January 13, 2022 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
‘The Pro-Life Generation’ Chesterton students at Planned Parenthood each week to defend unborn — Pages 10-11
FEATURED FOCUS: DEFENDING LIFE
• UST prof on overturning Roe v. Wade — Page 7 • Pregnancy care centers — Page 12 BISHOP-ELECT PREPS FOR ORDINATION 4 | PRIESTS WITH COVID 5 | RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA 6 POPE AND PETS 13 | PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION 14 | THE CHURCH: NOT A MUSEUM 17
2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
PAGETWO NEWS notes Bishop-elect Joseph Williams will be ordained an auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis 1 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul. The event — which takes place on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, the archdiocese’s patron saint — will be livestreamed at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Facebook page, as well as air live on Metro Cable Channel 6. Pope Francis named Bishopelect Williams a bishop Dec. 10. Bishop-elect Williams, 47, currently leads St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in Minneapolis. For more information, visit archspm.org. The Cathedral of St. Paul’s Theology on Tap is back with pizza, beer, fellowship and spiritual development for young adults. Meeting at Flaherty’s Arden Bowl in Arden Hills, the 6:30 p.m. social hour and 7:30 p.m. speakers will include talks Jan. 19 on “Love and Disagreement” with associate professor of philosophy Catherine Deavel of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and Jan. 26 on “Engaging with Pro-Choice Arguments” with Emily Albrecht of the Equal Rights Institute. Ryan Hamilton of the Minnesota Catholic Conference will address “Faithful Citizenship” Feb. 2, and Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral in St. Paul, will face questions Feb. 16 with “Grill the Priest.” A 12-foot-tall crucifix now graces the sanctuary of St. Patrick in Edina, replacing a steel structure on the back wall that included a gold-toned cross. Bill Schnobrich, business administrator, said the church had not had a crucifix before. The cross was made locally, the corpus was fashioned in Italy. Archbishop Bernard Hebda blessed the crucifix at the parish’s 10 a.m. Mass Dec. 19.
TREVOR HUGHES, USA TODAY | CNS
WILDFIRES IN DECEMBER Structures near Boulder, Colo., burn Dec. 30, 2021, as a wind-driven wildfire forced evacuation of the Superior suburb. More than 990 structures, including homes and businesses, were destroyed as the wildfire swept through more than 6,000 acres, with 127 buildings damaged. Snow helped extinguish the blaze. Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila established an emergency fund Dec. 31, seeding it with $250,000. Two parishes, St. Louis in Louisville and Sacred Heart of Mary outside of Boulder, were evacuated but undamaged. Both parishes, plus the parishes of St. Thomas Aquinas University in Boulder and Immaculate Conception in Lafayette, northeast of Louisville, helped affected families.
PRACTICING Catholic
Deacon Hamilton, 86, served three parishes, Boy Scouts The Catholic Spirit
In anticipation of the Jan. 25 episcopal ordination of Bishopelect Joseph Williams, The Catholic Spirit asks, “What is your prayer for our auxiliary bishop as he begins his new ministry?” Send responses of 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line. Your reflection may be included in a future edition of The Catholic Spirit.
ON THE COVER From left, Chesterton Academy students Luke Boulay, Andrew Carlisle, Simon Carlisle, Lucy Havlicek and Lucy Klassen hold messages for motorists as they take part in a weekly prayer gathering at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. A group of 40 students from the Hopkins school go every week to stand up for life at the abortion facility, calling themselves “Crusaders for Life.” Boulay and Andrew Carlisle are sophomores, the others are ninth-graders. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
“Father Villano’s decades of ministry marked by passion for Catholic education” in the Dec. 9 edition mistakenly reported that Jane Hileman began teaching in St. Helena School in Minneapolis in 1984. She began in 1995.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
United in Faith, Hope and Love
Vol. 27 — No. 1 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor
The Minnesota Catholic Conference is teaming up with the Office of Marriage, Family and Life for a training day Feb. 5 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul titled “Equipped for Life: A Fresh Approach to Conversations About Abortion,” featuring national pro-life speaker Emily Albrecht from the Equal Rights Institute. More details can be found at MCC’s website, mncatholic.org.
in REMEMBRANCE
On the Jan. 7 “Practicing Catholic” show, host Patrick Conley interviews Bill Lentsch, chief operating officer for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who discusses what he has learned and priorities he has helped set after three months on the job. Also featured are Minnesota artist Mark Balma, who describes the frescoes of women in Scripture he is creating for a parish in Italy, and Alyssa Bormes, who describes a new children’s book that helps young ones get to know and love our Blessed Mother. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com, soundcloud.com/ practicingcatholic or tinyurl.com/practicingcatholic.
CORRECTION
People and organizations will receive 2021 St. John Paul II Champions for Life Awards at the 10:30 a.m. Jan. 22 Prayer Service for Life at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. Among those honored by the Office of Marriage, Family and Life in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are Young Adult category recipients Emilee Wondra and the University of St. Thomas Students for Human Life Group. Adult Individual category honoree is Anne McMahon of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka, and honored as Adult Couple are Catherine and Donald Wagner of St. Joseph in West St. Paul. The Adult Group category honoree is Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter with Laura Elm from St. Peter in Mendota. The prayer service will be followed by the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s March for Life at the nearby State Capitol.
Deacon Don Hamilton, who ministered at three parishes including St. Timothy in Blaine, was involved with the Catholic Committee on Scouting and served as a chaplain for the Boy Scouts, died Dec. 23. He was 86. Born Jan. 27, 1935, in Natchez, Mississippi, Deacon Hamilton joined the Navy and went on to become an electrical engineer. Ordained a deacon in 1975 in California, he continued in his ministry while living later in North Dakota and finally in Minnesota, where he DEACON DON served at St. Rose of Lima in Roseville and Corpus Christi HAMILTON in St. Paul, in addition to St. Timothy. Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Sue, their five children and eight grandchildren. His funeral Mass was Jan. 4 at St. Odilia in Shoreview. Interment is at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Deacon Boisclair, 90, served in Buffalo, Monticello The Catholic Spirit Deacon Adrian Richard Boisclair, an Air Force veteran who served at two parishes during his ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, died Dec. 28. He was 90. The funeral Mass was Jan. 7 at St. Henry in Monticello, one of the parishes where he served after his 1992 ordination to the diaconate. The other was St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo. In addition, he led prayer services at nursing homes and served in prison ministry. He also was a member of the Knights of Columbus. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Joanne, four sons, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and two sisters.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year; Senior 1-year: $24.95. To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
Graces of an annual retreat
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he Code of Canon Law broadly requires every priest, religious and seminarian to make an annual retreat. This week, I feel blessed to be joining the bishops of this ecclesiastical province (Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota) for our annual retreat. We are being led this year by Father Wayne Sattler, a gifted priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, who is sharing with us rich insights into the dynamics of prayer that he has drawn from the writings and life of the Carmelite mystics, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. While the Church most often speaks of the annual retreat as an obligation, reasoning that it is a sine qua non for effective pastoral ministry and fidelity to one’s vocation, I have always considered it as much more of a privilege than an obligation. I am grateful that the Church insists that we be given the opportunity to imitate Jesus by withdrawing periodically to a quiet spot to pray. That was part of the rhythm of Jesus’ life, and it has to be part of the bishop’s as well. As a young priest, I would often make my annual retreat at the Jesuit Spirituality Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. While I always loved the chapel at Wernersville and the natural beauty of the setting, it was the center’s director, Jesuit Father George Aschenbrenner, who made the place sacred for me, helping me time and time again to recognize my annual retreat as the most important week of my year. An inspiring man of prayer and a master of the Ignatian Exercises, Father Aschenbrenner had served as
Gracia de un retiro anual
E
l Código de Derecho Canónico exige ampliamente que todo sacerdote, religioso y seminarista haga un retiro anual. Esta semana, me siento bendecido de unirme a los obispos de esta provincia eclesiástica (Minnesota, Dakota del Norte y Dakota del Sur) para nuestro retiro anual. Estamos siendo dirigidos este año por el Padre Wayne Sattler, un sacerdote talentoso de la Diócesis de Bismarck, quien comparte con nosotros valiosas ideas sobre la dinámica de la oración que ha extraído de los escritos y la vida de los místicos carmelitas, Santa Teresa de Ávila y San Juan de la Cruz. Mientras que la Iglesia habla con mayor frecuencia del retiro anual como una obligación, razonando que es un sine qua non para el ministerio pastoral efectivo y la fidelidad a la propia vocación, siempre lo he considerado mucho más un privilegio que una obligación. Estoy agradecido de que la Iglesia insista en que se nos dé la oportunidad de imitar a Jesús retirándonos periódicamente a un lugar tranquilo para orar. Eso era parte del ritmo de vida de Jesús, y tiene que ser parte del ritmo de vida del obispo también. Como joven sacerdote, solía hacer mi retiro anual en el Centro de Espiritualidad Jesuita en Wernersville, Pensilvania. Si bien siempre me encantó la capilla de Wernersville y la belleza natural del entorno, fue el director del centro, el padre jesuita George Aschenbrenner, quien convirtió el lugar en sagrado para mí, ayudándome una y otra vez a reconocer mi retiro anual como el más
my spiritual director when I was a seminarian in Rome, preached memorably at my First Mass, and as a retreat master at Wernersville, he was often used by the Lord to remind me of the overwhelming abundance of God’s love in my life and ministry in a way that would sustain me for another year. When Father Aschenbrenner was called home to the Lord last month, I found myself particularly grateful for his priestly example for all that he had done to open my heart to the graces of an annual retreat. The Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops notes that the bishop has to be committed to his own ongoing spiritual formation: “(t)his constant spiritual formation enables the Bishop to animate his pastoral activity with an authentic spirit of holiness, tirelessly promoting and sustaining the universal call to holiness.” The annual retreat is an important element of that ongoing formation as it provides the bishop an intensive opportunity to immerse himself in prayer. The Directory reasons that the bishop has to be a man with a deep interior life, noting that it “is from prayer that a Bishop draws light, strength and comfort for his pastoral activity. For a Bishop, prayer is like the staff which supports him as he makes his pilgrimage through daily life.” While prayer has to be a daily reality in the life and ministry of a bishop, it shouldn’t be surprising that the bishop leans on the graces of the annual retreat throughout the year. I particularly welcome this opportunity to bring to the Lord the needs of our Church and our world, praying as we approach the anniversary of Roe v. Wade for a strengthening of the culture of life. Not
importante. semana de mi año. Hombre de oración inspirador y maestro de los Ejercicios Ignacianos, el Padre Aschenbrenner fue mi director espiritual cuando yo era seminarista en Roma, predicó de manera memorable en mi Primera Misa y como maestro de retiros en Wernersville, a menudo fue utilizado por los Señor, que me recuerde la abrumadora abundancia del amor de Dios en mi vida y ministerio de una manera que me sostenga por un año más. Cuando el Padre Aschenbrenner fue llamado a casa con el Señor el mes pasado, me sentí particularmente agradecido por su ejemplo sacerdotal por todo lo que había hecho para abrir mi corazón a las gracias de un retiro anual. El Directorio para la Pastoral de los Obispos señala que el obispo debe comprometerse con su propia formación espiritual permanente: “esta constante formación espiritual permite al obispo animar su actividad pastoral con un auténtico espíritu de santidad, promoviendo y sosteniendo incansablemente la llamada universal a la santidad”. El retiro anual es un elemento importante de esa formación permanente, ya que le brinda al obispo una oportunidad intensa de sumergirse en la oración. El Directorio razona que el obispo debe ser un hombre con una profunda vida interior, señalando que “es de la oración que el obispo saca luz, fuerza y consuelo para su actividad pastoral. Para un obispo, la oración es como el bastón que lo sostiene en su peregrinaje por la vida cotidiana”. Si bien la oración tiene que ser una realidad diaria en la vida y el ministerio de un obispo, no debería sorprender que el obispo se apoye en las gracias del retiro anual
surprisingly, I am also praying earnestly for Bishopelect Joseph Williams and the fruitfulness of his future ministry as he prepares for his ordination on Jan. 25. I am delighted that he has joined us for the retreat and hope that he will feel the support of his brother bishops at this time (even if we spend most of our retreat days in silence). Not surprisingly, I am also praying this year for our brothers and sisters who are being impacted by the pandemic, especially those with COVID-19 and their family members, and those over-taxed health care workers struggling to care for them. Our teachers and school administrators, who have done such a phenomenal job in educating our students at such a difficult time, are understandably in my prayers as well. My heart at this year’s retreat is also filled with prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings that we are receiving from our Archdiocesan Synod process. The input from our Synod small group consultation has been amazing, and it has given me even greater reason for thanking the Lord for our Synod Executive Team, our Synod Prayer Team, and the leadership offered at the parish level by our pastors, parish ambassadors and facilitators. As you would expect, I’m also asking the Lord to bless our next steps as we prepare for the Synod Assembly this Pentecost. I’m hoping that my annual retreat will help me to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to our local Church. Given the importance of these days, I would be grateful if you would pray for me and the other bishops of our Metropolitan Province, as well as for our retreat director. Please know that I will be praying for you as well.
durante todo el año. Particularmente acojo esta oportunidad de traer al Señor las necesidades de nuestra Iglesia y nuestro mundo, orando a medida que nos acercamos al aniversario de Roe v. Wade por el fortalecimiento de la cultura de la vida. No es sorprendente que también esté orando fervientemente por el obispo electo Joseph Williams y la fecundidad de su futuro ministerio mientras se prepara para su ordenación el 25 de enero. Estoy encantado de que él se haya unido a nosotros para el retiro y espero que él sienta el apoyo de sus hermanos obispos en este momento (incluso si pasamos la mayoría de nuestros días de retiro en silencio). No es sorprendente que este año también esté orando por nuestros hermanos y hermanas que están siendo afectados por la pandemia, especialmente aquellos con COVID-19 y sus familiares, y aquellos trabajadores de la salud sobrecargados de trabajo de impuestos que luchan por cuidarlos. Nuestros maestros y administradores escolares, que han hecho un trabajo fenomenal al educar a nuestros estudiantes en un momento tan difícil, también están comprensiblemente en mis oraciones. Mi corazón en el retiro de este año también está lleno de oraciones de acción de gracias por las bendiciones que estamos recibiendo de nuestro proceso del Sínodo Arquidiocesano. El aporte de nuestra consulta de grupos pequeños del Sínodo ha sido increíble, y me ha dado una razón aún mayor para agradecer al Señor por nuestro Equipo Ejecutivo del Sínodo, nuestro Equipo de Oración del Sínodo y el liderazgo ofrecido a nivel parroquial por nuestros párrocos, embajadores parroquiales y facilitadores Como era de esperar, también le pido al
Señor que bendiga nuestros próximos pasos mientras nos preparamos para la Asamblea del Sínodo este Pentecostés. Espero que mi retiro anual me ayude a discernir lo que el Espíritu Santo le está diciendo a nuestra Iglesia local. Dada la importancia de estos días, les agradecería oraran por mí y por los demás obispos de nuestra Provincia Metropolitana, así como por nuestro director de retiros. Por favor sepa que estaré orando por usted también.
OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective December 16, 2021 Deacon Mickey Friesen, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Thomas Becket in Eagan. Deacon Friesen recently completed graduate studies and is resuming parish ministry. Deacon Jerry Saladin, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville. This is in addition to his current assignment at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Saint Paul.
Effective January 3, 2022 Reverend Michael Becker, assigned as pastor of the Parish of Saints Joachim and Anne of Shakopee. Father Becker is returning from sabbatical and most recently served as rector of the Saint John Vianney Seminary in Saint Paul.
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4 • The Catholic Spirit 4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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JANUARY 13, 2022
SLICEof LIFE
Bishop to be
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4 • The Catholic Spirit
‘Angel’ among us
SLICEof LIFE
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March 9, 2017
Bishop-elect Joseph Williams, right, gets ready for a photo shoot at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Jan. 7 as he puts on a zucchetto worn by Bishop St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Avis Paul Sirba of Duluth, a priest Allmaras, center, talks with Rose Carter, of the Archdiocese of at Peace House in left, and Irene Eiden south Minneapolis Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis St. Paul and goes to the center weekly and visits who served as bishop of the frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of Diocese St. ofWilliam Duluth until his in Fridley, is a lay consociate of the death Dec. 1,Carondelet 2019. Sisters. Peace House is a day shelter for the poor and homeless. Bishop-elect Williams “It’s a real privilege to know these people receivedand thehear zucchetto their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I could Sirba’s not survivesister, on the streets like they from Bishop do. There are so many gifted people Catherine Kelly. At left are here.” Said Carter of Sister Avis: “She’s Bishop-elect Williams’ an angel. She hides her wings under that is an angel.” parents, sweatshirt. Dr. GaryShe andtruly Mary Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit Williams,Dave who will see their son ordained an auxiliary Celebrating sisters bishop for the Archdiocese National Sisters Week is of St. Paul and Catholic Minneapolis March 8-14. An official component of at a 1 p.m. MassHistory Jan.Month 25 inand Women’s headquartered at St. Catherine University the Cathedral.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
With COVID on rise among priests, Communion services may replace Masses By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit Priests may have a special calling, but they are not immune to COVID-19. Consider the 18 who were in isolation with the novel coronavirus as of Jan. 11 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The number of priests impacted by COVID-19 has been rising over the past weeks, and so has the number of people across the state of Minnesota contracting the virus, especially with the more contagious omicron variant. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Jan. 7 that Minnesota’s COVID-19 positivity rate reached a record 15.6%. The rate reflects test results from Dec. 24-30. Factors such as more people using at-home rapid antigen tests before visiting relatives over the holidays could have inflated the positivity rate, but health officials said the data reflect the rising toll of a new wave of pandemic activity, the newspaper reported. The number of priests with COVID-19 in the archdiocese is the highest it’s been since the pandemic began, said Father Michael Tix, episcopal vicar for Clergy and Parish Services for the archdiocese. It has impacted priests in their 20s to their 80s, he said. Some are mild cases, even asymptomatic, he said, but one priest was taken to the hospital by ambulance. So far, parish Masses have been covered by other priests with no disruption to people in the pews, Father Tix said. But if cases continue to climb and it becomes harder to find available priests, parishioners expecting Mass on a Saturday night or Sunday might find a Communion service instead, he said. “Priests have been incredibly generous in covering for one another,” Father Tix said. But “without a lot of people on the bench, then the likelihood becomes more possible that we may not be able to cover all Masses.”
One priest who contracted and then recovered from COVID-19, Father Thomas McCabe, parochial administrator of Holy Trinity in Goodhue, said he fell ill enough Oct. 25 to drive at 11 p.m. to the emergency room in Red Wing. “People were so patient and generous,” he said. “I was overwhelmed with soups and other food.” Even before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, he took a precautionary 10 days in midSeptember, believing he might FATHER have contracted the virus. A MICHAEL TIX deacon presided at a wedding in his absence, he said. Father McCabe, 56, serves about 100 families at Holy Trinity. He also serves at the parish’s two other worship sites, ministering to about 100 families at St. Columbkill in Belle Creek and about 82 families at St. Mary’s in Bellechester. Father McCabe said he called about 10 of his brother priests for assistance and they responded “very generously.” No weekend Masses were interrupted at the three churches, but some weekday Masses had to be canceled. Many parishes have a list of “go-to priests,” Father Tix said, and an archdiocesan staff member developed a centralized email system to help parishes find priests. But with numbers of COVID cases rising, parishioners need to understand that they may not be walking into a Mass at the usual time, he said. A Communion service also meets the Sunday Mass obligation, he said. “It’s just extraordinary times where somebody might be out sick,” he said. “You did your part. You went to church. Unfortunately, COVID kicked in, or it could be the flu or any number of things.” While some people might look to attend a Mass
later in the day at a different parish, that might not always be possible to find, Father Tix said. Because of extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary times, a Catholic’s attempt to attend Mass would actually meet his or her Sunday obligation. Father Dale Korogi, pastor of Ascension in north Minneapolis, tested negative for COVID-19 two times in mid-October. But four days after his second negative test, he suddenly felt poorly, visited an emergency room and tested positive. His illness kept him from ministry for nearly a month. “I work with very capable, competent and loving people, so I was able to take the time I needed to recover and not be concerned about parish responsibilities,” he said. But as the only priest at Ascension, Father Korogi, 64, did need help covering Masses. No weekend Masses were canceled. “I found priests are just really generous,” Father Korogi said. “If they’re able, they’re more than willing to step in.” The Saturday Mass was easily covered, he said. But Ascension offers two bilingual Masses on Sunday. With some parts of the Mass said in English and some in Spanish, Father Korogi needed a priest comfortable alternating between the languages. Father Andrew Jaspers, chaplain at North Memorial in Robbinsdale, speaks Spanish, and has always been willing to help out, Father Korogi said. He filled in for many of the Masses. Some weekday Masses are celebrated at Visitation Monastery, but while Father Korogi was out, the Visitation sisters held a Communion service. Father McCabe said he thanks God for people’s patience, prayers and generosity. “And the brotherhood of priests, again, is just so wonderful,” he said. “Priests really are stretched thin and people respond (by) helping out. It’s just really been a lot of blessings in that way.”
Next Synod step tweaked due to COVID, but still rooted in small group feedback By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The next step in the Synod process has been reformatted in response to the newest COVID-19 variant wave, Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced in a Jan. 7 letter to clergy. The next consultation event is now the Parish Synod Leadership Team consultation, which will take place at parishes Feb. 26. Archbishop Hebda originally planned to bring together parish representatives in deanery-organized meetings to discuss the Synod focus areas and further hone ideas surfaced during the Parish Consultation process in the fall. Under the revised approach, those parish representatives will gather in person at their parish as a team Feb. 26 (or alternatively March 5) to discuss and pray about those same ideas guided by a video prepared by the archdiocese. Feedback shared that day will inform the Archdiocesan Synod Assembly in June. Deaneries are geographic groupings of parishes within a diocese’s boundaries. Much of the content planned for the deanery-level consultation meetings will remain the same, but other parts of the day will be different under the adapted structure, said Therese Coons, the Synod’s director. Now that parish teams are meeting together, she said, the consultation will include the team brainstorming about how its parish might hypothetically implement a few of the ideas, selected by the pastor, that
emerged from the Parish Consultation with Small Groups. Between mid-September and midNovember, 95% of parishes in the archdiocese participated in the Synod’s Parish Consultation with Small Groups, six sessions of small group meetings to reflect and give feedback on the Synod’s three focus areas: 1. Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, 2. Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and 3. Forming youth and young adults in THERESE COONS and for a Church that is always young. For the Parish Consultation, those topic areas were further refined into 12 different discussion subtopics, with two subtopics addressed at each session. In 11 of those subtopics, participants selected, from a list, their top three “ideas for consideration” indicating something that has worked for them in their own faith journeys, and three “ideas for consideration” they thought the archdiocese should prioritize. They were also invited to write a short “My Best Idea” response related to the subtopic. A small group of volunteers and Archdiocesan Catholic Center staff recently analyzed nearly 69,000 Parish Consultation feedback forms submitted from the sessions, including the short “My Best Idea” statements. Nearly 47,000 of those feedback forms
— an average of 68% — included a response to the “My Best Idea” prompt. Participants provided responses in both English and Spanish. A parishioner of St. Anne in Hamel, Coons said that the data were treated with integrity, with every response coded to a category, and then summarized by category in the final report provided to Archbishop Hebda. “All of us on the review committee were keenly aware that we are stewards of the feedback, and our responsibility was to prepare reports that accurately and completely captured and reflected the feedback to give to Archbishop Hebda for his discernment,” she said via email. “Through the coding process of the (My Best Ideas), we tried to make this massive amount of feedback as digestible and objective as possible.” Coons emphasized that each “My Best Idea” was shared with Archbishop Hebda. “When I read one response which said something like ‘I know you won’t read this,’ I had to smile, as the comment was most certainly read and considered by me and others on the review committee, as well as included in the full report provided to Archbishop Hebda,” she said. Coons said that as she reviewed the feedback forms, she was impressed by the sheer number of participants and the thoughtfulness of the “My Best Idea” responses. She noted that her own small group experience “was such a joy.” “I met people I would not have otherwise met and the table discussions
were meaningful,” she said. Archbishop Hebda launched the Archdiocesan Synod process in 2019 with 30 Prayer and Listening Events that drew more than 8,000 participants and 35,000 comments on the local Catholic Church. In August 2020, he announced the Synod’s three focus areas, which he had discerned from that initial feedback. A three-day Synod Assembly is planned for June 3-5 for participants to discuss and consider the questions posed for deliberation and provide recommendations to Archbishop Hebda. He plans to discern those recommendations and release a pastoral letter in November, followed by a pastoral plan for the archdiocese.
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6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
LOCAL
JANUARY 13, 2022
Legalizing recreational marijuana Studies show failure in reducing disparity in Black arrest rates, creating minority business owners By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a series on legalizing recreational marijuana. The first stories appeared in the Oct. 14 edition. As the Minnesota Legislature considers legalizing recreational marijuana in the second of its twoyear biennium starting Jan. 31, opponents of the move argue that benefits for minority communities promoted in other states — in the form of correcting racial disparities in arrests or including minorities as business owners — have not delivered. Similar efforts embedded in the Minnesota legislation are destined to fail as well, they say. And the safety and health risks to all communities heavily outweigh any benefits of legalizing the drug for recreational use, argue anti-marijuana advocates, including the Minnesota Catholic Conference. Blacks, for example, who across the country have been disproportionately arrested for marijuana use or possession and other offenses, continued to endure marijuana-related arrests at a higher rate than whites — even as overall marijuana arrests fell — in two states, Colorado and Washington, that legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, according to a 2016 study by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. In Washington in 2008, the arrest rate for marijuana offenses among Blacks was 877.8 per 100,000 people, more than double what it was among all other races, which were 390.5 per 100,000, the study found. In 2014, the arrest rate for marijuanarelated offenses, such as using marijuana in a public area or driving while under the influence, fell for Blacks to 57.2 per 100,000, but for non-Blacks it dropped to 27.3, the center reported. In Colorado, the arrest rate for marijuana-related offenses among Blacks was 601.3 per 100,000 people in 2008, and for non-Blacks it was 293.3. In 2014, the arrest rate had dropped to 242.2 per 100,000 among Blacks, but went even lower, to 103.8, among nonBlacks, according to the study. “The forces that contribute to racial disparities under prohibition are clearly still in place after legalization,” such as police spending more time in poorer, Black neighborhoods than white neighborhoods, arresting onthe-street drug dealing, and not RYAN HAMILTON investigating what might be happening in high-rise apartments and condominiums, said Mike Males, a senior research fellow at the center who compared the data. Continued racial disparities in arrests run contrary to what advocates of legalizing recreational marijuana have promised, Males said. “I think it’s something that people advocating to legalize marijuana have to answer for,” he said. MCC’s government relations associate, Ryan Hamilton, said government surveys show that Black and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rate. “Despite this similarity in use, research has found that Black Americans are nearly 3.5 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. So, at least in terms of possession crimes, there is a disparity in how marijuana laws are being enforced.” Will Jones, director of communications and outreach for Alexandria, Virginia-based Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), said he has reviewed similar studies around the country. It is a mixed bag, but in some of the 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal, overall arrest rates of Blacks actually increased, even as fewer Blacks and others
were arrested for specific marijuana offenses, such as possession, he said. “What we’ve found is that equity in the war on drugs is a great concept,” Jones told The Catholic Spirit. “But no state has been able to do that.” SAM, along with many other anti-marijuana activists and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, argue that marijuana should not be legalized. But it could be decriminalized, with penalties better fitting the nature of the crime. “We’re saying decriminalize, but don’t commercialize,” said Judson “Kim” Bemis, chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, one of many state affiliates of the national group. A 15- or 16-year-old caught in possession of marijuana should not have to deal with a criminal record that could make it hard to find a job, Bemis said. “Far too many minorities have been hassled through the marijuana laws,” he said. “Being caught with two or three marijuana gummy bears could be a felony. That’s not straight. We are advocating a graduated system. The first couple of arrests could be like a traffic JUDSON ticket, not placed on someone’s (KIM) BEMIS record. At some point you need a stick. Three or four arrests might lead to drug court or a stiffer penalty.” Minnesota legislation for legalizing recreational marijuana, HF 600, which passed in the state’s House of Representatives last year, and its companion bill in the Senate, SF 757, would expunge criminal records of some marijuana offenses and amend marijuanarelated criminal penalties. But it would not be able to curtail disproportionate arrest rates of minorities compared with whites, an issue that goes beyond marijuana legislation, Bemis said. In Colorado, discretionary searches by the State Highway Patrol dropped by more than half after that state’s 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana, but search rates remained significantly higher for Blacks and Hispanics from 2013 through 2015, SAM’s Jones said. Overall arrests of African Americans in Colorado actually rose from 2012 to 2018, perhaps because marijuana lowers inhibitions, cuts into the ability to make good decisions and increases encounters with police, Jones said. Recreational marijuana shops, such as in Colorado, also tend to be disproportionality placed in areas where the demand for marijuana is higher, where there are higher rates of poverty and a greater number of alcohol outlets, indicating that when owners chose where to locate dispensaries, they followed the data to low-income and minority neighborhoods, Jones said. The MCC’s Hamilton said the true good, rooted in justice, is equitable enforcement. To say that legalization of recreational marijuana — a removal of accountability — is a just solution to disparate enforcement among races runs counter to teachings of the Catholic Church about human flourishing, he said. “Because it implies that our society is incapable or unwilling to enforce our laws fairly and therefore the only solution is to permit vice,” he said. Results also have been disappointing in efforts to include minorities in the industry as growers, distributors and shop owners, critics say. In Illinois, which legalized recreational pot in 2019, a cannabis dispensary lottery system was revamped and expanded last July to include more “social equity applicants” after it was found no marijuana businesses were majority Black, Latino or womenowned, due to a botched scoring system. While percentages vary state to state, across the country minorities own less than 10% of all the businesses in the marijuana industry, Bemis said. In Colorado last year, 2.9% of marijuana businesses were owned by Blacks, 7.7% by Latinos and 83.7%
MARIJUANA AND CHURCH TEACHING This is the second in a four-part series on efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota. Those efforts are opposed by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which among other things, argues that the drug fuels addictions, exacerbates mental health problems and increases the risks of people driving under the influence. However, the move to legalize is part of a national trend that now has 19 states with recreational marijuana. The series opened in the Oct. 14 edition of The Catholic Spirit with a story on MCC’s opposition to recreational marijuana and its neutral stance on medical marijuana, which has been legal in the state since 2014. The story also looked at some of the politics involved. A second story in that edition articulated the moral grounds for the Catholic Church’s opposition to recreational marijuana and other drugs. A third element was Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens’ April 15 address on recreational marijuana at MCC’s Catholics at the Capitol event in St. Paul. (Bishop Cozzens was installed as bishop of Crookston Dec. 6.) Future series installments will explore ways big alcohol and tobacco companies are investing in the push to legalize marijuana, and after the 2022 legislative session, review efforts to legalize recreational cannabis in Minnesota and what that might mean for the future. — Joe Ruff
by whites, he said. According to U.S. Census data released in October, in 2019 approximately 18.7% of U.S. employer businesses overall were minorityowned. Even if minority ownership increased, it is not a good business to own, unless the owner is looking to sell addiction, Bemis said. “You get repeat clientele,” he said. Attempts to include minority ownership of marijuana-related businesses in HF 600 also would fail Minnesotans, said Bemis, 68, an entrepreneur in Minneapolis who has been involved in digital programming and marketing of addiction recovery programs. The bill would set up grants and loans through nonprofits and other organizations to help “social equity applicants” grow, distribute and sell marijuana. Such applicants would include people living in areas where the poverty rate is 20% or more, or that experienced a disproportionately large amount of cannabis enforcement. But starting a business costs a great deal of money. Loans and grants can quickly run out, Bemis said. Because marijuana remains illegal on the federal level, banks are not keen on getting involved, he said. “The trouble is, they (many startups) run out of money,” he said. In the marijuana industry, that often leaves the field to big business and private investors, he said. Large companies often take on assumed names that are hard to trace, recruit a member of a minority community to go in on the deal and then take control of the business, he said. Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, said in the two years that the state has seen legalized recreational marijuana, it has witnessed a rise in crime, a larger black market for marijuana and other drugs, and an increase of psychosis and other mental health ailments. But with pot sales hitting $1.9 billion and total tax collections on those sales at more than $560 million, there is no political will to talk about the costs of legalization, he said. “All of these things together are not good for society,” he said. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, people are turning to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. “We’re just giving them another outlet,” he said. “It’s not good for the common good.”
LOCAL
JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
UST law prof: Roe v. Wade’s overturn would have little legal impact in MN Interview by Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares a decision following its Dec. 1 hearing of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many pro-life advocates and court observers think it could mean the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. With Dobbs, the court is examining a 2018 Mississippi law that banned abortions after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is being challenged by the state’s only abortion facility, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The court is examining the question of “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.” The ruling is expected at the end of the court’s term this spring. The Catholic Spirit asked Teresa Collett, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, to explain the current landscape for pro-life advocates. Collett teaches property law, constitutional litigation, and Catholic social thought and the United Nations. She is co-founder and director of the Prolife Center at the university. She has represented government officials in defending unborn life and marriage, including Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota and 239 other women scholars and professionals in an amicus brief in the Dobbs case. The following interview was conducted by e-mail.
Q From your perspective, is the
Supreme Court truly in a position where Roe v. Wade could be overturned?
A Yes. Roe is purely a judicial creation
— it has no roots in the language of the Constitution, American history or our legal traditions. As such, what the court created, the court can reject. No doubt a majority, maybe even all, of the justices hate having to deal with abortion cases. For some, like Justice Kavanaugh, this means the court should admit the Constitution says nothing about abortion, overrule Roe, and send the issue back for the people to decide through normal political means. As he noted during oral argument, even if Roe is overruled, “states still could or — and presumably would — continue to freely allow abortion.” For others like Justices Kagan and Breyer, Roe should only be overruled if other legal protections for abortion exist. Thus, it is conceivable that they would support overturning Roe if Congress puts statutory protections around abortion, like the deceptively named “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021,” HR 3755.
Q There are observers arguing that if
the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it would be seen as a political decision, undermining the rule of law and the court’s legitimacy. What is your perspective on this argument?
A Roe v. Wade was a political decision
when made, and it remains a deeply contested political decision today, both outside and within the court. The case of Roe v. Wade was originally accepted by the court to decide a narrow procedural issue. It was only through a series of historical accidents and the
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Teresa Collett, a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas, says the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would send the issue of abortion back to the states to decide.
MAKING ABORTION ‘UNTHINKABLE’ With speculation high on ways the U.S. Supreme Court might rule on Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, versus a 24-week ban permitted under Roe v. Wade, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference cautions that the need to advocate for the unborn will not go away anytime soon. Even if the court in Dobbs v. Jackson declares the U.S. Constitution neutral on abortion, or refashions the undue burden standard established in previous court cases, states will be free to enact their own abortion laws, with some like California seeking ways to be safe havens for abortion, said Jason Adkins. Nor will reducing the ability to obtain an abortion impact the demand for abortion, Adkins told Patrick Conley, host of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show, for an episode that aired at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. “The work of making abortion unthinkable, that work will go on well into the future,” Adkins said. Asked how Catholics can continue to help, Adkins said it is important to work for justice for the unborn and charity for women who are bearing difficult pregnancies, providing them with the support they need to choose life. Prayer also is important, Adkins said, encouraging people to pray the Angelus each day at noon and 6 p.m. while considering the many issues that surround abortion. To hear more of the conversation, including discussion of Minnesota law and the state’s future on the abortion front, listen to the full episode at practicingcatholicshow.com. — Joe Ruff
determination of Justices (William) Douglas and (William) Brennan that a majority of justices were persuaded to transform the case into one focused on the constitutionality of abortion. Whether the court overrules or upholds Roe v. Wade, large numbers of Americans will see the court as issuing a political decision.
Q If Roe were overturned, where would Minnesota stand on the legality of abortion?
A Overturning Roe v. Wade would
have almost no impact on Minnesota abortion practice. In 1995 in Doe v. Gomez, the Minnesota Supreme Court created a state right to abortion that the court characterized as “broader protection” than the right created by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe. The case not only created a broad right to abortion, it also created a right to taxpayer funding of abortions — a claim that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected.
Q How does Minnesota’s state
abortion laws compare to other states?
A Unlike most states, Minnesota has no law that limits abortions after a child obtains viability — the ability to live outside the womb, albeit with medical support. This is because the state’s post-viability abortion ban was struck down by a federal court in 1974 and legislative attempts to pass new prohibitions have been vetoed. The state also is one of 15 states that pay for poor women’s abortions.
Q Last year, several state regulations
related to abortion restrictions were litigated. Where do they stand now?
A A Minnesota abortion doctor, nurse
midwife and a Unitarian church are currently challenging many laws regulating abortion in Ramsey County District Court. (The case number is 62-CV-19-3868 for readers who want to read the legal documents.) The plaintiffs
claim that the state constitution requires allowing people other than doctors to perform abortions, while simultaneously claiming that it is unconstitutional to require that women receive information about certain medical aspects of abortion as well as social services support for pregnant and parenting women at least 24 hours before an abortion is performed. They demand that teens be allowed to obtain abortions without parental involvement, with one of the experts claiming 14-year-olds are as capable as adults in making medical decisions. Perhaps the most bizarre claim plaintiffs make is that it is unconstitutional to require abortion providers to report patient demographic information, as well as various medical information like maternal complications and deaths within 90 days of an abortion to the Department of Health. The case is being defended by State Attorney General Keith Ellison, who as a member of Congress had a 100% voting record in favor of abortion according to NARAL Pro-Choice America and was endorsed by the Minnesota chapter of the organization during his run for AG. Early in the case, the Minnesota Senate attempted to intervene in the lawsuit to defend laws they had passed, but the attorney general persuaded the Court to deny the Senate’s request. I should note that I was one of the lawyers the Senate hoped to have assist in defending these laws. Both sides have asked the trial judge to rule on several issues based only on the legal documents and affidavits or declarations of various experts. The Court is considering their arguments.
Q Given the state’s laws, where would you recommend pro-life advocates concentrate their efforts?
A Unlike other outpatient surgical
facilities, Minnesota’s abortion facilities are unregulated. The state should establish a licensing process, require all abortion clinics to be licensed, and authorize the state commissioner of health to inspect clinics periodically. Legislators should also pass a narrow definition of “therapeutic abortion” to limit taxpayer funding of abortion to cases involving abortions due to a serious physical condition or impairment arising from or related to the pregnancy. Notwithstanding that the Minnesota Supreme Court used this term in Doe v. Gomez, the court failed to define it, while rejecting the dissenting justice’s claim that the opinion effectively permitted “any woman eligible for medical assistance to obtain an abortion ‘on demand.’”
Q What gives you hope in the pro-life cause?
A Truth is on our side. As a majority of
the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recognized in Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, abortion terminates “the life of a whole separate, unique living human being.”
Q What else do you want pro-life
advocates to understand about this particular point in time?
A We are winning the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens on this issue. We must simply pray and persevere as we continue walking with moms in need.
8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
NATION+WORLD Catholics hold funeral after Myanmar massacre; attacks continue Catholic News Service For Christians in Myanmar’s Chin and Kayah states, there were no Christmas and New Year celebrations due to fighting. They have borne the brunt of a decades-old civil war and faced oppression and persecution at the hands of the military, reported ucanews.com. On Dec. 29, Catholics in Kayah’s Hpruso Township held a funeral for 35 civilians, including women and children — all Catholic — killed by troops and their bodies set on fire Christmas Eve in Mo So village. Ucanews.com reported local sources said the funeral was led by catechists, because the military would not allow a local priest to officiate. The killings shocked the world and drew swift condemnation from Cardinal Charles Bo, who called it a “heartbreaking and horrific atrocity.”
HEADLINES
CNS
u Indian government reversal: Missionaries of Charity can get foreign funds. The Indian government has restored the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration of the Missionaries of Charity, clearing the decks for the globally renowned charity to receive and utilize foreign funds, reported ucanews. com. The Jan. 8 change of decision comes less than a fortnight after the federal ministry for home affairs declined to renew the order’s FCRA registration, citing “adverse inputs.” The congregation, which was founded by St. Teresa of Kolkata, was finding it difficult to carry forward its charitable works ever since news broke on Christmas Day that its application for renewal had been refused. The ministry issued a statement Dec. 27 saying the charity did not meet “eligibility conditions” under the FCRA and cited “adverse input” for its decision, without further details. u Supreme Court does not seem convinced of employer vaccine-or-test rule. During two sets of oral arguments Jan. 7, the majority of Supreme Court justices questioned the Biden administration’s requirement that large businesses need their employees to show
“The fact that the bodies of those killed, burned and mutilated were found on Christmas Day makes this appalling tragedy even more poignant and sickening. As much of the world celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the people of Mo So village suffered the terrible shock and grief of an outrageous act of inhumanity,” he said. Cardinal Bo, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, urged the military “to stop bombing and shelling innocent people, to stop destroying homes and churches, schools and clinics” and to begin “a dialogue with the democracy movement and ethnic armed groups.” The cardinal was criticized for meeting Myanmar’s military chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and cutting a cake with him Dec. 23 to mark Christmas at the archbishop’s house in Yangon.
proof of COVID-19 vaccination or be tested, while they were less dubious about the requirement that most health care workers be vaccinated. In the emergency hearings, which lasted three-and-a-half hours, the court considered emergency petitions to stop these requirements, even temporarily, or to allow them to proceed while lawsuits challenging them continued. The employee challenge was over a vaccination or testing regulation issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for employers with 100 or more workers. The health care worker challenge examined rules issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees at hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers that receive federal funds. The workplace rule would impact about 80 million workers and the health care rule would affect about 17 million workers. The court is expected to have a decision in these cases in upcoming days or weeks. u British tribunal: National Health Service harassed nurse for wearing cross. A Catholic nurse suffered harassment and discrimination because she refused to remove a small gold cross necklace at work, an employment tribunal ruled. Mary Onuoha, 61, was subjected to “offensive and intimidating” treatment by the National Health Service, her employer, and was unfairly dismissed from her job at the Croydon University Hospital in London, the tribunal concluded. In a judgment handed down Jan. 5, the three-member tribunal panel rejected claims by the health service that the cross was not a symbol of the nurse’s faith and that it was an infection risk. The tribunal said her managers created “an offensive, hostile and intimidating environment” for the Nigerian-born nurse. Onuoha said she had worn the necklace for 19 years without complaint but was placed
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Within hours of the Dec. 23 meeting, the military junta launched airstrikes, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes into neighboring Thailand. Ignoring repeated appeals by the world and religious leaders, including Pope Francis, Myanmar’s military regime has continued attacking villages and ethnic areas where armed resistance has been the strongest. On Dec. 30, the Assembly of God church and another belonging to the Association of Baptist Churches in the deserted town of Thantlang were burned by soldiers, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization. The conflict-ravaged town has seen five churches and more than 450 houses damaged by fire so far. Across Chin state, some 22 churches and 350 civilian homes were burned or destroyed by the military between August and November, said the human rights organization.
under pressure to remove it beginning in 2015. She said other staff were allowed to wear hijabs, saris, turbans, lanyards, jewelry and even bunches of keys around their necks. u Biden administration unveils changes in ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. Biden administration officials announced Jan. 3 additional legal help for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. who are being forced to stay in Mexico under a Trump-era policy that has been difficult to revoke. Even as the administration seeks in its own way to make improvements to the Migrant Protection Protocols, or “Remain in Mexico” policy, government officials have asked the Supreme Court to step in and end it. The policy, also known as MPP, keeps asylum-seekers waiting across the southern border until their cases can be heard by U.S. immigration courts. Immigrant supporters have long complained about the danger and conditions migrants face while they wait in dangerous border towns. But U.S. government officials said they now have a system in place to transport migrants safely to shelters and to provide them access to legal representation, two of the main complaints about the policy. u Law firm to publish report on handling of abuse in Munich Archdiocese. In mid-January, the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl is scheduled to publish a report into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Three of the highest-ranking officials are still alive: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now retired Pope Benedict XVI — and Cardinals Friedrich Wetter and Reinhard Marx. The investigation followed two years of research and covers the period from 1945 to 2019, centering on who knew what about sexual abuse and when, and what action they took. Much of the public interest is focused on the retired pope’s 1977-1981 tenure as archbishop of Munich. The case concerns the assignments of a priest accused of a particularly large number of offenses. u Vatican pays tribute to 22 Church workers murdered in 2021. In situations of extreme poverty, war or civil tensions, 22 Catholic Church workers were murdered in 2021, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Presenting its annual list of missionaries killed during the year Dec. 30, the news agency explained, “We use the term ‘missionary’ for all the baptized, aware that ‘in virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.’” None of the 13 priests, one religious brother, two religious sisters and six laypeople “carried out striking feats or actions,” Fides said, but they gave witness to their faith “in impoverished, degraded
social contexts, where violence is the rule of life, the authority of the state was lacking or weakened by corruption and compromises and in the total lack of respect for life and for every human right.” In publishing the list, Fides said it was not looking only at Church workers killed in traditional mission territories and it was not proclaiming any of them as “martyrs” in the technical sense of having been killed out of hatred for their faith. u Contention over Catholic University icon grows after it’s stolen again. A second icon of Mary holding Jesus has been stolen from outside a chapel at The Catholic University of America following complaints that the image of Christ resembled George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020. No one has been arrested for the theft, but the Washington, D.C., university said authorities are investigating the crime, which some also view as a sacrilege — a violation of a sacred object. In a Dec. 20 letter to the university community, the institution’s president John Garvey said the wall outside the law school chapel, where the icon was located, will remain empty while a replacement, a different artwork, is mulled over. The second icon replaced a larger one stolen in late November. It had sparked a substantial number of emails and phone calls telling the university that the image was “blasphemous because they saw it as deifying or canonizing George Floyd,” Garvey wrote in a Nov. 24 letter to the school’s community. u Pope asks pontifical council to begin planning Holy Year 2025. Preparations for the Holy Year 2025 have already begun, and Pope Francis has asked the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization to take charge of the efforts. A holy year or jubilee is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy, based on the Old Testament tradition of a jubilee year of rest, forgiveness and renewal. u Archdiocese sues public school district over Title I funds for students. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is suing the Los Angeles Unified School District over millions of dollars in federal funds that the public school district is legally required to share with Catholic and other private schools for assisting lowincome, academically struggling students with reading, math and counseling. Attorneys for the archdiocese filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of California Dec. 16, nearly six months after the California Department of Education issued a 58-page “investigation report” that said the school district had committed “egregious” actions in withholding Title I federal funds from scores of Catholic schools. — Catholic News Service
NATION+WORLD
JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
In Jan. 6 observations, Catholics urged to defend truth and democracy By Rhina Guido Catholic News Service A Catholic organization and a cardinal urged other Church members, people of various faiths and people of goodwill to weigh the consequences of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and fight for democracy. “If we succumb to despair, if we numb our minds to what is unfolding before us, we are tacitly surrendering our democracy, and all that it can do to protect the dignity of all God’s children,” tweeted Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, on the anniversary of the attacks. On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol, putting the building on lockdown and interrupting the count of electoral votes to certify the 2020 election. The count continued but not before rioters destroyed federal property, broke into both chambers of Congress, assaulted hundreds of police officers and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to listen to Trump in going against the electoral vote count and not certify the election. Pence certified it, but it didn’t stop the rioters from believing that the election had, in effect, been stolen. Despite Trump’s claims, state and federal judges have dismissed more than 50 lawsuits challenging the election, state governments have stood by their vote counts, and U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have concluded there was no widespread voter fraud in the presidential election. “The lies that led many millions to believe the falsehood that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ must end,” said Cardinal Cupich in a tweet. “We must also be vigilant and resist all attempts to restrict voting rights. We ignore these and any effort to weaken our democracy
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at our own peril.” In Washington, Franciscan Deacon Frank Agnoli built context around the attack during an interfaith vigil online hours before the anniversary, reminding participants that the attack’s aftermath fueled widespread concern about the state of democracy in the U.S. In a 2021 annual report, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance “downgraded the United States to a backsliding democracy, putting us for the first time in the same category as Brazil, India, Hungary, Poland and the Philippines,” Deacon Agnoli said. “That should make us pause and ponder,” he added. “It should move us to tears and to action.” Partisanship and ideology, not God, as many claimed, fueled the rage and subsequent violence that entered the Capitol that day, said others who participated in the Franciscan network’s vigil. It’s also what’s behind efforts to suppress the vote in a different way, said Rabbi Sharon Brous, who took part in the Jan. 5 vigil. But faith leaders who participated urged reflection of key questions for believers: “When have I put my political preferences above God? How have I made political power into an idol?” “You know the definition of idolatry is treating a lie like the deepest truth,” Rabbi Brous said. “When a lie takes hold in a society, every one of us pays the price.” Looking at the truth and speaking the truth is the only way forward for believers, the rabbi said. Others warned that the unwillingness of some to accept the truth is what’s putting the country on the brink of peril. Even die-hard Republicans like Karl Rove, in a Jan. 6 opinion piece for The
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She urged others not to dismiss those they disagree with. “God dwells among us all regardless of our faith or denominational boundaries. God dwells among us regardless of our race, our political affiliations, our gender expressions, disabilities, socioeconomic status or geographical location,” she said. “God is with us all, all of us ... we don’t get to throw away people or places or things.” God calls for unity she said, not disagreements, and that unity can only be found in love. “Love is the only thing, my friends, that never dies,” she said. “It is toward this light that we are called, and it is only in this light that we are one. May it be so.” — The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report.
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Wall Street Journal, tried to sound the alarm, addressing Republicans and urging them to put “country ahead of party.” “There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy,” he said of Jan. 6, 2021, and its aftermath. He, too, encouraged reflection of a different kind. “So, on this anniversary, here’s a simple thought experiment: What if the other side had done it?” he wrote. At the Franciscan Action Network’s Zoom vigil, Rev. Traci Blackmon, associate general minister at Washington’s United Church of Christ, urged finding ways to love others even in the midst of the chaos, political disagreements, general malaise and animosity the attack produced.
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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Crusaders for
Life
Chesterton Academy students pray a weekly rosary at Planned Parenthood in fight against abortion Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
E
very Monday morning at 7:45 a.m. during the school year, a long line forms in the school office at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins. Most weeks, it stretches into the school entryway and out the front doors. On Jan. 3, 40 students made sure to arrive before the bell rang to signal the start of the school day. Why? To be part of a group that, two days later, would get into several vehicles and SUVs, head 15 miles to St. Paul and pray a rosary in the biting cold at Planned Parenthood, so they could make their presence felt as the “pro-life generation.” They call themselves “Crusaders for Life,” and are led by a fierce defender of life — and Chesterton parent — Kalley Yanta, a regular at prayer gatherings at Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities for the last 20-plus years. Although Yanta, who came up with the idea during the previous school year and pitched it to administrators, was unable to attend this gathering because of a COVID quarantine, she was there in spirit — and by text — cheering on the students and their parent chaperones. Despite the serious nature of the abortion issue and the fight to end the killing of unborn children, this gathering, like all others, was marked by joy. Plus, plenty of horn honking. At the prayer gathering, students held signs that read “Honk to End Abortion.” Many motorists obliged, with some laying on their horns for a second or two. There also were occasional blasts from semitrailers, which, in the words of senior Gabriel Schmitz, “shake the whole (Planned Parenthood) building.” Although nearly all of the students were shivering in the subzero cold by the end of the final Hail Mary, their passion to fight against abortion remained red hot. The truth is, there would have been more than 40 students at this prayer gathering if Yanta hadn’t capped the list at 40 for safety and logistical reasons. Still, that’s more than one-fourth of Chesterton’s student body. That’s why there is such a rush every Monday to get to school early. People such as sophomores Claire Lelemsis and Therese Rivard want to make sure they get on the list every week. Both were part of the first group that went during the past academic year, and have only missed signing up once since then. “We kind of have a system,” said Lelemsis, whose older brother Dominic, a senior, also goes. “Usually, whichever one of us gets to school first gets in line and then signs us both up. There’s always a huge line coming out of the office — big traffic in the hallway — because so many kids are so passionate about this. It’s such a community and bonding experience with our whole generation, and showing people that we are the pro-life generation.” The weekly prayer gatherings also express the school motto: “Cultura Vitae” (Culture of Life). This is exactly what Dale Ahlquist, school co-founder and current interim headmaster, had in mind when Chesterton Academy opened its doors 14 years ago. “When we formed the school, part of our mission was to counteract the culture of death,” said Ahlquist, whose school, the flagship of the Chesterton Schools Network, has 150 students in grades nine through 12. “And so, we’ve always had a pro-life charism (at) the school. … When Kalley came in with this idea, it just resonated wonderfully. I think our only disappointment was that we hadn’t thought of it earlier.” At first, only five or six students went every week, Lelemsis recalled. Steadily, the number grew and Yanta had to set a limit due to how many parent-drivers she could recruit every week, plus monitor the students’ safety. Yanta, an experienced pro-life activist and sidewalk counselor, knows that responses can sometimes be negative, and even hostile. But that does not diminish the students’ enthusiasm. They brave not only occasional rude remarks and gestures, but all kinds of weather, including severe cold Jan. 5, with a windchill below zero, just weeks ahead of Jan. 22 — the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The gathering is all part of an effort to be, as Yanta described, “on the
They’re
front lines, literally, of the greatest spiritual battle of all time.” “It’s so cool,” said Yanta, 56, a mother of six whose son Kolbe, a Chesterton junior, attends the weekly gatherings, as does her husband, Jon. “I love it so much because it gives our kids an opportunity to be bold, to be the hands, the feet, the hearts, the voices, the ears, the eyes, the love of Christ on the sidewalk for these babies and their mamas.” She thinks one of the main reasons Crusaders for
Life is so popular with Chesterto feeling of empowerment that co the half-hour trip to Planned Pa week. “Teenagers often feel like the can actually, tangibly do to ma the world,” she said. “But this i especially among people like th the power of prayer.” Sophomore Thomas DeReuil w last April. He learned later that, w there, two different cars pulled in with an abortion-minded woman later drove out, and people insid Chesterton students they change
JANUARY 13, 2022 • 11
THE MAKING OF A ‘MILITANT HOLY WATER WOMAN’ Kalley Yanta has the bright, beaming smile of a TV news anchor, which she was in the 1990s for KMSP TV in St. Paul.
counselor at abortion clinics, a volunteer ministry she has done off and on since, along with raising her children and serving as a pro-life speaker.
Today, she has a fierce, determined passion to go with it, which drives her — literally — to the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul every week to lead a group of 40 students at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins. There they pray for an end to abortion and for a change of heart for pregnant women seeking one.
And, prayer warrior. That role was reinforced by an experience she had while talking with another pro-life activist in the early 2000s. The woman brought up the name of a local abortionist, Dr. Mildred Hanson, who had performed abortions from the time of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 legalizing abortion in the U.S.
“We bless each child (Chesterton student) with holy water on the way there, either at school before they pile into all the vehicles or as they’re piling out of the vehicles there,” she said. “I’m the militant holy water woman: Do not pass me until you get a blessing because we need it.” Yanta, 56, grew up in what she called “a pro-choice family.” Even though she didn’t think she could ever abort a child, she sided with pregnant women who wanted to make that choice. Like thousands of other abortion rights supporters, she held fast to this simple, yet faulty, rationalization: “Who’s the government to tell a woman what to do with her body? That’s just not right. That should be her decision.” Yanta said that was her position as a young woman. “I really believed that.” Enter Mother Teresa. In 1997, just months before the eventual saint’s death, Yanta went to Kolkata, India, for 10 days to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity and witness the heart-wrenching poverty that resulted in thousands of people dying alone on the streets. It touched her deeply, and it changed the trajectory of her life forever. “The sanctity of human life really hit me when I was there,” said Yanta, who recalled holding a 4-year-old boy so shriveled by malnutrition that she thought he was only about 18 months old. “I’ve never, ever seen anything like that up close and personal. And, it hit me like a brick wall: These are precious children.” That point was further implanted on July 6, 1999, with the birth of her first child, Isaac. ABOVE Chesterton Academy sophomores Monica Larkin, left, and Zachary Vandermark join a group of students from the Hopkins school Jan. 5 to pray and stand up for life at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. FAR LEFT From left, sophomores Cecelia Spanton and Mia Baltazar Rodgriguez offer smiles and a pro-life message to passing motorists. LEFT Students pray the rosary during their gathering at Planned Parenthood.
e real lives and you’re actually saving them. It’s just so powerful and crazy. Thomas DeReuil
on students is the omes with making arenthood every
ere’s nothing they ake a difference in is very tangible, hem who understand
went for the first time while the group was nto the facility, each n inside. Both cars de the cars told ed their minds about
abortion and decided not to go through with it because of the students’ presence there. “That just really hit me,” said DeReuil, whose older brother John Paul, a senior, also goes to the rosary gatherings. “They’re real lives and you’re actually saving them. It’s just so powerful and crazy.” One byproduct of the event is the chance for people from all four grade levels at the school to get to know each other. All are on equal footing on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood, and freshmen through seniors enjoy and appreciate the chance to pray together in the fight against abortion. “I love seeing the younger grades going, too,” Schmitz said. “It’s just a great experience. I think
“It was a very long labor and difficult delivery, and all of that just disappeared when I looked at him and realized this huge gift God had just placed in my arms,” Yanta said. As she sat in her hospital bed thanking God for this “miracle of life,” her thoughts turned to pregnant women who go to abortion clinics not realizing the gift they carry inside their bodies. That led to a simple prayer: “Lord, I want to do something.” Not long after her delivery, Yanta became a sidewalk
it’s very important that the younger generation gets more involved with it.” It also brings together parents and students. Jeff Mitchell rearranges his work schedule at his real estate business to come to Chesterton and serve as a driver along with his wife, Erin. Sometimes, he leads the rosary, as he did Jan. 5, and often goes with daughters Elizabeth, a junior, and Grace, a freshman. In the parking lot as students gathered before leaving, he sprinkled holy water on students as they passed by, another part of the event. “It’s great,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing to serve Christ and to bring that joy and light in(to) the world right now.” Freshman Jack Berg started going in the fall of this school year and tries to make it every week. Occasionally, his older brother Fred also comes. Jack signed up just two weeks into the school year and, like DeReuil, was hooked immediately. “It was just life changing,” he said. “It’s my favorite part of each week. I’m so thankful for it and that this school takes the time to do that.” Berg has five siblings, and his mother has had several miscarriages, he said, so he has firsthand experience with both the life and death of unborn children.
The woman urged Yanta to start praying for Hanson. Yanta, in turn, passed that request along to her mother during a phone conversation. Her mom asked for the name of the doctor. “I said, ‘Dr. Mildred Hanson,’” Yanta recalled. “And, there was silence.”
KALLEY YANTA
Yanta then learned it was Hanson who had delivered her. “It gave me big chills,” she said. It also led to a bold move that Yanta hoped would lead to a change of heart for the abortion doctor. At the suggestion of a teenage girl following a speech Yanta gave, Yanta wrote a letter to Hanson, in which she thanked her for bringing her into the world. She included a rosary, a copy of the Divine Mercy Chaplet prayer and a plea for her to change her mind about abortion. To her surprise, Yanta got a reply. “She wrote back to me and thanked me for those gifts,” Yanta said. “And she said, ‘I’m not Catholic, but my mom and grandma were, and I’m familiar with the recitation of the rosary. So, thank you. Have a beautiful Christmas.’” All Yanta could think to say after reading the letter was, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” “I couldn’t believe she wrote back,” said Yanta, who belongs to Holy Family in St. Louis Park with her husband, Jon, and their children. “And, the fact that she thanked me was so amazing.” According to the Rewire News Group, a pro-abortion news outlet, Hanson continued to perform abortions until the year before her death in 2015 at 91. “I have no idea whether or not she ever did repent or make things right with God,” Yanta said. “But I am very hopeful that she did. And, I do pray for her frequently.” — Dave Hrbacek
“When I see a baby, the amount of joy that comes to my face is unbelievable,” he said. “And to think of that life being taken every day in multiple (abortion) clinics all around the world, that’s just a dagger in my heart.” With a possible overturning of Roe v. Wade on the horizon, there is hope that efforts like this could turn the tide on abortion and return the nation to a culture of life. To be sure, the culture of life is alive and flourishing at Chesterton Academy, and is taking giant steps forward week by week as students take part in Crusaders for Life. “These students have such a wonderful enthusiasm that is infectious to the whole community,” Ahlquist said. “They show the enthusiasm when they’re lining up (outside the school office) to sign up. And, when they’re on their way to the Planned Parenthood clinic, when they’re outside on the sidewalk, praying and holding up their signs. It’s just always this great joy and enthusiasm. But, when they come back, when they return to school for the second part of the day, they are in the upper stratosphere. They are always so happy when they get back. And, they always have a good story to tell.”
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
FAITH+CULTURE Pro-life centers aim to offer hope for every woman in crisis pregnancy By Christina Lee Knauss Catholic News Service
S
ince 1996, Tere Haring of San Antonio has been waging a war against abortion, fighting it one package of diapers and one rent check at a time. Haring is the founder and executive director of Allied Women’s Center, a pro-life pregnancy care center that provides help with housing costs as well as diapers, baby clothes and other supplies for women facing unplanned pregnancies in San Antonio and other areas in south Texas. She founded Allied 25 years ago because of a deep-seated commitment to the pro-life movement rooted in her strong Catholic faith — and also because she believes that those who oppose abortion should be prepared to assist women who choose life for their babies. “A lot of women who show up at abortion clinics are not bent on having an abortion — they’re just desperate,” Haring told Catholic News Service. “I always felt that many women got abortions because they felt the lack of a choice — that they had no outs, nobody to care for them. “I thought that we could save more babies by offering women the help they needed.” Services offered by programs such as Haring’s could be needed more than ever in the near future depending on what the Supreme Court decides next year. Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks as the justices took up arguments over a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Court watchers speculate the justices could decide to overturn Roe or at the very least severely curtail it with their decision on the Mississippi case, which is expected in June or early July. The possibility of Roe falling, or of access to abortion being scaled back in many states, has led pro-life advocates to wonder how to better serve a resulting increase in the number of women facing crisis pregnancies. That, according to Haring and other leaders of pregnancy centers, is where they come in — both with services they already offer and by providing models for new assistance programs for mothers and their babies. Leaders of crisis pregnancy programs said they also present a real-life, tangible answer to critics of the pro-life movement who claim that those who want to end abortion only care about policy and not about providing any real help to mothers and their children.
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Christopher Bell, president and founder of New Jersey-based Good Counsel Homes, learned about the need for real help for pregnant women in crisis while working with the homeless in New York City’s Times Square in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. “Back then I was taken aback that there were no real constructive options for homeless pregnant women or young women with babies,” Bell said. “I turned to my spiritual director, the late Father Benedict Groeschel, and asked why somebody wasn’t doing something more to help women and children.” The late Father Groeschel, co-founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, was a leading pro-life figure. He agreed to help Bell form a ministry, and the result was Good Counsel Homes. Today, there are five homes in New York and New Jersey for women facing crisis pregnancies and their children. Since 1985, the organization has helped more than 8,000 women and children transition out of homelessness. Along with housing, Good Counsel’s clients receive help with finding education and employment, classes on parenting, nutrition, budgeting and other skills, and spiritual guidance. On average women live in the homes for about a year, although some stay longer. “We’re not only helping the mothers but also helping children to have a solid foundation and protection in their formative years,” Bell said. “Eighty percent of the women coming to us have experienced some form of domestic violence or serious neglect in their lives, and homes like ours offer support, opportunities to continue their education, to work, to save money and most importantly to be safe.” Bell said growing needs nationwide call for more programs such as Good Counsel that offer tangible help for women, and he also sees a need to increase awareness about crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes and other assistance programs that already exist. Good Counsel Homes, for instance, maintains a list of maternity homes for women in crisis nationwide on its website and also offers a toll-free crisis pregnancy hotline available nationwide. “We have to get the word out that there is always help and also absolute hope for every woman in a crisis pregnancy even if she has been abandoned by everyone she knows,” Bell told CNS. In March 2020, the U.S. Catholic bishops launched a new effort called the “Walking With Moms” initiative, inviting all U.S. Catholic parishes to get involved in offering a pastoral response to the needs of women facing pregnancies in
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challenging circumstances. The program’s website, walkingwithmoms.com, has resources, outreach tools and models to assist parishes in this effort. Resources are continually added to the site, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. This pastoral response to pregnant women and mothers in need “has long been the case” for the Church but the new initiative aims to intensify that effort, said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, then chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on ProLife Activities when he announced the program. One of the longest-running crisis pregnancy services is Birthright International, which traces its roots to the first Birthright founded in Toronto in 1968 by Louise Summerhill, a mother of seven who wanted to help women facing unplanned pregnancies. Since then, the organization has expanded to 250 sites in the United States, Canada and Africa. Its centers offer free pregnancy testing, maternity and baby items, and referrals for medical services, food assistance, housing, counseling and other services as needed. Terry Hodaly, a Catholic, is the executive director of the Birthright office in Columbia, South Carolina, which was founded in 1980 and serves about 300 women a year, most of them from Richland County where Columbia is located. Birthright also has three other locations in the state in Greenville, Charleston and Georgetown. Along with the usual array of services Birthright offers, Hodaly said the center she oversees is constantly working to develop new programs to meet the whole gamut of client needs. The Columbia location offers some funding help for mothers and fathers to receive their GEDs, recently added a combined class on newborn care and breastfeeding, and also runs “Mommy and Me,” a series of video classes on a wide variety of child care and parenting subjects that mothers are asked to watch throughout their pregnancy. Mothers are asked to watch two videos a week and receive gift cards to local baby stores upon completing the program. In Columbia, Birthright also is helping the next generation of health care providers take up the pro-life approach and become aware of the needs of mothers in crisis. Through a partnership with the nursing school at the University of South Carolina, nursing students serve as interns at Birthright during the school year, learning how to run a crisis pregnancy center and how to provide the best assistance possible for mothers in need and their unborn children. “Some people get in their mind that if they come to a crisis pregnancy center, someone is just going to talk their head off about not having an abortion,” Hodaly said. “What we offer is compassion and caring,” she added. “We approach the women who come here in a nonjudgmental way and we want them to know they are valued. We will talk to them about anything and help in any way we can. The key is that we provide a positive alternative to abortion.”
MARIA WIERING | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Guiding Star Wakota opened last month a new 10,000-square-foot facility at 1140 S. Robert St. in West St. Paul.
NEW BUILDING It’s at the same site in West St. Paul, but emergency pregnancy services center Guiding Star Wakota opened a new, larger facility Dec. 14 that will help it offer more services for pregnant women and their families in Dakota and Ramsey counties, said Dan Saad, executive director. The 10,000-square-foot facility expands capacity fivefold. Natural family planning and other education classes continue, as well as core services such as free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. But the new facility has three exam rooms and a lab, three counseling rooms, areas for training and education, a chapel for staff and clients, space for material assistance (diapers, wipes, clothing for babies and moms) and a supervised play area for children while parents receive services. Sister Jeanne Therese Condon of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph founded the original Total Life-Care Centers organization (now Elevate Life) in 1976, with the Wakota location one of the first sites. Services expanded in 2016 when it became an affiliate of the national Guiding Star Project, which moved it from addressing basic physical needs of at-risk women and their families to also offering education. Saad said Guiding Star is focused on four service areas — natural fertility/family planning, pregnancy/childbirth, breastfeeding/postpartum and family life. Since 2017, Guiding Star Wakota has offered classes in those areas. With its expanded capacity, the facility now offers mental health services. The organization is also considering developing prenatal exercise classes and post-partum mental health support, and offering lactation specialists and doula services, Saad said. An on-site physician is developing medical services for wellness care and for treating sexually transmitted diseases. Counseling provided on site can address issues such as setting boundaries in relationships, dealing with grief and loss, life stressors and anxiety. A life coach for fathers helps them strengthen relationship and parenting skills and set life goals. Saad, 59, a parishioner of St. Michael in Prior Lake, said that while Guiding Star Wakota is not a Catholic organization, it is “life-affirming,” with a mission that aligns with the Church. Private donations and grants paid for the $3.2 million building. — Barb Umberger Haring of the Allied Women’s Center said that crisis pregnancy ministry is one important way that Catholics and others concerned about mothers and babies can put their faith into action. “Crisis pregnancy centers are a wonderful opportunity to live the beatitudes,” Haring said. “We offer spiritual acts of mercy as well as the corporal. A lot of the women we see just need someone to show they care.”
FAITH+CULTURE
JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
Doggone it: When a papal point misses the mark By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
C
ontext is everything. But sometimes Pope Francis assumes people know him and the context of his words. When they don’t, hackles are raised. One case in point has garnered huge publicity, again: Pope Francis’ view on couples having pampered pets instead of children. The nervous laughter in the Vatican audience hall Jan. 5 should have tipped him off that he was heading for a mishap. Speaking at his general audience about the importance of parenthood, both literal and spiritual, Pope Francis again brought up his concern about a “demographic winter,” especially in Europe, where birthrates are consistently below death rates. The pope spoke about the suffering of couples who cannot have children and about the bravery of those who choose to adopt. But what stuck in many people’s craw was when he said that “many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one — but they have two dogs, two cats. Yes, dogs and cats take the place of children.” When people laughed, he responded, “Yes, it’s funny, I understand, but it is the reality. But this denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity.” In his audience talk and when discussing the “demographic winter” Dec. 26, the feast of the Holy Family, Pope Francis mentioned the practical problems declining birthrates have for a nation, especially when it does not have enough young workers paying taxes to support the
ANALYSIS
PAUL HARING | CNS
Pope Francis greets dog owners during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this Sept. 19, 2018, file photo. The pope is in the doghouse with some pet lovers over recent comments about some couples preferring to have pets rather than children. pensions and health care of the elderly. The issue has long been a concern for Pope Francis, who has made it clear he does not believe Catholic couples need to have as many children as possible, but he does believe countries and companies should enact policies that make it possible for couples to have the children they long for. But the idea of some couples being selfish has been part of his discourse, too. In fact, in “Fratelli Tutti” in 2020, he wrote, “a decline in the birthrate, which leads to an aging of the population, together with the relegation of the elderly to a sad and lonely existence, is a subtle
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way of stating that it is all about us, that our individual concerns are the only thing that matters.” And, seeming to pick on those who would rather dote on their dogs or cats is not new for him either. The fur also flew in June 2014 after Pope Francis preached at an early morning Mass in the chapel of his residence with couples celebrating big wedding anniversaries. Again, he spoke of the pain of couples unable to have children and of the suffering of parents whose child is ill. But that didn’t cause alarm. According to the Vatican newspaper, the pope told the couples that “Jesus does not like marriages in which couples do not want children, in which they want to remain fruitless,” who think “not having children is better, this way you can travel and see the world, you can have a house in the country and relax!” Such a culture, the newspaper quoted the pope as saying, suggests “it is more comfortable to have a little dog and two cats” to love, but at the end of such a marriage, “old age arrives in solitude, with the bitterness of awful loneliness: It is fruitless.” Speaking to reporters returning to Rome with him from Panama in 2019, he said he saw something there that he didn’t see in Europe. “They hold up their children and say, ‘This is my victory, this is my future, this is my pride!’ In the demographic winter we are experiencing in Europe — below zero in Italy — this should make us think: What is my pride? Tourism, a villa, a small dog or raising a child?” Still, he has praised some attention to pets, like at the chrism Mass in 2020 when he lauded priests who are so close to their people that they even know their dogs’ names.
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14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
Professional organizer helps clients love better By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit
A It’s constant. You have to keep
The work of a professional organizer may seem superficial, associated with drawer containers and label makers, but it has spiritual implications, said Sarah Cronin, owner of Simply Inspired Home Organizing. The 40-year-old mother of four, a member of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville, brings many talents to each client’s home — and a ready serving of compassion.
Q Does this work make you think
shifting your attention to whatever is the current need. We just need to be good enough to meet our needs for this season. Perfection is not the goal. It’s to love our people better.
about prioritizing what’s good for your soul?
A Absolutely — both in terms of
Q What makes the new year a good time to get organized?
A Fresh starts feel so good. We’ve
trudged through the last month and a half of holiday stress and busy-ness. We’re ready.
Q Do you get an uptick in business this time of year?
A Definitely.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Q Why does organization matter? A When people are frustrated, it’s
because there’s a disconnect between their current reality and what they’re hoping for. Organization is a tool to help bridge that gap. It’s often a mindset shift, too — tweaking expectations and using an organizational process to meet in the middle between reality and hopes.
Q Does organizing stuff relate to organizing one’s life?
A Our things either help us do what
we want to do — getting out the door, cooking a meal — or get in the way. Having some basis where things live helps reduce that friction in our everyday tasks. If the drawer of your kitchen utensils keeps jamming because the potato masher doesn’t fit, and every time you’re trying to cook, you’re cursing that drawer, that’s not a peaceful meal.
Q Do you see parallels to the spiritual life?
A It boils down to simplicity. For our
spiritual life, if we’re distracted by all these bells and whistles demanding our attention, it distracts from our essence and who we are. It’s the same with organizing: We want to remove the excess, the clutter.
Q Deciding what to purge isn’t easy. A Starting with what I call an “inspired goal” helps. What are you hoping for this space to achieve? Does this help
us meet that goal? Another helpful question is: Do I have something else I use instead? Kitchen gadgets are the worst for this! We don’t need 10 singlepurpose tools when we have one multipurpose tool. Everyone has their own comfort level with the amount of stuff around them. I’ve never met a couple who’s like, “Oh yes, we totally agree on all these things.” A lot of times people want to make huge changes: “My goal is to get rid of 80 percent of this stuff.” Holy smokes, that’s emotionally exhausting! I would rather load up two grocery bags a month.
Q What helps people part with stuff? A Taking care of your mindset. Are you
coming from a scarcity mindset? Are you worried you won’t have enough to clothe your children? And then realizing it’s a privilege — you have more than enough! — and flipping that switch to pass some along to those who can use them. When we were in the middle of having kids and not sure if we’d have another, I knew that if I were to get rid of these and then need them again, I could put up a post on Facebook and have 10 friends drop off a bag of boys 2T clothing. Ask yourself: If I needed this, would I be able to get it easily? Most of the time, the answer is yes.
Q A person can be buried under children’s clothing!
A Keeping all the maybe stuff is a
Q Ditch the “maybe stuff.” Embrace your life today. This is it!
A Exactly! You don’t want to open your closet and see pants that don’t fit. This is tricky for moms. Those pants have been maybes for five years now. It’s probably time to let them go. I can buy new ones if I get to that size again. It’s reconciling: I don’t have to be a certain size to be worthy — and yup, I don’t need these things right now. They can go somewhere else. Many people have been guilted or shamed about their clutter and they have a voice in their head, so I work hard to be a positive, supportive voice that gets to counteract all that “should.” We blame ourselves. There are a lot of things that look pretty but don’t have any practical function. Can you slide it in and out easily? Will it work on a daily basis? Most people think the clutter results because they’re a failure, and it’s like, “Oh no — this is a horrible drawer!”
Q You’re often asked how long it
takes to get everything in a house organized.
Q When I hear about all these storage units being filled, I imagine what our great grandparents would think. It’s a strange modern problem. Do you help some clients tackle unopened Amazon boxes?
A Yes and things they meant to return
and didn’t. The amount of physical and mental energy that can suck up — you feel so guilty about what you meant to do and didn’t, and every time you look at that, you think, “Oh my gosh, I feel so bad about the $80 I wasted!”
Q What do you love about being Catholic?
A The opportunities for redemption
— reconciliation, acknowledging that there is an inherent lack of perfection in who we are. The fact that we have such a concrete way to receive forgiveness and move on is very powerful. It affirms what we need as humans — grace and forgiveness, eliminating the shame, reframing that.
Q So you are a Catholic organizer! A I think so.
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problem. My girls liked leggings. They were not going to wear jeans or those thick corduroys. That was not going to happen! We have friends who will still bring us clothes for my girls. I say, “Yes, I’ll take it, but with the understanding that I’ll pass on whatever we don’t need.” I might just keep two things. Maybe I don’t even show my girls.
my own faith and in terms of the connections a family has, their relationships and the harmony. It’s important for me to love my husband and to not get annoyed with him for socks on the floor. It’s a process of letting some things go and communicating what’s important to each other so our relationship isn’t mucked down by a mess. Same with my kids: If I’m constantly nagging them, that’s not the mom I want to be. It’s about protecting and fostering relationships, because our stuff has so much potential for arguments or resentment. We often get sucked into it. One mom said to me, “I think I do 90 percent of the yelling at our kids in the entryway.” So, we spent time tweaking the entryway and removing the decorative thing and putting in a functional piece. She later told me, “Oh my gosh, I haven’t yelled at my kids in two weeks!”
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JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER MICHAEL JONCAS
Good gifts of the Spirit One of the true blessings in my life was spending my high school years at our former archdiocesan minor seminary, Nazareth Hall. Not only did I, as a working-class kid, get a classical college-prep education from dedicated priests and laymen and laywomen, but I was welcomed into a group of young men who over the years formed a genuine community. Unlike the stories I have heard of high schools where students were thrust into sub-groups like “brainiacs,” “jocks” and “freaks,” we were formed to appreciate each other’s gifts, wherever they might appear: on a ball field or in debate, strumming a guitar or organizing work crews, appearing on stage or serving Mass. While some of us eventually were ordained priests, most became married men serving their communities in a variety of areas: as teachers, lawyers, social workers, businessmen, actors, etc. I share these memories because they seem a perfect illustration of what St. Paul wrote to the rather fractious community in Corinth from his base at Ephesus probably around 54 A.D. The passage in the readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time is part of Paul’s response to various questions raised by the Corinthian community: problems of social status, problems arising from the pagan environment in which they lived, and problems arising in their liturgical assemblies. Here Paul discusses questions about “spiritual gifts” or “charismata” (the plural of “charism”) exhibited in the Corinthian community, understood as manifestations in individuals of God’s grace (“charis”) through Jesus embodied in service to the community. Here and elsewhere, Paul tells us that every Christian has his or her own spiritual gift, that all spiritual gifts are valuable, that no particular gift is better than any other (although according to 1 Corinthians 13, love — “agape” — is the most excellent charism),
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
Wedding rings and marriage
Wedding rings. In the rite for the Order of Celebrating Matrimony, the exchange of consent comes first, followed by the blessing and giving of rings. The rings are a sign of the covenant of love between the husband and wife, the fidelity they pledge to each other, the permanence of their union, and an outward sign to others that they are married. Wedding rings are the most common symbol of the sacrament of marriage in Christian art. Mary and Joseph are frequently depicted exchanging rings before a priest in a synagogue or the Temple. Blessing and giving the rings. The rings are blessed with a prayer offered by the priest or deacon who says, “May the Lord bless these rings, which you give to each other as a sign of love and fidelity,” or “Bless, O Lord, these rings, which we bless in your name, so that those who wear them may remain entirely faithful to each other, abide in peace and your will, and live always in mutual charity,” or “Bless and sanctify your servants in their love, O Lord, and let these rings, a sign of their faithfulness, remind them of their love for one another.” Then they are sprinkled with holy water. Finally, the husband first, and then the bride, places the ring on the spouse’s finger while saying, “Receive this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Ring finger. The ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand.
and that since they have a common source (the Spirit), they are to be used in the service of the common good. The nine gifts listed here are by no means exhaustive, but give a sense of the variety bestowed by the Spirit. The other two readings appointed for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, can be viewed as manifestations of two of the gifts Paul lists: prophecy and mighty deeds. In the first reading the prophet declares his intention to exercise his gift of prophecy in season and out of season, whether or not people (or God) want to hear him. (There is a wonderful alliteration in Hebrew in the words for “silent” and “quiet”: “I will not hush or be shushed” says the prophet.) Even though it seems that God has abandoned his presence in Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple on Mount Zion by the Babylonians, the prophet declares that Jerusalem is not “Forsaken” (“Azubah”) but rather will be God’s “Delight” (“Hebzibah”) and that the land of Judah is not “Desolate” (“Shemamah”) but rather God’s “Espoused” (“Beulah”). In this Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus performs the first of his mighty deeds in that Gospel (though John’s Gospel prefers the term “semeion” — sign — for these miracles). Weddings in the world of Jesus’ culture were pre-arranged by the families of the bride and groom, and most of the invited guests would be relatives, although non-relatives could also grace the event. Though Jesus’ act of turning water into wine has many symbolic resonances (as is true for his other “signs” in John’s Gospel), at its most basic level this is an act, prompted by Jesus’ mother Mary, to spare the family and relatives of the bride and groom embarrassment at the wedding. It is an act of unexpected grace in the service of the common good. Exploring these Scriptures helps us to thank and praise God for the gifts he has given each of us. May God equip us to respond to the charisms he has bestowed on us for the good of our families, our neighbors, our city, our country and our Church.
DAILY Scriptures
Though retired as an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Father Joncas continues to celebrate the sacraments in various worshiping communities in the archdiocese, teaches in person or online, and continues to write articles and music.
Sunday, Jan. 23 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 1 Cor 12:12-30 Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
According to “The Catholic Source Book” by Peter Klein, “It was once believed that a nerve, or a vein of blood, ran from this finger to the heart,” the symbolic seat of love. Circular shape. A wedding ring is round without beginning or end. The circular shape represents eternity, that a marriage continues unbroken and uninterrupted for the rest of one’s life. It is a love that never ends (see 1 Cor 13:8a). Hollow interior. A wedding ring has an open center like the inside of a pipe or a piece of conduit. As liquid flows through a pipe or electricity flows through the wires inside a section of conduit, so a steady stream of love flows through the ring from one spouse to another. It is a channel for patience, kindness, humility, politeness, self-control, forgiveness, truthfulness, endurance, compassion and gentleness (see 1 Cor 13:4-7 and Col 3:12-13). Tight fit. The ring is worn snuggly so it will remain in place and not slip off. It presses against the skin and bone and cannot slide over the knuckle. The close fit represents the tight bond between the husband and wife. Moreover, the firm cling represents the restrictive nature of marriage, a chaste love that is shared exclusively with each other and no one else. Interlocking rings. One of the most common symbols of marriage is a pair of rings in which one ring is intertwined with the other. It is a sign that the husband and wife are inseparably linked. Sometimes a cross is placed between the rings, which signifies that Jesus is the center and binding force of a Christian marriage, and that they will carry their crosses together. Occasionally two white candles are also added, one within each ring, which indicates their baptismal faith is the foundation of their marriage, and their joint membership in the body of Christ will act as a unifying force in their life together.
Monday, Jan. 24 St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10 Mk 3:22-30
Father Van Sloun retired last year as pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of marriage. Read his series on the Eucharist and confirmation at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
Sunday, Jan. 16 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 62:1-5 1 Cor 12:4-11 Jn 2:1-11 Monday, Jan. 17 St. Anthony, abbot 1 Sm 15:16-23 Mk 2:18-22 Tuesday, Jan. 18 1 Sm 16:1-13 Mk 2:23-28 Wednesday, Jan. 19 1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 Mk 3:1-6 Thursday, Jan. 20 1 Sm 18:6-9; 19:1-7 Mk 3:7-12 Friday, Jan. 21 St. Agnes, virgin and martyr 1 Sm 24:3-21 Mk 3:13-19 Saturday, Jan. 22 Day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27 Mk 3:20-21
Tuesday, Jan. 25 Conversion of St. Paul, apostle Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22 Mk 16:15-18 Wednesday, Jan. 26 Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops 2 Tm 1:1-8 or Ti 1:1-5 Mk 4:1-20 Thursday, Jan. 27 2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29 Mk 4:21-25 Friday, Jan. 28 St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17 Mk 4:26-34 Saturday, Jan. 29 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17 Mk 4:35-41 Sunday, Jan. 30 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 1:4-5, 17-19 1 Cor 12:31–13:13 Lk 4:21-30
KNOW the SAINTS ST. ANTHONY OF EGYPT (251–356) Associated with the beginnings of monasticism, Anthony gave his inherited lands and wealth in Egypt to the poor. From the age of about 20 until his death at 105, he lived as a hermit in remote hilltop and desert locations. What is known about him comes from a life written by St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Around 306 he began to accept disciples, founding his first monastery as a collection of hermits’ cells. He cultivated a garden, wove rush mats, and fought many temptations and demons. Visitors sought his wise counsel, collected in the sayings of the “desert fathers,” and the bishops of Alexandria summoned him at age 87 to help refute Arianism. He is the patron saint of basket and brush makers, butchers and gravediggers. His feast day is Jan. 17. — Catholic News Service
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI
Giving new life to old things
Emily Hannon was surprised by the children’s clothes she saw at big-box stores and popular websites when she became a mom. And not in a good way. Obnoxious graphics, offensive messages, neon colors. It fell short of her long-held beliefs as a Catholic and her powerful new emotions as a mother. It didn’t suit her newborn son with his peach-fuzz and bright eyes. The 29-year-old Pittsburgh photographer had always sought beauty in hidden places. She’d taken to heart St. John Paul II’s words in his 1999 letter to artists and quoted a passage in her Instagram profile: “beauty that stirs you to wonder … to the sense of eternal.” Now she was choosing how to dress her son, Jack, and feeling compelled to look beyond the mall. “The loud graphics and words all over clothing take away from the beauty and dignity of the person wearing them,” Emily said. “God made us each with such intricacy and complexity, and our clothing shouldn’t detract from that but should simply point to it.” Outfits saved from her childhood and her husband’s seemed like the answer, which led Emily to visit consignment stores. Oh, was she in for a treat! Peter Pan collars! Smocked dresses! Knit sweaters! Corduroy overalls! Vintage children’s clothing felt timeless, like her baby himself: not dated or defined by one era, but rather shimmering with a transcendent beauty, rising above. “It reflects the joy that a new baby brings into the world just by their very existence,” Emily said. “They are perfectly pure and deserving of all our love.” As Emily and Sean were blessed with another son,
SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY
The joy of saying yes to our vocation When we hear the word “vocation,” many of us may think about priesthood or consecrated life. And yet, the meaning of vocation is the choice of our employment, especially when our choice requires great dedication because the work we choose is particularly worthy. When a priest, a religious sister or brother dedicates their lives to the vocation to which they have been called, this is not only their work, it becomes the mission of their lives. I had the privilege a few weeks ago to meet a young man from our parish who recently joined the seminary. When I walked across the church on that Sunday morning to say hello to him, my first observation was the unmistakable joy in his eyes. In fact, when I mentioned this to him, it was evident that he was touched and knew exactly what I was talking about. In mid-November, I had the privilege to attend a noonday Mass at the diminutive chapel of the Visitation Sisters in northeast Minneapolis, and again, the joy of these sisters was palpable. This has made me wonder about the connection between joy and vocation. The documents of the Second Vatican Council, as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, call us to see our vocation in and through our life in Christ.
Peter, and then a daughter, Lucy, the young mom’s appreciation for classic children’s clothing has grown. The thrill of a great find spurs her along, prodding her to frequent a few favorite thrift shops. Some discoveries seem meant to be, like a highend European brand tucked between modern dresses. “Beauty is always there — you just have to open your eyes to find it!” she said. Thrifting feels countercultural, in keeping with Pope Francis’ caution about a “throwaway culture.” It feels Catholic. “Our culture is constantly pressuring us to buy more, spend more, accumulate more. We’ve lost a sense of reusing things from the past or passing down things that may not be brand new but still hold tremendous value.” Searching for secondhand finds cultivates a loving disposition. It fosters a forgiving and unrushed eye, the ability to slow down and sift through, recognizing the potential in something old and overlooked. It feels spiritual. Emily can give an old dress another chance, another child. Emily couldn’t keep her thrifted finds to herself — nor did she need them all. Four months ago, she opened an online shop to sell her secondhand purchases: vintage children’s clothing, heirloom toys and antique homewares. She named it The Simple Daisy, a nod to the St. Therese quote about the “simple charm” of a daisy, and secured the domain thesimpledaisyshop.com. To her surprise, the shop has been a huge hit. She has already sold hundreds of pieces. Thanks to savvy marketing on social media, sharing glimpses of what’s to come, many pieces sell three to five minutes after a “drop,” or online release. Emily is excited to grow the shop in 2022. Stepping into a new year surrounded by old clothing feels like a hug from the past. It harkens back to simpler times and warms the future with well-worn history. “I love that each piece tells a story, often one we don’t know,” Emily said. “I sometimes imagine other children who are now fully grown playing with the toys my children play with. It makes me feel connected to others, even those I’ll never meet, like we’re all part of something bigger.” Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
ACTION STRATEGIES u Make a commitment this month to begin the journey to understand God’s call — his vocation — for your life. Enter into this journey with intention and dedication, asking for his guidance and grace each step of the way. u Trust that he is with you and wants to speak to you. Open your heart to him so that you may receive joy.
We are called to see our choice of vocation with new dignity, through which we receive grace given to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit when we participate in the sacraments and prayer. Our vocation is designed to assist us in our spiritual transformation, so that we become “children of light” through “all that is good and right and true” (CCC, No. 1695). Does this sound heavy as the new year begins? It might, but our faith must be the very entity that grounds and supports us for all the other work we must do in our lives. To the extent that our faith does this, we will find ourselves able to withstand the onslaught of all that is hurled at us, whether it be more variants of the coronavirus, the stress put on us through supply chain issues, or the difficulty our young people experience through the ongoing unpredictability of their world. Those who build their lives on the stability of their faith will be like a house built on a firm foundation. In addition to the priestly ministry and the consecrated life, matrimony and the single life are considered vocations. Marriage requires concerted, dedicated effort to honor the commitment we made to
God made us each with such intricacy and complexity, and our clothing shouldn’t detract from that but should simply point to it. Emily Hannon COURTESY EMILY HANNON
Emily and Sean Hannon with their children: Jack (4), Peter (3) and Lucy (10 months).
our spouse on the day of our wedding, and each day since. As laypeople turn to God in and through the sacraments and prayer, through regular adoration and attending the Eucharist, we are fortified for our journey of faith, so that ideally, we, too, will experience joy. According to the “Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” the vocation of the lay faithful is to “seek the Kingdom of God by illuminating and ordering temporal affairs according to the plan of God.” We carry out the plan of God through our call to holiness in the everyday experiences of our lives. But, you may ask, what is God’s plan for my life? And this is why I write about vocation during the first month of this new year: to encourage you to take time to focus on the way in which God is specifically calling you to greater holiness in your life. Perhaps you will make a commitment to attend weekly, or even daily, Mass. Perhaps it will be to take part in the sacrament of reconciliation on a regular basis, or to sign up for a time in the adoration chapel at your church. Perhaps it will be to say a daily rosary, to listen to prayerful music or to take part in a retreat this winter. Our vocation speaks about our lifestyle and the way in which we spend our time and the talents God has given to us. These choices directly influence how we understand his call to greater holiness in our lives. Do not be afraid of vocation. It is our deepest, most compelling human call. Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and a doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
COMMENTARY
JANUARY 13, 2022
ALREADY/NOT YET | JONATHAN LIEDL
The Church is not a museum I recently had the good fortune to take a post-Christmas trip to France, a place I’ve long admired for its Catholic culture and intellectual heritage. Although most of my time was spent amid the museums, gardens and boulevards of Paris, a priority destination for me was the town of Lisieux, where the much-celebrated St. Thérèse had spent most of her childhood, lived as a Carmelite nun before dying in 1897 in her 20s, and is buried today. I’ve had a devotion to Thérèse for several years and have felt like I have gotten to know her personally through prayerful reading of her spiritual writing and asking for her prayers on my behalf. So understandably, it was a great thrill to be in the physical places where the “Little Flower” had lived her life and put her “Little Way” into practice: Les Buissonnets, her childhood home, the site of so many important events in her young life as depicted in her “Story of a Soul”; the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Lisieux, where Thérèse and her family went to Mass and she made her first confession; and even the enormous and ornate basilica built in her honor on a hill overlooking the city, where a large relic of her is displayed and the remains of her parents (Sts. Louis and Zellie Martin) are entombed. But at the Carmel of Lisieux, the convent where Thérèse had lived, I was admittedly disappointed. For one, the chapel where Thérèse would’ve participated in the Mass and where most of her remains are entombed today has been significantly modernized, looking nothing like it had during her lifetime. Another disappointment: You can’t even access the cloister where she lived to see those pivotal places from her life as a Carmelite sister, like her cell, the infirmary where she died, or even the laundry room where she charmingly wrote about being splashed in the face with dirty water by another sister and enduring it all with cheer, an instance of her “Little Way” in action. In some sense, I felt like I was being deprived of access to an important historical and spiritual place. I’d spent hours walking through the Louvre in Paris looking at incredible works of art and artifacts from Persian, Egyptian and Greek empires, so why couldn’t I enter into the places where this saint, who’s meant so much
... only a dead thing can be put on display; a living thing is active, and can’t be confined to a case. iSTOCK PHOTO | RPARYS
to me, had lived a life of sanctity? As it turns out, the Carmel of Lisieux is nothing like the Louvre. It is not a space for the display of inert artifacts, but is a living and active Carmelite community. As the convent says on its website, “The Carmel of Lisieux is not a museum, but the place of life, silence, prayer of a community, which explains why the interior cannot be visited” (although a virtual tour of the important places from Thérèse’s life is available on the Carmel’s website). The fact that pilgrims cannot enter the place where St. Thérèse lived as a cloistered religious is actually a good thing, an affirmation that the life she lived over 100 years ago is still alive today. After all, only a dead thing can be put on display; a living thing is active, and can’t be confined to a case. Even the fact that the chapel had been modified (although perhaps according to debatable aesthetic and liturgical preferences!) is also a sign that life at the Carmel of Lisieux did not stop with Thérèse’s last breath. These factors are also an affirmation that, ultimately, what was most significant about St. Thérèse of Lisieux was not St. Thérèse of Lisieux, but the Holy Spirit whom she allowed to work so powerfully within her. She allowed the Lord into her life to the utmost degree, and through that act of littleness, Jesus has been able to reach so many. The same Lord is alive and active today, in the Carmel of Lisieux, and throughout his Church. Of course, there is a particular danger in a place like France, the “eldest daughter” of the Church but also a profoundly secular place today, of the Church becoming something like a museum, a piece of history that is no longer especially relevant aside from giving people a sense of historical identity and rootedness. And for many of the French, this is all the Church is. I think for most Parisians, Sainte Chapelle church effectively plays the same role as the Cluny Museum of medieval history. In the Twin Cities, Catholicism certainly isn’t as old as it is in France, but I imagine various Catholic churches can seem like little more than relics of the past, in places like northeast Minneapolis or even our beloved Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, to secular passersby.
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
But strangely enough, I think even as practicing Catholics there’s a danger of having a kind of “museumized” relation to our faith and its physical trappings. Our Church’s Tradition — what has been handed on to us from the Apostles and then protected and nurtured by the Church ever since — is not primarily about “nostalgia,” about doing things the way they were done 60-plus years ago so that we have a “stronger” Catholic identity and a greater sense of historical grounding, adrift as we are in the rootlessness of postmodern American life. The Tradition, liturgical and otherwise, is primarily about encountering and being animated by the same Spirit who worked in the lives of our Catholic forebears. As Yves Congar, a 20th-century French theologian who wrote the important “Tradition and Traditions” said, “Tradition (is not) merely a transmission followed by a passive mechanical reception; it entails the making present in a human consciousness of a saving truth.” He adds that Tradition is “the continuing presence of the past in the present,” not in the way that the Louvre makes ancient history present to us today, but as “the continuing presence of those events which bring about a man’s religious relation with God.” In other words, Tradition doesn’t ground us in the past so much as it brings those living events of the past — most especially Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection — to us today. If a nostalgic-fueled reclamation of elements of the Church’s liturgical and cultural patrimony is not orientated toward this real encounter, it runs the risk of trapping us in the museum. But if our reception of Tradition is grounded primarily in a desire to encounter the living God, then all of the beneficial secondary elements — a strong identity, a sense of historical rootedness — will come with it. To conclude, I’ll briefly share a different but related highlight of my France trip: my visit to the cathedral of Chartres. The 800-year-old gothic masterpiece houses some of the world’s most awe-inspiring stained-glass windows. Although I’m not French, I am Catholic. The Chartres cathedral is part of my heritage. In that holy and beautiful place, I was proud to be Catholic, and felt a sense of unity with the people who had built this masterpiece nearly a millennium ago. But the most important and life-giving part of my visit to Chartres? Discovering that a somewhat disheveled elderly French priest, who wasn’t even wearing clerical garb, was available to hear my confession, allowing me to sacramentally encounter the Living God who makes a cathedral more than a museum and Catholicism not a mere sociological identity, but a participation in divine communion. Liedl writes from the Twin Cities.
LETTERS Heart of the controversy? The cultural barriers and historically racist practices of the institutional Church are at the heart of the controversy at Our Lady of Guadalupe (“Archdiocesan leaders trying to help Our Lady of Guadalupe navigate discord,” Dec. 23). The promotion of pre-conciliar liturgical practices and cultural discrimination at Our Lady of Guadalupe causes concern for the spiritual wellbeing and personal traditions of parishioners. To honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, all God’s children must be called to the table and invited to be disciples of Christ. The message of Guadalupe and Pope Francis’ apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes” must be followed in resolving this crisis of faith. Ted May St. Maximilian Kolbe, Delano
Commendable faith To Gina, all I can say is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your story (“Why I am Catholic” by Gina Barthel, Dec. 23). Your connection to
the Eucharist in adoration is amazing, and your fortitude of faith through your abuse was powerful to read. Rachel Heinzen St. Odilia, Shoreview
Prayers for parish peace When I first heard about the conflict at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, I admit to feeling anger and disappointment. Reading The Catholic Spirit (“Archdiocesan leaders trying to help Our Lady of Guadalupe navigate discord,” Dec. 23), I heard an explanation of how well leadership listened and provided for all, such as inserting Latin into the Mass. Secular media messaged that the Catholic Church doesn’t really care about the people and their traditions. For some Catholics, this is another nail in the coffin of their faith. Secular reporting on Our Lady of Guadalupe is colored by recent scandals and the insensitivity of past treatment of native cultures, St. Juan Diego himself being but one example. Now
I hope that all the people involved in this situation can sit on the ground together and come to a place of peace. I pray that St. Francis will raise up instruments of peace to replace injury, doubt, despair, darkness and sadness with pardon, faith, hope, light and joy. May parishioners know that they are loved by God — and by the priests who serve them. May we all experience the tender compassion of our God to bring light to the darkness and to guide our feet in the way of peace. May all Catholics seek truth. Sue Zhulkie St. Peter, Mendota
History reflections Thank you for the correction on the article “The Making of St. Kate’s” in your Dec. 9 issue. Here is more history: I graduated from Derham Hall in 1966, having entered as a freshman in 1962, the year the new school opened. The graduating class of ‘66 was a very big deal for two reasons: We were the first class to go all four years to the
new school, and ours was the largest graduating class in the history of Derham Hall. We had 90 graduates that year. The class of ‘65 had 60. A convent was built next to the new school. This was a boon to the sisters who had to travel back and forth Monday through Friday by taxi from their rooms in Mary Hall Residence near St. Joseph’s Hospital. In 1996, the convent, still owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph, was repurposed as a residence for women in crisis. It is called Sarah’s Oasis, still going strong, and serves a great need in the community. The Derham Hall building is still a school, now part of St. Paul Public Schools and is called EXPO Elementary School, grades pre-K through five. Maureen O’Brien St. Louis, King of France, St. Paul Share your perspective by emailing TheCatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
I
JANUARY 13, 2022
Why I am Catholic Chelsea Moga DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
love the Catholic faith! I am amazed by its beauty and
authenticity. To say that the faith is a firm foundation
developed the confidence and courage needed for public speaking. I became an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist
and my very backbone is probably an understatement.
right after I was confirmed, as I wanted to add another “holy
Over the years, the Catholic faith has shaped me and
skill.”
transformed me in countless ways that are unimaginable.
It is hard for some to envision. When I was little, I suffered from loneliness and rejection
It says in Psalm 34:18 that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit. With all the crushing that was allowed to happen in my soul, I am
after rejection — pretty much being the outcast. It got to the
realizing that the Holy Spirit wants to break in and work
point when I tearfully questioned, “Why do I exist? Why am
in me full time. In order to make wine, grapes need to be
I here?” My parents told me: Because Jesus wants you here.
crushed. In order to make perfume, flowers need to be
He made you. Then I wanted to find out who Jesus was and
crushed. In order to make olive oil, olives need to be crushed.
start questioning him about my existence.
I wonder what I will be made into with all this crushing. That
I had a very good encounter with Jesus when I was around 7 years old, at a time when I was so eager to receive my first
remains a mystery to this day. I am passionately Catholic because it enables me to live
holy Communion. It gave me a desire in my heart to want to
a meaningful life. It reminds me that I have a purpose.
encounter Christ as often as possible through the Eucharist.
Until I discover what that purpose is, I will be enjoying this
As I got to know Jesus and all that he went through, it put
scavenger hunt that the Holy Spirit has given me.
me at ease that he has been through all of what I was going through. I could relate to him so easily. I could unite my sufferings and brokenness with his, and he could make me new again — just like he promised in Revelation 21:5: “Behold I make all things new.” All thanks to my faith, I developed many skills and traits. I was invited to lector at age 12. As I have been lectoring throughout my teenage years and into my early 20s, I have
Moga, 28, is a parishioner of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. She works as a ramp agent for an airline and enjoys reading, fitness, praying and meeting new people. “Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Why I am Catholic” in the subject line.
JANUARY 13, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
CALENDAR year ahead. Theme: Hope Rising; Revisioning Our Dream. franciscanretreats.net Men’s Silent Weekend Retreat — Jan. 21-23 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Focus: God is gracious and Jesus is the manifestation of that graciousness. Jesus teaches us that God is more generous and gracious than people dare to hope. $160; non-refundable $50 deposit per person. 763-682-1394 or kingshouse.com.
BISHOP ORDINATION Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-elect Joseph Williams — Jan. 25: 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. The ordination of Bishop-elect Williams as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will take place on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The ordination will be livestreamed on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Facebook page. archspm.org/episcopal-ordination-ofjoseph-williams
PARISH EVENTS “Living a Joyful Life” Annual Pro-life Dinner — Jan. 15: 5:30–10 p.m. at Maternity of Mary, 1414 N. Dale St., St. Paul. Speaker Nic Davidson. Tickets $20. maternityofmarychurch.org
PRAYER+RETREATS Theology on Tap — Jan. 19: 6:30 p.m. at Flaherty’s Arden Bowl, 1273 W. Cty. E, Arden Hills. Pizza, beer, fellowship and spiritual development for young adults. 6:30 p.m. social hour and 7:30 p.m. speaker: associate professor of philosophy Catherine Deavel of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul on “Love and Disagreement.” Future dates: Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 16. Hosted by Cathedral Young Adults. cathedralsaintpaul.org Women’s Weekend Retreat — Jan. 21-23 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Reflect on the year passed and prepare spiritually for the new
Healing Mass — Jan. 28: 7 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake. Father Jim Livingston will celebrate a Mass that aims to help people find healing in whatever areas they may require it, including in physical, emotional or spiritual situations. chur chofsaintpaul.com/healing-mass Women’s Silent Weekend Retreat — Jan. 28-30 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. $160; non-refundable $50 deposit per person. 763-682-1394 or kingshouse.com. Married Couple’s Weekend Retreat — Feb. 11-13 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Theme: Hope Rising; Revisioning Our Dream. franciscanretreats.net Women’s Weekend Retreat — Feb. 25-27 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Theme: Hope Rising; Revisioning Our Dream. franciscanretreats.net
SPEAKERS+CONFERENCES “Equipped for Life: A Fresh Approach to Conversations about Abortion” — Feb. 5: 8:30 a.m.– 4 p.m. at University of St. Thomas, OEC Auditorium, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Learn how to respond to the toughest pro-choice arguments with truth and love. Training day for adults and high school and college students led by Emily Albrecht of the Equal Rights Institute. mncatholic.org/equippedforlife
SCHOOLS Good Shepherd School Open House — Jan. 11: 6 p.m. at Good Shepherd School, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. Learn more about the award-winning preschool-sixth grade school and vibrant community. RSVP to schoolinfo@gsgvschool.org. gsgvschool.org
Chesterton Academy Open House — Jan. 18: 6:30–8 p.m. at 1320 Mainstreet, Hopkins. An opportunity to meet and interact with teachers, administrators, and students, learn about curriculum and tour Hopkins campus. chestertonacademy.org
OTHER EVENTS Operation Andrew Dinner — Jan. 17: 6–8 p.m. at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center, 777 Forest St., St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Father David Blume, Director of Vocations, invite men ages 16 and older discerning their vocation to join them for dinner and conversation about priesthood and religious life. Online registration is required. 10000vocations.org “Living our Call as SSND: Transformative Education, Part Two: On the Margins” — Jan 19: 7 p.m. Second in a three-part online series for single women ages 18-45 to learn more about the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) and their ministry with and among those who are poor and marginalized. Learn more and register in advance for the Zoom link at ssnd.org/events/1-19-22.
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
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Prayer Service for Life and MCCL March for Life — Jan. 22: 10:30 am. prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. St. John Paul II Champions for Life awardees will be recognized during the prayer service. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March for Life is noon–1 p.m. at 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul. Commemorates the deaths of more than 62 million unborn babies since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. mccl.org/march. The Chesterton Gala 2022 — Jan. 29: 5 p.m. at The DoubleTree Hilton, 7800 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington. A night of music and merriment, including a silent auction, games and entertainment from talented students, dinner and dancing to music provided by the fabulous NorthStar Big Band. chestertonacademy.org Miriam Dinner — Feb. 1: 6–8 p.m. at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center, 777 Forest St., St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda invites women ages 16-35 discerning consecrated life to join him for dinner and conversation. Vocation testimonies, stories about consecrated life and discernment tips. Online registration is required. 10000vocations.org
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
JANUARY 13, 2022
THELASTWORD
Saint-inspired suds Illinois family’s faith, values figure into their Tridentine Brewing operation
creations is named in his honor. “When we were going through and creating beer recipes, the first few beers that we created were Vienna lagers,” he recalled. “There’s no greater person to link to the Vienna lager than Blessed Karl since Vienna was the capital of AustriaHungary during his time. “I came up with the idea of a Hopsburg By Amanda Lauer Beer so I didn’t infringe on Catholic News Service the Habsburg name, and it had a bit of a quirky twist revor Alcorn comes from a to it since hops is the key storied line of brewers. His greatingredient in the beergreat-grandmother brewed beer making process.” in her bathtub in Chicago during Alcorn explained his Prohibition in the 1920s. devotion to the emperor Home brewing has been a tradition who, along with his in the family through the decades, but wife, Empress Zita, is on there’s been a 180-degree turnaround in the road to sainthood; the endeavor since its illicit start. the empress has the title Alcorn, a lifelong Catholic who lives “Servant of God.” in northern Illinois, has a home-based “I’ve always been into brewing operation called Tridentine history and politics. I held Brewing. a seat on our local City “My maternal grandfather brewed Council about 10 years in the 1990s. He taught my father how ago and was doing some to brew,” noted Alcorn. “My dad was research about World War I brewing a bit then, but for a while the and politicians in general,” hobby was forgotten. Several years ago, he said. “When you think my parents were moving houses and we about Catholic politicians came across all the brewery supplies that who have been good role models, they my father had. I asked him to teach me are few and far between. how to brew.” “I stumbled upon Blessed Karl and Originally the brewing was a casual found out that he was going through pastime, a relatively simple process. the sainthood canonization process. He Alcorn likened it to getting a premade was a great father, a great husband and a mix for a cake. However, since 2019, great politician.” he, his father, Jeff Alcorn, and brother This devotion goes further than Cameron Alcorn have upped their naming a beer after Blessed Karl. Alcorn brewing game. and his wife, Katelyn, who have four “Now we do what all commercial children ages 6 and under, named their brewers do. We start from scratch with 2-year-old daughter Zita, in honor of our own grains that we buy,” he said. Empress Zita, and their infant son is “It’s almost as if you are an actual chef named Augustus Karl. making something from scratch. The Technically, Tridentine Brewing is a only difference technically between us hobby business, which means that the and a commercial brewer is they’ve got team does not sell their product, but they bigger equipment.” give plenty away to family, friends and Jeff is Tridentine’s brewmaster. “He’s the master behind creating all the recipes for events such as church picnics. and everything else for the beer,” Trevor The most notable occasion where they Alcorn explained. “Cameron is our shared their beer this year was Oct. 21, graphic designer, he the feast day of Blessed helps us create the Karl of Austria. They website, all of our delivered 200 bottles There’s a brewing labels, he’s the design of Emperor Karl beer genius behind all St. Mary Mother prayer that exists — a to that.” of God parish in Their product beer blessing. So, we’ll Washington, D.C. line and graphics Archduke Eduard pray to the Lord for our Habsburg-Lothringen, are showcased on their website, a descendent of beer or pray to tridentinebrewing.com, Blessed Karl, who is the and on Instagram, St. Wenceslaus because Hungarian ambassador @tridentinebrewing. to the Vatican and he is patron saint of What truly sets the Sovereign Military Tridentine Brewing brewers, and we pray to Order of Malta, flew in apart from other from Rome to attend Blessed Karl (of Austria) the Mass held at the brewers is the family’s vision and church, which houses for his intercession. mission. When they one of a handful of started brewing Especially when we’re shrines in the United more frequently, States to Blessed Karl. brewing his beer.” they decided to After the Mass, there start naming their was a reception at beers and, as devout the church, featuring Catholics, they wanted the names to Blessed Karl beer, and the archduke gave have some meaning, say a reference to a a presentation about the saintly man and saint. held a Q&A session afterward. Trevor Alcorn has a deep devotion to “I loved being able to go to the shrine Blessed Karl of Austria and so one of their and the holy sacrifice of the Mass there.
T
PHOTOS COURTESY TRIDENTINE BREWING VIA AMANDA LAUER | CNS
Jeff Alcorn, right, head brewmaster for the Tridentine Brewing Co., poses for a photo with sons Trevor Alcorn and Cameron Alcorn in this undated photo. The Alcorns own and operate the homebrewing company in northern Illinois.
Jeff Alcorn prepares mash for the Tridentine Brewing Co. in this undated photo. INSET This illustration shows the label on the Tridentine Brewing Co.’s Hopsburg Vienna Lager, named for Blessed Karl of Austria, who was one of the last monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The Catholic family that operates the homebrewing company has named some of its creations after saints The coolest part for sure was meeting His Excellency Ambassador Habsburg in person,” Alcorn said. “I follow him on Twitter (along with nearly 42,000 other fans). He’s a great guy. You can tell he’s very devoted to the faith.” For his part, the archduke seemed impressed with Alcorn’s product and touched by his devotion to his ancestor. Alcorn works full-time in IT for a life sciences company but he has a dream of turning Tridentine Brewing into a commercial brewery someday, where they’d be able to sell their beer on site and across the Midwest, and ship products ordered online throughout the United States.
“There’s great interest in the United States in Blessed Karl but also something that is Catholic themed. We’re trying to make all the labels beautiful, really honoring various saints,” he said. It’s said that food tastes better when made with love, so it goes without saying that beer is enhanced when made with prayers. “There’s a brewing prayer that exists — a beer blessing,” said Alcorn. “So, we’ll pray to the Lord for our beer or pray to St. Wenceslaus because he is patron saint of brewers, and we pray to Blessed Karl for his intercession. Especially when we’re brewing his beer.”