The Catholic Spirit - January 30, 2020

January 30, 2020 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

President speaks at pro-life march Among those participating in the annual March for Life Jan. 24 in Washington, D.C., was President Donald Trump, the first president to speak at the event while serving in office.

— Page 7A

INSIDE THE REPORT

SPECIAL REPORT: Protecting Children

For the past four years, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has overseen the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts. Now the archdiocese must be accountable to itself. What progress has it made, and what’s ahead?

The full text of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office assessment of cultural change in the archdiocese.

— pages 5B-12B

— B section

Blessed encounter

Survey says U.S. bishops pray two hours a day and work 10 according to a book based on their responses to a 2016 survey and described in a Jan. 15 presentation by book’s co-author.

— Page 9A

Grandparents pilgrimage Local priest leads trip to the Holy Land that provides opportunity for prayer and tracing the footprints of Jesus in Israel.

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Young adult pilgrims get close-up look at Church in Rome — page 6A CNS

Catholics in the Maple Grove area mobilize to put on annual food packing event that partners with the relief organization Feed My Starving Children.

— Page 16A

What do parishioners really think?

Discipleship Maker Index survey aims to help parishes, archdiocese better know views of people in the pews

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit How welcoming is your parish? Do you volunteer in your community? Is your parish teaching you how to share the story of Jesus?

These are among the questions a

survey is asking Catholics to answer as Church leaders seek to better understand how Catholics see their parishes and themselves.

Called the Discipleship Maker Index, or DMI, the survey will be available during the month of February. To make the information as valuable as possible, leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis hope every parish will participate.

“The DMI gives us a sense of parishioner satisfaction with their experience of Church in very concrete ways,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said.

The Pennsylvania-based Catholic Leadership Institute developed the 75-question survey. It is a tool to help parishes move beyond assumptions and better understand who is in their pews.

Archdiocesan leaders expect that data collected from parishes across its 12 counties will provide a good landscape of the reality of the local Church ahead of the 2021 Archdiocesan Synod, which will help the archbishop determine pastoral priorities.

Therese Coons, the Synod director, PLEASE TURN TO DMI SURVEY ON PAGE 5A

Honoring Catholic business leaders whose faith shapes their work.

Nominations open through March 27 at TheCatholicSpirit.com Awardee luncheon with Archbishop Bernard Hebda Aug. 13

LEADING

FAITH

with

Millions of meals

Young adult pilgrims traveling with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens for their “ad limina” to Rome gather around fellow pilgrim Mychael Schilmoeller Jan. 15 as Pope Francis blesses her unborn daughter following his general audience. Schilmoeller, 33, a pastoral care minister at St. Michael in Prior Lake, said the blessing was a surprising, special encounter with Pope Francis. “I was just kind of overwhelmed with his kindness and enthusiasm,” she said. “He has a huge smile, and he was smiling through the whole blessing. That was really wonderful to experience and look at him, but also to realize this wonderful gift he’s given to us.”

G o o d Wo r k

•

In Christ

2A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

PAGETWO

“

We’ve got a crisis on our hands and what are we doing about it?

Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, during a Jan. 16 program in Washington, D.C., organized by Opportunity Starts at Home, a national campaign of Catholic Charities USA and 19 other organizations calling attention to a shortfall in affordable housing across the country.

NEWS notes

30 DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PRAYERS FOR LIFE Lucy Goodwin, left, and her mother, Carol Goodwin, of St. Henry in Monticello hold a pro-life sign at the annual Prayer Service for Life Jan. 22 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. More than 3,000 people filled the cathedral for the annual event, which precedes the Minnesota March for Life to the State Capitol nearby. Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm delivered the homily. The ecumenical service also included prayers, hymns and Scripture readings to commemorate the estimated 60 million children aborted since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide. Bishop LeVoir also noted the efforts, including emergency pregnancy centers in communities across the country, to help men and women choose life. Read the story on page 5A.

The length in minutes of Minnesota Catholic Conference’s “Bridge Builder” audio program, which began airing Jan. 14 on Real Presence radio stations across Minnesota. Episodes will continue to be broadcast each Tuesday at 8 p.m. Hosted by Jason Adkins, MCC executive director, the program includes interviews with leaders at the intersection of faith and the public arena. “Bridge Builder” began as a podcast in July 2018 and one year later began airing on Saturdays at 11 a.m. on Relevant Radio AM 1330, which can be heard in communities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. MCC is the public policy voice of the bishops in Minnesota.

54,201

The number of religious men and women in the U.S., according to a 2014 poll from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Consecrated women and men were celebrated Jan. 26 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with the annual World Day for Consecrated Life Mass, held this year at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the 2 p.m. Mass, which recognized religious women and men who are celebrating milestone jubilees this year.

5

The number of foreign countries that hosted in January seminarians studying at St. John Vianney College Seminary and The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. Transitional deacons preparing for priestly ordination made a pilgrimage to Italy, men preparing for their transitional diaconate ordination this year traveled to Israel, and second-year theology SPS seminarians made a pilgrimage to Mexico. Meanwhile, eight SJV seminarians volunteered at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, an orphanage and ranch outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and 10 other SJV seminarians volunteered with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India. Read about their experiences via their blogs at semssp.org/category/blog.

in REMEMBRANCE Deacon Reed ministered in St. Peter DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PUBLIC SAFETY Archbishop Bernard Hebda, center, speaks Jan. 22 on a panel focused on safety in religious spaces such as churches, mosques and synagogues. At left is Mohamod Omar, executive director of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, and at right is Michael Melcher, supervisory special agent at the FBI Minneapolis Field Office. A Law Enforcement and Faith-Based Communities Engagement Meeting, the event was organized by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and held at the Maplewood Community Center in Maplewood. Topics focused on security-related concerns and available resources for both law enforcement and religious leaders. “I was motivated that we need to do more ... in promoting discussion at the parish level as well at the diocesan level about appropriate and proportionate measures that we should be taking to help our parishioners feel safe,” Archbishop Hebda said following the panel discussion. He was joined on the panel by four law enforcement officials and leaders from the Muslim and Jewish communities.

REDISCOVER hour Rediscover: Hour host Patrick Conley’s interview with Bishop-elect Donald DeGrood anticipating his Feb. 13 installation as the ninth bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, aired on Relevant Radio Jan. 24-26.

Listen to the audio at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/rediscover-hour. Other recent interview topics include World Day of the Sick, Early Family Catholic Life and Blessed is She, an online women’s ministry. The Rediscover: Hour is a production of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in cooperation with Relevant Radio.

Shows air on AM 1330 at 9 p.m. Fridays, noon Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 25 — No. 2 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor

Deacon John Reed died Jan. 21 in St. Peter. He was 71. He was born in Virginia, Minnesota, and later went to Benilde High School in St. Louis Park (now called Benilde-St. Margaret’s). He was ordained a deacon for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1986 and served St. Bartholomew in Wayzata from his ordination until 1991, and then St. George in Long Lake until 1998, when he and his wife, Maryanne, moved to the Brainerd area. While in the Twin Cities, he worked for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office as a detective. Later, Deacon Reed and his wife moved to St. Peter, where he began serving St. Peter in St. Peter, which is in the Diocese of New Ulm. He was a fourth degree grand knight in Council 1509 and a member of the Lion’s Club. Visitation will be 4–7 p.m. Jan. 31 at St. Peter with a 4 p.m. prayer service. Deacon Reed’s funeral will be 11 a.m. Feb. 1 at St. Peter following a 10–11 a.m. visitation. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in St. Peter.

CORRECTION In the Jan. 16 issue, a story about the region’s bishops’ “ad limina” visit incorrectly referred to Bishop-elect Donald DeGrood as “bishop-designate.”

That term refers to an ordained bishop who has been appointed to a different diocese but not yet installed there. “Bishop-elect” refers to a priest who has been appointed to lead a diocese but not yet ordained or installed.

Materials credited to CNS copy­righted by Catholic News Service.

All other materials copyrighted by The Cath­olic Spirit Newspaper.

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JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3A

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Becoming better listeners In the context of our Pre-Synod Prayer and Listening events these past four months, I have frequently spoken about the “listening Church,” drawing often on observations that Pope Francis has made on that theme and on a 2018 document from the International Theological Commission, “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church,” that was published after receiving a favorable review from Pope Francis. I have found the Holy Father’s insights to be particularly rich in this area, and I have collected pages of quotations from him as he has addressed the topic from a variety of angles. That being said, nothing has been as helpful for me in understanding the essence of the listening Church as was our “ad limina” visit with him on Jan. 13.

The Holy Father’s demeanor on that occasion illustrated the sense of welcome and respect that he encourages us to have as we sit down to listen to others.

My brother bishops and I had been told that bishops were customarily allowed to bring with them to meet the Holy Father a seminarian or two from the diocese or archdiocese studying in Rome, as well as the priest who had accompanied them from the United States (usually a vicar general or secretary).

Bishop Cozzens and I were in a bind, however, in that the archdiocese has not only one priest in doctoral studies in Rome (Father Evan Koop) but also five seminarians studying at the North American College and two college seminarians studying at the Angelicum as part of St. John Vianney Seminary’s semester abroad.

On top of that, five of our transitional deacons at the St. Paul Seminary were in Rome for a J-term course, along with two additional deacons from the Pro Ecclesia Sancta community whom I had ordained last May. How would we ever decide who to bring and who to exclude?

Beyond anything that I could have ever imagined, the Holy Father graciously took the time to meet all 15

Para convertirse en mejores oyentes

E

n el contexto de nuestros eventos previos sínodo oración y la escucha de los últimos cuatro meses, he hablado con frecuencia de la “Iglesia de escucha”, basándome a menudo en observaciones que el Papa Francisco ha hecho sobre ese tema y en un documento de 2018 del International Theological Comisión, “Sinodalidad en la Vida y Misión de la Iglesia,” que fue publicada después de recibir una revisión favorable del Papa Francisco. He encontrado que las ideas del Santo Padre son particularmente ricas en esta área, y he recopilado páginas de citas de él, ya que ha abordado el tema desde una variedad de ángulos. Dicho esto, nada me ha sido tan útil para entender la esencia de la Iglesia de escucha como lo fue nuestra visita ad limina con él el 13 de enero.

La comportamiento del Santo Padre en esa ocasión ilustró el sentido de acogida y respeto que nos anima a tener mientras nos sentamos a escuchar a los demás. A mis hermanos obispos y a mí se nos había

of them as well as our vicar general, Father Charles Lachowitzer. I was grateful that Pope Francis had neither turned them away nor shamed me for being a flagrant rule-breaker, but rather pastorally assessed the situation and generously facilitated a powerful encounter with the Vicar of Christ that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Once the seminarians had departed to return to school, the 11 bishops of our province were invited to sit down for a heart-to-heart with the Pope. Putting us at ease and modeling for us the listening Church, he both encouraged us to speak our mind and spoke from the heart to us, in a way that was always responsive to the issues that we raised and that reflected that we were being both heard and understood.

For two hours, it sure seemed that we had the complete attention of the Successor of Peter, despite the many concerns and responsibilities that fall on his shoulders as not only Bishop of Rome (a diocese three times bigger than our archdiocese) but also Shepherd of the Church Universal, with 1.2 billion Catholic “sheep.”

Without ever a glance at his watch or cell phone, there was a warmth that suggested that we were valued as brothers and co-workers in the vineyard.

In speaking to a class of recently ordained bishops last September, Pope Francis had challenged them — and all bishops — to become “apostles of listening.” After our encounter with him, it certainly seems that he not only practices what he preaches but sets the bar incredibly high.

While the substance of conversations with the pope is generally not to be shared, he explicitly indicated that we would be free to pass on his prayers and expressions of support for those who have been harmed in the Church. It was clear that he meets regularly with abuse survivors and recognizes that we have much to learn from them.

That was very apparent to me as well this past Thursday, Jan. 23, as I listened to the panel of survivors from our archdiocese who spoke at the Conference for

dicho que a los obispos se les permitía llevar consigo el encuentro con el Santo Padre un seminarista o dos de la diócesis que estudiaban en Roma, así como el sacerdote que los había acompañado de los Estados Unidos (generalmente un Vicario General o Secretario). El obispo Cozzens y yo estábamos en un aprieto, sin embargo, en que la Arquidiócesis no sólo tiene un sacerdote en estudios de doctorado en Roma (Fr. Evan Koop) sino también cinco seminaristas que estudian en el Colegio Norteamericano y dos seminaristas universitarios que estudian en el Angelicum como parte de Semestre del Seminario san Juan Vianney en el extranjero. Además de eso, cinco de nuestros diáconos de transición en el Seminario de San Pablo estaban en Roma para un curso de J-Term, junto con dos diáconos adicionales de la comunidad Pro Ecclesia Sancta a quienes yo había ordenado el pasado mes de mayo. ¿Cómo decidiríamos a quién traer y a quién excluir? Más allá de lo que imaginé, el Santo Padre amablemente se tomó el tiempo para conocer a los 15, así como a nuestro Vicario General, el P. Charles Lachowitzer. Estaba agradecido de que el Papa Francisco no los hubiera rechazado ni me hubiera avergonzado por ser un flagrante rompedes de reglas, sino que evaluara pastoralmente la situación y facilitara generosamente un encuentro poderoso con el Vicario de Cristo que será recordado por toda una vida .

Una vez que los seminaristas habían partido para regresar a la escuela, se

CNS

Archbishop Bernard Hebda concelebrates Mass with bishops from North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 15. The Mass was part of the bishops’ “ad limina” visit to Rome to meet with Pope Francis and other Church leaders, and to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Restorative Justice and Reconciliation that was cosponsored by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the archdiocese. I felt particularly blessed that the courageous men and women who shared their insights on that panel have each been valued collaborators in helping the archdiocese to create even safer environments and to improve our outreach to those who had been harmed.

The conference concluded with a brief experience of the “circle process” that is often associated with restorative justice, brilliantly guided by Professor Janine Geske, a retired justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

I could not help but think that the process is intended to promote the same kind of deep listening that Pope Francis both challenges us to embrace and modeled for me at our “ad limina” visit.

Please join me in praying in this new year that we might all become better listeners. As we sing at each of our Prayer and Listening Events, “Come Holy Spirit, make our ears to hear. ... “

invitó a los once obispos de nuestra Provincia a sentarse a un corazón a corazón con el Papa. Poniéndonos a gusto y modelando para nosotros a la Iglesia de escucha, nos animó a decir lo que pensamos y nos habló desde el corazón, de una manera que siempre respondía a los problemas que planteamos y que reflejaba que estábamos siendo escuchados y comprendidos. Durante dos horas, parecía que teníamos la atención completa del Sucesor de Pedro, a pesar de las muchas preocupaciones y responsabilidades que caen sobre sus hombros como no sólo obispo de Roma (una diócesis tres veces más grande que nuestra arquidiócesis) sino también pastor de la Iglesia Universal, con 1.200 millones de “ovejas” católicas. Sin echar un vistazo a su reloj o teléfono celular, hubo un calidez que sugirió que fuimos valorados como hermanos y compañeros de trabajo en la viña.

Habló con una clase de obispos recién ordenados desde septiembre pasado, el Papa Francisco los desafió a ellos, y a todos los obispos, a convertirse en “apóstoles de la escucha”. Después de nuestro encuentro con él, ciertamente parece que no sólo practica lo que predica, sino que establece el listón increíblemente alto.

Si bien el fondo de las conversaciones con el Papa generalmente no debe ser compartida, indicó explícitamente que seríamos libres de transmitir sus oraciones y expresiones de apoyo a

aquellos que han sido perjudicados en la Iglesia. Estaba claro que se reúne regularmente con sobrevivientes de abuso y reconoce que tenemos mucho que aprender de ellos.

Eso fue muy evidente para mí también el pasado jueves 23 de enero, mientras escuchaba al panel de sobrevivientes de nuestra Arquidiócesis que habló en la Conferencia sobre Justicia Restaurativa que fue copatrocinada por la Fiscalía del Condado de Ramsey y la Arquidiócesis.

Me sentí particularmente bendecido porque los valientes hombres y mujeres que compartieron sus ideas sobre ese panel han sido valorados colaboradores para ayudar a la Arquidiócesis a crear entornos aún más seguros y a mejorar nuestro alcance a aquellos que habían sido dañados.

La conferencia concluyó con una breve experiencia del “proceso del círculo” que a menudo se asocia con la Justicia Restaurativa, brillantemente guiada por la Prof. Janine Geske, una jueza jubilada de la Corte Suprema de Wisconsin. No pude dejar de pensar que el proceso tiene por objeto promover el mismo tipo de escucha profunda que el Papa Francisco nos desafía a abrazary modelar para mí en nuestra visita ad limina.

Por favor, únanse a mí en la oración en este nuevo año para que todos podamos llegar a ser mejores oyentes. Cantamos esto en cada uno de nuestros eventos de Oración y Escucha, “Ven Espíritu Santo, haz nuestros oídos para escuchar...”

4A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

LOCAL

SLICEof LIFE

Getting on track

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

From left, fifth-grader Ella Twomey, seventhgrader Harper Glass, seventh-grader Eliana Schmelz, seventh-grader Grace Twomey, seventh-grader Anna Francis and thirdgrader William Lewin do a test run on the track they built for a Matchbox car during an event at Visitation School in Mendota Heights. Lower and middle school students designed and built small race tracks out of cardboard and tested them with cars supplied by Mercedes-Benz, which sponsored the event. Part of the MercedesBenz No Limits Project, the event was designed to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities at the school. “I strive to get my students to embrace productive struggle, work past the fear of failure and push forward,” said Caroline Little, Visitation middle school science teacher who ran the event.

“Working at a Catholic school, where I am able to embrace the Salesian spirituality, along with the engineering/design process that I work with in the school, really helps me meet this goal. This event... is an example of the many things that happen in Catholic schools on a daily basis, where we are encouraged to be who we are and be that well, to embrace struggle, to challenge stereotypes and to work together.” Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 marks Catholic Schools Week for schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and across the country.

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JANUARY 30, 2020

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5A

Thousands pray, march for right to life

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit People came by school bus, city and coach buses, in cars and on foot.

More than 3,000 people, filling to standing-room-only the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Jan. 22 for the Annual Prayer Service for Life.

With Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm delivering a homily, with prayers, hymns and Scripture readings, the service commemorated the millions of lives lost to abortion since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide.

Bishop LeVoir also noted the efforts, including emergency pregnancy centers in communities across the country, to help men and women choose life.

After the prayer service, which included Archbishop Bernard Hebda, most of the congregation joined others in a march to the nearby State Capitol, organized by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

The stream of people included Michelle Covington, 25, of St. Hubert in Chanhassen, and her sister, Natalie, 18, of Our Lady of the Prairie in Belle Plaine.

“I have the day off, and it’s something I feel very passionate about,” said Michelle, who was participating in her second prayer service and march.

Natalie said it was her fifth time at the gatherings in St. Paul. She went to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., last year.

“It is the most important issue going

DMI SURVEY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A encourages all Catholics in the archdiocese to take the 10-15 minute survey, as it will provide valuable feedback to the parish and archdiocese.

“It is available electronically on your smart phone, tablet or laptop, as well as on paper, so it can be taken anytime convenient during the month of February,” she said.

In a November webinar for parish leaders, Daniel Cellucci, CEO of Catholic Leadership Institute, called the Discipleship Maker Index an “enhancement” to the pre-synod process.

The information gathered can help parishes and the archdiocese plan for the future, he said.

“Imagine if your parish could know which core beliefs of the faith are most challenging for the 18- to 25-year-olds in your parish,” he said. “Imagine if you knew as a parish, what are some of the greatest faith formation needs if you have a Latino community .... or a Vietnamese community that’s very present. And imagine if you could know what the biggest challenges are for parents who are sending their kids to a Catholic school?”

CLI designed the survey six years ago with input from bishops, pastors and lay Church leaders. It provides the opportunity for parishioners to reflect on two things: their personal spiritual growth and engagement with the parish. It is presented in a multiple-choice format and takes 10-15 minutes to complete. It is open to all Catholics in the archdiocese from Feb. 1 to March 1.

Synod leaders want to make clear that the DMI is meant to supplement and not

on in the world today,” she said of the battle against abortion. “I want to be a voice for the voiceless.”

In his homily, Bishop LeVoir mourned the immense loss brought by Roe v. Wade. More than 60 million abortions have been performed in the United States since that decision.

“We’re missing all of those millions of people that would have made a tremendous difference in our country and in the world,” the bishop said.

“How many heroes have been lost?

How many scientists? How many doctors? How many laborers, how many carpenters, how many plumbers?

We really have suffered these last years because we’ve missed our brothers and sisters among us.”

As Pope Francis and St. John Paul II have urged, “we must stand up for life,” Bishop LeVoir said. “We can make a difference. We are not powerless. We have the power of God.” Prayer and action for life must continue, the bishop said. The rosary is one of the most powerful prayers, calling on the Virgin Mary, the mother of God, as our protector, he said.

Mary works lovingly, gently, but very surely, through her son, Jesus, to destroy evil and bring life into the world, Bishop LeVoir said.

“And so we pray, and we work. And if we can believe statistics, and sometimes we can’t, but if we can believe statistics, our prayer and our work is doing good,” he said. “More people’s hearts are changed, more conversion is taking place.”

replace the information gathered at the Prayer and Listening Events underway. The survey and the Prayer and Listening Events are quite different, Coons said.

“The Prayer and Listening Events are the primary source of feedback for the Synod and give the faithful an opportunity to prayerfully consider two open-ended questions: What is going well now, and what are our challenges and opportunities as we move forward together?,” she said.

“In contrast, the DMI is supplemental information for the Synod with more focused, multiple-choice questions related to one’s own spiritual growth and what the parish is doing to help you grow. I encourage the faithful to do both.”

The DMI wasn’t something leaders had initially planned to be part of the PreSynod process, Archbishop Hebda told The Catholic Spirit, but when CLI proposed it, Synod leaders thought it would be a useful tool.

“This Discipleship Maker Index is something that we feel the Holy Spirit just dropped into the process,” Father Joseph Bambenek, the Synod assistant director, said in the November webinar, “because we realize that not everybody is going to invest the three hours of going to a Prayer and Listening Event, and some people may be a bit more shy about saying things at such events ... but this Discipleship Maker Index then allows for many, many more people to get their input in as the archbishop is discerning the focus areas that we’ll be looking at in the second year (of the Pre-Synod process) that will be starting this summer.”

The survey asks questions in four categories: attitudes and beliefs; relationship and satisfaction with the

COURTESY OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL KIDS

SCHOOL CHOICE RALLY Students from Risen Christ School in Minneapolis participate in a rally for school choice Jan. 27 at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul.

More than 500 students, parents and community members gathered at the museum to talk about the state’s education options, hear testimonials about the power of school choice and explore the museum’s three floors of exhibits. Sponsored by OAK, Opportunity for All Kids, the rally coincided with National School Choice Week 2020, which features more than 50,000 events across all 50 states. “Access to better education options is about families making personal decisions for their children. It’s also about empowering parents with the opportunity to find the best learning environments for their own kids — regardless of where they live or how much money they make,” said Chas Anderson, OAK’s executive director. OAK also sponsored a Jan. 28 free screening at AMC Southdale 16 in Edina of the movie “Miss Virginia,” inspired by the true story of a struggling single mother losing her teenage son to the rough steets of Washington, D.C., and placing him in a private school. When she can’t afford tuition, she launches a movement to change the system.

parish; frequency of Catholic practices; and respondent demographics. The survey is anonymous and confidential, and none of the information provided is attached to a respondent’s email, Cellucci said.

Father Bambenek emphasized that the DMI requires “limited work” for parishes, as most of the work is done by the CLI. He noted that the information gathered might be even more valuable to parishes than the archdiocese. CLI provides each parish with a report on an online platform that allows data to be analyzed in multiple ways. Parishes are expected to receive results after Easter.

The survey has been underwritten by a grant CLI received, so it’s offered to the parishes in the archdiocese at no cost. It’s parishes’ jobs, however, to advertise the survey and encourage people to take it.

The more people in the parish take it, the better a parish’s data will be, Cellucci said.

At St. Joseph in New Hope, Parish Director Dean Rademacher expects the survey to help the parish council make informed decisions about its direction.

“We really want to know our community better,” he said. “We had looked at doing a survey, and this is a much better survey than we could have developed. It’s funded by a grant; it gives great data; and it’s a great way of reaching out to your community, also, to say, ‘We want to hear from you.’ Which is what the archbishop is doing also. ... He’s modeling listening, and we as a parish are modeling listening.

“So the survey is a win-win,” continued Rademacher, who is also the chairman of the Association of Parish Business Administrators of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “It gets

information for the larger Catholic archdiocese, and it gives us specific information for our parish.”

Catholic Leadership Institute is an association of lay faithful that supports clergy and lay leaders in the Church. Over the past six years, its DMI survey has been taken by an estimated 130,000 Catholics in more than 600 parishes in 28 dioceses.

“This is going to be a great snapshot for your parish of who is coming,” Cellucci said in the webinar. “Sometimes we make a lot of assumptions about where people are in the pews, where they might be in their relationship with the Church or with the Lord, and what we want to do is make sure the parish is supporting who is coming in order to send them out” to evangelize.

Cellucci addressed some common misconceptions about the survey. It is the same in each parish and the same one used in other dioceses; parishes cannot change, add or remove questions. It is not designed to gather information about parish finances or to determine whether parishes should close.

It does include optional questions on financial stewardship in the demographic questions, he said, which help “put into perspective who you’re hearing from.”

The reason stewardship questions are included, he said, is that sometimes parish life is too heavily influenced by people with financial means and resources, and the survey can shed light on that.

“Hopefully it is an opportunity for your parish, a gift for your parish to get some insight into the folks who are coming, and who you hope to have coming in the future.”

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JANUARY 30, 2020

Young adults make ‘deep dive’ into faith during ‘ad limina’ visit REFLECTION

‘Every structure has meaning’

By Mitchell Kohler For The Catholic Spirit

ABOVE Archbishop Bernard Hebda talks with a group of young adults after concelebrating Mass with other bishops from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 15.

BELOW Enzo Randazzo, center, attends Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. As a staff member in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for Evangelization, Randazzo came up with the idea for and led the Jan. 9-18 young adult pilgrimage accompanying the bishops’ “ad limina” visit to Rome.

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Mychael Schilmoeller and her unborn child received a special blessing from Pope Francis Jan. 15 as she traveled with 24 other young adults accompanying Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens on their “ad limina apostolorum” in Rome.

While the bishops with fellow bishops in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota met the pope Jan. 13, the young pilgrims met him two days later after the pope’s weekly general audience. Two young men with the group came bearing white zucchetti — the papal skullcaps — and the pope put each on his head, then handed it back as a souvenir.

Schilmoeller, 33, the pastoral care minister at St. Michael in Prior Lake, Minnesota, received special attention from Pope Francis when he noticed her belly and asked her when her baby is due. She told him, “St. Patrick’s Day,” and he blessed her unborn baby and gently touched her. “I don’t usually like people touching me, but it was a beautiful blessing,” she said.

Supporting and supported by their bishops, the 25 young adults from Minnesota and North Dakota, women and men, single and married, ages 21-35 flew to Rome with the bishops of Region VIII, who are required by Church law to make the “ad limina” visits to pray at the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul and to meet with the pope and top Vatican officials.

Many dioceses offer pilgrimages to coincide with their bishops’ “ad limina” visits, but the Region VIII trip was different: Young adults were invited last May to apply to make the trip either by providing a letter of recommendation from someone who would attest to their leadership in evangelization or by writing a short essay on how Christ has worked through others to draw them closer to him.

Schilmoeller said the bishops’ invitation to young adults to join them for the “ad limina” is “a sign of hope, a sign of a willingness to listen to young people, a willingness to change some things, perhaps.”

Enzo Randazzo of the Office of Evangelization of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis came up with the idea for the pilgrimage and presented it to Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who, he said, responded, “Let’s do it.”

“I want everything we do to be an effort to evangelization,” Randazzo said. If the pilgrimage simply had a first-come-first-served sign-up policy, “we’d get the choir,” he said, instead of a mix of young adults who are or potentially are evangelizers of their peers.

Will Herrmann, a 30-year-old computer programmer and member of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington, was the newest Catholic in the group. He entered the Church last Easter.

Although he was surprised to be chosen for the pilgrimage, he said he applied because “I wanted to dive into the deep end of my faith.”

Speaking near the tomb of St. Paul, he said, “I feel like I married into this family and now I’m meeting the relatives — the saints.”

One thing the pilgrims have in common, Randazzo said, is how much of their time is spent online, including when seeking information about the faith. As opposed to that “virtual reality,” Randazzo said, “Rome has lots of stuff” with art and architecture and the actual places

where Sts. Peter and Paul and a host of other saints lived, died and were buried.

Another pilgrim, Mary Evinger, 29, the director of religious education at St. Joseph in Williston, North Dakota, is planning to bring high school students to Rome precisely for that reason. “They’re just on their screens, and just seeing an image isn’t the same,” she said.

“You don’t get that awe of being there.”

“Being there” — in the basilicas, the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum — was a big motivator for Evinger to apply for the pilgrimage, she said. But she also wanted to be with the region’s bishops and with Pope Francis.

Organizing the pilgrimage was part of the archdiocese’s ongoing response to young adults who wrote Archbishop Hebda an open letter in 2018 about what they want from the Church, the archbishop said.

The youthful pilgrims, he said, told the bishops they were making the pilgrimage “to pray for Pope Francis and then to pray for their bishops.”

Most of the pilgrims already have completed university studies and are “trying to figure out where they are in the Church now that they are working and living on their own,” he said. They want to know where God is calling them to serve.

“It’s no secret that one of the things that the Church, at least in the United States, struggles with is young people drifting at times,” Archbishop Hebda said, so when the region’s bishops met Pope Francis, they assured him “there also were young people who were very much involved in the Church, who loved him and certainly the way he articulates his ministry.”

Randazzo said it is easy for Catholics to notice the scandals and the problems afflicting the Church, but “it takes courage to recognize God is doing something incredible,” and the growing faith of many young adults is one of those things.

We were blessed to attend the weekly general audience with Pope Francis while on our ad limina pilgrimage with the bishops of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and at the end of the audience we were able to take a picture with him. During our short time shaking hands with the pope, I traded a zucchetto (the white papal hat) with him so that I can take it back to the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota.

After meeting the pope, we also visited the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul. Though simply doing any of these amazing things all within the same day is spectacular, I find even deeper value from the continuity of visiting the two first leaders of the Church and their successor.

This personal connection gave my pilgrimage more meaning, and as I talked with some of my fellow pilgrims about our experiences today MITCHELL KOHLER and throughout the trip, we noticed a distinct lesson through it all: In Rome, it seems that every structure has meaning.

From the fountains and cobblestone streets to the churches that date back centuries, everything has an intentionality behind it that is lacking in our own country.

These buildings were built in a purposeful way — a way that was not designed to be as streamlined as our modern constructions. While we pour asphalt and concrete now, humble laborers laid every stone in the street and every brick on each building.

Considering my own self and our present culture, I would contend that these ancient streets and picturesque structures are so charming to us because of the intentionality with which they are built. There is something attractive about these streets because every stone was hand laid, or each façade because the embellishments were carefully carved. Sure, they are beautiful, but the real attraction is due to the care of their construction.

By contrast, in Minnesota and throughout much of the modern world we are faced with a lack of intentionality in this way.

I think this is the way in which many fallen-away Catholics, especially the youth, see the Church: unintentional. Countless young people today go to public schools and develop close friendships by spending a long time with a few people. Meanwhile, they encounter a Church where no member really seeks to know them individually, but instead suffices to preach to them in groups. They respect their peers more than those within the Church, and that often means they lose respect for the Church altogether.

But in recognizing the problem we can see the solution.

In this age where so much around us is impersonal, we need to be a Church that is intentional toward each member. Young people have many intentional relationships that are not always wholesome, but just as with the fountains, streets and churches of Rome, the beauty we can show with our intentionality is more powerful than the ugliness that comes from bad relationships.

In Rome, every church I have visited has sculptures, mosaics, paintings and frescos covering as much of the floor, wall and ceilings as possible. When we form caring friendships with our fellow Catholics in the Church, they will see its beauty, and see God in both the intentionality and beauty.

Kohler, 22, is an engineering and chemistry student at the University of Minnesota and was among the young adult pilgrims who blogged about their experiences while in Rome for The Catholic Spirit. His reflection was posted Jan. 17. Read all the pilgrims’ reflections at TheCatholicSpirit.com by clicking the “‘Ad Limina’ blog” button.

JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7A

NATION+WORLD

Trump tells March for Life crowd he welcomes their commitment

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service President Donald Trump credited attendees of the 47th annual March for Life for their commitment to protect unborn and born children.

“Together we are the voice for the voiceless,” Trump told tens of thousands of people at a noontime rally Jan. 24 on the National Mall.

“You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs and medical care for the women that you serve,” he said.

Trump was the first president to speak in person in the history of the March for Life. He spoke for about 10 minutes at the start of the rally and before attendees began their march to the Supreme Court.

“Today, as president of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. We’re here for a very simple reason: to defend the right for every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential,” Trump said.

He also credited the young people who made up a large portion of the crowd for their commitment to life, saying they were “the heart of the March for Life.”

Trump’s speech before the largely supportive crowd was punctuated by applause and cheers. Calls of “Four more years” welcomed him to the podium.

The pro-life movement has been buoyed by Trump’s appointment of two conservative justices to the Supreme Court. The movement’s goal has been a reversal of the court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was represented by 264 people from 17 parishes, including 180 students, 19 young adults and 65 chaperones. The archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Life organized the trip.

Rally-goers heard from members of Congress and several other speakers, including women who survived attempted abortions.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, addressed the rally in a video recorded in Rome prior to Trump’s arrival at the rally. Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican

REACTIONS TO PRESIDENT

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President Donald Trump applauds after addressing thousands of pro-life supporters during the 47th annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 24. earlier in the day.

Catalina Galinanes, a junior at Oakcrest School in Vienna, Virginia, was this year’s student speaker. It was her seventh March for Life rally in Washington.

“It’s so inspiring and so powerful to go with family and friends,” she said.

Galinanes is president of the school’s Respect Life Club. Forty students from the school were chosen to carry the parade-front banner for the entire duration of the march down Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court.

It’s in keeping with this year’s theme, “Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman,” linking the pro-life cause to the women’s suffrage leaders who brought about the 19th Amendment, enabling women to vote for the first time.

Another 200 students from Colorado Christian University in the Denver suburb of Lakewood were chosen to carry pennants.

Putting the focus on young participants has been a goal for some time of Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.

“The way I see it, the March for Life is organically young grassroots,” she said. “Like, we don’t really try really hard to bring young people to the March for Life. They are attracted to the issue now.”

Young people “know that social justice begins in the womb, and they have such hopes that their generation will make abortion unthinkable,” she said.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, urged the audience to support the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act that has been introduced in Congress. The bill would ensure that any child born alive after an abortion receives medical care. It would also institute penalties for doctors who allow such infants to die or who intentionally kill a newborn.

Speakers also called on rally-goers to vote for pro-life candidates in the upcoming presidential election. And they complimented Trump for his appointment of 187 federal conservative judges who are more likely to support restrictions on abortion.

“We are at a pivotal moment for the pro-life movement and this great nation,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life education organization, in crediting legislative efforts nationwide to limit abortion.

She encouraged the crowd to “go for the win” and “put the will of the people into law” in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court. “It’s the most consequential for the cause of the unborn,” she said.

The University of Notre Dame’s O. Carter Snead said it is “a good thing when the president of the United States — whomever he or she may be — attends an event meant to celebrate and defend the intrinsic equal dignity of all persons, born and unborn.”

“But there should be no mistake — the movement to protect and support all members of the human family, including mothers and their unborn babies, transcends politics and partisanship,” he said Jan. 23.

Snead, who specializes in bioethics and is director of Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture, issued the statement the morning after March for Life officials announced that President Donald Trump would speak in person to the crowd on the National Mall Jan. 24 — becoming the first sitting president to do so.

News that Trump would be on the speakers’ platform drew praise from March for Life officials and leaders of other pro-life organizations, who said the administration is consistently championing life through policies to fight abortion, implementing conscience protection and the appointment of pro-life judges.

But critics said his “anti-life” policies on migrants, refugees and the poor made him ineligible to speak to a pro-life crowd.

Franciscan friars and their supporters were among some in the crowd who held signs highlighting a range of such issues. This group’s signs had such messages as “I am 100% Pro-Life,” “Care for the Unborn,” “Protect the Earth” and “Seek Justice for the Poor.”

A priest in the Baltimore Archdiocese, Father Jeffrey Dauses, pastor of St. Andrew by the Bay in Annapolis, wrote on his Facebook page ahead of the March for Life that once he found out Trump would address the crowd, he was “feeling really, really conflicted about attending.”

“While he may be anti-abortion in some ways, he is most definitely NOT pro-life,” wrote Father Dauses. “His callous disregard for the poor, for immigrants and refugees, for women...

Pro-lifers — wake up... this man is not pro-life. He is pro-himself.”

John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life Action, said in a tweet that “this kind of ‘respect for life’ is partisan, selective & lacks credibility.” He also accused “antiabortion leaders celebrating Trump attending the March for Life” of having “nothing to say about the administration’s vile, inhumane and well-documented abuse of immigrant children.”

When asked about such criticism, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told Catholic News Service in an email Jan. 23: “There are a lot of issues as a Christian and as a woman that I’m concerned about but none are as important as abortion that ends the lives of 100 babies every hour of every day.”

“It is undeniable that no other president has done more to abolish abortion and advance our moment than President Trump,” she said. “The issue of abortion deserves to be the number-one single issue driving voters to make their voices heard. I resent the fact that people are trying to take over the pro-life movement with their own agendas.”

— Catholic News Service

Cardinal: Church’s social ministry is more than ‘single set’ of issues

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Drawing from the teaching of Pope Francis and the documents of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago called on attendees at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering to remember that the work of the Church is rooted in Christ’s invitation to encounter poor and marginalized people.

Such ministry requires having a “deep and loving respect for the poor, uniting with them, accompanying them, not to tell them what to do, but with an appreciation for the creative capacity to pursue the life God has always intended

for them,” Cardinal Cupich said in an address Jan. 25 in Washington, D.C., opening the largest regular churchsponsored assembly of social justice advocates.

“This means recognizing that Christ is already at work in the lives of the poor,” he said.

The cardinal described the task of a Christian as working “with everyone in building a more human world.”

“This is about taking a stand toward reality in which neither our spiritual lives nor religion can be understood without social commitment. Nor can salvation be understood without social commitment.

Nor can salvation be understood without the need to transform history. They are

linked together,” he said.

That linkage, he continued, “subverts any attempt to fragment our Catholic social teaching, pretending to offer socalled non-negotiables, which ends up reducing our moral tradition to a single set of issues.”

He called for an “integrated and consistent approach” wherever human dignity is threatened, reflecting the assembly’s theme, “Bearing Witness: Life and Justice for All.” Immigrants, people living in poverty, death-row inmates and others on society’s margins, have plenty to teach the Church as long as the Church is willing to listen, he said, again citing the pope in his 20-minute presentation.

Specifically, Cardinal Cupich quoted Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the call to holiness, “Gaudete et Exultate,” explaining how the pope exhorts the faithful to not only defend the unborn, but also those already born: people living in poverty, those who are abandoned, the elderly, those exposed to euthanasia, and those victimized by human trafficking, among others.

“If we do not help those in need, we have failed Christ, precisely because of the way persons are related, not only to one another, but also to God,” he said.

“If we do not understand this fundamental Gospel truth, then we do not understand the call to Christian holiness.”

u Some Chinese churches suspend activities because of coronavirus. The deadly virus has killed at least 106 people in China and infected more than 4,500. Five cases have been confirmed in the United States and the virus has been detected in Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. With Lunar New Year celebrated Jan. 25 this year, it was the busiest travel season in China, when millions of workers head back to their villages for celebrations. Hankou Diocese in Hubei province announced the suspension of community activities in all its parishes as the province went on high alert to check the virus, reported ucanews.org. St. Ignatius Cathedral of Shanghai Diocese said Jan. 22 it would be closed temporarily, and no prayer services or Masses would be conducted during Lunar New Year. Holy Family Catholic Church in Wuchang, just across the Yangtze River from Wuhan, issued a notice suspending all Masses temporarily following a government directive. u Trump administration announces steps to enforce federal conscience law. The Trump administration announced Jan. 24 it is taking steps to enforce the Weldon Amendment, a federal law that prohibits discrimination by states against health insurance plans that do not cover abortion. The move “is extraordinarily good news for the right to life, conscientious objection, religious freedom and the rule of law,” said a statement from Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty. The bishops noted that since 2014, the California Department of Managed Health Care has forced all employers — even churches — to “fund and facilitate” elective abortions in their health plans “in direct violation” of the amendment. The administration’s announcement came on the day pro-lifers from across the country gathered in Washington for the annual March for Life. u New martyrs include religious priests, laity martyred in 20th century. Pope Francis

recognized the martyrdom of six religious priests and brothers and seven laypeople who were killed in the 20th century “in hatred of the faith,” clearing the way for their beatification. The pope approved the decrees during an audience Jan. 23 with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Among the soon-to-be blesseds are three Spanish priests of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and seven laymen who were killed in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991. u Annual poll finds 70% of adults continue to support abortion restrictions. Seven in 10 American adults support “significant” restrictions on abortion, according to a poll released Jan. 22. Conducted by the Marist Poll at Marist College under the sponsorship of the Knights of Columbus, the survey of 1,237 adults Jan. 7-12 showed that the respondents would welcome limits on abortions so that they can be performed only during the first three months of pregnancy.

In 2019, the Marist Poll found that respondents favored restrictions by a 75% to 25% margin. Andrew Walther, vice president for communications and strategic planning for the Knights of Columbus, said that while the numbers have varied by a few percentage points over the 12 years of the poll, 70% to 80% of respondents have consistently supported abortion restrictions.

In the latest poll, 47% of “pro-choice” respondents favored restrictions while 98% of pro-life respondents felt the same way.

The latest poll also found that 55% of respondents identified as “pro-choice” and 40% as pro-life. u As Dutch parishes close, some Catholics just quit going to church. A Dutch Catholic newspaper warned churches will continue to close in the Netherlands, where half of all Catholic parishes have already been dissolved amid plummeting church participation.“It’s never good to panic, but there are grave concerns about the way things are going here,” said Peter Doorakkers, an editor at the Katholiek Nieuwsblad weekly. The editor spoke to Catholic News Service in mid-January after the paper published the results of a yearlong investigation on attitudes to church closures in the 17.1 million-strong Dutch population.

In a Jan. 2 feature, Katholiek Nieuswblad said the Catholic population of the

JANUARY 30, 2020

Netherlands had fallen by a fifth in 15 years, with just 5% of the country’s 3.7 million registered Catholics still attending Mass, while 55% of parishes had closed. The weekly said research suggests that Dutch society has not yet reached “peak secularization” and warned that, with more than 30% of church funds devoted to maintaining buildings, the “biggest wave of church closures” is still to come. u After probe is announced, bishop says he wants his ‘good name cleared.’ The Archdiocese of New York has confirmed it has begun an investigation of an abuse claim against Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, New York, who was threatened with a lawsuit by an attorney in November, alleging the prelate had abused a child decades ago while serving as a priest in New Jersey. The bishop immediately denied the accusation Nov. 13, vowing to “vigorously defend” himself against the claim. Under new protocols concerning accusations against Church higher-ups, the metropolitan archbishop, in this case Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, is charged with investigating any accusation made against another bishop in his region. u Spanish bishops launch marriage prep course that could last 2-3 years. Catholic couples in Spain will undergo up to three years of marriage preparation under an initiative by their bishops to reverse the country’s high rates of divorce. The Spanish bishops launched Together on the Way (“Juntos en Camino”), a program to help couples to succeed in their vocation to marriage amid a divorce rate that sees about 40% of marriages collapse within five years and nearly 60% within 15 years. The new course could last between two and three years; it replaces preparation courses that lasted between five and 20 hours. Speaking at a news conference in Madrid midJanuary, Bishop Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa of Bilbao said he did not believe previous courses were S

HEADLINES

NATION+WORLD

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8A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

adequate.“What can we do in five hours?” asked Bishop Iceta, president of the Spanish bishops’ subcommission for family and the defense of life. u President Trump issues new guidance on prayer in public schools. President Donald Trump announced his administration’s new guidance on prayer in public schools during a Jan. 16 event in the Oval Office on National Religious Freedom Day. Primarily, it will require states to report cases where public school students have been denied their right to pray. In a separate proposed rule, the administration aims to protect the rights of religious student groups at public universities, giving them equal treatment with secular student groups. For schools to receive federal funding, they will need to certify once a year with state education departments that they do not have policies in place that would prevent students from constitutionally protected prayer, a senior administration official said. u Integral development for all is a moral duty, pope tells leaders at Davos. Pope Francis told global business and government leaders that everyone has the moral responsibility to seek the integral development of all people, but especially those who are in need, suffering injustice or whose lives are threatened. “The moral obligation to care for one another flows from this fact,” which must never be forgotten, that “we are all members of the one human family,” he said in a message read to those attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Likewise, this means putting the human person, “rather than the mere pursuit of power or profit, at the very center of public policy,” he wrote. Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, attended the forum as the Vatican’s representative and read the pope’s message to the assembly Jan. 21. The annual meeting in Davos Jan. 21-24 brought together people representing business, government, academia and media to discuss the theme, “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.” u Judge blocks Trump’s order on state refugee resettlement. A federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Jan. 15 blocking the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order that would allow state and local government officials to reject resettling refugees in their jurisdictions. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, three faith-based resettlement agencies — HIAS, a Jewish organization; Church World Service; and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — who said their work would be directly impacted and harmed by the order. In his 31-page decision, U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said the executive order could be seen as unlawful because it grants states and localities veto power that “flies in the face of clear congressional intent.” The judge also called for refugee resettlement to “go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years” prior to President Donald Trump’s executive order, announced last September.

— Catholic News Service

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JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9A

FAITH+CULTURE

Survey offers look into U.S. bishops’ lives

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

C

atholics may be surprised to learn that many U.S. bishops describe their lives as both all-consuming and satisfying, a priest-researcher said in a presentation Jan. 15.

“These are guys who generally get up very, very early in the morning, pray about two hours every day and work about 10 hours a day,” said Father Stephen Fichter, a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., which conducted FATHER the survey. They STEPHEN FICHTER “just really do some interesting things and there are a lot of difficulties that they’re dealing with all the time.”

A priest of the archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, Father Fichter explained the results of a 2016 survey of active and retired U.S. bishops in a talk at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus. He told 35 attendees, including graduate students and faculty members, about the methodology, respondents and information gathered in the first formal survey of U.S. bishops.

The survey is the subject of a 2019 book published by Oxford University Press, “Catholic Bishops in the United States: Church Leadership in the Third Millennium,” which he co-authored with three other researchers.

The survey updates information gathered in an informal 1989 survey to create a comprehensive study, accurate current profile and examples of experiences in the role and ministry of U.S. bishops, Father Fichter said.

CARA is a national, nonprofit research center that conducts social scientific studies about the Catholic Church.

Of 429 surveys sent, 213 recipients responded. They included bishops ministering in the Latin and Eastern rites. (Most U.S. Catholics — and most Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — belong to Latin Rite parishes.)

Respondents included “ordinary” bishops, who head a diocese or archdiocese; auxiliary bishops, who assist ordinary bishops; and retired bishops. The average age of the active bishop respondents was 66.

The survey, Father Fichter said, indicated demographic changes: Of the 126 Latin Rite ordinary bishop respondents, 97 percent were born in the United States, while of the 33 Latin Rite auxiliary bishop respondents, 76 percent were. (Due to the foreign-based nature of their churches, Eastern Rite bishops are more likely to be born outside of the U.S. than those in the Latin Church.)

The majority of active bishops described themselves as theologically moderate or moderately traditional, while smaller numbers said they were moderately progressive.

The average workday for respondents was 9.8 hours. On average, bishops sleep 6.5 hours per night — 2.1 fewer hours than the average male their age, Father Fichter said. Bishops spend an average of 108 minutes per day in prayer. Overall, 97 percent are either somewhat or strongly satisfied with their life as a bishop. They find most satisfaction in the sacraments and liturgy, sharing the Gospel and working with people. Their greatest hopes are in youth and laity.

Topping their list of concerns and challenges are limited numbers of available priests, difficulty reaching people, secularism and religious freedom.

Respondents weren’t asked about

the clergy sexual abuse crisis because the survey was conducted before the issue came to the forefront with the 2016 start of the Pennsylvania grand jury investigation into clergy abuse and coverup by Church officials, Father Fichter said.

The talk was part of St. Mary’s University’s Cardinal Virtues presentation series, which aims to foster conversations around faith and culture and how they come together, said university President Father James Burns, who gave comments before Father Fichter’s talk.

“We hear a lot about what laity and more recently clergy have faced, but we haven’t had this in-depth look at bishops,” he said. “I think it’s helpful for the general population but also Catholics to understand who their bishops are.”

Aleksandra Denisora, 37, a St. Mary’s adjunct faculty member, said she attended to learn more about what the Catholic community beyond the university, as well as the bishops, are thinking.

She said she was surprised by the bishop respondents’ average age.

“Bishops just coming into their position at 66, how long are they able to work without being tired and working to the full capacity?” she asked.

The survey and the book offer a realistic snapshot of bishops today, Father Fichter said in an interview following his talk.

“I think that has great value ... and I would also hope that the bishops themselves would read the book to see how they compare to their other brother bishops, what their struggles and concerns are,” he said. “I would hope that the laity would read it for understanding of who the bishops are. … I would hope this would humanize the episcopacy.”

CNS

The Vatican Apostolic Archives are shown in this undated photo. After decades of anticipation, the Vatican is opening its archives on the World War II pontificate of Pope Pius XII.

Vatican wartime archives ready for new batch of scholars

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service After decades of anticipation, the Vatican archives are ready to welcome, starting March 2, scores of scholars wishing to study documents related to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII. All 85 researchers who have requested access have been given the green light to come and sift through all the materials from the period of 1939 to 1958, Bishop Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archives, said Jan. 13.

Coming from at least a dozen countries, the first wave of researchers includes 10 experts from the United States, including two from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum has been working with the Vatican archives for more than a decade, Bishop Pagano said, ever since Pope Benedict XVI authorized the early opening of materials pertaining to the pre-World War II pontificate of Pope Pius XI. It took more than 12 years to sort through, organize and catalogue the enormous quantity of information from Pope Pius XII’s long pontificate, Bishop Pagano said. The open collection also includes thousands of notes regarding Pope Pius’ charitable activity in Italy and abroad.

In fact, Bishop Pagano said he hoped there would be in-depth research into the critical and huge amount of aid the pope gave to those desperately in need during and after the war. Such massive assistance, he said, was due in large part to a constant flow of generous donations from the United States.

Referring to accusations by some historians and Jewish groups that Pope Pius XII and others did not do enough to stop the Nazi rise to power and the Holocaust, Bishop Pagano said the pope “did speak with his efforts and then he spoke up with words, so it is not true that the pope was totally silent.”

10A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

FROMAGETOAGE

Grandparents pray for grandchildren during Holy Land pilgrimage

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

R

od and Rita Kunkel’s visits to Jesus’ birthplace, the mountain where he gave the beatitudes and other sites in the Holy Land have them looking forward to giving their grandchildren a “high-definition” version of Bible stories.

“It’s just going to make it so much easier to communicate the readings of the Bible,” said Rod Kunkel, a member with his wife of St. John the Baptist in Savage. “Especially if we can describe the environment where they took place.”

The Kunkels, both 58, have five grandchildren and are anticipating the births of two more. They traveled to the Holy Land Jan. 7-16 as part of a pilgrimage with 18 other grandparents and “spiritual” grandparents organized through the Grandparents Ministry of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Evangelization.

The group wanted to walk where Jesus walked and pray together for their families and grandchildren.

Only Father Joseph Bambenek, their chaplain, had been to the Holy Land before.

“This is an experience grandparents want for our grandchildren, to encounter Jesus as a real person who lived and died to save us,” said Crystal Crocker, director of the Office of Evangelization and pilgrimage leader. “To bring them (grandchildren) to the Holy Land isn’t realistic, but we can bring back the beautiful stories of our trip and inspire them to want to learn more about Jesus and our faith.”

The group visited sites including the Sea of Galilee near the city of Tiberias; Mount Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration; and the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) in Jerusalem. They prayed daily for their grandchildren.

In addition to this first-of-its-kind trip to the Holy Land, the Grandparents Ministry provides resources

COURTESY DEBBIE KELLER

and programs to support and equip grandparents as they encourage their families to live their Catholic faith and keep their grandchildren engaged in it.

Most pilgrims were in their 50s and 60s, several were in their 70s and 80s. Several who had no grandchildren prayed for ones they may one day have or for others’ grandchildren.

The Kunkels said they found comfort in traveling with grandparents near their age.

“I think on a pilgrimage you’re holding many people’s intentions in prayer ... so to know we were with a group that would all be taking their grandchildren with them in prayer was a beautiful thing,” Rita Kunkel said.

Debbie Keller, 61, a member of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, prayed for her two granddaughters and their families who have experienced health problems.

She discovered that Nativity displays are kept up all year in Israeli churches and sensed God telling her to make more room in the “inn of her heart” for her family and others. Now, she plans to keep a Nativity scene out all year and share Bible stories with her granddaughters.

“I, too, want that scene present, that it’s Christmas all year long in our home, meaning we welcome you as the Savior,” Keller said.

When a friend told Pam Petersen, 67, about the

Travelers who visited the Holy Land Jan. 7-16 as part of the grandparents’ pilgrimage stand in front of the Jerusalem skyline with the Dome of the Rock visible behind them. “This was where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem before his passion,” pilgrim Debbie Keller (bottom left, in red) said of the site the where the photo was taken. An Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock sits on the Temple Mount, where the Jewish Second Temple sat before Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D. The pilgrimage was organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Evangelization.

pilgrimage, the parishioner at St. Ignatius in Annandale saw an opportunity to “expand my knowledge, deepen my faith and connect the two in a way that I could share with my children and grandchildren.”

Hearing Bible stories at the sites where the stories occurred, such as the wedding feast at Cana, was a highlight for Petersen. With pictures from the trip, she is creating a small book of Bible stories so her five grandchildren can see the sites.

“I know they will read (the book), and it’ll last a long time after I’m gone,” she said.

The first story Crocker plans to tell her six (with another on the way) grandchildren is of visiting Jesus’ birthplace and the Bethlehem hills where angels announced his birth to the shepherds.

So that more grandparents can grow in faith and pray with other grandparents, the archdiocese hopes to offer more pilgrimages to the Holy Land and other locations, Crocker said.

“If we take the time, money and sacrifice to go on a pilgrimage, God is going to give the grace as we come back to share that experience with our grandchildren,” she said. “Coming together, doing something together and supporting this effort, we feel that we can make a difference with God.”

If you suspect abuse of a minor, your first call should be to law enforcement.

You are also encouraged to contact the archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Program at (651) 291-4475.

For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contact Canvas Health at (651) 291-4497.

2020

fish fry and

Lenten

Meal Guide

Coming February 13 TheCatholicSpirit.com

FROMAGETOAGE

JANUARY 30, 2020

Pope tells his elderly peers the prayers of the old are powerful

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service On the eve of his 83rd birthday last month, Pope Francis met with a group of his peers — although many were a few years younger — and told them that “old age is a time of grace.”

“Grandparents, who have received the blessing of seeing their children’s children, are entrusted with a great task: transmitting the experience of life and the history of the family, the community, the people,” the pope said Dec. 16 during an audience with members of the Italian National Association of Senior Workers.

The association represents workers with at least 20 years of seniority in a company, defending the rights of older workers and promoting volunteer service by older people.

Pope Francis, who was born Dec. 17, 1936, told association members that one’s later years should be a “season of dialogue,” because “the future of a people naturally presupposes a dialogue and encounter between the old and young to build a society that is more just, more beautiful, has more solidarity and is more Christian.”

As one grows older, he said, “the Lord renews his call to us. He calls us to preserve and hand on the faith; he calls us to pray, especially to intercede; he calls us to be alongside those who are in need.”

“The elderly, grandparents, have a unique and special ability to understand the most problematic situations,” the pope continued. “And when they pray for these situations, their prayer is strong, it’s potent.”

By living one’s senior years as a gift and a time for dialogue, he said, the elderly show the lie of “the traditional stereotype of the elderly: ill, handicapped, dependent, isolated, besieged by fear, left out, having a weak identity after losing their social role.”

Active seniors, he said, also fight a system that focuses more on “costs and risks” than on “resources and potential.”

“The future — and this is not an exaggeration — will be found in dialogue between the young and the old,” he said. “We are all called to fight this poisonous throwaway culture.

With tenacity we are called to build a different society, one that is more welcoming, more human, more inclusive,” and one where the young aren’t ignored because they aren’t working yet and the old aren’t ignored because people think their financially productive years are over.

“Remember,” the pope told them, “talk to young people, not to clobber them, no. To listen to them, to sow something. This dialogue is the future.”

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11A

12A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER BYRON HAGAN

Jesus, obedient Son of Israel

We are accustomed to thinking of our Catholic religion as the “fulfillment” of the Judaism that came before it, and rightly so. But it would be a one-sided interpretation of the idea of “fulfillment” to mean by it simply “superiority” with respect to Judaism. In a very real sense Christianity is in fact a different religion from Judaism as it was practiced in the time of Jesus.

This we know. As Jesus himself understands the religion in which he was raised and which he practiced with (perfect) fidelity, Judaism was a waiting, a preparation in anticipation for future fulfillment. Jesus himself brings that fulfillment, but we must attend closely to how he does this.

Thus we should pay close attention to Jesus’ own practice of Judaism, which includes the practice of his family. Now, however differently the religion of first century Israel was understood by those who taught it and presided over its rites — the two main interpretations being that of the synagogue (Pharisees) and that of the Temple in Jerusalem (Sadducees) — the rabbi Jesus was possessed of a unified understanding that encompassed the faith of the Torah, Law, Prophets and Wisdom Books, along with the legally enshrined practices and traditions of the religious culture that developed during and after the Babylonian Exile.

While it is true that he often criticized the later extra-Biblical traditions and laws, he did so on the basis of his interpretation of Judaism itself. So Jesus the “critic” and “rebel” is also Jesus the obedient Son of Israel. Jesus even embraces the “charismatic movement” of John the Baptist, which goes to show that he’s no mere “traditionalist.”

And so we can see that the obedience of Jesus to the Judaism of his time is not purely formal, as if he says, “Well, I’ll go along with this Judaism of yours for a while, but eventually I’ll bring the whole thing to an end and start something totally new.” Such would not be an attitude of “fulfillment” at all. Rather, Jesus gives obedience to his religion in a fully conscious, active participation, which means he knows what the rituals and sacrifices mean, and he identifies himself with them in the deepest possible way.

From early manhood (at the age of 12 questioning the scholars in the Temple), Jesus acts as a Jewish man who has been “consecrated to the Lord” by the mark of circumcision. From birth he obeys the covenant of reconciliation God has made with all humanity through Israel. Because Jesus himself is that Covenant of Reconciliation, he shows by his obedience to the rite of circumcision that the “New Covenant,” which he inaugurates in his own blood, is also continuous with the “Old Covenant.” Jesus cannot show what the Old Covenant truly means without first entering into it.

We have begun our liturgical year by celebrating the Advent and Nativity of Christ. We can think of this time between now and Easter as following Jesus in his radical fidelity to the Old Covenant in order to best appreciate how he fulfills the religion of Israel and makes of it the religion of all humanity.

Father Hagan is parochial vicar of Holy Cross in Minneapolis. He can be reached at fr.hagan@ourholycross.org.

A colleague of mine recently returned to the U.S. after serving along with his family as missionaries in some of the poorest parts of the world. Their commitment to give away everything they had and follow Jesus into a life of poverty and service was a sincere and moving one.

I’ll never forget a comment made by his wife while they were still living in India. “We try to give everything away and follow Christ,” she said, “but that’s really hard. I’ll never be as poor as the truly poor.” She went on to list an American passport, an education and health care among some of her possessions that would always set her apart from those she served.

Transitioning back to one of the wealthiest countries in the world, this beautiful young family has worked to maintain a spirit of poverty. Smiling, my colleague remarked, “It’s incredible how much you don’t need.”

A few months later I was boxing up old clothes to be given away, and my heart sank as the words of this faithful young couple kept ringing in my ears: amazing how much you don’t need, you’ll never be as poor as the truly poor. My husband and I live a very simple life. We have modest salaries, a tiny rented house and are generally inclined to save rather than to spend. And there’s nothing wrong with wealth, of course. Some of God’s favorites were wildly wealthy.

But while boxing up that clothing, with some items still having price tags on them, my heart felt rancid with the stupidity and waste that is self-preoccupation and the ridiculous poison that is avarice.

I decided I would commit myself to greater austerity, refraining from the purchase of any clothes for at least the next year. (If I suddenly drop 80 pounds, I may have to adjust this commitment, but that seems unlikely.)

Still, that’s the easy part. The more difficult part is taking the money I would have spent on clothing and giving it away.

My best friend from Alaska, the one who taught me to love God’s word, demonstrated this principle faithfully. We would — when occasion called for it — fast together over various petitions.

I still remember her meeting me for “lunch” on our fasting days.

We would spend the time reading God’s word and praying together.

That’s the other half of any mortification: donation. We don’t just fast for fasting’s sake, but rather fill that time we might have spent eating with more prayer, nourishing ourselves with God’s word. Fasting of any variety intends to create more space for loving and serving the Lord.

And so it must be with my more austere year. I don’t just put

Sunday, February 2 Presentation of the Lord Mal 3:1-4 Heb 2:14-18 Lk 2:22-40 Monday, February 3 2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13 Mk 5:1-20 Tuesday, February 4 2 Sm 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30–19:3 Mk 5:21-43 Wednesday, February 5 St. Agatha, virgin and martyr 2 Sm 24:2, 9-17 Mk 6:1-6 Thursday, February 6.

St. Paul Mike and Companions, martyrs 1 Kgs 2:1-4, 10-12 Mk 6:7-13 Friday, February 7 Sir 47:2-11 Mk 6:14-29 Saturday, February 8 1 Kgs 3:4-13 Mk 6:30-34

YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY

A year more austere

DAILY Scriptures

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The poor are always with us.

But how will I be with them?

Sunday, February 9 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 58:7-10 1 Cor 2:1-5 Mt 5:13-16 Monday, February 10 St. Scholastica, virgin 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13 Mk 6:53-56 Tuesday, February 11 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 Mk 7:1-13 Wednesday, February 12 1 Kgs 10:1-10 Mk 7:14-23 Thursday, February 13 1 Kgs 11:4-13 Mk 7:24-30

iSTOCK PHOTO | PUNNARONG

down clothes shopping without putting something holier in its place. And I don’t get to keep the money I might have spent on clothing or the whole enterprise is for naught.

A few months into my clothes-acquiring fast, I confess I’m surprised at the relief it has brought on the one hand, and on the other, a weighty, uncomfortable and ever-present knowledge of the poor. Even as I write this, my brother is visiting a leper colony in India. The poor are always with us.

But how will I be with them?

Jesus, your word is clear and challenging: To be perfect, we must sell our possessions and give the money to the poor (Mt 19:21).

Forgive me the many times I have ignored the poor. Give me better eyes to see their need and to know how to use my resources in such a way that will please your generous heart and keep me focused on the treasures of heaven.

Kelly’s column typically runs in the Commentary section of The Catholic Spirit. She is the author of seven books, including the awardwinning “Jesus Approaches” (2017) and the “Your Heart, His Home Prayer Companion” (2019). Visit her website at lizk.org.

Father Michael Van Sloun’s column “Faith Fundamentals” will not appear this month. Find his Eucharist series under the “Faith” tab at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Friday, February 14 Sts. Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop 1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19 Mk 7:31-37 Saturday, February 15 1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 Mk 8:1-10 Sunday, February 16 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 15:15-20 1 Cor 2:6-10 Mt 5:17-37

JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13A

COMMENTARY

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | JASON ADKINS

LETTERS

Of monuments and imperfect men

When the painting “Father Hennepin Discovering the Falls of St. Anthony” (1905), along with another painting depicting the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, was removed from its central position in the Governor’s Reception Room of the Capitol to an out-of-the-way meeting space on the third floor, it was an attempt to recast Minnesota history as one born in white supremacy (with the coming of Christianity supposedly a part of that legacy) to tell instead a new story about the diverse state we are today.

The removal of the Father Hennepin painting was, on one level, a barometer of how far anti-Christian propaganda and historical ignorance have seeped into our culture.

Even so, the episode still provides important lessons about how to approach a complicated history and the issue of monuments more generally. In short, we need to do a better job as a Church of telling our story — of yesterday and of today — as well as reach out to those persons and communities who still struggle with the legacy of the sins and injustices of the past, whether Catholics committed them or not.

Identity politics Public art tells the story of a people; it honors heroes, identifies core values and helps shape the narrative of public life. It answers the question: Who are we?

The commission in charge of reviewing Capitol art justified its recommendation to remove Father Hennepin on the grounds that the painting depicted a bare-breasted native woman, which, it claimed, was historically inaccurate and insensitive (though Father Hennepin himself described such scenes in his journals and there are bare breasts depicted in many places in the Capitol).

And though Father Hennepin is shown blessing the falls with a crucifix, some apparently thought the painting depicted domination of native populations, especially when paired with the other painting, which shows an unjust appropriation of land in southwest Minnesota from two bands of Dakota Indians. People looked at those paintings and said, “No, that’s not us.”

But what seems to have given the most offense to some was that, in displaying the painting so prominently, the state’s origins were identified with the land being named and claimed for the dominion of Jesus Christ, and that this was being communicated to the many visitors who came to the Governor’s Reception Room.

Removing the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux painting is justifiable; removing Father Hennepin blessing the falls along with it is less so and seems rather like an unfortunate bow to political correctness.

Reclaiming history Ignorance surely plays a part in this drama. Far from being an agent of white supremacy, the Catholic Church is the most racially and ethnically diverse religious society in Minnesota, the United States and around the world.

Historically speaking, it is true that the Anglo-Protestant colonization in the U.S. treated native populations like racially inferior Canaanites who could be driven from the land to make way for the new chosen people who had a “manifest destiny” to live in this new land of milk and honey.

French and Spanish imperialism, though not without their own abuses, were markedly different. The French actively intermarried with the native populations, evangelized them, traded with them and sought to diplomatically incorporate their tribes into the French expansion of Christendom.

The Spanish meanwhile, especially after the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1535, built a tremendous mestizo (mixed race) empire in New Spain inspired by the Virgin, patroness of the Americas. There were great libraries and universities in South America before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

Other missionaries played important roles in preserving

Immigration dilemma

Precinct caucuses and presidential primary This year, Minnesotans have the opportunity to participate in both local precinct caucuses and the presidential primary.

Caucuses take place across Minnesota Feb. 25. The locations are set by the parties. To find your caucus location go to mncatholic.org/caucus.

During a party caucus, you can create and propose a resolution which, if voted through, can potentially become part of the party’s official platform. We have provided several resolutions on our website, mncatholic.org/caucus, which you can download and bring with you to the caucus. The resolutions we’ve provided include issues ranging from clean water to assisted suicide and much more.

You can also find a template for creating your own resolution on our website.

Minnesota’s presidential primary is set for March 3. The two major parties participating in the presidential nomination primary are the DFL and Republican parties. Registered voters are able to vote at their polling place March 3 or by absentee ballot starting Jan. 17.

Please note that to vote in a presidential primary you must request the ballot of the party of your choice. If a voter refuses to select a party, they will not be able to vote in the presidential primary. A voter’s choice of party ballot will be recorded and a list of who voted in a presidential primary and the political party each voter selected will be provided to the chair of each major political party. How a voter voted on the ballot will be secret.

For more details on caucus locations, resolutions, primary voting and more, visit mncatholic.org/caucus.

“

The removal of the Father Hennepin painting was, on one level, a barometer of how far anti-Christian propaganda and historical ignorance have seeped into our culture.

indigenous cultures and recording languages; like the example of Bishop Frederic Baraga, who created the Ojibwe dictionary and translated the Bible into that tongue. As a result of such efforts, large percentages of Native Americans became Christian.

These men were not perfect, and neither are we. For all his daring and missionary endeavors, Father Hennepin made, by today’s standards, some cringe-inducing statements about natives. There was a process in which Europeans had to learn to love native peoples and their ways before effectively sharing the Gospel with them.

There is also a history of abuses in Minnesota’s origin story that requires a just response through atonement and repentance. One way we can do so is working with Native Americans, African-Americans and others to identify concrete ways in which the shameful legacies of genocide and slavery can be remediated today. Hearing the stories and perspectives of others in the “contextualization” of these paintings in their new location is another way that we can understand how others were and are affected by the stories told in them.

Still, we can also be confident in the missionary mandate, and proud of the Church’s role in bringing Christ to this land and forming new cultural syntheses — a story that should remain central to Minnesota’s identity and her monuments because, like the Church, a community built on Christian principles is one that has the most capacity to be inclusive and promote justice.

We can build on our history without trying to completely rewrite it.

Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

I agree with Pax Christi member Geri Martin’s concerns (“Demand humane immigration,” Letters, Jan. 16), but am not at all certain that these concerns are the result of “horrendous immigration policies.” They could also be the result of a surprisingly large surge of people arriving at our southern border or the political deadlock in Congress preventing open and honest discussion that would lead to just and balanced legislation. If I’m not mistaken, President Obama also faced similar problems, but the media were more sympathetic to his dilemmas.

Roland Mayer Epiphany, Coon Rapids Also as a person of faith, I object to the Jan. 16 letter writer claiming we should welcome all the immigrants. She is trashing our president for his policies that are putting Americans first. She claims we should not sit by while children are being separated from their families. I say, blame the parents and not President Trump. No one forced these parents to bring their children here. I feel most of the refugees are coming for the benefits, not asylum and not to assimilate into our culture.

Minnesota is already the Somali capital of America with 150,000 of them here added to our taxes. Churches are wrong in participating in bringing them here.

America is not the welfare nation for everyone. We need to take care of our homeless before bringing in thousands of foreigners to support. All we hear lately is Catholics need to support the refugees. I will not support them while we have veterans sleeping under bridges while these illegals are in warm apartments and getting free food. It’s time to stop crying for the refugees and support our own who don’t have the churches fighting for them.

Marge Miller Epiphany, Coon Rapids

Sin or politics?

(Re: “Ecological sin: Idea of updating catechism sparks debate,” Jan. 16.) We joke in our tweets about using plastics once and throwing them out. We drive through the inner city, giving the local, poor children asthma. We use chemicals on our farms, giving farmers cancer. We grow lots of corn, which corporations turn into pop, stealing fresh water from the local poor, who only drink pop (it’s cheaper for them than water), causing massive tooth loss and diabetes. Actions in ignorance are perhaps not sinful. (“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”) But then we find out about the asthma, the cancer, the diabetes. If we continue our actions, then is it ecological sin? Then do we stop? Or is it just politics, and we continue to bear no responsibility for our actions?

Elizabeth Rosenwinkel St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.

14A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | DEACON GORDON BIRD

Embracing the heart of the Holy Family through ordinary living

Gazing through the lens of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we can try to seek out teachings that are either explicit in the Bible or, sometimes, not so evident.

Our challenge is embracing and integrating as best we can what God is trying to show and speak to us in the context of our own families. By consecrating activities of our ordinary lives to Jesus through Joseph and Mary, there is a sanctifying value we can gain from the model of this Holy Family.

Entering time and space as the Christ child — fully human, fully divine — God became one of us to save us. Jesus listened to his mother and father as an obedient son who “grew in wisdom and strength.” Many of those years were hidden and probably quite ordinary. It was all part of God’s plan to teach us how to grow in heart, body, mind and strength. We also grow in works, in simplicity, with love and humility — guided through a life of prayer with Jesus as the center of our souls.

Through the lens of St. Joseph we learn that, with Mary, he accepted Jesus as his own. Via a series of significant angelic dreams, he is to follow the mysterious path of God’s mysterious ways. There was lot of moving around initially: in haste, in suspense, in joy, in sorrow, in unfamiliar territory. Eventually he settled his family down in the Nazarene community, making a living as a carpenter, as a father teaching his son his trade. A devout, righteous man leading his Jewish family — the original domestic church. Certainly, a unique responsibility of blending a family — with natural and supernatural characteristics — into ordinary living on this mysterious path.

A mystery — not because it is unbelievable, but due to its

COMMENTARY

JANUARY 30, 2020

transcendence: the goodness, beauty and truth that plays in the story of the salvation for mankind.

Joseph — albeit silent in the Scriptures — provides an active, fatherly example for us to follow today. As a material provider, physical protector and spiritual leader of the family, he shows us that both body and spirit must integrate and embrace the will of God. He teaches us this along with the Blessed Mother.

Mary’s fiat at the Annunciation demonstrated in her response of human intellect, obedience and humility, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Lk 1:38). In raising God’s only begotten Son, Jesus’ mother and foster father epitomized God’s design of complementarity.

During the greater part of his earthly life, Jesus shared the same conditions and lack of wide recognition of most human beings. He lived many years in a common life of laboring, eating, resting and worshipping within the context of a Jewish family.

St. Josemaria Escriva, a Spanish Catholic priest who founded Opus Dei, speaks to the sanctifying value of ordinary life.

Inviting us to meditate on Jesus’ hidden years in Nazareth with the Holy Family, he comments: “Of Jesus’ thirty-three years, thirty were spent in silence, obscurity, submission and work.” A premise which teaches that everyone is called to holiness by God and that “ordinary life can result in sanctity.”

God made flesh as Jesus Christ chose to go through all the stages of human growth — physical, spiritual and intellectual — to save us. Through the same stages of growth that the rest of us are passing through, he taught and demonstrated how to be fully human. That all started with his Holy Family, which we are to emulate today with our own commonalities in the natural world, guided by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope and charity.

“Heavenly Father, you have given us the model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth. Help us, O loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth, where love, peace and joy reign. May it be deeply contemplative, intensely eucharistic, revived with joy” (St. Teresa of Kolkata).

Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville, and assists the Catholic Watchmen movement of the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization. Reach him at gordonbird@ rocketmail.com. Learn about the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen initiative at the-catholic-watchmen.com.

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651.291.4444

Annulment Questions?

Staff members of the Archdiocesan MetropolitanTribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the

investigation into the possibility of nullity

of the marriage bond (annulment process) at the Cathedral of St. Paul

239 Selby Ave, St. Paul February 26, Ash Wednesday, during and after each Mass 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information contact the Tribunal at 651-291-4466 No appointment necessary To learn more about the changes to the process, visit the Links page of the Tribunal web page, http://www.archspm.org/tribunal-annulments/

JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15A

CALENDAR Music

FEATURED EVENTS “In the Twilight of Life: Community, Poverty and Inequity in Aging” — Feb. 6: 5:30 p.m. at St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, Rauenhorst Ballroom–Coeur de Catherine. This year’s Social Justice Assembly will explore the barriers people encounter when aging without a support system, the role poverty and inequity can play, and the impact it has on the community. The event will feature a panel of guest speakers: Melea Blanchard, program manager of Catholic Charities’ Aging Services, Peter Cox, reporter covering aging at Minnesota Public Radio, Pahoua Yang Hoffman, executive director of Citizens League, and Allison Liuzzi, research manager at Minnesota Compass. Register online at cctwincities.org/2020Assembly or call 612-204-8333.

“Modern Handmaid’s Tale: The Ethics of Surrogacy, Egg Donation and Beyond” — Feb. 4 and 5: 7 p.m. Feb. 4 at St. Odilia, 3495 Victoria St. N., Shoreview; 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Owens Science Center, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Jennifer Lahl, director of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, will give a talk at each event about how women are being exploited by a fertility industry that is growing around the world and expected to exceed $52 billion in revenue in the next five years. Both events are free. The St. Thomas event is a joint effort of the Argument Club for Women and the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture.

Prayer and Listening Events — Join Archbishop Bernard Hebda for prayer, discussion and sharing about the blessings and challenges in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as it prepares for the 2020 Synod. Next upcoming events: Feb. 1: 9 a.m.–noon at St. Stephen, 2211 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. Bilingual, Spanish and English.

Feb. 11: 6-9 p.m. at Providence Academy, 15100 Schmidt Lake Road, Plymouth.

Feb. 15: 9 a.m.–noon at Lumen Christi, 2055 Bohland Ave., St. Paul.

More about these events and the full Prayer and Listening Event schedule at archspm.org/synod.

Mike Mangione at Open Window Theatre — Jan. 30: 7:30 p.m. at 5300 S. Robert Trail No. 400, Inver Grove Heights. openwindowtheatre.org.

Winter Recital: Works from Bach, Mozart, Bloch and Franck on Piano, Violin and Viola — Jan. 31: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield.

Pianist Carl Stahlmann and viola and violinist Jon Poupore. strichards.com.

A Night in Las Vegas: Dinner and Variety Show — Feb. 8: 6 p.m. at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9062 or iccsonline.org.

Eric Genuis at Open Window Theatre — Feb. 16: 6–9 p.m. at 5300 S. Robert Trail No. 400, Inver Grove Heights. openwindowtheatre.org.

Dining Out Winter Drive-up Booya — Feb. 1: 9 a.m.–2 p.m. at St. Mary, 261 E. Eighth St., St. Paul. stmarystpaul.org.

2020 Guardian Angels Men’s Club Beef and Sausage Dinner — Feb. 9: 10:45 a.m.–1 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 217 Second St. W., Chaska. gachaska.org.

Soup Supper — Feb. 17: 4:30–7 p.m. at St. Wenceslaus, 215 Main St. E., New Prague.

952-758-3888.

Ongoing groups SoulCollage Sunday Circles — Third Sundays through August 2020: 1:30–4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Job transitions and networking group — Tuesdays: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Bob at bob.sjtw@gmail.com. sjtw.net.

Grieving with Hope — Second and fourth Tuesdays: 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at St. Ambrose, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. LeAnn at 651-768-3009. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul.

Career transition group — Third Thursdays: 7:30–8:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. hnoj.org.

Parish events Divine Mercy: The Second Greatest Story Ever Told — Feb. 3-April 20 at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 10-part faith

formation series. Mondays 7–8:30 p.m. or Thursdays 1–2:30 p.m. parish.iccsonline.org.

Prayer/worship Dementia Friendly Catholic Mass — Feb. 6: 1:30–3 p.m. at St. Odilia, 3495 Victoria St. N., Shoreview.

Celebrant Father James Peterson. Enter door 11.

Father Ubal Healing Mass — Feb. 13: 6–9 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church, 215 Broadway St. N., Jordan. Tickets required. sjbjordan.org.

Retreats Just Write: Making Time for the Love of Words — Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Retrouvaille Marriage Program — Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Best Western Dakota Ridge Hotel, 3450 Washington Drive, Eagan. 800-470-2230 or info@tcr-mn.org. helpourmarriage.org.

Men’s silent weekend retreat — Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

“Broken, Blessed and Sent,” presented by King’s House Preaching Team. kingshouse.com.

Confirmation retreat — Feb. 7-9 at NET Ministries, 110 Crusader Ave. W., West St. Paul. netusa.org.

Men’s retreat — Feb. 7-9 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net.

Young Adults Winter Weekend — Feb. 7-9 at Cascade Lodge, 3719 W. Highway 61, Lutsen. idretreats.org.

Directed retreat — Feb. 10-14 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Presented by King’s House Preaching Team. kingshouse.com.

Listening with the Ears of our Temperaments — Feb. 13: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Married couples’ retreat — Feb. 14-16 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. ‘Fear Not; I Am With You Always.’ franciscanretreats.net.

Women’s Day of Reflection — Feb. 15: 8 a.m.–2 p.m. at St. Alphonsus, 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center.

Speaker Liz Kelly. jstalberger720@yahoo.com. stalsccw.wildapricot.org.

Conferences/workshops Conversation with Artists — Feb. 9: 1–3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

“The Man Born to Be King” — Feb. 11: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar.

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

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM/ CALENDARSUBMISSIONS MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Participate in this play by Dorothy Sayers. benedictinecenter.org.

Investment Conference — Feb. 12: 7:15–10:15 a.m. at St. Peter’s 1405 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota. ccf-mn.org.

Schools Classroom Substitute Teacher Training — Feb. 3-4: 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School, 1900 Stanford Ave., St. Paul. rebrand.ly.

Speakers Creating Wise Churches: (Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, Engaged) — Feb. 10: 5:45–8 p.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis. Co-hosted by St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community.

Theology on Tap — Wednesdays through Feb. 19: 6:30 p.m. at Gabe’s By the Park, 991 Lexington Parkway N., St. Paul. cathedralsaintpaul.org.

Other events Knights of Columbus bingo — Wednesdays: 6–9 p.m. at Solanus Casey Council Hall, 1910 S. Greeley St., Stillwater.

“The World Over” at Open Window Theatre — Feb. 13-Mar. 15 at 5300 S. Robert Trail No. 400, Inver Grove Heights. openwindowtheatre.org.

Marketplace • Message Center Classified Ads

Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: 651-290-1631 • Fax: 651-291-4460 Next issue: 2-13-20 • Deadline: 3 p.m. 2-6-20 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo/logo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780 ANTIQUES TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture Advertising Signs • Beer Items • Toys • Misc.

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PAINTING For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM or call (651) 699-6140.

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Free Estimates. 612-819-2438 PRAYERS NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY HOUSEHOLD MANAGER The Stillwater Catholic Worker Community is seeking an energetic and compassionate woman to manage and live at Our Lady Queen of Peace House, a home for women and their children in transition. Room and board included with this volunteer position.

Details available at STMICHAELSTILLWATER.ORG or by calling Marlay Smith 651-324-3115.

WANTED TO BUY Estate & Downsizing: I buy Van Loads and Bicycles. Steve (651) 778-0571.

Looking for Catholic JOBS? careers.archspm.org

16A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

GET PACKING

THELASTWORD

Catholics in northwest suburbs mobilize to feed hungry children

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

A

dream for feeding the hungry was about to die in December 2015. But, on the day before Christmas that year, a surprise gift came that has led to the packing of almost 6 million meals in the northwest Twin Cities area for starving children around

the world.

Roxanne Smith was the social justice director for St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove at the time. Her parish had been involved in packing food for Feed My Starving Children, a local relief agency founded in 1987 that packs and delivers nutritious food to young people in countries ravaged by hunger.

Smith had served on its board in the 1990s, so she dove in when an employee of FMSC called her about doing a large mobile packing event in the northwest suburbs that would bring in churches, businesses and community member.

In the spring of 2015, she met with several church leaders in the area, including Nichole Chang, a faith formation coordinator at St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park. They all agreed to do it.

The hard part was finding a place to do it. The two women formed a core leadership team, then began working with Dave Gunnlaugsson, mobile pack development adviser for FMSC. He recruited another member of the team, Jason Wittak, director of social justice and volunteer engagement at St. Joseph in New Hope. The two men searched for places, but none was suitable.

“It was the day before Christmas,” Gunnlaugsson said, “and I was going to just cancel the whole idea if we didn’t find space by the end of the year.”

That day, a friend called him with news of a possible facility — a warehouse in Champlin owned by Egan Company. The friend had contacted the company and received a positive response. Gunnlaugsson went there that day and forged an agreement.

He called it “one of the best Christmas presents we’ve gotten in a long time at FMSC.” The giver of that gift, ultimately, was Egan CEO Duane Hendricks, who happens to be a member of

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

St. Joseph the Worker. He said he was “super excited” to be part of it and provide the space, which is about 20,000 square feet.

Hendricks and his company have been the hosts every year since. The event is called Northwest Metro Mobilepack, with 1.78 million meals packed the first year and more than 1 million a year since. That makes it one of the largest mobile packing events in the country, Gunnlaugsson said. This year’s event takes place Feb. 19-23, with several two-hour packing shifts each day. Volunteers are still needed. With 5.9 million meals packed in four years, Wittak said he hopes to reach the 7 million mark this year.

In addition to its size, what makes this event unique, Gunnlaugsson said, is the Catholic leadership. Of the four local churches partnering to put on the event, three of them are Catholic. The fourth is Lord of Life Lutheran.

As the event has grown, Catholic schools such as Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, De La Salle in Minneapolis and Providence Academy in Plymouth have provided volunteers for meal packing, along with other parishes in the area such as St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park. Local businesses in addition to Egan have stepped in, too, plus other faith communities. The event has drawn up to 5,800 volunteers a year, with a maximum capacity of 6,400 to cover the two-hour packing shifts, plus setup and take-down.

Seeing so many people from so many different churches, schools, businesses and organizations working together is especially gratifying, Chang said.

“I think it shows that every person has a desire to do good,” she said. “They want to do good for other people, they want the best for the world and they want to help out where they can. ... When you think about how many kids you can feed for the year when you (pack) a million meals, that’s really powerful.”

For some volunteers, it’s a multi-generational effort.

Smith has brought in her husband, Gerry, their two adult sons and some of their five grandchildren.

Hendricks, the Egan CEO, likewise, has brought in family members.

“It’s all inspired by my faith,” he said. “What the good Lord teaches is about believing and about giving back and helping others and sharing. And, this (event) is just about doing it at a bigger level. As a leader in the company, it’s also my role to help instill that in our business — to be able to share and give back and help others.”

From start to finish, about 200 Egan employees work alongside event volunteers, beginning with clearing out the space every year beforehand and ending with

From left, Jason Wittak and Nichole Chang stand in front of a truck owned by Feed My Starving Children. The two are co-chairs of a food packing event that will take place at Egan Company in Champlin Feb. 19-23.

FEEDING HUNGRY KIDS Feed My Starving Children was founded in 1987 by a Minnesota businessman, the late Richard Proudfit, who went on a mission trip to Honduras and felt God calling him to start a ministry to provide food to hungry children. He worked with several local companies — Cargill, General Mills and Pillsbury — to create a mineral-fortified rice meal designed specifically for malnourished children, which is now called MannaPack Rice.

The meals are packed in specially designed plastic bags by volunteers who come for packing shifts of an hour or more and are trained beforehand. The first major shipment was delivered in 1994 to a pediatric hospital in Rwanda. Today, FMSC sends food to more than 70 countries, with more than 99 percent of meals arriving safely.

The first FMSC packing site was in Brooklyn Park, with two more added in the Twin Cities: Eagan and Chanhassen. The Brooklyn Park site later was relocated to its present spot in Coon Rapids, and other sites have been opened in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The organization began offering mobile packing events in 2004 and now does about 300 a year. In terms of meal packing, FMSC grew from 400,000 meals in 1994 to more than 333 million in 2017.

Total meals packed since 1994 exceed 2.5 billion.

WANT TO HELP? The Northwest Metro Mobilepack event needs more volunteers, plus donations to pay for food that is packed and shipped. To volunteer, visit give.fmsc.org/northwest. cleanup. Event leaders note that Hendricks can be seen pushing a broom when it’s over, and he jumps in to do some packing. One of the packing shifts is made up entirely of Egan employees.

Smith said a highlight for her has been seeing the response of her own parishioners. One year, St. Joseph the Worker parishioners staffed an entire shift and wore maroon T-shirts made for the occasion to create solidarity.

“It was so life-giving for me to see our community come together as a huge group like that and go out and do this and know that we were going to feed starving children, which is part of the Gospel calling,” she said.

“From my little grandkids to elderly seniors in their 80s, we were all ... working together for the same goal — to make sure that kids didn’t have to go hungry. It was just a beautiful experience.”

JANUARY 30, 2020 • 1B

SPECIAL REPORT PROTECTING CHILDREN

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Joy Hoffman greets Archbishop Bernard Hebda near the end of a Jan. 28 press conference at the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in downtown St. Paul announcing the end of a settlement agreement between the county and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Hoffman’s three sons were abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer while he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul and she was an employee.

What’s next?

Ramsey County’s oversight of archdiocese’s child protection efforts is ending. Going forward, leaders say the Church is ready to hold itself accountable.

“

We obviously have to continue our efforts. The archdiocese will be doing that now without the court order, but I believe that they’re very well poised and positioned to continue the progress.

John Choi Ramsey County Attorney

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

A

marathon with no finish line.

That’s the metaphor John Choi uses for the Church’s safe environment efforts. Choi, the Ramsey County attorney since 2011, and his staff have been deeply involved in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ efforts over the past four years to improve its policies, procedures and practices around protecting children from sexual abuse.

The period of his office’s official oversight ends Feb. 1. However, Choi’s convinced that the strides taken by the archdiocese have resulted in a sustainable culture change that makes it possible for the archdiocese to continue to move in the right direction. And that includes an ever-present effort to improve what’s already been done. “(The archdiocese has) accomplished a culture in which they’re constantly evaluating themselves in terms of the settlement agreement and the promises they’ve made and the progress that they’re undertaking,” he told The Catholic Spirit Jan. 20. “Just a lot of things have changed for the better, and it wouldn’t have changed unless we would have come to this arrangement where we came to a settlement agreement.”

That doesn’t, however, mean that everything is done, he cautioned. People

should not believe “that somehow all the efforts are completed.”

“If the goal is to get to the top of the mountain,” he said, “we continue that climb.”

‘No child ever again’ In December 2015, Ramsey County and the archdiocese settled a civil petition against the archdiocese filed earlier that year for how it handled a case of clergy sexual abuse in the early 2010s. With that settlement was a 24page settlement agreement outlining efforts the archdiocese agreed to take to improve its child protection practices.

The agreement stated a straightforward goal: “that no child ever again be the victim of clergy sexual abuse.”

Choi announced the settlement as did Archbishop Bernard Hebda, whom Pope Francis appointed to lead the archdiocese following the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Piché, 10 days after Ramsey County filed the charges.

Archbishop Hebda and other archdiocesan leaders who crafted the settlement agreement with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office supported robust requirements in order to show the archdiocese was serious about child protection and wanted the county to vouch to the public for the progress made, the archbishop said.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

What’s inside u First-time restorative

justice conference — 3B

u Victim-survivors share

stories — 4B, 6B

u Ramsey County Attorney

Office’s assessment on archdiocese’s safe environment culture — 5B

u Restorative justice and

healing resources — 8B

u Psychologist on ‘why can’t

they just get over it?’ — 10B

u Father Griffith working

for healing — 12B

2B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

WHAT’S NEXT? CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Already the archdiocese was in a process of evaluating its safe environment policies and procedures and trying to learn from past mistakes. In 2013, Archbishop Nienstedt commissioned a firm to review clergy files for all accusations of abuse. Meanwhile, he established a task force to study the archdiocese’s handling of clergy abuse and misconduct, and to make specific recommendations to improve policies and procedures.

Among those recommendations was that a layperson oversee child protection efforts and report directly to the archbishop. In 2014, Tim O’Malley, a former judge and Minnesota law enforcement leader, was appointed to the new position of director of ministerial standards and safe environment, and was tasked with developing the office and creating a team.

Meanwhile, the archdiocese had settled in October 2014 with “Doe 1,” a clergy victim-survivor who was the first to file a lawsuit against the archdiocese following the state’s 2013 lifting for three years of the statute of limitations on child sex abuse. (More than 450 victimsurvivors would eventually file claims, and the archdiocese entered bankruptcy in 2015 as a means to provide financial restitution equitably. It emerged from bankruptcy in December 2018.) The settlement with Doe 1 included 17 protocols the archdiocese agreed to follow that strengthen its child protection efforts.

When the archdiocese settled with Ramsey County a year later, the agreement — essentially a child protection plan — required the archdiocese to continue with those 17 protocols and other policies, but it also asked it to create a comprehensive set of policies available online, increase the involvement of lay Catholics and engage in restorative justice with victimsurvivors. It also gave the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office oversight of the plan. The parties originally agreed to three years of oversight, but the settlement agreement was amended and the oversight period extended in July 2016, when Ramsey County dropped criminal charges related to the same case.

“By 2016, efforts to improve were underway, and the archdiocese was under a lot of scrutiny. No doubt, even more intense scrutiny was ahead. Therein lay the opportunity,” O’Malley said. “With Ramsey County holding us accountable and so much focused attention on what was happening, the time was ripe for making lasting, institutional changes to our safe environment culture.”

Since the agreement was made, the archdiocese has appeared before a Ramsey County Court judge every six months to report on its progress in meeting the terms of the settlement agreement. At each hearing, the judge has found the archdiocese compliant with the agreement.

The archdiocese’s final court appearance was Jan. 28.

Like the others, it was in the Ramsey County Courthouse before Judge Teresa Warner. And with the agreement’s end, Ramsey County’s oversight also ends.

Both the archdiocese and Ramsey County say they feel confident that the agreement has served its purpose — that the archdiocese has experienced significant culture change and that child protection is an utmost priority.

“It wasn’t a check-the-box for them,” Choi said of the agreement’s terms, which he calls “best practice across the country.”

In preparation for the final hearing, Assistant Ramsey County Attorneys Thomas Ring and Stephanie Wiersma interviewed more than 50 stakeholders in the archdiocese about its culture as it relates to child protection and responding to victim-survivors. The 25-page executive summary included assessments of different facets of the archdiocese, from priests to the laity and from seminaries to schools. Overall, the results were positive, Choi noted.

“Through its current leadership, the archdiocese has demonstrated what appears to be a very sincere institutional commitment to protecting children from sexual abuse by clergy,” the authors concluded. “Safe environment efforts are quite different today than they were four years ago, and the Archdiocese should be recognized for its accomplishments.” (Read the full report on pages 5B-12B.) The report included recommendations for areas of growth and improvement, noting “there is more that can be done to protect children and provide healing.” It also called for the archdiocese to make a public

PROTECTING CHILDREN HOW DID WE GET HERE? In June 2012, then-Father Curtis Wehmeyer was arrested at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, where he was pastor at the time, for criminal sexual conduct. In 2013, he pleaded guilty in a Minnesota court of sexually abusing brothers Luke and Stephen Hoffman at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul in 2010. He pleaded guilty in a Wisconsin court in 2015 to sexually assaulting a third brother, Ben Hoffman. He was imprisoned and laicized. The victim-survivors were parishioners and the sons of one of Wehmeyer’s staff members, Joy Hoffman.

While he is not known to have abused anyone else, Wehmeyer had previously violated the archdiocese’s misconduct policies.

Driven in large part by information its former top canon lawyer, Jennifer Haselberger, shared with media, questions arose around how well archdiocesan officials had adhered to its own safe environment policies. In October 2013, The St. Paul Police launched an investigation into the archdiocese. On June 5, 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed six criminal charges and a civil petition against the archdiocese as a corporation. The charges included six gross misdemeanors: three counts of contributing to the need for protection or services for a minor, and three counts of contributing to a minor’s status as a juvenile petty offender or delinquency.

Ten days after the charges were filed, Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché resigned, and Archbishop Bernard Hebda was appointed, temporarily at first, to lead the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. (Pope Francis made the role permanent the following year.)

In December 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and archdiocese settled the civil charges with a 24-page agreement that outlined a litany of steps the archdiocese was already taking or agreed to take to ensure children were safe in its parishes and schools. Among them was the county’s oversight for the first three years.

In July 2016, the county dropped criminal charges tied to the same case, and the settlement agreement was amended to include four years of county oversight, which is slated to end next month, following the Jan. 28 court hearing. At all seven previous hearings, a judge has determined that the archdiocese has demonstrated “substantial compliance” with the settlement agreement. commitment to “continued forward movement and public accountability.”

To that end, the archdiocese filed with the court a safe environment plan that outlines its plans to continue what it put in place through the settlement agreement and continued oversight through regular outside audits.

That plan, and the archdiocese’s final report to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, are available at archspm.org.

As the agreement comes to a close, Choi is pleased with the outcome, but he notes that the past four years could have looked very different. The relationship between the archdiocese and his office was initially adversarial. Instead of working together to settle and dismiss the charges and progressing toward an institutional culture change, the parties could have litigated, Choi said. And, he thinks, the legal complexity of the case would have taken it to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the parties would still be litigating.

On that path, “none of the progress that’s happened over the course of the past few years would have happened at all, because we would instead be putting our energy into fighting over a conviction” that at most would have resulted in a fine and some form of probation. “That result would have been very empty as compared to the fullness of what the settlement agreement has accomplished,” he said.

Much of Choi’s confidence in the archdiocese’s future comes from greater lay involvement in the creation and execution of its safe environment protocols. For years, the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts were handled by a single priest; now two archdiocesan offices collaborate to create and implement policies, as well as investigate misconduct allegations.

“What was happening before was that the laity was not involved. In fact, in many instances they were just never informed of situations involving clergy sex abuse or any situations involving clergy misconduct,” he said.

O’Malley’s entire team is comprised of laypeople — and ones who bring important backgrounds to their work. His deputy is Janell Rasmussen, who previously worked for the BCA and coordinated the state’s AMBER Alert program. The office’s assistant director and lead

JANUARY 30, 2020 investigator, Michael Campion, is a former BCA superintendent and a former director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

They’re supported by the Office for the Protection of Children and Young Adults, which includes four program liaisons who work with parishes to help them implement and maintain compliance with the archdiocesan policies. Also in that office is a position created last year: the outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, held by Paula Kaempffer, herself an abuse survivor.

In addition, Tom Johnson, a Minneapolis attorney, serves as an independent, volunteer ombudsman to listen to and advocate for victim-survivors. The office also provides victim-survivor assistance through Canvas Health, an independent mental health care provider.

Advising the archbishop on all misconduct accusations is the archdiocese’s Ministerial Review Board, also comprised of mostly lay people, including abuse victim-survivors, and non-Catholics, such as longtime child advocate Patty Wetterling. The archdiocese’s board of directors and finance board have also assumed more responsibility in safe environment accountability, Choi said.

Father Daniel Griffith, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, is the archdiocese’s liaison for restorative justice, and he is collaborating with several lay leaders — among them former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske and Mark Umbreit, director of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, to spread restorative justice in the local parishes. (See story on page 12B.) The need for lay involvement extends into every parish, school and institution, leaders said. The archdiocese requires all Church employees and volunteers to be mandatory reporters. Clergy and lay employees or volunteers have to complete safe environment training and policy commitment, commonly known as the “Essential Three,” or “E3”: VIRTUS training, a criminal background check and signing the archdiocese’s code of conduct.

“For some, it might be a little bit cumbersome, but they’re all very much necessary to create this environment in which we do everything possible to ensure the protection of children and others from any type of abuse,” Choi said.

From the beginning, archdiocesan leaders approached the settlement agreement “as what’s the right thing to do, not necessarily what is Ramsey County going to ask us to do,” Archbishop Hebda said.

“We wanted to show our resolve and have someone be able to verify the progress that was being made. And that’s what I think we’ve seen at the end of this time period,” he said. “Hopefully we have in place a way of moving forward that has already embedded accountability into what we do.”

Trust and transparency continue to be a challenge for the Church, and on the local level, Ramsey County has been the check. Archbishop Hebda agrees with Choi that the laity has a major role to play in making sure this changed culture persists, and transparency is key.

Without Ramsey County’s oversight, the Church must hold itself accountable, Choi said, and the laity must assume that responsibility.

“That’s the critical piece of it,” he said. “If people just want to wash their hands of it and say ‘everything is taken care of (and) I don’t have to do anything,’ that’s not going to be a recipe for success. But if people are recognizing that the Church needs the help of the faithful to be successful, then that’s even better.”

Also convinced of the archdiocese’s commitment to its culture change is Ben Hoffman, one of the three brothers and victim-survivors whose case resulted in the charges, and his mother, Joy. At the court hearing and a press conference that followed, Joy thanked both Ramsey County and archdiocesan officials for their work.

“I’m grateful for the boys, for their courage in coming forward and persevering until justice has been met by the fact that I think we are assured of safe environments now, thanks to the work of everyone involved,” Joy told The Catholic Spirit following the press conference.

Ben added: “It gives me peace to know that I can go to church with my son and be at peace knowing that he’s safe, and the archdiocese in its current state brings me tremendous joy.”

JANUARY 30, 2020

PROTECTING CHILDREN

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3B

Frank Meuers, a

victim-survivor of clergy sexual abuse, speaks about his experiences during a Jan. 23 conference organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

“

Most days I struggle with ‘this is what I have,’ and occasionally with ‘what could have been.’

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

‘A stone in a pond’ Victim-survivors share impact of clergy sexual abuse at restorative justice conference

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

F

or Frank Meuers, a victim of clergy sexual abuse, the impact is far-reaching and neverending.

“It’s like a stone in a pond,” he said, “the hole disappears, but the ripple effects go on and on.”

The director of the southwest Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, Meuers described the anger he lived with for years — and the help he received through therapy. He shared that and more as part of a five-person panel of victim-survivors at a Jan. 23 conference organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

More than 60 people listened, most of them also victim-survivors, on a day especially set aside for them. They nodded in recognition or teared up in empathy and understanding as Meuers and others on the panel discussed broken but healing families, difficulties forging lasting relationships and struggles with their faith.

The conference was remarkable for many reasons.

It brought together victim-survivors and Church and Ramsey County officials, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda, County Attorney John Choi and Tim O’Malley, archdiocesan director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. It was one of several final steps made in January toward the archdiocese satisfying terms of its settlement agreement over civil charges that the county filed in 2015 alleging the archdiocese was negligent in the case of an abusive priest.

Rather than marking an end, the conference marked a beginning toward wider healing in the archdiocese and continued safe environments for children in its parishes, schools and ministries. It included Ramsey County and Church officials tagteaming a detailed account of what transpired in the county’s investigation of the archdiocese and four years of court-monitored oversight.

Archbishop Hebda apologized, as he has in the past, for what the Church had done and what it had failed to do in its history of clergy sexual abuse, and he promised to continue doing better. Choi recognized

the good-faith work of the archdiocese and his confidence that under current leadership, that work will not end.

“I had an immense sense of peace and joy coming over here,” Choi said in his opening remarks at the Restorative Justice and Reconciliation Conference in Lake Elmo. “Because this truly is about the journey we all have been on.”

Victim-survivors, parish and diocesan officials came from as far away as South Dakota, Virginia and Wisconsin, and as close as the Diocese of St. Cloud and parishes in the Twin Cities.

Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, spent the day and planned to share what he learned with bishops around the country.

“We can learn a lot from your relationship with Ramsey County,” Deacon Nojadera said. “You can sense the Holy Spirit moving in all of this.”

The journey will not end for the archdiocese or victim-survivors, who carry with them the pain and weight of abuse, participants said. But Meuers and victim-survivors Jim Richter, Ben Hoffman and his mother, Joy, and Gina Barthel also talked as panelists about the healing they have found through various avenues, including the Church.

“As I look around this room, I know people here, and in that regard, I think I’m a more human person than I would have been,” Richter said after describing how the abuse he suffered makes it difficult for him to build and hold onto relationships.

A member of St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, Richter said his struggles influenced his decision to work behind a microscope as a pathologist rather than directly with patients in internal medicine.

“Most days I struggle with ‘this is what I have,’” Richter said, “and occasionally with ‘what could have been.’”

Janine Geske, a retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and expert in restorative justice and reconciliation, told the conference about her experiences around the world using restorative justice as a path toward healing, which is an approach she helped bring to the archdiocese.

She helped lead a session of small-group sharing known as healing circles. Geske also encouraged parishes to be part of the solution by welcoming victim-survivors and including them in the prayers of the faithful, perhaps even having a therapist on staff.

Such prayers might seem like a little thing, she said, but they can be meaningful to victim-survivors, and they can open doors to greater understanding among the faithful.

Paula Kaempffer, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and the archdiocese’s outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, acted as

Jim Richter

WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE? Restorative justice is a way of acknowledging and addressing harm.

It asks three questions: Who was harmed, what was the nature of the harm and how can it be repaired.

It is survivor-centered. Restorative justice and healing circles provide a safe space where survivors can tell their stories.

It promotes accountability. The source of the harm and its effects are named, with an eye toward reform. Perpetrators, when appropriate, are invited to hear survivors tell them about the harm they have caused.

Restorative justice includes those who have been peripherally harmed — family members, friends, and in the case of the Church, parishioners. Harm casts a wide net. Restorative justice promotes broad healing.

It is consistent with Scripture and Church teaching; restoration is God’s work.

Restorative justice works. It is being employed in many different settings, including prisons, schools and the juvenile justice system.

Father Daniel Griffith, pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Minneapolis; Wenger Family Fellow of Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, also Minneapolis; archdiocesan liaison for restorative justice and healing.

Editor’s note: These highlights formed the basis of a commentary by Father Griffith that appeared in the April 4, 2019, edition of The Catholic Spirit. The commentary can be found at at thecatholicspirit.com/commentary/where-do-wego-from-here-restorative-justice-a-path-to-healing.

moderator for the day. She thanked victim-survivors for sharing their experiences and said efforts to help people harmed by the Church will continue.

Barthel, a parishioner at St. Michael in St. Michael, said it was empowering, humbling and freeing to talk openly about her experiences while having the support of other victim-survivors. She understands that some who have been hurt would not set foot again into a Catholic church, but for her, it’s important to find healing there and let others know it is possible, Barthel said.

“I want the world to know that you can be wounded in the heart of the Church and you can find healing in the heart of the Church,” she said. “That journey is not an easy one. It’s a long and challenging road. But for me it’s worth it.”

PROTECTING CHILDREN

4B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 30, 2020

Sexual abuse victim finds path to healing with help from bishop

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

G

ina Barthel went to a priest while in New York to find healing from childhood sexual abuse.

She got the opposite. In 2004, when she was 28, a priest from a religious order listened to her stories about being sexually abused from age 4 to 9, then took her down the same path.

In the midst of the abuse, she moved back to the Twin Cities. Thanks to another priest, who serves in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, she not only got out of the abusive relationship, but reported it and played a role in the abusive priest being removed from ministry.

Even so, her struggles continued, and she felt unable to continue practicing her Catholic faith.

Finally, six years after reporting the abuse, she found a path to healing with the help of Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who started meeting with her regularly in January 2014 and still does.

Today, she can smile broadly as she talks about her faith and the parish she belongs to, St. Michael in St. Michael, the parish of her upbringing. She goes to Sunday Mass regularly again and spends time in eucharistic adoration. The pastor of St. Michael, Father Peter Richards, has been “an excellent support” in both helping her return to the sacraments and encouraging her to report the abuse to police.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT “My faith is very important to me,” said Barthel, Gina Barthel has found healing from clergy sexual abuse with help from Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who has met with her 44. “It’s the single most important thing in my life.” regularly and listened to her share her story.

That passion drew her to join a religious order in 2003. It was there she met her abuser, Father Jim to hell,” she said. “I was so afraid that I was going to afraid.

Montanaro, who belonged to a different order, the lose my soul.”

After talking to him about her difficulty in going to Oblates of the Virgin Mary. He became her spiritual She sent an email to Bishop Cozzens, and she got a confession, she got a text from him one Sunday director, and he continued in that role after she left reply the same day.

They met for the first time in afternoon offering to hear her confession. the order in 2005. They had affectionate nicknames January 2014 at the former archdiocesan chancery on She accepted, but chided herself for needing special for each other, and Barthel said she Summit Avenue in St. Paul. attention.

She told him she thought it was a waste of believes that from the beginning “He just said, ‘I want to know his Sunday afternoon to hear the confession of he was grooming her for later everything,’” Barthel said. “He just someone who couldn’t go during a scheduled time abuse. listened. I could tell that he “like every other normal person.”

In 2006, she moved back to believed me, that he just loved me, Minnesota, where the priest But, she said, Bishop Cozzens told her he had been that he cared. Nothing about it felt reading the Gospel passage that morning in which continued to have contact with fake. It just felt very authentic.” her, primarily over the phone. He Jesus talked about leaving the 99 sheep to find the What Barthel thought “was just made a visit in 2007 and started a one that is apart from the rest. And, he told her he going to be a one-time thing” sexual relationship with her. felt like he needed that day to go after the one sheep turned into monthly meetings all Feeling uncomfortable and — her. the way to the present, with two confused, she decided later that “I just burst into tears,” she said. “It was in that meetings last month to help her year to talk about it with another moment I experienced the personal love of God in a through the Christmas season. priest, who made it clear the very profound way. I knew in that moment that God They use safe environment relationship was wrong and called loved me and he cares about me so much that he’s standards the archdiocese has Father Montanaro, who admitted going to reach out and just grab me and pull me back established in response to clergy to the abuse and eventually left into himself. ... It was like God reaching out to me the order. Barthel said he was sexual abuse. This has helped and rescuing me.” never charged with a crime create an environment in which Barthel has started sharing her story with others, because she reported the abuse to Barthel could share her story and both one-on-one and in group settings as a guest civil authorities just one month find healing. speaker. Even though she has “always been terrified of after the statute of limiitations had “He’s been always just gently Gina Barthel public speaking,” she is driven by the desire for others expired. leading me toward Jesus but also to experience healing similar to hers. She spoke at a Barthel said she reached out to providing that safe space,” she restorative justice event Jan. 23, and she is open to get additional support from the said. “I have no qualms or feel bad being a speaker at future events. archdiocese but was not satisfied. about ever being angry . ...

“One of the greatest things I heard was when I told By that time, she had stepped away from the Church Whoever I feel angry at, I can freely say that and not the mother superior (of the order she left) what and was no longer going to Mass. feel like he’s going to think I’m a terrible person or a happened. The first words off her lips were, ‘I believe bad Catholic. You need that safe space to be able to Things changed when she turned on her car radio you,’” Barthel said. “It was so consoling to be believed say how much the pain of what happened to you ...

Dec. 9, 2013. Relevant Radio AM 1330 was immediately and without question. This is something hurts, and how much it affects you.” broadcasting Bishop Cozzens’ episcopal ordination at I try to echo when victims approach me with their the Cathedral of St. Paul. She heard him speak during She said over the last 12 years, she has received the Mass and felt she could talk to him about the therapy, been hospitalized for depression and anxiety, stories.” clergy sexual abuse she had suffered.

Barthel said she understands the anger victims of and even attempted suicide. clergy sexual abuse feel toward the Church, but she “It was very clear in my heart: If anybody can help One important phrase Bishop Cozzens repeats to hopes they can find the strength and courage to me, it’s going to be him,” she said. Though she had her, she said, is “Jesus understands.” She hears it reclaim their Catholic faith. gotten help from the priest she first told of the abuse, when she tells him she can’t muster the courage to go and from Father Richards, she wanted support from “The thing that is the most important to me,” she to Mass because of her anxiety. Or when something at someone higher up in the Church. said, “is I want people to know that you can be Mass triggers her, and she leaves early because it’s too wounded in the heart of the Church and find healing painful to stay. Or when she can’t go to confession “All I wanted was to hear my bishop tell me that it (abuse) wasn’t my fault and that I wasn’t going to go during normally scheduled times because she is too in the heart of the Church.”

“

All I wanted was to hear my bishop tell me that it (abuse) wasn’t my fault and that I wasn’t going to go to hell. I was so afraid that I was going to lose my soul.

PROTECTING CHILDREN

JANUARY 30, 2020

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5B

RCAO CULTURAL ASSESSMENT REPORT THE IMPACT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY ATTORNEY’S SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAINT PAUL & MINNEAPOLIS Editor’s note: The following is a report the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed with the Ramsey County Court Jan. 28 on its assessment of the settlement agreement’s impact on the culture in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as it relates to protecting children. A list of people interviewed for the report is on page 11B. The report is republished in full. Find it online at archspm.org under “Announcements.”

January 28, 2020 Principal authors: Thomas E. Ring and Stephanie L. Wiersma “This historic agreement ensures systemic change and creates a framework of accountability that increases oversight and transparency, and ultimately supports a cultural shift in how the Archdiocese protects children and responds to alleged abuse. It is my expectation that the facts of this case will never be repeated and the protection of children will forever be of paramount importance within this Archdiocese.”

Ramsey County Attorney John J. Choi December 18, 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In June 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office (RCAO) brought unprecedented criminal charges and a civil child-protection petition against the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis (Archdiocese). Each case alleged the inexcusable institutional failure of the Archdiocese to protect children from clergy sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese and RCAO reached an agreement to settle the civil action in December 2015 (Settlement Agreement). The Settlement Agreement specified an ambitious goal for work the Archdiocese was about to begin: “the Parties agree that the Archdiocese shall seek to create and foster an organizational culture in which everyone becomes and remains vigilant about achieving an overall aspirational goal that no child ever again be the victim of clergy sexual abuse.” [1] Since December 2015, the Archdiocese has implemented a new lay-dominated formal structure for meeting agreed-upon specifications for maintaining safe environments for children, defining criteria for ministry in the Archdiocese, and providing appropriate responses and services for victim/survivors. Civil authorities have monitored the Archdiocese over the past four years through continuing contact and collaboration, ongoing twice-per-year reports to the Ramsey County District Court (the Court), and annual certification from external auditors that the Archdiocese has remained in substantial compliance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement.

By its terms, the Settlement Agreement expires February 1, 2020. As that date approached, the RCAO sought to assess whether an organizational culture shift has occurred to a degree such that the safeguarding of children from sexual abuse is now a highest priority.

The organizational culture is reported to have changed demonstrably for the better. The Archdiocese deserves credit for achieving the progress that is observed. Some aspects of change appear to be embedded within the organization as routine ways the organization now operates.

Moving forward without continuing oversight provides an opportune time for the Archdiocese to reflect on, review and study its Safe Environment Program. RCAO’s findings reveal that while much has been accomplished, at least incremental improvements are possible.

This report provides specific recommendations beginning at page 21. (Editor’s note: In this printing,

those recommendations can be found on page 11B.)

Background The sexual abuse of children at the hands of clergy has plagued the Catholic Church for centuries. [2] Beginning around 1947, the Catholic Church in the United States began to send priests who had sexually abused children to dedicated psychiatric hospitals for “evaluation and treatment.” [3] Used to manage risk, protect the institution and enable the return of abusive priests to ministry (often among unsuspecting laity), this model persisted for over seventy years. The history in this Archdiocese is no different.

Despite being a routine defendant in civil litigation brought by victim/survivors, it was not until October 2013 that the Archdiocese appears to have begun to systematically examine its failures to keep children safe. At around this time, in a series of reports, Minnesota Public Radio exposed widescale archdiocesan conduct aimed primarily at protecting the institution and its own at the expense of child sexual abuse victims and their families. In response to the reports, the Archdiocese established a “Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force” in October 2013 to study the situation in the Archdiocese and make recommendations. The Task Force issued its report and recommendations on March 31, 2014. [4] In October 2014, the Archdiocese settled the “Doe 1 litigation,” a settlement that permitted victims’ attorneys to examine evidence pertaining to all clergy abuse across the Archdiocese rather than be limited to evidence restricted to a particular priest and his victim. [5] As part of the settlement, the Archdiocese agreed to adopt what were later termed the “Anderson Protocols,” seventeen childprotection protocols the Archdiocese was to implement. [6, 7] On June 5, 2015, following a twenty-month long investigation, the RCAO served and filed criminal charges and a separate civil child-protection petition against the Archdiocese, each alleging gross, inexcusable institutional failure to protect children.

Among other things, the investigation revealed that the Archdiocese ignored red flags of suspected abuse, failed to respond to reports appropriately and routinely put the interests of the institution and cleric ahead of those of the victims and their families. Through these legal actions, the RCAO sought to hold the Archdiocese accountable, provide justice for the victims and the community and instill confidence in the public that these crimes would not happen again.

The Archdiocese and RCAO settled the civil action on December 17, 2015, subject to approval by the United States Bankruptcy Court. [8] On July 19, 2016, the Archdiocese and RCAO agreed to amend the Settlement Agreement in exchange for dismissal of criminal charges, which thereby enabled the release of case documents to the public.

The Amendment added provisions and language to strengthen the initial agreement. Additionally, the Archdiocese publicly admitted to wrongdoing for failing to adequately respond to and prevent the sexual abuse of the victims, and for failing to keep the safety and welfare of the children ahead of its own interests and the interests of the cleric who abused. This admission permitted Archdiocesan leadership to acknowledge an institutional failure in the case and, with that admission, begin a new way forward toward shifting the culture, repairing the harm and restoring trust.

Methodology This report seeks to examine the degree to which the Archdiocese has achieved cultural change supportive of the aspirational goal that no child again become the

victim of clergy sexual abuse.

To assess the change, if any, case documents and other background materials were reviewed; and over fifty archdiocesan stakeholders were interviewed individually using a standard-question interview technique, with follow-up questioning within interviews. Those interviewed included: victim/ survivors, archdiocesan employees, laity, priests, volunteers, community members and others having some connection to the cases against the Archdiocese.

At the start of each interview, each interviewee was advised a written report would likely be filed with the Court, and thereby become a public document. To encourage free discussion, interviewees were advised aggregated information would be reported without quotes or attribution to individual interviewees. A request was made of each to include their name on a list of persons interviewed.

No one invited to interview declined. Each gave permission to list his or her name. (See Appendix.) The RCAO thanks each interviewee for their time, courtesy and thoughtful input.

Organizational Integrity and Cultural Values The Settlement Agreement can be viewed as the parties’ jointly-constructed framework for an Archdiocesan Safe Environment Program, the specifications for which the Archdiocese would be held accountable for the length of the agreement. Moreover, it should also be viewed as a potential road map to provide guidance into the future, thereby allowing the change realized to embed into the organizational culture of the Archdiocese. [9] As discussed below, the broad contours of the framework address: 1. leadership; 2. structure, policies and processes; 3. victim/survivor assistance; 4. role of relevant stakeholders; 5. support for laity, priests and parishes; and 6. means and measures for holding the Archdiocese accountable to its commitments.

Building this framework requires building both compliance-based and values-based tools. [10] In order to promote organizational integrity and cultural values that have developed over the past four years, the Archdiocese will need continued reliance on both tools that have been implemented as a result of the Settlement Agreement. The Archdiocese must continue to assess risk and promote compliance in line with values to achieve a goal of safety for all children within the Archdiocese.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 1. See Settlement Agreement, Recital 1.

2. See Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.R. Sipe, and Patrick J. Wall, Sex, Priests and Secret Codes 12–55 (Volt Press 2006).

3. Id. 4. See Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force, Report and Recommendations to Protect Children from Clergy Sexual Abuse. (March 31, 2014).

5. The “Doe 1” litigation is a different case than the civil child-protection petition brought by RCAO in June 2015. See Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Diocese of Winona, and Thomas Adamson, Ramsey County District Court File No.: 62-CV-13-4075.

6. ‘Humiliated’ Twin Cities Archdiocese Settles Abuse Lawsuit with Landmark Agreement.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 13, 2014.

7. Some of these protocols were incorporated into the Settlement Agreement.

8. In the Matter of the Welfare of: VICTIM-1, et al., Ramsey County District Court File No.: 62-JV-15-1674.

9. “The culture of a group can be defined as the accumulated shared learning of that group as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration; which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, feel and behave in relation to problems. This accumulated learning is a pattern or system of beliefs, values, and behavioral norms that come to be taken for granted as basic assumptions.” Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership at 6 (John Wiley & Sons, 5th ed., 2017).

10. Compliance-based tools “focus on control mechanisms that are used to ensure legal compliance through upholding codes of conduct, monitoring employees, reporting procedures and enacting disciplinary measures.” Values-based tools “are directed toward ensuring that the organization’s core values are reflected in the day-to-day activities of the organization.” Anthony D. Molina, Ten Recommendations for Managing Organizational Integrity Risks 6. (Kent State University, 2016).

PROTECTING CHILDREN

6B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Affirmation key in survivor’s journey

Michael Callaghan, a victim-survivor of clergy sexual abuse, is helping the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis address the issue and bring about healing.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

One thing that’s on Callaghan’s heart is renewal of the Church worldwide, all the way up to Pope Francis.

“I do believe the Church is in crisis,” said Callaghan, ichael Callaghan’s healing from clergy who belongs to St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis with sexual abuse took a big step forward his wife, Kristine Kubes. “We’re in a time where we need after he saw the movie “Spotlight” in our pope to initiate something for ongoing healing. We 2015. The Academy Award-winning need to rebuild because, I’ll tell you, there are many fact-based drama detailing the clerical Catholics that I know personally who are no longer abuse scandal in Boston moved Callaghan deeply and practicing because of this issue.” continues to drive him to help the healing process in He has a suggestion for Pope Francis, which he put in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. a letter and mailed to the Vatican in spring 2019.

“I watch that movie every six months or so,” said “We need our chief shepherd, the pope, to call a time Callaghan, 70. “Everyone should — worldwide — of Catholics to get see that movie.” on their knees and beg for Within weeks of seeing the film, forgiveness and repent,” he said. he was making his way to leaders of “The archbishop really liked (the the archdiocese to share his story letter). He added a separate letter of and offer help. Staff members of the his supporting my credibility.” archdiocesan Office of Ministerial Callaghan has not yet received a Standards and Safe Environment response from the Vatican, but he listened to and affirmed him, and continues to distribute the letter to invited him to convene with a group other Church leaders. He even of priests and laypeople in early 2019 dropped one off at the Vatican when to discuss how the archdiocese can he went to visit Rome after his address clergy sexual abuse. The first retreat at Assisi. two meetings took place in his south The next step in his journey is Minneapolis home. going to the installation of BishopHe has met with Archbishop elect Donald DeGrood in Sioux Falls, Bernard Hebda over the last year or South Dakota, Feb. 13. The two have so, both individually and with become friends due to the bishopothers involved in the archdiocese’s elect’s involvement in meetings and overall restorative justice effort. conversations about clergy sexual During one recent meeting, abuse.

Callaghan recalled the archbishop Michael Callaghan looking at him and saying, “We Callaghan said he is open to need you.” speaking publicly, either to an Callaghan was a young adult audience or to anyone wanting to when he was abused multiple times by a priest in hear his story. One spiritual concept is sure to be a part another diocese. He has shared his experiences with of his message: forgiveness. leaders in the archdiocese, including Tim O’Malley, “For survivors, I think that’s a huge hurdle,” he said. director of ministerial standards and safe environment.

“How do you forgive someone who totally took The simple fact that they wanted to sit down with him advantage of you?” has made a big difference in his journey of healing.

For Callaghan, telling his story to family members, “Once you have people listen to you and affirm you, close friends and Church leaders including Archbishop it is another breath of fresh air” in the healing process, Hebda has been a pathway to healing. he said. “Let’s get the past healed up, which I think I’m “I feel freer than I’ve ever been to tell my story,” he right there (in doing). But to me, it’s more about going said.

“The affirmation I got from Archbishop Hebda and forward.” different people was a real strong point in the whole Going forward will be tough for him, though. In July, forgiveness process ... . It’s a longer journey for some, he went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to address a and shorter for some.” problem with his liver. After a week’s worth of tests, After having worked through forgiveness “a little at a doctors told him he had advanced liver cancer and only time,” he is encouraged by what he sees happening in months to live.

He said he feels fine now except for being tired. In the the archdiocese in the overall effort of healing. He thinks current leaders “are doing a great job,” and looks fall, he made a trip to Assisi and spent several days at a forward to their continued efforts not only to heal the monastery praying for the Church, hoping to capture wounds of abuse here, but to spread the good work the spirit of St. Francis and bring home the inspiration nationwide. to further his volunteer work with the archdiocese.

Archbishop Hebda helped arrange the trip, and he also “Thank God, the light is starting to shine” on the made an appearance with O’Malley at Callaghan’s 70th issue of clergy sexual abuse, he said. “We’re going to birthday party Nov. 30 in Minneapolis. drive evil back to hell and rebuild the Church.”

M

“

We need to rebuild because, I’ll tell you, there are many Catholics that I know personally who are no longer practicing because of this issue.

JANUARY 30, 2020

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Leadership Creating culture involves learning by an organization. Leadership is the prime teacher and mover of culture. Leadership articulates, aligns and teaches core values, assumptions and beliefs into the organization. [11] The Settlement Agreement identified three key leadership roles that needed to become knowledgeable about and involved with the issues relating to keeping children safe from clergy sexual abuse. To provide appropriate oversight and accountability, the board of directors, archbishop, and Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment (MSSE) are specifically identified. This report would be remiss, however, not to mention the leadership contributions of the Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General, department heads, and many informal leaders throughout the Archdiocese who are demonstrably committed to meeting the challenge to keep children safe. Just one example includes an interviewee saying that while he/she could likely have left the Archdiocese’s employ, there is an inherent satisfaction “in cleaning up the problem even though we (the current generation of staff) didn’t create it.” uBoard of Directors Whereas members of the board of directors had previously appeared largely detached and uninformed about safe environment activities (due to not being provided information by the Archdiocese), the criminal and civil actions brought by the RCAO were widely reported to have been the catalyst that forced leadership to focus, align and respond. Board members quickly became informed, more active and robust in exercising board influence and authority.

One board member is reported to have said in a 2018 interview with external auditors that because of the litigation, “the days are over where the board is going to be left in the dark about clergy sexual abuse.” uArchbishop The kind and extent of leadership provided by an archbishop is especially important because of the extent of authority and power vested in the office under canon law. The Code provides that a bishop, subject to minimal requirements to consult, holds full and exclusive legislative, executive and judicial power within the diocese for which he has been made responsible by the Pope. [12] Thus, an archbishop alone has a real potential to determine the extent of safe environment efforts in his diocese, for better or worse. This Archdiocese appears quite fortunate to have the archbishop that it has. [13] Archbishop Hebda came into the Archdiocese as its Apostolic Administrator less than two weeks after the RCAO initiated court action, stepping into a diocese that was described as in disarray. Interviewees were nearly unanimous in holding Archbishop Hebda in very high regard. He is described as having engendered high internal confidence that the Archdiocese is now firmly committed to the safety and protection of children. [14] The archbishop’s working relationship with Tim O’Malley, the Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment (MSSE), is described as very good with appropriate delegation of authority to Director O’Malley as the lay subject-matter expert. The two are described as having strong mutual respect for one another, each having the confidence to challenge the other and ask the hard questions.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 11. Among the teaching mechanisms available to leadership are: 1) leader reactions to organizational crises; 2) what leadership pays attention to, measures and controls; 3) what leadership deliberately teaches and models; 4) the choices made in the design and structure of the organization; 5) the allocation of resources by the organization; 6) the systems and procedures put into place; and 7) the design and adequacy of physical space. Schein, supra, 183-201. Each of these is seen to have been used in this case.

12. 1983 Code, c.29, §§ 1, 2.

13. Commenting on whether the cultural change seen to this point has embedded within the Archdiocese, an experienced priest observed, “You won’t really know until you’re about five years into the tenure of Archbishop Hebda’s successor.”

14. A sampling of adjectives and phrases used by interviewees to describe Archbishop Hebda includes: “A ‘real’ person — smart, big picture in everything, humble, unpretentious, pastoral, kind and honest.” “Collaborative while taking ownership of the problem.” “He has created comradery among staff.” “Consultative, not only approachable but approaches others.”

“He cares about victim/survivors.” “He cares about his priests.” “He has admitted the Archdiocese made serious mistakes and has committed to making strides for change.” “He seems to know how to keep the peace [in the Archdiocese].”

JANUARY 30, 2020

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Following a recommendation made to the predecessor archbishop by the Vicar General, Archbishop Hebda appropriately kept the Director of MSSE as a direct report. Among the multiple benefits, having the position a direct report to the archbishop communicated to the organization at-large that business as usual had changed — safe environments for children and vulnerable adults was now a priority at the highest level of the organization. Additionally, as a direct report, Director O’Malley’s efforts would not likely be stymied, nor his views siloed. uDirector of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment Director O’Malley came to the Archdiocese with impressive credentials and a record of success as a law enforcement professional. He also has practiced law and served as an administrative law judge, particularly helpful perspectives for the position and program he was asked to develop. Director O’Malley has assembled a highly qualified staff, a majority of whom also have impressive law enforcement experience. [15] Some interviewees described early suspicion and mistrust of MSSE. This appears attributable to Director O’Malley and MSSE staff being unknown, as well as a lack of understanding why “former cops” would be brought into the Chancery. Despite this early suspicion, MSSE is reported to have earned widespread trust and confidence, primarily because of the way they have done their jobs.

Most interviewees believe current archdiocesan leadership is committed to the safety and protection of children, and that the commitment will continue after the Settlement Agreement ends. Without exception, interviewees believe children in this Archdiocese are safer today than they were four years ago.

Structure, Policy and Process Among the first things the Archdiocese needed to do as part of its cultural-change effort was make MSSE an integral, prominent and visible player within the organization. MSSE needed to achieve a profile and role where the office could become and would be viewed as a necessary cog in the machinery of the Archdiocese.

Among Director O’Malley’s most impactful changes was a definition of structure and process. These alone brought a much-needed discipline to safe environment efforts. Most interviewees observed the structure has shifted culture positively: expectations are clear, structure guides process, review is consistent with values identified in policy, [16] and policy is fairly applied without excuses or exceptions. As a result, interviewees are more confident not only in the application of process, but equity of disposition.

As a part of this process, archdiocesan policies underwent a disciplined review and were changed as warranted. All policies were then compiled into a standard template, organized by topic, and officially promulgated and published to the website, furthering predictability and cultural transparency. A policy-review mechanism has been created to keep policy current.

Today’s reality of structure-policy-process is in sharp contrast to the vagaries of a “safe environment program” before December 2015. As noted in the report of the Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment Task Force, and as multiple interviewees also observed, prior efforts were little more than one cleric overseeing fellow clerics, often on an informal ad hoc basis, exercising too much discretion without adequate supervision, [17] all with little attention or engagement by at least several prior archbishops.

The Archdiocese also restructured or created new work groups to further incorporate MSSE within the organization. The new work groups often have overlapping membership to improve communication and avoid siloing. [18] Today, a question routinely asked among leadership is, “Do we have the right people at the table?” [19] Interviewees indicate MSSE’s influence now reaches all levels of the Archdiocese, from the Chancery to the most rural parish. [20] Its expertise is acknowledged and sought so Archdiocesan decision-making may be informed by safeenvironment considerations. uMinisterial Review Board The Ministerial Review Board (MRB) is the “advisory,

PROTECTING CHILDREN consultative body assembled to advise the archbishop and his staff regarding clergy misconduct.” Throughout the past four years, the MRB has grown in credibility and influence. In the past, the Archdiocese had two review boards, a “Clergy Review Board,” which had jurisdiction over allegations of sexual improprieties and the abuse of children; and a “Ministerial Standards Board,” which reviewed all other allegations of priest misconduct.

Following a 2014 recommendation of the Safe Environment Task Force, these boards were combined into one board under a new, combined title. [21] Today, the MRB reviews all cases of misconduct including sexual abuse of a minor, sexual misconduct with adults, other sexual improprieties, lewd behavior, pornography, boundary violations, gambling, drug or alcohol misuse, financial misdeeds, Code of Conduct violations, and allegations of other misconduct. [22] The MRB may also review and offer recommendations regarding policies and processes relating to misconduct if requested by the director or archbishop. [23] Interviewed members indicated they have reviewed policies and provided recommendations.

Nationwide, review boards have been criticized as a mere rubber stamp of a bishop’s wishes and directives.

Review boards have also drawn criticism for being comprised of only priests, or a majority of priests, who then re-traumatize victims, and operate in secret.

[24] Interviewees consider this MRB to be different — by all accounts, the MRB is a strong independent review board dedicated to the protection of children by thorough case review and provision of thoughtful, fully-considered recommendations. The board is comprised of eleven members with diverse backgrounds, educations and experiences across a range of professions. The MRB is currently composed of medical professionals, mental health professionals, victim/survivors, legal professionals, education professionals, a priest and a deacon. Currently, there are more lay members than clergy and multiple members are not Catholic. Members have experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Members have experience with supervision, risk-management, education, public safety, victim advocacy, prevention of sexual abuse, employment law, human relations, management, insurance and religion. Members reported a high level of respect for the expertise and experience that each of the other members brings to the table.

Another strength of the MRB is its independence.

As it currently functions, the MRB largely operates independently of archdiocesan leadership. Resulting from a creative suggestion and innovation of a former board chair, the board can call an “executive session” during which all in the meeting room other than MRB members are asked to leave, thereby promoting candid, free exchange of views among board members. Yet, the MRB also confers with MSSE personnel and has access to the archbishop, if necessary. All members reported having access to all the necessary information in order to adequately review cases and reported an ability to get clarifying or additional information upon their request.

Members reported a common understanding of the importance of MRB independence and autonomy. Most expressed they would publicly leave the board if they felt they were not being listened to or were being used to attempt to rubber stamp decisions that had already been made. No interviewee felt the Archdiocese exercised undue influence in an investigation, review or resulting recommendation.

Since the implementation of the Settlement Agreement, all MRB recommendations as related to priests have been followed by the Archbishop.

Notably, the Archbishop has sought out MRB input on cases that did not necessarily require review. [25] This appears to show confidence in the knowledge, depth and breadth of experience the MRB provides.

Today, the board has largely completed review of files of priests with past transgressions. With this task complete, the focus of review has shifted to prevention and discussions about the larger issues surrounding priest sexual abuse. [26] The MRB of today is far from the review boards of the past. It is lauded for its experience and expertise.

Board members provide scrutiny and lend expertise in

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7B

all cases reviewed. Unfettered access to archdiocesan staff, including the archbishop, demonstrates an acknowledgement of the importance the board plays not only in the safety of children within the Archdiocese but, secondarily, the welfare of laity and priests. uHeightening Organizational Awareness of the Need to Change The Archdiocese was pushed into confronting the painful reality of the harm caused to victim/survivors, laity, and the community at large by clerical sexual abuse. As part of its change effort, the Archdiocese intentionally sought to raise awareness about the extent and severity of the crisis, furthering transparency and heightening the motivation to change.

Heightening awareness also involved educating everyone who interacts with children about their role in keeping children safe and requiring basic requirements be met before working with children. uDisclosures of Priests Credibly Accused Beginning in 2013, MSSE took on and coordinated the task of reviewing all clergy files of those who were credibly accused of the sexual abuse of a minor. Review started with a list of clerics initially identified by the Archdiocese in 2004 as part of its response to the Dallas Charter, continued with assistance from Kinsale Management to review files of clerics in active ministry, and finished with review of clerics no longer in ministry. The number of files reviewed totaled just over 3,300. As review progressed, the identities of priests credibly accused were disclosed to the public (with the permission of the Court, presiding over another case at that time).

Indicating its motivation was to become more victimcentered, the Archdiocese conveyed that the disclosures were made to assist victim/survivors in their healing process, to restore trust among laity, and to affirm those priests who had served, or who were serving honorably in ministry. Beyond these objectives, review was also a prudent exercise for the Archdiocese to undertake not only to assess the extent of the clerical sexual abuse problem, but also the risks associated with it, including legal and financial. Today, review of priests with past transgressions is largely complete, but the Archdiocese continues its commitment to publicly identify priests credibly accused of the sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. uEssential 3 The “Essential 3” (E3) requirements are at the heart of the Archdiocese’s Safe Environment Program.

Becoming “E3 certified” requires a background check, VIRTUS training and acknowledgement of an applicable Code of Conduct. E3 is required of all clergy, parish, school, diocesan employees, and all volunteers who have regular or unsupervised interaction with minors. [27] It is meant to ensure to the degree possible that those who have regular or unsupervised contact with minors are “safe” to do so. This required certification and teaches clergy, employees and volunteers to recognize signs of abuse, how to report abuse and requires adherence to a code of conduct.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 15. A sampling of adjectives/phrases used to describe Director O’Malley: “O’Malley is a person of unquestioned integrity.” “He is no-nonsense and built an effective, efficient model of accountability.” “Expectations are clear, and O’Malley deserves credit for this. He is fair and consistent.” He is “super-professional, smart, builds relationships, and has been effective at all levels of the Archdiocese.” “He has reached out to victim/survivors, plaintiffs’ counsel, and parishes.”

16. For example, goals and requirements identified in archdiocesan policy include impartiality, thoroughness, fairness, and fact-gathering to ascertain the truth.

17. See Report of Safe Environment Task Force at 1.

18. A collateral benefit of the bankruptcy has been the ability to consolidate staff under one roof at what is now known as the Catholic Center. Previously, staff were spread throughout multiple locations. A singular location is reported to have significantly improved staff communication, interaction and morale.

19. As an example, MSSE is part of the Priest Work Group. Its input is a routine part in decision-making related to priest assignments.

20. As an example, a section on “Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment Requirements” are included in employee handbooks, both diocesan and parish.

21. See Report of Safe Environment Task Force at 9.

22. See Ministerial Review Board Policy (2016); available at https://safe-environment. archspm.org/100-ministerial-standardssafe-environment/103-ministerial-review-board/ 23. Id. 24. See Reese Dunklin, Mitch Weiss, and Matt Sedensky, AP: Catholic Boards Hailed as Fix for Sex Abuse Often Fail, Associated Press, November 21, 2019.

25. Some interviewees indicated that some priests called before the MRB felt like they were being called into a star chamber, which may suggest a need to provide more process-relating information to those appearing in front of the MRB. 26. A suggestion was made that some cases could be made anonymous and used as case studies for training or other wider professional purposes.

27. See Ministerial Standards/Safe Environment Policies, https://safe-environment.archspm. org/100-ministerial-standardssafe-environment/

8B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PROTECTING CHILDREN REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

JOURNEYS TOWARD HEALING The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is offering and supporting numerous programs and events designed to promote healing in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

SPECIAL EVENTS ‘How do I Tell My Family?’ — Victim-survivors and family members. Often victim-survivors suffer alone. Discuss how to enlist the support of family or friends or to find other means of support. 6:30–8 p.m., Feb. 5, 357 Stonebridge Boulevard, St. Paul. (Entrance is on Jefferson Street, near the garage).

‘Why can’t they just get over it?’ — Understanding the effects of trauma and abuse. With Laura Harder, compassion fatigue therapist, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Feb. 10, St. Odilia, Shoreview.

Walking Side by Side — Weekend gathering for survivors by survivors. For all survivors of sexual abuse. 7 p.m. March 13 to 1 p.m. March 15, Grandview Lodge, Nisswa.

EVENTS FOR PARISHES Healing Our Church — A pastoral response to the sexual abuse crisis. A six-week, small group resource that helps the faithful deal with complex emotions stirred by the scandal and start on a path to renewal.

Mass/Vespers of Repentance and Reparation — Where do we go from here? Liturgical celebration with Archbishop Bernard Hebda followed by a presentation on the steps being taken to move forward by Tim O’Malley, director of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

Archdiocesan History — What took place in the last five years, including Q&A. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Tim O’Malley.

Weekend preaching on restorative justice, healing circles.

Father Daniel Griffith and Paula Kaempffer.

Survivor’s stories. Parishes can request speakers who have lived through clergy sexual abuse and are willing to share their experiences.

Biblical foundations of restorative justice and healing circles.

Father Daniel Griffith and Janine Geske.

What is restorative justice? Healing circles. Father Daniel Griffith and Paula Kaempffer.

‘Letter to a Suffering Church’ book by Bishop Robert Barron, discussion with Father Daniel Griffith and/or Paula Kaempffer.

Moving Forward. What’s Been Done So Far? Tim O’Malley and Father Daniel Griffith.

Liturgical and Sacramental Foundations of Restorative Justice.

Amy Levad, theologian.

Effects of Sexual Abuse on the Brain and Development of a Child. Led by professionals in this field.

ONGOING SUPPORT Support group for victim-survivors. Third Monday of each month beginning March 16, 6:30–8 p.m., Maple Grove Public Library, 8001 Main St., Maple Grove.

Support group for families and friends of victim-survivors.

Second Tuesday of each month, 6:30–8 p.m., 357 Stonebridge Boulevard, St. Paul. (Entrance on Jefferson Street near the garage).

QUESTIONS OR TO SCHEDULE AN EVENT Paula Kaempffer, Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Healing, 651-291-4429 or email at kaempfferp@archspm.org.

By and large, interviewees articulated an understanding of the importance of the E3 requirements. Many interviewees commented that because of their E3 training and the relating certification requirements, they would handle allegations of abuse differently now than they would have five years ago.

It was reported, however, that some Safe Environment Coordinators [28] and pastors hear discontent among those required to complete E3 requirements. Some participants report they do not understand why they must be E3 certified since they are not perpetrators of abuse. When asked how leaders respond to these critiques, responses were varied, ranging from, “We are all responsible for protecting children”; to “You can be more confident of other adults if they are also certified”; to “It’s just something we have to do.”

Since 2004, over 123,000 people have become E3 certified in this Archdiocese. A “snapshot” as of June 30, 2019, shows 2,828 educators; 6,014 employees; and 17,960 volunteers currently are E3 credentialed within the Archdiocese. [29] uVIRTUS As an important part of E3 training to educate about the signs of child abuse, the methods by which offenders commit abuse, and the steps that can be taken to prevent child sexual abuse, the Archdiocese utilizes the “Protecting God’s Children” Training Program created by VIRTUS. [30] The initial VIRTUS training session lasts three hours and is led by a trained facilitator. Participants are required to complete recertification training every three years.

When questioned about VIRTUS training, numerous interviewees reported that VIRTUS is outdated and not using current evidence-based practices and information pertaining to sexual violence.

Interviewees also commented that victims of priest sexual abuse are not featured in the training, and therefore they felt the trainings lacked a vital perspective that would seem important to the Safe Environment Program of a Catholic institution.

Interviewees who had completed initial and then subsequent re-certification trainings expressed that the quality of training was quite dependent on the individual trainer. It was mentioned that some trainers take a “let’s get through this” mentality, while others dig into the subject matter and work to create robust conversation and a more informative training experience. Interviewees also felt that the trainings lacked substance after the initial training. Interviewees felt trainings should include lessons learned from past incidents of abuse, which may then help reduce the likelihood similar incidents would happen again.

There were also many comments relating to improving how trainings are conducted for various stakeholders. One interviewee mentioned wishing that he or she had been trained on these issues as a child.

Similarly, interviewees noted priests do not currently complete VIRTUS training with employees or volunteers. Interviewees felt that all who are required to complete VIRTUS do so together, and how nice it would be to train with their priest. Trainings should be completed together to send the message that everyone is responsible for the protection of children, no one is set apart and the goal can only be achieved if everyone acts together.

Reports were also notable for the difficulty of reporting information within the VIRTUS system and knowing when additional training becomes necessary.

VIRTUS training records do not interface with the MSSE reporting spreadsheets, which are required to be kept by all parishes. This often leads to conflicting data and confusion. It was noted that the MSSE requirements were built piecemeal, which has created different locations where data is stored, the need for multiple passwords and a system that, ultimately, proves to be difficult, cumbersome and not userfriendly.

Victim/Survivor Assistance, Restorative Justice and Healing Prior to the Settlement Agreement, victim/survivors

JANUARY 30, 2020

reported either difficulty in receiving therapeutic help or not being able to receive help at all. As a part of the agreement, the Archdiocese agreed to provide additional services to victim/survivors, as well as coordinate restorative justice efforts to promote healing for those affected by child sex abuse. Many interviewees responded positively to the Archdiocese’s increased efforts to reach and serve victim/survivors; however, some expressed there was too much emphasis on restorative justice efforts. This response indicates the Archdiocese cannot take a “one-size-fitsall” approach to victim services. Additionally, as noted above, the Archdiocese must also act with continued dedication to detect and prevent abuse because new cases involving sexual abuse often re-traumatizes victim/survivors, causing new wounds. The Archdiocese must always strive to serve victim/ survivors in adequate and responsive ways. uVictim/Survivor Assistance Currently, the Archdiocese offers victim services through MSSE. Victim Services are available through the newly created position of Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Abuse Prevention (Coordinator). This Coordinator is responsible for working with staff to ensure that victim/survivors receive necessary information and direct services. The Coordinator evaluates existing services to ensure the highest quality services are being provided to victim/ survivors. The Coordinator is also responsible for developing new resources and programs to support victim/survivors. The Coordinator works with staff to coordinate Restorative Justice initiatives, and healing and outreach groups and activities. On May 23, 2019, the Archdiocese announced the Outreach Coordinator position had been filled by Paula Kaempffer, a victim/ survivor, who has over forty years’ experience in lay ministry within the Catholic Church.

Victim/survivors can also receive help, support and services from the Ombudsperson for the Archdiocese.

Creation of the Ombudsperson position was a requirement of the Settlement Agreement. [31] The Ombudsperson provides confidential, independent, outside resources for victim/survivors of clerical sexual abuse within the Archdiocese, and the position specifically exists for and because of the needs of victim/survivors who do not trust church personnel.

Currently, the Ombudsman is Mr. Tom Johnson, a shareholder at the Law Firm of Gray Plant Moody practicing in the area of internal investigations, regulatory and investigative affairs, and environmental and land use law. Mr. Johnson is a former Hennepin County Attorney who served from 1979 to 1991. As County Attorney, he was known as an advocate for children who suffered abuse, and able prosecutor of those who had sexually abused.

The Archdiocese also contracts with Canvas Health to provide resources to victim/survivors. Canvas Health is an independent resource that can receive reports of misconduct and provides resources for professional counseling and care.

Responses to questions about victim/survivor services were widespread. Some interviewees reported there were no additional services that could be offered for victim/survivors. Other victim/survivor interviewees responded that people did not have enough information about the services being offered.

Interviewees reported the Archdiocese should have more of a sense of urgency around implementing services for victim/survivors.

This sentiment could be related to reports from interviewees that they felt the church expected victim/ survivors to approach the church for healing services.

Interviewees want the church to make a greater effort to meet victim/survivors where they presently are at.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 28. Safe Environment Coordinators are responsible for implementing Safe Environment requirements at the parish and school level.

29. Some interviewees opined that such a wide foundation of basic knowledge spread across the Archdiocese should, almost in and of itself, minimize the potential for clergy sex abuse to occur again on the rationale that awareness and sensitivity are far higher today than they ever have been. This ignores, however, that in the underlying criminal and civil litigation, laity reported concerns about the priest multiple times, but those concerns were largely ignored or not acted upon at the diocesan leadership level. With the change observed, it would appear quite unlikely that today’s leadership would not respond appropriately.

30. See www.virtusonline.org 31. Settlement Agreement § 13.8

JANUARY 30, 2020

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Concerns were also raised about how priests respond to victim/survivors. While the Archdiocese has made efforts to educate seminarians on appropriate and compassionate responses to victim/survivors, multiple interviewees felt that the Archdiocese was not doing enough to educate priests who have been in ministry for years. To the extent not already provided, priests should receive training on trauma-informed responses to victim/survivors.

Interviewees also commented that priests at different parishes appear to be handling the issue differently.

Responses were critical of priests who do not address the issue of child sex abuse at all; and of those that have, some interviewees commented about priests preaching different messages about the issue. While the RCAO is aware MSSE provides training to church personnel when a credible allegation of abuse affects a parish, RCAO is not aware of on-going training that otherwise helps priests discuss the issue.

The range of responses regarding victim/survivor services is concerning because victim/survivor needs should be at the forefront of archdiocesan efforts to promote justice, healing and reconciliation, where reconciliation is possible. Notably, victim/survivor services are extremely hard to find on the archdiocesan website. RCAO was unable to locate a page on the website dedicated, for example, to advertising events for victim/survivors. As written, the “Healing” page on the Safe Environment website only lists how to contact Canvas Health, the Ombudsperson and the Victim Assistance Program. There is no mention of the role of the Coordinator, or of any victim/survivor services events taking place within or outside of the Archdiocese. [32] The Archdiocese should make a public commitment to recognizing that there is more that can and will be done to assist victim/survivors. uRestorative Justice and Healing Early on, the RCAO identified restorative justice as a way for the Archdiocese to listen to the voices of those affected by sexual abuse, as well as promote healing for victim/survivors and the wider community. As a general principle, restorative justice is a victim-centered response that provides an avenue for those affected by crime or wrongdoing to discuss the impact of the crime and ways to repair the resulting harm. The technique permits a way to raise the voices of victim/survivors and others while also promoting healing. Restorative justice practices recognize that a prerequisite to healing is accountability.

The Settlement Agreement required the Archdiocese to participate in a Conference for Restorative Justice and Reconciliation, as well as required the archbishop and auxiliary bishop to individually participate in three restorative justice sessions during the term of the Settlement Agreement. [33] The Archdiocese convened the Conference for Restorative Justice and Reconciliation on January 23, 2020. This conference was open to the public and featured updates on the status of Safe Environment, a panel discussion led by victim/survivors and the opportunity to participate in healing circles. Additionally, throughout the term of the agreement, the Archdiocese has convened at least fifteen restorative justice/healing-circle sessions at different locations. The Archdiocese has partnered with leaders in the area and has created a Restorative Justice Liaison position, currently led by Father Dan Griffith.

While many steps have been taken to promote the healing potential of restorative justice, there is still much to be done to educate the public about the importance of the initiatives. Interviewees were split equally in their opinions about restorative justice efforts. Many found the efforts worthwhile and important, while others commented they are only appropriate for those who have been victims of abuse.

Not only does this opinion miss the stated goals of restorative justice, it also ignores that parishioners and members of the community are secondary victims in the crisis. The Archdiocese should continue to promote restorative justice initiatives, as well as increase efforts to educate parishioners and the public about why sessions are open to all who wish to attend, and the potential healing effects these may have.

PROTECTING CHILDREN Continuing Support for Laity, Priests and Parishes — Impact and Influence on Specific Stakeholders Although clear in interviews that current leadership is perceived as dedicated to changing the culture around the sexual abuse of minors, embedding cultural change requires that the work continue across the diocese, most particularly at the “front lines” of the parish where laity most directly worship and experience their faith. uLaity Laity were surprised, shocked and disgusted by what came to light about the extent of priest sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese, with the long archdiocesan practice to protect the institution and clergy to the detriment of victims and their families. At this point laity’s patience is long tested, and the Archdiocese (and wider Church) squandered what had been a deep reservoir of trust from which it may otherwise have drawn.

An axiom often heard is that trust is built over a long time but can be lost in an instant. Today, trust remains an issue among laity. Some interviewees believe trust has improved but remains fragile. Others believe significant trust issues remain and, among these, some believe it cannot be earned back. Even if restored, virtually all agree that what happened cannot be forgotten, because to forget is to run the risk again. An interviewee rhetorically asked, “Can this be forgiven?

Yes.” “Can it be forgotten? I hope not.”

Interviewees also express fatigue with the issue after the years of seeming unrelenting news coverage, beginning in Boston around 2002. Some reported that while they “want it to be over so we as church can move on,” ongoing bad press (e.g., The Pennsylvania Attorney General Grand Jury Report) re-invigorates disgust and lack of trust. Some indicated the issue is too important locally, and the consequences of failure too severe to flag efforts at this critical point as the Archdiocese goes forward without civil monitoring.

Some laity indicated some priests appear content to delegate safe environment work within the parish and expressed that priests should “do more than the minimum.”

Interviewees indicated healing will take time. Some are waiting for the church to increase its credibility.

Even with the fatigue, or maybe because of it, interviewees suggested there is a need at this point to identify ways to keep Safe Environment considerations “fresh.” [34] There appears to remain some need for reassurance to laity that it is appropriate to call law enforcement if abuse is suspected; that it is not and should not be the exclusive province of MSSE. It is not unusual for many to be unsure about what to do in situations that are not clear cut and obvious, particularly in a parish setting concerning a topic that for most is uncomfortable.

Efforts to recognize the importance of lay input are evolving, one interviewee aptly noting, “there is a difference between an informed laity and an engaged laity.” As a general, unremarkable principle, the Archdiocese is encouraged to expand meaningful lay involvement where that makes sense. A bias should exist for more lay involvement. An example mentioned by interviewees was implementation of the Archbishop’s Lay Advisory Board as a “short-line” route to two-way communication with the archbishop. The board, an ad hoc, diverse and representative group of stakeholders, furthers cultural goals of transparency and communication intended to flow both ways: laity to the archbishop, and the archbishop back to laity via committee members to their respective deaneries and parishes. An interviewee observed, “Archbishop Hebda cut through the bureaucratic” to hear directly from laity.

In about June 2019, Archbishop Hebda announced plans for an Archdiocesan Synod. Currently, the synod process involves listening sessions with the archbishop at various parishes throughout the Archdiocese. These appear to be part of a defined, multi-year process from which a master Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan will ultimately be written. To the extent Safe Environment concerns are raised within the process, these would seem to have the potential to become part of the master plan.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9B

uPriests As Minnesota Public Radio’s series on clergy sex abuse continued for weeks in 2013-14 with new disclosures almost daily, priests’ general reaction is reported to have been, “What is going on?” and “What will be on tomorrow’s front page?” Priest morale “went through the floor.” But priests did their best individually and in support of one another to “hold down” their parishes in an environment becoming rapidly more uncertain.

With the criminal and civil charges in June 2015, many asked, “Now what happens? No one has ever been here before.” Interviewees described priests, as a group, humbled, increasingly fatigued by developments and increasingly angry. Priest trust in archdiocesan leadership is said to have plummeted.

But the public scrutiny and litigation is also reported to have caused priests to step back and ask, “How, in fact, should we be doing business here to keep children safe?” Priests readily recognized the importance of the role of Director of MSSE because past events had amply shown the inadequacy of what the Archdiocese had been doing.

Interviewees indicated that priests are “on board” at this point with the Safe Environment Program, even if some may not like it. Priests clearly support the need for removing opportunities for abuse to occur. For themselves, a need to be self-aware when interacting with children seems to permeate the clerical culture.

Newer priests are more likely to be cautious around children. Multiple interviewees commented it would be nice to find a new balance, one where the overriding priority remains keeping children safe, but one which allows “me to feel more comfortable working with kids.” A generalized heightened concern exists that a false accusation can ruin a priest’s career and that, once accused, a professional reputation is nearly impossible to restore.

A lack of trust is reported to exist between priests and archdiocesan leadership but is improving, and people understand it will take time.

In approximately 2016, the Archdiocese initiated an ambitious “Comprehensive Clergy Support Initiative” with the goal of “holy, happy, healthy priests” in ministry. A new full-time position of Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and Parish Services was developed. The vicar is responsible for coordinating a comprehensive program to support all clergy, with support for newer priests upon ordination or first appointment to pastor (including assignment of a mentor priest, typically an experienced pastor of another church). Support is also available to retired priests and international priests. The vicar’s expansive job description includes working and coordinating with the Director of MSSE. Although the support initiative saw some initial reluctance from priests, that reluctance appears to be less of a concern with time.

• St. Paul Seminary A cultural shift is not as obvious at the St. Paul Seminary (SPS). Interviewees believe SPS now has the right mix of people on staff, and suggested it is not unusual that a cultural shift would not be as obvious at the seminary given the function and character of a seminary (living in a community of formation, intentionally set apart in varying degrees by design).

A critical question to be asked of any seminary appears to be: “How do we form a priest who will not abuse or harm people, especially children?”

Interviewees recognize the church’s responsibility to form priests who understand how to build healthy relationships and be leaders and stewards of their parish communities. SPS reports screening and entrance policies are being improved.

The seminary continues to formalize new procedures, including increased contacts with MSSE. Seminarians are required to become E3 certified at the start of their studies. [35] As a part of MSSE’s new role at SPS, the director and assistant director provide presentations to both second-year seminarians, and fourth-year seminarians prior to ordination.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 32. See https://safe-environment.archspm.org/healing/ 33. Settlement Agreement §§E, F. 34. Continuing Restorative Justice sessions in the parish settings, as well as the Archdiocesan Synod process may help address this concern in part.

35. As well as complete Title IX training through the University of St. Thomas.

10B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PROTECTING CHILDREN

‘Why can’t they just get over it?’

Understanding the effects of trauma and abuse Interview by The Catholic Spirit “Why can’t victim-survivors just get over it?” It’s a question often asked within the Church of people ready to move on from the abuse crisis. Laura Harder, a compassion fatigue therapist, has worked with staff members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on the effects of trauma. She is bringing her expertise to St. Odilia Feb. 10 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. to help people understand why people who have suffered abuse or trauma “can’t just move on” — and why that matters for the Church.

The Catholic Spirit interviewed Harder about her upcoming presentation via email.

Q You’re a compassion fatigue therapist. What is that? What

perspective does that give you when it comes to understanding the effects of clergy sexual abuse?

A “Compassion fatigue” refers to the emotional toll

taken on by professionals who work directly with people in need. When it comes to the issue of clergy sex abuse, I use my compassion fatigue training to understand the perspective of those who are continuing to work with those who were traumatized — whether it’s the survivors, Church staff, members of the congregation or current priests not involved in the sex abuse.

LAURA HARDER

Q Your upcoming talk at St. Odilia is “Why can’t they just get over it?” Why is this an important topic?

A For this event, I was asked to present on the topic of clergy sex abuse

specifically from the perspective of the survivor. My hope for this talk is for folks to leave with a better understanding of the psychological underpinnings that make it difficult for survivors to “move past” trauma.

It’s critical to begin with a basic understanding of how trauma functions if the Catholic Church as a whole is going to move past the sex abuse.

Q So, why can’t Catholics “just get over” the abuse crisis and move on?

A To be clear, this presentation will be more about the survivors of abuse “getting over” what happened to them — not Catholics as a whole. That being said, it is absolutely the case that Catholics may have experienced personal trauma from this, even if they themselves didn’t experience abuse. Trauma affects the brain in a very deep, physiological way and completely changes the way we view the world and what we expect from the people in it.

Q Instead of “getting over it,” how should Catholics approach the crisis?

A The best way to bring the healing process is to accept the situation as

truth — NOT get over it, but more so affirm it as the reality it is. Only then can the critical next steps of understanding, connection, empathy and healing take place to move the Catholic community forward.

Q From your perspective, will the Church — local and universal — ever be able to move on from this?

A Cultural shifts are difficult and complex, but I wouldn’t be doing this

work if I didn’t believe it were possible. The Catholic Church is a colossal organization that is deeply rooted in tradition. It will be a slow, arduous process, and it will need to start small and local.

Q What do you want people to understand about the effects of trauma and abuse?

A Wow, many things! First and foremost, I’d hope people leave with an

understanding of how trauma impacts the actual physiology of the brain.

It morphs the brain to view things differently and, therefore, isn’t something one can just “get over.” Trauma changes who someone is and how they view the world. That’s not to say trauma survivors are forever dismantled, but once you’ve experienced such horrific trauma, one cannot go back to viewing the world and others as they did before.

For more information about the Feb. 10 event, contact Paula Kaempffer, the archdiocese’s outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, at 651-291-4455. Learn more about Harder’s work at her website, happywithwork.com.

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Beyond assisting instruction, the two are reported to participate with faculty in the formal annual reviews of seminarians; and beginning next year, will be part of admissions interviews.

An unexpected number of interviewees identified clericalism as an issue that needs attention within the Archdiocese. [36] Other comments related to the Archdiocese needing to have conversations around the issue of who is admitted to ministry. [37] RCAO admits no competence in the formation or ordination of Catholic priests and provides the information here only because of its apparent importance. uParishes and Schools Parishes and schools are the front line of safeguarding children. Pushing safe environment awareness and compliance requirements down to the parish and school level is therefore a pre-requisite to and necessity for an effective program. The Safe Environment Program can in some ways be viewed as 187-plus local programs feeding into a master archdiocesan program. Thus, routine, regular attention to parishes and schools would always seem necessary.

An early lesson learned after implementing the Settlement Agreement was that parishes and schools needed assistance to varying degrees in order for the Archdiocese to meet its obligations. A wide diversity of parishes and schools exist in this Archdiocese with respect to relative size and available resources.

Communities where English may be considered a second language also present challenges to the extent language is a barrier to meeting Safe Environment requirements. [38] uSafe Environment Coordinators and OPCY The key to a quality Safe Environment Program within a parish or school is the designated Safe Environment Coordinator.

Among other things, coordinators are responsible for making sure that those required to comply with E3 certification requirements do so. Implementation of the Settlement Agreement required the reporting of accurate compliance data from the parish or school to the Archdiocese, and this process did not generally go smoothly.

The person who takes on the Safe Environment Coordinator role varies across parishes and schools. Often, the coordinators also work as administrators within the parish or school and have other duties, and sometimes the coordinator responsibilities are assigned to volunteers. Early on, it was reported that despite understanding the importance of compliance tracking and reporting, coordinators were often overwhelmed because they lacked the knowledge or experience to accurately report, which was exasperated by a cumbersome, difficult-to-use reporting system. It was reported that the Safe Environment Coordinator position saw a high rate of turnover.

To address this, MSSE reorganized its Office for the Protection of Children and Youth (OPCY). The reorganization occurred with the benefit of stakeholder input, and thorough internal review of past practices, including the ways OPCY had, could and should provide services. Among the most significant changes was the creation of four liaison positions, three of whom work individually with assigned parishes, schools and seminaries on compliance, training and other initiatives.

Coordinators now view the assigned liaison as an important resource and partner in their efforts. But a feeling remains, among at least some coordinators, that they are spread too thin and the reporting mechanism is still difficult, cumbersome and

JANUARY 30, 2020

time consuming. Consequently, OPCY liaisons continue to fill a vital role assisting, often working with coordinators one-to-one. uLay Trustees Some interviewees indicated parish lay trustees appear well positioned to further facilitate and help ensure safe environments within their parishes. The role appears to be evolving, to the credit of the Archdiocese. An archdiocesan-level orientation for new trustees is held at regular intervals, which includes not only safe environment topics, but general instruction on the legal aspects of trustees as fiduciaries. Currently, in a relatively recent change from past practice, lay trustees are required to become E3 certified if they are not already certified when appointed; and at least one of a parish’s two lay trustees is required to sign the parish compliance report to MSSE (along with the pastor and Safe Environment Coordinator.)

Additionally, under the Settlement Agreement, trustees are to receive certain notices in certain contingencies; for example, when an employee is not in compliance with E3 requirements. [39] Trustees have the potential to be another resource at the parish level; a person knowledgeable about safe environment requirements and responsible for seeing that they are met. Trustees (indeed, all laity) also play a key role in respectfully challenging the assigned priest, as that may be necessary, particularly in the area of protecting children from sexual abuse. uContinued Accountability The implemented leadership, structural, compliance and values changes are only as good as the checks and balances meant to assure their continuation. At the time of the Settlement Agreement, little internal review occurred, and little to no outside accountability fostered an environment in which the Archdiocese protected itself and its clerics while providing nearly zero accountability to the people it served.

Through the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Archdiocese has been required to be accountable, demonstrating its substantial compliance over the last four years. Moving forward, the Archdiocese should publicly commit to continuing transparency and accountability in the pursuit of a continuously improving, comprehensive Safe Environment Program uThreats to Progress Achieved When asked about threats that exist to the progress seen under the Settlement Agreement, interviewees identified three broad areas: 1. assuring complacency does not seep into the program; 2. assuring succession planning for critical leadership, to the degree that is possible; and 3. assuring adequate resources to continue MSSE’s mission and influence across the Archdiocese.

These topics are included in the Recommendations Section below.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 36. “‘Clericalism’ is commonly defined as a type of exceptionalism, a form of elitism, and, in the words of Pope Francis, an attitude embraced by priests and bishops in which they see themselves as special or superior to others. Those who believe they are entitled to this elevated status claim certain prerogatives and feel exempted from accountability for their behavior. In parish life it is expressed by priests who ignore, put down, and exclude laypeople, especially those who minister with them. Clerical attitudes often are directed toward women and toward children in the form of sexual abuse.” Katarina Schuth, O.S.F., Seminary Formation: Addressing Clericalism and Sexuality in Human, Spiritual, Intellectual and Pastoral Areas at 3, material for use as part of Interdisciplinary Workshop on Clericalism and Sexuality, St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, UK (2019). Sr. Schuth is noted to be Professor Emerita of SPS. 37. Mandatory celibacy and/or the potential for married priests were included concerns, neither of which can be addressed definitively within the Archdiocese.

38. ESL parishes were described as highly motivated to meet the requirements, and justifiably proud when the parish hit the mark. In at least one case, an international priest was described as requesting and then getting his whole congregation to complete E3 training.

39. See, e.g., Settlement Agreement at 14.1.b.i.

JANUARY 30, 2020

PROTECTING CHILDREN

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Recommendations uLeadership 1. With expiration of the Settlement Agreement, the Archdiocese is no longer required to maintain the Safe Environment Program as it was constructed by the parties in negotiations that led to the Settlement Agreement. As good as that model may have turned out to be, the Archdiocese should now commit to a comprehensive self-critical analysis to improve its Safe Environment Program. Experience shows at least incremental improvements are likely possible. Ideally, the review will be wide, and involve input across stakeholders down to the parish and school level. Such self-analysis will also help address concerns that the program needs to be kept “fresh.”

2. To the extent feasible, the Archdiocese should undertake succession planning for key leadership positions critical to its Safe Environment Program. This would appear realistic for all positions other than archbishop and bishop, who potentially could be appointed elsewhere by the Pope. In this event, Archbishop Hebda and/or Bishop Cozzens would hopefully be able to influence selection of their respective replacement.

3. With expiration of the Settlement Agreement, the Archdiocese should maintain its commitment to providing adequate resources for an effective program. Although MSSE should go through the formal budgeting process just like any other department or office, the Archdiocese should maintain a commitment to provide resources sufficient for the Safe Environment Program to continuously improve.

4. The Archdiocese should expand meaningful lay involvement, particularly increasing the participation of women in positions of leadership and influence. Interviews showed a clear commitment on the part of lay people to protect children and increase meaningful engagement. It also should be recognized the important role women have played in exposing the sex abuse crisis both locally and nationally. The majority of whistleblowers have been women.

Structure, Policy and Process uMinisterial Review Board [40] 5. The Archdiocese should publicly identify current MRB members and their relationship with the church, if any.

Nationally, review boards have generally been criticized as operating in secrecy and used by the church to shield the church.

Composition of the current MRB in this Archdiocese reflects high quality, integrity and independence; in short, this board does not appear to be one that is going to be led away from truth. Each member said he/she did not object to being publicly identified as a member. Doing so would further enhance the board’s credibility and promote transparency.

6. MRB policy should be updated to ensure the continuing diversity and quality of the board. Currently, the Ministerial Review Board Policy states that board membership shall be comprised of an experienced pastor of the Archdiocese and a lay person with professional experience in the treatment or investigation of sexual abuse of minors. [41] The Archdiocese should ensure that at least one member of the MRB has a background in law enforcement, particularly one with experience investigating crimes of sexual violence. [42] Additionally, policy should include additional parameters for composition of the board, specifying 1) the MRB always be comprised of a majority of lay people; 2) identifying the credentials needed to serve on the Board; and 3) clarifying conflict-of-interest standards used by the Board.

7. The MRB should permit victim/survivors to testify before the Board as a matter of right. This affords victim/survivors an opportunity to be heard, should they desire.

8. The MRB should seek a victim/survivor’s “Statement of Desired Outcome,” or similarly titled document, as a factor the board is required to consider in making its recommendation whether to return a cleric to ministry.

9. The MRB should provide written notification to victim/ survivors when an allegation has been determined credible, and again when the allegation is substantiated. Upon substantiation, the archbishop should meet with the victim/survivor and send an appropriate letter, unless the victim/survivor declines this after being notified.

10. To promote continuing accountability and transparency, in cases involving allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by a cleric where an archbishop does not adopt the MRB’s recommendation concerning the cleric’s fitness to return to ministry, the fact of the archbishop’s non-adoption should be public. uEssential 3 11. MSSE should create messaging for parish and school leaders

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11B

about why E3 certification is necessary. Everyone who has contact with children is responsible for the safety of children. This includes knowing the signs of abuse, and how to properly report if abuse is suspected. All clergy, employees and volunteers should understand the importance of having every person trained.

12. The Archdiocese should encourage, if not require, priests to complete VIRTUS training with their lay people. Interviewees indicated this would be valuable and send a message that their priest is part of the solution, not above everyone else, and is committed to keeping children safe.

13. The Archdiocese should create one database that houses all Safe Environment reporting information. Stakeholders should be able to access trainings, records and reports through this database.

One central database will remove cumbersome reporting requirements and provide ease of use, diminishing the likelihood of inaccurate data. uVictim/Survivor Assistance and Restorative Justice 14. The Archdiocese should undertake an analysis of the effectiveness of their victim/survivor assistance programs to gain an understanding of what is working, and where programs could be improved.

15. The Archdiocese should continue its Restorative Justice efforts not only for victim/survivors directly, but also on the wellfounded rationale (without diminishing in any way the harm experienced by victim/survivors) that all Catholics are in many ways secondary victims of the abuse and institutional crises.

Specific Stakeholders uLaity 16. The Archdiocese should engage a cross-section of the Archdiocese to explore means, methods and strategies for keeping Safe Environment “fresh” to stakeholders. As potential starting points, interviewees suggested a communications strategy, with regular updates, to acknowledge successes and share good news from the parish level, all of which could support and supplement Safe Environment education. uPriests 17. The Archdiocese should provide continuing education for priests already in ministry about how to address the issue of child sexual abuse, specifically to include trauma-informed training.

18. In each instance of transition of a pastor to a new parish, the Archdiocese should require an on-site review and audit of Safe Environment compliance (and needs), to include a meeting between the two priests involved, the parish Safe Environment Coordinator, lay trustees and the assigned archdiocesan parish liaison, if available.

This would appear to be beneficial to the incoming pastor as it would inform him of the current state of affairs in his new parish.

It would also provide MSSE another parish point-of-contact.

Reviews should be documented appropriately and provided to MSSE. [43] 19. To the extent priests receive formal periodic performance reviews, it should include a component relating to Safe Environment Program requirements, both as to related training of the priest, and local status and performance of his parish.

20. The Vicar for Clergy and Parish Services should “plug into” the Saint Paul Seminary at an appropriate point of a seminarian’s education to not only orient seminarians to the comprehensive support program, but potentially expand services in conjunction with any already provided by the seminary to assist the transition from prayer, study and reflection to the many demands made upon a priest in parish ministry. uParishes 21. The Archdiocese should encourage parishes to include the names and contact information of the safe environment coordinator and two lay trustees in the listings of parish staff typically seen in Sunday bulletins. The same additions should be made to the parish website. Doing this will provide additional resources for parishioners to consult in cases where there is a lack of comfort dealing with the pastor, or where a parishioner has a concern but feels it is not significant enough to call MSSE. [44] CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 40. Some of these recommendations benefited from input provided by Mr. Tom Johnson, who well serves victim/survivors and others as the volunteer Ombudsperson required by the Settlement Agreement.

41. See Ministerial Review Board Policy (2016).

42. This recommendation is in line with the recommendation of the Safe Environment Task Force.

43. This recommendation is noted to be close to Section 14.5 of the Settlement Agreement, which required that the archbishop request review of Safe Environment and finance compliance each time there was a change of pastor. The firm selected by the Archdiocese to conduct the annual compliance audits required by the agreement determined that while correspondence from the Archbishop requesting the review was addressed to all locations that changed leadership, the reviews may not have occurred at all locations. See Stonebridge Business Partners, Independent Auditor’s Report on Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures, Compliance with the Settlement Agreement, for fiscal 2018, 2019.

44. RCAO randomly sampled twenty percent of parishes in the Archdiocese and reviewed websites and bulletins. Twenty-one percent of the parishes include the Safe Environment Coordinator in the staff listing.

Fifty-nine percent of the parishes include lay trustees.

APPENDIX Below is a list of stakeholder interviewees.

Adam, Michelle T. Anderson, Jeff Anderson, Kristyn Boisvert, Jeri Campion, Michael Clinton, Rev. Kevin Conneely, Kevin Cornwell, Nathan Crisp, Julie Damien, Chris Erickson, Rev. John Paul Finnegan, Michael Fitzpatrick, Rev. Robert J. Flynn, Polly Friis, Clare Griffith, Rev. Daniel Hartman, Malinda Haschka, S.J., Rev. David J. Haselberger, Jennifer Hennen, Dale Hoffman, Ben Hoffman, Joy Holub, Richard Huard, Rev. Jeff Johnson, Tom Kaempffer, Paula Kasel, Rev. Randal J. Keller, Daniel Kronholm, Sara Kueppers, Joseph Kuss, Rev. Allen Lachowitzer, Very Rev. Charles V. Mader, Rev. Stan Menke, Patrick Mertens, Tom Meuers, Frank Moon, Sarah Moe, Mary Ellen Mulheron, Susan Oseid, Julie Padilla, Howie Puccio, Sr. Carolyn Quinan, Daniel Rask, Rev. Phillip Reid, Charles Richter, Dr. James Riordan, Dcn. Rip Ruff, Paul, MA, LP Sandholm, Wesley Slattery, Jason Stewart, Dcn. Phil Tix, Very Rev. Michael Treacy, Rev. Paul Ubel, Rev. John L. Walker, Rev. Tom Wetterling, Patty

12B • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PROTECTING CHILDREN

JANUARY 30, 2020

Father Griffith: Restorative justice heals at the heart of hurt

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Daniel Griffith has held the stone.

He has felt the emotional weight and lifting of that weight from holding that small stone, sharing in a healing circle his story of secondary trauma from the Church’s clergy sexual abuse crisis. And in an official capacity with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis he is helping to spread the concept of healing circles and restorative justice both in the archdiocese and beyond in hopes others impacted by the crisis — particularly victim-survivors, those directly harmed by sexual abuse in the Church — can begin to heal.

“It’s humbling and you’re vulnerable,” Father Griffith said of sharing in a circle, where people are invited to take turns holding a stone or other “talking piece” and tell their story as others respectfully listen.

Father Griffith’s story includes being a safe environment delegate in FATHER the archdiocese in 2013 and 2014 and DANIEL GRIFFITH reading files about priests accused of sexual abuse. The stress and the deep sadness he felt one evening came back when he talked about it in a healing circle. But sharing helped ease the weight, and even while a delegate, in the midst of that pain, Father Griffith was blessed with Christ’s healing light.

“I remember sensing God saying, ‘This is how much I love you, the Church and my children. I go down even into this deep harm and heal it,’” Father Griffith said.

“I was laboring under the weight of this, and God said, ‘You can’t carry this yourself. Give it all to me.’”

Now, in addition to being pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes and a law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, both in Minneapolis, Father Griffith is the archdiocesan liaison for restorative justice and healing. Archbishop Bernard Hebda appointed him to the newly-created position in July.

Father Griffith is quick to point out that his secondary trauma cannot be compared with the deep and long-standing harm done to those directly traumatized by a priest or member of the Church. It is vitally important to have the Church acknowledge the harm done, foster accountability and offer roads to healing, he said.

Healing circles are one such avenue under a broad concept known as restorative justice, which seeks to acknowledge those harmed, identify the nature of the harm and begin the healing process, Father Griffith said.

Healing circles, and restorative justice more broadly, include the Church’s willingness to take responsibility for the harm done within its walls, he said.

REPORT CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE 22. More OPCY liaisons should be hired. The importance of the role of the liaison was consistently mentioned by interviewees. Liaisons have helped streamline the time needed for parishes and schools to meet reporting requirements, have provided much needed training and technical support, and have identified deficiencies in individual parishes and schools. Current liaisons reported being tasked with large workloads and feeling overwhelmed. uAccountability 23. The Archdiocese should conduct regular internal audits of the Safe Environment Program. To this end, the Safe Environment Program should continue to be adequately staffed to allow for regular audits to identify areas of risk and non-compliance. Audits should consist of a survey of priests, Safe Environment staff, Safe Environment Coordinators, and lay people to gauge areas of strengths and weaknesses, the understanding of current policies and procedures and areas of risk to the organization. Victim/survivors, parish and school employees and staff should be regularly consulted for feedback on areas of improvement to the Safe Environment Program. The goal of the internal audit should be continuous improvement of the Safe Environment Program.

Healing circles came out of Native American cultures.

Father Griffith sees the idea as a gift in effect to the broader culture and the Church that also aligns with the justice demanded by God and the healing that is possible only through Christ.

His part-time role as liaison has taken him to four parishes in the archdiocese, as well as parishes in other dioceses, to preach about restorative justice.

The archdiocese’s healing ministry also includes promoting small group meetings in libraries, coffee houses and churches, and organizing public presentations and private meetings with Archbishop Hebda and Tim O’Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

In his role as liaison, Father Griffith works closely with Paula Kaempffer, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse hired by the archdiocese in June as outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention. Kaempffer coordinates and publicizes efforts at healing and searches for new avenues of healing.

The archdiocese is making significant efforts to promote justice and healing, said Kim Smolik, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Leadership Roundtable, a nonprofit focused on developing Church leadership and management skills.

“The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has shown great effort under its current leadership to promote justice, restore trust and advance reforms to address the crisis in our Church, not only for today but also for future generations,” Smolik said.

In regard to the roles played by Father Griffith and Kaempffer, “as far as we know, the archdiocese’s efforts at restorative justice are rare among Catholic dioceses,” she said.

Father Griffith credits Archbishop Hebda with providing the support needed to help victim-survivors and others hurt by the abuse crisis.

“I give Archbishop Hebda much credit,” Father Griffith said. “He’s been so humble, open and vigilant about fostering healing.”

Currently, Father Griffith is on sabbatical in San Antonio, Texas, reading and writing about restorative justice and developing a book on the subject. He plans to travel in February to the Diocese of WheelingCharleston in West Virginia, where he and Janine Geske, a retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and expert in restorative justice, have been invited to talk about the concept as that diocese seeks to recover from a financial and sexual abuse scandal involving retired Bishop Michael Bransfield.

Father Griffith’s ministry in the archdiocese took him in November to Nativity of Mary in Bloomington, where he introduced the concept of restorative justice in a homily at all Masses and held a healing circle.

24. The Archdiocese should commit to regular external audits. Outside auditing ensures another level of accountability. The Archdiocese should continue to engage outside auditors experienced in risk management and ethics and compliance audits.

Outside auditors should continue their assessment of the Safe Environment Program and provide recommendations for moving forward. Auditors should be granted unrestricted access to Safe Environment information. Like the internal audits, auditors should consult with Safe Environment personnel, priests, employees, victim/survivors, and lay people to determine program compliance and areas of weakness.

25. MSSE should publish an annual report of the safe environment program. Public accountability is vital to the continuing success and improvement of Safe Environment efforts. This annual report should be quite comprehensive, and include any reports of credible allegations and the steps taken by the Archdiocese as a result of the allegations, findings from both the internal and external audits, recommendations from those audits, analysis of the current strengths and weaknesses of the Safe Environment Program, updates to any structural changes affecting Safe Environment, how to contact Safe Environment Staff and OPCY liaisons, the name of the current Ombudsman and contact information, and how to report abuse. The report should indicate

“

I remember sensing God saying, ‘This is how much I love you, the Church and my children. I go down even into this deep harm and heal it.’

Father Daniel Griffith A twin crisis — clergy abuse and, in too many places, systematic coverup — created in the Church an “inversion of the moral order,” as the Church put its reputation ahead of the needs of victim-survivors, Father Griffith told the congregation at the 10:30 a.m.

Mass.

That caused lasting harm to victim-survivors, anger among the laity because “justice was not attended to” and a loss of morale among good priests doing good work, he said.

It has led some people to leave the Church, and others to think about leaving, Father Griffith said. He encouraged those in the congregation to “stay and fight.

This is your Church,” he said. “Fight against the closed, clerical culture that sometimes prevails.”

The archdiocese wants to help people find healing, Father Griffith said, as he invited people to the healing circle following Mass.

About 40 people stayed. After introducing the process, Father Griffith encouraged those attending to form small groups, and they talked to one another, each holding a small stone to take their turn to speak, knowing what they shared would remain confidential.

Father Griffith took a similar approach at St. Agnes and Sacred Heart parishes in Walker and Hackensack in the Diocese of Duluth and at St. Peter church in Fort Yates, North Dakota, part of the Catholic Indian Mission on the Standing Rock Reservation and part of the Diocese of Bismarck. Pastors at those parishes said they wanted their congregations to experience the kind of healing restorative justice makes possible.

Msgr. Chad Goin, pastor on the reservation, said restorative justice flows out of the Native American culture, and a form of that model is used at the mission elementary school, but not at the parishes. It’s important that the Church be part of recovering and honoring that tradition, which also can be helpful in facing other issues, such as racial injustice, he said.

“When talking about systematic injustices, the only way forward is restorative justice,” Msgr. Goin said. “It’s the healing of hearts. That’s what needs to happen.” updates to policies and procedures in response to areas of needed improvement identified by the external and internal audits.

CONCLUSION The Settlement Agreement provided a road map for the Archdiocese to forge a new path. The agreement, however, was by no means an exhaustive list of tasks to be completed to ensure safety for children. Over the past four years, the Archdiocese has taken significant steps to ensure that no child ever again becomes the victim of clerical sexual abuse. Civil monitoring and court oversight assisted change, assuring not only steady progress toward the goal, but also accountability to the commitments made.

Through its current leadership, the Archdiocese has demonstrated what appears to be a very sincere institutional commitment to protecting children from sexual abuse by clergy. Safe environment efforts are quite different today than they were four years ago, and the Archdiocese should be recognized for its accomplishments.

Despite all the change, however, there is more that can be done to protect children and provide healing.

With oversight ending, it is a good time for the Archdiocese to publicly commit to continued forward movement and public accountability. For in the race to protect children, there is no finish line.