The Catholic Spirit - July 26, 2018

July 26, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Seminary names Omaha priest new rector

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

‘Humanae Vitae’ at 50 Exploring the landmark 1968 encyclical affirming the Church’s teaching on marriage and contraception.

— Pages 9-14

Celebrating Solanus Local parishes granted special permission to commemorate Blessed Solanus Casey’s first feast day July 30.

— Page 5

More than money CCF president’s takeaways from the Third Vatican Conference on Impact Investing.

— Page 6

Philly foster care Pennsylvania judge rules that a Catholic agency must consider same-sex couples for foster parents.

— Page 7

The nun and NFP OB-GYN sister spent career educating teens how fertility works.

— Page 15

F

ather Joseph Taphorn will be building on two decades of rich priestly experience when he assumes the role of rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in January.

Ordained a priest in 1997, Father Taphorn served in a variety of pastoral and administrative assignments in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, before being named to his present assignment as director and pastor of the St. John Paul II Newman Center in Omaha, which serves students at local colleges.

Father Taphorn, 47, was one of three finalists who emerged from a broad search process that began in late April when Msgr. Thomas Richter, who had been slated to assume the rector position in June, was unexpectedly recalled to assume new responsibilities in his home diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota.

Sixty names were submitted in response to the request for recommendations.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said that he was edified that “so many priests, religious and faithful of the Archdiocese [of St. Paul and Minneapolis], as well as seminarians, alumni, seminary faculty and bishops of our province took the time to not only suggest names but also to express their views on the qualities essential for the next rector.”

From those names, three candidates were invited to participate in a process that Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who served as chairman of the search committee, called “very intensive.” They were each questioned by the same three teams of interviewers, drawn from seminary board members, faculty members and staff and the members of the search committee.

Bishop Cozzens noted that all were impressed by Father Taphorn.

“It’s certainly true that I knew Father Taphorn from my own history, and I knew that he would be a good candidate,” Bishop Cozzens said. “But, it was really the search committee that saw his gifts and skills, and recommended him to the archbishop as their No. 1 candidate.”

Father Taphorn brings some “very unique gifts” to the table, Bishop Cozzens

Father Joseph Taphorn of the Archdiocese of Omaha brings more than 20 years of priestly ministry experience to his new role as rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He visited the seminary July 16 to meet with faculty and staff. said, including “vast experience in working with priests,” strong intellectual ability and recognition of the importance of lay formation.

On top of that are personal attributes, such as humility, authenticity and holiness. Bishop Cozzens noted that Father Taphorn “wasn’t afraid to show that he’s a person who has weaknesses and has learned to grow from those weaknesses.”

Another member of the search committee, Deacon Ramón Garcia of St. Stephen in Anoka, is excited to have a rector who is proficient in Spanish. He noted that Father Taphorn spent time in his hometown of Cuernavaca, Mexico, and studied Spanish there.

Deacon Garcia called the appointment of a Spanish-speaking rector “a Latino moment.” He also believes that a rector who speaks Spanish and is familiar with the culture and people can help foster vocations within the Latino community.

“He has a compassionate heart, and [that] will be very, very important for the Spanish [speaking] community,” Deacon Garcia said. “Almost half of the Catholic Church is Hispanic, so we’ll be the future [of the Church]. And now, here in

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Minneapolis-St. Paul, we have a rector in the heart of formation [who knows Spanish]. ... Knowing the Hispanic family is a tremendous blessing for us.”

Search committee member Therese Coons of St. Anne in Hamel wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit that Father Taphorn will be a “joyful Catholic leader of our seminary.” She was struck by his “many gifts” and noted that he has a strong desire to serve lay students. The seminary has 62 lay students enrolled in its degree programs in theology, pastoral ministry and religious education. Plus, it is home to the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute, which offers a two-year program for hundreds of students every year.

“Father Taphorn has a pastoral heart committed to the formation of both seminarians and laity,” she wrote. “In the interview process, Father Taphorn spoke enthusiastically of the importance of the laity and their complimentary role in ministering to God’s people. He told personal stories of how valuable the laity has been in his own ministry.”

PLEASE TURN FATHER TAPHORN ON PAGE 5

Pulled from the sea, migrant’s rescue puts spotlight on Italian policy

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Tweeting with hashtags that translate as “Closed ports” and “Open hearts,” Italy’s interior minister disputed claims that the Italian government was complicit in leaving a migrant to die in the Mediterranean Sea as she clung to a board from a destroyed fishing boat.

Matteo Salvini, the minister, has given strong support to Italy’s policy of having the Libyan coast guard patrol its own shores, pushing back refugee boats or taking the migrants and refugees back to camps in Libya.

He also has worked to prevent rescue boats from docking in Italy until other European countries agree to take a share of

the migrants onboard.

Salvini and others credit the Italian policy with leading to a sharp decline in the number of migrants and refugees arriving on Italy’s shores. The 17,838 migrants and refugees who arrived between Jan. 1 and July 18 represent an 86.5 percent decline from the number of arrivals in the same period in 2017 and an 84.8 percent decline compared to the same period in 2016, according to figures compiled by the Department of Public Security and posted on the Interior Ministry website July 18.

But the numbers did not bump from the front pages of Italian newspapers the photographs of Josefa, a migrant from

CNS

A crew member of the Spanish nongovernmental organization Proactiva Open Arms comforts a rescued African migrant July 17 in central Mediterranean Sea. The main mission of the NGO is sea rescues of refugees who arrive in Europe PLEASE TURN TO MIGRANTS ON PAGE 7 fleeing wars, persecution or poverty.

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 26, 2018

PAGETWO

“

Does it seem like a scientific criterion to take a mannequin — like the ones used to display clothes in a store window — and a sponge soaked in fake blood attached to a piece of wood that is pressed on the right side of [the] dummy to see where the streams of blood fall? If this is considered science, I guess I’ll just have to take my degree in natural sciences and throw it away.

Emanuela Marinelli, an expert on the Shroud of Turin, who said July 17 that “there was nothing scientific” about the 2014 experiments of Italian scientists who claimed the shroud’s blood patterns are “totally unrealistic.” Their study was published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences July 10. The Church has never officially ruled on the shroud’s authenticity, saying judgments about its age and origin belonged to scientific investigation. Scientists have debated its authenticity for decades, and studies have led to conflicting results.

NEWS notes

16 CNS | BARB ARLAND-FYE

GOING THE EXTRA MILE Bishop Thomas Zinkula of Davenport, Iowa, foreground, leads the Bishop’s Bike Ride in Iowa City July 6. The event served as a send-off for the bishop and a team he is leading called “Pedaling to the Peripheries” during the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa July 22-28. Best known as RAGBRAI, the noncompetitive ride is organized by The Des Moines Register daily newspaper.

Read the story at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

The occupancy of a new homeless shelter that opened in July at the vacant rectory of St. John the Baptist in Hugo. St. Genevieve in Centerville, which received St. John the Baptist in a 2012 merger, worked with St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi to have the rectory renovated this year. St. Andrew’s, which also has a shelter in Oakdale, runs the Hugo shelter as part of the church’s outreach to the poor in the east metro. St. Genevieve, St. Peter in Forest Lake and St. Pius X in White Bear Lake all help in volunteering with the Hugo shelter.

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The anniversary of the dedication of the church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, which will be celebrated July 30-31. The commemoration includes 5 p.m. solemn vespers July 30 and an 11 a.m. July 31 Mass celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Burke. A reception will follow.

At 3 p.m. Cardinal Burke will bless the ground where a future retreat center will be built. For more information, visit guadalupeshrine.org.

1

The August deadline to nominate men and women for the annual St. John Paul II Champions for Life awards. Organized by the archdiosesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life, the awards recognize Catholics who uphold the dignity of life at all stages — especially those of unborn, elderly and disabled people — in their work or volunteer roles. For more information, visit archspm.org/c4l.

5 COURTESY OFFICE OF LATINO MINISTRY

LATINO GRADUATES The Graduation Mass for the Formation Institutes July 14 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis recognized 107 Latino leaders who went through nine-month formation institutes organized by the archdiocesan Office of Latino Ministry. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the Mass, and said that the students’ work helps them “to acknowledge Jesus to the world.” The four institutes are pastoral leadership, catechetical, biblical and theological. Students meet weekly at the chancery for nine months.

The next classes begin Sept. 15.

ONLINE exclusives Ahead of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week July 22-28 and the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s promulgation of “Humanae Vitae” July 25, The Catholic Spirit asked Bridget Busacker, a health educator and parishioner of St. Mark in St. Paul, about NFP and her website, managingyourfertility. com, which she describes as a “‘one-stop shop’ for individuals and couples to learn about the basics of reproductive health and the variety of NFP methods available.” Read the story at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

CORRECTION

Do you know who Msgr. Georges Lemaitre is? Google does! He was featured in the daily “Google Doodle” July 17, on what would have been his 124th birthday. The Belgian priest-astronomer and physicist was the brains behind the Big Bang Theory. Read more at Facebook.com/TheCatholicSpirit.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 14 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

The number of years Crosier Father Onesius Otenieli has spent working with the Asmat people of New Guinea. Known as “Father Ote,” the priest is a member of the philosophy faculty at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung, Indonesia, and has written extensively about Asmat culture. The University of St. Thomas will host a welcome reception in his honor 6–8 p.m. Aug. 16 at The Gallery in the Anderson Student Center at 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. The evening includes a 6:30 p.m. presentation. St. Thomas is home to the American Museum of Asmat Art, one of the most comprehensive collections of Asmat art in the United States. St. Thomas’ original collection was donated by the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, who began working with the Asmat people in 1958. For more information, visit art.stthomas.edu.

In “Headlines” July 12, The Catholic Spirit incorrectly reported the number of U.S. bishops who visited the U.S.-Mexico border July 1-2. Six bishops were present on the fact-finding visit: Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas; Bishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles; Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania; Auxiliary Bishop Robert Brennan of Rockville Centre, New York; and Bishop Daniel Flores and Auxiliary Bishop Mario Alberto Avilés of Brownsville, Texas.

Materials credited to CNS copy­righted by Catholic News Service.

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JULY 26, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Trusting in God’s providence in all aspects of our lives

S

hortly after I was named Bishop of Gaylord, a small diocese in Michigan where I served from 2009 to 2013, I was part of an ongoing discussion concerning the challenges faced by newly ordained priests. The evidence suggested that far too many young priests across the country were, at times, feeling overwhelmed by loneliness and isolation in their first assignments, even though they had been happy and vibrant seminarians just a few years before. As a newly minted bishop trying to learn the ropes in a diocese that was totally foreign to me, the experience of those rookie priests resonated with me.

I will be forever grateful to one of the wise old prelates who suggested that a bishop make a point of introducing the young priests in his diocese to the men in their areas responsible for teaching natural family planning consistent with the vision of “Humanae Vitae.” Those men, the bishop explained, love the Church and often invite their pastors into the life of their family, giving witness to the joy that comes from being faithful to Church teachings, the peace that comes from trusting in God’s provident care and the love that is strengthened when we put others before ourselves.

Not only have I looked for opportunities to pass on that good advice, I took it to heart myself. I was inspired by the families that I met, and I came to appreciate that the spirituality of “Humanae Vitae” isn’t only for married couples, but also for widows, priests, those who never married — and even bishops. We need each other to remind ourselves of the remarkable joy that comes

from humbly accepting that God has a plan for our happiness, and that he uses the teaching authority of the Church to enlighten our consciences and to reveal that plan to us, even when it might seem challenging.

Like Adam and Eve, we are tempted to think that our plans are better than God’s plans, and we are foolishly surprised when placing our will before the Lord’s will sows confusion, brings heartbreak or holds us back from intensely experiencing the love that God has for each of us.

I love hearing the testimony of those couples who were unaware of the teaching of “Humanae Vitae” when they were first married but come to an appreciation of that teaching later in life. They speak of the transformation that occurred in their marriages at that point. As they grew in self-knowledge, they experienced a deeper respect for themselves and their spouse, and they came to enjoy an intimacy that had previously not been known to them.

What a wonderful reminder of the impact that we can have when we give witness to what happens when we put God’s plan before our own.

Ask Father Joe Taphorn, the newly appointed rector of the St. Paul Seminary, and he will speak of the great joys that he has experienced in his present ministry as a pastor and chaplain at the University of NebraskaOmaha. Seeing the fruits that the Lord was bringing to his ministry, whether in the pulpit, or on the soccer field or the late-night conversations with college students less than half his age, Father Taphorn planned to stay in that apostolate as long as his archbishop allowed him.

That all changed with a telephone call out of left field from Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who was leading the

Confiando en la providencia de Dios en todos los aspectos de nuestras vidas

Al igual que Adán y Eva, estamos tentados a pensar que nuestros planes son mejores que los planes de Dios, y nos sorprende tontamente cuando colocamos nuestra voluntad antes de que la voluntad del Señor siembre confusión, nos desgarre o nos impida experimentar intensamente el amor que Dios tiene por cada uno de nosotros.

Me encanta escuchar el testimonio de aquellas parejas que desconocían la enseñanza de la “Humanae Vitae” cuando se casaron por primera vez, pero luego aprecian esa enseñanza.

Hablan de la transformación que ocurrió en sus matrimonios en ese punto. A medida que crecieron en autoconocimiento, experimentaron un profundo respeto por ellos mismos y su cónyuge, y llegaron a disfrutar de una intimidad que previamente no habían conocido.

Qué maravilloso recordatorio del impacto que podemos tener cuando damos testimonio de lo que sucede cuando anteponemos el plan de Dios.

Pregúntele al Padre Joe Taphorn, el recién nombrado rector del Seminario St. Paul, y le hablará de las grandes alegrías que ha experimentado en su presente ministerio como pastor y capellán en la Universidad de NebraskaOmaha. Al ver los frutos que el Señor traía a su ministerio, ya sea en el púlpito, en el campo de fútbol o en las conversaciones nocturnas con estudiantes universitarios de menos de la mitad de su edad, el padre Taphorn planeó permanecer en ese apostolado mientras su arzobispo se lo permitió.

Significaría lo impensable: dejar atrás en Omaha a sus padres, su familia, sus hermanos sacerdotes y su rebaño para aceptar un puesto que nunca hubiera buscado. Y, sin embargo, ha abrazado esos sacrificios con alegría, motivado por la convicción de que es parte del plan de Dios para él y para nuestro seminario.

Estoy encantado cuando considero los extraordinarios regalos y experiencias que el Padre Taphorn traerá al puesto (puede leer sobre ellos en las páginas 1 y 5 de este número), y estoy muy contento de que nuestros seminaristas, y yo, tengamos el beneficio de: un rector que día a día dará testimonio de lo que sucede cuando ponemos el plan de Dios por encima del nuestro.

Como el Señor ha dado fruto a aquellas familias que han abrazado su plan y se han abierto a la posibilidad de la vida, que traiga frutos al Padre Taphorn y a todos aquellos a quienes servirá en su nuevo ministerio.

Poco después de que me nombraron Obispo de Gaylord, una pequeña diócesis en Michigan donde serví de 2009 a 2013, formé parte de una discusión en curso sobre los desafíos que enfrentan los sacerdotes recién ordenados. La evidencia sugería que demasiados jóvenes sacerdotes en todo el país se sentían, a veces, abrumados por la soledad y el aislamiento en sus primeras asignaciones, a pesar de que habían sido seminaristas felices y vibrantes solo unos pocos años antes. Como un obispo recién acuñado tratando de aprender las cuerdas en una diócesis que era totalmente ajeno a mí, la experiencia de esos sacerdotes novatos resonó en mí.

Estaré eternamente agradecido a uno de los viejos prelados sabios que sugirieron que un obispo haga un punto de presentar a los jóvenes sacerdotes de su diócesis a los hombres en sus áreas responsables de enseñar la planificación familiar natural consistente con la visión de “Humanae Vitae”. Esos hombres, explicó el obispo, aman a la Iglesia y a menudo invitan a sus pastores a la vida de su familia, dando testimonio de la alegría que proviene de ser fieles a las enseñanzas de la Iglesia, la paz que proviene de confiar en el cuidado providente de Dios y el amor que se fortalece cuando ponemos a los demás delante de nosotros mismos.

No solo busqué la oportunidad de transmitir ese buen consejo, lo tomé muy en serio. Me inspiraron las familias que conocí, y llegué a apreciar que la espiritualidad de “Humanae Vitae” no es solo para parejas casadas, sino también para viudas, sacerdotes, aquellos que nunca se han casado, e incluso obispos. Nos necesitamos mutuamente para recordarnos el notable gozo que proviene de aceptar humildemente que Dios tiene un plan para nuestra felicidad, y que él usa la autoridad de enseñanza de la Iglesia para iluminar nuestras conciencias y revelarnos ese plan, incluso cuando puede parecer desafiante.

seminary’s search committee for the new rector: “Father Taphorn, would you be willing to pray about the possibility that God could be calling you to be the next rector of the St. Paul Seminary?”

In the weeks that followed, Father Taphorn accepted that challenge and worked with his own archbishop, his spiritual director and his trusted confidantes, and he came to the uncomfortable decision that perhaps the Lord had a plan for him other than campus ministry.

He took the risk of allowing his name to be placed in consideration, was shocked when he was identified as one of the three finalists for the position (all three were excellent, by the way), and yet was surprisingly serene when he learned that he was being recommended to me and to the seminary’s board of trustees for appointment as the next rector.

It would mean the unthinkable: leaving behind in Omaha his parents, his family, his brother priests and his flock in order to accept a position that he would have never sought. And yet, he has embraced those sacrifices with joy, motivated by the conviction that it’s part of God’s plan for him and for our seminary.

I am delighted when I consider the extraordinary gifts and experiences that Father Taphorn will bring to the position (you can read about them on pages 1 and 5 of this issue), and I am thrilled that our seminarians — and I — will have the benefit of a rector who day-in and day-out will be witnessing to what happens when we put God’s plan above our own.

As the Lord has brought fruit to those families who have embraced his plan and opened themselves to the possibility of life, may he bring fruit to Father Taphorn and all those whom he will serve in his new ministry.

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

Effective July 1, 2018 Reverend James McConville, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul. Father McConville will continue to hold his current offices of adjutant judicial vicar and Director of the Office of Conciliation for the Archdiocese.

Effective July 9, 2018 Reverend Daniele Scorrano, FSCB, appointed half-time parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Peter in North Saint Paul, and half-time to Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. Father Scorrano is a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo.

Effective August 1, 2018 Reverend Jake Anderson, released from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Odilia in Shoreview, to serve as director of the St. John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska from August 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

Effective August 3, 2018 Reverend Michael Daly, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Odilia in Shoreview. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Stephen in Minneapolis.

Effective August 15, 2018 Most Reverend Andrew Cozzens, appointed interim rector of The Saint Paul Seminary in Saint Paul. Bishop Cozzens will serve as rector until December 31, 2018.

Effective January 1, 2019 Reverend Joseph Taphorn, appointed rector of The Saint Paul Seminary in Saint Paul. Father Taphorn is a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha.

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 26, 2018

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JULY 26, 2018

LOCAL

Archdiocese continues to meet Ramsey County settlement requirements

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis continues to be in compliance with the terms of a 2015 settlement agreement it entered into with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, Ramsey County Judge Teresa Warner affirmed during a July 18 progress hearing.

“The documents ... indicate that progress is being made in accordance with the settlement agreement, and progress is continuing,” she said of a regular sixmonth progress report filed by the archdiocese.

The report indicated that the archdiocese has been meeting safe environment requirements, including that employees and volunteers at local parishes and schools have completed the “Essential 3”: a background check, VIRTUS safe environment training and a code of conduct.

An October 2017 external audit revealed that 92 percent of the staff and volunteers in the 23 audited local Catholic parishes and schools were in 100 percent compliance. At a December 2017 hearing, archdiocesan officials told Warner that incomplete bookkeeping was the central reason the other 8 percent were found noncompliant. At the July 18 hearing, they said their staff has been working closely with parish staff members and volunteers to help ensure complete records with the goal of 100 percent compliance. Another external audit will take place this October.

“The cooperation of clergy and schools is 100 percent,” said Joe Dixon, an attorney representing the archdiocese.

The archdiocese reported that it is working with an advisory committee that includes child sexual abuse survivors to review recommended safe environment policies and restorative justice initiatives.

The progress in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy reorganization, which is expected to be settled in a matter of months, will allow the archdiocese to move ahead with restorative justice efforts with survivors

FATHER TAPHORN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Being selected for the job “was very humbling and nothing that was on my radar,” Father Taphorn told The Catholic Spirit. “But, I believe the Lord desires this, and the doors have been opened. ... It seems like this would be a good fit, so I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Sensing a call to the priesthood, Father Taphorn entered seminary shortly after graduating in 1993 from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, earning a Master of Divinity degree and a Master of Arts degree in theology before his ordination. Subsequently, he earned a licentiate in canon law at the Gregorian University in Rome.

After serving in a variety of both parish and administrative roles in the Archdiocese of Omaha, including moderator of the curia, chancellor, judicial vicar and vicar for clergy, Father Taphorn became the founding pastor and director of the St. John Paul II Newman Center. He helped to plan and develop the center, which opened in 2016 near the campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The center offers housing for up to 164 students and serves the spiritual needs of students at UNO and other nearby colleges.

Father Taphorn will continue directing the Newman Center until January. To ease the transition, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Jake Anderson, will minister in Omaha at the Newman Center for 11 months, beginning Aug. 1. He currently is parochial vicar of St. Odilia in Shoreview.

“I will miss Omaha; I love what I’m doing there,” Father Taphorn said. “But I also see a great opportunity here to serve the Church, and maybe in

outlined in the settlement agreement, Tim O’Malley, archdiocesan director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, told Warner. He and Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Thomas Ring noted efforts already underway, including a healing circle that took place at Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis April 29 that Ring attended, along with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Janell Rasmussen, archdiocesan deputy director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. A similar event was held the same day at St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove.

The settlement agreement required the archdiocese to recommend that the plan for reorganization include a fund to support the cost of abuse survivors’ counseling. It did recommend that fund, O’Malley reported, but survivors’ attorneys asked that counseling funds not be segregated from survivors’ settlements, as survivors can determine individually whether or not to pursue counseling. The current plan does not include the counseling fund.

Speaking with reporters following the hearing, O’Malley and Rasmussen were asked whether members of the clergy have “opted out” of completing the Essential 3 requirements. They noted that about a dozen retired or ill priests and deacons did initially, with the understanding that it meant they could no longer exercise public ministry. None did in the last “E 3” compliance cycle, Rasmussen said.

According to the settlement agreement, Ramsey County will continue to monitor the archdiocese’s safe environment efforts until February 2020. The next six-month progress hearing has yet to be scheduled, but it will take place near the end of December.

The archdiocese entered into the settlement agreement in 2015 with Ramsey County on civil charges against the archdiocese alleging it was negligent in the case of three brothers who were sexually abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul in 2010 and 2011. The settlement agreement was amended in June 2016 when Ramsey County dismissed related criminal charges. a different way and maybe even in a larger way, in a certain sense. Priestly formation is very important, obviously, in the life of the Church. And so, it’s really a great privilege to be invited to participate in that.”

Father Taphorn said he believes the St. Paul Seminary is a strong and healthy place for priestly and spiritual formation and he values the work that is already being accomplished there. “I don’t come in with any sense that I’m the smartest guy in the room or that I have all the answers, but I do want to learn,” he said.

When he takes on his new role, he plans to implement a vision that came out of his experience working with college students.

“A number of men with me at the Newman Center have applied to the seminary and want to be seminarians, so it’s kind of taking that formation to the next level,” he said. “So, having worked with students at the undergraduate level, this is kind of exciting to be able to work with students as they continue to mature in their vocation.”

At the core of his work will be helping the seminarians and lay students grow in their faith and their relationship with God, he said.

“Ultimately, [at the seminary] we’re ordered towards forming men after the heart of Christ,” he said. “And so, I think holiness has to come above all.

It’s been said that the goal of priestly formation is intimate union with the Trinity. And so, I think that we have to put the spiritual life and that life of discipleship first.”

Father Taphorn replaces Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, who was appointed rector in 2005 and who as rector emeritus will continue to serve the seminary in the areas of advancement and community relations. He will also serve the archdiocese as one of the ministers for clergy and as vicar for retired priests.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Local parishes can celebrate Bl. Solanus Casey’s first feast day

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has received special permission for parishes in its boundaries to celebrate the first feast day for Blessed Solanus Casey, who has local ties, July 30. He was beatified Nov. 18, 2017.

“It’s a reminder to us all that saints are made of flesh and blood, and they are made of the same stuff as we are,” said Father John Paul Erickson, who until recently was the director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship.

Father Casey, a Capuchin priest in Detroit, was born in 1870 in Oak Grove, Wisconsin, about 15 miles east of Hastings. His uncle was pastor of St. Michael in Stillwater, where a young Solanus was confirmed. As a teenager, he was in the care of his priest-uncle and worked odd jobs in Stillwater, including at a lumber mill and brick kiln. A window at St. Michael bears his likeness.

Two of his brothers, Father Edward Casey and Father Maurice Casey, attended the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul and were priests of the archdiocese.

Father Erickson said local saints and “blesseds” — men and women who have been beatified but not yet canonized — remind people “that grace is present here, right here in our backyard” and “that we too can be saints.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda requested permission from the Vatican to include Father Casey’s feast day on the local liturgical calendar. While the feast days of canonized men and women are on the universal Church calendar, observance of “blessed” men and women’s feast days are typically restricted to places where a particular devotion to them has developed. The Archdiocese of Detroit and Capuchin-run parishes may also observe Father Casey’s feast this year. The observance includes special Mass prayers and supplemental prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours, or the daily prayers of the Church.

As an “optional memorial,” it can only be celebrated on a weekday, and a parish isn’t required to observe it.

July 30 is the eve of the anniversary of his death, July 31, 1957. An optional memorial couldn’t be celebrated July 31, Father Erickson explained, because that’s the non-optional feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality.

“You’re not going to bump Ignatius with Solanus,” Father Erickson said.

Father Casey didn’t take the spotlight in his earthly life either. He had simplex status as a priest, meaning he was not permitted to hear confessions or celebrate Mass due to his academic struggles in seminary. He served as the doorkeeper for the Monastery of St. Bonaventure in Detroit. People recognized his wisdom and holiness and came to him for guidance and prayer requests.

“Solanus Casey didn’t even have much status in the Church and yet he was the greatest of all ... of his Capuchin brothers,” said Vincenzo Randazzo, an evangelization manager for the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization, “and it didn’t really show until after he died and people recognized what an impact he had on everybody he had met at the door of St. Bonaventure’s and on Elliott Street in Detroit.”

Randazzo grew up in Detroit and often went to the Solanus Casey Center there to pray or go on retreat. He has a third-class relic of Father Casey and regularly asks for his intercession.

“He was a saint for the simple, and ... [his place] on the calendar should be a reminder to everybody for the importance of simplicity,” Randazzo said.

Deb Thielen, a parishioner of St. Michael in Stillwater, has felt the power of Father Casey’s witness. She attended his beatification Mass in Detroit, and she had been involved in a theater production about him. She looks forward to celebrating his feast day, and she considers it a blessing that it’s falling on the same day as her birthday.

“I think we need people to be totally aware of this man,” Thielen said. “He was at the door, and he was so holy that people flocked to him.”

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

JULY 26, 2018

Investing for more than money Anne Cullen Miller, president of the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota, joined Catholic leaders from around the world in Rome for the Third Vatican Conference on Impact Investing July 8-11. The conference was organized

by Catholic Relief Services and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The Catholic Spirit asked her to describe her experience and the difference impact investing makes.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q. What exactly is impact investing?

A. A concept that is oriented around the belief that our financial investments should be aligned with our values, and that investments can and should generate positive, measurable social and environmental benefits in addition to a financial return. At the conference, I heard it referred to as “caring ANNE capital.” It was also CULLEN MILLER defined as “a desire to model God’s economy, intentionally pursuing benefit for all affected by a transaction.” The late Father Theodore Hesburgh of the University of Notre Dame said it this way: “Lord, give bread to those who have hunger, and to those who have bread, give a hunger for social justice.”

Q. Why does the Church care?

A. The Church has had renewed interest in and accelerating energy for Catholic impact investing under Pope Francis’ leadership. He reminds us every day that we should never, ever forget about the poor among us. He also recognizes that the world is facing huge social and environmental challenges that institutional Church funding, government funding and philanthropy are insufficient to solve. Catholic impact investing is one way to come together as a community in response.

Q. CCF entered the area of impact

investing this year with a $3.5 million investment. Why, and what has that experience been like?

A. With leadership comes responsibility.

As the largest Catholic community foundation in the nation, it was important to me and to our board of directors that the Foundation continues along the continuum of living out our mission in alignment with Catholic social teaching. One way we have stretched to do that is by learning more about Catholic impact investing and ultimately entering into the field as an investor. It has been gratifying to discover that there are many more professional actors consulting and collaborating in this space than I had earlier imagined, and that there are numerous, high-quality options for investment.

Q. How is impact investing different from other kinds of CCF’s investing?

A. Impact investments made into

companies, organizations and funds are made with the intention to generate financial returns with an eye toward generating social and environmental advancements as well. Like traditional investing, they can be applied across asset classes, sectors and geographies, and they have a range of return expectations and risk profiles.

Q. How might what you learned from the conference affect CCF’s decisions?

A. Since the conference was attended by

leaders all around the globe who have developed expertise in the best way to use capital as a catalyst to advance social and financial impact, I feel the universe of possibilities by which to engage in the work have meaningfully expanded for CCF. Specifically, we now have more access to thought leaders in this space to consult with and learn from. Of course, I was also exposed to many new investment ideas that we will have an opportunity to consider further, should we determine there is fit and opportunity.

August 10, 11, 12, 2018

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

NATION+WORLD

Catholic agency must consider same-sex couples for foster care

By Matthew Gambino Catholic News Service A federal judge has swept away claims of religious discrimination by plaintiffs including Catholic Social Services of the Philadelphia Archdiocese and ruled the agency must provide home assessments for same-sex couples wishing to provide foster care for at-risk children in Philadelphia.

The Catholic agency’s leadership testified in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia that doing so would amount to approval of LGBT relationships.

Catholic teaching emphasizes respect and compassion for LGBT persons but opposes homosexual acts as contrary to God’s plan for human sexuality, which is reserved only for marriage between one man and one woman.

In a ruling late July 13, Judge Petrese Tucker denied a temporary restraining order that CSS had sought to resume referrals of foster children from the city’s Department of Human Services. DHS had frozen intake of new foster cases with CSS last May, no longer referring some of the 6,000 city children in need of care to CSS-affiliated foster parents.

The Becket Fund, which represents the plaintiffs, filed an appeal July 16 in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and moved for an injunction to resume foster-care placements to CSS, pending a new ruling on the case. Becket is a Washington-based nonprofit that specializes in cases concerning religious freedom.

Three foster mothers, Sharonell Fulton, Cecilia Paul and Toni Lynn Simms-Busch, had joined CSS in a federal lawsuit claiming religious discrimination by the city against the Catholic agency.

In her 64-page decision, Tucker ruled that the plaintiffs failed to present evidence of such discrimination, and that the contract requiring CSS to work with same-sex households under the city’s fair practices ordinance was binding.

Over three days of testimony in late June, witnesses for CSS and DHS officials explained how 30 state-approved foster care agencies, including CSS and the nonprofit Bethany Christian Services, are required to perform “home studies,” or assessments to certify the suitability of prospective foster parents.

James Amato, Philadelphia archdiocesan secretary of Catholic Human Services and head of CSS, testified that his agency’s long-standing practice was essentially to sidestep the issue of a Catholic agency potentially certifying a home led by a same-sex couple by passing the task on to one of 28 other secular foster care agencies in Philadelphia.

DHS suspended that practice for CSS in May and ceased referring new cases to it. Although the Catholic agency attempted to negotiate an exemption to continue referring home-study assessments for same-sex households to other secular agencies, DHS refused and demanded adherence to the city’s fair practices ordinance requiring CSS to

perform the assessments for all prospective foster parents, regardless of their relationships.

Unable to place any of the children through CSS, the agency led the lawsuit to seek relief from the courts.

“Foster children deserve loving homes, and foster parents like Fulton and Paul have been waiting with open arms to welcome them,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket.

“But the city has put politics above the children, and today the court allowed the city’s discriminatory actions to continue.”

During the evidentiary hearing June 18-21, Becket lawyers emphasized the high quality of care provided by Catholic foster parents and the support they receive from CSS, in accordance with its mission to offer optimum care for all children in need. The lawyers pointed to past public comments by Mayor Jim Kenney, himself a Catholic, that they characterized as hostile to the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

Plaintiffs’ counsel charged that by denying CSS an exemption according to past practice, DHS was targeting CSS “purely based on its religious beliefs” in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Act. Despite the arguments, Tucker cited numerous legal precedents and dismantled each of the claims of discrimination. Saying the plaintiffs “rely too heavily” on four comments by Kenney “to draw a sweeping conclusion that CSS has suffered impermissible hostility at the hands of the mayor,” Tucker added there was no evidence that he targeted CSS, and at any rate, his comments “are irrelevant to this case and cannot support plaintiffs’ claim of religious hostility and intentional targeting.” Tucker also wrote that the assertion by CSS that the city denied its exemption for home-study assessments of same-sex households as a sign of religious discrimination had no merit.

The referrals to other agencies “amount to CSS’s refusal to serve that same-sex couple,” a violation of the contract, in the judge’s view.

While the case now heads to the federal appellate courts, CSS’ foster care program appears in jeopardy if it does not comply with the ruling to certify same-sex foster parents.

As it has done for more than 100 years, CSS continues providing foster care to about 127 children a day with more than 100 families in Philadelphia.

That care is supported with $3.8 million annually from CSS with its own private funds in addition to $1.7 million annually in per diem payments from DHS. But without new referrals from the city, CSS foster care services will likely close “within a matter of months” with layoffs of 15 staff persons beginning perhaps as early as mid-July, Amato said in his testimony.

In recent years, similar Catholic agencies in Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and Illinois have stopped providing adoption or foster care services rather than violate Church teaching and place children with samesex or unmarried heterosexual couples.

SACRED SPACE

CNS | PAUL HARING

MIGRANTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cameroon, being pulled from the Mediterranean July 17 by rescuers from the Spanish organization Proactiva Open Arms. The organization said it also pulled from the water the dead bodies of a woman and a child.

The organization accused the Libyan coast guard of attacking the boat the refugees were on and leaving some of the migrants to die. A Libyan official said it intercepted a boat with 158 people on board July 16; the migrants were transferred to a coast guard vessel, given food and medical attention and returned to Libya. The boat was destroyed to prevent other smugglers from using it, the Libyans said.

After Proactiva accused the Italian government of being complicit in the abandonment of Josefa and in the deaths of the two people pulled from the sea, Salvini on Twitter accused the organization of “lies and insults” and said that what happened “confirms we are right: reducing the number of departures and arrivals means reducing deaths, reducing the earnings of those who speculate on clandestine immigration.”

Salvini, who has been deputy prime minister and interior minister since June 1, has insisted on a hardline policy limiting immigration. The policy relies both on turning migrants and refugees back to Libya and on forcing member countries of the European Union to

Workers restore the frescoes surrounding the Holy Stairs at the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs in Rome July 10. Vatican restorers are completing the final phase of a 20-year effort to restore 16th-century artwork at the sanctuary.

Tradition maintains that Jesus climbed the stairs when Pilate brought him before the crowd. Read the story at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

contribute to the care of migrants and refugees, who tend to reach land in Italy, Greece, Malta or Spain.

Like other Church commentators, Msgr. Robert Vitillo, the Geneva-based secretary-general of the International Catholic Migration Commission, noted how Salvini’s actions and comments came so close to the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ first trip outside of Rome as pope. The pope visited the island of Lampedusa, a major port for migrants and refugees, and he prayed there for the thousands of people who lost their lives at sea in the search for a better life.

“I am left with the haunting question cited by Pope Francis, ‘Cain, where is your brother?’” Msgr. Vitillo said. “While states and civil society have spent countless hours in consultations and negotiations, how many more precious and invaluable lives are being lost?

While we continue to fight over ‘burden sharing,’ how much do we recognize the contributions of refugees and migrants to host populations who welcome them? Why aren’t we talking about ‘resource sharing’ instead of ‘responsibility sharing’?”

As for the claim that rescuing the migrants entices people to set out, and make smugglers’ jobs easier since they increase the possibility of a safe passage, Msgr. Vitillo said people making that claim need to speak with refugees “who felt forced to leave their homelands in order to seek safety, security, freedom and dignity elsewhere.”

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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

HEADLINES uMichigan priest charged with embezzlement. Police found over $63,000 cash while searching the home of Father Jonathan Wehrle. Father Wehrle had already been charged with embezzling more than $5 million from a parish in Okemos, Michigan. uSainthood process opens for young Italian mother who refused cancer treatment that likely would have caused the death of her unborn baby. Chiara Corbella Petrillo, who chose the life of her unborn baby over her health in 2012, is being considered for canonization. The Diocese of Rome opened the late Italian woman’s cause. uPope calls for respect for migrants amid rising number of deaths at sea. Pope Francis exhorted world leaders to address the CNS migrants and refugees dying while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrant Project estimates 1,490 causalities this year. uNew revelation surfaces about cardinal; editorials take Church to task. As more allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick have come out in the New York Times, national Catholic publications have called out the Church for failing to eliminate clergy sexual abuse. uAfter investigation, pope accepts resignation of Honduran bishop. Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Juan José Pineda Fasquelle of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, Honduras July 20. The archdiocese had been investigated by the Vatican over alleged irregularities. u‘Prosperity gospel’ props up policies lacking compassion, journal says. In the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro and evangelical pastor Marcelo Figueroa critiqued the “prosperity gospel” that he sees U.S. President Donald Trump and fellow leaders and supporters embrace. Father Spadaro and Figueroa said it doesn’t promote the common good.

NATION+WORLD uCatholic physicians highlight lesser known dangers of contraceptive use.

Catholic Medical Association physicians and students have worked on a review of the effects of contraception, which will come out later this year. About 10.6 million women in the U.S. use the pill according to the Centers for Disease Control. u50 years later, deacons not fully understood but fully appreciated. The Catholic Church re-established the permanent diaconate in 1968, and the U.S. now has half as many permanent deacons as there are priests. Mary Gautier, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, shared her findings in “Word, Liturgy, Charity: The Diaconate in the U.S. Catholic Church, 19682018.” uAdoptive parents nervous after raids of Missionaries of Charity. The Indian government announced July 17 the inspection of the Missionaries of Charities’ work with adoption and child care. The Missionaries of Charity have been embroiled in a child trafficking scandal since the July 5 arrest of a Missionaries of Charity nun for child trafficking charges. uScottish university fires chaplain after reparation prayers for gay pride parade.

Glasgow Caledonian University fired Father Mark Morris, who publicly prayed for reparation for the Glasgow Pride parade July 16 at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Glasgow. The university committed to working with the Archdiocese of Glasgow to provide “chaplaincy support” at the school.

The university’s Catholic society objected to the dismissal of Father Morris. uCommunity celebrates beloved St. Kateri as “One among us.” Our Lady of Seven Sorrows parish in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada, a community that has many First Nations indigenous people, celebrated its fifth annual St. Kateri Gathering July 14. uCosta Rica, Nicaragua preparing to receive World Youth Day pilgrims. Costa Rica and Nicaragua dioceses, which neighbor Panama, have been getting ready to welcome 30,000 young people in

JULY 26, 2018

anticipation of World Youth Day in Panama City Jan. 22-27, 2019. uLetters urge Catholic officials to remove Indian bishop accused of rape. According to ucanews.com, a July 12 letter to Catholic Bishops Conference of India president Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai had 168 people requesting the removal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal. Bishop Mulakkal has been accused of raping a nun in 2014, which was reported to police June 29. uSpanish Church leaders criticize government plans on religion in schools.

Spain’s Catholic Church has expressed “deep concern” over the government’s plans to dismiss religion as a school subject and cut subsidies for Catholic schools. uEvangelizing, caring for others at core of deacons’ vocation, nuncio says. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., addressed that message to more than 1,300 permanent deacons at the National Diaconate Congress in New Orleans July 22-26. Wives and children of the deacons also attended the conference, which had a record 2,800 in attendance in celebrating the 50th year of the permanent diaconate’s restoration in the Church. uNicaraguan bishops pray for exorcism as violence continues. Police and paramilitaries have attacked churches and clergy for trying to protect populations protesting authoritarian rule. The bishops observed July 20 “as an act of atonement for the profanation carried out in recent months against God.” uCardinal prays Supreme Court will move to protect life in law. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called July 19 for a national prayer campaign effort that “the change in the U.S. Supreme Court will move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.” “As soon as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, pro-abortion groups began lobbying the U.S. Senate to reject any nominee who does not promise to endorse Roe v. Wade,” the cardinal said in a

Congratulations

statement. “While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does not support or oppose the confirmation of any presidential nominee, we can and should raise grave concerns about a confirmation process which is being grossly distorted by efforts to subject judicial nominees to a litmus test of support for Roe v. Wade. And we must pray.” uPope adds teen to list of saints to be declared during synod on youth. Pope Francis announced July 19 that he would declare Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio a saint Oct. 14, the same day he will canonize Blesseds Oscar Romero, Paul VI and four others. uCardinal: Guidelines needed for use of deconsecrated churches. The Vatican is helping organize an international conference meant to help dioceses work with their local communities in finding appropriate uses for decommissioned churches. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Vatican’s culture council, told reporters July 10 that former places of worship must retain some spiritual, social or cultural value within the community and that every possible effort must be made to safeguard the Church’s patrimony, for example, by transferring mobile assets to diocesan museums. Current criteria for guiding this process, he said, “are too generic.” uU.S. Church officials favor balance of priests, laity in marriage prep. Catholic leaders around the U.S. have shown disagreement with a Vatican official’s claim that priests “have no credibility” to prepare couples for marriage. uPope Francis approves USCCB delegates for October’s Synod of Bishops. Pope Francis has selected five bishops from the U.S. for the Synod of Bishops Oct. 3-28, which will discuss young people, the USCCB announced July 23. Bishops include Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles.

– Catholic News Service Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.

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JULY 26, 2018 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

9

Learning& loving ‘Humanae Vitae’ at 50

At the end of July 1968, Blessed Paul VI promulgated “Humanae Vitae” — ­ “Of Human Life” — with the subtitle “On the regulation of birth.” It reaffirmed the Church’s longstanding teaching on the immorality of artificial birth control, articulated procreation and unity as the two inseparable ends of marriage, and outlined a vision for “responsible parenthood” that included the use of natural family planning, or working with a wife’s natural fertility cycles to avoid or achieve pregnancy. The encyclical was immediately controversial, but five decades have given a new context to the document, especially with St. John Paul II’s reflections on sex and marriage now known as the “theology of the body.” In this special section, The Catholic Spirit explores the content, historical context and practical implications of the landmark encyclical. iSTOCK | PIMONOVA

Bishop Cozzens spotlights ‘Humanae Vitae’

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

F

ifty years ago, Blessed Paul VI articulated the gift of the Church’s positive vision of human sexuality in the encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” and its message is a stark contrast to the false vision of sexuality that society promotes, said Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens. An example of that “false vision,” he said, can be found along Minnesota highways in the form of billboards advertising vasectomies.

The billboards portray a middle-age couple with the woman embracing the man as both smile. “Easy Vasectomy” runs across the top with bullet points: “no scalpel,” “no needle,” “low cost.”

“For me, it captures a little bit about the way our society views sex, and the results of the view of this on our society,” Bishop Cozzens told a group of more than 50 young adults at the Basilica of St. Mary in Watch Bishop Cozzens’ Minneapolis June 28. “Let’s just step back and ask ourselves, ‘Has homily at archspm.org/ it been so great?’ ... This idea humanaevitae50. that sex could be no pressure, no fear of pregnancy and only amount to the expression of my love for that person — has that actually produced the results that society says?”

Bishop Cozzens encouraged such questions for reflection in one of several presentations he’s giving this year during the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” the landmark 1968 papal encyclical on human sexuality and the regulation of birth, a response to questions about population growth, the rising use of artificial contraception and the advent of the birth control pill.

It prophetically stated what would happen to society if contraceptive use became widespread, Bishop Cozzens said.

“I think people don’t realize the damage they do to themselves when they stray away from God’s plan,” said Jenessa Wieser, 24, a parishioner of the Basilica who attended Bishop Cozzens’ presentation. “When we harden our hearts, it’s difficult for us to know what it is or to pretend that it’s not, but the damage is still done.”

Bishop Cozzens said he wants to highlight the importance of this anniversary because of the harm done to society by the prevalence of contraception. He has partnered with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life. He gave his first presentation in a homily at St. Stephen in Minneapolis May 8.

“It’s one of the areas where our Catholic faith is most radical, that is, we stand out as Catholics by our declaration that contraception is morally evil,” Bishop Cozzens said in his homily. “Very few other Christians even make this declaration.”

“Humanae Vitae” caused a worldwide stir among Catholic laity and leadership alike and remains a point of debate today.

Despite some Catholics’ expectations, the document upheld a longstanding Church teaching that contraception use is always gravely immoral, and that “each and every marital act” must remain open to the transmission of life.

At the time of the document’s promulgation, there were many laity and clergy who considered the teaching too challenging, Bishop Cozzens said in an interview with The Catholic Spirit. “Many well-meaning people thought that,” he said. “My experience is many people who have dissented from this teaching dissented from it not based on principle, but based on practice.”

When speaking to the Basilica Young Adults, Bishop Cozzens presented the dichotomy between the prophecies of “Humanae Vitae” and the broken promise of the sexual revolution.

In “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI outlined consequences of society’s widespread use of contraception. He said it would lead to more marital infidelity and a “general lowering of morality.”

“He didn’t use the words ‘#MeToo,’ but he may as well have,” Bishop Cozzens said of Pope Paul VI. “The #MeToo movement is proof that Pope Paul VI was right. He says [that] the man will lose respect for the woman and no longer care for her physical and psychological equilibrium, and will come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.”

Bishop Cozzens said the explosion of pornography, prostitution and sex trafficking in society are consequences of widespread contraception use. Divorce rates, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases have also skyrocketed in the past five decades.

Upon the release of the birth control pill in the 1960s, Bishop Cozzens said, Planned Parenthood promised that the pill would increase sexual intercourse in marriage without the risk of conception, lower divorce rates, reduce teen pregnancy and result in fewer abortions.

“So here we are 50 years later. They made these promises.

Did any of them come true?” Bishop Cozzens asked the crowd. “Is it possible to imagine that we could saturate the society even more with contraception and actually have these promises come true?”

Wieser, who works as a project manager for a digital agency, sees something missing among her peers who have bought into popular culture’s view of sexuality.

“I think that is an indication that there is a loneliness, that there is an emptiness that everyone is experiencing when you don’t have God at the center of your life,” she said. “When God is not at the center, there is emptiness because the only thing left is selfishness.”

Bishop Cozzens also explained that Pope Paul VI wrote about a natural way for couples to postpone pregnancy known as natural family planning, or NFP. Its methods work with a woman’s natural fertility cycles.

PLEASE TURN TO COZZENS ON PAGE 13

Experts: Encyclical rooted in Church’s respect for human dignity

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Fifty years ago, an encyclical was released affirming a long-held teaching of the Catholic Church, yet it became one of the most controversial encyclicals in recent Church history.

Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (“Of Human Life”), subtitled “On the Regulation of Birth,” reaffirmed the Church’s moral teaching on the sanctity of life, married love, the procreative and unitive nature of conjugal relations, responsible parenthood and its rejection of artificial contraception.

Pope Paul VI in “Humanae Vitae” said that the only licit means of regulating birth is natural family planning. In the document, he asked scientists to improve natural family planning methods “providing a sufficiently secure basis for a regulation of birth founded on the observance of natural rhythms.”

At the time of its release, it was greeted with protests and petitions. But the 50th anniversary has been marked by conferences, lectures and academic discussions as theologians, clergy, family life ministers and university professors have explored what its teachings mean for the 21st-century Church.

Pope Paul VI issued “Humanae Vitae” as artificial contraception, particularly the birth control pill, began to become commonplace. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Enovid — the pill — in May 1960 after tests on nearly 900 women through more than 10,000 fertility cycles showed no significant side effects.

Initially, many thought the pope might support the use of artificial contraception, especially after a majority of members on a papal commission studying the issue approved a draft PLEASE TURN TO HISTORY ON PAGE 14

HUMAN

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Embracing natural family planning In “Humanae Vitae,” Blessed Paul VI addressed “recourse to infertile periods,” or married couples avoiding the possibility of conception by restricting intercourse to the infertile phase of the wife’s natural cycle.

“If ... there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral principles [outlined earlier in the document],” he wrote.

Known as natural family planning or NFP, this use of knowledge of the wife’s fertility cycles to avoid — or achieve — pregnancy has been found to be highly effective and continues to be scientifically studied. It is practiced through several slightly differing “methods” — such as the sympto-thermal model or Creighton Model — which rely on a woman’s biological fertility indicators, which couples chart to identify regular patterns in her fertility cycle. For many couples, advances in technology, including phone apps and “wearables” such as Tempdrop, have increased the ease of identifying and charting these indicators.

Behind the science and technology, however, are always two people who are discerning together whether or how they should practice NFP, what constitutes their “well-grounded reasons,” and how “being open to life” affects their trust in God and his love and care for them — and their family. While acknowledging that using NFP is not always easy and involves significant sacrifices at times, many couples say NFP is a lifestyle, and it profoundly affects their view of human sexuality, God’s generosity and the inherent gift of children.

The Catholic Spirit asked eight couples from around the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who use NFP to describe their journey. The stories were written

by Bridget Ryder. Couples provided their photos.

— The Catholic Spirit

‘Humanae Vitae’ on ‘responsible parenthood’ “Married love, therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood. Thus, we do well to consider responsible parenthood in the light of its varied legitimate and interrelated aspects.

“With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their proper functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws that apply to the human person.

“With regard to man’s innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man’s reason and will must exert control over them.

“With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.

“Responsible parenthood, as we use the term here, has one further essential aspect of paramount importance. It concerns the objective moral order which was established by God, and of which a right conscience is the true interpreter. In a word, the exercise of responsible parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right order of priorities, recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human society.

“From this it follows that they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator. The very nature of marriage and its use makes his will clear, while the constant teaching of the Church spells it out.”

— “Humanae Vitae,” 9-10

Feels like teamwork

I

t was just two weeks before her wedding, and Shawna Wicker was in a panic about natural family planning. She and her now husband, Isaac Wicker, needed to learn how to practice it.

They knew they didn’t want to use contraception, but they wanted to wait to have children since they were both planning on attending graduate school.

Luckily, they found a family friend who taught the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.

“It was clear she cared a lot about our relationship,” Shawna said.

She not only taught them the ins-and-outs of tracking the body’s fertility indicators, but she also helped them look at the health of their relationship and use NFP to strengthen their marriage. Now every night Isaac tracks Shawna’s fertility signs on the chart that hangs in their closet.

“It feels like such teamwork,” Shawna said.

Practicing NFP has also brought an intense intentionality to the 26-year-olds’ relationship, they said.

“Communication and decision making has been core to practicing NFP,” Isaac said. “We have to look at our lives and relationship in the whole picture because it affects our future.”

For the first couple years of their marriage, they avoided pregnancy. They discovered that periods of sexual abstinence were difficult, but they didn’t negatively affect their relationship. On the contrary, the spouses learned to love each other in other ways.

“It was never a hindrance to our relationship,” Shawna said of NFP. “It was something that we were in together and it helped us to be more intentional about our future and our plans.”

Since they’ve decided they wanted to try to conceive, NFP has also helped them work through health challenges. After nine months without a positive pregnancy test, Shawna took her fertility chart to a physician trained in NaPro Technology, which is based on the science that informs the Creighton NFP model. The physician immediately diagnosed endometriosis, a disease where cells from the uterine lining grow outside the uterus and can cause infertility. Through surgery last spring, the diagnosis was confirmed and the disease removed.

The couple were parishioners at St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis before they moved to Illinois last August for Isaac to attend graduate school. They plan to return to the Twin Cities when he graduates.

Charting for health

R

enee and Matthew Oakes hoped for a large family when they got married 16 years ago, but health and fertility issues made it difficult for them to conceive. Thanks to medical interventions based in the science and research related to natural family planning, the parishioners of St. Michael in Stillwater have three children, ages 14, 9 and 3.

“If you can get your health back, it’s worth it,” Renee said. “We were lucky to [even] get two babies out of it.”

Since adolescence, Renee, 39, had struggled with multiple, seemingly unsolvable, health issues. With the help of a local physician trained in NaPro Technology, a system of medical interventions for fertility and women’s health based on the Creighton Model of NFP, she achieved her first pregnancy two years into their marriage. Then they went three years without conceiving followed by three consecutive miscarriages.

“The periods when I thought we would never conceive were soul crushing,” Renee said.

Her local doctor referred her to Dr. Thomas Hilgers at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Nebraska, who developed NaPro Technology. He took one look at her NFP charts and started to discern the health issues that had made her both constantly fatigued and infertile. Testing confirmed that she had Hashimotos, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid. Hilgers also suspected endometriosis, a disease where cells like those from the lining of the uterus grow outside the uterus, a condition that can be very painful and cause infertility.

In 2007, Renee underwent a surgery that removed the disease. Meanwhile, diagnosing and treating her thyroid condition not only improved her fertility but also her overall health. She regained her energy after years of suffering from chronic fatigue.

“It’s very revealing how much of a difference a doctor like Hilgers can make,” said Matthew, 42.

“I know for sure we wouldn’t have the kids without NFP.” In the midst of addressing Renee’s health problems, they also discovered that Matthew had low fertility.

For him, Hilgers recommended supplements. Through their fertility struggles, they say using NFP has also brought them closer together as a couple and improved their communication.

Renee admits that she gets tired of constantly charting her biological fertility indicators, but it’s necessary for monitoring her health and getting the right interventions in place as soon as she becomes pregnant. Because of her experience, Renee is now helping other women and couples as a Creighton model NFP instructor.

NAEVITAE50

One child at a time

W

hen Teresa and Robert Donette married 19 years ago, they initially struggled to conceive.

“When we really had to dial in and figure out Teresa’s fertile times, natural family planning was a gift to understand how the body works,” Robert said.

“By the grace of God, things went right.”

Robert, 45, had learned about NFP from the family of a childhood friend. What he saw in his friend’s family contrasted strongly with his own home.

“I grew up in a nominally Catholic home and watched my parents’ marriage dissolve,” he said.

Though he can’t attribute the happiness of his friend’s home entirely to NFP, as he later learned about the low divorce rates among couples who use NFP and the health risks associated with artificial contraception, he knew he wanted to practice NFP in his own future marriage. Robert introduced Teresa to NFP, and she was happy to go on the adventure with him.

The parishioners of St. Timothy in Maple Lake now have 10 children, ages 5 months to 16.

The large family is not something they planned, but they consider it a gift. After the birth of their third child, the couple thought they might not have any more children. Teresa, now 42, had been diagnosed with a condition that caused antibodies to form during pregnancy that would attack the developing child. Despite the diagnosis, every subsequent pregnancy went smoothly.

“We kept taking it one child at a time, and we’ve gotten to 10,” she said.

As their family has grown, the Donettes have taken joy in seeing the unique personality of each child.

They admit that having a large family comes with sacrifices, both for themselves and their children.

Their children cannot play every sport or participate in every school activity they’d like, and they have to lend a hand with household chores, including the mountain of laundry that a large household generates. But as Teresa and Robert witness to them the joy that openness to life brings and the value of work and family, their children have happily embraced those values, too, the couple said.

JULY 26, 2018 • 11

Taking a different path

L

uke Carlson has learned that “when you make plans, God laughs.” He and his wife, Kristin, started their marriage 10 years ago practicing natural family planning because they wanted to be open to life and to God’s plan for their marriage.

Initially, their plan and God’s plan seemed to coincide perfectly.

“Our first two pregnancies felt very planned. We felt very ready. Our other two pregnancies have been unplanned and it was shocking,” Kristin said. “It wasn’t a low, but it took us down a different path.”

When her youngest was born a year ago, they had to make major adjustments in their lives. Kristin, 36, left her career as a dietician to care full time for their children, and Luke, 35, took extra jobs in addition to his full-time work as a teacher to make up for the lost income. Kristin felt guilty for not helping provide for the family economically, but Luke reassured her.

“He always told me, ‘We’re in this together,’” she said.

Kristin also had to go through a “learning curve” in her transition away from her career. Meeting other “stay-at-home-moms” at their parish, Annunciation in Minneapolis, as well as the affirmation from older mothers that she will never regret giving this time to her children, helped her settle into her life at home.

She now focuses her passion to help others and her skills as a dietician toward her family and friends. She has also taken advantage of her time at home with her children to attend daily Mass and become more involved in their parish. Luke is proud to see how much assistance and kindness she shows towards others.

Initially, the couple wasn’t sure that they could make it financially without Kristin’s income, but a year later they are financially stable and feel abundantly blessed, despite the sacrifices they have had to make.

“We’ve probably been happier in the last year than we’ve ever been,” Kristin said.

“If you work hard and put your trust in the Lord, he’ll give you back more,” Luke said. “It’s been a humbling experience.”

‘A beautiful surprise’

K

arina Sanchez didn’t want to use contraceptives.

“I wanted to use natural family planning, first for my relationship with God, and also because of the damage that contraceptives can do to me,” she explained.

Her husband, Cero Sanchez, agreed, and the couple started their marriage using the Billings Ovulation Method three years ago. Six months later, they had a surprise: Karina was pregnant.

“Our daughter wasn’t ‘planned,’” Karina said, making air quotations with her fingers, “but she was a beautiful surprise.”

Having their daughter also brought them closer together.

After her birth, they decided to learn the symptothermal method through the Couple to Couple League. Karina, 29, appreciates the teamwork that they learned through this method, where the husband is encouraged to participate in the daily tracking of his wife’s fertility. Every morning, Cero, 27, takes Karina’s basal body temperature — a person’s lowest daily body temperature — and he records her observations of her body that she reports to him in the evening.

Cero admits that, in the beginning, understanding the method seemed complicated and confusing, but now it’s just part of daily life. In fact, he learned it so well that the couple are now Couple to Couple League teachers.

“Supposedly, I’m the one who talks more,” Karina said. “But it’s really him who gives the majority of the class. I’m really proud my husband can teach this.”

Parishioners of St. Raphael in Crystal, the Sanchezes teach in their native Spanish, and they focus on the St. Cloud area, where there are no other NFP classes available in Spanish.

Now the parents of a 9-month-old and a 3-year-old, they also believe that natural family planning was a good preparation for parenting because it helped them learn to pay attention to each other, they said.

HUMANAEVITAE50

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

A husband’s change of heart

T

hree things happened the year Angelica Campuzo-Rojo-Clemente turned 23. She started a new job at a call center that, ironically, did intakes for a class action lawsuit against the Mirena Intrauterine Device. She also went on a retreat that led to a conversion of heart and the removal of her own Mirena IUD. Finally, at the same call center, she met her husband, Jonathan Clemente Torres. It all culminated in the couple, parishioners at Epiphany in Coon Rapids, starting their marriage three years ago with Angelica staunchly leading them in using natural family planning.

“In the beginning it was hard, but I have my weapons — prayer,” Angelica said.

Angelica taught herself the Billings Ovulation Method through YouTube, but despite their intentions to initially avoid pregnancy, they were soon expecting their first child. Four months after their daughter’s birth, she was pregnant again. The couple also struggled in their marriage: Jonathan resented quickly having two children, and Angelica took her own stress out on him. Then a friend suggested they take a class on the sympto-thermal method of NFP through the Couple to Couple League.

At the class, the instructor offered them the opportunity not only to learn it for themselves but also to become teachers. Angelica loved the idea, and a reluctant Jonathan went along with it. Angelica could tell he was disengaged, though, and when she needed to stay home with a sick child on the second night of class, she started to think that it wasn’t the right time for her to get involved in teaching NFP. To her surprise, Jonathan decided to go to class without her.

“I was mad, but then all of a sudden I was driving to class,” he said.

He can’t say exactly what impelled him to go that evening, but his attitude started to change. He became an exemplary student and even surpassed his wife in knowledge of the method. That winter he also took over child care when he was laid off from his construction job for several weeks. Spending all day with his children and watching them play together, he realized what a gift the brother and sister were to each other — and to him. He stopped regretting not being able to travel or have a nicer car because of having children.

“Those things are material. You do them and they’re gone,” he said. “Kids are part of you.”

Using the sympto-thermal method also helped their marriage. The Couple to Couple League teaches couples to work together to track fertility. One of the husband’s jobs is to take his wife’s basal body temperature, a fertility indicator, each morning. The small interaction smoothed over the rough patches of daily life. When Jonathan put the thermometer in Angelica’s mouth in the morning, they couldn’t help but laugh over whatever it was that they were fighting about the night before. The couple, both 27, are happily anticipating the birth of their third child in July.

Discernment and providence

J

aqueline and Joshua Barten started off their marriage in a whirlwind of change and uncertainty. They married in 2004 just in time to move to Germany where Joshua was stationed at a military base awaiting deployment to Iraq.

“We didn’t think it was prudent to get pregnant right away,” Joshua said.

They decided to use natural family planning to avoid pregnancy. Then, as often happens in the military, plans changed. Joshua’s deployment was delayed by a year-and-a-half, though he spent most of that time away from Jaqueline traveling with his unit.

It was an emotional time for the couple as they dealt with military life, their own emotions around having children, and Jaqueline’s struggle to find employment for herself.

“We definitely questioned whether we were discerning it right,” Joshua recalled.

As Joshua’s deployment finally approached, they decided they wanted to try to conceive, but their last two weeks together coincided with Jaqueline’s infertile time. They took this as a sign of God’s providence for them to wait to have children. After Joshua returned from his yearlong deployment, their hopes for a child were fulfilled right away and they soon had a daughter. Less than a year later, their second daughter was born.

Parishioners of St. Bridget of Sweden in Lindstrom, the couple undertakes a discernment process of prayer and discussion each time they consider conceiving.

They have found it a powerful tool both in their married life and for being open to anything that God is asking of them. Carefully considering having another child is something they find necessary for their personalities and for their lifestyle. Practicing ecological breastfeeding and co-sleeping means their children are always with them.

“We take on a lot with our children and also with work and the community,” said Joshua, 37.

At the same time, they have learned that God’s hand is guiding them even beyond what they discern.

When they had decided they were ready for a third child, they were surprised that it took six months for them to conceive, but in the end the timing of the birth of their third daughter couldn’t have been better.

They now have four children, ages 10, 9, 5 and 3.

After the birth of their youngest child, they discerned for years about having a fifth. They’re now open to another child, but not yet pregnant.

Through practicing NFP, they have found themselves becoming more and more open to life, they said.

“I think sometimes we can get into a trap of, ‘Absolutely not. We’re done,’” Joshua said in regard to having more children. He now finds himself open to the possibility of more than five children.

Meanwhile, Jaqueline, 36, has started to wonder, “Why not be more open to life?” and to be less concerned about following the rules to avoid pregnancy, trusting that God is ultimately in control.

JULY 26, 2018

Learning to trust

H

ad it not been for two incidents, Paulette Kostick would have gone on artificial birth control “like everyone else” when she got engaged to her now-husband of 27 years, Jim Kostick.

First, she and a friend happened to read the entire pamphlet on birth control when it fell out of her friend’s pack of pills one day, revealing the medication’s entire list of side effects. Then, one of Paulette’s physical therapy patients nearly died from a side effect of her oral contraception.

The Kosticks, now both 53, decided to use a barrier method of contraception when they married.

But something didn’t feel right.

Catholic physicians “Here I am on our wedding night highlight lesser known thinking, dangers of contraceptive ‘Something’s wrong use at TheCatholicSpirit.com. here.’ I just gave myself to this man and there’s this barrier between us,” Paulette recalled.

Then, three months into their marriage, he suggested they stop using condoms. The idea terrified Paulette. It flashed through her mind that she could take oral contraceptives without him knowing it, but instead, she decided to trust her husband and taught herself the Billings Ovulation Method of natural family planning. It was a turning point in their marriage. However, shortly thereafter they discovered Paulette was unexpectedly pregnant.

When they moved to Pennsylvania from Utah a short time later, they found a community of other young Catholic couples who had also embraced NFP. They were also introduced to the symptothermal method and the Couple to Couple League.

Paulette was drawn in by the science of the sympto-thermal method and how “normal” the other Catholic families they met were. With this support, they embraced NFP as a lifestyle and started to understand the Church’s teachings on openness to life.

Parishioners at St. Paul in Ham Lake, the Kosticks now have eight children ages 9 to 26 and teach NFP with the Couple to Couple League.

Their “openness to life” has not always been easy, though.

“There was a time when after the birth of our fourth child [that] I was just so depleted. We practiced a lot of abstinence,” Paulette said.

These times showed her how committed Jim was to her and their marriage. Remaining faithful to the Church through NFP has also given them more moral authority with their children, they said.

However, they have also come to dislike the term “natural family planning.”

“It makes it seem like you are in control,” Jim said.

“Now I see it more as, ‘God what is your will for me and my family?’” Paulette said. “I learned that through NFP because I had to break my own will.”

JULY 26, 2018

HUMANAEVITAE50

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

Dioceses: ‘Humanae Vitae’ shows beauty of family

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

T

he Church’s teaching on artificial contraception and the role of procreation in marriage isn’t about difficult-to-follow rules in the eyes of Alice Heinzen, a veteran of marriage and family ministry in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Heinzen told Catholic News Service the long-held teaching found in Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, “Humanae Vitae” (“Of Human Life”), is about understanding the beauty of family as created by God. Heinzen, director of the diocese’s Office for Marriage and Family, said the document forms the foundation for St. John Paul II’s “theology of the body” and is a cornerstone of Pope Francis’ call to accompany people in their faith journey as they experience the mystery of God. In La Crosse, the diocese has made natural family planning classes a mandatory part of its marriage preparation program. Heinzen called it a natural development that flowed from the encyclical and St. John Paul’s teaching.

Theology of the body is based on a series of 129 talks the pope gave during the first five years of his pontificate. The talks shed light on the human body and the sexual relationship that, supporters say, open up people to Christ’s invitation to life-giving love.

NFP involves the monitoring by a married couple of the various biological signs indicating a woman’s time of fertility and infertility. It can be used both to avoid pregnancy or to aid in becoming pregnant.

Pope Paul VI in “Humanae Vitae” said that the only licit means of regulating birth is natural family planning. In the document he asked scientists to improve NFP methods “providing a sufficiently secure basis for a regulation of birth founded on the observance of natural rhythms.” In the past 50 years there has been an explosion of research into NFP methods.

The La Crosse program focuses on why the Church teaches what it teaches when it comes to artificial contraception rather than focusing on strict instructions on what the Church requires, Heinzen explained.

Responding in follow-up

questionnaires, couples, she said, have come to see the value of the teaching even if they delay or decide never to incorporate natural family planning practices into their lives.

“It’s the accompaniment we are providing. Even if they say this [NFP] is ridiculous in an age of technology, we realize it’s a person that has yet to open their eyes to the beauty of the teaching.

We pose questions for them to consider.

We gently, charitably challenge,” said Heinzen, who with her husband, Jeff, were auditors for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family in 2014.

For years though, diocesan and parish marriage and family ministry programs have been stressing that Pope Paul VI’s message upholding the Church’s long-standing prohibition on artificial birth control can be meaningful for couples and help them become closer to God. The challenge facing the Church is that the encyclical itself is rarely addressed by priests, and as a result it is little known, especially among young adults.

While NFP classes are mandatory in only a dozen dioceses, it is taught just about everywhere. In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, NFP instruction for engaged couples is recommended but not mandated, but some parishes require couples to take an introductory class.

Dominic Lombardi, executive director of the Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, knows it’s difficult to share a message that few have heard, especially one that diverges from the values of mainstream culture.

That makes the encyclical an important document for the life of the Church even if it gets scant attention from the pulpit, he said.

Marriage preparation programs offer a good place to “sow a seed” with young engaged couples, he said, adding that married couples living the teaching can be the inspiration for others.

“Then the Church should accompany couples and this witness for married life.

You could say these couples who have lived out the freedom of ‘Humanae Vitae,’ they really are missionary couples,” Lombardi said.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic

LOCAL RESOURCES Multiple organizations around the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis offer guidance and support for learning and using natural family planning. The archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life provides more information about those resources in English and Spanish at archspm.org. uTwin Cities FertilityCare Center: Founded in 1975, the center has been teaching the Creighton model for most of its history. The model has developed into a means for monitoring a woman’s reproductive health in addition to assisting in avoiding or achieving pregnancy.

Celebrating the Dignity of Human Life…

HUMANAE VITAE 1968-2018

Catholic Health Association of Minnesota

uCouple to Couple League: CCL offers in-person classes in the archdiocese but also offers live and self-paced online classes. CCL uses the sympto-thermal method, which tracks fertility through observing cervical mucus, basal body temperature and cervical changes. uAALFA Family Clinic: The White Bear Lake medical clinic provides Creighton model instruction and OB-GYN care. uBillings Ovulation Method Association: The method determines fertility levels through cervical mucus observations. Couples can take the classes online, but instructors are available in central Minnesota. BOMA-USA is based in St. Cloud. uFamily of the Americas: The organization’s website provides information and products for using the ovulation method, which is based on observing natural signs of fertility and infertility.

— Matthew Davis

Bioethics Center, said that parish-based programs that share Church teaching on marriage and artificial contraception will have the longest-standing impact. He urged priests to begin to address the teaching more often.

“I understand the challenge some priests feel in terms of speaking about this publicly,” Father Pacholczyk told CNS. “But I will often encourage priests to at least mention the teaching. There’s certainly places where it certainly should be part of the discussion as part of marriage programs.”

Pro-Life Healthcare for your Family Paul Spencer, D.O. v

Mary Paquette, M.D.

COZZENS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 “Natural family planning is not what most people call the ‘rhythm method.’

That was the earliest version,” Bishop Cozzens said.

“Thankfully, we have modern science applied to human fertility that allows us to understand what natural family planning is. One can regulate sexual activity either to try to conceive a child or if necessary, for a grave reason, to avoid conceiving a child.”

Bishop Cozzens said it differs from contraception because it “actually requires discipline” and chastity. He added that Pope Paul VI wrote that such discipline helps “husband and wife develop their personalities, be enriched with spiritual values” and “strengthens who you are and makes you able to make more of a gift of yourself.” It makes a

marriage stronger, Bishop Cozzens explained.

“This is why the ‘easy vasectomy’ is not so easy,” he said. “What it actually does is it gives you permission to give free reign to your selfishness, and that’s not going to strengthen your love.”

Bishop Cozzens said the spacing of children is a matter of discernment for families, and that the Church trusts them with that responsibility. Many of the questions from the young adults following the talk related to questions of spacing and family size, which the Church also leaves open to discernment.

One young adult asked what constitutes a “serious reason” to use NFP to delay having a child or more children.

Bishop Cozzens said that takes serious, prayerful discernment for the couple. It could be related to economic reasons, health or education, he added.

“I think it would have to be something that would be damaging to myself, my spouse or my current children,” Bishop Cozzens said about serious reasons. “In other words, it has to be a greater good I’m protecting [by avoiding pregnancy].”

Young adults in attendance said they appreciated the bishop’s insight and guidance in exploring one of the Church’s most challenging teachings.

“I thought that the way the bishop talked about all of this really led a receptive audience to asking some really tough questions,” said Grace Kane, 25, a law school student at the University of Iowa. “I appreciated gaining the knowledge and also being in an environment where we can openly and freely and without guilt ask questions that we’ve seen in our life, in our work [and] whatever else we do outside of the Church.”

v

Matthew Paquette, M.D. v

Kathleen Kobbermann, M.D. v

Matthew Anderson, M.D., OB/GYN v

Cheryl McKee, PA-C MPAS v

Patrick Spencer, FNP-C v

Sarah Slattery, PA-C 4465 White Bear Parkway White Bear Lake, MN 55110 Phone 651.653.0062 Fax 651.653.0288 www.aalfafamily.com

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

UPCOMING EVENTS uProphetic Truths: ‘Humanae Vitae’ — Then and Now: The Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul is marking the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae” with a summer workshop to reflect on its teaching and discuss its contemporary implications.

The event will be 9 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Aug. 18 at McNeely Hall, Room 100, 2115 Summit Ave. Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm will celebrate Mass at 8:15 a.m. at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas and offer a keynote address during the event. The day will also include small group discussions, breakout sessions and a panel discussion.

Admission is $25 and includes a continental breakfast, box lunch and a copy of “Humanae Vitae.” For more information and to register, visit stthomas.edu/sienasymposium. uContraception — Why Not? Rethinking ‘Humanae Vitae’ in 2018: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life is organizing a daylong event and evening presentation Oct. 22 examining how “Humanae Vitae” affirms traditional Church moral teaching on the sanctity of life and marriage’s procreative and unitive nature. Speakers include Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Janet Smith and Mary Eberstadt. Registration will open soon. The daytime session will run 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. and include a continental breakfast and lunch. Cost TBD. The free 7–9 p.m. evening session will include a condensed version of the daytime program. The event is cosponsored by the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, University of St. Thomas’ Department of Catholic Studies and St. Thomas’ Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture. For more information, visit archspm.org/humanaevitae50.

SAVE THE DATE! Monday, October 22 University of St. Thomas

Contraception – Why Not? Rethinking Humanae Vitae in 2018 with Bishop Andrew Cozzens Dr. Janet Smith Mary Eberstadt Dr. Robert Fastiggi Dr. Maureen Condic Registration will open soon at archspm.org/humanaevitae50

HUMANAEVITAE50

JULY 26, 2018

With Binz and Shannon, ‘Humanae Vitae’ shaped local Church legacy The formation of — and fallout from — “Humanae Vitae” was an intimate affair for leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Among the three American bishops who served on the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission on Population, Family and Birth-rate — popularly known as the “birth control commission” — was Archbishop Leo Binz of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who maintained throughout the commission that every contraceptive act was wrong. Archbishop Binz never spoke publicly about his involvement in the commission, according to former auxiliary Bishop James Shannon.

When “Humanae Vitae” was issued, Archbishop Binz was ill, and Coadjutor Archbishop Leo Byrne was leading the archdiocese. Upon its publication, Archbishop Byrne issued a statement in

which he said,“It is obvious that during the period of deep consideration there were some individual opinions at variance with the tradition of the Church. Actually, what the Holy Father said in this statement was only a reaffirmation of the teaching of the Church through many, many centuries on this very important matter.”

Despite Archbishop Byrne’s clear affirmation of the teaching, some members of the local clergy remained skeptical. On Aug. 12, 1968, about 150 priests met at the St. Paul Seminary to discuss the document. Central topics reportedly included questions around conscience and compassionate counsel for Catholic couples. Ninety-one priests signed an open letter to Archbishops Binz and Byrne that questioned the document’s conclusions.

HISTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 document in 1966 endorsing the principle of freedom for Catholic couples to decide for themselves about the means of regulating births.

The document proposed that artificial birth control was not intrinsically evil and said under specific circumstances, Catholic couples could use contraceptives in good conscience. It was supported by 64 of the 69 commission members who voted on it, including nine of its 16 episcopal members.

The document was intended for the pope only, but it was leaked to the press, which heightened expectations of a major change in Church teaching.

Pope Paul VI rejected the majority’s recommendations and, instead, upheld traditional Church teaching on artificial contraception. The text of the document thanked the commission experts but added that the pope thought its proposed solutions “departed from the moral teaching on marriage proposed with constant firmness by the teaching authority of the Church.”

Opposition to the encyclical erupted throughout the Church after the document’s release. Some clergy in the U.S. and Europe openly voiced disagreement and thousands of lifelong Catholics Learn what the Vatican left the Church.

Secret Archives revealed Among the most prominent about the writing of opponents were 87 teaching ‘Humanae Vitae’ at theologians from American TheCatholicSpirit.com. seminaries and Catholic universities. They responded with their own statement, arguing that because the encyclical was not an infallible teaching, married couples in good conscience could use artificial contraception and remain faithful Catholics.

Father Charles Curran, then an associate professor of theology at The Catholic University of America, was one of the most visible U.S. leaders of the group who opposed the teaching.

An attempt by Catholic University officials in spring 1967 to dismiss Father Curran for his stance that Catholics could dissent from the Church’s teaching that contraception was morally wrong resulted in a student strike. The priest was reinstated quickly, ending the strike.

In 1986, the Vatican declared Father Curran unfit to teach Catholic theology because of his dissent from certain Church teachings, and he was eventually removed from his position at Catholic University.

Father Curran, currently the Elizabeth Scurlock university professor of human values at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that while “Humanae Vitae” upholds traditional Church teaching, for decades the use of artificial contraception among Catholic couples has been similar to that of nonCatholic couples without Church consequences.

“From my prejudiced perspective, the present situation proves that the Catholic Church accepts dissent,” Father Curran said recently. “It’s not infallible teaching,” he said of “Humanae Vitae.” “Everybody knows that contraception [practice] is about the same for Catholics and non-Catholics.”

Despite the outcome, Father Curran said the existing “gap

Locally, the greatest public impact of the encyclical was the 1969 resignation and eventual laicization of Bishop Shannon, who had served as an auxiliary bishop since 1965 and was a former president of the then-College of St. Thomas in St. Paul. In his 1998 autobiography, “Reluctant Dissenter,” Shannon wrote that he was unconvinced that “every act of contraception is, for a married couple, always and necessarily mortally sinful.”

He never rejected the pope or Church, but his “inability” to assent to “Humanae Vitae” continually put him in contention with his duties as bishop, leading to his resignation. He later married, lived in Wayzata and attended Holy Name of Jesus in Medina. He died in 2003 at age 82. ­— The Catholic Spirit

between the teaching of the Church and the practice of the faithful” is not a good situation because it has led to widespread loss of credibility for Church teaching.

“In a sense it [the encyclical] is even more important today especially because if the Catholic Church cannot engage on contraception it is never going to engage in any other sexual issue or any other issue, such as the role of women in the Church,” Father Curran said.

For defenders of “Humanae Vitae,” however, the enduring relevance of the encyclical is a testament to the truth of its message. While it is not infallible teaching, it is still the official doctrine of the Church, requiring assent by all Catholics unless it is modified.

“Perhaps the most surprising thing about the encyclical ... is how reports of its imminent death were continually exaggerated,” wrote Helen Alvare recently for Catholic News Service’s Faith Alive! religious education series.

The law professor and pro-life advocate attributes this to the flaws of the birth control revolution and to a deeper appreciation of the “Humanae Vitae” message.

“Over time, as the sexual revolution played out and contraception failed to live up to its billing, fair observers began to note a positive or prophetic thing or two about ‘Humanae Vitae,’ along with its surprisingly accurate read of human nature,” she wrote.

Janet Smith, who holds the Father Michael J. McGivney chair of life ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, told CNS the encyclical’s opening line — stating that “the most serious duty of transmitting human life” stems from the call of marriage — is the basis for Church teaching on the family.

The difficulty facing the Church is that young people generally view sex as a pleasurable experience shared among consenting partners, she said. However, in talks around the country, Smith has encountered young people who “see the meaninglessness of casual sex,” creating an opening to explore the message of “Humanae Vitae.”

“It’s a growing movement of young people who are interested in being 100 percent Catholic,” she said.

Alvare echoes this assessment: “‘Humanae Vitae’ took sex seriously, far more seriously than the contemporary world, for all of its talk about sex.”

In April, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput told a Catholic University of America symposium commemorating the encyclical’s anniversary that it is time for the Church’s teaching on marriage, abortion, human sexuality and artificial contraception to be embraced as God’s will for the faithful.

He explained that the teaching is rooted in the same respect for human dignity that guides its work for social justice and care for poor people. “‘Humanae Vitae’ revealed deep wounds in the Church about our understanding of the human person, the nature of sexuality and marriage as God created it. We still seek the cure for those wounds. But thanks to the witness of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis and many other faithful shepherds, the Church has continued to preach the truth of Jesus Christ about who we are and what God desires for us,” the archbishop said.

“People willing to open their eyes and their hearts to the truth will see the hope that Catholic teaching represents and the power that comes when that truth makes us free,” he added.

JULY 26, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

FROMAGETOAGE

Nun-physician has spent life educating young people about NFP

By Lou Baldwin Catholic News Service

S

ister Hanna Klaus is an OB-GYN, a member of the Medical Mission Sisters and best known as founder of the TeenSTAR adolescent sex education program, which is used around the world.

She has long been a promoter of the Billings method of natural family planning and in 1980 developed TeenSTAR — Sexuality Teaching in the context of Adult Responsibility.

It wasn’t always that way. Back in 1968, when Blessed Paul VI issued his encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” reaffirming the Church’s ban on artificial contraception, her first reaction was: “It is very nice Holy Father, you are telling us what we can’t do, but you aren’t telling us what we can do.”

What was allowed was natural family planning — regulating family size by making use of the fertile period of the couple. For most of her life since then, she has been educating people, especially the young, on how to determine just when that fertile period is.

In “Humanae Vitae,” the pope also reaffirmed the Church’s moral teaching on the sanctity of life, married love, the procreative and unitive nature of conjugal relations and responsible parenthood, and he asked scientists to improve natural family planning methods.

Sister Klaus’ own story begins in 1928, when she was born into a Jewish family in Austria. After the rise of Nazism, her family fled their homeland. They arrived in the United States when she was 12 and were resettled in Louisville, Kentucky.

From the time she was a very young child in Vienna, she had an interest in medicine, and after college, she entered medical school at the University of Louisville.

After graduation and during her residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, she had a life-altering epiphany. Previously nonreligious, she came to realize there was more, something missing in her life. Through friends she discovered the Catholic Church.

“I received the gift of faith,” she said in an interview for Catholic News Service. “I came into the Church in 1952. Conversion is like being adopted.”

Not one for halfway measures, she almost immediately began to discern a religious vocation. Her ultimate choice was the Medical Mission Sisters, where she could be both a religious and a physician.

She joined the congregation in 1957, taking as her

religious name “Miriam Paul.” After her formation, she served medical missions in Pakistan and what is now Bangladesh. She then worked for several years in St. Louis, just about the time of the release of “Humanae Vitae.” She also did a stint as director of the OB-GYN department at St. Francis Hospital in Kansas.

As a physician and an OB-GYN professor, she was well aware of the NFP methods approved by the Catholic Church that could be used to either promote or avoid conception. The calendar method was based on calculating the presumed SISTER HANNA KLAUS days of a women’s cycle until ovulation, and the second method — basal body temperature — was based on temperature changes which could indicate the fertile period.

As a professional, Sister Klaus was skeptical of the accuracy of either method. “The calendar method was like rolling the dice,” she said.

It was while in St. Louis that she read a book recommended by Cardinal Joseph Carberry that was written by an Australian physician, Dr. John Billings. It explained another NFP method he believed accurately predicted the onset of fertility and possible conception.

It was based on charting discernable changes in cervical mucus that indicated ovulation was coming.

The following year, Sister Klaus traveled to Sydney where Billings and his wife, Evelyn, also a physician, were conducting a controlled study with couples to test the accuracy of his method. The results were such that upon returning to St. Louis, she initiated a similar study that replicated Billings’ results.

In 1978, Billings asked Sister Klaus if she would be interested in promoting this method of NFP with teens, because no one was doing that, and she agreed. The same year she moved to Washington to teach obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University; she also practiced as an OB-GYN. She founded TeenSTAR in 1980 while she was executive director of the Natural Family Planning Center in Bethesda, Maryland. “It’s not birth control, it is a method of fertility awareness,” she explained.

At first, the program was staffed by herself and another Medical Mission Sister, Sister Mary Ursula. The first pilot group focused on girls ages 15-17, divided into age-appropriate groups. As minors, all had parental

permission to participate.

Through voluntary blind surveys, it was found that a small percentage were already sexually active but over the length of the program, that number decreased and there was only one pregnancy. Because of the apparent success, more teachers were trained, and at parents’ request, a similar but separate program taught by a priest was started for boys.

Since then, it has spread to approximately 35 countries in North and South America, Central America, Europe, Asia and Africa. When it is in a Catholic setting, it is taught in the context of St. John Paul II’s “theology of the body,” which focuses on the meaning of the human body, sexuality and marriage in light of biblical revelation.

But even in a secular setting, “it is really natural law,” Sister Klaus said about the basis of TeenSTAR training.

“It is really teaching fertility awareness. Once they understand their fertility they begin to move away from peer pressure and begin to make their own decisions,” she told CNS. “It doesn’t matter if they are in the Bronx or in Ethiopia, the kids became aware of their own identity. If young people are invested in themselves and fully understand the value of the program, they love it.

“I think ‘Humanae Vitae’ is the way to go. I don’t think fertility is a disease, and I don’t think it is reasonable to use powerful drugs or surgery to remove a normal body function,” Sister Klaus said.

One of the challenges Sister Klaus finds is the reluctance of some Church officials or pastors to permit any kind of sex education because it might promote promiscuity. Properly presented, it does not, she maintains, and programs such as TeenSTAR actually have the opposite effect.

At this point, Sister Klaus, a member of her religious congregation’s community in Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania, has relinquished the office of president of TeenSTAR International, but she is still a board member and president of the U.S. branch.

Looking back over her long career in leadership with TeenSTAR, she said, “I would have liked to have done at least 10 times more than I have. The hardest place to bring such a program is the United States because so many are afraid of talking about sex. They are afraid when people get the information they will misuse the program. It is against human dignity to try to control people by not giving them information. I’m grateful the Lord has let us come this far.”

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

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

For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contact Canvas Health at 612-379-6363.

SEEKING ASSOCIATE EDITOR Are you a driven, multi-talented journalist who knows the Catholic faith? The Catholic Spirit has an opening for an associate editor to assist in the planning and publication of our bimonthly newspaper.

For a complete position description and to apply, visit careers.archspm.org and search “editor.”

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 26, 2018

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JAN MICHAEL JONCAS

The symbolism of loaves and fishes

The introduction to the “Lectionary for Mass” outlines the rationale for the readings appointed to be read at Mass in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. It notes, “[A]fter the Sixteenth Sunday in Year B, five readings are incorporated from John chapter 6 (the discourse on the bread of life). This is the natural place for these readings because the multiplication of the loaves from the Gospel of John takes the place of the same account in Mark.” Following typical Johannine practice, the Gospel narrates an event (“sign”) performed by Jesus, which, in turn, instigates a lengthy discourse on the meaning of that event/sign. Today we will examine the richly symbolic account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes found in John 6:1-15, our Gospel reading for July 29, the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

There are six accounts of the multiplication of the loaves in the New Testament, five in the Synoptic Gospels (Mk 6:31-44 and Mk 8:1-9; Mt 14:13-21 and Mt 15:29-38; Lk 9:10-17) and one in the Gospel of John (6:1-15). The details of these accounts vary, but most scholars hold that underlying all the accounts is at least one historical event where Jesus performs a miracle (which the Synoptic Gospels call a “work of power”) or a “sign” (as John describes it) involving the transformation of a small amount of food into a feast where all are satisfied, with some food left over.

Both Mark and Matthew mention “[green] grass” in the place where the crowd gathers, implying that it is springtime; John goes a step further and identifies the event as taking place as “the Jewish feast of Passover was near.” Just as the Last Supper is associated with the conjoined springtime festivals of Passover (“Pesach”) and Unleavened Bread (“Massoth”), the multiplication of the loaves occurs at the same point in the year. Readers could then connect Jesus’ acts in multiplying the loaves and at the Last Supper with the events commemorated at these festivals, especially God’s intervention drawing the Hebrew people from servitude to Pharaoh to freedom under God.

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

Transubstantiation: Not as difficult as it sounds

Transubstantiation is a doctrine or a core belief about the Eucharist. It is a technical theological term and a matter of faith that is often experienced as an intimidating concept, almost beyond comprehension, and difficult to explain. Yet, it is taught to our second graders at St. Bartholomew in preparation for their reception of first holy Communion, and once their sacramental preparation classes are completed, they are expected to be able to explain it to their parents.

This first task is to understand the word itself.

“Transubstantiation” is derived from two Latin roots: “trans,” the prefix, which means “across” or “over,” and “substantia,” the root word, which means “substance.”

We ask the children, “What is a transatlantic flight?” They quickly reply, “An airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean?” A person goes from one place to another. Then we ask, “What is a substance?” It is an abstract concept for a child, but the answer is “a thing” or “stuff,” or for those in STEM classes, a more advanced answer might be “physical matter.”

“Transubstantiation,” then, is to go across from one substance to another.

There are two initial substances with the Eucharist, bread and wine, and they cross over to two entirely new and different substances, the Body and Blood of Christ. It is no longer bread, but the Body of Christ under the appearance of bread; and it is no longer wine, but the Blood of Christ under the appearance of wine. The physical appearance and chemical composition

John’s account of who provides the food for the multiplication of the loaves stands in contrast to the Synoptic Gospels’ accounts, both in its content and its vocabulary. Rather than revealing what the disciples themselves have to eat, John’s Gospel reports that a “tiny little boy” (“paidarion,” a double diminutive of “pais,” “son and servant”) has “five barley loaves” (“pente artous krithinous”) — cheaper than wheat bread, barley bread was a usual food of the poor — and “two tiny little fish” (“duo opsaria,” with “opsarion” as a double diminutive of “opson,” originally meaning “cooked food eaten with bread,” here meaning especially “dried or preserved fish”). The narrative notes that this food is enough to feed and satisfy 5,000 men.

These details heighten the miraculous character of the sign, since both the human provider of the food and the food itself are so meager. The first reading (2 Kgs 4:42-44) offers a parallel story where Elisha’s servant Gehazi objects that “twenty barley loaves” would not be enough to feed “a hundred people.” Clearly the sign Jesus performs is even more astonishing than that performed by one of the great miracle-working prophets of Israel. (Another sign of the parallels between these stories is that Gehazi is also named a “paidarion” in the version of 2 Kings found in the Septuagint, the earliest existing Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew.)

What may be of the greatest interest, however, are the eucharistic overtones in John’s version of the multiplication of the loaves. The actions recounted in John 6:1-15 parallel the actions recounted at the Last Supper in the Synoptic Gospels and Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians. In each case, Jesus “takes” the food (bread/fish in John; bread/wine in the Last Supper accounts), “gives thanks” (“eucharistein”) or “blesses” (“eulogein”) the food, and “gives” it to the disciples (“didonai”/“diadidonai”). The same actions appear in the deep structure of our Liturgy of the Eucharist: the “taking” of bread and wine in the Preparation and Presentation of the Gifts, the “blessing” of/“thanksgiving” over bread and wine in the Eucharistic Prayer, and the “giving” of consecrated bread and wine in holy Communion.

In any case, this deeply symbolic story provides the setting for Jesus’ further teaching on the bread of life in the Sunday Gospel readings from now through the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B).

Father Joncas, a composer, is an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. remain unchanged, but the substance is entirely changed.

Next we ask, “Who first explained this?” “Jesus.” “When did he give his explanation?” “At the Last Supper?” “How did Jesus explain it?” Then we read the Gospel text: “Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it and … said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body’” (Mt 26:26).

The verb choice is intentional and crucial. Jesus said “is.” He did not say that the bread is a reminder, memento, symbol, a piece of bread that is especially spiritually important, or partly bread and partly body. Jesus said the bread is his Body. Jesus also said, “I am the living bread come down from heaven” (Jn 6:51).

If Jesus says that the bread is changed into his Body, then we accept it as a matter of faith. Jesus spoke similarly regarding the wine: “This is my blood” (Mt 26:28).

As the lesson continues, another question is, “Who supplies the power that causes this change to take place?” The Eucharistic Prayer is offered by the priest in the name of Jesus, it is addressed to God the Father, and at the “epiclesis” — when the priest extends his hands over the bread and wine — the Holy Spirit is called upon “so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer II). Thus, the power to change the bread and wine comes from all three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.

The final question is, “When, and under what conditions, does transubstantiation take place?” It happens within a valid Catholic Mass with a properly ordained priest who is acting “in persona Christi,” in the person of Christ. The priest must be in union with the Church and in line with apostolic succession.

Transubstantiation takes place at the moment of the consecration when the priest pronounces the words of institution: “This is my Body” and “This is the chalice of my Blood.” “The priest pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s,” said St. John Chrysostom, as quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 1375).

Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish.com. This column is an installment in a series on the Eucharist. Read the series at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, July 29 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kgs 4:42-44 Eph 4:1-6 Jn 6:1-15 Monday, July 30 Jer 13:1-11 Mt 13:31-35 Tuesday, July 31 St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest Jer 14:7-22 Mt 13:36-43 Wednesday, Aug. 1 St. Alphonsus Liguouri, bishop and doctor of the Church Jer 15:10, 16-21 Mt 13:44-46 Thursday, August 2 Jer 18:1-6 Mt 13:47-53 Friday, August 3 Jer 26:1-9 Mt 13:54-58 Saturday, August 4 St. John Vianney, priest Jer 26:11-16, 24 Mt 14:1-12 Sunday, August 5 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 Eph 4:17, 20-24 Jn 6:24-35 Monday, August 6 Transfiguration of the Lord Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 2 Pt 1:16-19 Mk 9:2-10 Tuesday, August 7 Jer 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22 Mt 14:22-36 Wednesday, August 8 St. Dominic, priest Jer 31:1-7 Mt 15:21-28 Thursday, August 9 Jer 31:31-34 Mt 16:13-23 Friday, August 10 St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr 2 Cor 9:6-10 Jn 12:24-26 Saturday, August 11 St. Clare, virgin Hab 1:12­­­­—2:4 Mt 17:14-20 Sunday, August 12 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 19:4-8 Jn 6:41-51

JULY 26, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

COMMENTARY YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY

“

Making peace with ‘Sister’

You know you’ve crossed some mystical threshold in aging or illness the moment that water aerobics begins to look, well ... appealing. I confess, I crossed that threshold about a year ago.

Living with multiple sclerosis for some years now, swimming is one of the only exercises left to me and my body. Borrowing the spiritual linguistics of St. Francis, who considered the disposition of a donkey — stubborn but dutiful, lovable but lazy, and often frustrating — ­ and therefore referred to his body as “Brother Ass,” I sometimes refer to mine as “Sister Ass.” A few times a week, I drag myself and “Sister” to the local Y, endure the stark humiliation of wrangling Sister into a bathing suit, and, reassuring her that it will all be over soon, I lower Sister into the pool.

Oh, but for a few lovely, cool moments, we almost feel strong again. Pulling her through the water, stroke after stroke — the buoyancy of more than a few extra pounds no doubt helps keep Sister afloat — but for those minutes in the water, I have a sense of agility, strength, coordination, control. It brings Sister and me so much joy.

I am frequently there with my pool-buddies — the little old ladies doing water aerobics to terrible, early

Let my fatigue be the result of spending my energies for Jesus and his Church, and let the pain of my body be consumed by his pain in that mystical way we are granted the startling honor of joining Jesus on the cross — even in our crooked, little, humble laps. iSTOCK | PAVLEMARJANOVIC

rock-n-roll tunes in the next pool over.

And then there’s my favorite, “Stanley.” Stanley’s spine is more crooked than a question mark. It bears the mean scars of countless surgeries that did little to ease his condition over the course of his life. I watch in private awe as this humble creature lowers himself into the water, turns over onto his back, and ever-so-slowly flutters his hands and kicks his legs, patiently making his way back and forth across the length of the pool — lap after protracted lap. I sense in Stanley that same inkling I have, a feeling of buoyancy that eases the pain and the wearying weight of constant illness, if only for a moment. And when he’s finished, I take note as Stanley hoists himself up the ladder to his walker and makes his way to the locker room, the pain of his condition clearly

having returned in full.

And though for now, I am faster and stronger and more able than Stanley, I can imagine a time when I may not be, and I pray for the graces that Stanley seems to so easily possess: acceptance, perseverance and not the slightest iota of self-pity.

“Brother Ass,” St. Francis’ well-known moniker for his body, was always making demands for sleep, for food, for shelter, but even Francis admitted at the end of his life that he might have been a little too hard on his body after all.

My body makes far more demands than I would like these days, too: for rest, for pain relief, for every kind of comfort. One day I may be moving to the other pool to cha-cha in the water with the older ladies, and I hope I can accept it with gratitude and a good sense of humor.

And I beg the Lord: Let my wrinkles be earned for always seeking his truth; let my gray hair come from striving after virtue and gentleness of spirit. Let my fatigue be the result of spending my energies for Jesus and his Church, and let the pain of my body be consumed by his pain in that mystical way we are granted the startling honor of joining Jesus on the cross — even in our crooked, little, humble laps.

Lord, I thank you for the gift of this wonderfully perplexing body. I trust in that merciful day of its glorious resurrection, and on that day, I hope you will give me the chance to ask Stanley for a proper dance — no pool required.

A parishioner of St. Michael in Stillwater, Kelly is the author of six books, including the award-winning “Jesus Approaches” (Loyola Press, 2017) and the “Jesus Approaches Study Supplement.” Visit her website at lizk.org.

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | SARAH SPANGENBERG

‘Gaudete et Exultate’ teaches civic life as a labor of love

Holiness in politics? Is that an oxymoron? Not for Catholics. In Pope Francis’ recent exhortation “Gaudete et Exultate,” he reminds us that the two are indeed connected.

Unfortunately, Catholics in politics and social ministry sometimes tend to fall into one of two errors.

First, there is the activism “of those who separate [the] Gospel demands from their personal relationship with the Lord, from their interior union with him” (GE, 100). It is thinking that Christianity is all about doing good things. The problem is that it separates Jesus’ commission from the deep prayer which opens us to his grace.

Second is the error of those “who find suspect the social engagement of others, seeing it as superficial, worldly, secular,” as if this aspect of the Church’s life were unimportant. It is the false notion that we ought to be preoccupied only with “spiritual” things, even to the neglect of our duties (GE, 101).

Both are rooted in the same belief: We must decide to be either spiritual or productive, a mystic or an activist, a citizen of heaven or a citizen of the United States. This is alien to our Catholic faith. “At such a time as this” (Es 4:14), we can and must be present to minister and to serve others now, and at the same time remain fixed on “the life of the world to come.”

Work and pray Christ commanded his disciples to be

leaven in the world by preaching the Gospel (Mk 16:15), making disciples (Mt 28:19) and serving him in the least of our brothers and sisters (Mt 25:31-46).

Therefore, Pope Francis writes, we cannot “love silence while fleeing interaction with others, … want peace and quiet while avoiding activity, [or] seek prayer while disdaining service” (GE, 26). We who are called to the lay vocation cannot excuse ourselves from public life under a false pretense of holiness.

Similarly, the temptation to activism is also real. It is easy to treat the Church like “a sort of NGO stripped of the luminous mysticism” that marked the lives of the saints (GE, 100). But consider that Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa were among the most influential people in history, yet they also “wasted” the most time in prayer. They worked hard, but never sacrificed intimacy with God. Mother Teresa famously said, “If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy!”

In the Gospels, Jesus himself shows the importance of prayer, regularly withdrawing from the crowds for long periods of time spent in union with the Father. His was not an activism focused on worldly success — what could be a greater (apparent) failure than the Cross?

— but a single-hearted pursuit of the Father’s will.

To imitate him, then, is not to be so engrossed in “spiritual” things that we withdraw from the world, nor is it to become so busy that we no longer rest in the Father’s heart. Rather, it is the union of action and contemplation, the “work and pray” of St. Benedict, whose feast day we marked July 10. Amid activity, we must also “recover the personal space

Cut Title X funds’ ties to abortion For too long, federal Title X funds have been allowed to be used by abortion providers. These funds are designed to provide low-income women with pre-pregnancy services. Newly proposed federal regulations, the “Protect Life Rule,” aim to separate Title X family planning program funding from abortion: “A Title X project may not perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning, nor take any other affirmative action to assist a patient to secure such an abortion.”

“A Title X project must be organized so that it is physically and financially separate ... from [abortion] activities.”

“Title X projects shall comply with all state and local laws requiring notification or reporting of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, incest, intimate partner violence or human trafficking.”

Show your support for the “Protect Life Rule” by submitting your comment by July 31st.

Send a message of support by visiting humanlifeaction.org/take-action. needed to carry on a heartfelt relationship with God” (GE, 29).

Political life comes down to love How might we apply the teaching of “Gaudete et Exultate” to political life?

First, we should be clear that the goal of our work (at least, the ultimate goal) is not to win every battle in the public square or resort to tactics that seem to promote success. Of course, we should strive to build up the common good, but paradoxically, our true victory is not in success but in faithfulness.

We cannot see the full plan of God, the way he intends to use our “yes,” the unseen battles that are won when we are obedient — even in the face of apparent

defeat or even futility. Only prayer can detach us from visible results and free us to seek God’s will with an undivided heart.

Finally, our engagement in politics is a mission in which our holiness of life is far more potent than mere activity.

Ultimately, it comes down to love. We love God by laboring for him, and we love our neighbor by pursuing what is good and just. Pope Francis writes that when we let God fill both our prayer and our public lives, “every moment can be an expression of self-sacrificing love in the Lord’s eyes” (GE, 31). Self-sacrificing love: What a vision for faithful citizenship!

Spangenberg is communications associate for the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

COMMENTARY

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | JOE O’SULLIVAN

A test of character

I was entrenched in my task when I realized that I was actually, sincerely entrenched: My back was badly hunched over, my neck had begun cramping, and my eyes had started buzzing back and forth. I couldn’t fit another sentence in my head. I was experiencing burnout, and the textbooks in front of me suddenly sent a pang of anxiety through my gut. It tasted like a moment of defeat.

Over the duration of six months, I had experienced many such defeats in studying for a tough financial exam. At times it felt as though I could only lean on God and ask for his help, and having been humbled so many times in a row, that’s what I — finally — started doing.

There were many weekend nights when I wanted to go out, have a drink, go salsa dancing — you name it.

But as a man, something internal spoke to me: These exams are testing not only my intellect, but my character as well. Both my success on the exams and

JULY 26, 2018

“

Both my success on the exams and my response to high stress will help me provide for and be a rock for my future spouse, family and friends in tough times.

i STOCK | GROGL

my response to high stress will help me provide for and be a rock for my future spouse, family and friends in tough times.

As the saying goes, one does not rise to the occasion, but rather sinks to his level of training.

“Tests” train us for the times when people will need us the most — when we’re really tested. God is always guiding each of us, and at the right time, we’ll give back what we’ve learned.

It’s been said that people learn the most when they start doing something they don’t know how to do, versus practicing something they already know how to do. When you throw yourself into a task, the brain does a remarkable thing for you: It starts to figure it out.

As G.K. Chesterton once said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” A failed sparring session against your textbooks — or any other battle — is never a failure; rather, “failure” in a strenuous task is equal to the measure of your growth against your goal. You would never know where you stand if you didn’t try.

Sometimes we lose the small battles to win the big ones: Failing in a practice exam now means you can improve for the real exam later; failing in an attempt at love now means you’ll be more prepared to love later on. It’s a war of attrition, and in the end, the virtues that we practice today will make it easy to say yes to God’s will tomorrow.

O’Sullivan is a senior market specialist at U.S. Bank and a parishioner at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

He likes to read, be with friends, and do anything that involves sports, dancing or cooking. Learn about the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen initiative at rediscover. archspm.org/the-catholic-watchmen or facebook.com/ thecatholicwatchmen.

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JULY 26, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS Summer organ concert — July 29: 2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. Featuring Kate Moss, organist and handbell director at Messiah United Methodist Church in Plymouth, playing the Basilica’s Centennial Organ, Wicks Opus 3047, four manuals plus pedal with 4,900 pipes in 82 ranks. Free-will donations accepted. mary.org.

Tuesday: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Bob at bob.sjtw@ gmail.com. sjtw.net/job-transition-networking-group.

Men and women’s weekend retreat — Aug. 3-6 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. kingshouse.com.

West Suburban Grief Coalition weekly meeting — Thursdays through Aug. 30: 4–6 p.m. at St. Therese, 18323 Minnetonka Blvd., Deephaven. Contact St. Therese at 952-473-4422. westsuburbangriefmn.org.

Silent retreat — Aug. 9-12 at 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. 952-447-2182 or franciscanretreats.net/register.

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.

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.

A Country Garden Tour and Luncheon — July 28: 9 a.m.–3 p.m. at St. Catherine of Spring Lake, 4500 220th St. E., Prior Lake.

Salad luncheon and self-guided, five-garden tour. Lunch provided 11 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Accompanied by garden, crafts, plant and bake sale at St. Catherine 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Sponsored by St. Catherine Council of Catholic Women. For maps and more information, visit stcatherineccw.wixsite.com/gardentour.

Parish events All Saints 10th annual garage sale — Aug. 8-11: 1–8 p.m. Aug. 8; 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Aug 9; 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Aug 10; and 8 a.m.–2 p.m. Aug 11 at 19795 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville. garagesale@allsaintschurch.com.

Prayer/worship 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.

Dining out

Conferences/workshops Steubenville North — July 27-29 at the University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul.

Transformational Catholic event for teens. partnershipforyouth.org/steubenville-st-paul.

Order Franciscans Secular — Third Sunday of each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523.

Singles

Healing Mass with Father James Livingston — July 31: 7 p.m. at Divine Mercy, 139 Mercy Drive, Faribault. divinemercy.cc.

Singles group — Second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. 763-425-0412.

Healing Mass with celebrant Father Jose Puthenparambil of Vijayapuram Diocese, India — Aug 8: 7 p.m. at St. Albert, 11400 N.E. 57th St., Albertville. churchofstalbert.org.

Schools

Job transitions and networking group — Every

Retreats Cursillo men’s retreat — Aug. 2-5 at Guardian Angels, 8260 4th St. N., Oakdale. tc-cursillo.org.

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

Centering prayer and lectio divina — Aug. 10-15 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Ongoing groups

Holy Hour for vocations — Aug. 14: 7–8 p.m. at Holy Spirit, 515 Albert St., St. Paul. Sponsored by the Office of Vocations. 10000vocations.org.

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

Blessed is She “Wild” retreat — Aug. 10-11 at St. Mark, 2001 Dayton Ave., St. Paul. Includes private Mass and adoration with Bishop Andrew Cozzens. blessedisshe.net.

Lord, Teach Me to Pray facilitator training retreat — July 28: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. lordteachmetopray.com.

Grieving with Hope book study — First and third Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m. at St. Ambrose, Pingatore room, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. “This Thing Called Grief: New Understanding of Grief and Loss” by Tom Ellis. LeAnn at 651-768-3009. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

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.

Cursillo women’s retreat — Aug. 9-12 at Guardian Angels, 8260 4th St. N., Oakdae. tc-cursillo.org.

Family Fun Night at Holy Cross — July 31: 4–7 p.m. at 6100 37th St. W., Webster. holycrossschool.net.

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

CALENDAR submissions

Sunday Spirits walking group — Sundays: For 50-plus Catholic singles. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-439-1203.

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

“Where Do We Go From Here?” — Aug. 2: 7–9 p.m. at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 700 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Presentation by Tim O’Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment for the archdiocese. Organized by the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform/Council for the Baptized. facebook.com/cccrmn.

Young adults

Latino Family Encounter 2018: The Family in God’s Plan — Aug. 4: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at St. Thomas Academy, 949 Mendota Heights Road, Mendota Heights. Includes Mass with Bishop Andrew Cozzens. Organized by the Office of Latino Ministry. 651-251-7723 or 651-291-4434. archspm.org.

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. facebook.com/queenofpeacefriary.

Elevate Life 32nd annual golf tournament — Aug. 6: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. at Crystal Lake Golf Club, 16725 Innsbrook Drive, Lakeville. Formerly TLC Options for Women. tlcoptions.org.

Summer at St. Agnes — Weekdays through Aug 10: 8 a.m. at 530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. saintagnesschool.org/activities/summer-series.

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Also accepting applications for a part-time Events and Alumni Relations Assistant, implementing events on and off campus in cooperation with Director of Development to advance the development & Alumni and public relations/cultivation efforts the school. For more information, and to apply online, please visit http://employment.csbsju.edu. AA/EEO

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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 26, 2018

THELASTWORD LEFT Justin and Gretchen Berkebile kneel while Father John Paul Erickson elevates the Eucharist during 5 p.m. Mass July 14 at Transfiguration in Oakdale. An employee of the parish, Gretchen wanted her wedding to take place during a Sunday liturgy in order to involve the parish in her wedding Mass.

BELOW Gretchen and Justin Berkebile pose for a picture with Teresa McDermott, sister of Father William Baer, Transfiguration’s previous pastor who died Jan. 14. He had originally agreed to celebrate the wedding Mass.

Mass appeal

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Couple choose to wed during Sunday liturgy at Transfiguration parish

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

G

retchen Berkebile was just days away from her scheduled wedding July 14 at Transfiguration in Oakdale, and her joy was evident as she talked about the details of a ceremony that was to take place during the parish’s regularly scheduled 5 p.m. Saturday Mass — an unusual move, but one the Church allows.

Her choice to wed during an “anticipatory” or vigil Mass was rooted in nearly six years as Transfiguration’s director of parish life, which included planning and coordinating countless liturgies. A wedding with the broader parish community seemed only fitting to Berkebile, whose maiden name was Sonnen.

As she described the excitement of her anticipated nuptials, however, her smile momentarily disappeared and tears began to flow as she thought of the presider who wouldn’t be there that day. In December 2017, she had approached Father William Baer, then-pastor of Transfiguration, about witnessing her vows to fiancé Justin Berkebile.

After eagerly agreeing, Father Baer died unexpectedly at the parish rectory Jan. 14. He was found by staff members when he didn’t show up for 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass.

Berkebile was devastated.

“I never cried so much in my whole life,” she said, after receiving the call within an hour after Father Baer was found. In fact, every day she drove to work that week, she was “sobbing the whole way in.”

The grief still lingers, but a touching moment at Father Baer’s visitation at the church Jan. 22 brought comfort and helped her stay the course of her original plan, with the new pastor of Transfiguration, Father John Paul Erickson, agreeing to celebrate the Mass.

“It was a full open casket, and [Father Baer] was dressed in his gold vestments,” Berkebile, 33, recalled.

“The last moment that I had with him before they closed the casket, I touched his arm and I just prayed that he would ... pray for us, pray that our marriage

would be blessed, pray that we would be blessed with said parishioner Tom Yost, who sat in his regular pew children and with a long life together.” for the evening Mass, which he attends weekly with his wife, Jean. “I haven’t been to a wedding in quite Father Baer, whom Berkebile now calls the couple’s some time, so this, coupled with a Mass, I thought “greatest intercessor,” had a tangible presence at the was really, really good. I really liked it.”

July 14 Mass where they exchanged vows. He was remembered in the prayers of petition, and his “It’s quite an extravaganza; it’s wonderful,” Jean youngest sister, Teresa McDermott, flew in from said. “This is the first time I’ve seen and heard [of] Maryland to attend the wedding. She is the youngest this done, and I’m glad to be here. It makes me of his four siblings, all of whom received invitations. wonder why more Catholics don’t do this, too.”

“We’re so thankful that Gretchen and Justin invited After Mass, the congregation went to the gym, us,” McDermott said. where a Minnesota State Fair“I just want, in some small way, themed wedding reception to represent Bill’s love and awaited, complete with popular support for them as they begin fair food, including cheese curds, Marriage is a public their new life together. ... This corn dogs and even Sweet sacrament, and as such, it parish, especially his staff Martha’s Cookies. members, they’ve really become “‘Sweet Martha’ is my cousin, really is a celebration not just our family. And, as much as Bill and she donated cookies for my loved his Minnesota family, of the couple — and, in fact, reception,” Berkebile said, “She they’re always going to be in our said, ‘They’re on the house not primarily the couple. hearts, to all of us Baers, for the because you’re family.’ She’s rest of our lives.”

It’s a celebration of Christ’s wonderful.”

For those who may find it It was not hard for Berkebile to relationship with his Church, unusual for wedding vows to come up with a theme for the take place during a regular and that is something which reception. A wedding date just Sunday liturgy, Father Erickson than a month before the offered perspective based on his we are all called to enter into, more fair, combined with her passion 10 years as director of the for the Great Minnesota Getit’s something we’re all Archdiocese of St. Paul and Together, made it an easy choice.

Minneapolis’ Office of Worship. called to celebrate.”

“I’m greatly devoted to the Part of the role he had before Minnesota State Fair; Jesus first, Father John Paul Erickson beginning his assignment at State Fair second” she said, Transfiguration July 1 was jokingly. “I went seven times last addressing issues like this. year. I wanted [the reception] to “Marriage is a public be more of a festival or fair.” sacrament, and as such, it really is a celebration not just of the couple — and, in fact, not primarily the Of course, she had to make sure to have her favorite couple,” Father Erickson explained. “It’s a celebration fair food — fried pickles. Justin doesn’t like pickles, but of Christ’s relationship with his Church, and that is that didn’t stop her from taking him outside to the food something which we are all called to enter into, it’s truck serving the reception. She already knew he was something we’re all called to celebrate.” the kind of man who would help her indulge in her favorite State Fair food.

“So, I think it’s great [to have nuptials during a Sunday Mass],” he added. “I’m hoping that this She also knows that Father Baer would have joined might inspire more folks to go down that road.” in on the fun, too, just as he had done so many times during his seven years as Transfiguration’s pastor.

Parishioners embraced the wedding and the new husband and wife, cheering robustly after the couple “He would love it,” she said. “He would love the were announced at the end of Mass. big party... . He would have thought that this is just “I thought it was a very, very beautiful ceremony,” the greatest thing.”

“