January 11, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
New columnist Kate Soucheray Becoming holy in this day and age — Page 16
Archdiocese’s Reorganization Judge denies competing plans attempting to resolve the archdiocese’s bankruptcy and orders parties back to mediation. — Page 5
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Catholic-Lutheran dialogue Marking the close of an ecumenical year of prayer commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Father Erich Rutten talks about the traction gained through prayer and conversations. — Page 7
‘Dead Man Walking’ The Minnesota Opera will stage the story of a nun’s role as spiritual adviser to a death row inmate Jan. 27-Feb. 3 at the Ordway in St. Paul. — Page 14
A girl holds a pro-life sign inside the State Capitol in St. Paul during the 2014 March for Life Jan. 22. Students for Life of America designed the sign, which is used across the country at pro-life rallies.
As Roe v. Wade turns 45, forming a ‘pro-life generation’ uK ristan Hawkins, Students for Life of America president and parishioner of St. Jude of the Lake, reflects on the pro-life movement, motherhood and suffering. Pages 10-11
uM CCL: Local March for Life Jan. 22 important ahead of Minnesota’s big ticket election in November. Page 13
Papal trip Pope says he goes to Chile, Peru as pilgrim of Gospel joy By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service
L
ess than a week before embarking on a seven-day visit to South America, Pope Francis said he would go to Chile and Peru as a pilgrim and share the Gospel’s message of hope and joy. “I want to meet with you, look into your eyes, see your faces and experience God’s closeness, his tenderness and mercy that embraces and consoles us,” the pope said in a video message released by the Vatican Jan. 9. The pope will be in Chile Jan. 15-18, visiting the cities of Santiago, Temuco and Iquique. He then will fly to Peru, and from Jan. 18-21, he will visit Lima, Puerto Maldonado and Trujillo. In his message, Pope Francis said he
was familiar with the history of both countries and was grateful for the people’s faith and love for God, particularly in caring for those “discarded by society.” “The throwaway culture has invaded us more and more,” he said. “I want to share in your joys, your sorrows, your difficulties and hopes and tell you that you are not alone, that the pope is with you [and] that the whole Church embraces you.” Pope Francis also said he hoped to share with the people the experience of the peace that comes from God through Christ’s resurrection, which is the foundation of peaceful coexistence in society and “heals our miseries.” “To feel God’s closeness makes us a living community that is capable of moving with those who are at our side and take firm steps toward friendship and brotherhood. We are brothers and sisters who go out to meet others to confirm one another in the same faith and hope,” the pope said.
CNS
The Peru-Chile trip will be Pope Francis’ fourth to South America. In July 2013, he visited Brazil for World Youth Day. In July 2015, he traveled to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, and in September 2017, he visited Colombia.
2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 2018
PAGETWO Making some changes in 2018? We are, too. You’ll notice that we’ve tweaked the design and content of our print edition, and we’re refreshing our website content as well. We’re hoping our updates better serve you and our Church. We’d love to hear what you think. Reach us at CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. — The Catholic Spirit team
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“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Millie Wall, a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, to whom the Minnesota Vikings gave tickets for their Jan. 14 NFC playoff game against the New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The surprise was in honor of Wall’s 100th birthday, and her reaction was caught on video by her granddaughter. “You’re never too old to attend your first Vikings playoff game,” read a letter accompanying the tickets Jan. 8. “We can’t wait for you to help us bring it home.”
NEWS notes
$3,605 COURTESY SHELL DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
FAST TRACK St. Thomas Academy senior Sam Westlake, right, relays last-minute instructions to driver Nicholas Kern before the team’s race against the Drivers’ World Championship second- and third-place teams during a Dec. 2-8 trip to the headquarters of Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari’s racing division, in Maranello, Italy. Looking on from left are team members Joe McMahon, Charlie Quinlan and Jack Kotok. Eight members of the Mendota Heights school’s team traveled to Maranello as part of the team’s prize package for winning the 2017 Shell Drivers’ World Championship in London in May. Their car is designed and built to travel the most miles with the least amount of fuel, and it travels at a top speed of 35 mph.
The amount of annual tuition each Providence Academy student in grades nine-12 will save when the school reduces the cost next academic year. The Plymouth preK-to-grade-12 college preparatory school plans to lower high school tuition from $20,100 to $16,495 per year. Students in grades four to eight will also see a tuition reduction. “What we want to help families do is to be able to make a decision to have the education that they want for their kids,” said Providence Headmaster Todd Flanders. “Catholic education is always a budgetary decision for a family. If we can positively affect the family budget, while bringing them to Providence Academy, we want to do it.”
1952 The year Sister John Eudes began a six-year teaching stint at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault. The Sinsinawa Dominican was the inspiration behind Hayley Mill’s incorrigible character in the 1966 comedy film “The Trouble with Angels.” She died Dec. 22 at age 95 at the Sinsinawa Dominicans’ motherhouse in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. The movie was based on the 1962 book “Life with Mother Superior” written by Sister John Eudes’ friend Jane Trahey about their experiences in the 1930s at Mundelein College in Chicago.
2011 The year John Bina began his role as director of bands at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. He received the Bandworld Legion of Honor Award Dec. 23 from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. According to the school, “The award recognizes band directors who have maintained school concert band programs of excellent musical quality and who have held leadership positions in their professional organizations.” Email suggestions for News Notes to stories@archspm.org with “News Notes” in the subject line. CNS
PRAYERS FOR HEALING Pope Francis greets a patient during an unannounced visit Jan. 5 to children at the Palidoro Bambino Gesu Hospital in Fiumicino, outside Rome.
ONLINE exclusives Sticking to your New Year’s resolutions? Sharon Wilson suggests 10 “spiritual resolutions” to help people grow in their relationship with God during the coming year at CatholicHotdish.com. “To be or not to be” — is that really the question? Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk draws insight from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” on the issue of physician-assisted suicide. “While ending our life may seem to offer an ‘escape valve’ for the serious pressures and sufferings we face, we do well to consider the real effects of this choice both in this life, and in the life to come,” he writes. Read his latest “Making Sense Out of Bioethics” column at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 1 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor
in REMEMBRANCE FATHER JOSEPH FELKER, a priest who ministered in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1973 to 1989, died Dec. 3. He was 71. Born in Chicago April 10, 1946, Father Felker was ordained in 1973 for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. A year later he earned a master’s degree at St. Thomas College in St. Paul. He served as an assistant priest at St. Casimir, St. Paul (1973-1976); St. Mary, St. Paul (1976-1979); and St. Patrick, Edina (1979-1981). From 1981 to 1989, he was the archdiocese’s director of Catholic education and formation. In 1982, Father Felker incardinated to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In 1989, he moved to southern California to live near his aging parents. He excardinated from the archdiocese to the Diocese of San Bernardino in 1994. He served as associate pastor and pastor of parishes there until his retirement in 2013. A funeral Mass was offered Dec. 15 in Riverside, California, and internment will be in the San Jacinto Valley Cemetery.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEMODERATOROFTHECURIA ONLY JESUS | Father Charles Lachowitzer
Hopeless to hopeful
A
s a seminarian, I spent three months working in one of the oldest public housing complexes in the nation. Rows and streets of multi-storied redbrick apartment buildings were filled with more illegal residents than could be counted. Throughout the apartment buildings, in the alleyways and out on the streets, fights broke out between long-established territorial gangs. Every night, sirens wailed and uniformed officers made arrests. One night, I rode in an ambulance with a shooting victim to one of the nearby hospitals. He survived. The fists, knives and broken bottles of old had given way to the rule of the bullet. Even the smallest of hands could pull a trigger. The underground economy of drugs, prostitution and armed extortion fueled a violence that had become a normal way of life. A typical story in any one of these apartment buildings was that the grandparents had immigrated to the U.S. legally. They raised their family in that public housing complex, and many were still living there some 40 years later. Their children grew up in the projects, and as adults, they raised their children in the same apartment as their parents. These grandchildren were now teenagers or young adults, and some of them were raising their children in the same apartment building as their grandparents. Everyone but the grandparents lived in the shared apartments illegally. For too many, there was nowhere else to live, and there were few opportunities for meaningful
No esperanza, a esperanza
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omo seminarista, pasé tres meses trabajando en uno de los complejos de viviendas públicas más antiguos de la nación. Las hileras y calles de edificios de apartamentos de ladrillo rojo de varios pisos se llenaron con más residentes ilegales de lo que se podía contar. A lo largo de los edificios de departamentos, en los callejones y en las calles, estallaron las luchas entre pandillas territoriales establecidas hace mucho tiempo. Todas las noches, las sirenas gemían y los oficiales uniformados realizaban arrestos. Una noche, monté en una ambulancia con una víctima de un tiroteo a uno de los hospitales cercanos. Sobrevivió. Los puños, cuchillos y botellas rotas de antaño habían cedido ante la regla de la bala. Incluso la más pequeña de las manos podría apretar un gatillo. La economía clandestina de las drogas, la prostitución y la extorsión armada alimentaron una violencia que se había convertido en una forma de vida normal. Una historia típica en cualquiera de estos edificios de apartamentos fue que los abuelos habían emigrado legalmente a los EE. UU. Criaron a su familia en ese complejo de viviendas públicas y muchos seguían viviendo allí unos 40 años después. Sus hijos crecieron en los
employment. Even if someone did find a job, a childhood of drugs and violence sabotaged their ability to keep the job, let alone move out of public housing. The invisible hand of downward mobility — that which doomed a fourth generation to live in the same apartment in which their parents were born — produced a wrath that, like a ferocious tiger, bit the hand that fed them. The generations were caught in a vicious cycle of poverty simply because of where they were born, and it was the lack of hope for a better life that incited the greatest anger. Broken homes, broken lives, broken hearts, broken brains and broken dreams. One might imagine that this was a world with people of color. Illegal residents? Must be a Latino barrio. Gang violence? Must be a black ghetto. Actually, the residents were all white, mostly Irish — both legal and illegal immigrants — and most were baptized as Catholics. Whether African, Latino, Asian, European or indigenous, a culture that lacks hope is dominated by violence. To look at color as an explanation for dysfunction is, on many levels, one of the building blocks of racism. As Minnesotans come to terms with the statistics showing alarming economic and educational disparities between whites and people of color, we are challenged to recognize that many of us may not even be aware of long-held racial stereotypes and unconscious attitudes against people of different races and cultures. A group of pastors of historically black churches in Minneapolis has reached out to Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals “to seek collaboration in working for racial healing within the fractured body of Christ.” As we prepare to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25 and a national day of remembrance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., we join with the efforts of so many to become more aware of the attitudes that contribute to the injustices and inequality that persist among us.
proyectos y, como adultos criaron a sus hijos en el mismo departamento que sus padres. Estos nietos ahora eran adolescentes o adultos jóvenes, y algunos de ellos estaban criando a sus hijos en el mismo edificio de apartamentos que sus abuelos. Todos menos los abuelos vivían ilegalmente en los apartamentos compartidos. Para muchos, no había otro lugar para vivir, y había pocas oportunidades para un empleo significativo. Incluso si alguien encontrara un trabajo, una infancia de drogas y violencia saboteó su capacidad para mantener el trabajo, y mucho menos salir de la vivienda pública. La mano invisible de la movilidad descendente -la que condenó a una cuarta generación a vivir en el mismo departamento en el que nacieron sus padres- produjo una ira que, como un tigre feroz, mordió la mano que los alimentaba. Las generaciones quedaron atrapadas en un círculo vicioso de pobreza simplemente por el lugar donde nacieron, y fue la falta de esperanza para una vida mejor lo que provocó la mayor ira. Hogares rotos, vidas rotas, corazones rotos, cerebros rotos y sueños rotos. Uno podría imaginar que este era un mundo con gente de color. ¿Residentes ilegales? Debe ser un barrio latino. ¿Violencia de las pandillas? Debe ser un gueto negro. En realidad, los residentes eran todos blancos, en su mayoría irlandeses, tanto inmigrantes legales como ilegales, y la mayoría fueron bautizados como
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Whether African, Latino, Asian, European or indigenous, a culture that lacks hope is dominated by violence. To look at color as an explanation for dysfunction is, on many levels, one of the building blocks of racism. Guided by the teachings of our Church, we need critical eyes to see racist attitudes and compassionate ears to hear the voices of those who have long struggled to be heard. There is hope — an eternal hope born in Bethlehem in Jesus Christ. A hope that we can work together for a more just society. A hope that we can interrupt with a powerful faith the cycles of poverty and violence. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we share the hope and prayer that all God’s children, without exception, will know our God-given, inviolable dignity and value and have an equal share in the opportunities for a better life. In his 2003 pastoral letter on racism “In God’s Image,” Archbishop Harry Flynn wrote, “Let us make this Church a clear sign to the world by speaking out against racism and by working to transform the institutions and structures in which racism is so deeply embedded. By doing so, we will make God’s love more present. We will make God’s unity more visible. We will make God’s justice more real.”
Read more • “ In God’s Image” by Archbishop Harry Flynn: archspm.org/gods-image
católicos. Ya sea africana, latina, asiática, europea o indígena, una cultura que carece de esperanza está dominada por la violencia. Considerar el color como una explicación para la disfunción es, en muchos niveles, uno de los pilares del racismo. Como los habitantes de Minnesota aceptan las estadísticas que muestran las alarmantes disparidades económicas y educativas entre los blancos y las personas de color, tenemos el desafío de reconocer que muchos de nosotros tal vez ni siquiera estemos al tanto de los estereotipos raciales y las actitudes inconscientes contra personas de diferentes razas y culturas. Un grupo de pastores de iglesias históricamente negras en Minneapolis se ha acercado a católicos, protestantes y evangélicos “para buscar colaboración en el trabajo por la sanación racial dentro del fracturado Cuerpo de Cristo.” Mientras nos preparamos para celebrar la Semana de Oración por la Unidad de los Cristianos. 18-25 y un día nacional de conmemoración para el reverendo Martin Luther King Jr., nos unimos a los esfuerzos de muchos para tomar conciencia de las actitudes que contribuyen a las injusticias y la desigualdad que persisten entre nosotros. Guiados por las enseñanzas de nuestra iglesia, necesitamos ojos críticos para ver actitudes racistas y oídos compasivos para escuchar las voces de aquellos que han luchado durante mucho tiempo para ser escuchados. Hay esperanza, una esperanza eterna nacida en Belén en Jesucristo. Una
esperanza de que podamos trabajar juntos por una sociedad más justa. Una esperanza de que podamos interrumpir con una fe poderosa los ciclos de pobreza y violencia. Como discípulos de Jesucristo, compartimos la esperanza y la oración de que todos los hijos de Dios, sin excepción, conocerán nuestra dignidad y el valor inviolable que Dios nos ha dado y que tendrán una participación igual en las oportunidades para una vida mejor. En su carta pastoral de 2003 sobre el racismo “A imagen de Dios”, el Arzobispo Harry Flynn escribió: “Hagamos de esta Iglesia una señal clara para el mundo al hablar en contra del racismo y trabajando para transformar las instituciones y estructuras en las que el racismo es tan profundo incrustado. Al hacerlo, haremos que el amor de Dios esté más presente. Haremos que la unidad de Dios sea más visible. Haremos que la justicia de Dios sea más real.” Otras lecturas: “In God’s Image” by Archbishop Flynn: archspm.org/gods-image
OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointment in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective January 2, 2018 Deacon Joseph Frederick, appointed to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Timothy in Blaine. Deacon Frederick is returning to ministry after a leave of absence.
‘Angel’ among us
4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 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 of the Carondelet Sisters. Peace House is a day shelter for the poor and homeless. From left, volunteers Jane Vondrashek “It’s a real privilege to know these people and her aunt Mary Novitzke of St. Joan of and hear their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I Arc in Minneapolis deliver a meal to a could not survive on the streets like they south Minneapolis resident Jan. 4 as part do. There are so many gifted people of a parish ministry called Mobile Loaves here.” Said Carter of Sister Avis: “She’s and Fishes. That night, as temperatures an angel. She hides her wings under that fell to zero, six volunteers drove a food sweatshirt. She truly is an angel.” truck through the city and delivered 100 Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit meals and 135 sandwiches to low-income and homeless people. They also offered free socks, gloves, scarves and stocking hats. Volunteer teams make five to seven National Sisters truck runsCatholic per week year Week round,is March 8-14. An official delivering 670-700 mealscomponent a week. “Iof just Women’s History Month and Vondrashek, love this ministry,” said Ellen headquartered at St.also Catherine University Jane’s mother, who volunteered in St.4Paul, the week celebrates women Jan. and has been involved since the religious and theireight contributions the outreach started years ago.to“It’s Church View events, cold, butand thesociety. people are solocal warm. They including two art exhibitions, at are very, very grateful we’re out there for www.nationalcatholicsistersweek .orgKnox . them.” The ministry partners with Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis.
SLICEof LIFE
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Judge denies both plans, directs return to mediation By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said a bankruptcy judge’s Dec. 28 decision that the archdiocese should return to mediation with the other involved parties “bolsters our resolve to move forward in the bankruptcy process.” “We look to engage with all participants in mediation as directed by the judge to bring a prompt and fair resolution,” Tom Abood, chairman of the archdiocese’s reorganization task force, said in a statement. Judge Robert Kressel denied Dec. 28 two competing plans that attempted to resolve the archdiocese’s bankruptcy. He stated that he expected all of the parties to return to mediation. In a joint memorandum issued to the archdiocese and the Unsecured Creditors Committee, which includes clergy sexual abuse claimants, Kressel said he expected them “to mediate in good faith” and “to reach a resolution which will result in a consensual plan providing appropriate and timely compensation to those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of those employed by or affiliated with the archdiocese.” Abood said the archdiocese is “guided by [Kressel’s] words from earlier this year, that the longer this process continues, the less money will be available for those who have been harmed.” He added: “We note and are gratified that Judge Kressel has once again directly dismissed the assertions by creditors’ counsel that the archdiocese has acted or is acting in bad faith regarding the reorganization.” In the memorandum, Kressel expressed concern about the number of abuse claimants who have died since the archdiocese entered bankruptcy in January 2015, and that others may die as the Reorganizations process “drags on.” According to Kressel, at least eight claimants have died, “essentially depriving them of meaningful compensation for the pain that they have endured.” He emphasized that the bankruptcy case affects actual people, especially those who suffered abuse and those who have to pay for others’ actions. “While the creditors committee seeks retribution for the wrongs suffered by victims, none of the people who committed the abuse in the first place or exacerbated it in the second place will suffer,” he wrote. “The financial cost of compensation falls not on any of these people, but a completely different group of people. It falls on current employees, including priests, teachers, coaches, and on retired school librarians and others who have worked for the archdiocese and the parishes and earned a modest retirement. The
MAY 2013 The Minnesota State Legislature passes the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which lifted for three years the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse civil suits. JANUARY 2015 Amid mounting historic claims of child sexual abuse by priests and others associated with the Church, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis enters Chapter 11 Reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code as a means to distribute assets equitably and fairly among victims. Mediation between the archdiocese, creditors’ representatives and insurance carriers begins. AUGUST 2015 The court-established deadline passes for all historic claims of child sex abuse against the archdiocese; 453 total claims are made from as far back as the 1940s. More than 67 percent of the claims are from the 1960s and 1970s. JANUARY 2016 The archdiocese sells the first of its three Cathedral Hill properties; it would also sell a residence near Northfield. The sales of all four properties totaled almost $9 million, which was included as abuse survivor remuneration in its plan for Reorganization. MAY 2016 The archdiocese files a plan for Reorganization, initially offering $65 million for abuse survivor remuneration. Over the course of the next months, it increased that amount — primarily through additional insurance company settlements — to $156 million. JULY 2016 After the Unsecured Creditors Committee, which represents abuse claimants in the bankruptcy proceedings, filed a motion in May 2016 for the assets of parishes, some Catholic high schools and Catholic organizations to be combined with those of the archdiocese, the bankruptcy court judge rules that their assets did not legally require consolidation. The UCC appealed the decision, twice, and made its case before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2017. The Circuit Court has yet to rule. AUGUST 2016, The UCC files a competing plan for Reorganization. MARCH 2017 Both plans for Reorganization are sent to creditors including abuse claimants, for a nonbinding vote. Most abuse claimants voted for the UCC’s plan. Most other creditors voted for the archdiocese’s plan. AUGUST 2017 The bankruptcy court judge hears oral arguments on objections to the competing plans for Reorganization. DECEMBER 2017 The judge denies both plans, and asks the archdiocese, the UCC, parishes and insurers to return to mediation to reach a consensual plan.
cost may fall on students at Catholic schools and their parents. It will fall on thousands of parishioners. And the cost will be born by beneficiaries of the charity and other good works by the archdiocese and the parishes.” Kressel said the archdiocese, victims, parishes and insurers must come to an agreement and “put aside their desire to win, and decide to put together a resolution that is fair to all of the people involved.” “The committee [of unsecured creditors] must put aside its desire for retribution. After all, whatever
else the archdiocese is, it is a corporation. Corporations do not suffer; only people suffer,” he wrote. “The archdiocese must put aside its desire to minimize pain, realizing that the personal pain its employees inflicted upon victims is inevitably going to result in financial pain being suffered by a new generation of parishioners and employees.” Kressel also said that the parishes in the archdiocese might have an obligation to contribute to a final plan, but not because of a legal requirement. “The fact that the abuse may not be the legal responsibility of the parishes, which they vociferously argue, is hardly the point, any more than their work to help the hungry and homeless are motivated by legal responsibilities,” he said. Although more than a dozen insurers reached settlements in the archdiocese’s plan for reorganization, they will also need to return to mediation, Kressel said, “in particular, those that reached settlements with the debtor without the agreement of the creditors committee.” “While there is nothing nefarious about what they did, those settlements have certainly contributed to the creditors committee’s animosity,” he said. He added that funds for victims’ compensation could also come from their lawyers. All but 39 of the 453 claimants hired an attorney, he said, and “virtually all of them agreed to pay their lawyers onethird or so of their recovery.” He estimated that the attorneys’ fees could run between $30 million and $40 million or more, depending on the final plan. The plan proposed by the archdiocese would have provided $156 million to victims of abuse, and it would have protected parishes and several Catholic high schools from further lawsuits from past claims of sexual abuse. In his order denying the confirmation of the unsecured creditors’ plan, Kressel indicated that the plan had unrealistic expectations for funding sources and would protract the bankruptcy, adding that “reliance on litigation is not a realistic method of repayment to creditors.” “It is not clear whether the [unsecured creditors] committee’s plan is a plan of reorganization,” he wrote. “It is definitely a plan of future litigation. This future litigation will unnecessarily prolong the bankruptcy case, waste the estate’s resources, and delay payments to creditors, the debtor’s discharge and the successful reorganization of the debtor.” Both plans were presented to creditors for a vote in March. The majority of clergy sexual abuse claimants voted for the Unsecured Creditors Committee’s plan. The majority of the other creditors voted for the archdiocese’s plan.
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
Memories of Father Lachner, 78, include celebrity visit By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Father Anton Lachner experienced great suffering the last eight years of his life, his family said, after having a series of strokes, the first of which he experienced after retiring at age 70 in 2009. A priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Lachner, 78, died Dec. 21 at the Little Sisters of the Poor Holy Family Residence in St. Paul. It was there that he encountered an international celebrity who lifted his spirits and helped ease his suffering. On May 5, 2016, Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who launched her career by performing on “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2009, visited the Holy Family Residence while in the Twin Cities for a concert. Father Lachner was supposed to go to the concert with family members, but he got sick. So, the concert was brought to him. A staff member got in touch with someone on Boyle’s staff and arranged for a visit. What took place after her arrival was something one Holy Family Residence staff member called “a miracle.” “When we got into Father’s room, she [Boyle] approached Father and started sobbing,” said Mother Maria Francis Pale, local superior. “And, Susan went straight on her knees, and Father prayed over her. ... Then she started singing, ‘[Somewhere] Over the Rainbow’ in his room. I tell you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.” Father Lachner moved to the Holy Family Residence in September 2011. Mother Maria Francis said his mind was still sharp, and she was amazed at the details he could remember. “He was a very intelligent man,” she said. “He had such a mind, so brilliant.” His brother, Phil Lachner, made similar statements, and remembered a call to the priesthood that began in childhood for Father Lachner, who was ordained Oct. 3, 1968. He served until 1977, when he left the priesthood. He was reinstated in 2005 and served until his retirement in 2009. “When he was probably 8 or 9 years old, he’d want to play church,” Phil recalled. “The way he did that is he’d be the priest and he’d give us candy for Communion. That’s how he got us to play.” His first assignment after ordination was at St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley. He then served on the faculty at the College of St. Thomas from 19691974. For three years before leaving the priesthood, he attended graduate school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. “He was so kind and compassionate,” said Judy Johnson, one of Father Lachner’s eight siblings. “He was always there. I could always count on him. We were there for each other. ... He was a really good guy.”
in BRIEF North Minneapolis Visitation Sisters receive City of Peace Award COLUMBIA HEIGHTS — Sisters of the Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis were named the fourth winners of Columbia Heights’ 2017 City of Peace Award Dec. 13. “We are giving this honor to this wonderful organization in Minnesota who is instrumental in promoting peace in their community,” said Columbia Heights Activities Fund Executive Director Gary Peterson in a statement. “[The] Visitation Sisters were selected by their efforts of empowering people of all cultures and backgrounds to become better educated, have the opportunity to work decent jobs, practice their own faith, and as a result, live better lives so they can become more productive citizens and give back to their communities.” Columbia Heights launched the City of Peace effort, which includes the annual awards, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
LOCAL
6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 2018
Judge, Ramsey County: Archdiocese honoring ‘spirit of settlement’ By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit A Ramsey County Court judge praised the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ efforts to protect children, saying during a Jan. 5 hearing that she saw examples of the archdiocese “not only honoring the letter of the agreement, but the spirit of the agreement.” Judge Teresa Warner also called the archdiocese’s ongoing relationship with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office “impressive.” “The result that we hoped for is being achieved little by little,” she said. The hearing updated the judge on the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts in the past six months, which included an independent, external audit that found the archdiocese was substantially compliant with the terms of a settlement agreement the archdiocese reached with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in December 2015. Assistant County Attorney Thomas Ring told Judge Warner that in the past two years, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the archdiocese “have developed a relationship of mutual confidence” and “trust.” The archdiocese “put its shoulder to the work which so needed to be done,” Ring said. The 40-minute hearing fulfilled an obligation of the 2015 settlement agreement on charges the county had filed against the archdiocese in June 2015. The charges alleged that the archdiocese had been negligent in the case of three brothers who were sexually abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer in 2010 and 2011. The settlement agreement was amended in June 2016 at the same time Ramsey County dismissed criminal charges it had filed against the archdiocese in the same case. The Jan. 5 report was the fourth six-month report the archdiocese and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office have presented in Ramsey County Court. Warner said
that the collaboration between the archdiocese and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office showed “an example of not forgetting why you’re here.” “Those voices are still being heard,” she said of Wehmeyer’s victims, adding that “good work is being done to make sure this never happens again.” In August, New York-based Stonebridge Business Partners conducted an in-person audit of the archdiocese’s policies and procedures, and compliance. The audit included interviews with at least 30 archdiocesan leaders, employees, pastors, lay leaders and school representatives, as well as on-site visits at or information requests from 23 parishes and Catholic schools in the archdiocese. In a report the archdiocese published on its website Jan. 5, Stonebridge outlined the audit’s objective and scope, procedures and information obtained. (See page 19 for the report’s executive summary.) During the hearing, the archdiocese’s attorney announced the archdiocese and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office have selected former Hennepin County Attorney Thomas Johnson to serve as an ombudsperson. His role is independent of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and archdiocese, and he’s available as a confidential resource for victims/survivors, as well as people who have a concern about how a report to the archdiocese is being handled. (See sidebar.) Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Archbishop Bernard Hebda attended the hearing, and, along with Johnson, spoke to media afterward. Choi said that he wanted to publicly express his satisfaction with the archdiocese’s efforts. Echoing Warner’s comments, Choi said, “Certainly, the archdiocese has gone beyond the letter of the settlement agreement, but they really have embraced the spirit of what we’re trying to
Ombudsperson named
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi speaks to reporters Jan. 5 at the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul. With him, from left, are Archbishop Bernard Hebda and ombudsperson Thomas Johnson. accomplish. The big picture at the end of the day is to ensure that what happened in the underlying case, in respect to the three victims in that family, never happens again, and significant efforts have been made.” Choi also encouraged the archdiocese to continue its efforts, calling them “critical.” Archbishop Hebda also reacted positively to the hearing. “While the archdiocese continues to face challenges,” he said, alluding to its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, “today was a real bright spot, as we have the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to protecting children and creating and maintaining safe environments.” He expressed gratitude to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and Choi “for this opportunity to turn a great challenge into something that’s much greater — that we’re able not only to improve what we’re able to do to protect children, but also demonstrate to our community our sincere commitment.” Choi also commended the archdiocese’s restorative justice efforts with victims, noting that the archdiocese has engaged some worldwide leaders in its outreach. “I’m just really heartened by how some of those things are coming together and the support of the archbishop for that,” he said. “You never know what will happen with restorative justice, but the
process is in place, and people are talking and listening, and talking to each other.” Among Stonebridge’s findings was that 92 percent of the approximately 2,500 Church personnel in the archdiocese are fully in compliance with the “Essential Three” requirements of a background check, VIRTUS training and signing a Code of Conduct. During the hearing, Warner called the 92 percent rate “good,” but asked for an explanation for it being less than 100 percent. Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, said the rate had been mostly affected by missing or incomplete paperwork at parishes and schools, and that the internal audit team has adjusted its procedures for examining documentation to work toward 100 percent fully documented “E3” compliance. At the end of the hearing, Warner said that with the compliance rating, “there’s room for improvement, but the bar was set pretty high.” Ring said that the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office was satisfied with the rate. Choi later affirmed that the 92 percent rate was good, “and we’ll continue to work ... to get it to 100 percent.” He added: “The work is never really done in terms of creating an organization and archdiocese that strives for perfection.”
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Friendship with victims of clergy sexual abuse was a motivating factor for a former Hennepin County attorney who agreed to serve as an ombudsperson to assist the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ and Ramsey County’s continued efforts to protect children from abuse. “I know victims of clerical abuse who are now adults, and I know how much pain and suffering they went through as a result of something that just shouldn’t have happened,” said Thomas Johnson, an attorney at Minneapolis-based corporate law firm Gray Plant Mooty. “Certainly, that’s a motivator for me, in terms of whether I can play any role here to help others who haven’t come forward yet, or feel like they’re not getting the response that they should. I think things have changed greatly in the archdiocese, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be perfect, and if I can be of help ... I would very much like to do it.” Johnson was chosen jointly by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the archdiocese. He serves as an independent resource for abuse victims/survivors and for people who might have questions about a situation in their parish or school. Information shared with him is confidential, and he is not required to share it with the archdiocese or Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, he said. Speaking after the Jan. 5 hearing, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi praised Johnson as an appropriate pick for the role. Choi noted that the archdiocese was not required by the settlement agreement to appoint an ombudsperson until 2020, but its leaders “fast-forwarded that because they recognize that it was really important.” Johnson also said he was compelled to take the role because of his work with child sexual abuse victims during an abuse scandal at Children’s Theatre Company and School in Minneapolis while he was serving as the Hennepin County Attorney from 1979 to 1991. Johnson can be reached at thomas.johnson@gpmlaw.com and 612-632-3207. His contact information is listed at safeenvironmentspm.org. — The Catholic Spirit
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LOCAL
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
The future of Catholic-Lutheran dialogue The Catholic Spirit On Jan. 21, Archbishop Bernard Hebda will join with two local Lutheran bishops to close an ecumenical year of prayer marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which began with the publication of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” in 1517. The Catholic Spirit asked Father Erich Rutten, pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul and chairman of the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs, about what the commemoration has meant for the relationship between the Catholic and Lutheran churches. His responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Q. What do you think has come from the joint Catholic and Lutheran commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, both internationally and locally?
A. Both Catholics and Lutherans have
intentionally used the word “commemoration” for this event. It has been an opportunity for what Pope John Paul II called a “healing of memories.” In other words, both sides have tried to look more objectively at what happened during the Reformation, acknowledge faults on both sides, ask forgiveness, and look for ways to move forward in greater unity. Locally, this has offered opportunities for our communities to come together in each others’ home churches. Archbishop Hebda preached at
A. While important differences remain,
Central Lutheran [last January], and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Bishop Patricia Lull will preach at our Cathedral. These things would have been unimaginable 50 years ago. This anniversary year has been an opportunity to get to know each other better and begin to call each other friends.
both sides seem to continue to have a more and more generous relationship with the other. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, the relationship is less dependent on agreeing 100 percent on everything. I think we are now more interested in exploring how we can work together to advocate for justice and peace, and how we can simply get to know each other better.
Q. Are there areas of Catholic-Lutheran dialogue that have come to the fore? How are they being addressed?
A. There are various levels of dialogue
between our communities — at the international level overseen by the Vatican, at the national level overseen by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and at the local level overseen by Archbishop Hebda and the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs. In the state of Minnesota, our Catholic Bishops and ELCA Bishops meet fairly regularly and discuss all kinds of theological and practical issues. Each level may be looking at different issues. This year, the Catholic and ELCA Bishops of Minnesota reflected together, during this anniversary year, on the question of how the Catholic and Lutheran traditions each view the virtue of mercy. The usual conclusion is that we have far more in common than we have differences.
Q. How might this commemoration shape Catholic-Lutheran dialogue going forward?
TCS
Marking anniversary’s close Archbishop Bernard Hebda will join Minnesota Lutheran leaders 7 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul for the closing event of a year of prayer commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The event is organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Area Synod and St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In January 2017, the archdiocese and synods hosted an event opening the year of prayer at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. The events coincide with the annual International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25.
Q. There are Catholics who think the
commemoration has been too positive on the part of the Church, and that not enough attention has been paid to the Reformation’s negative aspects, namely Christian schism. What do you think of that concern?
A. At the Last Supper, Jesus’ dying prayer
was that all his followers would be one. It is our very important responsibility to do all we can to build unity. The point of this year of commemoration has been for both sides to acknowledge their sins, ask forgiveness, and look for ways to move forward in greater unity. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation recently published a very good resource called “From Conflict to Communion.” It represents an effort to tell the story of the Reformation in a fair and balanced way. It also declares the commitment of both sides to continue to work toward unity.
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Watch for The Catholic Spirit’s 2018 Fish Fry and Lenten Meal Guide in our Feb. 8 issue. Have a parish fish fry we missed last year? Let us know at CatholicSpirit@archspm.org.
8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NATION+WORLD
U.S. Church addresses abuse with protocols By Julie Asher Catholic News Service
CNS | JOSEPH ROGER O’DONNELL
‘The fruit of war’
In an unusual move late Dec. 30, Pope Francis distributed a card with this 1945 photo taken after the atomic bombing in Nagasaki, Japan. The photo by U.S. Marine Joseph Roger O’Donnell shows a boy carrying his dead brother on his back to be cremated. On the back of the card, Pope Francis wrote, “The fruit of war” and signed his name. “The sadness of the child is expressed only by his lips, bitten and oozing blood,” the pope wrote. The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, printed a copy of the photograph and the pope’s explanation on the back page of its edition for Jan. 1, the Catholic Church’s World Peace Day.
in BRIEF Federal court upholds free speech rights of pregnancy centers BALTIMORE — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down a Baltimore ordinance that would have forced pro-life pregnancy centers in the city to post signs stating they do not provide or refer for abortions or contraceptives. The 3-0 decision Jan. 5 upholds a lower federal court’s ruling. The Baltimore City Council passed the law on a 12-3 vote in 2009, despite the objections of then-Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who argued that the measure violated the right to free speech. He also contended that the law unfairly targeted pro-life pregnancy centers, while failing to require abortion providers to post similar signs indicating what services they do not provide.
Groups decry end of immigration protection for Salvadorans WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Jan. 8 that it was ending an immigration provision for thousands of Salvadorans — Temporary Protected Status — after Sept. 9, 2019. More than 200,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. under the special status now face the prospect of staying in the country illegally or returning to a nation designated as one of the most dangerous in the world not at war. “The decision to terminate TPS for El Salvador was made after a review of the disaster-related conditions upon which the country’s original designation was based,” DHS said in a statement. Salvadorans affected can apply to stay under a different program, if they qualify, the statement continued. — Catholic News Service
JANUARY 11, 2018
The death of Cardinal Bernard Law opened “a lot of old wounds,” causing “much pain and anger in those who have suffered so much already,” Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley said Dec. 20, the day the Vatican announced Cardinal Law’s death. The cardinal’s death in Rome has put the spotlight once again on Boston as the epicenter of a clergy sex abuse scandal that has affected the whole U.S. Church. The scandal erupted in 2002, and Cardinal Law resigned a year later amid allegations of mishandling clergy sex abuse cases. CARDINAL Since 2002, however, the U.S. BERNARD LAW Catholic Church has taken many steps to bring abusers to justice, to prevent abuse and to heighten awareness of signs and symptoms of abuse. “Looking at the culture of safety and well-being, the modus operandi has changed,” said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection. “No one can just go in to a parish and say they want to work with children, young people. They have to be cleared, background-checked, and it has to be done repeatedly. This ongoing awareness and mindfulness is in place.” The deacon said that he is always asked, “Are we going to completely eradicate abuse?” “The answer to that is ‘no,’ but with what has been happening since 2002,” he said, “I can confidently say the Church does indeed provide safe environments, does have an eye out and looks out for the vulnerable — our minors, our children — and has protocols in place.” Those protocols were established by the bishops in 2002, when they met in Dallas that June for their spring assembly. They adopted the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” At that meeting, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, then-Illinois Bishop Wilton Gregory, who is now Atlanta’s archbishop, placed blame for the crisis on the bishops’ shoulders. He said it stemmed from “a profound loss of confidence by the faithful in our leadership as
shepherds, because of our failures in addressing the crime of the sexual abuse of children and young people by priests and Church personnel.” The charter, revised in 2005 and 2011, established the lay-run National Review Board and the Office, now Secretariat, for Child and Youth Protection at the USCCB to assure that bishops comply with the policy decisions spelled out in the charter and the legally binding, Vatican-approved “Essential Norms” implementing it. The norms provide U.S. dioceses and eparchies with “standards for protecting young people, reaching out to victims, assessing allegations against clergy, with the benefit of the advice of competent lay persons, and for anyone who would harm children.” All U.S. dioceses and eparchies undergo independent audits of their current sexual abuse policies and practices and give detailed reports on complaints against their clergy since 1950. “Every diocese has participated in an audit. The audit helps dioceses, make sure dioceses implement the charter,” he said. “Every diocese has a review board now that looks at cases brought forward. Every diocese has a collaborative, cooperative relationship with law enforcement, an understanding of mandated reporting.” “But more important is that what’s happened since this crisis is the understanding, the culture, has changed,” Deacon Nojadera said. “Victims are listened to. Victims are believed. “There is the understanding now, too, that instead of at all costs avoiding scandal, all transactions are out in the open, clear and transparent and additionally that is taking place on all levels — diocesan and national,” he said. He added, “We have the blessing and grace and honor of accompanying survivor-victims on their journey toward healing and reconciliation. As a result of all of this, I believe the Church is transformed, the Church is healthier, holier now.” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, as dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the funeral Mass for Cardinal Law Dec. 21 at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis, as is customary for the funerals of cardinals who die in Rome, arrived at the end of Mass to preside over the final commendation and farewell.
Tax bill passes amid concerns about the poor By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Republican lawmakers joined President Donald Trump in cheering passage of the most significant overhaul of the federal tax system in three decades even as the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee called on the president to work with Congress to fix “unacceptable problems” in the law. Republicans hailed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as the stimulus needed to get the economy rolling into high gear as they expected corporations to reinvest in America with the middle class benefiting from lower taxes, higher wages and greater job opportunities. Critics contend the law will provide a windfall for people with the highest incomes and corporations that already are seeing record profits, and that there will be limited benefit to low- and middle-income families, who will see their taxes rise beginning in 2025. Meanwhile, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the bishop’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said that while the law “achieves some laudable things,” it also “contains a number of problematic provisions that will have dramatic negative consequences, particularly for those most in need.” In a statement released minutes after the bill passed the House for the second day in a row after fixes were needed to match what the Senate passed early Dec. 20, Bishop Dewane expressed concern that the law will raise taxes for people and families with lower incomes while cutting taxes for the wealthy. The bishop cited a concern that the country’s deficit will grow and that some members of Congress may argue that cuts in programs that aid poor and
vulnerable people are needed to balance the federal budget. The law “also is likely to produce up to a $13 billion drop in annual charitable giving to nonprofits that are relied upon to help those struggling on the margins. This will also significantly diminish the role of civil society in promoting the common good,” Bishop Dewane added. Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, and other advocates for poor and elderly people, echoed the bishop’s worries about the possibility of deep cuts in spending on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and other social services. The legislation passed along party lines in both chambers, with Democrats unanimously lining up against it. Trump signed the measure within hours of passage. Provisions of the law include doubling of the standard deduction while ending the personal exemption; reducing the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and making it permanent; expanding the child tax credit; a cap on deductions for state and local taxes; and reducing the deduction for mortgage interest. The bill also ends the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act that required people to buy health insurance or face a penalty. The provision will save the federal government $300 billion in subsidies over the next decade, but could find as many as 13 million people without health insurance. Before the first House vote, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, House minority leader, spent several minutes criticizing the tax package, citing Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
NATION+WORLD
JANUARY 11, 2018
Churches no longer exempt from FEMA disaster aid By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service The Federal Emergency Management Agency is revising its policies to no longer exclude houses of worship from applying for federal aid to recover from damages caused by natural disasters. The policy change was outlined in the agency’s revised 217-page manual: “Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide” issued Jan. 2. The change is not only for damage caused in future disasters, but also for claims made by churches last year from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, because it can be applied retroactively to claims made “on or after Aug. 23, 2017.” An introduction to the new FEMA manual credits the change in policy to a Supreme Court decision last June, which ruled that Trinity Lutheran Church in Missouri should not have been denied a public benefit just because it is a church. The court’s 7-2 decision specifically referred to the church-run preschool and said it should not be excluded from a state grant program to refurbish its playground surface just because it is a religious entity. Daniel Blomberg, an attorney for the Becket Fund, representing Texas churches and Florida synagogues that have sued FEMA over not getting federal disaster
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aid, welcomed the policy change. “By finally following the Constitution, FEMA is getting rid of second-class status for churches, which in the words of the Supreme Court was ‘odious’ to the First Amendment,” he said in a statement. “We will watch carefully to make sure that FEMA’s new policy [is] implemented to provide equal treatment for churches and synagogues alongside other charities.” Carl Anderson, CEO of the Knights of Columbus, was similarly pleased with the FEMA decision. The Knights of Columbus has given $1.4 million to repair or help rebuild churches that were destroyed or badly damaged in hurricanes last year in Texas, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization also raised $3.8 million for disaster relief in these areas. Chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs supported the measure in letters sent to members of the House and Senate. The letters, signed by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the religious liberty committee, and Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield, Massachusetts, chairman of the ecumenical committee, said the bill regarding FEMA aid and houses of worship “is not asking for special treatment, just equal treatment that conforms to constitutional protections.”
HEADLINES u Catholic swimmer Katie
Ledecky named AP Female Athlete of the Year. The vote reflected Ledecky’s dominance in the July 2017 world championships in Budapest, Hungary, where she earned five gold medals and one silver medal.
Respect Life
CNS
u Vatican agency says at least 23
Church workers killed in 2017. The majority were victims of attempted robberies, the Vatican’s Fides agency said.
u Father Andrew Apostoli, popular EWTN host, dies. At
funeral Mass, Cardinal Dolan recalled the friar as a “light shining in the darkness.”
u Bishops in Kazakhstan say no Communion for divorced, remarried Catholics. Their document is a response to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia.” Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
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MARCH FOR LIFE! Monday, January 22 12 noon | State Capitol, St. Paul Jan. 22nd marks the 45th annual MCCL March for Life after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion on demand. Your presence at the Capitol will send a clear message to state lawmakers that the majority of Minnesotans believe in the Right to Life.
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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Leading
the pro- life generation Students for Life of America president rallies young people to abolish abortion By Jessica Weinberger For The Catholic Spirit
I
n 2001, high school sophomore Kristan Hawkins arrived at a pregnancy resource center in Steubenville, Ohio, ready to complete 100 hours of community service for her honors program. But as the future valedictorian filed paperwork, organized the supply closet and designed the donor newsletter, her eyes were opened to the powerful work happening around her. The teenager soon completed training to serve as a counselor. “Being there at the center, meeting the women and reading the stories of those who had been affected by abortion really cemented in my mind [that] this is something that is horrific and needs to be stopped,” Hawkins said. Now 32 and a parishioner of St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi, Hawkins leads Students for Life of America, the only national pro-life organization dedicated to training college, high school, middle, medical and law school students in pro-life leadership. The organization’s team is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and its members support groups across the country that educate their peers about the violence of abortion, create new pro-life advocates, and support pregnant and parenting students on their campuses. Since the nonprofit was formed in 2005, its members have trained more than 44,000 students. All 50 states have SFLA groups; Minnesota has 34. Each year SFLA hosts the world’s largest pro-life conferences, drawing an average of 2,700 students to San Francisco and Washington. Youths from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis regularly attend the Washington SFLA conference, which coincides with the National March for Life in January. “For so long in the pro-life movement, everyone had a youth outreach division, but it was a secondary thing,” said Hawkins, who became SFLA’s first full-time team member in August 2006. “Our entire organization is focused on developing the pro-life generation because we realize these are the people being directly targeted by abortion.” Hawkins carried her passion for pro-life issues to Bethany College in West Virginia, where she launched its campus’ first pro-life group. She studied political science and planned to earn a doctorate degree, teach and later start her own pregnancy center or maternity home. After graduation, she worked in Washington for the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. She later served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Through her RNC connections, she met a group of students hoping to launch a pro-life student ministry. They received a start-up grant from an angel investor, and it was enough for the newly-married 21-year-old with no experience running a national organization to quit her job and cover her salary. She launched SFLA’s full-time efforts in 2006. As president and SFLA’s official spokesperson, Hawkins is at the helm of what she sees as the most important political campaign — ending abortion. She has tripled the number of campus pro-life groups in the U.S., exponentially grown attendance at the national conferences and authored SFLA’s 2013 self-published book, “Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in this Lifetime.” SFLA’s black-and-white posters reading “I am the pro-life generation” are mainstays at pro-life marches around the country. In June 2016, Hawkins participated in thenRepublican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s outreach meeting with faith-based, pro-life leaders. She has appeared on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, and she speaks across the country on pro-life topics. In 2015, she was the keynote speaker at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Champions for Life Awards. Hawkins sees SFLA’s growth and media prominence as only one metric of success. The real impact of its work, she said, is the ultrasound photos she’s received of babies saved by student groups serving as sidewalk counselors in front of abortion facilities. Hawkins has also helped launch several investigations into the practices of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. She has supported David Daleiden’s anti-abortion efforts specifically targeting Planned Parenthood, including undercover videos filmed by his organization, The Center for Medical Progress. She visited facilities undercover herself multiple times, including while pregnant with her oldest son, Gunner. “I got sick to my stomach,” she recalled. “It was awful going into those centers and just realizing that babies were being killed in the other room.” Hawkins has also made sure that pro-life women’s views are represented in women advocacy efforts. Last year, SFLA members briefly led the Women’s March in Washington with its banners “We don’t need Planned Parenthood” and “abortion betrays women.” As The Catholic Spirit reported at the time, the banners led the march for only a short time; within minutes, other marchers had blocked them with their signs, chanting “my body, my choice” and even stole one of the banners. For Hawkins, however, those few minutes were enough. “We changed the media narrative,” she told The Catholic Spirit after the march. While living in Washington, D.C., Hawkins searched for a church community that aligned with the beliefs and traditions of her non-
denominational Christian church back home. She wanted to remain active in her faith, but struggled to find the right fit. Hawkins found herself surrounded by Catholics, many of whom could speak confidently about their faith and beliefs. She delved into faith-based conversations and research, feeling a strong pull to the Church’s philosophical consistency and unwavering theological tenets. After moving to Minnesota, she joined the Catholic Church in 2015 through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults at St. Jude of the Lake. Her faith guides her as she juggles the demands of parenting four children with her husband, Jonathan, in Mahtomedi. Raising a
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young family would keep an for the Hawkinses, “busy” ta meaning. Gunner, 9, and he 2, have cystic fibrosis, a chro causes severe damage to the system and other organs in t
JANUARY 11, 2018 • 11
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Kristan Hawkins speaks during the national March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2016. Hawkins holds a pro-life sign during that same march. Hawkins and her husband, Jonathan, pose with their four children: Gracie, left, Gunner, Maverick and Bear. COURTESY STUDENTS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA
Hawkins speaks at the Champions for Life luncheon Oct. 8, 2015, at St. Peter in Mendota. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
re at the center, meeting the women and reading the who had been affected by abortion really cemented mind [that] this is something that is horrific and needs to be stopped.” Kristan Hawkins
ny parent busy, but akes on a new er youngest, Gracie, onic illness that lungs, digestive the body.
Each day requires a routine of nebulizers and intravenous medications interwoven with hospital stays. Jonathan gave up his public school teaching career to stay at home full time and homeschool their children when they moved to Minnesota in August 2014 to be near
the Minnesota Cystic Fibrosis Center at the University of Minnesota, which is among the world’s leading treatment centers for the disease. Hawkins’ Catholic faith and, specifically, the Church’s view of suffering, has influenced her perspectives on marriage and motherhood. When she learned that Gracie had cystic fibrosis days after she was born, Hawkins was able to lean on Church teachings and the core belief that every life is sacred, even in deep disappointment. Now with their children baptized in the faith, the Hawkinses work to maintain a sense of gratitude for their blessings as they navigate each day, following Christ through the good and the bad. She said they need God’s strength
to move forward with purpose every day. “We talk a lot about suffering — why did God give me this disease, why was I born this way, why this isn’t fair,” she said. “My faith has really helped me, and it continues to help me as we have these conversations at my house.” Hawkins splits her time between her basement office and a non-stop travel schedule, interacting with pro-life activists on the frontlines who serve in the more than 1,200 SFLA chapters nationwide, including the Twin Cities. Maddie Schulte, 21, has worked with Hawkins for more than two years in her role as SFLA’s northern regional coordinator. Together, they’ve walked in the March for Life, stuffed thousands of bags preparing for their annual conference, and collaborated on efforts in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She describes Hawkins as a visionary, practical and ethical leader who has set a tone of success and “fire for life” within SFLA. “Kristan Hawkins is the most fearless and courageous person I know,” said Schulte, a student at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and a parishioner of St. Peter in Forest Lake. “There is no jump too high or run too long for Kristan.” She recalled a request from Hawkins for SFLA to collect more than 328,000 baby socks nationally to represent the number of babies killed annually by Planned Parenthood. Initially stumped by the bold request, SFLA soon filled a van with socks and traveled across the country with the powerful display. It’s these impactful initiatives coupled with daily actions as a mother, activist and leader that continue to inspire young people like Schulte. “She will book the redeye flight after talking to thousands of students, so she can be home when her kids wake up. She will jump on team calls from the hospital as she takes her children to their doctors’ appointments,” Schulte said. “She takes time to become friends with her employees and assures each of us that our work is making a difference for SFLA and for the most vulnerable.” As a part of many pro-life coalitions, Hawkins also works regularly with other leaders in the movement. She supports organizations like St. Paul-based Pro-Life Action Ministries, speaking at its gala and working with its executive director Brian Gibson on joint rallies. When asked about potential burnout or set-backs like the U.S. Senate’s failure to withdraw government funding from Planned Parenthood — one of SFLA’s legislative priorities — she simply states that she just keeps moving forward. After all, this isn’t a job for Hawkins. It’s a mission. Pointing to social movement victories in her lifetime, such as the smoking ban in public establishments, Hawkins said that it is possible to make abortion illegal and unthinkable. And it starts with the upcoming generations. “You change culture by changing the attitudes of young people,” she said.
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ANALYSIS Presiding in charity: Ecumenical dialogue looks at pope’s role By Robert Duncan Catholic News Service
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any people, including many Catholics, believe the pope always ruled over the Catholic Church as an absolute monarch, appointing the world’s bishops and definitively settling issues of faith and morals. Yet that exercise of the papal office is comparatively new. The pope’s supreme power, both in governance and doctrine, was defined by the First Vatican Council in 1870 and has been seen as crucial to defending the Church from hostile governments and cultural forces around the world. But at the same time, the pope’s universal jurisdiction and doctrinal infallibility have emerged as major obstacles to the long-sought goal of Christian unity. The idea that the pope, as the “first bishop” of the Church, has a unique leadership role is an especially large stumbling block for Eastern Orthodox Christians, but one that the Catholic and Orthodox churches are committed to The Week of Prayer discussing. Recent popes have for Christian Unity is sought to explore ways observed Jan. 18-25. to exercise papal primacy in terms more amenable to other Christians. For instance, in his encyclical letter on ecumenism in 1995, St. John Paul II expressed openness to finding “a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation.” According to Dominican Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, an official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Pope Francis has furthered this effort with his frequent references to synodality — the involvement of a gathering of bishops in decision making, as practiced in the Orthodox churches — and by often referring to himself simply as the “bishop of Rome.” The pope is trying to exercise his office “as St. Irenaeus of Lyon defined the Church of Rome: the Church that presides in love, in charity,” said Father Destivelle, a member of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. “The primacy that we know now, which is defined as a primacy of universal jurisdiction, is quite new. The fact that the pope appoints all the bishops is new, it’s from the 19th century; it was not at all the case in the first millennium,” said Father Destivelle, summarizing one conclusion from the current work of the official Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue. Recent scholarship on the topic challenges both Catholic and Orthodox ways of thinking about the pope’s role, said A. Edward Siecienski. The Orthodox scholar is author of the 2017 book, “The Papacy and the Orthodox: Sources and History of a Debate.” “Universal jurisdiction, the idea that the pope has in another diocese the same power he has in the diocese of Rome,” Siecienski said, “is not something that the Orthodox could ever accept, because they had never accepted it.” On the other hand, he said, “the idea that, as the successor of Peter, [the pope] has a universal ministry is very, very different, and I think that the Orthodox could accept that the Petrine ministry does have this universal aspect to it.” That the papacy increased in power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance cannot be dismissed simply as a power grab, said a German Jesuit historian. In a very practical way, “Rome could judge more impartially over certain things than local institutions who were subdued to local pressures,” said Jesuit Father Klaus Schatz. At the same time, he said, the Catholic Church had a constitutional or “parliamentary” tradition of governance that did not fully give way to the monarchical model until the First Vatican Council.
JANUARY 11, 2018
Pope Francis’ New Year priorities Refugees, youths, trips, more Curia reform By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Foreign trips, a focus on the rights and needs of migrants and refugees, and a Synod of Bishops dedicated to young people all are on the 2018 calendar for Pope Francis. His activities and the passions that drive them are familiar by now, as March 13 will mark the fifth anniversary of his election as pope, succeeding retired Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis, newly 81, will begin 2018 with a focus on Mary and on migrants and refugees. As with all modern popes, Pope Francis’ Marian devotion and his concern for people forced to flee their homes have been a constant in his ministry. But Pope Francis is the first to dedicate a celebration of World Peace Day specifically to the theme of migrants and refugees. On Jan. 1, for the 51st time, the Catholic Church began the new year praying for peace. Pope Francis sent a message to heads of state in November reflecting on the peace day theme, and his Jan. 1 message before the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square focused on migrants and refugees and their yearning for peace. He entrusted their needs to the care of Mary, Mother of God, whose feast is Jan. 1. “Let’s not extinguish the hope in their hearts; let’s not suffocate their hopes for peace,” the pope said, adding that it is important that everyone, including individuals, governments, schools, churches and Church agencies, commit to “ensuring refugees, migrants — everyone — a future of peace.”
CNS
The pope’s attention to migrants and refugees will come to the fore again Jan. 14 when he adds to the normal papal liturgical calendar a special Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. In the United States, the Catholic Church observes National Migration Week Jan. 7-14. In both his message for the Jan. 14 celebration and his message for World Peace Day, Pope Francis urged Catholic involvement in the drafting of the U.N. global compacts for migrants and for refugees. Approving the development of the compacts in September 2016, “world leaders clearly expressed their desire to take decisive action in support of migrants and refugees to save their lives and protect their rights,” the pope said in his message. He urged Catholics to get involved by lobbying their governments to include in the compacts proposals that would ensure the welcome, protection, promotion and integration of migrants and refugees. Although work on the compacts suffered a setback when the Trump administration announced in early December it was pulling out of the process and would not be a party to the accords, the United Nations hopes to have a draft of the documents ready by February. Late in 2018, the U.N. General Assembly will hold a conference
“At least until the 16th century, all major questions were debated with the pope in the general congregations with the cardinals,” Father Schatz said. And, “in extreme situations, the cardinals had power over the popes.” In his book “The Conciliarist Tradition,” Francis Oakley argued that what he described as a parliamentary conception of Church governance was able to rescue the Church from one of its most confusing crises. Oakley’s book focuses on the Council of Constance (1414-1418), which ended the Great Western Schism, a period during which there were three rival claimants to the papacy. By declaring it had supreme power in the Church, the council deposed the claimants and elected a new pope to end the schism. According to Oakley, the Council of Constance presents a deep theological challenge — and counternarrative — to the ecclesiological vision of papal supremacy outlined at Vatican I. And, he claimed, it demonstrates that other models of Church governance also are found in the tradition of the Church. “My guess is that people in the pew assume that the pope has always run the whole show with the bishops around the world being sort of like branch bank officers waiting to hear from central casting,” he said. “That’s a
to adopt the compacts. On Jan. 15, Pope Francis will set off for a six-day visit to Chile and Peru. As is his style, the trip will include meetings with government authorities and large public Masses, but also a visit to a women’s prison and to a home for children at risk. As of early January, no other papal trips for 2018 had officially been confirmed, although Vatican officials have said it is almost certain Pope Francis will travel to Dublin in late August for the World Meeting of Families; on the same trip, he is likely to be the first pope to visit Northern Ireland. Vatican officials also have confirmed that a September trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is under consideration. And they do not rule out a spring trip, perhaps to Africa. One month of the pope’s calendar already is booked solid. The Synod of Bishops focusing on young people and their vocations will be at the Vatican Oct. 3-28. In preparation for the bishops’ gathering, the Vatican has asked bishops’ conferences around the world to nominate young people to attend a presynod gathering March 19-24 in Rome. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the synod, said the pope hopes about 300 young people — mostly, but not all, Catholics — would attend. The fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ papacy also means 2018 is the fifth anniversary of his international Council of Cardinals and the effort to reform the Roman Curia. Changes have been made, new laws have been passed, offices have been combined to cut down on duplication. But 2017 ended without a clear indication of when a document presenting a global vision of the Curia and each of its offices would be ready.
very modern development.” The 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation was another opportunity to discuss how a modified exercise of papal primacy might benefit Christians of all denominations. “We need a synthesis,” said John Milbank, a prominent Anglican theologian and president of the Center of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, England. “We need a marriage of the papacy with a more conciliar model.” The late medieval tendency to view the papacy “in terms of a pure exercise of legal power and not sufficiently in terms of a spiritual authority” needs to be overcome, he said. “Sometimes,” he said, “it feels as if Catholic theology is too much a sort of debate about papal pronouncements, and I think maybe a stronger sense of every bishop as being a spiritual guide” would be a path forward. In the end, he said, “I believe the road to Christian unity is much more in terms of doing things together and finding ways to share liturgy,” rather than in seeking a juridical union. “If you can do that, there will come a day when these doctrinal disagreements don’t seem completely insurmountable,” Milbank said.
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
FAITH+CULTURE 45 years after Roe v. Wade, MCCL ties march to 2018 election By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
All Saints parishioner: ‘The rights of others and the right to life are more important than our own comfort’
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hen thousands of pro-life advocates gather on the steps of the State Capitol in St. Paul Jan. 22 to mark the 45th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, there will be some added incentive to make their voices heard and gather in solidarity for the annual Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March for Life. Both of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seats will be up for election in November, plus the office of governor. Gov. Mark Dayton announced plans to retire at the end of his term, Sen. Amy Klobuchar will reach the end of her six-year term, and former Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will have to run for re-election after replacing Sen. Al Franken, who resigned amid claims of sexual misconduct. “I think those things will energize people to not only attend the march, but become more engaged in the coming year because there are opportunities to elect pro-lifers,” said Bill Poehler, MCCL communications director. “And, that leads to the passage of pro-life legislation.” Poehler has worked for MCCL since 2001, and he thinks that this election year could offer a rare opportunity for pro-life advocates to help bring about change that could move the country closer to ending abortion. At the same time, he also knows that the weather is a wild card that could wreak havoc on the march, like it did in 2014 when dangerously cold temperatures moved the march indoors, only the second time that has happened in 43 years. Another factor is day of the week. Weekends typically draw larger crowds, he said, so this year’s Monday march could feature a smaller number of participants. He said crowds typically range from 3,000 to 8,000
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Pro-life advocates brave the elements Jan. 22, 2016, at the annual March for Life at the State Capitol in St. Paul. people each year. He is hoping for 3,000 to 5,000 attendees this year. “It’s really important that people continue to speak out on the issue of abortion,” Poehler said. “It’s one of those essential, bedrock issues — that human life needs to be protected in our state, in our society. “It’s important that people come and continue to come until there’s change, until every life is protected,” he continued. “It makes a difference when people come.” One longtime supporter of the pro-life movement and the march is Mary Schmit, who organizes the march every year and has worked in pro-life efforts since the late 1960s. “The right to life [is a] basic human rights issue,” said Schmit, 82, a member of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. “Without life, all other rights are meaningless.” This year’s March for Life is noon at the State Capitol, and is preceded by a 10:30 a.m. Prayer Service for Life at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda.
MORE STORIES AT TheCatholicSpirit.com Catholic program for abandoned babies in Canada may have saved newborn. A healthy baby was dropped off at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton last year under the Angel Cradle program that lets parents anonymously leave a baby in a cradle within a doorway. Scranton bishop prays for peace after attack on Coptic Christians. A gunman attacked a Coptic Orthodox church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo Dec. 29, killing at least nine people.
Cathy Blaeser of All Saints in Lakeville grew up in Maryland near Washington, D.C., and she remembers going to the National March for Life when she was a young adult in the late 1980s. “My dad was really involved in the pro-life movement, and so I went with my dad in D.C.,” said Blaeser, 52, now married with six children. She has been passing down that experience to her children since moving to the Twin Cities in 1995 with her husband, Dave. Her last Washington march was Jan. 22 of that year, when she attended with her dad, Frank Blunda, and her infant daughter, Molly, now 23, in a stroller. The Blaesers have continued to give their children the same experience here. Most years, they have attended Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s March for Life at the State Capitol. Cathy Blaeser does not want to abandon the fight. “We continue to go because we want to make a statement to legislators and to the public about how important this issue is, and to remind people of the number of lives that are lost every year through abortion, and also as a statement to our children of the importance of this issue, that they see that it’s important to stand up for the rights of others,” she said. She added: “It doesn’t matter how cold it is or how inconvenient it might be; the rights of others and the right to life are more important than our own comfort.” — Dave Hrbacek
FAITH+CULTURE
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
In new book, deacon seeks to help people identify God-given gifts
JANUARY 11, 2018
‘Dead Man Walking’ coming to Minnesota Opera Jan. 27-Feb. 3 By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit
By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit
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eacon Thom Winninger has built a career on purpose. A market strategy expert, he speaks to companies and groups across the country about understanding themselves in relation to those they serve. “If companies don’t purpose themselves at the highest need of their customers or patients or members, there’s no sustainability,” he said. “And I discovered that really is a truth of faith: If we’re so busy about what we do and not who we are that makes us what we do, then we’re going to miss it, because there’s something about each one of us that brings us to uniqueness.” Living one’s purpose using their God-given gifts is the crux of Deacon Winninger’s new book, “Your True DNA: Discovering God’s Gift Within You” (St. Thomas Press, 2017) — “DNA” meaning “Divine Natural Attribute.” The author of seven books, he has read popular books exploring purpose in one’s life, but was never satisfied with just self-awareness. He wanted a path, and he knew others wanted a path, too. The book, he said, is about discovering one’s call within a particular vocation. “I am not defined by my work; I’m defined by who I am in my work,” he explained. “There’s a theological truth that came to me that says, ‘I cannot discover who I am in comparison with you. I can only discover myself in connection with God,’” he continued. “So, if I’m running around looking for role models, I’m probably going to miss myself. I’ve gotta be looking for God-things in my life, Christ-things in my life, encounters with Christ in my life, where whatever is happening is bigger than me.” Deacon Winninger, 69, who serves at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, said the book is the product of what he describes as an “epiphany” he had before a presentation about 17 years ago. Before taking the stage, he questioned his own purpose in the world. Although he was a successful professional, he wasn’t gratified. “All of a sudden, I arrived at the point where, there’s nothing more for me to do from a physical standpoint in my life,” said Deacon Winninger, who was 53 at the time. “I had accomplished what I thought I wanted. But there was no meaning, there was no fulfillment, and there was no joy.” What followed was his enrollment at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul to earn a master’s degree in Catholic Studies. He was ordained a permanent deacon in 2006.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Deacon Thom Winninger holds a copy of his new book, “Your True DNA: Discovering God’s Gift Within You,” in the pews of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, where he serves.
With insights inspired by Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and St. Ignatius of Loyola, the book is geared toward young adults who might not be in the place of life that they had imagined, and people 55 and older who need a “repurposing of a higher call” — often after retirement, Deacon Winninger said, adding that both segments are susceptible to wanting to know something bigger than them, and that “something” is God. “I hope people come to the realization that God is in their life, and that will help them understand their life,” he said of the book’s readers. “I want people to get to know themselves well enough that they feel the meaning and the fulfillment and joy of having a purpose in his name, based on their gift.” He also hopes the book’s message will lead people to live virtuously. He points to when people come to him as a deacon for “practice confessions.” “They’ll say, ‘I can’t quit doing this.’ That caught my attention,” he said. “So, you’re trying to quit sinning? I don’t think that’s the game. I think the game is to live in virtue and not worry about not sinning. … The intent is in the wrong place. Let’s pick out a virtue that you want to work on living.” He said it’s a message that has resonated with Christians and non-Christians, but he doesn’t want the book dubbed a “Catholic book.” However, he calls it a “100 percent evangelization effort.” The book is available for purchase at yourtruedna.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
Popularity of Gregorian chant flourishing Catholic News Service Though still not the core music in most American Catholic parishes, Gregorian chant continues to gain popularity among the youth, said Scott Turkington, director of sacred music at Holy Family and the parish school, Holy Family Academy, in St. Louis Park. Young Catholics — intrigued by the chant famous for its long melodic lines where several notes are sung on one syllable — began asking questions about the music, its history and how it enhances the liturgy, Turkington said. Catholic Church music directors throughout the country recognized “that we should give young people
what they want,” he said. “They want a sense of beauty. They want a sense of mystery.” Turkington discovered that Gregorian chant was an effective tool in teaching children the importance of sacred music in the Church. “If you give Gregorian chant to kids, they love it,” he said. With the help of parish leaders, Turkington opened a summer camp in 2014 at the church dedicated to introducing youngsters to Gregorian chant. Additionally, Turkington hosts a weeklong session for high school students, who perform a concert at the end of the program. Read the entire story and full series on Gregorian chant at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
The story of a religious sister’s relationship with a man on death row will take the stage Jan. 27-Feb. 3 when the Minnesota Opera presents “Dead Man Walking” at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul. The opera is based on the 1993 book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean of the Congregation of St. Joseph that describes her role as a spiritual director to two men on death row before their executions. The 1995 Academy Awardwinning film starred Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Since Jake Heggie’s operatic adaptation in 2000, it has been called “the most successful 21st JOEL IVANY century opera.” The opera’s stage director, Joel Ivany of Against the Grain Theatre in Toronto, answered questions about the opera via email to The Catholic Spirit, describing the power of story.
Q. How did “Dead Man Walking” become an opera?
A. [After the book and subsequent film], the opera was
commissioned and performed in 2000 by Lotfi Mansouri at the San Francisco Opera. The characters are again made up (inmate Joseph De Rocher), but based on those in both the book and movie. The only real character is Sister Helen Prejean.
Q. Could you describe the acclaim it has received? A. This is the most successful 21st century opera. I
think it has received such acclaim because of its accessibility through its story. This opera puts poor people and unlikely heroes in the spotlight, and it’s empowering. We see someone very ordinary (Sister Helen) do incredible acts, and that is extremely impactful. Companies all over the world are presenting this piece for its story, music and ability to emotionally engage with audiences. Forgiveness is a powerful tool.
Q. What makes it resonate with audiences? A. The story, the text, the libretto, which was written by Terrance McNally, is an incredibly powerful story. McNally has had to choose which words to use and how much to cut from material that could be drawn from the book and also from the movie. Jake Heggie’s music then presents itself as some of the more accessible and inviting music of any recent opera. He uses themes of rock, jazz and gospel to immediately connect the audience to the score, which then allows us to enter into the psychology and heartbreak of this story.
Q. Does it have a particularly relevant message for 2018 America?
A. Unfortunately, capital punishment is still carried
out today in 31 of the 50 states in the United States. Referendums held in the U.S. on Nov. 8, 2016, reinstated the death penalty in some states, and in other states, they chose not to abolish it. The most recent execution in the U.S. was Ruben Cardenas Ramirez on Nov. 8, 2017, by lethal injection in Texas. The next execution is scheduled for Jan. 18 — Anthony Shore, in Texas. Outside of capital punishment, the message of forgiveness is incredibly universal.
Q. Why should people come and see it? A. People should come and see this opera because it
has the power to change someone. Its message of truth, hope and forgiveness is real and possible. It may be surprising that it comes from an opera, but it does. I can’t think of a better first opera to come to than this one. It is in English, relevant with great music and a powerful story. Anyone with any preconceptions of what opera is will be blown away. For more information about “Dead Man Walking” at the Minnesota Opera, visit mnopera.org.
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JOHN PAUL ERICKSON
The ultimate home for Jesus, and us
“Where are you?” These are the first words that God speaks after the disobedience of Adam in the Garden of Eden, words announced as he looks for the fallen one during “the breezy part of the day” (Gen 3:8-9). But what do they mean? Surely, the true and living God does not need anyone to tell him the physical location of the one he seeks. The words are hardly the plaintive plea for geographical coordinates. Rather, they are to be understood as a question of the heart: Where is your heart? Why do you hide from the one who made you? What have you given yourself over to in place of the one who alone satisfies?
What do you seek? That final rephrasing of his primordial question, a question that reverberates throughout all of Scripture, is placed directly upon the Savior’s lips by John in the holy Gospel for Jan. 14. They are words spoken by the Godman at about 4 in the afternoon, which might otherwise be described as “the breezy part of the day.” And like those words in Genesis, the meaning of the inquiry of the One who silences storms with a word from his lips is not to be found at first glance. The Lamb is echoing the word of the Father, a word of love and concern and compassion. They are the words of a shepherd, who sees his flock scattered and afraid, and who seeks to save them. He seeks to bring them home, where the restless heart will finally be granted rest, and the fear that followed close
ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ
What does it mean for me to share my faith? I wrote last month to someone who had asked about how to best direct a friend to a good parish that will connect him with people who will help him come to know God and be able to better follow Christ. My response pointed out that most of us Catholics have become “institutionalized” in the sense that we look to the institution of the Church to carry out the process of evangelization and discipleship in the lives of people in our community. Because of that, we look for a Program, a Procedure, or the Professionals who have been trained to do the job for us. Yet, the answer is rarely found in those three locations. It is found most clearly and comprehensively in Personal relationships. Who can best share the faith with your friends? You can. This can be incredibly intimidating for people, and I wonder if I know why. Most of us imagine that “sharing the faith” with another person means being able to answer all of their questions, quoting effortlessly from the Bible and from the Catechism. We might think that sharing the faith means being able to explain difficult concepts or justify
various teachings of the Church. There are times when our friends and family members will need an answer to those kinds of questions. But they need something else even more. They need you to share your faith. Here we see the difference between “sharing the faith” and “sharing your faith.” The term “faith” can mean “what Catholics believe”; this is called the “content of our faith.” It is what we recite during Mass on Sundays and is generally summarized in the creed. But the term “faith” can also indicate the personal relationship and commitment a person has to God. One’s faith is another word for the trust you have in Jesus. Because of this, to “share your faith” can simply mean sharing the relationship you have with Jesus with the people who are interested in knowing about him. Let’s put it this way: The very best way to help someone get to know Jesus is through personal relationship. Further, what you are doing when you are helping them get to know Jesus is telling the other person about your personal relationship with Jesus. You are sharing what he has told you and how he has strengthened you. You can see how this highlights the difference between teaching them the details about Jesus versus sharing Jesus with them. Share
behind the shameful nakedness of the fall of man is put to death forever. The answer of Andrew and his unnamed companion to the question of Christ is equally laden with deep existential meaning — “Where are you staying?” The answer to this seemingly simple question of geography is not found in some efficiency apartment in Galilee. It is found in the farewell discourse, spoken in the upper room and recorded in chapters 14-17 of the Johannine Gospel. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (14:10). This is the ultimate home of Jesus, the eternal place where he is staying — with the Father. And it is this Father who through, with and in Jesus seeks us out so as to bring us home, back to that paradise from which we fled and a paradise not to be found in gardens, but in the green pastures of divine life. The readings for the second Sunday in Ordinary Time bring to mind questions of vocation. The calling of Samuel, the powerful refrain of the responsorial psalm, the Gospel
scene depicted, even the words of Paul to the Corinthians regarding the dignity of the body — they all remind us of the dignity and greatness of responding with generous fervor to the invitation of the Lord. “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will!” May these be our words to the many invitations God extends to us every day, whether by means of our conscience, the liturgy, private prayer or tradition. But let us not forget that the first one to speak these words “Here I am!” is the One who seeks us and cries out even now, “Where are you? I am looking for you! I love you! I want you to come home! Come back to me! With a Father’s love, I thirst for you!” Do not be afraid of the One who calls you in the midst of the night. It is the Lord, and he yearns to again walk with you. Where are you?
him. The facts and data are super important, but we share him. And this fact emphasizes the crux of why many people feel inadequate about sharing their faith: I need to have a relationship with him, or I have literally nothing to share. Did you know that a recent poll indicated that 47 percent of Catholics did not believe that it is possible to have a personal relationship with God? This is beyond tragic. Imagine being in the Church that was founded by a personal God so we could be brought into personal relationship (covenant) with him in this life and forever in the next, and not even believing that this is possible. It is the whole reason the Church exists! Jesus is the Lord. Is he the Lord of my life? Jesus has conquered sin. Have I allowed him to conquer the sin in my life? I believe in Jesus. Has this belief made an impact on my life? If it hasn’t, then why would I want to share it with anyone? Well, someone could say, it is true. Therefore, they should believe the truth! I agree. But why would I go out of my way to share my life with them? Just because I want them to “believe the right things?” That isn’t bad, but it isn’t enough. It isn’t until we have begun to be changed by the relationship with Jesus that we have the inner fire that desires to burn not just in our hearts, but in the hearts of those whom we love. The desire — the compulsion — to share this relationship. Someone might challenge me on all of this. They might argue that I am making evangelization sound like it is merely “Jesus
and me.” After all, what I’m encouraging here sounds like “just tell people about ‘Jesus and you.’” But there is more. What is the way that you and I come to know Jesus? Through his Church. What is the way that you and I are brought into relationship with him? Through his sacraments that initiate us into the new and eternal covenant and through other sacraments that sustain us in the new and eternal covenant. How are our misunderstandings of God’s identity corrected? By listening to his word in the Bible and his clear teaching through the Church. The proper place for a relationship with Jesus is in and through his Church. Therefore, in sharing your relationship with Jesus, you are also sharing the way he continues to heal, guide and sanctify the world through the Church. It is not either/or. It is both/and. Things can still get complicated. Lucky for us, we are not alone. There are resources that make complex teachings simple. There are a bunch of Catholics (clergy and laypeople) who make various videos and podcasts available for free on the internet. Many parishes have access to Catholic radio and Formed.org, which provide an abundance of content for when you get stuck. Those are all good resources. But none of them is as good as you.
Father Erickson is the director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul.
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, Jan. 14 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20 Jn 1:35-42 Monday, Jan. 15 1 Sm 15:16-23 Mk 2:18-22 Tuesday, Jan. 16 1 Sm 16:1-13 Mk 2:23-28 Wednesday, Jan. 17 St. Anthony, abbot 1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 Mk 3:1-6 Thursday, Jan. 18 1 Sm 18:6-9; 19:1-7 Mk 3:7-12 Friday, Jan. 19 1 Sm 24:3-21 Mk 3:13-19 Saturday, Jan. 20 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27 Mk 3:20-21 Sunday, Jan. 21 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Jon 3:1-5, 10 1 Cor 7:29-31 Mk 1:14-20 Monday, Jan. 22 Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10 Mk 3:22-30 Tuesday, Jan. 23 2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19 Mk 3:31-35 Wednesday, Jan. 24 St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church 2 Sm 7:4-17 Mk 4:1-20 Thursday, Jan. 25 Conversion of St. Paul, apostle Acts 22:3-16 Mk 16:15-18 Friday, Jan. 26 Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops 2 Tm 1:1-8 Mk 4:26-34 Saturday, Jan. 27 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17 Mk 4:35-41 Sunday, Jan. 28 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Dt 18:15-20 1 Cor 7:32-35 Mk 1:21-28
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 2018
COMMENTARY SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY
Lives of holiness in this day and age
Editor’s note: In this issue we begin “Simple Holiness,” a new monthly column focusing on Catholic marriage and family. It is written by Kate Soucheray, a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale and a licensed marriage and family therapist. Holiness. What exactly is this concept in our world today? To be holy is to be saintly and devout. It is to be pious, pure and faithful. When we think of being holy in our current culture, it might seem nearly impossible. We also may think it must have been easier for the Holy Family to be holy in the era in which they lived. After all, there was no internet, no social media, no instant connections demanding their
attention. While the Holy Family might not have had these distractions, they certainly had issues of their day to deal with. Their land was occupied by the Romans, and they were made to pay taxes to a foreign power; they were ruled by a government that saw the Jews as strange with their one God, food laws and dedication to family; and they were living on the outskirts of its thriving, industrious empire. It was into this world that Jesus was born. On Dec. 30, we celebrated the feast of the Holy Family, commemorating the birth of Jesus and the family that was created through his mother, Mary, and his earthly father, Joseph. The example provided by the Holy Family is beautiful. However, the idea of holiness in our families — as well as our marriages — is
TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI
On cracked knuckles and self-care: a New Year’s resolution The themes emerge predictably. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, we gravitate toward the biggies: get healthy, get organized, get a life. We vow to travel more, read more, save more and volunteer more. We conjure visions of the expansive, to live life to the fullest. Scan Twitter and you’ll find a multitude of plans. “In 2018, I will skydive. No exceptions.” “Put myself out there. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake.” “No more plastic bags!!” “I’d like my life to be as on point as my eyebrows in 2018.” “I resolve to use my cookbooks more often!” “2018 is the year we say goodbye to my auto loan.” “I’m just going to leave the past in the past.” My inspiration sprang from three cracked knuckles on my right hand — the casualty of a biting winter and dry skin. At first I ignored them. But I nicked them enough that I finally took the time to bandage them. The simple relief that provided gave me pause. This year I’m resolving to
practice the art of self-care — and to do so within a faithbased framework, as a spiritual exercise. I want to take better care of myself, so I can grow more fully into the person God designed me to be. St. Francis de Sales, the great 16th-century bishop and doctor of the Church, is guiding my way. He was a prolific writer whose achievement was paved by patience and perspective. “Be gentle with yourself,” he wrote. “It is unjust to demand something of yourself that is not in you.” It might sound like the mantra for an anti-resolution, a permission slip to try less, but it contains the seeds for a more loving, creative way — an abundance made possible when you put on your own oxygen mask first. I’m also entering into conversation with Catholics I admire to deepen my thinking and help my goal stick. I like to hear the details of what self-care looks like in action. My pastor connects with friends or picks up a good novel. My sister-in-law pours a tall glass of Fairlife chocolate milk. For my mom, a full-time granny nanny, self-care happens on Wednesday evenings when
often mystifying. As a dear friend once said, we need a new definition for holiness in our world today, because it often seems we are so unsure of what holiness is and how to attain it. If we are to imitate the example of holiness that Jesus, Mary and Joseph set for us, we must have a clear understanding of what is required of us. First of all, holiness is simple. It is the presence of God within each one of us, calling us to love and serve each other. It is also seeing the needs of others and offering to help in any way we can. In this, holiness occurs in the moment. It is not reserved for some later, perfect time, like in a movie. It happens in the immediacy of what is right in front of us. It is also offering forgiveness to someone who has hurt us, even if we don’t necessarily want to. Holiness calls us to be the presence of Christ to others when we encounter someone in need, which may require us to put down our anger or hurt and reach beyond ourselves to truly be
she joins fellow 60-somethings at a nearby grade school for tap dance class. They dance to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling” — “I got that sunshine in my pocket, got that good soul in my feet” — and for an hour, their movement becomes music, heel to toe, toe to heel. Wednesdays are also when my friend Roxane doubles down on self-care: hitting the treadmill at the YMCA by day and heading to an hour of adoration by night. My aunt Jan also combines prayer and exercise, often walking as she prays the rosary. Reconciliation is another gift she embraces. “I like to have something on the horizon to look forward to,” she added. Her dream of walking the Camino de Santiago, for instance, requires that she stay fit, ready for the opportunity. “And I like to practice the art of having fun!” As we settle into 2018, I’m paying attention to the little forms of self-care that renew me: a citrus-scented face scrub that makes me feel squeaky clean, writing thank-you notes with a gel pen on cardstock paper, a pretty stamp, a morning prayer, a brisk walk, a hot bath. I know it is pleasing to God when we care for ourselves, recognizing his great love for each of us and acting on it. It may not be as dramatic as skydiving, but it can be just as profound. Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
Action challenge What is one small action your family can take this month to bring a sense of holiness into your home, your marriage and your family? Make time during a family meal to talk about this question and choose a small gesture of love you will extend to one another this month to become a more holy family. present to others. Holiness takes the form of all the simple ways we are Christ to one another each day, as we unselfishly give of our time and energy, extending our patient, gentle love and care to others. It may take the form of helping one of our children who struggles in school, as we work to remain patient and calm. It may take the form of offering forgiveness to our spouse after he or she said something harsh or unkind that hurt our feelings. It may also take the form of reaching out to a neighbor or friend when this person needs our help, even though something may have happened to cause us to question the friendship. For children, holiness may come in the form of sharing and not fighting.
In our culture today, we are often encouraged to shield ourselves from the needs of others, seeking only the good we feel or the “likes” we receive. And yet, our faith encourages us to see others’ needs and do all we can to help alleviate their pain. As we strive this month to become examples of holiness, let us remember the words of St. Teresa of Kolkata, who said, “We can do no great things. We can do small things with great love,” and to find small ways to extend loving care and kindness to others. 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.
LETTER Immigration agenda The Catholic Spirit continues mixing its left-wing political agenda with legitimate news stories about the faith. The recent issue contained a slew of articles confusing the difference between legal and illegal immigrants (“Catholics asked to open hearts to migrants,” “Mother of three ‘Dreamers’ fasts on Hill for passage of DREAM Act,” “St. Thomas More gives sanctuary to two families,” Dec. 21). Contrary to the progressive editorial slant of The Catholic Spirit, our faith does not require we disrespect our national laws and boundaries. One can be a devout, practicing Catholic and want persons from other countries to respect our laws. As Catholics we have great compassion for those who want to come to this country and do so legally and appropriately by respecting our laws. We Catholics also have compassion for the thousands of victims of crimes committed each year by illegal aliens. Strong borders and adherence to immigration laws would mean fewer families torn apart by crime. When The Catholic Spirit encourages readers to write favorable letters to rabidly pro-abortion congressmen and congresswomen, one wonders about its adherence to the tenets of Catholic doctrine. Jim Koepke Nativity of Mary, Bloomington
The Catholic Spirit wants to hear your take. 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.
COMMENTARY
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI
The sacrifice at your hands “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the
almighty Father.” For months, I have listened to familiar words from a distance, spending part of every Mass in the chapel next to our church’s sanctuary, nursing our youngest when he fusses. “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands,” I hear echoing off the chapel walls, “for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.” I long to be back in the pew, but the baby spits up again. The contrast cuts sharp in my mind’s eye: the priest’s hands holding shining gold vessels, mine swabbing stains with a damp burp cloth. What is the sacrifice at the priest’s hands that we celebrate in call and response? The gifts of bread and wine, our prayers of praise and thanksgiving, the memorial of Christ’s sacrifice of love? Yes to all of this. The sacred mysteries of our faith. But sitting apart from the congregation, I hear it differently, too. Voices young and old joined together, gathering from homes and schools and workplaces,
offering the sacrifices of their lives to God. Their voices remind me to look down and see the sacrifice I hold in my lap. The surrender of my own desires to my child’s needs. “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands.” I carry these words as I bring the baby back to our pew. Could this refrain be a prayer I carry into my ordinary time? To ask that the sacrifices of my own hands might become a worthy offering to God? Sacrifice is thick at the hands I know, once I open my eyes to see. Adult children caring for their aging father, bathing and feeding the one who once washed and fed them. A single mother who stays up late sewing to support her three children with special needs. New bakery owners who spend hours kneading dough and crunching numbers to birth their dream. I pray for them as the week winds on. As I pull wet laundry from the washer, carry groceries, wipe the dog’s paws and pour medicine for sick children. May the Lord accept the sacrifices at these hands, too. The gifts of lives poured out and broken open and given up in humble memory of the God we love. Think of all the things hands can do. Think of the thousand
AMID THE FRAY | GREG ERLANDSON
Resolutions for 2018 I think there is no holiday we so look forward to and are so happy when it’s over as Christmas. Christmas, we all know, should be about celebrating God’s great gift to us. Too often it becomes instead an endless series of to-do lists: searching for the perfect gift, planning perfect meals, scheduling all sorts of traditions that our families associate with the holiday. In truth, the many to-do lists leading up to Christmas both provide us with memories and seem tailor-made to distract us from “the reason for the season.” Now that we’ve taken down the tree and the lights, it is time to focus on the year ahead, which of course means
another to-do list: creating New Year’s resolutions. If you are casting about for resolutions, or afraid you have too many of them, I have four suggestions that may save you either anxiety, guilt or both. Resolution No. 1: Make someone think all that Christmas shopping was worth it by writing a thank-you note. It is a lost art, I know, but a thank-you note can be a little gift in itself. In a world that often seems supremely ungrateful for all its blessings, thank-you notes are a tangible expression of gratitude. A handwritten note sent via snail mail is the Platonic ideal of thank-yous, but an email thank-you is good, too, even if adorned with heart and smiley face emojis. It really is the thought that counts. Resolution No. 2: Work out a
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In the words of St. Teresa of Avila, Christ has no hands now but yours.
iStock | ipopba
things your hands have done this week. Our hands type spreadsheets and file bills. They grow grimy with dirt in gardens to feed others. They get slick with motor oil to keep machines running. They send texts to friends and hold open doors for strangers. Hands get calloused from shoveling, pruned from washing and wrinkled from years of labor. They raise families, build businesses, support communities and fix strategy for working out. The vast majority of us usually start the year thinking we need to exercise, diet or both. We set an ambitious goal for ourselves, we fall off the treadmill early, so to speak, and then we throw in the towel and go off in search of a sugar high to cut our disappointment. It’s a vicious cycle. When I had to put myself on an exercise regime, my guide to the workout stations was a bored young woman who clearly had lost her faith in humanity. When I asked her how long people usually lasted before giving up on their plans, she answered with a cynical laugh: “By the middle of February.” So, my resolution was to make it to March 1. Whatever you commit to, give yourself a two-month goal. You might find that not only have you created a habit, but you’ve also outlasted those January crowds at your local gym. Resolution No. 3: The same
problems. Not all hands offer sacrifice, of course. We can be tempted toward selfishness instead. Some hands cannot hold or carry, so they need the support of others. But the limits of our fingers teach us as much as their abilities. We do not get through life without help. And we all know when our hands have done hard work out of love. We may never grasp the fullness of Christ’s sacrifice
on the cross or in every — Eucharist. But what we touch here on earth can remind us. In the words of St. Teresa of Avila, Christ has no hands now but yours. 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.
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Just pick one thing, and see if you can get to Ash Wednesday. Who knows, in February you might just want to extend that resolution to Easter. principle may apply to being a better Catholic. Many of us want to add something to our spiritual life: more Masses, more rosaries, more Scripture. Again, my suggestion is pick one, and set yourself a goal: Go to a daily Mass once a week until Lent. Say one decade of the rosary every night until Lent. Just pick one thing, and see if you can get to Ash Wednesday (which is Feb. 14 this year). Who knows, in February you might just want to extend that resolution to Easter. Resolution No. 4: Finally, let us all resolve to add a little civility to our texts, emails and social media. Don’t say anything to anybody that you
wouldn’t say to their face. Avoid anonymous messaging. Say a prayer for someone you want to snark bomb. Or wait 24 hours before you hit send. Social media is becoming a nasty, bitter space. We can’t clean it all up, but we can make sure we don’t add to it. And whatever your resolutions for 2018, may it be a year of blessings for you and your family. Erlandson, director and editorin-chief of Catholic News Service, can be reached at gerlandson@catholicnews.com. His column appears occasionally in The Catholic Spirit print edition. Find his column twice a month at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 2018
CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS Crashed Ice returns to Cathedral — Jan. 19-20: Red Bull’s annual ice cross downhill skating event will be held for its sixth straight year at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. For tickets and more information, visit the events page at redbull.com. Prayer Service for Life with Archbishop Bernard Hebda — Jan. 22: 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. The prayer service commemorates the millions of lives lost to abortion and the many women and men wounded by abortion’s aftermath since its legalization in 1973. Immediately following is Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s March for Life rally to the State Capitol. Parking is limited. For more information, contact the archdiocesan Office for Marriage, Family and Life at 651-291-4488 or visit the events page at archspm.org. Opportunity for All Kids (OAK) National School Choice Week rally — Jan. 23: 8–11 a.m. at the State Capitol. The event begins with registration and breakfast, and includes a program, rally and building tour. For more information and to register, visit bit.ly/2EpV6F1. Catholic Watchmen Rally with Bishop Andrew Cozzens — Jan. 23: 6:30–9 p.m. at St. Bartholomew, 630 Wayzata Blvd. E., Wayzata. Men are invited to hear Bishop Cozzens speak on “Christ the Man: Why God the Father begot a Son and what that means for all sons of the Father.” The event includes adoration, prayer and confession. Dinner will be provided. A free-will offering will be collected ($10 is suggested, but not required). Register at rediscover.archspm. org. For more information, contact Enzo Randazzo at 651-291-4483 or randazzov@archspm.org.
Ongoing groups Faithful spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7–8:30 p.m. at the Chancery, 777 Forest St., St. Paul. For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation or divorce. 651-291-4438 or faithfulspouses@archspm.org. Career transition group meeting — Third Thursday of each month: 7:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Medina. hnoj.org/career-transition-group. Dementia support group — Second Tuesday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org. CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom, 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul. Friday Night at the Friary — Third Friday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at Franciscan Brothers of Peace, 1289 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. Men ages 18-35 are invited for prayer and fellowship. facebook.com/queenofpeacefriary.
Parish events Annual youth bingo fundraiser — Jan. 20: 6–8:30 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 680 Mill St., Excelsior. stjohns-excelsior.org. Annual pro-life parish and Italian dinner with speakers Deacon Dennis and Annemarie Chlebeck — Jan. 20: 5:30– 8 p.m. at Maternity of Mary, Sirba Hall, 1414 N. Dale St., St. Paul. maternityofmarychurch.org. Conversation on immigration — Jan. 22: 6:30 p.m. at Lumen Christi, 2055 Bohland Ave., St. Paul. Participants will share personal experiences and discuss Christian social teachings on issues surrounding immigration and the plight of refugees around the world. lumenchristicc.org.
Taize Prayer — First Friday of each month: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com/first-fridays.
CALENDAR submissions
Taize Prayer — Third Friday of each month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.
Retreats Women’s mid-week retreat — Jan. 16-18 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net/womens_ retreat.aspx. Healing the Whole Person — Jan. 18-20 at the John Paul II Healing Center, 1900 111th Ave. NW, Coon Rapids. jpiihealingcenter.org
Conferences/ seminars/workshops Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) information session — Third Sunday of each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523. Giving Insights Spiritual Forum presented by the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota — Jan. 25: 6–8:30 p.m. at St. Therese of Deephaven, 18325 Minnetonka Blvd., Wayzata. Panel to address Catholic millennials and faith. Registration required. ccf-mn.org/forums.
DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and institutions. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. 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
More events online Young adults
Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-482-0406. Singles group — ongoing second Saturday of each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. 763-425-0412.
Prayer/worship
Schools
Prolife Across America Memorial Mass with Father Spencer Howe and social hour — Jan. 26: 6 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony.
Ave Maria Academy Kindergarten Coffee and Curriculum — Jan 17: 8:15–9 a.m. at 7000 Jewel Lane N., Maple Grove. avemariaacademy.org.
Theology on Tap — Wednesdays through Feb. 7: 6:30–8:30 p.m. at O’ Gara’s Bar & Grill, 164 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul. facebook.com/ groups/joincya, or cathedralsaintpaul.org/cya.
Other events Women with Spirit Bible study — Tuesdays through April 10: 9:30–11:30 a.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie. University based teachers. Tuition $100. paxchristi.com. Knights of Columbus bingo — Wednesdays: 6–9 p.m. at Solanus Casey Council Hall, 1920 S. Greeley St., Stillwater.
SAVE THE DATE: 2018 ARCHDIOCESAN EVENTS Newly Married Retreat — Feb. 3, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anthony
Archdiocesan Men’s Conference — March 10, St. Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights
Quo Vadis for Young Women — July 15-18, St. John Vianney College Seminary, St. Paul
WINE: Catholic Women’s Conference — Feb. 10, Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville
Chrism Mass — March 22, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul
The Catholic Spirit Leading with Faith Awards Luncheon — Aug. 10, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul
Metropolitan Tribunal Ash Wednesday annulment information session — Feb. 14, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota Investment Conference — Feb. 15, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul Office of Vocations Women’s Discernment Retreat — Feb. 17, Maternity of Mary, St. Paul Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women Legislative Day — Feb. 22, Cathedral of St. Paul and State Capitol, St. Paul Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office Annual Winter Teaching Conference — Feb. 24, Epiphany, Coon Rapids Minnesota Catholic Conference “Capitol 101” — Feb. 26, March 16 and April 17, State Capitol, St. Paul
Priest and Seminarian Basketball Tournament — April 6, St. Agnes School, St. Paul May Day Rosary Procession — May 6, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Transitional diaconate ordination — May 12, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis Priesthood ordination — May 26, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Marriage Day Mass — June 2, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Rural Life Sunday — June 24, location TBD Quo Vadis for Young Men — July 8-11, St. John Vianney College Seminary, St. Paul
Catholic Schools Center of Excellence Mass of the Holy Spirit — Oct. 10, location TBD Candlelight Rosary Procession — Oct. 14, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Archdiocesan Youth Day — Oct. 27, Roy Wilkens Auditorium, St. Paul Thanksgiving Tip-Off – Girls’ Basketball Tournament — Nov. 23-24, location TBD Archbishop’s Discernment Retreat — Dec. 28-30, Christ the King Retreat Center, Buffalo
JANUARY 11, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
EXECUTIVE summary
First external audit of the Ramsey County/Archdiocese settlement agreement On December 17, 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office (RCAO) and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis (“Archdiocese”) agreed to a Settlement Agreement (the “Agreement”). An overarching goal of the Agreement is for the Archdiocese to foster a culture of vigilance within the Archdiocese for the prevention of sexual abuse and the promotion of ongoing assistance for victims/survivors of abuse. The Agreement requires the Archdiocese to establish an organizational structure capable of addressing the core components and achieving the particular requirements of the Agreement. It also provides for the Archdiocese to report to the court regarding Archdiocesan safe environment practices in addition to expanded oversight by the Archbishop, Board of Directors, Audit and Risk Management Committee, Ministerial Review Board, and the Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. The Agreement defines terms and sets forth explicit steps that must be completed by the Archdiocese within set time-frames. The Agreement covers a wide range of areas and includes requirements addressing: • Oversight and Accountability • Safe Environment Compliance Standards • Policies and Procedures • Broad Reporting Requirements • Background Checks
• Training for Clergy, Employees, and Volunteers • Communications • Ministerial Review Board Role and Responsibilities • Victim Assistance To determine the level of compliance with the specific requirements set forth in the Agreement, the Archdiocese is required to undergo three fiscal year compliance audits performed by an outside firm. In consultation with the RCAO, the Archdiocese engaged an external auditing firm, Stonebridge Business Partners of Rochester, New York, to conduct the first independent audit, which covers the initial 18 months of the Agreement ending on June 30, 2017. After conferring with both the RCAO and the Archdiocese, Stonebridge completed its audit in accordance with the procedures and methodologies determined by the auditors in accordance with the attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Stonebridge conducted the on-site review in Minnesota during the week of August 21, 2017. Stonebridge provided its audit report to the Archdiocese and RCAO on January 3, 2018. During the course of the audit, compliance with each of the requirements set forth in the Agreement was tested. The audit process included: • Interviewing employees of the Archdiocese,
representatives of the RCAO, victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse, members of the Ministerial Review Board, the chairperson and other representatives of the Archdiocesan Board of Directors, the chairperson of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, pastors, deacons, safe environment coordinators, business administrators and school representatives. • Reviewing the website • Analyzing policies • Examining hundreds of other documents including reports, memoranda, correspondence, recommendations, meeting minutes, rosters, clergy files, seminarian files, volunteer records, background checks, code of conduct acknowledgment forms, training documents, safe environment publications, public disclosures, law enforcement notifications. • Obtaining and examining records from 15 parishes, 9 schools and 1 seminary • Conducting on-site visits at 5 parishes and 2 schools. Based upon its review, Stonebridge found the Archdiocese to be in substantial compliance with the Agreement. A copy of the full audit report, which includes its procedures and methodologies and specific findings, can be found at: archspm.org.
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 11, 2018
THELASTWORD Minneapolis couple’s board game collection a winning strategy for building relationships By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
S
tep into the south Minneapolis porch of Nadine Sehnert and Mike Tangedal, and the couple’s passion becomes obvious. Stacked to almost shoulder level are dozens of board games, just a small sample of their entire collection. “There are board games in every room in our house,” Tangedal said. “The main stacks are downstairs in the basement.” The size of their collection? “Around 3,000,” Sehnert said. Their love affair with board games coincided with their courtship in the late 1990s. They bought their first game together in 1999, and they were collecting in earnest by the time they got married in 2001. “I have seven siblings, so we played a lot of games,” said Schnert. “So, I had a few games when we met. But, what really happened was we started going to estate sales together and we would see old board games. ... We started buying them because they looked really cool. It was cool to have old, vintage board games.” Four years into their marriage, Sehnert joined St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis, and shortly after started using the church’s social hall for board game parties. By that time, the two owned several hundred games. They soon discovered that parishioners and friends relished the chance to spend an evening gathered at tables, making new friends and learning new games. Sehnert and Tangedal continue to host the parties at St. Albert, about once a month, with 75 to 100 people per party. Their most recent event was on New Year’s Eve. They use Meetup.com to promote events at St. Albert and throughout the Twin Cities. Since Sehnert became The Twin Cities Board Games Group administrator in 2006, the number of members has increased from 400 to more than 5,000. Sehnert and Tangedal hosted all of the parties in the group’s early years, and it has since expanded to people’s homes, parks, local restaurants and “wherever we could find space,” Sehnert said. Their love of board games combines a dual interest — collecting and playing. Tangedal is more the player, Sehnert more the collector. She spends hours scouring the internet for current and vintage games, and she has purchased games more than a century old. “I do a lot of organizing and researching and studying and reading” about board games, Sehnert said. “We probably buy 60 percent new games [and] 40 percent old games every year. We have games dating back to the 1890s, like an Old Maid game.” Naturally, they have their favorites. Sehnert prefers word games like Word Thief. Tangedal’s favorite game is Carson City, an old-West themed game named for Nevada’s state capital. The game is nuanced and complex, featuring many opportunities for conflicts and battles
On board PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
CLOCKWISE Mike Tangedal and Nadine Sehnert each hold their favorite board game in the basement of their Minneapolis home, where they keep most of their collection. • From left, Mike Ranniger of St. Michael in Stillwater, April Kennedy of St. Louis Park, Michael Mesich of St. Louis Park, Tangedal and Nate Neu of Richfield play Carson City, Tangedal’s favorite game. • Their oldest board game dates back to the 19th century. with opponents. Tangedal, 53, plays the game regularly with a group of friends, including Mike Ranniger, who travels from Stillwater. The drive doesn’t bother him in the least, he said, and he made it to Tangedal’s home for a noon game Dec. 29 even though the temperature hovered around zero degrees. “It’s a unique group of friends,” said Ranniger, a parishioner of St. Michael in Stillwater who has his own collection of 40 or 50 games. “We try to get together once a month to play this game, specifically. So, it’s a special occasion.” Numbers show that people across the country also are taking an interest in board games. An online industry tracking site, ICv2, reported that sales of hobby games in the U.S. and Canada topped $1.4 billion in 2016. It’s a 21 percent total growth rate over 2015. The article’s author, Milton Griepp, noted that the 2016 increase is part of a larger trend. “They’ve been growing a lot over the last few years,” Griepp, ICv2’s publisher, told The Catholic Spirit. “Specifically, they’ve grown each of the last eight years. So, eight consecutive years of
growth — a really great growth trend.” He thinks the increased interest in board games is part of a backlash against technology. As people spend more time in front of screens, they have started to seek opportunities for interpersonal encounters, which board gaming provides. That is one reason Sehnert and Tangedal put so much of their energy into hosting game parties. “Building community. That’s what we’re all about,” Tangedal said. “We provide that space, we provide that opportunity,” Sehnert said. “Nothing is better than seeing all the tables full and people playing all kinds of different games, and all different levels of games and all ages playing together.” One of her most gratifying experiences was watching a mother come to a gaming party with her 12-year-old son and his friend. The first words out of the son’s mouth were, “Where’s the wifi?” Sehnert persuaded the boy and his friend to sit down and try playing a board game. She helped them select one they found appealing. They played for several hours, to the astonishment of the
boy’s mother. “The mom comes over and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh. He will never play games with me,’” Sehnert said. “That felt really cool that I got this 12-year-old boy who was only interested in playing video games on his laptop to actually put his laptop away and play [board] games with other people.” Their parties at St. Albert have drawn the attention of the pastor, Father Joseph Gillespie, who has attended a few of the events, and likes what he sees. “It’s just good, clean, family fun,” said Father Gillespie, who also has visited the couple and seen their collection. “It really is delightful to see so many different people. It’s a fun, ecumenical night.” The couple doesn’t plan to grow their collection, but they have high hopes for the future of their gaming endeavors. “My dream is that we would have our own space [outside the home] that we could store all the games,” Sehnert said. “We don’t have any kids, so eventually we would like this collection to be a public game library.”