The Catholic Spirit - October 12, 2023

OCTOBER 12, 2023 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

TheCatholicSpirit.com

mission in the backyard — World Mission Sunday, Pages 11-13

SYNOD SYNERGY 5 | PRO-LIFE ADVOCACY 6 | INTERGENERATIONAL PHILANTHROPY 7 CAVINS AT 65 14 | ‘DRIVER’S LICENSES FOR ALL’ 15 | RELICS TOUR 24

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

PAGETWO OVERHEARD This elevation to national shrine status is a testament to our community and parishioners’ enduring devotion, the cultural richness the cathedral embodies, and its role as a place of solace and reflection for all. … This is a tremendously positive national spotlight pointed right to our diocese and our city.

Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas officially announcing Oct. 3 that the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the heart of downtown Dallas has been granted designation as a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A special Mass Dec. 12 will celebrate the status of the cathedral, which was built between 1898 and 1902 and will now be known as The National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s a designation Father Jesús Belmontes, the cathedral’s rector, called befitting of the cathedral’s impact on Catholics within the diocese, around the nation, and throughout Central and Latin America.

NEWS notes

COURTESY NICOLE ENGSTROM

TEN COMMANDMENTS Father Aric Aamodt, associate pastor of All Saints in Lakeville, is flanked by parishioners and members of the Knights of Columbus Sept. 24 as he blesses a new Ten Commandments monument outside the parish office. Several years ago, Lakeville Knights of Columbus Council 8367 wanted to have a Ten Commandments monument created, said Grand Knight Allen Novacek. After discussing the idea with Father Tom Wilson, pastor of All Saints, the monument was created with funds from the council and donations.

The Minneapolis VA is a recipient of one of 25 new Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is deploying nationwide. The MMU is a van containing medical equipment and supplies that will help support the VA’s Homeless Patient Aligned Care Teams — staff who offer care in community settings, providing veterans with services such as health assessments, health education, preventive care and referrals to other programs and resources in the area that can assist veterans experiencing homelessness. Through a new partnership with Minneapolis-based Catholic Charities Twin Cities, the MMU will be onsite at the Dorothy Day campus in St. Paul every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering care to veterans. Minneapolis VA representatives said the plan is to increase the number of sites throughout the Twin Cities.

St. Therese senior living communities in the Twin Cities have been honoring their namesake this month, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, including Masses on her feast day Oct. 1 at sites in New Hope, Oxbow Lake and Woodbury. Those facilities and senior living sites in Brooklyn Park and Shoreview marked the 150th anniversary of the saint’s birth this year, and the 100th anniversary of her beatification, with special gifts, food and information provided to residents, staff, volunteers and supporters. Residents of those communities also were provided transportation to events related to veneration of the saint’s relic and those of her parents, Sts. Zélie and Louis Martin, Oct. 6-7 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and Oct. 7-10 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

Representatives from Catholic Relief Services, CRS board members and Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis discussed CRS services and their impact during a Sept. 21 panel discussion with seminarians at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. The organization — which is the international relief arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — serves more than 250 million people in more than 100 countries, providing emergency response and development work. Archbishop Hebda, who served on the executive board of Caritas Internationalis in Rome for three years, said he “came to see the way in which Catholic leaders around the world really look to CRS as being the gold standard for outreach to those who are in need.” CRS mobilizes resources “in an amazing way,” Archbishop Hebda said, “and is always working with the local Church.”

PRACTICING Catholic ALL GOD’S CREATURES Dr. Greg Weber, a parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, waits in a pew with his two schnauzers for a blessing of the animals Oct. 1. Father Daniel Griffith and Father Joe Gillespie blessed pets at the Basilica that day, including dogs, cats, birds, bunnies and more. About 320 people attended the blessing.

On the Oct. 6 “Practicing Catholic” radio show, producer Kayla Mayer interviewed Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, about immigration ahead of the Oct. 19 “Immigration: Crisis in America” event at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. Also featured were Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who described the season of Ordinary Time and how to live it well; and Father Rich Simon, host of Relevant Radio’s “Father Simon Says” daily Bible study, who discussed the rosary during this Month of the Holy Rosary. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or anchor.fm/ practicing-catholic-show with links to streaming platforms.

COURTESY BASILICA OF ST. MARY

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 28 — No. 19 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher JOE RUFF, Editor-in-Chief REBECCA OMASTIAK, News Editor

ON THE COVER Kelli Nelson, second from left, and her husband, Richard Garcia, who is from Peru, play with their children Camila Garcia Nelson, center, and Sofia Garcia Nelson, right. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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OCTOBER 12, 2023

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Saintly relics help advance the call to mission

O

ur archdiocese has been deeply blessed in this month dedicated to the missions by the presence of the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, universal patroness of the foreign missions, and her saintly parents, Sts. Zélie and Louis Martin. I felt so privileged to preside at two events in our Cathedral on the evening of Oct. 6 as thousands of our brothers and sisters came forward, often with their little children, to give thanks and praise to God and to venerate the relics of these great saints. The lines were seemingly endless and visually reminded me of the great diversity in this local Church, with significant representation that evening from our Latino, Asian and African communities.

It brought back memories of the last time that I had prayed before the reliquary with St. Thérèse’s earthly remains. The Holy See had brought the relics of the Little Flower to St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 19, 1997, as St. John Paul II declared St. Thérèse to be a doctor of the Church, an amazing accomplishment for someone who had had no formal theological education. The liturgy that day — World Mission Sunday — involved groups from around the globe, all feeling a particular closeness to this saint even though she had never ventured out of her monastery once she professed her vows as a cloistered Carmelite. I will never forget the emotion that was communicated in the chanting of a Maronite choir that day.

In June of this year, as part of the worldwide celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Thérèse’s birth and the 100th anniversary of her beatification, the relics returned to St. Peter’s Square.

Providentially, Pope Francis was able to pray with the relics just before going into the hospital for his most recent surgery.

The presence of the relics at the Vatican gave

Las reliquias santas ayudan a promover el llamado a la misión

N

uestra arquidiócesis ha sido profundamente bendecida en este mes dedicado a las misiones por el presencia de las reliquias de Santa Teresa de Lisieux, patrona universal de las misiones extranjeras, así como así como las reliquias de sus santos padres, los Santos Zélie y Louis Martin. Me sentí muy privilegiado de presidir en dos eventos en nuestra Catedral la noche del 6 de octubre cuando miles de nuestros hermanos y hermanas se acercaban, a menudo con sus hijos pequeños, para dar gracias y alabar a Dios y venerar las reliquias de estos grandes santos.

Las líneas parecían interminables y visualmente me recordaron la gran diversidad en esta Iglesia local, con una representación significativa esa noche de nuestra comunidades latinas, asiáticas y africanas.

Me trajo recuerdos de la última vez que había orado ante el relicario con St. los restos terrenales de Teresa. La Santa Sede había llevado las reliquias de la Pequeña Flor a San Pedro Square el 19 de octubre de 1997, cuando San

The work of the missions, so dear to the heart of St. Thérèse, is as important in 2023 as it was in her day. Pope Francis reminds us that missionaries are ‘not only those who travel long distances, learn new languages, do good works, and are good at proclamation; no, a missionary is anyone who lives as an instrument of God’s love where they are. Missionaries are those who do everything so that, through their witness, their prayer, their intercession, Jesus might pass by.’ the Holy Father an opportunity to reflect on the missionary dimension of the life of the Little Flower, who had been declared the patron saint of the missions by his predecessor, Pope Pius XI, in 1927. Pope Francis noted that “... though her body was sickly, her heart was vibrant, missionary. She recounts in her ‘diary’” that her desire was that of being a missionary, and that she wanted to be one not just for a few years, but for the rest of her life, even until the end of the world. St. Thérèse was a “spiritual sister” to several missionaries; she accompanied them from her monastery through her letters, through her prayer, and by offering continuous sacrifices for them. Without being visible, she interceded for the missions, like an engine that, although hidden, gives a vehicle the power to move forward.

The work of the missions, so dear to the heart of St. Thérèse, is as important in 2023 as it was in her day. Pope Francis reminds us that missionaries

Juan Pablo II declaró a Santa Teresa doctora de la Iglesia, una un logro sorprendente para alguien que no había tenido educación teológica formal. El la liturgia de ese día, el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones, involucró a grupos de todo el mundo, todos sintiendo un particular cercanía a esta santa a pesar de que nunca se había aventurado a salir de su monasterio una vez profesó sus votos como carmelita de clausura.

Nunca olvidaré la emoción que fue comunicó en el canto de un coro maronita ese día.

En junio de este año, como parte de las celebraciones mundiales por el 150 aniversario de motivo del nacimiento de Teresa y del centenario de su beatificación, las reliquias regresan a San Pedro Cuadrado.

Providencialmente, el Papa Francisco pudo rezar con las reliquias justo antes de entrar en el hospital para su cirugía más reciente.

La presencia de las reliquias en el Vaticano dio al Santo Padre la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre la dimensión misionera de la vida de la Pequeña Flor, que había sido declarada patrona delas misiones de su predecesor, el Papa Pío XI, en 1927. El Papa Francisco señaló que “... aunque su cuerpo de era enfermizo, su corazón era vibrante, misionero”. Cuenta en su “diario” que su deseo era de ser misionera, y que quería serlo no solo durante unos años, sino para el resto

are “not only those who travel long distances, learn new languages, do good works, and are good at proclamation; no, a missionary is anyone who lives as an instrument of God’s love where they are. Missionaries are those who do everything so that, through their witness, their prayer, their intercession, Jesus might pass by.”

As we gathered before the relics in the Cathedral, I felt privileged to be able to pray for Father Greg Schaffer, one of our archdiocesan priests, who leads the parish that our archdiocese supports in Venezuela, as well as for our sisters and brothers in Kitui, Kenya, and for the many missionaries from our archdiocese, including those featured in this week’s Catholic Spirit.

Like the Little Flower, we are called to not only intercede for the missions through our prayers but also to support them with our sacrifices. I’m always edified by the generosity of the faithful of this archdiocese in supporting the Church’s missionary efforts.

While we are always called to keep the missions in our prayers, the Church dedicates one Sunday each year as World Mission Sunday and asks us in particular on that occasion to support the Pontifical Mission Societies. The funds collected that weekend, this year Oct. 21 and 22, will enable those societies to provide annual subsidies to over 1,100 missionary dioceses in their proclamation of the Gospel, and to directly support mission seminaries and religious formation houses, the education of children in mission schools, the building of chapels and churches, as well as sustaining homes for orphaned children, the elderly and the sick.

When the Pontifical Mission Societies were first formed, the young Church in the United States benefited greatly from their prayers and generosity.

Now it is our turn to support as best we can the Church’s missionary efforts. I hope that you will join me in praying for the success of this year’s World Mission Sunday.

de su vida, incluso hasta el fin del mundo. Santa Teresa fue una “hermana espiritual” de varios misioneros: los acompañó desde su monasterio a través de sus cartas, a través de su oración y ofreciendo continuos sacrificios por ellos. Sin ser visible, intercedió por las misiones, como un motor que, aunque oculto, le da al vehículo la potencia para avanzar.

La labor de las misiones, tan querida por el corazón de Santa Teresa, es tan importante en 2023 como lo fue en su día. El Papa Francisco nos recuerda que los misioneros “no son sólo aquellos que viajan largas distancias, aprenden nuevos idiomas, hacen buenas obras y son buenos en la proclamación; no, un misionero es todo aquel que vive como instrumento del amor de Dios dondequiera que esté. Los misioneros son aquellos que hacer todo lo posible para que, a través de su testimonio, su oración, su intercesión, Jesús pueda pasar por.”

Mientras nos reuníamos ante las reliquias en la Catedral, me sentí privilegiado de poder orar por el Padre Greg Schaeffer, uno de nuestros sacerdotes arquidiocesanos, quien dirige la parroquia que nuestra arquidiócesis apoyos en Venezuela, así como para nuestras hermanas y hermanos en Kitui, Kenia, y para los muchos misioneros de nuestra arquidiócesis, incluidos los que aparecen en El Espíritu Católico de esta semana. Como la Pequeña Flor, estamos

llamados no sólo a interceder por las misiones a través de nuestras oraciones pero también apoyarlos con nuestros sacrificios. Siempre me siento edificado por la generosidad de los fieles de esta arquidiócesis para apoyar los esfuerzos misioneros de la Iglesia.

Si bien siempre estamos llamados a mantener las misiones en nuestras oraciones, la Iglesia dedica una domingo de cada año como Domingo Mundial de las Misiones y nos pide en particular en esa ocasión que apoyemoslas Obras Misionales Pontificias. Los fondos recaudados ese fin de semana, este año 21 y 22 de octubre, se permitir a esas sociedades proporcionar subsidios anuales a más de 1.100 diócesis misioneras en sus proclamación del Evangelio y para apoyar directamente los seminarios misioneros y la formación religiosacasas, la educación de los niños en las escuelas misioneras, la construcción de capillas e iglesias, así como así como sostener hogares para niños huérfanos, ancianos y enfermos.

Cuando se formaron las Obras Misionales Pontificias, la joven Iglesia en los Estados Unidos se benefició enormemente de sus oraciones y generosidad. Ahora es nuestro turno de apoyar lo mejor que puede los esfuerzos misioneros de la Iglesia. Espero que se unan a mí en oración por el éxito de la este año en la Jornada Misionera Mundial.

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

LOCAL

Light of Christ

SLICEof LIFE DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Liam Bruce, center, looks at the candle he received shortly after he was baptized during an all-school Mass for students at St. Pascal Regional Catholic School in St. Paul Oct. 4. The Mass took place at St. Pascal Baylon church, which is connected to the school. Liam’s mother, Shea Bruce, left, works at the school as director of curriculum instruction and as a first-grade teacher. Shea and her husband, Jacob, right, postponed the baptism because of COVID-19, and recently decided to have it during a school Mass so that students and staff could take part. “On the night of my 30th birthday (Aug. 16), I kind of got a feeling that it was time” for Liam to be baptized, said Shea, who has worked at the school for the last eight years.

“I feel really close to the school. …

That’s my community.” The principal of the school, Inna Collier Paske, brought back water from the Jordan River in the Holy Land while on a pilgrimage there with other school leaders, and poured it into the baptismal font for Liam’s baptism. “It was special,” Shea Bruce said of the gesture. Father Bob Hart performed the baptism. He is serving the parish while the pastor, Father John Mitchell, is on sabbatical.

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LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

International effort of parish renewal seen in Archdiocesan Synod implementation

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Members of a parish in England are praying for success in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

So are people in Milan, Italy, and other sites where a way of being parish through something called relational evangelization is flourishing.

They are watching as the archdiocese undertakes for the first time shaping parish life diocese-wide under small groups formed as Parish Evangelization Cell Systems, or PECS. The archdiocese’s effort is fruit of the Archdiocesan Synod and Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s post-synodal pastoral letter released last November, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”

“Few bishops in the Catholic Church have a vision,” said Father Victor Vella of Holy Innocents in Orpington, an area in southeast London, while addressing archdiocesan parish leaders and staff gathered at Guardian Angels in Oakdale Oct. 5. “And this archbishop does. Support him, so that you are in obedience with your bishop.”

The gathering was Parish Staff Formation Day, and it included people from across the archdiocese learning how to implement PECS, a small group model designed to promote parish-based sharing and learning, adoration and constant growing and dividing to include more people. It is a way of being parish that grows from the inside to reach people outside the Church, proponents of the movement suggested.

Father Vella, who oversees PECS among parishes in England, was joined by Meghan Dimbylow, a secondary school science teacher from Reading, England, who works alongside Father Vella to coordinate PECS in England, and Father Paul Fenech, president of the International Organization of Parish Cells of Evangelization, based in Milan.

Bringing prayer for the archdiocese close to home, Dimbylow told those gathered that a parish using PECS — St. Michael in Tadley, England — is among those praying for the archdiocese. It is about 30 minutes from her own parish, which is taking its first steps toward PECS, Dimbylow said.

All three said small groups under PECS have focus but they are flexible; they can undertake any manner of prayer, study and ministry. And the movement appears to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, they and Archbishop Hebda said.

“There is a real movement of the Holy Spirit here,” the archbishop said as he answered questions during the all-day session. Father Fenech echoed that, saying, “It grows and multiplies through relationships … Let the Holy Spirit guide you.”

PECS has been used to good effect in the archdiocese, first introduced in 2010 at St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in South Minneapolis under Father Joseph Williams, now Bishop Williams and an Archdiocesan Synod implementation leader.

Several parishioners of those parishes attended the Oct. 5 session, including Juan Cuzco, Maria Hernandez and Monica Mesa. All three nodded their heads yes at the end of the day when asked if what they heard was familiar. Still, they came.

“I want to be very clear about small groups,” Cuzco said. “We want to be in the same place as the archbishop.”

The day began with Mass, and a Gospel reading from Luke that describes Jesus calling 72 people to go in pairs as witnesses to himself and his ministry.

It was the reading of the day, not chosen specifically for the formation day, but “it is at the heart of what we are doing today,” Archbishop Hebda said in his homily.

“Bishop Williams and I have been praying to bring laborers to the harvest,” the archbishop told the congregation. “Brothers and sisters, that’s you. It’s important for us to recognize that we are called to go forth. We are called like those 72.”

Formation for PECS has begun across the archdiocese, with videos and other materials provided by the archdiocese in a seven-week program that will lead to further formation and bringing PECS to life in

ABOVE Father Paul Fenech, right, gives a talk during the Fall 2023 Parish Staff Formation Day at Guardian Angels in Oakdale Oct. 5. Also presenting were guest speakers Father Victor Vella and Meghan Dimbylow.

LEFT Liz Pham, director of faith formation at St. Hubert in Chanhassen, listens to a talk at the staff formation day.

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

the archdiocese. The archbishop noted that, as well.

“The 72 didn’t have seven weeks to learn this, with videos,” he said to some laughter. “Nonetheless, they have confidence to go forward with the promise that God will provide. We need to believe that God has a plan for this Church, if we allow the Lord to bring us forward.”

Sessions during the day included remarks by Bishop Williams and Deacon Joe Michalak, director of the Office of Synod Evangelization, on preparing all small groups to take on aspects of PECS, and comments from Father Vella and Dimbylow on the good news of PECS for the laity and the parish. In addition, there was a session on pastors and parishioners sharing the responsibility of evangelization in the Church, and the way PECS paves the way for effective sharing of that responsibility.

Archbishop Hebda and other presenters fielded questions and more deeply explained aspects of the formation. Deacon Michalak likened preparation for small group evangelization to sports and the work it takes to compete.

“This is like the chalk talk,” he said. “And you can’t go straight from the chalk talk to playing on the field in one swoop.”

Nancy Jans, a member of St. Michael in St. Michael and faith formation director for middle school and high school students at St. Henry in Monticello, came for the day with her 6-month-old son, John Paul Joseph. She said in an interview that she is interested in how relational evangelization and organizing small groups around elements of PECS will impact other small groups.

FOUNDING PECS A pastor in Florida looking for spiritual food for his flock and a priest from Milan, Italy, who heard about what the pastor found were the first to bring what became the Parish Cell Evangelization System (PECS) into the Catholic Church.

In 1983, the late Msgr. Michael Eivers — then-pastor of St. Boniface Church in Pembroke Pines, Florida — traveled to South Korea for a seminar where he caught the vision of small group ministry developed by Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho at his Pentecostal Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea.

Msgr. Eivers applied the pastor’s model of cell ministry to his parish, with its emphasis on prayer, a solid organizational structure and evangelization.

In 1986, the late Father Piergiogio Parini of Milan heard about Msgr. Eivers’ parish as being alive with the work of Holy Spirit; he visited and then began transforming the parish of St. Eustorgio in Milan. The first cells of the new system were born, and they spread in Italy and beyond.

On the feast of Divine Mercy, April 12, 2015, the Pontifical Council of the Laity approved the statutes and designated PECS as a Public Association of the Faithful of the Pontifical Rite.

“I think small groups are crucial,” she said. “We won’t be a Church without them. At the end of the day, the only way is to jump in and trust the Holy Spirit.”

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

OCTOBER 12, 2023

Pro-life advocates in Minnesota hold strategy session in Eden Prairie

By Tim Montgomery For The Catholic Spirit In response to sweeping state laws enacted to increase the accessibility of abortions, leaders of the pro-life movement in Minnesota gathered Sept. 27 in Eden Prairie for a fivehour strategy session. The goal was to collaborate in a united effort to protect and care for life at all stages.

The Pro-Life Summit of prayer, conversation and discussion at Grace Church included more than 140 people who pondered what has happened in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision in Dobbs v.

Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the right to abortion found in Roe v. Wade and returned abortion laws and policies to state and federal lawmakers.

Since the Dobbs decision, Minnesota has removed many abortion safeguards, including informed consent and a 24-hour waiting period. Abortions in Minnesota no longer must be performed by physicians or in a hospital after the first trimester of a pregnancy.

As a result, the number of abortions performed in Minnesota rose nearly 20 percent to 12,175 in 2022 compared with 2021, according to a report released in late June by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Representatives of several faith groups, as well as policy advocates, medical professionals, pregnancy resource center directors and caregivers discussed at Grace Church their experiences and perspectives as they seek to promote a pro-life vision.

“The current climate in the state with regard to children in the womb is pretty dramatic,” said Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston during a break.

Spearheaded by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, the ProLife Summit also was organized by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life,

an abortion,” she said in an interview.

“People have abortions because they feel like they’re in a really difficult situation, and they seek tangible help.

Our pregnancy centers are an amazing way to provide that tangible help.

But even more than that, we need legislative support for women and families, practical things like affordable childcare, making health care more affordable, prenatal and post-partum expenses being covered — things that help women in our society feel they can go through with that pregnancy.”

COURTESY MCC STAFF

Maria Wiering, left, senior writer for OSV News, moderates a pro-life panel Sept. 27 at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, with Jason Adkins, executive director and general counsel of Minnesota Catholic Conference, Renee Carlson, general counsel of public-interest law firm True North Legal and Minnesota Family Council, Teresa Collett, law professor and director of the Prolife Center at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and Don Parker, co-executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Minnesota Family Council, the University of St. Thomas Prolife Center, and Pro-Life Action Ministries. In addition to Bishop Cozzens, the event drew Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Michael Izen of St. Paul and Minneapolis and bishops Patrick Neary of St. Cloud, Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Daniel Felton of Duluth and Bishop Emeritus John LeVoir of New Ulm. Bishop Cozzens held out hope during the break, sharing the story of his mother's experience with abortion. Her water broke early when he was in her womb. The doctor told her the child would be severely deformed because of the loss of amniotic fluid and advised that the pregnancy be aborted.

Bishop Cozzens' mother refused to

accept the recommended termination of her pregnancy. She requested another doctor who advised bed rest for the remaining four months of the pregnancy and she delivered a healthy baby. “Minnesota (has) a very strong pro-life movement and a really strong network of pregnancy resource centers,” concluded Bishop Cozzens.

“There are real options for women to not choose abortion.”

“The reality is, I don’t think anyone wants to have an abortion” said Emily Albrecht, director of education and outreach at the Equal Rights Institute, which trains pro-life advocates to think clearly, reason honestly and argue persuasively. “No one puts in their fiveyear plan that they’re going to have

One legal advocate noted during the meeting that there is a need to move away from the notion that equality for women is connected to abortion rights. This notion is what puts pro-life measures up against an industry, led

by Planned Parenthood, seeking public policy consideration and funding for social service programs and abortion.

And, said a public policy advocate, abortion can’t simply be outlawed without providing alternatives for mothers in need — programs that help limit the demand for abortion services.

In a panel discussion, one representative of an organization that sees women after they’ve had an abortion said they often feel guilt and regret, and they need to know God’s love and forgiveness. She advocated winning over hearts with compassion in the spirit of Christ.

“I am the face of what the pro-life movement is trying to do,” said one woman who had three abortions, one adoption, and now tells her story to others in support of the pro-life cause.

Many at the gathering agreed that if a woman can be made to think an abortion is unnecessary, then abortion becomes unthinkable.

“The most important thing is that you have all these pro-life organizations coming together,” said Bishop LeVoir, who led participants in the opening prayer, “to try to convert our culture from a culture of death to a culture of life.”

Two seminarians from archdiocese among 18 ordained as transitional deacons in Rome

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Two seminarians from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were among 18 seminarians ordained as transitional deacons in Rome Sept. 28.

Deacons Joseph Wappes and Michael Maloney, both of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, and the other men ordained promised to live in prayer, celibacy and obedience to their diocesan bishops.

In his homily, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the ordaining prelate at the Mass, said the transitional deacons will serve in a Church today that more resembles the early apostolic period of persecution and martyrdom than the Church of Christendom when Church and society were interwoven, the Pontifical North American College said in a news release about the ordination.

Deacon Wappes told Catholic News Service he had prayed during a spiritual retreat before his ordination in preparation for the "moving" moment

of prostration, which he called a "concrete sign of giving back to the Lord everything he's given to me."

All the seminarians ordained at the Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican are studying at the college, which serves as the American seminary in Rome. More study will follow as the transitional deacons prepare to be ordained as priests in their respective dioceses.

In his homily, Archbishop Coakley said examples of living in difficult times today include Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who was martyred in Guatemala in 1981, and Blessed Michael McGivney, a priest of the Diocese of Hartford, Connecticut, who founded the Knights of Columbus. Archbishop Coakley encouraged the men to follow the examples of Blesseds Rother and McGivney in not seeking privilege, but rather being prepared for sacrifice and persecution in serving Christ and his Church.

“Be not afraid, Christ goes before us,” the archbishop said.

COURTESY STEVEN LANG, PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE From left, transitional Deacons Joseph Wappes and Michael Maloney, both of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, after their Sept. 18 ordination at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

SLICEof LIFE CCF event focuses on philanthropy

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit As Catholics struggle with the fact that too many young adults are leaving the faith, people gathered at a recent event sponsored by the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota discussed one countermeasure — intergenerational charitable giving. More specifically, philanthropy.

After spending several years addressing the issue of how to engage younger people, CCF began to explore intergenerational philanthropy as a way for young people to help bring to life the intent of their elders. Inspired by the annual conference of the national FADICA Catholic Philanthropy Network in February, CCF organized a local event on the subject Sept. 26 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Called “Voices of Intergenerational Catholic Philanthropy,” the CCF event featured three guest panelists and the opportunity for audience members to ask questions. FADICA was a co-sponsor of the event, and its vice president, Alicia Bondanella Simon, gave remarks and helped lead the discussion.

“Intergenerational philanthropy and next generation engagement are critical to ensuring Catholic philanthropy and a strong, vibrant Catholic Church well into the future,” Bondanella Simon said.

FADICA is working to “form and engage diverse young Catholic leaders to shape

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

From left, panelists Sheila Healy Berube, Quentin Orem and Christy Boysen react during an event Sept. 26 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul called Voices of Intergenerational Catholic Philanthropy. decisions together and learning how to and lead the Church.” take his intent and bring it to life.”

One of the panelists, Quentin Another panelist, Sheila Healy Berube, Orem, executive director of The Ferry serves on the board of CCF and with her Foundations, is himself a young adult siblings helps manage a donor-advised Catholic who has had experience fund at CCF in the Twin Cities. Her helping guide his family through the parents started the fund 30 years ago philanthropy process. He helps lead the and designated its management to their foundation started by his grandparents, children upon their deaths.

Richard and Maude Ferry. Rooted in “We do view this as a huge gift, not Catholic tradition, the foundation works only because it’s a chance for us to to promote the dignity and quality of continue their legacy of giving, but life in Los Angeles and Seattle. Orem (because) we’ve also learned a lot about works directly with his grandfather at them through this,” Healy Berube said. the foundation’s headquarters in Seattle From condos to castles, and said he is learning “how to make The third panelist, Christy Boysen,

specializes in planned giving strategy as CEO of Apex Legacy Consultants in St. Paul and works with nonprofits and donors. All three panelists said they have experienced profound moments in working with clients and working within their own families. The donors are rooted in a faith that they want to be their primary legacy.

“My first memory of my grandfather, which will forever be my primary memory of him, is him doing his back exercises and saying the rosary,” Orem said. “He has said the rosary every day of his life, or at least every day that I have been alive. … The primary thing that he prays for in his daily rosary is that the life of Christ would come alive in his family members.”

This is one reason why the panelists recommend that people start planning their legacy as soon as they can. It makes the process intentional, they said, and it helps build relationships within families that transcend the financial. “The work of philanthropy is one of the best ways to pass on the faith,” Orem said.

“It’s transformative, I think, for someone to go through the process of thinking about how does this work,” Boysen said. “How does generosity fit into my legacy? It changes how they do life. And often that exuberant joy carries forward from generation to generation.

And that, to me, is the point.”

For more information about this event and philanthropy, visit ccf-mn.org.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 8

Synodal silence: Pope says Church must pause, ‘fast’ from public words

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service “The Church is taking a break,” Pope Francis said.

“It is a break for the whole Church, as we engage in listening,” he told members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops — and journalists.

Addressing the opening working session of the assembly, the pope may have exaggerated a bit, yet for participants his words certainly rang true. For the duration of the assembly Oct. 4-29 all the heads of Vatican dicasteries and hundreds of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, religious superiors, professors, students and parents were scheduled to be away from their homes and their desks.

For Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, that is the “news” of the synod.

“An institution as large as the Church is giving itself a moment for common discernment in silence, listening, faith and prayer,” he told reporters Oct. 5.

The theme of the synod — “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, mission” — covers a vast gamut of topics dealing with the very life of the Church, its identity, its membership, its leadership, its outreach and its role in the world.

Journalists and others hoping to follow the synod assembly’s work may be frustrated not knowing what is going on inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall where the pope, the 364 synod other members and 85 experts, facilitators and ecumenical representatives are meeting mornings and afternoons Monday through Friday and Saturday mornings as well.

But Ruffini suggested the public silence is a big part of the story.

Pope Francis had told synod members at the beginning that participation required “a certain fasting from speaking in public” to “safeguard” the synod’s discernment process.

In societies filled with noise and people trying to shout over each other, Ruffini said, maybe the world should draw a lesson from what the Church is doing.

Making space for silence and for listening to others could help end wars or prompt real action to stem the climate crisis, he said, suggesting the synod’s process deserved to be understood and appreciated far beyond the Church.

The rules for synod members distributed to participants said, “In order to guarantee the freedom of expression of each and all regarding their thoughts and to ensure the serenity of the discernment in common,

which is the main task entrusted to the Assembly, each of the Participants is bound to confidentiality and discretion regarding both their own interventions and the interventions of other Participants. This duty remains in force once the Synodal Assembly has ended.”

The balance between “confidentiality” and “discretion” was not spelled out.

After the rules were distributed, some synod members canceled appointments for interviews they had made with reporters. Those most active on X, formerly Twitter, went mute or began sharing only prayers and photos of how the assembly space was laid out.

However, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, went on EWTN Oct. 5 to talk about the synod. One question in his small group, he said, was “what is the nature and substance of this synod” given that “laypeople have the same vote” as bishops, unlike at previous synods.

Although the cardinal was critical of the process before the assembly began, he told EWTN that his experience in his small group “was very good, and I have, therefore, a certain form of optimism.”

Other participants were less specific but offered their own takes on synod proceedings.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna posted on X, formerly Twitter, Oct. 5: “The beauty of such a synod is the experience of the universal church widely sharing our challenges and our hopes.”

After the small groups began making their reports to the general assembly Oct. 6, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, posted on X: “The vision of Vatican II is the shared point of reference for the Synod starting from the catholicity of the People of God. Each individual part contributes through its special gifts to the good of the other parts and of the whole Church.

Please pray for the Synod’s success.”

As he left the synod for lunch the same day, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said the work was going well and, “the Spirit is blowing.”

As the synod moved from small group discussions to listening to reports and speeches Oct. 6, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle said he was grateful for the pauses for silence and reflection that punctuated the morning session. But there were still a lot of speeches in many languages.

“It is a fascinating experience, I can tell you that,” he said, adding that he would encourage people “to keep praying for us, to invoke the Holy Spirit upon us because that’s the voice we’re listening for.”

DELEGATE UPDATE Cynthia Bailey Manns, a voting delegate from St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis and one of four laypeople from the United States appointed by Pope Francis to the Synod of Bishops, shared via email with The Catholic Spirit and with her parish that she arrived safely in Rome Sept. 30. She thanked people for their prayers. She said she has a view of beautiful St. Peter’s Basilica from her room at the Pontifical North American College.

At the end of the delegates’ Oct. 1-3 retreat outside Rome, Bailey Manns posted this comment: “Today is our last day of the Synod delegates’ retreat. … (I)t is a beautiful place to rest one’s mind and body while being spiritually fed. I am grateful.”

SYNOD PRAYERS Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Oct. 4: “I invite all people of goodwill to join me this month in prayer for Pope Francis and those participating in the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality, which begins today and runs through October 29. The Holy Father has called people to Rome from around the globe to listen to the Holy Spirit, engage with one another, and discern how we are being called to move forward together in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. You can learn more about this important moment in the life of our universal Church by reading The Catholic Spirit or visiting the Vatican website at synod.va/en.html.

“Pope Francis reminds us, ‘The Synod is not a parliament or an opinion poll; the Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is not present, there will be no Synod.’ (‘Address of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Opening of the Synod,’ October 9, 2021.) Let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all the Synod participants chosen from the 1,200 women and men in North America who participated in the Continental Phase of the synodal process, especially the Minnesotans among them: Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (elected by the American bishops) and Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns, a laywoman from Minneapolis chosen by Pope Francis.

“While our Archdiocesan Synod and this month’s Vatican Synod are both rooted in listening and discernment, the Vatican Synod is completely distinct from our local Synod, which has been underway since 2019. For information on our Archdiocesan Synod, including the Pastoral Letter and its Implementation Plan, please visit archspm.org/synodletter. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!”

Pope addresses fears around synod: ‘Not a political gathering’

By Justin McLellan Catholic News Service Members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops are not gathered in Rome to implement a “plan of reformation” but to walk together as a Church that discerns God’s will for the present moment, Pope Francis said at the assembly’s opening Mass.

With cardinals from across the world at his side, including 20 new cardinals from 16 nations created just four days prior, the pope urged people to avoid looking at the synod through the lens of “human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles.”

Asking “whether the synod will give this or that permission, open this or that door, this is not useful,” he said at the Mass Oct. 4 in St. Peter’s Square.

Instead, Pope Francis said, the primary task of the synod is to “refocus our gaze on God, to be a Church that looks mercifully at humanity, a Church that is united and fraternal — or at least tries to be united and fraternal.”

The pope acknowledged that some people have fears about the synod. But he asked them to remember that it is “not a political gathering, but a convocation in the Spirit; not a polarized parliament, but a place of grace and communion.”

“The Holy Spirit often shatters our expectations to create something new that surpasses our predictions and negativity,” he said.

Through “synodal dialogue,” the pope said, “we can grow in unity and friendship with the Lord

in order to look at today’s challenges with his gaze,” becoming a Church “which does not impose burdens” and is “open to everyone, everyone, everyone.”

“The blessing and welcoming gaze of Jesus prevents us from falling into some dangerous temptations: of being a rigid Church — a customs office — which arms itself against the world and looks backward; of being a lukewarm Church which surrenders to the fashions of the world; of being a tired Church, turned in on itself,” he said.

Lay members and ecumenical delegates to the assembly of the Synod of Bishops led the procession into St. Peter’s Square — still decorated with flowers from the consistory that created 21 new cardinals Sep. 30 — followed by priests, bishops and then cardinals.

Synod members had participated in a retreat outside Rome Oct. 1-3, during which they reflected on ways to overcome differences of opinion and to listen to each other and to the Holy Spirit.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re was the main celebrant at the altar for the Mass; Cardinals Mario Grech, synod secretary-general, and Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, one of the new cardinals, joined him at the altar. The Vatican said some 25,000 people were present in St. Peter’s Square.

Celebrating the Mass on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a day when Pope Francis also published an apostolic exhortation on the environment, he recalled the story that Jesus told the medieval saint to “repair my Church.”

OPENING MASS “‘How did I get here?’ “(That) is the question I asked myself as I walked in the Synod Opening Mass processional in St. Peter’s Square. I reminded myself to ‘be here now!’ I am aware of the Holy Spirit moving throughout the crowd and Pope Francis reminding us, ‘The Church finds itself at a crossroads and the urgent challenge strictly speaking is not of a theological or ecclesiological nature, but how in this moment in history the Church can become a sign and instrument of God’s love for every man and woman.’

“I am called to be here with this community engaging in discernment about what the Holy Spirt is saying to us about the future of our Church. Pope Francis said, ‘The Holy Spirit,’ often shatters our expectations to create something new that surpasses our predictions and negativity. He continued by saying, ‘Let us open ourselves to Him, the protagonist, the Holy Spirit. And let us walk with Him, in trust and with joy.’

My prayer: Come Holy Spirit, Come.”

— Cynthia Bailey Manns “The synod serves to remind us of this: our mother the Church is always in need of purification, of being repaired, for we are a people made up of forgiven sinners,” the pope said.

PLEASE TURN TO OPENING MASS ON PAGE 23

OCTOBER 12, 2023

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

NATION+WORLD U.S. bishops pray for peace following Hamas’ attack on Israel

By Maria Wiering OSV News Several U.S. bishops called for prayers for peace following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, called for prayers for peace in the Holy Land and decried the “continued tensions and violence that erupted into warfare between Gaza and Israel.”

“The world is once again shocked and horrified by the outbreak of ferocious violence in the Holy Land.

Reports have surfaced indicating large numbers of wounded and dead, including many civilians,” Bishop Malloy said in an Oct. 8 statement.

On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack in southern Israel with missiles and a ground invasion. As of Oct. 10, at least 1,600 people had died, thousands were injured and dozens have been taken hostage, according to The Associated Press.

“As we pray urgently for peace, we recall especially all the families and individuals suffering from these events,” Bishop Malloy’s statement said, adding calls for respect for civilian populations and the release of hostages. “Almost 50 years to the day of the launch of the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, once again war is spilling out in the Holy Land. With it brings the mounting casualties and hostilities unfolding on all sides, and increased threats to the Status Quo of the Holy Places among Jews, Muslims, and Christians further dimming any hope for peace.”

Other bishops, including the Catholic bishop of Arlington, Virginia, joined the calls for peace for those affected by the violence.

“Our hearts are shocked and saddened by the death of hundreds of people, and thousands more who are wounded or dispersed already,” said Bishop Michael Burbidge in an Oct. 8 statement. “It is my hope and prayer that the international community will work together to help ensure a peaceful and just resolution for the good of all.

“At this time, we also pray that the victims and their families find strength and support,” he continued. “May we join with one voice in asking God to grant eternal rest to the deceased, console those who grieve, and guide political leaders to bring an end to the war without further violence.”

His message came hours after Israel formally declared war on Hamas, an Islamist militant group.

According to the World Jewish Congress, the United States is home to at least 5.7 million Jews, and its Jewish population is second only to Israel, which has more than 6.3 million Jews. With about 1.9 million Jews, New York City is home to the largest Jewish population in the U.S.

OSV NEWS PHOTO | MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Gaza, Oct. 7, 2023. The strikes were in retaliation after Hamas breached Israeli security along the Gaza border at dawn and entered border communities amidst a barrage of over 2,000 rockets that reached into Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan issued an Oct. 8 statement from Rome, where he is a delegate to the Synod on Synodality. Noting the contrasting peacefulness of Rome, he wrote, “From here in Rome, my heart goes out to the assaulted people of Israel, and to our Jewish community we cherish as friends and neighbors back home in New York, realizing with tears that their sabbath yesterday was anything but peaceful.

“A secure and safe home, surely intended by God for all His Children, wherever they may be. To have that home attacked is a sacrilege; to defend that home is righteous,” he wrote. “To the urgent appeals of Pope Francis this Sunday; to the pleas of my brother bishops back home in the United States; to the concerns and condolences of those brothers and sisters gathered here in Rome for the synod of bishops, I sure add my own.”

Following the public Angelus prayer Sunday, Pope Francis said he is following “with apprehension and sorrow,” the situation in Israel, “where violence has erupted even more ferociously, causing hundreds of deaths and injuries.”

“Please stop the attacks and the weapons, and understand that terrorism and war do not lead to any solution, but only to the death and suffering of so many innocent people,” he said. “War is always a defeat! Every war is a defeat!”

Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he joined his prayers for a resolution to the conflict.

“It was with great sadness that I learned news of the violence in Israel. We have a number of citizens in southeast Michigan who have familial and cultural ties to Israel and Palestine; as Catholics, we stand in solidarity with them, praying for the safety of their loved ones,” Archbishop Vigneron posted. “I encourage all people of good will to pray for a swift resolution to this conflict, and lasting peace for all.”

Bishop Malloy’s statement concluded with urgent prayers for peace and solidarity with those suffering from these events. “We call on the faithful, and all people of good will to not grow weary and to continue to pray for peace in the land Our Lord, the Prince of Peace, called home,” he said.

HEADLINES u Survivor: Abuse should be seriously

addressed by the synod, or not at all. While the doors of the Synod on Synodality, taking place in the Vatican Oct. 4-29, are closed to journalists and the public, a group of survivors of sexual abuse anxiously awaits news on how the assembly addresses the clerical sexual abuse that affected their lives so painfully. While OSV News sources say abuse has been mentioned a few times in the first synodal week — synodal groups spoke about abuse; none of the individual interventions have so far — it is not clear how and to what extent it will be brought into discussion. Some abuse survivors expect concrete outcomes regarding abuse policies during the Synod on Synodality. Others say that it’s enough that the universal Church learns from churches where good practices have already been established and made a difference. Teresa Pitt Green of Spirit Fire, a Christian restorative justice initiative founded

by two survivors of clergy abuse in the United States, told OSV News in an email exchange that “if the synod is trying to make the church more welcoming to more people, it would be smart to restore a sense of safe harbor for the vulnerable and weak.” For survivor Peter Isely, even more is at stake as he and a group of other victim-survivors gathered in Rome to demand a universal zero tolerance policy on abuse from the Church. u Earthquake kills 2,000 in Afghanistan — a

Taliban-run country with virtually no presence of church aid agencies. The death toll in one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike Afghanistan in two decades has risen to 2,000, Taliban officials confirmed on Oct. 8. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on Oct. 7, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Herat city in the western Herat province. Initial assessments of the United Nations indicated that the quake caused deaths across eight

villages. Mahal Wadakah was the worst affected village. “Once again, children and families in Afghanistan have been affected by a devastating earthquake, this time in western Herat province,” UNICEF Afghanistan said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 7. “UNICEF Afghanistan is on the ground with our U.N. colleagues to assess the full impact. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all families affected,” United Nations Children’s Fund wrote. The presence of church charity organizations is close to zero with the Taliban government, an official from one of the Catholic organizations told OSV News.

Some try to work with local partners, however.

“Our humanitarian partners have begun relief efforts, sending medical and trauma support to regional hospitals, as well as emergency shelter, food assistance and other supplies to the affected area,” Anne Bousquet, Catholic Relief Services’ country representative for Afghanistan told OSV News via email. CRS

is the international relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic Church. “CRS, along with other humanitarian organizations, are participating in assessments to determine the scale of the damage and needs in Herat to identify where CRS can best support the response efforts,” Bousquet said Oct. 8. u Bishop O’Connell of Trenton, New Jersey,

dedicates a new Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Carlo Acutis. An air of excitement and reverence permeated the parish community of St. Dominic in Brick, Oct. 1, when some 1,200 worshippers gathered throughout the church complex to witness the dedication by Bishop David O’Connell of Trenton of a new Diocesan Shrine to Blessed Carlo Acutis and to pray with his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis, who was visiting from Italy. Blessed Carlo was 15 when he died from leukemia Oct. 12, 2006. He had a deep devotion PLEASE TURN TO HEADLINES ON PAGE 10

NATION+WORLD

OCTOBER 12, 2023

HEADLINES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 to the Eucharist and became known for developing a website catalog of Eucharistic miracles. He was declared venerable in 2018 and beatified in 2020. He became the first millennial to be beatified by the Church. In his homily, Bishop O’Connell used the day’s Gospel to emphasize how all are called to do the right thing for the right reason. “It’s not simply a matter of our words or what we say but rather, what we do that makes a difference in life.” After the final blessing, Antonia Acutis, Bishop O’Connell and the clergy processed out of the church to the shrine for the dedication ceremony. Following the dedication, Antonia Acutis returned to the church to address the congregation.

“God wants us to be awakened toward the Eucharist,” she said. Using her son’s wellknown quote, “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven.” u National Eucharistic Pilgrimage invites young

people to — literally — step out in faith. The National Eucharistic Congress is inviting young people to step out in faith — literally — by walking hundreds of miles in a major national pilgrimage. Organizers are inviting young adults ages 19 to 29 to apply as participants in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will take place May 17 to July 21, 2024. The “Perpetual Pilgrims” will travel along four different routes throughout the country — a combined distance of 6,500 miles — to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, set to take place July 21 to 24, 2024 in Indianapolis.

Accompanied by priest chaplains, the pilgrims will cover 10 to 15 miles per day, passing through several major U.S. cities and stopping at a number of holy sites, while attending daily Mass and participating in Eucharistic processions. Parishes along the routes

will welcome the pilgrims, providing meals, fellowship and holy hours. Pilgrims will be housed by parishes, religious orders, schools, shrines, retreat centers and host families.

Pilgrimage director Will Peterson told OSV News that participants will be fully trained and formed to “steward that public experience of the pilgrimage. This is something that we invite all Catholic young adults to consider as a way to deepen their own spiritual lives.” The application deadline is Nov. 28, with details available at eucharisticpilgrimage.org. u Illinois parish dedicates a prairie restoration project to St. Francis of Assisi. Birds whistled, grass rustled and many bumblebees buzzed as around 20 people gathered at Christ the King in the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, Sept. 24 for the dedication of a prairie restoration project to St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology and animals. The dedication marked a milestone for the 22-year project begun by John Shiel, Christ the King parishioner; and Dave Zeiger, a resident of the surrounding neighborhood. Since 2001, parishioners and neighbors have come together for a ministry of environmental stewardship — and the work continues. The dedication opened with a reading by Deacon David Auld from Genesis Chapter 1, which recounted the very beginning of the prairie: the creation of plants and fruit-bearing trees, and then God’s gift of his creation to mankind. After a psalm, Father Carlos Saligumba, pastor, said a prayer of blessing. Shiel said he hopes it will inspire similar projects at other churches and that, following in St. Francis of Assisi’s footsteps, people will discover more about God by being in nature. u ’Laudate Deum’: Planet mirrors a deeply flawed view of human life and activity.

Pope Francis warns the clock is ticking on the dangers of climate change — and both

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 10

a paradigm shift and practical action are critically needed to avert looming disasters in nature and human society. The pope released his new apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” Oct. 4 as a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”

The exhortation’s message is even more urgent since “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” wrote Pope Francis. “Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community.” The text reiterates key messages that have resonated throughout Pope Francis’ papacy — among them, concern for the marginalized, care for creation, human ecology and a “synodal” approach to resolving global problems. An end to climate change denial along with authentic, multilateral commitments to counter the issue are essential, said the pope. He invited Catholics and those of other faiths to recall their “spiritual motivations” for addressing the climate crisis, asking “everyone to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful, because that commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values.”

regain its rhythm, disaster struck again. The August wildfire that swept through Lahaina and claimed at least 115 lives, also wiped out more than 2,200 buildings. Lolesio prayed and endured days of anxiety not knowing the fate of the school’s children and their families.

Eventually everyone was found — safe and accounted for. Some teachers and staff members lost their homes; some students relocated elsewhere with their families. But Sacred Hearts School — now operating with a hybrid, rotating schedule — has taken on 100 new students, for an enrollment of about 220.

Another 180 are on a waiting list. u U.S. Supreme Court’s docket this term could

u Maui Catholic school’s close-knit community

has resilience amid ongoing recovery from fires. Members of the close-knit community of Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina are coming together, in faith, in the wake of another disaster. As they regrouped and opened their doors for a new academic year after the COVID-19 pandemic, the raging Lahaina firestorm on the island of Maui left ruins of their historic Catholic school and their extended family. “During COVID, we really had to pull together,” said principal Tonata Lolesio.

“We put our heart and soul, blood and sweat into making sure the school was ready for kids to return.” Just as the school started to

address social media, abortion and guns. The Supreme Court’s new term began Oct. 2, and on its docket will be legal challenges concerning both the First and Second Amendments, as well as potentially other related major cases. The court will hear challenges regarding Texas and Florida laws designed to combat what they alleged were social media companies’ content policies that disproportionately restricted conservatives. The justices will consider a challenge to the constitutionality of a federal ban on the possession of firearms by those who are under domestic violence restraining orders. The Supreme Court may also choose to take up a case concerning a challenge brought by a coalition of pro-life opponents of mifepristone, the first of two drugs used in a medication or chemical abortion. Becket, a Washington-based religious liberty law firm, has also asked the Supreme Court to take up the case of a Catholic sidewalk counselor challenging a New York county law prohibiting pro-life protesters from approaching people outside abortion clinics.

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11

WORLDMISSIONSUNDAY

Pope Francis greets a child as he arrives at the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the final event of his four-day trip to Mongolia before returning to Rome Sept. 4. At his weekly general audience Sept. 6 in St. Peter’s Square, the pope commented on why he traveled close to 6,000 miles to visit a Catholic community of 1,450 people. “Because it is precisely there, far from the spotlight, that we often find the signs of the presence of God, who does not look at appearances, but at the heart,” the pope said.

‘Hearts on fire,

feet on the move’

CNS | VATICAN MEDIA

Carrying out Jesus’ mission in the world

By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit

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his year’s theme for World Mission Sunday, Oct. 21-22, is “Hearts on fire, feet on the move.”

Chosen by Pope Francis, the theme was inspired by the story of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ resurrection, as they recognize him, share time with him and set off to share the good news with others.

“World Mission Sunday is a universal feast day for mission, an annual time when everyone should stop and remember that we are called to be missionaries by baptism,” said Deacon Mickey Friesen, director of the Center for Mission in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Four people with ties to the archdiocese, who encountered Christ on their missionary journeys and were inspired to continue his work closer to home, shared their experiences with The Catholic Spirit for this World Mission Sunday.

“These four individuals have taken their outreach as missionaries in foreign places and brought it back home, their hearts burning after their experiences,” Deacon Friesen said. “Their stories are truly inspiring.”

Deacon Friesen shares more reflections on World Mission Sunday in his column, “Bridging Faith,” on page 20.

Parishes will conduct collections Oct. 21-22 for mission dioceses around the globe. In addition to collections at Masses, people can contribute to the missionary impact of the Church by mailing in donations to the Center for Mission using an envelope in this issue of The Catholic Spirit. People wishing to donate online can do so anytime at centerformission.org.

Pope Francis: Mission begins by meeting Jesus in the Scriptures and Eucharist

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

H

aving come to know Jesus through the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, Catholics are called to share with others the hope and joy that come from faith and that endure even when life gets difficult, Pope Francis said.

“What the world needs is the love of God, to encounter Christ and believe in him. For this reason, the Eucharist is not only the source and summit of the life of the Church, it is also the source and summit of her mission,” Pope Francis wrote, quoting the late Pope Benedict XVI. The connection between the missionary call of every disciple and the gift of Jesus present in the Eucharist was at the center of Pope Francis’ message for World Mission Sunday, which will be celebrated Oct. 22. The Vatican released the text of the message Jan. 25.

The theme the pope chose for the 2023 celebration is “Hearts on fire, feet on the move,” which he said was inspired by the story of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. The Bible says the disciples’ hearts “burned within them” as Jesus explained the Scriptures and how they recognized him when he broke bread with them, and they set off to share the good news with others.

World Mission Sunday 2023 will be celebrated during the assembly of the Synod of Bishops, and Pope Francis also used his message to talk about the missionary profile of the synod.

“The urgency of the church’s missionary activity naturally calls for an ever-closer missionary cooperation on the part of all her members and at every level. This is an essential goal of the synodal journey that the church has undertaken, guided by the key words: communion, participation, mission.”

The synodal process, he said, is “not a turning of the church in upon herself, nor is it a referendum about what we ought to believe and practice, nor a matter of human preferences. Rather, it is a process of setting out on the way and, like the disciples of Emmaus, listening to the risen Lord. For he always comes among us to explain the

meaning of the Scriptures and to break bread for us, so that we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, carry out his mission in the world.”

While Pope Francis often warns against proselytism — using pressure or coercion to get someone to convert — he insisted that the Church exists for mission and every person in the world has the right to hear the Gospel.

“Today more than ever, our human family, wounded by so many situations of injustice, so many divisions and wars, is in need of the good news of peace and salvation in Christ,” he said. “I take this opportunity to reiterate that ‘everyone has the right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to announce it without excluding anyone, not as one who imposes a new obligation, but as one who shares a joy, signals a beautiful horizon, offers a desirable banquet.’”

A person who has truly encountered the risen Lord necessarily will be “set on fire with enthusiasm to tell everyone about him,” the pope said.

So, for the Catholic Church, “the primary and principal resource of the mission are those persons who have come to know the risen Christ in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, who carry his fire in their heart and his light in their gaze. They can bear witness to the life that never dies, even in the most difficult of situations and in the darkest of moments.” Just like the disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus immediately went to tell others about their encounter with him, the pope said, “our proclamation will be a joyful telling of Christ the Lord, his life, his passion, his death and resurrection, and the wonders that his love has accomplished in our lives.”

Pope Francis thanked those who have dedicated their lives to sharing the Gospel with people far from their homelands and thanked all Catholics who pray for, and donate to, the Church’s missionary outreach.

“Let us set out again with burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion,” he said. “Let us set out to make other hearts burn with the word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity.”

WORLDMISS

12 • OCTOBER 12, 2023

Ministry roots lead to ‘From Mission to Mission’

By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit

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COURTESY ANNE ATTEA

Anne Attea, second from left, bottom row, during a youth retreat in Farellores, Chile, during her ministry there.

Dedication to Latino ministry sparked in Chile

By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit

A

nne Attea’s two and a half years of volunteer service in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, occurred from 1988 to 1990, a time of upheaval in that country.

“The first year and a half, the country was under a military dictatorship, and the second was its transition to democracy,” said Attea, 59. “I served in one of the four neighborhood chapels connected with the parish of San Roque, working with youth, faith formation, pastoral ministry and accompaniment.”

“I have many life-impacting memories from that time and friendships that are now 35 years old,” Attea said. “Most significantly, I fell in love with a people, culture and language that would shape who I have become and set my life’s trajectory through the present.”

Raised in the Chicago suburb of Glenview — and the proud granddaughter of Lebanese, Egyptian, German and Polish immigrants — Attea headed to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in the fall of 1982 as a premed major, switching to theology her junior year.

“Being of service to others was definitely part of my vocation, but not quite the way I had envisioned it,” she said. “Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns had just opened its doors, and I participated in several ‘urban plunges’ and a summer immersion project with children in St. Louis. After graduation, I worked with youth through YMCA Camp Menogyn in Grand Marais before applying for the Holy Cross Associates program in Chile.”

Returning to the United States, Attea struggled.

“My life’s values of simplicity, service, social justice, spirituality, community and solidarity were countercultural, and I wondered if I would ever find my footing again in the U.S.,” she said.

In what she calls “a depressive haze,” Attea entered the Master’s in Divinity program at Loyola University in Chicago, an opportunity to pursue her studies through the lens of Hispanic ministry, allowing her to find some grounding and ease the pain of transition.

Having completed the program, Attea headed to Guerrero, Mexico, with the

In reality, where you are is the mission field.

As Catholics, in all that we are, say and do, we’re called to be missionary disciples.

Anne Attea Archdiocese of Chicago to be part of a parish comprised of 29 villages, “a life-giving experience of rural pastoral ministry, liturgical minister formation and youth ministry to complement the urban experience I had had in Chile,” she said. After two years in Mexico, Attea came to Minnesota, where she served as the director of Latino Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1998 to 2008.

“That was a rich decade of growing Hispanic/Latino ministry here in the archdiocese and working with some amazing collaborators to better attend (to) the needs of our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters, most of whom live a very different reality from the dominant culture here in the Twin Cities,” she said.

In 2007, following the adoption of her daughter, Bela, Attea decided she needed to localize her ministerial life. That brought her to Ascension in north Minneapolis, where she started with Latino ministry and is now director of faith formation and social justice for the parish. “It has been exciting to be part of a team that has created a vibrant intercultural community and school that prays, plays and serves as one body.

“Similarly, through my 25 years here in the archdiocese, I have had the great gift of seeing many of our Latino volunteers develop into competent and gifted leaders and staff in their parish communities,” she said.

In her experiences abroad and in the Twin Cities, Attea said, she has felt Christ’s presence and grown the most “when I have taken the risk to go outside my comfort zone and accompany those on the margin of our Church and society.

It is not easy, but it is rewarding.”

“In reality, where you are is the mission field,” Attea said. “As Catholics, in all that we are, say and do, we’re called to be missionary disciples.”

rowing up in Isanti, Kelli Nelson, 35, was immersed in her parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, alongside her parents and three siblings.

“My parents were very involved with our church and all the activities; going to church festivals, craft sales, bake sales and pancake breakfasts became a family thing,” Nelson said. “My parents’ generosity of time and spirit — service beyond just showing up at Mass — is something I still admire today. They live their values.”

Nelson’s personal journey of service began while she was a student at DePaul University in Chicago and involved with social and community justice work.

“I was the student director for DePaul’s immersion program, planning student travel over winter and spring breaks for service, reflection, simplicity, community, spirituality and social justice,” Nelson said. “That ... (is) where my roots in mission lie.”

After graduating from DePaul, Nelson headed to Chimbote, Peru, with the Incarnate World Missionaries, serving from 2010 to 2012 as a lay missionary.

“I had a taste of that in college with different immersion experiences, but this was two full years, no coming home, and living within the local community,” Nelson said. “My full-time responsibility was helping women and children impacted by human trafficking — really powerful work led by the Good Shepherd Sisters there.” Nelson’s mission in Peru was difficult at times. She recalls when a 14-year-old sibling of one of the children she worked with was shot and killed in their neighborhood.

“But I remember often walking away from a long day with such raw and real moments — being with children covered from head to toe in dirt wearing old clothes who had an unending spirit of fun, getting to know people who didn’t have very much yet were so welcoming and generous,” she said. “It was just so real to the core, and I felt humbled and honored to get to know and live with those people.”

That’s what mission is, having this encounter that shakes you to the core, and you’ll never see the world the same again.

Kelli Nelson “You’ll hear from many missionaries the issues with water and electricity — what do you do when you have several days without running water?” she said.

“And there was homesickness — being away from family.”

Nelson felt conflicting emotions as she returned home from her mission. While excited to reconnect with family and friends, she missed the way of life and slower pace of Peru, and the work she had done with families and children.

“I was 24 years old at the time of my return; I didn’t feel like anything I could have done here would be as meaningful,” she said. “I felt like it had to be as hard and intense as Peru. I was overwhelmed.”

Nelson took a job at a bakery, Bread Art in Bayport, where a rhythmic routine helped her sort through hard emotions.

After four months at the bakery, Nelson worked at a domestic violence shelter in Chicago, then headed back to DePaul, where she earned a master’s degree in nonprofit management.

Today Nelson lives in Cambridge — not far from where she grew up — with her two children and her husband, a native of Peru, whom she met while on her mission. For the past five years, she has served as executive director of From Mission to Mission, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that helps people prepare for and process cross-cultural, ministerial and life transitions while continuing their Christian call to mission.

“This year’s World Mission Sunday theme, ‘Hearts on fire, feet on the move,’ is something we use a lot in our work at From Mission to Mission,” she said.

“That’s what mission is, having this encounter that shakes you to the core, and you’ll never see the world the same again.”

COURTESY KATIE LANGLEY

Kelli Nelson, third from left, with her community of fellow lay missioners and Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word during Thanksgiving 2011 in Chimbote, Peru.

SIONSUNDAY

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

Africa enlivens religious sister’s help to others

By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit

T

COURTESY FATHER MARK NIEHAUS

Father Mark Niehaus smiles with two young people who were part of the confirmation process at missions in Ahlue, Chile, in 2010.

Experience in Chile deepens devotion to Mary

By Debbie Musser For The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Mark Niehaus’ devotion to the Blessed Mother began in his childhood home in Ivanhoe, in southwestern Minnesota.

“A corner of our home was blessed as a Schoenstatt shrine — that’s the place where our family did morning prayer together, where we had our Advent wreath, and where we went to pray when we faced issues and challenges,” said Father Niehaus, 51.

Schoenstatt shrines to Mary are part of a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Father Joseph Kentenich. Fast forward to 2008, when Father Niehaus, now a young priest of the Schoenstatt Fathers, was sent to Santiago, Chile.

“I went to a parish of 40,000 Catholics in a lower middle-class neighborhood; hardly any of those went to church regularly,” he said. “I was fluent in Spanish but had a terrible accent, and it took a while before they got used to the tall blond guy walking through their neighborhood.”

“I learned a lot during my time in Chile, particularly that Latin Americans love the Blessed Mother so easily,” he said. “Especially in celebration of the Eucharist — they just bring her in.”

The United States delegation of the Schoenstatt Fathers was established in 1965 in Milwaukee, where Father Neihaus currently works with fathers and sons, married couples and high school students at Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His exposure to the order started early: he was born at Schoenstatt Sisters Hospital in Ivanhoe and his mother was part of a Schoenstatt mothers’ group.

“It became a little more intense as the family business, with my oldest brother studying to become a Schoenstatt father and my sister becoming a Schoenstatt sister,” he said. (Father Niehaus also has a brother serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: Father Tom Niehaus, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery.)

After high school, Father Niehaus spent two years at Mankato State University in Mankato, followed by two years at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee as he was discerning whether

I learned a lot during my time in Chile, particularly that Latin Americans love the Blessed Mother so easily. Especially in celebration of the Eucharist — they just bring her in.”

Father Mark Niehaus to join the Schoenstatt Fathers community.

“We work on deepening people’s experience of the Catholic faith, using Mary and shrines to learn how close God can be in our everyday lives,” Father Niehaus said. “That strong devotion to the Blessed Mother was attractive to me, and I also value that it’s such an international community; it’s been a real gift to know men from India, Africa, Europe and Latin America.”

During his three years in Santiago, Father Niehaus worked with youth in a three-year confirmation program that included a number of retreats and mission work throughout Chile.

Father Niehaus recalled a unique experience surrounding the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a religious and national holiday celebrated in Chile on July 16. “I had a large group of college men who wanted to get together on that day, but only three showed up,” he said.

“July in Chile is cold and rainy ... yet that faith experience with the three participants was so beautiful as we allowed the Lord to work through us.

You never know — numbers aren’t always important.”

After the international experience in Chile, going back to the United States gave Father Niehaus a unique perspective on things. “For example, the challenges we can have with liturgy ... people thinking we should do it this way or that way ... I’m just glad the lights work and there’s not a stray animal wandering around,” he said.

“I also liked that three-year dynamic of working with youth, giving more time to observe God — that was good, so we’re doing a six- to nine-month project here with our youth,” Father Niehaus said.

“Having worked in a parish there helps me work better in one here.”

he call of Africa came early to Sister Mary Kerber, a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

“I hated geography in school, but I was mesmerized by the continent of Africa,” she said.

“My roots are in rural Minnesota; we lived near a seminary of Franciscans that sent some of their men to Africa,” Sister Mary said. “They came home and shared slides of their time in Africa — with every slide they showed, I could see my face and body in there.”

“This had to have been from the Holy Spirit,” she said. “Africa was calling me.”

Sister Mary, who will celebrate her 50th anniversary as a School Sister of Notre Dame next year, was introduced to the SSNDs when she attended then– St. Mary of the Purification School in Shakopee. She went on to their former high school in Mankato, Good Counsel Academy.

“I received an incredible education, and because I was a boarder, I experienced the sisters’ life in community, which sparked a desire in me to be in community with them; I entered the Mankato province of the congregation after high school,” she said.

“But it was a hard discernment for me, as I also sensed God was calling me to Africa,” Sister Mary said. During Sister Mary’s novitiate, the SSND provincial chapter agreed to support sending sisters to Kenya. “It was eight years before I went, and this gave me adequate time to minister in the U.S. as a teacher, and then as a vocation director, before getting a master’s degree with a specialization in mission studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago,” she said.

Sister Mary arrived in Kenya in 1984, “where I felt like I was on a different planet. Everything looked different, smelled different, tasted different — it was an exciting difference that after a while wore off, and I thought, ‘Wow, not all is so great.’”

“That’s all part of your own transformation while on a mission,” she said. “I received a wise piece of advice from a fellow SSND who said in your first year, keep your eyes open and your

All of us direct our lives toward that oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent.

Sister Mary Kerber mouth shut. I could more easily accept things — and not judge them by how I saw life — when I remembered her advice.” For two years, Sister Mary taught in a diocesan girls’ secondary school in Kisii in southwest Kenya. Her following 21 years in Africa focused on adult education, working with Catholic high school teachers and catechists; she also taught in major seminaries and in the Institute of Social Ministry in a constituent college of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. As SSNDs began formation with African women who hoped to join them, Sister Mary was postulant director in Kenya.

“We were challenged to move beyond multiculturalism to interculturalism, a totally different dynamic focusing on creating something new together,” she said. “But oh, the beauty of it. I’ve never danced so much in my life — you dance when there’s any kind of celebration, you dance in liturgies at Mass. Africa has a very joyous culture.”

In 2007, Sister Mary moved to Accra, Ghana. She served in leadership positions for the next eight years, focusing on fellow sisters in mission as well as the growing number of women who were joining the SSNDs in Africa.

She returned to Minnesota in 2015 for a sabbatical, worked at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore, and is now ministering as the director of mission at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake.

“This year’s World Mission Sunday theme reminds us that each celebration of the Mass sends us forth to live the mission that we all received through our baptism,” she said. “Some of us stay in a local area to do that, some cross oceans, but it makes no difference — each of us is called to share our gifts with humility and respect, and to open ourselves to receive the gifts of others,” she said. “All of us direct our lives toward that oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent.”

COURTESY SISTER THEODORAH IHIRO

Sister Mary Kerber, far right, with nieces and nephews of Sister Theodorah Ihiro, who was preparing to take her final vows as a School Sister of Notre Dame. The photo was taken in Sirwa Yala, Kenya, in 2014.

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

FAITH+CULTURE At 65, Jeff Cavins reflects on his remarkable life

By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit

content, and the only way to do that is to study and read and take notice of what’s happening around you. So, on my phone, I’m writing down two ideas every day. “That intrigues me! I could spend a whole day studying that!” And I’m trying to become proficient at the guitar.

I’ve started and stopped several times.

But recently I picked it up again and it’s different this time.

I’m not proficient yet. I’m happily pathetic. But I hope over the next couple of years that I would be able to play songs and the family could sing.

It brings joy to my heart to think of learning something like that. It reminds me that life isn’t over, and there’s always something out there that can point to the Lord. And I can sing praise to the Lord with that.

Jeff Cavins’ career took off early on, being plucked by Mother Angelica to host an EWTN show and founding The Great Adventure Bible Study program. Now in his mid-60s, his career is showing no signs of slowing. Cavins, a member of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park and a grandfather of three, is as busy as ever. He’s currently working on a big project for The Great Adventure, teaching at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, participating in a daily reflection with Jonathan Roumie on the Catholic app Hallow, contributing to the hit podcast “The Catechism in a Year” with host Father Mike Schmitz and leading pilgrimages. This January will mark his 62nd trip to the Holy Land. “Retiring seems very foreign to me,” Cavins said. “It would mean that somebody would make me stop doing what I love.”

Q Another passion is motorcycles.

Q What a wild ride you’ve been on!

You’ve lived your own great adventure.

You’ve led cross-country pilgrimages on a motorcycle, which became a vehicle for evangelization.

A I know. It’s been one surprise after

A We’ll ride 400 miles a day, and then

another. You couldn’t write it!

Someone asked me, “Why did all that happen to you?” And I said, “It’s because I have one extraordinary gift: I like to walk through open doors. If there’s an open door, I’ll enter!”

Q Mother Angelica recognized your

talent early on and even asked you to be her substitute when she was sick.

A I was so humbled, and I had to ask

her, “Why me?” She said, “I know you’re thoroughly Catholic, but you sound like a Protestant.” I tell people I’m bilingual: I speak Protestant and Catholic with no accent on either.

Q She knew about your reversion to

the Catholic Church after being a Protestant pastor and saw that what made you different was an advantage.

Your story uniquely qualified you.

How affirming.

A That’s right. So many things came

together to make my story. It’s true of anyone. Nobody else could be you and do what you’re doing. It’s this unique recipe that God uses.

Q You’ve collaborated with many

people but ultimately are selfemployed. Looking back, can you see how God provided?

A It’s always been enough. In the early

days, when I was a pastor, I was only making about $300 a month, and I had to drive a school bus for St. Louis Park just to make ends meet so I could live

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

in my mother-in-law’s basement. I went through a rough time when my friends were becoming doctors and making a lot more money. I learned to live on a shoestring budget.

When I put together the Bible Timeline, I was 25, and the truth is, I’m still doing what I was doing when I was 25. I’m still amazed at the story and get a kick out of sharing it with other people. Over all these years, I wasn’t a man looking for a job. I was a man with a mission looking for opportunities. Every opportunity that came up was always related to this.

Q Now young adults seek your advice, writing and asking how they can be the next Jeff Cavins.

A I write back and say: “No. 1, you don’t

want to be me. You want to be you. And No. 2, you don’t want to do what I’m doing, you want to do what God’s calling you to do.” I tell them: “You need to fall in love with something. Pay follows passion. Find a niche that will make a difference. Try not to be a generalist. And go after it and do it as unto the Lord. You will find your place. The Scripture says: Your gift makes room for itself.”

Q Aging gives you an opportunity to give back.

A As I grow older, I don’t see it as a

liability. I see it as a value. Because I’m not fighting the same fight I had when I was 30 or 40. Now is the time to be a leader and a model and to pay it back. The older you get, the more magnanimous you should be. The wisdom you’ve gained is not for you. It’s to give away.

Q And the adventure continues! Now

you have the top Apple podcast with your longtime friend Father Mike Schmitz. “The Bible in a Year” debuted in 2021 on Apple at the No. 1 spot and stayed there. Then “The Catechism in a Year” debuted this year at No. 1.

A It blew our minds. But the main thing

for us was to get out of the way and just let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit wants to do.

I do think it was the right time. People were broken. They were looking for something they could depend on. They had lost hope in politics and Hollywood.

It was at the right time, and it clicked.

Q I admire how active you stay in your 60s, always learning something new.

A I used to be a triathlete. Now I take long walks with my wife and I bike.

You have to remain fresh in your Featured speaker

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Saturday November 2023

we’ll stop at a church and speak and then have a barbeque. We have Bluetooth on our helmets, so every day we would all pray the rosary together three times. Everywhere we went, we were witnesses. I sat down on the curb of a hotel parking lot in South Dakota with a Native American girl who, at 16, was an alcoholic, and I told her how much the Lord loves her. At a gas station in Idaho, our group — a bunch of guys in leather chaps and coats, all black — got off our bikes and prayed over a lady who was in the fourth stage of breast cancer. That kind of stuff happened daily.

I bought my first motorcycle when I was 16. I saved up money working at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, shoveling driveways and mowing laws. It was a new 250 Yamaha — I think it was $900. I bought it at the Burnsville Yamaha, right next to Cub on 13. I loved riding it. I was free as a bird!

Q What do you know for sure?

A I know for sure that God is faithful

even when I’m not. And I’m sure that there is a heaven and that God wants to share his life with us there, for eternity, and he’s done everything he can to try to make that possible. And I’m very sure that everything I have desired on earth has been pointing to something I will receive in heaven. Everything that has ever caught my attention on earth was pointing to something beyond that, to Jesus. I know that for sure. There’s no doubt in my mind.

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FAITH+CULTURE

OCTOBER 12, 2023

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

For over 80,000 undocumented Minnesotans, new driver’s license law could be life-altering Anna Wilgenbusch For The Catholic Spirit Editor’s note: Quotes in this article, except for those of Father Mario Castagnola and Jason Adkins, were originally delivered in Spanish and were translated by the writer.

E

very day except for Sunday, Joel Alvaro leaves his wife and three children at their home in Sauk Rapids, gets in his Ford F-150 truck, and commutes 15 minutes to his job on a farm.

It is a scene that is repeated every morning in millions of households in the country — but for Alvaro, one traffic stop on his commute could prevent him from ever returning to his family.

Alvaro is among the roughly 81,000 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota — according to the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that researches immigration statistics in the United States — who are eligible for a driver’s license as of Oct. 1.

Under HF4, also known as “Driver’s Licenses for All,” which was signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz on March 7, an applicant’s proof of citizenship will not be required to obtain a driver’s license in Minnesota.

For some, including Alvaro, a 31-year-old Catholic, this law is life-changing.

“If I never drove, it would be for the best,” he said. “I go out with fear. But it is necessary.” He said he plans to get a license as soon as he is able.

The Catholic Spirit spoke with Alvaro and other undocumented immigrants who say this law will change everything from how their children get to school in the morning to how safe they feel in Minnesota.

The substance of the law “Driver’s Licenses for All” reverses a 2003 policy, which required those applying for a driver’s license to present their Social Security card, U.S. passport, or birth certificate, along with other accepted documents, to prove their citizenship. By vetting their citizenship in the application process, driver’s licenses could then be used as a federal form of identification.

“Prior to 2003, a driver’s license was nothing more than a statement of the ability to drive,” said Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega (DFL-St. Paul) during a Jan. 30 Minnesota House floor debate. “During a national push to stoke anti-immigrant fear, (this) policy was implemented to take licenses away from workers and familias against the best advice of community leadership,” she said.

House Republicans argued against the legislation.

“This is going to completely overwhelm our system,” said Assistant Minority Leader Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), in reference to the long wait times to schedule a driver’s test.

Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Acton Township), said the law could lead to illegal immigrants intentionally or accidentally voting. His motion to change the orientation and to add a “not for voting purposes” marking to the card did not pass the House vote.

“The possibility does exist that there could be abuse,” Urdahl said.

Despite these concerns, the law is now in effect.

The Department of Motor Vehicles

Standard/Class D Indicates driving privileges Undocumented immigrants can apply as of Oct. 1, 2023 Can be used for domestic travel until May 7, 2025, when Real ID takes effect Cannot be used for international travel

Real ID Indicates driving privileges Immigrants who are lawfully admitted for permanent or temporary residence, have conditional permanent resident status or have an approved application for asylum, can apply Can be used for domestic travel now and after May 7, 2025 Cannot be used for international travel

Enhanced ID Indicates driving privileges Proof of citizenship required Can be used for domestic travel now and after May 7, 2025 Can be used for border crossings into Mexico or Canada, but no other international destinations

PLEASE TURN TO DRIVER’S LICENSES ON PAGE 16

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS The following information, along with that of the infographic, was compiled using information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Q Can undocumented immigrants register to vote with their Minnesota driver’s license?

A No, this is a federal crime and a deportable offense.

QW ill a license for an undocumented immigrant look different in any way from a citizen’s license?

A No, the class D driver's license will not have any indication

of immigration status. But undocumented immigrants will not be able to receive an enhanced license.

QW hy does this make illegal immigrants feel safer? Can’t they still be deported?

A Yes, possession of a Minnesota driver’s license does not

prevent deportation if, for instance, an illegal immigrant commits a felony. If an immigrant is pulled over and is found to not have a license, he or she would face the penalties of driving without a license and the officer could decide to have immigration investigate their case. However, if an immigrant is pulled over and has a class D license, they will only be responsible for the traffic law they violated, rather than the charge of driving without a license.

Q B etween now and May 2025 — when Real ID becomes

mandated for federal identification — couldn't immigrants use this license for domestic travel or to enter military bases?

A Yes, it is possible that someone could attempt that before

May 2025 if he or she applied and received a class D license.

However, Elliot Morgan Parsonage Law Firm — a North Carolina-based firm that specializes in immigration law — said that it is unlikely that immigrants would do so due to the risk of being apprehended.

TYPES OF IDS IN MINNESOTA Class D identification card

Enhanced driver’s license uMust be 16 uIndicates the ability to drive

Can be obtained at any age for travel and identification

purposes

uDoes not indicate the ability to drive

uProof of citizenship is required uCan be used for domestic travel after May 7, 2025 uWill serve to cross borders into Mexico and Canada

uProof of citizenship is not required uWill not serve as federal identification after May 7, 2025

Class D driver’s license

Real ID uDoes not indicate the ability to drive u Requires proof of citizenship or proof that an individual is

uMust be at least 16 to obtain uIndicates the ability to drive uProof of citizenship is not required uWill not serve as federal identification after May 7, 2025

Enhanced ID u Can be obtained at any age for travel and identification

purposes

uDoes not indicate the ability to drive

lawfully admitted for permanent or temporary residence, has conditional permanent resident status, or has an approved application for asylum

uCan be used for domestic travel after May 7, 2025 uCannot be used for any international travel

Read ID driver’s license uIndicates the ability to drive uRequires proof of citizenship or proof that an individual is

uWill serve as federal identification after May 7, 2025

lawfully admitted for permanent or temporary residence, has conditional permanent resident status, or has an approved application for asylum

uWill serve to cross borders into Mexico and Canada

uCan be used for domestic travel after May 7, 2025

uProof of citizenship is required

uCannot be used for any international travel

— Anna Wilgenbusch

FAITH+CULTURE

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

U.S. bishop commends refugee allocations, urges support for resettlement

By Gina Christian OSV News

B

ishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, commended the Biden administration’s refugee admissions allocations for fiscal year 2024 as “an ambitious and meaningful goal as we reflect not only on the global need but also the challenges facing American communities, including labor shortages, a lack of affordable housing, and high inflation.”

On Sept. 29, President Joe Biden signed a presidential determination authorizing the admission of up to 125,000 refugees eligible to enter the United States during fiscal year 2024, in accordance with the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. Effective Oct. 1, which marks the start of the new

DRIVER’S LICENSES C0NTINUED FROM PAGE 15 is no longer allowed to ask about one’s immigration status. A wider range of documents is accepted as proof of identity, such as a foreign birth certificate or foreign passport, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

The law results in several different classifications of licenses. The class D license, which undocumented immigrants can apply for, will have no indication of immigration status and will be the same color and have the same markings as a regular driver’s license.

Minnesota residents who are citizens may elect to choose an enhanced or Real ID license. Real ID or enhanced ID will become required for domestic air travel and entering federal facilities and military bases starting May 7, 2025.

Secular and episcopal support Minnesota is not the first state to enact such a law. Eighteen other states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have enacted similar laws, although about half of them require markings that distinguish them from regular driver’s licenses in their state.

Catholic leaders from across the state have voiced their support of the law.

“Minnesota needs to act now to limit the threat that a traffic stop will upend lives and families of our friends and neighbors,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said in 2021 testimony to the Minnesota House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. “Our immigrant brothers and sisters deserve to live with dignity, not in fear of being separated from their families every time they need to drive somewhere.”

The St. Paul-based Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which offers resources for immigrants in Minnesota and advocates for pro-immigrant legislation, stated that the law promotes public safety by making

fiscal year, the U.S. will allocate refugee admissions for 30,000 to 50,000 from Africa; 10,000 to 20,000 from East Asia; 2,000 to 3,000 from Europe and Central Asia; 35,000 to 50,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean; and 30,000 to 45,000 from the Near East and South Asia.

The president also specified that persons from Cuba, Eurasia, the Baltics, Iraq, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras “may, if otherwise qualified, be considered refugees for the purposes of admission” to the U.S., along with persons identified by a U.S. embassy in any location, under certain circumstances.

The updated ranges “are intended to provide flexibility as needs arise,” with the total capped at 125,000, Biden said. The new numbers mark a decisive shift, substantially increasing the allocations for refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean, while decreasing totals for those from Europe and Central Asia.

“We welcome the Administration’s efforts to increase resettlement from the Western Hemisphere, while reiterating that this should not come at the expense of other populations,” said Bishop Seitz in a Sept. 30 statement. He reaffirmed the bishops’ “solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world, especially those in the Middle East and Asia, who face increased barriers to accessing permanent protection.

Bishop Seitz urged Congress to “continue its unbroken history of bipartisan support” for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which accepts referrals for refugees in need of third-country resettlement. The initiative is “one of the ways in which the Catholic Church in the United States answers Christ’s call to welcome the stranger and carries out the Church’s commitment to protecting the life and upholding the dignity of every human person, from the moment of conception to natural death,” Bishop Seitz said.

sure drivers know traffic laws by way of a written test and driving test. The center also cited a 9% decrease in hit-and-runs in Connecticut and a 7-10% decrease in California, where similar laws have been passed.

As the associate pastor of Risen Savior in Burnsville, Father Mario Castagnola is in touch with the Hispanic community in the Twin Cities. He serves around 500 Hispanics, many of whom he says are enthused about the new legislation.

“Many people are already taking (driving) lessons,” he said. “There is a lot of expectation among our community.”

St. Paul-based Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents the public policy interests of the state’s Catholic bishops, was outspoken in its support for the law. Jason Adkins, the organization’s executive director and general counsel, said the immigration system in the U.S. is “broken.”

“We can take positive steps to give our undocumented brothers a measure of security by giving them access to health insurance, but also by making available driver’s licenses,” Adkins wrote in an Oct. 9 email.

“The legislation seeks to keep families together, and it makes it easier for immigrants to go to work, church and school, without the anxiety of being separated from families for minor traffic violations.”

my children and I, and sometimes their father. So, if something happened to me, who would continue to care for my children? That is the fear.”

Alicia is Catholic but often does not attend Mass on Sundays due to being unable to find transportation and being too scared to drive herself.

“It is a very long process, and very expensive, but I am going to try,” she said regarding the path to citizenship.

She hopes to become a citizen and apply for an enhanced driver’s license so that she can travel back to Peru to visit family, whom she has not seen in 17 years.

“It is sad, the life of immigrants,” she said. “They do not go back to see their families.”

Francisco Rojas, 21, drives daily to his job at Goodwill and to dance salsa, merengue, and bachata at various studios. He pulls over whenever he sees a police officer.

Like Alicia, Rojas overstayed a tourist visa when he came to Minneapolis from Colombia in 2019 at age 18, after he finished high school in Colombia, to stay with his sister. He hasn’t decided if he will apply for a license yet because he is worried that the information he provides to the DMV in the application process could be used against him.

“For those who don’t have papers, what will guarantee that (the DMV) won’t give those facts to the people from immigration and use them against you?” he said. “You never know what kind of person will be working for these organizations.”

Francisco Corrales, 31, came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2019 to join his cousins, who are farmworkers in rural Minnesota. He now works at six ranches in and out of Minnesota — a job that requires him to drive up to 16 hours to arrive at his job site. Corrales said the license will help him feel safer on the roads.

He has applied for a license but failed the written test Oct. 4.

“Some of the questions left me very confused and I did not pass,” he said. “I’m going to have to make another appointment and see how it goes. I will review the questions a little more.”

Persistent fear of deportation Alicia, 54, who did not share her last name out of concern for the safety of her family, came to Minnesota from Peru on a tourist visa in 2006 and stayed after it expired. She now supports her three children, two cats, and a dog named Gordito in a small house in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood, by providing childcare around the Twin Cities.

“You have to pray to God and drive,” said Alicia, who often takes a bus or Uber to work but drives when necessary. “The fear that I feel is that if the police will stop me, they will put me in immigration. … It’s just

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FAITH+CULTURE

OCTOBER 12, 2023

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

Michigan grandfather and stigmatist had the healing touch — could he be a saint?

By Joseph O’Brien OSV News

T

hough Irving “Francis” Houle’s death in 2009 didn’t make national news, his death touched many in the Michigan Upper Peninsula Diocese of Marquette and around the country, who knew Houle through his prayer ministry and as a healer of bodies and souls.

Houle was survived by his wife of 61 years, Gail Houle, and their five children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was raised on a farm in upper Michigan, graduated from a Catholic high school and served in the Army during World War II with an honorable discharge in 1946. He was a factory worker and a Knight of Columbus.

And he also apparently had the stigmata.

Could Houle have a place among the great stigmatist saints of the church’s history? Catholics may find out soon enough.

In November 2018, Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, opened the cause of canonization.

In June 2019, the U.S. Catholic bishops indicated their support for the advancement of the cause at their Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Houle had prayed for, and apparently received throughout the last 16 years of his life, the privilege to share in Christ’s sufferings as a disciple in a particularly unique way.

Father Robert Fox, founder and former director of the Alabamabased Fatima Family Apostolate International, probably knew as much about Houle’s life as anyone. He’d written a book about his life titled “A Man Called Francis,” and he had come to know Houle well since they first met in 1992.

“Irving would go into ecstasies between midnight and 3 a.m.,” Father Fox said prior to his death in 2009.

“After Good Friday 1993, when he received the stigmata, his wounds would bleed every Holy Thursday night into Good Friday. All during Lent, every Lent, there was extra suffering. He also had visions of Christ and locutions, although these only in the first years of his ministry.”

OSV NEWS PHOTO COURTESY IRVING HOULE ASSOCIATION

Irving “Francis” Houle is pictured in this undated photo. In November 2018, Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan opened the cause of canonization for Servant of God Irving Houle. In June 2019, the U.S. Catholic bishops indicated their support for the advancement of the cause at their Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

“You said ‘yes’ to my good Jesus,” Our Lady allegedly told Houle in an Oct. 2, 1995, locution, which Father Fox printed in his book on Houle.

“All hurts, persecution, betrayals and pain is the Passion. You will continue to suffer. This is all for conversions; many, many will be saved.”

Ordained a deacon in 2010, Terry Saunders was a police detective with the Michigan State Police from 1987 until his retirement in 1993. As a close friend and member of Houle’s prayer group, Saunders witnessed enough healings to fill up “three notebooks,” he said. But it was Saunders’ own healing, after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992, that had the most profound effect on him.

“Every time Irving would see me, he would greet me and put his arm around me and his hand on my chest,” he said. “Every time he did that, bolts of white heat would course through my chest. I could feel it immediately.”

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Not long after his failing health forced him to stop chemotherapy, Saunders attempted a last-ditch effort at removing the cancer through surgery. After the procedure, his doctor informed him of a remarkable discovery — the cancer was completely gone.

“I asked him how he could explain that, and he said he couldn’t,” Deacon Saunders said.

Looking back, Saunders realized that his healing had begun soon after Houle received his wounds in 1993. According to Father Fox, Houle first detected pain in his hands Holy Thursday evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

In 1997, Father Fox asked Dr. David Wachs, a family practice physician from South Dakota, to examine Houle’s wounds. In summarizing his findings, Wachs noted that Houle’s circulation was “excellent,” and there was no evidence of “self-mutilation” or infection.

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“I cannot understand medically why these wounds would not heal or open up at different times,” Wachs concluded in his letter to Father Fox. “I am not able to explain the source of his pain.”

Certain features of the wounds, Wachs said, indicated that this was not a natural occurrence.

“If you look at the symmetry of the wound in the wrist area, for instance,” he said, “it’s very difficult to self-inflict a wound like that.”

Also of interest, Wachs added, was the fact that the wounds neither healed nor seemed to become infected.

“They didn’t seem to change or show up anywhere else on his body either, like other sores might,” he said.

“They would continue to ooze blood, too.”

Wachs, who joined the Catholic Church before meeting Houle, said he would willingly stake his entire medical career on the claim that these wounds had no natural medical explanation.

“And if the Church ever needed a person to testify about these wounds, I would gladly do it,” he said.

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, served as bishop of Marquette from 2006 to 2013, and had followed his predecessor, Bishop James Garland, in granting Houle approval to continue his healing work. A native of the Marquette diocese, Archbishop Sample said he was impressed by Houle’s desire to seek his bishop’s blessing of his ministry.

“He was respectful that way, and wanted to be in communion with his bishop,” he said. “He wanted to make sure his bishop approved of what he was doing.”

“He gave the glory to God and not to himself,” Archbishop Sample said.

“That was a confirmation for me that he was authentic.”

The archbishop said neither he nor Bishop Garland sought official confirmation of the wounds, satisfied that the man himself was blessing enough for the diocese.

“He helped many people, and that certainly was a blessing to the Church and to our diocese,” he said.

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18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JAMES PETERSON

Words to live by There are certain slogans and taglines that capture our attention and fire up our imagination. “Just do it” reminds us of Nike and pursuing excellence in athletic competitions.

“Have it your way” calls to mind Burger King and the options available for their burger and fry combos. “Let’s go places” is a phrase by Toyota to emphasize the reliability and transportability of their vehicles. Those are just three examples that are applicable to the companies and the products that they promote and to life in general. Within sacred Scripture there are seemingly endless options of passages that could become slogans and taglines for our faith journey.

One of the most compelling examples can be found in Philippians 4:13, which is often cited as, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That is certainly the message from the second reading for Mass for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time. It is helpful to be aware of the context of that letter and why that particular phrase has such sacred significance.

Its author — St. Paul — by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote the letter while he was in prison. Another often-cited passage from the same chapter is “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). Such audacious words from a

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

Time for a switch

For more than two years, this “Faith Fundamentals” column has done a deep dive into the sacrament of marriage. Twenty-eight articles have appeared. Many avenues to greater understanding have been explored. To widen and deepen understanding of all aspects of the faith, it is time to delve into another sacrament: holy orders.

Holy orders is one of the seven sacraments. It, along with the sacrament of marriage, belongs to a special group of sacraments known as the sacraments of commitment. These two sacraments are “sacraments at the service of communion,” “directed toward the salvation of others,” and “serve to build up the people of God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1534).

Three degrees. While all the baptized share in the universal priesthood, holy orders is the sacrament of the ordained ministry.

Holy orders come in three degrees: deacon, priest or presbyter, and bishop. Only two degrees share the ministerial priesthood: bishops and priests. Priests are co-workers of the bishops, while deacons assist priests (Catechism, 1554).

Ordered ministries. Holy orders is holy because it has a sacred character. And it is ordered because it is structured, tiered with increasing levels of responsibility. For instance, a deacon can preach and baptize, but cannot offer Mass or hear confessions; a priest can offer Mass and hear confessions as well as preach and baptize, but cannot ordain; a bishop can ordain and can perform every priestly function because he possesses the fullness of holy orders. These ministries give “holy order” to the Church.

The lesson plan. The purpose of this column is to teach or provide catechesis on the sacraments. As a course has a syllabus, there is a plan for upcoming columns. The basics of each degree will be described: the call by God to the vocation, the discernment of the call, eligibility for the order, minimum age, prerequisites, and preparation.

The curriculum. Topics will include the biblical basis for the sacrament, the difference between the universal priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood, the nature and effects of

May the Lord give us the grace and the strength to go places in this life and just do it, not necessarily making it about us to have it our way, but rather so that it would ultimately be for God’s greater glory. rather ignominious place are truly remarkable. And yet they were sincerely offered by St. Paul because he was convicted that physical imprisonment and the sufferings of this life “are nothing compared to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).

Perhaps it goes without saying — but I will say it all the same — as Christians, our journey of discipleship is more than just slogans and catchy taglines and meaningful phrases. It is ultimately about an ever-expansive relationship with Jesus Christ in conjunction with members of his mystical body the Church. Be that as it may, it is nonetheless helpful for us to have particular words to live by like those found in Philippians 4:13. When we have hardships and challenges and unexpected difficulties come our way, we can rest assured that God will provide for us in our time of need.

May the Lord give us the grace and the strength to go places in this life and just do it, not necessarily making it about us to have it our way, but rather so that it would ultimately be for God’s greater glory.

Father Peterson is pastor of St. Odilia in Shoreview. He can be contacted via email at fr.james@st.odilia.org.

We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to others, (and) be sanctified to sanctify. the sacrament, the ministries proper to each degree, the spirituality underlying each degree, the ordination rite and the laying on of hands, and the beautiful array of inspiring artistic symbols for each degree.

Differences within degrees. Explanations will be provided for the different categories within each degree. For deacons, there are permanent deacons and transitional deacons. For priests, there are pastors, parochial vicars (associate pastors), parochial administrators and chaplains; diocesan priests and religious order priests and monsignors. For bishops, there are diocesan bishops, auxiliary bishops, coadjutor bishops, archbishops, cardinal archbishops and the pope.

The call to holiness. When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was preparing a document on the importance of good preaching, it conducted a survey on what Catholics want of their priest, and by extension, their deacon or bishop. The USCCB presumed the answer would be a good preacher; it should not have been surprised when the top answer was a good and holy man.

The ordained preach first with their actions by living virtuous lives, and second, with their words. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a young priest, explained this personal call to holiness when he exclaimed: “We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to others, (and) be sanctified to sanctify” (Catechism, 1589).

Father Van Sloun is the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is the first in a series on the sacrament of holy orders. Past series on the sacraments

by Father Van Sloun provided catechesis on marriage, the Eucharist and confirmation. All of the columns can be found at thecatholicspirit. com/faith-fundamentals/.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Oct. 15 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 25:6-10a Phil 4:12-14, 19-20 Mt 22:1-14 Monday, Oct. 16 Rom 1:1-7 Lk 11:29-32 Tuesday, Oct. 17 St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr Rom 1:16-25 Lk 11:37-41 Wednesday, Oct. 18 St. Luke, evangelist 2 Tm 4:10-17b Lk 10:1-9 Thursday, Oct. 19 Sts. John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests, and companions, martyrs Rom 3:21-30 Lk 11:47-54 Friday, Oct. 20 Rom 4:1-8 Lk 12:1-7 Saturday, Oct. 21 Rom 4:13, 16-18 Lk 12:8-12 Sunday, Oct. 22 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 45:1, 4-6 1 Thes 1:1-5b Mt 22:15-21 Monday, Oct. 23 Rom 4:20-25 Lk 12:13-21 Tuesday, Oct. 24 Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21 Lk 12:35-38 Wednesday, Oct. 25 Rom 6:12-18 Lk 12:39-48 Thursday, Oct. 26 Rom 6:19-23 Lk 12:49-53 Friday, Oct. 27 Rom 7:18-25a Lk 12:54-59 Saturday, Oct. 28 Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles Eph 2:19-22 Lk 6:12-16 Sunday, Oct. 29 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Ex 22:20-26 1 Thes 1:5c-10 Mt 22:34-40

KNOW the SAINTS ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS (1694-1775) Paolo Francesco Danei, the oldest son in a poor but noble Italian family, lived austerely even as a teen. After a year in the Venetian army, he returned to a monk-like life of prayer and penance. He refused to marry. In a vision in 1720, Our Lady, wearing a black habit with a white cross and bearing Jesus’ name, told Paul to start an order to preach Christ’s passion. With his bishop’s approval, he founded the Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which he led for the rest of his life. He also began a nuns’ institute. Passionists were soon doing missions and retreats and offering spiritual direction throughout Italy.

Paul was canonized in 1867. His feast day is Oct. 20.

— OSV News

FOCUSONFAITH

OCTOBER 12, 2023

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

Seeing as God sees by embracing a sacramental worldview

By Sister Hosea Rupprecht OSV News

I’ve tried my best to develop not just a positive outlook, but a sacramental worldview, to see the world, people and situations through God’s eyes.

H

ow do you see the world? What is your core worldview? When you look at the world, is it exclusively a place of trouble, toil and tragedy, or is it a place of beauty, bounty and blessing?

Recently, I spent some time with family and found myself making it a mission to turn around all the complaints I heard (and there were plenty). If the weather was lousy, I would remark on how much the area needed rain, especially with all the wildfires. If traffic was bad, I expressed gratitude to God for a car, something not everyone has. If the barista who made the coffee just right wasn’t at the coffee shop (all the rest were less than competent), I would mention that such a good worker deserves their day off.

I’ve tried my best to develop not just a positive outlook, but a sacramental worldview, to see the world, people and situations through God’s eyes.

In its simplest form, a sacramental worldview means participation in the life of Christ — to be in Christ. In baptism, we enter into the very life of God. Being in Christ, we work to develop the ability to see the world through his eyes. The world, then, can become a sign that points us toward our ultimate goal, which is eternity with God. It’s not easy to see through God’s eyes.

It’s much easier to complain than to look for God’s presence and action in the negative aspects of life.

Developing a sacramental worldview takes practice and the willingness to see

iSTOCK PHOTO | SITTHIPHONG

things differently.

In his book “Mysterion,” Father Harrison Ayre describes three elements of a sacramental worldview.

The first is that God always works through creation. We don’t experience God directly. Even Elijah covered his face when he encountered God in that still, small voice up on the mountain (1 Kgs 19: 11-13).

A sacramental worldview means that we begin seeing every situation and every person as the potential means through which God wants to share the divine life with us. Like the seven sacraments, which use physical things like water, oil, bread, and wine, to make something spiritual present and tangible to us, so too can God use anything this world has to make his invisible presence known.

Even the Eucharist, which is as close as we’ll get to God on earth, works through creation in the form of bread, wine, and the consecrating words of the priest.

N O T I C E

MOVIE REVIEWS

The second element of the sacramental worldview is having a spiritual vision of the world and seeing everything through the eyes of eternity. It’s putting on “Godcolored glasses.” Everything can have a spiritual meaning if we only train our eyes to see it, to seek out manifestations of God all around us, including in the media we experience. Since God is love, that means trying to see with love, even against our instincts.

The third element is that the sacramental worldview is centered around participation. One aspect of participation involves our response to God’s action. Being able to see God’s action in people and situations more clearly draws us out of ourselves to greater faith, which then, hopefully, leads to greater participation in the life of Christ, including the life of the Church.

When it comes to popular culture, engaging with movies, TV, video games and social media with a sacramental

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worldview means being attentive to their symbols and the meaning which can be gleaned from them. Symbols are powerful things. Take the “Golden Arches” for example. The McDonald’s logo is a symbol recognized the world over as quick and easy, on-the-go food.

Depending on your situation, it could also symbolize tough times or health problems. Symbols can also evoke strong feelings in people contingent upon their experience or beliefs. Just think of a swastika or a rainbow flag.

The latest “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie (Volume 3) was rife with symbolism. Respect for all of creation, human and animal, gets conveyed through a “Noah’s Ark” moment in the film. There’s even a sequence that evokes Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” from the Sistine Chapel. No spoilers here, but this symbolic imagery represented a new creation for a character.

I don’t have the audacity to claim that I always see the world through sacramental eyes. I fall into negativity on occasion just like everyone else, and I tend to see the devil’s work more clearly than God’s. With practice, though, each day I try my best to recognize the symbols the world offers and have them point me to God rather than away. I do the hard work of developing the sacramental worldview that helps me to see all things and people, and, yes, even popular culture and entertainment media, through my God-colored glasses.

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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

Rescued by a pig: a turning point on the Titanic

A mother understands.

From the outside, Edith Rosenbaum was bursting with beauty and promise, 32 and a rising star in fashion. Her job was glamorous, working as a Paris correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily, an American fashion publication. She covered couture openings and penned a column that appeared on the front page, offering her impressions of the latest trends and the biggest personalities in the Paris fashion scene.

But her mother knew that Rosenbaum felt unsettled, rattled by a car accident she’d been in.

A frivolous gift might be just the ticket — something to induce laughter — so she bought Rosenbaum a toy pig made of paper mâché and covered in animal skin. With its black and white fur, it looked lifelike, and when its tail was wound, the pig played a popular song called “The Maxixe.”

Music, her mother said, can chase away your troubles.

Rosenbaum embraced the gift, vowing to keep it with her always.

It felt like a good-luck charm when, shortly after, she was packing for her voyage on the Titanic, the largest ship ever built. Rosenbaum loaded 19 trunks of expensive apparel along with her toy pig. Her own little mascot.

When the Titanic crashed into an iceberg and panic spread, Rosenbaum stayed calm. She locked up her trunks but made no attempt to evacuate.

She was staying put.

“Don’t worry about me,” she insisted.

A sailor came along and spotted the bundle in her arms. Presuming it to be a baby, he tossed the pig in lifeboat 11.

“I’ll save your baby,” he barked.

BRIDGING FAITH | DEACON MICKEY FRIESEN

The fourth day of mission

The first retreat I ever attended was called Cursillo. It was three days of being immersed in Christian life through teachings, faith sharing, prayer and fellowship. At the end of the third day, we were told: “Tomorrow, you begin the fourth day — which is the rest of your life.” We were called to bring home the gifts of faith we had received and shared.

Years later, I was reminded of this at a gathering of missionaries who had returned from serving overseas for several years. One of them spoke about his leaving home for three years of mission service overseas and returning home for the fourth year of mission — the rest of his life. He said, “There is a mission when God sends us forth and a mission when God brings us home to share the gifts received.”

On World Mission Sunday, we renew the missionary call and share the gifts of being a missionary Church. We are invited to support mission churches in over 100 countries. Pope Francis sets the tone in the theme for this year: “Hearts on fire, feet

And given the chance to help another — a neighbor, friend or stranger — we, too, can be the hands and feet of Christ. An act of service, a stuffed animal. A handwritten note, a loaf of pumpkin bread, a sincere compliment. It may seem small, but it could just be the nudge needed to get on the lifeboat.

iSTOCK PHOTO | MR1805

An instant later, Rosenbaum jumped in with her pig.

“I never would have left the ship,” she would later recount, if the sailor hadn’t taken that initiative.

“When they threw that pig, I knew it was my mother calling me.”

Boat 11 was overloaded, carrying 70 people — the largest number of occupants on any lifeboat launched that cold, starry night. As it rowed away from the sinking ocean liner, Rosenbaum surveyed her fellow travelers: crying babies, restless toddlers, frightened children.

The inky sky enveloped them — not a trace of moon, not a single cloud. It would be seven hours before the Carpathia would rescue them.

Rosenbaum knew what to do: She wound the pig’s tail.

The crying instantly halted. She passed the pig around, letting each child pet it and wind its tail.

What a contrast to the mournful wailing that rang out on the Titanic — a rollicking carnival song that called to mind balloons, magicians and acrobats. The

on the move.” He draws inspiration from the Gospel story of disciples on the road to Emmaus. The risen Jesus walked with them and opened the Scriptures to them along the way. He went home with them as a guest but became the host in the breaking of the bread. Their hearts burned with his presence. On the fourth day, they returned to Jerusalem to say, “We have seen the Lord.” The fourth day marked the beginning of the rest of their lives as apostles.

A similar pattern exists for foreign missionaries today. Missionaries answer the call to leave the comforts of home to give witness to the good news of Jesus and be a sign of Christ’s love. They do this as priests, religious sisters, brothers, laypersons and families. They immerse themselves in the life of a different culture, different language and with different rules for living. Crossing over into a new place can bring with it a variety of challenges as they try to enter into another world.

At some point, missionaries come home. Thus begins the fourth day of their mission, sharing the gifts of God they received for the rest of their lives.

Coming home means returning to family and friends, their home churches and faith communities, to tell their story of faith meeting Jesus in a foreign land.

They become living bridges and signs of what God is doing around the world. Their experience of mission animates and informs the rest of their lives as they try to bring home the gifts of faith they received.

I’m reminded of a man who served in Russia just after the end of the Cold War. He served as a Christian witness to people who had been deprived

sound of hope on a lonely night.

Rosenbaum would live to be 95 and share her survival story. Her pig remains at the National Maritime Museum in London.

That improbable turning point on the Titanic — the pig that saved Rosenbaum’s life — reminds us that God works in and through other people. We are one body in Christ, and we do not stand alone.

We can count on that as the cold settles in and new challenges arise. Look for the little gifts that come from above and pass through other hands along the way. “We know that all things work for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28).

And given the chance to help another — a neighbor, friend or stranger — we, too, can be the hands and feet of Christ. An act of service, a stuffed animal. A handwritten note, a loaf of pumpkin bread, a sincere compliment. It may seem small, but it could just be the nudge needed to get on the lifeboat.

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

At some point, missionaries come home. Thus begins the fourth day of their mission, sharing the gifts of God they received for the rest of their lives. of practicing their faith through war and oppression.

He served people trying to find peace. His experience of being a peacemaker inspired his return home. He dedicated his life and ministry to helping students in Minnesota and beyond learn how to be peacemakers in their schools and in their lives. This was the gift of mission that made his heart burn for peacemaking back home.

On World Mission Sunday, we celebrate the coming and going of God’s mission. We are sent forth by our baptism to love and serve the Lord. Some give to the mission by going. Others go to the missions by giving. Without both, there is no mission. May our hearts burn with the good news of Christ. May we support that message beyond our borders and bring it home. We are meant to be living signs of the fourth day of mission — which is the rest of our lives.

Deacon Friesen is director of the Center for Mission, which supports missionary outreach of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He can be reached at friesenm@archspm.org.

COMMENTARY

OCTOBER 12, 2023

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Mary is an ‘exemplary realization’ of the Church

October is one of two months in the year dedicated to honoring Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “by her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity” (967). She was so blessed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that when she was visited by the angel Gabriel, she simply asked how it could happen that she would conceive a child without knowing a man.

This was followed by her complete trust in God (Lk 1:26-38).

Imagine what our lives would be like if we could learn to trust God the way Mary did. If we, too, could simply say “May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). How would our lives be different?

Trust is a result of a sense of security. When we feel

ALREADY/NOT YET JONATHAN LIEDL

How not to save the Church The gates of hell will never prevail against the Church — and yet the body of Christ can often seem to be on the brink of some kind of calamity or disaster.

This can be experienced at the level of a local parish, diocese, or even at the level of the universal Church.

In the face of this kind of instability and danger, it is common to experience emotions like fear and anger — fear that something we know and love may be damaged or lost, and anger toward those we feel are threatening it.

And so, as we often do when we feel fear and anger, we respond by taking matters into our own hands — sometimes even subtly adopting attitudes or actions that depart from how Christ lived and what he asks of us. But we justify them as the means necessary to preserve the parish, the diocese or the Church that we know to be such a powerful means of encounter with the Lord. After all, if the Church is so good but it’s under threat, can’t we be excused for cutting corners and “doing what it takes” — perhaps through bending the truth a bit, or being just a little uncharitable, to delegitimize an enemy of the Church, to keep it together and moving forward?

But the irony, of course, is that we can’t save Christ’s Church by leaving

secure and safe in our relationships, we can relax and trust others. For some people, this is difficult, due to temperament, upbringing, or events that happened in life. We may have the mistaken idea that developing a sense of trust requires that every detail is securely in place, with no mishaps or tribulations. That is categorically untrue.

No one has an unscathed life experience, even someone who appears to have reached perfection.

That is simply not the human experience. We all face difficulties and trials, and it is our trust in God that determines our response to the events that happen to us. If we, like Mary, can approach the challenges we face with faith in God’s goodness, asking for his grace amid our struggles, we could have a different outcome, one marked by hope and a future we might not have envisioned.

Mary is a model for us to follow, thereby allowing the grace of the Holy Spirit to enter our experiences, including those that cause us to question God’s presence. After the angel’s visit, Mary hastened to see her cousin, Elizabeth. There, she was comforted and encouraged. If we respond to events that bring us doubt with trust rather than terror, God’s grace will fill us and help us make life-giving decisions.

A principal document of Vatican II by then-Pope Paul VI, “Lumen Gentium,” the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, states “in a wholly singular way (Mary) cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls” (61).

In trying moments, we often cannot see over the horizon, and we may be tempted to make a hasty decision that will forever change our lives. Asking for Mary’s strength, as well as her consolation and

him. In fact, the second we resort to unchristian tactics to preserve the Church of Christ, what we’re trying to preserve isn’t even the Church. We’ve, in a sense, already broken unity with it, by breaking unity with Jesus. We’ve made the mistake of Peter in the garden, sword unsheathed and bloody, trying to “save” Jesus and his kingdom here on earth by employing tactics contrary to the laws of that very kingdom.

This is because the Church is not reducible to an institution or a civilization, let alone a building or an identity group. No account of the Church is adequate that leaves out its constitutive core: relationship with Christ, the head of the body, the bridegroom to his bride, and the one mediator between God and humanity. The Church is the place of being with Christ. And this points to an even deeper truth: the Church is not ours to save in the first place. It’s a gift, from God, to be received on his terms, not ours.

When we think we can preserve the Church without ongoing fidelity to the Lord, we have made the mistake of reducing “the Church of Jesus Christ” into “a party of Christ,” as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, put it in a 1990 homily on the subject, preached at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. “When I advocate a party, it thereby becomes my party, whereas the Church of Jesus Christ is never my Church but always his Church,” said Cardinal Ratzinger.

“Indeed, the essence of conversion lies precisely in the fact that I cease to pursue a party of my own that safeguards my interests and conforms to my taste but that I put myself in his hands and become his, a member of his Body, the Church.”

Cardinal Ratzinger’s insight brings up a crucial point: Even when we might be right about how to face the challenges facing the Church — be they over how

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 21

ACTION PLAN u Take time this month to pray a rosary and think of Mary’s

example of courage and trust in God. Thank her for her willingness to give birth to Jesus, even though she was frightened and unsure. u If you know someone who is pregnant and considering abortion, encourage her to reach out to a pregnancy center for help. Abortion is not the only answer.

Note: If you, or someone you know, is suffering from the aftereffects of abortion, consider reaching out to Rachel’s Vineyard and participating in a healing weekend. More information can be found at rachelsvineyard.org. comfort, can help us remain calm and trust in God’s goodness and wisdom.

October is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. If a woman finds she is pregnant and unmarried, or has an unwanted pregnancy, the culture will tell her to abort her baby. In fact, it will tell her it is her body, her choice. If she goes through with an abortion, she has no idea the pain she will bring upon herself for the remainder of her life, because this is a decision that cannot be undone.

If you know someone who is experiencing an unwanted pregnancy, encourage her to reach out to one of the many groups that support women who fear they must walk this path alone. Assure her people will help, thereby giving life to her unborn baby and herself.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.

to run our parish or how to resolve doctrinal disputes at the highest levels of the Church — we are fundamentally wrong if we are animated by the party of Christ mentality, which is based not on submission to God, but on taste and preference. As Cardinal Ratzinger said, “When one’s own will and desire is the decisive criterion, schism is a forgone conclusion, because there are multiple and opposing varieties of taste. A club, a circle of friends, a party can grow from such an ideological choice, but not a Church that overcomes antitheses between men and unites them in the peace of God.”

are always called to conform our lives.

And so at this moment, with whatever disturbances and anxieties we face in the life of the Church, we’d do well to meditate on the corrective offered

by Cardinal Ratzinger to the party of Christ mentality, which is trapped in merely human realities, and so is always inadequate: “The Church will be all the more the homeland for man’s heart the more we listen to God and the more what comes from him is of central importance in her: his Word and the sacraments he has given us.

The obedience of all toward him is the guarantee of our freedom.”

No matter how well-intended, our efforts to save the Church will always be counterproductive if they are disconnected from the only thing that is ultimately fruitful — God’s saving initiative in time and space, to which we

Liedl, a Twin Cities resident, is a senior editor of the National Catholic Register and a graduate student in theology at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

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22 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

Why I am Catholic

I

Kate Ostaffe DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

am Catholic because last year, God chose me to join the

of her teachings (and to be honest, I still do). However, everything

Church. This was surprising, because I entered college as a

changed once I realized that Jesus truly is present in the Eucharist.

Lutheran who had no intentions of becoming Catholic.

I wanted to receive Jesus, which ultimately brought me into the

God, however, had other plans.

Church. It certainly wasn’t an easy process — I went through OCIA

I grew up Lutheran and was very involved in my church. I went

twice before I decided to be confirmed — but Jesus was patient with

to VBS (Vacation Bible School), church camp, mission trips, youth

me. Over the course of three years, he gently brought me out of the

group — you name it. I was confirmed during my sophomore year of

place of confusion I was in and called me to follow him.

high school, but I struggled with my faith for the next few years. I felt

Joining the Catholic Church was one of the most difficult decisions

stuck and distant from God. During mission trips with my church,

I have ever made, but it has brought me countless blessings. I’ve been

I was hoping for some breakthrough in my faith that would change

Catholic for over a year now, and although it has been anything but

everything. That never happened, and while I never lost my faith,

easy, I can confidently say that I made the right decision. I praise God

I seemed to be at a standstill. I knew that I wanted to dive deeper

for that.

into my faith. My parents, adult leaders at my church, and teachers encouraged me to find a Christian organization or church in college.

When I arrived at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, I found a community that was on fire for Christ. These people had a strong sense of identity and were full of so much joy; and I wanted that. I didn’t fully realize why I was drawn to them, but looking back on it now, it’s obvious. They loved me for who I was, even though I wasn’t Catholic. They supported me in seeking the truth and in following God’s plans for me, whether or not those plans included joining the Catholic Church. They helped me find answers and to take a leap of faith.

As I learned more about the Catholic Church, I struggled with a lot

Ostaffe, 22, is an elections assistant in voter engagement for Hennepin County and a recent graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul with a degree in marketing and business communications. She is a member of Holy Name of Jesus in Wayzata. She is involved with young adult ministry and is a member of a small group. She is the oldest of triplets, all born a minute apart. Ostaffe enjoys writing, reading, singing in choir and rock climbing.

“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”

OCTOBER 12, 2023 THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 23

CALENDAR PARISH EVENTS Pancake/French Toast Breakfast — Oct. 15: 8 a.m.-noon at Guardian Angels, 215 W. Second St., Chaska. Pancakes, French toast, blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, beverage. Children under 5, free; kids 6-12, $5; adults, $12; family (immediate), $40. gachaska.org St. Pascal’s Men’s Club Booya — Oct. 15: 10 a.m.-as long as it lasts. 1757 Conway St., St. Paul. Drive-through sales only. 48 oz. container: $18. stpascals.org Holy Name Fall Festival — Oct. 15: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

3637 11th Ave., South Minneapolis. Food, live entertainment, silent auction, children’s games, crafts, bingo and more. churchoftheholyname.org Pumpkin Patch — Oct. 10-30: Our Lady of Peace, 12th Ave. S., Minneapolis. olpmn.org/pumpkin-patch Rummage Sale — Oct. 12-14: St. Gabriel’s St. Joseph campus, 1310 Mainstreet, Hopkins. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Oct. 12-13; 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Oct. 14 (Bag Day, $1/bag).

Variety of household and yard items. stgabrielhopkins.org Oktoberfest and Polka Mass — Oct. 14: 4:30-9 p.m. at St. Katharine Drexel, 7101 143rd Ave. N.W., Suite G, Ramsey. Polka Mass at 4:30 p.m., followed by a familyfriendly evening of authentic German music, dancing, food, drinks and kids’ games. Music by The Bavarian Musikmeisters. stkdcc.org Oktoberfest — Oct. 14: 6-10 p.m. at Holy Childhood, 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul. An evening of food, beer and fun. maternityofmarychurch.org St. Agnes Fall Festival — Oct. 22: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. Serving booya (sit-down and take-home) with games for children, prizes, raffles, a country store and more. churchofsaintagnes.org

WORSHIP+RETREATS Spirit and Fire Night — Oct. 13, Nov. 10: 6:30-8:30 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima, 2048 Hamline Ave. N., Roseville. Led

by Father Marc Paveglio, this Spirit and Fire Night will give participants a chance to invite the Holy Spirit more deeply into their lives. saintroseoflima.net/news/spirit-and-fire Ave Verum Corpus — Oct. 13, Nov. 10: 7 p.m. at 51 Church St., Elko New Market. Adoration and classical sacred music. Sacrament of penance available, vespers and Benediction. Email kjohnson@stncc.net or visit stncc.net/ave-verum-corpus.

Discuss the spirituality of the four women doctors of the Church. Donations for Southwest Options for Women requested. stpatrick-edina.org/womensretreat Tree of Life — Oct. 14: 10-10:45 a.m. at Como Park, Estabrook Drive, St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will lead a prayer service to honor babies who died in their mother’s womb.

Day Retreat: Holiness of the Saints — Oct. 18: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. We will explore the holiness of the saints through our meditations and how the lives of the saints are present today in preparation for the feast of All Saints. kingshouse.com Wine and The Word: Wine in the Old Testament — Oct. 19: 7-8 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Father Hank Lemoncelli will present. Wine from a local winery. Alcohol-free beverages and light snacks. Freewill donation. RSVP 763-682-1394 or email agoth@omiusa.org. kingshouse.com Family Retreat Weekend — Oct. 20-22: 6:30 a.m.noon. 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Families will have an opportunity to work together to develop deeper cohesiveness while also doing some things by age group. franciscanretreats.net/family-retreat-franciscan-retreats-andspirituality-center Family Retreat Weekend — Oct. 27-29: 7:30 a.m.-noon.

16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Step aside from the uncertainties of this time for a period of spiritual renewal. franciscanretreats.net/family-retreat-franciscan-retreats-andspirituality-center Shepherd Me, O God Men’s Silent Weekend Retreat — Oct. 27-29: 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Jesus is the good shepherd who leads and guides through the dark places of life into the promised peace of the King. $50 deposit. kingshouse.com Living Out St. John Paul II’s Rule of Joy-Filled Marriages — Oct. 28-29: 7-9 p.m. Oct. 28, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Oct. 29. Holy Family, 5900 W. Lake St., St. Louis Park.

A marriage retreat to strengthen couples to live more faithfully and deeply the mystery of marital love. Featured speakers: Theresa and Peter Martin, coauthors of the book “The Rule” and founders of the Wojtyla Community and Institute (WCI). hfcmn.org/marriage-retreat-2023

When Bad Things Happen … The Book of Job for Troubled Times — Oct. 13-14: The Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood.

Guest speaker: Peter Watkins. Reflect on how to make meaning of life in light of a God of love and compassion. benedictinecenter.secure.retreat.guru/program/when-bad-thingshappen-the-book-of-job-for-troubled-times/

CONFERENCES+WORKSHOPS

Women’s Weekend Retreat — Oct. 13-15: 7:30 a.m.noon. 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Step aside from the uncertainties of this time for a period of spiritual renewal. franciscanretreats.net

Day of Equipping — Oct. 25: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 2385 Commerce Blvd., Mound. This one-day training, presented by Bart Schuchts, is designed to equip and prepare every member of God’s Church to live more fully into Christ’s mission. Visit ourladyofthelake.com/parish-mission or email aschmidt@ourladyofthelake.com.

Women Doctors of the Church — Oct. 14: 10 a.m.4 p.m. at St. Patrick, 6820 St. Patrick’s Lane W., Edina.

Iconography Workshop of St. Joseph — Oct. 16-20: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at St. Michael, 423 Fifth St. S., Stillwater.

Instructor Nicholas Markell teaches Eastern Iconography from a Western perspective in the ancient technique of egg tempera painting and 24k gold. stcroixiconography.org

MUSIC In Trembling Shadow — Oct. 14: 7:30 p.m. Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis. Featuring Elizabethan-era music. Performers include soprano Sarah Jackson, lutenist Thomas Walker Jr., and gambist Mary Burke. ourholycross.org/sacred-music

SCHOOLS Fall Musical: Into the Woods — Oct. 26-28: Benilde-St. Margaret, 2501 Highway 100 S., St. Louis Park.

Performances are at 7 p.m. with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29. bsmschool.org/student-life/activities/drama

SPEAKERS+SEMINARS The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Life of the World to Come — Oct. 13: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at Emmaus Hall, St. John’s University, 2966 St. John’s Road, Collegeville.

Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead along with its implications now and in the hereafter. Free, registration required. csbsju.edu/sot/sem/alumni-and-friends/attend-events/ theology-day An Evening with Michael Naughton — Oct. 17: 5:30-8:45 p.m. at 1983 Dayton Ave., Door G, St. Paul.

Michael Naughton, director of the Catholic Studies program at the University of St. Thomas, will present. sjbusinessguild.com/events/an-evening-with-dr-naughton Next Chapter Retirement Information Session — Oct. 18: 7-8 p.m. online. Zoom link will be sent to those who register. The University of St. Thomas is forming another cohort experience based in Ignatian principles for people who will retire soon. Register at stthomas.edu/ mission/office/ Sidewalk Counseling Training Seminar — Oct. 24: 7-9 p.m. 7849 W. Broadway Ave., Brooklyn Park. Presented

by Pro-Life Action Ministries. To register, contact thomas.wilkin@plam.org or 651-797-6366. plam.org/event/sidewalk-counseling-training-seminar/ Theology, the Climate Crisis, and a Call for Action — Oct. 26: 6:30-9 p.m. St. Frances Cabrini, 1500 Franklin Ave. S.E., Minneapolis. Free, registration required. csbsju.edu/sot/ sem/alumni-and-friends/attend-events/theology-day

ONGOING GROUPS Restorative Support for Victims-Survivors — Monthly: 6:30-8 p.m. via Zoom. Open to all victims-survivors. Victimsurvivor support group for those abused by clergy as adults — first Mondays. Support group for relatives or friends of victims of clergy sexual abuse — second Mondays.

Victim-survivor support group — third Mondays. Survivor Peace Circle — third Tuesdays. Support group for men who have been sexually abused by clergy/religious — fourth Wednesdays. Support group for present and former employees of faith-based institutions who have experienced abuse in any of its many forms — second Thursday. Visit archspm.org/healing or contact Paula Kaempffer, outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, at kaempfferp@archspm.org or 651-291-4429.

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 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: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions TheCatholicSpirit.com/calendarsubmissions

OPENING MASS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 St. Francis lived in a time of “struggles and divisions between temporal and religious powers, between the institutional Church and heretical currents, between Christians and other believers,” Pope Francis said. But the saint “did not criticize or lash out at anyone.” Rather, he took up the “weapons of the Gospel: humility and unity, prayer and charity.”

“Let us do the same!” urged the pope, noting that the “most fruitful moments of the synod are the moments and prayer and the environment of prayer in which the Lord acts in us.”

After the Mass, Pope Francis individually greeted the 20 new cardinals with him on stage, some of whom will remain in Rome to participate in the synod assembly while others were to return to their dioceses. Cardinal Luis Pascual Dri, a 96-year-old Capuchin friar from Argentina, did not travel to Rome to receive his red hat because of his health.

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24 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

OCTOBER 12, 2023

THELASTWORD

Men carry a reliquary containing a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during the annual Candlelight Rosary Procession Oct. 6 from the Minnesota State Capitol to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

FAR LEFT From left, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishops Joseph Williams and Michael Izen join the procession.

LEFT Joseph Damiani of St. Peter in Forest Lake holds his sister Philomena up to the reliquary containing a relic of St. Thérèse after the Children’s Rosary Pilgrimage.

They came with their mother, Lisa Damiani, and eight siblings. Their father is Deacon Matthew Damiani.

Relishing T relics

Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit housands of people flocked to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul throughout the day Oct. 6 for two events that focused on the rosary and on relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin.

Children from Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis gathered in the morning for the annual Children’s Rosary Pilgrimage. After praying the rosary with Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen, children were offered the opportunity to venerate the relics before heading back to their schools. Bishop Izen led the way,

venerating the relics and touching the reliquary of St. Thérèse with a rosary.

The relics were brought to the Minnesota State Capitol in the evening so they could be carried in the annual Candlelight Rosary Procession from the Capitol to the Cathedral. Also carried to the Cathedral was a statue of Mary. At the conclusion of the event, which ended inside the Cathedral, people again were offered the opportunity to venerate the relics. People formed a long line that stretched all the way to the back of the Cathedral.

The relics began their first journey in the archdiocese Oct. 4 in Stillwater — and additional stops through Oct. 15 were to include the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and, finally, St. Therese in Deephaven.