March 10, 2022 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE Twin Cities church leaders unite in ecumenical prayer service for peace
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2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
PAGETWO Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. That prepares us to listen to others. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center’s annual Lenten staff retreat March 3 at St. John Vianney in South St. Paul, as he spoke about ways to listen with a pastoral heart in ministry. True hearing goes beyond the ears and grows in understanding of another person through a Christ-like compassion, Bishop Williams said.
NEWS notes More than 1,200 pastors and their appointees were trained in February and early March to participate in a six-hour Parish Synod Leadership Team consultation, the last step in the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod process before the Synod Assembly on Pentecost weekend, June 3-5. The majority of parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis hosted the consultation on either Feb. 26 or 27, or March 5 or 6. Guided by a video, participants prayed about and discussed facets of the Synod’s three focus areas and refined related propositions that will be brought forward to the Synod Assembly.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ON CAMERA Archbishop Bernard Hebda joins Chief Operating Officer Bill Lentsch of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for a town hall meeting with priests of the archdiocese via Zoom Feb. 24. Attendance has been increasing since the start of these monthly meetings in December, with nearly 80 priests participating in the most recent one-hour session. The purpose of the meetings is to open and grow two-way communication with priests to build relationships and better serve them and their parishes.
Employees of the Archdiocesan Catholic Center worked assembly line style March 3 and made 1,137 “sock rolls” for homeless people during a staff Lenten retreat at St. John Vianney in South St. Paul. The packages included lotion, lip balm, Kleenex, and toe or hand warmers stuffed into thermal socks, which Catholic Charities will give to people in need. On March 7, Archbishop Bernard Hebda joined Bishop S TC Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, and Father Francis Hoffman — Relevant Radio’s “Father Rocky” — for a half-hour family rosary that was broadcast live across the United States from St. Isabel Catholic Church in Sanibel, Florida. The rosary is part of Relevant Radio’s weekday Family Rosary Across America, an interactive half-hour live show at 7 p.m. Central Time that guides families through the rosary. Father Rocky typically hosts the program, which draws about 100,000 listeners, according to its website. Inviting Archbishop Hebda and Bishop Dewane to lead the March 7 rosary was the brainchild of Joel Hazzard, retired CEO of Eagan-based Ergotron and, along with Archbishop Hebda, a member of Relevant Radio’s board of directors. With the Family Rosary Across America, “the more of us praying together, the world’s going to be a better place,” Hazzard said. The winter campaign for 40 Days for Life is underway through April 10, with 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. vigils at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul with prayers to end abortion. April 10 includes a 3 p.m. closing prayer and Jericho March, where participants circle the building seven times, recalling the events that led to the fall of Jericho as recounted in the Book of Joshua. Many parishes have “adopted” days to participate in the campaign. 40daysforlife.com/en/st.paul
PRACTICING Catholic
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
LENT BEGINS Ninth-grader Amelie Threinen of Providence Academy in Plymouth joins fellow students in prayer during Ash Wednesday Mass at the school March 2. The chaplain of Providence Academy, Father Michael McClellan, was the celebrant for the Mass, which was attended by students in grades six through 12.
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to make a decision this spring on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, The Catholic Spirit asks readers, “What does it mean to you to truly ‘create a culture of life’?” Send responses of 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line. Your reflection may be included in a future edition of The Catholic Spirit.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 27 — No. 5 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor
On the March 4 “Practicing Catholic” show, host Patrick Conley interviews Visitation Sister Katherine Mullin and School Sister of Notre Dame Stephanie Spandl, who share insights on discerning a call to religious life. Also featured are Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, who discusses “fighting the good fight” this Lent, and Teresa Tawil from the Curatio apostolate, who offers Catholic guidance on bioethical concerns. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com, soundcloud.com/ practicingcatholic or tinyurl.com/practicingcatholic.
ON THE COVER Father Ivan Shkumbatyuk (front, in black vestments), pastor of St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis, is part of a processional following an ecumenical prayer service for peace in Ukraine March 6 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Behind him are Maronite Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron in Minneapolis; the Rev. Ann Svennungsen, bishop of the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. Craig Loya, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota; and Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Rev. Patricia Lull, bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. JORDANA TORGESON | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year; Senior 1-year: $24.95. To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
MARCH 10, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
Mary, Queen of Peace: Trusting Our Mother listens in times of war
“N
ever again war, never again war! It is peace, peace, that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!” These words from Pope St. Paul VI’s historic address to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City, spoken significantly on the feast of St. Francis, Oct. 4, 1965, have continued to resonate not only in the halls of the U.N. but throughout our Church. Given both our Lord’s assertion that “blessed are the peacemakers” and his Church’s consistent proclamation of the dignity of each human life, it is not surprising that the Catechism of the Catholic Church, drawing on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, would teach in its explanation of the Fifth Commandment that “(b)ecause of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war” (No. 2307). There is no doubt that we as Catholics have to work for peace. The tragic images from Ukraine remind us once again of the ravages of war. Our hearts go out to the many Ukrainians in our community, especially to our brothers and sisters at St. Constantine’s parish in northeast Minneapolis. In an age in which the whole world is connected instantly though social media, they know all too well the painful experience of their families in Ukraine and the devastation of the homeland they love. They now share the heartache of our many neighbors from Myanmar, Syria, Armenia, northern Ethiopia and other areas torn by armed conflict. At this time, we need to respond to St. Paul VI’s
María, Reina de la Paz: Confiando Nuestra Madre escucha en tiempos de guerra
“¡
Nunca más la guerra, nunca más la guerra! ¡Es la paz, la paz, la que debe guiar el destino de las naciones de toda la humanidad!”. Estas palabras del histórico discurso del Papa San Pablo VI ante la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas en la ciudad de Nueva York, pronunciadas significativamente en la fiesta de San Francisco, el 4 de octubre de 1965, han seguido resonando no solo en los pasillos de la ONU sino en toda nuestra Iglesia. Dada la afirmación de nuestro Señor de que “bienaventurados los pacificadores” y la proclamación constante de la dignidad de cada vida humana por parte de su Iglesia, no sorprende que el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica, basándose en las enseñanzas del Concilio Vaticano II, enseñe en su explicación del Quinto Mandamiento que “ a causa de los males e injusticias que acompañan a toda guerra, la Iglesia exhorta con insistencia a todos a la oración y a la acción para que la Bondad divina nos libere de la antigua servidumbre de la guerra” (n. 2307). No hay duda de que nosotros como católicos tenemos que trabajar por la paz. Las trágicas imágenes de Ucrania nos recuerdan una vez más los estragos de la guerra. Nuestros corazones están con los muchos ucranianos en nuestra comunidad, especialmente
There is no doubt that we as Catholics have to work for peace. iSTOCK PHOTO | TANGKWA_NIKON
call to both action and prayer. I’ve been so inspired by the welcome that those fleeing from Ukraine have already received in the countries that border their homeland. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has noted that there are already nearly 3 million individuals needing assistance. The numbers alone suggest that this is a humanitarian crisis of the first degree that will require heroic sacrifice and generosity. As a CRS board member, I’m proud of the way in which CRS and its Caritas partners are mobilizing to meet that need on behalf of our Church. I will be encouraging our parishes to consider ways of enabling a generous response to this crisis. In the meantime, given the urgency of the need, you may wish to go to the CRS website to consider options for immediate support. That concrete humanitarian response needs to be accompanied by prayer. The loss of innocent life around the globe should bring all of us to our knees. I was very grateful for the recognition of this priority from so many of our ecumenical partners who felt the Holy Spirit’s impulse to gather together on Sunday evening to pray for an end to the conflict in Ukraine. For us as Catholics, it was a privilege to host the gathering, and particularly meaningful for us to do so at our Basilica, dedicated to Mary. One of our Blessed Mother’s traditional titles from
con nuestros hermanos y hermanas de la parroquia de St. Constantine en el noreste de Minneapolis. En una era en la que el mundo entero está conectado instantáneamente a través de las redes sociales, conocen muy bien la dolorosa experiencia de sus familias en Ucrania y la devastación de la patria que aman. Ahora comparten el dolor de nuestros muchos vecinos de Myanmar, Siria, Armenia, el norte de Etiopía y otras áreas desgarradas por el conflicto armado. En este momento, debemos responder al llamado de San Pablo VI tanto a la acción como a la oración. Me ha inspirado mucho la acogida que ya han recibido quienes huyen de Ucrania en los países que limitan con su patria. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) ha señalado que ya hay casi 3 millones de personas que necesitan asistencia. Los números por sí solos sugieren que esta es una crisis humanitaria de primer grado que requerirá un sacrificio heroico y generosidad. Como miembro de la junta de CRS, estoy orgulloso de la forma en que CRS y sus socios de Caritas se están movilizando para satisfacer esa necesidad en nombre de nuestra Iglesia. Animaré a nuestras parroquias a considerar formas de permitir una respuesta generosa a esta crisis. Mientras tanto, dada la urgencia de la necesidad, es posible que desee visitar el sitio web de CRS para considerar opciones de apoyo inmediato. Esa respuesta humanitaria concreta debe ir acompañada de oración. La pérdida de vidas inocentes en todo el mundo debería ponernos de rodillas a todos. Estuve muy agradecido por
the Litany of Loreto is “Regina Pacis.” At times of conflict, men and women of faith have instinctively felt the impulse to draw close to Mary, one who knew firsthand the impact of violence and the loss of innocent life. At the close of World War I, Pope Benedict XV commissioned in thanksgiving a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace for the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. It’s a striking piece. Clutching with her right arm the Child Jesus, who dangles to the world the olive branch of peace, Mary holds up her left hand as if to call an end to any further conflict. The artist, Guido Galli, gave Mary a strong but serene countenance, ready to engage any and all who choose to share her gaze and ask for her intercession for peace. In the 18 years that I lived in Rome, I can’t ever recall a time when there weren’t flowers left at that shrine, most often brought by immigrants praying for peace in their homelands. I’ll always remember one afternoon visit to that shrine, at the height of the conflict in the Balkans, when I found myself praying with two women. With one dressed according to the Muslim tradition and the other wearing an Orthodox cross, I could only imagine that their families were on opposite sides in that conflict, but I trusted that both mothers found a compassionate ear in the mother of the Prince of Peace. In calling us to offer our sacrifices at the beginning of Lent for the intention of peace in Ukraine, Pope Francis prayed in particular that Our Lady would “protect the world from the folly of war.” Let us join our prayers to his, as we strive to respond with generosity to the concrete needs of our brothers and sisters both here and abroad whose lives have been disrupted by armed conflict. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
el reconocimiento de esta prioridad por parte de tantos de nuestros socios ecuménicos que sintieron el impulso del Espíritu Santo de reunirse el domingo por la noche para orar por el fin del conflicto en Ucrania. Para nosotros como católicos, fue un privilegio ser anfitriones de la reunión, y particularmente significativo para nosotros hacerlo en nuestra Basílica, dedicada a María. Uno de los títulos tradicionales de nuestra Santísima Madre de las Letanías de Loreto es “Regina Pacis”. En momentos de conflicto, los hombres y mujeres de fe han sentido instintivamente el impulso de acercarse a María, quien conoció de primera mano el impacto de la violencia y la pérdida de vidas inocentes. Al final de la Primera Guerra Mundial, el Papa Benedicto XV encargó en acción de gracias una estatua de Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz para la Basílica de Santa María la Mayor en Roma. Es una pieza llamativa. Agarrando con su brazo derecho al Niño Jesús, que cuelga al mundo la rama de olivo de la paz, María levanta su mano izquierda como para poner fin a cualquier otro conflicto. El artista, Guido Galli, le dio a María un rostro fuerte pero sereno, listo para involucrar a todos y cada uno de los que eligen compartir su mirada y pedir su intercesión por la paz. En los 18 años que viví en Roma, no puedo recordar un momento en que no quedaran flores en ese santuario, la mayoría de las veces traídas por inmigrantes que oraban por la paz en sus países de origen. Siempre recordaré una visita por la tarde a ese santuario,
en el punto álgido del conflicto en los Balcanes, cuando me encontré rezando con dos mujeres. Con una vestida según la tradición musulmana y la otra con una cruz ortodoxa, solo podía imaginar que sus familias estaban en bandos opuestos en ese conflicto, pero confiaba en que ambas madres encontraran un oído compasivo en la madre del Príncipe de la Paz. Al llamarnos a ofrecer nuestros sacrificios al comienzo de la Cuaresma por la intención de paz en Ucrania, el Papa Francisco oró en particular para que Nuestra Señora “proteja al mundo de la locura de la guerra”. Unamos nuestras oraciones a las suyas, mientras nos esforzamos por responder con generosidad a las necesidades concretas de nuestros hermanos y hermanas, tanto aquí como en el extranjero, cuyas vidas se han visto interrumpidas por los conflictos armados. ¡María, Reina de la Paz, ruega por nosotros!
OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointment in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective March 1, 2022 Reverend Arokiadoss Raji, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Bernard in Saint Paul. Father Raji is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark.
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4 • The Catholic Spirit 4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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MARCH 10, 2022
SLICEof LIFE Undercover art LOCAL
4 • The Catholic Spirit
Piper Aitchison, a third-grader at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Edina, draws on the floor of the new Parish Activity Center gymnasium at Our Lady March 9, 2017 of Grace Feb. 27. The PAC is expected to be completed in time for the start of the next school year, and will also feature a preschool, theater stage, classrooms, faith formation meeting space, family meeting space and more. School families andSt.parishioners were Joseph of Carondelet Sister Avis invited to come to the PAC center, to sign their Allmaras, talks with Rose Carter, left, and Irene names and make drawings onEiden the at Peace House in south Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis concrete floor, which eventually will goes to the center weekly and visits be covered by a new hardwood floor. frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of St. and William in Fridley, a lay consociate Greg Aitchison, right, his wife, isKate, of the Carondelet Sisters. Peace House is have four children, two of whom attend a day shelter for the poor and homeless. OLG school. The two“It’syoungest aretoset a real privilege know these people hear their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I to attend when theyand reach school age. could not survive on the streets like they “It’s awesome,” Greg said about the do. There are so many gifted people building project. “We areSaid soCarter excited here.” of Sister Avis: “She’s DAVE HRBACEK an | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT angel. She hides wings under that as a family, having four kiddos thather sweatshirt. She truly is an angel.” are going to be coming this way (to Spirit Dave up Hrbacek/The Catholic attend the school), to have so many great new resources and make room for Celebrating sisters more kids to come here and experience National Catholic Sisters Week is the Catholic faith and the8-14. joyAn that thecomponent of March official teachers bring.” Women’s History Month and
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As Russian invasion intensifies, Catholics pray for peace, God’s mercy in Ukraine By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit Russia’s attack on Ukraine is more than a war of aggression — it is an attempt to destroy the country and its identity, the pastor of St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis told people gathered at an ecumenical prayer service March 6. “Christian values such as justice, freedom, solidarity, unity and patriotism are being destroyed,” Father Ivan Shkumbatyuk said at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. “Man cannot see the face of God, but we have seen the face of the devil.” It’s also a war long in the making, Father Shkumbatyuk said. It did not begin Feb. 24 with Russia’s attack on his place of birth, the Ukrainian rite priest said. Rather, it began eight years ago, with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine. Calling for prayers and peace in the face of violence, Father Shkumbatyuk was joined by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Maronite Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron in Minneapolis, and other faith leaders in the Twin Cities, as well as a congregation of 290 people. Only 10 days earlier, Father Shkumbatyuk stood on the steps of his own church in a rally that drew more than 100 people, just hours after Russia’s massed troops crossed the border into Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for demilitarization of Ukraine and guarantees it would not join NATO. President Joe Biden, the nations of NATO and the European Union have responded with increasingly harsh economic sanctions that include targeting Putin and wealthy Russian oligarchs and Russian banks. On March 8, Biden announced the U.S. will ban imports of Russian oil and other energy products, a move expected to further hurt Russia but also trigger higher gasoline and energy prices in the U.S. and worldwide. The Associated Press reported March 8 that the humanitarian situation in Ukraine had grown worse. Bodies lay in the streets of the port of Mariupol, and civilians waited in hopes they’d be allowed to safely leave. A top United Nations official, Filippo Grandi, said 2 million Ukrainians had fled their homeland in the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Catholics and people of all faiths gathered in prayer around the world and in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. About 17,000 people living in Minnesota are believed to be of Ukrainian descent, the Minnesotabased Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee has estimated. Taras Rafe, 49, who emigrated from Ukraine with family members in 2005, joined those gathered at the St. Constantine rally the evening of Feb. 24. He said the Russian invasion was the “biggest tragedy for Ukraine in the last 50 years.” The Rev. Laurie Pound Feille, pastor of First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, in Minneapolis, also attended the rally. She said it was important to support “our Ukrainian siblings” in the Twin Cities and those in Ukraine — “to let them know we care, we hear them, that we know they’ve been invaded, that we know the atrocities are happening against them.” Rally attendees held signs and banners supporting Ukraine. Speakers included Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is of Ukrainian descent. The rally ended with the crowd singing a Ukrainian spiritual anthem and shouting chants including “glory to Ukraine.” The rally culminated with a Mass at St. Constantine. Three days later, about 90 people prayed for peace at a vespers service at the Basilica, including a couple living in Plymouth who emigrated from Russia nearly 20 years ago. Olga Baxtin and her husband, Viatcheslav Belyaev, said they came to pray for peace in Ukraine and to support the Ukrainian people. She and her husband are no fans of Putin, Baxtin said. “We are against Putin, we are against the war in Ukraine and we support Ukraine,” she said. People can donate money to help those in Ukraine, but that’s not enough, Baxtin said. Explaining that she
JORDANA TORGESON | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Ivan Shkumbatyuk, pastor of St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis, addresses the congregation at an ecumenical prayer service for peace at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
CRS SUPPORT The Center for Mission in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis encourages people who want to help financially in Ukraine and assist Ukrainian refugees to donate to Catholic Relief Services, which is working with Caritas Ukraine and Caritas Poland, at support.crs.org/ukraine.
is agnostic but willing to pray, Baxtin said, “We’re not only bodies, but souls, too.” Father John Bauer, Basilica rector and pastor, presided at the vespers service, and about a dozen members of the Basilica’s Schola Cantorum sang throughout. A lector, Carol Frenning, 75, read from Isaiah 2:4, “One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” A Schola soloist sang intercessory prayers, including “for an immediate end to the invasion of Ukraine, and for the safety and security of the Ukrainian people” and “for a conversion of heart, for all those who perpetuate fear, promote hatred and wage war.” Archbishop Hebda, meanwhile, approved the use of special liturgical texts at Masses that weekend for times of war, for peace and justice, or for refugees and exiles, giving presiders permission to replace the typical prayers or readings assigned to the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time with ones that spoke to God’s peace, mercy and protection. The following weekend at the Basilica, three Protestant faith leaders in the Twin Cities joined Father Shkumbatyuk, Archbishop Hebda and Chorbishop Maroun for similar prayers. The Rev. Patricia Lull, bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, preached at the March 6 ecumenical event, noting that Christians during Lent have their eyes trained “to see afresh” where Christ’s earthly journey led to the cross. “That awful day, when it seemed all hope had been in vain, when it sure looked like evil was stronger than good … where the cruelty of the tyrant (seemed to be) the final word,” she said. But the final word belongs to God, “the God who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead.” Archbishop Hebda greeted those at the service, which was also led by the Rev. Craig Loya, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, and the Rev. Ann
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Shkumbatyuk reads a prayer during a Feb. 24 rally for Ukraine outside St. Constantine. Svennungsen, bishop of the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Alternating hymns with the Basilica’s Schola Cantorum was St. Constantine’s choir singing in Ukrainian. Bill Delano, 70, of Robbinsdale, who is not a member of a local church, attended the March 6 prayer service after being invited by a friend to support and pray for the people of Ukraine. Delano said that for 20 years “several careers ago” he served as a federal agent in the Central Intelligence Agency. He had been “in areas where there’s war zones,” he said, but Russia’s attack on Ukraine “seems like one of the most unjust invasions I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime.” “It’s shocking and it’s saddening, and I’m terrified for the whole world,” he said. Marzena Laugen, a parishioner of Holy Cross in Minneapolis who emigrated from Ukraine, said it is important to support the Ukrainian people through prayer, penance, almsgiving “and asking our Lord for mercy.” The faithful should pray for peace, she said, “hold the rosaries close to our hearts and ask our Blessed Mother Mary, Most Holy, to intercede.”
LOCAL
6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
Pandemic postpones some fish fries
UST’s Sullivan leaving to lead Santa Clara
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
With the rise in COVID-19 numbers caused by the omicron variant during the last several months, parishes deliberated over whether to have a fish fry this year. Although cases and hospitalizations have been steadily trending downward in the last few weeks and mask mandates are relaxing, some churches are sticking with earlier decisions to wait until next year to resume the annual fish fry. Notable in that group is St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis, which hasn’t held a fish fry since March 2020, when the pandemic began. The parish’s weekly events, which feature a meal and entertainment, can bring in up to $100,000 per week, said Father Joe Gillespie, pastor and emcee of the six weekly events the parish traditionally offers each year. That adds up to more than $400,000 in lost revenue per Lent, which is on the higher end of what parishes net from their Friday Lenten dinners. “We couldn’t quite imagine having 1,000 people down there (in the church basement) at 6 feet apart,” he said. “It was a painful decision” to cancel it. This will be the second straight year of no fish fry at St. Albert, with both of the cancellations due to COVID-19. There are 57 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis offering a fish fry or Friday Lenten meal this year, down from 93 at the start of Lent in 2020 and up from only 24 last year. Many of the parishes are offering takeout only this year, with a small handful also offering dine-in. The list of parishes that have decided not to have a fish fry or Lenten meal this year include St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park; Holy Name of Jesus in Medina; Holy Cross and Our Lady of Lourdes, both in Minneapolis; St. Joseph in New Hope; St. Dominic in Northfield; St. Joseph in Red Wing; Corpus Christi in Roseville; the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and St. Bernard in Cologne. For St. Bernard, the decision to not have a fish fry for the second consecutive year is complicated, said Sherry Witte, parish business administrator. Last year, it was strictly due to COVID-19. That triggered a move that led to this year’s cancellation. A parishioner who owned a fish fry
truck with some friends and made St. Bernard’s meals sold the truck last year, leaving the parish without a fish fry option going forward, Witte said. She added that the parish hopes to reestablish a fish fry at some point. For the time being, St. Bernard is pointing parishioners to a Knights of Columbus fish fry at nearby Ascension in Norwood Young America. Witte said COVID concerns are fewer at small, rural parishes, with many going forward with a fish fry this year. For Father Gillespie at St. Albert the Great, the pandemic is hitting too close to home for him to feel comfortable having a full-fledged fish fry. Instead, the parish is offering a Friday soup supper designed mainly for parishioners. His decision to downsize FATHER JOE has been strongly GILLESPIE influenced by recently doing hospital ministry and visiting patients with COVID. One time, he saw four COVID patients in one night, including a man who later died. But, just as real is the financial hit the parish is taking by not having the annual Lenten fish fry, which is an important fundraiser. Thankfully, Father Gillespie said, people have stepped forward with generous contributions to help make up for the loss of revenue. On one February weekend, people donated $15,000, with many notes attached saying they were giving what they would have spent at the fish fry. And, Father Gillespie noted, many of those donations were from people outside the parish, confirming what he has known for years — people will travel considerable distances to St. Albert the Great during Fridays of Lent. He knows of people who came from Wisconsin, and others from northern Minnesota. However, what can’t be replaced is the coming together of many people to socialize, eat a tasty meal and work side by side to make it all happen. According to St. Albert staff member Erin Sim, 150 or more volunteers pitch in every week to put on the fish fry, with 900 to 1,200 guests showing up to enjoy the full experience, which goes far beyond just a fish dinner. “For us, it’s the big-event quality that makes it special,” Sim said. “It’s the bingo and the raffles and the crowds.”
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The first lay president of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul announced March 1 that she plans to leave the role July 1 to become president of Santa Clara University near San Francisco. In an email to the St. Thomas community, President Julie Sullivan said her decision to leave was “difficult” and “one which I have spent a long time discerning and praying about,” citing personal reasons for the move. She noted she has family near Santa Clara. St. Thomas’ board of trustees has appointed Rob Vischer, dean of its School of Law, to serve as interim president beginning June 1. The board plans to launch a national search for a permanent president. Sullivan, 65, is the university’s 15th president. She has served as president of Minnesota’s largest private and Catholic university since 2013. Under her leadership, St. Thomas created the Dougherty Family College, a twoyear college based on its Minneapolis campus; launched the Morrison Family College of Health with a new School of Nursing; launched the Center for
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS
University of St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan is leaving her post July 1. Common Good; opened a Center for Well-Being to address students’ mental health needs; established a new undergraduate core curriculum; raised $100 million in scholarships; and built several new campus buildings, including the Iversen Center for Faith with restorations to the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 2020, the university became the first under current National Collegiate Athletic Association rules to move from Division III to Division I, after the association’s Division I council waived the typical process for the institution’s reclassification.
Catholic Charities panel links housing, health By Maura Keller For The Catholic Spirit The COVID-19 pandemic “added a health care crisis on top of a housing crisis, and the only way to truly solve either is going to require bold investments and innovations in both,” said Michael Goar, Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ CEO, ahead of the social services organizations’ annual social justice assembly March 1. This year’s event, “Rx: Housing — The Critical Relationship Between Housing and Health,” explored the connection between those two issues, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to these links with a new sense of urgency and focus, underscoring just how important housing is to health, and vice versa. Dr. Danielle Robertshaw, senior medical director of population health at Hennepin Healthcare, moderated the event. Panelists were Brian Bozeman, owner of Person Centered Housing Consultants; David Lee, director for Carlton County Public Health and Human Services; and Diane Tran, system executive director of community health equity and engagement at Fairview Health Services. The event was sponsored by Minnetonka-based United HealthGroup. “Without adequate housing for people in our communities, we are ill equipped to be successful in our attempts to promote health, safety, dignity and selfsufficiency,” Lee said. “Whether we’re working with vulnerable adults, people with mental health or substance use disorders, individuals with disabilities, dealing with child protection situations, or working to transition people out of the justice system, housing limitations have led to a reduction in successful outcomes.” Other panelists pointed out that ongoing health concerns make it
difficult for people to maintain regular employment. They may miss work or take unpaid medical leave. Once someone is homeless, existing health issues can worsen, making it difficult to regain employment. With the current legislative session underway, Catholic Charities is promoting a policy agenda that builds on recent successes and grows statewide partnerships to advance housing justice and health equity policies, Goar told The Catholic Spirit Feb. 28. That means prioritizing ongoing and increased public investments in emergency shelter services, and “deeply affordable” and accessible housing, reforming eviction processes and removing discriminatory practices in housing, and ensuring all Minnesotans have access to comprehensive and affordable health care, including mental health services, he said. Catholic Charities is the Twin Cities’ largest comprehensive social services nonprofit. It serves more than 20,000 people each year. Last year, the organization successfully advocated for a change in the state’s Department of Human Services policy, when the Minnesota Legislature voted to extend the period Housing Support participants could be absent from their facility while seeking residential behavioral health treatment or admission to a nursing facility or hospital. Prior to the change it was 18 days per year, now it’s 92. “Catholics can educate themselves and advocate for greater access to comprehensive, affordable healthcare and for increased public investments along the full housing continuum, from emergency shelter to rental opportunities to homeownership,” Goar said. “As people of faith, I think it is important also that we share these issues and conversations with our families, our parish and our community.”
MARCH 10, 2022
LOCAL
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
Money and marijuana: Big players on field in Minnesota By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit In 2019, tobacco giant Altria, owner of Marlboro, invested $1.8 billion in Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. The year before, Constellation Brands, the maker of Corona and Modelo beers, put $4 billion into Canopy Growth, Canada’s largest medical marijuana maker. A likely impetus? Canada — which legalized medical marijuana in 2001 — approved recreational use of the drug effective Oct. 17, 2018. And now, as an increasing number of states approve medical and recreational use of marijuana, big tobacco and big alcohol companies are setting their sights on the U.S. market. Early last year, Altria, Constellation, the National Association of Convenience Stores and other groups launched the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (cpear.org) to focus lobbying on federal and state legalization of recreational and medical use of the drug. Big-company moves and money into marijuana are not confined to the national and international stage. It’s happening in Minnesota, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2014 and there is a push to legalize recreational cannabis. In the past two months, Minnesota’s two homegrown cannabis companies and the only licensed medical marijuana growers and dispensers in the state — Leafline Industries and Good Growth Holdings — were purchased by larger Chicago companies that operate in multiple states. Green Thumb Industries, now incorporated in British Columbia, Canada, acquired Leafline in January. Verano Holdings acquired Goodness Growth Holdings in early February. For opponents of recreational marijuana — including the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota — big-money maneuvering over a drug that can impair drivers and workers, lead to dependency, mental illness and learning disabilities, particularly among the young, does not bode well for the common good. “The more commercial interests get engaged to promote legalization of recreational marijuana, the harder our fight becomes,” said John Hausladen, president and CEO of the Minnesota Trucking Association, which belongs to a group formed in January by MCC and others called Minnesotans Against Marijuana Legalization (see sidebar). “There’s a lot of pressure, resources, lobbying.” “Any industry whose aim is to profit off addiction, vice or suffering must be of grave concern to all Catholics because of the negative impacts, not only on human dignity, but because of the risk to one’s eternal soul,” said Ryan Hamilton, MCC’s government relations associate. Luke Niforatos, executive vice president of the national Smart Approaches to Marijuana, based in Virginia, said SAM has been warning for years about the impact of big tobacco and alcohol companies on the marijuana market. “These multinational corporations see the looming marijuana market as their next big investment and have invested billions to take it over,” he said. The art of lobbying is in play, as well, Niforatos said. “These companies have deployed armies of lobbyists at state houses across this nation to advance policies that serve only their profits. Their efforts come at the expense of our kids and public health.” Paul Aasen, president of the Minnesota Safety Council, which also belongs to the recently formed MAML, said the easiest solution is not to legalize recreational marijuana. “That would be simpler, safer” than creating special education, health care and enforcement efforts around the drug, he said. The bill in the Minnesota Senate, SF 757, and its companion bill that passed last year in the House, HF 600, do not provide adequate resources and structure for a recreational marijuana industry, Aasen said. He noted that a study in Colorado found that its recreational marijuana industry costs that state $4.50 in economic and social costs for every $1 gained in tax revenue. “There ought to be a big public debate just about the money,” he said.
BUSINESS CONCERNS
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Leafline Labs in St. Paul sells cannabis for medical use.
CHURCH TEACHING This is the third in a four-part series on efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota. The series opened in the Oct. 14 edition of The Catholic Spirit, with stories on Minnesota Catholic Conference’s opposition to recreational marijuana, the moral grounds for the Catholic Church’s opposition and an address by Bishop Andrew Cozzens about the issue at MCC’s Catholics at the Capitol event April 15, 2021. A second part in the series Jan. 13 cast a light on failed promises by proponents of recreational use of the drug to reduce disparity in Black arrest rates and create minority business owners. A future installment will explore how efforts to legalize recreational marijuana fared in the 2022 legislative session, and what that might mean for the future. — Joe Ruff
Hamilton said the presence of large marijuana companies in Minnesota also casts doubt on promises from recreational marijuana proponents that they can create a small, craft market and promote ownership by minorities. The sponsor of HF 600, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, told The Catholic Spirit he believes the bill protects against big-money investments in recreational marijuana because it would license companies for only one step in the process, such as cultivating the plant or selling it retail. The kind of vertical integration already seen in medical marijuana in Minnesota could be limited to that marketplace, he said. Judson (Kim) Bemis, chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, said further complicating the picture is that beginning March 1, medical marijuana in Minnesota expanded from pills and oils to allowing smokable cannabis, and Aug. 1 the offerings will include edibles such as gummies and chews. “It’s a slippery slope,” Bemis said of maintaining strictly medical use of cannabis in the face of products that are easy to ingest, and in some cases, harder to measure. “How do you prescribe smoking? The edible situation is, I think, even more serious.” Aasen cautioned that unlike alcohol, there are no reliable measures by which to determine marijuana impairment. In addition, people who use marijuana to the point of being impaired often mix it with alcohol or other drugs, which presents another set of challenges, he said. “There’s no clear path at the moment to managing (marijuana use) even as well or as poorly was we’ve managed alcohol,” Aasen said. “Interweave all of these and you have somebody who shouldn’t be operating a drill press or driving a car.” In a direct link to tobacco products, Hamilton said, Good Growth’s third quarter earnings report noted its Sept. 1, 2021, announcement that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had issued a notice of allowance for the patent application of its subsidiary, Resurgent Biosciences, to process and deliver moist snuff from cannabis plants. “The tobacco industry wouldn’t have any interest in creating a marijuana snuff, right?” Hamilton said sarcastically. To counter the push to legalize recreational marijuana
Trucking and busing, food processing, utility and law enforcement groups have banded together in a coalition against legalizing recreational marijuana in Minnesota. It’s a force that opponents of the drug hope will move more lawmakers to their side of the argument. “When it (HF 600 to legalize recreational marijuana) passed the House last year, there wasn’t such a strong organization that had put its stake in the ground,” said John Hausladen, president and CEO of the Minnesota Trucking Association. “Proponents were aggressive and organized in their messaging.” Now, Minnesotans Against Marijuana Legalization, announced in January, includes groups such as the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Minnesota Safety Council, the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, and Midwest Food Products Association. It provides a solid base from which to invite others to join the debate, Hausladen said. “This is just a tactical stake in the ground early,” he said, noting that while HF 600’s companion bill in the Senate, SF 757, has not gained much traction this session, the effort to create a market for recreational marijuana in Minnesota will not go away. “Our coalition is in this for the long haul,” Hausladen said, “just as we think others (opponents) are in for the long haul.” The trucking industry is concerned about legalizing recreational marijuana for several reasons, including road and worker safety, Hausladen said. “We believe it will make roads less safe,” he said. “Anything that degrades public safety is bad public policy.” Recreational marijuana also would erode the workforce, particularly for the trucking industry, which tests regularly for drugs or alcohol among its drivers and enforces zero tolerance, Hausladen said. Already there are driver, parts and equipment shortages and significant supply chain delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Add something like recreational marijuana testing and penalties and the challenge would become even greater, he said. Ryan Hamilton, MCC’s government relations associate, said creating a commercial recreational marijuana industry would impact many areas of life. It is natural that a broad coalition of organizations would come together in opposition, he said. “The opposition to commercialized marijuana is based on more than philosophical, moralistic or religious perspectives,” Hamilton said. “The founders of MAML wanted to create a rally point and platform for stakeholders who are concerned about the tangible consequences that would come from commercializing marijuana and normalizing its use.” Those who argue marijuana is no worse than alcohol, and perhaps less dangerous than that drug, might want to consider the dangers of any drug that can cause impairment, said Ken Winters, research adviser for Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, which also belongs to MAML, and a senior scientist in the Minnesota branch of the Oregon Research Institute. “A person is an unsafe driver when high on THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects), just as one is an unsafe driver when drunk on alcohol,” said Winters. “Alcohol is more damaging to an unborn fetus than nicotine or THC. But THC interferes with brain development more than alcohol.” THC also “alters more profoundly the brain chemistry that increases risk for mental illness compared to alcohol or nicotine,” said Winters, a clinical psychologist and professor for 25 years in the psychiatry department of the University of Minnesota who specializes in assessment and treatment of addictions, including adolescent drug abuse and other adolescent health issues. “It’s not a harmless drug,” Winters said of marijuana. “It’s more potent than ever before. And if it’s legalized as recreation, more people will use it.” — Joe Ruff
in Minnesota, Catholics should contact their legislators, Hamilton said. “Catholics can help combat industrydriven misinformation and pop-culture narratives that have dominated the debate thus far,” he said. “We do not need more means for addiction.”
8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
NATION+WORLD ‘Russkiy Mir’: The ‘Russian world’ meets Ukrainian politics and Vatican diplomacy By Anatolii Babynskyi The Pillar Justifying the annexation of Crimea in a 2014 speech, Vladimir Putin didn’t stop with political arguments — indeed, he went much further. He offered a framework for a worldview that would define his years in Russia’s presidential office, and that would be repeated frequently by both Putin’s political allies, and by leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. Understanding that worldview is key to understanding the Russian invasion unleashed last month in Ukraine. But also important is understanding its impact on Vatican ecumenical dialogues with the Russian Orthodox Church, which seem certain to change in light of Russia’s armed incursion into its neighboring country. Recalling St. Vladimir, the Prince of Kyiv and Putin’s namesake, the Russian president argued in 2014 that the prince’s 988 conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy “predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.” That moment, in Putin’s famous “Crimean speech,” capaciously and aptly reflected the “Russkiy Mir” — the “Russian world” ideology prevalent in the Russian political and Church establishment. It also framed the geographic area of Putin’s special attention. Until 2000, the Russkiy Mir was mostly a matter of intellectuals. But with the beginning of the 21st century, it became a semi-official strategy of both Russian politicians and leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate concerning Russia’s neighbor-states.
ANALYSIS
In their view, the “Russian world” covers almost the whole of Eastern Europe — all the territories that at different times were parts of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, including the diasporas of these countries in other parts of the world. As the “Russian world” paradigm began to grasp Putin’s political imagination, Russian leadership started to push its neighbor states to the closest possible economic, military, political, and cultural integration. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) played a soft power role, as its network of parishes, which survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, remained one of the most effective instruments of influence in other countries. Elena Volkova, a Russian intellectual and former professor at Moscow State University, said in Ukraine recently that the “Russian world” ideology can be reduced to a brief conclusion: “Russia must regain the territory of the empire. Monopoly power over souls must belong to the ROC. Any talk of state or ecclesiastical independence is seen as the work of an enemy, who is immediately demonized as a Satanist and schismatic, an enemy of the Church.” Not wanting to resolve mutual historical disagreements with the Ukrainian Greek Catholics directly, the Moscow Patriarchate has sought to solve its problem with the hands of the Vatican. Since the 1990s, almost all efforts of the ROC in the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue were focused on the solution of “the uniate question” — namely, the ecclesiological and cultural problems posed for the ROC by the existence of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Taking advantage of the Vatican’s desire to continue dialoguing with the Russian Church, the leadership of the
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‘RIVERS OF BLOOD’
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A man grieves over the body of a soldier with the Ukrainian Armed Forces during his funeral in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 8. The solider was killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow Patriarchate aimed to push the Vatican toward a return to the situation pre-1989, when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was officially banned in the USSR and existed after 1946 only in the underground and in the diaspora. After the annexation of Crimea, and on the eve of the visit of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to Moscow in 2017, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, who is effectively the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Moscow Patriarchate, once again reiterated that “the most painful problem in relations between our Churches is the Union, which has been causing serious harm to Orthodox-Catholic relations in general for centuries.” (Editor’s note from The Pillar: “the Union” refers to the Union of Brest, the 1596 decision which created the Ukrainian Catholic Church.) Hilarion’s view is not entirely foreign to some Vatican supporters of Ostpolitik, ready to dialogue with Moscow even at the expense of Ukrainian Eastern Catholics. And indeed, the 1980s emergence of the Ukrainian and Romanian Greek Catholic Churches from the underground did affect the ecumenical process. But that situation revealed the extent to which the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue depended on the situation in post-war Europe. Father Andrii Mykhaleiko, a Church historian at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany, told The Pillar that “the situation after 1989 confirmed that the dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches was so dependent on the geopolitical and ecumenical status quo of the 1970s and 1980s, and neither Orthodox nor Catholics could foresee the 1989 changes.” Since 1989, the political situation in Eastern Europe has changed dramatically, but the ecumenical dialogue, at least in this part of the world, has seemed to remain to many Ukrainians a hostage to Russia’s efforts to rebuild the empire under the guise of the “Russian World.” But the Russian aggression against Ukraine has raised the question of revising the Vatican’s Ostpolitik, as both a matter of foreign policy and ecumenical dialogue. And for many Ukrainians watching the Vatican’s approach to dialogue with Moscow, the last few weeks have made clear what Catholics in Eastern Europe argued for decades: that aiming to maintain relations between the Holy See and dictatorships at near any cost would
In a telephone call with Russia’s foreign minister, the Vatican secretary of state “conveyed Pope Francis’ deep concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine,” the Vatican said. The statement from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s office about the phone call March 8, said that Lavrov addressed Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s concerns about the war by outlining “the principled Russian position regarding the causes and goals of the special military operation being carried out in Ukraine.” Although Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly called its attack on Ukraine a “special military operation,” Pope Francis countered that assertion during his Sunday Angelus address. “Rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine. It is not merely a military operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction and misery,” the pope said March 6. Cardinal Parolin “reiterated his call for an end to armed attacks, for the securing of humanitarian corridors for civilians and rescuers, and for the replacement of the violence of weapons with negotiation,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office. “In this sense, finally, the secretary of state reaffirmed the Holy See’s willingness ‘to do everything, to put itself at the service of this peace,’” Bruni said. Despite Russian and Ukrainian representatives agreeing during negotiations to open corridors for civilians to flee and for the delivery of aid, Ukraine has accused Russia of consistently shelling the routes. According to the Reuters news agency, Russia offered Ukrainians passage through humanitarian corridors that would lead civilians to Russia or its ally Belarus, an offer that a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “completely immoral.” Russian authorities said Lavrov and Cardinal Parolin spoke about the issues dealing with humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. “Particular attention was paid to humanitarian issues in connection with the conflict, including measures to protect the civilian population, the organization and functioning of humanitarian corridors and assistance to refugees,” the statement said. — Junno Arocho Esteves, CNS only harm the Catholic Church and its mission in the world. If nothing else, the war seems certain to change the contours of the Vatican’s ecumenical dialogues, and fast. Dr. Oleh Turii, vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, recently told The Pillar that: “We see how people are uniting now around foundational principles and values of good for the future of humankind. This gives us hope that it will also cure the ecumenical dialogue soon.” “Sincere inter-Christian relations can’t be built on ultimatums, lies, or ideologies. They can develop only on the ground of the sincere desire of both sides to restore the unity of the Church.” The Pillar is a media project covering the Catholic Church with smart, faithful news and analysis at pillarcatholic.com. Babynskyi is The Pillar’s Ukraine correspondent, and a researcher at the Ukrainian Catholic University’s Institute for Church History.
NATION+WORLD
MARCH 10, 2022
HEADLINES u Prosecution drops case against Missionaries of Charity in western India. The much-publicized case of religious conversion against the Missionaries of Charity in India’s Gujarat state ended after the prosecution admitted there was no serious basis to proceed against them. Ucanews.com reported the prosecution gave a written statement March 3 to a court in Vadodara that it would not pursue the case any further, although the first information report written by police to set the investigation in motion had yet to be quashed. u Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber. The court’s March 4 ruling in a 6-3 vote said a federal appeals court in 2020 should not have thrown out the death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his role in the bombing that killed three people in 2013 at the Boston Marathon’s finish line. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston had said the initial trial judge in this case left out evidence that could have mitigated Tsarnaev’s sentence by showing how his brother was more of the mastermind in the attack. It also said the trial judge had not sufficiently questioned jurors about what they had seen on the news about the bombing. The Trump administration initiated an appeal to this decision that was continued by the current Justice Department. u Retired Argentine bishop sentenced in sex abuse case. Retired Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, formerly a close colleague of Pope Francis, was sentenced March 4 in a sexual abuse case. Bishop Zanchetta, retired bishop of Orán who had denied the allegations when the trial began Feb. 21, was given a 4 1/2-year sentence for abusing students at St. John XXIII Seminary. The case dates back to 2016, when seminarians accused the bishop of a series of crimes, from abuses to financial mismanagement. While the case was reviewed by the Church and Argentine authorities, it did not impede Bishop Zanchetta’s appointment in 2017 as an adviser to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See at the Vatican after he stepped down as bishop of Orán for “health reasons.” u Bishops: Senate rejection of ‘extreme’ abortion bill is ‘tremendous relief.’ Passing the Women’s Health Protection Act, also known as H.R. 3755, “would have led to the loss of millions of unborn lives and left countless women to suffer from the physical and emotional trauma of abortion,” said Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty. In a 46-48 vote Feb. 28, the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes needed for “cloture,” which limits debate and ends a filibuster in order to move to a vote on a bill. In addition to codifying Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, the bill would have eliminated pro-life laws at every level of government. u Vatican court rejects trial dismissal request; Cardinal Becciu to testify. A Vatican court rejected defense lawyers’ request to dismiss charges against 10 defendants, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, after prosecutors said the Vatican lost millions of euros in a controversial property deal that is at the heart of a massive Vatican trial for financial malfeasance. Reading a 40-page court order March 1, Giuseppe Pignatone, president of the Vatican City State criminal court, rejected the motions defense lawyers had made over the previous seven months calling for the charges against their clients to be dismissed, and complaining about procedures used in investigating and charging their clients. Pignatone also announced that Cardinal Becciu will be the first defendant to take the stand March 17 when the trial resumes. CathSpFL-C-2022.qxp_Layout 1 1/25/22 12:31 PM Pa — Catholic News Service
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
Young Catholics say they need leaders to listen By Christina Lee Knauss Catholic News Service Catholic young people in the U.S. are leaving behind traditional models of learning about and living out their faith, and clergy, youth ministers and others will have to make some drastic changes to their ministry style if they want to keep them engaged. That’s the bottom line of “The State of Religion & Young People 2021 — Catholic Edition,” a report released Feb. 23 by Springtide Research Institute, a Winona-based nonprofit sociological research institute dedicated to exploring the spiritual lives of young people. Its current research focuses on the demographic ages 13-25, also known as Generation Z. The report highlights the results of surveys and interviews done with 1,630 young Catholics nationwide and reflects Catholic responses out of a pool of more than 10,000 from a wide variety of faiths whose responses were compiled for Springtide’s annual report on the state of religion and young people. The data show that while religion is important to many young Catholics, they’re not seeking it out in the same way or following the same practices their parents did. And unlike many of their older family members, most of them don’t look to the Church as a source of help in difficult times. According to the report, 87% of young Catholics considered themselves to be religious; 85% of the respondents said they were at least slightly spiritual; and 55% indicated that they attend Mass or another religious service at least once a month. However, only 26% said they use faith as a guide when they are confused about things. And of the young people who identified as “very religious,” only 40% said they reached out to their faith community for help during uncertain times such as the pandemic. Instead, the data showed they were more likely to reach out to friends and family in challenging times. The report also shows that Catholic faith leaders may have missed some important chances to connect with young people during the stress-filled days of the COVID-19 pandemic at its height. Josh Packard, executive director of Springtide Institute, said the report’s findings indicate many reasons why young Catholics don’t turn to the Church in difficult times: 54% said they don’t believe some of the
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People pray during a Mass for young adults Dec. 9, 2015, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. things they hear talked about at religious gatherings; 51% said they didn’t feel like they could be themselves in a religious community; 50% said they weren’t sure how to get connected to a religious community in the first place. Packard said a lack of trust also is a big factor — almost 42% of respondents said they don’t turn to the Church for help because they don’t trust the “people, beliefs and systems of organized religion.” A big part of the disconnect is that many young Catholics want clergy and older adults to listen to them and their concerns, rather than constantly offer doctrine or advice, Packard said. Springtide’s report also indicates that many young Catholics aren’t relying on weekly Mass attendance or other established Church traditions as the only way of acting out their faith. Many are becoming part of a larger spiritual trend that Springtide calls “faith unbundled” — referring to a growing tendency among young people to construct a religious faith that combines practices from a variety of traditions rather than one set system. The report also indicates that old ways of catechesis aren’t working with Generation Z. More than 50% of young Catholics said they don’t like to be “told answers” about faith and religion, but discover the answers on their own. “We need to present the Catholic life as an invitation to conversion, a passionate engagement with the world and with God that can be a life-changing experience,” said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, which is Catholic. “Young people are seeking meaning, not a slate of things to do or avoid.”
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MARCH 10, 2022
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Cross Catholic Outreach’s ‘Wells of Salvation’ Project Ensures Poor Have Safe Water It’s a scientific fact — no one can survive without water. Fortunately, as Americans, we have sophisticated water systems that ensure we can easily obtain safe water in our homes, in our schools and in our hospitals. For most of us, a satisfying drink is as close as the nearest water fountain or tap in our house. But how is water obtained by the rest of the world — particularly poor families in developing countries? “It is a very different situation for them,” said Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach. “For them, just finding water is a challenge, and even when it is located, it is often unsafe.” Cavnar and the ministry team are very familiar with these problems. He and his team specialize in international development missions, and they have been helping solve water scarcity problems around the globe for years. They do this through a network of Catholic dioceses and parishes. This approach is more cost-effective and ensures that help reaches the poorest of the poor. With funding from Cross Catholic Outreach, local leaders manage the construction of the wells and the installation of other water systems. This partnership has already blessed many families and communities, but Cavnar believes much more could be done to provide help, particularly in Africa. “It is shocking to see how much water scarcity impacts families in developing countries like Ghana, Malawi and Zambia. The challenges begin with finding water and the dangers involved in collecting it, but there are many other hardships too. For example, because poor families must often rely on rivers and other sources contaminated with animal waste and parasites, there is a good chance that even when a family can find water, they will become ill when they drink it.” (See related story on the opposite page.) Fortunately, solving these water
problems does not require scarce technology or complex processes. The solution typically begins with the installation of a standard well and a simple system to deliver the water to a community distribution point. The hardware works on simple mechanics and is easy to maintain once local families are trained to care for it. “If we have the will to help, there is a way to achieve our goals,” Cavnar said. “The only real hurdle is getting funding to cover the drilling process, the equipment and the labor involved. That is why we recently launched our Wells of Salvation campaign. We are trying to inspire U.S. Catholics to donate to several of our diocese-based water projects in Africa.” The Wells of Salvation water project that Cross Catholic Outreach has planned will certainly have a major, transformative impact on poor communities in Africa if Cavnar can secure its funding. It will install 65 new well systems in three different Catholic dioceses, delivering safe water to thousands of families. In at least one of these dioceses, the project will also provide improved sanitation with the construction of eight free-standing community sanitation blocks. “Five of those sanitation blocks will be built at school sites so we can also address the needs of students,” Cavnar said. “We Americans are used to our schools being equipped with restrooms, but facilities like those are actually rare in many remote parts of Africa. There, children often resort to open defecation or using unsanitary latrines that can transmit diseases. We want to end that kind of suffering.” These are goals Cavnar believes other Catholics will want to support, and he is confident the ministry’s Wells of Salvation campaign will be one of its most successful missions of mercy. “Everyone understands how essential
water is to life. We have been blessed with an abundant supply of it, and we should want to see others have safe sources of water,” he said. “This is our chance to give something back in recognition of the blessings God has given to us.” Readers interested in supporting Cross Catholic Outreach water programs and other outreaches to the poor can contribute through the ministry
brochure inserted in this issue, or send tax-deductible gifts to: Cross Catholic Outreach, Dept. AC01922, PO Box 97168, Washington, DC 20090-7168. The ministry has a special need for partners willing to make gifts on a monthly basis. Use the inserted brochure to become a Mission Partner or write “Monthly Mission Partner” on mailed checks to be contacted about setting up those arrangements.
Cross Catholic Outreach Endorsed by More Than 100 Bishops, Archbishops Cross Catholic Outreach’s range of relief work to help the poor overseas continues to be recognized by a growing number of Catholic leaders in the U.S. and abroad. “We’ve received more than 100 endorsements from bishops and archbishops,” explained Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach. “They’re moved by the fact that we’ve launched outreaches in almost 40 countries and have undertaken a variety of projects — everything from feeding the hungry and housing the homeless to supplying
safe water and supporting educational opportunities for the poorest of the poor. The bishops have also been impressed by Cross Catholic Outreach’s direct and meaningful response to emergency situations, most recently by providing food, medicines and other resources to partners in Haiti, El Salvador and areas of Belize impacted by natural disasters.” Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile, Alabama, supports this mission, writing, “It is a privilege for me to support Cross Catholic Outreach. This organization funds ministries to our neighbors in need in
Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the Pacific. Through the generosity of so many, the love of God is made visible to many who are coping with the most difficult of daily living conditions.” In addition to praising Cross Catholic Outreach’s accomplishments, many of the bishops and archbishops are encouraged by the fact that Pontifical canonical status was conferred on the charity in September 2015, granting it approval as an official Catholic organization. This allows Cross Catholic Outreach to participate in the mission of the Church and to give a
concrete witness to Gospel charity, in collaboration with the Holy Father. “Your work with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is a strong endorsement of your partnership with the work of the Universal Church,” Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco said. “By providing hope to the faithful overseas by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, delivering medical relief to the sick and shelter to the homeless, and through self-help projects, you are embodying the Papal Encyclical Deus Caritas Est.”
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11
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American Catholics Have Opportunity to Bless African Families Facing Life-Threatening Water Scarcity Agnes Mwanja is a hardworking mother of five in northern Malawi. As a subsistence farmer and homemaker, she carries out many responsibilities each day — including helping her husband with the crops, seeing the children off to school, cooking meals and cleaning the family home — but before she can tend to any of these tasks, she must begin by collecting water from the Wibogholo River. The idea of drawing water from anything but a household tap may seem strange to most Americans’ ears, but it is an all-toocommon task for the poor of Malawi. Their simple homes typically lack electricity, sanitation and running water, so to survive, they resort to this challenging chore to meet their daily needs. “There is nothing idyllic or romantic about it either,” explained Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach, a major Catholic ministry serving the poor in Africa. “Water collection usually means a long, hard trek through difficult terrain. The sources they must rely on are terrible, and the women face a backbreaking return home with those heavy containers of muddy water.” To Cavnar’s point, Agnes Mwanja’s closest source is the Wibogholo River, a small, polluted body of water that Agnes must often visit six times in a single day to meet her family’s needs. Often, her daughters accompany her to help carry the water. “When it rains, we draw muddy water. We are drinking together with animals, and you can even see the animal droppings all around,” Agnes lamented. Still, this poor woman counts her blessings when she can find water at all. During seasons of drought, for example, this river dries up, and Agnes must walk even farther to collect water from the Upiwo River (a tributary of the Songwe River). A single trip to that distant body of water takes at least four hours, and Agnes will need to go there at least twice in a day. “During the dry season, water collection can consume Agnes’ entire day, leaving little time for her to take on any other important tasks,” Cavnar said. “When we think about water scarcity problems overseas, I don’t think many of us consider all of the repercussions poor families face. This loss of valuable time is an example, and it isn’t even the greatest of the hardships involved.” Some of these challenges are seen. Others are unseen. “When Agnes and her daughters make their way to the river, they may encounter wild animals, including snakes and leopards, so they must tread carefully and try to move quickly,” Cavnar explained. “Imagine the stress of that — taking these daily trips in fear; never knowing whether the next turn you make might mean facing a hostile person or animal.”
Agnes (front) collects water from the Wibogholo River — really little more than a murky stream. During the dry season, this source will dry up, and she and her neighbors will be forced to take an even longer and more dangerous trek to find water. Then there is the unseen threat, which Cavnar believes is an even greater danger. Because the water they collect is often contaminated and contains parasites, a family is never certain if what they are drinking to survive might actually make them terribly sick. Children are particularly susceptible to such illnesses and some die as a result. “At Cross Catholic Outreach, we make solving water scarcity challenges a priority for all of these reasons,” Cavnar said. He described a current effort his charity has undertaken to supply safe water to three African locations — the Diocese of Wa in Ghana, the Diocese of Karonga in Malawi and the Diocese of Chipata in Zambia. If its fundraising efforts in the U.S. are successful, Cross Catholic Outreach will be able to install 65 safe water wells to serve families in more than 50 communities. (See story on opposite page.) “I know Agnes dreams of the day when she, her husband and her children will have enough clean water to quench their thirst, cook, wash and take care of their
other sanitary needs. I know she longs for the day her community no longer suffers from waterborne diseases or faces the risk of wild animal attacks,” Cavnar said. “If American Catholics will stand with me and join our effort to provide water solutions in Africa, I believe we will end those challenges and dangers for Agnes, her family and thousands of others like them. The technology is there to solve the problem. We just need to join together and help the Catholic leaders in Wa, Karonga
and Chipata fund this important work.” Cavnar’s expectations are that American Catholics will want to help and will give generously to supply safe water to these struggling areas of Africa. “We Catholics are very sensitive to the needs of families, and we value life dearly,” he said. “We have a global perspective of our Church — and its mission too. When we see an extreme need like this, we do everything we can to end suffering, support families and save lives.”
How to Help To fund Cross Catholic Outreach’s effort to help the poor worldwide, use the postage-paid brochure inserted in this newspaper or mail your gift to Cross Catholic Outreach, Dept. AC01922, PO Box 97168, Washington, DC 20090-7168. The brochure also includes instructions on becoming a Mission Partner and making a regular monthly donation to this cause. If you identify an aid project, 100% of the donation will be restricted to be used for that specific project. However, if more is raised for the project than needed, funds will be redirected to other urgent needs in the ministry.
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Monasticism sees a renewal as people seek meaning in a rus By Soli Salgado Catholic News Service
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hen Judith Valente, a Benedictine oblate, leads contemplative retreats both online and in monasteries around the country, she has been noticing that laypeople — whether Catholic or spiritual-but-not-religious, married or unmarried, male or female — outnumber the monks and sisters about three to one. “And why is this?” said Valente, an author and co-chair of the movement Being Benedictine in the 21st Century. “There’s a hunger out there for genuine communion. Not just communication, but genuine communion, and one of the biggest monastic values is hospitality. Here, they suddenly feel valued, like they belong here.” Drawing parallels between today and the time of St. Benedict of Nursia, Valente doesn’t think the renewed interest in monasticism is a fluke either. The father of Western monasticism, Benedict wrote the Rule, a document that would ultimately serve as the foundation of his monastic tradition, in the sixth century, National during the collapse of the Catholic Sisters Roman Empire, Barbarian invasions, loss of Week is institutional credibility, and March 8-14 political leaders prioritizing personal interests over the common good. “He lived in a time that sounds a lot like our nightly news,” said Valente, who is an oblate with the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas. She made the comments in an interview with Global Sisters Report. Monastic traditions — including stability, silence, community, hospitality, love of learning and continual growth, to name a few — are speaking to this moment, and people ranging from the nonreligious to apostolic Catholic sisters are listening. In recent years especially, Catholic sisters in apostolic communities — which tend to lead a more mobile and ministerial lifestyle with less structure than their monastic counterparts — have been reengaging with the communal contemplative dimension of religious life. The Second Vatican Council lit a fuse for religious congregations in the early 1960s. Suddenly, sisters were encouraged to return to their founding visions through their action-oriented ministries, modeling the life of Jesus with their community’s charisms at the center of their calls to action. But as needs shift, so do the ways that religious communities respond, and today, many feel called to focus on society’s growing spiritual hunger and to reclaim the value of collective contemplation. “There’s a great interest in bringing back together the two sides of a coin — contemplation and action in new ways — especially through apostolic religious,” said Sister Nancy Sylvester, whose Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation in Monroe, Michigan, is apostolic. Indeed, many apostolic congregations today refer to their charisms as “contemplation in action.” “It’s an evolutionary process,” she said, noting that the roughly 60 years of the pendulum swing toward activism is “not a lot in evolutionary time,” but enough to consider a “new integration” for a future that is still emerging. Asking why there is a renewed interest in monasticism lends itself to an idle exercise in speculation: To say that monasticism is experiencing a “comeback” is to misunderstand the tradition, explained Benedictine Sister Linda Romey, a member of the Benedictines of Erie, Pennsylvania. Monasticism, rather, is experienced as an “evolution, a moving forward,” with no going back, she said.
Benedictines’ Ozark hermitage offers 300 acres f By Aprille Hanson Spivey Catholic News Service
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s society gets more anxious, divisive and turbulent with each passing day, Hesychia House of Prayer in New Blaine, Arkansas, has been a beacon of stability and peace. There is something awe-inspiring in pulling into the 40-year-old hermitage amid the backdrop of the distant Ozark Mountains, the cattle grazing and 300 rolling acres the Benedictine sisters credit to God. “Deep down, the fact that this property, this space has been dedicated explicitly, explicitly, for God since 1879, it’s permeated with prayer over a century,” said Benedictine Sister Louise Sharum, Hesychia’s founding director, about the property owned by the Benedictines. Hesychia is a ministry of the Benedictines’ St. Scholastica Monastery an hour west in Fort Smith, but last July the religious order began a partnership with the Religious Sisters of Mercy to lead the house of prayer. Two members of that order, Sisters Lisa Atkins and Anita DeSalvo, were chosen to be Hesychia’s director and assistant director, respectively. In 1981, with the blessing of Bishop Andrew McDonald, then bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas, Sister Louise and two other sisters began the Hesychia House of Prayer. “Hesychia” is Greek for “resting in God.” It is open to anyone who desires to connect with God without distractions. This can mean staying for a night or weekend, or even months or years. Sister Louise, 90, told the Arkansas Catholic, Little Rock’s diocesan newspaper, that she knew right away Sisters Lisa and Anita were a “fit.” “Our charisms basically are very much compatible,” she said. For Sister Louise, the house of prayer started with a feeling. It came after she stayed at a hermitage in Canada to experience the concept of “poustina,” staying in a sparsely furnished space to fast and pray for 24 hours. She was looking to better understand her dissertation for her doctorate.
“If monasticism is a doorway to a more contemplative life, that means it is a doorway to the future, to a deeper knowledge of what it is to be a human creature made in the image of God,” she told GSR. The Rev. Adam Bucko is co-founder of the Center for Spiritual Imagination, a monastic community that weaves Benedictine, Franciscan, Cistercian and Carmelite traditions with other spiritual influences. He believes that how someone feels about churches isn’t a predictor for how they feel about God, spirituality, or the mystical quest for meaning and purpose. Statistics bear that out. A third of young people are religiously unaffiliated — three times the rate of their grandparents’ generation. But tucked away in that statistic is a crucial though less-touted detail: Among those who are nonreligious, about two-thirds say they still believe in God to varying degrees. Movements like Nuns and Nones, a grassroots community uniting Catholic sisters and young spiritual seekers, have provided space for spiritually ambiguous conversations among those interested in exploring the contemplative as well as the communal. Perhaps it’s natural that monasteries have since become a home for some of its members. For the past two years, Katie Gordon, Nuns and Nones co-founder, has lived with the Erie Benedictines. What began as a summer internship morphed into the decision to live indefinitely in the monastery’s Pax Priory community. Seeing firsthand how the Benedictines live their
After that visit, “I knew deep down my call was not to be a college professor,” Sister Louise said. “I had no idea what it meant, but I knew something deep inside it was different than I thought.” Little by little, she said she felt called to open a hermitage. “Spiritual companioning,” or spiritual direction, is available with the sisters. Some guests choose to interact with the three sisters, while others prefer a visit of solitude. Sister Louise said it’s about letting people be who they are before God, letting God reveal his love. “We can read that; we can hear everybody tell us that from the time we were knee-high to a grasshopper. But until God tells us that in God’s own way, we don’t really know it,” Sister Louise said. “But once you know it, and it’s gradual, you know it’s not the St. Paul experience, but you know deep down. “In a way, that to me is the main thing that happens when people come here — it’s restful. But the real thing that’s going on underneath is they’re receiving God’s love.” The four hermitages are named: St. Mark; Sacro Speco, a long-term hermitage; Mother Meinrada, named for the first prioress of St. Scholastica; and St. Hildegard. Each includes a full kitchen, microwave, utensils and coffee maker, heating and air conditioning, full bathroom and a twin bed. Wi-Fi hotspots are available. Visitors are responsible for their food and meal preparation. Daily Mass is offered at St. Scholastica church, a short walk or drive from Hesychia. There are three hiking trails. A donation of $50 is suggested each night for the first week of stay and $35 a night after. For a one-day visit, a $20 donation is requested. Sister Lisa said they would not turn away any short-term guests who could not afford the fee. Since about 2004, Sisters Lisa and Anita have visited the hermitage for their annual retreat. However, in recent years, the sisters visited every weekend, allowing Sister Anita to care for her mother, who died in July 2020. A two-month stay following her mother’s death to give her the space life in searching for God in a “generative, open way” made Gordon want to stick around and learn more about their 1,500-year-old lifestyle, the community model for “living otherwise.” Gordon, 30, grew up Catholic but spent most of her 20s on a spiritual expedition, focusing less on pinning down the specifics of her beliefs and more on drawing inspiration, meaning and mystical nourishment from a variety of religious traditions. “This is a huge moment of upheaval that we will be moving through, and this alternative way of being provides a community model to move through that,” she said regarding this time in history. Though the word monasticism often conjures images of extreme religiosity — likely of reclusive individuals immersed in Scripture — the concept is more expansive. “Monasticism is a lifestyle word, not a religion word,” said Benedictine Sister Judith Sutera from Atchison, Kansas. “It’s an attempt to see unity in all of creation.” Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, a theologian and author, recalled the frustrations she felt as a child when the big questions around God would arise, and the unsatisfying answers that would follow to simply have faith, despite finding it all unbelievable. “We do not, by and large as a culture, have a God big enough to believe in,” she said. “We have diminished God. We’ve made God a puppeteer, a magician, a vending machine, a warrior, a judge, all slivers of ourselves. “But, of course, anybody with an understanding (looks) up in the sky at night, saying to themselves,
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to grieve helped “It provided m Louise have bee solitude, ground that I had never Anita said. “And my own discern The Hesychia months after th The sisters recei fundraising help the property an The hermitag
what is out the Where is it goin have left our liv questions. And cosmic God.” Monasticism her most recen single-hearted s every life — ap exploration of own lives,” she For many mo Idelle Badt, sile offerings, allow when she retur Bismarck, Nort “I don’t have noise,” she said experienced sh realized how ne magical when y other people; y relaxes, and yo you.” Escaping con particularly app Sister Megan M Grand Rapids, who served as c novitiate from an immersion e contemplative Columbia, in 2
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Silent or not, St. Thomas retreats help college students journey with God By Susan Klemond The Catholic Spirit
for spiritual reflection
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niversity of St. Thomas junior Ricky Pipala’s smartphone is a source of both comfort and stress — so putting it and other distractions aside during his recent silent retreat with fellow students made it easier to listen for Christ’s
… I was at a place where I could meet Jesus within myself, in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Sister Lisa Atkins
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Arkansas Ozarks, home to the Hesychia House of Prayer in New Blaine.
d her realize the power of Hesychia. me exactly what Sister Lisa and Sister en talking about — time, space, ds to walk and be in nature in a way r been, which was healing,” Sister d actually ended up leading me to nment about being here.” a House of Prayer was closed for four he pandemic spread in March 2020. ived grants for improvements, and ped pay for a new tractor to keep up nd 52 head of cattle. ges are open to those of any faith or
ere? Where did this all come from? ng? And what about the people who ves? Where are they? Those are cosmic d I believe that, for me, my God is a
m — which Sister Chittister defines in nt book, “The Monastic Heart,” as “the search for what matters” in any and ppeals to those questions and the a God who “is not a drawing of our e said. onastic sisters, like Benedictine Sister ence is one of the tradition’s greatest wing her to “unplug from the world” rns to her Annunciation Monastery in th Dakota. e the constant bombardment of white d, adding that it wasn’t until she hared silence in community that she ecessary silence is. “There is something you sit in complete silence with 40 your thoughts change, your body ou feel closer to God and those around
nstant chatter and cross-talk is pealing to the younger members of McElroy’s Dominican congregation in Michigan, she believes. Sister McElroy, co-director of her community’s 2010-2018, also spent three weeks in experience with the Dominican community in Squamish, British 2016, working on her thesis project
lifestyle. “We don’t judge, we welcome all,” Sister Lisa said. Each person wishing to make a reservation at a hermitage must be vaccinated and submit a vaccination card as proof. Sister Lisa said she hopes visitors to Hesychia can experience Jesus in a new way. “I’ve known about Jesus, I’ve heard about Jesus, I look for Jesus, I found Jesus, but Jesus found me in a different way” at Hesychia, she said. “And I was at a place where I could meet Jesus within myself, in a way that I’ve never experienced before.” regarding the preaching missions of Dominican nuns who live a contemplative, monastic life. In a sense, younger sisters are looking to reclaim some of the traditions that older sisters “spent a lifetime letting go,” she said. Now, among the community’s older members, Sister McElroy added, there’s a “recognition that there was some value in those practices, so how do we bring them back? The newer members are bringing an awareness to communities, that this is a gift for us to be able to live in common, to have times of quiet. That refreshes us, and gives us the energy to go about our ministry in a fuller way.” Chief among the misconceptions around monastic life (in addition to the image of all monastics being cloistered) is the perception of tedium, “marching to meals and subjugating our individualism,” Sister Sutera said. “It couldn’t be farther from the truth. ... Predictability doesn’t mean it has to be monotonous,” she said, adding that the lifestyle instead is about offering stability in an unstable world. Sister Sutera suggested that people “rethink” their perception of monasticism, and how it can apply to their lifestyle. “Service and contemplation should not be mutually exclusive,” she said. “That’s what we have to recognize: that the world is starving for prayer and communion, and there are different ways to live that out. Ours is just a structure that has worked for 1,500 years.”
voice. “To have the time where I don’t have to be getting from place to place or doing whatever and I can just sit there and say, ‘Alright Lord, I’m here,’” said Pipala, 21, of the Feb. 18-20 retreat at Christ the King Retreat Center, also known as King’s House, in Buffalo. “When I offer that prayer to him, he meets me there.” Arriving Friday night for the retreat, which was organized by the university’s Campus Ministry’s Office for Spirituality, Pipala and 24 other undergraduate and graduate students heard talks on Ignatian spirituality by retreat director and University of St. Thomas law fellow Susan Stabile. They had time for prayer, adoration, spiritual direction, Mass and reconciliation before the retreat ended at noon that Sunday. The annual retreat is one of several day and overnight retreats offered by UST’s Campus Ministry. They are designed to help students invite God into the journey of college, said Marta RICKY PIPALA Pereira, the Office for Spirituality’s director, who oversees and plans the retreats with a team of seminarians and other students. Retreat objectives range from helping new students form community to ecumenical faith building to post-college discernment, said Pereira, a member of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul. Before COVID-19 hit Minnesota in March 2020, up to 45 students registered for the annual silent retreat. To help prevent the spread of the disease, the retreats were scaled back and ABBY BURNS modified, Pereira said. As restrictions ease, there is hope that retreats will soon return to pre-pandemic formats, she said. The silent retreat and several others are Catholic-oriented, but all students are invited, she said. They pay a small fee, but financial need isn’t a barrier, Pereira said. The ministry also offers faculty and staff retreats. Silent retreats offer a deeper spiritual experience that some students haven’t had, said Father Lawrence Blake, Campus Ministry chaplain and director. “We all live in a very highly charged digital environment, and the importance of taking time to be quiet can’t be underestimated,” he said. “There’s a value in that for all of us, having an opportunity simply to reflect on the word of God and to pray without all the distractions.” Students aren’t prohibited from using cellphones on the silent retreat, but silence is essential to listening to the Holy Spirit, Pereira said. “What we try to offer is an opportunity for students to stop and take away those other voices and really reflect on … their identity as children of God, and then listen to what God might be calling them to, in their professional life, and immediately what the Lord is asking them,” she said. Abby Burns, 21, said she appreciated getting away from her studies to listen to the Lord. “It was good to just academically get off the screen to tune in to what is real around us and what is more real … the Lord himself,” said the senior, who also serves on the retreat planning team. The silence led retreatants to find creative ways to communicate, but Burns said it ultimately gave her a desire to focus more on her relationship with Christ. “To just continue to try to be an attentive friend to Jesus,” Burns said, “and have an outward facing heart, (and be) more attentive to how his heart is moving, instead of trying to analyze and grasp at things in my own heart.”
GROWTH AND DISCERNMENT Each academic year, the University of St. Thomas’ Campus Ministry in St. Paul offers a range of retreats for the spiritual renewal, growth and discernment of Catholic and non-Catholic students at all levels of study. To comply with COVID-19 guidelines last year, the office offered fall retreats as one-day, on-campus events, rather than multi-day gatherings at off-campus retreat centers. Depending on the status of the pandemic, that overnight format, noted below for specific retreats, might return this fall, said Marta Pereira, director of Campus Ministry’s Office for Spirituality, which oversees and plans the retreats. UST ANNUAL RETREATS First Year: For new students (overnight), September Kairos: Ecumenical faith-building (overnight), November Silent: Open to undergraduate and graduate students (overnight), February Latino Student: Building stronger relationships with Christ (day retreat), March Let Go, Let Grow: Ecumenical, during Lent (day retreat), March Crossroads: Discerning God’s calling (overnight), April Senior Night: Evening of reflection on nourishing faith after graduation (evening retreat), May OTHER RETREATS The Office for Spirituality plans to offer more day retreats similar to its October 2021 retreat on the spirituality of Pope St. John Paul II, Pereira said.
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
FAITH+CULTURE
On the road again
NET Ministries’ retreat missionaries log miles to bring kids to Christ By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit
B
en Johnston has earned a lot of “frequent passenger miles” at the tender age of 20. Johnston, who hails from Michigan, is serving his second year as a missionary for National Evangelization Teams (NET) Ministries, based in West St. Paul. Since mid-September, Johnston’s 11-member retreat team has conducted 88 retreats at parishes and schools in eight states, including Michigan and Nebraska. His team’s 15-passenger van will be on a roll through May in states in the South and up the East Coast to Virginia, as they conduct about six retreats a week the rest of this school year. Founded in 1981 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, NET Ministries trains Catholics ages 18-28 to serve as missionaries sharing Christ with youth in grades six to 12. Nine NET teams will conduct about 1,200 retreats this year. In addition, five discipleship teams are assigned to specific parishes or schools to form more long-term relationships and help build up youth ministry, Johnston said. These young adults navigate long hours on the road away from their families in order to share the word of God with youth across multiple states. Johnston experienced NET discipleship efforts for three years at Lake Michigan Catholic High School in St. Joseph, Michigan. They inspired Johnston to join NET after graduating from high school in 2020. After training for the ministry that August, he hit the road in the fall with a retreat team. “I wanted to serve others in such a way that they knew it was Christ working in me, and that they would be transformed and know that God is worth loving,” Johnston said. NET Ministries is an uplifting, but not always easy, ride, Johnston said. Travel can be 15 minutes to the next site, or up to six hours, six days a week in the van, leavened by team members building friendships, praying together with Scripture, listening to spiritual podcasts or having time to “jam out to some bops (music) and take amazing naps,” he said. Johnston and other NET team members stay the night before a retreat with one or more host families from the parish or school they will be serving. It is a great gift of “warm, welcoming, good people,” with team members typically joining the family for dinner and conversation, he said. It’s also where he can do laundry, sleep and relax. If a family has young children, there’s often time to play, he said. If the dad is a football fan, Johnston might watch a game with him. If there’s an edgy teen at home, there might be an invitation from Johnston: “Let’s play ‘Halo,’” the video game. Team members generally try to keep the spotlight on the family, he said, and show Christ’s love by example. “We’re not there just to eat and sleep,” he said. “We try to invest in (the family) when we’re there.” That means “being a genuinely good person to these people,” asking to help, being grateful, being a good houseguest and showing interest in their lives, Johnston said. “It’s just giving,” he said, but not in a “hey-do-youknow-Jesus” kind of way. On retreat mornings, Johnston wakes up about 6 a.m., takes a shower, prays for a half-hour alone and packs his bags — as, he said, “we live out of a suitcase,” along with one backpack and a duffel bag. One-on-one time each day with the Lord is very important, he said. “It’s so essential for everything,” Johnston said. “If I didn’t pray every day, I would just keel over. We need the Lord to sustain us tangibly, and that is how we are able to receive.” Johnston typically prays the Liturgy of the Hours, reads Scripture and then focuses on “just some mental prayer and reflection.” The host home typically “puts out a big old breakfast,” he said with a laugh. “Like, ‘Here’s all the
Michigan native Ben Johnston, front row, second from left, is completing his second year with a NET Ministries retreat team that had completed 88 retreats from mid-September to Feb. 27. He was inspired by NET missionaries who visited his high school his sophomore, junior and senior years.
PHOTOS COURTESY NET MINISTRIES
ABOVE LEFT Parishes and schools across the U.S. invite NET missionaries to conduct retreats on site for students in grades six to 12. ABOVE RIGHT Four NET missionaries stand by the 15-passenger van that transports them, their belongings and retreat supplies to venues and to homes of host families where they stay overnight. food in my pantry.’ That’s awesome.” Then he helps pack the trailer with retreat materials for skits, Bibles for prayer time, soccer balls and card games for icebreakers, “slapping it all in there,” Johnston said. Arriving at the retreat site an hour before its start, the young people pray as a team. Each has a retreat role. The “set-up person,” team and retreat leaders tour the facility, the group unpacks the trailer, and they discuss the day’s schedule and prepare for the students. Johnston’s team conducts retreats six days a week. Sometimes the seventh day is for travel, but most often its focus is “just spending time together as a team,” he said, “seeing some sites, getting outside, just kind of existing as a normal human being for a little bit.” Missing family celebrations can be tough, he said. And the young men on his team were high school athletes who miss regular exercise. “We have no time on the road to do substantial workouts or runs,” he said. Free time is minimal, which means skipping small pleasures like reading books and scrolling on cellphones. But one day each month is what he called “a holy day of no obligation”— a true day off. “We have nothing on the schedule,” he said. Typically, Johnston sleeps in, explores the town, goes shopping, calls his family. The ultimate goal of a NET retreat is “wanting (students) to encounter Jesus,” said David Rinaldi, NET Ministries’ director of mission. With many retreatants enrolled in confirmation classes or religious education, Rinaldi said, many young people are learning things about God, but not getting to know him. “We exist as a ministry because we want the young person to encounter Jesus, not just learn about him, not (just) to play games and have fun on a retreat, but the
NET RETREAT IN A NUTSHELL TIME: About 4-6 hours at a school or parish GRADES: Six through 12 ICEBREAKERS: Frisbees, hacky sacks, cards SONGS: As a form of prayer LARGE GROUP TALK: Led by missionary on chosen theme TWO SMALL GROUPS: One introductory, one based on talk PRAYER TIME: Prayer intentions, commitments to Christ LEARN MORE: netusa.org whole goal of the retreat is that they come to know the love of God for themselves,” he said. Those experiences happen a lot, he said. Missionaries regularly submit feedback from retreat attendees — what NET staff call “glory stories,” such as one that read, “I came to this retreat thinking it was going to be dumb, but I now know that God loves me.” Another retreatant wrote that he expected it to be boring, but instead it was fun. The ultimate goal isn’t the fun that can be had, Rinaldi said. It’s prayer time. “But to get there, we use a variety of large and small group activities,” he said, including games and, with younger retreatants, “silly skits.” In addition to missionaries traveling to sites, full weekend retreats for young people preparing for confirmation are offered this year at NET Ministries’ headquarters for parishes and schools across the archdiocese. Typically, about 90 students from about five parishes stay at the headquarters Saturday to Sunday, Rinaldi said.
MARCH 10, 2022
FAITH+CULTURE
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
Stations remind faithful of Christ’s perfect example, depth of his love By Katie Peterson Catholic News Service
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rom partaking in the sacrament of reconciliation to fasting to choosing what to give up, Lent is full of traditions that Catholics around the world take part in as they prepare to celebrate Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. But there’s another sacred tradition that dates back to the early days of the Crusades, one that allows them to “walk” the Via Dolorosa with Christ: the Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are a mini-pilgrimage, taking believers through the steps taken by Jesus on Good Friday, from his condemnation to his burial. The stations are a “way of prayerfully uniting oneself to the sacrifice of the Lord and his love for us,” said Father Eric Fowlkes, pastor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s also an invitation for us to place ourselves within that journey.” The Stations of the Cross date back to the Middle Ages during the religious wars between Christians and Muslims, known as the Crusades. “The Crusades awakened an interest in Europe in the places associated with Christ in the Holy Land. For the first time, Europeans were traveling there regularly and wanted to see the holy places where the biblical events took place,” said Father Bede Price, pastor of Church of the Assumption in Nashville. “One of those was, of course, the Via Dolorosa, which is the path that Christ took to Calvary, and there were certain spots along that path where things were said to have happened,” he told the Tennessee Register, the newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville. “The most famous one probably is Veronica” wiping the face of Christ, he continued. “That’s not in the Bible. It’s a legend, a story about a woman who had compassion (for) Christ and wiped his face with a veil. “The word ‘Veronica’ simply means ‘a true icon’ and even that is tied to the Crusades because the legend of Veronica becomes part of the story of the Shroud of Turin. ... These things are all part of the traditions that have been handed down” throughout the history of the Church. But trips to the Holy Land weren’t easy ones to take for everyone in Europe, so “people started erecting these stations in churches in Europe so they can virtually go on a pilgrimage to the Via Dolorosa,” Father Price said. “That’s where the devotion began.” The devotion was further popularized by St. Francis of Assisi, Father Price said. And his version is just one of many that can be used for meditation today. Since its origins, several versions of the Stations of the Cross have been developed, and while in communal celebrations each church designates which version is used, believers have options for which version to use when praying them alone. One of the most famous and widely known versions is the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Another version follows the Way of the Cross through the eyes of Mother Mary. Still other versions include those of St. John Henry Newman, the Way of the Cross for Children and the Stations of the Cross with St. John Paul II.
It’s a matter of preference, and there are a variety of wonderful resources with different options for the Stations of the Cross. It’s about discovering the one that speaks to your heart. Father Eric Fowlkes
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
This depiction of the Seventh Station — Jesus Falls for the Second Time — is found at St. John Vianney in South St. Paul. “It’s a matter of preference, and there are a variety of wonderful resources with different options for the Stations of the Cross,” Father Fowlkes said. “It’s about discovering the one that speaks to your heart.” Each, at their core, has the potential for deep reflection and lessons. From new forms of meditation to inspiration for everyday life to connecting personally with a particular station, the priests agreed there are many lessons to be learned from the stations. They are similar “to the rosary insofar as you are saying the prayers, but you’re also supposed to be meditating on the mysteries. In the same way, we also meditate on the mysteries of the Stations of the Cross, and each one of them has a lesson for us,” Father Price said. “St. Veronica, for instance, would be a lesson for us to meditate on compassion, to suffer with, which is what the word ‘compassion’ means,” he said. “Do we suffer with Christ when we encounter our own difficult things?” Veronica also provides insight into how we interact with others, said Father John O’Neill, who is pastor of three Tennessee churches — Holy Trinity in Hohenwald, Christ the Redeemer in Centerville and St. Cecilia in Waynesboro. “We must be kind, we must be responsive and ready to receive and to give,” Father O’Neill said. It’s also a
reminder that “God will always send somebody in the middle of the crowd that you never saw before,” he added. The stations also are reminders of the perfect example of Christ and the depth of his love. “Myself, I always wonder, ‘Why did he fall three times?’ That’s a meditation because whenever numbers come up in the Catholic Church, they mean something,” Father Price said. “Three is a number which means perfection, so I think what it’s trying to say is Christ is the perfect penitent, the perfect model of penance in those three falls.” “I love that Jesus falls three times,” Father O’Neill added. With each, “he falls for us.” Father Fowlkes said there is always something new to be revealed in a person’s personal faith journey each time he or she participates in the stations. “At different points in our lives, if we are spiritually attentive, we are going to connect to different parts of the message of the stations,” he continued, pointing to the Fifth Station: Simon helps Jesus carry the cross. “There will be times in life when we are grateful that someone is helping us carry our crosses, and there are other times when we have the opportunity to help people bear the burdens of their cross in life,” Father Fowlkes said. “In that, it becomes more than just about something in history, but it becomes something that is alive in our faith.”
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FAITH+CULTURE
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
Find moments of silence this Lent, connect three pillars of season By Anna Capizzi Galvez Catholic News Service
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ow can Catholics and Christians approach Lent this year in a fresh way? In interviews with Catholic News Service, two authors provided their insights on how to make Lent meaningful in 2022 — especially since this is the third Lent the Church will observe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Think of Lent as a season of rest, said Paul Jarzembowski, author of the 2022 book “Hope from the Ashes: Insights and Resources for Welcoming Lenten Visitors.” Many people come back and connect to the Church during Lent because “there’s something that’s weighing heavy on their hearts,” Jarzembowski said. “Lent is a time where the Church invites people to lay a lot of those issues at the feet of the Lord and to go through Lent alongside Jesus who is also, we see in Lent, walking that journey, too,” added Jarzembowski, associate director for the laity in the Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Tsh Oxenreider, writer, podcaster and author of the 2022 devotional “Bitter & Sweet: A Journey Into Easter,” said that this third Lent of the pandemic is unique in that many are saying they are ready to re-embrace Lent again. “It was almost like the first Lent snuck up on us” at the beginning of the pandemic and “we were just in survival
See if there are creative ways you can dovetail what you sense God is calling you to fast from with your prayer and your giving. Tsh Oxenreider iSTOCK PHOTO | KAMONWAN WANKAEW
mode,” Oxenreider said. “Then the second Lent came around and it was like, ‘What? We just had Lent. We’ve been in Lent this whole time; it feels like it.’” But now in 2022, many are realizing the value of the rhythms of the liturgical calendar and are acknowledging the good Lent provides in our lives, Oxenreider said. One way to refresh Lenten practices this year is to connect how one observes the three traditional pillars of Lent: fasting, almsgiving and prayer. “See if there are creative ways you can dovetail what you sense God is calling you to fast from with your prayer and your giving,” she said. Together with fasting, “is there some sort of giving you
In this season of Lent, what are you willing to give? Lent is a season of transformation and sacrifice. It’s a time to look inward and practice self-discipline — and to look outward and practice generosity. As you reflect on all the ways you might give — time, talent, and treasure — consider creating a giving plan. Call the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota to learn how we can help. 651.389.0300 | ccf-mn.org
can do toward local food situations? ... Focus some of your prayer on food insecurity around the world.” “Not only does that check those boxes with giving and prayer, but it actually provides more meaning to the fast,” Oxenreider said. To approach Lent with a fresh perspective, try to find moments of silence, Jarzembowski suggested. “Lent affords us some time to really be quiet. If that’s quiet in one’s personal prayer space; if that’s quiet getting in the car and going over to a church or a sacred space; if that’s online. Wherever someone can find that quiet and you know that you have the time to do (it),” he said. Jarzembowski compared Lent to baseball’s spring training in that both are practice seasons. “During spring training, you practice on the fundamentals. You try things out you’ve never tried before, so that when it’s time for the regular season, what we would call after Easter, you’ve had this time to practice. During Lent, (practice) moments to just shut it down” to gift oneself with moments of silence, pause and reflection, he added. But while it’s important to find moments of quiet, it’s also important to connect with others. “Lent is often about that inner journey; it is often about our personal commitment, but we sometimes go too far in personal and privatize Lent,” Jarzembowski said. More people are observing Lent than we realize, he said. “Maybe someone you didn’t expect, maybe someone who doesn’t go to church often, who might be having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches alongside you. Maybe they’re
giving up chocolate just like you.” This year, “ask the Lord for the gift of boldness to be a little more free to talk with our friends and our family about what we’re doing and ask what they’re doing,” Jarzembowski said. “There’s something to be said about making it a season that helps us remember we’re a Church, we’re not just individual Christians and walking around earth and just coincidentally at the same time,” Oxenreider said. “We are a body, and this is something that we do together for whatever reason. God set it up so that we needed each other and so it makes sense that we would need each other for Lent.” For Oxenreider, art and music are two avenues to fostering a shared Lenten experience. In her book “Bitter & Sweet,” Oxenreider includes titles of songs to listen to daily as well as pieces of art to contemplate weekly. Art and music “can be a source of talking among your family and your friends about your Lenten experience, and it doesn’t all have to just stay in your head,” she said. Parishes are key in creating community during Lent, and parishes should consider devoting careful attention to planning thoughtful Lenten programs. “Any Lenten program should have a first impression where someone should feel it’s accessible. For instance, a stress relief night could be something we could use,” Jarzembowski suggested. “It’s language that’s accessible. You can feature prayers, songs. There could be opportunities for devotions, for rosary,” he added. “Helping people understand that this is how we in our faith tradition relieve stress.” “The other ideal Lenten program is one that speaks to people’s needs. We are overstressed. We are anxiety-ridden. Do our Lenten programs provide a response to that? (Are) there opportunities for spiritual direction or mentorship? Is there a place for people to know they can go for even clinical support?” Jarzembowski said. Ultimately, Jarzembowski encourages people to be patient with themselves during Lent. “Do something. You don’t have to do everything.” While many can begin Lent with great enthusiasm, they can lose steam by the third week, Oxenreider said. She suggests navigating the season slowly and steadily. “To make it through Lent takes a lot of grace on ourselves, grace that God gives us,” she said.
FAITH+CULTURE
MARCH 10, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
Annulments, growth and grace: how a young priest defends the marriage bond Q That means being patient and observant. A I’m very detail oriented. Q Your title sounds almost medieval: defender of the
By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit Father Matthew Northenscold, 32, recently earned his licentiate in canon law in order to work at the archdiocese’s tribunal and rule on annulments for divorced Catholics.
bond. Someone seeking an annulment is arguing against a marriage, claiming it was never valid, but to be a balanced trial, the Church believes someone else should argue on behalf of the marriage, to claim it is valid. That’s what you do.
Q When you were a seminarian, I bet you didn’t
imagine yourself one day working at the tribunal.
A I didn’t expect that I’d be a canon lawyer. But I knew
A It’s a big responsibility. If there were no defender of
the Lord is always with us, that his grace is going to be there, so this time of being called to step away from parish ministry to study and then to work on marriage cases has been a time where I need to exercise that trust more strongly. The Lord has indeed been with me.
the bond, then the process would be skewed in favor of nullity and it would become a rubber stamp rather than a truth-seeking process.
Q Is it discouraging to wade through case after case? A You can read a lot of heavy topics. Sometimes you
Q What was your reaction when Archbishop Hebda asked you to earn your licentiate in canon law?
A It was a surprise. I got the email that archbishop
wanted to meet with me. I’m like, “I don’t think I’ve done anything to be in trouble.” I wasn’t excited about it at first, because I love being a parish priest and I’ve never wanted to just work in an office away from the people, but I promised obedience to my bishop, and the Lord was in that. Then, as I started to study, I found it to be fascinating. My mind works well with systems of thought, so it seems like a good fit so far.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
A Taking time to really reflect on if you’re mature
University of America grueling?
enough to enter into marriage and to really discern — is this the person I want to spend my life with, that will make me a better person, that I want to be the parent of my children — rather than just drifting into marriage because you’ve been living together for a couple years so it’s the next step.
A It was intense. I had to study every part of the Code
Q What makes Lent a good time to take up an
Q Was your coursework through The Catholic of Canon Law and be ready to answer questions about it. The Code of Canon Law is a big book — you don’t want to stub your toe on it. I realized that I have gone through the equivalent of the 23rd grade!
Q Can you explain what a tribunal does? A A tribunal is similar to a civil court except the subject
matter for canonical trials are limited to things the Church has jurisdiction over: rights and duties that flow from membership in the Church and especially things related to the sacraments. An annulment, or declaration of nullity, is a person claiming that their marriage was null and asking the Church’s tribunal to investigate and judge whether that’s true.
Q What’s a common misconception about annulments?
A The biggest misconception is that it’s just Catholic
divorce. This is false. No power on earth can nullify a valid sacramental marriage. That’s why the term “annulment” is not actually accurate, since it makes it seem like the Church is annulling marriages. The better term is a “declaration of nullity” — after investigating, the Church has found the marriage was null from the beginning.
Q What are reasons a marriage can be declared null? A Something was lacking from the couple’s consent.
For instance, some couples feel pressure to get married by their family or because of a pregnancy. Some couples might be opposed to ever having children, which is one of the central elements of marriage. If the couple flat out refuses the possibility of having children, then that would be an invalid marriage.
Q How can engaged couples learn from annulment cases?
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annulment?
A Lent is about a deeper conversion. For someone who
is divorced, part of the conversion the Lord is calling them to is listening to Jesus’ teaching about marriage and divorce. Lent is a great time to pray about this: “Lord, help me to understand this teaching, help me to believe it and show me what you are calling me to do to live in harmony with this teaching.”
Q Annulments may be the least popular process in the Catholic Church.
A I don’t think the process for a declaration of nullity is
unpleasant, since it’s about finding the truth, and that’s a good and necessary thing. For me, it’s fulfilling to help that process of justice and peace move forward.
Q In an ideal case, what good comes from an annulment?
A What we see, in a lot of cases, is that the process of
the applicant reflecting back on their life, analyzing their prior relationship in light of what they’ve learned since then, can often bring closure. They might be in a better place now to realize what mistakes they made or to see someone’s mistakes or sins. It can be an occasion for growth to happen and for the Lord to bring grace and peace — and it often is.
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Q What makes a walk therapeutic? A I like to hike through the woods with my rosary.
It’s good to get the blood pumping. Walking is a long human tradition. Something about moving through the world can help you to think.
Q You also get support from fellow priests as a
member of the Companions of Christ, and you live with three other priests.
A The fraternity makes me a better priest. We often
have dinner together. We might watch a movie together or play a game. It’s a blessing to have brothers since I know they’ll be with me, and I know that if I start to lose my way, they’ll be there to call me back.
Q What’s your go-to prayer? A I’m a big fan of the St. Ignatius Prayer for Generosity.
It’s something to pray for because selflessness doesn’t come naturally to us. I’m more fulfilled on the days I’ve been generous than on the days I was more selfish or wasn’t able to get as much done.
Q It’s a good kind of tired. A Right. Q You’re almost six years into priesthood. What has surprised you?
A It’s been surprising how fulfilling it is to hear
confessions, to see people return to the Lord and to be able to help them in that. People might think it’s depressing to hear people’s sins, but it’s hopeful and it’s good because they’re returning to the Lord.
Q Does that help offset some of the heavier parts of your work at the tribunal?
A I would say so. It’s the human heart wanting to
Q How do you pair the intellectual preparation for
return to God from the different places where it’s gotten lost.
A We know the law about marriage. The tricky part is
Q That’s a lovely thing. A There’s no place we can run, no mess we can get into
your role with the spiritual and human elements of marriage, lived out in our messy, imperfect ways? seeing what the details of the particular human in the case was — in their situations and their difficulties — and determining how that impacts a marriage. It’s all in the details.
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so big that God will abandon us. Sometimes we think we’ve managed to escape from God’s providence. But God still loves us, his grace is available to us and there is still a path forward.
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER SCOTT CARL
Where are you going?
Where are you going? It is a simple and important question. Paul addresses the Philippians with this question, with great concern, in this weekend’s second reading. He is warning them about people who conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. He describes such people by saying “their God is their stomach; their glory is their ‘shame.’ Their minds are occupied with earthly things.” We ponder our own age. Overconsumption of media is common, even for those seeking to follow Christ. Then add the temptations experienced as the mind is numbed through endless scrolling or sucked into one video after another: “How many hours was that?” Such behavior can be debilitating, if not damaging. Perhaps begun as unconscious coping mechanisms or ways of avoiding reality, sadly, they leave us worse off than we began, with consciences already laden with poor and often sinful decisions. Where does this activity lead? Paul says frankly, “Their end is destruction.” We find ourselves in the second Sunday of Lent, which brings each year an account of the Transfiguration. It seems paradoxical, that in the season of self-denial and deepened meditation on Our Lord’s passion we hear of Peter, James and John experiencing a powerful revelation of Jesus’ glory. This year, we hear Luke’s version, which uniquely expresses some content of the conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah; they speak of Jesus’ “exodus that he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.” In the liturgical context, the word “exodus” brings much to mind: the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert, Jesus’ 40 days being tempted in
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
Unity candle The unity candle is a three-candle display. All three candles are white. The middle candle is a larger pillar candle, which is flanked by two smaller taper candles, one on each side. These candles are usually placed in the holders of a unity candle stand or on a table often draped with a cloth. The display is never placed on the altar, which is reserved for the Eucharist. It may be placed somewhere in the sanctuary that does not obstruct the view of the altar, ambo or pulpit, the presider’s chair, or the bride and groom, or it may be placed outside but near the sanctuary. The ceremonial lighting of the unity candle is not part of the Order of Celebrating Matrimony in the Catholic Church. Some dioceses and parishes do not allow it because it is not included in the ritual. Another reason is that lighting the candle is a symbol. When the bride and groom exchange their vows, they experience the sacrament of marriage, and those who are present witness it. The sacrament is powerful, it stands on its own, and a symbol after the “real thing” is anticlimactic and does not enhance it or add to it. In many parishes and dioceses, including the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the unity candle ceremony is permitted.
the wilderness, and our season of Lenten prayer and penance. This word also brings to mind his destination, where Jesus is going. To assist our understanding, we can ponder his two unexpected guests. With Moses, “exodus” brings to mind the Promised Land; it is his destination (to which he himself never arrives). But what about Elijah? Did he not come centuries after the exodus? Interestingly, Elijah’s own exodus/departure of old helps interpret Jesus’ in the Gospel of Luke. Elijah was “taken up” (analambán) to heaven in his fiery chariot (2 Kgs 2:9, 11). Soon after the Transfiguration, Luke tells us, “When the days for his being taken up (análmpsis) were fulfilled, (Jesus) resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51). Then as Luke opens his second volume, telling of Jesus in Jerusalem being lifted up on a cloud, he depicts two men in white garments saying to the gathered believers, “This Jesus … has been taken up (analambán) from you into heaven ….” (Acts 1:11). When Jesus, Moses and Elijah speak about Jesus’ exodus in Jerusalem, Luke indicates that they are conversing about where Jesus is going. Indeed, he will be lifted up on the cross (cf. Jn 3:14), so we rightly meditate upon the passion during Lent, but his destination is beyond. Thus, amid this journey, we need to keep our eye on where we are going. Jesus wants us united to him in his passion and death so that he can “take us up” to share in his heavenly glory, where he has taken our Blessed Mother before us. Where are you going? If the distractions of the modern age afflict you, perhaps revise your Lenten disciplines and fast from the source on certain days or during certain portions of the day (for example, after 8 p.m.). In its place, pray, write handwritten notes to someone in need or do something else that is mindful of others, or just go to bed early. Love of neighbor is easier when well rested. With God’s grace, choose to live in ways that bring you to share Jesus’ glory now and forever. Father Carl is vice rector of The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and assistant sacramental minister to the Latino community at St. Odilia in Shoreview. He can be reached at smcarl@stthomas.edu.
It is a relatively new tradition that has sentimental value. It provides the couple with an opportunity to act together immediately after the celebration of matrimony. It is elegant and memorable. When the unity candle ceremony is celebrated, it comes after the blessing and giving of rings and before the universal prayer or the prayers of the faithful. The taper candles are usually lit before the liturgy, often by the mothers, but also possibly by relatives or friends, or if no one is designated, by the wedding coordinator or the sacristan. The taper candles may be lit as the first part of the ceremony itself. Then the bride and groom each take a lit taper candle, and together simultaneously light the pillar candle. The taper candles are returned to their holders and usually left burning. Sacred music often accompanies the ceremony. The taller candle has four primary meanings: The married couple. The usual understanding is that one taper candle represents the bride, the other represents the groom, and the pillar candle represents the bride and groom joined together as a married couple. While each retains their individuality, represented by the taper candles that continue to burn, “they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mk 10:8). Jesus. The lighted pillar candle represents Jesus who is the light of the world (Jn 8:12). When the bride and groom light the pillar candle, they declare that Jesus is the center of their marriage, that they are joined together by him, that the sacramental grace that he supplies will sustain them and hold them together, and that they will individually and jointly follow his light. The sacrament of marriage. The taper
DAILY Scriptures Sunday, March 13 Second Sunday of Lent Gn 15:5-12, 17-18 Phil 3:17–4:1 Lk 9:28b-36 Monday, March 14 Dn 9:4b-10 Lk 6:36-38 Tuesday, March 15 Is 1:10, 16-20 Mt 23:1-12 Wednesday, March 16 Jer 18:18-20 Mt 20:17-28 Thursday, March 17 Jer 17:5-10 Lk 16:19-31 Friday, March 18 Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a Mt 21:33-43, 45-46 Saturday, March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22 Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a Sunday, March 20 Third Sunday of Lent Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 Lk 13:1-9 Monday, March 21 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab Lk 4:24-30 Tuesday, March 22 Dn 3:25, 34-43 Mt 18:21-35 Wednesday, March 23 Dt 4:1, 5-9 Mt 5:17-19
COURTESY FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
A unity candle at St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. candles represent the baptismal candles of the bride and groom, as well as their faith in Jesus and their commitments to live their lives as his disciples. As the bride and groom light the pillar candle, they indicate that they intend to live out their baptismal faith as adults in the sacrament of marriage, their sacrament of commitment. A new family. The taper candles represent the immediate families of the bride and groom, their parents and siblings, and from their two families of origin, the pillar candle represents the new family that begins with their marriage.
Thursday, March 24 Jer 7:23-28 Lk 11:14-23 Friday, March 25 Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord Is 7:10-14; 8:10 Heb 10:4-10 Lk 1:26-38 Saturday, March 26 Hos 6:1-6 Lk 18:9-14 Sunday, March 27 Fourth Sunday of Lent Jos 5:9a, 10-12 2 Cor 5:17-21 Lk 15:1-3, 11-32
Father Van Sloun is the interim director of clergy services in the archdiocese. He can be reached at vansloun@archspm.org.
KNOW the SAINTS ST. NICHOLAS OWEN (1550-1606) St. Nicholas became a lay Jesuit brother in 1597 in England. He served St. Edmund Campion and was once imprisoned for defending him against charges of treason. Later he was in the service of Henry Garnet, the Jesuit provincial, traveling with him, staying in the homes of recusants, where he constructed hiding holes for hunted priests. Nicholas built ingeniously conceived, impossible to find, hiding places that saved the lives of innumerable priests. He never discussed his work with anyone so that even under torture they would not be able to disclose the location of secret rooms. After several brushes with officials, Nicholas gave himself up to protect other Jesuits. He was brutally tortured but never betrayed the locations of his brothers. He died March 22, 1606. — Catholic News Service
MARCH 10, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI
The Catholic call to creativity
Creativity is participating in God’s image, as creator. It’s being human, the way that God has wired us to be, like him. Haley Stewart
The idea came in a dream. It was just like the movies, the fantasy of every writer who has slogged away at a keyboard, awaiting inspiration. Haley Stewart’s came. “I woke up, and I was like: ‘I have to write this story! It was just given to me!’” Over the years, the 36-year-old Catholic from Waco, Texas, had put in her share of toil and sweat as a freelance writer, juggling to meet deadlines as she homeschooled her four children. “I’ve heard writers say this before, and I always thought they were making it up,” Haley said. “But that’s what it was like: I had these little characters pop into my head, and I just followed their lead and then there was a book.” The characters were, indeed, little. They were mice. Specifically, they were mice nuns, and they lived under the floorboards of G.K. Chesterton’s home, where they ran a school and solved crimes. Mice detective nuns! Haley could see them, and she loved them, and she was itching to write about them. But life was busy, and the mice detective nuns stayed in her head for several months. Then COVID-19 struck, and the Stewart family quarantined. The only quiet place in the house was the attic, so Haley grabbed her laptop and climbed up, perched among boxes of Christmas decorations, offseason clothing and a kayak paddle. It was time to tell the mice nuns’ story. “It wrote itself,” Haley said. “It felt very much like this collaboration with God. I was given the opportunity to give something birth. It was just my fingers being used to type out the story that was already there.” Before long, Haley was signing a contract with Pauline Books for a three-book series featuring her
mice — the Sister Seraphina Mysteries. Logging in around 10,000 words, the first book, “The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese,” is a heavily illustrated storybook rather than a picture book. It will be published this fall. In the meantime, Haley is plugging away at her nonfiction, which first garnered her a devoted readership. This month Ave Maria Press will publish her book “Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be.” Come summer, she’ll be writing the third Sister Seraphina book and hopefully carving out time for a young-adult fantasy novel she’s drafted — her first work of fiction not aimed at children. New creative avenues keep opening up. “There’s so much to learn,” said Haley, who shares updates on her website, carrotsformichaelmas.com. She believes everyone is creative, though the overstimulation of modern life can squelch that spark. Her best remedies: going on a walk, chatting with a friend or praying at adoration, where she always brings a notebook. “The silence creates this space where I suddenly have a million ideas,” Haley said. Catholicism fosters creativity, offering a tradition replete with sacred art and a sensory-rich liturgy, she said. “It’s hard for me to separate out my Catholicism from my writing.” Creativity is evident in everyday problem solving: rearranging a room, turning the contents of a fridge into a meal, managing the flow of a party. And it is always a spiritual endeavor, a co-creation with God — an idea Haley has embraced ever since reading Madeleine L’Engle’s book “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.” “Creativity is participating in God’s image, as creator,” Haley said. “It’s being human, the way that God has wired us to be, like him.”
SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY
appropriately to a holier life and closed some of the distance we’ve experienced before. Our Lenten fast is intended to create a hunger in us for God and his virtuous, loving ways, so that each one of us is able to provide an example through daily living our core values. Am I more patient and able to let things go more easily? Am I more courageous and willing to stand firmly for what I believe? Am I more prudent, or sensible and wise, in my dealings with others? Do I know and understand the right and just act to take in the moment, with regard to my neighbor? These are all definitions of the holy, virtuous life, for which we strive each moment, signifying that virtues have become habits for us. You see, a virtuous life is determined by the acts we habitually form in our everyday lives, simply through what we allow ourselves to think about, talk about and perpetuate. So, as you begin Lent, take time to examine this past year. Ask yourself if you have been kinder to yourself, through the thoughts you have allowed yourself to think and how they made you feel. If you find that you have been hard on yourself, take a step back and give yourself credit for surviving one of the most difficult experiences humanity has ever faced. As psychologist Stephen Porges states, one who has faced adversity should “tell yourself you’re a hero. You survived this!” Porges also suggests that when we have a negative thought, simply choose a better thought. It might sound too simple to be effective. If you try it, you’ll be amazed at how well it works. If you find yourself being judgmental toward others, turn it around and say a prayer for them instead. As Jeremiah 29:7 contends, “Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the Lord, for upon its welfare depends your own.”
Lent: an annual examination of conscience
Lent is once again upon us, and we have the blessed opportunity to take a step back and realign ourselves and our lives with our faith. I do love Lent — and I need Lent! This is the time of the year that I push the pause button and take stock of the choices I’ve made throughout the previous year. I remember as a child choosing to give up candy. But seriously, giving up candy at that time in my life was more about realizing that if I was offered candy, I would have to decline. My friend Kathleen showed me a box of candy in her closet that she was saving to eat once Lent was over. That may have been acceptable as a child, but I’m not sure that is the point of Lent for adults. I don’t think we use Lent as a sort of punishment, but more as a time of self-reflection and a time of honesty about the choices we made in the previous year that brought us closer to God, or further away. We must ask ourselves if we are even aware of the distance we have created between God and ourselves through those choices, or if we attended
COURTESY PAULINE BOOKS
An illustration by Betsy Wallin in the children’s book “The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese” by Haley Stewart, set for publication this fall by Pauline Books. Sometimes, the first step of creativity is the hardest: slowing down and looking up. “It comes down to wonder,” Haley said. “When we’re connected to God, we’re awake to the reality that the world is enchanted by the footsteps of God. When we’re awake to that truth, we’re more open to creativity.” Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
ACTION CHALLENGE u Dedicate yourself to self-reflection during Lent. Ask God to help you see a more positive way forward. u Be at peace today, and remind yourself you have survived a tremendous adversity in life. Embrace the joy of survival!
This passage explains that God wants us to pray for the situation that seems to have us captive, whatever it might be, for when we offer prayers on its behalf, God will bless it, and us, as well. You may find you have lost a sense of hope throughout the past year and that you are more pessimistic than you have ever been. Again, turning to the prophet Jeremiah, we read, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope” (Jer 29:11). Lent this year is a time for self-reflection and a time to determine a more positive way forward. Allow God to be the one who helps you find the stability you seek through choosing a more virtuous path. Take time to practice that newly chosen path throughout the season of Lent, and see how well it helps to guide you in a more positive direction. Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and a doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
COMMENTARY
MARCH 10, 2022
ECHOES OF CATHOLIC MINNESOTA | REBA LUIKEN
Hill House’s Catholic education legacy
James J. Hill’s wife, Mary Meaghan Hill, was the last member of the family to live in the Hill family’s opulent 36,000-square-foot mansion at 240 Summit Ave. When she died in 1921, she had no will, and an equal share of her estate passed to each of her children. The house was not easily divided, so it was put on the auction block, and four of the Hill daughters bought it and donated it to the Archdiocese of St. Paul to be used as an educational institution. Meanwhile, the Catholic sisters who taught thousands of young Minnesotans were dealing with a different problem. Increasingly, teachers were required to be licensed through the state, but the state made it impossible for sisters to complete licensing requirements because they were not allowed to teach in demonstration schools while wearing their habits. Between 1905 and 1925, the colleges of St. Catherine (in St. Paul), St. Teresa (in Winona), St. Benedict (in St. Joseph) and St. Scholastica (in Duluth) all sprang up, in part to help solve this problem. When the St. Paul Diocesan Teachers College first opened in the Hill mansion in January 1927, it was intended to help, too. Initially, the Diocesan Teachers College offered classes on Saturdays in the winter and during the summer term for up to 350 students at a time. Sisters completed 100 quarter credits in religion, psychology and classroom subjects to graduate from its “two-year” program, which met state licensure requirements. Of course, many sisters took many more than two years to complete the program, which they squeezed in among their many other duties.
ALREADY/NOT YET | JONATHAN LIEDL
Without the rules, love will not survive Like a line out of Alanis Morsette’s nineties pop hit, “Ironic,” my birthday this year fell on Ash Wednesday. It was the first time, as far as I know, that the date celebrating my life on this earth coincided with the solemn day the Church reminds us of our mortality, and that, left to our own devices, we are merely dust. Talk about “ironic.” But even though I had to do my getting-a-year-older celebrating a day early on Fat Tuesday, I was grateful for the rather somber gift of having my birthday coincide with Ash Wednesday, of having the Church’s emphasis on human frailty merge with the joy of celebrating my life. It was a reminder that although Lent, and really the whole Christian life, is less about focusing on death and mortality than on the Lord who saves us from them, the truth is that when we don’t have a good enough account of our sins, weaknesses and limitations, we can too easily fall into complacency and self-delusion, taking the Lord’s mercy for granted. If we forget that we need Jesus at every hour, we can begin to drift away from him. At least that’s my experience. Over the past six years or so, I’ve undergone a kind of transformation in my spiritual and moral life, shifting from a mentality that was primarily characterized by obligation and rulefollowing, to one that is more squarely centered on relationship with Christ. Because in its most simple sense, that’s all the Christian life is: being with Jesus. Overall, this experience of Christian life has been
Part of the history of the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue in St. Paul has been providing space for educational purposes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Those who attended during the summer enjoyed eating the lunches they brought or purchased outside while they admired the view of St. Paul. On colder days, students gathered in the basement lunchroom. Meanwhile, the Hills’ main floor dining room had been turned into a chapel for daily Mass and adoration, and the library was reorganized with teaching texts and a table that seated 30 people. On the second and third floors, bedrooms were used as classrooms, and when classes for teachers were not in session, the Notre Dame School for the hearing impaired shared the space. While some servants’ rooms were used as residences for students, many orders who sent students from farther away purchased mansions along Summit Avenue for their sisters. The Benedictines established St. Paul’s Priory at 301 Summit Ave. (now the GermanicAmerican Institute). The School Sisters of Notre Dame (261 and 265 Summit), Sisters of St. Benedict (239 and 378 Summit) and Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls (365 Summit) also lived nearby and joined Dominicans, Felicians, Oblate Sisters of Providence, Presentation Sisters, Servites, Sisters of Christian Charity, Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of St. Joseph in the
classrooms as both students and teachers. Initially, the school served only women religious, but like many other aspects of the school, that changed in the 1940s. In 1946, laywomen were admitted for the first time, the school began to offer courses on weekdays year-round, and tuition became free for any woman, lay or religious, who planned to teach in the archdiocese. After the State of Minnesota began requiring a bachelor’s degree for teacher licensure, the Diocesan Teachers College affiliated with the College of St. Catherine. Between 1951 and 1957, students completed the first two years of their education at the Hill House before finishing their degrees at St. Catherine. While all classes were moved out of the Hill House in 1957, it remained home to the Archdiocesan Bureau of Education until 1977, before the mansion was transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1978.
more fruitful and fulfilling than the legalism of my early 20s. It’s affirmed for me G.K. Chesterton’s observation that “Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground.” The walls are not what the Christian life, properly speaking, is about; it’s about playing in the playground, about being in union with God. But at the same time, I’ve found there is a genuine temptation within this more relational framework to become self-indulgent, to cut corners and bend the rules. Others might need this discipline or to follow that commandment fastidiously, my logic seemed to go at times, but not me. I’ve arrived at what it’s all about: relationship with Jesus, not obsessively following the rules. I’m in the playground. What do I need the walls for? There’s a shade of truth to this approach. But it’s also true that our pride and selfishness can take advantage of this attitude, and, with nothing left to keep ourselves in check, can lead to complacency, and eventually (and ironically), to falling out of relationship with Jesus. To unpack what’s going on here theologically, I want to turn to the Dominican friar Servais Pinckaers, one of the most important moral theologians of the past century. Through his work during the papacy of St. John Paul II, which included contributing to the Catechism’s section on morality and John Paul’s encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” Servais helped correct the misplaced preeminence of “obligation” in Catholic moral theology, returning our focus to the primacy of happiness and human flourishing in the Christian life. Citing St. Thomas Aquinas, Pinckaers reminds us that the heart of the moral life is charity, and ultimately friendship with God. In fact, in his pivotal text, “The Sources of Christian Ethics,” he makes the point that without this charity, no other virtue — including justice and obedience — are fully alive. Clearly, Pinckaers is no stuffy, “rigid” rules-obsessed legalist. Love, not rules, is at the heart of his account of Christian ethics. And yet, he is just as emphatically clear that we cannot discard the commandments and moral teachings
of the Church if we hope to remain in relationship with Jesus. He warns that a flimsy idea of love has “become the Open, Sesame,” a cure for all problems, “as if warmth of emotion liberates a person from all commandments and restraints.” The opposite is true. Citing St. Augustine, Pinckaers notes that “the greater the love, the greater the adherence to commandments,” because the commandments are expressions of God’s love. “Without the rectitude ensured by the commandments,” the Dominican continues, “love will not be true, will not survive.” In other words, the Church’s moral commandments and prohibitions might not be “what it’s all about,” but they are essential for staying true to “what it’s all about.” Following the moral teachings and disciplines of the Church is needed for our friendship with God to survive. Adding another detail to Chesterton’s image of the walled-in-playground can help us see this: The playground is on top of a tall island in the middle of the sea. Without the “walls” of the Church’s teaching and disciplines, our “love of God” can easily just become spiritualized “love of self,” which strays to the cliff’s edge and ultimately ends in “destruction of self.” The Church’s moral teachings and practices are a gift to us, frail and still prone to sin as we are. They keep us accountable, and help us to test the integrity of our love, for as Pinckaers notes, “There is no true love without the willingness to sacrifice.” Lent, with its disciplines of prayer, penance and almsgiving, is the perfect time to root out any complacency or self-indulgence that has crept into our life and our love. “What we give up” is not what Lent is about. But by setting reasonable disciplines that free us from earthly attachments so we can adhere more closely to Christ (and sticking to them even when we don’t feel like it!), we can help our love grow in purity and integrity.
Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.
Liedl, a Twin Cities resident, is the senior editor of the National Catholic Register and a graduate student in theology at The St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity.
s is our moment. Let’s go! MARCH 10, 2022
INSIDE THE CAPITOL | MCC
COMMENTARY
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 21
fiscal policy that honors the work and societal role of parents who generously sacrifice to raise the next generation. Minnesota should take the initiative and support families increasingly burdened by the rising costs of living and inflation. People make decisions about whether to have children in part based on the economic outlook, so we should do what we can to remove barriers from family formation.
LETTERS
Supporting nd register at Catheconomic olicsAtTheCapitol.org and criminal justice SPONSORS: The big news at the Minnesota Capitol is that our state government has a budget surplus for the ninth consecutive year. What was expected to be a $7.7 billion surplus is now up to a record $9.25 billion in excess revenue collection. As can be expected, the debate about what to do with the money has fallen into the usual zerosum game of income tax cuts versus new spending.
The Minnesota Catholic Conference is proposing we break the Gordian knot and provide direct economic relief to Minnesota’s most important producers — our state’s families. Concretely, this means creating a Minnesota Child Tax Credit that is fully refundable and distributed monthly. A similar federal child tax credit (now expired) raised thousands of children out of poverty. This call stems from the Church’s social teaching on subsidiarity, which states that “public authorities have the duty to sustain the family, ensuring that it has all the assistance that it needs to fulfill properly its responsibilities. The family does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 214). Seeing that the people of Minnesota are consistently able to generate surplus wealth for the state, MCC is urging lawmakers to create a permanent
‘Every saint has a past’ Even in today’s job market that is desperate for workers, an arrest record can cast a perpetual shadow over a person. Employers often disqualify a job seeker based on his or her criminal history without asking any further questions about the applicant’s rehabilitation. We must ask whether holding individuals in a state of perpetual punishment for low-level crimes — especially after the judicial system has concluded they should begin rebuilding their lives — serves a positive purpose. In their document “Restoration, Rehabilitation, and Responsibility” (2000), the U.S. Catholic Bishops encouraged lawmakers to embrace approaches to criminal justice that rehabilitate, heal and restore, not just punish. Based on these principles, the MCC co-sponsors the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, which advocates for a criminal legal system that promotes healing, repair, accountability and belonging for individuals, families and communities. The coalition is calling for passage of the Clean Slate Act (HF 1152), a bipartisan bill that would create an automatic expungement mechanism for certain nonviolent, petty criminal offenses.
What do Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and, formerly, Neil Gorsuch have in common? They are (or, in Gorsuch’s case, were) Catholic. And what did all of them but Sonia Sotomayor do March 4? They decided to make us all murderers, too. The Catholic majority of the court gave us the bullet, the rope, the switch, put the needle in our hands, to kill a living, breathing, human being. Regardless of the blood on Tsarnaev’s hands — and I say this as a potential victim of the (Boston Marathon) bombing, having stood on the very spot a mere 20 minutes before one of the bombs went off — the Supreme Court’s Catholics have delivered us Tsarnaev, and now his blood will be on my hands. On your hands. On every priest’s hands. On every child’s hands. On every policeman’s hands. On every grandmother’s hands. We all have been, and continue to be, murderers. The Catholics on the Supreme Court could have stopped this. But they didn’t. Just because we won’t be there to personally do it, doesn’t make us any less guilty of murder. Murder. Let that really sink in. I had been right there at the finish line. I heard the bombs go off. My husband,
“Inside the Capitol” is an update from Minnesota Catholic Conference staff during the legislative session.
PLEASE TURN TO LETTERS ON PAGE 23
“We do not learn so much from conversation or argument as from humble recourse to God.” - St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits A d Ma
jorem Dei Gloriam
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LAUDATO SI’ How are we as Catholics called to care for our common home? A panel of national experts will discuss Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. How are Catholics called to care for creation — as individuals, as a community, and as a Church?
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Weekend or midweek retreats for people like you! Sound doctrine, satisfying education and a fruitful blend of scheduled time to open time promise to send you out the door mentally, Spiritually and physically renewed. Also in in 2021: 2022: Experience ‘three night’ Silent Retreats - Men and Women. Also
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Jose Aguto – Executive Director, Catholic Climate Covenant Kat Doyle – Director of Justice and Peace Ministries, Archdiocese of Atlanta Most Reverend Richard Pates – Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Des Moines
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22 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
Why I am Catholic Catholic
W
By Will Herrmann DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
hen I was 13, I went on a church youth retreat and
and Thomas Aquinas. What I found looked rather Catholic.
felt strongly that God was calling me to be a pastor.
I was drawn to the consistent liturgy, consistent theology
I was Lutheran and imagined that after going to
college, I would go straight to seminary.
But when the time came, I was struggling with my faith. In
and morality, and consistent leadership through the popes succeeding from the Apostle Peter, commissioned by Christ. C.S. Lewis wrote, “A theology which denies the historicity
particular, while I believed the Bible was the infallible word
of nearly everything in the Gospels to which Christian life
of God, I struggled with how to know if my interpretation
and affections and thought have been fastened for nearly
I was drawn to the consistent liturgy, consistent theology and morality, and consistent leadership through the popes succeeding from the Apostle Peter, commissioned by Christ.
of the Bible was correct. If we all read the same text
two millennia … can produce only one or other of two
and came to mutually exclusive interpretations,
effects. It will make him a Roman Catholic or an atheist.”
what then?
While he meant it as a warning, he was ultimately right.
I was also troubled by seeing so many Protestants
After a year and a half of attending Mass at St. Bonaventure
disregarding two millennia of teachings regarding
in Bloomington, I formally entered the Catholic Church in
sin and morality in favor of novel interpretations.
Easter 2019.
An especially poignant example was when I had
Only nine months later, I accompanied Archbishop
asked a Lutheran pastor about something the
Hebda and Bishop Cozzens on their January 2020 ad limina
Apostle Paul had written and was told: “We’re
pilgrimage to Rome. The most moving moment for me was
Christians, not Paulites. If Christ didn’t say it, then
when our bishops led Mass directly in front of the tomb of
we are not bound to follow it.”
St. Peter. The Gospel reading was: “You are Peter and on this
There came a point where I felt like I couldn’t be Lutheran, or any form of Protestant, because I had no way of knowing if it were true. Faith just felt like a matter of consensus. I started wondering if God was a matter of consensus, too, and for a time,
I wrestled with atheism. But the inevitable nihilism of life having no purpose and nothing beyond absolutely terrified me. As Dostoevsky wrote: “I can’t understand how an atheist could know that there is no God and not kill himself on the spot.” Unable to accept atheism, I began reading Christian writings throughout the ages, in particular Justin Martyr, Augustine
rock I will build my Church.” And I realized that not only is this Christ’s Church, but it’s my Church, too! Herrmann, 32, is a member of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington, where he coordinates the eucharistic adoration program. His hobbies include board games, bicycling and creative writing. “Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Why I am Catholic” in the subject line.
MARCH 10, 2022
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 23
CALENDAR Editor’s note: The Catholic Spirit’s annual Fish Fry and Lenten Meal Guide was published in our Feb. 24 edition. Find it online with updates at TheCatholicSpirit.com/nomeat.
1–6 p.m. April 9; 8 a.m.–1 p.m. April 10. Handmade crafts, baked goods and refreshments. Sponsored by Holy Cross’ Council of Catholic Women. ourholycross.org
WORSHIP+RETREATS
CONFERENCES+SPEAKERS
Lenten Day of Prayer — March 16 and 23: 9:30 a.m.–2 p.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. “Days of Prayer” include a talk, confession, spiritual direction, private prayer time and Mass. $20 suggested offering. Bring your lunch. franciscanretreats.net
St. Agnes’ 2022 Lenten Lecture: Dante’s “Inferno” — Fridays in Lent through April 8: 7:45–9 p.m. at St. Agnes, 535 Thomas Ave., St. Paul. Free and open to the public. No prior reading required. In Schuler Hall. Refreshments provided. Follows 7 p.m. Stations of the Cross. Next two speakers: Cathy Deavel on Upper Hell (March 11), and Patrick Gardner on Lower Hell (March 18). For the full series schedule visit churchofsaintagnes.org/lentenlectures.
Curatio Lenten Retreat for Healthcare Professionals — March 19: 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas’ Iverson Center for Faith, Room LL16, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. The theme is “Healing from the Heart of Christ” by Father Christopher Collins. Retreat starts with Mass, followed by a light breakfast, talks, Stations of the Cross for health care, reflection and Q&A. Catered lunch will be provided. curatioapostolate.com/2022/01/2022-lenten-retreat “Lift Up Your Hearts! Living Inside of Hope” Women’s Retreat — March 19: 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. at Risen Savior, 1501 E. County Road 42, Burnsville. risensavior.org/event/womens-retreat Living Stations of the Cross — March 30-31 and April 1: 7–8:30 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. N.E., Ham Lake. churchofsaintpaul.com/living-stations
“Our Lenten Journey Towards Conversion of Heart” — March 15, 22, 29: 7–8:30 p.m. at Risen Savior, 1501 E. County Road 42, Burnsville. Focuses on parts of the Gospel of Luke, which has forgiveness as one of its central themes, and parts of the Book of Isaiah, with its calls to conversion and promises of salvation. Led by Cathy Cory, professor emerita of theology at the University of St. Thomas. risensavior.org/event/scripture-series Giving Insights Social Forum: Laudato Si’ — March 29: 6:30–9 p.m. at Annunciation, 509 W. 54th St., Minneapolis. A panel of experts will discuss Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’” and how Catholics are called to care for our common home. This event will also be livestreamed. ccf-mn.org/socialforum
“A Polish Celebration: Gail Archer Organist” — March 26: 7–8:30 p.m. at Holy Cross,1621 University Ave., Minneapolis. Holy Cross celebrates its rich cultural heritage in a concert of all Polish organ music. Gail Archer will feature seldom played gems by Polish composers. Admission is free with ample parking on site. ourholycross.org/musical-events
OTHER Joint Religious Legislative Coalition Day on the Hill — March 15: 6:30–8:45 p.m. via Zoom. Hosted by JRLC, Minneapolis. Presenter is Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, an Orthodox Jewish leader, who will reflect on the biblical story of Queen Esther “For Such a Time as This.” jrlc.org/2022-day-on-the-hill “The Passion of Jesus in Music, Word and Light” — March 24-26: 8–9:20 p.m. at Sts. Joachim and Anne’s St. Mark campus, 350 Atwood St., Shakopee. The audience accompanies Jesus, reliving his final days on earth through the story of his crucifixion and resurrection. Spanish narration March 24. English narration March 25 and 26. Prelude music begins at 7:40 p.m. Free admission. Sponsored by the Shakopee Knights of Columbus. shakopeepassionplay.org
DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: TheCatholicSpirit.com/calendarsubmissions
Pro-Life Across America Banquet — April 29: 6:30–9 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. Featured speaker is Christina Bennett, a writer whose work has been featured in Live Action News, Life News, Charisma and LifeSite News, among other publications. $60. Call Christine 612-782-9434 for reservations. prolifeacrossamerica.org
Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat for Healing After Abortion — April 1–3: A confidential retreat for people grieving the loss of a child to abortion. Contact Nancy at rachels@rvineyardmn.org or call 763-250-9313 for more information. rvineyardmn.org
“A New Pentecost” — April 23-June 4 (consecutive Saturdays): 6–8 p.m. at Mary Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road, Burnsville. A “Life in the Spirit” seminar. This is a video presentation by leaders in the Charismatic Renewal including David Mangan, Ralph Martin, Patti Mansfield, Peter Herbeck and Sister Ann Shields. mmotc.org
PARISH EVENTS
MUSIC
Natural Family Planning (NFP) — Church-approved methods to achieve or postpone pregnancy while embracing God’s gift of sexuality. List of classes at archspm.org/family or call 651-291-4489.
Spring Craft and Bake Sale — March 26-27 at St. Peter, 2600 N. Margaret St., North St. Paul. 2–6 p.m. March 26; 9 a.m.–1 p.m. March 27. Handmade crafts, Easter baskets, homemade goodies. Sponsored by St. Peter’s Council of Catholic Women. churchofstpeternsp.org
“Stabat Mater: A Lenten Meditation Concert” — March 12: 8–9 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., Minneapolis. Soprano Sarah Jackson and countertenor Timothy Faatz will perform A. Scarlatti’s “Salve Regina” and G.B. Pergolesi’s acclaimed “Stabat Mater” in collaboration with some of the Twin Cities’ finest period instrumentalists. Enjoy a meditation on the Lenten season through the lens of the Sorrowful Mother. ourholycross.org/musical-events
Restorative support for Victim/Survivors — monthly: 6:30–8 p.m. via Zoom. Open to all victim/ survivors; first Mondays for those abused by clergy as adults; second Mondays for friends or relatives of victims of clergy sexual abuse; third Mondays victimsurvivor support group; third Tuesdays survivor peace circle; fourth Wednesdays for men sexually abused by clergy/religious. archspm.org/healing or call Paula Kaempffer at 651-291-4429.
Easter Craft and Bake Sale — April 9–10 at Holy Cross, 1630 Fourth St. NE, Minneapolis.
CALENDAR submissions
ONGOING EVENTS
LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 then next to me sitting on a curb after his race, felt the explosions. But another killing for killings just doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to kill anyone. Where is the outcry? Oh, I’m sure Jesus will give the justices a pass. After all, they’re Catholics. Right? Elizabeth Rosenwinkel St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis Share your perspective by emailing TheCatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.
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24 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MARCH 10, 2022
THELASTWORD
‘Cathedral fox’ Rector’s rescue results in place in National Geographic’s Photo Ark
T
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
he desperate cries of an animal in distress haunted Father John Ubel for an entire weekend last spring. They first reached his ears from a window well at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul May 14, 2021. He was strolling the grounds on a Friday evening when the shrill noise startled him. At first, he ignored the sound, and continued walking. But, something inside him wouldn’t let him forget what he had heard. The whines greeted him the next morning, and this time he decided to investigate. He walked over to a window well where the sound was coming from and discovered the orphaned animal. It turned out to be the pleas of a 3-month-old male gray fox separated from its mother. The fox appeared to be in pain, and Father Ubel knew the abandoned juvenile, called a kit, would not be able to scale the window well’s 15-foot wall to escape its plight. This grim reality tugged on the Cathedral rector’s heart. “Animals feel pain, they sense danger and experience fear,” Father Ubel wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit about the experience. “All this was present in this confused little animal. He captured my heart, and frankly, I worried about this animal all weekend long.” Those strong emotions sparked a journey for the young fox that eventually led to a photo shoot by a National Geographic photographer and its release into the wild in northern Minnesota in the fall. After calling the City of St. Paul throughout the weekend of May 15 and 16, Life is precious, and but not hearing back, Father while I wholeheartedly Ubel later turned to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center agree that we (human in Roseville. On that Sunday beings) are the crown evening, a veterinarian and certified veterinary technician jewel of creation, we from the WRC pulled the fox out of the window well. Generally, nonetheless have a the WRC doesn’t perform responsibility to care rescues, but made an exception in this case, said Tami Vogel, its for creation and communications director. At first, WRC staff told Father God’s creatures in a Ubel the fox likely wouldn’t respectful way. make it. But the center’s critical care protocol eventually Father Ubel stabilized the kit, which was severely emaciated. As the fox recovered, Vogel contacted National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, who has been photographing wildlife in North America and around the world for the last 25 years. He has photographed 12,000 species so far, which are on display online at nationalgeographic.org/ projects/photo-ark. As it turned out, at the time Sartore was called, he had not yet photographed a gray (or “grey”) fox. “The juvenile fox was adorable,” Sartore wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit. “The fact that they were able to save the fox and nurse it back to health is a testament to the wonderful work they do at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.” In turn, Vogel was quick to praise Father Ubel, who not only helped make the rescue happen, but followed up to check on the fox and even made visits to the WRC. “He’s a really wonderful man,” Vogel said. “He has dropped off, in person, checks to help pay for the fox’s care.” Father Ubel said that a Catholic understanding of creation was at the heart of his response to the distressed fox.
COPYRIGHT JOEL SARTORE | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK
The gray fox as photographed by Joel Sartore of National Geographic for the magazine’s Photo Ark project promoting conservation of animals. “Life is precious, and while I wholeheartedly agree that we (human beings) are the crown jewel of creation, we nonetheless have a responsibility to care for creation and God’s creatures in a respectful way,” he wrote. “St. Francis of Assisi has been an inspiration for 800 years, with his call to respect nature and see its inherent beauty as a gift from God. While this was simply one small animal over the course of 48 hours, it afforded me the opportunity to experience the dignity of all creation.” It also created a bond between the priest and an organization that rehabilitates about 19,000 wild animals a year — mammals, birds and reptiles. Father Ubel calls the WRC “amazing,” and said he was “moved by the work of the staff and volunteers.” The WRC now calls the recovered kit the “Cathedral fox” on its Facebook page. One of two WRC Facebook posts about the fox (June 30) received 1,500 reactions and 13,000 views. A more recent post (Feb. 14) got 1,100 reactions. On July 1, Father Ubel met Sartore on the day of the photo shoot as the photographer prepared to further expand the recognition of an animal via the Photo Ark, a photo collection project named with a nod to Noah’s ark. “Father Ubel that day was just over the moon. He was so excited to meet Joel,” Vogel said. Photos Sartore took of the fox were posted on the Photo Ark website within the last one to two months, according to his staff. Sartore posted video of the Cathedral fox to his Facebook page Feb. 9, writing, “This cutie is a juvenile gray fox I recorded while visiting the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRC). You might think that foxes spend all of their time on the ground, but this species has strong, hooked claws that make it excellent at climbing trees. Capable of reaching heights of up to 18 meters, gray foxes will often take to the trees in order
COURTESY FATHER UBEL
In this file photo, Cathedral of St. Paul rector Father John Ubel, right, stands with a certified veterinary technician from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville, who is holding the gray fox the priest discovered in the window well of the Cathedral May 14. to escape predators like coyotes or to reach arboreal food sources like bird eggs and chicks.” Father Ubel encourages people to go online and visit the National Geographic Photo Ark, not only to see pictures of the Cathedral fox but also to view thousands of images of other wildlife species. The animal portraits are part of an effort “to inspire people to care and help protect these animals,” according to its website. Father Ubel quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which guides the way he views all living creatures: “Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.”