The Catholic Spirit - September 30, 2021

September 30, 2021 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Katie Neumeyer, right, of Our Lady of Grace in Edina, talks with Jacie Kohler, left, and others during a Synod Small Group session at Our Lady of Grace. Catholics across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are meeting in their parishes for six sessions to discuss the Archdiocesan Synod’s three focus areas: discipleship, evangelization, and youth and young adults.

These discussions lay the groundwork for a Synod Assembly in June 2022, where parish representatives and other Catholic leaders will make recommendations to Archbishop Bernard Hebda for a pastoral letter and plan.

DAVE HRBACEK THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Heart of the matter

Synod Small Groups dig deep into discipleship, evangelization, youth and young adults’ faith — Page 5

RECENTLY RETIRED PRIESTS REFLECT BACK, LOOK AHEAD — Pages 10-12 COVID VACCINE CONSIDERATIONS 5 | ‘FRASSATI’ PLAY 7 | CARING FOR CREATION 13 MASS WITH KIDS 14 | DID ST. JOSEPH MAKE A HOLY HOUR? 15 | WHY I AM CATHOLIC 18

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

PAGETWO Synod Small Group Sessions 3 and 4: reader profiles The Synod Parish Consultation with Small Groups is underway in parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis (see page 5). The consultation includes a series of six, two-hour sessions, each with prayer, teaching and an hour of discussion around aspects of three topics: 1. Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, 2. Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, and 3. Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. Sessions 3 and 4 hone in on the second topic through discussing welcoming parishes, collaboration in parish ministry, liturgy and the Sunday experience, and sharing the Gospel in word and deed.

BARB UMBERGER | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SHROUD OF TURIN Father Brian Lynch, associate pastor of Transfiguration in Oakdale, explains details in an approximate half-size replica of the shroud of Turin that is displayed in the church’s Elijah Gallery, located between the main church and the chapel. In the 1970s, 3M developed a tape that allowed scientists to remove material from the shroud without transferring tape residue. A friend of the parish who worked for 3M donated the framed image to Transfiguration. Shown with Father Lynch are Transfiguration parishioner Mary Byrne, left, Pete Quimby, and Renee and Matthew Oakes with children Evelyn and Henry. The Oakeses are parishioners of St. Michael in Stillwater.

NEWS notes

Ideas surfaced during these Small Group discussions will be shared and refined in the Synod process, leading up to a pastoral letter by Archbishop Bernard Hebda in November 2022, followed by a pastoral plan. Archbishop Hebda has asked every parish to hold this Small Group series, and he is encouraging every Catholic in the archdiocese to participate. Check your parish’s website or bulletin for your parish’s Small Group meeting schedule. Learn more about the Archdiocesan Synod at archspm.org/synod.

Among local Catholics appearing in the videos guiding Sessions 3 and 4 are Patrick Conley and Meisha Johnson, both converts to Catholicism who work in media. The following is a sneak peek into their own faith journeys, which they share in videos at archspm.org and the archdiocese’s social media channels.

Patrick Conley is the host of Practicing Catholic, a weekend radio show on Relevant Radio 1330 that’s produced in collaboration between the archdiocese and Relevant Radio. He is also a traveling presenter with the Colorado-based Catherine of Siena Institute. He and his wife live on a hobby farm in Wisconsin. Conley was raised in a mainline Protestant Presbyterian church, and felt close to Jesus from a young age. He got involved in evangelical Protestantism while in college. He later moved to England to pursue studies at a Church of England seminary. “And it was there that I first started wrestling with the claims of Catholicism,” he said. “Some buddies of mine and I would meet every week in the pub and we’d talk about Catholicism. And sure enough, now all three of us are Catholic.” He and his wife were received into the Church at the Cathedral of St. Paul in 2010.

The senior advancement officer at The Seminaries of St. Paul, Tizoc Rosales, has been appointed as the first president of Plymouth-based Catholic Services Appeal Foundation, where he will lead CSAF’s annual appeal and partner with donors, parishes and ministry leaders to help ministries that serve the poor, support life and strengthen the faith.

Established in 2013, CSAF partners with parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to conduct a more than $9 million annual appeal to fund 20 designated ministries of the archdiocese, such as hospital and prison chaplaincies, Catholic Charities and college campus ministries. Since 2014, Rosales, 48, has been senior advancement officer for the seminaries in St. Paul — St. John Vianney College Seminary and graduate-level The St. Paul Seminary; both receive CSAF funding. During his tenure, the seminaries secured more than $40 million toward their joint strategic funding campaign. Rosales is a member of St. Joseph in West St. Paul.

“Fumbles, Touchdowns & Hail Marys” Oct. 6 at St. Patrick in Edina will feature Super Bowl champion Matt Birk telling his story of faith, with Bishop Andrew Cozzens among those joining in the conversation.

The 7 p.m. fundraising event (preceded by a 5:30 p.m. meet and greet) is for the Center for Evangelization and Discipleship, or CEND, which organized as a Twin Cities nonprofit in June 2020 to encourage Catholics in their 20s and 30s to meet one another and be active in their faith. It also is helping local parishes foster young adult involvement. CEND operates MSP Catholic, an online resource for Catholic young adult social and faith-based activities. Details and registration for the Oct. 6 event are at catholiccend.org/matt-birk-event.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens is among more than 50 Catholic presenters who have joined forces to create the St. Joseph Summit — Our Spiritual Father: Pilgrimage to the Heart of Jesus, Sept. 30-Oct. 3. The free online event for the Year of St. Joseph also includes “Consecration to St. Joseph” author Father Donald Calloway, Scott Hahn, Chris Stefanick and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. It aims to help Catholics deepen devotion to their spiritual father. Visit saintjosephsummit.com to learn more and register.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ chancellor for civil affairs was honored with the Heartbeat Award Sept. 25 for his pro-life work with Cradle of Hope, a Roseville-based nonprofit that provides financial aid to women in crisis pregnancies, especially because of financial pressures. Joseph Kueppers, who was a partner in a Minneapolis law firm before taking the chancellor position in 2012, has been on Cradle of Hope’s board of directors for 30 years, the first 14 of them as president and since then as vice president. He also offers his legal expertise to Cradle of Hope. The nonprofit’s Heartbeat Award honors people who demonstrate years of dedication and devotion to helping pregnant women choose life. For the past 21 years, Kueppers also has led the rosary at the archdiocese’s May Day Family Rosary Procession.

Meisha Johnson is a former TV journalist and mom of two daughters who is now coordinator of mission at St. Joseph of the Lakes in Lino Lakes. She calls her journey to the Church “a very long and twisty story.”

She was raised in Blaine with little exposure to religion, and as a young adult was “kind of just going wherever the secular winds will blow,” she said. But, while working in Philadelphia, God got her attention in a dramatic way.

“Some would call it a spiritual awakening in my living room while I was vacuuming in 2008 that knocked me to my knees, quite literally. And that changed my life,” she said. “I don’t like to usually say conversion happened first. It was really a moment of confusion, which led to ultimately full conversion.” She ultimately returned to the Twin Cities to pursue biblical studies at Bethel University, which led her to consider Church history and Catholicism. She joined the Church, dove into evangelization ministry and is now completing a master’s degree in sacred theology through St. Joseph’s College in Maine.

— Maria Wiering

PRACTICING Catholic On the Sept. 24 “Practicing Catholic” show, host Patrick Conley interviews Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who discusses how welcoming the stranger applies to the local Church, especially as humanitarian crises in Haiti and Afghanistan continue. Also featured are Sergio Barrera, a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan, who shares his faith journey there, and Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who provides details on this year’s annual candlelight rosary procession Oct. 1. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Find interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com, soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic or tinyurl.com/practicingcatholic.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 26 — No. 18 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor

God invites us to enter more fully into his life, sometimes in unexpected ways. In light of this truth, The Catholic Spirit asks, “Please describe a surprising encounter with God in your life.” Send responses of 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line. Your reflection may be included in a future edition of The Catholic Spirit.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS

Why praying the rosary matters

T

he month of October gives us the chance to remember the great gift of the rosary and the difference it can make in our spiritual lives and in the world.

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Oct. 7 finds its origin in the victory of the Battle of Lepanto Oct. 7, 1571. This year marks the 450th anniversary of that important moment in European history when the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states from Spain and Italy, defeated in a naval battle the fleet of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Many say the victory was made possible by a shift in the wind accompanied by a vision of Our Lady that inspired the troops.

The battle was a key turning point that stopped the Ottoman Empire’s military expansion, and many theorize it saved Christianity in Europe. Pope St. Pius V ordered all of the soldiers on the ships and all of Europe to pray the rosary on the day of the battle, and he himself led a rosary procession in Rome. We are told that in the afternoon of that day, he was granted a miraculous vision of the victory.

Afterwards, he declared the day the feast of Our Lady of Victory, and it later became known as Our Lady of the Rosary because of the power from this prayer.

The rosary is a mysterious prayer because of its simplicity, but also because of its depth. It has been prayed and loved consistently by faithful Catholics since the beginning of the second millennium. It is a prayer beginners can learn, and it can lead us into the depth of the Christian life. It is loved by the simplest souls and some of the greatest mystics of the Church.

Our Lady herself, most especially in her appearance at Fatima, but also in other apparitions, has begged us to pray the rosary daily. She said that it was essential to bring peace to our families and to our world, and she asked us to pray the rosary to bring an end to war.

Por qué es importante rezar el rosario

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l mes de octubre nos da la oportunidad de recordar el gran regalo del rosario y la diferencia que puede marcar en nuestra vida espiritual y en el mundo. La fiesta de Nuestra Señora del Rosario el 7 de octubre tiene su origen en la victoria de la batalla de Lepanto el 7 de octubre de 1571. Este año marca el 450 aniversario de ese momento importante en la historia europea cuando la Santa Liga, una coalición de católicos estados de España e Italia, derrotaron en una batalla naval a la flota del Imperio Turco Otomano. Muchos dicen que la victoria fue posible gracias a un cambio de viento acompañado de una visión de Nuestra Señora que inspiró a las tropas.

La batalla fue un punto de inflexión clave que detuvo la expansión militar del Imperio Otomano, y muchos teorizan que salvó al cristianismo en Europa.

El Papa San Pío V, ordenó a todos los soldados de los barcos y de toda Europa que rezaran el rosario el día de la batalla, y él mismo dirigió una procesión del rosario en Roma. Se nos dice que en la tarde de ese día se le concedió una visión milagrosa de la victoria. Posteriormente declaró el día la fiesta de Nuestra Señora de la Victoria, y más tarde se conoció como Nuestra Señora del Rosario por el poder de esta oración.

El rosario es una oración misteriosa por su sencillez y también por su profundidad. Ha sido orado y amado constantemente por fieles católicos desde

The rosary is a mysterious prayer because of its simplicity, but also because of its depth. iSTOCK PHOTO | KZENON

Those who start to pray the rosary regularly find in it eventually a mysterious attraction and incredible power. Many find their lives begin to change through the strength of this prayer. They are drawn to deeper conversion; they experience more peace and their desire for holiness grows. Its simplicity is found in the repetition of the prayers from memory that are intended to allow us to enter into the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary. Some find it helpful to combine Scripture reading and even some silence with the prayers to aid in meditation on the mysteries.

Some have accused Catholics of violating the command of Jesus with the rosary, when Jesus said, “When you pray, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words” (Mt 6:7). It is possible to recite the rosary in this false way, treating it as a magic formula that effects things by saying meaningless words. But this

el comienzo del segundo milenio. Es una oración que los principiantes pueden aprender y puede llevarnos a lo más profundo de la vida cristiana. Es amado por las almas más simples y algunos de los más grandes místicos de la Iglesia.

Nuestra Señora misma, muy especialmente en su aparición en Fátima, pero también en otras apariciones, nos ha rogado que recemos el rosario todos los días. Dijo que era fundamental llevar la paz a nuestras familias y a nuestro mundo, y nos pidió que rezáramos el rosario para poner fin a la guerra.

Aquellos que comienzan a rezar el rosario con regularidad, eventualmente encuentran en él una atracción misteriosa y un poder increíble. Muchos descubren que sus vidas comienzan a cambiar gracias a la fuerza de esta oración. Se sienten atraídos por una conversión más profunda, experimentan más paz y crece su deseo de santidad. Su sencillez se encuentra en la repetición de las oraciones de memoria que pretenden permitirnos adentrarnos en los misterios de la vida de Jesús y María. A algunos les resulta útil combinar la lectura de las Escrituras e incluso un poco de silencio con las oraciones para ayudar en la meditación sobre los misterios.

Algunos han acusado a los católicos de violar el mandato de Jesús con el rosario, cuando Jesús dijo: “Cuando reces, no balbucees como los paganos, que piensan que serán escuchados por sus muchas palabras” (Mt 6, 7). Es posible rezar el rosario de esta manera falsa, tratándolo como una fórmula mágica que efectúa las cosas al decir palabras sin sentido. Pero

is not the way the rosary was meant to be prayed.

The repetition of the Hail Mary, rather, is often compared to a child speaking words of love over and over again. As St. John Paul II said in his important encyclical on the rosary, which he wrote in 2002, “If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them” (“Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” 26).

In this way the repetition of prayers in the rosary actually works with our human psychology and can allow calm and focus as we enter more deeply into love. Again as St. John Paul II explained, “By its nature the recitation of the rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed.” The rosary leads us to union with Jesus as we contemplate with it the life of Jesus and Mary.

Pope Francis has often said he prays the rosary every day. In 2017, I had the chance to meet Pope Francis with a group of priests after a Wednesday audience. After posing for a photo with us he pulled his rosary out of his pocket and held it up to us, and with great insistence urged us to pray the rosary and not to forget to pray for him. Let us join Pope Francis in this month of October and pray together the rosary for peace in our world, in our families, in our Church.

Let us pray for deliverance from the pandemic and conversion of hearts back to God. Let us surrender our own lives to Our Lady so that she can help us to imitate Jesus in every moment.

esta no es la forma en que se debe rezar el rosario. La repetición del Ave María, más bien, a menudo se compara con un niño que dice palabras de amor una y otra vez. Como dijo San Juan Pablo II en su importante encíclica sobre el rosario que escribió en 2002, “Si esta repetición se considera superficialmente, podría existir la tentación de ver el rosario como un ejercicio seco y aburrido. Sin embargo, otra cosa es cuando se piensa en el rosario como una efusión de ese amor que vuelve incansablemente a la persona amada con expresiones similares en su contenido pero siempre frescas en términos del sentimiento que lo invade” (“Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” 26).

De esta manera, la repetición de las oraciones en el rosario realmente funciona con nuestra psicología humana y puede permitir la calma y la concentración a medida que nos adentramos más profundamente en el amor. Una vez más, como explicó San Juan Pablo II, “Por su naturaleza, el rezo del rosario requiere un ritmo tranquilo y un paso prolongado, ayudando al individuo a meditar en los misterios de la vida del Señor como se ve a través de los ojos de quien estaba más cerca al Señor.

De esta manera se revelan las insondables riquezas de estos misterios.” El rosario nos lleva a la unión con Jesús mientras contemplamos la vida de Jesús y María con ellos.

El Papa Francisco ha dicho a menudo que reza el rosario todos los días. En 2017 tuve la oportunidad de encontrarme con el Papa Francisco con un grupo de sacerdotes después de una audiencia

del miércoles. Después de posar para una foto con nosotros, se sacó el rosario del bolsillo y nos lo mostró, y con gran insistencia nos instó a rezar el rosario y no olvidar rezar por él. Unámonos al Papa Francisco en este mes de octubre y recemos juntos el rosario por la paz en nuestro mundo, en nuestras familias, en nuestra Iglesia. Oremos por la liberación de la pandemia y la conversión de corazones a Dios. Entreguemos nuestra propia vida a la Virgen para que nos ayude a imitar a Jesús en cada momento.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Effective July 1, 2021 Deacon Ramon Garcia DeGollado, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Dominic in Northfield. This is a transfer from his assignment to Holy Rosary Parish in Minneapolis.

Effective October 1, 2021 Deacon Michael Powers, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Minneapolis. This is in addition to his current assignment to the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood.

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

LOCAL

Throughout these 40 days

SLICEof LIFE DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father Randal Kasel, right, pastor of St. Michael in Pine Island, prays a blessing after a rosary Sept. 24 outside Planned Parenthood in St. Paul during 40 Days for Life, which runs through Oct. 31. Those gathered included Father Bryan Pedersen, left, pastor of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale, whose parish “adopted” an hour, and Lyle Bowe (kneeling) of Holy Trinity in South St. Paul, who brought his three children. “Something that we’ve discovered is that this is a powerful place to pray,” said Bowe, who prays regularly outside Planned Parenthood with his family. “We come not in a spirit of condemnation, but in a spirit of mercy.” The 40 Days for Life fall campaign is taking place in more than 1,000 cities across the U.S. Since it began in 2007, the Texas-based 40 Days for Life has mounted more than 6,000 campaigns in 64 countries, according to the organization. According to a July 1 Minnesota Department of Health report, 7,491 abortions took place at Planned Parenthood of Minnesota in 2020, accounting for 82% of abortions in the state last year.

Pastor Emeritus

Father Richard Villano Thank you for shepherding The Church of Saint Helena for 43 years!

May God reward you abundantly for your commitment to serving our parish and school.

“We give thanks to God always for [you], constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father, your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God,that he has chosen you...”

(1 Thess 1:2-3)

With much appreciation for your prayers, leadership and support: the Saint Helena Church, School and Council of Catholic Women.

May God bless your retirement!

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Synod Small Groups underway attract Catholics across generations

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

facilitator really helped make sure everyone’s voice was heard.”

At 23, Katie Neumeyer is a member of a young professionals group at her parish, Our Lady of Grace in Edina. Her group meets regularly and often discusses a book or podcast, she said. But on the evening of Sept. 21, group members decided they would instead participate in the Synod Small Groups with others at their parish, which launched there the morning before and continues for the next five weeks.

The Archdiocesan Synod’s Parish Consultation with Small Groups recently kicked off at parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Archbishop Bernard Hebda has asked that every parish participate, focusing on priorities identified following Prayer and Listening Events held across the 12-county area in 2019-2020. Parishes are now holding a series of six small groups where participants can dive deeper into three focus areas: 1. Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, 2. Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, and 3. Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.

The Small Groups were created to help Archbishop Hebda and the Synod’s leaders gather broad input on the Synod’s three focus areas. Ideas that are shared during the Small Groups will inform Synod deanery meetings in January and February, which will lay the groundwork for a Synod Assembly in June 2022.

During Session 1, participants considered resources that shaped their own encounters with Christ, such as Mass, retreats and conferences, and resources they hope the archdiocese would prioritize in the future.

Some parishes — including Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville — drew around 100 participants to their first Session 1 meeting. Others reported smaller attendance but deeply engaged participants.

Synod Small Groups have the option to meet

Our Lady of Grace parishioners have the option of attending a Synod Small Group at one of five different times during the week. About 25 people met the evening of Sept. 21. Stephanie Lloyd, director of faith formation and a Small Group process co-manager, is pleased that Father Kevin Finnegan, Our Lady of Grace’s pastor, and Father Nathan Hastings, the parish’s parochial vicar, participated. “It’s important to know that our priests are engaged,” she said.

From left, Jeanne and Jim Gathje, and Marge Kruse, all of Our Lady of Grace in Edina, talk during a Synod Small Group session at their parish Sept. 21.

Synod Small Groups at St. Henry in Monticello began Sept. 19. About 22 attendees sat at three tables, said Audrey Davis, St. Henry’s parish music coordinator, who is helping coordinate the Synod process at her parish. “A few people didn’t make it (for Session 1), but hopefully we’ll see them next week,” she said. “It went pretty smoothly.”

in homes, and at Our Lady of Grace, 45 young professionals chose to participate that way. Neumeyer and her colleagues decided to participate in person at the church. “It was a group decision, but I think it’s important to see that it’s bigger than just our small group participating,” she said. “It was important to be part of the bigger Synod process and see other small groups participating at the same time.”

St. Boniface in St. Bonifacius promoted its Synod Small Groups in various ways — Facebook posts, emails to faith formation families, announcements from the pulpit — and flyers available at a parish ministry fair.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

The Small Group sessions are structured through a video produced by the archdiocese that features prayer, teaching and testimonies, and allow for an hour of conversation on that session’s topics. Session 1 looked at the first focus area, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, by highlighting “the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Neumeyer said the video and event were well organized and will help all parishes offer a similar experience. “Everyone was very engaged and shared their thoughts,” she said of her group, “and having a

Davis served as a facilitator at one table, but from what she observed across the room, participants used all available time for discussion. “I was happy to see that the discussion seems to be pretty open — just a really good time of discussion and talking,” she said.

About 10 people participated the evening of Sept. 20, with people at two tables in their 20s to middle age and older, said Laura Janas, faith formation director at St. Boniface and process manager for its Synod Small Groups.

“The people that came were very excited to have the opportunity together again for some fellowship and some teaching,” she said. “Everyone seemed to appreciate the format and the chance to share their ideas, and to gather with people and just share how God is working in their lives.”

Archdiocese will be preparing parish, school guidance for any vaccine mandates Based on federal efforts to develop a standard, guidance will be weeks away

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Responding to questions from parishes and schools, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said it will be developing guidance for employees and students on vaccine mandates and COVID-19 testing after the federal government issues formal rules.

“Prior to the publication of Archdiocesan guidance, parishes and Catholic schools should hold off on issuing a policy on vaccine mandates for employees and students,” the Office of the Chancellor for Civil Affairs and Office for the Mission of Catholic Education said in a Sept. 14 memo to pastors, parochial administrators, canonical administrators, heads of Catholic schools and business managers.

Meanwhile, archdiocesan officials encourage employees to get vaccinated, the memo said.

On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden announced his proposal for a nationwide vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees. State and local governments have made their own statements about employers and vaccine mandates.

The president has directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop a federal emergency temporary standard for the vaccine. The archdiocese plans to wait until OSHA releases its standard before issuing its own guidance, the memo said.

“OSHA has indicated that it expects to issue the new ETS in the ‘coming weeks,’” the memo said. “There is also the possibility that the ETS will end up being challenged in court; this could potentially delay the implementation date. We will be following this closely and we will be issuing guidance for parishes and schools when this new ETS becomes clearer.”

As part of its efforts, the archdiocese is consulting with Catholic Mutual insurance, legal counsel and other Catholic entities, the memo said.

“We need to ensure that we carefully consider all the data and are not reactionary in engaging recent questions about vaccine mandates and COVID-19 testing,” the memo said.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has been an advocate for vaccination as an act of love and concern for one another, often citing Pope Francis’ encouragement, as well.

Find out.

Theology Day events 2021-2022

Theology Day is a chance for people in our communities who are seeking a deeper understanding of their faith and its place in their everyday lives to learn from and interact with the theologians of Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary.

Emmaus Hall events are synchronous. Webinar events are live. Participation is FREE, but registration is required. Go online to CollegevilleMN.com/Theologyday or call 320-363-3560.

October 2021

Panentheism: A Way of Seeing God’s Presence in the World

by Noreen Herzfeld, Ph. D.

Noreen will discuss panentheism and what a panentheistic God would imply for salvation, creation, and God’s agency in the World on:

Friday, October 22 - 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Emmaus Hall, Saint John’s University

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6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Using Our Gifts To Heal A Broken World An Event Hosted by Ignatian Volunteer Corps

October 17th 2:30 – 4:30 pm In-person | Livestreaming 3:00 – 4:00 CST St. Thomas More Catholic Church | 1079 Summit Ave, St Paul | MN 55105 Featuring the “Interfaith Prayer Wall”, designed by the Interfaith Artist Circle. Currently touring at University of St. Thomas, University of Minnesota and St, John’s University. It has been on tour internationally in Jerusalem.

Panel discussion of the Abrahamic prayer roots of these three faiths led

by Rev. Christopher Collins, S.J., UST Vice President of Mission.

Exclusive presentations from Paula Pergament, Hend Al-Mansour and Beth Andrews, members of the Interfaith Artist Circle.

Experience Unity in Prayer Through Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Artists $25 suggested donation to attend http://ivcusa.org/using-our-gifts

Thinking Priesthood?

Discernment Retreat

with Bishop Cozzens For men who are pursuing or have completed a college degree.

New restorative justice initiative explores racial injustice

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Leaders of two initiatives at the University of St. Thomas are cosponsoring a keynote address followed by panel discussions Oct. 13 that will explore racial injustice and ways to heal through restorative justice: naming the harm, discussing its ramifications and finding hope.

“It includes the fact that our brothers and sisters of color experience harm in our society,” said Father Daniel Griffith, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Minneapolis, liaison for restorative justice and healing for the YOHURU WILLIAMS Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and as of Sept. 8, founding director of UST School of Law’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.

“It is my hope that we raise a greater FATHER awareness of what DANIEL GRIFFITH restorative justice is and a greater awareness of the harms of racial injustice,” said Father Griffith, who also is a Wenger Family Faculty Fellow at the law school.

Keynote speaker for the 4-6 p.m. event, which will be held at the School of Law’s Schulze Grand Atrium in Minneapolis, is Yohuru Williams, a distinguished university chair and founding director in 2020 of UST’s Racial Justice Initiative. That initiative aims to support racial justice education, facilitate research and dialogue, and explore community partnership. It was announced in the weeks following the May 25, 2020, police-related killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis. Registration for “Exploring The Intersection of Social Justice and Restorative Justice” is at tinyurl.com/d476a3f9.

“The racial justice issue is so important because of racial disparities in our state, which are among the most acute in the country,” said Father Griffith, citing Black-white gaps in education, homeownership and income in Minnesota.

Williams is a noted scholar of the civil rights and Black power movements. His books include “Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven” and “Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement.”

His talk will center on the critical role that understanding the history of racial discrimination plays in restoring justice.

Two panel discussions will follow: one including a UST law school graduate and two law school students who will talk about local community restorative justice programs in which they have participated, the Circle of Peace Movement in St. Paul, the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute’s

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RACIAL DISPARITY According to a Feb. 25 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis report, the disparity in Minnesota between white homeownership and Native American and other households of color is the fourth largest in the country, and stems from a series of racial policies and practices. For some racial and ethnic groups, such as Black Minnesotans, the gap is increasing, the report said. A 2019 Federal Reserve Bank report pointed to figures from Minnesota Department of Education and Office of Higher Education officials indicating 24.7% of Black students demonstrated college readiness, compared with 68.9% of white students. According to a National Public Radio Planet Money report June 2, 2020, U.S. Census data showed the median Black family in the Twin Cities earned $38,178 a year, less than half the median white family income of $84,459 a year — one of the largest gaps in the nation.

The Black-white income disparity across the state was second only to the District of Columbia.

— Joe Ruff Coming to the Table initiative, and Restorative Justice Community Action, both based in Minneapolis.

A second panel, on the role of faith and understanding in seeking racial justice through restorative justice, will include Rev. Curtiss DeYoung, CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches, and Robert Vischer, dean of the law school, who co-teaches with Williams a course on race and the law.

Opportunities to discuss racial disparity and support social justice efforts in Minnesota and the archdiocese will continue to grow, Father Griffith said. The Oct. 13 gathering is the first event sponsored by the law school’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing, and it hits one of three key focus areas for the effort: responding to racial injustice.

The second and third areas are identifying and helping heal the harm done by institutional and leadership failures, including clergy abuse in the Catholic Church but also more broadly; and societal and ecclesial polarization.

Healing circles, led in part by Father Griffith, with people sharing their stories and the Church acknowledging the harm done, have been part of efforts at restorative justice in the archdiocese in the wake of its $210 million bankruptcy settlement in 2018 with more than 400 clergy sexual abuse survivors.

Now, as part of his role as liaison for restorative justice in the archdiocese, Father Griffith said that last November he was asked to address the challenge of racial injustice during an appearance at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. That could be the first of efforts to include parishes in the archdiocese in such restorative justice initiatives, he said.

“We’re hopeful that this new initiative can be a source of truth and the prophetic call in the Church to name harms and bring Christ and his healing mission” into difficult situations, Father Griffith said.

LOCAL

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

‘Frassati’ explores saint who loved outdoors, politics, the poor

John Bussmann, disgraced priest, dies

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Spirit

Pier Giorgio Frassati was an avid mountaineer, engineering student and political activist in Turin, Italy. He was also deeply devoted to the poor, his family and the Eucharist. When he died of polio in 1925 at age 24, droves of mourners lined the streets outside his funeral to pay respects. According to biographies, the Frassatis — an influential Italian family — were shocked to know their son had been so close to orphans, the sick and people in poverty. The poor were equally surprised to find that their friend was from such a prominent family.

Canonized in 1990, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati is the subject of a play opening Oct. 1 at Open Window Theatre in Inver Grove Heights. Written and directed by Jeremy Stanbary and starring Jeromy Darling, the play is the first professional theater production that aims to capture the life of this modern saint, Stanbary said.

Stanbary, who founded Open Window Theatre 10 years ago with his wife, Sarah Stanbary, and currently serves as the theater’s executive artistic director, said St. Pier Giorgio’s life resonates with the world today. As St. Pier Giorgio entered adulthood, Italy was roiled by post-war political upheaval, a growing class divide and waves of anticlericalism.

St. Pier Giorgio’s father directed the newspaper La Stampa, was an Italian senator and a German ambassador.

His mother was a painter. Neither was religiously devout. St. Pier Giorgio was outspoken — like his father, he was openly anti-Fascist and attended antiCommunist demonstrations, but he was even more zealous for his Catholic faith.

He attended daily Mass, frequently prayed in eucharistic adoration, was active in Catholic youth organizations and faith-based political movements, and became a lay Dominican. Even his studies in mining engineering were a ministry — St. Pier Giorgio said he hoped to “serve Christ better among the miners,” who had squalid working conditions, Stanbary said.

“The beauty of his sanctity and his ordinariness as well was just profound,” Stanbary said. “We can look to Pier

COURTESY OPEN WINDOW THEATRE

The promotional poster for “Frassati” features photos of its subject, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. The show runs Oct. 1-Nov. 1 at Open Window Theatre in Inver Grove Heights.

Giorgio to see how we live the Gospel to its fullness in the ordinary, difficult, mundane things of everyday lives.”

When St. John Paul II canonized him, he noted that his own life had been inspired by St. Pier Giorgio, and called him the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes.”

Pope Francis highlighted him as a model for young people in “Christus Vivit,” his 2019 document on young people, and he quoted St. John Paul: St. Pier Giorgio “was a young man filled with a joy that swept everything along with it, a joy that also overcame many difficulties in his life.” He is the inspiration for and patron of the worldwide Frassati groups, including the Frassati Society of Minnesota, which unite faith and fellowship, especially through outdoor excursions.

The idea to create a play about St. Pier Giorgio took root in Stanbary’s mind years ago, when he was performing other one-man dramas about saints that he had written: “Lolek,” about St. John Paul II, and “Alessandro,” about the conversion of the man who attempted to rape St. Maria Goretti before murdering her in 1902. “I’ve always felt that someday I would do a deeper dive into his life and write a play about him,” he said of St. Pier Giorgio.

When he met Darling — an actor and musician who also played a part in Stanbary’s expansion of “Lolek” that ran at Open Window last year and “Catholic Young Adults: The Musical,” which ran in St. Paul in the fall of 2019 — Stanbary knew he had the right look and talent to

carry the role.

Darling, a recent Catholic convert, said that he has been inspired by the saint.

“This is such a tremendous way to experience the life of a saint in their own words, as best as we can portray them,” he said. “To come meet a saint like this, there’s just nothing like it.”

Unlike developing a fictional character, there’s no “creative leeway” with St. Pier Giorgio, he said. Instead, the challenge is trying to understand who he was and convey that.

“You’re trying to honor that person,” Darling said. “You’re just trying to gather as much information and put that into your body.”

The show, which runs through Nov. 1, is about 90 minutes long and includes four cast members. It is the only show in the theater’s current season that will include a virtual performance option.

According to Open Window Theatre’s website, openwindowtheatre.org, the virtual show will premiere at the end of October, but the date is yet to be determined.

Stanbary said he hopes the audience takes away “some answer to where peace of soul is found.”

“Pier Giorgio had found a tremendous peace of heart, peace of soul in life. …

We dig into that in the play because the play is much more than a historical biographical drama. The play is more so a spiritual biographical drama, but still rooted in the history and events of his life.”

A priest who had been barred from ministry since 2003 died Sept. 3. He was 67. John Bussmann was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1980. He was assigned to St. Michael, Stillwater (1980-1985), and Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale (19851986). He was accused of sexual misconduct with women and sought treatment in New Mexico, and then was suspended from ministry in 1987. He reentered ministry in 2001 and was assigned to Mary Queen of Peace, Rogers. In 2003, he was charged with theft and criminal sexual misconduct with women under his pastoral care, and convicted in 2005.

He served 33 months in prison and registered as a sex offender. In 2016, the archdiocese received and reported to law enforcement an allegation that Bussmann had sexually abused a minor in the 1980s.

We are deeply grateful to the Rev. Larry Snyder for his lifetime of service and leadership.

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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

NATION+WORLD House OKs abortion bill called ‘far outside the American mainstream’

By Julie Asher Catholic News Service In a 218-211 vote Sept. 24, the U.S. House passed what opponents consider one of the most extreme abortion bills ever seen in the nation — the Women’s Health Protection Act. “This bill is far outside the American mainstream and goes far beyond Roe v. Wade,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said in remarks ahead of the vote. “This bill constitutes an existential threat to unborn children and to the value of life itself.”

H.R. 3755 codifies the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

The measure establishes the legal right to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states under federal law.

“For the first time ever by congressional statute, H.R. 3755 would legally enable the death of unborn baby girls and boys by dismemberment, decapitation, forced expulsion from the womb, deadly poisons or other methods at any time until birth,” he said.

“A significant majority of Americans are deeply concerned about protecting the lives of unborn

children,” the Catholic congressman said.

He pointed to a 2021 Marist Poll that found 65% of Americans want Roe v. Wade “reinterpreted to either send the issue to the states or stop legalized abortion.”

The bill nullifies: requirements to provide women seeking abortion with specific information on their unborn child and on alternatives to abortion; laws requiring a waiting period before a woman receives an abortion; laws allowing medical professionals to opt out of providing abortions; and laws stating that only licensed physicians can perform abortions.

“This deceptively named bill is the most extreme pro-abortion bill our nation has ever seen,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, said Sept. 24. “H.R. 3755 is not about the health of women, but only about eliminating any and all protections for unborn children — including baby girls.”

If it became law, “it would lead to the deliberate destruction of millions of unborn lives, leaving countless women with physical, emotional and spiritual scars,” he said in a statement.

“This bill assumes that abortion can be the only, or best, solution to a crisis pregnancy” and “is built on a false and despairing narrative that utterly fails women,”

he continued. “In treating abortion as the moral equivalent to the removal of an appendix, this proposal is radically out of step with the American public.”

“As a nation built on the recognition that every human being is endowed by its Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, this bill is a complete injustice,” Archbishop Naumann said.

“Congress should embrace public policy that respects the rights of mothers, their children and the consciences of all Americans,” he added, “not advance a radical ‘abortion on demand until birth’ policy that is completely out of step with our country’s principles.”

The Senate version of the Women’s Health Protection Act, S. 1975, is not expected to pass, but sponsors of the House bill said their vote still sends a message about the outrage they say has been felt by women over the new Texas law banning abortion after six weeks.

The vote also comes ahead of the Dec. 1 oral arguments to be heard by the high court in an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Supporters of the law are urging the court to reexamine its previous abortion rulings, including Roe v. Wade.

U.S. Supreme Court’s new term to look at abortion, death penalty, religious liberty

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service The U.S. Supreme Court’s new term, starting Oct. 4, returns to its standard routine: hearing arguments in person and taking on hot-button issues.

The big cases, among the 34 it has so far agreed to hear, include those on abortion, the Second Amendment, and religious liberty issues related to a death penalty case and religious schools being excluded from a state school choice program.

The nine justices are jumping into the fray at a time when the public’s perception of the court is increasingly negative.

A Gallup poll released two weeks

before the court’s new session said only 40% of Americans approve of the job the court is doing, compared with 49% two months ago and 58% a year ago.

Likely the most anticipated case of the term is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the abortion case that will be argued Dec. 1 and has been described as potentially taking down Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion. The justices will consider the constitutionality of a Mississippi state law prohibiting abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. The state ban was struck down by a federal District Court in Mississippi in 2018 and upheld a year later by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

The nation’s high court already

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stepped into the abortion debate in early September, when it declined to block a Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. About three weeks later, Texas abortion providers urged the high court to again review their challenge to the state law before a federal court’s anticipated December ruling.

In previous abortion rulings, the Supreme Court has consistently said states cannot restrict abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy, focusing on viability, or when a fetus is said to be able to survive on its own. If the court sides with Mississippi in this term’s case, it would be the first time it would allow an abortion ban before the point of viability and could lay the groundwork for other abortion restrictions.

Catholic leaders and pro-life organizations have shown support for the Mississippi law in friend-of-the-court briefs. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its brief, stressed that abortion is not a right created by the Constitution and warned that if the court “continues to treat abortion as a constitutional

issue,” it will face more questions in the future about “what sorts of abortion regulations are permissible.”

The court also is taking up two death penalty cases. On Nov. 1 it will look at an issue it has previously weighed in on: the presence of religious leaders at an execution. But this case will specifically examine exactly what a spiritual adviser can do during an execution.

The focus is on the case of John Ramirez, a Texas death-row inmate who was granted a stay of execution by the Supreme Court in early September based on his rejected appeal for his pastor to pray over him, with his hands on him, in the execution chamber.

The court will also hear a government appeal to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Another big case is Carson v. Makin, where the court will determine if Maine violated the Constitution by prohibiting students from using funds from a state school choice program for schools that provide religious instruction.

NATION+WORLD

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

HEADLINES

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Bishops: Manila is sinking, Catholics must take environment seriously Catholic News Service

u Hope, unity needed in world torn by division, cardinal tells U.N. World leaders must rely on hope rather than isolation and withdrawal to confront current and future challenges, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, Sept. 25.

“Hope keeps us motivated when problems and disagreements seem unsolvable; it facilitates forgiveness, conscious that, through reconciliation, there can be a better future,” Cardinal Parolin said in a video address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Among current trials, Cardinal Parolin said, are the pandemic, polarization and threats to the environment. u Migrants, advocates gather at border, call on Biden to ‘save our asylum.’ More than 200 supporters gathered on both sides of the international border in Nogales, Mexico, Sept. 25, the eve of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to accompany 25 families seeking asylum in the United States.

The Kino Border Initiative — a Jesuit-run organization that promotes border and immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person — is supporting the families, who are fleeing violence in various parts of Latin America. “President Biden, save our asylum!” chanted marchers in English and Spanish as they gathered at the border fence for a rally. Christopher Kerr, executive director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network — of which the Kino Border Initiative is a part — said that these migrants were not trying to cross the border illegally, but were trying to assert their legal right to asylum. u Defend life, promote access to health care for all, pope says. The fear, sickness, death, mourning and economic impacts of COVID-19 should make people who are relatively well off and have access to health care think about “what it means to be vulnerable and live in precariousness on a daily basis,” Pope Francis told members of the Pontifical Academy for Life Sept. 27. Acknowledging how people are “worn down” and tired of hearing or thinking about the coronavirus, the pope insisted the challenges and suffering of the past 18 months would make sense only if people learned from them. Pope Francis urged academy members to find new ways to collaborate with other physicians, researchers, scholars and theologians in defending human life at every stage of its development and in every condition of health or frailty. u Down syndrome advocates vow to appeal British court ruling on abortion. Two women who challenged the U.K. government over a law that allows abortion up to birth for disabled babies have vowed to take their case to appeal after it was dismissed by the High Court. Heidi Crowter, 26, who has Down syndrome, and Máire Lea-Wilson, whose 2-year-old son Aidan also has the condition, objected to a clause in the 1967 Abortion Act that extended the right to abortion beyond the 24-week upper limit when fetuses have disabilities. They claimed the law breached the European Convention on Human Rights because it discriminated against disabled children, and they sought to have the clause removed from the act. They made their case in a two-day hearing in July and learned Sept. 23 that their attempt had failed when the High Court ruled that the clause was lawful. Afterward, Crowter said she would seek permission to take the case to the Court of Appeal.

— Catholic News Service

Two Philippine bishops have raised the alarm about rising sea levels that make Manila one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world. Ucanews.com reported Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon reminded Catholics to take Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical “Laudato Si’” seriously.

“Attention coastal parishes in Navotas and Malabon ...

Let us please put the climate crisis among our top pastoral priorities for social action,” Bishop David wrote on his Facebook page. He was referring to a report by Greenpeace East Asia claiming that by 2030, Manila’s densely populated land area would become a lake. According to the study, the sea level has been rising at “unprecedented rates” over the past decade due to climate change caused by environmental abuse. The report said much of the city’s land mass would feel the impact of floods in 10 years, meaning more than 1.54 million Manila residents would be displaced.

Bishop David said parishioners have long felt the effects of floods and the rise of coastal waters due to typhoons, yet many had continued throwing garbage into bodies of water, reported ucanews.com. Meanwhile, Bishop Bastes warned Catholics that greed would be the key to humanity’s doom

ELOISA LOPEZ, REUTERS | CNS

A worker stands on artificial sand or crushed dolomite, dumped on a portion of Manila Bay Sept. 4, 2020, as part of the Philippine government’s efforts to rehabilitate and beautify the coastline. Two Philippine bishops are raising the alarm about rising sea levels that make the Philippine capital one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world. if unchecked. “Our greed for money up to the point of exploiting our environment as a common home is central in resolving climate change. Pope Francis was clear about this,” Bishop Bastes told ucanews.com.

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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FAITH+CULTURE

Lives of service T sacraments

Father Gerald Dvorak

&

Over the last two years, about a dozen priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have retired, many after actively serving more than 30 years. To mark their retirement, The Catholic Spirit interviewed 10 of the priests about some of their experiences and plans for the near future.

Father Rodger Bauman

o Father Gerald Dvorak, retirement is “a new adventure,” a time for discovery and a new horizon. “It’s going to be fun,” he said.

“I always saw (priesthood) as a beautiful gift, ministry, to be able to share with people their communion, their walk with Jesus,” he said. “I loved teaching RCIA classes. I loved the sacraments, especially penance.” And seeing “first Communion kids” grow older.

Father Dvorak, 67, said he hopes retirement brings a more contemplative dimension to his priesthood — including more prayerfulness, more spiritual reading, and participating in retreats and days of recollection for priests, sisters and laypeople. He described days of recollection as “little retreat days” that a priest may offer that focuses on a theme, includes time to pray and, often, time for confession. Presently, he is working on days of recollection focused on St. Joseph, as the Church honors the Year

Father Thomas Kommers

F

ather Rodger Bauman served in five parishes during his 39 years of priesthood, beginning as an assistant priest of St. Edward in Bloomington and retiring as pastor of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. He learned from others every step of the way, he said.

“It has been a wonderful journey of discovery. I have been truly blessed in my life and my ministry through the people I have encountered along the way, who have both supported and challenged me,” Father Bauman said.

From early on in his priesthood, when he served first at St. Edward and then Holy Spirit in St. Paul, Father Bauman, 67, said he discovered how serving in a parish puts a priest directly in touch with people from all walks of life whose personal stories and experiences helped him grow in his notion of “Church.”

“In my first two assignments, I had the good fortune of serving with pastors who modeled servant leadership, which I tried to emulate when I assumed the role of pastor,” Father Bauman said.

“I also had the privilege of serving with many wonderful professional ministers and parish staffs, whose dedicated service to the Church was both inspiring and critical in realizing the parish’s mission.”

Father Bauman, who also served at St. Peter in Richfield and St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake, said he discovered how important lay leadership is in the life of a parish. Heeding the call to serve, so many people offered their gifts in support of their church, he said.

“Often their hard work, collective wisdom and genuine concern for the community helped provide needed direction and stability,” Father Bauman said. “And of course, the many parishioners who faithfully participated in liturgies, programs, events and supported their parish even during some of the more trying times of the Church’s recent history. Remarkable people who continually inspired me and helped me grow in my appreciation and understanding of the beautiful mystery which is the Body of Christ.”

In retirement, Father Bauman said he hopes to continue to serve a parish community but without the responsibilities that come with being a pastor.

“I look forward to whatever God invites me to consider in retirement, trusting it will lead me and others to Christ,” he said.

— Maura Keller

E

leven years prior to his ordination, Father Thomas Kommers had returned to the U.S. after serving in Vietnam as an Army first lieutenant in a combat photography unit. When he left the military, he moved from the Twin Cities to Reston, Virginia. As an unmarried layperson, he became active in a newly emerging Catholic community.

“On the Fourth of July, 1973, while sharing a picnic at the home of some parishioners, a group of them gathered around me and said: ‘All of us have talked about it and we think you should be a priest!’ he recalled.

He followed through on what the people of St. Thomas à Becket in Reston and others told him. He was ordained May 31, 1980, for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Father Thomas Krenik

I

n 44 years of active ministry, Father Thomas Krenik served at six parishes, as the canonical administrator of a Catholic school, and at The St. Paul Seminary in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Most recently, he served 10 years as pastor of Risen Savior in Burnsville.

One of the highlights of four decades of ministry: presiding at Sunday Mass.

“It became the most important thing I did,” said Father Krenik, 70. “That is when the priest has the most contact with the most people. The Eucharist confirms our collective identity as members of the Body of Christ. It is also a wonderful formative experience as we are affected by the word of God, the presence of the risen Christ, and our communal prayer and singing.”

It also has been a grace to accompany parishioners in significant

of St. Joseph.

He called the contemplative dimen one aspect of ministry I always enjoye just too busy to do some of that.”

At the same time, he expects to con ministry, and awaits where he is most he said, to fine tune the balance of a m ministry.

Known for his collection of nearly 2 Dvorak is not certain whether it will b retirement gives him more time to inv And getting a new puppy will kick-s retirement. Rocco, a border collie nam saint of dogs and dog lovers, will soon he called his “shadow.”

Father Dvorak retired Aug. 17 after for 10 years. He previously served the St. Paul in St. Paul, Holy Cross in Min Methodius in Minneapolis, the Legion Holy Cross in Minneapolis, St. Andrew West St. Paul, St. Joseph in Hopkins an Richfield.

During his 41 years in active ministr brought Father Kommers great joy: Firs “break open” the Gospel and serve as ‘ consecrating the bread and wine into t nourishment for their souls,” he said.

“The second is the opportunity of be significant moments in their lives, both all the rituals, prayers and sacraments t events,” said Father Kommers, who mi Hope, St. Timothy in Blaine, St. Thoma Joseph in Red Wing.

In his retirement, Father Kommers, 76 breath” and step back from parish admin life of prayer, and read the stacks of spiri purchased. Most of all, he wants to be he “With all humility, I am reasonably c have been useful to the Creator in emp and talents given me to help bring abo on this earth,” Father Kommers said. “ many women, men, teens and children relationship with Jesus, our loving Lord gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

moments of their lives with an eye to loves, leads, heals and forgives, Fathe During the last couple of years Fath Psalm 92 in Morning Prayer of the Li speaks of people continuing to flouri older, like a palm tree planted in the “That is my biggest hope during re grow personally and spiritually,” said retirement has made several travel pl Grand Canyon for the first time and hopes to catch up on reading and loo parishes to celebrate the sacraments.

As Father Krenik moved on from ea St. Stephen in Anoka, St. Thomas Aqu Maternity of Mary in St. Paul, St. Tim St. Richard and Blessed Trinity Schoo would tell people how they helped h personally with their support and cha “The way I like to think of this is t is formative. A newly ordained priest seminary as a finished product,” Fath continues to work on us directly and not finished with me yet,’ as the sayi moist.”

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 • 11

nsion “kind of exciting.” “It’s ed, but being a pastor, it was

ntinue helping with parish t needed. It will be a challenge, more contemplative life with

250 Nativity scenes, Father be exhibited this year, but ventory it. start Father Dvorak’s med after St. Roch, the patron n join the sheltie, Jaco, whom

serving St. Peter in Richfield e Cathedral of nneapolis, Sts. Cyril and n of Mary (St. Paul Comitium), w in St. Paul, St. Michael in nd Blessed Trinity School in

Father Paul Moudry

A

fter serving seven parishes and a Catholic school since being ordained in 1987, Father Paul Moudry said he is retiring with gratitude for all the blessings he has received.

“I have been abundantly blessed to have served as a priest to and with the people of God over the past 34 years,” Father Moudry said. “I was given the sacred privilege of being invited into people’s lives in times of great joy and profound grief. I was also fortunate to have served with many talented and faith-filled team members ministering with and to one another.”

Father Moudry began his ministry as an assistant priest of Annunciation in Minneapolis and went on to serve as an assistant

priest of St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Mark in St. Paul, as the pastor of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights and St. Margaret Mary in Minneapolis, a canonical administrator of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Hastings and parochial administrator of St. Frances Cabrini and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, both in Minneapolis.

At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Father Moudry, 72, worked with the parish’s ministry to the deaf community of the archdiocese — a role that inspired him throughout his four years there.

“God called me to be a parish priest, I loved it, and continue to thank God for the gift of my vocation. In every parish, I loved and was loved, I forgave and was forgiven, I cared and was embraced,” he said. “I will never be able to count the blessings nor measure the grace I have received from the people in each parish.”

Father Moudry said he frequently reminded parishioners that the power in a parish is the Holy Spirit.

“Our job is to pray, listen, trust and follow in faith,” he said. “As I move into retirement, I believe the Holy Spirit will direct me into and throughout this next chapter of my life.”

— Maura Keller

—Barb Umberger

ry, there were two roles that st was presiding at Mass to ‘“alter Christus’ (another Christ) the body and blood of Christ as

eing with parishioners at very h sad and joyous moments, and that accompany these life inistered at St. Joseph in New as Becket in Eagan and St.

6, said hopes to “take a deep nistration, renew and refresh his itual and secular books he has elpful to his brother priests. content with the notion that I ploying the intelligence, skills out (ever more fully) God’s reign “And I have strived to encourage n to develop a deep, personal d and savior, and to trust in the

Father Phillip Rask

S

ince his ordination in 1972, Father Phillip Rask has impacted the lives of countless people in his love of Christ, a love that he said began when he attended grade school and became interested in becoming a priest.

Serving from Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights to instructor and rector at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, from Presentation of the Virgin Mary in Maplewood to St. Odilia in Shoreview and the chancery, Father Rask said his journey has been a long, meaningful one.

“It has been so wonderful working with so many people in their spirituality and faith, and getting to know a lot of families in their important moments in their life’s journey,” Father Rask said.

At St. Odilia, his most recent parish, Father Rask, 75, said he enjoyed the large number of passionately involved parishioners, lay leadership and competent staff.

“It not only made my role easier, but it made it fun,” he said.

In his farewell homily at St. Odilia, Father Rask said he recalled that in his first sermon as pastor of that parish, he answered a question, “What is your vision for this parish?”

“I said then that I see this parish as a community of disciples, characterized by a union of hearts and minds in following Jesus the Lord and in doing the work he has given us to do in this world,” Father Rask said. “I said that this means that we pray together, work together, learn together and laugh together,” taking up Christ’s cross and learning “together that it is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.”

Father Rask said he doesn’t have a long list of retirement plans, but he is determined to further his studies, including reading the Psalms in Hebrew and “The Odyssey” in Greek.

“It has been said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for your life,” Father Rask said. “I’ve learned in my nearly 50 years of priestly ministry that perhaps I should simply try to discern what God was calling me to do next rather than spend a lot of time formulating my own plans.”

— Maura Keller

— Maura Keller

o pointing them to Christ, who er Krenik said. her Krenik has been struck by iturgy of the Hours. The psalm ish and bear fruit as they grow house of the Lord. etirement — ­ to continue to d Father Krenik, who, in his lans, including seeing the enjoying ocean cruises. He oks forward to helping in

ach assignment — including uinas in St. Paul Park, mothy in Blaine, and ol, both in Richfield — he him grow spiritually and allenges. that the experience of ministry t does not come out of the her Krenik said. “God d through other people. ‘God is ing goes. The clay is still — Maura Keller

Father Michael Van Sloun

F

ather Michael Van Sloun said he was a high school teacher when he recognized the strong ways that God had been knocking on his door, urging him to consider the priesthood.

“I’ve never regretted it for a minute. Being a priest has been an incredible joy for me,” he said.

“For me, it is about being a companion with the people on the journey to God and on the pilgrimage of life.”

Father Van Sloun was ordained for the Crosiers in 1995, and then became a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2006.

Joyful moments have included celebrating weddings, which he said have become more meaningful to him as he’s gotten older.

“When I started out, I could have been their older brother, but now I am the age of their parents, sometimes. And when they come

down the aisle, many I have known since they were little kids,” he said. “I never understood why people cried at weddings. Now I do. It is just one of the most joyful events in their life, and they have God at the center of it.”

Going through deaths of loved ones with people has had a profound effect, as has experiencing Easter, Christmas and first Communions as a priest, said Father Van Sloun, who writes his monthly “Faith Fundamentals” column for The Catholic Spirit.

“When the whole family is together and we are celebrating the central mysteries of our faith, those are some of the best moments,” he said.

After serving as pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata for eight years, and St. Stephen in Anoka for 18 years prior to that, Father Van Sloun, 69, said he is extremely grateful that he now has two beautiful spiritual families.

Next up in retirement: leading retreats, writing and leading pilgrimages as he has in the past, to such places as Israel, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. He also looks forward to helping out in parishes.

“If there is anything that would be a legacy for me, it is if the people I served are closer to Jesus and if they can practice their faith in a more dynamic way,” he said. “Nothing can be more gratifying.”

— Maura Keller

RETIRED PRIESTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 • PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY STACY DRUDE ROSE

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12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT FAITH CULTURE

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

RETIRED PRIESTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Father Michael Ince

Father Larry Snyder

A

fter 57 years of ministry, Father Michael Ince said he meets couples celebrating 50-year anniversaries and is reminded that he presided at their weddings. Or people who say, “We used to have a priest by that name” — “as if I had been dead and gone,” he said.

Father Ince, 85, who retired July 1, said he has enjoyed every assignment and ministry over the years. And the people. “It’s been a blessing,” he said.

That’s included two assignments in St. Paul and three parishes in the greater Twin Cities metro area.

But for the past 30 years he has served St. Andrew in Elysian and Holy Trinity in Waterville — smaller towns about a half-hour east of Mankato. Despite his retirement, Father Ince said he will continue to celebrate Mass and hear confessions, and will be available for counseling and helping out as needed, at those two parishes and likely neighboring ones. “I have a wedding coming up,” he noted.

An avid fisherman, he enjoys living in a region of Minnesota with 50 lakes within 25 miles. “There’s a lot I haven’t tried yet,” he said. “I love to fish,” especially for sunfish, which he calls “the cream of the crop.”

“There’s a good lake every year,” he said. “You just need to figure out where the fish are biting.”

Before Holy Trinity and St. Andrew, Father Ince served at St. John the Baptist in Hugo, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington, Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, Holy Spirit in St. Paul and St. Agnes in St. Paul.

“I guess it all comes back to … there is nothing else I would sooner be doing (than being a priest),” he said.

— Barb Umberger

Father Richard Villano

F

ather Larry Snyder expected to be a parish priest all his life, but in 1991, then-Archbishop John Roach asked him to consider serving Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop said he could try it for six months and could always go back to serving a parish, Father Snyder said.

“At six months, I had fallen in love with the social ministry of the Church,” he said, serving the local organization from 1991 to 2004, first as assistant to the director, then associate director.

Father Snyder, 71, went on to serve Catholic Charities USA as president and chief executive officer for 10 years before his final assignment — vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, from 2015 until his retirement July 1.

Faith is at the core of his identity, he said, and to be able to express that through ordination and different leadership roles in the Church has been an amazing way to use his talents at the service of others.

Father Snyder recalled one Christmas Eve when he celebrated Mass in the afternoon for the homeless at the Dorothy Day Center, followed by early evening Mass with prisoners at the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility, where he served as chaplain, and later, a midnight Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle in Minneapolis, where he was assisting with ministry at the time.

Retirement for Father Snyder will mean staying active in ministry, including helping out regularly at Carondelet Village in St. Paul, filling in at parishes when priests are on sabbatical and “wherever help is needed,” he said. He also looks forward to more time for personal interests including music, gardening, cooking and animals. “I always have two dogs,” he said. “I’m delighted now in retirement I can put more time and focus on these areas as well.”

Before his work at Catholic Charities, Father Snyder ministered at Epiphany in Coon Rapids and Nativity of Mary in Bloomington.

A

fter serving as pastor of St. Helena in south Minneapolis for 40 years, the decision of where to live in retirement was easy for Father Richard Villano — the rectory across the parking lot from the church.

He still remembers the day he saw the inside of St. Helena for the first time. In 1978, he was in his ninth year at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony, and was discussing with the parish’s pastor at the time, Father Francis Kittock, about where he might go next. There was an opening at St. Helena, and Father Villano agreed to go take a look.

“I had no idea where St. Helena was,” said Father Villano, who grew up in St. Paul and was ordained a priest for the Crosiers in 1958. He parked just outside the church, walked inside and was captivated by the church’s beauty, especially its dazzling stained glass windows.

Over the years, he has become captivated even more by the people who worship there. He talks fondly about the many parishioners he has gotten to know since he arrived at St. Helena, first as parish administrator for three years, then as pastor for the next 40.

“I am so touched by the holiness I see in our people, their love for the Church,” said Father Villano, 89, who became a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1981.

He likes to look out over the congregation during Mass, seeing a focus that he calls both “genuine” and “extraordinary.”

“It’s done more for me” than it’s done for them, he said. “And, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

It’s also why his only wish in retirement is to keep concelebrating Mass at St. Helena.

In a letter to parishioners in June announcing his retirement, Father Villano wrote: “I need to tell you that my greatest joy over the years has been … to be with you at Holy Mass.”

— Dave Hrbacek

— Barb Umberger

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

‘No time to waste’ SEASON OF CREATION

‘Laudato Si’’ inspires young adults to faith-based action on climate change

The Season of Creation, a five-week, annual period first initiated in the Catholic Church by Pope Francis in 2015, continues through Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis. It opened Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

The ecumenical season encourages individuals to reflect and pray about how they can protect the earth from the unfolding ecological crises resulting from climate change, widespread pollution and degradation of the environment.

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

I

t was after reading Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” that Emily Burke began wondering what she, as a student at Jesuit-run Creighton University, could do to help protect the environment.

“I was really energized,” Burke recalled after reading the teaching document.

“That message informed my time at Creighton.”

She became involved in a student-led campaign to convince university trustees to divest school resources from fossil fuel companies. The work, rooted in Church teaching, led school officials to announce Dec. 31, 2020, that full divestment would occur within a decade.

Burke and other students had something to celebrate, and realized their generation could make a difference.

After graduating from Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska, in May, Burke, 22, is ready to turn the pope’s teaching into a career as she begins doctoral studies this fall in community and environmental sociology at the University of WisconsinMadison.

She is among a growing cadre of young adults who have been inspired by Pope Francis’ calls to understand the integral connection between people and the Earth, care for creation and the harmful effects of climate change on all life.

Burke’s role in the divestment movement led to an invitation to be a leader of the young adult track during the Catholic Climate Covenant’s second biennial “Laudato Si’ and the U.S. Catholic Church” conference in July. The conference saw more than 2,700 participants join a series of online programs to learn more about how to bring the encyclical’s teaching on climate change into the U.S. Church.

“It’s excited a lot of people who were at the conference to realize that there’s a mass of young people who are trying to move the needle on climate within the Catholic context,” Burke said of the three-day online conference.

The interest and energy expressed by young adults is understandable, said Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant. “Young people are concerned about the future,” he said.

— CNS

STONE RIDGE SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART, COURTESY CATHOLIC STANDARD | CNS

In a photo from fall 2019, students in an environmental studies class at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Md., conduct a stream study in Rock Creek Park in Washington. Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home” is lauded for its scope on the moral and ethical response to protecting the earth’s environment for future generations.

The Catholic climate group is looking to tap that energy by encouraging young people to “challenge their own parish and diocesan leaders to listen to them and their concerns and to take creation care as seriously as the science demands,” Misleh said.

He also expressed hope that the work on environmental concerns can be an evangelizing tool directed at young adults by helping them understand they can “fix their future with their faith.”

Annapatrice Johnson, 32, team leader for young adult empowerment for Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, coordinated the young adult track for the conference from her base in Seattle.

She said young people have a “feeling of angst of the impending doom” and want to be involved in protecting the Earth for future generations.

Sessions during the conference were designed to give participants skills in organizing, tools for action and ways to determine where they can impact the Church’s members to make creation care a priority, Johnson explained.

Participants came to realize they were not alone in their concerns and that they have the ability to influence parish and diocesan leaders when it comes to climate advocacy that is rooted in Catholic social teaching and backed by the pope’s own words.

“What can the Church do?” she asked.

“Start changing the narrative. There’s a lot of language that talks about us caring for creation, but we separate from it. We have to realize we are integrally connected. We’re not different. We need to see ourselves as part of creation rather

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than apart from creation.”

It’s the words of Pope Francis that have influenced the work of Brenda Noriega-Flores in different venues from the diocesan level to individual lifestyle choices.

At World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, Noriega-Flores led a contingent from the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, where she was young adult ministry coordinator. She was invited with other young adults to attend a lunch with the pope where they discussed various issues, including climate change. She was struck by the pope’s concern that the window to act to prevent climate catastrophe was limited.

“I realized there’s no time to waste,” she said. “He made me reflect about how I was living my own life.”

In her ministries since, most recently working alongside Johnson with Maryknoll, Noriega-Flores has made “Laudato Si’” the primary focus of her work. She said she has shared its message with other young adults, including Latino farmworkers in California.

“For me, it implores me to live it myself and teach others,” she said.

Personally, that meant planning for her wedding July 24 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Fresno, California, to be a simple celebration: traditional cotton clothing reflecting her and her husband’s Mexican heritage, simple wedding bands made of recycled gold, and a reception at a restaurant with only the closest family and friends present.

“Some would ask, ‘Isn’t this too much?’ I said, ‘No, we want to live the Franciscan life,’” she explained. “This is

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Another conference participant, Colby Cox, 24, joined sessions from Germany, where he serves as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He said he was glad to know that other young people share his concerns about a warming planet.

Cox grew up as a member of the Southern Baptist convention and became Catholic in college. While going through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, a deacon told him about the Catholic Climate Covenant’s work on the environment and he has been exploring Church teaching on the topic ever since.

His interest lies in the science of climate change. Cox said he wants to use his interest in science to verify for himself the effects of global warming.

“When you see (the effects) in every sphere of what you study,” he said, “you ask, ‘What’s the root cause?’”

The consequences of climate change are readily apparent to Teresa Tsosie, director of religious education at St. Jude parish in Tuba City, Arizona, where she serves the Navajo people. The farms and grazing land of the Navajo are experiencing prolonged drought, something that Tsosie, 34, said she does not recall from her childhood. She tells how her grandmother was a sheep herder, but that these days it is difficult for the Navajo people to keep animals.

She cited a recent memo from Navajo leaders that called for ranchers to reduce the size of their herds because of a water shortage.

As a Native American, she said she also is motivated to act to protect the planet for her 11-year-old nephew. She’s concerned because it has become rare for him to see snow, or even much rain, during northern Arizona winters.

“I wonder what the world will be like for him,” she said. “We’re trying to save the planet for the younger generation.”

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14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER PETER LY

‘Because of the hardness of your hearts’

The question that the Pharisees posed to Jesus in Mark 10:2-16 is one which still comes up regularly today, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”

It’s a legitimate question as we continue to see an increase of divorce, even among Christian families. Is it lawful then for a husband or wife to divorce from one another?

The best response to this question is the same one that Jesus gave to the Pharisees: “Because of the hardness of your hearts he (Moses) wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

When Jesus responds to a situation with the words, “from the beginning,” he tries to remind us of God’s original intentions. In this particular situation, that marriage is between a man and a woman and is meant to be a covenant between the two: that they be faithful to one another, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and honor one another all the days of their lives (ref: The Consent, The Order of Celebrating Matrimony).

This union between a man and a woman is not to be taken lightly, and it is the reason why the Church strongly encourages couples who are preparing for marriage, even to the point of making it a

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

Mass and wrangling kids Q As a parent, I find it really difficult to get

anything out of Mass when I have to wrangle and take care of my kids through it all.

Sometimes it seems like it would just be better to stay home. I don’t get anything out of it, and it seems like they don’t either. I usually end up feeling defeated. What should I do?

A Thank you so much for sharing your situation and this question. You have just described the experience of probably every single Catholic parent who has ever brought their children to Mass. You show up stressed, you sit there stressed, every time your child makes a sound it adds to the stress. In addition, having to take them out of Mass is a challenge in and of itself. When do you take them out? For how long? When do you come back? If your parish even has a cry room, many parents treat it as a play room, so you feel like you can’t even go there. I completely understand why you would be tempted to believe that it is all just a waste of time.

But if we understood one thing clearly, I believe that it would change everything about how we approach the Mass.

I will ask people this question all of the time (so much that I start to wonder if they are sick of my asking). It is this: What is the heart of religion? For many of us, we might say that the most important part (or the heart) of religion is the creed — what we believe. While the creed is incredibly important, it isn’t the heart of religion. Others might argue that the heart of religion is morality — how we behave.

That, too, is very important, but it isn’t the heart.

I would maintain that the heart of religion is worship. The creed and morality direct and serve worship. What we believe about God and what constitutes a good life is oriented toward the act of worship. In every world religion, worship has been the central and most important action a people could participate in. Worship is the thanks, praise and honor we give to God. And for virtually all of human history, the heart of worship has been sacrifice. What is that precious and valuable thing that one is called to offer to God out of

requirement, to go through a marriage preparation process (typically at a minimum of six months). The marriage preparation process is the Church’s way of telling the couple that we are happy for them and take this seriously, and that we are doing our part to try and make sure this matrimony thrives because family life is so important.

The language used during the exchange of the consent between a man and woman at their marriage celebration is important, because we want them to understand the promise they are making to each other, as God is their witness: an indissoluble union.

If the above is true, then why did Moses allow a bill of divorce to be written? We turn back to Jesus who says, “Because of the hardness of your hearts.”

Sin is a very real threat in our lives and can be manifested in many ways, with its ultimate goal to separate us from the love of God, by breaking down and destroying family and relationships.

Even the strongest of relationships can be broken if conversion and reconciliation are not sought out, and this is especially true for marriage. That “hardness of heart” that Jesus mentions is an unwillingness to seek conversion and reconciliation, to sacrifice and compromise, for the sake of the good of the other, and for oneself.

In our broken humanity, sin does real damage to people, including marriages. Not a surprise then that Moses, not God, would permit a bill of divorce as a way out for couples in an unhealthy relationship.

(It’s worth noting here that an annulment in the Church is not a “Catholic divorce” because it recognizes that a marriage never took place.)

As Jesus reminds us, marriage is meant to be a beautiful union that should be fought for. Just as God’s love is unconditional and everlasting, let us do our best to exemplify that in our relationships.

Strive to be childlike: honest, pure and innocent. Abide in his love, which keeps us united.

Father Ly is pastor of Presentation in Maplewood. love? Of course, the Bible makes it clear that the sacrifice that God desires is a humble and contrite heart. But this heart of contrition and obedience is expressed through the concrete action of offering a valuable sacrifice. So, if the heart of religion is worship, and the heart of worship is sacrifice, then we realize that going to Mass (the most perfect form of worship we have been given) has nothing to do with what I get out of it. In fact, it is the opposite. The point of the Mass is all about what I can give.

The primary gift (sacrifice) that we offer to God the Father is the once-for-all sacrifice of the Son. When the bread and wine truly become the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ, we offer him to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why the “high point” of the Mass is not the moment of transubstantiation (the miracle by which the bread and wine become the Body and Blood), nor is it the moment of Communion (although there is no greater moment of vulnerability and unity with God than this). The high point of the Mass is when the priest elevates the Eucharist, and, speaking to the Father, prays, “Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever.” And all of the people say, “Amen!”

So, what does this have to do with wrangling children in church?

Everything. What is every parent doing by bringing their rowdy children to Mass? They are making a huge sacrifice. Every parent who didn’t get a moment to reflect or pray or listen to the readings or the homily is making a sacrifice. And what is the point of Mass? To offer the sacrifice. What every parent can do is take all of the sacrifices they are making for their spouse, for their children, for their parish and unite them to the One Great Sacrifice of Christ. Even if a person is distracted, they can offer the distraction (that’s a sacrifice). Even if they are frustrated, they can offer the frustration (that’s a sacrifice).

Get this, even the people who can’t hear anything because someone else’s children are making a fuss and causing a ruckus don’t have to be upset. They get to offer that as a sacrifice. If the people next to you at Mass smell, or sing poorly, or look at you out of the corner of their eye, nothing to worry about and nothing to lament.

All of those are opportunities for sacrifice. And sacrifice is the heart of worship.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

KNOW the ANGELS HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS The concept of guardian angels, as developed in Catholic theology and piety, has biblical roots. The angel Raphael aids Tobit and his family; one angel interprets for the prophet Zechariah, while another guides Cornelius in Acts of the Apostles; and angels are called “ministering spirits sent to serve” in the Letter to the Hebrews. In Matthew, Jesus teaches: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd.” In the 1670s, Pope Clement X set Oct. 2 as the date for the feast of guardian angels. Two parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — Guardian Angels in Chaska and the same in Oakdale — are named in honor of these heavenly protectors.

— Catholic News Service/The Catholic Spirit

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Oct. 3 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 2:18-24 Heb 2:9-11 Mk 10:2-16 Monday, Oct. 4 St. Francis of Assisi Jon 1:1—2:1-2, 11 Lk 10:25-37 Tuesday, Oct. 5 Jon 3:1-10 Lk 10:38-42 Wednesday, Oct. 6 Jon 4:1-11 Lk 11:1-4 Thursday, Oct. 7 Our Lady of the Rosary Mal 3:13-20b Lk 11:5-13 Friday, Oct. 8 Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2 Lk 11:15-26 Saturday, Oct. 9 Jl 4:12-21 Lk 11:27-28 Sunday, Oct. 10 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 7:7-11 Heb 4:12-13 Mk 10:17-30 Monday, Oct. 11 Rom 1:1-7 Lk 11:29-32 Tuesday, Oct. 12 Rom 1:16-25 Lk 11:37-41 Wednesday, Oct. 13 Rom 2:1-11 Lk 11:42-46 Thursday, Oct. 14 Rom 3:21-30 Lk 11:47-54 Friday, Oct. 15 St. Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church Rom 4:1-8 Lk 12:1-7 Saturday, Oct. 16 Rom 4:13, 16-18 Lk 12:8-12 Sunday, Oct. 17 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 53:10-11 Heb 4:14-16 Mk 10:35-45

FOCUSONFAITH

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

CUPPA JOE | LIZ KELLY

Did Joseph ever make a Holy Hour?

Editor’s note: Liz Kelly is also the author of “Your Heart, His Home,” a monthly column in The Catholic Spirit. Since she presented this month’s “Cuppa Joe,” her column will next appear in the Oct. 28 edition.

It seems God likes to do big things in hiding. Some of the most important moments of God’s intervention in human history are mostly hidden — the Annunciation, for example. The Resurrection took place largely without an audience. We cannot miss the correlation between the hidden life of Jesus — the 30 years he spent preparing for his public ministry — and Jesus who is hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, hidden in the holy Host that we adore. Every consecration contains within it this favorite method of heaven: It takes place hidden from our earthly view. But for maybe the mystics among us, we do not see the bread and wine alter in their essence. And so, St. Joseph’s life joins this litany for a God at work in hiding.

Pope St. John Paul II tells us that as guardian to the mystery of the child Jesus, Joseph was tasked with protecting him from the world until Jesus’ time had come. I stagger at the depth of humility that must have required. No limelight for Joseph, no book deals on how to raise a perfect son, no podcasts on how to run a holy family. Just fidelity, steadfastness, all

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

while remaining anonymous in the world. We might wonder why: Wouldn’t we be better off if we had more information about Joseph? St. John Paul II reminds us that “The presence of Joseph in the New Testament is largely a silent one; and of course, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is silent, too, and this silence is not without its import and its invitation.”

Indeed, the hidden life of Joseph teaches us something about the true meaning of adoration. If to adore means to reverence, to revere, to worship, one way that Joseph adored Jesus was by protecting these private years, by reverencing the fullness of the Lord. Isn’t the greatest demonstration of respect and reverence for another soul to honor all that it has been created for?

“Can you not stay awake with me one hour?” is often the verse chosen to advertise adoration in parishes.

And this, of course, recalls the Lord’s words to his sleepy disciples who kept nodding off while he was in prayerful agony anticipating his passion.

Drawing on this moment, it seems the emphasis is on keeping the Savior company, joining him in praying that he be strengthened for the extraordinary task ahead. But when his work was completed perfectly in his passion, death, resurrection and ascension, the shift in our Holy Hour has been to pray that we would be strengthened for the tasks we’re given, and so we are.

It is Jesus who keeps us company, never falling asleep, never wavering in steadfast friendship when we need it the most, never weakening at the depth of our want and need of him.

I wonder if this steadfastness, this capacity to always be available to us, to always be there, was not first taught to Jesus by Joseph — Joseph who kept Jesus company in every moment of his private life, teaching him, forming him, feeding him. Was he also, in that

“Cuppa Joe” is a series of 10 talks by 10 theologians on the 10 wonders of St. Joseph taking place at 10 locations in our archdiocese entrusted to the patronage of our spiritual father.

These talks premiere the first Tuesday of the month through December at 4 p.m. — just in time for afternoon coffee. The next presentation, “Silent Witness” by Father John Floeder, director of the propaedeutic year and director of human formation at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, will be posted Oct. 5. It was recorded at St. Joseph in Rosemount. Find the talks at archspm.org/cuppajoe. mystical way that he fathered the son of God, preparing him to be present to us in the Blessed Sacrament?

We could argue that Joseph made a lifetime of Holy Hours. St. John Paul writes, “In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Church venerates the memory ... of St. Joseph, because ‘he fed him whom the faithful must eat as the bread of eternal life.’” What a powerful link exists then between St. Joseph who fed Jesus, the bread of life, who feeds the world.

Holy St. Joseph, teach us how to truly adore, how to truly revere, protect and proclaim Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Kelly is the award-winning author of nine books, including “Love Like a Saint” and “Jesus Approaches.”

She travels, speaking and leading retreats, throughout the country. Visit her website at lizk.org.

At fledgling Waconia parish, an ox horn announced that Mass would be held Editor’s note: This is the seventh story in a monthly series on 10 places in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with connections to St. Joseph.

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit In the mid-1800s, the parish of St. Joseph in Waconia had a procedure for letting members know their traveling priest hadn’t been waylaid by weather or sickness.

According to parish tradition, an ox horn was blown in the evening, alerting the congregation of Mass the next day.

The sound was familiar until the parish’s pastor lived on-site, and its first church bell was dedicated in 1863.

An ox horn may also have gathered a small group of mostly German immigrants for Mass in 1857 in farmer Sam Schmitt’s log cabin, two miles from the new city of Waconia, said Father Stan Mader, pastor of the parish of 1,250 households, located 25 miles west of Minneapolis.

The following year, a sevenmember committee carried out plans for a church, including selecting the site not far from Lake Waconia.

The parish was called St. Joseph, though three committee members were named Herman, Father Mader noted.

Parishioners completed a log church in 1859 for 30 families. The first pastor, Benedictine Father Bruno Riss, initially visited monthly, a parish history states.

By 1875, the parish needed more room for its 110 families, and parishioners built a second, brick church. Two years later, Franciscan friars who lived in Jordan assumed parish leadership, serving there until a diocesan priest became pastor in 1909.

By 1898, the parish had 160 families.

They built a Romanesque-style church of yellow-tone Chaska brick that seats at least 950, under the direction of Franciscan pastor Father Rufinus Moehle.

According to a written account of the parish history, he warned parishioners during the summer of 1904 not to choose the dance pavilion over Sunday Mass. One Sunday he exclaimed in German during his sermon, “Waconia will be punished and ‘ere the summer has ended.” The priest’s prophecy seemed to come true when an August tornado destroyed most of Waconia, killing four parishioners and removing part of the church roof.

In the 1980s, the parish preserved the 1898 church’s architectural heritage through repair, restoration and painting.

In the next decade it built a narthex, with a gathering space off the west entrance.

In both the narthex and the church, stained glass windows feature St. Joseph and objects related to him.

Their patron also appears in the church’s sanctuary dome painting, and his statue is on the high altar.

The parish’s school is nearly as old as the parish itself. In 1860, St. Joseph opened a one-room log school, followed by a larger one in 1880. Franciscan sisters from Wisconsin first staffed the school, until Sisters of Christian Charity of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, arrived.

They ran the school from 1888 to 1982, when they left St. Joseph because of declining vocations, according to the parish history. Today, St. Joseph Catholic School has about 150 students and integrates the Catholic faith with courses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, an approach it calls C-STEM.

COURTESY ST. JOSEPH, WACONIA

Pictures of St. Joseph church and school in Waconia as they existed at that time are merged in this 1880 photo.

Mader said.

During the Year of St. Joseph, which continues through Dec. 8, many parishioners have made a consecration to the saint, Father Mader said. The parish also is displaying its history and planting a garden around its life-size St. Joseph the Worker statue outside the church.

St. Joseph church in Waconia as it looked in the 1940s.

Father Mader said he’s always liked St. Joseph because his own father was a carpenter and farmer. “There’s something about the humility, the working with the hands; that shepherding quality has always struck me,” he said.

St. Joseph’s parish boundaries include the town of New Germany, and they extend to the boundaries of St. Victoria in Victoria, St. Boniface in St. Bonifacius, Ascension in Norwood Young America and St. Bernard in Cologne, Father

St. Joseph is one of the Bible’s most fantastic saints, said longtime parishioner Bernie Rauen, 78. He “never said hardly a word, and if you look at his life and what he did and what he went through and what he was asked to do by the Lord, that’s as good as it gets.”

COURTESY ST. JOSEPH, WACONIA

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

COMMENTARY FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

God has particular care for the poor — not an exclusionary affection, but a focused concern, like a parent running to a child who is sick or hurt, the one in greatest need.

Running to each other in need

I once heard God’s option for the poor and vulnerable explained like this: Picture a parent who has two children. One gets hurt. The parent turns and runs to help the child crying out in pain. There is no less love for the other child; both are beloved. But instinct and wisdom compel the parent’s care and concern toward the one in greatest need.

When I became a mother myself, I felt this change in my bones: how the cells in my body turned me toward a newborn’s wails, a baby’s cries, a toddler’s tantrums or a child’s injuries.

I did not love my other children any ounce less when I focused on the one who needed me most. I would have given my life for any and all of them in a moment’s notice.

But I knew — in body, heart and soul — how I had to care for the one who cried out.

As my children grew, a remarkable thing happened.

While I comforted one in my lap, I would watch their siblings learn to come over and join the moment of care. First a toddler’s token pat on the baby’s back, then an older brother running to the freezer for an ice pack for a younger brother’s bruised knee or skinned elbow.

They were learning the option for the poor, too.

Make no mistake: I am raising humans, not angels.

In a family of five kids, sibling squabbles erupt all day.

Most of the time their apologies and care are parent prompted, begrudging, even bitter.

But once in a rare blooming moment, I watch a tender shoot of genuine comfort rise up. An older brother hugging a younger one, whispering comfort through wails.

The smallest miracle of compassion. The willingness of the unhurt to suffer with the hurt.

I have seen this wonder flash before my own eyes

enough times to know we can do it. We become humans at our best when we care in genuine ways for those who suffer. Beyond mere pity, compassion means a willingness to sit down and draw near to the weeping, the wailing or the wanting.

To drop whatever we were doing and rush to the ones in need.

Scripture tells us that God has particular care for the poor — not an exclusionary affection, but a focused concern, like a parent running to a child who is sick or hurt, the one in greatest need.

We know that Christ would — and did — give his life for all of us. But we also believe that God draws close to the brokenhearted (Ps 34:18-19). The Lord hears the cries of the poor (Jb 34:28). The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of the widow, the orphan and the foreigner, all those left behind on society’s edges, all the forgotten and forsaken (Ex 22:21-23).

Recent weeks have brought deep suffering around the world, from Afghanistan to Haiti and everywhere that COVID-19 continues to ravage. We can feel

overwhelmed by such staggering threats, grief and pain beyond our control.

But when we picture God as a loving parent, hearing the cries of those in need and coming to their help, we can also remember God’s joy when we learn to follow and do the same.

Our prayers, almsgiving and efforts to help those in poverty or pain may feel like a mere pat on the back.

Yet each time we reach out, we are growing in our understanding of the mystery of God’s option for the poor.

Sometimes we are the ones suffering. Sometimes we are the ones drawing near in compassion.

We are all God’s beloved children. Love compels us toward each other.

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | DEACON GORDON BIRD

and abiding at home.

Men need to pray and lead rosaries

Hence, our archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen prayer intention for October emphasizes the embrace of family life in the month of the Most Holy Rosary: “That families enliven the holy rosary in their daily practices — no matter how turbulent their lives may become — continuing to hold fast to their faith through the intercessory prayers of the Blessed Mother, which always lead us to Jesus.”

the rosary and journey of mysteries. Opportunities abound to be a stalwart rosary prayer warrior or leader.

As I write, I’m listening to “Rosary Live” — one of many rosary apostolates accessible through social media — that people can pray with their family, friends or individually. A close friend of mine hosts it each evening (sometimes with his family members) reaching a broad and active audience. Hundreds of rosary advocates offer up their prayers for strength, healing and conversion — among many other petitions. There are many other small and large group rosary ministries and vigils in which people can pray and ask for the formidable intercession of the most powerful woman in the world.

In one of his many dynamic presentations, Blessed Fulton Sheen describes our Blessed Mother as “The Woman I Love.” He presents Mary figuratively as “God’s dream.” He explains vividly how God preexisted his own mother, and “therefore he would try to make her just as perfect as he could.” Immaculately conceived — “the new Eve” — she became the mother of God as a young girl because she promised through an angel to give God a human nature. Jesus became one of us as God incarnate, and St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother raised him as he “advanced in wisdom and in age and in favor before God and man” (Lk 2:52).

This truth of sacred Scripture, among many truths of our Lord and Savior that witness to his life, passion, death and resurrection, are found by praying the mysteries of the rosary. It is a powerful prayer men need to pray, lead and love.

Amid the normalcy of Jewish life in the hidden years of our Lord with the Holy Family, the prayer and worship life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph no doubt was as divine as it gets.

With St. Joseph as God’s chosen spouse of the mother of God and the pillar of families, his example as our spiritual father guides us to work toward being more diligent in our prayer lives.

His leadership asks us to do this in faith, with hope and love.

We aspire with much love in our prayer devotion as spiritual fathers to lift our hearts and raise our minds to God in prayer, bringing glory to domestic life. As St. Paul writes about the many “things” of love, “it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7).

One of the most popular readings chosen by couples in the sacrament of matrimony, this “love chapter” perhaps gives us a glimpse of St. Joseph’s love for Jesus and the Blessed Mother, as protector of Christ and chaste guardian of the virgin. Striving to exhibit that kind of love is an important reason the rosary needs to be a regular devotion in every man’s prayer arsenal. It complements the contemplative qualities of spiritual motherhood to deepen love for Christ — starting

iSTOCK PHOTO | FIZKES

There are many reasons and needs to partake in this beautiful, biblical and powerful prayer of the Blessed Virgin.

There are many reasons and needs to partake in this beautiful, biblical and powerful prayer of the Blessed Virgin. It is a transforming devotion that speaks of the joy, sorrow, light and glory of the Gospel messages that we can learn and live in our hearts. And Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, provides her love and prayers throughout — enhancing our knowledge of Jesus and bringing us closer to him.

Yes, all men, women and children need Mary to get to know Jesus better. A man especially needs her intercession through the rosary to assist him in being a better man and spiritual father — in a contemplative, yet active manner.

Imagine the example Mary was to St. Joseph as he worked to provide, protect and lead the Holy Family.

We have the advantage of knowing and benefiting from this and much more — two centuries later — through

A parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, Fanucci is a writer, speaker, and author of several books including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting.” Her work can be found at laurakellyfanucci.com.

Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville, and assists the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen movement. Learn more about the Catholic Watchmen at archspm.org/faith-communities/men.

s is our moment.

Let’s go!

COMMENTARY

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

INSIDE THE CAPITOL | MCC

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

fewer people remain undecided.

When asked about legalizing sports gambling — another activity that preys on people’s vices — respondents were evenly split. These results show that, as Catholics, we must help our legislators understand that legalizing harmful activities to generate tax revenue is fiscally irresponsible and will produce long-term costs that will need to be remediated by more public services.

LETTER

Minnesota nd register at CathoState licsAtTFair heCapitol.org

STS:

poll’s results are in SPONSORS:

Every summer, the Minnesota State Fair becomes a place to meet with legislators and take part in the nonpartisan (and nonscientific) House Public Information Services Office’s opinion poll. This year, 5,231 Minnesotans voiced their opinion on 12 policy matters.

Of those dozen questions, the Minnesota Catholic Conference has been actively involved in four: promoting school choice, opposing the recreational marijuana industry, opposing sports gambling, and ensuring all drivers in Minnesota (regardless of immigration status) are required to learn the rules of the road and be licensed to drive.

As with any survey, but particularly an unscientific one such as this, one must consider that results can be skewed due to biased wording. For example, the question posed to fairgoers regarding school choice used the term “vouchers” rather than “education savings accounts.” (There is no “voucher” bill in front of the Legislature.) Regardless, the results showed a plurality of respondents favor enabling parents to choose a school that best meets their child’s needs.

The question regarding driver’s licenses failed to help respondents understand that regardless of one’s immigration status, all drivers would be required to pass a test to become licensed, thereby improving road safety for all. This consideration may have changed the 57% of respondents who opposed the proposal.

The question regarding recreational marijuana fails to acknowledge that the law would enable a marijuana industry to profit off users. Compared to the previous poll, there was a small uptick in the number of people favoring legalization (58.3%) as well as an uptick in those opposed (34.1%), showing

Role model in challenging times The Guest Commentary (“Why Afghanistan Matters,” Sept. 16) by Sergio Ernesto Barrera, an economics Ph.D. student at the U of MN and former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan, is one of the best pieces to appear in The Catholic Spirit in some time.

Barrera’s sense of what it means to be an active Catholic in these challenging times is unmatched and inspiring. I hope when his doctoral studies are complete, he joins the faculty of one of our Minnesota colleges or universities. We need people like Barrera on our faculties both as teachers and as role models.

Housing issues Adequate shelter is a basic human need, as housing is a cornerstone of family stability and child development and, traditionally, is one of the best avenues for building economic stability and generational wealth. As MCC considers a longterm policy agenda to provision the family and promote family economic security, we are more closely examining issues surrounding housing policies.

We are monitoring the Legislative Commission on Housing Affordability’s work. One item that this group of eight legislators is tasked with: making recommendations on legislative proposals that positively impact access to homeownership, especially for first-time homebuyers.

Recently, the commission acknowledged the severe housing inventory shortage is a root cause of why families encounter difficulty finding affordable rental units or becoming first-time homebuyers. While the shortage is driving up prices, municipal regulatory frameworks imposing limits on types of housing construction and requirements that raise building costs also affect the supply and price.

Rep. Steve Elkins (Bloomington) presented his idea for a bill, the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Act, which he says could help eliminate some impediments to new housing development. The bill has problems, but it is a starting point.

MCC will monitor ways to ensure legislators see the connection between housing costs and family formation, childbearing and family economic security.

John S. Adams, emeritus professor of Geography, Planning and Public Affairs, University of Minnesota Christ the King, Minneapolis Share your perspective by emailing TheCatholicSpirit@ archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.

“Inside the Capitol” is an update from Minnesota Catholic Conference staff. For more MCC resources, join the Catholic Advocacy Network at mncatholic.org.

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Business & Theology

A Special Presentation for the Business Sector

What’s the point of business?

The role of profits in a humane economy Thursday, October 14, 2021 - The Minneapolis Club, 729 2nd Ave. S, Minneapolis 11:30 a.m.: check-in and meal, 12:00-1:30 p.m.: presentation

How should we think about the pursuit of profits from a Christian perspective?

On the one hand, seeking one’s own gain seems to be less than perfectly Christian. On the other hand, the modern economy produces widespread prosperity precisely by coordinating the decisions of gain-seeking individuals and firms. In this talk, I want to think through the role of profits by thinking about how they serve higher ends. The result should allow us to retain insight into the value of market based economies, while also giving us a vocabulary for distinguishing between good and bad business practices.

Mary Hirschfeld is Associate Professor of Economics and Theology at Villanova University, having earned Ph.D.’s in economics (Harvard, 1989) and theology (Notre Dame, 2013).

Her work is along the boundary between the two disciplines. Her book, Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy (Harvard University Press, 2018) was awarded the Economy and Society International Award by the Fondazione Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice in 2019.

Brought to you by: Ernie and Mary Stelzer

Dennis and Mary Kay Smid

Paul & Connie Schnepf

Tom and Bonnie Brever

Catholic Community

Greg and Mary Lynn Schwietz

Babs Koch

FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA

Limited Seating, registration required: Fee $25 (non-refundable), club parking $10 - cash only www.collegevilleMN.com/theologyday or 320-363-3570

Dan and Lynn Fazendin Robert L Lee and Mary E Schaffner

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Why I am Catholic

By Shehan Perera

I

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

was born, baptized and raised in the Catholic Church but I didn’t really meet the person of Jesus until a freshman retreat in high school.

That night during adoration, before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, I was overwhelmed by what I can describe as God’s love for me and was moved to tears by sheer joy.

In spite of this indescribable feeling, the retreat high didn’t last as I went back to my daily life and choices. The following years through high school and into college I spent with one foot in each door. I could feel God slowly drawing me to him, and yet I was constantly turning my back to him and choosing sin and everything that the world had to offer me. When I was 22, I reached a breaking point where I had to choose which door I would commit to.

I was going down the wrong path when I heard him say to me, “If you keep going, there is a chance you will never find me again.” The creator of the entire universe was pursuing ME?!

Who was I to turn him down? So, I chose which door to walk through. Long story short, soon afterwards I went on to discern religious life in the Bronx with some joyful Franciscans, then on CathSpMM-July-Sept-2021.qxp_Layout 1 6/30/21 10:5 to serve as a missionary with NET Ministries and

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eventually settled in Minnesota where I met my wife.

In the past decade there have been many difficult and incredibly painful moments in my life while walking with the Lord. But even during those moments of spiritual bewilderment and times where I felt seemingly abandoned by the Lord, there’s no escaping his presence and love.

Recently, my mum passed away from cancer. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever endured. In the weeks leading up to her death, I had to just sit beside her and watch this devout and faithful woman agonize and suffer without being able to do anything about it except pray. One day, while clutching the rosary and praying beside her, there was a moment when I felt so alone and angry at being helpless and abandoned, when at once Jesus’ words on the cross came to heart: “Father, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was with me, and knew exactly what I was feeling in my heart and was teaching me to trust in the prayer of Psalm 22.

I am Catholic, quite simply, because I am a prisoner of the Lord. His love holds me fast.

There is nowhere else for me to go, no other way, because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is

good. There is nothing I can experience in this world where the Creator of the universe won’t be with me. “Where can I go from your Spirit, from your presence, where can I flee?” In his mercy, he has given me everything I need to stay close to him through his Word and his Church. I trust in those ways he has set out for me. I know and have come to believe that he is the Holy One of God. His words are life, and when I can’t fully see or understand what he’s doing in my life, I echo the words of Peter: “Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of everlasting life.”

Shehan, 34, and his wife, Rose, are parishioners of St. Peter in Mendota and are members of the Teams of Our Lady movement. He works as a manufacturing engineer and his wife tells him he has too many hobbies.

“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 “Why I am Catholic” in the subject line.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR PARISH FESTIVALS St. Francis de Sales Booya and Fall Fiesta — Oct. 3: 11:30 a.m. at Highland Park Pavillion, 1200 Montreal Ave., St. Paul. Hot dogs, tacos, pop, beer and more. Games for all ages. Bilingual Mass 10 a.m. sf-sj.org St. Mary Booya and Fall Festival — Oct. 3: 8 a.m.–1 p.m. at 261 E. 8th St., St. Paul. Drive-up or dine-in Booya ($5/bowl, $15/qt), hot dogs, sloppy joes, pop and ice cream. Raffle tickets, flea market, bake sale and kids’ games. 8 a.m. drive-up Booya opens; 10:30 a.m. Mass; 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. festival. stmarystpaul.org St. Joseph’s Fall Festival — Oct. 9: 5:30– 8:30 p.m. at 8701 36th Ave. N., New Hope. Food, raffles, games and live music by The Castaways.

Games, food, beverages. Chicken dinner, pork patio selections, “Holy Honey” made by the Blessed Bees! stjosephparish.com/fall-festival St. Mark’s Oktoberfest — Oct. 9: 9 a.m.–10 p.m. at 2001 Dayton Ave., St. Paul. Fun run, food, music, games, beer, inflatables, swing dancing and more. onestrongfamily.org/festival

PARISH EVENTS Holy Childhood Oktoberfest — Oct. 1: 6–9 p.m. at 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul. Ages 21 and over. $10. Beer and wine for tasting. Food trucks. holychildhoodparish.org Three Catholic Poets — Oct. 1: 7:30 p.m. at St. Albert the Great, 2836 33rd Ave. S., Minneapolis.

Featuring Angela Alaimo O’Donnell of Fordham University, New York; Maryann Corbett and James Silas Rogers of St. Paul. Free. saintalbertthegreat.org St. Thomas the Apostle garage sale — Oct. 6-8: 20000 County Road 10, Corcoran. Parish center. Oct 6: 1–8 p.m.; Oct 7: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. (50% off 4–8 p.m.); Oct 8: 8 a.m.–1:30 p.m. (bag day $4 per bag with unlimited bags). saintsppta.org Holy Childhood rummage sale — Oct. 7-8 at 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul. Oct 7: 9 a.m.–7 p.m.; Oct 8: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Clothing, housewares, seasonal items and more. Sloppy

joes, chips, doughnuts and beverages for purchase. holychildhoodparish.org St. Bernard’s Men’s Club Booya — Oct. 9: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at 167 Geranium Ave., W., St. Paul.

“Carry-out only” Booya. $10 per quart, containers provided. Serving starts at 9 a.m. stbernardstpaul.org Sidewalk counseling training seminar — Oct. 11: 7–9 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. Learn how to save babies by peacefully reaching out with love and offering brochures to people entering the five local abortion mills. Prayer supporters are also welcome.

No charge. Presented by Pro-Life Action Ministries.

To register, contact debra.braun@plam.org or 651-797-6364. plam.org Mary’s Meals Fundraiser Turkey Dinner and Silent Auction — Oct. 14: 5:30–8 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. For tickets: Deb Waldera at 651-772-6935 or marysmealsmn@gmail.com. $20 adults, $10 ages 4-12, free ages 3 and under.

Mary’s Meals is an international organization feeding 2 million children daily. facebook.com/marysmealsmn Our Lady of Peace Pumpkin Patch — Oct. 12-31: 11 a.m.–7 p.m. at 5426 12th Ave. S., Minneapolis. Enjoy autumn with neighbors and purchase pumpkins from a selection of more than 2,000. olpmn.org/pumpkin-patch

RETREATS Women’s Midweek Retreat — Oct. 5-7 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Spiritual renewal with scheduled and open time. Theme for 2021: “Hope Rising; Revisioning Our Dream.” Confession, anointing, Mass, Holy Hour and prayer sessions. franciscanretreats.net NET Ministries Confirmation Retreat Weekend — Oct. 9-10: 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. at NET Ministries, 110 Crusader Ave. W., West St. Paul. For Catholic youth grades 8-12 preparing for the sacrament of confirmation. Opportunities for adoration, reconciliation, Mass, large group talks/

SMALL GROUPS UNDERWAY Archbishop Bernard Hebda has asked all parishes in the archdiocese to host Synod Small Groups this fall for Catholics to learn, pray and share ideas on three focus areas ahead of the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod. Focus areas are: Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. Small groups are meeting for six 2-hour sessions through midNovember. Watch for communications from your parish about how to participate in a small group there. presentations, small group discussions, games, skits and more. netusa.org/confirmation

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days

before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices

of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication:

SCHOOLS Chesterton Academy open house — Oct. 5: 6:30–8 p.m. at Chesterton Academy, 1320 Mainstreet, Hopkins. For prospective students and their families. Meet teachers, administrators and students, learn about the curriculum and tour the new Hopkins campus. chestertonacademy.org

uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions

ONLINE: TheCatholicSpirit.com/calendarsubmissions

MUSIC An Evening with Mirandola: Sacred Works of the Flemish Renaissance — Oct. 23: 8 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., Minneapolis.

The Mirandola Ensemble, under the direction of Nick Chalmers, will perform sacred choral works of the Flemish Renaissance by composers Orlando di Lasso, Jacques Ockeghem and Josquin des Prez. ourholycross.org/musical-events

Celebrant is Father Joseph Taphorn, rector of The St. Paul Seminary. archpm.org/events Archdiocesan Youth Day — Oct. 16: 6–10 p.m. at Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville, and St. John the Baptist, New Brighton. Evening for teens includes music, Mass, adoration and talks. archspm.org/ayd21

SPEAKERS

OTHER EVENTS Annual Candlelight Rosary Procession — Oct. 1: 7 p.m. in St. Paul. Line-up begins at 6:15 p.m. at the Minnesota State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Procession is to the Cathedral of St. Paul. archpm.org/events Pre-Twin Cities Marathon Mass — Oct. 3: 6 a.m. at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis.

MCCL Fall Tour pro-life gathering — Oct. 14-20: 7–8 p.m. Free pro-life presentation about the challenges and ways to make a difference in protecting life by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL). Oct. 14: Holy Trinity, 211 Fourth St. N., Goodhue; Oct. 18: St. Peter, 1250 S. Shore Drive, Forest Lake; Oct 19: Maternity of Mary, 1414 Dale St. N., St. Paul. mccl.org/falltour

Marketplace • Message Center Classified Ads Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: 651-290-1631 • Fax: 651-291-4460 Next issue: 10-14-21 • Deadline: 3 p.m. 10-6-21 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo/logo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780 ANTIQUES TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture • Advertising Signs • Beer Items • Old Clothes • Misc.

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Retails $2900; Asking $2400. 651-210-8035 Calvary Cemetery: single lot. Value $1970; Price $1600. 763-310-7184 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Part-time Law Office Typist in West St. Paul, Minnesota: Produce legal documents including Wills, Trusts, Briefs, Pleadings, and Reports. Administrative support to attorneys and paralegals. In addition, a paralegal or legal assistant is also needed with similar duties but expanded to include research and composition of documents and other related duties. Contact John Trojack 651-451-9696. TrojackLaw.com.

Caregivers wanted at Alongside Services.

We are looking for a few caring people to work in our group homes: $13-$15/hour; Chaska and Watertown, MN locations.

Part-time or full-time hours available.

Email: office@alongsideservices.com, or call: 952-388-1177.

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Subscribe online at www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/cdclub Please Enter Code: 119 HANDYMAN WE DO 1,162 THINGS AROUND THE HOME! Catholic Owned Handyman Business: We will fix/repair and remodel almost anything around the home. Serving entire Metro. Call today.

Mention this ad and receive 10% off labor.

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HARDWOOD FLOORS Sweeney’s Hardwood Floors Autumn ’s here! Spruce up your home with new or refurbished hardwood floors. 15% off refinishing. Sweeney (651) 485-8187

Ask a our 3 bout t speciaime l!

PRAYERS

HOUSEHOLD MANAGER

NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.

The Stillwater Catholic Worker Community is seeking a mature woman to manage and live at Our Lady Queen of Peace House, a home for women and their children in transition. Room and board included with this volunteer position. Details available at STMICHAELSTILLWATER.ORG or call Bonnie 651-226-3249.

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE CLASSIFIEDS classifiedads@archspm.org

20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THELASTWORD

Lego landscape Architect turns 67,000 pieces into Vatican City State replica

By Peter Finney Jr. Catholic News Service

commissions. He was nearing completion on his most ambitious work yet — a 1:650 model of first-century Jerusalem — for a museum in Brazil. That work is composed of 114,000 pieces and has taken eight months.

“I started on New Year’s Eve 2020 and have one box left to ship to them,” e all know Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Lego architect Buttliere said. “That’s like the project will never end. But I’m so grateful to have Rocco Buttliere had three months, which definitely gave clients like that who will pay me to do what I love.” him a running start over Julius Caesar.

The most challenging aspect of the Vatican piece was figuring out Working quietly in his Chicago-area how to create the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, Buttliere said. His home during the lull of the knowledge of everything Lego drew his mind to a box pandemic in 2020, Buttliere of rare, sandstone blue dinosaur tails, which he cobbled together 67,000 tiny, expertly repurposed into the dome’s shell. plastic Lego pieces to create an improbably Buttliere visited Rome only once — there realistic 3D replica of Vatican City State. was a Lego convention in the Eternal City The 1:650 scale model is so faithful to the — and spent only a half-day walking cobblestones shaded by Bernini’s colonnade through the basilica and Vatican that it even includes a tiny red tile marking museums. He spent much of his time the top-floor window of the Apostolic Palace inside the Sistine Chapel (although from which Pope Francis recites the Angelus Michelangelo’s interior frescoes can’t each Sunday. be seen on his piece even if someone For a kid who began playing with his two were to peel off the roof). older brothers’ Lego sets as a child and who PETER FINNEY JR., CLARION HERALD | CNS He tackles a huge project in even brought his Legos to college while sections, starting with the most pursuing a degree in architecture, those 800 Rocco Buttliere, a Lego architect from Chicago, is seen next to the Vatican City State replica challenging, in this case the basilica. hours he spent last year were the cornerstones he created that was on display Aug. 14-15 at the Lego BrickUniverse convention at the He relies on 3D images from Google of one his greatest artistic achievements.

Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, La. Earth and lays out the landscapes in “What inspired me was just the fact that AutoCAD, a design software, to draw construction lines. there’s almost 4,000 years of human history represented in the architecture and the “The colonnade is an oval, and Lego likes to fit squares really well, so anything museums and the artifacts themselves,” said Buttliere, 26. with curvature is going to be inherently challenging. In this case, it uses a His Lego artwork of Vatican City State and another of San Francisco’s Golden Gate combination of those square and circular parts to get the curvature of the ‘ovato Bridge were two of the major attractions at BrickUniverse, a multi-city Lego exhibition tondo.’” that came to the New Orleans area Aug. 14-15.

Of the 67,000 pieces in the Vatican work, about 1,300 are “unique” pieces, meaning “That level of spiritual resonance was something that really made me want to tackle they are rarer and are included only in certain LEGO sets. the whole (city state),” he told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of “If you buy a Lego set off the shelf, even the largest ones tend to only have 100 to New Orleans.

150 unique elements in them,” Buttliere said. “In terms of my own work, Vatican Since he began tinkering with Lego sets — taking apart the sets and using loose City is the most differentiated and stylized, but that makes sense when you consider bricks to craft his own works — Buttliere has created more than 60 different that it represents a landscape that has different buildings from over the millennia.” models and managed to make a full-time living based on traveling exhibitions and

To work for the whole people “Its spirit will be to work for the whole people, offering its strength to uphold every noble cause, and willing to cooperate with all men and women who labor to serve God, humanity and country...

Allies will ever be here for those who heal the wounds of suffering humanity, or strengthen the social bonds, and the institutions of the country.”

– Archbishop John Ireland

With immense gratitude to Father Larry Snyder, who has dedicated his life to “working for the whole people.”

All for the Common Good®

Father Snyder

St. Thomas VP for Mission