The Catholic Spirit - May 4, 2017

May 4, 2017 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

2017 Parish Festival Guide Your calendar for summer and fall fun in every corner of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Nativity County Fair, St. Paul • Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

2A • The Catholic Spirit

Festival Guide

May

wheel, bake sale, country store, live entertainment

by The White Sidewalls. 116 Alabama St. SE. www.churchoftheimmaculateconception.net

St. Michael, Farmington — Spring Fling: May 5, 5–10 p.m. Dinner, casino games, silent auction, raffles. Adults only. $25. 22120 Denmark Ave. www.stmichael-farmington.org

Nativity, Cleveland — Chicken Dinner and Parish Festival: Aug. 6, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Antique car show, polka band, silent auction, beer garden, cash raffle, games. Chicken dinner $12 adults/$5 ages 6-12/free under 5. 200 W. Main St. www.maryschurches.com

St. Francis Xavier, Buffalo — Extravaganza: May 13, 6:30 p.m. Auctions, games, dinner, live music, dancing. Adults only. $30. 219 19th St. NW. www.sfxparish.com St. Stephen, Anoka — Spring Raffle Fiesta: May 13, 5–9 p.m. Mexican food, mariachi music, Mexican dancers, raffle. Childcare Fiesta: 5–9 p.m. Pizza, milk, cookies, inflatable obstacle course, crafts, games, Reptile and Amphibian Discovery Zoo presentation. 525 Jackson St. www.ststephenchurch.org Epiphany, Coon Rapids — New and Inflated Spring Fest: May 19-20. 5–11 p.m. May 19; 11 a.m.–11 p.m. May 20. Inflatables, games, 5K race, food trucks, bingo, beer tent, raffle, live music. 11001 Hanson Blvd. NW. www.epiphanymn.org St. Mark, St. Paul — Grand Olde St. Mark’s Festival: May 19-20. 5–10 p.m. May 19; 11 a.m.–10 p.m. May 20. Music, concessions, carnival rides, street dance, games, food pub, medallion hunt, entertainment. Mass 5 p.m.

May 20. 2001 Dayton Ave. www.markerspride.com St. Boniface, Minneapolis — MaiFest: May 19-21. May 19-20: Art-a-Whirl artists.

May 21: 11 a.m. Mass with francophone community followed by food concessions, brats, beer, wine, children’s activities, live music.

Noon–5 p.m. www.facebook.com/ saintbonifacecatholicchurch

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Maplewood — Spring Festival: May 20-21.

Kiddie Land, theme baskets, raffle tickets, bingo, silent auction, food booths, beer, pull tabs, concessions, outdoor games, live music. May 20: Mexican dinner and live band 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.

May 21: Car show and 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. chicken dinner. 1725 Kennard St. www.presentationofmary.org St. Mary, St. Paul — Taste of St. Mary: May 21, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Ethnic food booths and bake sale. 261 Eighth St. E. www.stmarystpaul.weconnect.com St. Michael, Stillwater — Fun Fest: May 21, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Inflatables, petting zoo, pony rides, crafts, silent auction, cakewalk, bake sale, book and media booth, concessions, raffles, chance tickets, DJ, talent show. 611 Third St. S. www.stmichaelstillwater.org

June

St. Bridget, Minneapolis — Heart of the Northside Festival: June 4, 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m.

Craft tables, children’s games, food concessions, marketplace, raffle. 3811 Emerson Ave. N. www.stbridgetnorthside.com St. Joseph, West St. Paul — 75th Parish Jubilee and All-School Reunion: June 10. Alumni choir and band, live music, dinner. Mass at 5 p.m. honoring returning alumni, staff and longtime parishioners. 1154 Seminole Ave. www.churchofstjoseph.org

May 4, 2017

Planning your summer weekends?

We did it for you!

The Catholic Spirit reached out to each parish in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to bring you this 2017 Summer and Fall Festival Guide, a comprehensive listing of carnivals, ho-downs, picnics and family-friendly fun hosted by our parishes. Find the list online at www.TheCatholicSpirit.com/festivals.

Please note: The information available by press time varied from parish to parish, and some parishes had not yet finalized dates.

Some listings were edited for length and clarity.

St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien, Minneapolis — Summer Festival: June 16-18. 5–10 p.m.

June 16; 2–10 p.m. June 17; 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

June 18. Vietnamese food, children’s games, live music, raffle. 2627 Queen Ave. N. www.gxannagiusehien.net Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — Summer Festival: June 17, noon–8 p.m. Children’s games, food vendors, live entertainment, dancers, music groups, book store. 401 Concord St. www.olgspchurch.com St. Nicholas, Elko New Market — Chicken Cookout: June 18, 10:30 a.m.–3 p.m. $12 chicken dinner, raffle. 51 Church St. www.stncc.net St. Gregory the Great, North Branch — Summer Festival: June 25, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Mass at 10:30 a.m. celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Barbecue cookout with pork sandwiches and sides. 38725 Forest Blvd. www.stgregorynb.org St. Mary, Le Center — Parish Festival: June 25, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Cash raffle, meat raffle, silent auction, white elephant tent, country store, children’s games, bingo, live music, beer garden, beef dinner. 10 a.m. bilingual Mass with mariachi band. 165 N. Waterville Ave. www.stmarysthenry.org

July

St. Columba, St. Paul — Funfest: July 7-9.

6–10 p.m. July 7; 3–10 p.m. July 8; 11 a.m.– 5 p.m. July 9. Live music, cash raffle, children’s games, bouncy house. Traditional Vietnamese food and drink, American favorites. 1327 Lafond Ave. www.stcolumba.org St. Mary of Czestochowa, Delano — Annual Country Festival: July 16, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Pork chop dinner, raffle, silent auction, bingo, pull tabs, children’s games, country store, polka band. 1867 95th St. SE. www.stboniface-stmary.org Our Lady of Lourdes, Minneapolis — Lourdes Block Party: July 22, 5 p.m. Mass followed by live music, food, raffle, Minneapolis Aquatennial fireworks viewing. www.ourladyoflourdesmn.com

St. Patrick, Cedar Lake — Parish Festival: July 23, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Silent auction, beer garden, live music, antique tractor display, bingo, raffles, country store, children’s games, snack bar, pull tabs. Grilled chicken dinner $12 adults/$6 ages 4-12/free under 3. 24425 Old Highway 13. www.stpandc.mn.org Sts. Joachim and Anne, Shakopee — Julifest German Heritage Festival: July 29-30.

Traditional American and Hispanic food, concessions, entertainment, games of chance, children’s games. 5 p.m. July 29 outdoor polka Mass (bring lawn chair). Polka and Hispanic music. St. Mark campus, 350 Atwood St. S. www.shakopeechatholic.org St. Joseph, Rosemount — Parish Festival: July 29-30. July 29: 5 p.m. polka Mass. July 30: 10 a.m. Mass, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. German music, food, raffles. www.stjosephcommunity.org

August

Immaculate Conception, Columbia Heights — IC Nordeast Summer Jam: Aug. 3-6. 5–10 p.m.

Aug. 3; 5–10:30 p.m. Aug. 4; 4:30–10:30 p.m.

Aug. 5; 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Aug. 6. Food, bingo, children’s games and inflatables, bake shop, silent auction, raffle, pull tabs, beer and wine tent, books, media booth. Aug. 3: Live music with Jonah and the Whales. Aug. 4: MSMA Car Show and Rockin’ Hollywoods. Aug. 5: Beatles tribute band Rubber Soul. Aug. 6: Fun Fiesta Day with authentic Hispanic food and live Latin music. 4030 Jackson St. NE. www.iccsonline.org St. Raphael, Crystal — Parish Festival: Aug. 4-6. 6:30–10 p.m. Aug. 4; 11:30 a.m.– 10 p.m. Aug. 5; 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Aug. 6. Food, live entertainment, raffles, bingo. 7301 Bass Lake Road. www.straphaelcrystal.org St. John Neumann, Eagan — Annual Picnic Celebration: Aug. 5-6. 6–10 p.m. Aug. 5; 1–4 p.m.

Aug. 6. Food, beer, wine, raffles, music, silent auction, bingo. 4030 Pilot Knob Road. www.sjn.org Immaculate Conception, Lonsdale — Parish Bazaar: Aug. 6, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Polka Mass followed by concessions, children’s games, raffle

St. John the Baptist, Dayton — Parish Festival: Aug. 6, 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Chicken dinner, raffles, silent auction, wall of wine.

18380 Columbus St. www.sjbdayton.org St. John Vianney, South St. Paul — Feast Day Celebration: Aug. 6, 10:30 a.m.

Mass followed by pig roast picnic, musical entertainment, children’s games. Free-will offering. 789 17th Ave. N., South St. Paul. www.sjvssp.org St. George, Long Lake — Corn Days: Aug.1213. Aug. 12: Mexican dinner 5–7 p.m. Aug. 13: 8:30–11 a.m. pancake breakfast, 9 a.m. 5K race, 1-mile fun run, noon parade, auction, climbing wall, roasted sweet corn, music, concessions, inflatables, raffles, games, pony rides, live music. 133 N. Brown Road. www.stgeorgelonglake.org or www.corndays.com St. Joseph of the Lakes, Lino Lakes — St. Joe’s Summer Festival: Aug. 12-13. Aug. 12: 8 a.m. 5K race, 5 p.m. outdoor Mass in the big tent followed by pig roast, beer garden, games, live band, fireworks. Aug. 13: food booths, bingo, silent auction, games, inflatables, live music, beer garden, cake walk, raffles. Chicken dinner $11 adults/$5 children. 171 Elm St. www.mystjoes.org St. Wenceslaus, New Prague — Parish Festival: Aug. 12-13. 4:30–7 p.m. Aug. 12; 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m. Aug. 13. Children’s games, raffles, beer garden, live music, bingo, country store, baking sweet shop. Chicken dinner 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Aug. 13. Polka Mass 5 p.m.

Aug. 12. 215 Main St. E. www.npcatholic.org St. Andrew, Elysian — Shindig Festival: Aug. 13, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Picnic food, live auction, farmers market, bake sale, treasures sale, family bingo, children’s games. 305 Park Ave. NE. 507-362-4311 St. Pascal Baylon, St. Paul — Summerfest: Aug. 13, 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m. 10:30 a.m. Mass.

Raffle, food, beverages, basket raffles, pie room, children’s games. Spaghetti dinner $9 large/ $6 small. 1757 Conway St. www.stpascals.org St. Adalbert, St. Paul — Parish Summer Festival: Aug. 18-20. 4–10 p.m. Aug. 18; 2–10 p.m. Aug. 19; 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Aug. 20.

Traditional Vietnamese food, live Vietnamese music, raffles. Mass 4:30 p.m. Aug. 19 and 10 a.m. Aug. 20. 265 Charles Ave. www.stadalbertchurch.org St. Gerard Majella, Brooklyn Park — Corn Fest: Aug. 18-19. 6–11 p.m. Aug. 18; 5–11 p.m. Aug. 19.

Inflatables, carnival games, sports alley, kiddie train, bingo, basket auction, grand raffle, pull tabs, live entertainment, food booths, beer. Outdoor Mass 4 p.m. Aug. 19. 9600 Regent Ave. N. www.st-gerard.org Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville — Summer Celebration Mass on the Grass: Aug. 19, 4 p.m. Polka Mass. 333 Cliff Road E. www.mmotc.org

Festival Guide

May 4, 2017 Blessed Sacrament, St. Paul — Annual Fun Fest: Aug.19-20. Aug. 19 after 4 p.m. Mass: Fred’s Famous Spaghetti Dinner. $8 adults/$5 children. Aug. 20 following 10:30 a.m. Mass: pulled pork, hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob lunch.

Silent auction, pie sale, games, children’s prizes.

2119 Stillwater Ave. www.blessedsacramentsp.org Most Holy Trinity, Veseli — Ho-Down: Aug. 20, noon–6 p.m. Pork and dumpling dinner, live music, children’s games, bingo, food, wine stand, pull tabs, spin-the-wheel game. 4939 N. Washington St. www.mhtveseli.com St. Genevieve, Centerville — Parish Festival and Chicken Dinner: Aug. 20, 11 a.m.– 4 p.m.

Silent auction, raffles, pull tabs, children’s games, bingo, country store, cake walk. Chicken dinner $10 adults/$5 children ages 10 and under.

6995 Centerville Rd. www.stgens.org Sts. Joachim and Anne, Shakopee — Marystown Festival: Aug. 20, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.

Food, Czech Concertina band, silent and live auction, raffles, bingo, pull tabs, wall of wine, show down, beat the dealer, children’s games, tractor and trolley rides, prize tree, fish pond, ring toss, face painting. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. turkey smorgasbord buffet $10 adults/$5 children ages 4-12/free under 3. 15850 Marystown Rd. www.shakopeechatholic.org St. Thomas the Apostle, Corcoran — Parish Festival: Aug. 20, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Turkey dinner, bingo, farmers market, children’s games, bake sale. 20000 County Road 10. www.saintsppta.org St. Victoria, Victoria — Sunset Fest and 160th Anniversary: Aug. 26. 9 a.m. 5K race, 5 p.m.

Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda followed by picnic. The Tuxedos band, bingo, children’s games. 8228 Victoria Drive. www.stvictoria.net St. Henry, Monticello — Parish Festival: Aug. 26-27. 6 p.m. Aug. 26; 11:30 a.m. Aug. 27.

Food, children’s games, drawings, grand raffle, bingo. 1001 E. Seventh St. www.sthenrycatholic.info St. Michael, Pine Island — Fall Festival: Aug. 26-27. Aug. 26: tractor pull, arts and crafts vendors, country store, raffle, concessions.

Aug. 27: 11 a.m.–1 p.m. roast beef dinner $11 adults/$5 ages 6-12/free 5 and under. 451 Fifth St. SW. www.stpaulstmichael.com St. Peter, Forest Lake — Fall Festival: Aug. 26-27. 6–9 p.m. Aug. 26; 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Aug. 27. Comedian, silent auction, raffles, food, music, games. Aug. 27: turkey dinner $10 adults/ $6 ages 5-10/free under 5. 1250 S. Shore Dr. www.stpeterfl.org St. Anne, Hamel — Parish Festival: Aug. 27, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Chicken dinner $12 adults/ $6 ages 4-12/free under 4. Silent auction, grand raffle, bingo, Matt the Magician, children’s games. 200 Hamel Road. www.saintannehamel.org St. Luke, Clearwater — Parish Festival: Aug. 27, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Pork chop dinner, games, quilt raffle, bingo. 17545 Huber Ave. NW. www.churchofstlukes.com St. Mathias, Hampton — Fun Fest: Aug. 27, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Food, children’s games, country store, silent auction, bingo, pot of gold, rip tickets, pork chop and brat meals. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. live entertainment, raffle, live auction. Polka Mass 10 a.m. 23315 Northfield Blvd. www.stmathias.com

September

St. Bridget of Sweden, Lindstrom — St. Bridget’s Block Party: Sept. 2, 6–11 p.m. $10 turkey dinner, concessions, beer tent, children’s games, silent auction, Boogie Wonderland band and dance. 13060 Lake Blvd. www.stbridgetofsweden.org St. Mary, Stillwater — German Fest and Wild Rice Festival: Sept. 8 and 10. Sept. 8: German Fest, 5–10 p.m. Live polka music, dancing, German food and beer, hammer schlagen, Dale Dahmen and the Polka Beats. Sept. 10: Wild Rice Festival, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Silent action, children and teen games, raffles, bingo, Lucky Seven, quilts, crafts, books, cotton candy, second-hand treasures, country fair, beer booth.

Chicken and wild rice dinner $10 adults/$5 children. 423 Fifth St. S. www.stmarystillwater.org St. Bonaventure, Bloomington — St. Boni’s Fall Festival: Sept. 8-9. 4:30–7 p.m. Sept. 8; 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Sept 9. Sept. 8: Chicken dinner 4:30-7 p.m. $11 adults/$5 children. Sept. 9: 10 a.m. parade, car show, bands, tall man, hula lady, raffle, bingo, silent auction, food, craft booth, children’s games and rides, beer garden.

901 E. 90th St. www.saintbonaventure.org Transfiguration, Oakdale — Fall Festival: Sept.

8-9. Sept. 8: 6:30 p.m. Taste of Transfiguration, $35. Wine, beer and food tastings, music, silent, live auction. Free on-site childcare available with sign-up. Sept. 9: 8 a.m. 5K walk/run. 2–9:30 p.m. silent auction, live music, bingo, cake walk, book barn, games, food, market, inflatables. Spaghetti dinner $6 adults/$4 children/free ages 4 and under/$30 households. 6133 15th St. N. www.transfigurationmn.org Holy Cross, Minneapolis — SeptemberFest: Sept. 8-10. Live entertainment, games, food and raffles. 9:30 a.m. Sept. 10 polka Mass followed by ticketed dinner. 1621 University Ave. NE. www.ourholycross.org St. Gabriel, Hopkins — Fall Festival, Sept. 8-10: 5–10 p.m. Sept. 8; 8 a.m.–8 p.m.

Sept. 9; 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sept. 10. Sept. 8-9 at St. John campus, 6 Interlachen Road: 4:30 p.m.

Mass. Garage sale, concessions, Hispanic food, children’s games, inflatables, live music.

Sept. 10 at St. Joseph campus, 1310 Mainstreet: chicken dinner, bingo, silent auction, games, country store, bake shop, wine and beer garden, concessions, raffles. Minnesota Vikings game on big screen at noon. www.stgabrielhopkins.org St. Maximilian Kolbe, Delano — Harvest Festival: Sept. 8-10. Ladies’ bingo night Sept. 8-9; men’s game night Sept. 9: 6–10 p.m. $35, includes dinner, two drinks and games; cash bar, raffles prizes at St. Joseph campus, 401 N. River St. Main event Sept. 10 at St. Peter campus: turkey dinner, food, games, live music, silent auction. 217 S. Second St. www.delanocatholic.com St. Patrick, Oak Grove — Country Fest: Sept. 8-10. Children’s games, food, beer, entertainment, fireworks, 5K race, silent auction, quilt auction. 9 a.m. Mass Sept. 10.

19921 Nightingale St. NW. www.st-patricks.org St. Timothy, Blaine ­— Fall Carnival: Sept. 8-10.

707 89th Ave. NE. www.churchofsttimothy.com

Holy Spirit, St. Paul — Spirit Fest: Sept. 9, 5:30–10 p.m. Barbecue, children’s activities, lawn games, DJ, dancing, fireworks. 4:30 p.m.

Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda. 515 St. Albert St. www.holy-spirit.org Lumen Christi, St. Paul — Block Party: Sept. 9, 5:30 p.m. Food, children’s games, DJ, snow cones.

Pulled pork sandwich platter $8 seniors/ $10 adults/$5 children. 2055 Bohland Ave. www.lumenchristicc.org Our Lady of the Prairie, Belle Plaine — Fall Festival: Sept. 9, 2–11 p.m. Chicken dinner, raffle, food, children’s games, pet show, bingo, live music with the Ernie Stumpf Band and The Shaw Brothers. 200 E. Church St. www.ourladyoftheprairie.com St. Ignatius, Annandale — Parish Festival, Sept. 9: Meal, cash raffle, music, games, beer garden. 35 Birch St. E. www.stignatiusmn.com St. Jude of the Lake, Mahtomedi — Cornfest: Sept. 9, 3-10 p.m. 4 Seasons broasted chicken dinner, concessions with sweet corn, inflatables, children’s games, climbing rock wall, raffles, live music. 7 p.m. Louie’s Groove Band. 700 Mahtomedi Ave. www.stjudeofthelake.org St. Mary, Waverly — Fall Festival: Sept. 9-10.

4-10 p.m. Sept. 9; 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Sept. 10.

Raffles, booths. Sept. 9: 4 p.m. Polka Mass, pork chop dinner, Rob Cerar polka band. Sept. 10: 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Mass, brunch, food tent. www.stmaryswaverly.net St. Michael, St. Michael — Fall Festival: Sept. 9-10. Sept. 9: 5 p.m. German dinner.

Sept. 10: 11 a.m. chicken dinner, raffles, games, silent auction, bingo, children’s inflatables, toy store, music. 11300 Frankfort Pkwy. NE. www.stmcatholicchurch.org St. Nicholas, Carver — Fall Festival: Sept. 9-10. Sept. 9: 5K race, food and beer garden, silent auction. Sept 10: pancake and French toast breakfast, food, beer garden, silent auction. 412 Fourth St. W. www.stnicholascarver.org St. Odilia, Shoreview — Fall Festival: Sept. 9-10. 3459 Victoria St. N. www.stodilia.org Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis — Parish Picnic: Sept. 10, following 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.

Masses. Food and games. www.mary.org Immaculate Conception, Madison Lake — Marysburg Fall Festival: Sept. 10, 10:30 a.m.–2 p.m. 10:30 a.m. outdoor Mass followed by live music, farmers market, bake sale, church tours, old fashioned root beer floats. Roast beef dinner $10 adults/$5 ages 6-12/free under 5.

27528 Patrick St. www.maryschurches.com St. Boniface, St. Bonifacius — Hog Roast Festival: Sept. 10, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Silent auction, cash raffle, bingo. Dinner $12 adults/$5 ages 5-12/free under 5. 4025 Main St. www.stboniface-stmary.org St. Canice, Kilkenny — St. Canice Fall Festival: Sept. 10, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Games, live music, country store, jar bar, crafts, bingo, raffle. Mass 10 a.m. Chicken and ham dinner $12 adults/ $5 ages 5-12/free under 5. 183 Maple St. www.hredeemerparish.org St. John the Baptist, Excelsior — Festival, Sept. 10, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Corn roast, children’s games. 680 Mill St., www.stjohns-excelsior.org

The Catholic Spirit • 3A St. Stanislaus, St. Paul — Parish Fall Festival: Sept. 10, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Games, bingo, wheel of fortune, mini golf, Miss Ringy Dingy the clown, kid store, slide, raffle, white elephant sale, silent auction, jar bar, bakery, concessions, live music.

Turkey dinner $10 adults/$4 under age 12. 398 Superior St. www.ststans.org St. Thomas Becket, Eagan — Fall Festival: Sept. 10, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Titanic slide, petting zoo, dinner. 11 a.m. Mass. 4455 S. Robert Trail. www.st.thomasbecket.org St. Bartholomew, Wayzata — The Gathering: Sept. 15, 5–10 p.m. Hot dogs, sides, music, beer and wine. 630 E. Wayzata Blvd. www.st-bartsschool.org All Saints, Lakeville — Fall Festival and 140th Anniversary: Sept. 15-17. Praise on the Hill, bingo. Sept. 17: chicken dinner, Taco Toms, inflatables, games, silent action, raffle, Marian devotions. www.allsaintschurch.com Annunciation, Minneapolis — SeptemberFest: Sept. 15-17. 6–9 p.m. Sept.15; noon–9 p.m. Sept. 16; 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Sept. 17. Pie and ice cream shop, Candyland, food stand, wine booth, beer garden, carnival rides, games, whiffle ball tournament, raffle. www.annunciationmsp.org/church Guardian Angels, Oakdale — Fall Festival: Sept. 15-17. Games, dinners, raffles, book sale, silent auction. 8260 Fourth St. N. www.guardian-angels.org Nativity of Our Lord, St. Paul — Nativity County Fair: Sept. 15-17. 5-10 p.m. Sept. 15; 10 a.m.–11 p.m. Sept. 16; 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sept. 17. Carnival rides, music, food and beverages, raffles, entertainment. Sept. 16: 5:30-11 p.m. auction dinner $50. Sept. 17: outdoor Mass 10:30 a.m. 1900 Stanford Ave. www.nativitycountyfair.org St. Helena, Minneapolis — Autumn Days: Sept. 15-17: 6-10 p.m. Sept. 15; 10:30 a.m.– 10 p.m. Sept. 16; 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Sept. 17.

Food, bingo, rides, games, silent auction, garage sale, book sale. Sept. 15: fish fry and 10 p.m. fireworks. Sept. 16-17: parade, pig roast, Asian food. Sept. 17: car show. 3204 E. 43rd St. www.sainthelena.us St. Joseph, Rosemount — Harvest Festival: Sept. 15-16. Beer, brats, sauerkraut, polka band, bingo, general store. Sept. 16: 6–10 p.m. chicken dinner. 13900 Biscayne Ave. W. www.stjosephcommunity.org Mary Queen of Peace, Rogers — Fall Festival: Sept. 16. 21304 Church Ave. www.mqpcatholic.org Divine Mercy, Faribault — Spirit Fest: Sept. 16-17. Children’s games, raffles, beer garden, mariachi band, authentic Mexican food, the Mollie B and Jim Busta Band. Grilled chicken and ham dinner $10 adults/$5 children.

139 Mercy Drive. www.divinemercy.cc/spiritfest St. John the Baptist, Jordan — Fall Festival: Sept. 16-17: 5–10 p.m. Sept. 16; 8 a.m.–4 p.m.

Sept. 17. Games, food, music, silent auction, quilt auction, baked goods, bingo, raffle. Chicken dinner $12 adults/$6 ages 12 and under. 313 E. Second St. www.sjbjordan.org

4A • The Catholic Spirit

St. Mary of the Lake, White Bear Lake — Fall Festival: Sept. 16-17. 6–10 p.m. Sept. 16; noon–3 p.m. Sept. 17. Silent auction, boutique, bakery, general store, jewelry sale, games, raffles, bingo. Sept. 16: booya, music, concessions. Sept. 17: turkey dinner $10 adults/$5 children. 4690 Bald Eagle Ave. www.stmarys-wbl.org St. Patrick, Inver Grove Heights — St. Patrick Fall Festival: Sept. 16-17. 5–8 p.m. Sept. 16; 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Sept. 17. Food, silent auction, bingo, pull tabs. Sept.16: $7 taco dinner.

Sept.17: $10 pork dinner, $5 pasta dinner; children’s games, games of chance, beer tent, margaritas, pizza, crafts, car show, cash raffle.

3535 72nd St. E. www.churchofstpatrick.com St. Pius V, Cannon Falls — Hometown Market and Fall Festival: Sept. 16-17. Sept. 16: Hometown Market 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Games, chili feed following 4 p.m. Mass. Sept. 17: Fall Festival 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Chicken dinner, live and silent auction, kids games, concessions, raffle, bingo, country store. 410 Colvill St. W. www.stpiusvcf.org St. Rita, Cottage Grove — Fall Festival: Sept. 16-17. Children’s games, music, food vendors, raffle, silent auction, fireworks.

Sept. 16: 5 p.m. polka Mass and chicken dinner.

8694 80th St. S. www.saintritas.org Immaculate Conception, Watertown — Fall Festival: Sept. 17, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Home-style turkey dinner $10 adults/$6 ages 12 and under/$10 take-out. Concessions, silent auction, games, bingo, cash, quilt raffle, country store, polka band. 109 Angel Ave. NW. www.iccwatertown.org Sacred Heart, Rush City — Fall Festival: Sept. 17. Picnic, children’s games, booths. 425 Field Ave. www.sacredheartrcmn.org

Festival Guide food, games. 10 a.m. outdoor Mass. 2323 Zenith Ave. N. www.smm-gv.org St. Anne, Le Sueur — Applefest: Sept. 17-18.

8 a.m.–8 p.m. Sept. 17; 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Sept. 18.

Silent auction, toy booth, holiday decor tent, farmers market, beer garden, children’s games.

Sept. 17: hog roast and 5:15 p.m. outdoor Mass.

Sept. 18: grilled chicken dinner. 511 N. Fourth St. www.stanneslesueur.org St. Ambrose, Woodbury — SAW Fest: Sept. 22-23. 5-10 p.m. Sept. 22; 10 a.m.–10 p.m.

Sept. 23. Rides, games, food, live entertainment, silent auction, raffle. 4125 Woodbury Drive. www.saintambroseofwoodbury.org Our Lady of the Lake, Mound — Incredible Festival: Sept. 22-24: 5–10 p.m. Sept. 22; 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Sept. 23; 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Sept. 24. Dave Waller band Higher Call, carnival, concessions, cash raffle. 2385 Commerce Blvd. www.ourladyofthelake.com St. John the Baptist, New Brighton — Fall Fest and Booya: Sept. 22-24. 5–10 p.m. Sept. 22; noon–10 p.m. Sept. 23; 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Sept. 24.

Live bands, raffles, food, games. Sept. 22: pig roast, Shane Martin Band. Sept. 23: 4:30 p.m. polka Mass, car show, G.B. Leighton. Sept. 24: booya. 835 Second Ave. NW. www.stjohnnb.org Most Holy Redeemer, Montgomery — Fall Festival: Sept. 24, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Polka Mass 10 a.m. featuring Wendinger Band. Home-style chicken and ham dinner $11 ages 12 and up/ $5 ages 5-11/free under 5/take-out $12. Beer garden, bingo, crafts, silent auction, raffles, children’s games, cake walk, farmers market, homemade candy, The Czech Lites and The Wendinger Band. 206 W. Vine Ave. www.hredeemerparish.org

St. Jerome, Maplewood — Fall Festival, Booya and Car Show: Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m.– 5 p.m. Bingo, children’s games, pony rides, talent tent, silent auction, cake walk, face painting, live music, car show. Booya carry-out prior to 10:30 a.m. outdoor tent Mass. Following Mass: booya by the bowl, brats, hot dogs, French fries, cheese curds, ice cream, cherry tree. 380 Roselawn Ave. E. www.stjerome-church.org

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Minneapolis — Walk with Our Lady Fall Festival: Sept. 24, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. 11:15 a.m. neighborhood Marian procession with rosary for intercession and protection for Church and community. Noon– 3:30 p.m. spaghetti and meatball dinner $10 adults/$5 children/free under 10. Take-out available. Silent auction, root beer garden, ice cream sundae bar, children’s games, raffles, wine grab, live entertainment. 701 Filmore St. NE. www.olmcmpls.org

St. Margaret Mary, Golden Valley — Fall Festival: Sept. 17, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Entertainment,

St. John the Baptist, Vermillion — Annual Festival: Sept. 24, 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Food,

children’s games, silent auction, bingo, pull tabs, pot of gold, beer garden, bake sale, raffle, live entertainment. Cafeteria-style meals featuring pork chop on a stick, sloppy joes, brats, hot dogs, pizza. Children’s Mass 10 a.m. 111 Main St. W. www.stjohns-vermillion.com St. Timothy, Maple Lake — Parish Festival: Sept. 24, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. $10 chicken dinner, bingo, raffle, games, meat raffle, cake walk, children’s pedal pull, concessions. 8 Oak Ave. N. www.churchofsttimothy.org St. Alphonsus, Brooklyn Center — Fall Festival: Sept. 29-Oct. 1. 5–10 p.m. Sept. 29; 2-11 p.m. Sept. 30; noon–4 p.m. Oct. 1: Food, beverages, music, raffles, games. 7025 Halifax Ave. N. www.stalsmn.org St. Peter, North St. Paul — Fall Festival: Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Silent auction, games, craft boutique, bake sale, food, raffle. Sept. 29: bingo.

Sept. 30: polka band. Oct. 1: Pancake Man and inflatables. 2600 N. Margaret St., North St. Paul. www.churchofstpeternsp.org Christ The King, Minneapolis — Octoberfest: Sept. 30, 5:30 p.m. 5029 Zenith Ave. S. www.ctkmpls.org Guardian Angels, Chaska — AngelFest: Sept. 30, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Concessions, music, dance, bingo, raffle. 215 W. Second St. www.gachaska.org

October

St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul — Booya and Fall Fiesta: Oct. 1, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Games, food, live music, booya, gyros, hot dogs, tacos, pazole, atole. Bilingual Mass 10 a.m. Highland Park Pavilion, 1200 Montreal Ave. www.sf-sj.org St. John the Evangelist, Little Canada — Fall Festival: Oct. 1, 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Hot dogs, hamburgers, beer and wine, margaritas, snack shack, children’s games, magician, music, drawings, wine toss, silent auction, fire truck.

380 Little Canada Road. www.stjohnoflc.org St. Patrick, Shieldsville — Fall Festival: Oct. 1, 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m. 10 a.m. polka Mass followed by raffle, children’s games, bingo, meat raffle, beer garden, polka band, doughnuts, country store. 7525 Dodd Road. www.spshieldsville.org

May 4, 2017 St. Peter, Mendota — Fall Festival: Oct. 1, following 10 a.m. Mass. Pork dinner, children’s games, polka band, concessions, bingo, raffle, silent auction, country store. 1405 Highway 13. www.stpetersmendota.org St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anthony — Fall Festival: Oct. 7. Food trucks, live music, games. 2739 Stinson Blvd. www.stchb.org St. Thomas More, St. Paul — MoreFest: Oct. 7, 1–4 p.m. Carnival with food, games, beer and wine tent, face painting. 5:30 p.m. spaghetti dinner $5 person/$20 family. 1065 Summit Ave. www.morecommunity.org Holy Name, Minneapolis — Fall Festival: Oct. 8, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Pancake breakfast 9 a.m.– noon. Eat Street 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Beer garden, pull tabs, raffle, silent auction, bingo, children’s carnival games, art activities, prizes, live music.

3637 11th Ave. S., Minneapolis. www.churchoftheholyname.org St. Francis of Assisi, Lake St. Croix Beach — Feast Day Celebration: Oct. 8,10:30 a.m.– 3 p.m. Mass followed by burgers, brats, bingo, cake walk, raffle. 16770 13th St. S. www.catholic-church.org/st-francis St. Agnes, St. Paul — Parish Festival: Oct. 22, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Games, country store, beer garden, raffles, lots of camaraderie, foods.

Booya eat-in or take out: $6 for 16 oz. Masses at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon. 530 Lafond Ave. www.churchofsaintagnes.org

November St Joseph, New Hope — Fall Festival: Nov. 11, 5–9:30 p.m. 4 p.m. polka Mass.

Chicken dinner $10 adults/$6 ages 10 and under.

Live music, raffle, silent auction, turkey bingo, children’s games, bake sale, wall of wine, concessions, cash bar. 8701 36th Ave. N. www.stjosephparish.com St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Minneapolis — Breakfast and Christmas Faire: Nov. 26, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Holiday breakfast $8 adults/$6 ages 2-12/free under 2. Silent auction, crafts, bake sale, raffle. 3949 Clinton Ave. S. www.stleonardmn.org

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

Do Pope Francis’ words describe someone you know? Someone who has the courage, humility and spirit of service to Lead with Faith at their workplace? The Catholic Spirit is celebrating the 16th year of our Leading with Faith Awards, which recognize women and men in the archdiocese whose Catholic values shape their work ethic and service to others.

Nominate a deserving candidate today.

NOMINATIONS DUE: May 12, 2017 www.TheCatholicSpirit.com

www.TheCatholicSpirit.com/LeadingWithFaith or call 651-251-7709 for more information.

Child protection conference 6B • Women and priesthood 10B • ‘The Case for Christ’ 13B May 4, 2017 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

45 people saved from tornado’s fury in hallway of Texas church

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

I

n the insurance world, extreme weather events such as tornadoes are often referred to as “acts of God.” But in the small Texas town of Emory, about 50 miles northwest of Tyler and 70 miles east of Dallas, some 45 people are considering it an act of God that they survived a twister that took out all of their church except for the hallway in which they were huddled.

The providential event took place the evening of April 29, as severe storms tore through Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on a northeasterly path that killed at least 13 people in three states.

The youth ministry at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Emory was hosting a dinner honoring the parish’s graduating high school seniors in conjunction with the parish’s Knights of Columbus council and its ladies’ guild.

A parish volunteer called the office, youth minister Monica Hughes told Catholic News Service May 1. “I almost didn’t answer, because I didn’t want to interrupt the speaker.” But Hughes knew the woman was monitoring the paths of storms in Texas, and “she wouldn’t have interrupted unless it was important,” Hughes said.

It was: “The tornado that hit Canton was heading straight for us,” she recalled.

Hughes said she and her husband both tried to pull up weather radar on their cellphones without luck. Then Hughes made the decision to tell teens and adults to move to the church hallway. The decision, she said, was based on “this instinct you learn when you’re a child — you go to the hallway and you cover your head.”

There was some grumbling by the teens but everyone complied, Hughes remembers. “It’s the innermost place of the building,” she said of the hallway. “Everything else had exterior walls. On my way, I went around and I locked all the exterior doors to the building — just one little extra step to keep the wind from ripping them open.”

Thirty seconds after Hughes got into the hallway after completing her rounds, “my husband said, ‘It’s hitting.’ He saw the roof of the sanctuary rip off — one piece. We saw the doors fly open into the sanctuary space. My husband grabbed the door and he held on with everything [he had] to the other,” Hughes said. “What I saw was people covering each other, comforting each other — parents covering small children, teenagers huddling together. We began to pray.”

The parish’s deacon, Marcelino Espinosa, was at one end of the hallway as he began a rosary; Hughes was at the other end beginning the Divine Mercy chaplet.

“We didn’t have this horrible fear; we felt protected,” she said.

“The whole time that we were in there and we were holding those doors, I felt that Jesus was over us ... whispering to me, ‘It’s OK, I’ve got you.’”

She added, “I described it ... as a Passover. The tornado came, and it hit us with full force and it was over.”

St. John the Evangelist church in Emory, Texas, is seen April 30 after a tornado hit the area a day earlier. Fortyfive people survived the tornado that destroyed all of their church except for the hallway in which they were huddled. CNS

“We saw the doors fly open into the sanctuary space.

My husband grabbed the door and he held on with everything [he had] to the other. What I saw was people covering each other, comforting each other — parents covering small children, teenagers huddling together. We began to pray.”

Monica Hughes, youth minister at St. John the Evangelist in Emory, Texas

ALSO inside

Building blessing

Out of Egypt

Holy waters

Listening to Our Lady

Archbishop Hebda dedicates longawaited church addition at St. Peter in Forest Lake.

— Page 5B

Catholics say Pope Francis’ Cairo visit fostered healing and unity following Easter church bombings.

— Page 7B

Ten children baptized during school Mass at St. Therese in Deephaven express deep faith.

— Page 9B

In Fatima apparition’s centennial year, Catholics say Mary’s message is as relevant as ever.

— Pages 1C-4C

2B • The Catholic Spirit

PAGE TWO

May 4, 2017 OVERHEARD

in PICTURES

“The credit goes not to me, it goes to the adoration chapel, the Masses, the rosaries, the prayers, the Holy Spirit. ... It shows how the Lord can use the weak and most insignificant to get the job done, and that’s what he’s doing.”

HOOPS BATTLE Seminarian Tyler Ferry of the St. Paul Seminary goes up for a shot against Jake Brownlee of St. John Vianney College Seminary during the annual priest/ seminarian basketball tournament April 21 at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights.

St. Paul Seminary prevailed, 45-36, and then faced a team made up of priests.

The priests won that game, 45-42. Ferry belongs to St. Michael in St. Michael, while Brownlee is from the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

Mary Ann Kuharski, founder and president of Prolife Across America, whom Relevant Radio 1330 AM honored with its Christ Brings Hope Award at a benefit banquet in Bloomington April 28. Kuharski is a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

Regional Grandparents Meeting May 10 St. Pius X in White Bear Lake will host the Regional Grandparents Meeting 7:30–9 p.m. May 10. Mary Pedersen, director of adult faith formation for the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, will present a talk titled, “Passing on the Faith: Naming Grace in the Domestic Church.” People are invited to come at 6:30 p.m. for Mass and rosary at 7:15 p.m. before the event. For more information, contact Susanna Bolle at bolles@archspm.org or 651-291-4411, or visit www.rediscover.archspm.org

Diaconate ordination May 13 at Basilica Archbishop Bernard Hebda will ordain four transitional deacons 10 a.m.

May 13 at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. Aric Aamodt and Peter Ly will be ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Raphael Akurugu and Gabriel Ayamdoor will be ordained for the Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga, Ghana. Seminarians are ordained to the transitional diaconate before their final year of preparation for ordination to the priesthood.

Catholic Watchmen rally in Medina May 16 Father John Echert, pastor of Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, will speak on “Fathers Leading Families in the Faith: The Biblical Perspective Applied Today” 6:30-9 p.m. at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina. The event includes confession, eucharistic adoration and benediction with Bishop Andrew Cozzens. For more information, contact Enzo Randazzo at 651-291-4483.

Spring formation Day May 18

RELIGION WINNERS From left, eighth-grader Chloe Green of St. Ambrose School in Woodbury poses for a picture after winning the Religion Bee April 27 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Hastings. Two SEAS eighth-graders placed second and third — Ben Seibenaler, middle, and Mary Bromberek. A total of 10 students from four schools participated. The other two schools were Transfiguration School in Oakdale and St. Joseph School in Prescott, Wisconsin. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

WHAT’S NEW on social media Pope Francis was a surprise speaker for an April 25 TED Talk in which he urged people to “make real connections.”

May the Fourth be with you! Local Catholics — including Father John Paul Erickson and Father Nels Gjengdahl — explain the connections they make between Star Wars and the faith as fans observe the annual Star Wars Day. www.facebook.com/thecatholicspirit NBA star LeBron James congratulated Minneapolis’ DeLaSalle High School boys basketball team in a video message April 26, weeks after its sixth-straight state championship.

The team responded in kind with a video thanking James for his “letters throughout the season, the T-shirts and your continued support.” www.twitter.com/islanderupdates

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 22 — No. 9 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is hosting Spring Formation Day 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. May 18 at St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove. The event will feature Bishop Frank Caggiano of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Parish staff members and parish leaders are invited to attend.

For more information and to register, visit www.archspm.org/archspm_events/ formation-day.

Priesthood ordination May 27 at Cathedral Ten men are scheduled to be ordained priests by Archbishop Bernard Hebda 10 a.m. May 27 at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. Being ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are: Deacons Paul Baker, Bryce Evans, Nicholas Froehle, Nicholas Hagen, Matthew Quail, Tim Sandquist, Brandon Theisen, Chad VanHoose, Benjamin Wittnebel and Timothy Wratkowski. Deacons Hagen and Wratkowski have been studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome; the others have completed their studies at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

Archdiocesan Marriage Day Mass June 3 Married couples are invited to celebrate the gift of their marriage at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul June 3. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will celebrate a 10 a.m. Mass that includes a short renewal of vows. Couples celebrating their silver and golden anniversaries in 2017 will be particularly honored. Couples may request a special certificate by May 30 by emailing flomos@archspm.org. The event is sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

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

FROM THE BISHOP

May 4, 2017

The Catholic Spirit • 3B

Death, where is your sting?

H

ave you ever tried to put into one sentence the reason that you are a Christian? What do you believe and why do you believe it? Here is my attempt: I am a Christian because God’s own son has freed me from death.

Easter shows us that our faith is based on a historical fact: Jesus Christ died, but after three days, this dead man walked out of the tomb. And through the sacraments of his Church, he offers you and me the same gift.

I always say, bury my feet facing east, because I expect to stand up and greet the Risen Lord when he comes. Jesus Christ has conquered our greatest enemy, death. His love, the love of God, is stronger than death itself. As St. Paul proclaims to us so forcefully in this Easter season in 1 Corinthians, “O death where is your power? Death where is your sting?”

I am a Christian because Jesus Christ is the only hope to be freed from death.

If you think about it, most people — even us Christians — often live in the fear of death. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows the depth of the pain of death. The pain fills those moments with an emptiness that it feels like nothing can repair, because nothing can bring the loved one back. We sometimes try to comfort ourselves with platitudes such as “she will live on in my heart” or “he made the world a better place,” but none of these brings them back.

Also, if we are honest with ourselves, we can admit that we spend much of our life seeking to insulate ourselves from our own death. We try to build up secure and comfortable environments. We hold tight to the good things of this life — people, places, things — all because we are afraid of the emptiness that fills our hearts without them. We are afraid of losing the good things of life; we are afraid of death.

All our striving is often a subtle attempt to placate those fears and live in the illusion that we are keeping death at bay; we have it all under control. However, deep down we know that at any moment we could lose it all. We know that everything in this world is fragile. And so, deep down, we live in fear of the fragile nature of this human life. This reality is what leads many ONLY JESUS of the atheistic philosophers in our world to say this world is Bishop Andrew Cozzens ultimately meaningless, and all our striving after success and

When we live in the freedom of the children of God, we don’t need to control all the variables of this life. happiness is “vanity of vanities” (Eccl 1:2).

This is precisely what Jesus came to free us from. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (Heb 2:14-15).

When we are afraid of death, we are slaves to things of this world and the prince of this world. When we fear death, we must strive to find all our success and fulfillment in this life. Jesus Christ came to free us from this slavery. He came to give us the freedom of the children of God, who believe that they will live forever.

When we live in the freedom of the children of God, we don’t need to control all the variables of this life. He controls them. There is true justice, there is true peace, there is true joy. It is a gift, which we receive when we accept that Jesus has conquered our death and set us free to live in his love forever. He sets us free to live not for ourselves, enslaved by the fear of death, but for him.

As St. Paul said, “He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor 5: 15). This is the freedom in which the saints lived. This is why they were able to give of themselves so joyfully. They didn’t have to live in fear, as Christ has conquered death. They were even free to make the ultimate sacrifice of martyrdom because they knew death had no power over them.

Life is not absurd, true joy is not fragile, death has lost its sting, and you can experience the freedom and joy of the children of God today, the more you accept and live in free gift of life in Jesus Christ.

Muerte, ¿dónde está tu punzada?

¿

Han ustedes tratado alguna vez de decir en una frase la razón por la que ustedes son Cristianos? ¿En qué creen y por qué creen? Yo ahora lo intento: Soy Cristiano porque el propio hijo de Dios me ha liberado de la muerte.

La Resurrección nos muestra que nuestra fe se basa en un hecho histórico: Jesucristo murió, pero a los tres días, este hombre que había fallecido salió de la tumba y por medio de los Sacramentos de su Iglesia, él nos ofrece a usted y a mi el mismo regalo.

Yo siempre digo, cuando me entierren, entiérrenme con los pies hacia el este, porque espero levantarme y saludar al Señor Resucitado cuando él venga de nuevo.

Jesucristo ha conquistado a nuestra gran enemiga, la muerte. Su amor, el amor de Dios es más fuerte que la propia muerte. Como se nos proclama poderosamente en Corintios 1. Oh muerte ¿donde está tu poder? ¿Muerte dónde esta tu punzada?” Yo soy Cristiano porque Jesucristo es mi única esperanza para ser liberado de la muerte.

Si ustedes piensan en la mayoría de la gente — aún nosotros los Cristianos — frecuentemente vivimos con miedo a morir. Todo aquel que ha perdido a un ser querido conoce a profundidad el dolor de la muerte. El dolor llena esos momentos con un vacío que nada puede llenarse, porque nada puede traernos a ese ser querido de vuelta con nosotros. Nosotros a veces tratamos de consolarnos a nosotros mismos con ideas vanas como: “ella vivirá en mi corazón” o “el hizo del mundo un mejor lugar,” pero nada de esto nos los devuelve.

También, si somos honestos con nosotros mismos, podemos admitir que pasamos mucha parte de nuestra vida buscando aislarnos de nuestra propia muerte.

Tratamos de crear entornos seguros y cómodos. Nos aferramos a las cosas buenas de esta vida —la gente, los lugares, las cosas — todo porque tenemos miedo del vacío que llena nuestros corazones sin ellas. Tenemos miedo de perder las cosas buenas de la vida; tenemos miedo de la muerte.

Todos nuestros esfuerzos son frecuentemente un intento sutil de aplacar esos miedos y vivir con la ilusión de que así mantenemos a la muerte a la deriva, tenemos

todo bajo nuestro control. Sin embargo en lo más profundo de nosotros mismos, sabemos que en cualquier momento podemos perderlo todo. Sabemos que todo en este mundo es frágil. Y entonces muy dentro de nosotros mismos, vivimos con el miedo de esa naturaleza frágil de la vida humana. Esta realidad es la que lleva a muchos de los filósofos ateos en nuestro mundo a decir que este mundo al final de cuentas no tiene significado, y que todo nuestro esfuerzo por el éxito y la felicidad “es vanidad de vanidades” (Eclesiástico Capítulo1 Versículo 2).

Esto es precisamente por lo que el Señor Jesús vino a liberarnos. “Y porque todos esos hijos comparten una misma naturaleza de carne y sangre. Jesús también tuvo que hacerse, como ellos, carne y sangre. Así pudo por su propia muerte quitarle su poder al que reinaba por medio de la muerte, el Diablo. Y liberó a los hombres que toda su vida permanecían paralizados por el miedo a la muerte.” (Carta a los Hebreos Capítulo 2 Versículos del 14 al 15).

Cuando tenemos miedo de la muerte, nosotros somos esclavos de las cosas de este mundo y del príncipe de este mundo. Cuando tenemos miedo de la muerte, tenemos que esforzarnos por encontrar todos nuestros éxitos y realizaciones en esta vida. Jesucristo vino a liberarnos de esta esclavitud. Él vino a darnos libertad a nosotros los siervos de Dios, a quienes creen que vivirán para siempre.

Cuando vivimos en la libertad de los siervos de Dios, no necesitamos controlar todas las variantes de esta vida. Él es quien las controla. Hay justicia verdadera, hay paz verdadera y hay regocijo verdadero. Es la el regalos, que recibimos cuando aceptamos que Jesús conquistó nuestra muerte y nos liberó para vivir en su amor para siempre. Él nos libera no para vivir por nosotros mismos, ni como esclavos del temor a la muere, sino por él.

Como lo dijo San Pablo, “Él murió por todos, a fin de que los que viven no vivan para si mismos sino para él, que por ellos murió y resucitó.” (Carta a los Corintios Capítulo 5 Versículo 15). Esta es la libertad en la que los santos vivieron. Esto es por lo cual ellos pudieron dar

de si mismos con regocijo. Ellos no tienen que vivir en el temor, ya que Cristo ha conquistado la muerte. Ellos tuvieron aún la libertad de hacer el sacrificio final del martirio porque sabían que la muerte no tenía poder sobre ellos.

La vida no es absurda, el regocijo verdadero no es frágil, la muerte ha perdido su punzada, y ustedes pueden experimentar la libertad y el regocijo de los siervos de Dios hoy, mientras ustedes acepten más vivir el regalo de la gracia de la vida en Jesucristo.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis: Effective April 17, 2017 Reverend Richard Kaley, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Richard in Richfield, while the current pastor, Reverend Mark Pavlik, is on a leave of absence.

Effective May 20, 2017 Deacon Bruce Bowen, appointed to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Maximilian Kolbe in Delano and the Church of Saint George in Long Lake. This is a transfer from his previous appointment at the Church of Saint Raphael in Crystal.

Effective July 1, 2017 Reverend John Mitchell, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Pius X in White Bear Lake, while the current pastor, Reverend Joseph Bambenek, is on sabbatical. This is in addition to his regular assignment as pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights.

4B TheCatholic CatholicSpirit Spirit 4 • •The

LOCAL

May 4, March 9, 2017

‘Angel’ among us

SLICEof LIFE

St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Avis Allmaras, center, talks with Rose Carter, left, and Irene Eiden at Peace House in south Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis goes to the center weekly and visits frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of St. William in Fridley, is a lay consociate of the Carondelet Sisters. Peace House is a day shelter for the poor and homeless.

“It’s a real privilege to know these people and hear their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I could not survive on the streets like they do. There are so many gifted people here.” Said Carter of Sister Avis: “She’s an angel. She hides her wings under that Jennifer Fisher, left, and her son, sweatshirt. She truly is an angel.”

Camden, look through children’s Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit clothing April 22 during a rummage sale at their parish, St. John Vianney in South St. Paul. They came on the event’s last day to take advantage of National Catholic Sisters the $2 bag sale.

“WeWeek like toiscome to March 8-14.

An official component of these church rummages because Women’s History Month there’s a lot of itemsand you can pick headquartered at St. Catherine University from,” Fisher said.

“This one has in St.quite Paul,athe week celebrates women bit.”

At right is Catherine religious their contributions to the Noerand of South St. Paul Church View local events, andand hersociety. daughter, Kelsi Atangana. including art exhibitions, at Spirit Davetwo Hrbacek/The Catholic www.nationalcatholicsistersweek.org.

Happy hunting

Celebrating sisters

These real estate agents can help you find your Home Sweet Home From condos to castles, performance exceeds promise

Call Today

Kathy Kueppers

for all Your Buying and Selling Needs

Cell: (651) 470-0675 kathykueppers.realtor@gmail.com

Kathy Kathy Kueppers Kueppers REALTOR REALTOR®®,, CRS CRS Owner/Broker Owner/Broker Cell: Cell: (651) (651) 470-0675 470-0675 Office: Office:(651) (651) 365-0230 365-0230

Office 651-452-3047

kathykueppers@realtyexecutives.com kathykueppers@realtyexecutives.com 33 33 E. E. Wentworth Wentworth Ave. Ave. West West St. St. Paul, Paul, MN MN 55118 55118

Named Namedaa2009 2009Super SuperReal RealEstate EstateAgent Agentby by Mpls./St. Mpls./St.Paul PaulMagazine Magazineand andTwin TwinCities CitiesBusiness Business

The real estate market is RED HOT. New listings often sellupdated CHARMING 2 story, hardwood floors, natural woodwork, overnight.

If you’re thinking of a move, WAIT —school, NOW IS kitchen, master suite, large yard.

Close DON’T to St Joseph’s THE TIME. Kueppers, parks, easyContact access Kathy to shopping, West651-470-0675.

St Paul $189,900.

•With It’s ahistorically Seller’s Market!

Find out of your HomeforValue Low Inventory Homes Sale,today. your home may •be Did you know you can a home asfor little as 3% down? worth more than youbuy realize.

Callwith Today a Free Home Value.

•Buyers Know about Listings before the public now! are New Waiting!

(Bloomington andknows?

EaganCall are651-686-2110 most needed)

TheEdge Edge You You Need The Need Peggy Langeslay plangeslay@cbburnet.com

The Sue Johnson Team is now Good Company Realty Group

Now isRealtor/Broker the best time to Now is the best time to sell sellyour your home. home.

For best results, call

Call us today! 651-329-1264

651-335-8515

GoodCompanyRealtyGroup.com

3BR, 3BA 2000 sqsq. ft 2ftstory in Maplewood. $299.000.

5BR/4BA 3400+ 2 story in Blaine. $359,900.

4BR sq ftsq.2 story in Maple Grove $349,000.

4BR/3BA 4BA2400 4200+ ft story in Plymouth $539,000.

3BR 2BA 1900 sq sq. ft multi-level in St.inPaul overlooking river, $299,000.

4BR/2BA 1800+ ft 4 level split Maple Grove $230,000.

Home SELLER Seminar March 9th 7-8pm OR March 25th 9-10am, The Sue Johnson Team 651-690-8591.

651-690-8591

If you would like to advertise If you would like to advertise on this Peggypage, Langeslay plangeslay@cbburnet.com on this page, call please call please The Catholic Spirit AdvertisingNow Department isRealtor/Broker the best time to Now is the best time to The Catholic Spirit Advertising sell home. sellyour your home. at 651-291-4444 For best results, call Department at 651-291-4444

651-335-8515

Top notch service before, during and after the sale. No property too large or too small. Call Joe Cassidy, Keller Williams Classic Realty, 612-803-4301.

My success as a Realtor depends on the referrals I receive from wonderful people like you!

FREE MARKET ANALYSIS

Jo Ann Johanning, GRI, SFR, ABR 612-987-8200

jjohanning@edinarealty.com

May 4, 2017

LOCAL

St. Peter, Forest Lake, dedicates new addition

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Archbishop Bernard Hebda dedicated a newly constructed addition at St. Peter in Forest Lake following Mass April 30.

The addition’s 14,500 square feet include a large gathering area, parish offices, adoration chapel, library and two school classrooms.

Preaching to a packed congregation, Archbishop Hebda encouraged the parish to use the new spaces to evangelize and teach the Gospel.

“We gauge the success of a parish not only on the beauty of its church and its facilities, but on how effectively we go forth into the community and credibly proclaim that Jesus Christ is risen,” he said.

Following Mass, he prayed in the gathering space and blessed the addition with holy water.

The dedication of the $5 million project marked the end of a decadelong discernment and planning process for the new facilities. In 2015, the 1,700-household parish raised $2.7 million through a capital campaign. Parish leaders used town hall-style meetings to assess the parish’s biggest needs.

“We knew the gathering space and adoration chapel were big demands,” said Father Daniel Bodin, St. Peter’s pastor, adding that work also needed to be done in the parish’s adjacent grade school.

Adorned with a stained glass window of the parish’s patron St. Peter, the new gathering space allows people to congregate and visit outside of the sanctuary before and after Masses. Since the new space opened in February, Father Bodin said he’s seen a “huge difference as far as building community with parishioners staying longer after Masses. They now have a facility that’s nice and beautiful to stand inside, especially with inclement weather.”

With the larger gathering space, the parish can now hold wakes before funerals — another reason there was a “large push” for the space, Father Bodin said. It also allows for extra seating and includes a pair of TV screens that carry closer views of the altar.

Parish staff are benefiting, too. Prior to the addition’s new offices, parish staff had minimal office space behind the sanctuary, and some staff worked in an annex across the parking lot. The addition includes new meeting spaces and a reception area adorned by the parish’s new logo, the keys of St. Peter.

Guardian Angels in Oakdale is working with Lutheran Social Services to support a Karen refugee family from Southeast Asia that arrived in the Twin Cities April 27.

Parishioners greeted the family at the airport and plan to help it in different aspects of its resettlement.

The parish has agreed to support the family for its first 180 days in the United States, but parishioners hope the relationship continues much longer, said Suzanne Bernet, Guardian Angels’ justice and outreach coordinator.

The parish helped resettle Vietnamese refugees a few decades ago, and over the last year, several parishioners expressed interest in doing it again, she said.

“With the political situation being what it is, we just decided that it was really good for our parish to act out in a positive way. So this positive way was to try to model Pope Francis’ personal example of taking those refugees into the Vatican,” Bernet said.

Although Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis works with refugee resettlement locally, Guardian Angels’ expectations of having regular, direct contact with the refugee family were better suited to Lutheran Social Services’ model, Bernet said. In January, parishioners donated more than $5,000 to begin the process.

The family includes a married couple and their six children, ages 9-19; the youngest are twin boys. They were originally from Myanmar, also known as Burma,

in BRIEF BLOOMINGTON

VEAP to receive Franciscan International Award

ABOVE The new facade of St. Peter in Forest Lake.

BELOW Archbishop Bernard Hebda blesses St. Peter’s new gathering space April 30. Looking on, from left, is Father Robert Sipe, Father Ben Little, Father Don DeGrood and Father Daniel Bodin. Father Eugene Brown/ For The Catholic Spirit

Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People has been chosen for the 2017 Franciscan International Award for its service to the poor in the south metro of the Twin Cities. The board of advisors of Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center in Prior Lake selected VEAP, which will be honored May 11 at the Wilds Golf Club in Prior Lake. The award recognizes people and organizations “who symbolize the spirit and apostolic zeal of St. Francis of Assisi.” VEAP provides resources and food for low-income residents in south Minneapolis, Bloomington, Richfield and Edina. Father Richard Kaley of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington nominated VEAP for the award.

MINNEAPOLIS

Catholic Eldercare to construct new apartments, rename main campus

A room behind the sanctuary was redesigned as the adoration chapel, with a large adjacent library. The chapel was formerly in another part of the parish campus that was not well lit at night. Some finishing touches remain, but the completed chapel will have wall panels with images of the sacraments. Father Bodin said the new location will allow the school to have better access to the chapel.

The addition was designed by MCL Architects and constructed by Sheehy Construction, both in St. Paul.

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens blessed the project at its groundbreaking in June 2016.

Oakdale parish helping refugees make Minnesota home

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Spirit • 5B

and lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for about 12 years. Per Lutheran Social Services’ policy, their names were not released to The Catholic Spirit.

At the airport they were reunited with their oldest daughter, who had previously resettled in the Twin Cities, and her family, including grandchildren they had never met before.

Guardian Angels parishioners welcomed them with a sign in their language, a flag from their homeland and sweatshirts in case they were cold. The family didn’t speak much English, but Bernet said the gratitude was evident.

“The mom of the family did know ‘thank you,’ and I could tell she practiced it, because she looked at me directly and said very intentionally, ‘Thank you,’” Bernet said.

Lutheran Social Services will find the family housing, but Guardian Angels will provide financial support as the family adjusts to life in Minnesota.

Among parishioners’ tasks will be furnishing the family’s apartment with help from the Twin Cities nonprofit furniture bank Bridging. Once the family is settled, parishioners will also help its members access neighborhood and community resources such as education and tutoring.

For Guardian Angels parishioners, getting to know the family members is central to the outreach.

“One thing that this parish has a long history of is understanding that relationship is really at the heart of justice,” Bernet said. “Really the only time we make impacts and change in the world is when people change first, and the only way we really do that is by getting to know people.”

Groundbreaking for a new Catholic Eldercare apartment building has been set for August, with plans to open in the summer of 2018. The new complex in northeast Minneapolis on Second Street and Broadway Avenue will have 65 units of one- and two-bedroom units, which will range from 800 to 1,300 square feet. The facility will also have food service for residents, concierge services and a green roof. It will be the sixth Catholic Eldercare site. Dan Johnson, Catholic Eldercare president and CEO, said it will serve senior citizens who want to stay in northeast Minneapolis “without paying downtown rents.” Catholic Eldercare will also rename its main campus on Main Street after Albert Hofstede, Minneapolis’ first Catholic mayor. Hofstede served in the 1970s and died in 2016, and played a role in Catholic Eldercare’s founding.

ST. PAUL

Aim Higher, CSAF Catholic school scholarships to aid families Five $1,000 scholarships will go to families who want to send their children to Catholic elementary schools but can’t afford tuition. The Aim High Foundation and the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation partnered to provide the scholarships starting with the 2017-2018 school year. All Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, except those participating in a CSAF block grant, can participate in the CSAF Scholarship Fund. Families can apply through Minneapolis-based tuition assistance agency TADS, which will select the five students of greatest financial need.

Pope grants retired Basilica rector’s ‘request for laicization’ Pope Francis has granted a dispensation from the obligations of the clerical state, including celibacy, to Michael O’Connell, retired rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement that O’Connell petitioned the pope earlier this year for the change in status, often called a “request for laicization.” O’Connell was ordained in 1967. His leadership in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis included founding and directing its permanent diaconate program, co-directing the vocations office, and serving as vicar general and moderator of the curia. He was pastor of St. Cecilia in St. Paul from 1984-1991 before being appointed Basilica rector from 1991-2008. He also served as pastor of Ascension in Minneapolis from 1999 until his retirement in 2015. He founded the Jeremiah Program, which helps single mothers and their children. “While his priestly ministry will be sorely missed by many, I am hopeful that Pope Francis’ decision will open new avenues for Michael to serve,” Archbishop Hebda said.

6B • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

May 4, 2017

Archdiocese shares child protection experience with law enforcement, child advocates

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has taken strides to protect children in its care from abuse, but there’s still more work to do, its director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment said at a conference on protecting children April 25.

“We’ve set the stage for some meaningful change.

What we need to do is not lose that momentum,” Tim O’Malley told an audience of experts in law enforcement, child advocacy, social work and tribal leadership.

O’Malley and Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment Assistant Director Michael Campion presented on the archdiocese’s efforts in a plenary session titled “Child Sexual Abuse in the Church” at the 12th annual Crimes Against Children in Indian Country Conference. They outlined the history and prevalence of sexual abuse of minors by priests in the U.S. and the archdiocese, and explained how the archdiocese has worked to implement new policies to protect children and reach out to victims.

An initiative of the National Criminal Justice Training Center at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin, the three-day conference was held at Black Bear Casino and Resort in Carlton, Minnesota. It was emceed by Janell Rasmussen, deputy director of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

She worked for Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension before joining the archdiocese, and she was involved with establishing the conference in the state.

“I thought that it would be a good opportunity for Tim and Michael to come here and share the work that they’ve done,” she said, because of the relevancy of the issues and because they could serve as resources.

This event was the first time archdiocesan leaders had presented their work publicly to law enforcement.

“I don’t think people realize the significant work that has been done in the [archdiocese’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth] and the standards that have been set, the policies that have been put into place, [including] the Essential Three,” she said. “The procedures that we do as daily business, other people wouldn’t even think about taking all of those steps with youth in their organizations, so I think we’ve really gone above and beyond in what we’re doing to protect kids, and I think it’s good for other people to see that

and learn from it.”

The archdiocese was among the conference’s 13 sponsors, which included the Minnesota BCA, the Department of Justice and Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety.

Seeing the archdiocese’s crest pictured alongside logos for state and federal law enforcement agencies signified the partnership between law enforcement and the archdiocese that O’Malley and Rasmussen have worked to establish, they said.

In his presentation, O’Malley identified two themes that have emerged from his office’s work: First, that there is no singular solution to protecting children, and second, that cooperation among leadership in the Church, community and law enforcement is key.

He also emphasized the law enforcement backgrounds of his office’s top three positions. Before joining the archdiocese, he had served as deputy chief judge of the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings and as BCA superintendent. Campion also served as BCA superintendent and as the state public safety commissioner.

Campion underscored the benefits of the Ministerial Review Board, a group composed mostly of laypeople, including non-Catholics such as Patty Wetterling.

“There is not a decision made in regards to a priest or cleric and that person’s fitness for ministry that does not go before a civilian review board,” he said, adding that the board has reviewed about 85 cases since 2015.

While police investigate criminal accusations against priests and others who may be serving in the archdiocese, the Church has a higher bar for a person’s fitness for ministry than whether he or she did something illegal. Campion said the archdiocese has given his office “every opportunity to turn any stone” in its internal investigations.

O’Malley recounted a recent visit to a school where a girl felt uncomfortable because of an interaction with an adult. His office determined that it was a misunderstanding, but it affirmed the school’s decision to contact his office. He praised its leaders for having an environment in which the girl felt she could tell someone, and that her friends, teachers and school leadership listened and took prompt action.

“Our goal isn’t to say nothing ever happens,” he said.

Rather, the goal for people working and volunteering in the Church is to be prepared and care, “so when something happens, we do what’s right.”

The Family Rosary Procession, shown in 2015, draws hundreds annually. The Catholic Spirit file photo

Annual archdiocesan Family Rosary Procession turns 70

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Seven decades after its founding, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ annual Family Rosary Procession continues to be an opportunity for Catholics to discover the power of the rosary, said Connie Schneider, the event’s chairwoman and a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul. “If we spiritually unite in prayer, something good will happen,” she said.

The prayerful walk from the State Capitol grounds to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul will begin 2 p.m. May 7 under the leadership of Archbishop Bernard Hebda. It will conclude at 3:30 p.m. in the Cathedral following a homily and benediction.

The local procession began in 1947 as a response to communism in Europe and Our Lady of Fatima’s 1917 message to pray for the conversion of communist Russia. Its large turnout encouraged organizers to make it an annual event. In 1951, the procession expanded to include a sister event in Minneapolis at the Basilica of St. Mary, which continued until the late 2000s.

The Family Rosary Processions Association collaborates with the archdiocese’s Office of Worship to organize the procession. This year’s event takes place during the 100th anniversary of Mary’s 1917 apparitions in Fatima, Portugal.

Experience the Wonders of

New Zealand & Australia October 3-21, 2017 $10,695 plus international airfare Nineteen-day tour, includes lodging and most meals Led by Father Geoffrey Fecht F O R MO RE INF O RMAT IO N:

Father Geoffrey Fecht, OSB Saint John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota Phone: (320) 363-3818 Email: gfecht@csbsju.edu

travel tours www.saintjohnsabbey.org/your-visit/travel-tours

May 4, 2017

U.S. & WORLD

The Catholic Spirit • 7B

Catholic leaders: Papal trip was blessing for Christian, Muslim Egyptians

By Dale Gavlak Catholic News Service Pope Francis’ historic, 72-hour visit to Cairo has left a profound mark on Egyptians, Catholic leaders said, as they anticipate increased ties with fellow Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

“The pope’s visit was a big blessing to the Egyptians, both Muslims and Christians. It boosted the morale of the Egyptian people, especially after the Palm Sunday blasts,” Father Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Egyptian bishops, told Catholic News Service by phone.

“He gave a message of love, peace and hope.”

Father Greiche referred to a pair of terrorist attacks April 9 at two Egyptian churches. The Islamic State group claimed credit for the attacks, which killed at least 45 people, injured more than 100 others and shook the Middle East’s largest Christian community to the core.

“The pope’s visit for Catholics in Egypt was a great happening, very positive,” Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, a noted Egyptian Catholic theologian and Islamic studies scholar, told CNS. The professor teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome and St. Joseph’s University in Beirut.

Even more important, he said, was the historic improvement in ecumenical ties between the Catholic and the Coptic Orthodox churches. Pope Francis and Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II signed a declaration on common baptism.

“This was a big step,” Father Samir said.

“In Egypt, there are a lot of mixed marriages between Catholics and Orthodox,” Father Samir explained, citing the previous Coptic Orthodox requirement that new members joining the Church — including those who had previously been baptized as Catholic — had to be baptized again.

“This was very unhappy,” he said. Now both churches agreed to recognize each other’s sacrament of baptism and pledged to continue working toward greater unity.

“In general, the ecumenical relations with the Coptic Orthodox Church made very good steps and can go

Pope Francis greets Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University, at a conference on international peace in Cairo April 28. CNS/Paul Haring further,” Father Samir predicted, citing a possible reconciliation over the celebration dates of Christmas and Easter.

He also said Pope Francis and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi reached a better understanding.

This is important for the country’s Christians, who are among the oldest communities in the Middle East, dating back to the apostle Mark.

“By meeting [el-Sissi] and having a normal, positive relationship, the pope is supporting the only one who can help the Christians,” the theologian said. “Being a very pious Muslim, el-Sissi is also the one trying to protect the Christians against ISIS.” Pope Francis has backed Egypt’s efforts to tackle Islamic militancy, saying the country has a special role to play in forging regional peace as well as in

“vanquishing all violence and terrorism.”

Yet, Father Greiche believes it may be difficult to protect Christians and other Egyptians from growing acts of extremist violence.

“Criminal acts are designed in the heads of terrorists first. You cannot say that Christians are safe or anybody is safe from any terrorist attack. We pray and we ask for our Savior to help us and not to experience more than what we already have,” the priest said.

“We cannot say that Christians will be more safe [due to the pope’s visit], because terrorists are always there,” he added.

However, Pope Francis’ call to expose extremist violence carried out in God’s name impacted Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, who heads al-Azhar University in Cairo. He hosted the International Peace Conference attended by Pope Francis, Pope Tawadros and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Although “ISIS will not listen to whatever the pope says,” Pope Francis has now put the Vatican’s relationship with al-Azhar on a stronger footing, Father Samir said.

As the world’s highest authority in Sunni Islam, alAzhar trains Muslim clerics and scholars from around the world and has the potential to change the discourse.

Critics, including el-Sissi, complain the university is not doing enough to properly challenge Islamist extremists on theological grounds. However, scholars also point to a dichotomy in the Quran in which Islam’s Prophet Muhammad at times espoused peaceful interactions with Christians and Jews and at other times violence.

By emphasizing nonviolence and that “only peaceful means are acceptable, it will help some Muslims to go along this line — to be nonviolent,” Father Samir said.

“The main thing is [to] change the mentality of Muslims, especially of the teaching of Islam, which is mainly the teaching in al-Azhar. “ Pope Francis also met with Egyptian seminarians, priests and religious before wrapping up his Cairo visit.

Catholics bring pope’s call to climate march

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Carrying banners and signs with quotes from Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’,” hundreds of Catholics joined the People’s Climate March to call for moral and prayerful action to protect creation.

On a sweltering day that reinforced the message about the need to respond to climate change — the 91-degree temperature at 3 p.m. April 29 tied a 43-year-old Washington record for the date — many in the Catholic contingent said they felt they had a moral obligation to witness in the streets.

“We march for our grandchildren. Stop global warming,” read one sign propped in the back of St. Dominic Church in Washington, where about 300 people gathered before the march for Mass celebrated

by Dominican Father Hyacinth Marie Cordell, the parish’s parochial vicar. “The Vatican is solar. What about US?” read another.

Underlying the messages on the signs and banners were people who shared a heartfelt concern to carry out Pope Francis’ call in his 2015 encyclical to live responsibly with the planet, to remember the needs of others around the world and to reduce

consumption and energy usage for the sake of God’s creation.

They also wanted to send a message to President Donald Trump that his policies on the environment and energy development do not follow the pontiff’s call to protect the earth.

The 300 people at the Mass heard Father Cordell call for an “ecological conversion” during his homily.

He said each person must act in any way possible to protect God’s creation: reducing energy usage; limiting waste; choosing carpooling or biking and walking more; and buying less.

“We can learn increasingly to act not only with our own good and convenience in mind, but [also] above all to think and choose according to what is best for all, especially for the poor and for future generations,” the Dominican said. “This ecological conversion calls us to self-examination, to make an inventory of our lives and habits so that we can learn to be better stewards of our common home and its resources, which are meant for the good of all.”

He said such steps require a revolution of the heart, as Pope Francis has called each person to undertake.

Nancy Lorence, parishioner at St. Francis Xavier in New York City, is seen during the People’s Climate March in Washington April 29. CNS/Dennis Sadowski March organizers said the event had been planned before Trump’s election in November as a follow-up to the September 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City. The April 29 march was led by indigenous people who are facing disrupted lives as the climate warms and causes drought and rising ocean levels.

Prices starting at $2,499 ~ with Airfare Included in this price from anywhere in the USA

Several trips to different destinations: the Holy Land; Italy; France; Portugal; Spain; Poland; Medjugorje; Lourdes; Fatima; Ireland; Scotland; England; Austria; Germany; Switzerland; Turkey; Greece; Budapest; Prague; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Colombia; Brazil; Argentina; Domestic Destinations; etc.

We also specialize in custom trips for Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

Call us 24/7 508-340-9370 or 855-842-8001 www.proximotravel.com anthony@proximotravel.com (Hablamos Español)

NOTICE

Look for The Catholic Spirit advertising insert from

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR in all copies of this issue.

8B • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & WORLD

in BRIEF JERUSALEM

Catholic leaders urge Israel to meet Palestinian hunger strikers’ demands Catholic leaders in the Holy Land urged Israel to concede to demands of Palestinian political prisoners on a hunger strike since April 17. The prisoners are seeking an improvement in their prison conditions and an end to administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold prisoners almost indefinitely without having to charge them with a crime. The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land said the prisoners are asking that their human rights and dignity be respected according to international law and the Geneva Convention. “We urge the Israeli authorities to hear the cry of the prisoners, to respect their human dignity and to open a new door toward the making of peace,” the bishops said in a statement released April 29.

ROME

New head of Knights of Malta to lead reform efforts The new lieutenant of the grand master of the Knights of Malta will lead efforts to reform the order following a tumultuous period that brought to light many of the ancient institution’s internal disputes.

Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre, elected April 29 to lead the Knights of Malta for a one-year period, will work on a constitutional reform that “will address potential institutional weaknesses,” the order said in a press release following the election. “The recent crisis has shown some weaknesses in the checks and balances in governance,” it said. Born in Rome, Dalla Torre has been a member of the order since 1985 and held several prominent roles in the order’s hierarchy. Dalla Torre’s election closes a difficult chapter in the order’s history and tensions that led to a leader’s resignation Jan. 24 at

May 4, 2017

the behest of Pope Francis, who had established a commission to investigate his removal of the order’s grand chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

WASHINGTON

CRS unveils book about Muslim-Christian cooperation Religion matters, but relationships among people of different beliefs matter most when it comes to peacebuilding efforts, said a group of panelists at the introduction of a new Catholic Relief Services publication about Muslim-Christian cooperation around the world. Aid agencies as well as development organizations have realized the importance of religion and the role it plays in development and peacebuilding efforts. CRS’ “Interreligious Action for Peace: Studies in Muslim-Christian Cooperation” publication seeks to share what workers have learned through their work in various parts of the world where it has projects, such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Kenya and Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines. The publication emerged from a 2015 workshop.

CHICAGO

Society of Catholic Scientists meets in Chicago for first conference “Origins,” the first conference of the Society of Catholic Scientists, gave more than 100 participants the opportunity to learn about everything from the birth of stars to the beginnings of human language and to reflect on how their faith and work inform each other.

But perhaps the most important benefit of the conference and the fledgling society that sponsored it was the chance for Catholic scientists to connect with one another as they met April 21-23. Darlene Douglas, a teacher at Willows Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois, who has a doctorate in genetics from the University of

Chicago, said she left science as a career after it became too difficult to find labs in which she could work without violating Catholic ethics about working with human embryonic stem cells or cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. “During my studies, I met with a lot of pushback to my faith,” Douglas said, adding that one of her ethics professors told students that it was impossible to believe in both God and evolution. That is not the position of the Catholic Church, but many scientists who are not Catholic do not know that. Part of the problem, said Stephen Barr, society president, is that Catholic scientists often are not aware of how many of their peers share their faith.

MOSCOW

Russian Catholic official criticizes court ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses Russia’s Catholic Church has condemned a Supreme Court decision to outlaw the Jehovah’s Witnesses and warned the move will increase fears of new restrictions on Catholic rights. “Churches like ours don’t recognize the Jehovah’s Witnesses as Christian and don’t engage in dialogue with them, but we must distinguish theological issues from legal rights,” said Msgr. Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of the Moscow-based Russian bishops’ conference. “The situation in Russia is complex and difficult now. There are very strong misgivings among Catholics that we, too, may be facing — if not persecution, then at least new acts of discrimination and limits on our freedom of belief,” he said. An April 20 Supreme Court ruling branded Jehovah’s Witnesses an “extremist organization” and ordered the nationwide seizure of its property. Msgr.

Kovalevsky told Catholic News Service April 28 that the Catholic Church could not understand which activities could be deemed “extremist,” adding that all religious groups had a right to “exist and develop in the Russian Federation” if they did not violate the law.

— Catholic News Service

“Making the elderly happy

— that is what

counts!”

The legacy of Saint Jeanne Jugan was for all of us to follow her example to make the elderly happy. Jeanne Jugan was concerned with the dignity of her brothers and sisters in humanity whom age had made vulnerable, recognizing in them the person of Christ Himself. – Homily of Pope Benedict XVI at the Canonization of Saint Jeanne Jugan.

A glance at the collage serves to show how exuberantly the Sisters, staff, volunteers, friends and families of our Residents embrace that legacy.

The energy and life portrayed demonstrate the reverence for life, the family spirit and the compassion shown every day by those who serve at the Little Sisters of the Poor.

FAITH & CULTURE

May 4, 2017

The Catholic Spirit • 9B

‘Let the children come to me’

LEFT Posing with Father Leonard Andrie after being baptized during Mass are, front row, from left: Jackie Loftus, Vivian Loftus, Oliver Hickey (holding cross), Kelsey Loftus and Riggs Martin. Back row: Brooks Carver, Emmet Reifenberger, Father Andrie, Joey Bergquist, Brady Bergquist and Reese Martin.

Ten youths baptized at Deephaven school Mass

BELOW Father Andrie, pastor of St. Therese in Deephaven, baptizes Riggs Martin during a school Mass April 26. At left are his parents, Robby and Michelle.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

J

oining the Catholic Church seems to be contagious at St. Therese in Deephaven. The pastor of the parish, Father Leonard Andrie, baptized 10 children during a school Mass April 26.

Six of them are students at St. Therese School.

And more will follow. Among them will be the mother and sister of two of the recently baptized St. Therese students, sixth-grader Reese Martin and her preschool brother, Riggs.

Shortly after Mass, the children’s mother, Michelle Martin, announced to faith formation director Liz Lammers that she and her older daughter, Lacey, wanted to join the Church together.

Lacey, a ninth-grader at Minnetonka High School, had been thinking about it. By the time Mass ended, she had solidified her decision.

“After seeing my sister and my little brother [get baptized], I wanted to do it,” Lacey said.

Such a phenomenon is the new normal in the Church, said Lauren Caton, St. Therese’s principal.

“It used to just be understood that families who came into Catholic schools were already [Catholic],” she said. “But, we’re living in a different world and a different time now. And it’s just beautiful that children are evangelizing to their parents and the adults in their lives.”

In each of the six families with children baptized at the Mass, at least one of the parents is Catholic, Caton noted. In the case of 15-year-old Brooks Carver, a ninth-grader at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, his parents chose not to baptize him as an infant in order to let him decide his religion later on.

“I felt like now is the right time, so I told them I wanted to be Catholic,” Carver said.

He was excited that his grandfather Gene Leise, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Red Wing, was able to witness him join the Church.

“It was just a really great celebration,” Carver said.

“I felt welcomed.”

“I don’t think anyone has seen anything like this. It just speaks volumes of how we as a society are craving that relationship with Christ. I think we’re craving that connection to something that’s bigger and greater than we are.”

Lauren Caton

‘Tears of joy’

prayer. We believe in the power of prayer. Our family, we pray about everything.”

The first child to request baptism was Joey Her joy tied in perfectly to the school’s theme for Bergquist. Last May, the St. Therese fifth-grader talked this school year: the joy of Jesus. to his parents, Casey and Joe, about his baptism.

“We have stressed very hard this year that joy is so Casey, who was confirmed five years ago at the Easter contagious, and joy is so attractive,” Father Andrie said.

Vigil at St. Therese, asked him where he wanted to be baptized. He said St. Therese.

He called the baptizing of 10 children “really, really His reason why floored her. beautiful. It’s one of the great joys of the priesthood.”

“He said, ‘Well, I want to be forgiven of my sins, Caton expects the trend to continue. Of her 106 and I want to be pure and one with God, and I then students in kindergarten to eighth grade, roughly 22 want to receive the body and blood of Jesus, Mom. I percent are not Catholic, so there are more children just want to live with that in my life and have Jesus who could make the journey into the Church. be a part of me,’” she said.

“This is just the beginning,” she said. “I’ve been Joey, now a sixth-grader, was joined in baptism by around for a long time, and I’ve never seen anything his brother, Brady, a fourth-grader. Oliver Hickey, like this. I don’t think anyone has seen anything like Jackie Loftus , Kelsey Loftus, Vivian Loftus and this. It just speaks volumes of how we as a society are Emmet Reifenberger were also baptized that day. craving that relationship with Christ. I think we’re Carver was the oldest; the youngest, Vivian, is almost craving that connection to something that’s bigger 2. The six older children also received first and greater than we are.”

Communion and confirmation.

Casey Bergquist had a strong emotional reaction to Lammers added: “It was truly the Holy Spirit at catholic_spirit_ad_jan2017_v4.pdf 12/16/16me6:51 watching her boys recieve the sacraments. work, and1 it made stepAMback and just [say], ‘Wow. “It was tears of joy,” she said. “It’s the answer to Something big is going on here.’”

Thanks

to these web advertisers at TheCatholicSpirit.com!

Saint Agnes School St. Patrick’s Guild Saint Therese Homes The Glenn Benedictine Health Center at Innsbruck St. Thomas Academy Daughters of the Heart of Mary

C

M

Your marriage is worth saving.

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Retrouvaille Twin Cities

A lifeline for troubled marriages tcr-mn.org

1-800-470-2230

10B • The Catholic Spirit

FAITH & CULTURE

May 4, 2017

Symposium speaker: Christ’s will, example determine all-male priesthood

Our Mother of Perpetual Help replica icon coming to local parishes

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

Catholic and Protestant disagreement over women’s ordination has less to do with the churches’ views of women’s status than their differences dating back to the Reformation. The sticking point: whether ordained ministry is a sacrament instituted

by Christ, as the Catholic Church teaches, or a church-developed ecclesiastical rite, as many Protestants maintain, Sister Sara Butler said at her April 26 lecture, “The Catholic Priesthood as Sacramental Reality: Women’s Ordination in Ecumenical Perspective.” The Siena Symposium at the University of Sister Sara St. Thomas in St. Paul sponsored the talk.

BUTLER “Contrary to popular opinion, the Catholic Church’s tradition of reserving priestly ordination to men ultimately depends not on some distinctive view of the status of women or the complementarity of the sexes, but on the distinctive understanding of the priesthood and of holy orders, the sacrament that hands it on,” said Sister Sara, a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity in Philadelphia.

In exposing the roots of a major issue in ecumenical dialogue, Sister Sara explained to more than 100 clergy, seminarians and laypeople the Catholic and Protestant teachings on ordained ministry. She said the Catholic teaching of holy orders as an unchangeable sacramental sign takes precedence over arguments based on equality of the sexes.

A professor emerita of systematic theology at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, Sister Sara is known for her work advancing the understanding of the Church’s all-male priesthood and in ecumenism.

She has served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops, at synods and on pontifical councils and congregations.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens presented Sister Sara with the Siena Symposium’s 2017 Humanitarian Leadership Award. The Siena Symposium is an interdisciplinary faculty group founded at St. Thomas in 2003 seeking to develop the new feminism called for by St. John Paul II. Siena Symposium co-founder and director, and St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity professor Deborah Savage described Sister Sara as “a noted theologian and widely recognized expert on the topic of the Catholic understanding of the priesthood.”

Sister Sara, who previously supported women’s ordination before researching Church teaching on holy orders while involved in ecumenical work, said Catholic priests and many Protestant ministers have similar functions, but interpret the origins and foundations of their ministerial practices differently.

Catholic doctrine on holy orders is grounded in Gospel and tradition-based teaching that Christ willed

an all-male priesthood because he selected and consecrated a discrete band of apostles to be the Church’s first leaders, she said. This is despite scriptural evidence that Christ had many other followers of both sexes and that his association with women went beyond the accepted norm of his day.

Evidence that the apostles ordained only men and that the Church has consistently continued this practice for 2,000 years further supports the all-male priesthood, Sister Sara said.

The Protestant reformers denied that holy orders was a sacrament instituted by Christ. They also believed the commission given to the Twelve Apostles was meant for the entire community.

Contemporary Protestant theologians question whether appointment of the Twelve Apostles is relevant and maintain that an ordained ministry emerged gradually, Sister Sara explained. Many have concluded that Christ didn’t institute a special ministerial priesthood or intend that it be passed on exclusively by the apostles through the Holy Spirit in a sacrament of holy orders.

The Catholic Church teaches that Christ conferred on the apostles a special priesthood, passed on through holy orders, that enables priests to serve in the person of Christ, Sister Sara said.

“It hands on the gift or confers a spiritual power that equips the priest to do and say what he could never do on his own,” she said. “Holy orders configures him to Christ as his ambassador and a steward of the mysteries so that he can carry out the Lord’s own ministry among the rest of the baptized.”

The Catholic Church has no authority to ordain women because it can’t alter the sacramental sign Christ gave in his example of choosing only male apostles, which is supported by the unbroken tradition of ordaining men and conferring holy orders, she added.

Common objections to women’s ordination — including those relying on New Testament passages routinely cited to explain an all-male priesthood or theological arguments concerning the complementarity of the sexes — can’t be resolved without addressing the tradition tracing the priesthood to its institution by Christ, Sister Sara said.

St. Thomas senior Liz Maslow, 21, said she doesn’t hear many arguments about Jesus founding the priesthood and its importance. “It was really fascinating to see how [Sister Sara] laid that out for [us as] if someone were to ask that kind of question,” she said.

Despite differences on women’s ordination, Catholics and Protestants have identified in dialogue 15 faith elements held in common that point to a sacramental understanding of the Eucharist and holy orders, Sister Sara said.

“The Catholic Church brings to this discussion something different, something beyond this,” she said.

“She brings her confidence that in calling the Twelve Apostles, Christ established a New Testament priesthood and her confident faith that Christ is present and active in the Church by means of it.”

Celebrating a milestone anniversary for the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help with the Redemptorists, St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center will host a recently commissioned replica May 7-17.

Redemptorist priest Father Patrick Keyes of St. Alphonsus said the religious order wishes to “spread devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help and through Mary’s intercession, to bring people closer to Jesus.”

Visitors can pray with the icon at the Redemptorist-run parish during the 10 days. The icon will also be on display at St. Austin in Minneapolis May 18, St. Stephen in A replica icon of Our Mother of Minneapolis May 19 Perpetual Help will visit several and St. William in local parishes in May. File photo Fridley May 20-21.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help depicts Mary holding up the child Jesus surrounded by two angels on a gold background. The many symbols in the icon and the basic details of the image have been designed to help the viewer prayerfully reflect on the life of Mary.

Father Keyes noted that icons are different from statues or pictures in that icons are meant to be “read” — “to read the story of the picture — that aspect of our faith that the iconographer wants to teach us through the icon.”

The original icon resides in the Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori in Rome. In the U.S., Redemptorists of the Denver Province commissioned an Our Mother of Perpetual Help icon for the 150th anniversary of the icon being in the order’s care. The icon has traveled around the country since 2016.

The icon’s origins are unknown; it was brought to Italy from Crete in 1495 and was reportedly already considered ancient at that time. The Redemptorists have cared for the icon since 1866 at Pope Pius IX’s request.

“When the pope ... gave us [the Redemptorists] the icon, he said that we have the responsibility to make her known throughout the world,” Father Keyes said.

“That’s part of what we’re hoping to do in Brooklyn Center ... to make her better known to the people in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”

For the schedule of events at St. Alphonsus, visit www.stalsmn.org/omph.

Holy Land • October 16-27, 2017 Fr. Robert Fitzpatrick, Spiritual Director Pastor at St. Rose of Lima and Corpus Christi; Roseville, MN Our Lady of Guadalupe…Mexico City • September 25 – October 3, 2017 Guided Winter-Getaways • Get out of Minnesota Winter 2018 Your Destination ... Your Date ... Your Friends • Call Colleen for Details Anticipatory Pilgrimages For 2018 – Dates To Be Announced • Holy Land, Italy, Poland/Prague, Ireland/Scotland

JeriCo Christian Journeys • 19091 Island View Drive • Mora, MN 55051 Call Colleen at 1-877-453-7426 E-mail: Colleen@jericochristianjourneys.com www.jericochristianjourneys.com

1-877-453-7426

FAITH & CULTURE

May 4, 2017

Reclaiming the feminine mystique Behold retreat focuses on young women’s engagement in homes, parishes and public square

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

I

n the late 1300s, St. Catherine of Siena wrote to her friend Stefano Maconi, urging him not to be lukewarm in his work for God and the Church. She told him, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

The famous quote points to the reason more than 40 young women gathered for a day retreat at St. Olaf in Minneapolis on St. Catherine’s feast day, April 29: to explore authentic womanhood and its implications for their spheres of influence, and to aspire to holiness.

The women were in their 20s or early 30s. They heard from seven speakers on topics ranging from authentic freedom to the importance of beauty and hospitality.

Called “Behold” in reference to Mary’s fiat, spoken to the Archangel Gabriel — “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” — the retreat was organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. It was the brainchild of one of the office’s evangelization managers, Susanna Bolle, who last year attended the GIVEN Forum, a conference on similar themes in Washington, D.C. There she and other attendees were challenged to create an action plan for sharing one’s gifts in their home dioceses.

“The purpose of the Behold retreat was to bring

From left, Sister Eileen Leon, Justina Kopp, Bridget Busacker, Dia Boyle and Crystal Crocker, interim director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, take questions at Behold April 29 at St. Olaf in Minneapolis. Maria Wiering/The Catholic Spirit young women together for a day of beauty, prayer, leadership training and networking which would encourage them to be confident and bold while offering their unique gifts to the world, especially within their own parish,” said Bolle, 26, a parishioner of St. Mark in St. Paul.

Among the speakers was Justina Kopp, a parishioner of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, and a mother to infant quadruplets. She spoke alongside Sister Eileen Leon, a member of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, on the importance of beauty, and its role in the vocations of marriage and religious life.

Kopp explained that beauty is a transcendental — along with goodness and truth — and exhorted the women to seek beauty, create it in their homes and families, and acknowledge it in themselves. True beauty leads others to think of the creator, she said.

Sister Eileen, a confirmation coordinator and middle school youth minister at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, described encountering PES priests and sisters while preparing for confirmation in her home country of Peru. She was attracted to their joy, she said, which she realized came from their relationship with Christ. The

Theology Day. Find out.

A Special Presentation for the Business Sector

Dusty Shoes and Doing the Laundry: Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis Tuesday, May 19 - The Minneapolis Club, 729 2nd Ave. S, Minneapolis 11:30 a.m.: check-in and meal, 12:00-1:30 p.m.: presentation, 1:30 p.m.-book signing Chris Lowney will draw on the example of Pope Francis to challenge our assumptions about leadership. He will share anecdotes related to him by Jesuits who knew then-Fr. Bergoglio thirty years ago. He will draw lessons learned from Bergoglio for the rest of us, and invite each of us to seize our own leadership opportunities.

Chris Lowney served as a Managing Director of JP Morgan & Co on three continents until leaving the firm in 2001. Since then, he has authored four books, including the bestselling Heroic Leadership, which has been translated into a dozen languages. His most recent book is Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads.

Chris currently chairs the board of Catholic Health Initiatives, graduated from Fordham University, holds five honorary doctoral degrees, lives in the Bronx, NY, and roots for the NY Mets with no shame.

Brought to you by:

Tom & Mary McKeown

Dave and Babs Koch

CSB/SJU McNeely Center for Entrepreneaurship

Jon & Lea Theobald

Robert L. Lee and Mary E. Schaffner

FREE but there is limited seating and registration is required: www.csbsju.edu/sot or 320-363-3570

www.TheCatholicSpirit.com

The Catholic Spirit • 11B perfection of beauty, she said, is the “shining out of Christ within us.”

Likewise, a beautiful home also attracts, allowing women to practice hospitality, deepen friendships, and through those friendships, lead others to holiness, said Dia Boyle, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul.

“The home is a secret weapon — a very powerful secret weapon in the project of making, fostering and deepening friendships, which we need to do for our own human happiness ... but also so we can be women of influence,” she said, emphasizing that friendship must be a priority and “can’t be the last thing after everything else, or those friendships won’t flourish.”

In the day’s closing talk, Bridget Busacker extended that call of friendship to one’s relationships with the saints, telling the women to “build up your spiritual tribe.”

A newlywed and St. Mark parishioner, Busacker said young adults can struggle with feeling like they have little to offer their parish, or they feel like they’d prefer not to take on parish responsibilities.

“I’m recognizing that it’s really not about what I want, but what I can give, and how the Lord is working through us and with us to be able to share our faith, to build community, to build relationships, so that we’re not just on our phones all the time, we’re not hopping around from parish to parish, we’re really investing in one place,” she said.

Abby Kowitz, 27, said the retreat renewed her sense of her femininity and “how that gift of my womanhood, my femininity, is needed in the world,” she said. “While that’s lived in my being, I need to be intentional and active in living that out and be more bold.”

Bolle hopes attendees left with a “happy challenge.”

“I want each woman to walk away from the retreat with an excitement to pray about whatever it is the Lord placed upon her heart that day,” she said. “I hope that each woman courageously steps out of her comfort zone and says ‘yes’ to God’s plan for her, and that she will pursue opportunities to exemplify leadership in her community and parish life and ‘set the world on fire’ by being who she is meant to be.”

12B • The Catholic Spirit

FOCUS ON FAITH

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES

Deacon Samuel Schneider

When we hear Christ’s voice, we can’t be led astray When I hear a voice of a person I can’t see at the seminary, I sometimes enjoy trying to figure out and guess who the person is. Occasionally, it is easy to figure out. And other times, I must search my memory and wait for a distinct pronunciation or phrase for it to click.

Sometimes, I get it wrong, or my initial guess is wrong, but often by listening more, it comes to me.

I do this for fun, but sheep do this for survival. They need to know their shepherd’s voice, so they can follow and have their shepherd protect and care for them. In Jesus’ time, sheepfolds from many shepherds would

May 4, 2017

often come together during the night and be kept together so that the shepherds could share watch. At the start of the day, the sheep had to be separated, so they could go out and graze with their shepherds. Separating sheep by sheep did not work, as it would take too long.

But calling out and having sheep remember a voice did work. And so, shepherds would train the sheep to know their distinct voice and call.

In the spiritual life, God is also trying to teach us his distinct voice. We are all like those sheep penned up for the night and excited and looking forward to getting out and grazing. However, there are some thieves and robbers who are trying to lead us astray by calling us out to graze, but who really want to destroy us. Do not be led astray and destroyed by these voices of the world.

We need to focus on Jesus’ voice and ignore all others trying to lead us astray.

But what does Jesus’ voice sound like? Is it low and gravelly or nice and mild?

We see in the first reading that through Peter, Jesus’ voice is proclaimed and cuts to their heart; the people repent and are baptized. In the second reading, we once again hear Jesus’ voice through Peter as he tells us about the example of Jesus that we are called to follow. All Scripture is the word of God, which is the voice of Jesus.

We also hear Jesus’ voice through the Church, the bride of Christ, in the Mass and often in silence.

Sunday, May 7 Fourth Sunday of Easter Readings • Acts 2:14a, 36-41 • 1 Pt 2:20b-25 • Jn 10:1-10 However, we hear lots of other voices — those of hatred, fear, racism, lust, pleasure, greed, pride and laziness. We hear these voices, and in our desire for grazing, can be led astray to follow. As we listen to these voices of the world, we might come to know them better than God’s. And this is to our destruction.

As sheep destined for good grazing land, we wait in total trust for the voice of the good shepherd, who has come to give us eternal life.

Deacon Schneider is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese for the Military Services. His teaching parish is St. Patrick in Hudson, Wisconsin, and his home parish is Nativity of Our Lord in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, May 7 Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 36-41 1 Pt 2:20b-25 Jn 10:1-10 Monday, May 8 Acts 11:1-18 Jn 10:11-18 Tuesday, May 9 Acts 11:19-26 Jn 10:22-30

Wednesday, May 10 Acts 12:24–13:5a Jn 12:44-50

Saturday, May 13 Acts 13:44-52 Jn 14:7-14

Tuesday, May 16 Acts 14:19-28 Jn 14:27-31a

Friday, May 19 Acts 15:22-31 Jn 15:12-17

Thursday, May 11 Acts 13:13-25 Jn 13:16-20

Sunday, May 14 Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 1 Pt 2:4-9 Jn 14:1-12

Wednesday, May 17 Acts 15:1-6 Jn 15:1-8

Saturday, May 20 Acts 16:1-10 Jn 15:18-21

Thursday, May 18 Acts 15:7-21 Jn 15:9-11

Sunday, May 21 Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 1 Pt 3:15-18 Jn 14:15-21

Friday, May 12 Acts 13:26-33 Jn 14:1-6

SEEKING ANSWERS

Father Michael Schmitz

Duties to family members include love, but with wisdom

Q. There is a family member who keeps intruding in my life. I want to love this person well, and I don’t want to go against God’s teaching about the duty we owe to family, but this person’s constant interruptions and negative attitude are affecting my family and me. What can I do?

A. This is an important question, both for those who need a reminder that we have an obligation to the people around us and for those who need to remember that our families do not have an absolute claim on our time, energy or resources.

We have experienced an unprecedented fracturing of the family in our society and in our age. This is the cause of many of our problems. If you experience great loneliness or overwhelming detachment from the people around you, from your home or from your place in this world, it is likely a partial result of the breaking apart of the family. For the first time in history, we exist in a society that has reduced human life to the individual. While this movement has a grain of truth and goodness to it (the human person truly does have great intrinsic dignity and goodness), it has also resulted in exalting the individual to an absolute level.

Monday, May 15 Acts 14:5-18 Jn 14:21-26

We need to return to the full biblical truth regarding our responsibility to our own families. This includes the relationship that we have with our extended family members and our adult children, siblings and parents.

God is very clear (in the Bible and through the Church) about the responsibilities children have to their parents.

In his Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents in everything” (Col 3:20).

This is a command from the Lord.

As children grow and gain more independence from their parents, this command changes in practice but not in essence. Further, once parents reach the place where they need the assistance of their grown children, they are owed a certain level of care.

All of this reminds us of God’s commands to be involved, to the degree that we are able, in the lives of family members. Please note, however, that the exact manner of this care is not specified. There are times when a grown child cannot care for the exact needs of siblings or parents. There are times when someone in need will require the help of those outside of the immediate family. There are times when professional care is required.

And there are times when one will have to set boundaries on the level of involvement one’s family has in one’s life. Jesus makes it clear that we are called to love him above father or mother, spouse, sibling and child (cf. Mt 10:37, Lk 9:59). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states it in this way: “Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation, which comes from God, asserts itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call and encourage their children to follow it. They must be convinced that the first vocation of the Christian is to follow Jesus” (2232).

Therefore, we are left with the need for love and wisdom. We are commanded to love those people to whom we are related. Yet, we also need to be wise in the

manner of that love. This “wise love” will necessarily involve creating boundaries.

We don’t often think of boundaries when it comes to love, but they are essential. Consider the following example. Imagine that a man’s mother is an addict. He consistently offers to be a part of her life, but she consistently avoids him — until she needs money for rent. One evening, she calls him and tells him that she needs a few thousand dollars for rent. If she can’t pay, she might be homeless. Now, her son has no obligation to enable his mother’s destructive behavior. He could, weighing out the options and the need for his mom to reach a “rock bottom,” allow her to fall.

This would not be done recklessly or without due consideration. It would also not be a final rejection of his mom. It would be temporarily withholding help so as to help her when she is ready to change. He could draw a boundary.

I have found that we typically continue the kinds of behaviors that others allow us to get away with. The same is true for others: They usually continue the behaviors we allow them to get away with.

Keep this in mind, however. Once you draw a boundary, they might get upset with you. That’s fine. If someone had become used to poisoning your drinking water and you responded by placing a seal around your water, and they became angry with you for that, you wouldn’t remove the seal so that they could keep on poisoning you. The same is true for poisonous behavior.

If you place a boundary around yourself that keeps out the behavior, they might become upset that you are not allowing them to poison your mood. That is no reason to allow the poisonous words and behavior to continue.

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

Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

May 4, 2017

THE LOCAL CHURCH

Lynda McDonnell

Feeling Christ’s pain through others This Easter season, I’ve been thinking a good deal about the nature of Christian faith and the wildly different varieties on display these days — Coptic Christians persecuted in Egypt; Pope Francis’ call to mercy; and some American groups’ campaigns to expel immigrants, expand gun rights, shrink government and tilt the economic system even more in favor of the rich.

An alien from another planet would be understandably confused by the message and meaning of that Judean man from 2,000 years ago.

Had I the chance, I would not take that visitor to the triumphant hallelujahs of Easter. We would go instead to the living Stations of the Cross mounted on Good Friday by the Latino members of my church, Incarnation/Sagrado Corazon in Minneapolis.

Even for me, raised from childhood on the story of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation, it was a revelation and reminder of one core belief of my faith — mercy.

Let me take you there.

It is supper time and overcast. The unlit church — a century old with marble floors and high ceilings — is packed with hundreds of young Latino families that include mothers, fathers and children, and a handful of Anglos, who sit in attentive silence. A quiet dirge plays

WORD ON FIRE

Bishop Robert Barron

‘The Case for Christ’ and a stubbornly historical religion “The Case for Christ” is a film adaptation of Lee Strobel’s best-selling book of the same name, one that has made an enormous splash in Evangelical circles and beyond.

It is the story of a young, ambitious (and atheist) reporter for the Chicago Tribune who fell into a psychological and spiritual crisis when his wife became a Christian. The scenes involving Strobel and his spouse, which play out over many months of their married life, struck me as poignant and believable — and I say this with some authority, having worked with a number of couples in a similar situation. In some cases, a non-believing spouse might look upon his partner’s faith as a harmless diversion, a bit like a hobby. But in other cases, the non-believer sees the dawning of faith in his beloved as something akin to a betrayal. This latter situation strongly obtained in the Strobel’s marriage.

In order to resolve the tension, Lee used his considerable analytical and investigative skills to debunk the faith that was so beguiling his wife. The focus of his inquiry was, at the suggestion of a Christian colleague at the Tribune, the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus didn’t rise, his friend explained, Christianity crumbles like a house of cards. The narrative unfolds, then, as a kind of detective story — Strobel hunting down leads, interrogating experts and asking the hard questions.

I liked this for a couple of reasons. First, at its best,

The Catholic Spirit • 13B

I carry with me now that image — the cross as Christ’s throne, the throne of mercy, and the generosity of God’s mercy for us — God’s call for us to show mercy to one another.

in the background as a young man with an expressive face and sturdy build appears at one side of the altar, kneeling in front of a panel painted as a garden.

A single spotlight follows him and other performers around the church, illuminating scene by scene the story of Christ’s painful, lonely end. His plea in the garden — “Take this cup from me” — and acquiescence — “Not my will but your will be done.” His public humiliation, the mocking of his claim to a kingdom, the torture of his body, his anguished cry from the cross: “Why have you abandoned me?”

After studying Spanish for two years, I understood maybe a quarter of the words. No matter, because I know the story well. But this year, I understood more profoundly its meaning.

Around me sat hundreds of immigrants, many undocumented, many afraid to drive, shop or answer the door for fear Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will separate them from their children and cast them out of a country where they’ve built their lives for decades. Sitting with them, I felt afresh Christ’s pain when his disciples abandoned him.

I felt, too, the power of sharing another’s pain. When a woman stepped forward to wipe Christ’s bloody face

— Veronica, tradition tells us — I felt the power of that small comfort and the call to do the same.

Most of the time, we work hard to distance ourselves from pain. Our opiate crisis is a self-destructive sprint away from our own pain. Our politics have become a series of appeals to narrow identities and interests, a stubborn refusal to feel the pain of others.

After the actor was taken from the cross, the lights went on and our pastor pointed to the empty cross — “trona de misericordia,” the throne of mercy.

Misericordia blends two Latin words — those for suffering and heart.

The combination produces mercy — “kindness in excess of what might be expected or demanded by fairness.”

I carry with me now that image — the cross as Christ’s throne, the throne of mercy, and the generosity of God’s mercy for us — God’s call for us to show mercy to one another.

Christianity is not fideist, that is to say, reliant upon a pure and uncritical act of faith on the part of its adherents. Rather, it happily embraces reason and welcomes critical questions. Secondly, and relatedly, Christianity is a stubbornly historical religion. It is not a philosophy (though it can employ philosophical language), nor is it a spirituality (though a spirituality can be distilled from it); rather, it is a relationship to a historical figure about whom an extraordinary historical claim has been made, namely, that he rose bodily from the dead.

Now especially in recent years, many attempts have been made to mitigate the scandal of this assertion.

Jesus was a great moral exemplar, a powerful teacher of spiritual truth, an inspiring man of God — and it doesn’t particularly matter whether the reports of resurrection are factually accurate. Indeed, it is probably best to read them as mythic or symbolic. To all of that, classical Christianity says no. It agrees with Lee Strobel’s colleague: If the resurrection didn’t happen, Christianity should be allowed to fall onto the ash heap of history. Therefore, watching our intrepid investigator go about his work is, for a true Christian, thrilling, precisely because the questions are legitimate, and something is really at stake.

So, what were his inquiries?

First, he wondered whether the resurrection stories were just fairy tales, pious inventions meant to take away our fear of death. But he learned that, in point of fact, many people claimed to have seen Jesus after his crucifixion, including 500 at once. Moreover, most of the leaders of the early Church went to their deaths defending the legitimacy of what they taught. Would anyone do that for a myth or a legend of his own invention?

But another question came to his mind: Might they all have been victims of a mass hallucination? A psychologist patiently explained that waking dreams are not shared by hundreds of people at different times and different places. “If hundreds of individuals had the same hallucination, that would be a greater miracle than the resurrection,” she informed him with a smile.

But what about the reliability of the Christian texts themselves? Weren’t they written long after the events described? A Catholic priest, who is also an

archeologist and specialist in ancient manuscripts, told him that the number of early copies of the Christian Gospels far surpasses that of any other ancient text, including the Iliad of Homer and the Dialogues of Plato.

What about the “swoon theory,” according to which Jesus did not really die on the cross but only lost consciousness, only to be revived sometime later? A Los Angeles-based physician detailed for him the brutal process of a Roman execution, which resulted in the victim slowly bleeding to death and asphyxiating.

The swoon theory, the doctor concluded, “is rubbish.”

At each stage of the process, Strobel continued to wonder, question, balk and argue, all the time maintaining the default position that Christianity is bunk. Nevertheless, it was becoming clear that the relentlessness of the counter-arguments and their stubborn congruence with one another was wearing him down.

This made me think of John Henry Newman’s famous account of how we come to religious assent. It is very rarely by virtue of one clinching argument, Newman said, but rather through the slow, steady confluence of inference, hunch, intuition, experience, the witness of others, etc. This convergence of probabilities, under the aegis of what Newman called the “illative sense,” customarily leads the mind to assent.

In the course of their conversation, Strobel’s priestarcheologist interlocutor showed the skeptical journalist a reproduction of the Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial cloth of Jesus. Gazing into the eyes of the image, Strobel asked, “What would have made him go through all of this?” The priest responded, “That’s easy: love.” As the arguments were jostling in his head, Strobel remembered that image and that explanation — and the filmmakers insinuate that this is what finally pushed him over into belief.

“The Case for Christ” is interesting for any number of reasons, but I think it is particularly compelling for its subtle portrayal of the psychological, spiritual and intellectual dynamics of evangelization.

McDonnell is a writer and journalist, and a member of Incarnation/Sagrado Corazon de Jesus in Minneapolis. Her blog, A Pilgrim’s Way, can be found at www.lyndamcdonnell.com.

Bishop Barron is an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

14B • The Catholic Spirit

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

shares many strands of thought with Novak’s Caritapolis — knew that without the proper moral and anthropological basis, the triumph of democratic capitalism would turn into soft totalitarianism, and that we would indeed have a consumerist economy that commodifies people.

Jason Adkins

Novak and the moral foundations of a free society The Catholic world lost one of its most illuminating thinkers when Michael Novak recently passed away at age 83. Novak can be credited with articulating a vision of the moral foundations necessary to maintain a system of democratic capitalism (political freedom and free enterprise).

Likewise, one could say Novak was one of the originators of a theology of economics, that is, an understanding of how man’s creative participation in social and economic life contributes to the development of his personality, fulfills his vocation to be a steward, and realizes his dignity as a co-creator made in the image and likeness of God, who himself creates out of love.

Continued relevance

Tell Gov. Mark Dayton to sign Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit The Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit is poised to be passed in the Minnesota State Legislature. This measure would give more kids from low- and middle-income families the chance to get a quality education at Catholic and other private schools.

But Dayton still needs to sign the bill into law. We need to make sure the governor understands that Minnesotans want to expand educational opportunities for children and families.

Please call Dayton at 651-201-3400 and share this message: “Please sign the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit into law. This bill will allow more children to attend the school that is right for them, and could help close Minnesota’s achievement gap. Let’s put our children first.”

Caritapolis

Novak’s work remains important today, as our supposedly free-market economic system, as well as the system of global capitalism, is not operating as it should. Greed, cronyism between government and corporations, and outright corruption create what Pope Francis calls an economy of exclusion. Too many economic actors focus on extracting wealth from the system as opposed to creating it, and put up barriers to entry instead of expanding participation.

Rather than serving as a playing field in which all people find sustenance and develop their God-given potential, this economy of exclusion, in the pope’s estimation, is an “economy that kills.”

What’s needed is a recovery of the sense of the moral foundations that undergird a properly functioning economy. For his part, Novak cited caritas (love) as the cornerstone of this societal architecture and saw that people could not flourish without it.

TWENTY SOMETHING

Christina Capecchi

A big win for the little guy Art Cullen has his gripes about Catholicism, but he cannot deny its influence on the work that last month won him a Pulitzer Prize.

The story went viral: Small-town newspaper editor beats out the likes of The Washington Post and the Houston Chronicle to earn journalism’s highest honor. Score one for the little guy — in this case, The Storm Lake Times, a family-owned paper in Iowa with a 10-person staff and a circulation of 3,000.

Suddenly, droves of people were Googling Storm Lake, and reporters were waxing poetic. “Viewed from above on Google Earth,” wrote The Concord Monitor, “swatches of Storm Lake, Iowa, a community of 10,000, look like corduroy, so heavily is the landscape furrowed.”

At 59, Cullen looks the part of the rumpled newspaper editor with his gray horseshoe mustache and a glint in his eyes, his lanky frame drowning in

May 4, 2017

In his later work, Novak proposed what he called the Caritapolis, the city of Caritas —“one human family of brothers and sisters who are willing to give their lives for each other.” It had three foundations: political, economic and moral.

Novak asked, “What would it profit the human race if we were to achieve a higher level of political and economic liberty than ever before, only to live like pigs, enslaved to our desires without reflection and deliberation? This would be a travesty, for it is not only our political and economic systems that must be worthy of our human nature, but also our habits of moral living.”

His assessment was especially needed at a moment when capitalism had defeated communism and was set to reshape the global economy. Prescient thinkers such as Novak and Pope John Paul II — whose 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus” (“Hundredth Year”) Lee jeans and Red Wing boots. His brother, John, is publisher of The Storm Lake Times; his son, Tom, is a reporter; and his wife, Dolores, is the photographer.

Cullen’s series of Pulitzer-winning editorials took on powerful agricultural groups for allowing nitrogen runoff to pollute Iowa rivers. When the Des Moines Water Works sued three counties for this offense, they fought the lawsuit using money provided by undisclosed sources. Cullen demanded to know who those sources were and ultimately uncovered funding from the Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups.

“Anyone with eyes and a nose knows in his gut that Iowa has the dirtiest surface water in America,” Cullen wrote in a March 2016 editorial.

The editorials cost the paper at least a few advertisers, but Cullen was undeterred, fueled by a sense of indignation.

He also has chronicled the transformation of rural Iowa unfolding before his eyes, writing about the immigrants who settled in Storm Lake, a meatpacking town where he said 20 languages are spoken and 88 percent of the grade-school children are of color.

Twice a week, Cullen wields the power of print, his newspaper ink elevating the lowly and holding the powerful accountable.

It’s what the nuns who taught him in the 1970s would’ve done. The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Mary’s School in Storm Lake were as committed to social justice and Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine as they were to grammar.

“There were a lot of Irish nuns who knew how to

All is gift Novak expanded upon this idea in his description of Caritapolis, noting that free societies and free enterprise systems must be animated by people who understand they have been created and redeemed by the gratuitous and undeserved gift of God’s love.

Therefore, all of creation, including our own individual lives, should be viewed as a gift to be shared with others.

Understanding ourselves within the context of this narrative of gift, we create a Caritapolis when our actions are rooted in this great gift of self. We understand that everything we have is a gift, including our economic resources, and that, being good stewards of this gift, we are called to invite others into greater participation in the gift.

In the Caritapolis’ economy of gift, those with property and economic resources must work to foster greater labor participation and create meaningful work for others; they create new enterprises that are both profitable and contribute to the common good; they avoid the vice of luxury; and they channel excess profits into their employees, the community and new creative enterprises. Their business ethic is animated by self-giving love (caritas).

Lest this sound like pie-in-the-sky romanticism, Novak distinguished caritas from mere sentimentalism or romantic love: “We must fix our eyes on the points of suffering at the heart of things and watch for concrete results, not sweet talk. Caritas is a teacher of realism, not soft-headedness; of fact, not sentiment; of suffering love, not illusory bliss. To think in a utopian way is a sin against Caritapolis.”

As Pope Francis continues to challenge us to consider how an economy can lift up or degrade human dignity, Novak’s many books and writings on the subject are worth revisiting. While not all Catholics need agree with his prescriptions, each of us should similarly strive to put love at the center of all our actions.

Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. write,” Cullen told me.

Even then, he was an imperfect Catholic — a fired altar boy, as he recalls, plucked out of class one day by Sister Redempta and released from his server duties after missing 6:30 a.m. Mass two weeks in a row.

The credo that journalism comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable could well be lifted from the Gospels. There, Cullen’s upbringing and his profession intersect.

“I don’t think I can separate Catholic social justice from journalism,” he said.

Cullen understands the message behind his win: “It just shows that you don’t have to work for The New York Times to be a good writer.”

His paper might lack the resources to win Pulitzers for international reporting or feature writing, but he can write editorials that make a difference in his community; that’s what the Pulitzer jury saw, he said.

Watergate inspired Cullen to pursue journalism at its noblest, but there was a time in his career when he felt disenchanted.

“You get into rural Iowa and you realize, ‘Hey, I’m not changing the world here.’ You flounder around and think, ‘I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, and I’ve got something to say and nobody’s hearing it.’

And then you realize that actually this is where you’re supposed to be.”

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

CALENDAR

May 4, 2017 Parish events

Conferences/seminars/ workshops

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office’s annual Pentecost Vigil Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda — June 3: 6:30–8:30 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony. www.ccro-msp.org.

Transfiguration garage sale — May 5-6: 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. May 5 and 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m.

May 6 at 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale.

“Cinco Taco Sale” — May 6: 11 a.m. in the social hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 401 Concord St., St. Paul. www.olgspchurch.com.

Spring women’s brunch — May 6: 11 a.m.– 1 p.m. at Annunciation, 509 W. 54th St., Minneapolis. www.mybellis.org/brunch.

Faithful Spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7–8:30 p.m. at the archdiocesan chancery, 777 Forest St., St. Paul.

For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation or divorce. 651-291-4438 or faithfulspouses@archspm.org.

Ecumenical Taize Prayer — first Friday of each month through May 5: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. www.strichards.com/first-fridays.

Ave Maria Academy open house — May 9: 6:30–8 p.m. at 7000 Jewel Lane N., Maple Grove. www.avemariaacademy.org.

Golf tournament benefitting Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Richfield — May 15: 11 a.m. at 6300 Auto Club Road, Bloomington. www.btcsmn.org/about/GolfTournament.htm.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: • Time and date of event • Full street address of event • Description of event • C ontact information in case of questions.

Speakers “Charismata: Encounter God in Praise, Adoration and Prayer Ministry” with Father Michael Becker — May 12 and June 9: 8–10 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. www.ccro-msp.org.

ONLINE: www.thecatholicspirit.com/ calendarsubmissions

FAX: 651-291-4460

Our Lady of Fatima presentations with speaker Barb Ernster, president of the World Apostolate of Fatima Twin Cities Division — May 17, 24 and 31: 6:30–8 p.m. in Hayden Hall at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/cya-calendar.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s treasure hunt garage sale — May 4-6: 4–8 p.m. May 4-5 and 8 a.m.– 4 p.m. May 6 at Haben Center, 2501 Highway 100 S., St. Louis Park. www.bsmschool.org.

Queen of May Dinner and Auction to benefit Immaculate Conception — May 5: 5:30 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights.

763-788-9062 or school.iccsonline.org.

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

Catholic Divorce Survival Guidance — Mondays through May 22: 7–8:15 p.m. at St. Edward, 9401 Nesbitt Ave. S., Bloomington. www.stedwardschurch.org.

Blessed Trinity Catholic School rummage sale — May 4-6: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. May 4, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

May 5 and 8 a.m.–noon May 6 at 6730 Nicollet Ave. S., Richfield. www.btcsmn.org/fundraising.html.

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 www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

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

Charism Workshop: Gift of Generosity with Pete Fastner — May 20: 9–11 a.m. at St. Peter, 6730 Nicollet Ave., Richfield. office@ccro-msp.org or www.ccro-msp.org.

Schools

Career Transition group meeting — Third Thursday of each month: 7:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Medina. www.hnoj.org/career-transition-group.

Prayer/worship

Encountering God in Everyday Life — May 5-6: 5–6 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

May Women’s mid-week retreat — May 16-18: 7 p.m. May 16 to 1:30 p.m. May 18 at 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats. net/womens_retreat.

Ongoing groups

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.

Retreats

Our Lady of Fatima retreat and celebration with Fathers Robert Altier and Randal Kasel — May 13: 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. at St. Michael, 451 Fifth St. SW, Pine Island. www.stpaulstmichael.com.

St. Mary of the Lake rummage sale — May 12-13: 5–9 p.m. May 12 and 8 a.m.–3 p.m.

May 13 at 4690 Bald Eagle Ave., White Bear Lake. www.stmarys-wbl.org.

CALENDAR submissions

Una Voce 100th Anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima Rosary, Mass and Conference — May 13: 9 a.m.–noon at All Saints, 435 Fourth St. NE, Minneapolis.

“Finding Your Calcutta” half-day retreat with Father Joe Gillespie — May 13: 7:30 a.m.–noon at Immaculate Conception, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. www.iccsonline.org.

Blessed Sacrament Men’s Club rummage sale — May 11-13: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. May 11-12 and 8 a.m.–noon May 13 at 2119 Stillwater Ave., St. Paul. www.blessedsacramentsp.org.

The Catholic Spirit • 15B

MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

More online

Other events Life Legal Defense Foundation and Minnesota Lawyers for Life second annual benefit dinner with keynote speaker Wayne Holstad, president of Minnesota Lawyers for Life — May 6: 6 p.m. at St. Peter, fellowship hall, 2600 N. Margaret St., North St. Paul. Russ at 612-875-2733 or app.mobilecause.com/form/HGCsMQ.

Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness Sofas and Spokes Drive — May 20: 9 a.m.–noon at Plymouth Congregational Church, 1900 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis. www.dceh.org/upcoming-events/ dceh-sofa-and-spokes-drive.

The Basilica Landmark Ball — May 20: 5–11 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium, 401 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis. www.thebasilicalandmark.org.

Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center’s Franciscan International Award Dinner — May 11: 6–9 p.m. at The Wilds Golf Club, 3151 Wilds Ridge Court NW, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats.net/fiadinner.aspx.

Association of Pastoral Ministers Spring Banquet — May 23: 6–9 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas’ Binz Refectory, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Chris Sorensen at 952-698-1722 or www.apmspm.org.

CAA Women’s Slow Pitch Softball League — May 19-July 21: 6 p.m. at Edgcumbe Fields, 320 Griggs St., St. Paul. caa.director@hotmail.com.

Marketplace • Message Center Classified Ads Reach nearly 70,000 homes with Minnesota’s largest paid semi-monthly newspaper Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: 651-290-1631 • Fax: 651-291-4460 Next issue: 5-18-17 • Deadline: 3 p.m., 5-12-17 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo/logo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS

CEILING TEXTURE

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS -­WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780

Michaels Painting. Popcorn Removal & Knock Down Texture: TextureCeilings.com (763) 757-3187.

C1232

Part-time Law Office Typist in West St. Paul, Minnesota: Produce legal documents including Wills, Trusts, Briefs, Pleadings, and Reports. Administrative support to attorney, paralegals, and office manager.

Description, required qualifications, and skills listed at www.TrojackLaw.com.

Contact Signe Betsinger (651) 451-9696.

C10105

DVD TRANSFER

AL HANSEN • CONTRACTOR

Preserve Your Slides & Film Transfer them to DVD Today!

For quality transfers at great prices call Astound Video Duplication and Transfer at (651) 644-2412

Ornamental step railings, plain and fancy, new and repair, concrete step repair.

Al Hansen (651) 227-4320 C12667

ANTIQUES TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture Rugs • Pictures • Bookcases • Pottery Beer Items • Toys & Misc.

(651) 227-2469 C4185

ATTORNEYS Edward F. Gross • Wills, Trusts, Probate, Es­tate Planning, Real Estate. Office at 35E & Roselawn Ave., St. Paul (651) 631-0616 C1127O

C11535

GREAT CATHOLIC SPEAKERS

C7811

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Part-time Law Office Receptionist in West St. Paul, Minnesota: Administrative support to attorney, paralegals, and office manager. Description, required qualifications, and skills listed at www.TrojackLaw. com. Contact Signe Betsinger (651) 451-9696.

C11535

Need to sell something?

Advertise a service?

Call Chris or Dick at (651) 290-1631

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 C11988

HARDWOOD FLOORS

Sweeney’s Hardwood Floors

Spring’s HERE! Spruce up your home with new or refurbished hardwood floors: 10% off labor. Sweeney (651) 485-8187.

C10435

Need to sell something?

Advertise a service?

Call Chris or Dick at (651) 290-1631 PAINTING For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM or call (651) 699-6140.

C7521 Merriam Park Painting. Professional Int./ Ext. Painting. WP Hanging. Moderate Prices, Free Estimates. Call Ed (651) 224-3660.

C11269 Michaels Painting. Texture and Repair.

MichaelsPaintingLLC.com. (763) 757-3187.

PRAYERS Thank you St. Jude, Holy Spirit, all the angels and saints for prayers answered. JH & JO C12135 NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.

VACATION/FAMILY GETAWAY Knotty Pines Resort, Park Rapids, MN. 1, 2 & 3 bdrm cabins starting at $565/week. www.knottypinesresort.com (800) 392-2410.

Mention this ad for a discount!

C12598

C12327

Dennis Heigl Painting Interior/Exterior Serving Mpls. & suburbs. Free Estimates.

(763) 543-0998 • Cell (612) 819-2438.

C12048

PIANO TO DONATE FREE to parish: Wurlitzer baby grand, mint condition: (952) 942-7279

Ask a our 3 bout t speciaime l!

WANTED TO BUY $$$ for OLD SEWING Machines, Patterns, Fabric, Feedsacks, Hankies, Postcards, Photos, Holy Cards, Lighters, Jewelry, Lamps +Misc. Household (612) 823-8616 C3919 Estate & Downsizing: I buy Van Loads and Bicycles. Steve (651) 778-0571.

C6158

www.TheCatholicSpirit.com

16B • The Catholic Spirit

THE LAST WORD

May 4, 2017

Teen turns Fatima devotion into three children’s books

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit

A

s a young girl, MaryGrace Franz would call on her older sister and a younger brother to join her in the backyard to act out the story of Our Lady of Fatima. The siblings would play the parts of Lucia dos Santos, 10, and her cousins, Francisco, 8, and Jacinta Marto, 7, the shepherd children to whom Mary appeared in Fatima, Portugal, on the 13th day of May through October in 1917.

“And then we’d go and tell dad that we saw Mary in the backyard, and he’d say, ‘Oh, sure, sure,’” Franz, 17, recalled with a laugh.

Franz, a parishioner of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, recently took her love of the Fatima story from her backyard to the pages of three children’s books she wrote, illustrated and self-published: “Lucia and Our Lady’s Rosary: A True Story,” “Francisco and the Hidden Jesus: A True Story” and “Jacinta Sacrifices for Sinners: A True Story.” She received the printed copies in the mail last November. Having started the books in 2015, Franz is happy she completed them in time for the Our Lady of Fatima centennial May 13, at which Pope Francis will canonize Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who died from influenza in 1919 and 1920, respectively.

“I think it’s one of the reasons [the Fatima story] is so important for children — [the shepherd children] were really young, but they were able to attain such a great height of holiness. And they weren’t necessarily super holy before our lady’s apparitions, which is something that I can identify with,” Franz said, adding that she relates well to Jacinta, whom she chose as her confirmation saint. “And then after Our Lady’s apparitions, they just tried super hard to be holy, and they were determined, and that’s why they’re becoming saints. It’s not because Our Lady appeared to them, but because they took her message and they applied it to their lives. And the fact that they could do that as little children is something that I think is really neat and is really worth sharing, especially to children to help inspire them to strive for holiness, even at a young age.”

The books are geared toward children ages 2 to 10.

Franz said when she attends daily Mass at Holy Family, she sees children reading her books, and the book about Lucia is her 3-year-old cousin’s bedtime story of choice.

The two-and-a half-year process began when a family friend who was coordinating a vacation Bible school about “Our Lady of the world” wanted a children’s book about Our Lady of Fatima that included the story and message, and that children could understand. She asked Franz to work on a book, knowing she enjoys drawing and the story of Fatima.

Writing isn’t her forte, but painting is, so she agreed to the project.

“The illustrations were really what I put the most work into,” said Franz, who used acrylic paint for the original artwork.

After Franz began, she took a friend’s suggestion to turn one book into three, each telling a specific

“I think it’s one of the reasons [the Fatima story] is so important for children — [the shepherd children] were really young, but they were able to attain such a great height of holiness.”

MaryGrace Franz

MaryGrace Franz, a parishioner of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, reads “Jacinta Sacrifices for Sinners: A True Story,” one of her three books about Our Lady of Fatima. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit message of Mary.

“The children had a different aspect of Our Lady’s message that they identified with the most,” she explained. “Whereas Jacinta prayed for the conversion of sinners, Francisco prayed in reparation for the wrongs done to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And so, although they all focused on the whole thing, they each had a different part of it that they were most passionate about.”

Franz wanted each book to be brief enough to captivate young readers; the longest book, Lucia’s story, is 34 pages.

Although she didn’t finish the books in time for the VBS program, she was able to obtain from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis the imprimatur — the Church’s official permission to publish a book that touches on matters of Catholic faith or moral teaching — and the nihil obstat — a Church official’s judgment deeming a book free from errors in faith or moral teaching.

The books are available at two metro bookstores — St. George Christian Books and Gifts in Blaine, and St. Patrick’s Guild in St. Paul — and one in Peoria, Illinois, where her grandma lives. They’re also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Franz would like to continue writing and publishing children’s books, but she doesn’t have plans for more just yet. Next time, she said, she’ll work from a more feasible timeline and be sure her research is completed before beginning, rather than “diving in too excitedly.”

When she graduates from Minnesota Virtual Academy this spring, she hopes to enter the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, a teaching order in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

She lives her devotion to Our Lady of Fatima in her total consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort. At the end of her prayers, she adds, “Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.” She believes Mary’s message at Fatima is especially important for people today.

“I ultimately think that the message of Our Lady of Fatima is an offshoot of the message of Divine Mercy,” Franz said. “That’s what it’s going to lead back to is the message of God’s mercy for the world and specifically going to Jesus through his mother Mary.”

For more information about the books, visit www.shepherdchildrenof.wixsite.com/fatima.

MaryGrace Franz wrote, illustrated and self-published three books about the shepherd children to whom Mary appeared in Fatima, Portugal.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

Fatima Anniversary

May 4, 2017 • The Catholic Spirit • 1C

Fatima at

100:

Story of apparitions continues to attract attention

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

W

hile conversion and prayer are at the heart of Mary’s messages at Fatima, Portugal, the miracles and unexplained phenomenon that accompanied the events 100 years ago continue to intrigue believers and nonbelievers alike.

The apparitions of Mary at Fatima in 1917 were not the first supernatural events reported there.

Two years before Mary appeared to the three shepherd children — Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto — they saw a strange sight while praying the rosary in the field, according to the memoirs of Sister Lucia, who had become a Carmelite nun.

“We had hardly begun when, there before our eyes, we saw a figure poised in the air above the trees; it looked like a statue made of snow, rendered almost transparent by the rays of the sun,” she wrote, describing what they saw in 1915.

The next year, Francisco and Jacinta received permission to tend their family’s flocks, and Lucia decided to join her cousins in a field owned by their families. It was 1916 when the mysterious figure appeared again, this time approaching close enough “to distinguish its features.”

“Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me,” Sister Lucia recalled the angel saying.

The three told no one about the angel’s visit and received no more heavenly visits until May 13, 1917, when Lucia was 10, Francisco was 9 and Jacinta was 7. The apparitions continued once a month until Oct. 13, 1917, and later were declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church.

While the children tended their sheep and played, they were startled by two flashes of lightning.

As they made their way down a slope, the children saw a “lady all dressed in white” standing on a small tree. It was the first of six apparitions of Mary, who gave a particular message or revelation each time: • May 13, 1917: When asked by the children who she was and where she came from, the lady said she was “from heaven” and that she would reveal her identity later. She asked the children to come back to the Cova da Iria on the 13th day of the month for the next six months, and she asked them to pray the rosary every day “in order to obtain peace for the world” and the end of World War I. • June 13, 1917: The lady said she would take Francisco and Jacinta to heaven soon while Lucia would remain on earth for “some time longer” to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart.

• July 13, 1917: The lady said she would reveal her identity in October and “perform a miracle for all to see and believe.” After telling the children to make sacrifices for sinners, she revealed three secrets; two of the secrets were not shared publicly until 1941 and the third secret, written down by Sister Lucia and sent to the Vatican, was not released until 2000.

The first secret involved a vision of hell in which the children saw “a sea of fire” with demons and human souls shrieking “in pain and despair.” In her memoir, Sister Lucia said people nearby, who had begun gathering around the children on the 13th of the month, heard her “cry out” during the frightening revelation.

The second secret was that while World War I would come to end, a “worse one will break out” if people continued offending God. The children were told that calamity would be prevented if Russia was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart. Although Sister Lucia confirmed that the consecration was done properly by Pope Pius XII in 1942 and by St. John Paul II in 1984, some Fatima devotees continue to argue that it was not.

The third and final secret, published 83 years after the Fatima apparitions, was a vision of a “bishop dressed in white” shot down amid the rubble of a ruined city. The official Vatican interpretation, discussed with Sister Lucia before its publication, was that it referred to the persecution of Christians in the 20th century and, specifically, to the 1981 assassination attempt on the life of St. John Paul II. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time of the third secret’s publication in 2000. Presenting the secret and the interpretation to the press, he said the vision’s purpose was not to show an “irrevocably fixed future” but to “mobilize the forces of change in the right direction.”

• Aug. 13, 1917: The lady again said she would perform a miracle in October and asked that the money given by pilgrims be used to build a chapel on the site of the apparitions.

• Sept. 13, 1917: The lady asked them to continue to pray the rosary “to obtain the end of the war,” and she said that Jesus, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel would appear during the miracle in October.

• Oct. 13, 1917: Despite the pouring rain, tens of thousands of people went to the Cova da Iria to witness the long-awaited miracle.

The lady identified herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary” and said the war would end and the soldiers would return home. After asking that people cease to offend God, she opened her hands, which reflected a light toward the sun.

Sister Lucia recalled crying out, “Look at the sun!”

As the crowds looked on, the sun appeared to “dance,” spinning and changing colors. The children also saw the promised figures of Jesus, St. Joseph and Mary. Amazement at the “dancing sun” turned to panic when the sun seemed to hurl toward earth.

Fearing the end of the world, some people screamed and ran, some tried to hide and others remained on their knees, praying for mercy. Then the sun returned to its place.

In 1930, the bishop of Leiria declared the children’s visions “worthy of belief” and allowed veneration of Our Lady of Fatima. However, he did not recognize the “dancing sun” as miraculous.

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried through the crowd May 12, 2016, at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal.

Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the shrine this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary to three shepherd children. CNS

How the Church determines a true Marian apparition When it comes to Marian apparitions, the Catholic Church takes a prudent approach that focuses more on the message than the miracle.

Supernatural phenomena, like the alleged miracle of the sun in Fatima, Portugal, nearly 100 years ago, are not the primary factors in determining an apparition is worthy of belief.

More than 1,500 visions of Mary have been reported around the world, but in the past century, fewer than 20 cases have received Church approval as worthy of belief.

The Vatican’s “Norms regarding the manner of proceedings in the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations” were approved by Pope Paul VI in 1978. An official English translation was released in 2011.

Like with Fatima, responsibility for determining an apparition’s veracity lies with the local bishop, according to the norms established by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The process is never brief, with some cases taking hundreds of years. Visionaries and witnesses must be questioned and the fruits of the apparitions, such as conversions, miracles and healings, must be examined.

According to the norms, the local bishop should set up a commission of experts, including theologians, canonists, psychologists and doctors, to help him determine the facts; the mental, moral and spiritual wholesomeness and seriousness of the visionary; and whether the messages and testimony are free from theological and doctrinal error.

A bishop can come to one of three conclusions: He can determine the apparition to be true and worthy of belief; he can say it is not true, which leaves open the possibility for an appeal; or he can say that at the moment, he doesn’t know and needs more help. In the last scenario, the investigation is brought to the country’s bishops’ conference. If that body cannot come to a conclusion, the matter is turned over to the pope, who delegates the doctrinal congregation to step in and give advice or appoint others to investigate.

Still, the Catholic Church does not require the faithful to believe in apparitions, even those recognized by the Church.

Church recognition of a private revelation, in essence, is just the Church’s way of saying the message is not contrary to the faith or morality, it is licit to make the message public, “and the faithful are authorized to give to it their prudent adhesion,” now-retired Pope Benedict XVI said in his 2010 apostolic exhortation, “Verbum Domini” (“The Word of the Lord”).

— Junno Arocho Esteves

Fatima An

2C • The Catholic Spirit

Spreading the message 100

Local Catholics tell of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

W

hen Sonya May was in second grade, she opened a small package that had come in the mail one day for her mother. It contained the most beautiful rosary she’d ever seen, with chestnut-colored wooden beads linked on a gold chain. She asked her mother if she could keep it.

May, now 47 and a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, said she dreamed that night that she saw standing on a cloud a lady dressed in white whom she believes was the Virgin Mary. “I am the lady of the rosary,” May heard her say. “Pray the rosary every day.”

After experiencing a near-fatal car accident in college, May began to pray a daily rosary, and study her faith and Marian apparitions. She discovered Mary had given the same message she believed she heard in her dream to seers in Fatima, Portugal, and Lourdes, France.

When May travels this month to the shrine in Fatima, a small town located 90 miles from Lisbon, for the 100th anniversary of Mary’s first apparition there on May 13, 1917, she will bring the rosary she received in second grade, now well used and repaired.

“I almost feel like it’s closure,” she said.

With thousands expected to attend the commemoration, Pope Francis will canonize as saints two of the three shepherd children to whom Mary presented herself six times in 1917.

Mary’s prophetic words of love, warning and prayer for the conversion of sinners and salvation of souls, given to Lucia dos Santos, 10, and her sibling cousins Francisco, 8, and Jacinta Marto, 7, involve both 20th-century events and greater spiritual realities.

The “secret” told to the children in 1917 consists of three parts: a vision of hell; the consecration of Russia and triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and, revealed publicly in 2000, an image of an angel about to strike the earth with a flaming sword and the pope being struck down at the foot of the cross.

As devotion to Our Lady of Fatima has spread in the past century, Catholics say she leads them to the Gospel and sacraments.

Modern message Many are drawn to the Fatima story and see its impact in recent decades, said Barb Ernster, 55, president of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ division of the World Apostolate of Fatima USA and the apostolate’s national communications manager. The World Apostolate of Fatima is a public association of the faithful devoted to spreading Fatima’s message (read more on page 4).

On May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first apparition, St. John Paul II survived an assassination attempt and subsequently placed the bullet that narrowly missed his heart into the crown of Mary’s statue in Fatima, said Ernster, a St. Charles Borromeo parishioner. She also points to the 1984 fulfillment of the consecration of the world — especially Russia — to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, drawing attention to her promise of Russia’s conversion with a series of events leading to the dissolusion of the Soviet Union in 1991.

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried through the crowd May 12, 2016, at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal. Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the shrine this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary to three shepherd children. CNS

And as more Catholics consecrate themselves to Mary after preparing with prayer and spiritual reading programs — such as “Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary” by St. Louis de Montfort and “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Father Michael Gaitley of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception — they’re receiving the Fatima message in their hearts, sometimes without knowing it, she said.

Mary’s message at Fatima, which the Church officially approved in 1930 as “worthy of belief,” applies the Gospel message to modern generations, said Father Thomas Dufner, 62, pastor of Epiphany in Coon Rapids.

“It’s to live according to our faith, but with a renewed purpose, insight and awareness of the times,” he said.

Fatima is also about Catholics’ relationship with Jesus and his mother, not merely rules and laws, Father Dufner said.

“The message is related to a person,” he added.

“Her care is real, and our situation of need is great.”

May said Our Lady of Fatima has been her “spiritual mom,” protecting and helping her through difficulties, such as in 2005 when after praying the rosary while driving home in a hail storm in complete darkness, there was no damage to her car or house.

“I’ve always felt that I’ve been under her protection. I think praying the rosary has protected me in various ways,” May said.

She is drawn to the Fatima message of conversion, prayer and confession, and has made

the Five First Saturday devotion introduced by Our Lady, who requested reparation for five types of offenses against her Immaculate Heart.

The devotion involves going to confession within eight days of each of five consecutive first Saturdays of the month, as well as receiving Communion, praying the rosary and meditating for 15 minutes on Mary’s life.

May sees in the Fatima message a warning and call to self-correct.

“There’s a time of mercy, but then there’s going to be a time of justice. … It’s the rosary that will be there for protection,” she said.

Fatima for families At age 20, Justin Stroh knew nothing about Fatima or the rosary when neighbors invited him to watch a Fatima documentary. He was first intrigued by the story’s historical sense.

“It wasn’t just about an apparition,” said Stroh, now 50 and a parishioner of Divine Mercy in Faribault. “It really was about an important occurrence in the life of the Church and the world.”

The Miracle of the Sun on Oct. 13, 1917, where thousands of people at Fatima reported seeing the sun dancing and changing colors, convinced him that Mary can intervene in human history. The vision of hell she showed the children also made a lasting impression.

Stroh began praying a daily rosary, a practice he and his wife continued together until it became difficult with their growing family. When they

were having problems with some of their eight children several years ago, the couple decided to renew their Fatima First Saturday devotio It inspired them to rosary at the beginnin kids about Fatima. Tw positive changes.

“One thing that to [there were] these litt embraced what Our L recalled.

Now when the fam the rosary together n Mary’s Sorrowful and During the Sept. 13 St. Joseph and the Ch to bless the world, an Ernster said.

“We feel that the F with the family,” she family is under attack Fatima’s] focus going the family.”

Fatima reorients th Father Dufner said.

“We have to see th for us. The Holy Fam Family ate together. T

nniversary

May 4, 2017 • 3C

0 years later

and other centeredness in the Holy Family,” he said.

Father Dufner said reparation is part of the Church’s redemptive mission, and not merely prayer for our own interests.

“We are partners in the work of redemption, and there is something about Fatima that is very mature and therefore more interesting,” he said.

Special devotion About 30 years ago, Mary Jean Sirek’s children found in her attic a battered statue of Mary and the Infant Jesus. She cleaned the statue, but didn’t paint or repair it. Now on her mantle, it’s a reminder of wounds inflicted on Jesus, his mother and each other, said Sirek, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale.

“To me, it’s a sign of what we have to go through, that sometimes we’re beaten up, too, and we just have to have a deep faith and keep praying to her,” she said.

Sirek, 77, offers reparation to Mary’s Immaculate Heart when she can get to her parish on First Saturdays, which she described as “a special devotion day to our Blessed Mother to make up for all the sins and offenses committed against her.”

Sirek first prayed Fatima prayers in the 1990s at a parish Fatima prayer group and now prays them at home. She is inspired by the Fatima seers who were faithful despite opposition.

All through her life, while she and her late husband raised their seven children, Sirek has always relied on Mary’s help, she said.

“I’ve had some really hard times in life, health-wise and spiritually, and [Mary] kept me going,” she said. “If I hadn’t been so devoted to her, I don’t know where I would have ended up.

She was just my lifeline.”

When Sirek can’t get to church, she prays the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet, and learns about Fatima on Eternal Word Television Network and CatholicTV television networks.

Sonya May holds a rosary she received when she was in Relevant Radio also offers Fatima second grade. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit programming.

a devotion by doing the Five on. o resume the daily family ng of 2017 and teach their wo months later, they noticed

ouched [our children] was that tle children who heroically Lady asked of them,” he

mily faces challenges, they pray near their Fatima statue of d Immaculate Heart.

3,1917, Fatima apparition, hild Jesus appeared with Mary n encouragement for families,

Fatima message has a lot to do e said. “We know that the k and [the World Apostolate of g forward will be on rebuilding

he place of God in our lives,

hat the Holy Family is a model mily worshiped, the Holy There was care and concern

Local commemoration This Fatima centennial year will be a special time for the Church if Catholics use it for something special, such as repentance and believing the Gospel, Father Dufner said.

“It needs to be embraced again,” he said.

Catholics can make one of several locally organized pilgrimages to Fatima this year or travel to the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Washington, New Jersey.

During the anniversary year, parishes including Epiphany, St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, St. Michael in St. Michael, St. Albert in Albertville and All Saints in Minneapolis have planned Fatima events, prayer groups, First Saturday devotions and processions. Some parishes have statues of Our Lady of Fatima.

Besides opportunities to receive the papal indulgence for the jubilee year of Fatima (see related sidebar), the World Apostolate of Fatima will organize First Saturday devotions at parishes that request them, Ernster said.

Father Dufner said parishes commemorating the anniversary probably recognize that Mary leads us to her son.

“Mary contained the God-man; drawing closer to Mary makes us closer to Jesus,” he said.

How to obtain a plenary indulgence during Fatima’s centennial year Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence this year marking the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions.

Pope Francis granted the indulgence opportunity, starting Nov. 27, 2016, and ending Nov. 26, 2017.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”

A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day.

There are three ways to obtain the plenary indulgence after also meeting the ordinary conditions for an indulgence (going to confession, receiving Communion, perfect detachment from sin and praying for the intentions of the pope): According to a statement from the Fatima shrine in Portugal: 1. Make a pilgrimage to the shrine in Fatima, Portugal.

To the faithful who make a pilgrimage to the Fatima Shrine in Portugal and participate in a celebration of prayer dedicated to the Virgin. In addition, the faithful must pray the Our Father, recite the Creed and invoke the Mother of God. (Those who travel to Fatima can obtain the indulgence multiple times each day of their pilgrimage.)

2. Pray before any statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

To the faithful who visit with devotion a statue of Our Lady of Fatima solemnly exposed for public veneration in any church, oratory or proper place during the days of the anniversary of the apparitions, on the 13th of

each month from May to October 2017, and there devoutly participate in a celebration or prayer in honor of the Virgin Mary. They must also pray the Our Father, recite the Creed and invoke Our Lady of Fatima.

3. The elderly and infirm To the faithful who, because of age, illness or other serious cause, are unable to get around, may pray in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima and must spiritually unite themselves to the jubilee celebrations on the days of the apparitions, the 13th of each month, between May and October 2017. They must also “offer to merciful God with confidence, through Mary, their prayers and sufferings or the sacrifices they make in their own lives.”

Catholics who don’t go on pilgrimage to Fatima can obtain the indulgence up to six times — on the 13th day of the month from May through October.

To help the faithful who can’t travel to Fatima fulfill requirements for the indulgence, the World Apostolate of Fatima — under direction from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and working with the Knights of Columbus — has organized monthly pilgrimages and celebrations that local parishes will host on the 13th of each month from May through October.

The events will include Mass, praying the Angelus and rosary, a talk on Fatima and indulgence prayers. Some parishes also may offer confessions and hospitality.

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be displayed for each event.

The final pilgrimage stop will be the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, where Archbishop Bernard Hebda will speak following the Archdiocesan Candlelight Rosary Procession.

— Susan Klemond

Archdiocesan Fatima centennial pilgrimages and celebrations Saturday, May 13 Holy Family, St. Louis Park 3:30–4:45 p.m. confession 5 p.m. Mass 6 p.m. Angelus and rosary 6:30 p.m. talk on Fatima by Father Joseph Johnson 7 p.m. indulgence prayers Tuesday, June 13 Transfiguration, Oakdale 6 p.m. Angelus and rosary 6:30 p.m. Mass 7 p.m. talk on Fatima by Father William Baer 7:30 p.m. indulgence prayers (Confession may be added.)

Thursday, July 13 Epiphany, Coon Rapids 6 p.m. Angelus and rosary 6:30 p.m. Mass 7 p.m. talk on Fatima by Father Thomas Dufner 7:30 p.m. indulgence prayers Hospitality follows (Confession may be added.)

Sunday, Aug. 13 Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville 5:30 p.m. Angelus and rosary 6 p.m. Mass 7:15 p.m. talk on Fatima by Father Robert Altier Indulgence prayers Wednesday, Sept. 13 St. Pius X, White Bear Lake 6 p.m. Angelus and rosary 6:30 p.m. Mass 7 p.m. talk on Fatima by Bishop Andrew Cozzens 7:30 p.m. indulgence prayers (Confession may be added.)

Friday, Oct. 13 Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Tentative schedule: 4–5 p.m. confession 5:15 p.m. Mass 5:45 p.m. indulgence prayers 6:30 p.m. candlelight rosary procession from the State Capitol to the Cathedral, where Archbishop Hebda will talk on Fatima

For more information, visit www.fatimaonline.org or email info@fatimaonline.org.

Fatima Anniversary

4C • The Catholic Spirit • May 4, 2017

Prayer cells still a vital part of World Apostolate of Fatima

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

M

illions of baby-boomer Catholics grew up hearing the phrase “Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima” in their churches and Catholic schools.

Like any army, the Blue Army has its divisions.

According to Deacon Bob Ellis, national coordinator of the World Apostolate of Fatima, the original thought of Father Harold Colgan, who founded the Blue Army in 1947, was that the Soviet Union had its Red Army, and it would be overcome by the Blue Army of Fatima — promoting the Marian apparitions in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 and the Blessed Mother’s messages to the three children to whom she appeared.

Mary urged the conversion of sinners, called for devotion to herself under the title of her Immaculate Heart and asked that the people of Russia be consecrated to her under the title.

In another effort to squelch the Soviet threat in a post-World War II world, the Communist Party had its cells, but the Blue Army had its prayer cells — and once a cell reached eight in number, Deacon Ellis said, it would split and become two cells.

The splitting faded away, and the phrase “Blue Army” is also de-emphasized, although not pushed aside entirely, by the World Apostolate of Fatima, Deacon Ellis said. But the prayer cells continue. Deacon Ellis said 140,000 Americans are known to be in prayer cells according to the apostolate’s headquarters in

“[The World Apostolate of Fatima] is more important than ever before. It’s more important than when the apparitions were first occurring in 1917.”

Jeanne Kachuk Hall

Washington, New Jersey. There are more than a dozen prayer cells in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to the apostolate’s website.

For those who participate in prayer cells today, the apostolate is as important as it ever was, if not more so.

“It’s more important than ever before. It’s more important than when the apparitions were first occurring in 1917,” said Jeanne Kachuk Hall, former president of the cell at St. Jude in Joliet, Illinois.

“Nowadays, when you see so much going on with crime and wars and a falling away from the traditional values, we need to look at ourselves to really see what’s worthwhile in our lives and make room for that.”

Linda Vetter, who heads a six-member prayer cell in Harvey, North Dakota, told CNS that the group meets monthly. “We do the prayer cell format” suggested by the World Apostolate of Fatima,” she explained. “We do the mysteries out of the [apostolate’s] spiritual guide and then we alternate them. And then for our meditations,

Last three popes share close bond to Fatima

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service Recent popes have had a special affection for Our Lady of Fatima, but no pope’s connection can match that of St. John Paul II. “We cannot forget that he was saved by Our Lady of Fatima from the assassination attempt here in St. Peter’s. This is fundamental and central. It is never forgotten,” Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, told Catholic News Service March 29.

Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, shot Pope John Paul II at close range as the pope was greeting a crowd in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 1981. Two bullets pierced the pope’s abdomen, but no major organs were struck; a bullet had missed his heart and aorta by a few inches.

The pope would later say, “It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path.”

That miracle, the cardinal said, is key in “understanding well Pope John Paul II’s devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.” Given the date of the assassination attempt, the pope specifically credited Our Lady of Fatima with his miraculous survival and recovery. Several months later, he visited the site of the apparitions, the first of three visits he would make as pope to Fatima.

For St. John Paul II, Cardinal Saraiva Martins said, “Our Lady of Fatima was everything,” and his three visits to the Portuguese town were those of a grateful son to the mother who saved his life.

“I still remember — I’ll never forget it — when he arrived at the little chapel of the apparitions where [the statue of] Our Lady of Fatima was,” Cardinal Saraiva Martins recalled.

St. John Paul II was holding one of the bullets that had struck him and slowly approached the statue, finally placing the bullet in her crown, he said. “It is still in the crown today. I witnessed these gestures, how he expressed his devotion to Our Lady. He would just walk closer and closer to Our Lady and would repeat: ‘You saved me, you saved me.’”

As the prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes from 1998 to 2008, Cardinal Saraiva Martins also oversaw the process leading to the beatification by St. John Paul II of Jacinta and Francisco Marto, two of the three young shepherd children who saw Mary at Fatima. The cardinal also shared a personal friendship with the third seer, Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, who died in 2005.

Pope John Paul II is assisted by aides after being shot in St. Peter’s Square May 13, 1981. Bullets fired by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca struck the pope’s hand and lower abdomen as he rode in an open jeep greeting pilgrims on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. His personal secretary, Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, is pictured over the pope’s left shoulder. CNS It was Cardinal Saraiva Martins who, two years after Sister Lucia’s death, urged Pope Benedict XVI to waive the five-year waiting period before her sainthood cause could be opened.

“The pope was very kind. He said, ‘Yes, you know more about this than I do. We will do as you say,’” the cardinal recalled.

Pope Benedict, the cardinal added, was a “great devotee” of Our Lady of Fatima, even before his election to the papacy.

“Before becoming pope, he said: ‘A stern warning has been launched from that place ... a summons to the seriousness of life, of history, to the perils that threaten humanity,’” the cardinal read from a 1985 interview with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The special papal bond with Our Lady of Fatima continues today with Pope Francis, who as archbishop of Buenos Aires, was a frequent visitor to a shrine in the Argentine city devoted to her, Cardinal Saraiva Martins said. The cardinal recalled Pope Francis’ “beautiful” words to Portuguese-speaking pilgrims on May 13, 2015, the 98th anniversary of the apparition: “Entrust to her all that you are, all that you have, and in that way you will be able to become an instrument of the mercy and tenderness of God to your family, neighbors and friends.”

Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is emblematic of the popes of the last century who have “always recognized” the relevance of Mary’s message, particularly its emphasis on faith, conversion, hope and peace, the cardinal said. “In short, the message of Fatima given 100 years ago is of extreme relevance.”

we use a spiritual guide. We’re going through the Catechism of the Catholic Church; we’re going through each chapter of that at each meeting until we’re though with that.”

Gloria Belair and Donna Le, sisters in Mulhall, Oklahoma, an hour north of Oklahoma City, had what Belair called “a kind of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima” as children. Belair maintained her faith, but “I left the Church in my young adulthood” for 30 years, said Le, 65. She returned to the faith about 10 years ago.

They’ve bucked two trends common in the Blue Army. One is that they successfully split off a new cell, which is now larger than their current one. The other has to do with age; while most participants in prayer cells are seniors, they count a couple in their 40s or 50s as well as a college student in her 20s as cell members.

“We hope to spread the word about the World Apostolate throughout the archdiocese,” Belair said. “It’s in God’s hands and Mother Mary’s hands to assist us with our legwork.”

Hall said that the World Apostolate of Fatima has more than 20 million members in 100 countries.

“There are some cases where the young people are taking over,” she said. “I’d like to see more of that done in the United States, but us older folks have to do our part to encourage them. We can’t expect our young people to do it by themselves.”

To find prayer cells in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, visit http://tinyurl.com/prayercells.

Pope to canonize visionaries May 13 Pope Francis will declare the sainthood of Blessed Jacinta Marto and Blessed Francisco Marto, two of the shepherd children who saw Mary in Fatima, Portugal, during his visit to the site of the apparitions May 13.

The date was announced April 20 during an “ordinary public consistory,” a meeting of the pope, cardinals and promoters of sainthood causes that formally ends the sainthood process.

The sanctity of the shepherd children did not hinge on their having seen Mary, said Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.

“The apparition of the Virgin Mary was an occasion, but it has nothing to do with or has not influenced the reason” Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto will be declared saints, he said. “It was the children’s heroism Jacinta and Francisco Marto are in their lives, their pictured with their cousin Lucia dos life of prayer, their turning to God that Santos, right, in a file photo taken around the time of the 1917 was truly holy.” apparitions of Mary at Fatima, A year after the Portugal. CNS apparitions, both of the Marto children became ill during an influenza epidemic that plagued Europe. Francisco died April 4, 1919, at age 10, and Jacinta died Feb. 20, 1920, at age 9.

Francisco and Jacinta’s cause for canonization was stalled for decades due to a debate on whether nonmartyred children have the capacity to understand heroic virtues at a young age. However, in 1979, St. John Paul II allowed their cause to proceed; he declared them venerable in 1989 and beatified them in 2000.

The children’s cousin and fellow visionary entered the Carmelites. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97. The diocesan phase of her sainthood cause concluded in February and now is under study at the Vatican.

— Junno Arocho Esteves