May 24, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Priest ordination Deacons Aric Aamodt, Colin Jones, Peter Toulee Ly and Matthew Shireman are set to be ordained priests 10 a.m. May 26 at the Cathedral of St. Paul. A Holy Hour to pray for them will be 5-6 p.m. May 25 at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity.
Communion of saints
Cultural confluence New Venezuelan bishop visits Twin Cities to strengthen mission parish’s longtime partnership. — Page 6
Chile’s bishops resign Move follows meeting with Pope Francis on sex abuse scandal. — Page 7
PHOTOS BY JIM BOVIN | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ABOVE Visitors view sacred relics of saints at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton May 21. BELOW Wood from Jesus’ cross is one of 166 relics touring local parishes. According to tradition, the cross was brought from the Holy Land to Rome by St. Helena in the fourth century.
A tale of two parishes St. Andrew Kim and Holy Childhood in St. Paul have high hopes for unique campus sharing arrangement. — Pages 10-11
Kids’ rosary? There’s an app for that Waverly Catholic develops Bead by Bead Rosary to engage children in Marian devotion. — Page 12
No casket, no vault, no problem Catholic Cemeteries to offer natural burial for Catholics who want a “green” option. — Pages 14-15
Relics exposition offers opportunity to seek intercession of saints By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit
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ith a look of awe, Julie Gunness, 51, stood outside the social hall May 19 at St. Therese in Deephaven, where 166 saints’ relics were displayed on long tables. After venerating a relic of St. Joseph that a religious community brought to the parish, the parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul felt a special connection to Jesus’ foster father, although she wasn’t sure why. “One relic would be overwhelming,” Gunness said, “but a whole room full of relics — I need to go home and come back again at a different venue, because this is really overwhelming.” Following the parish’s Pentecost vigil Mass, about 150 parishioners and visitors venerated the relics during a tour this month that includes other parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The exposition of mostly first-class relics of saints including St. Francis of Assisi, the Apostles and St. Therese of Lisieux, as well as a piece of the true cross and of a veil that belonged to Mary, was an opportunity to seek intercession and healing. Through the ancient Church practice of relic veneration, exposition organizers hope the faithful experience the living God. Catholics also can gain a plenary indulgence for attending. The tour, called Treasures of the Church, travels throughout North America by invitation and is run by Father Carlos
Friends in high places Relics offer Catholics a way to personally connect with the communion of saints, much like how people cherish mementos of deceased family members. Learn more about their history, verification and veneration at TheCatholicSpirit.com. Martins, who gave a talk about relics before the veneration. Father Martins belongs to Companions of the Cross, a society of apostolic life with ministries in the United States and Canada. He is an ecclesiastically appointed curate of relics with the authority to issue relics. Besides first-class relics consisting of fragments of saints’ bone, hair or other body tissue, the exposition features six second-class relics, which are items or fragments of saints’ possessions. Thirdclass relics are items that a saint touched or that have been touched to a first, second or another third-class relic. “Relics are the touchstone of eternity,” Father Martins said. “They are the proof and the guarantee that these saints are now in heaven, and the miracles are evidence and give testimony to the fact
that these saints now are experiencing the beatific vision.” The Church’s practice of venerating relics is a continuation of the Jewish veneration of the dead, Father Martins said. Records show Christians venerated relics before the Apostles’ deaths, he said. The Old and New Testaments offer examples of how God healed using material objects. The early Christians frequently celebrated Mass on the Apostles’ and martyrs’ graves, the reason Catholic altars traditionally contain relics, he said. But Father Martins emphasized that healing comes from God, not a relic. “The relics do not contain a power that is not their own,” he said. “The good is God’s doing, but the fact that he chooses to use the relics of saints toward healing miracles tells us that he wants to draw our attention to saints as models and intercessors.” St. Therese parishioner Kathy Burns, 62, said she found the veneration moving, while her husband, Thomas, 65, said it helped him feel part of the communion of saints. Father Martins said that the exposition can help people grow in holiness. “The role of these expositions for me is not only that you encounter the saints,” he said. [But] “I [also] want you to return home as a saint.” Noting that withholding forgiveness is a common obstacle to holiness, Father Martins told how 11-year-old St. Maria Goretti forgave her murderer before she died. The man eventually repented and converted to the faith. Treasures of the Church will be on display at St. Timothy, Maple Lake May 24; Nativity of Mary, Bloomington May 29; St. John the Baptist, Excelsior, May 30; and Holy Family, St. Louis Park, May 31. For more information, contact host parishes or visit treasuresofthechurch.com.
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I have heard the pro-choice side argue that abortion should be legal in less-than-ideal conceptions. I am the prime example of a less-than-ideal conception. My mother was 16 and got pregnant after a one-night stand. That is not ideal, but does that make me less valuable as a human being?
Gavin Boyne, 20, a student at Trinity College Dublin, who’s opposed to a repeal of Ireland’s Eighth Amendment, which he believes saved him from being aborted. Irish will vote May 25 whether to repeal the law, which enshrined a ban on abortion in 1983 and gives equal right to life to the mother and the unborn child.
NEWS notes JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH | ASCENSION CATHOLIC ACADEMY
PLAY SPACE Samanta Granda Pachari, a fifth-grade student at St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School in northeast Minneapolis, runs to the school’s newly installed playground May 15, when more than 40 volunteers, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda, made the finishing touches. The playground, which will also serve the Holy Cross parish campus, was made possible through a grant from Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and the national nonprofit KaBOOM!, and through gifts from St. John Paul II’s sister school, Our Lady of Grace in Edina, and individual donors. Before the playground’s installation, students spent recess on a blocked off street, in a parking lot or in an area filled with pea gravel. The new space includes fitness equipment for older students and adults, and a half-size basketball court.
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The numbers that appeared May 11 on a freshly installed scoreboard at Lincoln Field in Richfield after Academy of Holy Angels softball team beat Minneapolis’ DeLaSalle High School. Richfield Mayor Pat Elliott joined AHA school administration, softball players and their parents for a ceremony celebrating the installation and dedication of the new scoreboard ahead of the game at the city park, which AHA rents from the Richfield Parks and Recreation Department. The site has long had poles and empty brackets awaiting a scoreboard. AHA made it happen this year with a fundraiser through its Booster Club and parent Mary Murphy Powers, who made a gift in the memory of her parents, Daniel and Ann Murphy. “Academy of Holy Angels continues to have a great relationship with the City of Richfield and the Richfield Parks,” AHA Athletic Director Michael Kautzman said in a statement ahead of the game. “We are thankful to work with them to help provide the scoreboard not only for our team, but for other local Richfield teams.”
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The number of cities in Italy — including Assisi, Rome and Siena — that are on the itinerary of a Sept. 20-28 “Heart of Italy” pilgrimage led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Franciscan Father Sean O. Sheridan, president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. More than half of the currently registered pilgrims are from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and spots are still available. The estimated cost is $3,995 per person until June 5. For more information, visit franciscan.edu/pilgrimages.
MILESTONE
CNS | TERRAY SYLVESTER
ERUPTION DISRUPTION People watch ash rise from Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii May 15. According to Hawaii County Civil Defense, more than 50 structures, including homes, already have been destroyed by lava from 22 fissures, the newest outflow from Kilauea Volcano, which has been erupting since 1983. Lava so far has covered more than 115 acres. Local Catholic service agencies are working with victims, coordinating aid efforts, and collecting and distributing funds, and Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu has visited and offered his assistance.
ONLINE exclusives By running Spain’s famous 500-mile “Camino,” Minneapolis native Jeff Rauenhorst told Catholic News Service that he wants to raise awareness of the Catholic Climate Covenant’s Catholic Energies program while continuing a spiritual journey. He plans to begin the excursion May 29. Read the story at TheCatholic Spirit.com. Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, reflects on his visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico. To aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria last summer, the parish mailed 345 pounds of medication, and Father Ubel presented a $25,000 gift to be used for restoring the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist. Read his post at CatholicHotdish.com.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 10 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor
Epiphany Catholic School in Coon Rapids celebrated its 50th anniversary May 17 with an art show, spring concert and alumni events. Three years after the church opened its doors in 1964, founding pastor Father Bernard Reiser opened the school that served grades three through seven with four lay teachers and six School Sisters of Notre Dame. The school completed large remodeling projects in the mid-1990s, and the school now serves students in preschool through eighth grade.
in REMEMBRANCE uDeacon Michael Kraemer, 66, died May 10 while on vacation in Hawaii. He was ordained a permanent deacon Dec. 5, 2015. Since then, he has served at Holy Family in St. Louis Park and as a chaplain at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. He was an electrical engineer with Xcel Energy. Parishioners of St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center, he and his wife, Linda, have six adult children. A funeral Mass was May 18 at Holy Family in St. Louis Park, followed by a graveside burial at St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park.
uDennis McGrath, former communications director of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, died May 13 at age 81. His funeral was May 19 at St. Olaf in Minneapolis. A graduate of DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, McGrath had an impressive public relations career and served on the boards of many nonprofit organizations.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
MAY 24, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEMODERATOROFTHECURIA ONLY JESUS | FATHER CHARLES LACHOWITZER
Remembering to be present
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e remember. We remember all those who have served in the Armed Forces and have given their lives for our nation. We remember all those who have died after serving others in different ways. And we remember in our prayers all those who will be visiting the graves of loved ones this Memorial Day weekend. Each year, this time of remembering the dead coincides in the Church with a season of remembering the living with first reconciliations and Communions, confirmations and ordinations. In the celebrations of the sacraments, there are of course many people involved in catechesis, preparations and all sorts of details. For sure, there are parents, godparents, sponsors and witnesses. It is a good time to remember them and offer our prayers of thanksgiving for their support during key moments of our lives. There are also all those outside of the immediate family who take the time to attend these central celebrations in the life of the Church. I remember all the parishioners who made it a point to attend a wedding, baptism, funeral or ordination to be a sign of support and prayers. I remember a baptism class where a couple new to the parish had just become the new parents of their first child. They announced at the class that they were moving again because of a job transfer. The parish’s date for the celebration of the sacrament of baptism was in the middle of their move, and I agreed to arrange a special time for this family. The entire baptism class showed up for the baptism. At baptisms, first Communions, confirmations,
weddings and ordinations, I like to thank all the aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, friends and parishioners who attend these celebrations and, by doing so, give such a beautiful witness to the importance of “being there.” In contrast, it does not take much effort to show up just for the reception. I remember greeting people before a Saturday evening Mass while the associate priest was in the confessional hearing confessions. A little girl came up to me and asked, “Why are those people standing in line to go into that room?” I explained that they were going to confession — a special time when Jesus forgives our sins. The little girl asked if she could stand in line. I said, “Not yet, but some day after you make your first confession.” That celebration of her first confession came and went, and so too did her first Communion. It was a regular Saturday late afternoon when I saw her standing in line for confession. She waved to me, smiled broadly and gave me a “thumbs up.” I would like to thank all the people who wait in line for confession each week. You never know who is watching your example. In hospital rooms, nursing homes and home hospice, there have been those times when nurses, doctors and caregivers step out of their busy schedules and make themselves present for the anointing of the sick. Their pause in prayer gives me pause as I hear them praying aloud with me. So too, I am always moved when I see uniformed first responders in attendance at a funeral. Shortly after my ordination to the priesthood, I had no way of knowing that there would be dozens of cards from people I did not know. From that point forward, I remind seminarians that after ordination: “There will be people who will send you cards whose name you will
Recordando estar presente
importancia de “ser allí. “Por el contrario, no se necesita mucho esfuerzo para aparecer solo para la recepción. Recuerdo saludar a las personas antes de la misa del sábado por la noche mientras el sacerdote asociado estaba confesionando en la audiencia confesional. Una niña pequeña se me acercó y me preguntó: “¿Por qué esas personas hacen cola para entrar a esa habitación?” Les expliqué que se iban a confesar, un momento especial cuando Jesús perdona nuestros pecados. La niña le preguntó si podía hacer cola. Le dije: “Todavía no, pero algún día después de que haga su primera confesión.” Esa celebración de su primera confesión vino y se fue, y también su primera Comunión. Era un sábado normal de la tarde cuando la vi haciendo fila para confesarse. Ella me saludó con la mano, sonrió ampliamente y me dio un “aprobado.” Me gustaría agradecer a todas las personas que hacen fila en la cola de confesiones cada semana. Nunca se sabe quién está viendo tu ejemplo. En las habitaciones de los hospitales, hogares de ancianos y hospicios en el hogar, ha habido ocasiones en que las enfermeras, los médicos y los cuidadores abandonan sus ocupados horarios y se hacen presentes para la unción de los enfermos. Su pausa en oración me da pausa cuando los escucho rezando en voz alta conmigo. De la misma manera, siempre me conmueve cuando veo a los primeros respondedores uniformados asistiendo a un funeral. Poco después de mi ordenación al sacerdocio, no tenía forma de saber que habría docenas de cartas de personas que no conocía. Desde ese momento en adelante, les recuerdo a los seminaristas que después de la ordenación: “Habrá personas que le enviarán tarjetas cuyo nombre no reconocerá y con las que nunca se encontrará.” Hasta este día, no he conocido a todas las personas que han orado para mi. A todos los que tienen la bendición y el privilegio de haber recibido los sacramentos este tiempo de Pascua: Hay personas que no espera o que no sabe o que nunca sabrá que están rezando por usted, alentándolo en la práctica de la fe y sentándose en las bancas que
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ecordamos. Recordamos a todos aquellos que han servido en las Fuerzas Armadas y dieron sus vidas por nuestra nación. Recordamos a todos aquellos que murieron después de servir a otros de diferentes maneras. Y recordamos en nuestras oraciones a todos aquellos que visitarán las tumbas de sus seres queridos este fin de semana del Día de los Caídos. Cada año, este tiempo de recordar a los muertos coincide en la Iglesia con un tiempo de recordar a los vivos con primeras reconciliaciones y Comuniones, confirmaciones y ordenaciones. En las celebraciones de los sacramentos, por supuesto, hay muchas personas involucradas en catequesis, preparativos y todo tipo de detalles. Por supuesto, hay padres, padrinos, patrocinadores y testigos. Es un buen momento para recordarlos y ofrecer nuestras oraciones de acción de gracias por su apoyo durante los momentos clave de nuestras vidas. También están todos aquellos fuera de la familia inmediata que se toman el tiempo para asistir a estas celebraciones centrales en la vida de la Iglesia. Recuerdo a todos los feligreses que hicieron un punto para asistir a una boda, bautismo, funeral u ordenación para ser un signo de apoyo y oraciones. Recuerdo una clase de bautismo donde una pareja nueva en la parroquia acababa de convertirse en los nuevos padres de su primer hijo. Anunciaron en la clase que se estaban mudando de nuevo debido a una transferencia de trabajo. La fecha de la parroquia para la celebración del sacramento del Bautismo estaba en el medio de su mudanza y acepté organizar un momento especial para esta familia. Toda la clase de bautismo apareció para el bautismo. En bautismos, primeras Comuniones, confirmaciones, bodas y ordenaciones, me gustaría agradecer a todas las tías, tíos, primos, vecinos, amigos y feligreses que asisten a estas celebraciones y, al hacerlo, dar un testimonio tan hermoso de la
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At baptisms, first Communions, confirmations, weddings and ordinations, I like to thank all the aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, friends and parishioners who attend these celebrations and, by doing so, give such a beautiful witness to the importance of ‘being there.’ iSTOCK | BOGDAN KURYLO
not recognize and whom you will never meet.” To this day, I have not met all the people who have prayed for me. To all who are blessed and privileged to have received the sacraments in this Easter season: There are people you do not expect or do not know or will never know who are praying for you, encouraging you in the practice of the faith, and sitting in the pews celebrating with you the mystery of the person and real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacramental life of the Church. Let us offer our prayers of gratitude to God for all those who have remembered us in their prayers and supported us by being present in the sacramental milestones of our lives.
celebran contigo el misterio de la persona y la presencia real de Jesucristo en la vida sacramental de la Iglesia. Ofrezcamos nuestras oraciones de gratitud a Dios por todos aquellos que nos han recordado en sus oraciones y nos han apoyado al estar presentes en los hitos sacramentales de nuestras vidas.
OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective May 8, 2018 Reverend Brian Park, appointed chaplain to NET Ministries. This is in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis. Effective May 17, 2018 Rev. Mr. Joseph Connelly, assigned to exercise diaconal ministry for a summer assignment at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in New Brighton. Deacon Connelly was ordained to the diaconate on May 12, 2018. Rev. Mr. Louis Floeder, assigned to exercise diaconal ministry for a summer assignment at the Church of Saint Gabriel the Archangel in Hopkins. Deacon Floeder was ordained to the diaconate on May 12, 2018. Rev. Mr. Joseph Gifford, assigned to exercise diaconal ministry for a summer assignment at the Church of Saint Charles Borromeo in Saint Anthony. Deacon Gifford was ordained to the diaconate on May 12, 2018. Rev. Mr. Andrew Zipp assigned to exercise diaconal ministry for a summer assignment at the Church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park. Deacon Zipp was ordained to the diaconate on May 12, 2018.
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Ordination jubilation
SLICEof LIFE DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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From left, now-Deacons Joseph Connelly, Andrew Zipp, Joseph Gifford and Louis Floeder share a light moment in the minutes before their ordination as transitional deacons May 12 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The fifth ordinand was Brother Seraphim Wirth of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace in St. Paul. The men are on track to be ordained priests next year. Bishop Andrew Cozzens presided over the ordination. He was joined by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Helizandro Emiro Terán Bermúdez of Ciudad Guayana in Venezuela, where the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ mission parish Jesucristo Resucitado is located.
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Each year, The Catholic Spirit congratulates members of women’s and men’s religious communities who are serving or have served in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and are celebrating milestone jubilees. To submit a jubilarian for our July 12 issue, email his or her full name, religious order and milestone to thecatholicspirit@archspm.org with JUBILEE in the subject line by Monday, June 25.
thecatholicspirit.com
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
Priest remembered for addiction ministry By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Father Martin Fleming was known for his wit. His longtime secretary, Patricia Basel, said Father Fleming had a way of lightening the mood at just the right time. As a retired Army colonel, he never was one to back away from tension. Yet, he had a way of disarming the most intense conflicts with a funny line, she said. “He never lost his Irish sense of humor,” said Basel, 83, who first met Father Fleming in 1965 while she was teaching children at a military base in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Father Fleming was serving as chaplain. “He would use it sometime if there was a discussion going on and if things were not going well. He would say something that everybody laughed at.” Father Fleming died May 18 at age 91 at his home in St. Paul. Despite the priest’s sense of humor, he took seriously helping people in need, particularly those caught in alcohol and drug addiction. After serving in the military in Alaska, Father Fleming, who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1952, bought property on the corner of Summit and Western Avenues in St. Paul and used the four buildings to provide temporary housing for those in need, including people who were in addiction recovery. He named it Bethany Village and lived on the campus. He especially poured his time and energy into this outreach after retiring from parish ministry in 1992. He also co-founded Trinity Sober Homes, a residential program for alcoholics in recovery. One of the people whom he helped was Robert Paulsen, who moved to Bethany Village in 2006 and still lives there, working as the property’s caretaker. He was touched by Father Fleming’s generosity, and he considers him a key part of his recovery. “I was a drug addict and an alcoholic and came here for
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Martin Fleming stands in front of one of the buildings at Bethany Village in this 2014 file photo. treatment at Hazelden,” said Paulsen, who is from North Carolina, referring to the renowned addiction treatment center in Center City. “You go from Hazelden to a halfway house for four months. After four months, I was kind of lost. So, landing here was good for me. “I never thought I’d be friends with a priest,” he added. “But, he was a big influence. ... He was a very affirming person. He was always thankful and grateful for what you did.” That quality will be highlighted during his funeral Mass by Father Kevin McDonough, who will be the homilist. He got to know Father Fleming in 1993, while the older priest was serving as the archdiocese’s director of evangelization, a role he held from 1992-97. Archbishop John Roach asked the two to discuss evangelization in the Church. The dialogue went on for two years, with Father Fleming going to St. Peter Claver in St. Paul, where Father McDonough was pastor, for Sunday Mass. Sometimes, Father Fleming would sit in the pews just to take in the worship experience at the vibrant parish, popular with AfricanAmerican Catholics. “That gave me a chance to get to know him as a brother priest and
also to find out why it was that evangelization was at the forefront for him,” Father McDonough said. It also provided an opportunity for some encouragement and uplifting words. “He would pick out the things that he thought I was doing well ... and constantly affirm them,” Father McDonough said. “And, of course, in the process, he was able to direct and shape and encourage me. He led by encouragement and by example.” Father Fleming grew up in St. Paul and followed in the footsteps of two older brothers who also were ordained priests — Father John Fleming and Msgr. Francis Fleming. Both were ordained in 1942. A fourth brother, Peter, also was ordained a priest, but later left the priesthood. Father John Fleming died in 2004 as a priest of the Diocese of New Ulm, and Msgr. Francis Fleming, pastor of St. Olaf for 28 years, died in 2006. Father Martin Fleming served as a military chaplain for 32 years, with one year in Vietnam during the war. He also ministered at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, St. Mary in Shakopee and St. Pius X in White Bear Lake. He won The Catholic Spirit’s annual Leading with Faith Award in 2016 for his work in addiction recovery. Paulsen noted that Father Fleming died during the annual tulip bloom. The priest loved beauty, both inside and out. Bethany Village always featured attractive landscaping and artwork that Father Fleming collected over the years. But, to people like Paulsen and Basel, the real beauty of the place was the priest who always had a smile and a kind word for everyone. “His smile, his affirmation, the sparkle in his eyes — he was just such a good guy,” Paulsen said. “It’s like the heart of Bethany Village has gone.” His funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. June 2 at St. Olaf in Minneapolis.
MLK celebration calls for confronting racism By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit More than 100 Christians and local church leaders gathered at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis May 11 to hear a scriptural vision of race amid the modern challenges of racism in society. The service “The Dream Continues” celebrated the memory and dream of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated 50 years ago April 4 while defending the civil rights of African-Americans. Organized by a group of churches, including the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the service was rescheduled due to a blizzard April 3. “I hope that the people that attended this start spreading the message that the dream needs to continue,” said Mary Noble, 70, a Basilica parishioner and organizing member of the newly formed Black Catholic Leadership Initiative. The service included Scripture readings, music by the Minnesota State Baptist Convention Choir, sermons and an excerpt from King’s speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which he delivered April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination in Memphis,
Tennessee. Bishop Richard Howell Jr. of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World’s Seventh Episcopal District reflected on racism at the time of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Howell also touched on how Jesus shows equal love for all of humanity. “I thought the day had come in 1968, but I have seen the regression. All of us have. Not just in our society, but also across the churches,” Howell said. Father Erich Rutten, who helped organize the event, called racism a sin. He said it goes back to the beginning of humanity. “But as Christians, we believe we’re called to something new,” said Father Rutten, chairman of the archdiocesan Commission on Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs, and parochial administrator of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul, a historically black parish. Basilica rector Father John Bauer welcomed attendees, and Archbishop Bernard Hebda offered the closing prayer: “Loving God, inspired by this powerful example [by King], we ask you to help us to respond to your loving call, to eradicate the sin of racism from our lives, to speak out when we see inequity [and] to act when there is injustice.”
COURTESY LARRY TRAPP
A VIEW FROM ABOVE A new white steeple cross at St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown was installed with an updated lightning suppression system May 10 after its predecessor was damaged by lightning in October. Instead of repairing the old cross, parishioners crafted a new one modeled after a design at its front entrance. Minneapolis-based Advance Companies contracted with insurer Catholic Mutual to handle the installation, which required a 135-foot lift. “Working 130 feet in the air is not easy, but it went very well,” said Larry Trapp, Advance Companies’ owner who attends St. Timothy in Blaine. St. Mary is a campus of the parish of Sts. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee.
in BRIEF Archdiocese investigates allegations against Father Joseph ST. PAUL — After a criminal investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with an adult made against Father Thomas Joseph, the Carver County Attorney’s Office declined to bring criminal charges in the case, Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced in a May 11 statement. Father Joseph, former pastor of St. Nicholas in Carver, remains on a leave of absence while the archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment conducts an internal review. Archbishop Hebda urged “patience and prayer” until the process is completed.
Local Catholic Scouting leader doesn’t anticipate big changes ST. PAUL — Catholic parishes with Scouting groups don’t need to make big changes in light of the Boy Scouts of America’s future name change, according to Bill Davies of the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting. “It’s really not changing Scouting; it just opened up another avenue,” said Davies, chairman of ACCS in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Boy Scouts announced May 2 its name change to Scouts BSA by February 2019 as the 98-year-old organization will allow girls to participate in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts next year. The organization already has options for girls with its co-ed Venturing, Sea Scouting and Exploring programs. Davies said parishes with Scouting groups function as independent entities and can decide their own membership.
Group rallies to prevent tear-down of former St. Andrew church ST. PAUL — A grassroots group is asking a public charter school to reconsider plans to demolish the former St. Andrew church building in Como Park. Twin Cities German Immersion School, which moved to the former church building and school campus in 2013, plans to replace the building with new construction that its leaders say better meets the growing school’s needs. The former church is used as TCGIS’ gym and auditorium, with a lunchroom in the basement. Save Historic St. Andrew’s formed to encourage the school to spend more time exploring alternatives to tearing down the building, built in 1927. The group’s leaders say that the building is a community landmark and that destroying it will make an impact that will outlast the tenure of the school at that site. It is collecting names for a petition that was expected to be considered by the TCGIS school board May 23.
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St. Vincent de Paul distributes food, invites prayer in Frogtown By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Instead of fishing for walleye, Ross Feder and company “fished” for people at St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul during the weekend of the Minnesota fishing opener. “We’re going fishing with Jesus, and Jesus told me ‘food is bait,’” said Feder, a member of St. Vincent de Paul. “It’s to draw [people] in, because then you get a chance to talk with them.” Since September, hundreds of residents in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood periodically have been coming to a basement full of food at the church, which hosted its latest food distribution event May 12. The Hmong Catholic community that worships at St. Vincent de Paul has collaborated with other ministries to host a food shelf in its basement, with four food distribution events in the last eight months. Volunteers distribute the food and offer to pray with the guests, making for a ministry that feeds the body and soul. More than 200 people came for food and prayer at the church’s May 12 event. Deacon Naokao Yang of St. Vincent de Paul said getting the word out made the difference in attendance. “We’re trying to go out to everyone or every household in the neighborhood,” Deacon Yang said. Feder coordinates the event with his own nonprofit, Jesus Does It All, which raises money to provide the food for the event. He also connected with the Rev. Peter Rodewald, aka “Pastor Pete,” a St. Paul Evangelistic Association pastor who distributes food through his ministry, Jesus Delivers, at Catholic and Protestant churches around the area. “I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to work through people to bring unity of the faith,” Rodewald said.
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From left, volunteer Fidias Fors of St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul helps Octavia Morris, 36, of St. Paul pick out bread during a one-day food drive at St. Vincent de Paul May 12. Morris, a single mother, came to the event with her son, Christopher Williams, 12. “I think this is awesome,” she said. “This is great to come to and be able to get some free food when you need it. I have six children, so it helps a lot.” “I’m not Catholic, but I believe in [good] works, too.” Rodewald gets the food from places such as produce companies and the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Minneapolis. He estimates that he picks up 50,000 pounds of food per week for the churches he serves throughout the region. “I go to whoever is willing to evangelize,” Rodewald said. As guests leave with their food, volunteers offer to pray with them. Volunteers came from various parishes such as St. Stephen in Minneapolis and the Cathedral of St. Paul, with which St. Vincent de Paul is merged. “Their faces show amazement, and their eyes water because they don’t know exactly what they’re experiencing,” said Jan George about the receptivity
of the people she prayed with. George, a parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo, North Dakota, came to volunteer with her nephew, Brent Bowman, a Cathedral of St. Paul parishioner. “My guess is that they will go out in search of the answer to the question that God puts in their heart … ‘Who was that?’” he said. Paul Yang, who worships at St. Vincent de Paul, helped with the food distribution and saw the supply dwindle steadily throughout the day. He said the ministry has been a success with the big turnout and most of the food being picked up. “It’s a rewarding feeling just to give back to the community,” said Der Yang, also a St. Vincent de Paul member and volunteer.
New Venezuelan bishop makes first visit to archdiocese By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit Eight months into his episcopate, Bishop Helizandro Terán Bermúdez of Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, got a sense of the 48-year partnership with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis when he visited the Twin Cities for the first time in mid-May. With Father Greg Schaffer, pastor of Jesucristo Resucitado, the archdiocese’s mission parish in San Felix, Venezuela, he met with Archbishop Bernard Hebda to renew the agreement between the dioceses that involves sending local priests to serve at Jesucristo Resucitado. The Diocese of Ciudad Guayana, where the parish is located, has 11 seminarians. Speaking through a translator, Bishop Bermúdez said he hopes to have the opportunity to send seminarians to the St. Paul Seminary to study, and also to exchange priests and professors. Father John Floeder, an instructor and the dean of seminarians at the St. Paul Seminary, is teaching two courses at Good Shepherd Seminary in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, until June. Father Schaffer, an archdiocesan priest, said Father Floeder lives in Jesucristo Resucitado’s rectory on the weekends and helps with Masses. Another archdiocesan priest, Father James Peterson, is
completing a three-year assignment at the parish. Before Bishop Bermúdez was appointed last July to lead the Diocese of Ciudad Guayana, Father Schaffer had served as its administrator from January 2017 until Bishop Bermúdez was ordained in September. Bishop Bermúdez said he’s grateful for local Catholics’ generosity through the partnership. “Seeing everything that my predecessors have done, along with the priests in Minnesota, I can only be thankful,” he said. Noting Venezuela’s economic crisis, which stems from oil dependency, debt and government corruption, Bishop Bermúdez said everyone is affected, but especially the poor. People are dying because they don’t have money for medicine, and hospitals don’t care for patients who cannot pay, he explained. More and more, priests and religious sisters are struggling, too, because the parishes cannot support them. Compounding the problems are high inflation — the country’s minimum wage is lower than the price of basic goods — and government control of what comes into the country from any source. And unfortunately, he added, even though people are struggling, many continue to believe the socialist
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Bishop Helizandro Terán Bermúdez, right, processes with Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the end of the transitional deacon ordination Mass May 12 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
government will eventually fulfill its promises. Recently, thousands of Venezuelans — mostly young adults, including Catholics in his diocese — have left the country seeking better lives, he said. Living conditions are bleak, Bishop Bermúdez said, but aid from Caritas Internationalis, a Church relief organization, includes food and medical care. To alleviate the food shortage, after
Sunday Mass each week, people contribute what they’re able for a “stone soup” meal at some parishes. During the week, hundreds of people come to Jesucristo Resucitado’s dining hall for food. “Helping the poor isn’t something that you just do,” Bishop Bermúdez said, “but when we help and support the poor, we are encountering Jesus Christ himself.” Bishop Bermúdez continues to seek Catholics’ prayers and “spiritual sacrifices,” because “What prayer can do, [material goods] cannot.” At Holy Spirit Catholic School in St. Paul May 14, students gave Father Schaffer donations of hygiene items and school supplies that they had collected for a week, and Father Schaffer gave a presentation about the poor living conditions in Venezuela. In a follow-up email to The Catholic Spirit, Father Schaffer said one of the bishop’s suitcases was broken into at the airport in Venezuela, and some of the donations were stolen. But in all, they received 12 boxes of donations. Bishop Bermúdez and Father Schaffer also visited Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul and attended the transitional deacon ordination May 12 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The bishop also celebrated Mass at Sacred Heart in St. Paul.
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NATION+WORLD
Abuse survivor says pope told him God loves him the way he is By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service An abuse survivor, who had been disparaged for being a homosexual, said that Pope Francis told him that God made him that way and loved him for who he was. Juan Carlos Cruz — one of the three survivors from Chile who met with the pope April 27-30 at the Vatican — said his homosexuality and how it brought about further suffering was something he discussed with the pope during the private meeting. Cruz told the Spanish daily, El Pais, in an interview published May 19 that the pope had been told by detractors “that I was a pervert. I explained that I was not St. Aloysius Gonzaga, but that I am not a bad person either. I try not to hurt JUAN CARLOS CRUZ anybody.” According to Cruz, the pope then told him, “Juan Carlos, it doesn’t matter that you are gay. God made you that way and he loves you the way you are, and it doesn’t matter to me. The pope loves you the way you are; you have to be happy with who you are.” The Vatican does not comment on the content of private conversations with the pope. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church’’ says the “psychological genesis” of same-sex attraction “remains largely unexplained” and that those men and women with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” do not choose their condition. “Tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law” and under no circumstances can such acts be approved, the catechism teaches. “They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of
unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided,” it says of homosexual people. The Church teaches that any sexual activity outside the bond of marriage between a man and a woman is sinful and that “homosexual persons are called to chastity” and to seek to fulfill God’s will in their lives. Such teachings were also evident when Pope Francis told reporters in 2013, “Who am I to judge” a homosexual person “who is seeking God, who is of goodwill.” “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons, they must be integrated into society. The problem isn’t this [homosexual] orientation — we must be like brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said during a news conference with reporters flying with him from Brazil to Rome. In a book-length interview published in 2010, thenPope Benedict XVI was asked whether the Church teaching that homosexuals deserve respect is not contradicted by its position that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” The pope answered, “No. It is one thing to say that they are human beings with their problems and their joys, that as human beings they deserve respect, even though they have this inclination, and must not be discriminated against because of it.” In the book, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times,” Pope Benedict said, “Sexuality has an intrinsic meaning and direction, which is not homosexual,” rather, the meaning and purpose of sexuality “is to bring about the union of man and woman and, in this way, to give humanity posterity, children, a future.” He said it was still an open question whether homosexual inclinations are innate or arise early in life. In any case, he said, if these are strong inclinations, it represents “a great trial” for the homosexual person.
Texas Church offers support after shooting Catholic News Service In response to the May 18 school shooting at a Houston-area high school, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said the archdiocesan community would “unite to support and offer healing to those affected.” “As a society, we must strive for a way to end such acts of senseless gun violence in our schools and communities,” he added in a May 18 statement. The cardinal said he was “deeply saddened” and that his prayer and the prayers of Catholics in the archdiocese are with the “victims and families of those killed and injured in this horrific tragedy.” In a separate statement as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal DiNardo said: “Our community and our local Church joins an ever-growing list of those impacted by the evil of gun violence. I extend my heartfelt prayers, along with my brother bishops, for all of those who have died, their families and friends, those who were injured, and for our local community.” The school shooting, occurring just three months after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, took place when a male shooter opened fire at Santa Fe High School the morning of May 18 killing 10 — eight students and two teachers — and injuring another 13 people. A suspect taken into custody was identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, and another person of interest also was detained and questioned. Explosive devices were found at the school and off campus. At a late-afternoon hearing May 18 before a magistrate judge, Pagourtzis acknowledged that he understood the murder charges against him and was ordered held without bond. Authorities offered no
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Girls pray during a May 18 vigil after a shooting left 10 people dead at Santa Fe High School in Texas.
motive for the shootings. The shooting was the deadliest in Texas since a gunman attacked a rural church late last year, killing more than two dozen people. “Sadly, I must yet again point out the obvious brokenness in our culture and society, such that children who went to school this morning to learn and teachers who went to inspire them will not come home,” Cardinal DiNardo said in his statement as USCCB president. “We as a nation must, here and now, say definitively: no more death!” He prayed that “the Lord of life” would be “with us in our sorrow and show us how to honor the precious gift of life and live in peace.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the assault “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.” He called for a statewide moment of silence the morning of May 21 and announced a series of roundtable discussions about school safety and ending school shootings.
All of Chile’s bishops offer resignations after meeting pope on abuse By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service Every bishop in Chile offered his resignation to Pope Francis after a three-day meeting at the Vatican to discuss the clerical sexual abuse scandal. “We want to announce that all bishops present in Rome, in writing, have placed our positions in the Holy Father’s hands so that he may freely decide regarding each one of us,” Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz of San Bernardo said May 18 in a statement on behalf of the country’s bishops. The unprecedented decision was made on the final day of their meeting May 15-17 with Pope Francis. Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Ramos Perez of Santiago, secretary-general of the Chilean bishops’ conference, said the pope had read to the 34 bishops a document in which he “expressed his conclusions and reflections” on the 2,300-page report compiled by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and his aide, Father Jordi Bertomeu, during a visit to Chile to investigate the scandal. “The pope’s text clearly showed a series of absolutely reprehensible acts that have occurred in the Chilean Church in relation to those unacceptable abuses of power, of conscience and sexual abuse that have resulted in the lessening of the prophetic vigor that characterized her,” Bishop Ramos said. After reflecting on the pope’s assessment, he added, the bishops decided to hand in their resignations “to be in greater harmony with the will of the Holy Father.” “In this way, we could make a collegial gesture in solidarity to assume responsibility — not without pain — for the serious acts that have occurred and so that the Holy Father can, freely, have us at his disposal,” Bishop Ramos said. Shortly after the announcement, Juan Carlos Cruz, one of three survivors who met privately with Pope Francis in April, tweeted, “All Chilean bishops have resigned. Unprecedented and good. This will change things forever.” The bishops will continue in office unless or until the pope accepts their resignations. The document in which Pope Francis gave his evaluation of the situation of the Church in Chile was leaked May 17 by Chilean news channel Tele 13. The Associated Press reported that the Vatican confirmed the document’s authenticity. The pope wrote in the document that removing some Church leaders from office “must be done,” but that “it is not enough; we must go further. It would be irresponsible of us not to go deep in looking for the roots and structures that allowed these concrete events to happen and carry on.” In it, the pope said that “the painful situations that have happened are indications that something is wrong with the ecclesial body.” The wound of sexual abuse, he said, “has been treated until recently with a medicine that, far from healing, seems to have worsened its depth and pain.” Reminding the bishops that “the disciple is not greater than his master,” Pope Francis warned them of a “psychology of the elite” that ignores the suffering of the faithful. He also said he was concerned by reports regarding “the attitude with which some of you bishops have reacted in the face of present and past events.” This attitude, the pope said, was guided by the belief that instead of addressing the issue of sexual abuse, bishops thought that “just the removal of people would solve the problem.” In an accompanying footnote, the pope said the bishops’ behavior could be labeled as “the Caiaphas syndrome,” referring to the high priest who condemned Jesus saying, “Better for one man to die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” The act of covering up cases of abuse, he added, was akin to the Latin American saying, “Muerto el perro se acabo la rabia” (“Dead dogs don’t bite”).
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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Philadelphia archdiocese sues city over foster care placements By Matthew Gambino Catholic News Service The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is suing the City of Philadelphia in a religious freedom case centered on the placement of children in foster care. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed the lawsuit May 16 in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on behalf of archdiocesan Catholic Social Services and three women caregivers associated with the archdiocesan agency. CSS is a Catholic agency that on average serves 127 foster children a day placed in more than 100 families in the city. Providing such care for more than a century, the agency adheres to Catholic teaching that opposes same-sex marriage and affirms marriage as a sacrament reserved only to one man and one woman. The 40-page complaint charges the city is breaching its contract with CSS to place at-risk children in foster care homes and is violating religious freedom clauses of the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions. At issue is a long-standing practice of CSS not to perform evaluations of the homes of samesex couples wishing to care for foster children and instead to refer the required process to one of seven other foster agencies contracted by the city’s Department of Human Services. The conflict between the city and Catholic Social Services began brewing in March when DHS publicly urged 300 new foster families to help care for more than 6,000 foster children in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney,
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Sharonell Fulton, a member of St. Barbara in Philadelphia, displays pictures of some of her foster children in this 2015 file photo. She’s named as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia. who is a Catholic, told reporters the city had “to see what the extent of their discrimination is. We cannot use taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation or because of their same-sex marriage status.” According to the lawsuit, DHS investigated whether CSS refused to place foster children in LGBT households, even though over the course of its decades-long partnership with the city, neither CSS nor the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission ever received a complaint that LGBT persons were denied placement of a foster child due to CSS’ actions. In March, DHS froze all new foster care placements with CSS. Since then it has threatened not to renew its annual contract after June 30 unless CSS agrees not to defer evaluations of same-sex households and begin placing foster children in those homes,
despite its deeply held objections. “State law does not prohibit foster agencies” such as CSS “from declining to perform a home study, nor from referring families to another licensed agency to perform a home study,” read the suit. The law also permits waivers of “provisions of the laws governing foster care agencies,” such as a requirement that agencies extend employee benefits to same-sex partners, and the city has for years granted those annual waivers, according to the suit. Three women who for years have cared for foster children in their homes were named as plaintiffs in the suit, which charged the city’s actions discriminate against them “for their religious beliefs and practices, constitute a breach of contract, unlawfully try to coerce them to speak contrary to their religious beliefs, and restrict [their] religious exercise in violation of state law and the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions.”
Cardinal says separating abortion from Title X funds ‘greatly needed’ Catholic News Service The U.S. bishops’ pro-life chairman praised the Trump administration’s move to reinstate Reagan-era regulations banning any family planning clinic that receives Title X federal funds from making abortion referrals or sharing space with abortion providers. “The news that the Trump administration will be issuing new regulations to separate abortion from the federal Title X family planning program is greatly needed and deeply appreciated,” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in a May 18 statement. “Abortion always takes the life of a child and often harms the mother, her surviving children, and other family and friends as well,” said the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Other U.S. pro-life leaders around the country and several members of Congress echoed his remarks, prompted by the administration’s release of the “Protect Life Rule” through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. After a period for public comment, the proposal will become final. Cardinal Dolan said the USCCB will offer comments during that period. President Ronald Reagan issued the Title X
regulations in 1988. Planned Parenthood of New York City immediately challenged the rules, claiming the denial of public funds violated their constitutional rights of free speech. In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 the government had the right to establish rules funding only family planning programs that do not “encourage, promote or advocate abortion.’’ When President Bill Clinton took office, he reversed the regulations. The Title X Family Planning Program was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. It is funded every fiscal year by congressional appropriations. “Most Americans recognize that abortion is distinct from family planning and has no place in a taxpayerfunded family planning program,” Cardinal Dolan said in his statement. “For too long, Title X has been used to subsidize the abortion industry. We need to draw a bright line between what happens before a pregnancy begins and what happens after a child has been created.”
MAY 24, 2018
in BRIEF Australian archbishop convicted of abuse cover-up ADELAIDE, Australia — Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, who faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail for failing to inform police about child sexual abuse allegations, said he is disappointed by the court’s verdict. The local court in Newcastle found that then-Father Wilson had been told by a 15-yearold boy in 1976 that he had been indecently assaulted by a priest who later died in prison, but that Father Wilson chose not to go to the authorities despite believing the allegations were true. “I will now have to consider the reasons [for the conviction] and consult closely with my lawyers to determine the next steps,” the 67-year-old archbishop said in a statement after the May 22 publication of the 59-page judgment. The sentencing is expected in June. In a statement, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said Archbishop Wilson “maintained his innocence throughout this long judicial process.”
California judge overturns state law legalizing assisted suicide SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A May 15 ruling by a California judge overturning the state’s law allowing assisted suicide is encouraging because it “was a bad law,” said Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference in a May 16 statement. “Our opposition to assisted suicide is no secret, but this legislation was also opposed by a broad coalition of doctors, nurses, seniors and the disabled community, who fought this bill for many, many reasons.” Judge Daniel Ottolia of Riverside County Superior Court ruled that the California Legislature violated existing law when it passed the End of Life Option Act during a special session dedicated to health care. The 2015 law, which went into effect in June 2016, authorized doctors to prescribe lethal prescriptions to any patient determined by two doctors to have six months or less to live.
Church is a mother, not a bachelor, pope says at morning Mass VATICAN CITY — Without its feminine dimension, the Catholic Church risks becoming an old boys club and incapable of love, Pope Francis said. The Church must “remain female” and “have this attitude of a wife and mother” who nurtures her children, the pope said in his homily May 21 during a morning Mass commemorating the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. “When we forget this, it becomes a masculine church; without this dimension, it sadly becomes a church of old bachelors, who live in this isolation, incapable of love, incapable of fruitfulness,” the pope said. The feast, which was decreed by Pope Francis in March, is celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost.
Religious leaders say new NAFTA shouldn’t restrict access to medicines WASHINGTON — Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services was one of seven U.S. religious leaders asking that any new North American Free Trade Agreement “avoid enhanced and extended monopolies on life-essential medicines.” The May 18 letter, sent to President Donald Trump, administration officials and members of Congress, added: “Our faith traditions call us to care for the sick and respond to the needs of the poor in our societies. Trade agreements can have enormous impacts on the ability of the sick and the poor to access the medicines they need for healing and even survival.” Archbishop Broglio signed the letter in his role as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.
— Catholic News Service
MAY 24, 2018
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
Not just what you see: Issues in Israeli-Palestinian violence By Judith Sudilovsky Catholic News Service Sometimes, news is not just what meets the eye on the TV screen or a social media post. Catholic political analyst Wadie Abunasser noted that while neither Israel nor the Palestinian political movement Hamas is interested in starting a war at the moment, both are interested in delivering strong messages to the other side on various issues being negotiated through backdoor channels. Internal politics also contribute to the escalating violence, he said. One issue on the table, according to Abunasser, is a prisoner exchange being negotiated by the Egyptians. The exchange involves the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held by Hamas since the last Gaza war and three Israeli civilians — an Israeli-Ethiopian and two Israeli Bedouin — held by Hamas. All three civilians crossed into Gaza willingly, and two have mental health issues. “[Israel and Hamas] are trying to press each other, and there is no real mutual understanding,” said Abunasser, director of the International Center for Consultations in Haifa. “What I am afraid of is not a prepared war but of incidents getting out of hand if this continues.” Egyptian negotiators are also trying to calm the current situation, he said. The demonstrations were first called to protest the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and to mark the 70th year since al-Naqba, or what
Palestinians call their catastrophe — the creation of the State of Israel. The status of Jerusalem was one of the issues to be discussed when the two sides finally returned to the negotiating table, and neither side was to take unilateral action, he said. Though it was the United States’ decision to move the embassy, Israel is seen as having lobbied strongly for it and for the relocation of other embassies as well. “The fact that [U.S. President Donald Trump] is downgrading and avoiding any relations is bringing the Palestinians to a very embarrassing situation. They are basically boycotting the USA and have brought back their representative from Washington,” Abunasser said. “Many people believe Trump is not a good friend of Israel. He is pretending [to be], but he is causing more problems than solutions.” Abunasser also said internal Palestinian politics is playing a role in the growing tensions. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been cutting funds to Gaza, which is under control of Hamas, Abbas’ rival. Abbas wants to force the Hamas leadership to comply with his conditions for reconciliation, Abunasser said. “So Hamas is trying to kill two birds with one stone. They are pressing back on Israel ... [about] concessions to Hamas on the prisoner exchange, and Hamas is pressing against the Palestinian Authority [with the protests] and, if people are killed, the PA has to pay [their families],” he said. “Hamas, Israel and the PA are
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Mourners carry the body of 8-month-old Palestinian Laila al-Ghandour, who died after inhaling tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border during a May 15 protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem. fighting each other until the last Gazan. It is very sad, really.” He said 2 million people live in the cage known as Gaza, which has been blockaded for 11 years, since Hamas took control there. Much of the infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed by the Israeli military. Abunasser said Hamas does not want to risk Gazans taking out their anger on political leaders, so it is trying to divert the anger instead toward Israel. Gazans are pawns in the confrontation, he said. Numerous children have been killed in the demonstrations, including an 8-month-old baby, who died of tear gas inhalation May 15 and whose death made emotional headlines on both social
media platforms and news media. But doctors at a Gaza hospital are now saying that the baby might have had a prior medical condition that could have caused her death. While Palestinians have been calling the protests “peaceful,” Hamas leader Salah Bardawil was shown on Palestinian TV saying that of 62 people killed in the Gaza demonstrations, 50 were from Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. More than 2,000 people have been injured in the demonstrations. Israel has been criticized by the international community for its use of snipers and live fire against the demonstrators. Israel says its soldiers are trying at all costs to prevent Palestinians who would carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets from crossing into Israel. Israel also says millions of dollars of damage has been caused to Israeli crops as Palestinians send kites with Molotov cocktails flying over the border fence, burning agricultural fields. Gazans, said Abunasser, are under the constant tensions of the blockage, electricity shortages, no work, a lack of commodities and the inability to leave. “People live on a day-by-day basis. But the Palestinians have it worse. In Israel there is a functioning government, and if there is a war, farmers will be compensated by the state. They can escape to the north,” he said. “Gaza Palestinians have no place to escape, financially or physically.”
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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Campus sharing When the Korean community of St. Andrew Kim needed a new home, Holy Childhood parishioners extended a hand — and their church By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit
A
statue of Korean martyr St. Andrew Kim stood next to the lectern at Holy Childhood in St. Paul for the first time during a Sunday Mass May 6. It signaled a significant change underway in the Como neighborhood: the pioneering of a unique relationship between Holy Childhood and St. Andrew Kim parish, the latter of which serves the Korean Catholic community in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. On May 7, St. Andrew Kim sold its church along Mississippi River Boulevard in St. Paul and is now sharing a parish campus with Holy Childhood. After celebrating its final Mass at its previous church April 29, about 200 St. Andrew Kim parishioners gathered 7 miles north for their first Mass in their new home at Holy Childhood that first Sunday in May. Some Holy Childhood parishioners also attended in a gesture of welcome and support. The relationship — two separate parishes sharing a single campus — is unique, said Dale Hennen, who works in the archdiocese’s Office of Parish and Clergy Services, and who has been helping St. Andrew Kim and Holy Childhood with the arrangement. It could also offer significant benefits for each parish.
Motivating factors “The decision coming here, it was a really big and really important decision we had to make,” said Father Hak Sun Kim, St. Andrew Kim’s parochial administrator, speaking through an interpreter. Two main factors prompted St. Andrew Kim’s move: The parish was experiencing financial strain, and it wanted to be closer to the University of Minnesota campus in order to better serve Korean students. In August 2017, the parish approached archdiocesan leaders about selling its campus and finding a new home. Holy Childhood’s campus was the only Catholic church in the university’s vicinity that also met St. Andrew Kim’s criteria for classroom space, a social hall and kitchen, and office space, and that could accommodate an 11:15 a.m. Sunday Mass. This isn’t St. Andrew Kim’s first move. The parish traces its roots to Sept. 26, 1973, when a group of Korean graduate students at the University of Minnesota came together for Mass at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Korean Catholic community organized as a parish in 1991, and ever since, St. Andrew Kim has served Korean immigrant Catholics in the archdiocese and western Wisconsin. The parish celebrates Mass in Korean and maintains a program for children to learn the Korean language and culture. The community first worshipped at a small Catholic church three blocks west of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Cleveland Avenue that was previously home to Corpus Christi, before the latter built a new church in Roseville in 1992. In 2007, St. Andrew Kim’s growth prompted a
move to Mississippi River Boulevard on a site that had previously been St. Therese, before that parish’s cluster and eventual merger with two other Highland Park parishes to form Lumen Christi in 2005. St. Andrew Kim hosted its Korean culture program in the parish’s convent originally built for Sisters of St. Joseph who taught at the parish school. “There is a long history and, though we have kind of [a] few people relative to some other cultural communities around here, it’s still … a strong community bond,” Father Kim said. For years, the parish was served by priests from the Archdiocese of Seoul, South Korea, but in 2015, its pastor left with no planned replacement. For several years, the parish celebrated Mass in English with local priests, or in Korean when visited by a Korean priest. Father Kim — a priest of the Diocese of Incheon, South Korea — was serving in campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he learned of St. Andrew Kim’s need in 2016, and he began commuting many weekends to serve the Twin Cities Korean community. He regularly celebrated Mass for Korean students in Madison on Saturday evening before leaving early Sunday to celebrate Mass at St. Andrew Kim. Bishop John Baptist Jung Shin-chul of Incheon met with Archbishop Bernard Hebda April 28, 2017, in St. Paul regarding assigning Father Kim to St. Andrew Kim. With another priest from Incheon assigned to Wisconsin, Father Kim was freed up to minister in the archdiocese. He officially began his role in February. “Right now, we feel like our main duty to the community is to sustain [it] and grow,” Father Kim said. Part of that will be circling back to its foundation with an increase in outreach to Koreans at the University of Minnesota. About 840 Koreans attend the U, according to College Factual, a New Yorkbased online database. About 11 percent of South Koreans are Catholic. Jan Ohm, a parishioner of St. Andrew Kim and University of Minnesota alumna, said that the St. Therese campus was a challenge to get to from the U without a car. In addition to its closer proximity to the U’s St. Paul campus, Holy Childhood has better access to public transportation. “It was more difficult to get over here [the Mississippi River Boulevard site] unless you were involved in another church group such as the choir or Sunday school where people are already kind of heading that way,” she recalled. St. Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church purchased the former St. Therese campus from St. Andrew Kim, ushering in a new cultural era for the 63-year-old church building.
New opportunities Holy Childhood, according to “Gather Us In: A History of the Parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” “was one of 11 new parishes founded in the archdiocese in 1946 as military personnel returned home, married and started families in the period following the Second World War.” It is known for having been an early leader in liturgical innovations, such as turning its altar to face the congregation, and for its stained glass windows and modern sculptures. Parishioners have warmly opened the doors to the Korean community. Members of Holy Childhood hope the partnership will reinvigorate their own community, which has seen membership
decrease from around 300 households to 175 since the closing of its school in 2010. Language Arts Academy charter school leases the Holy Childhood school during the week, and the parish doesn’t have a faith formation program for children and youths to occupy the school on evenings or weekends. Holy Childhood shares a pastor, Father Timothy Cloutier, with nearby Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it has a light parish calendar with few activities. One part-time lay person is on staff. Father Cloutier sees the arrangement with St. Andrew Kim as a win-win for both parish communities. “I just presented [the opportunity] to them [the parish council] as a possibility to reach out, as we’re trying to ... build up our community,” Father Cloutier said. “We’re going to help someone else because we’re part of the larger Church, and we can’t focus exclusively on ourselves. We have to lift others up as we ask others to help us.” Holy Childhood trustee Dick Hawkins, who helped facilitate negotiations with St. Andrew Kim, said the addition will bring a lot of life to the parish. He expressed an eagerness to welcome the Korean community. Mary Ellen Clasemann, longtime Holy Childhood parishioner and parish council member, agreed. “I think it’s going to be a good thing learning new cultures,” she said. “I think it will draw more people in.” Adaptations have been required of both parishes. With the move, St. Andrew Kim had to end its Sunday school program early for the year. The parish also has considered moving its Masses off site during the Minnesota State Fair. Leaders from both parishes still have finer details to work out with scheduling on their shared calendar. The possibility of some joint events has been considered, too. Holy Childhood celebrates weekend Masses at 5 p.m. Saturday and 9:15 a.m. Sunday. In addition to its 11:15 a.m. Sunday Mass, St. Andrew Kim also celebrates a regular 7 p.m. Mass on Friday. At their first Mass on the Holy Childhood campus May 6, St. Andrew Kim parishioners continued long-held traditions, such as their approach to the offertory: filing forward in a line to bow before the altar and place their offering in wicker baskets perched on the Communion rail. “This is a beginning step,” St. Andrew Kim parish council member Yoon Lee said about adjusting to a new church. When both parishes agreed to give the campussharing a go April 25, its leaders didn’t determine how long the arrangement would continue. Father Kim envisions the Korean community eventually moving to its own campus. In the meantime, he expects the current arrangement to fortify the community. “We don’t have a physical building currently, but we still think that the emotional connections between us are going to grow and become stronger,” he said. “Those are our hopes and plans for the future.” For the foreseeable future, however, St. Andrew Kim is thankful to have a home that meets its needs. “We feel like, as Korean immigrants and also as Christians, that we’ve been very welcomed, so we’re very grateful for that,” Father Kim said. “Because of all the things that have happened, we’re very grateful to everybody who has been a big help to our parish.”
1
2
St. Andrew Kim T mid-1800s and di
Born in 1821, St. A who converted to colony of Portuga
St. Andrew Kim b returned to Korea government at th perceived threat practice of Confu apart from relatio including St. And
MAY 24, 2018 • 11
“
We feel like, as Korean immigrants and also as Christians, that we’ve been very welcomed, so we’re very grateful for that. Father Hak Sun Kim
1. Massgoers at St. Andrew Kim join hands during the Our Father of the last liturgy at their church on Mississippi River Boulevard in St. Paul April 29. 2. From left, Benjamin, Karl, Moonsun and Daniel Christenson take a peak at the church bulletin at the end of Mass. 3. Tristan Hong walks out into the aisle during Mass. 4. Lucy Lee prays during Mass. 5. Father Hak Sun Kim delivers the homily during Mass. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
4 3 WHO IS ST. ANDREW KIM?
Taegon evangelized his home country of Korea in the ied as a martyr for the faith in 1846.
Andrew Kim became Catholic at age 15 from a family o Christianity. He went to seminary in the Macao al, nearly 1,300 miles from his family.
became the first Korean-born priest in 1845 and a as a missionary to spread the Gospel. The Korean he time persecuted Christians because of the t of European colonization and the country’s prevalent ucianism, an Eastern religion focused on social order onship with God. The government killed Christians, drew Kim’s father, for practicing the faith.
Martyrdom awaited St. Andrew Kim, too, as the government had him beheaded at age 25 in 1846. One of his fellow missionaries, St. Paul Chong Hasan, a lay catechist, was also martyred. From 1839 to 1867, the Korean government killed more than 100 Catholics for spreading the faith. Today, Catholics, who comprise 11 percent of South Korea’s population, can practice their faith freely. St. John Paul II canonized St. Andrew Kim, St. Paul Chong Hasan and fellow Korean martyrs in 1984. St. Andrew Kim is the patron saint of Korean clergy. His feast day is Sept. 20. — Matthew Davis
5
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MAY 24, 2018
FAITH+CULTURE
New rosary app could be answer to parents’ prayers By Anne Fredrickson For The Catholic Spirit
F
or parents who want to engage their children more fully in family devotions, the Bead by Bead Rosary app just might be the answer to their prayers. The application, created by Sandy Rosetter, a parishioner of St. Mary in Waverly, is designed to help children stay focused while praying the rosary by displaying an illustration of scriptural events with each bead. Each decade is introduced by a Scripture verse that corresponds with that mystery of the rosary, and the illustrations tell the story with each bead. The child may tap the image of the bead for the next illustration, helping him or her to contemplate the events of the Bible and remain focused in prayer. Rosetter and her husband, Bob, have two adult children, so while the idea came too late for her own family to use, she hopes it encourages other parents and children. “I hope that this helps children to be engaged in the rosary when they pray as a family, and to learn the Scripture and Bible stories at the same time,” said Rosetter, 54, who was inspired to create the app as she used a prayer aid for adults. “I want it to help children come to a deeper understanding and develop a love for the rosary while they stay focused in a joyful way. I thought about how hard it can be for me as an adult to stay focused while praying, and I thought about how I could get this to work for kids.”
JESSICA TRYGSTAD | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Sandy Rosetter, a parishioner of St. Mary in Waverly, designed the Bead by Bead Rosary app to help children stay focused while praying the rosary. In order to encourage families to use the app to pray together rather than to have children use it independently, it doesn’t have audio. “It’s not a game or entertainment,” Rosetter said of the app, which is geared toward children ages 4 and older. “It’s a prayer tool.” Kate Fasching, 51, also a parishioner of St. Mary, finds it to be a useful tool for introducing the rosary to her 3-year-old granddaughter, Maddie. “My granddaughter loves being able to touch the bead to switch the picture,” Fasching said. “The pictures are simple and get to the heart of what we want kids
to know. Kids will remember images more than words, and talking about the pictures was a great introduction to the rosary. Anytime we can share our values and traditions with our children, we should use those tools.” It’s a tool that has been helpful to adults as well as children. Fasching has used the app on her iPad during eucharistic adoration to help focus her prayer. And Rosetter has heard from parents who purchased the app to use with their children but found the added benefit of introducing the rosary to a non-Catholic parent. While both Rosetter and Fasching
share parents’ concerns about screen time for children, they agree that the app is designed to be used in relationship rather than as a substitute for personal interaction. “This doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles,” said Fasching, who is an early intervention teacher. “It’s good for kids’ brains in that it doesn’t move quickly and has no sound. It’s just a real way for kids and parents or teachers to connect over teaching the rosary. You have to be involved; it’s not just entertaining the child.” Rosetter, who works as the administrative assistant at St. Joseph in Waconia, originally developed her idea in print form in 2006 by publishing a book on the joyful mysteries. Illustrated with simple art created by her sister, Stacey LeNeave, the book was intended to be the first in a series of four volumes about the joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries of the rosary. But the amount of work and expense made her reconsider traditional publishing, and instead she published the other three volumes simultaneously in the form of the app. Although Rosetter doesn’t have a technical background, her friend offered his skills as an anonymous donor to support the project. Available in English and Spanish, the Bead by Bead Rosary app can be purchased at the iTunes store for iPhone or iPad for $3.99. For more information about Rosetter’s books and the app, visit beadbybeadrosarybooks.com.
Nebraska priest’s spring blessings reap harvest of faith among farmers
Historians’ approval moves Father Tolton’s sainthood cause forward
By Joe Ruff Catholic News Service
The canonization cause of Father Augustus Tolton received important approval from the Vatican’s historical consultants earlier this year, moving the cause forward. Father Tolton, a former slave, is the first recognized U.S. diocesan priest of African descent. Chicago Cardinal Francis George opened his cause for canonization in 2011, giving the priest the title “servant of God.” The consultants in Rome ruled in March that the “positio” — a document equivalent to a doctoral dissertation on a person’s life — was acceptable, and the research on Father Tolton’s life was finished, said Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry, postulator for the cause. “They have a story on a life that they deem is credible, properly documented. It bodes well for the remaining steps of scrutiny — those remaining steps being the theological commission that will make a final determination on his virtues,” Bishop Perry explained. It now goes to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, he said. Once the congregation’s members “approve it, then the prefect of that congregation takes the case to the pope,” he added. If the pope approves it, Father Tolton would be declared venerable, the next step on the way to canonization.
Catholic News Service
F
or the past five years each spring and fall, Father Andrew Sohm has traveled the highways, two-lane and dirt roads to farms near the parishes he pastors, St. Peter in Newcastle and St. Joseph in Ponca, Nebraska. He is busy blessing farmers, seeds and the harvest. “It’s a chance to get to know my parishioners well,” said Father Sohm, who grew up on a farm near Danbury, Iowa. “Lots of priests have gotten away from blessing the seed, gotten away from the harvest.” He visits about a half-dozen farms each season, stepping into the barns, fields and farmhouses, praying and visiting. Coffee and cookies, maybe a noon dinner, are part of the invitation.
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It’s a chance to get to know my parishioners well.
CNS | JERRY MENNENGA
Father Andy Sohm talks with farmers Marlan and Sherry Rolfes of Newcastle, Neb., after blessing their fields in April.
Father Andrew Sohm
Some of the farmers, such as Marlan and Sherry Rolfes, give part of their annual harvest to their parish. In addition to St. Peter in Newcastle, part of the Rolfes’ harvest goes to Cedar Catholic Junior-Senior High School in Hartington. Father Sohm blessed the Rolfes’ properties last month. Marlan Rolfes said he appreciates the visits and the extra prayers. “It feels good,” he said. “It’s a risky business, farming. We got hailed out in 2009 and 2011. Before that, we’d never been hailed in 50-some years. “Needless to say, we bought hail insurance. ... We trust in
the Lord, but we also buy hail insurance,” Rolfes said, laughing. The Rolfes’ family has been farming in the area since his late father, Alfred, purchased land near Wynot in 1947, Rolfes said. Now his own son, Craig, and brother, Allen, grow corn, soybeans and hay alongside Marlan. Both are members of Holy Family, which includes churches in Wynot, Bow Valley and St. Helena. The family is grateful for the prayers, Rolfes said. “Father comes out and gets the Lord involved,” he said. “He’s good at bringing that part of your life into the faith. I think it’s a good practice.”
FAITH+CULTURE
MAY 24, 2018
Pope ‘most fearless man I ever met,’ filmmaker says
‘Pope Francis: A Man of His Word’ local showings Opening May 25 uInver Grove 16, 5567 Bishop Ave., Inver Grove Heights uEmagine Lakeville 21, 20653 Keokuk Ave., Lakeville uArbor Lakes 16 IMAX,12575 Elm Creek Blvd., Maple Grove
By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
P
ope Francis, the subject of a new documentary by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, is “the most fearless man I ever met,” the director said in a segment of the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” that aired May 13. “Fearless?” asked “60 Minutes” correspondent Jon Wertheim. Wenders replied, “Fearless. And he is not influenced by polls or whatever. I don’t think he would ever consider any public opinion over something he means and he’s convinced of. He’s totally fearless. Because he has a lot of opposition.” Wertheim asked, “Do you think he’s aware of that?” Wenders answered, “I think he’s totally aware of that.” The “60 Minutes” segment included excerpts from Wenders’ new movie, “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word,” which made its world premiere May 13 at the Cannes Film Festival in France. It was released May 18 in the United States. In one excerpt from the film, Pope Francis comments on the rush of everyday life. “We live with the accelerator down from morning to night,” the pope declares in Spanish, with English
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
Opening June 1 uEagan Stadium 16, 2055 Cliff Road, Eagan uOakdale 20, 1188 Helmo Ave. N., Oakdale uEmagine Rogers Theatre 18 LF, 13692 Rogers Drive, Rogers uEmagine White Bear 17, 1180 County Road J, White Bear Lake CNS | FOCUS
Pope Francis appears in a scene from the documentary “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. subtitles. “This ruins mental health, spiritual health and physical health. More so: It affects and destroys the family. And therefore society.” Pope Francis quotes from Genesis to buttress his case: “‘On the seventh day, he [God] rested.’ What the Jews followed and still observe was to consider the Sabbath as holy. On Saturday you rest. One day of the week, that’s the least! Out of gratitude, to worship God, to spend time with the family, to play, to do all these things.” The pope concludes: “We are not machines!” It appears as if Pope Francis is talking directly into the camera to viewers. This
is courtesy of the Interrotron, a device invented by U.S. documentarian Errol Morris for some of his works. The “60 Minutes” segment demonstrates how it works: The interviewer’s face — in this case, Wenders himself — is superimposed over the camera lens, and the pope is responding to his questions. The film notes said Wenders had submitted 50 questions in advance for Pope Francis to consider answering during four interviews that took place over the course of two years. Asked by Wertheim if the pope realized “how intimate this was going to look,” Wenders replied, “Oh, yes. He understood this whole system really well,
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and stuck to it, and did it perfectly.” Although Wenders was commissioned by the Vatican to make the film and had “carte blanche” without Vatican interference in the finished product, “I don’t think anybody knew” he was making the documentary, he told “60 Minutes,” according to a transcript of the segment supplied by CBS. “We shot under the radar.” The commission was “more intimidating than flattering,” Wenders said. “I’m not interested in a biography of the man. He’s too interesting for that. I really want the film to be about what he stands for. And that he can only represent himself. So I really wanna make a film with him. I realize it was gonna be one of a kind. But also, sleepless nights.” Wenders, who narrates “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word,” notes he is the first pope to take the name Francis. “St. Francis stands for a lot,” he told “60 Minutes.” “He stands for quite a radical solidarity with the poor. He stands for a whole new relation to nature. So to take this name was daring.” Pope Francis also has had to confront the continuing revelations of clergy sex abuse worldwide, which brought out a “really very strong” anger, Wenders said. “That was [after] my question about pedophilia, and there he got so worked up. And there was a very angry man speaking into the camera.” Wenders, whose films include “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Paris, Texas,” “Wings of Desire” and U2 concert films and videos, said Pope Francis didn’t want to have anybody else accompany him during the interviews. “There was no wardrobe, there was no makeup, no props. He came, and we started shooting.”
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14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MAY 24, 2018
FROMAGETOAGE
Going back to the land Catholic Cemeteries to offer ‘natural burial’ option starting in fall By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
W
hen Frank Schweigert dies, he doesn’t expect embalming, a burial vault or even a casket. After his funeral Mass, Schweigert, 67, wants to be placed directly in the ground, wrapped only in cloth, with little of the funeral trappings many people have come to expect. And The Catholic Cemeteries plans to be ready to accommodate him. The Mendota Heights-based organization, which oversees five Catholic cemeteries in the Twin Cities, is preparing to offer natural burial as an option as early as this fall. The trend, also called “green burial,” takes different variations, but aims to unite the body with the earth using little if any fossil fuel or non-biodegradable materials. “It’s so much a part of our tradition,” said John Cherek, The Catholic Cemeteries director. “That’s the amazing part of it.” The Catholic Cemeteries’ staff began exploring the option a few years ago, as they became aware of local Catholic interest in it. In many respects, the concept is as old as death itself, but the contemporary movement began in earnest about 20 years ago with the opening of the first green burial cemetery in the U.S. in South Carolina. The California-based nonprofit Green Burial Council, established in 2005, certifies green burial practices for funeral homes and cemeteries. Its Minnesota listing includes only Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center as a “hybrid” green cemetery, meaning it offers both green and conventional burials, and Willwerscheid Funeral Home and Cremation Center in St. Paul as the only “green” certified funeral home. Other Minnesota cemeteries and funeral homes, however, do offer natural burial options without formal certification. Cherek said he isn’t certain that The Catholic Cemeteries will pursue certification, but preparations are underway in a section of Resurrection Cemetery in
iSTOCK | JJCHILSON
Mendota Heights to make about 50 natural burial plots available this year, with the potential to add more in future years.
Burying the body Natural burial begins with the preparation of the body, which is not embalmed. Because everything buried with the body needs to be biodegradable, the body is often not clothed, but rather wrapped in a shroud. In some instances, the grave is dug by hand, to avoid fuel-dependent machinery, and the body is transported to the gravesite by non-motorized means. The body may be encased in a biodegradable casket — options include those made from wood, bamboo and wicker — or simply shrouded before being lowered into the grave manually. At Resurrection, the natural burial area is also being restored to native prairie. That means long grasses and wildflowers will eventually cover the graves. Instead of individual headstones, the plots will be identified collectively by monuments along paved paths. As The Catholic Cemeteries’ leaders considered whether to offer natural burial, they surveyed focus groups and found more interest than anticipated. Several of those surveyed, such as Schweigert and his wife, Kathy, now feel passionate about the option. “Since it’s our mission to bury the dead, and we offer
full body and we offer cremation [burials] ... this would be another option, and it may be attractive to folks who have thought they wanted cremation, but this might give them an alternative,” said Sister Fran Donnelly, director of LifeTransition Ministries at The Catholic Cemeteries. In many respects, natural burial is a return to common burial practices before the rise of the funeral industry in the early 20th century. Although embalming dates to early Egypt, its contemporary use gained traction during the Civil War, when fallen soldiers’ bodies were transported home for burial. Although there are common misconceptions that embalming or vaults are necessary for public health, that’s not the case, Cherek said. Done properly, natural burial does not endanger the water supply or put bodies at risk of being dug up by animals, or spread disease, according to the GBC. Funeral vaults — structures that surround the coffin in standard graves — are used as a way of stabilizing the ground around a grave for ease of grounds maintenance, preventing the otherwise inevitable sinking of topsoil, which displaces the coffin and bodily remains as they decay. Embalming, meanwhile, puts chemicals into the ground, and vaults prolong or prevent natural decay, and many elements included in the burial — from suit coat buttons to casket hinges — aren’t biodegradable. According to the Green Burial Council, American burials annually put into the ground 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 20 million feet of wood, 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, and 65,000 tons of steel. Add to that 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluids, which contain toxins that could negatively impact the health of embalmers. While some people think of cremation as a simpler option, it also requires chemicals, and toxins linger in the cremated remains. Cremation is permitted for Catholic burial, and its use is on the rise. However, the Church prefers burial of the body. The Catholic Cemeteries’ leaders think that natural burial might appeal to Catholics not only because of theologically-rooted ecological commitments, but also because it allows them to have a full body burial in a simpler form. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
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“Faith-wise, I think it says something about the resurrection of the body, that the body is intact, and it’s just going to return to the earth,” Sister Donnelly said.
Dust to dust Schweigert, an administrator at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, remembers reading decades ago about traditional Muslim burial, in which the body is placed directly in the ground. It struck him as a very natural way to approach death and honor the deceased, and over the years, the idea germinated in his mind as something he would prefer to the standard use of embalming, a casket and a burial vault. A parishioner of St. Frances Cabrini in Minneapolis, he contacted The Catholic Cemeteries a couple years ago to see if it was possible. He found out that “green burial” was becoming a trend, and that The Catholic Cemeteries was exploring the option. The organization later asked him to participate in a focus group on the topic. The idea of placing the body directly into the ground with nothing to impede its return to the earth reminded Schweigert of something he observed as an altar boy: that the body and blood of Christ, if not consumed, were buried or drained directly into the ground. “The earth was the most sacred place for the body of Christ, and the parallel between that and putting a loved one in the earth just seemed to me convincing spiritually,” he said. And although Schweigert has strong feelings about not being cremated, which he sees as too industrialized and destructive of the body, he said his decision to choose a natural burial is also not a reaction to the funeral industry, which he respects, as he noted funeral directors have treated him and others well during times of grief. He does, however, question the long-term sustainability of common methods, and he sees natural burial as a way to honor the environment, the dead and the Catholic faith. Green or natural burial practices complement Catholic teaching about death, Sister Donnelly said, as well as the Church’s social teaching on caring for creation, which Pope Francis articulated in his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home.” Already, several Catholic cemeteries in the U.S. offer green burial options, and a 2011 survey by U.S. Catholic Magazine found that 80 percent of respondents would prefer a green burial.
Some religious communities are adopting natural burial as part of their commitment to caring for creation. Among them is Sister Donnelly’s community, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has a cemetery at its motherhouse in Dubuque, Iowa. In “A Reflection on Changes in Burial Practice” in The Catholic Cemeteries’ summer newsletter, retired priest of the archdiocese Father James Notebaart looks to Scripture and Church tradition and what they say about the sacredness of a burial place, recalling the words spoken in the Ash Wednesday liturgy: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
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The earth was the most sacred place for the body of Christ, and the parallel between that and putting a loved one in the earth just seemed to me convincing spiritually. Frank Schweigert
After noting that the natural burial process is the way most people — including Catholics and their Jewish ancestors — were buried for thousands of years, he wrote, “So the core of natural burial is to acknowledge our innate closeness to the earth as a creature of God’s own making. It acknowledges that the earth itself is holy because it is an icon of the One who created it. Today we have begun to step back to much earlier practices, those of the preindustrial world in which there was a more organic sense of how all things are related, both the natural resources and the human use of them. This awareness is shaping a new articulation of ecological ethics, of which Pope Francis is a leading proponent.”
Practical considerations Choosing natural burial, however, does mean eschewing other common aspects of funeral and burial beyond the casket and vault. According to state law, a person needs to be embalmed, buried or cremated within 72 hours of death, but refrigeration of the body allows burial to take place up to six days after death, said Dan Delmore, who
If you suspect abuse of a minor, your first call should be to law enforcement. You are also encouraged to contact the archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Program at 651-291-4475. For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contact Canvas Health at 612-379-6363.
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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15 owns Robbinsdale-based Gearty-Delmore Funeral Chapels and sits on The Catholic Cemeteries’ board. State law also requires embalming for a public opencasket wake, but an in-home or closed-casket wake is a possibility. Delmore has been a funeral director for 42 years, and for the first 15 years of his work, no one questioned the practice of embalming; it was an assumed part of the funeral preparation, he said. “There’s been a lot of change of heart in people, and it goes more along the lines of chemicals in general, not necessarily at the time of death, but wanting a life free of chemicals in general,” he said, comparing it to the organic food movement. A Catholic, he also sees natural burial as an appropriate accompaniment to the Church’s funeral rites, and he said he’s excited to see it embraced at Resurrection. As it prepares to open its natural burial section, The Catholic Cemeteries is working on logistics, including cost, which is among the aspects that The Catholic Cemeteries’ focus groups said would affect their decision whether or not to have a natural burial. While 41 percent surveyed said they were likely to consider natural burial, complicating factors included already owning plots elsewhere; wanting to be buried next to a loved one who already has been buried in a conventional grave or wants to be; and wanting an individual headstone, which The Catholic Cemeteries’ current natural burial plan precludes. Schweigert admits the idea of not having an individual headstone has taken some getting used to, but while that alone has dissuaded others, he’s not deterred. He recalled seeing a family burial plot in France that had a collective monument, and it’s reminded him that burials have been handled differently in different times by different cultures. He puts it in perspective with the knowledge that after three generations have passed since a person’s death, his or her grave is not likely to be frequented by loved ones, and that there are other ways to leave a final mark on the world. For him, it’s more important to remove any barriers — physical and symbolic — between the body and the earth. “This is a sacred moment for us,” he said of death and burial. “We want to have a way to do this with dignity, [and] we want a way to do this with our Catholic religion, so I’m very happy, too, that the Catholic Church has gotten involved in it.”
ENGLAND-SCOTLAND • 12-Day PILGRIMAGE
WITH FR. ROBERT FITZPATRICK (Fr. Fitz), Spiritual Director Pastor St. Rose of Lima and Corpus Christi – Roseville, MN September 10-21, 2018
ST. RITA’S IN ITALY • 12-Day PILGRIMAGE
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16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MAY 24, 2018
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JAN MICHAEL JONCAS
A mystery to be worshipped
With the Most Holy Trinity celebrated May 27, the Church invites us to contemplate one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith: the triunity of God. Catholic theologians agree that this mystery (along with the Incarnation) is properly understood as a revealed mystery, i.e., a conception that humans could never reach by mere intellectual speculation but only by receiving God’s self-revelation in history and experience. Christians, along with Jews and Muslims, believe that there is only one God, yet most Christians (except Unitarians and Oneness Pentecostals/Modalists, among others) hold that that one God exists in three divine persons: Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit (Trinitarianism). These three persons (hypostases) are distinct in their relations of origin (“It is the Father who begets, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds,” Fourth Lateran Council) and in their relations to one another (perichoresis); in all else they are coequal, co-eternal and consubstantial: each is God, whole and entire. The whole work of creating/sustaining, redeeming and sanctifying is seen as a single operation common to all three divine persons in which each shows forth what is proper to each, acting “from the Father,” “through the Son” and “in the Holy Spirit.” Hints of this sublime conception of God’s being appear in this Sunday’s reading from Deuteronomy, the conclusion of Moses’ discourse outlining God’s activities on behalf of his covenant people, Israel: creating and sustaining them (Dt 4:32), redeeming them (Dt 4:33-34 [as well as 35-38 omitted in today’s reading]) and dwelling within them (Dt 4:39-40) as their principle of life. Perfectly matching the Deuteronomy reading, the verses to be sung from Psalm 33 also foreshadow the triune God at work in Israel’s history: creating and sustaining (Ps 33:6, 9), redeeming (Ps 33:18-19) and sanctifying (Ps 33:20, 22). St. Paul’s words to the Romans, while not describing the triune God with the verbal precision that was
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
The power of the Holy Spirit at confirmation
Editor’s note: Father Van Sloun’s series on the Eucharist will return next month. Confirmation imparts the gift of the Holy Spirit. The person who receives this sacrament has already received the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of baptism, and the Holy Spirit abides with a person always. The Holy Spirit comes when a person prays or reads Scripture, or when a person asks the Holy Spirit for guidance, inspiration or courage. Confirmation is not the new arrival of the Holy Spirit, but rather an intensification of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind and impassions the heart. It gives increased knowledge and understanding of Jesus, his Gospel and the mysteries of the faith. It also moves a person to love Jesus more dearly and strengthens the desire to please and obey him. The gift of the Holy Spirit in confirmation completes the sacraments of initiation and equips a person to live one’s faith as an adult. A Christian child has the support of parents and family, but when it is time to leave home and live independently, the Holy Spirit gives the interior strength to make good decisions and to live a holy and virtuous life. Confirmation serves as the foundation of the sacraments of commitment: marriage and holy orders. The Holy Spirit often points a person toward a lifelong Christian vocation, to live the faith as a wife or husband, and as a mother or father, or as a
worked out in the Church’s early councils, clearly presents God’s Spirit bearing witness with our spirits (acting as our advocate) that we are heirs of God (the father) and co-heirs with Christ (by adoption) into the life of the triune God. But the most explicit declaration of God’s triunity appears in the great commission concluding the Gospel of Matthew that we read as this Sunday’s Gospel. The sacred author records the risen Lord authorizing his disciples to make further disciples from all nations, teaching them to observe what Jesus has commanded them to do (and thus inviting us to return to the earlier discourses in Matthew’s Gospel, especially the Sermon on the Mount, to remember what Jesus has commanded his followers to do). In addition to this evangelizing and catechizing, Jesus’ disciples are told to baptize new followers of the way “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” What made this verse so important in the subsequent development of Trinitarian theology is that Jesus’ command is to baptize “in the name” (singular) not “in the names” (plural) of what will be identified as the three divine persons. Here Father, Son and Holy Spirit are conceptualized as sharing an underlying reality (which will eventually be referred to as a common divine “nature”) while retaining distinction in relation to each other (which will eventually be referred to as “person”). Conceiving of the one godhead in three divine persons remains a mystery to be worshipped and not a puzzle to be solved. It is not for nothing that we not only are baptized in the name of the triune God, but we also begin and conclude virtually every liturgical service — including the Mass — by invoking the name of the Trinity. St. Gregory of Nazianz, one of the great Cappadocian Fathers of the fourth century who helped the Church develop its orthodox Trinitarian theology, may serve as a wonderful guide as we reflect on this great mystery: “No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the splendor of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish three than I am carried back into the one. When I think of any of the three, I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light” (Orations 40.41).
DAILY Scriptures
Father Joncas, a composer, is an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
Tuesday, June 5 St. Boniface, bishop and martyr 2 Pt 3:12-15a, 17-18 Mk 12:13-17
priest. The Holy Spirit may also guide a person in other directions, such as the consecrated life as a religious sister or brother, or as a dedicated single person. The Holy Spirit also directs a person toward a profession that is of service to others and improves society. The Holy Spirit emboldens a person’s words and deeds. The special graces of confirmation enliven a person to speak more often, more openly and with greater clarity and conviction about their faith and beliefs; to be an evangelizer, ready and willing to spread the good news of Jesus and his Gospel; and to be better prepared and more determined to testify to the truth. The Holy Spirit stirs a person to give bolder public witness to their faith, to give outstanding example through love, joyfulness, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol and service. The Holy Spirit empowers a person to do mighty deeds and to perform good works that do much good, with actions that are visible, make a strong statement and are persuasive to others. The gift of the Holy Spirit at confirmation draws a person into a stronger bond with the body of Christ, the Church. It encourages a person to receive the sacraments and pray with the community regularly; to make friends at church who are fellow pilgrims on a journey of faith; to have partners on larger tasks and service projects; to pass on the gift of faith to others, particularly children and those searching for God; and to give collective or corporate witness. The Holy Spirit prepares a person for battle. The Spirit gives a person the firm resolve and fierce determination to reject temptation, stand up against evil, refute errors, defend the faith and withstand attacks. The Spirit also gives the strength and stamina to persevere in the battle, to remain true to Christ, to be unwavering in belief and to be constant in goodness. Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish.com.
Sunday, May 27 Most Holy Trinity Dt 4:32-34, 39-40 Rom 8:14-17 Mt 28:16-20 Monday, May 28 1 Pt 1:3-9 Mk 10:17-27 Tuesday, May 29 1 Pt 1:10-16 Mk 10:28-31 Wednesday, May 30 1 Pt 1:18-25 Mk 10:32-45 Thursday, May 31 Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Zep 3:14-18a Lk 1:39-56 Friday, June 1 St. Justin, martyr 1 Pt 4:7-13 Mk 11:11-26 Saturday, June 2 Jude 17, 20b-25 Mk 11:27-33 Sunday, June 3 The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Ex 24:3-8 Heb 9:11-15 Mk 14:12-16, 22-26 Monday, June 4 2 Pt 1:2-7 Mk 12:1-12
Wednesday, June 6 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12 Mk 12:18-27 Thursday, June 7 2 Tm 2:8-15 Mk 12:28-34 Friday, June 8 Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 Eph 3:8-12, 14-19 Jn 19:31-37 Saturday, June 9 Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Tm 4:1-8 Lk 2:41-51 Sunday, June 10 Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 3:9-15 2 Cor 4:13–5:1 Mk 3:20-35
MAY 24, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
COMMENTARY
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YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY
Mercy works
When we met, Tammy had yet to reach her 25th birthday. It was her second stint in prison, this time on a charge of armed robbery. At home, she had two young children, whom Tammy’s father was raising. She rarely saw them. To say that there was sadness in her eyes is an understatement. They were overtaken by a profound vacancy and despair. Tammy barely knew her own mother, for she had been imprisoned by the time Tammy was 15 and was still in prison. The program for which I volunteered required that you meet with a prisoner once a week for several months to discuss “decision-making skills.” The prisoners were given homework and short reading assignments about how to make good decisions and how to recognize in advance the consequences of bad decisions. On my first visit with Tammy, she told me, “I didn’t do it.” She said that she had been asleep in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car when he and a friend decided to hold up a 7-Eleven. I was very young when I volunteered for this ministry. I knew little of the world and virtually nothing of the realities that someone like Tammy faced. Our visits reminded me at times of a scene out of a Flannery O’Connor novel, dark and humorous for their pretense, and filled with characters desperately hoping for a different reality. Tammy — wildly emotional, over-enthusiastic, cheerful one minute and brooding the next, wishing so to be the wrongfully accused, fighting against the lions of injustice from a prison cell. And me — wishing so that I had the words, the maturity, the depth and desire of a Mother Teresa to bring life into the heart of a deeply wounded
CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | JONATHAN LIEDL
Receive like a man A few years ago, I was on a discernment retreat with a religious community in Kansas. I came to the monastery in something of a vocational vertigo: I had previously experienced a call to pursue the priesthood, but I’d hesitated to respond. As a result, religious life, marriage and diocesan priesthood all swirled before me as possible options, leaving me disoriented and drained. Self-imposed pressure to “figure out” my vocation was preventing me from making any actual progress. Joining the monks in lectio divina, several other young men and I prayerfully pondered John 21. In this part of the Gospel, the risen Lord encounters Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, asking him, “Do you love me?” before instructing him to “feed my sheep.” The vocational implications of this passage were clear. We invoked the Holy Spirit and let God’s living word speak to us. I was profoundly moved during this experience — but not for the expected reason. What struck me was not the priestly mission given to Peter by Christ; instead, my heart was drawn to what Jesus said to him even before this call, in verse 12: “Come and have breakfast.” Before Peter could receive his vocation, his great mission of love for the Lord, Jesus wanted him to draw close to him: to be strengthened by his meal, enlivened by his fire and inspired by his voice. This insight from the Spirit spoke deeply into my struggles at the time. Christ was telling me to stop restlessly grasping at my future. Instead, he was asking me to be receptive to him in the present — not as means to an end, but as the most basic and necessary posture of my life as a Christian.
Lord, your mercy works — always and everywhere. It stretches into our future and envelops our past.
iSTOCK | SAKHORN38
soul. And realizing with flat clarity how far short I fell, how widely I missed the mark, like a basketball dimpled for lack of air hitting the hard gym floor and rolling absolutely nowhere. I realized, almost from our first visit, that this was a ministry for which I was ill-suited. Each week as I drew closer to the prison, I was filled with dread. I wish I could say that I made a difference in Tammy’s life, but I confess that I was relieved when my tenure ended. We were forbidden from exchanging personal information, and I have no idea what became of her. Still, 25 years later, I have never forgotten her and the many invisible women like her, nor the crushing despair that draped over that women’s prison like a putrid, choking fog. Lately, I’ve been leading an eight-week study based on my book, “Jesus Approaches,” throughout the archdiocese. Nearly 400 women have participated so far, and it has been tremendously rewarding. Not long ago, through one of my small group facilitators, I was introduced to a deacon who serves as a chaplain in a women’s prison with an interest in bringing the book
I took this to heart. “Come and have breakfast” became a spiritual mantra of sorts. I prioritized my relationship with Christ, and he made clear my next step. I’ve just finished my first year at the St. Paul Seminary, and I am excited to continue pursuing priesthood for our local Church. I’m grateful for the wisdom God revealed at the monastery, because it came in stark contrast to the worldly logic by which I had been attempting to discern. This logic, which I think is especially problematic for us men, tells us that our life is a project we construct, not a gift from God to be received and unfolded. With enough exertion and the right technique, the logic goes, personal fulfillment is something we can manipulate and exploit, like biology, physics or any other area our technological society has mastered. Moreover, to concede that our life’s purpose is given by Someone else threatens the only instrument our society says makes anything meaningful: our choice, the unrestrained imposition of our will. And so we take things upon ourselves. Activity becomes our primary source of identity, not our relationship with God. And when we do go to prayer, we go with a list of demands instead of a heart open to receive and do God’s will. When we partake in the sacraments, we instrumentalize them as divine aids to our plans instead of transformative receptions of the living God. Even good Catholic men can fall prey to this logic, following a crude reduction of theology of the body that says receptivity is exclusive to women. This logic is built upon a lie, a misunderstanding of who we are as adopted sons of God the Father. Though it comes under the banner of “freedom” and “control,” following this logic traps us in a cycle of self-seeking that never satisfies. Instead, it leaves us where it had left me at in my discernment before going to the monastery: frustrated and fruitless. We are not our own. And we’re incapable of knowing who we are and what we’re made for apart from the One who made us. Whether you’re
to those he serves. When I asked, the women currently in my study didn’t hesitate. I have been overwhelmed at the ease of gathering donations on behalf of these incarcerated women from those currently in my study, like turning on a tap and having fresh, clean water flow out. God bless you for your generosity, ladies. And I am deeply humbled by God’s mercy at providing, after all, a way for me to “visit” the imprisoned. Lord, your mercy works — always and everywhere. It stretches into our future and envelops our past. Help us to remember those the world chooses to forget and look for creative ways to serve them and love them, even from a distance. Kelly is the author of six books, including “Jesus Approaches” (Loyola Press, 2017) and the “Jesus Approaches Study Supplement.” This article has been adapted in part from her book “50 Reasons I Love Being Catholic” (Loyola Press, 2007).
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To concede that our life’s purpose is given by Someone else threatens the only instrument our society says makes anything meaningful: our choice, the unrestrained imposition of our will. discerning your vocation or how best to live it, you cannot do so without the Lord. No amount of selfseeking activity will suffice. This isn’t to say that we contribute nothing to our relationship with God. Just as Jesus asked Peter to bring his catch of fish to their seaside breakfast, the Lord invites us to bring our desires to prayer and our good works to the altar. But we must do so humbly, aware that we only have anything to offer the Lord because he has first given us all that we have, all that we are. The reality is that even the manliest of men must be receptive before the Father, something Christ modeled for us during his earthly ministry. For we have a God who “has filled the hungry with good things,” while “the rich he has sent away empty.” We have a God who wishes to strengthen us through the sacraments, enliven us through prayer, and inspire us through his word. Let’s stop grasping for scraps that never satisfy. Instead, let us humbly receive what the Lord gives us and taste the fulfillment only found in him. Liedl is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Learn about the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen initiative at rediscover.archspm.org/ the-catholic-watchmen or facebook.com/thecatholicwatchmen.
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
THE LOCAL CHURCH | DEACON MICKEY FRIESEN
Return to Damascus
During the Easter season, we are retold the stories of how the Church grew from a small band of Jewish disciples to a worldwide faith of believers. We recall how the Holy Spirit intervened in the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul to bring about a mission to the gentiles. Yes, it was on the road to Damascus that Saul encountered the risen Jesus, which led to his conversion from a Christian persecutor to an apostle. That early community of Christians in Damascus welcomed Paul, in spite of their fear, and accompanied him as he tried to make sense of his conversion experience. The Church in Damascus has continued to welcome and give witness to the presence of Christ up to the present day. The sad truth today is that the Church of Damascus in Syria is a Church that is suffering. It is falling under the heavy weight of eight years of civil war. The unrelenting violence has shattered the lives of most families and has left the Church diminished in her ability to serve the pastoral and spiritual needs of those who remain. Two years ago, the U.S. bishops called on Catholics to reach out in solidarity to our brothers and sisters living in the region of the Holy Land in the Middle East. This
FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | RACHEL HERBECK
Advocacy: More life-giving than you think
As Catholics, we are called to actively live out the Gospel in public life. It’s a call that sometimes solicits the thought, “Do I really have to?” From what we see and hear in the world, politics can seem like a dirty arena, completely devoid of principle. We might see the process as being too complicated for citizens to make a difference. Because of this vision of politics, we think that our experiences will be negative and draining. These misunderstandings often keep Catholics from making a difference in our communities. This legislative session, two members of the Catholic Advocacy Network decided to get more involved in politics. By taking steps to become equipped, stay engaged, and build and maintain relationships with their legislators, they learned that getting involved was life-giving and an essential part of spreading the Gospel.
Become equipped Julie Schweich, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, attended Capitol 101 this session. After a morning of hearing from legislators, asking questions and discussing critical issues, she felt more confident meeting with her legislators. “I never thought I would be able to go sit and talk to my senator about an issue, but after learning more about the pornography and human trafficking bill and asking questions, I felt more confident conveying my thoughts and opinions. At the end of the meeting, I actually felt like I did something to help my senator understand the bill and our point of view.” Schweich’s experience at Capitol 101 gave her the tools she needed to be an effective advocate.
Stay engaged Not only can you engage directly with your legislators, but you can also stay up to date on bills as
COMMENTARY led our archdiocese, named after St. Paul, on a journey that ultimately brought us back to Damascus. We have initiated a partnership of faith and solidarity with the Archdiocese of Damascus that includes sharing our stories, prayers and resources to support one another. We look forward to the day when we might be able to meet one another in person. In a sense, St. Paul is returning to Damascus to reunite with our forebears in faith and do our part to support them as they carry the heavy cross of this time. Archbishop Samir Nassar is the Maronite Catholic bishop of Damascus. Since 2006, he has served the small, but devoted Catholic community living in Syria’s capital. In 2011, the civil war broke out, devastating and dismantling many aspects of society. Archbishop Nassar reports that after eight years of war, the main victims have been families, young people and the life of this ancient Church. He says, “The basic unit of Syrian society — the family — that had previously saved the country in crisis, has lost its identity. Families are fragmented and live deprived of resources and shelter. They live in grief, ravaged by disease, while the old are increasingly isolated and find no assistance whatsoever.” Young people, Archbishop Nassar says, are “divided between battlefield fronts of war and prolonged military service evasion. ... Great quantities of young people leave the country, leaving a huge emptiness behind.” Their absence has also weakened economic activity due to labor shortages. The decline of family life and the loss of the young has taken a heavy toll on Church life and practice.
they go through the legislative process. John Lucke, a junior at the University of St. Thomas, had an interest in the issue of pornography and its ties to human trafficking. Before the House of Representatives voted on this bill (HF 2967), Lucke attended its committee hearing, during which a group of legislators discusses the bill, asks questions, hears testimony on the issue and votes on whether the bill should advance to the next step. Lucke’s experience at the hearing convinced him that he needed to be more engaged in the process. “Hearing the experiences of the testifiers was a turning point for me, a moment of reinvigoration,” he said. “I left convicted that this fight was worth my time and effort.” The hearing energized him, and legislators took notice that constituents were there to support the bill. Lucke continued his engagement and took the issue to his senator. At the meeting, they discussed the dangers of pornography for more than 30 minutes. By the end, the senator agreed that pornography is dangerous. By taking one simple step to attend a hearing, Lucke learned more about the political process and was motivated by the prospect of the positive change that could happen through the lawmaking process.
Maintain relationships Lucke says he now sees that his legislators need him as a resource, and all he had to do was take time to be one. “Taking advantage of MCC’s resources and my own willingness to speak up was all I needed to begin that relationship,” he said. Schweich tries to be a resource to her legislators through consistent phone calls. “I’ve gotten into the habit of making quick calls to my legislators while I’m driving home from work. In the last month, I’ve called my representative about pornography, human trafficking and gambling. The calls take me less than five minutes.” While on the phone, Schweich reminded her senator of their meeting at Capitol 101 and the importance of passing the pornography and human trafficking bill (SF 2554). Not even a month after their meeting, the senate bill, which would require police to collect information on the connection of pornography to human trafficking cases, passed unanimously. Her senator’s “yes” vote helped her to see the importance of maintaining that relationship. “When I heard that the bill passed, I felt that I had a hand in helping make that happen,” she said.
MAY 24, 2018 Archbishop Nassar says, “The Church structures are slowly disintegrating: In 2017, there were only 10 marriages rather than 30; seven baptisms rather than 40.” He says that priests have departed because there aren’t people to serve. It is very discouraging. The archbishop wonders, “Are we beginning a new chapter in the life of the Church?” Despite the pain of so many losses, Archbishop Nassar maintains an uncompromising faith in the presence of the Lord. He wrote, “We carry on nevertheless, aware that we are in God’s hands. He says to each of us, ‘Do not fear, little flock’”(Lk 12:22). As Syrians carry the heavy burden of this time, Archbishop Nassar finds consolation and hope in the Way of the Cross of Jesus that ultimately paved the way for his resurrection. Archbishop Nassar says that, on the way to Calvary, “Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem, only here it is the Syrian families who are with him, mourning a loved one, homeless, the wounded, refugees, and numberless young people who are now orphaned or forgotten.” With his consolation, this present Lord wipes away their tears and strengthens their faith, despite their suffering, and allows them to see past it. And in the face of the wounded Christ, they might see the glorious light of the resurrection to come. This is the way of hope. As St. Paul found faith and hope in Damascus, may we learn today from the faith of our brothers and sisters as we return to Damascus. Deacon Friesen is director of the Center for Mission in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Ask your representative to support the USA and DREAM Acts The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops still supports the DREAM Act of 2017, but also views the USA Act as a step in the right direction to protect 1.8 million “Dreamers” whose parents brought them to the U.S. illegally as minors. Without a legislative solution, their futures remain uncertain. Urge your representative in Congress to support H.R. 4796, the Uniting and Securing America (USA) Act. The USA Act is a compromise bill that augments border security with the use of new technology, increases staffing resources for immigration courts to carry out their work, and provides a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” who satisfy residency, age, education and military or employment requirements. To call or send a message to your representative, visit mncatholic.org/actioncenter.
Life-giving truth Both Schweich’s and Lucke’s experiences were entirely different from what they expected. “The media makes you think that politics is just like the show ‘House of Cards,’” Lucke said. “Once I began to get involved, my experience was actually really life-giving because I was on the front lines, really living the Gospel in action.” Their experiences show that getting involved is not only simple but also can be enjoyable and life-giving. Whatever our perceptions may be, if dread is your response to the call, participating in politics may be a more positive and effective experience than you think. All you have to do is give it a try. Herbeck is the policy and outreach coordinator for the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
MAY 24, 2018
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
CALENDAR Music
FEATURED EVENTS
Irish tenor Emmet Cahill performs at St. Olaf — June 12: 7:30–9:30 p.m. at 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. emmetcahilltours.ticketleap.com.
Memorial Day Masses at Catholic cemeteries — May 26: 10 a.m., rain or shine, at: Calvary Cemetery, 753 Front Ave., St. Paul; Resurrection Cemetery, 2101 Lexington Ave. S., Mendota Heights; St. Mary’s Cemetery, 4403 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis; St. Anthony’s Cemetery, 2730 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis; and Gethsemane Cemetery, 8151 42nd Ave. N., New Hope. For more information, visit catholic-cemeteries.org.
Band Together, Fight Hunger a music and food event featuring David Ray — June 16: 6:30–9 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.
Ongoing groups
Archdiocesan Marriage Day Celebration — June 2: 10 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul, with Bishop Andrew Cozzens. Married couples are welcome to celebrate the gift of their vocation, including renewal of vows and a short reception. Those celebrating their silver and golden anniversaries in the 2018 calendar year will be honored in a special way. Family and friends are welcome. Couples may submit requests for a special certificate by May 30 via email at flomos@archspm.org, or by mail to Office of Marriage, Family and Life, Attn: Marriage Certificates, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106. For more information, call 651-291-4488. Widows’ Day of Reflection — June 16: 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace, 5071 Eden Ave., Edina. The event begins with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda with a reflection following. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served with entertainment. The fee is $20. Register by calling the parish office at 952-929-3317 ext. 111, or by visiting olgparish.org.
Job transitions and networking group — every Tuesday: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Contact Bob at bob.sjtw@gmail.com. sjtw.net/job-transitionnetworking-group. Dementia support group — Second Tuesday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org. CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul.
Parish events Father Carlos Martins and St. John the Baptist present: Treasures of the Church, An Exposition of Sacred Relics — May 30: 6 p.m. at 680 Mill St., Excelsior. stjohns-excelsior.org/parish.
St. George annual rummage sale — June 7-8 at 133 N. Brown Road, Long Lake. 9 a.m.–8 p.m. June 7 and 9 a.m.–1 p.m. June 8. 952-473-1247 stgeorgelonglake.org.
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.
Prayer/worship Swahili Mass with two visiting Kenyan priests — May 27: 2:30 p.m. at St Alphonsus, 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center. Dinner following Mass and program. stalsmn.org.
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.
Taize prayer — First Friday of each month: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com/first-fridays.
ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication:
Taize prayer — Third Friday of each month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.
uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event u Contact information in case of questions
Retreats
ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106
Men’s retreat: Becoming Transformed — May 31-June 1 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.
Conferences/workshops Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sunday of each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523.
Schools Summer at St. Agnes activities — June 11-Aug. 10: 8 a.m. at 530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. saintagnesschool.org/activities/summer-series.
Young adults
Singles
St. Rita’s Miss ion Outreach Commission annual sale of perennial plants — June 2: 9 a.m.–noon at 8694 80th St. S., Cottage Grove. saintritas.org.
Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays for Catholic singles to meet and make friends. The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-439-1203.
Nativity of our Lord Third Order Carmelites Information Sunday — June 3: 1 p.m. at 1900 Stanford Ave., St. Paul in the lower level Steiner Hall. Michael at 651-645-7362. parish.nativity-mn.org.
Singles group — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games. 763-425-0412.
Friday Night at the Friary — Third Friday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at Franciscan Brothers of Peace, 1289 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. Men ages 18-35 are invited for prayer and fellowship. facebook.com/queenofpeacefriary.
Other events Knights of Columbus bingo — Wednesdays: 6–9 p.m. at Solanus Casey Council Hall, 1920 S. Greeley St., Stillwater.
Marketplace • Message Center Classified Ads Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: 651-290-1631 • Fax: 651-291-4460 Next issue: 6-7-18 • Deadline: 3 p.m. 5-31-18 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo/logo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS
CATHOLIC URNS FOR SALE
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CEMETERY LOTS FOR SALE Resurrection Cemetery, 2 lots. Value $1800/ ea. Price $1600/ea. (651) 457-9385
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
To advertise in the classifieds, email classifiedads@archspm.org.
Household Manager: The Stillwater Catholic Worker Community is seeking an energetic, compassionate woman to manage and live at Our Lady Queen of Peace House, a home for women and their children in transition. Room and board included with this volunteer position. Details available at STMICHAEL STILLWATER.ORG or by calling Kim (651) 270-1981.
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Saint Andrew Catholic Church and School, Elk River is seeking a qualified, faith-filled elementary school principal. The principal is the academic, administrative and faith leader of our school, setting goals and expectations for students, faculty and staff; planning and working daily to achieve those goals; and reporting to and working alongside our pastor. The successful candidate will be a confirmed and practicing Catholic with classroom and administrative experience, strong supervisory and management skills, expertise in curriculum and instruction, and a master’s degree in Educational Administration or equivalent. To apply, please send your resumé and references by June 8th, to Melissa Anderson, Parish Business Administrator, Saint Andrew Catholic Church and School, 566 4th St NW, Elk River, MN 55330 or melissaa@saint-andrew.net. For more information, see www.saint-andrew. net/employment.
CD of the Month Club Lighthouse Catholic Media, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins and more! $5/month includes shipping. Subscribe online at http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia. org/cdclub Please Enter Code: 1195
Merriam Park Painting. Professional Int./ Ext. Painting. WP Hanging. Moderate Prices, Free Estimates. Call Ed (651) 224-3660.
The parishes of Waterloo, Iowa are seeking a full-time Faith Formation Leader whose primary responsibility will be religious education programs for children and youth. This will be someone to administer and grow the programs offered while supporting parents in their role as primary catechists of their children. (More information found at www.waterloocatholics.org) BA and experience in faith formation, pastoral ministry, education or a related field is preferred. Send resumé to Becky McElroy at beckymcelroyff@gmail.com or Waterloo Catholic Faith Formation Office (Attn: Becky), 600 Stephan Ave., Waterloo, IA 50701.
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PAINTING For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM or call (651) 699-6140.
Michaels Painting. Texture and Repair. MichaelsPaintingllc.coM. (763) 757-3187. Dennis Heigl Painting Interior/Exterior Serving Mpls. & suburbs. Free Estimates. (612) 819-2438.
PRAYERS NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
MAY 24, 2018
THELASTWORD
‘I don’t know where the time went’ Century-old St. Boniface parishioner reflects on parish’s life ahead of 160th anniversary celebration By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit
A
t age 99, Margaret Erickson, aka Margie, remembers well the church basement at St. Boniface in Minneapolis, where she went to Mass as a child with her family. The church had yet to be constructed, but its basement had been dug and finished as a temporary place to receive the sacraments. “It was spooky. A lot of the kids called it ‘the dungeon,’” Erickson said. “It wasn’t a church. It was a roof over the basement.” When Erickson was born in 1918, St. Boniface had been in what historians have described as a 29-year building process, drawn out due to concurrent projects such as a convent and rectory. The previous church, built in 1874, had been demolished in 1899, and the new church was planned on a new site, its present location at 629 Second St. NE. The 1,000seat, Byzantine-style church was finally completed in 1928 when Erickson was 11. According to the parish website, construction debts were paid shortly thereafter, despite the economic depression. St. Boniface will celebrate its 160th anniversary June 3, just one day after Erickson, a lifelong parishioner, turns 100. The parish will honor her and several nonagenarians at the event, which will include 10:30 a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda. It will make for a busy weekend for Erickson, who has four children, 10 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. She will have a 100th birthday party with family and cap the weekend with her two living siblings — fellow St. Boniface parishioners Bernie Mulvihill, 98, and Evelyn Zukowski, 96 — at Sunday night dinner, a family tradition spanning 30 years. All three siblings received the sacraments of baptism, first reconciliation, first Communion and confirmation at St. Boniface. Living at an independent living senior home in Minneapolis, Erickson, whose maiden name was Mulvihill, still attends Mass at St. Boniface each Sunday. She has been with the parish for almost two thirds of its existence, and she has seen it respond to the changes of society and Minneapolis’ northeast side. St. Boniface was founded in 1858, the year Minnesota became a state, to serve German-speaking immigrant Catholics who settled in northeast Minneapolis. With the exception of the decade immediately following the Civil War, the parish was served by Benedictine priests from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville from its founding until 1998, when priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis assumed leadership. Its parochial
PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ABOVE From left, Bernie Mulvihill, Evelyn Zukowski and Margaret Erickson have nearly 300 combined years of history at St. Boniface in Minneapolis. LEFT St. Boniface in northeast Minneapolis is celebrating its 160th anniversary June 3.
administrator is Father Biju Mathew. Erickson’s mother was born and raised in the parish, and Erickson’s father grew up attending the nearby German parish St. Anthony of Padua, now merged with Holy Cross. They married and raised their children just blocks from St. Boniface, with the family attending the parish and sending their children to the parish school. The family walked to Mass no matter the weather, Erickson recalled. She had one dress designated for Mass that she would always wear. The basement at St. Boniface had small windows, but, she said, it still felt like a church with a Communion rail, which is still there. She remembers her childhood pastor as a warm and caring priest and the great care given to the Eucharist at Mass. ”The biggest change that I can remember is how Communion was distributed,” Erickson said, speaking of changes in approved methods of Communion reception after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. “We were taught that nobody touches the host.” She also recalled that lay women couldn’t go in the sanctuary of the church, but Erickson was an exception, as she helped the Sisters of Christian Charity, who served the parish and its school, change the altar cloths on Saturdays. First Communion, which Erickson made at age 6, was a private affair instead of a large celebration. At the parish school, she enjoyed learning math and English; her favorite art project was making embroidered pillowcases. The school day included Mass each morning, which meant waiting until after Mass for
breakfast. “At that time, you couldn’t eat or drink anything after midnight,” Erickson said. She was confirmed in sixth grade, and a bishop celebrated the sacrament at St. Boniface. Instead of having an individual sponsor, one sponsor represented the confirmands’ whole class. After completing eighth grade at St. Boniface, Erickson went to Thomas Edison High School in Minneapolis, which had opened in 1922. Erickson continued to attend Mass with her family throughout high school, but at the time, she didn’t see a place for her to be involved in parish life outside of Mass. She said that people of the parish were connected with each other, but the parish didn’t organize events for young people as many do today. After high school, Erickson worked as a waitress and met a man she would marry civilly in 1940. They had four children, whom she raised in the parish, walking with them to Mass each Sunday just as she did as a child. In 1962, her husband left the family and never returned. After his departure, she consulted Benedictine Father Omar Maus, who served the parish, and she received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time in years, a turning point in her involvement at St. Boniface, she said. Over the years, Erickson was part of different parish activities such as the Christian Mothers’ Club, Christmas fair and funeral ministry. Erickson’s children didn’t attend St. Boniface’s school — which, in 1969, consolidated with other parish schools to form Northeast Regional Catholic School (which became St. John Paul II Catholic Preparatory School in 2003) — but Sunday Mass and religious education at nearby Sts. Cyril and Methodius were spiritual staples in their upbringing. A few of her children have remained in the area, and four of her grandchildren have been baptized at St. Boniface. While other parishes in northeast Minneapolis have clustered or merged, St. Boniface has remained independent, and it is currently home to Minneapolis’ French-speaking Catholic community. According to the parish, its membership is 175 households. With the rest of the parish, she is looking forward to celebrating the parish milestone, as well as her own. “I never dreamed it,” Erickson said of her life. “I saw a lot of changes. I don’t know where the time went.”