the Vietnam War. They had no English language skills or common culture or religion with mainstream Americans, but — with resources offered by the Minnesota community — they now have a low poverty rate and 70 percent home ownership. He also pointed to many AsianIndian immigrants’ successes and contribution to U.S. economic growth, and the prominent role of African-born health care workers in the U.S. health care industry. “What is the impact of low-wage workers who we employ to cook our food, clean our offices and homes, fix our roofs?” Corrie asked. Immigrants have assets and energy that could benefit everyone, and the United States has the capacity to bear some of the challenges they face, he said. “We have the opportunity to be a great nation, one that walks in self confidence,” he said. “How could we open our arms to the many in parts of the world in need?” The Breaking The Impasse forum
also heard the first-person testimony of an immigrant and the trials she endured as she sought asylum in the United States.
Opening eyes During a scheduled period to discuss and process what they had heard from the forum’s speakers, a table of primarily 20-something women shared what struck them most. “America is so wealthy and so set up to help people from other countries — and we think we are not,” mused Bridgette Kelly, program coordinator of the St. Joseph Workers, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet’s justicerelated volunteer program. St. Joseph Workers volunteer Jackie Salas said the presentations reminded her of the responsibility U.S. citizens have to be aware of the impact on others of the choices they make. “There’s a disconnectedness,” Salas said. “We don’t see the cause and effect, how the local impacts the global. It’s not us versus them — we choose not to see that.” Responding to a question from the audience about what people can do to support immigrants and immigration reform, Sister Simone offered her “grocery store missionary work” approach. “Listen with compassion” to those who feel the easing of immigration policies hurt U.S. citizens, she said. “Once you ask their opinion, people relax more, and you can have a conversation,” she said. She added: “Get you eyes open to how you are served by immigrants. Open your eyes to the people who are making our country work. God created all people with dignity.” Reports from Catholic News Service are included in this story.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Lent
8A
Full from Lenten discipline ripe with life, love and freedom, adherents say
fasting
By Jennifer Janikula For The Catholic Spirit
W
hen Casey Boerner discusses Lent with her Sunday school students at Immaculate Conception in Watertown, she uses sports metaphors. She compares the Lenten journey to the way athletes approach a big competition. Catholics, like athletes-in-training, dig a bit deeper and work a bit harder to prepare for the victory of Easter morning, she said. Boerner, a graduate student in the masters of education program at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, considers fasting a critical part of her spiritual training regimen. “If you are serious about becoming a good athlete, you want to know the best way to train,” Boerner said. “You are not intimidated by an intense workout, because it helps you get stronger and reach your goal.” Boerner’s year-round fasting routine includes small meals and abstinence from sweets and meat every Wednesday and Friday. Though she finds forgoing dessert especially difficult, Boerner sincerely enjoys the challenge of fasting. “It’s not so much about what you are giving up,” Boerner explained. “It’s about making a small gift to God that unites the body, heart, soul and will, all in one.” Like prayer and almsgiving, fasting is a spiritual discipline rooted in Scripture and practiced by the earliest Christians. Lent is specifically tied to the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert after his baptism. During Lent, the Church requires abstinence from meat on all Fridays for those 14 and older. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics aged 18 to 59 are obligated to fast (one full meal and two small meals) and abstain from meat. The sick, pregnant and nursing mothers are exempt. Boerner believes regular fasting strengthens her faith and leads her closer to God’s love. She encourages others to experiment with fasting from food, social media or other activities to foster self-discipline that could benefit all areas of life. Boerner is inspired by a quote she adapts from St. Catherine of Siena: “If we can become the best version of ourself, we will set the world
GIVE FAST PRAY LIVE LENT
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Casey Boerner, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception in Watertown, fasts on Wednesday and Fridays year-round. She compares the spiritual practice to athletic training for the soul. Jennifer Janikula/For The Catholic Spirit
“It’s not so much about what you are giving up. It’s about making a small gift to God that unites the body, heart, soul and will, all in one.” Casey Boerner
on fire with a deep and authentic love.”
Fasting for love That love of God and neighbor inspires a commitment to daily fasting for the Poor Clares of Minneapolis. The sisters abstain from meat and snacks nearly year-round. They eat a sensible noon meal together each day, but eat simple, sparse breakfasts and suppers. The Poor Clare fasting tradition began in the 13th century with their foundress, St. Clare of Assisi, who began a Franciscan community for women. The sisters describe St. Clare as a “rigorous faster” who needed to be reminded to eat in order to have the strength to pray and serve others. This balancing act between prayer,
fasting and almsgiving provides the foundation for current Poor Clares, including Sister Beth Lynn, who entered the community in 1958. “Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are a trinity that needs to be expressed together,” she said. “If too much emphasis is on one or the other they get out of kilter.” She added: “Bodily fasting has to be situated in love, especially love of our neighbors.” Sister Beth pointed to examples of fasting in Scripture, including several verses from Isaiah calling people to fast prayerfully and joyfully in service to others. Isaiah 58:6-7 reads: “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed
Continued on the next page
9A
Lent
Left Bread and water symbolize a traditional form of fasting, but those who fast say abstinence from electronics, social media or other entertainment is also spiritually rewarding. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit.
For more information about fasting and abstinence, visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website, www.usccb.org.
Beginning the fast Several passionate fasters offered these tips to help others get started or enhance their current fasting practices. • Avoid eating between meals on Wednesdays. • Avoid social media one night per week. • Skip one meal this week and give the money for the meal to a charity or food shelf. • Instead of going out for lunch tomorrow, go to church during your lunch hour and eat a simple
Continued from the previous page go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear.” The Poor Clares encourage each person to make this passage come alive in their own way by being aware of daily opportunities that transform fasting from self-focus to focus on others, Sister Beth said. In St. Paul, the Poor Clares’ fellow Franciscans, the Franciscan Brothers of Peace, focus their yearround Wednesday and Friday fasting on world peace. Their communal meal on fast evenings usually includes meatless soup and bread. During Lent, the brothers deepen the intensity of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as they participate in the 40 Days for Life, a global pro-life campaign. The brothers abstain from meat for all 40 days of Lent, excluding Sundays, to promote the “Gospel of Life” for the elderly and the unborn.
bag lunch on your return trip. • Instead of browsing the Internet on your cell phone while you are waiting, pray. • Replace 15 minutes of your evening Twitter, Instagram or Facebook time with browsing Catholic news, letters from Pope Francis or biographies of saints. — Jennifer Janikula Although fasting practices and purposes vary, good and productive fasts are intended to make space for the Lord to work in people’s lives. “Fasting is powerful for overcoming sin and for growth and self-mastery,” said Father Jeff Huard, director of spiritual formation at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. “It’s an expression of love and prayer that makes room for the Lord.”
Seeking detachment As newlyweds, Gordy DeMarais and his wife, Teresa, made a deliberate decision to practice and celebrate their Catholic faith as a family. Six children and 30 years later, the DeMaraises, who regularly attend both St. Joseph in West St. Paul and St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul, make fasting a family event during Lent. Above and beyond the standard obligations of the Church, sparse Wednesday dinners include bread, peanut butter and cheese. Soup and bread make up the
“Fasting is powerful for overcoming sin and for growth and self-mastery . . . It’s an expression of love and prayer that makes room for the Lord.” Father Jeff Huard, director of spiritual formation at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity
St. Clare of Assisi, pictured in a stained glass window in the Cathedral of St. Paul, is a model for the fasting habits of Franciscans, including the Poor Clares in Minneapolis. Courtesy the Cathedral of St. Paul
remainder of the weekday dinners. Monday through Saturday, family members also abstain from the non-essential use of media and devices. Why do they give up so much during Lent? Detachment and freedom. “The fruit of the practice of fasting is the detachment,” said DeMarais, executive director of St. Paul’s Outreach, a ministry to college students based in the Twin Cities. “When we grow less dependent on these abundant things, we realize we can be happy and thrive without them. It seems hard at first, but after you embrace it, you experience a kind of freedom and closeness to God.” This sense of freedom feels especially strong when the DeMarais family spends an evening at home during their Lenten media fast. Instead of being consumed and distracted by devices, the family experiences a deepening of their relationships with each other and with God, Gordy DeMarais said. He advises Catholics not to fall into the mindset that the Church is trying to deprive anyone of happiness or pleasure. Instead, Catholics should see fasting as an invitation to a life filled with joy and freedom, he said, adding that fasting offers self-control needed to live generously with God and for others. DeMarais also encourages fasting Catholics to ask God for help and perseverance, even after failure. “God’s mercy is renewed for us every day,” he said. “The only real failure is the failure to begin again.”
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Faith & Culture
10A
Renaissance horns enhance Rose Ensemble’s requiem By Melenie Soucheray For The Catholic Spirit Lent is a time of prayer, penance and sacrifice in preparation for the resurrection of Christ on Easter. The Rose Ensemble, an awardwinning vocal group, will provide the season’s soundtrack. With special guest Dark Horse Consort, the North American premiere of “The Requiem of Pedro de Escobar” will be performed Feb. 27 at the Church of St. Bernard, St. Paul, and Feb. 28 at the Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis. It will also be staged Feb. 26 at the Sacred Heart Music Center, Duluth. Jordan Sramek, founder and artistic director of the Twin Citiesbased Rose Ensemble, planned this candlelight production to fill what he believes is his audience’s need to be in a beautiful church, in contemplation, immersed in gorgeous music. “We’re about the Old World,” explained Sramek. “[This program] brings us straight to the heart of the kingdom of Castile and Lyon, and this incredible time in the late 15th century in Spain. This is when the so-called ‘Catholic kings’ were in a huge position of power. They were using language and the printed word as a means by which to demonstrate the sheer musical force of their courts and their chapels.” Pedro de Escobar was born in Portugal in 1465 and made his way into the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1489. The 15th century was a busy time in Spanish secular and religious history. The Inquisition began in 1481. Christopher Columbus set sail for
The Rose Ensemble (left) and Dark Horse Consort will perform “The Requiem of Pedro de Escobar” Feb. 26-28 in Duluth, St. Paul and Minneapolis, with shows at St. Bernard and the Basilica of St. Mary. Courtesy the Rose Ensemble
North American premiere The Rose Ensemble is offering three performances of “The Requiem of Pedro de Escobar,” with guest Dark Horse Consort. • 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26, Sacred Heart Music Center, Duluth • 8 p.m. Feb. 27, St. Bernard, St. Paul • 8 p.m. Feb. 28, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis For more information, visit www.roseensemble.org. India and dropped anchor in the Caribbean Sea. The Renaissance was at its mid-point. St. Ignatius of Loyola was evolving from a wealthy young soldier to the founder of the Society of Jesus — The Jesuits.
Sramek said Escobar was a prolific composer, but little of his work survives. Among the exceptions is this requiem Mass, a liturgy for the dead that could have been part of a funeral. The Latin word “requiem” is related to the words “rest” and “repose.” The original source material has been transcribed into this new edition in Madrid. “The magnitude of this Mass in and of itself is remarkable; but, to have a new edition is important,” Sramek said. “This is the modern day North American premiere of this work, as far as we know.” The performance will include musical parts for the entire Mass, but it will not be an actual liturgy. “We’ve been joking in the ensemble there will be everything but genuflecting in this performance — genuflecting and the sermon,” Sramek said with a chuckle. “We’re doing all of the chants. The Gospel and epistle will
be chanted. You don’t hear something like this every day, because to re-create an entire Mass is a fairly involved process.”
Creative collaboration For this program, the Rose Ensemble is working with Dark Horse Consort, which is based in San Francisco. “I have been lucky enough to play with the Rose Ensemble twice previously,” said Greg Ingles, the consort leader. The group is comprised of early music artists who play a repertoire of late Renaissance and early baroque music for brass. “Jordan thought adding early brass to his Escobar requiem program would add aural interest and an essence of authenticity,” Ingles said. That authenticity includes a sackbut, an instrument also known as a Renaissance trombone. “Greg is, in my humble opinion, North America’s finest sackbut player. Let me tell you something, the sackbut is very difficult to play,” Sramek said. “He makes that instrument sound so serene.” Ingles’ group also features a cornetto, an instrument made of animal horn. “It’s going to be sounding the highest notes and used with [singing] women,” Sramek said. “The cornetto has no modern equivalent. The instrument was made to sound like human voice. I don’t know how to describe it because there’s nothing like it.” When the sounds of the sackbut and cornetto are “interpolated and embedded into the texture of our voices,” he added, “that’s when the magic is really going to happen.”
Documentary features musicians behind Church’s liturgical shift By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit When the Catholic Church needed new liturgical music to fulfill the Second Vatican Council’s call for “full, conscious and active participation” by laity at Mass, composers, lyricists and Minnesota musicians heeded the call. KSMQ, the public television station in Austin, Minn., has captured the story in a documentary, “On Eagle’s Wings: Minnesota’s Sacred Music.” In it, Marty Haugen, David Haas, Sister Delores Dufner, Daniel Kantor, Lynn Trapp and Father Jan Michael Joncas explain the background that brought about the post-Vatican II liturgical music and the collaborations among Minnesotans that forged music that continues to be popular. The hourlong documentary aired Feb. 18. It features Father Joncas recalling his inspiration for “On Eagle’s Wings.” After 40 years, it’s still one of the most popular hymns for a variety of Christian traditions and sung around the world, translated into languages as diverse as Polish and Vietnamese.
Friendship and collaboration Haas, composer of many popular religious songs including “You Are Mine,” and Haugen, composer of “Mass of Creation,” “Gather Us In,” “Eye Has Not Seen” and many others, join Father Joncas in the documentary to explain their collaboration.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
In case you missed it “On Eagle’s Wings: Minnesota’s Sacred Music” is available on YouTube at bit.ly/1AU0ywG. Their agreement that songs could “help the people of God transform their lives,” as Haugen put it, bonded them. The Twin Cities trio, who often played concerts together, “found a love of the work” in creating music that helps a community express its faith, said Father Joncas, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and artist-in-residence and research fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The video captures them working together at the piano, playing and singing together and nodding in agreement with one another during an interview. “We’ve been able to critique each other very honestly,” Father Joncas said. “The friendship helped us to create something more than the individual talents.” The documentary also includes Benedictine Sister Delores Dufner, a prolific hymn writer from St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn., and Daniel Kantor, a composer from the Twin Cities, talking about how their specific gifts were combined to produce “Gift of Life,” a liturgical hymn appropriate for Eucharist. Lynn Trapp, director of worship and music at
St. Olaf in downtown Minneapolis, provides insight into why the sung parts of the Mass developed as songs after Vatican II. The importance of music at Mass was “baked into me,” he said, adding, “The music that I experienced made the Mass.”
Trumpeting talent Father Joncas said he thought the crew from KSMQ did a great job with a complex subject, particularly since funding was provided from a legacy grant from the State of Minnesota. “I was also pretty amazed at how willing they were, as a publicly funded program, to allow us participants to speak so much about our faith,” he told The Catholic Spirit. Matthew Bluhm, senior legacy producer at KSMQ, said he didn’t have any qualms about making a documentary on a religious topic. Religion, he said, “represents a certain cultural background in Minnesota,” and documenting that is one of the station’s goals. “The topic is important to Minnesota because those writers are here and giving their talent here,” Bluhm said. “It was a way to trumpet the talent Minnesota has.” Father Joncas noted that others could have been included, “but,” he said, “I think the documentary caught the reason why composers responded to the liturgical changes in the light of Vatican II and how it isn’t just a job or career, but really is a vocation.”
11A
By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service Religious leaders from across the faith spectrum gathered Feb. 20 at the U.S. Capitol to seek action to combat climate change and to mitigate its effects, whether it be at the federal level or in local communities. The ongoing buzz about the forthcoming encyclical from Pope Francis on the environment was addressed by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “This is the first time a pope has addressed the issue of the environment and climate change with an encyclical — and for us Catholics and not only for Catholics, this is a big deal,” Archbishop Wenski said, noting, “Encyclicals are an important way for popes to exercise their teaching office.” Archbishop Wenski added, “Although I am not privy to what the pope will say, I think he will insist that the ‘natural ecology’ is inseparably linked to ‘human ecology.’ In other words, we have to recognize the interrelatedness of the various social, economic, political or environmental crises that confront the human family today.” The archbishop made the comments as part of a panel sponsored by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment and held in a meeting room at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington.
Priority to poor, vulnerable Given what Pope Francis has said in the past on the environment, “I think that he will call us to prudent action that promotes the common good for present and future generations and respects human life and dignity while always giving priority to the poor and vulnerable,” Archbishop Wenski said. “Care for creation should engage us all — and thus I also think that the pope will tell us also to be
mindful of and heed the voices of poor who are impacted most by climate change and certainly will be impacted either for good or ill by the policies proposed to address climate change.” At their essence, the archbishop said, “these all are moral crises which require new rules and forms of engagement — in other words, a rethinking of the path that we are traveling down together.” Bishops are not scientists, Archbishop Wenski cautioned, “but we are pastors — and insofar as climate change affects concrete human beings, it is a moral issue; and, pastors in exercising their care of their flocks do weigh in — and appropriately so — on moral issues. Also, as Catholics, we firmly believe that the poor have a first claim on our consciences in matters pertaining to the common good.”
Action for common good Archbishop Wenski alluded to past statements on the environment by Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. bishops’ own 2001 statement, “Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good,” in which “we expressed our concern that disproportionate and unfair burdens not be placed on poor, developing nations. We called for collective action for the common good.” The Rev. Emilio Marrero, vice president of national programs at Esperanza, an umbrella group for Hispanic evangelicals, said evangelicals “believe that salvation bears fruit,” and that God wants to see “evidence” of faith “through our actions.” Rev. Marrero cited Matthew 25:36 as saying that Christians should be “concerned for the least of these,” as climate change tends to more adversely affect those with less means to adapt to its impact. “In Mexico, 1 million people have been forced to leave their land because of climate change and the desertification of their pastures,” he added.
U.S. & World
Religious leaders urge action to combat climate change
Lives lost A clergyman stands near photos of people killed in Ukrainian protests in 2014, during a Feb. 20 commemorating ceremony in Kiev’s Independence Square. CNS/Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters
Pope seeks prayers for Egyptians beheaded by Islamic State By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Pope Francis called for prayers for the Egyptian Christians beheaded by Islamic State militants in Libya and asked that God recognize these men killed for their faith. He offered morning Mass Feb. 17 in the chapel of his residence for the slain Christians he termed “our 21 brother Copts” whose throats had been slit “for the sole reason of being Christians,” and he requested people pray for the victims so “that the Lord welcome them as martyrs.” He called on people to pray as well for the victims’ families and for Egypt’s Orthodox leader, Pope Tawadros II, “who is suffering so much.” Pope Francis called Pope Tawadros Feb. 16 to express his sorrow over the deaths. At the end of his weekly general audience Feb. 18, Pope Francis urged the international community “to find peaceful solutions to the difficult situation in Libya.” And Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said,
“the situation is serious, and it demands a united response from the international community — a rapid response, the quickest possible from the U.N.” Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a bilateral summit with Italian government authorities Feb. 17, Cardinal Parolin said they talked about Libya and “the importance of re-launching a diplomatic initiative, and that any kind of armed intervention always be done according to the norms of international law and, therefore, that it be a U.N. initiative.” Egypt, meanwhile, continued to mourn its 21 nationals, who had been working in Libya when the extremist group kidnapped them. Their beheading was depicted in gruesome detail in a video released Feb. 15 on a pro-Islamic State website. The same evening in a nationally televised speech, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on his country’s government to provide full support to the families of the victims and vowed that Egypt maintained the right to retaliate.
Pope: Don’t let meatless Fridays be soulless splurge By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Real fasting isn’t just restricting food choices, it must also include cleansing the heart of all selfishness and making room in one’s life for those in need and those who have sinned and need healing, Pope Francis said. Faith without concrete acts of charity is not only hypocritical, “it is dead; what good is it?” he said, criticizing those who hide behind a veil of piety while unjustly treating others, such as denying workers
fair wages, a pension and health care. Being generous toward the Church, but selfish and unjust toward others “is a very serious sin: It is using God to cover up injustice,” he said Feb. 20 during his homily in a morning Mass celebrated in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives. The pope’s homily was based on the day’s reading from the Book of Isaiah in which God tells his people he does not care for those who observe penance passively — bowed “like a reed,” lying
quietly in a “sackcloth and ashes.” Instead, God says he desires to see his people crying out “full-throated and unsparingly” against injustice and sin, “setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless.” In the reading, God also points out the hypocrisy of the faithful who fast, but treat their workers badly and fight and quarrel with others. Pope Francis said Lent is about fulfilling all commandments both toward God and
others, according to reports from Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper. Lent is not about the formal observance of “doing a little whatever” and not eating meat on Fridays, while giving oneself free reign to “grow in selfishness, exploit others and ignore the poor,” he said. There might be someone who thinks, “Today is Friday, I can’t eat meat, but I’m going to have a nice plate of seafood, a real banquet,” which, while appearing to be an abstinence from meat, is the sin of gluttony, the pope said.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
U.S. & World
12A
San Fran archbishop: morality clauses about upholding Church mission Catholic News Service Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone told a group of California legislators that he respects their right “to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission” and expects the same in return. The San Francisco archbishop’s comments came in a Feb. 19 letter to five state Assembly members and three Senate members after they urged him to remove Catholic sexual morality clauses that have been added to handbooks for teachers in the four archdiocesan high schools. The lawmakers told Archbishop Cordileone in a letter they feel the clauses would “foment a discriminatory environment” and “send an alarming message to youth.” But the archbishop told them before making a judgment, they should have as complete information as possible about what the archdiocese is proposing and he directed them to various documents and videos on the archdiocesan website to dispel misinformation, “such as the falsehood that the morality clauses apply to the teachers’ private life.” The Archdiocese of San Francisco also is proposing three new clauses to contracts for teachers in archdiocesan Catholic high schools to further clarify that Catholic schools — as the first clause states — “exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by his Catholic Church.” The archdiocese is adding detailed statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice -— taken from the Catechism of the Catholic
“I respect your right to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission. I simply ask the same respect from you.”
The kidnapping of Jesuit Father Alexis Prem Kumar has made Jesuit Refugee Service reassess the way it operates in many high-risk countries, said an agency official. Staff have been getting training from experts who have worked for the United Nations or who have military experience to learn how to “monitor and evaluate the security situation” in the places they are working, said James Stapleton, the agency’s international communications coordinator. This might include “how to get to a safe place in time of crises, where to go, who to talk to,” he said. This new step in training was important because local staff “tend not to pay attention” to the security aspects
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
By Laura Ieraci Catholic News Service
A 10th-century Armenian monk has been named among the doctors of the church. Pope Francis approved the designation for St. Gregory of Narek during a meeting Feb. 21 Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The Church confers this designation on saints whose Church — into the faculty and Democratic assemblymen. writings are considered to offer staff handbooks of the four “If you knew a brilliant key theological insights for the archdiocesan high schools. The faith. campaign manager who, although handbook additions will take effect a Republican, was willing to work St. Gregory of Narek is considered one of the foremost in the 2015-’16 school year and are for you and not speak or act in figures of Armenian theology and not part of the contract. public contrary to you or your thought, and many of his prayers The statements cover Church party — would you hire such a are included in the Armenian teaching on abortion, same-sex person?” Archbishop Cordileone Divine Liturgy. marriage and artificial continued. “If your answer to the He was born in 950 in the contraception, and other tenets of first question is ‘no,’ and to the Armenian town of Andzevatsik, the faith. second question is ‘yes,’ then we located in present-day Turkey. He The handbook and contract are actually in agreement on the entered a monastery at a young changes reiterate more strongly the principal point in debate here.” age and was ordained a priest at responsibility of teachers and staff He asked if that Republican 25. He lived at the monastery at not to contradict Catholic teaching campaign manager they had hired Narek his whole priestly life and in school and in their public lives, began “speaking critically of your taught at the monastic school. said Maureen Huntington, party and favorably of your His best-known writings archdiocesan Catholic Schools running opponent,” would they be include a commentary on the superintendent, when the changes likely to fire that person? Song of Songs and his “Book of were announced. If so, “would you have done this Lamentations,” more commonly According to Huntington, they because you hate all Republicans known as “Narek.” do not contain anything outright, or because this “Narek” is considered his essentially new. individual, who happens to be a masterpiece. It includes 95 In his letter, Archbishop Republican, violated the trust prayers and has been translated Cordileone asked the lawmakers: given to you and acted contrary to into more than 30 languages. “Would you hire a campaign your mission? If the latter, then we St. Gregory died in Narek manager who advocates policies are again in agreement on this around 1005. He brings the contrary to those that you stand principle.” current number of doctors of the for, and who shows disrespect “I respect your right to employ Church to 36. His feast day in the toward you and the Democratic or not employ whomever you wish Armenian churches is Oct. 13; he Party in general?” to advance your mission,” he said. is remembered in the Roman The main authors of the “I simply ask the same respect Catholic Church Feb. 27. lawmakers’ letter were from you.” CathSpPoppins-Feb26-?-2015_Layout 1 2/12/15 2:25 PM
Jesuit’s kidnapping forces agency to reassess By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service
Pope names St. Gregory of Narek a doctor of the Church
of being on the ground, concentrating as they are on the social and humanitarian situation, Stapleton told CNS in a phone interview Feb. 23, the day after Father Kumar was freed and returned to New Delhi more than eight months after being kidnapped in Afghanistan. At the time of his kidnapping, Father Kumar headed JRS in Afghanistan. Just as the situation changed rapidly in Afghanistan, resulting in Father Kumar’s kidnapping, it has been changing in other volatile countries where JRS operates — like Syria and northern Iraq. Stapleton said JRS staff now must take into account the effect a security situation or risk will place on the organization as a whole. People want to stay close to those they are helping, but the organization needs to consider whether that staffer’s presence “could put the whole project and
people in the community at risk.” The fact “that we’re there with the people lets us strengthen our relationships with the community and strengthen (staff) security with the interests of the community in mind, too,” he said. He told CNS there have always been risks with their work, but that “this is a relatively new experience for our organization.” For instance, he said, when JRS worked in Colombia or El Salvador, the situation was dangerous “but we weren’t specifically targeted. Now it has changed,” because JRS staff may be from another country or be of a different religious background. “In Latin America, if the Jesuits were targeted it was because of what they were saying, not because of who they were,” he added.
TWIN CITIES PREMIERE!
Practically Perfect in Every Way!
952-934-1525 ChanhassenDT.com
13A
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Retired Pope Benedict XVI has never doubted or regretted his decision to resign, knowing it was the right thing to do for the good of the church, said Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to the retired pope. “The Church needs a strong helmsman,” and Pope Benedict was keenly aware of his own waning strength while faced with such a demanding ministry, the archbishop said in an interview published Feb. 12 in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Two years after Pope Benedict’s historic announcement Feb. 11 to step down as supreme pontiff, Archbishop Ganswein said the retired pope “is convinced that the decision he made and announced was the right one. He has no doubt.” “He is very serene and certain in this: His decision was necessary and made ‘after having repeatedly examined my conscience before God,’” he said, citing words from the pope’s Feb. 11, 2013, announcement. Pope Benedict had told a stunned audience of cardinals assembled for an ordinary public consistory that “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.” Archbishop Ganswein said in the interview that Pope Benedict was aware of his “duty not
to look out for his own self but for the good of the Church.” The pope spelled out the precise reasons for his decision, the archbishop said, and “all the other considerations and hypotheses are wrong,” including assumptions that the pope’s resignation was not valid or had not been done in full freedom. “Hypotheses cannot be based on things that are not true and totally absurd,” Archbishop Ganswein said. “Benedict himself said he made his decision with freedom, without any pressure, and he assured his ‘reverence and obedience’ to the new pope.’” The archbishop said doubts about the validity of the resignation and subsequent election of Pope Francis stem from a lack of understanding of the Church. Also, the option for a pope to resign is explicitly written in the Code of Canon Law, which says a pope may step down as long as the decision is made freely and is “duly manifested.” Archbishop Ganswein said Pope Benedict, who will turn 88 in April, is still following the prayerful, quiet life he wanted to dedicate himself to upon his retirement. Like his namesake, St. Benedict — the father of Western monasticism — the retired pope “has chosen a monastic life. He goes out (in public) only when Pope Francis asks him to; as for the rest, he does not accept other Please turn to LIKE on page 15A
GREEN LINE
GREEN LINE
From Age to Age
Pope Benedict has no regret, doubt about decision to retire, aide says
Retired Pope Benedict XVI greets a cardinal before a consistory at which Pope Francis created 20 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 14. CNS/Paul Haring
OPENING JANUARY 2015: Minnesota’s first nursing home designed around the gamechanging GREEN HOUSE Model of Care.
All aboard for Midway Village - three new senior residences with the Green Line at the door! Imagine living with the Fairview Avenue Green Line Station (and the rest of the world) right at your door! The Terrace at Iris Park is the first senior residence in town to offer Catered Living, a concierge approach to meeting your needs as they change. All apartments have already been spoken for, but you are welcome to join the wait list. There’s no obligation, and you’ll start building seniority so there’s a better chance that an apartment will be ready when you are. Midway Pointe has raised the bar on affordable Independent Living. As with The Terrace, all of its apartments have already been spoken for, but you are welcome to join the wait list. Someday, we hope to greet you with, “Welcome Home!”
Therapy pool
The Plaza
Call Deb Veit for the whole story! 651-632-8800 Or visit EpiscopalHomes.org
Episcopal Church Home - The Gardens will provide the closest thing yet to the experience of living in a private home with family caregivers. It will consist of six 10-person homes. Every Elder will have a private room with private bath and enjoy four times more personal attention than in conventional nursing homes. The GREEN HOUSE Model of Care is forever changing the face of LongTerm Care. It’s about time! Call Deb Veit to learn more: 651-632-8800. Or visit THE GREEN HOUSE PROJECT online.
thegreenhouseproject.org
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
From Age to Age
14A
Women religious show by example how to age gracefully By Sarah Hinds Catholic News Service The lives of religious sisters not only offer an example of holy living, but also healthy aging, according to recent studies. Several years ago, researcher David Snowdon published a book often dubbed “The Nun Study,” which revealed that women religious generally live longer than other women. The 2001 book, “Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us about Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives,” is based on the study of 678 School Sisters of Notre Dame from a number of U.S. convents. Snowdon reviewed autobiographies written by the sisters when they first took their vows and observed the lives of elderly sisters over a period of 15 years. He also conducted cognitive and physical tests to test memory and mental ability. He determined that those who maintained a positive outlook throughout life and remained mentally and physically active tended to live longer and avoid Alzheimer’s disease. Although that study is more than a decade old, recent studies continue to confirm Snowdon’s
conclusions. In 2009, Marc Luy of Austria’s Vienna Institute of Demography wrote the “Cloister Study” based on data of 11,624 monks and nuns from southern Germany. He concluded that one’s lifestyle has a greater impact on aging and lifespan than biological or hereditary factors. Researchers and religious sisters themselves agree that staying active and positive are the keys to aging well. Carmelite Sister M. Benedicta, vicar general of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in Sittard, Netherlands, attributes prayer as the key to aging gracefully. “Prayer is the foundation,” she said. “We believe that each soul is simply a capacity for grace of God’s life within us.” She said divine power is “unleashed” in believers and sets them free to do God’s will without “fear of pain, vulnerability and even death.” “We see our own elderly sisters actively participating in community prayer, household tasks, corresponding with the lonely, or whatever else they are capable of doing, but never idle,” she said.
Keeping Hearts Beating in the New Year!
Anna Corwin, a doctoral student in anthropology at the University of California-Los Angeles, has also studied the aging of religious women, and her results echo previous studies. Corwin spent 11 months living in a convent, observing how the lifestyles of women religious affect their aging. “American Catholic nuns experience greater physical and emotional well-being at the end of life than other women and are 27 percent more likely to live into their 70s,” Corwin wrote in a 2013 article for Yes! Magazine. “The remarkable pattern of longevity, joy and peace they experience in their final years offers insight into how we can all increase our health and happiness at the end of life,” she added. One factor consistent in the studies is exercise. “Nuns are always on their feet,” Corwin observed, and Snowdon wrote in his book’s conclusion that finding a physical activity that is enjoyable and doing it regularly is “one of the best things a person can do to age well.” A positive outlook, maintained through prayer and almsgiving, also is key. “Emotions like happiness, fear,
anger and sadness affect heart rate, blood pressure, immune response and even digestion,” wrote Corwin. “Nuns enjoy the benefits of positive emotions because their daily prayers lead them to feel love, joy and compassion.” Corwin also noted that most of the time, the sisters’ sense of purpose and willingness to contribute to the world and help others enhanced quality of life at an older age. She also credited the sisters’ skill in letting go of attachments, pointing out that when they “move to the infirmary or to the assisted-living wing of the convent, they do so with much less strife than lay people.” The lifestyles of women religious, often rooted in prayer, community and serving others, provide a helpful roadmap to people who want to be happy and fulfilled in their later years. Of course, all these actions are rooted in prayer, as Sister Benedicta noted. “As Carmelites, we regard prayer as our first apostolate,” she said. “So even when we are bedridden, nothing keeps us from this most important duty of interceding for the world.”
TROUBLE
UNDERSTANDING VOICES? BREAK FREE TO A WHOLE
NEW
WORLD Blood Drive Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 12:00 Noon – 6:00 PM Where:
REVOLUTIONARY NEW DEVICE for those that need just a little boost to help hear and understand better.
60 DAY RISK-FREE TRIAL 901 Feltl Court · Hopkins, MN 55343 www.StThereseSouthwest.com
A+
1000 OFF Discounts vary from $300-$500 off per model. Ask your Avada Clinician for specific discount information. Discounts may not be combined with any other offers, previous purchases or insurance benefit program. Savings expire next Friday.
25 YEARS
For an appointment go online to www.redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code TheTerracesSW or contact Chrysauna Buan at 952-960-5558 or cbuan@greatlakesmc.com
donors will be entered into a drawing * All presenting * to win 2 Minnesota Twins Tickets!
Hear Your Absolute Best
Benefits of hearing instruments my vary by type and degree of loss. Consult your Avada Hearing Care provider.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
®
©2014 HHM, Inc., 38G
15A
Continued from page 13A invitations,” said the archbishop, who lives with retired Pope Benedict in a renovated monastery and has been his personal secretary since 2003. Archbishop Ganswein told the newspaper that in addition to the pope’s usual routine of prayer, reading, keeping up with correspondence, receiving visitors, watching the evening news and walking in the Vatican Gardens, he has been playing the piano much more often: “Mozart especially, but also other
“Benedict himself said he made his decision with freedom, without any pressure, and he assured his ‘reverence and obedience’ to the new pope.” Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to the retired pope
compositions that come to mind at the moment; he plays from memory.”
The only health issues, the archbishop said, are “every now and then his legs give him some problems, that’s all.” The pope, who has had a pacemaker for several years and uses a cane, still has an incredibly sharp mind, the archbishop added. When asked what Popes Benedict and Francis might have in common, Archbishop Ganswein said that while their ways of expression are very different, the one thing they share is “the substance, the content, the deposit of faith to be proclaimed, promoted and defended.”
From Age to Age
Like namesake, Benedict now lives a monastic life
Brother advised discerners to ‘trust in the Lord’ Continued from page 1A Born in Omaha, Neb., Brother Paul professed his vows Oct. 4, 1987, five years after the community was founded. Prior to entering religious life, he was a seminarian in St. Paul at St. John Vianney College Seminary from 1978 to 1982, and St. Paul Seminary from 1982 to 1984. His community’s guardian overall for more than 20 years, Brother Paul was a leader in its pro-life outreach, which included fighting for the lives of people needing specialized medical care, such as Terri Schiavo, who died in 2005 after a court ordered her feeding tube removed, and Joseph Maraachli, a Canadian baby with a progressive neurodegenerative disease whose short life was extended by a tracheotomy performed at a St. Louis Catholic hospital. Prior to joining the Franciscan Brothers of Peace, Brother Paul and the community’s founder, Brother Michael Gaworski, founded in 1981 Pro-Life Action Ministries, a pro-life apostolate. Brother Paul served as its president. “Brother Paul was a very profound, strong, outspoken pro-life leader, not just here in the Twin Cities but nationally,” said Brian Gibson, executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries since 1986, when he replaced Brother Paul in that post. “His concern and care for the vulnerable, the innocent, the defenseless was amazing. He spoke on their behalf consistently and constantly throughout the 34 years I’ve known him.” Brother Paul also was a founding board member of Human Life Alliance
in Minneapolis and chairman of the board of the Pennsylvania-based Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network. “Brother Paul led his life standing for the vulnerable and those who could not speak for themselves. He will be deeply missed,” the network posted on its website Feb. 20. Jacki Ragan, National Right to Life’s director of state organizational development, called Brother Paul “one of the sweetest, kindest men I have ever known.” “He would travel far and wide to spread the message of life,” she wrote on the organization’s website Feb. 20. “From the National Right to Life Conventions, to the Life and Hope Network, to youth camps — any gathering where he could speak on the life issues, he was there. One of our camp leaders referred to him as her ‘superhero in a habit.’ And that fits.” His pro-life work was inspired, in part, by Brother Michael, who became quadriplegic after suffering cardiac and respiratory arrest in 1991. The brothers cared for him at their home until his death in 2003. Brother Paul offered the following advice to men discerning joining his religious community: “Pray about a vocation to the religious life and seek spiritual direction. Vocations mostly come from real people with real families, [and] not everyone is a perfect saint. Disregard thoughts of unworthiness. We are all unworthy, the Holy Spirit is the guiding force. Do not be afraid to make a commitment and put your trust in the Lord.”
SENIOR COMMUNITIES
Senior Housing • Assisted Living • Memory Care Short-term Rehab • Skilled Nursing Care • Home Care 5 GREAT COLUMBIA HEIGHTS LOCATIONS
Royce Place The Boulevard Apartments Columbia Village Crest View Luthgeran Home Crest View on 42nd
EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY
Crest View Senior Community at Blaine
(Under development and taking reservations)
4444 Reservoir Blvd. NE, Columbia Heights, MN 763-782-1601 | www.crestviewcares.org
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Focus on Faith
16A SUNDAY SCRIPTURES
Sunday, March 1
Second Sunday of Lent
Deacon Arthur Roraff
Readings
• Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 • Romans 8:31b-34 • Mark 9:2-10
Faith, love lead us to greater sacrifice I have a ritual I perform whenever a plane I’m on is about to land. I shut my eyes and say, “Lord, I am yours. I beg for your mercy for my sins and offer myself to you.” I do this during every landing, rough or smooth. I do this to affirm to myself I am a creature, and he is my creator and savior. It is a way to re-orient my life toward God and to recommit myself to accepting his will over my own (should the landing not turn out so well). In the first reading for March 1, Abraham is asked to affirm his faith in a radical way. God previously told him, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore.” In the reading God asks him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
By sacrificing his son, Abraham would not only lose his son, but also by extension he would have no descendants. But because Abraham’s faith was strong, he didn’t question God. He trusted God and put his will over his own. He was willing to give God everything. While we are not called to sacrifice as Abraham, we are still called to sacrifice. It is part of our faith. It is no different from any other loving relationship. When we love someone we sacrifice for him or her. We give what we have and who we are. The more we love, the more we are willing to sacrifice. When the love and sacrifice is reciprocated, the bond of love grows stronger. God gave himself in the gift of the
Reflection In this season of sacrifice, what are you willing to give?
Son. Should you do less? Are you willing to give up all that you are and all that you have for a God who does the same? If you are, then you get it all back and everything else. Conversely, what we withhold from God we will never get back. Through the gift of our freewill we can choose to withhold things from God. We can close the doors on our life and exclude him. Sometimes this feels like the safe thing to do. When we feel this way it is good to reflect on the words of St. Paul in the second reading when he writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” There is no one more trustworthy than God. He always does what he said. This Lenten season is a good time
to ask yourself how much you are willing to sacrifice. Will you offer your time? Your reputation? Your money? Are you willing to let your children go if they have a calling to the priesthood or religious life? Is there anything you are withholding from God? You will find the stronger your faith in God, the more you will be willing to sacrifice. Deacon Roraff is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska. His teaching parish is Good Shepherd in Golden Valley. His home parish is Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage.
DAILY Scriptures Sunday, March 1 Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10
Monday, March 2 Daniel 9:4b-10 Luke 6:36-38
Friday, March 6 Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Tuesday, March 3 St. Katharine Drexel, virgin Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 Matthew 23:1-12 Wednesday, March 4 St. Casimir Jeremiah 18:18-20 Matthew 20:17-28 Thursday, March 5 Jeremiah 17:5-10 Luke 16:19-31
Saturday, March 7 Ss. Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Sunday, March 8 Third Sunday of Lent Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25
SEEKING ANSWERS Father Kenneth Doyle
What’s the biblical basis for belief in purgatory? Q. So far as I know, the other
Christian religions do not provide for a purgatory — only the Catholic Church — and I’m wondering where purgatory is mentioned either in the Bible or in Christ’s teachings.
A. Speaking generically, Catholics believe in purgatory while Protestants do not. For February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Protestants, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is absolute, perfect and final. It had a once-and-for-all quality and, because of it, believers are cleansed, forgiven and declared righteous. To think that any additional purification might be necessary after death would be, for a Protestant, to deny the sufficiency of Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection.
Monday, March 9 St. Frances of Rome, religious 2 Kings 5:1-15b Luke 4:24-30 Tuesday, March 10 Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Matthew 18:21-35 Wednesday, March 11 Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday, March 12 Jeremiah 7:23-28 Luke 11:14-23
The Catholic belief, on the other hand, is summarized most succinctly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 1030): “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” This Catholic position builds on the belief of God’s chosen people shortly before the coming of Christ. In the Second Book of Maccabees (12:46), written toward the end of the second century B.C., we learn that Judas Maccabeus “made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.” To have prayed for his fallen comrades (who had worn in battle forbidden sacred amulets) showed his belief that the deceased could still be helped by the
Friday, March 13 Hosea 14:2-10 Mark 12:28-34 Saturday, March 14 Hosea 6:1-6 Luke 18:9-14 Sunday, March 15 Fourth Sunday of Lent 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3:14-21
intercession of the living. In the New Testament, arguably the clearest reference to purgatory comes in Matthew’s Gospel (12:32), where Jesus declares that “whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” — a statement that implies there are at least some sins that can be forgiven in the next life. Exactly what this transitional state of purgatory consists in, how long it lasts, whether it might even be instantaneous, are, of course, beyond our reckoning as long as we are on this side of eternity. Father Doyle writes for Catholic News Service. A priest of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., he previously served as director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
17A
Father John Paul Erickson
Year of Consecrated Life indulgence available to all We are already nearly three months into the Year of Consecrated Life, declared by Pope Francis as a special time of prayer and reflection on the vocation and dignity of consecrated religious. During this “year” — which began with Advent and will run 14 months — Pope Francis has extended the spiritual graces of a plenary indulgence to all members of the institutes of religious life and all “other truly repentant faithful moved by a spirit of charity.” Indulgences are a special exercise of “the power of the keys,” the ministry by which the successor of St. Peter administers the saving power of Jesus Christ, a gift that is always free but must be received with contrition, faith and gratitude. By means of indulgences, the merits of Christ and his saints are applied to members of the Church’s
mystical body, many of whom are still undergoing purification for sin in what we call “purgatory.” No sin is private, as every single one of our deliberate moral failings brings division, hurt and weakness to our lives and those of others. Indulgences are all about healing these wounds, a healing that is required even when forgiveness has been granted. It is simply not enough to say “I am sorry” for deliberate moral failures. We must also somehow make up for what we have done, or failed to do. An indulgence helps us, or others, to do just that by appealing and clinging to the action of Jesus Christ. Indulgences are realities rooted in both the mercy and justice of Almighty God, who has manifested both in his Son, Jesus Christ. Indulgences are not magic, and still
FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA Ben Jones
Affordable housing in interest of common good This year, the Minnesota Catholic Conference has joined other organizations in supporting the Homes for All agenda currently before the Minnesota Legislature. The Homes for All proposal invests $39 million to address a spectrum of housing needs, such as developing more affordable housing, providing services to prevent homelessness and making available rental assistance to low income families. The home has always played an important role in our nation’s imagination. It represents independence, security and the chance for self-determination. Sadly, the reality has never completely matched the dream. Throughout history, millions of Americans have suffered homelessness. Others have worked hard just to hold onto any shelter, including crowded tenements and substandard houses. Still others have been forced to repeatedly move from one substandard place to another due to changes in economic fortune. Homelessness and the lack of access to affordable housing is not a problem of our past. By some measures,
affordable housing is growing further and further out of reach for more Americans. Housing costs have increased faster than wages in recent decades, and the number of Americans spending more than the recommended 30 percent of household income on their housing has increased by more than seven million. Families with excessive housing costs now comprise more than one-third of all American households. In Minnesota, a majority of renters cannot afford a market rate, two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30 percent of their income. Homelessness remains everpresent, and an average of 372 families seek refuge in public shelters every day in Hennepin County alone. Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” listed housing prominently among the rights inherent to all people as beings created in the image of God. Pope St. John Paul II made clear why this need is so crucial. In his words, “a home is more than a roof over one’s head.” It is “a place for building and seeking one’s life.” Ensuring access to safe and affordable housing is both a mandate of our faith
Virgin Mary. This same indulgence may be gained in any of the chapels that are found within the houses and convents of the many local religious communities. Through decree of Archbishop John Nienstedt, the indulgence may be obtained locally on any memorial, feast or solemnity observed on the general Roman calendar and dedicated to Mary, such as the upcoming Feast of the Annunciation March 25. Marian feasts are appropriately marked as special days of prayer for consecrated religious and for an increase in vocations. In addition, the graces of the indulgence may be gained on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Feb. 2, 2016 -— the final day of the Year of Consecrated Life and the final day of the indulgence’s availability. The graces of the indulgence may be applied to oneself or to the poor souls in purgatory. The full text declaring Pope Francis’ intention of imparting the plenary indulgence during the Year of Consecrated Life may be found at the Vatican website, www. vatican.va, under the subheading “Apostolic Penitentiary.”
This Catholic Life • Commentary
GUEST COMMENTARY
less are they a kind of “get out of jail free” card. However, they are a part of our tradition as Catholics that we shouldn’t be ashamed of, but rather embrace and use well so that our loved ones may soon experience the eternal embrace of Almighty God. Pope Francis’ declaration of the special indulgence for the Year of Consecrated Life follows the tradition of previous pontiffs, who also declared special graces and spiritual favors available to those who actively commemorated and participated in the theme of the given year. The indulgence can be received with the usual conditions: sacramental confession, eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father — which may be satisfied through the recitation of one Our Father and one Hail Mary — and a detachment from sin. In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the indulgence may be attained by visiting the Cathedral of St. Paul or the Basilica of St. Mary, and publicly reciting the Liturgy of the Hours or, for an appropriate time in these same spaces, dedicating oneself to prayer and meditation, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith (such as the Nicene or Apostles Creed), and a pious invocation of the Blessed
Father Erickson is director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
and good public policy, and it is a step toward a more equal, prosperous and self-reliant society. Providing people access to adequate housing costs relative to their household budget has proven to be a tremendous boon to the fight against poverty. When people have the foundation of an adequate home, and the security of stable living costs, they are freed to flourish and develop their potential. They can devote their energy and resources to making long-term improvements in their lives and in their children’s lives. One notable study on the Minnesota Family Investment Program found that access to public or subsidized housing significantly increased the recipient’s employment rate and wage level. Keeping housing costs to a manageable level of a household’s budget leads to superior child development outcomes across the board. Children raised in a household that has access to affordable housing have higher rates of better nutrition and stronger health, as well as lower high school dropout rates and improved levels of overall academic performance. Catholics are called to create a preferential option for the poor — preferential concern, or priority, for the people among us who are most vulnerable. Affordable housing initiatives like Homes for All helps in providing “the means necessary and suitable for proper development of life” (“Pacem in Terris,” 11), and give many of our fellow Minnesotans a step up in their own efforts to escape poverty. Jones is a Minnesota Catholic Conference law clerk and third-year law student at the University of Minnesota.
Contact your legislators Urge them to support the following bills by sharing the following messages: HF 439/SF 462: Help families of babies with chromosomal disorders “Please support the Prenatal Trisomy Diagnosis Awareness Act (HF 439/SF 462). This bill will provide expectant parents, upon receiving a diagnosis of Trisomy 13, 18, or 21 (Down Syndrome), with supportive and educational information during a critical and sometimes stressful period for their family.” SF 348/HF 437: Support a legislative commission on surrogacy “Please support SF 348/HF 437, which would establish a legislative surrogacy commission. Our state has already identified the need to take a more serious, in-depth look at the many concerns associated with gestational agreements like surrogacy contracts. As someone who cares about the well-being of women and children, I think forming a legislative commission to study surrogacy would be the right next step in helping to ensure Minnesota is protecting the well-being of women and children.” For Catholic teaching and public policy details on these bills, or for instructions on how to contact your legislators, visit www.mncc.org/actioncenter. The Catholic Advocacy Network is an initiative of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
18A
Calendar
Dining out Soup suppers — March 4, 8, 15, 22 — 4:30-7 p.m., Kolbe Center at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., NE, Minneapolis. Adults $5, children $1. Benefits hungry at local charities. (612) 789-7238. Spaghetti dinner — March 7: 5-7:30 p.m., St. Helena School, Rowan Hall, 3204 E. 43rd St., Minneapolis. Presale tickets $9 adults, $7 seniors and children under 12, $30 family (up to five) in advance by calling (612) 729-9301.. Corned beef and cabbage dinner — March 15: 11 a.m-3 p.m., St. Joseph Church, 23955 Nicolai Ave., Miesville. Adults $12, 6-12 years $5. For more information: dgreil@ comcast.net.
Music and entertainment “The Music Man Jr.” — March 12-15: 7 p.m. March 12-14, 1 p.m. March 15, junior high of Notre Dame Academy, 13505 Excelsior Blvd., Minnetonka. For tickets, see www.nda-mn.org. The Passion of Jesus In Music, Word & Light — March 13 in Spanish, March 14 in English: 7:45 p.m., St. Mark Church, Fourth Ave. and Atwood St., Shakopee. Free. Call David at (952) 595-8042. Si tiene alguna pregunta llame a José al (952) 210-7884.
Parish events Bible study — Feb. 26 and March 5, 12: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Scripture scholar Art Zannoni explores the Psalms. Free. Questions? Michael Strande at mstrande@guardian-angels.org or (651) 789-3162. Lenten cross exhibit — through April 5: “Stumbling Stone Crosses” by Rick Brack, Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie.
More events online
“Spring Bling” jewelry sale — Feb. 27-28: 4-7 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, hosted by CCW at St. Henry Church, 1001 Seventh St. E, Monticello. Questions? Call Char Thelen at (763) 314-0366. Human trafficking educational event — March 8: 11:45 a.m.- 1:15 p.m., Annunciation lower level community room, 509 W. 54th St., Minneapolis. Presentation with Q-and-A for adults and high school young people. Free. Rummage sale — March 12-14: 9 a.m., Holy Childhood, 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul. St. Pat’s Night — March 14: 6 p.m., Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. Irish dinner, music, singers. $20. Reservations by March 6 at www.transfigurationmn.org or call Martha at (651) 738-2646 or email mpraska@ transfigurationmn.org.
CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and institutions. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your press release. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication in the calendar: • Time and date of event. • Full street address of event. • Description of event. • Contact information in case of questions. EMAIL: spiritcalendar@archspm.org. (No attachments, please.) MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit; 244 Dayton Ave.; St. Paul, MN 55102.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Benefit spaghetti dinner for St. John Vianney Seminary — March 14: 5-7:30 p.m., KC Hall, 1114 W. American Blvd., Bloomington.
Fish fries and Lenten dinners
High Tea and Style Show — March 15: 2-5 p.m., hosted by St. Helena CCW, 3204 E. 43rd St., Minneapolis. $8. Reservations required; call Marge France (612) 729-7344.
Epiphany, Coon Rapids — 4:30-6:30 p.m., fish fry, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Minnetonka — 5-7 p.m. fish dinner, 13505 Excelsior Blvd. Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — 5-7 p.m., KC fish dinner, 21304 Church Ave. Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., enchilada dinner, 401 Concord St. Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 4087 W. Broadway Ave. N. St. Anne, Hamel — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 200 Hamel Rd. St. Bonaventure, Bloomington — 4:30 p.m. fish dinner, 901 E. 90th St. (between 10th and Chicago Ave.) St. John the Baptist, Hugo — 5-8 p.m., fish fry, 14383 Forest Blvd. N., (corner of Hwy. 61 and Cty. 14). St. John the Baptist, Jordan — 4:30-7 p.m. waffle dinner, 215 Broadway St. N. St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church — 4:30-7 p.m. Lenten potato pancake and soup dinner, 2201 Third. St. NE, Minneapolis. St. Joseph, Rosemount — 6 p.m., fish fry, 13900 Biscayne Ave. St. Mary, St. Paul — 6 p.m. Lenten dinner following Stations of the Cross, 261 E. Eighth St. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4:30-7:30 p.m. fish fry, 507 Hall Ave. St. Michael, Stillwater — 4:30-7 p.m., fish fry, 611 S. Third St. St. Odilia, Shoreview — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 3495 N. Victoria St. St. Peter, Forest Lake — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 1250 S. Shore Dr. St. Stephen, Anoka — 5:30-7 p.m. fish dinner, 525 Jackson St. St. Timothy, Blaine — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 707 89th Ave. NE. Shakopee Knights Event Center — 5-7:30 p.m., fish dinner, 1760 4th Ave. E.
Ham bingo — March 21: 6 p.m., St. Helena School gymnasium, 3200 E. 44th St. Questions? Call (612) 729-9301.
Prayer and liturgy Thursday Lenten days of prayer — Feb. 26, March 5, 12, 19: 9:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Mass, Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Lenten Taize prayer — March 6: 7:30 p.m., St. Richard Church, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. Meatless potluck, 6 p.m. (612) 869-24-26. Healing service — March 8: 5:30 p.m., St. Henry Church, 1001 E. Seventh St., Monticello. Led by Alan Ames. (763) 295-2402. Healing service — March 9: 6:30 p.m., St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. Led by Alan Ames. (651) 633-8333.
Retreats Lenten retreat for health care professionals — Feb. 28: 8 a.m., Little Sisters of the Poor, 300 Exchange St., St. Paul. Father Eugene Tiffany. Includes light breakfast and lunch. Register at www.curatioapostolate.com or call (763) 7864945. Deadline Feb. 27. Scholarships available. Women’s silent mid-week Lenten retreat — March 3-5: Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. For more information or to register, visit www.kingshouse.com, call (763) 682-1394 or email jhanson@kingshouse. com. Married couples weekend retreat — March 6-8: Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. For more information or to register, visit www.kingshouse.com, contact (763) 682-1394 or jhanson@kingshouse.com. Men’s Lenten retreat — March 7: 8:30 a.m.-noon, Good Shepherd Church, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. Deacon Thom Winniger. $20, includes a light breakfast and lunch. For more information and to register, call (763) 544-0416, ext. 810 or email reneehamilton@goodshepherdgv.org. Women’s Lenten retreat — March 14: 8:30 a.m.-noon, Good Shepherd Church, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. Kelly Wahlquist. $20. For more information and to register, call (763) 544-0416, ext. 810 or email reneehamilton@goodshepherdgv.org. Lenten three-part series on core values for a parish — March 6 and March 20: 5:30 p.m. Stations of the Cross, 6 p.m. soup supper and talk by Father Bob Schwartz. Free. St. Joseph Church, 13900 Biscayne Ave., Rosemount. (651) 423-4402, www. stjosephcommunity.org.
Singles Singles 50+ second Sunday supper — March 8: 5-7 p.m., St. Joan of Arc hospitality hall, 4537 Third Ave. S, Minneapolis. $10. For information, call Karen at (952) 884-5165.
Other events Lecture — Feb. 26: 8 p.m., Marian Council K of C Hall, 1114 W. American Blvd., Bloomington. Speaker: seminarian Joseph Zabinski. Questions: Orville Fillbrandt, (612) 751-2943 or orville@fillbrandt.com. Art exhibit, “The Paschal Mystery” —
Feb. 27
March 4 St. Michael, West St. Paul — 5-6:30 p.m., soup dinner, 337 E. Hurley St.
March 6 Epiphany, Coon Rapids — 4:30-6:30 p.m., fish fry, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW. Guardian Angels, Oakdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 8260 Fourth St. N. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE. Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., enchilada dinner, 401 Concord St. Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 4087 W. Broadway Ave. N. St. John the Baptist, Hugo — 5-8 p.m., fish fry, 14383 Forest Blvd. N., (corner of Hwy. 61 and Cty. 14). St. Mary, St. Paul — 6 p.m. Lenten dinner following Stations of the Cross, 261 E. Eighth St. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4:30-7:30 p.m. fish fry, 507 Hall Ave. St. Michael, Stillwater — 4:30-7 p.m., fish fry, 611 S. Third St. St. Peter, Forest Lake — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 1250 S. Shore Dr. St. Stephen, Anoka — 5:30-7 p.m. fish dinner, 525 Jackson St. St. Timothy, Blaine — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 707 89th Ave. NE. Shakopee Knights Event Center — 5-7:30 p.m., fish dinner, 1760 4th Ave. E.
March 11 St. Michael, West St. Paul — 5-6:30 p.m., soup dinner, 337 E. Hurley St.
March 13 Epiphany, Coon Rapids — 4:30-6:30 p.m., fish fry, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE. Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., enchilada dinner, 401 Concord St. Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 4087 W. Broadway Ave. N. St. John the Baptist, Hugo — 5-8 p.m., fish fry, 14383 Forest Blvd. N., (corner of Hwy. 61 and Cty. 14). St. Joseph, Rosemount — 6 p.m., fish fry, 13900 Biscayne Ave. St. Mary, St. Paul — 6 p.m. Lenten dinner following Stations of the Cross, 261 E. Eighth St. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4:30-7:30 p.m. fish fry, 507 Hall Ave. St. Michael, Stillwater — 4:30-7 p.m., fish fry, 611 S. Third St. St. Odilia, Shoreview — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 3495 N. Victoria St. St. Peter, Forest Lake — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 1250 S. Shore Dr. St. Stephen, Anoka — 5:30-7 p.m. fish dinner, 525 Jackson St. St. Timothy, Blaine — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 707 89th Ave. NE. Shakopee Knights Event Center — 5-7:30 p.m., fish dinner, 1760 4th Ave. E.
through April 5: Paintings by James B. Janknegt and Koffi Mbairamadgi, John XXIII Gallery, Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Minneapolis. Hospitality 101: Are you Martha or Mary? — Feb. 28: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women morning of prayer, refreshments and fun. St. Raphael Church, 7301 Bass Lake Road, Crystal. $15. For registration or more information, call (651) 291-4545 or visit events.archspm.org/accw-hosp-2015. Fundraiser for Hope for the Journey Home — Feb. 28: 6-10 p.m., Guardian Angels Church,
8260 Fourth St. N, Oakdale. Comedian and ventriloquist James Wedgwood, followed by dinner. Tickets $50. Sidewalk counseling training seminar — March 2: 7-9 p.m., Holy Family Church, lower level, 5900 W. Lake St., St. Louis Park. Contact: respectlife.hfc@gmail.com or Pro-Life Action Ministries (651) 771-1500. Grief support — Thursdays, March 5 to May 28: 4 p.m., West Suburban Grief Coalition, Holy Name of Jesus, 155 Cty. Road 24. Free-will offering. For information: (952) 473-7901.
Viene de la pagina 3A clero, religiosos y líderes laicos que se reunieron para celebrar a quiénes éramos como comunidad en transición. Traté de hacer una analogía en mi homilía entre los ministerios de los Santos Pedro y Pablo, al del arzobispo Flynn y el mío. Mientras que ambos teníamos diferentes estilos administrativos y enfoques ministeriales, estábamos unidos en los fundamentos de la fe. La unidad de la Iglesia local fue una prioridad para los dos. Incluso hoy día, sigo convencido de esta gran verdad. Durante los últimos siete años, la Catedral ha sido el escenario de algunas de mis experiencias más preciadas como Arzobispo: innumerables celebraciones del Sacramento de la Confirmación; la ordenación de diáconos permanentes, sacerdotes y dos Obispos auxiliares; la recepción de nuevos maestros y administradores de escuelas católicas al comienzo del nuevo año escolar; nuestra celebración de la vida el 22 de enero, seguida de una Marcha hacia el Capitolio; nuestras Procesiones del Rosario en mayo; las hermosas Misas Crísmales
y las celebraciones de la Semana Santa, Pascua y Navidad; la celebración de los Religiosos Consagrados el 2 de febrero; la primera Conferencia de hombres con un número desbordante de participantes; la celebración de las parejas casadas en la primavera; e incluso la petición ocasional para celebrar el sacramento del bautismo a los recién nacidos. De hecho, la Catedral ha servido en estos últimos siete años como mi propia iglesia parroquial. Pero debido a las responsabilidades urgentes de mi oficina, no puedo estar presente a diario para manejar las preocupaciones pastorales, y por eso quiero reconocer y agradecer a los dos rectores que se han destacado en mi lugar estos últimos años, el Padre Joseph Johnson y el Padre John Ubel. Son hombres de gran celo pastoral e inmenso talento - y que han servido a la Catedral con gran dedicación y servicio incansable. Estoy muy agradecido a los dos. Una experiencia final digna de mencionarla: En el 2011, me llegó una solicitud para que el evento sobre hielo del Red Bull Crashed Ice, se realizara en el frente de la Catedral. En consulta con el rector, decidí que el evento se realizara.
19A
Pero a medida que la pista se estaba construyendo, recibí una carta de queja de una persona que pensaba que yo estaba faltándole al respeto a este espacio sagrado. Le contesté diciéndole que las catedrales en Europa suelen utilizar sus plazas para los mercados, desfiles, incluso corridas de toros. El uso actual de Red Bull era apenas una anomalía cuando se consultó a la tradición de la Iglesia y de su historia. Aquí estábamos permitiendo que un evento secular utilizara el espacio delante de la Catedral como una forma de mostrar que la Iglesia estaba preocupada por la persona en su totalidad, el alma y el cuerpo. Lo que es más, la Catedral es una parte de una comunidad que se compone de los creyentes y los no creyentes. Nuestra previsión para el evento en los jardines de la catedral deja en claro que somos parte del barrio y parte del bien común que es nuestra comunidad política. A pesar de estas dificultades, me alegré de tener este evento, y estuve agradecido a la comunidad parroquial de la Catedral por su paciencia y por los sacrificios necesarios para que sucediera este evento.
Read an extended version of Archbishop Nienstedt’s column in Spanish at TheCatholicSpirit. com.
Classified Ads Reach nearly 75,000 homes with Minnesota’s largest paid bi-weekly newspaper Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: (651) 290-1631 • Fax: (651) 291-4457 Next issue: 3-12-15 • Deadline: 4 p.m. 3-6-15 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS -WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS 10105 Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780
ANTIQUES
CONSTRUCTION & REMODELING
www.ShowcaseRenovation.com DVD TRANSFER
TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture Rugs • Pictures • Bookcases • Pottery Beer Items • Toys & Misc. C4185 (651) 227-2469
ASSET PRESERVATION Jerry H. Biese, agent for life insurance, long term care insurance and medicare supplemental insurance (612) 382 4363 C12095
ATTORNEYS Edward F. Gross • Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, Real Estate. Office at 35E & Roselawn Ave., St. Paul (651) 631-0616 C11270
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Catholic business broker; unique specialty; est. 9 yrs.; average yearly net $141,000 part-time. Clients contact you; training; new statewide area avail. $24,900. (828) 633-2737 C13080
CEILING TEXTURE Michaels Painting. Popcorn & Knock down Texture, Repairs. TextureCeilings.com (763) 757-3187. C123
CEMETERY LOTS St Mary’s, Mpls four graves side-by-side offer 30% below market: call John C13280 (561) 889-8921
COUNTERTOPS AND SINKS Miele Concrete + Design: Specializing in artistic concrete overlays applied to your existing laminate or cultured marble countertops and vanities: WWW.FACE BOOK.COM/MIELE.CONCRETE.DESIGN C1198 (612) 386-2187
Preserve Your Slides & Film Transfer them to DVD Today! For quality transfers at great prices call Astound Video Duplication and Transfer C7811 at (651) 644-2412.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES St. Anthony Spirituality Center, Marathon, WI, has an opening for a full-time director who is an innovative, creative planner with strong people skills, collaborative leadership style and a willingness to share in the Mission and Core Values. Ministry Job Description available by contacting saominc@gmail.com or online at www.sarcenter.com/employment. Submit resume by March 9. Position begins on or before July 1st. C13137 St. Anthony Spirituality Center, Marathon, WI, is seeking full-time Spiritual Leader who will nurture the spiritual life of staff, volunteers, guests and resident community and share in the Mission and Core values. Ministry Job Description available by contacting saominc@ gmail.com or online at www.sarcenter.com/ employment. Submit resume by March 9. Position begins on or before July 1st. C13137 Church of St. Rita, Cottage Grove. Mid-sized suburban parish with a vibrant music ministry is seeking a dynamic music director with a knowledge and appreciation of the Catholic faith and its musical tradition. The position includes full benefits and a competitive salary, commensurate with experience. Responsibilities include working closely with the pastor to coordinate parish music ministry, choose music (both traditional and contemporary), schedule and rehearse multiple music groups, and manage music budget. Strong piano, directing, vocal and organizational skills with attention to detail are required.
Detailed information is available on the archdiocesan website http://www.archspm. org/about-us/careers/ Contact Director of Music: Larry Strom LSTROM@SAINTRITAS.ORG (651) 459-4596. C30510
Director of Parish Life and Campus Ministry of Christ Church Newman Center sought to serve as primary assistant to the pastor. Centrally responsible for enabling the whole parish to maintain its mission to the university/college and permanent community, including working collaboratively as a member of the parish pastoral team assuming leadership involving both parish and campus ministry. Please submit a cover letter and resume to newmancenter@scsucatholic.org. For job description see scsucatholic.org. Interviews will begin in mid-March. C8589 Maintenance Custodian PT 4 hrs/day. Light repair/custodial. Contact Rollie (763) 537-4561 or RBROUILLARD@SHRMN.ORG C30910
St. Anastasia Catholic Community (1,050 families), Hutchinson, MN, is seeking an Adult Faith Formation & Pastoral Ministry Coordinator beginning July 1. Refer to parish website for job duties and qualifications—WWW.STANASTASIA.NET. Send letter and resume by April 15 to Search Committee, St. Anastasia Catholic Community, 460 Lake St., Hutchinson, MN. C8282 55350. St. Anastasia Catholic Community (1050 families), Hutchinson, MN, is seeking a principal beginning July 1. St. A’s School has 89 students in K-6, and 130 children in its daycare & preschool program. Refer to parish website for qualifications— WWW. STANASTASIA.NET. Send letter and resume by April 15 to Search Committee, St. Anastasia Catholic Community, 460 Lake St., Hutchinson, MN. 55350. C8282
HOME REPAIR
The Church of Saint Peter seeks a Director of Youth and Confirmation Coordinator to begin July 1, 2015 to be part of the Religious Education Team, responsible to work with the Pastor, other staff, and ministry leaders. The position will oversee and develop ministries for 7th-12th grade youth. Please see http://ow.ly/JopyG for full description. For consideration, send your resume, cover letter and salary expectations to: Church of Saint Peter/ Attn: Human Resources 1250 South Shore Drive Forest Lake, MN 55025 C30112
EVENT SPACE / COUNTRY ESTATE FOR SALE Picturesque acreage with updated 4 bd 4 bath historic home FOR SALE. New utilities. Licensed as Bed and Breakfast, Restored Wood Barn with event/entertainment room, Pole Barn, etc - All w/ new electric. Woods, Wetlands, Ponds, 25 acres tillable, 1 mile of N. Fork Crow River Frontage. 55 miles West of Twin Cities. (952) 261-7495 C3790
GREAT CATHOLIC SPEAKERS CD of the Month Club Lighthouse Catholic Media Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins and more! $5/month includes shipping Subscribe online at www.LighthouseCatholicMedia .com/cdclub Please Enter Code: 1195
Tile/Glass Block/Masonry/Concrete/ Carpentry/Misc. home repair. 35 years experience. Insured. Call Steve (612) 532-3978. WWW.SPERSELLSERVICESLLC.COM.
C10646
PAINTING For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM or call (651) 699-6140. C7521 Merriam Park Painting. Professional Int./ Ext. Painting. WP Hanging. Moderate Prices, Free Estimates. Call Ed (651) 224-3660. C11269 Michaels Painting. Texture and Repair. MICHAELSPAINTINGLLC.COM. (763) 757-3187.
C12327
Dennis Heigl Painting Interior/Exterior Wallpaper Removal. Free Estimates. (763) 543-0998 • Cell (612) 819-2438.
C12048
PRAYERS NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication. C1198
HARDWOOD FLOORS
Thank you St. Jude, Lord Jesus, all the angels and saints for prayers answered. JC
Sweeney’s Hardwood Floors
VACATION/FAMILY GETAWAY
HANDYMAN
Knotty Pines Resort, Park Rapids, MN. 1, 2 & 3 bdrm cabins starting at $550/week. WWW. KNOTTYPINESRESORT.COM (800) 392-2410. C12598
Prepare for Easter. Spruce up your home with new or refurbished hardwood floors: 10% off labor. Sweeney (651) 485-8187. C10435
WE DO 1,162 THINGS AROUND THE HOME! Catholic Owned Handyman Business: We will fix/repair remodel almost anything around the home. Serving entire Metro. Call today. Mention this ad and receive 10% off labor. Handyman Matters (651) 784-3777, (952) 946-0088. C12068
WANTED TO BUY $$$ for OLD SEWING Machines, Patterns, Fabric, Hankies, Postcards, Vintage Lamps, Old Photos, Jewelry, Oriental Rugs, Lighters + Collectibles (612) 823-8616. C3919
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
The Last Word
20A
Stricken by cancer, defined by faith By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Peter DeMarais parked in front of the two-story house on Manomin Avenue in St. Paul. He bypassed the front gate and swung around to the back, gave a quick knock on the door, then ducked in before anyone answered. In the hallway, he met the owners of the home, Nick and Natalie Hall, members of St. Joseph in West St. Paul. After a quick greeting, he made his way to the simple living room and plopped himself onto a chair. He was there to see his boyhood pal, Joe Hall. The two twentysomethings grew up just across the street from each other, and were nearly inseparable throughout their childhood, along with a third friend, John Berchem, whose home was next to the DeMarais family. John’s father, Mark Berchem, is founder and director of National Evangelizations Teams (NET) Ministries, a national retreat-based-outreach for teens and young adults based in West St. Paul. Joe served as a NET missionary six years ago and was appointed team leader, one of the youngest leaders the organization had ever selected.
Joe Hall, right, poses for a picture in December, 2012, with other members of his family: his mother, Natalie, left, Sharon, Loretta, Nick (his father), Nicholas and David. Photo by Wendy Zins Peter made himself comfortable and waited for his friend, a young man dying of cancer. Joe came back down the stairs and dropped his frail body onto a brown couch equipped with a pair of pillows. The two longtime friends cranked their hands together in a grip of friendship and brotherhood. Each conversation could be their last. After three years of fighting the disease, Hall’s body finally is giving way. He has dropped 20-plus pounds off his already ravaged body since Christmas, and he now weighs less than 100 pounds. His sunken, gray face gives away his current condition. That’s why Peter spends so much
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
NET alum Joe Hall continues to inspire as he strives to live life to the fullest and embrace God’s plan
As Joe Hall of St. Joseph in West St. Paul battles a rare form of abdominal cancer, he is using this time to continue helping out with youth ministry and share his faith testimony. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit of his time at the Hall home. He goes there at least twice a week. One of those meetings is business related — talking about the youth group that Hall led for four years before he became too sick to continue. The other get-togethers are strictly friendship related. Peter wants to be with Joe as much as possible before cancer ends his life on earth.
Stunning news It began in the spring of 2011, when Joe, the oldest of five children, was celebrating his graduation from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Like many of his friends, he had a plan for life after college. He had just signed a lease to live with three other guys whom he got to know while serving as a missionary for St. Paul’s Outreach, a campusbased ministry to college students with ties to NET. He was working in an internship that he hoped would be a springboard into the business world, where he planned to do consulting work. On top of that, he was enjoying the youth ministry work he was doing for Community of Christ the Redeemer, or CCR, a local, lay Catholic charismatic community. He had a girlfriend, and knew he wanted to be a husband and father someday. He wondered if she would be the one. Joe would never get to answer that question. In his final semester of college, he began to experience stomach pain. Sometimes, it was severe. Tests revealed nothing conclusive. Thinking it might be colitis or irritable bowel syndrome, he made an appointment for a scan of his abdomen. That appointment took place two days after his graduation, May 23. It was the day his life changed forever.
He drove himself to the hospital and went through the procedure alone. He was sitting by himself in a room after the exam when a phone rang. He picked it up, and heard the news — two large tumors were growing in his abdomen, one the size of a soccer ball, the other the size of a softball. He had a rare form of abdominal cancer that almost always kills its victims when it’s diagnosed this late. It was stage four. His doctor wasn’t sure it was cancer, so she sent him to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for a biopsy. Just a day later, his suspicions were confirmed, and doctors formulated a treatment plan, one that has included chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries to remove parts of the tumors.
Growing faith Joe has outlived doctors’ initial timeline of six months, and those closest to him know why. God is using this young man to inspire a lot of people, they believe, and to show them the faith that has been there throughout his life. Friends and family say his faith seems to grow stronger as his body grows weaker. A room full of people who have worked closely with Joe — and been a part of his life since he was born — gathered recently to share what they see in this remarkable young leader, a man whom one described as wise beyond his years. “It’s easy to say, ‘I’ll give my life to the Lord’” when things are going well, said Mark Berchem, who has watched thousands of young people serve as team members and leaders. “But, when the Lord throws you a curveball, that’s when you have a choice to make. “Joe made a fundamental decision at one point in his life, where he said, ‘I’m going to follow
the Lord,’ and he meant it,” Berchem added. “Even though it’s not the path that Joe would have picked out, it’s the path that God has for him, and so he’s walking it the best he can. I think that’s what people find so inspiring.” Even now, with the end of his life seemingly drawing near, he is not pulling back from earthly tasks that have been his passion. Abe Gross, who also grew up knowing Joe, has taken over Joe’s youth group leadership position, along with Lizzie Holmes. But Joe has yet to pull out of youth ministry. “He still meets with us every week to discuss youth group and talk about the kids and their issues,” Holmes said. “Joe is being an example of how to suffer. He’s been the leader for us. How do you suffer well? How do you hope in the Lord when all else is lost?” Only Joe seems able to answer that question, as others around him wonder how God could allow someone with so much potential to be tapped for a young death. And, answer it he does, flashing the same smile during an intense conversation about death that he has to family and friends for years. He makes self-effacing remarks about his changed appearance, but nothing — not even cancer — can take that grin away. Nor does it diminish his firm belief that this is all God’s plan. Of course, Joe has moments of anguish. He admits that he has often felt lonely and isolated. But, ultimately, God’s plan is good. “The Lord’s plan is right, the Lord’s plan is perfect,” he said. “That it doesn’t match up with what we think the plan should be doesn’t somehow mean it’s wrong or that he’s made a mistake. He’s God and we’re not.”
B section
Cathedral Centennial The Catholic Spirit • February 26, 2015
A fresco by Mark Balma in the Cathedral of St. Paul’s south transept depicts Archbishop John Ireland at the cathedral’s first Mass. Courtesy Mark Balma
‘It is your home’ A century has passed since a road mark toward the monument’s completion
“Was at the cathedral yesterday morning at quarter to six for six o’clock Mass. It looks fine, and when the sun came in through the Summit Avenue windows, it was grand. The archbishop read Mass and he looked ten years younger.” — John McCormack, from a March 29, 1915, letter to his business partner John Clark (corrected punctuation and spelling) By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit
J
ohn McCormack was better suited than most to judge the countenance of Archbishop John Ireland 100 years ago on March 28 when thousands came to attend the first Mass at the informal opening of the fourth and current Cathedral of St. Paul. As the McCormack of Clark & McCormack, the company that provided the granite for the cathedral, he would have had many opportunities to be with the St. Paul archbishop during the near decade of planning and construction of the “new cathedral” on the brow of what St. Paulites then called St. Anthony Hill. He wasn’t the only one to notice something special about the visionary archbishop of St. Paul that day in 1915. Msgr. Lawrence A. Ryan helped Archbishop Ireland vest for that first Mass at 6 a.m. “We noted as he began Mass he seemed full of unusual joy,” Msgr. Ryan, who was rector of the cathedral, would write afterward. “But when he turned around for the ‘Pax Vobiscum’ the scene before him was too much for him. The vast cathedral crowded with people, the golden light of dawn coming through the rose window in the choir loft thrilled him. When he went over to the missal to begin the oration, he actually broke down and sobbed.” Please turn to IRELAND on page 3B
2b
Cathedral Centennial
Rector: Preserving, celebrating cathedral honors its legacy A. What really draws me in is to think of all the people who have walked into this church, how many people have been baptized, the weddings, the funerals. When all is said and done, this church, God willing, will be here for another 100 years doing the same thing. The fundamental purpose for the building is the worship of God. We honor God through beauty and through art. It took a tremendous sacrifice on the part of people 100 years ago to build this cathedral. Are we willing to make the necessary sacrifices today to preserve it?
As a child growing up in St. Paul, Father John Ubel recalls confusing the Cathedral of St. Paul with the Minnesota State Capitol. His mother would gently remind him that the cathedral had the green dome, and the Capitol was white. Decades later, he is rector of the cathedral — the dome of which has been restored to dark copper — as it celebrates 100 years since its first Mass in 1915. In an interview, Father Ubel reflected on the building’s history and meaning, and Catholics’ responsibility to it in the next 100 years. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. How are you achieving that goal of historic preservation?
Interview by Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
A. The Cathedral Heritage Foundation exists as a separate incorporation to preserve the building itself. Some of our donors may not be Catholic, but the iconic nature of the church attracts them. What we need to do first is work on the three rose windows. Even though we have a debt, those probably can’t wait much longer.
Q. What does it mean to you to be rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul? A. The people of this archdiocese have given us a sacred trust to care for this beautiful building as a symbol of our local Church. For me, it means to take that sacred trust very seriously and to do all that I am able to preserve this building to provide for the spiritual needs of all the people who come here, whether they are parishioners, or simply coming here for a visit, to be a welcoming presence to all of them. Q. What message do you think the cathedral conveys to Catholics and non-Catholics? Has that message changed over the past century? A. I don’t think it does [say anything different]. In some respects, I’ve also been to our nation’s smallest cathedral, and that’s in Juneau, Alaska, and I’m actually quite clear that when people come to visit, what makes
Father John Ubel, in a Catholic Spirit file photo, became rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in 2012. it a cathedral is not its grand size, or shape or anything, but because it is linked with the local bishop. Hopefully, the message isn’t that it draws people just to art and to the building, but to whom that building was built to honor, and that is Christ. If it’s merely seen as a monument, or a work of art, then it’s failed at its core.
Q. As you’ve combed through the history, what has grabbed your attention?
Q. What is your hope for the centennial celebration? A. I believe very much in what Cicero said: Not to know what happens before one was born is always to remain a child. By East Coast standards, by European standards, we’re young. But 100 years is still 100 years, and I think it’s important for people this year to gain an appreciation for history and for this archdiocese. The Church is comprised not only of those who are here now, but all those who have gone before us. We honor them by preserving the legacy they have left to us.
www.ccf-mn.org | 651-389-0300
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Cathedral Centennial
3b
Ireland: Cathedral evokes ‘exultation of mind and of heart’ Continued from page 1B March 28 was Palm Sunday in 1915, and, in order for Holy Week and Easter services to be held in the new cathedral, there was bustling to make that deadline, with crews laying tile flooring and installing the pipe organ and altar furnishings. Doors were put on just the day before. At 5 a.m. that Palm Sunday those doors were opened, and soon after, The Catholic Bulletin reported, “every seat in the vast edifice was occupied.” Back then, of course, Mass began with the priest facing the altar. When Archbishop Ireland turned around to announce “The Lord be with you” in the Latin of the day, he saw not just the pews filled but also “the aisles and ambulatories were filled to overflowing,” eliciting his emotional reaction. Each of the cathedral’s five Masses that day — held on the hour from 6 to 10 a.m. — were packed. A St. Paul daily newspaper the next day estimated that 18,000 people had attended Mass at the 2,700-seat cathedral on its informal opening day. The Catholic Bulletin reported: “The sun shone from an unclouded sky, the atmosphere was crisp and invigorating and on every hand there was evidence of the departure of winter and the near approach of the springtime. Under such favorable conditions it is no wonder that street car, automobile and carriage were overcrowded with people whose objective point was the new Cathedral of St. Paul on the day of its informal opening.”
‘It’s your cathedral’ The cathedral where crowds worshiped that Palm Sunday was hardly the one people worship in today. There was no decoration. The walls were bare, white-
“You
are a
washed brick. There were no statues, no bronze grill behind the altar, no stained-glass windows along the side walls, no baldachino covering the altar. Still the thousands crowded in. The 10 a.m. Mass was the High Mass, as was the custom. Archbishop Ireland officiated at the blessing of palms, but while he had both presided at and preached at the first Mass at 6 a.m., Bishop John J. Lawler, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, was the celebrant for the High Mass. Archbishop Ireland reserved to himself the honor of preaching. He called the new cathedral “a great, a noble edifice,” described it as “regal” and “the supreme monument” of the faith of the people. He asked the throng before him, “Does it not wrest to itself . . . your admiration, your praise, your exultation of mind and of heart?” In the floral and repetitious rhetoric of his time, he belabored the point of to whom the cathedral belonged. “Catholics of the Diocese of St. Paul, it is your cathedral,” Archbishop Ireland said. “You built it: you paid for it: it is yours . . . it is your home, purchased with the fruits of your toil, of your Christian selfdenial.” It was appropriate recognition for tens of thousands of lay people from parishes across the archdiocese who had made donations small and large — but mostly small — to fund the $1.6 million that it took to build the cathedral, the equivalent of $37 million today. Since the ground-breaking in 1906, Catholics had been asked to “subscribe” to pay for the cathedral, regularly sending contributions. They were recorded in huge ledgers that now are on display in the cathedral.
As generous as parishioners were, early in 1915 the project was in debt to the amount of $137,872.01, according to The Catholic Bulletin. A campaign was started to pay off the debt, and at the beginning of March that year The Catholic Bulletin posted a “scroll of honor” on its front page each issue listing those who had made a donation during the previous week: $10 from Miss Theresa Ubel of St. Paul; $25 from August Meier of Maple Lake; $12.50 from Lloyd Finn of Minneapolis, and on and on. By April 11, when the formal dedication and blessing of the new Cathedral of St. Paul took place, the debt had been paid off. Archbishop Ireland’s fondest dream, first envisioned in 1904, had taken two years to get off the ground and nine years to build, but the exterior at least had become a reality. It would require another 25 years for the interior to be finished. Yet on March 28, 1915, the massive granite-walled church crafted in the “classical Renaissance” style by architect Emmanuel L. Masqueray, stood atop what is now called Cathedral Hill, overlooking both the “money-changers,” represented by downtown St. Paul, and “Caesar,” as represented in the Minnesota State Capitol just blocks away. In a 1988 biography of Archbishop Ireland, historian and archdiocesan priest Father Marvin O’Connell wrote that the cathedral and the co-cathedral, the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, were “permanent statements in stone, more eloquent than all his [Archbishop Ireland’s] innumerable speeches combined, which proclaimed that the Catholics had indeed arrived, had put down their roots, and had assumed their rightful place in the American secular city.”
priest forever…”
Celebrating a century of faith at the Cathedral of Saint Paul
www.saintpaulseminary.org February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
4b
Cathedral Centennial
First-person memory of the first Mass at the cathedral From The Catholic Bulletin, Dec. 20, 1974, excerpted from the text of Msgr. Richard T. Doherty’s eulogy for Msgr. Lawrence A. Ryan, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul 1916-’40. At the time of the first Mass at the cathedral in 1915, the author was 10 or 11 years old. By Msgr. Richard T. Doherty I well remember the first Mass celebrated here at six o’clock in the morning of Palm Sunday, March 28, in the year 1915. It is one of those mental images that fastens itself in the mind of a child where it remains bright and clear in spite of the passage of time. I can still see Archbishop John Ireland at the altar, beaming with joy. . . . On that morning the cathedral was hardly more than a shell. Only the wall and the dome had been erected. The walls were completed, in a sense, but the bare bricks that composed them were exposed on the inside. Imagine, if you can, the vast expanse of windows without stained glass and the harsh daylight that came through ordinary glass to flood the bleak interior. A single unshaded electric light bulb suspended on a long electric cord from the center of the lofty dome was the principle source of light for the main body of the church after nightfall. The sanctuary was bare, except for the wooden altar and other sanctuary furniture taken from the old cathedral.
Ahead of Mass, unfair criticism, but real problems A continuous series of rumors dogged construction of the Cathedral of St. Paul from the start, irritating Archbishop John Ireland. An anecdote that a Chicago newspaper called the project “Ireland’s Folly” could not be verified, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it were true. “As early as May 1904, Ireland denied newspaper reports in both the Twin Cities and Chicago that the cathedral would cost millions of dollars,” wrote historian Eric C. Hansen in his 1990 book, “The Cathedral of St. Paul: An Architectural Biography.” Archbishop Ireland denied the reports, calling the figures “extravagantly high.” In 1908, with the lower level of the cathedral well under way, it got back to the archbishop that rumors were circulating that his building project would cost $4.5 million and take 12 years. Archbishop Ireland showed his irritation in a letter
back to Charles H.F. Smith, who had purchased the site of the building for the archdiocese: “What you write . . . is amusing and somewhat annoying,” the archbishop responded. “Really, our American press surpasses all bounds in its sensationalism.” The cost ended up being $1.6 million and taking nine years. A reality of the situation, however, was that by 1908, with construction in its third year, donations to the building fund had slowed. Archbishop Ireland levied an assessment on each parish, “the specific amount to be determined by the financial state of each congregation,” Hansen noted. The legendary archbishop also charged Father John J. Lawler with soliciting funds “from prominent Catholics who had not as yet donated,” and “polite reminders” were sent to those whose “subscriptions,” or pledges, were in arrears. — Bob Zyskowski
Sound issue mars cathedral’s first days Although thousands were at Mass at the new Cathedral of St. Paul March 28, 1915, many of the worshipers had difficulty hearing the proceedings. Father Lawrence A. Ryan wrote afterward: “The great problem was of course the acoustic of the cathedral. Rather discouraging reports were given out on every hand.” Father James M. Reardon, editor of The Catholic Bulletin, acknowledged the poor acoustics in his column in the newspaper’s first issue after the first Masses, April 4, 1915. With the hard-surfaced walls surrounding a very large open space in the unfinished interior, “reverberation is as disconcerting and trying
FÉLICITATIONS
to the preacher as it is disagreeable to the members of the congregation,” he wrote. Father Reardon promised that the sound issues will be remedied. Moving the pulpit from the “Epistle side” to the center of the sanctuary alleviated some of the problem, he noted. Father Ryan wrote that “with proper type of pulpit and sounding board the defect disappeared to quite an extent.” The cathedral has since addressed the early issues with a sound system.
from the “Little French Church” to the
We share a French Architect, laureate of the École des Beaux Arts, Paris Emmanuel Louis Masqueray. SI L'ETERNEL NE BÂTIT LA MAISON, CEUX QUI LA BÂTISSENT TRAVAILLENT EN VAIN; SI L'ETERNEL NE GARDE LA VILLE, CELUI QUI LA GARDE VEILLE EN VAIN.
“GRAND FRENCH CHURCH” CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PAUL on her GLORIOUS CENTENNIAL.
(PS. 127:1)
AD MULTOS FAUSTISSIMOSQUE ANNOS
AINT LOUIS S KING OF FRANCE the Little French Church Entrusted to the pastoral care of the Society of Mary (Marists) in 1886 by Archbishop John Ireland
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
— Bob Zyskowski
EMMANUEL LOUIS MASQUERAY – the architect of the Cathedral as well as the present Church of Saint Louis, King of France, “was the chosen child of art – the child of art in every throbbing of soul, in every penciling of finger. From his mind and his heart art sprung as from native font…. His faith taught him the things of religion, his heart bound him to them; and, obeying mind and heart, his pencil wrought marvels of grandeur and beauty.”
Archbishop John Ireland
Cathedral Centennial
5b
Local historian says cathedral from ‘heroic age of architecture’ By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Local historian Larry Millett isn’t an expert on the Cathedral of St. Paul, but as a longtime researcher of the Twin Cities’ architectural landscape, he can’t help but run into it, he said. As anyone driving West on Interstate 94 into St. Paul knows, that domed building overlooking downtown “is pretty hard to ignore,” Millett said. The cathedral is sure to take center stage when Millett speaks on “The Churches of Emmanuel Masqueray” at 2:30 p.m. March 22 in the cathedral’s Hayden Hall. The presentation is part of the cathedral’s centennial celebration of its first Mass. In addition to the cathedral, the French-born architect designed about two dozen churches in the Midwest. “He was an interesting designer, because you can always kind of tell his stuff,” Millett said. “It has a European sensibility that’s a little bit different from what you would see from many other architects who were working in Minnesota at the time.” Millett is the author of several architecturally focused books including “Once There Were Castles” (University of Minnesota Press, 2011), which includes the history of the Kittson Mansion, St. Paul’s most expensive house when it was built, razed in 1906 to make way for the cathedral. At the time of the cathedral’s commission, wealthy neighborhoods overlooked all sides of downtown St. Paul, but Summit Avenue was already a singular spot.
It was home to the largest house in Minnesota at that time, that of James J. Hill, the railroad baron whose Catholic wife, Mary, as well as his business interests tied him to Archbishop John Ireland. Summit Avenue was rerouted to accommodate the cathedral’s construction. “It is really the best building site in the Twin Cities, I think, in terms of visibility. There’s no better site to put a monumental structure,” he said. “The cathedral is much more visible in St. Paul than the capitol.” The cathedral is part of what Millett called the “age of heroic architecture” that marked the early 20th century due to the advent of steel — a stronger building material than wrought iron that made larger buildings possible — and an interest in classical, monumental design and urban beautification. A late1800s growth spurt in the Twin Cities’ population made them ripe for new construction and city planning. The cathedral was commissioned in 1905 while the Minnesota Capitol building, designed by St. Paul architect Cass Gilbert, was being finished. By the time the cathedral’s exterior was nearing completion, work was under way on St. Paul’s Union Station. Meanwhile, the Basilica of St. Mary was under way in Minneapolis, and the unprecedented feat of simultaneously building two cathedrals wows Millet because of the fundraising both projects required. The cathedral, however, “was the church of all churches,” Millett said. “It was designed as a monumental muscular display of faith.”
Cathedral workmen balance on one of the stone turrets ringing the dome in this 1913 photo. Courtesy the Cathedral of St. Paul.
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
6b
Cathedral Centennial
1
“There should be no one who, entering the cathedral, is not able to say . . . ‘it is mine.’” – Archbishop John Ireland (1838-1918)
5 2
3
A look back in time Five decades before Vatican II, Mass in the cathedral’s earliest years included Latin, chant and families of new immigrants By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit Barren walls. A silent eucharistic prayer. Hats, lots of them. This would have been the scene for the first Masses at the Cathedral of St. Paul starting on that Palm Sunday in 1915. The visual changes within the cathedral — and the people who worship there — mirror the last century’s changes in the liturgy. For the cathedral’s first Massgoers, liturgical
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
4 participation was more reflective than active throughout the typical hour-plus celebration in Latin. Father John Paul Erickson, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, explained that a liturgical movement was just beginning in the U.S. at that time. It conveyed that the liturgy was the work of the entire body of Christ. But, he said, those ideas hadn’t yet come into the Catholic consciousness. “The people in the pew in 1915 and those [early] years would have, I would imagine, seen the Mass as the action of the bishop and the priest up in the sanctuary,” he said. “They were there to receive the graces of Communion, the graces of the Mass, and they came in great droves.” Well-known hymns would have been sung during portions of the Mass, but the predominant music was Gregorian chant, sung by seminarians at the first Mass, Father Erickson said. “The liturgy and the Latin, all of this really was kind of distant,” Father Erickson said. “Even in looking at the cathedral itself, the sanctuary is such a vast space, it’s very big. The altar is somewhat separate. It’s a magnificent structure, but the structure manifests a certain kind of theology, [one] that I would retain is still quite valid and good, but it does represent a particular moment within our Church’s life.” Retired priest Father James Notebaart was director of
6 the archdiocesan Worship Center and assisted at cathedral Masses with Archbishop John Roach. He noted the liturgical influence of Pope St. Pius X, who died in 1914. Much of his pontificate coincided with political and religious turmoil. “The Vatican gave up its papal states, so it ceased to be a government, if you will, with land,” he said. “As a result, he [St. Pope Pius X] had to reorganize the curia. He took on this model to restore all things in Christ. He shifted focus from papal states to how to engage people in prayer.”
Sign of the times According to Father Notebaart, St. Pius X changed liturgy in two ways: He dropped the age of receiving Communion to 7 to encourage children to practice the faith lifelong; and he supported the Solesmes monks in Belgium, who were researching music from Gregory the Great — bringing Gregorian chant to the Mass. “The point was to return to a simple melodic line that was considered the soul music of the Church,” Father Notebaart said. “It was attainable by many people. They could sing it.” Hand missals, which had Latin on the left and English on the right, were just emerging in the early 1900s. While the cathedral parish today has many lay
Cathedral Centennial In pictures 1. Construction of the cathedral’s dome, pictured in 1914, relied on extensive steelwork. 2. Archbishop John Ireland commissioned the cathedral in 1904. 3. The altar used at the first Mass is on display in a centennial exhibit. 4. Men work on the cathedral’s interior in 1914. 5. The cathedral in 1915, the year of its first Mass. 6. The copper dome nears completion in 1914. 7. Celeste Raspanti, cathedral archivist, is the centennial’s chairwoman. Historic photos courtesy the Cathedral of St. Paul; others by Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit
First cathedral carving, Bishop Cretin’s letter among archivist’s favorite finds By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Every morning, Celeste Raspanti walks through the Cathedral of St. Paul’s “secret door.” The brown slab of metal is not visible from the street or even the sidewalk marking the perimeter of the grand edifice. Situated near the northeast corner of the church, it leads to the balcony of Msgr. Ambrose Hayden Hall, where decades of cathedral history are stashed in dozens of cardboard boxes that Raspanti works feverishly to sort and organize. Five years into the task, Raspanti now knows the cathedral and its storied history like the back of her hand. Interesting and sometimes obscure details roll off the tip of her tongue, making clear that this 86-yearold parishioner is the right person to be organizing the archives. Some of the items she is now organizing will be on display starting March 15, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated at the cathedral on March 28, 1915. She serves as the yearlong centennial celebration’s chairwoman. In 2010, this former School Sister of St. Francis, retired University of St. Thomas professor and playwright of works including “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” plunged into the task of managing the archives for Father Joseph Johnson, then rector of the cathedral. He asked her to take on the job in preparation for the centennial anniversary of the first Mass, celebrated by Archbishop John Ireland. She was well qualified, having served as a cathedral tour guide for 15 years prior to that. A volunteer, she devotes 40-plus hours a week.
Fascinating discoveries
7 ministers, both male and female, seminarians would have served exclusively at early Masses, which would have included three forms: low Mass, missa cantata (sung Mass) and solemn high Mass. As for Communion, most Catholics in 1915 received only the consecrated host, and usually only at Christmas and Easter. “On one side, there was a great sense of unworthiness of the people,” Father Notebaart said. “On the other side, it’s that this is an awesome act to receive the body of Christ. And fasting rules were stricter then.” The celebrant received both the body and blood, perhaps, Father Erickson said, to differentiate between priest and the lay faithful, or for fear of spilling the precious blood. Cathedral records indicate that Mother Seraphine Ireland, the younger sister of Archbishop John Ireland and provincial of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, was first to place her hands under the cloth covering the Communion rail to receive the holy Eucharist at the first Mass. The distribution lasted half an hour.
The faithful, far and wide According to Celeste Raspanti, cathedral archivist, for that very first 6 a.m. Mass on March 28, 1915, Catholics gathered at the school of St. Paul’s third cathedral on
7b
Some people would have been intimidated by what they discovered in the cramped balcony of Hayden Hall. Not Raspanti. She saw not mountains of chaos, but boxes brimming with opportunity. “The most fascinating and interesting part of this is the organization [of historical materials] and finding the history of the cathedral,” she said. “Monsignor Hayden, who was a historian, kept everything. We have letters from [Archbishop] Ireland, we have letters from Archbishop [Austin] Dowling, we have letters
Kellogg Boulevard and processed up the hill to what is now 239 Selby Ave. The standard mode of transportation to Mass would have been horse-drawn carriage. Catholics in 1915 had similar concerns of today’s Massgoers, including the lack of bathrooms that still pose a challenge for visitors. According to Raspanti, there were no outhouses on the property. And what of crying children? “Because there was no sound system, the screaming child probably wouldn’t have been as welcome as it is now,” Father Erickson said. Catholics attending Mass at the cathedral would have been merchants, laborers and servants, along with some wealthy citizens, many residing on Summit Avenue. “Primarily, these were first-generation immigrants, many poor and struggling, raising their families,” Father Notebaart said. “It [the cathedral] is really a testament to immigrant faith,” he added. “The people so valued their church and loved it that they wanted it to stand as a marvelous monument.” Six shrines behind the sanctuary honor the national patron saints of many of the immigrants who settled in Minnesota in the 19th century: St. Anthony of Padua (Italy), St. John the Baptist (French Canadians), St. Patrick (Ireland), St. Boniface (Germany), Ss. Cyril
“Monsignor Hayden, who was a historian, kept everything.” Celeste Raspanti
from [Archbishop John] Murray. I can’t tell you what an excitement it is to open [the boxes].” One of her favorite finds was a letter signed by Bishop Joseph Cretin, the first bishop of St. Paul who came in 1851. She also goes beyond the boxes and Hayden Hall to acquire historical objects. “The best was this gavel that was carved from one of the logs from the original chapel of St. Paul, 1841,” she said. “I started five years ago tracking this thing down.” With the help of another volunteer, Larry Summer, who has professional historic preservation experience, she connected with Minnesota Historical Society staff, which found it in the Minnesota History Center basement and agreed to loan it to the cathedral for the centennial display. Another find was a small metal bank given to children during the construction of the cathedral. Dozens were handed out, with children encouraged to fill them with change and donate the contents to the construction of the cathedral. Raspanti is giddy when talking about the cathedral. She can toss out facts few, if any, others know. “One day, I decided I was going to count all the saints in the cathedral, and all the angels,” she said. “We have 1,028 angels, and I know where every single angel is in the cathedral.” She also noted there are 93 saints in the building. When she passed along these important details to a staff member, the response was, “Celeste, you need to get a life.” No, she insisted, she already has one. It is lived in the basement of the building she loves, and she would have it no other way. “I’ve got a good life,” she said. “My head is good, my heart is good, my knees are bad. Two out of three isn’t bad.”
“It [the cathedral] is really a testament to immigrant faith. The people so valued their church and loved it that they wanted it to stand as a marvelous monument.” Father James Notebaart
and Methodius (Slavic nations), and St. Therese of Lisieux (protector of all missions). Immigrants represented by the particular saint funded each shrine. “Because of the faith . . . whether you’re the bishop or the beggar on the street, this is your cathedral. This is your church. And it remains that,” Father Erickson said. “The cathedral attracts the poor, it attracts the mentally ill, it attracts folks who are on the margins, on the peripheries, as Pope Francis says,” he added. “It does that because of its beauty, because of its grandeur. And that really is a gift. . . . All of the prayers that have been said in that beautiful building over the years, it’s very moving. And it began right there in 1915.”
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
8b
Cathedral Centennial
Masqueray’s masterpiece According to local historian Alan Lathrop’s 1980 profile of Emmanuel Louis Masqueray for Minnesota History magazine, the architect was “virtually unknown” in 1904, at the time Archbishop John Ireland commissioned the 43-year-old to design the Cathedral of St. Paul. His prior claims to fame included work as chief assistant for the formidable East-coast architect Richard Morris Hunt and a chief of design for
the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, but he had never endeavored to design a monument nearing the cathedral’s scope. He met Archbishop Ireland at the fair, and less than a year later, MASQUERAY found himself at the helm of the ambitious cathedral project, and shortly thereafter, its co-cathedral, the Basilica
of St. Mary in Minneapolis. He died of an illness in 1917, two years after the cathedral’s exterior was completed, but before interior work was finished. In addition to the cathedral and basilica, Masqueray designed several area Catholic churches, including St. Louis, King of France, downtown St. Paul (1909); the University of St. Thomas chapel (1918); and Incarnation, Minneapolis (1920). He also designed cathedrals in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Wichita, Kan.; local Protestant
churches; Catholic churches in neighboring dioceses; and residences. In his 12 years in St. Paul, Masqueray went from “unknown” to the artist behind one of Minnesota’s most iconic buildings. “His name will live enshrined in a great cathedral,” wrote Dubuque Archbishop James J. Keane, upon news of the architect’s death. “He will be remembered gratefully for having evoked an appreciation and created a demand for the truly artistic in, even, small churches.” — Maria Wiering
At Commonwealth Properties, we place tremendous value on history, culture, and service, and we can’t think of anyplace that embodies these qualities with more eminence than the Cathedral of Saint Paul.
Congratulations on 100 years!
WALK TO DAILY MASS!
Choose 1440 Randolph for a Healthy, Affordable Lifestyle!
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Cathedral Centennial
9b
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Christ the King Retreat Center Congratulate the Cathedral of Saint Paul on its 100 years of mission. Fr. Jim Deegan, OMI, Director of King House and his staff, cordially invite you to a beautiful, inexpensive, lakeside weekend of wonderful relaxation and spiritual rejuvenation. Christ the King Retreat Center is located at: 621 First Avenue South Buffalo, MN 55313 Phone: 763-682-1394
Email: christtheking@kingshouse.com Website: www.kingshouse.com Please write or call for a free brochure
FREE $30.00 RESERVATION FEE If this is the first time you are making a retreat at Kings House, this ad fulfills your reservation fee. Just cut this ad out and mail it in to fulfill your deposit.
The Cretin-Derham Hall community congratulates the clergy, parishioners and staff of the Cathedral of St. Paul during this year of celebration.
Thank you for more than 100 years of demonstrating the gospel.
TheCatholicSpirit.com • archspm.org
Commentary/idea/opinion? Call (651) 291-4444 or email: catholicspirit@archspm.org
To our neighbor, the Cathedral of St. Paul
The Cathedral of Saint Paul National Shrine to St. Paul the Apostle Our Mother Church is a gift for all people. It stands not just as a symbol of Catholic spirituality but also a symbol of man’s creativity and ingenuity.
The Catholic Spirit and the Office of Communications in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis wish you all the best in celebrating this great milestone.
With gratitude to God for all his blessings, with respect for all that’s been accomplished and with hope for what lies ahead, the Archbishop and bishops of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis congratulate the Cathedral on the 100th Anniversary of its first Mass. February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
10b
Cathedral Centennial
From log cabin to national shrine Our first cathedrals in St. Paul The Cathedral of St. Paul that draws thousands of visitors each year from across the country and beyond actually is the fourth cathedral structure in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The first was a log cabin built in October, 1841, and was called the Chapel of St. Paul. It was located near what is now Kellogg Boulevard, between the Robert and Wabasha Street bridges. The City of St. Paul derives its name from the Chapel of St. Paul. This log cabin became the first cathedral in 1851 with the arrival of Bishop Joseph Cretin as the first Bishop of St. Paul. The second cathedral was built on the corner of 6th and Wabasha Streets in downtown St. Paul. It cost just $5,900 to build, and was considered too small from the beginning, hence the need for a third — and bigger — cathedral. No. 3 was constructed in 1858 and located on the corner of Sixth and St. Peter Streets. This building was significantly larger, able to hold 1,000 people. The first Mass in this building was celebrated in 1858, and was the site where Father (later Archbishop) John Ireland was ordained a priest in 1861. He became the cathedral rector in 1867. It was also in this building that Father Ireland was consecrated the third bishop of St. Paul in 1884 and the first archbishop in 1888. The last Mass celebrated in this church was by Archbishop Ireland Aug. 30, 1914. Archbishop Ireland later oversaw the building of the current cathedral and celebrated the first Mass there March 28, 1915.
Read more about the Cathedral of St. Paul at www.TheCatholicSpirit.com
The Sisters of
St. Joseph of Carondelet & Consociates congratulate the
Cathedral of St. Paul
on its Centennial Anniversary. We have been privileged to share your history. We rejoice in the ministry you now provide. We pray that your transforming presence at the heart of the archdiocese continues.
Photos above depict the first three cathedrals in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, beginning with the first, top, a log cabin built in 1841 called the Chapel of St. Paul.
Classic Marble Restoration Restoring the Classic look of your natural stone.
before
after
Contact Tim Lesnar for more information. www.classicmarblerestore.com (763) 784-2483 February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
Cathedral Centennial
11b
Cathedral Centennial events March 4-13 – Centennial pilgrimage to Italy, led by Father John Ubel, cathedral rector
May 12 – 7:30 p.m. Larry Morgan, TDKA: Engineering the Cathedral: How Did They Do It?, Hayden Hall
March 7 – First Saturday Morning of Recollection featuring Denis McNamara, architectural May 14 – Concert: Organ and Brass, Sean Vogt theologian, “Meaning and Symbol in Church Architecture, Decoration and Ornament” June 6 (Archdiocesan Marriage Day) – Mass with Archbishop John Nienstedt; opening of 100 March 15 – Opening of “The History of the Years of Marriage at the Cathedral of St. Paul Cathedral in 25 Objects” after 10 a.m. Mass in exhibit lower level museum March 17 – Centennial St. Patrick’s Day Mass and breakfast The cathedral’s sanctuary was unfinished at the time of its 1915 opening Mass and remained undecorated for several years, as this 1919 photo shows. The ambo was likely placed in the sanctuary’s center to project sound better. Courtesy the Cathedral of St. Paul
THANK YOU,
CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL for being a great neighbor to the Twin Cities and Catholic Charities for 100 faithful years.
Aug.12 – The Next 100 Years: Cathedral children plant the Centennial Tree
Aug. 20 – Concert: Organ, Donald VerKuilen March 22 – 2:30 p.m. lecture presentation: Larry Millett, architectural historian, “The Churches of Sept. 10 – Concert: Organ, Samuel Backman Emmanuel Masqueray,” Hayden Hall March 23 – 7:30 p.m. concert: The Choir of King’s Nov. 2 (All Souls) – Mass for all clergy and College, Cambridge, Minnesota Public Radio hosts parishioners who have served and supported the cathedral for 100 years. March 28 and 29 (Palm Sunday) – 10 a.m. Mass with Archbishop John Nienstedt:100th anniversary of the first Mass at the cathedral
Dec. 1 – The Women Who Helped Build the Cathedral of St. Paul (James J. Hill House)
April 11 and 12 – 10 a.m. Mass with Archbishop Other events in the works: April – Centennial parish festival John Nienstedt: 100th anniversary of the June – Centennial softball tournament dedication of the cathedral, followed by brunch September – “An Evening with John Ireland and Emmanuel Masqueray” April 18 – 7:30 p.m. Concert: St. Paul Cathedral Choir, London, MPR hosts For more information and updates, visit May 7 – Concert: Cathedral Choir and Organ www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/centennial
CCTWINCITIES.ORG
Celebrating a century of our beautiful Cathedral . . . 100 years never looked so good!
Meier, Kennedy & Quinn Attorneys at Law Honored to represent The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Parishes and Catholic Schools for over 60 years Thomas B. Wieser • Charles M. Bichler •John C. Gunderson Jennifer R. Larimore • MaryCathleen G. Fenske Samuel J. Nelson • Leo H. Dehler, Of Counsel
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
12b
Cathedral Centennial
The parishioners and many friends of the Cathedral of Saint Paul offer congratulations on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated on March 28, 1915. Ad Multos Annos.
“There should be no one who, entering the Cathedral is not able to say…‘it is mine’ ” Archbishop John Ireland, 1905
CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PAUL NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL 239 Selby Ave., Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102 651.228.1766 | www.cathedralsaintpaul.org
Very Rev. John L. Ubel, Rector | Rev. Eugene Tiffany Deacons Phil Stewart, Russ Shupe and Nao Kao Yang
Congratulations Cathedral of Saint Paul for the 100th Anniversary of the First Mass
to the
Sisters of St. Benedict
Church of St. Mary
Saint Paul’s Monastery
Waverly
Church of Nativity of Our Lord Saint Paul
Church of The Most Holy Trinity Veseli
Church of Mary, Mother of the Church
Church of St Vincent de Paul Brooklyn Park
Church of St. George
Church of St. Raphael Crystal
Church of St. John the Baptist
Burnsville
Long Lake
Church of St. John Neumann
Church of St. Katharine Drexel
Church of Our Lady of Grace
Eagan
Ramsey
Edina
February 26, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit
New Brighton
Church of St. Nicholas Elko New Market
Church of St. John the Baptist Savage
Church of St. Rita Cottage Grove
Church of All Saints Lakeville
Church of St. Casimir Saint Paul