Synod Evangelization Teams answer the call to discipleship at kickoff events

By Rebecca Omastiak The Catholic Spirit

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.

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Mass And March

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B 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.”

Synod Evangelization

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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 Umberger

The Catholic Spirit 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.”

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.

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

Inspired

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.

Place Right To Abortion Into Law

“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.”