The Catholic Spirit - November 24, 2016

Senior Services Guide 13A – 19A • Archdiocesan financial report B section November 24, 2016 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Holy Doors close, but mercy has no end

Hundreds — including a newly engaged couple — make final Year of Mercy pilgrimage Nov. 20 See story on page 5A Jonathan Thompson, left, and Julia Waletzko are all smiles as they exit the Holy Doors at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Nov. 20 at the conclusion of a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda to end the jubilee Year of Mercy. The two got engaged earlier that day and hope to marry at the Basilica in July 2017. They met earlier this year at the Basilica on Valentine’s Day. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

ALSO inside

Bankruptcy plan revised

Advent begins Nov. 27

Global water crisis

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis lists more than $133 million for victims of clergy sexual abuse in new Reorganization plan.

Parishes and schools in the archdiocese plan concerts, prayer services and retreats to celebrate the season.

Record-breaking rower Katie Spotz encourages Catholic school students to help people without clean drinking water.

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2A • The Catholic Spirit

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in PICTURES

November 24, 2016 OVERHEARD “I understand when people feel frustrated. I was giving people a chance to vote their conscience and to vote for ideas they think will work.”

Riley Horan, a junior at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and Republican who ran this election for the Minnesota House of Representatives District 64A. He lost to incumbent Erin Murphy, a Democrat. Read about how Horan’s Catholic faith influences his political participation at www.thecatholicspirit.com.

NEWS notes • The Catholic Spirit FONTANINI CRÈCHE Emanuele Fontanini of the House of Fontanini signs part of a crèche Nov. 12 in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The crèche was created by the House of Fontanini in the village of Bagni di Lucca, Italy, where it was founded nearly a century ago.

It was donated to the university by benefactors Al and Brenda Iversen.

Courtesy University of St. Thomas

Men’s discernment retreat with bishops Dec. 16-18 Men age 18-50 who are interested in the priesthood are invited to a retreat with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo. The retreat takes place from 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 to noon Dec. 18 and includes communal and private prayer, eucharistic adoration, Mass and presentations by Archbishop Hebda and Bishop Cozzens. Register by Dec. 12 at www.10000vocations. org/events.

Archbishop’s pallium Mass is Dec. 18 The pallium Mass for Archbishop Bernard Hebda will take place at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, will confer the pallium on Archbishop Hebda. At St. Peter’s Basilica on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, Pope Francis blessed Archbishop Hebda’s pallium, a liturgical vestment worn only by archbishops that represents jurisdictional authority.

Catholic high schools soaring in fall tournaments Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park and Totino-Grace in Fridley will play for state football titles Nov. 25-26 at US Bank Stadium. BSM beat Marshall 44-33 in the Class 4A semifinals Nov. 17, and Totino-Grace edged Blaine 21-20 for the 6A semifinal Nov. 17. BSM will meet Winona 4 p.m.

Nov. 25. Totino-Grace will face Eden Prairie 7 p.m. Nov. 25. In girls swimming, Visitation in Mendota Heights won the Class A state title Nov. 17.

Trip to sister diocese in Kenya planned for spring A delegation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will travel to Kitui, Kenya, East Africa, May 30- June 15, 2017, to strengthen the partnership with its sister diocese, the Diocese of Kitui, and the Kamba people. Applications are due Dec. 1. For more information, contact Mike Haasl at the Center for Mission at 651-291-4504.

ORNAMENTS FOR TROOPS From left, first-grader Eve Wachlarowicz and eighth-grader Maddie Maher of St. Thomas More School in St. Paul create Christmas ornaments Nov. 15 to send to U.S. troops stationed overseas and in the U.S. who will be away from their families on Christmas. The idea came from teacher Barbara Koenig, an alumna whose sister serves in the Army.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit

in REMEMBRANCE Father Robert Thurner, 90, died Nov. 13. He was born Nov. 25, 1925, and ordained a priest in 1951. He was removed from active ministry according to the norms of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. A funeral Mass was offered Nov. 19 at the Willwerscheid Funeral Home in St. Paul.

WHAT’S NEW on social media The Basilica of St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum was in Rome for the closing of the Year of Mercy. See a video of its members singing at the final Mass: www.facebook.com/thecatholicspirit.

Blessed Lucy of Narnia, whose feast day was Nov. 16, is a real person.

Stephen Bullivant at The Catholic Herald in the U.K. writes that, “The life of the real Lucy is even more magical and wondrous than the one C.S. Lewis imagined for ‘Queen Lucy the Valiant’” in his “Chronicles of Narnia” series: www.catholichotdish.com.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 21 — No. 23 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

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November 24, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 3A

With Church’s new year, open lives to grace

E

ach year in the United States, we celebrate the beginning of a new calendar year on Jan. 1 with festivities of all sorts, hoping for a great new year. In our Catholic faith, we celebrate the beginning of a new liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent, also hoping for a great new year for spiritual reasons.

Liturgical years are called “years of grace” because the Church’s prayers and liturgies, taken as a whole, take Christians through Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection, as well as other key moments in salvation history.

This year, the new liturgical year begins Nov. 27. In order for our new liturgical year to be spiritually great — a true “year of grace” — we need to dispose ourselves for God’s grace.

To help us better understand the nature of grace, the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us these insights: • Grace is a participation in the life of God (CCC 1997).

• The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it (CCC 1999).

• Sanctifying grace is a habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love (CCC 2000).

ONLY JESUS Father Donald DeGrood

• Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces, which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification (CCC 2000).

If the year of grace 2017 is going to be a spiritually great one, we need to receive and respond to the generous gift of God’s own life within us through grace. How we begin our Advent season and correspond to God’s grace throughout

How we begin our Advent season and correspond to God’s grace throughout the year will impact the outcome of our own year of grace. the year will impact the outcome of our own year of grace.

It is not that we produce or even earn the grace of God, but rather we should be humble and gracious recipients of God’s blessing through grace.

We do this by disposing ourself to God’s will and following the movements of grace in our daily lives.

St. Augustine is a great example of a person who finally came to his senses and opened his heart to God. His conversion story is a profound witness of God’s merciful love, a soul willing to be humbly converted, and a faithful mother, St. Monica, who prayed fervently for his conversion. In his famous book “Confessions,” he writes: “Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God; for without him, we can do nothing.”

As we prepare to enter the year of grace 2017 on the first Sunday of Advent, may our hearts be open to the amazing grace God has in store for us. May we also reflect back with gratitude for the many graces from the year of grace 2016, especially for God’s gracious gift of mercy.

El comienzo del año de la gracia en el 2017

C

ada año en los Estados Unidos celebramos el comienzo de un nuevo calendario el 1 de enero con festividades de todo tipo, con la esperanza de un gran año nuevo. En nuestra fe católica, celebramos el comienzo de un nuevo año litúrgico en el primer domingo de Adviento, esperando también un gran año nuevo por razones espirituales.

Los años litúrgicos se llaman “años de gracia”, porque las oraciones y liturgias de la Iglesia, tomadas en su conjunto, llevan a los cristianos a través de la vida, la pasión, la muerte y la resurrección de Jesús, así como otros momentos clave en la historia de la salvación. El nuevo año litúrgico comienza el 27 de noviembre. Para que nuestro nuevo año litúrgico sea espiritualmente grande - un verdadero “año de gracia” — necesitamos estar listos para la gracia de Dios.

Para ayudarnos a comprender mejor la naturaleza de la gracia, el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica nos ofrece estas ideas: • La gracia es una participación en la vida de Dios (CIC 1997).

La forma en que comenzamos nuestra temporada de Adviento y respondamos a la gracia de Dios durante todo el año afectará el resultado de nuestro propio año de gracia.

• La gracia de Cristo es el don gratuito que Dios nos hace de su vida infundida por el Espíritu Santo en nuestra alma para sanarla del pecado y santificarla (CIC 1999).

• La gracia santificante es un don habitual, una disposición estable y sobrenatural que perfecciona al alma para hacerla capaz de vivir con Dios, de obrar por su amor (CIC 2000).

• Se debe distinguir entre la gracia habitual, disposición permanente para vivir y obrar según la vocación divina, y las gracias actuales, que designan las intervenciones divinas que están en el origen de la conversión o en el curso de la obra de la santificación (CIC 2000).

Si el año de gracia de 2017 va a ser espiritualmente grande, necesitamos

recibir y responder al generoso don de la propia vida de Dios dentro de nosotros a través de la gracia. La forma en que comenzamos nuestra temporada de Adviento y respondamos a la gracia de Dios durante todo el año afectará el resultado de nuestro propio año de gracia. No es que produzcamos ni obtengamos la gracia de Dios, sino que debemos ser recipientes humildes y misericordiosos de la bendición de Dios por medio de la gracia. Hacemos esto disponiéndonos a la voluntad de Dios y siguiendo los movimientos de la gracia en nuestra vida cotidiana.

San Agustín es un gran ejemplo de una persona que finalmente entró en razón y abrió su corazón a Dios. Su historia de conversión es un profundo

testimonio del amor misericordioso de Dios, un alma dispuesta a ser humildemente convertida y una madre fiel, Santa Mónica, que oró fervientemente por su conversión. En su famoso libro “La Confesión de San Agustín,” escribe: “Nosotros también trabajamos, pero sólo estamos colaborando con Dios que obra, porque su misericordia nos ha precedido. Se ha ido antes que nosotros para que podamos ser sanados y nos sigue para que una vez sanados, se nos conceda la vida; Va delante de nosotros para que seamos llamados y nos siga para ser glorificados; Va antes para que vivamos devotamente, y nos siga para que siempre podamos vivir con Dios; Porque sin él no podemos hacer nada.”

Mientras nos preparamos para entrar en el año de la gracia del 2017 en el primer domingo de Adviento, que nuestros corazones estén abiertos a la asombrosa gracia que Dios tiene reservada para nosotros. Que podamos también reflexionar con gratitud por las muchas gracias del año de la gracia del 2016, especialmente por su bondadoso don de la misericordia.

New York state court rules Sheen remains should be transferred to Peoria

By Tom Dermody Catholic News Service The Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled Nov. 17 in favor of the family of Archbishop Fulton Sheen regarding their request to allow the transfer of the sainthood candidate’s remains to Peoria, Illinois, where he was raised and ordained a priest.

On Nov. 1, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arlene Bluth heard arguments in favor of the transfer from lawyers for

Archbishop Sheen’s niece, Joan Sheen Cunningham, as well as those from the Archdiocese of New York, which sought to keep the remains of the famed orator and media pioneer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, where he was entombed following his death on Dec. 9, 1979.

The Diocese of Peoria has been a promoter of Archbishop Sheen’s canonization cause for more than 14 years. The ruling is seen as a key factor in allowing his cause to move forward.

There was no immediate response from the New York archdiocese.

The court, Bluth said, deferred to the wishes of the family “because petitioner has set forth a justifiable, good and substantial reason for moving the remains.”

Among the reasons cited for disinterment is that the move will aid in the canonization process; that Archbishop Sheen’s parents are buried nearby in Peoria; and that St. Mary’s Cathedral is where Archbishop Sheen

was ordained a priest and a place he visited often during his lifetime.

Archbishop Sheen’s heroic virtue and life of sanctity were recognized in 2012

by Pope Benedict XVI, who granted him the title “venerable.” The Diocese of Peoria has said that, with progress already made in the cause and pending the approval of Pope Francis, a beatification could be celebrated in the near future after the arrival of the remains at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where a crypt is being prepared for his re-interment.

4A • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

November 24, 2016

SLICEof LIFE

Symbolic scarves

Francesca Fasano, right, prepares to a receive a scarf from Father Augustine Truong during a Mass and scarf ceremony Nov. 19 at St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien in Minneapolis, a parish of the Vietnamese community. At the beginning of each year, the parish’s Eucharistic Youth Group, known as TNTT, holds the scarf ceremony to welcome new members, transition existing members into new groups and recognize members who will serve as leaders. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the Mass and also handed out scarves. Holding scarves next to Father Truong are Rose Hong-An Nguyen, left, and Kathy Trinh. Nearly 80 youth received scarves.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

An Advent Concert of Gratitude

A benefit for Southside Family Nurturing Center

Michael Joncas On Eagle’s Wings

David Haas You Are Mine in their final Twin Cities concert together

Marty Haugen All Are Welcome

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, 4:00 PM • Guardian Angels Church • 8260 4th St. N., Oakdale, MN Tickets $20 (children under 12 free) Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2603441 or at the door.

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Your stories. Your newspaper.

November 24, 2016

LOCAL

The Catholic Spirit • 5A

Archdiocese’s revised plan allocates more than $133M to victims

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit After months of negotiations with insurance carriers, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed an amended plan for Reorganization Nov. 15 that increased compensation for victims of clergy sexual abuse to more than $133 million. A court-appointed mediator facilitated the negotiations.

In a press conference after filing the plan, Charles Rogers, an attorney with Briggs and Morgan representing the archdiocese, said it had reached settlements with 11 of the 13 insurance carriers involved in the bankruptcy proceedings; negotiations continue with the remaining two, which, if resolved, will add additional funds to the total settlement. He described the amended plan as “holistic” and producing the best possible insurance settlements given the circumstances.

“Our goal all along has been to promote healing, to bring forth good will and to express our good will in actions and not our words,” Rogers said.

In its initial plan filed in May, the archdiocese identified more than $65 million in assets to compensate victims/survivors, with the potential for that amount to grow as settlements were reached with insurers.

Insurance settlements account for nearly $100 million of the proposed compensation plan. The remainder of the funds include $13.8 million in archdiocesan assets, most of which derived from the 2016 sale of archdiocesan properties, including three chancery buildings on Cathedral Hill. The plan also

establishes a trust for sexual abuse claimants, with a court-approved allocation protocol.

Rogers noted that the $133 million plan includes the largest insurance settlement of any reported diocesan bankruptcy, and it would be the second largest total reported diocesan bankruptcy resolution in the country. The Diocese of San Diego paid more than $198 million to 144 victims in 2007. At the same time, Rogers cautioned against comparing bankruptcies because dioceses all have different assets, and all situations are unique.

“The bankruptcy laws of our country will assure that we compensate to the best of our Charles abilities those who have been ROGERS harmed,” Rogers said. “We’re hoping that the revised plan will bring an opportunity for greater healing without subjecting claimants to further delay and further erosion of the resources available for their compensation.”

He reiterated that the archdiocese’s plan for Reorganization includes three major components: the child protection protocols with Ramsey County, which are being implemented; a $500,000 fund for victim/survivor counseling services; and $133 million in immediate compensation for victims/survivors.

By a court-established claim deadline in August 2015, more than 400 claims of clergy sexual abuse had been filed against the archdiocese.

A judge is scheduled to review the archdiocese’s plan at a Dec. 15 hearing.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney for sexual abuse claimants, said the archdiocese’s new plan lets insurers “off the hook” and accused the archdiocese of vastly under-reporting its ability to pay. Rogers noted that the archdiocese’s initial plan provided $65 million for a victim fund and would have allowed counsel for claimants to negotiate with carriers or litigate after the plan was approved. That plan was rejected by claimant representatives, so the archdiocese’s counsel pursued negotiations with its carriers and, according to Rogers, obtained “reasonable, good faith settlements.”

Counsel for claimants approved the settlement amounts reached with six of the 11 settling carriers.

Rogers said all available assets that the archdiocese does not need to fulfill its core mission have been made available in the plan, and he looks forward to the court’s confirmation that the archdiocese has provided a fair accounting of its assets. Counsel for sexual abuse claimants earlier sought to consolidate the assets of more than 200 independent Catholic schools, parishes and charitable institutions into the bankruptcy proceedings, and the motion was denied as a matter of law by the bankruptcy court.

“It is unfortunate that claimants’ counsel is seeking to inappropriately divert vital resources from the charitable missions of these organizations,” Rogers said.

The archdiocese entered Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in January 2015 as a means to distribute assets equitably and fairly among victims of clergy sexual abuse while maintaining its ability to fulfill its mission.

Archbishop Hebda marks jubilee year end at Basilica Nov. 20

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Hundreds filled the front steps of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Nov. 20 following Mass to witness the closing of the church’s Holy Doors, marking the end of the jubilee Year of Mercy. Among them were Jonathan Thompson and Julia Waletzko, who had held hands and grinned as they passed through the doors a final time. The pair, who met at the Basilica at a Bible study on Valentine’s Day, had gotten engaged just hours earlier.

“The closing of the Holy Doors was a big draw,” Thompson said of the couple’s decision to attend the closing Mass. “It was such a peaceful experience.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda presided at the 6:30 p.m.

Mass and then invited the congregation to process out of the Holy Doors before he ceremoniously closed them.

With the Cathedral of St. Paul and St. Maron in Minneapolis, the Basilica was one of three local churches with designated Holy Doors for the jubilee year.

Last year, Pope Francis called for a jubilee Year of Mercy to begin in December 2015 to highlight God’s mercy for all people. Dioceses throughout the world hosted activities focused on the works of mercy, increased time available for confessions and opened designated holy doors for pilgrims. In past jubilee years, Holy Doors only opened at Rome’s four major basilicas, but this year Pope Francis extended the opportunity to all dioceses.

Pilgrims from around the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis came to the Basilica Nov. 20 to pass through the Holy Doors one last time. Those who went through the doors could receive a plenary indulgence, a complete remission of temporal punishment due to sin.

There are “just so many graces and blessings that we get that everybody should be taking advantage of, for sure,” said Beth Brown, a parishioner of St. Bernard in St. Paul who led a group of women to the Basilica for the closing Mass.

Others brought their families, some for the first time.

“I wanted to make sure that they had the experience of processing through the [Holy] Door but also seeing ceremonially what they do with [the] archbishop here

Archbishop Bernard Hebda closes the Holy Doors at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Nov. 20 following a Mass to conclude the jubilee Year of Mercy. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit for actually closing the doors,” said Maria Mellen, a parishioner of St. Hubert in Chanhassen.

Mellen and her husband, Jay, brought their three children to go through the Holy Doors for the first time as a family. They had observed the holy year through their parish; Maria and Jay joined a small group, and the children attended a class about the works of mercy.

They also made an effort to practice mercy in their home.

For Thompson and Waletzko, the jubilee year will forever be part of their love story. Thompson purposely tied his proposal to its final day. Earlier this year, he and his bride-to-be passed through holy doors thousands of miles apart, but they concluded the year walking through holy doors together.

A parishioner of Maternity of Mary in St. Paul, Thompson went through the Basilica’s Holy Doors for the first time on Valentine’s Day and had been praying for clarity in God’s plan for his life. That night he met Waletzko, a Basilica parishioner, who had recently returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where she

had gone through Holy Doors at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. She, too, had been praying about what God wanted for her life, she said.

“It’s just amazing what happened in the last year, not even, 10 months since I went through those other Holy Doors,” Waletzko said.

In his homily, Archbishop Hebda emphasized that mercy must continue beyond the jubilee. He tied it to the feast of Christ the King, which the Church celebrated that day and which also marks the end of the Church’s liturgical year.

“As a people, we have been celebrating throughout this Year of Mercy that our God is a God of mercy and that Jesus, God made flesh, is the very face of mercy,” Archbishop Hebda said.

He also spoke of the Holy Doors’ significance as they welcomed many pilgrims during the jubilee year. But, he said, their closing doesn’t mean the faithful no longer have a holy door to pass through.

The Basilica’s patroness, Mary, is also called “the Door of Heaven,” he noted.

6A • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

November 24, 2016

St. Michael’s legacy to endure on St. Paul’s West Side and West St. Paul

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit St. Michael’s final Sunday Mass Nov. 27 will mark the end of an era for a parish founded 150 years ago to serve working-class Irish immigrants.

The West St. Paul parish — which was first located on St. Paul’s West Side — will suspend operations following the 10:30 a.m. Mass. Poor finances led parish and Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis leaders to make the decision in October.

St. Michael began in 1866 as a mission of the Cathedral of St. Paul, then located downtown. Bishop Thomas Grace purchased the land for St. Michael for $300 on the West Side, across the Mississippi River from downtown. The new parish addressed the needs of Catholic Irish immigrants living on the West Side who couldn’t afford the $1 toll to cross the Wabasha Street Bridge into downtown each Sunday for Mass.

“It really was kind of the first presence of the Church there,” said Father James Adams, St. Michael’s pastor since 2015.

By 1879, St. Michael had grown into its own parish and welcomed its first pastor, Father P. J. Gallagher.

Father Patrick O’Neill then served from 1888 to 1944.

He was followed by his nephew, Father John O’Neill, who led the parish until 1967.

The younger Father O’Neill guided St. Michael’s move from the West Side up the hill to West St. Paul in the early 1950s. Parishioners and families migrating to the adjacent, growing suburb warranted the move.

Father O’Neill purchased the land for the parish at East Annapolis Avenue and Wallner Street in West St. Paul. The parish built a school, temporary sanctuary, convent and rectory on the 8 acres of land. “[Father John O’Neill] got a lot of things going and stirred the pot, you might say,” said Mary Ellen Gutzmann, 81, a longtime parishioner and former parish bookkeeper.

Gutzmann said Father O’Neill engaged St. Michael’s young people, helping the parish continue to thrive.

Another longtime parishioner, Ellie Breister, described the parish as busy with lots of different activities before its membership declined in the past decade.

“It was wonderful,” Breister said of St. Michael’s parish life.

In its first century, St. Michael boomed with vocations with 23 priests and 35 religious sisters, according to the 1952 book, “The Catholic Church in the Diocese of St. Paul.” Among them is Msgr. Martin Fleming, the founder of Trinity Sober Homes, who grew up attending St. Michael before his 1952 ordination. Three of his brothers also served as priests.

The parish used both its West Side and West St. Paul campuses until the 1970s, which helped neighboring St. Matthew, a German parish founded in 1886 on the West Side. St. Matthew’s church burned down in 1968, and it temporarily used St. Michael’s West Side campus.

St. Matthew built a new church in 1970.

St. Michael then sold its West Side campus for the development of a housing project that primarily serves the neighborhood’s Latino population. The church’s impressive bell tower — now known as the Torre de San Miguel — still stands, surrounded by a small park.

St. Michael and St. Matthew intertwined again when the archdiocese identified the two parishes for clustering in a 2010 strategic plan.

In 2012, both of their schools faced closure. They merged with another parish school, St. John Vianney in

LEFT Father John O’Neill, a longtime pastor of St. Michael pictured in front of the parish’s West Side church in 1966, moved the parish from St. Paul’s West Side to West St. Paul in the 1950s.

Courtesy the Pioneer Press BELOW LEFT St. Michael in West St. Paul.

Dave Hrbacek/ The Catholic Spirit BELOW RIGHT St. Michael’s West Side church was built in 1882 after a fire destroyed the original church. It stood until the 1970s, when it was demolished to accommodate a public housing project. The church’s bell tower, is preserved in a small park; today it is known as the Torre de San Miguel and continues to serve as a neighborhood landmark. Courtesy St. Michael

South St. Paul, to form Community of Saints Regional Catholic School. St. Michael provided the building. Our Lady of Guadalupe, another West Side parish identified for structured collaboration with St. Michael and St. Matthew, also partnered for the school, which will continue to use the St. Michael campus.

Aside from the building, Father Adams noted that St. Michael school’s legacy remains strong. He even meets alumni during nursing home visits.

“The huge commitment to Catholic education has been tremendous,” Father Adams said.

Perpetual adoration, which began at St. Michael in 1992, has a strong commitment as well. Gutzmann said it’s common to see three to four people in the chapel at any given time.

St. Michael’s rosary making group will also continue informally, meeting at St. Joseph in West St. Paul.

With the parish suspending operations, 230 households of parishioners will look for new parishes.

According to sources, most will join St. Joseph or St. Matthew. Gutzmann said the parish once had 700 to 800 households.

“The huge challenge has been and was and is to make sure that people don’t forget that Jesus is alive, he’s walking with them,” Father Adams said. “And [I] wanted to make sure that they can still have a mission.”

As The Catholic Spirit previously reported, St. Michael’s corporate status will remain intact while the archdiocese determines the parish’s future.

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LOCAL

November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving tourney to tip-off girls basketball

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit An early tip-off tournament has Cretin-Derham Hall head girls basketball coach Joe Lynch moving things ahead of schedule this year.

“We have to get to things sooner in our tryouts and/ or practice sessions,” Lynch said.

Eleven days after the team’s first practice, the Raiders will play in the first girls hoops tournament hosted by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Development and Stewardship Nov. 25-26. CretinDerham Hall in St. Paul and 11 other Catholic high school teams will compete in the Thanksgiving TipOff, two days after the earliest first game date allowed by the Minnesota State High School League. The tournament takes place at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

“I think it’s going to be a great experience,” said Ellen Thompson, who coaches at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria. “We don’t get this opportunity ever.”

Opportunity awaits Holy Family and Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield coming off state tournament runs last season. Holy Angels ended a 40-year championship drought with the Class 3A title, and Holy Family reached the 2A tourney. Both squads aim to play at Williams Arena again in March, the site for the state finals.

In addition, high expectations abound among the tip-off tourney squads after solid 2015-2016 campaigns. DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis came five points shy of the 3A state tourney. CretinDerham Hall, St. Agnes School in St. Paul, Providence Academy in Plymouth, Totino-Grace High School in Fridley and Lourdes High School in Rochester all reached their respective section semifinals. Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis won its conference, and Cotter High School in Winona finished second in its division.

Some players in the tournament have college athletics potential. ESPN has Holy Angels sophomore post Destinee Oberg ranked fourth nationally among class of 2019 prospects. Totino-Grace senior post Sydney Weierke committed to Division II Concordia University-St. Paul in early November. Holy Family senior guard Brooke Bowlin will play Division II

The Catholic Spirit • 7A in BRIEF ST. PAUL

UST to launch two-year college

Cretin-Derham Hall’s Elizabeth Edinger takes a shot during basketball practice Nov. 15. The Raiders will join 11 other Catholic schools in the first Thanksgiving girls hoops tournament Nov. 25-26 sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Development and Stewardship. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit softball at St. Cloud State University.

Fifty college scouts are invited for the tip-off tournament, giving other players a chance to bolster their college athletics hopes. Lynch noted that junior forwards Autam Mendez and Haley Moore, along with junior guard Elizabeth Edinger, could get higher-level NCAA looks.

For now, the tournament gives the teams a chance to start their season early against quality nonconference opponents. Playing other Catholic schools also forges a common bond between the teams.“All in the same family,” Cristo Rey head coach Darryl House said. “I think it’s a great way to get our new season started.”

Besides varsity squads, junior varsity and B-squad teams will compete in adjacent tournaments at St. Thomas the same weekend. The participating schools include Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, Cretin-Derham Hall, Cristo Rey, DeLaSalle, Holy Angels, Holy Family, Providence Academy, Rochester Lourdes, St. Agnes, Totino-Grace, Visitation and Winona Cotter.

For more information, visit www.archspm.org/ turkeytourney.

The University of St. Thomas announced Nov. 17 its plans to open a two-year college program in the 2017 fall semester to provide low-income students with an associate of arts degree, with the aim of helping students develop the skills necessary for obtaining a four-year bachelor’s degree and pursuing a career.

St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan said Catholic social teaching has played a role in developing the Dougherty Family College. She noted that Archbishop John Ireland founded the St. Paul university for low-income Irish immigrants in 1885. Grants and scholarships will offset tuition, bringing the annual cost as low as $1,000 for some students.

STILLWATER

MN arts grant to fund icon research The Minnesota State Arts Board granted $25,000 to Judy Symalla, founder of the St. Croix Catholic Iconographers Guild, to document and research the icons of Nicholas Markell, an iconographer with 30 years experience who has written about 140 icons and iconic murals. Symalla’s work will culminate in an exhibit at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in fall 2017 and a comprehensive catalog for iconography students’ use. Symalla attends St. Michael in Stillwater, and Markell attends St. Mary in Stillwater.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.

SD priest reinstated to ministry Father Joseph Forcelle, a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls who was a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1980-1984, was reinstated to ministry Nov. 15. Bishop Paul Swain of Sioux Falls temporarily removed the priest from ministry in September following a child sexual abuse allegation against him from his time serving the archdiocese. After Minnesota law enforcement declined to initiate a criminal investigation, the diocese conducted a private investigation. After reviewing its findings, the diocese’s review board concluded that the allegation was unsubstantiated and recommended Father Forcelle return to ministry.

Red Wing parish nabs $127K on Give to the Max Day

Nationally known musicians to give ‘living room’ concert in Monticello

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Parishioners at St. Joseph in Red Wing have found a way to raise funds fast and build fellowship without the heavy planning of an annual parish festival.

They make Give to the Max Day one festive event, which has paid off with a second-straight finish in the top 10 for the statewide one-day giving push.

St. Joseph finished sixth this year Nov. 17 with $127,766.13 from 69 gifts.

“It’s just absolutely amazing, the generosity of these people,” said Father Thomas Kommers, pastor of St. Joseph. “They get so excited about it.”

People come and go at St. Joseph’s Holy Family social hall between 6 a.m. and midnight for food, fellowship and fundraising on Give to the Max Day. Since the annual gathering for St. Joseph began four years ago, attendance and funds have grown significantly. The event is in lieu of an annual parish festival.

“This one-day giving event has allowed our parish to really have an excitement about our parish community, which is something a parish festival generates,” said Jordan Harris, St. Joseph’s parish administrator. “It has allowed us to raise funds, but we found that this is a day where people come to our parish to give their donation.”

A committee formed at St. Joseph in 2012 to make the best use possible of Give to the Max Day. Its members inform parishioners in advance through marketing materials and information after Sunday Masses describing the projects the funds will benefit.

Funds this year will go toward the replacement of

50-year-old windows for the church. Any remaining funds will help to cover the construction of a canopy outside entrance of the parish’s social hall. For a parish of 950 households, covering those needs with a fundraiser protects the weekly collection for daily operations of the parish.

This year’s Give to the Max fundraiser marked the second-highest total for St. Joseph. The parish netted more than $135,700 in 2015. This year, it finished first among all mid-sized nonprofits statewide for funds raised.

Taking first in that category boosts St. Joseph’s achievement; a category winner earns a $10,000 grant.

Give to the Max Day is the annual apex of GiveMN, a year-round online fundraiser for Minnesota’s charities launched in 2009. This year, Give to the Max Day donors gave more than $20 million to thousands of organizations.

Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis also made the top 10, with $87,321 in gifts.

Other Twin Cities-area Catholic nonprofits among the top 100 were Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis ($57,159), St. Stephen’s Human Services in Minneapolis ($44,668); Our Lady of Grace School in Edina ($24,130); and the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation ($21,630). The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, who serve in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, raised $18,648. Winona-based St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, which has Minneapolis and Apple Valley campuses, brought in $26,239.

Also receiving donations were the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity ($11,625), St. John Vianney College Seminary ($7,780), St. Catherine University ($6,490) and the University of St. Thomas ($5,235).

What a longtime parish music director is calling a once-in-a-lifetime event is taking place Dec. 10 at St. Henry in Monticello.

Three widely-known Christian musicians and songwriters will host a retreat in the morning and a concert in the evening. Both events are open to the public.

The main event is the Story and Song Concert in the evening, featuring Sarah Hart, Steve Angrisano and Jesse Manibusan. All are artists of Oregon Catholic Press, which helps bring their music to parishes across the country. Tickets for the concert are $13, and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. The retreat is from 8:30 a.m. to noon and costs $30.

“I think the audience should expect to feel like the three of us are basically sitting with them in their living room,” said Hart, who lives in Tennessee and has performed in Minnesota many times. “These are very fun, interactive and very welcoming, very intergenerational [performances].”

Getting the three to come was as simple as responding to an invitation sent by OCP by email.

St. Henry music director Grace Janssen said this is a unique opportunity to host quality Christian musicians.

“This is the first time we have ever done anything like this in all of the years that I’ve been in music ministry, which is about 40,” Janssen said. “The difference between this and a regular concert is it’s not just music.

It’s a story and song.”

For more information and to register for the retreat or buy concert tickets, visit www.sthenrycatholic.info.

8A • The Catholic Spirit

LOCAL

November 24, 2016

Composer trio hopes Advent concert provides spiritual preparation

By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit To celebrate the season of anticipating Christ’s birth, music is a common element for parishes, schools and other Catholic entities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

A Dec. 4 concert at Guardian Angels in Oakdale — An Advent Concert of Gratitude — features three local liturgical composers who’ve spent two decades collaborating.

Father Michael Joncas, artist in residence and research fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, David Haas and Marty Haugen will perform some of their popular songs such as “On Eagle’s Wings,” “Blest Are They” and “Shepherd Me, O God,” as well as new songs from a special “With Gratitude” album. The concert begins at 4 p.m., and all proceeds will benefit Southside

Family Nurturing Center in Minneapolis, which helps children at risk of abuse and neglect.

Father Joncas explained that the concert takes place during the first segment of Advent, when Christians concentrate on the prophecies associated with the coming of the Messiah.

“Prophecies proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Lectionary readings at Mass during the first segment of Advent, many from Isaiah, are among the most beloved of the Hebrew Scriptures,” he said. “I would hope that our concert at Guardian Angels would invite participants to ponder some of these prophetic texts, deepening our longing for the fulfillment of God’s intentions for history.”

He also wants the concert to be a “good spiritual and artistic preparation for Christmas.”

Haugen, who attends Mayflower

From left, Father Michael Joncas, David Haas and Marty Haugen will perform an Advent concert Dec. 4 at Guardian Angels in Oakdale. Courtesy Marty Haugen United Church of Christ in Minneapolis, said they each contributed a new song to “With Gratitude.” His focuses on the refugee crisis. Father Joncas’ song, “A Place Called Home,” is about immigration, and Haas wrote a Christmas carol.

Advent can be a time of healing and hope for people, Haugen said, especially

Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis Advent parish retreat — 8:30 a.m.–noon Dec. 10 in Teresa of Calcutta Hall on the lower level of the Basilica, 1600 Hennepin Ave. Register

by Dec. 8 at www.mary.org.

Responding to a query from The Catholic Spirit, parishes, schools and organizations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis submitted the following events.

Evening Prayer — 3 p.m. Dec. 4, 11 and 18 in the choir stalls with the parish’s Schola Cantorum.

Advent Morning Prayer — 9:15 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays of Advent in the choir stalls.

Chesterton Academy Advent concert — 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at Transfiguration in Oakdale, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. The concert is free and open to the public; a free-will offering is accepted. www.chestertonacademy.org.

Risen Savior, Burnsville “Maranatha 2: A Musical Journey of Justice, Joy and Jolly” — 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at 1501 E. County Road 42, Burnsville. An evening of music reflecting the season of Advent as well as some Christmas seasonal favorites.

Free-will donations to benefit Risen Savior partner 360 Communities. www.risensavior.org.

St. Casimir, St. Paul Advent retreat – Christmas through the Gospels — 1–3:30 p.m. Nov. 26 at 934 Geranium Ave. E., followed by 4 p.m. Mass. www.stcasimirchurch.org.

St. Charles Borromeo School, St. Anthony Advent program — 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 2727 Stinson Blvd. Students re-enact the Nativity with music, theatrics and costumes.

St. Croix Catholic School, Stillwater Advent program for grades 3, 4 and 5 — 6:30–7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at St. Michael, 611 S. Third St., Stillwater.

St. Dominic, Northfield Faith Formation Advent-Christmas Pageant — 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at 104 Linden St. N., preceded by dinner.

St. Dominic School Advent-Christmas Concert — 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at 104 Linden St. N. CNS

St. George, Long Lake Advent play “Live On” — after the 4 p.m.

now, post-election.

“When we sing together, it changes us,” he said. “More than usual, I want this Advent to be a time when people really can feel God’s spirit and can find ways to heal and connect.”

For tickets, visit www.brownpapertickets. com/event/2603441.

Mass Dec. 3 at 133 N. Brown Road, Long Lake. Play focuses on four Old Testament stories.

Sts. Joachim and Anne, Shakopee Advent Confesstival — 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Dec. 3 at the St. Mark campus, 350 Atwood St. S., Shakopee. Priests will be available for individual confessions.

St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis Advent Evensong Reconciliation Service — 4 p.m. Dec. 11 at 4537 Third Ave. S. Time of reflection, prayer, music and ritual to prepare hearts for Christmas.

St. Mary, St. Paul Festive Advent Vespers: Prayer, reflection, music — 5:45 p.m. Nov. 27 at 261 Eighth St. E. www.stmarystpaul.weconnect.com.

St. Olaf, Minneapolis St. Olaf Worship and Sacred Music Series presents “Messiah Sing!” — 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at 215 S. Eighth St. in downtown Minneapolis.

This interactive event allows the audience to sing along to George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.” This masterwork is a presentation of Jesus’ life and its significance according to Christian doctrine. The Minnesota Chorale will sing among the audience led by conductor Kathy Saltzman Romey and organist, Dr. Lynn Trapp, at the St. Olaf Lively-Fulcher pipe organ. A free-will offering will be taken, and a reception will follow.

St. Richard, Richfield Advent Taize Candlelit Evening Prayer — 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at 7540 Penn Ave. S. An ecumenical hour of peaceful, meditative song and silent prayer. Music is supported by an instrumental ensemble and choir. www.strichards.com/taize-prayer.

Transfiguration, Oakdale Parish Advent mission: “Return to the Lord” — Dec. 6-8 at 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale.

Confession, prayer, speakers and fellowship, with Mass Dec. 8 on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception followed by dinner. www.transfigurationmn.org.

November 24, 2016

U.S. & WORLD

The Catholic Spirit • 9A

Proclaim Christ the king of mercy, pope says at end of Holy Year

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

Pope Francis closes the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the closing of the jubilee Year of Mercy at the Vatican Nov. 20. CNS/Tiziana Fabi

Following Christ the King, whose regal power is love and mercy, means the whole Church and each Christian must “follow his way of tangible love,” Pope Francis said.

Celebrating the feast of Christ the King Nov. 20 and officially closing the extraordinary jubilee celebration of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis insisted, “we have received mercy in order to be merciful.”

St. Peter’s Square was filled with an estimated 70,000 people for the Mass, which was concelebrated by the new cardinals Pope Francis had created the previous day.

The pope and the new cardinals first went to the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks for “the gifts of grace received” during the Holy Year. Pope Francis then went to the threshold of the Holy Door and pulled each side shut. The door will be sealed until the next Holy Year, which is likely to be 2025.

In his homily, Pope Francis said that even if the Holy Door is closed, “the true door of mercy, which is the heart of Christ, always remains open wide for us.”

The power of Christ the King, he said, “is not power as defined by this world, but the love of God, a love capable of encountering and healing all things.”

Like the “good thief” who turned to Jesus on the cross and was assured a place in heaven, anyone who turns to God with trust can be forgiven, the pope said. “He is ready to completely and forever cancel our sin, because his memory — unlike our own — does not record evil that has been done or keep score of injustices experienced.”

Loving like Christ loves us, he said, means constantly seeking the grace to forgive others, forget the offenses committed and be instruments of reconciliation in the world.

Following Christ the King also means accepting “the scandal of his humble love,” which can be difficult because it “unsettles and disturbs us.”

Christ’s love, the love Christians are called to imitate, is concrete and tangible and is not concerned with personal comfort, power and superiority.

Even in evangelization, “the lure of power and success seem an easy, quick way to spread the Gospel,” he said. The Year of Mercy was a call to “rediscover the youthful, beautiful face of the Church, the face that is radiant when it is welcoming, free, faithful, poor in means but rich in love, on mission.”

Christ the king, “our king, went to the ends of the universe in order to embrace and save every living being,” he said. “He did not condemn us, nor did he conquer us, and he never disregarded our freedom, but he paved the way with a humble love that forgives all things, hopes all things, sustains all things.”

Christ’s followers are called to continue his saving mission, the pope said.

At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis signed his new apostolic letter, “Misericordia et Misera,” (Mercy and Misery), which a papal aide announced was written to affirm that the commitment to sharing the merciful love of God continues because it is “the heart of the Gospel.”

The pope gave the letter to a group of people representing different sectors of the Church: Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, president of Caritas Internationalis; Scottish Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, on behalf of diocesan bishops; two priests who were “missionaries of mercy” for the Holy Year; a permanent deacon; two religious women; an extended family; an engaged couple; two women catechists; a person with disabilities; and a person who is ill.

Pope extends special Year of Mercy provisions on confession

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Acknowledging and sharing God’s mercy is a permanent part of the Christian life, so initiatives undertaken during the special Year of Mercy must continue, Pope Francis said.

“Mercy cannot become a mere parenthesis in the life of the Church,” the pope wrote in an apostolic letter, “Misericordia et Misera,” (“Mercy and Misery”), which he signed Nov. 20 at the end of the Year of Mercy. The Vatican released the text the next day.

The title of the document is taken from a sermon by St. Augustine about Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery. After those who wanted to stone her slinked away, only Jesus and the woman — mercy and misery — remained.

The Catholic Church’s focus on God’s mercy must continue with individual acts of kindness, assistance to the poor and, particularly, with encouraging Catholics to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation and making it easier for them to do so, the pope wrote.

In his letter, Pope Francis said he formally was giving all priests permanent permission to grant absolution to those who confess to having procured an abortion.

While many bishops around the world, and almost all bishops in the United States, routinely grant that faculty to all their priests, Pope Francis had made it universal during the Holy Year.

According to canon law, procuring an abortion brings automatic excommunication to those who know of the penalty, but procure the abortion anyway. Without formal permission, priests had been required to refer the case to their bishops before the excommunication could be lifted and sacramental absolution could be granted to a woman who had an abortion or those directly involved in the procedure.

“I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life,” the pope wrote. “In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father.”

Speaking to reporters during a Vatican news conference Nov. 21, Archbishop Rino Fisichella said procuring an abortion still results in automatic excommunication the very moment the procedure is carried out. Sacramental absolution, therefore, is not just forgiving the sin of abortion, but also means “the excommunication is removed,” he said.

Now that all priests have been given the faculty to lift the excommunication and grant absolution, the Code of Canon Law will have to be updated, said the archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, the office that organized events for the Year of Mercy.

The pope also formally extended the provision he made during the Year of Mercy of recognizing as valid

the sacramental absolution received by “those faithful who, for various reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X,” the traditionalist society founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

After his Year of Mercy celebration Nov. 13 with the homeless and other people who are “socially excluded,” the pope wrote that he would like a similar celebration to be held annually in every diocese.

“The entire Church might celebrate, on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the World Day of the Poor,” he said. The celebration, a week before the feast of Christ the King, would be “the worthiest way to prepare” to acknowledge the kingship of Christ, “who identified with the little ones and the poor and who will judge us on our works of mercy.”

Calling the Bible “the great story of the marvels of God’s mercy,” Pope Francis also asked every Catholic parish in the world to set aside at least one Sunday a year to promote reading, studying and praying with the Scriptures.

Teaching people “lectio divina,” the prayerful reading of the Bible, will help “give rise to concrete gestures and works of charity,” he wrote.

In another continuation of a Year of Mercy project, Pope Francis asked the more than 1,100 priests he commissioned as “missionaries of mercy” to continue leading retreats, missions, prayer services and offering confession in dioceses around the world.

10A • The Catholic Spirit

U.S. & WORLD

November 24, 2016

Diversity theme dominates USCCB meeting with encuentro news, VP choice Catholic News Service

Pope Francis and new cardinals visit with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the retired pope’s residence after a consistory at the Vatican Nov. 19. Pope Francis created 17 new cardinals at the consistory. CNS/L’Osservatore Romano

Pope calls new cardinals to be agents of unity in divided world

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service The Catholic Church’s 17 new cardinals must dedicate their lives to being ministers of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world — and sometimes a Church — often marked by hostility and division, Pope Francis said.

Even Catholics are not immune from “the virus of polarization and animosity,” the pope told the new cardinals, and “we need to take care lest such attitudes find a place in our hearts.”

Creating 17 new cardinals from 14 nations Nov. 19, the pope said the College of Cardinals — and the Catholic Church itself — must be a sign for the world that differences of nationality, skin color, language and social class do not make people enemies, but brothers and sisters with different gifts to offer.

Three of the new cardinals created during the prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica were from the United States: Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago; Kevin Farrell, prefect of the new Vatican office for laity, family and life; and Joseph Tobin, whom the pope asked to move from being archbishop of Indianapolis to archbishop of Newark, New Jersey.

After reciting the Creed and taking an oath of fidelity to Pope Francis and his successors, each cardinal went up to Pope Francis and knelt before him. The pope gave them each a cardinal’s ring, a three-cornered red hat and a scroll attesting to their appointment as cardinals and containing their “titular church” in Rome. The assignment of a church is a sign they now are members of the clergy of the pope’s diocese.

After the consistory, Pope Francis and the new cardinals visited retired Pope Benedict XVI in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, his residence in the Vatican gardens.

Cardinal Mario Zenari, the pope’s ambassador to Syria, spoke on behalf of the new cardinals, promising Pope Francis that they and the entire Church would continue to be envoys of God’s mercy, bending down to help those “left half dead on the side of the road, wounded in body and spirit.”

The Gospel reading at the consistory was St. Luke’s version of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Looking around the modern world, Pope Francis said, “we live at a time in which polarization and exclusion are burgeoning.” The “growing animosity between peoples” is found even “among us, within our communities, our priests, our meetings,” the pope said. “We need to take care lest such attitudes find a place in our hearts, because this would be contrary to the richness and universality of the Church, which is tangibly evident in the College of Cardinals,” he said. The cardinals come from different countries, “we think differently, and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites. None of this makes us enemies; instead, it is one of our greatest riches.”

At the end of the consistory, the College of Cardinals had 228 members, 121 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope.

A groundbreaking new study commissioned by the bishops that finds ethnic diversity abounds in the U.S. Catholic Church is a clarion call to Catholic institutions and ministries to adapt and prepare for growing diversity, said Archbishop Gustavo GarciaSiller of San Antonio.

On Nov. 15, the second day of the bishops’ annual fall assembly in Baltimore, the archbishop shared results of a report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University showing the Church is one of the most culturally diverse institutions in the United States.

It was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, chaired by Archbishop Garcia-Siller, to help identify the size and distribution of ethnic communities in the country — Hispanic and Latino, African-American, Asian-American and Native American.

He asked his brother bishops to look at the data and see how it speaks to their regions to help dioceses plan, set priorities and allocate resources.

The study’s finding that there are close to 30 million Hispanics in the U.S. Church resonated in the election earlier that day of Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles to a three-year term as USCCB vice president, bringing a Latino voice to the leadership role for the first time. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of GalvestonHouston was elected to a three-year term as USCCB president, succeeding Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, whose term ended with the close of the meeting.

The bishops also heard about the Church’s preparations for the fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry, from Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Perez of Rockville Centre, New York, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs.

The V Encuentro, as it is being called, is to be held in September 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. It will be the culmination of parish, diocesan and regional encuentros, in which the bishops anticipate more than 1 million Catholics participating over the next two years.

“It is a great opportunity for the Church to reach out to our Hispanic brothers and sisters with Christ’s message of hope and love,” Bishop Perez said.

The effort got a personal endorsement from Pope Francis during a Nov. 15 video message to the U.S. bishops at their assembly.

In other action Nov. 15, the bishops approved making permanent their Subcommittee on the Church in Africa and the hiring of two people to assist the subcommittee in carrying out its work. They also approved another 10-year extension for the Retirement Fund for Religious national collection; before the vote, the collection had been authorized through 2017.

Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour gave a presentation on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, urging the U.S. bishops to bring wider attention to the situation.

As the meeting opened Nov. 14, the bishops affirmed as a body a Nov. 11 letter from Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle, as outgoing chairman of the Committee on Migration, calling on President-elect Donald Trump “to continue to protect the inherent dignity of refugees and migrants.”

The bishops’ group action followed by a day a TV interview in which Trump said one of his first actions would be to deport 2 million to 3 million people he described as “criminal and have criminal records” and entered the country without government permission.

That first day the bishops heard a plea from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the new nuncio to the United States, that the U.S. bishops and the U.S. Church as a whole reach out to young Catholics, meeting them where they are and engaging them in their faith.

In his last presidential address, Archbishop Kurtz

Altar servers stand outside St. Peter Claver in Baltimore before Mass Nov. 14. The U.S. bishops’ traditional Mass for their annual fall general assembly was celebrated at the historic African-American church. CNS Bob Roller discussed the need to move beyond the acrimony of the now-completed presidential elections, but the main focus of his speech were the encounters he had in his three-year term in which he found that small and often intimate gestures provide big lessons for bishops to learn as they exercise their ministry.

The people he encountered in all his travels were concerned about something beyond themselves — the common good, he said Nov. 14. Seeking the common good would serve the nation well as it moves forward from the “unprecedented lack of civility and even rancor” of the national elections, Archbishop Kurtz said.

In other business the first day, the bishops heard a report on the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders to be held in Orlando, Florida, next July to explore the Gospel in American life. More than 3,000 people reflecting the diversity of the Church are expected to participate. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who gave an update on the planning, urged bishops in each diocese to send a delegation to the event.

In his report as chairman of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said all U.S. bishops are required to speak out for religious freedom for all people of faith whose beliefs are compromised.

Bishops must equip laypeople to speak in the public arena about the necessity to protect religious liberty when interventions by government officials at any level infringe on the free practice of religion, he stressed.

In a final afternoon session and later at a news conference that concluded the first meeting day, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta returned to the tensions of the election year.

He is chairman of the new Task Force to Promote Peace in Our Communities, created in July by Archbishop Kurtz in response to the wave of violence in a number of communities following shootings by and of police. Archbishop Gregory urged the bishops to issue, sooner rather than later, a document on racism, given “post-election uncertainty” and that some of the tensions have only gotten worse following the presidential election.

On the issue of healing racial divides, he said the Catholic response should start at the parish level.

“Words are cheap, actions stronger,” he added.

Archbishop Gomez spoke of the fear many immigrants have of possible deportation since Trump’s election as president. When asked if churches could possibly provide sanctuaries for this group, he said that was impossible to answer at this point.

The day ended with the bishops celebrating their annual fall assembly Mass at a West Baltimore church known as the “mother church” of black Catholics, rather than in their traditional venue of Baltimore’s historic basilica.

In his homily, Archbishop Kurtz said the bishops came to the church “to be present, to see with our own eyes, so that we might humbly take a step and lead others to do so.”

U.S. & WORLD

November 24, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 11A

in BRIEF VATICAN CITY

Four cardinals ask pope to clarify teaching on Communion for divorced Four cardinals said they formally asked Pope Francis to clarify his teaching on Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried and, not receiving a response after two months, they released their letter to the press. “We have noted a grave disorientation and great confusion of many faithful regarding extremely important matters for the life of the Church,” the cardinals said. “Even within the episcopal college, there are contrasting interpretations of Chapter 8 of ‘Amoris Laetitia,’” the chapter dealing with ministry to the divorced in his exhortation on the family. The four who signed the letter are: Cardinals Walter Brandmuller, a German and former president of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences; Raymond Burke, a U.S. cardinal and patron of the Knights of Malta; Carlo Caffarra, retired archbishop of Bologna, Italy; and Joachim Meisner, retired archbishop of Cologne, Germany. In releasing their letter and accompanying explanations Nov. 14, the cardinals said, “The Holy Father has decided not to respond. We have interpreted his sovereign decision as an invitation to continue the reflection and the discussion, calmly and with respect. And so we are informing the entire people of God about our initiative, offering all of the documentation.”

Bishops need shared approach to ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ new cardinal says Cardinal-designate Kevin Farrell believes the U.S. bishops as a whole should have discussed pastoral guidelines for implementing Pope Francis’ exhortation on the family before individual bishops began issuing guidelines for their own dioceses. Implementing the pope’s exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia,” he said, “has to be

done in communion with our bishops. I think that it would have been wiser to wait for the gathering of the conference of bishops where all the bishops of the United States or all the bishops of a country would sit down and discuss these things.” A conference-wide discussion, he told Catholic News Service Nov. 15, would ensure “an approach that would not cause as much division among bishops and dioceses, and misunderstandings.” In late September, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement on “Amoris Laetitia” in which he announced that a report had been sent to Rome on the “reception and implementation” of the apostolic exhortation. Archbishop Kurtz said he anticipated the development “of a renewed, comprehensive pastoral plan for marriage and family life ministry” over the “next few years.” The committee that produced the report was headed by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, head of the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee for implementing “Amoris Laetitia.” The archbishop attended the extraordinary and ordinary synods of bishops on the family, in 2014 and 2015. In July, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued its own pastoral guidelines on “Amoris Laetitia.” Since then other bishops have issued guidelines on the document and pastoral discernment and accompaniment of married couples.

Pope: Fragile egos, power grabbers, sad sacks are cancer in Church The Church is not a prop for one’s ego, a soapbox for ideas or a suit of armor protecting a sad life, Pope Francis said. “The Church exists only as an instrument for communicating God’s merciful plan to the people,” he said in an interview published in the Nov. 18 edition of Avvenire, an Italian Catholic newspaper. God doesn’t ask for grand gestures, just for the trustful abandon of a child in a father’s arms and for sharing that divine love and

Retirement Fund for Religious Please give to those who have given a lifetime. www.retiredreligious.org

mercy with others, he said. “Those who discover they are loved very much begin to emerge from terrible solitude, from the separation that leads to hating others and oneself,” he added. While most of the lengthy interview’s questions touched on ecumenism and the meaning of the Year of Mercy, the pope’s responses revealed his vision of the Church and the “bad spirit” or psychological defects that foster division. For example, he said, some reactions to his apostolic exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia,” continue to reflect a lack of understanding about how the Holy Spirit has been working in the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

BALTIMORE

Bishops approve moving forward four possible saints’ causes During the U.S. bishops’ fall general assembly Nov. 14-16 in Baltimore, they approved by voice vote the sainthood causes of four men and women as part of the episcopal consultation in the Catholic Church’s process for possible canonization. The four candidates are Julia Greeley, a former slave who lived in Colorado; Sister Blandina Segale, a Sister of Charity who served on the frontier; Father Patrick Ryan, who ministered to those suffering yellow fever; and Msgr. Bernard Quinn, who fought bigotry and established a black church and orphanage in Brooklyn, New York. The four causes were presented individually to the group of bishops prior to their vote Nov. 15. Five years must pass from the time of a candidate’s death before a sainthood cause may begin.

The bishop of the diocese or eparchy in which the person died is responsible for beginning the examination into his or her life and names a postulator to conduct the investigation. The local bishop consults bishops in his region on the advisability of pursuing the cause. A canonical consultation is part of the process.

— Catholic News Service

“ Be faithful to your prayer life and have a sense of humor,” says Sister Rita Polchin (foreground), 87, a member of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

This philosophy has served her well during nearly 70 years of religious life, especially as a teacher and principal in Catholic schools. Like Sister Rita, the senior sisters, brothers, and religious order priests shown here—and nearly 33,000 more across the nation— have offered their lives in service and prayer. Your gift to the Retirement Fund for Religious helps provide nursing care, medications, and other necessities.

Please be generous.

Roughly 95 percent of donations aid senior religious.

To donate: National Religious Retirement Office/MSP 3211 Fourth Street NE Washington DC 20017-1194 Make your check payable to Retirement Fund for Religious.

Or give at your local parish December 10–11.

Photos: (foreground) Sister Rita Polchin, SSCM, 87; (background) visit retiredreligious.org/2016photos for a list of names. ©2016 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Photographer: Jim Judkis.

12A • The Catholic Spirit

FOCUS ON FAITH

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES

Deacon Ben Wittnebel

Watch and prepare, but don’t stop living Advent is a season of preparation for Christ’s threefold coming: in history (at Christmas), into our hearts (through repentance, conversion, saving faith and the sacraments) and at the end of time (his second coming).

The Gospel for Nov. 27 teaches us about this third coming and how we are to respond. His second coming will be sudden, like in the days of Noah, and at an hour we do not expect, like a thief in the night. We do not know on which day Christ will come. So, what are we to do? We shouldn’t guess which day or in which year it will be, but to watch. Jesus commands us, “Stay

awake!” What does that look like? The Lord gives us some insight here and develops it more fully in the rest of his discourse (Mt 24-25).

Just as those during the time of Noah were doing ordinary, natural activities (eating, drinking, working), so, too, those at the time of the coming of Christ will be doing ordinary activities (they will be out in the field and grinding at the mill). Yet, something is different in the Gospel. Though both men and women are doing the same external activities, “one will be taken, and one will be left.”

Why?

November 24, 2016

From the context, it seems because one has watched and prepared for the Lord, but the other has not. Quite profoundly, Jesus teaches us here that watching and preparing for his second coming are not incompatible with accomplishing ordinary activities, such as those of our state in life — work, for instance. St. Paul picks this up to exhort some Thessalonians who were not working because they thought the second coming was imminent: “Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living. Brethren, do not be weary in well-doing” (2 Thes 3:12-13). Thus, we can accomplish ordinary activities of daily life as Christians animated by the supernatural love of God, all the while preparing for Christ’s second coming.

The Lord gives an analogy to spur us to lifelong vigilance: If the master of a house would stay awake to protect natural goods (his property) from a thief, how much more are Christ’s disciples to stay awake and be ready for his second coming (a far greater good than property)?

In commanding us to watch and be prepared at all times, Jesus is essentially

Sunday, Nov. 27 First Sunday of Advent Readings • Is 2:1-5 • Rom 13:11-14 • Mt 24:37-44 saying, “There is never a time for living a merely natural life with no reference to God, nor is there ever a time when we set aside the joy and peace of the Christian life for the sadness of sin.”

Finally, “watching” is not an act of will-power alone. The Lord would not command watching and being prepared if he did not also provide the grace to do so. We watch, moved and aided by God’s grace.

Deacon Wittnebel is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. His teaching parish is Holy Spirit in St. Paul, and his home parish is St. Joseph in West St. Paul.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Nov. 27 First Sunday of Advent Is 2:1-5 Rom 13:11-14 Mt 24:37-44 Monday, Nov. 28 Is 4:2-6 Mt 8:5-11 Tuesday, Nov. 29 Is 11:1-10 Lk 10:21-24

Wednesday, Nov. 30 St. Andrew, apostle Rom 10:9-18 Mt 4:18-22

Saturday, Dec. 3 St. Francis Xavier, priest Is 30:19-21, 23-26 Mt 9:35B-10:1, 5a, 6-8 Sunday, Dec. 4 Second Sunday of Advent Is 11:1-10 Rom 15:4-9 Mt 3:1-12

Thursday, Dec. 1 Is 26:1-6 Mt 7:21, 24-27 Friday, Dec. 2 Is 29:17-24 Mt 9:27-31

Monday, Dec. 5 Is 35:1-10 Lk 5:17-26

SEEKING ANSWERS

Father Kenneth Doyle

John the Baptist and original sin; morality in warfare Q. Recently, while watching

Eternal Word Television Network, I heard a priest say that some theologians now believe that John the Baptist was born without original sin. This was new information for me, but then I looked at the Gospel of Luke (1:15) where the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that his son John will be “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.”

I asked my local priest, and he said that many people are great and holy, but only Mary was born without original sin. What is the current thinking of the Church? Is there something new that I missed?

A. Other than Jesus, only the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. That is the defined doctrine of the Church, which is celebrated on the

feast of the Immaculate Conception.

With regard to John the Baptist, there has never been any definitive declaration by the Church (by way of a conciliar statement or infallible papal pronouncement) that he was born free of original sin.

However — and it may not be generally known by Catholics — there is a common and long-held belief within the Church that this is so. That belief is based on the scriptural passage that you cite (Gabriel’s words to Zechariah) and also on Luke 1:41 where, upon Mary’s visiting Elizabeth, the baby (John) recognized Jesus and “leaped” in Elizabeth’s womb. The Catholic Encyclopedia says: “As the presence of any sin whatever is incompatible with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul, it follows that at this moment John was cleansed from the stain of original sin.”

Tuesday, Dec. 6 Is 40:1-11 Mt 18:12-14 Wednesday, Dec. 7 St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church Is 40:25-31 Mt 11:28-30

Thursday, Dec. 8 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Gn 3:9-15, 20 Eph 1:3-6, 11-12 Lk 1:26-38 Friday, Dec. 9 Is 48:17-19 Mt 11:16-19

Nearly every saint’s feast day is celebrated on the day of the person’s death, the day presumed to mark that saint’s entrance into heaven. The only two exceptions are Our Lady and John the Baptist, who both have feast days marking their births; long ago, St. Augustine noted that the reason for this is the Church’s common belief that John entered the world freed (in the womb) from original sin.

Q. My husband was an officer in Vietnam, and he gave an order that probably killed several of the enemy.

He says that if he had to do it over, he would do it again in order to save his men. But he doesn’t expect to ever go to heaven. Is he right?

A. At the time of the Vietnam conflict, opinions varied as to its moral propriety, although Pope Paul VI argued strongly for the cessation of the conflict by negotiation and consistently tried to bring the warring parties to the table. In 1968, the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter calling upon Congress to allow selective conscientious objection.

But at the same time, Catholics were never prohibited from participating in the hostilities. So it could well be that your husband felt that the war, and his own participation in it, were morally justified in preserving freedom and

Saturday, Dec. 10 Sir 48:1-4, 9-11 Mt 17:9a, 10-13 Sunday, Dec. 11 Third Sunday of Advent Is 35:1-6a, 10 Jas 5:7-10 Mt 11:2-11

preventing Communist aggression.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church does say that even in a just war, “non-combatants, wounded soldiers and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely. Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions.

Blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out” (No. 2313). The My Lai massacre, for example, fails any moral test, but it does not seem, from what you say, that your husband was involved in any such atrocity; he sought only to protect the men in his charge who were under attack.

It saddens me that he feels he has forfeited any chance of eternal salvation; I can’t even imagine what a heavy burden that must be. Why not suggest that he talk to a priest, be assured of God’s mercy and perhaps confess any moral misjudgments he may have made, if there were any?

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

Questions may be sent to askfatherdoyle@ gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, NY 12208.

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

November 24, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 13A

2016

Senior Services Guide

Pope Francis greets an elderly woman during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in May. CNS/Paul Haring

Pope tells grandparents: Promote culture of life, inclusion, hope

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service In a world that glorifies physical strength and appearances, grandparents must uphold the values that really matter and bring hope and wisdom to younger generations, Pope Francis said.

“We are called to work for the development of the culture of life, showing that every season of life is a gift

of God and has its beauty and importance, even if it is marked by fragility,” the pope told thousands of grandmothers and grandfathers Oct. 15.

Groups and organizations, too, can do more to help older people participate, contribute and share their talents as well as to protect and uphold their dignity, he said.

Continued on next page

STAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

Walk to Daily Mass When You Live at 1440 Randolph Ave! Reasonably priced, spacious 1 & 2 BR Apartments* for Independent Seniors 55 and Better. Come see our stylish and modern kitchens! On a bus line, within blocks of supermarket, Walgreens Pharmacy, local coffee shops, Cretin Baseball games and just a little further Highland National Golf Course and the Grand Avenue Shops!

• ELEVATOR • Underground heated/outside garages* • On-site Management • State-of-the-art Monitored Fire & CO System

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Located adjacent to Holy Spirit Catholic Church and School, in the lovely Highland Park area, this building provides a quiet, simple, yet elegant living atmosphere for independent seniors of 55 and Better who wish to "Stay in the Neighborhood" or live in close proximity to a Catholic Church and the Sacraments.

Guests are greeted by classical music just inside the entry of the building's upscale, smartly appointed and warmly finished Lobby. Summer months on our quaint patio offer the calming sounds of a graceful fountain beside an inviting cafe table and umbrella in addition to a bench upon which to rest and enjoy the sunset at the close of each day.

Christmas

Open House Nov 30th, 12 Noon to 2PM

651-690-4961

For more information, contact MJ Properties of Saint Paul, LLLP

www.1440apartments.com

MJ PROPERTIES OF SAINT PAUL, LLLP

14A • The Catholic Spirit

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

Continued from previous page “It’s necessary to oppose the harmful throwaway culture, which marginalizes the elderly, believing them to be unproductive,” he said. He reminded political, religious, educational and cultural leaders that they, too, are called to “dedicate themselves to building an ever more welcoming and inclusive society.”

“Your maturity and wisdom, accumulated over the years, can help the youngest, supporting them in their journey.”

Pope Francis

The pope met with about 7,000 grandmothers and grandfathers in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall in a belated celebration of Grandparents’ Day, which in Italy was Oct. 2, the feast of the Guardian Angels.

The Church looks upon older people “with affection, recognition and great esteem,” he said, as they are an “essential part of the Christian community and society.”

Older generations represent “the roots and memory of a people,” making them “a precious treasure” crucial for looking to the future “with hope and responsibility,” he said.

“Your maturity and wisdom, accumulated over the years, can help the youngest, supporting them in their journey” as they grow, face events as they unfold and seek their own path.

Older people can offer an important witness that, no matter how hard things get, “one must never lose faith in God and in a better future,” the pope said.

So many grandparents hand down essential spiritual and cultural values to their grandkids in very simple ways, he said. In fact, grandparents were the ones who cherished and passed down the faith “underground” to future generations in countries that experienced serious religious persecution, he said.

In a world where “strength and appearance are often idealized, you have the mission of witnessing to the values that truly count and that always remain,” he said.

“Talk to your grandchildren, talk. Let them ask you questions” because even though they may have different interests and taste in music, “they need the elderly [and] this dialogue to continue to give them wisdom, too,” he said.

The pope also thanked those who serve the elderly and help them live with dignity, underlining how much earlier generations have contributed to society.

He reminded all institutions — such as nursing homes and assisted care facilities — that they are called to be “places of humanity and loving attention, where weaker persons do not end up being forgotten or neglected, but visited, remembered and taken care of like older brothers and sisters.”

November 24, 2016

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

The Catholic Spirit

Catholic Eldercare Catholic Eldercare’s new Transitional Care Unit (TCU) at 149 Eighth Ave. NE in Minneapolis will help you get back to health and back to home, so you can feel like “you” again.

The licensed 24-bed care center offers a comprehensive array of amenities, therapies and equipment to make your stay as relaxing as possible in a calming, home-like environment. The only fully-dedicated unit in Northeast Minneapolis, the TCU is designed to strike the right balance of advanced care and personal comfort.

Come see for yourself how this TCU can help you reach your rehabilitative goals.

Schedule a tour or learn how to inform your hospital discharge planner of your TCU preference. Call 612-379-1370 or visit www.catholiceldercare.org.

The Glenn With the founding principles of a belief in the dignity and value of each individual and the understanding that every senior desires to live in a welcoming, vibrant and supportive community, The Glenn Hopkins and The Glenn Minnetonka offer a senior community that is not just a place to stay, but a place to LIVE. Offering independent living, assisted living, memory care, adult day services and care suites, The Glenn provides the amenities and services that create a vibrant retirement lifestyle. You’ll experience a spiritual environment in which people of all faiths are welcome. Mass, interfaith services, rosary, Bible study and beautifully designed chapels for quiet reflection and prayer are a few of the amenities supporting your spiritual journey. Our Community Life programs embrace the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and community stewardship roles in seniors’ lives through scheduled bus outings and numerous recreational opportunities.

For more information or to schedule your personal tour, please contact: The Glenn Hopkins — 952-933-3333, www.theglennhopkins.com and The Glenn Minnetonka — 952-352-1000, www.theglennminnetonka.com.

Transitional Care Unit

NOW OPEN!

• Amenity-rich private rooms to help you heal in comfort • State-of-the-art services and therapies • Easily accessible for family and friends

• The only fully dedicated TCU in NE Minneapolis Most insurance accepted——including Medicare.

“She’s spent a lifetime looking after me. Now I can return the favor.”

Announcing St. Therese Southwest is now The Glenn Catholic Senior Communities.

With age comes wisdom. And an opportunity to define the next chapter. Whether you’re looking for a new living option or helping a parent on their search, we can help. The Glenn is a welcoming Catholic community that provides daily spiritual support, a warm sense of family, and the ability to modify your living arrangements from independent to assisted or memory care to suit your needs. Visit us at TheGlennHopkins.com | 952-467-8498 or TheGlennMinnetonka.com | 952-479-8160.

149 8th Avenue NE Minneapolis, MN 55413 To learn more, contact us today. catholiceldercare.org

612.379.1370

November 24, 2016

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

The Catholic Spirit • 15A

Benedictine Health System

Trojack Law Office, P.A.

The Benedictine Health System is one of the largest Catholic senior care organizations in the country, operating more than 40 communities in six states; including nine in the Twin Cities. BHS is a mission-based, nonprofit health system headquartered in Minnesota, sponsored by the Benedictine sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth.

BHS provides complete long-term care services for aging adults, including independent housing, assisted living, skilled nursing and rehabilitation services.

For more information, visit www.bhshealth.org.

A three-step strategy is used with each client.

First, we emphasize counseling, taking time to understand each person’s needs.

Second, we assist in keeping the clients’ plans current. Third, we show our clients how they can pass along their wisdom as well as their wealth.

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

For more information, call 651-451-9696.

Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels Washburn-McReavy is the oldest family-owned funeral business in Minnesota.

Established in 1857, before Minnesota became a state, Washburn-McReavy is a fifth-generation business. Quality, personal service, and funeral and cremation services are available at all of our chapels and cemeteries.

For more information, visit www.washburn-mcreavy.com or call 612- 377-2203.

St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery St. Vincent de Paul Church in Brooklyn Park is proud to have a beautiful cemetery that dates back to 1856. In 2014, there was an expansion that included garden and courtyard sections with 300 new traditional grave sites, 70 cremation grave sites and a beautifully designed columbarium containing 300 niches for cremation. The expansion includes new opportunities to remember and commemorate loved ones, with monuments and walkways, as well as a location for outdoor Mass and other liturgical services.

For more information, visit www.saintvdp.org or call 763-425-2210.

Saint Therese Saint Therese is a nonprofit Catholic organization that has focused on the wellbeing of individuals since it opened in 1968. We provide secure, stress-free living and the very best in senior care and housing with a commitment to each individual.

Saint Therese offers a full continuum of programs and services to individuals throughout the metro area with locations in New Hope, Brooklyn Park, Robbinsdale, Shoreview and Woodbury.

For more information, visit www.sttheresemn.org.

Crest View Senior Communities Crest View Senior Communities is a faith-based nonprofit organization that has been providing services to older adults since 1952.

Crest View Senior Community in Columbia Heights offers a continuum of care and services, including senior housing, assisted living, home health care, memory care, rehab care, end-of-life care and skilled nursing care.

This fall, Crest View opened a new campus in Blaine that includes 152 units of senior housing, assisted living, home health care, memory care and care suites.

For more information, visit crestviewcares.org, or call 763-782-1601 for Columbia Heights, or 763-762-8430 for Blaine.

The Catholic Cemeteries When we are baptized into the body of Christ, we are welcomed into the Christian faith community. When we or one of our loved ones die, our faith tells us it is not the end, but a transition to what is to come.

While awaiting the promise of eternal life, our Catholic tradition provides for the burial of our bodily remains in a Catholic cemetery among the community of the faithful departed. The Catholic Cemeteries are sacred places of prayer and remembrance, offering a resting place until the resurrection.

The staff of The Catholic Cemeteries is available to help you make a thoughtful and meaningful decision — one that fits your budget and truly reflects your wishes.

For more information about traditional and cremation burial options at Resurrection, Calvary, Gethsemane, St. Mary’s or St Anthony’s Cemeteries, call 651-228-9991 or visit www.catholic-cemeteries.org.

Visit any of our

Senior Living Communities throughout the Twin Cities.

Maple Grove, Eagan, Inver Grove Heights, Lilydale, Oak Park, Shoreview, West St. Paul, St. Paul From independent living to assisted living and memory care, we provide our residents with the opportunity to live happy, healthy lives in a safe, secure environment, while remaining as active and independent as possible.

Contact us today for more information or to schedule a tour!

SouthviewCommunities.com

16A • The Catholic Spirit

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

November 24, 2016

The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care The Wellington Senior Living and The Alton Memory Care are located in the Shepard Park neighborhood of St. Paul’s Highland Park. The area offers retail shopping, various community centers, places of worship and beautifully landscaped park areas. A free, scheduled transportation shuttle is provided during the week to a variety of locations in this area.

The Wellington Senior Living offers independent living, assisted living and 24-hour care suites. Our team is dedicated to providing premier senior living with an emphasis on living.

We offer a variety of services from restaurant-style dining with meals prepared by a chef, housekeeping and a full array of social activities. Health care professionals, including licensed nursing staff and certified home health aides, are trained, dedicated and available to meet the needs of residents needing these services.

The Alton Memory Care is committed to providing “person-directed” care in a fun environment that meets the specific needs of each individual, helping families spend quality time together by providing peace of mind knowing residents are well cared for in all aspects of their lives. When a person encounters memory issues, unique challenges arise for the person affected and his or her family members.

At The Alton, we focus on each person’s strengths and provide programs and services to support each individual.

For more information or to schedule a tour, visit www.shepardparkseniorcampus. com, or call The Wellington at 651-699-2664 or The Alton at 651-699-2480.

MJ Properties of St. Paul, LLLP Walk to daily Mass when you live at 1440 Randolph Ave. in St. Paul’s Highland Park. Our newly remodeled, value-priced apartments are perfect for today’s independent seniors, age 55-plus.

Adjacent to Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1440 provides a quiet, simple and elegant atmosphere for independent seniors wishing to “stay in the neighborhood” and live close to a Catholic church with ready access to the sacraments. Nearby are parks, restaurants, fuel, car repair, pharmacy, groceries, coffee houses, medical/dental offices, beauty/barber shops and more.

The building includes granite kitchens, a modern elevator, underground heated parking or outside garage, fitness center and a resident lounge with Wi-Fi access and cable TV. 1440’s a great value for the budget-minded!

To schedule a showing, please call MJ Properties of St. Paul at 651-690-4961.

St. Benedict’s Senior Community St. Benedict’s Senior Community’s mission is: “Our actions are guided by the belief that ‘All Shall be Treated as Christ.’” With foundational values and beliefs rooted in the tradition of the Catholic faith, St. Benedict’s Senior Community in Monticello welcomes people of all faiths. Our campus features retirement, assisted living and memory care apartments. Amenities include a chapel, theater, general store, fitness center, club room and enclosed outdoor courtyard. We take pride in building lasting relationships with our tenants. We take the time to get to know you and your lifestyle needs. We believe exceptional service still counts! For more information or to schedule a tour, call 763-295-4051.

Be faithfully informed follow The

Catholic Spirit on Facebook and Twitter

Our expansion includes contemplative gardens and courtyard areas with traditional graves, cremation graves and a beautifully designed columbarium with more than 300 niches for cremation.

Find out more at: www.saintvdp.org/cemetery or (763) 425-2210

COME SPEND AN HOUR WITH THE LORD Urgently needed for the following chapel adoration hours at St. Jerome Church in Maplewood.

• Mon. 2-3 p.m.; 3-4 p.m.

• Tues. 4-5 p.m.

• Wed. 3-4 p.m.

• Thurs. 3-4 p.m.; 6-7 p.m.

• Fri. 3-4 p.m.

Can you spend a weekly hour in silent prayer or meditation with the Eucharist?

If so, call Connie at 651-774-2678

God Bless You! St. Jerome Church • 380 E. Roselawn Ave. • Maplewood, MN 55117

www.TheCatholicSpirit.com

November 24, 2016

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

The Catholic Spirit • 17A

For CRS’ Carolyn Woo, next step is ‘refirement,’ not retirement

By Rhina Guidos Catholic News Service Many mornings Carolyn Woo has arrived to the relative solitude of a chapel at the Baltimore headquarters of Catholic Relief Services, and as the bustling city comes to life, she has looked inside the serene space for a particular quiet spot, the place where she arms herself with prayer.

“That plant is my coffee table,” she said inside the chapel, pointing to a leafy pot nearby where she hides papers, coffee or whatever she might be holding on her way in.

“I do my readings for the day,” she said, explaining her morning routine during an October interview with Catholic News Service, one of the last she’ll do as CEO of the agency. “I sit with the Blessed Mother. There’s one chair there ... that’s where I do my prayer, and then I start the day.”

Prayer is something she’s needed while managing one of the largest charities in the country. The days have meant little sleep and lots of meetings, lots of visitors, lots of travel and challenges, joy and sadness, some which she never expected she’d see at the official international humanitarian agency of the country’s Catholic community.

The end of 2016 will mark the end of her five-year stint with CRS, but also more than four decades of a demanding professional life largely rooted in the halls of business academia and board rooms, and one which led her to the

Carolyn Woo, outgoing CEO of Catholic Relief Services, reflects after a Feb. 4, 2014, Mass at a church in Tacloban, Philippines. She was visiting CRS programs assisting people affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in November 2013. Woo will end her five-year term as CEO of CRS at the end of 2016.

CNS/Laura Elizabeth Pohl, courtesy Catholic Relief Services halls of the Vatican and to the world’s poorest communities.

Soon, she’ll be trading that in for drawing classes, piano lessons, line dancing, flower arrangement and trying to learn to speak Spanish so she can sing with others at Mass.

“Everybody tells me that I’m going to be bored,” she said speaking of her upcoming retirement. “But I’m so excited. They say women look forward to their retirement while men dread it. I think of it as ‘refirement,’ not

retirement.”

The way Woo, 62, sees it, some of the best parts of her life are about to start.

“My life always had a set of professional identities: professor, administrator, dean and so on. ... I’m now going to that phase of my life where I’m going to let go of those titles for my most important roles: mother, wife, sister, aunt, friend and a servant of God,” she said.

However, when you’re the kind of person the pope has invited to help

present one of his most important encyclicals — which Woo did when she helped present “Laudato Si’” in 2015 — it’s hard to just ride off, or line dance, into the sunset.

“I’ll continue to serve on several boards. I write a column for Catholic News Service that will continue. There are speeches, but more important, I want to experience and do things that I’m not good at,” she said.

Continued on next page

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18A • The Catholic Spirit

SENIOR SERVICES GUIDE

November 24, 2016

Continued from previous page

Business acumen For now, she’s busy wrapping up the past five years of her life, reviewing the challenges, successes and opportunities of managing the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency. She’s been witness to the work of her colleagues in the 100 or so countries where CRS serves the poorest and most marginalized communities on the planet.

She said that while she didn’t know as much as her colleagues about international relief and development when she took over in 2012, she knew about business, especially about strategy, which could help CRS position itself for the future. She comes alive when talking about the intricacies of strategy and how she got students to explore it at the University of Notre Dame when she was the dean of the top-rated Mendoza Business School. She gave up tenure there after CRS tapped her to become its CEO in 2011.

“I actually don’t know of any other Chinese immigrant who has given up tenure,” she said. “I’ve worked for stability. Security and stability were my brass rings. Everything else just happened to come along because I tend to overprepare.”

At CRS, she has aimed to make the agency a more effective organization, she said, one that develops its leadership from within, one that looks at the shortterm and long-term benefits for those it serves, and one that communicates its Catholic identity to the world.

“The most important thing to me is

Carolyn Woo, the outgoing CEO of Catholic Relief Services, is seen preparing to greet the staff during a July 2015 visit to the CRS field office in Nazret, Ethiopia. CNS/Petterik Wiggers, courtesy Catholic Relief Services that we represent the Church well, and that we understand the privilege of being able to serve the people that God sends to us, the people we serve,” she said.

That means having enough resources to help alleviate poverty, to respond to increasing natural disasters such as the recent hurricane that swept through Haiti or to the historic displacement of people around the world who are forced to flee their homelands.

Worldwide needs Her tenure has seen one of the largest displacements of people in history: 65.3 million at the end of 2015, according to figures from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. It surpasses the number of those displaced after two world wars, one which led to the founding of CRS in 1943, as the Catholic bishops of the United States established

the agency to help war-torn Europe and its refugees recover. As it did in the past, CRS has helped the present wave of displaced people with basic necessities, as well as education and counseling.

“The magnitude of the problems exceeds the resources in the world, but it does not exceed our ingenuity and our Continued on next page

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November 24, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 19A

Continued from previous page ability to solve problems, if we can work together,” she said.

That’s not an easy task considering that most people haven’t come in contact with the displaced, whether refugees or migrants, making it hard to understand what they face, Woo said.

“They just watch this on television.

There are different stories. There are stories about migrants. There are stories about terrorism. They’re all kind of put together,” she said. “When we run across situations where people don’t see things the way we do, when they don’t agree, I think the key is not to label them, it’s not to get frustrated, but it’s to say, ‘Would you like to meet some of these people?’”

Unexpected challenges Fighting, attacking, labeling, none of it helps to carry out the work of the Gospel, she said, and she’s seen her share of it at the helm of the agency.

She remembers a particularly difficult day that began with an email about a blog post accusing CRS of storing and distributing condoms in Madagascar, saying that the bishops there were angry at the agency because Catholic Church teaching prohibits artificial birth control, and the agency was violating that teaching.

“This was so far from the truth,” she said. “You can imagine the type of sadness, to be accused of something that is completely false.”

Meetings with the Madagascar bishops and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had to be arranged; translators had to be hired; and schedules across several time zones had be arranged, all just to clean up a baseless attack, she said.

“The day when I got that email was a very bad day,” she recalled. “In addition to addressing these particular issues, it’s sort of a loss of idealism to recognize that there are bodies within the Church that would do that … not only is it false, not only is it malicious, but actually, it prevented us from spending our energies serving the people who needed help.”

The Madagascar bishops refuted the reports and publicly supported CRS in 2013, but the attacks continued.

“I could not imagine this type of

“We can pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘We served 100 million people,’ or we could ask the question, ‘What about the [others who aren’t receiving help].’”

Carolyn Woo

malice to be in the Church,” she said. “I think that was the part that I was unprepared for.”

Gospel-driven mission While attacks may come and go, the mission of CRS remains, she said, and it’s one that began with Christ and will continue when Sean Callahan, the present chief operating officer, takes over the top spot at the start of 2017.

“The mission of CRS comes from the Gospel, which is where Jesus told us to go out and serve, particularly raising up those who are without power, those who are without wealth, those at the margins of society,” Woo said.

It’s a mission she hopes to continue but on a different path, and one kept in focus by the fleeting images of those she’s met on her CRS journey, of families like hers, selling everything they own to help a son or daughter escape toward a safer or better future, of a young man who reminded her of one of her two sons, but lives with shrapnel embedded in his body.

“We can pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘We served 100 million people,’ or we could ask the question, ‘What about the [others who aren’t receiving help],’” she says. “I hope that’s one thing I’ve done, to say have courage … step up. …

I’d like to have our colleagues not be afraid to hold ourselves accountable because we do all this to serve [people] and to serve God. And if we trust in the Lord, the Lord will take us there.”

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20A • The Catholic Spirit

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

November 24, 2016

LETTERS

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

Jason Adkins

A healing balm for a wounded nation Much can and has been said about the most recent election, and much more will be said for years to come. What is undoubtedly true is that the election cycle exacerbated two powerful dynamics in American public life: the constant thirst for change as a reaction to a political system that does not seem to work for average Americans, and deepening vitriolic divisions between people.

This reality requires us to approach the results with sobriety rather than jubilation or despair. The latter responses are those of people whose horizons, sadly, do not extend beyond the finite things of this world.

For Catholics, the question now is how we become salt and light in a situation where divisiveness and partisanship, anger and fear have been felt by many across the political spectrum.

Because although we elect new leaders, we know that the true “elect” of this world — the sons and daughters of God the father — have a decisive role in bringing God’s loving care to all of creation.

That’s you and me, not someone else or some class of people called “politicians.”

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True hope First, we must ground ourselves in a hope that lasts and is not subject to the ebbs and flows of electoral politics. Our hope is in the Lord, who has won the final victory. He is the king, the standard bearer, who calls us to renew political life from the ground up — to restore all things in and through his name.

And, ever faithful to his people, he gives us the tools of Catholic social teaching with which to build.

Rather than impose our will on others, we instead propose what we believe best serves human dignity and the common good. Sometimes, however, our arguments, policies or candidates will not prevail.

This is not the end of the world. In politics, there are no ultimate victories, just as there are no ultimate defeats. And though there are sometimes matters of great weight that are decided in the public arena, and injustices that need to be corrected, practicing scorched earth politics, demonizing others or using power expediently to occupy spaces rather than nurture participation is, in the end, counterproductive.

Secure in the knowledge that politics can only create the conditions for human flourishing — the state cannot love people, provide happiness or lead people to their ultimate end of eternal beatitude — we recognize the limited nature of political life, understand that the work of persuading others and the community takes time, and that our own personal work may be to sow the seed and let others reap the harvest.

Civic friendship A new generation of missionary disciples in the public arena can address the divisions and unresponsiveness in our political culture by modeling politics in the way the Church sees it: as civic friendship, rather than as a power game.

Politics as civic friendship sees public life as a great conversation — a coming together of the community to answer the question of how we ought to order our lives. In that conversation, every voice

On the web The day after the election, Jason Adkins spoke with The Catholic Spirit about what this year’s results mean for Catholics. Read the Q&A at www.thecatholicspirit.com. matters because every person and part of the community matters.

Therefore, a necessary component of healthy politics is coming together, encountering one another as brothers and sisters, and listening to their challenges, problems, joys and hopes. In that encounter, new paths may arise and new relationships forged, leading to greater peace instead of discord.

Countercultural politics What is described above cuts so deeply against our current political climate. People are becoming more isolated from each other, are blindly committed to their own narratives despite evidence pointing in a different direction, and cannot believe it when a whole class of people seemingly emerges from thin air to challenge their rule and moral superiority.

A critical question is whether our political, business and media elites will properly understand the election results as a rebuttal of their exploitation of our nation’s economic, moral and social capital.

We can be hopeful, if not optimistic.

Either way, Catholics, as missionary disciples in the public arena, can model a different way of practicing politics by offering principles that serve the well-being of all and by listening to others with civility, respect and generosity. In this way, we can be an invaluable balm for healing the deep wounds that divide us.

Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

When I read James Guldan’s letter in the Nov. 10 issue (“Immigration rhetoric”), I wondered if we had attended the same presentation made by Archbishop Tobin in which the archbishop spoke about refugees. At no time did I hear him talking about open borders. His emphasis was on Catholic social teaching that is based on Scripture. As noted in Leviticus, “The alien among you, you shall love as yourself,” which is re-echoed by Jesus who emphasized the second commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus, with his parents, was a refugee in Egypt.

Archbishop Tobin reiterated the message of Pope Francis of welcoming refugees not because of a political agenda but a Christian one. I left the archbishop’s talk reenergized to be more involved in the problems of our conflicted country and world, many of which are addressed in Catholic social teaching, realizing that being a Catholic is more than saying my prayers and going to Mass on Sunday.

Mariah Snyder Lumen Christi, St. Paul

Rethinking women priests Last week, in Germany, Pope Francis reiterated the old argument that, since Christ had only men as Apostles, women are forever banned from the priesthood (“Pope: Women’s ordination not likely,” Nov. 10). He buttressed this assertion by quoting St. John Paul II. So, let’s parse these two things, here in the 21st century: First of all, Christ and his apostles were products of their culture. It would have been unthinkable and extremely dangerous for women to go abroad preaching the Gospel in those days, on foot or on horseback. Just not feasible. We do not travel much on foot or on horseback today. We do it largely on Facebook and Twitter, by plane or automobile.

Second, the fact that Pope John Paul, not one of my personal favorites and one whose canonization was pushed through in unseemly haste, made an outrageous and blatantly sexist statement only proves that even saints have made mistakes in their lives. Mother Teresa once claimed that there cannot be too many people, asking “How can there be too many flowers?” A rather naïve and unrealistic world view, most would agree.

In the same issue of The Catholic Spirit in which Francis was quoted, there was an article about how men are made to look like buffoons in so many TV shows and movies, which portray women as the strong and logical ones (“The trouble with the ‘You Go Girl’ culture”). Do we want to look at the guy who just won the presidency? Women run Catholic hospitals, schools and several corporations in our country and around the world, and yet they are not capable of being priests?

Our hierarchy need to get over themselves and realize that women are needed in great numbers in the priesthood to give it balance, wisdom, compassion and insight into family life, just for starters. It is beyond regrettable that so much talent is being tossed aside and ignored in the name of male pride, jealousy and fear.

Carol Larsen St. Stephen, Anoka Editor’s note: Scripture and Catholic tradition has held that priesthood is reserved for men. Pope St. John Paul II stated in his May 1994 letter “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis” (“Priestly Ordination”): “Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force. Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren, I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@ The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. archspm.org.

THIS CATHOLIC LIFE • COMMENTARY

November 24, 2016

The Catholic Spirit • 21A

GUEST COMMENTARY

Liz Kelly

During Advent, reclaim what is properly yours: recollection One of my habits in recent years has been to prepare for Christmas proper well in advance. I shop for presents throughout the year, order my Christmas cards in October, and I refuse to buy any new Christmas ornaments during Advent — what I have is what I have. Once Advent hits, I’m finished. If the present has not been purchased, it doesn’t get purchased. If the Christmas tree lights don’t work, I go without them. I need my Advent to be Advent. I need this time for recollection and prayer, and as I get older, I protect it more fiercely.

Distraction, as one of the chief enemies of recollection, has become a major part of our lifestyle and economy, and it seems to come on like a flood during the holidays. It takes some determination to jump out of this polluted stream and find a new, cleaner, clearer one. Cultivating a recollected heart that enters readily into prayer is not something we can do quickly, busily. Recollection is not a process of efficiency or a personal achievement; it is rooted in emptiness, stillness. It is a hidden gift from God that requires patience, practice, repetition and, ultimately, humility — the decision to make ourselves available to the work of the Holy Spirit without an agenda. To our distracted culture, recollection is the enemy, to be vanquished with one more hour of television, one more trip to the mall.

Romano Guardini, in his excellent book “The Art of Praying,” would argue that distraction is not simply an obstacle to prayer; it’s an obstacle to our flourishing as human beings. He claims that “Recollectedness is not an isolated condition, but the mind’s right and proper state, the state which enables man to establish the right relationship to men and things.”

He explains: The basic meaning of the word “recollected” is “to be unified, gathered together.” A glance at our life will show how much we lack this aptitude. We should have a fixed center, which, like the hub of a wheel, governs our movements and from which all our actions go out and to which they return; a standard, or a code by which we distinguish the important from the unimportant, the end from the means, and which puts actions and experiences into their proper order; something stable, unaffected by change and yet capable of development, which make it clear to us who we are and how matters stand with us.

Does this describe you? Or do you wish it would?

Maybe this Advent can become a time for you to return to that fixed center that is Jesus Christ, the newborn king. Begin your Advent with a fearless examination of any distractions that disturb your clarity of mind and heart.

Are there things that might be jettisoned or reduced? Shopping, the

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN

Father Tom Margevicius

Love makes action easier In elections, we don’t vote only when we think “our candidate” will win; it’s our obligation.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “Co-responsibility for the common good makes it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote and to defend one’s country” (2240). We don’t participate in the political process because of what we get out of it (such as a winning candidate); we vote because it’s the right thing to do.

That’s also true of participation in the liturgy. We have an obligation; it’s the right thing to do. As the priest says in the eucharistic prayer, “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation.”

But that’s not enough.

Before knowing how to participate better in liturgy, we have to be convinced why. I could give you instructions on how to change the oil

in your car, but you won’t do it if I don’t first convince you that it’s better than paying a Jiffy Lube mechanic, who can do it cheaper, faster and safer. You would have to believe there’s a good reason for doing it yourself: It’s important to know how your car works, or show your children good stewardship, or achieve a sense of accomplishment.

America is infused with consumerism.

We determine something’s worth based on what we get out of it. This makes it hard to understand why we should participate in the liturgy. “It’s asking a lot of me: waking up early Sunday — or even rearranging my work schedule, hunting plans, or tailgating before the Vikings game — getting dressed up (at least somewhat modestly), traveling all the way to Church (don’t forget to fast an hour), being polite to strangers who also don’t want to be there, sitting

Maybe this Advent can become a time for you to return to that fixed center that is Jesus Christ, the newborn king. Begin your Advent with a fearless examination of any distractions that disturb your clarity of mind and heart.

istock Internet, television, your phone? Are there ways you could more frequently become “unplugged,” literally disconnected from what Thomas Merton calls the “unquiet, universal trance?” Is there a practice you and your family might feather in — a decade of the joyful mysteries prayed slowly after dinner — that might help to build a habit of recollection during this holy season?

It is your proper state — to be recollected, unified, centered in Christ — and Advent is an ideal time to reclaim what is properly yours.

through unpleasant music and uninspired preaching, forking over some money, eating and drinking a small mouthful of food (can’t wait for a real breakfast), suffering the parking lot traffic ... and for what? What do I get out of it?”

If this governs my approach to the Church, liturgy becomes a consumer commodity. I will go church-shopping for one that caters to my tastes: traditional architecture or modern?

Contemporary music, Gregorian chant, ethnic singing — or no music at all? Do I like this priest’s preaching? If I don’t and aren’t “getting fed” (having my needs met), I’m going to go somewhere else — or nowhere at all.

By contrast, imagine a married couple deeply in love. Tragically, the wife becomes ill and slips into a coma. Every day her husband comes to her hospital room, sits by her side, holds her hand and speaks lovingly to her. The medical staff tells him there’s no evidence this registers; it seems she doesn’t “get anything out of it.” But he keeps coming, not because she benefits, but because she’s worthy of love. It’s the right thing to do. He loves her, and that’s how love acts.

Jesuit Father Pedro Arrupe wrote: “Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite

absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

Return to my voting analogy: Voting only because I have to doesn’t go deep enough. In truth, I love our country, and I’m happy to participate in the political process because of that love.

We will participate in the liturgy if we are in love. Good music, dynamic preaching, friendly people, attractive decorations — these all help, but they’re not essential. Even if my parish liturgy sometimes feels comatose, whether or not I get anything out of it, or if it seems my parish doesn’t benefit from my participation, I will still offer my love because God is worthy of it.

When I fall in love (again) with Jesus Christ, participating in the liturgy is easy.

Kelly is a member of St. Michael in Stillwater. This article is excerpted in part from her forthcoming book, “A Catholic Woman’s Worth: Finding, Healing and Flourishing the Feminine Heart in Christ” (Loyola Press, 2017).

Father Margevicius is an instructor of liturgical theology and homiletics at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

22A • The Catholic Spirit

CALENDAR

Dining out St. Peter Thanksgiving community dinner — Nov. 24: 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at 1250 S. Shore Drive, Forest Lake.

Thanksgiving dinner for students, singles, widowed, seniors, families and those who would otherwise spend Thanksgiving alone. Free-will offering for Haven Home.

Music Messiah Sing! — Dec. 4: 6:30 p.m. at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. Handel’s Messiah sing-a-long with the Minnesota Chorale. www. saintolaf.org.

Story and Song Tour Concert and morning retreat — Dec. 10: 7:30 p.m. at St. Henry, 1001 E. Seventh St., Monticello. Featuring Sarah Hart, Steven Angrisano and Jesse Manibusan. www.sthenrycatholic.info.

Ongoing groups Faithful Spouses support group — Third Tuesday of each month: 7–8:30 p.m. in Smith of the Hayden Building, 328 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul. For those who are living apart from their spouses because of separation or divorce. 651-2914438 or faithfulspouses@archspm.org.

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

Dementia support group — Second Tuesday of each month: 7–9 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-7777251 or www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

Parish events Tacos and Tunes — Nov. 26: 11 a.m.–7 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 401 Concord St., St. Paul.

651-228-0506 or www.olgspchurch.com.

St. Raphael Christmas Village — Dec. 3: 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m. at 7301 Bass Lake Road, Crystal. www.straphaelcrystal. org.

Incarnation/Sagrado Corazon Christmas bake and boutique — Dec. 3-4: 9 a.m.–2 p.m. at 3817 Pleasant Ave. S., Minneapolis. www.inc.scj.org.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication.

Recurring or ongoing events must be submitted each time they occur.

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

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

(No attachments, please.)

FAX: 651-291-4460 MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102 A note to readers As of Jan. 1, 2016, The Catholic Spirit no longer accepts calendar submissions via email.

Please submit events using the form at www.thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions.

More online

November 24, 2016

Thomas Ave. N., Minneapolis. 612-529-7779.

Annunciation Christmas boutique and bake sale — Dec. 3-4: 10 a.m. at 509 W. 54th St., Minneapolis. www. annunciationmsp.org.

Olde Tyme Christmas bazaar — Dec. 3-4 at St. Lawrence, 1203 Fifth St. SE, Minneapolis. 612-3317941 or umncatholic.com/event/christmas-bazaar-5.

Holy Spirit caramel roll and craft sale — Dec. 4: 9 a.m.–1 p.m. at 515 Albert St. S., St. Paul. www.holy-spirit.org.

Knights of Columbus bingo — Dec. 4: 1 p.m. at Mary Queen of Peace, 21201 Church Ave., Rogers.

Prayer/worship Taize Prayer — Third Friday of every month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

651-777-7251 or www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

Healing Mass with Father Jim Livingston — Nov. 29: 7 p.m. at St. Gabriel the Archangel – St. Joseph Campus, 1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins. www.stgabrielhopkins.org.

First Friday Day of Prayer — Dec. 2: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. at 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. www.strichards.com/ first-fridays.

ACCW Morning of Reflection — Dec. 3: 8:30 a.m. at St. Peter, 1405 Sibley Memorial Hwy, Mendota. Speakers: Bishop Andrew Cozzens; Father Michael Becker and Dr. Ann Marie Klein. www.archspm.org.

Women’s Morning of Reflection — Dec. 3: 8–11:30 a.m. at St. Michael, 11300 Frankfort Parkway NE, St. Michael.

RSVPs welcome: 763-497-0134 or www. stmcatholicchurch.org.

Retreats Holy Cross Christmas craft and bake sale — Dec. 3-4: at 1630 Fourth St. NE, Minneapolis. www. ourholycross.org.

Guardian Angels Christmas boutique — Dec. 3-4: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. www.guardian-angels.org.

St. Bridget Christmas boutique — Dec. 3-4: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Dec. 3 and 9 a.m.–noon Dec. 4 at St. Austin campus, 4050

Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina — Nov. 25-27: at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. www.stpaulsmonastery.org.

Serenity retreat for those in recovery — Dec. 2-4 at 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www. franciscanretreats.net.

“Coming Soon: Spiritual Lessons for Advent from the Book of Revelation” — Dec. 3: 9:15 a.m.–3 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist, 380 Little Canada Road, Little Canada. Featuring Michael Barber of John Paul

the Great Catholic University. Registration is free at www.stjohnsoflc.org.

Men’s weekend retreat — Dec. 9-11 at 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. www.franciscanretreats.net.

Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: For Catholic singles to meet and make friends. The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-482-0406.

Singles group at St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn Park — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games. 763-425-0412.

Other events Women with Spirit Bible Study — Tuesdays through April 4, 2017: 9:30–11:30 a.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie www.paxchristi.com/wws.

Alpha — Tuesdays through Dec. 13: 6:30-8:45 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 218 W. Second St., Chaska. www.gachaska.org.

Christmas at the Monastery — Dec. 10: 4–7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. tinyurl.com/christmasmonastery2016.

Church of St. Henry Music Workshop, Story and Song Concert Morning musician retreat/workshop given by Sarah Hart, Steve Angrisano & Jesse Manibusan.

Saturday, December 10, 2016 Retreat: 8:30 – Noon Concert: 7:30 – 9 p.m.

Church of St. Henry 1001-E. 7th St. • Monticello, MN 55362 For more information contact: Grace Janssen (763) 271-3077 or www.sthenrycatholic.info

If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, your first call should be to law enforcement.

The archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Program is also available to offer help and assist with healing. For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, please call (651) 291-4497.

MOVING?

Before you move, please let us know.

To be sure you don’t miss a single copy of The Catholic Spirit, please notify us at least two weeks before you move.

651.291.4444 or catholicspirit@archspm.org

November 24, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 23A

World record holder encourages Catholic school students to aid the thirsty

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Record-breaking rower Katie Spotz illustrated for Catholic school students in Robbinsdale her experience of finishing a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

“I felt like I was winning an Emmy, completing a marathon and being released from solitary confinement all at once,” Spotz said.

Spotz, who at 22 became the youngest person to row across the Atlantic in 2010, told the Sacred Heart Catholic School students Nov. 15 that something more than a world record motivated her. She did it to raise money for people around the world who don’t have clean drinking water.

“One in eight people, they don’t have something I always take for granted, something that I’ve never gone without — clean water,” said Spotz, an Ohio native who also has swam the length of the Allegheny River in New York and Pennsylvania.

Spotz explained that 1 billion people live without clean water in Latin America, southeast Asia and Africa. She also emphasized that children in some countries walk up to 8 miles round-trip to get water.

They carry it home in large plastic jugs that weigh up to 40 pounds. And the water normally comes from muddy water sources.

Sacred Heart students have an idea of what collecting water is like. In October, they tried hauling water from a lake in milk jugs. A student could dump some of the water to lighten the load, but could not go back to get more if he or she became thirsty.

“We let them know that those of you who carried [it] back, you would have water for your family,” said Kathy Walsh, a middle school math and religion teacher at Sacred Heart. “Those of you who are tired and dumped the water, that’s what would happen if you lived in Africa if it was too much for you to carry.”

That experience and reading “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park — which ties the story of one of Sudan’s “Lost Boys” to the country’s lack of clean water — raised the students’ awareness about Africa’s water crisis. Spotz’s presentation broadened the issue with its global view.

Katie Spotz, left, talks with students at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Robbinsdale after her Nov. 15 presentation.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit “I thought it was just Africa, but it’s a lot of other countries besides Africa,” said Anna Wolf, a Sacred Heart eighth-grader.

Spotz aimed to encourage students to do what they can to aid relief efforts. She gave the presentation as an ambassador for the Minnesota-based nonprofit H2O For Life, which works to help people without clean water worldwide.

Sacred Heart eighth-grader Leathe Talbot said he learned, “that we can help out the people with dirty water and purify the water [and] that we can prevent disease [in] drinking water.”

Students will help raise money for a clean water well in the Sudan, an $8,000 expense. St. Joseph Catholic School in Waconia, which also hosted Spotz Nov. 14, will help the Sudan project, too. Frassati Catholic Academy in White Bear Lake is also a partner.

Sacred Heart Principal Karen Bursey tied the initiative to a corporal work of mercy — giving drink to the thirsty. Her school partnered with Frassati and St. Joseph for the project because all have STEM programs.

“We just tied that into this water crisis,” Bursey said.

“I think kids don’t think twice about water — that it is a problem in other countries.”

‘Face of Mercy’ documentary shows how mercy works in people’s lives Catholic News Service “The Face of Mercy,” a new Knights of Columbus documentary that tells personal stories about the impact of God’s mercy on people’s lives, is airing on ABC affiliates nationwide as U.S. Catholics prepared to celebrate the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy Nov. 20.

Narrated by actor Jim Caviezel, the 60-minute documentary is scheduled to be broadcast through Dec. 16. Broadcast dates and times and other information about the film are available at www. faceofmercyfilm.com.

Pope Francis called for a Year of Jim Mercy to direct Catholics’ attention CAVIEZEL and actions “on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s actions in our lives ... a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective.”

“The Face of Mercy” weaves theology and history together with modern testimonials to illustrate what constitutes the face of mercy in people’s lives and “how it is the antidote to evil even in the most difficult times,” said a news release from the Knights of Columbus, which has its headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.

Those featured in the film include Immaculee Ilibagiza, who found freedom in forgiveness after seeing her family wiped out by genocide in Rwanda; a New York City police officer who was shot and paralyzed from the neck down and continues to work for peace; a former NFL linebacker who walked away from his sports career to share Christ’s mercy with the homeless; a baseball player who traded major league ambitions for a priestly vocation; a priest with a drug-dealing past; and a young widow who chose to forgive her husband’s killer.

“This extraordinary film highlights the sort of transformations that are possible in individual lives that embrace the way of mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson in a statement. “These testimonies remind us that divine mercy is not just a devotion or theological concept — it is alive, it is present, and it is a force that can transform the world.”

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24A • The Catholic Spirit

THE LAST WORD

November 24, 2016

From left, Sarah Robinson, Andria Kroona and Alex Sanchez eat lunch at Augustine’s Bar and Bakery in St. Paul Nov. 15. Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit

Ever ancient, ever new St. Augustine of Hippo namesake of new St. Paul bar and bakery

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

L

ate-night TV played a serendipitous role in a new St. Paul restaurant taking the name of a fourth-century saint.

Restaurateur Tony Andersen was preparing to do the legal paperwork to open a bar and bakery in Merriam Park, but was struggling to find a name. He “tossed around hundreds,” he said, but nothing seemed to stick.

“The last thing I wanted to do was another cute little adjective and animal, like the Muddy Pig, the Red Cow, the Cheeky Monkey, that sort of thing. I think it’s just been overdone,” said Andersen, who also owns the Happy Gnome near Cathedral Hill. “I wanted just a single word, something classy.”

While deliberating monikers, he found himself up late with insomnia, the TV on in the background.

The show’s topic turned to patron saints in the Catholic Church, and it mentioned St. Augustine of Hippo, describing him as a patron saint of brewers.

Andersen’s ears perked up.

For Andersen, 54, “that kind of tied in to the whole craft beer thing,” as well as his childhood in St. Paul, where he grew up in a “strict” Catholic home, attending Mass and going to grade school at Nativity of Our Lord, and, later, Cretin-Derham Hall High School.

He did a bit of research to learn more about St. Augustine and liked the connection he discovered between the saint’s life in the Mediterranean and the kind of dishes and décor he envisioned for the bar and bakery.

And so the restaurant was christened “Augustine’s.”

Its logo is a rotund hippo holding a beer mug — a play on St. Augustine’s home in the ancient north African city of Hippo, now Annaba, Algeria.

The wink to St. Augustine continues throughout the restaurant’s interior, where hippo figurines are scattered along ledges and a framed hippo print adorns the dining room wall. In the bar, the nod to St. Augustine is

ABOVE Augustine’s Bar and Bakery’s sign.

RIGHT Tony Andersen, Augustine’s owner.

Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit not so subtle: Just above the door to the kitchen, there’s a 4-foot-tall chalk drawing of the saint — haloed, holding a book and with a hand raised in blessing.

Augustine’s (Andersen pronounces it AUG-gus-tine’s) opened appropriately on Halloween — All Hallows’ Eve, the day before All Saints Day. Born in 354, St. Augustine earned his role as patron of brewers because of his pre-conversion lifestyle, often summarized in a “prayer” he recalls in his autobiography: “Lord, make me chaste — but not yet.”

“To put it bluntly, he was kind of a party boy in his early years, and his mom kind of put him on the straight and narrow,” Andersen said. “And I just like the way he was so progressive. For 1,600 years ago, it was kind of amazing, some of the things he was preaching, like abolishing slavery and [supporting] women’s rights.”

St. Augustine’s conversion to Christianity is attributed to the preaching of St. Ambrose, a bishop of Milan who baptized him, and the prayers of his devout mother, St. Monica. St. Augustine had a brilliant mind and played a key role in the development of Western Christian thought; his best known works, “Confessions” and “City of God,” are still widely taught in college classrooms. He became a priest and then bishop, and was an ardent defender of the faith. He died in 430, was

popularly canonized, and declared a doctor of the Church in 1298. His feast day is Aug. 28. In addition to brewers, he’s the patron of printers and theologians.

Located at 1668 Selby Ave., near the street’s intersection with Snelling Avenue, Augustine’s is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., attracting those interested in both early morning coffee and a late-night beer. Its kitchen serves lunch and dinner. Calling it the Gnome’s “hippie little Macalester brother” — a nod to Macalester College six blocks south — Andersen is aiming for the place to be vegetarian and kid-friendly.

Business has been good, Andersen said, and people are curious about the name.

“I was kind of surprised … [patrons] know more about him than I do,” he said. “I think that [for] anybody who’s had philosophy or those classes, Augustine has come up with his writing.”

Asked if he may have found a new patron saint for himself, Andersen said, “I think so.”

St. Augustine’s story reminds Andersen of his own mother, Audrey Andersen, a devout Catholic who worked for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

“Not that I was a wild party boy,” he added, “but just having that similar mother figure that Monica was. …

Mom was real active in the Catholic Church.”

Audrey died in 2009, but Andersen thinks she would have loved that he named his newest business endeavor after a saint.

Andersen said he no longer practices the Catholic faith, but he still feels a connection to St. Augustine’s conversion because of the lifestyle change he made a year and a half ago. Years of drinking led to acute pancreatitis, which put him in the hospital and near death, he said. Doctors advised Andersen — whose Happy Gnome is one of St. Paul’s great craft beer bars — to give up drinking, and he did.

“Since then, I’ve been sober, and I’ve been just energized,” he said. “If I were still drinking, there’s no way in heck that this would have happened.”

Drawing a parallel to St. Monica’s role in St. Augustine’s conversion, Andersen said with a chuckle, “Mom wasn’t around to witness mine, but I know she approves.”

November 24, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 1B

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2016

Report shows God continues to provide, even in hard times

H

ow appropriate that the 2016 Annual Financial Report of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is being published as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving. While the figures reflect the fragility that one would expect amidst the uncertainties that accompany a declaration of bankruptcy, the 2016 Report also serves as a wonderful reminder of the many ways in which the Lord continues to provide for this local Church, even in the Archbishop most difficult of times — and for that Bernard I am most thankful.

HEBDA In the course of the past fiscal year, and in spite of the precarious financial situation in which we find ourselves, the Archdiocese has nonetheless managed to continue to facilitate and support the work of our Catholic faithful who in this Jubilee Year have made the merciful face of Christ present throughout this local Church, as they proclaim the Gospel, form our youth, support our married

couples and families, and reach out to our brothers and sisters in need. While Archdiocesan staffing and programming remains at the low level necessitated by the bankruptcy, I am grateful that work of the Church has continued.

Anyone in attendance at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion last Spring, when more than 600 were welcomed into the Church, or those who celebrated the Eucharist with our Catholic school students at CHS Field, or those who witnessed the enthusiasm of our high school students and confirmation candidates at Archdiocesan Youth Day all know that the Holy Spirit continues to bring life to our Church. While a financial report speaks in terms of “expenses,” I hope that you will share my conviction that those expenditures are “investments” in a Church with a strong future.

While Pope Francis has repeatedly stated that he is not looking for bishops who see themselves as corporate CEO’s or bureaucratic managers, he is equally clear in teaching that a bishop needs to be a good steward of the resources that have been entrusted to him. As he reminded a group of recently ordained bishops, that necessarily requires that bishops make good use of their Priest Council,

Consultors and Finance Council.

Here in the Archdiocese, I am assisted in the area of financial administration not only by a very competent professional staff, but also by the extraordinarily well-prepared laity and clerics who serve on the Archdiocesan Finance Council and Corporate Board and who, along with the priests who serve on the College of Consultors and Presbyteral Council, have been valued collaborators as we together face the task of restoring stability to the Archdiocese.

The extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves have been matched by the exceptional commitment of these collaborators. They have had to go the proverbial “extra mile” and have done so with distinction. I am impressed with the amount of time that they routinely dedicate to the review of not only the financial data presented in the Report but also of the decisions that I have to make that can be expected to have an impact on both our financial situation and the health of this Archdiocese.

The Archdiocesan Finance Council and Corporate Board have committed themselves to increased coordination and collaboration and have met jointly throughout this past year, providing

invaluable guidance in the Ramsey County matters and in the bankruptcy litigation. They have been briefed and involved in the decisions that have resulted in the litigation costs that appear as “Special Issues Expenses” in the Financial Report. Given both the magnitude of those costs and the importance of those issues to the future of the Archdiocese, the discussions have been lively, detailed and informative.

What a blessing it is to have women and men around the table who are not only able to share such broad experiences in finance, law, accounting, banking, nonprofit administration and parish leadership, but who also are intimately acquainted with the mission of the Church, our desire to be transparent and our hope to make restitution for past wrongs. I invite you to join me in giving thanks to God for their dedication.

The members of those bodies, moreover, never fail to remind me that every asset on our financials can be traced to the generosity — past and present — of the faithful of this Archdiocese. The Archdiocese isn’t a producer of goods and we don’t provide for-profit services. Everything that the Please turn to ARCHBISHOP on page 4B

Financial Officer Report Author’s note: The following comments elaborate on the financial statements of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation (“Archdiocese”) that ended June 30, 2016. Condensed financial statements are included in this issue of The Catholic Spirit. The Management Discussion and Analysis and Financial Statements are posted at www.archspm.org on the Administration and Finance page.

By Thomas Mertens, CFO

Introduction Fiscal Year 2016 began July 1, 2015, and ended June 30, 2016. It was a year of continuing financial challenges for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and it was our first full year in Reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. But it was also a year of clarity, hope and positive developments.

As you may remember, after much consultation, the Archdiocese filed for Reorganization Jan. 16, 2015, due to the increasing number of claims of clergy sexual abuse of minors against the Archdiocese following adoption of the Minnesota Child Victim Act in 2013. After the Aug. 3, 2015, claim filing deadline, we learned that there were more than 400 claimants, a number Archbishop Bernard Hebda called “breathtaking.” Effort began in earnest at that time, and continues to the present, to engage more than a dozen insurance companies that covered the Archdiocese since the 1940s and contribute to a proposed trust that will eventually compensate those who have been harmed.

Mediation efforts involving Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, members of our Corporate Board and Finance Council, and attorneys representing the Archdiocese, the parishes and claimants have been positive and productive. All involved agree on common goals: to ensure that all people are safe in our churches and schools, that those who have been harmed receive fair compensation, and to ensure that the Archdiocese can continue to fulfill its core missions.

Our Plan of Reorganization filed Nov. 15, 2016, contains a proposed Trust with more than $130

million, with almost $100 million from Archdiocese carriers, the single highest amount provided by insurance carriers in any diocesan bankruptcy to date.

This Plan includes proposed settlement offers from more than 10 different carriers. At this point, there are only two carriers that have not agreed to a settlement with the Archdiocese. The Plan provides for the appointment of an independent Bankruptcy Courtappointed trustee to determine how much compensation each claimant receives from the Trust.

We believe the settlement offers incorporated in the plan are fair and reasonable.

The Plan will be submitted to claimants and other creditors following Court approval of a disclosure statement, at which time these parties will have an opportunity to vote on the Plan. Settlements with most of the carriers are contingent on approval of the proposed Archdiocese Plan. If the Plan is not approved due to opposition by claimants’ counsel, the Archdiocese may have no choice but to file an amended Plan without the insurance settlements and other proceeds, which would leave a relatively small sum for the victims. Those remaining proceeds could be largely exhausted by professional fees incurred before and after Plan confirmation.

In early FY 2016, the Archdiocese commenced discussions with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office directed towards resolution of pending criminal and civil charges. County Attorney John Choi said a key goal of his was to make sure that processes, protocols and practices were put into place in the Archdiocese to ensure children were safe in our churches and schools. We wholeheartedly agreed with that goal.

After lengthy discussions that included Archbishop Hebda, members of the Archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, and outside legal counsel, we reached what Choi called a “landmark agreement.” That agreement gives a district court judge oversight of our safe environment practices and requires reviews in court every six months through February 2020. Choi said he believed the agreement could serve as a prototype for child protection far beyond the Church.

After the civil Settlement Agreement with Ramsey County, our team continued to make changes to

promote safe environments and continued to engage the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in dialogue to resolve the criminal case against the Archdiocese.

Choi announced July 20, 2016, that he was pleased with the Archdiocese’s policies, protocols and practices to protect children and dismissed the criminal charges.

The extensive legal efforts in FY 2016, described above, drove much of the Archdiocese’s spending and continue to do so into FY 2017. Legal and professional fees, referred to as “Special Issues Expense” in our Statement of Activities, totaled $7.9 million, up from $5.9 million in FY 2015, partially a result of a full year of bankruptcy expenses in FY 2016 as compared to FY 2015. It is important to note that these fees include charges from not only the Archdiocese’s legal counsel and advisors but also the fees of professionals representing parishes and abuse claimants. Significant amounts were spent opposing a motion to consolidate the assets of over 200 Catholic entities into the bankruptcy and addressing issues raised by a Plan of Reorganization proposed by counsel for abuse claimants.

While our Special Issues Expense grew in 2016, our effort to continue minimizing our Operating Expense was successful. Our Operating Expense before Special Issues Expense in 2016 was $18.6 million, down from $22.9 million in 2015. In 2014, Operating Expense before Special Issues Expense was $30.5 million. In the past three years, we have cut our expenses by approximately $12 million, a decrease of 39 percent, while still offering parishes and schools valuable services and resources to better carry out the mission of this local Church.

In 2016, we sold Archdiocesan real estate not directly involved with our mission. The Hayden Center, which is home to more than 100 Archdiocesan employees, was sold to the Minnesota Historical Society in February for $4.3 million. The Chancery and Archbishop’s Residence, located across the street from the Cathedral of St. Paul, were sold to a real estate group for $3.2 million in April. In addition, the Hazelwood property near Northfield, used as a weekend retreat, was sold in March for Continued on next page

2B • The Catholic Spirit

November 24, 2016

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2016 Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation Operating Revenue FY 2016: $20.8 Million

Contributions $ 2.4

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Chancery Corporation Operating Expense FY 2016: $18.6 Million* Community Services $ 0.05 Marriage, Family & Life Development & Stewardship $ 0.8 $ 0.5

Other Income $ 1.2 Parish Assessments $ 14.8

Parish Services & Outreach $ 1.7

Central Services $ 5.2

Investment Income, net $.01 Communications $ 2.0 Fees & Program Revenues $ 2.4 General & Administrative $ 2.4

Clergy Services $4.3

Evangelization & Catechesis $ 0.3

Catholic Education $1.3

* Operating Expense before Special Issues Expense

Continued from previous page approximately $350,000. Those proceeds are in a separate account, designated to be used in our Plan and noted on the Statement of Financial Position as Cash – Restricted by Bankruptcy. We added approximately $875,000 more with the sale of the Dayton Building, home to our Offices of Communications and Evangelization and Catechesis, in August.

While we were selling our properties, the Court approved our lease of 777 Forest St., on St. Paul’s East Side. It was built in 1939 and was the original headquarters of 3M. All Archdiocesan employees will be moving into the space in February 2017. It will be the first time in decades that all employees will be working in the same location. We are confident it will lead to better communication, collaboration and service to the parishes, schools and faithful. Renting is expected to provide cash savings to the Archdiocese, considering the amount of needed deferred maintenance to the buildings we currently occupy.

It has been our practice since the year ended June 30, 2013, to release our full audited financial report to be transparent and accountable to our many stakeholders among the Catholic faithful. Indeed, almost 70 percent of our support for our valuable missions comes from parish assessments which are the result of contributions to the local church by parishioners. It is for this reason that Archbishop Hebda, the Archdiocesan Finance Council and I continue to support full transparency and timely reporting of our financial results.

For the second straight year, because of our ongoing Reorganization, the Archdiocese, in consultation with the Archdiocesan Finance Council and Corporate Board of Directors, filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court, and was granted approval, to allow our independent accounting firm to perform Agreed Upon Procedures on our financial statements for FY 2016.

These procedures do not represent an audit and as a result you will not see an Independent Auditor’s

Report attached to our financial statements. The Agreed Upon Procedures were developed by management in consultation with the Audit and Risk Assessment Committee of the Corporate Board and our independent accounting firm, and they will assist us in governance of the Archdiocese by requiring attestation procedures on key balance sheet accounts and internal controls. Our financial records are submitted on a monthly basis to the Bankruptcy Court and United States Trustee and are subject to their review. When we emerge from Reorganization, we intend to return to the standard practice of annual independent audits and will continue our practice of release promptly after completion of our financial statements and auditor’s report.

Financial Condition For the year ended June 30, 2016 (our FY 2016), we generated a profit from Operations before Special Issues Expense of $2,165,075 as compared to a loss from Operations before Special Issues Expense of $464,014 in FY 2015. Our loss from operations in FY 2016 was $5,772,467 and compares favorably to a loss of $6,401,017 for FY 2015. Special Issues Expense was $7,937,542 and $5,937,003 in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The Special Issues Expense of $7,937,542 incurred by the Archdiocese during 2016 related predominately to both legal fees incurred by attorneys representing the Archdiocese in the Reorganization and the Ramsey County charges, as well as legal counsel representing the Unsecured Creditors Committee and the Parish Committee. Within Reorganization, the Archdiocese is referred to as the “Debtor in Possession” and, as such, we are responsible for paying all legal fees incurred both by our legal counsel and the legal counsel representing the plaintiffs or victims of sexual abuse. This is generally not the case with the defense of claims in civil law and is unique to Bankruptcy Reorganization.

Our legal counsel has spent hundreds of hours working with numerous insurance carriers who issued

policies to the Archdiocese over the past seven decades. We are working closely with the insurance carriers to determine coverage for claims and to find equitable insurance settlements for abuse claims.

Special Issues Expense is substantial, but necessary in order to achieve the goal of obtaining fair compensation for sexual abuse claimants. We recognize that we cannot sustain this level of spending for Special Issues Expense indefinitely and that is why it is imperative that we negotiate a fair resolution to this Reorganization in the near term.

While Special Issues Expense to date is significant, this spending has resulted in the Archdiocese’s insurance carriers contributing almost $100 million into the Plan of Reorganization and has moved the process closer to resolution.

Revenue Total Operating Revenue in 2016 was $20,780,084 as compared to $22,483,188 in 2015. The major reason for this decline is a decrease in Contributions and Fees and Program Revenues, offset by a slight increase in Parish Assessments and Other Income.

Fees and Program Revenues decreased as a result of lower revenue generated from The Catholic Spirit, and Other Income increased due to a court approved settlement with a software vendor.

Parish Assessments, our primary source of revenue, are generated from the 187 parishes within the Archdiocese, increased by 4.1 percent to $14,826,794 in 2016 from $14,246,426 in 2015. Assessments are calculated and billed on a two-year lag which means the parish financial results for the years ended June 30, 2014 and 2013 formed the basis for the Parish Assessments revenue for the years ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Assessments increased as a result of increased parish income and an increase in dollars received from capital campaigns.

Continued on next page

November 24, 2016 The Catholic Spirit • 3B

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2016 Supporting the Mission of the Church

The Department of Central Services provides support and services to the Archdiocesan staff and the parishes.

The department includes the offices of the chancellors of civil and canonical affairs, computer services, the Metropolitan Tribunal, human resources and benefits, the Parish Accounting Services Center and maintenance. Also covered in this category are administrative services to the General Insurance Program, the lay and priest pension funds, and the Archdiocese Medical Benefit Plan Trust, as well as assessments to the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

education opportunities, a sabbatical program, international enculturation and a biennial presbyteral assembly.

Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment: The mission of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment is to work with our community to address the devastating societal problem of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by implementing abuse prevention programs, immediately reporting allegations of abuse to law enforcement and/or child/adult protection officials, and cooperating fully with their investigations, and helping those affected by abuse in their healing journey. OMSSE Director Tim O’Malley and his team worked with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office to strengthen existing practices and establish new child protection policies and protocols as part of the Settlement Agreement announced last December.

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

Chaplaincies: There are 26 priests and 27 deacons in full-time and part-time ministry at hospitals and correctional facilities throughout the Archdiocese who are supported by the Archdiocese. There are many other priests and deacons throughout the Archdiocese who provide pastoral care at healthcare or correctional facilities, either as a ministry of their parish or through volunteer work. They offer the sacraments and spiritual support during some of the most difficult times in peoples’ lives.

Last year, thousands of people throughout our community were served by chaplains.

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

Clergy Services • $4,302,642

Communications • $2,044,509

The role of this office is to provide support and formation for priests and deacons in all aspects of ministry and pastoral care. Services provided by this office include the following: Seminary Formation: There are currently 57 men in formation for the priesthood for service of our Archdiocese — an increase of five from last year. While the number changes throughout the men’s discernment process, our Archdiocese has one of the largest enrollments of seminarians of any diocese in the country. Expenses include a portion of the cost of tuition, room and board for men at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and St. John Vianney College Seminary.

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

Continuing Education: This includes continuing

The Office of Communications helps convey the teachings of the Church and fosters communications between the Archdiocese and the faithful, parish and school leaders and staff, and others in our community. It does this through The Catholic Spirit, multiple websites, social media, e-newsletters, printing services and other communications. The office also conducts media consultation and training for clergy and other representatives of the Archdiocese, and works with secular TV and radio stations, as well as print and online publications.

Continued from previous page

received of approximately $7,849,000 and a book gain from the sales of $4,266,719.

June 30, 2016, and lower than expected claims.

Non-operating Activity – General Insurance Program

The Archdiocese coordinates a self-insured health and dental benefit fund for active priests and seminarians within the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese invoices parishes, Catholic Schools and other Catholic entities based on clergy assignments and pays benefit providers directly for any claims. Priest Benefits generated a slight loss in 2016 and a slight income in 2015.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis serves Catholics and the greater community. The following narrative explains the function of each department and the funding level for FY 2016. There also is a chart that illustrates the expenditures, as compared to other departments.

Catholic Education • $1,304,156 FY 2016 saw the first full year of operation for the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education. The OMCE provides support for Catholic schools and parish faith formation programs in the Archdiocese by focusing on Catholic identity, leadership development and assistance in implementing academic programs. A particular area of emphasis is providing programmatic oversight to promote innovation and excellence in local urban Catholic Schools. The OMCE is focused on forming a new generation of Catholic students by teaming up with private partners like the Aim Higher Foundation and the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence.

Central Services • $5,147,631

Operating Expense Our Operating Expense, without Special Issues Expense in 2016, totaled $18,615,009 as compared to $22,947,202 in 2015, an 18.9 percent decrease. The decrease is due to the significant expense reductions in Program Service expenses including personnel reductions implemented in November 2014 which the full year impact was realized in 2016. These reductions were necessary to enable the Archdiocese to continue to operate knowing that Special Issues Expense would be significant and required. Every Program and Support Service category saw a reduction in expenses from 2015 to 2016.

Non-operating Activity – Gain on Sale of Assets As previously mentioned, the Archdiocese sold three properties in 2016. These sales resulted in cash

Community Services • $46,108 The Archdiocese helps men, women and children most in need within our local community, including the poor, hungry and homeless, primarily through cash support to Catholic Charities.

Evangelization and Catechesis • $332,701 The Office of Evangelization and Catechesis creates opportunities for people to encounter Jesus Christ and to make the truth of Christ and his Church clearly

The General Insurance Program of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis provides comprehensive, uniform commercial general liability and workers’ compensation coverage to all of the parishes, Catholic schools and certain other Catholic entities within the Archdiocese, as well as the Chancery Corporation. The General Insurance Program is maintained for the benefit of the participants who have contributed those funds in exchange for obtaining insurance coverage.

The General Insurance Program had a surplus from operations of $3,090,775 in 2016 as compared to a deficit from operations of $846,211 in 2015. The increase year-over-year was due to an increase of premiums from participating parishes, schools and other Catholic entities from July 1, 2015, through

understood and accessible. Evangelization and catechesis efforts are created and experienced in cooperation with parishes and Catholic schools and the many ministry groups throughout this local Church. OEC’s initiatives include Women in the New Evangelization and Catholic Watchmen.

Marriage, Family and Life • $806,161 This department assists the laity and parishes through programs supporting marriage preparation, family education programming, respect life, pro-life groups, biomedical ethics and outreach to people with disabilities.

The office of Marriage, Family and Life also sponsors the annual Archdiocesan Youth Day that brings together more than 1,000 local high school-aged teens to praise God, grow in the faith and find fellowship. In addition, this office helps coordinate local representatives attending World Youth Day, the National Catholic Youth Conference, the March for Life and other youth events.

Parish Services and Outreach • $1,724,992 The Office of Parish Services provides consultation, planning and leadership development opportunities to parishes throughout the Archdiocese.

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

For example, there are more than 23 Latino Ministry parishes throughout the archdiocese which receive support from the Office of Latino Ministry. These Latino Ministry parishes offer the sacraments, catechesis and spiritual support to tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking people throughout the local Church. The Office of Latino Ministry also oversees special days of celebration of the faith and family throughout the year. In addition, biblical, catechetical and pastoral leadership formation institutes are provided for members of the Latino community to assist them in evangelization.

Support Services General and Administrative • $2,421,347 The offices of the archbishop, retired archbishop, bishops, vicar general, accounting, finance and general administration are included in the General and Administrative category. Over half of this category of expense supports staff salaries and benefits. Also included are expenses incurred for non-bankruptcy related legal fees and bad debt expense.

Development and Stewardship • $484,762 This office works with parishes and Catholic schools to help grow a culture of stewardship in local communities and to support parish and school development efforts. The office also engages in outreach to benefactors who wish to support specific ministries or programs of the Chancery Corporation.

Non-operating Activity – Priest Benefits

Financial Position Net Assets of the Archdiocese were $26,739,817 on June 30, 2016 as compared to $25,479,177 in 2015, a $1,260,640 or 4.9 percent increase as a result of the Statement of Activities Changes in Net Assets in 2016.

The increase in Cash to $18,092,712 in 2016 from $15,304,260 in 2015 is the result of the sale of Continued on next page

General Insurance Program Revenues General Insurance Program Expenses Priest Benefit Revenues Priest Benefit Expenses

9,659,854 (6,569,079) 2,738,972 (3,063,927)

4B • The Catholic Spirit Change in Net Assets from Non-Operating Activities

6,847,405 (7,693,616) 3,050,633 (2,772,503)

November 24, 2016

7,033,107

(568,081)

$1,260,640

$(6,969,098)

Archdiocesan Chancery Corporation Annual Financial Report • 2016 CHANGES IN NET ASSETS

Condensed Statements of Financial Position

Condensed Statements of Activities Condensed Statement of Activities (Unaudited) • Years Ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 2016 2015 OPERATING REVENUE Contributions $2,379,452 $3,117,446 Parish Assessments 14,826,794 14,246,426 Fees and Program Revenues 2,348,287 4,465,142 Investment Income, Net 7,043 37,237 Other Income 1,218,508 616,937 Operating Revenue 20,780,084 22,483,188 OPERATING EXPENSE Program Services: Catholic Education Central Services Clergy Services Communications Community Services Evangelization & Catechesis Marriage, Family and Life Parish Services and Outreach Total Program Services Support Services: General and Administrative Development and Stewardship Total Support Services

1,304,156 5,147,631 4,302,642 2,044,509 46,108 332,701 806,161 1,724,992 15,708,900

2,393,136 5,884,442 4,984,442 2,238,271 225,000 535,580 888,429 1,990,116 19,139,416

2,421,347 484,762 2,906,109

3,196,654 611,132 3,807,786

18,615,009

22,947,202

Change in Net Assets from Operations before Special Issues Expense

2,165,075

(464,014)

Special Issues Expense

7,937,542

5,937,003

Change in Net Assets from Operations

(5,772,467)

(6,401,017)

NON-OPERATING ACTIVITY Gain on Sale of Assets General Insurance Program Revenues General Insurance Program Expenses Priest Benefit Revenues Priest Benefit Expenses

4,267,286 9,659,854 (6,569,079) 2,738,972 (3,063,927)

— 6,847,405 (7,693,616) 3,050,633 (2,772,503)

7,033,107

(568,081)

$1,260,640

$(6,969,098)

Total Operating Expense before Special Issues Expense

Change in Net Assets from Non-Operating Activities CHANGES IN NET ASSETS

ARCHBISHOP continued from page 1B Archdiocese has comes from the faithful and flows from their commitment to our shared mission as the Church.

I hope that same commitment will30, lead you take Condensed Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) • Years Ended June 2016 andto 2015 the time to examine this year’s report and to pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me 2016 2015 and Assets those who share in the leadership of this Archdiocese.

In the six months that I have served as Archbishop, I have been repeatedly Cash - Unrestricted and Board Designated $7,515,128 $12,768,089 astounded by the generosity of our Catholic community and the support that is Cash - Restricted by Bankruptcy 7,855,560 — shown for Christ’s Church, even in difficult times. That gives me even greater Cash - Restricted by Donors 2,722,024 2,536,171 motivation for being a good steward of our Archdiocesan resources. I have Contributions Receivable, Net of Allowances 502,018 597,553 confidence in the financial report that is published today, and I hope that with Receivables, Net of Allowances 4,972,445 your Accounts continued help and prayers the Archdiocese will4,538,350 be in a position to present an Notes Receivable, Net ofIn Allowances even Loans more and favorable report in 2017. the meantime,1,053,609 please know that1,037,286 you will be 979,597 in myInvestments thoughts and prayers as I count my blessings this Thanksgiving.1,062,779 Beneficial Interest in Perpetual Trusts 1,370,187 1,485,029 General Insurance Program Assets 11,992,782 8,963,084 Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets 418,996 1,170,448 Land, Property and Equipment, Net 4,054,110 8,207,566 Total Assets $43,002,361 $42,800,450 Liabilities and Net Assets Liabilities Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities, Pre-Petition Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities, Post-Petition Litigation Claims Payable, Net of Insurance Recovery of General Insurance Program Claims Payable and Other Liabilities Amounts Held for Others Under Agency Transactions Parish Demand Deposits Deferred Revenue Total Liabilities

Condensed Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) • Years Ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 2016 2015 Assets Cash - Unrestricted and Board Designated $7,515,128 $12,768,089 Cash - Restricted by Bankruptcy 7,855,560 — Cash - Restricted by Donors 2,722,024 2,536,171 Contributions Receivable, Net of Allowances 502,018 597,553 Accounts Receivables, Net of Allowances 4,538,350 4,972,445 Loans and Notes Receivable, Net of Allowances 1,053,609 1,037,286 Investments 979,597 1,062,779 Beneficial Interest in Perpetual Trusts 1,370,187 1,485,029 General Insurance Program Assets 11,992,782 8,963,084 Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets 418,996 1,170,448 Land, Property and Equipment, Net 4,054,110 8,207,566 Total Assets $43,002,361 $42,800,450 Liabilities and Net Assets Liabilities Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities, Pre-Petition Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities, Post-Petition Litigation Claims Payable, Net of Insurance Recovery of General Insurance Program Claims Payable and Other Liabilities Amounts Held for Others Under Agency Transactions Parish Demand Deposits Deferred Revenue Total Liabilities

$239,741 5,459,256 4,600,000

$628,257 6,252,052 4,600,000

4,915,635 106,164 679,304 262,444 16,262,544

4,976,711 122,032 679,304 62,916 17,321,272

Net Assets Unrestricted: General Insurance Program Undesignated Total Unrestricted

19,896,322 2,270,004 22,166,326

16,805,547 4,026,189 20,831,736

2,683,413 1,890,078 26,739,817

2,642,520 2,004,922 25,479,178

$43,002,361

$42,800,450

Temporarily Restricted Permanently Restricted Total Net Assets Total Liabilities and Net Assets

Continued from previous page properties and the deficit from operations of $5,772,467 due to Special Issues Expense. Of the total Cash on June 30, 2016, of $18,092,712, $3,366,138 represents Unrestricted Cash and $4,148,990 is Board Designated. Cash Restricted by the Bankruptcy is $7,855,560 and Cash Restricted by Donors is $2,722,024. The availability of Cash for operations will be determined at a future date by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The significant decrease in Land, Property and Equipment from $8,207,566 to $4,054,110 is due to the sale of the three properties. General Insurance Program Assets increased as a result of an increase in cash due to the increased premiums and lower than expected claims.

It is important to understand that the value of the assets and liabilities on the Condensed Statements of Financial Position are not reflective of the outcome of Reorganization. With the exception of the Litigation Reserve, they are based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Assets, particularly Land, Property and Equipment, are recorded at their net book value which may not reflect their fair market value. Final determination of the value of the assets and liabilities will be at the discretion of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Looking forward The Archdiocese is hopeful that our Plan of Reorganization will be quickly approved so this local Church is able to continue to carry out its core mission of spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

I continue to be thankful to all the clergy, lay leaders, staff, volunteers, parishioners and others throughout the Archdiocese for their commitment to God’s people during these challenging times of uncertainty. It is only together that we will be strong enough to chart a new course for this local Church to healing and reconciliation.

Mertens is the Chief Financial Officer of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

$239,741 5,459,256 4,600,000

$628,257 6,252,052 4,600,000

4,915,635 106,164 679,304 262,444 16,262,544

4,976,711 122,032 679,304 62,916 17,321,272