The Catholic Spirit - June 9, 2016

Backyard chapel 4A • Legislative review 6A • Letters to the editor 13A June 9, 2016 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Archbishop Hebda to new priests: ‘Go out to the peripheries’

ABOVE Archbishop Bernard Hebda joins in the applause for the nine men standing in front of him set to be ordained priests May 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. It was the first group of men he ordained to the priesthood for St. Paul and Minneapolis. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit BELOW Father Joseph Zabinski hugs his father, Roger, following the ordination Mass, as his mother, Mary Ann, looks on. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Nine men ordained priests for ministry in the archdiocese; archbishop urges them to accompany people facing life’s challenges

On May 28, eight men were ordained priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and one for an order serving a local parish, at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. Read our special coverage of the ordination Mass and what led each man to the priesthood.

B section

ALSO inside

Reorganization plan

Ending services

Connecting through joy

After entering bankruptcy in January 2015, the archdiocese files a plan for Reorganization; judge says asset-hiding allegations false.

Citing changing trends, Catholic Charities plans to close its Seton Prenatal Clinic in St. Paul and cease adoption services in coming months.

A new Redemptorist priest embraces laughter as a ministry tool as he connects with students and parishioners of St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.

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2A • The Catholic Spirit

PAGE TWO

in PICTURES

June 9, 2016 OVERHEARD “Jesus is no wizard! He is God’s tenderness incarnate; the father’s immense compassion is at work in Jesus.”

Pope Francis at Mass June 5 in St. Peter’s Square, referring to the Gospel reading of Jesus raising a young widow’s child from death. At the Mass, the pope canonized St. Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad of Sweden and St. Stanislaus Papczynski of Poland.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

Catholic Spirit wins second place at annual awards

MERCY BILLBOARD Father Michael Skluzacek, left, pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton, blesses a billboard May 25 in New Brighton along Interstate 35W that delivers a message of mercy to motorists and invites them to experience the sacrament of reconciliation. It is part of a campaign started by members of the parish that also includes lawn signs, bumper stickers and invitation cards people can give to others. Organizers, who hope the campaign will spread to other parishes, invite people to visit its website, www.experiencemercy.com. Standing next to Father Skluzacek are parishioners and Father Andrew Jaspers, who also ministers at St. John the Baptist. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Spirit won second place General Excellence among highest circulation, non-weekly diocesan newspapers June 3 from the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. The paper also garnered 13 other awards, including four first-place awards for writing, design and special sections in 2015. Among the award-winning pieces were a special section on priest ordinations, features on “Divorce in the Church” and a seminarian football star, and a report on the archdiocese’s efforts to protect children from abuse following the 2014 Doe 1 settlement. The awards were held in St. Louis at the annual Catholic Media Conference.

Catholic Watchmen Rally June 16 Catholic men are invited to the Catholic Watchmen Rally 6:30 to 9 p.m. June 16 at St. Hubert in Chanhassen. Catholic author and speaker Jeff Cavins will present “Jesus Walking in Me: The Choices I Make.” The evening includes eucharistic adoration, confession and dinner. For more information, contact Susanna Bolle at bolles@archspm.org or 651-291-4411.

Rural Life Sunday celebration June 26 The archdiocesan Rural Life Sunday celebration, hosted by St. Michael in Kenyon, is slated for 1:30 p.m. June 26 at the Ron and Kay Keller family farm. The event includes Mass with Father Donald DeGrood presiding, food, refreshments and activities. For more information, visit www.archspm.org or call 651-290-1647.

Evangelization office to launch grandparent initiative The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Evangelization and Catechesis recently surveyed more than 400 Catholic grandparents and will include results in a resource book to be offered at the Aug. 27 “The Gift of Being Grand” Catholic Grandparent Conference at Mary Mother of the Church in Burnsville. The conference aims to provide tools, resources and methods for overcoming challenges and building relationships for grandparents wanting to be more intentional in passing on the faith. For more information, call 651-291-4411.

Risen Christ honors GHR Foundation ALTAR DEDICATION Bishop Andrew Cozzens incenses the new rear altar at Transfiguration in Oakdale at a May 22 Mass. The ritual was part of the dedication of that altar, which holds the tabernacle, and the dedication of the altar of worship. The liturgy also included the celebration of Transfiguration pastor Father Bill Baer’s 20th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Bob Zyskowski/The Catholic Spirit

WHAT’S NEW on social media Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from New York pay their respects at the childhood home of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who died June 3 at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease: www.facebook.com/thecatholicspirit “Irish Catholic girl” Anne Maloney reflects on St. Peter’s Square in Rome: www.catholichotdish.com

The Catholic Spirit is published bi-weekly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 21 — No. 12 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis presented the Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation with its annual Circle of Light Award May 25. Risen Christ President Michael Rogers credits the foundation with aiding the K-8 school’s work in educating low-income students and students of color. The GHR Foundation has given grants to Risen Christ and six other schools to facilitate participation in the City Connects program, which helps schools meet students’ needs. Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst founded the GHR Foundation in 1965.

CORRECTION In “In Pictures” in The Catholic Spirit’s May 12 issue, we incorrectly identified the location of Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, and omitted that it is paired with St. Augustine, also in South St. Paul. Father John Echert is pastor of both. The Catholic Spirit apologizes for the error.

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June 9, 2016

FROM THE BISHOP

The Catholic Spirit • 3A

The gift of marriage

T

he past few weeks have been filled with many celebrations, including the installation of Archbishop Bernard Hebda and the ordinations of nine transitional deacons and nine new priests. We also had a smaller but very important celebration of World Marriage Day at the Cathedral of St. Paul last Saturday. At this celebration we honored many couples who came to celebrate important anniversaries of 25 or 50 years and honored four couples who were married more than 70 years.

We speak often about a vocations crisis in our Church, and I believe we do have a vocation crisis.

It is a crisis in the vocation of marriage. Not only do many marriages struggle and our society misunderstands what marriage is, but also many of our young people are choosing not to get married today at all, let alone a sacramental marriage in the Church. If you speak to our priests you will discover that the sacrament of marriage is down in every parish.

FROM THE BISHOP Bishop Andrew Cozzens

This is a crisis that will have a profound impact on our future. A strong culture of marriage is essential for family life and allowing our young people to grow up in the stability of knowing they are loved. The family is the best environment for handing on the faith. If young people choose not to get married, not only our Church, but also our culture will face many struggles in the future.

This is why Pope Francis called two synods on the family and recently wrote a beautiful apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family called “The Joy of Love.” In typical Pope Francis style, this document is filled with practical wisdom and deep insight into the love of God and the love of families.

I encourage you to read this document. Pope Francis is very readable, and if you only read the summaries you find in the press, you will get a very unbalanced understanding of what Pope Francis is saying. Some have argued that Pope Francis believes we should change the Church’s teaching about marriage in order to accommodate what our culture thinks marriage is, as the way to get more people to enter the sacrament of marriage. Nothing could be further from what Pope Francis says, which is, “In order to avoid all misunderstanding, I would point out that in no way must the Church desist from proposing the full ideal of marriage, God’s plan in all its grandeur. . . . A lukewarm attitude, any kind of relativism, or an undue reticence in proposing that ideal, would be a lack of fidelity to the Gospel and also of love on the part of the Church for young people themselves. To show understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being.

Today, more important than the pastoral care of failures is the pastoral effort to strengthen marriages and thus to prevent their breakdown” (“Amoris Laetitia,” 307).

This being said, it is also true that Pope Francis wants the Church to show understanding and love for all those who struggle in living the Church’s teaching on marriage. He believes it is possible to hold on to the high ideal and still show mercy to those who struggle. After all, this is

what Jesus always did. Jesus always spoke the truth and called us to the truth of love, but he also revealed that love in mercy toward sinners.

Pope Francis invites us to recognize that God’s mercy encourages us to walk with those who are not living the Church’s teaching on marriage as they are on the path toward the full meaning of what marriage is. Thus, those who come to the Church in irregular situations should find a listening ear and discerning heart to try and help them be more and more open to God’s merciful and faithful love.

In light of Pope Francis’ teaching and this great vocation crisis we face, I’d like to encourage one practical action item. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if those in our Church who are living the sacrament of marriage with full fidelity were to try and reach out to those who struggle? What if we could reach them in a way that shows mercy and understanding?

Pope Francis speaks a lot about accompaniment in the process of evangelization. Do you know someone who is currently not fully living their Catholic faith whom you could accompany toward that fullness, showing them love through patience, understanding and mercy? Perhaps once we have demonstrated our love to them and that we value them, then God will provide opportunities to gently share with them the beauty of married love.

Marriage is meant to reflect the love of Christ for his Church. Let us try to reflect Christ’s mercy, which reached out to the weak and the lost.

Experiencing this mercy, perhaps some will be open to the faithful, covenantal love of marriage.

Only this love fully accords with the truth of the human heart, and the Gospel shows us that when people experience mercy they often become open to the full truth of who they are called to be.

El regalo del matrimonio

L

as últimas semanas han estado llenas de muchas celebraciones, incluyendo la instalación de Monseñor Bernard Hebda, las ordenaciones de 9 diáconos transitorios y 9 nuevos sacerdotes. El sábado pasado también tuvimos una celebración más pequeña pero muy importante, el Día Mundial del Matrimonio en la Catedral de St. Paul. En esta celebración honramos a muchas parejas que vinieron a celebrar aniversarios importantes como los 25 o 50 años y ¡4 parejas que han estado casadas por más de 70 años.

A menudo hablamos sobre una crisis de vocaciones en nuestra Iglesia, y creo que tenemos una crisis de vocación. Se trata de una crisis en la vocación del matrimonio. No sólo debido a los problemas de muchos matrimonios y a que nuestra sociedad no entiende lo que es el matrimonio, sino también porque muchos de nuestros jóvenes hoy están optando por no casarse, mucho menos consideran el matrimonio sacramental en la Iglesia. Si usted platica con nuestros sacerdotes descubrirá que el número de matrimonios ha disminuido en todas las parroquias.

Esta es una crisis que va a tener un profundo impacto en nuestro futuro. Una sólida cultura del matrimonio es esencial para la vida familiar que permitirá que nuestros jóvenes crezcan en la estabilidad de saberse amados. La familia es el mejor entorno para la transmisión de la fe. Si los jóvenes optan por no casarse, no sólo nuestra Iglesia, sino nuestra cultura enfrentaran muchas dificultades en el futuro.

Esta es la razón por la que el Papa Francisco convocó dos sínodos para la familia y recientemente escribió una hermosa exhortación apostólica sobre el matrimonio y la familia llamada “La Alegría del Amor.” En el estilo típico del Papa Francisco este documento está lleno de sabiduría práctica y un entendimiento profundo dentro del amor de Dios y el

amor de las familias. Les animo a leer este documento.

Los escritos del Papa Francisco son muy fáciles de leer y si sólo lee los resúmenes que se publican en la prensa, obtendrá una comprensión muy desequilibrada de lo que está diciendo el Papa Francisco. Algunos han argumentado que el Papa Francisco considera que se debe cambiar la enseñanza de la Iglesia sobre el matrimonio con el fin de dar cabida a lo que nuestra cultura piensa acerca del matrimonio. Esta es la manera de conseguir que más gente entre en el sacramento del matrimonio. Nada podría estar más lejos de lo que dice el Papa Francisco, “con el fin de evitar cualquier malentendido, me gustaría señalar que de ninguna manera la Iglesia debe de desistir en proponer el ideal del matrimonio, el plan de Dios en toda su grandeza.... La tibieza, cualquier forma de relativismo, o un excesivo respeto a la hora de proponerlo, serían una falta de fidelidad al Evangelio y también una falta de amor de la Iglesia hacia los mismos jóvenes. Comprender las situaciones excepcionales nunca implica ocultar la luz del ideal más pleno ni proponer menos que lo que Jesús ofrece al ser humano. Hoy, más importante que una pastoral de los fracasos es el esfuerzo pastoral para consolidar los matrimonios y así prevenir las rupturas. (“Amoris Laetitia,” 307).

Dicho esto, también es cierto que el Papa Francisco también quiere que la Iglesia muestre comprensión y amor para todos los que luchan en vivir las enseñanzas de la Iglesia sobre el matrimonio. Él cree que es posible mantener ese alto ideal y todavía tener compasión de aquellos que luchan. Después de todo, esto es lo que Jesús siempre hizo. Jesús siempre decía la verdad y nos ha llamado a la verdad del amor, pero también reveló ese amor misericordioso hacia los pecadores.

El Papa Francisco nos invita a reconocer que la misericordia de Dios nos anima a caminar con

aquellos que no están viviendo las enseñanzas de la Iglesia sobre el matrimonio, ya que están en el camino hacia el pleno significado de lo que es el matrimonio.

Por lo tanto, aquellos que vienen a la Iglesia en situaciones irregulares deben encontrar un oído que escucha y un corazón en discernimiento para tratar de ayudarles a ser más y más abiertos al amor misericordioso y fiel de Dios.

A la luz de la enseñanza del Papa Francisco y en esta gran crisis de vocaciones con la que nos enfrentamos, me gustaría animarlos a que pongan en práctica un elemento de acción. ¿No sería maravilloso que las personas de nuestra Iglesia que están viviendo el sacramento del matrimonio con plena fidelidad, traten de llegar a los que tienen problemas? ¿Y qué pasaría si pudiéramos llegar a ellos de una manera que muestre misericordia y comprensión?

El Papa Francisco habla constantemente acerca del acompañamiento en el proceso de evangelización. ¿Usted conoce a alguien que actualmente no está viviendo plenamente su fe católica a quien podría acompañar hacia la plenitud, mostrándole amor a través de la paciencia, la comprensión y la misericordia? Quizás, una vez que hemos demostrado nuestro amor por ellos y que los hemos valorado, entonces Dios proporcionará la oportunidad de compartir gentilmente con ellos la belleza del amor conyugal. El matrimonio está destinado a reflejar el amor de Cristo por su Iglesia. Vamos a tratar de reflejar la misericordia de Cristo, que se acercó a los débiles y a los desvalidos.

Al experimentar esta misericordia, tal vez algunos estarán abiertos al amor fiel y duradero del matrimonio. Sólo este amor concuerda plenamente con la verdad del corazón humano y el Evangelio nos muestra que cuando las personas experimentan misericordia, a menudo se abren a la plena verdad de ser quienes están llamados a ser.

4A • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

June 9, 2016

SLICEof LIFE Backyard Mass Andrew Lehnen, 12, receives the chalice from Father Leonard Andrie of St. Joseph in West St. Paul during Mass May 31 at a chapel in the backyard of his parents, Jennifer and Randy Lehnen, St. Joseph parishioners. Andrew came up with the idea of converting a pigeon coop into a chapel. He enlisted the help of his three siblings, plus other kids in the neighborhood. Father Andrie blessed the chapel and celebrated the first Mass there, which took place on the feast of the Visitation. “It’s my dream,” Andrew said. “I’ve been working on it for four years.

I think it’s great.”

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

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LOCAL

June 9, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 5A

in BRIEF ST. PAUL

St. Mark’s School designated a 2016 Minnesota School of Character St. Mark’s School was named the 2016 School of Character May 26 by Synergy & Leadership Exchange, a North Mankato-based nonprofit. The Minnesota School of Character program recognizes schools that exemplify the “11 Principles of Effective Character Education” as outlined by Character.org. Four key concepts at St. Mark’s are helping others succeed, communicating “you matter,” “honor the absent,” and “see the problem, own the problem,” Principal Zach Zeckser said in a May 27 statement.

Archdiocese names interim evangelization office director The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced June 1 that Crystal Crocker, evangelization coordinator in the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, has been named the office’s interim director.

Formed in March 2014, the office was previously directed by Jeff Cavins, who left his position in March but continues to work closely with Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens and the archdiocese’s Catholic

Watchmen initiative. Crocker, a parishioner of St. Peter in Mendota, said the office “plans to continue the evangelization mission to proclaim the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus or to those who are drifting away from the Church.”

FOREST LAKE

St. Peter breaks ground on renovation and campus additions Following Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, parishioners of St. Peter attended a groundbreaking ceremony June 5 for additions to the parish church and school, as well as a renovation and re-purposing of existing space. Additions include a gathering space, classrooms and meeting rooms, and additional parking spaces. A parish capital campaign raised more than $2.8 million.

ROBBINSDALE

St. Therese partners with North Memorial for transitional care center St. Therese has opened Transitional Care by Saint Therese to provide specialized care to patients at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale who are preparing to return home. Located on the medical

center’s fourth floor, services include physical, occupational and speech therapy; a two-way nurse call system; an automated medication dispensing system; in-room education; and visits from registered dietitians and pastoral care staff.

WASHINGTON

Archbishop Hebda among U.S. bishops to help implement ‘Joy of Love’ As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, Archbishop Bernard Hebda is among five bishops USCCB President Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, has appointed to an informal working group on the implementation of Pope Francis’ recent apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love.” Other group members are Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, North Carolina, chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, chairmanelect of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; and Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective May 13, 2016 Most Reverend Andrew Cozzens and Very Reverend Charles Lachowitzer, both appointed vicar general.

Effective May 26, 2016 Reverend Joseph Gillespie, OP, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Christ the King in Minneapolis. This is a temporary assignment until July 1, 2016, in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Albert the Great in Minneapolis.

Effective June 1, 2016 Reverend Joah Ellis, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Our Lady of Peace in Minneapolis, replacing Reverend Vaughn Treco. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Michael in Saint Michael.

Reverend Paul Jarvis, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Bridget in Minneapolis. Father Jarvis is returning to ministry after a leave of absence.

Reverend Robert Kelly, OP, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and assigned as chaplain to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

Father Kelly is a member of the Dominican Friars Province of Saint Albert the Great.

Reverend James Livingston, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Paul in Ham Lake. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as chaplain for North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

Reverend Kevin Magner, appointed parochial vicar of the parish cluster of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Medina, the Church of Saint Thomas in Corcoran, and the Church of Saint Anne in Hamel. Father Magner is returning to ministry after a leave of absence.

Reverend Thomas McCabe, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Michael in Saint Michael and the Church of Saint Albert in Albertville. Father McCabe is returning to ministry after a leave of absence.

Reverend Robert Mutui, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Dayton, replacing Reverend Peter Richards. Father Mutui previously served as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John the Baptist.

Reverend Timothy Norris, appointed pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Saint Paul.

This is a transfer from this previous appointment as pastor of the Church of Saint Paul in Ham Lake.

Reverend Michael Powell, OMI, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and appointed pastor of the Church of Saint Casimir in Saint Paul and the Church of Saint Patrick in Saint Paul. Father Powell is a member of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Father Powell replaces Reverend Gregory Gallagher, OMI, who has been transferred outside of the Archdiocese by his religious order.

Effective June 15, 2016 Reverend Robert Altier, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Raphael in Crystal.

This is a transfer from his previous appointment to the parish cluster of the Church of Saint Paul in Zumbrota, the Church of Saint Michael in Pine Island, and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Goodhue.

Reverend Neil Bakker, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Edina.

Father Bakker was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend Michael Daly, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saints Joachim and Anne in Shakopee. Father Daly was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend John Drees, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Peter in Forest Lake.

This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Medina.

Reverend Byron Hagan, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Divine Mercy in Faribault.

This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids.

Reverend Paul Haverstock, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Hubert in

Chanhassen. Father Haverstock was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend Peter Hughes, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saints Joachim and Anne in Shakopee.

Reverend Kyle Kowalczyk, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Divine Mercy in Faribault. Father Kowalczyk was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend James Michael McClellan, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Ambrose in Woodbury. Father McClellan was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend Matthew Northenscold, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Peter in North Saint Paul. Father Northenscold was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend Mark Pavlak, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John Neumann in Eagan. Father Pavlak was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Reverend Paul Shovelain, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in New Brighton. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Peter in Forest Lake. Father Shovelain will continue in his appointment as chaplain to Totino-Grace High School.

Reverend Nicholas VanDenBroeke, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Divine Mercy in Faribault and the Church of Saint Michael in Kenyon.

Reverend Joseph Zabinski, appointed parochial vicar of the parish cluster of the Church of Saint Paul in Zumbrota, the Church of Saint Michael in Pine Island, and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Goodhue. Father Zabinski was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese on May 28, 2016.

Effective July 1, 2016 Reverend Leonard Andrie, appointed parochial

administrator of the Church of Saint Therese in Deephaven, replacing Reverend Albert Backmann. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul.

Reverend Timothy Cloutier, appointed pastor of the Church of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Saint Paul and the Church of the Holy Childhood in Saint Paul. Father Cloutier previously served as parochial administrator of the Church of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Reverend Herbert Hayek, OP, appointed pastor of the Church of Christ the King in Minneapolis. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.

Reverend Paul Kubista, appointed parochial vicar of the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. This is a transfer from his previous appointment as parochial administrator of the parish cluster of the Church of the Nativity in Cleveland and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Marysburg.

Reverend Warren Sazama, SJ, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and appointed pastor of the Church of Saint Thomas More in Saint Paul. Father Sazama is a member of the Society of Jesus Midwest Province. He replaces Reverend Joseph Weiss, SJ, who has been transferred outside of the Archdiocese by his religious order.

Effective August 1, 2016 Reverend Dennis Thompson, appointed pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale. This is a transfer from his previous appointment as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Margaret Mary in Golden Valley.

Retirements Effective July 1, 2016 Reverend James Wolnik, released from his assignment as pastor of the Church of the Holy Childhood in Saint Paul and granted the status of a retired priest. Father Wolnik has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1979.

6A • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

June 9, 2016

In Chapter 11 plan, archdiocese offers $65 million for abuse victims

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

S

ixteen months after entering Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed a plan for Reorganization May 26. The plan identifies more than $65 million in assets the archdiocese anticipates will be available to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse, with the potential for that amount to grow.

The plan outlines specific sources for funds available for victim remuneration, including at least $8.7 million from the sale of archdiocesan properties, including three chancery buildings on Cathedral Hill, as well as more than $33 million from insurance settlements. It establishes a trust for victim remuneration funds, with a court-approved allocation protocol.

The plan also includes settlements from parish insurers of approximately $13.7 million with the potential for future settlements from archdiocesan insurers that are not currently entering into agreements with the archdiocese. The archdiocese is seeking to transfer the rights of recovery for those policies to the trustee of the trust for victims.

“We filed our plan today — at 16 months — because victims/survivors cannot be compensated until a plan for reorganization is finalized and approved,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said during a press conference May 26. “The longer the process lasts, more money is spent on attorneys’ fees and bankruptcy expenses, and, in turn, less money is available for victims/survivors. . . . We are submitting our plan now in the hope of compensating victims/survivors and promoting healing sooner rather than later.”

The plan filing came a day after the closing of a threeyear window in which decades-old sexual abuse claims could be filed under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which the State Legislature passed in 2013.

The lifting of the statute ushered in a wave of claims against clergy who had been or were serving in the archdiocese, leading the archdiocese to enter bankruptcy in January 2015 as a means to distribute assets equitably and fairly among victims. By a courtestablished claim deadline in August 2015, more than 400 claims of clergy sexual abuse had been filed against the archdiocese.

In a May 25 statement, the Minnesota bishops apologized for the pain suffered by victims of clergy sex abuse and their families, and thanked them for coming forward.

“While we cannot say or do anything to return the innocence of youth that was stolen, we will work to restore broken relationships with family, friends and loved ones and heal the pain caused to so many,” they said, also promising to continue to work to create safe environments for children, immediately report every allegation and employ “stringent” hiring practices.

Moving Reorganization into final phase In entering Reorganization, the archdiocese sought to continue the essential ministries and mission of the local Church, leaders said at the time. The plan does not distribute some assets the archdiocese owns but says are essential for its core mission and cannot be considered salable assets with market value. They include property occupied by the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, TotinoGrace High School in Fridley, Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park and DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.

The plan also asks for a resolution of 323 lawsuits against 97 parishes in the archdiocese by means of a channeling injunction. It also establishes a counseling fund for victims with an initial $500,000 contribution from the archdiocese, and it incorporates protocols from a civil settlement between the archdiocese and the Ramsey County Attorney designed to ensure the archdiocese is adhering to best practices in child abuse prevention.

For implementation, the archdiocese’s plan requires approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kressel, who is expected to look for agreement from attorneys from the Unsecured Creditors Committee that the plan meets the needs of both victims and the archdiocese.

Key dates in Reorganization timeline May 2013 • The Minnesota Child Victims Act passes the State Legislature, creating a three-year period for the filing of historic claims of child sex abuse previously barred by the statute of limitations.

Oct. 13, 2014 • The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis settles a case with a victim of clergy sex abuse known as Doe 1. The settlement includes 17 child protection protocols to guide the archdiocese’s efforts to protect children from abuse.

Jan. 16, 2015 • The archdiocese files for Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code due to mounting claims of child sex abuse by clergy, and begins mediation with attorneys representing victims and insurers. It is the 12th diocese in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy related to sexual abuse claims.

June 5, 2015 • The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office files a civil petition and criminal charges against the archdiocese for allegedly failing to protect minors sexually abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer.

Aug. 3, 2015 • A court-determined deadline passes for filing historic claims of sexual abuse against the archdiocese to be part of the Reorganization settlement.

Dec. 18, 2015 • The archdiocese enters into a settlement with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office on the civil petition filed against the archdiocese in June. The 24-page agreement outlines child protection measures the archdiocese has already implemented or has promised to implement, and Ramsey County’s oversight of those measures for three years.

May 25, 2016 • The Minnesota Child Victims Act expires, ending the three-year lifting of the statute of limitations on historic claims of child sex abuse.

May 26, 2016 • The archdiocese files a plan for Reorganization, which includes $65 million for abuse victim remuneration.

Diocesan bankruptcy settlement amounts San Diego, California (2007) • $198.1 million Wilmington, Delaware (2009) • $77.5 million from diocese; $27.5 million from religious order Portland, Oregon (2007) • $75 million Spokane, Washington (2007) • $48 million Davenport, Iowa (2008) • $37 million Tucson, Arizona (2005) • $22.2 million Gallup, New Mexico (2016) • $22 million Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2015) • $21 million Helena, Montana (2015) • $20 million Fairbanks, Alaska (2010) • $9.8 million Speaking May 26 on the lawn of the archbishop’s Summit Avenue residence, which is among properties the archdiocese has sold and is temporarily leasing, Archbishop Hebda acknowledged that the plan may be modified before it is approved.

“While we believe this plan is fair, we also know that some well-intentioned people may raise objections,” he said. “Reorganizations sometimes involve modifying an initial plan. We are committed to working earnestly with everyone involved to find a fair, just and timely resolution.”

Read the archdiocese’s plan for Reorganization at www.archspm.org.

Bankruptcy judge: Accusations that archdiocese hiding assets false Accusations that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is trying to shield assets or mislead the court in its plan for Reorganization are “not at all helpful” and “not true,” a U.S. bankruptcy court judge said during a June 2 hearing.

Judge Robert Kressel was referring to accusations related to a motion filed May 23 by Robert Kugler, who represents sexual abuse victims in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings, for the court to consolidate the archdiocese’s assets with those of parishes and other separately incorporated Catholic entities in order to increase monetary remuneration to victims. The motion anticipated the archdiocese’s May 26 filing of a plan for Reorganization, in which it listed available assets at $65 million, most of which would be used to compensate victims.

Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul lawyer representing more than 380 victims of clergy sexual abuse with claims against the archdiocese, held press conferences May 24 and 26 accusing the archdiocese of shielding funds by not including the assets of separately incorporated entities such as Catholic Charities, the Catholic Community Foundation, and schools and parishes.

Speaking at a separate press conference May 24, Archbishop Bernard Hebda rebuked the accusations, saying the archdiocese had no legal right to the other entities’ assets. He also stated that the archdiocese has followed all of the rules set forth by the court and all directives from the judge.

Addressing attorneys from the archdiocese and its creditors June 2, Kressel expressed disapproval of the accusations.

“The motion that the committee made nowhere mentions anything about hiding assets or misleading the court,” he said. “Of course, the whole premise of the motion made is that these aren’t the archdiocese’s assets. They’re someone else’s, and you want them consolidated. Making accusations like that in public are not supported by the motion and are not helpful to proceeding forward.”

Kressel asked for “more cooperation among the lawyers . . . and a little restraint about what people say about the case and about this motion.”

Kressel said that he would hear motions related to the May 23 motion July 7. Legal issues related to the motion, he said, include whether the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee, which Kugler represents, has standing to file the motion and whether substantive consolidation of assets of the archdiocese with “nondebtors” is legally possible. He also indicated that there may be some legal issues with the archdiocese’s plan for Reorganization as filed.

The judge also denied for the time being an application of the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee for authority to retain Deloitte, a St. Louis-based financial consulting firm, to investigate the archdiocese’s assets. He cited the expected high expense and the importance of resolving legal concerns before involving Deloitte. He said that if the committee felt it later needed to make the case for help with discovery, it could reapply to the court to retain Deloitte’s assistance.

“There will be a settlement,” Kressel added. “I know we’re going to fight. I guess that’s the mood we’re in now, but we all know there’s going to be a settlement and a consensual plan. And the question now is how much money we’re going to spend doing that. One of my goals is to proceed expeditiously, but also keep the costs down.”

Charlie Rogers, an attorney of Twin Cities-based Briggs and Morgan, which represents the archdiocese in the bankruptcy proceedings, said the hearing “affirmed that the judge, along with [Archbishop] Hebda, agrees that there is nothing sinister going on here, that the archdiocese is not hiding assets. Instead, there is a legal dispute about whether or not the separate corporations should be merged into the bankruptcy.”

— Maria Wiering

LOCAL

June 9, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 7A

MCC: Surrogacy commission and drug sentencing reform among legislative wins

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The establishment of a surrogacy commission, passage of drug sentencing reform legislation and withdrawal of a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide are among the victories the Minnesota Catholic Conference is celebrating following the end of the Minnesota State Legislature’s 11-week session May 23.

“A lot of good things were done this session, even in divided government,” said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director, referring to the dynamic of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a DFL-controlled Senate.

That dynamic “can be an important opportunity to advance legislation that really serves the common good,” he said. “The divided government prevents some of the more partisan or ideologically-driven pieces of legislation from moving forward. Given that gridlock, . . . it’s important for people to find places where they can build common ground on what they can agree on, and when there is agreement reached, it’s a real powerful symbol of bipartisanship.”

Important steps for state That bipartisan support led to the passage of several pieces of MCC-backed legislation, including one establishing a surrogacy commission, which MCC listed as a top priority at the beginning of the session.

As advocates for public policy on behalf of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, MCC has long supported creating a commission to study the issue of commercial gestational surrogacy, or the practice of a woman contracting to become pregnant and gestate a baby to be raised by someone else, often a party previously unknown to her. Minnesota law does not provide a legal framework to “sell your baby,” Adkins said, which is why the fertility treatment industry is eager for the state to adopt regulations to protect surrogacy contracts and the industry’s investment in the state.

“We are deeply troubled by this, and we said the only way that Minnesota is going to be able to look at this rationally is if we create some sort of legislative mechanism, like a commission, to study it in further detail,” he said. “The normal legislative process of a few hearings in each house is simply not sufficient to properly address public policy questions that have deep ethical implications, but also have to deal with new and emerging technologies, and have a strong financial component to them.”

Adkins also praised the passage of drug sentencing reform legislation, calling it the “most important criminal justice reform in decades in Minnesota.”

The legislation was a way to ensure the state’s drug laws keep up with changes in the drug trade while justly punishing drug criminals, he said.

At the same time, it provides addicts and nonviolent offenders the things they need “to be restored to the community,” Adkins said, such as addiction treatment.

“It was inspiring to see prosecutors, law enforcement, criminal defense attorneys, justice advocacy groups come together — groups that are normally opposed on a number of public policy questions — and really find ways to improve our drug

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sentencing laws,” he said. He also credited lawmakers who were willing to take the political risk of being tagged as “soft on crime” in an election year.

“It’s really important in the Year of Mercy to be talking about the way the role of mercy can be extended to all areas of our life, public policy included,” he added. “What our advocacy did was really help drive the moral imperative behind making this change.”

Also notable was the author’s withdrawal of a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Minnesota from committee consideration. Adkins expects the issue to be raised again next year, and MCC is continuing to work with a diverse coalition of physician-assisted suicide opponents aiming to increase awareness and education about the issue.

Adkins considers physician-assisted suicide to be a form of “false mercy,” as advocates cloak the position as one of compassion or dignity.

“Minnesota is the state with the best health care in the nation, and perhaps even most of the world, and for us to say we’re going to let people die because of their fear that they have no other choices” is wrong, Adkins said.

He said the showing of opposition to the legislation at the March hearing held by the House’s Minnesota Senate Health, Human Services and Housing Committee was impressive and built momentum for fighting the legislation.

MFIP boost among misses While some Capitol-watchers have lamented the failure of the Legislature to pass in its final hours a bonding bill to fund roads, bridges and other infrastructure, prompting discussions of a possible summer special session, Adkins said the evaluation of the Legislature’s outcome depends on one’s perspective.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing that government isn’t spending money,” he said.

With a $900 million state budget surplus, however, Adkins is disappointed that increasing funding for the Minnesota Family Investment Program never gained the traction he had hoped, especially when the effort had bipartisan support. The welfare program for families hasn’t increased its cash grant in 30 years, essentially “trying to overcome 2016 poverty with 1986 public assistance,” Adkins said.

At the beginning of the legislative session, MCC listed among its priorities school choice-related tax credits. Two of them were nearly included in an omnibus bill passed at the end of the session, but they did not make the final version.

Looking ahead MCC is now focused on the 2017 legislative session, which will follow the 2016 election in November. All 134 seats in the state’s House and all 67 seats in the Senate are up for election in 2016.

This summer, MCC will also be closely following the work of the gestational surrogacy commission, which is expected to begin meeting in July and file a report to the Legislature in December. There is widespread misunderstanding, including among Catholics, about the threats commercial surrogacy pose to the common good, Adkins said.

Catholic Charities’ Seton Prenatal Clinic on University Avenue in St. Paul will close in August. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Catholic Charities to end two longtime services

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit In the coming months, Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis will close its Seton Prenatal Clinic and cease its adoption program.

Citing declining numbers and changes in health care regulations and industry trends, Catholic Charities CEO Tim Marx said the clinic, which dates back to 1917 and provides health care to low-income or uninsured women, will close in August and is working on a transition plan.

“We understand, as the region’s largest comprehensive social service agency, that it is our job — and the community and other partners rely on us — to be of service to those most in need,” Marx said. “And we look at everything we do in the context of those most in need. We always have to deal with scarce resources, and when we have to make choices, we look at where are other options available, where are we most needed, and where can we be credible and provide the level of service that makes sense given all the changes that are occurring. We will always continue to do that.”

In 2015, Seton Prenatal Clinic served 206 women, a decline from previous years. The clinic, located on University Avenue in St. Paul, has three full-time employees. Its midwifery services are staffed by the St. Paul-based HealthEast Care System, a longtime partner that also directs the clinic’s medical services.

Current employees are encouraged to seek other positions within Catholic Charities.

Marx noted that HealthEast and other partners — many within close proximity to Seton Prenatal Clinic — will continue to provide care and resources to its clientele, and other health care and social service agencies, such as Abria Pregnancy Resources in St. Paul, also can provide pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling. Catholic Charities will continue to provide prenatal and parenting services through its other programs.

Catholic Charities’ adoption services, which Marx said had been around since the 1940s, will “regrettably” end in December and, like the clinic, are going through a transition period. Marx said Catholic Charities will retain records of past adoptions.

Once coordinating more than 200 adoptions per year, the agency facilitated only seven in 2015. Marx attributes the decline to society’s changing mores and said the ability of same-sex couples to adopt children plays no role in the program ending. Catholic Charities will work with individual couples on their own transition plans before focusing on future referrals.

8A • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & WORLD

June 9, 2016

Pope to appoint advisory board for removing negligent bishops

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Pope Francis will set up a panel of legal experts to help him in deciding whether to remove a religious superior or bishop from office for failing to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.

Vatican offices will continue to investigate claims of negligence on the part of bishops, ordinaries or religious superiors under their jurisdiction. But the pope — who makes the final decision about a bishop’s removal from office — will now be assisted by a papally appointed “college of jurists,” according to procedures that take effect Sept. 5.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative), dated June 4, the pope reaffirmed that bishops of a diocese or eparchy and those responsible for other kinds of particular churches can be “legitimately removed” for negligence.

In order for it to be grounds for removal, such negligence — either through omission or commission — will have had to cause “serious harm to others,” including individuals or a community, the letter said, and “the harm can be physical, moral, spiritual” or to property.

The letter clarified that it normally takes a “very serious” lack of due diligence for a bishop to be removed, however, when it comes to a failing to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, a “serious” lack of due diligence “is sufficient” grounds for removal.

The new procedures are “clearly an important and positive step forward by Pope Francis,” said U.S. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The measures are meant to establish “a clear and transparent means for ensuring greater accountability in how we, as leaders of the Church, handle cases of the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults,” he said in a written statement, released June 4. “We are grateful that our Holy Father has received the recommendations from our commission members and that they have contributed to this new and significant initiative.”

While all members of the Church have a duty to safeguard and protect children and others from abuse,

bishops of dioceses and eparchies, apostolic administrators and vicars, and those who lead a territorial prelature or abbacy must be especially diligent “in protecting the weakest of those entrusted to them,” the pope’s letter said. It said the heads of religious orders also come under the same standards of due diligence.

With the new procedures, wherever there is a serious indication of negligence, the Vatican congregation charged with overseeing a particular jurisdiction “can begin an investigation.” The offices include the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

If a bishop’s removal is deemed appropriate, the congregation will produce, “in the briefest time possible, the decree for removal,” the new norms said.

The congregation will then “fraternally exhort the bishop to present his resignation within 15 days. If the bishop does not give his response in the time called for, the congregation will be able to issue the decree for removal,” it said.

In every case, the congregation’s decision must be approved of by the pope, who — before making that final decision — will be assisted by a “college of jurists” he has appointed, it said.

The “college” would be a sort of review board, that is, a body of advisers and not a tribunal, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said June 6.

He said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would not be involved in these investigations since the accusations do not deal with the crime of abuse, but with “negligence of governance.”

The proposal last year by the Council of Cardinals to have the doctrinal office investigate and judge claims of “abuse of office” by bishops who allegedly failed to protect minors had only been a suggestion, Father Lombardi said, and “it never existed” as an established procedure.

The new procedures spelled out in the “motu proprio” came after a year of study by numerous experts, he said, and are meant to address the need for greater accountability by bishops and superiors of religious orders.

Director David Naglieri interviews former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, Richard Allen, in his Denver home as part of the documentary “Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism.” The documentary will be broadcast on PBS stations throughout the month of June. CNS

‘Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism’ to air

By Joseph McAleer Catholic News Service The documentary “Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism” will be broadcast on PBS stations throughout the month of June (check local listings).

Produced by the Knights of Columbus, the 90-minute film looks at the crucial role the Polish pontiff played, both in public and behind the scenes, in bringing about the overthrow of Eastern Europe’s Marxist regimes. The film uses archival footage and insights gleaned from interviews with heads of state, scholars, journalists, Church leaders and St. John Paul II’s close personal acquaintances.

Narrator Jim Caveziel (“The Passion of the Christ”), shows how the future saint was shaped by history and heritage. Revisited are the major influences on Karol Wojtyla: his devout parents and happy upbringing in a free Polish nation, the devastation of the Nazi invasion and World War II, life as an underground seminarian, and the crushing effects of Soviet-led communism on family life and faith.

For more information about “Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism” or to purchase it on DVD, visit www.jp2film.com.

Parents are children’s ‘best bet’ to buffer outside world, U.N. conference hears

By Beth Griffin Catholic News Service The future of humanity depends on parents’ commitment to protect and nurture their children, instill values and help children mature as human beings, speakers told a United Nations event to mark the fourth annual Global Day of Parents.

Despite a global retreat from parenthood and marriage, most children are being raised in stable twoparent families that are associated with good emotional, physical, social and economic outcomes, several speakers said during the June 1 event.

“The Importance of Fatherhood and Motherhood for Integral Development” was co-sponsored by the Holy See Mission to the U.N. and the Universal Peace Federation.

“The importance of moms and dads, and of their joint commitment in raising the next generation, cannot be overstated,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the U.N. “The future of humanity depends on how well moms and dads do in their mission as teachers in forming their children in values, socialization, trust, mutual respect and responsibility, education, hard work, affection, compassion, forgiveness, solidarity and ethical development,” he said.

Pope Francis, in his exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”) following a two-year synod process focused on families, holds motherhood and fatherhood in the highest esteem, and underscores the value of their harmonious cooperation for the good of their children, the archbishop explained. “Their combined

service is greater than the sum of their individual work, and their children profit most from their complementary teamwork,” he said.

Paraphrasing Pope Francis, Archbishop Auza said, “Moms and dads as co-educators either instill in their children trust and loving respect by their affection, example Meg MEEKER and trustworthiness, or by their failure to provide in this way, leave their children questioning whether their parents are sincerely concerned about them.”

Thomas Walsh is president of the Universal Peace Federation, which has adopted as its motto “the family is a school of love.” He said the family has underutilized potential for social development on small scales.

Parenthood should be woven into a compelling narrative to give voice to social assets, he said.

Furthermore, two-parent families, compared with single parents, “often have more time, money, attention, kinship support and stability to give to their children,” said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Likewise, family instability creates stress, disrupts social networks and leaves less time for caregiving, he said.

Presentations also focused on motherhood, children not experiencing the advantage of a father in their lives, and the security children gain by seeing a healthy, loving relationship between their parents.

Brian Caulfield, director of the Fathers for Good, an initiative of the Knights of Columbus, said there is little

public discussion about the high number of U.S. children being raised without a father. “There’s a general feeling that fathers are expendable,” promoted by media stereotypes of “the doofus Dad,” he said. “Having imbibed the brand, many men have retreated from making their mark.”

Pediatrician Meg Meeker said children gain security from the relationship between their parents, and strong character development comes from diverse exposure to mother, father and faith.

With children spending as much as eight hours a day on media and in front of video screens, compared to 34 minutes with their parents, Meeker said it is crucial for parents to be engaged and available so they can protect their offspring and set them on a path toward responsibility and maturity.

Picking up on that theme, Deborah McNamara, a clinical counselor at the Neufeld Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia, said 21st-century parents are digital immigrants who must lead their children into a new age. Longing for attachment is the greatest human hunger, she explained, and children can satisfy it through a strong caring relationship with an adult, rather than virtual connectivity to their peers.

“Relationship is the most important thing the family offers. It protects our children in adversity. We need to protect the relationship at all costs,” McNamara said.

“We need to believe we are what our children need.

We are our children’s best bet. We have to be the buffer to the world outside,” she added.

“We cannot send our children into a digital age empty-handed with only their technology in tow.

Parents are still the best devices.”

June 9, 2016

U.S. & WORLD

The Catholic Spirit • 9A

When Harry ‘met’ Harry, years apart, under a New Orleans bridge

By Peter Finney Jr. Catholic News Service New Orleans-born Harry Connick Jr., 48, took the stage at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome May 21, dressed improbably in an academic robe, a costume he never imagined he would wear considering his college career at Loyola University New Orleans consisted of one semester that saw him whittle 18 credit hours down to three before jetting off to New York City to begin his life’s work as, he joked, a college dropout.

Harry’s father — Harry Connick Sr., 90, a former New Orleans district attorney — was seated near the stage, surrounded by his son’s wife, Jill, and three daughters and hundreds of 20-somethings eager to pick up a piece of paper that had eluded one of America’s pre-eminent entertainers. “I graduated summa cum later,” Harry joked.

When Harry got the phone call from Loyola’s president, Jesuit Father Kevin Wildes, that the university wanted to bestow upon him an honorary doctorate, he was “speechless — as in, without a speech.”

Harry spoke first about himself and his star-studded family. His mother, Anita, who died when Harry was 13, was an attorney and a judge. His older sister Suzanna Jamison is a psychiatrist and internist and a lieutenant colonel in the Army.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “My mom was a judge. Imagine my delight when I was old enough to realize that my parents had the ability to both prosecute and imprison me. My teenage years were basically a combination of plea bargaining and community service.

“My parents and sister are highly educated and overachieving public servants. I, on the other hand, spend most of my time singing songs to strangers or putting makeup on and pretending to be other people.”

As Harry looked out at his father, he turned serious.

He recalled coming to New Orleans to shoot a film after Hurricane Katrina and seeing a homeless encampment under Interstate 10 at Canal Street and Claiborne Avenue. He decided to go to McDonald’s early one morning and buy “100 Egg McMuffins and a whole bunch of coffee.” He drove his car under the bridge and started handing out the food. The homeless people came up, silently, took the muffins and coffee, and walked away.

Harry Connick Jr. gives the commencement address at Loyola University New Orleans May 20. Connick both regaled crowds and drew upon his multifaceted career and his Catholic upbringing as he shared advice for a meaningful and successful life beyond graduation. CNS “They all just kind of looked at me,” Harry said. “I wasn’t looking for gratitude, but it still surprised me.”

Harry said he had been taught at Jesuit High School in New Orleans never to perform charitable acts in expectation of praise, but the response he received under the bridge bothered him for months. He decided to discuss the situation with his dad.

“He always has a great perspective about things, but as I told him the story, I actually became more interested in trying to impress him with my act of charity than getting his perspective,” Harry said. “I was craving his approval. I couldn’t wait for him to tell me how proud of me he was.”

Then Harry Sr. said something that left his son speechless — again.

“I know,” Harry Sr. told his son. “The same thing happened to me when I brought them food.”

Harry Sr. said he was thrilled with his son’s storytelling, which had the purpose of telling the graduates to remember they have been given so much and should give back.

“Catholic families are just brought up in a certain way,” Harry Sr. said. “We recognize we have a lot to be grateful for ourselves, and we should share with others who don’t have it. It’s not simple, but it’s that simple.”

Fr. Fitz

in BRIEF VATICAN CITY

Pope approves statutes of new office for laity, family, life The new Vatican office for laity, family and life will begin functioning Sept. 1 and the separate pontifical councils for laity and for the family will “cease their functions,” the Vatican announced. Pope Francis has not named the new officers of the expanded office, but the statutes specify that it will be headed by a cardinal or a bishop, will have a secretary “who may be a layperson” and three undersecretaries who will be laypeople. The Vatican published the statutes of the new office June 4 and explained that the office would be responsible “for the promotion of the life and apostolate of the lay faithful, for the pastoral care of the family and its mission according to God’s plan and for the protection and support of human life.”

OXFORD, England

Swiss Church official deplores vote allowing genetic testing of embryos Swiss Catholic Church officials deplored the approval by voters of a modification to the country’s in vitro fertilization law that would permit genetic testing of embryos, allowing imperfect human embryos to be discarded. The president of the Swiss bishops’ conference called the revision in voting June 5 “a step backwards.” “It jeopardizes the full protection of human life,” Bishop Charles Morerod of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg said in a statement.

The measure will allow embryos to be stored and screened for genetic defects before implantation. It was approved by 62.4 percent of voters June 5.

Switzerland, with about 44 percent of its 7.1 million citizens identifying as Catholic, is the last European country to approve the practice. Experts said genetic testing would help eliminate chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, and involve the storing of 12 embryos for each treatment cycle.

The vote defied warnings by the bishops’ conference in April that the measure raised “serious ethical problems” by arbitrarily increasing the number of “stored embryos,” as well as by selecting “who deserves to live” and stigmatizing those already living with disabilities.

— Catholic News Service

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10A • The Catholic Spirit

FOCUS ON FAITH

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES

Jean Denton

Gratitude for mercy produces deep, lasting love Each week, Bettina spends two hours volunteering at her community’s free clinic, which offers a range of medical services for the working poor. She’s not a medical volunteer, but goes to the clinic every Wednesday to greet and take information from clients and potential clients to determine or confirm their eligibility for services.

She’s aware that her tasks are minimal and that her annual monetary donation

to the clinic is far more valuable than her service. But she has continued her weekly stint for years simply because she loves the free clinic for how it makes a significant difference in individuals’ lives — including hers.

She loves seeing the staff and volunteer nurses, doctors, dentists and pharmacists treat the patients with respect and genuine concern. She loves observing the easy, familiar relationship that various

June 9, 2016

clinic personnel have with patients who have depended on them for years.

Bettina’s love of the clinic is personal.

Many years ago, she was a patient there. Struggling financially and psychologically while trying to put herself through college, she depended on the free clinic for her regular medication for depression. The clinic literally was her salvation for two years.

Our Scriptures for June 12 speak about God’s saving mercy. The Gospel tells how a person’s gratitude for being saved by Jesus’ mercy produces a deep and lasting love. A woman anointing Jesus’ feet after bathing them with her tears was lifted out of a life bound by sin. Now her love for him was sealed.

Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that a personal experience of love and mercy begets a greater response of love and mercy than a lesser relationship. Bettina’s love and commitment to the free clinic grew out of her experience of mercy.

Once lost in the darkness of depression,

Sunday, June 12

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings • 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 • Galatians 2:16, 19-21 • Luke 7:36–8:3 she was lifted free to have a productive future. Her gratitude to God and the people at the free clinic who do God’s work of compassion and healing is boundless and is shown in her actions.

While many people appreciate the valuable contributions the clinic and its volunteers make in the community, Bettina and others who’ve experienced its saving graces firsthand respond with true, abiding love.

This Catholic News Service column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, June 12 Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Sm 12:7-10, 13 Gal 2:16, 19-21 Lk 7:36–8:3 Monday, June 13 St. Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church 1 Kgs 21:1-16 Mt 5:38-42

Tuesday, June 14 1 Kgs 21:17-29 Mt 5:43-48 Wednesday, June 15 2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14 Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, June 16 Sir 48:1-14 Mt 6:7-15

Friday, June 17 2 Kgs 11:1-4, 9-18, 20 Mt 6:19-23

Monday, June 20 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18 Mt 7:1-5

Saturday, June 18 2 Chr 24:17-25 Mt 6:24-34

Tuesday, June 21 St. Aloysius Gonzaga, religious 2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 Mt 7:6, 12-14

Sunday, June 19 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Zec 12:10-11; 13:1 Gal 3:26-29 Lk 9:18-24

SEEKING ANSWERS

Father Michael Schmitz

To prepare for something big, start with small things Q. I feel like God is going to call me to do something big, but I don’t know what. How can I make sure that I don’t miss what he will call me to do? And what can I do in the meantime?

A. Fantastic question! Before I try to offer an answer, I think it could be helpful to clarify one or two things. First, any call that comes from God is “something big.” Regardless of whether or not what you are called to do is noticed by others, if God is calling, then the call is important.

Sometimes, we can fall into the trap of thinking like the world, and we can begin to believe that significance means fame. It certainly does not. The great call is the call to be a saint, and there have been an incredible number of unknown saints.

Second, while it may very well be that God will call you to something in the future, he is calling you in this very moment as well. I know many people who have embraced the thinking that God will call them “someday” when he reveals their vocation to them, and then neglected to pay attention to what he is

calling them to do today. Remember, your primary call is to be a saint. You do not have to wait to begin traveling that road. In fact, you must not. God is calling you now.

At this point, usually people will say something like, “Oh, of course! I know that I’m supposed to be a saint, but I am talking about my ‘real’ vocation!”

I understand, but the call to be a saint is your real vocation. If you miss that, you miss everything. If you and I fail to become a saint (a known saint or an anonymous one), then we will have missed out on the entire point of our lives.

The other rebuttal some folks have is that they don’t know what they are supposed to do to become a saint. The equation is remarkably simple: Do God’s will.

Being a saint is not dependent on making all-night prayer vigils or fasting for 40 days on end. Being a saint is not the result of performing miracles or of transforming society or founding a new religious order. Being a saint means one thing: I have become a person who wants — and chooses — what God

Wednesday, June 22 2 Kgs 22:8-13; 23:1-3 Mt 7:15-20

Thursday, June 23 2 Kgs 24:8-17 Mt 7:21-29

Saturday, June 25 Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19 Mt 8:5-17

Friday, June 24 Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Is 49:1-6 Acts 13:22-26 Lk 1:57-66, 80

Sunday, June 26 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21 Gal 5:1, 13-18 Lk 9:51-62

wants. Being a saint means that my will and God’s will are in agreement. And the great news is, you know what God first desires of you.

You may not know what God will call you to do in the future, but you know what he is asking of you right now.

Much like the rich young man who came before Jesus and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus tells us, “You know the commandments . . . .” God has revealed his will for our lives in the commandments and the teachings of the Church. While we cannot follow these perfectly, with God’s grace, we can live joyful and holy lives.

Choose to act on what God has revealed to you. If you do this — if you make a practice out of saying yes to God in daily things — then you will be poised and ready when he asks larger things of you.

I have mentioned before in this column that a person will never miss their vocation if they consistently ask the following three questions: 1. Am I in a state of grace? (If not, go to confession.)

2. Am I doing my daily duties? (If not, look at your calendar, and do them.)

3. Did I pray today? (If not, spend time with God in prayer.)

Those are three things that you can do right now. And while it is essential to be attentive to the first and the third questions (which are reflections of our lived relationship with God), I want to give some attention to that middle question: your daily duties.

When it comes to the actions and behaviors that fill up your day, I invite you to ask the question: Is what I am doing leading to a life that honors God?

I think of young David in 1 Samuel. He is going to be called to something great; he will be the king of Israel. But what does he do in the meantime? He trains.

He prepares. He does the tasks his father has given him to do. He does not waste hours of his life playing video games or on Netflix or Twitter. David keeps guard over his father’s sheep. He does this mundane and super boring task so attentively that, when the moment comes for him to step up and fight for his people against Goliath, he is ready and able.

Young David heard the challenge of Goliath and was not only willing to do something, but he also was able. In response to the objection that he was too young and inexperienced, David replies, “‘Your servant used to tend his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock, I would chase after it, attack it and snatch the prey from its mouth. If it attacked me, I would seize it by the throat, strike it and kill it. Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear.’ David continued: ‘The same Lord who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine’” (1 Sm 18: 34-37). This kid has trained and is prepared!

If you want to know your vocation, it is to be a saint. If you want to be prepared to say “yes” to your vocation, train by saying “yes” to God in your daily tasks.

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.

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

June 9, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 11A

TWENTY SOMETHING

Christina Capecchi

To bake is to believe: A convert in the kitchen Staci Perry bakes like she lives. She doesn’t measure. She works with what’s already in the fridge. And she scrapes every last bit out of the bowl.

“I don’t do anything fancy,” she says, sitting in the kitchen of her century-old farmhouse 2 miles north of Verdi, a tiny, windswept town by the Minnesota-South Dakota border. “It’s very church potluckish ­— bars, brownies, pies, just your home kind of food. If a recipe calls for a candy thermometer, I turn the page.”

So when a crack appeared in the darkchocolate cheesecake she made last month for an intern, Staci recognized it for what it was: “the perfect cranny for the ganache to nestle into like a silk scarf tucked into a cashmere coat,” she wrote on her blog. “I see my life as a work in progress, so I see baking that way too. It’s been a ride!”

That ride brought her to this year’s Easter Vigil at St. Thomas More in Brookings, South Dakota, where she joined thousands across the country entering the Catholic Church. She cried when she received her first Communion from Father Andrew, who welcomed her with radiant joy. “I felt like God was standing in front of me, looking at me,” she says.

The 44-year-old communications specialist had attended Mass with her boyfriend for years but was turned off by what she saw as the Church’s many “rules.” Then she learned Catholicism is the first Christian faith, and her mind was opened. By the time she’d begun attending RCIA last fall — meeting every Tuesday evening for an hour-and-a-half session that challenged and enlightened her — she knew she had found the answer to a deep void. “I came to the realization that I was missing something.”

It wasn’t lost on her that Catholicism is centered on an altar, a table of plenty that feeds the weary. She found Mass to be sweet and unrushed, like her time in the kitchen, where she lets things mix and melt. Baking is a spiritual exercise, she says. “To me, it’s an act of thanksgiving.”

Staci feels so blessed that she’s compelled to pour that love in and back out. Scalloped potatoes for the neighbor who broke her leg, key lime pie with pretzel crust for her boyfriend’s birthday, smoky deviled eggs flecked with bacon every Fourth of July. If she can make someone’s day so easily, why wouldn’t she?

THE LOCAL CHURCH

Father Erich Rutten

Working locally for peace could have global impact This spring, I was given the great gift of a 10-week sabbatical in Jerusalem and Israel — the land of the Bible. It was absolutely amazing to walk in the places where Jesus walked. It was an enormous grace to be able to tangibly honor the sites of his ministry, death and resurrection.

As you might imagine, my experience was also profoundly impacted by the very difficult ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. As part of the fighting between Israel and Palestine, there were a number of stabbings in Jerusalem, and almost every week soldiers would shoot tear gas to disperse angry gatherings in Bethlehem. When we traveled in northern Galilee, we stopped at a strategic overlook at the border with Syria. We prayed intently for all the victims of the Syrian war — the killed, the wounded, the millions of refugees, and for the Christians singled out for persecution, torture and death. We prayed that the international community might work much more

urgently to resolve the conflicts and find peace.

While in the Holy Land, I read a 2002 book titled, “The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

You would think that the answer to finding peace is simply to let everyone believe whatever they want to believe.

But Rabbi Sacks says this: “Relativism is too weak to resist the storm winds of religious fervor. Only an equal and opposite fervor can do that. I do not believe that the sanctity of human life and the inalienable freedoms of a just society are relative. They are religious absolutes. They flow directly from the proposition that it was not we who created God in our image but God who made us in his. They belong to the very tradition that Jews, Christians and Muslims — who have spent so much of their time in mutual hostility — share.

“Healing must come from the religious experiences of those whose lives are governed by those experiences.

It wasn’t lost on [Staci Perry] that Catholicism is centered on an altar, a table of plenty that feeds the weary. She found Mass to be sweet and unrushed, like her time in the kitchen, where she lets things mix and melt.

That’s what it all boils down to, the parallel Staci sees between her longtime passion for baking and her new love of Catholicism: “the sharing part,” she tells me, cracking an egg and wiping her hands. It’s Saturday afternoon, and she’s making Reese’s Peanut Butter Poppers for a nephew who was in a 4-wheeler accident. Her blue eyes sparkle when she looks around her kitchen filled with object lessons: an antique scale, the pantry made of barnwood, embroidered flour sack towels, Grandma Janet’s Sunbeam electric mixer. “Everything has a story,” she says.

The Catholic faith that has given Staci a sense of home is also propelling her to pursue bold dreams. She’s drafting a book proposal to write a cookbook, one that

would satisfy an un-met niche and advance her baking ministry. “It sort of feels like a beginning. My eyes have been opened to the possibilities.”

For cradle Catholics and converts alike, that is the power of faith and the invitation of summer: to slow down enough in order to create something.

Bake or build or braid. Write something, record something. Sew, sing. Plant a flower, paint a room, fill a bird feeder.

Find a new use for an old object. Leave something better than it was before.

Create and live out the faith that is ever ancient, ever new.

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

Maybe there is a role for us, right in our own communities, to engage with Jews and Muslims and all people — to purify together our hearts and our faiths. This is why Pope Francis keeps encouraging us to truly encounter each other.

It must come, if anywhere, from the heart of the whirlwind itself. This means that each of us who belong to a faith must wrestle with the sources of extremism within our own faith.”

Pope Benedict XVI offered an important insight in a talk he gave at Assisi in 2011. He distinguished true religion from false. He said, “Yes, it is true, in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith. We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature.

“The God in whom we Christians believe is the Creator and Father of all, and from him all people are brothers and sisters and form one single family.

For us the cross of Christ is the sign of the God who put ‘suffering-with’ (compassion) and ‘loving-with’ in place of force. His name is ‘God of love and peace’ (2 Cor 13:11). It is the task of all who bear responsibility for the Christian faith to purify the religion of

Christians again and again from its very heart so that it truly serves as an instrument of God’s peace in the world, despite the fallibility of humans.”

I know that the Middle East seems far away. Global conflicts might seem to have nothing to do with us. But, what happens there impacts all of us. And what we do can impact them.

Maybe there is a role for us, right in our own communities, to engage with Jews and Muslims and all people — to purify together our hearts and our faiths. This is why Pope Francis keeps encouraging us to truly encounter each other.

Sure, a person can walk where Jesus walked when one visits Jerusalem. But, we can also walk with Jesus here in Minnesota when we work for reconciliation and peace.

Father Rutten is chairman of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Commission on Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs.

12A • The Catholic Spirit

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

June 9, 2016

EVERYDAY MERCIES

Alyssa Bormes

[My mother] taught me to welcome friends and strangers, listen to them, and take some time to sit and have a cup of coffee with them.

The perfect host It’s been a year since my mother died, and there are certain things that remind me of her. The old copper coffee pot is quintessentially Karol.

As we divide her things among many siblings and grandchildren, I may or may not receive the coffee pot, but one thing that I have already received is her ability to clear away everything and have a cup of coffee with her friends.

Mom had the best coffee in town, and there was always a pot on the stove. Long before there was Starbucks or Caribou, there was Karol June. All sorts of people would stop by on any given day; her girlfriends were there most often. She was usually working in the kitchen or at the table, so she would clear a spot on one end of the table and then sit with her friends.

Sometimes I got to sit with them, and other times my mom would send me off. The conversations might be full of laughter, or include making plans for an event, or just be the quiet of friends talking. I came to realize over the years

that there was also something very healing happening, times of baring the soul.

In Scripture, God is the perfect host, including in the garden, while feeding the 5,000 and at the Last Supper. This Sunday’s Gospel reading is a story of hospitality. A Pharisee hosts Jesus, but it is the woman who bathes his feet with her tears, then wipes them with her hair and anoints them with oil. The Pharisee who invited Jesus said to himself that if Jesus were really a prophet, he would know that the woman is a sinner.

Of course Jesus knows that she is a sinner; he knows that all of us are sinners. Yet, he still allows the woman to come close to him, to be hospitable to him. He allows all of us to do so.

Jesus then rebukes the host for not cleaning his feet, not kissing him, for not anointing his head with oil. These are all simple parts of hospitality — just as taking a coat, giving a seat and getting something to drink are to us

today. This Pharisee was really trying to trap Jesus under the cover of hospitality; Jesus is the true host.

All of this makes me turn back to home. My mother had a manner of being a hostess; my father once said of her, “Karol cooks for somebody once, and we have a friend for life.” A part of this is true — she was an amazing cook, so who wouldn’t want to be her friend?

But there was something in both of them: a welcoming, the attention to the immediate needs of a chair, a bite to eat and some coffee. Then the listening ear and the open heart, and souls being unburdened.

Hebrews 13:1 reminds us to “Let

brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Whether or not the copper coffee pot will sit on my own stove isn’t the point.

It is her gift of hospitality that she gave to me. She taught me to welcome friends and strangers, listen to them, and take some time to sit and have a cup of coffee with them. Somehow, she will always be in the next chair.

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

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

Jason Adkins

Everyone is called to be a witness The Church in the United States will once again observe the Fortnight for Freedom June 21-July 4. This two-week period is an opportunity for the whole Church to pray, study and reflect upon the great gift of religious freedom — our first, most cherished liberty.

The theme of this year’s Fortnight for Freedom is “Witnesses to Freedom.”

Each of us is called to be a witness in our own time. But how does one serve as a witness to religious freedom? And who are our models?

The freedom to serve First, we need to be clear about our terms. Religious liberty is the freedom necessary for people of faith to fully live out their beliefs in society. It is both the freedom from being coerced into beliefs or actions that violate one’s convictions, and it is also the freedom to respond to the call of the Creator in word and deed — both as individuals and corporately as a Church.

Unfortunately, in the United States today, hostility to religion by the state and in the culture is growing. Religion generally, and Christianity in particular, is seen less and less as a benevolent, humanitarian presence in our community, and more as a harmful

element in the lives of individuals and society.

When tempted to despair about the state of religious freedom in the United States, we must remember that the Church has seen and withstood worse challenges than what we face today.

Unlike Catholics in some countries who are suffering direct and immediate persecution, and who cannot even worship freely, American Catholics are not in any immediate danger of being thrown to the lions by the state.

But the Greek word for witness is “martyr,” and a different kind of martyrdom — expulsion from a profession, loss of a job, having to close one’s business or ministry, penalization by the government, enduring social scorn and ridicule for standing up for what is right — is very real and is becoming more and more prevalent.

Witnesses of holiness, witnesses of freedom As we prayerfully consider the challenges we face as a society and as a Church, we can look to the witness of the communion of saints and draw strength from their example and graces from their intercession. We never know

Fortnight for Freedom: Witnesses to Freedom June 21-July 4 This Fortnight for Freedom, Catholics across the country will reflect on the lives of men and women who bear witness to authentic freedom in Christ. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has prepared reflections on 14 of these witnesses, one for each day of the Fortnight. They include Blessed Miguel Pro, Sts. Felicity and Perpetua, and the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The USCCB is also providing several important resources for the Fortnight for Freedom, including daily reflections and prayers, and background on the threats to religious liberty in America and around the world. Access these resources and more is at www.mncatholic.org/freedom.

Additionally, as part of the Fortnight for Freedom, relics of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher will make their way through Minnesota. These two saints modeled courage and conviction in the face of persecution, and are compelling witnesses to American Catholics as we face threats to our own religious liberty. See the story on page 16A. when that moment will come, the moment encountered by so many saints, where we must offer true witness to the Gospel. It may come in small things, or it may be a very public challenge to our faith and livelihood.

We must all pray and look to the saints as models and intercessors that we, too, may stand firm and persevere.

Imitate the saints But most important, we must imitate the saints, and forge our own paths to holiness in the little things of life and the concrete circumstances in which we have been called. Each of us is called to be a missionary disciple, and no matter who we are or where we live, our task as disciples is to foster an encounter

between all persons and Jesus Christ.

The best way to do so is by living the beauty of holiness. The humble, yet zealous practice of the faith, and going forth into society as witnesses of charity, prayer and service will not only lead people closer to Christ, but will also be the best witness to freedom.

Remember, religion and religious believers are increasingly seen as a threat to the community. We must dispel that perception by offering a compelling witness to the beauty of the faith in our own lives.

Not everyone is called to be a martyr, but everyone is called to be a witness.

Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

June 9, 2016

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

LETTERS

facing the congregation. Let me remind you that Nativity parish in St. Paul built a new church in 1938 with the altar in the lower church facing the congregation. It was customary throughout the 1940s for the entire student body of the parish school to attend Sunday Mass monthly at that altar. I’m sure that Father Paul Bussard, a weekend associate at the parish and an advocate for liturgical renewal, was instrumental in bringing that about.

Feeling the ‘Bern’ While the rest of the country focuses on the upcoming presidential election with all of its trepidation, malice and character assassinations, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis celebrates the appointment of Archbishop Bernard Hebda as our new ordinary — and the faithful in Minnesota are definitely feeling the “Bern”!

His excellency’s pastoral approach hearkens the gentle loving spirit of Pope Francis, while his adherence to local and universal tradition reflects the faith of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and the hope he represents to a diocese which is suffering is a reminder of the great hope St. John Paul II brought the world during a time of political turmoil. I am not positing that Archbishop Hebda is a living saint, nor do I think he would appreciate such a statement, but as someone who has had the pleasure of observing him the past many months, it is difficult not to link his presence with the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.

We are truly blessed that such an approachable, humble man was sent to us in a time of need, and I hope that all the faithful feel the “Bern” of the Holy Spirit present to us in our new ordinary. It is also my desire that his excellency knows of our collective support and prayers and may he burn with great zeal as he leads this local Church into a bright new chapter.

Zachary Morgan Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul

Pray for election In this time of confusion and rancor about the upcoming presidential election I would hope that all faithful Catholics would pray that God will put in the White House that person who will point this country back to him. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Faithful Catholics, do we realize the power we have? All pastors, from the pulpit, are invited to encourage their congregations to pray for this country and the presidential election. If we don’t humbly turn to God and ask him to give us a godly president, who will?

Eugene Ochocki St. Peter Claver, St. Paul

No place for labyrinths We like to read The Catholic Spirit online when it comes out, but we were a little disturbed by the article on the labyrinths (“Peaceful path,” April 28). It is so much a part of the New Age movement that it would appear not to belong in a solid Catholic newspaper.

Bob and Bridget Kluesner Divine Mercy, Faribault

St. Rita deserved more As a founding member of St. Rita, I really was disappointed in the coverage of our 50th anniversary celebration. A picture and a small caption (“In Pictures,” April 28) did not express the wonderment of a parish started in a small home, then renting the high school for Masses, until a building to house the congregation of St. Rita’s. The special part of this day was the founding pastor, Father John Brandes, was present to celebrate this special day and enjoy the progress St. Rita’s has made in the past 50 years.

With the many difficulties our archdiocese is facing, to me it is a bright light that the Holy Spirit is so present to keep our community strong here at St. Rita’s.

Jackie Vander Heyden St. Rita, Cottage Grove

Altar about-face In “Milestone” (April 28), it was stated that St. George in Long Lake built a new church in the 1960s and that it was the first church in the archdiocese to have an altar

Father William Kenney Retired, St. Paul

BLM has wrong focus Today I read “Minneapolis Catholic Workers back Black Lives Matter” (April 28). The last sentence of the article you published online states: “‘As a Christian person, this is exactly what Jesus is calling me to do,’ Kruse said. ‘This is the Gospel message lived out, what BLM is doing. . . . It felt for me like the fulfillment of a religious and spiritual obligation.’”

I would like to share with you an excerpt from a different article: “Exposing Black Lives Matter,” an article written by Rev. Eric M. Wallace, PhD, co-founder and president of Freedom’s Journal Institute, and organizer of the Black Conservative Summit. Here is what he writes: “BLM has created a false image. The BLM movement is interested in promoting a ‘progressive’ social and political agenda — not in truly protecting black lives. They affirm homosexual activity and relationships, illegal immigration and black liberation. Stories of the indisputably tragic deaths of black people at the hands of white cops are continually propagated while the tragic and senseless loss of preborn black babies’ lives and the lives of blacks gunned down in gang violence receive relatively little public attention. Unfortunately, instead of uniting voices in an urgent call for righteousness and right relations between people, in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, BLM encouraged civil disobedience that became violent.

How does that square with what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-44: ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.’”

I understand that one of the main principles of Catholic Workers, and particularly Dorothy Day, was “non-violence.” BLM does not look like a non-violent movement. BLM is not the Gospel message lived out, and this is the reason why Catholics do not (or should not) join this movement. As a Catholic (or anybody), if you are concerned about inequality, racism and other very important social issues, the best way to make our lives truly matter is to live Church teaching to the fullest, without exceptions and compromises.

Andrzej Noyszewski, PhD St. Agnes, St. Paul How sad to see The Catholic Spirit article promoting the couple who are part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Is this embrace of left-wing ideals the direction The Catholic Spirit is heading?

The reporter states that a black man was shot by police. The connotation being that he was a victim of police aggression. A balanced article would have stated the police were responding to a call due to this man beating a woman so badly she needed medical attention. Do not all lives matter? What about the life of the woman who was beaten? Then, when the police arrived at the scene the same man grabbed their weapon. The police shot the man in order to protect their own lives. Do not police lives matter? These are not minor details.

The couple acknowledges the disruptive tactics of the BLM movement but nowhere do they apologize for their actions or the fact their actions have negative impacts on those who need to travel somewhere. The purposeful stopping of traffic caused people to be late.

Late for work, late to see their family, perhaps some missed flights to see loved ones. Did these two people celebrated by The Catholic Spirit have any feelings of remorse? The article closes with encouragement to Catholics to accept this leftist version of social teaching and social justice. Maybe the editor of this paper has

The Catholic Spirit • 13A

embraced this concept but please keep in mind many readers continue to follow traditional Catholic teaching instead of progressive left-wing propaganda.

Jim Koepke Nativity of Mary, Bloomington I am shocked and embarrassed by your article about the Catholic Workers and Black Lives Matter. I understand about people wanting to help minorities and I am for that — just not this organization. They have taken a cause for a person that made some really bad choices and paid for it with his life. To even compare this group with freedom riders is beyond belief. The Catholic Worker Movement has failed to look at the evidence that was presented on March 30 showing that Mr. Clark made a series of bad choices, one of them having his hand on [a] police officer’s gun.

For you and the Catholic Worker Movement, I would look at things to do that would be more helpful, like drug-use among the minorities, domestic violence, respect for each other and education to allow them to find and keep jobs. They could and should follow paths that help all lives coexist on the planet as Jesus Christ has taught us. Move far away from supporting criminals that have made terrible choices that cannot be undone.

They, with this article, make it harder for law enforcement to provide a safe place for people to live. I would love to see the same energy that BLM’s have put out to try to stop black-on-black shootings.

To sum this up I have really lost a lot of respect for the The Catholic Spirit for running this type of garbage in this publication that is a voice for the Catholic community.

Steve White St. Patrick, Shieldsville From the editor: In The Catholic Spirit’s April 28 issue, we published a story about the Minneapolis Catholic Workers’ support of Black Lives Matter after a group of 70 — 70! — Catholic Workers from across the Midwest joined Black Lives Matter activists in an effort to disrupt the Minnesota Twins home opener. The number involved was newsworthy, and we were curious why local Catholic Workers were backing the Black Lives Matter cause. So we asked them, and they shared their perspective.

We certainly expected it to be a perspective with which some of our readers would disagree. Criticism of the movement is well documented, and important questions remain about whether or not it’s a movement with which Catholics — and specifically, Catholic Workers, who espouse non-violence — should align.

As expected, we received a lot of reader feedback disagreeing with the Minneapolis Catholic Workers’ involvement with Black Lives Matter. We were surprised, however, by those suggesting that by running the story, The Catholic Spirit is “promoting” this perspective.

For our readers: We’re not. Reporting is not the same as promoting. Everything in the story was factual or quotations and not intended to persuade — or dissuade — a reader’s participation. That’s for individuals to decide. The Church has no official stance on Black Lives Matter or its methods. It does, however, have a body of Catholic social teaching that should inform and influence Catholics as they discern how to engage in activism. It should be of no surprise that Catholics may disagree on the means to the same end.

What is clear is that the Catholic Church has long stood against racism. It’s apparent today that the issue is not resolved, and the Church is obligated to be part of the conversation and the solution.

With every story, it is our intention to bring information and perspective to our readers. Our mission statement states that The Catholic Spirit “seeks to inform, educate, evangelize and foster a spirit of community within the Catholic Church by disseminating news in a professional manner and serving as a forum for discussion of contemporary issues.” We’re earnestly trying to do that.

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

14A • The Catholic Spirit

CALENDAR

Ongoing groups

org/career-transition-group.

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.

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

Parish events St. Richard rummage sale — June 9-11: 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. at 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. www.strichards.com/events/rummage-sale.

Immaculate Conception thrift sale — June 16-18: 8 a.m.–7 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9062 or www.parish. iccsonline.org/news/thrift-sale.

St. Boniface and the St. Boniface Catholic United Financial rummage sale — June 17-18: 7 a.m.– 5 p.m. June 17 and 8 a.m.–noon June 18 at 8801 Wildwood Ave., St. Bonifacius. www.stboniface-stmary.org.

Rummage and bake sale — June 17-June 18: 9 a.m.–1 p.m. at St. Michael, 337 E. Hurley St., West St. Paul. 651-457-1017 or www.stmichaelwsp.org.

Annunciation rummage sale — June 17-18: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. at 525 W. 54th St., Minneapolis. www.annunciationmsp.org.

June 9, 2016

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication.

Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur.

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.

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.)

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. www.stjohns-savage.org.

Holy Name of Jesus rummage sale — June 24-25: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. June 24 and 8 a.m.– noon June 25 at 155 County Road 24, Medina. www.hnoj.org.

Our Lady of Guadalupe parish festival — June 25: Noon–8 p.m. at 401 Concord St., St. Paul.

Prayer/worship

47th annual chicken cookout — June 19: 10:30 a.m.–3 p.m. at 51 Church Street, Elko New Market.

NE Eucharistic Procession — June 12: 3–5 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis. www.ourholycross.org.

Super Sale — June 23-25: 9 a.m.–8 p.m. June 23, 9 a.m.–8 p.m. June 24 and 9 a.m.–2 p.m. June 25 at St. John the Baptist, 12508 Lynn Ave., Savage.

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

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

al edition

May 26, 2016 • Speci

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polis St. Paul and Minnea The Archdiocese of allation of celebrates the inst d Hebda Archbishop Bernar 5/17/16 10:31 AM

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Retreats Into The Deep summer retreats — June 13-17, July 11-15, Aug. 1-5; Aug. 8-12; Sept. 17-21: www.idretreats.org.

Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus

Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: For Catholic singles to meet and make friends.

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

Singles group at St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn Park — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games. 763-425-0412.

Young adults Theology on Tap — June 15, June 22, June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20: 6:30 p.m. at O’Gara’s Bar & Grill, 164 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul. All young adults ages 18-39 are invited. boylan.mm@gmail. com or www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/cya.

Other events St. Therese Foundation Golf Classic — June 13: Noon at Wild Marsh Golf Club, 1710 Montrose Blvd., Buffalo. www.sttheresemn.org/ golf-classic or 682-283-2216.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend — June 15-17: Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. 612-226-8378 or www.wwme.com.

A warm and blessed welcome to

Archbishop Hebda

from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet & Consociates.

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We look forward to working with you as we “Move always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction.”

June 9, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 15A

Laughter a ministry for new Redemptorist priest

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Father Aaron Meszaros walked into a second-grade classroom at St. Alphonsus School in Brooklyn Center May 26 with a suitcase in one hand and a stuffed chicken in the other.

He likes to use props when he talks to kids. He was ordained a priest April 9 in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the Redemptorist order and already he has settled on a style of communication he likes to use with children: laughter.

It worked. The kids howled with delight as he pulled out the stuffed chicken and led them in a chicken dance.

But, there was more to his classroom visit. On the suitcase were placards with words he wanted the students to think about: love, forgiveness, kindness, friendship, joy and peace.

They were the same words he had preached about the day before during an all-school Mass. He was stopping by to see if the students had retained what he had taught them the previous day.

They had. In between chicken dances, they made short but insightful comments on the words he had brought to them.

They also laughed together, and Father Meszaros continued to break out in laughter as he reflected later on his two months of priesthood.

“It’s a real gift to be present to the students, to bring a little laughter, to walk with them in their journeys,” said Father Meszaros, 30, who noted that the humor works both ways. “As much as I want to bring a sense of hope or laughter or a sense of joy to them, they do the same to me. It’s mutual.”

Like the Brooklyn Center parish, where Father Meszaros started serving last fall as a transitional deacon, the new priest’s hometown parish is also named St. Alphonsus, after the Redemptorists’ founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori.

St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center is the only Redemptorist parish in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Latino and African parishioners make up a significant proportion of its community.

“I think it’s beautiful,” he said, of working with different ethnic communities. “I don’t do as much

2016 Catholic Services Appeal ahead of last year’s campaign Seventeen weeks into the 2016 Catholic Services Appeal, the Plymouth-based Catholic Services Appeal Foundation reports that it is ahead of last year’s campaign, both in dollars pledged and dollars received, as well as the total number of gifts. As of June 2, it had received more than $7.2 million in pledges and more than $5.4 million in payments, up more than $100,000 in both areas as compared to June 2015. It has also received 33,249 gifts, 1,000 more than in June 2015. The CSAF expects to begin a phone campaign June 13 as it aims to raise $9.3 million to support 17 ministries in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Archdiocese raises nearly $500K for retired religious men and women Father Aaron Meszaros uses props including a stuffed chicken and a suitcase covered with placards to teach important spiritual lessons to second-grader Travis Nguyen and other students at St. Alphonsus School in Brooklyn Center. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit with the Latino population because I don’t speak Spanish. But, my encounters with the Spanishspeaking people of the parish have been very, very positive, very fruitful.”

Father Meszaros is one of eight Redemptorist priests at the parish. Four serve the parish and four serve on an evangelization team that reaches out beyond the parish, along with a Redemptorist brother.

Father Meszaros has not been officially assigned to the school, but he’s gravitated toward spending time with the students.

“Working with the students, seeing them grow . . . gives me a sense of hope for the future, a sense of hope for the Church,” he said. “These children have such talent and so many gifts. Sometimes, it’s just helping them to see that, to see the gifts that they have. That is one of the powerful moments of working with these kids.”

Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis raised a final total of $491,329 for the 2015 Retirement Fund for Religious appeal. “It is obvious that Archbishop [Bernard] Hebda, the priests and parishioners realize the seriousness of this appeal and respond to it,” said local appeal coordinator Sister Midge Breiter, a School Sister of Notre Dame, in a statement. “Your generosity reflects your loving hearts. Thank you.” The appeal funds the care of retired religious men and women and order priests.

Sister Midge plans to step down from coordinating the appeal locally after holding the role for eight years.

Rural parish-sponsored music festival draws thousands An estimated 3,500 people attended the second biennial All Saints Music Festival May 20 at the Little Log House Pioneer Village in Hastings, organized by the clustered parishes of St. John the Baptist, Vermillion; St. Joseph, Miesville; St. Mary, New Trier; St. Mathias, Hampton; and St. Pius V, Cannon Falls.

The 80s and 90s cover band Hairball headlined the festival, with TC Cats opening. Billed as “the first party of summer for all saints and sinners,” the event raised funds to benefit the parishes’ ministries.

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16A • The Catholic Spirit

THE LAST WORD

June 9, 2016

Renaissance men role models for religious freedom Relics of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher to visit Minnesota parishes

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit

A

s anti-discrimination, antiimmigration, health care and other laws can leave individual Catholics and Catholic institutions penalized for following their consciences, the Minnesota Catholic Conference is bringing the relics of two 16th-century English martyrs, St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, on a tour of the state. The relics will be in the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul June 26.

“The witness of these saints is important for American Catholics today,” said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director. “Our faith compels us to go forth into our communities to serve and be witnesses to the love of Christ. But our government is increasingly trying to force Catholics and others to violate their faith as a requirement for full participation in society. Though their circumstances were different from our own, like More and Fisher, we need to reflect on the point at which we will refuse to bend the knee to the powers and principalities of our day. Our public service can never come at the expense of our fidelity to the Lord.”

Catholics today also face pressure to conform to government laws that might violate their consciences.

“The threat of a different kind of martyrdom — expulsion from a profession, loss of a job, having to close one’s business or ministry, penalization by the government, enduring social scorn and ridicule for standing up for what is right — is very real and becoming more and more prevalent,” Adkins said.

The present reality makes these Renaissance men relevant today.

Father Joseph Weiss, a Jesuit and pastor of St. Thomas More parish in St. Paul, said Thomas More matters because he didn’t compromise his own moral values, “knowing that true allegiance to authority is not blind acceptance of everything that authority wants.”

“At the place of his execution, Thomas More told the crowd, ‘I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.’

St. Thomas More matters because he continues to be a role model for individual Christians and Christian family life in a complicated, and many times confusing, world of values today,” Father Weiss said.

Deciding what to do in a complex situation is never easy. John Boyle, a theology and Catholic Studies professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul who will present on the saints June 26 during their relics’ visit to the Cathedral, said it’s too easy to characterize More and Fisher as saints and everyone else around them as scoundrels. Henry’s concern for a male heir that prompted his marriage to Anne Boleyn might have seemed like just another of the many conflicts between temporal and spiritual power typical of the middle ages.

However, Boyle said, “The reality is

Strength of the Saints Relic Tour The relics of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher will visit six sites in Minnesota during the Fortnight for Freedom.

“When the law of the king came into conflict with the law of Christ, they chose Christ.”

June 26

• 6:30-8 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul

June 27

• 9:30-11 a.m. at Queen of Peace in Cloquet

Jason Adkins

• 2:30-3:30 p.m. at St. Philip in Bemidji • 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Mary in St. Cloud

June 28

• 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New Ulm • Noon-1:30 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist in Rochester Church teachings formed their consciences and gave them the strength to remain true to their convictions, despite social pressure and government oppression. More and Fisher understood the proper hierarchy of spiritual and political authority, Boyle said.

This statue of St. Thomas More is located in the church of St. Thomas More in St. Paul.

Courtesy St. Thomas More parish

Who were Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher?

Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, who share a feast day June 22, endured government attacks on the Church that reached into their individual consciences. The men are patrons of the Fortnight for Freedom.

Thomas More was a layman, lawyer, father of four children and daily Massgoer who became chancellor of England, the closest adviser to King Henry VIII. John Fisher was the bishop of a small diocese who was known for his holiness and pastoral concern at a time when many bishops were more interested in amassing wealth or political power.

The two were convicted of treason and beheaded a few months apart in 1535. They had refused to support the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn since his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had not been granted the decree of nullity he requested from the pope. More and Fisher also would not support Henry’s declaration of himself as head of the Church of England over the authority of the pope. More had resigned from his government position and retired to a quiet life in order to avoid a confrontation with the king, but the issue turned into a battle when Henry pushed More to sign the Act of Succession and the Act of Supremacy publicly affirming his support for the king’s second marriage and authority over the Church in England. Fisher was the only bishop in the entire country who did not sign the oaths.

— Bridget Ryder that these are prudential judgments, and men of goodwill disagreed. The interesting question is not why everyone capitulated, but why these two didn’t. Why didn’t they think this was 16th-century business as usual?”

He attributes it to their life of prayer

and strong faith.

“First and foremost, they were men who had deep lives of piety, who had an intense personal devotion to Jesus Christ as their savior and to the Triune God,” and were nourished in Church doctrine and the sacraments, he said.

“When the law of the king came into conflict with the law of Christ, they chose Christ,” Adkins said. “These men gave their lives for the freedom of the Church. They bear witness to the truth that no king can make a claim on a person’s soul, nor can any government make its laws superior to those of God.” Venerating their relics brings Christians close to these witnesses of faith both as real people and intercessors. Boyle explained that although people think of the saints as being in heaven, the reality is that the body of the saint is part of the person, too.

“We have immediate personal contact with the saints through their relics,” he said, which brings people into the communions of saints with God. There are two kinds of relics: Firstclass relics are pieces of the body of the saint, and second-class relics are artifacts that they used and touched.

On tour will be a piece of bone from St. Thomas More and the signet ring of St. John Fisher.

Boyle points out that second-class relics complement first-class relics and serve as a reminder that saints are real people who lived real lives.

The Strength of the Saints Relics Tour is part of the Fortnight of Freedom promoted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The relics will also tour nationally, sponsored in part by the Knights of Columbus and organized by the USCCB. For more information, visit www.mncc. org/relics.

June 9, 2016 • B section

Ordinations From right are Fathers Neil Bakker, Joseph Zabinski, Mark Pavlak, Kyle Kowalczyk, Michael Daly and Adam Tokashiki during their ordination Mass May 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. See more photos at www.facebook.com/thecatholicspirit. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Brotherly love: Nine men ordained to the priesthood

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

New assignments

t priests’ ordination, Christ gives them a new, indelible identity and calls them to focus all their efforts on serving God’s people — who are the Church’s treasure — through charity, God’s word and the sacraments, said Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the May 28 ordination of nine men to the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda assigned the eight archdiocesan priests parochial vicars of the following parishes.

A

Chosen for priesthood through the Lord’s brotherly love, priests receive that brotherly love from other priests and the people they serve, he told the future priests — the first he has ordained in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since being installed its archbishop May 13.

Eight men were ordained for the archdiocese: Neil Bakker, Michael Daly, Paul Haverstock, Kyle Kowalczyk, Michael McClellan, Matthew Northenscold, Mark Pavlak and Joseph Zabinski. Ordained for the Pro Ecclesia Sancta order was Adam Tokashiki.

Drawing from Pope Francis’ teaching, the archbishop challenged the ordinands to leave their offices and “go out to the peripheries” with their flocks to experience God’s mercy.

“There’s no better way to conform our lives to the mystery of the Lord’s cross than by accompanying our brothers and sisters in the day-to-day and real challenges of life, the challenges that lead them and lead us to Calvary,” he said. “It’s there that Christ waits for us, much as he waits for us in the tabernacle.”

Bishops concelebrating with Archbishop Hebda were

Father Neil Bakker — Our Lady of Grace in Edina Father Michael Daly — Sts. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee Father Paul Haverstock — St. Hubert in Chanhassen Father Kyle Kowalczyk — Divine Mercy in Faribault Archbishop Bernard Hebda prays a blessing for the men to be ordained priests May 28 in the sacristy at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The ordination was Archbishop Hebda’s first for St. Paul and Minneapolis. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn, Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop George Rassas of Chicago and Auxiliary Bishop Arthur Kennedy of Boston. An estimated 3,200 people attended the liturgy.

Following the Gospel reading in which Jesus asks Peter to feed his sheep, the archbishop called forward the ordinands and asked Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul, whether they were worthy to be ordained. Following the archbishop’s homily, the ordinands promised to imitate Christ and to respect and obey the archbishop.

Later in the ordination rite, more than 150 priests from within and outside the archdiocese followed the archbishop by praying for the ordinands in the laying on of hands, an ancient symbol signifying the candidates’ incorporation into the presbyterate. Though they did not lay on hands, dozens of deacons and seminarians also were present at the ordination.

At the close of the ordination rite, the new priests

Father Michael McClellan — St. Ambrose in Woodbury Father Matthew Northenscold — St. Peter in North St. Paul Father Mark Pavlak — St. John Neumann in Eagan Father Joseph Zabinski — The parish cluster of Holy Trinity in Goodhue, St. Michael in Pine Island and St. Paul in Zumbrota Father Adam Tokashiki will continue to serve St. Mark in St. Paul as a priest in residence

turned their stoles from side to center, indicating priesthood, and put on for the first time goldembroidered chasubles. The archbishop anointed each priest’s palms with holy chrism oil.

Jonathan and Misha McGovern of Steubenville, Ohio, happened to visit the Cathedral at the end of the ordination and received a blessing from Father Neil Bakker.

“I’m just excited that there are more priests and that these nine guys are willing to step outside of what society says and follow God and his goal for them in their lives,” said Misha, 30. “They seem to be on fire. I can feel it in here.”

2B • Ordinations

The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016

Mother’s cancer battle sparks conversion

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Neil Bakker, 37, wasn’t raised Catholic, but when he felt a tug toward faith during his mother’s battle with breast cancer, he found himself in the back pews of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul during Sunday Masses.

Conversations with priests serving at the Cathedral led him to join the Catholic Church. Eight years later, on May 28, he was ordained a priest in that Cathedral alongside eight other men.

A decade ago, it would have been hard for Bakker to imagine himself on that track. He was excelling in the information technology field and making a good income. Religion was not on his radar.

The son of Cheryl Bakker and Gary Bakker, Father Bakker was raised in Austin and attended vocational school in Mankato. He moved to the Twin Cities in 2000 to work for Dalco Enterprises in New Brighton.

When he was in his mid-20s, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. It flipped his career-and-fun-driven world upside down. He had been raised Methodist, but never

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Father Neil Bakker had a prayer life or real faith, he said. “This experience of my mother having cancer just stopped everything,” he said. “It was something that was bigger than I was, it was a problem I couldn’t solve, and I was a problem solver. That was intimidating, scary and I didn’t know what to do.”

During his mother’s surgery, he found a chapel at

Surprising words inspire path to priesthood

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

Y

ou’re going to be a priest.”

Those words came suddenly in 2006 from the mouth of a priest standing before Father Paul Haverstock, then a senior at the University of Kansas, right before the priest smeared the young convert’s forehead with chrism oil to confirm him in the Catholic Church.

After the liturgy, the priest — then chaplain of the university’s Newman Center — apologized for the surprising exclamation. He explained that he had just been in Rome and prayed for vocations at the shrine of St. Philip Neri, and blurted out the words when he saw on Father Haverstock’s name tag that he had chosen St. Philip Neri as his confirmation saint.

The priest’s words stuck with the new Catholic, and he began considering the priesthood as a viable option.

“Looking back now, I would say with a sense of confidence that that was the Holy Spirit working through him to give him a prophetic utterance in the

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Father Paul Haverstock moment to [tell me to] pursue a vocation to the priesthood,” Father Haverstock said. “It’s not that right then I knew or I decided, but . . . very often when I prayed after that, it was like a seed that started growing.”

An Eden Prairie native, Father Haverstock returned to

Methodist Hospital in Rochester, got on his knees and asked God for help. “I would say that’s the first time I ever prayed,” he said.

Father Bakker cared for his mother on weekends while she underwent chemotherapy. He felt grateful for the prayer experience in the chapel, which led him to the doors of the Cathedral. “I started feeling a longing in my life,” he said. “There was some loneliness, and it was an absence of God in my life, for certain.”

In 2006, his mother’s cancer returned. Though he questioned God, the experience softened his heart, and he started going to Mass more regularly. After conversations with Cathedral staff and priests, he started taking classes for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and was welcomed into the Church in 2008.

Father Bakker wasn’t thinking about the priesthood when he became Catholic, but after getting to know the Cathedral’s priests he found himself Googling “how to become a priest.” Still, leaving behind the financial security of his job for seminary was difficult, and trusted priests advised him to pray and “give it some time.” He continued to work, but moved in with priests serving at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton to assist his discernment. In 2010, he entered the St. Paul Seminary.

While in formation, Father Bakker didn’t agonize over his vocation, he said, and felt like he was moving in the right direction as he gained pastoral experience.

“There was a time when I wondered if I had wasted 10 years . . . but I don’t feel that way any more and haven’t for a long time,” Father Bakker said of his time as a non-Catholic and in the workplace. “I absolutely think it will be put to good use in the Church.” the Twin Cities after graduation to attend law school at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. By the time he passed the bar, he was in formation at the St. Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest May 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

The son of Henry and Kim Haverstock, Father Haverstock, 32, was raised in a devout Missouri Synod Lutheran home. He didn’t know any practicing Catholics, he said, until he met his college roommate in Lawrence, Kansas. That roommate, Jared Ostermann, was also a convert and answered Father Haverstock’s questions about the faith. “Through conversations with him and the witness of his beautiful family . . . I came to understand what Catholics actually believe, and along the way was challenged in some of my Protestant assumptions,” he said.

He entered seminary in 2010, and after two years of studying philosophy, he was sent to Rome to attend the Pontifical North American College. He will return to Rome in the fall to finish a degree in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He admits discernment was sometimes challenging.

“I wanted God to just open up the heavens and come down to me and say, ‘By the way, you’re going to be a priest. I want you to do that.’ I would have said, ‘OK, great!’,” he said. “But instead, God used ordinary means through seminarian formators to help me discern his will, and just through prayer. And thanks be to God, he led me to a point where I was able to say ‘Yes, God, I trust that you are using these ordinary people in the Church to call me to be a priest.’”

Congratulations

Father Joe Zabinski!

From your teaching parish, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church & School, Jordan

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June 9, 2016 • The Catholic Spirit

Ordinations • 3B

Once on track to be a doctor, Father Daly looks to heal souls

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Michael Daly seemed on his way to becoming a doctor and doing mission work in Honduras.

Ten years ago, he was following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Peter Daly, who would frequently take his wife, LuLu, a nurse, and their four children to an orphanage in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In 2004, the Dalys founded and started to help build the Holy Family Surgery Center at the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage in Honduras.

The trips began when Father Daly was 11, meaning he has spent more than half of his life seeing orphaned children several times a year and watching his father and mother meet their medical needs.

That’s why he entered the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, in the fall of 2007 thinking he would pursue medical school.

But, his experiences of “seeing Jesus’ eyes in the poor” also planted the seed of a vocation to the priesthood that led to his ordination May 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

In Honduras, “we wrote journals, and my parents would have us write each day,” said Father Daly, 27, whose home parish is Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul.

“And, mine was very much about encountering Jesus and encountering the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph.”

He also paid close attention to his parents and the way they worked side by side at the orphanage.

“Seeing their selflessness and service to the poor really moved my heart to wonder about the bigger questions in life, like what does God want me to do for him with my life?” he said.

Answering the call He wrestled with what vocation to follow throughout his college years, and eventually the call to priesthood won out. And, when he revealed to his parents that he was setting aside medical school applications and completing one for the St. Paul Seminary, they had a one-word response: “Finally.”

As he looks back, he sees that the seed of a priestly vocation had been planted early in his life, and had been growing steadily — though quietly — inside his heart and soul.

“It all started back in kindergarten when we were asked on video what we wanted to become when we grew up; I said I want to be a priest,” he recalled. “My

Father Michael Daly

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit mother is a wonderful Italian cook, so we would often have priests over for pasta, and she would suggest, without subtlety, how it would be such a grace if one of her boys would become a priest. I pretended I was disinterested, but I knew deep down that the seed of priesthood was sown.”

It showed itself during high school while he was playing football, hockey and lacrosse at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. In the midst of many practices and games throughout the school years, he often ducked away and went to the chapel to pray. He also attended Mass regularly over the lunch hour.

The faith journey continued at Notre Dame, when he spent the summer after his freshman year serving with the Missionaries of Charity in India at their home for the dying. That experience put his desire for medical school in doubt.

“I began to feel more peace and joy with the call to serve Jesus as a priest rather than a doctor,” he said. “I continued with the pre-med track, but I would find that Jesus desired not only physical, but also spiritual, healing of souls — a type of healing only a priest can give.”

Priestly influence Also during that time, he met a vibrant priest, Father Rick Frechette, who served in Haiti and has helped with the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti. Father Frechette happens to be both a priest and a doctor, but said that his first calling was to be a priest. In fact, he did not go to medical school until 20 years after being ordained.

Though Father Frechette’s dual role as priest and doctor got Father Daly thinking about that possibility, he realized that he had been feeling a persistent restlessness about becoming a doctor and serving in the medical field. Ultimately, he made a move that changed his internal disposition.

“Once I started applying to the seminary, that’s when the peace just flooded, and I was so happy and free and joyful,” he said.

He started in pre-theology at the St. Paul Seminary in fall 2011 and hasn’t looked back. He is excited about beginning his priestly ministry, which he hopes will include mission trips.

“I’ll definitely be taking parishioners down to the orphanage [in Honduras] and hopefully be a bridge for encountering Jesus in the poor,” he said.

He also is leaving the door open to the possibility of following in Father Frechette’s footsteps and becoming a doctor someday.

But, for now, he is focused on the beginning of his ministry as a priest, in which he also hopes to connect with high school athletes. He helped start the Sports Captains Leadership Summit two summers ago for captains of local Catholic high school teams, and he also served as a chaplain for the Hastings High School hockey team during the past season. He sees his days as a high school athlete as a way to reach kids who are playing sports at parishes he will serve.

“You need the credibility for the kids to follow you,” he said. “You need men who have been where they’re at, who understand where they’re coming from, but who are transformed.”

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4B • Ordinations

The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016

Father Kowalczyk’s path to priesthood marked in road miles, slow steps

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Kyle Kowalczyk admitted he has taken “slow steps” on his road to the priesthood.

The journey brought him from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was raised, to Minnesota to serve with NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries.

He saw a good part of the United States traveling as a member of one of NET’s evangelizing teams, tried out religious life with a community on the East Coast, and came back to Minnesota to the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.

“My freshman year in college was when I first felt the Lord might be calling me,” said the priest who was ordained May 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. “It took me a while to respond correctly.”

The son of Brigid and the late John Kowalczyk, he studied television and digital media production at Ferris State University in Michigan and worked in that field briefly in Texas before deciding it wasn’t for him.

“I was somewhere in Illinois or Iowa when I saw a billboard that read something like, ‘Looking for a sign from God?’ ” he said. “It took me five years after that, but I thought maybe the Lord wanted me to serve him.”

He calls his years with NET “a great adventure — a roadtrip for Jesus.” Traveling out west and finding fervent spirituality in people in Wyoming, he said, helped him to realize “the Lord is the Lord everywhere.”

Father Kowalczyk said he got a book to learn more about what a priest does and met with a discernment group as he sought to understand his calling.

Something about belonging to a community of men religious “clicked” with him, he said, but when he went to explore religious life it “unclicked,” and he

Father Kyle Kowalczyk

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit came back to Minnesota where he had worked for a while at NET Ministries offices in West St. Paul.

“It had become home,” Father Kowalczyk explained. “I had a good network and a good support system here.”

Grateful for parish experience He gives high marks to the faculty at the St. Paul Seminary and said he’ll miss the brotherhood of fellow seminarians.

He’s been able to use some of his collegiate theater experience to write and be involved in plays the seminarians have presented. “Theater has always been a hobby of mine,” he said.

The oldest of three children, Father Kowalczyk said he valued the contact with “real people” from his teaching parish experience at Annunciation in

Minneapolis and the opportunity to preach throughout his assignment last summer at Holy Family in St. Louis Park.

He said he’s confident as a homilist.

“I just try to be faithful to the Scripture and help expand it, apply it, help us to see something we didn’t see,” he said.

He said he’s looking forward to doing everything a priest is called to do.

“I enjoy being with the people,” Father Kowalczyk said. “I didn’t sign up to sit and read books all day.”

Although his slow steps to the priesthood mean he was 35 on his ordination day, he said he realizes that “the Lord calls us each step of the way.”

“The attitude I’ve taken in my spiritual life,” he added, “is that I try to embrace the moment every step of the way.”

Congratulations SJV Alumni Fr. Michael McClellan, Fr. Matthew Northenscold, and Fr. Joseph Zabinski From the seminarians, priests and staff of Saint John Vianney College Seminary

www.vianney.net • 651.962.6825 • sju@stthomas.edu

June 9, 2016 • The Catholic Spirit

‘Why be a priest?’

Once skeptical, Father McClellan now has his answer

Father Michael McClellan

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

W

hen Father Michael McClellan was in grade school at Divine Mercy in Faribault, his mother would tell people she thought her son would be a priest someday.

His response? “I’d always get really embarrassed and say, ‘No, there’s no way,’ ” he recently recalled.

But then he got the same words from a priest at his parish.

“I was 12 years old and had recently started altarserving at church,” said Father McClellan, 26, the son of Jim and Kathy McClellan. “I remember specifically after a school Mass, the priest who said the Mass was talking to the servers, and I remember him asking me if I had ever thought about the priesthood before. And, I told him no, it had never occurred to me. He said, ‘Well, I want you to think about what you’re supposed to do with your life, and I want you to ask God if you’re supposed to be a priest.’”

Again, the young McClellan scoffed at the idea and brushed it off. He said to himself, “Why would I ever be a priest?”

He’s not scoffing anymore. Along with his classmates, he was ordained at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul May 28 by Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Though initially put off by the encouragement of his mother and parish priest, he chose to take a look at the priesthood and ask

Ordinations • 5B

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit God if he was calling him to that vocation.

By the time he graduated in 2008 from Bethlehem Academy in Faribault, he felt drawn to the calling and enrolled at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul as a seminarian at St. John Vianney College Seminary.

No doubt, that priest who first encouraged him — Bishop Andrew Cozzens — supports his decision. And, Father McClellan now is grateful for then-Father Cozzens’ direct words. Although Father McClellan was hesitant about the priesthood, he enjoyed the chance to have the future bishop at his parish.

“He was a cool, young priest,” Father McClellan said.

“I thought he was awesome. He came at the same time as Father Kevin Finnegan, whom we had for 15 years.

[Father Finnegan], for sure, was very influential on me as a steady encouragement.”

Father McClellan’s path toward the priesthood moved steadily forward through his high school days at Bethlehem Academy and SJV. After his graduation from St. Thomas in 2012 with a degree in philosophy and

Catholic Studies, he went straight to the St. Paul Seminary.

He is excited to be part of the first class to be ordained

by Archbishop Hebda.

“I think all of my classmates were pleased that the bishop was named prior to our ordination, and very blessed to have Archbishop Hebda,” Father McClellan said. “He seems just fantastic. In the interactions I’ve had with him, he’s been very caring, very fatherly, and I look forward to having him as our archbishop.”

Not only that, it’s possible McClellan could serve under Archbishop Hebda for 19 years, when the archbishop reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.

“Some of us were talking and we realized we’d all be 45 years old by the time Archbishop Hebda retires, God willing we have him for the 19 years left of his active ministry as archbishop,” Father McClellan said. “That’s just crazy to think of that. He is still so young, and to have that continuity for that number of years will be a really good thing.”

Congratulations Fr. Matthew Northenscold, Fr. Kyle Kowalczyk, Fr. Michael Daly, Fr. Mark Pavlak, Fr. Joseph Zabinski, Fr. Neil Bakker, Fr. Adam Tokashiki, and Fr. Michael McClellan From the priests, faculty and staff of The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity

www.saintpaulseminary.org

6B • Ordinations

The teacher of preachers explains what works hat goes into a good homily?

The Catholic Spirit put the question to Father Thomas Margevicius, who teaches homiletics to men preparing for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul. He also is the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Minneapolis, where he says Mass in sign language for members of the deaf community.

The following is in his own words.

The content has been edited for length and clarity.

Given from the heart Pope Francis talks about the measure of the homily’s success being the nearness of the priest, the faithful sensing that he’s close to them, that he doesn’t live in a high tower; he understands what they’re really going through in terms of trying to live the faith in their own context.

The idea of the homily is not really to be this oratorical show-off, but to be familiar conversation. It should be natural, coming from the man’s heart and not sound as though he is out of touch with the reality that I live. So I think what really makes for a successful homily is the people sense that Father’s real, he knows where we’re coming from, he talks our language.

Short and relevant One of the things that Pope Francis has said is the homily shouldn’t be too long because then it overburdens that part of the liturgy to the detriment of the rest. It has importance, but you don’t want to exaggerate it. At the same time, people say that they leave the Catholic Church because of bad preaching and they get better preaching in some Protestant churches.

All the great homilists have been both naturally gifted and worked hard at it. You do have some good homilists who have great natural gifts, but they coast and don’t put a lot of effort into it. Those homilies tend to be entertaining, but can lack in depth and relevance. And then there are other men who don’t have the natural gifts, but invest quite a bit in practice, preparation, prayer. And, because they put so much into the prayer part, even though their delivery might be less flashy than a gifted man, the homily hits home in a way that a gifted but unprayerful homilist does not.

Modeled on the methods of great preachers Father Robert, now Bishop, Barron is a very fine preacher. He’s got great content and he’s relevant to what people are really going through today. He knows modern culture and how the word of God interests in a way that few people can match.

I’ve never personally heard Fulton Sheen. He died when I was a young boy, but I’ve heard tapes of him and seen videos, and he had both the external gifts, a certain charisma, a flamboyance about him, but he

made it relevant in such a way that he drew crowds that even today Protestant preachers would drool over. He was more popular than Milton Berle was on television.

I had one student some years ago who was an average intellect in terms of theology. Because he realized he wasn’t the top tier intellect in the class, he was anxious about his preaching. But, that student was a very good storyteller. And so, I remember at one point he said to me point blank, “You mean, all I’ve got to do is tell good stories and I’ll be a good preacher?” And, I said. . . yes. When you read the Gospels and how Jesus preached the parables, Jesus was a masterful storyteller.

Storytelling, I think, is an undervalued gift that this seminarian had, and I wish more of my students would feel the freedom [to tell stories in homilies].

The anat

of a

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Interview by Da

Delivered with confidence I remember a quote I once heard from Johnny Carson when someone asked him when did he get over stage fright. And, he said, “I’ve never gotten over it. I still have it every time I come out there.” The issue is not to try to get rid of it, the issue is to be OK with it and then use that energy, the tension that it creates, and direct that into a better performance.

All performers will tell us the best way to preclude being frozen by stage fright is practice, practice, practice; to be so familiar with your material and so comfortable in your own skin that when the time comes and the tension begins, you know exactly where you’re going, you’re not at a loss, it’s not unfamiliar territory.

Prepared with prayer What is the gauge of a good homily? The feedback that people give? My own sense of satisfaction? In the end, God knows what he does through whatever words come out of my mouth. I can’t control how God will work in a listener’s heart.

But, I can ask God to work, and can make myself available. So, I would imagine that the right answer is my best homily would be the one that I prayed the most about.

One of the more memorable experiences I had preaching was when I was at Nativity [of Our Lord in St. Paul] in my first summer as a priest. We had one of those summer rainstorms where you got 6 inches of rain overnight.

The rain started Saturday night around 10 p.m.

Father Thomas Margevicius, right, works with seminaria 2015. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

tomy

a great

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ave Hrbacek • The Catholic Spirit

ans in the chapel at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul in

The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016 •

7B

Words of wisdom Five priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis celebrate their 60th jubilees this year. They offer advice and encouragement to the nine men ordained May 28.

And then, by midnight, I started to notice a trickle of water in the basement. And then, by 3 a.m., the water was actually gushing through the concrete block wall into the basement. And, I’m just trying to do my best with mops and shop vacs and buckets to try to keep as much of the water out of the carpet and off the walls as I could. And, I was just getting frustrated. I must have gotten maybe a total of a half-hour of sleep that night.

Then, I had to get up that morning and preach at Nativity. I was a physical and emotional wreck. So, I got up there in the pulpit and I said, “What do you do when God pulls the rug on you?”And then I started to cry as I’m preaching.

People just remembered that and they said, “Don’t worry, Father, we got water in our basement, too.” I felt silly. It’s only water in the basement.

It’s not like my mother died. But, somehow at that moment, it hit me in a vulnerable place. I preached from a place of vulnerability, and it had a powerful effect on people’s lives.

I’ll never forget my very first Sunday when I started at St. John the Baptist in Dayton. I was up there to preach to all the assembly, and I said, “When I approach the Scriptures that I have to preach, I talk to God about them, and God sometimes makes me uncomfortable.

But I believe that when God puts something on my heart, chances are that’s what God wants parishioners to address in their hearts as well. So, if I read the word of God and it makes me squirm, I’ll preach in such a way that you’re going to squirm because that’s God trying to get your attention just like he’s trying to get mine.”

Indicative of effort I think I’m pretty good with English, I’m pretty good at getting a good message across.

I’m not so good with signing, I’m not so good with translating on the fly. So, trying to do four things at once comes across as awkward. But, I’m willing to put myself out there, and the people see I’m awkward and they say, “You know what? He’s trying.” And, I hope that counts for something.

Most of the faithful really have a lot of patience for their priest trying to give a homily.

They’ll put up with a lot of mediocrity because they really want him to do well, and they’re pulling for him. That’s what I tell my seminarians. Many of them get bent out of shape about mispronouncing one word. “Oh, I just screwed up in my homily, the whole thing’s going to crash and burn.” No, the faithful are pulling for you. They really want you to do well and will tolerate a lot of imperfection. So, be OK with that. Just be more concerned about being prayerful and real than you are with being polished.

Interviews by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

“The fact that you are being ordained the day before the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ suggests that I quote to you what J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote to his son. He said, ‘I put before you the one great thing to love on earth, the Blessed Sacrament. Here you will find romance, honor, glory, fidelity and the true way of all your loves upon earth.’ Here, you, the newly ordained, will find the grace of your fidelity for all the years of your priesthood. And remember, when you celebrate the Eucharist, you are, each time, bringing your flock, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, to the source and summit of all their Christian life.”

— Father James Reidy

“Be prepared for the unusual and unexpected.

You can plan ahead, but it doesn’t always go according to plan. Nothing does. Things change all the time. Remember to be flexible. You might have a lot of good ideas, but they don’t always work, so you have to adjust to the situation and adjust to the people you’re dealing with.

Sometimes that’s hard to do, but you still have to be able to meet them on their ground.”

— Father Francis Roach

“One thought that comes to my mind is having compassion for the underdog, for the powerless, for the marginal people. I think often in parish work, you end up in the middle of a controversy, and if you sit down with the group that tends to be the powerless, the marginal group in the debate, I think often that’s the right side. Nine times out of 10, you’re on the right side. Be more sensitive to the people that are often neglected and hurting. I would just encourage young priests to be aware of that. So often, I think people are attracted to the powerful and the mighty. But, it’s the poor, the hungry and the homeless that often are the ones that are the objects of neglect. Also, be kind and be a man of faith in your parish. Those are the two qualities I think people are looking for when they see a new pastor. They hope that he’s a man of faith, a man of prayer. Secondly, they hope that he’ll be kind. Those are qualities that are indispensable to being a good pastor.”

— Father Bill Kenney

“Stay as close to our Lord as possible and have true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

— Father Fred Meyer

“You must extend your love to all God’s people and persevere in your priestly vocation, whatever challenges may come.”

— Father Marvin O’Connell

8B • Ordinations

The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016

Father Northenscold: Giving one’s life to the Church just makes sense

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit

A

thoughtful 26-year-old, Father Matthew Northenscold takes his time answering questions, pausing before replying, and, often with eyes closed, seemingly searches for just the right response.

The son of John and Linda Northenscold, he grew up in Maple Lake — and St. Timothy parish there — with three sisters.

He credits homeschooling for giving him a good foundation in the faith, and said he got to a deeper level during his high school years. That knowledge about Jesus and the Church has been part of his journey toward the priesthood.

“When you trace it through history, the Catholic Church is the most important thing in the world, and it makes sense to give your life to it in whatever way makes sense for you,” he said.

When invited to check out the college seminary of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Northenscold said it felt right. He connected with how former rector Father Bill Baer described St. John Vianney College Seminary as “a place to discern a vocation.”

Learning to pray well has been one of the things Father Northenscold said he values from his years both at SJV and later at the St. Paul Seminary.

“I got close to God,” he said. “I learned how to listen to him in prayer. He revealed his great love during a retreat and holy hour, and I felt a deep desire in myself to help others learn that same love.”

Father Matthew Northenscold

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

“I got close to God. I learned how to listen to him in prayer.

He revealed his great love during a retreat and holy hour, and I felt a deep desire in myself to help others learn that same love.”

‘For better or worse’ As a priest, Father Northenscold is looking forward to celebrating the sacraments and teaching parishioners.

“I have a zeal for adult education,” Father Northenscold said, “and I suspect I’ll get involved in the RCIA [Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults], Bible studies [and teaching] how to pray at a deep level.”

Getting to know Father John Mitchell, pastor of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, was a

Father Matthew Northenscold

value he took away from his teaching parish experience.

“He’s steady, doesn’t get fazed and always knows a prudent way of handling things,” Father Northenscold said.

He also admires Father Peter Williams, vice rector of the St. Paul Seminary.

“He just has this great joy about him all the time,” Father Northenscold said. “That’s something I’d like to emulate.”

He admitted to being “a bit of an introvert” — but feels he’s approachable, too.

“I love to laugh and to talk to people,” he said.

He enjoys hiking, being out in nature, and literature and movies, especially “Les Miserables,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Braveheart.”

He might have been a teacher if he hadn’t felt the call to the priesthood.

“God just kept telling me to go ahead,” he said, and he enters the priesthood with the approach, “for better or worse.”

It’s the kind of line that draws a grin, but Father Northenscold is serious when he says it, explaining, “It’s what spouses say when they marry. The priest takes the Church as his spouse, so I’m in it for better or for worse.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO NET MINISTRIES ALUMNI

Father Kyle Kowalczyk & Father Joseph Zabinski

ON THEIR ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD

www.netusa.org

NOTICE

Look for The Catholic Spirit advertising insert from ST. PAUL SEMINARY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY in all copies of this issue.

TheCatholicSpirit.com • archspm.org

Congratulations Father Neil Bakker

on your Ordination to the Priesthood.

From your teaching parish, The Church of the Holy Cross of Minneapolis “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

June 9, 2016 • The Catholic Spirit

Draw to priesthood came from seeing ‘regular guys’ strive for holiness

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Mark Pavlak, 29, describes himself as a “regular Catholic guy.” With his parents, Reginald and Kathleen, and eight siblings — including a twin sister — he grew up in the parish-school community of St. Agnes in St. Paul. He enjoys reading, watching sports — especially Minnesota pro teams — and playing basketball and card games.

Recently ordained, he wants other young men to know that a call to the priesthood doesn’t have to be dramatic; it can simply mean being open to the possibility.

“Don’t think it can’t happen to you,” he said while sharing his own vocation story. “Don’t think you’re not suitable to be a priest, because if that was the case, then none of us would be here in seminary.”

For Father Pavlak, it wasn’t until he became friends with seminarians while attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, majoring in Catholic Studies and economics, that he seriously thought the priesthood might be for him.

“It was kind of my first exposure to men before they became priests,” he recalled. “All the priests I knew in my life, as far as I was ever concerned, were always priests. Now, these guys, who thought they had a call to the priesthood, I knew as just regular guys, and so I could connect myself with that. But they were also striving for holiness, they were men of prayer, men of Scripture, and that was something that was really

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Father Mark Pavlak attractive to me, something I could identify with, that I could see myself in them, too.”

Not yet ready to enter seminary after graduating from college, he worked in youth ministry and taught high school for a year at St. Agnes. But after much prayer, thought and conversation, he entered in the fall of 2011. In retrospect, he said he was in middle school when he first thought of becoming a priest.

“Looking back, you don’t really realize that there are moments of grace or little clues from the Holy Spirit when you’re that age,” he said, recalling inquiries about the potential for priesthood from people at St. Agnes.

In the seminary, Father Pavlak had a particularly memorable experience — although “not one of my shining moments,” he said — when he appeared with

Ordinations • 9B

two other seminarians on the game show “American Bible Challenge” on the Game Show Network. Along with now Father Marc Paveglio and Deacon Chad VanHoose, the “Sons of Thunder” won $5,000 for NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries, a West St. Paul-based Catholic youth retreat ministry organization.

Father Pavlak recalled how winning money was never their main focus.

“This was in the midst of the very beginning of when everything blew up here [the clergy sex abuse crisis], and so here we are trying to show that men from our local Church are still excited to be priests . . . to show the love of Christ, the love of the priesthood, the joy of the priesthood to all the viewers, to anybody we encountered, the producers and [others].”

Filmed in November 2013, the contestants were sworn to secrecy about the results until the show aired six months later. “It was good practice for the seal of confession, really,” he said, laughing.

In his priestly ministry, he wants to demonstrate mercy and kindness, and bring a “gentle presence” to penitents. He said he’ll continue to look to the saints and fellow priests for support.

In turn, he’s interested in reaching youth and believes the best way to do that is through supporting their parents, whom he said are the primary educators of their children, including in passing on the faith.

Describing adolescent years as formative — “so many things can go right, and so many things can go wrong,” he said — Father Pavlak believes priests need to be present for parents and their children.

“The priest doesn’t need to be the hip, cool, popular priest all the time,” he said. “I think a lot of guys look at themselves and they say, ‘Well, that’s not me, so I guess I have no part doing youth ministry.’ But it’s like, no, of course you do. The youth — everybody — wants to see an authentic priest of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you’re the fun guy or the sports guy or the jokes guy, youth ultimately don’t want that — they want Jesus Christ. And if you can just be an authentic priest and an authentic witness, Christ will do the rest.”

Congratulations

Father Matthew Northenscold on your ordination to the priesthood.

The Church of Saint Timothy Maple Lake

Your Home Parish

10B • Ordinations

The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016

After ‘testing the Lord,’ priesthood promptings reign

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Joseph Zabinski remembers being mesmerized as a 4-year-old during Mass when the priest would hold up the host for consecration.

His interest in the priesthood started early, but the 29-year-old admits fear stood in the way for many years.

“God writes straight with crooked lines,” he said of his path to the priesthood.

With his parents, Roger and Mary Ann, and three sisters, he grew up in St. Anthony and attended St. Charles Borromeo parish and school. He also went to public school and was homeschooled for a few years before attending St. Agnes High School in St. Paul, where he graduated in 2004.

During high school, his girlfriend asked if he wanted a deeper relationship.

“But I said, ‘You know, I don’t think that’s where God is calling me to,’” Father Zabinski said.

Instead, he was feeling called to examine the promptings that grew through serving at St. Charles and attending Team Vianney retreats at St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul.

“When I went there, I felt a sense of peace, freedom and joy that I didn’t experience anywhere else except for in the adoration chapel at St. Charles,” he said.

But despite the draw of the seminary and the fraternity he experienced there, he was afraid he’d be “falling into a trap” by entering immediately after high school.

“And so I decided to test the Lord a little bit and go to the University of Minnesota,” Father Zabinski said.

He lasted a semester.

Intending to study bio-based products — “learning how to make plastics from corn” — Father Zabinski found the class sizes challenging. There were 350 students in his chemistry class alone, while his graduating class at St. Agnes was 60.

That winter, he attended the archbishop’s annual retreat for men thinking about seminary. He talked to Archbishop Harry Flynn about the thoughts and

Father Joseph Zabinski

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit feelings that SJV retreats stirred.

“And he said, ‘Joe, that could be a calling,’” Father Zabinski said.

Doing God’s will He enrolled at SJV the next fall, completed the four years, studied two years at the St. Paul Seminary and then, with his spiritual director, discerned he should leave. He felt the need to experience time out of the seminary and “get more comfortable in my own skin,” he said.

After serving with West St. Paul-based NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries from 2011 to 2013, Father Zabinski re-entered the seminary and stayed the course.

“Doing the Lord’s will is always the best thing,” he said. “I learned that going to the U of M because I was testing the Lord a little bit, not wanting to do his will.”

Along with a couple of priests who served as his spiritual directors, he credits his parents with helping him through a spiritual journey that was “all over the

place,” he said. As Third Order Carmelites, the order’s lay branch whose main charism is prayer, his parents would chant evening prayer, which left an impression on Father Zabinski as he fell asleep each night.

Newly ordained, Father Zabinski plans to take the experiences he’s learned at his teaching parish, St. John the Baptist in Jordan, to his ministry. He has passions for serving young and old; last summer he served at Extreme Faith Camp with teenagers from across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and has long visited nursing home residents, to whom he can now administer the sacraments. But he most looks forward to celebrating Mass.

“And also [serving] the people of God — I love them,” he said.

Father Zabinski is excited to serve under Archbishop Bernard Hebda, “a very pastoral and loving man,” he said, as he takes to heart the words of St. John Paul II: “Don’t be afraid.”

“As long as you do God’s will, you’ll be the most fulfilled . . . and the most joy-filled, no matter where it takes you,” he said.

Congratulations, Father Matthew Northenscold We rejoice with you and your family and pray that you continue to bear witness to God’s love to all those you serve!

From your Familia family friends!

Congratulations Father Neil Bakker

As you begin your priestly ministry Tu es sacerdos in aeternum From the parishioners of the Cathedral of Saint Paul

Ordinations • 11B

June 9, 2016 • The Catholic Spirit

Father Tokashiki finds balance in Pro Ecclesia Sancta order

50th jubilarians

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Spirit

W

hen Father Adam Tokashiki, a member of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, encountered Christ as a high school student in Lima, Peru, in the early 2000s, quitting his punk rock band and cutting his long hair were just the beginning of a radical life redirection that culminated in his ordination to the priesthood 4,000 miles away in St. Paul on May 28.

Father Tokashiki, 29, whose grandparents immigrated to Peru from Japan, grew up in Lima, the youngest of four boys.

Not really practicing his faith while growing up, he was first inspired by members of the Peru-based Pro Ecclesia Sancta religious order who helped with youth formation at his high school. They were lively and approachable, yet disciplined, he said.

“It wasn’t just a family, but an army,” he said.

During his senior year, he said he discovered the Lord — the fulfillment of his quest for beauty, truth and goodness. Father Tokashiki switched from electric to classical guitar and continued to work with PES after graduation.

He joined the order in 2006, drawn by the life rooted in prayer, apostolate, leadership, charity and fraternity. Leaving home at 19 was difficult for him and his parents, but he said in time, his parents have been blessed by his vocation. First as a brother and now as a priest, Father Tokashiki finds joy in PES’ balance between apostolic work and contemplative prayer.

Five priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis ordained in 1966 are celebrating 50 years of priesthood this year. All are retired.

• Father Thomas Fitzgerald, a parishioner of St. Genevieve in Centerville, assists at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake, St. Gregory the Great in North Branch, St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi and Sacred Heart in Rush City.

Father Adam Tokashiki was ordained May 28 for Pro Ecclesia Sancta, which serves St. Mark in St. Paul. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit In 2009, he came to St. Mark in St. Paul, the archdiocesan parish run by PES priests, brothers and sisters, where he served while attending the University of St. Thomas and the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. As a priest, Father Tokashiki said he will offer the sacraments, lead marriage and baptismal preparation, and religious formation; help with the order’s house and formation; and serve at the University of St. Thomas and Chesterton Academy in Edina.

“There’s plenty, plenty to do,” he said.

• Father Robert Hazel ministers with Cross Catholic Outreach and Retrouvaille.

• Father Bryan O’Rourke lives in Los Angeles.

• Father J. Timothy Power, who assisted at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis until summer 2015, is in hospice care for blood cancer.

• Father Michael Slusser lives at the Leo C. Byrne Residence in St. Paul.

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The Catholic Spirit • June 9, 2016

"The will of God be done in this and everything we undertake." ~ Edmund Rice

The Edmund Rice Christian Brothers thank Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

We are grateful for the pastoral care you provided our Bergen Catholic High School community during the 2 1/2 years you served as Coadjutor Archbishop.

We will miss you dearly. DEUS VULT!

EDMUND RICE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS NORTH AMERICA