Building kingdom God’s
— Pages 5-6
Hall, who works in faith formation at St. Peter in Forest Lake, prays during the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis parish staff formation day at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie Feb. 20. The day included Mass, talks, Eucharistic adoration, confession and social time.
Katie
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
PAGETWO
PRAYERS FOR POPE FRANCIS People join Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the recitation of the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Feb. 28. Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 for double pneumonia. More on page 9.
PACKING A PUNCH From left, Tim Cruikshank, Steve Alcorn and Mike Gruidl help place granola bars, peanuts, fruit snacks, raisins, miniature candy bars and a short prayer or holy card in sealable sandwich bags for distribution to the homeless. The men belong to a Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) small group at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka, where they packed the 840 energy packs Feb. 20. Donations from the parish, group members and a financial institution paid for the energy packs, which cost about $950. They were distributed by Allan Law and his “Love One Another” street ministry, also known as the nonprofit Minneapolis Recreation Development Inc. Gruidl said the small group started early last year and has grown to nearly a dozen members who seek to deepen their faith by studying Church history, religious orders, miracles and saints.
in REMEMBRANCE
Deacon Thornton ministered in Shakopee for more than 20 years
Deacon James Thornton, a veteran of the U.S. Navy whose active ministry in the diaconate spanned more than 20 years in Shakopee, died Feb. 23 at age 95.
A high school teacher in Minneapolis before retiring in 1989, Deacon Thornton and his late wife, Janice, raised five children in their 62 years of marriage. In addition to their children, Deacon Thornton is survived by 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Ordained in 1976, Deacon Thornton was a member of the first group of men ordained as permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since that ministry was re-established in the Church in 1967. He retired from active ministry in 2000.
Recalling his role in that first class of deacons, Deacon Thornton told The
PRACTICING Catholic
Catholic Spirit in 2017 that at one point he was a Dominican novice, and the diaconate enabled him to respond to a call to the clergy. Highlights of his ministry as a deacon were serving at the altar, with the homebound, and with Loaves and Fishes programs, he said.
Deacon Thornton also helped establish perpetual adoration of the Eucharist at St. Mary in Shakopee in the 1980s. Years later, St. Mary merged with St. Mark in Shakopee and St. Mary of the Purification in the nearby, unincorporated community of Marystown to become Sts. Joachim and Anne.
Deacon Thornton’s funeral Mass was March 4 at St. Mary in Shakopee.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Feb. 28
“Practicing Catholic” radio show featured Bishop Kevin Kenney discussing ways suffering can bring the faithful closer to God, and an interview with WCCO meteorologist Katie Steiner about motherhood being a fulfilling full-time job. The program also included Brian Cox, a youth minister at St. Paul in Ham Lake, describing his conversion and how his journey to faith continues to shape his ministry with young people. Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 30 — No. 5 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher JOE RUFF, Editor-in-Chief REBECCA OMASTIAK, News Editor
NEWS notes
Staff of the St. Paul nonprofit Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative and Cheniqua Johnson, a member of the St. Paul City Council, are hosting an information session in March at St. Pascal Baylon in St. Paul about an affordable housing project. Beacon has proposed building the Aragon — 53 “apartment homes” for individuals and families below certain income thresholds — on parish-owned property across White Bear Avenue from St. Pascal Baylon. The information session will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. March 11 in the church’s Brioschi Hall. Questions about the project can be emailed to info@beaconinterfaith org
Edward Sri, a Catholic author, speaker and theologian, will talk about his book and study program “A Biblical Walk Through the Mass” with young adults at Station 10 Pub House in St. Paul on March 21. The presentation will include a cocktail hour and social. The event is being held in partnership with Catholic Softball Group, the Center for Evangelization and Discipleship, Cathedral Young Adults, Ale Mary’s and Twin Cities Catholic Singles. Sri hosts a podcast called “All Things Catholic.” He studied at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and is an adjunct professor at the Augustine Institute near St. Louis.
The 2025 Archdiocesan Catholic Men’s Conference will be held March 22 at Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Hosted by the Catholic Watchmen, the conference will include two addresses by Edward Sri, an adjunct professor at the Augustine Institute near St. Louis, titled The Mass: Strengthened with His Real Presence and The Eucharist: The Vibrant Life. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Kevin Kenney will concelebrate an 8 a.m. Mass, which will be preceded by an opportunity for confession. Register at secure acceptiva com/?cst=nYiYxd. The conference is $30 for individuals, $10 for youth (ages 14-17) and it is free for priests, deacons and seminarians.
Pope Francis has awarded four educators in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award, which recognizes individuals for their exceptional service to the Catholic Church, especially in Catholic education. Honored for their service were Frederick Blonigen, a retired teacher of St. Agnes School in St. Paul who spent 32 years as an educator; Jane Bona, a retired principal of Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Columbia Heights, who spent 15 years as an educator; Sister Tresa Jose Athickal of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation and also a retired teacher of St. Therese Catholic School in Deephaven, who spent more than 50 years as an educator; and Gary Wilmer, a retired Catholic education administrator within the archdiocese, who spent 58 years as an educator. According to the archdiocesan Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, it is the first time in recorded archdiocesan history that an educator of the archdiocese has received such an award. “As the Archdiocese begins its celebration of the 175th anniversary of our founding, I am delighted that the Holy Father has recognized the dedicated service of these faithful women and men in Catholic education. Their contribution is still felt throughout our Archdiocese today,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement. “What a selfless gift they have given to countless children, families and schools. We are so grateful for their ongoing witness to Jesus Christ in their communities.” Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education and superintendent of schools, expressed gratitude in being able to “celebrate these deserving Catholic educators for their papal honor.” “These women and men have helped to lay a strong foundation for our entire Catholic school system, and we are grateful for their tremendous contributions to help form students and educate them for life. What a remarkable legacy of helping hand on the Catholic faith,” Slattery said in a statement. During an April 3 Archdiocesan Catholic School Leadership Convocation at St. Mary in Stillwater, Archbishop Hebda will present the four educators with the medallion and scrolls associated with the honors.
Retired Bishop Richard Pates, a native of St. Paul and former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is being honored by the Catholic Extension Society with its Spirit of Francis Award for his impact on the mission of the Church in America. The society supports faith communities in economically challenged areas of the United States, and the award recognizes a commitment to reaching out to the margins of society in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis and the society’s founder, Father Francis Clement Kelley. Bishop Pates will receive the award at a Catholic Extension Society dinner on May 13 at Woulfe Alumni Hall at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Bishop Pates served as bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, from 2008 until his retirement in 2019, and he now lives in the Twin Cities. Before his appointment to Iowa, he also served the archdiocese as a pastor, vocations director and vice chancellor. In a news release about the award, Bishop Pates said he draws inspiration from Pope Francis. “From his very first encyclical to the present day, by his words and actions, the Holy Father has shown us that the hearts of those who truly encounter Jesus Christ are filled with the joy of the Gospel,” Bishop Pates said. “Our lives, Church, nation and world need that joy.” Since his retirement, Bishop Pates has also served as the apostolic administrator of Joliet, Illinois; Crookston; and Dubuque, Iowa.
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COURTESY JERRY SYLVESTER
The Catholic Spirit
DEACON JAMES THORNTON
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP
ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
‘A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter’
As we cross the threshold into another Lent, I’m particularly mindful of the example of St. Veronica. The Church meditates on her courage and compassion whenever we pray the traditional Stations of the Cross. In the version written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, we’re urged to consider how Veronica “seeing Jesus so afflicted, and His face bathed in sweat and blood, presented Him with a towel, with which He wiped His adorable face, leaving on it the impression of His holy countenance.”
My fascination with St. Veronica probably stems from the three Lents that I spent at Prince of Peace parish on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The parish was the heir to a great tradition that the Passionist Fathers had first brought to Pittsburgh’s German immigrant community in 1910. As a Lenten resolution, the members of the parish would put on a huge Lenten production, “Veronica’s Veil,” that wove together the type of German passion play made famous at Oberammergau (presenting the events associated with Jesus’ passion in elaborate “tableaux vivants”) with a drama about the persecution of the first Christians, in which Veronica figured prominently. It was such a large production, involving at its peak hundreds of parishioners, that the parish had to build a magnificent theater just for the play.
For decades, there were four sold-
“Un amigo fiel es un refugio seguro”
Al cruzar el umbral hacia otra Cuaresma, tengo particularmente presente el ejemplo de Santa Verónica. La Iglesia medita sobre su coraje y compasión cada vez que rezamos el tradicional Vía Crucis. En la versión escrita por San Alfonso María de Ligorio, se nos insta a considerar cómo Verónica “viendo a Jesús tan afligido, y con el rostro bañado en sudor y sangre, le ofreció una toalla, con la que secó su adorable rostro, dejando en él la impresión de su santo rostro”. Mi fascinación por Santa Verónica probablemente se origina en las tres Cuaresmas que pasé en la parroquia Príncipe de la Paz en el lado sur de Pittsburgh. La parroquia era heredera de una gran tradición que los Padres Pasionistas habían traído por primera vez a la comunidad de inmigrantes alemanes de Pittsburgh en 1910. Como resolución cuaresmal, los miembros de la parroquia presentaban una gran producción cuaresmal, “El velo de Verónica”, que entrelazaba el tipo de obra de teatro de la Pasión alemana que se hizo famosa en Oberammergau (presentando los eventos asociados con la Pasión de Jesús en elaborados “tableaux vivants”) con un drama sobre la persecución de los primeros cristianos, en el que Verónica
In reflecting on St. Veronica as a faithful friend, I’ve usually prayed that I could be that type of courageous and compassionate friend to Jesus and to others, while thanking the Lord for the many faithful friends that he has brought into my life.
out performances every weekend, with additional matinees for Catholic school children. Every girl in the parish wanted to grow up to play Veronica (or the Blessed Mother, who didn’t have any lines), while the men would work their way up from playing Peter to Judas and then to Jesus (graduating to Nero when they no longer had the physique for Jesus). I was never given an on-stage role but felt honored to be allowed to crank the wind machine for the crucifixion scene.
In the years since I left that parish, I’ve always prayed with greater devotion the Sixth Station. In most versions, there’s a reference to the often-quoted verse from the sixth chapter of the Book of Sirach: “a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter.” In reflecting on St. Veronica as a faithful friend, I’ve usually prayed that I could be that type of courageous and compassionate friend to Jesus and to others, while thanking the Lord for the many faithful friends that he has brought into my life.
figuraba de manera prominente. Era una producción tan grande, que en su apogeo involucró a cientos de feligreses, que la parroquia tuvo que construir un magnífico teatro solo para la obra. Durante décadas, se hacían cuatro funciones con entradas agotadas cada fin de semana, con matinés adicionales para los niños de las escuelas católicas. Todas las niñas de la parroquia querían, cuando fueran mayores, interpretar a Verónica (o a la Santísima Madre, que no tenía ningún diálogo), mientras que los hombres iban ascendiendo de Pedro a Judas y luego a Jesús (y se convertían en Nerón cuando ya no tenían el físico para Jesús). Nunca me dieron un papel en el escenario, pero me sentí honrada de que me permitieran hacer girar la máquina de viento para la escena de la crucifixión. En los años que han transcurrido desde que dejé esa parroquia, siempre he rezado con mayor devoción la Sexta Estación. En la mayoría de las versiones, hay una referencia al versículo frecuentemente citado del sexto capítulo del libro del Eclesiástico : “Un amigo fiel es un refugio seguro”. Al reflexionar sobre Verónica como amiga fiel, generalmente he rezado para poder ser ese tipo de amigo valiente y compasivo para Jesús y para los demás, mientras agradezco al Señor por los muchos amigos fieles que ha traído a mi vida.
Hace poco perdí a una de esas amigas, la hermana Mary Philip Kwolek, hermana de la Orden de los Felicianos
I recently lost one of those friends, Sister Mary Philip Kwolek, a Felician Sister for more than 76 years. You might remember the Felicians from when they served at St. Casimir on the East Side of St. Paul. Sister Philip’s parents and my grandmother were from the same village in southeastern Poland, and she always introduced me as her cousin.
When I was a young boy, Sister Philip, up to then a Latin teacher, volunteered to serve in her community’s mission in Brazil. When Mission Sunday came around and our diocesan newspaper would print a list of all the Pittsburghers serving in the missions, I was always proud to see her name among them. I imagined her in a canoe on the Amazon, teaching catechism while dodging alligators and poison darts. She was always a bit of a saintly hero in my mind.
I asked for her prayers when I entered the seminary, and I think they were somehow instrumental in my assignment to the North American
desde hacía más de 76 años. Quizá recuerden a las Felicianas de cuando servían en la iglesia de San Casimiro, en el lado este de la iglesia de San Pablo. Los padres de la hermana Philip y mi abuela eran del mismo pueblo en el sureste de Polonia, y ella siempre me presentaba como su prima.
Cuando yo era un niño, la hermana Philip, hasta entonces profesora de latín, se ofreció como voluntaria para servir en la misión de su comunidad en Brasil. Cuando llegaba el Domingo de las Misiones y nuestro periódico diocesano publicaba una lista de todos los habitantes de Pittsburgh que servían en las misiones, siempre me enorgullecía ver su nombre entre ellos. La imaginaba en una canoa en el Amazonas, enseñando catecismo mientras esquivaba caimanes y dardos envenenados. Siempre fue una especie de heroína santa en mi mente.
Le pedí sus oraciones cuando entré al seminario y creo que de alguna manera fueron fundamentales para que me asignaran al Colegio Norteamericano en Roma. La divina providencia quiso que ella fuera asignada al Generalato de su comunidad en Roma justo cuando yo estaba comenzando mis estudios en el seminario allí. Me encantaba que me invitaran a misa y a cenar en su convento. La mayoría de las hermanas religiosas de la casa eran polacas y muchas conocían a San Juan Pablo II de sus días como arzobispo de Cracovia,
College in Rome. As divine providence would have it, she was assigned to her community’s Generalate in Rome just as I was starting my seminary studies there. I loved being invited to Mass and dinner at her convent. Most of the religious sisters in the house were Polish and many knew St. John Paul II from his days as archbishop of Krakow, so I could count on wonderful inside stories about the pontiff as well as heavenly pierogi and kielbasa. Fluent in English, Polish, Portuguese and Italian, Sister Philip managed to help the sisters (and me) bridge a multitude of cultures.
I was honored to celebrate, at Sister Philip’s invitation, one of my first Masses as a priest at the Felician Motherhouse outside of Pittsburgh and was always inspired by her apostolic work when we were both back in the United States. She was a great Veronica for the poor and the elderly.
As providence would once again have it, Sister Philip and I were both assigned back to Rome in 1996 (she to the motherhouse and I to the Vatican). I often met people on the streets who would ask “Aren’t you Sister Philip’s cousin?” It kept me on my best behavior.
In her “retirement,” Sister Philip kept active and took on the project of translating into English the Polish homilies that had aired on “Father Justin’s Radio Hour.” While she was the last of the 11 children in her family to pass, she will certainly be missed by many — me included. A faithful friend is indeed a sturdy shelter. I sure hope that St. Veronica was at the pearly gates to welcome her. May she rest in peace.
así que podía contar con maravillosas historias internas sobre el pontífice, así como con pierogi y kielbasa celestiales. La hermana Philip, que hablaba con fluidez inglés, polaco, portugués e italiano, logró ayudar a las hermanas (y a mí) a tender puentes entre una multitud de culturas.
Tuve el honor de celebrar, por invitación de la hermana Philip, una de mis primeras misas como sacerdote en la Casa Madre Felician en las afueras de Pittsburgh y siempre me sentí inspirado por su trabajo apostólico cuando ambos estábamos de regreso en los Estados Unidos. Ella fue una gran Verónica para los pobres y los ancianos.
La Providencia quiso que, una vez más, a la hermana Philip y a mí nos asignaran de nuevo a Roma en 1996 (ella a la casa madre y yo al Vaticano). A menudo me encontraba con gente en la calle que me preguntaba: “¿No eres la prima de la hermana Philip?”. Eso me mantuvo en mi mejor comportamiento.
En su “retiro”, la hermana Philip se mantuvo activa y se encargó del proyecto de traducir al inglés las homilías en polaco que se habían emitido en “La hora de radio del padre Justin”. Aunque fue la última de los 11 hijos de su familia en morir, sin duda muchos la extrañarán, yo incluida. Un amigo fiel es, sin duda, un refugio sólido. Espero que Santa Verónica estuviera en las puertas del paraíso para darle la bienvenida. Que descanse en paz.
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SLICEof LIFE
Celebrating Catholic education
Bishop Kevin Kenney reads a picture book to first graders at Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Richfield Feb. 25, during Aim Higher Foundation’s annual Check Delivery Marathon. Aim Higher President Ricky Austin and Jean Houghton, director of the Office of Mission Advancement for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, met with the school’s principal, Patrick O’Keefe, to deliver tuition assistance to qualifying families at Blessed Trinity. Funding provided by donors to the archdiocese’s annual Catholic Services Appeal is supporting 400 of this year’s 2,550 elementary school children receiving Aim Higher scholarships in Catholic schools in the archdiocese.
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Prayer, collaboration and planning mark parish staff formation day in Eden Prairie
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
Continuing to unpack Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s 2022 pastoral letter, parish and school staff, religious orders, clergy and others from across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis gathered Feb. 20 for a formation day at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.
During the formation day, Archbishop Hebda highlighted what is on the horizon for the continued implementation of his letter “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.” The day also included Mass, a talk on the power of the Eucharist, adoration, confession and Benediction. (See page 6).
The archbishop’s letter came out of archdiocesanwide listening sessions on the archdiocese’s pastoral needs, which culminated in a two-day 2022 Archdiocesan Synod.
Three major priorities came out of the Synod: creating small group ministry in every parish; educating people on the beauty, form and meaning of the Mass, with special emphasis on the Eucharist; and forming and inspiring parents as the first educators of their children in the faith.
Ministry in the first two priorities is well underway, Archbishop Hebda shared with those gathered at Pax Christi. Small groups, particularly under a model of relational evangelization known as the Parish Evangelization Cells System, will continue to be of great importance in bringing people closer to one another and driving the success of future initiatives of the faith, the archbishop said.
Parish and archdiocesan efforts are fostering a greater understanding of the Mass, an effort that began in July 2024.
Quickly approaching year three of implementing the pastoral letter, Archbishop Hebda said, it has become clear that preparing and supporting parents for their ministry in faith to their children should be a two-year process.
Perhaps it will be called “year 3A or year 3B, or year three and year four,” the archbishop said.
A Blue Ribbon Commission on Parents as Primary Educators formed in November 2023 issued its recommendations several months ago, on time and in detail, Archbishop Hebda said. It is significant, important and it comes with suggestions that will be heeded, the archbishop said. Among the recommendations: Spend an entire year reclaiming Sunday as the Lord’s Day.
This summer — perhaps in July, probably for the July 12 feast of Sts. Zélie and Louis Martin — a second, shorter pastoral letter will be released, focusing on parents, their children and faith, the archbishop said. At the same time, efforts will begin to reclaim Sunday as the Lord’s Day and will be followed by more specific resources and initiatives for parents beginning in July 2026, Archbishop Hebda said.
“That gives all of you in parish ministry a year to get up to speed and to figure out how it is that you’re going to be implementing (more) beginning in July of 2026,” he said.
Archdiocesan Synod 2025
On the eve of Pentecost June 7, a second Archdiocesan Synod with about 500 people representing parishes, ministries and others will be held to discuss initiatives for the years following July 2026-June 2027, the archbishop said. It will be a one-day Synod, unlike the 2022 two-day gathering.
“We’ll focus on the propositions that weren’t chosen at the Synod the last time that we gathered, but that were very significantly supported at that time. We’ll use that to know what it is that we want to focus upon,” the archbishop said.
As was the case last time, the Holy Spirit will be at work in people’s hearts, he said, adding, “where our God of surprises makes his presence known is often in the responses.”
(More on what led up to and what occurred during the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod can be found at thecatholicspirit com /? s = a rchdiocesan + s ynod +2022 on The Catholic Spirit website. )
Unity amid diversity
The archbishop opened his remarks with a call for unity that is found in Christ and in his Church, in a world torn by strife and an archdiocese that rightfully celebrates diversity.
The day began with Mass, and in his talk, the archbishop credited Father Tom Margevicius with suggesting a Eucharistic prayer that expresses this desire.
“‘For by the word of your Son’s Gospel, you have brought together one Church from every people,
ABOVE Archbishop Bernard Hebda emphasizes the importance of reaching people in all stages of their lives through parish ministry by showing a framed poster of St. Óscar Romero of El Salvador at various stages of his life. The archbishop spoke at an archdiocesan parish staff formation day Feb. 20 at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.
JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
LEFT Liz Lockhart of St. Paul in Ham Lake listens to a presentation at the parish staff formation day.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
tongue and nation, and, having filled her with life by the power of your Spirit, you never cease through her to gather the whole human race into one,’” Archbishop Hebda read to those gathered from part of the Eucharistic prayer. “‘Manifesting the covenant of your love, she dispenses without ceasing the blessed hope of your kingdom and shines bright as the sign of your faithfulness, which in Christ Jesus our Lord you promised would last for eternity,’” the archbishop continued.
“It’s that idea that it’s Christ and his Gospel that has brought us together; we have to be attentive to that,” the archbishop said. “It’s for a purpose that we might be able to, through the power of the Holy Spirit, manifest the covenant of God’s love, and that we, as the Church, might dispense without ceasing the blessed hope of Christ’s kingdom, and that we might shine forth as a sign of God’s faithfulness. That’s our hope.”
Crediting the ministry of everyone involved with growing God’s kingdom — including parish, school and archdiocesan staff and the many who support them in various ways — Archbishop Hebda said the Church strives to impact people at every stage of life. He emphasized that point using a framed poster showing St. Óscar Romero of El Salvador at various stages of his life.
“Those of you who are involved in catechetical work, who are preparing our young people for the sacraments, for example, you might have a St. Óscar Romero in your class,” the archbishop said. “He might chew gum and talk when you don’t want him to, but he could still be that saint in the making. But at each stage of life, we need you and we need your ministry.”
Mass, adoration of the Eucharist, confession anchor archdiocese-parish gathering
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
What Archbishop Bernard Hebda called the “latebreaking news” — a now two-year effort to focus on parents forming their children in the faith and a pastoral letter on that subject this summer — was one portion of a parish staff formation day at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.
There also was time Feb. 20 for prayer, reflection, adoration and confession.
The gathering began with Mass and a homily from Bishop Kevin Kenney encouraging people to take time for one another even during a busy day.
Bishop Kenney mentioned the first reading of the Mass, Genesis 9:1-13, in which God promises a new covenant with Noah and his sons as they leave the ark, after the great flood, symbolized by a rainbow and fulfilled by people who are accountable for one another and to God.
The bishop noted that in the Gospel, the eighth chapter of Mark, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter ultimately responds, “You are the Christ,” but also argues against Jesus having to suffer and be killed, and Jesus rebukes Peter, saying “Get behind me Satan.”
“How many of us this morning thought to themselves, ‘Why did I sign up for this? I’ve got this to do and that to do,’” Bishop Kenney said. There might be conversations that start as interruptions, people on the telephone or in the office, in the pews at church, he said.
“Do we take time each day to see who that is?” Bishop Kenney asked. “And when we are held accountable for human life, what are we going to do?”
“Who is Jesus for you?” the bishop asked. “Whoever Jesus is to you is how you will be seen in your life. Alleviate the fears, allow Satan to run out the door. To be renewed in hope is to trust that truly this is what the Lord is calling from us.”
Parish and archdiocesan staff also had time to meet in small groups during the day, to discuss their ministries, and Father Steven Hoffman, pastor of St. Peter in Mendota and a member of a healing ministry in the archdiocese, spoke on the healing power of the Eucharist.
“When I realized how many times healing is mentioned (in the Mass), I’m going, ‘What the heck am I doing? I need to come to Mass with a different disposition, a different hope, a different faith,’” Father Hoffman said as part of his remarks.
Prayers for deliverance from sin, for worthiness through Christ to receive the Eucharist and for peace are all prayers for healing, Father Hoffman said.
Mortal sins must be confessed in the sacrament of confession, but venial sins, which can prevent people from inviting a fuller union with Christ, can receive healing in the Mass, he said. In the Lord’s Prayer, also prayed at Mass, are pleadings for release from sin and deliverance from evil of all kinds,
Father Hoffman said.
“Not just praying for the freedom from sin and sinful habits, but also healing our attachment to sin, the affection that forms from sin, and the
LEFT Bishop Kevin Kenney delivers the homily at the formation day. JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
weaknesses that sin can leave behind, which make us more vulnerable to future sin,” he said.
“Recently, we had that reading from Isaiah,” Father Hoffman said. “With the calling of Isaiah, he felt so unworthy. Remember this? He said, ‘Woe is me, I’m doomed, for I am a man with unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.’”
But God sends an angel with an ember from heaven, which touches the prophet’s lips and cleanses him from all sin. “If that was possible with this ember that God sent to Isaiah ... how much more will the body and blood of Jesus that touches our hearts in holy Communion cleanse and purify our souls of sin and heal the effects of those sins?
(That’s the) healing power of the Eucharist,” Father Hoffman said. “Jesus desired to heal us as one of the fruits of the special encounter with him in the Mass.”
Father Hoffman’s presentation was followed by adoration of the Eucharist, prayer teams to support individual petitions, confession and Benediction.
ABOVE Father Steven Hoffman, pastor of St. Peter in Mendota and a member of a healing ministry in the archdiocese, talks about the healing power of the Eucharist at a parish staff formation day Feb. 20 at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Parish-wide sharing of resources brings unity to small groups in White Bear Lake
By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
It didn’t take long for Maggi Morse to start a small group last fall in the model of the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake.
“I tell you, the Spirit is moving,” Morse said recently. “I called 10 ladies, and they all said yes.”
Morse’s group meets weekly to share the latest in one another’s lives and to share their faith. “People can say things and ask questions,” said Morse, 66. “We feel we’re in a safe space.”
John Brock, 85, also a St. Mary of the Lake parishioner, described a similar experience as he sought fellowship in the faith during the progressive struggle of his wife, Nancy, with Alzheimer’s disease beginning in about 2020 until her death in December 2024.
“I’m a great believer in the Holy Spirit,” Brock said of joining a small group. “I have never been closer to God than I have been in the three years that Nancy was getting bad. And the group is part and parcel of that.”
Brock joined his small group during Lent in 2022, even before parish-based small groups under the PECS model were encouraged by Archbishop Bernard Hebda as part of implementing his 2022 pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
Morse said the parish has been a proponent of small groups since before the pastoral letter. Through its current pastor, Father Allan Paul Eilen, the parish is encouraging all small groups to incorporate elements of PECS that work well for them. The parish now has nearly 20 active small groups.
Father Eilen has brought another dimension to PECS that many parishioners find helpful, Morse said. Each Lent and Advent, there is a parishwide book study. Small groups are encouraged to use the same book for the teaching element of each PECS meeting, and Father Eilen shares his reflections on the books in his homilies. That puts all parishioners, in addition to those who belong to small groups, on the same footing, she said.
“I will call it unity, in that people are discussing the same kind of things,” Morse said. “It provides continuity and carries teachings (in the homily) from Mass into our meetings. Even if people are not in small groups, they are hearing the same message. The books are available to everyone.”
ST. MARY OF THE LAKE
Overview of recent studies by parishioners and small groups:
Lent 2023 “Lent and Holy Week: Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton,” by The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, edited by Jonathan Montaldo and Robert Toth.
Advent 2023 Reflections on each Sunday’s Mass readings and a Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary study (a Paradisus Dei video series).
Christmas 2023 “Beautiful Eucharist” by Matthew Kelly
Lent 2024 “Be Healed” by Bob Schuchts
Ordinary Time 2024 Mass Moments Part 1 –– on the Introductory Rites and the Liturgy of the Word, with a series of Sunday homilies and discussion questions. Additional resources were offered, including a list of events around the archdiocese as year two of Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s 2022 pastoral letter was implemented with its emphasis on the Mass and the Eucharist.
Nathan Schuster, 32, manager of mission at the parish, said many people in small groups appreciate having a book or some other content to guide their meetings. The book studies also are building unity in the parish, he said.
“It feels like we’re a community,” he said. “Even if we’re in a different small group, we’re able to talk in common about what each is learning.”
The parish held a gathering of all small groups on Feb. 21, Morse said, “for hospitality, recognition and ... to see how many people are in small groups.”
Father Eilen said small groups are at the heart of every family, and each parish is a family. While there is much yet to be done, he said, “I’m excited to see what is happening.”
Advent and Christmas 2024 “33 Days to Eucharistic Glory” by Matthew Kelly, which concluded with a renewal of baptismal promises, a Eucharistic consecration prayer and certificate for participants.
Lent 2025 “7 Secrets of the Eucharist” by Vinny Flynn
Easter 2025 Mass Moments Part 2 –– on the Liturgy of the Eucharist and Concluding Rites with a series of Sunday homilies and handouts.
JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Danielle Hofeld talks about the book “Holy Moments” by Matthew Kelly with several members of her small group Feb. 26 at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake. Pam Schultze, center, and Maggi Morse, leader of the group, enjoy the moment.
NATION+WORLD HEADLINES
uPublic prayers for ailing Pope Francis show affection and faith, a cardinal says. The nightly recitation of the rosary for Pope Francis and for all the sick “is a beautiful gesture” of affection and of faith, said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. “Anyone can come. Praying together is a sign of ecclesiality, of being Church,” said the Argentine cardinal, who is the retired prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches. “Our Lord himself said, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,’” the cardinal told Catholic News Service March 4, after hundreds of people had gathered to pray the rosary for Pope Francis at 9 p.m. each night for more than a week. Twenty years ago, the Argentine cardinal, then-substitute for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State, was leading prayers in St. Peter’s Square for the ailing Pope John Paul II, who left Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 13, 2005, for the last time. (Updates on Pope Francis’ health can be found at TheCaTholiCSpiriT Com and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at uSCCb org.)
uNo peace treaty is possible without truth and justice, Ukrainian bishops say after a diplomatic dispute. Ukrainian bishops have voiced concerns after a tense Feb. 28 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, stressed the importance of justice and truth in the peace talks for Ukraine’s future, calling for unity in the face of Russia’s invasion. He said that the country is facing “daily attacks from the sky,” causing suffering of the entire nation. Meanwhile, the Vatican’s nuncio to Kyiv, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, criticized the lack of genuine dialogue in the U.S. clash. What was lacking in the Oval Office was the attitude of mutual listening, he said. Catholic bishops in Ukraine also expressed worries about the U.S. potentially shifting its support toward Russia, with Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk of Odesa-Simferopol calling it “unimaginable” for America to possibly align with Putin. As President Zelenskyy returned to Kyiv from a summit with European leaders in London, Bishop Jan Sobilo of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia emphasized Ukraine’s commitment to fighting for independence, warning that any peace agreement favoring Russia would lead to further aggression and spread of the war into other countries.
uOnly a united global family can fix crises, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia says. One of the most serious emergencies today is that the world forgets about and does not attend to the common good and the needs of regular people, especially poor people, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life said. “It is an emergency that risks being tragic because the common good cannot be decided or managed by just a few people,” especially, as it is now perhaps, by “the richest and the most powerful,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said at a news conference at the Vatican March 3. Politics and many other institutions are at risk when they are “in the hands of a few and forgetting the common good of the entire planet,” he said. Pope Francis, instead, from the very start of his pontificate, has been advocating that truth can be found in the “inner depth of the people,” the archbishop said. The entirety of a people and community, but especially the poor “have a light that needs to be revealed in order to counter the power
of the few.” The archbishop’s comments came during his presentation of the academy’s 30th general assembly being held in Rome March 3-5. Titled, “The End of the World: Crises, Responsibilities, Hopes,” the assembly brought together Nobel Prize laureates, planetologists, physicists, biologists, paleoanthropologists, theologians and historians to look at how everyone can and must come together to “save the world.”
uThe Trump administration terminates the U.S. bishops’ refugee resettlement contract. The Trump administration “immediately terminated” its contract with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for refugee resettlement, effective Feb. 27. The bishops were notified of the contract’s termination in two Feb. 26 letters — copies of which OSV News has obtained — sent by U.S. Department of State comptroller Joseph Kouba to Anthony Granado, the USCCB’s associate general secretary for policy and advocacy. The contract had been suspended by the administration Jan. 24, just four days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program. The program was established by Congress in 1980 to formalize the process by which refugees vetted and approved by the U.S. government are legally resettled in the U.S. through partnerships with federal agencies, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations such as the Catholic Church. The USCCB filed a lawsuit against the administration Feb. 18, arguing the suspension was “unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees,” including more than 6,700 refugees assigned to the USCCB by the government who are still within the 90-day transition period. The USCCB “has already been forced to initiate layoffs for fifty employees,” with its partner organizations also left to let staff go, due to the conference’s “inability to reimburse its partner organizations,” said the filing.
uThe Fatima statue is to visit Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will make a rare journey from its shrine in Portugal to Rome in October 2025 for a Jubilee celebration of Marian spirituality. The statue will be present in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 12 for the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, the Vatican announced Feb. 27. The statue has embedded in its crown one of the bullets from the attempted assassination of St. John Paul II in 1981. A Turkish gunman shot the pope on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and the Polish pope credited her with saving his life. He traveled to Fatima the next year to offer his thanks in person. The Marian jubilee will offer pilgrims the chance to cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and partake in a prayer vigil at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome — considered the oldest Marian shrine in the West. The Jubilee will be only the fourth time the statue has left the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima for Rome. The first occasion was in 1984 when St. John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It returned during the Holy Year 2000 and again in 2013 for the Year of Faith, which marked 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
uThe U.S. Supreme Court allows a pause to payments on already completed foreign aid work, for now. Chief Justice John Roberts granted the Trump administration’s request late Feb. 26 to pause a lower court’s midnight deadline for the government to resume more than $1.5 billion in foreign aid payments
for already completed aid work that have been suspended for several weeks, a pause impacting some Catholic entities. The brief administrative order did not address any of the underlying legal issues in the case. However, it will allow the Supreme Court time to conduct a review. Shortly after his second inauguration, President Donald Trump issued a wide-ranging pause on foreign aid. Within weeks, his administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government’s humanitarian aid agency in countries all over the globe. Rollbacks to USAID have already impacted the work of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S., and other faith-based entities around the globe that have partnered with USAID in their work abroad. CRS was USAID’s top non-governmental organization recipient for fiscal years 2013-2022 at $4.6 billion.
uPew: U.S. Christianity downturn is leveling, but Catholics suffer the “greatest net losses.”
A multiyear decline in Christianity in the United States may have leveled off, but trends indicating a long-term decline are still in evidence, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. On Feb. 26, Pew released the results of its 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, which polled nearly 37,000 U.S. adults on a range of topics regarding religious belief and practice, as well as issues such as abortion, homosexuality, immigration and the role of government. The extensive report showed that 19% of the nation identifies as Catholic, although just 29% of that number attend religious services weekly or more often. It also showed that for every one person received into the Catholic Church, another 8.4 individuals have left the faith, either altogether or for another worship tradition. In addition, support among U.S. Catholics for legalized abortion, homosexuality and other stances at odds with Church teaching has increased over the past decade and a half. Catholics have also “experienced the greatest net losses” due to what Pew researchers called “religious switching,” with 43% of the people raised Catholic no longer identifying as such, “meaning that 12.8% of all U.S. adults are former Catholics,” said the report.
uPope Francis establishes a commission to boost donations to the Holy See. “To support the service of the Apostolic See and considering the current economic situation,” Pope Francis established a permanent Vatican commission dedicated to boosting donations to the Holy See through targeted campaigns. The newly created “Commission of Donations for the Holy See” will “encourage donations by means of special campaigns among the faithful, episcopal conferences and other potential benefactors, emphasizing their importance for the mission and the charitable works of the apostolic see,” read a decree instituting the commission. Signed by the pope and dated Feb. 11, three days before Pope Francis was hospitalized, the decree was released by the Vatican Feb. 26. The commission also will “find funding from willing donors for specific projects presented by the institutions of the Roman Curia and the Governorate of Vatican City State,” the decree said. Additionally, the commission will coordinate other existing avenues of fundraising for the Holy See, such as the financial assistance offered by bishops as stipulated in canon 1271, as well as Peter’s Pence — a collection taken up in parishes each year that supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the pope.
uThe U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear abortion clinic “bubble zone” challenges. The Supreme Court will not hear a pair of cases that may have allowed sidewalk counselors and protesters at abortion clinics to get as close as 8 feet away from people entering them. The decision denying review of the case was announced Feb. 24. In a pair of cases, lawyers for Jeryl Turco, a Catholic sidewalk counselor, and the St. Louis-based Coalition Life asked the justices to overturn the court’s 2000 precedent in Hill v. Colorado. In that decision, the Supreme Court upheld a state law making it unlawful for any person within 100 feet of an abortion clinic entrance to “knowingly approach” within 8 feet of another person, without that person’s consent, in order to do sidewalk counseling.
u A judge blocks a policy permitting ICE arrests at some places of worship. A federal judge in Maryland halted a Trump administration policy rescinding long-standing restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals for a group of faith communities who sued in response. The judge’s action means that about 1,700 places of worship associated with the plaintiffs’ organizations in 35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will be temporarily spared from immigration enforcement operations in their places of worship. The policy change, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, was among the Trump administration’s immigration actions criticized by the U.S. bishops’ conference.
u A silent genocide is unfolding in Congo, Church sources warn. A brutal massacre in the North Kivu province of eastern Congo, which left 70 people beheaded by Islamists in a Protestant church on Feb. 15, has drawn international condemnation. The victims, mostly women, children, and the elderly, were killed by the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia linked to the Islamic State group. The attack, described as an egregious violation of human rights, highlights a broader, long-running crisis in the region, with some Catholic sources calling it a “silent genocide” reminiscent of the 1994 Rwandan massacre. For decades, eastern Congo has been plagued by conflict, fueled by competition for valuable minerals like cobalt and coltan. This violence has resulted in the death of over 6 million people since the mid-1990s. The ADF and other rebel groups continue to terrorize communities, forcing many to flee their homes. During his visit to Congo and in South Sudan Jan. 31-Feb. 5, Pope Francis referred to the Congo violence as an overlooked genocide perpetrated by generations of exploiters, plunderers and power-hungry groups. “Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered,” he said during the trip.
uThe Knights of Columbus mark 125 years of patriotic degree at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization celebrated the 125th anniversary of its patriotic fourth degree with an exemplification ceremony, Mass, and unveiling of a statue of Knights of Columbus founder Blessed Michael J. McGivney at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The day-long event Feb. 22 marked 125 years to the day — in the city where the first such dedication took place — where Catholic men committed themselves not only to being good men of faith but good citizens of their country.
By D.D. Emmons OSV News
The Way of the Cross is one of the most personal, meditative and graphic of any Catholic devotion. We spiritually join Jesus on the “via dolorosa” (sorrowful way) leading to the place of the skull, suffering with him as he struggles to carry the cross on that first Good Friday.
The crack of the Roman’s whip, the jeers of the mob, the sobs of his followers, fill our ears. We see him fall, see the executioner strip his clothes, nail him to the cross and raise him to die. After witnessing his torture and pain, all that he willingly endured for our salvation, we pledge never again to cause him such agony.
“I love you my beloved Jesus; I love you more than myself; I repent with my whole heart for having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again. Grant that I may love you always; and do with me what you will.” Those words of St. Alphonsus Liguori echo in our hearts, calling us to follow our Master, to walk, to pray the Way of the Cross again and again.
Widely called “The Stations” and popular during Lent, this beautiful devotion is not limited by a season or single day like Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday or Good Friday.
The 14 stations are not removed from the church walls at the end of Lent or Easter; they remain as a constant reminder of Jesus’ total sacrifice, a sacrifice from which we never distance ourselves.
Frequently and piously walking with him, contemplating his suffering and sharing our crosses, especially when we feel abandoned or in despair, gives us courage and hope. Throughout the year, especially on Friday afternoons, we often find Catholics humbly praying the stations. This perfect prayer conforms us to the one crucified. Isaiah wrote, “The Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all” (53:6).
A beautiful Catholic book from 1908 titled “From Our Church, Her Children and Institutions” suggests graces that the Stations of the Cross bring: “You feel no devotion to the passion of Christ? Make the stations. You feel no contrition for your sins? Make the stations. You are getting lukewarm and sluggish? Make the stations. You cannot pray or meditate? Make the stations. You have no relish for mortification? Make the stations.”
The Church offers us a plenary indulgence when we walk the Way of the Cross. We can make this walk alone or, in crowded conditions, remain in our pew while someone else publicly leads the devotion.
A cross at each station is required, and most churches include a picture or tableaux to assist our meditation. It is necessary to be in a state of grace, have the intention of gaining the indulgence and performing the devotion while moving between, pausing and
Mary: The perfect Lenten companion
The season of Lent directs us to recall our own baptism and prepare for the celebration of the paschal mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. It is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and it helps us grow closer to Jesus.
In celebrating Lent and in every season of the liturgical year, it is good to recall the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, that the “Church honors with special love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son.”
“In her,” the council fathers wrote, “the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be” (“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” No. 103).
Mary is the perfect companion for Lent, and Lent is a perfect time to deepen our love, knowledge and veneration of the mother of God. Lent is also a season of conversion, and
The Way of the Cross: Not only
here, too, we receive great help from Mary who, as the mother of Mercy, points us to her divine son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to reconcile sinners to himself (cf. Lk 5:31-32).
In his general audience on Ash Wednesday in 2014, Pope Francis highlighted the special protection and help of the Blessed Virgin for the journey of Lent: “On this journey, we want to invoke with special trust the protection and help of the Virgin Mary: May she, who was the first to believe in Christ, accompany us in our days of intense prayer and penance, so that we might come to celebrate, purified and renewed in spirit, the great paschal mystery of her Son.”
These words of Pope Francis help us to appreciate one reason why Mary is the perfect companion for Lent: She is the model of the perfect disciple because she entrusted herself completely to God.
At the Annunciation, Mary tells the angel: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). In 1974, Pope Paul VI taught that Mary is “worthy of imitation because she was the first and the most perfect of Christ’s disciples” (“Marialis Cultus,” No. 35).
In his Angelus address for the second Sunday of Lent in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted Mary as the model of believers who listen attentively to God: “The Virgin
Mary herself, among all human creatures the closest to God, still had to walk day after day in a pilgrimage of faith, constantly guarding and meditating on in her heart the Word that God addressed to her through holy Scripture and through the events of the life of her Son, in whom she recognized and welcomed the Lord’s mysterious voice. And so, this is the gift and duty for each one of us during the season of Lent: to listen to Christ, like Mary. To listen to him in his Word, contained in Sacred Scripture. To listen to him in the events of our lives, seeking to decipher in them the messages of Providence.”
At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary told the servers: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). In a similar way, Mary directs us all to be faithful to Christ, her divine son. If we wish to draw closer to Christ during Lent, there is no better way than by entrusting ourselves to Mary, our spiritual mother.
As our spiritual mother, Mary not only leads us to Christ, but she also protects and guides us from sin. Lent is a perfect time to renew our devotion to Mary as our spiritual mother who cares for us in the midst of challenges and difficulties.
One of the oldest known prayers to Mary is known as the “Sub Tuum Praesidium” (“Under Thy Protection”), which goes back to the third or fourth century. One
translation of it reads: “We protection, O Holy Mother despise our petitions in our but deliver us always from Glorious and Blessed Virgin.
Because Lent is a time to sin, it is also an ideal time gift that Our Lord himself his own mother as our mother dying on the cross (Jn 19:25-27).
St. John Paul II recognized Mary as mother not only disciple but to all of the faithful.
Mary’s spiritual motherhood for the “Marian dimension” each of the disciples of Christ. wrote in 1987: “The Marian the life of a disciple of Christ in a special way precisely entrusting to the Mother of began with the testament on Golgotha. Entrusting himself in a filial manner, the Christian, Apostle John, ‘welcomes’ Christ ‘into his own home’ into everything that makes (“Redemptoris Mater,” No. Lent is a time to deepen life, and Mary provides the of prayer in her canticle, known Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55). This expresses the attitudes of
GUEST COLUMN | ROBERT FASTIGGI
for Lent
“We fly to Thy Mother of God; Do not our necessities, from all dangers, O Virgin. Amen.” to turn away from time to recognize the gave us, giving us mother while he was 19:25-27). Pope recognized that Jesus gave to the beloved faithful. motherhood is the basis dimension” of the life of Christ. John Paul II Marian dimension of Christ is expressed through this filial of Christ, which of the Redeemer himself to Mary Christian, like the the Mother of home’ and brings her makes up his inner life” No. 45). our prayer the best example known as the This canticle praise, gratitude
meditating on Our Lord’s passion and death at each station.
Additionally, one must go to confession, be free from all sin including venial sin, receive holy Communion and pray for the intentions of the pope — all on or near the day of the devotion. Catholics unable to participate in walking the Way of the Cross may receive an indulgence if they spend a minimum of 30 minutes praying and meditating on Christ’s passion.
According to legend, the first person after Jesus to visit the sites of Christ’s passion was the Blessed Mother. Of course, others wanted to go to those holy places, but the Romans were still occupying Jerusalem and persecuting anyone who was a follower of Jesus.
For centuries, access to the holy sites was limited because nonChristians were frequently in control of the city. Even if security was not an issue, many living outside Palestine couldn’t make a long, arduous journey to get to the Holy Land.
During the 11th century, the crusaders returned Jerusalem back to the Christians, and churches, shrines and other memorials began to appear reflecting the route Christ took to Calvary.
Whether or not this route was exactly where Jesus was forced to carry his cross is uncertain, as the city was destroyed in 70 A.D.
By the Middle Ages, pilgrims mostly were doing a walking tour of the holy sites that often started on Calvary and went back to Pilate’s home, where Christ’s sentencing took place. Around 1458, an Englishman named William Wey is alleged to have walked his pilgrimage to Calvary beginning at Pilate’s residence and made stops, offered prayers and meditations at the different shrines and memorials along the way. He dubbed the stops as halting places or stations; thus the name, Stations of the Cross.
Christians who couldn’t visit Jerusalem began locally to erect replicas of the holy sites based on information from people who had been to the city, such as the crusaders. Initially there was no continuity or standardization among these structures; some included as many as 37 stops, others as few as seven. Finally, in 1731, Pope Clement XII established the number of stations as 14.
In 1991, Pope St. John Paul II introduced a version of this devotion based entirely on the Scriptures. All 14 stations and the accompanying meditations can be found in the Bible. The Scriptural Stations are an alternative to the traditional Way of the Cross.
No discussion of the Way of the Cross is complete without some comment on the Stabat Mater (Latin for “the standing mother”), the hymn traditionally sung in between each of the stations. When singing the mournful verses, we experience the heartbreak of Mary as she watches her innocent Son go to his death. Widely acclaimed, there are at least 60 translations of this hymn, which contains 20 verses. A 13th-century Franciscan named Jocopone da Toddy often is credited with writing this song.
and humility that are at the heart of all authentic prayer to God. St. Paul VI speaks of Mary as “the virgin in prayer” who “praises the Lord unceasingly and intercedes for the salvation of the world” (“Marialis Cultus,” No. 18). As our spiritual mother, Mary not only teaches us how to pray, but she prays for us “now and at the hour of our death.”
In the Gospel of Luke, Simeon told Mary that her heart would be pierced so that “the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Lk 2:35). This prophecy was fulfilled during Christ’s passion when Mary stood beneath the cross witnessing her Son’s crucifixion (Jn 19:25-27). Vatican II tells us that Mary “faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth” (“Lumen Gentium,” No. 58).
Lent, along with the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sept. 15, is also a special time for venerating Mary as our sorrowful mother. This is done in the Stations of the Cross, which often includes the singing of parts of the medieval hymn the “Stabat Mater,” whose most memorable verses are: “At the cross her station keeping, Stood the
THE 14 TRADITIONAL STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Permanently affixed, the 14 stations adorn parishes around the world. They are visible reminders of the last hours of Christ on Earth, but, moreover, the Way of the Cross is symbolic of our lifelong journey filled with difficulties and marked with personal crosses. Unlike the followers of Christ on that Good Friday, we know that the 14th station is not the end, that death does not win; rather, in his sacrifice, we find the sure knowledge of eternal life.
Some of the 14 traditional stations are not found in the Gospels but have been passed down through tradition:
First Station: Jesus is condemned to death (Mk 15:6-15).
Second Station: Jesus carries his cross (Jn 19:15-17).
Third Station: Jesus falls the first time.
Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother.
Fifth Station: Simon the Cyrene is made to bear the cross (Mk 15:21).
Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time.
Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem (Lk 23:27-31).
Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time.
Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments (Mt 27:35, Lk 23:34).
Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross (Lk 23:33-43).
Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross (Lk 23:44-46).
Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross (Jn 19: 38).
Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb (Jn 19: 38-42).
While the three falls of Jesus are not found in the Gospels, it is likely that he fell from the weight of the cross beam, which typically weighed more than 100 pounds, and because of his weakened condition from the scourging. That Jesus met his mother as he struggled along is most probable since she was always near him; finally, that some brave Christian stepped out of the crowd to wipe the blood, spit and sweat from his face also is likely.
— D.D. Emmons
mournful Mother weeping, Close to Jesus to the last. Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, All his bitter anguish bearing, Now at length the sword had pass’d. Oh, how sad and sore distress’d. Was that mother highly blest, Of the sole-begotten One!”
Because Lent points to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows assumes particular importance. But even under the cross, Mary remains a teacher and a model. She shows how all the faithful, like her, can unite their sufferings to the passion of Christ for the redemption of the world.
Mary’s “unique contribution to the Gospel of suffering” (described by St. John Paul II in “Salvific Doloris”) shows us that suffering is not meaningless. Lent is a special time to remember the sorrows of Mary and to join ourselves to her in offering her divine Son “in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world” (Chaplet of Divine Mercy). There is no better companion for the journey of Lent than Mary. As she leads us closer to Jesus, she will be — as we pray in the “Salve Regina” — “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.”
Fastiggi is a professor of systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He is former president of the Mariological Society of America.
WALK WITH MARY
While the Stations of the Cross are well known, there is the parallel pious exercise known as the “Via Matris” or “way of Mary.”
This devotion centers on the seven sorrows (or dolors) of Mary, which have a sure Scriptural foundation: One, the prophecy of Simeon (Lk 2:34–35); two, the flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13); three, the loss of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:43–45); four, the meeting of Jesus and Mary on the way to Calvary (Lk 23:27); five, the crucifixion of Jesus (Jn 19:25); six, the descent of Jesus from the cross (Mt 27: 57–59); and seven, the burial of Jesus (Jn 19: 40–42).
The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2002, states that the “Via Matris” harmonizes well “with certain themes that are proper to the Lenten season.” It also notes that the Via Matris provides “stages on the journey of faith and sorrow on which the Virgin Mary has preceded the Church, and in which the Church journeys until the end of time.”
— Robert Fastiggi
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FAITH+CULTURE
Belinda Jensen nears retirement, leans on faith
By Christina Capecchi
For The Catholic Spirit
At 56, KARE 11’s chief meteorologist Belinda Jensen is nearing several milestones. This spring, her eldest child graduates from college and her youngest child graduates from Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park. She’s also planning for her retirement, having logged 32 years at KARE 11 and more than 35 in the industry.
“It’s really exciting,” said Jensen, who attends Our Lady of Grace in Edina and is married to David. “I want to speak more, encourage kids to get into science, speak on STEM, possibly write more books, travel.”
She’s also planning to auction off all her signature coats to support a food shelf. “It’s a funny thing people ask me about. For six months out of the year, that’s my uniform. They’re literally jammed into a coat closet. You can barely get them out when you want to pull one out.”
Q You grew up in rural Prescott, and spending your childhood outdoors laid the foundation for your career in meteorology. Did it also cultivate your faith?
A I don’t think I’ve come to that conclusion until now. Now I yearn for the peace and tranquility of even just walking the dog or getting outside. It makes you feel so much better, so it’s obviously Godly.
Q Your dad, who died in 2023, was a nature lover.
A Ever since he died, I’m feeding the birds like crazy. I know a lot more about them now. He blessed me with a love of birds.
Q You’ve become a beloved personality here.
A I don’t have a different façade when I’m on TV. That comes with flaws, that comes with being real and making mistakes and correcting yourself and laughing at yourself. I think people get a sense of that and mostly people here in this part of the country have no time for fake people or those who have a TV persona. They can’t sink their teeth into what you’re saying because they don’t believe it.
Weather is tangible. It affects everybody, every day. “Don’t forget you’re going to run into snow when you drive up to Grandma’s house.” I’m going to help you plan your day. A lot of news is alarming. My three minutes (that) I get in the middle of the broadcast is really important. Even if you’re forecasting freezing rain, you need to keep a smile on your face. You’re the one part of the news that can be upbeat.
I believe I was put in that position for a reason. It’s something that I can do, and I know how to do it, and it’s easy for me. I think God put me there.
Q What helps you deal with the scrutiny that comes with being in the spotlight?
A At first, it’s kind of hard, when you’re young. You get really affected by it. Then you grow some thick skin. If a person reaches out with a comment,
even if it’s not constructive or has a mean tone, you just have to chalk it up to the fact that they cared enough to watch and write. They’re invested. What I have done over the years is I’ll respond (to critical viewers). They don’t expect you to respond. Once you respond, they soften up quite a bit and they usually apologize. If it’s constructive, I write back, “Thanks for commenting, and thanks for watching.” And if it’s really mean, I’ll send a nice response and then they usually just crumble. They can’t believe you responded and then they’re super embarrassed. Sometimes I don’t think they realize you’re just sitting in your office reading it.
Q Do you feel pressure to look young, being on TV?
A Oh yeah. That’s for sure. The camera’s pretty unforgiving. There are not enough filters. There’s some maintenance that you have to keep up on.
Being pregnant twice was super fun. You get the funniest comments: “Your stomach is covering Wisconsin! Back up!”
Q What has helped you cope?
A There were a number of women ahead of me who I watched move through their decades gracefully. Plus staying healthy and staying in shape allows you to do this job and stay happy. You want to do that for a number of reasons, but it does help with television, too.
There’s only so much you can do. You just have to be yourself and age gracefully and try not to overdo it.
Q How do you lean on your faith?
A My faith has been a little bit of a rollercoaster over the years. I would go in and out. I’m leaning on it a lot more than I did before. It’s been a reawakening for me.
After my dad died, a friend asked me to come with her to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship, an interdenominational program). I go every Wednesday. We’re currently reading Revelation. It’s a lot to swallow and the imagery is scary, but it’s also hopeful — remembering that you’re saved, and he has you, he has a place for you.
Q You’ve been able to share your faith in subtle ways, like the silent retreat you and Julie Nelson (a KARE 11 news anchor) attended at Pacem in Terris, the Catholic retreat center in Isanti.
A It’s a beautiful place. I love that we were able to do that story and highlight the fact that we both have a strong faith. I’m also blessed to have an amazing sister with great devotion to her faith. She’s been a great role model to me and has checked me a number of times in my life: Are you sure you want that? Is that really where your heart is?
Q Does going to Mass put everything in perspective?
A Yes! Father Kevin (Finnegan, pastor of Our Lady of Grace) is amazing. We’re lucky to have him. And I understand that, big time. I always enjoy being there.
Q What have you learned from Father Finnegan?
A He doesn’t take things too seriously. He’s always got a bit of a comedic twist and he’s very self-deprecating. He’s a great leader. He’s such a people person. Even when people bring visitors to Mass, like elderly parents, he makes a point to connect with them. That really matters.
Q Do you have a go-to prayer or favorite hymn?
A My mom gave me the peace prayer of St. Francis (of Assisi) that I keep in my prayer.
Q “Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, light.” That suits you! Do you have any advice on raising a teenage girl?
A I don’t have a lot. I’m not winning that game.
Don’t be their friend. Kids need boundaries, even when they fight it. They don’t want them, but they absolutely need them.
Q What do you know for sure?
A I like when things are secure and battened down — oh, this is the pattern, this is the plan. But there are seasons of life, and as soon as you get settled in, the winds will change. I know for sure you have to be adaptable and ready for change. Try not to have a lot of worry wrapped around it. Try to think of it as exciting. Trust that God has figured out the path for you and will lead you in the right direction.
PHOTO COURTESY KARE 11
‘Faith as real as the people who practice it’: Short story collection set in Brazil paints vivid picture
“Padre Raimundo’s Army and Other Stories” by Arthur Powers. Wiseblood Books. (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 2021). 201 pp., $15.
Located almost exclusively in Brazil yet spanning several decades, Arthur Powers’ 2021 short story collection, “Padre Raimundo’s Army and Other Stories” makes real the truth that faith without works is dead — and likewise, just how alive a faith lived through works truly is. Drawn from his own experiences of life in Brazil over the latter half of the 20th century, first as a volunteer in the Peace Corps and then as a lawyer working with the Church’s land reform efforts, Powers’ presentations of the nation and its people in these 17 short stories insist on their own reality. His descriptions are almost tangible; from upperclass households to the slums of Rio de Janeiro, rural villages to city plazas and expat bars, Powers’ ability
to evoke a world the reader may well have never seen has an undeniable authenticity.
That authenticity is not limited to a sense of location; time, too, is given its due, as each story is preceded by a date, informing the readers of where exactly in history they are about to find themselves. Politics — labor politics especially — mark the setting for the majority of stories in the collection, with many taking place in the context of the Catholic Church’s work in the Amazon to organize networks of farmers, lawyers, religious and laypeople against “grileiros” — unscrupulous land-grabbers willing to use fraud and violence to seize valuable land from local communities. Other stories feature revolutionaries against the military dictatorship which controlled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, or immigrants with histories affected by the Mozambique war for independence or the annexation of Albania by fascist Italy.
experiences. The focus remains on the individuals who populate the narratives, even in the midst of the great conflicts that buffet them.
If what sets these stories apart from other works of Catholic fiction is their rootedness in the reality of political and economic inequality, then what sets them apart from works of merely political fiction is their rootedness in faith.
It is a testament to Powers’ command of narrative and character that these highly charged settings neither reduce the stories to uncomplicated political screeds, nor are treated as mere window-dressing. Political acts are motivated by personal commitments — farmers at risk of losing their land make hard choices, priests act against the powers that be on behalf of their flock. Likewise, personal choices are frequently motivated by political circumstances — families are torn apart by differing responses to oppression, economic inequality spurs desperation and rash decisions. Yet in each story the characters themselves are central; the reader sees the world through their eyes, their biases, their faith (or lack thereof) and their lived
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With a QCD, you direct your RMD to your parish or favorite charity. If your parish has a permanent endowment, your QCD can easily become a legacy gift.
Woven through these narratives, sometimes as a house of refuge or a source of fortitude, sometimes as the seat of judgment and concomitant mercy, stands the Church. What is most striking in Powers’ depiction of Catholicism is the way in which it is a source of moral strength; no merely intellectual expression of religion is to be found here, but rather a solid, practical conviction of who God is and how he wants his children to live, in the concrete circumstances of their own lives. That is not to say the path of a faith truly lived is easy — both martyrdoms of charity and the long, hard road of death to self can be found in these pages — but these stories show time and again that it is a path worth taking.
Written out of a lifetime of experience, Powers’ “Padre Raimundo’s Army and Other Stories” is a sincere and serious reflection on faith that is as real as the people who practice it. Whether in circumstances difficult, beautiful, painful or humorous, this collection insists, God is invested in the lives of his people, and in how they choose to live.
Reichert is publications administrative coordinator at The Catholic Spirit. She can be reached at
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FOCUSONFAITH
SCRIPTURES | FATHER CHAD VANHOOSE
Consuming and grasping God’s word
How many times have you walked out of Mass and realized you couldn’t remember anything about it? The Scripture readings, the homily, and all of the prayers went in one ear and out the other.
This is a common experience for Mass-goers, because it’s a common experience of life! We only retain about 5% of what we hear, and we seem to rely less and less upon our memories. Think of all the information that once filled massive libraries that is now instantly accessible on devices we carry in our pockets and purses. You might remember a few phone numbers, poems and quotes you memorized as a kid, but the saying is true: if you don’t use it, you lose it.
As we begin the yearly discipline of Lent, we each want to draw closer to God. In recent years, many Catholics have returned to sacred Scripture through programs like “The Bible in a Year.” The Mass readings for the First Sunday of Lent highlight the importance of a regular diet of God’s Word. Even the verse before the Gospel from Deuteronomy 8:3 uses this analogy of consumption: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Just as we eat a variety of foods to maintain healthy bodies, so the health of our souls and spiritual lives depends on a balanced reception of God’s word. Whatever we starve gets smaller, and whatever we feed gets bigger!
The Navigators, a Christian ministry, developed a helpful discipleship tool called “the Word Hand” which highlights the five ways we can receive and grasp the word of God in sacred Scripture. Each method corresponds with a finger, beginning with the pinky; collectively the fingers work together to form a grip on God’s word.
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
Validating the call to the priesthood
Once a man feels that God is calling him to become a priest, he does not automatically enter the seminary. There is a careful screening process.
The man’s perceived call must be validated by the Church to determine if the call is authentic and truly from God. An inquiry is made among the people of God to see if he has a good reputation and is filled with the Spirit and wisdom (see Acts 6:3) and to see if he has the intellectual aptitude, the emotional stability, the physical health and the social wherewithal to serve as a priest.
The first step for someone who feels called to the priesthood is to contact the vocations director of the diocese or religious order, either by letter, email, telephone call or in person, to schedule an intake interview. The first meeting is a get-acquainted session to learn about the candidate’s family, faith, regularity with the sacraments, education, community service and work experience. The candidate shares a brief version of his call story and explains how he has experienced God calling him to the priesthood. If the candidate is a convert to the Catholic faith, he must be a Catholic for at least two years before proceeding to the next step. After the initial meeting, if the vocations director believes the person is a good candidate, he invites the candidate to begin the application process.
The application is written, lengthy and comprehensive. The applicant provides basic information about his family and education, as well as details about his prayer life, involvement at his parish, and what the sacraments mean to him. The two major
1. Hearing (pinky): You hear the Scripture proclaimed at Mass, but do you listen attentively? Maybe you could listen to “The Bible in a Year” podcast at least once a week instead of listening to music on your daily commute.
2. Reading (ring finger): A regular reading of the Bible is another way to receive God’s word, increasing retention to 15%. Reading along in a missalette with the lector at Mass can be helpful. Additionally, I would suggest reading the Mass readings before arriving at Sunday Mass and again later in the day to reinforce God’s word and the graces from the homily.
3. Studying (middle finger): The Bible is by far the most read and studied ancient text. It is a compilation of many individual books written by many human authors and inspired by one Divine Author. Immersing yourself in the worldview of the Bible brings greater understanding and knowledge that can deepen your faith. Many study editions of the Bible and other Catholic Bible study resources are available to help us go deeper into God’s word.
4. Memorizing (pointer finger): The discipline of Scripture memorization hides God’s word in our hearts; it is a game changer in living a life rooted in God. In this Sunday’s selection of his letter to the Romans, St. Paul quotes Scripture twice, from Deuteronomy and Isaiah. In Sunday’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus himself quotes three times from Deuteronomy to combat the enemy. We retain 100% of what we memorize and regularly review, making this the strongest method and most useful against temptations, doubts and fears.
5. Meditation (thumb): Meditating and praying with Scripture accompanies each of the other four methods. This discipline helps us know God’s word and in turn, know God and his love for us.
This Lent, let’s consume the Scriptures, so that we can have a better grasp on God’s word and the mystery of his love.
Father VanHoose is chaplain at NET Ministries in West St. Paul.
components of the application are an essay and an autobiography. The essay is on the priesthood and how the applicant is experiencing God calling him to the priesthood, and the detailed autobiography covers his family, schoolwork, friendships, interests and activities and employment history. Also included with the application are the person’s sacramental records (baptism, first Communion and confirmation); a doctor’s physical; and a list of three references including a parent, his pastor and a work supervisor.
After the application is complete, the candidate has a formal interview with the vocations director for an in-depth reflection on his essay on the priesthood, his experience of God’s call to priestly ministry and his autobiography. This is followed by a psychological evaluation, and once the candidate’s good mental health is confirmed, the vocations director prepares a letter of recommendation for the appropriate seminary, either the college seminary if the candidate does not have an undergraduate degree, or the graduate school of theology. Each seminary has its own application process, and the documents assembled by the vocations director are submitted to the admissions committee for review.
Once admitted to the seminary, the seminarian receives regular advice and progress reports from his formation director and professors, and he undergoes a thorough evaluation each year. Input and recommendations are provided by the faculty, formation directors and seminary staff, as well as from his teaching parish pastor and the members of his teaching parish committee. After years of observation and interaction, the evaluators are able to assess the seminarian’s virtue and holiness, intelligence, emotional health and pastoral skills, and can determine if the seminarian will be of use to the Church and validate the seminarian’s call by God to be a priest. The rector recommends the seminarian for ordination, and his bishop makes the final decision.
Father Van Sloun is the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of holy orders.
DAILY Scriptures
Sunday, March 9 First Sunday of Lent
Dt 26:4-10
Rom 10:8-13 Lk 4:1-13
Monday, March 10 Lev 19:1-2, 11-18 Mt 25:31-46
Tuesday, March 11 Is 55:10-11 Mt 6:7-15
Wednesday, March 12 Jon 3:1-10 Lk 11:29-32
Thursday, March 13
Esth C:12, 14-16, 23-25 Mt 7:7-12
Friday, March 14
Ezek 18:21-28 Mt 5:20-26
Saturday, March 15 Dt 26:16-19 Mt 5:43-48
Sunday, March 16 Second Sunday of Lent Gn 15:5-12, 17-18 Phil 3:17 — 4:1 Lk 9:28b-36
Monday, March 17 Dan 9:4b-10 Lk 6:36-38
Tuesday, March 18 Is 1:10, 16-20 Mt 23:1-12
Wednesday, March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Sam 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22 Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a
Thursday, March 20 Jer 17:5-10 Lk 16:19-31
Friday, March 21 Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a Mt 21:33-43, 45-46
Saturday, March 22 Mic 7:14-15, 18-20 Lk 15:1-3, 11-32
Sunday, March 23 Third Sunday of Lent Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 Lk 13:1-9
KNOW the SAINTS
STS. PERPETUA AND FELICITY (died 203) Martyrs in Carthage, now in Tunisia, these young women — the noblewoman Perpetua and the slave Felicity — were among five catechumens who, after refusing to worship the Roman emperor, were arrested and condemned to be thrown to wild beasts. They were baptized in prison, where Felicity also gave birth to a daughter. In the Carthage arena, they were attacked by a beast, which did not kill them, so their throats were cut by a gladiator. Their feast day is March 7. –– OSV
ECHOES OF CATHOLIC MINNESOTA | REBA LUIKEN
Mother Seraphine Ireland left her mark across 3 states
It was 9 in the morning and sunlight streamed down on the tall dome of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 25, 1930. The air was filled with incense and the sounds of a Mass sung by more than 15 priests stationed in the sanctuary and a choir of Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in the loft. The casket of Mother Seraphine Ireland, who died at age 88, rested in the center aisle with tall candles flickering on each side and surrounded by sisters fingering their rosaries. Archbishop Austin Dowling presided, not just because Mother Seraphine was the sister of his predecessor, Archbishop John Ireland, but because she had been a mother to the city.
The Ireland family fled Ireland in 1850 and settled in St. Paul when Mother Seraphine, then Ellen, was 10. Responding to a direct call from Bishop Joseph Cretin, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet at 16 and took the name Sister Seraphine. At first, Sister Seraphine was a teacher, becoming the principal at thenSt. Joseph’s Academy in St. Paul only three years after she was among its first class of graduates. She was known as a voracious reader and a born teacher with a passion for English and social studies. Mathematics was not her best subject and accounting would never be her strength. She was well-respected by her sisters. She was elected as the provincial superior of St. Paul in 1882, and her sisters reelected her as superior 12 times until changes to Church law forced them to choose someone new. She had served for 39 years. Under her leadership, the size of the congregation more than quadrupled from 160
Listening as loving: More than ‘good job’
I compliment by nature. Giving sincere, spontaneous compliments feels as comfortable to me as remarking on the weather –– and brings me more joy.
In high school, friends would quote my catchphrase “way to be.”
On my wedding day, I relished the chance to compliment guests on how nice they looked. If I’m thinking a favorable thought about the person I’m talking to, I almost always say it.
So, the contemporary parenting advice to avoid excessive praise gave me pause. Hold off on saying “good job”? Dial back the compliments? It felt counterintuitive. I decided to dig deeper.
Sure enough, there is solid logic behind the advice. Excessive praise can make a child reliant on external validation versus intrinsic motivation. What seems to grease the wheels best is to emphasize effort, not outcome. Rather than compliment the perfect score on a spelling test, praise the decision to study every day. Instead of gushing over how realistic a drawing is, credit the amount of time it took to complete the background. The former sparks panic. “Can I recreate this excellent drawing or was it a one-hit wonder?” The latter feels like something that can be replicated. “Yes, I can control how much time I spend shading in this sketch.”
I accepted this bit of advice. I still say, “It looks great!” But now I’m quick to shift the focus. “I love how you took your time on the grass.” Or “You chose such
sisters to nearly 700. She worked with many projects, including five hospitals and one of the first Catholic women’s colleges in the country. Along the way, there were unsuccessful projects, but they dropped out of mind for Mother Seraphine. She did not dwell on failure and expected others not to raise the subject.
The sisters’ fundraising to support their hospitals, schools and orphanages was constant and ranged from begging, to painting copies of masterworks, to promoting Archbishop Ireland’s book in exchange for its royalties. Still, the sisters sometimes lived in such poverty that they could not afford milk. Mother Seraphine was known for her willingness to dream on a grand scale and her tendency to plunge into projects, even when finances were uncertain. More practical sisters rallied in her wake to prevent financial disaster.
As leader of the St. Paul Province, Mother Seraphine oversaw sisters across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. She loved travel and made it a point to visit each establishment under her care every year. May 1903 brought her to visit the fledgling St. John’s Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, which had opened in the former bishop’s residence in 1900. In characteristic fashion, she decided a new structure was needed, more than quadrupling the size of the facility. It would cost $50,000 (worth more than $1.8 million today) and was followed two years later by a training school and nurses’ residence across the street.
Back in St. Paul, Mother Seraphine lived at St. Joseph’s Academy on Marshall Avenue for most of her life. This allowed her the daily pleasure of walking up the hill to the Cathedral for Mass, after it was finished in 1915. At her funeral there, Archbishop Dowling preached, “Nobody loved this Cathedral more than Mother Seraphine. She watched it grow under the hands of her brother, and she always said the realization of all her dreams was that her brother’s work should be accomplished.” She accomplished much in her own right, but, like many sisters, it was her desire not to be memorialized for her individual efforts.
Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.
interesting colors.”
It wasn’t until this month, when I read an article quoting a clinical psychologist on the topic of praise, that it finally clicked –– and I began to see it in a new light.
Saying “good job” –– my go-to two-syllable compliment –– is a conversation ender, explained Becky Kennedy. It teaches kids to “gaze out” for acceptance rather than “gaze in” on the process they used to accomplish the feat. Over time, Kennedy said, it can lead to “fragile” and “anxious” kids.
Replacing a conversation-ending compliment with a conversation-starting question builds confidence, she said. “How did you come up with that topic?” “What was it like drawing that?” These questions encourage a child to gaze in and evaluate a process that was, hopefully, enjoyable in its own right –– regardless of the outcome.
Kennedy’s final point resonated the most. She applied the approach to adults. Would you like your boss to simply say “good job” after a strong month of sales or would you prefer an open-ended question inquiring about what had worked well that month? Imagine visiting a friend’s house who just redecorated. “I love it! Good job!” initially sounds positive but ends the conversation. How much more fun would it be for your friend to hear: “I love it! How did you choose that paint color?” There’s likely a story about that paint color, and an open-ended question shakes it out in a way that a straightforward compliment never will. Suddenly, a question like that, posed with genuine interest, struck me not only as an effective reporter’s tool but as an innately Catholic response.
As Catholics, we believe in the inherent dignity of each person. Everyone, all walks of life, made in the image and likeness of God. This is a bedrock belief.
What we do with that belief is the interesting part ––
INSIDE THE CAPITOL | MCC
Sports gambling bill hits roadblock
With March Madness fast approaching, millions of Americans are gearing up to fill out brackets and place bets on NCAA tournament games. Unfortunately, for many, this isn’t just a casual office pool — it’s part of a growing sports betting industry that preys on vulnerable individuals, including young men and college students.
In a major win for protecting Minnesotans, the Senate State and Local Government Committee recently declined to advance SF757, a bill that would have legalized online sports gambling in the state. The vote ended in a 6-6 tie, effectively halting the bill’s progress. This outcome was a significant victory for those concerned about the serious harms associated with online sports gambling, including addiction, financial devastation and increased social costs.
A special thank-you is owed to the bipartisan group of six legislators who listened to the concerns of their constituents and opposed the bill. This includes Sens. Justin Eichorn, Erin Maye Quade, Mark Koran, Steve Drazkowski, Omar Fateh and Cal Bahr.
Among those who testified against the bill were Bishop Michael Izen and Father Kyle Etzel, both of whom raised urgent moral and societal concerns about the dangers of expanded gambling access.
Father Etzel, drawing from personal experience, shared a cautionary tale from his time as a parish pastor. A trusted bookkeeper at his parish became addicted to gambling, eventually embezzling nearly a million dollars to feed the addiction. The consequences were devastating — not only for the parish’s finances but also for the faith community that had placed its trust in this individual. While the individual used the funds for in-person betting, Father Etzel warned that the damage could have been even worse if online sports gambling had been available, making it easier to place bets anytime, anywhere.
Bishop Izen emphasized the predatory nature of online sports gambling, highlighting research showing that a small percentage of highly addicted users generate most of the industry’s profits. He pointed to the growing body of evidence from states that have legalized online sports betting, including spikes in gambling addiction, increased rates of domestic violence, and financial ruin for many families. He also noted the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s recent calls for a nationwide ban on in-game prop bets in collegiate sports due to concerns about game integrity and athlete harassment.
Although sports betting proponents argue that legalization would bring in tax revenue, the reality is that the social costs — bankruptcies, broken families and the strain on public services — far outweigh any financial gains for the state. The question remains: who truly benefits from legalizing online sports gambling? The answer is clear: the gambling industry, at the expense of Minnesotans.
As the excitement of March Madness builds, it is important to remember the real dangers of unchecked gambling expansion. Stopping SF757 in its tracks in committee is a small step in the right direction to protect Minnesotans from a predatory industry that thrives on addiction and loss.
Contact your state legislators online at mncatholic org/action_22689 and urge them to oppose any future attempts to legalize online sports gambling. Let them know that Minnesotans deserve protection from predatory industries, not policies that enable addiction and financial harm. Your voice can make a difference.
ALREADY/NOT
Reordering our loves this Lent
It’s not every day that a medieval theological concept enters the public discourse. But that’s what’s happened after Vice President JD Vance referred to the Latin ordo amoris (order of love) to justify the Trump administration’s immigration policy, with Pope Francis subsequently criticizing his interpretation.
Regardless, all the recent conversation about the order of love gives us an opportunity for thinking about how it applies to the moral life as we enter into Lent.
St. Augustine is the originator of this way of speaking about the importance of placing our love for different things in order, as he does in works like “The City of God” and “On Christian Doctrine.” St. Augustine taught that the whole definition of virtue, or living well, comes down to ordering love rightly. As he writes:
“Now he is a man of just and holy life who forms an unprejudiced estimate of things, and keeps his affections also under strict control, so that he neither loves what he ought not love, nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which ought to be loved less, nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or more, nor loves that less or more which ought to be loved equally.”
The “strict control” St. Augustine speaks of isn’t arbitrary. Ordering our loves isn’t about denying affection for some things simply as a masochistic act of self-mortification. Instead, virtue consists in ordering our love because it is reasonable to love some things more than others.
At the top of this hierarchy must be God, the creator of all things and love itself. St. Augustine then says that we are called to love ourselves, not selfishly, but in accord with our ultimate good in God. Love of others
At the top of this hierarchy must be God, the creator of all things and love itself. St. Augustine then says that we are called to love ourselves, not selfishly, but in accord with our ultimate good in God. Love of others as a reflection of our love of God follows. And the order is completed by speaking of love of the world, including its material things and temporal pleasures.
altogether, not just for Lent!). Instead, we give them up as a chance to properly reorder our love. To reset our ordo amoris, as it were.
Making sacrifices in Lent allows us to grow in detachment from the things of this world so that we can love God as he deserves to be loved. Relatedly, taking on additional practices of prayer or charity strengthens our love for both God and neighbor, which can all too easily be neglected in favor of pleasure and comfort.
As St. Augustine warns, so often sins occur “when we forget the order of things, and instead of (God,) love that which (God) has made.” Lent is a chance to renew our love for God first and foremost, and our love for everything and everyone else in light of him.
The great irony is that making these sacrifices actually helps us to love earthly things better. By growing in detachment, we can love created things as they are meant to be loved, instead of treating them like idols. It’s no coincidence that imbalanced affection for things like sugary sweets or social media (or even political outcomes) leads to all kinds of negative consequences for body and soul.
as a reflection of our love of God follows. And the order is completed by speaking of love of the world, including its material things and temporal pleasures.
So, what does this ordo amoris have to do with Lent?
Lent is a time of giving things up and making sacrifices. But we don’t give up things — whether they be chocolate, alcohol, social media usage or watching sports — because they are inherently bad (if something is inherently bad, we should give it up
since the beginning of our Church. It was at the Easter Vigil that people new to the faith became Christians, receiving the sacraments of baptism, Eucharist and confirmation.
Lent began on Ash Wednesday, March 5. We have 40 days to prepare ourselves for the Triduum by allowing God to purify us through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Lent is my favorite of the liturgical seasons of our Church because it offers an opportunity to be intentional about changing in ways that help me embrace holiness and virtue on a daily basis.
This year, we are not encumbered by any other feast or holiday. We have these 40 days to make an all-out effort to devote ourselves to necessary change. These changes will ideally help us become more focused on our faith and our purpose on this Earth: to live a holy and virtuous life and to spend eternity in heaven with God.
Lent has been part of our Catholic faith tradition
The forgiveness of sins was instituted by Christ (Jn 20:23), and the sacrament of reconciliation bestows great graces on us and helps us live holy, virtuous lives, given our human struggles and frailties. Lent is a time for introspection and turning back to holiness, a time for us to pause and evaluate the habits we have created, which may not be as holy and devout as Christ calls us to live. It is a time to ask ourselves if these habits are helping us become better people, prepared for our heavenly home, or if there is work to do. Lent is the time to contemplate these practices and determine if change is needed.
We open our hearts, minds and souls for this work through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. When we commit to a new habit of prayer during Lent, we might decide in favor of any number of activities, such as praying for five minutes at the end of the day or signing up for a time in the adoration chapel at church. We might decide to attend daily Mass during Lent. Or we might do the Ignatian daily examen: ignatianspirituality com/ignatian-prayer/theexamen/. Whatever it is, we are developing a new habit of talking to God and allowing him time and space to speak to us.
During Lent, we are also dedicated to fasting, which helps us create a space for God in our busy lives. We might fast from a favorite food, from using
With St. Augustine, let’s focus on resetting our order of loves this Lent, placing God on top. For, as this great saint writes, “a man is never in so good a state as when his whole life is a journey towards the unchangeable life, and his affections are entirely fixed upon that.”
Liedl lives in South Bend, Indiana, and is senior editor for the National Catholic Register. He is a former longtime resident of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, alum of the University of St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies graduate program and a current student at The St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity, both in St. Paul.
uWhat prayer practice will you incorporate? What fast will you commit to? What alms will you give?
some form of the internet, or checking a social media account on a regular basis throughout the day. We might choose to fast from negativity in our thoughts, words or actions.
We are also encouraged to incorporate some form of almsgiving during Lent, which is a way for us to recognize and help those who have less. This could be money, time, energy or our talents. Whatever it is we offer to others, almsgiving requires that we give something that is valuable to us, thereby recognizing the needs of others and helping in tangible ways to meet their needs through selfless love.
Lent is a rich time that invites us to step back and evaluate our lives and the habits we have formed and to question whether these habits are good for us. This is then a time to make changes to those habits so we can become more centered on God and his mission on Earth for us.
Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.
uTake time to think about what you will do during Lent to have this be a transformative time for you.
ACTION STRATEGIES
iSTOCK PHOTO | ROBERT RAY
GUEST COLUMN | DEACON STEPHEN NAJARIAN
Relying on God’s strength and mercy
Editor’s note: This homily was given Nov. 17, as the Church approached the end of the liturgical year. Deacon Najarian granted permission for its publication as a reflection during the penitential season of Lent in preparation for the joy of Easter.
“The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky ... . And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:24-26).
Holy mother Church presents for us in this Gospel Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and ultimately the end of the world and his coming in glory to judge us.
Some rather frightening images are described: mighty signs like the darkening of the sun and moon, and the stars falling from the sky. Jesus gives us this teaching through his Church not to frighten us, but to reassure us that God saves us even in the midst of what seems like catastrophe. It’s clear that Jesus intends the moment of death and judgment to not be one of terror, fear and trembling, but a moment to be anticipated with longing, hopefulness and joy. And this longing and joy without fear is the fruit of a life of faithfulness.
Mark Ji Tianxiang was born in 1834 in southeastern China to a Catholic family. He grew up to become a respected physician and member of the community. In his mid-30s he developed a stomach ailment and treated himself with opium, one of the only things available in his day for treatment of pain. Unfortunately, he became addicted. He fought hard against this addiction and prayed for deliverance. He went to confession frequently, but after a few years his confessor denied him absolution, apparently not understanding the nature of addictions and the loss of free will which lessens moral culpability.
In spite of this, Mark Ji continued to faithfully attend Mass and practice his faith as best he could without the benefit of receiving the sacraments. Between 1899 and 1901, there was a movement in China by a group known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists to eliminate all foreign and Christian influence. The members practiced a form of Chinese martial arts, and the movement became known as the Boxer Rebellion. During this two-year period, more than 32,000 Chinese Christians and 200 foreign missionaries were killed. In 1900, these
Chinese nationalists arrested Mark Ji, along with dozens of other Christians, including his son, six grandchildren, and two daughters-in-law.
During the mock trial, Mark Ji was given the chance to deny the faith but refused. On July 7, 1900, he and his family members were led to their execution. His grandson asked fearfully where they were going, to which Mark Ji answered, “We’re going home.”
Mark Ji insisted that he be killed last so that his family would not have to die alone. And as he awaited his own execution, he sang the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was beatified as a martyr by Pope Pius XII in 1946 and canonized a saint by St. John Paul II on Oct. 1, 2000 — the martyr saint who unwillingly endured his addiction but willingly suffered for Jesus Christ. His crown of glory came not from his victory over his weakness, but from his faithfulness unto death in the midst of his weakness.
Most of us live obscure, hidden lives, spending our days in work that is often monotonous, and only occasionally exciting. But this is precisely the means God uses to save us. By cooperating with his grace in our daily tasks, large and small, he develops in us the virtues that prepare us for eternal life. Our sanctity depends not so much on our worldly or even spiritual successes, but on our faithfully continuing the struggle. As put so well by St. Teresa of Kolkata, “God does not call us to be successful, but faithful.” And this faithfulness, this persevering, is not the same as achieving moral or behavioral perfection, which eludes most of us. Faithfully persevering means making the effort, in continually trying in the midst of many failures.
Achieving the goal of heaven, of being a saint, is in a certain sense like climbing a steep, high mountain. We begin, and succeed, one step at a time. God is doing most of the work by pulling us up by the support rope, and we do our part by making the climb. We make strides, and then there are rockslides and a loss of progress; there are sometimes avalanches and a great fall. But we keep trying, keep making the effort, keep holding on to the rope, and eventually reach the summit. The Christian life is not usually one success after another, one large growth in virtue after another, one more victory over our faults after another, but one of slow progress with a lot of setbacks, each marked by the effort to begin again. We sin, we repent, we confess, we fall, we get up, we fall, we get up again with God’s grace, with trust not in ourselves, but in God’s strength and mercy. The only real failure is in not making the effort, in giving up, in succumbing to terminal discouragement, in not trusting that the Lord will see us through. We ought not make a peace treaty with sin, with mediocrity, but at the same time, our essential progress in virtue and holiness, our deeper union with God, may not be so much in the absolute victory
A Eucharistic word: Embodied
By Michael R. Heinlein OSV News
At a recent Sunday Mass, our curious kindergartner leaned over to me and asked why we trace a small cross on our forehead, lips and heart as the Gospel is about to be proclaimed. I remember asking my own mother the same thing at a similar age, and I still remember her response: “So that Jesus is in our minds, words and heart.” There are a variety of little gestures at Mass that we can miss or take for granted. I was so encouraged that our daughter was interested in the meaning of this simple, easily overlooked gesture. And I was renewed in appreciating its significance as I pondered her question in prayer. Words matter. “I love you,” a husband says to his wife. Words create. “Let there be light;” God began the cosmos. Words have power. “This is my body,” priests say, echoing Christ’s own confect, the Eucharist. The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us.
“I am the way, the truth and the life,” Christ instructs.
The word proclaimed, especially so when among the assembly of believers at Mass, is truly Christ’s presence. It is “living and effective,” as Hebrews explains (Heb 4:2). “Dei Verbum,” the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on Divine Revelation, explains that “the Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord” and “unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body” (No. 21).
Much of our “practice” of Catholicism is cooperating with God’s grace so that the word is made flesh in us. While we hope to say, like St. Paul, that “it is Christ who dwells in me” (Gal 2:20), it also requires us to put our whole entire self into this work. Thinking of the crosses we trace on ourselves before the Gospel at Mass, my mind immediately came to that image of Christ as way, truth and life.
over our defects, but in the crown that comes from an undying perseverance, with faith and trust in God’s sovereignty. We pray that our Father will welcome us to our place at the eternal banquet secured for us by Christ, even as he knows well our many failures, for our efforts are more important than our successes, and his mercy is greater than our sin.
We often find it easy to be critical of ourselves and our flaws, and especially critical of others in their failures, and miss the point that the merit there is from making the effort. I think the Lord is so very pleased with our effort, our will to do the good, our desire to be a saint, even as we fail in our actions because of our many weaknesses. For it is in our failures that we come to rely ever more on him and his strength and his grace.
The late, great Teddy Roosevelt –– politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist and naturalist, historian, police chief and 26th president of the United States, writing from a secular standpoint but with a lot of wisdom, put it this way: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Our destiny as Christians is not to be with cold, timid souls, but in the courageous company of the saints, in the warm glow of the fire of God’s love, before the throne of the heavenly Father, in the presence of our savior, Jesus Christ, in the eternal peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. This is our worthy cause. It is for union with the most holy Trinity that we strive valiantly. It is for this crown of eternal glory that we spend ourselves and keep pressing on in the midst of our failures. It is to attain life on high that we strive to remain faithful. And if we do, at the frightening sight of the sun and moon going dark and the stars falling from the sky, we will not have fear, but will wait with a joyful expectation and peace of heart, to see the “Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
For us who have tried to be faithful, what an awesome sight indeed!
Deacon Najarian ministers at St. Charles Borromeo in Minneapolis. He can be reached at deaconsnajarian@stchb org
It seems most fitting that as we prepare to receive Christ’s presence in the word to call with a prayer that he comes to live more fully in us — in our minds, in our words, in our actions.
We pray that as we hear Christ in the Gospel, he orders and instructs our minds. When Christ dwells there, we commit anew to following his way. In taking on the attitude of Christ, we take him as our model and example.
We pray that as we hear Christ in the Gospel, he forms and informs our words. Christ is the truth we are called to speak at all times. From our lips all should know Christ dwells in us. Jesus left crowds “astonished” because he taught “as one having authority” (Mt 7:29). When we speak, we must reflect that authority we have given him.
We pray that as we hear Christ in the Gospel, he shapes and recreates our hearts. Christ, the bread of life, bestows life upon all who eat his flesh and drink his blood. Christ lives in us when we live his life, when we love as he loves. In our Eucharistic living, we
take up Christ’s life of love: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
Hearing Christ in the Gospel, allowing his words to transform us — as they change bread and wine into his body and blood — is to embody Christ in all things. The Mass is one act of worship, in two parts: Word and Eucharist. It is upon these that the door to salvation hinges. As each of us endeavors to more fully seek conformity with Christ in our mind, our will and our heart, may we remember this truth. And by his grace, especially that made present in the Eucharist, may we allow the Word made flesh to be embodied in us more each day.
Heinlein is author of “Glorifying Christ: The Life of Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I.” and a promised member of the Association of Pauline Cooperators. This is OSV News’ monthly “The Eucharistic Word” column.
Raised Catholic, my parents brought us to Mass every Sunday. I still remember driving to the nearest town for Mass even if we were out camping far away from home. What an amazing seed they planted within me.
My parents also made sure we went to faith formation classes growing up. Unfortunately, I was too busy goofing off and didn’t get much from it. I stopped going to Mass after high school and returned around age 23 but only to check the box on my Sunday obligation.
Around age 30, I was really struggling with life. I had everything the world told me I needed to be happy. I had a good job, new car, new motorcycle, new house, lots of partying, etc. But I was still miserable.
I had a complete breakdown at a job site and no motivation to keep going, so (one) moment I decided to give Jesus a real try. I repeated over and over in my head: “Jesus, help me; Jesus, help me; Jesus, help me.”
This movement started my journey back to my faith. Soon afterward I was at a funeral. I thought to myself: “If I died today, would I go to heaven?” When being honest with myself while answering that question, it seemed there was no chance based on how I was living. I realized that I needed to start changing my life.
One day, a group of Mormons stopped by my house. While we were talking, they kept inviting me to their church. I responded that I really didn’t even know that much about my own faith and would get back to them after doing some research on the Catholic Church.
I started researching the Church’s teachings that most challenged me: teachings on abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception. I
Why I am Catholic
Dennis Brummel
was completely blown away with what the Church actually taught on those issues in comparison to what the world had taught me. As a truth-minded man I was completely sold on the Church and her teachings, and I couldn’t get enough information. I started reading books and listening to the “Catholic Answers Live” radio program nonstop as well as many other Catholic podcasts. I also returned to confession and Mass regularly. During this time, I finally started to believe that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist: What a game changer! I began frequently spending time with Jesus in the adoration chapel. It was there that I met my beautiful wife, Ashley, and we now have four amazing children.
Finally, I wanted to mention the most influential man God sent me in my reversion: Father Dave Hennen. He was, and is, so instrumental in helping me learn and grow in my faith. His spiritual direction was essential for me to completely give my life to Christ. I will forever be indebted to him for all the time he has invested in me. I have such a great love for priests and men like Father Dave who give their lives to the Lord to help draw us closer to him.
Brummel, 41, lives in Hastings and attends St. Elizabeth Ann Seton with his wife, Ashley, and their children Agnes, Lucy, Linus and Felicity. He enjoys leading men’s ministry meetings and marriage prep mentoring with Ashley. He also enjoys golfing, trapshooting and downhill skiing.
“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholiCSpirit@arChSpm org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
CALENDAR
As Lent begins, be sure to refer to the Feb. 20 issue of The Catholic Spirit or visit thecatholicspirit com/nomeat for the Fish Fry and Lenten Meal guide.
PARISH EVENTS
St. Michael’s Lenten Fish Fries — March 7, 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11: 4:30-7 p.m. at St. Michael, 451 Fifth St. SW, Pine Island. Adults: $15, ages 5-12: $6, family maximum: $45. Baked and fried fish, takeout available. 507-356-4280.
Magnum Chorum Presents Sacred Choral Treasures — March 9: 3 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., Minneapolis. Twin Cities-based choir, Magnum Chorum, presents a Lenten concert of music by Javier Busto, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Durufle and Undine Smith Moore. Tickets available at magnumChorum org/ConCertS/2024-2025ConCert-SeaSon/SaCred-Choral-treaSureS
WORSHIP+RETREATS
First Friday Adoration — March 7: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Minnesota State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul. Come the first Friday of April for any amount of time to the Governor’s Dining Room (B420) located on the basement level of the State Capitol to pray for our elected officials at their place of work. mnCatholiC org/eventS Married Couples’ Retreat: “Pilgrims of Hope” — March 7-8: 8 p.m. March 7-1 p.m. March 8 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. “Hope does not disappoint.” In this Jubilee Year affirm your belief in the hope that is Jesus Christ. $50 deposit. kingShouSe Com
Forty-Hour Continuous Prayer — March 7-9: 1:30 p.m. March 7 at St. Timothy, 8 Oak Ave. N., Maple Lake, to 10:30 a.m. March 9 at St. Ignatius, 35 Birch St. E., Annandale. Join the Churches of St. Timothy and St. Ignatius, Annandale, in a special 40-hour period of continuous prayer and adoration made before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. Adoration will begin at St. Timothy and transfer to St. Ignatius with a Eucharistic procession at noon on March 8. There will be two presentations by Kristin Soley, closing Mass at 10:30 a.m. at St. Ignatius, and a reception hosted by the CCW. More information is available at ChurChofSttimothy org or StignatiuSmn Com
A Day with Jesus the Divine Healer — March 8: 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake. A day of reflection on Jesus, the divine healer. Explore how attachments, compulsions and unhealthy coping mechanisms impact our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. edgeoftheredSeaminiStrieS org/retreat Come Away with Me Retreat — March 13: 8:30 a.m.5:30 p.m. at Dunrovin Christian Brothers Retreat Center, 15525 Saint Croix Trail N., Marine on Saint Croix. A peaceful day of prayer, meditation and fellowship in the St. Croix River Valley to refresh mind, body and spirit and listen for the whisper of God’s personal love. Freewill donation.
Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer Retreat — March 14-15: 4 p.m. March 14-3 p.m. March 15 at The Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Silent retreat for people who have been practicing Centering Prayer for at least six months. Facilitators are spiritual directors Mary Lapham and Gwen Pickering. tinyurl Com/2u2SShp9
Lenten Men’s Weekend Retreat: “Pilgrims of Hope” — March 14-15: 8 p.m. March 14-1 p.m. March 15, at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Fellowship and growth in faith and spiritual renewal during this holy year of grace, praying for peace and hope in personal relationships with Jesus, our Lord. Includes two nights’ private room and five meals. kingShouSe Com/eventS
Curatio’s Lenten Half-Day Retreat — March 15: 8 a.m.1:15 p.m. at Epiphany, 1900 111th Ave. NW, Coon Rapids. Join fellow Catholics in health care starting with Mass. Enjoy a dynamic talk by Deacon Patrick Spencer, breakfast and lunch included. Experience Stations of the Cross for health care workers during this Lent. tinyurl Com/mm694xS7
Women’s Day Retreat: “The Women Who Came Before Us” — March 15: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Women had significant roles in both the Old and New Testaments. Meet them through their journeys, as some were mystics or have become saints, and learn what they can tell women of today. Presented by Susan Stabile. Lunch included. kingShouSe Com/events
Special Mass for People with Memory Loss — March 20: 1:30-3 p.m. at St. Odilia, 3495 Victoria St. N., Shoreview. All are welcome, especially those experiencing memory loss and their caregivers. Hospitality after Mass with community resource information available. Information at 651-484-6681, Stodilia org
CONFERENCES+WORKSHOPS
Trauma and Solidarity: Walking Together Toward Justice and Healing — March 8: noon-3 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis. Speaker will be Samuel Torres, deputy chief executive officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. tinyurl Com/2u2bb27b
SPEAKERS+SEMINARS
Dorothy Day: A Saint for Our Time — March 10: 7-8:30 p.m. at St. Francis Cabrini, 1500 Franklin Ave. SE, Minneapolis. Jeff Korgen — a Catholic writer and social justice advocate with a 32-year career in pastoral ministry, who coordinated the local phase of Dorothy Day’s cause for canonization — will discuss what made Day so important and why she is important to us today. Cabrinimn org
Spring Speaker Series: “Land and Labor, City and Homestead: Working Towards a Local Economy” —
March 13: 6:30 p.m. at Assumption, 51 Seventh St. W., St. Paul. Small farms, urban homesteads, crafts, gardens, chickens, good work and local economies can help build stronger communities and better Christians Find out how at CatholiCSoCialthought org/Spring-2025-Speaker-SerieS
Purple Heart Combat Veteran Speaks — March 13: 6:30-8 p.m. at Concord Lanes, 365 Concord Exchange N., South St. Paul. Decorated Marine Sgt. Colin Faust will share his experience of being within inches of death at war and surviving to become a bold Catholic man. Lumen Vero is for all men 18 and older, no cost. lumenvero Com
“The Bible in a Day” Seminar with Jeff Cavins — March 15: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace, 5701 Eden Ave., Edina. Cavins’ first in-person Bible Timeline event in over 10 years. Explore the 14 narrative books and 12 time periods of salvation history with Bible Timeline® Learning System. olgpariSh org/mp-event-detailS?id=112
The Shroud of Turin Photography Exhibit — March 15 and 16: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. March 15 with a presentation at 9 a.m., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. March 16 with a presentation at 12:30 p.m. Hosted at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Learn the findings of the scientific community, the passion of Christ and examination of Jesus’ wounds, the history of the shroud and why we know it is not a painting from the Middle Ages. tinyurl Com/yubhwr65
Youth Event with Talk by Edward Sri — March 21: 6-8 p.m. at the Station 10 Event Center, 754 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. Event will include a cocktail hour at 6 p.m., with the talk beginning at 7 p.m. and followed by a Q&A.
Unchaste Celibacy: A Webinar for Survivors and Those Who Care for Them — March 24: 6:30-8 p.m. Virtual webinar in two sections: (1) Is this just a storm in a chalice? and (2) A continuum of gravity: from sexual crime to sexual activity. Stephen de Weger, presenter, is an academic from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He completed his master’s degree and Ph.D. on victim/survivor experiences of both clergy sexual misconduct against adults in the Roman Catholic Church, and the reporting thereof. For more information, contact Paula Kaempffer at kaempfferp@arChSpm org Register at tinyurl Com/mvxjdrbj. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the link to join the meeting.
OTHER EVENTS
Taizé — March 14: 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at St. Mary of the Lake, 4741 Bald Eagle Avenue, White Bear Lake. Music, Scripture, and silence. In the Notre Dame Chapel. Together on the Hill: Irish Melodies, Inspirational and Lenten Reflections — March 15: 1-2 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. Music with Celtic melodies, inspirational songs, classic hymn tunes and Lenten reflections. tinyurl Com/2z2fnv2h
CALENDAR submissions
DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the issue date.
LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.
ITEMS MUST INCLUDE:
uTime and date of event
uFull street address of event
uDescription of event
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TheCatholiCSpirit Com/CalendarSubmiSSionS
TWENTY SOMETHING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15
where we can exercise creativity and boost confidence. How we can make a difference.
When we ask about someone’s process or uncover their thinking, we dignify them. We tell them they are worthwhile. We aren’t tossing out a quick compliment and moving on. We’re getting to know them better ––and, perhaps, helping them recognize something in themselves.
Listening is indistinguishable from loving. It works with your child, your cashier, your great aunt and your barista. A tilt of the head, a twinkle in the eye and a three-word request: “Tell me more.”
Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Marketing Manager: PT (20 hrs/week) position at Franciscan Retreats in Prior Lake. Key responsibilities: strategic planning, campaign management, relationship management and parish outreach, analytics, reporting, and various digital and analog duties. Onsite and/or remote. Submit resume, portfolio of relevant work, and brief cover letter to: secretary@franciscanretreats.net.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Part-Time Registered Nurse – Options for Women East: We’re hiring a compassionate RN with experience in Obstetrics (a plus) to join our team. Paid position with flexible hours. Contact Jennifer Meyer at 651-776-2328 or edjm@optionsforwomeneast.com.
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Indulgences: Bestowed through the authority of the Church
Editor’s note: This Jubilee Year 2025, with its theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” offers opportunities to receive indulgences. In this column, Father Tom Margevicius, director of the Office of Worship in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, dives into ways to understand this gift and grace.
The Gospel of John includes one of the most powerful episodes in Jesus’ ministry (Jn 8:1-11). When his antagonists throw at his feet a woman caught in the act of adultery, they try to trick Jesus into disregarding either his message of mercy or the law of Moses (which required her to be stoned). We know his famous response: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.” Her accusers depart quietly without executing justice or further challenging Jesus. Then Jesus tells the woman: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” That two-fold reply neatly summarizes the Church’s teaching on indulgences: You are forgiven, and don’t sin anymore.
To understand the Church’s practice regarding indulgences, “it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1472). “Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the ‘eternal punishment’ of sin.” This is what the sacrament of penance accomplishes: remitting eternal punishment. “On the other hand,” CCC 1472 continues, “every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the ‘temporal punishment’ of sin.”
Our archdiocesan patron St. Paul bares his soul to the Romans: “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. ... I take delight in the law of God in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?” (Rom 7:19-24) We resonate with his sentiments; even if we do not choose to sin, there still exists something inside of us that wants to sin. We’re attached to it. Moral theologians call this concupiscence, the disordered desire to do what we know harms us spiritually (see CCC 1264).
In “The Odyssey,” the Sirens were mythical creatures who lived on remote rocky outcrops in the sea. They were so beautiful to behold, and even more, to hear singing, that sailors could not resist sailing toward them, only to crash upon the rocks and die. To prevent that, the
ship captain Odysseus told his sailors to tie him securely to the ship mast, then stuff their own ears with beeswax as they approached the Sirens. Only he could hear their irresistible voices, and though he pleaded with his sailors to untie him, they did not hear him either and the ship sailed onward safely.
Indulgences are like that mast-rope and beeswax. They are practical actions we take so we will not feel the Sirens’ pull toward destruction. As Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, he wants us not only to be forgiven, he wants us to not want to sin anymore. Sacramental confession remits sins’ eternal punishment; indulgences remit their temporal punishment. Confession keeps us from shipwrecking our souls; indulgences block our desires from heeding to temptation.
making a pilgrimage to a designated church, going to sacramental confession and attending Mass. These external actions help us realize that it is not enough simply to desire to sin no more; we have to do something practical to retrain our desires according to God’s will.
That is why the Church ordinarily includes not only certain prayers — the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Apostles’ Creed — in the spiritual exercises that constitute an indulgence; it also invites us to perform bodily actions like
JUBILEE YEAR INDULGENCES
In his homily during Masses the weekend of Dec. 28-29, 2024, to open Jubilee Year 2025 in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda outlined four steps the faithful could take to participate as “Pilgrims of Hope” and in the grace of indulgences that are promised.
They are:
uUndertake a pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis or the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul; or engage in an act of charity for migrants, the elderly, someone in prison, living in poverty or in some other area of need.
In addition:
uMake a sacramental confession
uAttend Mass and/or receive holy Communion
uOffer a prayer for the intention of the Holy Father
St. Maron in Minneapolis, a Maronite Catholic church, also is a Catholic pilgrimage site in the archdiocese, recognized by the Eparchy of Our Lady of Los Angeles Bishop Elias Zaidan as the oldest church (1903) in the 34-state eparchy. Bishop Zaidan chose sites in five other states in the eparchy as pilgrimage sites in the Jubilee Year.
The Vatican “Decree on the Granting of the Indulgence During the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 Called by His Holiness Pope Francis” can be found here: usccb org/resources/jubilee-indulgence-eng
Even after Odysseus was tied to the mast, he still wanted to give in to the Sirens. But his fellow sailors prevented him. The Church teaches that indulgences may be attained not only for ourselves — like affixing ourselves to the mast of Christ to keep us from giving in to sin’s attractions — but also for the souls in purgatory, like putting wax in their ears. We want even our faithful departed to no longer feel the attraction to sin. We want them to be freed, like St. Paul, from the torment of desiring what they know would harm them. We want them too to be purified from the temporal punishment of sin.
Jesus entrusted to St. Peter and his successors the “power of the keys:” “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19). That means the Church on Earth has the authority to determine what actions here can assist those who have passed into their eternal reward. It is comforting to know that if I carry out certain spiritual and corporal works of mercy, the Church guarantees that she can apply those graces to those in purgatory.
Indulgences can be either partial or plenary. Partial indulgences typically involve fewer spiritual and corporal works of mercy and assist in remitting some of the temporal punishment of sin. Plenary indulgences, on the other hand, because they involve more extensive internal and external works, can remit all temporal punishment for sin.
I imagine the woman caught in adultery felt relieved the day Jesus absolved her and dismissed her. But the next day she may have woken up and wondered whether it was all a dream; she may have once again felt inside her heart the desire to return to her paramour. That’s why the Church says we may obtain a new plenary indulgence every day. Yesterday’s graces may feel remote, and our spiritual ears may need a fresh dose of wax.
Pope Francis has decreed that the Jubilee Year 2025 includes the opportunity to obtain a plenary indulgence. Let us take advantage of this opportunity to free ourselves and our beloved faithful departed from the temporal punishment for sin.
FATHER TOM MARGEVICIUS