The Catholic Spirit - January 25, 2018

January 25, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Model citizen Local hobbyist creates replica of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

— Page 18

Arson at St. Kate’s Former student charged with setting multiple fires at university’s St. Paul campus.

— Page 5

Pope apologizes Pope Francis apologized to victims of clergy sex abuse, saying he unknowingly wounded them by the way he defended a Chilean bishop.

— Page 10

For love of the game What does the Church have to say about sports?

— Pages 12-13

Human trafficking Ahead of Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis, Catholics aim to raise awareness, help victims.

— Page 14

Final Farewell Father William Baer • 1957–2018

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Placing the pall over the casket of Father William Baer at his funeral Mass Jan. 23 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul are members of his family, clockwise from lower right: Betty Lemley (sister), Frances Baer (mother), Raymond Baer Jr. (brother), Jane Reynolds (sister) and Teresa McDermott (sister). Next to McDermott is the funeral director, Gretchen Goulette. Behind her is Archbishop Bernard Hebda, the principal celebrant.

Friends, family and priests recall Father Baer’s ministry as seminary rector, pastor • Page 6

Archbishop: Pro-life work important, requires action

Marching on

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit Before Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s annual march to the State Capitol in St. Paul Jan. 22, pro-life advocates gathered at the Cathedral of St. Paul for a prayer service led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

“We live in a world that needs to know Christ’s love, to be reassured of Christ’s love,” he said on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. “And the gift of new life gives us an insight into that love unlike any other.”

Acknowledging especially young people who are “willing to dream big, work hard and sacrifice much,” the archbishop encouraged all pro-life advocates to offer God their time, energy and creativity.

“Nothing is impossible with God. He is

FATHER EUGENE BROWN | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

able to accomplish more in the world than all we ask or imagine,” he said.

If pro-life advocates want to be convincing in creating a culture of life, they need to be consistent in their defense of all life, he said.

“This is important work that requires that we act, that we not remain silent,” he said.

The importance of the event made Yen Fasano, 36, brave the weather with her

Ann Hagens, left, of St. Peter in Richfield and Beth Boyle of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington walk from the Cathedral of St. Paul to the State Capitol in St. Paul Jan. 22 during the annual March for Life, sponsored by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. Read more about the march on page 5.

three children, Maria, 9, Francesca, 7, and Joey, 5, to attend the prayer service and march. Francesca said abortion made her sad, but she hoped someone would see the sign she and her siblings made and change their mind about abortion. Said Yen, a parishioner of St. John Neumann in Eagan, “I hope [my children] live their baptismal call and realize that though their voices are small, they matter, and they can serve.”

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JANUARY 25, 2018

PAGETWO

“

I am not in favor of general absolution in general, but that was an appropriate use.

Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu, who gave general absolution to about 45 people in a deacon formation program in response to the alert of an imminent ballistic missile attack that put Hawaii in a state of panic shortly after 8 a.m. Jan. 13. It was the first time the bishop had ever performed the rite. The absolution of sins given to a group of people at one time is allowed only in grave circumstances, such as situations of great danger or imminent death, or for soldiers going into battle, when private confessions are logistically impossible. Thirty-eight minutes after the initial warning, the emergency management center sent an all-clear — the warning had been a “false alarm.”

NEWS notes

6,000

ROBERT CUNNINGHAM | COURTESY CSCOE

SUPER GENEROUS From left, Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School students Morgan Franck, Phoebe Johnson, Principal Becky Kennedy, Rachel Thurk, Luke Geadelmann and Isabella Paidosh stand with their donations Jan. 18 at Super Kids-Super Sharing, a community donation event organized by the NFL ahead of the Feb. 4 Super Bowl in Minneapolis. The Mound school was among Minnesota schools, including 11 local Catholic schools, that collected new and lightly used books, sports equipment, games and school supplies for the event at Braemar Field in Edina. The items where then donated to lowincome schools and youth-serving organizations in the state. The program has been held in the Super Bowl’s host city for 18 years. Participating Catholic schools from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were All Saints, Lakeville; Maternity of Mary-St. Andrew, St. Paul; Notre Dame Academy, Minnetonka; Our Lady of the Lake, Mound; Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale; Shakopee Area Catholic School, Shakopee; St. Alphonsus, Brooklyn Center; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hastings; St. John the Baptist, Jordan; St. Joseph, Waconia; and St. Michael, Prior Lake. The schools’ participation was supported by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence.

The square footage of the new home of the Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf on the campus of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. An ecumenical outreach, the food shelf opened the facility Jan. 18 after outgrowing its previous space in the basement of Woodbury Lutheran Church. Founded in 1983, the food shelf served more than 7,500 households with 317 tons of food last year, and its leaders anticipate it will expand its reach with the new facility. It serves Landfall, southwest Maplewood, Oakdale and Woodbury. For more information, visit ccefs.org.

84

The number of Catholic schools in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota participating in Catholic United Financial’s annual Catholic Schools Raffle. The fundraiser aims to raise $1 million this year, and it’s offering more than $40,000 in prizes, including a new SUV. In the nine years it’s been held, the raffle has brought in more than $6 million for Catholic education. Tickets are available until Feb. 25. For more information, visit catholicunitedfinancial.org/raffle.

1900

The year Gabriel Fauré finished his famous Requiem in D minor, an orchestra setting of the Mass for the Dead. The Minnesota Orchestra is performing the piece Feb. 9-10 as part of a concert dedicated to Paris. Fauré wrote of the piece, “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” For more information, visit minnesotaorchestra.org.

40

The number of years the Concertina Bowl has drawn hundreds of music lovers to Blaine. The Jan. 27 event includes 11 hours of music and dancing to polkas, waltzes and “old-time favorites” played on the “ol’ concertina” at Brook Hall at Blainbrook in Blaine. The annual event is a fundraiser of the Blaine and Coon Rapids Knights of Columbus Council No. 5141. For more information, call 763-784-7204.

ONLINE exclusives CNS

LOVE IN THE AIR Pope Francis convalidates the marriage of two flight attendants Jan. 18 during a flight between cities in Chile. The couple, Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriaga and Paula Podest Ruiz, above, were civilly married, and told the pope they had planned to marry in the Church, but early in the morning the day of the wedding, Feb. 27, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Chile and the church collapsed. Parents of two daughters, they told the pope they had planned to reschedule the church ceremony but kept putting it off. Although the marriage appeared to some observers to be spontaneous, Pope Francis later said that the couple had been adequately prepared for their vows. “I judged they were prepared, they knew what they were doing,” the pope told reporters Jan. 21 on his flight back to Rome. “Both of them had prepared before God — with the sacrament of penance — and I married them.”

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 2 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love

TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

Parishes and schools across the Twin Cities are gearing up for the Super Bowl Feb. 4. Some downtown Minneapolis parishes are changing Mass times and boosting hospitality, others are using the game to bring awareness to social issues including homelessness and sex trafficking, and St. Mary in St. Paul is selling game-day booya and offering parking for CHS Field’s Giant Snow Slide, part of the festivities surrounding the Winter Carnival and Super Bowl lead-up. Get the details at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Aware of the spiritual dangers of wintertime, Father Michael Van Sloun explains how imperative it is for Minnesota Christians to live virtuously “during these trying times. Jesus wants his disciples to go above and beyond ‘nice.’” Read more at CatholicHotdish.com.

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JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Perspective can change everything

M

y nephew, Paddy, was born in southwest Florida and has lived all of his 14 years there. He recently spent the weekend with me in the Twin Cities, making me realize not only that I have aged, but also the significance of perspective. What I considered to be a balmy midJanuary thaw was for him an experience of an Arctic blast. The snow that I had come to see as a bit of a nuisance when driving was for him a source of newfound delight on the slopes of Buck Hill.

Perspective changes everything.

I recently had the opportunity to celebrate Mass with the Poor Clare Sisters in Bloomington, who will soon be departing their longtime monastery in our archdiocese to relocate to shared space with the Franciscan Sisters in Rochester. I expected to encounter some sadness from the sisters, but I experienced nothing but joy, as the sisters explained their excitement that their monastery will soon be bustling with new life and ministry as the home of the Pro Ecclesia Sancta Sisters. Perspective changes everything.

In the days since the passing of Father Bill Baer, I have felt privileged to spend some time with his loving parishioners from Transfiguration in Oakdale.

Sure, there’s deep sorrow over this stunning loss, but there’s an even greater sense of gratitude for how the Lord had touched them and their families through

La perspective cambia todo

M

i sobrino, Paddy, nació en el suroeste de Florida y ha pasado allí todos sus 14 años.

Recientemente pasó el fin de semana conmigo en las Ciudades Gemelas, lo que me hizo darme cuenta no solo de que he envejecido, sino también del significado de la perspectiva. Lo que consideré un agradable deshielo a mediados de enero fue para él una experiencia de explosión en el Ártico. La nieve que había llegado a ver como una molestia cuando manejaba era para él una fuente de nuevo placer en las laderas de Buck Hill. La perspectiva cambia todo.

Recientemente tuve la oportunidad de celebrar la misa con las Hermanas Clarisas en Bloomington, quienes pronto partirán de su antiguo monasterio en nuestra Arquidiócesis para trasladarse a un espacio compartido con las Hermanas Franciscanas en Rochester. Esperaba encontrar algo de tristeza por parte de las Hermanas, pero no experimenté más que alegría, ya que las Hermanas explicaron su emoción de que su monasterio pronto se llenará de nueva vida y ministerio como el hogar de las Hermanas Pro Ecclesia Sancta. La perspectiva cambia todo.

En los días transcurridos desde el fallecimiento del p.

Bill Baer, me sentí privilegiado de pasar un tiempo con sus amorosos feligreses de Transfiguration Parish. Claro, hay una profunda tristeza por esta sorprendente pérdida, pero un mayor sentido de gratitud por cómo el Señor los había tocado a ellos y a sus familias a través del ministerio sacerdotal generoso de su pastor. Me conmovió la descripción de sus pasión por continuar el gran trabajo que el p. Baer había comenzado. La perspectiva cambia todo.

Visité a uno de nuestros sacerdotes cuyos médicos compartieron con él recientemente que no hay nada

the generous priestly ministry of their pastor. I was moved as they described their passion for continuing the great work that Father Baer had begun. Perspective changes everything.

I visited one of our priests whose doctors had recently shared with him that there is nothing else they can do to help him in his fight against cancer. He has poured himself out for Christ and this local Church with exemplary zeal for 60 years, and it would be a temptation to think that a just and loving God should be treating him better after all those years of faithful service. Speak with Father, however, and all he can talk about is how blessed he is to be able to encounter Jesus every day in holy Communion.

Perspective changes everything.

At the recent vespers with the Lutheran community commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, all in the Cathedral that evening were painfully aware of the divisions that continue to separate our two communities. More than a few Catholic-Lutheran couples, however, approached me that evening to express their joyful gratitude that we were all able to pray together and spoke of the progress that had been made since the time they were married. Perspective changes everything.

As disciples of Christ, our perspective has to be shaped by what we know about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The insightful Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor once wrote that “for me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and what I see in the world I see in its relation to that.” Our challenges, our triumphs, our perplexities all have to be seen in relation to the Gospel, to the good news that human life “has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for.”

Christians aren’t called to be Pollyannas or to look uncritically at the world through rose-colored glasses, but Pope Francis reminds us that we are called to resist the temptation to a defeatism “that turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists.” We need to be disciples who bring a certain confidence to the challenges that come our way.

más que puedan hacer para ayudarlo en su lucha contra el cáncer. Se ha entregado a Cristo y a esta Iglesia local con un celo ejemplar durante 60 años y sería una tentación pensar que un Dios justo y amoroso debería tratarlo mejor después de todos esos años de fiel servicio. Habla con el Padre, sin embargo, y de lo único que puede hablar es de lo bendecido que es de poder encontrarse con Jesús todos los días en la Sagrada Comunión. La perspectiva cambia todo.

En las últimas vísperas con la comunidad luterana en conmemoración del 500 aniversario de la Reforma, todos en la Catedral esa noche fueron dolorosamente conscientes de las divisiones que continúan separando a nuestras dos comunidades. Sin embargo, más de unas cuantas parejas católico-luteranas se acercaron a mí esa noche para expresarles su gratitud y alegría por el hecho de que todos pudiéramos orar juntos y hablaron del progreso que se había logrado desde el momento en que se casaron. La perspectiva cambia todo.

Como discípulos de Cristo, nuestra perspectiva tiene que ser determinada por lo que sabemos sobre la vida, la muerte y la resurrección de Jesús. El perspicaz novelista católico, Flannery O’Connor, escribió una vez que “para mí, el sentido de la vida se centra en nuestra redención por Cristo y lo que veo en el mundo que veo en su relación con eso”. Nuestros desafíos, nuestros triunfos, nuestra todas las perplejidades deben verse en relación con el Evangelio, con la buena nueva de que la vida humana “ha sido encontrada por Dios, por la cual vale la pena morir”.

Los cristianos no están llamados a ser Pollyannas o mirar sin crítica al mundo a través de lentes de color rosa; pero el Papa Francisco nos recuerda que estamos llamados a resistir la tentación del derrotismo “que nos convierte en pesimistas quejumbrosos y desilusionados”. Necesitamos ser discípulos que aporten cierta confianza a los desafíos que se nos presentan.

Como escribió el Papa Francisco, “si comenzamos sin confianza, ya hemos perdido la mitad de la batalla y enterramos nuestros talentos”. Si bien dolorosamente conscientes de nuestras propias flaquezas, tenemos que

“

We need to be disciples who bring a certain confidence to the challenges that come our way.

iSTOCK | ANNA ELIZABETH PHOTOGRAPHY

As Pope Francis wrote, “If we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents. While painfully aware of our own frailties, we have to march on without giving in, keeping in mind what the Lord said to St. Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”

While it might seem that our archdiocese, our parishes, our schools and our society at large move from serious challenge to serious challenge, we have to trust that these are also all moments for the Lord’s power to be made perfect.

Let us draw closer to Christ so that we can see ourselves and the world through his eyes, so that we can look at the world from his vantage point, so that we can know his love and recognize the victory that he has already won for us. In the midst of midwinter doldrums, perspective can change everything.

marchar sin ceder, teniendo en cuenta lo que el Señor le dijo a San Pablo: “Mi gracia es suficiente para ti, porque mi poder se perfecciona en la debilidad”.

Si bien puede parecer que nuestra Arquidiócesis, nuestras parroquias, nuestras escuelas y nuestra sociedad en general pasan de un desafío serio a un desafío serio, debemos confiar en que estos también son todos momentos para que el poder del Señor se perfeccione.

Acerquémonos a Cristo para que podamos vernos a nosotros mismos y al mundo a través de sus ojos, de modo que podamos mirar el mundo desde su punto de vista, para que podamos conocer su amor y reconocer la victoria que ya ha ganado para nosotros. . En medio del estancamiento del solsticio de invierno, la perspectiva puede cambiar todo.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Effective February 1, 2018 Reverend William Deziel, appointed pastor of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Carver. This is in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Guardian Angels in Chaska.

Reverend Edison Galarza, o.cc.ss., appointed parochial vicar of the Church of the Guardian Angels in Chaska. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial administrator of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis.

Reverend Daniel Griffith, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis. This is in addition to his current assignments as pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis and as faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Reverend Fernando Ortega, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar for the Church of the Incarnation in Minneapolis.

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JANUARY 25, 2018

LOCAL

Brotherly guidance

SLICEof LIFE DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Christian Brother Ryan Anderson, right, helps sophomore David Ross with an assignment during his Creed and the Sacraments class Jan. 11 at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.

After the death of Brother David Barth last May, the Lasallian school was left without a brother teaching in the classroom for the first time in its 117-year history. After some quick work by school administrators during the summer — and “a lot of praying,” said communications director and alumnus Matt Lehman — Brother Ryan, 30, left his position as campus minister at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn., and began teaching at DeLaSalle in the fall. His age and enthusiasm make him a hit with students. “I really enjoy his class,” said sophomore Megan Benson. “He’s very involved and energetic, so it’s easy to follow him. He makes religion interesting to know about. He’ll tell us stories about some saints, and stories from his experience and his faith.” Two other Christian Brothers also work at the school in administration and counseling.

LOCAL

JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Former student arrested for setting St. Kate’s fires

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit A former student of St. Catherine University in St. Paul has been arrested for starting eight small fires in seven of its buildings Jan. 17.

The woman, 19-year-old Tnuza Hassan, reportedly said she started the fires in retaliation for U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, and what she perceived as indifference to Muslim suffering.

A Jan. 19 statement from the university said its community was “shocked and saddened” by Hassan’s reported statements about her motives.

“In addition to my sadness, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude knowing that all of our students, faculty, staff and other community members are safe,” President Becky Roloff said in the statement. “I am eternally grateful to those who reported the fires immediately, to our University Public Safety, and to local law enforcement who acted quickly and effectively to respond to this situation and keep us safe.”

Fires began around 11:40 a.m. and were found until about 2 p.m.

They were quickly extinguished in seven buildings and the “incidents included fires set to a chair and

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Our Lady of Victory Chapel on the St. Catherine University campus in St. Paul was one of seven buildings affected by arson Jan. 17. papers in a garbage can,” according to the university’s Twitter feed Jan. 17. The university later reported that there was damage to furnishings, but no structural damage. No one was injured.

The affected buildings were the Butler Center for Sports and Fitness; Coeur de Catherine; Derham Hall, an administration building; Fontbonne Hall and Mendall Hall, classroom buildings; Our Lady of Victory Chapel and St. Mary Hall, a dormitory.

According to a complaint charging her with one count of felony first-degree arson filed with the Ramsey County District Court, “Hassan said she started the fires because she’s been reading about

the U.S. military destroying schools in Iraq and Afghanistan, and she felt that she should do exactly the same thing. She said that her firestarting was not as successful as she had wanted. She said the most successful fire she set was at St. Mary’s, where she set a couch on fire.”

According to the university, Hassan enrolled at St. Kate’s in fall 2017, but did not enroll for the January term or spring 2018 semester. She was taken into custody on campus Jan. 17 within three hours of the first fire.

“We believe this was an isolated incident and are cooperating with law enforcement officials,” the university stated. “Our top concern is our students and the campus community. We are proud to be an open and welcoming university that embraces diversity. As such, we strongly believe that one person does not represent an entire group, and we deeply value all Muslim members of our community.”

Representatives from the university’s Muslim Student Association declined to comment on the incident.

According to the university’s registrar, 138 students self-report as Muslim. St. Kate’s enrollment is about 4,800 students, including about 2,000 traditional undergraduate students.

Undeterred by snow, pro-lifers march with hope to end abortion

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit With renewed hope that efforts to end abortion are having an effect — and sharing the determination of U.S. mail carriers — thousands of Minnesota pro-life advocates observed the 45th anniversary of Roe v.

Wade by participating in the March for Life Jan. 22 in St. Paul as driving snow made travel difficult.

“Braving the snowstorm is an amazing testimony to the heart and soul of the pro-life movement, that you were all able to make it today,” Andrea Rau, legislative director at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the march’s sponsor, told attendees of all ages.

During a program at the State Capitol following the march from the Cathedral of St. Paul, MCCL leaders, state legislators and others gave the participants who filled three levels of the rotunda reasons for hope, while updating them on pro-life legislation and the movement’s status.

Before the march, a slightly smaller-than-usual crowd attended a prayer service at the Cathedral led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Heavier snow in southern Minnesota prevented some groups from making the trip.

In noting the 45th anniversary, several speakers at the Capitol drew a parallel between the abolitionist and pro-life movements.

“I believe that in the years to come, history will remember Roe v. Wade alongside the Dred Scott decision of 1857,” said Leo LaLonde, MCCL president.

In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that no black person, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship. “We hope and pray that the Supreme Court will correct its errors and vacate this Roe v. Wade decision of Jan. 22.”

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, noted that William Wilberforce’s involvement in the British abolitionist movement lasted 46 years.

“We’re at 45,” he said of the pro-life movement.

“I’m saying we’re right at the edge, let’s push this

FATHER EUGENE BROWN | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Pro-life advocates fill the State Capitol rotunda in St. Paul Jan. 22 as part of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s March for Life. thing over. By God’s grace, by God’s courage, by God’s compassion that calls all of us, let’s work together. Let’s work with legislators, let’s work with the governor, let’s work with the people. We’ll change it federally, we’ll change it at the state level, and once again, unborn human life will be protected.”

Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, 60 million unborn babies in the United States have been killed as a result. In Minnesota, more than 628,700 were killed between 1973 and 2016, according to state statistics.

Carla Stream, a member of the post-abortion awareness campaign Silent No More Minnesota, described proposed state legislation that MCCL will promote during the 2018 session to enable abortionseeking women to see their babies during ultrasounds.

Stream shared that she wasn’t shown a sonogram of her 10-week-old baby before her abortion 27 years ago.

Thirty-two state legislators were present for the rally, along with other local government leaders. Before the program, pro-life advocates of all ages chanted, “We are the pro-life generation.”

Ruth Statz, 16, and Mary Kracht, 15, students at Chesterton Academy, came to defend the right to life.

Kracht said she is inspired by her grandparents’ long dedication to the cause.

“What gives me hope is the people who step up to believe and actually act,” she said.

COURTESY DEBBIE KELLER

NATIONAL MARCH Debbie Keller, president of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women and parishioner of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, participates in the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19. Keller was part of the archdiocesan delegation that numbered 180.

in BRIEF Priest returns to limited ministry ST. PAUL — Father Jonathan Shelley, who has been out of ministry since June 2012, will return to limited ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced Jan. 11. In a statement, Archbishop Hebda said Father Shelley will serve in local prisons and jails under the direction and guidance of the archdiocese’s coordinator of its corrections ministry, and his activities “will be subject to the security and oversight procedures of the Minnesota Department of Corrections and any county facilities visited,” as is the case with anyone ministering in a secure facility. Father Shelley was removed from active ministry in 2012 after investigators discovered that pornography was on his computer in the early 2000s.

The Washington County Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against Father Shelley after investigators found that the images did not depict minors. The archdiocese’s Ministerial Review Board, which is composed of laity and clergy who examine claims of clergy misconduct, reviewed the case and recommended that he be allowed to return to limited ministry, the statement said. Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of ministerial standards and safe environment, and Archbishop Hebda approved the recommendation.

Father Shelley most recently served as parochial administrator of St. John the Baptist in Hugo.

Father Joseph temporarily removed from ministry following allegation ST. PAUL — Father Thomas Joseph, outgoing pastor of St. Nicholas in Carver, was temporarily removed from ministry because law enforcement is investigating him for criminal conduct involving an adult. According to a Jan. 23 statement from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, the archdiocese reported to law enforcement an allegation of inappropriate conduct that it received against Father Joseph. Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, informed law enforcement that it was the archdiocese’s policy to remove clergy under criminal investigation from ministry during the investigation, and that the archdiocese would not take any action that would interfere with a police investigation. On Jan. 22, law enforcement notified archdiocesan officials that it was investigating Father Joseph for criminal conduct involving an adult, and removal of Father Joseph from ministry would not interfere with the investigation.

“With that clarification, Father Joseph was removed temporarily from ministry, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation,” Archbishop Hebda said in the statement. “Father’s removal from ministry should not be considered an indication or presumption of guilt.” In a statement included with the archdiocese’s statement, Father Joseph maintained his innocence and said he was surprised and dismayed by the allegations. “It is paramount that we as Catholics come together in God’s light to seek the truth,” he said, adding that he understood the need for law enforcement to investigate the allegations and he would cooperate “to clear my good name and the name of the Church.” Archdiocesan officials are asking anyone with information about the matter to contact their local law enforcement agency.

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

‘He loved being a priest’

what a priest can and should be,” said Father Nelson, 34. “Part of my formation wasn’t just being taught what to do, but being able to see Father Baer, as a priest, model that and to want to imitate that ...

He was one of the most powerful formation tools for me.”

Lived ‘ready to meet the Lord’

Father Baer remembered for preaching, conviction, focused faith

By Maria Wiering, Jessica Trygstad and Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit As soon as Transfiguration in Oakdale announced the unexpected death of its pastor Father William Baer Jan. 14, warm tributes began to pour in.

They came from parishioners, colleagues, friends and former seminarians who remembered him as their rector. Many said he had a significant impact on their faith, and several priests connected their vocations to his influence.

“The first minute I heard a Father Baer homily for the first time I was motivated to be a better Catholic,” Lisa Schoen wrote on Transfiguration’s Facebook page. Another commentator, Leslie Lynn, wrote, “I am just so heartbroken — he meant so much to our family. … What a great man, priest, friend.”

Transfiguration staff members found Father Baer, 60, dead in his rectory Jan. 14 when he didn’t show up for the 8:30 a.m. Mass at the church. It was clear to them that he had died while going about his morning routine.

“It appears that [his death] was peaceful and relatively quick,” said Erin Ethier, Transfiguration’s parish administrator and, with her husband, a close friend of Father Baer.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda blessed Father Baer’s body before it was taken from the rectory, a fact that has brought peace to many Transfiguration parishioners, Ethier noted.

‘A natural leader’ Born in Baltimore May 25, 1957, to Raymond and Frances Baer, Father Baer studied architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and returned to his hometown to practice architecture. He volunteered in campus ministry at Loyola College — now Loyola University Maryland — because it was near his work. He began attending daily Mass at the campus’ chapel, and he said that those Masses instilled a love for liturgy and preaching.

In 1984, Father Baer moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to work in campus ministry and join Servants of the Word, an ecumenical lay brotherhood rooted in the charismatic renewal. There he felt called to priesthood, but he also felt called to live in community. That led him to join the Companions of Christ, then a fledgling group of priests and seminarians of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis living in community.

He entered the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in 1992 to study for the archdiocese.

Right away, Father Baer’s classmates saw powerful gifts in a man some felt might be named a bishop someday, and

JANUARY 25, 2018

COURTESY UST PHOTO SERVICES

ABOVE Father William Baer speaks during Mass at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul Oct. 31, 2008.

RIGHT Father Baer and Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, St. Paul Seminary rector, share a laugh Oct. 3, 2009, following the Rectors’ Bowl, an annual football game between SPS and St. John Vianney College Seminary. they noted his leadership and his humor.

“We hung out a lot together,” said Father Kevin Finnegan, pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Edina who was in Father Baer’s ordination class. “I remember picking him up at the airport as he’s coming here to go to seminary. The first thing he wanted to do was go to the Mall of America, which he loved. He thought it was great. It couldn’t be too big or too flashy. In some ways, that was his personality — big, flashy and nothing could be too much. He loved pressing everything forward, which was a great thing.”

Father Baer was ordained in 1996 on his 39th birthday. He was assigned to Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul as an assistant pastor and became its parochial administrator in 1998.

Nativity parishioners Katie and Dan Donovan became friends with Father Baer while he was at the parish. Katie’s mother, Helen Domler, worked at the parish then and had an office across the hall from him. Because Father Baer’s family was in Baltimore, he would join theirs on holidays.

“His first Christmas he spent with us in 1996 — he always talks about it, it was 30 below zero — and he’s sitting at our house listening to the stucco literally cracking on the outside of the house. So, he just kind of became part of our family from there on out, for holidays and funerals and weddings, and a lot of baptisms,” recalled Katie Donovan, 60, whose three siblings are also lifelong Nativity parishioners and were close to Father Baer.

Father Baer would visit their cabin in Orr, where, coincidentally, the last two priests assigned to its Catholic church studied at St. John Vianney College Seminary while he served as its rector from 1999 to 2010.

“He was involved with the faith formation of all these young men; it was just astounding,” Donovan said. “When he got to the seminary, I don’t know what he did, but he somehow had the magic touch that drew people in. [SJV] was bursting at the seams by the time he left. … He truly was a shepherd of a big flock.”

Calling him a “wonderful homilist” and “one of the most intelligent people”

she’s ever known, she also noted how he could be a prankster. One Easter, he had someone tape pieces of candy under all the chairs and hinted to the congregation after Mass to look carefully, until a child discovered the candy and soon the entire parish began turning over their chairs.

What’s more, she said, was the solace he provided when her mother was dying from lung cancer at age 73. “He was pretty instrumental in helping us understand that,” she said.

‘Be men for Christ’ When he was assigned to SJV, Father Baer observed to The Catholic Spirit that he was taking the helm as college seminaries were “making a comeback.” He was instrumental in boosting seminary enrollment, outgrowing the University of St. Thomas building that housed the undergraduate men. Father Baer, however, realized that not all of the men would become priests, and he was OK with that. His goal was for them to grow in holiness and virtue no matter their ultimate vocation.

He was a staunch advocate for the men developing lives rooted in the Eucharist, prayer and confession. He was known for telling the seminarians to “be men of Christ, men of the Church and men for others.” He also took that message to the St. Thomas campus, welcoming students to the seminary’s “Last Chance Mass” on Sunday nights and leading a Thursday night group for non-seminarian men.

Father Nick Nelson, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth, attended SJV from 2007-2009. He said that it can be easy for Catholics to develop a caricature of holiness that is meek, quiet and kind, but Father Baer showed them that “there are other kinds of holiness,” he said.

Before Father Nelson met Father Baer, he said, he didn’t have a particular priest he looked up to. But that changed when he got to know his rector.

“When I got to seminary, I just saw

In 2010, Father Baer left the seminary to serve in the chancery as a chaplain in the Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

The following year, he was assigned to be the pastor of Transfiguration in Oakdale.

Ethier got to know him first in her role as chairwoman of Transfiguration’s school board, then as a parish trustee before becoming the parish administrator.

“He was an incredible shepherd first,” she said. “He was extremely hard working. … He was a true friend and was an incredible pastor to the people.”

His homilies were renowned because of his ability to convey the Gospel in a way that everyone understood, Ethier said. He also spoke without notes, outlining everything in his head.

One of Father Baer’s three sisters, Jane Reynolds, describes how, despite the miles between them, he remained involved in their family’s sacramental life, performing baptisms and weddings, as well as funeral rites for his father in 2011 and 18-year-old niece in 2003.

Father Baer had eight nephews, two of whom are Reynolds’ sons, and five nieces, including Julie McDermott, who died. He also had several great-nephews and nieces. Each day at around 7:15 a.m., he would call his mother, who lives in the Baltimore area.

“He was a happy priest. He loved being a priest,” Reynolds said. “He loved being a Catholic and constantly brought that into his sermons: Be proud to be a Catholic, be proud to know your faith, be proud to know your God.” Father Baer also kept track of how many sacraments he administered, including confessions. Transfiguration staff thinks his confessions heard numbered more than 40,000.

Father Baer had big ideas and high expectations. At Transfiguration, his emphasis was on sacraments, youths and finances, Ethier said. He made sure that there was daily Mass and confessions, which “he brought back in a big way,” Ethier said.

A frequent speaker — especially at men’s events — he was known for a bold, intense style that many found convicting and motivating, often drawing on imagery of the Christian life as a battle and adventure. Ethier attended what would be Father Baer’s final Mass the evening of Jan. 13, and his homily has stuck with her.

“He spoke about how God puts people in your path for a reason. You might not like them, but God put them there. Don’t forget that, and don’t forget they come and go,” she said.

Those words took on a new context for her after his death.

“In so many ways, he lived every day [and] he went to bed every night just ready to meet the Lord, because he put everything he had into that 24 hours that he could for the Lord,” she said. “In some ways he was preparing us all. Now it’s up to us — whether at Transfiguration or those wonderful young men he prepared for priesthood — to live out what God is calling us to do.”

LOCAL

JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

Parish missions a time of community-building, revitalization

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit

S

t. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights is gearing up for Lent with a parish mission Feb. 5-7 starting at 5:30 each evening.

Jon Leonetti, a nationally recognized speaker, radio host and author, will lead “Surge of the Heart,” giving participants a chance to reflect on who God is, their relationship with him and how he has equipped them to serve.

“It’s about ... [taking] some time to listen and reflect, and we’re providing that opportunity,” said Teresa Neuman, director of faith formation at St. Patrick. “A parish mission is a nice way, a social way, to do that. It’s an evangelization tool on many levels.”

JON LEONETTI Many parishes throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis host parish missions either annually or every several years. It’s a practice with deep roots that continues to enrich the Church today, said Father Jim Livingston, pastor of St. Paul in Ham Lake.

“It’s, first, a preaching event,” Father Livingston said. “The parish gets a chance to experience the word of God more deeply. Because of the preaching, worship and prayer service, it becomes a time of enthusiasm for the parish.”

His parish hosts an annual Lenten mission. This year’s mission is 7 p.m. Feb. 25-27.

Parish missions typically follow a simple structure, Neuman explained. For three to five consecutive evenings, the parish sets aside other activities to direct attention to a guest speaker with a special

message, followed by time for prayer and reflection.

Confession might be offered, too. Usually, the evening includes fellowship and hospitality with simple snacks. Child care or a parallel program for children might also be offered. They’re open to parishioners and non-parishioners alike, and the message of the mission is carefully chosen to reach a wide audience. The preaching, prayer and fellowship give attendees an opportunity to deepen their faith and build community.

Neuman has seen parish missions bear fruit. Often, new volunteers emerge, and active parishioners offer to take on new positions and responsibilities. She will also hear from parishioners about how the speaker’s message resonated with them.

Judy Eiden, 75, a parishioner of St. Patrick for 50 years, has participated in many parish missions. She shares Neuman’s observation that as a result of missions, there’s been a greater sense of community among parishioners.

“It opens up the opportunity to see the whole community in a new way,” Eiden explained. “If it’s advertised well, we’ll get an influx of people who aren’t regular attendees or who are looking to connect with the church.

“For me, it’s a renewal experience,” she continued.

“I’m not alone on the journey, and you hear the same things in a different way.”

That has been the purpose of missions going back centuries. Father Livingston compares it to St. Francis of Assisi and his first friars during the 1200s.

“I think of the missionary orders who simply came into town and preached the Gospel,” he said, adding that their message revitalized the faith of those communities.

About 500 years later, St. Alphonsus Liguori found

Italy in need of renewal once again.

“In 1732, Alphonsus went into the country and realized that the people weren’t practicing their faith, so he organized a group of men to preach in these areas,” said Father Patrick Keys, a Redemptorist priest at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.

St. Alphonsus’ preachers spent prolonged periods in the neglected countryside teaching, preaching and bringing Catholics back to the sacraments. To continue this work, St. Alphonsus founded the Redemptorist order, whose priests continue to preach parish missions today.

Shortly after the Redemptorists’ arrival in North America in 1832, the bishop of Cleveland asked them to do mission work among German immigrants. Evidence remains of parish missions of old, perhaps preached by Redemptorists or others.

Father Livingston points to the crosses engraved with the date of the missionary’s visit that can still be found in choir lofts of some old churches.

Since then, the practice of parish missions has evolved into the more commonly used shortened form of three to four days of preaching and reflection. The time serves as an in-house retreat for parishioners.

More and more, too, lay people, like Leonetti, lead the missions. Nevertheless, the Redemptorists still do longer missions in immigrant communities that give them time not only to preach, but also to visit parishioners in their homes to address specific needs, and, hopefully, reach people who might not be practicing their baptismal faith, or who have no faith at all. Redemptorists are in the midst of a monthlong mission at Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis.

“We hope to reach people who need to hear the Gospel,” Father Keys said.

Eternal rest grant to Fr. William Baer, O Lord,

and let the perpetual

light shine upon him.

UST Photo Services

Ordination Class of 1996

WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

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Commentary/Ideas/Opinion? Call 651-291-4444 or email CatholicSpirit@archspm.org

8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 25, 2018

CATHOLICSCHOOLSWEEK

The Goldilocks classroom GHR Foundation, ACE making grants available for schools to adopt blended learning model, which helps students learn at their ‘just right’ level

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

L

ike his classmates at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School in Mound, seventh-grader Noah Vogt’s regular math homework is to watch his teacher give a lesson via video. The next day in class, he does his homework with that teacher nearby.

The concept is called a “flipped classroom,” and it allows teachers to answer students’ questions while they work through material. It’s also part of how Our Lady of the Lake incorporates “blended learning” — an educational approach that aims to help students learn at their “just right” level through the blending of traditional methods with differentiated instruction and education technology that target learning gaps.

Our Lady of the Lake and two other local Catholic schools began to adopt the blended learning model in English and math in 2014 thanks to grants from the Twin Cities-based GHR Foundation, which funded training and support from the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame. Also selected were Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Columbia Heights and St. Therese Catholic School in Deephaven.

In December, ACE announced that it was partnering again with GHR to expand the model locally. GHR has offered $1.8 million for use over threeand-a-half years to implement blended learning in five schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The grant will fund teacher training and support, and the majority of the schools’ participation costs, including technology and infrastructure upgrades. Recipients will be selected jointly by ACE and GHR. The deadline is in mid-February.

In blended learning classrooms,

students typically work individually or in pairs or small groups. Instead of preparing one large lesson for the whole class, a teacher prepares several lessons tailored to the small group needs. Part of that learning is done with computers with software that customizes “learning pathways” for each student.

“When we talk about blended learning, we talk about personalized learning, and that each student is learning at their ‘just right’ level,” said Becky Kennedy, principal of Our Lady of the Lake. “You walk into a kindergarten classroom, and it isn’t typical teacher-led instruction. ...

It’s like a little city of kids working, and they’re all working on different things.”

Planning multiple lessons does create more work for the teachers, but that doesn’t bother Melinda Young, who teaches fifth-to-eighth-grade math at Our Lady of the Lake. “If you want a student to truly learn at their level and get what they need in an education, then blended learning is the way to go,” she said.

Young is in her sixth year teaching at Our Lady of the Lake, and she’d previously taught in conventional classrooms. In her experience with blended learning, she sees students better engaged in the material because they’re not bored or overwhelmed.

With flipped classrooms, students can pause or re-watch her video instruction, which means they take better notes, Young said. And in class, students are less likely to say, “I don’t get it,” she said.

“Instead, [they say], ‘I got to this point ... .

We’re having more higher level questions coming up.”

Vogt, 12, is among Young’s students, and he was introduced to blended learning when he enrolled at Our Lady of the Lake in fourth grade. “You could always work at your own pace, and not have to worry about whether you were getting behind or ahead,” Vogt said.

Catholic Schools

week

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Second-grade teacher Robin Van Nest helps Charlotte Kinzer learn math skills at St. Therese Catholic School in Deephaven. Students rotate through three stations to practice math skills and meet learning targets.

“That made me feel a lot better because I wouldn’t be so stressed out.”

Kennedy started at Our Lady of the Lake the year after it launched the blended learning model. Not only does she think it’s been a success for the students, but she also has data to back up her observations, thanks to records of the students’ individual learning paths created by and tracked through the model’s integrated technology.

Father Nate Wills, ACE’s director of blended learning and a Holy Cross priest, has been sold on blended learning since he came across it in 2010.

“In five to 10 years we’re not going to call it ‘blended learning,’ we’ll just call it ‘learning,’” said Father Wills, a Mendota Heights native. “Like many sectors in our world right now, I think education is moving to personalization. ... And it’s because technology can adapt to particular needs.”

The model “becomes a way to use the technology well but also to free up teachers to do what they do best, which is make small-group targeted interventions with kids,” he said. “It’s nothing revolutionary in that it’s just letting teachers spend one-on-one time with kids.”

Open Houses January 28 February 6 March 8

Rather than “blended learning,” St. Therese’s principal Lauren Caton calls it “full potential learning” to make the objective clear. She recommends other schools consider it.

“Our teachers say, ‘I can’t imagine teaching any other way,’” she said.

Gayle Stoffel, assistant director of Catholic education in the archdiocese’s Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, said the office is excited to work again with Notre Dame.

She sees blended learning as one of many innovative approaches being taken by local Catholic schools, and one that honors students’ unique personhood and inherent dignity. “In our Catholic schools we always have care for the person, and we want them to reach their fullest potential,” she said.

GHR “has seen some impressive academic results in the existing three schools and, because of these indicators, we were eager to expand the program to other Catholic schools in the archdiocese,” said Meg Nodzon, GHR senior program officer. “GHR Foundation believes personalized instructional models like blended learning are an effective way for Catholic schools to address the achievement gap.”

Preschool–8 th Grade

RSVP: 763-258-2502

Open House THURSDAY, FEB 1 5:30-7pm • 1065 Summit Avenue Enjoy pizza, visit classrooms & meet our faculty.

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JANUARY 25, 2018

CATHOLICSCHOOLSWEEK

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Aim Higher president: Schools can only serve students with community’s help Jean Houghton became the Aim Higher Foundation’s president in November. She previously oversaw advancement and admissions at St. Agnes School in St. Paul and, before that, was a corporate business consultant with McDonald’s Corporation.

The Catholic Spirit asked Houghton about her vision for the St. Paul-based Aim Higher Foundation, which provides tuition assistance for students attending Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Her responses have been edited for length.

Q. You became the Aim Higher

Foundation’s president in November.

What drew you to the position?

A. I truly believe that Catholic schools

are in the midst of a renaissance. Today, perhaps more than ever, the Catholic community is poised to build on the extraordinary legacy of these schools.

Catholic schools embody a unique ability to serve children from all walks of life. They provide an excellent academic education steeped in the rich tradition of our Catholic faith. While I am humbled by the invitation to lead this foundation, I also know that our schools can only serve our children with the help of our JEAN HOUGHTON community, a calling I could not turn down and am excited to lead. Together, we will be able to provide more avenues to help more children access these life-changing institutions.

Higher having on Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis?

Q. What impact do you see Aim

a difference in your own life?

A. Our mission is to ensure that all

children, regardless of their background, can access a Catholic school. We believe a family’s ability to provide a Catholic education for their children should be determined by nothing more than that family’s decision to do so. What that translates to practically is that we offer tuition assistance scholarships to children. We also stay engaged with proven, innovative solutions to the question of school access, for example, publiclyfunded school choice.

Q. How have Catholic schools made

A. I am a product of Catholic schools.

My children are. And I’ve experienced first-hand, year after year, students at local Catholic schools discover who God made them to be. A faith-based, values-driven and academically rigorous education instills in children everything they need to succeed in life and beyond. I simply would not be here without it.

Q. What is your vision for Aim Higher’s future?

A. My hope is that together, the Aim

Higher Foundation’s supporters and friends, school leaders and families, and all those in the community can create a world where a child — every child — whose family desires for him or her a Catholic education, can access one.

TheCatholicSpirit.com

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NATION+WORLD

Pope apologizes to sex abuse victims, defends accused Chilean bishop

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service Pope Francis apologized to victims of clergy sex abuse, saying he unknowingly wounded them by the way he defended a Chilean bishop accused of covering up abuse by his mentor.

Speaking with journalists on his flight to Rome from Lima, Peru, Jan. 21, the pope said he only realized later that his words erroneously implied that victims’ accusations are credible only with concrete proof.

“To hear that the pope says to their face, ‘Bring me a letter with proof,’ is a slap in the face,” the pope said.

Pope Francis was referring to a response he gave in Iquique, Chile, Jan. 18 when local reporters asked about his support for Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, given accusations that the bishop may have been aware of abuse perpetrated by his former mentor, Father Fernando Karadima. The priest was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance by the Vatican after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.

“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I will speak. There is not one piece of evidence against him. It is calumny. Is that clear?” the pope had told the reporters in Iquique.

His response provoked further outrage, especially from Father Karadima’s victims who said the pope’s response made his earlier apologies for the Church’s failure to protect sex abuse victims seem hollow.

Asked about the incident during the flight back to Rome, Pope Francis said he meant to use the word “evidence,” not “proof.” The way he phrased his response, he said, caused confusion and was “not the best word to use to approach a wounded heart.”

“Of course, I know that there are many abused people who cannot bring proof [or] they don’t have it,” he said. “Or at times they have it, but they are ashamed and cover it up and suffer in silence. The tragedy of the abused is tremendous.”

However, the pope told reporters on the papal flight that he still stood firmly behind his defense of

“

To hear that the pope says to their face, ‘Bring me a letter with proof,’ is a slap in the face.

Pope Francis Bishop Barros, because he was “personally convinced” of the bishop’s innocence after the case was investigated twice with no evidence emerging.

Pope Francis said that while “covering up abuse is an abuse in itself,” if he punished Bishop Barros without moral certainty, “I would be committing the crime of a bad judge.”

During the inflight news conference, Pope Francis answered eight questions over the course of an hour, although the conference was interrupted by turbulence, which forced the pope to sit for about five minutes.

As he did in November on his return from Bangladesh, he said he only wanted to respond to questions related to the trip.

Pope Francis told reporters he appreciated the statement made Jan. 20 by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, acknowledging the pain survivors of abuse felt because of the pope’s statement about Bishop Barros.

“Words that convey the message ‘If you cannot prove your claims then you will not be believed’ abandon those who have suffered reprehensible criminal violations of their human dignity and relegate survivors to discredited exile,” the cardinal wrote.

The pope said he was grateful for Cardinal O’Malley’s statement because it struck the right balance between listing what he has done to show his support for sex abuse victims and the pain experienced by victims because of the pope’s remarks.

Churches in Syrian enclave say Turkish bombing is killing civilians

By Dale Gavlak Catholic News Service Churches in Afrin, Syria, are calling on the world to stop the slaughter of civilians during the Turkish military assault.

“We ask you to pray for us and for our city which, before a couple of days ago, was full of life, but today is not,” said the Rev. Saeed Daoud, a Syrian clergyman whose name has been changed at his request due to fear of retribution.

“The brutal attack of the Turkish military with extremist Islamic groups has been carried out, without any warning,” he told Catholic News Service in an email, referring to Turkey’s relentless shelling and ground offensive since Jan. 20.

In an appeal for international help, another religious leader wrote: “We are asking for intervention and protection against the violent attacks, which are being levied against us at this moment.

“Many lives are in mortal danger,” said the Rev. Hakim Ismael. “We are unable to protect ourselves or our families against these attacks, neither are we able to offer assistance or shelter to the innocents. Please help us.”

The city of Afrin, located in a Kurdish-controlled area of northwestern Syria, is approximately 30 miles from Aleppo.

Father Emanuel Youkhana, an archimandrite of the Assyrian Church of the East, told CNS: “With the military defeat of ISIS in Iraq and the final phase of its defeat in Syria, we prayed and hoped to move forward in a new phase of reconciliation and rebuilding the life

toward a future where all people — Christians, Muslims, Yezidis, Kurds, Arab, Assyrians and all — may live in dignity and justice.

“We are shocked by another brutal and violent attack on the people in Afrin. Here again, the innocent civilians are paying the price for political interests under the pretext of fighting against the terrorist,” said Father Youkhana, who runs Christian Aid Program Northern Iraq, a Christian program for displaced Iraqis around the city of Dahuk.

“The Turkish military operations against Kurdish and Christian people of the Afrin region cannot be justified. The civilians cannot be attacked under any claim,” he said, calling for an immediate end to the military operations and immediate aid to the people.

“Attacking who fought ISIS is shocking and [a] questionable action,” he said. “We pray for decision makers to work for peace. Battle cannot be a path to peace.”

Dutch human rights advocate Johannes de Jong told CNS: “The civilian population of Afrin is deliberately targeted and being killed off. This is also a specific threat to the Christian church in Afrin.

“The jihadist proxies used by Turkey to invade Afrin have themselves said that there is no room for Christians there,” added de Jong, who closely monitors events in northern Syria.

“Will the Trump administration allow Afrin’s civilian population to be indiscriminately killed by the Turkish air force and permit jihadist proxies to invade Afrin and kill any Christian they can find?” he asked.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican Feb. 5.

JANUARY 25, 2018

in BRIEF German bishop urges Church debate on blessing same-sex unions OSNABRUCK, Germany — The vice president of the German bishops’ conference has urged a debate on whether Catholic clergy should bless same-sex unions.

“We have to ask ourselves how we’re encountering those who form such relationships and are also involved in the Church, how we’re accompanying them pastorally and liturgically,” said Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck. In the fall, the first gay weddings were conducted in Germany, following a June 30 vote by the parliament to allow full same-sex marriage. “Same-sex relationships are generally classified as a grave sin in the Church, but we need to think how we can differentiate,” Bishop Bode said in a Jan. 10 interview with the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung daily.

Canada: Groups fight policy that bases job grants on abortion support OTTAWA, Ontario — Faith-based groups and pro-life organizations are mobilizing to fight a new federal government policy that allows summer job grants only for employers who endorse abortion. The Toronto Right to Life Association has sued the federal government over the policy, announced just before Christmas. The policy requires all applicants to the Canada Summer Jobs program to sign a statement attesting support for “safe and legal” abortion and gender identity theory.

Canada Summer Jobs provides wage subsidies to eligible charity and small-business employers to encourage them to hire high school and university-age students.

Serving isolated parishes may mean ordaining married men, cardinal says VATICAN CITY — The idea of exceptionally ordaining older married men of proven virtue to celebrate the Eucharist in isolated Catholic communities is something that should be discussed, said Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, in a new book in Italian, “Tutti gli Uomini di Francesco” (“All Francis’ Men”) released Jan. 22 by Edizioni San Paolo.

The book, by Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, includes interviews with churchmen named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis.

Cardinal praises House for voting to protect babies who survive abortion WASHINGTON — The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee said the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act passed by the House Jan. 19 is “common-sense legislation” and that “a child born alive following an abortion should receive the same degree of care to preserve her life and health as would be given to any other child born alive at the same gestational age,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said in a Jan. 20 statement. He praised the House for approving the measure with a bipartisan vote of 241-183 and called on the Senate to pass the bill as well.

Descendants of slaves urge Georgetown: ‘Make it right’ WASHINGTON — Descendants of Isaac Hawkins, one of 272 slaves owned and then sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838 to keep Georgetown University in Washington from closing, said talks with the Jesuit-run university have stalled, with one descendant, Dee Taylor, urging the school to “make it right, plain and simple.”

Speaking at a Jan. 17 news conference in Washington, Taylor, who lives in Chicago, said she appreciated Georgetown’s apology for its role in the slave trade “and the other symbolic gestures the school has taken since last April. ... But in my heart, deep down, I don’t feel whole,” Taylor said. Georgia Goslee, an attorney representing the “GU272,” said Georgetown “is no longer near insolvency, but a thriving metropolitan center with 17,000 students and permanent capital exceeding $1 billion. Let that sink in — one billion dollars!”

— Catholic News Service

JANUARY 25, 2018

NATION+WORLD

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11

Survey: Women say Eucharist, helping poor is what it means to be Catholic

By Beth Griffin Catholic News Service American Catholic women are increasingly disengaged from the Church although they remain affiliated, and say helping the poor and receiving the Eucharist are the most important aspects of what it means to be Catholic.

They also have the potential to turn the tide in the 2018 mid-term elections, according to a nationwide survey released Jan. 16 by America magazine, a Jesuitowned publication.

The online survey of 1,508 self-identified Catholic women was commissioned by America Media and conducted in August 2017 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and the GfK Group.

The survey was offered in English and Spanish, and the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Using survey and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, CARA estimates that there are 37.3 million Catholic females in the United States, of whom 28.8 million are adults.

The survey showed that the numbers of U.S. Catholic women who attend Mass or participate in the sacrament of reconciliation are dwindling. Younger Catholic women are the least likely to attend Mass. Seventeen percent of millennial respondents attend weekly Mass, compared to 24 percent of all Catholic women.

“This research is a real wake-up call for the Catholic Church to focus harder on its millennial outreach and to engage them in new and creative ways,” said Kerry Weber, executive editor of America.

A perceived lack of female role models, especially among the Church’s visible leadership, is an impediment to further engagement, according to the survey. Six out of 10 Catholic women would welcome

the ordination of women to the permanent diaconate.

Pope Francis appointed a commission in 2016 to study the history of the women as deacons in the early Church and the possibility of allowing women to serve the Church today as deacons.

Most respondents said the priests in their parish “do a good job” of including women in various aspects of parish life. Fewer said “yes, definitely” that priests do a good job of including women on parish councils (50 percent), in lay ministry positions (49 percent), and in the decision-making of the parish (45 percent). Ten percent said they had personally experienced sexism within the Catholic Church.

Adding more women to positions of leadership requires the Church to de-couple power and the priesthood, according to America’s editor-in-chief, Jesuit Father Matt Malone.

“The Church needs to ask whether every nonsacramental leadership role currently held by a priest needs to be held by a priest. If not, then these positions should be open to laypeople, and the appointment of women to such positions should be a priority,” he said.

The survey indicated 74 percent of U.S. Catholic women intend to vote in the 2018 elections. Their views on major issues do not align neatly with either political party. Among those surveyed, care for the environment (83 percent), migration and the treatment of refugees (77 percent), and abortion (76 percent) top the list of the most important political issues.

The survey divided women into four age groups: preVatican II, born before 1943; Vatican II, born between 1943 and 1960; post-Vatican II, born between 1961 and 1981; and millennials, born in 1982 or after. It sought to study the beliefs, practices, experiences and attitudes of Catholic women in the United States.

HEADLINES

CNS | ARBEN CELI, REUTERS

Dolores O’Riordan, former lead singer of The Cranberries, performs on stage during a concert in 2007 in Tirana, Albania.

uIrish bishop recalls Cranberries’ musician for her faith,

inspiration. The Cranberries’ frontwoman, Dolores O’Riordan, 46, died unexpectedly Jan. 15 in London, where she had been due to record material for a new release.

uU.S. now has 84 basilicas, but Minneapolis’ is the first.

St. Mary in Alexandria, Virginia, dedicated as a minor basilica Jan. 14.

uEvery child ‘a precious gift from God,’ Trump tells

pro-life rally. In remarks broadcast to the March for Life from the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump said that his administration “will always defend the very first right in the Declaration of Independence, and that is the right to life.”

uVatican says Dutch politician’s honor was simply

diplomatic protocol. The former Dutch minister of foreign trade and development received a papal honor as a matter of diplomatic courtesy and not because of her political views, which include support for access to abortion, the Vatican press office said.

Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Wondering if God could be calling you to be His bride?

Come learn how to discover what God has planted in your heart!

Women ages 16 - 35 are invited to the

Women’s Discernment Retreat Saturday, February 17 Maternity of Mary, St. Paul

Retreat begins with Mass at 8 a.m. and concludes at 3:30 p.m.

Presentations by Bishop Andrew Cozzens and members of Religious Communities.

Cost: $20 (Includes lunch). Scholarships are available as needed.

Register online by February 13: www.10000vocations.org Contact the Office of Vocations for more info: 651-962-6890 or stpaulvocations@10000vocations.org

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

O

n Feb. 4, the nation’s attention — and, indeed, the attention of many around the world — will be squarely on the Twin Cities, as Super Bowl 52 plays out at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

But more than just the Lombardi Trophy will be at stake when the New England Patriots square off against the Philadelphia Eagles.

For the players themselves, sizable bonuses hinge on the game’s outcome, not to mention the inevitable boost to leverage in contract negotiations and sponsorship opportunities that can come with a stellar performance on the NFL’s biggest stage. The bottom lines of local businesses will also be in play, as Twin Cities companies are betting that the hard work of hosting the spectacle will pay off with an expected $338 million in Super Bowl-related economic activity. And fans themselves will hope their investment pays off with a thrilling performance after spending nearly $5,000 on average to attend.

With so much money in play and the fortunes of so many at stake, one would be forgiven for forgetting that at the heart of it all is a game of football, a game that’s meant to be enjoyed.

In many ways, though, the astronomical amount of money involved in the Super Bowl is less of an exception than it is an exaggeration of a trend playing out at every level of American sports: From professional leagues to the youth level, sports have become less about the game itself, and more about aims and goals beyond the field of play, such as money and fame.

A rich tradition According to one expert, that’s an impoverished approach to sports that could richly benefit from the Church’s wisdom.

“The Catholic theological tradition has a lot to offer [on a proper view of sports], especially in our particular context where commodification has taken over,” said Father Pat Kelly, a Jesuit whose research at Seattle University considers sports from a faith perspective.

The Catholic Church has certainly paid attention to sports in recent years: St. John Paul II dedicated more than 30 pastoral statements to sports during his pontificate; Pope Francis shared a video prior to last year’s Super Bowl celebrating how participation in sports can allow a person to go beyond self-interest, and the Pontifical Council for Culture added a dedicated department for sports in 2004.

But the Church’s engagement with athletics is nothing new. As far back as the Middle Ages, Father Kelly’s research shows, sports and physical recreation were staples of Catholic culture. Participation in sports and games as an enjoyable form of leisure took place on Sundays and feast days, which accounted for about one-third of the year. Catholic schools of the time also ensured that their students had the time and space to play. The ubiquity and affirmation of sports is reflected in the fact that games and sports were depicted in the religious art of these periods, from stained glass windows to woodcuts in churches.

Father Kelly, whose interest in the intersection of faith and sports was partly inspired by his own experience as a collegiate football player at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, said several factors contribute to the faith’s affirmation of sports. For one, Catholics have always had a basic view of the material world as good, a gift from God. The Catholic understanding of the human person as

For love o a composite of soul and body underscores the need to attend to, not neglect, physical activity.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Father Kelly said, is also a prominent figure in the tradition’s affirmation of the proper place of sports. St. Thomas emphasized the human good of “play” and said that one could err not only in too much play, but also in too little.

For St. Thomas, play isn’t merely a means to an end. Rather, he wrote, “Playing has no purpose beyond itself; what we do in play is done for its own sake.” Like contemplation, play is good not primarily because of the temporal goods it leads to, but because of what it is.

Sports for sports’ sake Father Kelly said this last point — the intrinsic value of play — is vital for understanding sports’ unique capacity to contribute to human flourishing.

“When we treat sports as the game that it is, we experience joy and enjoyment,” Father Kelly said.

He points to the work of Christian sociologist Peter Berger, who died last year. He argued that people’s capacity for play was a “signal of transcendence” — the fact that the athlete can engage in sports for its own sake, not as a means to some other good like money or acclaim, indicates that he or she is something more than just his or her material conditions.

Another approach that Father Kelly believes can help society understand the intrinsic value of sports is the theory of flow experiences, developed by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a professor at Claremont Graduate University in California. Flow theory emphasizes that happiness comes not primarily from external goods like money, but the quality of the experiences in our lives. “Flow,” as Csíkszentmihályi uses the term, refers to “the holistic sensation present when we act with total involvement.”

Flow experiences, which can result in great enjoyment, involve effort, selflessness and a singular focus on the task at hand — not the material benefits they could lead to. In the context of sports, they require people to treat the game itself as an “autotelic” event — that is, as an activity that contains its own goal.

“Why do we play sports? Because at some point someone said, ‘This would sure be fun to do,’” said Father Kelly, emphasizing that sports are a reminder of people’s freedom and creativity. “We make them up, we play them, and the reason we do so is because they’re fun to play.”

Father Kelly is clear to emphasize that a “sports for sports’ sake” approach doesn’t mean participation in sports won’t lead to other goods. As he points out, St. Thomas emphasized that the enjoyment experienced at play is directed to an end: the refreshment or restoration of the soul. Nor does it mean that “winning at all costs” can be justified, because this mentality puts an outcome ahead of the activity. Rather, the Catholic tradition emphasizes that by entering into sports with the simple goal of playing them for their own sake, participants receive not only the joy of play, but also many secondary benefits. It’s a both/and, rather than an either/or.

A similar approach has animated David Johnson during his long career in youth athletics. He’s been the physical education teacher at St. Raphael Catholic School in Crystal for 40 years, and he has also coached high school basketball at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, Totino-Grace High School in Fridley and several Twin Cities public schools.

“I don’t look at wins and losses,” said Johnson, who is affectionately known as “Mr. J” and currently coaches the boys freshman basketball team at Irondale High School in New Brighton. “I look at each day, each practice, each game as a from God.”

Johnson said his focus with his players is on “getting better 1 percent each game,” whether entails working on a skill like dribbling or som broader like playing better as a team. As a natu byproduct of this approach, players grow their capacity to enjoy the game and to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Johnson, who considers coaching to be his vocation and carries a crucifix in his pocket du each game, said this kind of approach doesn’t at the expense of striving for excellence, nor d prevent his players from giving glory to God t their performance. Rather, it emphasizes that excellence isn’t measured by the scoreboard, b playing to the best of one’s God-given ability.

“Even though we want to win, that’s not ou ultimate goal,” Johnson said. “If we focus sole the scoreboard, we’ll lose an opportunity to be better young men and a better team.”

JANUARY 25, 2018 • 13

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The Catholic tradition offers an antidote to the ‘crisis of meaning’ of sports in America: sports for their own sake

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By Jonathan Liedl For The Catholic Spirit

A‘ crisis of meaning’ But the approach to sports promoted by Father Kelly, practiced by Johnson and rooted in the Catholic tradition is not in vogue in U.S. society today, a reality Johnson has learned the hard way. He said some schools have relieved him of his coaching duties because he focused too much on life lessons and not enough on winning.

“Sometimes the moves have been hard, because my coaching philosophy may have not been accepted,” he said. He is thankful, however, that each move has allowed him to “bring the light of Christ” to more people through coaching.

Father Kelly said the prevailing mentality is indicative of a “crisis of meaning” in U.S. sports, in which sports have been reduced as a means to other ends. He attributes the crisis to what Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel has called the emergence of a “market society” in America, in which all activities, not just economic ones, are evaluated solely by their market value.

In this view, if an activity isn’t leading to an end beyond itself, like making money, then it’s not worth doing. The impact of this outlook, which was classified as the ideology of “total work” by the Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper in his influential “Leisure: The Basis of Culture,” published in 1948, can also be seen in other areas of society, such as higher education, where science/technology/ engineering/math (STEM) majors are increasingly eclipsing the liberal arts.

The effects of the market society are obvious at the professional level, but they’ve also trickled down to youth sports. Participation in sports for the average youth is more intensive, expensive and specialized than ever before. Father Kelly said that this “professionalized” approach to youth sports has led to decreased participation, as children drop out because they’re not having fun.

“If even our children’s games aren’t playful, then we’ve gone astray as a society,” he said.

But Father Kelly said participants who view sports only as a means to an end — like a college scholarship or a lucrative career — are also missing out on some of sports’ positive secondary benefits.

Important character traits like selflessness and loyalty fall by the wayside when a young person’s primary goal is catching the eye of a college recruiter or an NFL scout.

While Father Kelly acknowledges that sports have been a vehicle for some young people, including those from minority communities, to attend college and escape poverty, he said this isn’t the outcome for most youths. But by setting unrealistic expectations centered on athletic performance, children in these situations are missing out on broader human development.

According to one Minnesota hockey dad, that’s a concern across the board.

“There’s a lot of talk about developing kids, but few people ask ‘developing them for what?’” said Ryan Wilson, a parishioner of Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, who has four children playing youth hockey. “Ninety-nine percent will never play [organized] hockey after they graduate, so it’s important that we allow kids to live in the moment and enjoy the sport they’re playing today.”

Because the market society mentality commodifies all activities based on their material worth, it can put sports participation in competition with other pursuits that contain their own goals, like practicing the Catholic faith. Unfortunately, too often the faith loses.

“The No. 1 excuse I receive for an absence is sports,” said Mariah Smith, the youth and confirmation coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings. “Sports do not just trump class, but often times they will trump Sunday Mass as well.”

Smith said the real tragedy is that the overprofessionalization of sports has made something that should be received as an opportunity to thank God into something that competes with him.

“It’s a common human error, I think, that when we find something good that gives us some sort of pleasure, we don’t just enjoy it in gratitude as a gift from God,” she said. “Instead, we make an idol of it and we replace the Giver with the gift.”

Reclaiming sports for Christ While the crisis of sports in America and beyond is real, it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Church. In October 2016, the Vatican hosted a conference on Sport at the Service of Humanity. A regional follow up focused on “Faith and Collegiate Sports” was held at Villanova University near Philadelphia last June.

In addition to academic conferences, several U.S.

Faith in the stands The Catholic tradition also has something to say about sports to spectators.

In an age of individualism, sports have been celebrated by recent popes as a way to connect people of different religions, races and economic statuses in a common pursuit. Sports fandom can give people a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.

“Sports is certainly one of the most important phenomena that could easily pass profound values via commonly understood language,” said St. John Paul II in his Sportsmen Jubilee address delivered in 2000.

But the pope also noted that sports can also be abused in the opposite direction.

“Besides sports that unites exist sports that divides,” he said.

In an era of relativism and skepticism, Father Pat Kelly warns that some may turn to their sports identity as a source of ultimate meaning or purpose in their lives.

Fandom can too easily replace faith.

“My concern is that people might expect too much from sports,” he said. “I don’t think sports can bear all that weight in a healthy way.”

As a result of giving sports an existential significance it isn’t meant to carry, fans can begin to view their opponents not as competitors, but as enemies, and winning as an ultimate end.

Father Kelly noted that there are parallels between the way sports and politics are practiced when people place too much of their hopes and identity in them: A losing outcome can be treated as a near-apocalyptic event.

He said part of the antidote is never losing sight of the humanity of all players involved, regardless of the colors of their uniform. After all, their human dignity comes because they’re created in the image of God, not because they play for a particular team.

“We need to keep the human person front and center,” he said. “We need to remember that each athlete is a person with a family and a life after sports.”

— Jonathan Liedl

Catholic colleges also host institutions dedicated to considering and applying what faith has to say about sports. These include the Institute for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development at Neumann University in Pennsylvania, Seattle University’s Center for the Study of Sport and Exercise, and the Play Like a Champion Educational Series associated with the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Most of the impact, however, will occur at a more local level, through the witness and decisions of parents and coaches, administrators and athletes. It can be hard to go against the prevailing approach to athletics, which is why the Twin Cities-based Catholic Schools Center of Excellence is currently developing “4 His Glory,” a unified resource to help Catholic school coaches integrate the faith into sports.

“4 His Glory is a program that will reclaim youth sports for Christ in our Catholic grade schools,” said Gail Dorn, CSCOE president, adding that the program is being led by former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk and will launch in time for the fall 2018 sports season.

The program might not be ready in time for next month’s Super Bowl, but Father Kelly has some advice for those who plan to watch: “Appreciate good team play, appreciate the beauty of a great run or pass. Enjoy yourself. It’s a gift.”

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FAITH+CULTURE

F

or Terry Forliti, a series of traumatic events as a teenager — being raped by her boss, her friend dying in a car accident and her parents’ divorce — spurred heavy drug use that carried into adulthood.

But Forliti was able to function — up until her own divorce, being laid off from her job with a health care company and losing her home. Admittedly an alcoholic, she also lost custody of her two children. She saw her support system crumble, along with her selfworth. And when she sought treatment, her takeaway wasn’t recovery, but rather learning where to get more drugs.

People who profit from selling others for sex are trained to spot and aggravate their victims’ vulnerabilities. Ultimately, one perpetrator spotted Forliti’s. Thus began her life on the street at age 38, segueing into becoming a victim of sex trafficking.

“This didn’t just fall on my lap, and it doesn’t just fall on anyone’s lap,” said Forliti, 56, who now serves as executive director of Breaking Free, a survivor-led organization in the Twin Cities dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking and other violent crimes.

In the 10 days surrounding Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis Feb. 4, Forliti and others from Breaking Free will take to the streets, reaching out to women with hygiene items, food and directions to Breaking Free’s emergency shelter.

“We’re hoping we get that opportunity to give our testimony to these women,” Forliti said. “We’re not social workers, and we don’t have degrees. We’re miracles, and they are, too.”

Law enforcement officials expect an uptick in trafficking during the Super Bowl — mostly through online advertising — but Forliti said there aren’t a lot of numbers to quantify. During recent Super Bowls, officials have reported a 40 percent increase in the number of advertisements placed on popular websites selling sex, Forliti said. She added that local pimps are likely making calls to pimps from other cities, encouraging them to venture onto Twin Cities turf.

‘Everybody’s problem’ Forliti, a Catholic, explains how girls and women often become victims. Many are sexually abused at home from a young age. Family members might know of the abuse, but they often fear losing financial stability, or their lives, so the abuse continues. Girls frequently run away when they can, often around age 13.

“In the first 48 hours, they’re more likely to get picked up by a perpetrator than they are by law enforcement or social services,” Forliti said.

After being picked up, pimps will schmooze and brainwash their victims, “pitting everyone in the world against them,” Forliti explained. This recruitment strategy, she said, is part of the pimps’ control, which opens the door to initiation into the life of a sextrafficking victim. Forliti said within the first moments of a victim’s first sexual encounter, she can be sodomized, beaten, repeatedly raped, defecated on and photographed.

“And she is going to be so broken by the end of this experience that she can’t ever function as a normal human being after that,” Forliti said. “It’s called being ‘turned out,’ and every girl remembers when they were ‘turned out.’”

In recent years, the crime’s depravity has elicited a strong response from Twin Cities law enforcement and social service agencies.

When Washington County Attorney Pete Orput received his first sex trafficking case two years ago, he was caught off-guard; he considered sex trafficking an urban problem. That case inspired him to take a proactive approach: He dedicated a team to scour online advertisements targeting juveniles — about 180,000 to date — to conduct “guardian angels” stings. He’s helped 60 victims find necessary services and prosecuted 23 pimps. He has also spoken to thousands of people to raise awareness of the problem, conducted training for hotel staff members and shared his investigative model internationally.

“It’s everybody’s problem, throughout the entire state of Minnesota,” said Orput, who attends St. Michael in Stillwater. “Nothing changes unless people acknowledge that we have a problem.”

He describes sex trafficking as “the most exploitive crime” he’s seen in his career, adding that the issue cuts

Sex sells Ahead of Super Bowl, Catholics partner to ramp up anti-trafficking efforts with hopes of lasting results

By Jessica Trygstad • The Catholic Spirit across all demographic strata.

“The wake of damage it leaves is profound — in young people’s lives, in families,” he said. “If it’s not your kid, it’s your neighbor’s kid. What difference does it make? They’re our kids.”

With the Super Bowl coming to town, Orput has staff on the law enforcement committee organized by local agencies to formulate a response to sex trafficking. He says they’ll show “an aggressive response” to online advertisements and even run their own ads to decrease the demand. The digital age has made trafficking a more ubiquitous crime, he said.

Safe Harbor, a 2011 Minnesota law that was fully enacted in 2014, has helped law enforcement and social service agencies identify and respond to trafficking victims more appropriately, no longer treating them like criminals.

A united front Aiding Breaking Free’s Super Bowl efforts will be a dedicated group of religious sisters who’ve been steadfast anti-trafficking advocates. Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Benedictine sisters, Franciscan sisters and School Sisters of Notre Dame have been speaking at parishes and collecting money to help prepare Breaking Free’s emergency shelter for victims who are rescued during the Super Bowl. The sisters have also purchased supplies including gift cards, bedding, towels and warm clothing — some of which the sisters hand-knitted — which they brought to Breaking Free. A Benedictine sister plans to offer her services as a therapist at the emergency shelter.

Sister of St. Joseph Ann Redmond, 84, was invited to join an official Super Bowl committee of faith-based leaders about four months ago. Since 2002, she has chaired the CSJ’s Anti-Human Trafficking Working Group. She draws on Catholic social teaching in her presentations at parishes — recently, at Assumption and St. Stanislaus in St. Paul.

“Parishes have always been positive and want to do what they can,” she said. “I think we’re all concerned about individuals seeing the possibilities of their lives as God has created them. Then when you hear about young people being lured into trafficking, it negates everything of that. So, once people start thinking about it, they become passionate, too. We’re looking at the Super Bowl as a time of educating people about trafficking. ... It’s part of the conscience of the rest of us.”

At DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, students in Peg Hodapp’s Faith and Society class have learned about sex trafficking through the lens of Catholic social teaching. Hodapp invited speakers from Women’s Advocates in St. Paul, an organization that provides shelter for women and children escaping domestic abuse, and Forliti from Breaking Free. For the students to hear victims’ stories first-hand was “eye-opening,” Hodapp said.

“It’s extremely important for everyone to know [about sex trafficking], but I think teenagers are kind of vulnerable and may not know that, even if something feels wrong to them, they might think it’s OK,” she said.

“We need to make it clear to them what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Students also learned how to observe warning signs.

And they’ve chosen to highlight the problem for their annual Justice Week at the end of February. Hodapp said learning about the issue has compelled the students to address the justice side of the anti-trafficking effort.

With assistance from the Minneapolis Police

JANUARY 25, 2018

Department, the school is organizing a rally 3:30 p.m.

Feb. 1 that will take them in front of the venue for a Super Bowl party hosted by the men’s magazine Maxim.

The event advertises “the most beautiful people, celebs, tastemakers and the world press” with an “all-inclusive open bar” and “Maxim GoGo Girls.”

“Essentially, it’s a prostitution tent,” explained Forliti, who plans to participate in the rally. Hodapp is inviting other Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to participate.

Hodapp said it’s not a protest but will serve to raise awareness of the problem to the community and visitors. They plan to have signs reading “We are not for sale” and distribute flyers with information to safe havens.

“Now with the Super Bowl, it’s a prime place for trafficking to occur, but it’s really critical year-round,” Hodapp said, adding that Minnesota is known to be a hub for sex trafficking. “It’s critical that kids know that it exists and what they can do to protect themselves.”

Hodapp said she’s addressing everything from dating violence to sex trafficking. Given its proximity to downtown, the school is working to ensure its students’ safety by postponing events for National Catholic Schools Week — Jan. 28-Feb. 3 — so that students aren’t on campus after school and into the evening.

In the aftermath Through her work on the anti-trafficking Super Bowl committee, Sister Ann is hopeful that advocates will be able to cover more ground through newfound partnerships with the larger faith community.

Forliti, too, is encouraged by the progress they’ve made in the last nine months of partnering with other social service agencies to share ideas, establish best practices and assist each other in helping people who’ve been sexually exploited. “We want to stop this, and we want to make a difference,” she said.

Forliti and Orput had the attention of Minnesota’s bishops in December when they highlighted the problem and showed how the Church can help combat it.

“One of the things that Terry made clear was the connection between porn and sex trafficking,” said Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens. “So, it needs to start at the beginning level of how we educate young people.

But we also need to train our people in the parishes to see this, because now it’s an anonymous crime [online], even though it’s happening around us. Just like anything, we need to find ways for people to get help, even perpetrators. There are many levels [at which] parish communities could be involved.”

Bishop Cozzens said he learned how much the problem is “out of control” in the Twin Cities, even before the Super Bowl, saying that law enforcement needs the Church community to educate people and help bring an end to sex trafficking.

Forliti said Breaking Free’s greatest supporters are Catholic organizations, from parishes and schools inviting survivors to speak to classes to the work of the sisters’ year-round anti-trafficking efforts to Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis providing services to the homeless.

Bishop Cozzens said aside from awareness, the greater Catholic community can join frontline organizations like Breaking Free, and he encourages parishes and schools to invite Orput and other law enforcement officials to speak about the problem.

Orput echoes that desire, saying he’s up against “significant social issues,” citing the number of johns — from age 20 to early 60s and unemployed to highly educated professionals — who rent humans for sex.

“It’s going on, it has to get addressed, [and] it’s truly an immoral crime,” Orput said. “And learning more about it makes me confident that we as a society will be less likely to tolerate it. And that’s the start in doing something — when we as a society are so outraged.”

Regarding sex trafficking, Bishop Cozzens points to “the beauty and importance of the Church’s teaching on chastity” amid the “sickness that has affected our society since the sexual revolution.” He said the Church can find ways to help people live virtuously.

For Forliti, Orput and religious communities, the work will continue after the big game.

“On [Feb.] 5th, there will be a whole new group of people [victims] who aren’t Super Bowl-related,” she said. “This is what we do all day, every day.”

FAITH+CULTURE

JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

Walls between respect life, social justice camps tumbling down

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

W

hen Cardinal Joseph Bernardin offered the idea that the Church could approach its concern for protecting human dignity in tackling abortion, euthanasia, poverty and peace under a “seamless garment” during a 1983 speech at Fordham University, there were doubters who said the concept was flawed.

For years, the ideological rift between respect life adherents on the “right” and the peace and justice advocates on the “left” felt wider than the Grand Canyon and impossible to bridge. It was, some concluded, one Church, two camps. So the work of both continued, largely with limited collaboration.

Such divisions just might be breaking down.

The desire to protect human dignity from conception to natural death is increasingly being embraced by Catholics, bringing together the respect life advocates and the social justice advocates to carry out the Church’s call to missionary discipleship.

Such collaboration is evident in some dioceses where traditional respect life and social justice offices now operate as one. Where they remain separate, collaboration is strong across the wide spectrum of social concerns.

“It’s so unfortunate in our American culture, we’ve divided the respect life issue from other social justice issues and vice versa,” said Tony Stieritz, director of the Catholic Social Action Office in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

“We want to exemplify as much as we can in this archdiocese that we go beyond those ideological separations. To be pro-life, to work for social justice, all comes from the same. There are not real political boundaries on any of this,” Stieritz said.

CNS

Stieritz’s office at the archdiocese’s downtown headquarters is next to that of Bob Wurzelbacher, director of the Office for Respect Life Ministries. Both regularly work together.

“Obviously, we care for life from conception to natural death. You have to be consistent in upholding dignity of that life,” Wurzelbacher said. “Whether born with handicaps or born to illegal immigrants, we still care about that child as they grow up to become adults.

That spreads into all the areas of social justice. We can’t give off the appearance that we only care about babies.”

The consistent life ethic is the focus of Pittsburghbased Rehumanize International. Executive Director Aimee Murphy, who is Catholic, helped found the organization after graduating from college in 2011 to fill a “niche” and address the many human actions that destroy human dignity.

“Our No. 1 one passion is violence against humans,” said Murphy, who was a leader in the pro-life group at her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University.

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Theology Day.

Aimee Murphy, founder and executive director of Rehumanize International, speaks during an April 2017 panel discussion on pro-life advocacy and feminism at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

Inspiring All to Live God’s Call.

Marriage and Divorce: Insights into the Tradition Thursday, February 1 - Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Maple Grove 6:00 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - presentation For some in the church, living out the sacrament of marriage has proven to be a challenge. The reasons for this vary, but oftentimes when such an occurrence takes place, many couples resort only to filing for a legal civil divorce to receive necessary legal protection. The church understands this need, yet at the same time, she too has her own way of handling the dissolution of the marriage sacrament — the annulment process. Either way, this kind of journey almost always involves feelings of hurt, regret, betrayal, and perhaps even a deep sense of disconnect with the Church and her teachings on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Join us for a grace-filled conversation as we first explore the dimensions of the marriage sacrament and the purpose of the annulment process. This session also has a second aim, and that is, to name the real-life struggles that can exist within a marriage and why we need to rethink the way we think andspeak about this sacrament. In addition, we will discern ways we as a church community can and should (better) walk alongside those experiencing marital stress and the impending reality of divorce.

Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman is an Associate Professor of Theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts at the College of the Holy Cross, her Masters at Duke University and then went on to receive her Ph.D. at Marquette University. Kari-Shane’s areas of research and teaching include Catholic Moral Theology and Christian Ethics, Sexual Ethics and Feminist Theology in addition to Catholic Social Teaching.

FREE but registration is required: www.collegevilleMN.com/theologyday or 320-363-3560

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“We wanted an organization that could address not only the life of a child in the womb, but also the life of the child behind enemy lines or the life of an inmate in prison or the life of a refugee, the life of any human being in any circumstance,” she explained.

While Rehumanize International is nonpartisan and nonsectarian, Murphy explained that the organization is influenced by a “personalist moral philosophy, intersectional feminism and a human rights paradigm that is understandable and agreeable both within Catholic social teaching and other faiths.”

“Among young people, this human rights paradigm is catching on,” Murphy said.

The integration of respect life and social justice concerns is a welcome development among two staff members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Jonathan Reyes, assistant general secretary for integral human development, and Tom Grenchik, executive director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, said integration is key to the life of the Church.

People have varying interests and areas of expertise, and sharing them with society is what it means to be Catholic, Grenchik said.

“It’s the dignity of the human person that motivates the Church, that motivates Catholics to respond with love,” he said. “Whether it’s the child in the womb or the homeless person or the person with a disability, it’s that God-given dignity that motivates us to respond.”

Reyes said the long-existing divide along left/liberal and right/conservative lines means little to young people especially. What matters most is upholding human dignity, he said.

This shrinking of the gulf is “more important than ever because the challenges to human dignity are remarkable, whether it’s in the protection of human life or providing people with health care. There are real threats to human dignity right now,” he said.

The Minneapolis Deaneries Council of Catholic Women

Thanks Fr. Earl Simonson for serving as our Moderator/Spiritual Advisor for 20 years, 1998-2018

FAITH+CULTURE

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Answered prayers?

Our Lady of Lourdes’ Vikings Facebook post goes viral

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

O

ur Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis saw a boost in Mass attendance the weekend of Jan. 20-21, and its leaders credit a Minnesota Vikings-related meme that went viral on social media the week before.

It capitalized on the excitement surrounding what was dubbed the “Minneapolis miracle” — the Vikings’ astounding final play that won them the Jan. 14 playoff game against the New Orleans Saints.

Julie Craven, Our Lady of Lourdes’ director of communications and strategic initiatives, witnessed the play in person. “There’s a Facebook post in there someplace,” she recalled thinking.

A Vikings season ticket holder, she was in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis when the Saints scored with 25 seconds left, putting the Vikings one point behind.

“People were devastated,” she said. “People literally had their hands folded in prayer. There were grown men around us crying and then a lot of, ‘They [the Vikings] always choke. This is always what happens in the playoffs.’ Just dejected. And people started grabbing their coats.”

Then Case Keenum threw that 61-yard pass to Stefon Diggs, who caught it, stayed inbounds and ran it into the end zone just as the game clock ran out. During the play, Craven said, “66,000 people went silent,” but when the referees threw their arms up to indicate a touchdown, the stadium erupted into pandemonium.

Strangers grabbed each other with hugs, high fives and “I love yous.”

“No one left the stadium for a half-hour after the game,” she said, noting that she attended the game with her husband, Doug, and two priest friends ­— Father Paul Treacy, pastor of Assumption in St. Paul, and Father Dan Haugan, pastor of Holy Spirit in St. Paul.

“You had to high-five every person leaving the stadium,” she said.

A former vice president and director of

COURTESY OUR LADY OF LOURDES

communications at Hormel in Austin, Craven, 60, drew on her marketing experience to capitalize on the game’s incredible final seconds. On a purple background with the Vikings’ logo, she typed: “If you made any promises during the last ten seconds, Sunday Masses are at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m., Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Downtown Minneapolis.” She posted it to the parish’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

“I thought, this is kind of fun. It’s a nice way to mix up the other content we have there [on Facebook],” Craven said. “I bet this one might even get 1,000 ‘likes.’

Wouldn’t that be cool?”

It quickly surpassed that aspiration. Within five days, it had 10,000 shares, 1,500 comments and a 1.3 million person reach, just from Our Lady of Lourdes’ Facebook page. It’s been featured by Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Reddit, and several other local and national media outlets. Noted Sports Illustrated in its online story: “It seems fair to ask people who prayed for a divine intervention to decide the outcome of a football game to show up to service the next week. Especially considering the game-winning play was named ‘Seven Heaven.’”

Comments range from compliments on the clever idea (“well played”) and emojis indicating laughter to direct invitations to attend Mass. Commenter Eric

JANUARY 25, 2018 Langness noted, “You might need to schedule more than 3 Masses this Sunday.”

Comments have been impressively positive, Craven said, noting that it’s easy on social media to attract people who express negativity when something is tied to the Church. But not in this case.

“It was heartening that it was treated in a respectful tongue-in-cheek way,” she said.

An Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner since 2012, Craven still doesn’t know exactly what to make of the post going viral, but she hopes it could have an evangelistic impact. “There’s an intersection ... between digital [media] and evangelization and humor, and it’s just a little bit more accessible,” she said.

She observed an uptick in Mass attendance Jan. 20, and Our Lady of Lourdes pastor Father Daniel Griffith noted the same for the morning Masses Jan. 21.

“I love, love, love the fact that we can bring the Church into that tradition of fun and joy,” Craven said.

“I love the idea of bringing our faith into the conversation.”

Father Griffith called the post “divinely inspired,” Craven said, and she agrees. “I think there was an opportunity here that the Spirit jumped in and said, ‘I think I could have some fun with this one.’”

As a Wisconsin native, Father Griffith is a Green Bay Packers fan, but he was happy for the Vikings fans in his pews as they progressed during the playoffs.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s totally out of the blue. It’s very exciting,” he said of the meme. “Our community at Lourdes, we take the faith seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and we like to have a good time.”

He noted that extraordinariness of the final play and the national hype around the Vikings’ potential to be the first NFL team to play in a Super Bowl in its own stadium created “a perfect mix of elements” for the post to go viral. The Vikings ended their Super Bowl aspirations with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles Jan. 21. The Eagles will play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium Feb. 4.

Father Griffith said he hopes the post inspires Catholics who have been away from the Church to check out Our Lady of Lourdes or another Catholic church.

“Maybe it’s a door that’s cracked open,” he said.

Celebrating Mass for Eagles, Patriots a joy for East Coast priests

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Catholic coaches and players of the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles have clear game plans for making Sunday Mass in the midst of prepping for big games each week.

Father Tom Barcellona and Msgr. Mike Foley celebrate Mass for the respective Super Bowl-bound teams they serve.

“I have great respect for these men,” Msgr. Foley said. “They work really hard.”

Msgr. Foley, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, received a call from the Patriots’ hotel one morning in 1990 to celebrate Mass for the team’s Catholic coaches and players, and he has done it ever since. He’s not the team’s official Catholic chaplain, however; they don’t have one.

“I see it as just trying to serve,” said Msgr. Foley, pastor of St. Luke the

Evangelist in Westborough.

Father Barcellona has served as the Eagles Catholic chaplain since 2004, the last season the team went to the FATHER THOMAS Super Bowl. In BARCELLONA addition to Mass, he offers pastoral guidance and sacramental preparation for players and coaches alike. He also attends practices and home games.

A priest of the Diocese of Camden, MSGR. MIKE FOLEY New Jersey, Father Barcellona said serving the team has been an enjoyable

experience. His main assignment is at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which has campuses in Galloway and Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, almost 60 miles away from the Eagles’ headquarters in Philadelphia. He’s happy to make the drive, as he sees the ministry’s necessity for the coaches and players engaged in the NFL’s demands, including substantial time away from family. “During the season, they pretty much live, breathe and eat football,” Father Barcellona said of the players and coaches.

He also helps provide priests for visiting teams across the NFL through his role on the board for Catholic Athletes for Christ. The nationwide ministry works with athletes of all levels to live the Catholic faith.

Although he normally doesn’t attend road games, Father Barcellona hopes to come to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl,

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as he attended the Eagles’ last Super Bowl in 2005. The Eagles also faced the Patriots in that game, falling 24-21.

Msgr. Foley hasn’t been to any of the Patriots’ previous eight Super Bowl appearances in the past 21 years, and he won’t attend this year’s game in Minneapolis. However, he has enjoyed the team’s success and the opportunity to see a bright side of a sometimes scandalmarked team.

“My experience of the Patriots has been extremely positive,” he said.

Besides the Eagle’s teamwork, Father Barcellona has appreciated the Christian witness among a significant number of players, Catholic or not. That includes quarterback Nick Foles crediting God in a post-game interview after the Eagles’ Jan. 21 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

“It’s a family setup,” Father Barcellona said of the Eagles.

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JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

FROMAGETOAGE

Troubled water St. Joseph the Worker visit to Haitian sister parish takes terrifying turn

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

I

t was supposed to be a mindless maneuver for four members of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove and their retired pastor, Father Don Piché, during a mission trip to Haiti in November.

Instead, it ended up being a horrific scare that some of them believed could have taken their lives.

Twice a year, the parish sends members to serve at their sister parish, St. Catherine d’ Alexandre in Bouzy, Haiti. The purpose of the annual fall trip is simply to build friendships and attend Mass with the Haitian people.

A group consisting of Michelle Bartley, Jill Kitterman, Dan Koshiol, Hieu Tu and Father Piché was heading back to Bouzy after attending Mass in Duverger, a nearby village. Three local Haitians joined them. They had one last creek to cross before entering the town.

But, by the time they reached the crossing around 1:30 p.m., the creek their SUV had easily crossed on the way there looked vastly different. A warning sign came during the Mass, when they all noticed raindrops starting to fall.

“It started raining during the Mass, and then it rained hard during the Mass,” said Bartley, 57. “After the Mass, we stayed and visited a little while, so it was probably about an hour-and-a-half after it started raining that we got back to the creek.”

The driver, a Haitian named Marco, decided to risk crossing, even though the creek was wider, deeper and faster than it had been when the group had crossed earlier.

His gamble failed miserably. Just seconds after the wheels touched water, the SUV got swamped, with water pouring in and causing pressure that made the doors nearly impossible to open. As the rushing water picked up the vehicle and turned it sideways, the eight passengers scrambled for their lives, with the creek rising quickly.

“Within seconds, I remember feeling it [water] at my ankles,” Kitterman said. “Literally, seconds later, it was up to my shoulders.”

It was time for action. The back end where Kitterman and Bartley were seated had dropped. Marco got his door open and scrambled outside, where he quickly started helping the others escape.

Kitterman and Bartley figured they would be the last ones out, as they were in the third row of the vehicle and needed others to exit before they could climb forward to the next row and the door.

They prayed a Hail Mary and held fast to their faith.

“I was thinking, ‘This is not the way it [life] is going to end for me,’” said Kitterman, 51. “You think about just surviving.”

As their minds raced, the two women heard the faint words of Father Piché in the front seat.

“Father Don was in the front seat saying, ‘I’m ready if this is it.’ I heard him say that,” Bartley said. “We all remember it.”

Father Piché expressed the least fear, yet he was the most vulnerable, both because of his age, 66, and a disability that limits the use of his right side.

This disability came close to costing him his life. After insisting that everyone else exit first, he was the last person in the vehicle, along with Koshiol, who ushered the women out the door, then waited to help Father Piché, who was in the passenger side.

Because of the current pushing on the passenger door, Koshiol needed to get the priest to the other side of the

“

This incident, the river trip, was the most tragic but wonderful experience I’ve ever had in my entire life because of the gifts that we got from it.

Jill Kitterman

PHOTOS COURTESY ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER

TOP Haitians carry Father Don Piché from a flooded creek after the vehicle he was in got swamped trying to cross it on its way to Bouzy, Haiti. LOWER LEFT Members of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove who made the trip to Haiti, second from left, Jill Kitterman, Hieu Tu, Dan Koshiol, Michelle Bartley and Father Piché (back), pose with two of their Haitian hosts.

LOWER RIGHT The SUV is partially submerged after its occupants made a successful escape. vehicle. That proved to be a struggle, as his braced left leg got stuck on the shift lever. Finally, Father Piché got free and made his move out the door.

But, he was not prepared for the strength of the current, which instantly swept his feet off the bottom and threatened to carry him away. All he had was a grip on the door with his good hand. “I have arthritis in this thumb,” Father Piché said. “I was losing grip. Another couple of seconds, I would have been down the river.”

Koshiol acted quickly to jump to the priest’s rescue and wrap his arms around him in a tight bear hug. The two slowly made their way toward shore, with the water getting shallower and Marco coming out to help them make their finals steps to shore and safety.

The five Minnesotans remember the scene at the crossing just as they were making their way to shore.

Dozens of Haitians who had come upon them rushed to their aid. Young men sprang from their vehicles and into the water to help them without uttering a single word.

The ordeal lasted less than five minutes, but the impact likely will last forever, they all believe. The five gave a presentation at their parish Jan. 18 describing their experiences, and they all carry the imprint of not just a harrowing near-tragedy in the water, but of the Haitian people who embraced them during their visit.

“I do think about them every day. They’re so beautiful,” Kitterman said. “They really are our family.

They are our faith family. They’re not blood, but they’re our faith family.”

Tu, 32, marveled at the elderly woman who gave him her flip flops after she noticed he was barefoot as a result of losing his shoes in the river. He calls her his “flip flop angel.” He said the love he felt from the Haitians helped

deepen his understanding of God’s love for him.

There’s also a deeper message about what it means to live under harsh conditions without access to resources Americans use and take for granted: 911 and AAA, for example.

“The reality is we’re close to death all the time. The thing is, we [Americans] isolate ourselves from the reality of it,” Father Piché said. Meanwhile, Haitians “live with this every day, in terms of life and death. They’re aware of it. They’re more aware of it than we are.”

Kitterman called the river incident “the most tragic but wonderful experience I’ve ever had in my entire life because of the gifts that we got from it.

“Yeah, there was a lot of fear and maybe a little bit of panic and some uncertainty there for about three to four minutes of what had transpired,” she said. “But, it was the gifts that we got, the love and compassion.

Their love and compassion and faith in God is so immeasurable.”

The parish has made a 50-year commitment to support its sister parish, with which it began a relationship in 2009. The next trip will be in March, when a medical team will provide health care for the community.

“That experience in the water, in the river, was the catalyst for me understanding what relationship was,” said Koshiol, 60. “I realized that I saw the face of God in each one of these people. And, I was willing to give my life for them.”

The experience also created a bond among the five people from St. Joseph, who continue to get together to talk about their harrowing escape from the raging waters in Bouzy. “We went out to Haiti as teammates,” Tu said, “but we came home family.”

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FROMAGETOAGE

JANUARY 25, 2018

Model citizen Local hobbyist creates replica of U.S. Bank Stadium

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

G

reg Kelly picked the perfect time to embrace the Super Bowl hype that’s engulfed the Twin Cities.

And, in the perfect way.

The California native who now lives in Minneapolis used his lifelong hobby to pay tribute to the Minnesota Vikings and its new home by building a replica of U.S. Bank Stadium out of balsa wood and toothpicks.

After building several replicas of local establishments like Swede Hollow Cafe in St. Paul and Taylorbird Tattoo in Minneapolis, the lifelong Catholic who attends Lumen Christi in St. Paul with his wife, Dana, decided it was time to step up his game.

“I thought, ‘OK, I’ve warmed up now.

What am I going to do next?’ That’s the most difficult part of building a model — figuring out what you’re going to do,” said Kelly, 66, who owned a hobby store in California for more than four decades before selling it to his brother and moving to Minnesota in 2015.

“I like the stadium,” he said. “We drive by it all the time on the freeway. I thought, ‘This is really cool.

It’s new, it’s in the news. The Super Bowl is coming up. The Final Four is coming up in 2019.”

Greg Kelly works on his next project, a teepee, in the basement of his home in south Minneapolis.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Kelly’s replica of U.S. Bank Stadium consists of 6,400 toothpicks. Its dimensions are 3 feet wide, 4 feet long and 13 inches tall.

COURTESY GREG KELLY

He began the project last spring and estimates he spent 400 hours cutting, gluing and pasting about 6,400 toothpicks on the frame. The replica measures 3 feet wide, 4 feet long and 13 inches high. Though not his longest model building project, he says it was his most difficult. When he finished the stadium in the fall, after nearly seven months of work, he picked up the phone and dialed the Vikings’ corporate office.

“I said, ‘I have a model you may be interested in taking a look at,’” he recalled. “It just took one of their promotional persons to get interested, and then they took off with it.”

The model was put inside a glass case and placed on display in the concourse during the Vikings’ playoff game against the New Orleans Saints Jan. 14.

Greg and Dana were offered tickets to the game, but had to decline because they both contracted the flu.

For Greg, that is a small health issue in his life. The bigger one is prostate cancer, which reached Stage 4 four months after moving to the Twin Cities. He’s had ups and downs over several years of battling the disease, along with several treatments. He’s in the midst of another treatment now, and says it’s working well so far.

Another “treatment” is daily prayers to

St. Peregrine, a 13th-century Italian saint who was healed of cancer in his leg right before it was scheduled to be amputated.

Neither the cancer nor the flu, however, have slowed his model building, which continues with a teepee he is working on. If anything, the illnesses have spurred him on and created a grateful heart.

“As long as I have my eyesight and my hands to work with, I’ll keep doing it,” he said. “I’m very thankful to the Creator for allowing me to do that, especially after the medical setbacks I’ve had. I can appreciate it a little bit more.”

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JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JAN MICHAEL JONCAS

The typology of Christ

The Deuteronomy reading (Dt 18:15-20) and the Gospel selection (Mk 1:21-28) for Jan. 28 give us the opportunity to employ one of the most ancient forms of biblical interpretation: typology.

Unlike an allegory, where every significant detail of the text stands for something else (e.g., “The Pilgrim’s Progress”), or a parable where usually a short narrative taken from contemporary life presents a single world-transforming insight (e.g., the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8-10), typology views events, persons or statements from an earlier era (especially from the Old Testament) as foreshadowings of events, persons or statements from a later era (especially the New Testament). The former are called “types” from the Greek noun “typos” meaning “blow, hitting, stamp” in which an exact figure or impression was made on a coin; the figure or impression was designated the “anti-type,” from the Greek meaning “opposite” or “corresponding.”

Already practiced in the New Testament by the apostle Paul, who presents Adam as a “type” of Christ in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, typology is grounded in a theory of history: God shapes all Jewish and Christian history so that earlier events within the story can act as symbols for later events. God influences history like a writer who uses actual events rather than imaginative fictions in his narrative.

The figure of Moses early on became an opportunity for typological reading of the Christian Bible. According to Numbers 21:6, Moses placed a bronze serpent on a pole that had the power to heal anyone bitten by a seraph (“firey”) snake, provided that they gazed upon it. John 3:14 presents

this event as a “type” of Jesus’ own saving activity on the cross: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

Later writers highlight that Moses undergoes a symbolic death and resurrection when he is consigned to the Nile River as an infant but is then drawn out of the waters to be adopted as an Egyptian prince; they see these events as “types” connected not only to the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also to the Christian experience of passing from death to life through the waters of baptism and becoming adopted children of the Triune God. Some patristic commentators interpreted Moses’ prayerful uplifted hands bringing victory to the Israelite forces in battle with the Amalekites (Ex 17:11) as a “type” of Christ stretching out his hands nailed to the cross bringing victory over sin and death in his redemptive death.

What would a typological reading of today’s first reading and Gospel yield? Moses predicts that “a prophet like me” will be raised up by God from the Israelite peoples. He is to function as a mediator between God and God’s people, faithfully transmitting exactly what God wishes to communicate. He speaks not on his own behalf, but with the authority of God. The story of the healing of the man with an unclean spirit suggests that Jesus is the “anti-type” of the “prophet like Moses” that had been foretold. Jesus comes from Jewish stock, Jesus’ word is so powerful that even demons must obey his commands, and the Jews observing his activity recognize in Jesus’ ministry “a new teaching with authority” — the fulfillment of the “prophet like Moses’” ministry.

In a world with many competing voices, we are called to cling to Jesus’ message and person as the enfleshed word of God. The challenge: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Ps 95).

Father Joncas, a composer, is an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

Hooray for Catholic schools

National Catholic Schools Week is upon us.

The week of festivities — Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 — is a time to feature one of the most important ministries of the Church and our parishes, and to toot our own horn about the excellent quality of education that our Catholic schools provide.

I am a lifer when it comes to Catholic schools, and I treasure my Catholic education. I have attended Catholic schools every step of the way: elementary school at Incarnation in south Minneapolis; high school and junior college at Crosier Seminary in Onamia; an undergraduate degree at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and a graduate theology degree at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. My teachers have been the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and many other religious and dedicated lay teachers.

The Catholic faith is woven into every aspect of the curriculum, and it sets the bar for students’ beliefs, attitudes and conduct. I will never forget the lasting impression made by my high school biology teacher, Father Henry Mehr, as he expounded upon the intricacies of cell structure, paused, looked up, and exclaimed to us wide-eyed students, “God be praised! God created all this!” It is no wonder that spiritual values have become the fabric of my being.

I have gone from learning at Catholic schools to serving in them for my entire ministerial life, first as a high school teacher and coach at Crosier Seminary, and then at Central Catholic in Grand Island, Nebraska. I was briefly an administrative assistant at Hales Franciscan in Chicago, and then I moved on to the parish schools at St. Stephen in Anoka and St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Watching so many young people in these Catholic schools “advance in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk 2:52) has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my life.

Catholic schools are unique. Although the principal is in charge, it’s Jesus who’s always most important and is the first teacher. The school calendar might be in quarters or semesters, but the liturgical calendar and its seasons and feasts are always celebrated. It is necessary to have a school handbook with a

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Jan. 28 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Dt 18:15-20 1 Cor 7:32-35 Mk 1:21-28 Monday, Jan. 29 2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13 Mk 5:1-20 Tuesday, Jan. 30 2 Sm 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30; 19:1-3 Mk 5:21-43 Wednesday, Jan. 31 St. John Bosco, priest 2 Sm 24:2, 9-17 Mk 6:1-6 Thursday, Feb. 1 1 Kgs 2:1-4, 10-12 Mk 6:7-13 Friday, Feb. 2 Presentation of the Lord Mal 3:1-4 Heb 2:14-18 Lk 2:22-40 Saturday, Feb. 3 1 Kgs 3:4-13 Mk 6:30-34 Sunday, Feb. 4 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jb 7:1-4, 6-7 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23 Mk 1:29-39 Monday, Feb. 5 St. Agatha, virgin and martyr 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13 Mk 6:53-56 Tuesday, Feb. 6 St. Paul Miki and companions, martyrs 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 Mk 7:1-13

“

Catholic schools offer learning imbued with spiritual values. iSTOCK | START08

clear set of policies and rules, but the primary guidebook is always the Gospel. Society touts freedom of expression and speech, while Catholic schools foster decorum and wellgoverned speech. Catholic schools offer learning imbued with spiritual values.

If you are a parent with preschool-age children, please make a Catholic education a priority for them. If you are a parent with school-age children and have them enrolled in a Catholic school, thank you. If you are a parent with school-age children and do not have them enrolled in a Catholic school, please consider it. The doors are always open; transfer students are always welcome. If you do not have school-age children yet support Catholic education with your donations, by volunteering at the school or by spreading the good news, thank you. If you do not have school-age children and have not had much to do with a Catholic school, please consider jumping on the bandwagon, because it is rewarding to be part of a winning effort.

Our Catholic schools are fantastic. The academics are rock solid. The Catholic faith is taught with joy and conviction. The name of Jesus, the great teacher, is proclaimed unabashedly so that each student will come to know, love and serve his or her master and Lord.

Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish.com.

Wednesday, Feb. 7 1 Kgs 10:1-10 Mk 7:14-23 Thursday, Feb. 8 1 Kgs 11:4-13 Mk 7:24-30 Friday, Feb. 9 1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19 Mk 7:31-37 Saturday, Feb. 10 St. Scholastica, virgin 1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 Mk 8:1-10 Sunday, Feb. 11 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 1 Cor 10:31–11:1 Mk 1:40-45

20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 25, 2018

COMMENTARY FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | KATHERINE CROSS

Caucusing for human dignity It might not be a presidential election year, but in November, Minnesotans will still vote for a governor and all 10 of its representatives in Congress, including two U.S. Senate seats. These decisions can potentially shift balances of power on both state and national levels.

Yet, many Americans don’t seem to think either party is making good use of that power. According to the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2017 American Values Survey, less than onethird of Americans say Democratic policies are leading the country in the right direction, and less than a quarter say the same of Republican policies.

such as care for the family and faithfulness at work, there are also important steps we can take to influence the public square.

As Catholics, we need to help establish party platforms that promote and defend human dignity. The Second Vatican Council gives us a great starting point to form a platform for human dignity. “Gaudium et Spes” (“On the Church in the modern world”) reminds us, “Whatever is opposed to life itself ... whatever insults human dignity ... as well as [the treatment of people] as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed.”

These are not encouraging numbers.

But instead of decrying the state of politics, as Catholics we are called to action. You can still make a New Year’s resolution to participate in the public arena, first by getting to know your legislators, and second by attending your local precinct caucus.

Too often, parties and their politicians will focus their efforts on promoting a singular aspect of human dignity, but this narrow vision casts a shadow over the rest of the human person. As Catholics, we must bring the Gospel of life into these darkened corners, helping our parties and political leaders come to a full recognition and defense of every individual’s innate human dignity.

It is our duty to actively participate in public life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that while “participation is achieved first of all by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility,”

You don’t need a long resume of political experience to make an impact.

In fact, you’ve already got the job. As a constituent and disciple, it is your job to let your legislators know whether their decisions truly represent you. If

YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY

To sink or to dance

My friend — I’ll call her “Veronica” — goes for the spiritual jugular, so to speak. It’s almost as if she avails herself to God and says, “All right, Lord, give me the toughest assignment you’ve got. Spare me no challenge.”

As an example, when she and her husband decided to adopt a child, they opted for the most difficult arrangement currently available in our state: from foster care to adoption. It is a process fraught with uncertainty and agonizing tedium. The bureaucracy alone would put off most people of a lesser constitution. In all likelihood, she and her husband will be caring for a child who has suffered a great deal of trauma and might have any number of spiritual, physical and psychological needs beyond the ordinary — wounds that might take a long time, perhaps a lifetime, to mend. The process might take years, or worse, even after years of physical and emotional investment, might not come to fruition at all.

All parenting involves a great deal of sacrifice and selflessness, a kind of patience and tenacity of spirit to suffer the pains of forming a unique, unrepeatable little human, body and soul. But somehow the willingness to take on this method to becoming a parent ratchets up that sacrifice to new

and inspiring levels, in my mind.

But that’s just who Veronica is. She’s fearless when it comes to the hard realities. She worked in a poor part of the world where life was rather precarious for a woman on her own, and she suffered the daily toils that come with such an existence — even the little things, like having to wash her hair in a sink of cold water — in order to help girls get an education. She spent years working on the front lines of the pro-life movement, tirelessly knocking on the doors of legislators trying to educate them about any number of complex issues. In a particular apostolate of which she is a member, she deliberately chooses the assignments that others will not take — the harder ones, the ones that don’t even occur to others.

Veronica’s is a compelling and credible Catholicism because it is uninterested in tidy consolations or platitudes. If someone wanted to give her a “humanitarian award,” she’d laugh and think it an absurdity. Her life quietly, mostly anonymously, burns with the authentic desire to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

It is a supernatural fire, not one stoked by a desire for rewards or recognition or even a sense of self-worth.

Her faith walks her into the tender, dark underbelly of the beastly human condition without fear and asks in all earnestness and without the slightest condescension or pretension, “How can

legislators never hear from you, they cannot properly do their job.

To be a constituent is no small job, and it might leave you wondering, “Where do I even begin?” Go back to the resolution: Get to know your legislators and attend your party caucus.

Step one: Find out who represents you. Use our “Find your officials” tool at mncatholic.org/actioncenter, but don’t stop there.

Step two: Attend your local precinct caucus Feb. 6. There, you get to vote for which candidates the party should endorse and propose resolutions that can shape the party’s platform. You can also influence who becomes your legislator and what your party stands for. For more details on caucuses, visit mncatholic.org/caucus.

You might be thinking that party lines are too deeply drawn and there’s no way a conversation with your legislator or a single vote at a caucus could make a difference. If not for the grace of God, you’d be right.

St. John Paul II reminds us in “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) that it is through the light of reason and God’s hidden grace that “every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can ... come to recognize ... the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree.”

Therefore, before taking steps one and two, start where everything begins — with God. We must, as faithful

Register for Capitol 101 Join fellow Minnesota Catholics at the State Capitol for a morning of education in advocacy. Capitol 101 is an educational event empowering Catholics to take an active role in state government. Register today to join us from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 26, March 16 or April 17. You can also schedule a meeting with your legislators for the afternoon.

To make the day more interactive, registration for each event is capped at 100 attendees and closes one week prior to each event date. Participants will learn the ins and outs of what goes on at the State Capitol (such as how an idea becomes law) and hear from legislators about how to make a difference. Join us before or after the main program for special opportunities to pray together for our legislators.

For more information and to register, visit mncatholic.org/capitol-101. citizens, begin in prayer. Pray that Christ’s light of reason and grace enlightens legislators and constituents alike so that we may come to recognize and defend the human dignity of all.

Cross is communications manager for the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

“

Veronica’s is a compelling and credible Catholicism because it is uninterested in tidy consolations or platitudes.

iSTOCK | LZF

I help?” She burns on out of an uncommon and holy valor that I know has been fed and formed in Christ’s Church.

Peter’s faith was big and beautiful and imperfect. When Jesus invited him out onto the sea, he lasted at least a few steps before the dark world and fear overtook him, and look what the Lord did through him.

In my mind, I see Christ calling Veronica out onto that same sea. But she doesn’t sink at the sight of the storm and the crashing waves.

No, she dances.

Jesus, may we be bold, convicted and — without self-interest or false piety — take your compassion to every dark and difficult corner of the human experience.

Kelly is the author of six books, including “Jesus Approaches: What Contemporary Women Can Learn about Healing, Freedom and Joy from the Women of the New Testament” (Loyola Press, 2017). She is a member of St. Michael in Stillwater.

COMMENTARY

JANUARY 25, 2018

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | BEN TLOUGAN

To be a watchman

It’s about 2345 hours, and there is only a little light from the moon to help us see. My partner and I are on tour duty.

Along with about four other two-man teams, we’re keeping watch over our base in northeast Afghanistan. We passed the time chatting while keeping an eye on our sector. As our shift was nearing its end, we were discussing our lives back home and what we planned to do when we returned.

Suddenly, the general silence of the night was split by a loud whistling sound. We looked up and saw an orange streak headed directly toward us. Of course, our first instinct was to duck, but as everything slowed down, I thought to stand up and watch the incoming rocket as it flew just over the top of our tower and impacted one of our trucks inside the base’s walls. I told my partner to report the incoming rocket and where it impacted while I moved to our 240, the machine gun we had fixed to a small turret in the window of the tower. I watched for any more enemy movement and prepared to engage.

What is a watchman? A watchman, for all intents and purposes, is the one who stands guard so that others can relax, sleep or clean up.

They trust the watchman to alert them of danger and be the first to engage and hold the enemy at bay, allowing them time to respond.

Watchmen is a superb description of what God has called us to be as men.

It was while in Afghanistan that God first laid on my heart the need for a new movement in men of the Church. In our culture today, it seems that women have taken up the role of spiritual leaders in the home, but this isn’t supposed to be their burden to bear. God is calling men to step up into this role of spiritual leader and protector. It is we men who should be passing on the faith by living it — showing the importance of daily prayer and Bible reading, regular reconciliation and daily and Sunday Mass, and adoration.

I was excited when the Catholic Watchmen initiative was rolled out a few years ago. I think it does an excellent job of helping us attain the basics of living out the Christian life through the “Seven Disciplines” — praying, reading sacred Scripture and being a spiritual father, being fully engaged at Sunday Mass and a witness to your family and community, and going to confession and attending parish-based meetings with other Catholic men.

It is easy to say that the spiritual disciplines are for priests and religious, and as laymen we have other things to focus on, but that’s just not accurate.

A perfect example is in Nehemiah 4. A portion of the Israelites had been able to return to Jerusalem from captivity, and its walls were in rubble. They started rebuilding the walls to be able to defend the city, but some of Israel’s neighbors weren’t happy about this and were threatening to attack. So, Nehemiah had some of the men take shifts standing guard while others worked, but even those working were armed in preparation to fight off their enemies.

In the face of a large enemy that had promised to destroy them, Nehemiah encouraged his men: “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your families” (Neh 4:14b).

As with the men of Israel in Nehemiah 4, we need to be working with one hand and brandishing our weapon in the other so that we are prepared to engage the enemy at any moment. We do not get to delegate this responsibility to priests, parish staff or our wives. We are the ones called to stand in the gap, to pray, to educate and to raise our children and those who look up to us, and to be men and women of God. In this world that seems to be steadily moving away from God’s truth, let us not be submissive to the enemy and things of this world that would pull us and our families away from God. Let us stand guard, always vigilant, prepared to engage the enemy that threatens those we love.

Let us be Watchmen.

Tlougan is an Army combat veteran and the director of discipleship for youth, young adults and men at St. Hubert in Chanhassen.

THE LOCAL CHURCH | FATHER J. MICHAEL BYRON AND ANNE WEYANDT

Catholic schools must matter

Why should we care? Why should anybody care about anyone else? And why does this matter?

There was a time when answering these questions didn’t require justification. Caring for others is just something that human beings innately do.

Regrettably, we live in a world and a time in which these “why” questions demand a compelling and intelligent response. It really was no easier a century ago than it is now to educate the poor, to house the homeless, to feed the hungry, to tend to the sick and aged, and to accept the alien stranger. Yet people came together to accomplish all of those things because the alternative was quite literally unthinkable.

Who then — or now — could imagine indifference as a response?

Fewer and fewer people now identify with Christianity or any religion at all.

We are more fractured as communities, without a common “story” to connect us. And we live in a social-political climate in which an ethic of indifference towards the needs of others is tolerated and fostered by leadership.

So why exactly should we care?

The other is our neighbor. Not only in the spiritual sense of the Judeo-ChristianMuslim belief of having emerged from and belonging to the one God, but just as importantly, in the practical, visceral sense of people living here among us, walking our streets, sharing in our commerce and politics, riding the bus in the seat next to us. A resolve to care is a decision to keep our communities cohesive, safe and as free from fear as is possible.

Christians among us have an imperative to follow Jesus’ life witness.

Christ never forced anyone to accept his way of life or to join his religious movement. But once a person freely chose to follow him, he was rigorous in his expectations. Caring for the stranger,

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 21

LETTERS Weaving the seamless garment The last issue of The Catholic Spirit contained a number of articles on the pro-life issue of anti-abortion (“Leading the pro-life generation” and “45 years after Roe v. Wade, MCCL ties march to 2018 election,” Jan. 11). It was noted in one article that attention will be given to the candidates seeking office in the 2018 elections. It is my prayer that leaders in the Catholic Church and all Catholics take the urging of Pope Francis and consider the many pro-life issues proposed by each candidate and not just one issue. Pro-life issues include antiabortion but also the death penalty and incarceration, health care for all citizens, gun violence, the opioid crisis, defense spending that kills innocent women and children around the world, and many more. As the late Cardinal Bernardin noted, pro-life is a seamless garment that encompasses issues from the womb to death and is not just one issue.

Mariah Snyder Lumen Christi, St. Paul

Appreciated call to action In eloquent words and piercing thought, Father Lachowitzer frames the spiritual dilemma and national disgrace that perpetuates collective and individual racism in the country (“Hopeless to hopeful,” Jan. 11). He addresses the soul of our Catholic faith and the integrity of our national purpose when he decries the racism and social injustice that deny citizen rights and full participation in national prosperity. The sins of racism continue to plague our national culture and call into question our commitment to the constitutional guarantees afforded to all citizens. A society that is unequal is also always unjust and results in the type of spiritual malaise and cultural angst that infects the country. Father Lachowitzer’s exhortation of hope, based on the teachings of Christ, invokes a call for action and the need for each parish to examine its outward commitment to active discipleship. To reference Archbishop Flynn, only when we actively oppose racism can “we walk humbly with our God.” Ted May St. Maximilian Kolbe, Delano Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org.

Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

the immigrant, the orphan and the poor one was not optional activity for disciples then — nor is it now.

We are essentially interdependent. One need not be a religious person to appreciate that human beings cannot survive in radical isolation from one another. We need one another, and others need us. That is not pious sentiment. It is the elemental law of nature.

It has become too dangerous to live in a world, a nation or a city in which people are threatened by others whom they do not understand.

We are called to reject indifference in favor of human connection, shared experience and the common good.

Rejecting indifference is why Catholic schools must explicitly pursue educational justice — honoring the dignity of each child and promoting creativity, achievement and inclusion in our classrooms.

We believe that it is crucial for contemporary Catholic schools to challenge educational injustice by expressing their deep and historic commitment to the Church’s work of social justice. In our parents’ generation, Catholic schools were an integral part of the fabric of our parishes and neighborhoods. As such, they connected children and families from different cultures and backgrounds through a

fundamental commitment to educational access reflective of a communitarian ethos and a radical spirit of hospitality.

There is an urgent need for us to respond to the needs of our time with courage and creativity, answering the question of why we care about our children and our communities.

This work is a direct challenge to our broader culture of indifference. It represents an intentional elimination of barriers to enrollment and achievement for children and communities affected by poverty, as well as exclusionary racial practices and divisions. It is a concrete expression of why and how we demonstrate care in our Catholic tradition: by eliminating economic injustice and expanding access to educational opportunities that reflect a clear commitment to individual dignity and solidarity in every classroom, with each teacher, and in every measurement of student achievement and success.

It is why Catholic schools matter.

Father Byron is pastor of St. Pascal Baylon in St. Paul. Weyandt is the vice chair of the St. Pascal Baylon Catholic School board and associate provost of the College for Adults at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

22 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 25, 2018

CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS Newly Married Retreat — Feb. 3: 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony. The retreat is for couples married up to 7 years wishing to have a happy, holy and healthy marriage.

Nursing babies are welcome. With guest speakers Michael Hoffman of Igniting Performance and Mark Berchem of NET Ministries, the event includes 8 a.m.

Mass, breakout topics, opportunities for reconciliation and wedding vow renewal, and continental breakfast and catered lunch. For more information and to register, visit archspm.org or call the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life at 651-291-4488.

Stewardship coffee — Feb. 3: 9 a.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. The Office of Stewardship and Development of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is hosting a Lenten morning of reflection on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s 1992 document “A Disciple’s Response: A Pastoral Letter on Stewardship.” Speakers include Father Michael Skluzacek, pastor of St. John the Baptist; and Len Krenik, a stewardship council member at St. Odilia in Shoreview. The event is free and open to parish leaders, staff and volunteers.

RSVP is preferred. For more information, contact 651-290-1630.

WINE: Catholic Women’s Conference — Feb. 10: 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road E., Burnsville. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. With a theme of “Hope: An Anchor for the Soul,” the keynote speakers are Sister Ann Shields, an author and member of the Servants of God’s Love charismatic religious community; Sonja Corbitt, Catholic Scripture teacher, host of Bible Study Evangelista on Breadbox Media and author of “Unleashed”; and Jaime Thietten, Catholic musician and storyteller. The day includes praise and worship music, shopping, prayer, confession, adoration, lunch and Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda. For more information and to register, visit rediscover.archspm.org.

Irish Immigrant Girls Experience — Feb. 12: 7:30–9 p.m. at Coeur de Catherine, Rauenhorst Ballroom on the St. Paul campus of St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul.

Maureen Murphy, professor emerita of Irish Studies at Hofstra University, has curated an exhibit on the Irish immigrant experience. She will share her research and tell stories of Irish immigrants. The exhibition will be on display in St. Kate’s library Jan. 29-April 29. Admission to the lecture and the exhibit are free of charge. For more information, visit stkate. edu.

Annulment consultation — Feb. 14 (Ash Wednesday): 7 a.m.–7 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. Staff members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ metropolitan tribunal will be available for confidential consultation and to answer questions regarding the investigation into the annulment process. For more information, contact Monica Arachtingi at 651-291-4466.

Dining out Northeast Holy Name Society pancake breakfast — Jan. 28: 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at Holy Cross, Kolbe Hall, 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis.

Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast — Jan. 28: 9 a.m.–noon at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1725 Kennard St., Maplewood.

Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast — Jan. 28: 9 a.m.–noon at Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale.

Taize Prayer — Third Friday of each month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.

CALENDAR submissions

Retreats Winter Women’s Retreat with speakers Father Alex Carlson and Kalley Yanta — Jan. 27: 8 a.m.–1 p.m. at Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. transfigurationmn.org/womensretreat.

Music

Men’s weekend retreat — Feb. 2-4 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net.

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.

Cabaret Dinner Theatre — Feb. 9 and 10: 6 p.m. at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9062 or iccsonline.org.

Discipleship Retreat led by Bishop Andrew Cozzens — Feb. 3: 8 a.m.–noon at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. iccsonline.org.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and institutions. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission.

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

Dementia support group — Second Tuesday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.

Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sunday of each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis.

952-922-5523.

Faithful spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7–8:30 p.m. at the Chancery, 777 Forest St., St. Paul. For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation or divorce. 651-291-4438 or faithfulspouses@archspm.org.

Career transition group meeting — Third Thursday of each month: 7:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Medina. hnoj.org/career-transition-group.

Friday Night at the Friary — Third Friday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at Franciscan Brothers of Peace, 1289 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. Men ages 18-35 are invited for prayer and fellowship. facebook.com/queenofpeacefriary.

Parish events Farmington Knights of Columbus chili cook-off contest and bingo — Jan. 27: 5:30–9 p.m. at St. Michael, 22120 Denmark Ave., Farmington.

An Easter musical: “The Borrowed Tomb” — Feb. 8-11 at St. Odilia, 3495 N. Victoria, Shoreview. stodilia.org.

Prayer/worship Pro-Life Memorial Mass — Jan. 26: 6 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Pkwy. NE, St. Anthony.

World Day for Consecrated Life Mass with celebrant Archbishop Bernard Hebda — Jan. 28. 2:30 p.m. at the Chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, 1886 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. Honors men and women religious.

Taize Prayer — First Friday of each month: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com/first-fridays.

Conferences/workshops Renewing the Soul of Community by Barbara Sutton — Feb. 2: 9 a.m.–3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Meeting the Face of Christ — Feb. 8: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: For Catholic singles to meet and make friends.

The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-482-0406.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: • Time and date of event • Full street address of event • Description of event • C ontact information in case of questions ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions FAX: 651-291-4460 MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

More events online

Singles group — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games.

763-425-0412.

Schools St. Croix Catholic School open house — Jan 28: 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at 621 Third St. S., Stillwater. stcroixcatholic.org.

Immaculate Conception School open house and welcome night — Jan 31: 5–7:30 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights.

763-788-9065 or iccsonline.org.

Light Their Way Gala with guest speaker Dr. John Wood — Feb 3: 5 p.m. at St. Croix Catholic School, 621 Third St. S., Stillwater. stcroixcatholic.org.

Young adults Theology on Tap — Wednesdays through Feb. 7: 6:30–8:30 p.m. at O’Gara’s Bar & Grill, 164 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul. cathedralsaintpaul.org/cya.

Other events Seeing God art exhibit — Jan. 31-March 2: 7–8:30 p.m. at St. Paul Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Women with Spirit Bible study — Tuesdays through April 10: 9:30–11:30 a.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie. paxchristi.com.

Knights of Columbus bingo — Wednesdays: 6–9 p.m. at Solanus Casey Council Hall, 1920 S. Greeley St., Stillwater.

Ready.

Set. Tartar Sauce.

Watch for The Catholic Spirit’s 2018 Fish Fry and Lenten Meal Guide in our Feb. 8 issue.

Have a parish fish fry we missed last year?

Let us know at CatholicSpirit@archspm.org.

JANUARY 25, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 23

Young adults want to be heard by the Church, St. Mary’s Press study finds

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service It’s no secret that for years, teenagers and young adults have been leaving the Catholic Church, putting aside organized religion for mere spirituality, another faith tradition or no faith at all.

A new study by Winona-based St. Mary’s Press looks at the reasons for such religious disaffiliation, asking teenagers and young adults ages 15 to 25 a basic question: Why did you leave the Church?

The answers reported in the study, titled “Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation of Young Catholics,” vary widely with respondents citing sociological, familial and spiritual reasons as well as opposition to organized religion.

What’s key to the study, said John Vitek, CEO and president of St. Mary’s Press, is that the process gave young people a voice, something which he says has not happened often within the Church.

He made the comments during the Jan. 16 release of the findings in a symposium at the Maritime Conference Center near Baltimore.

“We wanted to hear in young people’s own words their lived experience and their stories. So we spent time listening to young people throughout the country, to hear their story in their own words, uncensored and unfiltered,” he said.

The two-year study found that religious disaffiliation is a process and often begins with questions about faith, doubts and hurts that accumulate over time “until it’s too much,” Vitek said. The process begins at an early age, sometimes as young as 10 years old.

The study also found that the median age for young people to leave the Church was 13, even though teenagers may have continued attending Mass with their families because they felt pressured to do so.

Vitek added that almost all respondents interviewed said they felt more freedom and were happier after leaving the Church.

Father Edmund Luciano, director of development in the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, and a former diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry, said during the discussion that 13 years old was too young to “be allowed to make [a] decision like that.”

“I see a breakdown in this in the home and in the parents,” Father Luciano said. “They are the primary teachers of the faith. They are the role models and the examples. I don’t think the kids are doing anything

wrong. I look to the parents wondering why they’re not supporting the growth of their kids.”

The priest and others suggested that the Church must better equip parents, teachers and ministry leaders to not shy away from questions young people have about faith.

Panelist Father Joseph Muth, a pastor in Baltimore, said teenagers often have many questions about life and that personal religious life was no exception.

“It’s the normal process of growing up. In that moment we need someone to trust the questions being asked and to be equipped to give an answer,” he said.

Many in the audience nodded in agreement.

Christina Hannon, young adult engagement officer with the Coalition with Young Adults in Northeast Ohio, who was in the audience, said she has learned that young adults are looking for a place to be welcomed. If a parish is not welcoming, she suggested, a young person may decide to abandon the Church altogether.

Panelist Beatriz Mendivil came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 12 with her family and grew up Catholic but left the Church at age 20 to explore other options.

She said she began wondering about Church practices, particularly confessing sins as a 10-year-old.

“I was so ashamed I had to sit there and talk to a complete stranger,” she said, adding, “I felt ... just awful and this person was just sitting there telling me that I was not good. As a 10-year-old I think that’s not fair. I think that creates a trauma for a young child.”

She said she now finds peace and clarity in a “higher power,” whether it is in nature, her family or even pets.

The conversation returned repeatedly to the question of whether young people are heard by Church leaders or others who can guide them through the questions they have. Often, the questions young people have challenge religious institutions, said panelist Josh Packard, associate professor of sociology at the University of Northern Colorado, whose work includes studies on how religion drives people away from church but not from God. He said the challenge facing religious institutions is not to change tenets but to make sure that they adhere to core values “about who we serve and what we’re here for” so that young people do not feel ignored.

The study began in 2015 when St. Mary’s Press contracted with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington to conduct a survey of young people from 15 to 25 years

Youth synod The Synod of Bishops focusing on young people and their vocations will be held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28. In preparation for the bishops’ gathering, the Vatican has asked bishops’ conferences around the world to nominate young people to attend a pre-synod gathering March 19-24 in Rome.

Pope Francis hopes about 300 young people — mostly, but not all, Catholics — would attend the gathering. Many of them will speak to the whole group about the hopes and concerns of young people, what they can offer the Church and what they need from it. They will discuss the presentations in small groups and will be asked to prepare a summary document for the bishops attending the synod.

The theme of young people and their path of discernment is a continuation of “what emerged from the recent” synod on the family and the pope’s apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” on family life, the Vatican said.

— CNS old who left the Catholic Church. It started with a pool of 3,450 randomly selected young people of which 1,435 completed the screening process.

The full report resulted from interviews with 204 young people — 20 teenagers and 184 young adults — who once self-identified as Catholic but now do not.

From the sample, the study estimated that 12.8 percent of U.S. young adults between 18 and 25 years old and 6.8 percent of teenagers 15 to 17 years old are former Catholics.In the larger pool, 20 percent said they were no longer Catholic because they stopped believing in God or religion; 16 percent cited an issue with family or parents leading to their decision to leave; 15 percent changed faiths on their own while their family remained Catholic and 11 percent said they left Catholicism because of growing opposition to the Church or religious institutions in general.

The study also found that 74 percent of the sample said that they no longer identified themselves as Catholic between the ages of 10 and 20 with the median age being 13. More than one-third, 35 percent, have no religious affiliation, 46 percent joined another religion and 14 percent said they were atheists or agnostics. The margin of error is plus or minus 6.9 percentage points.

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24 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 25, 2018

THELASTWORD

‘little blessings’ Traveling crucifixes help students think about future, pray for vocations

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

E

leven-year-old John Manuel was intrigued when his teacher brought a small, wooden case into his classroom last November.

“I thought it was really cool,” said Manuel, a fifth-grade student at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic School in Delano. “There was kind of a mysterious box, and when she opened it, it was the crucifix with a bunch of little prayer cards with it.”

For a week in Sheila Barth’s class, the crucifix was a daily reminder to her 14 students to pray for their own vocation and for others until they returned it to the handmade box and brought it to another class.

During the past year, local Serra Clubs have been bringing small crucifixes to grade schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a tangible tool for prayer and education about vocations, and to encourage students to think about where God might be calling them. Founders of a program that encourages parish families to take home chalices to pray for vocations, Serra Clubs now are also promoting school crucifixes, which they say are more practical and will help them reach children more directly.

Six archdiocesan Serra Clubs have provided crucifixes that are now in about 30 archdiocesan elementary schools with several more waiting to receive them, said Judy Cozzens, president-elect of the USA Council of Serra International and mother of Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens. Local clubs hope to offer the crucifixes to all archdiocesan grade schools and eventually to high

schools, she said. Serra leaders are also promoting the program nationwide.

Serra International is a lay Catholic apostolate based in Chicago with 15,000 members in 36 countries who seek to grow in personal holiness while fostering vocations to the priesthood and vowed religious life through prayer and programs. The USA Council of Serra International, one of 10 national and regional councils worldwide, represents the 214 U.S. Serra Clubs, including seven clubs in the archdiocese with about 325 members.

After piloting the program in several schools last spring, Serrans encouraged schools to sign up last fall to receive the crucifix kits. The clubs pay for the kits, which are made locally and consist of a case, a crucifix, prayer cards and sometimes lesson plans. The schools rotate the crucifix among classes. While the crucifixes are initially for classroom use, local clubs are considering providing more kits so that students can take them home, Cozzens said.

Last fall, Frank Renshaw, a member of the NorthwestHennepin Serra Club, delivered crucifixes to St. Maximilian Kolbe, four other west metro schools and the high school youth ministry coordinator at his parish, Holy Name of Jesus in Medina. He is now working with two fellow parishioners to design and build more kits.

The lesson materials in the kits “get teachers involved and focused on vocations themselves as well as letting the children realize that they need to follow Jesus and walk in his paths,” Renshaw said.

The materials opened a door to talk about vocations, even in classes such as social studies, said Barth, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception in Watertown.

Renshaw said the traveling crucifixes go beyond the classroom walls and encourage families to pray for vocations and consider their own faith lives.

“If you get the kids, the kids will bring the parents to

With the traveling crucifix set up on a table in the classroom, sixth-graders at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic School in Delano pray for vocations along with teacher Sherry Carroll.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

church,” he said.

It’s important to make children aware early of the need to pray about God’s will for them, said Judy Makowske, president of the North Minneapolis Serra Club and a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony. “Nothing can happen without prayer. This is just a good introduction to vocations for children.”

The north Minneapolis club provided a crucifix for Sacred Heart Catholic School in Robbinsdale and plans to distribute about six more in the next several months, Makowske said. The school crucifix program replaces the parish chalice program, which it started in the early 1990s.

The traveling crucifix plays an important role at St. Maximilian Kolbe, which has 88 pre-K through sixthgrade students, said Mary Ziebell, principal and a parishioner of St. Richard in Richfield.

“It’s one of those little blessings that’s part of our daily life here at school,” she said. “We like to include all of those small things that just become part of the culture here and who we are.”

The crucifix reminds students to pray for their pastor, too, Barth said.

“They realize that not only should they maybe contemplate a religious vocation for themselves as time goes on, but also to pray for our current priests and religious,” she said.

Manuel said he prayed with the crucifix about his own vocation — he said he’s open to the idea of the priesthood — and for his grandfather, Deacon Michael DeWitte, who ministers at Guardian Angels in Chaska.

Said Barth: “I think [students] are just at the very beginning of exploring all the different options that they have. I think sometimes children think that there’s only marriage and single life. In our Catholic schools, we really want them to know that there are the priesthood and religious life as well.”