November 21, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
thecatholicspirit.com
Hearing from youth Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Cozzens ask high school students for thoughts on archdiocese’s future at youth day. — Page 5
Preserving history Benedictine monk receives national honor, statewide recognition for efforts to preserve ancient manuscripts. — Page 6
Ecological sins With planned catechism addition, Pope Francis adds gravity to failing to care for creation. — Page 8
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Legacy honored Recently opened boutique hotel in St. Paul pays tribute to the building’s roots as a convent, art conservatory founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. — Page 12
Rural life cookbook Catholic Rural Life publishes new edition of “Cooking for Christ: Your Kitchen Prayerbook.” — Page 20
Turkey time!
From left, Jim and Rick Casper, owners of Casper’s Cherokee of Eagan, hold turkey breasts that will be sliced and served at their family’s free, annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for the community. Designed to help people who are in financial straits or simply seeking companionship, the dinner was started in 1983 by their late parents, Bob and Dorothy, who owned the Cherokee Sirloin Room in St. Paul. This year, the event will be held at St. Joseph in West St. Paul, where Jim, Rick and their families are parishioners. See story on pages 10-11.
Bishop Barron urges leaders’ action to reach youth By Carol Zimmerman Catholic News Service
A
uxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles did not just bemoan the fact many young people are leaving the Catholic Church. He said Church leaders need to make it a priority to bring them back. The bishop, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, is known in part for his website, “Word on Fire,” and for hosting the documentary series “Catholicism.” He offered a five-step plan of sorts to bring the religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” back to the fold. The Church should lead with its social justice work, he said, getting young people BISHOP involved with caring for those in need, ROBERT BARRON working in soup kitchens, prison ministries and helping the homeless. Leaders can reinforce this by reiterating messages on social justice from Popes Leo XIII to Francis, he said.
From there, the Church should promote its own writers and artists to show people the beauty of the Catholic faith, he said. Another key step — he said he’s been “banging this drum for a long time” — is to stop dumbing down the faith. The bishop, who first brought up the issue of Church exodus with the bishops at the spring meeting, said young Catholics, or those of any age, should be able to articulate why they believe what they do. For starters, “we have to beef up the intellectual content of our religion classes in Catholic schools, our religious Bishop Cozzens to follow Bishop education programs, RCIA, Barron as leader of USCCB’s Committee confirmation preparation, on Evangelization, Catechesis etc.,” he said. From his own experience, — Page 5 he said he has been asked very basic questions, particularly on the “AMA” (Ask Me Anything) feature on Reddit, an internet news aggregator, about faith, including: PLEASE TURN TO BISHOP BARRON ON PAGE 7
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2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
PAGETWO NEWS notes
$17,500
The amount raised to help fight cancer at a St. Thomas Academy football game in Mendota Heights Sept. 20. The Cadet Football Tackle Cancer fundraiser included selling T-shirts and treat bags, collecting sponsorships from businesses and donations from fans. Luminaries purchased for $5 each in honor of someone who has battled cancer lit up the walkways around the stadium. The Minnesota Football Coaches Association encourages high school and college football teams across the state to host a Tackle Cancer fundraiser during one home game a season. Proceeds benefit the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.
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COURTESY JENNA BENDEL, SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF CARONDELET
SOLIDARITY Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Suzanne Herder, a member of the order’s St. Paul Province leadership team, right, and Carol Gariano, a lay consociate with the order, hold signs Nov. 13 at a solidarity rally for immigrants at the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in St. Paul. About 150 people participated in the rally, sponsored by the religious order, the Social Justice Committee of Lumen Christi, students from St. Catherine University, all in St. Paul, and the Twin Cities’ Interfaith Coalition on Immigration. Themes for the rally were compassionate love of God and neighbor and Pope Francis’ call to stand in solidarity with the needs of immigrants, which impact everyone. With different groups sponsoring rallies on the second Tuesday of each month, the gatherings the last four years have been held near the federal courthouse because immigration and detention hearings are held there. This month’s rally also coincided with arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration has sought to end.
The number of Benedictine Health System senior care and living services centers in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that received top honors as high-performing in the 2019-2020 U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Nursing Homes” report. A Midwest, faith-based senior care and living services system, Duluth-based Benedictine Health had 14 institutions total make the list as high-performing nursing homes, short-stay rehabilitation centers or both. Data used included staffing levels, pneumonia vaccination rates and success in preventing emergency room visits. Benedictine Health Center at Innsbruck in New Brighton and Cerenity Senior Care Marian in St. Paul received highperforming honors as nursing homes and short-stay rehabilitation centers. Short-stay rehabilitation honors went to Cerenity Senior Care in White Bear Lake, Cerenity Senior Care Humboldt in St. Paul, Regina Senior Living in Hastings and St. Gertrude’s Health & Rehabilitation in Shakopee. Benedictine is sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth.
$53,023
The amount raised for Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 266 donors during Give to the Max Day, Minnesota’s online giving day. Catholic Charities and Our Lady of Grace School in Minneapolis made it in the day’s top 50 leaderboard for the Twin Cities region. Catholic Charities was No. 16. Our Lady of Grace School was No. 48 with $25,820 raised from 93 donors. Several local Catholic schools have held separate giving days this fall.
58
The age of Father Emmanuel Katongole, a Ugandan priest and professor of theology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame, who delivered the 24th annual Holmer Lecture at the University of Minnesota Nov. 14 on “Resisting Violence and the Journey of Reconciliation: Lessons from Rwanda.” The lecture was sponsored by Anselm House, a Christian study center serving the university community, and cosponsored by the university’s department of African American and Africa Studies and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Anselm House is hosting a discussion of Father Katongole’s book “Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing” Dec. 5. anselmhouse.org.
$2,000
The amount the Catholic Schools Center for Excellence awarded Mary Ellen Gross, the third-grade teacher at Notre Dame Academy in Minnetonka. Gross was the winner of CSCOE’s Incredible Teacher award Oct. 25. She has taught at Notre Dame Academy for more than 20 years and received multiple nominations via social media from the school’s students and parents. The award included $1,000 for Gross and $1,000 for her to use for her classroom.
8 ROBERT CUNNINGHAM | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
COATS FOR KIDS Knights of Columbus member Robert Penas of Silver Lake west of the Twin Cities helps a mother and child during the Knights’ Coats for Kids distribution event Nov. 9 at the Little Earth of United Tribes Youth Development Center in Minneapolis. Working in partnership with Gichitwaa Kateri and Holy Rosary parishes in south Minneapolis, and the Office of Indian Ministry of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Knights gave donated coats to those who needed them. The Coats for Kids program started in 2009 and has given away more than 500,000 to children.
CORRECTIONS A Nov. 7 article on new Pillars of Stewardship Awards included an incorrect launch date for a capital campaign at St. Therese in Deephaven. It began in 2017. Also in the Nov. 7 issue, the name of World War II bomber pilot Don Stoulil was misspelled.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 24 — No. 22 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor
The approximate number of months Deacon Clayton Forner will be a transitional deacon ahead of his priestly ordination in May. A student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Deacon Clayton was ordained a deacon Oct. 3 in the Vatican at St. Peter’s Basilica by Bishop Robert Deeley of Portland, Oregon. The son of Ken and Laurie Forner of Guardian Angels in Chaska, Deacon Clayton is on track to be ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis May 30.
220
The number of principals, pastors, heads of school and other leaders in education from around the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who gathered Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 in West St. Paul and St. Paul for an update on the archdiocese’s Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education. The meetings included Jason Slattery, director of the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education; Archbishop Bernard Hebda; and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, vicar for Catholic Education.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEMODERATOROFTHECURIA ONLY JESUS | FATHER CHARLES LACHOWITZER
The Eighth Day
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hen I first became the pastor of the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood, the stories of the parish founder, Msgr. Raymond Rutkowski, were many and already legendary.
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If we truly want to have a vision of heaven, then we must first let go of hell.
I was most impressed with the number of parishioners who could explain the contemporary stained glass windows. On one side near the entrance there was a large window representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On the other side, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These color schemes continued along the perimeter of the nave until they merged at the altar. But it was when one parishioner pointed out the eight pillars holding up the roof of the church and the eight legs holding up the altar that I learned a phrase that has stayed with me ever since: The Eighth Day. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2174: “Jesus rose from the dead ‘on the first day of the week.’ Because it is the ‘first day,’ the day of Christ’s resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the ‘eighth day’ following the sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day — Sunday.” In those early days as a baby pastor, I was fascinated to find in several writings of the Early Church the phrase, “the Eighth Day.” I would go on to learn that a common architectural feature in many old churches was to have the baptismal font in an octagonal shape to symbolize the eighth day because, through this font, the baptized have become a new creation. The Eighth Day reminds us that when we walk into
El octavo día
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l pastor de la Iglesia de la Presentación de la Santísima Virgen María en Maplewood, las historias del fundador de la parroquia, Mons. Raymond Rutkowski, eran muchas y legendarias. Me impresionó mucho el número de feligreses que podían explicar las vidrieras contemporáneas. En un lado cerca de la entrada había una gran ventana que representaba la resurrección de Jesucristo. En el otro lado, la Inmaculada Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María. Estos esquemas de color continuaron a lo largo del perímetro de la nave hasta que se fusionaron en el altar. Pero fue cuando un feligresa señaló los ocho pilares que sostienen el techo de la iglesia y las ocho patas que sostienen el altar que aprendí una frase que ha permanecido conmigo desde entonces: El Octavo Día. Según el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica, 2174: “Jesús resucitó de entre los muertos ‘el primer día de la semana’. Porque es el ‘primer día’, el día de la resurrección de Cristo recuerda la primera creación. Porque es el ‘octavo día’ siguiente al día de reposo, simboliza la nueva creación que da inicio a la
iSTOCK | ROMOLOTAVANI
church on Sunday for Mass, we are glimpsing our first day in heaven. Sometimes we can be preoccupied with the temperature inside the building or the hardness of the kneelers or a myriad of other all-too human conditions and circumstances. The Eighth Day reminds us that before we even open the doors to the church, we are to prepare ourselves to experience heaven in the person and real presence of Jesus Christ. As we enter the church for Mass, we must let go of all that is wrong about ourselves and in the world. All that hurts. All the disappointments. All the divisions. All the darkness. We hand over to the greater love and mercy of Jesus Christ all the sins of the world and all the powers of evil. Like a little child lifted up high to see far into the distance, it is the Holy Spirit that elevates us above and beyond the judgments and complications of earthly life. If we truly want to have a vision of heaven, then we must first let go of hell.
resurrección de Cristo. Para los cristianos se ha convertido en el primero de todos los días, la primera de todas las fiestas, el Día del Señor – Domingo.” En aquellos primeros días como pastor bebé, me fascinó encontrar en varios escritos de la Iglesia primitiva la frase, el Octavo Día. Yo pasaría a aprender que una característica arquitectónica común en muchas iglesias antiguas era tener la pila bautismal en forma octogonal para simbolizar el octavo día porque, a través de esta fuente, los bautizados se han convertido en una nueva creación. El Octavo Día nos recuerda que cuando entramos a la iglesia el domingo para la misa, estamos vislumbrando nuestro primer día en el cielo. A veces podemos estar preocupados por la temperatura dentro del edificio o la dureza de los arrodillados o una miríada de otras condiciones y circunstancias demasiado humanas. El Octavo Día nos recuerda que antes incluso de abrir las puertas a la iglesia, debemos prepararnos para experimentar el cielo en la persona y en la presencia real de Jesucristo. Al entrar en la iglesia para la misa, debemos olvidar todo lo que está mal sobre nosotros mismos, y dejar ir todo lo que está mal con el mundo. Todas las cosas que duele. Todas las decepciones. Todas las divisiones. Toda la oscuridad. Entregamos al mayor amor y
Somewhere between the arrogance of presumption and the humiliation of doubt, we are to seek out the joy of our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, it can be said that the goal of life is not just to get into heaven after we die. It is also to get heaven into us while we are still on this earth. In each celebration of the Eucharist, we see with the renewed eyes of faith where, as a pilgrim Church, we are going in the life that is to come. As we offer our prayers of thanksgiving for all our blessings, let us remember to thank God for the Eighth Day. Especially in the Advent season, let us open our hearts to the many graces in the sacraments of the Church so that we can live out the Eighth Day the other seven days of the week. There’s an old saying: When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your lives in such a way that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
misericordia de Jesucristo todos los pecados del mundo y todos los poderes del mal. Al igual que un niño pequeño levantado alto para ver lejos, es el Espíritu Santo el que nos eleva más allá de los juicios y complicaciones de la vida terrenal. Si realmente queremos tener una visión del cielo, entonces primero debemos dejar ir el infierno. En algún lugar entre la arrogancia de la presunción y la humillación de la duda, debemos buscar la alegría de nuestra fe en la resurrección de Jesucristo. De esta manera, se puede decir que la meta de la vida no es sólo entrar en el cielo después de morir. También es para meter el cielo en nosotros mientras todavía estamos en esta tierra. En cada celebración de la Eucaristía, vemos con los renovados ojos de fe dónde, como Iglesia peregrina, vamos en la vida que está por venir. Al ofrecer nuestras oraciones de acción de gracias por todas nuestras bendiciones, recordemos dar gracias a Dios por el “Octavo Día”. Especialmente en la época del Adviento, abramos nuestro corazón a las muchas gracias de los sacramentos de la Iglesia para que podamos vivir el “octavo día” los otros “siete” días de la semana. Hay un viejo dicho: Cuando naciste, lloraste y el mundo se regocijó. Vivan sus vidas de tal manera que cuando mueran, el mundo llore y se regocije.
OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective November 8, 2019 Reverend John Mitchell, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Saint Paul, while the pastor, Reverend Timothy Norris, is on a leave of absence. This is in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Pascal Baylon in Saint Paul.
Effective December 1, 2019 Deacon Thomas Winninger, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington. This is a transfer from his parish assignment to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis. Deacon Winninger will continue in his assignment as Chaplain to the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
LOCAL
SLICEof LIFE Honoring Vietnamese martyrs
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Hoc Nguyen, Tuan Pham and Ninh Phung of St. Columba in St. Paul prepare to raise the Vietnamese flag during a ceremony before Mass at St. Gerard Majella in Brooklyn Park Nov. 17. The Mass honored Vietnamese martyrs and those who served in the military, both for South Vietnam and the U.S. Father Joseph-Quoc Thien Vuong, who serves at the parish, gave the homily, thanking those who served and singling out several veterans who attended. Father Vuong came to the U.S. from Vietnam as a refugee in 1989. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2007. The three men who raised the flag before Mass are military veterans who served for South Vietnam. Nguyen was imprisoned for several years by the Communists of North Vietnam.
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NOVEMBER 21, 2019
At AYD, teens reflect on Church’s future By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Nearly 1,000 high school students put their smartphones to special use Nov. 16 at the annual Archdiocesan Youth Day of prayer, music, Mass and faith formation. Encouraged by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, they keyed into a link that had two questions everyone was encouraged to answer online: What is working well in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and its parishes, and what are its challenges and opportunities? The same questions are being asked of all Catholics in the archdiocese as part of the two-year pre-Synod process Archbishop Hebda launched in June. He and Bishop Cozzens have been engaged in Prayer and Listening Events across the archdiocese to inform the topic of the Archdiocesan Synod, a weekend event planned for May 2021 and designed to shape the archbishop’s pastoral priorities. At AYD, they modified the Prayer and Listening Event format to invite feedback from teens. After hearing what a synod is and about the wideranging preparations for the Archdiocesan Synod, the teens spent time in prayer and small group discussions. Then, about a dozen teenagers chosen by youth leaders were invited to share their thoughts aloud with the archbishop. They didn’t hesitate. Stepping up to a microphone in the packed gymnasium at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, one teen suggested that parishes could be more welcoming, and another asked for more rigorous faith formation to help youths answer questions about the Church. One teen said unity among Church groups should be stressed, making the Church more attractive to young people who see some groups emphasizing particular aspects of the faith over others. Several teens praised gatherings such as AYD but suggested creative follow-up is needed to keep young people interested in the Church. “How can we get the youth to come, and how can we get them to come back?” asked one. Another suggested some homilies could be shorter, prompting Archbishop Hebda to laughingly reply, “Thanks for those comments. They were kind of gutsy, with my long homily today.” The archbishop thanked each teenager for his or her comments and stressed the importance of everyone’s participation. “Just know how grateful I am to be able to hear from you,” the archbishop told the teenagers. “Not hearing
from you would be a great absence, a large gap, a great lack.” Many of the teens were grateful to be asked and eager to participate. During the small group sharing, hundreds of teenagers seated on folding chairs in the large gym quickly turned into small groups of eight, huddled together and quietly talking with one another. The tapping of cell phones became part of the scene as teens responded to the bishops’ invitation to offer their suggestions online. “It’s awesome, it’s great,” said Lauren Tatro, a 15-yearold sophomore at St. Michael-Albertville High School and a member of St. Michael parish, both in St. Michael. “I think it’s awesome they (Archbishop Hebda and Bishop Cozzens) are including the youth in deciding about the future, letting their voices be heard.” Archbishop Hebda explained that a synod is the faithful of the Church accompanying one another on a pilgrim journey. It is each person listening to the experience and suggestions of the others, with everyone praying for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, he said. Pope Francis is stressing the need to walk alongside one another as a Church, the archbishop said. That idea is coming to the forefront even as participation in the Church among young people has been in decline, he said. “What are those things that as a Church we need to do to be more Christlike, in our service, as a community, teaching the faith, evangelizing?” the archbishop asked. “All of these things prompted me to say, ‘I think we need to do a synod,’” he said. “We can put our heads together, listen to one another and then ask ourselves, ‘What is the Holy Spirit asking us to do?’” Matthew Sell, a 17-year-old senior at Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan and a member of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington, also noted the bishops’ desire to hear from youth. He said his online comments included praise for what he sees as the archdiocese’s emphasis on the Eucharist as the real presence of Christ, and a suggestion that parishes place more emphasis on the need for vocations in the Church. “At big archdiocesan events like this, it (the need for vocations) is mentioned, but at individual churches it doesn’t seem to be,” Sell said. Quinn Benolkin, a 14-year-old freshman at Lakeville South High School in Lakeville and a member of St. Nicholas in Elko New Market, said she likes how her parish supports Catholic schools. “It gets youth more involved in the Church,” she said. “A challenge is keeping youth involved when they reach high school age.”
Bishop Cozzens to lead bishops’ evangelization committee By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis was elected chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis at the bishops’ fall general assembly in Baltimore. Succeeding Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, Bishop Cozzens will serve one year as chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2020 Fall General Assembly. “I’m humbled and honored that my brother bishops in the USCCB would choose me to chair the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis,” Bishop Cozzens, 51, said in a statement after the Nov. 12 vote. He was one of five bishops elected to chair committees.
“This committee deals with some of the most pressing issues of our time: How do we evangelize the growing number of those who have left behind organized religion? How do we evangelize our youth so they never leave the Church? And, how do we form our people into the missionary disciples Pope Francis has called them to be?” he said. “We must BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS dedicate ourselves to these essential needs of the Church in our day, because as St. Paul VI said, ‘The Church exists to evangelize!’” Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who also attended the Nov. 11-13 assembly, said Bishop Cozzens’ election is a well-deserved recognition of his experience in
catechesis and evangelization, both in the archdiocese and nationally. “He will be a worthy successor to Bishop Robert Barron in this important work,” the archbishop said. “The USCCB will be blessed to have a leader who collaborates so well with bishops and lay experts alike.” As a young adult, Bishop Cozzens served as a missionary with NET Ministries, which reaches out to high school students, and St. Paul’s Outreach, which evangelizes on college campuses. He currently serves on the board of directors of both national organizations, which were founded in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “These organizations helped form my own heart with zeal for evangelization,” Bishop Cozzens said. “I hope to be of service in bringing that zeal more broadly to our whole Church.”
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
All Saints’ pastor recalled after safe environment violation The Catholic Spirit The pastor of All Saints in Minneapolis was recalled from his assignment Nov. 8 by leaders of his community, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. In a Nov. 15 statement, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said the recall of Father Gerard Saguto, FSSP, “was taken in response to an issue that had surfaced in trauma counseling undertaken voluntarily by Father Saguto and brought by him to the attention of his superiors. It was also taken in response to related concerns that Father Saguto had failed to observe the safe environment protocols of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for interaction with minors (e.g. the requirement that adults not be alone with minors).” The archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards brought the information related to Father Saguto to law enforcement, and “law enforcement has advised us that they are not initiating a criminal investigation,” the archbishop said. Given the recall of Father Saguto, Archbishop Hebda revoked his faculties, “meaning that he may not engage in any further priestly ministry within the archdiocese,” he said. Father Saguto began serving as All Saints’ pastor in August 2018. “In the event that a request were made in the future, the present restrictions on Father Saguto’s ministry could only be lifted after our normal review process, which would have to include a recommendation from the Ministerial Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” Archbishop Hebda added. “Please keep all those involved in this situation in your prayers.” The archbishop’s statement was read at All Saints’ Masses the weekend of Nov. 9-10. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has served All Saints since 2013. The Fraternity is known for celebrating the Mass and sacraments in Latin in what is known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, following the liturgical books that were in place in 1962, prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
in BRIEF
Four more charged in fraud scheme against Catholic Charities MINNEAPOLIS — Investigation of a scheme to fraudulently obtain at least $684,000 from funds for the homeless at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resulted in charges against four more people. Five people pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a Nov. 12 news release. The nonprofit organization discovered financial discrepancies two years ago, reported them to the U.S. attorney and an investigation began, Catholic Charities officials have said. The latest development includes a former program manager at Catholic Charities, Clarissa Lynn Combs, 48, of Brooklyn Park, being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements. As part of the scheme, Combs allegedly recruited other employees, members of her family and friends to pose as fictitious homeless clients, federal officials said. Three other people also were recently charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
St. John’s Abbey archivist honored for work rescuing world’s heritage
LOCAL
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
COLD WAR INSPIRED EFFORT TOP LEFT From left, Father Columba Stewart, OSB, with preservation partner Father Najeeb Michaeel, OP, and Walid Mourad, director of field operations for the Middle East and Africa for the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. They are examining manuscripts for digitization in Qarah Qsh, Iraq. Father Najeeb is now the Archbishop of Mosul.
By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit In his work of digitally preserving historic manuscripts that are sometimes found in dangerous places, Father Columba Stewart may serve as diplomat, detective or historian — but he is always a Benedictine monk. With the thousands of manuscripts that the member of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville has helped digitize and photograph in Africa, the Middle East, India and other sites since 2003, he is carrying on a Benedictine tradition as he brings information from another time to modern scholars. “We’re trying to put the pieces together from all of those sources to make sense of our own lives now,” said Father Stewart, 62, executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John’s University in Collegeville. “It’s not to lock them in a data vault somewhere or hide them in the cloud. It’s precisely to get them out there and make (them) accessible to their communities of origin and then to those around the world who are interested in learning more about FATHER COLUMBA these cultures.” STEWART Father Stewart was celebrated in St. Paul Nov. 6 for having received the U.S. government’s highest honor in the humanities: to give the annual National Endowment for the Humanities’ Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The NEH is a federal agency that awards more than $125 million annually in grants supporting cultural projects. The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, established in 1972, is conferred for intellectual achievement in the humanities. Gov. Tim Walz, along with the Minnesota Historical Society and Minnesota Humanities Center, officially recognized Father Stewart Nov. 6 as the first Minnesotan to be named a Jefferson Lecturer. Father Stewart delivered the lecture, titled “Cultural Heritage Present and Future: A Benedictine Monk’s Long View,” Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. The lectureship carries a $10,000 honorarium, set by statute. “Father Columba Stewart of the order of St. Benedict, executive director of the HMML, works dauntlessly to rescue centuries worth of irreplaceable cultural heritage under threat around the world,” Walz said before an audience at the Minnesota History Center, proclaiming Nov. 6, 2019, “Father Columba Stewart Day.” Following the tribute from state leaders, Father Stewart discussed his work and the global and local importance of cultural heritage in a conversation with journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro. Father Stewart received the annual award for rescuing centuries’ worth of irreplaceable cultural heritage in countries which are under threat because of weather, war and civil unrest, said Jon Parrish Peede, National Endowment for the Humanities chairman. As a result, he said, the monk has helped to preserve records of religion, art, literature, culture and knowledge in human history. A native of Houston, Father Stewart professed monastic vows at St. John’s Abbey in 1982. He was ordained a priest in 1990. Along with his work at HMML, Father Stewart teaches in areas of monastic studies and early Christianity at St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary. He has published numerous books in his field of Christian monasticism. The mission of HMML is preserving collections of persecuted or endangered minorities. It has digital images of 250,000 handwritten texts from more than 550 partner libraries. Some of the actual manuscripts have been lost since they were digitized, and only the
BOTTOM LEFT This 20th-century Coptic Christian liturgical manuscript in Arabic from Egypt is part of the teaching collection at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. PHOTOS COURTESY HILL MUSEUM AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
WAYNE TORBORG
It was the global political tension of the Cold War that prompted the collection and copying of millions of pages of sacred manuscripts, a project now being led by Benedictine Father Columba Stewart at St. John’s Abbey and University. The Benedictine priest who started the effort in 1964, Father Oliver Kapsner, “feared that European Benedictine heritage would be vaporized if there were a World War III,” said Father Stewart in delivering the 2019 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities Oct. 7 at a packed theater in downtown Washington. “Monte Cassino in Italy, the mother abbey of Benedictines, had been totally destroyed in 1944. A nuclear war would be far more devastating,” Father Stewart said in his address, “Cultural Heritage Present and Future: A Benedictine Monk’s Long View.” “There was not anything we monks in Minnesota could do to protect the churches and cloisters,” he said, “but we could microfilm their manuscripts and keep a backup copy in the United States.” Father Kapsner met with resistance from nearly all of Europe’s Benedictines — until he arrived in Austria. “Austria was one of the few countries in Europe where monastic libraries had not been seized during the Reformation or the French Revolution and its aftermath,” Father Stewart said. The work was modeled after a Vatican effort in the 1950s in which many of its prized manuscripts were microfilmed and stored in the United States at St. Louis University. “The scope of the work soon widened to libraries of other religious orders, then to universities and national libraries. The pace was swift, and the result by the end of the 20th century was a film archive of almost 85,000 Western manuscripts,” Father Stewart said. However, as the Cold War fizzled out, hot wars sprang up — often in countries where the Benedictines’ efforts had spread. One country, Ethiopia, didn’t bother to wait for an end to the Cold War,
MARY HOPPE
which lasted from 1946 to 1991. Communist-affiliated rebels deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, plunging the nation into a decade and a half of political and military fighting and a nationwide famine. “What had begun as a kind of archaeological expedition to discover ancient texts became a rescue project to preserve manuscripts in a nation convulsed by political upheaval and then a civil war,” Father Stewart said. “The cameras kept going, working throughout the 1970s, 1980s and into the early 1990s. In the end, 9,000 manuscripts were microfilmed,” funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which sponsored the priest’s talk. At the request of Orthodox Christians in Lebanon, who were trying to find anew their manuscripts — which had been scattered after decades of civil war — “we launched a project in northern Lebanon in April 2003, at the very same moment that American ground forces were approaching Baghdad” in nearby Iraq, Father Stewart said. “Lebanon had settled down; Iraq was heating up; no one could anticipate what would come next.” As the work of the Benedictines’ Hill Museum and Manuscript Library expanded in Lebanon, “we extended the project to Syria, forming partnerships with several church leaders in Aleppo, as well as in Homs and Damascus. Things were going well, and we even found a partner in Iraq,” Father Stewart noted. “But then in 2011, Syria began to unravel as the spirit of the Arab Spring spread across the region.
digital images remain. The library permanently archives the images and makes some of them available in its reading room and online. In his work with HMML, Father Stewart has helped digitize manuscripts of Armenian and Syriac Christian communities that survived the 1915-1922 massacres in Turkey. He also continues to work with Iraqi church leaders to digitize documents displaced by war and unrest. Starting in 2013, Father Stewart helped digitize more than 250,000 Islamic manuscripts and books rescued
Three years later came the conquest by ISIS of much of Northern Iraq, driving tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis from Mosul and the villages of the Ninevah plain.” He added, “Through it all, our local partners kept photographing manuscripts as best they could, while collections were moved, hidden and in some cases destroyed. For too many of those manuscripts, all that remains are the digital images and perhaps a few charred pages.” Not long after Father Stewart began the effort of digitizing ancient Muslim texts in Jerusalem, he launched a similar project in Timbuktu, Mali. Within a couple of years, though, “Timbuktu was occupied for several months, its shrines to Muslim saints destroyed, its superb music silenced, the tourist trade on which it depended for economic survival extinguished,” he said. “Early reports suggesting that its manuscripts had been burned proved to be incorrect; only a few manuscripts left behind as a false trail had been destroyed. All of the others were safe, whether moved to Bamako (the capital), or hidden in Timbuktu by families who had protected their manuscripts from Moroccan invaders, French imperialists, and other threats.” Timbuktu was where Father Stewart was too close for comfort during a 2017 attack at a United Nations post in the city. He and several others were holed up in their hotel rooms for hours until rescued by Swedish soldiers attached to the U.N. military mission there. The incident, he said, served as “a reminder that the people who live in such places are constantly exposed to such attacks: They don’t just fly in and out; they don’t have U.N. forces to spirit them away to safety.” They, and their cultural heritage as it exists in manuscript, song, textiles, in whatever form, are always at risk, the priest said. “Our efforts to help them, and the occasional inconveniences we experience, are the completely inadequate least we can do.” — Catholic News Service
from the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali, Africa. In the various projects, Father Stewart and those he works with seek to create “a connected web of things which can tell us some kind of story,” he said at the event. He hopes it also can foster more tolerance among faith groups. Sometimes manuscripts in volatile locations affect his ability to work. “You never know when things may go south,” he said, citing revolutions, invasions and other conflicts. “We seize the opportunity when we have it to do as much as we can.”
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
NATION+WORLD
US bishops examine Church, society’s challenges
BISHOP BARRON
By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service
“Who is God and can you prove he exists? Can you explain evil, and how do you know that your religion is right?” He said it “breaks your heart to realize we haven’t communicated our tradition effectively.” But that doesn’t mean throwing in the towel. Instead, the work begins locally: in one’s parish. Catholics need to start recognizing that their parishes are not just places where they experience the sacraments, but they should be seen as missionary grounds. This especially holds true with reaching out to young people because as he put it: “Young people aren’t going to come to us; we have to go out to them.” This idea of going out to people is very much in line with Pope Francis’ message of accompaniment, he said. The bishop’s last point was about using social media to turn this trend around, stressing: “We should invest a lot of time and money to get really good people to work our social media,” suggesting that parishes, or even groups of parishes, hire someone to do effective social ministry outreach. His presentation prompted more than one hour of discussion from the floor with bishops. All agreed that the drop in Church numbers is a deep concern. Mary offered other possibilities to combat it, from increased devotion to Mary to opportunities for mission work or strengthening catechetical programs. In a news conference after the presentation, Bishop Barron said he wasn’t surprised by the lengthy conversation about bringing people back to the Church because when he first brought up the topic last spring, he was supposed to have 10 minutes and it went an hour. There is a lot to take up, but it has to be done, he said, emphasizing that an individual’s relationship with the Lord needs to be integrated into the life of the Church.
During their Nov. 11-13 meeting in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops elected new officers and discussed challenges in the Church and the nation. They spoke of their renewed efforts to help immigrants, youth and young adults, pregnant women and the poor as well their steps to combat gun violence and racism. Unlike recent previous meetings, their response to the clergy abuse crisis was mentioned but was not the primary focus. On the second day of the meeting, Nov. 12, the bishops elected Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles to a three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit as conference vice president. Archbishop Gomez, the first Latino to be elected to this role, was chosen with 176 votes from a slate of 10 nominees. He has been USCCB vice president for the past three years and his new role began at the end of the Baltimore gathering. At the start of the meeting, the bishops voted overwhelmingly on a revised set of strategic priorities to take them into the next decade. The next day, they approved adding new materials to complement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting. The addition included a statement that called abortion the preeminent social issue of our time. The second day of the bishops’ meeting coincided with oral arguments at the Supreme Court over the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Bishops at the Baltimore meeting spoke up in defense of DACA recipients on the floor and in interviews with Catholic News Service. Bishops also heard a wide-ranging report on immigration Nov. 12, which included updates of policy, how programs to resettle refugees, including those run by the Catholic Church, have closed or reduced activity because the administration has moved to close the country’s doors to those seeking refuge, and efforts on the border to help asylum cases.
Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles acknowledges the applause after being named the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 12 in Baltimore. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, outgoing president of the USCCB, joins in the applause. CNS
The bishops’ second day of meetings also included a presentation of the pope’s document “Christus Vivit,” which was issued following the 2018 Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who had been a delegate at the synod, urged bishops to do more to support Catholic teens and young adults and to use the pope’s apostolic exhortation as their guide. At the start of their meeting Nov. 11, the bishops raised pressing issues that included the priesthood shortage, gun violence and the need to provide support services for pregnant women. In his final address as president of the USCCB, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston told his fellow bishops that it has been “an honor to serve you, even in the difficult times.” The 70-year-old prelate thanked the bishops, whom he called brothers, for the past three years and was thanked by them in return when the group gave him a standing ovation at the end of his nineminute presentation. The cardinal, who suffered a mild stroke earlier this year, did not elaborate on specifics of the abuse crisis in the Church but spoke of the bishops’ continued work of transparency related to dealing with the crisis. He said the abuse measures adopted by U.S. bishops at their meeting last June are “only a beginning.
More needs to be done.” In a brief presentation, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley told the bishops the Vatican has not yet published a report about its investigation of now-defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but a report could be ready by Christmas, or in the new year. He said he and other bishops at the Vatican for their recent “ad limina” visit said they were “anxious to receive the Holy See’s explanation of this tragic situation, how he could become an archbishop and cardinal, who knew what and when.” He also stressed that the “long wait has resulted in great frustration on the part of bishops and our people and indeed a very harsh and even cynical interpretation of the seeming silence.” In a presentation on gun violence, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, said Catholic clergy and lay leaders can play a role in bringing together people along the rural-urban divide to build understanding of the need for sensible policies that can end the scourge of gun violence. As chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, he outlined the USCCB’s long-held stance of the need for “common sense” legislation that governs the availability of guns. He also said it was time for people to come together so that there is greater understanding of how gun violence affects urban communities in particular.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Immigration reform among priorities for new USCCB president By Chaz Muth Catholic News Service It will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez that immigration reform is at the top of his priority list as the newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “That’s something I’ve been working on for almost 25 to 30 years,” Archbishop Gomez told Catholic News Service during the U.S. bishops’ fall general assembly Nov. 11-13 in Baltimore. On Nov. 12, the body of bishops elected him to lead them for a three-year term. He is the first Latino to hold the USCCB presidency. Archbishop Gomez has served as the conference’s vice president since 2016. As president, he succeeds Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. His term began at the end of the assembly. For the 67-year-old shepherd of the
largest archdiocese in the U.S., Catholic teaching drives his advocacy for migrant rights, based on biblical principles of welcoming the stranger and upholding the dignity of immigrants and refugees as children of God. In fact, the U.S. bishops have listed immigration reform and migration rights as a top priority for many years. The bishops have sparred with the Trump administration over its policies for asylum-seekers at the border. Pope Francis also has made migrant rights a top priority during his papacy. Though he’s passionate about immigration reform, the archbishop said he will not be a single-issue president of the USCCB. Continuing renewal and reform in the Church with regard to the clergy sexual abuse crisis will be an ongoing priority, as will combating clericalism in the Church, support and promotion of marriage and the family and evangelization. And he
will continue to pray for the laity to become missionary disciples. Immigration issues are very personal for Archbishop Gomez, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and eventually migrated to the U.S., where he has served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Denver, archbishop in San Antonio and archbishop in Los Angeles. “It’s really part of my life,” he said. “I have relatives and friends ... on both sides of the border. So, I think it’s important for us to understand that we are all children of God. If we work together, we can find a solution for this reality.” Violence and poverty at home have been a driving factor for Central Americans seeking refuge in the U.S., but Archbishop Gomez points out that it’s a global concern. According to statistics reported by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, by the end of 2018, “70.8 million individuals have been forcibly
displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations.” The Bush and Obama administrations attempted and failed to get immigration reform passed through Congress. Archbishop Gomez said he will continue to talk with President Donald Trump, whose administration has been criticized by Catholic advocates for its policy of separating families at the border, its restrictions on immigrants seeking asylum and a proposal to further decrease the number of refugees accepted into the United States. The Catholic Church defends a nation’s right to secure its borders, but most of the world’s migrants are leaving their homeland to escape war, violence and extreme poverty, he said. “There is a lot of suffering. Most of them come to our country because they want to provide for their families.”
8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NATION+WORLD
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
Pope: Catechism will be updated to include ecological sins By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service Following through on a proposal made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis said there are plans to include a definition of ecological sins in the Church’s official teaching. “We should be introducing — we were thinking — in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, ecological sin against the common home,” he said at a conference on criminal justice Nov. 15. Members of the International Association of Penal Law were in Rome Nov. 13-16 for the conference, which centered on the theme, “Criminal Justice and Corporate Business.” Pope Francis also denounced the abuse of law and legislation to justify acts of violence and hatred. Today’s throwaway culture, as well as other “psycho-social phenomenon” pose threats to the common good while insidiously promoting a “culture of hate,” he said. These threats, he added, often take the form of “symbols and actions that are typical of Nazism.” “I must confess,” the pope said, departing from his prepared remarks, “that when I hear some speeches, some person in charge of order or the government, I am reminded of Hitler’s speeches in 1934 and 1936.” “They are actions typical of Nazism that, with its persecution of Jews, gypsies and people of homosexual orientation, represent a negative model par excellence of a throwaway culture and hate,” the pope said. “That is what
happened in that time, and today these things are reappearing.” Today’s “current of punitivism, which claims to solve social problems through the penal system,” has not worked, the pope said. Instead, an “elementary sense of justice” must be applied so that “certain conduct for which corporations are usually responsible, does not go unpunished.” Chief among those crimes, he added, are acts that “can be considered as ‘ecocide’: the massive contamination of air, land and water resources, the largescale destruction of flora and fauna, and any action capable of producing an ecological disaster or destroying an ecosystem.” Pope Francis also called on the international community to recognize ecocide as a “fifth category of crime against peace.” According to the Rome Statute, which was adopted by the International Criminal Court in 1998, the four core international crimes currently established are: crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and crimes of aggression. In the synod’s final document, bishops defined ecological sin as a sin against God and future generations that “manifests itself in acts and habits of pollution and destruction of the harmony of the environment.” A true model of justice, the pope said, can find “its perfect incarnation in the life of Jesus” who, after being treated violently and put to death, brought “a message of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.”
MCC offers study guides, ecological examen The Catholic Spirit Minnesota Catholic Conference is offering small group study guides and an ecological examen for the document it released this year on faith and the environment, “Minnesota, Our Common Home.” Synthesizing Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, Care for Our Common Home,” and applying its teaching to issues that especially concern Minnesotans, MCC’s work can be used by individuals, parishes, schools, ministries and other groups. The study guides are designed to help people through MCC’s document in six weeks, with discussion questions and suggestions for thoughtfully applying the document to daily life. The examen, based on a prayer technique developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, is intended as a periodic review of life, perhaps during Advent or Lent, in light of the teachings of “Laudato Si’” and the ecological conversion it calls for. As MCC, the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops in Minnesota, released information about the study guides and examen, Jason Adkins, MCC executive director, noted Pope Francis’ decision to add ecological sins to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “These are values that are difficult to achieve but necessary for the good life of all,” the pope said. “I don’t think it’s a utopia, but it’s a big challenge. A
“Pope Francis’ decision to highlight ecological sin brings into greater focus the themes from the prior pontificate,” Adkins said. “Sin is not simply something done by individuals, but also has a social dimension for which peoples and nations must answer. That is why (Pope) Francis talks about the ‘throwaway culture’ in which creation, including human life, is treated as raw material to be used, manipulated and discarded at will. In other words, questions about bioethics and environmental ethics are connected. “The antidote to the throwaway culture is an ethic of integral ecology. The ecological examen is a way for Catholics to consider how they may be contributing to the throwaway culture and offers practical guidance to facilitate what Pope Francis calls for, which is ecological conversion — living in right relationship with the Creator and creation,” Adkins said. The study guide, which includes the original 41-page document, “Minnesota, Our Common Home,” is available at an introductory price of $5.99 (plus the cost of shipping outside of the Twin Cities metro area) through Dec. 31 or until supplies run out. The examens are $2.50 each. The original document is $3.35. Descriptions of the documents and instructions for ordering them are available at mncatholic.org/ourcommonhome. challenge that we must all address if we are to treat the problems of our civilized coexistence in a way that is rational, peaceful and democratic.”
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NOVEMBER 21, 2019
HEADLINES u Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be beatified Dec. 21 in Peoria, Illinois. Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria announced Nov. 18 that the Vatican notified him of the beatification and he was announcing the news “with great joy and thanksgiving.” The ceremony will be at 10 a.m. local time at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria. “This is the same cathedral where (Archbishop) Sheen was ordained a priest 100 years ago on Sept. 20, 1919,” said a Peoria diocesan news release. “It seems entirely fitting that the beatification will take place at the end of this 100-year anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.” A native of Illinois, Archbishop Sheen attended The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul for two years until his ordination. u Oklahoma City Archdiocese breaks ground, blesses site of Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine. Archbishop Paul Coakley broke ground Nov. 3 for a $40 million, Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in south Oklahoma City. “What we are about to construct here we are building for the honor and glory of God whose goodness, whose holiness, whose faithfulness, whose mercy shown through the life of Father Stanley Rother,” Archbishop Coakley said at the ceremony. A priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Blessed Rother has relatives in Minnesota. Beginning in 1968, he served the faithful at a mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, where he helped build a small hospital, a school and the area’s first Catholic radio station. He was brutally murdered there in 1981 at age 46. He was beatified in 2017. u Pope’s cousin, missionary in Thailand, will serve as his translator. Pope Francis’ translator in Thailand will be someone familiar with the nuances and colloquialisms of his Argentine Spanish because she grew up speaking it with him. Salesian Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, the pope’s second cousin and a missionary in Thailand for more than 50 years, will translate for Pope Francis during his stay Nov. 20-23 in Thailand, which precedes his Nov. 23-26 trip to Japan. There, Iwao Hakamada, an 83-year-old man who spent 48 years on death row, has been invited by the Japanese bishops to attend the Mass Pope Francis will celebrate Nov. 25 in Tokyo.
NATION+WORLD
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
u Investigator to appeal multimillion judgment in Planned Parenthood lawsuit. After a 10-member jury handed down a more than $2.2 million verdict Nov. 15 in a federal lawsuit against David Daleiden, a Chicago based pro-life firm said it would appeal the judgment on behalf of Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress. Planned Parenthood and 10 of its abortion affiliates brought the lawsuit in 2016 over undercover investigative videos filmed in 2015 by Daleiden and his colleague that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees related to fetal tissue. The two posed as representatives of a mythical fetal tissue procurement firm. u Catholic leaders thank Rodney Reed supporters, death penalty opponents. Five days before the scheduled execution of deathrow inmate Rodney Reed — who gained the attention of Catholic leaders and celebrities alike — the top criminal appeals court in Texas granted an indefinite stay of his execution and said they were sending his case back to trial court for further review. The Nov. 15 decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came just hours after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had recommended delaying Reed’s death by lethal injection. Catholic leaders who had urged people to speak up about Reed’s case, citing lack of evidence of his guilt, took to social media after the decision was announced, thanking people for their support and praying for justice. Advocacy groups pointed to new evidence that could exonerate the 51-year-old convicted in 1996 of raping and killing 19-yearold Stacey Stites. u Australian High Court to hear arguments in Cardinal Pell’s case. The High Court of Australia has decided to give Cardinal George Pell, 78, a final chance to argue against his conviction on five counts of child sexual abuse. High Court Justices Michelle Gordon and James Edelman announced Nov. 13 that they referred the cardinal’s appeal application to the full, sevenmember court. The unusual move means the full court will decide whether to hear the appeal and, if it does, will proceed to hear arguments about why the conviction should be overturned or upheld. A jury in December unanimously found the cardinal guilty of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in the 1990s. In August, the conviction was upheld two-to-one by a panel of justices on the Victorian Court of Appeal. The cardinal maintains his innocence.
u Vatican’s top investigator on abuse crisis addresses Notre Dame forum. U.S. Catholics “have to be prepared for another wave of traumatic narrative” regarding the clergy sex abuse crisis, Archbishop Charles Scicluna said Nov. 13 at the University of Notre Dame. Archbishop Scicluna of Malta is adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican’s chief investigator on clergy sexual abuse. He spoke at the University of Notre Dame as part of the school’s 2019-2020 forum “’Rebuild My Church’: Crisis and Response.” Archbishop Scicluna made his comment in response to a question from journalist and forum moderator John Allen, who alluded to the 2018 abuse revelations surrounding former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. While it is acceptable to feel anger and frustration about the Church’s sex abuse scandals, Archbishop Scicluna said, that anger should be transformed into “a determination to get it right.” He praised steps the Church in the U.S. has taken to engage victims and set up independent review boards, audits on child protection and criminal background checks for those working with children. u Federal judge halts Trump administration conscience protection rule. A U.S. District Court judge’s Nov. 6 ruling that halts a Trump administration conscience protection rule for health care professionals issued in May leaves them “vulnerable to being forced to perform, facilitate or refer for procedures that violate their conscience,” said Stephanie Taub, senior counsel for the Texas-based First Liberty Institute. In his 147-page opinion, Judge Paul Engelmayer, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered HHS to vacate the rule in its entirety. He said it exceeded the statutory authority of HHS, was “arbitrary and capricious” and was adopted “in breach” of the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. But Engelmayer also acknowledged that “conscience provisions recognize and protect undeniably important rights.” His ruling, he said, “leaves HHS at liberty to consider and promulgate rules governing these provisions. In the future, however, the agency must do so within the confines of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution.” — Catholic News Service
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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
T
he late Bob and Dorothy Casper couldn’t forget what they saw while delivering food for Meals on Wheels in the early 1980s, their now adult children said. Owners of the iconic St. Paul restaurant Cherokee Sirloin Room, which they purchased in 1971 and later passed down to three of their sons, the couple had a heart for feeding the hungry. So, they signed up as volunteers to deliver pre-packaged meals to individuals and families in need. During some stops, the two encountered disturbing scenes, like the single mom with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth and the smell of alcohol on her breath as she held her infant. Daily Mass goers at their parish, St. Leo (now called Lumen Christi) in St. Paul, Bob and Dorothy came home from such encounters wanting to do something more. Dorothy, a prayerful woman known for writing poems centered on God, consulted Bob and their children about what they could do. One of the children, Tom, remembers a conversation about it following a family Thanksgiving dinner. They came up with an idea and launched it in1983: host a Thanksgiving Day dinner for anyone who wants to come. Whatever their need, be it material or spiritual, the restaurant doors would be open that day, and all meals, served from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., would be free. Nearly 40 years later, the tradition continues, with all five of Bob and Dorothy’s children — Bob, Tom, Rick, Nancy and Jim, now in their 50s, 60s, and 70s — participating, plus their spouses, some of their 23 grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren. Bob died in 2000, and Dorothy passed away in 2015 at age 90, participating in the event until she was 88. The first year was rough, as a major storm blanketed the Twin Cities with 11 inches of snow on Thanksgiving Day. They had planned to serve 300 to 400 people in the restaurant, but fewer than 100 showed up. Two years later, they started offering take-out. The event has grown steadily since then, with support from community and church leaders who have spread the word. Today, between take-out and dinein, they serve nearly 4,000 people per year. The legacy continues as strong as ever, even though the Caspers sold the restaurant two years ago. Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, who served as mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002, praised the Caspers and their efforts. He and his wife, Laurie, who belongs to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, ate at the Cherokee Sirloin Room on numerous occasions. He said the Caspers’ Thanksgiving dinner “reflected a commitment to community. It reflected, I think, a sense of faith. It reflected being a big small town and caring about your neighbors. I think that’s what makes St. Paul great.” After one more year at the restaurant after the sale, the venue was switched to nearby St. Joseph in West St. Paul, with the food prepared at Casper’s Cherokee of Eagan, which sons Tom, Rick and Jim bought in 1991. Tom later left to own
and operate other restaurants, while Rick and Jim have continued to run Casper’s Cherokee. The two brothers oversee the volunteers and employees who start preparing the Thanksgiving Day food at their restaurant weeks in advance. The new owners of the Cherokee Sirloin Room, Brian and Mollie Rubenzer, parishioners of St. Joseph, continue to help out at the event. They named the restaurant Cherokee Tavern. Dorothy set the tone for the Thanksgiving Day dinner. She always led a prayer shortly before guests started arriving. She and Bob insisted on providing full service, with volunteers seating guests and serving their meals. At the front entrance, Dorothy greeted every person who came through the door, including those stopping by for take-out orders, numbering as many as 500 meals. All five of her children, plus 100 or so volunteers who came every year, wholeheartedly bought into the effort. “They wanted everyone there to feel like they were a guest at the restaurant,” said Tom’s wife, Sheila, who now makes a Thanksgiving dinner at her home every year for all the Caspers after their work that day is done. “No one was to feel like they were getting a handout. Everyone should feel welcome, should feel just as if they were a guest in your home.” Little touches were added like nice tablecloths and entertainment. One volunteer dresses up like a pilgrim and walks around to every table to greet those who dine in. A number of musicians also have served over the years, playing instruments such as piano and harp. St. Joseph parish is maintaining the tradition and trying to grow the event. In the summer of 2018, Rick and Jim, both parishioners, approached pastoral care director Jennifer Mak about having it at St. Joseph after the Rubenzers told them it needed more support than they could provide. “I was excited right away” when the Caspers asked to move the event to St. Joseph, Mak said. “I just love this kind of thing — the whole idea of being available to people, and to be able to serve them and provide a good experience and to be welcoming. Everybody deserves a nice Thanksgiving meal. So, to be able to help with that is an honor.” On a practical level, Mak said she thinks St. Joseph, just a few blocks from Cherokee Tavern, is “a natural fit” to host the event, with lots of eager volunteers and a pastor, Father Michael Creagan, who is “all on board.” She said 50 to 75 parishioners already have signed up for this year’s dinner, and the collection at the parish’s Thanksgiving Mass will go to covering the cost of food for the dinner, which Rick Casper said will be about $15,000. They estimate they will cook and carve 450 turkeys this year, along with thousands of pounds of mashed potatoes, stuffing and yams. Also on the menu are rolls, cranberries and pumpkin pie. The change of venue in no way reduces the involvement or the passion
Thanksgiv
Casper family offers of giving back to th
By Dave Hr
COURTESY CASPER FAMILY
Bob and Dorothy Casper stand outside their St. Paul restaurant, the Cherokee Sirloin Room, in 1983, an event that continues today, now at St. Joseph in West St. Paul.
LAST YEAR’S
DINNER 420 TURKEYS
2,000 pounds stuffing
2,200 pounds mashed potatoes 1,200 POUNDS YAMS
Restau
“Fill this place, oh Lord, but most of all we hu May those who spend som And Lord please alw
500 pounds cranberries
May all who gather glowing here — War for fami
400 pumpkin pies 200 volunteers
So bless this place an our door, And may exp
5,000 ROLLS
$15,000 food cost 3,900 GUESTS SERVED
Dorothy Caspe which is printed on the m
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 • 11
ving legacy
food, fellowship as a way heir St. Paul community
rbacek • The Catholic Spirit
n the early 1980s. It was here they launched their annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for the community in
urant prayer
, we pray, with blessings from above, umbly ask that it be filled with love. me time with us find cheerfulness inside, e may our hearts and minds be ways open wide.
r ‘round our hearth find welcome rmth and friendship, food and drink ilies, friends to share.
nd bless each one who steps within y all find beneath our roof all they pect ... and more!”
er wrote this prayer in 1974, menus at Casper’s Cherokee of Eagan. iSTOCK PHOTO | JULIAMIKHAYLOVA
of the Caspers, especially Rick and Jim, who carry the most prominent roles today. They spend countless hours working on it, in addition to managing the restaurant, with Jim pulling an allnighter at St. Joseph last year. It all connects to their faith, passed down by their parents and carried on in their own families, their own hearts. “I go to church every day,” Rick said. “A lot of times when I’m at church, I’m always praying for something, asking for something. This (Thanksgiving Day) is a time that I’m thankful for what the Lord has given me, and (how he has) blessed me and my family. It’s the one day I feel the thankfulness.” This simple gratitude makes it easy to smile at those coming in to eat and those coming in to take meals to surrounding churches of various denominations. It makes it easy to offer hospitality and even crisis assistance. Like the time Rick was notified that a guest had locked herself in the bathroom after finishing her meal. She had brought all her belongings into the restaurant and didn’t want to leave because she had nowhere to sleep that night. Rick gently knocked on the bathroom door and urged the young woman to come out. He sat down with her, listened and got her the help she needed. Tom said he once approached a woman who looked too well dressed to need a free meal. In her 80s, she told Tom when he sat down at her table that all of her family members had died and she was alone on Thanksgiving. Tom’s kind smile and reassuring voice told her she was among friends that day. At the end of the meal, she reached into her purse and pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to Tom. The event is all about giving others a meal and fellowship on Thanksgiving, the Caspers said. It all traces back to Bob and Dorothy, whom they honor with their opening prayer every year. And, it’s why the grandchildren of Bob and Dorothy have gotten involved. Tony Schille, Nancy’s oldest child, is an employee at Casper’s in Eagan, but he’s off the clock on Thanksgiving Day when he dons an apron to work in the kitchen. He started coming to the event when he was 3 or 4 and started helping out when he was 6 or 7. Now 34, he hasn’t missed a Thanksgiving dinner since his first appearance. “About the last decade now, I’ve been the mashed potato master — the guy that gets the mashed potatoes done,” he said. “These forearms get pretty exhausted at the end of the day.” He will arrive at St. Joseph between 4 and 5 a.m. Thanksgiving Day and make fresh batches of mashed potatoes, more than 2,000 pounds worth, with help from his brother, Joseph. His sister, Katie, who is pregnant with her third child, also helps every year. Why does he choose to spend his day off getting up earlier than usual and working just as many hours, if not more? “I guess the best way of putting it (is) there’s five love languages in life, and gift giving, I think, is huge in the Casper family,” he said. “So, I think I’ve learned to gravitate towards gift giving.”
Sometimes, he stops making the mashed potatoes for a few minutes and tries to soak it all in. “It means a lot” to be part of it, he said. “It’s quite astonishing. You get to watch this family walk in that ... without this dinner, who knows if they would have had one. A lot of times, it can bring tears to your eyes.” Over the years, the event has drawn the attention of the broader community, including the media. Nancy, keeper of the scrapbook and the unofficial family photographer, can page through newspaper clippings documenting the impact and growth of the event. There is one anecdote that she and her siblings treasure. The last time Dorothy served at the dinner, in 2013, a local TV reporter came to do a story about it. After finishing his interviews, he put down his gear, put on an apron, and worked as a volunteer until the event ended. “When the day was through, he went over to my mom and said, ‘Can I get a picture with you?’” Nancy recalled. “He had nothing but wonderful things to say, and the two of them giggled and laughed and had a wonderful conversation. I just think it was very nice.” What may be less obvious are the struggles the Caspers have endured in being able to put it on some years. There have been some downturns in the business, chief among them a devastating fire at the Eagan restaurant Oct. 11, 2011, which kept it closed for seven months and caused a $2 million loss. The fire occurred right about the time they normally start preparations for the Thanksgiving dinner at the St. Paul restaurant, putting the fate of the event in doubt, not to mention the fate of the Eagan restaurant itself. “You sit there and you think, ‘Geez, are we really going to be able to do it this year?’” Jim said. They talked among themselves, Rick recalled, and asked: “How can we even think about doing the Thanksgiving (dinner)? But, we thought the other way: How can we not do the Thanksgiving (dinner)?” Despite the struggle, the Caspers pulled together to stage their 29th annual Thanksgiving dinner in 2011. The tragedy helped them see that making food for thousands every Thanksgiving is part of their family’s identity, and will be for the foreseeable future. It’s also an opportunity for many volunteers to give of their time on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a community event, one that goes beyond just their family, the Caspers said. “We’re fortunate that we had the restaurant. We’re fortunate our parents said, ‘Let’s open our doors (on Thanksgiving Day).’ But, this is a community event, and without the community, it wouldn’t have happened,” Nancy said. “So, we’re very blessed that so many people were giving of their time, and so many people were helping, and that our family is close.” For more information, call Jennifer Mak at St. Joseph in West St. Paul at 651-789-8359.
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
FROMAGETOAGE
Celestial space A St. Paul convent-turned-hotel celebrates its legacy By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
“I
t’s like it’s got a new life,” Sister Miriam Shea said as she took in the wide first-floor hallway of an almost-opened hotel in St. Paul. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, accentuating richly toned wood trim, ornate plasterwork and stone floors. Outside, an elaborate double staircase led to the main doors, and inside, small rooms and large suites boasted views of the State Capitol and the surrounding downtown. “Blessedly close to most everything,” its website said of its “divine location.” The Celeste St. Paul Hotel + Bar opened Nov. 1, but Sister Miriam and fellow Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were its first guests of honor Oct. 30, when they received a private tour and reception, and the opportunity to be the first guests to stay overnight — again. Decades before the Beaux-Arts style building was remodeled as a 71-room boutique hotel, it was home to scores of Sisters of St. Joseph. Built between 1908 and 1910, it was originally St. Agatha’s Conservatory of Music and Art. It was also a convent for the sisters who ran the fine arts school, the first in Minnesota. The conservatory closed in 1961. Known since as the Exchange Building, the six-story edifice at the intersection of Exchange and Cedar streets has also recently housed the St. Paul Conservatory of Music, McNally Smith College of Music, Books for Africa and a law firm. Rebound Hospitality, a Northfieldbased company that specializes in converting historic properties into hotels, purchased the building in 2017. Its owners discovered that several sisters who had lived at the convent were in their 80s and 90s and living in St. Paul, and they invited them to visit as they restored the building. On Oct. 30, the sisters saw the final product for the first time. Eleven of those sisters had lived there,
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Sister Miriam Shea of the St. Joseph Sisters of Carondelet looks at a painting of the Annunciation on the first floor of the Celeste St. Paul Hotel + Bar in downtown St. Paul during a tour Oct. 30 for sisters who had lived there when it used to be their convent. This painting and more were hanging in the building during the time the sisters were there. some only for a year, and one had taken art classes. As they toured the hotel — many with walkers or canes — they encountered reminder after reminder of their legacy. The former chapel is now a kitchen and large dining room, and its former sanctuary is the hotel’s bridal suite, replete with its high arched ceiling and the stained glass oculus window that once directed light to the altar. A sixthfloor suite includes black-and-white photos of habited sisters on swings. In the parlor-turned-bar, the fireplace surround includes the sisters’ original hand-painted tile. Meanwhile, religious artwork abounds. The first-floor centerpiece is a huge, goldframed painting of the Annunciation, complemented by a similarly sized painting of Mary’s assumption into heaven down the hall. Both had been on the walls when the sisters lived there. The hotel’s name celebrates Mother Celestine Howard, who in 1884 became the first superior of St. Agatha’s Convent, which evolved into the conservatory. Honoring the building’s history and
sisters’ legacy in the new hotel recognizes their wide contribution and the importance of Catholicism in historic St. Paul, said Scott Koester, director of project development for Rebound Hospitality. The direction may have risked alienating people who aren’t religious, he acknowledged in a Nov. 11 interview, but the hotel’s first guests have shown a genuine interest in the building’s art and history. “What’s fun is the history and the whole living situation they had,” he said of the sisters. “It’s so different from what the hotel is like.” One sister found her old room; another couldn’t remember the number. They laughed about avoiding getting tapped to play cards with their mother superior — who took the games very seriously — and recalled spending time on the nowenclosed top floor, which was then an open-air porch with plants and a swing. “We had so much fun,” said Sister Miriam, 91, with a grin. “There were young sisters from five different schools, and the superior that we had ... took into consideration that we were young people,
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and so she provided opportunities to be (the) young kids that we were.” Most of the sisters who visited had lived there while teaching in nearby Catholic schools, including the since closed parish school of St. Louis, King of France, across the street. Two had lived there as students at the community’s teachers college, then housed on Summit Avenue at the J.J. Hill mansion, which the then-Archdiocese of St. Paul owned at the time. They recalled the “march” from downtown St. Paul up the hill to their classes, “which was quite the adventure,” Sister Miriam said. Only one of the visiting sisters had taught at St. Agatha. And, unlike some of her fellow sisters, Sister Mary Ann Hanley didn’t easily see key elements of her former convent in the building’s renovation. “I can’t recognize where I am!” she said, sitting in what is now the dining room. “They told me this is the chapel, but the choir loft is gone, and the organ — I played the organ here.” In 1947, Sister Mary Ann, then 24, began a two-year assignment at St. Agatha as a piano instructor. She taught 72 individual lessons a week. That was too many, she still thinks at age 96, but she couldn’t complain to her superior, who was outworking her at 80 lessons a week. During an intimate reception following the sisters’ tours, Sister Suzanne Herder, a member of the CSJ’s leadership team, prayed a blessing for the new hotel and expressed her gratitude to the hotel owners and staff for making the sisters feel part of the renovation. For Sister Miriam, it’s the similarities, not the differences, between the hotel and her former convent that stand out. “It’s not a dead past,” she said. “I see the familiar things, but I also see how it’s changed and has a new function. But it’s a place that we can look (at) with pride when I stop to think of all the people who have lived here. ... In this generation, I’m seeing so many more people willing to look at the past and appreciate it.”
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
FROMAGETOAGE
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
Three generations of Catholic women marry in same church with same dress By Christine Bordelon Catholic News Service
S
outherners hold their traditions close to their hearts. That explains why Gabrielle Campo Hillman already knew what dress she would wear for her wedding earlier this year: a hand-sewn gown first worn by her grandmother, Gayle Brack Kopelman, in 1961, and then by her mother, Tammy Kopelman Campo, in 1986. “My mom already knew I was going to wear it,” Hillman, 28, said. “It was always discussed.” All three wore the dress as they walked down the aisle of the same church — St. Agnes in Jefferson, Louisiana. Hillman’s great-grandparents had moved into this Catholic parish in the 1940s, sent their children to school there and never left. Her grandmother was 19 when she got married. Her mom was 24, and Hillman was 28 on her wedding day this April. Hillman said the original dress was designed from a dress featured in a magazine her grandmother liked. Kopelman’s Aunt Elenor, a bridal dressmaker, made the classic dress from satin with lace accents, but without pearls or sequins. When her mother, Tammy, decided to wear the dress, it had not been properly preserved and parts of it had yellowed and deteriorated. “Below the bust down was never touched, but my mom removed some of the top and removed the sleeves and added see-through, puffy sleeves for her wedding,” Hillman said. “My grandmother handsewed 5,000 pearls on it on the lace to fill in the buds of the flowers.” After her 1986 wedding, her mom had the dress preserved and stored it at her house, Hillman told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. “I never saw it but knew I was going to wear this
CNS
Gabrielle Campo Hillman, who got married at St. Agnes in Jefferson, La., was the third woman in her family to wear the same dress. She restored the dress as close as she could to its original design. dress,” Hillman said. “I guess because my great aunt made it for my grandmother, and my mom wore it. How could you not?” Hillman, who is larger in stature than her mother, said when she tried on the dress, she unboxed it at her great-grandmother Herminie Simon Brack’s
Jefferson house with her grandmother Gayle, her mother and sister present. The dress had yellowed and had to be slightly altered to fit Hillman. She said the restorer removed a giant satin bow on the back and used it as bodice inserts. She also removed her mother’s puffy-sleeves addition and restored the sleeves to their original long-sleeve, lace-style worn by her grandmother. The dress also was cleaned to revive its whiteness, something they didn’t know was possible. “It was fun watching the progress of the dress restoration. The original scalloped lace neckline remained,” she said. “The length of the dress was perfect without (high-heeled) shoes, so it worked perfectly for me because I don’t like heels.” When she walked down the aisle, many in attendance remembered the dress, and others couldn’t wait to see it, Hillman said. “My great-grandmother, who doesn’t move around a lot, was breaking her neck to see me come down the aisle,” she said. “Everybody commented on how great the dress was, and what a cool story.” Information about the three-generation dress was included in the wedding program. “The beauty of the dress is that it came full circle,” Hillman said. “It’s almost the same style when my grandmother wore it and the sentiment of the dress that each of us walked down the same aisle.” In her bouquet, she carried her great-grandmother’s light blue rosary down the aisle. “I knew I wanted to carry it; my mom suggested it,” she said. Starting a new tradition, a friend’s daughter, Eleanor Killens, wore a vintage dress as a flower girl that Hillman had worn in 1992. Her closeness to her mother’s family also resulted in Hillman buying her first home around the corner from her great-grandmother. Her second home with her new husband is nearby.
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FROMAGETOAGE
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
Evangelization must take culture seriously, pope says By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Giving the Ratzinger prize to a philosopher from Canada and a Scripture scholar from Burkina Faso, Pope Francis said they demonstrate that “in the variety of cultures, diverse across time and space, one can and should always seek the way to God and the encounter with Christ.” Pope Francis presented the awards Nov. 9 to Charles Taylor, a philosopher who has focused much of his work on secularism, and to Jesuit Father Paul Bere, who is known particularly for his contributions to developing an African theology. The prize winners were chosen by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation, which was established in 2010 to support theological research and to promote studies on the theology and teaching of the retired pope. Pope Francis used the prize presentation ceremony
at the Vatican to express his “esteem and affection for my predecessor” and to thank him for “his teaching and for his exemplary service to the Church, demonstrated by his reflections, his thought and study, his listening, dialogue and prayer.” The retired pope’s aim as a theologian and pastor, he said, “was that we might consciously retain a lively faith despite the changing times and situations and that believers could give an account of their faith in a language that can be understood by their contemporaries, entering into dialogue with them, together seeking pathways of authentic encounter with God in our time.” As a professor and pope, he “never closed himself off in a disembodied culture of pure concepts but gave us the example of seeking truth where reason and faith, intelligence and spirituality are constantly integrated,” Pope Francis said. Theology in active dialogue with cultures is necessary to keep the Christian faith vital and to
make evangelization effective, Pope Francis said. Taylor, the pope said, has looked at the cultural phenomenon of secularization with a “breadth of vision” few others have achieved. His work “allows us to deal with Western secularization in a way that is neither superficial nor given to fatalistic discouragement,” Pope Francis said. Father Bere has worked for a “true African inculturation of the Christian message” by, for example, “his work on the interpretation of Old Testament texts in a context of oral culture, thus bringing to fruition the experience of African culture,” the pope said. “In the first centuries of Christianity, northern Africa gave the Church great figures — Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine — but the spread of Islam followed by centuries of colonialism prevented a true African inculturation of the Christian message until the second half of the last century,” Pope Francis said.
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NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
FOCUSONFAITH DAILY Scriptures
SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JOSEPH BAMBENEK
Inviting Jesus to reign in our hearts In the depths of most human hearts is a desire to be led by someone who loves us and can protect us and guide us in life. At the root of that desire is the often unseen longing for the love, protection and guidance that only God, the King of the Universe, can truly give. In the times prior to King Saul, the people of Israel offended the Lord by clamoring for a human king like the rest of the nations had, rather than being led directly by God. Getting what they wanted did not work out well due to King Saul’s shortcomings. Yet Saul’s failures did not prevent the Israelites from wanting another king. In the first reading for the Solemnity of Christ the King this year we hear them clamoring for a replacement king once Saul had died; pleading with David to become their king. Recognizing this human desire for leadership, Jesus established the Apostles, with St. Peter at the head on Earth, to be the human leaders of his Church once he ascended into heaven, until he would come again in glory to reign fully on Earth as in heaven, the future event for which we long on the Solemnity of Christ the King. Jesus, in the Solemnity’s Gospel passage, and throughout the Gospels, shows us that Christian leadership is quite different from what the world teaches. Christian leaders are to love and serve, not be served, and are to do so sacrificially to the point of death. Christian leaders are to overpower others with self-giving love and mercy as Jesus did in St. Luke’s account of him promising paradise to the good thief, rather than by physical power or the sword as David would do. The leader of our local Church, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, as a successor to the Apostles, and following the example of our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, has discerned that the best way for him to lead us, to determine a path forward for our archdiocese from what we have been through, is by doing something countercultural: spending two years praying and listening to God, and praying for and listening to each other through an extensive Archdiocesan Synod process. Two years from now, on the Solemnity of Christ the King 2021, Archbishop Hebda will unveil what he has learned and the implications for the future in the form of a pastoral letter. He desires that we, through more than two years of prayerful and respectful listening, will grow in unity. Furthermore, the pastoral strategic plan that emerges should allow us as a Church to more
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
Tabernacles inside and outside of church
The tabernacle is where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. It is usually located in the sanctuary area in the front of the church, often either behind the altar or in its immediate vicinity, or it may be located in a reservation chapel. Tabernacle means “dwelling place.” The consecrated hosts in the tabernacle retain the real presence of Christ, and Christ dwells therein. A sanctuary lamp is located near the tabernacle, and the candle remains lit all day, every day, as a reminder of Christ’s presence. Reverence is offered to Christ by genuflection or kneeling. The purpose of the tabernacle is to have the Eucharist available for the sick and dying, to have a location where the faithful can pray in adoration, and to provide storage for the consecrated hosts that remain after the distribution of holy Communion. The consecrated hosts are placed in different kinds of vessels. Most are placed in a ciborium, a large chalice-like or bowl-like container, with a cover, usually made of metal that has a gold or silver appearance. There may be a pyx, a smaller container for one or several hosts. There may also be a luna, a round receptacle with a clear glass front which contains one larger consecrated host and is inserted into the monstrance for eucharistic adoration or Benediction. The tabernacle is built solidly, much like a safe. It is firmly anchored in the wall or on a pedestal so it cannot be moved. The
Sunday, November 24 Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe 2 Sm 5:1-3 Col 1:12-20 Lk 23:35-43 Monday, November 25 Dn 1:1-6, 8-20 Lk 21:1-4 Tuesday, November 26 Dn 2:31-45 Lk 21:5-11 Wednesday, November 27 Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 Lk 21:12-19
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Christian leaders are to love and serve, not be served, and are to do so sacrificially to the point of death. iSTOCK PHOTO | JARED DEROO
vigorously proclaim the Gospel. Such a proclamation will, in turn, allow for God’s kingdom to come more fully here on Earth, in the 12 counties of the archdiocese, as it is in heaven, and for Jesus to reign as King in the hearts of more souls in the Twin Cities area. During the coming months of the Pre-Synod Prayer and Listening Events and the small group gatherings in parishes in the fall of 2020 — to which all are invited, including those who have walked away from the Church in recent years — may we resemble the people of Israel by having the courage to raise our voices in prayer, that we might be led well. And may we share what the Holy Spirit places on our hearts with our God-ordained leader for our place and time, so that he may humanly lead us toward the heavenly reign of Christ the King. Father Bambenek is assistant director of the Archdiocesan Synod. He can be reached at bambenekj@archspm.org.
front door has a lock that is opened with a key. This is to ensure that the Eucharist is treated with the utmost respect and to prevent it from being desecrated (see Canon 938.3, Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1379). The tabernacle is adorned in a variety of ways. The front door may be covered with a veil, or it may be decorated with eucharistic symbols such as wheat and grapes or a host and a chalice, or it may have a beautiful metallic finish. When a person receives holy Communion, the person becomes a human tabernacle. The real presence of Christ dwells within the person. The tabernacle in church is inanimate, made of wood and metal, but the human tabernacle is alive and breathing, made of flesh and blood. As a person would reverence Christ present in the tabernacle in church, a person should reverence Christ within one’s self. The communicant is to pause, look inwardly, give one’s full attention to Christ, listen to him and speak with him. Furthermore, the communicant must be a worthy vessel, righteous and virtuous, pure and undefiled, free from sin, pleasing to Christ in thought, word and deed, so the communicant would give honor to Christ, the greatest of all guests, and nothing would give offense to him. The tabernacle in church is immovable, but the human tabernacle is mobile. When a person is dismissed at the end of Mass and leaves the church, the communicant is to be like the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Christ-bearer, the one who brought Christ to the world. We are to bring Christ to those we meet. With Christ dwelling within us, the love of Christ should radiate outward from ourselves to others in our kindness, service and joy. Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This column is part of an ongoing series on the Eucharist. Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish.com.
Thursday, November 28 Thanksgiving Day Sir 50:22-24 1 Cor 1:3-9 Lk 17:11-19 Friday, November 29 Dn 7:2-14 Lk 21:29-33 Saturday, November 30 St. Andrew, apostle Rom 10:9-18 Mt 4:18-22 Sunday, December 1 First Sunday of Advent Is 2:1-5 Rom 13:11-14 Mt 24:37-44 Monday, December 2 Is 4:2-6 Mt 8:5-11 Tuesday, December 3 St. Francis Xavier, priest Is 11:1-10 Lk 10:21-24 Wednesday, December 4 Is 25:6-10a Mt 15:29-37 Thursday, December 5 Is 26:1-6 Mt 7:21, 24-27 Friday, December 6 Is 29:17-24 Mt 9:27-31 Saturday, December 7 St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church Is 30:19-21, 23-26 Mt 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8 Sunday, December 8 Second Sunday of Advent Is 11:1-10 Rom 15:4-9 Mt 3:1-12
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
COMMENTARY
FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA | JASON ADKINS
Mission trip exhibits joy of the Gospel
Recently, I was blessed to accompany members of Our Lady of Lourdes’ (Minneapolis) parish justice and charity commission on a visit to its sister parish in Tijuana, Mexico: a mission run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. As migration-related advocacy has been a significant focus of our work at the Minnesota Catholic Conference over the past decade, I thought it important to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border to encounter the realities faced by those living and migrating there. My experience there made the themes in Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”) come alive.
A Church that goes forth to the peripheries The missionary call of the Oblates is to go where no one else will. Pope Francis calls this going to the peripheries. He states: “Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel” (EG 20). The Tijuana mission is in the heart of the poorest parts of Tijuana, out in the desert hills where the cartels have made significant inroads. The area has grown significantly as people have migrated there in search of work and, in some cases, the opportunity to eventually cross the border. Yet, there is little work that pays a living wage; U.S., Korean and Chinese companies have moved in and pay around $70 a week for 48 hours of work — embodying what Pope Francis calls the “economy of exclusion,” where the poor do not fully share in the fruits of their labor, and are treated as “the
CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | DEACON GORDON BIRD
Take all moments of life to prayer
Spiritual leaders, protectors and providers of the faith know that the persistence, vigor and vitality of a daily prayer life are essential to staying alive in Christ. Spiritual combat is active and relentless, and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and his many parables about prayer emphasize persistence, watchfulness, humility and the acceptance of the Father’s will in prayer (Mt 5-7). He is our model on how to live a life of prayer, and certainly his earthly parents set an example. Your own domestic church can emulate a life of prayer as well from the first holy domestic family. Think of our blessed Mother, who from the conception of Jesus in her womb gives us the Magnificat — “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” (Lk 1:46-55), and Joseph, in whom we learn to pray by his silent obedience — through his conversations with the heavenly hosts in his dreams and subsequent courageous actions to follow God’s will. He protected the physical safety of the family at all costs — in faith, hope and love — embracing the supernatural virtues that stem from a righteous life of prayer. Prayer is a conversation with God. We pray with body, soul, heart and all of their works, powers and affections, respectively and integrally. Learn from the teachings and example of our Lord, taking all moments
outcasts, the leftovers” in a “throwaway culture.” The problems fueled by these tumultuous economic conditions are significant: poverty, substance abuse, crime, human trafficking, family fragmentation, abortion, psychological trauma, serious environmental degradation and substandard housing. Into this plight, the Oblate fathers bring Christ’s light. The motto of their founder, St. Eugene de Mazenod, is simple, yet profound: “We must lead men to act like human beings, first of all, and then like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints.” Therefore, the mission — a collaboration of the priests and laity — sponsors, among other things, an orphanage; visits to the poor and elderly in which they provide food, clothing and other goods; a school for children with disabilities; a roof repair team; scholarship programs for young adults; and migrant and refugee services. Mass is said in 17 chapels across the mission territory, and a dynamic youth ministry serves hundreds weekly, nurturing— through a life of prayer, service and formation — Catholic leaders who have become part of the mission outreach.
Living the joy of the Gospel among the poor The Tijuana mission overcomes the false divide found in so many ministry efforts to the poor — which sometimes either focus exclusively on proclaiming the Good News without attending to the whole person, or solely on politics and structures, forgetting that man does not live by bread alone. Instead, the mission lives Pope Francis’ directive that “pastoral ministry in a missionary style ... has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of its depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing” (EG 35). Loving God in prayer, word and sacrament, and the love of neighbor lived in spiritual and corporal works of mercy, are at the center of the Tijuana mission. The joyful witness of the missionary fathers and their associates, and the way in which they are transforming the physical and, often, spiritual deserts around them, help us see the integration of proclamation and service — the life of charity rooted in an overwhelming evangelical impulse to share the gift of faith — what Pope Francis calls the Church as a “field hospital.”
of life to prayer while at home, the workplace, school, at Mass, during Holy Hours and in small groups: “For where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). The list is endless when one takes everything to prayer in the spirit of contrition, atonement, adoration, praise, thanksgiving and that God’s will be done. God has no boundaries, and neither should our prayer intentions for the world, our country, our community, those in great need, our families, vocations and the repose of souls. The list seems infinite. Archbishop Bernard Hebda has monthly prayer intentions for Catholic Watchmen/Men’s Ministry movements throughout our archdiocese. Our chief shepherd asks that as we gather in regular fellowship and prayer venues at home and church, football field and coffee shop, we include these monthly intentions:
September 2019 to August 2020: September — For the Holy Spirit to bless the faithful and all people in our archdiocese as we begin a year of prayer and listening for the Synod. October — For the dignity of work in the model of St. Joseph; for those in business, teaching, manufacturing and development, and particularly for those working on and operating family farms. November — For the protection of the family as one of the treasures of humanity and that the family may continue to play an important role in society. December — Men, please pray for the blessings of this holy Christmas season to be upon the families of our archdiocese and the child Jesus to be more deeply encountered by all, especially by the example of the first holy, domestic church. January — For the unborn and the safety of those traveling from our province to participate in pro-life events. Pray that the culture of death that surrounds us
Protect freedom of religion and association on campus Student organizations on college and university campuses should be able to select leaders who share the organizations’ goals. Would it make sense to force College Democrats to allow a Republican to lead the organization? Must the Libertarians admit Democratic Socialists to leadership positions? Of course not. Yet religious groups — including Jewish, Muslim and Catholic groups — are being kicked off campuses for requiring that leaders uphold the teachings of the group. This is not only a matter of fundamental freedoms. It’s also a matter of common sense. The Equal Campus Access Act of 2019 protects all students by withholding certain federal funding from public universities that discriminate against religious student groups. Tell your senators and representatives to support H.R. 3243/S.1168, the Equal Campus Access Act! You can call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected with your members of Congress.
The mission in Tijuana, and other places like it, are opportunities to experience the heart of Pope Francis’ message: “Whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new about God. Whenever our eyes are opened to acknowledge the other, we grow in the light of faith and knowledge of God. If we want to advance in the spiritual life, then, we must constantly be missionaries. The work of evangelization enriches the mind and the heart; it opens up spiritual horizons; it makes us more and more sensitive to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and it takes us beyond our limited spiritual constructs” (EG 272). Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
today be replaced with a culture of life, promoting the dignity of life from conception to natural death. February — For integrity and virtue that those tempted by material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption. March — For all men of our archdiocese and for this month’s Archdiocesan Men’s Conference. May it bear the fruits of spiritual leadership, protection and provision of the attendees and the family and friends with whom they encounter through spiritual fatherhood and brotherhood. April — For those involved in any aspect of sports; that it contributes to the development of the whole person and avoids any kind of reductionism that debases human dignity. May — That in every country of the world, women may be honored and respected and that their essential contribution to society may be highly esteemed. June — For the laity; that they may continue testimony regarding the truth of the Gospel and their example of expressing their faith by practicing solidarity. July — For purity to counteract the temptation toward lust, pornography and crimes against humanity such as sex trafficking that disfigure both the victims as well as those who carry it out. August — For our youth; that young people follow the example of Mary and respond to the call of the Lord to communicate the joy of the Gospel to the world. Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville, and assists the Catholic Watchmen movement of the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization. Reach him at gordonbird@rocketmail.com. Learn about the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen initiative at the-catholic-watchmen.com.
COMMENTARY
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY
Taking back delight, one little levitation at a time
There is a lovely maple tree in my front yard that hangs onto its leaves longer than any other tree in the neighborhood. It is a fiery orange and red and every bit as beautiful as you might imagine and always an occasion to lift one’s spirits. Long after every other leaf on my block has been raked and bagged, my front yard maple holds fast, clinging to its beauty with unrelenting delight. My maple teaches me something. I do not want to be determined by the dominant trends around me — I want to cling to beauty and the Author of it. While the cultural posture currently leans toward cynicism, negativity and secular distortions, I want to take back my delight — in the Lord, and in his gift of life. And I’m asking St. Joseph of Cupertino — a master of reverie — to help me. Born in Italy in 1603, Joseph entered the world impoverished and mostly unwanted. His widowed mother treated him severely and rejected him as a nuisance. As he wandered the village, sometimes openmouthed and aimless, he earned the nickname “The Gaper.” Joseph struggled as a young man. His absentmindedness made him a poor worker and his frustration was sometimes expressed in temper tantrums. Eventually, Joseph joined the Franciscans as a servant, and they put him to work in the stables. There, in the quiet company of a barn full of farm-beasts, Joseph began to change and to find his way to a remarkable purity of heart. His work with the animals not only appears to have altered his temperament, giving him a greater sweetness
TO HOME FROM ROME | JONATHAN LIEDL
(Twin) Cities of saints
Did you remember All Saints Day earlier this November? In Italy, it’d be hard not to. Here, in this peculiarly Catholic country (case in point: the rate of Sunday Mass attendance is lower in Italy than in the U.S., but two soccer players were just suspended by an Italian national league for using the Lord’s name in vain during a game), All Saints Day is a national holiday. Schools, government services and most businesses are closed every year when the Nov. 1 solemnity rolls around. The saints are a more salient presence in Italy than in America not only because the country is more culturally Catholic, but also because there are simply more saints here. Some of the Church’s most important holy men and women — from St. Benedict to St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena to St. Thomas Aquinas — lived and served here. In Rome itself, it’s hard to go more than a few blocks without coming across a church housing a significant relic of a saint, be it a body part of a Roman martyr or the tomb of a pope from more recent times. Being able to spend time with the saints is certainly one of the greatest privileges of studying in Rome. Drawing close to their physical remains is a powerful way to ask for a share in the grace God continues to work through them. It’s also an irreplaceable reminder that real men and women lived lives of radical Christian love centuries ago in the streets of Rome that I walk today.
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St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us. The world would like to crush our delight and keep our spiritual feet on the ground. Help us to embrace greater purity of heart and a deep, abiding delight in the Lord that our souls would soar, ever savoring the goodness of our Creator.
iSTOCK PHOTO | KESU01
and humility, but it also appears to have acted as the gateway to a lifetime of ecstasies and miracles of healing. Any reference to God or the mysteries of religion would catch Joseph up into such profound contemplation he would lose his bearings with the world around him. In one of the more noted stories of his life, the sight of a lamb is said to have caught Joseph up into so pure a contemplation of the spotless Lamb of God that he was physically carried into the air with the lamb still in his arms. In another well-authenticated instance, his fellow religious saw him fly up 7 feet into the air to kiss the statue of the infant Jesus that stood over the altar. They then watched as he gathered the statue in his arms and floated away with it to his cell. Joseph’s levitations were documented on more than 70 occasions. But it wasn’t an easy gift to possess. He was often considered an outcast and oddity. He was even the focus of several inquisitions, one that led to the chambers of Pope Urban VIII himself. But upon sight of the Vicar of
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I have to believe that St. Paul the Apostle ... is just as attentive to the spiritual needs of those living and praying in the Minnesota archdiocese named after and dedicated to him as he is to those who visit his relics at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome.
But as I’ve made my own little pilgrimages to venerate their relics, I can’t help but think of the places back home in Minnesota associated with these same saints. A visit to the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, where the virgin martyr’s skull is kept, calls to mind St. Agnes School in St. Paul, where several of my friends teach. Coming across St. John the Baptist’s head at the Church of San Silvestro in Capite is an occasion to ask his prayers for the parish named after him in Savage, where I served last January. This connection, between the relics of the saints and their present-day Twin Cities patronages, is not in name only, but points to a unified reality. The same saint whose relics can be venerated in Rome has also been tasked, by God through his Church, with playing a special intercessory role for a particular place and people in our own archdiocese. The existence and preservation of so many saintly relics here in Rome should be a reminder of this ongoing work of the saints in the life of the Church today. After all, someone is only named a saint because
Christ, Joseph fell into ecstasy and Urban declared that he would offer testimony to the experience. I think Joseph would love my maple tree; he understands beautiful oddities. Though there will never be an inquisition over me, and my feet will likely never leave the ground on account of spiritual ecstasy, in the ways I am able, I want to be an oddity just as Joseph was — with delight in God so pure and childlike, it cannot be contained. St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us. The world would like to crush our delight and keep our spiritual feet on the ground. Help us to embrace greater purity of heart and a deep, abiding delight in the Lord that our souls would soar, ever savoring the goodness of our Creator. Kelly is the author of the award-winning “Jesus Approaches” and the“Your Heart, His Home Prayer Companion.” Read more about St. Joseph of Cupertino, patron saint of air travelers, on her website, lizk.org.
of our certainty that they’re united to God in heaven now; a relic is a sacred object and not merely someone’s bone (or tooth, or hair) only because of that fact. But, perhaps because of the colloquial usage of the word, we can sometimes treat what the saints leave behind as mere “relics of the past”; as mementos only to what someone did or who they were, rather than as testimonies of what they are doing now — participating in God’s life in heaven, and doing everything they can to help us join them. As St. Bernard says in the Office of Readings for All Saints Day, “The saints want us to be with them,” but too often “we are indifferent.” The saints are intensely interested in those souls whom God has placed in their spiritual care, which is what happens when a church or a school or something else is named after a saint. For instance, I have to believe that St. Paul the Apostle, now in heaven, not bound by time or space, is just as attentive to the spiritual needs of those living and praying in the Minnesota archdiocese named after and dedicated to him as he is to those who visit his relics at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome. This isn’t to downplay the unique power of a pilgrimage to venerate the relics of a saint, a tradition the Church has always encouraged and holds in high regard. It’s simply to remind ourselves of this fact: just because we don’t necessarily have the major relics of these saints back in the archdiocese doesn’t mean we don’t have their attention. The saintly names of so many of our Twin Cities churches and towns, schools and universities, aren’t just pious monikers; they’re expressions of the very real call to relationship with God and those who know him best. Liedl is a seminarian in formation for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
COMMENTARY
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
THE LOCAL CHURCH | JULIE CRAVEN
Effective high tech? Personal connections In the second half of my corporate career, I had responsibilities for communications. It was all about key messages, platforms and measurement. I served as spokesperson, worked with media and targeted audiences. My husband, Doug, and I retired, relocated to downtown Minneapolis, and began attending Our Lady of Lourdes a few years ago. When we joined our downtown parish, I volunteered to serve as a eucharistic minister. Father Dan Griffith, after asking me a few questions about my experience, commented, “Oh, I have something else in mind for you.” Providence. I am now the director of communications and strategic initiatives at the parish. Some things are much the same in corporate and parish communications. The speed with which digital communications change (some of us remember computer labs in schools; good grief, some of us remember punch cards!) is at the top of the list. In the span of a decade, communicators had to re-tool, well, everything! Websites replaced bulletin boards, e-newsletters replaced print editions, and online forms replaced hard copy options. Because young people don’t know a world that didn’t include these tools, we could assume that digital “comms” are the answer for reaching young adults. I would disagree with that assumption based on the initiatives I see working to reach young adults in our area. The common thread is not Facebook posts or blogs. It’s not a communications plan or a schedule on HootSuite. What they all have in common is the way they help create space for personal connections. This will appear to be a disparate list, so stay with me: uVespers at Lourdes is “A substantial encounter with the Living God.” It is a parish/archdiocesan blend of devotions and signature cocktails, held monthly at Our Lady of Lourdes. When Isaac Huss and his friends proposed the idea of a regular evening of prayer and
fellowship to Father Griffith, Isaac said his preaching had resonated with them, and they thought he would “give them the space to do their own thing.” uIn a behind-the-scenes and critical way, the good work being done by Nicole Mamura and Michael Pytleski from the Communications Department at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Nicole is liaison extraordinaire between parish communicators and the archdiocese, constantly connecting people and events. Michael takes The Catholic Spirit content and deftly tailors stories in different ways, on different platforms, for different audiences. uMSP Catholic. Tim Cahill and his colleagues have built a digital hub that offers up multichannel, ”local Catholic Content,” featuring events, blogs and parishes. Wonder where the next Catholic Beer Club meeting is or when to sign up for broomball with the Basilica Young Adults? It’s all there. uThe most established parts of an organization can be the most challenging to adapt. James Ondrey at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul has done a great job of using old and new comms tools to get the word out about young adult events like Theology on Tap and the Catholic Softball group. uThe Northeast Catholic Collective group, with Father Spencer Howe and Father Byron Hagan, is intriguing. They’ve tapped into the heart and soul of Northeast Minneapolis to create comms, events and programs that reflect this unique neighborhood. uThe Catholic Communicators group was the brainchild of Melissa Nault at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie. She and Meghan Hathaway at St. Hubert in Chanhassen make these roundtable meetings for communicators happen. Although not exclusively about young adult evangelization, that topic comes up every month in these best-practice discussions. This commentary would not be complete without at least some nerdy digital recommendations. Here are six: uFirst, get your website right. A high functioning website, with navigation appropriate for your audience, is table stakes. The “hub and spoke” model — social media posts need a home for the rest of the story. uWord of mouth is still No. 1. In the digital world we call them “likes” and “retweets.” In Marketing 101 it was “word of mouth” — hearing it from a friend.
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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 uFacebook is not dead. (If you want proof of that, try changing a Mass time and neglecting to post it on Facebook!) Yes, Instagram is more mobile-friendly and is trending up with young adults, but Facebook’s lead position, its shear numbers and the way it has become part of our lives underscores its important position. uBut Instagram is pretty sweet. A social media platform focused on images? Emotions, faces, the beauty of Catholic art, sacraments and sacramentals? Perfect. You could even say heaven sent. uMonitor and adjust. The beauty of digital is how quickly it gets out there, and how quickly you can edit and respond if needed. uInformal doesn’t mean irreverent. Every area, business, profession, has its own language, its own shorthand. Nowhere perhaps is that more true than in the Catholic Church (where sometimes, it actually IS a foreign language!). A conversational tone is more accessible. Descriptors are helpful if the term is something a new Catholic or non-Catholic would not know. The message works best when it is in the crisp language of social media. Recently our newly assigned parochial vicar at Lourdes, Father Bryce Evans, met with young adults to get their ideas. We called it “Last Chance Mass + The Sonder Shaker” in our parish comms — he celebrated the 7 p.m. Mass on a Sunday and folks were invited to walk next door to The Sonder Shaker restaurant for fellowship. I asked him about his takeaway from the conversations and he said, “Small groups. They want to explore small groups of young adults that meet.” So although we have amazing tools right in our hands (did you know your mobile device has more computing power than NASA had when they landed a man on the moon?!) it is the personal connections we make that bring us closer to the person of Christ. Pope Francis talks about how “spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God.” Our social media tools should be the equal of the best digital comms in the secular space, but they are secondary, simply tools, in our work to make Jesus known in this world. Thanks and go #spreadtheWord. Craven is a communications and marketing professional. She can be reached at julie.craven@ ourladyoflourdesmn.com.
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
CALENDAR Music
FEATURED EVENTS Men’s Bible Boot Camp with Father John Echert — Dec. 7: 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m. with 8 a.m. registration at Holy Trinity, 749 Sixth Ave. S., South St. Paul. Cost is $40 and includes workbook, doughnuts and lunch. Sons under 18 are free. For more information, contact Enzo Randazzo at 651-291-4483 or sandazzov@archspm.org. archspm.org/events. Lessons and Carols for Advent — Dec. 8: 4 p.m. at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, St. Mary’s Chapel, 2260 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Performed by the seminary chorale, the event features choral music, readings and congregational hymns celebrating the Advent season. This free event is part of a concert series marking the 20th anniversary of the installation of the Noack pipe organ. A reception will follow. semssp.org. “Lo, A Rose!” by St. Catherine University women’s choir — Dec. 8: 2 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 313 E. Second St., Jordan. The program, which borrows its name from a line in Christina Rosetti’s poem, “The Annunciation,” features music and readings centered on the Blessed Virgin Mary. A free-will offering will be taken, with proceeds benefiting missionaries from St. John the Baptist going to Ghana, Africa, in March. sjbjordan.org/news-and-events-blog/ advent-choral-concert. Archbishop’s Discernment Retreat — Dec. 28-30: 5 p.m. Dec. 28 through 1 p.m. Dec. 30 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Father David Blume, the director of vocations for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, offers this annual retreat, featuring talks by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and times of prayer, reconciliation and recreation This retreat is for men who are seniors in high school up to age 50. Register at 10000vocations.org.
Spiritu “Emmanuel” Advent/Christmas concert — Dec. 3: 7 p.m. at Nativity of Our Lord, 1938 Stanford Ave., St. Paul. spiritumusic.com. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio — Dec. 7: 7:30 p.m. at St. Thomas More, 1079 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Tickets at bachsocietymn.org. University of St. Thomas Christmas Concert: “Comfort and Joy” — Dec. 8: 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis. Tickets at 612-371-5656. stthomas.edu.
Dining Out Little Sisters of the Poor Christmas Boutique and ham dinner — Nov. 23-24: 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m. at 330 Exchange St. S., St. Paul. littlesistersofthepoorstpaul.org Pancake, French Toast Breakfast — Nov. 24: 8 a.m.–noon at Guardian Angels, 215 Second St. W., Chaska. gachaska.org. St. Mary’s Sausage Supper and Turkey Bingo — Nov. 24: Noon–8 p.m. at 8820 240th St. E., Hampton. stmarysnewtrier.com.
St. John of Little Canada Turkey Bingo — Nov. 24: 5–8 p.m. at 2621 McMenemy St., Little Canada. sjolc.org. Turkey and Ham Raffle — Nov. 26: 7 p.m. at St. Boniface, 629 NE Second St., Minneapolis. James Suek 612-788-8051. Sts. Peter and Paul Christkindlmarkt — Nov. 30: Noon–7:30 p.m. at 145 Railway St. E., Loretto. saintsppta.org. Tacos and Tunes at Our Lady of Guadalupe — Nov. 30: Noon–7 p.m. at 401 Concord St., St. Paul. 651-228-0506. olgcatholic.org. St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Bazaar — Dec. 7: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. saintvdp.org. St. Bridget Unique Boutique and Bake Sale — Dec. 7-8: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Dec 7; 9 a.m.–noon Dec. 8 at 3811 Emerson Ave. Minneapolis (in school gym across the street from church). Quilt Raffle 11:30 a.m. Dec. 8. stbridgetnorthside.com. Caramel Roll, Crafters and Children’s Games — Dec. 8: 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Holy Spirit, 502 S. Albert St., St. Paul. holy-spirit.org.
Prayer/worship
Parish events Holiday Sale to support Quilters for a Cause — Nov. 23: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 E. Roselawn, Maplewood. Trivia Night — Nov. 23: 6–8 p.m. at 8265 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Proceeds support 2020 GA Youth Mission Trip to Watertown, S.D. guardian-angels.org. Holiday Boutique and Pie Sale — Nov. 23: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at St. George, 133 N. Brown Road, Long Lake. 952-473-1247. stgeorgelonglake.org.
Practice-based spiritual formation group — Second Tuesdays through Dec. 10: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org. St. Cecilia Church Advent Evensong in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary — Dec. 8: 7 p.m. at 2357 Bayless Place, St. Paul.
Retreats
Farmington KCs Turkey Bingo — Nov. 23: 5:30–9 p.m. at St. Michael, 22120 Denmark Ave., Farmington. Dinner will be served. Proceeds to benefit the local food shelf. Turkey Bingo — Nov. 23: 7–10 p.m. at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1725 Kennard St., Maplewood. 651-777-8116. presentationofmary.org. Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale — Nov. 23-24 at Church of St. Margaret Mary, 2225 Zenith Ave. N., Golden Valley. smm-gv.org. Our Lady of Victory Fall Bazaar — Nov. 23-24 at 5155 Emerson Ave. N., Minneapolis. 612-529-7788. Christmas Faire and Breakfast — Nov. 24: 9 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 3953 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. Mass at 10 a.m. stleonardmn.org. Turkey Bingo — Nov. 24: 1 p.m. at Sts. Peter and Paul, 145 Railway St. E., Loretto. 763-369-2639.
Confirmation retreat — Nov. 22-24 at NET Ministries, 110 Crusader Ave. W., West St. Paul. netusa.org. Spiritual time away for writers — Nov. 25: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org. Centering Prayer Retreat — Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org. Advent Day of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina — Dec. 4: 9 a.m.–3 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Presenters Father Jim Deegan, OMI, and Sister Brenda Rose Szegedy, OSF. kingshouse.com. Advent Day of Prayer — Dec. 5: 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. franciscanretreats.net/ advent-days-of-prayer. Serenity Retreat — Dec. 6-8 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake.
CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM/CALENDARSUBMISSIONS MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106
“The Blessings of Recovery” presented by Sister Linda Fischer, ASC. franciscanretreats.net. Retrouvaille Marriage Retreat — Dec. 6-8 at Dakota Ridge Best Western Hotel, 3450 Washington Dr., Eagan. tcr-mn.org. Men’s silent weekend retreat — Dec. 6-8 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. “Broken, Blessed and Sent” presented by King’s House Preaching Team. kingshouse.com. ACCW Advent Morning of Reflection — Dec. 7: 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at St. Patrick, 6820 St. Patrick’s Lane, Edina. accwarchspm.org.
Conferences/workshops Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus — Dec. 3: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.
Speakers Men’s Morning with Matt Birk — Nov. 30: 8–10 a.m. St. Timothy, 8 Oak Ave. N., Maple Lake. Includes Mass, followed by a continental breakfast and keynote speaker, Matt Birk. End of Life Catholic Teaching Presentation — Dec. 3: 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. Presenter Deacon Stephen Najarian. goodshepherdgv.org.
Other events “Catholic Young Adults: The Musical” — Nov. 21-24 at Helene Houle Auditorium at St. Agnes School, 530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. missedtheboattheatre.com.
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
THELASTWORD
Finding Christ in the kitchen
Catholic Rural Life’s classic cookbook gets a refresh By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
O “
f all the rooms in a house, the friendly, comforting kitchen is mother to us all.” So begins “Cooking for Christ: Your Kitchen Prayerbook,” published by Catholic Rural Life. The 70-year-old book got a face-lift last year, when the St. Paulbased organization completed a multiyear project of updating the text and recipes. The organization made a new edition of “Cooking for Christ” available last fall. The book includes recipes tied to the feasts and fasts that make up the Church’s liturgical year, which begins with the season of Advent. It also situates these recipes in the life of its author, a 1940s farmwife from Ohio, who shares vignettes about her family life among the calls for one cup of milk or six cups of flour. “This book is a reflection of our Catholic faith lived out on a daily basis in the food we prepare,” said Peg Louiselle, CRL development director. The idea to reissue “Cooking for Christ” was born of a practical need: CRL was running out of copies of its last edition, published in 1996. Instead of simply reprinting it, CRL leaders decided to update the book for the contemporary cook and Catholic. “In the original one, there were so many things that were (outdated), ingredients that you don’t even know of anymore,” Peg Louiselle said. “Who knows what ‘Oleo’ is anymore? It’s margarine, but who knows?”
The new version also updated aspects of the liturgical year that have changed since the book was written, with the help of Sister Esther Mary Nickel, a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy and former CRL board member, who holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy. Among those changes are new recipes for new feasts, such as tamales for Our Lady of Guadalupe, celebrated Dec. 12, and Polish angel wings, or “chrusciki,” for Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday following Easter. The original version had 81 recipes; the new version has 112. Despite the changes, the editors of “Cooking for Christ” strove to stay true to the original and not significantly alter the prose of the author, Florence Berger, who outlines how her family lived out the Church’s liturgical year in their home. With the 2018 version, its editors strove to make clear which content was new and which was original by shading their additions in gray. Well-educated with a love for rural living, Berger was active in what was then the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and she befriended its president at the time, Msgr. Luigi Ligutti. Impressed with the Bergers’ family life, he asked Florence to write about how she celebrated the liturgical year in her kitchen. With six children underfoot, the book took Berger four years, but it was published in 1949 with the original subtitle, “The Liturgical Year in the Kitchen.” After a life active in Catholic causes with her husband, she died at Hilton Head, South Carolina, in 1983. “Florence’s original (book) was pretty much a reflection of her life. It wasn’t meant to be a cookbook; it really was a kitchen prayerbook that she created and wrote down stories of their family,” Louiselle said. “It’s enjoyable to read through as you would a book.” That’s exactly how Kelsey Wanless
reads her copy of “Cooking for Christ.” She keeps the 1949 version on her shelf, and it’s been a frequent source of inspiration. She admits that she doesn’t cook from it as often as she might, but it significantly shaped her 2014 thesis on Christian family life for her master’s degree in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and it’s continuing to influence how she approaches food and family. “I was so taken by the book,” said Wanless, 30, a parishioner of St. Agnes in St. Paul and mother of four, ages 5 and younger. “It’s not just a list of recipes for the liturgical year. It’s a single narrative in which recipes are woven. ... It’s her (Berger) as if she were writing a diary from her kitchen table.” The first line of Wanless’ thesis was from Msgr. Ligutti, who described the cookbook as “an extension of the Missal, Breviary and Ritual because the Christian home is an extension of the Mass, choir and sacramentals.” Wanless said Berger’s prose addresses a question near her heart: How do Catholics live well in the material world? “There’s so many principles embedded in her text that go beyond the kitchen table, but it begins at the kitchen table,” Wanless said.
Jim Ennis, CRL executive director, emphasized that as a kitchen prayerbook, “Cooking for Christ” could be considered a companion to the “Rural Life Prayer Book” that CRL also publishes. “Catholic Rural Life is all about promoting Catholic life in rural America,” Ennis said. “What Florence does in her book beautifully is really speaks about the family culture in the home and how to promote tradition and the teachings of the Church in the home, bringing the saints alive by celebrating the saints’ feast days.” “Cooking for Christ: Your Kitchen Prayerbook” is available for $18 from catholicrurallife.org.
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