Astrong Catholic identity, unity, and academic excellence are emphasized in a new brand identity for schools that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is launching during Catholic Schools Week.
Celebrated nationally Jan. 29-Feb. 4, the week is a special time for recognizing Catholic education’s contributions to student, parish and community development.
Adding to the excitement this year is a new, overarching brand for all 91 Catholic schools in the archdiocese — preschool through high school. Designed through the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, the strategy also retains existing, individual brand identities for each school.
A new logo is the effort’s centerpiece.
Inspired by art depicting Mary, Seat of Wisdom, the logo includes a stylized image of Mary and the child Jesus to “represent parents, teachers, children, care and life,” OMCE officials said. An open book symbolizes academic efforts in schools, and the text “Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis” accompanies the image.
OMCE officials hope a “Forming our future, Educating for life” tagline will support a common, consistent vision for quality Catholic education in the archdiocese. A new Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis website is slated to launch this spring.
Additionally, OMCE wants the brand to inspire people to learn more about Catholic education, including parents and guardians of school-age children.
Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education for the archdiocese, said OMCE wants to showcase the “strong system” of Catholic schools in the archdiocese, using the new brand identity to “elevate and promote” the work that those schools are doing.
“Our goals for the brand are to help uphold
the integrity of our system, align expectations for what it means to be a Catholic school, and provide consistency in marketing and communications,” Slattery said in a statement. “Really, the branding effort will reach every area of our work, which also includes advocating for Catholic education at the state level and attracting and retaining top talent for our Catholic schools.” (See page 4A for Catholic school leadership initiative.)
Archbishop Bernard Hebda said Catholic education is a way for students to foster “their intellect, leadership, service, and love of God and neighbor.”
Kelby Woodard — headmaster of St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights and a member of OMCE’s steering committee — said the new brand is an opportunity for Catholic educators and families alike to be reminded of that larger mission.
“This is really an effort to bring us together under that common banner of Catholic education in the archdiocese,” said Woodard, a member of St. Peter in Mendota. Families will now see more consistency within the archdiocese, “to see all these different schools and understand what all these schools have in common, and then to be able to do a deep dive into how each individual school lives out that mission.”
The branding effort aligns with OMCE’s Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education. Announced in January 2019, the Roadmap was established to help Catholic schools in the archdiocese grow in governance, leadership development, curriculum and assessments, access and sustainability and mission schools. As Emily Dahdah — director of the archdiocese’s Department of Educational Quality and Excellence — describes it, the Roadmap “is helping ensure our Catholic schools give the best of our educational tradition in order to draw out the best in every child. This effort is successful because of our partnership with pastors, school leaders, and community partners.”
Slattery views the new brand as helping “position the archdiocese as the central, public-facing voice of our system, which serves more than 31,000 students,” to “help advance (Archbishop Hebda’s) vision alongside school and Church leaders.”
Woodard said he views this new identity as “the branding component of the Roadmap.” It will offer people invested in Catholic education a better sense of “exactly what we plan to do with Catholic education in the archdiocese.”
How does one measure the success of that effort? Slattery said “the goals of the brand are multifaceted, (and) measuring its success will be, too. Of course, we rely on our partnerships with school leaders to help inform and advance our work, and we’ll get their feedback on the branding SCHOOL BRANDING CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
We hope the new Catholic schools brand will boost efforts to attract new families from all backgrounds to see and experience the value of Catholic education.
Jason Slattery
Our sincere thanks to all the principals, priests, teachers, and staff members of Catholic schools. We’re grateful for the amazing work you do.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2A
initiative and set goals for school engagement. For example, we’ve created toolkits for schools that contain co-branding messages, logos, graphics and more. Once we dive deeper into our strategic priorities, we’ll gauge success through analytics and other relevant metrics.”
Slattery also said he hopes to see the Catholic community at large engage with the brand on social media and share their prayers as well as their own Catholic school stories.
Aaron Anthony Benner — dean of students at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood — said his involvement on the branding committee started with conversations he had with Dahdah, one of his professors for his master of arts program in Educational Leadership and Administration.
“I just thought it was a great opportunity and I took it as a sign for something that I should do,” Benner said. When asked for his ideas on how to improve the brand identity, he said, “Yeah, I have a lot of opinions and here’s a chance to share them.”
Benner — a member of St. Peter in North St. Paul — said what he most hopes to see come out of the new brand is “a resurgence of young people wanting to go to church and to experience the faith. Our faith is so rich, and we have a rich history. And I want to see youth saying, ‘This is the faith I want to belong to ... I want to go to church every Sunday.’”
He said he also hopes “the
ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA JASON SLATTERY EMILY DAHDAHrebranding will be inclusive and that they (students) truly believe the word ‘catholic’ is universal, and that includes Irish, Spanish, African, Asian. I hope the rebranding can let people know that this is our faith, and our faith is everybody, includes everybody.”
Slattery agrees. “Catholic education is a great gift that should be available to all who desire it. And so we hope the new Catholic schools brand will boost efforts to attract new families from all backgrounds to see and experience the value of Catholic education.”
Woodard said he views a family choosing Catholic education for their children as the biggest success, one that he hopes the new brand identity will promote.
“This branding effort makes it very clear that there’s a big pie here,” Woodard said. “It’s not a limited pie and it can be sliced up many different ways.”
In his letter to families, Archbishop Hebda said the efforts of dedicated faculty, staff and families have led to Catholic school enrollment increasing over the past three years; OMCE reports there has been K-12 enrollment growth
of 9% during that time.
Woodard said he can attest to the enrollment increases at St. Thomas Academy, where 45 new students have joined the school in the past three years. Woodard said one key to the increase is the support Catholic schools offered to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also cited efforts to “focus in on what makes us who we are (at St. Thomas Academy)” as being among the reasons for the enrollment increase.
Benner said enrollment has increased at Hill-Murray as well, with “a significant increase every year” during the past two years he’s been dean of students.
With growth in mind, Archbishop Hebda said he prays that more families come to know the foundational gift of Catholic education.
Slattery echoed that sentiment, saying “This is an exciting time in our archdiocese, and we’re now able to unify and strengthen our 91 Catholic schools with a new brand. OMCE’s work is guided by Archbishop Hebda’s vision for Catholic education, which is an essential ministry of the Church.”
The brand identity is being introduced during a time of significant accomplishments for Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Below are some updates that will be included in OMCE’s annual report when it is published during Catholic Schools Week, plus remarks from Emily Dahdah, director of the archdiocese’s Department of Educational Quality and Excellence:
Families are joining the Church through Catholic schools
Roughly 200 families — more than 400 people — at 53 schools within the archdiocese have joined the Catholic Church through their schools. “The Holy Spirit is at work in our schools,” Dahdah said.
Enrollment is up
There has been a 9% K-12 enrollment increase over the past three years; specifically, a 4.4% increase in 2020, a 3.5% increase in 2021, and a 1% increase in 2022.
For the 2022-2023 school year, 79% of current kindergartners attended preschool at their Catholic school last year. Meanwhile, the report states, 69% of 2022-2023 Catholic high school freshmen came from a Catholic grade school.
“When our Catholic schools grow, so does our opportunity to evangelize, to invite students to embrace the greatest adventure of their lives by living in a close relationship with the God who loves us,” Dahdah said. “Students are responding to this extraordinary invitation.”
Student and teacher retention is steady
“Families in our Catholic schools find the trusted educational partner they have been searching for,” Dahdah said. The annual OMCE report indicates that currently, there is a 90% student retention rate at Catholic grade schools and high schools within the archdiocese. Additionally, 84% of new students for the 2021-2022 school year re-enrolled for the 2022-2023 year.
According to OMCE, Catholic schools within the archdiocese (a 12-county metro area) retained 87% of their teachers, reporting only a 13% turnover rate entering the 2022-2023 school year.
ISAIAH 54:13
ALL YOUR CHILDREN SHALL BE TAUGHT BY THE LORD, AND GREAT SHALL BE THE PEACE OF YOUR CHILDREN.
For The Catholic Spirit
As the archdiocesan Office for the Mission of Catholic Education builds on its efforts to promote unity and collaboration among schools, it is investing in Catholic school leadership in recruitment, training and retention of principals, presidents and heads of school.
Through its initiatives, the office aims to be a national model for other dioceses to follow, said Gayle Stoffel, associate director of Catholic School Leadership in the archdiocese since July 2020. Prior to her current role, Stoffel had served as associate director of Catholic education in the archdiocese since 2016.
Historically, Catholic schools in the archdiocese were run as autonomous institutions. Pastors and local leaders dictated hiring standards and job descriptions for their parochial schools, Stoffel said.
this year, includes promoting a distinct and united vision to prospective teachers and leaders, Stoffel said.
That vision will help attract and retain principals, presidents and heads of school, Stoffel said. Retention of leaders in Catholic schools is a challenge nationwide and locally, with an annual turnover rate of about 20%, Stoffel said. Through the Roadmap, the archdiocese has chosen to become a pioneer in a proactive approach to succession planning, recruitment, formation and retention of Catholic school leaders. The Roadmap also demonstrates a commitment to long-term viability and excellence in Catholic education, Stoffel said.
Father Tom Niehaus, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and St. Patrick in Shieldsville, said that he was “very nervous at first” when he set about hiring a new principal for Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School in spring 2022.
Theresa Gundersonleadership, connect schools to financial resources, and offer support and mentoring opportunities for members of the Catholic school community.”
Karla Gergen, principal of St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis since 2022, said she has benefited from the archdiocese’s efforts to invest in Catholic school leaders. Gergen said she felt “welcomed and supported” when she moved back to the Twin Cities to continue her career in school leadership.
“The work with (OMCE) helps me see my role as part of a bigger mission of the Church and not just my individual school or job,” Gergen said.
GAYLE STOFFELThat began to change in 2019 with the archdiocese’s Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education, an initiative that aims to advance Catholic education through governance; curriculum and metrics; access and sustainability; and mission schools and their governance. Among other things, the Roadmap set up a common hiring standard and performance evaluation for Catholic schools. It also provided schools with a larger network of support.
Now the archdiocese works as a unit to find and train the right leaders for its schools. Rather than each parish individually recruiting school leaders, OMCE employs trained search committees and Benjamin Vasko, a Catholic school recruitment specialist. Combined, the committees and Vasko replicate the benefit of a highcost search firm, without the expense burden placed on the schools themselves, Stoffel said. Standardized hiring procedures and a centralized portal for school leadership applications and leadership information are also archdiocesan efforts to streamline recruits into positions at Catholic schools.
The effort to create a common brand and identity for the 91 Catholic elementary and high schools in the archdiocese, announced during Catholic Schools Week
“As the pastor of Catholic schools in rural settings for seven-plus years, I know the joys, challenges and frustrations of finding the right teachers, staff and administration to help carry out the mission of Catholic education and to retain them so as to uphold a culture of education that is as close-knit as a family,” Father Niehaus said. “The archdiocesan office for education gave me great assurance that they would walk with me and my search committee every step of the way.”
The search resulted in the appointment of Kari Marsh, who exemplifies the “healthy blend of God-given talent and quality formation that helps her to lead our school community effectively and faithfully,” Father Niehaus said. Marsh’s formation also was, in part, thanks to the Roadmap, which set up a three-year archdiocesan plan for professional development. As part of the plan, principals take a class titled “Mission, Culture and Emerging Questions in Catholic Education,” which was developed by OMCE with the University of St. Thomas’ Center for Catholic Studies in St. Paul. The course is designed to help school leaders develop a deeper understanding of vocation, which in turn will deepen a sense of mission and encourage retention of Catholic school faculty, Stoffel said.
Father Niehaus said investing in Catholic school leadership has immense potential.
“At times it can feel that Catholic schools have to fend for themselves and fight alone to stay alive,” he said. “I have learned in these past years that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, through the Roadmap for Excellence, is seeking to change the culture of Catholic schools for the better and to strengthen schools in their Catholic identity, offer superb training and formation of
Gergen said her onboarding process included a twoday in-person orientation, online meetings with all principals, individual support and a series of meetings for new leaders in the archdiocese.
“The goal of all of these (onboarding) efforts is to ensure leaders are able to leverage their leadership from day one and understand their role within the parish and school community,” Stoffel said.
Theresa Gunderson, principal of St. Stephen’s Catholic School in Anoka since July 2021, said her onboarding process was enriching.
“I absolutely loved and am so grateful for the two-day archdiocesan new leader orientation,” Gunderson said. “To this day, I feel a special bond with each of (the other new leaders) because we ask and share how things are going at our schools, and we are there for each other professionally, emotionally and spiritually, and when questions or issues arise at work in which we need a second opinion, an affirmation or a prayer.”
Gunderson said she had been the interim executive director of a charter school that had very little support for its leaders. Working in the Catholic school system of the archdiocese is a world of difference, she said.
“Coming from that situation to the archdiocese, in which there is as much support as I need, plus ongoing professional development, and everyone genuinely desires that all school leaders in the archdiocese succeed, I do not have the words to describe how grateful, supported and at peace I feel,” Gunderson said.
Coming ... to the archdiocese, in which there is as much support as I need ... I do not have the words to describe how grateful, supported and at peace I feel.
The Catholic Spirit
In a nearly full Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, close to 3,000 people gathered for a Respect Life Mass Jan. 22 before many walked in temperatures in the teens to the State Capitol to participate in the 50th annual Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March for Life.
While hope prevailed June 24 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 high court decision that made abortion legal across the country, many pro-life Minnesotans despaired last week when the Minnesota House passed a bill to place the right to abortion into state law. A vote in the state Senate could come at press time. If it reaches his desk, Gov. Tim Walz has said he would sign the bill into law.
In his homily at the Mass sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life, Archbishop Bernard Hebda noted from the first reading that Isaiah preached to a people who were discouraged and demoralized.
“They saw darkness coming in at every side,” Archbishop Hebda said, “yet Isaiah was able to speak to them about the light that would come — indeed, that a light, that light of the Messiah, would change everything.” Those who believed, who waited for the Messiah, were eventually able to see how everything would change according to God’s plan, he said. “It gave them great hope.”
Archbishop Hebda was in Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 20 national March for Life. He described the “great excitement” celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade, yet at the same time, “we here in Minnesota had our eyes glued to the news to see what would happen at our own Legislature as really draconian rules were being proposed,” he said.
About 180 people, including 140 high school students and young adults, also traveled by chartered buses from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
to the 50th March for Life.
The battle for the right to life is not finished, Archbishop Hebda said. “It’s only when we’re going to be able to persist and to persevere that God’s reign is going to prevail,” he said. “We’re reminded by the prophet Isaiah not to
get discouraged, and to look for the signs of the light in the midst of darkness. He reminds us to persevere.”
Archbishop Hebda said the faithful need to unite in the “beautiful mission” of proclaiming the dignity of each human life and ask that Christ help bring
about unity. The archbishop evoked the image of the Blessed Mother gathering “all of God’s children under her mantle of protection.”
“We bring all life together,” he said. “We strive for that unity.”
The 12 called to be the first Apostles were “normal, human, like all of us,” he said. “And yet when they were able to recognize that, indeed, Christ could
CHAPEL CONSULTANT Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, consults with an architectural team and staff members of nonprofit senior living organization St. Therese as they work on a chapel for senior living center St. Therese of Corcoran in Corcoran. The chapel will take shape as the center is completed in the next 18 months, and officials at St. Therese sought guidance from Father Margevicius as they consider details such as the location of the tabernacle, statues, artwork and Stations of the Cross. As director of worship, Father Margevicius said, he has been assigned by Archbishop Bernard Hebda to guide all Catholic parishes, schools, institutions, clergy and laity in celebration of the liturgy. That broad task can include offering advice on building and remodeling new chapels and churches, and suggesting options for music.
A new, multi-use arena will host Division I hockey and basketball players as well as commencement ceremonies, academic gatherings, speakers and career fairs, among other events, at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. On Jan. 17, university officials announced the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena will be built on the Catholic university’s south campus. “This is about more than just hockey and basketball games — this is a gift that will be transformative for our entire St. Paul campus, enhance the experience of our students, and raise visibility for the university as a whole,” President Rob Vischer said in a statement. The $75 million donation from Lee and Penny Anderson of Naples, Florida, will go toward the estimated $175 million cost for the arena. It is the single-largest monetary gift the university has received, school officials said. “St. Thomas has a higher calling in that it develops graduates who are leaders with strong moral character who believe in the mission to serve the common good. These are the kinds of leaders the world needs now more than ever,” Lee Anderson said in a statement. “Additionally, St. Thomas’ vision for this new arena is not only good for the university, but for all of St. Paul, the Twin Cities and Minnesota.” University officials say groundbreaking is expected in 2024, with a fall 2025 targeted opening.
Seventeen Theology II seminarians from The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul spent two weeks in January ministering to the poor in Mexico City, an annual mission trip. Seminary rector Father Joseph Taphorn and Father Evan Koop (pictured), dean of men, led the group. The seminarians also made a pilgrimage to Guadalupe where they learned about the role of the Blessed Mother in Latino culture and the local Church, and prayed in the presence of Juan Diego’s tilma. On return, the seminarians spent a week ministering to local Latino immigrants, participating in parish life, learning about outreach and evangelization, and accompanying local missionaries and young people, ending with a one-week retreat. Their seminarian brothers at St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul spent time in January ministering to the poor in India.
A group of 11th and 12th grade students and two faculty members from DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis spent Jan. 16 — the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day — volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. The students and faculty members helped build a home in north Minneapolis for a family in need. They worked with other volunteers to frame, build walls and floors and paint the home. “Service learning” is a graduation requirement at DeLaSalle. The Jan. 16 activity was the third time students at DeLaSalle worked with Habitat for Humanity this school year.
When the carpeting needed to be replaced in the chapel at the Pacem in Terris Hermitage Retreat Center near Isanti (just within the boundaries of the Diocese of St. Cloud), the time seemed right to make additional changes, said Tim Drake, executive director. The staff moved the tabernacle and its stone stand to a more prominent spot in the center of the sanctuary space, “giving Christ that place of centrality,” Drake said. It also seemed appropriate during the Eucharistic Revival being celebrated nationwide, he said. The chapel interior was painted last year. Drake expects renovations to be complete around Feb. 1.
An anonymous donor has given $110,000 to create an endowed scholarship at St. Agnes School in St. Paul honoring a longtime coach and teacher. Four $2,500 scholarships will be awarded each year to students who qualify academically and who are active in athletics. The scholarship honors retired teacher and coach Bob Ercolani, who is a member of the St. Agnes High School Hall of Fame. Ercolani started teaching and coaching at the school in 1969, retiring in 2000. “As coaches, we always knew that our job was not just to win trophies, but to instill in our players faith, reason and virtue,” Ercolani said. “If you do that properly, the winning will take care of itself.” Once awarded, a student can earn the scholarship for ensuing years by remaining in good academic standing.
SKIING FOR SOULS Dominican Friar Father Brian Zuelke prepares to ski a snow mound at St. Odilia in Shoreview, where he is parochial vicar, as part of a recent video touting a speaker series at the parish on Catholic moral and spiritual life. From one perspective, moral truths and lessons might seem like a mountain, but from a broader perspective of following Christ in all things, it is more of a snow mound, Father Zuelke says in the video. Titled Law and Order: The God Edition, the speaker series features three professors from the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities: Michael Rota, Teresa Collett and Stephen Heaney, discussing the Church’s understanding of the human person, how that understanding undergirds teachings on sexuality, marriage and family and the Church’s approach to social teaching and action. The series began Jan. 25 with Rota, continues Feb. 1 with Collett and ends Feb. 8 with Heaney. The video can be found at fb watch/i1ib1Uqoqr
On the Jan. 20 “Practicing Catholic” radio show, host Patrick Conley interviews Mary Ann Kuharski from Prolife Across America, and Angie Johnson, her daughter and the organization’s marketing director, who discuss continuing the fight for life in a post-Roe vs. Wade world. Also featured are Roger Vasko, founder and president of the St. Joseph Business Guild, who describes the value of the guild’s network of Catholic businesses and entrepreneurs; and Deacon Joe Michalak, director of the archdiocesan Office of Synod Evangelization, with Father Joseph Bambenek, assistant director of Synod Evangelization, who describe multiple ways to receive and interact with Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter. Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingcatholicShow com or anchor fm/Practicing-catholic-Show with links to streaming platforms.
In my Catholic grade school, I was the kid who was going to be a priest. I rarely got in trouble and if I did, it was for talking in class. One day when I was in the sixth grade, my mother came home from a parent-teacher conference and immediately went into the kitchen. She began opening and closing all the cupboards all the while crying out, “Oh Charles, oh Charles, where are you?”
I responded from the living room, “I’m right here!” My mother looked at me and replied, “Oh, I know where you are, Charlie, I’m looking for Charles, your perfect twin that the nuns are always talking about!”
In eighth grade, my mother came home from a parent-teacher conference and announced, “Finally those sisters at the school realize that you are not a perfect child. Sister told me that you can lose your patience in group projects. I told her that it was impossible for you to lose your patience because you can’t lose what you don’t have.”
It is said, “practice makes perfect.” I’ve been practicing being me for over 60 years and I’m more convicted than ever that I am far from perfect. As a
En mi escuela primaria católica, yo era el niño que iba a ser sacerdote.
Pocas veces me metí en problemas y si los tuve fue por hablar en clase. Un día, cuando estaba en sexto grado, mi madre llegó a casa de una conferencia de padres y maestros e inmediatamente fue a la cocina. Comenzó a abrir y cerrar todos los armarios mientras gritaba: “Oh Charles, oh Charles, ¿dónde estás?”.
Respondí desde la sala de estar: “¡Aquí estoy!”. Mi madre me miró y me respondió: “¡Oh, sé dónde estás, Charlie, estoy buscando a Charles, tu gemelo perfecto del que las monjas siempre están hablando!”.
En octavo grado, mi madre llegó a casa de una conferencia de padres y maestros y anunció: “Finalmente, esas hermanas en la escuela se dan cuenta de que no eres una niña perfecta. La hermana me dijo que puedes perder la paciencia en proyectos grupales. Le
Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective January 1, 2023
Reverend Michael Becker, appointed vicar of charisms for the Archdiocesan Synod Implementation. This is in addition to his assignment as pastor of the Parish of Saints Joachim and Anne in Shakopee.
child, I was really not all that different from today’s children. I just had a childhood during a very different time and in a very different world.
I don’t think it is just a baby boomer’s nostalgia to sigh over simpler times. There was a lesson then that is applicable today: My parents, teachers, friends’ parents, neighbors and even local car mechanic all were conscious of how they spoke in front of children. The absence of foul language and the bashing of political, religious and corporate leaders, and a positive attitude about the future, insulated childhood and preserved a child’s world.
The fundamental neurology of a child conditions the foundational principles needed to form a conscience. In other words, children grow not just in shoe size, but also in the capacity to process the world around them. It is folly and potentially injurious to the esteem of children to crash into their relatively secure world with the complexities of adult issues, regardless of noble intent.
Creating an intentional Catholic culture that preserves a child’s world and forms children in their God-given identity are the hallmarks of a Catholic school, in my day, as well as today. A Catholic school’s partnership with parents brings the dynamic of a community. Many parents of children in a
dije que era imposible que perdieras la paciencia porque no puedes perder lo que no tienes”.
Se dice, “la práctica hace perfecto”. He estado practicando ser yo durante más de 60 años y estoy más convencido que nunca de que estoy lejos de ser perfecto. Cuando era niño, en realidad no era tan diferente de los niños de hoy. Acabo de tener una infancia durante un tiempo muy diferente y en un mundo muy diferente.
No creo que sea solo la nostalgia de un baby-boomer suspirar por tiempos más simples. Entonces hubo una lección que es aplicable hoy: mis padres, maestros, padres de amigos, vecinos e incluso mecánicos de automóviles locales, todos estaban conscientes de cómo hablaban frente a los niños. La ausencia de lenguaje obsceno y ataques a líderes políticos, religiosos y corporativos, y una actitud positiva sobre el futuro, aislaron a la niñez y preservaron el mundo de un niño.
La neurología fundamental de un niño condiciona los principios
Dominic of Northfield and the Church of the Annunciation in Hazelwood. Father Floeder previously served as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Dominic in Northfield, and also as Assistant Director for Vocations for the Archdiocese.
Effective January 3, 2023
Reverend Joseph Johnson, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Patrick in Edina. This is a temporary assignment while the pastor, Father Allen Kuss, is on sabbatical.
Effective January 14, 2023
Catholic school have found out that their circle of friends includes the parents of their children’s’ friends.
No school is perfect, but our Catholic schools give witness to the mercy of Jesus who reveals the God of abundant grace. God is ever willing to restore what has been lost by being the inheritors of original sin; imperfect people in an imperfect world.
In a world that tears down values and bullies the common good with individual wants, the environment of a Catholic school builds up not only the individual students, but also builds a community of families who work together through individual sacrifices for the good of the whole school.
Today, as in my day, a Catholic school provides our children the opportunity for academic excellence and effective catechetical formation in the Catholic tradition.
A Catholic school does not teach the ambiguous values of an ever-changing society. Rather, through the authentic witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by teachers, parents and the broader community, our children know the values by which we live and look forward in hope to a life and a world that gets better with practice … the practice of our faith.
fundamentales necesarios para formar una conciencia. En otras palabras, los niños crecen no solo en tamaño de zapatos, sino también en la capacidad de procesar el mundo que los rodea. Es una locura y potencialmente perjudicial para la estima de los niños chocar contra su mundo relativamente seguro con las complejidades de los asuntos de los adultos, independientemente de la noble intención.
Crear una cultura católica intencional que preserve el mundo de un niño y forme a los niños en su identidad dada por Dios son los sellos distintivos de una escuela católica en mi época, así como en la actualidad. La asociación de una escuela católica con los padres trae la dinámica de una comunidad. Muchos padres de niños en una escuela católica han descubierto que su círculo de amigos incluye a los padres de los amigos de sus hijos.
Ninguna escuela es perfecta, pero nuestras Escuelas Católicas dan testimonio de la misericordia de Jesús que revela al Dios de abundante gracia. Dios está siempre dispuesto a
assignment at Saint Andrew Kim in St. Paul in order to transition to full-time studies at the University of Saint Thomas. Father Kim is a priest of the Diocese of Incheon, South Korea.
Reverend Jaehyun Kim, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Andrew Kim in Saint Paul. Father Kim is a priest of the Diocese of Incheon, South Korea.
Effective March 1, 2023
restaurar lo que se ha perdido por ser herederos del Pecado Original; personas imperfectas en un mundo imperfecto.
En un mundo que derriba valores y acosa el bien común con deseos individuales, el ambiente de una escuela católica construye no solo a los estudiantes individualmente, sino que también construye una comunidad de familias que trabajan juntas a través de sacrificios individuales por el bien de toda la escuela.
Hoy, como en mi época, una Escuela Católica brinda a nuestros niños la oportunidad de la excelencia académica y una formación catequética efectiva en la Tradición Católica.
Una escuela católica no enseña los valores ambiguos de una sociedad en constante cambio. Más bien, a través del testimonio auténtico del Evangelio de Jesucristo por parte de maestros, padres y la comunidad en general, nuestros hijos conocen los valores por los cuales vivimos y esperamos con esperanza una vida y un mundo que mejora cada vez más con la práctica... práctica de nuestra fe.
of Saint Dominic in Northfield and the Church of the Annunciation in Hazelwood.
Effective July 1, 2023
Reverend Patrick Hipwell, granted the status of retired priest. Father Hipwell has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1977, most recently as pastor of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Saint Paul.
Reverend Louis Floeder, assigned as parochial administrator at the Church of Saint
Reverend Hak Sun Kim, released from his
Reverend Gregory Abbott, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Peter in Forest Lake. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as pastor of the Church
Reverend Terrence Rassmussen, granted the status of retired priest. Father Rassmussen has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1979, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in New Hope.
Maddyn Greenway, a ninth grader at Providence Academy in Plymouth, races past Hill-Murray defenders on her way to a layup during a game Jan. 20 at Providence Academy. She is one of 20 high school freshman girls basketball players nationwide who were selected for a poll by SBLive, a high school sports media outlet in partnership with Sports Illustrated, to name the top freshman girls basketball player in the country. The names and biographies of the 20 girls were posted online, and people across the country were encouraged to vote for their favorite. Greenway received 4,353 votes and placed fourth in the poll. This is her third year on the varsity team at Providence. She reached 1,000 points last year and has 1,732 total. She is closing in on the school record of 1,779 and is expected to break it later this season. Her team is 13-2 this year after defeating Hill-Murray 87-52. Greenway scored 25 points in the game and is averaging 29.7 points per game this season. “To be mentioned in the same breath as some of these girls (on the SBLive list) is pretty awesome,” said Greenway’s mother, Jenni Greenway,
Buzzing with energy, about 500 people from parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis took their next steps on a journey of evangelization Jan. 17 at Guardian Angels in Oakdale.
Inspired by the three-year Archdiocesan Synod process that culminated with the Synod Assembly last June in St. Paul and led to Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter in November, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room,” parishioners chosen by pastors to form Synod Evangelization Teams gathered for the first of three kickoff events.
“I could think of few times where I am so excited as I am this evening,” Archbishop Hebda said in his opening remarks. “With it being the first of the kickoff events, you’re my first taste of what this is going to be like. And I look out and I’m excited.
“We’re so blessed. Look to your left, look to your right. Recognize that you’re not alone, that God’s calling us together to do some amazing things, and it’s your generosity that’s making that possible,” the archbishop said. “The Holy Spirit has a plan for our archdiocese and especially for each one of our parishes, and I’m grateful to you for your willingness to be part of this beautiful work.”
As outlined in the archbishop’s pastoral letter, each parish or cluster of parishes in the archdiocese has been directed to establish a Synod Evangelization Team, designed “to be the catalyst within the parish for renewed discipleship, fruitful evangelization and assisting the pastor in implementing the Synod priorities.”
The three Synod priorities are forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization; forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call; and forming youth and young adults for a Church that is always young.
Made up of about 12 members, each Synod Evangelization Team is to help launch “missionary disciples” at the parish level, working with the parish pastoral council as well as parish staff and leadership.
In the days leading up to the Jan. 17 event, Denny
Farrell — administrator at Guardian Angels — said organizers were not certain how many people to expect, but the parish was chosen because of its larger size. In fact, the event reached capacity; according to organizers, 476 people pre-registered and at least 499 attended. The event began with an opening song and prayer, leading into remarks from Archbishop Hebda; Kelly Wahlquist, director of The St. Paul Seminary’s Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul and founder of WINE, Women in the New Evangelization; Patty McQuillan, administrative assistant with the archdiocesan Office of Vocations and a participant in the Catechetical Institute’s School of Discipleship; and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph
Williams. Adoration of the Eucharist and a Gospel reflection followed, before participants moved to the lower level of Guardian Angels for small group discussions.
Preparing for their roles on Synod Evangelization Teams, members are participating in the School of Discipleship and a subsequent 40-Day Challenge. They are discussing forming small groups in their parishes for faith formation, evangelization and service. Each day, they are encouraged to pray the Archdiocesan Evangelization Prayer.
PLEASE TURN TO SYNOD EVANGELIZATION ON PAGE 7B
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work through them, when they united themselves to Christ and to one another, it’s then that they were able to change the world, that God was able to change the world through them.
“We gather here today not as a people who are discouraged, but as women and men of great hope, knowing that when we give ourselves over to the Lord, when we’re willing to respond to his call, that it’s then that the Lord is able to do amazing things.”
Everyone is called to be “an evangelizer for life,” Archbishop Hebda said, and talk about the dignity of each human life.
“When we give ourselves over to Jesus, it’s amazing what he’s able to do,” he said. “Nothing is impossible with God.”
Winners of the Champions for Life awards recognized during the Mass were Teresa Collett, an attorney and law professor at the University of St. Thomas; Karen McCann, a member of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, who has been involved in pro-life work for about 30 years; and the St. Gianna Club, a pro-life student group at Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale.
At the beginning of Mass, Archbishop Hebda said it was inspiring to have a full Cathedral to celebrate life and honor the Champions for Life. “And as we gather, also to communicate to our legislators and to our community the strength of our support for the Gospel of life,” he said.
Nicole Foley, a parishioner of All Saints in Minneapolis, said she was pleased that Archbishop Hebda spoke “really strongly on the importance of our vote.” While it seemed “that we’ve maybe won the fight on the national level,” Foley said, the work of local legislators (on HF1 and SF1, codifying a right to abortions in Minnesota) had brought her to tears “a lot of times this week.”
A mother of seven and of one miscarried baby, Foley said “it’s just, all lives matter, and it’s up to us, especially as Catholics, first to defend and to stand strong. And I was really pleased that the archbishop spoke about that.”
Archbishop Hebda also acknowledged his gratitude for students in attendance from the University of Mary in Bismarck who were on their way back to North Dakota after participating in the march in Washington. “I was happy to see them with my own eyes at the march and know they were a joyful presence there,” he said.
Katie Kriefall, 22, was one of those students from the University of Mary, returning from her second march in Washington. She attended her first march her senior year at Spring Lake Park High School, traveling with a group from Epiphany in Coon Rapids.
Kriefall said the energy and attendance seemed similar this year to her first visit. “You get to the top of the hill and you look back and there’s just a whole wave of people, and it’s really inspiring to see that,” she said. With Roe v. Wade overturned, she said there was a different reason for being in the nation’s capital, “but there’s a lot of very different work to do now,” she said.
Kriefall said it’s “very unfortunate” to learn what’s happening in Minnesota’s
Legislature, which speaks to “the amount of work that still needs to be done.”
Debra Duncan, 69, a parishioner of St. Luke in Clearwater, said she has worked as a nurse for 40 years, about 10 of those in labor and delivery. That’s one reason she said it was important for her to be at Mass and participate in the March for Life.
During her work in labor and delivery, she said she had seen “a lot that goes on there” but never participated in an abortion. “I have worked with young kids (one 14) that have had babies and given them up for adoption.”
Duncan said, “life is important … and we need to respect and have dignity for all life from conception until natural death.”
During the Mass, Archbishop Hedba said Minnesotans must “express our voice to our senators as soon as we can, because the vote will be as soon as this week.” He suggested accessing the Minnesota Catholic Conference website at mncatholic org or the archdiocese’s website at archspm org to find ways to express views to state senators.
The 50th annual MCCL March for Life began at 2 p.m., with many people walking from Mass at the Cathedral to the State Capitol, some marching around the grounds until a program started on the Capitol steps at 2:30 p.m.
Father Chad VanHoose, pastor of St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi, led the invocation. Speakers included Alyssa Bormes, a parishioner of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, and a teacher
at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins; and from MCCL: Scott Fischbach, president; and Cathy Blaeser and Don Parker, co-executive directors. Parker also introduced legislators in attendance.
Mary Ann Hermanutz, 84, a parishioner of Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Rockville, said she has only missed one of the 50 local marches for life, and that was due to a bad ice storm. She and others living near her have been driving to first Friday adoration at the State Capitol. “We’ll be back the first Friday of February no matter what the Legislature does,” she said. “We are praying and hoping to stop Minnesota from being a mecca for abortion, for killing,” Hermanutz said. “We don’t want that reputation. We don’t want any babies being killed.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5B
Wahlquist described the School of Discipleship experience as being like practice before a sporting event. Participants work on one discipline of discipleship per week and “at the end of the seven weeks, you get in the game.” The 40-Day Challenge is then spent putting “all seven disciplines together and you live all of them.”
Bishop Williams talked about evangelization coming from a daily, personal faith practice. “Discipline and disciple have the same root, and we can get better at these daily disciplines,” he said. He reminded those gathered that evangelization is “simpler than we think; and the young people can do it, and you can do it, and I can do it, and priests have to do it, too.”
By the end of the School of Discipleship sessions and 40-Day Challenge, Wahlquist said participants are better able to talk about and share their faith. “They’re so on fire with the love of the Lord and with the Holy Spirit inspiring them,” she said.
That fire also inspires Yen Fasano, associate director for the archdiocesan Office for the Mission of Catholic Education’s Drexel Mission Schools initiative. Fasano has held several roles during the Synod process, including as a member of the Synod Executive Committee. Fasano said she hopes the Synod Evangelization Teams help build even stronger unity.
“I think our Church is blessed with so many gifts, so many languages, so many hopes and dreams, and I think it’s time that that fabric gets woven together to make a beautiful mosaic,” Fasano said. “There’s going to be so much healing, love, accompaniment
By Joe Ruff and Barb UmbergerThe Catholic Spirit
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill 69-65 to place a right to abortion into state law Jan. 19, only hours after a letter from Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Minnesota’s six other Catholic bishops urged against the move.
The full Senate is expected to debate the measure Jan. 27. Gov. Tim Walz has said he would sign the bill into law. Legislators in the House acted on the issue as pro-life advocates prepared for the March for Life Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., and a Jan. 22 March for Life at the State Capitol in St. Paul.
Minnesota’s Supreme Court found a constitutional right to abortion in the state in a 1995 ruling. Backers of codifying that right argued it would be added security after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned its 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, that made abortion legal across the country. The federal high court’s latest ruling placed the issue of abortion back into the hands of state and federal lawmakers.
In their letter, hand-delivered to all lawmakers, Archbishop Hebda and the state’s other Catholic bishops also urged legislators to vote against a bill moving through the House, HF91, that would remove protections for abortion-minded mothers and their babies.
and community. And families transformed with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and young adults that are on fire for their faith who are going to help continue to fan that flame out to the rest of the world.”
A desire to learn more and teach others about his faith led Andrew Freiermuth, 28, a member of St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi, to reach out to his pastor to learn how to become more involved in the Church. That led him to the Synod Evangelization
“We are disappointed to see the quick pace at which these destructive bills are moving, and we hope to give legislators pause,” the bishops said in their letter, released by the Minnesota Catholic Conference. “When contemplating policy on any issue, we must consider all those who will be affected. In this case, that includes the mother, father, and most especially, the unborn child whose life is being taken.”
“We stand firm that every child should be welcomed in life and protected by law,” said Archbishop Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Bishops Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Daniel Felton of Duluth, Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Donald Kettler of St. Cloud and Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester. (See the letter in its entirety, Page 13B).
Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia, referred to the bishops’ letter during the lengthy floor debate before the vote and quoted from it regarding responsibility to protect life: “The work to limit demand for abortion, however, does not absolve the legislator from the responsibility to protect the living human being in the womb. No amount of support for public assistance programs is sufficient to exonerate one from complicity and cooperation in creating legal frameworks that facilitate the death of other human beings through legal abortion.”
Team Kickoff event at Guardian Angels. He said he believes in what Archbishop Hebda wrote in the pastoral letter, about “having the Holy Spirit intertwined with everything we do and to allow the secular world to see it and want to learn more.”
Traci Arends, 52, a member of St. Ignatius in Annandale, said she converted to Catholicism from evangelicalism 10 years ago and wants to share the beauty she sees in the Catholic faith as well as develop her
During quick breaks in the action and listening to thoughts shared with large groups, The Catholic Spirit captured some of the inspiration participants felt at the Jan. 17 kickoff event at Guardian Angels in Oakdale:
u“I’m hoping that I will learn to be a disciple,” one woman said as she expressed a desire to overcome her shyness at sharing her faith with others. She said she also wants to be an example for her grandchildren and greatgrandchild.
uWitnessing the “prayer, thought, contemplation” of the evening allowed one man to realize “this is the place for me, in front of the altar.”
uAnother man said his small group members talked about the “richness in the pauses of the heart” and the ways the “Synod allowed parishes to come together … made my heart sing.”
uA third man said he was struck by the pastoral letter’s “boldness and clarity” and by the comment of a pastor in his small group at the gathering, that “we’re all going to go deeper with Jesus than we’ll ever know.”
personal prayer. She said she wants this process to help her “be a catalyst in creating greater community and connectedness in the parish.”
Two other Synod Evangelization Team Kickoff events will be held, one 7-9 p.m. Jan. 26 at All Saints in Lakeville and another 9:30-11:30 a.m. Jan. 28 at St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park.
“That’s a lot,” said Nash, who is not Catholic, emphasizing the moral weight of the bishops’ words. To those lawmakers who might feel uneasy about HF1, which would allow abortion at any stage of pregnancy, Nash said, find the courage to vote no, “follow that friction in your heart.”
Democrats control the House and the Senate in Minnesota. The 2023 legislative session opened Jan. 3, and HF1 was introduced Jan. 4 as the Protect Reproductive Options Act. Its companion bill in the Senate is SF1.
The bill states that individuals have “a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about their reproductive health, “that the Minnesota Constitution ensures the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, and that local units of government cannot restrict an individual’s ability to exercise the fundamental rights in this section.”
The other abortion bill, HF91, would remove protections for babies born alive after an abortion that were established in the state’s Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which requires reasonable medical care for an infant surviving an abortion.
HF91, and its companion bill in the Senate, SF70, also would remove parental notification requirements for minors seeking an abortion and the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent law. And it would remove Minnesota’s
abortion reporting law, an annual report on procedure statistics prepared by the Minnesota Department of Health. Those protections also were struck down in a lawsuit that is being challenged.
Encouraging people to act, MCC’s website, mncatholic org, provides a locator feature for reaching Minnesota lawmakers, a bill tracker and action alerts. Representing all Catholic bishops in Minnesota, Bishop Zielinski addressed a Minnesota Senate Committee on Health and Human Services hearing Jan. 10 about his opposition to SF1, which like its companion bill in the House, HF1, would codify abortion in Minnesota law.
“The bill reflects a complete denial of the humanity of the unborn child, their right to live, and the state’s interest in protecting nascent human life,” Bishop Zielinski said. “The bill puts Minnesota out of step with most of the world in that regard, and, as you will hear from others, will also put women’s health and safety in jeopardy. Furthermore, the good people of these rural counties, whatever their religion, are prevented by subdivision 5 of this bill from keeping abortion providers, including mobile ones such as Just the Pill, from operating in their communities,” Bishop Zielinski said. “Please protect a democratic process, reflecting a genuine pluralism of values among the people of our state. Again, please vote no.”
By Dave Hrbacek
The Catholic Spirit
Throughout most of his life, Father John Brandes loved spending time outdoors, especially at a family cabin in northern Minnesota and in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The priest who considered wooded regions of northern Minnesota his “happy place” died Jan. 10 at age 96.
His niece, Monica Shearon, recalled trips up north with him starting in her childhood and extending into her adult years. She looked forward to those trips, taking advantage of opportunities to spend time with her beloved uncle.
“I was very, very close to my Uncle John,” said Shearon, 60, a mother of five adopted children who belongs to Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis and is a graduate of Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. “He was definitely like a second father to me.”
She recalled one time as a young adult when she was having a tough time while living in Europe. “I remember having kind of a spiritual crisis and coming to him and saying, ‘I’m just really struggling,’” she said. “And, he just literally stopped everything he was doing and created a one-day retreat for me, which ended in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It was so beautiful. I had never been to adoration, I never had that experience.”
Father Brandes grew up in north Minneapolis and was ordained to the priesthood in 1951. His first assignment
was at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, where he served from 1951 to 1986. After that, he became the founding pastor of St. Rita in Cottage Grove, where he served from 1966 to 1972. Other parishes where he served include St. Mark in St. Paul (1972 to 1986), St. William in Fridley (1987 to 1993) and St. Boniface in northeast Minneapolis (2004 to 2012, when he retired). He also spent 11 years in Guatemala at San Lucas Tolimán, a mission parish of the Diocese of New Ulm.
In recent years, he served as a chaplain
at Catholic Eldercare in northeast Minneapolis where he lived. He stepped down from that role in 2020, but continued to spend time with his brother Ray, who lived in the same building but eventually moved to the full nursing care unit in an adjacent building.
In addition to his priestly ministry, Father Brandes was politically active, Shearon noted. He took part in protests against the manufacture of certain military weapons, and once “climbed a fence” at a Honeywell plant in the Twin Cities to engage in an act of peaceful
protest.
There was one problem: Shearon’s dad — Father Brandes’ brother-in-law — worked there.
“My dad is an electrical engineer for Honeywell, and John is getting arrested for climbing the fence — I always found that funny,” Shearon said. “And, it was really interesting how they were each other’s best friend. But, they sat in different political arenas and still loved each other and respected each other.”
The funeral Mass for Father Brandes was Jan. 23 at St. Boniface in northeast Minneapolis. Interment was at St. Mary’s Cemetery in south Minneapolis.
As administrator of the Life Fund of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Sonya Flomo regularly talks with women who want to raise their children with dignity but face financial hardships.
The fund helps support women as they care for their unborn or newborn babies, primarily through one-time emergency funding. The financial support is for necessities, including baby formula, car payments, rent or mortgage payments, utilities and insurance, Flomo said.
Primarily, the women Flomo works with are referred to her by social workers at life care centers or hospitals who help the women fill out the required grant application. Women also call her directly, she said.
Flomo began working with the ministry in 1997, after her supervisor saw her gift for speaking with women in crisis pregnancies. During conversations, she draws from her personal experience as a single mother, recognizing that many mothers “just want to be heard,” Flomo said.
“A lot of the women I work with through the Life Fund, they have no family support,” she said. “I want them to see that they can do it. They don’t have to sit and wait for a system to help them.”
Flomo said her hope is that women can use help given through the Life Fund as a springboard “to really forge ahead and be successful in life.” To this
end, Flomo works to show her clients ways they can contribute to their own success.
“I try to say, ‘OK, can you come (up) with $10 toward your rent?’ to give them ownership,” Flomo said. “We want you to take ownership. And not only ownership, but pride in what you’re doing for your child.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade,
Flomo said, the Life Fund has seen more grant applications. “The need is really great out there,” she said.
Flomo said she prays that people will act with compassion when they see others in need.
“There’s a lot of judgment in this world, unfortunately, and I pray that people will stop judging and start loving. I think that we all can learn from somebody. Whether you are a
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homeless person or the richest person in the world, I think we can always learn something from somebody, and I think that we just need to humble ourselves and just be our brother’s keeper,” Flomo said.
People can make a tax-deductible donation to The Life Fund at tinyurl com/4djzyhhd or by mailing a check to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Attn: Life Fund, 777
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Father Leonard Siebenaler, a native of New Trier who ministered nearly 64 years as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, died Jan. 16 in Hastings, where he had been living in retirement. He was 89.
Father Siebenaler hailed from a family of religious vocations, including his brothers, retired Fathers Martin and John Siebenaler of the archdiocese. The brothers grew up on a dairy farm and attended their parish’s school, now closed.
Father Leonard Siebenaler was ordained with his brother, Father Martin, Feb. 22, 1959, by Archbishop William Brady at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The two brothers, only 14 months apart in age, celebrated the 60th anniversary of their ordination together at a Sunday Mass, Feb. 24, 2019, at the parish where they grew up, St. Mary in New Trier.
“I especially enjoyed parishes that had grade schools,” Father Leonard said at the 60th anniversary gathering. “I enjoyed parish work, but I was especially enlivened by having large schools connected and having children around.”
Father Martin, 90, told The Catholic Spirit it was his “privilege to give holy Communion to Leonard on his death bed,” a fact he planned to include in the homily he had prepared for the Jan. 20 funeral of his brother at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings.
Known as viaticum, it was “bread for the journey home,” the priest said. “I choke up very easily talking about
him,” Father Martin said. Interment for his brother was at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Cemetery in Hastings. The two shared their childhoods, their schooling, their priesthoods, their retirements, Father Martin said. They both loved to golf, though “we weren’t great golfers,” he said, and
trips together were common to Gulf Shores, Alabama, to hit the links. His brother loved dogs, especially beagles; he had a beautiful singing voice and he played classical music on the guitar, Father Martin said.
Father Leonard’s priestly ministry was remarkable for the dedication
he gave to his parishioners, Father Martin said. While he lived a full and long life, he was nearly killed at age 12 when the tractor he was driving tumbled about 6 feet off the barn driveway. He came away from that with “scrapes and two black eyes,” Father Martin said.
“God must have thought, I’m going to need him as one of my priests, for a long time,” he said.
Father Leonard’s ministry included serving as an assistant pastor of St. Anne in Minneapolis from 1959 to 1964, assistant pastor of St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake from 1964 to 1968, and back to St. Anne from 1968 to 1971.
He was named pastor of St. Paul in Zumbrota in 1971 and ministered there until 1974. At the same time, Father Leonard served as parochial administrator of St. Mary in Belvidere. He was parochial administrator of St. Columba in St. Paul from 1974 to 1976, when he was appointed pastor there and served until 1981. He was pastor of Most Holy Trinity in St. Louis Park from 1981 to 1993 and St. Michael in St. Michael from 1993 until his retirement in 2002.
Dave Ferry, business administrator at St. Michael, said he and his wife, Julie, were privileged to have Father Leonard baptize their oldest son, Thomas, at Most Holy Trinity and their youngest son, Jordan, at St. Michael.
“He has a special place in our hearts,” Ferry said. “Pastoral is probably the best word for him.” Strong in his faith and a good leader, Father Siebenaler “had a very steady hand,” he said.
When Father Edwin Savundra, 76, died Jan. 13, Peter Falk, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception of Marysburg, north of Madison Lake, said “I probably lost my closest friend.” The priest served his parish from 2001 to 2002 as parochial administrator and from 2005 to 2009 as
pastor.
“I got to know him right away and we became good friends,” said Falk, 80. He and his wife, Mary, often invited the priest over for supper. “We spent many Friday evenings with what (Father) called ‘S and S,’ for supper and Scrabble,” Falk said. “He loved to play Scrabble. It was a lot of fun and he had a wonderful sense of humor.” The priest aslo spent time with the couple after he retired. “My home is your home,” Falk told the priest. “And he knew where the key was.”
The funeral Mass for Father Savundra was scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 26 at Nativity in Cleveland. A native of Sri Lanka, he was incardinated into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in July 2005.
His ministry in the archdiocese included teaching at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul from 1998 to 1999, followed by three months as assistant priest at St. Gregory the Great in North Branch in 1999. He was parochial administrator at Nativity in Cleveland, about 70 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, from 2001 to 2005, assigned outside the archdiocese for two months in 2003, served as pastor at Nativity from 2005 to 2009, parochial administrator at Sacred Heart in Rush City from 2010 to
2012, followed by a medical leave starting in 2012 and retirement June 15, 2013.
Father Savundra attended seminary in India, Falk said. He and Father Savundra once took a three-week trip to India and Sri Lanka, Falk said, and he spent a week with the priest in Canada visiting members of Father Savundra’s family.
“He cared about people more than you could believe,” Falk said. When Falk’s sister and her husband planned a trip to Rome, Father Savundra arranged to have a priest in Rome help them the entire trip, including giving them a guided tour, he said. Father Savundra wrote two books, including one about “the dignity of the human spirit,” Falk said.
Father Savundra prioritized “taking care of people,” Falk said. “I was never in want of anything from him as far as his generosity and his kindness and blessings,” he said. When Falk was quite ill with H1N1, he believes the priest saved his life when he gave him “the sacrament of healing” and his condition started to improve. “My doctor said, ‘Oh, I didn’t expect you to live.’ My heart is so full of love for him.”
Martha Weisgram, 68, a lifelong member of Immaculate Conception, said Father Savundra was “very intelligent, well traveled, personable and forthcoming.”
“He loved to see the young people having fun, whether it was playing ping pong, games or getting involved musically within the parish,” she said.
Before the one-year anniversary of his Jan. 25 ordination and installation, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams reflected on helping lead the Archdiocesan Synod and its focus on evangelization while serving as a part-time pastor, enjoying the leadership of Archbishop Bernard Hebda and rejoicing in the Jan. 5 appointment of a second auxiliary bishop, Bishop-elect Michael Izen.
The Jan. 5 interview has been edited for length and clarity. Video excerpts of the interview are at TheCaTholiCSpiriT Com
Q Bishop Williams, congratulations on your first year as a bishop. What most surprised you as you took on this mantle of leadership?
A I would say the overwhelming love of God’s people for their bishops and the confidence that they have in us. It’s been a turbulent time for the Church and certain things have eroded that confidence. But I’ve been overwhelmed by the support. It’s really a gift. I think the gift is rooted in the archbishop’s leadership here. They have confidence in him. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, whom I succeeded as auxiliary bishop, I shared with him before he left, “Thank you for ennobling the office of auxiliary bishop.” That’s really what he did with his holiness, his apostolic generosity. It’s nothing I earned. I inherited it from those who have gone before me.
Q You mentioned difficult times for the Church. Can you share some examples of what you mean?
A In general, I think — and the bishops are coming to terms with this — the failure to protect the most vulnerable of our flock is part of our recent past, and it’s sad, and it’s a painful episode. It’s not something we want simply to forget about. The hurt is out there. I’m encouraged by these initiatives to accompany those who have been victimized, who have been hurt or abused, and to realize healing is possible with God, and with God, there’s always hope. But the Church needs to draw close and to accompany. And I see that happening in some beautiful ways in the local Church now.
Q What’s been the most rewarding part of your new role?
A Serving. Serving Archbishop Hebda. It has been a joy. I mentioned the confidence that the people have shown
By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spiritin me from the beginning. He’s shown the same confidence. He said at my press conference, you might remember, it surprised me. He said, “and by the way, he’s in charge of the Synod,” something like that. I said, “Okay, note to self.” But I think I was ready for that charge. I was grateful for that confidence.
Q A term I’ve heard you use more than once about being a bishop and being a priest is being fishers of men and women for Christ. In effect, evangelizers. Have you seen fruits of that in your first year as bishop?
A First, I love that title. You know, priests, we make a promise of celibacy when we become transitional deacons in view of the priesthood. That really is a dropping of the nets. Bishop-elect Izen and I talked about what that was like for him, the cost it was, and we can never forget that when we drop our nets of whatever we were living for at that moment, it is to become fishers of men and women.
And maybe some first fruits. I don’t know that right now is the time for harvest, you might say. Or I think the miraculous catch is yet to come. I do believe we’re going to have a miraculous catch. But sometimes you have to spend the night laboring in disappointment until the Lord leads you to those deep waters, which I think he’s doing.
Q The Synod effort, the evangelization teams being formed of about 12
Three weeks out from the Jan. 5 announcement of his appointment as auxiliary bishop-elect for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop-elect Michael Izen said that spiritually preparing for his role is the most important thing, but there is a need for prudential management of the details.
“I would say overwhelming,” Bishop-elect Izen said of the many things to be done. “Really, just because there is so much going on.”
And with each decision, more decisions seem to follow.
A public vespers service will be held 7 p.m. April 10 at St. Michael in Stillwater, where he is pastor of
people in each parish, these things are building up to maybe a bigger, better harvest?
A Absolutely. But it’s never other than what Jesus has given us or what he lived. He promised the mustard seed. There can be lightning strikes, as our dear late Pope Emeritus Benedict says. But more often, the images of the kingdom that we have in the Scriptures are from the harvest. It starts with the mustard seed. And I think, as you said, this calling of the 12 from each parish, it creates the mustard seed of the new evangelization in every Catholic parish. And that’s hopeful. Spring doesn’t give the harvest. It foretells a future harvest.
Q One distinguishing feature of your ministry thus far is staying on as pastor for a time at St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in south Minneapolis, and then taking the appointment of priest-insolidum with Father James Bernard, effectively co-pastors, with you as the moderator or the lead at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul. Why is continuing pastoral work important to you?
A I think, first of all, because it’s important to the archbishop. He asked me to be a pastor and I trust his discernment on that. I would say that there’s obedience and there’s fruitfulness for the local Church, and for myself, spiritually and apostolically. But more than that, I think there’s a divine
the Churches of St. Mary and St. Michael. He is also parochial administrator of St. Charles in Bayport. Details yet to be ironed out include determining those who might offer a spiritual reflection or homily. “I’m excited that it will be in Stillwater” with friends and family, visiting bishops and leaders in the archdiocese present, Bishop-elect Izen said.
His ordination and installation Mass will begin at 1 p.m. April 11 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. Both events require decisions on dinners, brunches, receptions and guest lists, he said.
Another decision made: Bishop-elect Izen planned to travel to Chicago Jan. 27 with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams to The House of Hansen to be measured for his cassock, surplice and other vestment needs. He is grateful his family is gifting him with his bishop’s ring;
providence or a gift to the Synod process. It’s one thing to be a leader, but being in a parish, I’ve got to do the same thing other pastors are being asked to do. I’ve got to go up the mountain to pray. I’ve got to come down and with consultation, you know, rally the troops, if you will, and see and make sure the model continues to be refined for different cultures and different contexts. I’m with you in the trenches. And to be quite honest, I’m at home in a parish. I always have been.
A Maybe the biggest challenge is, if I am a co-pastor, I’m not a full-time bishop the way maybe Bishop Cozzens was. When people have expectations of how a bishop can respond to all the phone calls or all the requests that come in, I have to accept my limitations and say, “OK, I wish I could do more than I can.” I’ll do as much as I can within the parameters the archbishop has set for me. That’s probably not being able to respond as maybe people would desire and might have been used to. But that changed today, didn’t it?
Q You’ll have some help.
A Yes. With Bishop-elect Izen, and it’s music to our ears. Good news for the local Church and to have a brother bishop supporting Archbishop Hebda and meeting the needs and the requests of the people. They said if they call and request you, that’s part of a love, right? It’s because they love their bishop. Bishop-elect Izen’s presence, well, it just means we can say yes more than ever.
Q I’ll close with this, if I might. What would you most like the people of this archdiocese to know?
A That they have a great leader in Archbishop Hebda, and he deserves their confidence. And the Synod that he’s dreamed of for us is not just another corporate rollout. It’s the possibility to change our Church culture, to turn the tide, the decline that we’re seeing (in involvement). It doesn’t have to be inevitable.
And I think I want them to know that there is a springtime of hope, but they have to be a part of that. It’s only going to be the miraculous catch, as we say in (Archbishop Hebda’s) pastoral letter, if every baptized, confirmed Catholic realizes that, “I am the new evangelization, and I am a protagonist. I have the right and the duty to the apostolate given through my baptism.”
how that should be fashioned has been on his mind.
Gratitude is on his mind as well, Bishop-elect Izen said, as he tries to answer the many cards, letters, gifts and emails he has received offering congratulations and prayers. He also is grateful for the tremendous help he has received from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Bishop Williams, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, a former auxiliary bishop in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and others in the archdiocese, Bishopelect Izen said.
He will enjoy a canonically-required retreat March 19-25 as he centers all the activity around prayer, Bishop-elect Izen said. Grateful for the people of the archdiocese, he said, “I ask for their prayers as I prepare spiritually for the ordination day “That’s the most important thing.”
Bishop-elect Izen keeps spiritual life in foreground, juggles details of upcoming ordination
By Kate Scanlon OSV News
Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates descended upon the nation’s capital for the 50th March for Life Jan. 20, the first national march since the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that initially prompted the annual demonstration.
Standing on the event stage at the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol visible in the background, Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, told attendees at a rally prior to the march that “the country and world changed” when Roe was reversed in June 2022. But she said the annual March for Life would continue in Washington until abortion is “unthinkable.”
“While the March began as a response to Roe, we don’t end as a response to Roe being overturned,” Mancini said. “Why? Because we are not yet done.”
The march took place on a sunny and unseasonably warm day in Washington. A headcount of attendees was not immediately available, as the National Park Service does not release crowd size estimates.
The national March for Life first took place in Washington in 1974 in response to the Roe decision legalizing abortion nationwide the previous year. The protest has taken place in Washington each year since, with a smaller-in-scale event during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
The 2023 event was the first national March for Life since the high court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe and returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion to state legislatures and federal lawmakers.
Cardinal Pell’s faith, suffering remembered at Vatican funeral. The death of Australian Cardinal George Pell was a shock because just five days earlier he had concelebrated the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI and “seemed in good health,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals. In his homily at Cardinal Pell’s funeral Mass Jan. 14 in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Re described the Australian prelate as often being “a strong-willed and decisive protagonist” with “a strong temperament that, at times, could appear harsh.” Cardinal Pell died of a heart attack Jan. 10 at a Rome hospital after undergoing hip surgery. He was 81. His burial was scheduled for Feb. 2 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, where he had served as archbishop before Pope Francis chose him as prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy. The pope, who had praised the cardinal for keeping his faith “with perseverance even in the hour of trial,” arrived in St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of the Mass to preside over the final rite of commendation.”The last years of his life were marked by an unjust and painful condemnation,” Cardinal Re said, referring to Cardinal Pell’s conviction on charges of sexual abuse and his 404 days in jail before the Australian high court overturned the conviction.
After mixed record in 2022, pro-life activists set sights on 2024 campaign cycle. After 2022 offered a mixed bag of political outcomes for the pro-life cause — the historic reversal of
At the pre-march rally, the Christian band “We Are Messengers” performed, followed by a number of speakers, including Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as Jesus in the television series
“The Chosen,” former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy, Democratic Connecticut State Rep. Trenee McGee, and Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Canonized in 2004, St. Gianna gave her life for Gianna Emanuela, choosing to move forward with her fourth pregnancy even after doctors discovered a tumor in her uterus.
Molla told the rallygoers that she thanks her “saint mom” for the gift of life. “I would not be here now with all
Roe v. Wade followed by ballot initiative losses in multiple states — pro-life activists set their sights on the 2024 campaign cycle. In a press call with reporters on Jan. 18, representatives of the group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect anti-abortion candidates, cast an optimistic tone about their chances in the next election cycle. “All the work that we’ve already been doing with potential presidential candidates will have fruits,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, said. She indicated the potential Republican challengers to Democratic President Joe Biden are determining where they fall on a “federal minimum standard” for abortion law.
More Americans identify as pro-choice, but most support some legal curbs to abortion. Although most Americans describe themselves as pro-choice, a majority also would support some legal limits on abortion, while keeping it largely in place, according to a new Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Among Americans, 61% identify as pro-choice, while 39% identify as pro-life. But the annual poll, released Jan. 18, found 69% of Americans would favor restrictions limiting abortion to the first three months of pregnancy at most — theoretically leaving most abortions in the U.S. legal. Data from 2020 gathered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 93.1% of abortions were performed at less than 13 weeks’ gestation. Majorities of Americans also said that they support pregnancy resource centers that do not perform abortions but instead offer support to people during and after pregnancy. The 2023 poll found
of you if I had not been loved so much,” she said.
Roumie took a picture of the crowd behind him from the stage, telling marchers to tag themselves on social media, and quipping he is the “TV Jesus,” not the real one.
“God is real and he is completely in love with you,” he said, adding that each person is individually loved by God.
Among the crowd were about 180 people who traveled by chartered buses from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including 140 high school students and young adults. It was the first trip for Madeline Larson, assistant marriage preparation and youth ministry coordinator for the archdiocesan Office
that a growing share of Americans, or 90%, said that laws can protect both a woman and an unborn child, rather than choosing between them, which is up from 81% in the 2022 poll.
Historically Black Catholic university announces new medical college to meet dire shortage. Xavier University of Louisiana, which for decades has placed the most African American graduates into medical schools across the country each year, will open a College of Medicine in a partnership with Ochsner Health, executives of Xavier and Ochsner announced Jan. 17. The new medical school, expected to open within four to five years, has as its primary goals building a pipeline of African American doctors for a health care field in which people of color are underrepresented and extending the founding mission of St. Katharine Drexel “to promote a more just and humane society,” said Xavier President Reynold Verret.
McCarrick’s lawyers seek to prove disgraced former cardinal not competent to stand trial. Lawyers for Theodore McCarrick want the criminal sex abuse case against the disgraced cleric dismissed, claiming the 92-year-old former cardinal is incompetent to stand trial.
In a motion filed in Massachusetts’ Dedham District Court Jan. 13, lawyers for McCarrick claimed an independent evaluation shows the laicized cleric in steep mental and physical decline. Prosecutors are expected to seek their own evaluation, and a Massachusetts judge will ultimately decide if McCarrick can stand trial. He is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14. The
of Marriage, Family and Life.
During the trip, Larson said many new relationships were made and longtime friendships deepened. And many young people said they learned how to be with people who are hurting and fearful, “seeking to understand them instead of just throwing pro-life arguments at them,” she said.
From what Larson observed, the students most enjoyed the vigil Mass at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and the Students for Life conference. The Mass included a large procession and concelebration by cardinals, bishops and priests from across the country, and the conference empowered students “to learn how to listen to others and act in their communities, schools and more,” she said.
A common sentiment Larson heard expressed “by all participants” was how moving it was to not feel alone in the pro-life movement and how excited they were for opportunities to serve their communities when they returned.
The rally also featured some lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic Republican and co-chair of the Congressional ProLife Caucus, said at the rally, “Future generations will someday look back on us and wonder how and why a society that bragged about its commitment to human rights could have legally sanctioned” abortion.
“The injustice of abortion need not be forever, and with your continued work and prayers, it will not be,” Smith said.
— Barb Umberger of The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report.
outcome of the competency hearing will not stop the many civil cases now pending against McCarrick, who was removed from ministry in 2018 following a credible allegation of abuse of a minor, and reports that he abused young men going back decades. He was laicized in 2019.
Catholics oppose Alabama attorney general suggestion of prosecuting women over abortion pills. Days after the federal government signaled it would allow abortion pills to be distributed in states that have banned or restricted the procedure, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall indicated Jan. 10 that women who undergo medication abortions in the state could still be subject to prosecution. The remarks prompted some pro-life leaders to renew their objections to lawmakers seeking to criminalize women who obtain an abortion as incompatible with their life-affirming mission. Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act criminalizes abortion providers but specifically states that women who undergo abortions are exempt from prosecution. But Marshall revealed that women using abortion drugs could be prosecuted under a different state law that has been used to prosecute women for using illicit drugs during pregnancy. Catholic and other pro-life leaders have opposed such moves. A May 2022 pro-life coalition letter, in which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities was represented, stated that “any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women is not pro-life and we stand firmly opposed to such efforts.”
By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit
Zach Czaia, 40, is a poet and an English teacher at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis. He has published two collections of poetry, including “Knucklehead,” and recently launched a poetry podcast called “Open Your Hands.” He and his wife, Cristina, belong to St. Matthew in St. Paul’s west side. They are due with their firstborn next month.
Q How do you spark a love of literature in your students?
A With teenagers, you can’t fake anything. If I don’t really care about something, then they’re not going to care about it. One of the ways I spark it is getting students to write their own poetry. I think too often in English classes, teachers will have students read the masters and analyze and dissect, but that doesn’t mean you develop a love for poetry. It just means you know what the teacher thought was exemplary. Students read their own work to each other. That really helps, for kids to feel like they’re part of it: I can read literature and I can write it, too.
Q Tell me about their poetry.
A I am surprised and delighted by what they write. A lot of beautiful portraits of loved ones — some of the most moving things I’ve read. Cristo Rey students are very socially engaged, so there’s also some really powerful poetry that engages issues of social justice. It excites me when students realize: I have a voice! My voice matters in this world!
Q What have you learned about creativity?
A Creativity requires play. If you’re going to be creative, you have to be free. You can’t worry about making mistakes. The idea of creative types as being totally original, that only they can come up with this thing, is a myth. For me, creativity is a dialogue. I get inspired by reading and listening to others. A lot of my work is in dialogue with them. I think that’s true of many artists. Artistic expressions happen in community.
Play and community — I feel like they’re at the heart of creativity. If you allow yourself space to play, in whatever medium you’re interested in, and if you
allow yourself to be interested in other artists you admire — then the sky is the limit. You’re going to make stuff, and it’s going to be fun.
Q Is it hard to guard your creative time?
A I’m an Enneagram Type 9 — the peacemaker. One of the things a peacemaker struggles with is saying no, especially because a peacemaker wants the people that they’re in community with to always get along. That’s my biggest fear, to upset someone or rupture a relationship. So, if I’m not at my best, I’ll say yes to things that I don’t want to do.
When I’m really aware and in touch with myself, I say, “Actually, I don’t want to do that.” I find myself saying that more, as Cristina is about to have a baby. I say, “We just don’t have the bandwidth.”
Q What helps a “no” land more softly?
A Naming the joy that I have in relationship with someone, naming gratitude for whoever the person is reaching out to me. That’s the reason I would usually say yes, because I’m afraid of losing the relationship. “I really appreciate you.” That’s what I usually try to do. Then be honest. People value authenticity.
Q Your writing has a vivid sense of place. Describe your home.
A St. Paul is sleepy and mysterious, as my mentor Deborah Keenan says. It’s quiet and there’s so much history. We’re right on the west side, right near Cherokee Park, where you can see across the Mississippi. You can see the Cathedral and the Capitol.
We’ve lived here a year and a half. It’s a two-story house built in 1890. A set of Irish brothers built our house and the house right next to ours when their families were still in Ireland. The story I’ve heard is that, sadly, someone died on the way over, and then the mother died here. There are two gravestones in our backyard: the wife and the child. The bodies were exhumed in the early 20th century.
We can see them from our kitchen. It’s a lovely aspect of this property. I appreciate it.
Q Are the gravestones reminders, in a way?
A They make me more aware of the preciousness and transience of life. We’re going to have gravestones, too. I want to try to do some good and be loving and kind.
You realize you’re part of a bigger story than just your own concerns and worries.
What’s cool about the west side is there are a lot of people who have been here for a long, long time. When we started going to St. Matt’s, we mentioned our address and a parishioner said, “Oh, you live in the Bovaird residence! I’ve been in your house!”
I love that intimacy. We’re privileged to get to be part of the next chapter.
Q Do you do a lot of self-promotion when a book is published?
A I’m a hustler. I want people to read my stuff. When I got review copies, I was sending them all over. I sent a copy to Stephen Colbert! “Read my stuff, you’re Catholic!”
Every writer has a little bit of an ego. If you think other people should read your work, why not take the time to figure out how to do that?
Q What compels you to share your poetry?
A Poetry slows you down. It makes you pay more attention to the world around you, to other people, to yourself. Good poetry makes you more aware. A poem is not written like any other kind of writing. It’s not to get information. Read and savor and slow down and just enjoy the image or maybe be provoked. They want you to consider and reconsider and look at it again.
I think I’m by nature a slow mover. I like taking my time. That’s something I like to encourage, with this podcast and with my students: “It’s OK to slow down. It’s OK to take your time.”
Q How does your love of Catholicism relate to your love of poetry?
A Those are intimately connected. Prayer is really important to me. The older I get, the more I realize: None of us are alone, we’re all interrelated, so all the words we say and the actions we do really matter, and that would include words that we really sweat over and spend time editing and revising. I want to make sure I’m a responsible caretaker of words.
Q How can one live with a poetic heart?
A Awe and wonder. That’s at the heart of poetry. For me, poetry makes things new. It makes you look at things in a new light. And a lot of times, children help us do that. Living with a poetic heart could mean having a childlike wonder.
Q What do you know for sure?
A Love is real. It’s worth fighting for. It’s worth working for. Life is all about connecting and loving. I know for sure it’s real.
Pope Francis did not need to launch listening sessions for the Synod of Bishops for people to discover there are tensions in the Catholic Church, said the cardinal serving as the synod’s relator general.
“We do not need the synod in the Catholic Church in order to experience tensions,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, relator general of the synod, told reporters at the Vatican Jan. 23. “These tensions come from the fact that each one honestly wants to see or share how we can follow Christ and proclaim Christ in the world today. That is the source of tension.”
The cardinal and Brother Alois, prior of the
ecumenical Taizé Community, along with representatives from other Christian churches met reporters to talk about the ecumenical prayer vigil Pope Francis announced would precede the opening of the synod assembly and about their churches’ experiences of synodality.
In another change to how the Synod of Bishops functions, Cardinal Hollerich announced, Pope Francis has decided the assembly of bishops and other representatives will spend three days on retreat outside Rome before beginning the synod’s working sessions.
Anglican Archbishop Ian Ernest, the archbishop of Canterbury’s personal representative to the Holy See, noted the Anglican Communion’s long experience with forms of synodality that include bishops, priests and
laity listening to each other and to the Holy Spirit.
But asked about ongoing tensions within the Anglican Communion over issues such as the ordination of women as priests and bishops and blessings or marriages for gay couples, Archbishop Ernest said, “When we talk about unity, it is not uniformity. We should give space to those who have a different opinion on certain matters; we should be able to listen to them.”
Cardinal Hollerich noted that the document for the current continental phase of the synod acknowledged the tensions in the Catholic Church but also insisted that, if the Church is a tent, tension on the lines is needed to hold it up.
“That there are different opinions in the Catholic Church is quite normal,” he said.
Editor’s note: This letter from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams and the other five Catholic bishops in Minnesota was handdelivered to lawmakers Jan. 19, only hours before the House passed HF1, which would place into state law the right to abortion at any stage of pregnancy:
Dear Legislator:
As the Catholic bishops of Minnesota, we encourage you to vote no on H.F. 1/S.F. 1. The legislation undermines our state’s credibility as a protector of the most vulnerable, and, coupled with bills such as H.F. 91/S.F. 70, attempts to create an unlimited abortion regime in Minnesota that is out of step with Minnesotans’ actual views and those of the rest of the world.
We are disappointed to see the quick pace at which these destructive bills are moving, and we hope to give legislators pause. When contemplating policy on any issue, we must consider all those who will be affected. In this case, that includes the mother, father, and most especially, the unborn child whose life is being taken.
In a post-Dobbs world in which states that allow abortion have the responsibility to both regulate the practice and protect nascent human life, we should be working to find common ground on the challenges before us in Minnesota. We stand firm that every child should be welcomed in life and protected by law.
We are deeply troubled by Minnesota’s current situation: in spite of the fact that scientific inquiry has definitively determined that human life begins at conception, a woman can procure an abortion for almost any reason at any stage of pregnancy up till birth. To put this
in perspective, in 2021 there were 222 abortions involving viable babies older than 20 weeks. Almost half of all abortions are paid for with taxpayer funds. Currently, an 11-year-old girl can get an abortion without even one parent knowing. There is no requirement in place that a licensed physician perform an abortion. And abortion proponents, including some elected officials, are working proactively to shut down pregnancy resource centers, who work diligently to give women a choice other than abortion.
As inconvenient as it is for some, we cannot ignore the reality of the unborn child in the womb — a living human being who is owed the protection of the community. We cannot allow state-sanctioned violence against a whole class of human beings. At the very minimum, we should all be able to agree that post-viability abortions, except to save the life of the mother, should not be allowed; that taxpayers not be required to fund any more abortions than those already required by the courts; and that medical professionals should not be punished for refusing to participate in abortion.
A better Minnesota: common ground for the common good Rep. Kotyza-Witthuhn stated in her remarks in the House State and Local Government committee that no one is pro-abortion. If so, it seems that we should all be working together to limit the demand for abortion and properly welcome children into the world. Part of that welcome is establishing right relationships (“prenatal justice”) between the community and the mother, father, and child. We must encourage marriage and family stability, and ensure that parents are supported when necessary due to economic hardship.
This support means, among other things, policies that fund: nutritional aid for expectant mothers; healthcare coverage during and after pregnancy for both mother and child; childcare assistance; and adequate housing. Enacting reasonable paid family and caregiver leave laws would help people retain work and care for their newborns. Reconsidering whether our adoption policies are unreasonably burdened by excessive costs or barriers to participation is also an imperative. And rather than attacking programs such as the Positive Alternatives grants (H.F. 289/S.F. 336), we should strengthen those that help us walk with women in need during crisis pregnancies.
We also contend that there is a social duty to remove unnecessary barriers to contracting marriage, having children, and being able to raise them well. By raising the family to the top of our state’s policy priorities, we can help restore the family to its proper position as the foundational building block of society where children best flourish.
The work to limit demand for abortion does not, however, absolve the legislator from the responsibility to protect the living human being in the womb. No amount of support for public assistance programs is sufficient to exonerate one from complicity and cooperation in creating legal frameworks that facilitate the death of other human beings through legal abortion. The bill’s
We also wish to express our concern that the bill goes beyond abortion in its misguided attempt to protect the rights to reproductive freedom and to make decisions about reproductive healthcare. The bill directs state courts to protect these “rights” in a variety of
novel legal and bioethical contexts that may arise. As was seen in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, both the scope and legislative intent of this language is unclear, and this should give legislators pause lest they open a Pandora’s box in the courts.
Defined appropriately, it is the case that people do have such a right to reproductive freedom, but the immunity from government involvement in such decisions extends only to the right to conceive a child. As noted above, however, once a child is conceived the broader community has an interest in its protection and well-being. And the community assuredly has an interest in promoting sound ethics in the creation of life and to ensure that, for example, economically disadvantaged women are not exploited, and children are not turned into commodities. The irresponsibly broad and openended definition of reproductive healthcare in this bill needs to be limited.
More fundamentally, we wish to remind our lawmakers that no individual has unlimited autonomy over the making and taking of life. To assert such unlimited autonomy is to usurp a prerogative that belongs to God alone. Authorizing a general license to make and take life at our whim will unleash a host of social and spiritual consequences with which we as a community will have to reckon. Can we really deny, for example, that legal abortion is a root cause of the violence and disrespect for the human person rampant in our culture?
We close by reiterating our commitment to work with legislators to find common ground to protect unborn children, but also to create a more welcoming world for them to flourish after birth and thereby limit the demand for abortion. Thank you for your consideration.
In 2005, Tom Brady was interviewed by 60 Minutes. At that point he had already won three Super Bowls (he’s won seven now). At one point in the interview Brady says, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? Maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what it is. I’ve reached my goal, my dream, my life is ….’ Me, I think, … it’s gotta be more than this. This can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be. I’ve done it. I’m 27, and what else is there for me?” The interviewer then asks, “What’s the answer?” And Brady answers, “I wish I knew. I wish I knew.”
What brings about happiness? As you and I reflect about our lives, we know we are in search of something — happiness, lasting happiness. Sometimes we seem to possess it, and other times it seems to elude us. You and I likely can’t say exactly what Brady said, but we can substitute Super Bowl rings for other aspirations we have: “Why have I climbed the corporate ladder and reached the heights of the corporate world and still think there’s something more? Why have I achieved a 4.0 grade point average in school, gone to the most acclaimed college or university and still feel like I’m missing something? Why, even though I have a great marriage and great kids, retired early, drive a nice car, live in a big house, am able to travel, am semi-famous on social media,
Q With the start of the New Year, I always feel like I should make a resolution. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Either way, I never end up keeping them, and it just feels like I never change. What do you recommend?
A Thank you for this question. In honor of Mary, the Mother of God (the feast we celebrate Jan. 1), I have a couple of thoughts.
First, I want to acknowledge the fact that we mark the passing of time. That might seem obvious, but I believe that it is significant. As human beings, we mark the endings of things, and we mark the beginnings of things. Days and weeks, months and years, seasons and lives are only appreciated when we weigh them, when we stop and take note of them.
Think about what life would be like if we didn’t mark the significant passage of time. I wonder if we would even have an awareness of ourselves. The way we understand our own identity is so closely tied up in our memories and experiences. We know ourselves by knowing our past. If we do not note the story of our lives, then we will struggle to truly know who we are. Not only that, we will likely fail to recognize the significance of life — our lives and the lives of those around us.
That being said, Mary can truly be a model for this. Luke’s Gospel notes that, as the events of Jesus’ life unfolded in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth, “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” I believe that there is an awful lot packed into this short phrase, and it might be helpful to try to unpack it.
There are at least three ways that we can follow Mary’s lead in
still feel like, ‘Is this all there is?’”
You and I don’t just want a little happiness, we want boundless happiness. We don’t just want happiness every now and then, we want it continuously, uninterruptedly. And we don’t just want it for a little while, we want it to last forever.
Yet, at the same time, we know from experience that things of this world do not satisfy us in this way. A salad, steak or delicious seven-course meal, no matter how brilliantly prepared, ultimately and eventually will leave us wanting more; we’ll be hungry again. Any physical pleasure, no matter how intense, comes and goes. Even intellectual pleasures in the disciplines of science, history, literature, philosophy and theology never fully quench our thirst for happiness. If anything, they spur us on to discover more, learn more, read more, study more and so on.
What do our desires for these things then mean? For an insightful beginning to this answering question, I recommend reading C.S. Lewis’ short little chapter on “Hope” in his book “Mere Christianity.” Here is a little part of it: “The Christian says, ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists ….’ If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing” (pages 136-137, HarperCollins). You and I were not made for mere earthly pleasures, we were made for God, union with God. St. Augustine said famously, “for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 30). Only God can fully satisfy our hearts. God made our hearts and minds and knows what will bring us happiness. What if you turned to him and sought him this week?
Father Wittnebel is parochial vicar of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.
this. We can hold, reflect and remember. As the year has come to an end, our temptation is to rush immediately into the new year. But if we look to Mary, we would see that, in order to “keep all these things,” we need to stop and notice them. We need to hold on to the events of the past year. This means cultivating an awareness of the significance of life. Too often, life simply flows past each one of us. And yet, we are in the middle of life. This is the only life that we get on this earth, and God placed us here and now in order to do his will. If we are oblivious to him and to the ways in which he is acting in our daily life, then we will ultimately miss out on the ways he is moving in our entire lives.
Cultivating an awareness of significant moments can be simple. It can look like appreciating a conversation that you had with a family member. I know for myself, I can fool myself into believing that there will “always be another time” when I can talk with my parents or my siblings. But when I stop and think about it, the number of conversations that I will ever have with my family members in this life is numbered. If I can be aware of this fact, then those moments are given their proper value. I need to learn to notice them and “hold” them. I need to take note of them and value them.
Next, we can live like Mary if we “reflect” on the moments we have noticed and held. Again, the temptation to move from one event or season to the next is strong. I work on a college campus, and the calendar is incredibly cyclical. There is always “the next thing.” We scarcely finish one event, season or semester when we are already working on the next one. And yet, when we take time to reflect on what just happened, we begin truly living. I was talking with some brother priests about this idea a couple of months ago. One of them mentioned that his mentor encouraged him to reflect every day. This was distinct from prayer (which also needs to happen every day). Prayer is our relationship with God and looks different from pondering. Now, our reflection can turn into prayer. For example, in reflecting on the events of the past day or past couple of days, we can turn to the Lord and relate what we have reflected on to him. I highly recommend this,
PLEASE TURN TO ASK FATHER MIKE ON PAGE 19B
Sunday, Jan. 29 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Zep 2:3; 3:12-13
1 Cor 1:26-31 Mt 5:1-12a
Monday, Jan. 30 Heb 11:32-40 Mk 5:1-20
Tuesday, Jan. 31 St. John Bosco, priest Heb 12:1-4 Mk 5:21-43
Wednesday, Feb. 1 Heb 12:4-7, 11-15 Mk 6:1-6
Thursday, Feb. 2 Presentation of the Lord Mal 3:1-4 Heb 2:14-18 Lk 2:22-40
Friday, Feb. 3 Heb 13:1-8 Mk 6:14-29
Saturday, Feb. 4 Heb 13:15-17, 20-21 Mk 6:30-34
Sunday, Feb. 5 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 58:7-10
1 Cor 2:1-5 Mt 5:13-16
Monday, Feb. 6 St. Paul Miki and companions, martyrs Gn 1:1-19 Mk 6:53-56
Tuesday, Feb. 7 Gn 1:20—2:4a Mk 7:1-13
Wednesday, Feb. 8 Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17 Mk 7:14-23
Thursday, Feb. 9 Gn 2:18-25 Mk 7:24-30
Friday, Feb. 10 St. Scholastica, virgin Gn 3:1-8 Mk 7:31-37
Saturday, Feb. 11 Gn 3:9-24 Mk 8:1-10
Sunday, Feb. 12 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 15:15-20
1 Cor 2:6-10 Mt 5:17-37
ST. JOHN BOSCO (1815-1888) Born to a poor family in Italy, this patron saint of editors and laborers is considered one of the great social saints. Ordained a priest in 1841, he was sent to study theology in Turin, where he became a magnet for neglected youths during a turbulent period of rapid industrialization and revolutionary politics. Bosco, who once hoped to become a foreign missionary, founded the Salesians in 1854. The order sheltered more than 800 orphaned boys, then opened workshops for shoemakers, tailors, bookbinders and other trades. Popularly known as Don Bosco, he was also a prolific writer and co-founded a women’s congregation. When he died, more than 40,000 people in Turin filed past his coffin to show their love and respect. His feast day is Jan. 31. — OSV News
With the words “Follow me,” Jesus invited the Apostles and the whole Church into a personal relationship with him. The nascent Church was the center of Christ’s attention. It could remain his Church, however, only if it focused on him. A self-absorbed Church dogged by “ecclesiolatry” (my word for the impassioned raising of Church-related “things” over the Christ who inspires them) could never have lasted beyond its founding. Jesus didn’t give his disciples any policy and procedures manual beyond his words. He simply brought them into his inner circle, where they could watch, learn and imitate what they saw.
In the Gospels, we see Christ building the Church on healings and exorcisms, prophecy and teaching. But then things become difficult. As it turned out, the Twelve weren’t called as an advance team for a campaign of miracles and good times, but rather to the cross — as are we.
After his resurrection, Jesus warned Peter that he would eventually find himself being led “where you do not want to go” (Jn 21:18). Christ knew that feeding sheep and tending lambs wasn’t as easy or bucolic as it looked. He wanted the fisherman to
know that the privilege of becoming a shepherd would cost Peter everything, for “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11).
Sometimes I wonder how many of us fully appreciate that the call our bishops and priests answer is the same call Peter and the other Apostles received. To lead the people of God was never an invitation to power and prestige, public accolade, wealth or influence. It was always more of a call to heal and preach.
But Christ doesn’t call only clergy and religious. He challenges all of us to total immersion in the grace of our baptisms — to live with our bodies in this world but our hearts focused completely on the next. As St. Paul reminds us, “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom 6:3). That’s a difficult, often painful proposition — one we cannot answer on our own power. The invitation to follow Jesus (the way, truth and life) demands that we depart from our own way, give up our own opinions and preferences and lay down our earthly lives for the sake of eternal life. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in “The Cost of Discipleship,” “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” The Greek word for witness — “martyr” — makes this clear.
Staff members of the Archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the investigation into the possibility of nullity of the marriage bond (annulment process) at the Cathedral of St. Paul 239 Selby Ave, St. Paul
February 22, Ash Wednesday, during and after each Mass 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Personal administrativo del Tribunal Eclesiástico estarán a su disposición para consultas en español sobre el procedimiento de nulidad matrimonial.
651.291.4469
http://www.archspm.org/tribunal-annulments/
Something happens, however, when we encounter people who follow Christ’s example and lay down their own lives. We grow in holiness, unity, understanding and goodwill. We don’t merely receive something good from those encounters; we are transformed by them. We become more like Jesus because of them.
This is the secret we discover in the lives of the saints. They show us that the Christian life cannot be lived apart from Christ because he is the one who lives it, in and through us. If we are to give our share in the divine life of God a real chance, we must focus on nothing other than Christ Jesus himself. He must be our alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of how we live. Everything else our faith engenders and expresses is good, but it is not God. When we realize that Calvary is the only hill worth dying on, we become more willing to sell all we have for the pearl of great price.
The need for humble examples of Christian discipleship is great — more so, perhaps, than ever before. Our world, so driven by image and influence, is starved for authenticity that goes deeply beyond all the “things” of Catholicism. It is good that we love our Church, but we must love Jesus even more. And we must learn to do so visibly. Jesus is not just the founder of an ancient and venerable religion, but the living Word of God, the cornerstone and foundation of our lives. This is not an abstract metaphorical principle, but a sacramental and incarnational reality — one that can take concrete shape in us every day.
And so, we must be ready to own all our sins, faults and weaknesses. We must show the world how to seek God’s mercy, ask for our neighbor’s forgiveness and surrender to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We do that when we abandon ourselves and choose Christ over all else.
Wolfe is a sinner, Catholic convert, freelance writer and editor, musician, speaker, pet-aholic, wife and mom of eight grown children, loving life in New Orleans. Her column, “Called to Holiness” appears bi-weekly at OSV News.
When I was an undergraduate, I studied with a very fine professor in our jazz department. One year, he gave us a wonderful assignment called “Adopt a Player.” We would choose one artist, in my case, a vocalist, and in that semester, we would study them exclusively, listen to their work exclusively. He said, “By the end of the semester, I want you walkin’ like’m, talkin’ like’m, and dressin’ like’m!” No pop radio blasting in the car or the dorm room was allowed. We would focus all our listening energy on one artist only. I chose Ella Fitzgerald. For one semester, Ella was my listening world. I woke up to Ella, exercised to Ella, drove my car to Ella, listened exclusively to this delightful artist until I felt I had Ella flowing through my veins. When Ella sang, it was like a warm, beautiful, dancing light was smiling on you. I loved her and as hard as the assignment was — it really takes some
Better to bear the trials and tribulations of life as crosses with a support system, rather than go it alone, and to celebrate triumphs in unity. While the pandemic curtailed many activities, including the annual Archdiocesan Men’s gathering, the conference is returning after a three-year hiatus.
The gathering provides an opportunity for men, young and old, to fortify their minds, souls and hearts with practical, spiritual and actionable takeaways. It’s a time and place that men can convene in worship and dialogue with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who will preside at the opening Mass, and to hear from, and talk with, other vibrant speakers from within and outside of the archdiocese.
“Raising the Bar — Men of Faith Walking Together” is this year’s theme for the conference, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 18 at All Saints in Lakeville.
The schedule includes Mass, confession, presentations and food, as well as adoration and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. The keynote speaker will be Devin Schadt, executive director of Pennsylvania-based Fathers of St. Joseph. Bishop Joseph Williams and Deacon Joe Michalak, director of the archdiocesan Office of Synod Evangelization, will provide an update on Synod Evangelization Teams and discuss the impact of small groups.
As men of faith walking together, we lift each other up, bringing our hearts and souls to do God’s will. We do this for our families, our parish community and greater society. That’s what Catholic Watchmen do together as they build fraternity and evangelize in groups large and small — with Christ at the center. With Synod Evangelization Team activities and the upcoming focus on small groups ramping up, the men’s conference is providentially well-timed with Archbishop Hebda’s post-synodal pastoral letter. Teams representing their parishes are “to begin the process of creating or growing a small group ministry that fosters personal relationships, builds community and provides formation to help parishioners grow as joyful missionary disciples of Christ,” the letter states. Men’s ministry groups that gather regularly — especially in small groups — is core not only
effort to protect your listening in this way, I learned — I embraced it with enthusiasm. To this day, I remember her solos from my study tape.
Our exam was this: At the end of the semester, our professor would open a catalog of jazz classics, point to a tune, and say, “Okay, sing it the way Ella would sing it.” Maybe it’s the hubris of the young, but I had taken the assignment so seriously, had listened with such assiduousness, I was sure I would pass the test.
On the day of my exam, I stepped up confidently to the piano where my professor sat. He opened the catalog and chose a song I knew well, “Guess Who I Saw Today.”
Now, he knew my favorite rendition of this song was not by Ella, but by Carmen McRae, another superb vocalist I adored. I had listened to Carmen’s version of that song so many times, I literally wore out the cassette and had to buy a new one.
My professor smiled up at me as he rested his hands on the keys and out rang the first chords. I took a breath and let go of the first phrase ... just exactly as Carmen McRae would have sung it.
He laughed, shook his head, shut the book, and said, “You’re not ready.”
He wouldn’t fail me of course, but the point was made. It is an incredibly difficult discipline to absorb — in this case — the musical thought of someone.
to evangelizing others, but to keeping each other accountable to the daily Christian mission. Men of faith need not go it alone, whether all is well or when challenges arise. To borrow the approach of the Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance, a movement that ignites, empowers and equips ministry to men throughout the world: “Strengthen the man, strengthen the family. Strengthen the family, strengthen the Church. Strengthen the Church, transform the culture.”
Building Christian friendships that strengthen men through prayer, Scripture, witnessing, evangelizing and works of service provides encouragement through the good and tough times. For the love of God and neighbor, we should not have to face difficulties alone. We can help each other and raise the bar as we walk together.
The premise of Catholic Watchmen has always been to support (and not replace) the many men’s apostolates, programs and platforms that get men together regularly. Its purpose hinges on men challenging men, “as iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). St. Joseph, the patron saint of the Watchmen movement, is our model. We look and pray for his intercession as men of faith “walking together” — providing an example in raising the bar and striving to be a spiritual father to others, like he was to the first Holy Family. He did not go it alone.
St. Joseph surely sensed that the omnipresent and omnipotent force — God — was with him as he provided for, and protected, his Divine Son and the Blessed Mother. Yet he was still a man. Even receiving divine revelation from dreams with angelic instruction required great faith, fortitude and strength to wake up and take flight — many times into hostile territory with the devil and his minions lingering. Joseph, however, most courageous (and everybody’s favorite as the terror of demons), had the ultimate trust in God — knowing that he was not going alone on those journeys and hardships as the foster father of Jesus. St. Joseph did not live to witness the cross his earthly son had to bear for the sins and salvation of the world, but the patron saint of the universal Church certainly continues to teach Christian men about sacrificial spiritual fatherhood — “Raising the Bar” — including the crosses we bear.
Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen com for existing tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials, or any other questions regarding ministry to men, contact him at gordonbird@rocketmail com
To come to know their artistry so well that you could make it your own, call upon it without struggling, make their musical vocabulary yours.
I thought often of this story as I worked on my most recent book: “A Place Called Golgotha: Meditations on the Last Words of Christ.” What a serious business it is to consider the word of God. How demanding a discipline it is to absorb the Lord’s thought so well, so deeply that it becomes my own, flows from my heart, not as an alien thing, but as though his words live there, dwell there, flourish there.
Let’s make this new year one of focus, if not exclusivity, of heart and mind for absorbing the word of God, for resting so purely, so supremely with the words of Jesus that they run through our veins. That when we are put to the test, the world will know us as true disciples of Christ.
Father, strengthen my capacity to enter into study and prayer with your Word, that I would know your voice more clearly and follow your lead more assuredly. Amen.
Kelly Stanchina is the award-winning author of 11 books, including “Love Like A Saint: Cultivating Virtue with Holy Women” and “A Place Called Golgotha: Meditations on the Last Words of Christ” (January 2023). Visit her website at lizk org
The Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March (“Pro-Life community stays on the move,” Jan. 12) is a critically important event — yet year after year those that we march for, to have hear our voices, listen less and less. It’s a good start but falls on deaf ears in St. Paul. Based upon the stated priorities of the governor and heads of the House and Senate, the 2023 legislative session will include even less listening. The Democrats are in full deployment mode — with no plans to listen to any reason or facts. Their mission to legalize marijuana and abortion is a priority and is simply mind boggling. Apparently, a drug-free mind and the hopes, dreams and contributions of the unborn have no value in this state. While the march makes us feel better, and as if we’ve had our say to our elected, I argue that they are not listening. While I directly blame Gov. Walz and the rest of the Democrats, I have to honestly look to my neighbors who continue to elect them. We’ve repeatedly elected those who want to promote drug use, foster abortion as a form of birth control and tax us into oblivion as mission critical priorities. This thinking is mainstream, deemed acceptable by my neighbors, some fellow congregants and promoted by media, entertainment and within the Capitol as if there were no consequences. The brazen promotion of selfishness and sin cannot continue. It’s unsustainable. God help us.
Hans Molenaar St. John the Baptist, New BrightonSo let me see if I understand this. Fr. (now “Mr.”) Frank Pavone blasphemed by laying the mangled body of an aborted infant on an altar (no indication, incidentally, that it was in a church) (Dec. 22 issue, page 7). Tell me, which is more blasphemous, to tear the body of a little boy or girl limb from limb and then perhaps make a haul on its organs, or to speak out forthrightly and dramatically against such monstrous evil? We would condemn anyone who did anything half so ugly to a dog or cat but let a priest of God raise a ruckus and he is excoriated and excommunicated. And oh, by the way, anyone who knowingly destroys raptor eggs (or the offspring of any
Here is a story that every family I know can tell: All of us have been sick. For a long, long time.
In the past few months our household has endured countless rounds of colds and coughs, flu and fevers. With four kids in school and one toddler at home it’s not surprising. Over the weeks I’ve spent pouring doses of cough syrup and searching frantically for fever medications in drugstores, I’ve read everywhere about the “tripledemic”: the extra-potent convergence of COVID-19, RSV and the flu that’s hitting families, schools, workplaces and hospitals across the United States right now.
Caught in our own endless slog of hacking coughs, feverish kids and runny noses, I started stockpiling ways to pray through this winter’s sick season. Tuck one of these ideas in your pocket (along with extra tissues) to remember the God of the sick sees you, too.
uInvoke the Trinity. What better way to counter the tripledemic — or any illness from mild to severe — than by calling upon God’s own name for strength and comfort? The Prayer of St. Patrick’s
I am a convert to Catholicism.
Prior to entering the Church in 2016, I served for some years as an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church, a Protestant denomination.
Part of my job at that time was to oversee a small hospitality house for the homeless in Durham, North Carolina. The house had, more or less accidentally, come into existence as a group of us Duke University students had gotten to know some homeless men in the area. One thing led to another, and eventually some of us found ourselves living in a large, rented house along with several of these new homeless friends. We were inspired in this largely by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin — and their roles in the Catholic Worker Movement — who stressed our personal responsibility to the poor and advocated the creation of these sorts of houses.
There’s much more to that story, but I mention it because what impressed me about Day and Maurin was the way that, for them, a life of engagement with the poor, Catholic social teaching and social justice was simply part and parcel to what being a Catholic was and not an optional addition you could tack on if it was “your calling.” They went to daily Mass, they affirmed everything the Church taught, and so it was obvious to them that the rest of their lives should radically reflect this. They couldn’t imagine being Catholics and living any other way. They found their inspiration in the lives of the saints, the Church Fathers, and the Benedictine and Franciscan traditions. I eventually became a Catholic largely because I was compelled by this wholistic account of the faith.
And so, when I did enter the Church, I was puzzled when it became apparent pretty quickly that some of my new coreligionists were trying to figure out what kind of Catholic I was. Liberal? Conservative? Social
Breastplate binds us to the holy name of the Trinity and reminds us that God is our protection in every moment: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.”
uSeek a saint’s intercession. Many of us grew up getting our throats blessed on the Feast of St. Blaise (Feb. 3). As a kid in Catholic school, I always seemed to have a seasonal sore throat by that mid-winter Mass, so the timing was perfect. But did you know there are plenty of saintly friends to call upon when sickness hits?
St. Roch survived the plague to become a patron of the ill, along with St. Angela Merici who was devoted to serving the sick. St. Gianna knew the personal and professional sides of caring for kids as a mother and doctor. By winter’s end we might all be praying to St. Jude, intercessor of the impossible.
uSit with a healing story. The Gospels are full of stories of Jesus healing the sick: small children, older adults and people with diseases or disabilities. Cures don’t come for everyone, but praying with the abundance of healing Scriptures reminds us that God sees, cares for and loves those who are suffering.
uPray for others. The “pain Olympics” of comparison are never worth playing, but it can help to unite our suffering with others when we are feeling low. Remember those in the hospital while you’re sick at home. Give thanks for those in healing professions when you’re stuck on hold with the doctor’s office or waiting at an urgent care clinic for hours. Keep a list of friends and family who are sick and check in with a quick text or prayer.
uRest without guilt. God could have designed our bodies to heal by exertion but instead, our bodies usually need more sleep to heal. Listening
justice warrior? Liturgy Nazi? For the family? Or for the poor? I realized I was being asked to choose my Catholic identity from a buffet of issues derived from a world of political polarizations and secular social debates. Because I had been introduced to the Church by Day and Maurin, I didn’t find myself identifying with any of these labels. I really did believe everything the Church taught and did my (mediocre) best to practice it. That should make me a “conservative.” But I also loved Pope Francis’ desire for “a poor Church for the poor.” That should make me a “liberal.” But I was neither liberal nor conservative. I was Catholic.
My involvement with the homeless in Durham had come at a time when my faith was flimsy. Reading lots of secular philosophy and living a morally unserious life are sure ways to start wondering if we could ever really know God at all, or if there was maybe just, behind it all … nothing. But at just that moment I was swept up into friendship with the poor, the liturgy and Christian community. Before long, it became clear that the only real alternative to existential despair was a radical commitment to the Gospel like I saw in Maurin and Day. At the same time, it also soon became clear that it was only the fullness of the Catholic Church that could call for and sustain such a life. There really could be no halfmeasures. It was Catholic or nothing.
This is the perspective I plan to bring to this column. The Church’s approach to “social justice” must be, first, rooted in the Church. Catholic social teaching is nothing more or less than the attempt to see all human life and culture, including economics and politics, with unapologetically Catholic eyes. But the world looks different, after all, depending on where you’re standing. And that means we have to be standing in the Church. Yes, in her teaching, but also in her liturgy, works of mercy, and thick community life. Only then will we have the eyes to see the world the way it really is — and only after we see it will we be able to act in it. That’s why the Church has to come first.
Miller is director of Pastoral Care and Outreach at Assumption in St Paul. He has a Ph.D. in theology from Duke University, and lives with his family at the Maurin House Catholic Worker community in Columbia Heights. You can reach him at colin
com
to your body, tending to others as caregiver and heeding the Sabbath call to rest are ways to honor God’s care for bodies.
On the bleakest days when you can barely crawl out of bed, remember that “Help!” is a complete sentence and a full prayer. As the Psalmist cries out, God hears every petition and comes to our aid: “The Lord sustains him on his sickbed” (Ps 41:4). Even when our bodies suffer, our souls can draw closer to Christ who knew the depths of human suffering.
May the healing power of the Divine Physician — and the hope of the New Year — lift your spirit this month, in sickness and in health.
Fanucci is an author, speaker and founder of Mothering Spirit, an online gathering place on parenting and spirituality. She is a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove.
LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
endangered species) is subject to federal prosecution, jail time, and a hefty fine.
Fr. Pavone may not have been prudent by our oh-so-woke Churchmen standards, like the Catholic News Service reporter who prefers the term “fetus” to “unborn child,” but he has shown himself willing to be a fool for Christ — and in the end, like so many who preceded down through history, he may show his prosecutors to be just plain fools.
Anne Collopy
All Saints, Minneapolis
Attorney General Keith Ellison, in writing his report criticizing the state’s crisis pregnancy centers, apparently has powers to write critical reports without even having the courtesy of visiting the centers to get the facts. Further, while bragging about his prosecuted cases, he never bothered to mention the fact that he didn’t bother to investigate the vandalism by the group “Jane’s Revenge” on pro-life CPC facilities, clearly showing his pro-abortion bias to ignore that criminal activity. During his campaign for office, he clearly stated that he would prosecute laws, even if he didn’t agree with the law as passed. Somehow, he forgot his commitment to that office.
Gene Floersch Our Lady of Peace,Share your perspective by emailing t he c atholic S pirit @ arch S pm org Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Read more letters from our readers at t he c atholic S pirit com
Minneapolis
On the bleakest days when you can barely crawl out of bed, remember that ‘Help!’ is a complete sentence and a full prayer. As the Psalmist cries out, God hears every petition and comes to our aid ... Even when our bodies suffer, our souls can draw closer to Christ who knew the depths of human suffering.
fully unified heart is rare. There are a multitude of idols and hiding places for the human heart. It is dizzying and disorienting. And yet, I must admit, it makes everything appear easier. If one religion or philosophy ceases to provide a harbor from the anxieties of the world, another can be found. Or perhaps, the same belief system is held onto with a suffocating grip and a diminishing sense of hope. Maybe there is no point in understanding what happens in this life. If that is the case, then does it truly matter what we do? If this life is incomprehensible and just chaos, then we are left to our own devices, to pick out the path, the truth that best suits our tastes.
How easy. How sad.
Recently, a wise priest preached about how miserable it is to live a divided life, one in which our hearts are given to many separate pursuits, leading to different destinations. I can attest to this. In many ways, I have looked to the finite in this world to satisfy an infinite desire. Not trusting that one truth could be deep enough or wide enough to encapsulate all my troubles and questions, I did not entrust my heart to God as fully as I could. I set up my safety nets through academic prowess, popularity and professional achievement.
When I went off to college, I realized that something had to change. Though I didn’t party, I was still separating myself from God’s love by pursuing excellence apart from him. I was a firm believer that personal success, as quantified by paychecks and certificates, was something to be pursued at all costs and that the anxiety I felt was an acceptable price to pay. I let myself answer the
By Katie Krucquestions I had when the storms of life picked up, and my heart became increasingly restless and dissatisfied. I soon realized that it was because the Lord was calling me to have a heart undivided in devotion to him. I could not pursue anything apart from him and still have it be “good.” I could not have a shallow devotion. This is when I started to better appreciate the depth of the Church as a harbor for the human soul.
Like the man who builds his house on rock, the faith that is passed down by the Catholic Church can withstand the winds of the world and not be shaken. The tradition and teachings of the Church do not strip human life of its mystery. Because there is such a richness to the Catholic faith, it provides people with the opportunity to understand life coherently. It affords the chance of being an individual with unique desires and struggles who is still able to travel along the path of sanctity.
Kruc, 22, is a senior at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities majoring in human physiology. When not helping at St. Lawrence, the Newman Center on campus, she often enjoys playing piano, slowly drinking a cup of coffee with a good book and going for morning runs. Hiking and swing dancing are also ways she loves to spend her time.
“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholiCSpirit@arChSpm org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”
Why I am Catholic
Law and Order: God Edition — Feb. 1 and 8: 6:30-8 p.m. at St. Odilia, 3495 Victoria St. N., Shoreview. University of St. Thomas professors Michael Rota, Teresa Collett and Stephen Heaney will be presenting on Catholic moral thought: the human person, marriage and family, and society and politics. No registration required. stodilia org/site/default aspx?pageid=9
Pro-Life Memorial Mass — Jan. 27: 6 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd., St. Anthony. Join Prolife Across America for this Memorial Mass. Father Paul Shovelain is the celebrant. A social hour with refreshments will follow. prolifeacrossamerica org
Healing Mass — Jan. 27: 6-9 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake. Father Jim Livingston will celebrate a Mass for healing, including for physical, emotional or spiritual situations. A healing service follows Mass. Prayer teams will be available for specific needs. All are welcome.
churchofsaintpaul com/healing-mass
Help for Struggling Couples — Feb. 2-5: at Best Western Dakota Ridge Hotel, 3450 Washington Dr., Eagan. Retrouvaille is a lifeline for troubled marriages. Learn the tools to rediscover and heal. 100% confidential. Other dates in 2023: March 31-April 2; June 2-4; Aug. 4-6; Oct. 6-8. helpourmarriage org
Ave Verum Corpus — Feb. 3: 7-8 p.m. at St. Nicholas, 51 Church St., Elko New Market. Eucharistic adoration paired with classical sacred music and chant. Sacrament of penance, vespers and Benediction.
stncc net/ave-verum-corpus
Day of Renewal for Mothers — Feb. 4: 7:30 a.m.2:30 p.m. at Holy Family, 5900 W. Lake St., St. Louis Park. Sponsored by Holy Family Home Educators,
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14B
but it begins with reflecting first on the events that have occurred in our lives and how we responded to those events. So many do not know why they do the things they do because we haven’t taken the time to reflect!
Third, we “remember. “If you are familiar with the Bible, you will know that, throughout the Old Testament, the Lord God continues to command the people of Israel to remember what God has done — to remember who God is,
guest speaker Alyssa Bormes discussing “Love In Order.” Cost: $25, includes a continental breakfast and lunch.
hfcmn org/pay-morning-renewal
Married Couples Weekend Retreat — Feb. 10-12 at Franciscan Retreat and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Theme is “Belonging: Connections of the Heart.” Four talks explore how human traits challenge the ability to trust God. Blend of scheduled time and open time. Confession, anointing, Mass, holy hour, prayer sessions and renewal of vows. franciscanretreats net
Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend — Feb. 10-12 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 1st Ave. S., Buffalo. A skill-building marriage enrichment program over the weekend. Contact through website regarding seven three-hour sessions. wwme org
World Day of the Sick: Mass and Reception — Feb. 11: 10 a.m. at Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes. Celebrant: Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Mass, blessing, reception and presentation dedicated to the sick, caregivers, chaplains and health care workers. Livestream available. curatioapostolate com/2023/01/world-day-ofthe-sick-2023/
2023 Investment Conference — Feb. 15: 7:1510:15 a.m. at the University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. An annual conference bringing together donors and investors interested in giving and investing with a Catholic heart. Available in-person and via livestream ccf-mn org/events/investment-conference
Women’s Day of Reflection on Mary, Mother of All: Culture and Devotion — Feb. 18: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at St. Alphonsus, 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn
to remember the relationship God has brought them into. This might seem like an optional piece of advice to some people.
But this is a command of the Lord God, because God knows us. He knows that, unless we take the time to actively remember (which is markedly different from passive remembering), we will forget. Unless we actively call to mind all that God has done in our lives, we will fail to remember the goodness of God in times of trouble, we will fail to remember the promises of God in times of distress, and we will fail to remember the presence of God in times of darkness.
Center. Mark Wyss, from the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, will be the presenter. Tickets $20; includes continental breakfast and lunch. Women over age 13 invited. Spanish translation available upon request. stalsccw wildapricot org
WINE: Catholic Women’s Conference — Feb. 18: 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at St. Bartholomew, 630 Wayzata Blvd. E., Wayzata. “A Spiritual Spa: Come to the Living Waters” includes Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, inspirational talks, confession, adoration, shopping, prayer teams, laughter and joy. An optional evening “Gathering in the Vineyard” on Feb. 17 is open to all. For more information, pricing and tickets, visit: wineconference org/conference-info-copy
Women with Spirit Bible Study — Tuesdays through April 11. 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie. One-hour weekly lectures by university-based speakers on the Gospel of John and books of Job and Genesis, followed by small group discussions. Tuition $100. paxchristi com/ eventregistration or email heimie2004@hotmail com
Men’s Club Annual Beef and Sausage Dinner — Feb. 12: 10:45 a.m.-1 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 217 2nd St. W., Chaska. Family-style dinner of beef and homemade sausage with all the trimmings. Adults and takeout: $15, ages 12 and under: $8. Homemade sausage $6 a pound. Held in school gym. Tickets at the door. Sponsored by Guardian Angels Men’s Club. gachaska org
Lifeline — Feb. 4: 6-9:30 p.m. at NET Center, 110 Crusader Ave. W., West St. Paul. NET Ministries is partnering with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to reestablish Lifeline, an opportunity for young people to encounter Christ. Engaging speakers,
But we can never afford to forget in the dark what we knew was true in the light. Because of this, we need to act like Mary and hold, reflect, and remember. If we do this, we will find that life will never simply “pass us by.” It won’t be
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improved programming and elevated atmosphere. Other upcoming event dates: March 4, April 1. netusa org/lifeline
Agape Dinner for Widows and Widowers — Feb. 11: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at St. Peter, 1250 South Shore Dr., Forest Lake. 10 a.m. Mass with celebrant Father Daniel Bodin, dinner to follow in St. Peter’s Hall with a presentation by Father Bodin. Cost is $15. Register by Feb. 1, call Cindy Casey at 651-249-8807. stpeterfl org
able to, because we will actually be living.
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.
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The Catholic Spirit
Ayear after Stephen and Hannah Schneider got married at St. Paul in Ham Lake, they wanted to start a family. But the two 28-year-olds battled infertility when they decided in 2019 to try for their first child.
One month turned into two, turned into three, turned into five, turned into 10,” Stephen recalled of their attempts to achieve pregnancy. “And we’re like, ‘Oh man, this is not what we thought was going to happen.’”
Enter a painting at Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale commissioned in 2009 by the pastor there at the time, Father Troy Przybilla, who, coincidentally, is the pastor of the parish the Schneiders belong to now, St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony. The couple found out about the painting from Hannah’s confirmation sponsor at St. Paul. The woman encouraged Hannah to go with Stephen to the Lonsdale church and pray before the image of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, and ask for their intercession to conceive a child.
The 20-by-30-inch painting, featuring a visibly pregnant St. Anne, was created by local artist Eric Menzhuber, an art teacher at Holy Spirit Academy in Monticello. The idea was to have an image connecting to the parish’s namesake as a way of drawing people to a true and deeper understanding of this important event that brought the Blessed Virgin into being. Both Father Przybilla and the current pastor of Immaculate Conception, Father Nick VanDenBroeke, noted that some people mistakenly believe the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Christ.
Stephen and Hannah, however, were fully aware of the correct meaning of this term as they headed down to Lonsdale for Sunday morning Mass and prayer at the image in January 2020. It was about an hour drive from their home, “far enough away to be a little bit of a pilgrimage,” Hannah said.
After what Stephen described as a “beautiful Mass,” the couple made their way to the image, which is located on a wall just to the left of the sanctuary near the Communion rail. The pews eventually emptied, and they took advantage of the ensuing silence to offer up their petition for conceiving a child.
The two “lit a candle and just asked for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession — in our marriage, in our life — and made an act of consecration and a petition and a prayer at that moment,” Stephen said. “It was cool for us. We had done a consecration to Mary to start
our marriage, and so it really was just a beautiful experience of spiritual growth. (Then) we left — our hearts full and just the grace of the day with us.”
Two weeks later, Hannah took a home pregnancy test. It was positive. Their son, Maximilian, was born in October 2020. Almost two years later, in July 2022, they had a daughter, Agnes. Although they got the concrete result they had been hoping and praying for, they are quick to point out that their pilgrimage to Lonsdale has had an impact beyond the conception of their first child.
“We really saw a spiritual growth from that,” said Stephen, who recently was chosen to be one of 12 parish representatives for the Synod Evangelization Team at St. Charles. An important part was “letting God direct our life and be OK and trusting with the plan that he has in store for us,” he said.
When Father Przybilla first entertained the idea of commissioning a painting of the Immaculate Conception, he did not have this kind of result in mind. Rather, he simply wanted to put up a piece of artwork befitting the name of the parish.
After arriving in 2007, he learned that the church previously had a large image of Mary on the back wall behind the altar, but it had been taken down when the walls were repainted. To him, the interior of the church “seemed like a blank canvas.”
So, he began praying about it. Time after time, a thought kept coming to him: the Immaculate Conception.
“The image just kept coming, so much so in prayer that it was distracting,” he said. “It was hard to even pray in the church because every time I’d pray, I would get these thoughts about the Immaculate Conception.”
He started searching online for ideas
on how to paint this important event, then contacted Menzhuber, who once had been a seminary classmate and who has made art for local churches and The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. The two discussed the content of the image — specifically, St. Anne being pregnant with Mary — and what it would cost. For the size Father Przybilla wanted, Menzhuber’s price was $5,000.
Not affordable, the priest thought. While he was discerning the financial aspect, a woman approached him in the church sacristy and said she wanted to donate to the parish.
“And I said, ‘Oh, really?’” Father Przybilla recalled. “And she goes, ‘But, I want it to be for artwork.’”
Next, he asked how much she wanted to give. “And she said, ‘$5,000,’” Father Przybilla said. “And so I thought, ‘OK, Lord, you want this to happen.’”
With the financing secured, Father Przybilla sat down with Menzhuber to plan the artwork. Key visual elements for the painting were a tree stump in the foreground, signifying the “stump of Jesse,” a Scriptural message referring to the lineage of Mary and Jesus; a landscape showing small remnants of snow and the appearance of birds to signify the coming of spring after a long, cold winter; and a brightening sky signifying the coming of dawn.
“Mary’s Immaculate Conception is the anticipation of the Son of God to bring light to the world, to bring warmth to people’s hearts with his love and his mercy,” Father Przybilla explained.
The finishing touch of Menzhuber’s creation was capturing the landscape of rural Lonsdale, with its mixture of woods, agricultural fields, lakes and rolling hills. Father Przybilla calls the region “beautiful country.”
Menzhuber studied and photographed the Lonsdale countryside before putting brushstrokes to the canvas. Although he found Father Przybilla’s idea to be a bit unusual, Menzhuber, 47, said he “loved” the concept and “was just really happy to be a part of it.”
As the painting took shape and eventually found its place in the church interior, Father Przybilla began thinking about couples struggling with infertility, and began praying for them. Eventually, he had prayer cards made, and he now suggests a visit to the painting in Lonsdale if he talks with couples who are having difficulty achieving a pregnancy. He has heard of a few success stories, like what happened to the Schneiders, and is glad people are taking the time to go to Lonsdale to pray, no matter the outcome.
One of the painting’s admirers is Father VanDenBroeke, who came to Immaculate Conception in 2017 and has found continued inspiration from Menzhuber’s artwork.
“I love the image because it shows the Immaculate Conception in a way that’s not generally portrayed,” Father VanDenBroeke said. “I think it teaches a lot about not only Mary and salvation history... but it also has a powerful connection with pro-life, and that all life is precious in the womb.”
The Schneiders have not gone back to the Lonsdale church since their first visit but have told select friends about their pilgrimage. More opportunities to talk about it could come from Stephen’s new role with the Synod and the increased opportunities for conversations it likely will bring. “We like to try to tell the story because it’s a cool story,” said Stephen, who noted that he and Hannah got a reproduction of the image and now have it hanging in their bedroom.
Meanwhile, Father VanDenBroeke welcomes anyone who might want to visit his church and pray before the painting. Near the painting are a statue of Mary and a relic from her veil.
“I would invite anyone to pray generally to Our Lady, asking her to help us to follow Christ her son, and more specifically for couples who are seeking to conceive a child,” he said. “The image is beautiful, and so it inspires us in our faith. That’s … what Catholic art should do.”
