The Catholic Spirit - November 20, 2014

Pope coming to U.S. 12 • Financial report 26-29 • Senior Services Guide 18-23 November 20, 2014 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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Making room for Jesus

By Father Michael Van Sloun For The Catholic Spirit “There was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7) when Jesus was born on the first Christmas.

Mary and Joseph went off to a stable or cave, off by themselves, off alone. No space was reserved for Jesus when he came. There was no hospitality, no welcome. There was severe overcrowding in and around Bethlehem, and the local residents and visitors alike were unwilling or unable to receive Jesus when he was born.

Father The lack of room for Jesus is an VAN SLOUN age-old problem. There still is severe overcrowding. Our minds are overcrowded with news and information, our hearts are overcrowded with innumerable concerns, our schedules are overcrowded with things to do, the malls are overcrowded with shoppers, the highways are overcrowded with traffic, the airwaves are overcrowded with noise, and electronic devices are overcrowded with messages. With so much overcrowding, we run the risk of not having enough room in our personal “inn” to receive Jesus this Advent and when Christmas arrives.

If we want to prepare well for Christmas, it’s essential to make room in our hearts to receive Jesus. No matter how busy we may be, no matter how much hustle and bustle may exist, no matter how many distractions and mental preoccupations may swirl about our minds, we need to set aside time and space to welcome Emmanuel, our Savior.

Spiritual balance is crucial. It is beneficial to go off

alone to meditate and pray, to converse with our Messiah and Lord in silence and solitude, to ponder the profound mystery of the Incarnation, to offer hospitality and welcome Jesus. Moments of private prayer are an urgent necessity.

Liturgical, communal prayer is also indispensable.

We should plan to attend Mass on the Sundays of Advent, and then after preparing well, to attend Mass on Christmas Eve, at midnight or on Christmas Day. The Mass is a beautiful way to make room for Jesus in our hearts, to receive his word in Scripture and his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Jesus is the true gift of Christmas.

Advent begins November 30

There are many other prayerful ways to welcome Jesus into the “inn” of our hearts. Some excellent options would be to read the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel and prayerfully reflect upon his infancy narrative; say the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary; pray in front of a manger or crib scene at home or at church; listen to hymns, sacred music and spiritual Christmas carols; and pray together at the dinner table and other times.

If we receive Jesus into our hearts, we are to become what we receive. Then it is not so much our life, but Christ living within us (see Galatians 2:20). What we have received as gift we are to freely share as gift (see 1 Peter 4:10).

After making space for Jesus, then it is time to make space for others. The greatest gift we can offer anyone is to bring Jesus to them, to be like the Blessed Mother Mary, to be Christ-bearers, to give the present of Christ’s presence.

Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata.

Advent wreath ritual • St. Andrew guides us through Advent — page 15 ALSO inside

Faith and food

Band of Brothers

Catholic Youth Camp lives on

Symposium at University of St. Thomas addresses agriculture, environment.

— Page 5

Franciscan Brothers of Peace going strong after 37 years of ministry.

— Page 9

Executive director gets married on camp grounds, sees bright future ahead.

— Page 10

Page Two

2 in PICTURES “We cannot speak today of the conservative family or the progressive family. The family is the family.”

Pope Francis in an address Nov. 17 opening a three-day inter-religious conference on traditional marriage

MORTGAGE BURNING Father Michael Kaluza, right, pastor of Divine Mercy in Faribault, watches as the church mortgage goes up in flames during a ceremony following the 4 p.m. Mass Nov. 15. The parish made its last payment on the $4.5 million mortgage last month for the new church building, which was completed in 2009. Total cost of the project was $10.2 million. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

“The pastoral visit of Pope Francis will surely bring much blessing to all of us, especially to the poor, the survivors of calamities, both natural- and humancaused and the victims of different types of injustice.

The concern and solidarity of Jesus the Good Shepherd will be palpable in the person and presence of Pope Francis.”

Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle in anticipation of the pope’s January visit to the Philippines.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit

We want to see your Christmas light displays Do you or someone you know have an amazing and elaborate Christmas light display? We want to know about it. Please send us an email at CatholicSpirit@archspm.org or call (651) 291-4444. We will follow up and, hopefully, pay a visit to take photos that will be featured in a December edition of The Catholic Spirit.

St. Bridget prepares to celebrate centennial

A BOY’S BELONGINGS A boy carries belongings as he walks on the rubble of damaged buildings Nov. 17 in Aleppo, Syria. Lebanon’s Catholic leaders have called for peace in Syria and Iraq. CNS/Hosam Katan, Reuters

WHAT’S NEW on social media This week, a post on The Catholic Spirit’s Facebook page asks, what is your favorite family Advent tradition?

Read the latest news about the local and universal Church by following The Catholic Spirit on Twitter @CatholicSpirit.

The U.S. bishops celebrated Mass in their “mother diocese” at Baltimore’s historic Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary during their fall general meeting. In a video on Catholic News Service’s Facebook page — www.facebook.com/CatholicNewsService — hear Baltimore’s archbishop discuss the city’s legacy for American Catholicism during the archdiocese’s 225th anniversary.

The Catholic Spirit is published bi-weekly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 19 — No. 24 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT, Publisher ANNE STEFFENS, Associate Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

JESSICA TRYGSTAD, Editor

St. Bridget, a Catholic community on the north side of Minneapolis, is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015.

Former parishioners, alumni of the parish school and people who used to live in the neighborhood are invited to help the parish plan the various celebrations that will mark the milestone anniversary.

Planned activities include a block party, all-school reunion, centenary dinner dance, a pilgrimage to Ireland and the Monastery of St. Bridget at Kildare, and various religious celebrations throughout the year.

For more information, please call the parish office at (612) 529-7779, or visit www.stbridgetnorthside.org.

FROM readers Thank you for the beautifully written story on September 24 about Brother Basil Rothweiler (Brother Basil Rothweiler: Celebrating 80 years of ministry). It is nearly impossible to capture in writing 97 years of his spirit and profound impact on people and Catholic education, but your story weaves together Br. Basil’s accomplishments in a compelling manner. Sadly, Br. Basil died early on November 8. We give thanks for God’s gift of Br. Basil and the time and love he shared with our school and the Lasallian mission. Rest in peace, dear Brother.

Sincerely, Barry Lieske, AFSC President, DeLaSalle High School, Minneapolis Editor’s note: A funeral Mass for Brother Basil was celebrated Nov. 18 at Holy Spirit in St. Paul.

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service.

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3 One of the many fond memories I have of my father was a visit he and our family made to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Given his vast knowledge of the sport, my father was able to regale us with story after story of various athletes and their significant achievements.

One of my father’s favorites was Lou “The Iron Horse” Gehrig, who played first base for the New York Yankees for 17 seasons.

He was renowned as a hitter, finishing his batting career with an average of .340, including 493 home runs and 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs). He was a six-time World Series champion and was twice named the American League’s Most Valuable Player.

He was the first Major League Baseball player THAT THEY MAY to have his uniform ALL BE ONE number retired and was elected to the Archbishop Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

John Nienstedt

Somos un pueblo de Eucaristía y por lo tanto, un pueblo de gratitud Uno de los muchos buenos recuerdos que tengo de mi padre fue una visita que nuestra familia hizo al Salón de la Fama en Cooperstown, New York.

Dado su amplio conocimiento de este deporte, mi padre fue capaz de agasajar con una historia tras otra a varios atletas y sus logros significativos.

Uno de los favoritos de mi padre fue Lou “El Caballo de Hierro” Gehrig, que jugó en primera base en los Yankees de Nueva York durante 17 temporadas. Él era conocido como un bateador, terminando su carrera de bateo con un promedio de .340, incluyendo 493 jonrones y 1,995 carreras impulsadas (RBI). Él era un campeón de la Serie Mundial en seis ocasiones y fue nombrado dos veces el Jugador más Valioso de la Liga Americana. Él fue el primer

It was on July 4 of that very year that Gehrig gave his most famous speech before 61,808 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium, later to be known as “The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech.

He had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to death.

Lou died on June 2, 1941, at the age of 37 years.

But my point here is that in his speech at Yankee Stadium, Lou, knowing what his future prospects were, expressed gratitude to God for having gifted him with strong athletic powers, wonderful fans, loyal teammates and a loving family. He expressed gratitude for a caring mother-in-law and for his parents who had worked so hard to give him a solid education. He was especially thankful for his wife who provided him with the strength he needed and proved more courageous than he ever expected. In the face of adversity, Lou Gehrig chose to be grateful, rather than bitter and remorseful.

I think of this heroic man as we prepare to celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday here in the Archdiocese. There is much that is happening around us that could easily get us down, tempting us to lose faith in ourselves or hope in our future. But that is not who we

jugador de las Grandes Ligas que tuvo su número de uniforme retirado y fue elegido para el Salón de la Fama en 1939.

Era el 4 de julio de ese mismo año en que Gehrig dio su más famoso discurso ante 61.808 fanáticos del béisbol en el Yankee Stadium, que más tarde sería conocido como el discurso de “El hombre más afortunado sobre la faz de la tierra.” Él había sido diagnosticado con esclerosis lateral amiotrófica (ELA), una enfermedad neurodegenerativa progresiva que afecta las células nerviosas en el cerebro y la médula espinal. La degeneración progresiva de las neuronas motoras, que finalmente conduce a la muerte.

Lou murió el 2 de junio de 1941 a la edad de 37 años.

Pero mi punto aquí, es que en su discurso en el Yankee Stadium, Lou, sabiendo cuáles eran sus perspectivas de futuro, expresó su gratitud a Dios por haberle dotado de fuertes cualidades atléticas, maravillosos fans, compañeros leales de equipo y una familia amorosa.

Expresó su gratitud por una suegra amable/cariñosa/amorosa y por sus padres que habían trabajado tan duro para darle una educación sólida. Fue especialmente agradecido por su esposa, que le dio la fuerza que necesitaba y resultó ser más valiente de lo que él esperaba.

Frente a la adversidad, Lou Gehrig eligió ser agradecido, en lugar de

are as Catholics. We are rather a Eucharistic people and, therefore, a people of gratitude.

Someone wrote to me recently, saying that there are so many good things happening in this Archdiocese, from our successful strategic planning process, to our vibrant Catholic schools and universities; from energetic St. Paul’s Outreach and NET Ministries, to the dedicated outreach of Catholic Charities; from our two nationally recognized seminaries to our evangelical Rediscover: initiative; from our faith-filled priests, deacons and religious, to our generous Catholic faithful. Yes, indeed, there is so much for which to be thankful here in this local Church.

In the weekday preface IV of Ordinary Time, we pray, “Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks. You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank You is itself Your gift. Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to Your greatness, but makes us grow in Your grace, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.”

My friends, let gratitude be the gift that fills your heart as you sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. Together with the memory of Lou “The Iron Horse” Gehrig, let us count ourselves as being the luckiest people on the face of the earth.

God bless you! Happy Thanksgiving!

estar amargado y lleno de remordimientos.

Pienso en este hombre heroico, mientras nos preparamos para celebrar nuestro día de fiesta de Acción de Gracias aquí en la Arquidiócesis. Es mucho lo que está sucediendo a nuestro alrededor que fácilmente podría llevarnos hacia abajo, nos tienta a perder la fe en nosotros mismos o la esperanza en nuestro futuro. Pero eso no es lo que somos como Católicos. Somos un pueblo de Eucaristía y por lo tanto, un pueblo de gratitud.

Alguien me escribió hace poco, diciendo que hay muchas cosas buenas que están sucediendo en esta Arquidiócesis, desde nuestro exitoso proceso de planificación estratégico, hasta nuestras escuelas y universidades católicas vibrantes; desde el enérgico enlace a las organizaciones de St. Paul (SPO por sus siglas en inglés) y el Ministerio del Equipo Nacional de Evangelización (NET por sus siglas en inglés), hasta el dedicado alcance de las Caridades Católicas; desde nuestros dos seminarios reconocidos a nivel nacional, hasta nuestro evangélico Redescubre: Iniciativa desde nuestros sacerdotes llenos de fe, diáconos, religiosos y religiosas, hasta a nuestros generosos fieles Católicos. Sí, de hecho, hay mucho por lo cual estar agradecidos aquí en esta Iglesia local.

En el prefacio IV del tiempo

From the Archbishop

We are a Eucharistic people, a people of gratitude

ordinario, oramos: “Padre, todopoderoso y eterno Dios, lo hacemos así siempre y en todas partes para darte las gracias. Tú no tienes necesidad de nuestra alabanza, sin embargo, nuestro deseo de darte gracias es en sí mismo Tu regalo. Nuestra oración de acción de gracias no añade nada a Tu grandeza, pero nos hace crecer en Tu gracia, por medio de Jesucristo Nuestro Señor.”

Mis amigos, dejen que la gratitud sea el regalo que llene sus corazones cuando se sienten a celebrar la cena de Acción de Gracias con la familia y amigos. Juntos con la memoria de Lou “El Caballo de Hierro” Gehrig, vamos a contarnos como la gente más afortunada sobre la faz de la tierra. ¡Que Dios los Bendiga! ¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

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

Arrivals Reverend Ed Goldbach, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and assigned to Saint Bonaventure Friary in Bloomington.

Reverend Xavier Goulet, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and assigned to Saint Joseph Cupertino Friary in Prior Lake.

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Staff reduction part of archdiocese’s budget cuts The Catholic Spirit The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation has cut nearly $5 million in expenses, almost 20 percent of the Fiscal Year 2015 operating budget, in order to forge sustainable operations. That included the elimination of 11 positions in the Chancery offices.

Archdiocesan leadership worked with department heads to develop a plan to determine where reductions would be made.

Archbishop John Nienstedt approved the plan last week.

The archdiocese’s Chancery Corporation is made up of 10 departments with approximately 160 staff members.

At an Oct. 16 meeting for all staff members, Vicar General Father Charles Lachowitzer said departments will reorder their services in a way that provides “the

“Please join us in praying for all affected during this difficult time.”

Father Charles Lachowitzer, vicar general for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

greatest value to the mission of the archdiocese and of proved benefit to our parishes.” He said the outcome won’t directly affect the budgets of parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic entities, which are separately incorporated and have their own budgets.

Departmental budgets and staffing were increased in recent years to provide needed resources for parishes, Catholic schools and other archdiocesan initiatives. In a statement, Father Lachowitzer wrote: “However, these increases have made our current budget unsustainable. To be clear, the two

recent settlements in clergy sexual abuse cases did not cause the need to make reductions to balance the Chancery Corporation budget.

However, we have experienced significant expenses in connection with the overall claims made against the archdiocese and can no longer draw from remaining archdiocesan reserves so that they may be potentially available for future restitution and resolution.

Therefore, our goal is to get to a balanced budget.”

A hiring freeze has been in effect with the exception of the archdiocese’s new Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe

Environment, which is responsible for improving how the archdiocese handles claims of clergy sexual abuse. The office and its staff is part of the recommendations made by the independent task force earlier this year.

Each affected employee received a severance package that includes job transition assistance.

In an email to staff, Father Lachowitzer wrote: “We are thankful for the talents these employees have shared with the archdiocese. Please join us in praying for all affected during this difficult time.”

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November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Jesuit Father Michael Czerny

Symposium speaker examines ‘vocation to agriculture’ Catholic News Service Catholics, and not just farmers, should consider “the meaning of a vocation to agriculture,” said the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In remarks prepared for delivery Nov. 5 as part of a conference at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul titled “Faith, Food & the Environment: The Vocation of the Agricultural Leader,” Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson said that “from the very start, the Creator tells us to till the earth and to keep it” — not in a sense of private ownership, but to preserve its use for future generations.

Given today’s farming practices, he noted, “it is possible we have been doing too much tilling and not enough keeping.”

Cardinal Turkson did not attend the conference; planners learned only two days before his scheduled address that he was assigned instead

by Pope Francis to help guide the Church’s response to the Ebola crisis in his native West Africa. Delivering the cardinal’s remarks was his chief of staff, Jesuit Father Michael Czerny.

Agriculture “cannot be just a job,”

he said, “if we keep it part of God’s plan and history.”

As in business, “for everyone who has given much, much more will be demanded,” Father Czerny said.

“This will also apply to people in agriculture. . . . This is what we are expecting to see from them in their vocation.”

In 2012, the Pontifical Institute for Justice and Peace issued a handbook titled “Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection.” The book, he noted, seeks to influence how business leaders see, judge and act in their vocation and can help agricultural leaders ask the right questions in their field as well.

Among those questions: • “Is it legitimate to worry that humanity may now have tilled too much and kept too little? Can [genetically modified organisms] and chemical fertilizers make their contribution without inhibiting the preservation and continued spontaneous growth of God’s creation?”

• Does the Catholic social teaching about subsidiarity “influence the willingness of powerful corporations to allow and even assist other farming structures — family farming in some regions, peasant or subsistence farming in others — to flourish alongside agribusiness?”

• What is the influence of globalization and financial markets on agricultural planning? “Do those plans reflect the goal of adequate nutrition everywhere, or do financial considerations push thoughts of food aside?”

• Do agricultural leaders “think about ‘what sells’ or do they focus on truly feeding a hungry world while stewarding the environment

Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, chief of staff to Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, gives an address Nov. 5 at the Faith, Food & the Environment symposium at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Dianne Towalski, The Visitor

in a responsible and prudent manner? Do the production and distribution decisions address the rampant problems of malnutrition?

And are long-term risks such as the growth of resistance to herbicides and pesticides included in how they assess technological innovations?”

• “Are migrant workers treated with human dignity and with fairness? Do policies and subsidies favor some forms of agricultural business over others without a compelling rationale in terms of human and environmental benefit?”

• “Do agricultural leaders see themselves as stewards of the earth?

Do global markets accept the food sovereignty of every country and region? Is wealth generated by agricultural business distributed and used to preserve nature and provide food for future generations?”

• “Before you sign off on an order, ask, ‘Is this what is best for humanity and for the environment?’ And realize that ‘best’ is not a synonym of ‘most.’ ” Relaying Cardinal Turkson’s closing remarks, Father Czerny said that everyone must remember that, while they are God’s stewards of the earth, “the way men and women treat the environment reflects how we think about and treat ourselves — and vice versa.”

Among the hosts of “Faith, Food & the Environment: The Vocation of the Agricultural Leader” were Catholic Rural Life, the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, Center for Catholic Studies at St. Thomas and the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Joe Towalski of The Visitor, St. Cloud, contributed to this story.

Experts challenge leaders to see big picture, pursue the good for God’s creation

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit Is it better to be good or to be cautious?

Michael Naughton, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, addressed the question in his talk at the Faith, Food and the Environment Symposium Nov. 5 at the university.

The symposium, which focused on the vocation of the agricultural leader, was put on by the National Catholic Rural Life Network and sponsored by a half a dozen organizations. Naughton’s talk set the framework for the symposium’s theme — how farmers and others in the agricultural sector can lead humanity in the challenge of feeding the world while confronting climate change and

economic injustice in a global economy.

“If you can’t be good, at least be careful,” Naughton said his father warned him as a teenager heading out the door of their south Chicago home one evening.

When his father had to pick him up from the police station later that night, Naughton received

Encyclical on ecology due out ‘early next year’

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“The way men and women treat the environment reflects how we think about and treat ourselves — and vice versa.”

By Joe Towalski For The Catholic Spirit Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on ecology will address a wide range of issues related to the environment, including how they impact the world’s poor and marginalized, said the chief of staff to Cardinal Peter Turkson, who is advising the pope in its drafting.

Two issues in particular have come together that Pope Francis wants to address in a coherent way, said Jesuit Father Michael Czerny of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is headed by the cardinal.

First, there is the urgency and difficulty of coming to a global agreement on how to address climate change.

“You can’t ignore this,” Father Czerny said in an interview Nov. 5 before delivering remarks from Cardinal Turkson at the “Faith, Food & the Environment” symposium in St. Paul. “While people can have different opinions across a range, the fact is that just to stall is to decide, and it’s to decide one way that is irreversible. As a spiritual leader of so many people and as a leading figure worldwide, I think [Pope Francis] feels a real obligation to address this.”

The pope’s other concern is the impact of climate change and environmental policies on the world’s poor.

“The people who are paying the price for the imbalance in the way we are using resources, the way the economy is organized, the way trade is conducted . . . not only have to stop paying unjustly, they have to play an active role in seeking and finding solutions,” Father Czerny said.

Pope Francis told an international gathering of grassroots social activists at the Vatican last month that their concerns would be present in the encyclical, which Father Czerny said is expected “early next year.”

The priest said he hoped conference participants, especially those who work in agriculture, would leave feeling “encouraged and stimulated to see how they live their faith in that sector.”

He also wants Catholics in the pews to feel empowered to address important social and environmental issues and renew their sense of having a “political vocation.”

Please turn to SOLUTION on page 31

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Help wanted: Volunteers play crucial role at shelter

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit Steve Hawkins doesn’t need a theology book to know the definition of the Body of Christ.

He knows it goes into action every evening as homeless men who seek shelter at the Dorothy Day Center are cared for by Catholic men from a dozen parishes throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who spend the night aiding, listening to and watching over them.

Men like John Bromen.

Bromen, a member of St. John Neumann in Eagan, has spent four or five nights each winter since 2010 volunteering at what’s called the overflow, the annex of Catholic Charities’ downtown St. Paul

“The guests are friendly, the work is easy, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.”

John Bromen, volunteer at the Dorothy Day Center and parishioner of St. John Neumann in Eagan

facility where mats on the floor serve as a place for men to lay their heads when beds at the shelter are already filled.

Funding recently came through

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

for Catholic Charities to build a much needed renovation and expansion of the Dorothy Day Center to provide more emergency shelter, meals, medical care, housing and employment services.

But those extra beds won’t be available until 2016, and the pressing need for shelter means that more volunteers are needed, said Hawkins, also a St. John Neumann parishioner.

He said Bromen is a good example of “the true Body of Christ quietly at work among the poor and the sick in our midst.”

Bromen’s getting to know some of the guests at Dorothy Day led to his doing even more for them — being there when a man named Sylas came out of surgery, driving Gary to dialysis and taking him out to lunch, showing “love of neighbor by being their family,” as Hawkins put it.

“It is hard to say exactly why I volunteered at Dorothy Day,” Bromen told The Catholic Spirit. “I just felt that feeling in my heart that it was something I was supposed to do.”

Arriving around 7 p.m., he and another volunteer prepare the annex and make a pot of coffee on cold nights to warm up the guests.

Food arrives later in the evening, he said, and they help set up and clean up.

“Then comes my favorite part of the evening where we chat with the guests that feel like talking,” Bromen said.

“We chat about sports, work, school, weather, struggles . . . I do my best to be a good listener.”

“In the morning, we greet the guests and wish them a good day before they have to leave,” he said.”

The last couple of years, Bromen’s son Sam has been able to volunteer with him on occasion when he’s home from school. Sam attends the University of Minnesota Duluth.

“The guests have had a great influence on him by reminding him to work hard and always do his best in school,” Bromen said.

“Volunteering there has changed my perspective on the homeless,” he added.

“So many of the guests are just like me and are there due to unfortunate circumstances,” he said. “It is humbling to see how well they deal with the difficulties; it helps me keep things in perspective and makes me more grateful for the gifts I have. I pray for the guests and hope that I can make some small difference in their lives.”

Asked what he would say to someone who might be interested in volunteering at the overflow at Dorothy Day, Bromen put it simply, “The guests are friendly, the work is easy, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.”

To learn more about volunteering at the Dorothy Day Center, contact Steve Hawkins at (612) 916-7495 or hawkins.steven1969@gmail.com.

Knights of Malta have commitment to ‘the Lord’s poor’ Volunteering at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul is a way for Steve Hawkins to fulfill both his baptismal call and his service in the Knights of Malta, a 900-year-old lay religious order that is active in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Hawkins explained, “As a member of the Order of Malta (actually the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta), I have professed a lifelong commitment ‘. . . to serve the poor and the sick,’ in part because it is what Christ did and what he asks us to do, and in part because in serving ‘Our Lord’s poor and sick,’ I find incredible joy and fulfillment.”

The majority of the men who volunteer to work the overnight shift at the Dorothy Day overflow are not members of the knights, Hawkins said.

The Order of Malta only has 3,000 members in all of America and only 13,000 worldwide, but provides the world’s third largest relief services (behind Red Cross and Red Crescent).

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Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection is Nov. 22-23

By Jennifer Janikula For The Catholic Spirit Parishes across the United States will amplify the voice of the poor when they collect donations for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development during Masses on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23.

The annual campaign, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provides grants to organizations targeting poverty’s root causes, hoping to “break the cycle of poverty by helping lowincome people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities.”

After 45 years of dollars, coins and checks in the second-collection baskets, the CCHD has distributed more than $400 million to thousands of community groups across the nation.

Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Social Justice coordinates the collection for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Angela Butel, community engagement and leadership specialist for Catholic Charities, said the six locally funded groups are transforming their communities to prevent and end poverty.

“CCHD is a powerful expression of our Church’s concern for the

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Special campaign promotes East Side Pride in St. Paul most vulnerable in our midst,” Butel said. “Support for the annual CCHD collection is one way in which we as Catholics can stand in solidarity with the work of these organizations and bring Christ’s love into being in our world.”

East Side Pride A local beneficiary of CCHD funds, the East Side Pride Exterior Maintenance Company supports the St. Paul community in two ways: 1. It offers reasonably-priced exterior maintenance services to neighborhood residents and business owners, and 2. It provides employment that includes on-thejob training and living wages.

“We are a mission-driven exterior maintenance company,” explained business manager Ja’Na Dickens.

“We offer affordable services, and we give our workers a just wage while they expand their skills and gain experience, hope and confidence.”

Dickens develops more confidence every day in her management role at East Side Pride.

Dickens, a mother of four with an entrepreneurial spirit, started working at East Side Pride in January to hone the skills needed to build a successful business. She manages all aspects of the exterior maintenance company, including hiring, sales and contract/account management.

She hopes to start her own business in the future.

“I enjoy seeing the business grow and seeing myself grow. I’ve

Robert Logan helps East Side Pride Exterior Maintenance Company keep sidewalks, alleys, driveways and parking lots free of ice and snow in St. Paul. The company uses funding from the USCCB’s Campaign for Human Development to provide job training and community development services. Jennifer Janikula/For The Catholic Spirit discovered new skills, and I am helping people at the same time,” Dickens explained. “When I venture off on my own, I hope to teach others about leadership and how they can grow their business through sales. I want people to shoot for excellence.”

Grassroots funding John Vaughn, Dickens’ mentor and the executive director of the East Side Neighborhood Development Company, which owns the exterior maintenance company, appreciates the grassroots emphasis of the CCHD funding.

“No other funding source would make this kind of grant to a small inner-city community organization,” Vaughn said. “We wouldn’t be here without it.”

The CCHD funding allowed Vaughn to pay for many of the startup costs of East Side Pride like legal fees and insurance. As the exterior

maintenance company moves though its first year of operation, Vaughn hopes business will grow and provide a revenue stream for community development projects that rehabilitate east side homes for seniors and low-income families.

This winter, East Side Pride will provide affordable plowing and shoveling services to community members.

For more information about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, visit www.usccb.org.

To learn more about the East Side Pride Exterior Maintenance Company, contact Ja’Na Dickens at (651) 288-8755.

On the web Learn more about poverty in the U.S. and ways to help end it at www.povertyusa.org.

Shrines of Italy Pilgrimage April 20-29, 2015 Your Trip Includes: † Round-trip air † 8 nights at centrally located hotels as follows: (or similar) ~ April 21-24: 3 Nights at Hotel Michelangelo, Rome ~ April 24-26: 2 Nights at Hotel Gran Paradiso, San Giovanni Rotondo ~ April 26-29: 3 Nights at Hotel Giotto, Assisi † Tour Escort † Transfers as per itinerary † Breakfast and Dinner daily † Wine with dinners † Transportation by air-conditioned motor coach † Assistance of a professional local Catholic guide(s) † Sightseeing and admissions fees as per itinerary † Fr. Jim Starbuck available for Spiritual Direction † Mass daily & Spiritual activities † Luggage handling (1 piece per person) † Flight bag & portfolio of all travel documents

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Year of Consecrated Life to help laity learn more about religious Special year officially begins Nov. 30 The Catholic Spirit In an effort to help lay Catholics gain a deeper understanding of other ways to live the Gospel, Pope Francis has dedicated 2015 to be the Year of Consecrated Life.

During the coming months, lay people around the world will be invited to open houses, prayer

Year of Consecrated Life opening vespers services Sunday, Nov. 30 • 3 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.

• 4:30 p.m. at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel (the chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet), 1884 Randolph Ave., St. Paul

opportunities and celebrations to mark the year. Events are planned in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis beginning Nov. 30.

The special year dedicated to consecrated life is similar to previous themed years such as the Year of the Priest (2009-2010) and the Year of St. Paul (2008-2009).

“Now the Holy Father is saying let’s focus on those called to consecrated life,” explained Sister Carolyn Puccio, “priests, brothers, sisters, consecrated virgins — the whole gamut.”

Sister Carolyn, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet who is Archbishop John Nienstedt’s delegate for religious, sees several layers of benefits that might emerge from the yearlong celebration.

“I really like what Pope Francis had to say when he made the announcement,” she said. “He called it a time for the whole Church to rejoice in the gift of consecrated life.

“And he called forth the Holy Spirit to ‘bring about a continued renewal of religious life and imbue an unbounded generosity on the part of many young people to follow Christ through the evangelical counsels [poverty, chastity and obedience].’ ” Local activities — some

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coordinated by the archdiocese and others by the various religious communities and groups — are “an opportunity for people to get to know us, to gain an understanding of what a broad thing our calling is and the gifts it brings to the Church,” Sister Carolyn said.

Personally, she added, the dedication of a year for these purposes may be “a response to the perception that a calling to consecrated living isn’t as prevalent in the Church today.”

“I think it’s an effort to bring more attention to these ways of living your baptismal commitment and the Gospel,” she said, and she sees shining a spotlight on consecrated life as an opportunity people might not be aware of if they don’t come in contact with men and women in religious life.

The Year of Consecrated Life officially begins the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30.

In the archdiocese, the opening of

Prayer for the Year of Consecrated Life O God, throughout the ages you have called women and men to pursue lives of perfect charity through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

During this Year of

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Consecrated Life, we give you thanks for these courageous witnesses of Faith and models of inspiration. Their pursuit of holy lives teaches us to make a more perfect offering of ourselves to

?

There are many different kinds of Brothers — those who are monks and teachers, doctors and nurses, hospital chaplains, therapists, artists, social workers, etc. Technically, these are “lay religious” men — men who take vows of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience, and who live in a community but are neither ordained ministers nor studying to be ordained ministers. Many people aren’t aware that a man can be called to a vowed life of prayer, community and ministry, and not be a priest.

From Cathy Bertrand, School Sisters of Notre Dame

you. Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters who, having found the pearl of great price, treasure the Kingdom of Heaven above all things.

the year will begin with Advent Vespers in both Minneapolis and St Paul.

A 3 p.m. vespers service will be at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

In St. Paul, a vespers service will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel, the chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet at 1884 Randolph Ave. On Monday, Feb. 2, World Day of Consecrated Life, women and men religious who are celebrating jubilee anniversaries during the year will be honored with Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul and at a reception at the archbishop’s residence.

Religious communities are expected to announce dates for open houses and other celebrations as those dates near.

Women religious will also take part in National Catholic Sisters Week, March 8-14.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

From the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations

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By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit A small group of men went to Mass regularly at Assumption in St. Paul back in the early 1980s. The 20-something guys, numbering less than half a dozen, were not trying to draw attention to themselves.

But, they were being noticed by other regular Mass goers at the downtown St. Paul church.

After a short time, they became known as “the brothers.” This, plus the leading of the Holy Spirit, got them to thinking about establishing something more formal.

On Aug. 2, 1982, they did. They became the Franciscan Brothers of Peace. The founder was Brother Michael Gaworski, who died in 2003 after living in a near vegetative state after suffering from bacterial pneumonia in 1991. He was joined by four other men, including Brother Paul O’Donnell, who has been part of the order since its founding and today serves as its leader. He is the only one of the original five still with the order.

“In the beginning, we really didn’t set out to form a religious community,” said Brother Paul, 54.

“Brother Michael had been in the seminary, I had been in the seminary. I was at St. John Vianney Seminary, then at St. Paul Seminary for a while.

“We wanted to do something a little bit more radical, live in community and have a solid prayer life,” he said. “We just wanted to take a year or two to discern where the Lord would move us. When we came together to pray and discern, we realized that what we had was something special.”

Brother Michael approached the vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Father Urban Wagner, who instantly was impressed and then went to Archbishop John Roach, who approved the founding of the order nine months later.

At first, the five brothers who joined lived in a rented apartment.

In 1989, they moved into the former convent of St. Columba, which they now own. Today, there are 12 brothers, nine of whom live in the 25,000-square-foot building, which also has offices and a yearround food shelf.

Ministries One of the most important ministries of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace is pro-life work. Brother Michael and Brother Paul cofounded Pro-Life Action Ministries 28 years ago, and Brother Paul serves as president of the board and works closely with executive director Brian Gibson, whom he and Brother Michael hired.

In fact, the pro-life passion among the brothers was so strong that they contemplated incorporating that into their name. They even came up with one — Franciscan Brothers for

The Franciscan Brothers of Peace, who founded Pro-Life Action Ministries, participate in the Good Friday Prayer Service for Life in front of Planned Parenthood in St. Paul in this 2013 file photo.

Among those praying silently at the rally are Brother Paul O’Donnell, third from left, Brother Joseph Katzmarek, fourth from left, and Brother Conrad Richardson, right.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit Life. But, in the end, they decided to stick with the name that Father Wagner had suggested.

In addition to their pro-life work, which includes attending prayer rallies like the annual Good Friday prayer service in front of Planned Parenthood in St. Paul, they put a lot of effort into caring for the poor by operating their food shelf. They have now entered their busiest time of the year, when they have special food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“We help about 650 families at Christmas and Thanksgiving,” said Brother Paul. “We also run a food shelf during the year where we help provide food to over 75,000 people a year. This is just in our little friary in the Midway [area of St. Paul]. We know that we can’t ease all people’s burdens. There’s a lot of hardship out there, but we try to do something tangible to help families in need.”

Pulling together In addition to opening their doors to the poor who need food, they go out on the streets to minister to those who are suffering. They will walk the neighborhood to talk and pray with people they encounter.

One of the men, Brother Joseph Katzmarek, was especially passionate about reaching out to the poor. He would go out looking for those who slept outdoors.

Unfortunately, that led to a tragedy that rocked the brothers. On a misty November afternoon 13 years ago, he fell and severed his spinal cord. He is paralyzed from the waist down and has to minister as a paraplegic.

“He was visiting with some marginalized people under the bridges in Minneapolis,” Brother Paul said. “He would bring them blankets or sandwiches. He’s always had a special ministry. Brother Joseph’s father owned a produce

place down in north Minneapolis and would always feed the homeless. So, Brother Joseph grew up with that, befriending these people. So, he was bringing them some food. It must have rained and he slipped and fell off an embankment and severed his spinal column.

“It was hard for him. He was one of our more able-bodied guys. . . .

He still continues his ministry, with the brothers’ help, to a lot of the poor, Hispanic, homeless population in West St. Paul.”

Fortunately, the brothers had God’s grace, plus more than a decade of caring for Brother Michael to help them work through Brother Joseph’s tragedy. Brother Paul will never forget the day when Brother Michael, his best friend, fell ill while the two of them were serving at a hospice facility for AIDS patients in1991.

Responding to a request from Archbishop Roach, they had been serving at a home for men with AIDS called Samaritan House.

“In March of 1991, I was over at the house and we actually had three men who were all dying,” Brother Paul said. “Brother Michael came over to help me. About 4 in the morning, he went up to go to bed and I stayed up watching the guys.

But, he didn’t come down in the morning. And so, when I went up to find out because I wanted to get some sleep myself, I found him unconscious without a pulse or a heartbeat. I called the paramedics and tried to do CPR. He was clinically dead. He was gray in color.

He was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center. He was in a coma for a while in what they called a vegetative state.”

He never came out of that state.

He was able to communicate by blinking his eyes when brothers would point to letters of the alphabet. So, they knew his mind was functioning. But, he spent the

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This band of brothers seeks to defend life, serve the poor

next 12 1/2 years bedridden before dying on Aug. 28, 2003.

Far from pulling the brothers apart, Brother Michael’s death galvanized them and their ministries, which also includes caring for and housing victims of torture.

“It kind of pulled us together,” Brother Paul said. “He was a visionary type of person, and God used him to a certain point, but it was going to take others to carry [his vision] on. I’m sure it was for his salvation and the good of our community that God allowed this to happen.”

Spiritual rejuvenation Today, as he looks ahead, Brother Paul is filled with hope and joy.

With two men — Brothers Benedict Kelley and Juniper Barlett — having made their first profession last month, he believes the Franciscan Brothers of Peace will continue their important ministry in the archdiocese.

“We have seven men who are lifetime professed. That’s a good, solid number,” Brother Paul said.

“And, the fact that our average age is well under 60 is another good thing. There are many religious communities where the youngest members are in their 70s.”

What has helped keep the brothers refreshed and rejuvenated is the construction of a spiritual center in northern Minnesota. The 22 acres, situated about 20 miles north of the North Shore of Lake Superior, give the brothers a place to get away from the hectic pace of urban ministry, plus connect with the spirituality of the saint whose name they have taken.

“This is a busy place,” Brother Paul said of the friary where most of their ministry takes place. “You need to balance that with prayer and solitude and being able to get away.”

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Natalie King poses with her English bulldogs Griffin and Olivia on her wedding day. King, the executive director of Catholic Youth Camp on Big Sandy Lake near McGregor, was married at camp on Oct. 4. Photo by Angela Divine Photography

Destination wedding: Catholic Youth Camp Executive director celebrates nuptials, continuation of legacy

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit Long after the canoes, kayaks and life jackets were put away for the summer, a group of young adults headed north to Catholic Youth Camp on Big Sandy Lake near McGregor.

The weather was too cold for things like swimming on the

“Catholic Youth Camp is an amazing community. It’s the thing I am absolutely most proud of.”

Natalie King, executive director of Catholic Youth Camp

weekend of Oct. 3-5, but that didn’t faze Natalie King.

She wasn’t there to swim. She was there to get married.

“I have dreamed about getting married at camp for years and

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

years,” said King, 32 who has served as the camp’s executive director for the last eight years. “I love camp. It’s part of my life, so I knew that that’s where I wanted to get married. It was a really special thing. We ended up making it into an entire weekend. We had a cookout for the rehearsal dinner on Friday, and then the wedding [on Saturday, Oct. 4], and then we had a brunch the next day. . . . It was a weekend in the woods. It was fun.”

But, as recently as May of this year, King wasn’t sure she would fulfill her dream of marrying Nate Whited in the camp’s cozy chapel.

Camp, which opened in 1947, was struggling financially, and a neighbor had made an offer to buy it and convert it for other uses.

“CYC has struggled over the years. Really, we’ve struggled for 67 years,” said King, who said about 500 campers from age 7 to 17 come to camp every year. “We definitely survived by the skin of our teeth.”

As leaders and the board contemplated the buyout offer, King reached out to camp alumni, staff and parents who send their children there. She wanted to know how they felt about having CYC come to an end.

As it turns out, the response was

overwhelming. Offers to help keep camp open came rolling in from people like Jean Murtaugh, whose two daughters, Jena, 12, and Maggie, 9, have been going to camp for the last four years.

“I told Natalie I would do anything I could to help keep the camp open,” said Murtaugh, who attends St. Francis de Sales in St. Paul with her daughters and husband Jeff Marcolina. “The camp is a wonderful, faith-filled place where we feel our children are safe and the staff is like a family. It is truly a very special place. Every day, they are immersed in the Catholic faith and live a Catholic life while they are there. They attend Mass and always come home singing songs of praise and worship.

“I am so passionate about this camp that I sent 22 children from our parish to camp. I feel it is the best camp for children and that all kids should have an opportunity to attend.”

Murtaugh’s message was loud and clear to King and the board, which made a decision to keep camp open. There will be an overhaul of the whole organization along with a new strategic plan that will emphasize fundraising.

Thus, the 67-year legacy of CYC will continue.

“Sessions are up, we’re already planning for 2015, and we’re here to stay, hopefully for the next 67 years or more,” King said.

“Catholic Youth Camp is an amazing community. It’s the thing I am absolutely most proud of.

There are a lot of camps out there, a lot of great camps, but we call it the CYC family.”

This “family” comes complete with camp dogs, a pair of English bulldogs named Griffin and Olivia who are so much a part of the summer experience that they walked down the chapel aisle at King’s wedding. It seemed fitting, given the important role they play for nine weeks every summer.

“They help out with homesickness and sometimes they just wander around,” King said.

“They’re pretty cute. The kids love them.” Next summer, the dogs will be back, and the newlywed camp leader couldn’t be happier.

“It’s such an amazing place, and I’m so happy that it is going to be around now for a long time,” King said. “We’d like to grow. We definitely have the capacity to grow. We’ve been bigger in the past, and we hope to be bigger in the future.”

For more information, visit www. cycamp.org or call (651) 636-1645.

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Faith & Culture

New director helps tell story of Asmat artisans

“Genesis,” by Asmat artisan Aleksander Wuru, a 5-foot long single piece of ironwood, elaborately tells the Christian story of creation, the temptation in the Garden of Eden, birth and death, within the context of Asmat culture. Photo courtesy American Museum of Asmat Art

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit

Mike Ekern/University of St. Thomas

Intricately carved ceremonial canoes, 20 feet long yet carved from a single tree, were a part of life — and death — of the Asmat, once a headhunting, cannibalistic people on a far southwest Pacific island.

The soulships or spirit canoes were used both in an initiation rite for young men and to transport the spirits of the dead to their final resting place among their ancestors.

Today, one of the canoes has a home in St. Paul, and, with a collection of other pieces by Asmat artisans, offers insight into a people, a culture and a spiritual life to students, scholars and visitors to The Gallery in the University of St. Thomas’ Eric KJELLGREN Anderson Student Center.

The Gallery is the home of the American Museum of Asmat Art, a legacy of the Crosier missionaries who helped to bring Catholicism to the Asmat people in Papua New Guinea, once known as the Dutch East Indies and now called Irian Jaya as part of Indonesia.

“Rather than suppressing native ways, the Crosier Fathers and Brothers encouraged traditional art forms,” explained Eric Kjellgren, who became director of the Asmat museum in August. “They built this collection, for one thing, as a way to preserve the art and culture of the Asmat.”

Man-sized wooden shields, decorative bowls for food, drums, masks and more are among approximately 50 pieces on display from among some 4,000 works in the collection.

Blend of old, new beliefs Those traditional pieces are joined by hand-carved crucifixes, a native-style

Madonna and child and “Genesis,” a 5-foot long single piece of ironwood that elaborately tells the Christian story of creation, the temptation in the Garden of Eden, birth and death, all within a context of Asmat culture.

As part of their course work, St. Thomas students chose the pieces in the current exhibit, “Museums and Mission: American Crosiers in Asmat and the Spirit of Vatican II.” The Second Vatican Council began not long after the Crosiers arrived in New Guinea in 1958, Kjellgren said, and the council’s promotion of dialogue with and understanding other religions and cultures played a part in the Crosiers’ efforts to preserve the Asmat culture and spirit in their art.

Bishop Alphonse Sowada, a Crosier missioner to the Asmat who passed away earlier this year at his order’s Onamia, Minn., priory, receives much of the credit for the community’s efforts to preserve Asmat art and to make it a source of income for the people.

“Today the Asmat have gone from making carvings for ceremonial purposes to making them as fine art that’s highly regarded by collectors,” Kjellgren said.

Available for tours, talks There are stories behind the making of, purpose for and preservation of all the works in the American Museum of Asmat Art collection at St. Thomas, and Kjellgren is an animated storyteller who leads tours and does talks about the collection for groups.

He brings a deep knowledge of the art of the Pacific Islands to the museum director’s post, having worked for 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, most recently as associate curator for Oceanic art.

His book, “Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” frequently is used as a textbook in courses, and he’ll be teaching several art courses in the spring semester, including one on the art of the Pacific.

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Pope confirms he will visit Philadelphia in September

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service Pope Francis said he would attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September, making it the first confirmed stop on what is expected to be a more extensive papal visit to North America.

The pope made the announcement Nov. 17 in a speech opening an interreligious conference on traditional marriage.

“I would like to confirm that, God willing, in September 2015 I will go to Philadelphia for the eighth World Meeting of Families,” the pope said.

The announcement had been widely expected, since Pope Benedict XVI had said before his retirement that he hoped to attend the Philadelphia event. Popes typically fulfill their predecessors’ publicly known travel plans, as Pope Francis did in July 2013 when he attended World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who was in Rome for the families meeting, told Catholic News Service the announcement was “a surprise in the sense that it was announced so early; you know usually they don’t make these announcements — four months out is the typical — and here we are 10 months away, and the Holy Father said he is coming to Philadelphia.”

“The Holy Father has said that he’s going to be coming to Philadelphia for quite a few months,” he told Catholic News Service. “He’s been telling me that personally, but for him to announce it officially that he is coming so early is really quite an unusual thing, so it’s going to reenergize our efforts. There’s a lot of enthusiasm already, but I think 90 percent of the enthusiasm’s based on the fact that the Holy Father will be with us, and now that he’s said that, I expect that there will be even a double amount of enthusiasm . . . and I’m very happy

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm already, but I think 90 percent of the enthusiasm’s based on the fact that the Holy Father will be with us . . . ”

World Meeting of Families registration now open

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia

Catholic News Service

about that.”

Catholicphilly.com reported the archbishop noted that Pope Francis has focused “on the many challenges that families face today globally. His charisma, presence and voice will electrify the gathering.

“As I’ve said many times before, I believe that the presence of the Holy Father will bring all of us — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — together in tremendously powerful, unifying and healing ways. We look forward to Pope Francis’ arrival in Philadelphia next September, and we will welcome him joyfully with open arms and prayerful hearts.”

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters Nov. 17 that Pope Francis wanted to “guarantee organizers” that he would be present at the meeting in Philadelphia, “but he did not say anything about other possible stops or events during that trip.

And for now I do not have anything to add in that regard.”

Although few details of the papal visit have been made public, organizers for the families’ congress expect Pope Francis to arrive Sept. 25 for an afternoon public visit with civic officials.

That would begin his first trip as pope to the United States and the second papal visit to Philadelphia in a generation; St. Pope John Paul II visited the city in 1979. He will be the fourth sitting pope to visit the U.S. During his visit, Pope Francis is expected to attend the Festival of

Families Sept. 26, a cultural celebration for hundreds of thousands of people along Philadelphia’s main cultural boulevard, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Donna Farrell, executive director for the 2015 World Meeting of Families and its chief planner, said although Philadelphia has hosted St. Pope John Paul’s visit, the city has “not had anything like this unique Festival of Families. It’s really going to be something special.”

Registration for the congress opened in mid-November. The meeting will be a weeklong series of talks, discussions and activities.

Pope Francis is expected to celebrate a public Mass for an estimated 1 million people on Sept. 26 on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in full view of the crowds arrayed from the museum down the Ben Franklin Parkway.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, welcomed the pope’s announcement.

“The presence of Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in our country will be a joyful moment for millions of Catholics and people of good will. Our great hope has been that the Holy Father would visit us next year to inspire our families in their mission of love. It is a blessing to hear the pope himself announce the much anticipated news,” Archbishop Kurtz said.

Remains of missing priest found in Mexican mass grave

By David Agren Catholic News Service The remains of a missionary priest missing for months were recovered from a mass grave in the southern state of Guerrero, adding to the horror of the crimes and killings in a region now notorious for the disappearance and possible deaths of 43 teacher trainees.

Ugandan Comboni Father John Ssenyondo was found in a grave with six other bodies in the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, according to a source quoted by Reuters. The source said Father Ssenyondo had refused to baptize the child of an alleged gangster.

The Centro Catolico Multimedial reported that Father Ssenyondo was abducted by armed assailants after

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

celebrating a wedding April 30. It added that his remains were identified using dental records.

Attempts to reach Father Victor Manuel Aguilar, diocesan spokesman, were unsuccessful.

Father Aguilar previously told Catholic News Service that Father Ssenyondo had been working in a small parish near the city of Chilapa, 100 miles north of Acapulco, since 2010. He added that Father Ssenyondo had refused to pay extortion, which was demanded because he was believed to be receiving foreign funds.

The death again demonstrated the risks run by priests working in regions rife with organized-crime activities. The Centro Catolico Multimedial reports

seven priests being murdered over the past two years. Another two priests are missing.

The discovery of Father Ssenyondo’s remains comes as investigators and private search parties uncover unmarked graves across Guerrero state, where organized crime and drug cartels are accused of operating with impunity and infiltrating municipal governments.

It also follows news of 43 teacher trainees in Guerrero state going missing.

Federal officials say police detained them and handed them over to gang members, who confessed to burning the bodies in a garbage dump.

Parents of the missing students reject that explanation and insist their children are alive.

Philadelphia formally opened its arms to the world as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia told the U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 10 that registration has begun for the World Meeting of Families next year in the city.

With up to 15,000 attendees expected for the gathering of families from around the country and the world Sept.

22-25, 2015, organizers are planning hotel and other accommodations plus a full slate of top speakers and activities for what will be the largest convention for Philadelphia next year.

“The World Meeting of Families will deal with a wide range of family issues where our faith is both needed and tested,” the archbishop said.

“These are matters that affect families not only here in the United States but on a global scale.”

Addressing those matters in six keynote speeches and 67 breakout sessions — each allowing for 15-20 minutes of questions and answers with 700 to 1,000 people per session — will be speakers including Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, and other bishops, priests and religious sisters, plus Helen Alvare, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and author Scott Hahn.

Archbishop Chaput told the bishops in Baltimore that the meeting’s content will deal not only with “neuralgic sexual issues that seem to dominate the American media,” but also poverty, addiction, children with disabilities, the loss of a spouse, divorce and coparenting, health and wellness and how these issues affect the family.

Other themes such as “creating real intimacy between husband and wife” and the roles of grandparents and the parish community to help deal with the challenges of raising children would also be examined, the archbishop said.

Registration and other information is available at www.worldmeeting2015.org.

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By Tara Connolly Catholic News Service Billowing clouds of incense at Mass and the inability to receive Communion can force some Catholics to cover their face or get out of the pew because of allergies and a sensitivity to wheat.

Frankincense — the incense traditionally burned in religious ceremonies — can act on the brain to lower anxiety and diminish depression. It also can deeply affect people with respiratory problems and cause coughing fits and force them out of church to seek fresh air.

Rather than doing away with censing, an ancient symbolic ritual used for purification and sanctification, Mercy Sister Janice Marie Johnson, coordinator of the Office for Ministries with Persons with Disabilities for the Allentown Diocese, said alternative incenses can be used.

After researching the issue, she discovered a hypoallergenic incense called Trinity Brand at two local stores that sell religious items.

An Internet search turned up church supply companies that sell it on their websites.

“The scents are flowers, forest and powder. Powder is the lightest scent. This type of incense will

Fr. Smith

accommodate those who are allergic to the present incense being used at liturgical celebrations,” said Sister Janice.

The use of the hypoallergenic incense accommodates people who develop headaches or breathing problems during religious ceremonies when incense is used during the entrance procession and to incense the altar, the Gospel, the offerings and the priests and faithful.

“Once parishes run out of their present supply, our hope is that they will consider purchasing the Trinity Brand hypoallergenic incense,” she told The A.D. Times, newspaper of the Diocese of Allentown.

Parishes that decide to begin using the hypoallergenic brand are advised to place a sign in the vestibule or put a notice in the bulletin to alert parishioners of the change.

Sister Janice also said Catholics who are gluten intolerant or suffer from celiac disease should be aware that many parishes are purchasing low-gluten altar bread to be consecrated.

Celiac causes the body to attack the lining of the small intestine and other organs when certain proteins found in the cereal grains

BigStock of wheat, rye, and barley are ingested. The autoimmune condition is estimated to affect one in 133 people in the nation.

Father James Harper, assistant pastor of Notre Dame parish in Bethlehem, said since canon law requires that altar bread used for Eucharist be made of wheat flour, the breads are not completely gluten-free.

Parishes do take measures to

keep the low-gluten and regular hosts in separate vessels to lower a person’s threat of an allergic reaction.

Father Harper explained that Notre Dame keeps low-gluten hosts in a pyx, a sacred vessel used to take Communion to the sick outside of Mass.

And if a person’s gluten allergy is too significant to consume the low-gluten host, he said, other accommodations are made.

“A person can alert the priests in the sacristy before Mass, and we can offer them the sacrament in the form of the most precious blood, which is wine,” said Father Harper.

Since the number of celiac disease sufferers is increasing, Msgr.

Victor Finelli, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Allentown, said most parishes offer low-gluten hosts, which are directly purchased from suppliers because of their short shelf life.

“Most parishes are aware of their parishioners who require lowgluten hosts,” he said.

“Some parishes have those persons sit in a designated pew, but most parishes prefer that the faithful in need of low-gluten hosts speak to the pastor before Mass just to be safe.”

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There is more online!

Full calendar of events • Catholic Hotdish Blog Photos and videos • Search the archives November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

14

U.S. & World

Catholics want to learn more about their faith, bishops report Catholic News Service For three and a half years, members of several U.S. bishops’ committees have been trying to pinpoint what Catholics in the pew are thinking and why they accept or reject Church teachings.

To this end, they have conducted multiple surveys and interviews of various groups of Catholics: fervent believers, Latinos, singles, parents, priests and church leaders. Although responses have varied, one of the takeaways is that Catholics by and large want to learn more about what it means to be Catholic.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, introduced the findings to the bishops Nov. 11 during their annual fall assembly in Baltimore.

He said the research was initially conducted to determine how to better communicate with Catholics and why they accept or disregard Church teachings on the value of human life.

Cardinal O’Malley said the research grew in scope from its initial quest and he noted that

On the web For more about the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting, visit TheCatholicSpirit.com.

MEXICO CITY

Pew survey shows Latin Americans leaving Catholicism Increasing numbers of Catholics in Latin America are abandoning the Church in favor of evangelical congregations or nonreligious life, according to a new survey, making Pope Francis’ calls for renewed evangelization efforts in the region ever more urgent.

The Pew Research Center survey of 30,000 residents of 18 countries and Puerto Rico showed 69 percent of respondents confirming they were Catholic, even though 84 percent of people said they had been raised in the Church. The Catholic population has slipped sharply over the past century, when their numbers topped 90 percent.

Evangelicals have pulled people away from parishes and into their church pews often by promoting what those converting would consider more attractive ways of worshiping the Lord, an emphasis on morality and solutions to their earthly afflictions — mostly poverty related, said Andrew Chesnut, religious studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. The survey underscores the urgency of the pope’s pleas for action in Latin America, where Catholicism has been intimately associated with culture, governance and history for more than 500 years.

VATICAN CITY

Pope sets up new body to speed handling of sex abuse appeals Pope Francis has established a special body within the Congregation for the

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

the working group’s committee leaders would only be able to present a fraction of their findings in the time allotted for their report.

He said they planned to make their research available online to the bishops and to conduct workshops to further explain their findings.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, presented a snapshot of the findings and said they reveal both challenges and opportunities.

Among the challenges evident in the responses was that many Catholics experience a disconnect between the teachings of the Church and teachings of Jesus. He also said many of those surveyed and interviewed have had little or no catechesis. They also expressed how the clergy sex abuse scandal impacted the Church and felt that not enough had been done to rectify it.

On the positive side, he said many Catholics expressed a sense of God’s love, and they also were more involved in parish life when parish ministries were tied to the Gospel message. Across the board, some felt there were too many rules in the Church that they didn’t understand, and others felt that people in the Church can be too judgmental.

Some sensed that their parishes are divided into pro-life and social justice camps.

Vatican public restrooms to include showers for the homeless Catholic News Service The archbishop who distributes charity on behalf of Pope Francis has announced that the public restrooms in St. Peter’s Square will include showers where the homeless can wash.

The service will require volunteers and donations of soap, towels and clean underwear, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, said Nov. 13. “We have to be evangelical, but intelligent, too,” he said.

Several people living on the streets of Rome or in tents say it is not difficult to find a parish or charity that will give them something to eat, but finding a place to wash is much more difficult.

Barbara, a Polish woman who lives in a tent with her teenage son and a companion, said showers in the Vatican’s public restrooms “would be good. We’d thank them if it works.”

Her companion, who calls himself Stefano, said: “I’m a mason without work. I’ll help them build it. No problem.”

The news site Vatican Insider first reported the news that Archbishop Krajewski had asked the office governing Vatican City State to include showers in an already-approved project to remodel the public restrooms in St. Peter’s Square.

Doctrine of the Faith to speed up the process of hearing and ruling on appeals filed by priests laicized or otherwise disciplined in sexual abuse or other serious cases. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters Nov. 11 that the members of the doctrinal congregation had been examining an average of four or five appeals, mostly in sex abuse cases, at each of their monthly meetings.

“Because of the number of appeals and the need to guarantee a more rapid examination of them,” Pope Francis has instituted a “college” within the congregation to judge cases involving priests, said a note from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, presenting the text of the papal order. A case involving a bishop accused of abuse or other serious crimes would continue to be examined and judged by the entire membership of the doctrinal congregation during one of its regular monthly meetings, says the order, officially known as a “rescript.”

with matters of conscience. The penitentiary sponsored a conference at the Vatican Nov. 12-13 on “the confessional seal and pastoral privacy.”

According to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, conference participants heard that since the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 spelled out the penalties in Church law for violating the secret of the confessional, “the discipline of the Church in this matter has remained substantially the same,” with the exception of additional protections. One of those additions, the newspaper said, was a 1988 Church law explicitly stating that using an “electronic apparatus” to record, broadcast or otherwise share the contents of a confession also is an excommunicable offense.

Officials: Seal of confession is absolute, even after penitent dies

A recently reassigned Vatican official has urged Pope Francis to take the issues of Communion for the divorced and remarried, cohabitation and samesex marriage “off the table” for next year’s Synod of Bishops. Addressing more than 300 delegates at the family and marriage conference in Limerick Nov. 15, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke said these issues had distracted the work of the synod in its first session in October. Warning that Satan was sewing confusion and error about matrimony, the cardinal patron of the Knights of Malta said, “Even within the Church there are those who would obscure the truth of the indissolubility of marriage in the name of mercy.” The 66-year-old former archbishop of St.

The secrecy of a confession is maintained so seriously and completely by the Catholic Church that a priest would be excommunicated for revealing the contents of a confession when ordered to testify by a court or even after the penitent dies, Vatican officials said. “No confessor can be dispensed from it, even if he would want to reveal the contents of a confession in order to prevent a serious and imminent evil,” said Msgr.

Krzysztof Nykiel, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing

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Cardinal urges pope to take hot-button issues off table for next synod

Louis instead recommended that next year’s synod devote itself to promoting the Church’s teaching on marriage.

Cardinal Burke also ruled out any easing of the restriction on Communion for those divorced and remarried without an annulment of their original marriage.

WASHINGTON

Ruling in Priests for Life HHS suit ‘wrong’; group won’t ‘obey’ mandate Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said a federal appeals court that ruled against his organization in its challenge to the federal contraceptive mandate “is wrong, and we will not obey the mandate.” A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the unanimous decision Nov. 14. “The court stated, ‘We conclude that the challenged regulations do not impose a substantial burden on plaintiffs’ religious exercise,’” Father Pavone said. “After studying the decision further, we will release more commentary.” Priests for Life argued that the Obama administration’s procedure that nonexempt religious employers must follow to opt out of the contraceptive mandate violates the organization’s religious rights. As part of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requires nearly all employers to cover contraceptives, sterilizations and some abortion-inducing drugs for all employees in company health plans. It includes a narrow exemption for religious employers that fit certain criteria.

15

Advent

St. Andrew accompanies us through Advent

By Alyssa Bormes For The Catholic Spirit

CNS

Use that Advent wreath this year

By Bob Zyskowski The Catholic Spirit The Advent wreath should be more than a nice decoration to have around the house during the holidays.

To get more out of the Advent season and “prepare the way” for the holy time that seems to be more and more missing at Christmas, The Catholic Spirit is offering a brief Advent wreath rite this issue and in the three issues to come.

These simple, 10-15 minute rituals echo a ceremony that has been a part of Catholic life since the 16th century, and they are something an individual can do alone, with family or with any group.

The season begins with the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30.

Clip the Advent wreath ritual out of The Catholic Spirit each issue or pull it off of www.TheCatholic Spirit.com and make all the copies you need.

Advent Week 1 The following Advent wreath prayer is intended to help busy households make Advent a prayerful time during the rush of Christmas preparations.

The language is fairly simple, intended to be used for personal prayer and reflection or by groups of adults or adults with children. Options are noted to allow for participation by a variety of members of a household.

Leader: Today begins a special time of year for us. This week we begin the season of Advent, that period of waiting before Christmas.

In order to help each of us prepare our own hearts for the birth of Christ, we want to take a few moments each week to pray together.

• Light the first candle on the Advent wreath. (Choose a different person for this task each week.)

It doesn’t have to take long to make our prayer around the Advent wreath a meaningful part of each week. With the right priorities, all of us can find 10 or 15 minutes.

Find a time convenient for yourself and anyone who might be joining you.

Use all or just the parts that make sense for you and those praying with you.

Read the readings aloud or silently.

If you are with others, take turns leading, and take turns with each of the various parts of the ritual.

And don’t rush through the prayers of petition at the end. Take your time with each, and reflect on what you’re praying for.

The season of Advent opens the new Church calendar, and what better way to start the new Church year than by joining with others across the globe in preparing our hearts for the miracle of Christmas.

• Read aloud Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2b-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37. (A different person might read each passage.)

Leader: Did you ever wonder why God didn’t make it easier for us to be good?

The Bible passages that the church has chosen for this first Sunday of Advent point out two things: that we aren’t perfect, and that we could be — and we’d better be! — better people.

The prophet Isaiah begs God for help. The evangelist Paul offers up a thank-you to God for all the gifts we have. And Mark’s Gospel reminds us that the time to start living the right way is right now — this Advent — today.

Closing prayer: (Leader may read all, or others in the household may each read a segment.)

Dear God, help us to accept that

we are the clay and that you are the potter. Throughout this first week of Advent, help us remember that we are your people and that you are our God. Help us get our priorities right and put the most important things first: loving God and loving our neighbor.

Holy Spirit, guide the choices we make throughout this week so that we choose to do what honors our creator and what shows our love of others.

Father in heaven, we offer thanks to you for the many gifts and talents you have given to all the people on earth, to our family and friends, to the neighbors we know and the neighbors we have yet to befriend.

Lord Jesus, we wait in joyful hope for you. Come into our hearts so that when the time comes we will be prepared to join you in everlasting joy.

Somehow, I came to believe that I had been granted the gift of infinite wisdom.

Oddly, my parents didn’t recognize it as such.

Nevertheless, I chose the confirmation name of Andrea — the Alyssa female version BORMES of Andrew — because I thought it sounded so cool with the rest of my name: Alyssa Marie Andrea Bormes.

Some 23 years after I had chosen St. Andrew as my patron, a priest said to me, “I’m going to call you Andrew.” I was confused, so he explained that Andrew, through his preaching, brought people to the Church. He said this because three friends joined me for Mass that day. I didn’t think anything more about it.

Three years later, on a tour of St. Andrew’s church in Rome, it was explained that Andrew survived two days after being crucified. He kept preaching from the cross, converting the soldiers. It didn’t register with me that the guide was speaking about my patron.

Then, seven months later while preparing to teach a class about patron saints, it all came together.

While looking for the saint of the day, my eyes fell upon Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew. Nearly three decades earlier, I had picked Andrea/ Andrew because of a sound. God, who cannot be outdone, gave the pretentious teenager her sound, but he slipped in a mission along with it. I had been entrusted to, in a sense, preach to those who wanted to enter the Church.

All the years condensed: “Andrea, be sealed with gifts of the Holy Spirit,” and my patron saint waiting for nearly 30 years to be noticed were now one moment.

The St. Andrew Christmas Novena begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which coincides with his feast this year. The following prayer is meant to be said 15 times a day: “Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.”

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Focus on Faith • Sunday Scriptures

16 SUNDAY SCRIPTURES Deacon Bryan Kujawa

Our work must be the work of the one true king On Nov. 23, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe — or more simply, Christ the King. But Jesus did not appear on earth as we would imagine a king to appear.

Why?

Let’s look at the Gospel of John, where Jesus says to Pilate, “My kingship is not of this world . . .”

(John 18:36a). Jesus seems to be saying that he reigns as king somewhere other than earth, and we know the name of his kingdom: heaven. Still, as a visiting king, it makes sense to think he would be treated with great dignity. But instead of a crown of jewels, he is given a crown of thorns; instead of wearing the finest robes, he is scourged and given one purple robe while being mocked by his persecutors; finally, instead of being seated in a beautiful, comfortable throne, he is hung upon the cross for all to see, and dies. Why would a king be treated so poorly? Part of the answer lies in the company he kept.

teaching and killed him for claiming to be their king.

The good news is that we know Jesus is indeed the king and worthy of our attention and honor.

He is a king who has conquered sin and death and calls us to love.

Because of this, we must go out to meet him in the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the sick and all who most need our time and energy. Yes, Jesus is in these least ones, as he says in the Gospel, and calls us to satisfy his needs by satisfying theirs.

In fact, Jesus tells us in this Gospel passage that we will be judged based on our care for these least brothers and sisters of his. Out of everything we could do, why is this the way we will be judged? When we are baptized, we are anointed and made part of the Body of Christ, and so

begin to share in the very life and mission of Jesus Christ. Since Christ came to bring salvation to the poor and lowly, we must continue reaching out in love to those same people.

Our work must be the work of the king of our true home, which is heaven.

Deacon Kujawa is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary for the Diocese of Crookston. His teaching parish is Guardian Angels in Chaska. His home parish is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Crookston.

Sunday, Nov. 23 Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Readings

• Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 • 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 • Matthew 25: 31-46

Reflection

What are some tangible ways we can do the work of Christ in our daily lives?

When Jesus first came to earth, it was absurd to spend time with those who were called “sinners” and the outcasts, namely tax collectors, beggars, the blind, paralytics, prostitutes, people possessed by evil spirits, etc. These people were known to perform immoral acts in the sight of God or were not worthy of one’s valuable time and, therefore, were not to be approached in a friendly manner.

Yet, Jesus did exactly that: He came to announce a message of salvation for those very sinners since they could rely on nothing else but the grace and mercy of God. Those Jews who did not consider themselves sinners rejected Jesus’

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Nov. 23 Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 Matthew 25: 31-46 Monday, Nov. 24 St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest, martyr, and his Companions, martyrs Revelation 14:1-3, 4b-5 Luke 21:1-4 Tuesday, Nov. 25 St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin, martyr Revelation 14:14-19 Luke 21:5-11

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Wednesday, Nov. 26 Revelation 15:1-4 Luke 21:12-19 Thursday, Nov. 27 Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9a Luke 21:20-28 Friday, Nov. 28 Revelation 20:1-4, 11–21:2 Luke 21:29-33 Saturday, Nov. 29 Revelation 22:1-7 Luke 21:34-36

Sunday, Nov. 30 First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:33-37 Monday, Dec. 1 Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 8:5-11 Tuesday, Dec. 2 Isaiah 11:1-10 Luke 10:21-24 Wednesday, Dec. 3 St. Francis Xavier, priest Isaiah 25:6-10a Matthew 15:29-37

Thursday, Dec. 4 St. John Damascene, priest, doctor of the Church Isaiah 26:1-6 Matthew 7:21, 24-27 Friday, Dec. 5 Isaiah 29:17-24 Matthew 9:27-31 Saturday, Dec. 6 St. Nicholas, bishop Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8 Sunday, Dec. 7 Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 2 Peter 3:8-14 Mark 1:1-8

17

Father Kenneth Doyle

How to obtain relics; original Bible manuscripts Q. Why is it so hard to obtain first-class relics? (Also, do I need permission from my bishop to obtain them?)

A. First, a primer on the three classes of relics. As explained by Catholic News Service: “A firstclass relic is the physical bodily remains of a saint or blessed like bones, blood and hair; a secondclass relic is a personal possession, such as clothing, devotional objects, handwritten letters or even furniture; and a third-class relic is an object that has touched a firstclass relic. These — usually small snips of cloth that have touched a blessed or saint’s tomb — often

end up in public distribution fixed onto prayer cards.”

Relics have been venerated in the Church since the earliest centuries of the Christian era because they evoke the memory of the person honored and are thought to put one in closer contact with the virtues of that saint.

The largest collection of relics belongs to the Vatican and is kept at a convent adjacent to the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. The practice of making relics generally available to the public, particularly first-class relics, ended about 20 years ago at the insistence of the Vatican.

Today, you can apply to the Vatican for a specific relic only with a letter of permission from your bishop and only if the relic will be used for a church altar or other public purpose. The private ownership, especially of first-class relics, is highly discouraged since it is seen as limiting the evangelizing effect of the saint’s memory.

Occasionally, second- or thirdclass relics can be obtained by contacting the religious order or shrine of a particular saint. If these shrines are unable to provide you with relics, they can at least offer you devotional material on the saints and information about their lives.

The Church’s Code of Canon Law says specifically and strongly (in No. 1190) that, “It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics.”

When relics are obtained, there is often a charge for the metal container encasing the relic and for mailing costs, but not for the relic itself.

Q. Where are the original

writings of the disciples that were used to put together the Catholic Bible?

A. The Bible is an anthology of more than 70 books composed over a period of some 1,400 years.

The oldest known manuscripts of the Christian Bible, substantially in its entirety, are the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus. The Codex Sinaiticus is said to have been penned around the middle of the fourth century and contains all of the New Testament and most of the Old Testament. It was discovered at a monastery in Mount Sinai, Egypt, in the 1800s. The Codex Sinaiticus is named after the Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt. A substantial portion is at the British Library in London, while smaller parts are at institutions in Germany, Russia and at its old home in Egypt.

The Codex Vaticanus is a Greek copy that has the Old Testament and much of the New Testament and also is a fourth century manuscript. It has been at the Vatican Library since at least 1481.

Father Doyle writes for Catholic News Service. A priest of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., he previously served as director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Services

18

Senior volunteers make a difference in the lives of other seniors

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit Linda Crosby knows Mary Cox’s life story. That’s because she compiled, proofed and bound it into a finished memoir for her 93-year-old friend.

“It’s really a lovely story of blending, and cultures blending,” said Crosby, a volunteer who visits Cox as a Carondelet Companion with the Dementia Pathways initiative at the Carondelet Village senior living community in St. Paul.

Crosby, 69, a Lumen Christi parishioner, is one of many seniors who develop rewarding friendships as they help other seniors in care centers.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2013 about 24 percent of people 65 and older volunteered in some way.

Volunteer coordinators, volunteers and residents describe how those who help other seniors make a difference in numerous ways.

Seniors offer their friends something unique from other volunteers because of their maturity and perspective, said Caroline Kennedy, a licensed social worker with the Dementia Pathways initiative. Six of the 11 Carondelet Companions

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Mary Cox (left), a resident of Carondelet Village in St. Paul, talks with Linda Crosby in the dining area. The two meet regularly through a program called Carondelet Companions, in which Crosby serves as a volunteer. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit volunteers are older than 65, she said.

“I think they can bring that life enrichment experience and share that with their elder, with their resident,” she said. “The residents feel validated, although they love younger volunteers, too. They might feel understood a little more with someone there in their same sort of age bracket.”

Often, senior volunteers and the residents they serve, who might be peers, share commonalities, said Jackie Bruns, volunteer coordinator at Cerenity Senior Care – Marian of St. Paul. Among the center’s 200 volunteers are spouses of residents who sometimes continue volunteering after their spouse dies, she said.

“They can experience similar

things of aging, or they can be lonely,” she said. “I think it’s helpful when senior volunteers that are still able to drive and maybe still are able to get out and experience life outside these walls.

They bring it back to some of these residents that aren’t able to do that.”

For volunteers, Bruns said, “It’s that they want to give back, but it’s something personal for them, too.

I remember one guy saying your life is not complete unless you’re trying to do good for someone else.”

In addition to giving back, Dementia Pathways Carondelet Companions want to find enrichment and be useful to others, Kennedy said.

“Some of the volunteers themselves are older and retired, but yet still find the time and the desire to come here,” she said.

Crosby began volunteering with seniors when she was in high school.

“I learned from that two things about myself: First, that I really liked [the elderly], and second, that I found it really meaningful to be part of a group that was doing something good rather than just kind of hanging out by myself,” she said.

Continued on page 19

19 Continued from page 18

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Senior Services

While Crosby and Cox had a specific task in creating the memoir, volunteers often meet residents for conversation or to work on a computer, Kennedy said. If they drive, they sometimes take residents out. And they can alert staff to changes in their friend’s health.

Patricia Gillis, 83, a member of St. Pascal Baylon in St. Paul, comes to Marian Center three days a week to participate in a day program for seniors. While she’s there, she looks out for people who need help and also visits residents. Companionship is something Gillis gives and receives.

One friend especially appreciates Gillis’ visits.

“I’ll comb her hair,” Gillis said. “I’ll hold her hand even. That’s what I do. Just the feel of human companionship, I think, is a big thing. You just talk to them and tell them what you’ve been doing, what the weather is and whatever.”

Now that Cox’s memoir is finished, she and Crosby get together to chat.

“Just knowing she’s there is comforting,” Cox said.

When her baby great-granddaughter had a health crisis recently, she said, “It was kind of nice to talk to her about it. She was just like a real true friend.”

Said Crosby, “I think the best part for me is that Mary is very open, and she has welcomed me certainly as a part of her life. I feel like I can tell her things about my life. It’s become a little bit more of a friendship.”

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November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Services

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

The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Cemeteries When we are baptized into the body of Christ, we enter a sacred place, a community in the Catholic Church. When we or one of our loved ones die, life is changed and forever altered.

But our faith tells us it is not the end but a new beginning — a transition to what comes next.

While awaiting the promise of eternal life, our Catholic tradition provides for the burial of our human remains in a Catholic Cemetery. The five Catholic Cemeteries in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are sacred places of prayer and remembrance, offering a resting place until the resurrection.

The Catholic Cemeteries are here to help you make a thoughtful and meaningful decision — one that can be built into your budget and truly reflect your wishes.

For more information about Resurrection, Calvary, Gethsemane, St. Mary’s or St Anthony’s cemeteries, call (651) 228-9991 or visit www.catholic-cemeteries.org.

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

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

We strive to provide a welcoming, respectful and warm atmosphere for our residents, tenants and patients, as well as their families. We also create a wide variety of programs and services that fit their physical, social and spiritual needs.

For more information and to schedule a tour, visit CerenitySeniorCare.org or call: Cerenity Marian – (651) 793-2100 Cerenity Humboldt – (651) 220-1700 Cerenity White Bear Lake – (651) 232-1818

The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care are located in the Shepard Park neighborhood of Highland Park, just blocks from the Mississippi River. The Wellington has been a part of this St. Paul community since 1985. The Highland Park area offers nearby retail shopping, various community centers, places of worship and beautifully landscaped park areas. During the week, a free, scheduled transportation shuttle is provided to locations in the area.

The Wellington Senior Living offers independent living, assisted living and 24-hour care suites. Our team is dedicated to providing an environment of comfort and dignity. We offer a variety of services from restaurant-style dining to housekeeping and a full array of social activities. Health care professionals, including licensed nursing staff and certified home health aides, are trained, dedicated and available to meet the needs of older adults.

The Alton Memory Care is committed to providing the “persondirected” care that meets the specific needs of each individual while helping families spend quality time with their loved one knowing they are well cared for in all aspects of their lives. When a loved one encounters memory issues, unique challenges arise for the person affected and his or her family members. At The Alton, we understand the emotions they experience and the importance that human kindness plays in helping. We believe that assuring personal dignity is the cornerstone of providing care.

For more information or a tour, please call The Wellington at (651) 699-2664 or The Alton at (651) 699-2480, or visit www.

ShepardParkSeniorCampus.com.

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

T Trojack Law Office, P.A. • Guardianships • Conservatorships • Powers of Attorney

• Health Care Directives • Directives • Wills

• Trusts • Probate • Estates

We offer tailor-made, client-focused estate planning and related services from a Catholic Perspective Trojack Law Office, P.A. • 1549 Livingston Ave., Ste. 101 • W. St. Paul, MN 55118

Phone: 651.451.9696 • www.TrojackLaw.com

21 Trojack Law Office, P. A.

Episcopal Homes has a variety of senior housing available in St. Paul.

The following is a brief description of senior living residences. For more information on any home, visit www.episcopalhomes.org.

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

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

For information, call (651) 451-9696.

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

Medicare- and Medicaid-certified. Our mission is to support each individual’s physical, social and spiritual needs. Weekly Catholic Communion and rosary, plus monthly Mass. For a tour, call (651) 6464061.

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

Catholic Communion every Sunday, plus weekly Communion. For a tour, call (651) 646-1026.

Cornelia House Gracious living for independent adults age 62-plus. We offer 47 one- or two-bedroom apartments, community spaces and a lively resident council that organizes social events. For a tour, call (651) 288-3931.

Seabury Affordable independent living, age 62-plus. Recognized as one of the finest HUD-subsidized senior housing facilities in the nation. Forty-nine one-bedroom apartments with central air conditioning. For a tour, call (651) 379-5102.

Carty Heights Affordable independent living for age 62-plus at University and Lexington. Forty-nine one-bedroom air-conditioned apartments. For a tour, call (651) 288-1142.

Kings Crossing Affordable independent living for age 62-plus, located above the shops of Frogtown Square at University and Dale.

Residents enjoy the same priority access to our programs and services as residents of our home campus. Forty-nine one-bedroom airconditioned apartments. For a tour, call (651) 493-4606.

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

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

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

To learn more, visit sttheresemn.org.

Senior Services

Episcopal Homes

MJ Properties of Saint Paul, LLLP Walking to Mass can happen every day when you live at 1440 Randolph Ave. in St. Paul’s Highland Park.

Our newly remodeled and value-priced apartments are perfect for today’s seniors, age 55-plus. Adjacent to Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1440 provides a quiet, simple, yet elegant atmosphere for independent seniors who wish to “stay in the neighborhood” or live close to a Catholic church and have ready access to the sacraments.

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

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

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Senior Services

22 Sholom

Epiphany Senior Housing

Sholom is a nonprofit organization providing a continuum of residential, social service and health care services, primarily for older adults.

Sholom’s two campuses — Shaller Family Sholom East Campus in St. Paul and Ackerberg Family Sholom West Campus in St. Louis Park — offer housing and a whole host of services for seniors, including senior apartment homes, assisted living, enhanced assisted living, memory care, HUDsupported senior apartments, short-term rehab, skilled nursing care, hospice care, vitality and aquatics center with warm water therapy pool, in-house and community-based home health-care services and adult day services.

For more information about the Shaller Sholom East Campus, call (651) 328-2000; for the Ackerberg Sholom West Campus, call (952) 935-6311.

Epiphany Senior Housing is located in Coon Rapids just minutes north of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. We are linked to the Church of the Epiphany via an indoor walkway.

We offer independent living, assisted living and memory care to seniors.

Epiphany Senior Housing offers a wide range of services in a home-like setting where privacy is respected and independence is supported. Services are planned with each resident to reflect personal needs and choices.

We would love the opportunity to speak with you and learn more about you and your housing needs.

To schedule a tour, call (763) 772-1066. For more information, visit www.EpiphanySeniorHousing.org.

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November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

23 Offering the best in senior living in the southwest Metro area.

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

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

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

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

For more information or to schedule your personal tour, please call:

Senior Services

St. Therese Southwest and The Glenn

by St. Therese Southwest

St. Therese Southwest (952) 933-3333 www.StThereseSouthwest.com

Local and national news stories and commentaries on:

CATHOLICHOTDISH.COM

The Glenn by St. Therese Southwest (952) 352-1000 www.TheGlennSeniorHousing.com

“Where neighbors are friends, and people really care.”

Epiphany Pines Independent Senior Housing 1800 111th Ave NW. Coon Rapids

Epiphany Assisted Living & Memory Care 10955 Hanson Blvd., NW Coon Rapids

Indoor walkway to the Church of the Epiphany

Call for a tour! 763.772.1066 EpiphanySeniorHousing.org

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our subscribers and advertisers!

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TheCatholicSpirit.com November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

This Catholic Life • Commentary

24 GUEST COLUMN Bob Zyskowski

It’s so difficult to see Christ in ‘them’ A teaching Catholics learn early on, one that tends to prod guilty consciences when one hears it later in life, is that we are supposed to see Christ in every person we meet.

When was the last time you did that?

Yeah. Me, too.

As difficult as it is, seeing Christ in others is, of course, a teaching straight from the Gospel.

Jesus tells his disciples that when they fail to come to the aid of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the ailing and the imprisoned, it is he whom they fail to aid.

It’s in Matthew, at the end of Chapter 25. You can look it up.

And, while we good followers of Jesus Christ are generous in giving to organizations like Catholic Charities and Sharing and Caring Hands, and while we readily sign up to pull a shift at Loaves and

Fishes or Feed My Starving Children, here’s a wager that you don’t see Jesus in the people helped by those charitable entities.

Me neither.

But why not?

Is it because in our competitive world we come in contact with so many people whose actions are anything but Christ-like?

Should we blame the media because the news is so often about senseless killers, heartless terrorists, bullying dictators, greedy business executives and unethical politicians?

Or, does it have to do more with us?

Self-defining superiority We humans seem to be hardwired to define ourselves as not like “them.”

Every once in a while you’ll hear of some member of the elite talk

CATHOLIC BY GRACE

Local confession times

Denise Bossert

In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, times and frequencies of confessions vary among parishes; many even offer confession by appointment.

For a reconciliation schedule at individual parishes, visit www.archspm.org.

Open confessional doors, open hearts to holiness and mission It is the key to unleashing the new evangelization. It is essential to carrying out the Gospel mission.

What is the key? It is the confessional.

You might have expected me to say the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. That is true.

But I would posit that priests already carry out this part of their ministry with great faithfulness and devotion. My own parish has four Sunday Masses, daily Mass Monday through Saturday, and numerous other special Masses throughout the year. And they come. People show up at every Mass.

But we are sinners. As much as we do not wish to do it, we fall back into sin — often. And so the net result is that many people are approaching the Eucharist while carrying the baggage of sin, perhaps even mortal sin.

That is a problem. Receiving our Lord while in a state of serious sin only adds mortal sin on top of

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

about “the little people” — meaning most of us.

That’s a definition even more offensive than the liberal or conservative label that gets stuck on some of us — or that we misguidedly label ourselves.

It might be human nature that we have to see ourselves as superior to others, but isn’t it just like Jesus to go against the grain?

Putting ourselves above those who aren’t like us — because of the land of their birth, the tint of their skin, the cut of their clothes — is really just the tip of the iceberg of our ego-driven differentiating.

We also assess others as less than us because of their politics, because of where they live, what kind of car they drive, even what kind of hymns they prefer at Mass — it goes on ad infinitum.

And that’s even before we talk about the people at the end of the highway ramps with the cardboard signs that read “Homeless — Anything will help.”

How do we see Christ in the ones we sing about as “the least of my brothers” when we’re failing to see Christ in so many others: the woman in the burqa and hijab, the guy with the bumper sticker for a candidate we wouldn’t vote for, the co-worker with the annoying habit.

Can we see past the little we know about an individual and assume that God has given that

mortal sin. One cannot advance in holiness this way. Without holiness, we cannot be a people on mission.

In his papal address on the sacrament of confession in March 2012, Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that, “the New Evangelization draws its lifeblood from the holiness of the children of the Church, from the daily journey of personal and community conversion in order to be ever more closely conformed to Christ.”

Because personal holiness depends upon the sacrament of confession, Pope Benedict XVI went on to say that the new evangelization begins in the confessional.

While most parishes are incredibly accommodating in providing opportunities for Mass attendance, many are abysmal — tragically so — when it comes to providing opportunities for the sacrament of confession.

Some may say that nobody shows up for the scheduled opportunity — those fleeting 15

minutes before Sunday Mass.

Every parish should have one night a week set aside for confessions. The parishioners need to know that their shepherd is there, waiting. The people need to be reminded (often) that a merciful Lord is waiting for them. During Advent and Lent, the opportunities for confession should be even more generous, highlighted by every means of communication.

Here is what will happen in the parish: People will become holy. People will be on mission. The new evangelization will come to your parish. The faithful will begin to discern vocations to religious life.

Here is what will happen in individuals: They will be healed of mortal sin and lose their attachment to it.

person gifts, and that they deserve the value and respect that as Christians we would give Christ?

Start seeing gifts Remember hearing Susan Boyle sing?

Who would have thought that this frumpy, dowdy looking woman would have the voice of an angel?

For those whose lives closely intersect our own, perhaps a way to start seeing Christ in them is to value them for the gifts they have.

Listen to them, learn about them. You might find you don’t have to dig too deeply to discover reasons to see Jesus in them.

For those on the periphery of our worlds, those we don’t know at all but, like books, we judge by their covers, maybe we should use the answer Pope Francis might suggest: Who am I to judge?

It’s a pretty good chance we won’t go wrong assuming that God loves that person.

The sooner we stop defining ourselves with a dictionary of differences, the sooner we switch to a vocabulary that values differences. And that’s when we’ll begin to see Christ in others.

Zyskowski, former editor and associate publisher of The Catholic Spirit, can be reached at zyskowskiR@archspm.org.

Then they will begin to address chronic sin: jealousy, gossip, eating disorders, bitterness and unforgiving spirits, laziness. Then they will become stronger, more accustomed to walking in grace.

But when the scheduled confessions are right before Sunday Mass or at a time when most people are unavailable, we are teaching our parishioners that confession is a last-minute sacrament, a kind of triage-only sacrament, a rarely-needed sacrament, a practicallyunnecessary sacrament.

While we do not believe any of this — it is the catechesis we did not intend to teach. Reality check.

Some of the holiest people have availed themselves of the sacrament of confession weekly. If even two people in every parish decided to emulate that kind of holiness, the current confessional schedule would not be sufficient.

If evangelization depends on holiness, we need to throw open the doors on every confessional.

We need to say, “Come soon, come often.” Let them know that Jesus Christ is waiting just for them.

Holiness and Gospel mission.

The first opens the door for the second.

Bossert is a convert and a syndicated columnist. Her column has been published in 60 diocesan newspapers. She attends Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo.

25

By Susanna Bolle For The Catholic Spirit French poet Leon Bloy once wrote, “The only real sadness in life is not to become a saint.”

Avoiding this sadness is the very goal of Family Missions Company.

Founded in 1997, FMC is a lay Catholic apostolate devoted to proclaiming the Gospel to the world, especially to the oppressed and suffering poor. My brother, his wife and their five children are training to be full-time FMC missionaries through a threemonth intensive formation program called Intake, where they will study, work, pray and live in community with other FMC missionaries. After serving in Louisiana and Mexico, they will be sent to their first year’s mission post in countries that could include Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, the Philippines or India.

In early November, I attended FMC’s “Proclaim” conference, which sought to encourage a response to the “missionary impulse” that Pope Francis speaks of in “Lumen Gentium” (“Light of the Nations”). I was deeply humbled by the selflessness of the many young adults and families I met who have responded “yes” to the Lord’s radical call to foreign missions. As part of FMC, they will embrace poverty not only in their own lives but also by feeding the poor, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned and relying on God’s providence in everything.

Keynote speaker Carole Brown emphasized the words of Pope Francis in “Lumen Gentium” where he acknowledges that, “Sometimes it seems that our work is fruitless, but mission is not like a business transaction or investment, or even a humanitarian activity . . . it is something much deeper,

This Catholic Life

We can be missionaries right where we are

Susanna Bolle (center) is pictured with her brother, Luke, his wife, Amy, and their children: Isabelle, 7; Elijah, 6; Gabriel, 5; Maggie, 3; and Vivian, 7 months. Bolle recently attended a Family Missions Company conference in Louisiana, where Luke and Amy are training to become missionaries with FMC. Photo courtesy of Susanna Bolle which escapes all measurement.”

Pope Francis warns us against getting “caught up in ourselves, in a careerism which thirsts for recognition, applause, rewards and status.” We must have confidence in the unseen work of the Holy Spirit and work on “renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills.”

The FMC missionaries commit to serve for at least two years, being led to remote villages and towns

where the world doesn’t recognize, applaud or reward their work. But in their gift of self they are truly joyful because they know that real happiness is found in being a saint.

Attending the conference inspired me to make it my goal to fulfill the decree made in “Ad Gentes” — “to be a leaven” in the world and “dispose it always in accordance with Christ.” For me this means being a missionary in the environment where God has me right now. I am asking the Lord to challenge me outside of my comfort zone, whether that means

Give your children the best: your faith, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Faith always has been transmitted best through example, but with young people constantly bombarded by images of all kinds, living models of a commitment to truth and love are more important than ever, Pope Francis said.

Welcoming dozens of school children Nov. 14 to his morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives, Pope Francis’ homily was a mix of a dialogue with them and an admonition to their parents and teachers.

“We all have a responsibility to give the best that we have,” the pope said, “and the best that we have is the faith. Give it to them, but give it to them through your example.”

According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis said that “in this world of images,” where most young people

Pope Francis touches a girl’s cheek during a meeting with the Italian Adult Catholic Scouting Movement in Vatican City Nov. 8.

CNS/EPA via L’Osservatore Romano have a smartphone, tablet or computer, “words don’t work. Examples! Examples!”

sacrificing a night of sleep this winter to volunteer at an overflow shelter or saying yes to an invitation to speak at my parish.

When the Lord comes to my door knocking, I do not want to respond with laziness and apathy.

As St. John Paul II professed, “open wide the doors for Christ!”

Bolle works in the Office of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. She attends the Cathedral of St. Paul and Nativity of Our Lord. Her home parish is St. John Sacred Heart in Sherwood, Wis. The day’s first Scripture reading, from the Second Letter of John, spoke about the beauty of “children walking in the truth” and keeping God’s command to love one another.

Pope Francis asked the adults at the Mass, “Do we teach them what we have heard in the first reading: to walk in love and in truth? Or do we teach them with words, while our lives go in another direction?”

“These young people are a responsibility for us,” he said. “A Christian must take care of young people, children, and transmit the faith to them, transmit to them what is living, what is in your hearts.”

Young people, he said, are “small plants that grow,” and no Christian adult can ignore them.

Turning to the kids, Pope Francis asked them why they came to the early morning Mass. Vatican Radio said that, after some hesitation, one spoke up and said, “To see you.”

The pope responded that he was pleased to see the young people there, but he said, “You also came to see Jesus. Right? Or do we set Jesus aside?” At that point, the radio reported, the children shouted, “No!” “Now,” the pope told them, “Jesus will come on the altar and we will all see him. It is Jesus,” present in the consecrated bread and wine.

“Let us ask Jesus to teach us to walk in truth and love,” the pope said.

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

26

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2014

The Lord is always present to help us By the Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day” (Matthew 6:34).

These words of Jesus come to mind as I sit down to pen this column. Our local Church and our Chancery Corporation, in particular, have Archbishop known significant “trouble” during JOHN C. the past year. That NIENSTEDT “trouble” continues today with the disheartening financial information published in this issue of The Catholic Spirit.

Unfortunately, we have taken a series of financial hits that have resulted in a serious deficit to our bottom line.

Additionally, in better financial times, our staffing and other expenses grew substantially in support of our Church’s mission..As a result, we needed to cut

back on expenses. Most distressing is the evident need for reducing the size of our workforce and the loss of valued staff members. My entire staff works with great dedication and for modest salaries in order to serve Christ and His Church. Following years of hard work to promote the mission of this Archdiocese, these layoffs sadden me greatly. I ask our readers to keep these good people in their prayers.

I have spent countless hours and several sleepless nights trying to analyze the current situation and find the best resolution available to us. I am grateful to the dedicated advisors I have on our staff as well as the professional and highly competent members of the Archdiocesan Finance Council who have worked closely with me. I truly regret and I apologize for the pain that this has caused others. I wish there had been a less hurtful way to resolve the situation.

As you know, the work of the Church is primarily carried out in the parishes, parish schools and other Catholic institutions by priests, religious and other ministers. All of these organizations are separate legal entities

with their own budgets. Please be assured that the Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation’s financial condition does not directly affect the parishes or other Catholic institutions. Thus, it should in no way diminish the many good works which I mention in my regular column today.

I am determined to see that the ministries and essential services provided by the Chancery Corporation will continue and that we will strive to minimize the impact of cutbacks on our Catholic people and the larger community.

I must also admit that the road ahead offers “trouble” of its own. We have settled only two of the legal cases involving clerical sexual abuse of minors. There are 20 more trials that are scheduled. There is still another year and a half for the window created in May 2013, lifting the Statutes of Limitations. We have no idea how many more legal claims may be made against us in the time that is left.

We have adopted a policy of “victims/survivors first,” which means we make decisions with fairness to them in mind. We do not want to have

all our resources spent on litigation, which could easily happen. We need to make sure that all victims/survivors are adequately compensated.

I ask our readership to pray for me and my team at the Chancery Corporation, that we may have the wisdom and strength in the months ahead to resolve the serious “trouble” that faces us so that we might be a source of hope before all that confront us.

We read in the Second Chapter of Sirach: “My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity. Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient.

For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.

Trust God and he will help you, make straight your ways and hope in him.”

Indeed, there is much comfort in such advice. Let us take these words to heart, knowing that the Lord will always be present to help us.

God bless you!

Financial officer report The following comments elaborate on the financial statements of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014. Condensed financial statements are included in this issue of The Catholic Spirit. The audited financial statements with footnotes and independent auditors’ report are posted at archspm.org on the Administration and Finance page.

By Thomas Mertens, CFO, Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation

Introduction When I offered analysis at the time of the 2013 financial report release, I was able to say that at June 30, 2013, the financial condition of the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation was solid. Unfortunately, since that time, our financial condition has become more uncertain due to significant expenses that are not anticipated to be ongoing in the long-term and the growing potential liability surrounding litigation stemming from the lifting of the civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors until May 2016 under the Minnesota Child Victims Act. In order to resolve the number of claims we are facing due to the lifting of the statute of limitations, we must have all options on the table. Our first concern is fairness: fairness for victims of clergy sexual abuse and fairness for the faithful whose stewardship has made archdiocesan ministry possible. For this reason, as we have stated previously, all options, including reorganization under the bankruptcy code, are being considered for fairly addressing the numerous sexual abuse lawsuits filed or soon to be filed against the archdiocese. As a part of determining the best way to move forward, archdiocesan leaders have consulted with various representative clergy and lay leadership groups and outside professionals to obtain their insights. At this point, no decision has been made to reorganize.

Importantly, the archdiocese would not use reorganization as a tool to avoid compensating victims/ survivors. It would be a way to respond to all victims/ survivors by allowing the available funds to be equitably distributed to all who have made claims, not just those

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

who have the earliest trial dates or settlements. The archdiocesan Chancery Corporation’s current financial condition is not the fault of victims/survivors.

Readers of these financial statements should understand that the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation, a not-for-profit entity, is a separate legal entity from parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic entities. Action by the Chancery Corporation does not necessarily mean that the same or similar action would be taken by other local Catholic entities. (side bar at right.)

The archdiocesan financial report covers the activities of the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation. Parishes and other Catholic entities, as separate corporations, independently report financial information to their stakeholders.

Earlier this year, the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation released its full audited financial report (for the year ended June 30, 2013) for the first time. In order for us to be accountable to our many stakeholders among the Catholic faithful, and to act as responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us, we are committed to releasing the full financial report each year. Archbishop John Nienstedt, the Archdiocesan Finance Council and I remain in full agreement on this point. We are releasing the report three months earlier than our past practice of February because we have improved processes, policies and controls, allowing for more timely reporting. Archdiocesan leaders have made a firm commitment to create a culture of transparency and continue to make strides in this regard.

In this issue of The Catholic Spirit, you will again find the condensed financial statements and notes, and I encourage you to go online to archspm.org to see the full audited financial report.

Report continued on next page

Reorganization: One option being considered At this point no decision has been made for or against reorganization. The archdiocese is considering all options including reorganization under the bankruptcy code in order to provide the most fair response to clergy sexual abuse claims against the archdiocese. If the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation files for reorganization: • The archdiocesan Chancery Corporation would expect the court’s permission to continue to function in the ordinary course while pursuing a reorganization, similar to other dioceses which have sought bankruptcy reorganization in recent years.

• Parishes are separately incorporated and would not be part of a Chancery Corporation filing for reorganization.

Parishes in the archdiocese have been separately incorporated under a religious corporation statute dating back to the 1800s.

• Catholic schools are either ministries of a parish/ parishes or are separately incorporated and would not be part of a Chancery Corporation filing for reorganization.

• Parish and Catholic school employees are employees of the parish/Catholic school where they work.

• It is premature to speculate on potential impact of reorganization on 403(b), pension, medical or other employee or priest benefits were the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation to undergo reorganization. If reorganization is pursued, we would seek court approval to maintain such plans during the course of the reorganization. Such relief has been granted in other diocesan reorganizations.

Regardless of whether the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation determines to seek bankruptcy reorganization, it has already taken significant expense reduction steps, outlined in the discussion contained in the adjacent articles, to balance its budget and make resources available to meet its obligations.

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2014

27

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation Chancery Corporation Operating Expense FY 2014 (in millions) Revenue FY 2014 (in millions) Archdiocese of St. PaulOperating and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation $34.6 Million Community Services,Marriage,Family and Life, $25.5 Million $1.5

Community Services $1.5

Developement & Stewardship, $1.7 Development & Stewardship

$1.7

Marriage,$1.1 Family & Life $1.1 Operating Expense FY 2014 (in Millions) Other Income, $2.8 $34.6 Million Central Services $7.4 Other Income $2.8

Archdiocese of St. Chancery Parish Assessments $13.8 Operating Revenue $25.5

Central Services, $7.4

Parish Services and Parish Services Outreach, $2.3

& Outreach $2.3

Contributions, $3.5 Contributions $3.5

Communications, $3.0 Communications

$3.0

Par Clergy Services , $5.5

General & Administrative, $3.2

General & Administrative $3.2 Special Issues $4.2 Special Issues, $4.2

Clergy Services $5.5 Catholic Education, $4.7 Catholic Education $4.7

Fees & Programs Revenues, $5.0 Fees & Programs Revenues $5.0 * Catholic Services Appeal $.4 Catholic Services Appeal $.4

* The Catholic Services Appeal (CSA) transitioned to a separate non-profit organization on January 1, 2014. Therefore, 2014 CSA contributions did not result in Chancery Corporation revenue in FY 2014.

The revenue shown in the chart is from the 2013 CSA.

Continued from page 26

and reaching out to share the Gospel FY 2014 PROGRAM EXPENSES

message of Jesus Christ. In practical $ % terms, the Chancery Corporation carries This year, for the first time, we did Central Services 21.43% out chancery functions such 7.42 as clergy not receive an unqualified opinion from Clergy Services 5.51 15.92% formation and assignment, hospital and our auditors. Our financial statements Catholic Education 4.75 13.72% prison chaplaincy, support for parish were audited by the independent Special Issues 12.07% evangelization and catechesis4.18 efforts, certified public accounting firm&of General Administrative 3.18 9.19% Latino ministry and other specialized CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, Communications which issued 3.00 8.67% ministry, as well as other centralized Parish Services and Outreach 2.34 6.76% a disclaimer of opinion and a going functions within the Archdiocese Development 1.66 of Saint 4.79% concern qualification. This is solely & Stewardship Paul and Minneapolis.

Community Services 1.53 4.42% because we were not able to provide the Marriage, and Life 1.05 3.03% auditors with an estimate of our Family liability Financial condition 34.62 related to ongoing litigation and claims under the Minnesota Child Victims The financial outcome of operating Act and the potential impact of the activities in 2014 resulted in a deficit of liability on our future financial stability. $9,120,676. The deficit can be attributed The inability to form an estimate is to significant expenses that are not due to numerous factors. In addition anticipated to be ongoing in the longto the pending lawsuits, the Chancery term, including Special Issues expense, Corporation has received a significant the transition of the Catholic Services number of notices of claim under that Appeal (CSA) to a separate nonprofit, and Act. Also, there is the potential for an the write-off of software. unknown number of additional suits The Special Issues expense of or notices of claim, which could be filed $4,180,228 incurred by the Chancery against the Chancery Corporation prior Corporation during the year ended to the end of the statutorily permitted June 30, 2014, related to addressing period. Each of these lawsuits, claims or issues arising primarily from the lifting potential claims is unique and requires of the civil statute of limitations on factual development to determine what, sexual abuse. Outside professionals if any, liability exists. Thus, we have provided expertise in the areas of legal, not been able to estimate the financial investigative, communications, insurance exposure. and financial matters. The majority of Other than with regard to the inability these expenses were related to review of to estimate liability associated with the priest files, investigation of insurance ongoing claims, we have prepared our coverage and analysis of financial financial statements consistent with past options. practice. Indeed, the auditors performed In addition to the Special Issues all field work and testing necessary to expense, the CSA transition to a separate provide a traditional opinion and had non-profit organization resulted in a complete access, consistent with prior net negative impact to our operating audits, to management and our books activities of approximately $3.7 million and records. because CSA fundraising was no longer part of the Chancery Corporation as of The Chancery Corporation will Jan. 1, 2014. The loss as a result of this continue serving the spiritual needs transition is a one-time item. In the longof our community. The Chancery term, we expect a reduction in Chancery Corporation exists to help fulfill the mission of the Church in our community Corporation administrative costs, improving our financial condition. through supporting the archbishop in bringing together the faithful, During the past year we made the ensuring true teaching of the faith, decision to write off $993,642 of software

because it was deemed inadequate FY 2014to REVENUEcosts includes a decrease in Catholic meet specifications identified in the Education, Community Services and Report and Recommendations of the Safe seminarian support under the Clergy $ % Environment and Ministerial Standards January 53.97% Parish AssessmentsServices category. Beginning in 13.78 Task Force. We are now investing the 2014,(net direct support for these 0.37 essential 1.44% CatholicinServices Appeal of rebate) development of software toFees meet&those ministries was provided from 4.96 the CSAF. 19.42% Programs Revenues Contributions 3.53 requirements.

The slight increase in Support Services 13.82% Other Income 2.90 11.35% costs year over year is due to maintaining 25.53 the 2013 level in litigation reserves, Revenue resulting in a decrease of $3,950,000 Total Operating Revenue for 2014 was of Litigation Reserve Expense, which $25,525,732 as compared to $32,737,473 was more than offset by Special Issues in 2013. The reason for this decline is a expense of $4,180,228. decrease in $7,741,187 of revenue from the CSA, because 2014 contributions were collected and held by the Supporting the mission independent Catholic Services Appeal of the Church Foundation (CSAF). The CSAF was The following narrative explains what established on Jan. 1, 2014, to collect and the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation distribute contributions for the benefit does to assist the archbishop in serving of designated ministries of the CSAF, Catholics and our larger community in honoring donor intent. support of our mission. Accompanying The primary sources of revenue, Parish the narrative is a chart depicting the Assessments and Fees and Program expenditures by program.

Revenues, were down 2.2 percent and up 8.1 percent, respectively, in 2014. The slight decrease in assessments is the result Program services of lower contributions to parishes and Catholic Education - $4,753,327 lower parish school income during the The Office of Catholic Schools year ended June 30, 2012, as compared supports the education and formation to the year ended June 30, 2011. of children at Catholic schools within Assessments are calculated on a two-year the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and lag. This means parish financial results Minneapolis. This support includes: for the year ended June 30, 2012 formed Catholic identity review and support, the basis upon which 2014 assessments leadership development and assistance in were calculated. implementing academic programs. The An additional factor in Operating Office of Catholic Schools also provides Revenue in 2014 was an increase in net programmatic oversight to promote investment income of $1,070,096 due to innovation and excellence in local urban strong performance in the bond market.

Catholic schools.

Please see the chart in this section Central Services - $7,419,381 depicting sources of operating revenue.

The Department of Central Services provides support and services to the Operating expense Chancery Corporation staff and the Operating Expense totaled $34,646,408 parishes. The department includes the offices of the chancellors for civil and in 2014 as compared to $36,606,314 in canonical affairs, computer services, the 2013. Program Services costs decreased Metropolitan Tribunal, human resources $2,220,931 and Support Services costs increased $261,025, year over year.

The decrease in Program Services Report continued on next page

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2014

Report continued from page 27 and benefits, the Parish Accounting Service Center and maintenance.

Also covered in this category are administrative services to the General Insurance Program, the lay and priest pension plans, and the Archdiocese Medical Benefit Plan Trust, as well as dues to the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Clergy Services - $5,513,753 The role of this office is to provide support and formation for priests and deacons in all aspects of ministry and pastoral care. Services provided by this office include the following.

Seminarian Formation: There are currently 57 men in formation for the priesthood in service of our archdiocese. While this number changes throughout the discernment process, our archdiocese has one of the largest enrollments of seminarians of any diocese in the country. Expenses include a portion of the cost of tuition, room and board for men at The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity and St. John Vianney College Seminary.

Center of Clergy Formation: Institute of Ongoing Formation for Clergy and the Institute of Diaconate Formation comprise the Center of Clergy Formation. Each entity of the center provides an integrated approach to priestly and diaconate formation, including gatherings and support for newly ordained priests, programs to assist new pastors in their role and ongoing formation opportunities for priests and deacons throughout the archdiocese.

Continuing Education: This includes continuing education opportunities, a sabbatical program, international enculturation, and a biennial presbyteral assembly.

Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment: The mission of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment is to work with our community to address the devastating societal problem of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by implementing abuse prevention programs, immediately reporting allegations of abuse to law enforcement and/or child/adult protection officials, and cooperating fully with their investigations, and helping those affected by abuse in their healing journey.

Priest Support: This includes support for priests who are not in ministry due to personal health issues or a disciplinary leave of absence and those who have been permanently removed from ministry.

Chaplaincies: There are nine priests and one deacon in full or part time ministry at hospitals and correctional facilities throughout the archdiocese who are supported by the Chancery Corporation.

There are many other priests and deacons throughout the archdiocese who provide pastoral care at healthcare or correctional facilities, either as a ministry of their parish or through volunteer work. They offer the sacraments and spiritual support

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

during some of the most difficult times in peoples’ lives. Last year, thousands of people throughout our community were served by chaplains.

Specialized Ministries: This includes the Office of Vocations, support for international clergy, and retired clergy.

Communications - $3,004,937 The Office of Communications helps convey the teachings of the Church and fosters communication between the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation and the faithful, parish and school leaders and staff, and others in our community.

It does this through The Catholic Spirit, multiple websites, social media, video, radio, e-newsletters and other communications vehicles.

Also in this category is the new Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, formed in early 2014. Among the programs of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis is Rediscover: preevangelization, evangelization, and catechesis initiative that supports outreach to all Catholics and provides formation opportunities to deepen their faith by complementing the good outreach and formation work already being done by parishes, Catholic schools and ministry organizations throughout the archdiocese.

Community Services - $1,534,072 The Chancery corporation helps men, women, and children most in need within our local community, including the poor, hungry, and homeless, primarily through cash support to Catholic Charities.

Marriage, Family and Life - $1,054,818 This department assists the laity and parishes through programs supporting marriage preparation, family education programming, respect life, pro-life groups, biomedical ethics, and outreach for people with disabilities.

The Office of Marriage, Family and Life also sponsors the annual Archdiocesan Youth Day that brings together hundreds of local high school aged teens to praise God, grow in the faith and find fellowship. In addition, this office helps coordinate local representatives attending World Youth Day, the National Catholic Youth Conference and other youth events.

Parish Services and Outreach - $2,337,966 The Office of Parish Services provides consultation, planning, and leadership development opportunities to parishes throughout the archdiocese. One example of this is the GROW initiative, which encourages parishes to develop and implement robust pastoral and strategic plans.

The Chancery Corporation supports outreach ministry to various groups and members of the archdiocesan community, including Latino ministry, Indian ministry, the Commission on Black Catholics, the Venezuelan mission, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, deaf ministry, and other groups and coalitions.

As one example, there are more than 20 Latino Ministry parishes throughout the archdiocese which receive support

from the Office of Latino Ministry.

These Latino Ministry parishes offer the sacraments, catechesis, and spiritual support to tens of thousands of Spanish speaking people throughout the local Church. The Office of Latino Ministry also oversees special days of celebration of the faith and family throughout the year. In addition, biblical, catechetical, and pastoral leadership formation institutes are provided for members of the Latino community to assist them in growing in the faith.

Support Services Special Issues – $4,180,228 The majority of these expenses were related to review of priest files, investigation of insurance coverage and analysis of financial options.

General and Administrative - $3,183,337 The offices of the archbishop, bishops, vicar general, accounting services, finance, and general administration are included in the General and Administrative category.

Development and Stewardship - $1,664,589 This office works with parishes and Catholic schools to help grow a culture of stewardship in local communities and to support parish and school development efforts. The office also engages in outreach to benefactors who wish to support specific ministries or programs of the Chancery Corporation.

Non-operating activity General Insurance Program The General Insurance Program trust of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis provides comprehensive, uniform coverage of all of the parishes, Catholic schools and certain other Catholic entities within the archdiocese, as well as the Chancery Corporation. The coverage provided by the General Insurance Program includes commercial general liability and workers’ compensation. The Chancery Corporation has characterized the General Insurance Program as a trust, with the net assets of the program held by the Chancery Corporation for the benefit of the participants who have contributed those funds in exchange for obtaining insurance coverage. The General Insurance Program had reserves in excess of historical loss experience as a result of positive financial results over the past few years. For this reason, premiums charged for the General Insurance Program were reduced by 30 percent from January 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. The premiums charged will continue to be analyzed and adjusted on an annual basis.

The General Insurance Program had a decrease in net assets of $131,124 in 2014 and an increase in net assets of $2,427,953 in 2013. The year over year decrease was due to the 30 percent reduction in premiums charged to participants that went into effect January 1, 2014.

Priest Benefits The Chancery Corporation coordinates a self-insured health and dental benefit

fund for active and retired priests and seminarians within the archdiocese. The Chancery Corporation invoices parishes, Catholic schools and other Catholic entities based on clergy assignments and pays benefit providers directly for any claims. Priest Benefits generated income of $302,713 in 2014 and had a loss of $3,047 in 2013.

Financial position Net Assets of the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation were $32,540,508 at June 30, 2014, or $8,949,087 less than a year earlier. As noted previously, this decrease was due mainly to previously noted Special Issues expense, the CSA transition and the write-off of software.

Operating Activities in 2014 used cash of $6,998,757. In addition, $1,968,460 of cash was used to pay parishes that requested funds from their parish demand deposit accounts. These accounts allow parishes with excess funds to deposit such funds with the archdiocese for their administrative ease, if they so choose. The archdiocese pays interest to parishes on these funds and allows parishes to withdraw such funds on demand. The Chancery Corporation also received proceeds from sales of investments during the year of $3,425,810 to fund the operating losses and withdrawals from the parish demand deposit accounts.

Net decrease in cash from operating activities, investing activities and financing activities was $5,648,807.

Looking forward Chancery Corporation leadership has determined that significant budget reductions are currently necessary because reserves have decreased. Last week, the Chancery Corporation announced a 20 percent cut to the FY 2015 operating budget, resulting in reductions in operating expenses and Chancery Corporation staff layoffs (see page 4).

Leadership is determined to achieve a balanced budget beyond 2015 and will evaluate our budget going forward as needed, while maintaining essential programs and services. Our goal is to ensure that parishioners, Catholic school families and others we serve are not negatively affected by Chancery Corporation budget reductions.

In conclusion, please know that Chancery Corporation leadership is taking the necessary steps to ensure that our current financial situation is resolved fairly for victims/survivors while honoring the gift of stewardship of past and present faithful in pursuit of the mission of the Church. I want to thank all the honorable clergy and lay leaders, staff, volunteers, parishioners and others throughout our local Church who work to strengthen sustainability in support of our shared mission.

Thomas Mertens was appointed chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in December 2012.

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2014 Condensed Statements of Activities

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Notes to condensed financial statements

Years Ended June 30, 2014 and 2013

The audited financial statements with footnotes and independent auditors’ report are posted at archspm.org on the Administration and Finance page.

2014

2013

$3,527,942 368,050 13,776,682 4,957,004 1,420,331 187,531 1,288,192 25,525,732

$3,786,170 8,109,237 14,093,473 4,587,813 350,235 109,564 1,700,981 32,737,473

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis (the Archdiocese) was first established as a diocese by the Holy See in 1850 (originally Minnesota and the Dakotas) and elevated to an archdiocese 38 years later. Now comprising a 12 county area, there are 187 parishes and 90 Catholic schools (including elementary and high schools) within the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese is home to roughly 825,000 Catholics, hundreds of clergy and religious men and women, and thousands of lay leaders, employees and volunteers who serve in parishes, Catholic schools, and many other ministries. The mission of the Archdiocese is to make the name of Jesus Christ known and loved by promoting and proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed through vibrant parish communities, quality Catholic education, and ready outreach to the poor and marginalized.

4,753,327 7,419,381 5,513,753 3,004,937 1,534,072 1,054,818 2,337,966 25,618,254

6,546,710 6,155,693 5,603,961 3,607,854 2,437,927 1,249,532 2,237,508 27,839,185

Nature of Organization

4,180,228 3,183,337 1,664,589 9,028,154

3,950,000 3,236,200 1,580,929 8,767,129

Total Operating Expenses

34,646,408

36,606,314

Change in Net Assets from Operating Activities

(9,120,676)

(3,868,841)

6,700,775 (6,831,899) 3,058,037 (2,755,324)

8,272,436 (5,844,483) 2,813,619 (2,816,666)

171,589

2,424,906

$(8,949,087)

$(1,443,935)

OPERATING REVENUE Contributions Catholic Services Appeal, Net of Parish Rebates Parish Assessments Fees and Program Revenues Investment Income, Net Change in Value of Perpetual Trust Other Income Operating Revenue OPERATING EXPENSE Program Services: Catholic Education Central Services Clergy Services Communications Community Services Marriage, Family and Life Parish Services and Outreach Total Program Services Support Services: Litigation Reserve Expense Special Issues General and Administrative Development and Stewardship Total Support Services

NON-OPERATING ACTIVITY General Insurance Program Revenues General Insurance Program Expenses Priest Benefit Revenues Priest Benefit Expenses Change in Net Assets from Non-Operating Activities CHANGES IN NET ASSETS

Condensed Statements of Financial Position As of June 30, 2014 and 2013

2014

2013

$3,861,917 714,516 5,542,489 1,245,775 700,000 15,310,699 1,551,285 10,220,349 740,954 8,978,417

$9,510,724 1,824,513 6,918,664 1,387,600 700,000 17,380,741 1,363,754 9,531,198 163,003 10,521,188

$48,866,401

$59,301,385

Liabilities Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities $4,387,768 Litigation Claims Payable 5,300,000 General Insurance Program Claims Payable and Other Liabilities 5,240,134 Amounts Held for Others Under Agency Transactions 119,786 Parish Demand Deposits 1,209,075 Def erred Revenue 69,130

$3,059,393 5,300,000 4,567,492 1,575,656 3,177,535 131,714

Assets Cash Contributions Receivable, Net of Allowances Accounts Receivables, Net of Allowances Loans and Notes Receivable, Net of Allowances Litigation Insurance Claims Receivable Investments Beneficial Interest in Perpetual Trusts General Insurance Program Assets Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets Land, Property and Equipment, Net Total Assets

The financial statements include all administrative and program offices and departments of the Chancery Corporation. Parishes, Catholic schools, and other separately incorporated and operated Catholic entities within the 12-county area of the Archdiocese are not under the fiscal or operating control of the Chancery Corporation and therefore, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), are not included in the Chancery Corporation’s financial statements. Certain members of the Chancery Corporation are on the board of trustees of some other Catholic entities.

Basis of Presentation The financial statements of the Chancery Corporation have been prepared on the accrual basis of accounting and in accordance with GAAP. The Chancery Corporation reports information regarding its financial position and activities according to three classes of net assets: unrestricted net assets; temporarily restricted net assets; and permanently restricted net assets, based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

Financial Statements The financial statements of the Chancery Corporation for FY 2013 and FY 2014 were audited by independent certified public accountants who issued a disclaimer of opinion and a going concern qualification on the sole basis of the uncertainty of the financial impact due to sexual abuse litigation and our resulting inability to provide sufficient evidence to form a basis for an audit opinion on litigation matters.

The accompanying Condensed Statement of Financial Position and Condensed Statement of Activities are prepared from the audited financial statements but, in the interest of brevity, do not contain a similar level of detail and are not accompanied by complete explanatory footnotes. In order to see the full footnotes, please refer to the archdiocesan website at archspm.org.

Other Programs The Chancery Corporation acts as a conduit for special collections in the parishes designated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or for local purposes. During 2014, $1,820,000 was contributed by parish communities for such collections and sent to the Chancery Corporation for remittance to the intended recipient. This amount includes $275,000 for service of debt at the Cathedral parish resulting from the building restoration.

Commitments The Chancery Corporation has in the past entered into a number of contracts with lending institutions to assist parishes and Catholic schools within the archdiocese with credit for facility additions. This includes loan guarantees that aggregate approximately $43,000,000 and $47,300,000 at June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Liabilities and Net Assets

Total Liabilities

16,325,893

17,811,790

Net Assets Unrestricted: General Insurance Program Board Designated Undesignated Total Unrestricted

17,651,756 5,181,047 5,038,860 27,871,663

17,782,881 5,181,047 13,813,768 36,777,696

Temporarily Restricted Permanently Restricted

2,597,668 2,071,177

2,828,253 1,883,646

Total Net Assets

32,540,508

41,489,595

$48,866,401

$59,301,385

Total Liabilities and Net Assets

United in Faith, Hope and Love

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

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Calendar

Dining out Men’s Breakfast with Father William Baer — Nov. 22: 8 a.m. Mass followed by 8:30 a.m. breakfast in Rowan Hall, 3204 E. 43rd St., Minneapolis. Cost is $5. For reservations, call (612) 729-7321 by Nov. 21.

More events online TheCatholicSpirit.com/ calendar

St. Leonard Annual Christmas Fair — Nov. 23: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3955 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. Brunch, silent auction, raffle, crafts, bake sale. For more information, call (612) 825-5811 or visit www.stleonardmn.org.

KC Pancake Breakfast Benefit for Religious Retirement — Nov. 23: 8 to 11 a.m. at 502 Atlantic Ave., Waverly. Adults: $7, children 4 to 12: $4, under 4 are free.

Cherokee Tavern Community Thanksgiving — Nov. 27: 12 to 1:30 p.m. at 886 Smith Ave. S., West St. Paul. In-house dining or delivery available. To reserve tickets or for more information, call (651) 457-2729 or email info@ cherokeetavern.com. To donate money or time for the cause, call Jim, Nancy or Sarah at (651) 457-2729.

Parish events St. Lawrence and Newman Center Turkey Bingo — Nov. 21: 7 to 10 p.m. in the social hall, 1203 SE Fifth St., Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (612) 331-7941.

St. Odilia Men’s Club Turkey Bingo — Nov. 21: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 3495 Victoria St., Shoreview.

Annual Holiday Boutique at St. George — Nov. 22: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 133 North Brown Road, Long Lake. For more information, call (952) 473-1247.

Auditions for “The Living Stations: We Were There” — Nov. 22: 10 a.m. at 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. Performances in April 2015. For more information, call Gary Moore at (651) 900-3446.

KC Turkey Bingo for Food Shelf — Nov. 22: 5:30 to 9 p.m. at St. Michael, 22120 Denmark

Holiday Sale to Support Quilters for a Cause — Nov. 22, 23: Nov. 22 from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Nov. 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 E. Roselawn, Maplewood.

For more information, contact Mary Selby at (651) 489-4177.

St. Patrick’s Turkey Bingo — Nov. 23: 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 1085 DeSoto St., St. Paul.

Ave., Farmington. Cost: $7 per person and $25 max per family. For more information, call (651) 463-3615.

Presentation of Mary Turkey Bingo — Nov. 22: 7 to 10 p.m. at 1725 Kennard St., St. Paul.

Guardian Angels Trivia Night FUNdraiser — Nov. 22: 6 to 8 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. guardian-angels.org.

St. Margaret Mary’s Holiday Bazaar — Nov. 22, 23: Nov. 22 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Nov. 23 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2225 Zenith Ave N., Golden Valley. For more information, call (763) 588-9466.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Craft and Bake Sale — Nov. 22, 23: Nov. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Nov. 23 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 401 Concord St., St. Paul.

Fall Market — Nov. 22, 23: Nov. 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Nov. 23 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at St. Therese, 18323 Minnetonka Blvd., Deephaven. For more information, contact Pat at (952) 038-2848.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, seven days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur.

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

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

• Full street address of event.

• Description of event.

• Contact information in case of questions. EMAIL: spiritcalendar@archspm.org.

(No attachments, please.)

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

St. Boniface Turkey and Ham Raffle — Nov. 25: 7:30 p.m. at St. Boniface Parish Hall, Seventh Avenue and Second Street NE, Minneapolis. $2 admission. For more information, contact Jim Suek at (612) 7888051.

Prayer/liturgy Festive Advent Vespers: Prayer, Reflection & Music — Nov. 30: 5 p.m. at St. Mary, 261 Eighth St. E., St. Paul. Dinner to follow. For more information, call (651) 222-2619.

Retreats Advent Day of Centering Prayer — Dec. 3: at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Suggested offering: $40. For more information, call (763) 682-1394 or visit www. kingshouse.com.

Serenity Retreat for Recovery with Delora Boaz — Dec. 4 to 6: Check-in from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 4 and ends after brunch on Dec. 6 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake.

Register at (952) 447-2182 or www. franciscanretreats.net/register.

Men’s “The Joy of the Gospel” Silent Retreat — Dec. 5 to 7: at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

Suggested offering: $150 per person. For more information, call (763) 682-1394 or visit www. kingshouse.com.

Music St. John’s Abbey Schola “Music of Thanksgiving” Performance — Nov. 21: 7:30 p.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. For more information, call (763) 745-3490.

The Concert of Joy — Nov. 21: 7 p.m. at St. Rita, 8694 80th St. S., Cottage Grove.

For more information, contact Kevin at (651) 459-4596 x120.

Celebrate with ringing bell concert — Nov. 23: 3 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima, 2090 Hamline Ave., Roseville. The concert is free. For more information, contact Diane Kretsch at (651) 402-8097.

American Sign Language Christmas Concert — Dec. 5: 7 p.m. at St. Timothy, 707 89th Ave. NE, Blaine. No cost.

School events Highland Catholic School Turkey Trot 5K— Nov. 27: 8 a.m. Gobble Wobble; 8:30 a.m. 5K walk/run. For more information, visit www.highlandcatholic.org or call (651) 6902477.

Cretin-Derham Hall “A Simple Christmas Art Fair” — Dec. 4: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 550 S. Albert St., St. Paul. For more information, contact Betsy Schmitz at (651) 696-3380 or bschmitz@c-dh.org.

Transfiguration Catholic School Open House — Dec. 4: 4 to 7 p.m. at 6135 15th St. N., Oakdale. For more information, call (651) 501-2220.

Speakers Icon Festival Talk — Nov. 23: 1 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.

“Living with Loss and Grief during the Holidays and Beyond” with Rev. Ted Hein — Dec. 4: 7 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. For more information, visit www.guardian-angels.org.

Workshops Living and Growing Through Loss Grief Series — Nov. 24; Dec. 1: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie.

For more information, call (952) 941-3150.

Other events Little Sisters of the Poor Annual Christmas Boutique — Nov. 22, 23: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 330 Exchange St. S., St. Paul. For more information, call (651) 227-0336.

St. Paul European Christmas Market — Nov. 28 to 30: Nov. 28 from 2 to 9 p.m.; Nov. 29 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Nov. 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at W. Seventh Pl., St. Paul.

For more information and a schedule of events, visit www.stpaulchristmasmarket.com.

La Natividad Puppet and Mask Theatre — Dec. 6: 2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. For tickets and information, contact Kris at (612) 317-3400, or visit www.mary.org.

Icon Festival events Icon Exhibit

Left Leo Guzman, right, followed by Ann Erbes, processes down the main aisle at the opening of the Icon Festival at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Nov. 2. Photo by Stacy Glaus Above Icons grace the Basilica main altar during the Icon Festival.

Photo by Paul Domsten

To read about the history of the Icon Festival, visit www.mary.org/ news-events/news/johans-blog.

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Through Nov. 23.

More than 100 icons, 17th century to contemporary, are displayed in the sanctuary of the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. They are borrowed from churches and individuals throughout the Twin Cities.

Icon Tour Saturday, Nov. 22 10:30 a.m. — Tour of St. Stephan Romanian Orthodox Church, 350

Fifth Ave. N., South St. Paul.

Byzantine Iconographer Debra Korluka will speak about The Holy Face and other icons she is writing/ installing at this church.

Icon Festival Talk Sunday, Nov. 23 1 p.m. — “Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy — Historical Perspective of Similarities & Differences.” Professor John Davenport of North Central University will speak in the Teresa of Calcutta Hall in the lower level of the Basilica.

31

Solution to ecology problems requires multifaceted approach Continued from page 5 different advice, “Michael, I think you better just be good.”

“We live in a culture that prefers being cautious to being good,” Naughton explained.

He pointed to designated drivers, safe sex, and a loss of the love for learning as examples of caution overshadowing the good.

“But if we are only careful and cautious, it can distract us from the question of the good,” he said.

Pursuing the good within their particular field is the vocation of both the business leader and the agricultural leader. Naughton said business and agricultural leaders must discover the good they can do by creating services and products for consumers, offering a work environment that develops the gifts of their employees, and

immigration to natural resources, “the nature deficit contributes to a moral and human deficit that we cannot allow to continue,” he said.

“We live in a culture that prefers being cautious to being good. But if we are only careful and cautious, it can distract us from the question of the good.”

Michael Naughton, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas

building sustainable, justly distributed wealth. He called these “good goods, good work and good wealth.”

He challenged leaders to “see things whole, not just in parts,” to think of things “in relation to one another,” and to see people not just as “neighbors” but as the image of God. Following Naughton’s talk,

Christopher Thompson, dean of the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, gave the keynote “The Person in the Human Ecology,” addressing the challenges of developing a human ecology in a society with a “cultural blindness” to nature.

In light of the importance of agriculture and its relation to everything from food security to

Thompson pointed out that for the last century, the Church has been involved in agriculture and the environment through organizations such as the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, but these areas are neglected in Catholic education.

Solving the problems of agriculture and ecology requires an approach that involves the practical, technological and spiritual. In addition to respecting the order of creation in using technology, fasting and tithing “are ancient spiritual practices that would allow us to place our concerns for the earth against the horizon of heaven,” he said.

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The Last Word

32

Chicago installs Archbishop Blase Cupich

Archbishop Blase Cupich uses a mallet to knock three times on the doors of Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago Nov. 17. The archbishop was received inside to start the Liturgy of the Word during a rite to welcome him to the Archdiocese of Chicago. CNS/ Karen Callaway, Catholic New World

Jesus invites all to take risk ‘of being more,’ says Chicago archbishop Catholic News Service At his installation as the ninth archbishop of Chicago Nov. 18, Archbishop Blase Cupich urged the congregation at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral to fearlessly share their faith recognizing that God calls them “to more” and “to greater things.”

Before an overflow crowd, the archbishop said he had “a bit of a panic attack” when he saw the day’s Gospel reading was about Jesus walking on water and calling his disciples to follow him.

“I realize this new responsibility is going to be demanding,” he said, “but seriously folks, I don’t do ‘walking on water.’ I can barely swim. So I hope this image in today’s Gospel is not reflective of anyone’s expectations.”

The archbishop, who succeeds Chicago Cardinal Francis George, said the passage asks believers to “join Christ in seeking out, inviting and accompanying, by abiding with those to whom he sends us.”

In particular, he said Catholics today face the “formidable task of passing on the faith to the next generation, of evangelizing a modern and sometimes skeptical culture, not to mention inspiring young people to serve the church as priests and religious.” That challenge, he said, “all seems so daunting, as daunting as walking on water.”

Archbishop Cupich noted that catechists and educators are “on the front line of this struggle,” along with parents, grandparents, bishops and priests who can “find that the good news is increasingly difficult to proclaim in the midst of great polarization in church and society.”

In moving forward, he said Catholics need to go back to where

Archbishop Blase Cupich leaves Holy Name Cathedral Nov. 17 after a welcoming ceremony a day ahead of his installation to head the Archdiocese of Chicago. Archbishop Cupich is Pope Francis’ first major appointment for the hierarchy of the U.S. Catholic Church. CNS/Jeff Haynes, Reuters

November 20, 2014 • The Catholic Spirit

Cardinal Francis George gestures to Archbishop Blase Cupich after the cardinal received a standing ovation when Archbishop Cupich thanked him for his service as head of the Chicago Archdiocese. CNS/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World their journey of faith began — at their baptism — and be “willing to share it with the next generation.”

“Young people have always been attracted to authenticity of life, where words match deeds. Let’s not be afraid to let our young people know about our life with God and how it began,” he said.

He stressed that such authenticity would similarly be demanded of him as archbishop “particularly as I reach out to those who have been sexually abused by Church leaders.”

“That starting point will always be needed for me and my brother bishops to keep fresh the serious duty to honor and keep the promises we made in 2002,” he said, referring to the year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

developed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

“Working together to protect children, to bring healing to victim survivors and to rebuild the trust that has been shattered in our communities by our mishandling is our sacred duty, as is holding each other accountable, for that is what we pledge to do,” the archbishop added.

He told the congregation that Jesus invites them to “take the risk of leaving our comfort zone, but also to deal with the tension involved in change, not dismissively but in a creative way, and to challenge each other to do so.”

Some examples he stated included: going to Mass more than once a week and changing habitual bad behaviors, unhealthy dependencies or inordinate attachments.

He said Pope Francis has similarly urged Catholics to “walk with Christ, as he is always doing something new.”

“It is an invitation to leave behind the comfort of going the familiar way. He is challenging us to recognize that Christ is always inviting us to more, to greater things. It is the kind of invitation our bishops’ conference is making to our nation to be what it has always promised to be, to protect the vulnerable, poor and weak, to treat immigrants with justice and dignity, to respect life and to be good stewards of creation.”

The archbishop said it is “the invitation of Jesus: ‘Come, take the risk of being more.’ ”