thecatholicspirit.com
November 7, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Saved by St. Therese Veteran says ‘Little Flower’ kept him alive during months of bombing runs. — Page 17
Restorative justice Law symposium panel explores archdiocese’s approach to healing as well as justice in clergy sex abuse crisis. — Page 5
Finding ‘forever families’ Reel Hope project focuses on helping children in foster care move to a permanent home. — Page 10
Priest formation During National Vocations Awareness Week Nov. 3-9, a look back at St. Paul Seminary’s 125-year history. — Pages 12-13
AFTER THE AMAZON SYNOD
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Pope Francis accepts a plant during the offertory as he celebrates the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 27.
Observer: Final synod document should be read as a whole By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
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with the people of the Amazon, “standing with them as they’re victimized, helping them understand the love and mercy of God in their souls, helping them build up communities in places which are often very, very remote.” “That’s what this was,” Bishop McElroy said in an interview with Catholic News Service after the synod’s final Mass. “To make it anything less is a disservice.”
“To say that the Amazon Synod has caused a stir in the Church is an understatement,” Father Michael Johnson, the archdiocese’s judicial vicar, writes in a guest commentary examining the synod and expectations for Pope Francis’ forthcoming document that will direct the Church’s efforts in the Amazon Basin. — Page 21
Papal chronicler
ishop Robert McElroy of San Diego said the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon was an examination of ways “to best evangelize with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this moment, in this place.” Focusing on an issue or two in the synod’s final document, he said, would mean missing the whole pastoral point of the Catholic Church finding ways of being
Journalist Austen Ivereigh to speak in St. Paul as he promotes newest book on Pope Francis. — Page 18
Ahead of 2020 election, campaign stresses why civility is important
Called to prayer The only monastery of Cistercian nuns in U.S. includes two Twin Cities natives. — Page 14
By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service
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ancor in politics, especially these days, may be the norm, but a nationwide effort is underway to remind people that civility in political discussions is a virtue. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched the Civilize It campaign Nov. 3 at parishes around the country. It stresses that respectful dialogue — rather than name-calling and nasty barbs — can occur among people with differing political views. “In part, this campaign is really in response to the vitriol that we see in public discourse on both sides of the aisle,” said Jill Rauh, director of education and outreach in the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. “Civility is something that we, at least in theory, should all agree on,” she said. “Catholics don’t always come down on the same side in terms of where they discern to
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be voting. But everyone should agree that we can be modeling love for neighbor and we can be modeling the example of Christ.” The date of the program’s introduction is significant because it is precisely one year from the 2020 presidential election. The idea for Civilize It originated in the Social Action Office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2016. Its success in Ohio caught the attention of the USCCB, which this year decided that the model could be introduced nationwide. Rauh said about a dozen dioceses were expected to move quickly to adopt the campaign starting at Masses Nov. 2-3, with others expected to follow during the next several months. Minnesota Catholic Conference will be promoting Civilize It, said Katherine Cross, its communications manager. The effort will incorporate the U.S.
bishops’ quadrennial document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” The document remains unchanged this year, but the bishops will vote on a letter and four short video scripts to supplement it during their annual fall assembly in Baltimore Nov. 11-13. The campaign’s cornerstone is a three-part pledge that individuals can take to respect civility, to root political views in the Gospel and a well-formed conscience, and to encounter others with compassion. Personal reflection is a significant component of the program. Resources developed by Rauh’s office will help guide participants in the tradition of an examination of conscience so they can better understand how they can respond to people with whom they disagree. The campaign “is a way the Church can be an example,” Rauh said. “We can bring our moral voice to the public square.”
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NOVEMBER 7, 2019
PAGETWO NEWS notes
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The number of St. Thomas Academy alumni who will be honored with the Fleming Alumni Veterans Award at the Mendota Heights School on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, during an allschool, public assembly 9-10:30 a.m. Both men served in World War II: Gen. Alfred Maximilian Gruenther (Class of 1916) and Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryan (1919). Gruenther, who died in 1983 at age 84, became at 53 the youngest four-star general in the history of the U.S. Army, and he rose to the position of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 195356. Ryan, who died in 1975 at age 72, was ordained a priest in 1927 and later became the ninth chief of U.S. Army chaplains until his retirement in 1958.
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The number of goals scored by the Academy of Holy Angels boys soccer team in the State Class A boys soccer championship game Oct. 31. The Stars went to overtime against Blake, last year’s state champion, and netted the game winner with just 11 seconds left in the extra period to come away with a 3-2 victory. Winning additional honors was senior Conor O’Rourke, who was named Mr. Soccer for Class A by the state coaches association. On the girls side, Paige Peltier, a senior at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, was named Ms. Soccer for Class AA. Her team reached the state quarterfinals and lost to Rosemount 1-0.
49 COURTESY NET MINISTRIES
ADORING THE LORD High school students participate in eucharistic adoration Nov. 2 in a NET Ministries’ Lifeline gathering. For 25 years, Lifeline events have drawn about 1,000 ninth- through 12th-graders from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to the international ministry’s NET Center headquarters in West St. Paul. The monthly three-and-a-half hour events, held October through May, also include speakers, music and Mass. NET Ministries was founded 37 years ago to bring the faith to high school students and it began Lifeline Oct. 7, 1995. “It’s the largest ongoing Catholic youth event in the United States and maybe beyond,” said Joe Roueche, outreach coordinator. “The Lord is doing something very special here.”
The number of years since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops founded its domestic anti-poverty program, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Collections for the campaign will be taken during Masses Nov. 23-24. This year, the national campaign helped nine organizations in the archdiocese, including Urban Roots, a nonprofit in St. Paul that assists low-income youth through gardening, cooking and environmental conservation.
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St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi celebrated the Oct. 28 feast of Sts. Simon and Jude by installing a first-class relic of St. Jude in the church altar. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated Mass and installed the relic Oct. 26. The parochial administrator of St. Jude of the Lake, Father Chad VanHoose, said the parish also held a vigil event Oct. 25 that included veneration of the relic and chanted vespers.
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The number of business days Father Michael Creagan, pastor of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, had to prepare for a three-month deployment to Afghanistan this year as an Army National Guard chaplain. It was an extraordinarily short amount of time, Father Creagan said, and pulling it off required the cooperation of parish staff, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Minnesota Army National Guard and U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Office in Washington, D.C. Father Creagan plans to share his experiences in Afghanistan with slide shows at the parish at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 and 2 p.m. Nov. 13.
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The number of times churches are invited to ring their bells at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 to mark the 101st anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. Veterans for Peace, founded in 1985 by 10 U.S. veterans in response to the global nuclear arms race and U.S. military interventions in Central America, has promoted the bell ringing for a decade. The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis is among churches nationwide expected to participate.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE Claire Jensen, a University of Minnesota student who belongs to Catholic Students United of St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis, delivers remarks Oct. 31 at the annual St. John Paul II Champions for Life Awards Luncheon at St. Peter in Mendota. The group won one of four Champions for Life Awards, in the Catholic Affiliated Group category. At right are other members of the group. Archbishop Bernard Hebda presented the awards. There also were three individual award winners: Lori Hinker of St. Michael in Prior Lake, Patricia Loehlein of Maternity of Mary in St. Paul and Michele Kemmetmueller of St. Stephen in Anoka.
CORRECTION The Catholic Spirit incorrectly reported Oct. 24 that Our Lady of Grace School in Edina was the only K-8 school in Minnesota to be recognized in 2019 as a National Blue Ribbon School. It was the only Catholic elementary school in the state to win the award. The Catholic Spirit apologizes for the error.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 24 — No. 21 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor
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The number of veterans often helped to Mass on Saturday mornings at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis by members of Knights of Columbus Marian Council 3827. The Knights wheel the hospitalized veterans from their rooms to a large meeting room chapel and temporary altar. Knights from parishes in Bloomington, Richfield, Edina and Minneapolis make up the Marian Council. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the Mass Nov. 2 for more than 125 veterans and their families.
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The number of undergraduate and graduate students the University of St. Thomas expects to serve each year in a school of nursing it is developing, combined with its school of social work and graduate school of psychology. University officials said the nursing school would help double current enrollment in its health programs, and the school expects to add more health care education and training programs. The effort will be called the Morrison Family College of Health, honoring John and Susan Morrison of Naples, Florida, major donors to the initiative and longtime supporters of the university.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS
Beginning with the end in mind
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he month of November begins with the Solemnity of All Saints, where we remember all God’s holy ones who were victors in the great contest of life and loved God with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength. These heroes, our brothers and sisters, are now experiencing in heaven the perfect joy for which our hearts long. The second day of November is the Feast of All Souls, inviting us to pray for all of our deceased relatives and friends, asking the Lord in his mercy to cleanse them of the defects of their sins in purgatory so they may be admitted into the eternal heavenly banquet. In addition, the month of November ends with the Feast of Christ the King, Nov. 24. This last Sunday of the liturgical year invites us to meditate on the end of time, when Christ will return to finally and fully establish his kingdom, and judge the living and the dead, giving to all who have lived for him the mercy they seek. The point is clear. The whole month of November focuses us on our end, the goal of our lives, which is heaven. The readings of this month will regularly put before us the judgment that we will all face at the end of our lives. This fact is not meant to scare us. Rather, it is meant to remind us, to focus us on what life is really about. We are called this month to meditate
on our end in order to change how we live today. The liturgy of the Church is reminding us how important it is to begin with the end in mind! When we understand the human heart, we understand that we were made for heaven because we were made for God. We were made to live in an eternal communion with God, without sin, in unending and limitless love. It is our limits that are the source of all our suffering in this life. Not just the limited number of days each of us has on earth, but also the physical, emotional and even spiritual limits we have. These limits cause us pain because we never find fully the satisfaction of our desires, and because in our seeking we often choose sin by reacting out of fear, hurt, pain and selfishness, and through this sin we cause more pain. Of course, the greatest of these pains is death, when it seems the limit or our life reaches finality and breaks the bonds of love we have with others. In fact, all this suffering points to a deeper truth, a truth which Jesus Christ reveals in his own life, death and resurrection. In Jesus, God himself entered into our limited lives, embraced our life of suffering and broke through the limits of this life, offering to all who love and follow him the fulfillment of their deepest desires in a life of everlasting communion with him and his Father in the Holy Spirit. Does the fact that we were made for heaven mean that we will never find
any happiness here? Does it make us less committed to building a better world? No, it does the opposite. When we meditate on our final end with God, it allows us to give meaning to the suffering we endure in this life. We begin to see the suffering of this life as part of our service to God, just as Jesus embraced suffering out of love for us. Through suffering we overcome sin and give ourselves to him. It is not meaningless, and it can lead to deeper happiness. When we meditate more on how we were made for God, it makes us want to give ourselves to him now! It means that every day offers us a foretaste of heaven, a chance to draw closer to him. From our participation in holy Mass (which is a foretaste of union with God and prepares us for it), to our giving our lives in service to others, we are always seeking to draw closer to the one we love here and now as we prepare for heaven. Serving others becomes a way to serve Jesus, as he himself told us in describing how we will be judged at the end, “Whatever you did for the least, you did for me” (Matt 25:40).
One of the blessings of my life is to see so many in the archdiocese give of themselves for others in this way. They are living today in preparation for heaven. They include Catholic school teachers I encountered at the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence’s Catholic School Summit, who generously serve in schools to share the life of Jesus Christ with their students. They include the many hundreds of generous people who attended a recent banquet for Abria Pregnancy Resources because they want to make the love of Christ present to women and men in crisis pregnancies; and they also include the young women and men who attended our recent vocation dinners, who are discerning the gift of their whole lives in religious life or priesthood. So many people in our archdiocese are letting the end shape the way they live today. And these are just some of the groups I experienced in the last few weeks. This month the Church invites us to meditate on our end. Let us allow that end to shape the way we live today, seeking the fulfillment of our desires in drawing closer to him.
Comenzando con el fin en mente
Las lecturas de este mes nos presentarán regularmente el juicio que todos enfrentaremos al final de nuestras vidas. Este hecho no pretende asustarnos. Más bien, está destinado a recordarnos, a enfocarnos en lo que realmente se trata la vida. Estamos llamados este mes a meditar sobre nuestro fin para cambiar la forma en que vivimos hoy. La liturgia de la Iglesia nos recuerda lo importante que es comenzar con el fin en mente! Cuando entendemos el corazón humano, entendemos que fuimos hechos para el cielo porque fuimos hechos para Dios. Fuimos hechos para vivir en una comunión eterna con Dios, sin pecado, en un amor sin fin e ilimitado. Nuestros límites son la fuente de todo nuestro sufrimiento en esta vida. No solo es el número limitado de días que cada uno de nosotros tiene en la tierra, sino también los límites físicos, emocionales e incluso espirituales que tenemos. Estos límites nos causan dolor porque nunca encontramos plenamente la satisfacción de nuestros deseos, y porque en nuestra búsqueda a menudo elegimos el pecado reaccionando por miedo, dolor, egoísmo, y a través de este pecado causamos más dolor. Por supuesto, el mayor de estos dolores es la muerte, cuando parece que el límite o nuestra vida alcanza la finalidad y rompe los lazos de amor que tenemos con los demás. De hecho, todo este sufrimiento apunta a una verdad más profunda, una verdad que Jesucristo revela en su propia vida, muerte y
resurrección. En Jesús, Dios mismo entró en nuestras vidas limitadas, abrazó nuestra vida de sufrimiento y rompió los límites de esta vida, ofreciendo a todos los que lo aman y lo siguen el cumplimiento de sus deseos más profundos en una vida de comunión eterna con él y su Padre en el Espíritu Santo. ¿El hecho de que fuimos hechos para el cielo significa que nunca encontraremos ninguna felicidad aquí? ¿Nos hace menos comprometidos con la construcción de un mundo mejor? No, hace lo contrario. Cuando meditamos en nuestro fin final con Dios nos permite dar sentido al sufrimiento que soportamos en esta vida. Comenzamos a ver el sufrimiento de esta vida como parte de nuestro servicio a Dios, así como Jesús abrazó el sufrimiento por amor a nosotros. A través del sufrimiento vencemos el pecado y nos entregamos a él. No tiene sentido y puede conducir a una felicidad más profunda. Cuando meditamos más sobre cómo fuimos hechos para Dios, ¡nos hace querer entregarnos a él ahora! Significa que cada día nos ofrece un anticipo del cielo, una oportunidad de acercarnos a él. Desde nuestra participación en la santa misa (que es un anticipo de unión con Dios y nos prepara para ella), hasta dar nuestra vida al servicio de los demás, siempre estamos tratando de acercarnos a la que amamos aquí y ahora mientras nos preparamos para el cielo. Servir a los demás se convierte en una
manera de servir a Jesús, como él mismo nos dijo al describir cómo seremos juzgados al final: “Les aseguro que todo lo que hicieron por uno de mis hermanos, aun por el más pequeño, lo hicieron por mí”. (Mateo 25:40). Una de las bendiciones de mi vida es ver a tantos en la arquidiócesis dar de sí mismos por los demás de esta manera. Viven hoy en preparación para el cielo. Incluyen maestros de escuelas católicas que encontré en la Cumbre de Escuelas Católicas del Centro de Excelencia de escuelas católicas, que generosamente sirven en las escuelas para compartir la vida de Jesucristo con sus estudiantes. Entre ellos se encuentran los cientos de personas generosas que asistieron a un banquete reciente para Los Recursos para el Embarazo de Abria porque quieren hacer presente el amor de Cristo a las mujeres y a los hombres en los embarazos de crisis; y las jóvenes y los hombres que asistieron a nuestras recientes cenas vocacionales, que están discerniendo el don de toda su vida en la vida religiosa o en el sacerdocio. Muchas personas en nuestra arquidiócesis están dejando que el final dé forma a la forma en que viven hoy en día. Y estos son sólo algunos de los grupos que experimenté en las últimas semanas. Este mes la Iglesia nos invita a meditar sobre nuestro fin. Dejemos que ese fin forme la forma en que vivimos hoy, buscando el cumplimiento de nuestros deseos para acercarnos a él.
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l mes de noviembre comienza con la solemnidad de Todos los Santos, donde recordamos a todos los santos de Dios que fueron vencedores en la gran contienda de la vida y amaron a Dios con todo su corazón, alma, mente y fuerza. Estos héroes, nuestros hermanos y hermanas, están experimentando en el cielo la alegría perfecta por la que nuestros corazones anhelan. El segundo día de noviembre es la fiesta de todas las almas, invitándonos a orar por todos nuestros familiares y amigos fallecidos, pidiendo al Señor en su misericordia que los limpie de los defectos de sus pecados en el purgatorio para que puedan ser admitidos en el eterno banquete celestial. Además, el mes de noviembre termina con la fiesta de Cristo Rey, 24 de noviembre. Este último domingo del año litúrgico nos invita a meditar sobre el fin de los tiempos, cuando Cristo regresará para establecer finalmente y plenamente su reino y juzgar a los vivos y a los muertos, dando a todos los que han vivido por él la misericordia que buscan. El punto es claro. Todo el mes de noviembre nos centra en nuestro fin, el objetivo de nuestra vida, que es el cielo.
When we meditate more on how we were made for God, it makes us want to give ourselves to him now! It means that every day offers us a foretaste of heaven, a chance to draw closer to him.
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NOVEMBER 7, 2019
LOCAL
SLICEof LIFE
Raking for those who can’t
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Orlando Jones Sr., Kaia Finne and Adriana Meza make piles of leaves during the 14th annual St. Raphael Catholic School Rake-A-Thon Oct. 26. Teams of students who attend the Crystal school and their families visited homes to help those unable to rake, while also raising money for the school. Jones, a parent; Finne, a third-grader; and Meza, an eighth-grader, were at adjoining homes belonging to Diana Bourque and her daughter, Julie, whose daughter, Hope, is a kindergartner at St. Raphael. Diana and Julie, who both belong to St. Gerard in Brooklyn Park, have physical disabilities that make it hard for them to rake. Julie, 39, said she was deeply touched to have students and parents come to rake both yards. “I’m just so thankful,” she said. “God is trying to teach me how to accept where I’m at and accept help. ... For sure, he is the driving force behind all of this.”
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Archbishop, county attorney share panel on restorative justice By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit A justice system that too often is adversarial can be renewed with efforts to promote healing as well as justice, panelists and a keynote speaker said Oct. 25 at a law school symposium on restorative justice in Minneapolis. The day’s last panel of presenters represented such an effort — Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Tim O’Malley of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Assistant County Attorney Stephanie Wiersma. The panel discussion at the University of St. Thomas School of Law addressed the impact of restorative justice as part of the archdiocese’s settlement agreement with Ramsey County over criminal and civil charges of failing to protect children in a clergy sexual abuse case. Final words came from Frank Meuers, a victimsurvivor of clergy sexual abuse and the southwest Minnesota chapter director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. For years, Church officials failed to adequately respond when victims of clergy sexual abuse told their stories in hopes appropriate action would be taken, Meuers said. But that is changing. “It’s beginning to happen now,” he said during his talk, which ended with him shaking the hands of Choi, Archbishop Hebda and the other panelists. The archdiocese’s efforts since the 2015 agreement to meet the needs of victimsurvivors have been driven by advice from victim-survivors such as Meuers. They include healing circles, with Church officials acknowledging the harm
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Frank Meuers, right, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, greets Ramsey County Attorney John Choi after delivering remarks at a symposium on restorative justice at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis Oct. 25. At left is Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who also shook hands with Meuers after he spoke. In the foreground is Tom Johnson, an independent ombudsman for those who have suffered clergy sex abuse. done by clergy sexual abuse and people taking turns in parishes and other settings to talk about how the abuse crisis has affected them, their faith and feelings about the Church. Some victim-survivors meet regularly with O’Malley, director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment for the archdiocese, and others in O’Malley’s office. Archbishop Hebda formally opened his door every Friday from February to April to talk with victimsurvivors who wanted to meet with him. Such meetings began before February and they have continued since April, the archbishop said. “I feel so blessed by the number of
people who have stepped forward to have these discussions with me,” Archbishop Hebda said. Moderating the panel was Tom Johnson, independent ombudsman for clergy sexual abuse for the archdiocese, chosen jointly by the archdiocese and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Johnson noted the conflict between the archdiocese and the county attorney’s office as law enforcement investigated accusations of clergy sexual abuse. “Looking back at five years ago, the parties here were at serious odds,” Johnson said, stressing that he was excited to see the two sides now working together to promote healing. Archbishop Hebda and O’Malley
Ready to roll Parish ambassadors are key part of synod preparation By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit James O’Laughlin of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie left an Oct. 21 training session as a parish ambassador for the Archdiocesan Synod ready to share with and listen to his fellow parishioners. “I had a lot of questions going in,” he said. “It was good to gain a better understanding of what Archbishop (Bernard) Hebda is trying to do.” O’Laughlin was joined by about 300 others at Our Lady of Grace in Edina for the last of 10 parish ambassador training sessions that were held this fall across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. More than 1,200 people — with representatives from 148 of the archdiocese’s parishes — are now trained as ambassadors to answer questions and encourage involvement in preparations for the 2021 Synod, which will address pastoral needs of the archdiocese. Anyone with a question or suggestions about the synod can discuss it with an ambassador in their parish, in addition to their pastor and archdiocesan officials involved in the process, said Father Joseph Bambenek, co-director of the synod executive committee and a leader of the ambassador training sessions. “It’s how the Church works in general,” Father Bambenek said. “There’s one priest but there’s thousands of people. We’re all called to be missionaries to the world.” The training event in Edina made clear to O’Laughlin that the first order of business is praying for the synod,
JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Kim Kishel-Geiger of St. Michael in Farmington and James O’Laughlin of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie talk with others at their table at an Oct. 21 parish ambassador training session at Our Lady of Grace in Edina. as well as listening to and inviting people to participate in prayer and listening events that are being held across the archdiocese. It’s also clear that Archbishop Hebda wants to hear from everyone about pastoral successes and challenges in the archdiocese. That includes practicing Catholics, those who might have fallen away and those who are intrigued by the faith, O’Laughlin said. “There are no preconceived answers before we actually hear what people have to say,” he said. Six prayer and listening events have been held thus far. Archbishop Hebda plans to be at every session. Upcoming gatherings include 6-9 p.m. Nov. 7 at St. Wenceslaus, 15 Main St. E., New Prague; 6-9 p.m. Nov. 15 at All Saints, 19795 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville, and a bilingual session in English and Vietnamese 1-4 p.m. Nov. 17 at St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien, 2627 Queen Ave. N., Minneapolis. Another 10 sessions will be held from January through March next year. Eleven other prayer and
credited Choi with bringing the concept of restorative justice to the settlement agreement. “I was intrigued by it,” Archbishop Hebda said, “and as I learned more I became more committed.” Titled “Restorative Justice, Law and Healing,” the daylong Law Journal Fall Symposium was sponsored by the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy. Advice for the more than 300 law students, attorneys and others in the legal field who attended the symposium included thinking outside the box and going beyond attempts to win a case by keeping worthy goals in mind. Keynote speaker Jeanne Bishop, an assistant public defender in Chicago, told her story of reconciling with the man who murdered her sister along with her sister’s husband and their unborn child, as well as the story of healing between the father of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the father of one of McVeigh’s victims. Bishop has told those stories in books: her 2015 “Change of Heart: Justice, Mercy and Making Peace with My Sister’s Killer” and “Grace from the Rubble: Two Fathers’ Road to Reconciliation after the Oklahoma City Bombing,” scheduled to be released in April 2020. Her sister, Bishop said, pointed the way to forgiveness in her final action before dying: Using her own blood, she drew a heart and the letter “U” near her husband’s body. Bishop believes that final action, “Love you,” was her sister’s blessing on her husband and the world. “She had the last word that night, and it was love,” Bishop said. “That’s why I hope we talk about love a lot more, in law schools and everywhere.”
listening events are targeting specific groups, such as youth, college students, Catholic school principals, clergy, and seniors in retirement and assisted living facilities. Leaders also want to make clear that the archdiocesan synod is not related to the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, which just finished in Rome. Parish ambassadors are expected to make their presence known through parish bulletin and pulpit announcements, to encourage friends and fellow parishioners directly, and to place posters and other synod material in parishes and schools. They also are to help their parishes prepare to hold small group meetings about the synod next fall. The time and attention to encouraging prayer and listening demonstrate Archbishop Hebda’s desire to give people time to think about the archdiocese’s pastoral needs and direction, O’Laughlin said. Parish ambassadors already are busy, including Joseph Odell at St. Peter in North St. Paul, who is the liaison to the pastoral council for that parish’s 20-member ambassador team. The team has addressed the congregation after Masses, put up synod posters and handed out prayer cards, Odell said. It is reaching out to all groups in the parish, including the Knights of Columbus, the Holy Family Guild and a community from West Africa, he said. Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa Kathleen Hayes at Divine Mercy in Faribault is reaching out to parishioners as part of that parish’s ambassador team. A pastoral care assistant at the parish, Sister Kathleen said she is helping not only as a staff member, but as a parishioner. “I think it’s so wonderful that the archbishop is taking the time and effort to pull people together, to hear what they have to say is going well and not going well, and their vision for the archdiocese in the next five to 10 years,” Sister Kathleen said.
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6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Catholic Charities completes Dorothy Day Place ST. PAUL — The second and final phase of a $100 million campus to assist the homeless and people at risk of homelessness opened Oct. 23 with 177 units of permanent housing and a social services center. Dorothy Day Place, run by Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, combines a 365-bed emergency shelter, 370 dorm-like apartments as permanent homes, and social and health services on a campus in downtown St. Paul. Modeled after Catholic Charities’ Higher Ground effort in Minneapolis, the first phase of Dorothy Day Place opened in 2017 with a Higher Ground homeless shelter, medical respite and 193 units of permanent housing. The largest public-private partnership of its kind in Minnesota history, Dorothy Day Place is expected to serve an estimated 1,000 people each day.
Archbishop submits report on Crookston bishop ST. PAUL — Under protocols issued this year by Pope Francis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda has submitted a report to the Congregation of Bishops in Rome regarding an allegation against Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston. Qualified lay persons, including staff from the archdiocese’s Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment and other experts, conducted the investigation, the archbishop said in a Nov. 5 statement. Bishop Hoeppner was accused of actions or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct in the Crookston diocese. At the request of the Holy See, the archbishop oversaw the preliminary investigation as the metropolitan for the province of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Any further steps will be determined by the Holy See.
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
Four parishes win new stewardship awards By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Prayer, participation and generosity — three key aspects of stewardship — were on display Nov. 2 at the inaugural archdiocesan Pillars of Stewardship Awards. Ministries in four parishes were recognized at a gathering at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie: Pax Christi, St. Joseph in Waconia, St. Hubert in Chanhassen and St. Therese in Deephaven. People in those ministries also discussed the efforts that earned them recognition. “The Pillars of Stewardship Award winners seem to have embraced the spirit of stewardship in word and deed,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement. “The good work of this year’s winners extends well beyond parish walls and offers us, as an archdiocese, models to follow in embodying stewardship as a way of life.” Sponsored by the Office of Stewardship and Development and created at the urging of its Stewardship Committee, the awards offer an opportunity to honor and promote best practices, communicate the fact that stewardship is a way of life and thank those who put in the work. “It’s good to recognize those in the community doing a nice job of being disciples,” said Tom Remmel, development associate in the stewardship office and a member of the nine-person committee of stewardship leaders. Meeting financial needs of the Church is one aspect of stewardship, but prayer and participation are critical as well and should be recognized, Remmel said. Parish ministries can be nominated or nominate themselves for a Stewardship Award, nicknamed the “Stewies.” Stewardship Committee members judge the awards. Suggestions for next year’s awards will be accepted through June 15 at archspm.org/stewies.
2019 ‘STEWIES’ WINNERS uPrayer: St. Joseph, Waconia The award recognized the parish’s Christ Renews His Parish program, a faith formation and community building effort begun four years ago that has led to increased Mass attendance, deeper friendships among parishioners and more participation in small groups such as Bible studies and Catholic book clubs. uParticipation: St. Hubert, Chanhassen The award recognized the parish’s Men’s Ministry team, which hosts brewery nights, bowling and curling, as well as speakers, retreats and a Catholic Watchman rally. Charitable efforts include packing meals for the homeless and hungry at Feed My Starving Children. u Generosity (tie): Pax Christi, Eden Prairie, and St. Therese, Deephaven Pax Christi launched a Parish Endowment campaign in 2017 designed to protect the core values and ministries of the parish, particularly social justice and lifelong learning. Staff and leadership used a $25,000 challenge match from the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota and raised an additional $225,000 in three months to launch the endowment. The fund is promoted and has grown in two years to more than $400,000. St. Therese launched a Confidence in Jesus capital campaign in 2016 to retire $4.8 million in debt. Through prayer and initiative, the capital campaign gathered pledges that exceeded the debt, and the parish became debt free in January. The parish also has purchased a new baptismal font, updated buildings and facilities and expanded ministries to the poor. Efforts to help people in need include parish volunteers maintaining a garden and donating the food to a local food shelf.
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
NATION+WORLD
Biden denied Communion at Mass during stop in South Carolina By Deirdre C. Mays Catholic News Service Former Vice President Joe Biden attended the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony in Florence, South Carolina, Oct. 27 and when he presented himself to receive the Eucharist was refused by the pastor. “Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Father Robert Morey wrote in a statement responding to queries from the Florence Morning News. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.” At the heart of that teaching is Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law which states that holy Communion should not be given to two groups of persons: those who are excommunicated or interdicted, and those “who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.” Biden, campaigning for his 2020 bid for president, was in South Carolina Oct. 26-27 attending a town hall meeting in Florence and a justice forum in Columbia. He identifies himself as Catholic and attends Mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware. After the incident was publicized, the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, issued a statement saying: “The Church’s teachings on the protection of human life from the moment of conception is clear and wellknown.” It said Wilmington Bishop Francis Malooly has “consistently refrained from politicizing the Eucharist and will continue to do so. His preference, as with most bishops, is to interact with politicians individually who disagree with significant Church teachings.” Bishop Malooly in the Sept. 4, 2008, edition of The Dialog, Wilmington’s diocesan newspaper, addressed the issue of politics and Communion, specifically concerning Biden, shortly before his installation. “I look forward to the opportunity to enter into a dialogue on a number of issues with Sen. Biden and other Catholic leaders in the Diocese of Wilmington,” the bishop said in an interview that was published four days before he was installed as bishop of Wilmington. “However, I do not intend to get drawn into partisan politics nor do I intend to politicize the Eucharist as a way of communicating Catholic Church teachings,” he said. The bishop said it is “critical to
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Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks Oct. 26, 2019, at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. keep the lines of communication open if the Church is going to make her teachings understood and, please God, accepted. It is my belief that Catholics of all occupations have the same duty to examine their own consciences before determining their worthiness for the reception of Communion. I think I will get a lot more mileage out of a conversation trying to change the mind and heart than I would out of a public confrontation,” he added. The bishop has not wavered from this stance, The Dialog reported Oct. 29. The issue of Catholic politicians supporting abortion has been addressed at every level of the Catholic Church. In 2004, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote a memo on “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles.” In it he stated: “Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.” “This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin,” Cardinal Ratzinger wrote. In his statement, Father Morey offered his prayers for Biden. “As a priest, it is my responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to my care, and I must do so even in the most difficult situations,” he stated.
Biden’s stance on abortion has changed over his career. He initially opposed the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions. In June, however, he reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of Medicaid funding for abortion. In an Oct. 5 tweet, he wrote: “Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and we must fight any and all attempts to overturn it. As president, I will codify Roe into law and ensure this choice remains between a woman and her doctor.” Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary in Greenville, expressed support for Father Morey in an email to The Catholic Miscellany, newspaper of the Diocese of Charleston. “As a canon lawyer, my own conviction is that Catholic politicians who support abortion do fall under the exclusion described by Canon 915 and that Father Morey arguably has the law on his side,” he said. “Moreover, the law does not restrict to the diocesan bishop the decision to exclude from Communion someone who fits either category of Canon 915, so Father Morey did not exceed his authority.” “Perhaps the best analogy to this matter is the decision of several bishops during the struggle for civil rights to exclude from holy Communion those Catholic politicians who continued to oppose full integration for African Americans,” Father Newman continued. “The archbishop of New Orleans, for example, was widely applauded for his courage in taking that step.” The U.S. bishops have taken up this issue of Catholic politicians and Communion in years past. In 2003, the bishops formed a Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians to examine the relationship between Catholic teachings and public policy. In a June 2004 statement — which was heavily criticized in some U.S. Catholic quarters — the task force said there can be no hard-and-fast national rule forbidding Catholic politicians from receiving Communion if they adopt public policy stands that are in opposition to Church teaching on fundamental moral issues such as abortion or euthanasia or samesex marriage. It said it was up to each bishop to seek to educate and persuade Catholic politicians on Church teachings in such areas and to make case-by-case pastoral decisions whether certain members of their diocese should be told not to present themselves for Communion.
HEADLINES u USCCB president disinvites Bishop Bransfield from fall assembly. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has taken the highly unusual step of disinviting a fellow bishop from the conference’s fall general assembly. The decision affects Bishop Michael Bransfield, retired bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, who left his position in September 2018 under a cloud of allegations of sexual and financial misconduct. Pope Francis accepted Bishop Bransfield’s resignation Sept. 13, 2018. The USCCB meets Nov. 11-13 in Baltimore. In an Oct. 31 letter, Bishop Bransfield’s successor, Bishop Mark Brennan, told Catholics in the statewide diocese he was working to have his predecessor “make amends for harm he caused during his tenure” as mandated by Pope Francis. u Papal trip planned to Thailand and Japan. After spending most of October at the Vatican working with the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon and dedicating the first two weeks of November to “ad limina” visits with bishops from the United States, Pope Francis will travel to Thailand and Japan Nov. 19-26. u HHS issues proposal on faith-based agencies’ adoption, foster placements Nov. 1. The Trump administration’s proposed rule would allow faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to follow their deeply held religious beliefs and not place children with same-sex couples. Under the proposal, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these agencies would not be excluded from certain federally funded programs for adhering to their belief in traditional marriage. The chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ committees on domestic policy, defense of marriage and religious liberty welcomed the move that would overturn an Obama administration rule. u B ishops say measure provides for respectful ‘disposition’ of fetal remains. A bill in Congress to require respectful disposition of fetal remains from abortions as well as accountability from the abortion industry “is in keeping with society’s treatment of all other deceased persons,” said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee. In an Oct. 31 letter to lawmakers urging they support the Dignity for Aborted Children Act, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, cited the shocking discovery in September and October of fetal remains in rural Illinois on property once owned by a now-deceased abortion doctor who for many years ran clinics in nearby Indiana. The Dignity for Aborted Children Act was introduced in the Senate in Sept. 27 by Republican Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun of Indiana. u With new decree, pope makes Vatican Secret Archives no longer ‘secret.’ Citing the negative misinterpretations that the word “secret” implies, Pope Francis has changed the name of the Vatican Secret Archives to the Vatican Apostolic Archives. In a decree, issued “motu proprio,” on the pope’s own initiative, and published by the Vatican Oct. 28, the pope said that semantic changes over the centuries have caused the meaning of the Latin word for “secret” to “be misunderstood” and “to be colored with ambiguous, even negative nuances.” The “Archivum Secretum Vaticanum” was founded by Pope Paul V in 1612. The term “secret” was commonly used in the 17th century as something that is “private, separate, reserved,” the pope explained. While the archives always have been the pope’s private collection, they have been open to scholars conducting research since 1881. u Appeals court rules against Little Sisters of the Poor over HHS mandate. The Little Sisters of the Poor lost another round in court Oct. 22 when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled 2 to 1 against the religious order getting a religious exemption from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate under a 2017 Trump administration rule. In their majority decision in the State of California v. Little Sisters of the Poor, two judges said allowing an exemption for religious groups such as the Little Sisters flies in the face of the Affordable Care Act. u Vatican releases book compiling pope’s theology of ecology Oct. 24. “Our Mother Earth: A Christian Reading of the Environmental Challenge” includes a compilation of passages from Pope Francis’ documents, texts, homilies and speeches focusing on the environment. The book underlines that the pope’s appeal to care for creation is an appeal to care about life — for all people, including the unborn, and the creatures, land and resources that human life depends on. — Catholic News Service More national, world news at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NATION+WORLD
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
U.S. bishops set to begin their ‘ad limina’ visits to Rome By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service The bishops of every diocese in the United States have prepared detailed reports on the life of the Catholic Church in their dioceses and have made or are making reservations to fly to Rome. The U.S. bishops’ visits “ad limina apostolorum” — “to the threshold of the apostles” — began Nov. 4 with a group from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Throughout November, December, January and February, another 14 groups of U.S. bishops will travel to Rome; the visits should conclude Feb. 22 with the bishops of the Eastern Catholic churches in the United States. The preparation of the reports and the scheduling of hour-long meetings at various offices of the Roman Curia can give the visits an appearance of being a business meeting.
LOCAL BISHOPS TO MEET WITH POPE FRANCIS JAN. 13 Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis are among bishops who will be traveling to Rome in the next few months to report on their dioceses to Pope Francis. Their “ad limina” visit will be Jan. 13 with bishops from all dioceses in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. At Archbishop Hebda’s invitation, a group of 27 young adults from the archdiocese will accompany their bishops on the pilgrimage to Rome. — The Catholic Spirit But, as the “Directory for the ‘Ad Limina’ Visit” makes clear, the bishops’ visits are a pilgrimage with “a very definite purpose: that is, the strengthening of their own responsibility as successors of the Apostles and of their hierarchical communion with the Successor of Peter. The point of reference is a visit to the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul, pastors and pillars of the Roman Church.” And, in fact, at the heart of the bishops’ pilgrimage are Masses at the Rome basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul
Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major. For many bishops, the highlight is the meeting with the pope, but over the past 35 years, those meetings have changed significantly because of the increased number of bishops in the world. Canon law calls for the visits to occur every five years. That hasn’t happened since early in the pontificate of St. John Paul II. Just before Pope Benedict XVI stepped down in early 2013, the
Vatican had announced that it took seven years, but he had hosted the ad limina visits of the heads of every diocese in the world. A couple hours later, though, the bishops of the Netherlands pointed out that they hadn’t had their visits with Pope Benedict. In the end, they had to wait until December 2013 when they were among the first bishops to have an ad limina with Pope Francis. The U.S. bishops’ last ad limina visits were eight years ago — in 2011-12. According to the latest statistics released by the Vatican, there are now 3,017 dioceses, prelatures and vicariates around the world. When St. John Paul II was elected in 1978 there were 2,423. St. John Paul would meet privately with each and every head of a diocese during the ad limina visits; he would invite groups of them to his morning Mass; and he would give a speech to each group. Midway through his pontificate, Pope Benedict adopted a modified format, meeting with 7-10 bishops at a time instead of having individual encounters. He also cut down on the number of speeches he gave — for example, giving formal addresses to only five of the 15 groups of U.S. bishops in 2011-12. The format changes have continued under Pope Francis. His regular practice now is to meet each group together — with sometimes 20 bishops sitting in a circle in the papal library — devoting between 90 minutes and two hours to a free-wheeling discussion. According to bishops who have made their ad limina visits in the last year, Pope Francis tells the bishops they are free to comment about or ask him anything. Then, using a soccer metaphor, he tells them the ball is in play and whoever wants to kick things off can.
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NOVEMBER 7, 2019
NATION+WORLD
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
Christians must shun self-worship, pope says at synod’s final Mass By Barbara Fraser Catholic News Service Poor people from the Amazon have shown that God’s creation must be treated “not as a resource to be exploited but as a home to be preserved, with trust in God,” Pope Francis said. He celebrated Mass Oct. 27 to mark the end of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, which brought together bishops, priests and religious, and lay men and women, including indigenous people, from the nine Amazonian countries. Synod participants, some wearing their native dress and feathered headdresses, led the procession into St. Peter’s Basilica. During the offertory, an indigenous woman presented the pope with a plant. Their presence was a reminder of the pope’s rebuke to a bishop who had made a derogatory comment about an indigenous man wearing his headdress at the synod’s opening Mass on Oct. 6. Instead of using a crosier made of precious metals, the pope carried a carved wooden crosier that the Vatican said was a gift from the synod. During the assembly, participants described the environmental devastation and social problems caused by mining in the Amazon. Pope Francis’ homily about the Gospel parable of the selfrighteous Pharisee and the tax collector drew parallels to the situation in the Amazon. It also appeared to address critics who have called the synod heretical. The Pharisee was “the most pious and devout figure of the time, and the tax collector, the public sinner par excellence,” Pope Francis said. But in Jesus’ eyes, “the one who is good but presumptuous fails; the one who is a disaster but humble is exalted by God.” The Pharisee “stands in the temple of God, but he practices another religion, the religion of ‘I,’ and many popular groups, Christian and Catholic, follow this path,” Pope Francis said. “The drama of this man is that he is without love.” In contrast, the tax collector’s prayer for mercy “is born from the heart,” the pope said. “To pray is to stand before God’s eyes, without illusions, excuses or justifications.” Everyone is both Pharisee and tax collector, the pope said. “We are a bit tax collectors because we are sinners, and a bit Pharisees because we are … masters of the art of self-justification.” The Pharisee’s attitude is apparent in “those who are prominent” considering others to be “backward and of little worth, despise their traditions, erase their history, occupy their lands and usurp their goods,” he added.
The pope’s words echoed the accounts of indigenous observers at the synod, who described a history of plundering of timber, rubber, minerals and other natural resources in the Amazon. That rapaciousness has displaced people from their land and spurred violence, including human trafficking and the murder of people who try to defend their territories. “In this synod we have had the grace of listening to the voices of the poor and reflecting on the precariousness of their lives,” Pope Francis said. The “scarred face of the Amazon region,” he said, shows that past experience has not been enough “to stop the plundering of other persons and the inflicting of wounds on our brothers and sisters and on our sister earth.” The pope’s language throughout the synod has echoed the words of his namesake, St. Francis, who praised God through his brothers, wind and air, and his sister, Mother Earth. Nevertheless, the gathering was sharply criticized by some Catholic groups that claimed it was heretical. The critics, who were active on social media during the synod, also claimed that a carved image of a pregnant indigenous woman that was used during some prayer services was a pagan idol. (See sidebar.) Pope Francis urged his listeners to reflect on “whether we, too, may think that someone is inferior and can be tossed aside, even if only in our words.” “Self-worship carries on hypocritically with its rites and ‘prayers,’” the pope said, adding that many people who fall into self-worship “profess to be Catholics, but have forgotten to be Christians and human beings, forgetting the true worship of God, which is always expressed in love of one’s neighbor.” Calling the poor “the gatekeepers of heaven,” he said, “they were not considered bosses in this life. They did not put themselves ahead of others. They had their wealth in God alone. These persons are living icons of Christian prophecy.” The pope paused during his homily to acknowledge the presence of “the poorest people of our most developed societies, the sick from the L’Arche Community,” who were seated in the front rows in the basilica. He encouraged his listeners to “associate with the poor, to remind ourselves that we are poor, to remind ourselves that the salvation of God operates only in an atmosphere of interior poverty.” “Let us pray for the grace to be able to listen to the cry of the poor,” Pope Francis said. “This is the cry of hope of the Church.”
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A wooden statue of a pregnant woman is pictured Oct. 18. Copies of the statue were stolen and thrown into the Tiber River Oct. 21.
Pope apologizes that statues were vandalized Pope Francis apologized that two men entered a church near the Vatican, took controversial statues and tossed them into the Tiber River. “As bishop of the diocese, I apologize,” he said Oct. 25, the first time the full membership of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon had gathered since the statues were taken from a Rome church Oct. 21. The men posted a video of their actions on social media, drawing worldwide attention. Referring to the statue as “Pachamama,” Pope Francis told bishops at the synod that the statues had been displayed in the Rome church “without any idolatrous intention,” although the men who took the statues claimed on social media that they did so because the statues were idols. The pope also said that the statues, which floated, had been recovered undamaged by Italian police. Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, told reporters Oct. 21 that the statues “represented life, fertility, Mother Earth.” The statue was present Oct. 4 when Pope Francis planted a tree in the Vatican Gardens and entrusted the synod to St. Francis of Assisi. It was used again Oct. 7 during a prayer and procession from the Basilica of St. Peter to the Vatican synod hall and early Oct. 19 as synod members and supporters prayed the Stations of the Cross on the main street leading to St. Peter’s Square. In a YouTube video posted Nov. 4, an Austrian man took credit for the theft, explaining that he saw the statues as a violation of the First Commandment. — Catholic News Service
SYNOD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Most of the proposals of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, including the idea of ordaining some married men, are deliberately specific suggestions that would apply only to the Amazon region, Bishop McElroy said. However, he said, the proposal to continue to study the possibility of opening the permanent diaconate to women — a proposal Pope Francis said he accepted Oct. 26 — would have implications for the Church globally. The bishop attended the synod Oct. 6-27 as one of only two U.S. bishops participating. The other was Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. The synod’s final document includes a series of proposals, he said, including: having a regional structure to promote cooperation among BISHOP dioceses in the nine Amazon ROBERT MCELROY countries; improving formation programs and the development of lay ministries; and “to try to get more priests -— to get more celibate priests.” The proposal to ordain “viri probati,” men of proven virtue, even if they are married, was seen as one way to bring the Eucharist and other sacraments to communities that are very remote and may have access to Communion only once a year, he said. For his own diocese, he said, “I think the role of women and the question of the diaconate is an important one to follow up on.” When Pope Francis said Oct. 26 that he would reconvene or expand the commission he set up in 2016 to study the role of women deacons in the New Testament and early Church, “that signals to me there’s new life to that proposal,” Bishop McElroy said. Within the synod, he said, “there was tremendous visceral support for the work women are doing in the Amazon” and “that’s why the support was so strong on the diaconate question.” And when discussing women deacons, the bishop said, synod members did not frame it as a possibility only for the Amazon in an emergency situation. As for the proposal to ordain married men, Bishop McElroy said that in the synod speeches “you see the dilemma that is posed when a sacramental Church doesn’t have access to the sacraments.” Celibacy as a general requirement for Latin-rite priests in the Catholic Church was “undiluted” in the synod, he added. Almost all the participants who asked for the ordination of married men told the assembly: “Celibacy is the norm for us. We want more celibate priests; that’s our first effort.” In the end, the synod asked for the ordination of some permanent deacons, which, the bishop said, means years of preparation. “This is not going to be some massive shift that occurs in the region.” Synod members also were clear that they were asking for a special pastoral provision for isolated Amazon villages, he said. “They kept reiterating this is an emergency situation for faith communities that only get the Eucharist once a year.” The proposal is “very delimited,” he said, and applies only to the Amazon. In many ways, Bishop McElroy said, the synod is asking for a similar pastoral provision to that provided to the Catholic Church’s Anglican Ordinariates, which ordain as priests married men who had served as Anglican pastors. Despite the poverty and violence in the Amazon, he said, there was a “sense of joy amid the challenge” that all the Amazonian participants shared with the synod. “There was a sense of God’s presence, of God leading them” and helping them “come to a consensus on a variety of points that might have been contentious before this process began.” The biggest synod issue with implications beyond the region is the ecological one, he said. The synod issued calls to protect the environment by reducing the use of plastic and petroleum products, by reducing CO2 emissions and by halting the clearing of forests to create pastures for cattle. “Later is too late,” the bishop said, quoting a line his small group proposed for the final document. “We are rapidly approaching the point that we will have stolen the future from new generations.”
10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 7 , 2019
ADOPTION
Reel Hope videos highlight foster care children in need of permanent families By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit
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aycee Stanley and her husband, Pete, had decided on adoption to build their family. Specifically, adoption from foster care. “We would get enthusiasm and support when we shared our interest to adopt, but that would change to concern and doubt when we said we wanted to adopt a foster care child,” Stanley said. “It broke our hearts. And I thought, how can we help change the narrative about foster care adoptions?” Stanley, a former youth minister at a Lutheran church in Elk River who now lives in Robbinsdale, notes that children age 6 or younger tend to get adopted fairly quickly from foster care. “It’s after that, age 7, 8 or 9, where kids start getting stuck in the system. We don’t see them. They’re invisible,” he said. And the need is great. As of August 2019, 905 Minnesota children were in need of adoptive families, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Many of those are in foster care, which finds temporary homes for
children whose parents are struggling and unable to care for them, with the goal of finding a permanent home that is nurturing, safe, stable and supportive. Inspired by America’s Kids Belong, a Colorado program that makes foster children the stars of their own stories with photos and videos, Stanley founded The Reel Hope Project in September 2016, with a mission of a “forever family” for every child. Reel Hope’s lead videographer, Daniel Luedtke, makes two-minute profile videos of Minnesota children waiting to be adopted. Funding for the nonprofit effort comes from private donations, primarily within the faith community, resulting in 107 videos to date. “Around 60 of those children have been matched with families, and one thing we celebrate is how many families — over 250 since we began — that we are connecting to adoption agencies to start the process,” said Stanley, who oversees a staff of four, manages
November is National Adoption Awareness Month Kaycee and Pete Stanley hold their son, Martez, for a family picture June 24 at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. COURTESY KIM BERGGREN
fundraising, builds relationships with counties and adoption agencies, manages the video shoot and editing process, and speaks weekly at churches and at events throughout the year. As a Christian organization, Reel Hope reaches out to the faith community through fundraising and church visits, introducing children to as many people as possible through the videos. “We really feel that people of faith are called to adoption,” Stanley said. Jennifer Mak, pastoral care director at St. Joseph in West St. Paul, recently invited Stanley to give presentations after Sunday Masses. “There was a lot of positive feedback from our parishioners, and an increased openness to look more seriously into adopting kids in need of families,” Mak said. “Reel Hope makes the need visible. ... These are real children, with real stories, and a dignity and purpose given to them by God.” “The people at Reel Hope have been called to a very special mission,” said Nancy Schulte Palacheck, family and laity coordinator in the Office of Marriage, Family and Life in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
“If we can encourage each Catholic parish to showcase these children, can you imagine the possibility of having no more children waiting for adoption here in Minnesota?” Providing the videos at no cost, Stanley works with a number of adoption agencies as well as MNAdopt, which contracts with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and officials in Minnesota counties who advocate for the adoption and foster care systems. Social workers determine the level of exposure each video gets — for example, whether a video appears on the Reel Hope website or social media, or if it is used in recruitment efforts at faith communities and events. “Reel Hope videos have been instrumental in helping with multiple matches and adoptions of youth I serve,” said Bambi Holloway, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Child-Focused Adoption recruiter at Kindred Family Focus in Waite Park, Minnesota’s largest private, nonprofit foster care, adoption and home-based care agency, based in Plymouth. “A 16-year-old young lady was a little nervous about doing her video shoot but ended up having so much fun, allowing her personality to shine,” Holloway said. “That’s what drew in her permanent family, and her adoption should be finalized in the next six months.” Reel Hope works closely with the social worker to plan the video shoot and make sure the child feels comfortable. “They bring kids to life which is so important when helping families see the whole kid, not just what is on paper,” Holloway said. The Stanleys recently fulfilled their dream of building their family through the adoption of their 13-year-old son, Martez, whom Kaycee met on a video shoot. “Martez is the sweetest boy and fits with our family; it’s going really great,” Stanley said. “It’s very clear the Holy Spirit let things process.”
If you suspect abuse of a minor, your first call should be to law enforcement. You are also encouraged to contact the archdiocese’s Victim Assistance Program at (651) 291-4475. For confidential, compassionate assistance from an independent and professional local care provider, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contact Canvas Health at (651) 291-4497.
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
ADOPTION
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11
Wisconsin couple says adoption is a blessing, gift and ‘roller coaster of emotions’ By Benjamin Wideman Catholic News Service
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fter David and Maria Schuette got married in 2015, they wanted a family right away, but months later they found out that infertility issues would likely prevent them from having children of their own. “It was tough knowing that everything I thought about growing a family as a little girl ... it wasn’t going to happen that way,” Maria told The Compass, diocesan newspaper of Green Bay, Wisconsin. “So there was a lot of pain and sadness over the loss of what we thought growing our family would look like.” David agreed. “The pain we were experiencing was a combination of the infertility and the unknowns of adoption. Even when making the decision to adopt, we were fearful it would take five years, if it even happened at all. And we didn’t know where to start or what the future would look like.” Now, it turns out the future is working out well for the Schuettes, proud parents of Isaac, 18 months old, and Eli, 8 months old, both adopted. The Schuettes, members of Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Kiel, Wisconsin, were at the hospitals for each birth and remain in close communication with their sons’ birth parents. The new parents, both 30, are thrilled to be growing their family, even if it occurred differently than they originally planned. “The joy of parenthood isn’t dependent on whether your child is your biological child. We have so much love and joy being parents to Isaac and Eli,” said David, adding they are discussing adopting a third child. Their adoption journey began in spring 2017. At the time, Maria worked for the Diocese of Green Bay in youth ministry and religious education, so she knew about Catholic Charities’ work in that diocese facilitating adoptions. “Catholic Charities was phenomenal in helping us understand adoption from a pro-life perspective,” she said, which included “how to care (for) and walk with birth mothers and birth fathers and what our role was in that entire process.” She said they received an email that Isaac’s parents
CNS
David and Maria Schuette, seen with their sons, 8-month-old Eli and 18-month-old Isaac, are reaching out to other couples considering adoption. November is National Adoption Awareness Month. had been referred to Catholic Charities and that several other matches fell through before they connected with Isaac’s parents. “Four weeks later, Isaac was born,” Maria said. “When Isaac was about 7 months old, we met another birth mother through a friend of a friend, and that’s how we got two adoptions 10 months apart.” Although David and Maria were at the hospitals for each birth, the two situations were different. Isaac was born with a congenital heart defect and spent 11 days in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care. “Isaac is doing great now,” David said. “He’s sort of a miracle baby. But the doctors weren’t sure how his health would be when he was born.” David and Maria were able to be in the room during Eli’s birth. “We were very, very lucky to be at the hospitals for both of the boys’ births and to be matched the way we were,” David said. Early in the adoption process, the Schuettes wondered about ongoing contact with birth parents.
“What if the birth parents wanted to come back and co-parent?” she recalled thinking. “That was really a bit scary.” However, after learning more and being in contact with both sets of birth parents, she now calls it “a very special relationship. We have a lot of respect for the birth parents. Both sets expressed before they had the boys that they would like to have contact.” Sometimes there are visits, sometimes text messages. “We really give preference to the birth parents with how they’d like to be communicated with,” Maria said. “We very much love them for who they are and who God made them to be and the decision they made to place their children with us.” David and Maria are pleased that their sons are close in age and feature different personalities; Isaac is outgoing, whereas Eli is reserved. “We continue learning every day how to be parents,” Maria said. “Whether we had the boys biologically or they came to us through adoption, they are God’s children first and we are caretakers of them. We learn every day how to be better parents, how to be more loving, more patient, more giving. And we have a lot of fun in the process.” The Schuettes enjoy sharing those experiences with others. In part because they were public about the adoptions, Maria said about 10 families, who are also struggling with infertility and considering adoption, have reached out to them. “The biggest thing I’d say to (prospective adoptive parents) is to give it a chance,” said David, noting that both his youngest sister and paternal grandmother were adopted. “For the most part, people are very open and want to share their experiences and help others. And agencies do a great job of educating.” “Adoption is a great blessing and gift, but also a roller coaster of emotions,” Maria said. “We tell families to trust and have faith that there is a child out there for you. Our family is a picture of that.” Maria also had a message for birth parents considering placing their child for adoption.“Know that you aren’t alone and that there are many, many people who love you and want to help you,” she said.
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12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
VOCATIONS
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ometimes a lecture at The St. Paul Seminary is so intense Patrick Hoeft carries his notes straight to the chapel to pray and process them. “There’s a sense of, ‘Wow, something amazing just happened in class, and I can’t quite articulate it, so I’m just going to sit in silence and soak it in,’” said the 25-year-old seminarian from rural Paynesville. “It’s an awareness of my own smallness, of being struck by the mysteries of God. It’s a feeling of wonder and awe.” The image is an apt symbol of this storied seminary: a place for soaking in, a sort of incubator for future priests where a lanky farm boy brings his handwritten notes to God, where intellectual rigor and spiritual fervor meet — head and heart — to prepare new shepherds for the Church. Since its founding 125 years ago, the seminary has become a regional center for formation, producing more than 2,500 priests and 30-some bishops, while expanding its scope to educate lay leaders, train deacons and support clergy. Under the guidance of Rector Father Joseph Taphorn and an acclaimed faculty, today it numbers 70 seminarians from 13 dioceses and religious orders, 38 men in diaconate formation, 66 degree-seeking students and more than 800 students in its catechetical institute. It all began in 1890 with an unthinkable act: the gift of half a million dollars from a Methodist railroad tycoon to build a Catholic seminary. James J. Hill wanted to honor his wife, Mary Theresa, with a seminary that would be a boldfaced love letter to the woman who had attracted him in their first encounters — then a teenage waitress — as much with her devout Catholic faith as her physical beauty. News of the donation made its way to Rome, where Archbishop John Ireland — who led the then-Archdiocese of St. Paul until 1918 — visited Pope Leo XIII, who “spoke to me at length of his high appreciation of your princely generosity in building our seminary and of the great honor thereby conferred upon the church in America,” the archbishop wrote to Hill. The relationship between the two local leaders shaped the earliest renderings of the seminary, Hill’s resources and practicality fusing with Archbishop Ireland’s vision. The result: a seminary unlike others, a new approach to priestly formation for the American Church on the cusp of the 20th century. Their frontier seminary would be big in size and scope, based on intellectual curiosity and a broad mission. The men would study not only philosophy and theology but also science and literature. The construction, like the curriculum, aimed at fresh air, consisting of six separate buildings rather than the seminary norm of one all-encompassing fortress sealing off the outside world. At the dedication ceremonies on a sunny September day in 1895, Archbishop Ireland described the seminary’s ecumenical reach “beyond” Catholics, proclaiming: “Its spirit will be to work for the whole people, offering it strength to uphold every noble cause and willing to cooperate with all men who labor to serve God, humanity and country.” Over the decades the seminary grew, enduring the Great Depression and re-examining its approach in light of the Second Vatican Council. All the while it hewed to its founders’ vision for a well-rounded formation, finding new ways to integrate the four dimensions: human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral. In 1983 the curriculum was revised in order to anchor academic study to parish life. Sister of St. Joseph Mary Daniel Hartnett developed a novel Teaching Parish Program linking classroom studies with regular participation in a local parish for four consecutive years — a rare degree of immersion for seminarians that has since been replicated by seminaries across the country.
Collaboration and evangelization Integrated formation took on added meaning two years later when the seminary became officially affiliated with the College (now University) of St. Thomas, presenting new avenues for collaboration and evangelization. It was reinforced by remarkable opportunities for study abroad in Mexico, Jerusalem and Rome, stamping the seminarians’ passports and hearts. And it gained invaluable real-world training through a spiritual pastoral ministry program that teaches seminarians to minister to the sick and suffering at area hospitals and care facilities. The seminarians’ objective is “to heal wounds and warm hearts,” former Rector Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan often said. Hoeft has learned how to do that through his time at a hospital. “A huge aspect of ministering to people is learning how to be a good listener,” he said. “To make someone feel heard can relieve more pain than any physical healing.” The interplay of lessons gleaned in the classroom, the chapel, the hospital and the parish help distinguish The St. Paul Seminary from other major seminaries in the country, said Dean Christopher Thompson. “I would like to think what sets us apart is solid doctrinal formation coupled with a heart-felt desire to lead others to the Lord and his Church. I’d like to think we have a special commitment to this blend of fidelity and evangelization in the contemporary Church and culture.” That blend is “the ideal mix,” according to Archbishop Bernard Hebda. “The seminary has provided us with such great priests who have really pastoral hearts and are theologically prepared and have a real desire to respond to God’s call to serve,” he said. Also contributing to the seminary’s unique standing, Thompson added: the Twin Cities’ vibrant Catholic lay culture and St. Thomas’ prestigious Catholic Studies department, the oldest and largest Catholic Studies program in the world. Archbishop Hebda described the seminary faculty as an invaluable resource, a sort of think tank he has personally tapped for insight on a number of subjects, from bioethics to interfaith outreach to the upcoming archdiocesan synod. “We have some great minds who are available to stimulate theological thought, who are available to have an impact not only on our seminarians but on our Catholic population.” Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth, a 1986 graduate of The St. Paul Seminary who now sends his own men to the seminary, echoed that observation: “The archdiocese has brought together this great faculty. That’s always made sense to me: You’re forming priests, and it’s a huge sacrifice to give some of your best, which means taking them for a time from where they could be in a parish. It’s saying, ‘No, in order to form the future guys, we want the best here.’” The combined effect — the integrated formation, the pastoral ministry and the premiere education — has garnered acclaim, Father Taphorn said. “I think people see that there’s something special happening here. The skill set we have is spreading beyond the upper Midwest and having a national impact.”
Happy, holy priests Regular opportunities for honest selfassessment are a hallmark of formation at The St. Paul Seminary, he added. Working closely with both a formation director as well as a spiritual director helps keep the seminarians accountable. The directors meet with the pastor from a seminarian’s teaching parish for year-end evaluations. “Self-knowledge is so important,” Father Taphorn said. “Everybody has their issues. What’s most impressive is when a man can acknowledge, ‘Yeah, I still kind of struggle in this area.’ What
‘Every nob The St.
By Christina Capecchi
From left, seminarians Kevin Lorsung, Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota; Jacob Epstein, Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa; and Bill Duffert, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, serve as acolytes for the Admission to Candidacy Mass Oct. 18 at The St. Paul Seminary. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
people need in their parishes are happy, healthy, holy priests who can acknowledge their difficulties and tap into the support and resources to improve.” Making sure the men have a healthy understanding of celibacy has been an area of particular focus at the seminary since the 2002 clergy sex abuse scandal broke in Boston. Being honest about challenges requires humility, the antidote to the clericalism Pope Francis has cautioned against, said Sister of St. Francis Katarina Schuth, a professor emerita. “Human formation is tricky,” she said. “It’s internal and external — your feelings, your relationships with people, and it’s also the kind of person you are becoming. Do you treat people as a child of God ... (and) your equal, or do you treat them as someone lesser than you? There’s a real need to understand that being a relational, caring, listening person doesn’t mean that you lose
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NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • 13
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Hence, Pope Francis’ charge to evangelize widely and “go out into the streets.” The seminarians have the greatest impact when their love for the Lord shines through, Father Taphorn said. “We want men who can be inviting and warm and infectious with their joy because we have the greatest treasure, which is Jesus Christ. So if we’re rooted in the truth of the faith and we pay attention to that pastoral heart, that’s how we become the bridge.”
Time in prayer Among many demands in any given day, spending time in prayer takes precedence, beginning at 6 a.m., when the men gather for Holy Hour. “They’re up bright and early, kneeling in silence before the Lord,” Msgr. Callaghan said. “It’s moving!” They gather again for mid-day Mass, joined by
professors and administrators. “There’s a clear sense that everyone is united for a common mission,” Hoeft said. Sister Katarina agreed, crediting the quiet, behind-the-scenes work of longtime administrators for the seminary’s level of excellence. Taken together, it’s no surprise that so many graduates have assumed positions of leadership and service across the region, Archbishop Hebda said. When the men from the archdiocese are ordained at the Cathedral of St. Paul, they are ready to take on the great commission to “go, therefore, and make disciples,” the scene carved above its grand front entrance. The bishops from outside dioceses who send their men to The St. Paul Seminary — a dozen, currently — recognize this. “We can entrust our seminarians to them and know they will be well formed to come back and serve God’s holy people,” said Bishop Sirba, whose diocese currently has four seminarians there. “We have confidence. We’re very happy with what’s happening there. I think it’s the faithfulness that the seminary has in forming good priests for our present needs. That’s what I hear (from other bishops) the most, and it’s woven through all the programs.” A shining example is Father Mark Pavlak, a St. Paul native who was ordained three years ago and now serves as chaplain and a theology teacher at St. Thomas Academy, an all-male middle and high school in Mendota Heights. He draws on his notes from seminary often, particularly two of his favorite courses: moral theology, taught by Thompson; and the Eucharist, taught by Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, also a St. Paul Seminary alumnus. As Father Pavlak is equipping his students to better understand Church teaching in an age of relativism, he is also building relationships. “If I can show them that our faith matters and that there is joy in following Christ, I am hopeful they will find an anchor in that,” he said. “For me, I’m playing the long game with our young people. They’re not going to remember every note they took in my class, but they will remember me and my relationship with them. So all the times I’m on the sidelines with the football team, or leading prayer with the hockey team before the game, or watching the basketball or baseball team in the stands, or asking them about their hobbies — whatever it is — I’m playing the long game, that there was a priest who cared for them.” Jack Sexton, a junior at St. Thomas Academy, still remembers the time Father Pavlak checked in with him after class last year to ask, “Are you OK?” He had heard about a disappointing outcome Sexton had just experienced in golf. The 30-something priest has given the teen a positive view of priesthood. “He talks in class about how much he loves priesthood, no regrets,” said Sexton, who belongs to Our Lady of Grace in Edina. “He tells us that if we would ever consider it, that we should try it. He’s always said there’s nothing better than learning about God every day.” When it comes time to attend college and discuss with his peers controversial Church teachings such as homosexuality, Sexton said he now feels equipped, thanks to Father Pavlak’s instruction. Danny McFadden, a junior from St. Joseph in West St. Paul, described the same impact. “I had misunderstood most of the Church’s teachings, from how the media portrays it,” he said. “It was really refreshing to have him clarify it.” Father Pavlak presiding at Mass for the football team every Thursday, the day before a game, has been a welcome source of support, McFadden added. “Of all my teachers, he would be the person I would go to if I was struggling with something.” Another young alumnus serving the
SAINTLY GRADUATE In July, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen, clearing the way for his beatification. Five fast facts about this high-profile alumnus of The St. Paul Seminary who is on the road to sainthood: 1. An Illinois native, Venerable Fulton Sheen attended The St. Paul Seminary for two years until his ordination in 1919. 2. He commended the seminary, writing: “The courses were extremely good, especially in sacred Scripture, history, and moral theology.” 3. He joked about the seminary’s emphasis on singing, recalling that all seminarians were expected to participate in Gregorian chant, “whether we had singing voices or not. … I didn’t even sound good in the shower.” 4. Archbishop Sheen’s education at The St. Paul Seminary propelled him to become a renowned theologian and later an Emmy-winning television personality. 5. He returned to the seminary on multiple occasions, lecturing the seminarians and speaking to faculty. — Christina Capecchi
archdiocese is Father Aric Aamodt, who was ordained last year and now serves as associate pastor at St. Hubert in Chanhassen. It wasn’t that long ago that, at 18, he stood on the edge of Lake Superior and prayed to learn God’s plan for his life. A quiet whisper crossed his ear and pierced his heart: “Yes.” Since then he has been on an incredible journey, spurred by the strong sense of priestly identity and rich prayer life encouraged at the seminary. “I could enter into priestly life and ministry with that foundation of who I am as a priest, having that relationship with Jesus very firmly established and ready to take on whatever Jesus has in store for me.” Father Aamodt still keeps a morning Holy Hour, a holdover from his seminary days, and prays the rosary in the evening as he walks the parish grounds. Since he began celebrating the 6 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. Hubert, attendance has gone up by at least 150 people, according to Brian Kloempken, liturgical coordinator. He’s even drawing nonparishioners, including Catholics who are returning from a weekend at their cabins and wouldn’t otherwise attend Mass. His homilies hit home, resonating with the suburban families — especially an Advent series he did on social media, Kloempken said. “The high schoolers still talk about what they gleaned from it. That was really fruitful.” To consider the impact of this one priest — and then to add in the thousands who have come from The St. Paul Seminary over the past 125 years — is overwhelming, Thompson said. “When you step back sometimes at our community gatherings and think that these are the men who will baptize your first child, prepare you for a lifetime of married love, bring reconciliation between you and God and someday hear your last prayer — it can be an incredible moment of communion and worship,” he said. “A project of formation of the most intimate sort is unfolding here — not only at the human level but the supernatural as well. It’s an occasion of awe to think we have been a part of Christ’s mission to reconcile the world to the Father and that we are poised to continue this work for generations to come.” Editor’s note: A version of this article also will appear in The St. Paul Seminary’s fall issue of the Oracle.
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
VOCATIONS
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
Drawing our will into God’s
WHO ARE THE CISTERCIANS? The Cistercian Order dates back to 1098 when Sts. Robert, Alberic and Stephen broke away from Molesme, a Benedictine community in France. They aspired to form an order that fully honored the Rule of St. Benedict, which is characterized by moderation, balance, obedience and humility. The nuns of the order came to the U.S. in 1957, when six sisters from Switzerland founded Valley of Our Lady in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, at the request of Bishop William O’Connor of the Diocese of Madison.
By Jessica Weinberger For The Catholic Spirit
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ess than 10 miles north of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, 22 contemplative Catholic nuns of the Cistercian Order live quietly on 112 acres of farmland. A set of renovated buildings and additions off an 1859 stone cottage make up Valley of Our Lady Monastery, where prayer, study and manual labor set the cadence for this cloistered, contemplative order. Rising each day at 3:30 a.m., the members, ages 23 to 89, pray communally seven times daily and quietly produce 13 million altar breads annually for customers as far away as Australia. Two members have roots in the Twin Cities, where they first heard the call to religious life and followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to the remote monastery in southern Wisconsin in the Diocese of Madison. Sister Mary Bede Berg, 33, whose birth name is Abigail, serves as the formation mistress at Valley of Our Lady. Growing up in Maple Grove and Osseo, she had a sense early on that she would become a nun. Daily Mass and eucharistic adoration at St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park planted a seed that she nurtured while attending Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan. She applied to six different colleges in
Cistercians emphasize communal liturgy, support themselves through manual labor, and focus on a personal search for God through contemplative prayer. Currently, there are more than 1,600 monks and more than 750 nuns in the Cistercian Order globally. Valley of Our Lady is the only monastery of nuns of their order in the U.S. COURTESY CISTERCIAN SISTERS
Sister Mary Bede Berg, left, and Sister Mary Joanna Casanova pose Aug. 10 on the grounds of the Valley of Our Lady Monastery near Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. hopes of double majoring in a subject matter she had not yet decided on, plus violin performance, a passion she held since first picking up a bow at age 3. She had a feeling that God was calling her to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., but she didn’t know why. “Catholic U really wasn’t the place to go if I wanted to do music, but since I had a sense in prayer that God wanted me to go there, I went,” Sister Mary Bede explained. During her first week on campus, she felt unhappy and unsettled, so she
turned to God in the lower Crypt Church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception next to campus. The thought of discerning religious life resurfaced, and she felt great clarity and peace. Sister Mary Bede quickly changed half of her classes to theology and classics to begin her discernment process. That Holy Week, she took a bus to New Jersey to a Benedictine monastery for dedicated prayer time, where she first discovered Valley of Our Lady and the Cistercian Order in the VISION Vocation Guide published by the National
Religious Vocation Conference. She saw the small, corner, black-and-white advertisement on Easter Sunday. “I just knew that was it,” Sister Mary Bede said. “God was easy on me.” A visit to the monastery during spring break of her sophomore year gave her a glimpse into the Cistercians’ simple way of life, and she felt drawn to the traditional Latin liturgy and prayer. She admired how the sisters were committed to living life well and expressing a real relationship with God. Sister Mary Bede returned to school, finished the semester and entered the order days after her 21st birthday. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
NOVEMBER 7, 2019 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Now as the monastery’s formation mistress, she oversees the five-year formation period leading to solemn (final) profession. She meets weekly with each of the sisters, helping provide for their material and spiritual needs as they discern their vocation. Sister Mary Bede also assists with caring for elderly and ill sisters, as needed, and works in the altar bread operation on bake days. Sister Mary Bede’s most pressing role, beyond her call to prayer and formation, is leading the fundraising efforts for a new monastery (see sidebar). Living the contemplative life amid a large-scale fundraising effort requires balance and grace. Emails, phone calls and meetings can easily overtake each day, so she always takes time for personal prayer and reading. It’s a daily challenge that she recognizes impacts non-religious, especially with the pervasiveness of technology and social media. “If we don’t step away from virtual reality and recognize true reality and relate with others around us, I think we’ll have a hard time relating with God and living in community, whatever form that takes,” she said. Sister Mary Joanna Casanova, 32, whose birth name is Katherine, wanted to be a nun since age 4, even before meeting religious sisters for the first time as a middle school student at St. Hubert Catholic School in Chanhassen. The
VOCATIONS PAVING THE WAY HOME When the foundresses of the Valley of Our Lady Monastery arrived in Wisconsin more than 60 years ago, they moved into the current conglomeration of buildings near Prairie du Sac with plans to build soon after. That “soon” is finally coming to fruition with a master plan in place for a new monastery on property near Brigham, Wisconsin, 45 miles southwest of its current location. The need for funding to proceed with further design work and moving is more pressing than ever. When new postulants join, the nuns rearrange cells and office space, shuffling furniture to accommodate a new sister. With failing electrical and mechanical systems, they pray to escape each winter without heat or boiler issues. By design, the cloistered, contemplative nuns have lived a hidden life, and now they’re turning to outside donors, with the help of a small group of volunteers and a development consultant, to help fund their larger, updated space that will most likely take at least three to five years to complete. “There’s a real hunger in the world to know about the thriving monastic communities who are dedicated to prayer,” Sister Mary Bede said about their outreach. “It’s a sign of hope in a world that’s a little crazy and dark at the moment. People want to know that God is working in our midst.” More information about the Cistercian nuns and their monastery can be found at valleyofourlady.org. Eden Prairie native attended Visitation School in Mendota Heights, forging deep connections with the Visitation sisters that helped turn her focus to teaching. She enrolled at St. Catherine University in St. Paul to pursue her education degree, thinking that all religious sisters were teachers, nurses, or they worked for the Church. Like Sister Mary Bede, she experienced a defining moment in class. “I remember one day in college sitting in psychology class wondering, ‘What am I doing here? Is this my idea or God’s?’” Sister Mary Joanna recalled. “Then I was like, ‘OK God, if I’m not called to be a teacher, where do you want me?”
She volunteered at nearby Nativity of Our Lord for one summer to try parish work. It was a great experience, she said, but not the right fit. With the calling to religious life still on her heart, Sister Mary Joanna navigated to a website with a list of traditional religious orders. That’s where she discovered Valley of Our Lady. “They wear the habit; they chant and praise God in Latin,” Sister Mary Joanna listed off. “It was so traditional, and I had never seen anything like that before, so I was just going to go there to see.” She attended a weekend vocational retreat and knew immediately that she found what she was looking for. But Sister Mary Joanna already had a one-way ticket
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15 to Rome to study abroad for her junior year. Overwhelmed with the prospect of this new way of life, she went to Rome before returning to finish her degree. “In hindsight, I think I was running,” she explained. “I was just trying to process, knowing if God wants me there, I need to prepare myself for this.” In the two years that followed her initial visit to Valley of Our Lady, she felt multiple “very strong God experiences” that urged her to accept her calling. And she did. Sister Mary Joanna entered the order just one week after graduation. Her time at the monastery is defined by prayer, like all Cistercian sisters, along with working in the community’s altar bread production. As she cuts, sorts, bakes and packages what will become the Body of Christ, she prays in silence among her sisters and the hum of machines. The community continues to grow, with several millennials, so Sister Mary Joanna takes her post at the sewing machine as the resident seamstress to craft new sets of veils, habits and scapulars. Reflecting on her vocational journey, Sister Mary Joanna encourages others to be open to the Holy Spirit and to foster a personal relationship with God through regular Mass and eucharistic adoration. Sister Mary Bede echoes that same recommendation. Even if it’s just 10 minutes per day, she said, putting God first and taking time for prayer will foster obedience and trust. “It’s allowing God to make us truly free by drawing our will into his,” she said.
VOCATIONS
16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
‘Auntie Sister’ among inspirations for religious retirement fund gifts By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit
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Benedictine sister’s witness of faith and love made a lasting impression on Amy Tadlock, who was inspired last year to “pay forward” the blessing by assisting other religious with their retirement costs. Tadlock, a judge for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Tribunal, which assists Archbishop Bernard Hebda with the application of canon law, fondly remembers her great aunt Benedictine Sister DePaul Chamberlain, whom she called “Auntie Sister.” On visits to Tadlock’s Chicago-area family home from St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Sister DePaul, a grade school teacher, sometimes brought special gifts. “One thing I’ve come to appreciate as I’ve gotten older is the role religious play in the life of the Church,” said Tadlock, a parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. “I look back on my own life and recognize just the simple ways that my great aunt was involved in our lives.” Tadlock honored her now-deceased relative by contributing to the Retirement Fund for Religious, a national fund that helps religious sisters, brothers and priests meet their retirement needs. She plans to contribute again to this year’s special collection, which will be held in most parishes Dec. 7-8. Like Tadlock, Catholics who want to honor a member of a religious community who impacted their life — or who simply wish to show their appreciation for the contributions of all religious — can donate to help communities with their retirement costs, including health care and financial planning, said School Sister of Notre
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Jennifer Soucheray, Sister Jennifer Rausch of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Brother Dominic Michael Hart of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace talk during a meeting of the Retirement Fund for Religious advisory board Oct. 16. Dame Lynore Girmscheid, 73, who coordinates the fund in the archdiocese. Last year, most of the nearly $28 million raised nationwide helped 30,000 elderly religious in 360 communities, according to the fund’s administrator, the U.S. bishops’ National Religious Retirement Office in Washington, D.C. The fund is needed because some religious women and men didn’t receive adequate compensation for their work, or the opportunity to prepare for retirement, particularly before the 1970s. Many are retired now, health care is increasingly expensive and there are fewer members of religious orders to provide help. U.S. religious communities, which are financially responsible for their own members’ support and care, face a possible $9.8 billion deficit in retirement costs by 2034, according to the NRRO. Of 542
religious communities providing data to the NRRO, only 33 are adequately funded for retirement. At the same time, the cost of care for U.S. religious of retirement age exceeds $1 billion annually. Since the fund was established in 1988, U.S. Catholics have contributed more than $844 million. Last year, the archdiocese raised more than $667,000, including a one-time gift of more than $141,000 that arrived too late to be counted in the 2017 collection. The archdiocese’s 2018 collection was among the largest in the country. One reason for the large collection is the number of religious communities serving here, said Sister Lynore, who’s been a religious sister for 53 years. “People know they have received from these religious,” she said. The School Sisters of Notre Dame, many of whom taught in Catholic
schools, received as little as $100 a month in stipends for living expenses, and they weren’t part of the Social Security system until the 1970s, Sister Lynore said. Sister Judy Bakula, a School Sister of Notre Dame for 58 years, was a Catholic school teacher and administrator in and outside of the archdiocese until 1994. “We didn’t get anything to start building retirement,” she said. “We went many years without having help with that.” At 79, Sister Judy works as a receptionist and volunteer coordinator at Learning in Style, a Minneapolis-based ministry serving immigrants. She plans to do paid or volunteer work as long as she can — a goal other community members share. Her earnings go to the order’s own central fund to support her and other sisters no longer in paid positions. “I know that by working I am also contributing to our future, to our retirement, to the time when I’ll be there,” said Sister Judy, adding that she also appreciates the national fund’s help. Demonstrating their level of need, religious communities apply for the grants through the national office, Sister Lynore said. In addition to direct care, communities can request funds for retirement education and planning. Along with the parish collection, Sister Lynore encourages Catholics with estate plans to consider including the fund. Many Catholics aren’t aware of the need, and the collection is a way to evangelize, she said. “I think for us to say to others, this is our need now,” Sister Lynore said. “We continue to contribute as we can, but we’d like to give you an opportunity to help in our need, like we have helped you in yours.”
March 7, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Restorative justice Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, chief prosecutor in now-settled clergy sexual abuse charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, speaks at St. Odilia in Shoreview during a session on restorative justice.
ST. MICHAEL, PRAY FOR US!
— Page 6
Faith and politics Second Catholics at the Capitol event draws more than 1,000 people to learn about major policy issues and meet lawmakers. — Page 7
Abuse crisis Pope Francis meets with bishops from around the world at the Vatican to address the international clergy abuse crisis. — Page 8
The show must go on Community theatre founders dedicated to infusing Catholic values in productions work to reopen after two-and-a-half-year hiatus. — Page 12
Retreats and pilgrimages Four siblings walk the pilgrimage trail Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. A Minneapolis couple offers priests and religious a lake lodge where they can rest and reflect. — Pages 13-15
Snow shawl on
St. Paul
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
A statue of St. Paul in the courtyard of The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul carries the weight of winter on its head and shoulders Feb. 27. A snowfall the day before pushed the total in the Twin Cities for February to 39 inches, which was 12.5 inches more than the record for the month set in 1962, and made it the fourth-snowiest month on record.
Local schools maintain Catholic puck power as state high school hockey tourney turns 75 As the Minnesota State High School League Boys’ Hockey Tournament turns 75, St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights is the No. 4 seed in Class AA. The tournament is March 6-9 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. The Catholic Spirit is taking a closer look at two Catholic schools that have been a part of the prep puck legacy: HillMurray School in Maplewood and Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park. Hill-Murray has made regular appearances ever since it joined the COURTESY LIAM BRENNAN, league in 1975. BSM won two Class A state championships, then moved up to Class AA and won a title during a dramatic 2012 season. Academy of Holy ST. THOMAS ACADEMY Angels in Richfield, Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul and Totino-Grace in Fridley St. Thomas Academy hockey players celebrate their 4-1 win over Eastview have also played at state. Hill-Murray and BSM did not advance to state this Feb. 28 in the Section 3AA finals. They will play Duluth East March 7 in this year’s state tournament. year. See stories on pages 10-11.
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Vocations Holy Hours
Please join us to intercede for vocations on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. Nov 12, 2019 ........ The Cathedral of Saint Paul, St. Paul Dec 10, 2019 ......... St. Stephen, Anoka Jan 14, 2020 .......... St. Paul, Ham Lake Feb 11, 2020.......... St. Michael, Farmington Mar 10, 2020 ........ St. John the Evangelist, Little Canada Apr 14, 2020......... SJA–St. Mark, Shakopee May 12, 2020........ St. Jude of the Lake, Mahtomedi Jun 9, 2020 ........... Transfiguration, Oakdale Jul 14, 2020 ........... Holy Name of Jesus, Wayzata Aug 11, 2020 ........ St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn Park Sep 8, 2020 ........... St. Patrick, Edina Oct 13, 2020.......... St. Nicholas, Elko New Market Nov 10, 2020 ........ St. John the Baptist, Savage Dec 8, 2020 ........... Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul
Vocation Prayer God our Father, inspire those whom you call to priesthood, consecrated life and the diaconate to courageously follow Your will. Send workers into Your great harvest so that the Gospel is preached, the poor are served with love, the suffering are comforted, and Your people are strengthened by the sacraments. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Be faithfully informed.
www.10000vocations.org
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
FAITH+CULTURE
Faith in the cockpit World War II bomber pilot gives credit for survival to St. Therese of Lisieux DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
A
German Messerschmitt fighter plane was bearing down on Don Stoliel’s B-17 bomber as he flew a mission during World War II. Stoliel, the pilot, looked out the windshield of his cockpit and saw the enemy plane zooming straight at him with machine guns blazing. “This is it,” he thought, as he braced for the barrage of bullets that he expected to blast through the glass and tear into his body. It didn’t happen. Not one piece of lead penetrated the cockpit. Stoliel, a member of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale, recently offered his explanation during an interview with The Catholic Spirit. He believes he had a layer of protection no German machine gun could penetrate — a first-class relic of St. Therese of Lisieux. Tucked into the pocket of his uniform pants, it was with him on every mission. He believes St. Therese kept him alive in the cockpit during six months of bombing runs that ended in 1944 when he reached the end of his tour of duty and returned to the U.S. The then 22-year-old got the relic from a chaplain, Father Edmund Skoner, at an airfield in Molesworth, England, shortly after arriving in December 1943. After surviving 31 bombing missions into Germany, Stoliel came to believe that St. Therese was watching over him. He escaped several close calls and saw other planes flying near his get hit and go down. Nary a bullet touched his cockpit. Only once did a member of his 10-man crew get injured. None were killed. “St. Therese, oh, she took care of us — absolutely,” Stoliel, said. “She means just about everything because I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for St. Therese.”
‘The Little Flower’ Today, the 98-year-old, who married after the war and had four children with his late wife, Shirley, is as passionate as ever about his favorite saint, “The Little Flower.” Fittingly, he lives at a facility in New Hope that bears her name: St. Therese of New Hope. He has told his story numerous times, both to Sacred Heart parishioners and students at Sacred Heart Catholic School. Stoliel crossed paths with the relic by chasing his boyhood dream of becoming a pilot. He had what he called “a romance with the clouds.” Growing up in
Olivia about two hours west of the Twin Cities, he often would run out of his house to watch World War I-era planes fly overhead. After graduating from high school in 1938, he enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1940 with the hope of becoming a pilot. He was placed into the regular Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. Transferred to Camp Haan in California, he noticed a nearby aviation training facility called March Field. “I used to watch those B-17s take off over at March Field,” he said. “My body was in Camp Haan; my heart was over there across the road at March Field. I wanted to get in the (Army) Air Corps.” It took some persistence. Initially, he was assigned to operate anti-aircraft artillery. That landed him in Alaska, where U.S. forces were anticipating a Japanese attack. For several months, it looked as though his military tour would involve firing at enemy fighter planes. “But, I still had my heart in the air,” he said. “I wanted to do that more than anything else in the world.” With the help of a commanding officer, he was able to go to Anchorage to apply for aviation cadet training in the Army Air Corps (now called the Air Force). He was rejected the first time because of a medical condition, but eventually passed in June 1942. The news “was like going to heaven,” he said. Once in flight school, he chose to be a bomber pilot and was assigned to the 303rd Bomb Group in Molesworth, England.
Sharing his story There he met the chaplain who gave him the relic. The details are still fresh in his mind, and eighth-graders at Sacred Heart Catholic School heard them over several years during presentations Stoliel gave at the school. “It was awesome just to be able to listen to him talk,” said Alex Bowback, 24, who heard Stoliel’s presentation in 2009 as an eighth-grader. “If I (would have) had a recording device then, I would have wanted to record his whole story. It was admirable to hear him speak about his experiences.” Bowback remembers Stoliel bringing his leather flight jacket. Bowback said his best friend even got to try it on. The jacket is one of Stoliel’s prized possessions, and he still fits into it today. Stoliel was first invited to speak at the school by a teacher, Julie Harty, who thought he would be a good fit for middle schoolers. He landed in the classroom of social studies teacher Pat Greshwalk, who has since
Wearing his leather flight jacket, a prized possession, Don Stoliel of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale holds a picture of himself taken near the end of his service in the Army Air Corps as a B-17 bomber pilot in World War II. He flew 31 missions and carried a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux in the cockpit.
retired. She said he was a hit each time with the students — and with her. “I thought he was just fascinating because ... he took you there, back to World War II,” Greshwalk said. “When you hear it from a person who actually experienced it, it’s real. ... You could feel the fear and the bravery and the tenaciousness of these pilots.” Principal Karen Bursey, who also taught at the school and went there herself, knew Stoliel from childhood because she was friends with one of his daughters. She said she was “thrilled” when she found out he had agreed to come to the school to share his story. “Don is such an animated person, and his memory is so sharp,” said Bursey, 57. “His eyes just sparkled when he talked about (his experiences). And, he made it interesting for the kids, and he knew the stories that they would enjoy. Classes were only 50 minutes, and when class was up, they wanted to keep going with Don instead of going on to their next (class).” Stoliel wants to make sure his story — especially the part about the relic — lives on. After carrying the relic in his pocket for decades after coming home, he gave it to the pastor of Sacred Heart, Father Bryan Pedersen, three years ago. The two met just a week after Father Pedersen came to Sacred Heart in 2008. They forged a friendship through weekly breakfasts at a local restaurant after morning Mass, and built a trust that motivated Stoliel to place the relic in his pastor’s care. “I just felt humbled that he would want me to have that relic,” Father Pedersen said. Meanwhile, Stoliel continues his devotion to St. Therese. He currently is reading her autobiography, “The Story of a Soul,” and also makes regular visits to a smaller, secondary prayer space at his care facility called Little Flower Chapel. He goes to this chapel for Mass twice a week and tries to stop by daily to acknowledge the saint’s help in the cockpit of his B-17. “I go by there and I’ll say, ‘Thank you, Therese, for 31,’” he said. “She got me through those 31 missions without a scratch. There were some mighty, mighty, mighty close calls. If it hadn’t been for her taking care of me, I wouldn’t be here right now.” Father Pedersen is glad to have the chance to know someone from what is known as The Greatest Generation. The priest said Stoliel is “a man of service, and dedicated to country, to family and to his faith, the Catholic faith in particular. We need more men like Don Stoliel today. Our world, our country would be far better off.”
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
FAITH+CULTURE
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
Conversion is aim of Pope Francis’ ‘great reform,’ author says By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
IVEREIGH AT ST. THOMAS MORE
F
ollowing up on “The Great Reformer,” his biography of Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh is convinced that conversion is “the deepest reform” and is a process Pope Francis is trying to facilitate. Ivereigh’s latest book is “Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church,” released in the United States Nov. 5 by Henry Holt and Company. Discussing the title with reporters in Rome Oct. 23, Ivereigh clarified both what he means by “wounded shepherd” and what he believes Pope Francis sees as his role in the conversion process. The title was chosen at the end of 2018, which Ivereigh described as “the annus horribilis” (horrible year) of Pope Francis’ pontificate mostly because of the clerical sexual abuse crisis and the mishandling and cover-up of allegations that were revealed in Chile and the United States, including the case of Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal. The publisher wanted a title that reflected “the fact that he was being attacked.” Ivereigh said he agreed to the title, not because of some political battle at play, but because Pope Francis has spoken several times about the Church and its ministers recognizing their woundedness, seeking forgiveness and taking a step toward conversion. The subtitle, he said, is an acknowledgment that “conversion” is the theme of the book and refines the title of his earlier biography because “I’ve come to learn that the deepest reform is really conversion.” Pope Francis is “a very Jesuit pope leading the Church on the Spiritual Exercises (of St. Ignatius),” Ivereigh said. “Of course, it is not the pope converting the Church, as I make clear in the book. A spiritual director isn’t the one who changes the person who is on retreat. The spiritual director provides the space, the guidance, points out the obstacles and temptations. It’s God and the Holy Spirit who produce the change.” Ivereigh met with the pope for 45 minutes in June 2018, he said; it was not an interview, but a conversation that helped in the writing of the book.
Pope Francis biographer and journalist Austen Ivereigh will present on Pope Francis and the role discernment plays in his leadership of the Church 10 a.m. Nov. 16 at St. Thomas More, 1079 Summit Ave., St. Paul. A reception and book signing will follow the event. A fellow in contemporary church history at Oxford and an expert in the history of the Catholic Church in Argentina, Ivereigh is a contributor to Crux, The Guardian, The New York Times, Commonweal, America magazine, The Tablet and the BBC.
CNS
Journalist and author Austen Ivereigh attends a news conference after a session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 22. “It’s completely my take on this pontificate,” he said, although he did speak to many people “close to the pope.” The book, he said, uses several events and issues to illustrate how the pope is trying to help all Catholics and the Church as an institution come closer to Christ and to living in a Gospel style. “Wounded Shepherd” begins with a biographical chapter, framed by Pope Francis’ visit to his family in Turin, Italy, in 2015. Then it turns to issues: the 2017 controversy within the Knights of Malta; efforts to reform Vatican finances; the ongoing reform of the Roman Curia; the clerical sexual abuse crisis; evangelization; ecology; his vision for Latin America; the synods on the family in 2014 and 2015; and the message of mercy and pushback to it. “Synodality” — which Ivereigh describes as the process of listening to all voices, discussing and even
arguing about issues, praying about them and allowing consensus to form — may be Pope Francis’ greatest contribution to the Catholic Church, Ivereigh said. But mercy is “the heart of the pontificate, the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Pope Francis,” the author said, and that is why he used the chapter to close the book. Mercy also is “where the opposition (to Pope Francis) is at its most aggressive and vicious,” he said. “He is a pope who has provoked intense opposition, just as Jesus did.” Those who criticize Pope Francis do so from a variety of positions, he said, but “it’s quite striking” to study the stories about the Pharisees’ opposition to Jesus in the Gospels and notice the connections and, especially, how afraid they are of Jesus. “There are people, I think, who so badly misread the pope because of what is going on inside them,” he said. “I think Pope Francis has deeply threatened people who consider themselves good and consider themselves the guardians of Catholic doctrine.” For the Pharisees, and perhaps for many of Pope Francis’ critics, he said, the sticking point may be that “Jesus proclaims the universality of God’s love, that religion cannot be arrogated to become an identity which is then used against people and as a way of defining me against you and, therefore, he effectively takes away their power. Or at least they feel that way.”
MOVIE REVIEWS TheCatholicSpirit.com
FAITH+CULTURE
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
After years of teaching Bible, Cavins still learning By Kurt Jensen Catholic News Service
J
eff Cavins realized how long he’d been an author, Bible teacher and broadcaster when a priest approached him to say, “When I was young, my mother made me watch you.” Did that make him feel like Bishop Fulton Sheen? “No. Like Jack Benny.” That quip, bridging broadcasting icons, encapsulates Cavins’ approach, which mixes easy humor, low-key cultural references and comforting Minnesota-accented banter as he promotes The Great Adventure Catholic Bible, published by Ascension Publishing, and his color-coded time line chart. An Oct. 19 presentation at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., was sold out. Cavins is a member of the museum’s Catholic advisory panel. He also gave a second full day of talks Oct. 20 at the museum, which opened in 2017. Having been raised Catholic, then becoming an evangelical Protestant minister, Cavins in 1995 returned to Catholicism, a journey he wrote about in his 2000 book, “My Life on the Rock,” which also was the name of the program he hosted on the Eternal Word Television Network from 1996 to 2002. “I was convinced that the Church I was pastoring didn’t look anything like the early Church,” said Cavins, a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park who founded the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, now Office of Evangelization, in 2014. Fortunately, Cavins said, there to help him was his childhood priest — who became a bishop, the late Bishop Paul Dudley — as well as now-Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, who was an auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 1984-1994. Bishop Dudley headed the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1978-1995; he died in 2006.
CNS
Evangelist Jeff Cavins, a biblical scholar, EWTN host and Twin Cities Catholic, gives a presentation Oct. 19 at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. Cavins, 61, calls himself a “paper convert,” meaning “someone who studies their way into the Catholic Church.” He’d been studying the papacy, the early Church fathers and the writings of St. John Paul II. “It so resonated in my heart that I (was) not in the family anymore,” he recalled of his “reversion” to the Catholic faith. “Also, the open-arms policy of my childhood pastor. It was very peaceful.” The joy in teaching, he said, is that “I really enjoy seeing the lights go on in our students when they get the big picture and they finally understand it. The more I teach it, the more I learn how to teach it.” And he still learns new things himself through the process. “It happens four or five times a year — a breakthrough thing, something big.” The last time that occurred? “It was the relationship between the grave — the No. 1 fear of dying — and that the steps to the grave are made up of dying daily. As a Christian, you die daily,” he explained.
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“What’s going to impress them,” he said of his audience, “is they can get their hearts and minds around salvation history. In one day, they’re probably going to be equipped to read the Bible probably better than 90 percent of the Christians out there.” The historical chart, organized in 12 colors, gives his audiences “a glimpse into the heart of our heavenly Father and his plan, and that gives them a foundation they can trust.” The taxonomy may be familiar to anyone who took survey courses of the Old and New Testaments in college, but Cavins’ skill resides in his patient explanations, without skimping on the secular histories of the lands in which Bible stories are set. Cavins not only explains the Bible, he also demonstrates how to read it. The reason people who attempt to read the Bible through consecutive books, then quit, “is because they’ve lost the narrative thread. They’ve lost the narrative thread of their lives,” he told his audience. And also, he likes to quip, “You hit Leviticus.” Books of ancient rules obstruct any sense of narrative history, he said. That’s why he identifies the 14 narrative books while placing the remaining 59 into a historical context. Cavins finds that teaching can be most effective with epigrammatic language. The Bible “is not a book,” he reminded his audience. “It’s a library. If we try to get our minds into this without a story, then that’s like toast without butter. It’s dry.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church, he says, “is a marvelous tool, but it’s a honking book. The catechism takes everything Catholic and puts it into perspective.” The Nicene Creed takes the Bible narrative “and squishes it.” Sacrament and liturgy are “how you get into the story. God comes looking for you. You are living a script, and it’s the life of Christ.”
20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER MICHAEL DALY
Every brother’s hope: Jesus’resurrection The first reading’s narrative from the book of Maccabees this weekend of the martyrdom of seven brothers also contains sure testimony to belief in the resurrection. The brothers are tortured cruelly: flogged to death, robbed of their hacked-off limbs. Yet to the astonishment of their torturers, they endure all of this by referring to the resurrection that will render their bodies whole again. God has given them hope, which no one can take away from them, and the limbs loaned to them from on high can eventually be restored. A heroic ideal is being sketched out before our eyes, a picture that is intended to present clearly to us what Paul meant with the words: “For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17). This certainly applies not solely to bloody martyrdom but to every sort of burdensome earthly trial, which, despite its load, remains as light as a feather in comparison with what has been promised: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.” (Jn 11:25). In the second reading, we are promised eternal trust and sure hope — just like the martyred brothers. More than that, we are also promised an understanding of spiritual fruitfulness derived from Christ’s resurrection, which was unknown in the Old Covenant. Paul daringly embodied this belief in the Resurrection, saying, “My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is
ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ
How can I step out of the ‘blame loop’?
Q. I have been really hurt by people in my
life. But most of the bad stuff in my life is my fault. Still, I can’t stop blaming myself and blaming them for hurting me.
A. Thank you for writing. In your actual letter,
you summarized the terrible things that you have been through. You have been hurt, truly. I believe that this is worth stating. Often, when there is real pain and suffering, we can be tempted to brush it off or dismiss it. We usually do this so that we can protect ourselves from the tendency of some people to dismiss our pain. A common response is to be quick to talk about it as if it is “no big deal.” But you have really been hurt, and I think that you deserve to hear someone say that. But what sticks out most in your letter is the fact that you keep going back and forth between condemning yourself for what someone else did to you and at other times blaming them. That being said, it is clear that you can’t stay where you are. It seems to me that you are a bit stuck in a “blaming loop.” As often as your mind returns to what you’ve suffered, you keep looking for someone to blame. This has hurt you more than almost anything else because it has kept you stuck in a trap of your own making. This is common when we experience pain. We want to find the source. We want to get to a place where we can point to the cause of our suffering and say, “This is the reason. This is what or who is to blame.” That is completely natural. And it can even be helpful. In fact, when dealing with many areas of life, it is necessary to track down where the discomfort is coming from in order to deal with the root of what has gone wrong. But the desire to find blame is altogether different. Often, the result of blaming is an “all or nothing” accusation. For example, you might have found yourself stuck at one point or other on the “blame loop.” Let’s take a relatively extreme, yet clear-cut, example. Say there was a person who chose to go out walking in a bad part of town alone and at night. While they were taking their walk, they were mugged. This might be where the blame loop could come in. It takes the
Christ, and death is gain” (Phil 1:20-21). Moreover, when Paul preached to the Romans, he considered “that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom 8:18). Then he could sing with King David, “Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full” (Ps 17). God is not the God of the dead, which is why, in the Gospel, Jesus simply brushes aside the foolish casuistry of the Sadducees regarding the woman married seven times. Of course the resurrection of the dead will be a corporeal resurrection, but since those privileged to experience it will never die again, marriage and the generation of children will have no more meaning (which, however, does not mean that all distinctions between man and woman will disappear). Those who are transfigured in God will have a completely different kind of fruitfulness, because fruitfulness is part of the image of God in men, yet it no longer has anything in common with mortality. It has to do with the vitality that comes from participating in the living fruitfulness of God: where the love we practiced on earth will be caught up into a higher love. If God is introduced as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is, of the living, then these who are alive in God are also fruitful together with God: On earth they are fruitful in their earthly progeny and in heaven they are fruitful together with God in a manner known only to God and his angels. And until we reach the place of eternal life, “May our Lord Jesus Christ encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ” (2 Thes 3:5). Jesus’ resurrection heals our hearts so we can, with Paul, “boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:3-5). “And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17).
DAILY Scriptures
Father Daly is parochial vicar of St. Odilia in Shoreview. He can be reached at frmichael@stodilia.org.
Saturday, November 16 Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9 Lk 18:1-8
form of going back and forth between exclusively blaming oneself and totally excusing oneself. The person might turn this on themselves, “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have been walking there. I am to blame.” In this posture, they could adopt a condemning stance against themselves. They could assign blame to themselves and embrace it as if they are the guilty party. In this portion of the blaming loop, the actual mugger isn’t seen as guilty; they themselves are. Again, the accusation comes back, “It is all my fault.” But then, in moments of clarity (and exhaustion from being under the weight of this unfair self-blame), the person realizes that the mugger was the person who did the evil action. The mugger is the one who is solely to blame for the attack. Not only is the individual completely innocent in it, but they contributed nothing to the calamity that befell them. While this is largely true (the mugger is the guilty party), it is not entirely true. And the person knows this. They know that they made a foolish decision to walk alone in a dangerous part of town. And, in light of this, they can be tempted to return to placing all of the blame firmly on their own shoulders. This is why we call this a loop. It goes round and round. The way out of the blaming loop is to tell the entire truth. The person must acknowledge the full truth of the situation, “Yes, I made the unwise decision of walking in a dangerous part of town at night. And yes, the mugger made the evil decision to attack me.” You see the key distinction here? The walker chose an unwise action. The mugger chose an evil action. The way off the loop is to “own” one’s unwise action and to refuse to “own” the other person’s evil action. One possible way to escape the self-condemnation trap is to replay one’s own choices. While it may have been unwise to walk alone at night, if the assailant had not chosen an evil action, would you condemn yourself for being less than wise in that moment? It is likely that you may have merely looked back and thought, “Phew! That was silly of me. I’m not doing that again.” That response is a far cry from the self-blame and self-condemnation that many people can get caught up in. And you deserve to be able to escape this cycle of blaming others or blaming yourself. Until we are willing and able to do that, we will be stuck on an endless cycle of excusing ourselves or condemning ourselves, while excusing others and condemning others. Tell the truth: You made some unwise decisions, but others made the evil decisions. You have a future. While you have been hurt, this is not the end of your story. Learn from this, and leave the self-condemnation behind. Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.
Sunday, November 10 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14 2 Thes 2:16–3:5 Lk 20:27-38 Monday, November 11 St. Martin of Tours, bishop Wis 1:1-7 Lk 17:1-6 Tuesday, November 12 St. Josaphat, bishop and martyr Wis 2:23–3:9 Lk 17:7-10 Wednesday, November 13 St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin Wis 6:1-11 Lk 17:11-19 Thursday, November 14 Wis 7:22b–8:1 Lk 17:20-25 Friday, November 15 Wis 13:1-9 Lk 17:26-37
Sunday, November 17 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Mal 3:19-20a Lk 21:5-19 Monday, November 18 1 Mc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 Lk 18:35-43 Tuesday, November 19 2 Mc 6:18-31 Lk 19:1-10 Wednesday, November 20 2 Mc 7:1, 20-31 Lk 19:11-28 Thursday, November 21 Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 1 Mc 2:15-29 Lk 19:41-44 Friday, November 22 St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr 1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59 Lk 19:45-48 Saturday, November 23 1 Mc 6:1-13 Lk 20:27-40 Sunday, November 24 Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe 2 Sm 5:1-3 Col 1:12-20 Lk 23:35-43
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 21
COMMENTARY THE LOCAL CHURCH | FATHER MICHAEL JOHNSON
A view of the Amazon Synod
To say that the Amazon Synod has caused a stir in the Church is an understatement. Twitter, the Catholic and secular media, and people in the parishes are talking about it. As I was teaching my canon law students about the Synod of Bishops, many questions and concerns were raised by them regarding what they had heard and read about the special session of the Synod of Bishops that was taking place concurrently with my class. My view of the Amazon Synod is that of an outsider looking into it through the lens of Canon Law. My experience of the Amazon Basin is limited to a movie (“The Mission”), a TV show (“River Monsters”) and a trip — two of which are helpful to me now. As a seminarian, my class traveled down to the archdiocesan mission in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, a large industrial city that rests in the confluence of the Orinoco and Caroni rivers. While there, we had the opportunity to go on a mini sightseeing trip to Brazil. On our two-day excursion, we drove 10 hours south toward the equator before ending in a jungle town in northern Brazil. In this quiet village, two things were very different: The people spoke Portuguese and the streams began to flow south. We were in the Amazon Rain Forest. Had we continued on that road from that secluded outpost, 70 hours and 3,100 miles later, we would have emerged from Amazon Basin and arrived soon after in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The small hamlet we visited was as a drop of water to the vastness of the ocean. Within the Amazon Basin, there are roughly 33.6 million people living in nine different countries: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. As it was when the Jesuit missionaries embarked into the jungle in the 18th century, it still remains largely mission territory for the Church. Yet, missionary activity in the 21st century is vastly different from the missionary activity of the past captured in the powerful film “The Mission.”
FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI
Move to meet people with love — even around the family table
Religion and politics. The two subjects you’re supposed to avoid in polite conversation. Except that the holiday season is when faith and family collide. Feasts like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s bring moments ripe for conversation with relatives — for better or for worse. What can we do when talking about our beliefs with family feels as dangerous as driving on ice-covered roads? A 2019 survey found that 49% of Americans reported skipping a family gathering because conversations with relatives have become so uncomfortable and divisive. But 70% also wish their interactions with family members during the holidays were more meaningful. When faith is central to our lives, how can we
Missionaries have always faced geopolitical issues, but in the Amazon Basin of the 21st century they are unique: mass deforestation, ecological issues, migration, drugs, crime and conflict with indigenous people. Missionaries have always faced ecclesiastical difficulties as well, but in the Amazon Basin of the 21st century, they are unique: influence of pagan religions, loss of Catholics to Protestant ecclesial communities, lack of ordained ministers and the sacraments, and the close and often problematic relationship between missionary activity and colonialism. Answering the question “How to better proclaim the Gospel in the Amazon?” was the sole purpose of the Amazon Synod that took place Oct. 6-27 in Rome. This fundamental question becomes more pressing when we consider that nearly three centuries of missionary activity have not produced the same fruit in the Amazon Basin as they have elsewhere in the world. In seeking to address this question, the synod fathers proposed a few controversial changes to Church discipline, but they also talked about addressing the issues surrounding mass migration, pressing ecological needs, proselytizing by Protestants, building a Catholic university, enculturation in the liturgy and creating a bishop’s conference for the Amazon. Some of the solutions were radical; most were rather mundane. The robust dialogue that took place during the synod produced a summary document “Documento Final: Assemblea Especial Para La Región Panamazónica,” assembled by the synod fathers. The full text is posted on the Vatican website under the “Synod of Bishops” and is a presentation of the points discussed in the individual working groups. It is well worth reading. Though radical ideas were proposed during the course of the synod, the document itself is a lot less controversial. This is because the structure of the synod itself forces a broad consensus. For example, controversial calls for women deacons became a proposal for a deeper appreciation and respect for the roles of women in the Church. The idea of women deacons was acknowledged in the final document as having been discussed. Now this document is in the hands of Pope Francis, who will write a post-synodal apostolic exhortation. He will take the fruits of the discussion and create a teaching document for the Church in the Amazon. As a teaching document, its purpose will not be to change Church discipline, but rather the pope will distill the wisdom of the synod fathers, born from successes and failures, and call the Church forward into a renewed
approach family gatherings, office parties or neighborhood potlucks when we know those closest to us may not share our beliefs? Jesus is the perfect place to start. Remember that he ate dinner with prostitutes and tax collectors. Known sinners. Social outcasts. But he sought them out, moving out from his comfortable circles of like-minded friends to those who were completely different from him. He sat at table with people whose lives looked nothing like his own. He passed food and shared conversation with those who might not have held any beliefs in common with him. Yet he still offered them radical welcome, grounded in love. Jesus knew what it felt like to be in the midst of uncomfortable conversations. The Gospels are full of tense moments — Pharisees plotting to trick him, enemies laying traps and unexpected encounters interrupting his plans. Yet over and over again he moved out to meet people where they were. Not standing at a safe distance, judging or gossiping, but pulling up a chair beside them and seeing them as beloved by God. There’s no magic formula for navigating holiday gatherings with difficult relatives. But we have the model of mercy in how God himself sat down at the table next to sinful, imperfect humans. He listened with love. He asked questions. He challenged when necessary, but not before listening and loving — and never without mercy. Imagine how our family parties could change this year if we offer a quick prayer to Jesus for a loving heart and a gentle tongue when we find ourselves
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Instead of allowing the rancor surrounding the synod — the messiness of humanity — to discourage us, let us be encouraged by the witness of the missionaries and martyrs to whom Pope Francis directs our attention. effort to bring the Gospel to the Amazon Basin in a more effective manner. We catch a glimpse of what his exhortation to the Church will be in the pope’s homily at the opening of the synod: “Dear brothers and sisters, together let us look to the crucified Jesus, to his heart pierced for our salvation. Let us begin there, the source of the gift that has given us birth. From that heart, the Spirit who renews has been poured forth (cf. Jn 19:30). Let each and every one of us, then, feel called to give life. So many of our brothers and sisters in Amazonia are bearing heavy crosses and awaiting the liberating consolation of the Gospel, the Church’s caress of love. So many of our brothers and sisters in Amazonia have given their lives. I would like to repeat here the words of our beloved Cardinal Hummes: When he arrives in those little towns of Amazonia, he goes to the cemetery to visit the tombs of missionaries. It is a gesture on the Church’s behalf for those who gave their lives in Amazonia. And then, with a little shrewdness, he says to the pope: ‘May they not be forgotten. They deserved to be canonized.’ For them and for all those who have given their lives and those who are still giving their lives, and with them, let us journey together.” Instead of allowing the rancor surrounding the synod — the messiness of humanity — to discourage us, let us be encouraged by the witness of the missionaries and martyrs to whom Pope Francis directs our attention. Their mission is far from complete in the most remote corner of the world. The fruit of the synod will not be the words that were said in Rome last month, the handwringing that they caused, or changes to Church discipline, but the proclamation of the Gospel in the arched nave of a cathedral painted green with leaves deep in the Amazon. Father Johnson is the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
seated next to a complicated conversation partner at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Remember those wise words that often surface when people of faith debate how and whom to help after a disaster: “We don’t help them because they’re Christian; we help them because we’re Christian.” The same holds true for our holiday conversations. We don’t show love and mercy to someone simply because they’re Catholic— because their beliefs align nicely with ours or their comments never ruffle any feathers. We show love and mercy because we’re Catholic, followers of Christ who moved out to the margins and sought out the ones whom polite society dismissed and righteous folks shunned. By definition, every human family is complicated and imperfect. Ironically, the ones closest to us can be the ones hardest to handle. We’ve all felt that ache — or anger — when someone dismisses or denies the faith we love. Does it bother us, as committed Catholics, when family members don’t share our beliefs? Of course. If we have found beauty, truth and goodness in God, we naturally want to share it with others. But no matter what, Christ calls us to pull up a chair and meet each person with compassion. The God of the Eucharist is waiting to meet us around the holiday table, too. Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on vocations at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville. She is the author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at MotheringSpirit.com.
22 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI
Grandma remembers: the secret of 90
It’s become a four-generation tradition to head south of the Twin Cities and take in a small-town celebration of fall. Our route winds between soaring bluffs and a shimmering lake. It feels like a narrow passageway, a tunnel back in time. We perused antique dolls at a whimsical toy store in Kellogg. Grandma recognized a Shirley Temple doll on display; she’d had the same one. Then we climbed aboard the hand-carved carousel, Grandma in a gilded chariot pulled by an ostrich, the baby on her lap. It seemed a fitting placement for our freckled matriarch who turns 90 this month: a few musical loops for the woman who has circled the sun 90 times, all while remaining in close orbit with the Son. On the drive home, we gazed at blazing maples and listened to “How Great Thou Art” — a song played at Grandpa Jim’s funeral, she told me.
SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY
The good of gratitude
November is the month of gratitude, the month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving and the beginning of the busy holiday season. All the year round, however, some people keep a gratitude journal, in which they focus on the positive aspects of their day, noting these events rather than focusing on what did not go well. As a therapist, I know how important it is for optimum brain health for us to think about the positive aspects of life, rather than to think only of how things did not work out as we had hoped or how discouraged we have become, due to a loss or disappointment. And yet, focusing on the negative is much more common for human beings, rather than to think happy and joyful thoughts. If we look to the early humans, we see that the ones who survived to procreate were those who tended to be wary and skeptical, thus more careful in their daily living, which often came about through more negative, rather than positive, thinking. The question is: What can we do, when we are naturally programmed to worry, to become more positive? How can we overcome this genetic predisposition to be “wired for worry”? Here are a few ideas of simple ways that may help you become a more positive person, so you can see the glass as half full, at least some of the time. First, try to assume the best of others. Whether this is a marriage partner, a business associate or a friend, try to ascribe goodwill to the other person and work to understand that everyone is just doing the best they can. Your acceptance and kindness may be exactly what the other person needs to make a change in his or her attitude and life. Second, try to be a little nicer to yourself. It is easy to judge ourselves when we have made a mistake, big or small, which can make it difficult to demonstrate compassion for ourselves, thereby increasing the anxiety we already feel. When we feel and feed anxiety, we perpetuate the negativity racing through our body and brain, which becomes nearly impossible
COMMENTARY In the back of the van, a great-grandchild snapped her reverie, and stories of toddler antics ensued. Again she seamlessly spanned the decades, recalling her days with young children. She laughed about the time her son Michael got stuck in a muddy field at stern Farmer Sperl’s. A neighbor boy breathlessly alerted her, advising: “You might need boots.” The lake danced behind us, and I circled back to her milestone birthday. “I feel pretty much the same as 70,” she said. Grandma stimulates her mind and soul: daily Mass and crosswords and journaling, weekly adoration, frequent phone calls and chocolates. She credits “God’s grace and the luck of the Irish, which includes my genes.” She does not look 90. She is spry, plucking out songs at the piano, scooping up great grandbabies, serving guests. She is beloved by everyone she encounters — a Universal Grandma, a stand-in with a ready hug and listening ear, a candy dish and a crackling fireplace. She makes each visitor feel understood and embraced. That is her superpower: She remembers. She is 90 and also 50 and 20 and 5. She recalls each stage — not only where she was and what she did, but how she felt. She remembers how it feels. She is still a redheaded girl living in St. Paul with her grandparents, tormented by the neighbor boy Donny Stulhman, determined to prove she is taller than he (though she is not).
ACTION CHALLENGE Consider starting your own gratitude journal this month and maintain it throughout this busy holiday season. Take time each day to notice the good things that happen and offer praise and gratitude to God for his goodness to you. If you like, continue the practice of noticing daily gratitude into the new year.
to turn off. This negativity can cause us to become sick, it can hurt our relationships, and it can impede our relationship with God, due to the shame we feel. In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul encourages his listeners to let the word of Christ dwell within them richly. He also encourages them to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in their hearts to God (Col 3:16-17). Prior to his encounter with the risen Christ on his way to Damascus, Paul was known for his persecution of Christians and his disrespect for the followers of Christ. He was completely transformed through his encounter with Christ, and out of his conversion came his complete devotion to God’s will for him. What if each one of us were to live with this same dedication: that we, too, have complete devotion to God’s will for us? How would this change us and how would it change our lives? Would we become more present in our encounters with one another? Would we become more compassionate toward the suffering of people in need and attempt to be Christ’s presence to them? Would we be more courageous and confident in living our lives, striving only to provide a living example of Jesus’ presence in our interactions with others? If this is what we strive to become, then it seems we must work to accept the events and occurrences of our lives, and with gratitude, let the word of Christ dwell richly in us, as we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God. It seems we must strive to surrender our will to the will of God, and in his wisdom and grace, allow him to mold and shape our lives so that we emulate Christ’s self-giving, obedient nature in all we do. Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and a doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
NOVEMBER 7, 2019 She is still a teenager, dreaming of motherhood and sobered by news of World War II, listening to H.V. Kaltenborn on the radio with her grandpa. She is still a kindergarten teacher, overwhelmed and inspired to teach 110 students. She is still a newlywed, deeply in love, merging two lives. She is still a stay-at-home mom, humbled by the task of raising children. She is still a Girl Scout leader, teaching the thirdgraders in Troop 551 a melody they will still later sing when they are new moms soothing colicky babies. She is still a widow at 45, given to fits of uncontrollable crying, triggered by daily reminders like shoes in a closet, but also propped up by enormous kindness. (“I never knew there was such compassion,” she said. “I’ll never be the same.”) She is still a program coordinator at a social-service agency called Neighbors, determined to serve the needy in her midst. She is still a grandma, floored by the joy of her baby’s baby. She is still a great-grandma, elevated, she says, to “another whole level, floating above Never, Never Land, fully aware of each blessing but totally free of responsibility.” She has kept all these things in her heart, and she can access any one at any time. At 90 she is ageless: tender and tough, young and wise, more alive than ever. Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
LETTERS Leave the doors open One of the most destructive forces infecting our Church today is polarization. That is why I was dismayed at The Catholic Spirit’s choice to publish Greg Magnuson’s letter in the Oct. 24 issue. While one applauds Magnuson’s defense of the Real Presence, I take strong exception to his call for action. If I, at the height of grappling with this mystery in my 20s, was told that I was a sinner and to “change my ways or stop calling myself Catholic” I would not have continued and become the believer I am today. Luckily, my questioning was validated, and wise guides accompanied me. We must resist forcing an artificial dichotomy on a lived reality that is nuanced and changes over the life of an individual Catholic. I reject the false sense that only some are eligible to be “in” and the rest should be “out.” No wonder youth leave in droves. Meg Payne Nelson Annunciation, Minneapolis
Jesus is present In response to Greg Magnuson’s letter (Oct. 24) on the 60% lack of belief in the Real Presence: This, then, should be the No. 1 issue to be considered by the Archdiocesan Synod — restoring belief that Jesus Christ is there on our altars, that this Real Presence is why thousands of martyrs gave their lives, and why Catholic missionaries and lay workers founded hospitals and care for the sick and poor around the world. To remedy this lack of belief, I suggest solid catechesis in homilies and classrooms; restoration of the sacred in our churches by encouraging reverent dress and subdued behavior, thus recognizing these places are set aside for honoring God; and the use of music which reinforces our sacred belief, certainly not the “bread” songs in current use. After 40 years of singing and teaching about the “bread” on the altar, it is no wonder people do not recognize and adore the presence of Jesus Christ before them. Jesus said it is his Body. Why do we not believe him? Cindy Paslawski St. Pius X, White Bear Lake Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@ Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. archspm.org.
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 23
CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS “Known by God: A Day of Reflection for Mothers of a Miscarried or Stillborn Child” — Nov. 9: 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. at Church of the Epiphany, 1900 111th Ave. NW, Coon Rapids. Mothers invited for a daylong retreat with Mass, adoration, Ignatian prayer, talks on grieving with God and the experience of losing an unborn infant, small group time and lunch. Retreat leader is Bernadette Gockowski, former youth minister at Epiphany. $50 registration. epiphanymn.org. “A Night of Inspiration with Immaculée Ilibagiza” — Nov. 13: 7 p.m. at St. Michael, 16400 Duluth Ave. SE, Prior Lake. Ilibagiza tells her story faith, hope and forgiveness through Rwandan Holocaust. stmichael-pl.org. Bishop Peter Christensen on “The Church is Apostolic” — Nov. 14: 6–9 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 680 Mill St., Excelsior. Part of the Father Mark Dosh Speaker Series: Where Knowledge Leads to Love. stjohns-excelsior.org.
Music Author of Divine Light: A Sacred Concert of Lute and Vocal Music — Nov. 9: 8 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., Minneapolis. Soprano Sarah Jackson and lutenist Thomas Walker Jr. ourholycross.org. Tuba Mirum! featuring St. Catherine University Choral Society — Nov. 17: 3 p.m. at Holy Spirit, 515 S. Albert St., St. Paul. stkate.emscloudservice.com.
Dining out OLP Waffle Breakfast — Nov. 10: 8 a.m.–noon at Our Lady of the Prairie, 200 E. Church St., Belle Plaine. Proceeds to sixth grade Wolf Ridge ELC trip. Fall Festival Pancake Breakfast — Nov. 10: 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com. Little Sisters of the Poor Christmas Boutique and ham dinner — Nov. 23-24: 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m. at 330 Exchange St. S., St. Paul. littlesistersofthepoorstpaul.org. St. Mary’s Sausage Supper and Turkey Bingo — Nov. 24: Noon–8 p.m. at 8820 240th St. E., Hampton. stmarysnewtrier.com.
Parish events
Retreats
Holy Spirit Men’s Club Turkey Bingo — Nov. 7: 6:30 p.m. at 515 Albert St. S., St. Paul. Fall Festival Spaghetti and Bingo — Nov. 9: 6–9 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com. Craft and Bake Sale — Nov. 9: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 12508 Lynn Ave., Savage. stjohns-savage.org. Fall Market — Nov. 9-10 at St. Therese, 18323 Minnetonka Blvd., Deephaven. st-therese.org /events. Lebanese bake sale — Nov. 9-10 at St. Maron Church, 602 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis. Sponsored by The Altar Society and St. Anne’s Club of St. Maron Church. 612-379-2758. stmaron.com. St. Alphonsus Christmas bazaar — Nov. 9-11: 8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. at St. Alphonsus, 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center. stalsmn.org. Guardian Angels Turkey Bingo — Nov. 10: 1–3 p.m. 8266 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org. Immaculate Conception Bingo and Turkey Raffle — Nov. 16: 6–9 p.m. at 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 763-788-9062. iccsonline.org. St. Jude of the Lake Turkey Bingo — Nov. 16: 5:30–8 p.m. at 700 Mahtomedi Ave., Mahtomedi. stjudeofthelake.org. Knights of Columbus Turkey Bingo — Nov. 16: 6–9 p.m. at Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. Gifts for All Seasons Craft and Bake Sale — Nov. 16-17 at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 401 Concord St., St. Paul. olgcatholic.org. Turkey Bingo — Nov. 17: 6 p.m. at Good Shepherd, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. 763-544-0416. goodshepherdgv.org.
Retreat for Catholic Healthcare Professionals — Nov. 15-17 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. curatioapostolate.com.
Prayer/worship Practice-based spiritual formation group — Second Tuesdays through Dec. 10: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org. Taize prayer — Third Fridays: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Simple chants based on Scriptures and periods of silence. Refreshments following. benedictinecenter.org. Taize prayer — First Fridays: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. Moving prayer centering on sung psalms and periods of holy silence. strichards.com.
Advent retreat with Father Matt Linn, S.J. — Nov. 23: 9 a.m.–3 p.m. at Lumen Christi, 2055 Bohland Ave., St. Paul. “The Beatitudes: How to Grow with Peace and Healing,” presented by the Ignatian Associates of the Twin Cities.
Conferences/workshops Resurrection Power Healing Service — Nov. 16-17: Led by Mary Healy at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road E., Burnsville. ccro-msp.org. The Welcoming Prayer — Nov. 22: 9 a.m.–3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, St. Paul. benedictinecenter.org.
Schools Veteran’s Day assembly — Nov. 11: 9–10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Academy, 949 Mendota Heights Road, Mendota Heights. Guest speaker retired U.S. Army Four-Star General Joseph Votel, most recently the Commander of the U.S. Central Command. Cadets will also honor all STA veterans. cadets.com. St. Helena’s PreK-8 open house — Nov. 14: 1:30–5:30 p.m. at 3200 E. 44th St., Minneapolis. sainthelenaschool.us. St. Joseph Catholic School preschool and kindergarten open house — Nov. 14: 6:30–8 p.m. at 13900 Biscayne Ave. W., Rosemount. school.stjosephcommunity.org. Holy Spirit Academy Harvest Banquet — Nov. 15: 5:30–11 p.m. at 7025 Northland Drive N., Brooklyn Park. Speaker Father John Klockeman. holyspiritacademy.org.
Speakers Messages of Hope from the Prophets — Nov. 8: 9:45–11:45 a.m. at Mary, Mother of Church, 3333 Cliff Road E., Burnsville. “Ha-Tikvah-The Hope; The Anthem of the Jewish People” presented by Rabbi Norman Cohen. mmotc.org. “Gun Violence and What We Can Do About It” — Nov. 10: 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at St. Edward, 9401 Nesbitt Ave. S., Bloomington. Presenter Rev. Nancy Nord Bence. protectmn.org.
CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM/CALENDARSUBMISSIONS MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106
“Creating Caring Faith Communities in Minnesota: Five Things You Can Do” — Nov. 11: 5:45–8 p.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis. Sponsored by National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota. Co-hosted by St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis. “In Our Own Voice” speaker series — Nov. 14: 7–8:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. The Depression Support Coalition informs, educates, supports and cultivates a community of spiritual hope for those affected by depression. depressionsupportcoalition.org. Austen Ivereigh on “The Pope as a Jesuit” — Nov. 16: 10–11:30 a.m. at St. Thomas More Church, 1079 Summit Ave., St. Paul. morecommunity.org. Speaker on sex education bill — Nov. 23: 8:30 a.m–noon at Sacred Heart, 4087 W. Broadway, Robbinsdale. Presenter Michele Lentz, president of the Child Protection League. Jo Petron at 763-424-2203.
Other events Reiser Relief Fall Gala for Haiti — Nov. 14: 5 p.m. at Minneapolis Marriott Northwest, 7025 Northland Drive N., Brooklyn Park. Proceeds to fund construction of a new school in Cite Soleil, Haiti. reiserrelief.org. Catholic Young Adults: The Musical — Nov. 15-24 at Helene Houle Auditorium at St. Agnes School, 530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. missedtheboattheatre.com.
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ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780 ANTIQUES TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture Advertising Signs • Beer Items • Toys • Misc. (651) 227-2469 APARTMENT DUPLEX ROOMMATE KENWOOD CHARMING PREMIER SPOT 700 Huge living room high ceiling and arched doorways, F/P, lots of windows and french doors. Large dining room with leaded glass windows. Nice breakfast nook and kitchen dishwasher garbage disposal, lots of cupboards and a booth! Xlarge BR’S 2 hardwood 1 carpet lots of closets/storage space. FREE Utilities High Speed Net Laundry A/C parking. Central convenient location between Uptown/Downtown Lakes for all activities next to ALL freeways buses! Richard 612-998-0287 info No Pets No Smoking 1814 COLFAX AVE S MPLS. Thank you!
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Edward F. Gross • Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, Real Estate. Office at 35E & Roselawn Ave., St. Paul (651) 631-0616.
Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kansas is seeking a High School President. The ideal candidate will be a dynamic, inspirational, visionary leader who is a practicing Catholic and committed to the mission and core values of the school. For a complete job description please visit www.stasaints.net/presidentposition. To apply please send a letter of introduction, current resume to Dr. Vince Cascone, Superintendent of Schools. Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas; 12615 Parallel Pkwy; Kansas City, KS 66109 and complete the President application process at www. archkckcs.org. Deadline is Jan. 3, 2020.
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FURNISHED ROOM WANTED EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES News reporter/staff writer and member of the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis in St. Paul, MN. Primary duties are to report and write news stories, news and trend analysis, feature stories, news briefs and other stories as assigned for The Catholic Spirit newspaper and TCS online. Reports to TCS editor-in-chief/publications manager and works closely with the news editor. For education, experience, other requirements, and how to apply, please see https://rebrand.ly/TCS777
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24 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 7, 2019
THELASTWORD
‘Something amazing’
LEFT Choreographer Mary Mailand, front, of Assumption in St. Paul, helps cast members learn a dance number during rehearsal Oct. 16 at St. Agnes in St. Paul. At right is Annie Colling of St. John the Baptist in Jordan.
Faith-filled actors poised to perform Catholic Young Adults: The Musical
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
W
hat is it like to be a Catholic young adult in 2019? A bunch of them have banded together to paint a picture. Or rather, sing a song. A troupe comprised of local actors, almost all of them Catholic, will perform “Catholic Young Adults: The Musical” Nov. 15-24 at St. Agnes School’s Helene Houle Auditorium in St. Paul. Three Catholics with ties to religious life put together the show and cast: Father Kyle Kowalczyk, writer; Brother John-Marmion Villa, composer; and Mary Shaffer, director. Father Kowalczyk, parochial administrator at St. Maximilian Kolbe in Delano, wrote the play with encouragement from Shaffer, who once belonged to the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus in New Ulm and has a background in theater. Brother Villa, Father Kowalczyk’s friend who lives in a religious community in Arkansas, set it to music. The three put together a cast of 25: eight main characters, four supporting roles and an ensemble of 13. Collectively, they are called Missed the Boat Theatre. The idea for the play came when Shaffer was having a conversation with her younger brother three years ago. “He was a grad student at Notre Dame at the time,” said Shaffer, 34, a member of St. Michael in Stillwater. “He was telling me about these super nerdy guys who were having night prayer in Latin. He went and sneaked in the back to see if there were any cute girls there. And, there weren’t. So, he snuck out the back. And, I was laughing so hard. I was like, ‘It’s the same everywhere, Catholic young adult life.’ ... But, it’s such a unique subculture.” Right after she hung up, the title of the musical popped into her head, along with the motivation to do it. “I knew that this musical would be amazing,” she said, “but I knew I didn’t have what it took to write a musical.” Father Kowalczyk did. He had written plays while at The St. Paul Seminary before his ordination to the priesthood in 2016. She had seen one of them, “Moonshine Abbey.” So, she called him and said, “You have to write this.” His response? “I thought it sounded like a terrible idea,” he said. “I didn’t see any humor in it at all.”
PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
She kept trying to convince him. Several emails later, he agreed to take a crack at writing the script. He started in 2016 during his first assignment as a priest at Divine Mercy in Faribault. He finished the first draft in December 2016 and the final version this summer, with auditions taking place in early September. Rehearsals began right away, and cast members have bonded through their faith, Shaffer included. That has created a chemistry that excites them to perform the musical. “It’s an absolute blast,” said Tamara Titsworth, 31, of St. Mark in St. Paul, who plays Mary Faustina. “The cast and crew are amazing. And, it’s the first time that I’ve worked in a production where it’s all people of faith.” Several of the cast members are married with children. One of them has a 4-month-old baby whom she brings to rehearsals. People have been recruited to watch the baby while the mother is on stage. “We’ve really tried to make this an environment that’s supportive of life and supportive of family life,” Shaffer said. The musical’s story focuses on a parish in danger of closing, with young adults coming to the rescue. There is lots of humor, cast members said, and they hope members of the audience will see some of themselves in the characters. “I think it could open up discussions in a really positive way,” said cast member Michael Conroy, 27, of Epiphany in Coon Rapids. “There’s something relatable for those that are Catholic (and) those that aren’t.” Many cast and crew members have previous acting experience, but felt their faith sometimes was at odds with other cast members and the content of the plays. “I had a really tough time in the professional theater world with the company that I tried to start acting with,” said Shaffer, who studied theater at St. Olaf College in Northfield. “I really disagreed with some of the moral decisions they were making with the play. I had to drop out.” Titsworth, likewise, left theater for a time. She had drifted away from the Church but came back in 2015. Now, she works for St. Mark as the pastoral care director. She likes being part of a “faith-centered cast,” and also the weekly Masses on Mondays before
rehearsal at St. Clement in northeast Minneapolis. She did not hesitate to audition after she found out about the play, while Conroy got a personal invitation from Father Kowalczyk while the priest was assigned at Epiphany. Conroy got to read the script and was part of a group that helped fine-tune it. When it came time to audition, he zeroed in on one of the characters, Paulus, who he described as “a bit of an outsider” who “knows probably more about the Church than anybody.” Father Kowalczyk said he was surprised with the level of talent he was able to assemble for the play. And, he is glad to give cast and crew members a Catholic theater experience. “That’s our vision: to be able to offer Catholic artists a place to come and make something beautiful for the Lord,” he said. “And, we’re going to do something amazing.” “When I leave rehearsal, I can’t sleep,” Shaffer said. “I will lie awake in my bed, and I think about all the amazing things that happened at rehearsal. And, sometimes I start laughing out loud because I remember how hilarious it was. But, (the play) is also extremely profound, I think, not just for young adults but for any person of any age.” For more information and to buy tickets, visit missedtheboattheatre.com.
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BELOW Chad Berg of St. Mark in St. Paul sings during rehearsal.
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