The Catholic Spirit - March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Restorative justice Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, chief prosecutor in now-settled clergy sexual abuse charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, speaks at St. Odilia in Shoreview during a session on restorative justice.

— Page 6

Faith and politics Second Catholics at the Capitol event draws more than 1,000 people to learn about major policy issues and meet lawmakers.

— Page 7

Abuse crisis Pope Francis meets with bishops from around the world at the Vatican to address the international clergy abuse crisis.

— Page 8

The show must go on Community theatre founders dedicated to infusing Catholic values in productions work to reopen after two-and-a-half-year hiatus.

— Page 12

Retreats and pilgrimages Four siblings walk the pilgrimage trail Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. A Minneapolis couple offers priests and religious a lake lodge where they can rest and reflect.

— Pages 13-15

Snow shawl on

St. Paul

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

A statue of St. Paul in the courtyard of The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul carries the weight of winter on its head and shoulders Feb. 27. A snowfall the day before pushed the total in the Twin Cities for February to 39 inches, which was 12.5 inches more than the record for the month set in 1962, and made it the fourth-snowiest month on record.

Local schools maintain Catholic puck power as state high school hockey tourney turns 75 As the Minnesota State High School League Boys’ Hockey Tournament turns 75, St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights is the No. 4 seed in Class AA. The tournament is March 6-9 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. The Catholic Spirit is taking a closer look at two Catholic schools that have been a part of the prep puck legacy: HillMurray School in Maplewood and Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park. Hill-Murray has made regular appearances ever since it joined the league in 1975. BSM won two Class A state championships, then moved up to Class AA and won a title during a dramatic 2012 season. Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul and Totino-Grace in Fridley have also played at state. Hill-Murray and BSM did not advance to state this year. See stories on pages 10-11.

COURTESY LIAM BRENNAN, ST. THOMAS ACADEMY

St. Thomas Academy hockey players celebrate their 4-1 win over Eastview Feb. 28 in the Section 3AA finals. They will play Duluth East March 7 in this year’s state tournament.

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MARCH 7, 2019

PAGETWO

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Some may consider this odyssey as an advance Lenten penance.

Mark Pattison, a Catholic News Service writer, on his efforts to taste and review fish sandwiches promoted during Lent from national fast-food restaurant chains. For the winner — and the rest of the reviews — read “A matter of taste: One writer’s deep dive into fast-food fish sandwiches” at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

NEWS notes

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COURTESY ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

GET PACKING From left, Timmy McHugo and Erika Novak of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park work at a food packing event Feb. 24 for Feed My Starving Children at Egan Co. in Champlin. Called Northwest Metro Mobile Pack and in its fourth year, the five-day event Feb. 20-24 also involved parishioners of St. Joseph in New Hope and St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park and students of Mary, Queen of Peace School in Rogers, Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis and Providence Academy in Plymouth. This year’s goal was 1 million meals; they reached 1.29 million.

The number of recipients of The Catholic Spirit’s 2018 Leading with Faith Award, which honors Catholic women and men leaders in our secular business and nonprofit communities whose faith shapes the way they approach their work. The award not only offers a much appreciated “thank you” to deserving honorees, it also holds up examples of faith-rooted leadership needed in today’s business community.

Recipients are recognized in The Catholic Spirit and at a luncheon with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, scheduled this year for Aug. 1 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The deadline to nominate an individual for the 2019 award is March 29.

Nomination forms are available at TheCatholicSpirit.com/LeadingWithFaith.

45,605

The estimated number of religious sisters in the United States, according to 2017 data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. March 8-14 is National Catholic Sisters Week, which celebrates women religious. Local events include prayer opportunities, a documentary screening and the launch at St. Catherine University of “TIM Talks,” a series of videos showcasing the mission of the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. To view events, including some occurring only online, visit nationalcatholicsistersweek.org.

87

The age of Joan Wittman, a consociate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Paul, when she received the Lawrence D. Gibson Interfaith Social Justice Award Feb. 7. The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition gave her the award at the State Capitol for more than 23 years of working toward systemic change for vulnerable children and families. In her acceptance speech, Wittman said she isn’t done serving, although she has since celebrated her 88th birthday at the end of February. As a consociate, Wittman is not a CSJ sister but lives their mission.

1 CNS

PRAYING FOR PEACE People ride motorbikes on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, March 1, 2019, before the arrival of an Indian air force pilot who was captured by Pakistan two days earlier and later released. Catholic groups joined a protest against a military escalation in Pakistan and India following the recent suicide bombing in Indianadministered Kashmir, reported ucanews.com. “If we don’t end war, war will end us,” read placards held by staff of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, the Catholic Church’s human rights body in Pakistan, at the protest in front of Lahore Press Club Feb. 28.

CORRECTIONS A Feb. 7 story about the Interim Commission for Consecrated Life misstated the religious community to which Sister Carolyn Puccio belongs. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. In addition, Sister Lynore Girmscheid is staff to the commission but not advised by them. To clarify the makeup of the commission, there are sisters from eight different communities, brothers from two different communities, one religious priest, a consecrated virgin living in the world, a member of a secular institute and one person from a society of apostolic life.

The Catholic Spirit apologizes for the errors.

CLARIFICATIONS A Jan. 10 story about the 150th anniversary of St. Dominic in Northfield stated St. Olaf College opened in 1889. College officials point to 1874 as St. Olaf’s founding year, when it first opened as St. Olaf School, a high school academy, with the intent of developing into a college.

In the Feb. 7 issue, “Explaining death to children through lens of faith” quoted a family therapist saying that animals lack souls. According to Church teaching, all living things have souls, including animals and plants. However, animal souls are different from human souls and traditionally believed not to be immortal. There is not definitive Church teaching on whether pets or other animals will exist in heaven.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 24 — No. 5 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love

TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief

The place a dance team and two wrestlers from Totino-Grace High School in Fridley took at recent Minnesota State High School League state tournaments. Totino-Grace won the Class 2A girls’ dance team jazz championship Feb. 15 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. At Class 2A state wrestling, Jake Svihel won the 126-pound title and Joey Thompson took the 113-pound title March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

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Members of a family from Chicago helped by Father Randal Kasel, pastor of St. Michael in Pine Island, during a Feb. 24 snowstorm that made travel dangerous in southern Minnesota. Caught by the blizzard on U.S. Highway 52 on their way to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and then home following a visit to see a daughter in a play at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, the family stopped at a convenience store in Pine Island. They asked Goodhue County Sheriff Patrol Sgt. Jason Johnson for help, and he dialed the cell phone of his pastor, Father Kasel, seeking shelter for the family.

Father Kasel happened to be at the same store. He led the family to the church, where they rested about five hours in the parish center before heading back on the road. The parish also was listed on the sheriff department’s Facebook page as one of several places in the county where travelers could seek shelter during the storm.

Dianna Solano said she and her husband, Adam, and their daughter Claire appreciated the help. “I felt God’s love,” Dianna said of the care they were given.

$1.2 million The record-breaking amount surpassed this year by Catholic school students selling raffle tickets for the Catholic Schools Raffle, sponsored by Catholic United Financial.

Students from 89 Catholic schools in Minnesota and the Dakotas sold $1,217,135 in raffle tickets, Catholic United Financial announced at its March 5 raffle. The Arden Hills-based nonprofit fraternal benefit company has raised more than $8 million for Catholic schools with the raffle since 2009.

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MARCH 7, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

The freedom found in ‘true sharing’

M

y predecessor many times removed, Bishop Joseph Cretin, a good Frenchman by birth and breeding, once complained in a letter about the quality of chocolates here in St. Paul.

I can personally testify that this situation has been remedied — making Lent a challenge for many.

Too many, according to some! One of the finest chocolatiers in our community wrote me last month to encourage me to suggest other penances for Lent this year, given that the traditional fallback — no chocolate — has a significant negative impact on her business.

She would find an ally, I think, in St. John Paul II. In the first year of his pontificate, he suggested that our Lenten sacrifices shouldn’t consist only of giving away what we do not need. (Dare I put chocolate in that category?)

“Sometimes,” he said, “it also consists of giving away what we do need, like the widow in the Gospel who knew that what she was giving away was already a gift to her from God.” He returned to that theme the next year, in emphasizing that Lent is most appropriately a time for giving. “True sharing,” he noted, “helps us to free ourselves from those bonds that enslave us.”

That connection between sharing and freedom was very apparent to me when priests of our archdiocese gathered Feb. 22 at St. Peter in Mendota to listen to two members of our flock, Ben and Joy Hoffman, a young man and his mother, share with us how their lives have been forever impacted by clergy abuse, but how they have both found greater freedom and peace as they opened their hearts to grace and forgiveness.

(See related story on page 5.)

It has always intrigued me that the words “forgive” and “pardon” — one from our German roots and the other from our Latin — both include root words signifying “gift.” Forgiveness is never “owed”; it is a

La libertad encontrada en ‘compartir verdadero’

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i predecesor muchas veces alejado ,el obispo Joseph Cretin, un buen francés por nacimiento y crianza, una vez se quejó en una carta sobre la calidad de los chocolates aquí en St. Paul.

Personalmente puedo testificar que esta situación obviamente ha sido remediada — haciendo de la Cuaresma un desafío para muchos. ¡Demasiados, según algunos! Uno de los mejores chocolateros de nuestra comunidad me escribió el mes pasado para animarme a sugerir otras penitencias para la Cuaresma este año, dado que la alternativa tradicional, sin chocolate, tiene un impacto negativo significativo en su negocio.

Ella encontraría un aliado, creo, en San Juan Pablo. En el primer año de su pontificado, sugirió que nuestros sacrificios de Cuaresma no deberían consistir solo en regalar lo que no necesitamos. (¿me atrevo a poner chocolate en esa categoría?)

“

Forgiveness is never ‘owed’; it is a gift freely given. iSTOCK PHOTO | SIAM

gift freely given. For both Ben and Joy, it seems that the gift of their forgiveness has brought an abundant measure of the freedom promised by St. John Paul II. God be praised!

The evening was timed to coincide both with the feast of the Chair of Peter and with the clergy abuse summit convened in Rome by St. Peter’s successor, Pope Francis. That gave us an opportunity not only to go deeper in our personal understanding of the scourge of abuse, but also to join as a presbyterate in prayer before the eucharistic Lord to pray for those gathering in Rome, as well as for healing, wisdom, strength and discernment right here in Minnesota.

It was a real encounter with God’s grace. As Ben and Joy shared how and where they have found healing and strength in the Church, I knew that I was seeing

“A veces también consiste en regalar lo que necesitamos, como la viuda en el Evangelio que sabía que lo que ella estaba regalando ya era un regalo de Dios para ella”.

Regresó a ese tema el año siguiente, enfatizando que Es el momento más apropiado para dar. “Compartir de verdad”, señaló, “nos ayuda a liberarnos de esos vínculos que nos esclavizan”.

Esa conexión entre compartir y libertad me fue muy evidente cuando los sacerdotes de nuestra Arquidiócesis se reunieron en St. Peter’s en Mendota para escuchar a dos miembros de nuestro rebaño, Ben y Joy Hoffman, un joven y su madre, que comparten con nosotros cómo Las vidas habían sido impactadas para siempre por el abuso del clero, pero cómo ambos encontraron mayor libertad y paz al abrir sus corazones a la gracia y al perdón.

Siempre me ha intrigado que las palabras “perdonar” y “perdonar”, una de nuestras raíces alemanas y la otra de nuestro latín, incluyan palabras de raíz que signifiquen “regalo”. El perdón nunca se “debe”, es un regalo dado libremente . Tanto para Ben como para Joy, parece que el don de su perdón ha traído una medida abundante de la libertad prometida por San Juan Pablo. ¡Alabado sea Dios!

La velada se programó para coincidir tanto con la Fiesta de la Presidencia de Pedro como con la Cumbre sobre el

the handiwork of the God for whom nothing is impossible, the God who can snatch victory from the jaws of death. It sure was easy to adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament that evening!

I was encouraged to hear both our speakers describe the important role that “good priests” have had on their journey to healing. Understandably, many of those affected by clerical abuse find it next to impossible to approach a priest. This unfortunately separates them from the very sacraments that are intended to be the source of our strength, healing and comfort.

The survivors who have bravely and generously come in to speak with me have often mentioned the importance of sensitizing our priests to this dynamic.

They point to a need for greater training for our seminarians in this area and continuing education as well for our priests. We are blessed that local psychologist Paul Ruff was present that evening to facilitate the event at St. Peter, and he is assisting with our efforts to prepare our priests and seminarians for more effective outreach to those who have been harmed.

I have to confess that I was deeply proud of our priests that evening who, in their vulnerability, received and honored the Hoffmans’ testimonies. It is a privilege to serve with them. I hope that you will continue to keep them in your prayers at this difficult time.

I also hope that you will continue to pray as well for Pope Francis and all those working with him to address the crisis caused by both abuse and the failures to deal with abuse. Although the summit’s length and broad focus made it difficult to arrive at concrete reforms, I was very much encouraged to hear of the commitment to continuing the work at the national level, particularly in the area of bishop accountability.

There is much that remains to be done. May our Lent be a real season of grace that unites us with the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us, his sheep.

abuso celebrada en Roma por el Sucesor de Pedro, el Papa Francisco, que nos da la oportunidad de profundizar en nuestra comprensión personal del flagelo del abuso, pero para unirse como presbiterio en oración ante el Señor de la Eucaristía, para orar por los que se reúnen en Roma, así como por la curación, la sabiduría, la fuerza y el discernimiento aquí en Minnesota.

Fue un verdadero encuentro con la gracia de Dios. Cuando Ben y Joy compartieron cómo y dónde encontraron la sanidad y la fortaleza en la Iglesia, supe que estaba viendo la obra del Dios para quien nada es imposible, el Dios que puede arrebatar la victoria de las fauces de la muerte. ¡Seguro que era fácil adorar al Señor en el Santísimo Sacramento esa noche!

Me animaron a escuchar a nuestros oradores describir el importante papel que han desempeñado los “buenos sacerdotes” en su viaje hacia la curación.

Comprensiblemente, muchos de los afectados por el abuso clerical encuentran casi imposible acercarse a un sacerdote. Desafortunadamente, esto los separa de los mismos sacramentos que intenten ser la fuente de nuestra fortaleza, sanación y comodidad.

Los sobrevivientes que han venido a hablar conmigo con valentía y generosidad a menudo han mencionado la importancia de sensibilizar a nuestros sacerdotes a esta dinámica. Señalan la

necesidad de una mayor capacitación para nuestros seminaristas en esta área y la educación continua también para nuestros sacerdotes. Tenemos la bendición de que el psicólogo local, Paul Ruff, estuvo presente esa noche para facilitar el evento en St. Peter’s y está ayudando en nuestros esfuerzos para preparar a nuestros sacerdotes y seminaristas para un acercamiento más efectivo a aquellos que han sufrido daños.

Debo confesar que esa noche me sentí profundamente orgulloso de nuestros sacerdotes que, en su vulnerabilidad, recibieron y honraron los testimonios de Ben y Joy. Es un privilegio servir con ellos. Espero que continúen manteniéndolos en sus oraciones en este momento difícil.

Espero que continúen orando también por el Papa Francisco y todos los que trabajan con él para abordar la crisis causada por el abuso y la incapacidad de lidiar con el abuso. Si bien la duración y el enfoque amplio de la Cumbre hicieron difícil llegar a reformas concretas, me alentó mucho escuchar el compromiso de continuar el trabajo a nivel nacional, particularmente en el área de la responsabilidad de los obispos.

Hay mucho por hacer. Que nuestra Cuaresma sea un verdadero período de gracia que nos une con el Buen Pastor que dio su vida por nosotros, sus ovejas.

SLICEof LIFE

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LOCAL

MARCH 7, 2019

SLICEof LIFE

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Picture this From right, Karen and Cory Storkamp look at a photo from their wedding day, Oct. 7, 2017, during a reunion Feb. 23 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis for couples who were married there. Held in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the parish, the event drew 180 people, including the Storkamps, who attend the Basilica. It began with 5 p.m. Mass celebrated by Father John Bauer, Basilica pastor. After Mass, people gathered in the sanctuary in front of the altar for a group photo. Following that was a reception featuring food and fellowship, with the chance for couples to put one of their framed wedding photos on a display table for viewing.

“Going up to the altar was fun, to be up there and look out,” Karen Storkamp said about the group photo. “We hadn’t been up there since our wedding day, so it was kind of fun to relive being up there.” She enjoyed seeing wedding photos of other couples, adding, “It’s pretty amazing to think about this legacy of people that have done this. I didn’t really think about that before coming here tonight, but it’s pretty special to be a part of something that’s so big.”

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

North Minneapolis’ St. Bridget parish discerns to close St. Austin campus

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit After a monthslong, parish-wide discernment process, St. Bridget in north Minneapolis will close its second campus at the former parish of St. Austin, its leaders announced Jan. 28.

Weekend Masses have been celebrated exclusively at the St. Bridget campus since February.

“We know it has not been easy,” St. Bridget Parish Administrator Joni Sandlin wrote of the discernment process in a letter announcing the change.

The parish — which calls itself the Parish Community of St. Bridget — plans to accommodate requests for funerals at the St. Austin campus on a case-by-case basis, the letter stated, as long as the site is maintained for that purpose. Its leaders also plan to hold “a healing ceremony” for the St. Austin campus and rededicate the St. Bridget campus.

The decision was made carefully and prayerfully, said Father Thomas Santa, St. Austin’s parochial administrator. A discernment process grew from a phone survey parish leaders initiated in May 2018 asking parishioners to identify what they saw as the parish’s needs. They reached about 90 percent of the parish’s 375 registered households, Father Santa said, and many respondents said the parish needed to consolidate ministry on one campus.

“Something that made a lot of sense seven years ago did not continue to make a lot of sense to a lot of people,” Father Santa said of maintaining the parish’s two-campus system.

In September, Father Santa held a well-attended, town hall-style meeting on the topic of choosing a single campus. He asked parishioners to engage in a discernment process by answering a question: “How do we believe that this parish community should be Church in north Minneapolis?” And, second, which campus would make that a reality?

About 200 total people regularly attend weekend Masses at both campuses, Father Santa said. In November, all Masses and parish events were held at St. Austin so parishioners could get a sense of what that would be like. The campuses shared December liturgies

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

The St. Austin campus of the Parish Community of St. Bridget will close, leaders announced Jan. 28. Masses now are celebrated exclusively at the St. Bridget campus. and events, and in January, all were held at St. Bridget.

At the end of January, parishioners were asked to share their campus preference — a process Father Santa called “recording their discerned judgment.” When the results were tallied, 57 percent of parishioners chose the St. Bridget campus, and 43 percent chose the St. Austin campus. Parish trustees and staff recommended the St. Bridget campus to the parish council and finance council, which affirmed the decision Jan. 28.

Father Santa, a Redemptorist who has served at St. Bridget for 17 months and who also ministers at St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park, said that even he had a change of perspective during the discernment process. He initially expected the St. Austin campus would be kept, and he spent time evaluating its office space potential. However, when he considered the question he posed on being Church in north Minneapolis, he realized the St. Bridget campus offered important neighborhood visibility that the “tuckedaway” St. Austin campus didn’t.

At the beginning of the discernment process, Father Santa said he advised all parishioners to participate, and he warned those who didn’t that they might feel angry about the decision, no matter what it was. People who participated are less likely to feel upset about the

decision, he said.

Some St. Austin attendees, however, are angry about the decision, and he and other parish leaders want to give them time to grieve the loss of the campus. He said the parish won’t hold a final event at St. Austin until people are better prepared for it. In the meanwhile, St. Austin events are transitioning slowly to St. Bridget.

“We’re trying to let it sink in slowly,” Father Santa said of the decision. “We’re trying to do it as respectfully as possible.”

In 2010, St. Austin began a merger process with St. Bridget as a result of a comprehensive parish planning process undertaken by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The two parishes merged their canonical and civil structures to become one entity under the corporate identity of St. Bridget parish. The parish structure of St. Austin ceased to exist, while the church building named after St. Austin remained part of the new parish.

Upset by the change, some St. Austin parishioners petitioned in 2010 for the decision’s reversal, first to the archdiocese and then to the Holy See. Both denied the appeal. The merger was finalized in January 2012.

Since then, St. Bridget’s leaders have worked to unite their two communities while managing two campuses.

By consolidating ministry on the St. Bridget campus, Father Santa noted that the parish will also be able to continue its relationship with Sojourner Truth Academy, a public charter school that rents St. Bridget’s former parochial school building.

The future of the St. Austin campus is undetermined, but Father Santa said he would prefer its use support the mission of the wider Church, likely through use by another Christian denomination. Church law requirements would make transitioning the campus to secular use more complicated, he said.

“As a parish of St. Bridget’s, we can’t afford to run two campuses financially, but we also can’t afford to run two campuses pastorally,” Father Santa said. “You have to bring the people together in a single parish, and that’s what the people were saying. The people were saying, ‘We need to feel as if we’re a single parish, not two parishes.’ That’s what we’re trying to get at.”

Priests gather in Mendota to listen, reflect on abuse scandals

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Father Kevin Finnegan said he didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at St. Peter in Mendota Feb. 22. The pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Edina was responding to an invitation Archbishop Bernard Hebda had extended to priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: to join him for an evening to reflect on the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

But Father Finnegan was grateful he went.

With about 80 other priests, he listened to presentations from a clergy abuse survivor and his mother. Both shared how the experience affected their Catholic faith and suggested ways priests can better help other survivors.

Father Finnegan said the two-hour event provided a sense of hope and encouragement, and other priests he knew who attended felt the same.

Ben Hoffman, a survivor of abuse by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, shared via video his testimony of finding hope in the Church. His mother, Joy Hoffman, spoke to the priests in person.

“As she shared, I felt like I was in the presence of an exceptionally holy woman,” Father Finnegan said in a Feb. 24 homily about the mother’s presentation. Her story also filled him with anger, frustration and sadness, he said, as she described the impact abuse

has had on her family.

Hearing the Hoffmans’ story “takes the breath away,” Father Finnegan told The Catholic Spirit Feb. 26. “I appreciated that both Joy and Ben were very real about ... the ongoing grief and pain.”

In addition to the Hoffmans’ presentations, the event included comments from Paul Ruff, staff psychologist at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, and an hour of eucharistic adoration followed by fellowship. It helped priests identify and be honest about their own grief, sadness and weariness from the scandal, Father Finnegan said.

“We get healing when we are more whole, which is more holy, and we can be a source of healing for others,” he said.

Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, said the impetus for an event aimed at priests grew out of the pain many in the Church experienced last summer in the wake of credible abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick — who was recently laicized — and the August release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed accounts of clergy abuse that occurred in six dioceses in that state over 70 years.

For Catholics in the archdiocese, Father Johnson said those revelations felt like “a scab being ripped off” from a wound suffered during the 2002 abuse crisis that

broke first in Boston, and which was later aggravated by the local abuse scandal that compelled the archdiocese to file for bankruptcy reorganization in 2015.

As the bankruptcy’s December 2018 end approached, archdiocesan leaders held a public holy hour for reparation at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul last September. But the “hurt and frustration” priests expressed during a meeting with Archbishop Hebda immediately before the prayer service indicated that priests needed particular attention, Father Johnson said.

“It was apparent that we need to find ways to go forward together and be part of the solution, part of the healing,” Father Johnson said, “but we ourselves (priests) need some healing because this has been traumatic to the priests as well as everybody else.”

He said focusing on priests shouldn’t detract from efforts underway to help survivors, whom he said experience “the primary hurt,” but it acknowledges that others in the Church are looking for resources and support.

At Archbishop Hebda’s request, Father Johnson has helped form a committee composed of priests and laypeople, including clergy abuse survivors, who are now working to shape healing initiatives in the local Church. The Feb. 22 gathering for priests developed from that group’s discussions, he said.

Father Don DeGrood, pastor of

St. John the Baptist in Savage, is also part of that committee. He said priests, like laypeople, are wrestling with a range of emotions related to clergy sexual abuse.

He saw the event as “an evening to listen, to learn and to pray for action and healing,” and said it seemed to make an impact on those who attended.

The evening emphasized “there is hope,” he added. “God can help us (and) we need resources in our lives to help us, people in our lives — priests and others — who can support us through these types of things.”

Father DeGrood and Father Johnson emphasized that each survivor’s story and path of healing is unique, and that’s also true for priests and laypeople affected by the crisis. Their committee recognizes that no single approach will help everyone in the local Church find healing and hope, they said, and it’s discerning what steps are next for the local Church.

Meanwhile, Father Finnegan said that he was among several priests who preached at Mass that weekend about the event for priests.

“Every priest I’ve spoken to who was at the gathering was really moved,” he said, calling the Hoffmans’ presentation a “grace for the (arch)diocese.”

“We listened to what they had to say,” he said, “and that has been good for all of us.”

LOCAL

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

Ramsey County attorney joins parishioners at restorative justice session

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

RECENT MEETINGS

Four years ago, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s office filed criminal and civil charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for failing to protect children in the sexual abuse case of then-Father Curtis Wehmeyer.

But on Feb. 21, Choi joined about 100 people at St. Odilia in Shoreview for a session on restorative justice organized by several parishes and supported by the archdiocese. It was designed to help people share the pain caused by the clergy sexual abuse crisis and to promote healing and restoration of trust in the Church.

“It’s really happening in this room, tonight,” Choi told those gathered of the archdiocese’s progress.

“Where there’s reconciliation, where people are acknowledging harm that was caused to all sorts of families.”

Settling into small groups called healing circles, people took turns holding a stone marking their time to speak. They talked about how the abuse crisis has affected them, their faith and feelings about the Church. They also offered suggestions for what might help them deal with the crisis. Several shared with the larger group ways the Church might move forward, based on their small group discussions.

“At our table, we found it empowering to be able to sit and talk about these issues without being judged,” said Gloria de Meireles, a member of St. Odilia.

“We liked the dialogue,” said parishioner Bob Gronda, at another table. “We’re hoping this will continue in our community. Not just with this, but for other things as well. Because we see (the) value.”

Janine Geske, a restorative justice expert who is a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and retired law professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, helped introduce the restorative justice concept to the archdiocese last year, and she was among leaders of the Feb. 21 session. She said restorative justice is intended to promote positive ways forward after immense hurt.

Healing circles can help victims and perpetrators come to terms with what has happened, she said.

“There is no returning to what came before,” Geske said. “If you have been terribly betrayed, there is a life before and a life after. How are you going to be able to live as a new person in this life? That’s what restorative justice looks like.”

Father Dan Griffith, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, an attorney and former safe environment delegate at the archdiocese, laid out a biblical and theological understanding of restorative justice. He also

A two-hour session on healing circles and restorative justice held Feb. 21 at St. Odilia in Shoreview was one in a series of recent meetings offered by parishes in a pilot project in collaboration with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Events also were also held at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, Feb. 22; St. Thomas More, St. Paul, Feb. 23; and Our Lady of Lourdes, Minneapolis, March 3. A Feb. 20 event at St. Mary of the Lake, White Bear Lake, was canceled due to inclement weather.

JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, left, talks Feb. 1 at St. Odilia in Shoreview with Father Dan Griffith, foreground, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, and Mark Umbreit, center, director of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. credited Choi with being well respected and a “bigpicture lawyer who thinks outside the box.”

Before the mini-sessions on restorative justice, Choi told the group about his own journey as chief prosecutor in Ramsey County dealing with allegations the archdiocese failed to protect children from clergy sexual abuse.

“That was a really heavy thing for me to wrestle with,” he said. “Because I was raised Catholic, and we all have a culture that we’ve been raised around, right? To find out that there were things that were not being done appropriately was very difficult for me, and it challenged my faith in many ways.”

But he had a responsibility to investigate, Choi said.

Some people pressed his office for quicker action, but Choi said he took a thoughtful, deliberative approach and found that in the Wehmeyer case, the archdiocese had not protected children from abuse.

Criminal and civil charges were brought against the archdiocese in June 2015, and then-leaders Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche resigned shortly afterward. Archbishop Bernard Hebda was named a temporary leader of the archdiocese, a role Pope Francis later made permanent.

Civil charges were settled in December 2015 in a 24page agreement that outlined child protection measures to be taken by the archdiocese and the county attorney’s office’s oversight through February 2020.

Choi’s office dropped the criminal charges in July

2016. At the same time, Archbishop Hebda acknowledged that the archdiocese had failed to protect Wehmeyer’s victims and had not put their safety and well-being ahead of the interests of Wehmeyer and the archdiocese.

The archdiocese had previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in January 2015 amid a growing number of claims against it. A settlement was confirmed in U.S. bankruptcy court last year that includes $210 million for 442 victims/survivors.

At the gathering in Shoreview, Choi said that in his investigation, there was not enough evidence to criminally charge any one individual in the archdiocese.

And the Ramsey County settlement helps ensure the safety of children while providing an opportunity for the Church to rebuild trust among the Catholic faithful and in the broader community, he said.

“I’ve been very impressed by the work of Archbishop Hebda, and his care and his attention and willingness to get this right,” Choi said.

The archdiocese’s effort has been noticed in dioceses across Minnesota and around the country, Choi said.

Choi told The Catholic Spirit he was invited to the gathering at St. Odilia to provide an update on progress in the county settlement agreement, and he wanted to experience a restorative justice session.

Archdiocesan compliance to the county agreement is reviewed every six months, and that has gone well, Choi told the group at St. Odilia. The final six-month review is expected to take place in early 2020.

“This last year will be a really critical time,” Choi said.

“But the collaboration with the archdiocese from my understanding has been very positive. They really want to get this right. And, of course, all of us want to make sure this never happens again.”

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LOCAL

MARCH 7, 2019

More than 1,000 Minnesota Catholics bring voices to State Capitol

FAITH-FILLED, PUBLIC WITNESS During the afternoon session of Catholics at the Captiol, a group of 21 Catholics in Rep. Rick Hansen’s office prayed for him and his colleague, Sen. Matt Klein of Mendota Heights, at the conclusion of their visit.

A few members of the group from Legislative District 52A, which includes primarily West St. Paul and South St. Paul, had visited with their representatives, Hansen and Klein, two years ago at the inaugural Catholics at the Capitol. Both DFL legislators said the group from 52A has been the largest group of constituents they’ve seen.

By Dianne Towalski The Central Minnesota Catholic “Be bold, be brave, be Catholic.”

That’s how Gloria Purvis of the Eternal Word Television Network summed up the keynote address by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia at Catholics at the Capitol Feb. 19 in St. Paul.

The event at the St. Paul RiverCentre and State Capitol drew more than 1,000 Catholics from around the state for a day of prayer, education and advocacy on issues important to the Church. It was sponsored by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Church in Minnesota.

“Catholics at the Capitol is about providing people in the pew with an opportunity to meet their legislators and overcome some of the fear and misconceptions people have about politics,” said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director.

One of those misconceptions is that faith and politics don’t mix. But, Purvis sought to dispel any thought of that in her opening remarks. Pope Francis, she noted, has said that a good Catholic “meddles in politics,” adding that “we’re going to meddle today.”

Bringing faith to the public square is essential, Archbishop Chaput said in his keynote address. The archbishop is the author of two books on the topic: “Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World” (2017) and “Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life” (2008).

“In the American tradition, people have a right to bring their beliefs to bear on every social, economic and political problem facing their community,” he said. “For Catholics, inserting our faith into public life isn’t just a privilege. It’s not just a right. It’s a demand of the Gospel.”

“The lesson for us today is simply this: If we don’t at least try to shape our times with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to do it with all our hearts and energy, then evil will shape the times, and ultimately shape us and our families — those we love,” Archbishop Chaput said.

“That’s why today matters,” he said. “It matters because all of us are here today to live, to work, to do, as

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

Meeting in person with constituents is “always more powerful,” said Hansen, who lives in South St. Paul. “It makes a difference, and it shows that people are engaged.”

Hansen said the group of Catholics helped inform him on the issues. He primarily serves on environmental-related committees.

Klein serves on finance and policy committees for transportation, human services reform, and health and human services.

ABOVE Catholics at the Capitol participants gather in the State Capitol rotunda Feb. 19.

“We’re so into our own committees,” said Hansen, adding there are limits to how thoroughly they can study all bills.

Sophia Graner, a member of St. Louis King of France, and a junior at St. Agnes School in St. Paul, said she was inspired by the day.

A member of the group from District 52A, she said the day was about “being courageous” and “standing up for your faith” in the public square.

RIGHT Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia speaks at the morning session at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

Graner said it was the first time she had spoken with legislators at the Capitol. She described it as “kind of intimidating but also pretty cool.”

DIANNE TOWALSKI | THE CENTRAL MINNESOTA CATHOLIC

— Matthew Davis

we struggle together for the dignity of the human person — all human persons, from the unborn child, to the poor, the weak, the immigrant and the suffering.”

Bishop John Quinn of Winona-Rochester and Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth introduced two of MCC’s legislative priorities on which participants were asked to focus during visits with legislators in the afternoon.

“The Surrogacy Abuse Prevention Act” would prohibit for-profit commercial surrogate arrangements and create a regulatory framework for surrogacy arrangements in Minnesota.

The “First 1,000 Days” is a group of four bills that support children in the womb, expectant mothers and fathers, and families of young children during the first 1,000 days of life. Programs funded by these bills

would include grants for prenatal care and education, a study on breastfeeding disparities, and help with transportation costs for mothers to attend school.

The Catholic bishops of Minnesota joined attendees at the events, including legislative visits.

Attendees also heard actor Jim Caviezel (CBS’s “Person of Interest” and “The Passion of the Christ” movie), who offered an inspirational message about following Jesus today.

“You are here today because you heard a call to help those who are most defenseless, the elderly, the unborn, the unwanted, those with no hope,” Caviezel said. “Each one of us is called to be that hope. You are that hope.”

Towalski is a staff writer and photographer for The Central Minnesota Catholic, the publication of the Diocese of St. Cloud.

Archbishop Hebda: Driver’s licenses for all is a ‘moral imperative’

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Archbishop Bernard Hebda joined a call Feb. 21 by immigrants, lawmakers, and business and law enforcement representatives to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses, calling the issue “a moral imperative.”

“I am honored to speak this morning on behalf of driver’s licenses for all, a legislative proposal that is long overdue in its passage and one for which there is an urgency to act,” the archbishop said. “As a religious leader, I wish to focus today on the moral imperative of backing this legislation.”

Undocumented immigrants need to be able to drive to work, school and church; to take care of their families; and to feel secure, said the archbishop, flanked at a State Capitol news conference by dozens of immigrants, members of the agriculture and hospitality communities, and Democrat lawmakers House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley and Rep. Aisha Gomez of Minneapolis.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Archbishop Bernard Hebda talks at a Feb. 21 news conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul in support of legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses.

It is difficult for many to imagine the hardship and stress of being an undocumented immigrant fearing deportation who is unable to drive, or is driving without a license, while trying to take care of the basics of living, the archbishop said.

Opponents of granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants

argue such immigrants are breaking the law by being in the country without legal status.

Archbishop Hebda said the failure of lawmakers in Washington to pass comprehensive immigration reform compels action in Minnesota to help prevent development of a “subclass of tens of thousands of people sitting in the shadows of our society.”

Allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses does not reward lawlessness; rather, it enhances public safety, the archbishop said.

Among other things, people at the news conference cited the need for drivers to know the rules of the road to obtain a driver’s license.

Representatives of the business community said undocumented immigrants are important workers in agriculture, hotels, restaurants and other areas of commerce. Many are entrepreneurs, they said.

Liz Rammer, president and CEO of Hospitality Minnesota, said the state faces a shortage of workers, and allowing undocumented immigrants to

have driver’s licenses will help fill jobs.

Winkler and Gomez are among Democrat lawmakers backing the legislation. Winkler said they were confident several members of the Republican-majority Senate also will back the bill, which was introduced the same day as the news conference.

“We are absolutely committed to getting this done,” Winkler said.

Before 2003, driver’s licenses could be obtained in Minnesota without proof of legal U.S. residency or citizenship.

But the rule changed, and the archbishop said it is time to again allow all people to apply for driver’s licenses.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents the public policy interests of the state’s seven bishops, also backs the initiative.

“I hope today that we as Minnesotans follow the most common biblical, moral exhortation to welcome the stranger,” the archbishop said, “and remember that our families, too, were once strangers in this land, who arrived with the same hope that our undocumented community has today.”

8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

NATION+WORLD

Abuse summit: Vatican taking concrete steps; some disappointed

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service The four-day Vatican summit on the protection of minors has ended, but the work to ensure that laws and concrete actions are in place is just beginning, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

During a press briefing Feb. 24, Father Lombardi, who served as moderator of the Feb. 21-24 summit, said Pope Francis will soon publish a new set of laws and guidelines concerning child protection for Vatican City State.

The measures, he said, will be issued “motu proprio,” on the pope’s own accord, and will be “presented and published in the near future.”

Another initiative that will be available in “a few weeks or a month or two” is a handbook, or “vade mecum,” for bishops, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Father Lombardi told journalists that the handbook will list a set of guidelines and “will help bishops around the world clearly understand their duties and tasks” when handling cases of abuse.

He said the pope also wants to amend the current law concerning the crime of a cleric acquiring, possessing or distributing pornographic images of minors by extending the age from 14 years old to include all young people under the age of 18.

Lastly, Pope Francis has expressed his intention to establish task forces “made up of competent persons” that will assist dioceses and episcopal conferences “that find it difficult to confront the problems and produce initiatives for the protection of minors,” especially when they lack the needed resources and skilled personnel.

Meanwhile, a number of survivors and advocacy groups were disappointed the pope and the Vatican did not go further with

CNS

Cardinal George Pell at County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 27.

Convicted of sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell jailed in Australia Catholic News Service

CNS

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the Vatican Feb. 24 attended by the heads of bishops’ conferences from around the world on the last day of the four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the Church more direct mandates, especially in ordering bishops to implement existing laws.

Peter Isely, spokesman for the Ending Clergy Abuse coalition, said he wished the pope had told bishops to remove known abusers from public ministry immediately in order “to keep them from harming children. That’s pretty simple.”

Also, just as the pope had recently revised the catechism concerning the inadmissibility of the death penalty, Isely said the pope could have changed canon law to include zero tolerance for abusers and those who protect them.

Miguel Hurtado, a survivor from Spain, told Catholic News Service that the Church still needs a clear mechanism or process for bishop accountability and making public the dismissal of a leader for negligence.

“This is what changes the hearts and minds,” he said, “is seeing a colleague lose his job.”

Hurtado said if the Church fails to police itself, “what will prevent another crisis are the external checks and balances” of media outlets doing accurate investigative reporting, the trend of child victims speaking out sooner, and civil laws abolishing the statute of limitations on the abuse of minors.

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org said in a press statement that the summit was only a failure in terms of needed internal reforms.

“But in a larger sense, it achieved a great deal” by increasing global awareness of clergy sex abuse and facilitating “connections between journalists and survivors from many countries,” she said.

“This was public education on a massive scale,” Doyle said.

— Carol Glatz contributed to this story.

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Australian Cardinal George Pell was taken into custody after a court hearing Feb. 27 — jailed for the first time since child sex abuse charges against him were set for a hearing last May. The former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy and former member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals will remain jailed ahead of his sentencing March 13 after the chief judge of the Victorian County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Peter Kidd, who presided over the trial, heard sentencing pleas.

Cardinal Pell has maintained his innocence and plans to appeal. Australian lawyers said it could take more than a year for an appeal to be heard and adjudicated.

In December, Cardinal Pell was convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 in the sacristy of Melbourne’s St. Mary’s Cathedral.

“At the moment I feel this was callous, brazen offending,” Kidd told the standing-room-only court, as he prepared to listen to arguments on sentencing.

“He did have in his mind some sense of impunity.

How else did he think he was going to get away with it,” the judge said, adding that he believed there was an “element of brutality — this was an attack.”

Prosecutors presented separate statements from the living victim and the deceased victim’s father.

Kidd also emphasized that he was sentencing Cardinal Pell and not the Church. The Cardinal was the biggest offender targeted by a five-year Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, which ended in 2017.

The cardinal’s lawyers have withdrawn a bid for bail during his appeal because, they said, Cardinal Pell “believes it is appropriate for him to await sentencing.”

During the appeal process, cardinal Pell has been banned by the Vatican from exercising ministry or having contact with minors. The Vatican also announced his case would be investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

NATION+WORLD

MARCH 7, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Pope: Open wartime papers

HEADLINES Catholic Charities will help with tornado recovery. With search and rescue efforts underway after tornadoes whipped through Alabama and other parts of the South March 3, Mobile Archbishop Thomas Rodi asked for prayers for “those who lost their lives and their loved ones as well as those who have lost homes and businesses.” In a March 4 statement the archbishop said Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Mobile was reaching out to area pastors to offer assistance to people in need. The storms caused at least 23 deaths, knocked out power and scattered debris across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Senate fails to advance bill to protect babies who survive abortion. The measure sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, would have required babies born alive after an abortion to be given medical attention and “the same protection of law as any newborn.” Sixty votes were needed Feb. 25 to invoke cloture and cut off a filibuster of the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, a move that failed 53-44. “I want to ask each and every one of my colleagues whether we’re OK with infanticide,” Sasse said on the floor ahead of the vote. “This language is blunt. I recognize that and it’s too blunt for many people in this body.

But frankly, that is what we’re talking about here today.” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, the

chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on ProLife Activities, said Feb. 27 that a vote against the bill was “a vote to extend Roe v. Wade’s license for killing unborn children to killing newborn babies.”

Papal funds renovate, expand children’s clinic in Bangui. Whoever takes care of children is on God’s side and fights today’s throwaway culture, Pope Francis said. In fact, people will encounter Christ every time they are attentive to the needs of children, especially those who are suffering and fragile, he said in a video message inaugurating the opening of a refurbished and expanded pediatric medical center in Bangui, Central African Republic. The center was renovated with $3.4 million from the pope’s charitable funds and hundreds of thousands of dollars from other donors, including the Vatican police, who held a variety of fundraising events. Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital near the Vatican and other organizations helped provide staff training and support. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, and Mariella Enoc, president of Bambino Gesu, were among those present at the medical center for the inauguration ceremony March 2. In his video message, Pope Francis recalled meeting a group of children suffering from malnutrition during his visit to the hospital in 2015. Their ward was a tent; the expanded facility includes an eight-

bed Center for Therapeutic Re-nutrition.

Temporary Protected Status extended for nationals from four countries. The Department of Homeland Security has filed notice that it is extending Temporary Protected Status for foreign nationals from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan until Jan. 2, 2020.

Published in the Federal Register March 1, the notice said the extension came in response to a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in a lawsuit challenging plans to end the special status for migrants from the four countries. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a designation for those who come to the U.S. from certain countries because of a natural disaster, continuing armed conflict or other extraordinary conditions. DHS announced in 2017 that it was ending TPS for recipients from the four countries in late 2018 and throughout 2019. Officials said conditions in those countries had improved and the migrants could safely return, even as the U.S. Department of State warned against travel to those nations. TPS will continue as long as the preliminary injunction remains in effect. The government has appealed the court’s injunction.

– Catholic News Service

Read the stories at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Declaring that the Catholic Church is unafraid of history, Pope Francis announced that documents in the Vatican Secret Archives relating to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII will be open to scholars in 2020.

Researchers, particularly those interested in CatholicJewish relations, have pressed the Vatican to open the archives and allow a full study of Pope Pius’ actions during World War II, including what he did or failed to do for Jews during the Holocaust.

“The Church is not afraid of history; on the contrary, she loves it and would like to love it more and better, just as she loves God. Therefore, with the same confidence as my predecessors, I open and entrust to researchers” this wealth of documents, Pope Francis said.

The pope met March 4 with supervisors, staff members and assistants working at the Secret Archives during an audience to mark the 80th anniversary of Pope Pius XII’s election March 2, 1939. Staff at the archives have worked for 13 years to get the material ready for researchers.

Pope Pius already has been a subject of intense study and discussion, “even criticized — one could say with some bias or exaggeration,” Pope Francis said.

“Serious and objective historical research will know how to evaluate in the right light, with suitable criticism, moments of praise of that pope and, without doubt, also moments of serious difficulties, tormented decisions, of human and Christian prudence, which to some could look like reticence,” Pope Francis said.

Instead, those moments of prudence were attempts — at times tormented attempts — to keep, “during periods of the greatest darkness and cruelty, the small flame lit of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy, of the hopes of the possible positive opening of hearts,” he said.

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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FAITH on SKATES at STATE

Hill-Murray, Benilde-St. Margaret’s establish Catholic school legacy as state hockey tournament reaches 75 years

B

Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek • The Catholic Spirit

ill Lechner led HillMurray hockey players in skating drills at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood on Valentine’s Day. Holiday festivities would have to wait, as the boys in green had some work to do.

After a short gathering at center ice, Lechner, the head coach, started to blow his whistle.

Legs churned and pucks whizzed across the ice as the perennial state hockey power got ready to make yet another postseason run that would hopefully end at a familiar destination ­— the Minnesota State High School League Boys’ Hockey Tournament in St. Paul, the largest prep puck tourney in the country. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the event, which began in 1945.

The Pioneers made their first trip to the tournament in 1975, the year the MSHSL allowed Catholic schools to join. In 1980 — with Lechner as an assistant coach just a few years older than the players — the event took place at the former St. Paul Civic Center, which was built for the Minnesota Fighting Saints franchise of the World Hockey Association. Years later, it was moved to the new building at that site: the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild.

In every decade since that first trip, the Pioneers have gone to state at least once, winning championships in 1983, 1991 and 2008. They have advanced to the title game a total of 11 times. Hill-Murray is, by far, the most successful Catholic school in state hockey tournament history, and one of the best teams, period.

No one knows better than Lechner how high the expectations are at Hill-Murray, where he also serves as athletic director. Hence, his serious demeanor and “bulldog” look while on the bench, which players at the Maplewood school recognize as his trademark. The pressure to win is so high that “there’s relief,” Lechner said, when his team wins a section title and plays in the state tournament.

There’s also plenty of fun, and, more important, opportunities to help his players grow in faith and values. That’s what got him started in coaching and that’s what keeps him going. He calls it “teaching them for life.”

But, make no mistake, playing in the state high school hockey tournament is a huge deal for anyone who laces up skates at Hill-Murray and throughout Minnesota, which is often referred to as the State of Hockey.

“It’s bigger than most people think,” said Lechner, 65, whose team failed to reach the state tournament this year. “I’ve had a lot of players and guys I’ve coached with that went through Hill(-Murray) that have been professional athletes, played on NHL teams, played in Stanley Cups, played in World Series in baseball, and they still think of the state hockey tournament as one of the biggest things in their life. ... It’s pretty cool.”

It didn’t take him long to taste success. In his first year of coaching hockey at the school, 1980, the Pioneers made their sixth straight trip to the tournament. They got all the way to the finals, falling to Grand Rapids 2-1. They played against

goalie Jon Casey, who later made it to the NHL and played for the Minnesota North Stars.

Just three years later, they won their first state title, 4-3 over Burnsville, which also was launching its program to the top at that time and would defeat Hill-Murray in the finals in 1985 and ’86.

Lechner was extra familiar with his school’s ’83 players because he coached some of them in baseball, where he had been the varsity coach since 1981.

As he looks back on nearly four decades of HillMurray hockey tradition, Lechner, who became the head hockey coach in 1997, can remember with keen clarity what it was like to spend nearly a week in St. Paul for the tournament and “get little sleep.” He can describe important games in the tournament and explain why his team won or lost. He can talk about how his teams would come together and work through adversity to punch their ticket to St. Paul.

Yet, as he nears the twilight of his coaching career, he realizes more than ever that there is more to coaching hockey than playing in the state tournament. He has tried to decorate his office to match his current priorities. In his small office in the school’s field house, he has cleared out hockey mementos to make room for pictures of his family.

It’s an intentional reminder of what matters most — his wife, Sue, his three adult children and five grandchildren. A daily reminder is his son Jake, who played for him and now is a member of the coaching staff.

Along with changing priorities, he has developed a softer side, illustrated by the tears that flow when he talks about what coaching means to him.

“People observe you on the bench and it’s just like, ‘He looks like a mean old man,’” said Lechner. “(But) there’s a big heart, I promise you.”

He prays every night before he goes to bed, but so privately that his wife doesn’t know about it, he said. They were married at St. Pascal Baylon in 1976 and go to Mass at various Catholic churches, and also attend Sunday services at other churches.

His prayer goes like this: “Give me the strength to do this, to be a good role model, to be a good coach ... to guide them (players) the right way.”

The right way means staying in touch with players well beyond their final game in a Pioneer uniform. He regularly plays golf with a group of former players from the 1980s. Texts come almost daily from former players sharing news about their families.

Then, there are the invitations.

“We go to a lot of weddings,” Lechner said. “It varies anywhere from eight to 10 to 12 in a summer. You feel good that they’re inviting you, and you gotta go. If you go to one, you better go to ‘em all.”

He is godfather to two children of former players, and his son Jake’s godfather is a former player, Tom Quinlan, who chose baseball over hockey after graduation and ended up playing in the Major Leagues.

The relationships run deep between Lechner and his former players, perhaps none deeper than with a player he coached for only one year on junior varsity more than 30 years ago. That player, Pat Schafhauser, went on to play two years on varsity for two different Hill-Murray head coaches, Terry Skrypek and Jeff Whisler. He was a standout defenseman on a team that was state runner-up

A

s head coach of a perennial state high school powerhouse, HillMurray’s Bill Lechner is under near constant scrutiny — from parents, opposing players and coaches, and from hockey fans in general.

He has had to endure accusations of illegal recruiting throughout his 40 years of coaching at the school. People often say this is the primary reason the Pioneers make regular trips to the state tournament.

But, he will stake his reputation on a simple practice — doing things the right way. Even when it means making painful decisions that hamper the team’s success on the ice.

Pioneers were fresh off a s season, and had some key were high that Hill-Murray champion in 2009.

Such was the case during the 2008-09 season. The

As the players walked out o

Then, the unthinkable happ informed that four of his to broken team rules right afte tournament. School policy from the team.

The tournament took place Lechner and his assistant c called the four players in th 9 a.m. The players admitted ordered to go clean out the their equipment and jersey

ABOVE Hill-Murray Head Coach Bill Lechner celebrates with his players after winning the state championship in 2008.

LEFT Ken Pauly, head coach, talks to his players before a Benilde-St. Margaret’s hockey practice Feb. 21.

BELOW Grant Besse of BenildeSt. Margaret’s scores one of his five goals against Hill-Murray in the 2012 state championship game.

MARCH 7, 2019 • 11

his junior year.

Professional hockey came next, but a tragic accident, much like the one that happened to Jack Jablonski of Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in 2011, ended Schafhauser’s career in 1995 when he was playing in a Swiss league. He lost the use of his legs, has limited movements of his arms and hands, and is now confined to a wheelchair. After a rough period of physical and emotional rehabilitation, Schafhauser got a call from Lechner with an offer to be an assistant coach.

He quickly accepted, and has been on the Hill-Murray coaching staff ever since. Schafhauser goes out on the ice in his wheelchair during practice and coaches the defensemen. Lechner credits him for helping create perhaps the best defensive team in school history in 2007-08. The Pioneers shut out two of their three opponents in the 2008 state tournament, including perennial power Edina 3-0 in the championship game.

After that game, the players lifted Schafhauser off the bench and brought him out onto the ice to join in the celebration, which was an emotional moment for him and the entire school.

“It felt special to be out there with them,” said Schafhauser, 47, who graduated from Hill-Murray in 1989. “It was pretty fun. It was neat; it’s something I’ll always remember, for sure.”

Lechner, who was called “Billy” all the way into adulthood, remembers playing football, baseball and hockey at Cretin High School in St. Paul. His position on the ice was goalie, but not by choice.

“I had two (older) brothers that said, ‘We need to shoot at somebody, and you’re it,’” Lechner recalled. “I was like, ‘OK.’ I didn’t know better.”

He graduated in 1971, and was able to play in the State Catholic Tournament his senior year. Cretin reached the finals and lost to Hill High School, which merged with Archbishop Murray Memorial High School later that year.

When Lechner arrived at Hill-Murray in 1980, the program was making a steady climb toward the top of the hockey heap. The Pioneers were poised to bring home the first state title for their school — and for any Minnesota Catholic school.

Once they accomplished that in 1983, the success continued. Today, the Pioneers are as strong as ever. Even though it’s been more than 10 years since their last title, they continue making their annual trips to St. Paul. They have made it to the tournament all but four times since ’08, and Lechner proudly talks about a display on the north wall of Aldrich Arena in Maplewood that shows how much success the program has had in developing not just good teams, but good players.

Listed in the display, called the Heritage Wall, are names and photos of former players who have gone on to play in college Division I, the Olympics and the NHL. One of the players, Jake Guentzel, won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017. He played in the 2012 state tournament, in which the Pioneers placed second after losing to Benilde-St. Margaret’s School 5-1 in the championship game (see story at right).

“There’s like, 150 guys,” Lechner said. “(For) 80, 90 percent of them I was either a young assistant or the head coach. . ... That’s really cool. And, that’s what I’m proud of, from a hockey standpoint.”

When Lechner looks at that board and reminisces about those players — and hundreds more he has coached — he sees more than wins and losses. He sees “the bonding and the relationships, and hopefully, the guidance you gave them.”

state-championship players returning. Hopes could repeat as state

down the hallway toward the locker room, Schafhauser remarked that the team was losing players who had scored a combined 100 goals the year before.

pened. Lechner was op returning players had er a Christmas called for their dismissal

For Lechner, the feeling was simply “terrible.” But, he wasn’t going to overlook the violation of rules.

e over a weekend, and coach, Pat Schafhauser, he following Monday at d the violation, and were eir lockers and turn in ys.

Local media got wind of the dismissals, and Lechner recalls reading that the Pioneers were given no chance to repeat as state champions.

of the athletic office and

“We don’t throw it under the rug just for the trophy case,” he said. “Never.”

Instead, that became a rallying point, and HillMurray got to the state tournament, despite calling up four inexperienced players to replace the four who had left. The Pioneers played a strong game in

the quarterfinals before losing in overtime to Eden Prairie, the eventual champion.

“Did (losing four players) hurt? Yeah,” Lechner said.

“I really believe we had the talent to be champions again (before the dismissals).”

Yet, for Lechner, coaching hockey at Hill-Murray is about more than winning games and championships, it’s about “teaching them for life.”

“The terminology I always use (with the players) is, ‘Here’s our rulebook. If you want a jersey, you’ve got to do it this way,’” he said. “‘If you don’t, I’ll still love you, care about you, help you on Highway 36 if you run out of gas, give you a (job) reference. ... But, you don’t get a jersey. (Following the rules) is what you have to do to get this jersey and keep it.’ That’s what our philosophy has (always) been.”

W

here were you when Jack Jablonski got hurt?

That’s a question most BenildeSt. Margaret’s hockey boosters likely could answer.

Grant Besse sure can. A junior at the St. Louis Park school at the time, he remembers getting a call Dec. 30, 2011. That was the day Jablonski, then a sophomore at BSM, was hit from behind during a junior varsity hockey game against Wayzata. He crashed into the boards head first and became a quadriplegic after suffering a severe spinal cord injury from the impact.

Besse felt “confusion and panic” as news of the accident spread around the BSM community. Besse was a forward on the varsity hockey team and had gotten to know Jablonski, now a student at the University of Southern California, at the start of the school year.

Today, BSM fans might ask a different question: Where were you when Grant Besse scored five goals in the Class AA championship game of the 2012 boys state hockey tournament?

After wondering whether the team, ranked in the top 10 in the state at the start of that season, might fall apart after Jablonski’s tragedy, long time BSM Coach Ken Pauly saw just the opposite. The Red Knights rallied around their fallen teammate and drew inspiration from how courageously he was handling his disability. That led to one of the most intriguing storylines in state hockey tournament history, in which the Red Knights won their first Class AA title after moving up from Class A a few years earlier. BSM had won Class A titles in 1999 and 2001, also with Pauly as their coach. This year, the Red Knights fell to Edina 5-1 in the Section 6AA finals Feb. 27.

The Red Knights came together during the second half of the 2011-12 season and set their sights on the state tournament. After winning the Section 6AA championship, they started believing a state title was possible.

Besse, the team’s leading scorer who would win the state’s Mr. Hockey award the following year and go on to play college hockey at Wisconsin, played the biggest game of his life when he scored all of his team’s goals in a 5-1 win over Hill-Murray in the finals. Three of his goals came while his team was shorthanded. No other player has done that in the 75-year history of the tournament.

“After Jack’s injury, I think we just kind of banded together,” said Besse, who had developed a friendship with Jablonski before the injury. The rallying cry became, Besse said, “Let’s win this for Jack.”

Before long, the slogan changed to “Let’s win this WITH Jack.” That happened because Jablonski started showing up at BSM practices in his wheelchair. He even would come out onto the ice. He did it in dramatic fashion moments after the Red Knights won the section title, with TV cameras filming the action. It created a rush of emotion that spread far beyond the arena.

Jablonski, who later started the Jack Jablonski BEL13VE in Miracles Foundation to support spinal cord injury recovery, could not be reached for comment for this story.

The momentum from the section title win carried into the state tournament, when the Red Knights went up against Edina, one of the most successful teams in state tournament history, in the quarterfinals. BSM scored in the last minute to secure a dramatic 3-2 victory that players and coaches took as a sign of destiny.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Pauly, 54, in his 29th season of coaching hockey at BSM, and a social studies teacher at the school. “That place (Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul) erupted. ... I think that really demonstrated to me how people really got behind these kids. I think it’s a journey that we took together as a team. But, I think it’s a journey that an awful lot of people went on with us from across the state and, quite honestly, from across the country.”

Besse still likes to reminisce about the state tournament and the championship he helped secure.

“It was a sweet experience and definitely something I’ll never forget,” said Besse, 24, who was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks and currently plays for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. “I’m still in awe that we were able to do that.”

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

FAITH+CULTURE

Theatre aims to resume bringing Catholic values to the stage out of a bad situation in multiple different ways, and we have a real sense now that he’s going to replant us in a much better situation, not only for the theatre but for our family as well.”

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

L

ike the plays they want to start producing again soon, Open Window Theatre co-founders Jeremy and Sarah Stanbary’s experience — both professionally and personally — with the theatre’s two-and-a-half year closure has elements of hope and redemption.

After conflict over their previous space in Minneapolis’ North Loop forced the couple and their colleagues to close the theatre, a legal settlement last year has brought hope for a new beginning. As a fundraising campaign to reopen the theatre in a new location gains momentum, the Stanbarys, parishioners of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, talked about lessons learned during the closure and their ongoing vision for theatre which brings together art and a Catholic worldview.

“So many people have stuck with us, and there’s so much excitement and energy and enthusiasm in the Twin Cities for the return of Open Window Theatre,” said Jeremy, 40, executive artistic director. “It just fills us with such encouragement, joy and motivation to do all we can to bring it back. And we have a real vision for how to bring it back even better and stronger than it was before.”

Open Window Theatre infuses Catholic values into productions that may or may not be explicitly Catholic, such as “The Lion, the Witch and the

Now that the legal issue has been resolved, the Stanbarys hope for a new season for the theatre — and a new season of plays — possibly launching as early as this fall if their “Redemption” fundraising campaign is successful. Using Kickstarter. com and other donations, they’re striving to raise at least $250,000 to get the theatre back on its feet. They must reach their $100,000 Kickstarter goal by March 11 or forfeit the funds raised.

The Stanbarys will look for another “black box” theatre space like their previous one with seating for up to 150 and flexibility to configure staging for each production, Jeremy said. Also, the theatre’s faith-based educational theatre program for third to 12th-grade youth will resume.

COURTESY OPEN WINDOW THEATRE

Sarah Stanbary and Jeremy Stanbary in a scene from Open Window Theatre’s production of Graham Greene’s “The Potting Shed” in 2015. The theatre company, which produces plays imbued with Catholic values, moved out of its space in Minneapolis’ North Loop in 2016 due to a dispute with the building owners. It is aiming to raise $250,000 to relaunch in a new space as soon as this fall.

Wardrobe” and Pope St. John Paul II’s “The Jeweler’s Shop.” As it draws diverse crowds of all backgrounds, the theatre seeks to be leaven, Jeremy said.

“We have such a unique mission,” he said. “The shows we do are often underproduced or not produced at all by

other theatres.”

When a dispute arose over Open Window Theatre’s use of its theatre space in 2015, the theatre’s leaders closed it and moved it off the property. As The Catholic Spirit reported at the time, theatre leaders and the property’s owners engaged in litigation, which was eventually resolved on mutually agreeable terms.

During the closure the couple, who have five children, struggled financially, re-evaluated their work and life, and deepened their trust in God. The crisis strengthened their marriage and vision for the theatre.

“Our work, our vision for our future, our home, our stability, our income was all just stripping away,” said Sarah, 34.

“As painful as that was, I see God in that because it was once again a complete dependence on whatever his plan was.”

Jeremy added: “Our Lord plucked us

Joy Donely, 52, of Maplewood, has appreciated the theatre staff in her seven years as a director, publicist and stage manager there. She said she is thrilled that the theatre may reopen because a lot happened while it was closed and there are new stories to tell.

Theatre patron and supporter Luke Cahill, 35, of St. John the Baptist in Savage said Open Window Theatre influences the culture.

“I think it’s almost slightly subversive — and I mean that in a positive way,” he said. “It’s not banging you over the head with theology, but it’s promoting Catholic values in a way that anyone could get behind.”

The hope the Stanbarys and their supporters have for Open Window Theatre is mirrored in their mission to bring this idea of redemption to a world that lacks hope, Jeremy said.

“It doesn’t mean that we have all the answers,” he said, “but we’re focused on producing and telling powerful stories that have a redemptive message of hope — ultimately in the end, hope for humanity’s and society’s capability for positive change.”

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MARCH 7, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

LEFT Annie Hinnenkamp, left, and her sister Rachael on the Camino trail July 8 in Asturias, Spain.

COURTESY BILLY HINNENKAMP

ABOVE Tommy, left, Rachael, Annie and Billy Hinnenkamp in San Sebastian in northeast Spain June 22, the day before they began their monthlong trek on the Camino trail.

COURTESY HINNENKAMP FAMILY

Camino pilgrim: Physical, spiritual challenge brings great reward

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

F

or years, Annie Hinnenkamp of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

The 26-year-old finally got the chance last June, walking 513 miles on the famous pilgrimage through northern Spain with one of her four sisters and two of her four brothers, through rain and cold, sun and warmth, taking in sweeping vistas of ocean and tight confines of forest, small towns and many fellow travelers.

“It was a journey physically, spiritually, emotionally,” she said in an email interview. “I learned that the body can go much farther than you ever thought possible.

I learned that the struggle in the journey makes the reward at the end worth something greater than if it were easy. I also learned how incredibly human I am.”

Hinnenkamp, an athletic trainer at Bethel University in St. Paul and professor in that university’s human kinetics and health sciences department, also was reminded that God does not manifest himself at a beck and call.

“I was expecting to see God in so many ways, especially with the fact that he ordained all of us (she and her siblings) to go at the same time. I should know by now that God doesn’t work that way in my life. ...

“The Lord simply challenges me to see past my expectations, to break through my longing for his presence and realize that he thirsts for me even more.”

She experienced that on the Camino, the trail taken by millions of people through the centuries to the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela, the reputed burial-place of St. James the Apostle. The pilgrimage has inspired numerous books, documentaries and movies, including the 2010 film “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen and his son, Emilio Esteves.

People can take a number of different trails.

Hinnenkamp and her siblings walked from San Sebastian in northeast Spain to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest.

Blessed challenge For Hinnenkamp, it was a challenge and a blessing.

She was ill with stomach problems most of the trip, along with her sister, Rachael, a junior at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Rachael also was recovering from a four-year bout with Lyme disease, and with the exertion she experienced relapses of exhaustion, migraine headaches and nausea.

Their brother Tommy, a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska, fought through some significant knee pain. The worst physical ailment was a sore throat for their brother Billy, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in Eau Claire,

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Wisconsin, Hinnenkamp said.

Hinnenkamp said she broke down in tears several times, not feeling well, unable to eat much for about two weeks of the monthlong trek and feeling God’s absence.

But she found God in unexpected ways. One big way was through her prayers for others in petitions that she had solicited on Facebook and Instagram and wrote in the back of her journal. She trusted through her prayer that God was quietly working, regardless of how she felt.

“Each day I would pray for a new group of people, take a picture of their names on the walk, and post it online so they would know they were being prayed for.

This did refocus me,” she said.

“It gave purpose to the walk, to the suffering, something to offer it up for and a reason to embrace the cross presented to me. The Lord didn’t feel any closer, but I knew he was at a good work. Nothing was a surprise to him, and that gave me comfort.”

After missing Mass during the journey because the liturgy wasn’t being offered near places they stayed or it was being held at a time they could not attend, she finally got to a Mass the day after they walked into Santiago de Compostela, on the Feast of St. James, July 25. Her siblings were napping. But a long line for an earlier Mass had become a five-minute wait to get PLEASE TURN TO CAMINO ON PAGE 15

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

MARCH 7, 2019

For religious and clergy, a spiritual respite in the North Woods

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

T

he first religious sisters Sal and Beth Di Leo invited to their new retreat center on a northern Minnesota lake in 2003 enjoyed a somewhat rustic getaway.

“We put a camper in up on the hill, and already that first year we had four nuns come from Illinois,” said Sal, 65. “There wasn’t one of them younger than 80.”

Since then, increasing numbers of religious, women discerning religious life and priests have stayed, free of charge, in what are now comfortable and picturesque accommodations designed primarily for them near Itasca State Park.

The former St. Charles Borromeo parishioners developed St. Francis Lodge to serve religious and clergy out of gratitude for the care their first visitors — the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate — had given Sal and three siblings at a Joliet, Illinois, orphanage in the 1960s.

“We are moved by God to do something to extend the kingdom of God here as laypeople, and that is to share the Gospel and to give support to those who are sharing the Gospel where they could have a place to rest,” said Sal, who learned in the orphanage that nuns and priests need time to recharge, too.

Located between Bemidji and Park Rapids on Lake George, the lodge consists of a large house and upper floor of a garage, which all together can sleep up to eight for group and individual retreats, along with a chapel, grotto and outdoor Stations of the Cross.

The couple moved to the site temporarily last year after selling their Minneapolis home. They plan to purchase a new home closer to the lodge this spring, Sal said.

The Di Leos bought the lodge property in 1999 following publication of Sal’s memoir about his orphanage experience entitled “Did I Ever Thank You, Sister?” A film based on the book is planned.

As their finances allowed, they gradually developed the land, completing the project in 2012.

“People ask me how we got this done, and I have to be honest with you, if you don’t believe in miracles, you’re not looking for them,” said Sal, a business consultant.

Besides the Joliet Franciscan community, sisters have come from the Twin Cities, Mankato and North Dakota, often staying a week. Priests visit from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and elsewhere. A Bemidji priest also hopes to host young men’s and women’s retreats. The Di Leos also occasionally invite others who are sick or are facing life challenges, Sal said.

The lodge is open year-round with two or three groups a month staying in the summer. The Di Leos serve breakfast if guests desire it, but they don’t present retreats, he said.

The St. Francis Lodge retreat house includes a large house and an upper floor of a garage that can sleep up to eight people along Lake George, near Itasca State Park. It was founded to serve clergy and religious women and men. The grounds also include a chapel, pictured below.

COURTESY ST. FRANCIS LODGE

The couple doesn’t charge sisters and clergy because they consider the lodge a ministry rather than a business. Running it as a chartered mission instead of a nonprofit gives them more freedom, they said, adding that they may begin requesting a nominal donation.

The Di Leos are establishing a foundation to provide for sisters’ lodge-related travel expenses.

During August 2017, St. Charles Borromeo pastor Father Troy Pryzbilla stayed a week at St. Francis Lodge with three diocesan priest friends who prayed, fished and enjoyed bonfires. “We had nice camaraderie and prayer time,” he said. “Nice weather, too.”

Sister Karen Mohan and five other Visitation sisters from Minneapolis also relaxed and enjoyed nature at the lodge later that month without worrying if they could afford the weeklong trip, she said.

“This took us out of the ordinary way and gave us a little R-and-R (rest and relaxation) where we could enjoy beautiful Lake Itasca,” Sister Karen said, adding that the community might return for another stay.

Notes left in the couple’s guest book are their greatest reward, Sal said. ”When everybody comes, they feel they’ve been changed, they’ve been touched in a very profound way.”

As more guests come, the Di Leos may expand the lodge on adjacent property, Sal said. They’re also thinking about their own retirement. “We want the mission to continue at this little respite for God up here.”

When they envisioned the ministry 20 years ago, the Di Leos didn’t anticipate its growth. “It’s evolved by more use and greater reach because we do get inquiries from people from all around,” Sal said. “It’s touched a lot of lives.”

The couple feel they’ve received more than they’ve given, Sal said, noting that their faith and marriage have deepened, and friendships have developed.

Beth, 68, agreed: “I think we’ve both grown by giving our time and house to other people to use for quiet time. It’s been a great experience for us, and we’ve made a lot of very, very good friends through this mission.”

For more information about St. Francis Lodge, visit stfrancislodge.org

MOVIE REVIEWS • TheCatholicSpirit.com

RETREATS+PILGRIMAGES

MARCH 7, 2019

CAMINO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 inside, and the liturgy was just getting underway.

Unexpected insight After weeks without holy Communion, Hinnenkamp, who also has celiac disease, was first in line to receive the consecrated wine.

It was a simple but profound moment, as memories flooded over her from the trip. With hindsight she realized the Lord had been present at moments she had not recognized, Hinnenkamp said.

“The Lord does extravagant things, but in very simple ways,” she said.

Those moments included Hinnenkamp being able to use her medical background to help people as they sought advice for treating blisters, rashes, minor cuts and knee pain. And the evening a woman from Denmark who is deaf entered a room, and Hinnenkamp and Billy were able to communicate with the American Sign Language each had learned years earlier, and which the woman had learned when she taught at a school for the deaf in Seattle.

“Little moments I recalled when he (God) was there, and I didn’t know it,” she said.

Strangers become friends Other parts of the trip brought more immediate joy, Hinnenkamp said. She

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

loved being with her brothers and sister. She enjoyed the food — often salad, wine and water, a main course and dessert. And the “albergues” were fun, much like hostels, with bunkbeds, a community space and small kitchen, she said.

There were many wonderful moments with complete strangers who became friends as the foursome encountered them time and again through the course of their journey.

One particularly memorable evening involved fixing a meal with a woman from Arizona and a man from France and offering it to a group that grew to at least 11 people around the table, including one person from Denmark, two more from France, one from Spain and one from the Netherlands.

“How can people from such different backgrounds, languages, ages, reasons for walking, get along as if they had been family?” Hinnenkamp asked.

“Truly a beautiful experience.”

With all the fun and despite the difficulties — or, perhaps in part, because of them — Hinnenkamp said she would recommend the pilgrimage to anyone who feels the call to make it.

“If he (God) is placing a desire to walk the Camino, all 35 days of it or just a week, then go — walk the Camino!” she said. “But if not, he is still calling you to a journey of your own. ...

“Pay attention. Look at all the details.

God is there,” she said. “And he sees you, and he loves you.”

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16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER NATHANIEL MEYERS

Resisting the true temptation In high school, my best friend’s dad was a Protestant minister.

While both my friend and I are true mutts with a variety of ethnic heritages, we nonetheless had at that time a great fondness for our Irish ancestry, and one can easily imagine how that played out: the Irish Catholic and the Irish Protestant, jabbing one another with a constant playfulness as to who was the real Irishman, the real Christian.

My friend would cite chapter and verse from the Bible as proof of his superiority, while I would make reference to our

Catholic practices as proof of my superiority. For every Scripture quote he offered, I would have a pious devotion to counter. When Lent would roll around, I always took it as my time to shine — maybe I couldn’t find a passage in the Bible, but I could certainly fast my friend under the table!

Of course, my attitude toward Lent was far from what the Church actually wanted from me. Our prayer, fasting and almsgiving during this season is not about earthly glory, but rather about a renunciation of our worldly self.

The devil is exceptionally clever, as we see in St. Luke’s Gospel reading for March 10, because he can even take good

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

What should you do for Lent this year? A guide Q. With

Lent on its way, I never know how to choose a “thing.”

Do you have any suggestions for how to pick something to do for Lent?

A. That’s a great (and

perennial) question. I have personally had a tough time choosing the right thing in the past. How does a person know what he or she should give up or take up when it comes to his or her Lenten discipline?

It might be helpful to spell out what the Church envisions for us during Lent before we look at the specifics. The Church only asks for two particular disciplines from us: fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent. As you might know, the Church defines “fasting” in a very mild way: one full meal and two small meals that together are not larger than the one full meal. “Abstinence” simply refers to avoiding meat.

It is worth recognizing that the Church does not actually require very much from us at all in this regard. If you think of it this way, a person in the United States could be fasting and still consume more food than most of the world does on a daily basis.

Because of this, we can see that the “key” to Lenten disciplines that the Church offers us is not based on a degree of difficulty. There is a strange stereotype applied to Catholics that we are overly rigorous and driven by guilt and a belief that we have to earn a place in God’s heart. How far that is from the truth! And we can see this demonstrated in these Lenten requirements.

They are so simple and undemanding that no one could ever honestly draw the conclusion that the Catholic Church is preoccupied with self-denial and strictness.

We can see that the Church does not demand much from us during Lent. There is also the traditional practice of “giving up,” or of “taking up” additional disciplines during this time. These disciplines are meant to be a way to deepen our faith, hope and love in preparation for the renewal of our baptismal promises at Easter and our celebration of the Resurrection. In other words, they are meant to assist our deeper interior conversion (turning away from sin and becoming more like Jesus).

I invite you to embrace this particular vision when it comes to what you choose for your Lenten “thing.” What will help you the most to turn away from sin and become more like Jesus?

Sometimes this involves giving something up (denying yourself

practices and pervert them to fulfill his wicked designs. In tempting Christ, an initial glance has us see Satan offering the usual lure of earthly goods — bread to satisfy Christ’s hunger, the kingdoms of the earth and immortality.

However, upon careful consideration, we see the temptations are even more sinister than just encouraging Christ to gain ill-gotten goods, because the premise is that failing to do this will be a renunciation of Christ’s divine filiation. “If you are the Son of God,” Satan begins, “command this stone to become bread.”

The real temptation is not so much for Christ to break his fast, for example, but rather to use his power for selfish gain in order to prove he is indeed the Son of God. One can see that, fundamentally, the devil is not interested in getting Christ to reap material benefits, but rather to distort and manipulate God’s favors and his status in

a legitimate good in order to make space for Jesus), and sometimes it involves taking something up (adopting a spiritual practice that helps you grow closer to Christ and actively help those around you).

Notice this: The goal of the Lenten practice is not merely to “become more disciplined” or “do the really hard thing.”

When deciding what to do for Lent, many people find that they will either pick something that was too easy (and almost negligible and forgettable) or something so difficult that they ended up continually failing to live it out. Even if they did keep the discipline throughout Lent, it might have merely ended up being a “white knuckle” situation where they just held on as long as they could and the whole thing ended up becoming a personal challenge of self-control that didn’t lead them closer to becoming like Christ in any significant way.

This is what I believe about this tactic: The error most of us fall into when choosing something to do for Lent is not really either choosing something “too easy” or choosing something “too difficult.” There are times when the very best thing for a person to choose during Lent is very easy to accomplish, and there are times when the discipline will be very difficult. The key is to understand the difference between “arbitrary” and “necessary.”

The primary issue that most Catholics face when picking a Lenten discipline is that it has no intrinsic impact on their life.

They might give up sweets or snacking because it is what people do. They might decide to read the daily Mass readings

God’s plan.

Back in high school, Satan similarly tempted me at Lent, and I failed to resist, for I used my status as a Catholic to exalt myself. The fasts that I embraced during those years were all certainly good ones in themselves, but my own heart impeded the spiritual fruit they could yield because I was busy trying to best my friend.

Without a sincere heart, our efforts in God’s service are of little benefit. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

It is clear that just simply saying our prayers, keeping our fast and giving our alms will not be enough to make this Lent truly fruitful; our heart must be invested in these actions for us to receive the saving power of Christ.

Father Meyers is pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo.

each day because it is what they’ve done for the past few years. That’s not bad, but it doesn’t ask the question: What do I need? As long as the Lenten discipline does not arise from a real need in a person’s life, it will always have an optional and artificial character to it.

But when people truly begin to know themselves, they start to understand what is keeping them from drawing closer to Jesus. They begin to recognize the obstacles in their lives that make it difficult to hear and obey the voice of God. They begin to notice what has been fragmenting their attention and their hearts. And they begin to realize that real conversion is going to involve addressing these obstacles in a real way.

For example, there are a decent number of people who give up social media for Lent.

That can be a very good thing.

But it is not a good thing because it is difficult. It is a good thing for people who have recognized that their attachment to social media is an obstacle that steals their time and attention away from allowing Jesus to be the Lord of their lives.

How about you this Lent?

What are the obstacles that are present in your life that keep God at arm’s length? What are the things you could give up or take up that directly correlate to turning from sin and becoming like him?

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, March 10 First Sunday of Lent Dt 26:4-10 Rom 10:8-13 Lk 4:1-13 Monday, March 11 Lv 19:1-2, 11-18 Mt 25:31-46 Tuesday, March 12 Is 55:10-11 Mt 6:7-15 Wednesday, March 13 Jon 3:1-10 Lk 11:29-32 Thursday, March 14 Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25 Mt 7:7-12 Friday, March 15 Ez 18:21-28 Mt 5:20-26 Saturday, March 16 Dt 26:16-19 Mt 5:43-48 Sunday, March 17 Second Sunday of Lent Gn 15:5-12, 17-18 Phil 3:17–4:1 Lk 9:28b-36 Monday, March 18 Dn 9:4b-10 Lk 6:36-38 Tuesday, March 19 St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22 Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a Wednesday, March 20 Jer 18:18-20 Mt 20:17-28 Thursday, March 21 Jer 17:5-10 Lk 16:19-31 Friday, March 22 Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a Mt 21:33-43, 45-46 Saturday, March 23 Mi 7:14-15, 18-20 Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 Sunday, March 24 Third Sunday of Lent Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 Lk 13:1-9

MARCH 7, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

The ones who weave: How to repair our social fabric

When David Brooks travels the country, he seeks out the good news. The bad news is all too easy to find.

As a New York Times columnist writing about the social sciences, Brooks logs many miles for his reporting and speaking circuit. The 57-year-old father is keenly aware of the deep political fissures that upend kitchen tables and family reunions. He hears from parents whose children took their own lives. He talks to families whose loved ones overdosed on drugs. And he asks himself: what now?

“Aren’t we all called at moments like these to do something extra?” Brooks wrote last month in a column.

Despite the isolation darkening and defining our era, he noticed, every community has “weavers” who stitch together the social fabric. There’s the vet he met in New Orleans who helps other mentally ill vets, the Chicago woman looking out for neglected kids in her neighborhood, the guy who runs a boxing gym in Appalachian Ohio where he teaches young men about boxing and about life.

Brooks founded a program called “Weave: The Social Fabric Project” to help us more broadly

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Lent a time for self-giving, rather than ‘giving up’ We have entered the liturgical season of Lent, which is a time of spiritual renewal and restoration, intended to prepare us for the great feast of Easter. How will we spend these precious days ahead?

I remember as a child giving up candy during Lent, which, of course, seemed like such a sacrifice. In fact, many Catholics continue to think of Lent as a time of giving up something that is appealing to them so they are able to think about the sacrifices Jesus made on our behalf.

This, however, fulfills an expectation of the season from the faith perspective of a child, rather than an adult.

What if Lent wasn’t a time to give up something, but rather a time to become something? What if we each thought about ways we could dedicate ourselves to making the world a better, more loving place for others, as well as ourselves, thereby bringing the spirit of Jesus to the earth in our common experiences and

While laypeople honor their legacy, women religious are hosting events of their own — not to pat themselves on the back but to pay it forward ... . Many center on listening. iSTOCKPHOTO | RASHADASHUROV

replicate these community builders. He has synthesized their observations: “The phrase we heard most was ‘the whole person.’ Whether you are a teacher, a nurse or a neighbor, you have to see and touch the whole person — the trauma, the insecurities, and the dreams as much as the body and the brain.”

This language rings of Catholic social teaching, though the program is secular in scope. And Brooks points the way by identifying a crucial skill of weavers: the ability to listen.

The weavers who come to mind, when I consider this classification, are Catholic sisters. This March, as part of Women’s History Month, we celebrate their impact with National Catholic Sisters Week. While laypeople honor their legacy, women religious are hosting events of their own — not to pat themselves on the back but to pay it forward, to continue their work of healing a fractured nation. Many center on listening.

Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa, for instance, are launching a “Listen Up!” campaign to encourage deep listening among people of all backgrounds. The Sisters of Charity Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, meanwhile, will lead a workshop on civil discourse, providing tools to address controversial topics. And Carmelite sisters in Baltimore are inviting teens to their monastery for a

retreat that will help them learn to listen to God’s voice. This has become more difficult now that young adults have cell phones, “a 24/7 public-opinion poll in their pockets,” said Sister Cecilia Ashton, a retreat organizer.

Here in my hometown, Sister Rosalind Gefre, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, is gearing up for her 27th season with the St. Paul Saints baseball team.

The 89-year-old dynamo who stands less than 5 feet tall will be perched behind a massage chair near the stadium’s front entrance, loosening strained muscles.

But she treats the whole person. Her healing touch extends beyond her strong hands to her listening ear.

Some people air to her their grievances with the Catholic Church. Others lament the state of their marriage and their bank account.

“People need to talk,” Sister Rosalind said. “They need to share some of that pain. They’ll say, ‘While you’re massaging me, will you pray for me?’ And everybody gets a hug in the massage chair.”

Yes, these are the weavers, the ones who knead our knots as they knit us together. In these troubled times, they are our hope.

relationships?

As a season of renewal, Lent could be the time we decide unselfishly to change a bad habit, such as identifying things in life that annoy us or cause us to see the darker side of a situation, rather than looking more optimistically at what troubles us. We could think of someone who needs help and make time to do what we can, rather than go about our busy, distracted way. We could say “yes” to one of our married children who is juggling so many aspects of life when they need us to babysit or help them for a day.

Lent is more a time of self-denial and self-giving, rather than a time of giving up, because the former helps us connect more effectively and lovingly with others in our lives, for we have taken time to see them and the needs they have. This was something Jesus did to a masterful level. He stopped and touched people. He asked them what they needed from him, and he met their needs — not only in loving ways, but also in miraculous ways.

Lent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus’ spirit in our lives and our hearts at Easter, so that we, too, are risen with him from the tombs in which we reside. By turning away from unfulfilling habits we have formed throughout this past year that have taken us further away from his love, this is our opportunity to turn toward him. We can let him completely overtake us and shine his love into every aspect of our lives.

Perhaps you will choose to go to adoration once a week to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament,

ACTION CHALLENGE

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

Take time today to think about your Lenten journey and how you are preparing yourself for Christ’s coming in your heart at Easter. Think about prayer, fasting and almsgiving and find ways to fulfill each area of preparation during this season.

allowing him to speak to you in the quietness of your solitude with him. You may choose to go to daily Mass — perhaps something you set as a New Years’ resolution and have yet to fulfill. Or you may choose to fast between meals, thereby creating a hunger for the fullness of the depth of our faith to fill you.

Finally, you may choose to take time and clean out your closets, drawers and cupboards, thereby giving yourself a more pristine, tidy home, as well as bringing the items you no longer need or want to a donation center for others to have and use.

Lent is a time of renewal and restoration of our mind, body and spirit. In this first week of this precious season, dedicate yourself to begin today and participate in the prayer, fasting and almsgiving required of us by preparing yourself for Christ, so he will find an abundant, blessed space to call his own.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

Honoring Catholic business leaders whose faith shapes their work.

Nominations open through March 29 at TheCatholicSpirit.com Awardee luncheon with Archbishop Bernard Hebda Aug. 1

COMMENTARY

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

Food for the journey “Bring double the snacks. Leave half the clothes.”

When I was a brand-new mother, preparing to bring our first baby on his first plane ride, a wise friend with older kids shared her advice for packing for family vacations.

I stared down at the tower of onesies I’d folded next to one scant bag of Cheerios.

“Half the clothes,” she gently prodded, dividing my stack in two and handing half back to me. “Double the snacks.”

Over the years, I learned she was right. Clothes can get cleaned, but hungry kids grow cranky fast. We need less luggage but more sustenance.

Now each time I pull out the suitcases, her words echo in my head. I remember to step back and take clothes out of our bags, opting for a simpler, lighter approach to vacations. But I always throw extra snacks into the kids’ backpacks.

Smarter packing equals happier travelers.

What parent wouldn’t plan for a trip as best they can? When turbulence jolts or car sickness hits, whether stuck on the runway or in traffic, no one wants to be unprepared. Especially when travel will be long, we want to care for each child along the way.

The journey of Lent is just the same.

Except this time, God is the wise parent who has already brought exactly

what we need.

We often face Lent like it’s another family vacation: our work to plan, our job to steer, and our outcome to control. But this season invites exactly the opposite.

In these holy days, can we trust that God will provide? Can we remember — as we pray, fast and give alms — that Lent is God’s gift to offer, not ours to control?

Scripture reminds us that God’s nature is generous, merciful, caring and compassionate: “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him” (Mt 7:9-11).

If we wonder how God longs to guide us through this sacred season, we need only look to the ways we care for children — at our best, still only a sliver or shadow of the love God pours out on us.

Lent calls us to trust that God will care for us like a loving parent. Offering food and water for the journey. Caring for us, body and soul. Traveling with us through 40 days of penance and preparation.

We know that Lent is going to be hard. We know we’ll want to give up and give in to temptation. We know that half of our good intentions will be swallowed up by our hardest habits.

Each Lent teaches this humbling truth over and over.

THE LOCAL CHURCH | CHRISTOPHER D. NELSON

Let’s not miss ‘the opportunity of a generation’ On Feb. 19, the Minnesota Catholic Conference gathered hundreds of Catholics at our state’s Capitol to advocate for policies that uphold the values of our shared faith. The energy of the attendees was palpable as they prepared to discuss a wide variety of important topics with their state representatives.

One legislative initiative that could have a tremendous impact on our faith community involves the impending transfer of wealth.

Over the next 20 years, an estimated $47.9 billion in wealth will transfer from one generation of Minnesotans to the next. That’s not only an unprecedented amount of wealth; it’s an unprecedented opportunity. In fact, some have called it “the opportunity of a generation.”

Is there a way to ensure at least some of those assets are used for the common good?

Yes! When wealth is transferred, it doesn’t have to all stay within a family.

Any portion of a person’s wealth could also be transferred to a parish, alma

mater or charity. Our government incentivizes charitable gifts with tax deductions because gifts to charity strengthen our entire community.

Here’s the best part: Right now, there are policymakers working on a solution called Endow Minnesota.

Endow Minnesota is a bill that seeks to promote economic and community development throughout the state by incentivizing gifts to endowed funds held at community foundations for the benefit of nonprofits. Endow Minnesota would grow endowments by providing a 20 percent matching grant for any eligible contribution up to $250,000.

So, let’s say you give $10,000 to an endowed fund at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota to support your parish or favorite charity. Your gift would be matched with an additional 20 percent — or $2,000 — to that same endowment fund. And because your $12,000 gift is permanently endowed, it will yield a 4 percent grant to your parish or charity of choice every year from that point on — forever.

Laws that encourage giving to permanent endowments are not new.

“

We need less luggage but more sustenance. iSTOCK PHOTO | ARHIMAX

Yet this is precisely the point. Lent is meant to remind us that God provides.

We don’t need to drag along extra luggage — fear, anxiety or shame.

Whenever we hunger or thirst, God will sustain us in surprising ways.

Like a loving mother or father planning for a long trip, God has already prepared what we need for the sacred mysteries that lie ahead.

Now when I prepare for Lent, I imagine God echoing my friend’s wise words. “Leave half of your plans behind.

Bring twice the trust that I will feed you.”

Our neighbor Iowa, for example, successfully raised more than $239 million in permanently endowed funds since the Endow Iowa program was passed into law in 2003.

Because we have a Catholic community foundation right here in our own backyard — the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota — the Endow Minnesota bill could encourage some of the wealth transfer to be permanently endowed while strengthening our Minnesota Catholic community now and forever!

I encourage you to stay informed about this legislation and engage with your state legislators about the important role of endowments and individual philanthropy. And the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota is here as a resource for any questions you may have. With a little foresight and planning, we can ensure our Catholic community is strong and vibrant for our grandchildren and their grandchildren, and yes, even their grandchildren, too.

Nelson is the vice president of development and donor engagement at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota, where he serves individuals and parishes in meeting their philanthropic and stewardship goals. Prior to his work with CCF, Nelson was a partner at a law firm in southern Minnesota where he represented dioceses, parishes, schools, banks and individuals.

As I pack for this year’s journey, what can I leave behind? How can I open my hands to receive?

Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on vocations at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville. She is the author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at motheringspirit.com.

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MARCH 7, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS Four-week Lenten prayer workshop — Tuesdays March 19 to April 9: 7–8:30 p.m. at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road, Burnsville. Through videos and live speakers, the workshop will help people enter more deeply into the heart of Jesus as they learn “Prayer of the Heart.” Father Steven Hoffman will be featured in videos, with live speakers Father James Perkl, Sheryl Moran and Jessica Balzarini. Cost is $40 per person and includes lectures, materials, large group Q&A and snacks.

Susanna Parent at 651-291-4411 or parents@ archspm.org.

Father Dosh Speaker Series: Where Knowledge Leads to Love — March 21: 6 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 680 Mill St., Excelsior. The featured speaker is Father Jacques Philippe on “The Church is Holy.” It is one of the four marks of the Church: one, holy, Catholic and apostolic. The quarterly event honors former St. John the Baptist pastor Father Mark Dosh. stjohns-excelsior. org/parish/Speaker-Series.

Archdiocesan Men’s Conference — March 23: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at St. Thomas Academy, 949 Mendota Heights Road, Mendota Heights. Featured speaker is Patrick Madrid, Catholic author and radio host. The conference also includes Mass with Bishop Andrew Cozzens, breakout sessions and confession. Cost is $30 per person for adults, $25 per person for groups of two to 10. For more information, contact Enzo Randazzo at 651-291-4483 or randazzov@archspm.org. archspm.org/2019-archdiocesan-mens-conference. ’Blessings of Music’ concert with Emmet Cahill — March 21: 7:30 p.m. at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. The Irish tenor, principal vocalist for Celtic Thunder, returns to Minneapolis to promote his new album, “Blessings of Music.” Tickets are $30-$45 and can be purchased at emmetcahill.com/tour-dates.

Dining out Belgian waffle breakfast — March 17: 8:30 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. at St. Michael, 22120 Denmark Ave., Farmington. stmichael-farmington.org.

Music

benefit Holy Spirit Academy. holyspiritacademy.org.

In Concert: St. John’s University Men’s Chorus — March 9: 7–8:30 p.m. at St. Pascal Baylon, 1757 Conway St., St. Paul. Directed by Axel Theimer. stpascals.org.

University of Notre Dame Bronze Handbell Choir — March 10: 5 p.m. Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. cathedralsaintpaul.org.

March 11: 7–9 p.m. at St. Ambrose, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

Gedymin Grubba at Good Shepherd — March 16: 6:15 p.m. at 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. goodshepherdgv.org.

Men’s silent weekend retreat — March 8-10 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

“Be Patient in Affliction” presented by King’s House preaching team. kingshouse.com.

Prayer/worship Lenten adoration and fellowship — Saturdays March 9 through April 13: 10 a.m.–noon. Hosted by Cathedral Young Adults at different St. Paul locations. facebook.com/groups/joincya.

Exposition, adoration, Stations of the Cross and Benediction — March 15: 6 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist, 20087 Hub Drive, New Prague. npcatholic.org/st-john-the-evangelist.

Lenten day of prayer — March 21: 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. “The Annunciation and The Visitation: Mary as First Disciple” presented by Kathy Berken. franciscanretreats.net.

Lenten vespers — March 24: 7 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.

College of St. Scholastica Concert Choir — March 24: 5 p.m. Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. Concert Choir sings works of Pärt and Rheinberger. cathedralsaintpaul.org.

Evensong — March 24: 7 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.

Taize prayer — Third Thursday each month: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Taize prayer — First Friday each month: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com.

Taize prayer — Third Friday each month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center, St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.

Retreats “Encounter the Holy Spirit” — March 8-9: 7–9 p.m.

March 8 and 8 a.m.–3 p.m. March 9 at St. Michael, 11300 Frankfort Parkway NE, St. Michael. Based on Father Jacques Philippe’s book “In the School of the Holy Spirit.” Speakers Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, Father Michael Becker and Father Jim Livingston. Proceeds

Lenten retreat with David Haas: “That you might have life” — March 9: 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m. at Lumen Christi, 2055 Bohland Ave., community room, St. Paul. loyolaspiritualitycenter.org.

Lenten day of centering prayer and lectio divina — March 13 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Presented by Father James Deegan and Sister Brenda Rose Szegedy. kingshouse.com.

Healing retreat for men and women — March 15-17 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. “The Spirit Renews the Church” presented by Father Richard McAlear. kingshouse.com.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event u Contact information in case of questions ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Women’s silent midweek retreat — March 19-21 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

“Be Patient in Affliction” presented by King’s House preaching team. kingshouse.com.

Schools

“Embracing the Holy Time of Lent” — March 24: 3:30–6 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Rd. Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

St. Helena School preK-8 open house — March 14: 1:30–5:30 p.m. at 3200 E. 44th St., Minneapolis. sainthelenaschool.us.

Conferences/workshops Working with clay as spiritual practice — Mondays through April 1: 6:30–8:15 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Taught by Sister Virginia Matter. benedictinecenter.org.

“Tools for Good Works” — March 17: 1–3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

Session is on “Love the Lord and your neighbor.” benedictinecenter.org.

“Caring for You without Losing Me” — March 19: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sunday each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523.

Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays. The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-439-1203.

Singles group — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. 763-425-0412.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s School open house — March 14: 8:30–10:30 a.m. at 2501 Highway 100 S., St. Louis Park. Register at bsmschool.org.

RubberSoul Beatles Tribute Concert — March 16: 6–9 p.m. at Immaculate Conception School, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. Benefits Immaculate Conception School Scholarship Fund. school.iccsonline.org.

Speakers “What to Do: A Conversation on Life and Death Issues” — March 12: 6:45–8 p.m. at St. Stephen, 525 Jackson St., Anoka. Monsignor Steven Rohlfs presents “Respecting Life at its End: Principles and Problems.” ststephenchurch.org.

“Pillars of the Future Church Constructed by Vatican II” — March 12: 7–8 p.m. at Gloria Dei, 700 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Led by Catherine Michaud.

Sponsored by Catholic Coalition of Church Reform and Council of the Baptized. gloriadeistpaul.org.

“What to Do: A Conversation on Life and Death Issues” — March 19: 6:45–8:30 p.m. at St. Stephen, 525 Jackson St., Anoka. Deacon Stephen Najarian presents “Medical Ethics.” ststephenchurch.org.

St. Agnes Lenten lecture series — Fridays during Lent: 7–9 p.m. at St. Agnes, 535 Thomas Ave., St. Paul.

“Great Spiritual Doctors of the Church.” churchofsaintagnes.org.

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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MARCH 7, 2019

THELASTWORD

Brother priests mark

60 years

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

F

or 60 years of priesthood, no amount of snow has stopped Fathers Leonard and Martin Siebenaler from celebrating Sunday Mass at their respective parishes.

At a Feb. 24 Mass marked by a snowstorm and celebrating the brothers’ milestone anniversary, Father Cole Kracke said, “They didn’t ever let a blizzard stop them from getting to church (even if) they had to load up a sleigh to get here.”

“It was kind of interesting that today was a day where they probably could have used a sleigh,” added Father Kracke, 44, a second cousin of the priests and pastor of the brothers’ hometown parish, St. Mary in New Trier, where the Mass was held.

Fathers Leonard and Martin concelebrated the Mass, which took a hit in attendance from snow and strong winds. Archbishop Bernard Hebda had planned to attend, but Father Martin encouraged him not to come because of the weather. The priest extended greetings from the archbishop to those in attendance.

But about 125 people attended the Mass and reception, including three of the brothers’ six living siblings: Raymond and Edward Siebenaler and Donna Neisen.

“What’s most amazing is how quickly the last 10 years went by. It seemed like just the other day we celebrated 50 years,” said Father Leonard, 85.

Retired since 2002, Fathers Martin and Leonard live in Hastings and serve there as chaplains for Regina Hospital and Regina Senior Living, where they held another anniversary celebration Feb. 26.

“We are helping out part time on a volunteer basis.

Several Masses every week,” said Father Martin, 86.

The brothers grew up on a dairy farm and attended the parish’s school, now closed. Their parents, Mathias and Christine, placed them in the same grade.

St. Mary’s pastor at the time, the late Father Peter Schirmers, encouraged the brothers’ vocations, as did the principal of the school and School Sisters of Notre Dame serving there. Their parents supported it, too.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father Martin Siebenaler greets Lloyd and Lenore Peine of St. Mary after the Mass.

“They were OK with it even though they were losing a couple of farmhands,” Father Leonard said.

Mathias and Christine also supported the vocations of a younger brother, Father John Siebenaler, a retired priest of the archdiocese who was ordained two years after his brothers. A sister, Therese Siebenaler, lived in religious life for a decade.

Four vocations from among the Seibenalers’ nine children did leave work to be done on the farm by those who remained, said Edward, 75. “That was a big hole in the family when they left,” he said.

In addition to attending elementary school in the same grade, the brothers together attended now-closed high school Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary and the St. Paul Seminary, both in St. Paul.

“I think we supported each other for the seminary years,” Father Leonard said. “As a priest, we’d call each other on occasion just to ask for advice or something of that nature.”

Archbishop William Brady ordained the two brothers at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Feb. 22, 1959.

Ordinations normally occurred during the summer.

“We had early ordinations those years due to many, many baby boomers whose confessions we had to hear and (to) help out in parishes for those last three months of our studies,” Father Martin said. “We were ordained three months earlier due to the lack of priests for all the

population out there to be served.”

Edward said the 60th anniversary Mass brought back memories of his brothers’ first Masses of thanksgiving at St. Mary.

“I think I was an altar server for one. I was in the choir for the other,” said Edward, who was a teenager at the time.

The brothers began their first assignments as assistant priests in the summer of 1959. Father Martin served at Visitation in Minneapolis, and Father Leonard served at St. Anne in Minneapolis.

After a little over a decade as an assistant pastor, Father Martin served as pastor of St. Timothy in Maple Lake from 1972 to 1986 and then St. Joseph in Waconia from 1986 to 2002. He said ministering to families in the wake of tragedy stood out to him. That included helping families who lost sons fighting in Vietnam.

“Those funerals are so impressive to a priest, and capable of giving much comfort and strength to mourners,” Father Martin said.

Father Leonard served as an assistant pastor until 1971, when he was named pastor of St. Paul in Zumbrota and parochial administrator of St. Mary in Bellechester. He served as pastor of St. Columba in St. Paul from 1976 to 1981, Most Holy Trinity in St. Louis Park from 1981 to 1993 and St. Michael in St. Michael from 1993 to 2002.

“I especially enjoyed parishes that had grade schools,” Father Leonard said. “I enjoyed parish work, but I was especially enlivened by having large schools connected and having children around.”

Both priests concluded their active ministry with building projects. Father Leonard helped St. Michael parishioners prepare for building its Byzantine-style church, completed in 2005. Father Martin helped St. Joseph build a new school building, completed in 2002.

After retiring, the brothers returned to the area where they grew up, and they continue to serve in the community.

The “increasing graces” from daily Mass help them to continue ministry despite retirement, Father Leonard said.

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From left, Father Cole Kracke, pastor of St. Mary in New Trier, visits with Fathers Leonard and Martin Siebenaler after a Feb. 24 Mass at St. Mary celebrating the brothers’ 60th anniversary of ordination.

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