The Catholic Spirit - July 7, 2016

Parishes reconsider overtime 6 • SCOTUS abortion ruling 8 • Why is gossip wrong? 15 July 7, 2016 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Faithful flock to relics tour

Visitors venerate the relics of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher June 26 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The relics of the two saints were on a national tour.

Jim Bovin/For The Catholic Spirit

Story on page 5

Archbishop Hebda’s pallium blessed at Vatican; conferral Mass to be celebrated locally

Archbishop Bernard Hebda exchanges the sign of peace with Archbishop Darci Jose Nicioli of Diamantina, Brazil, as Pope Francis concelebrates Mass with new archbishops from around the world in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 29.

CNS/Paul Haring

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis concelebrated Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, with Pope Francis and other new archbishops from around the world. The pope blessed the pallium — a special vestment reserved for archbishops

— that Archbishop Hebda will officially receive from the papal nuncio at a Mass in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at a later date. In an interview following the Mass, Archbishop Hebda said Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the people of the archdiocese “in some challenging times.” — Page 7

ALSO inside

Studying surrogacy

Spreading faith to the fringes

800 years and counting

Legislative commission begins work to determine if commercial surrogacy has a place in the state.

— Page 6

With doughnuts in hand, St. Paul man takes to the streets to offer conversation and compassion.

— Pages 10-11

Celebrating anniversary year, Dominicans say their presence and charism remain strong.

— Page 12

2 • The Catholic Spirit

PAGE TWO

in PICTURES

July 7, 2016 OVERHEARD “Remember you count, and you can make a difference and you can renew the face of the earth.

Now go do it.”

Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl during a June 23 keynote address at the American Enterprise Institute’s conference, “Catholic Thought and Human Flourishing: Culture and Policy,” where he called on young people to bring their religious values to “political, medical and entrepreneurial enterprises.”

“More than the beauty found in the Vatican Gardens, your goodness is the place where I live; I feel protected.”

LOOKING BACK Academy of Holy Angels alumnae Lyn Wittsack ‘76, Beth Tepfer ‘78, and Shelley Riley ‘75 peruse Tepfer’s senior class yearbook June 24 during Rock the Lawn, which drew about 1,600 people to the Richfield high school for a music festival and the largest alumni gathering in the school’s 137-year history. Courtesy Academy of Holy Angels

Retired Pope Benedict XVI speaking of Pope Francis June 28 during a Vatican celebration for the 65th anniversary of Pope Benedict’s priestly ordination.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

Teenagers invited to vocation days The archdiocesan Office of Vocations is sponsoring Totus Tuus – Vocation Day for Young Men/Daughter of God Retreat from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Aug. 20. Catholic boys and girls, ages 12-17, are invited to these events to deepen their faith and better discern God’s calling in their lives. $15 per person; $30 family maximum. Lunch will be provided. Parents are invited to stay for Mass followed by a parent information session. The event for boys will be at St. John Vianney College Seminary, and the event for girls will be at the University of St. Thomas’ Brady Education Center.

For more information and to register, visit www.archspm.org.

in REMEMBRANCE

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, hands Cindy Van Winkle of Bremerton, Washington, a chalice during a tour of the Cathedral July 5 for the annual nationwide conference and convention of the American Council for the Blind, July 1-9 in Minneapolis.

About 50 to 60 people attending the event toured the Cathedral, where they listened to guides, heard organ music and visited the sacristy to touch several items. Joining Father Ubel in the sacristy are Glenn Ursula, second from left, and Ursula McCully, both of Seattle, and Tim Van Winkle, Cindy’s husband.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

WHAT’S NEW on social media On “The Pastor’s Page,” Father Michael Van Sloun explains Catholic Americans’ dual citizenship: www.catholichotdish.com Archbishop Hebda’s name was etched into the wall in the Founder’s Chapel at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul: www.instagram.com/thecatholicspirit A Catholic News Service series looks at military chaplaincy in “For God and Country,” exploring recruitment amid priest shortages and balancing the needs of the country and dioceses: www.facebook.com/thecatholicspirit

The Catholic Spirit is published biweekly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 21 — No. 14 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

Father Ronald Clubb, 86, who was ordained a priest in 1986 after having been married and serving as a permanent deacon, died June 23.

Father Clubb was born in 1929 in Indiana. He married Doris Borgert in 1956, and the couple had five children. An educator, he worked in public schools in Detroit and Minneapolis and was principal of Derham Hall High School in St. Paul.

He was ordained a permanent deacon for the Father Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1976.

Ronald Doris died later that year.

He served as an associate pastor of St. Peter, CLUBB Mendota, 1986-1988; pastor of St. Dominic, Northfield, 1988-1995; and pastor of Holy Name, Minneapolis, 19952000. He also served as the canonical administrator of Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis from 1995-1996 and chaplain for the Knights of Columbus Council No. 435 in Minneapolis from 1997-1998.

He was also part of a group that presented a program on the sacrament of marriage to parishes.

Father Clubb retired in 2000 and moved to Hawaii, where he served as an administrator at St. Benedict in Honaunau, until returning to Burnsville to live with his son. He died on the 60th anniversary of his wedding day.

Father Clubb is preceded in death by his wife and two daughters, Leanne and Paula (the latter of whom died in infancy). He is survived by two sons and a daughter, their spouses, nine grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren. A funeral Mass was June 28 at Holy Name.

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FROM THE ARCHBISHOP

July 7, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 3

Pallium signifies unity with Rome as we strive to do God’s work

O

n June 29, I had the privilege of a lifetime — the opportunity to concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

He had invited the 25 archbishops whom he had named in the course of the past year to be present for the blessing of the pallium, that narrow strip of cloth that is worn by an archbishop over his chasuble as an indicator of his office as metropolitan archbishop. While we often think about the pallium as a sign of authority, the woolen strip serves equally as a reminder to the archbishop that he is to imitate the humble service of the Good Shepherd, carrying the lost or wounded sheep.

By wearing the pallium, moreover, the archbishop manifests the unity that he shares with the pope, the successor of Peter. It will be his opportunity to express that the Catholic Church in his province is one with the Church of Rome. We might speak a different language, and our liturgies might at times reflect local variations, but we are essentially the same Church — the Church founded by Christ and built upon the apostles.

The liturgy in St. Peter’s was in itself a wonderful expression of both unity and diversity. We prayed some of the prayers in our common ecclesial language, Latin, but also made good use of English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and German and a number of other languages. The archbishop on my right was from Cuba, and the one on my left was from Brazil. The Basilica was jammed with faithful from around the world, all united around the person of Pope Francis and the local Church of Rome, consecrated by the blood of the martyrs, Peter and Paul.

Back in our province — which consists of the dioceses of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota — our mission is to strengthen and protect the Church’s unity so that we together might give a credible witness to the Gospel.

In the listening sessions that were held throughout the archdiocese in the course of the past year, we often heard about our diversity being both a great gift and a great challenge. Instinctively, we understand that unity and uniformity are not the same thing. There has to be room for adaptation and differences of culture and tradition.

ONLY JESUS St. Augustine, the fourth-century bishop of Hippo, said it well when he called for “in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, Archbishop liberty; in all things, charity.”

Bernard Hebda In the two brief exchanges that I had with Pope Francis

La unidad con Roma y entre nosotros

E

l 29 de junio, tuve el privilegio de toda una vida — la oportunidad de concelebrar con el Papa Francisco en la Basílica de San Pedro en el Vaticano para la Solemnidad de los Santos Pedro y Pablo.

Había invitado a los 25 arzobispos que él había nombrado en el transcurso del año pasado a estar presentes para la bendición del palio, la estrecha franja de tela que usa un arzobispo sobre la casulla como un indicador de su cargo como arzobispo metropolitano.

Aunque a menudo pensamos en el palio como un signo de autoridad, la estola de lana sirve igualmente como un recordatorio al arzobispo que él tiene que ser imitador del servicio humilde del buen pastor, que carga a la oveja perdida o lastimada.

Al llevar el palio, por otra parte, el arzobispo manifiesta la unidad que comparte con el Papa, el sucesor de Pedro. Será su oportunidad para expresar que la Iglesia Católica en su provincia es uno con la Iglesia de Roma. Podemos hablar un idioma diferente y nuestras liturgias en ocasiones pueden reflejar las

Pope Francis presents Archbishop Bernard Hebda with his pallium at the Vatican June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. L’Osservatore Romano

that day, I felt great love and encouragement for our local Church from him as he embraced his role of promoting unity. I would love to be able to offer that same encouragement on the local level, and hope that you will be patient as I learn how to do that better.

As Pope Francis preached about prayer being the “way out” of impossibly difficult circumstances, I couldn’t help but think that he, the successor of the very apostle whose miraculous liberation from prison was recounted in the first reading at Mass that day, was speaking directly to our experience in the archdiocese. The pope emphasized the importance of putting aside fear through prayer — “a humble entrustment to God and his holy will” — so that we might allow the Lord to open for us the surprising and liberating future that he desires, a future of imitating St. Peter and our patron, St. Paul, in “going out in service to the Gospel” (see page 7).

As we work to promote a spirit of unity in our community and among the parishes of our archdiocese, and as we struggle to extricate ourselves from the present entanglements that at times seem to be holding us back from doing the Lord’s work, let’s never forget that we have a God who brings freedom in response to the prayers of his community.

variaciones locales, pero somos esencialmente la misma Iglesia — la Iglesia fundada por Cristo y construida por los apóstoles.

La liturgia en San Pedro era en sí misma una maravillosa expresión de la unidad y la diversidad.

Oramos algunas de las oraciones en nuestro lenguaje común eclesial, latín, pero también hizo un buen uso de inglés, francés, español, portugués, polaco y alemán, y de otros idiomas. El arzobispo a mi derecha era de Cuba y a mi izquierda era de Brasil. La basílica estaba llena de fieles de todo el mundo, todos unidos en torno al Papa Francisco y la Iglesia local de Roma, consagrados por la sangre de los mártires, Pedro y Pablo.

De vuelta en nuestra provincia — que consiste de las diócesis de Minnesota, Dakota del Norte y Dakota del Sur — nuestra misión es fortalecer y proteger la unidad de la Iglesia, para que juntos podamos dar un testimonio creíble del Evangelio.

En las sesiones de escucha que se realizaron a lo largo del arquidiócesis en el transcurso del año pasado, escuchamos muchas veces acerca de nuestra diversidad, de ser a la vez un gran regalo y un gran desafío.

Automáticamente, entendemos que la unidad y uniformidad no son la misma cosa. Tiene que haber lugar para la adaptación y las diferencias de cultura y tradición.

San Agustín, el cuarto obispo de Hipona, lo dijo muy bien cuando pidió “en lo esencial, unidad; en los asuntos

dudosos, libertad; en todas las cosas, caridad.”

En las dos breves conversaciones que tuve ese día con él Papa Francisco, sentí el gran amor y estímulo de el para nuestra Iglesia local, mientras asumía su papel de fomentar la unidad. Me gustaría poder ofrecer el mismo estímulo a nivel local y espero que ustedes sean pacientes a medida que aprendo cómo hacerlo mejor.

Mientras el Papa Francisco predicó acerca de la oración de ser “la respuesta” de las circunstancias extremadamente difíciles, no podía dejar de pensar que él, el sucesor del apóstol mismo cuya liberación milagrosa de la cárcel fue relatada en la primera lectura de la Misa de ese día, estaba hablando directamente de nuestra experiencia en la arquidiócesis. El Papa hizo hincapié en la importancia de poner a un lado el miedo a través de la oración — “una humilde encomienda a Dios y su santa voluntad” — para que podamos permitir que el Señor abra para nosotros el futuro sorprendente y liberador que él desea, un futuro para imitar a San Pedro y nuestro patrón, San Pablo, en “salir al servicio del Evangelio.” A medida que trabajamos para promover un espíritu de unidad en nuestra comunidad y entre las parroquias de nuestra arquidiócesis y mientras luchamos por liberarnos de los presentes enredos que a veces parecen detenernos de hacer la obra del Señor, vamos a no olvidar que tenemos un Dios que trae la libertad en respuesta a las oraciones de su comunidad.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective June 15, 2016 Reverend Spencer Howe, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Medina. This is a transfer from his previous appointment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John Neumann in Eagan.

Reverend Andrew Jaspers, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Agnes and as spiritual director for Saint John Vianney College Seminary, both in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in New Brighton.

Reverend Marc Paveglio, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, and as spiritual director for Saint John Vianney

College Seminary in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Edina.

Effective July 1, 2016 Reverend Albert Backmann, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Stephen in Minneapolis, while the current pastor, Reverend Joseph Williams, is on sabbatical.

Reverend Nels Gjengdahl, appointed sacramental minister of the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

This is in addition to his current assignment at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights.

Reverend Paul Moudry, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Francis Cabrini in Minneapolis.

Please turn to OFFICIAL on page 5

4 • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

July 7, 2016

SLICEof LIFE

Cookies for a cause From left, Perciana Turner, Keshya Cunningham and Jamiya Burden form dough into cookies at Cookie Cart in north Minneapolis June 22. Started in 1988 by Mercy Sister Jean Thuerauf, Cookie Cart employs local teens to teach them practical skills and offer a positive alternative to crime, violence and gang involvement. Cunningham’s father, Romerro, once worked at Cookie Cart, along with an aunt and several cousins.

Though Keshya started working at Cookie Cart in September 2015, she never met Sister Jean, who died June 10. “I feel like if I had met Sister Jean, I would have really loved her,” she said. “I feel the same way she did about the violence.

She wanted to see a change in the community, and I do, too.” Cookie Cart produced 500,000 cookies last year, and a total of 85 teens will work there this summer, said Anna Bregier, director of development and marketing. The store is located on West Broadway Avenue, and a St. Paul location is expected to open in 2017 in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

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July 7, 2016

LOCAL

At veneration, martyrs commemorated not only for heroic deaths, but also lives

God’s servants first After King Henry divorced Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533 without an annulment from the pope, he severed ties with the Catholic Church and established the Church of England. He demanded England’s bishops sign a document acknowledging him as head of the Church. Only one — Bishop John Fisher — did not.

Later, the king required all men who held office in England to recognize his marriage to Boleyn by signing the Act of Succession, which confirmed that his children with Boleyn were legitimate heirs to the throne. Again Bishop Fisher abstained, as did More, who had resigned his position as chancellor.

Both men studied the king’s divorce with great care, Boyle said, and deliberated over their responses. “They understood with remarkable clarity what was at stake at that time, which was an attack on the Church,” he said.

Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher were imprisoned for treason in the Tower of London for months. They were beheaded 14 days apart in 1535; Bishop Fisher was 65, Thomas More was 57. St. Thomas More’s famous last words were, “The king’s good servant, but God’s first.”

The relics on tour were a personal ring with a cameo of the philosopher Aristotle that St. John Fisher wore

in BRIEF FRIDLEY

Totino-Grace to take on boarders Totino-Grace High School will open its doors to international and domestic students this fall to live on campus and attend the school. In partnership with the Cambridge Institute of International Education, Totino-Grace will house up to 40 students. The former residence of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and most recently, the Totino-Grace Retreat Center, will be converted to a 20-room dormitory. Amenities of the 14,800-square-foot residence include a commercial kitchen, dining room and study hall, recreation room, laundry facilities and an outdoor courtyard. On-site dormitory coordinators will manage the facility and serve as advisors to the residents, plus provide support to international boarding students.

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Hundreds of Catholics visited the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul June 26 to venerate the relics of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, icons of religious liberty because of the circumstances of their martyrdom.

Their relics were briefly on view at the Cathedral as part of a national tour coinciding with the Fortnight for Freedom.

The 6:30 p.m. prayer service featuring the veneration included eucharistic adoration, a Gospel reading and presentations on the 16th-century British martyrs from John Boyle, professor of theology and Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and Jan Graffius, curator at Stonyhurst College in England, which holds the relics.

Following the brief prayer service at which Cathedral Rector Father John Ubel presided, people waited as long as an hour to process up the Cathedral’s center aisle to the Communion rail, where the relics were displayed in two simple glass boxes. People briefly kneeled and prayed before the relics; many touched the reliquaries or pressed rosaries, medals or other holy objects against them.

During his presentation, Boyle didn’t focus on the saints’ stance on religious freedom as much as “how they did it” — how their daily practices fostered a life of deep faith and the formation, confidence and courage they needed to face martyrdom.

“They did not set out to be martyrs, but when the time came, they were ready,” he said.

Generally more well-known today than his contemporary St. John Fisher, St. Thomas More daily spent early morning hours in a library and chapel in prayer and study — time he prioritized despite his responsibilities as a husband, father, lawyer and the first layman to serve as chancellor of England. He also regularly attended Mass and confessed his sins.

St. John Fisher was also known for a deep love for the Church, despite the failings of its clergy that played a role in the Protestant Reformation that was underway.

Both men were recognized in their youth for their high intelligence, and both began serving King Henry VIII early in their vocations. St. John Fisher taught Henry as a boy; St. Thomas More was advisor and friend to the king and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Both men were described by contemporaries as good, virtuous and holy.

“Goodness, virtue and holiness: This is the secret to the lives and martyrdom of these two saints,” Boyle said. “They worked hard at knowing and loving their sweet savior, Jesus Christ.”

Prayer, study and discipline helped them discern what was right, and how to act rightly, he added.

The Catholic Spirit • 5

MAPLEWOOD Jan Graffius, curator from Stoneyhurst College in England, shows Sister Lucille Botz the ring of St. John Fisher, during a special visit at the Holy Family Residence run by the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul. Jim Bovin/For The Catholic Spirit throughout his life, and a tooth and jawbone of St. Thomas More that his daughter, Margaret, saved from his severed head, which she received after it had been exposed on London Bridge.

Sarah Kunkel, a 38-year-old self-described “history buff,” brought her 9-year-old son, Thomas, to venerate the relics. St. Thomas More was one of the saints for whom her son is named, she said. Due to long lines, the pair was among the last to venerate the relics at 8:30 p.m., a half-hour past the event’s scheduled end.

“I wanted him to see this,” Kunkel, a pharmacist and parishioner of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton, said of her son. “It’s such a strong character, a strong intellectual standing up to King Henry VIII at that time.

I’ve always been inspired by that.”

George Younes, a building contractor and parishioner of St. Maron in Minneapolis, also brought three of his four young children with him to venerate the relics. He said national religious liberty issues have piqued his recent interest in St. Thomas More.

Younes, 38, said the martyrs’ examples challenged him “to look at all controversial issues in the light of Christ’s Church and be prepared to accept the consequences to our own lives by following the decrees of his Church,” he said, “whether that means we are ostracized, we are criticized or even if we lose our own life; it is better than losing our soul.”

St. Paul was the fifth city the relics visited after arriving in the U.S. Other stops included Miami, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Washington. In Minnesota, the relics stopped in each diocese in a tour facilitated by the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

The national “Strength of the Saints” tour was cosponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Knights of Columbus as part of the Fortnight for Freedom, two weeks of prayer, education and advocacy for the cause of religious freedom in the United States, June 21-July 4. This year’s theme was “Witnesses to Freedom,” which highlighted men and women in the Church’s past and present who have fought for religious liberty. Among them were Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, whose feast day was June 22.

Also recognized were the Little Sisters of the Poor, who took their opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ “contraception mandate” to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled earlier this year to send the case, Zubick v. Burwell, back to the lower courts.

Before arriving at the Cathedral of St. Paul, the relics visited the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Holy Family Residence in St. Paul, symbolically uniting past and present “witnesses to freedom.” The Little Sisters and residents in their care had the opportunity to venerate the relics for about an hour before they went on to the Cathedral.

Hill-Murray hires former Viking Hill-Murray School hired Pete Bercich as its director of development and the Pioneers’ head varsity football coach. Bercich grew up in Joliet, Illinois, where he played football at Providence Catholic High School. He was a starting linebacker at the University of Notre Dame and graduated with a degree in finance. Drafted in 1994, he played linebacker and special teams for the Minnesota Vikings for seven seasons. Following his retirement, he joined the Vikings’ coaching staff for five seasons. He retired as an NFL coach in 2005 and became an NFL broadcaster and analyst. HillMurray’s new football stadium is slated for completion in time for Bercich’s high school coaching debut.

MINNEAPOLIS

Catholic Eldercare to open transitional care facility In October, Catholic Eldercare plans to open a transitional care unit for people recovering from illness, injury or surgical procedures. The new 23,015-square-foot facility in the St. Anthony West neighborhood will include 24 private rooms with amenities. Patients will have access to therapies, equipment and specialists to aid in their recovery before returning home. It also will provide approximately 40 new jobs. Dan Johnson, Catholic Eldercare president and chief executive officer, said the new service fills a gap to prevent rehospitalization. “Catholic Eldercare did not have a short stay service, nor is there a fully dedicated one in the wider community we serve. . . . Our purpose is to provide that care, plus the housing and services needed by older adults to live fully, with dignity, within a caring community. Transitional care moves us that much closer to fully meeting our mission,” he said in a June 28 statement.

Please turn to IN BRIEF on page 18

OFFICIAL Continued from page 3

Deacon James Saumweber, appointed to exercise the

ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Odilia in Shoreview. This is in addition to his current assignment at the Church of the Assumption in Saint Paul.

Retirement Effective July 1, 2016 Reverend Michael Tegeder, released from his assignments as

pastor of the Church of Saint Francis Cabrini and the Church of Gitchitwaa Kateri, both in Minneapolis, and as chaplain for Indian Ministries for the Archdiocese, and granted the status of retired priest. Father Tegeder has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1978.

6 • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

July 7, 2016

After MCC push, surrogacy commission begins work on issue

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit A 15-member legislative commission charged with developing public policy recommendations regulating commercial surrogacy met for the first time June 28, launching a study that people on different sides of the issue say has been a long time coming.

“It really is long overdue for the legislators to sit down and talk about these issues to decide whether we want our state to be part of the global surrogacy industry,” said Kathryn Mollen, Minnesota Catholic Conference policy and outreach coordinator. “It’s time to figure out how we are going to best protect women and children, and what surrogacy laws and public policy will help us best be able to do so.”

Minnesota law does not recognize surrogacy, when a woman becomes pregnant and carries a child for another intended parent or parents. The lack of legal standing calls into question the validity of surrogacy contracts. MCC-backed legislation passed in May to establish the commission. The MCC has argued that the issue was too complex to be analyzed in a few legislative hearings as is typical for bills introduced during session.

In “traditional surrogacy” arrangements, the child is biologically related to the surrogate, as the child was conceived through her egg and donor sperm. More frequently, however, surrogates undergo in vitro fertilization with an embryo not biologically related to them, in arrangements known as “gestational surrogacy.” Experts suggest that surrogates are less likely to bond with a child to whom they have no biological connections, lessening the chance of paternity disputes if the terms of the contract are violated.

Representatives of the MCC, which lobbies for public policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, have expressed concern for the well-being of women, especially the surrogates themselves, as well as the children involved in commercial — or paid — surrogacy arrangements.

Mollen pointed to a recent case in which a California

“There are no guardrails in the State of Minnesota for what is in a contract.

There are so many moving parts to this issue.”

Rep. Peggy Scott surrogate was financially pressured by an intended father to abort one of the triplets she was carrying for him, as he said he could only afford two children. The surrogate delivered the three babies in February, and is now fighting in court for custody of the child the father didn’t want.

MCC is working with a coalition of state, national and global organizations as part of Minnesotans for Surrogacy Awareness. Partners include feminist advocate Kathleen Sloan, the Minnesota Family Council and the California-based Center for Bioethics and Culture, which produced the 2014 surrogacy documentary “Breeders: A Subclass of Women.”

While acknowledging the suffering of couples experiencing infertility, the Catholic Church considers gestational surrogacy and gamete donation “gravely immoral.” “These techniques . . . infringe the child’s right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses’ ‘right to become a father and mother only through each other,’” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church, citing the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1987 document “Donum Vitae,” or “Respect for Human Life.”

MCC sees its focus on commercial surrogacy as a prudent application of the Church’s social teaching to a timely issue.

“Commercial surrogacy poses particular dangers to women and children, and we think we have an opportunity here to put some commonsense policies in place to protect them,” Mollen said.

Challenging the commission’s work is a lack of data.

Minnesota does not collect comprehensive statistics on the occurrence of surrogacy in the state, and national statistics are incomplete. State laws also vary widely, complicating situations when the gestational surrogate is in Minnesota and the intended parents live elsewhere.

A 2002 report from the Minnesota Uniform Parentage Act Task Force stated surrogacy agreements needed additional analysis. Several bills to legalize different aspects of surrogacy arrangements have since been introduced. One passed the Legislature in 2008, but was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

In his veto letter, Pawlenty wrote, “Although I agree that certain legal parameters may be needed, this bill raises some significant ethical and public policy issues that have not been adequately addressed,” citing the need for stronger protections for the surrogate mother, including making her own medical decisions during the pregnancy and the right to refuse requests that she abort.

At the commission’s first meeting, members elected as co-chairs the companion bills’ primary authors, Sen. Alice Johnson (DFL-Blaine) and Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover). Members also heard a historical overview of efforts to codify surrogacy practices in state law.

“I’m excited that we’ve started our work, and I think we’ve set the groundwork to move forward for the State of Minnesota on this issue,” Scott said. “There are no guardrails in the State of Minnesota for what is in a contract. There are so many moving parts to this issue.”

The commission is in the process of establishing meeting dates and seeking public testimony from experts and people with surrogacy experience. It plans to submit a report, which could inform legislation, to the Minnesota Legislature by Dec. 15.

Parishes get creative ahead of new federal overtime rule

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit With five months until it goes into effect, parishes are preparing to implement a new U.S. Department of Labor rule that roughly doubles the salary threshold at which workers would be exempt from overtime pay.

The Obama administration announced in the middle of May that the threshold for exempt workers would go from earnings of $23,660 annually ($455 weekly) to $47,476 annually ($913 weekly) Dec. 1.

“The main concerns of parishes is that they have a lot of staff members who are now going to be eligible for overtime starting Dec. 1 that weren’t previously eligible for overtime,” said Joseph Kueppers, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ chancellor for civil affairs. “At the archdiocese, we just try to limit overtime. It will affect parishes more because they have more ebb and flow.”

Kueppers offered as an example a youth minister taking the parish youth group to a weeklong camp.

With the constant vigilance required to lead such a trip, a youth minister could easily work 12 hours or more a day. Now parishes will either have to raise the salaries of youth ministers to $47,476 or pay them for the extra hours worked that week.

Fred Fox, parish business administrator at St. John the Baptist in Savage, has been strategizing how to handle this kind of situation, but it isn’t the only instance in which a parish employee might work overtime, he said.

“Sometimes even the bookkeeper, at certain times of the year, might be pushing 55, 60 hours a week,” Fox said.

Positions at St. John the Baptist that will also be affected by the changes are the director of the parish preschool and a couple of administrative assistants. For one position, the parish has chosen simply to raise the employee’s salary over the exempt threshold. Other positions will be brought into regulation more creatively. Since non-exempt employees can’t legally take “comp time” to even out the weeks when they exceed 40 hours of work, Fox has planned for unpaid vacation time to make up for the weeks when the employees earn more for working longer hours. This seems to suit employees, he said.

“Everyone’s going to get paid for every hour they work,” he said. At the same time, “Everyone would like to have a little more time off, as long as they make the same amount of money.”

He will also be adjusting responsibilities and job duties to try to even out work loads and is considering bringing in some additional help for the busy weeks.

At St. John the Baptist in New Brighton, Mark Dittman, the parish administrator, is examining additional options for adjusting to the new regulation.

Though non-exempt workers are typically paid hourly, which means they must record and report each hour of work, it is possible to have salaried non-exempt workers.

In this case, though they are not paid in correspondence to the hours worked, they must keep track of their time spent working and report it. If they work more than 40 hours in a week, they have to be compensated.

This solution allows employees to retain one of the advantages of a salary over an hourly wage — freedom from the time clock. “Some people complain they want to be exempt,” said Dennis Merley, an employment law attorney at Felhaber Larson in Minneapolis and the archdiocese’s employment lawyer. “They are used to coming and going as they please, working at home.”

Dittman has been getting input from parish employees on the matter, too.

“It’s not my intention simply to impose on them a new setup,” he said. “They do the work.”

Almost any solution will require supervisors to more strictly manage and monitor employees’ workload and hours spent on duty. Dedicated employees may also have to exercise restraint, Merley said, by sticking to the rules restricting their hours.

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July 7, 2016

U.S. & WORLD

Archbishop Hebda: Pallium Mass a celebration of unity, trust

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service New archbishops naturally wonder if they are the right person for the job, but reassurance comes from concelebrating Mass with Pope Francis, the pope who appointed them, said Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Celebrating the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul with Pope Francis June 29 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City was a celebration of unity, the archbishop told Catholic News Service after Mass.

Joining 24 other archbishops from 14 other countries for the Mass “really helps a new archbishop to recognize that what he’s doing is part of something much larger,” Archbishop Hebda said.

The 25 archbishops had a few minutes in private with Pope Francis and, Archbishop Hebda said, he expressed his closeness to the people of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis “in some challenging times.”

The archbishop, 56, was named head of the archdiocese in March, nine months after taking over as apostolic administrator in the midst of turmoil over how allegations of clerical sexual abuse had been handled in the archdiocese. Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche resigned in June 2015 citing the need to step down to allow healing to begin in the archdiocese.

In his homily at the Mass, Pope Francis spoke about prayer as the key to unlocking prisons of selfishness and paralyzing fear.

Asked if he experienced fear when he was named to the Minnesota archdiocese, Archbishop Hebda said, “I think there’s always some anxiety: Am I the right person for this position with its challenges?”

However, he said, “one of the wonderful things about coming to Rome and having that opportunity to be with Pope Francis is you realize that he’s the one who sent me there, and to the extent that we are able to stay close to him and that we trust him, we should have a sense that indeed my appointment there was a good thing not only for the archdiocese, but also for me and for the Church.”

“Some of that anxiety that I think is very natural in

Fear closes, prayer opens believers to God’s surprises, pope says

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

Archbishop Bernard Hebda with an icon of Sts. Peter and Paul in the background at the Pontifical North American College in Rome June 29. Paul Haring/CNS going to a new assignment is alleviated by knowing the person who assigned me there,” the archbishop said.

Archbishop Hebda was accompanied to Rome by a small group of his family members, including a brother and a sister. His nephew, Terence Hebda, who read the first reading at the Mass, did “such a great job” and continued a family tradition, the archbishop said. Terence’s father had read at a public Mass years ago with St. John Paul II. Pope Francis’ homily had an important message for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he said, “because we know that the Lord can do great things when we open ourselves to his grace, when we place our hope in him and when we’re willing to embrace even the surprises that come our way, and obviously fear is something that can keep us from doing that.”

“Certainly in our archdiocese we have some difficult legal problems before us,” he said, “and just recognizing that when we place our trust in the Lord, place our trust in Pope Francis, that we have hope that indeed the Lord is going to unlock that door for us and help us move forward.”

The pallium The pallium is a woolen band worn across the shoulders that symbolizes an archbishop’s unity with the pope and his authority and responsibility to care for the flock the pope entrusted to him.

According to James-Charles Noonan Jr. in “The Church Visible” (Viking Adult, 1996), before it was adopted by the Church, the pallium was a simple — and larger — garment worn by the Greeks for warmth. In the early Church, both clergy and lay people wore it as a sign of their fidelity to Christ. It wasn’t until the ninth century that it became a vestment given by the pope to archbishops.

Its wool comes from lambs blessed annually on the feast of St. Agnes, Jan. 21.

Catholic News Service reported that, like last year, Pope Francis didn’t confer the pallium on new archbishops during the June 29 Mass on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, but rather he blessed the palliums after they were brought up from the crypt above the tomb of St. Peter.

The actual imposition of the woolen band is to take place in the archbishop’s archdiocese in the presence of his faithful and bishops from neighboring dioceses. No date has been set for Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pallium conferral, which represents his role as the metropolitan of the archdiocese and its “suffragan sees” — the dioceses of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Catholic Spirit • 7

An archbishop’s pallium is pictured in its leather box in Rome June 29. After celebrating Mass June 29 for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and blessing the palliums, Pope Francis privately gave them to archbishops appointed in the past year. The archbishops will officially receive their palliums from a Vatican nuncio in their archdiocese.

CNS/Paul Haring

Prayer is a key that opens the door to God, unlocks selfish, fearful hearts and leads people from sadness to joy and from division to unity, Pope Francis said on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Prayer is “the main way out: the way out for the community that risks closing up inside itself because of persecution and fear,” he said during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica June 29.

Prayer — entrusting oneself humbly to God and his will — “is always the way out of our personal and community’s closures,” he said.

Twenty-five archbishops appointed over the course of the past year, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, were invited to come to Rome to concelebrate the feast day Mass with Pope Francis. They came from 15 countries.

In his homily, the pope said when Jesus promised Peter the keys, it was a symbol of his ability to open the kingdom of heaven, not lock it up like the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees did to those seeking to enter.

The day’s first reading, from Chapter 12 of the Acts of the Apostles, the pope said, speaks of different kinds of closure: Peter being locked up in prison and a group of faithful gathered inside a home in prayer and in fear.

After God sends an angel to free Peter from his captors, the apostle goes to the house of a woman named Mary, and knocks on the door. Though many people are gathered inside in prayer, they are unsure about opening the door, unable to believe Peter is really outside knocking to be let in, Pope Francis said.

King Herod’s persecution of Christians created a climate of fear, the pope said, and “fear makes us immobile, it always stops us. It closes us up, closes us to God’s surprises.”

This temptation is always out there for the Church, even today, to close itself up in times of danger, he said.

However, prayer offers “the grace to open up a way out: from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from sadness to joy. And, we can add, from division to unity,” he said, noting the customary presence at the Mass of a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

During his Angelus address, the pope said Sts. Peter and Paul, who are the patrons of the Vatican and the city of Rome, are “two columns and two great lights that shine not only in Rome’s sky, but in the heart of the faithful in the East and West.”

The saints’ feast day, which is a holiday in Rome, reminds people of the continued presence of Peter — a humble fisherman — and Paul — a great teacher — and how even today they “knock on the doors of our homes, but especially our hearts.”

“Once again they want to bring Jesus, his merciful love, his solace, his peace” to everyone, he said.

Pope Francis asked those gathered in St. Peter’s Square to let the “candid and firm faith of Peter and the great and universal heart of Paul help us be joyous Christians, faithful to the Gospel and open to encountering everyone.”

8 • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & WORLD

Supreme Court’s Texas decision impacts states

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service The Supreme Court’s June 27 decision to strike down restrictions on Texas abortion clinics is having ripple effects on legislation across the country, and it also has galvanized those on both sides of the abortion issue.

The impact of the ruling — which said Texas abortion clinics do not have to comply with standards of ambulatory surgical centers, and their doctors are not required to have admitting privileges at local hospitals — was felt almost immediately.

That same day, Alabama’s Attorney General Luther Strange said his office would drop its appeal of a federal district court judge’s 2014 ruling that the state’s admitting-privileges law, similar to the Texas law, is unconstitutional.

“While I disagree with the high court’s decision, there is no good faith argument that Alabama’s law remains constitutional in light of the Supreme Court ruling,” Strange said in a statement.

And the next day, the Supreme Court refused to review court rulings that blocked admitting-privileges requirements at abortion facilities in Mississippi and Wisconsin.

Support for the Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v.

Hellerstedt — the court’s first ruling on abortion in several years — predicted a swift wave of changes striking down similar restrictions on abortion clinics across the country. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, described the court’s ruling as the first step in opening the door to restore more access to abortion.

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, doesn’t see it that way.

“There may be some laws that are turned down because of what the Supreme Court did,” she said, “but by and large, the laws are going to stay.”

Tobias thinks the pro-life movement will be more invigorated in its fight after the court’s decision.

She said it is worth noting that one part of the Texas law, H.B. 2, that was not challenged was its prohibition on abortions after 20 weeks. Similar legislation has passed in 14 states, and she believes other states will follow suit.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports legal abortion, 25 states have laws or policies that regulate abortion providers and clinics that perform surgical abortions that it claims “go beyond what is necessary to ensure patients’ safety.”

— Read more at www.TheCatholicSpirit.com.

July 7, 2016

in BRIEF WASHINGTON

Bishops seek assault weapons ban, say civilians have no need for them Two U.S. Church leaders called for a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, saying they have no place in the hands of civilians. Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas issued their appeals in response to recent incidents in which people have been killed by attackers armed with semi-automatic rifles.

“There’s no reason in the world why these guns are available. There’s no logic,” Bishop Farrell told Catholic News Service June 22. The bishops’ stance puts them in opposition to gun rights advocates, who say that any effort to limit the sale and acquisition of firearms would violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was weighing a statement June 23 as the national debate on the need for action on gun control rose in intensity.

Since the mid-1990s, the bishops have called for “sensible regulation” and “reasonable restrictions” on firearms.

Bishop Farrell’s appeal came in a June 13 blog, a day after a gunman killed 49 revelers in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub.

Catholic universities examine sexual assault, misconduct environments Several Catholic universities are following Vice President Joe Biden’s lead and taking a closer look at sexual assault and misconduct on their campuses. Just two days after Biden’s address on violence against women at the United State of Women Summit in Washington, Georgetown University released the results of its first comprehensive sexual assault and misconduct climate survey.

The survey, launched in January, followed the same format as the Association of American Universities’ 2015 study of these issues at 27 U.S. colleges and universities. More than 7,000 students took Georgetown’s version, one of the highest response rates in the nation. The Georgetown survey found that 31 percent of female undergrads had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact, which University President John DeGioia called unacceptable in a statement accompanying the survey results. Many students also said they felt uncomfortable intervening, with 77 percent of bystanders who saw a drunk person about to have a sexual encounter doing nothing to stop them. A quarter of respondents said they didn’t know what to do. These data, the president said, were consistent with national trends.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM ARMENIA

Christians should apologize for helping to marginalize gays, pope says Catholics and other Christians not only must apologize to the gay

Pope Francis and Catholicos Karekin II, patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, release doves from the Khor Virap monastery near Lusarat village in Armenia June 26. In the background is Mount Ararat, believed to be where Noah’s Ark came to rest. During the pope’s three-day visit, the two highlighted Christian unity during a liturgy. CNS community, but they also must ask forgiveness of God for ways they have discriminated against homosexual persons or fostered hostility toward them, Pope Francis said. “I think the Church not only must say it is sorry to the gay person it has offended, but also to the poor, to exploited women” and anyone whom the Church did not defend when it could, he told reporters June 26. Spending close to an hour answering questions from reporters traveling with him, Pope Francis was asked to comment on remarks reportedly made a few days previously

by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops’ conference, that the Catholic Church must apologize to gay people for contributing to their marginalization. At the mention of the massacre in early June at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Pope Francis closed his eyes as if in pain and shook his head in dismay. “The Church must say it is sorry for not having behaved as it should many times, many times — when I say the ‘Church,’ I mean we Christians because the Church is holy; we are the sinners,” the pope said. “We Christians must say we are sorry.”

OXFORD, England

Brexit vote concerns European Church leaders that unity may be fractured European Catholic leaders expressed concern that the decision by United Kingdom voters to leave the European Union threatened unity across the continent, but they also cautioned the EU bloc to rethink its values and priorities. The concerns arose after voters decided June 23 to exit the EU by 52 percent to 48 percent. The decision led Prime Minister David Cameron to announce his resignation and sent shock waves through world financial markets.

In London, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said the vote must be respected and that the United Kingdom is setting out on a “new course that will be demanding on all. Our prayer is that all will work in this task with respect and civility, despite deep differences of opinion,” he said in a statement the morning after the vote.

“We pray that in this process, the most vulnerable will be supported and protected . . . .”

— Catholic News Service

July 7, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 9

Congratulations

to The Catholic Spirit’s 2016 Leading With Faith winners

Steven M. Arndorfer Owner, SMA Construction, Inc. St. John the Baptist, New Brighton vvv

Roger Bona Owner/President, St. Anthony Mobile (recently retired) Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights vvv

Father Marty Fleming Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Trinity Sober Homes St. Olaf, Minneapolis vvv

LaDonna Hoy Executive Director & Founder, Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners (IOCP) St. Bartholomew, Wayzata vvv

Dan Moran Senior Financial Advisor – Managing Director, Wealth Management, Merrill Lynch Our Lady of Grace, Edina vvv

Robert Murphy Chairman, Japs-Olson Co. St. Olaf, Minneapolis

Kathleen Groh Regional Director, Ignatian Volunteer Corps St. Jude of the Lake, Mahtomedi We will honor the winners at the Leading With Faith Award luncheon, Thursday, Aug.18, at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

For details, visit www.archspm.org/leadingfaithlunch Presented by

Partnering with

Celebrating 15 years If you are a past winner (2002 – 2015), you are invited to attend this year’s luncheon as our guest.

Call or email Mary Gibbs for your reservation.

651-251-7709 or gibbsm@archspm.org

10 • The Catholic Spirit

Acts o

‘Doughnuts for Jesus’

Chris Engelma Nativity of Our a homeless ma downtown St. from the Dorot carrying dough local bakery to meets. Some c Man. Dave Hrb Spirit

For St. Paul man, food and conversation conduits for connecting with society’s wounded Part eight in a 14-part series highlighting local Catholics who live out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit

C

hris Engelmann’s T-shirt summarized his Saturday afternoon: “The church has left the building. Gone out reachin.”

At 2:30 p.m., the parishioner of St. Mark and Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, and former manager and part-owner of the Days Inn on Prior Avenue in St. Paul, pulled up in front of Sugar Rush bakery on University Avenue in Frogtown.

“This is the source of all our love: doughnuts for Jesus,” he said, walking into the Nguyen family’s doughnut shop, now closed for the day.

A hand extended with a doughnut rarely gets refused, so Engelmann, 57, uses the Nguyen’s donation of leftover doughnuts as “bait,” his reference to Jesus’ instructions to be fishers of men. Along with doughnuts, he gives out friendship, encouragement, practical help and the Gospel all under the umbrella of The World Effort Foundation, his family’s nonprofit.

This isn’t a weekend pastime for Engelmann; it’s what he does almost all day, every day, exemplifying a spiritual act of mercy: bearing wrongs patiently.

In this case, it’s the wrongs many people have inflicted upon themselves, often after being wronged by others.

“I have somehow found a desire and drive to serve,” he explained. “My favorite Scripture [verse] is, ‘Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me.’ Where do you find the least? They’re not hard to find. You just have to not be afraid to go to the places where they’re at.”

Engelmann isn’t afraid. That’s why on March 1 he was at the bus station in Minneapolis at 11 p.m. doling out doughnuts, conversation and crosses. Among other travelers, he met a runaway teenager on her way home to reunite with her parents, and he blessed her journey with a Benedictine cross. Then on his way out, he offered a man standing by the door an apple fritter. The man only took one for later, increasing Engelmann’s suspicions that he was under the influence of drugs. Back in his truck about to leave, Engelmann saw a woman cross in front of him and walk up to the man.

“I could tell by what she was wearing she was working the streets,” he said, so he got out and approached.

His initial offer to help was refused, but he didn’t give up.

“Every time you hurt yourself, you’re hurting Jesus,” he said to her. “Do you know Jesus?”

M

ary Smith remembers that night, too. She was struggling with a cocaine addiction and wearing a little dress “trying to make some money.”

“He was going around asking people if they knew Jesus.

It stopped me in my tracks. I was like, ‘I know Jesus, I love Jesus,’” she said.

She went back to talk, and Engelmann gave her a ride to her aunt’s house where she would be safe. In the car, she told him her life’s story, including her childhood abuse, and about her grandmother who tried to protect her and took her to church.

Engelmann has stayed in touch with Smith, helping her over obstacles to reorient her life. He has also become friends with her two grown daughters.

“He helped me get my life back together,” she said in

June, the day before she started a treatment program.

According to Tracy Williams, who works with youth escaping sex trafficking with the Minneapolis-based Family Partnership’s PRIDE program, Engelmann has helped approximately 10 women get off the streets. She attributes it to his presence in just the right places.

“The places they go, he’s at. They happen to run into Chris, and he’s a very conversational person. He speaks the Word to them and sometimes he’s able to connect with them on other areas that he’s experienced in his life, and he lets them know there’s a way out,” Williams said.

Usually Engelmann will put them up in a hotel for the night and then contact Williams, who follows up.

In March, Engelmann also met Annie Kinzer, 31, and Tim Krolick, 32. They were in Minneapolis walking down Nicollet Avenue, high, drunk and soon-to-be homeless, on their way to spend their last $5 on cigarettes.

They were in a live-in treatment program, but had spent the night partying with a guy who had promised them and several other people apartments. Engelmann came down the street with doughnuts. He also noticed that Kinzer was wearing a pentagram charm — a satanic symbol — on her choker, and offered to buy it from her.

“I said, ‘Here’s the necklace.’ It didn’t mean much to me,” she recalled.

Besides doughnuts, Engelmann gave them his phone number and promised to get them Benedictine crosses.

Though they were unaware of it at the time, something changed for them in that moment.

“Taking that necklace from me, he took a weight off my shoulders. I don’t know what it was. To me he was a person who actually believed in us,” Kinzer said.

Two days later, their bender got them kicked out of the treatment program, and they discovered the promise of an apartment had been a lie. Luckily, Kinzer found them the last two places at another program in Coon Rapids.

A sober month later, Krolick saw the number for the “cross guy” on his phone and called. Engelmann couldn’t believe it. He drove to Coon Rapids to give them the promised crosses. In June, the two were still progressing, Engelmann said.

E

ngelmann spends a lot of time in St. Paul, too. On a Saturday afternoon in June, his personal investment in the neighborhood was clear. Leaving Sugar Rush in his white truck, he exchanged waves with a man walking down the other side of Lexington Avenue. Near Interstate

94, a man named Brian with a homeless sign took advantage of the red light to run up to Engelmann’s truck.

Even from the road, Engelmann could tell he had stopped using methamphetamines.

“Hey, how are you? Do you want a doughnut?”

Engelmann asked.

Brian’s eyes lit up and he nodded his head.

“I am doing good. I’ve gained some weight,” he replied and ran off with a doughnut just before the light turned green.

When he turned on St. Anthony Avenue, Engelmann saw several adults and a couple of children standing in a driveway. He parked and got out with a box of doughnuts.

Just then, another man joined the group.

“Is that Chris? How are you doing?” said Dewey Simmons, 37, reaching out his hand.

At first, Engelmann didn’t recognize him, but then he remembered the day a year ago when they met at the Days Inn. Simmons was a guest at the hotel because he was in between houses, and he and his wife were in a difficult spot. He passed by Engelmann coming out of the pool.

Simmons had a penny in his headband, and Engelmann noticed his despondent face.

“Every penny is an angel,” Engelmann repeated a saying he had heard years ago.

It launched a long conversation.

“I’ve been picking them up ever since,” Simmons said to Engelmann of the pennies. “You’re right, though. I’m doing better.”

While everyone munched on a doughnut, Engelmann passed out Sacred Heart badges he keeps in his truck.

“This is not something to be worshipped. It’s a visual aid.

It represents all the love of Jesus,” he explained.

Engelmann offered a prayer and then played a verse of “Amazing Grace” on his harmonica. Then he was off to his next stop, Run N Fun sporting goods on Randolph Avenue.

E

ngelmann became friends with owners Kari and Perry Bach when he was running competitively. Now the Bachs let Engelmann have their closeout shoes for $69 a bag. Any blemished shoes they give to him. Engelmann passes them on to people in need.

The first recipient of the latest stash was Margaret, who

The Catholic Spirit’s Acts of Mercy series is mad National Catholic Society of Foresters. Learn abo

of

Mercy

July 7, 2016 • 11

To bear wrongs patiently

ann of St. Mark and r Lord in St. Paul hugs an June 15 in Paul across the street thy Day Center. He is hnuts donated from a o offer to those he call him the Doughnut bacek/The Catholic

.

By Father Michael Van Sloun

Engelmann explains the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Jamale Bivins June 15 in downtown St. Paul.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

Engelmann offers free hotdogs June 15 to homeless people gathered in downtown St. Paul.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit asked that The Catholic Spirit use only her first name. On that Saturday afternoon, Engelmann also brought her a dresser to help furnish the apartment she moved into two months ago. He had already supplied the bed, television and television stand.

Engelmann met the older woman when she was living in Minneapolis at Exodus House, Catholic Charities’ transitional residence for vulnerable adults. There he runs “Coffee, Doughnuts and Conversation” with Sister Joan Tuberty, a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls. It’s an informal group that Sister Joan asked Engelmann to help her with about two years ago.

There residents can talk about personal issues and build community, but Sister Joan, a psychiatric mental health nurse, and Engelmann always try to integrate the faith into the discussion.

S

ister Joan first met Engelmann at a Bible study at St. Olaf in Minneapolis several years ago.

“I saw he could connect with the people who are troubled because of his own personal background. He listens and relates,” she said. “It’s like he arrives and a conversation gets started. He’s also lighthearted and playful, which is a wonderful gift to bring to work that’s kind of heavy.”

Born in Japan to American parents, Engelmann went to six different schools by the time he was in the eighth grade. The family settled in Minneapolis, but, fed up with his mentally ill stepfather, he left home at 14.

“I was a troubled youth,” he summarized.

He was also an atheist. Then, in 1986, he had an intense experience of the love of God the Father. At 28 years old, he left his old life behind and got a job on the construction crew remodeling the Days Inn. Shortly thereafter he met his wife, Patrice, with whom he has three children — Serena, 32; Anthony, 25; and Michael, 18. In 1987, he attended his first Mass at St. Mark in Merriam Park.

He eventually worked his way up to manager and part owner of the Days Inn, as well as the former Twins Motor Inn across the street.

In 2011, his faith deepened. That year he was training for an Ironman triathlon and praying rosaries during his long workouts. He also turned off the television and radio,

de possible in part through a grant from the out the organization at www.ncsf.com.

cutting out the sports and news that were with him almost constantly.

“I went to the desert,” he explained. “I had no white noise anymore. I was seeing things clearly.”

In the silence, he found the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He had been introduced to the devotion in 2011 by Father Humberto Palomino, a member of the Pro Ecclesia Sancta order and pastor of St. Mark. During the Ironman in Oklahoma, he taped a Sacred Heart badge to his arm.

Concentrating on the pain of Jesus over his own pain helped him push to the end, he said, but it brought him more than mental toughness. He increasingly felt a call to serve the least.

W

orking in hotels, he met many people down on their luck, and though he had always done what he could, he now concentrated more than usual on using his position to help — employee discounts for a family with a child in the hospital, free showers and laundry service for homeless people, and rides home on the hotel shuttle bus for stranded travelers. The words “all in” resonated in his heart.

Engelmann will be the first to admit he lacks balance, so when the Days Inn was sold in 2014 and he had the opportunity to dedicate himself to outreach, he did. He has been picking up doughnuts daily from Sugar Rush since then. There are three additional aspects of the ministry right now — transitional services to help people with furniture, Gifted Souls to give away shoes, and intervention services to help in difficult situations.

Deacon Don Kramer and his wife, Nancy, owners of North Dakota-based I. Keating Furniture, have connected Engelmann to furniture wholesalers in the Twin Cities who supply the furniture that he gives to people he meets in one long chain of human connections, often made on the streets.

“Chris knows that charity is not about handing somebody something. He knows it means you go to them, you look them in the eye, you try to understand their suffering and you try to bring the light of Christ to them,” Deacon Kramer said. “He’s doing great work with people who are really on the fringes of making it or not.”

Engelmann has a number of plans to expand the ministry, but he has done a lot of good already.

With a laugh, Mary Smith, the woman he met in March, said, “Those doughnuts for Jesus really work.”

To bear wrongs patiently is one of the seven spiritual works of mercy. Most of the spiritual works of mercy are directed outward for the spiritual benefit of another person, such as to instruct, comfort, counsel or admonish. This spiritual work is directed inward for one’s own spiritual benefit. It is much like a virtue. Christians should have this quality and increase in it.

To bear a wrong patiently is not to agree with it. When it comes to wrong, we must not be silent or inactive in the face of injustice, submit to violence, remain in an Father Michael abusive relationship, or acquiesce to mistreatment. It VAN SLOUN is contrary to Jesus and the Gospel to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing. Evil is to be opposed and not to be tolerated.

Nevertheless, life is unfair. Each of us has been wronged in some way. It may have been a long while ago or it might have been lately. The damage is done. The offense has had negative effects and been hurtful. The pain has persisted.

Oftentimes little or nothing can be done to fix it anymore. We are left to endure the hardship.

Wrongs come in many ways. We may have been resisted when doing good, treated harshly, cheated, slandered, lied about, falsely accused, handed a wrongful judgment, abandoned by a friend, persecuted, physically harmed or permanently injured. Jesus knows our troubles. He was wronged in all of these ways, and he bore the wrongs patiently.

To bear a wrong is to carry a hardship; to do so patiently is to do so for the long haul, and Jesus shows us how to practice this spiritual work of mercy.

Pray. It is impossible to carry serious wrongs on our own. God’s help is necessary. Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray before he had to bear his most grievous wrongs, and an angel from heaven was sent to help him (Lk 22:43). God will help us, too.

Say little or nothing. When Jesus stood before Pilate, “he did not answer him one word” (Mt 27:14). Jesus bore wrong without a moan, complaint, angry outburst or derogatory comment. If we hope to bear a wrong patiently, usually the best way to do so is silently.

A sense of resolve. Jesus carried the cross himself (Jn 19:17), and he did so with fierce determination. It was his burden to carry, and he did so with tremendous grit and willpower.

Love while burdened. As Jesus carried his cross, he was not preoccupied with himself and did not engage in self-pity. For Jesus it was never “poor me.” Instead, as he bore his wrong, he reached out to the women of Jerusalem with love (Lk 23:27-31).

Compassion. Jesus realized that the people who wronged him were flawed. They came from broken homes, had poor role models, did not receive moral training or were the victims of abuse themselves. Jesus observed, “They know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Jesus did not lash out at the people who wronged him. He bore wrongs patiently as he granted them the benefit of the doubt, did not return evil for evil and extended forgiveness.

Humor. The Gospels do not say that Jesus had a good sense of humor, but reading between the lines it is clear that Jesus was a man of joy, and that he had a cheerful, bright, positive outlook.

Humor breaks tension and lightens the load, and it helps a person to bear wrongs patiently.

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

12 • The Catholic Spirit

FROM AGE TO AGE • VOCATIONS

July 7, 2016

At 800 years old, Dominican order still making mark

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

Dominican Father Patrick Tobin walks on campus at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul where he teaches chemistry and serves as associate chaplain in campus ministry.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

I

n 1216, St. Dominic responded to French Catholics’ need to be steered from heresy; in the 1860s, Dominican Bishop Thomas Grace served Catholic immigrants who needed churches and schools in the fledgling Diocese of St. Paul; and in 2016, local Dominicans continue to preach the Gospel and minister in new ways.

As the world has changed around them, St. Dominic’s followers in each generation have addressed the challenges of their time by sharing the fruits of their unbroken 800-year tradition.

This year, Dominicans are celebrating the 800th anniversary of the founding of their tradition of preaching, prayer, study and community. The anniversary, celebrated from November 2015 through January 2017, commemorates the order’s establishment through two papal bulls.

What began as one Spaniard’s vision today includes roughly 7,000 friars, 2,775 nuns and 26 groups of sisters in active ministry worldwide. Dominican priests, brothers and sisters are woven into the history of the archdiocese and continue to have an impact.

“The charism that we’re trying to live — of contemplation, of prayer, of preaching and living the Gospel — is

“The charism that we’re trying to live — of contemplation, of prayer, of preaching and living the Gospel — is one that is desperately needed in this world that we live in.”

Dominican Sister Doris Rauenhorst

one that is desperately needed in this world that we live in,” said Dominican Sister Doris Rauenhorst, a Sinsinawa Dominican for 60 years.

That charism was given in the early 13th century to a young Spanish priest, Dominic de Guzman, who founded the Order of Preachers — aka the Dominicans — in response to the Albigensian heresy, which claimed the

spiritual world was good and the material world was evil.

“We don’t know as much about St. Dominic as we would like, but he left to us the order, the structure [and] the mission of the Order of Preachers, and that is his treasured gift to us,” said Dominican Father Patrick Tobin, 41, an adjunct professor of chemistry and campus minister at the University of St.

Thomas in St. Paul.

St. Dominic’s order represented a revolutionary new movement of mendicant itinerant friar-preachers, who begged for their needs, traveled away from their monasteries and were active in the community. The order signaled a shift from the prevalent allmonastic life to a life of both external apostolic mission, and cloister and prayer in community, said Dominican Father Mike Ford, director of the Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus, a ministry of the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great in Chicago.

Wherever they are, Dominicans pattern their lives after their founder’s four pillars of ministry, study, common life and prayer. The order was founded for preaching for the salvation of souls, Continued on next page

ial edition

May 26, 2016 • Spec

Our

shepherd

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FROM AGE TO AGE • VOCATIONS

July 7, 2016

Women, men religious celebrate jubilees

Continued from previous page but at the heart of its spirituality is the joy of following and being in relationship with Jesus, said Dominican Sister Mary Juliana Cox, 40, local superior of the Nashville-based Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia and principal of St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater.

While St. Dominic’s contemporary St. Francis of Assisi was called by Christ to rebuild the Church, Dominic was asked to rebuild the mind of the Church, Sister Mary Juliana said.

That included prayer. Tradition holds that Mary inspired St. Dominic to introduce the rosary, and the scene of Mary handing the beads to the friar is popular in western religious art.

After Dominic’s death in 1221, the life and mission of the order continued to grow. Study moved from monasteries to universities. Dominicans contributed significantly to the development of theology, helping the Church find its voice in every age as the world changed, Father Tobin said.

Dominican St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) was a distinguished scholar and scientist. His student St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), also a Dominican, was an intellectual giant who wrote on the roles of faith and reason, and continues to shape contemporary Catholic philosophy. St. Catherine of Siena (13471380), a tertiary Dominican, was also a theologian and philosopher, and notably helped to return the papacy to Rome after Pope Gregory XI took up residence in Avignon, France. All three Dominicans are doctors of the Church.

Minnesota influence In recent centuries, the Order of Preachers has turned from its European focus to other continents for mission work, Father Tobin said. Dominicans established their first U.S. priory in 1806 in Springfield, Kentucky. Four years later, Thomas Grace Please turn to PREACHING on page 19

The Catholic Spirit • 13

The Catholic Spirit congratulates the following members of women’s and men’s religious communities who are serving or have served in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and are celebrating jubilees this year. The information is provided by the religious orders and from the archdiocese’s annual Mass for World Day for Consecrated Life.

Benedictine Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery 70 years Sister Rosella Schommer 25 years Sister Linda Soler

Who was St. Dominic?

iStock

Dominic de Guzman was born in 1170 in Caleruega, Spain, and grew up to become a priest. In response to the Albigensian heresy and with a desire to preach the Gospel, Dominic founded the Order of Preachers, which became commonly known as the Dominicans. He first established convents for women. At the end of 1216, the pope granted confirmation for the new order. Dominic dispatched some of his new white-robed friars in twos to preach, and others to study and teach at European universities. Throughout his life, he continued to found communities and fight heresy. In 1220, the first laws governing the order’s operation were approved. Dominic died in Bologna, Italy, in 1221. He was canonized in 1234 and is the patron of astronomers. His feast day is Aug. 8.

Congregation of St. Joseph 60 years Sister Anita Germain

De La Salle Christian Brothers 60 years Brother Jerome Cox

Franciscan Brothers of Peace 25 years Brother John Mary Kaspari Brother Pio King Please turn to page 14

14 • The Catholic Spirit

Continued from page 13

Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls 60 years Sister Noreen Bentfield Sister Karen Niedzielski Sister Kay Watts Sister Janice Welle

FROM AGE TO AGE • VOCATIONS Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary 50 years Sister Jennifer Rausch

School Sisters of Notre Dame

60 years Sister Rita Rae Burger Sister Patricia Dillon Sister Margaret “Peggy” Marrin Sister Doris Rauenhorst Sister Theresa Thomas Sister Elizabeth Toohey

60 years Sister Margaret Buresh Sister Alice Druffel Sister Rita Jirik Sister Paulette Pass Sister Helen Marie Plourde Sister Jane Thibault Sister Pauline Zweber

50 years Sister Carol Bongaarts Sister Carolyn Croft

50 years Sister Mary Louise Dolezal

50 years Sister Mary Susan Berg Sister Lynore Girmscheid Sister Esther Wagner

Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester

Little Sisters of the Poor

School Sisters of St. Francis

60 years Sister Lucille Botz

70 years Sister Dorothy Ann Barloon

Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration 60 years Sister Marcella Anibas

Franciscan Sisters of St. Paul

50 years Sister Mary Alphonsus Curtayne

Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver 25 years Sister Fatima Tuaau

Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters 75 years Sister Marie Kevin Claybaugh Sister Gloria Higgins Sister Dorothy Wreisner 70 years Sister Margaret Muellenmeister

Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 50 years Sister Susan Coler

25 years Sister Wanda Mettes

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

75 years Sister Anne Grady Sister Helen Janssen Sister Grace Saumur Sister Eunice Tussing Sister Karen Wadsworth (died June 19) 70 years Sister Agatha Grossman Sister Jane Hurley Sister Agnes Iten

July 7, 2016 Sister Ann William Leach Sister Rita McDonald Sister Grace McKigney Sister Jane Svobodny 65 years Sister Frances Mary Benz Sister Elaine Conrad Sister Kathleen Holmberg Sister Mary O’Brien Sister Jean Rooney Sister Helena Sheridan Sister Florence Steichen 60 years Sister Jan Dalsin Sister Agnes Foley Sister Mary Clare Korb Sister Judith Madigan Sister Ann O’Neill Sister Marie Herbert Seiter

40 years Sister Chris Ludwig

Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order Franciscans 60 years Sister Lucy Bruskiewicz

Visitation Sisters, Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis 50 years Sister Karen Mohan

FOCUS ON FAITH

July 7, 2016

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES

Deacon Paul Baker

Good Samaritan shows how to make God’s presence known It is often remarked in both the secular and Catholic media today that society’s religious beliefs are declining. The Church has been asking the question these last years about what can be done to try to stem the tide of this alarming trend. Her answer so far has been to call for a “new evangelization.”

What is this new evangelization, though, and how are we as a Church

supposed to go about it?

The problem with today’s world is that it is first in need of being convinced that there is a God at all before we can even attempt to teach anything about him. This week’s Sunday readings offer us a glimpse at perhaps the most effective means of achieving this goal. Quite simply, if we wish to make the presence of God known in the world, then we are to

The Catholic Spirit • 15

follow the example of the Good Samaritan and show charitable compassion to our neighbors, especially those neighbors who are the least among us.

How is it possible for the love of God to be known through the actions of a human? It is possible because through our baptism, we are united to Jesus, the God who loved us both in his divinity and humanity. Because of Jesus, the human love we show for our neighbor helps the love of God to be known in a tangible way; through this human love we come to realize that the love of God should not be thought of as some distant, purely intellectual concept, but as an intimate reality that we can sense with our whole being, body and soul.

This is the very reason why Jesus became one of us, so that we would have an image of the invisible God. He came to live among us as one of us that we might know in a human, and thus deeper, way that God loves us and wants

Sunday, July 10 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings • Dt 30:10-14 • Col 1:15-20 • Lk 10:25-37 to be with us forever. We are called to mirror this in our own life so that our neighbor might know the love of God through us, and that we can love God through serving them. In doing so, they, too, might experience the same and seek to do likewise for others.

Deacon Baker is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His teaching parish is Epiphany in Coon Rapids, and his home parish is St. Peter in Mendota.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, July 10 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Dt 30:10-14 Col 1:15-20 Lk 10:25-37 Monday, July 11 St. Benedict, abbot Is 1:10-17 Mt 10:34–11:1

Tuesday, July 12 Is 7:1-9 Mt 11:20-24 Wednesday, July 13 Is 10:5-7, 13b-16 Mt 11:25-27 Thursday, July 14 St. Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin Is 26:7-9, 12, 16-19 Mt 11:28-30

Friday, July 15 St. Bonaventure, bishop and doctor of the Church Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 Mt 12:1-8 Saturday, July 16 Mi 2:1-5 Mt 12:14-21

SEEKING ANSWERS

Father Michael Schmitz

What’s the matter with gossip?

Q. What is the problem with

gossip? I mean, sometimes I just need to vent.

A. In many cases, even being willing to ask this question (and being open to an answer) is a sign that one’s heart is in the right place. All of us have “blind spots” when it comes to our attitudes, words and actions. Gossip can be one of those sins that is there unnoticed until we see its immediate effects. In asking this question, not only are you aware of this tendency, but it sounds like you are also open to change. That’s a great place to start.

What are we talking about when we are talking about gossip? First, gossip is different from venting. A person could vent about their own situation with little danger (other than becoming a complainer). Gossip is about others. At its most general, gossip is talking about others. There are three forms this can take.

The least potentially harmful form is talking about others’ good qualities. This wouldn’t be a sin at all, but the ancient rabbis cautioned against even this, because a conversation about someone else can start off with their good qualities

and then easily turn in a bad direction.

We all know why: The good things are boring! We want to know the bad things about a person’s character or situation.

The next level in “talking about others” is detraction. This is the technical term for gossip. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that a person is guilty of detraction if they, “without objectively valid reason, disclose another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them” (CCC 2477). It is also continuing to talk about those faults or failings for the purpose of curiosity and not in order to offer help or assistance.

The worst step in the category of “talking about others” is calumny. This unusual little term refers to lying about the faults of another in order to damage their reputation. It is clearly the worst, because malicious intent is always present and because it involves lying.

But back to gossip!

I’m glad you asked about this particular issue, because gossip is a really big deal. I can’t think of anything that more often poisons relationships than gossip. Of course, there are other ways that we can hurt each other, but gossip is everywhere. Gossip always infects and

Sunday, July 17 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 18:1-10a Col 1:24-28 Lk 10:38-42 Monday, July 18 Mi 6:1-4, 6-8 Mt 12:38-42 Tuesday, July 19 Mi 7:14-15, 18-20 Mt 12:46-50

Wednesday, July 20 Jer 1:1, 4-10 Mt 13:1-9

Saturday, July 23 Jer 7:1-11 Mt 13:24-30

Thursday, July 21 Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 Mt 13:10-17

Sunday, July 24 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 18:20-32 Col 2:12-14 Lk 11:1-13

Friday, July 22 St. Mary Magdalene Song 3:1-4b Jn 20:1-2, 11-18

corrupts. Talking about the faults or wounds of others causes dissension in families, kills lifelong friendships and breeds mistrust among peers. It is diabolical.

I know that could sound a little excessive, but I don’t think I am exaggerating. I used the term “diabolical” on purpose. In Dante’s “Inferno,” the deepest circle of hell is for the sin of treachery or betrayal. Dante placed famous betrayers in this lowest pit, and among them are people who could be classified as “betrayers of family, country, guests and benefactors.” What does this have to do with gossip?

You could call gossip “everyday betrayal.” It is a real betrayal, but since it happens so often, the temptation can be to quickly excuse the betrayal as “venting” or the even more deceiving euphemism, “sharing.”

And yet, gossip not only destroys relationships with each other, but also renders our relationship with God void.

The Letter of James does not mince words when it comes to watching how we talk about others: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26). To think that some of the worst culprits are those of us who go to church a lot! St. James says that, for anyone who gossips, their attempts at religion are worth nothing.

There are probably some people in your life who do not see gossip as a problem. They may see gossip as a connector. They view it as a good thing; it is one of the ways they bond with others. In these cases, how you proceed is

tricky. Often, when talking with them, it is not enough for you to patiently listen; they want you to contribute. They want to be validated in their assessment of the other person and can be upset if you don’t offer some piece of agreement or gossip in return.

Connection is good. Human beings connect with each other through words, sharing ideas, stories and experiences.

Using words to talk about others is an easy method. Gossip is attractive not only because it serves to scratch our curiosity itch, but also because it appeals to the “rubbernecker” in all of us. This is why we slow down on the highway to look at the scene of an accident but don’t slow down to look at the sunset on the horizon. This is why “the news” is dominated by bad news. Networks have to add in “feel good” stories at the end of a broadcast because the news that grabs our attention is the bad stuff. The same is true for our conversations: The news about others that grabs us is the bad stuff.

At best, gossip is merely a substitute for real connection, for real processing, for real action. Rather than addressing the person themselves and their upsetting behavior, we are tempted to tell everyone except the one person who could actually benefit from the conversation.

At its worst, it is poison that makes life unbearable. This is why gossip is so bad.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.

16 • The Catholic Spirit

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

TWENTY SOMETHING

Christina Capecchi

What George Washington and Pope Benedict have in common I’ve been listening to Lillian Cunningham’s “Presidential” podcast, trying to glean insights into our nation’s earliest leaders. In a month that is sure to contain fireworks — from the Fourth of July to the Republican and Democratic conventions — it feels quieting and introspective to cast my mind back to our first presidents.

In her podcast on George Washington, Cunningham interviewed Julie Miller, a Library of Congress historian. She emphasized Washington’s misgivings about his ability to govern the young republic.

“I think he felt that when he expressed his self-doubt that people would not see that as weakness, but that they would see it as a strength,” Miller said. “Modesty was something people really valued.”

Miller drew a sharp contrast to the

current presidential campaign, marked by bragging and bravado. “I don’t think any of the candidates, for example, would say, ‘I am not qualified to do this job.’ Washington said that publicly over and over.”

And yet, Americans felt otherwise.

They saw in the 57-year-old army commander a leader who was cleareyed about his strengths and shortcomings, sure to assemble a team of smart people. So Washington set off from Mount Vernon, leaving a private life of “domestic felicity,” as he put it, for New York. “My movements to the chair of government,” he wrote, “will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution — so unwilling am I . . . to quit a peaceful abode for an ocean of difficulties without that competency of political

WORD ON FIRE

Bishop Robert Barron

Thomas Aquinas and the art of making a public argument There is, in many quarters, increasing concern about the hyper-charged political correctness that has gripped our campuses and other forums of public conversation. Even great works of literature and philosophy — from “Huckleberry Finn” and “Heart of Darkness” to, believe it or not, Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” — are now regularly accompanied by “trigger warnings” that alert prospective readers to the racism, sexism, homophobia or classism contained therein. And popping up more and more at our colleges and universities are “safe spaces” where exquisitely sensitive students can retreat in the wake of jarring confrontations with points of view with which they don’t sympathize.

My favorite example of this was at Brown University where school administrators provided retreat centers with Play-Doh, crayons and videos of frolicking puppies to calm the nerves of their students even before a controversial debate commenced!

Apparently even the prospect of public argument sent these students to an updated version of daycare. Of course a paradoxical concomitant of this exaggerated sensitivity to giving offense is a proclivity to aggressiveness and verbal violence; for once authentic debate has been ruled out of court, the

only recourse contesting parties have is to some form of censorship or bullying.

There is obviously much that can and should be mocked in all of this, but I won’t go down that road. Instead, I would like to revisit a time when people knew how to have a public argument about the most hotly-contested matters.

Though it might come as a surprise to many, I’m talking about the High Middle Ages, when the university system was born. And to illustrate the medieval method of disciplined conversation, there is no better candidate than St. Thomas Aquinas.

The principal means of teaching in the medieval university was not the classroom lecture, which became prominent only in the 19th century German system of education; rather, it was the “quaestio disputata” (disputed question), which was a lively, sometimes raucous, and very public intellectual exchange. Though the written texts of Aquinas can strike us today as a tad turgid, we have to recall that they are grounded in these disciplined but decidedly energetic conversations.

If we consult Aquinas’ masterpiece, the “Summa Theologiae,” we find that he poses literally thousands of questions and that not even the most sacred issues are off the table, the best evidence of which is article three of question two of

skill, abilities and inclination which is necessary to manage the helm.”

When I heard this, I immediately thought of another leader who expressed a remarkably similar sentiment upon his election. In April 2005, the day after his installation Mass, Pope Benedict XVI opened up about the recent papal conclave.

“As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realize that, in a matter of speaking, the guillotine would fall on me, I started to feel quite dizzy,” said the new pontiff, then 78. “I thought that I had done my life’s work and could now hope to live out my days in peace. I told the Lord with deep conviction, ‘Don’t do this to me. You have younger and better [candidates] who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and with different strength.”

Both men felt truly unworthy of their respective appointments but moved forward, trying to accept the trust their peers had placed in them as they leaned on their faith in God. Another striking similarity: Both men could’ve remained in their positions of power until death but made the bold choice to step down.

They reached their decisions after discerning their own diminishing capacities as well as the shifting needs of the climates in which they served.

In an era when the temptation of fame and followers has never been

the first part of the “Summa”: “utrum Deus sit?” (whether there is a God). If a Dominican priest is permitted to ask even that question, everything is fair game; nothing is too dangerous to talk about. After stating the issue, Aquinas then entertains a series of objections to the position that he will eventually take. In many cases, these represent a distillation of real counter-claims and queries that Aquinas would have heard during “quaestiones disputatae.” But for our purposes, the point to emphasize is that he presents these objections in their most convincing form, often stating them better and more pithily than their advocates could.

In proof of this, we note that during the Enlightenment, rationalist philosophers would sometimes take Thomistic objections and use them to bolster their own anti-religious positions.

To give just one example, consider Aquinas’ devastatingly convincing formulation of the argument from evil against the existence of God: “If one of two contraries were infinite, the other would be destroyed . . . but God is called the infinite good. Therefore, if God exists, there would be no evil.”

Thomas indeed provides a telling response, but, as stated, that is a darn good argument. Might I suggest that it would help our public discourse immensely if all parties would be willing to formulate their opponents’ positions as respectfully and convincingly as possible?

Having articulated the objections, Aquinas then offers his own magisterial resolution of the matter: “Respondeo dicendum quod . . .” (“I respond that it must be said . . .”). One of the more regrettable marks of the postmodern mind is a tendency to endlessly postpone the answer to a question. Take

July 7, 2016

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Cor 12:19 greater, the humility of Washington and Benedict gives me pause. Here we are, grasping for status and whatever strange 21st-century sponsorships and shortcuts it may confer. And there they are, sure of who they are and who they are not, stepping aside gracefully to let someone else do something else.

Benedict’s someone else, Francis, recently reflected on the virtue that gave way to his papacy, speaking about the Sermon on the Mount and citing “Blessed are the meek” as one of the most important beatitudes.

“Meekness is a way of being that draws us very close to Jesus,” Pope Francis said. “At its depths, it is understanding the greatness of God.” That understanding brings such freedom. Nothing to prove or earn or defend. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights and the editor of www.sisterstory.org.

a look at Jacques Derrida’s work for a master class in this technique. And sadly, many today who want so desperately to avoid offending anyone, find refuge in just this sort of permanent irresolution. But Aquinas knew what G.K. Chesterton knew, namely that an open mind is like an open mouth, that is, designed to close finally on something solid and nourishing. Finally, having offered his “respondeo,” Aquinas returns to the objections and, in light of his resolution, answers them. It is notable that a typical Thomas technique is to find something right in the objector’s position and to use that to correct what he deems to be errant in it.

Throughout this process, in the objections, “respondeos” and answers to objections, Aquinas draws on a wide range of sources: the Bible and the Church fathers of course, but also the classical philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Cicero; the Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides; and the Islamic masters Averroes, Avicenna and Aviceberon. And he consistently invokes these figures with supreme respect, characterizing Aristotle, for example, as simply “the Philosopher” and referring to Maimonides as “Rabbi Moyses.” It is fair to say that, in substantial ways, Thomas Aquinas disagrees with all of these figures, and yet he is more than willing to listen to them to engage them and to take their arguments seriously.

What this Thomistic method produces is, in its own way, a “safe space” for conversation, but it is a safe space for adults and not timorous children. It wouldn’t be a bad model for our present discussion of serious things.

Bishop Barron is an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

July 7, 2016

EVERYDAY MERCIES

Alyssa Bormes

The Catholic Spirit • 17

We seek beyond ourselves, to God, while the cows today and every day will be satisfied with their “cow-ness” in the midst of the Camino, but not on it.

Cows on the Camino It has begun. My stepsister, Brenda, and I have arrived and begun the trek from the northwestern tip of France, across Spain to Santiago, the resting place of St. James the Apostle. The journey has a name: “the Camino” — in Spanish, “The Way.” We have met people from all over the world, and they have come to know us.

However, instead of writing about family, or the many friends we have met, I would like instead to speak of the bovine set.

My second day hiking, I happened upon quite a few reminders that cows were nearby. There were the beautiful sounds of their bells in the distance, and at times, something else which could clutter the path. I believe their delicate term is “cow pies.”

And here is the lesson: Just because you might see a cow pie on the Way, it doesn’t mean cows walk the Camino.

What amazed me as I was looking at the magnificence of my surroundings is that no matter how grand, like the trees and mountains, and no matter how small, like the slugs and the moss, we,

man, are the only ones walking the Camino.

It is our free will — which the rest of creation does not have — that sends us on all sorts of pilgrimages. We seek beyond ourselves to God, while the cows today and every day will be satisfied with their “cow-ness” in the midst of the Camino, but not on it.

I had been walking alone for some time. The trees formed a canopy that shielded me from a slight drizzle. In clearings, the mountains were majestic.

The cloudy day allowed the colors around me to intensify, which made the many shades of moss all the more beautiful. The striated stones each deserved awe; the flowers were resplendent. The Creator is a wild artist!

Still, none of these are the height of creation.

It is very humbling walking in such grandeur to know that you are the peak of God’s creation. There is a part of yourself that wants to feel insignificant and really does feel insignificant. But when the cows weren’t headed my way — and I had to pass through two gates to

iStock ensure they remained contained — I realized that a cow never goes to “find itself,” nor does a slug, nor the great apes, nor an ear of corn.

There is every reason for those cows and trees and mountains to be in the middle of Basque Country, but simply no reason for me to be here. I am a child of the plains of South Dakota; I have no physical characteristics that make it a good idea to take this hike, yet I am compelled to be here.

God is reckless in his love. He makes me feel utterly small, only to have me

realize that I am more significant than all of it — and each life is! And in this odd juxtaposition, all I can think of is God’s greatness and his gifts, and that it is all a gift.

My necessary small steps give me time to ponder the cow pies, to pray, to be on a journey. No trees followed me on the Way; no mountains moved toward Santiago on a great pilgrimage — only I did.

Bormes, a member of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, is the author of the book “The Catechism of Hockey.”

LETTERS

Racism can’t be ignored On April 28, The Catholic Spirit reported “Minneapolis Catholic Workers back Black Lives Matter.” Reading The Catholic Spirit on June 9 and seeing the negative reactions from what I’m assuming are white Catholics on Black Lives Matter is by no means a surprise.

Throughout America’s history any black movement going back to slavery — whether the abolitionists of that day, the “Back to Africa” movement of Marcus Garvey in the 1920s, the NAACP of the early and beyond the mid-20th century, the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, the Black Panther Party and Martin Luther King — has had the opposition by the majority of whites.

Institutional racism is still a major threat to our American fiber. But the problem of the critics of “Black Lives Matter” goes far beyond that movement.

Because even to this day, many white Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, are simply unenlightened to the real damage that racism has done, past and present.

I am an African-American Catholic who attends weekly Mass (and sometimes during the week) and I am appalled at the deafening silence by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at a critical time, for the African-American communities in the Twin Cities are at their worst in education, housing, jobs and health care. As a longtime activist of 50 years in Minneapolis, I see what’s sadly missing with the average churchgoer by his or her passing race issues by like the priest and the Levite passing by the man that’s robbed (Lk 10:25-37) only to be attended to by the Good Samaritan.

Howard McQuitter II Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale St. Constantine, Minneapolis Letters in the June 9 issue criticized Minneapolis Catholic Workers for working with Black Lives Matter because BLM is not a worthy racial justice

organization. They were accused of involvement in civil disobedience and disruptive tactics that often inconvenience people, and wasting time and resources trying to find out what really happened to Jamar Clark. Why would Catholic Workers support BLM, and should the Church support their efforts to advance the cause of racial justice?

BLM emerged after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and its message was greatly amplified by a series of deaths at the hands of police across the country (Eric Garner on Staten Island, Freddy Gray in Baltimore, Walter Scott in South Carolina, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Sandra Bland in Texas). There exists an absolute lack of trust in the black community for governing authorities and police departments based on historical experience in this country from slavery, through Jim Crow and up to today. This distrust has led to legitimate questioning of why the arrest of young men like Jamar Clark escalate when there should be nonlethal ways of taking prisoners in custody.

We are at a critical time when trying to understand the reasons for the actions of BLM is more important than criticizing them based on our own beliefs of what is appropriate, or telling African-Americans what they should do to advance their own cause. As long as they are working nonviolently, BLM has the weight of history on its side. I suggest reading Jim Wallis’ recent book, “America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America.” It lays out the background to the events leading to the formation of BLM and what people of faith can do to build a bridge to racial unity.

Gary Gullikson Guardian Angels, Oakdale

Walking in faith I have walked a few labyrinths in my time, and have felt closer to my faith doing so than in some Masses where the priest is just reading words that he has recited hundreds of times and where the

congregation does so in a similar rote fashion — if they even respond at all — totally devoid of any acknowledgment of what they are saying.

The Mass, like a labyrinth, is a tool to keep us in touch with our Creator. True, Jesus told us to celebrate his memory by taking and eating the bread and wine, his body and blood. Is that the only thing we can do to remember him? Did he only do that once? Seems to me he did a lot of dinners. And walking. Up and down Palestine, back and forth to Emmaus, Jerusalem, Bethany, you name it. You try walking 10 miles, talking the whole time. Perhaps he meditated a little on the way. Perhaps his disciples meditated on the way. Does that make them “New Age”?

Labyrinths have been around for centuries. Like a lot of other customs, the Catholic Church co-opted the tradition and tweaked it, seeing a good tool for making people’s faith stronger. We have always done that. (Take the timing of Christmas, for example.) But if your readers are implying that labyrinths are Satan’s way of getting in your heads and stealing your faith, what on earth does their prayer life consist of? You can pray the rosary doing the labyrinth, did you know that? And because it’s not a maze, you’ll never get lost, did you know that? You ask for God’s help, guidance, love, and let it fill you with wonder and joy, free from the distractions of work, traffic, politics, etc., and just meditate on God’s love. There is nothing more glorious on a beautiful day than walking an outdoor labyrinth giving thanks to God that you’re alive, feeling his creation under your feet. “New Age”?

Oh, ye of little faith. If that scares you, what a fearful world you must live in.

Elizabeth Rosenwinkel St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis

Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@ archspm.org. Please include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

18 • The Catholic Spirit

CALENDAR

July 7, 2016

Music

Prayer/worship

Singles

Summer Concert - Swingin’ the Bard — July 24: 7–8:15 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St.

Healing Mass with Father Michael Becker — July 15: 7–10 p.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155

Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: The

N., Oakdale. www.guardian-angels.org/event.

County Road 24, Medina. 763-553-1343.

Ongoing groups

Healing Mass with Father Jim Livingston — July 19: 7–10 p.m. at St. Gabriel the Archangel,

Faithful Spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7-8:30 p.m. in Smith

Hall (second floor) of the Hayden Building, 328 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul. For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation or divorce. 651-291-4438 or faithfulspouses@archspm. org.

Career Transition group meeting — Third Thursday of every month: 7:30 a.m. at Holy

Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Medina. www. hnoj.org/career-transition-group.

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

Parish events St. Columba Fun Fest — July 8-9: 5–10 p.m. at 1327 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. www.stcolumba.org.

Free ice cream social — July 17: 2–4 p.m. at 51 Church St., Elko New Market. www.stncc.net/ice-cream-social.

Our Lady of Lourdes Northeast Block Party — July 23: 6–10 p.m. at One Lourdes Place, Minneapolis. www.ourladyoflourdesmn.com.

1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins. 952-933-8423 or www.stgabrielhopkins.org.

CALENDAR submissions

group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. Mary at 763-323-3479 or Al at 651-482-0406.

DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur.

Singles group at St. Vincent de Paul — ongoing second Saturday each month:

Vespers for the feast of Mary of Magdala — July 21: 6 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600

6:15 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park.

763-425-0412.

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

Taize prayer — Third Friday of every month:

Young adults

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication in the calendar: • Time and date of event • Full street address of event • Description of event • Contact information in case of questions.

(No attachments, please.)

Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. www.mary.org.

7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

651-777-7251 or www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

Retreats

Cathedral Young Adults Sport Night — Fridays through September: 6:30–9 p.m.

at Rahn Athletic Park, 4440 Nicols Road, Eagan. www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/cya.

Into The Deep summer retreats — July 11-15, Aug. 1-5; Aug. 8-12; Sept. 17-21: www.idretreats.org.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend — July 15-17: Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. www.wwme.org.

Silent Healing Retreat — July 21-24: 7 p.m. at Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Dr., St. Paul. www.frbillusa.net.

Other events Cities 97 Basilica Block Party — July 8-9: 5–10:30 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. www.basilicablockparty.org.

Little Flowers Girls Summer Camp — July 15-17: 2 p.m. (July 15) – noon (July 17) at 451 Fifth

Schools

St. SW, Pine Island. www.beholdpublications.com/ summercamps/minnesota.

Holy Cross Catholic School Golf Tee-Off — July 15: 12:30 p.m. at CreeksBend Golf Course,

Franciscan Retreats 50th anniversary celebration — July 17: 11 a.m.–3 p.m. at 16385

26826 Langford Ave., New Prague. www.holycrossschool.net/annual-golf-tee-off.

St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats.net.

FAX: (651) 291-4460 MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit • 244 Dayton Ave. • St. Paul, MN 55102 A note to readers As of Jan. 1, 2016, The Catholic Spirit no longer accepts calendar submissions via email.

Please submit events using the form at www.thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions.

in BRIEF Continued from page 5

joining the Catholic Church in 1993, Father Blake was a Lutheran pastor for more than 15 years.

Because he’s married and has children, he received special permission to be ordained in 1999. Father Blake also has been a chaplain in the Air Force for the past 11 years. Outgoing St. Thomas chaplain and director of campus ministry, Father Erich Rutten, was appointed pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL

Father Larry Blake named UST chaplain, director of campus ministry Father Larry Blake, chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, will serve Father Larry as the University of St. Thomas’ BLAKE chaplain and director of campus ministry starting in October.

Father Blake will join the leadership of the newly structured Office of Campus Ministry under Father Larry Snyder, vice president for mission. Before

DHS annual report: Minnesota abortions down in 2015 Abortion numbers in Minnesota have dropped in eight of the last nine years to their lowest level since 1974, according to the annual Abortion Report released July 1 by the Minnesota Department of Health. The 2015 total of 9,861 abortions is a

reduction of 2.6 percent from the previous year’s 10,123 total. More than half were performed on women in their 20s. A total of 11,553 women received the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent information, meaning 1,692 women chose not to abort after learning about fetal development, abortion risks and complications, and abortion alternatives. The report also shows that taxpayerfunded abortions grew to 43 percent of all abortions reported in the state, the highest percentage since the 1995 Doe v. Gomez Supreme Court ruling requiring taxpayers to fund abortions. Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minneapolis-based Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said in a statement that numerous factors have contributed to the trend of declining abortions, including many of the organization’s legislative and educational efforts.

Thanks to these advertisers on TheCatholicSpirit.com: Daughters of the Heart of Mary St. Agnes School St. Patrick’s Guild Saint Therese College of St. Benedict Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity The Glenn Hopkins Benedictine Health Service at Innsbruck Mission Doctors Association

READ COMMENTARY AT catholichotdish.com

July 7, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 19

Preaching still heart of Dominican calling Continued from page 13

“contemplate and give to others the fruit of that contemplation.”

was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He would become a Dominican priest in 1839 and the second bishop of St. Paul 20 years later.

In 1865, Bishop Grace invited the diocese’s first Dominican sisters to Faribault where they founded Bethlehem Academy and Immaculate Conception School. The Wisconsin-based Sinsinawa Dominicans also founded other schools in the diocese, and nearly two dozen sisters continue to serve locally in a variety of areas, including the arts and music, pastoral ministry and immigrant assistance.

Other Dominican sisters, including the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, and the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor of the Immaculate Conception and Lucy the Martyr, have served the local Church in the 150 years since members of their order first arrived. In 2002, Archbishop Harry Flynn invited members of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia to teach at St. Croix Catholic School. Currently four sisters live in Stillwater.

In 1878, Bishop Grace invited Dominican friars to establish Holy Rosary parish and priory in a south Minneapolis railroad community. The priory housed up to 20 friars and served as a hub for Dominicans who traveled by horseback and train to conduct missions in surrounding states.

By the 1930s, Holy Rosary’s burgeoning Catholic population compelled Archbishop John Gregory Murray and the Dominicans to form a second nearby parish, St. Albert the Great. Now serving as the Twin Cities’ priory, it is home to nine friars, some of whom have ministries outside the archdiocese, said

Prayers for ‘zealous preachers’

Dominican Father Joe Gillespie preaches a homily at Mass June 23 in the chapel at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit Dominican Father Joe Gillespie, 73, St. Albert’s pastor for more than nine years.

As did their founder, Dominicans pray the Liturgy of the Hours and practice Marian devotions.

According to an ancient expression of the order, they

Lay Dominicans — men and women who live the order’s four pillars “in the world” — are also present in the archdiocese. They preach in their own lives, said Anna Marie Byrne, a lay Dominican and Holy Rosary parishioner who teaches at Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis.

The vocation “has big impact like a ripple in the pond when people connect with others,” said Byrne, 65. “It might be small ripples, but it makes a difference in the example to others.”

The Dominicans’ 800th anniversary is noteworthy because the order has never experienced schism, shifts or divisions, and it has a solid base of government, said Dominican Father Jim Spahn, 62, Holy Rosary’s pastor.

However, Catholics should pray for the order, including “for more zealous preachers who are courageous at a time when truth is not well respected or believed in,” said Sister Mary Juliana.

Father Spahn noted the need for preachers and the Dominican model will continue, and that the order has inspired a particular enthusiasm in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We need people who are willing to engage and seek out the truth wherever that’s to be found in a world that’s full of false values,” Father Spahn said.

“Dominicans are geared toward things that will last [and are] very traditional, but at the same time willing to pick up and embrace new things and examine them.”

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20 • The Catholic Spirit

THE LAST WORD

July 7, 2016

The marvel of God’s hand Outdoor retreats affirm participants’ human dignity and divine image

I

By Jessica Weinberger For The Catholic Spirit n high school, Jen Messing would spend one month each summer exploring the woods, glacial rock and scenic overlooks surrounding her family’s cabin on Crane Lake nestled on the edge of Voyageurs National Park within the Superior National Forest.

With no electricity or plumbing, the remote cabin experience forced Messing, now 43, to venture into the wilderness. In the quiet stillness of northern Minnesota, she tuned into the wind blowing through the trees, the waves crashing on the shore, and God’s voice.

“That was my first time remembering what it was like to really pray,” she said.

Inspired by her early experience of prayer in the outdoors, Messing, a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, founded the non-profit Into the Deep in 2012. With the mission of facilitating true understanding of each person’s identity, reason for being and dignity as someone with a body and soul made in the image of God, Messing leads indoor and outdoor retreats, seminars, study groups and presentations for youth and adults.

Into the Deep retreat participants experience the outdoors in the context of the theology of the body — St. John Paul II’s teaching on love, life and human sexuality introduced in Genesis and summarized by the verse “man and woman he created them.”

Understanding what the body teaches about its Creator, the meaning of love and the purpose of life are not easy concepts to grasp. But Messing, who has a master’s degree in theological studies from Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, explains the Church’s teachings in the midst of outdoor prayer and reflection.

At a scenic outlook in Voyageurs National Park, she’ll encourage the participants to find their own secluded spot to talk informally to God. On a hike in California’s Yosemite National Park, she’ll space out the participants to quiet the conversation and turn the focus to God’s creation around them.

“This is the original cathedral that God appointed to himself through all of this beauty and quiet, and this is where he’s inviting you to talk to him.”

Jen Messing

Father Michael Wolfbauer of the Diocese of St. Cloud prepares Mass outdoors during a 2014 retreat in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. Courtesy Jen Messing

What is theology of the body?

Focus on God You won’t find a smartphone or tablet on an Into the Deep retreat. Participants are required to leave electronics behind, so they can immerse themselves in the experience. A priest usually joins each group to offer the sacrament of reconciliation, eucharistic adoration and daily Mass using a travel-size monstrance and Mass kit.

Free from the noise of everyday life, Messing, a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Pacific Northwest Outdoor Educator course, watches as participants begin to quiet their minds and take in the natural world around them.

“There is this incredible reality that this is God’s creation and this is his playground,” Messing said.

“God takes care of all the entertainment because he gives us the sunset, the winds blowing through the trees, the storms and all of this water to play in.”

Justin Svec, 36, a mechanical engineer and father of six from Westfield, Indiana, signed up for an Into the Deep retreat to New York’s Adirondack Mountains in 2014. The volunteer high school youth minister and Bible study leader hoped to reclaim his outdoorsy side that he honed as a Boy Scout growing up in Alaska.

“Encountering God in creation strengthened my sense of communion with nature,” Svec said, recalling a natural water slide and Mass on top of the mountains. “It’s easy to get locked in a life of

Jen Messing hikes in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area in Washington State’s Cascade Mountains during her NOLS Pacific Northwest Outdoor Educator course in 2008.

Courtesy Jen Messing commute, work, commute, mow the lawn, eat and sleep, so it is good to get a literal breath of fresh air to reconnect.”

As he became more confident in each physical challenge, Svec’s understanding of the theology of the body began to move from his head to his heart.

“Hard work and sweat, mixed with time to contemplate, is powerful,” he said.

Maggie Havlicek and Abby Kugler, both 12 and classmates at Holy Cross Catholic School in Webster, participated in a trip to Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth as fifth-graders. As the group of five girls hiked through the park, they prayed, made campsite meals and admired the stars’ panorama each night.

For Kugler, the shared roles and responsibilities combined with the group’s care and encouragement made it feel like a family. For Havlicek, memories of nights playing games in the tent by flashlight still make her smile, and the basic teachings of the theology of the body remain close to her heart.

Between 1979 and 1984, St. John Paul II dedicated 129 reflections during his weekly Wednesday audiences to the Church’s teaching on the human person, human sexuality, the meaning of “woman” and “man,” and what that conveys about God’s love and plan for each person. The compiled teachings, complemented by his other writings, has become known as the theology of the body. According to “The Theology of the Body Explained” (Pauline Books, 2002) by Christopher West, a well-known writer on the topic, the gist of the teaching is that “the body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it.”

— The Catholic Spirit “I remember Jen teaching me that I am unrepeatable — that God made me different than anyone else,” said Havlicek, a parishioner of St. Nicholas in Elko New Market.

With four trips planned for 2016, as well as a study group and other talks, Messing hopes that she can expand from a one-person operation to a broader team with interns who assist with event logistics and spread the theology of the body’s message.

She envisions one day leading 10 retreats each year, continuing to use the outdoors to share those messages in an understandable and relatable way.

This opportunity is available to each person, she said, by opening minds and hearts to encounter God in everyday life, especially in nature.

“It’s not to replace church, but it’s an opportunity to see the original cathedral that God put here,” Messing said about her retreats. “This is the original cathedral that God appointed to himself through all of this beauty and quiet, and this is where he’s inviting you to talk to him.”