10-17-08 Vol. 30 No. 11

WWW.THELEAVEN.COM | NEWSPAPER OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS | VOL. 30, NO. 11 OCTOBER 17, 2008

RECOGNIZING GOD’S CALL

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann signs autographs for students following his talk at the fifth-grade vocation day at Christ the King Church in Topeka.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KELLY KELLEY

T

OPEKA — It was a bit of a paparazzi moment for Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, as fifth-graders from all over the city lined up to get his autograph after his presentation at the Fifth-Grade Vocation Day here.

But organizers hope that the real winner of this annual event will be the church of the future.

The day provided the hundreds of youngsters gathered at Christ the King Parish in Topeka the chance to hear the vocation stories of area priests, as well as those of men and women religious from a variety of orders.

In his presentation, archdiocesan vocation director

Father Mitchel Zimmerman asked the gathered students what they’d consider to be the best compliment in the world.

“You’re awesome!” one student suggested.

“You’re the best!” proposed another.

“When you think of ‘awesome’ and ‘the best,’” responded Father Zimmerman, “what do you think of?”

“God!” chimed in several voices.

“If they said you’re like God,” one fifth-grader clarified, “that would be the best.”

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE VIDEO Go to The Leaven’s new Web site, www.theleaven.com, and screen our four featured videos — “Sisters, Servants of Mary,” “Joe Goes to Camp,” Kimberly Rode’s “World Youth Day” and Michael Podrebarac’s “Marian Meditation.”

Then pick your favorite and e-mail your vote to: info@theleaven.com.

If you like more than one, let us know that, too. We need to know what you’d like to see more of.

Turn to AT ONE TIME on page 4

ARCHBISHOP

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THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

LIFE WILL BE VICTORIOUS

GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD

Satanic priest led back to Christ by the rosary

Back in the day, from left, Marylin Hess, Pat Driscoll, Patty Adams and Janice Fromholtz were considered good girls at Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park.

D

id you know that Pope John Paul II beatified a man who had been ordained a satanic priest? In his apostolic letter, “The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin,” Pope John Paul wrote about some of the great witnesses of the rosary: “It would be impossible to name all the many Saints who discovered in the Rosary a genuine path to growth in holiness. We need but mention Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, the author of an excellent work on the Rosary, and, closer to ourselves, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, whom I recently had the joy of canonizing. As a true apostle of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo had a special charism. His path to holiness rested on an inspiration heard in the depths of his heart: ‘Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!’”

Almost everyone is familiar with Padre Pio and many have heard of St. Louis Marie de Montfort. But I suspect Bartolo Longo does not have much name recognition in northeastern Kansas.

Bartolo Longo was born in 1841 in a small town in southern Italy. His parents were devout Catholics. His father was a physician who instilled in all of his children a love of music and beauty. Bartolo’s mother, who died when he was only 10, taught all of her children to pray the rosary daily and to visit and care for the poor.

Like many young people in our own

time, Bartolo gradually began to drift away from the practice of his Catholic faith. As a young man, he studied law at the University of Naples. While attending the university, Bartolo was drawn into political movements and spiritism. Eventually, Bartolo became a member of a Satanic sect and was even “ordained” a Satanic priest. He was publicly contemptuous of Catholicism, as well as everything and everyone associated with the faith of his childhood.

His involvement with the Satanic took a great toll on his mental, emotional and physical health. His physical appearance was so altered that an old friend from his hometown, Professor Vincenzo Pepe, was scarcely able to recognize him. Professor Pepe confronted Bartolo with the stark reality of his present condition, predicting that if he did not change his life, he would most probably die in an insane asylum.

Vincenzo Pepe was able to convince Bartolo to consult with a knowledgeable Dominican priest by the name of Father Alberto Radente.

Father Radente, over a period of time, was able to re-present the Catholic faith to Bartolo, who eventually experienced a profound conversion. In an effort to undo the evil of his previous life, he went to student gatherings renouncing Satanism and proclaiming the truth of the Catholic faith.

In the end, he pledged his life to serving God and glorifying Jesus by honoring his mother, Mary. He became part of a fraternal group of young adult Catholics who cared for the poor, the sick and the needy.

Even after his conversion, he found himself assaulted with doubts of God’s mercy. He questioned if he could escape the grasp of Satan, after having pledged his life to him.

Recalling this troubled time in his life, Bartolo wrote: “So despite my repentance, I thought: I am still consecrated to Satan, and I am still his slave and property as he awaits me in Hell.

As I pondered over my condition, I experienced a deep sense of despair and almost committed suicide. Then I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary [to St. Dominic]: ‘One who propagates my Rosary will be saved.’ These words certainly brought an illumination to my soul. Falling to my knees, I exclaimed: ‘If your words are true that he who propagates your Rosary will be saved, I shall reach salvation because I will not leave this earth without propagating your Rosary.’ At that moment the little bell of the parish church rang out, inviting people to pray the Angelus.

This incident was like a signature to my firm decision.”

Bartolo Longo made fostering the praying of the rosary the mission of his life. Circumstances brought him to the region around the ancient city of Pompeii, where he began evangelizing people to pray the rosary. He organized what became an annual rosary feast. He invited priests to preach a mission on the meaning and devout praying of the rosary. He eventually built a church in honor of Mary, and a village developed

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around it that was devoted to the care of orphans and the poor.

Eventually, Bartolo founded a congregation of Dominican Sisters whose apostolate was to educate the orphans in this village dedicated to Mary. He wrote books about the rosary, composed novenas and authored a prayer manual. Bartolo’s life was transformed by meditating on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by praying the mysteries of the rosary. Every day he contemplated the face of Jesus with Mary. The passion of his life was to introduce others to this powerful prayer that had so profoundly changed his own.

Bartolo Longo is a beautiful example of the power of God’s grace to transform a heart. We can never despair, despite our frailty or the gravity of our sin, because of the power of God’s grace to change the most hardened of hearts. Whatever sins we have committed or mistakes we have made, I doubt they can be worse than Bartolo Longo’s ordination as a Satanic priest.

His life is a testimony to the power of Mary to draw us to her son Jesus, who can transform us with his love and mercy.

What a gift Bartolo Longo’s mother gave him by teaching him to pray the rosary as a child! She had prepared him to be able to rediscover this gift, many years later, when he desperately needed to find a way back to Jesus.

You can give this same gift to your children by praying the rosary as a family. Who knows? They may some day receive honorable mention in a papal apostolic letter or perhaps even be beatified.

Against all odds, that is exactly what happened to the former Satanic priest — Bartolo Longo.

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SECOND FRONT PAGE 3

BUSTED Time capsule opening reveals 50-year-old prank

By JILL RAGAR ESFELD Special to The Leaven ROELAND PARK — Patty Adams Armin was a jumble of nerves as she sat amid hundreds of students and alumni at Bishop Miege High School’s 50th anniversary celebration here last month.

She was remembering all too well a little prank she and her classmates had pulled here many years earlier — a prank involving a time capsule.

“We honestly thought the time capsule wasn’t going to be opened for 100 years,” Armin explained later. “We thought we’d be dead.”

But Miege president Dr. Joe Passantino had decided to open the capsule after only 50 years in honor of the school’s anniversary.

And now here he was before the entire Miege community at the anniversary event, displaying slide after slide of the various items found in the time capsule in question: school plans, a yearbook, holy cards . . .

And then he paused in his presentation, stared out over the crowd, and met the eyes of Armin, who’d been watching with tortured fascination.

“There was one other picture in the capsule,” Passantino announced.

“And it wasn’t a holy card.”

An all-too-familiar image flashed up on the screen, and Passantino looked sternly out into the crowd.

“Would the people who did this happen to be in the audience?” he asked.

When co-conspirators Marilyn Hess Barbur, Pat Driscoll Thomas and Patty Koos Pestinger stood up and pointed straight at Armin, she could stand it no longer.

“I am the culprit,” Armin confessed to the crowd.

And the room exploded in laughter.

The culprits It was a fateful day in 1958 when four of the most upstanding students of Bishop Miege had an opportunity to do something bad.

And jumped on it.

“None of us were anything but nice girls,” insisted Pestinger. “I was on Student Council, Pat Driscoll was a Student Council and Pep Club officer, Marilyn was a cheerleader, Patty Adams was brilliant.”

In fact, the girls were so well-known for their helpfulness and reliability that the nuns had asked for those four specifically to help with last-minute preparations for opening day of the brand-new Bishop Miege High School.

The girls were dusting library

shelves when a construction worker approached Msgr. Herman J. Koch, then pastor of St. Agnes, with the news that they were about to lay the school’s cornerstone.

It was traditional even then for a small time capsule to be included in the cornerstone of new buildings, and the new high school was to be no exception.

But when Msgr. Koch decided at the last minute that the capsule and stone should be blessed, he called on the students helping out that day to assist him. Two boys, Bill DeCoursey and Vince Bower, were tapped to be the servers, and the four girls — Armin, Barbour, Thomson and Janice Fromholtz Balsinger — would do for witnesses, he decided.

The small group assembled for the last-minute ceremony, but when the blessing was about to begin, Msgr.

Koch suddenly remembered something he needed in the school.

He went to get it, leaving the students alone with the time capsule.

The crime “And so Pat Adams just said, ‘You know what, let’s put something in it,’” recalled Barbur. “And she reached in her wallet and pulled out a picture of Elvis [Presley], and she said, ‘Let’s put

TIME BANDITS Pat Driscoll Thomson, Bill DeCoursey, Pat Adams Armin, and Marilyn Hess Barbour were all co-conspirators in putting a picture of Elvis Presley (right) in the Bishop Miege time capsule 50 years ago. Pat Koos Pestinger (far right) recorded the event in her 1958 diary, which she holds as proof. The prank was revealed when the school opened the time capsule this year, 50 years ahead of schedule.

Elvis in there.’”

“We seized the moment,” said Armin. “And then wrote down the names of those of us who were there, and the date, and stuck it down at the bottom.

“Msgr. Koch didn’t go through it when he came back. He just closed it up and that was it.”

By the next day, the secret of the time capsule prank was the talk of the school, but carefully guarded from the nuns. Pestinger, who didn’t take part in the actual deed, served as the class historian, recording the event in her diary — which she still has today.

Diary Entry: September 6, 1958 “Tomorrow Bishop Miege high school will be dedicated. There will probably be a procession and all “dat jazz.” Patty Adams was up at school when they were putting in the corner stone and they said she could write

down her name and put it in. She did along with ELVIS PRESLEY’S picture.

No one knows except the kids!”

A history lesson To understand the severity of this crime, one must revisit the attitude of the Catholic Church toward Elvis Presley in 1958. That year the weekly Jesuit magazine, America, ran an article entitled, “Beware Elvis Presley!”

“The nuns and the priests were not fond of Elvis,” explained Barbour. “He wiggled too much, and he was just not a good influence on teenagers with his rock-and-roll music.

“He was the persona non grata as far as Msgr. Koch was concerned,” conTurn to ELVIS on page 6

4 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 10, 2008

At one time ‘all of us were afraid’ Continued from page 1 “That compliment usually comes out as, ‘You’d be a great priest or Sister,’” Father Mitchel explained. “And what they’re really saying is, ‘I trust you to help me get to heaven.’”

But before any priest or Sister helps anyone get to heaven, a young man or woman has to decide to let God guide his or her decisions. And that’s a scary thing.

At one time or another, said Father Zimmerman, “all of us were afraid.

“All of the religious who are here to talk to you today will tell you that they were afraid.

“But by letting God choose my path, I [now] have the best job!

Every day I get to introduce people to my best friend, Jesus.”

This was the first time that many of the students had ever considered what it would be like to hear Jesus in their hearts.

“The Sister talked about how she is always busy,” said Genesia Paolo, from Sacred Heart in Emporia, “but they still play games and have time to learn about Jesus.

It made me think that I might be a Sister someday.”

When asked what impressed them most, students found it hard to settle on one presentation. But it was clear that Vocation Jeopardy and the archbishop’s presentation were among the most entertaining.

In fact, many of the students said they learned a lot of interesting facts from Archbishop Naumann’s presentation. Mary Claire Peterson, from Xavier Elementary in Leavenworth, said she didn't know that there was a saint who had lived in Kansas. And Seung Jae Lee,also of Xavier, was interested to learn all of the symbolism behind the archbishop’s staff and miter.

When the archbishop brought out the crosier and explained how it was symbolic of a shepherd’s staff, the students were surprised when he illustrated on a nearby

Sister Mercedes Diaz, FSGM, shows students what their goodie bag contains during one of the 5th grade vocation day breakout sessions Oct. 8 at Christ the King Parish in Topeka. fifth-grader how his staff could be used to rescue a sheep from danger.

But they were gleeful when he demonstrated how the other end could be used to ward off a wild beast by poking in the direction of nearby students.

But Archbishop Naumann’s message didn’t get lost amid the symbolism and humor.

“I hadn’t really thought of God’s call,” said Brice Koch from St. Michael School in Axtell, “before I listened to the archbishop.”

Father Zimmerman was impressed by the quality of the questions the students asked and how readily they involved themselves in the experiences of the religious.

“It’s a great sign of hope for vo-

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cations,” he said. “These kids’ faith is on the surface and ready to be expressed. We don’t have to dig for it.”

Sister Yesenia Perea, of the Sisters, Servants of Mary, summarized the message of the day well in her keynote address.

Some of them, she told the students, would answer God’s call by entering into Christian marriage; others will live a single life and devote their professional lives to serving others.

Still others will be called to take vows and become priests or Sisters.

The challenge we all face, she concluded, was in letting it be God’s will, rather than our own, that is done.

Former pro-choicer to speak about post-abortion healing LENEXA — Catholics in the archdiocese will have the chance to hear from a woman who was deeply involved in the movement to keep abortion legal — and regrets it.

Jane Brennan is a former selfdescribed militant, anti-Catholic feminist. She previously volunteered for Planned Parenthood and was a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which publicly supports and advocates for abortion and reproductive rights.

Brennan has since done a complete turnaround in her life. She now spends her time sharing her testimony as a former post-abortive woman who eventually made her way into the Catholic faith and found healing through Project Rachel and the sacraments.

“As painful as it is, I tell my story to he lp oth e r wo me n have th e courage to speak out. After hearing my stor y, h o p e f u l ly o th e r po st abortive women suffering in silence will come forward with their own stories,” said Brennan.

Brennan will be speaking to students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park during the morning of Oct. 24. She will address students at St. James Academy in the afternoon. Brennan will speak at Holy Trinity Parish in Lenexa on Oct. 25 in the Father Quigley Center from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m. and then again from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m.

She is the author of “Motherhood Interrupted: Stories of Healing and Hope After Abortion.” Her private counseling practice, aptly named Hope for the Journey, is dedicated to offering post-abortive women a safe place to reconcile unresolved grief and loss.

In 2005 Brennan received the Pro Vitae (“For Life”) award from the Archdiocese of Denver, an honor given to those who have shown strong support for pro-life issues.

Learn how to leave a legacy CFNEK invites you to area receptions

By BOB HART Special to The Leaven KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas (CFNEK) is taking its show on the road.

The CFNEK, which has distributed more than $1,138,000 from annual earnings of endowments, funds and other vehicles since its inception in 1989, has grown to include nearly 150 funds entrusted to it by parishes, schools and Catholic organizations.

In November, the CFNEK, whose assets total $37 million, will celebrate these milestones with receptions at four locations within the archdiocese. There is no cost to attend these events. The foundation encourages each pastor to invite leaders of their finance committee, pastoral council, endowment trustees, parish staff and potential donors to attend the event most convenient for them.

“These opportunities for parishes and individuals to learn about Archbishop Joseph Naumann’s vision for the Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas will foster Catholic philanthropy in our parishes and organizations across the archdiocese,” said Leslie M. Knop, executive director of the CFNEK. The meetings will be held from 5:30 - 7 p.m. at the following locations: Wednesday, Nov. 5, Top of the Tower, Topeka; Thursday, Nov. 6, Shadow Glen Country Club, Olathe; Monday, Nov. 10, Atchison Heritage Center, Atchison; and Wednesday, Nov. 12, Franklin County Visitor and Convention Center, Ottawa.

Gary Pratt, associate director of planned giving for the archdiocese, said the locations were carefully selected to reach as many people as possible by limiting travel time.

“We realize many people can’t get to us, so we’re bringing it to them,” Pratt said. “We want indi-

About the Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas The CFNEK, originally called the Archdiocesan Foundation, was established in February 1989

by Archbishop Ignatius J. Strecker and managed by a board of directors consisting of six laymen, Msgr. William T. Curtin and the archbishop.

That first year, the foundation was comprised of one parish fund, one high school, a fund for Catholic Charities and one for the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center. By the end of its fifth year, 18 parishes had established endowment funds, as had two more high schools and three other archdiocesan institutions. By the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, the foundation’s assets had grown to $30,327,498 in 117 funds.

“The bottom line is that we are focused on a vision where Catholics have the opportunity to invest in the parishes, schools and institutions across the archdiocese beyond their own lifetimes,” said Ken Mellard, president of the foundation board.

Mellard said donations of all types — from a $5,000 annuity to a $250,000 bequest at the time of death and beyond — are welcome.

The foundation is also interested in gifts of land or property.

For more information, please visit the Web site at: www.cfnek.org.

viduals in the archdiocese to take ownership of Catholic philanthropy.”

Those interested in attending one of the four meetings should call as soon as possible at (913) 647-0325, or inquire by e-mail at stewdev@archkck.org. Space is limited, and Pratt said one of the sessions is already near capacity.

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World Priest Day is Oct. 26 KANSAS CITY, Kan. — He might not need your cookies, but he can always use your prayers — especially on Oct. 26.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter will host the annual World Priest Day, in conjunction with the Serra Club’s Priesthood Sunday, on Oct. 26.

World Priest Day gives Catholics the opportunity to celebrate the gift of the priesthood, and provides an opportunity to express their gratitude for and affirmation of priests.

Although the official day of celebration is Oct. 26, Catholics are encouraged to participate in any number of World Priest Day activities in the week preceding or following that date. These include

everything from baking a priest a plate of cookies to hosting a parish-wide event.

For information about World Priest Day, go to: http://wpd. wwme.org/intro. html.

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6 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

Elvis prank comes to light 50 years later Continued from page 3 firmed Armin. “We were forbidden to watch him when he was on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’”

To illustrate the point, Pestinger told a story about a party at St. Agnes.

“We all brought our 45s to play, and one of the boys slipped an Elvis record in amongst the stack,” she said. “So on comes ‘All Shook Up,’ and one of the nuns dashed over to the record player and lifted up the entire stack, removed it and looked around the room with an accusatory scowl.

“We all thought later, ‘How did she know that was Elvis Presley? Did she, indeed, watch Ed Sullivan?’”

Despite the dire warnings of Presley’s evil influence, at least these Catholic teenagers couldn’t resist him.

“We were all madly in love with him,” said Barbour. “We were forbidden to go see his movies, so of course we all snuck out and saw ‘Love Me Tender.’”

“When he came on the screen at the Fairway Theater, the whole theater just screamed, because he was so wonderful” remembered Pestinger. “He was a very handsome man back then.”

Busted When organizing the 50th anniversary of the school, Passantino said administrators weren’t at first even sure there was a time capsule in the cornerstone. But they went to the trouble of

THE EVIDENCE This handwritten note accompanied the Elvis photo in the Miege time capsule, leaving no doubt of who perpetrated the crime. having the stone removed, and were delighted with what they found inside.

Recalling the reaction of the Catholic Church to Presley when he first emerged on the music scene, Passantino admits to being mildly

shocked when the Elvis picture dropped out of the time capsule.

“We were pulling out different things and along with them was a little sheet of paper that listed four girls and two boys,” he said. “Then we pulled out the original plans of the school, and out falls this picture of Elvis Presley.

“Of course, we just started laughing, thinking, ‘There has got to be a story to this.’”

Passantino proceeded to prepare a PowerPoint presentation featuring the contents of the time capsule, being sure to include the list of names and the picture of Elvis.

He then went to work making certain as many of the culprits as possible would be attending the 50th anniversary event.

“Joe Passantino called me and asked if I was going to be there and I said yes, I was planning to,” recalled Barbour.

“He said, ‘Would you mind making sure that Patty Adams [Armin] and Pat Driscoll [Thomson] are coming, too?’

When Barbour asked why, Passantino answered her question with one of his own.

“Do you remember putting anything in the time capsule?” he asked.

When Barbour responded, “Well, not really,” Passantino just requested that she be sure to attend.

By now, of course, Barbour was very suspicious, and called Armin, who remembered very clearly putting something in the capsule.

That memory was confirmed when Pestinger showed up at the anniversary with her diary.

A celebration of past and present In the end, the time capsule prank made the Bishop Miege 50th anniversary celebration a little more special.

And the fact that three of the four original conspirators were all still active members of the Miege community 50 years after graduation was a true testimony to the alumni support the school prides itself on.

“It was a great chance for the community to come together and celebrate both past and present,” said Passantino. “It’s important that we continue to appreciate and value our past. The time capsule and this whole 50th anniversary has been an opportunity to do that.”

Bishop Miege plans to return the original items to the time capsule —including the Elvis picture— and add a few new items before replacing it in the cornerstone.

The perpetrators of the crime had no regrets about what they did 50 years ago, and no regrets about getting caught at last.

But they were grateful to their former classmates for keeping their secret so well.

“If dear Msgr. Koch had discovered it, we probably would still be in detention to this day,” said Pestinger.

A Future Full of Hope update 2008 Total pledged as of Aug. 31: $42,812,821.00 | Total collected as of Aug. 31: $37,549,075.37

Lay MInistry Development

Catholic Charities* Cultural Outreach Ministries Care for the Aged

Christ the Teacher

Christ the Shepherd

Christ the Servant

$863,767.48

$1,849,970.66

345,506.92

Prairie Star Ranch

1,382,027.95

CEF Endowment

$3,455,069.87

1,428,375.85

Capital for CEF schools

2,764,055.88

Archdiocesan Special Needs

1,727,534.90

Archdiocesan High Schools Bishop Ward High School

691,013.99

Hayden High School

691,013.99

Immaculata High School

691,013.99

St. Thomas Aquinas High School

691,013.99

Bishop Miege High School*

1,000,000.00

Maur Hill-Mount Academy

345,506.98

St. James Academy*

3,720,942.88

Future Feasibility for new high school

24,150.91

*Designated gifts included

Other

Christ the Priest Seminarian & Priest Education

$1,382,027.95

Priest Retirement Fund

2,591,302.42

Campaign Expenses

$2,781,109.60

Archbishop’s Call to Share 02/03

3,000,000.00

Rebates to parishes

5,432,655.17

Marjorie (Scherman) and Donald Huxtable, members of St. Ann Parish, Prairie Village, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with a family party at the Kansas City Country Club. After the anniversary dinner, they will leave for a weeklong cruise. The couple was married on Oct. 23, 1948, at Holy Trinity Church, Lenexa.

Their children and their spouses are: Phil and Sally Huxtable, Fredricksburg, Va.; Carol and Mark Maggio, Leawood; Mary and Steve Soden, Mission Hills; Jim and Lisa Huxtable, Leawood; and Julia and Mark Rebein, Kansas City, Mo. They also have 16 grandchildren.

Dorothy (Bishop) and John Cline, members of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Onaga, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Oct. 19. The couple was married on Oct. 19, 1948, at St. Patrick Church, Coal Creek. There will be a dinner for family and invited guests, with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Onaga Community Center. Hosts will be their children and their spouses: Mary Teresa and Bob Harris, Centralia; Donna and Ed Bryan, Onaga; Patty and Jack Campbell, Onaga; John and Annette Cline, Onaga; Nancy and Leon Holloway, Hoyt; Josephine and Lester Harris, Havensville; and Leon Cline, Havensville. They also have seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. They request no gifts.

Catholic Education Foundation

Savior Pastoral Center*

691,013.99

George and Rita Dean, members of Sacred Heart Parish, Emporia, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary Oct. 9 – 12 with a family gathering in Branson, Mo. Their children and their spouses are: Mike and Sandra Dean Mahomet, Hatfield, Pa.; Robert and Linda Dean Ernst, Olathe; and Deborah Dean Flannelly, ANNIVERSARIES Bellingham, Wash.

They also have five granddaughters. The couple was married on Oct. 14, 1948, at Sacred Heart Parish, Emporia.

Graphs show disbursements of total money collected as of Aug. 31.

Jim and Pat (Langston) Fracol, members of St. John the Baptist Parish, Kansas City, Kan., will mark their 50th wedding anniversary on Oct. 25 with a dinner celebration for family and friends at the Strawberry Hill Museum, hosted by their children. The couple was married on Oct. 25, 1958, at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Kansas City, Kan. Their children and their spouses are: Jim and Laura Fracol, Overland Park; Diane Pickert, Kansas City, Mo.; Sherri and John Ciliberti, Kansas City, Mo.; and Steve and Stacey Fracol, Agoura Hills, Calif. They also have eight grandchildren.

Leslie and Lola (Vaughn) Walker, members of Holy Angels Parish, Basehor, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on Oct. 16 with a Mass of thanksgiving. On Oct. 19, there will be an open house with their family at their residence. Their children and their spouses are: Bill and Marianne Walker, Fort Worth, Texas; Jeanette and Patrick Roths, Lafayette, La.; Ron and Sharyn Walker, Gardner; Denise and Ed Hoffman, Basehor; Leslie and Stan McAfee, Kansas City, Kan.; Dan and Michelle Walker, Erie, Colo.; Jim and Sandy Walker, Erie, Colo; and Jennifer and John Newsom, Kansas City, Kan. They also have 30 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

ANNIVERSARY POLICY: The Leaven only prints 50, 60, 65 and 70th anniversary notices. Announcements are due by 5 p.m. eight days (Thursday) before the desired publication date. Announcements must be typed.

LOCAL NEWS

Nicholas Shaw, 14, a member of Troop No. 30 and Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Topeka, received his Eagle Scout Award at a Court of Honor on July 20 at the church.

For his Eagle project, Shaw painted learning murals on the walls of Elmont Elementary gymnasium. Using the theme “The Body Shop,” it included the food pyramid and other stations that represent a healthy lifestyle.

Ryan Schmidt, a member of St. Pius X Parish in Mission and Boy Scout Troop No. 192, recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest honor given in Boy Scouts.

For his Eagle project, Schmidt organized and directed troop members in building bird feeders EAGLE SCOUTS for the Kansas City Hospice House. They then filled each feeder with bird seed and installed them outside the windows of the patients’ rooms.

Sean Quigley a member of Troop No. 218, sponsored by the Church of the Ascension in Overland Park, has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Quigley’s service project involved leading a team of Scouts in the planning, construction and installation of two park benches along a running/biking trail in Overland Park.

Quigley received his Eagle award in a Court of Honor held March 30.

7

World Mission Sunday message from Pope Benedict XVI

World Mission Sunday

Proclaim the ‘promise of life in Christ Jesus’

World Mission Sunday is a eucharistic celebration for all the missions of the world. The offerings collected on this particular Sunday are destined for a common fund of solidarity — distributed in the pope’s name by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith — among the missionary bishops of the world.

How your contributions help

Dear Brothers and Sisters, On the occasion of the World Mission Day, I would like to invite you to reflect on the continuing urgency to proclaim the Gospel also in our times. The missionary mandate continues to be an absolute priority for all baptized persons who are called to be “servants and apostles of Christ Jesus” at the beginning of this millennium. My venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI, already stated in the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi”: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity” (no. 14).

As a model of this apostolic commitment, I would like to point to St. Paul in particular, the Apostle of the nations, because this year we are celebrating a special jubilee dedicated to him. It is the Pauline Year which offers us the opportunity to become familiar with this famous Apostle who received the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles, according to what the Lord had announced to him: “Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21).

Saint Paul had understood well that only in Christ can humanity find redemption and hope. Therefore, he perceived that the mission was pressing and urgent to proclaim “the promise of life in Christ Jesus” (2 Tm 1:1), “our hope” ( 1 Tm 1:1), so that all peoples could be co-heirs and co-partners in the promise through the Gospel (cf. Eph 3:6). He was aware that without Christ humanity is “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12) — “without hope because they were without God” (“Spe Salvi,” no. 3).

It is therefore an urgent duty for everyone to proclaim Christ and his saving message. Saint Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach it (the Gospel)!” (1 Cor 9:16).

On the way to Damascus, he had experienced and understood that the redemption and the mission are the work of God and his love. Love of Christ led him to travel over the roads of the Roman Empire as a herald, an apostle, a preacher and a teacher of the Gospel of which he declared himself to be an “ambassador in chains” (Eph 6:20).

By looking at St. Paul’s experience, we understand that missionary activity is a response to the love with which God loves us. His love redeems us and prods us to the missio ad gentes. It is the spiritual energy that can make the harmony, justice and communion grow among persons, races and peoples to which everyone aspires (cf. “Deus Caritas Est,” no. 12). So it is God, who is Love, who leads the Church towards the frontiers of humanity and calls the evangelizers to drink “from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God” (“Deus Caritas Est,” no. 7).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, may the celebration of World Mission Day encourage everyone to take renewed awareness of the urgent need to proclaim the Gospel. I cannot fail to point out with sincere appreciation the contribution of the Pontifical Mission Societies to the Church’s evangelizing activity. I thank them for the support they offer to all the Communities, especially the young ones.

May the collection that is taken in all the parishes on World Mission Day be a sign of communion and mutual concern among the Churches. Lastly, may prayer be intensified ever more in the Christian people, the essential spiritual means for spreading among all peoples the light of Christ, the “light par excellence” that illuminates “the darkness of history” (“Spe Salvi,” no. 49).

As I entrust to the Lord the apostolic work of the missionaries, the Churches all over the world and the faithful involved in various missionary activities and invoke the intercession of the Apostle Paul and Holy Mary, “the living Ark of the Covenant,” the Star of evangelization and hope, I impart my Apostolic Blessing to everyone.

Kenya

$5 supports a seminarian for a day

$25 helps support a catechist for a month

$75 Indonesia

provides for the work of Sisters

$100 is a month’s help for a parish mission

— POPE BENEDICT XVI Excerpted for the pope’s 2008 World Mission Sunday statement.

Sudan

2007 WORLD MISSION SUNDAY $82,297 ATCHISON REGION Sacred Heart, Atchison St. Benedict’s, Atchison St. Joseph, Atchison St. Louis, Atchison St. Patrick, Atchison

$ 1,160.00 413.00 98.00 141.86 26.00

St. Benedict, Bendena St. Ann, Effingham St. Mary, Purcell St. Charles, Troy St. Joseph, Wathena St. Leo, Horton St. Ann, Hiawatha EMPORIA REGION Sacred Heart, Emporia St. Mary, Hartford St. Joseph, Olpe Catholic Campus Center St. Catherine, Emporia GARNETT REGION St. Francis Xavier, Burlington St. Patrick, Emerald

182.00 342.00 35.00 132.00 358.00 130.00 367.57 130.00 13.00 125.00 108.00 199.00 158.00 75.00

Holy Angels, Garnett St. John the Baptist, Greeley Sacred Heart, Mound City St. Philip Neri, Osawatomie Sacred Heart, Ottawa Holy Trinity, Paola St. Therese, Richmond St. Boniface, Scipio St. Joseph, Waverly St. Teresa, Westphalia Our Lady of Lourdes, LaCygne Immaculate Conception, Louisburg JOHNSON COUNTY REGION Curé of Ars, Leawood Holy Trinity, Lenexa St. Pius X, Mission Holy Cross, Overland Park

164.00 101.00 75.00 100.00 317.00 708.00 88.00 147.00 30.00 140.00 100.00 304.00 3,822.00 1,900.00 514.00 865.00

Queen, Overland Park St. Ann, Prairie Village St. Agnes, Roeland Park Good Shepherd, Shawnee St. Joseph, Shawnee Prince of Peace, Olathe St. Paul, Olathe Holy Rosary, Wea Sacred Heart, Gardner Holy Spirit, Overland Park Nativity, Leawood Ascension, Overland Park St. Michael, Overland Park

1,234.00 1,252.00 1,058.00 722.00 3,152.00 3,603.00 1,191.00 690.00 580.00 1,507.00 4,589.00 3,675.00 5,580.00

Assumption, Edgerton Holy Family, Eudora St. John Evangelist, Lawrence Sacred Heart, Tonganoxie Corpus Christi, Lawrence

LAWRENCE REGION Annunciation, Baldwin Holy Angels, Basehor Sacred Heart, Shawnee

133.00 1,054.00 1,436.00

NEMAHA/MARSHALL REGION St. Michael, Axtell Holy Family, Summerfield

LEAVENWORTH REGION St. Lawrence, Easton St. Joseph of the Valley Corpus Christi, Mooney Creek St. Francis de Sales, Lansing Immac Conception, Leavenworth Sacred Heart, Leavenworth St. Casimir, Leavenworth

200.00 555.00 326.00 339.00 1,181.00 195.00 24.00 35.00 611.00 2,880.00 213.00 449.00 233.00 130.00

Sacred Heart, Baileyville St. Malachy, Beattie St. Columbkille, Blaine St. Patrick, Corning St. Augustine, Fidelity Annunciation, Frankfort Blue Rapids/Waterville St. Bede, Kelly St. Joseph, Lillis St. Gregory, Marysville Sacred Heart, Sabetha St. Mary, St. Benedict Sts. Peter & Paul, Seneca St. James, Wetmore NORTONVILLE REGION St. Dominic, Holton St. Francis, Mayetta

330.00 30.00 25.00 245.00 262.00 241.00 65.00 226.00 50.00 1,028.00 440.00 199.00 3,150.00 155.00 $ 122.00 100.00

St. Aloysius, Meriden St. Joseph, Nortonville St. Theresa, Perry Immaculate Conception, Valley Falls

155.00 143.00 166.00 125.00

ST. MARYS REGION Holy Family, Alma St. Vincent de Paul, Onaga Sacred Heart, Paxico St. Stanislaus, Rossville Immaculate Conception, St. Marys St. Bernard, Wamego St. Joseph, Flush

183.00 164.00 160.00 135.00 727.00 205.00 162.00

TOPEKA REGION Christ the King Mater Dei Most Pure Heart of Mary

3,805.00 3,761.00 2,332.00

Our Lady of Guadalupe St. Matthew Sacred Heart/St. Joseph Mother Teresa of Calcutta

764.00 690.00 1,048.00 631.00

WYANDOTTE COUNTY REGION St. Peter Blessed Sacrament Christ the King Holy Family Holy Name Our Lady & St. Rose Sacred Heart St. Joseph/St. Benedict St. John the Baptist St. Patrick St. Mary/St. Anthony Sisters, Servants of Mary

647.00 428.23 621.00 288.00 305.00 57.00 1,018.00 25.00 400.00 718.00 847.00 500.00

10 NATION

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

Creativity is key to meeting needs of Hispanic Catholics WASHINGTON (CNS) — Creative approaches that don’t fit into the church’s usual way of operating must be the key to the pasBRIEFLY meeting toral needs of Hispanics, the church’s fastest growing segment, said the keynote speaker and panelists at a symposium at Georgetown University. Training of the church’s lay and ordained leaders needs to be rethought, said Jesuit Father Allan Father Deck Figueroa Deck, director of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. An American church steeped in European traditions needs to be open to ways of operating that may seem unfamiliar to its current leaders but that resonate better with people whose roots are in Mexico, Central or South America, he said in the symposium’s keynote address. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown hosted the Oct. 6-7 symposium on Hispanic/Latino Catholics in the United States.

Bishop approves seeking sainthood for woman WORCESTER, Mass. (CNS) — The bishop of Worcester has given official recognition to an association seeking the canonization of a young Massachusetts woman, Audrey Santo, who before she died in 2007 spent most of her life unable to speak or move but inspired thousands who flocked to her bedside. Unexplained phenomena that seemed to happen in her presence drew thousands of visitors over the years to her family’s home, where she was cared for.

Many felt she could heal others. The association’s recognition by Bishop Robert J. McManus will now enable it to present its findings to the Vatican. Bishop McManus said that he had no comment about the possibility of “Little Audrey,” as she is called, being named a saint. But he said he was pleased that those promoting her cause can go forward with the process.

Audrey gained worldwide attention after falling into her family’s pool in 1987, at age 3, and ending up in a nonmoving, nonspeaking state, surrounded by consecrated hosts, statues and pictures said to ooze blood or oil. She died April 14, 2007, at age 23.

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THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

Catholics must know Bible to know Jesus

Financial crisis can be a learning opportunity

By EILEEN CASEY Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — The current economic crisis has been a hot topic in leading business schools at Catholic universities across the United States.

Heads of master’s programs in business at a number of Catholic universities said in interviews with Catholic News Service they see the market meltdown as a valuable occasion to teach their students the consequences of imprudent business decisions.

Christopher Puto, dean of the University of St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business in Minneapolis, remarked: “There are powerful lessons here on the issues of greed, selfishness and the need for sound moral judgment that offer great insight for young people at the start of their careers.

“We may be able to use this to guide the development of a new class of business leaders who genuinely understand that profit and the common good are not mutually exclusive ends.”

Puto was among several deans and professors CNS interviewed from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana; Boston College; Georgetown University in Washington; Villanova University in Pennsylvania; Marquette University in Milwaukee; the University of San Diego; and the University of St. Thomas.

All said their schools’ business programs integrate the importance of business ethics and social justice into the curriculum.

In addition to core classes in philosophy and theology, embedded in many of the business courses are elements of corporate responsibility and Catholic social teaching, the affirmation of human dignity, the common good, solidarity with the poor and subsidiarity, which is the principle that things should be done at the simplest, most decentralized and most local level possible.

Since the slide on Wall Street began in late September, professors said classroom debates on the crisis have been commonplace. Many said they use the beginning of class to reflect on what has been happening, and what this means to students who want to break into the financial industry.

Professor Ed Soule at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business said professors are just trying to make sense

CNS photo/Mick Tsikas, Reuters

MAN LOOKS AT DISPLAY BOARD — A man checks out the display board at the Australian Securities Exchange in Melbourne Oct. 10. Australian shares slumped to a new three-year low that day amid a worldwide stock rout on fears that government bailouts will not be enough to save the global economy from recession. out of the economic situation by putting it into context, since most students do not have a basis for comparison.

“We like to talk about what is going on, and how it fits into the history of commercial activities,” he said.

“One thing that can happen with students is that they can start to see business as mechanical. . . . The human dimension is not always as emphasized as it should be,” he said.

He also said that a factor in the upset on Wall Street is a lack of trust between trading partners.

“Once there is a breach of trust, it is difficult to get [it] back,” he said.

“Those that spent their entire careers showing that they are trustworthy proved it saved them in the end. Times like this show how important character can be.”

The economic situation “seems to be a constant source of conversation, in all departments,” said Sarah Peck, chair of Marquette’s business school and associate professor of finance.

This coming spring semester Peck is scheduled to teach an investment ethics class, which she said will be the first of its kind nationwide.

Currently, in conversations about

Wall Street, “there is no doubt that we tie [the financial crisis] to economic principles,” she said. “But rather than saying, ‘Wow, these people were bad,’ we are approaching it [by] trying to understand how this really happened: the way incentives were set up, the pressures, etc.”

“It can be hard to detect the beginning of deviating ethical practices, and it can culminate in a culture that can be disastrous,” she added. “Because of the nature of the profession, it is not always black and white. In the business environment there is always a conflict of interest because both parties are trying to make money.”

A recent meeting of representatives of the University of St. Thomas School of Law and the Opus College of Business and its Center for Ethical Business Cultures focused on integrity, religious values and the business world.

“The purpose,” professor Kenneth Goodpastor said, “was to consider cocurricular opportunities for law and business students to explore the root of and solutions to the crisis in a way that is responsive to the mission and identity of a Catholic university, specifically in its professional schools.”

Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and its Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide emphasize valuesbased leadership and weave social issues and environmental stewardship into the curriculum. Dean Carolyn Woo believes this educational approach will prepare students to practice moral courage in times of frequent business judgment lapses.

“I think [the crisis] is a very teachable moment”, said Woo. “It’s an example of each person looking out for their own self-interest, not human charity — a graphic illustration of the harm that can be done, of what we as humans subconsciously do.”

In her dean’s report she quoted the school’s mission statement, which seems especially relevant to the current crisis: “In these volatile times, we seek to prepare our students to search for perspective, to ask penetrating questions, to plumb the depths of uncertainty with confidence. . . . For wisdom to prevail, we must engage our students to look beyond the narrow bounds of self-interest and seek answers that will add value and serve the broader good of the world we live in.”

By CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service

CNS photo/Anto Akkara

SUPERIOR VISITS CAMP FOR DISPLACED — Sister Nirmala Joshi, superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, right, visits a camp for displaced people Oct. 4. The camp, operated by the Missionaries of Charity, is located in Janla in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

At least 52 people have been killed in anti-Christian violence in Orissa. The violence has led to more than 20,000 mainly poor villagers taking refuge in camps and shelters.

Economic crisis shows why life shouldn’t be built on money

By JOHN THAVIS Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The current global financial crisis illustrates why it is a mistake to build a life on passing realities like money and success, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“We see this today in the collapse of the great banks: This money disappears, it’s nothing. And so all these things we thought were real and were counting on are in fact realities of a second order,” he said Oct. 6, the day European stock markets plummeted following news of government bailouts for two more mortgage and banking companies.

“We need to change our idea of realism. The realist is someone who recognizes in the word of God, in this reality that appears so weak, the foundation of everything,” he said.

The pope made the impromptu remarks at the opening session of the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible.

He said the morning’s Scripture readings had brought to mind Christ’s parable of the two houses, one built on sand and one built on rock.

“On sand is built only things we can see and touch: success, career, money.

Apparently they are real, but one day

they pass,” he said. He said the banking crisis demonstrated how quickly they can disappear.

“Whoever builds his life on these things — on material things, on success, on appearances — is building on sand,” he said.

The true realist is someone who builds his life on the things that remain, recognizing God’s place in his own life, he said.

Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the pope’s reference to the banking crisis underlined an obvious contrast between eternal truths and the realities that occupy a great part of people’s lives.

“Here we have institutions — financial and political — upon which people relied as if they were ultimate,” the cardinal told Catholic News Service.

“There is nothing ultimate except God and the word of God, which is, as [the pope] said, more real than all the material dimension of creation that so preoccupies us,” he said.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said that the pope clearly was offering a spiritual reflection, not an evaluation of financial problems.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church wants people to know and love the word of God — the Bible — so that they will come to know and love the Word of God — Jesus Christ.

While the world Synod of Bishops is focusing on ways to educate Catholics in the importance of reading, understanding and praying with the Bible, several participants addressing the synod Oct. 6-7 insisted that people understand that for Christians the Word of God is Jesus.

“When asked what ‘the word of God’ is, many believers respond, ‘the Bible.’

The response is not wrong, but it is incomplete,” said Italian Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, rector of Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University and president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Because the word of God is more than the Bible, he told the synod Oct. 7, Christianity is not so much a “religion of the book” as a “religion of the Word,” who is Jesus.

Brazilian Bishop Filippo Santoro of Petropolis said it is through reading and hearing the written word that Christians can come into contact with Jesus, the Word made flesh.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, introducing the synod’s work Oct. 6, said, “to begin, we must start from the mystery of a God who speaks, a God who is himself the Word and gives himself to be known by humanity in many ways.”

Through creation, through his covenant with the Israelites, through the prophets and the Scriptures, God reveals himself, said the cardinal, the synod’s recording secretary. His revelation becomes complete in Jesus Christ.

The Bible contains the essential account of how God has spoken to humanity, he said.

“Thanks to the Bible, humanity knows it has been called by God; the Spirit helps humanity listen and welcome the word of God, thus becoming the ‘ecclesia’ (church), the community assembled by the Word,” Cardinal Ouellet said.

WORLD

11

Vatican’s U.N. nuncio argues for human rights UNITED NATIONS (CNS) — Human rights are best protected through disarmament and weapons nonproliferation, argued Archbishop BRIEFLY Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United Nations. “As the human person is the ultimate aim of all public policies, arms regulation, disarmament and nonproliferation must have an interdisciplinary or, more importantly, a human approach,” Archbishop Migliore said in an Oct. 7 address to the U.N.’s General Assembly. Archbishop Migliore put his remarks in the context of the 60th anniversary in December of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“This event invites us to a renewed commitment to disarmament, development and peace,” he said. “All states are called upon to promote disarmament and nonproliferation as key elements for an international order in which the fundamental rights and freedoms of every person can be fully realized.”

British cautiously welcome proposal on Catholic monarchs LONDON (CNS) — British Catholics have cautiously welcomed government proposals to abolish a law that has banned Catholics from the throne for more than three centuries. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered a review of the British Constitution that would involve Gordon Brown scrapping the antiCatholic provisions of the Act of Settlement of 1701, said The Guardian, a London-based daily newspaper. The law prevents a monarch, the constitutional head of state, from either becoming or marrying a Catholic, and those who do must either abdicate or renounce their claim on the throne. The prohibitions apply exclusively to Catholics. According to The Guardian reports in late September, the Labor government, which has been in power since May 1997, will quickly introduce the reforms if elected for a fourth term within the next 18 months. Lord Alton of Liverpool, a Catholic member of the House of Lords, told Catholic News Service in an early October e-mail that the proposal to abolish the act was “a welcome decision that puts right a longstanding anomaly in the law."

12 CLASSIFIEDS

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Finan ci al repres ent ativ e - Due to the success and growth of the Knights of Columbus, we are adding a financial representative in the Kansas City Metro and Topeka areas. This position is ideal for a determined, high-energy, high-expectation, professional, self-disciplined, independent individual desiring to serve others, yet earn a better-than-average income. We provide top-rated financial products to our members and their families and will provide excellent benefits and training. For more information or an interview, contact John A. Mahon, 307 Dakota, Holton, KS 66436; or call (785) 364-5450.

Carpet cleaning technician - Full time, starting at $10/hr.; possible $40K per year. Retirement and health insurance plan. No experience required.

Johnson county area. For details or to apply, call (913) 438-7767.

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Tutoring - Available for grades K - 12. Instructor is working on a master’s in education and has experience in the classroom. For information, call (913) 206-2151, or send an e-mail to: mamurick @rock hurst.edu.

P re s e rv e y o u r m e m o ri e s b y t e ll i n g y o u r l i f e story! I can type your memoirs from handwritten or recorded notes. Also provide secretarial services.

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Mountain Movers Inc. - Big or small, we move it all. Insured movers specializing in antiques. Call Dennis Higgins, owner, at (913) 285-3399.

Machine quilting by Lyn - I also do T-shirt, photo, and memorial quilts too. Located in Overland Park. Call Lyn at (913) 492-8877.

Piano tuning - Touch-up and full chromatic piano tuning for residential and business clients in the KC metro area. Call Bob at (816) 510-3125.

Bankruptcy - When debt becomes overwhelming, seek professional help. Experienced, compassionate Catholic attorney Teresa Kidd. For a confidential, no obligation consultation, call (913) 4220610; or send an e-mail to: tkidd@kc.rr.com.

Granite, Cambria and Silestone countertops See our new showroom at 5820 Barton, in the heart of beautiful downtown Shawnee. Call The Top Shop, Inc., at (816) 898-8685 or (913) 962-5058.

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THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008 C aregi v i ng - We provide personal assistance, companionship, care management, and transportation to the elderly and disabled in home, assisted living and nursing facilities. We also provide respite care for main caregivers needing some personal time. Call Daughters & Company at (913) 341-2500 and speak with Andrea, Sara or Gary.

Housecleaning - We are two moms who understand “busy.” We can take care of your time-consuming household cleaning. Reasonable rates; excellent references. Call Chris at (913) 908-4481.

Members of St. Michael the Archangel Parish.

Need a caregi ver, comp anion, housekeeper, an d/or meal provi der? I am the eldest of 17 children and have years of caregiving and nanny experience. Available day and night or both. Excellent references. Member of St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee.

Call (913) 422-0733.

Eldercare support - Are you struggling to find the right support option for an elderly family member? We are providing families with consultation from our licensed social worker as a FREE community service. We can provide valuable information related to: nursing home and assisted living selection; Medicare and Medicaid coverage; home safety and fall prevention; safety assessments; home care options; and more. To get answers to your questions, simply contact Benefits of Home at (913) 422-1591 to coordinate a phone or in-home consultation.

Have you ever thought of honoring a loved one by leaving a gift in their name? A scholarship fund or designated fund could bear their name for years to come. Contact the C a t h o l i c F o u n d a t i o n o f Nort he ast Ka ns a s to find out how you could pay tribute with a memorial gift at (913) 647-0365. To learn about all that the foundation does to help Catholics in our archdiocese, visit the Web site at: www.cfnek.org.

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L a wn a n d l a n d sca p e w or k - College student looking for landscaping and mowing work. Four years’ experience. Will do trees, mulching, deck refurbishment and landscape design and install.

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Licensed and insured.

(913) 599-7998 Cu stom-kit ch en cou ntert ops - Laminate tops manufactured and installed within 5 days.

Competitive prices, dependable work. St. Joseph Parish member. Call The Top Shop, Inc., at (816) 898-8685 or (913) 962-5058.

T im t he H an dy ma n - Insured; free estimates.

Carpentry: new and repair deck, doors, windows, siding, screens. Plumbing: faucet, garbage disposals, toilets. Electrical: switches, outlets, ceiling fans, light fixtures. Light landscape: fill dirt, trimming, planting, garden tilling and mulching. Serving Johnson County. Call Tim at (913) 859-0471.

ST A (S ur e Thi ng A l w ay s) H om e R e p ai r Basement finish, bathrooms and kitchens; interior & exterior repairs: painting, roofing, siding, wood replacement and window glazing. Call for free estimates. Cell: (913) 579-1835; phone: (913) 491-5837; e-mail: smokeycabin@hotmail.com. Member of Holy Trinity Church, Lenexa.

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008 Ma son ry work - Quality, new or repair work.

Brick, block, and chimney/fireplace repair.

Insured; second generation bricklayer. Call (913) 829-4336.

Concrete crew looking for side work - Can do driveways, patios, and walks. Call Josh at (913) 7097230.

El ectrician - Free estimates; reasonable rates.

JoCo and southern KC metro area. Call Pat at (913) 963-9896.

Organizing & handyman services - Basements, garages, attics and shop spaces organized! Your items sorted, boxed & labeled; areas cleaned when finished! Wall repair, interior painting, tile work, handicap bars and ramps. Great references and insured. For pictures of current projects, view my Web site at: www.swalms.com. Call Tillar Swalm at (913) 375-9115.

El sol y la tierra *Commercial & residential * Lawn renovation * Mowing * Clean-up and hauling * Dirt grading/installation * Landscape design * Free estimates Hablamos y escribimos Ingles!!

Call Lupe at (816) 252-3376.

■ VACATION

On the b ea ch - St. Petersburg, Fla. 4-star condo/hotel. May be rented as a 1 BR for $99/night or a 2 BR with kitchen for $225/night. Sleeps 4 - 8. Call Chuck at (913) 710-2597. For details, visit: www.just letgo.com.

W i n t e r P a r k , C o l o . - Ski week (2/28/09 – 3/7/09); 2 BR, 2 BA condo, with kitchen; sleeps six.

Very nice. Inn at Silvercreek. $700/week. Call (913) 649-7596. To view, visit the Web site at: www. silvercreekgranby.com.

Bahamas beachfront condo - Enjoy the crystal clear waters, beachfront pool or the beautiful sunrises from our newly remodeled condo that sleeps four. $125/night; $750/week. Local owner will rent to mature adults and families. Visit the Web site at: www.coralbeach1602.com, or send an e-mail to: coralbeach1602@gmail.com.

Ski cabin in Winter Park, Colo. – 2 BR, 1 BA, on free ski shuttle route. $110/night. Call (785) 8321518. For pictures, visit the Web site at: cabin. forcadeassociates.com.

S k i v a c a t i o n - Winter Park, Colo. 2 BR, 1BA, sleeps 6. Fully furnished, fireplace, rec. center with pool & hot tub. $125/night; $750/week. Call Joe Frederick at (913) 385-5589.

■ REAL ESTATE L a k e h o u s e f o r s a l e - Beautiful and private Lake Kahola, less than 2 hours from the KC area.

Only 10 miles off I-35 at the Emporia exit. This home sleeps 10+ with a 2-car garage, plus a private boat ramp and dock. Located at the water’s edge on a quiet cove with great neighbors. Call Cy at (316) 262-0888.

Colo. ski condo for sale - 2 BR, 2 BA; located in Winter Park. Fully furnished; full kitchen; gas fireplace. On first floor; close to clubhouse amenities; and on the free, public bus route to ski resort. Call 1 (800) 824-8438, or send an e-mail to: kmeyer@ meyermountainrealty.com.

Nottingham Estates at St. Andrews - 11203 W. 140th Terr., OP. Looking for a private 1/2 acre lot?

This beautifully maintained, one-owner, 2-story home offers 4 BR, 5- 1/2 BA, 4 fireplaces, a finished walkout bsmt., 3+ car garage, a screened-in porch and a deck nestled in the trees. Many updates. This home is truly special! Marnie Robinett, Reece and Nichols, at (913) 266-6621.

JoCo homes for sale - For info on homes listed below, visit the Web site: SuzieTownleyHomes.com, or call 1 (866) 653-9586 and dial the extension listed. Suzie Townley, Realtor KWR Diamond Partners.

(913) 208-2873.

Cheapest 3 BR home in Lenexa! 3 - 5 BR, 3 BA, two-car garage, fenced yard. Needs work. Ext. 5001.

Largest home in Gardner for the price! 5-plus BR, 3 BA. Ext. 2001.

■ FOR SALE For sale - Four cemetery plots at Mount Calvary Cemetery, Kansas City, Kan. Lot 76; section 3; spaces 5, 6, 7 and 8. Call Paul at (913) 314-1159.

Piano for sale - Baldwin M 5’ 2” baby grand piano with humidity control. Black satin finish; in excellent condition; tuned every 6 months; new in 1997. $12,995. Contact Janet at (816) 521-9553.

Boa t fo r sa le - 1985 VIP, 1750 Viceroy in/out runabout. Tan color; 17 ft.; MerCruiser stern drive; 140 HP; Rolco trailer included. Call (913) 764-6874.

For sale - Beautiful cocktail birds for a great price. (913) 999-4340.

■ CHILD CARE

Adult baby sitter - For all ages. I love kids and can do evenings and weekends. I will drive and can furnish as many references you need. Call Karen (913) 338-5679.

AB A - t r a i n ed a u t i s t i c t e a c h e r - With seven years experience would like to childsit in your home. Evenings and weekends. Call (913) 438-8686.

Registered home ch ild care - Over 16 yrs. experience. Southern OP/Leawood, near 151 St. and Nall/Mission Rd. Call (913) 636-2782.

Part-time mother’s helper needed - 3 - 8 p.m.; Mon-Fri. Flexible. Drive to and from after-school activities, errands, light household duties. Must have a clean driving record. South JoCo area. Call (913) 375-0323, or send resume via e-mail, to: mothers. helper@live.com.

■ ROOMMATE WANTED R o o m m a t e w a n t e d - 100% non-smoker to share quiet, spacious home near I-29 and 64th St. in the Northland. Washer, dryer, DSL, satellite TV. $400; utilities paid. Call (816) 741-0999.

■ WANTED TO BUY

***ANTIQUES WANTED*** Postcards, old photos, military items, trains, coins, watches jewelry, political buttons, old toys and banks, Red Wing crocks, Indian rugs, signs and sterling silverware. Call Chris (913) 642-8269.

Oct. 17

The youth group of Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph Parish, Leavenworth, will host its annual art auction featuring art in all media and price ranges brought in from Marlin Art of New York. Proceeds from this event will benefit the parish youth group. Tickets cost $5 in advance; $10 at the door. The wine and cheese preview will begin at 7 p.m.; the auction will begin at 8 p.m. For information or tickets, call the parish office at (913) 682-3953.

The Topeka Catholic Singles Fellowship will host a TGIF at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 at Boss Hawg’s, 2833 S.W. 29th St. For information, call Gina at (620) 3407742.

17-18

The Knights of Columbus will host an Autumn Blaze Days barbecue smoke-off and pumpkin festival, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, on Oct. 17- 18 at the Anderson County Fairgrounds, Garnett. For information, call Ted Uhler at (785) 448-5357, or visit the Web site at: www.garnett kofc.com.

18

The Singles of Nativity will host a Halloween dance from 7 - 11:30 p.m. in the church hall at 119th and Mission Rd., Leawood. Join the fun and come in costume! The cost is $15 for members; $20 for nonmembers. Beer, wine, snacks, and great music will be provided! Volunteers are needed for setup, sign-in table, drink table, and cleanup. For information or to volunteer, contact Rosanna or Rita at: social@son-ministry.org.

The Knights of Columbus, Mater Dei Council No. 8059, will sponsor a soccer challenge for all boys and girls at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the Hayden High School field, 401 S.W. Gage, Topeka. Participants, 10-14 years old, will be eligible to compete for advancement to the state council competition. Participants are required to furnish proof of age and written parental consent. For entry forms or additional information, contact Kyle Mead at (785) 3575000, Entry forms will be available at the Mater Dei School office.

Our Lady of Unity Alumni Association will host a dinner dance on Oct. 18 at the Sacred Heart Church hall, 2646 S. 34th St., Kansas City, Kan. Tickets cost $20 each; $30 per couple. To purchase tickets, contact Rod at (913) 2624919, Doug at (913) 963-9095, or Ed at (913) 631-4206.

■ ENTERTAINMENT

Send an e-mail to: jennifer@the leaven. com, or call (913) 647-0327.

The cost is $16 per column inch, five lines or less. Each additional line is $1.50. Classified ads will also be posted online at The Leaven’s Web site: www.theleaven.com

18-19

The women’s organization of Prince of Peace Church, 16000 W. 143rd St., Olathe, will host a fall craft market featuring holiday gifts and decor from 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 and from 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Oct. 19.

19

The Knights of Columbus, Council No. 2332, Shawnee, will host a pancakes-and-more breakfast on Oct. 19 in their hall located, at 11221 Johnson Dr. The cost is: $7 for adults; $4 for children; or $20 per family. For information, call Tom Zarda Jr. at (913) 636-0203.

The Mary, Health of the Sick Guild will sponsor a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Oct. 19 in Spurlock Hall at the Cathedral of St. Peter, 422 N. 14th St., Kansas City, Kan. The cost is $6 for adults; $4 for children under 10. Proceeds will benefit the Sisters, Servants of Mary. Guild members will also host a bake sale and variety booth to benefit the charitable work of the Sisters, Servants. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling (913) 371-3423.

The Knights of Columbus will host an international pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Oct. 19 in the church hall at St. John the Evangelist, 2910 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kan. The cost is $6 per person; children 5 and under eat free.

▲ Queen of the Holy Rosary - Wea, 22799 Metcalf Rd, Bucyrus, will host its parish bazaar from noon - 6 p.m. on Oct. 19. A fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings will be served from noon - 4 p.m. The cost is: $8 for adults; $4 for children 3 - 12; and free for children under 3.

There will also be bingo, a craft booth, a country store, and children’s games.

St. Philip Neri Parish, Osawatomie, will host its annual fall bazaar on Oct. 19 in the city auditorium, located at 5th St. and Main. A chicken and noodle and chili supper will be served from 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. The cost is $8 for adults; $4 for children. There will also be a bake sale, a raffle, a country store, children’s games and more.

22

▲ Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann will celebrate the archdiocesan monthly prolife Mass at 8 a.m. on Oct. 18 at Sts. Cyril & Methodius Church, 44 N. Mill, Kansas City, Kan., followed by a rosary procession to an abortion clinic four blocks away.

Eucharistic adoration is available for those not processing, with Benediction concluding services at 10 a.m.

A memorial liturgy for deceased loved ones will be held at 8 a.m. on Oct.

teers will be held from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the Education Center of St. Joseph Health Center, I-435 and State Line Rd., Kansas City, Mo. Respite volunteers give a few hours of personal time each week or month to caregivers of family members at home. Trained volunteers are insured against liability, work in their own parish community, and do not do housework, cook meals or give medication. Kindly register by Oct. 22, by calling Aletha Adams at (913) 362-7798.

26

The Daughters of Isabella, Little Flower Circle No. 503, will hold their monthly meeting at 1 p.m. on Oct. 26 at Rossiter Hall, 204 S.W. 8th St.,Topeka. A rosary for the deceased and sick members will precede the meeting.

Nov. Savior Pastoral Center, 12601 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, Kan., will host a mini-retreat for women,, entitled “Blessed Are You Who Are Mourning, For One Day You Will Laugh,” on Nov. 1. The retreat director will be Mary Kay Whitacre, who has over 30 years experience in professional ministry in the church. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m., followed by the program and lunch. The cost is $25; reservations may be made through Oct. 24. For information, contact (913) 7211097, or visit the Web site at: www.arch kck.org (click on the Savior Pastoral Center link).

The Catholic Women’s Organization at Holy Angels Parish, 15540 Leavenworth Rd., Basehor, will host its annual craft fair from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Nov. 1 in Father Quinlan Hall. Twenty-five booths will feature a variety of items, and refreshments will be available. For information, contact Annie Clark at (913) 724-2212.

The Beginning Experience group of Kansas City will host a day-after-Halloween BOO-gie singles dance from 7:30 - 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the gym at Holy Trinity School, 92nd & Pflumm, Lenexa. No costumes. A $15 donation, payable at the door, is requested. Drinks and snacks will be provided. For information, visit the Web site at: www.beginning experience.org.

23-26

The Sophia Center, 751 S. 8th St., Atchison, will host a Benedictine immersion experience from 7 p.m. on Oct. 23 through 2 p.m. on Oct. 26. It will be presented by Sister Judith Sutera, OSB, and the Sophia Center staff. The cost is $200, including a $35 deposit. For information, call (913) 3606165.

25

Training for new respite volun-

13

a.m. - 3 p.m. Carryouts will be available from noon - 3 p.m. The cost is $8 for adults; $4 for children under 10. There will also be a raffle for a hand-stitched quilt.

25-26

St. Matthew Parish, Topeka, will host its annual fall festival on Oct. 25 - 26. There will be a walk/run on Saturday at 9 a.m. For information, send an e-mail to Bill Cochran at: wcochran@topeka.org. There will also be a four-person scramble golf tournament.

To register to play, contact the parish office at (785) 232-5012. Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a chili cook-off and supper, music, activities, and a beer garden. On Sunday, a turkey dinner with all the trimmings will be served from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., followed by a variety of adult and children’s activities. For information, contact Bill or Kelley Cochran at (785) 408-2288 or (785) 2668031; or send an e-mail to: wcochran@ topeka.org or kelleytpcu@yahoo.com.

1

Join the Singles of Nativity for happy hour beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 at Trolley’s Bar & Grille, 9100 W. 135th St., Overland Park. Questions? Send an e-mail to: social@son-ministry.org.

Disc jocke y - For your wedding, kolos, nightclubs, corporate parties, teenage celebrations, holiday parties, sock-hops, ethnic, birthdays, holiday parties, hip-hop/rap, golden oldies. Member of St. Therese Parish, KCMO. Call Zepster’s A to Z Party DJ’s at (816) 741-4777.

TO PURCHASE A CLASSIFIED

18 at Curé of Ars Church, 9401 Mission Rd., Leawood. The bereavement ministry will have its monthly meeting following Mass in the Father Burak Room. The topic will be “Managing the Holidays.” For information, call (913) 649-2026.

CALENDAR

▲ St. Bernard Parish, 1102 8th St., Wamego, will host its stitch ‘n’ stuff bazaar on Nov. 2. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. There will be a country store, a cakewalk, bingo, children’s games and a raffle. For information, call Sharon at (785) 456-2994 or Pam at (785) 456-9529.

Misc.

Project Rachel is offering weekly support groups throughout October in the KC metro area for those hurting from an abortion. Registration is required. For information, call Patricia at (913) 621-2199 or 1 (888) 246-1504. All calls are strictly confidential.

The Keeler Women’s Center is partnering with MOCSA (Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault) to offer advocacy services and counseling for women who have been victims of sexual assault recently or in the distant past. Sessions are held at the Keeler Women’s Center, 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kan. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Nicole at (816) 931-4527, ext. 233.

Do you or your loved one need support to break free from pornography, infidelity, or lust? The My House Men’s Group provides prayer and accountability for sexual integrity. Sam Meier, MA, LPC, is available for men’s groups and counseling; call him at (913) 647-0378, or send an e-mail to him at: smeier@archkck.org. The My House Women’s Group provides hope and healing for women who are dealing with their loved one’s struggles. Contact Beth Meier at (913) 647-0379, or send an e-mail to her at: bmeier@archkck.org. Sam and Beth work for the archdiocese, and are thankful for the healing they have experienced in their marriage. Support is confidential and from a Catholic perspective.

Spiritual direction helps us notice God’s action in our daily lives. By meeting monthly with a skilled spiritual director, we become more conscious of God’s presence and love. For information or to schedule a free appointment, call the Keeler Women’s Center at (913) 621-8749.

“Kids Voice” is grief support for children ages 5 - 12 who are in families experiencing the pain of separation or divorce.

For information, call Jean at (913) 2629037.

St. Monica home school support meets monthly. For information and locations, call Stephanie Jacobson at (913) 766-0412.

2

▲ Holy Trinity Parish , 601 E. Chippewa, Paola, will host its fall bazaar on Nov. 2. Dinner will be served from 11:30

■ Calendar items must be received nine days before the publication date. E-mail submissions are preferred; send to: jennifer@the leaven.com.

14 COMMENTARY

There are a lot of good reasons to make Catholic Community Hospice your choice when selecting a hospice.

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

MARK MY WORDS

Tell me, please, about your life

President MOST REVEREND JOSEPH F. NAUMANN Editor REVEREND MARK GOLDASICH, STL frmark@theleaven.com Managing Editor ANITA McSORLEY anita@theleaven.com Senior Reporter JOE BOLLIG joe@theleaven.com Production Manager TODD HABIGER todd@theleaven.com Advertising Representative JENNIFER SIEBES jennifer@theleaven.com Reporter KARA HANSEN kara@theleaven.com Circulation sub@theleaven.com Intern Seán T.D. Kane

Catholic Press Association Award Winner 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Archbishop Edward O’Meara Award Winner 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 Publication No. (ISSN0194-9799)

an you describe your life in six words? This was the challenge issued in 2006 by the editors of Smith magazine, a storytelling publication.

C

The question hit such a chord with readers that the unexpected avalanche of responses the magazine received was eventually compiled into a book fittingly entitled, “Not Quite What I Was Planning,” edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith.

A few weeks ago, I put the same question to the people in my parish. I expanded the idea a little, asking parishioners to construct a six-word life motto or a six-word autobiography or life description.

One of my own hit me out of the blue. It’s written on a 4x6 file card, so that I can’t easily avoid seeing the words. Much to my surprise, when I counted up the words, there were six of them, perfect for my life’s description.

Those six words are: “Meant to” don’t pick no cotton.

I realize that the sentence is grammatically incorrect, but the words didn’t originate with me. I read them a long time ago, somewhere, and they made such an impression on me that I wrote them down and have been chal-

Published weekly September through May, excepting the Friday the week after Thanksgiving, and the Friday after Christmas; biweekly June through August. Address communications to: The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. Phone: (913) 721-1570; fax: (913) 7215276; or e-mail at: sub@theleaven.com.

POSTMASTER : Send address changes to The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. For change of address, provide old and new address and parish.

Subscriptions $18/ year. Periodicals postage paid at Kansas City, KS 66109.

SCRIPTURE READINGS TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Oct. 19 TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Is 45: 1, 4-6; Ps 96: 1, 3-5, 7-10; 1 Thes 1: 1-5b; Mt 22: 15-21 Oct. 20 Paul of the Cross, priest Eph 2: 1-10; Ps 100: 1b-5; Lk 12: 13-21 Oct. 21 Tuesday Eph 2: 12-22; Ps 85: 9-14; Lk 12: 35-38 Oct. 22 Wednesday Eph 3: 2-12; (Ps) Is 12: 2-3, 4c-6; Lk 12: 39-48 Oct. 23 John of Capistrano, priest Eph 3: 14-21; Ps 33: 1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19; Lk 12: 49-53 Oct. 24 Anthony Mary Claret, bishop Eph 4: 1-6; Ps 24: 1-4b, 5-6; Lk 12: 54-59 Oct. 25 Saturday Eph 4: 7-16; Ps 122: 1-5; Lk 13: 1-9

lenged by them ever since.

It should be no secret to long-time readers of this column that its writer is a world-class procrastinator. (That probably explains why I’m typing out these words very late on Tuesday night, the absolute latest time that I can turn this in and still have it printed in this week’s issue.)

In other words, I’m the “meant to” kid. I meant to write this column over the past weekend, but other things intervened (like my parish’s bazaar and turkey dinner) and I just didn’t get it done. While it’s nice to have a good intention, that does not automatically translate into action. I can “mean to” head out into the fields all I want, but if I never go, the cotton remains untouched.

After my homily, a number of parishioners shared their six-word motto or life description with me. One, in fact, wrote hers down immediately on a scrap of paper and handed it to me after Mass: Do everything for love of God. Another hedged a bit on the sixword limit, but it’s a good start:

Multiple screw-ups, small successes . . .

God, have mercy!

There’s something really addictive (and fun) about creating six-word life descriptions. Not only do I keep scribbling down possibilities for my own, I’ve also found myself coming up with some for a few Old Testament characters: • Eve: Don’t ever listen to a snake.

• Noah: Too many twos to tend to.

• Workers on the last day at the Tower of Babel: Bye! Ciao! Zbogom!

Adios! Kwaheri! Shalom!

• The Israelites during the Exodus: Forty years wandering? Ask directions, please!

• Samson: Keep those scissors away from me.

So, what about you?

If you were given just six words to describe your life, what would they be? I’d be interested in hearing your creations.

This would be a great reason, in fact, to check out our new Web site at: www.theleaven.com. Go to the “Contact Us” tab, hit “Story Ideas” and fill out the information there. Put your six-word masterpiece in the “brief synopsis” box.

Or feel free to drop me an e-mail directly at: frmark@theleaven.com.

In the meantime, let me leave you with my real six-word life description.

Since the number six in the Scriptures signifies incompleteness, what better way to describe me — procrastination, humor, sinfulness, and all — than: God isn’t done with me yet!

THE GOSPEL TRUTH

‘Caesar’ passage misconstrued in modern homes olitical opinion in this country has built a wall of separation between church and state based upon the First Amendment clause in the Constitution.

P

spreading the gospel, often promoted their own governments. Those experiences have influenced the present poliAt the same time, while people may cies of China and France towards reliagree about the existence of that sepagion. ration, they often disagree Where should we draw the about where exactly to draw line?

We might suppose that TWENTYthe line. Does it permit vouchthis question lies behind the inNINTH ers to parochial schools? Does quiry that the Pharisees and SUNDAY IN it allow the government to the Herodians make when they ORDINARY TIME give medical treatment to chilask Jesus in Sunday’s Gospel Mt 22: 15-21 dren whose parents oppose reading, Mt 22:15-21: “Is it that treatment on religious lawful to pay the census tax to grounds?

Caesar or not?” Are they asking about If our country has trouble in finding the separation of church and state? where to draw the line, we are not If we suppose that, we are sorely alone. For example, France currently mistaken. The concept of the separation prohibits the wearing of head scarves by of church and state was unknown in the female Muslim students. China does not ancient world. That notion arose during allow Chinese religious organizations to the Enlightenment of the 18th century. be subject to outside control. And yet, Nothing of the like was driving the these countries maintain that they recquestion posed by the Pharisees and the ognize religious freedom. They only Herodians. conceive of it in a different way than Instead, they were asking how the ourselves, because of their distinctive people of Israel should relate to a forhistories. France underwent centuries eign government, the Roman Empire. of a close alliance between the church Being foreign meant that it was also and the crown. Western missionaries in Gentile, non-Jewish. This was not the China during the 19th century, besides first time that the Jewish people had to

deal with occupation by a foreign power.

Centuries earlier, Israel had been conquered by the Neo-Babylonians, who had taken them into exile. The Persians succeeded them in power, followed by Alexander the Great and the dynasties of his generals. Israel then enjoyed a brief period of freedom before being absorbed into the Roman Empire.

For Israel, resistance to foreign occupation was linked to rejection of pagan religion. The question that the Pharisees posed about paying tax to Caesar really concerns the extent of opposition to Caesar that they should take. Not paying the tax would amount to open opposition, a very dangerous stance for Jesus to advocate. On the other hand, paying the tax could amount to acquiescence to a pagan religion. After all, Caesar was worshipped as a god.

By their question, the Pharisees are placing Jesus in an extremely difficult position. They want him to choose between loyalty to the government and faithfulness to his religion. They want to trap him.

By his response, Jesus appears to answer the question yet avoid the dilemma. He cleverly escapes the trap the Pharisees have set. He would have made a good politician. But we claim him as our king.

Father Mike Stubbs is pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lansing and has a degree in Scripture from Harvard University.

• Our low nurse-topatient ratio

• Our pain management expertise

• Our Catholic identity

But sometimes, the best reason has more to do with you than it does with us.

Feel as good as you can, as long as you can.

Catholic Community Hospice.

Ask for us by name.

Catholic Community Hospice Because life matters.

913-621-5090 • 785-357-5107 • www.catholiccommunityhospice.com

16 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • OCTOBER 17, 2008

AROUND THE

ARCHDIOCESE

Leaven photo/Susan McSpadden

SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE

▲ Mary Sullivan, left, organizer of the Sisters, Servants of Mary first fundraising gala, jokes with Sister Leticia Rodriguez and Sister Sylvena Tetuh at the event Oct. 4 at Church of the Ascension in Overland Park. The gala raised more than its $100,000 goal for the Sisters.

CELEBRATING 140 ▲

St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee commemorated its 140th anniversary with an outdoor Mass Sept. 21 on the football field at the parish’s Mirocke Stadium. Pastor Father Michael Hawken (middle left) and associate Father Brandon Farrar concelebrated the Mass, assisted by servers (from left) Daniel Hashman, Jake Wodtke, Max Grisnik and Spencer Carl.

SPECIAL VISIT

▼ World-renowned Vatican portrait artist Igor Babailov discussed his portraitures of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II on Sept. 19 with art students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park.

Photo/Matt Flickner

HONORED ▲

The Immigrant Justice Advocacy Movement honored Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann with the Voices for Immigrant Justice Award on Sept. 25 at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village. The archbishop was recognized for testimony he gave before the Kansas Senate in opposition to unjust immigration laws.

Leaven photo/Susan McSpadden

Leaven photo/Susan McSpadden