The Catholic Spirit - March 12, 2015

An IDEAL School 7 • Catholic Sisters Week 8-9 • Senior Housing Guide 20-25 March 12, 2015 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

thecatholicspirit.com

measles, mumps, rubella,

oh my.

Within the vaccination controversy are Catholics who oppose the practice on moral grounds. When it comes to inoculations, what does the Church say about health, bioethics and the public good?

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit Although most experts agree it’s unfounded, fear of a link between vaccines and the autism disorder spectrum has been cited as one of the reasons parents choose not to vaccinate their children. Lesser known is another basis for opposition, one rooted in moral objections to some vaccines’ ties to abortion.

Please turn to CATHOLICS on page 5

ALSO inside

Day on the hill

Memory keepers

Talking with God

State bishops make policy stances known — Page 4

Hill-Murray students serve people with dementia — Page 7

Prayer at crux of Lenten practices — Page 14

Page Two

2 in PICTURES

“I told the Lord, ‘You take care of me. But if your will is that I die or that they do something to me, I ask you just one favor: that it doesn’t hurt, because I am a big wimp when it comes to physical pain.’”

Pope Francis in an impromptu interview with an Argentine priest Feb. 7 about people’s concerns for his safety

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

Hill-Murray School names new president

STATE TITLE FOR RACHEL Senior wrestler Lance Benick, left, of Totino-Grace High School in Fridley, squares off against Carson Hagen of Worthington in the Class AA championship at 195 pounds Feb. 28 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Benick won the match 17-7 to capture his fourth state title. After the match, he said that he dedicated his title to senior classmate Rachel Woell, who died of brain cancer in September. She had been the student manager of the football team; Benick was the quarterback. For story, visit thecatholicspirt.com. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Jim Hansen, a 1973 graduate of Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, is its new president, the Hill-Murray Board of Trustees announced Feb. 25.

Hansen has served as adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for the last 30 years, twice earning the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2011, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award for his contributions to education from the University of Minnesota, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in physiology and science education. He has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas.

Breimhorst to serve as Aim Higher executive director The Aim Higher Foundation named Scott Breimhorst as its first executive director, effective March 16. Breimhorst will be responsible for the foundation’s fundraising, administration, public relations and initiative development.

Before joining the Aim Higher Foundation, Breimhorst was principal of Shakopee Area Catholic Schools, a position he held since 2003. He began his career teaching English at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul and was director of education at St. Matthew School in St. Paul. He is an alumnus of St. John’s University in Collegeville and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Scott BREIMHORST

STA food drive donations exceed 9,000 pounds St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights ended its annual Advocacy of the Hungry Food Drive March 2 with 9,840 pounds of food and supplies, bringing the seven-year collection total to nearly 40 tons.

Students collected food donations for about a month. It benefits Minnesota FoodShare’s March campaign, the largest food and fund drive in the state.

‘DOE A DEER’ Maria (holding guitar), played by eighth-grader Olivia Heimel, sings to the Von Trapp children during a scene of “The Sound of Music” at St. Joseph School in West St. Paul March 7. Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from the school performed the play March 6 and 7. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

WHAT’S NEW on social media In honor of National Catholic Sisters Week March 8-14, The Catholic Spirit asks on Facebook, “What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from a Catholic sister?”

People constantly mispronounce the name of St. Paul in Ham Lake parishioner Annie Reddy’s 4-year-old daughter. It’s Zelie, and it doesn’t rhyme with “jelly.” Read about the role Reddy’s daughter — and her namesakes Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, who are expected to be canonized in October — played in helping An nie navigate single motherhood and embrace her vocation to marriage at www.CatholicHotdish.com. @TheCatholicSpirit recently shared snapshots of several local churches, including Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Minneapolis; St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anthony; and Ss. Peter and Paul, Loretto on Instagram. Follow us and tag images of your Lenten practices with #SpiritOfLent.

The Catholic Spirit is published bi-weekly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 20 — No. 5 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT, Publisher ANNE STEFFENS, Associate Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

MARIA WIERING, Editor

FROM our readers One of nine comments on “Stricken by cancer, defined by faith” (Feb. 26 edition) at TheCatholicSpirit.com: “Joe, I do not know you, I am not Catholic. I happened upon your story after scanning a Facebook page after watching a viral video. It was meant to be. Your faith has touched me. Your love and faith in the Lord, even in the midst of dealing with all of your natural human emotions... it’s humbling. You’re beautiful, and allowing God to use you like this at a time when you could be so resentful and fearful . . . it’s going to change the world. I am praying for you, all the wa[y] from Dallas TX. Brandi Holmes, Dallas, Texas

CORRECTION In a Feb. 26 story about immigration reform, the Hmong people were incorrectly described. Hmong people are an Asian ethnic group from primarily China, Laos and Thailand who now live in many countries all over the world. Hmong people are not just contained in one country, since the Hmong people do not have a country of their own. The Catholic Spirit apologizes for the error.

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service.

All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper.

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3 St. Paul tells the Ephesians and us: “At every opportunity pray in the Spirit, using prayers and petitions of every sort. Pray constantly and attentively for all in the holy company” (Ephesians 6:18).

At the beginning of Lent, I wrote a column in which I spoke of the interrelationship of the three elements of our Lenten devotion, namely, prayer, fasting and

THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE Archbishop John Nienstedt

Esta Cuaresma, profundice su vida de oración con ‘lectio divina’ San Pablo le dice a los Efesios y a nosotros: “Vivan en constante oración y súplica guiados por el Espíritu y para esto perseveren y oren con la mayor insistencia por todos los creyentes” (Efesios 6:18).

Al comienzo de la Cuaresma, escribí una columna en la que hablé de la interrelación de los tres elementos de nuestra devoción cuaresmal, la oración, el ayuno y la limosna. En esta columna, me gustaría centrarme en el aspecto de la oración como un componente esencial de nuestra observancia de la Cuaresma.

El Catecismo de la Iglesia

almsgiving. In this column, I would like to focus on the aspect of prayer as an essential component of our observance of Lent.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment” (No. 2697). But in order to pray at every moment, we need to set aside specific times for more focused and intense prayer.

It is good to have formulated prayers that we recite with daily regularity, such as morning and evening prayers, grace before and after meals, or the Liturgy of the Hours. The Eucharist is the summit of the Church’s communal prayer, expressed in the cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts.

By being attentive to the meaning of these formulated prayers, we are able to make them our own.

In addition, there are many different approaches to prayer reflected in the varied spiritualities in the Church. One method that I have personally found helpful and which I have recommended is “lectio divina.” The format is quite straight-forward: First, I take a passage from Scripture (any passage will do, as God can use any passage to communicate with us), and I read it out loud slowly and deliberately with what St. Benedict calls “the

ears of my heart.” In doing so, I make a mental note of a word or phrase that seems to jump out at me.

Secondly, I pause after the first reading and then re-read the passage in the same manner as before, again noting any word or phrase that strikes me. (It may be the same word as before or a different one.)

Thirdly, I pause and re-read the passage again, allowing God’s Word to sink into my heart through this repetition and reflection.

Fourthly, I take 15 or 20 minutes to ruminate on the word or phrase that struck me most forcefully.

Now, St. Augustine compares rumination to what a cow does when she is chewing her cud. She grinds the grass with her teeth over and over again, then swallows it into her first stomach, lets it sit,

Finally, after ruminating, I write down in my journal any of the insights that I have had. These insights form the basis of meditation, seeking how the Lord desires me to incorporate these insights into my life. Meditation moves me to a greater conversion of heart as I seek all the more ardently to do the will of God. And since the meditation engages the heart, it seeks to be closer in a union of love to God who first loved me.

Católica nos dice que “la oración es la vida del corazón nuevo. Debe animarnos en todo momento. “(No. 2697), pero para que se ore en todo momento, tenemos que apartar determinados momentos para una oración más centrada y profunda.

Es bueno tener oraciones formuladas que recitamos diariamente con cierta regularidad, como oraciones por la mañana y tarde, bendecir la mesa antes y después de las comidas, o la Liturgia de las Horas. La Eucaristía es la cumbre de la oración comunitaria de la Iglesia, expresada en el ciclo del año litúrgico y sus grandes fiestas. Al estar atento al significado de estas oraciones formuladas, podemos hacerlas nuestras.

Además, hay muchos enfoques diferentes a la oración reflejada en la variedad de espiritualidades en la Iglesia. Un método que personalmente he encontrado útil y que he recomendado es ‘la lectio divina.’ El formato es muy claro: Primero, tomo un pasaje de la Escritura (cualquier pasaje está bien, ya que Dios puede usar cualquiera para comunicarse con nosotros) y lo leo en voz alta lenta

y deliberadamente con lo que San Benito llama “los oídos de mi corazón.” Al hacerlo, hago una nota mental de una palabra o frase que me habla.

Segundo, hago una pausa después de la primera lectura y vuelvo a leer el pasaje de la misma manera que antes, de nuevo señalando cualquier palabra o frase que me llama la atención. (Puede ser la misma palabra que antes o una diferente).

Tercero, hago una pausa y vuelvo a leer el pasaje de nuevo, permitiendo que la Palabra de Dios se hunda en mi corazón a través de esta repetición y reflexión.

Cuarto, tomo quince o veinte minutos para meditar sobre la palabra o frase que me impactó con mayor fuerza. Ahora, San Agustín compara la meditación a lo que hace una vaca cuando está masticando su bolo alimenticio.

Ella muele la hierba con los dientes una y otra vez, y luego se lo traga en su primer estómago, la deja reposar y luego regurgita en su boca y mastica un poco más. (Esta comparación es bastante terrenal, pero ayuda a la imaginación.)

Mientras que medito, puede que me pregunte si la palabra o frase

elegida tiene algo que ver con lo que podría estar sucediendo en mi vida. ¿Esta palabra o frase me está recordando de algo de debo de hacer o no hacer? ¿La palabra o frase inspiran un sentimiento dentro de mí? ¿Proporciona un consuelo? y, si es así, ¿Por qué?

Finalmente, después de meditar, escribo en mi diario cualquiera de los puntos de vista que he tenido.

Estas ideas forman la base de la meditación, buscando cómo el Señor me quiere incorporar estas ideas en mi vida. La meditación me mueve a una mayor conversión del corazón mientras busco tanto más ardientemente hacer la voluntad de Dios. Dado a que la meditación involucra el corazón, busca estar más cerca en una unión de amor a Dios, quien me amó primero.

He encontrado que la lectio divina es una oración que funciona bien. Creo que eso es así porque el Espíritu Santo, quien inspiró el pasaje bíblico original, sigue inspirando hasta el día de hoy. Si estoy realmente abierto a la búsqueda del Espíritu, estoy seguro de que Él puede y quiere hablar conmigo. ¡Dios los bendiga en su camino cuaresmal!

“. . . the Holy Spirit, who inspired the original Scripture passage, continues to inspire today.”

then regurgitates it and chews it some more. (This is quite earthy, but one gets the picture.)

While ruminating, I may ask if the word or phrase chosen has anything to do with what might be happening in my life. Is there something I should be doing or not doing that this word or phrase is reminding me about? Does the word or phrase inspire some feeling within me? Does it provide a consolation and, if so, why?

I have found that lectio divina is a prayer that works well. I believe that is so because the Holy Spirit, who inspired the original Scripture passage, continues to inspire today.

If I am truly open to seeking the Spirit, I am confident that He can and will speak to me.

God bless you on your Lenten journey!

From the Archbishop

Deepen prayer life with ‘lectio divina’ this Lent

OFFICIAL His Excellency, the Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Effective March 2, 2015 • Reverend Albert Backmann, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Divine Mercy in Faribault and the Church of Saint Michael in Kenyon.

Effective March 9, 2015 • Reverend Gregory Gallagher, OMI, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Casimir and the Church of Saint Patrick, both in Saint Paul. Father Gallagher succeeds Father James Loiacono, OMI, who has been reassigned outside the Archdiocese by his superior.

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Local

4

Bishops advocate for top-priority bills

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Bishops from each of Minnesota’s six dioceses met with Gov. Mark Dayton and state lawmakers March 5 to discuss legislation on a range of issues, from immigration and education to poverty relief and commercial gestational surrogacy.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis said the meetings focused on particular bills in committees, not broad policy positions.

“All the legislators and the governor would know our strong positions on marriage, on life, our support for the poor,” he said. “We want to focus on specific pieces of legislation in this particular legislative period that are going to be practical.”

The bishops’ day at the Capitol is an annual event coordinated by the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

MCC staff advocates for public policy on behalf of the bishops, who serve as its board members.

Participating this year were Archbishop Nienstedt, Bishop Andrew Cozzens and Bishop Lee Piché of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston; Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth; Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm; Bishop Donald Kettler of St. Cloud; and Bishop John Quinn of Winona.

As in previous years, the bishops began the day with a breakfast meeting with Dayton, where they took turns championing specific bills and asking for the governor’s support, should the measures pass the Legislature.

Archbishop Nienstedt focused on poverty-relief measures, including Homes for All, which supports an additional $39 million in funding for affordable housing, and Prosperity for All, which would boost subsidies to Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) recipients by $100 per month.

“Right now those [MFIP] families are only receiving about $532” per month, he told The Catholic Spirit.

“There hasn’t been any change in that subsidy since 1986, so it’s really out of step with trying to keep up with inflation.”

Bishop Quinn said he presented on the importance of immigrants without a legal U.S. status to the state’s economy, and the bishops’ support of a measure to allow them to apply for a provisional drivers’ license.

“I found the governor very engaging, and he really listens,” he said.

Archbishop Nienstedt said Dayton joked that the breakfast was “very expensive,” as several of the bishops’ key measures would require state funding, but the archbishop perceived the governor to be “very open to the kind of concerns that we have.”

The state faces a projected $1.9

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

In front of creditors, archdiocese addresses property values, CSA

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit

Archbishop John Nienstedt talks with St. Ambrose of Woodbury parishioner and State Rep. Kelly Fenton, R-Woodbury, in her office at the State Office Building March 5.

Bishops from all six of Minnesota’s dioceses attended the annual advocacy event, coordinated by the Minnesota Catholic Conference. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit billion surplus, and Dayton’s original budget proposal, released Jan. 27, identifies education, working families and transportation infrastructure as his top funding priorities. The governor plans to release a supplemental budget soon.

Seeking common ground After meeting with the governor, the bishops met with legislators, including leadership of both chambers, at the State Office Building adjacent to the Capitol.

During a mid-day break, Bishop Cozzens said he felt the Democrat and Republican lawmakers with whom he had met had listened thoughtfully to the bishops’ policy positions.

“With both parties, we have areas that we have common ground, and with both parities, we have areas that we don’t have common ground,” Bishop Cozzens said.

In the meeting with the governor, he focused on school choice issues, including the bishops’ support for an educational savings account for children with disabilities, which would allow parents to determine how best to meet their children’s needs.

“Catholic social teaching says parents are the first educators of their children, and they have the right to be the first educators of their children and a right to choose the education they want to,” he said. “Many of our parents can’t afford the private school they think would be best for their child, so we’re also looking at ways to give them tax credits or tax breaks that would allow them to have that choice they would like to make for their child.”

The bishops see school choice issues as state cost-savers; Minnesota Catholic schools save taxpayers $400 million annually, Bishop Cozzens said.

The bishops met with most legislators as pairs. Bishop Cozzens teamed with Bishop Piché, who

focused on Restore the Vote, a measure that would return voting privileges to people convicted of felonies but who have served their sentences. “Since our goal is to try to rehabilitate them and get them integrated into community as productive and law-abiding citizens, we want to encourage that they would be granted an opportunity to return to the voting booth,” Bishop Piché said. “We’re finding support in both parties for this bill.”

Offering a ‘fuller picture’ The bishops and the state’s lawmakers are both “promoters of the common good,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “I think there is common ground there. We don’t come at it from the same vantage point, but I think it’s very complementary.”

Jason Adkins, MCC executive director, said the state’s Catholic conference has focused on championing bills that could attract bipartisan support. Among those is a bill to establish a commission to study commercial surrogacy.

“There are so many considerations,” he said. “We’re obviously concerned about the exploitation of women and the commodification of children, but there are also significant health concerns, [and] the fact that surrogacy is now a $4 billion business in the United States, and there’s really an industry surrounding this [practice]. Even though we have ethical concerns with surrogacy arrangements, what we really need to understand is, if we’re going to have this in Minnesota . . . we need to make sure we properly regulate it.”

Policy bills need to pass out of at least one committee in both the state House and Senate by March 27 to be viable for the second part of the session, Adkins said, adding that the bishops were visiting during “a very exciting time” as that deadline approaches.

Creditors of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and attorneys for victims/ survivors of clergy sexual abuse with claims against the archdiocese sought clarification in a meeting of creditors Feb. 24 on the archdiocese’s financial assets and operations as reported in its Jan. 16 filing for Reorganization under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy code and subsequent required filings.

Thomas Mertens, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, answered questions under oath at the U.S. Federal Building in Minneapolis, presided over by Sarah J. Wencil on behalf of the U.S. Trustee for Region 12, Daniel McDermott.

The requests for clarification centered primarily on the value of property listed in the filings and about specific payments to various entities during the 90 days prior to the filing.

Mertens said the archdiocese planned to ask the bankruptcy judge for permission to sell three of its properties in St. Paul: the chancery office and attached archbishop’s residence, the Hayden Center and the Dayton Building.

Before any sale could be considered, the request would also have to be approved by the Archdiocesan Finance Council and the College of Consultors.

St. Paul attorney Jeffrey Anderson, representing a group of victims/survivors, also questioned the establishment of the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation in December 2013 and whether its founding aimed to shelter assets of the archdiocese before the reorganization filing. Mertens responded that the Catholic Service Appeal Foundation was created to honor donor intent. He explained a separate board of directors decides how Catholic Services Appeal funds will be distributed, and that Archbishop John Nienstedt is not on that board and does not appoint members of the board, who are all lay men and women.

For a longer version of this story, please visit www.

TheCatholicSpirit.com.

5 Continued from page 1 The moral quandary has gained new attention in light of the January outbreak of measles linked to Disneyland in California.

Dr. Mary Ann Kish, who recently retired after 30 years as an infectious disease specialist, said that because most people, including doctors, haven’t seen the effects of measles — thanks to the use of the vaccine — some fears have become downplayed.

“People aren’t used to understanding measles as a bad disease, and when you don’t understand measles as a bad disease, you’re not going to take vaccination seriously,” said Kish, a parishioner of St. William in Fridley who also has theology degrees from St. John’s University in Collegeville.

Complications of the disease range from the relatively mild such as ear infection and croup to those more severe — encephalitis, an infection of the brain, and death.

Until about 2008, measles cases were down to between 20 and 60 per year, Kish said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27, 2015, 170 people from across the U.S. (one from Minnesota) were reported to have measles.

The measles vaccination is part of the MMR trifecta, which also includes vaccines against mumps and rubella. It’s typically administered to a child at 12 to 15 months of age, according to the CDC, which also states that in the U.S. there is only one licensed MMR vaccine. It is manufactured by the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Merck.

Vaccination origins It is a point of fact, although not widely known, that some common vaccines are derived from cells of fetuses aborted five decades ago.

Paul Wojda, associate theology professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and past chairman of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Biomedical Ethics Commission, explained that pharmaceutical companies continued to culture and cultivate the cells to develop some vaccines.

In 2003, the Florida-based Children of God for Life sent an official inquiry to the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith seeking clarification on parents’ right to oppose those vaccines, when mandated by state law. The CDC commissioned the Pontifical Academy for Life to study the issue of “tainted” vaccines.

Its findings, published in English in 2005, found that there were two cell lines “originally prepared from tissues of aborted fetuses (in 1964 and 1970) and are used for the preparation of vaccines based on life attenuated virus.” These cell lines were used in nine vaccines against rubella and six vaccines against other diseases including hepatitis A, rabies and smallpox.

The study’s findings identified the brand names of the vaccines.

“Morally, that’s important,” Wojda said.

“For those individuals who for in [good] conscience want to avoid any cooperation with original acts of abortion, the information the Vatican provided is very helpful. Parents can ask their [health care] provider what the brand name is” for the scheduled vaccine.

Kish noted that parents can receive

information from their pediatricians, state and public health departments and the CDC website.

“Catholics have a responsibility to educate themselves about vaccines,” she said. Kish has two adult sons.

In good conscience With this knowledge, may a Catholic parent in good conscience have their child vaccinated, even if the vaccine available has a link to the aborted fetuses?

The Vatican document says yes.

In the 2005 statement, the Pontifical Academy for Life asserted that one may use these products, despite their distant association with abortion, at least until new vaccines become available. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops concurs. “The recipient of the vaccine took no part Dr. Mary Ann in decisions to base KISH the vaccine on this morally unacceptable source, but is coping with the results of immoral decisions made by others,” its website states.

Wojda explained how the Pontifical Academy for Life applied the “principle of cooperation” to come to its conclusion, the central concept being distance — how close a person is to the original “morally wicked deed” that was performed. In this case, the abortion.

“In the Catholic moral tradition, it’s long been understood that we live in a morally complex society,” said Wojda, himself a father who attends St. Mark in St. Paul.

“Certainly, if I have my child vaccinated with the measles vaccine, that in no way suggests that I approve of those abortions.

We can benefit from the consequences of an original evil deed without affirming that deed.”

The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pa., guides parents in no uncertain terms: “One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion.” The reason, it states, is because the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine.

“This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them,” its website states.

Wojda said the Vatican document stresses that inoculating children in no way implicates parents. Furthermore, he said, there are other issues at stake, namely, the health and well-being of all children, and a moral obligation to protect and not unnecessarily endanger the lives of the larger community.

“A fundamental principle of the Catholic faith is the dedication to the common good.

Catholics are for public health,” added Wojda, who also has served as an ethics consultant to Catholic Health Initiatives, the country’s largest Catholic health care provider, as well as on the perinatal bioethics committee of Hennepin County Medical Center.

However, caveats exist. The Pontifical Academy for Life stresses that “the faithful

and citizens of upright conscience” even while they vaccinate, should “oppose, even by making an objection of conscience, the ever more widespread attacks against life and the ‘culture of death’ which underlies them. . . . [Catholics] have a duty to take recourse to alternative vaccines (if they exist), putting pressure on the political authorities and health systems so that other vaccines without moral problems become available.”

Kish said that because there aren’t a lot of vaccine manufacturers, there aren’t a lot of vaccine alternatives. Merck’s MMR, for example, uses a cell line derived from an aborted fetus. Some ethical-vaccine advocates are petitioning them to develop a new, “clean” MMR vaccine, or to separate measles, mumps and rubella into single-dose vaccines, a practice it ended in 2008.

Wojda suggested the following language for a conversation with “A fundamental pediatricians: “My duty to my child and the entire population principle of the requires me to strongly encourage you to seek alternatives to this Catholic faith is the vaccine.”

“We can all do a little bit in dedication to the terms of raising that protest,” he said. common good.

Wojda compared the situation to animal rights advocates calling for Catholics are for people to change their eating habits. public health.”

“The idea is, if you’re buying food that was factory-farmed, Paul Wojda, associate theology you’re somehow complicit,” Wojda professor at the University of said. “But maybe you can’t afford St. Thomas in St. Paul to buy free-range chickens and grass-fed beef.”

Ultimately, Wojda said, the issue comes down to the benefits outweighing the risks.

“Respect for vaccinating is a pro-life cause,” he said. “Principles of cooperation have been applied. We are complicit, but in such a remote way that using the vaccines is morally justifiable. We benefit in countless ways in a society that tolerates a lot of this, so none of us really lives with entirely ‘clean hands.’ It’s almost impossible.”

He added, “Now more than ever, people need to be informed about where their medicines come from.”

Local

Catholics called to push for alternatives to ‘tainted’ vaccines

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

6

Remembering Selma

Local

Father Erich Rutten, third from right, chair of the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, participates in an event March 8 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march in Selma, Ala., led by Martin Luther King Jr. It became known as “Bloody Sunday” after law enforcement violently confronted activists. In St. Paul, local religious leaders joined Father Rutten, including Steve Hunegs, second from right, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, and Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.

More than 1,000 people marched from the State Capitol to Central Presbyterian Church. “I’m glad to honor this day and honor the memory of those who got beat up for just trying to stand for justice,” said Father Rutten, who also is director of campus ministry at the University of St. Thomas. “Dr. King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We should not pretend that we don’t need to care.”

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Radio’s ‘Reverend Know-It-All’ to keynote Archdiocesan Men’s Conference March 21 The Catholic Spirit Men, get ready for Reverend Know-It-All. Father Richard Simon, the blogging, talk-radio hosting priest unafraid of any question that has to do with the Catholic faith, is coming to the Twin Cities as the featured speaker at the annual Archdiocesan Men’s Conference March 21.

Conquering sin is the theme of this year’s gathering — open to men and boys of all ages — which will be held at Anderson Athletic and Recreation Center on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Father Simon, the pastor of St. Lambert Parish in Skokie, Ill., writes a blog — tongue-in-cheek titled Reverend Know-It-All — and, for the past year and a half has been a fixture on Relevant Radio. He hosts the weekday 10 a.m. hour-long program “Father Simon Says,” which includes a reflection on the day’s Mass readings, Father’s word of the day and a call-in question and answer segment.

Jeff Cavins, director of evangelization and catechesis for the archdiocese, said those who attend will enjoy Father Simon for his humor and his street smarts.

“Father Simon is that rare combination of an academic with very practical, street-level advice for people,” Cavins said.

Cavins said Father Simon has done considerable work in the area of sin and brokenness.

“When we look at men’s lives, one of the great barriers of intimacy between them and God, and them and their families, is sin,” Cavins said.

Father Richard SIMON

“Sin separates and isolates,” he added, and the result of that lack of relationships with God and others is that they do not get the fruit of God in their lives.

Doors open for adoration and confession at 7 a.m., followed by Mass at 8 a.m. and breakfast before the conference starts at 9 a.m.

To register, visit www.archspm.org, click on events and scroll down to the Men’s Conference on March 21.

Walk-ins are welcome the day of the conference.

Wehmeyer dismissed from clerical state The Catholic Spirit Just after the two-year anniversary of the criminal conviction of Curtis Wehmeyer, former pastor of Blessed Sacrament parish in St. Paul, Wehmeyer received word in prison that Pope Francis had dismissed him from the clerical state.

“The effect of this decision is that Wehmeyer has been permanently and definitively barred from presenting himself as a priest or exercising priestly ministry,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said. “He is also prohibited from exercising a teaching or leadership role in any Catholic institution. This decision is the final resolution of Wehmeyer’s status as a priest.”

In February 2013, Wehmeyer was convicted in Ramsey County of 20 felony charges for sexual abuse of two minors and possession of child pornography.

He was sentenced to 60 months in prison. On Nov. 7, 2014, Wehmeyer was also charged in Chippewa County, Wis., with second degree sexual assault

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

regarding an incident that occurred in the summer of 2011. Wehmeyer remains incarcerated.

Wehmeyer also served as associate pastor at St. Joseph in West St. Paul and pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle in St. Paul. His name and assignment history are listed on the archdiocese’s public list of priests who have substantiated claims against them regarding sexual abuse of a minor.

A substantiated claim is one for which sufficient evidence exists to establish reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged abuse occurred. Anyone having knowledge of sexual abuse of a minor should call law enforcement and is encouraged to contact the archdiocese at (651) 291-4497.

“I am deeply saddened and have been profoundly affected by the stories I continue to hear from victims/ survivors of clergy sexual abuse,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “My focus, and the focus of the archdiocese, is to do all we can to keep children safe while offering resources for help and healing.”

Catholics encouraged to attend Chrism Mass to support priests

By Anthony Gockowski For The Catholic Spirit Archbishop John Nienstedt will celebrate the annual Chrism Mass 7 p.m. March 26 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. During the liturgy, an assembly of priests, young and old, will gather with the archbishop to renew their promises on the threshold of the Easter Triduum.

Father Marc Paveglio, ordained to the priesthood in May 2014, will be renewing his priestly promises for the first time.

“It highlights the fact that the promises I made on my ordination day last year are not about me, they are about the people I have been called to serve,” said Father Paveglio, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. “It is fitting that the Chrism Mass happens during the Lenten season, when we consider how to lay down our lives like Christ did for us.”

The young priest noted that each day married couples have the opportunity to reaffirm their vows. For Father Paveglio, the Chrism Mass will be an opportunity to do the same.

“At the Chrism Mass, I am looking forward to saying again to Christ’s bride, the Church, ‘I meant what I said, my life is totally for you, this day and Father Marc forever,’” Father Paveglio said.

PAVEGLIO Father John Paul Erickson, director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, called the Chrism Mass “a particularly powerful manifestation of the Church herself.”

“During these difficult days for our local Church, it is important to show support for the many priests who continue to serve the people of God with integrity and zeal,” Father Erickson said.

A gathering of the faithful is both an opportunity to show support for priests and to be united in one common mission, he added.

During the Chrism Mass, Archbishop Nienstedt will bless three different oils: the oil of catechumens, for adult and infant baptisms; the oil of the sick, for the sacrament of the anointing of the sick; and the oil of chrism — a fragranced oil blessed only by the bishop for baptisms, confirmations, ordination and the consecration of sacred spaces.

7 St. Alphonsus, St. Mark set to change teaching models

verbs,” Brown said.

Innovative approach

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit Student strengths and individual learning are at the core of a new educational initiative two Twin Cities Catholic grade schools plan to launch this fall. Drawing on the success of a school in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., St. Alphonsus Parish School in Brooklyn Park and St. Mark’s Catholic School in St. Paul are aiming to show all students they are smart, “just smart differently,” said Kari Staples, St. Alphonsus’ principal.

“It’s helping students learn where their strengths are and how they can use that in all their subjects, and figuring out where their negative mental habits become road blocks,” she said.

The model — called “IDEALS” — is rooted in Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory. It identifies eight intelligences — spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, linguistic and logicalmathematic — and posits that each person is stronger in some intelligences than others. According to the theory, students learn best when using their strongest intelligences.

Teaching to multiple intelligences Traditional school teaching, with teachers standing at the front of the

Kari Staples, principal of St. Alphonsus Parish School in Brooklyn Park, and Zach Zeckser, principal of St. Mark’s Catholic School in St. Paul, are implementing in their schools this fall a new educational initiative called IDEALS, based on Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit. class talking and writing on chalk boards, appeals only to linguistic and mathematical-logical intelligences, according to advocates of the multiple intelligence theory.

For lessons to reach the emotional center of every student, teachers need to incorporate diverse materials and activities. This is achieved through a “miniproduction” that touches as many intelligences as possible in 20 minutes.

As big as the idea initially sounds, implementation can be simple, its advocates say.

Angie Brown, a second-grade teacher at St. Mark, sees her teenage

daughter as an example of how multiple intelligences work.

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have set her education to music,” Brown said. “She learns everything through music. She set the quadratic equation to ‘Pop Goes the Weasel.’ She can’t even say it; she has to sing it.”

In practice, not every lesson may include all the intelligences, but the goal is to hit each intelligence at some point during the day. For Brown and other teachers, it’s doing many of the things they already do more intentionally and intensively.

“It can be as small as using a song or a game of charades to teach

Zach Zeckser, St. Mark’s principal, discovered the educational model at a time when he, the school community and St. Mark pastor, Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Humberto Palomino, were discussing creating what Zeckser called “St. Mark’s 2.0.”

Should they teach Chinese, emphasize technology or become a classical school?

“We wanted something that would distinguish us and be organic,” Zeckser said. “This seems like a really logical step.”

Staples and Zeckser learned of the model through Twin Cities education guru Paul Bernabei, who is on a mission to refocus American education away from test scores and grades and toward human development. A founder of the Top 20 Training initiative, Bernabei was already working with Staples and the staff at St. Alphonsus when he brought up the idea of implementing a multipleintelligence-based model. He knew of a Florida school pioneering the approach, and included it in his 2014 book “Why Students Disengage in American Schools and What We Can Do About It.” Wendy Soderman started the IDEAL School in Royal Palm Beach 20 years ago with her sons — twin 2-year-olds Korey and Kyle, one quadriplegic and one able-bodied but both with normal intelligence.

Not finding a school that fit the needs of both of them, Soderman, a teacher, decided to launch her own school.

Local

Schools strive to engage all ways students learn

Please turn to SCHOOLS on page 27

Through photos, Hill-Murray connects to memory care patients

By Anthony Gockowski For The Catholic Spirit “He used to be a dishwasher!”

The surprised voice of Mady Rogers, a freshman at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, carried across the banquet room where she was flipping through black-and-white photos with her partner, a senior citizen whose life was unfolding via his snapshots: his job as a dishwasher, his father riding in a new Chevrolet, soldiers sipping whisky at a ceasefire.

Rogers placed the photos into a book of memories. Across the room, her freshman classmates did the same for their partners, all Thomas T. Feeney Manor residents living with dementia.

The Feb. 26 memory care project was part of the high school’s ongoing collaboration with Augustana Care, a Christian nonprofit with more than 20 senior housing and health care communities in the Twin Cities.

The project, making memory books, was the brainchild of several Hill-Murray students who wanted to make a lasting impact on the residents of the manor, an assisted living and memory care facility for low-income older adults, owned by

the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “[The project] is a reminder of who has always been there and that they always have someone to go to,” Rogers said.

Augustana Care staff hopes to use the memory books in the future.

“It is a unique response to the difficulties that come with dementia,” said Mary Jo Thorne, Augustana Care regional housing director. “The memory books are designed to stir memories and aid staff members during future [patient] spark ups.”

The intergenerational dialogue also taught students patience and gratitude.

“It lets students see there’s good for everyone,” added Thorne, a parishioner of Transfiguration in Oakdale. “No matter what stage of life you are in you have valuable information to share.”

It is a lesson Thorne hopes to instill in her daughter, Hannah, a Hill-Murray freshman who collaborated with classmates to plan the event.

“The books make it easy to remember family and loved ones they have had,” Hannah said.

Hill-Murray’s various service projects aid the students’ spiritual growth, said

Sierra Arradondo, right, a ninth-grader at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, helps Anne Fearing, a resident at Thomas T. Feeney Manor in Minneapolis, put together a memory book Feb. 26.

Arradondo came with classmates to work with residents. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit Benedictine Sister Linda Soler, HillMurray’s director of campus ministry and student service coordinator.

“Each student lives the beatitudes through service,” she said. “We encourage our students to use their Godgiven gifts and talents to cultivate a spirit

of service and outreach to others.”

Mary Jo Thorne hopes Hill-Murray and Augustana Care will continue their collaboration to bring this project to other locations.

“I just love it,” she said. “It brings tears to my eyes.”

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Vocations • National Catholic Sisters Week

8

What’s so good about being a Sister? Local nuns explain The Catholic Spirit To celebrate National Catholic Sisters Week March 8-14, The Catholic Spirit invited sisters in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to respond to questions about their vocation.

Below they share a glimpse of their calling — from the most rewarding part of religious life to their favorite “nun movie.”

Sister Marian Walstrom Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Q. What do you find to be the most personally rewarding part of religious life?

A. The most rewarding part of being a sister for me has been that I have been surrounded by women who also are committed to the Gospel values of Jesus Christ. I have been supported, encouraged and challenged by them to live those shared values of Sister Marian justice, mercy, compassion WALSTROM and forgiveness in a spirit of joy and peace.

Another great blessing of being a sister has been the ability to love so many people. There is a freedom. I am not limited to focusing my loving on a few, but can be “out there” and I have been incredibly blessed in turn, by all those I have loved.

Q. What saint do you look to as a model for Catholic sisters and why?

A. The model for me is Mary. She was the

life bearer of Jesus Christ in the world. That is what each of us is trying to do — to bring the presence of Christ and his mercy and compassion to all whom we meet. She is also a model of trust and hope.

Q. What do you wish everyone understood about Catholic sisters?

A. I would want people to realize that we are ordinary women who are trying to live the Gospel of Jesus. We are not perfect, but we are striving to treat ourselves and others with compassion.

Sister Theresa Missionary Sister of St. Peter Claver Q. What do you find to be the most personally rewarding part of religious life?

A. Daring to say yes with Mary. As we live

out our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, we become free to serve God in the way he chooses. At first it might seem difficult, restrictive, or even impossible. In reality, doing God’s will “gives us wings” to fly high and to open wide the doors of our hearts to all.

Q. What saint do you look to as a model for Catholic sisters and why?

A. I look to Blessed Mary Theresa Ledóchowska. In spite of her frail health, she had an unquenchable thirst to bring the message of God’s love to the African peoples. Through her great trust in and total reliance on God, no obstacle was too great to overcome in order to cooperate in the salvation of souls.

Q. What do you think Catholic sisters learn from non-professed women?

A. Women, especially married women, give us a beautiful witness of fidelity as they accept the everyday challenges and responsibilities of raising a family. Often times their personal ambitions and desires are set aside for the good of the family. Or should I say, their desires are transformed into something greater than personal achievement.

God still calls…

Q. What can married and

single (non-religious) women learn from sisters?

Will you answer?

The Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery Duluth, Minnesota

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A. I believe they can learn the joy that comes from living a life of simplicity; a life focused on who we are as persons seeking an ever deeper relationship with God rather than on material possessions or personal success.

Sister Mary Juliana Cox Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia Q. What do you find to be the most personally rewarding part of religious life?

A. The most personally

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

rewarding part of religious life is the gift of being a bride of Christ. Entering into a loving relationship with Jesus is something all of the faithful are called to do by their baptisms, but to be united to Jesus as his spouse is a gift beyond expression.

Q. What saint do you look to as a model for Catholic sisters and why?

A. Our Dominican sister, St. Catherine of Siena, I believe is a beautiful model of Catholic sisters. Her holy audacity and desire to preach the word is something each sister should aspire to.

Sister Mary Juliana COX

Q. What do you think Catholic sisters learn from non-professed women?

A. I have learned very much from many moms and wives. I believe our vocations complement each other beautifully, as both are vocations to motherhood, either spiritual or physical motherhood. I am reminded also of the reality of spiritual motherhood as I watch moms at Mass showing their little ones Jesus present on the altar. I ask myself if I am pointing out Jesus to the children in our school [St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater] by the way I live my life.

Q. What can married and single (non-religious) women learn from sisters?

A. Since our vocations are complementary, lay women can be reminded from religious sisters of the importance for a strong prayer life to sustain all the activities in which we find ourselves engaged. Religious live a more structured prayer life — our life frees us for times of prayer on purpose. Moms are not called to the same atmosphere of prayer to which religious are called, but can certainly foster a life of prayer in their families appropriate to their schedules (in the car, at the dinner table, etc.).

Q. What is your favorite “nun movie” and why?

A. I enjoyed the movie “Trouble with Angels” because I could see myself in the young girl who entered the convent. She was pretty clueless about religious life, but the Lord broke through that ignorance and formed her himself!

Q. What’s the funniest question you get as a sister? How do you answer?

A. While not the funniest, it is likely the most common: Do you still carry rulers (as they show their knuckles)? I used to carry a very small ruler in my pocket just for those opportunities. You should have seen their faces when I pulled it out!

I generally respond with a laugh and let them know that my dad was often rapped on the knuckles by his teacher, but he never attended a Catholic school. So much of that methodology was due to the philosophy of the time. Thank goodness we don’t do that anymore!

Continued on the next page

9 Continued from the previous page

Sister Midge Breiter School Sister of Notre Dame Q. What do you find to be the most

A. Opportunities for retreats and spiritual direction, and daily quiet prayer.

personally rewarding part of religious life?

A. For me, the most rewarding part of religious life is living in community with other women like-minded in heart and soul.

Q. What do you think Catholic sisters learn

from non-professed women?

A. For years, women religious kept to themselves and related very minimally to lay women. Today, we are addressing many issues in our world with other women. For example, we work in partnership with other women and men who focus on trafficking in Minnesota. Together we work with agencies that tackle homelessness and hunger. We are right alongside lay women and men as we study Scripture. From lay women, we learn to make better connections with the corporate world, better ways to facilitate groups and make ourselves more visible.

Q. What do you wish everyone understood about Catholic sisters?

A. Sometimes I wish more people would

understand that it is what is in the heart of a religious that makes her a religious. I still hear people express that they wish we wore a habit.

With or without a habit, we are called and sent to bring unity and peace to all God’s people.

Today, we do that with our lay sisters and brothers.

Q. What is your favorite “nun movie”

and why?

A. Sometimes I feel offended by how we are

portrayed in movies and on greeting cards. I guess we can consider it free advertising and go on from there. We have a story to tell by the way we live, and if it is portrayed in a movie like “Sister Act” or “The Sound of Music,” so be it. People did enjoy these movies, as did I.

Sister Barbara Thomalla Servants of Mary Q. What do you find to be the most

Sister Barbara THOMALLA

Q. What do you wish everyone understood about Catholic sisters?

women learn from sisters?

A. Prayers and religious practices I have shared with married and single women, I have learned as a Sister of Charity. Those who can’t duplicate our religious horarium of daily prayer, due to their obligations, can be strengthened by the same virtues of trust and obedience along their journey.

Q. What do you wish everyone understood about Catholic sisters?

A. Many sisters live in houses and apartments with one or two other sisters or non-sisters; all sisters do not live in convents. Sisters are financially supported by an order of sisters; sisters are not paid or financially supported by a Catholic parish.

A. I wish everyone understood that each sister is unique; we are not ready-made saints.

Mother Marie-Andre Wilson Sisters of Charity of Our Lady, Mother of the Church Q. What saint do you look to as a model

A. Sidney Poitier’s “Lilies of the Field” shows the essential lay-religious collaboration that documents following Vatican II have underscored, and the strength of character of the leading nun reminds me of St. Teresa of Avila’s dynamic determination, as she was instituting her reform of the Carmels.

for Catholic sisters and why?

A. Our Lady, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is the prime model for Catholic sisters. Mary’s devotion to God’s will, prayer and charity, most closely modeled our Lord’s life. Whether contemplative or active-contemplative, the mysteries of Mary’s strength and sweetness add those same qualities to the lives of us sisters.

Q. What do you think Catholic sisters learn from non-professed women?

A. We learn heroic devotion to family and to Church within the world.

Perseverance in the struggle to keep one’s self, family and friends faithful to God and his Church is a daunting task, which these prayerful and hard-working women witness to a world that seeks to shut God out.

Q. What is your favorite “nun movie” and why?

Mother Marie-Andre WILSON

National Catholic Sisters Week

personally rewarding part of religious life?

Q. What’s the funniest question you get as a sister?

A. The funniest questions relate to basic everyday things: Do you wear pajamas? (delightful); Do you eat sugar/a cupcake? Do you wear your habit to bed? Perhaps it’s a good sign that people understand our fundamental separation from the world, even as we sometimes sustain our bodies with cupcakes.

Q. What can married and single (non-religious)

Sisters of St. Johseph of Carondelet & Consociates invite you to

csjstpaul.org March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & World

10

As Islamic State steps up attacks, Christian leaders call for help

German archdiocese plans new residents for old abbey: refugees Catholic News Service

By Dale Gavlak Catholic News Service Christian leaders again called for help for Assyrian Christians as Islamic State militants stepped up their attacks against their towns in northern Syria.

Syria’s northeast Hassakeh province is emerging as the new battlefield in the fight against the extremist group. Analysts say Hassakeh province, which extends like a thumb into neighboring Iraq and Turkey, could become the faultline of a new multifront and lengthy war between Islamic State militants and Christians allied with Kurdish fighters.

The March attacks follow a raid by Islamic State militants on a cluster of villages along the Khabur River Feb. 23. More than 220 Assyrian Christian residents and other minorities were abducted then.

About 20 Assyrian Christians were later released. In Iraq, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako called on the central government a nd the international community “to act as soon as possible for the protection of innocent civilians and to offer them the necessary assistance in lodging, food and medication.”

The Islamic State “is burning everything: human beings, stones and civilization,” he said in a March 9 statement. He said thousands of families have been displaced by the fighting. “This is obviously a human catastrophe that cannot suffer any silence,” he added.

Beuerberg Abbey in Beuerberg, Germany, as seen Jan. 9. The 12th-century monastery will house up to 60 refugees from Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. CNS

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, and the prioress of the Visitandine order have worked a deal to house refugees in the Beuerberg Abbey, founded in 1121 but now standing empty in the snowy landscape of the Alpine foothills.

They hope that, within a few months, families from Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones can find a home here. “[Un]til then, we need to get a lot of building permissions and works organized,” said Gabriele Ruttiger, head of strategy and organizational development for the archdiocese.

Msgr. Peter Beer, archdiocesan vicar general, sees Beuerberg Abbey as a test case and model for the future use of the more than 100 monasteries across Upper Bavaria, a growing number of which are threatened by the drastic decline in vocations.

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The Knights of Columbus is providing $400,000 to relief programs sponsored by the Catholic Church in Ukraine. The violent conflict in Ukraine has created “an enormous humanitarian disaster in the freezing winter months,” the fraternal organization said in announcing the aid. Gifts by the Knights of $200,000 each to the Eastern- and Latin-rite Catholic communities of Ukraine are being used for humanitarian relief, including projects that feed and aid homeless children and refugees living on the streets of the capital city of Kiev, it said.

Pope Francis is a radical reformer who is facing enemies — inside and outside of the Church — opposed to at least some parts of his agenda, said a prominent Church historian.

Massimo Faggioli, an assistant theology professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and an expert on the Second Vatican Council, said the pope is not a liberal who exalts the individual as the center of the world and who sees a minimal role for the Church in public life.

Rather, he sees the Church as having a role in society and indeed, “in everything humans go through,” Faggioli said at the annual Anthony Jordan Lectures Series Feb. 28 at St. Joseph Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta. “That is not a liberal thought; it’s a radical Christian thought.”

Faggioli is the author of several books including “Pope Francis: Tradition in Transition,” which will be published by Paulist Press in May. Pope Francis, Faggioli said, sees himself as having two mandates for reform. The first he received from cardinals at the March 2013 conclave, which made him its surprise choice for pope. That mandate is to deal with problems of Vatican finances, corruption, sexual abuse and curial reform, Faggioli said.

There is consensus on the need to carry out that type of reform,

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and the pope faces no significant opposition to implementing it, he said.

“From the very beginning, however, he made it clear that he had another mandate that was not coming from the conclave or the institution,” Faggioli said. That is his “popular mandate” that arose out of his experience as archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The popular mandate, Faggioli said, is defined by his comment, “Who am I to judge?” in reference to a gay person “who is seeking God, who is of goodwill.” “This is the real challenge he is offering the church,” Faggioli said. “It’s where he’s making some enemies.”

It also includes dealing with new issues that have arisen since the Second Vatican Council, such as the role of women in the Church, the family and marriage, he said. It further includes his creation of the nine-member Council of Cardinals that meets every two months to help him govern the Church.

A cardinal saying he would resist the pope if the pope undermines Church unity is “something new; it’s unprecedented,” he said without naming specific cardinals.

Typically, people opposing Pope Francis are those who “have been saying for decades that the most important thing about being Catholic is to obey the pope. But when they receive a pope they don’t like, they become liberal Catholics,” he said.

Knights of Columbus send aid to Ukraine’s Catholics

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Notre Dame’s Father Hesburgh laid to rest with grand memorial Large-scale memorials preceded a March 4 funeral Mass for Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh at the University of Notre Dame. The former university president has been credited with transforming the small Catholic college of the 1950s known for its football team into the world-class academic research institution that it is today.

He is also recognized as a champion for world peace, immigration reform, nuclear disarmament, civil and human rights, who advised several popes and U.S. presidents on a wide array of social concerns. He died Feb. 26 at age 97.

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Cardinal Egan, retired New York archbishop, dies at age 82 Cardinal Edward Egan, who retired as archbishop of New York in 2009, died March 5. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. He was 82.

A funeral Mass for Cardinal Egan was celebrated the afternoon of March 10 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told Catholics of the archdiocese he was saddened to tell them “our beloved” Cardinal Egan “has gone home to the Lord.”

U.S. & World

UST historian unpacks pushback against pope

WASHINGTON

Four national publications call for death penalty’s end Four nationally circulated Catholic publications called for abolishing the death penalty in the United States in a jointly published editorial. America, National Catholic Register, National Catholic Reporter and Our Sunday Visitor urged their readers, the U.S. Catholic community and people of faith to “stand with us and say, ‘Capital punishment must end,’” the editorial stated. The editorial was published online March 5 by each publication and was to appear in the printed versions of each journal in the coming weeks.

Dennis Coday, editor of National Catholic Reporter, said the effort evolved after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed in January to hear arguments in an Oklahoma death penalty case.

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By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit In the purchase and subsequent consumption of what’s playfully dubbed “Irish Holy Water,” fans of Finnegans beer are feeding the hungry in Minnesota, which has included clients of Catholic Charities in the past.

Since its beginning 15 years ago, the Minneapolis-based beer company has centered its business model on the common good, contributing 100 percent of its profits to alleviate hunger.

Finnegans’ formula is simple: It starts with “good beer” found at local restaurants, bars and liquor stores, and puts that profit into the Finnegans Community Fund, which buys fresh produce from local farms. In turn, Finnegans donates the fresh produce to food shelves to be distributed to people in need. Paying for the produce at market-rate, Finnegans provid es farmers with an income and people in need with healthy food.

“I know that in the last decade, we’ve seen the number of people going to food shelves double,” said Finnegans founder and Chief Executive Officer Jacquie Berglund. “The largest growing segments are military families and college students. We need to work harder and have our citizens meet their basic needs.”

Up until two years ago when Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis stopped operating food shelves, it had benefitted from Finnegans’ outreach.

With the notion of “we’re here to serve others,” Berglund said the company is proof that a small group of committed people “can do anything.”

In Finnegans’ case, the staff of five has created and run a social enterprise that is self-sustainable, Berglund said. Next to Newman’s Own brand, Finnegans is the second longest-running company in the country that has a 100 percent profit business model.

Because of government regulations, Finnegans is really two companies: the for-profit company that owns the brand and pays the bills, and the non-profit company that donates all its proceeds — more than half a million dollars to anti-hunger efforts since its start in 2000.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit “The most important thing to me is creating community wealth and giving it back,” Berglund said.

Finnegans also is celebrating one year of its Reverse Food Truck, which collects food and monetary donations, furthering its mission to “put hunger in the rearview.”

In addition to Minnesota, Finnegans partners with farmers and distributes in Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and soon, Iowa.

Messaging the mission

Minneapolis, said the Catholic component of that wit comes out more the closer it gets to St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, a Facebook “confessional” allowed people to type in a sin and, depending on its severity, St. Patrick determined how many Finnegans would be the “penance.”

In advertising Finnegans’ Reverse Food Truck, Moudry, who has brothers and uncles who are priests, pointed to the slogans: “Just a food truck. Like Mother Teresa was just a really nice lady” and “Give us this day your daily bread . . . or canned goods . . . or instant mashed potatoes.”

“We’ve had a mission to take her [Berglund’s] mission of 100 percent giving to local working charities to another level,” Moudry said.

Berglund explained the paradox of the company. “We are a beer company — it’s fun and it’s social — so bringing that social piece, which can be a social evil, to make it into something good.”

Moudry said Berglund has been an inspiration to the Martin Williams staff not only through her service, but also by “using a beer brand in such a charming way that allows people to laugh and have fun. But the mission is not lost,” he said, adding that the agency only takes on pro bono work if they trust that the client is helping to make the world a better place.

Faith & Culture

A good beer: Finnegans celebrates 15 years of feeding the hungry

From the “holy water” reference to its haloed shamrock logo, Finnegans adopts from Catholic culture, thanks, in part, to Catholics behind its For more information about Finnegans, advertising. visit finnegans.org.

The company’s philanthropic mission led Tom Moudry and his team at Martin Williams in Are you a military veteran?

Minneapolis to offer the advertising agency’s work pro Have you experienced combat or any other trauma? bono.

“We have been able to find a very fun tone for the personality The Minneapolis VA Health Care System is seeking veteran of the brand,” said Moudry, chief creative officer. “When you have an Irish amber beer, and you’re selling it in the Twin Cities, we’ve found there’s an opportunity for benevolence and leprechaun wit.”

To learn more about this study, please call 612-467-5737.

Moudry, a parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in

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March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Lent

14

‘Simply being open to God’

Prayer is easier than most think, experts say, and Lent is a time to rexamine one’s routine

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

E

lbert Watkins knocked on the back door of a house on the corner of Fremont and 16th in north Minneapolis.

He found a warm welcome from its residents, the Visitation Sisters known by neighborhood residents, such as Watkins, as the “nuns in the hood.”

Like dozens of people every month, Watkins was there to get help with practical needs. The sisters routinely give away bus tokens, groceries and Cub Foods gift cards to help struggling people stay afloat.

But, in this case, the sisters sensed that Watkins needed more than charity; what Watkins really needed on that winter day was prayer. He is battling throat cancer, and it has attacked his vocal cords. He only speaks in a barely audible whisper.

All he needed to do was nod when Sister Katherine Mullen asked him in the kitchen if he wanted prayer.

Without removing her apron, she put aside the task of preparing lunch and put her hand on Watkins’ shoulder, bowed her head and asked God to help him.

Moments later, Sister Mary Frances Reis came through the door and, without waiting to remove her coat, joined in the prayer.

Before Watkins left, the sisters invited him into their modest chapel for noon prayer. After about 15 minutes of psalms, hymns and sharing, the sisters stood up and invited Watkins to the front for the closing prayer. They circled him, laid hands on him, and petitioned God for healing.

Watkins was visibly moved, though unable to vocalize his gratitude.

That wasn’t a roadblock for the sisters.

They merely did what they always do — carry a deep relationship with God from the privacy of their hearts into the lives of everyone they meet.

GIVE FAST PRAY LIVE LENT

A natural part of life The sisters’ half-hour with Watkins demonstrated a perfect link between the practice of prayer and another Lenten discipline, almsgiving. For the sisters, the two go hand in hand.

But, the sisters said, it all starts with prayer.

“I think prayer is a way of moving through your day,” said Sister Suzanne Homeyer. “Prayer is something that’s

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Photos, clockwise from left: S in north Minneapolis; Elbert W Brenda Lisenby, Sister Mary F conveying their religious devo includes the Liturgy of the Ho

“If people say, ‘ How are your lis Elizabeth Kelly

a natural part of life for me.”

Although mystics, Church fathers and spiritual directors have written volumes on prayer, the sisters’ definition is something even a child could grasp.

“Prayer is simply being open to God and letting ourselves speak heart to heart [with him],” Sister Karen Mohan said.

Sister Mary Frances added: “Prayer is a loving conversation with God. Often times, when I pray with people, I like to say, ‘Most loving God, it is in you that we live, and move and have our being.’”

For people who worry whether or not they’re really praying, or wondering if they’re doing it right, one longtime expert has some words of encouragement.

“We pray in many ways without eve said Franciscan Father Jim Van Dorn, a of the Franciscan Retreats and Spiritua Lake. “If I want God, that’s prayer.”

When Father Van Dorn talks about h moments of prayer, he recalls things li the northern lights, or the time he loo center window and found himself face deer looking in on the other side. He is wooded acres surrounding the center o opportunity to find God in nature.

“Nature is one of the easiest ways” to in prayer, Father Van Dorn said. “Just g enjoy what God has made. It’s all arou

15

St. John Vianney

Silence ‘a language of God’

Sister Mary Frances Reis talks with Elbert Watkins in the kitchen of the Visitation Monastery Watkins, center, receives prayer from the Visitation Sisters: Sister Katherine Mullen, left, Frances and Sister Karen Mohan; the Visitation Sisters’ trademark cross and way of otion to those in their north Minneapolis neighborhood; the sisters’ communal prayer ours, prayers based on psalms. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

‘I’m just not hearing God’s voice,’ my first question is: stening skills? Are you listening? How do you listen?”

en knowing it,” associate director ality Center in Prior

his most profound ike the time he saw oked out the retreat e-to-face with a s grateful that the offer a regular

o encounter God go out there and und you. Take it in.

Lent

Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.

Local experts say a regular prayer discipline is crucial for a person’s spiritual life, and should be practiced year round. Lent is an appropriate season for people to reexamine their prayer habits, and start or deepen a prayer routine. Some people do that by dedicating days to prayer on a retreat in places such as Pacem in Terris, a retreat center near St. Francis with small, individual hermitages. In taking time away from the busyness of life, people get the chance to do exactly what Jesus did for 40 days in the desert — go off to a quiet place to pray.

“The part that’s often missing in people’s lives — which was a major piece of Jesus’ prayer — is he would go alone,” said Father Timothy Nolan, who lives at Pacem in Terris and spends his retirement years helping people experience God on their silent retreats. “That’s one of the beauties of Pacem in Terris. It provides a marvelous opportunity for people to take extended time in a simple little prayer cabin we call a hermitage, in solitude all by themselves in utter silence. Silence is a language of God.” Some people find it challenging to incorporate prayer into their daily routines, but Kelly suggests doing just that. She prays while grocery shopping, swimming laps at the pool and sitting at a stoplight. It’s an extension of her childhood, when her parents did the same thing — out loud and with their children.

“My parents prayed together morning, noon and night and have for as long as I can remember,” Kelly said.

“We’d all pile into the car, all seven of us, and immediately we’d start praying.”

She has a favorite prayer, the Rosary of the Holy Wounds, which she prays often and aloud. Formal prayers like this can be a good way to start, she said, recommending prayers Jesus taught, such as the Our Father or just one of its lines.

The second part of prayer is listening, Kelly said, and that’s often where people struggle. But again, it’s not as hard as some may think, and it’s a myth to believe that God speaks to some and not to others, she said.

“God isn’t trying to hide himself,” Kelly said. “He’s not trying to hide his will from us. He wants us to know it.

He wants us to discern it, he wants us to enter into conversation [with him].

“If people say, ‘I’m just not hearing God’s voice,’ my first question is: How are your listening skills? Are you listening? How do you listen?”

Role of a heavenly father It will speak to you in its own way. Listen to it.”

Prayer experts, including Father Van Dorn, say that human beings are wired to desire a relationship with God; they are designed to pray. So, even if some people think they don’t know how — or even if they’re not sure they want to — their basic nature can help them.

Prayer “is written across our hearts,” said Elizabeth Kelly, an adjunct professor in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas and a certified spiritual director.

“I’ve always had a desire for prayer. I certainly have dry periods of prayer, but it’s always been something that I didn’t think about doing as a duty. I need it, like water, like air. I need it. I need that intimate connection with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Perhaps, the best way for someone to begin a life of prayer is to believe that God wants each person to come to him. Kelly suggested the image of a father wanting to speak with his child. Most children, especially young ones, dash up to their dad and spill their thoughts and feelings. They don’t worry about how their father will critique their words.

Neither will God pick apart what people say after they’re done praying, she said. What he’s most interested in, Kelly and others said, is people’s presence and time.

“Prayer is a gift, it really is. It’s falling in love with this Creator,” Father Van Dorn said. “You’ve got to look at prayer as a relationship. The words are an expression of the relationship. So, as you do with a relationship with your friend, your spouse, as you interact with them, that’s what you do with God.”

“One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying.

He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.”

St. Teresa of Avila

“Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”

St. John Chrysostom

“Prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trail as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.”

St.Therese of Lisieux

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Focus on Faith • Scripture Readings

16 SUNDAY SCRIPTURES Deacon Gabriel Walz

Love of Jesus summons the faithful to follow In the Gospel for March 15, Jesus recalls an image from the Old Testament. Just as the bronze serpent was raised up in the desert, so he, too, would need to be raised up. The bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert so that the bodies of those who were bitten by poisonous snakes might be miraculously healed by gazing upon it. Similarly, Jesus was to be lifted up so that those who have faith in him might be saved.

Faith is both a gratuitous gift from God and a virtue. We who have received the divine gift of faith from God are called by him to practice and grow this virtue within us.

But why? What is the relevance of this message today? Why should we go through the effort to foster a virtue that will command from us the daily conversions of our hearts?

Love. Love alone is the answer. It was for love that God sent his only son to die so that we might live. It was for love that Jesus obeyed the will of his Father — love for his Father and a profound love for us as well. Still, we might ask, what is love? What does it look like? Jesus gave us the supreme witness to love when he laid down his life on the cross.

During Lent we engage the mystery of Jesus’ passion and death in hopeful longing for the resurrection. The readings challenge us to consider how we stand in relation to the love of Jesus Christ; his self-surrender is

an urgent summons to join with him.

In “Friends of God,” St. Josemaría Escrivá writes: “If it is true that God has created us, that he has redeemed us, that he loves us so much that he has given up his only-begotten Son for us (John 3:16), that he waits for us — every day! — as eagerly as the father of the prodigal son did (cf. Luke 15:11-32), how can we doubt that he wants us to respond to him with all our love? The strange thing would be not to talk to God, to draw away and forget him, and busy ourselves in activities which are closed to the constant promptings of grace.”

In these final weeks of Lent, we have the opportunity to reevaluate where we are in relation to Jesus Christ.

It might be helpful to reflect: Have I been in regular communication with God through prayer? Do I busy myself with things until I no longer have time for God? Are there things in my life right now that actually draw me away from him? What have I done well? What could I do better?

Deacon Walz is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Diocese of St. Cloud. His teaching parish is St. Mary in Melrose. His home parish is Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Rockville.

Sunday, March 15 Fourth Sunday of Lent

Readings

• 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 • Ephesians 2:4-10 • John 3:14-21

Reflection During this Lenten season, what have we done well? What could we do better?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only only Son, that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

John 3:16

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, March 15 Fourth Sunday of Lent 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3:14-21

Wednesday, March 18 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop, doctor of the Church Isaiah 49:8-15 John 5:17-30

Monday, March 16 Isaiah 65:17-21 John 4:43-54

Thursday, March 19 St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

Tuesday, March 17 St. Patrick, bishop Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12 John 5:1-16

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Friday, March 20 Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22 John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Saturday, March 21 Jeremiah 11:18-20 John 7:40-53

Tuesday, March 24 Numbers 21:4-9 John 8:21-30

Friday, March 27 Jeremiah 20:10-13 John 10:31-42

Sunday, March 22 Fifth Sunday of Lent Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hebrews 5:7-9 John 12:20-33

Wednesday, March 25 Annunciation of the Lord Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10 Hebrews 10:4-10 Luke 1:26-38

Saturday, March 28 Ezekiel 37:21-28 John 11: 45-56

Monday, March 23 St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 John 8:1-11

Thursday, March 26 Genesis 17:3-9 John 8:51-59

Sunday, March 29 Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord Mark 11:1-10 Isaiah 50:4-7 Philippians 2:6-11 Mark 14:1–15:47

17

Father Michael Schmitz

There’s wisdom in not knowing all the answers Q. I find myself facing situations where I just don’t know what to do. I feel like I am out of my depth, but I have responsibilities, and people still look to me to have an answer.

What am I supposed to do?

A. I find myself in this position

all of the time. There are many times when I am supposed to be the one in charge, but I am painfully aware that I am not the smartest person in the room. I know a lot of parents who feel this way as well.

Do you remember when it seemed like your mom and dad had all the answers? Do you remember looking up at your teachers in school believing that they knew what they were doing?

We can get the impression that, if you are going to lead, you have to first know everything and be absolutely qualified. We have the impression that we first have to be an expert.

I think that this can do more

harm than good.

Of course, we ought to have some proficiency before we ask others to follow us. (We might have personal examples of parents or teachers or bosses who maybe ought to have had more competence.) At the same time, there might be the impression that one has to be perfect in order to make a difference. This is never the case.

One of the biggest traps people who are in charge fall into is believing that they have to be an expert. Because of this, they short-circuit any possibility of becoming one.

It seems like once a person is hired, once they have a baby, once they graduate and are out in the world, they adopt the strange notion that they have to act like they imagine an expert would act.

But no one starts out an iStock expert. We all start out as beginners. And whenever we do something new, we are back to being a beginner.

Therefore, if you are the kind of person who gets asked to do new things, you are a perpetual beginner.

If you are a new mom, then you are a beginner. If you now have three teenagers under your roof and you have never had three adolescents to deal with, you are a beginner. If you were good at your

old job and got promoted, you are a beginner.

Learning opportunities What do all good beginners have in common? First, they don’t pretend they are experts. Second, they know beginners make mistakes.

When we see ourselves as beginners, we know mistakes are not a reflection of our worth, they are merely occasions where we can learn. Perpetual beginners are free to make mistakes because each mistake gets them just a little closer to the goal of being a great parent, boss, leader, pastor or whatever.

Third, beginners know they don’t have to have all the answers, but they do need to be willing to ask questions and seek out the answers.

Beginners are learners, and learners ask questions. “Seek counsel from every wise man” is the advice from one father to his son (Tobit 4:18). When we pretend to have all of the answers, we automatically hamstring ourselves. We are stifling our chances of learning anything new, and we are constantly on the defensive. I mean, if you are the one who has all of the answers (and none of the questions) then you can’t make mistakes, can you?

Author and management consultant Pat Lencioni has pointed out that the old saying “never let them see you sweat” is flawed. In a talk to a large gathering of college students, he made the point of saying, “Let them see you sweat.” Too many people live trying to hide behind the facade. But, he points out, if you are struggling, all of those near you can already tell. If you pretend to be an expert when you aren’t, people know that you are not being genuine.

Allowing the people you are leading or raising to see you struggle is helpful to them. Not only does it give you credibility, but also you are implicitly giving others permission to ask questions, grow and have the freedom to fail. You are letting

Tell us about a really good Catholic business owner, manager, supervisor or boss, and we’ll tell everybody else. www.TheCatholicSpirit.com Click on the Leading With Faith logo.

LEADING

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FAITH

your children be learners. You are allowing your employees or parishioners to ask questions. You are letting those around you know that they can fail and still move forward.

Finally, we can only act on the information that we know; we can’t do anything with what we don’t know. Too often, people limit themselves and find themselves stuck worrying about “what ifs.” While there is something to be said for gathering enough information to move forward, it is helpful to remember that all you need is “sufficient information.”

“Allowing the people you are leading or raising to see you struggle is helpful to them. Not only does it give you credibility, but

Focus on Faith • Seeking Answers

SEEKING ANSWERS

also you are implicitly giving others permission to ask questions, grow and have the freedom to fail.”

Father Michael Schmitz

We can confidently move forward, even with only “sufficient information,” because we believe in a God who loves us. As Christians, we are absolutely confident in an absolutely certain God even when we are absolutely unsure of ourselves.

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

Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@ gmail.com.

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March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

This Catholic Life • Commentary

18 EDITORIAL Maria Wiering

Louie & Zelie remind us sainthood marriage’s goal Envision the family portrait. The husband and wife stand in Victorian dress with their five adult daughters, all in habits. It’s nothing I’ve seen on any Christmas card, but it’s an icon Catholics should expect this coming year in preparation for the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese the Little Flower. The couple, married in 1858, had nine children — seven daughters and two sons — but only five girls survived infancy. All five joined the convent; one became a Visitation sister, and the others Carmelites in Lisieux.

Beatified in 2008, the Martins are expected to be canonized during the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family in October, and

reportedly will be the first couple canonized together. They were the second to be beatified together; Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi were the first, in 2001.

There is a handful of married saints — including St. Thomas More, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, and, of course, Mary and Joseph — but most saints were priests or religious.

Last month, the observation led one Catholic to ask via CNN.com whether it would be possible — theoretically — for he and his wife to be named saints as a couple.

“Unfortunately, the odds for us married folk seem terrible,” wrote Chris Lowney, Catholic Health Initiatives’ board chairman. “Of more than 10,000 formally

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA Jason Adkins

Driver’s license bill chance to progress immigration discussion Imagine St. Joseph, struggling in Egypt to support his family as they awaited a time to return home. Or, think of the daily trials the Holy Family faced as they fled the dangers in their homeland.

These are problems that many migrants confront on a daily basis as they try to make their way in a new land.

Many immigrant families currently in the U.S. are in a difficult position: They want to be able to fulfill their basic obligations to their family, but do not want to risk separation by being detained or deported for driving without a license.

The Catholic bishops of Minnesota strongly believe that establishing a provisional driver’s license for undocumented immigrants strengthens families and our communities (HF 97/SF 224). Allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a provisional driver’s license, if they meet certain criteria, would help immigrants maintain more stable, productive family lives – allowing them to attend church, go to school, shop for groceries, and fulfill other daily obligations with more ease and without fear of deportation.

We know that, in all likelihood, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants will ultimately remain in the United States because it is both impractical and economically unfeasible to remove them. Recognizing this reality,

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

we must ask what can be done in the absence of congressional reform to prevent the creation of an underclass of people relegated to the margins of society.

Immigrants from across Minnesota continue to show up at community forums and at churches to share their stories. At one gathering, as reported in the online journal Daily Planet, Maria, a housecleaner, explained why a driver’s license would help her: “I came here for a better life. . . . But now I live and drive in fear. The other day I had to drive my daughter to the hospital because she was very sick with the flu, but I was driving in fear.”

In many parts of Minnesota, there is no public transportation, and undocumented persons have no ability to get to work, church, health services, or school, other than by driving illegally.

Provisional driver’s licenses will not only help immigrant families, they will help foster safer driving conditions in Minnesota.

Provisional driver’s license applicants can be subjected to the same written and skills-based test that other Minnesota drivers must pass, helping to ensure safer roads. In addition, a provisional driver’s license program could increase the rate of insured drivers. Such an increase in the number of people insured could actually

recognized saints, only about 500 have been married, even though billions of married people have roamed the Earth over the centuries.”

Those that have been named saints, he claimed, aren’t very relatable. The most recent — the Spanish farmers Ss. Isidore and Maria — may have lived celibately, and in the 12th century.

Not what you’d expect from a Church that exalts marriage, he said.

Actually, he put it like this: “Really? My Church has been unable to find any couples from the last nine centuries who have together ‘practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace,’ as our Catechism defines sanctity?” he asked. “I would humbly ask the Holy Father to fix our skewed saintmaking process by offering dozens more exemplars of fun, blissful, holy, married love.”

With to-be Ss. Louis and Zelie, I think Lowney has gotten his answer, but I agree that the Church needs to hold up more couples as models of holiness. As a wife, I try to relate to Mary, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine her heading to work as Joseph takes Jesus to daycare. Her model of virtue is clear, but for the modern family, the day-to-day

reduce insurance premiums, as the pool of people paying premiums would expand and the number of accidents involving uninsured drivers would reduce.

A provisional driver’s license program will also help law enforcement agencies by helping police know exactly who it is that they encounter. Crime victims and witnesses will be more willing to come forward knowing that they are not at risk of questioning or arrest for a lack of valid documentation.

The business community, particularly in rural Minnesota, is supportive of a provisional driver’s license program because it helps create a more stable workforce and fosters more contributions of immigrants to their community as consumers and taxpayers.

While a legitimate one, the concern that a provisional driver’s license would be abused is unwarranted, particularly because a provisional license can be clearly marked in a way to distinguish them from other licenses and forms of identification. Ultimately, the main objection to the proposed legislation is a concern about rewarding those seen as “lawbreakers.” But as noted above, the causes and solutions to immigration are complex, and the reality is that most immigrants are in our communities to stay.

Do we wish to help our fellow brothers and sisters have better access to basic needs and strengthen their families, or are we comfortable with the current status quo on immigration, which people on both sides of the debate agree is not working? Minnesota lawmakers need to hear from all of us that provisional driver’s license for immigrants can help move the conversation on immigration forward in Minnesota.

Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin. CNS roadmap for getting there is not.

I think that’s why so many of my Catholic friends have sought the intercession of St. Gianna, a wife, physician and mother who died in 1962 at age 39. She, they say, understood the travails of the contemporary family, and found a way to navigate them. “One cannot love without suffering, or suffer without loving,” she said.

As societal strain on the family increases and the number of intact families decreases, the Church would serve her flock well by providing more known exemplars and intercessors from our own times.

Meanwhile, married couples should ardently embrace the ones we have as reminders that our ultimate goal is also to join them as saints.

Contact your legislators today and urge them to support the following bills by sharing the highlighted messages.

HF 97/SF 224: Encourage more stable, productive immigrant families “I urge you to support HF 97/ SF 224, which is legislation that provides a provisional driver’s license option for undocumented immigrants. There is bi-partisan support for this legislation.

Creating a pathway for undocumented immigrants to fulfill the basic daily needs of their family benefits the well-being and safety of our whole community.”

HF 1529/SF 1313: Access to the right education options help children with special needs thrive “Please support the Education Savings Account for Students with Special Needs Act, HF 1529/SF 1313. It would give families of children with special educational needs the power to direct their child’s per pupil funding and special education dollars in ways that can best serve their child.”

For Catholic teaching and more legislative background on these bills, or for easy instructions on how to contact your legislators fast, visit the “Advocacy” tab in the MCC Action Center (www.mncc. org/actioncenter).

The Catholic Advocacy Network is an initiative of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

19

Father Robert Barron

A message in blood: ISIS and the meaning of the cross [In late February], the attention of the world was riveted to a deserted beach in northern Libya, where a group of 21 Coptic Christians was brutally beheaded by masked operatives of the ISIS movement. In the wake of the executions, ISIS released a gruesome video entitled “A Message in Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” I suppose that for the ISIS murderers the reference to “the Nation of the Cross” had little sense beyond a generic designation for Christianity. Sadly for most Christians, too, the cross has become little more than an anodyne, a harmless symbol, a pious decoration. I would like to take the awful event on that Libyan beach, as well as the ISIS message concerning it, as an occasion to reflect on the still startling distinctiveness of the cross.

In the time of Jesus, the cross was a brutal and very effective sign of Roman power. Imperial authorities effectively said, “If you cross us (pun intended), we will affix you to a dreadful instrument of torture and leave you to writhe in agonizing, literally excruciating (ex cruce, from the cross) pain until you die. Then we will make sure that your body

hangs on that gibbet until it is eaten away by scavenging animals.” The cross was, basically, state-sponsored terrorism, and it did indeed terrify people.

After putting down the great slave uprising of Spartacus, the Roman government lined the Appian Way with hundreds of crosses so as to dissuade any other would-be revolutionaries.

Pontius Pilate had much the same intention when he nailed dozens of Jewish rebels to the walls of Jerusalem. That same Pilate arranged for Jesus to be crucified on Calvary Hill, a promontory situated close to one of the gates of ancient Jerusalem, guaranteeing that his horrific death would not be missed by the large Passover crowds moving in and out of the city.

From the crucified Jesus, all of the disciples, save John, fled, precisely because they wanted with all their hearts to avoid his dreadful fate.

After Good Friday, the friends of Jesus huddled in terror in the Upper Room, petrified that they might be nailed up on Calvary as well.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus were, understandably, heading out of Jerusalem, away

TWENTY SOMETHING Christina Capecchi

Bear claws, nose rings and rock bands: the hidden lives of Catholic sisters Belinda Monahan has analyzed more than 100,000 animal bones in Armenia dating back from the Early Bronze Age (1200 B.C.) to the Medieval period.

For the 44-year-old archaeologist from New Jersey, the thrill never wears off.

“When you look at a Stork’s lower-leg bone,” she says, “it’s about as long as my lower-leg bone. It’s kind of startling! And it’s always fun to look at bears. I look at their claws and think, ‘Oh, those are cool!’”

This winter, Belinda’s impressive resume — including a doctorate from Northwestern University and her current job as a research assistant at the University of Chicago — picked up another distinction: fully professed

Catholic sister. She made her final vows as a Benedictine Sister of Chicago, becoming perhaps the only person on the planet who is both an expert on paleozoology of the Bronze Age and the Rule of St. Benedict.

Her work in archaeology deepens her faith, Sister Belinda told me. “Seeing the different patterns and the different ways people live makes me aware of God’s movement in human life.”

About 1,000 women are in formation to become Catholic sisters. I’m fascinated by the colorful experiences they bring to religious life. Sister Dian Hall was the only woman in a rock band — and the drummer, no less, at a time when drummers were always men. On stage,

separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:3839), for we know that the world killed Jesus but God raised him from the dead.

Just before their throats were cut, many of the murdered Coptic Christians could be seen mouthing the words “Jesus Christ” and “Jesus is Lord.” The first of those phrases is a rendering of the Aramaic Ieshouah Maschiach, which means “Jesus the anointed one” and which hearkens back to King David, the paradigmatic anointed figure of the Old Testament.

The second phrase is one that can be traced to St. Paul’s kerygmatic cry Iesous Kyrios (Jesus Lord!), which was intended to trump a watchword of the time, Kaiser Kyrios (Caesar is Lord). In short, both declarations assert the kingship of Jesus, but what a strange kingship! The new David reigns, not from a throne, but from a cross; the one who trumps Caesar doesn’t lead an army, but embodies the divine forgiveness.

The ISIS barbarians were actually quite right in titling their video “A Message Written in Blood.” Up and down the centuries, tyrants and their lackeys have thought that they could wipe out the followers of Jesus through acts of violence.

But as Tertullian observed long ago, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. And they were furthermore right in sending their message to “the Nation of the Cross.” But they should know that the cross taunts them.

This Catholic Life • Commentary

WORD ON FIRE

from danger, and they were utterly convinced that Jesus’ movement had come to naught. In a word, the cross meant the victory of the world, and the annihilation of Jesus and what he stood for.

And this is why it is surpassing strange that one of the earliest apostles and missionaries of the Christian religion could write, “I preach one thing, Christ and him crucified!” How could Paul — the passage is taken from his first letter to the Corinthians — possibly present the dreadful cross as the centerpiece of his proclamation?

He could do so only because he knew that God had raised the crucified Jesus from the dead, proving thereby that God’s love and forgiveness are greater than anything in the world.

This is why his exaltation of the cross is a sort of taunt to Rome and all of its brutal descendants down through the ages: “You think that scares us? God has conquered that!”

And this is why, to this day, Christians boldly hold up an image of the humiliated, tortured Jesus to the world. What they are saying is, “We are not afraid.”

How wonderful this is, by the way, in light of the Charlie Hebdo tragedy and the controversy over the Dutch cartoonist’s mocking depictions of the prophet Muhammad. Christians don’t fuss particularly about insults to Jesus, for we reverence a depiction of the insulted Christ as our most sacred icon.

We can say, with Paul, “I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to

Father Barron is the founder of the global ministry Word on Fire and the rector/president of Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

the self-proclaimed introvert came alive.

“We thought we were stars,” she said.

She cherished the camaraderie, whether they were practicing Beatles’ songs in a garage or driving around the outskirts of Atlanta for low-paying gigs.

Now the 61-year-old Georgia native has joined another band, one that is helping her become her “best self,” she says: Last August she made temporary vows with the Sisters of St. Joseph. “I believe in our community. I believe we’re making a difference in the world.”

Sister Dian considers religious life the greatest adventure of all. “I see lots of exciting years ahead. I look back and I think everything I’ve done has taught me and brought me to where I am now. I just thank God!” Megan Graves, a 22-year-old postulant with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, echoes that enthusiasm when asked about her future. A native of Chicago’s South Side, Megan wears stylish glasses, closely cropped hair and a nose ring. The piercing is a frequent conversation starter at the Catholic school near Milwaukee where she teaches religion.

“So many of the girls come up to me and say, ‘You want to be a nun, but you have a nose ring?’” Megan told me. She welcomes the question, eager to broaden their notion of who can be Catholic sisters. (Megan knows several other

20-something postulants who have nose rings. It’s not a major symbol or statement, she says. “It’s a hipster thing.”)

She’s seizing National Catholic Sisters Week, March 8 to 14 — an official addition to Women’s History Month — as an opportunity for myth busting and for celebrating the remarkable influence of women religious. She’ll take to Facebook and host in-person gatherings to discuss the “sisterhood” she sought in a college sorority and found in a convent.

Sister Belinda, who helps the Benedictines with vocation ministry, will be having similar conversations with prospective postulants. “The first thing that holds them back isn’t fear but lack of exposure,” she said. She’s quick to rave about the women in her community, like 100-year-old Sister Mercedes, who has been involved in hurricane relief, RCIA instruction and hospital chaplaincy.

“These stories are not heard. The sisters have done amazing things, but they don’t publicize them. They do them so quietly that nobody outside the monastery knows.”

Here’s a chance to change that.

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

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Housing Guide

20

Show value of life by affectionately caring for elderly, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service The most serious ailment the aged face and the greatest injustice they suffer is abandonment, Pope Francis said.

“Those who helped us grow must not be abandoned when they need our help, our love and our tenderness,” the pope told members of the Pontifical Academy for Life March 5.

The academy was beginning a three-day meeting focused on “assisting the elderly and palliative care.” A day earlier, Pope Francis had used his weekly general audience to focus on the way the aged are treated in modern societies and on the role they have in the family.

At the audience March 4, he said that seeing the elderly only as a burden “is ugly. It’s a sin.”

Meeting the next day with members of the Academy for Life and with physicians and nurses who specialize in hospice and palliative care for the dying, the pope emphasized the importance of bringing medical personnel and the elderly person’s family together in providing true care to the patient.

An elderly woman becomes emotional as Pope Francis greets her as he arrives for a May 2014 weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. The most serious ailment the elderly face and the greatest injustice they suffer is abandonment, Pope Francis said. CNS/Tony Gentile, Reuters The affection of a family cannot be replaced “even by the most efficient structures or the most competent and charitable health care workers,” he said.

Pope Francis said he wanted to encourage professionals and students to specialize in hospice and palliative care, which “is no less

You’re Invited!

valuable just because it is not about saving lives.”

Instead, he said, palliative care accomplishes something “just as important: it recognizes the value of the person.”

As people age, the pope said, the medical community in general tends to offer them less care and

they can, in fact, be abandoned.

“Abandonment is the most serious ailment of the aged and also the greatest injustice they can endure.”

Belief in the sacredness and dignity of every human life means that “when a life becomes very fragile and approaches the conclusion of its earthly existence, we have a responsibility to help it and accompany it in the best way possible,” the pope said.

“Palliative care has the objective of alleviating suffering in the final phase of an illness while, at the same time, providing an appropriate human accompaniment” as the person prepares for death, he said.

The noblest aim of medical science, he said, is to promote the good of the patient, “a good that can never be achieved by going against life and dignity.”

Obeying the biblical command to honor one’s father and mother — to honor one’s elders, Pope Francis said, “today can be translated as the obligation to have extreme respect for and take care of those who, because of their physical or social condition, could be left to die or ‘made to die.’”

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CerenitySeniorCare.org March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

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By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Legalizing euthanasia risks undermining people’s access to loving, holistic care as they face the natural end of their life, many experts at a Vatican conference said.

As more parts of the world, like in Quebec last year, pass right-todie legislation allowing the terminally ill to request lethal drugs, euthanasia is being treated as if it were a legitimate form of medical care, said a bishop from the province.

“Killing is not care. True care is palliative care because it is accompanying the person with compassion, true compassion,” Bishop Noel Simard of Valleyfield told Catholic News Service.

The bishop was one of more than 100 religious, medical and legal experts who attended a workshop March 6 dedicated to “Assisting the Elderly and Palliative Care,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life. He and others spoke with CNS the same day.

Palliative care threat Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities,

said assisted suicide can pose a “threat” to working to improve palliative care.

Some places like Oregon and the Netherlands have seen that legalizing euthanasia “undermines the ability and willingness of doctors to practice this more difficult art of addressing patients’ real problems,” he said.

Supporters of euthanasia say it gives people more options to choose from for end-of-life care, Doerflinger said. “But as one doctor practicing in the Netherlands said, assisted suicide doesn’t get added to medicine, it replaces medicine,” he said.

He said if euthanasia becomes seen “as t he quick fix, even fewer doctors will learn the real art of palliative care” for patients with a terminal disease; palliative care includes pain control, treatment of depression and other symptoms, along with spiritual care.

Dying with real dignity Bishop Simard said palliative care allows patients to experience real dignity with dying.

“The last moments of your life are important. Sometimes they are moments where you can reconcile with other family members, when

ys . a w rd m No atu 2 p. n S m. – e Op 0 a.

1

you can just accept the reality of the promise of eternal life,” especially when patients can receive absolution and the sacrament of the sick, he said.

“When you just give a person a lethal injection, you may deprive the person of this very important moment for himself and with family members,” the bishop added.

Doerflinger said part of the issue is a “can-do” pragmatic attitude in a culture that has “almost an obsession with solving problems.”

“Assisted suicide offers the illusion” that dying can be “fixed,” he said, “but it doesn’t solve the problem, it just eliminates the person telling you that he has the problem.”

Natural fear of pain People have a natural fear of pain and of becoming a burden to others, Doerflinger said.

But when they can receive medical care to alleviate their pain and along with compassionate support to relieve their sense of hopelessness, “the desire for suicide vanishes,” he said.

“Often, even the initial request for death is really a call for help.

It’s not saying, ‘I want to die,’ it’s saying, ‘I don’t want to be like

this,’” and palliative care can address those problems, he said.

“Ultimately, the solution is love.”

The best people to offer that love for the elderly and dying is the family, said Carter Snead, director of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame.

“It would be an easy thing for us to say that it’s the job of the government, the job of social service agencies to care for the elderly, but that’s kind of passing the buck in a way that lets us off the hook in a way that’s not appropriate and not just,” Snead said.

“The government can’t love you, and we love our family, and to show that love, we have to care for them,” he said.

Robert Buchanan, a neurosurgeon at the University of Texas in Austin and a psychiatrist, said that every person he spoke to who “had a failed suicide attempt would wake up from trying to kill themselves and say, ‘I’m glad that didn’t happen. I’m glad to be alive.’

“But where there is this organized euthanizing process” that administers a lethal injection, “there is no chance for a second chance,” he said.

Senior Housing Guide

Euthanasia threatens improvements in end-of-life care, experts say

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Reasonably priced, spacious 1 & 2 BR Apartments* for Independent Seniors 55 and Better. Come see our stylish and modern kitchens! On a bus line, within blocks of supermarket, Walgreens Pharmacy, local coffee shops, Cretin Baseball games and just a little further Highland National Golf Course and the Grand Avenue Shops!

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Guests are greeted by classical music just inside the entry of the building's upscale, smartly appointed and warmly finished Lobby. Summer months on our quaint patio offer the calming sounds of a graceful fountain beside an inviting cafe table and umbrella in addition to a bench upon which to rest and enjoy the sunset at the close of each day.

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March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Housing Guide

22 St. Benedict’s Senior Community — Monticello

To our readers The descriptions of senior housing and other services in this section were provided by the facilities and service agencies, which are responsible for the accuracy of the content.

The Catholic Spirit

Cerenity Senior Care Cerenity Senior Care is a leader in elder care services in the Twin Cities metro area.

On our three unique campuses, we offer different levels of care and housing options for aging adults, including: assisted and independent living, memory care, transitional care and therapy services, skilled nursing and adult day services.

We strive to provide a welcoming, respectful and warm atmosphere for our residents, tenants and patients as well as their families. We also create a wide variety of programs and services that fit their physical, social and spiritual needs. CerenitySeniorCare.org For more information and to schedule a tour call: Cerenity Marian – (651) 793-2100 Cerenity Humboldt – (651) 220-1700 Cerenity White Bear Lake – (651) 232-1818

St. Benedict’s Senior Community’s mission is: “Our actions are guided by the belief that ‘All Shall Be Treated as Christ.’”

With foundational values and beliefs rooted in the tradition of the Catholic faith, St. Benedict’s Senior Community welcomes people of all faiths.

Our campus features: retirement, assisted living and memory care apartments. Amenities include a chapel, theater, general store, fitness center, club room and enclosed outdoor courtyard.

We take pride in building lasting relationships with our tenants. We take the time to get to know you and your lifestyle needs. We believe exceptional service still counts! Call (763) 295-4051 for a tour.

Trojack Law Office, P.A. A three-step strategy is used with each client. First, we emphasize counseling, taking time to understand each person’s needs. Second, we assist in keeping the plan current. Third, we show our clients how they can pass along their wisdom as well as their wealth.

John Trojack will work hard to help you give “what you own, to whom you want, when you want, and the way you want.” To ensure an “Estate Plan that works,” he maintains a formal updating program. And, the office assures you of fully-disclosed and controlled costs.

For information, call (651) 451-9696.

Upcoming Retreats

Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center Women’s Silent Retreat Palm Sunday Weekend, March 27-29 Men’s Silent Holy Week Retreat, April 2-4 Women’s Midweek Retreat, April 14-16 Play-Pray Date for Mothers, Daughters, Grandmothers and Granddaughters (Minimun age 15), May 2 Women’s Midweek Retreat, May 12-14 2015 Retreat Theme: Come Away and Rest Awhile For more information, visit our website: www.FranciscanRetreats.net or call 952-447-2182

Your roots run deep, so do ours.

Subscribe to the print edition today!

At the Benedictine Health System, we are dedicated to serving the Metro by providing a full range of residential options and care services that help you live life to the fullest.

With a continuum of care services, we help seniors live full, engaged lives.

Benedictine Health Center of Innsbruck New Brighton | (651) 633-1686 Benedictine Health Center of Minneapolis Minneapolis | (612) 879-2800 Benedictine Senior Living at Steeple Pointe Osseo | (763) 425-4440

Its ok to spill your coffee on it!

Call 651.291.4444

Regina Senior Living Hastings | (651) 480-4333 St. Gertrude’s Health & Rehabilitation Center Shakopee | (952) 233-4400 WWW.BHSHEALTH.ORG | (800) 833-7208

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

GET

inspired

TheCatholicSpirit.com

By Maureen Pratt Catholic News Service It has been several years since the Church instituted word changes to some parts of the Mass, but I still get tripped up from time to time.

Each Sunday, I still hear someone stumble along with me, or fumble for the right page so that they can read the correct wording. For some of us, it’s hard to memorize them.

From school, to work, to home, to life in general, our days of having oodles of time to sit and memorize something are mostly past. Yet, our need to learn, retain and use information only increases.

Of course, as we age, the brain changes subtly, and memorizing becomes more of a challenge. Illness can interfere. Environment and other distractions steal our focus. Fatigue affects us more. But this doesn’t mean we give up. In fact, we can help our brains stay relatively resilient and limber, benefiting from more confidence and ability to adapt to inevitable change.

To improve memorization, try some of these tips I gathered from websites, books and other available information: Focus: Eliminate distractions while learning something new.

Write out what you want to memorize, over and over again, until you know the information by heart.

Sing the words or use other levels of your voice to key your brain into the newness of what you’re trying to learn.

Visualize the words, their length and letters.

Be persistent and try to memorize at different times of the day, when your attention is strongest.

Finally, be forgiving and use a “crib sheet” or, in the case of Mass, a prayer book, instead of fumbling for the words. God knows what’s in your heart, and with time and attention we’ll all be on the same page.

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Benedictine Health System The Benedictine Health System is one of the largest Catholic senior care organizations in the country, operating more than 40 communities in six states; including nine in the Twin Cities.

BHS is a mission-based, non-profit health system headquartered in Minnesota, sponsored by the Benedictine sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth.

BHS provides complete long-term care services for aging adults, including independent housing, assisted living, skilled nursing and rehabilitation services.

Visit www.bhshealth.org.

Saint Therese Saint Therese is a nonprofit Catholic organization that has focused on the well-being of individuals since it opened in 1968.

We provide secure, stress-free living and the very best in senior care and housing with a commitment to each individual. Saint Therese offers a full continuum of programs and services that are available in your own home or in one of our community settings.

Saint Therese serves the Twin Cities metro area with campuses located in New Hope, Brooklyn Park, Shoreview and coming soon to Woodbury.

To learn more, visit www.sttheresemn.org.

Senior Housing Guide

When the words change and the memory falters

Crest View Senior Communities Crest View Senior Communities is a faith-based not-for-profit organization that has been providing services to older adults since 1952.

Crest View Senior Community in Columbia Heights offers a continuum of care and service, including senior housing, assisted living, home care, memory care, rehabilitation care and skilled nursing care.

Crest View is developing a new campus of service for older adults in the city of Blaine.

To receive information, please call (763) 782-1601 or visit us at www.crestviewcares.org.

Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels is the oldest family-owned funeral business in Minnesota. Established in 1857, before Minnesota became a state, Washburn-McReavy is a fifth generation business.

Quality, personal service, and funeral and cremation services are available at all of our chapels.

Call (612) 377-2203 for a brochure or visit www.washburn-mcreavy.com.

GREEN LINE

GREEN LINE

OPENING JANUARY 2015: Minnesota’s first nursing home designed around the gamechanging GREEN HOUSE Model of Care.

All aboard for Midway Village - three new senior residences with the Green Line at the door!

Imagine living with the Fairview Avenue Green Line Station (and the rest of the world) right at your door! The Terrace at Iris Park is the first senior residence in town to offer Catered Living, a concierge approach to meeting your needs as they change. All apartments have already been spoken for, but you are welcome to join the wait list. There’s no obligation, and you’ll start building seniority so there’s a better chance that an apartment will be ready when you are. Midway Pointe has raised the bar on affordable Independent Living. As with The Terrace, all of its apartments have already been spoken for, but you are welcome to join the wait list. Someday, we hope to greet you with, “Welcome Home!”

Therapy pool

The Plaza

Call Deb Veit for the whole story! 651-632-8800 Or visit EpiscopalHomes.org

Episcopal Church Home - The Gardens will provide the closest thing yet to the experience of living in a private home with family caregivers.

It will consist of six 10-person homes. Every Elder will have a private room with private bath and enjoy four times more personal attention than in conventional nursing homes.

The GREEN HOUSE Model of Care is forever changing the face of LongTerm Care. It’s about time!

Call Deb Veit to learn more: 651-632-8800.

Or visit THE GREEN HOUSE PROJECT online.

thegreenhouseproject.org

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Housing Guide

24 Episcopal Homes Episcopal Homes has a variety of senior housing available in St. Paul. Following is a brief description of senior living residences.

For more information on any home, call (651) 632-8800 or visit www.episcopalhomes.org.

Episcopal Church Home Nursing and short-term rehab care in a faith-based, not-for-profit.

Medicare/Medicaid certified. Our mission is to support each individual’s physical, social and spiritual needs. Weekly Catholic Communion and rosary, plus monthly Catholic Mass.

Call (651) 632-8800 for a tour.

Episcopal Church Home – The Gardens Minnesota’s first nursing homes based on the game-changing GREEN HOUSE Model of Care.

Only 10 elders per home. Four times more personal attention than conventional nursing homes. All meals prepared from scratch in each home with elders helping if they wish.

Call (651) 632-8800 for a tour.

Iris Park Commons “A Community of Heart” with 59 one/two bedroom and studio apartments and a flexible menu of assisted living services for age 62plus.

Catholic Communion every Sunday, plus weekly Communion.

Call (651) 632-8800 for a tour.

Cornelia House Gracious living for independent adults age 62-plus. We offer 47 oneor two-bedroom apartments, community spaces and a lively resident council that organizes social events.

Call (651) 632-8800 for a tour.

Seabury Affordable independent living, age 62-plus.

Recognized as one of the finest HUD-subsidized senior housing facilities in the nation. Forty-nine one-bedroom apartments with central air conditioning.

Call (651) 379-5102 for a tour.

Carty Heights Affordable independent living for age 62-plus at University and Lexington. Forty-nine one-bedroom air conditioned apartments.

Call (651) 288-1142 for a tour.

Kings Crossing Affordable independent living for age 62-plus. They’re located above the shops of Frogtown Square at University & Dale.

Residents enjoy the same priority access to our programs and services as residents of our home campus. Forty-nine one-bedroom air-conditioned apartments.

Call (651) 493-4606 for a tour.

St. Therese Southwest and The Glenn by St. Therese Southwest SENIOR COMMUNITIES

Senior Housing • Assisted Living • Memory Care Short-term Rehab • Skilled Nursing Care • Home Care 5 GREAT COLUMBIA HEIGHTS LOCATIONS

Royce Place The Boulevard Apartments Columbia Village Crest View Luthgeran Home Crest View on 42nd

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

Crest View Senior Community at Blaine

(Under development and taking reservations)

4444 Reservoir Blvd. NE, Columbia Heights, MN 763-782-1601 | www.crestviewcares.org

Offering the best in senior living in the southwest metro area.

Whether it’s 14 acres of breathtaking scenery in Hopkins or the quaint, smalltown feel of Glenn Lake, you’re sure to find your ideal retirement lifestyle.

Our senior communities provide a spiritual environment in which people of all faiths are welcome.

Mass, interfaith services, rosary, Bible study and beautifully designed chapels for quiet reflection and prayer are a few of the amenities supporting your spiritual journey.

Gracious retirement living at its best is

there for you with scheduled bus outings and numerous recreational activities, such as book club, baking group, craft class, card clubs and exercise class, to name a few!

For more information or to schedule your personal tour, please call: St. Therese Southwest (952) 933-3333 www.StThereseSouthwest.com The Glenn by St. Therese Southwest (952) 352-1000 www.TheGlennSeniorHousing.com

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25

MJ Properties of Saint Paul, LLLP Walk to Mass daily when you live at 1440 Randolph Ave. in St. Paul’s Highland Park. Our newly remodeled and value-priced apartments are perfect for today’s independent seniors, 55-plus.

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March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Calendar

26 Dining out

call Marge France (612) 729-7344.

Benefit spaghetti dinner for St. John Vianney Seminary — March 14: 5-7:30 p.m., KC Hall, 1114 W. American Blvd., Bloomington.

Ham bingo — March 21: 6 p.m., St. Helena School, 3200 E. 44th St.. Minneapolis.

Questions? Call (612) 729-9301.

Soup suppers — March 15, 22 — 4:30-7 p.m., Kolbe Center at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., NE, Minneapolis. Adults $5, children $1. Benefits hungry at local charities.

(612) 789-7238.

Ham bingo — March 22: 1-3 p.m., Guardian Angels Church, 8260 Fourth St. N, Oakdale.

Youth mission trip fundraiser.

Epiphany, Coon Rapids — 4:30-6:30 p.m., fish fry, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW.

Cash and ham bingo — March 22: 2-5 p.m., Holy Cross Kolbe Center, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE, Minneapolis.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville — 5-7:30 p.m., walleye fry, 3333 E. Cliff Road

Corned beef and cabbage dinner — March 15: 11 a.m-3 p.m., St. Joseph Church, 23955 Nicolai Ave., Miesville. Adults $12, 6-12 years $5. For more information: dgreil@ comcast.net.

KC pancake breakfast — March 15: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., KC Hall, 1910 Greeley St., Stillwater. Partnership with St. Mary’s Church, Stillwater, for its 150th anniversary.

Fundraiser breakfast — March 22: 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., for religious education program at Mary, Queen of Peace church hall, 21304 Church Ave., Rogers.

Music and entertainment

More events online

Easter boutique — March 28: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., St. Boniface, 629 Second St. NE, Minneapolis.

St. Mary, St. Paul — 6 p.m. Lenten dinner following Stations of the Cross, 261 E. Eighth St.

Passion Play — March 29: “The King of Love”

by Bob Hindel, 3 p.m., St. Casimir Church, 929 E. Jessamine, St. Paul.

St. Michael, Stillwater — 4:30-7 p.m., fish fry, 611 S. Third St.

Prayer and liturgy

Parish events

Compline — March 15: 8 p.m., led by Minnesota Compline Choir, Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Minneapolis

Bingo and ham raffle — March 15: 12:303;30 p.m., Immaculate Conception Church, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights.

High Tea and Style Show — March 15: 2-5 p.m., hosted by St. Helena CCW, 3204 E. 43rd St., Minneapolis. $8. Reservations required;

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

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

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

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication in the calendar: • Time and date of event.

• Full street address of event.

• Description of event.

• Contact information in case of questions.

EMAIL: spiritcalendar@archspm.org.

(No attachments, please.)

MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit; 244 Dayton Ave.; St. Paul, MN 55102.

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., enchilada dinner, 401 Concord St.

St. Joseph, Rosemount — 6 p.m., fish fry, 13900 Biscayne Ave.

Annual Mass and Brunch for Persons with Disabilities — March 14: 9 a.m. Mass followed by brunch and a performance by a youth choir from the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, St. Edward Church, 9401 Nesbitt Road, Bloomington.

Ham bingo — March 14: 5:30-9 p.m., St. Peter Church, 6730 Nicollet Ave. S, Richfield.

Holy Family Maronite, Mendota Heights — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 11960 Lexington Ave., N.

Ham It Up Bingo ‚ March 27: 6:30-9 p.m., St. Odilia, 3495 N. Victoria St., Shoreview.

The Passion of Jesus In Music, Word & Light — March 13 in Spanish, March 14 in English: 7:45 p.m., St. Mark Church, Fourth Ave. and Atwood St., Shakopee. Free. Call David at (952) 595-8042. Si tiene alguna pregunta llame a José al (952) 210-7884.

Spaghetti bingo — March 14: 5:30-9 p.m., St. Michael, 22120 Denmark Ave., Farmington.

Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE.

Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 4087 W. Broadway Ave. N.

Swing dance — March 14: 7:15 p.m. lessons, music by Saints of Swing 8-11 p.m., St. Joseph of the Lakes, 171 Elm St., Lino Lakes. $12.

St. Pat’s Night — March 14: 6 p.m., Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. Irish dinner, music, singers. $20. Reservations by March 6 at www.transfigurationmn.org or call Martha at (651) 738-2646 or email mpraska@ transfigurationmn.org.

March 13

Lenten Mission — March 25: 7:30 p.m., St. Pius X Church, 3878 Highland Ave., White Bear Lake. Led by Michael Hoffman.

Thursday Lenten days of prayer — March 12, 19: 9:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Mass, Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake.

Lenten cross exhibit — through April 5: “Stumbling Stone Crosses” by Rick Brack, Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie.

Fish fries and Lenten dinners

St. Edward, Bloomington, 5-7 p.m., fish fry, 9401 Nesbitt Ave., S. St. John the Baptist, Hugo — 5-8 p.m. fish fry, 14383 Forest Blvd. N. St. Joseph the Worker, Maple Grove — 5-7 p.m., fish fry, 7180 Hemlock Lane N. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4:30-7:30 p.m. fish fry, 507 Hall Ave. St. Odilia, Shoreview — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 3495 N. Victoria St. St. Peter, Forest Lake — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 1250 S. Shore Dr. St. Stephen, Anoka — 5:30-7 p.m. fish dinner, 525 Jackson St. St. Timothy, Blaine — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 707 89th Ave. NE. Shakopee Knights Event Center — 5-7:30 p.m., fish dinner, 1760 4th Ave. E. Totino-Grace High School — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 1350 Gardena Ave., NE, Fridley.

March 18 St. Michael, West St. Paul — 5-6:30 p.m., soup dinner, 337 E. Hurley St.

March 20 Epiphany, Coon Rapids — 4:30-6:30 p.m., fish fry, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW. Guardian Angels, Oakdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 8260 Fourth St. N. Holy Cross, Minneapolis — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 17th Ave. and Fourth St. NE.

St. Patrick’s Day Mass — March 17: Celtic music at 11:30 a.m., Mass at noon, St. Olaf Church, 215 S. 8th St., Minneapolis.

Holy Family Maronite, Mendota Heights — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 11960 Lexington Ave., N.

Healing Mass — March 17: 7 p.m., St. Joseph campus of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish, 1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins. With Father James Livingston.

Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — 5-7 p.m., KC fish dinner, 21304 Church Ave.

Living Stations of the Cross — March 18, 19 and 20: 7 p.m., St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane N, Maple Grove.

Living Stations of the Cross — March 19 and 20: 7 p.m., St. Paul Church, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake.

Retreats Women’s Lenten retreat — March 14: 8:30 a.m.-noon, Good Shepherd Church, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. Kelly Wahlquist. $20. For more information and to register, call (763) 544-0416, ext. 810 or email reneehamilton@goodshepherdgv.org.

Lenten three-part series on core values for a parish — March 20: 5:30 p.m. Stations of the Cross, 6 p.m. soup supper and talk by Father Bob Schwartz. Free. St. Joseph Church, 13900 Biscayne Ave., Rosemount. (651) 423-4402, www.stjosephcommunity.org.

Lenten retreat “We are the Church: Remaining Dynamic Amidst Chaos” — March 21: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at Pax Christi Church, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie.

Brother James Zullo will lead reflection on how Catholics can move forward as a Church despite difficulties. $15 per person, includes lunch. Register at www.paxchristi.com/ eventregistration.

Schools PreK-8th grade open house — March 12: 9-10:30 a.m., St. Rose of Lima School, 2072

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Minnetonka — 5-7 p.m. fish dinner, 13505 Excelsior Blvd.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville — 5-7:30 p.m., walleye fry, 3333 E. Cliff Road.

Our Lady of Grace, Edina — 4:30-7:30 p.m., 50th and Hwy. 100.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., enchilada dinner, 401 Concord St. Nativity of Mary, Bloomington — 4-9 p.m., fish fry festival, 9900 Lyndale Ave., S. Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 4087 W. Broadway Ave. N. St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church — 4:30-7 p.m. Lenten potato pancake and soup dinner, 2201 Third. St. NE, Minneapolis.

St. John the Baptist, Hugo — 5-8 p.m., fish fry, 14383 Forest Blvd. N, St. Mary, St. Paul — 6 p.m. Lenten dinner following Stations of the Cross, 261 E. Eighth St. St. Matthew, St. Paul — 4:30-7:30 p.m. fish fry, 507 Hall Ave. St. Peter, Forest Lake — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 1250 S. Shore Dr. St. Peter, North St. Paul — 4-7 p.m. fish fry, 2620 N. Margaret St. St. Stephen, Anoka — 5:30-7 p.m. fish dinner, 525 Jackson St. St. Timothy, Blaine — 5-7 p.m. fish fry, 707 89th Ave. NE. Totino-Grace High School — 4:30-7 p.m. fish fry, 1350 Gardena Ave., NE, Fridley.

March 25 St. Michael, West St. Paul — 5-6:30 p.m., soup dinner, 337 E. Hurley St. Hamline Ave. N, Roseville. Personal tours anytime: (651) 646-3832.

Immaculate Conception School 75th anniversary, all-class reunion — March 21: 3-9 p.m., 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights.

Free. For information: www.ICCSonline.org.

Other events Minneapolis deaneries Council of Catholic Women quarterly meeting — March 23: 9 a.m., St. Maron Church, 602 University Ave., NE, Minneapolis. Register by March 18 through parish CCW rep or call (763) 420-7739.

Called and Gifted workshop — March 27-28: St. Joseph Church, 1154 Seminole Ave., West St. Paul. Register online at www. churchofstjoseph.org.

Passion presentations by Deacon Mickey Friesen — March 26 and 27: 7-9 p.m. March 26, 9:30-11:30 a.m. March 27, Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 E. Cliff Rd., Burnsville.

Art exhibit, “The Paschal Mystery” — through April 5: Paintings by James B. Janknegt and Koffi Mbairamadgi, John XXIII Gallery, Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Minneapolis.

27

Schools have ‘faith and heart’ to adopt Florida model Continued from page 7 She made it as visually appealing as possible by building a play ship and decorating it with a yellow brick road, murals and fountains. To teach her two sons, she appealed to all five senses in each lesson.

The school grew and within a few years, the entire pre-kindergarten class tested in the gifted range and above on the IQ test. The local school board accused her of teaching to the test, but she was actually teaching according to Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory, Soderman said.

“It’s realizing that each human being is wired differently,” she said.

“You might be attracted to something I don’t even notice.”

A happy brain According to Soderman, brain research shows that when students

learn through things that naturally attract them, the entire brain is activated. Information becomes meaningful and is retained longer.

The result is lifelong learning, thanks, in part, to the science behind the method — triggering the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain. When the brain is happy, the reasoning portion of the brain functions better, and the information slips easily into the memory.

“I have to make it relevant, I have to get to amygdala first or it’s like getting the phone number of someone I don’t know,” Soderman said.

Soderman named her prekindergarten through eighth-grade school the IDEAL School, which stands for Individual Differentiated Enriched Active Learning.

St. Alphonsus and St. Mark are adding a spiritual component and

calling their version “IDEALS,” Innovative Differentiated Enriched Active Leadership Spirituality, with the additional emphasis of how their students serve God and neighbor.

Getting started Other schools have approached Soderman about replicating her school, but this is the first group “with the faith and heart” to be able to implement it.

“I’m trusting my baby with them,” Soderman said.

Staples and Zeckser visited the IDEAL School in January.

“It’s amazingly beautiful,” Staples said. “It feels like something besides a school.”

Staples and Zeckser hope to upgrade and enrich their school buildings with art, welcoming spaces and natural elements to gibe with the IDEAL school

environment. In June, Bernabei and Soderman will conduct a week of training with the teachers from both schools. The schools are writing grants to help with the costs of implementing the program, but the beginnings of the implementation process are already reaching students.

“There are going to be new ways of learning,” said Cecilia Brennan, a St. Mark fifth-grader. “There are different smarts like music smarts. I just found that out, and I’m excited about it.”

In light of the long-term benefits, Brown, the second-grade teacher at St. Mark, doesn’t mind putting in extra training time and lesson planning over the summer.

“Whenever you take something new on, it’s a lot of work initially, but in the long run it will make our job easier because kids will be more engaged,” she said.

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March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

28

The Last Word

28

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit

I

t was the summer of 1860. The bishop of St. Paul, Thomas Grace, needed more priests, specifically more priests from a certain island nation: Ireland.

Irish who fled starvation and economic servitude at home and the crowded cities in the eastern U.S. came to Minnesota to farm and build the railroads as the country expanded westward.

“The Irish people of his diocese were demanding Irish priests,” wrote sociology professor William L. Smith, and the second bishop of St. Paul knew where to look.

Ireland was overflowing with priests, the result of what historian Emmit Larkin dubbed “The Devotional Revolution.” Toward the middle of the 19th century, Dublin Archbishop (later Cardinal) Paul Cullen instigated a renewed piety on the Emerald Isle, insisting that Catholics had an obligation to regularly attend Mass, go to confession, receive Communion and know their catechism.

After centuries of British colonial policies that had diminished the Irish Church, Cardinal Cullen promoted Catholic practices of pilgrimages, retreats, novenas and praying the rosary.

The fruit of the Devotional Revolution was just what Bishop Grace needed.

That summer of 1860, he wrote to All Hallows College in Ireland, a seminary established for the specific purpose of training priests for the “foreign missions,” and asked for priests.

History shows Bishop Grace writing again in 1867, his letter reiterating a request for three more Irish priests.

By 1900 two-thirds of the diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul were foreign-born, more than one-quarter of them Irish. But it was about that time th at the flow of priests from Ireland were diverted to U.S. dioceses other than St. Paul.

Ironically, the man responsible had the surname of Ireland.

Homegrown priests “Four thousand Irish-born and Irish-seminary educated priests have served in the United States and nearly 1,250 are currently affiliated with American dioceses,” Smith wrote in 2004.

As the letters of Bishop Grace show, some of those Irish priests were actively recruited for the Archdiocese of St. Paul.

(Minneapolis was added to the name in 1966).

But in 1894, Archbishop John Ireland built a seminary in St. Paul, and the recruiting of priests from Ireland stopped, said James Rogers, managing director of Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

“Archbishop Ireland believed in building up the American Church,” Rogers said. “He was adamant that America was to be

March 12, 2015 • The Catholic Spirit

Roots in the Emerald Isle There are many priests of Irish-American heritage who serve the archdiocese who will soon observe St. Patrick’s Day, just as the priest-sons of immigrant Irish families have for 150 years. But while Irish-born priests continue to serve in other U.S. dioceses, that’s rarely the case here, and hasn’t been for quite some time, due to the vision of an Irish archbishop

founding of the Diocese of St. Paul in 1851 until more than 100 years later, there was a different attitude about a religious vocation than there is today for many people, Rogers explained.

“From our present day attitudes, it is hard to look back to see how ordinary and unremarkable it was for a young Catholic man to have a vocation,” he said.

“It was a perfectly customary career path for people growing up in the Catholic faith,” something that would “bring credit” to the family and make parents proud, he added.

A “spot check” of the ethnicity of the men studying at the St. Paul Seminary through its first 80 years offers some clue to the impact of those Irish immigrants on the number of priests who went on to serve in the archdiocese.

Rogers termed his research on “clearly Irish names” unreliable methodologically, but it at least offers an impression of the number of Irish-Americans studying to become priests here.

In the seminary’s first 50 years, more than 42 percent of the seminarians could be counted on as likely Irish-American. The high was 57.8 percent — 33 of the 57 men — in 1916.

Those numbers slowed to less than 20 percent by 1976.

‘An American character’

Archbishop John Ireland, shown here in an undated file photo with priests of what was then the Archdiocese of St. Paul, chose not to receive priests from his native country, and opted for homegrown priests, many who came from Irish-American families, with the establishment of the St. Paul Seminary. the place free from the dead hulk of European policies and politics and where the Church would blossom. And it was essential to him to have homegrown priests.”

While Bishop James McGolrick, a St. Paul lad who was the first bishop of Duluth, continued to recruit priests from Ireland — 89 Irish priests served in the Diocese of Duluth from 1889 to 1989, with the latest recruit joining the diocese in 1987 — Archbishop Ireland focused his efforts on creating a native-born clergy from Minnesota.

Historical evidence shows that some European bishops may have sent their misfits or malcontents to the mission land in America.

While that may have been why some U.S. bishops stopped requesting priests from overseas, there is no evidence that Archbishop Ireland had that issue, Rogers said.

“His approach was positive, from what we know of his writing and his speeches,” Rogers said.

Archbishop Ireland believed that the American Catholic Church would show the world how to influence the culture for good, he added.

A positive impact Archbishop Ireland, however, while no longer recruiting priests from Ireland, did recruit Catholic families from his homeland, and, where he may have halted “Irishborn” priests serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, history shows that his creation of the St. Paul Seminary had an extremely positive impact on the number of “Irish-American” priests in the archdiocese.

Through a variety of Catholic colonization associations, the archbishop helped resettle Irish Catholics from both Ireland and the urban slums of the eastern United States.

Those Catholic families had sons, and the children of Irish immigrants went to Archbishop Ireland’s seminary and became priests.

“Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it best in ‘Beyond the Melting Pot,’ ” Rogers said. “The ‘best and the brightest’ of those sons of Irish immigrants went into the priesthood.”

For that time period, from the

Through all those decades, however, men of every ethnic group — not just those of Irish heritage — were formed from a vision that the first archbishop of St. Paul had for the Church in the United States.

Father Marvin O’Connell, a University of Notre Dame historian and priest of the archdiocese, laid out that vision best in his 1988 biography of Archbishop Ireland, “John Ireland and the American Catholic Church.”

“It was crucial for social peace and prosperity that these ‘devoted men’ be trained not in clerical obscurantism but along the lines of what [railroad baron James J.] Hill perceived to be Ireland’s progressive ecclesiastical views and patriotic commitment,” Father O’Connell wrote.

Archbishop Ireland wanted his priests to have “an American character,” he added.

“The Americanization of the Church was not only a goal to be pursued within the national arena; it possessed a local dimension, too.

And to Ireland that meant primarily the provision for his own diocese of a native-born clergy well trained in the sacred sciences, disciplined, devoted to the best American ideals (as he conceived them), and loyal to himself and his successors. In the [St. Paul] seminary he had in his hands what he conceived to be the most suitable instrument to mold a high-minded American Catholicism for the present and future generations.”