The Catholic Spirit - March 23, 2017

Food campaign 7 • Priestly celibacy 9 • Senior housing guide 14-18 March 23, 2017 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

CAPITOL VENTURE

Catholics from across Minnesota join their bishops in St. Paul for a day of education and advocacy — Page 6 From left, Jeanne Dufault and Kathy Morales, both of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, and Theresia Miller, Maria Miller and Marty Brazil of Divine Mercy in Faribault gather in the State Capitol rotunda with several hundred others at the conclusion of Catholics at the Capitol March 9. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

ALSO inside

Men’s conference

Engaging black youths

Marriage in secular culture

Evangelization is a lifestyle, not just an activity, Gordy DeMarais tells crowd at archdiocese’s annual event.

— Page 5

Basilica of St. Mary parishioner starts Minnesota Harvest Initiative to help young black men with education and jobs.

— Page 7

Twin Cities Catholics see opportunities for ministry using Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation “The Joy of Love.”

— Pages 12-13

2 • The Catholic Spirit

PAGE TWO

March 23, 2017 OVERHEARD

in PICTURES

“Hear confession every time someone asks you. And if you are sitting there, praying, leave the confessional open because God’s heart is open.”

Pope Francis, speaking March 17 in Vatican City to confessors attending an annual course sponsored by a Vatican court that handles issues related to the absolution of sin. The Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul will offer confessions and eucharistic adoration from noon to noon March 24-25 for 24 Hours for the Lord, a worldwide Lenten event celebrating God’s mercy.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

Fatima film, presentation in St. Anthony April 1 “Living the Call of Fatima Today” will be 7:30-11 a.m. April 1 at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony. Sponsored by the World Apostolate of Fatima, the event includes First Saturday devotions, the documentary “Fatima: A Message of Hope,” breakfast and a presentation by Father Thomas Dufner, pastor of Epiphany in Coon Rapids. A free-will offering will be taken. This year marks the apparitions’ 100th anniversary.

For more information or to RSVP, email info@fatimaonline.org.

GOING GREEN Miss Shamrock, Alexandra Murdock of St. Thomas More in St. Paul, and Mr. Pat, Dan McQuillan of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, take part in the St. Patrick’s Day Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul March 17. At right is McQuillan’s daughter, Ellie. “It’s a real honor to represent the Irish in St. Paul,” McQuillan said. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Lectio Divina workshop in New Brighton April 9 Father Peter Williams will teach how to pray with Lectio Divina 6:30-8 p.m. April 9 at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. A free-will offering will be taken. The event is sponsored by the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. For more information, contact Susanna Bolle at 651-291-4411.

Group for abuse survivors, friends starts April 19 Victims, relatives and friends of people affected by clergy sexual abuse are invited to attend an independent, educational group that will look at the various effects of clergy sexual abuse and ways to cope. This group is not sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It is led by trained facilitators. The group will meet 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesdays from April 19 to May 24. For more information and meeting location, call 612-388-5752.

ACCW convention in Shoreview April 21-22 The Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women will host its annual convention April 21-22 at St. Odilia, 3495 Victoria St. N., Shoreview. The theme is “Telling Our Stories.” The event includes Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, a banquet with speaker Jerry Kronswoski of Burnsville-based Risen Savior Missions, and brunch with speaker Jean Stolpestad, director of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life, on “The Feminine Mystique.” Cost is $65 for both days. For more information, call 651-291-4545 or visit www.accwarchspm.org.

SISTERS CELEBRATE From left, School Sisters of Notre Dame Esther Wagner, Mary Ann Schaenzer, Melissa Schreifels, Rebecca Tayag and Mary Kay Brooks pose on a trolley the sisters rented March 12 to tour Minneapolis and St. Paul and kick off National Catholic Sisters Week. One of their stops was the iconic Mickey’s Dining Car in St. Paul. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

WHAT’S NEW on social media Recently posted videos include the preparation of a Lenten seafood buffet at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, religious sisters singing at Mickey’s Dining Car in St. Paul and IrishCatholic “royalty” at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

Father Michael Van Sloun, pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata, explains the meaning of Lent, writing, “God knows that we need to set aside time each year to re-examine our lives, face our shortcomings, renounce our evildoing, admit instances when we should have done good and failed to do so, repent, be cleansed and start anew.”

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 22 — No. 6 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

in REMEMBRANCE Deacon Dominic Ehrmantraut, 88, died March 9. He was born Oct. 30, 1928, and worked for the Star Tribune for 27 years. He was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1994 and served at St. Stephen, Anoka, and St. Walburga and St. Martin, Rogers (now Mary, Queen of Peace). A funeral Mass was offered March 14 at St. Stephen. He is preceded in death by his wife, Helen, and son, Dwight.

He is survived by eight children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Deacon John Mangan, 76, died March 13 at the Minneapolis Veterans’ Home. He was a 1959 graduate of St. Agnes School in St. Paul and served in the Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ordained a permanent deacon in 1994 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he ministered at the Veterans’ Home until 2016. A funeral Mass was to be offered at St. Agnes March 22. He is preceded in death by his parents and two siblings and is survived by four siblings.

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March 23, 2017

FROM THE BISHOP

The Catholic Spirit • 3

It’s time to fix the real immigration problem

I

recently visited the home of local Catholics, Jose and Isabel. Nearly 20 years ago, the couple left Mexico and came to the United States because there was no future for them in their hometown. They would have sought regular work visas to come to the U.S. legally if that possibility had been offered to them. Coming illegally was risky, but a real life was worth it. They both found good jobs and have been working more than full-time and paying taxes since they arrived. They got married in their Catholic parish, and they have three children who are U.S. citizens. Both are actively involved in ministries in their parish and sacrifice to pay what they can so that their children can attend Catholic school. They both speak English, and neither has a criminal record.

Hearing about recent immigration arrests, they live in fear, and they recently asked their parish priest, “If we get deported, will you make sure our children are cared for?”

As Jose and Isabel’s story illustrates, immigration is a complex issue. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does not, contrary to what some say, support “open borders.” We recognize that every country has the right and responsibility to control its borders. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions” (2241). These responsibilities to control immigration must be balanced by other essential humanitarian values. That is, the United States, as one of the wealthiest countries on earth, has a responsibility to do what it can to help those who are less fortunate. The Catechism also states, “The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him” (CCC 2241). This is because every person has equal dignity before God regardless of where they were born.

For at least 20 years, our system has been broken while our government has looked the other way because business demands cheap labor. Why are we only ONLY JESUS punishing those who came illegally? Why don’t we punish the businesses that hired them or the government Bishop Andrew Cozzens

Many of these immigrants sit in our pews on Sunday morning and share the same dreams of raising their children. All of them share our human dignity and deserve basic human rights. Will we be true to Jesus’ words: “Whatever you do to the least, you do to me”?

officials who let this happen?

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles recently said that, “There is plenty of blame to go around. And that means there is plenty of opportunity to show mercy.” He added: “Mercy is not the denial of justice. Mercy is the quality by which we carry out our justice.” He does not propose that we “forgive and forget” that the law has been broken, but rather that we have reasonable consequences that also provide reasonable solutions.

Deporting law-abiding, family-raising U.S. residents like Jose and Isabel is not justice. It certainly will not lower crime rates if there are children without their parents present to raise them. Fixing our immigration system needs to be done comprehensively, beyond enforcement. It should be done based on our country’s founding principles: keeping families together and providing opportunity for those who have proven to be good citizens. If we want to fix our system in the right way, we could require the undocumented immigrants to pay a fine or do community service. They could also demonstrate that they are holding a job, paying taxes and learning English.

Recent immigration enforcement actions here in the Twin Cities and around the country are a test for all Americans, especially for us as Catholics.

Many of these immigrants sit in our pews on Sunday morning and share the same dreams of raising their children. All of them share our human dignity and deserve basic human rights. Will we be true to Jesus’ words: “Whatever you do to the least, you do to me”?

Es hora de componer el problema migratorio real

R

ecientemente visité la casa de los Católicos de la localidad, José e Isabel, desde hace casi 20 años esta pareja llegó de México a los Estados Unidos porque no había un futuro para ellos en su pueblo.

Ellos con gusto hubieran solicitado visas de trabajo regulares para venir a los Estados Unidos legalmente, si hubieran tenido acceso a ellas y se les hubieran concedido esta posibilidad. Venir ilegalmente fue arriesgado, pero por una vida verdadera valía la pena el riesgo; ambos encontraron buenos trabajos y han estado trabajando más de la jornada completa y han estado pagando impuestos desde que llegaron. Se casaron en su iglesia Católica y sus tres hijos son ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos. Ambos participan activamente en los ministerios parroquiales y se sacrifican para pagar lo que pueden para que sus hijos puedan asistir a la escuela Católica. Ambos hablan Inglés y ninguno de ellos tiene antecedente penal.

Por escuchar de los arrestos recientes por parte de inmigración ellos viven bajo temor y recientemente le preguntaron al sacerdote de su iglesia “si nos deportan ¿usted podría asegurarse de que nuestros hijos estén bien?”

La historia de José e Isabel ilustra la complejidad del sistema migratorio. El Sínodo de Obispos de los Estados Unidos, contrario a lo que dicen algunos, no apoya “las fronteras abiertas.” Reconocemos que cada país tiene el derecho y la responsabilidad de controlar sus fronteras, como lo enseña el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica “Las autoridades civiles, atendiendo al bien común de aquellos que tienen a su cargo, pueden subordinar el ejercicio del derecho de inmigración a diversas condiciones jurídicas” (2241). Esas responsabilidades para controlar la inmigración deben estar en equilibrio con otros valores humanitarios esenciales. Es decir, Estados Unidos es uno de los países más ricos del mundo, y tiene la responsabilidad de hacer lo que pueda para ayudar a los menos

afortunados. El Catequismo también dice. “Las naciones más prósperas están obligadas, hasta donde puedan, a darle la bienvenida el extranjero que está en búsqueda de seguridad y de los medios de vida que no puede obtener en su país de origen. Las autoridades públicas deben ver esto como un derecho natural que es respetado y que pone al huéspedes bajo la protección de quienes lo reciben” (Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica 2241). Esto es porque cada persona es igualmente digna ante Dios, sin importar en donde nació.

Por lo menos por 20 años nuestro sistema no ha funcionado, mientras tanto nuestro gobierno se ha hecho de la vista gorda ante la inmigración ilegal por la demanda empresarial de mano de obra barata. ¿Por qué solo estamos castigando a quienes vinieron ilegalmente? ¿Por qué no castigamos a las empresas que los contrataron o a los funcionarios del gobierno que permitieron que esto pasara?

El Arzobispo José Gómez de Los Ángeles recientemente dijo que “Hay suficientes culpables y hay suficiente oportunidad para demostrar misericordia.” Él señaló que “misericordia no quiere decir negar la justicia” La misericordia es la cualidad por medio de la cual aplicamos nuestra justicia.” Él no propone que “perdonemos y que olvidemos” que la ley ha sido incumplida, propone que en vez de eso debemos tener consecuencias razonables y que también se proporcionen soluciones razonables.

Deportar a quienes residen en Estados Unidos, que cumplen las leyes y que están criando familias como José e Isabel, no es justicia. Y ciertamente no bajarían los niveles de criminalidad si tenemos niños que están sin sus padres presentes para que los cuiden y los críen. Para componer nuestro sistema migratorio debe hacerse de manera integral, que vaya más allá del cumplimiento de la ley existente. Debiera de hacerse en base a los principios en los que se fundó el país:

manteniendo a las familias juntas y unidas proporcionándole oportunidades a aquellos que han probado ser buenos ciudadanos. Si queremos componer nuestro sistema como debe de ser, podríamos hacer que como requisito quienes fueren indocumentados pagaran una multa o que hicieran servicio comunitario. También podrían demostrar que están trabajando, pagando impuestos y aprendiendo inglés.

Las acciones migratorias recientes son una prueba para todos en nuestro país, especialmente para nosotros los Católicos. Muchos de esos inmigrantes son nuestros hermanos y hermanas que se sientan junto a nosotros en las bancas de la iglesia durante la misa del domingo en la mañana; y que comparten los mismos sueños que nosotros tenemos de poder criar a nuestros hijos. Todos ellos comparten la misma dignidad humana que nosotros y merecen tener derechos humanos básicos. ¿Seremos fieles a las palabras que nuestro Señor Jesús dijo: “Lo que hagas por el más humilde lo harás por mi”?

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointment in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective March 20, 2017 Reverend Christopher Shofner, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and the Church of Saint Patrick in Shieldsville, while the pastor, Reverend Victor Valencia, is on a leave of absence.

4 • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

March 23, 2017

SLICEof LIFE

Filipinos stir up seafood buffet From left, Baby Hertel, Lani Schlundt and Babie Schneider fry up Filipino fare March 10 at the annual seafood buffet at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina.

The event is sponsored and staffed by the Knights of Columbus. Schlundt, a parishioner, and her two friends, all Filipinos, made egg rolls and two Filipino dishes called “lumpia” and “pansit” for the event. “Cooking has always been a part of my culture. It’s a passion that I enjoy,” said Schlundt, who has been involved in the event since its inception about five years ago. “It’s a wonderful way to get connected with the parish.”

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

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LOCAL

March 23, 2017

Men need to be convinced evangelists, speaker says

in BRIEF EAGAN

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit The Church is a half-century into renewed evangelization efforts called for by the Second Vatican Council, but Catholics in the U.S. have yet to move the needle.

So said Gordy DeMarais, director of nationwide college campus ministry St. Paul’s Outreach, while speaking to more than 1,000 men at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Men’s Conference March 18. According to the research presented in a 2005 book, only 6 percent of Catholic parishes prioritize evangelization, he said.

Among Protestant churches, the percentages for interest in evangelization jumped into the 70s, according to “Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners,” in which author Nancy Ammerman presented studies and surveys of religions in the U.S., including Catholicism.

The research is now more than a decade old, but “I would propose to you that evangelization is still not a priority for Catholics,” DeMarais said.

The importance of evangelization was at the heart of the message DeMarais and other speakers shared with conference attendees of all ages at the University of St. Thomas Anderson Field House in St. Paul. The annual event was sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.

In his keynote presentation, Archbishop Bernard Hebda focused on St. Joseph as someone who responded quickly to God’s invitation to care for Jesus and Mary. Modern men, he said, similarly are called to listen to God and act decisively according to his will.

Speaking two days before the Church observed the saint’s feast, Archbishop Hebda described St. Joseph as a model for holiness who lived faithfully with the Lord, even before the coming of Christ.

“Joseph was a man who always listened to the voice of God, profoundly amenable to God’s secret will, a man attentive to the messages that came from the depth of the heart and from above,” said Archbishop Hebda, quoting Pope Francis.

In his presentation, DeMarais made clear that evangelization is not a Protestant invention, but rather the obligation of all Christians. It means proclaiming the good news — that Jesus Christ has come and died for sinners so that they can have eternal life with him.

A parishioner of St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul, DeMarais noted that evangelization matters because what Jesus has done requires a response. That response, he said, is a matter of spiritual “life and death.”

“We might be the only Bible our neighbor reads,” he said.

Evangelization is a lifestyle rather than another Catholic activity to schedule and check off, he said. It begins with personal holiness and happens through relationships, a mission field that exists everywhere, including one’s family, workplace and parish. He emphasized “incorporating a kingdom perspective” in living out one’s faith in the circumstances of daily life.

DeMarais said that personal witness of living the faith in a concrete way will draw people. He said people should look for opportunities to share the Gospel, but they often arise naturally.

He also distinguished between evangelization and apologetics, defending the faith. The former uses friendship to share the Gospel and doesn’t seek to win an argument, he said.

That friendship could eventually help other men overcome sins, he said, including ones the culture doesn’t often call sin. DeMarais said he was able to turn away from certain sins in his early life only after committing himself to Christ.

DeMarais emphasized the importance of relationship with God, something that doesn’t automatically come with Church involvement. He said someone could be involved and living a moral life but missing the most important part. “The preaching of the Gospel is indispensable,” he said.

DeMarais said he understands the challenge, having grown up in a faithful Catholic home. While his family put the faith front and center, he quit practicing it in his late teens when his father died.

The Catholic Spirit • 5

Labouré Society names new executive director John Flanagan took the helm as executive director of the Labouré Society March 3. Flanagan previously served the nationwide Catholic nonprofit as the director of programs and provided fundraising guidance. Founded in 2003, the Labouré Society helps clear student debts for men and women looking to enter formation for religious life or the priesthood.

MINNEAPOLIS

Couple receives papal order Gordy DeMarais talks about evangelization at the Men’s Conference March 18. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

“We might be the only Bible our neighbor reads.”

Gordy DeMarais

It took a friend from outside his church circle to point him back to Christ while he was attending the University of St. Thomas in the late 1970s. He said recognizing his friend’s care for him as a person made it possible to being receptive to the Gospel.

DeMarais later responded wholeheartedly on a retreat through the Catholic Youth Center in St. Paul, and committed his life to the Lord. That led to focusing on lay ministry instead of his original plan to major in chemical engineering. He soon engaged in retreat ministry with youths and then began college campus ministry, which evolved into Inver Grove Heights based-St. Paul’s Outreach, which has a presence on campuses in eight states.

Since those early years, DeMarais has closely mentored more than 250 men in the faith, he told The Catholic Spirit in an interview. He has also trained thousands in living the faith and evangelization through St. Paul’s Outreach. Even in the busyness of his work guiding the ministry and caring for his family of eight, he finds opportunities to evangelize, he said.

DeMarais gave the men at the conference pointers on how to evangelize. Starting with personal conversion, he emphasized the need to pray for others and live as a witness to the Gospel.

DeMarais also said building community enables evangelization efforts, citing his experience at the Catholic Youth Center as an example of a place where he encountered many faith-filled Catholics.

The conference highlighted the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen initiative as a place where Catholic men could meet like-minded men and grow in faith. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens pointed to disciplines Catholic Watchmen adopt: daily prayer, reading Scripture, imitating St. Joseph, Sunday Mass, serving family and community, monthly confession and building fraternity.

DeMarais encouraged attendees to jot a list of five to six people who need to hear the Gospel, adding that when reaching out, one needs to show interest in the person and recognize his or her real needs.

DeMarais also emphasized that Catholic men need to speak of Jesus, developing a conviction of the way God has worked in their lives and the willingness to share about it.

That sharing can’t wait too long. DeMarais relayed the story of a Christian who waited until a nonbelieving friend was dying to share the Gospel with him. Unfortunately, the dying man refused to accept it.

“This [dying] man turned to him and said, ‘What you have said to me is so important, that if you had really believed this were true, you would have shared this with me a long time ago,’” DeMarais recounted.

Duane and Elizabeth Nasser, parishioners of St. Maron, received the papal order of knighthood to the Order of St. Gregory the Great Jan. 7. Maronite Bishop Elias Zaidan and Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun presented the award during a divine liturgy. The honor, bestowed by Pope Francis, goes to lay Catholic men and women who have demonstrated virtue and service to the Church.

RICHFIELD

St. Richard parishioner wins CUF raffle Rick Barringer, a parishioner of St. Richard, won the $20,000 grand prize of Catholic United Financial’s 2017 Annual Catholic Schools Raffle. The raffle supports Catholic schools in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Funds raised for the 82 participating schools topped $1 million. Barringer, who won the raffle after purchasing one ticket, gave a $50 gift card March 16 to Peyton Nguyen, a firstgrader at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Richfield, who sold him the ticket.

ROBBINSDALE

Knights fund ultrasound machine Knights of Columbus officers from three parish councils gave funds raised for the purchase of a new ultrasound machine March 2 to the executive director of the Robbinsdale Women’s Center, a pregnancy help center. The funds included a matching grant from the Knights’ national headquarters.

Contributing councils were St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center, and St. Gerard Majella and St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park.

ST. LOUIS PARK

Student wins national arts award Josie Ross, a senior at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School, has been chosen for the National High School Heart of the Arts Award for 2017. The National Federation of State High School Associations gives the award to an individual who excels in the arts in a positive way and represents the purpose of education-based activities. Ross, a 3.96 GPA student, participates in speech, debate and choir.

ST. PAUL

HealthEast, Fairview to merge; includes downtown Catholic hospital As a member of HealthEast Care System, St. Joseph’s Hospital will be part of the health system’s merger with Fairview Health Services, announced March 8. Founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Joseph’s has served St. Paul since 1853 and joined HealthEast in 1987. Merging HealthEast and Fairview will expand the two health systems’ regional reach and medical services. It will “formalize a close and long-standing working relationship,” according to a HealthEast press release. Fairview President and CEO James Hereford will lead the merger, which awaits legal and regulatory approval this spring.

6 • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

March 23, 2017

Capitol event rallied Catholics to befriend lawmakers, share views

By Matthew Davis, Jessica Trygstad and Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit More than 1,000 Catholics joined their bishops March 9 for the first Catholics at the Capitol, a day of education and advocacy organized by the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

For many, the trip to the State Capitol was the first time since their grade-school field trip.

“Why? Because no one asked them to” meet with lawmakers at the Capitol, said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director. “No one provided them with the opportunity and equipped them for success.”

That was the gap MCC hoped to fill.

The daylong event invited participants to more deeply engage in the public arena through education about important issues and tools to help them advocate effectively. It began with Mass and a morning program at the St. Paul RiverCentre that included keynote speakers Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Eternal Word Television Network radio personality Gloria Purvis. The state’s bishops also highlighted key issues before the State Legislature.

Presentations and videos by Adkins and MCC staff also aimed to demystify advocacy and constituent meetings, with an emphasis on building relationships with lawmakers.

In the afternoon, participants bused to the State Capitol where they met with legislators, talked with their bishops, toured the recently renovated building and prayed the rosary. The day concluded with a rally in the rotunda with chants of “Catholic voices count” and cries of “we ain’t in no ways tired,” a motivating mantra Purvis had introduced that morning.

Catholics at the Capitol drew Catholics from each of Minnesota’s 67 Senate districts — a turnout that pleased Adkins, especially given it was a first-time event.

In his welcome, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who, as archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is MCC board president, said he hoped the day would help attendees “to be more effective faithful citizens and to join your bishops in protecting life and human dignity in Minnesota.”

The event drew Catholics of all ages, the senior classes of three Catholic high schools, students from many others, and several families with young children. Adkins said the day was designed to serve as a resource for seasoned advocates and political newcomers. He quoted Pope Francis: “A good Catholic meddles in politics because it is one of the highest forms of charity.”

“It’s countercultural, but the Church sees politics as a form of civic friendship. At a time when polarization and partisanship are pulling us apart, the world needs the Church more than ever to renew public life by building bridges of friendship, including with lawmakers,” Adkins said.

When he asked who in the audience was meeting their lawmakers for the first time, hands around the room shot up. Some attendees admitted being new to engaging with public policy and apprehensive about

Speakers: State needs Catholics’ witness Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, told Catholics at the Capitol attendees that democracy’s success depends on the “generous participation of believers.” Along with Gloria Purvis, he emphasized that Catholics have a responsibility to engage in politics.

“Secular activists argue that our faith should stay out of the public square, that debates over public policy shouldn’t involve religious perspectives, [and] that we have no right to bring faith into the voting booth, or into the Capitol, or into the media,” he said.

But, he said, America’s Founding Fathers saw things differently, believing “that well-formed believers were essential and critical for maintaining

From left, Chesterton Academy seniors Lisette Knaeble and Eleanor Boeser, Sarah Mealey of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, Sharon Soderlund of St. Edward in Bloomington, and Mary Jo and Dave Franske of Our Lady of Grace in Edina talk with State Sen. Melisa Franzen, D-Edina, right, during Catholics at the Capitol March 9. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit what “meddling in politics” entails.

Ione Duff, a parishioner of St. Paul in Ham Lake, hoped to become better informed about public policy issues and more articulate about her views. She was also fulfilling a promise to herself to get out of her comfort zone when it came to her Catholic faith. “I need to make a stand, but I’m not political, and the idea of it scares me,” Duff said at the beginning of the day.

She realized, however, that the day was about more than finding the right words. “Just being here says something to people. Just being at the Capitol as a group of Catholics says something to people,” she said.

John and Sally Bowlin, a retired couple and parishioners of St. Odilia in Shoreview, said they attended the event for the opportunity to defend the dignity of human life. Both volunteer in multiple prolife ventures.

“They prepared us very well,” John said of the morning program.

Before participants headed to the Capitol, three of the state’s bishops also spoke on key issues MCC is working on this legislative session: creating tax credits for school choice; increasing funding for the state’s welfare cashgrant program; and resisting the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

After speaking about the positive impact school choice would have on Minnesota’s students, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis recorded a video for Gov. Mark Dayton asking him to support the legislation. It included Catholics at the Capitol attendees shouting in unison, “Support school choice.”

The bishop shared it via Twitter.

Students from Holy Spirit Academy in Monticello noted that the event provided an opportunity to learn more about state government and described the process

the social contract underlying the U.S. Constitution.”

Bishop Conley said that the Catholic faith upholds a vision of the common good under which all people can flourish. He lamented the polarization of politics and some politicians’ turn to showmanship over statesmanship, adopting a brand of politics “that divide, that fracture, that frustrate and that, in the end, accomplish very little.”

During the last election cycle, many American Catholics considered themselves “politically homeless” because their values didn’t fit easily in either the Democratic or Republican parties. While it’s true that neither party represents a Catholic worldview, Catholics should not feel “homeless,” he said.

“Catholics do not have a political

of visiting their representatives as rewarding.

“They asked questions, and they really seemed to care about what we had to say,” said HSA senior Maddie Haberman.

Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, appreciated meeting with his constituents. “It’s visits like this that really help ground you as to why you’re really here, why you really ran, and who you’re supposed to be looking out for [and] advocating for while you’re down here,” he said.

Adkins considers the event’s turnout more significant than raising some issues, since the event “inspired many Minnesota Catholics to be more engaged as faithful citizens, no matter the issue,” he said.

“We even heard some attendees ruminating about running for office themselves,” he added. “That is a big win.”

Adkins said MCC plans to use its Catholic Advocacy Network to provide parish resources and help Catholics build upon the “civic friendships” formed March 9.

“People don’t need to come to the Capitol building itself to build relationships with legislators or to be faithful citizens,” Adkins said. “It begins in our own backyard.”

Bishop John Quinn of Winona shared a similar sentiment in his closing remarks, adding that his message was an opening of sorts. “What we do now is really going to count,” he said. “We are not going to be afraid. We are not going to withdraw from the culture that more than ever needs the truth of Jesus Christ.”

The values that Catholics at the Capitol participants expressed during the day don’t belong solely to Catholics, he said, but to the “human family.”

He added, “Now the work begins.”

party, but we do have a political home,” he said.

“Catholics are not politically liberal or politically conservative; we are simply Catholics, Bishop James disciples of Christ and his Gospel.

CONLEY Our mission in the public life is to be faithful to the truth of Jesus Christ and his Church, and the truths he’s revealed to us.”

Purvis, an Eternal Word Television Network radio personality, also emphasized that Catholics should “speak the Gospel truth in the public square,” even if they are fearful.

“I am willing, and you are, too, and

God knows that. And because you are willing, he has qualified you,” Purvis said.

She highlighted two of the three legislative priorities on the day’s agenda — supporting school choice in the form of scholarship tax credits and opposing physician-assisted suicide through alternatively improving the state’s palliative care — and shared stories from her life that connected with the issues.

One of them was her conversion story, which happened while she was a Baptist student at a Catholic school.

“Catholic education gave me a lens through which I filter the moral challenges of our day,” she said. “It really helped me understand that I follow Jesus Christ.”

— Jessica Trygstad and Maria Wiering

March 23, 2017

LOCAL

The Catholic Spirit • 7

Barber shop talks prompt entrepreneurs to mentor, engage black youths

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit In the aftermath of the police shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights last July, sitting in the barber’s chair at H. White Men’s Room in North Minneapolis became therapeutic for Reynolds-Anthony Harris.

While getting his hair trimmed, the parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, former teacher, current business owner and father, expressed his thoughts and feelings about the death of the black man.

The incident had struck him like no other. And with other police-involved shootings around the country, Harris said the last few years have taken him “to a new place as a black man.”

“That really shook me to my core. It was a spiritual crisis for me,” he said of Castile’s death.

From that crisis came the Minnesota Harvest Initiative, offering internships, mentoring and other assistance to black youths. The name is a reference to Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Through the initiative, Harris hopes to engage a new crop of young black men in education and jobs.

Harris, 63, had followed the deaths of other black men in police interactions, but the circumstances of Castile’s death — a man driving through a neighborhood, pulled over for a broken tail light and then shot by a police officer in front of his girlfriend and her young child — made him think of his own daughter, Katherine Harris, 30. He hadn’t experienced such a range of emotions since 9/11.

“I needed to take a time-out with my family,” he said.

Later that summer, he headed south for a family reunion. The comfort of simply being together with his large extended family, parents and four siblings brought him to a new place. He realized how well his family had protected him. He had never felt inferior or unsafe as a black man. He had also grown up with the example of parents who served their community; his mother supported missionaries and took him to charity events, such as the March of Dimes. His father was an Army officer.

Back in the barber’s chair in North Minneapolis, he continued to process his reaction to Castile’s death.

Reynolds-Anthony Harris, right, and Houston White promote the concept of black excellence in the barber shop White owns and operates called H. White Men’s Room in North Minneapolis. They also are strong advocates of school choice, and use the book “Minneapolis School Finder: A Resource Guide for Parents” to help parents.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit “It’s like, ‘What am I going to do about this?’ I looked for a way to do it that honored my family and got to the root of the problem,” he said.

Houston White, an entrepreneur and friend, shared Harris’ pain at the vast number of fatherless black families and black men who don’t receive a good education and economic opportunities. Through his barber shop clients and adjoining coffee shop, which has become a community gathering place, White also had a pulse on the community.

Over months of conversations, about 15 black business owners and businessmen committed themselves to be examples of excellence and to bring opportunities to black youths, which led to the Minnesota Harvest Initiative. They organize dialogue sessions at the barber shop and give talks at other venues, such as the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis.

“We’re very supportive and ask them [youths] what they’re having trouble with,” Harris explained.

One young man said he was struggling with math.

“I think we had found him three tutors by the time we were done,” Harris said with a laugh.

The Minnesota Harvest Initiative has also joined in

Opportunity for All Kids’ (OAK) school choice campaign. The current focus is the Equity and Opportunity Scholarship Act, House File 386 and Senate File 258, which would create state-administered scholarships for low- and middle-income families to attend private schools. The bill would also give a 70 percent tax credit to corporations and individuals who donate to Minnesota Department of Revenueapproved nonprofits that fund the scholarships.

The legislation also has the support of the state’s bishops. The Minnesota Catholic Conference is an OAK partner, and school choice was a central issue at MCC’s Catholics at the Capitol event March 9 in St. Paul.

Harris chose a Catholic education for his own daughter in Oregon. He was able to afford the education he thought worked best for her, and he wants to see that opportunity available to people of lesser financial means, too. He also hopes the scholarship will be a catalyst for more innovation in education.

But the ultimate goal of the Minnesota Harvest Initiative is to bring good out of evil.

“It’s about a group of men that came out of a tragedy to move the ball forward on these issues that affect our kids,” Harris said.

Parishes power Minnesota FoodShare March campaign

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Retired basketball coach Jake Lynch is engaged in a new form of March Madness, having traded one kind of basket for another.

Lynch, a parishioner of St. Edward in Bloomington, once coached boys basketball at Jefferson High School for four state title teams between 1976 and 1987. He also saw one of his sons, Kevin, play for the University of Minnesota in two NCAA tournaments in 1989 and 1990. Jake’s grandson, Reggie, also recently helped the Gophers reach this year’s tournament, which Jake watched on TV. For Lynch, 82, March is now filled with transporting donated baskets of food weekly from St. Edward to Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People, a Bloomington food shelf, as part of the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign. The Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches-sponsored campaign aids 300 food shelves statewide with food and funding each March.

Ten parishes of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis contribute as registered participants regularly to the food drive, which began in 1982. Other parishes participate without registering, said Megan Young, the Minnesota FoodShare program administration coordinator.

According to its website, Minnesota FoodShare has given more than $16 million worth of food to food shelves. The 2016 campaign brought in 5.2 million pounds of food — the weight of 1,500 cars.

Many archdiocesan parishes help their local food shelves throughout the year too, including participation in Minnesota FoodShare’s Harvest Campaign in the fall.

In 2016, St. Edward parish won one of the Harvest Campaign’s Golden Beet awards, which go to churches

Jake Lynch of St. Edward in Bloomington spends time every week transporting donated baskets of food from St. Edward to Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People, a Bloomington food shelf, as part of the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit or volunteers that make healthy food more available to food shelf patrons.

Lynch sees the parish food drives as something bigger than himself. He said St. Edward has been donating to a food shelf since the late Bishop Paul Dudley founded the parish in 1967, and the parish donates lots of food year-round.

“It picks up [in March] because we encourage it a little bit more right now,” Lynch said.

St. Richard in Richfield also contributes to VEAP throughout the year but ramps up its support during the March campaign, said Jolaine Liupakka, the parish’s

director of pastoral care.

VEAP serves the communities of Richfield, Bloomington and Edina. Many other food shelves reap the same benefits from churches during March.

St. Francis of Assisi in Lake St. Croix Beach brings donations to the Valley Outreach Food Shelf in Stillwater. Cindy Buckland, the parish’s faith formation coordinator, leads the March food drive and seeks to involve the whole parish. Parishioners bring donations to Masses and faith formation classes. She said involvement increased this year after the parish’s confirmation retreat March 3-5 and with the return of senior citizen parishioners who have been south for the winter months.

Food donation bags disappear quickly before St. Paul in Ham Lake officially begins its two-week March drive.

The parish does quarterly food drives and brings in a quarter more food in March, said Judy Van Den Broeke, the coordinator of pastoral ministry and outreach.

Christina Maas, the music and liturgical environment coordinator at St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley, sees a generous response to the March drive she coordinates.

The parishioners fill a 4-by-12-foot bin of food for PRISM food shelf in Golden Valley.

“It’s overflowing,” Maas said. “People have really gotten accustomed to the ritual of almsgiving” during Lent.

Lynch, who transports the food from St. Edward weekly throughout the year to VEAP and volunteers there, too, said the corporal work of mercy to feed the hungry has motivated his work for the past 25 years.

He’s continued that work each week on top of caring for his wife, Jane, who recently suffered a stroke.

“I’m not as active as I was before with VEAP, [but] I still get over there and deliver food,” he said.

8 • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

March 23, 2017

Reorganization plans sent out for vote The Catholic Spirit

Tyrece Matthews, left, talks with Kay Mori and her friend, Lori Toltzman, before Mass at St. Paul in Ham Lake March 12.

Matthews has been living at the home of Mori, a parishioner, and her husband, Bill, since being released from prison March 7.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Ex-offender walks into freedom with support from St. Paul in Ham Lake

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Kay and Bill Mori did not hesitate to welcome ex-offender Tyrece Matthews to stay with them after his recent release from prison.

“Because we visited him so much in prison and could see what a genuine person he is, we didn’t have any fear about bringing him into our home,” Kay said.

Parishioners of St. Paul in Ham Lake, the Moris became involved in a parish-wide effort to support Matthews’ transition from prison to freedom through the EMBRACE program, which launched in 2015.

Matthews, who left prison in early March, spoke at the end of St. Paul’s Masses March 11-12 to thank the congregation for their prayers, letters and support. A long line of parishioners greeted and hugged Matthews after Mass.

Deacon Tim Zinda, a deacon for the parish and founder of the EMBRACE program, ministered to Matthews, 35, in prison. It began the process EMBRACE stands for: Eucharist, mercy, brotherhood, restoration, action, compassion and encouragement.

“He never refused to see me as a chaplain,” Deacon Zinda said.

Matthews went to prison for assaulting his girlfriend more than four years ago and served time in Minnesota correctional facilities in St. Cloud, Faribault, Togo and Stillwater. He learned about the Catholic faith through Deacon Zinda and joined the Church in 2015. It helped Matthews make desired changes in his life that he couldn’t make on his own, he said.

“I didn’t have the strength to do it, so God gave me that strength,” Matthews said.

St. Paul parishioner Cheryle Young witnessed Matthews’ conversion through written correspondence.

“I could see that he was becoming more positive and upbeat,” Young said.

After years of letter-writing and visits, EMBRACE now helps Matthews with housing, food, clothing, education, transportation and finding work. In

“Because we visited him so much in prison and could see what a genuine person he is, we didn’t have any fear about bringing him into our home.”

Kay Mori, parishioner of St. Paul in Ham Lake

addition, St. Paul’s participation in the program helps Matthews integrate into parish life.

Support through EMBRACE goes beyond St. Paul.

Ian and Catherine Marin, parishioners of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, visited Matthews in prison through the program.

Catherine, who works as a therapist with sex offenders, expressed the importance of the support EMBRACE provides in preventing recidivism.

“I’ve seen people have to go back, violating probation just because they could not find a home,” she said.

Coordinator of correctional ministries for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Deacon Zinda said former inmates often relapse without support. He said EMBRACE caught the attention of Matthews’ parole officer, a Baptist, and she told her congregation about the program.

Other parishes also hope to help ex-offenders transition successfully through EMBRACE. Matthews’ journey of freedom has just begun.

He takes what he calls a “freedom walk” daily to experience the gift he has received, which he describes as an “overwhelming feeling.”

He plans to continue college courses, which he began while in prison after he received his GED. Faith also remains a top priority. He said it will play a big role in the career path he chooses.

“Man’s plans fail, but God’s plans are forever,” Matthews said.​

About 1,500 plan solicitation packages for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Reorganization were mailed March 17, marking a significant step as the archdiocese seeks to provide $155 million in compensation for clergy sexual abuse victims and resolve its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Creditors — which include about 450 clergy sexual abuse claimants, as well as parishes and vendors — may have the opportunity to vote on two plans, one put forward by the archdiocese and the other by the Unsecured Creditors Committee.

Under the archdiocese’s plan, more than $155 million, less expenses, would be placed in a trust for the benefit of sexual abuse claimants soon after a final plan is approved by the judge.

The UCC plan seeks $80 million in victim compensation, much of which hinges on the archdiocese hypothetically obtaining a $38 million loan. The UCC plan also largely rejects the $115 million in the archdiocese’s plan already secured through insurance negotiations, instead reserving the opportunity to pursue insurers after Reorganization, which could lead to additional years of litigation.

Mailed packets include one or more ballots, if applicable, and copies of both plans and disclosure statements. Ballots are due May 1. Votes will be tabulated and reported to the court by May 10.

“Sexual abuse claimants now have an opportunity to look at two alternative plans, and with the full disclosure of the risks and benefits of each plan, make an informed decision about how they are going to proceed,” said Charles Rogers, an attorney representing the archdiocese.

Pope grants status change for former vicar general The Catholic Spirit Archbishop Bernard Hebda communicated in a March 10 statement that Pope Francis has granted the request of Peter Laird, former vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to be released from the obligations he had undertaken at his priestly ordination, a process colloquially described as “laicization.” The archbishop explained that Laird had been dispensed “from all the obligations of the clerical state, including that of clerical celibacy” and in the future “will live as a lay person and will not be able to return to ordinary public ministry without permission of the Holy Father.”

Laird made his request of Pope Peter LAIRD Francis in January 2014 after resigning his position in October 2013 as vicar general and moderator of the curia, as the archdiocese faced criticism that allegations of clerical sexual abuse had been mishandled. He also withdrew from public ministry at that time.

“I am hopeful my decision to step aside at this time, along with the formation of a new task force, can help repair the trust of many, especially the victims of abuse,” Father Laird said in a statement at the time of his resignation. “I know the leadership, the dedicated staff and my fellow priests in the archdiocese are sincerely committed to proactively addressing these difficult issues.”

Laird was ordained a priest in May 1997. Prior to his 2009 appointment as vicar general and moderator of the curia, Laird had served at St. Olaf in Minneapolis and then as a faculty member and vice rector of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

“While his priestly ministry will be missed by many,” Archbishop Hebda wrote, “I am hopeful that Pope Francis’ decision will allow Peter to serve out his baptismal calling in new ways.”

U.S. & WORLD

March 23, 2017

The Catholic Spirit • 9

ANALYSIS

Priests and marriage: Pope’s response not so new

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who was brutally murdered in 1981 in the Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor, is shown baptizing a child in this undated photo. CNS

Date announced for Oklahoma priest-martyr’s beatification

By Rhina Guidos Catholic News Service The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced March 13 that one of its native sons, Father Stanley Rother, an American priest who worked in Guatemala and was brutally murdered there in 1981, will be beatified Sept. 23 in Oklahoma City.

Pope Francis recognized Father Rother’s martyrdom last December, making him the first martyr born in the United States. The priest had ties to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including the friendship of Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn.

In an interview published March 13 by The Oklahoman daily newspaper, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, will be representing the pope at the beatification ceremony.

It will take the priest one step closer to sainthood. In general, following beatification, a miracle attributed to the intercession of the person being considered for sainthood is required for that person to be declared a saint.

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City sent Father Rother to its mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, in 1968, and while stationed there, he helped build a small hospital, a school and its first Catholic radio station. In 1981, as Guatemala was in the middle of a decadeslong conflict, Father Rother, who lived in an indigenous rural area that had been accused by the government of sympathizing with rebels, suffered the same fate as many of his parishioners and native Guatemalans, and was gunned down in the rectory. Like many deaths at that time, his assassins were never identified, nor prosecuted. His body was returned to the United States.

While Pope Francis’ recent comments on the subject of married priests made headlines around the world, his response falls clearly in line with the thinking of his predecessors.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, published in early March, Pope Francis was asked if allowing candidates for the priesthood to fall in love and marry could be “an incentive” for combating the shortage of priestly vocations. He was also asked about the possibility of allowing married “viri probati” — men of proven virtue — to become priests.

“We have to study whether ‘viri probati’ are a possibility. We then also need to determine which tasks they could take on, such as in remote communities, for example,” Pope Francis said.

Expressing a willingness to study the question of allowing married men to become priests was hardly a groundbreaking response given that the topic was explored in two meetings of the Synod of Bishops and by both Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. During the 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, the possibility of ordaining men of proven virtue was raised as a way to provide priests for areas of the world where Catholics have limited access to Mass and the sacraments.“Some participants made reference to ‘viri probati,’ but in the end, the small discussion groups evaluated this hypothesis as a road not to follow,” a proposition from the synod said.

Eight years before he was elected pope, thenCardinal Joseph Ratzinger said that while married priests in the Catholic Church were not on the horizon in “the foreseeable future,” it was not an entirely closed subject.

In “Salt of the Earth,” an interview-book with Peter Seewald published in 1997, the future Pope Benedict said, “One ought not to declare that any custom of the Church’s life, no matter how deeply anchored and well founded, is wholly absolute. To be sure, the Church will have to ask herself the question again and again; she has now done so in two synods.”

The question of mandatory celibacy for most priests in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church has been debated heavily in recent years, with some people seeing lifting it as a way to encourage more men to enter the priesthood, since they would be able to serve without giving up marriage and the possibility of having a family. Pope Benedict said celibacy in the priesthood is difficult to understand today “because the relationship to marriage and children has clearly shifted.” To have children, he explained, was once viewed as a “sort of immortality through posterity.”

The celibacy rule is a Church discipline, but its roots are found in the Gospel when Jesus speaks to his disciples about the possibility of remaining celibate for the kingdom of God. “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it,” Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew.

In his apostolic exhortation, “Pastores Dabo Vobis” (“I will give you shepherds”), written in response to the 1990 Synod of Bishops, St. John Paul II wrote that Jesus wished not only to affirm the “specific dignity and sacramental holiness” of marriage, but also to show that another path for Christians exists.

This path, he said, “is not a flight from marriage but rather a conscious choice of celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Expanding on the subject, Pope Benedict told Seewald that to view priestly celibacy as a way for priests to have more time for ministry without dealing with the duties of being a husband and a father is “too primitive and pragmatic.”

“The point is really an existence that stakes everything on God and leaves out precisely the one thing that normally makes a human existence fulfilled with a promising future,” he said.

Pope Francis’ response to the question of allowing young men thinking about the priesthood to marry as an “incentive” followed in the same line. “Voluntary celibacy is often discussed in this context, especially where there is a lack of clergy. However, voluntary celibacy is not a solution,” the pope told Die Zeit.

In the book “On Heaven and Earth,” originally published in Spanish in 2010, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio acknowledged that while he is in favor of maintaining celibacy in the priesthood, it “is a matter of discipline, not of faith.”

St. John Paul II had said the same. During a 1993 general audience, he said that while celibacy “does not belong to the essence of priesthood,” Jesus proposed it as an ideal. Similarly, then-Cardinal Ratzinger said the celibacy requirement “is not dogma” but rather a “form of life” that involves the priest’s faith and not his dominion over his own nature.

“I think that what provokes people today against celibacy is that they see how many priests really aren’t inwardly in agreement with it and either live it hypocritically, badly, not at all, or only live it in a tortured way. So people say,” he said.

When all is said and done, Pope Francis’ openness to considering an expanded possibility for married priests is not revolutionary at all, but is a continuation of a conversation that has gone on for decades and is likely to continue for some time.

If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, your first call should be to law enforcement.

The archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Program is also available to offer help and assist with healing. For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, please call (651) 291-4497.

Find your Friday fish fry. www.TheCatholicSpirit.com/nomeat

Blogs and commentary. CatholicHotdish.com

10 • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & WORLD

Pope apologizes for Catholics’ role in Rwanda genocide

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Pope Francis asked God’s forgiveness for the failures of the Catholic Church during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and for the hatred and violence perpetrated by some priests and religious.

“He implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom [were] priests and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission,” said a Vatican statement released March 20 after the meeting of the pope and president.

Some 800,000, and perhaps as many as 1 million people — most of whom belonged to the Tutsi ethnic group — died in the ferocious bloodshed carried out from April to July 1994.

“In light of the recent Holy Year of Mercy and of the statement published by the Rwandan Bishops at its conclusion” in November, the Vatican said, “the pope also expressed the desire that this humble recognition of the failings of that period, which, unfortunately, disfigured the face of the Church, may contribute to a ‘purification of

memory’ and may promote, in hope and renewed trust, a future of peace, witnessing to the concrete possibility of living and working together once the dignity of the human person and the common good are put at the center.”

Pope Francis “conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi,” the Vatican said. “He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events.”

In President Kagame’s 25-minute private meeting with the pope, as well as during his meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, note was made of “the collaboration between the state and the local Church in the work of national reconciliation and in the consolidation of peace for the benefit of the whole nation,” the Vatican said.

In a statement read in churches throughout Rwanda Nov. 20, the country’s bishops apologized for “all the wrongs the Church committed” during the genocide.

“We regret that Church members violated their oath of allegiance to God’s commandments” and that some Catholics were involved in planning, aiding and carrying out the massacres.

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in BRIEF WASHINGTON

15,000 Catholics ask Trump to honor Paris climate agreement Thousands of Catholics asked President Donald Trump to honor the Paris climate agreement, continue U.S. contributions to the Green Climate Fund and implement the Clean Power Plan governing power plant emissions.

Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, said 15,000 Catholics signed an online petition that was submitted to the president March 15. It was developed as one response to Trump administration claims that climate change is not caused by human activities. “They are issues that our organization, the Catholic bishops, Catholic Relief Services and other organizations have supported for years,” Misleh said of the three areas addressed in the petition. “We think there is a federal role for action on the climate issue,” he told Catholic News Service.

MANCHESTER, England

Reaction mixed to EU ruling on religious symbols in workplace Religious leaders have criticized a ruling by the European Union’s highest court that could allow employers to prohibit staff from wearing visible religious symbols in the workplace.

However, British organizations set up to defend Christians from harassment in the workplace were untroubled by the ruling. The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, ruled differently on two cases March 14. In one case, it said a firm that demanded a Muslim employee remove her headscarf was not in breach of an EU employment directive on freedom of religion because it banned the wearing of “any political, philosophical or religious sign.” But Catholic Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said March 15 the ruling was “totalitarian” and could lead to Christians being forced to remove a crucifix or a St. Christopher medal. “It limits the religious expression of an individual,” said Bishop Egan, who has encouraged the people of his diocese to be open about their faith. “This is a grave infringement of human rights,” he said. “It is a disproportionate application, like cracking a nut with a huge sledgehammer ... before we know it we are going to have huge restrictions.”

SEOUL, South Korea

Catholics call for unity after court upholds removal of president

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Catholics in South Korea called for unity following a unanimous ruling March 10 by the Constitutional Court to uphold the impeachment of nowformer President Park Geun-hye. On the day of the Constitutional Court ruling, the bishops’ conference head called for “rebuilding the country through

harmony,” and Seoul’s Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung put out a message saying Koreans should accept the decision regardless of what side they were on.

Maryknoll Sister Jean Maloney, 86, has lived mostly in South Korea since 1953, when the Korean War ended.

She told Catholic News Service: “What’s important is ... the unity among [South Koreans] and accepting the court Park decision. ... But GWUN-HYE that’s not so easy, I think, for older people who are afraid of communism, and they revered [the president’s] father, who was really a dictator, so there is really a conflict between you might say pro-Park and anti-Park.” Hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens had held weekly protests calling for Park Geun-hye’s impeachment after investigators linked her to a major corruption scandal involving some of the country’s largest conglomerates. Franciscan Father Francis Lee Yongho of Seoul, who is working on his doctorate in world religions at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said he agreed with the call for harmony but that it “should not be denial of discrepancy in opinions.” “What we need in our society is open and respectful discussions of different opinions, and it should be conducted in accordance with law in a respectful and peaceful way.

And to make a transparent and trustful society, every wrongdoing should be uncovered,” he said.

ROME

U.S.-Holy See ties won’t change with Trump, U.S. diplomat says Despite opposing views on some issues, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See will still look for common ground on global issues, the interim leader of the embassy said. “There’s an expectation that the relationship between President [Donald] Trump and Pope Francis will be difficult to establish” and that “the bilateral relationship between the United States and the Holy See is going to suffer, and that is not the case at all,” Louis Bono, charge d’affaires to the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See said. Bono temporarily leads the embassy while it waits for a new U.S. ambassador to be named and confirmed. Speaking to Catholic News Service March 6, Bono talked about expectations of the future relationship between the United States and the Holy See under the Trump administration. The embassy, he said, hopes to continue its joint efforts on global issues, such as combating human trafficking and ending modern slavery.

“Our goal right now is to keep that relationship moving forward, to look for more areas of collaboration” and “to build upon the successes that we’ve already experienced,” he said.

— Catholic News Service

March 23, 2017

U.S. & WORLD

The Catholic Spirit • 11

Vatican maze: Retracing the path of abuse accountability proposals

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Recent exchanges in the media between the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a former member of a papal advisory commission have highlighted a lack of clarity and transparency when it comes to finding better ways to make bishops and religious superiors more accountable for how they handle allegations of sexual abuse.

The first muddying of the waters occurred in early June 2015 when a Vatican press office briefing and bulletin announced, “The Holy Father approved proposals and authorized that sufficient resources” be provided for a new “judicial section” in the doctrinal congregation in order for the congregation “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of abuse of office.”

While officials told reporters that the Council of Cardinals and Pope Francis approved the proposal presented by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, it was not a “papal fiat,” but rather just a green light for the offices involved to flesh out what procedures could uphold greater accountability, a source familiar with the situation told Catholic News Service.

However, at the time of the announcement, the media and commission members, according to Marie Collins — the newly resigned commission member — were led to believe it was “a done deal” that just awaited implementation. Further proof that the recommendations never carried any legislative weight is that they were never published in “Acta Apostolicae Sedis,” the Vatican’s official bulletin of record.

But even though the announcement was made to the public, Collins said, and media around the world reported it as having been authorized, no one stepped forward to officially clarify or correct the record that the pope’s “approval” was just enthusiastic encouragement. “No one came out to say, ‘No, no, it’s only just a project or something that will be discussed” further, she said March 15 by phone from Ireland.

Collins told CNS that she and other commission members were told four months after the Vatican announcement that the tribunal proposal “was not happening. There was absolutely no explanation” other than that the doctrinal congregation was not going to implement it.

So when Cardinal Gerhard Muller, congregation prefect, told the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” March 5 that the proposal for a new judicial section in the doctrinal office had never been a mandate, but only “a plan,” he was correct. But that kind of clarity is only emerging officially now, nearly two years later, after Collins quit the commission and

publicly criticized “resistance” to the commission’s jurisdiction over the accused: the congregations for recommendations.

Bishops, Eastern Churches, the Evangelization of Peoples or Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies The commission’s proposal for the Congregation of Apostolic Life. for the Doctrine of the Faith to try bishops for abuse It continues with the practice of dealing with the of office was unnecessary, Cardinal Mueller said in the interview, because “the tools and juridical means” crime of negligence as an administrative process. It only becomes a judicial process that goes to trial if and authority for keeping bishops accountable were the case is not clear-cut or if the accused contests the already in place. accusation. At that point, the pope is at liberty to However, if that really had been the case, Collins assign the trial to any tribunal, not just the Vatican’s told CNS, there should have been a lot more bishops doctrinal office, but also to an ad hoc tribunal if he so being held accountable for mishandling abuse chooses and gives it the necessary jurisdiction, the allegations over the years. “Obviously, more was canonical expert told CNS. needed,” she said.

One of the reasons why the commission insisted on In fact, while all the laws on having one clearly defined accountability are in theory tribunal be charged with already there, the problem had accusations was to rectify a been a lack of a well-developed potential conflict of interest in “If there are no and clear process for dealing the current system where the with the reporting and judging Congregation of Bishops is sanctions, [all the of such claims, a canon law charged with overseeing the expert told CNS. investigation and suggested policies and guidelines An indication the pope and sanction of a brother bishop, others agreed the status quo was on child protection] are Collins said. not enough was the pope’s “You don’t put the same not worth the paper they issuance in June 2016 of the people in charge of motu proprio, “Like a Loving administering the sanctions; are written on. You have Mother.” they’re judging their own. That in normal society is not accepted “It shows that the pope wasn’t to make people as a good idea. That would be my giving up on accountability,” objection,” she said. she said, and that he didn’t accountable.”

Also, she said, the huge agree that further measures were publicity the proposed tribunal not needed.

Marie Collins, former member of the received actually led to people Pontifical Commission for the Abuse of office always has sending in cases, “but it wasn’t been a crime as defined in Protection of Minors there, and nobody said, ‘It’s not canon 1389, and canon law here.’” always has allowed removal She said even though she had from office “for grave reasons.” no authority at the time as a The motu proprio connected commission member to come out with an official those two dots, underlining that negligence in statement, she began to tell people — survivors and exercising one’s office, particularly in cases of the media — about a year ago that the tribunal “was not sexual abuse of minors, was among the “grave happening.” reasons” that could lead to removal.

“I did not believe anything like that should be kept The motu proprio emphasizes that not just secret,” she said. diocesan bishops or eparchs, but also major superiors However, she added, “it didn’t cause much of a of religious institutes could be legitimately removed if kerfuffle at the time. Maybe people didn’t believe their actions or failure to act resulted in grave harm me.” to others. It specified that when it came to negligence Holding Church leaders accountable with a tribunal regarding sex abuse, a “lack of diligence” was enough and with transparently administered and publicly to make the case “grave” and open to sanctions. stated sanctions had been a major priority for Collins, The papal instruction, however, addresses and the tribunal being scrapped was just one of many accountability without involving the doctrinal office reasons she quit as an adviser.

— unless the pope deems it necessary on a case-by“If there are no sanctions, [all the policies and case basis. guidelines on child protection] are not worth the It upholds, but fleshes out, the current practice of paper they are written on,” Collins said. “You have to sending cases to the particular congregation that has make people accountable.”

www.TheCatholicSpirit.com • www.archspm.org

12 • The Catholic Spirit

Catholic marriage

How Pope Francis’ ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit

do get negative [rulings], but regardless, they have clarity about what happened.”

Most people apply for an annulment because they t’s a nearly one-year-old document that continues have plans to get remarried, Father Johnson explained. to make headlines.

Others want closure. And some contact the tribunal to “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis’ “love letter to get their marriages “corrected.” families,” as it has been Since “Amoris Laetitia” was released, and described, is the product the issue of divorce and Communion has of two synods on the been in the news, other Catholics have family in 2014 and 2015. The also been informed and motivated to go post-synodal apostolic through the proper channels to have exhortation, which translates to their marriage recognized by the “The Joy of Love,” was Church. Father Johnson noted the published in April 2016 as an “surprising” number of people who address to the entire Church. side-stepped Catholic wedding vows, Prior to its release, Pope Francis getting married outside of the Church. said the document was to “They came at it with an idea of what “summarize all that the synod the culture proposes marriage to be,” he said,” including topics of said. “And what the culture proposes broken families, the marriage to be is not Christian importance of serious marriage marriage.” preparation programs, raising Father Johnson said Pope Francis and educating children, and continues to keep “Amoris Laetitia” in “integrating” divorced and the forefront of people’s minds. civilly remarried Catholics into “Aside from one footnote in a active parish life, even if they 350-paragraph or more istock/yaruta cannot receive Communion, document, [Pope Francis] is Catholic News Service reported in beautifully expounding upon what December 2016. A footnote in the 165-page text about Christian marriage ought to be — the Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics troubles, the joys, the fruits, the pitfalls, has stirred controversy, from the Church hierarchy to pointing them out and presenting the the people in the pews.

Catholic Church’s teaching in all its “Because of that, it has generated a lot of press and beauty.” discussion, more so than any other post-synodal exhortation ever has,” said Father Michael Johnson, Clarification, accompaniment judicial vicar for the Metropolitan Tribunal in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, whose role needed includes overseeing annulments.

Jill Murray can’t help but focus on Despite the muddle, local Catholics are trying to that footnote. The parishioner of All unpack the many facets of the document, which clergy Saints in Minneapolis and mother of and the laity alike have recommended that the faithful three is separated from her husband. read in its entirety.

She’s been discouraged with the “The Holy Father has seen exactly what we as priests general lack of support and are seeing in the parishes,” Father Johnson said, “which understanding from fellow Catholics, is actually reassuring to us as priests. He gets it.” some who’ve suggested she “just get a divorce.” Non-Catholics wonder why The culture of marriage she chooses to be “shackled” to the Father Johnson came to the tribunal in 2015 after Church’s teachings. studying canon law at the Catholic University of But she’s more concerned about how America in Washington, D.C. Before that, he worked in the separation — and what could come in the parish ministry. In reading marriage cases and talking to future — affects her children, ages 15, 12 and 5, and people as they go through the annulment process, he especially their faith lives. sees how secular culture has influenced people’s “I think the children then see that the Church, what marriages. And in the Church, he said, “We’re left to sift they’ve been taught about marriage, is not true,” said through the aftermath of what our culture has wrought Murray, 49. “So when we teach them marriage is not on the family. And it’s very sad.” dissoluble, they would look at [a particular] situation One of the key topics that kept emerging during the and say, ‘Yes it is.’” synod on the family was how the Church, particularly Murray points to children being influenced by secular clergy, guides people who are divorced and civilly society and also what their friends experience when it remarried. Pope Francis revised the code of canon law in comes to separation and divorce.

December 2015, streamlining the annulment process for And based on her own experience, Murray timeliness and costs. acknowledges a lack of education that has put some “This last year, we’ve seen the effects of that people in these situations. As a self-described “revert,” document in the changes to canon law in the tribunal. she was married outside the Church, and when she It’s been a huge impact … for the better,” Father discovered the “wisdom of the Church” and returned, Johnson said. she didn’t know specific rules about receiving Communion. She’d like to see the Church focus on Largely because of the changes to the canonical educating and providing spiritual guidance to get people process for annulments, the number of annulments that “to the right place with God.” the tribunal processed nearly doubled in one year; in 2015, the number was 140, followed by 270 in 2016.

“Our culture is so much about what’s easy now,” Murray said. “It shows a lack of faith. I wish the Church “It’s a fantastic thing, because then these people are was working as hard on keeping families together.” going through the annulment process, getting clarity about their state in life, and then they can go and get Murray has found consolation in the group Faithful married in the Catholic Church,” he said. “Some people Spouses, sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of

I

Marriage, Family and Life. She described its members as Catholics who are separated and divorced — “abandoned by their spouses” — trying to remain faithful to their vows and to Church teaching. But the group has been struggling with the footnote in “Amoris Laetitia,” trying to comprehend what it means for them.

She described it as the “elephant in the room,” which hasn’t been addressed in the formal group setting, but in sharing articles about the text among individual members.

“We’re standing for the Church on marriage, and we are obeying the teachings of Christ and two of the commandments,” Murray said. “And we want the Church to stand with us.”

Last September, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke and three other cardinals wrote a formal request to Pope Francis — called a “dubia”— to clarify “Amoris Laetitia,” particularly its call for the pastoral accompaniment of people who are divorced and civilly remarried, or who are living together without marriage. The cardinals published the letter in November 2016 after Pope Francis did not respond to it. CNS reported Jan. 9 that Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the pope doesn’t need “fraternal correction” because he hasn’t put the faith and Church teaching in danger.

“I do not see any opposition: On one side, we have the clear doctrine on matrimony, and on the other the obligation of the Church to care for these people in difficulty,” Cardinal Muller had said.

Although Lyle Bowe doesn’t share the experiences of those in the Faithful Spouses group, he attends some of their meetings to support them.

“I really see the power of this group, where they’re remaining faithful to their covenant until the Church says otherwise,” said Bowe, 56, a parishioner of St. Joseph in West St. Paul. “I think it really speaks to the building of a culture of life that leads to a permanence of marriage.”

The stay-at-home father of three adopted sons is using his master’s degree in counseling from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio to minister to families. He’s using Pope Francis’ points on the

True love and the cross

Bishop Andrew Cozzens recommended that a group o especially chapter 4, Pope Francis’ meditation on 1 Cori verses, “Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it “This love is going to allow me to live this on the cros inherent in marriage.

Bishop Cozzens shared his advice with couples attend annual Newly Married Retreat Feb. 4 at St. Charles Borro He told them that the chapter from Corinthians — wh tool for an examination of conscience if one replaces “lo on if he or she really is living as love requires.

True love “wills the good of the other,” Bishop Cozzen of love — that one learns to love others.

The bishop encouraged the couples to develop a relati materialism, and setting aside time regularly to focus on He said that when someone struggles with his or her s person should recognize it, pray about it, receive God’s l peace.

“It’s through this experience of the cross that we com

March 23, 2017 • 13

vs. secular culture

s shaping the work of the local Church importance of fathers to bolster his evangelization efforts with men.

As for the Faithful Spouses group, he’d like members to get the support they seek from Church leadership, calling them “heroic” but a “forgotten bunch.”

“If you look at the intentions at Mass, it’s always for the families, but there are never any prayers for these spouses who’ve been abandoned that are courageously staying true to their covenant. Yet, they feel like they don’t have a home anymore,” Bowe said. “They’re shunned, almost.”

Marriage preparation Carol Arend is a pastoral minister and the wedding director at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. She said “Amoris Laetitia” has reinforced her work with couples preparing for marriage and those newly married, and it has provided “marching orders” for the parish’s continued work.

“The document really emphasizes the parish community or the Christian community as the support of people in marriage,” she said, “and so that is something also in the last year or so that we’ve tried to emphasize.”

Sometimes couples can view marriage preparation requirements, which come from the archdiocese, as hoops to jump through, Arend said, but most couples are willing and excited to learn.

“It’s not just about them and their marriage,” said Arend, 51. “This is a public sacrament. It affects the whole community, and in turn, we want to affect them with our prayer and our support.”

She said the challenge of mentoring couples is identifying their relationship struggles, whether they be with family or with the Church. Meeting people where they are and trying to be a positive part of their connection to the Church is important, Arend said, because “if this is the first time they’ve really been connected to a church in a while, we want it to be a merciful experience.”

Arend thinks that although “Amoris Laetitia” talks about the challenges of family

of newly married couples read “Amoris Laetitia,” inthians, chapter 13, which includes the oft-quoted t does not boast, it is not proud.” ss,” he said, referring to the trials and suffering

ding the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ omeo in St. Anthony. hich is commonly read at weddings — can be a useful ove” with his or her name. Then someone can reflect

ns said, and it’s in coming to know God — the source

ionship with God through consistent prayer, resisting n each other and to work through struggles. spouse — he gave the example of impatience — the love and grace, and then respond to the trial with that

me to true life,” he said.

— Maria Wiering

life, overall, it’s a positive depiction of what the Church is trying to accomplish. She said many Catholics don’t know “the whole story.”

“The Church wants people to be happy, the Church wants people to live the life God wants them to live, and the Church wants to help. And the Church is merciful,” she said. “But I think we don’t get that message, especially when it comes to relationships and marriage and sexuality. The message on the street is not the real message, and so I think to read this document really shows that this is where the heart is. And this is what the Church wants versus, we’re not just telling [people] not to do things.”

She’s collaborating with the parish’s faith formation director on more relationship enrichment programs. And the parish plans to host a group reading of the document. “It’s readable,” she said. “It’s not going to make your head spin.”

Christian vocation It’s this kind of boots on the ground work that the Church needs to do, Father Johnson said. He noted that the pope’s annual January address to the Roman Rota, the highest court of appeal for marriage annulment cases, deviated from the usual topic of jurisprudence and instead focused on how the Church can prevent marriages from ending in divorce. Pope Francis talked about the need for a new catechumenate for married couples and the need to work on evangelizing couples coming to the Church for marriage preparation.

And in February, Pope Francis told an audience of priests who were at the Vatican for a marriage preparation course that it’s their responsibility to concretely apply the Church’s teachings on marriage in their daily contact with families, CNS reported. He said in ministering to people in “irregular unions,” priests will have to do so not as “experts in bureaucratic proceedings or judicial norms, but as brothers who take on an attitude of listening and understanding.”

Overall, it’s marriage preparation that needs to improve, Father Johnson said, because the Church inaccurately presumes couples have a faith life.

“Pope Francis, in ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ talks about a lack of faith … giving rise to an invalid marriage,” Father Johnson explained. “And what we’re seeing is because they’re not converts to Christ, because they’re not enmeshed in a Christian worldview, they then bring all these ideas from the culture into marriage. All of that beauty [and] all of that theology is lost. And that’s what Pope Francis is trying to address.”

Father Johnson said that because parish priests typically don’t know what comes from the pope’s annual address, communication needs to come from tribunals to diocesan family life offices, for instance.

And there are necessary changes for the Church.

“We need to take a sober look at the state of the sacrament of marriage within our Church, and how

we’re living that, how we’re preparing people for that [and] how we’re helping people through difficulties,” he said.

“It needs to start from birth,” he continued. “We need to witness good, Christian marriages, good Christian families that are able to reconcile their differences to show mercy and unconditional love [and] forgiveness — the virtues that are going to be essential for them to form that relationship later in life. That’s the remote preparation for marriage.”

He said the Church also needs to talk about the Christian vocation of marriage during confirmation and through high school, explaining how it’s not the next step from dating, but a sacramental union, and what it means to say vows and how they’re lived.

“Those vows aren’t there for the better times, the happy times, the good times,” Father Johnson said.

“They’re for the hard times — when we’re poor, when we’re sick. The vows are meant to keep people in it during those times. And that’s actually when the power of the sacrament is so beautiful, because they begin imaging Christ on the cross. They begin imaging Christ’s forgiveness, Christ’s mercy, unconditional love, sacrifice [and] faith.”

Jean Stolpestad, director of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life, said the office is working with other archdiocesan offices and organizations to develop an intentional approach to helping young people, as well as those who prepare couples for marriage, understand and convey the sacredness of the sacrament.

It also plans to use “Amoris Laetitia” in conjunction with St. John Paul II’s 1981 “Familiaris Consortio” (“On the role of the Christian family in the modern world”) as a blueprint for ongoing ministry to parishes and family life. “‘Amoris Laetitia’ helps us to better appreciate what it is to accompany a person, to be aware of the reality of situations and environments in which people live and in which they develop their conscience,” Stolpestad said. “The heart or context of what is marriage and who may marry has not changed; however, the starting point of the conversation about marriage and our part in it has.”

Resource meant to strengthen Ultimately, Father Johnson said, “Amoris Laetitia” is a document meant to strengthen marriage. He encourages Catholics to read the text, describing it as “complex,” but “accessible, practical and beautiful.” “[Pope Francis] fundamentally realizes that the human experience is a messy experience. Yet, through the light of faith, through the light of Christ, through the Gospel, through the vows that husbands and wives have made, there’s actually redemption in that,” he said. “There’s actually beauty in that, and there’s fulfillment in that.

And he wants people to experience that to its fullest.”

As a way to strengthen marriages, Stolpestad recommends chapter 4, which is a reflection on St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about the meaning of love.

“While this document has been the center of much controversy, the truly beautiful and rich elements cannot be overlooked,” she said. “Since families spend less time together, many of the foundational elements of marriage and family life have been lost. Pope Francis challenges us to commit to building deeper relationships within our families, parishes and communities.”

SENIOR HOUSING GUIDE

2017 MARCH 23 • PAGE 14

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March 23, 2017

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The Catholic Spirit

The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care

The Catholic Spirit • 15 St. Benedict’s Senior Community

The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care are located in the Shepard Park neighborhood of St. Paul’s Highland Park. The area offers retail shopping, various community centers, places of worship and beautifully landscaped park areas. A free, scheduled transportation shuttle is provided during the week to a variety of locations in the area.

The Wellington Senior Living offers independent living, assisted living and 24hour care suites. Our team is dedicated to providing premier senior living with an emphasis on living.

We offer a variety of services, from restaurant-style dining with meals prepared by a chef, to housekeeping and a full array of social activities. Health care professionals, including licensed nursing staff and certified home health aides, are trained, dedicated and available to meet the needs of residents.

The Alton Memory Care is committed to providing “person-directed” care in a fun environment that meets the specific needs of each individual, helping families spend quality time together by providing peace of mind, knowing residents are well cared for in all aspects of their lives.

When a person encounters memory issues, unique challenges arise for the person affected and their family members. At The Alton, we focus on each person’s strengths and provide programs and services to support each individual.

For more information or to schedule a tour, visit www.wellingtonresidence.com, call The Wellington at 651-699-2664, visit www.thealton.com or call The Alton at 651-699-2480.

At St. Benedict’s Senior Community, we believe that all dimensions of a person are important and the richest rewards come from nurturing the mind, body and spirit.

We provide a full continuum of care that covers emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and physical wellness. Our purpose is to promote and improve human life through the provision of a continuum of quality services. All activity is inspired by our mission and philosophy that “All shall be treated as Christ.”

Our campus offers a wonderful, safe, stimulating and supportive environment. We strive to create a socially connected community with opportunities to challenge the mind, lift spirits, nurture and revitalize purpose.

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Crest View Senior Community in Columbia Heights offers a continuum of care and services, including senior housing, assisted living, home health care, memory care, rehab care, end-of-life care and skilled nursing care.

Crest View opened a new campus in Blaine in October 2016 that includes 152 units of senior housing, assisted living, home health care, memory care and care suites.

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MJ PROPERTIES OF SAINT PAUL, LLLP

16 • The Catholic Spirit

SENIOR HOUSING GUIDE

March 23, 2017

Highlands at River Road

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Highlands at River Road is a senior community that offers assisted living and memory care options.

We are situated in one of St. Paul’s finest neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, friendly faces and a small-town, faith-driven culture. Beautiful parks and the Mississippi River are just steps away, inviting Highlands’ residents to get outside and enjoy the natural surroundings. Restaurants, boutiques, banks, movie theaters and more are close by at the Village shopping hub.

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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, aged 55-plus. Adjacent to Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1440 provides a quiet, simple, yet elegant atmosphere for independent seniors who wish to “stay in the neighborhood” or live close to a Catholic church and have ready access to the sacraments. Nearby are parks, restaurants, fuel, car repair, pharmacy, groceries, coffee houses, medical/dental offices, beauty/barber shops and more.

At 1440 Randolph, you can enjoy: a modernized elevator, underground heated parking and outside garages, state-of-the-art monitored smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, new appliances, friendly on-site management, mini health clinic, fitness center and resident lounge with Wi-Fi access and cable TV. 1440 is a great value for anyone on a budget.

For more information or to schedule a showing, please call MJ Properties of Saint Paul at 651-690-4961.

The Glenn 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, serving individuals throughout the metro area with locations in New Hope, Brooklyn Park, Robbinsdale, Shoreview and Woodbury.

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March 23, 2017

SENIOR HOUSING GUIDE

The Catholic Spirit • 17

Don’t procrastinate on faith, live today, Pope Francis says

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

C

hristians are called to renew their faithfulness to God every day and not procrastinate when it comes to their own personal conversion, Pope Francis said.

A hardened heart that sets aside “receiving the love of God” for another day, may find that it is too late to enjoy the heavenly reward awaiting those whose hearts are strong in the faith, the pope said Jan. 12 in his homily during Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

“I say this not to frighten you, but simply to say that our life is a ‘today’ — today or never,” he said.

“Tomorrow will be an eternal ‘tomorrow’ with no sunset, with the Lord forever if I am faithful to this ‘today.’ And the question that I ask you is what the Holy Spirit asks: ‘How do I live this ‘today?’” he said.

The pope centered his homily on the day’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews in which the author urges the Christian community to “encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.”

Hearts “are at risk” of losing this “today,” the opportunity of living life to its fullness and not ruined by sin, he said.

Recalling conversations with elderly people — particularly priests and nuns — the pope said he was always struck by their requests to pray for their final moments even if they led good lives in God’s service. “‘But are you afraid?’” the pope said he would ask them. They would respond that they are not afraid of death, but requested prayers that they would be able to live to the very end of their lives “with a heart strong in faith and not ruined by sin, by vices, by corruption.”

Christians, Pope Francis added, must reflect on the state of their own “today” and ask whether their hearts

“And the question that I ask you is what the Holy Spirit asks: ‘How do I live this ‘today?’”

Pope Francis

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 15. CNS/Paul Haring are “open to the Lord” or closed and seduced by sin like “the doctors of the law, all those people who persecuted [Jesus], who put him to the test to condemn him and in the end, were able to do it.”

Today may well be a person’s last, he told those at Mass. It is healthy to ask, “How is my ‘today’ in the presence of the Lord? And how is my heart? Is it open?

Is it strong in faith? Is it led by the love of the Lord?”

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18 • The Catholic Spirit

SENIOR HOUSING GUIDE

March 23, 2017

Company’s candles help Church celebrate Easter for generations

By Katie Breidenbach Catholic News Service

D

ozens of little wax flowers lie on the table in front of her. With a gentle grip, Judy Hamrick picks up each one and covers the back in glue.

“It’s very peaceful work,” Hamrick said. “I’ve worked here 24 years, and every paschal season I’ve been out here, and we enjoy it out here.”

Nearby are countless other wax decorations in the shape of lambs, crosses, numbers and Greek letters. Tubs of wax, rulers, brushes and boxes of pins lay strewn on Hamrick’s desk and the desks of her co-workers.

“It’s exciting when you put it all together,” added another decorator, Rose Marie Dixon.

Each element is carefully measured and attached, by hand, to a long, wax pillar. After about 45 minutes, the women finish decorating one paschal candle. Their factory, the A.I. Root Co. in Medina, Ohio, will create more than 1,500 of these liturgical works of art. They ship them across the country to churches and religious goods suppliers, including H.J. Boerboom and Associates in Bloomington.

“We probably make about 25 to 30 a day,” said Brad Root, president and

12016 Ulysses St. NE

chairman of the A.I. Root Co. “It’s the 15 weeks leading up to Easter that the majority of the paschal candles are made and shipped.”

The paschal candle is a central part of the Easter season, placed in a prominent location in each church’s sanctuary to symbolize Christ and the light of his resurrection. During the Easter Vigil, the celebrant will light the candle for the first time and insert five grains of incense into the wax to recall Christ’s five wounds. He will then carry the flame through the darkened church, spreading the light as he processes.

When the Easter season concludes, the paschal candle will be present at baptisms and funerals, recalling the new life given by Christ.

“It’s supposed to be a candle that shows a certain amount of dignity within the Church,” Root said. “It’s an important part of the spiritual message not only at Easter with the Resurrection, but [also] to each person’s funeral throughout the year.”

The origin and traditions associated with the paschal candle date back to at least the fourth century and are described in writings by St. Jerome and the historian Venerable Bede.

For the Medina factory, the ancient tradition has become a family tradition.

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A wax crucifix is affixed to the center of a paschal candle March 10 at the A.I. Root Co. in Medina, Ohio. The candles are made to order and shipped to churches across the United States.

CNS/Katie Breidenbach The A.I. Root Co. was founded in 1869

by Amos Ives Root and is still owned by his direct descendants.

“I’m the fifth generation of the business,” explained Root, the founder’s great-great-grandson. “The company actually started up in the town square where A.I. was a jeweler and a bunch of bees landed on his window.”

The providential insects launched A.I. Root into the beekeeping business and inspired him to build the first bee supply company in America. The oldest part of the brick factory is still emblazoned with a huge stone beehive surrounded by the words “In God We Trust” and the year it was built, 1878.

The Roots shifted from beekeeping to candle-making after another providential encounter. A local priest told the founder’s son, Huber Root, that he needed quality candles for his worship space. Gleaning beeswax from the family hives, Root hand-rolled the company’s first liturgical candles.

Now seasoned experts with a whole line of Church and consumer products, the Root family has modernized and expedited the candle-making process.

Today, paschal candles are molded by machines through a process called

extrusion.

Though most of the process is mechanized, paschal candle decoration still requires the touch of craftsmen.

The decorations themselves are steeped in tradition and symbolism. The cross figures prominently, as does the current year, reminding the faithful that Christ is present in the here and now. The candle also includes the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — alpha and omega — recalling that Jesus is the beginning and the end of all.

Carefully wrapped and boxed, the completed waxen works of art are finally shipped to churches across the country. In the coming weeks, the company will dedicate long hours to completing all the paschal candles before Easter.

“I think he’d be very proud,” said Root, speaking of the factory’s founder.

“We’re providing something that’s important to the spiritual needs of people.”

“It gives off love, you know,” Hamrick said. “It’s just something that’s beautiful and something that God wants us to do to make the occasion special.”

March 23, 2017

FAITH & CULTURE

The Catholic Spirit • 19

Purvis to black Catholics: Take action against abortion, racism

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit After spending the day with participants of Catholics at the Capitol in St. Paul March 9, Gloria Purvis spent that evening in an intimate meeting with black Catholics at St. Peter Claver, which has historically served black Catholics. The national speaker who addresses a wide variety of audiences makes it a point to meet with black Catholics wherever she goes.

“When I travel, this is one of my asks: I need to meet with the community there,” she said at the beginning of her talk with about 20 mostly black Catholics at the St. Paul parish. “No one can love you like your mama loves you, and that is what the black Catholic Church has been for me.”

Purvis converted to Catholicism at age 12 after having what she describes as a mystical experience with the Eucharist while attending Catholic school.

The presence of a black Catholic Church in her hometown was key to her parents supporting her conversion. Her mom could confidently drop her off at Sunday Mass before taking the rest of the family to the Baptist church.

“They knew I would be safe,” she said. “It was the South.”

Her parents became friends with the pastor, and her siblings eventually joined the Catholic Church.

While she feels a part of the universal Church, she explained that she also knows that the black community has a particular experience and that black Catholics need the support and encouragement of other black Catholics. During the evening, Purvis also shared why she got involved in pro-life work and described her own experience of being pressured unsuccessfully to have an abortion.

As a married adult with a successful career living in the Washington, D.C., area, Purvis had a second conversion that led to her pro-life activism. One Sunday during Mass, the words of the Creed, “Lord and giver of life” struck her in a way that she literally fell to her knees. In that moment, she said she felt a “small chastisement” for not taking action on her pro-life convictions. Soon after, opportunities to become involved in the pro-life movement appeared.

She started by praying and talking to women outside of abortion clinics. Since then, she has served on the National Black Catholic Congress’ leadership commission and as an advisory board member on

Gloria Purvis, chairwoman of Black Catholics United for Life and co-host of “Morning Glory” on EWTN Radio, speaks to participants of Catholics at the Capitol March 9 at the RiverCentre in St. Paul. She spoke at St. Peter Claver in St. Paul that evening. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

“That’s the point she made that is so good: My responsibility as a black Catholic is no different than your responsibility as a white Catholic.”

Stanley Williams, parishioner of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul

both the Maryland Catholic Conference Respect for Life Department and the Archdiocese of Washington’s pastoral council. She has appeared on several Eternal Word Television Network programs, created and hosts the EWTN series “Authentically Free at Last” and cohosts the EWTN radio show “Morning Glory.” She is also a board member of a pregnancy resource center in Washington, D.C. Purvis’ pro-life convictions run deep. She also shared her experience of being pressured by her doctor to abort after years of infertility and finally conceiving in her 30s. Instead of congratulating her, the physician, who knew that Purvis was married and had a good paying job, warned her of a complicated

pregnancy and the high chance of having a child with a disability. She tried to convince Purvis that a termination was the “responsible” thing to do.

“I wish I could tell you my experience was uncommon,” she said.

But when she compared notes with her black girlfriends, every single one who had conceived past age 30 had been pressured to abort.

Purvis returned to the doctor a year later to show her the perfectly healthy 3-month-old girl she had safely given birth to. While in the office, a black nurse told her that a white woman who was pregnant at the age of 50 was offered resources and support instead of an abortion. Purvis’ daughter is now a healthy 6-yearold.

As Catholics, Purvis said, black Catholics must “lead the charge” in spreading messages of hope, healing and the sacredness of humanity and sexuality in the black community.

“We need to talk about it because abortion is a scourge in our community,” she said. “I’m sharing this because I think we need to start talking about our experiences and creating some messages of love.”

She also encouraged the audience to counter the false compassion and the image of black women as poor, single mothers whom doctors and the abortion industry use to justify their practices.

“I feel like they pimp our image to get our money,” she said.

She also proposed a radical way to fight racism.

“I know a racist is a hurting sinner,” she said, and the way to convert racists is prayer and fasting.

Purvis’ message resonated with the audience. Many attended to learn more about the upcoming National Black Catholic Congress in Orlando, Florida, in July.

Andrea Guines, 51, parishioner at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, said the conversation with Purvis convinced her to go to the congress.

“I would like to see black Catholics come together and be more prominent in social justice issues,” she said.

Sedric Waterman, 75, a parishioner at St. Peter Claver, also appreciated Purvis’ message to get involved.

Another St. Peter Claver parishioner, Stanley Williams, 85, found Purvis’ talk as pertinent for white Catholics as for black Catholics.

“That’s the point she made that is so good,” he said.

“My responsibility as a black Catholic is no different than your responsibility as a white Catholic.”

“To change the world, we must be good to those who cannot repay us.”

Do Pope Francis’ words describe someone you know?

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Submit your nominations today at: www.TheCatholicSpirit.com/LeadingWithFaith or by calling 651-251-7709 for more information.

20 • The Catholic Spirit

Steve Houge retires from archdiocese after 44 years

FAITH & CULTURE

A legacy

March 23, 2017

Kinney; he had prayed over and baptized Houge’s niece, who died shortly after. Houge said Archbishop Flynn and other clergy sent flowers for her funeral, and later, the archbishop sent a letter to his brother and sister-inlaw. teve Houge had a good gig as a twenty“To this day, they pull that letter out,” Houge said. something working in the print shop at There was also the time when another one of Houge’s St. Thomas College in St. Paul in the early brothers was in hospice. He wasn’t religious, Houge said, 1970s. Despite having a Catholic employer, he but wanted someone to pray with him. So, Houge called had never heard of the Archdiocese of St. Paul Father John Paul Erickson, director of worship for the and Minneapolis. So when he interviewed with the archdiocese. He came right away. Later, Houge’s sister archdiocese to start its print shop in 1973, he had a asked if Father Erickson would offer the funeral rite. question for his interviewers: “How long have you been “When I asked him, he said, ‘You tell your brother, around?” Likely amused, his interviewers, including whatever he needs, I’ll take care of it for him,’” Houge Archbishop Leo Byrne, told him a long time; the recalled. organization wasn’t going to fold. Afterward, Houge Houge made prayer part of his workday. Each called his wife, Eva, from a pay phone to tell her, morning when he got to work, he read a prayer to “Hey, I think they’re solid.”

St. Patrick, helping him to operate with a customerHe took the job. service mentality, something he said he learned from Ever the storyteller, this anecdote was one of many

By Jessica Trygstad • The Catholic Spirit Lassonde and Msgr. Hayden. Serving the chancery that Houge shared at his retirement reception at the offices, parishes and Catholic organizations in archdiocese’s chancery in St. Paul March 16, the archdiocese, Houge asked people what he also his 66th birthday. Houge officially could do for them, not what he didn’t have to retired March 17 as the archdiocese’s do. printing services manager, a position he had Respect went a long way, too. for 44 years under the leadership of six “I always knew when people were asking me archbishops. a question or were giving me direction,” Houge said. “I never got myself sideways. When Family man people ask me for my opinion, I’ll give it.”

Houge valued quality, service and timeliness, Houge proudly describes himself as a even working overnight to complete projects “St. Paul guy,” having grown up in a he received last-minute. neighborhood behind the State Capitol. He “It always made me feel good that [I] gave graduated from St. Paul’s former Mechanic somebody back something that they enjoyed, Arts High School in 1969 and later St. Paul a nice piece. That’s what motivated me to work Technical Vocational Institute, now St. Paul harder,” he said.

College, finishing a two-year degree in one Houge said the archdiocese’s child protection year. Hockey has been a major part of his work has been his most important project. life; he played in high school and has been “The protection of children touches my coaching all levels of the sport since 1982. heart. It’s a wonderful department that we He continues to coach the “Governors” at started, and I see the benefits,” Houge said.

St. Paul’s Johnson Senior High School, which While Houge has produced thousands of he calls the “team of my heart.” print pieces over the years, he said the most Houge said many of his life lessons have memorable were the worship aids and come from working in the chancery. programs for the funerals of St. Paul police Without hesitating, he names the most Steve Houge stands at the counter of the print shop Feb. 16 at the former chancery on officers Ron Ryan Jr. and Tim Jones, who were influential people in his life, starting with Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit killed in the line of duty Aug. 26, 1994. Ryan Mert Lassonde, who hired him. was responding to a call in the parking lot of “Mert taught me how to be a man, about He’s a special person.”

Sacred Heart on St. Paul’s East Side when he was shot. In being a husband, father and grandfather,” said Houge, Thirty years conjure many memories for Saunders. pursuit of the shooter, Jones and his K-9 also were shot who attends St. Ambrose in Woodbury.

But the most significant memory, he said, was when and killed.

That relationship was important to Houge, whose Houge visited him in the hospital in 2008 when “It was painful,” said Houge, who knew Ryan and his father died in a car accident in 1965 when Houge was Saunders was seriously ill. Doctors had just taken him parents.

14. His mother died a few years later, leaving him, his out of a medically-induced coma, and Houge was the sister and three brothers. first person he recognized.

Next chapter Houge said Lassonde, who during his time at the “He came in the room, and he was all happy to see archdiocese worked as a special assistant for Archbishops In retirement, Houge plans to spend time in Texas my eyes open,” Saunders said, adding that Houge would Leo Binz, Leo Byrne, John Roach and Harry Flynn, was before returning to help train his two hockey-playing visit him once or twice a week in recovery, sometimes tough because he cared; Lassonde was a retired master grandsons, who attend St. Ambrose of Woodbury during his physical therapy sessions, supporting and sergeant in the Air Force before he came to the Catholic School, and his granddaughter, who plays for encouraging him. chancery. the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

“I’ll miss him,” Saunders said. “I hope he has a “He would say to me, ‘Don’t go sideways on me,’” Houge said it was the people who kept him at the healthy, happy retirement, which he deserves.”

Houge recalled, adding that Lassonde gave him the best chancery for more than four decades. advice — to prioritize God, family and work, and also to “I used to think your only good friends are people Reverence and respect take care of himself. Houge has shared that same advice who you’ve grown up with. No,” he said. “I’ve met While Houge wasn’t Catholic when he started, he with colleagues. people later in my life who are remarkable. Your good converted about 10 years in. Clergy had a tremendous “He said to me once, ‘I love you.’ And I said, ‘I love friends are the ones you can count on when you’re impact on him, he said. He regarded former vicar you, too.’ And that’s hard to say — ‘I love you’ — to a down.” general Msgr. Ambrose Hayden as a “good buddy.” From guy,” Houge said. “And now I can do that. I never used Many familiar faces — including Lassonde, his files, he could pull out personal handwritten letters to be able to hug. But now I hug everyone.”

Archbishop Emeritus Flynn, Archbishop Bernard Hebda from Archbishop Leo Binz, who served from 1962 to Lassonde, 85, reciprocates the sentiments, describing and Bishop Andrew Cozzens — gathered at the March 1975. And he described several occasions when priests Houge as a “great model for how to live with integrity,” 16 reception to wish him well. and bishops helped him in spiritual emergencies. and noting his energy, knowledge, positivity, honesty Retired priest Father James Notebaart, who confirmed In 2005, for instance, Houge’s brother, who wasn’t and “can-do spirit.”

Houge, brought the first project Houge printed for him Catholic, wanted a priest to be at the side of his dying “He’s like a son to me,” said Lassonde, a parishioner in October 1974 — pieces for Coadjutor Archbishop daughter in the hospital. But he didn’t want just any of All Saints in Lakeville who worked with Houge for 25 Byrne’s funeral and burial rite. priest — he wanted a bishop. years. “I just love the guy.”

“He’s the glue that made this place work for all those “My brother assumed a bishop was probably a little “He talks at 90 miles a minute. He really gets his years,” Father Notebaart said of Houge. He also read closer to God than a priest was,” Houge said. juices flowing,” Lassonde added with a laugh. “It’s nice from the homily of Archbishop Byrne’s burial rite about Because Houge’s brother and niece were in the to know somebody like that.” service, which he said described Houge and his wife, Diocese of St. Cloud, Houge called on its then-leader, Those “father-son” relationships continued in the who have one son, Jason.

Bishop John Kinney, former auxiliary bishop for the print shop. Bob Saunders worked alongside Houge for Archbishop Emeritus Flynn told the group that Houge archdiocese, whom he had known for 20 years. It was nearly 32 years and has assumed his responsibilities of always “joyfully responded” and brought God to Bishop Kinney’s day off, so Houge left a message with running the department. everyone at the chancery through his joy.

“He treated me right,” Saunders said. “As I reflect back the receptionist.

Houge shared that he’s been “blessed” working at the “I said, ‘Just tell him Steve the printer is asking for on when my father was sick in 2010 … he [Houge] told chancery and left the group with a verse from Timothy this,’” he recalled. me, ‘You do what you gotta do. If you need time off, that was displayed on his computer monitor: “I you take time off.’ It didn’t matter how busy we were.

A few hours later, Houge received a call from Bishop competed well. I finished the race and kept the faith.”

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FOCUS ON FAITH

March 23, 2017

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES

Deacon Robert Gonnella

Seek Jesus’ healing in the confessional Our readings this week are all about being seen. We hear in the first reading that it is not until Samuel sees David that he is able to anoint him and bestow the gifts of the Lord upon him. St. Paul tells us in the second reading that even though we were once in darkness, we are now light in the Lord. Thus, we are to live as children of the light and do the things that are pleasing in the sight of God. Finally, the Gospel tells us that it is not until Jesus sees the blind man that he is able to perform the miracle of restoring his sight. All of these readings show us how important it is for us to be seen by the Lord. While this may seem

like a simple point, it is one worth reflecting on in order for us to grow in our spiritual lives.

We are seen by many people every day. Whether we are going to work, school or a social event, we know we will be seen by others, and we do our best to make ourselves look good to them. That is, we often spend significant time and effort trying to hide our flaws from others’ view. While this might be an acceptable social practice, I propose to you that this is an unacceptable practice when it comes to our spiritual lives.

Just as we try to hide our flaws from others, we can also fall into the habit of trying to hide our inner flaws from Jesus. It is a real temptation to want to try to present ourselves to the Lord in an immaculate way so that he will be pleased with us. However, this is not what he wants. Just imagine what would have happened to the blind man in the Gospel if he had hidden his disability from Jesus. He never would have been healed, and those around him who witnessed the miracle would not have had the benefit of seeing the power of God at work. Rather than hiding all of our inner flaws from Jesus, we are called to give ourselves totally to him and let him see and heal us in the way he desires.

The Catholic Spirit • 21

Sunday, March 26 Fourth Sunday of Lent Readings • 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a • Eph 5:8-14 • Jn 9:1-41 in the deepest ways.

During this season of Lent, I encourage you to make a good confession before the Lord. Spend some time really examining your conscience and bring to Jesus even those parts of your soul that you most want to hide from him. When we make a sincere confession, we allow the Lord to see us in a deeper way, and we open ourselves up for him to perform miracles in our lives.

Go to Jesus this Lent and allow him to heal you in profound ways so that you can glorify him and be an instrument of mercy to all those around you.

The best way for us to make ourselves totally visible to God is in the sacrament of confession. It is there that we pour ourselves out to him and let him heal us

Deacon Gonnella is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois. His teaching parish is St. Timothy in Maple Lake, and his home parish is St. Patrick in St. Charles, Illinois.

Friday, March 31 Wis 2:1a, 12-22 Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Monday, April 3 Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 Jn 8:1-11

Thursday, April 6 Gn 17:3-9 Jn 8:51-59

Saturday, April 8 Ez 37:21-28 Jn 11:45-56

Tuesday, April 4 Nm 21:4-9 Jn 8:21-30

Friday, April 7 Jer 20:10-13 Jn 10:31-42

Sunday, April 9 Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Is 50:4-7 Phil 2:6-11 Mt 26:14 – 27:66

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, March 26 Fourth Sunday of Lent 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a Eph 5:8-14 Jn 9:1-41 Monday, March 27 Is 65:17-21 Jn 4:43-54

Tuesday, March 28 Ez 47:1-9, 12 Jn 5:1-16 Wednesday, March 29 Is 49:8-15 Jn 5:17-30 Thursday, March 30 Ex 32:7-14 Jn 5:31-47

Saturday, April 1 Jer 11:18-20 Jn 7:40-53 Sunday, April 2 Fifth Sunday of Lent Ez 37:12-14 Rom 8:8-11 Jn 11:1-45

Wednesday, April 5 Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95 Jn 8:31-42

LENT

Liz Kelly

Poverty has a name The story went something like this: A group of MBAs from a prestigious university (that shall remain unnamed) determined that through applying their business acumen they could make Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity more effective. They traveled to Kolkata, India, requested a meeting and were received by the saint herself. They pulled out their flow charts and spreadsheets filled with graphs and data, and she sat listening, quietly, politely.

After their presentation, they turned to her in triumph as if to say, “See, we have improved you!” She said simply, “Follow me,” and took them out into the street, stopped at the first beggar she saw — he was dying, covered in sores, probably starving — and asked his name. She turned to the MBAs and said, “Feed Joseph and then give him a bath.”

Her point could not have been clearer.

What is crucial to any person wishing to be an instrument of God’s mercy is that the human person must be at the center of it. And that person has a name.

Tobit says it this way: “Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God’s face will not be turned away from you” (4:7b). What I give, how much I give — these are not nearly so important as the heart from which I give, the way I give, and the knowledge that I’m not giving to “a cause” or “a problem,” but to a person, a unique, unrepeatable expression of the thought of God.

istock/absolut_100

Relaxing the grip on judgment And I think this might be why Pope Francis is so determined not to let us forget it.

Just before Ash Wednesday he caused a little stir — a favorite pastime, it seems — when he suggested that we should give money to beggars on the street, even if they use that money for alcohol. The pope suggested that if “a glass of wine is the only happiness [a homeless person] has in life, that’s OK. Instead, ask yourself what do you do on the sly? What ‘happiness’ do you seek in secret?”

I confess I found that a little challenging. Every day on my way into work, there are beggars on the off ramp of my exit. They stand there awkwardly, hunched over in the cold with the predictable cardboard signs: “Homeless, anything helps,” “God bless you,” “Veteran, out of work with three kids.” Not to take issue with his holiness, but when I meet beggars outside in a frigid Minnesota winter, I often think of the years I spent living in Alaska. Alcohol addiction is rampant there

and, sadly, it was not an uncommon thing for a homeless person to be found frozen to death, perhaps even yards from the front door of a homeless shelter where they had been turned away because they were intoxicated.

So what do we do?

Of course, the pontiff is not asking us to be negligent — just as Mother Teresa was not suggesting that proper business management isn’t helpful. But maybe giving alms isn’t so much about solving world hunger, but more about solving “Richard’s” hunger or “Mary’s” — at least for a few hours. Maybe giving alms is an opportunity to relax my grip on judgment, greed and fear, and release a little more humanity in the world — in the form of a couple of bucks and a, “Hello, what’s your name?”

Kelly is the author of six books, including “Jesus Approaches: What Today’s Woman Can Learn about Healing, Freedom and Joy from the Women of the New Testament” (Loyola Press, 2017).

22 • The Catholic Spirit

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

Shawn Peterson

Encouraging new growth in family farming The decline of small, family farms and rural communities isn’t just a problem for small-town residents or American Gothic enthusiasts. It carries with it consequences for all Minnesotans that we should address.

That’s why the Minnesota Catholic Conference has lent its support to House File 608/Senate File 1414, a bill that would make it easier for the beginning farmer or rancher to enter into this important work. This legislation would create tax incentives for older, established farmers to rent or sell their land to new farmers.

This bill and HF 1461/SF 1317, which would create grants to be used to increase urban agriculture production capacity and fresh food access, are practical, sound steps that each Minnesotan can support to restore a vocational vision to agriculture, whether or not it is our particular calling.

Changing landscape Rural America and agriculture have changed considerably since my great-grandfather, Paul Dehn, a staunch German Catholic, first put his plow in the rural North Dakota soil in the early 1900s. In his day, farms were small and families were big. The millions of family farms that dotted the countryside supported thriving rural communities across the nation; Small Town, USA, was growing, and Main Street was lined with businesses, schools and churches.

But agriculture has changed in America. Farms have become bigger, while families are smaller. In the pursuit of higher yields and with fewer children choosing to embrace the farming vocation, farms have consolidated into huge enterprises. As a result, rural communities have become stagnant, the

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN

Vincenzo Randazzo

Fighting the good fight “Who do you think would win in a fight — me or Enzo?”

My little brother, Antonio, asks my friend this with a tone that suggests the answer is obvious. The three of us were out to eat recently while he was visiting me from Detroit.

“You’re tough, Tony, but I’d waste you!” I said to him. He and I debated about it. He assured me that he’d “wipe the floor” with me.

It was a playful quarrel, typical of brothers. We both left thinking, “There’s only one way to settle this.”

But later — oddly, in my opinion at the time — my brother apologized to me. In spite of us being playful, he said that it was a childish thing to argue about. I was surprised, and I told him that the apology wasn’t necessary. He insisted, and I forgave him, of course, and apologized myself.

Ask lawmakers to support new farmers Newcomers to agriculture face many obstacles in Minnesota. Let’s ask lawmakers to pass HF 608/SF 1414, a bill that would make it easier for the beginning farmer or rancher to live out this important vocation.

This legislation would create tax incentives for older, established farmers to rent or sell their land to new farmers, instead of turning it over to a large corporate farm.

You can also ask your legislators to support HF 1461/ SF 1317, which would create grants to be used to increase urban agriculture production capacity and fresh food access.

To find contact information for your state senator and state representative, call 651-296-8338 or visit www.gis.leg.mn/imaps/districts. network of business and social relationships once centered around family farming now waning.

In 1920, there were nearly 6.5 million farms nationwide, with the average size no more than 200 acres. But by the early 2000s, the numbers had flipped. The total number of farms had dropped to fewer than 2 million, but the average farm size had ballooned to well over 400 acres. In fact, only 10 percent of farms account for 70 percent of all food produced in America today.

Big problems with big ag This shift toward more large-scale, industrial agricultural operations has brought with it serious consequences. For one, the concentration of food production in the hands of a few (and increasingly in the form of fewer and fewer genetic strains) undermines food security, which would be better served by more suppliers and by biodiversity in our seeds, crops and even livestock.

For another, industrial agriculture’s reliance upon heavy machinery and chemical usage to produce

While I was impressed a bit, I wouldn’t have thought much of it had we not at the same time been heading to daily Mass, where we both heard the Gospel from Matthew: “But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:20-26).

Many people can relate to the experience of the Gospel reading at Mass knocking them upside the head, but it’s a special day when you share that blow with your brother. When the priest read that part, we looked at each other and laughed. That simple moment brought me joy before God at Mass. And it was a grace received that got me thinking. Seeking forgiveness is difficult for many because of stubbornness, indifference or any vice rooted in pride.

But if we cannot ask for forgiveness out of perfect love, then at the very least, we should ask for forgiveness so that we can go to Mass.

Here is what I mean: “Hey, I was heading to Mass, but I remembered I first needed to apologize to you.

Reconcile with me, so I can bring my gift to the altar.”

Now, you probably won’t say it like that, and I don’t recall ever doing that myself. But the example of my brother motivates me, especially during Lent, to watch for that opportunity. We ought to be reconciled with our brothers when we are at Mass. We say in the

March 23, 2017

maximum yields is taking a toll on creation. Topsoil is being depleted at record rates. And agricultural abuse has environmental implications beyond just our ability to grow food: The Environmental Protection Agency reports that chemical usage in agriculture is responsible for 70 percent of water surface pollution in America.

The change in the face of agriculture has coincided with an exodus from rural America. According to U.S. census data, 60 percent of the nation’s population lived in rural areas in 1900, compared to less than one-fifth of Americans today. Fewer farmers working the land means fewer people living in our rural areas, fewer families attending small community parishes, fewer children attending our rural Catholic schools and fewer people opening businesses to serve their rural neighbors.

Agriculture as vocation The problems facing agriculture in America are complicated, but one part of the solution could be restoring a vocational vision to agriculture, the type of vision that upholds farming as not merely a way to make a living, but as a comprehensive and fuller way of life.

The Catholic Church has long championed this vocational approach to agriculture, recognizing the farmer’s unique call to steward God’s creation, and also to nurture social and even spiritual growth in his or her house and community. Pope Benedict XVI has called family farming a “guardian of values and a natural agent of solidarity between generations.”

Restoring a vocational approach to agriculture necessitates restoring more farmers to the land.

Currently, the median age for ranchers and farmers is 56 years, and there are not enough younger people waiting in the wings to take on the load when the current generation retires.

Much of this is due to the prohibitive cost for the beginning farmer. But if we are to attract more young farmers and their families back to the countryside to build community, practice sustainable agriculture and share in the work of the Creator, we will need public policies that support them in their vocation. Tax credits to support new farmers and to encourage others in urban areas to get back to the land are a step in the right direction.

Peterson is the associate director for public policy at the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

liturgy, “I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned.” But the whole point of us praying the “Confiteor,” or anything at all in the Mass, is so that we live what we say outside of Mass. “Lex orandi, lex credendi”: True prayer leads to belief.

I regret telling my brother that his apology was unnecessary. I see now that what he did was appropriate before attending Mass. Sure, he wanted forgiveness for a small tiff compared to our other arguments, and perhaps that’s why I didn’t want an apology. Maybe I didn’t want it because it would mean I will have to likewise apologize for small things, and that’s too tall an order for me. But I think it was his love for another that caused him to seek forgiveness from me — love for Christ. And at my judgment, Christ will want to know whether I forgave and sought forgiveness, and whether I loved well. And I pray that we all learn, with the help of God, to do that.

That’s what we ought to fight for: to be blameless in his sight. I’m grateful to my brother Antonio for being an example of a brother who knows that Christ cares about reconciliation with each other; Christ does not care about the fact that I can totally beat my brother up.

Randazzo is an evangelization manager in the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and director of development at St. Stephen in Minneapolis.

CALENDAR

March 23, 2017

Women’s Lenten retreat – The Ordinary Little Way to Extraordinary Trust — April 1: 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. www.stjohnnb.com.

or divorce. 651-291-4438 or faithfulspouses@archspm.org.

Fish fry guide correction

CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul.

St. Charles, Bayport — Shrimp pasta dinner, 5-7 p.m. April 7 at Campbell Hall, 409 N. Third St. $15 adults, $5 youth-high school, free 5 and under. www.stcharlesbayport.com.

Immaculate Conception men’s group breakfast with speaker Jim Bruton — March 25: 7:30 a.m. at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. Free-will offering. www.iccsonline.org.

St. Bernard all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner — March 25: 4–7 p.m. at 147 W. Geranium Ave., St. Paul. www.stbernardstpaul.org.

Music

St. Agnes Lenten Lectures — Fridays in Lent: 7:45–9 p.m. at 538 Thomas Ave., St. Paul. www. churchofsaintagnes.org/events/2017-lenten-lecture-series.

“Living Your Faith in the Real World” with David Rinaldi – Youth Gathering at Immaculate Conception — April 1: 8:30 a.m.–noon at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. Register: 763-788-9062. www.iccsonline.org.

Women’s Palm Sunday retreat — April 7-9: at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats.net.

Schools

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication:

Easter ham bingo — April 1: 6–10 p.m. at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1725 Kennard St., Maplewood. www.presentationofmary.org.

Immaculate Conception School open house, and preschool and kindergarten play date — March 25: 9 a.m.–noon at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9065 or www.iccsonline.org.

• Time and date of event

St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity Graduate Studies Information Night — March 28: 5–9:15 p.m. at 2260 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Ana Theisen at 651-962-5069 or gradtheology@stthomas.edu. www.stthomas.edu/spssod/about/events.

• C ontact information in case of questions.

(No attachments, please.)

The Passion of Jesus in Music, Word and Light — April 6-8: 7:45–9 p.m. at Sts. Joachim and Anne, St. Mark campus, 350 S. Atwood St., Shakopee. www.shakopeepassionplay.org.

Lenten concert: “All is Holy” with renowned GIA artists Tony Alonso and Jeanne Cotter — March 24: 7–9 p.m. at St. John, 4625 W. 125th St., Savage. www.stjohns-savage.org/parish/ministriesactivities/ st.-johns-annual-events/all-is-holy-concert.

Living Stations of the Cross — March 22-24: 7–8 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd., NE, Ham Lake. 763-757-6910 or www.churchofsaintpaul. com.

Prayer/worship

The Rose Ensemble: Musique et Masqueray — March 26: 3 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas, Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul. www.roseensemble.org/shows/musique-et-masqueray.

Retreats

Ongoing groups

Chastity and Pro-life Retreat for teen girls (grades 9-12) — March 25: 9:30–11:30 a.m. at 11300 Frankfort Parkway NE, St. Michael. Free. RSVP required: taketimeforhim@tds.net.

Faithful Spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7–8:30 p.m. at the archdiocesan chancery, 777 Forest St., St. Paul. For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation

Lenten Day of Prayer — March 30: 9:30 a.m.– 2:45 p.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats.net/lentenprayerday.

• Description of event

ONLINE: www.thecatholicspirit.com/

Conferences/seminars/ workshops

Lenten Evensong at St. Cecilia — March 24: 7 p.m. at 2357 Bayless Place, St. Paul. www.stceciliaspm.org.

Healing Mass with Father Jim Livingston — April 4: 7 p.m. at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9062 or www.iccsonline.org.

• Full street address of event

calendarsubmissions

Sumus Youth Ministry Tour — March 29: 6:30–8:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield.

Sixth- through ninth-graders welcome. Free. Susie Osacho, sosacho@strichards.com or www.strichard.com.

The Rose Ensemble: Musique et Masqueray — March 25: 8 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. www.roseensemble.org/ shows/musique-et-masqueray.

DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar.

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.

The Rose Ensemble: Musique et Masqueray — March 23: 7:30 p.m. at Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth St., Suite 314, St. Paul. French Baroque choral music for Lent, honoring famed architect Emmanuel Masqueray’s iconic creations in Minnesota. www.roseensemble.org/shows/musique-et-masqueray.

Swing dance with the Saints of Swing big band — March 25: 7–10 p.m. at St. Joseph of the Lakes, 171 Elm St., Lino Lakes. Dance lessons at 6:15 p.m. $12 admission includes two drinks. www.saintsofswing.org.

CALENDAR submissions

Women’s Lenten retreat — April 1: 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. $18 admission includes continental breakfast and lunch. Paid reservations due March 24 to Diane Tieden, 1000 41st Ave. NE, No. 319, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 (checks made payable to ICCW). 763-788-1897.

Parish events

Dining out

The Catholic Spirit • 23

FAX: 651-291-4460 MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

A Walk through the Paschal Mystery with Father Paul Kubista — March 25 and April 1: 9–10:30 a.m. at Epiphany, 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW, Coon Rapids.

No cost or registration. www.epiphanymn.org.

Building Bridges: Understanding Islam — March 26 and April 2: 1–2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, Teresa of Calcutta Hall, lower level. www.mary.org.

Celebrate Calm for parents — March 29: 7–9 p.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic School, 1065 Summit Ave., St. Paul. school.morecommunity.org/events/ celebrate-calm-evening-session.

Morning of Reflection: Fatima and the First Saturday Devotion — April 1: 7:30–11 a.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony. RSVP at info@fatimaonline.org.

Free-will donation at the door. www.fatimaonline.org.

St. William spirituality series — April 1 and 8: 9 a.m. at 6120 Fifth St. NE, Fridley. www.chofstwilliams.com.

More online Other events Father Ken Ludescher’s 85th birthday celebration — April 2: Noon–3 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 Roselawn Ave. E., Maplewood. Mary Kaase 651-491-1829 or marykaase@comcast.net.

Commentators Ross Douthat and Cornel West discuss Christianity and Politics in the U.S. today — April 7: 5:45 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas Woulfe Alumni Hall, Anderson Student Center, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Free. www.stthomas.edu/ murphyinstitute.

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24 • The Catholic Spirit

THE LAST WORD

March 23, 2017

A concrete sign of faith St. Maron parishioners support building of 12-story cross in Lebanon

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

W

hen it comes to the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, parishioners of St. Maron in Minneapolis are turning to the cross.

They’re also helping to build one.

The Maronite faith community, of which 70 percent have Lebanese ancestry, decided to do its part to preserve the roots of Christianity in Lebanon.

Parishioners are helping to fund the building of a cross on a hill in Ijdabra, Lebanon. They raised $7,000 several weeks ago at a fundraiser, and are hosting a dinner April 1 for more donations. The Maronite Catholic church of Mar Saba in Ijdabra is sponsoring the project and building the cross on land it owns.

“The idea is that the presence of Christianity there is so needed, even in symbols,” said Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron, who was born in Lebanon. “When you visit Lebanon ... you will feel the presence of Christianity there. You look at every hill in the country and you’re going to find a cross, or you’re going to find a shrine for the Blessed Mother.”

Chorbishop Maroun said this cross building project is important because it will help keep Christianity alive in Lebanon and in the Middle East. Intense conflicts in the region and persecution of Christians in several countries by radical groups such as the Islamic State have pushed Christians out of their native lands and to other countries. Lebanon, which has a strong Christian population, has seen large numbers of persecuted Christians enter the country as refugees.

“They’re coming from Syria and Iraq. There are about 300,000 to 400,000 Iraqis who came to Lebanon, and most of them are Christians,” Chorbishop Maroun said. “There’s 2 million refugees in Lebanon. Not 200, not 2,000, not 20,000 — 2 million. What’s most surprising is that Lebanon’s population is 4 million. So, a country of 4 million is absorbing 2 million refugees.”

St. Maron parishioner Henry Estephan was in danger of becoming a refugee in the 1970s. He was born in Ijdabra and picked up a rifle when he was a teenager to help fight against the Palestinians who were trying to take over the government during the country’s civil war.

He and other Maronite Catholics fought to ward off the Palestinians, and later Syrians who joined the fight. He engaged in combat in his city at various points until 1980, when he moved to the U.S. Not long after, he joined St. Maron parish and has been a member since, along with his wife, Karen.

“I was 16; it was not a choice,” said Estephan, 58, of joining the conflict. “Everybody who was able would guard the town. Each town they [Palestinians and Syrians] came to, they destroyed. They burned it, they tortured people. You did not have a choice. You had to go there and defend the area.”

Like Chorbishop Maroun, Estephan is deeply troubled by the persecution of Christians in the Middle East today, and he thinks the building of the cross in Ijdabra “is a big statement.”

“It brings strength to the people who are there,” said Estephan, who still has family living in Ijdabra.

“It brings them motivation and boosts their morale.

It’s a statement against them [those who persecute Christians] — ‘We are rooted in this country, you’re not going to kick us out of here. It’s our land, we are building, we are not leaving.’”

Fundraiser dinner For the building of a 12-story concrete cross in Ijdabra, Lebanon 6 p.m. happy hour followed by 7 p.m. dinner April 1 at St. Maron, 602 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis.

For questions about the dinner and to RSVP by March 26, contact Henry Estephan at 612-388-1013 or henrye@estephaneng.com, or call St. Maron at 612-378-2758.

For more information about the cross or to make a donation, visit www.stmaron.com/ijdabra/index.html.

This cross in Ijdabra, Lebanon, is scheduled for completion in the fall. It will stand 180 feet tall and contain chapels and viewing areas in the cross arms. Courtesy Henry Estephan The concrete structure will stand 180 feet tall (about 12 stories) when completed sometime this fall. The cross arms will contain chapels and viewing areas for the surrounding mountains and Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit each year. Total cost of the project is $1 million, and all of the proceeds from St. Maron’s April 1 dinner will support it.

In addition to raising money for the cross, the dinner also will raise awareness of persecuted Christians in the Middle East and, hopefully,

unite Maronite and Roman Catholics in solidarity with the effort to protect the region’s Christian heritage.

And, Chorbishop Maroun said, what better time than Lent to bring Catholics together to support their persecuted brothers and sisters in the Middle East?

“This is the best time of the year to think about it and to connect with them [persecuted Christians],” he said. “The least that we can do is to be a Veronica and wipe their faces from the pain that they are enduring. ... We can be Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross with Jesus.”