The Catholic Spirit - February 8, 2018

February 8, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

2018

fish fry • and •

Lenten Meal Guide Where to eat from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday T

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FISH FRY+LENTEN MEAL GUIDE

2A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Albertville St. Albert — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Feb. 16 and 23 at 11400 57th St. NE. $11 adults, $5 children age 3-10, free 2 and under. Includes fried fish, potatoes, vegetables, rolls and dessert. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. churchofstalbert.org.

Farmington The Catholic Spirit contacted every parish in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for the following comprehensive guide of fish fries and Lenten meals. View the meals map at thecatholicspirit.com/nomeat.

Fridays during Lent:

Annandale St. Ignatius — Baked fish dinner, 4–7 p.m. March 2 in the parish dining hall at 35 Birch St. (wheelchair accessible). $10 adults, $5 ages 8-12, free 7 and under. Includes cheesy potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw, dinner roll and carrot cake. Proceeds support parish youth programs. stignatiusmn.com.

Anoka St. Stephen — Fish fry, 5:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 525 Jackson St. $8 adults, $4 children, free ages 3 and under. Includes baked or deep-fried fish, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, dinner roll, apple crisp and beverage. ststephenchurch.org.

Belle Plaine Our Lady of the Prairie — Fish bake, 4:30–6:30 p.m.

March 2, 9, 16 and 23 in the parish hall at 200 E. Church St. Free-will offering. Includes baked fish, rice, salad, bread and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 6:30 p.m. ourladyoftheprairie.com.

Blaine St. Timothy — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 9 and every Friday during Lent except Good Friday in the Hospitality Center at 707 89th Ave. NE. $12 adults, $9 seniors, $5 children, free ages 5 and under.

Includes baked or deep-fried fish, French fries or baked potato, coleslaw, baked beans, bread and beverage. churchofsttimothy.com.

Bloomington Knights of Columbus of Bloomington — Fish fry, 5 p.m. Fridays during Lent at 1114 American Blvd. W. $11.95. Includes all-you-can eat broiled or deep fried cod with choice of soup or salad, coleslaw and choice of potato. kofcbloomington.com.

Nativity of Mary — Fish fry festival, 4–9 p.m.

March 16 at 9900 Lyndale Ave. S. $10. Includes fish fillets or grilled cheese, French fries, baked beans, coleslaw, bread, desserts and beverage. Beer, wine and cocktails extra. Festival includes annual meat raffle, free family movie in the gym and children’s games with prizes. nativitybloomington.org.

St. Bonaventure — Fish dinner, 4:30–7 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 23 in Ambrose Hall, 901 90th St. E. Includes ocean perch, au gratin potatoes, coleslaw, buns, dessert and beverage. Cost TBD. saintbonaventure.org.

St. Edward — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. March 2 at 9401 Nesbitt Ave. S. Advance: $10 individual or $30 family; at the door: $12 individual or $35 family.

Includes fish and chips or macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, dessert and beverage. Music and raffles. stedwardschurch.org.

Brooklyn Park St. Vincent de Paul — Lenten dinners, 5:30–6:45 p.m.

Fridays during Lent except Good Friday in Regan Hall at 9100 93rd Ave. N. Includes gourmet soup, sandwiches and dessert. $7, free ages 5 and under. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. saintvdp.org.

Buffalo St. Francis Xavier — Fish fry, 4 p.m. March 2 at Bison Creek Bar and Dining, 1207 N. Highway 25. $11 adults, $8 ages 10 and under. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. at the parish, 300 First Ave. NW. stfxb.org.

Burnsville Mary, Mother of the Church — Fish fry, 5–7:30 p.m.

Feb. 23, March 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 3333 Cliff Road. $15

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Feb. 16 Feb. 23 March 2 March 9

March 16 March 23 March 30 (Good Friday)

St. Michael — Soup supper, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14 followed by Stations of the Cross and Mass at 7 p.m.; Fish fry, 5 p.m. March 2 followed by Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. Both at 22120 Denmark Ave. Free-will offering. stmichael-farmington.org.

Forest Lake St. Peter — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 1250 S. Shore Drive. $7 adults, $3 children. Includes fried cod and baked tilapia, potatoes, coleslaw and dessert. Alternative children’s vegetarian dish. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stpeterfl.org.

adults, $6 ages 11 and under, $3 children’s meal ages 8 and under. Adult meal includes walleye, baked or mashed potato, coleslaw, roll and beverage. Single serving children’s meal includes macaroni and cheese, animal crackers and milk. mmotc.org.

Includes baked or fried tilapia (Guinness and regular batter) and pizza, baked potato or tater tots, coleslaw, applesauce, dessert and beverage. $10 adults, $6 ages 5-12, free under 5. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. epiphanymn.org.

Cannon Falls

Corcoran

St. William — Soup supper, 4:30–6 p.m. Feb. 21 and March 21 at 6120 Fifth St. NE. Free-will offering. chofstwilliams.com.

St. Pius V — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 410 Colvill St. W. $10 adults, $5 ages 5-12, free age 4 and under, $30 family.

Includes fried or baked pollock (gluten-free), variety of fresh relishes, gluten-free side dishes. Stations of the Cross at 4:30 p.m. stpiusvcf.org.

St. Thomas the Apostle — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m.

Feb. 23 at 20000 County Road 10. saintsppta.org.

Golden Valley

Cedar Lake St. Patrick — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. Feb. 9 and March 16 at 24425 Old Hwy. 13. $12 adults, $5 ages 4-12, free 3 and under. Includes French fries, au gratin potatoes, coleslaw, beans, rye bread, macaroni and cheese, and bars. Beer available. stpandc.mn.org.

Centerville St. Genevieve — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at the St. John campus, 14383 Forest Blvd. N., Hugo. $11 adults, $ 9 seniors 60 and over, $7 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Includes fried cod, baby red potatoes, French fries, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, pickles, rolls, cookies and beverage. Ages 6-15 eligible for bike drawing. stgens.org.

Chanhassen St. Hubert — Fish fry, 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16, March 9 and 23 at 8201 Main St. $30 maximum for family, $11 adults, $5 children, $9 seniors; cost subject to change. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. sthubert.org.

Chaska Guardian Angels — Fish fry, 4:30–7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 23 in the school gym at 215 W. Second St. $12 adults, $5 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. gachaska.org.

Clearwater St. Luke — Soup supper, 5:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 17545 Huber Ave. NW. Free-will offering. Includes soup, crackers, bread, cheese pizza, dessert and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. churchofstlukes.com.

Cologne St. Bernard — Fish fry, 3:30–8 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 9. $12 adults, $6 children. Proceeds will benefit parish improvements. st-bernard-cologne.org.

Columbia Heights Immaculate Conception — Fish dinner, 4:30– 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16, March 9 and 23 in the fellowship hall at 4030 Jackson St. NE. $10 adults, $5 ages 6-11, free 5 and under. Includes all-you-can-eat cod fish, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, baked potato, coleslaw, roll, dessert and beverage. Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent, including Good Friday, at 7 p.m. iccsonline.org.

Coon Rapids Epiphany — Fish fry sponsored by Epiphany Ministries, 4:30–6:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW.

Crystal St. Raphael — Fish dinner, 5–7 p.m. March 16 at 7301 Bass Lake Road. $20 Knights of Columbus families, $8 adults, $4 children under 10. Includes baked fish, French fries, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, toast and beverage. straphaelcrystal.org.

Deephaven St. Therese — Fish dinner, 6–7:30 p.m. March 2 and 16 at 18323 Minnetonka Blvd. $8 individuals, $30 family. Includes cod fish, coleslaw, fresh fruit, French fries, macaroni and cheese and beverage.

Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. st-therese.org.

Delano St. Maximilian Kolbe — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 23 at St. Peter Dining Hall, 217 S. Second St. Free-will offering with proceeds to benefit St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic School. Includes baked cod, fried shrimp, seafood fettuccine alfredo, garden salad, dessert and all the extras. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. delanocatholic.com.

Eagan St. John Neumann — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 2 at 4030 Pilot Knob Road. $10 adults, $5 ages 4-17, free under 3. Includes fried or baked fish, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and ice cream. sjn.org.

St. Thomas Becket — Soup supper, 6 p.m. Feb. 23, March 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 4455 S. Robert Trail. Free.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stbeagan.org.

Edina Our Lady of Grace — Fish fry, 4–7 p.m. March 16 at 5071 Eden Ave. $12 adults, $6 ages 10 and under.

Includes Tin Fish-battered cod, Buca di Beppo pasta, baked potato, bread and cake. Father Kevin Finnegan’s Pub includes Guinness on tap, microbrews and wine for an additional charge. Live music and raffle.

Drive-through available. olgparish.org/olg-mens-club.

St. Patrick — Fish fry, 5:30–9 p.m. March 16 at 6820 St. Patrick’s Lane. Pub night includes a cash bar, raffle and sing-along. stpatrick-edina.org.

Elko New Market St. Nicholas — Fish bake, 4–7 p.m. March 2 at 51 Church St. $12 adults, $7 children, free under 6.

Includes baked fish, potatoes, coleslaw, breads, dessert and beverage. Takeout available. Stations of the Cross to follow. stncc.net.

Excelsior St. John the Baptist — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 16 in the school cafeteria at 638 Mill St. $40 family, $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 children 6 and under. stjohns-excelsior.org.

Fridley

Good Shepherd — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 23 at 145 Jersey Ave. S. Free-will offering.

Includes coleslaw, baked potato and green beans.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. goodshepherdgv.org.

Hamel St. Anne — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. March 9 at 200 Hamel Road. $5. Includes Atlantic cod fish fillet, coleslaw, pickle spear, dinner roll and beverage. Additional fillet $3. saintannehamel.org.

Hopkins St. Gabriel the Archangel — Fish tacos, baked fish and fried fish, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 23, March 9 and 23 at 1310 Main St. $25 family, $10 adults, $5 children 3-10, free under 3. Sponsored by the Hispanic community. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stgabrielhopkins.org.

Inver Grove Heights St. Patrick — Fish dinner, 5–7 p.m. March 2 at 3535 72nd St. E. $10 fish dinner, $5 grilled cheese dinner, $40 family maximum. Includes fish or grilled cheese, au gratin potatoes, coleslaw, roll, cookie and beverage. churchofstpatrick.com.

Jordan St. John the Baptist — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Feb. 16, 23 and March 9 at 313 E. Second St. Cost TBD. Includes beans, salad, rolls and dessert. Take-out available. sjbjordan.org.

Lake St. Croix Beach St. Francis of Assisi — Soup supper, 6 p.m. Feb. 23.

Confirmation candidate-hosted macaroni and cheese fish stick supper, 6 p.m. March 9; both at 16770 13th St. S. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stfrancislscbmn.org.

Lakeville All Saints — Soup at Six, 6 p.m. Feb. 16, 23, March 2, 16 and 23; and fish dinner, 6 p.m. March 9, all at 19795 Holyoke Ave. Cost TBD. Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. allsaintschurch.com.

Le Sueur St. Anne — Fish fry, 4:30–7:30 p.m. March 2 at St. Anne’s School, 511 N. Fourth St. $12 adults, $6 ages 5-12, free under 5. Includes baked potato, green beans, coleslaw, bun and beverage.

Lindstrom St. Bridget of Sweden — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 13060 Lake Blvd. $11 adults, $9 seniors, $6 ages 6-12, free 5 and under.

Includes fried cod and baked fish, French fries, coleslaw, dinner roll, beverage, dessert and meatless spaghetti. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stbridgetofsweden.org.

FISH FRY+LENTEN MEAL GUIDE

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Lino Lakes

Mahtomedi

St. Joseph — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m., Feb. 16, 23, March 2 and 16 at the Great Hall, 171 Elm St. $12 adults $5 children, $30 families. Includes pan-fried or baked fish, potato, corn, tomato soup, coleslaw, homemade desserts and beverage. Fish sticks and macaroni and cheese available for children. Beer and wine extra.

Soup supper, 5–6 p.m. Feb. 27, March 6, 13 and 20.

Free-will offering. Includes homemade soups, desserts and beverage. Mass at 6:30 p.m. mystjoes.org.

St. Jude of the Lake — Fish dinner, 5:30–8 p.m.

March 23 at 700 Mahtomedi Ave. Baked tilapia or breaded cod, macaroni and cheese, potato, coleslaw and brownies. $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. stjudeofthelake.org.

Little Canada St. John the Evangelist — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m.

April 7 at 380 Little Canada Road. $10 adults, $9 seniors, $8 ages 12 and under, $30 family. Includes fried or baked pollock, coleslaw, grilled cheese sandwiches, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls, ice cream and beverage. Soda, beer and wine extra.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stjohnsoflc.org.

Long Lake St. George — Fish fry, 6:30–7:30 p.m. March 9 and 5:30–7:30 p.m. April 7 at 133 N. Brown Road. Free-will offering. Includes fries, coleslaw, dessert and beverage.

Stations of the Cross at 6 p.m. 6:30–8 p.m. open mic night. stgeorgelonglake.org.

Lonsdale Immaculate Conception — Fish dinner, 4–8 p.m.

Feb. 16 at Lonsdale American Legion, 115 Second Ave. NW. $13 adults, $4 children, free 4 and under.

Includes cheesy potatoes, green beans, coleslaw, rye bread and cakes. Take-out available. churchoftheimmaculateconception.net.

Madison Lake Immaculate Conception — Fish fry, 4:30–7:30 p.m.

March 23 at 27528 Patrick St. (Marysburg). $11 adults, $5 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Includes au gratin potatoes, coleslaw, rolls and dessert. maryschurches.com.

Maple Grove St. Joseph The Worker — Fish fry, 5–7:30 p.m.

Feb. 23 and March 9 at 7180 Hemlock Lane. Free-will offering. sjtw.net.

Maplewood St. Jerome — Fish fry, 5–7:30 p.m. March 23 at 380 E. Roselawn Ave. $10 one-piece meal, $12 two-piece meal, $14 three-piece meal. Additional fish available for $2 per piece. $5 pasta meal. Includes deep fried cod fillets, French fries, coleslaw, baked beans, applesauce, dessert and beverage. Soup suppers, 6 p.m. Feb. 15, 22, March 1, 8 and 15.

Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. stjerome-church.org.

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — Soup supper, 5:45–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 1725 Kennard St. Free-will offering. Includes soup, bread, cheese, peanut butter and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. presentationofmary.org.

Medina Holy Name of Jesus — Knights of Columbus seafood buffet, 5–8 p.m. March 23 at 155 County Road 24. Cost TBD. hnoj.org.

Mendota St. Peter — Soup supper sponsored by the CCW, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 14. Free-will donation to Sharing and Caring Hands. Includes soup, bread sticks and beverage. Pasta dinner sponsored by the youth group, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 23. $8 adults, $5 children, $25 family. Includes pasta, salad, garlic bread and beverage. Fish dinner sponsored by the Boy Scouts,

4:30–7 p.m. March 2 and 23. $10 adults, $7 children ages 2-11, free under 2 with paid adult. Includes fish, potatoes, coleslaw, vegetable, macaroni and cheese, dessert and beverage. All at 1405 Sibley Memorial Hwy. Stations of the Cross at 6:30 p.m. stpetersmendota.org.

Mendota Heights Holy Family Maronite — Lebanese Lenten dinners, 4:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 1960 Lexington Ave. S. Includes baked or fried fish and unlimited side dishes, including green beans in tomato sauce over rice, fried cabbage, Lebanese salad, flat bread and garlic sauce. $15 per person, $8 ages 10 and under. holyfamilymaronitechurch.org.

Miesville St. Joseph — Corned beef and cabbage dinner, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. March 11 at 23955 Nicolai Ave. E., Hastings. $12 adults, $5 ages 6-12, free under 6.

Includes corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, homemade Irish soda bread, dessert, beverage and hot dogs for children. Take-out available. Wine and beer extra.

Silent auction. stjosephmiesville.com.

Minneapolis Annunciation — Fish fry, 5:30–7:30 p.m. March 23 at 509 W. 54th St. $10 adults, $8 seniors, $30 family, $7 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Includes deep-fried fish, coleslaw, baked potatoes, bread, cookies and beverages. Grilled cheese for children. Beer and pop available for purchase. annunciationmsp.org.

Basilica of St. Mary — Ash Wednesday soup supper following 5:30 p.m. Mass Feb. 14 at 1600 Hennepin Ave. in Teresa of Calcutta Hall. Free. mary.org.

Christ the King — Soup supper, 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Wednesdays during Lent except Holy Week.

5029 Zenith Ave S, Free-will offering. Stations of the Cross at 6:30 p.m. except March 14 and Holy Week. ctkmpls.org.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3A

Holy Cross — Sauerkraut supper, 4–8 p.m. Feb. 13.

Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at Kolbe Hall, 1621 University Ave. NE. $10 ages 12 and older, $2 ages 3-11, free 2 and under. Includes all-you-can eat fish, French fries or potato, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, dessert and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 6 p.m. in English and 7 p.m. in Polish. ourholycross.org.

Holy Name — Soup and bread supper, 6:30 p.m.

Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 3637 11th Ave. S. Free-will offering. Stations of the Cross to follow. churchoftheholyname.org.

Incarnation — Soup supper, 4–9 p.m. Feb. 14 at 3817 Pleasant Ave. S. Free-will offering. inc-scj.org.

Our Lady of Lourdes — Fish fry, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Feb. 16, March 2 and 16 (St. Patrick’s Day theme) in Hofstede Hall, 1 Lourdes Place. $12 adults, $10 seniors, $5 children. Includes fried fish, French fries, coleslaw, cookies and beverage. Take-out and kids’ portions available. Stations of the Cross at 5 p.m. lourdesmpls.org.

Our Lady of Peace — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 16 at 5426 12th Ave. S. Cost TBD. Soup and bread supper, 5:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Feb. 23 and March 16. A variety of soups served. Beer extra. olpmn.org.

St. Albert the Great — Fish fry, 4:30–7:30 p.m.

Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 2836 33rd Ave. S. $12 adults, $6 ages 6-12, free 5 and under.

Check or cash only. Live music, bingo and raffles. saintalbertthegreat.org.

St. Austin/St. Bridget — Soup supper, 5:30 p.m.

Feb. 16, March 2 and 16 at St. Bridget, 3811 Emerson Ave. N.; and 5:30 p.m. Feb. 23, March 9 and 23 at St. Austin, 4050 Upton Ave. N. Free-will offering. Includes bread, dessert and beverage.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stbridgetnorthside.com.

St. Joan of Arc — Soup and bread supper, 5 p.m.

Feb. 14, 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21 and 28 at 4537 Third Ave. S. Free-will offering. stjoan.com.

Sauerkraut Supper and Mardi Gras/Valentine’s Dance FUNERAL CHAPELS, INC. Robbinsdale • Plymouth • St. Louis Park Please cut out form below and mail to: 3888 West Broadway • Robbinsdale, MN 55422

Name

Mardi Gras/Valentine’s Dance: 4pm • 8pm in Kolbe Hall Soda, Beer and Pull-tabs available • Music by Craig Ebel and DyVersa Co.

Address City

Holy Cross Campus • 17th Avenue & 4th Street NE, Mpls Tuesday, February 13th, 2018 Dinner 4 p.m. • 7 p.m. in school gym Adults $15 Children under 12 $6.00 Menu • homemade sauerkraut, polish sausage, loin of pork, potatoes, rye bread, paczki, coffee or milk Take-out available • Tickets sold at the door

State

Zip

o Please mail information regarding pre-need funeral arrangements. o Please have a funeral director call me with information regarding prearrangements. My phone number is

Crowning of the Sauerkraut King and Queen @ 6:30 in Kolbe Hall

FISH FRY+LENTEN MEAL GUIDE

4A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

St. Thomas the Apostle — Soup supper, 6 p.m.

Feb. 14, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16, 23, March 2, 16, and 23 at 2914 W. 44th St. Free-will offering. stthomasmpls.org.

Minnetonka Immaculate Heart of Mary — Fish dinner, 5– 7 p.m. Feb. 16, 23 and March 2 at 13505 Excelsior Blvd. $11 adults, $6 ages 12 and under. Includes baked fish, salad bar, au gratin potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, rolls, cookies and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. ihm-cc.org.

Oakdale

Rosemount

Guardian Angels — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Feb. 23, March 9 and 23 at 8260 Fourth St. N. guardian-angels.org.

St. Joseph — Fish fry, 6 p.m. Feb. 16, March 2 and 16 at 13900 Biscayne Ave. Free-will offering. Visa or Mastercard accepted. Includes fried or baked cod, potato, macaroni and cheese, vegetables or salad, bread, dessert and beverages. Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. stjosephcommunity.org.

Transfiguration — Fish fry and fish tacos, 5–7 p.m.

Feb. 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16 at 6135 15th St. N. $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 ages 12 and under, $30 per household. Includes fried or baked fish along with fish tacos, coleslaw, grilled cheese, French fries, baked potatoes, dessert and beverage.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. transfigurationmn.org.

Montgomery

Oak Grove

Most Holy Redeemer — Knights of Columbus fish bake, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4–7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at Montgomery American Legion, 102 Elm Ave. SW.

St. Patrick — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent at 19921 Nightingale St. NW. $10 adults, $5 ages 7-15, free 6 and under. Includes all-you-can-eat fish, potatoes, corn, green beans, coleslaw, macaroni, dinner roll and dessert. st-patricks.org.

$12 adults, $6 ages 5-10, free under 5. All-you-caneat buffet includes baked and breaded cod, cheesy potatoes, green beans, bread, coleslaw, homemade bars and beverage. $6 cod fish sandwich with chips or fries available from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Take-out available. hredeemerparish.org.

Mound Our Lady of the Lake — Shrimp dinner, 4:30–7 p.m.

Feb. 16, 23, March 9 and 16 at 2385 Commerce Blvd. $10 adults, $6 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Includes shrimp, baked potato or French fries, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, roll, cookie and beverage. ourladyofthelake.com.

New Hope St. Joseph — Baked fish, 5–7 p.m. March 2 at 8701 36th Ave. N., $20 Knights of Columbus families, $8 adults, $4 children under 10. Includes baked fish, French fries, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, toast and beverage. Take-out available. stjosephparish.com.

St. Michael — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 451 Fifth St. SW. $10 adults, $5 ages 12 and under, $35 family. Includes fried or baked fish, roasted potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw, rolls, dessert and beverages. Stations of the Cross at 7:30 p.m. stpaulstmichael.com.

Prior Lake St. Michael — Fish fry, 5–7:30 p.m. Feb. 16, March 2 and 23 at 16280 Duluth Ave. SE. $12 adults, $10 seniors 65 and older, $6 ages 5-13, free 4 and under. Includes fried Alaskan pollock or baked cod, potato wedges, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, green beans, homemade rolls, dessert and beverages. To-go orders available. stmichael-pl.org.

Red Wing St. Joseph — Soup supper, 5:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent at 426 Eighth St. Free. Stations of the Cross at 5 p.m. stjosephredwing.org.

New Prague St. Wenceslaus — Fish fry, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. and 4:30–7:30 p.m. March 9 at 215 Main St. E. $10 in advance, $13 at door. Includes coleslaw, rolls, cheesy potatoes, cookies and dessert. npcatholic.org.

Northfield St. Dominic — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. March 16 at O’Gara Hall, 104 Linden St. N. $13 adults, $7 ages 5-12, free under 5. Includes fried or baked cod, macaroni and cheese, scalloped and baked potatoes, full salad bar, vegetables, bread, dessert and beverage. Take-out available. churchofstdominic.org.

North St. Paul St. Peter — Fish fry, 4–7 p.m. Feb. 16, March 2, 16 and 23 at ​2620 Margaret St. N. $10 adults, $9 seniors, $3 ages 7-12, free 6 and under. Includes fish, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, vegetables, bread, applesauce and beverages.

Pop extra. Music. churchofstpeternsp.org.

Norwood Young America

Pine Island

Ascension — Fish fry, 11 a.m.–8 p.m. March 2 at 323 Reform St. N. $11. Take-out available. ascensionnya.org.

Robbinsdale Sacred Heart — A variety of fish dinners, 4:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 4087 W. Broadway in the school gym. $10 adults, $9 seniors 65 and older. Includes fish fillet, baked potato, green beans, coleslaw and garlic bread; $10 fish sandwich, meatless spaghetti and coleslaw; $10 fish fillet, cup of soup, green beans and garlic bread; $9 large spaghetti and garlic bread; $5.50 bowl of soup and baguette.

Children’s meals $5.25 ages 4-10, free 3 and under.

Includes spaghetti and garlic bread, fish sandwich and green beans, personal cheese pizza and applesauce. $30 maximum family rate. Take-out available. shrmn.org.

Rogers Mary Queen of Peace — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m.

Feb. 23, March 9 and 23 at St. Martin campus, 21304 Church Ave. $11 ages 14 and older, $6 ages 5-13, $2 ages 4 and under. Includes fried or baked fish, macaroni and cheese, baked potato, baked beans, coleslaw, dinner roll, cookie and beverage. $1 extra fish serving. mqpcatholic.org.

Shoreview St. Odilia — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 9 in the gym at 3495 Victoria St. N. $11 adults, $7 ages 5-12, free under 5. Includes all-you-can-eat cod and tilapia (baked or broiled), macaroni and cheese, cheesy potatoes, corn, coleslaw, rolls, dessert and beverages. Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. stodilia.org.

South St. Paul St. John Vianney — All-you-can-eat fish fry, 4:30– 7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday in the Mother Teresa room at 789 17th Ave. N. $12 adults, $10 seniors 62 and older, $5 ages 12 and under.

Includes salad, green beans, baked potato or French fries, macaroni and cheese, roll, beverages, desserts and specialty side dishes. Beer and wine available.

Stations of the Cross at 4 p.m. sjvssp.org.

Stillwater St. Michael and St. Mary — Men’s Club fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 611 Third St. S. $12 adults, $10 seniors 65 and older, $6 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Take-out available for $10. Includes beer-battered cod, parsley buttered potatoes, coleslaw, green beans, and macaroni and cheese. stmichaelstillwater.org and stmarystillwater.org.

St. Louis Park Holy Family — Fish fry, 5–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 5900 W. Lake St. in Father Moorman Hall. $8 adults, $4 children. Includes fried or baked fish and two side dishes: macaroni and cheese, garlic cheddar biscuit, coleslaw or green beans.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. kofc3949.org.

St. Michael St. Michael — Soup supper, 6 p.m. March 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 11300 Frankfort Parkway NE. Free-will offering. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stmcatholicchurch.org.

St. Paul Cathedral of St. Paul — Fish fry, after 5:15 p.m.

Mass March 23 at Hayden Hall, 239 Selby Ave. Suggested offering $10 adults and $5 children.

Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent at noon and 7 p.m. (noon only on Good Friday). cathedralsaintpaul.org.

Holy Childhood — Soup supper, 5 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 2 at1435 Midway Pkwy. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. holychildhoodparish.org.

Holy Spirit — Fish fry, 5–7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and March 16 at Howley Hall, 515 Albert St. S. $10 adults, $7 seniors, $5 ages 3-12. Macaroni and cheese $3. Advance purchase is requested. $5 soup and sandwich lunch on Fridays following 11 a.m.

Stations of the Cross. holy-spirit.org.

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Maternity of the Blessed Virgin — Soup supper, 5 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 23 at 1414 Dale St. N. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. maternityofmarychurch.org Nativity of Our Lord — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. Feb. 23 and March 23 at 1900 Wellesley Ave. $12 adults, $9 children, $40 family. Fried or baked fish, choice of potato, vegetable, coleslaw and cookie, with cheese sticks for kids., plus beer, wine and other beverages. Drive-up window at the garage on Wellesley Avenue. nativitymen.org.

Our Lady of Guadalupe — Enchilada dinner, 11 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent at 401 Concord St. Large meal $10, small $6, one dozen enchiladas $20.

Includes cheese enchiladas, rice, beans, beverage and dessert. Stations of the Cross at 6 p.m. olgspchurch.com.

St. Mark — Fish fry, 5–8 p.m. March 16 at 1983 Dayton Ave., followed by adoration, praise and worship music, and confession 7–8:30 p.m. in the church. Cost TBD. Soup suppers 5:30 p.m. other Fridays except Good Friday at 2001 Dayton Ave. Stations of the Cross and confession following soup suppers at 6:30 p.m. saintmark-mn.org.

St. Mary — Soup supper, 6 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday. Good Friday service and luncheon noon March 30. Free-will offering. Both at 261 E. Eighth St. stmarystpaul.org.

St. Matthew — All-you-can-eat fish fry, 4:30– 7:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent at 510 Hall Ave. $11 adults, $10 seniors, $6 ages 5-12, free 4 and under with paid adult. Includes baked or fried fish, baked potato, vegetable, coleslaw, roll, dessert and beverage. Beer, wine and pop extra. Stations of the Cross following. st-matts.org.

St. Pascal Baylon — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at Brioschi Social Hall, 1757 Conway St. $12 ages 12 and over, $5 ages 6-11, free 5 and under. Includes fried or baked cod, coleslaw, steamed mixed vegetables, macaroni and cheese, au gratin potatoes or seasoned fries, rolls, chocolate or vanilla pudding, and beverage. Milk, bottled water and assorted pop extra. Raffle and baked good sale.

Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. stpascals.org.

St. Stanislaus — Soup supper, 6 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 14 at 398 Superior St. Free-will offering. Prayer service at 6:40 p.m. ststans.org.

Waconia St. Joseph — Fish fry, 4–7:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday in the school commons at 41 E. First St. $11 adults, $5 ages 5-12, free 5 and

White Bear Lake St. Pius X — Fish fry, 4:30–7 p.m. Feb. 16, March 2 and 16 at 3878 Highland Ave. $12 adults, $10 seniors, $6 ages 6-12, free 5 and under. Includes fried or baked fish, baked potato, coleslaw, pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, roll, dessert and beverage. Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. churchofstpiusx.org.

Woodbury St. Ambrose — Soup supper, 6:30 p.m. Fridays during Lent except Good Friday at 4125 Woodbury Drive. Free-will offering. Includes bread, salad and beverage. Stations of the Cross, including living Stations of the Cross, at 6 p.m. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

“To change the world, we must be good to those who cannot repay us.”

Do Pope Francis’ words describe someone you know? Someone who has the courage, humility and spirit of service to Lead with Faith at their workplace? The Catholic Spirit is celebrating the 17th year of our Leading with Faith Awards, which recognize women and men in the archdiocese whose Catholic values shape their work ethic and service to others. Nominate a deserving candidate today.

NOMINATIONS DUE: May 4, 2018 www.TheCatholicSpirit.com/LeadingWithFaith or call 651-251-7709 for more information.

February 8, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Strengthening ministries The 2018 Catholic Services Appeal has a higher goal and is adding its support to Rachel’s Vineyard.

SUPER hospitality

— Pages 10B-11B

Knightly deeds Former Viking Matt Birk among Knights of Columbus who gave coats to kids at St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School during Super Bowl week.

— Page 5B

Faith at the Capitol MCC’s advocacy approach to the 2018 legislative session aims to show “everything is connected.”

— Page 6B

Father Dosh remembered

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Friends recall longtime pastor’s pro-life advocacy, generosity and laughter-filled dinners.

— Page 7B

Nadia Weber, a hospitality volunteer at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, instructs Philadelphia Eagles fan Molly Mita on bringing up unconsecrated hosts during the offertory at Mass Feb. 4. New England Patriots fans Gregg Haley, left, and Michael Satter also helped with the gifts.

Working for unity

Basilica makes game visitors feel at home

Panelists at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5 said dialogue and finding common ground are what the pope envisions for a hurting world.

— Page 9B

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit For an hour the morning of Feb. 4, a few New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles fans put aside their differences at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

Farewell, Poor Clares Bloomington sisters reflect on 64 years at monastery and prepare for move to Rochester.

— Page 12B

Marriage refresher Archdiocese collaborates with Marriage in Christ to enrich marriage for all couples.

— Page 13B

Green with envy?

Father Michael Schmitz answers whether envy is a big deal.

— Page 16B

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Philadelphia Eagles fans Al and Denise Moffa of Philadelphia exit the Basilica after 9:30 a.m. Mass Feb. 4. “We came to a beautiful Mass,” Al said. “It’s good to travel and meet other good Catholics.”

Five Super Bowl visitors, including two Patriots fans and an Eagles fan, brought the bread and wine to the altar during the 11:30 a.m. Mass. Nadia Weber, a hospitality volunteer for the Basilica, thought of it when she saw some Massgoers wearing Patriots and

Eagles attire. She chose fans of each team.

“It was just a blessing to be chosen as we walked in,” said Michael Satter, a Patriots fan from Burnsville who attended with a friend from Boston. “I thought that was a pretty cool experience.”

Eagles fan Molly Mita of Philadelphia also carried a paten at Mass. She said she chose to attend the Basilica because of her connection with Mary.

“I pray the rosary; I grew up praying the rosary. My dad and mom both are very devout to Our Lady,” Mita said.

St. Olaf throws Super Bowl party for homeless

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day When boxes of chocolate and fasting requirements collide.

— Page 20B

A woman exclaimed, “Right there, that’s what I thought!” as she watched Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles throw the first touchdown of the Super Bowl Feb. 4 on a TV at St. Olaf in downtown Minneapolis.

The woman, whose first name is Niiki, and 57 other homeless guests spent Feb. 1-4, Super Bowl weekend, at St. Olaf. Their stay concluded with a party for the game on their last night. They moved to St. Olaf for the weekend to accommodate the temporary closure of First Covenant Church’s shelter, run by St. Stephen’s Human Services, due to its close proximity to U.S. Bank Stadium, where the game was played, and the surrounding security perimeter. St. Olaf is located about a half-mile from the stadium.

PLEASE TURN TO HOMELESS ON PAGE 5B

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Volunteer Larry Ligocki of St. Olaf in Minneapolis talks with Niiki, a guest of a Super Bowl party Feb. 4 for the homeless hosted by St. Olaf. A shelter at First Covenant Church near U.S. Bank Stadium was moved temporarily to St. Olaf as a security measure.

2B• THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

PAGETWO

“

Nun 1: Anyone rooting for the Eagles here?

Nun 2: Not if they value their life.

A Feb. 4 tweet with the hashtag #SuperBowlintheConvent and part of a tweetfest that featured dialogue and witticisms from religious sisters watching the Super Bowl on TV. The hashtag was the brainchild of Sister Theresa Aletheia, a member of the Daughters of St. Paul in Miami.

NEWS notes

184 The number of marriage annulment cases the Metropolitan Tribunal of the

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis completed in 2017. Amy Tadlock, the tribunal’s director, is addressing common questions, concerns and misconceptions about annulments and the process of receiving one in a new video series that will appear soon at www.archspm.org.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SCHOOL CHOICE Maricela Dale, left, admissions coordinator at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, talks Jan. 27 with Toria Collins of St. Paul and her son, Ishmael Powell, about the school during a Minnesota Harvest Initiative event called “Shining The Light On Goodness: The Most Excellent School Fair” at Lightbox Studio in Minneapolis. The school fair was designed to help African-American and Latino boys in Minneapolis find school opportunities. It was part of an all-day event called “Navigating the Waters: Build Genius Character” that celebrated National School Choice Week. The Minnesota Harvest Initiative is a coalition of African-American business owners and professionals who promote excellence in education and economic empowerment.

1:16 The length of a video Archbishop Bernard Hebda made to welcome visitors to the

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis ahead of the Super Bowl Feb. 4. “The weather here can get a little chilly this time of year, but as a transplant myself, I can tell you firsthand, the people and hospitality here are warm and inviting,” he said. He also invited guests to visit local parishes to see their beauty, find quiet or attend Mass, and he said his prayer for them was to “have a safe and fun visit.”

7,779 The miles between St. Paul and Kolkata, India, where 12 seminarians studying at

St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul spent time serving in January. Read their reflections on the trip at sjvkolkata.blogspot.in.

29 The number of Ave Maria Academy teachers, staff and spouses who made a

pilgrimage to the Holy Land Dec. 29-Jan. 7. The trip was funded by a benefactor of the Maple Grove school. “It was very special to take this pilgrimage as a team of Catholic educators. Christ was the focus of every day, every moment,” said Katie Danielson, Ave Maria principal. “The most important part of a Catholic school is to convey, in word and deed, the reality of the faith, but you cannot give what you do not have. This pilgrimage breathed life into our spiritual lives.”

MILESTONE

FATHER EUGENE BROWN | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FOR THE AGES Franciscan Brother of Peace Paschal Lisit, left, poses with Sister Marguerite Turgeon, a sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, following the annual World Day for Consecrated Life Mass Jan. 28 at the St. Joseph sisters’ chapel in St. Paul. Celebrated worldwide Feb. 2, the day honors men and women religious, including consecrated virgins and religious order priests. Sister Marguerite, 101, is celebrating 85 years in religious life.

ONLINE exclusives Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield was the only Minnesota Catholic school whose dance team members participated in Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime show in Minneapolis Feb. 4. The Starliners kept their involvement a secret until the game.

Ahead of the Super Bowl, The Catholic Spirit interviewed Catholic players and coaches from the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots about the role their faith has in playing the game. “[I] always know that he’s going to be there, he’s going to take care of you,” Philadelphia Eagles punter Donnie Jones said of his relationship with God. Jones was the only man to punt during the big game, lofting the ball 41 yards in the second quarter. Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Jacqui Skemp, a parishioner of St. Agnes in St. Paul and contributor to online women’s ministry Blessed Is She, reflects on sacrificial love and this year’s fortuitous overlap of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. “So as we begin this walk towards Calvary,” she wrote, “perhaps we can practice our Lord’s generosity, in refusing to count the cost and instead allowing our broken habits and hearts to be a fount of life-giving love.” Read more at CatholicHotdish.com.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 3 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

THE WAY OF THE SHEPHERD CATHOLIC MONTESSORI SCHOOL in Blaine is marking 20 years. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated Mass and visited classrooms Jan. 24.

(Watch the video at facebook.com/TheCatholicSpirit.) The preschool through sixth-grade school opened its doors in August 1998, four years after members of St. Paul in Ham Lake first gathered to discuss opening a Catholic school in the northern suburbs with the primary goal of bringing about St. John Paul II’s “new evangelization.” Using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for religious formation, the first classes took place in foundress Mary Deitz’s basement with about 30 students. The school is accredited by the Minnesota Nonpublic School Accrediting Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. For more information, visit wayoftheshepherd.org.

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FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3B

FROMTHEBISHOP

ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS

Our redemption includes our sexuality

M

any wonderful organizations have been working to highlight the terrible issue of sex trafficking, which has been shown to increase when a city hosts the Super Bowl.

The Jan. 25 edition of The Catholic Spirit showed what some wonderful organizations were doing to help the victims of this crime and even to reach out to perpetrators. Recently, the bishops of Minnesota, through our Minnesota Catholic Conference, listened to a presentation that helped to open our eyes to the magnitude of this problem in our state, a problem that won’t go away now that the Super Bowl is over.

According to the FBI, the Twin Cities is one of the nation’s 13 largest centers for child prostitution. By very conservative measures, a November 2010 study found that, each month in Minnesota, at least 213 girls are sold for sex an average of five times per day through the internet and escort services. Law enforcement told us this number has continued to grow.

Once I learned how to recognize some of the signs of a woman being trafficked, I sadly was able to think back to my own experience where I had likely met a woman who was in this dangerous position. Had I known how to recognize the signs, and what I know now about organizations available to help, like Breaking Free, I could have offered that young woman a helping hand. This is why it is important for all of us to learn the signs that a woman might be in danger, and to know what kind of help we can offer.

The other reality that this presentation made clear was the connection between pornography and sex-

Nuestra redención incluye nuestra sexualidad

M

uchas organizaciones maravillosas han estado trabajando para resaltar el terrible tema del tráfico sexual, que se ha demostrado que aumenta cuando una ciudad alberga el Super Bowl. La edición del 25 de enero de The Catholic Spirit mostró lo que hacían algunas organizaciones maravillosas para ayudar a las víctimas de este crimen e incluso para llegar a los perpetradores. En el otoño, los obispos de Minnesota, a través de nuestra Conferencia Católica de Minnesota, escucharon una presentación que ayudó a abrir nuestros ojos a la magnitud de este problema en nuestro estado, un problema que no desaparecerá ahora que el Super Bowl se ha ido.

Según el FBI, Twin Cities es uno de los 13 centros más grandes de prostitución infantil del país. Por medidas muy conservadoras, un estudio de noviembre de 2010 encontró que, cada mes en Minnesota, al menos 213 niñas se venden por sexo un promedio de cinco veces por día a través de internet y servicios de acompañantes. La policía nos dijo que este número ha seguido creciendo.

Una vez que aprendí a reconocer algunas de las señales de que una mujer está siendo tratada, lamentablemente pude recordar mis propias experiencias

trafficking. Several studies have been done by various organizations to show that increased use of pornography makes men more likely to seek out prostitution. According to the nonprofit Fight The New Drug, which relies on dozens of studies for its pornography data, “Men who go to prostitutes are twice as likely to have watched a porn film in the last year compared to the general population.” FTND’s research also found that “when these customers show up, many come ready with porn images in hand to show the women they’re exploiting — many of which are human trafficking victims controlled by pimps — what they’ll be forced to do.”

We know that pornography use has grown to epidemic proportions in our society. According to Enough.org, the online pornography industry makes $3,000 every second, and 30 percent of the internet is used for porn. Not to mention that the average age for children being exposed to pornography is 14, which means half of them access it younger. Priests who hear confessions know how many people struggle with pornography addictions of various degrees. These people don’t want to look at pornography but find it difficult to resist.

Ninety-three percent of men have seen pornography by the time they are 18, and 23 percent of them said they tried to stop watching it but could not. Studies show that pornography creates a drug-like addiction that distorts the individual’s view on sexuality. It also trains the mind to expect sexual fulfillment on demand, and to continually seek more explicit or violent content to create the same high.

To help deal with this difficult issue, we have invited FTND to come to this year’s Archdiocesan Men’s Conference, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. March 10 at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. Its presenters will help educate all the men about the

en las que probablemente conocí a una mujer que estaba en esta peligrosa posición. Si hubiera sabido reconocer los signos, y lo que sé ahora sobre las organizaciones disponibles para ayudar como Breaking Free, podría haberle ofrecido una mano a esa joven. Es por eso que es importante para todos nosotros aprender las señales de que una mujer podría estar en peligro y saber qué tipo de ayuda podemos ofrecerle.

La otra realidad que esta presentación dejó en claro fue la conexión entre la pornografía y el tráfico sexual. Varios estudios han sido realizados por diversas organizaciones para mostrar que el mayor uso de la pornografía hace que los hombres sean más propensos a buscar la prostitución. Según la organización sin fines de lucro Fight The New Drug, que se basa en docenas de estudios para sus datos de pornografía, “los hombres que van a prostitutas tienen el doble de probabilidades de haber visto una película porno en el último año en comparación con la población general”.

FTND La investigación también descubrió que “cuando estos clientes aparecen, muchos se preparan con imágenes pornográficas para mostrar a las mujeres a las que explotan, muchas de las cuales son víctimas de la trata de personas controladas por proxenetas, lo que se verán obligados a hacer”.

Sabemos que el uso de la pornografía ha crecido a proporciones epidémicas en nuestra sociedad. Según Enough.org, la industria de la pornografía en línea gana $ 3,000 por segundo, y el 30 por ciento de internet se usa para pornografía. Sin mencionar que la edad promedio para los niños expuestos a la pornografía es 14, lo

“

All of us need this healing that Christ offers through his teaching on the beauty of chaste love. dangers of pornography as well as offer practical resources for those who are trying to break free from this addiction.

These issues point to an important aspect of the Catholic Church’s teaching about redemption. We have deep in our tradition this understanding that all of us need to be redeemed and to be made holy — even our sexuality. This was the purpose of St. John Paul II’s incredible writing on the theology of the body, to show us how to redeem our bodies as Christ wants.

All of us are wounded to varying degrees in our sexuality. All of us need this healing that Christ offers through his teaching on the beauty of chaste love. If we ignore this teaching, as history has shown us since the sexual revolution, the wounds created by broken sexuality will grow.

It is important that we help everyone wounded by the effects of the sexual revolution learn about the healing power of Christ’s love. Through the sacraments, through prayer, through the right kind of love and support, Christ wants to heal the wounds of sexuality in everyone. I especially invite men to come to this year’s men’s conference to learn how to help heal these wounds.

For more information about Fight the New Drug, visit For information about internet filters, visit covenanteyes.org. For more information and to register for the Archdiocesan Men’s Conference, visit thecatholicwatchmen.com. fightthenewdrug.org.

que significa que la mitad de ellos accede a ella más joven. Los sacerdotes que escuchan confesiones saben cuántas personas luchan contra las adicciones a la pornografía en diversos grados. Estas personas no quieren mirar pornografía, pero les resulta muy difícil resistirse.

Noventa y tres por ciento de los hombres han visto pornografía cuando tienen 18 años, y el 23 por ciento de ellos dijeron que intentaron dejar de verla pero no pudieron hacerlo. Los estudios demuestran que la pornografía crea una adicción similar a las drogas que distorsiona la visión del individuo sobre la sexualidad. También entrena la mente para esperar la satisfacción sexual a pedido y para buscar continuamente contenido más explícito o violento para crear la misma altura.

Para ayudar a lidiar con este difícil tema, hemos invitado a FTND a asistir a la Conferencia Arquidiocesana de Hombres de este año, de 9:30 a.m. a 4:30 p.m. 10 de marzo en la Academia St. Thomas en Mendota Heights. Ayudarán a educar a todos los hombres sobre los peligros de la pornografía, así como a ofrecer recursos prácticos para aquellos que intentan liberarse de esta adicción.

Estos problemas apuntan a un aspecto importante de las enseñanzas de la Iglesia Católica sobre la redención. Tenemos una tradición profunda en esta comprensión de que todos nosotros debemos ser redimidos y santificados, incluso nuestra sexualidad. Este fue el propósito de la increíble escritura de San Juan Pablo II sobre la teología del cuerpo, para mostrarnos cómo redimir nuestros cuerpos como Cristo quiere. Todos nosotros estamos heridos en diversos

grados en nuestra sexualidad. Todos nosotros necesitamos esta curación que Cristo ofrece a través de su enseñanza sobre la belleza del amor casto. Si ignoramos esta enseñanza, como la historia nos ha mostrado desde la revolución sexual, las heridas creadas por la sexualidad rota crecerán.

Es importante que ayudemos a todos los heridos por los efectos de la revolución sexual a aprender sobre el poder sanador del amor de Cristo. A través de los sacramentos, a través de la oración, a través del tipo correcto de amor y apoyo, Cristo quiere sanar las heridas de la sexualidad en todos. Invito especialmente a los hombres a asistir a la conferencia de hombres de este año para aprender cómo ayudar a sanar estas heridas.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Effective February 1, 2018 Reverend Albert Backmann, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of the Transfiguration in Oakdale. Father Backmann is a retired priest of the Archdiocese.

Reverend Michael Tix, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Anne in Le Sueur. This is in addition to his current assignment as Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and Parish Services for the Archdiocese and Chaplain to the Academy of the Holy Angels in Richfield.

Father Andrew Stueve will continue as pastor of the same parish.

‘Angel’ among us

4B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

SLICEof LIFE LOCAL

St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Avis Allmaras, center, talks with Rose Carter, left, and Irene Eiden at Peace House in south Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis goes to the center weekly and visits frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of St. William in Fridley, is a lay consociate Patty Chmielewski, center, of Risen Savior in is of the Carondelet Sisters.

Peace House Burnsville and Dick Powell of Woodbury dance a day shelter for the poor and homeless. the polka played by Dave Sowada, “It’stoamusic real privilege to know these people right, and both of St. Timothy in “I andTodd hearJurek, their stories,” Sister Avis said.

Blaine,could duringnot thesurvive 40th annual on theConcertina streets like Bowl they at Brookhall Event in Blaine.

The event is do. There areCenter so many gifted people sponsored bySaid the Blaine/Coon Rapids here.”

Carter of Sister Avis:Knights “She’s of Columbus Council No.hides 5141.her The eventunder was that an angel.

She wings startedsweatshirt. by four St. Timothy She trulyparishioners, is an angel.” including ArtHrbacek/The Ohotto, 77, who still runs Dave Catholic Spiritit. He plays the concertina during the event, which lasts 11 hours and features a number of concertina players and polka bands. The concertina is anCatholic instrument thatWeek operates National Sisters is and soundsMarch like the8-14. accordion, although it’s smaller.

An official component of “I’ve had a love affair with the concertina since Women’s History Month and I was 6headquartered years old,” saidatOhotto, a member of the St. Catherine University Knights.in“We started out with $1 admission.

It St. Paul, the week celebrates women just grew and grew, and it’s turned out to to the be a religious and their contributions wonderful fundraiser for theView Knights Church and society. localofevents, Columbus and a wonderful reunion.

The people including two art exhibitions, at wait forwww this.nationalcatholicsistersweek all year.” Chmielewski is a.org polka . promoter who hosts polka radio and TV shows with her husband, Michael Bell.

SLICEof LIFE

Polka party

Celebrating sisters

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LOCAL

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5B

Knights, Birk kick off Super Bowl week with coat donations

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Students of St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School in Minneapolis enthusiastically donned new coats as current and former members of the Minnesota Vikings greeted them Jan. 29.

Vikings backup quarterback Kyle Sloter and former lineman Matt Birk high-fived the children, posed with them for photos and signed autographs. Sloter and Birk partnered with the Knights of Columbus’ annual Coats for Kids drive, which takes place each Super Bowl week in the game’s host city.

Catholic Athletes for Christ, a nationwide ministry serving professional and amateur athletes, co-sponsored the event.

“It’s another example of how I think the Knights step up and do good things,” said Birk, a member of the Knights of Columbus and 1994 graduate of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. “With the Super Bowl here, it’s a good time to remind people of what’s important. It’s not the be-all and end-all.”

The Knights distributed the donated coats to the school’s 119 students in the gym during a morning program that included a bit of the pageantry that enveloped the city the week of the game.

Multiple videographers and photographers surveyed the crowd, capturing an event the Knights’ Connecticut-based Supreme Council has organized annually since the 2009 Super Bowl.

“You can see they [the students] are excited. These kids usually don’t have these kinds of opportunities to meet these people,” said Edgar Alfonzo, the school’s principal, speaking of the encounter with NFL players.

Members of Minnesota Knights of Columbus councils helped to distribute the coats donated by the

HOMELESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B “It went pretty smoothly. Folks were in pretty high spirits for most of the weekend,” said Michelle Perrin, a shelter advocate for St. Stephen’s Human Services.

St. Stephen’s, a non-religious organization in Minneapolis founded by parishioners of St. Stephen in Minneapolis, worked with St. Olaf on the move and cared for the guests during their stay. St. Stephen’s staff asked The Catholic Spirit to use only first names of their homeless guests in this story.

Around 20 volunteers from St. Olaf served food throughout the weekend and visited with guests. Guests slept on mattresses, moved from First Covenant, in the St. Olaf social hall, a large room adorned with chandeliers.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Carly Hilgers, right, a junior at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria, walks down Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis Feb. 1 along with other marchers, including junior Megan Meckey, left, of Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Matt Birk, left, former Minnesota Vikings player and a member of the Knights of Columbus, shakes hands with second-grader David Arcentales of St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School in Minneapolis during the Coats for Kids program Jan. 29. At right is Knights member Patrick Farrelly of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove. He is the state chairman of Coats for Kids.

Supreme Council, which invited Birk and the Vikings to participate.

Birk spoke to the student body about teamwork and faith. He also reminded the students of their God-given dignity.

“Football players are just like you. You have good days and bad days. Football players are children of God as well,” said Birk, who spent 11 years with the Vikings and played for the Baltimore Ravens when the team won the 2012 Super Bowl. He works as a special adviser to the NFL and as a professional speaker.

Sloter, who grew up Methodist, said he appreciated the purpose of the Coats for Kids event. He participated in Fellowship of Christian Athletes while attending the University of Northern Colorado before he joined the Vikings. He wants to make giving back to the community a significant part of his professional sports career, too.

“The Vikings just really present opportunities for the players to come out and give back to the community,” Sloter said. “Now,

that we’re in the off-season, I feel like I have a bigger responsibility to go out and do some things, try to help out, give back and make people’s day as much as I can.”

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens spoke to the students during the event, reminding them that even those coats are a sign of God’s love for them. Father Michael Van Sloun, pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata and Catholic chaplain for the Vikings, also addressed the students, explaining that football players have the same call to holiness as everyone else. Archbishop Bernard Hebda also attended the event.

Mark McMullen, who was there to represent the Supreme Council, said the event has led to the donation of more than 500,000 new coats since its inception.

Knights councils around the U.S. participate in Coats for Kids throughout the year.

“This is the most visible program we do,” McMullen said. “This winter season, 100,000 coats have been ordered throughout the United States and Canada.”

“This location is spectacular,” said Shawn, one of the guests. “I know this is a banquet room where I’m [staying], but they made it work.”

“A lot of people have been doing this for so long, for so many years, it’s a cycle for them,” Melissa said about homelessness.

“It’s hard to get out.”

Stephany, also a guest, said she would look at the chandeliers as she fell asleep. She also found something more than a good night’s rest.

“I was really at peace when I came here,” she said. “They [St. Olaf] had a lot of volunteers to just sit down and speak with you.”

Stephany said part of her homelessness has been a healing process, which began with getting away from a domestic violence situation. Shawn’s path to homelessness resulted from rent payment issues. Melissa, a Boston native and Patriots fan, has been homeless for five years due to a poor rental history, although she has held a job.

St. Olaf parishioners reach out to the homeless beyond Super Bowl weekend. Its Samaritan ministry provides hospitality to the homeless, and the parish hosts Adult Shelter Connect, a resource program funded by Hennepin County. It also owns the Exodus Residence, a transitional home for recently homeless people run by Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“That’s one of the main reasons why I like to come to St. Olaf — the very strong commitment to the homeless,” said Margaret Lauer, a St. Olaf parishioner who volunteered for the Super Bowl party.

DeLaSalle: Girls are not for sale Students march in downtown Minneapolis to oppose human trafficking

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Students from several local Catholic high schools braved temperatures in the single digits to march in downtown Minneapolis Feb. 1 to raise awareness of human trafficking and send a clear message that the criminal practice should not be tolerated.

With shouts of “Pimps and johns go home, leave our girls alone,” more than 100 students, teachers and parents led by local activist K.G. Wilson gathered at DeLaSalle High School and marched downtown on Hennepin Avenue. The peaceful march was organized

by Peg Hodapp, vice president for Lasallian ministry at the school. About 40 DeLaSalle students participated in a group that numbered more than 100. Students from Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield and Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria also participated.

DeLaSalle junior and march participant Bianca Malone lives just one block from the school. Recently, she was walking on a nearby street and had an encounter that brought the trafficking issue home.

“This man approached me and said, ‘Do you want to make extra cash?’” said Malone, who quickly realized he was trying to lure her into prostitution, which often leads to trafficking. “I said, ‘Wow, this is real. This is scary.’ It spooked me, definitely.”

Terry Forliti, executive director of Breaking Free, a local organization that helps trafficking victims, also joined in the march, and students carried signs with Breaking Free’s message and website.

Hodapp was glad to offer the opportunity for the students to get involved in combating sex trafficking and bringing awareness to both locals and visitors in town for the Super Bowl. All students at the school got a lesson about human trafficking before the march took place.

“We just wanted to do a peaceful march. The kids got really excited about it,” she said. “I just was really impressed with the fact that people came out despite the cold and were willing to suffer a little bit in order to bring awareness to this cause.”

in BRIEF Minnesota Holocaust survivors’ portraits on display at Basilica MINNEAPOLIS — Portraits of Holocaust survivors living in Minnesota will be on display in the exhibition “Transfer of Memory” at the Basilica of St. Mary through March 11. Located in the Pope John XXIII Gallery and Teresa of Calcutta Hall, the exhibition’s photos accompany the 47 featured survivors’ written stories of life and hope. The exhibition was created by photographer David Sherman and writer Lili Chester in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. An opening reception will be 1-3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Basilica.

For more information, visit transferofmemory.org.

LOCAL

6B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

MCC’s 2018 legislative agenda shows relationship between issues

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Everything is connected. It’s a point at the core of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’,” and it’s an axiom the Minnesota Catholic Conference plans to emphasize during the Minnesota State Legislature’s 2018 session, which begins Feb. 20.

“The purpose ... is to transcend the partisan divide, and at the same time, help legislators understand the connection between the issues,” said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director.

Adkins identified two themes — fighting the commodification of the human person and caring for “our common home” — that will shape the crux of the MCC’s work this session. Because Minnesota’s government is divided between a Democratic governor and Republican-led legislature, there’s not a lot of hope of getting significant work done, Adkins said.

So, as the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, the MCC is looking for places where laws can be “prudently improved.”

Within the MCC’s first theme, fighting human commodification, the MCC is backing legislation that aims to create new fines and penalties for illegal pornography activities, such as child pornography use, that will fund the state’s Safe Harbor Program, which fights sex trafficking and helps victims. The bill “publicly recognizes the link between pornography and human trafficking,” Adkins said.

“Pornography is really just prostitution caught on film.”

Within the same theme, the MCC is also supporting the creation of a regulatory framework around the practice of commercial gestational surrogacy in the state, based on recommendations made by the 2016 legislative commission that studied the issue. Prior to this year, the MCC had opposed the creation of a surrogacy market

Capitol 101 The Minnesota Catholic Conference is launching a new initiative: three Capitol 101 events to help Catholics understand the legislative process and key issues, and visit the State Capitol. The event will run 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 26, March 16 and April 17. For more information, visit mncatholic.org. MCC is also partnering with the Archdiocesan Council Catholic Women for an advocacy day Feb. 22 (See story below).

MCC also co-sponsors the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition and its annual Day on the Hill, an ecumenical effort to combat poverty and work for social justice, March 13. For more information, visit jrlc.org. through legislation. MCC’s proposed regulatory framework would allow some surrogacy arrangements, but commercial surrogacy — in which surrogates and brokers receive compensation — would be banned. Like the MCC’s approach to ending abortion, Adkins said, supporting robust surrogacy regulation in a state without any is an incremental approach toward “a better solution.”

The second of the MCC’s 2018 themes — care for “our common home” — involves three pieces of legislation. The first is to enshrine in Minnesota law that the right to water is a fundamental human right and that access to safe drinking water is a policy that always should be considered in decision-making about the state’s natural resources. The legislation is the Human Right to Water Bill, H.F.1095/S.F. 1968.

The second legislative piece aims to combat water scarcity issues by allowing system implementation for wastewater recycling, or the use of “gray water” — such as water collected from rain gutters — in construction projects, thereby reducing wastewater treatment burdens on local governments. The practice of diverting wastewater for use is limited in some municipalities, Adkins said, and this legislation aims to encourage the use of gray water systems.

The third part is affordable housing. MCC is backing

legislation that would promote the preservation of existing lowincome housing and bonds to build more.

“Connecting the cry of the earth with the cry of the poor [and] care for our common home also means not just natural ecology, but [also] human ecology, and affordable housing is a key factor in fighting poverty,” Adkins said.

He said the issues are likely to draw bipartisan support.

Going forward, MCC expects to select advocacy themes that will combine two or three pieces of legislation for each session. Adkins hopes this approach makes its objectives clearer, both to legislators and Catholics.

“People are often confused about what ties our advocacy together,” Adkins said, noting that many other policy organizations have a narrow focus. “We want to be more intentional about saying these things are connected. This is why we’re doing this: because we want to fight the commodification of human persons, and we want to care for our common home.”

Adkins anticipates that the session’s big issue will be state tax law conformity with the federal tax bill Congress passed in December.

MCC is exploring how the law might impact larger families and charitable contributions. Adkins is optimistic that its 529 savings plan expansion for tuition will have a positive impact on Catholic education (see page 15B).

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Cathy Frazier of St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul hopes to bring her faith into policy in her role as a legislative district leader.

Catholic Advocay Network district leader reflects on new role Cathy Frazier grew up in a home where religion and politics were discussed around the dinner table, and she and five of her siblings were known to divide into partisan camps. Decades later, she’s decided to delve more deeply into influencing policymaking by volunteering as a district leader with the Catholic Advocacy Network.

A parishioner of St. Louis, King of France in downtown St. Paul, Frazier is working to help parishes in Minnesota legislative District 52, which includes her home in West St. Paul, to identify ambassadors who can keep their parishes informed about what’s going on at the state and U.S. capitols.

Thanks, in part, to her parents’ influence, Frazier has always voted and, in some years, participated in the local March for Life. Attending last year’s Catholics at the Capitol event organized by the Minnesota Catholic Conference motivated her to get serious about political involvement.

“I’ve always felt as a Catholic and as an American citizen, it was somehow my duty to be involved in the political process,” said Frazier, 52.

She was attracted to the district leader role’s emphasis on civic responsibility from a nonpartisan, faith-based perspective. “That’s what I think the Catholic faith can really offer now, especially with all of the partisanship on both sides of issues,” she said.

“I’ve felt like the Catholic social teaching and Catholic moral teaching [have] always been straight down the middle, and ... it has a lot of common sense in it and a lot of tolerance.”

An MCC initiative, the Catholic Advocacy Network is a growing effort to engage Catholics in communitybased advocacy. The district leader role is new, and Frazier said it’s still taking shape. She noted that it can feel uncomfortable to talk about policy — especially in a divisive political climate — but she sees that as a small sacrifice. “This service is not just to your Church, it’s to your country,” Frazier said.

— Maria Wiering

ACCW Legislative Day headed to State Capitol for first time

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Inspired by last year’s Catholics at the Capitol event, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women will take its Feb. 22 Legislative Day to the Minnesota Capitol this year.

Since starting the event 30 years ago, ACCW has typically held its biennial Legislative Day at a hotel with a few legislators present. This year, ACCW will adopt a format similar to the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s Catholics at the Capitol event, which included meeting legislators in their offices. The organization is partnering with the MCC to make it happen.

“We thought we’d keep on the momentum, which I think kind of worked out because of the great numbers that came,” said Denise Haaland, ACCW Legislative Day chair, regarding Catholics at the Capitol’s success, “even if we’re at a small level.”

ACCW Legislative Day will include a morning program at the Cathedral of St. Paul with presentations

on key local legislative issues related to Catholic social teaching. Terry Forliti, executive director of Breaking Free, will present the keynote address on the connection between pornography and human trafficking.

Her St. Paul-based nonprofit works to free women from sex trafficking.

DEBBIE KELLER Attendees will also learn about gestational surrogacy, in which a woman becomes pregnant and carries a baby on behalf of another parent.

Leaders from the MCC will also prepare the attendees to meet with their representatives.

ACCW President Debbie Keller saw the importance of taking Legislative Day to the Capitol. When she attended Catholics at the Capitol, she was surprised that only one-fourth of the people on her bus said they had visited the Capitol before.

“That did something to me,” she said, “because I

thought, ‘What? Why are not more people going?’”

It led to a conversation between Keller and MCC Executive Director Jason Adkins about partnering for Legislative Day. “This is just the perfect way for people who went to Catholics at the Capitol, people who didn’t, people who wish they could go [or] people [who] have never heard of it, to be able to have another opportunity to either continue some of those relationships that they made or start new ones,” said Rachel Herbeck, MCC policy and outreach coordinator.

While Legislative Day will draw from 73 ACCW councils in the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis, the event is also open to all Catholic women and men.

“I’ve found through the years that I have something that every single political person or legislator wants, and that’s my vote,” said Joan McGrath, ACCW vice chairwoman of religious affairs. “That’s what I think we always have to remember is that we do each have a vote.”

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7B

Panelists: Invitation, community can connect millennials to Church

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Passing on the faith to the next generation doesn’t happen automatically.

Father Spencer Howe, pastor of Holy Cross in Minneapolis, articulated that fact while moderating a panel discussion on millennials for a crowd of more than 50 people Jan. 25 at St. Therese in Deephaven. He referred to Pope St. John Paul II’s metaphor of each new generation being a “whole new continent that has never experienced Christ.”

The five panelists at the Catholic Community Foundation event included leaders in youth and young adult ministry. They assessed current challenges and explained how their resources have made a difference in the lives of millennials.

Studies have found that millennials, identified as those born in the early 1980s to mid-1990s, and postmillennials, those born later, have disappeared from the Church in droves.

“I think the Church is at stake, and even broader than that, I think our society’s at stake,” said panelist Mark Berchem, founder and president of NET Ministries. “As Catholics, we’re known for educating people, our medical care [and] our outreach to the poor. Without the Catholic Church alive and vibrant, our society begins to fall apart.”

Father Howe said that the Church offers three things that can draw millennials back: authenticity, community and purpose.

Panelist Nell O’Leary Alt, managing editor of women’s online ministry Blessed Is She, touched on millennials’ challenge to find purpose in suffering.

She said they tend to avoid suffering, but the Church offers an answer to the ageless question of suffering’s purpose.

“The Church offers us a way to enter into that ‘kerygma,’ that cross, death and resurrection of Christ,” Alt said. “That’s one of the most authentic things about

our faith.”

Jimmy Dunn, director of youth ministry for Annunciation in Minneapolis, said too much of a gap develops between high school seniors’ graduation and when they become new parents bringing a baby for baptism.

Dunn said he often sees youths become disengaged after youth ministry involvement, get married outside the Church in destination weddings and not show up again until they want their children baptized.

“There’s not enough programs for young adults,” Dunn said. “They want to continue with that community [and] they want to continue with authenticity [from youth ministry], but that’s where we’re lacking.”

Several of the panelists described community through parish events, young adult-oriented Masses and mission trips as a game changer in their faith lives and in the lives of people they serve.

Panelist Dave Rahe, a parishioner of Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, said he has seen community make a difference in his parish’s life. His wife and fellow younger mothers in the parish formed a Mothers of Preschoolers group, which also inspired the husbands to form a men’s group.

“People want it,” Rahe said of community. “[We] need to take action and make it happen.”

Fellow panelist Vincenzo Randazzo spoke of Vespers at Lourdes, a program at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis where young adults pray evening prayer, hear a speaker and socialize. The director of advancement for St. Stephen in Minneapolis, Randazzo noted the simplicity of the event has really been a vehicle of “opening the doors” for the parish. He added that’s a place where a significant number of people have met their spouses.

“I call it ‘Catholic singles 3D’, where you can leave your computer and actually meet with people. The Church has always done things like this — people have met their spouse at a

DAVE HRBACEK | COURTESY CCF

Nell O’Leary Alt, third from left, makes a point during a Giving Insights forum at St. Therese in Deephaven Jan. 25. It was sponsored by the Catholic Community Foundation. Others on the panel are, from left, Father Spencer Howe, Mark Berchem, Dave Rahe, Jimmy Dunn and Vincenzo Randazzo. church social, a church meeting,” said Randazzo, who also serves as the men’s evangelization manager for the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Alt said that even the online communities of Blessed Is She are focused on making in-person connections through brunches.

Dunn credited Annunciation’s current pastor, Father Brian Park, with adapting the Mass schedule to unite youths in the parish via a Sunday evening Mass. Dunn also noted that building community must go beyond a person receiving Communion and being greeted at the doors for Mass. It often takes an invitation, he said.

Steven Zettel, 23, who attended the forum, experienced the importance of invitation while a student at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Zettel said a Fellowship of Catholic University Students missionary invited him to a

Bible study, and he stayed involved in FOCUS throughout college.

“That’s the main area we need to focus on,” said Zettel, now a parishioner of St. Gabriel in Hopkins, speaking of the concept of invitation.

The Catholic Community Foundation, a St. Paul-based nonprofit, hosted the event as part of its Giving Insights forum series exploring contemporary issues facing the Church. CCF stewards the philanthropic, financial resources of Catholic individuals, families and organizations to support missions and ministries that strengthen the Catholic community in Minnesota. Its next Giving Insights event is March 12 with a focus on helping young mothers and children break the cycle of poverty.

“We have learned and work really hard to learn more about what the needs are in this community and where are the resources to meet those needs,” said CCF President Anne Cullen Miller.

Father Dosh remembered for pro-life work, prayer, laughter

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Having known Father Mark Dosh for 40 years, Mary Ann Kuharski said it was “a privilege” to be with Father Dosh when he died Feb. 1 at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Holy Family Residence in St. Paul.

He was 85 and had served as an associate at St. Charles Borromeo from 1978-1980, where Kuharski and her husband, John, are members.

“We’ve been doing vigil with him for two weeks,” said Kuharski, who has been active in the pro-life movement and founded Prolife Across America in 1989 with Father Dosh’s encouragement. “It was a beautiful passing, very peaceful. We were saying the Divine Mercy [Chaplet], another gal and I, over his bed. It was like he had a big release and sigh, and went on to our Lord. That was beautiful.”

Father Dosh has been an important friend to the Kuharski family since the 1970s. He spent a lot of time at the house and got to know the Kuharski children — seven biological and six adopted.

“He was there for baptisms and Communions and graduations,” she said.

“We went to the lake cabin, and he’d have Mass at the cabin for our family.”

Her introduction to the man many of his devoted parishioners called a prayerful priest came after he arrived at St. Charles. She had been very active in the prolife movement.

“I was doing some political rag of a paper FATHER MARK DOSH telling people how to vote, and he was just assigned an associate at St. Charles parish,” she said. “He rang my doorbell and said, ‘How do you do?’

When I opened up my hand, he had a twenty dollar bill, and he said, ‘Keep writing the truth.’ So then, he started coming over for dinner and playing cards and games with my kids.”

That kind of relationship came throughout his parish ministry, which included 16 years at St. John the Baptist in Excelsior, from 1997 until 2013, when he retired from active ministry.

Longtime parishioners Howard and

Joan Johnson got to know Father Dosh through weekly dinners at their home, which continued to the time when he moved into the Little Sister’s residence several months ago.

“Basically, it was downtime, and we’d watch murder mysteries,” Joan said. “He loved Poirot, Miss Marple [both created by mystery writer Agatha Christie], all those kinds of things. It was dinner and lots and lots of laughs, and then a murder mystery.”

She noted that he was assigned to the parish by Archbishop Harry Flynn to help navigate members through what she called “a very rough time.” She said he “laid down a good, strong foundation” that focused on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the lives of the saints.

“He thought he would only be there for 18 months,” she said. “But … the parish just loved him. He was the right man at the right time.”

The 16-year assignment in Excelsior was the longest for Father Dosh, who grew up in south Minneapolis and attended St. Helena. He later went to

now-closed Nazareth Hall College Seminary in St. Paul, and then studied at the American College in Louvain, Belgium, for six years before his priesthood ordination in 1958. He then served at St. Helena for two weeks before going to Rome for further studies.

Upon his return in 1961, he served as an instructor at the St. Paul Seminary until 1978 and then took the assignment at St. Charles. After leaving St. Charles, he served as pastor of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake until 1993, when he went to the archdiocesan mission in Venezuela from 1993-1997. He was also an exorcist for the archdiocese.

Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, said Father Dosh gave away everything he had — literally.

“Father spent most of his money on other people; he was always giving money to families that he knew were in need,” Father Johnson said. “That’s how he spent his salary, giving [away] thousands and thousands of dollars.”

The funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 6, with interment in Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights.

8B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

NATION+WORLD Lent a time to become aware of false prophets, cold hearts, pope says

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Catholics should use the season of Lent to look for signs and symptoms of being under the spell of false prophets and of living with cold, selfish and hateful hearts, Pope Francis said.

Together with “the often bitter medicine of the truth,” the Church — as mother and teacher — offers people “the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting,” the pope said in his message for Lent, which begins Feb. 14 for Latin-rite Catholics.

The pope also invited all nonCatholics who are disturbed by the increasing injustice, inertia and indifference in the world, to “join us then in raising our plea to God in fasting and in offering whatever you can to our brothers and sisters in need.”

The pope’s Lenten message, which was released at the Vatican Feb. 6, looked at Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse to the disciples on the Mount of Olives, warning them of the many signs and calamities that will signal the end of time and the coming of the son of man.

Titled, “Because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt. 24:12), the papal message echoes Jesus’ caution against the external enemies of false prophets and deceit, and the internal dangers of selfishness, greed and a lack of love.

Today’s false prophets, the pope wrote, “can appear as ‘snake charmers,’ who manipulate human emotions in order to enslave others and lead them where they would have them go.”

So many of God’s children, he wrote, are “mesmerized by momentary pleasures, mistaking them for true happiness”; enchanted by money’s illusion, “which only makes th em slaves to profit and petty interests”; and convinced they are autonomous and “sufficient unto themselves, and end up entrapped by loneliness!”

“False prophets can also be ‘charlatans,’ who offer easy and immediate solutions to suffering that soon prove utterly useless,” he wrote.

People can be trapped by the allure of drugs, “disposable relationships,” easy, but dishonest gains as well as “virtual,” but ultimately meaningless relationships, he wrote.

“These swindlers, in peddling things that have no real value, rob people of all that is most precious: dignity, freedom and the ability to love,” the message said.

The pope asked people to examine their hearts to see “if we are falling prey to the lies of these false prophets” and to learn to look at things more closely “beneath the surface,” and recognize that what comes from God is life-giving and leaves “a good and lasting mark on our hearts.”

in BRIEF Lord’s Prayer: Germans Training for mission: stick with wording; Italians Pope revises norms to change at Mass for theology, philosophy ROME — After special study, the studies German bishops’ conference decided to stick with the traditional wording in the Lord’s Prayer while the Italian bishops’ conference has decided to change the words of the prayer in their translation of the Roman Missal. The decisions come after the French bishops decided that beginning early December last year, French Catholics would change the line “lead us not into temptation” to the equivalent of “do not let us enter into temptation.” French-speaking Catholics in Benin and Belgium began using the new translation at Pentecost last June.

The common Spanish translation already is “no nos dejes caer en la tentacion” or “do not let us fall into temptation.” The issue got wide attention after Pope Francis discussed the line “and lead us not into temptation” with Father Marco Pozza, a Catholic prison chaplain, Dec. 6 as part of a television series on the Lord’s Prayer.

Pope and Turkish president discuss Jerusalem, Mideast peace VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Vatican Feb. 5 for a private discussion that included the status of Jerusalem and the need to achieve peace in the Middle East through dialogue and respect for human rights. During a 50-minute meeting, the two leaders discussed the current situation in Turkey, “the condition of the Catholic community, efforts in the reception of the many refugees and the challenges linked to this,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Aided by interpreters, Pope Francis and Erdogan also focused on “the situation in the Middle East, with particular reference to the status of Jerusalem, highlighting the need to promote peace and stability in the region through dialogue and negotiation, with respect for human rights and international law.” The same topics were brought up during Erdogan’s separate meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister. Erdogan arrived in Rome amid heavy security measures for a two-day visit that was to include meetings with Italian authorities and business leaders. Demonstrations had been banned in Rome’s center for 24 hours.

VATICAN CITY — Catholic university programs in philosophy, theology and canon law — especially those designed for future priests — must be marked by fidelity to Church tradition, academic rigor and an awareness of the challenges to belief in the modern world, Pope Francis said. In the apostolic constitution “Veritatis Gaudium” (“The Joy of Truth”), the pope issued revised norms for what are known as “ecclesiastical universities and faculties” — those that grant Vaticanrecognized degrees, which are necessary for teaching most philosophy, theology and canon law courses in seminaries and pontifical universities. Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, presented the document to the press Jan. 29 at the Vatican, saying it “indicates the meaning and, more specifically, the basic criteria for a renewal and relaunching of the contribution of ecclesiastical studies to a missionary Church that ‘goes forth.’” The constitution replaces “Sapientia Christiana” (“Christian Wisdom”), an apostolic constitution issued by St. John Paul II in 1979.

Vatican, China nearing agreement on bishops, according to reports VATICAN CITY — Multiple news reports indicate the Vatican has made substantial progress in reaching an agreement with China’s communist government on the naming of bishops for several dioceses. Reuters and The Wall Street Journal both reported Feb. 1 that the deal would involve two bishops recognized by the Holy See stepping aside to make way for two bishops chosen by the government-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association; the new bishops would have to recognize the authority of the pope and ask forgiveness for having accepted ordination without papal approval. Both articles relied on unnamed sources at the Vatican. Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, would not comment when contacted by Catholic News Service Feb. 2. However, the reports coincide with claims made by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired archbishop of Hong Kong, who announced in late January that he had met personally with Pope Francis.

— Catholic News Service

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

NATION+WORLD

Church called to work for unity in time of paralyzing polarization

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Pope Francis’ invitation to encounter people at their station in life offers a starting point to overcome the deep polarization that marks public life, speakers told participants at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.

Panelists during a Feb. 5 session at the annual Washington meeting of 500 Church social service providers and justice advocates agreed that encountering others is not easy and requires going outside of one’s comfort zone, but said that dialogue and finding common ground is what the pope envisions for a hurting world.

From the sacraments to the tenets of Catholic social teaching, the grounds for encounter are rooted in Church tradition, they said.

The 85-minute conversation on “Moving From a Throwaway Culture to a Culture of Encounter” covered wide-ranging topics, exploring the broad outline of Catholic social teaching as a tool to build understanding while touching on the theology behind the pope’s call to encounter.

“We are not merely called to unity. We actually are unified as a Church because our unity resides in our baptism. It resides in the body of the Lord,” said Jesuit Father Matthew Malone, president and editor-in-chief of America Media. “Truth is a person, the person of Jesus Christ. The way, the truth and the light.

So, we do not in a sense possess the truth. As Christians, as disciples, we actually live in the hope that he possesses us,” he said.

“When we recognize that the true source of our unity” is Jesus, “then our interactions with

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9B

HEADLINES

others are more likely to be encounters rather than mere confrontations,” he added.

R.R. Reno, editor of First Things, an interdenominational and interreligious journal, approached the idea of unity and solidarity from a different perspective.

Reno suggested the challenges society is facing resulted from “opening things up,” pointing to “open borders, open minds, open societies” as contributing to a weakening of national and familial solidarity and the decline of social groups working toward a common cause.

“One thing we need to do is ... to stop cheerleading for openness, fluidity and diversity. They have become words of deconsolidation and disillusion of solid things,” Reno said, admitting his view likely would be “controversial” within the gathering.

He also suggested moving from Pope Francis’ idea that the Church is a field hospital treating the wounded to one where the Church is more permanently rooted and gives “people a place to stand” through the “solid elements of faith” to engage the world.

Encounter and understanding can be served by spreading the tenets of faith found in the Church’s “strongest resource,” that being Catholic social teaching, maintained Sister Patricia Chappell, executive director of Pax Christi USA and a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She called for the Church to be on the ground listening to people’s struggles and challenges. If the Church takes such teaching to heart, she explained, differences among people will lessen and the unity of the body of Christ will be strengthened because no one will be pushed aside.

The destroyed dome of Our Lady of Angels Church is seen in 2017 following the September earthquake in Mexico City.

CNS | FRANCISCO GUASCO, EPA

uMexican bishops: Most churches damaged in September quakes were

historic. A report from the Mexican bishops’ conference has cataloged 1,850 damaged churches — including 17 cathedrals — due to the twin earthquakes that shook the country in September. The report, released Jan. 29, found that 1,603 of damaged churches were cataloged as “historic” buildings.

uIrish government to hold referendum on right to life of mother, child. If

passed, the vote would allow parliament to legislate for abortion. Health Minister Simon Harris has said in this case, he would bring forward a proposal to permit abortion on request up to eight weeks gestation.

uSouth Korean bishop hopes Winter Olympics are steppingstone to peace.

“We should make hay while the sun shines. We need to see this precious opportunity as a chance for coexistence and a new era where future generations freely go and come between the two Koreas,” said Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon, president of the Korean bishops’ Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People.

uPro-life leaders decry Senate failure to pass 20-week abortion ban.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York expressed concern that abortions carried out in the second half of pregnancy usually involve dismemberment of the unborn child and pose dangers to the mother.

Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Annulment Questions?

Staff members of the Archdiocesan MetropolitanTribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the investigation into the possibility of nullity of the marriage bond (annulment process) at the Cathedral of St. Paul 239 Selby Ave, St. Paul February 14, Ash Wednesday during and after each Mass 7:30 am to 7pm For more information contact the Tribunal at 651-291-4466 No appointment necessary To learn more about the changes to the process, visit the Links page of the Tribunal web page, http://www.archspm.org/departments/metropolitan-tribunal/

10B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

2018 appeal increases goal, adds new ministry

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

T

his year, the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation is increasing both its fundraising goal and its impact, with the addition of another supported ministry.

Rachel’s Vineyard, a ministry for men and women seeking post-abortive healing, is joining the other 17 ministries the annual appeal previously supported in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“We wanted to have a pro-life ministry, and we didn’t really have [one],” said Greg Pulles, a CSAF board member.

Previously, Catholic Charities’ Seton Prenatal Clinic, which served expecting mothers, filled that niche, he said, but the clinic’s 2016 closure left a hole in the appeal’s pro-life impact.

He noted that the archdiocese’s Office for Marriage, Family and Life also does pro-life outreach, but the CSAF wanted one of the supported ministries to have that exclusive focus.

Rachel’s Vineyard “is a great organization that works really hard,” said Jennifer Beaudry, CSAF executive director. “The stories that we hear from them ... are just amazing. ... They’re talking about themselves having an abortion and how Rachel’s Vineyard has helped them through [the healing process].”

The CSAF is convinced it can raise additional funds to support a new ministry because the 2017 appeal exceeded its $9.3 million goal, drawing $9.8 million in pledges and an anticipated $9.5 million in funds collected. That outpouring of generosity from local Catholics gave the CSAF leadership confidence that Catholics can match that number again this year. Commitment weekend is Feb. 10-11 in parishes.

Additional funds raised through the increased goal will support the addition of Rachel’s Vineyard and a Catholic elementary school scholarship program it launched last year in partnership with the Aim Higher Foundation, as well as parish rebates, which leaders anticipate will proportionally increase. It’s the first time the Catholic Services Appeal goal has increased since the CSAF was created in 2013.

In last year’s appeal, the CSAF saw both the amount pledged and amount collected increase by 5 percent.

Last year, 124 parishes hit their appeal goal in collected dollars — one more than the previous year ­— and the CSAF returned 25 percent of funds raised. Parishes that raise more than 90 percent of their goal but less than 100 percent receive 10 percent of their funds raised back. The CSAF expects to return $1.9 million to parishes from the 2017 appeal, Beaudry said.

Also notable is the number of parishes that increased the amount of their appeal contributions by more than 20 percent, Pulles said. Some parishes also dropped below last year’s giving, but the number of parishes that increased their giving “far outweighed” those whose giving fell, he said.

The CSAF also brought in 39,900 gifts, a similar number to last year, but the average gift amount — $246 — was up $14 over the previous year. As of Jan. 30, the CSAF had distributed $6,529,000 to the collective ministries. The organization anticipates $1 million in expenses this year.

Several factors made the 2017 appeal a successful campaign, Beaudry said. Funds raised by the initial “in-pew ask” went up by $300,000 over the previous year, and the initial mailing was strong, she said. The Deo Gratias Society, composed of donors who give $1,500 or more, also grew by 10 percent, and web donations went up by $200,000. Its social media and email outreach to parishes has also grown, and it sends monthly emails to about 40,000 addresses.

“I think we’ve done each year a better job than the year before in telling the story of these ministries,” Pulles said.

The appeal supports ministries throughout the archdiocese that no one parish could support on its own, emphasized John Norris, CSAF president. He said he also appreciates Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s support.

Without the appeal, “there would be 18 ministries that would suffer immensely, and our archdiocese ... would lose these ministries,” Pulles said. “Many of these ministries could not survive without this money.”

POST-ABORTION HEALING

Rachel’s Vineyard hopes CSAF will increa

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

R

achel’s Vineyard Executive Director Nancy Blom has seen abortion impact the lives of mothers, fathers, grandparents and young people in her work.

After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Blom, who had been involved in pro-life work as a young adult, felt a calling to help people looking for postabortion healing. She likened the work of Rachel’s Vineyard to the story of the men lowering a sick man through the roof of a house to Jesus for healing.

“That’s what we do on the weekend retreat,” said Blom, a parishioner of St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.

This year, the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation added Rachel’s Vineyard to the ministries it funds in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Blom hopes that the additional CSA funding will help expand the availability of the retreat and widen people’s awareness of it.

Rachel’s Vineyard offers retreats for “all impacted by abortion loss,” Blom said. The retreat can help both women and men, young and old, address the

spiritual trauma that abortion causes.

Theresa Burke, a psychologist and founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, had researched abortion’s effects on women and men, finding that it often causes grief, shame and depression. Blom said it causes symptoms similar to posttraumatic stress disorder and can take decades or a lifetime to heal.

The Twin Cities’ location is one of 350 Rachel’s Vineyard sites worldwide.

The ministry offered its first retreat in Minnesota in 1999. Since then, more than 500 people have attended, honoring the memory of about 890 aborted babies. The retreat is offered three times per year at the Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center in Prior Lake.

Retreatants are invited into a healing process following the “pattern of Jesus,” Blom said. The retreat begins on Friday with a focus on the crucifixion.

On Saturday, the focus is on Jesus in the tomb, and Sunday’s focus is the resurrection. Retreatants participate in guided meditation on sacred Scripture and group discussion. Priests offer confession and celebrate Mass, but the retreat is open to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Still grappling decade participating in his then decision to abort, Bob R Hudson, Wisconsin, we retreat about eight years recommendation of a p He found that accepting forgiveness and develop bond with the baby mad

Reynolds, a member o Lutheran in Hudson, sa nearly daily for the inte baby.

“We had a memorial f huge part of my life now

Lisa Bursey, a board m Rachel’s Vineyard, also e Rachel’s Vineyard retrea She went in 2008 and fo forgiveness in the exper

“I went more because of going to confession, a hadn’t gone to confessio regards to the whole exp Bursey, a parishioner of St. Michael. “I found th lot more deeper, underly I didn’t even realize and work through those. Th biggest challenge — bein

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

CSAF partners with Aim Higher to benefit Cat

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

I

t simply made sense for the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation and Aim Higher Foundation to partner when their leaders saw how their scholarshipgranting cycles aligned.

“We’re both doing the same thing. Our mission for both of us is to try to help as many children as possible who have financial need, to have the opportunity to attend a Catholic school,” Aim Higher President Jean Houghton said.

Aim Higher, a nonprofit in St. Paul that offers tuition support for Catholic school students, partnered with CSAF last year for a new scholarship program.

With funds raised by the CSAF, Aim Higher administers $1,000 grants to the five students with the greatest financial need at each recipient Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“We’re delighted to be partners with

them,” Houghton said of CSAF. “We think it’s a great way to not only form a long-term relationship, but we [also] have a shared mission. By increasing the visibility of this shared mission, it’s our hope that the entire community can help get behind the children that our Catholic schools serve.”

CSAF and Aim Higher hope to grow their efforts in this year’s campaign.

Houghton said last year’s campaign helped Aim Higher distribute an additional $300,000 in scholarships.

But that’s a sliver of the actual need.

“If we were to meet their [the students’] needs, the need is over $20 million,” Houghton said. “It’s a little staggering.”

Aim Higher distributes the scholarship funds from CSAF to students identified

by TADS, a Minneapolis-based financial aid organization. The scholarships are available to students of most Catholic schools in the archdiocese, with the

exception of 11 inner-cit schools that receive othe the CSAF.

Doug Ballinger, princip Catholic School in Crysta scholarship has made an

“It is something that th school families] greatly a only because it’s financia because of] the care that such an award,” Ballinge that Catholics are behind a wonderful, wonderful t family to have access to a experience.”

Founded in 2011, Aim offered 5,500 scholarship school students. Aim Hig administers other $1,000 not tied to CSAF funding funded by the CSAF expa Higher’s reach. They also Higher’s visibility, Hough

She sees the CSAF part

18 in ‘18: Ministries funded by CSAF

ase retreat’s reach

AMERICAN INDIAN MINISTRY

The archdiocese’s special outreach to the Catholic American Indian community includes a funeral ministry that arranges for the deceased to be buried on his or her home reservation.

$25,585

ARCHDIOCESAN COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN

of Bethel aid he now prays ercession of the iSTOCK | OBENCEM

forgive myself for choices I made.”

member of experienced a at as healing. ound mercy and rience.

Bursey has since volunteered as a team member for the retreats before becoming a board member. Rachel’s Vineyard provides resources for retreatants’ ongoing healing, she said.

e I was in need and I really on yet with perience,” said St. Michael in hat there [were] a ying issues that d [was] able to hat was the ng able to

Blom hopes that CSAF funding will help make the retreat, which costs $350 to attend, more affordable for participants. That cost also doesn’t cover the full expense of the retreats.

However, “we don’t deny anyone,” Bursey said.

The ministry relies on donations, and Blom, who works multiple jobs, makes only a small salary for her work.

CAMPUS MINISTRY: NEWMAN CENTER

An estimated 10,000 Catholics attend the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and the St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Dinkytown aims to provide a welcoming, Catholic community that helps students encounter and share the love of Christ.

$11,000

CAMPUS MINISTRY: ST. PAUL’S OUTREACH

The goal of campus ministry is to form lifelong disciples among college and university students. Last year, campus ministers working with St. Paul’s Outreach, a national campus ministry organization based in Inver Grove Heights, directly served more than 1,300 students attending college in the Twin Cities.

The social service organization serves those most in need, and is a leader in alleviating poverty, creating opportunity and advocating for justice.

$39,733

DEAF MINISTRY

Funds provide pastoral care, including liturgy and the sacraments, for Catholics who are deaf.

pal of St. Raphael al, said the CSAF n impact.

tnership as an

$264,000

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS

ty Catholic er funding from

m Higher has ps for Catholic gher still 0 scholarships g, but the ones and Aim o help Aim hton said.

ACCW aims to support, empower and educate women in spirituality, leadership and service.

$1,100,000

tholic school students

hey [Catholic appreciate, not al, but [also has gone into er said. “To know d it just makes it thing for a and to

The following are the 18 ministries in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis funded by the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation and its 2018 appeal funding goals.

$200,000

es after n-girlfriend’s Reynolds of ent on the s ago at the psychologist. g God’s ping a spiritual de a difference.

for her. She’s a w,” he said.

FEBRUARY 8, 2018 • 11B

$1,703,125

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBSIDIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Catholic schools receive block grants for operating funds or five individual scholarships for students most in need.

TCS

opportunity to help the whole Catholic community in the archdiocese support Catholic education.

“Our ultimate hope is that together, we’re able to fund all the need,” Houghton said. “Of course, that will take a significant amount of assistance from everyone in the Catholic community to be able to do that.”

$150,000

EVANGELIZATION AND CATECHESIS

The archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization offers opportunities for people to encounter Jesus. Among its initiatives are the Catholic women’s and men’s conferences; Behold, a ministry for young women; and a grandparents ministry.

$800,000

HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS

The funds help students in the 13 Catholic high schools in the archdiocese who are recipients of 320 need-based scholarships.

$600,000

HOSPITAL CHAPLAINS

Chaplains provide spiritual care, including the sacraments; resources on ethical issues; crisis support; and bereavement care to patients and their families at hospitals in the archdiocese.

$350,000

LATINO MINISTRY

More than 32 programs serve Latino Catholics’ spiritual growth in the 23 parishes in the archdiocese with an active Latino ministry.

$430,174

MARRIAGE, FAMILY AND LIFE

The archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Life offers events for youths and adults, and encompasses the archdiocese’s disability ministry, marriage preparation, youth ministry training, Archdiocesan Youth Day, Totus Tuus and pro-life ministry.

$1,900,000 PARISHES

Parishes that meet fundraising goals receive a percentage of their funds returned to them to help them fund their ministries.

$45,345

PRISON CHAPLAINS

Prison chaplains offer the sacraments, retreats and spiritual direction to incarcerated individuals, and a program to help those individuals re-enter society.

$26,875

RACHEL’S VINEYARD

The ministry offers retreats to women and men seeking healing from the effects of abortion.

$300,000

ST. JOHN VIANNEY COLLEGE SEMINARY

As a college seminary, St. John Vianney forms undergraduate men discerning priesthood and studying at the University of St. Thomas. Funds support the 28 men from the archdiocese who are currently in formation at SJV.

$650,000

ST. PAUL SEMINARY

As the archdiocese’s major seminary, the St. Paul Seminary forms men in the years directly preceding their ordination to the priesthood. The CSAF funds tuition, room and board for the 27 men from the archdiocese currently studying for the priesthood.

$204,163

VENEZUELAN MISSION

The archdiocese has had a missionary presence in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, since 1970. The mission parish, Jesucristo Resucitado, is served by two archdiocesan priests and has 65,000 people in 11 neighborhoods within its boundaries.

— Adapted from CSAF promotional materials

12B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

FAITH+CULTURE After 64 years, Poor Clares leave monastery with legacy of prayer and friendship

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

W

hen the Poor Clare Sisters leave their Bloomington monastery to resettle in Rochester this month, the sound of the bells that have called them to prayer for at least 60 years will remind neighbors and local Catholics that good friends have moved away.

“We have told them the bells will still ring,” said Sister Helen Weier, 85, who has lived at St. Clare’s Monastery of the Infant Jesus since its founding in 1954.

The Poor Clare community is moving to Assisi Heights, home of the Rochester Sisters of St. Francis, because its 11 members, age 75 to 90, can no longer maintain the large Bloomington monastery and its 5 wooded acres.

“It’s like a call for all of us, when we were called to leave our home and our family to enter religious life,” Sister Helen said.

Several sisters have chronic illnesses and two live at a Minneapolis nursing home. The sisters look forward to living together once again in their own wing near the large hilltop convent’s nursing care area, Sister Helen said.

The Bloomington community was established after a representative of the Poor Clare Monastery of Sauk Rapids conveyed to St. Paul Archbishop John Gregory Murray in 1953 that the Sauk Rapids community lacked adequate space. Bishop Murray invited its sisters to expand in the archdiocese.

A parishioner of St. Richard in Richfield donated 5 acres of farmland near Penn Avenue for the sisters’ new home. When the monastery was completed, six Sauk Rapids sisters moved in on Aug. 11, a day before the feast of their founder, St. Clare of Assisi.

Going abroad In the early 1960s, the community grew to 28 members. As they received funds, the sisters added four wings to the monastery.

In 1960, a visiting bishop asked the sisters to teach a new religious community in Korea about Franciscan values, Sister Helen said. In response, they formed six Korean novices in Minnesota, and in the 1970s, three Minnesota sisters relocated to the community on a Korean island. One of the three sisters still belongs to the Korean community.

Then as now, their life as contemplative sisters has been about prayer and silence. They pause from work in the monastery to pray the Liturgy of the Hours together five times a day. They also attend Mass and pray privately for the many prayer requests they receive.

More than 1,600 friends and benefactors send prayer requests by email and help support the community, Sister Helen said.

They see their role in the broader community as one of invitation, welcoming others to join them for the Eucharist and prayer. Prior to the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the sisters were cloistered and met visitors through a screen. After Vatican II, the sisters removed the screen.

“As our life has changed, the life of the Church has changed — notably with Vatican II — and that gave a call to renew in light of today’s world. So that’s what we have tried to do, and that’s what’s bringing [the external community] together for Eucharist in the same space,” Sister Helen said.

Mary Sarazin, 79, remembers visiting her grade-school friend Sister Jo Casey decades ago, when Sister Jo was cloistered. Sarazin, a parishioner of St. Edward in Bloomington, has kept up the relationship, and she

JIM BOVIN | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Pro Ecclesia Sancta Sister Maddie Shogren, center, visits with Poor Clare Sister Mary Catherine Martin at St .Bonaventure in Bloomington Jan. 21. At left is Poor Clare Sister Lucie LaFleur.

Who are the Poor Clares?

The Poor Clare Sisters of Bloomington trace their roots to St. Clare of Assisi, who, with St. Francis, founded the Order of St. Clare in 1212. While the 20,000 Poor Clares in 70 countries live in autonomous communities, they have in common their contemplative life of prayer, voluntary poverty and commitment to hard work. The power of their prayer is credited with twice saving Assisi, Italy, from invaders during their foundress’ time. Like St. Clare, Poor Clares depend totally on God’s providence and seek to live the Gospel.

While all Poor Clares live in monasteries, some communities make a vow of enclosure in addition to the Evangelical Counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

They leave the monastery for emergencies, civic duties and doctor’s appointments.

Poor Clares are devoted to prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, which they pray together throughout the day and around which they order their work of caring for others and the monastery. They intercede for those who ask for their prayers. They also assist at Mass and spend time in personal prayer. As contemplatives, they live in silence much of the day and don’t engage in apostolates outside of the monastery.

— Susan Klemond often attends Mass with the sisters. She’ll once again miss seeing her friend — and all the sisters — when they move, she said.

Tom Machacek, 60, attends Mass and volunteers at the monastery. He believes the sisters’ prayers in the early 1990s helped his son recover from leukemia.

“They’re a very special set of ladies,” he said.

David and Erin Wee likewise volunteered at the monastery while in high school, and now they visit with their 19-month-old daughter.

“It’s been a special opportunity to let our daughter get to know the sisters and have them in her life and praying for her,” said Erin, 24.

Making a move A decade ago, the sisters began thinking about moving, Sister Helen said. Returning to the Sauk Rapids monastery wasn’t an option, she said, because the two communities have developed differently over the

past 60 years.

In 2015, the Bloomington sisters contacted the Rochester Sisters of St. Francis, with whom they’re had a longstanding relationship. They received a warm welcome, Sister Helen said, and the communities eventually arranged for the Poor Clares’ move.

Together, the two communities will model the active and contemplative expressions of religious life under the same roof. Unlike the Poor Clares, the Rochester Sisters’ work takes them beyond Assisi Heights. They established themselves in Rochester in 1877 and have historically served in education and health care, including the founding of what would become the Mayo Clinic. The sisters are now also engaged in social justice work and spiritual care.

At Assisi Heights, the Poor Clares will share the Franciscan Sisters’ chapel and cafeteria, but they’ll remain contemplative, Sister Helen said.

However, the two communities have a natural common bond. “We share the same Francis and Clare founders, so we’re part of the family,” Sister Helen said.

The Poor Clares’ move is also the catalyst for another religious community’s transition. They will hand over their monastery to the Sisters of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, a 25-year-old community founded in Peru whose local members serve St. Mark in St. Paul and Our Lady of Grace and Chesterton Academy in Edina. The Sisters of PES will move into the monastery in the summer after adapting it to their needs.

“What is wonderful is this house can continue to be a house of prayer. Even people who are a bit sad to see us leave are very happy to have another community because of it,” said Poor Clare Sister Lucie Lafleur, 79.

Moving into a smaller space is a call to poverty, Sister Helen said, noting that the sisters will also leave behind their own liturgies.

Like other religious communities with aging sisters and few new vocations, the sisters are coming to terms with their diminishing size. But they point to their faithful community of friends and young people involved in lay ecclesial movements as signs of hope for the Church.

In Rochester, the sisters will be called to prayer with hand bells instead of their cherished monastery bells, but despite these and larger changes, they’re hopeful about the future, Sister Helen said.

“As hard as it’s going to be, it’s a marvelous move made possible by the warmth and welcome of the sisters in Rochester, without a doubt,” she said. “There’s always a benefit in sharing the Franciscan clarion charism.”

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

FAITH+CULTURE

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13B

‘Five awesome date nights’ Marriage in Christ seminars coming to more parishes in archdiocese

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit

F

resh off marriage preparation and perhaps the honeymoon cruise ship, most newlyweds aren’t inclined to think about marriage enrichment programs. But that’s what Mary and Matt Brickweg did three years into their marriage when they participated in Marriage in Christ.

“The seminar came at the most perfect time for us because we were on the cusp of some major transitions,” said Mary, 29.

When the parishioners of St. Joseph in West St. Paul began the five-week seminar in 2016, they had two young daughters, and Mary was pregnant with their third. She was working parttime as a nurse and planning to become a stay-at-home mother upon their daughter’s birth. Meanwhile, Matt, 30, was pursuing a new full-time job.

“Especially for us, having three young children [and] life being busy from that perspective, it was a helpful refocus and a reminder of what we signed up for in marriage vows,” Mary said. “It was so helpful to re-establish a strong foundation before all the changes happened. It felt like five awesome date nights.”

With a new collaboration between Eagan-based Marriage in Christ and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life, more married couples have the opportunity to attend a Marriage in Christ seminar, which are for all married couples. This year, 11 parishes plan to host seminars — All Saints in Lakeville, Epiphany in Coon Rapids, Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, Nativity of Mary in Bloomington, St. John the Baptist in Savage, St. John Neumann in Eagan, St. Joseph in West St. Paul, St. Maximilian Kolbe in Delano, St. Michael in Farmington, St. Paul in Ham Lake and St. Timothy in Maple Lake.

As part of the two-year pilot program, which officially launched in September, donors made it possible to provide the seminar at reduced fees to 400 couples married five years or fewer. The program also includes training host couples in 20 parishes and then hosting seminars at those parishes. Thirtyfive host couples were trained in the program last fall. The collaboration is a direct response to Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”).

“As we were taking a look at the culture of marriage and the best way that we can support family and marriage in our archdiocese, we realized that the newly married were underserved, and we took a look at that and asked how we can best help young marriages find strength and stability,” said Jean Stolpestad, director of the Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

“It’s basically: How do you make these two persons — these two individuals — into one flesh, one heart, one discipline?

And Marriage in Christ gives them some basic tools to help them start down that road.”

The seminar seeks to help couples make Jesus the center of their lives and strengthen their friendship by equipping them with practical skills to develop good communication and prayer habits.

“There’s a hunger to do something for marriage, and this incorporates the best of our [Catholic] teaching with the practical advice of how to make the grace of the sacrament come alive,” said Bill Wacker, who founded Marriage in Christ with his wife of 43 years, Adella, in 2010. “Without the power of the Holy Spirit, that’s really difficult.”

Marriage in Christ is a ministry of People of Praise Christian Community, a charismatic and ecumenical community with 22 locations in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean. Its Minnesota branch is in Eagan. As members of the community, the Wackers and a core team of five other couples piloted the program in 2011 at their parish, St. John Neumann in Eagan. Since then, they’ve trained couples in 15 states with more than 1,000 couples in the seminar nationwide.

“We knew that the key to a really good marriage is to have your priorities straight — that is, God has to be first, then our spouse has to be second, our children third, and then after that, everything else has to take a number,” said Wacker, retired headmaster of Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan. He and Adella have five children and three grandchildren.

COURTESY MARY BRICKWEG

Matt and Mary Brickweg with their daughters Madeline, 3, Veronica, 2, and Gianna, 8 months.

Find a Marriage in Christ seminar near you Visit marriageinchrist.com/events. For more information about becoming part of the initiative, contact Emily Hayden at 612-281-3362 or haydene@archspm.org.

The two-hour weekly sessions run for five consecutive weeks either at a parish or a host couple’s home and follow a format of a large-group discussion, a video, small-group discussions (men with men and women with women) and a recap at the end. Some seminars offer child care, making the program more accessible for younger couples.

Brickweg and her husband met with about 10 other couples at St. Bonaventure in Bloomington. She said the “meat” of the seminar was the daily homework to “pray, talk, act.” Because they had known each other growing up, they were surprised by how helpful the conversation-starter questions were — “What was one of the musical or athletic highlights of your high school career?” — and they discussed the topics during supper or while doing dishes.

The conversation starters help couples talk about their prechildren memories and passions, Wacker explained.

“Because the more we know about someone, the more we love,” Wacker said. “You can’t love somebody you don’t know. We’re mysteries — always learning and changing. It’s important to keep revealing ourselves. That’s a delight and joy that gets rekindled.”

Brickweg said the conversations have enriched their marriage.

“I think we grew in friendship, too,” she said. “The seminar itself is all about forming good habits and gives [us] real, practical tools to build those habits. A huge one is praying together, and praying together every day.” She added that they’ve been successful in their resolve to pray together before they go to bed.

Wacker said because many couples don’t know how to pray together, the seminar includes a simple meditation with elements from Scripture and Liturgy of the Hours. He said Marriage in Christ differs from other marriage programs in that it focuses on the practical skills of praying, talking and acting, and the role of the Holy Spirit — and going through it with other couples.

Brickweg, who with her husband is a member of People of Praise, appreciated being connected with longtime couples and seeing the normalcy in “human squabbles.” Her discussion leader had been married for at least 50 years, she said, and shared about her marriage’s joys and struggles.

“In the way she talked about her husband, their lifetime of loving each other was really beautiful,” Brickweg said. “It was helpful to see couples who can love each other so clearly and be able to share that — it’s something to aspire to. No matter who you are, there are going to be struggles in marriage at each stage.”

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14B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

T

hree decades ago, Tom Johnson was asked to help with a string of child sexual abuse allegations in Scott County, which includes Belle Plaine, Prior Lake and Shakopee. The investigation had been bungled, and among the mistakes was the way children had been questioned. By the time Johnson was involved, people’s stories had changed numerous times, allegations grew to include murder, and additional investigators had to sift through what was real and what was fabricated.

Johnson was in his second term as Hennepin County attorney, and one of his takeaways from the case was the need to improve how authorities treated children who might have been sexually abused. That led him in 1988 to co-found CornerHouse, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit focused on child advocacy, with a physical “house” where children who are part of abuse investigations are evaluated by experts. Its groundbreaking model has been replicated internationally, TOM JOHNSON and it is considered the gold standard in forensic interviewing for children and vulnerable adults.

Now a principal attorney at Gray Plant Mooty law firm in Minneapolis, Johnson, 72, isn’t boastful about his accomplishments — 12 years as the Hennepin County attorney, an earlier stint on the Minneapolis City Council, degrees from the University of Minnesota followed by a master of laws degree (with distinction) from the esteemed London School of Economics, and a satisfying law career.

He is, however, warm and affable, someone who can put others at ease. And that — coupled with his experience investigating child sex crimes — made him the man both the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis wanted to serve as an independent, volunteer ombudsman to listen to and advocate for victims/survivors who might bring new allegations against clergy in the archdiocese.

“County Attorney [John] Choi and I have known Tom for many years,” said Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. “Tom’s compassion for others, as well as his lifelong commitment to justice and, in particular, his lifelong commitment to protecting children made him our clear first choice.”

The role is important “because we want to make sure that everyone has a place to turn if they have either concerns, or if they need help of any kind,” he added. “I get that there are people who, for very good reasons, are hesitant to turn directly to the archdiocese, but that doesn’t mean we give up on trying to fulfill our responsibilities and help everyone we can. Tom gives them that option.”

Johnson is the first to hold the role, which was mandated by the 2015 settlement agreement between the archdiocese and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office on civil charges alleging that the archdiocese had failed to protect children in the case of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer.

The settlement didn’t require an ombudsperson — which it described as someone to “provide an outside resource for victims of sexual abuse” — until 2020, when the agreement expires. But O’Malley wanted someone much sooner.

“The sooner we put Tom in place, the sooner he’d be able to help people,” he said, “so why wait?”

Range of experience Johnson, who is married and has four adult children and three grandchildren, grew up on a dairy farm near Floodwood, 45 miles west of Duluth. There he learned to hunt and fish, and he developed a love for the outdoors that would influence later legal work in environmental law and land-use management. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics and entered law school during the Vietnam War. He started his law career as a patent lawyer, but said he also did a lot of poverty law, which focuses on people’s rights to government benefits.

He ran for Minneapolis City Council and served two,

FAITH+CULTURE

‘Perfect for this job’ New ombudsman draws on legal, advocacy experience as he navigates unprecedented position

By Maria Wiering • The Catholic Spirit two-year terms. He briefly returned to law before running for Hennepin County Attorney. He was 33 when he was elected. After serving three terms in the role, he began his career with Gray Plant Mooty, but took a yearlong sabbatical to attend the London School of Economics, supported by a Bush Foundation fellowship.

Johnson continued to practice law full time until 1998, when he dialed back his hours to work as the executive director of the Minneapolis-based Council on Crime and Justice, a nonprofit focused on improving the criminal justice system. He served in that role for a decade, during which he oversaw what he described as one of the largest multi-faceted research projects of its kind on racial disparities in the U.S. He also taught a course on criminal justice at the University of St. Thomas’ law school in Minneapolis.

His interest in criminal justice has to do with fairness, he said.

“I think our system too often fails the victim, too often fails the offender, in the sense of our focus is, in my view, far too heavy on retribution and punishment, even after the person has received their just desserts,” he said. “So much of it has to do with alcohol and drugs, and [it’s important] to get people beyond that point in their lives where they’re failing because of an addiction.”

He noted that it was during his time as the county attorney that the problem of child sexual abuse was being uncovered nationwide. Before then, “not only was it thought to be a taboo that people would violate children sexually, but you didn’t even talk about it,” he said. “So, none of it surfaced publicly until the late 70s, early 80s.”

‘A real kindness’ Johnson was approached about the ombudsperson position by both Choi and O’Malley. He was publicly named as the ombudsman during a Jan. 5 Ramsey County court hearing to review the archdiocese’s compliance with the agreement.

Following the hearing, Choi emphasized to reporters that Johnson’s role is independent from the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the archdiocese. “He reports to no one, other than just his wanting to be a part of this process and be a resource for anybody in this community, within this archdiocese, who has any complaints or needs assistance navigating some issue in respect to something that’s happened to them or to a family member,” he said.

Asked why he took the position, Johnson became emotional while recalling a teenage boy he suspected had been abused in the high-profile Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company and School case in the early 1980s. He had encouraged the boy to disclose the abuse, but he didn’t. A few years later, he committed suicide.

Working closely with Johnson on that Children’s Theatre Company and School case was Michael Campion, then the case’s lead investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Like O’Malley, Campion went on to serve as BCA superintendent and now works alongside him as the archdiocese’s assistant director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

Campion described Johnson as “a very exacting

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

prosecutor,” but one who also had “an enormous amount of compassion for people, particularly victims.”

“That combination served him well, and certainly served the whole Children’s Theatre matter ... in a very successful manner,” he said, noting that Johnson is widely respected among law enforcement, prosecutors and defenders, as well as people who work with victims, especially because of his contribution to CornerHouse.

“There’s a real kindness about him,” Campion added.

“He has a real extraordinary combination of personal characteristics that make him unique.”

Johnson is pleased to be collaborating again with Campion, as well as O’Malley, both of whom he called “the real McCoy.” He also holds Choi in the highest regard. Knowing he’s working with people of integrity “made accepting this position easier,” he said.

Jeri Boisvert, chairwoman of the archdiocese’s Ministerial Review Board, which reviews clergy misconduct, has known Johnson since he was county attorney, and she worked with him while he was leading the Council on Crime and Justice. She said she expects that people who approach him will feel comfortable, safe and supported.

“This guy really is something,” said Boisvert, former head of the Minnesota Office of Justice and a parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

“He’s got the most wonderful combination of skills. He’s just perfect for this job.”

Available to listen Johnson is unaware of anyone who holds a similar ombudsperson position for the reporting of clergy sex abuse allegations, which means that he’s figuring out what the job entails, while establishing a record-keeping system and best practices. In the month that he’s been in the volunteer position, he’s received a handful of calls, he said.

“If it’s two people I can help, that’s two people,” he said. “It’s not a numbers game.”

Johnson said he expects to connect with four categories of people: first, clergy abuse victims/survivors; second, people with connections to parishes and Catholic schools who might have observed “something or another that they think is untoward” that they want to discuss; third, people who are concerned about abuse that might have happened to a family member or friend; and fourth, people who are concerned about how the archdiocese is handling claims of sexual abuse.

Johnson emphasized that his role is to maintain confidentiality, and, unlike most Church personnel, he is not a mandated reporter. He expects that he might serve as a listening ear to some victims/survivors who have never before shared their story, but need to tell someone. He noted that he has friends who are clergy sexual abuse survivors.

“It’s most important that [victims/survivors] find someone whom they can tell their story to,” he said.

“Then we can figure out what to do. Maybe they need time. Maybe we can get them working with someone who can bring them further along in terms of their comfort in dealing with it. I don’t know. These are going to all be so unique. That’s why [confidentiality] is so important.”

He would also help people who need to report an allegation of sexual abuse connect with law enforcement, whom the archdiocese emphasizes should be people’s first call.

Johnson is also Catholic — as of less than two years ago. He was raised Protestant, but his wife is Catholic, and they raised their children in the faith. He joined the Church in 2016 on Labor Day weekend at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis. His esteem for his pastor, Father Daniel Griffith, plays a role in why he took the ombudsperson role, he said. By helping the Church address clergy sexual abuse, he also hopes to help restore trust in the priesthood and lift the “black cloud” that’s fallen, even on good priests.

He knows that for abuse victims/survivors, abuse can “shape their life.” He wants them to know that they’ll have a healing experience from telling someone about their abuse.

“If I can be that person, I’ll listen,” he said.

FAITH+CULTURE

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15B

How much will expansion of ‘529’ savings plans help Catholic education?

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

O

ne of the clauses in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 — the sweeping tax bill that was pushed through Congress between Thanksgiving and Christmas — expanded the “529” savings plan.

Named after Section 529 in the Internal Revenue System’s tax code, the plans allowed parents to invest money for their children’s college education, however far down the road that was. Now, 529 plans can be used to sock money away for grade school and high school tuition in private schools — including Catholic schools — while accruing the same tax benefits as the college plans.

Another change: There is no limit to what can be contributed to the savings plan. But before anyone rushes to the bank to transfer money to a 529, keep in mind that while the new federal law now allows for the change, 529 plans are state-based, so each state must first adopt language that would permit this change.

“Some states are saying you might be able to use them right away. In some states, the plans don’t allow it; the state is not interested in giving you the benefit of something that might cost them money ... or take away from the public school system,” said Matthew Giuliano, an assistant general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Currently, about 13 million U.S. families have 529 plans set up for their children. Upon establishing the plan, they’ve got a dozen years or more to contribute to the plan to defray the potential tuition hit while getting tax benefits — principally, allowing money to grow tax-deferred and up to $10,000 a year to be withdrawn tax-free for qualified education expenses at a qualified higher education institution.

With the expansion to K-12 education, parents now could begin contributing to a 529 plan before a child has even been born. “This could give them up to six years to get ahead” before enrolling their child in a

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Second-grader Clare Hamill of St. Therese Catholic School in Deephaven works on math during class Jan. 19.

Catholic school, said Jennifer Daniels, associate director for public policy in the USCCB’s Secretariat for Catholic Education.

Yet the ability to make advance contributions to pay Catholic school tuition and college tuition suggests the 529 expansion will benefit those already well-off financially. “We acknowledge that this is too narrow,” said Dominican Sister John Mary Fleming, executive director of Catholic education for the USCCB. “If we had our druthers, this would have been a more robust parental-choice program.”

“What we see is a benefit for some of our schools’ families who make too much to qualify for some of the means-tested programs to qualify for state aid,” said Sister Dale McDonald, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is public policy and research director for the National Catholic Educational Association. “They make too much to qualify ... but they don’t make enough to be able to pay the full freight. This might be a way they can use to accumulate earnings that might make it tax free. It certainly is a start.”

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The Catholic Spirit wants to hear your take.

Letters to the Editor should be limited to 150 words and sent to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line.

Please include your name, parish and daytime phone number in case we need to contact you.

College 529 plans allow contributions to be paid not only for tuition, but room and board, books and computers. Sister Dale planned to meet Feb. 7 in New Jersey with diocesan school superintendents, with the 529 expansion as part of the agenda.

Some families have used a “530” plan — a Coverdell Education Savings Account — for K-12 tuition. But its scope was more limited than a 529. Sister Dale noted the new tax law also permits Coverdell accounts to be rolled over into 529 plans.

One other change is the definition of who may contribute to such a plan. Under the original 529 framework, it was parents. Now, it could be almost anyone, such as relatives or friends.

Under the new law, not only can multiple people contribute to an account, but multiple accounts can also be opened for the same child, according to Kathryn Flynn, content director of savingforcollege.com, which provides research on 529 plans’ performance rankings and other metrics, then recasts it to make the information more understandable.

With no annual limit to contributions, the sky is theoretically the limit, “though states may max out” on the amount, such as what it would cost to cover the estimated expenses of an undergraduate education in that state, Flynn said. In truth, 529 plans can also be used for graduate school costs and have no expiration date. However, she also warned of the risk of cannibalizing the future to pay for the present: “Run through those calculations and decide what’s important to you. Your investments will grow tax-free. The longer you leave it in the account, the more time you have for it to grow. If you take it out early, you’re sacrificing the potential growth.”

Nor should parents with a 529 plan run out to empty the account to pay for next year’s seventh-grade tuition at a Catholic school, experts advised.

More than 30 states, including Minnesota, and the District of Columbia have a 529 plan.

16B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JIM LIVINGSTON

A contagious faith

In the Gospel reading for Feb. 11, a leper came to Jesus. In biblical times, a scab, pustule, blotch or sore on the skin could be a symptom of leprosy, and reason enough to isolate its carrier from society to prevent contagion.

Like it or not, our experience with society is often a stepping stone to our perception of God. We often project onto God our significant experiences and expectations with people and culture. Faith is based on God’s word, but it has a human voice, and our personal faith is often limited by our personal history.

In today’s culture, the scabs, pustules, blotches and sores that bring isolation are usually interior. They mark the psyche, not the skin. A “father wound” separates a man psychologically and spiritually from accepting God as his heavenly father. An unhealed abortion experience prevents a woman from being comfortable with infants. Abandonment blinds a child to the possibility of being or finding a trustworthy marriage partner. A shameful mistake initiates a lifetime of self-condemnation and insecurity. Our modern world is still filled with “lepers of the

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

Is envy a big deal?

Q. I’ve been told that I have a streak of

envy in me, but I don’t even know what that means. Besides, there are so many worse sins than envy, so why should I even care?

A. Good question. One of the universal

experiences that we all unfortunately share is envy. It is one of the most silly and pointless sins, and yet can often be devastating and seemingly impossible to overcome. I describe envy as “silly and pointless” because it doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t offer pleasure. It doesn’t even make the promise of happiness virtually every other sin does. (I mean, even a sin like gossip brings with it a little shot of selfimportance and glee at sharing a secret, but there is never a moment when envy makes a person feel good.)

Yet, envy unchallenged and allowed to reign free can lead a person to interior bondage and exterior disaster. If I do not resist envy, I can easily become obsessed with my perceived lack and another’s perceived abundance, and this could lead to terrible consequences. (“Othello,” anyone?)

While there can be distinctions between the terms “jealousy” and “envy,” I will use the most simple definition that sees them as relative synonyms: “sadness or distress at another’s well-being.” When trying to describe envy to folks, I often refer to the experience “I’m sad because you are happy,” or the converse “I’m happy because you are sad.”

But what is the source of envy? One answer is Satan. The Book of Wisdom says that it was “through the envy of the devil that death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it” (Wis 2:24). That’s a dash of cold water, isn’t it? When you and I give in to envy, we are aligning our interior selves with the posture of the devil against God and all those whom God loves.

This is why envy is not to be taken lightly. It must be recognized and fought against with God’s grace. Considering that the current fallen state of the created world is not the result of lying, stealing or murder, but envy, that should give us at least a moment’s pause when we discover it in our lives.

Another source of envy is found in the definition offered by the Catholic Encyclopedia: “sorrow which one entertains at another’s well-being because of a view that one’s own excellence is in consequence lessened.” Note this: Envy comes from the fear that “your good means my loss.” It is the fear that another person’s excellence is a threat to my personal value.

I recently read that in Dante’s “Inferno” the author describes those who are in hell for the sin of envy as having their eyelids sown shut with metal wires. This is Dante’s incredibly poetic way of highlighting the fact that those who give in to envy are constantly looking at what others have while being perpetually

heart” who are isolated and far from being at peace with self, others or God. This is why the prayer of this leper was so remarkable. From a place of rejection and isolation, he dared to approach God, who was present to him in Jesus. “If you wish, you can make me clean” (Mk 1:40). This man dared to believe. “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.” Such is the power of faith. Reaching beyond human limitations, his faith brought him to an encounter with God himself. Jesus “stretched out his hand [and] touched him.” And he was made clean.

With remarkable irony, the once leprous and isolated man now experiences total freedom to communicate and move about. Once on the tattered edge of society, he is now a major influence. Even today, his voice and story encourage our faith.

Our wounds and sins need not separate us from God’s mercy.

Meanwhile, Jesus is restricted to dwelling out of doors in deserted places. This exchange prefigures the paschal mystery.

Encountering Jesus through faith and baptism, his Spirit is given to us while our sin is given to him. Our memory of this exchange remains in any given parish environment as we assemble under the image of Jesus crucified.

He remains, as it were, deserted on the cross, yet people keep coming to him from everywhere to be cleansed, healed and forgiven in the liturgy of the word and the Eucharist.

Father Livingston is pastor of St. Paul in Ham Lake.

“

If I do not resist envy, I can easily become obsessed with my perceived lack and another’s perceived abundance, and this could lead to terrible consequences. (“Othello,” anyone?) blind to what they have been given.

I’m sure that we have all experienced this, or we have known someone who seemed to live like this — the kind of person with whom you never feel free to share good news or anything positive that has happened in your life because you know that they are virtually incapable of being happy at the blessings of another. Rather, all they seem to note is that you “have” and they “have not.”

How can we escape from envy? I mean, it isn’t enough for us to simply agree that envy is something we don’t want in our lives. There has to be a way we can be free from envy in every situation. One track that we can take is the route of gratitude.

We can choose to fight against the temptation to look at what another has and compare it to what we do not have (envy), and to instead acknowledge the blessings that are currently in our own lives (gratitude).

It leads us to become more and more aware of at least two things: One’s life is filled with good things, and many of those things have been freely given by another. An attitude of abundance (rather than an attitude of scarcity or competition) can greatly enhance gratitude, and any person can do this simply by truly seeing the good things in his or her life and thanking the source of those good things.

But there is also a deeper remedy for envy. It isn’t a matter of willpower or of trying harder. It isn’t even a matter of “counting one’s blessings.” It is the remedy that would have transformed Satan’s reality: the gaze of the Father.

Envy is the result of believing that one is “not enough,” that one is “lacking,” that another’s good “steals from my goodness.” The only thing that can truly restore wholeness is not mere gratitude, but allowing oneself to be seen by the Father.

In prayer (and throughout your day) place yourself beneath God’s gaze. Allow him to declare who you are and what you are worth. When he speaks, there is no voice that can overwhelm his. When the Father defends, there is no liar who can steal or destroy. And when one is claimed by the Father and lives within his sight, there is no room for sorrow at the good of another, because all one sees is the Father’s blessings upon oneself and upon others. Everything is seen as a gift — even the gifts of others.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@ gmail.com.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Feb. 11 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 1 Cor 10:31–11:1 Mk 1:40-45 Monday, Feb. 12 Jas 1:1-11 Mk 8:11-13 Tuesday, Feb. 13 Jas 1:12-18 Mk 8:14-21 Wednesday, Feb. 14 Ash Wednesday Jl 2:12-18 2 Cor 5:20–6:2 Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, Feb. 15 Dt 30:15-20 Lk 9:22-25 Friday, Feb. 16 Is 58:1-9a Mt 9:14-15 Saturday, Feb. 17 Is 58:9b-14 Lk 5:27-32 Sunday, Feb. 18 First Sunday of Lent Gn 9:8-15 1 Pt 3:18-22 Mk 1:12-15 Monday, Feb. 19 Lv 19:1-2, 11-18 Mt 25:31-46 Tuesday, Feb. 20 Is 55:10-11 Mt 6:7-15 Wednesday, Feb. 21 Jon 3:1-10 Lk 11:29-32 Thursday, Feb. 22 Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, apostle 1 Pt 5:1-4 Mt 16:13-19 Friday, Feb. 23 Ez 18:21-28 Mt 5:20-26 Saturday, Feb. 24 Dt 26:16-19 Mt 5:43-48 Sunday, Feb. 25 Second Sunday of Lent Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Rom 8:31b-34 Mk 9:2-10

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17B

COMMENTARY GUEST COMMENTARY | GEORGE WEIGEL

Homage to Don Briel

In the history of U.S. Catholic higher education since World War II, three seminal moments stand out: Msgr. John Tracy Ellis’ 1955 article “American Catholics and the Intellectual Life”; the 1967 Land O’Lakes statement, “The Idea of a Catholic University”; and the day Don J. Briel began the Catholic Studies program — and the Catholic Studies movement — at the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities.

I’ve long had the sense that Msgr. Ellis’ article was retrospectively misinterpreted as a relentless polemic against Catholic colleges and universities mired in the tar-pits of Neo-Scholasticism and intellectually anorexic as a result; on the contrary, it’s possible to read Ellis as calling for Catholic institutions of higher learning to play to their putative strengths — the liberal arts, including most especially philosophy and theology — rather than aping the emerging American multiversity, of which the University of California at Berkeley was then considered the paradigm. But that’s not how Ellis was understood by most, and there is a direct line to be drawn between the Ellis article and the self-conscious if tacit defensiveness of the Land O’Lakes statement, which seemed to say, yes, we’re second-rate, maybe even third-rate, and the way to be first-rate is to be like Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the rest of what would be called, in 21st-century Catholic academic jargon, “aspirational peers.”

The problem, of course, is that by 1967, those “aspirational peers” were beginning to lose their minds, literally, en route to the postmodern sandbox of authoritarian self-absorption they occupy today.

So, there is another direct line to be drawn: this time, from Ellis and Land O’Lakes to Briel’s catalyzing the Catholic Studies movement, which, among other things, works to repair the damage that was done to institutions of Catholic higher learning in the

TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

Waltzing on ice: on crisis and community

When it came time to interview prospective sailors for his expedition across Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton had clear-cut criteria. He had to pick the right men for his journey to the bottom of the world, a news-making attempt to be the first to cross the continent via the coldest place on Earth: the South Pole.

It was 1914, the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the famed British explorer had received hundreds of applications. In interviews, recalled one applicant, Shackleton “asked me if my teeth were good, if I suffered from varicose veins, if I had a good temper and if I could sing.”

This final question surprised the young man, and Shackleton clarified: “Oh, I don’t mean any [opera singer Enrico] Caruso stuff, but I suppose you can shout a bit with the boys?”

Singing and what it screened for in shorthand — the ability to fraternize and maintain high spirits — would prove even more vital than the long underwear, Burberry coats and finnesko boots they would pack. It would be just as imperative as the food they meticulously prepared, including a “composition cake” the explorer formulated with a chemist, a precursor to today’s energy bars.

aftermath of Land O’Lakes.

But there was, and is, far more to Briel’s vision, and achievement, than damage-repair. Nourished intellectually by John Henry Newman and Christopher Dawson, Briel’s work has aimed at nothing less than creating, in 21st-century circumstances, the “idea of a university” that animated his two English intellectual and spiritual heroes. And, one might say, just in the nick of time.

The deterioration of higher education throughout the United States in the past several generations has contributed mightily to our contemporary cultural crisis by depleting the nation’s reserves of republican virtue. In turn, the deterioration has produced a political crisis in which constitutional democracy itself is now at risk. The answer to that cultural crisis cannot be a retreat into auto-constructed bunkers. The answer must be the conversion of culture by welleducated men and women who know what the West owes to Catholicism as a civilizing force, and who are prepared to bring the Catholic imagination to bear on reconstructing a culture capable of sustaining genuine freedom — freedom for excellence — in social, political and economic life.

Conversion, then, is what “Catholic Studies” and Briel’s life-project are all about: the conversion of young minds, hearts and souls to the truth of Christ and the love of Christ as manifest in the Catholic Church, to be sure, but also the conversion of culture through those converted minds, hearts and souls.

According to the common wisdom, Land O’Lakes and its call for Catholic universities to “Be like the Ivies!” was “revolutionary.” But the true revolutionary in American Catholic higher education over the past decades has been Don Briel, who has enlivened an approach to higher education that embodies the new evangelization as no one else has done.

Those of us who love and esteem him pray for a miracle that will cure the rare forms of acute leukemia that now afflict him. But, like Briel himself, we commend our prayers, as we commend him, to the mysterious and inscrutable ways of divine providence.

We also know that the truths with which he ignited an academic revolution will win out, because this quintessential Christian gentleman and educator Shackleton knew this.

He had just turned 40, and the advent of middle age made him antsy. It was etched on his face: a prominent lower lip and restless blue eyes framed by black hair. He was poring over maps, seeking a bold adventure to make him young again.

Endurance set sail for Antarctica on Dec. 5, 1914, and the 28 men aboard soon encountered unusually heavy ice, traveling more than 1,000 miles from the remote island of South Georgia, the gateway to the Antarctic Circle. Then one ominous January day, the wooden ship became trapped in pack ice. It groaned under the pressure of millions of tons of ice.

Eventually the ship sunk, stranding the men on the ice and beginning the long wait, what one sailor described as a “white interminable prison.”

Shackleton was vigilant in his effort to keep up morale, veiling his private worry. He visited every tent after dinner to recite poetry or play cards. He led singalongs and waltzed on ice. He green-lighted an “Antarctic Derby,” with dog races and cigarette wagers. He ordered everyone to cut one another’s hair, stepping up for the first shearing and causing fits of laughter as amateur barbers vied to produce the most hideous cut. As the months dragged on, he made a point to celebrate holidays with extra food and hot drinks.

Finally, the men boarded their life boats and made their way to the nearest island, the uninhabited Elephant Island. They arrived on April 15, 1916 — 16 months since they’d last touched land.

Still, a smaller band had to press on in search of civilization, beginning an improbable 800-mile journey back to South Georgia Island in a 22-foot open boat. They endured the roughest waters, somehow surviving a hurricane that sunk a 500-ton steamer in the vicinity.

Shackleton returned every shipmate back to England — frostbitten and weary, but alive.

COURTESY UST PHOTO SERVICES

Don Briel speaks to graduating seniors at the University of St. Thomas in 2014.

“

... the true revolutionary in American Catholic higher education over the past decades has been Don Briel, who has enlivened an approach to higher education that embodies the new evangelization as no one else has done. taught us by his witness and his work to trust the Lord’s guarantee in John 8:32: “... the truth will make you free.”

Thank you, Don, and Godspeed on your journey.

The work, thanks to your inspiration and example, will continue — and it will flourish.

Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

“

Singing and what it screened for in shorthand — the ability to fraternize and maintain high spirits — would prove even more vital than the long underwear, Burberry coats and finnesko boots they would pack. iSTOCK | SODAR99

For all our modern-day creature comforts, each of us will experience our own sense of abandonment, our own long Lent — be it a family crisis, a medical crisis, a financial crisis or a spiritual one.

But like Jesus in the desert, we will not be alone: “He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him” (Mk 1:13).

We will emerge stronger and wiser, able to appreciate life’s little pleasures anew.

The opportunity in crisis is to lead like Shackleton, to knit people together on the coldest days, to waltz on ice. That’s how you all make it home together.

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

COMMENTARY

18B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Success in modern marriage

Success in modern marriage is no small feat. Experts say that a longterm marriage is any length of time over 20 or 25 years. In addition, these experts explain that the percentage of marriages that will last the lifetime of the individuals involved — so that they will find themselves with the same person in old age as the same one they married when they were young — has diminished significantly.

So, even though we are living longer, we are not necessarily remaining committed to, and with, the same partner throughout our lives. It seems the question for Catholic couples is: How do we beat these odds?

This year, Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday fall on the same day. What if, as a Catholic couple, you and your spouse dedicated yourselves throughout the season of Lent to the health and strength of your marriage? So, instead of giving something up during Lent, you would give to each other by fortifying your commitment to each other. There are so many ways to

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

How to hold doubt and grow faith

I had forgotten the story until my dad reminded me.

One Sunday after Mass when I was 13 years old, I told my dad that I wasn’t sure if I believed that Jesus was really in the Eucharist.

How could that be? It made no sense.

If memory serves, I was fresh off a confirmation retreat. Maybe I was being honest about uncertainty.

Maybe I wanted to push my dad’s buttons.

But my dad didn’t judge. He heard me out. He listened to my doubt.

Decades later, I’m impressed by the way in which he tells me this story. He doesn’t trivialize it as teenage angst. He doesn’t dismiss it as weak faith.

He points to it as a sign that I’ve wanted to wrestle with big questions throughout my whole life.

I remember many times my dad and I have talked about faith. Connections we delighted to share.

Conflicts we couldn’t resolve. Tough subjects we had to

do that, but let me name just a few.

First of all, begin with forgiveness. Letting go of damaging memories and past hurts requires us to talk about these incidents and work through the pain they caused. In doing so, we will likely realize we have hurt our spouse, perhaps even unknowingly, and they are now willing to forgive us, too. Second, do all you can to increase a sense of trust in your marriage, for intimacy is based on trust, and without this aspect of marriage, there can be no real sense of closeness and authentic affection. There may be physical intimacy, but without forgiveness and trust, the emotional intimacy will likely be lacking. Third, we must invest in our marriages every day. By keeping it fresh and alive through the “yes” we say to each other, through living out the promise we made on the day we were married, we will continue to care for our spouse from a deeply loving heart.

There are also things to avoid in order to achieve a long-term, successful, modern marriage. First, if we say something unkind or sarcastic to our partner, renowned marriage expert John Gottman reminds us that we must follow up these negative comments with five positive, loving statements. Second, we must be careful when we’re on the internet or at work. If we have a baby at home or are in another stressful situation, finding someone who is attractive, interesting or gives us the attention we seek might be tempting. We must realize how much easier this has become in the age of technology, as we might think “no harm done.” But such thoughts and actions are like erosion on the side of a hill — eventually, the whole hill gives way. We must leave at the kitchen table.

As a parent, I hope to hold my children’s faith and doubt with as much respect as my dad did. He and I disagree on plenty, but we still meet on what matters most: refusing to give up on life’s mysteries.

Each person has a different relationship to doubt.

Some fear it. Others accept it. A few get lost in it.

But I have a hunch that most of us, if given a safe space to share our deepest questions, would admit to holding doubts alongside faith and wrestling forever between the two.

When Pope Francis spoke about doubt in 2016, he said, “I have many. ... Of course, everyone has doubts at times! Doubts that touch the faith, in a positive way, are a sign that we want to know better and more fully God, Jesus and the mystery of his love for us. ... These are doubts that bring about growth! It is good, therefore, that we ask questions about our faith, because in this way we are pushed to deepen it.”

I hope that my children will grow into a life of faith.

But I know I cannot guarantee anything, despite my best efforts.

All I can do is keep trying, keep praying and keep listening to them.

My children are small, but their questions are big.

Why did Jesus have to die? Why does God let there be poor people? Why do we have to go to church? How did God make the world?

I’m still deepening my faith around the same

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Action challenge Use the season of Lent to make a daily investment in your marriage. Do something special with your spouse on Valentine’s Day and then continue to show your appreciation and love throughout the 40 days of Lent. At Easter, the commitment you have made to each other will likely provide a renewal that is miraculous as well. recognize if we are on this path and then step back.

Third, putting personal interests ahead of our spouse, such as a hobby or a career, might convey to our spouse that this interest is more important to us than they are.

So, be aware of your part in the happiness and strength of your marriage and do all you can to reinforce and reinvigorate this union in small ways throughout the season of Lent as you convey your love and commitment to your spouse. Let them know they are first in your life through the loving ways you demonstrate how much you value them. Tending to this special relationship — one that is like none other in your life — must be done in the small ways that you nurture and cultivate your love for each other.

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

In his “Introduction to Christianity,” then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote that doubt “could become the avenue of communication” between those who believe and those who struggle.

When we yearn to reach out to family or friends, we might be inspired to see doubt not as a roadblock, but as the road we share.

We can’t force faith on anyone. We might suspect the world would be a better place if we could, but it would be quite the terrifying opposite.

Decades after that conversation with my dad, the Eucharist has become the heart of my faith, the mystery that anchors Mass as the center of my life. But this change happened slowly.

Pushing back against the darkness, a seed unfurls in its own time. We cannot hurry growth’s becoming.

My dad and I have been talking about faith for nearly 40 years now. We could not be more different — he with his worn Latin missal in hand, me with curiosity spilling over to each new question.

But we’ve never given up on each other. I pray for my children that faith and doubt will do the same.

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

LETTERS Out of proportion I am surprised that The Catholic Spirit gave so much press to Father [William] Baer’s funeral when so many other priests who have died received very little space in your paper (Cover photo, “He loved being a priest,” Jan. 25). Other priests who have died made just as significant a contribution to the archdiocese. To give so much attention to one priest is a disservice to many others.

Father Terry Rassmussen St. Joseph, New Hope

Identifying local Church’s suffering Our Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been in bankruptcy

(Reorganization) for three years, since January 2015. Recently, some of the retired priests of the archdiocese met as one of the deaneries of the archdiocese to assess the sufferings and pain which the archdiocese has endured during the years of the bankruptcy, apart from the impending financial decisions. It was not our intention to name the Church as a victim in these last three years. The persons who suffered child abuse by priests are the victim/survivors. We admire their courage.

We saw the need to identify the suffering which the Church has endured and to try to come to terms with that suffering as part of a healing process which we, as a Church, are now undergoing. These are the pains which we see as having been endured during this process:

• Numbers of parishioners have left the Church in the last three years, in part because of the bankruptcy.

• A cloud of sadness and inactivity has covered the Church, making it difficult for us to take needed steps forward by developing a) a pastoral council, b) a pastoral plan for the future, and c) a diocesan synod.

• The people of the Church have been embarrassed by the bankruptcy.

• The people have lost confidence in their diocesan leadership during this process.

• One parishioner said the pain is not about finances, but about a lessening of spirituality for him, but the process would never take away his faith.

• The archdiocese is said to have no financial “savings account” with the result that new initiatives are hard to

undertake because of a loss of financial freedom to initiate new programs.

• There has been a preoccupation of the time and energy of diocesan leadership by the bankruptcy process.

• There has been a negative impression about the Church given by some of the media coverage of the bankruptcy process.

The end is not yet in sight.

Father Kenneth Pierre A dean of retired priests, St. Paul Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.

Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19B

CALENDAR Dining out

FEATURED EVENTS Annulment consultation — Feb. 14 (Ash Wednesday): 7 a.m.–7 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul.

Staff members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ metropolitan tribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the investigation into the annulment process. For more information, contact Monica Arachtingi at 651-291-4466.

Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota Investment Conference — Feb. 15: 7:15–10:15 a.m. at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul campus. This conference is for donors, pastors, parish business administrators and trustees, and professional advisers. Presenters are Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist with The Leuthold Group, and Deidre Schmidt, president and CEO of CommonBond Communities. For more information and to register for this free event, visit ccf-mn.org/2018-investment-conference.

Women’s Discernment Retreat — Feb. 17: 8 a.m.– 3:30 p.m. at Maternity of the Blessed Virgin, St. Paul. Women ages 16-35 are invited to learn about consecrated life with consecrated women from a variety of religious orders. Bishop Andrew Cozzens will preside at 8 a.m. Mass and will present on consecrated life. Cost is $20 and includes lunch. Scholarships are available. To register, visit 10000vocations.org. For more information, contact the Office of Vocations at 651-962-6890 or patty.mcquillan@stthomas.edu.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office Annual Winter Teaching Conference — Feb. 24: 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. at Epiphany Church, Coon Rapids. Event includes breakout sessions, speakers, praise and worship music, lunch and prayer. Bishop Andrew Cozzens will close the day with a message of evangelization.

For more information and to register, visit ccro-msp.org.

Agape Dinner for Widows and Widowers — Feb. 24: 10 a.m.–1 p.m. at St. Peter Church, Forest Lake. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will present on the communion of saints and how that relates to spousal relationships. $10 dinner to follow. RSVP to Deacon Terry Moravec at 651-295-4444 or Cindy Casey at 651-249-8807 by Feb. 16. #MeToo: A community conversation and a Christian response — Feb. 25: 1–3 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. Join a community conversation about the current cultural movement identifying prevalent sexual harassment and misconduct in government, media, workplaces, churches and institutions. Panelists from Project Pathfinder, an organization dedicated to preventing sexual abuse and restoring lives, will share their experiences and possible solutions to this problem. For more information, visit mary.org.

Guardian Angels Men’s Club annual beef and sausage dinner — Feb. 11: 11 a.m.–1 p.m. at 217 Second St. W. (school gym), Chaska. gachaska.org.

Italian dinner — Feb. 24: 5:30–7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent De Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park.

Music Cabaret Dinner Theatre — Feb. 9 and 10: 6 p.m. at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights.

763-788-9062 iccsonline.org.

Metropolitan Symphony — Feb. 11: 3–4 p.m. at St. Michael, 510 Hall Ave., St. Paul. st-matts.org/family-concert-mso.

St. Agnes 2018 Lenten Lectures — Fridays during lent: 7–9 p.m. at 535 Thomas Ave. W., St. Paul. churchofsaintagnes.org.

St. Michael Lenten mission— Saints and Evangelization, with Father Francis Hoffman “Father Rocky,” Jeff Cavins and Father Michael Becker — Feb. 25-28: 7:30–9 p.m. at 11300 Frankfort Parkway NE, St. Michael. stmcatholicchurch.org.

Living Stations of the Cross — March 21, 23, 25 and 30: 7 p.m. March 21; 7 p.m. March 23 (following the 6:30 p.m. soup supper, free-will offering); 1:30 p.m. March 25; and noon March 30 at St. Ambrose, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

Prayer/worship

Parish events A musical: “The Borrowed Tomb” — Feb. 8-11 at St. Odilia, 3495 N. Victoria, Shoreview. stodilia.org.

St. Pius X Winterfest — Feb. 10 and 11 at 3878 Highland Ave., White Bear Lake. churchofstpiusx.org.

St. Gerard 2018 Spirituality Fair — Feb. 10 and 17: 9 a.m.–3:15 p.m. at 9600 Regent Ave. N., Brooklyn Park.

763-424-8770 or st-gerard.org.

St. Bridget Volunteer Appreciation Dinner — Feb. 13: 6–8 p.m. at Brennan Hall, St. Austin campus, 4050 Upton Ave. N., Minneapolis. RSVP by Feb. 8 to 612-529-7779. stbridgetnorthside.com.

Lenten morning of reflection with Deacon Mickey Friesen — Feb. 16: 9:30–11:45 a.m. at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 E. Cliff Road, Burnsville.

952-890-0045 or mmotc.org.

St. Mark Lenten morning of reflection with Father John Klockeman — Feb. 17: 9 a.m.–1 p.m. at 2001 Dayton Ave., St. Paul. saintmark-mn.org.

The Order of Naming and Commending of Babies Who Died Before Birth — Feb. 10: 9:30–10:30 a.m. at St. Michael, 611 S. Third St., Stillwater. stmichaelstillwater.org.

50th anniversary Mass of thanksgiving for Father Frank Fried — Feb. 25: 10:30 a.m. at Little Sisters of the Poor Holy Family Residence, 330 Exchange St. S., St. Paul. 651-698-8333.

Retreats Women’s weekend retreat — Feb. 1618 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net.

Lenten day of prayer — Feb. 22: 9:30 a.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net.

School of Lectio Divina — Feb. 23-28 at the Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Deepening Our Capacity for Love and

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Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

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ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: • Time and date of event • Full street address of event • Description of event • C ontact information in case of questions ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/ calendarsubmissions

FAX: 651-291-4460 MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Compassion — Feb. 24: 9 a.m.–noon at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. loyolaspiritualitycenter.org/lenten-retreat.

Conferences/workshops Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sunday of each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523.

Schools Leap Into Next Year open house and registration night — Feb. 21: 5–7 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Catholic School, 4030 Jackson St. NE., Columbia Heights.

763-788-9065 or iccsonline.org.

Speakers Vatican II in 2018 — Feb 13: 7– 8:30 p.m. at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 700 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Hosted by Catholic Coalition for Church Reform and Council of the Baptized. cccr-cob.org.

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PRAYERS Thank you St. Jude, Holy Spirit, all the angels and saints for prayers answered. JH & JO NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.

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20B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

THELASTWORD

Soup supper and no

dessert?

Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday-style

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

M

any people looking at their February calendars are doing a double-take with Ash Wednesday falling on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. The two days, steeped in tradition, don’t have too much in common beyond their religious roots. Valentine’s Day, named after St. Valentine, a third-century martyr, is all about romance with its emphasis on cards, candy, flowers and nice dinners, whereas Ash Wednesday takes a more somber tone as the start of Lent’s 40 days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Ash Wednesday also is one of two days, along with Good Friday, that are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholic adults — meaning no eating meat and eating only one full meal and two smaller meals. In other words, not a day for consuming candy hearts, chocolate cakes or fancy steak dinners.

Love is not And for those who wonder if Catholic bishops might grant a just sweets and dispensation from the day’s chocolates. fasting requirements, as they sometimes have with the no Father Leo Patalinghug meat rule when St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday in Lent, they should probably think again.

Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, Alabama, told Catholics in his diocese in a Jan. 29 statement that “some have wondered whether a dispensation for the standard laws of fast and abstinence would be granted” Feb. 14.

“A dispensation will not be given,” he wrote, stressing that this decision was “out of respect for the importance of Ash Wednesday in the lives of so many — including our non-Catholic brethren — and the way this custom underlines the importance of the Lenten season at its outset.”

He suggested Catholics celebrate Valentine’s Day on another “non-penitential day,” maybe even Feb. 13 — which is Mardi Gras.

“The good Lord, who suffered so much out of love for us, will surely reward our fidelity and sacrifice,” he added.

“

A Jan. 26 statement by the Archdiocese of Chicago similarly suggested celebrating Valentine’s Day on Mardi Gras: “a traditionally iSTOCK | festive time before beginning our Lenten observance.”

“Catholics throughout the world recognize Ash Wednesday as the solemn beginning of a period of prayerful reflection and penance, as is evident by the large number of churchgoers on this day,” the statement said, stressing that the day’s “obligation of fast and abstinence must naturally be the priority in the Catholic community.”

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, told Catholic News Service that New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan did not give any dispensation for Catholics for Valentine’s Day and pointed out that St. Patrick is the patron saint of the archdiocese, which puts the celebration of that day “into a different category.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis agrees with his brother bishops and says he is confident that the faithful will this year be creative in expressing St. Valentine’s Day sentiments in ways that fully respect Ash Wednesday as a day of fast and abstinence.

“Couples in love often know best of all the fruit of sacrifice,” he said. “How inspiring it will be to see them coming for ashes, supporting each other as they together make the Lenten commitment to turn away from sin and believe the Good News.”

The last time Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day overlapped was in 1945. Researchers at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA, based at Georgetown University, point out that the two days will coincide again in 2024 and 2029 and that in 2096, Ash Wednesday will occur on Feb. 29 — Leap Day — for the first time in the Church’s history.

Despite the rarity of this year’s Ash Wednesday date, an article on the CARA website notes that it is unlikely the U.S. bishops would give an Ash Wednesday dispensation as some of them have on St. Patrick’s Day, mainly because not much is known about St. Valentine. It points out that he is said to have been killed at the command of Emperor Claudius in the year 278 for marrying Christians at a time when the emperor was trying to recruit single men for the army.

Not only are there few details of the saint, there are

also mixed accounts of possibly three different martyrs named Valentine that share a Feb. 14 feast day.

The confusion and lack of ANNA USOVA details led the Church to remove the liturgical feast of St. Valentine from the general Church calendar in the late 1960s.

Instead, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, brothers known as the “Apostles of the Slavs” for their work in spreading the Gospel throughout Eastern Europe in the ninth century, have the Feb. 14 feast day spot on the Church calendar, although this year their day is superseded by Ash Wednesday.

These brothers — who developed an alphabet and translated the Bible and other works in a Slavic language — have just as much to say about love because of their emphasis on communication, which is so key to relationships, said Father Leo Patalinghug, who has a cooking show on the Eternal Word Television Network called “Savoring our Faith.”

The priest, who knows a thing or two about making a good Lenten meal, and also writes and talks about couples keeping their relationships strong by celebrating with good meals once a month, sees no conflict in the Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day overlap. Instead, he views it as a great teaching moment.

In between cooking segments Jan. 31 for his television program, the Baltimore priest who is part of a community of consecrated life called Voluntas Dei, told CNS that the overlap was a “special providence of God” because it can offer a deeper sense of what love really means — which at times requires sacrifice.

“Love is not just sweets and chocolates,” said the priest who wrote the 2012 cookbook: “Spicing Up Married Life,” which includes recipes, prayers and conversation topics. “You can have chocolate cake anytime,” he added.

As he sees it, the bigger lesson is to think about “going without and where that will lead you.”

“So often people treat love like fast food when love — and all things of God — take time,” he added.

He said this Valentine’s Day, couples have the “perfect day to start Lent and to have that discussion of what love means.” And, they can also have a modest meal that is delicious.

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