THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 38, NO. 23 | JANUARY 27, 2017
More than a few teachers in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas are now teaching the children of children they taught many years ago. As part of our Catholic Schools Week coverage, The Leaven asked a few of them to share their thoughts on teaching to the
GENERATIONS
PATTY HILL
St. John School, Lawrence
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have been teaching at St. John since 1980. During my years at St. John, I have taught just about every combination of subjects you can imagine — first grade, second grade, third grade, math, science, social studies, handwriting, art and music. I am currently teaching second-grade math and social studies. As you can imagine, I have taught many children of former students — too many to count. I am currently teaching eight children of former students. I think that says a lot about the school — the fact that so many former students want their children to attend St. John. Quite often, I know immediately who their parents are. It’s always so rewarding to see former students return
LENTEN DINNERS
with their children. There is nothing better than seeing how far they have come since second or third grade, and that they are instilling the same values in their kids that we taught them when they were at St. John. Many people have asked me why I have stayed at St. John School so long. There are so many reasons. I originally applied to St. John because my husband’s family has such a deep history with this school and church. But it soon became much more to me. Our staff is not just a group of people working together; we are truly a family. Our parents are also a huge part of it. We really have the best parents, and they support us in all we do. But the best part is the kids. They keep me on my toes, and keep me smiling.
The Leaven will publish a list of Lenten dinners in the archdiocese on Feb. 24. Notices are due Feb. 10 and are limited to 40 words. Submit your information by email to: todd.habiger@theleaven.org.
>> Stories continue on page 8 & 9
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LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
“IT’S ALWAYS SO REWARDING TO SEE FORMER STUDENTS RETURN WITH THEIR CHILDREN. THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN SEEING HOW FAR THEY HAVE COME SINCE SECOND OR THIRD GRADE, AND THAT THEY ARE INSTILLING THE SAME VALUES IN THEIR KIDS THAT WE TAUGHT THEM WHEN THEY WERE AT ST. JOHN.
CELEBRATING 100
Former students help longtime Bishop Ward teacher celebrate 100 years a little early. Page 3, 5
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
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The ‘Power of One’: or a tale of two marches
am in Washington, D.C., today (Jan. 27), participating in the annual March for Life. It is amazing each year to join hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans to pray and advocate for the right to life for unborn children, the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society. The March for Life this year occurs almost a week after the Women’s March that was prompted by fears of some women regarding the possible positions and policies of our newly inaugurated president. Some of the revelations during the election campaign of past behavior by then-candidate Donald Trump raised legitimate concerns about our new president’s past attitude toward women. However, sadly, the Women’s March was co-opted by pro-abortion groups. In fact, it was made clear by the Women’s March organizers that pro-life women’s groups were not welcome to be official sponsors of the event. One of the event’s “Unity Principles” was: “open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people.” Translate “affordable abortion and contraception” to mean tax-funded abortion. Erica Sackin, director of political communications for Planned Parenthood, remarked, “The Women’s March platform
LIFE WILL BE VICTORIOUS ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH F. NAUMANN clearly states support for access to abortion as a core principle. Everyone who supports that entire platform was welcome to march here today.” In other words, pro-life women please stay away. One of the dominant messages of the Women’s March was “women’s rights are human rights.” For the Women’s March organizers to insist that legal, and even tax-funded, abortion is one of their core principles, in essence, is to make the absurd claim that abortion, the killing of one’s own child, is a human right. They even appear to believe that it is a human right for society to bear the cost for the execution of their children. If the reporting on the signage at the Women’s March is accurate, vulgarity and coarseness must also be
human rights. There are many authentic women’s rights issues where there exists a broad coalition of agreement, e.g., elimination of sex-trafficking, better workplace accommodations for mothers, care for victims of domestic violence, etc. However, for those who have usurped the leadership of the socalled women’s movement, all of these must be subordinated to abortion rights. For a very thoughtful treatment of an authentic feminism, I encourage you to read “Women, Sex and the Church,” edited by Erika Bachiochi. It is a collection of insightful essays by women on some of the key issues facing women today. Erika Bachiochi —who authored one of the essays, wrote the conclusion and edited the entire book — describes herself the child of “a broken, nonchurchgoing, nominally Catholic home. As a young child and teen, I both witnessed
and then lived a life diametrically opposed to the Catholic Church teaching on sex and marriage. Concentrating on women’s studies early in college, I identified with a radical feminist contingent and was adamantly anti-Catholic. For these reasons and more, I am an unlikely candidate to bring together the women who contributed to this book.” Based on past history, the March for Life will be comparable in size to the Women’s March, but it will not receive the same amount of secular media coverage. Why? Primarily, because it does not fit the issue bias of those who control most of the major media outlets! Many of the events that surround the March for Life will be prayerful. We will pray for wisdom and courage for legislators, for loving support and assistance to those experiencing an untimely or difficult pregnancy, for healing and mercy for those who procured an abortion or those who performed or assisted in the performance of an abortion, for eternal life and happiness for the children killed by abortion, and for courage in building up a culture of life. The theme for this year’s March for Life is: “The Power of One.” It emphasizes how each of us is called to play a part in the renewal of respect for human life in our
nation. We each have a sphere of influence where we can help save lives by changing hearts and minds. Sadly, our nation has become increasingly divided and polarized over the past eight years. President Obama was willing to sacrifice the sustainability of the health care reform passed during his presidency in order to force businesses and even religious ministries, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, to include abortifacients, sterilization and contraceptives in employee health plans. We need to prepare ourselves for a battle royal if President Trump is true to his promise to nominate a candidate for the Supreme Court who believes that Roe v. Wade was bad jurisprudence and who is opposed to the court inventing rights on neuralgic social issues. We are at another critical cultural moment for our nation. The Women’s March and the March for Life are a tale of two marches with very different agendas. In many ways, they are a visible manifestation of two opposing philosophies struggling to capture the soul of our nation. It will be important for each of us to make our voices heard in the weeks and months ahead. Together, we can make a difference. Each of us possesses the power of one!
“Let us show you the many options available when you prearrange your funeral services.”
ARCHBISHOP NAUMANN Jan. 27 March for Life Support Our Seminarians benefit dinner — Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri Jan. 28 Consecrated religious life Mass and lunch — Savior Pastoral Center Pastoral visit — St. Mary-St. Anthony, KCK Jan. 29 Mass and social — St. Isidore Catholic Student Center, Manhattan Jan. 30 Mass — Hayden High School, Topeka Jan. 31 Mass — St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Overland Park Administrative Team meeting
ARCHBISHOP KELEHER Jan. 28 Mass — St. Sebastian, Florida Jan. 29 Mass — St. Sebastian, Florida
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
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CELEBRATING OLD SCHOOL: Ward legend turns 100
By Anita McSorley anita.mcsorley@theleaven.org
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wasn’t her favorite student. And I was far from her best. But the impact that Margaret Fay had on the course of my life is hard to exaggerate. So when I discovered that she was going to be celebrating her 100th birthday later this spring, I decided that it was high time to thank her. So thank you, Miss Fay, for being the toughest teacher I had in 18 years of formal education. Thank you for never giving me a grade I didn’t deserve. For holding your students to the highest standards — yours. And for being an example of faith and integrity to us all. Thank you, too, for nurturing in me the talents you saw in me; they eventually put my kids through college. I even want to thank you for making me memorize those lines from “Macbeth.” Little did I know at the time how often the Bard’s words describing life as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” would sum things up pretty darn well. In short, thank you for being such a formidable force in my life. And educating me so well that I know that formidability is not only a quality of those who evoke fear — but also of those who inspire respect. I have used what you taught me almost every day of my adult life. And it appears I am not alone. When I invited my fellow Ward alumni to help us all celebrate Catholic Schools Week by submitting a brief note to you, we got so many they won’t fit in print. So for more notes and early 100th birthday greetings, please go online to: www.theleaven.org. But suffice it to say, Miss Fay, that when the Catholic Schools Week folks picked for the theme of this year’s celebration the slogan “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service,” several generations of Kansas Catholics thought first of you.
Dear Miss Fay, Happy birthday! Thank you for your dedication to the teaching profession and your commitment to shaping, and shaping up, young people. There’s a stadium full of your students who went into the world better prepared and asking a bit more of themselves than they would have without your influence. Quite a legacy; you have every reason to be proud. — Lawrence S. McGurn, ’71
Dear Sweet Miss Fay, I can’t believe you are 100 years old. Congratulations. You are an excellent educator and have influenced many students over your teaching career. I can still remember your description of kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland. Your shared words had joy, excitement and accomplishment. I’m a better writer because of you. By the way, don’t grade this!!! Happy Birthday! — Joan Bryant Robinson
Miss Fay, Happy 100th! Just a note of thanks for the tremendously positive impact you had on me during classes at Bishop Ward. In every job I had during and after college, the one attribute that was always in demand was the ability to “tell a story.” The classes I had with you at Bishop Ward (like English literature and creative writing) truly prepared me to appreciate and read and write a good story. You helped me grow and develop in ways I didn’t fully comprehend until years later. I cannot tell you how blessed I am that you chose to invest in me! I hope you have a tremendous celebration on your birthday! Thank you again! — Brian McKiernan, ’74
I did not see the need at the time. Years later, it occurred to me that it was really helpful to write a cohesive business message. Thanks, Margaret Fay. — Ron Miller, ’63
Publication No. (ISSN0194-9799) President: Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann
From left, Makynzie Sanchez, Graciela Bautista and Joseline Ruiz gather around Margaret Fay at the 2016 spring alumni gathering and lunch at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas.
Miss Fay was my favorite teacher. I had her in a couple of classes before senior year, but my best was creative writing senior year. It was an advanced class and I aced it because of her. I still have many of the items I wrote in that class. She encouraged and inspired and I still think of her every time I need to write something and try to be creative. Congratulations to her. She influenced thousands of kids in her years at Ward. XO — George Vesel, ’69
Thank you, Miss Fay, for giving me a base to progress from that affected my life. I have written grants as mayor and chairman of our fire district that obtained over a million dollars for three different towns. Without your influence, I wouldn’t have majored in English and made a difference to others. Your influence lives on. — Sherry Hull Bridgeman, ’75
Happy birthday, Miss Fay. Thank you for your kindness and dedication to all the students of Bishop Ward. I was in the class of 1979. I am a nurse for 30 years now, with a master’s degree in nursing education. God bless you! — Judy Kaminski Wagner, ’79
Congratulations, Miss Fay! You were and remain today a wonderful inspiration to the benefits of hard work, study and dedication. When I think back to my high school days, you are the first teacher to come to mind as a positive influence, and that recollection included many good people! — Brian Kubicki, ’81
Happy Birthday, Miss Fay! You made the English classics come alive for me! Thank you so much! You’ve left quite a legacy for so many of us! — Cynthia Owens Harris
>> See “MISS FEY” on page 5
Editor Rev. Mark Goldasich, stl frmark.goldasich@theleaven.org
Production Manager Todd Habiger todd.habiger@theleaven.org
Reporter Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org
Managing Editor Anita McSorley anita.mcsorley@theleaven.org
Senior Reporter Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org
Advertising Coordinator Beth Blankenship beth.blankenship@theleaven.org
Miss Margaret Fay ’34 Endowment Fund thriving In 2011, former students of Miss Margaret Fay ’34 created an endowment fund in her honor. Fay spent 38 years in education, most of them at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas. Famous for her high standards of English grammar, her love of the Catholic Church, and her faith and passion for teaching, she impacted generations of Bishop Ward students. In honor of her 100th birthday in May, the founders of the Miss Margaret Fay ’34 Endowment Fund, have set a goal to surpass $100,000. To contribute to the endowment fund today, contact Leslie Gasser at Bishop Ward High School (913) 229-3821 or visit the website at: www.ward high.org.
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) 721-5276; 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 $21/year. Periodicals postage paid at Kansas City, KS 66109.
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
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Support of ACTS strengthens marriages and family life
“F
amily is the foundation of our communities, our society, our nation and our church,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said. “In a sense, everything in our culture depends on the health of marriage and family life.” In the coming year, renewed energy and resources will be devoted to strengthening family life in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. As part of the implementation of the 10-year mutually shared vision, special emphasis will be placed on the centrality of marriage, parenthood and family in our lives as disciples of Christ. The generosity of so many to the Archbishop’s Call to Share appeal enlivens efforts to help Christian families fulfill the call to holiness. The archdiocesan office of marriage and family life provides resources, retreats and educational programs for parishes to reach out to couples and families throughout the archdiocese. In order to support Archbishop Naumann’s vision for stronger marriages and families in our region, the office of marriage and family life has developed the Joyful Marriage Project — a resource to help couples strive for more in their marriages and for their families. “Our hope, and the way we will change the world, is to help couples be madly in love,” said Deacon Tony Zimmerman, lead consultant of the office of marriage and family life. “When you cultivate joy as a couple, it doesn’t matter what life throws at you — you can weather any storm together and with God.”
Other marriage enrichment programs offered by the archdiocese connect couples with Christ and one another and help them remember why they got married in the first place: to witness God’s love to their families and to the world. “Our goal is to do everything we can to help couples live the full extent of their vocation,” said Libby DuPont, consultant for natural family planning in the archdiocese. “If we’re doing our job as couples, we are striving to live beautiful, joy-filled lives of love and service.” The office of marriage and family life offers the popular “Living in Love” and “Everyday in Love” retreats — two marriage enrichment experiences based on Pope Francis’ encyclical, “The Joy of Love.” The services provided by the office of marriage and family life are possible with the support of Archbishop’s Call to Share donors. Their generosity helps to fund new marriage preparation programs, offsets the cost of training for parish leaders and provides ongoing retreats and formation for couples. “Every dollar offered in support of our work has a direct impact on our
community, the church and, really, the entire world,” said Brad DuPont, marriage and family life consultant for the archdiocese. “You are literally changing the world when you help support stronger marriages and holier families in our region.” “When we visit with couples in parishes, we see the hope that our message brings,” Deacon Zimmerman added. “People come to understand that marriage is the sacrament that shows the world how to love, how to live and how to be joyful.” The 2017 Archbishop’s Call to Share
appeal recently kicked off in all parishes with a message from Archbishop Naumann. In the coming weeks, you will be invited to pledge your prayers and financial support to help strengthen marriages and family life in our community, enliven Catholic education, reach out to those in need and form our seminarians, priests and deacons. To learn how your support of the Archbishop’s Call to Share appeal helps couples, families and other people throughout the archdiocese, visit the website at: calltoshare.org.
Topekan pens guide to faith-based parenting By Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org
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OPEKA — God’s timing isn’t always our timing, but it often turns out to be more opportune than we ever imagined. At least that’s how Dr. Jeanne Doyle sees it. After years of encouragement from family and friends to write a book about raising kids, Doyle, a member of Most Pure Heart of Mary in Topeka, finally got around to it. But her book sat for nearly two years while she pondered how to promote it. “So I just started praying about it,” she said. “I said, ‘God, you put it in my heart to do this. So, if you want something done, you need to take it and figure it out.’” That’s when Doyle had a chance encounter with Archbishop Greg E. Kpiebaya of Ghana, who was visiting at her parish. That was when she found out in a casual discussion with him that he was on the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family. “So I thought, ‘This is kind of weird,’” said Doyle. Archbishop Kpiebaya, it turns out, was the push Doyle needed. He read her book and persuaded her to find a publisher.
By the time she did, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann announced his hopes that 2017 would be a year in which Catholics of the archdiocese would focus on marriage, parenthood and family life. The book, “Kids for the Kingdom,” seems to have been completed at just the right time.
‘Kids for the Kingdom’ “Kids for the Kingdom” is geared toward parents of young children and focuses on helping them raise kids who will one day get to heaven. The book was published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., in October 2016, and its forward was written by Archbishop Kpiebaya. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann provided the imprimatur and nihil obstat for the book. “I feel like the family, parenthood [and] stayat-home parents who put their careers on hold in order to raise families are really ridiculed and looked down upon,” said Doyle. “I think our society has forgotten how important parenting is,” she continued. “And the fact that when you parent your children, you’re not only parenting them, but you’re also parenting your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
The book’s goal is largely to help parents navigate the obstacles of parenting kids in a faith-filled way during a very unique time in our society. A mother of eight, whose ages range from 12 to 29, Doyle gave up her career as a psychiatrist to dedicate her life to her family. Her book offers wisdom from her own experiences as a mom, as well as knowledge of theories from her background in psychiatry. “The most important thing I learned through psychiatry was being able to ‘jump’ into another person’s reality and see the world through their eyes,” said Doyle. “Using this skill enables me to be an effective parent,” she continued, “for it allows me to jump into the world of a 3-year-old to see things from a 3-yearold’s perspective. “Therefore, when an issue would arise and I had to think on my feet, I could take their developmental state as well as their perspective into account, and this helped me to think on my feet and relate to them.”
Practical advice for a complex time Katherine Gatschet, a friend of Doyle and fellow Most Pure Heart of Mary parishioner, believes “Kids for the Kingdom” is just the boost parents need. “It is a practical, common-sense
guide for parenting that is rooted in faith and written with both humor and humility,” said Gatschet. “It is a beautiful tool for parents trying to raise kind, empathetic, faithfilled children [in] a culture preaching the most opposite of these virtues,” she added. Gatschet, a stay-at-home mother of four who left her career as a chemist to raise her kids, believes the book is “a refreshing affirmation of the value and sanctity of motherhood with the grace of self-sacrifice.” Doyle’s husband Tom was one of several people who initially encouraged her to write the book and is amazed at what she accomplished. “Jeanne, in her book, breaks down everyday parenting into simple, concrete terms,” he said. “My greatest hope is that people who read the book will fall in love with their children and the vocation of parenting,” he added. This year, as the archdiocese focuses on the significance of the family, Tom Doyle encourages parents to rediscover their vocation by reading “Kids for the Kingdom” with an open mind. “I hope this year, children get a glimpse of the unconditional love God has for them by how their parents unconditionally love them,” he said. “Kids for the Kingdom” is available at Trinity House in Overland Park.
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
Workshop urges women to share their gifts By Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org
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NDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Women in the archdiocese have a special chance to celebrate what St. John Paul II called their “feminine genius” at the upcoming GIVEN conference Feb. 11. Organized by Dani Bell and Katrina Even, GIVEN is a one-day conference for women ages 18-35 focused on helping them understand the unique gifts they have to offer the church and the world. “With this in mind,” said Bell, “we hope to provide an environment in which a woman can realize and embrace the unique, individual qualities and characteristics that God has given her. “Through this, we hope she will be more confident in sharing her gifts with the world.” The conference, which will be held at St. Mark Church in Independence, Missouri, is an outgrowth of the original GIVEN forum, which was hosted by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) last summer in Washington, D.C. Both Bell and Even attended and were moved to share what they learned. “As part of our attendance at that conference, we were commissioned to share our gifts and hearts with the community around us,” said Bell. “We both had incredibly powerful experiences at the conference and heard the Holy Spirit asking us to give more women the opportunity
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“WE HOPE TO PROVIDE AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH A WOMAN CAN REALIZE AND EMBRACE THE UNIQUE, INDIVIDUAL QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN HER.” to experience a deeper understanding of who they are and how they are called to love,” she said. The name “GIVEN,” organizers believe, sets the tone for the themes of the conference. “The church so beautifully shows us that we are made to be given to others, as Christ gave himself for us,” said Bell. “And we hope to give the women who attend a better understanding of the gifts they’ve been given and empower them to better give of themselves to the church and to the
world,” she added. The three themes of the day — “Receive the gift that you are,” “Realize the gifts that you have been given,” and “Respond with the gift that only you can give” — represent the three takeaways organizers hope attendees gain from participating. “We hope that each woman who attends will receive, in the depths of her heart, an understanding of how much she is loved by her Father,” said Even, “how much she is cherished by the church, how necessary she is to the world, and the fact that she has a specific and unique role that no one else can fulfill.” The conference will open with registration and breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by an opening prayer by Bishop James V. Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The rest of the day will include talks by women religious and priests, Mass and lunch, and will conclude with closing remarks and a prayer of entrustment to Mary by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann between 3:30 and 4 p.m. This is the first event of its kind since the original conference in Washington, D. C., but hopefully not the last. “It is our hope and the hope of the CMSWR communities that these types of conferences will pop up in other cities and eventually the large forum will be able to happen again,” said Even. More information and registration can be found online at: www.givenkc. org.
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Registration opened for Camp Tekakwitha
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ILLIAMSBURG — Believe it or not, it’s that time of year again! It’s time to sign up for Camp Tekakwitha here. Registration for high school students opened Jan. 25, registration for seventh- and eighthgrade students opens Feb. 1, and registration for fifth- and sixthgrade students opens Feb. 8. Don’t miss out on the summer fun! Camp dates and registration information may be found by visiting the website at: www.arch kck.org/camp.
Correction There was an error in the Jan. 20 issue of The Leaven. In 2014, Pam Riordan was appointed director of confirmation classes at Prince of Peace Parish in Olathe, not St. Paul Parish in Olathe. The Leaven regrets the error.
Miss Fay, says Ward grad, made college English classes ‘a breeze’ >> Continued from page 3 She was our neighbor when I was a kid! I remember riding my bike to her house and she always made me cookies. — Michael Bradbury
You inspired a great many of us to become teachers. For 40 years, I hopefully challenged my elementary students as well as you challenged all of us to think, create and grow. Happy 100 to a fabulous woman! — Bernie Acinger West, ’71
Margaret Fay was also a tremendous role model for her fellow teachers. It was a joy and a challenge to teach with her at Ward. She was definitely a credit to the teaching profession. When I think of Ward, I think of Margaret Fay. God bless. — Ronald W. Poplau
Congratulations on reaching your 100th birthday. I will always remember how hard you made me work and how it paid off in the years to follow. My mother had you for gym. — Larry Flournoy, ’69
Your name has been spread far and wide. After 63 years of life — yours is the name that immediately comes up as one of my most influential people and alltime favorite teachers. Although you taught me many truths, the one story I always tell is: In your creative writing class one day, you handed me back my paper from an assignment. You quietly complimented me on what I had written. Then, very discreetly, you said to me; “Jhon, if you don’t make your handwriting more legible, I am going to fail you because it is just too much work to decipher what you have written.” That night, I laid on the floor in front of the TV with a spiral notebook. And while Richard Nixon was giving some kind of a State of the Union speech, I slowly and methodically retaught myself penmanship. To this day. If I write deliberately, and slowly, I have the most beautiful and clear and rounded penmanship. That being said . . . you are eternal to those of us here who tell your story — and your name — to generations who follow. — Jhon M. Gunther, ’71 We have won. We are one. The Class of 1971
Frieda Mejak Bader ’34 (left) visits with Margaret Fay at an alumni women’s luncheon some years ago. Happy birthday, Miss Fay! Your English classes were so good — with knowledge and rigor — that when I took the same classes in college, they were a breeze. I learned so much from you. Thank you for the gift you were to me. — Mary DeGroff, ’78
One evening, I was watching a program on television with my husband and daughter, who was an English major in college. A brief mention was made of the Macbeth soliloquy “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” and I recited the entire poem. My daughter gave me a look of shock and I said,
“Miss Fay, Ward High School.” All these many years later, I still remember. Happy birthday! — Janet Gorman Hoven, ’74
Thank you, Miss Fay! I have used your influence in my life to get my bachelor of science in elementary education, master’s in reading, and have taught for over 33 years. You were a tough teacher, but you expected the very best from each of your students because you gave us your very best. . . . I have also been a speaker for the International Reading Association and president of the North Central Council of the International Reading Associa-
tion. [Now] I have retired and started traveling to see some of the places that we read about in your class. I have been to William Shakespeare’s home, Sir Walter Scott’s home and Robert Burns’ home, museum, and the garden and bridge of Brig o’ Doon. . . . I have seen where so many battles, that were in the stories, took place. If you hadn’t pushed us to read and appreciate those works of literature, I wouldn’t have gained such pleasure visiting those places and been able to share so much with my students. I truly appreciate the inspiration you gave me as your student. Thank you! Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! Happy 100th birthday! — Barbara Hull Youtsey, ’76
Miss Fay, happiest birthday ever. When you look back over the years, just know that there are so many of your pupils who appreciated you more after they graduated Ward High School in the ’60s. You not only taught us your classroom rules, but also a deeper love for our English language. You were absolutely the best of the best. Rich and I both thank you for teaching us. — Cindy, ’66, and Rich Dickason, ’64
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
WORKERS thein VINEYARD
TOOLS FOR FAMILIES Growing as Disciples of Jesus
Parents: Put on your mask first
D
uring an in-flight emergency, adults are instructed to put their own mask on before helping a child. This works in family life, too! While it is good to be sacrificial in the care of our children, we won’t be able to care for them long term if we cut off our own “oxygen supply” in the process. For married parents, this means taking good care of ARTWORK BY NEILSON CARLIN, 2015 their relationship. For practical tips, go online to: www.joyfulmarriageproject. com or follow us on Facebook.
— Libby DuPont
WEBSITE EXCLUSIVE
CHURCH OF THE WEEK Tony Heideman, a member of St. Patrick Parish, Corning, is a jack-of-all-trades for the parish. But one of his most valuable contributions is the management of the parish cemetery.
Corning’s authority on ‘who’s who and where’
C Sacred Heart, Gardner (Divine Mercy Parish)
Address: 555 W. Main, Gardner Phone: (913) 856-7781 Pastor: Father Joseph Cramer Mass Times: Saturday, 5 p.m. (4:30 during standard time); Sunday, 8 a.m.; 10:30 a.m.; and 7 p.m. Email: secretary@divinemercyks.org Website: www.divinemercyks.org MORE PHOTOS AND A VIDEO TOUR of this church can be seen online at: www.theleaven.org
WEBSITE EXCLUSIVE
TEAM OF THE WEEK
St. James Academy boys swim and dive team Head coach: Kellee Hercules Next match: Jan. 31 at Lansing High School
ONLINE
• VIDEO REPORT: To learn more about St. James Academy boys swim and dive team, see Todd Habiger’s Team of the Week report. • PHOTOS: Check out Jay Soldner’s photo gallery from St. James’ Jan. 21 swim meet at Blue Valley Southwest. All this and more can be found online at: www.theleaven.org.
ORNING — When Tony Heideman was a younger man, one person he admired very much was fellow St. Patrick parishioner Albert Boeckman. “It seemed like he volunteered for everything in the parish,” said Heideman, a parishioner of St Patrick Church in Corning since 1947. “I think that rubbed off on me.” Boeckman, who died in 1973, was particularly useful in the parish cemetery. Back then, the men of the parish would dig the graves by hand and Boeckman would frequently volunteer. It was hard work. In some ways, Heideman is following the example of Boeckman, although nowadays graves are dug using machinery. He’s in charge of keeping track of the burials in the parish cemetery, selling the plots and marking off the plots where new graves will be dug. He’s training two of his sons to take over this duty, for whenever in the future he “retires” from parish volunteering. Volunteering at the parish
is something Heideman, 82, has done at St. Patrick’s since he was a boy. He was an altar server at a time when the Mass was celebrated in Latin. As a young man, he helped build the current church. But before it was finished, he was called into the U.S. Army. When his hitch was over, he came home to a finished, new church. Other than a short period working as the church janitor, Heideman worked as a dairy farmer. The hours were long, but he found time to teach religious education classes for five years. “It was a natural thing to volunteer,” said Heideman. For many years, fellow parishioner Frank Steinlage took care of the parish facilities. But when ill health forced him to step down from that role, the parish looked for another person. In about the mid-1990s, Abbot Owen Purcell, OSB, asked Heideman if would take over Steinlage’s duties. He agreed. “He did a lot more than I did,” said Heideman. “He’d
Ford and Catherine Ross, members of Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish, Topeka, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Dec. 17, 2016. The couple was married in 1966 at Holy Family Church, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. They have three daughters: Christie Ross, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Sibby Thomsen, San Mateo, California; and Sarah Ross, Kansas City, Missouri. They also have three granddaughters. They celebrated with their family this summer at a dude ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, and in Topeka during Thanksgiving week. They also had a celebration on their anniversary date in San Mateo.
mow the grass, and I didn’t do that.” In this position, Heideman makes sure the doors are locked and unlocked at the right times, the lights are on or off, and the heating and/or cooling is turned to the correct setting. If some small thing needs fixing or to be made, he does it. One day, pastoral associate Sister Mary Beth Niehaus, OSB, asked Heideman to be the sacristan. So now he does that, too. Not only is Heideman an authority on “who’s who and where” in the parish cemetery, he’s the “go-to guy” for “when did it happen?” “When anybody wants any information on parish-related matters, they say, ‘Ask Tony,’” said pastor Father Mariadas Sesetti. “Being available to the parish for a long time on a voluntary basis is a sure sign of a vocation. “He is the church man of Corning.”
ANNIVERSARY POLICY
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• The Leaven prints 50, 60, 65 and 70th notices. • Announcements are due eight days before the desired publication date. • Announcements must be typed. • They are for parishioners of Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, or for those who have resided in the archdiocese for a significant period of time. Include the following Information: • The couple’s names, parish, date they were married, church and city where they were married, what they are doing to celebrate, date of the celebration, names of children (no spouses please), number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren; Photo specifications: • Emailed photos need to be at least 200 dpi. Send notices to: The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109, attn: anniversaries; or send an email to: todd.habiger@ theleaven.org.
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
LOCAL NEWS
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Benedictine grad program moves to Mission Road By Steve Johnson Special to The Leaven
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OELAND PARK — Benedictine College has moved the location for its graduate education programs within Roeland Park from Roe Blvd. to Mission Road, near St. Agnes Church. Benedictine College has leased locations in Roeland Park since 2001 and the new location is at 5130 Mission Road. The college hosts its master of arts in school leadership (MASL) program there. The MASL is a state-approved licensure program for building principals with a specific focus on developing leaders for Catholic schools. “The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on Catholic colleges and universities to assist in the preparation of Catholic school teachers and administrators through exceptional programs that are both truly Catholic and of the highest academic quality,” said Cheryl Reding, director of graduate programs in education for Benedictine. “Benedictine College answered that call with the design of our Catholic school cohort and tuition scholarships for Catholic school teachers.” “The new location is on the east side of St. Agnes Elementary School and is already set up as a state-of-theart classroom,” she continued. “The St. Agnes location will be dedicated to the development of Catholic school
PHOTO COURTESY OF BENEDICTINE COLLEGE
Benedictine College’s new location for its graduate education programs is at 5130 Mission Road in Roeland Park. teachers and principals.” Benedictine’s graduate education programs offered in the Kansas City metro area are designed to serve teachers in the two area Catholic dioceses. “More than 20 graduates of our program are serving as school administrators in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, including an associate superintendent, a high school president and more than 18 high school and elementary school principals,” Reding said. The degrees are offered in a cohort model, with students progressing
through the programs as a group. In addition to the Catholic cohort in Roeland Park, Benedictine College also offers a public school MASL cohort on its main campus in Atchison. “It is such a great experience to participate in Benedictine’s Catholic school cohort because of the collaborative work that exists between classmates,” said Andy Tylicki, president of St. James Academy in Lenexa and a 2007 MASL graduate. “That collaboration continues with the work we do in our Catholic schools on a daily basis. The mission of Catholic schools to pass on the faith to the next generation
of Catholics is alive and well in our schools with the Benedictine College program.” Jodie Maddox, principal of the soon-to-be-completed St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, completed her MASL degree from Benedictine College in 2008. “The preparation and formation I received through the Benedictine MASL program has been instrumental in my leadership style,” she said. “I appreciated its strong focus on servant leadership and community.” She liked the community approach used by Benedictine and said it helped her understand the importance of meeting people where they are, and then intentionally building relationships to help them grow in God’s vocation and plan for them. All programs in the Benedictine College education department operate under the conceptual framework of “educators as builders of community.” The two-year MASL program focuses on the study of leadership theory and methods and includes a practicum in school administration. The college also offers a master of arts in education (M.Ed.), which is taught on the main campus in Atchison. Both programs include flexible scheduling designed for working teachers. For more information on these graduate programs, contact Reding at (913) 360-7384 or online at: creding@ benedictine.edu.
NANCY HENNING
St. Benedict School, Atchison
T
his is my 32nd year teaching at St. Benedict School. While there, I have taught approximately 40 to 50 children of former students. There are seven students in my first-grade class this year [whose parents] I have taught. I always enjoy starting off the year letting my first-graders know whose parents I have taught. Often, my students will find it amusing when I make the mistake of calling them by his or her parent’s name. Last year, I brought a musical Santa to school that a former student had given to me for a Christmas present so I could share it with her daugh“OFTEN, MY STUDENTS WILL ter that I had FIND IT AMUSING WHEN in my class. The daughter I MAKE THE MISTAKE OF also brought in artwork and CALLING THEM BY HIS OR papers that her mother had HER PARENT’S NAME.” saved to share with me. Although I did not teach my two sons, I did have the opportunity to teach many nieces and nephews. Since I come from a large extended family, I have also taught several second cousins. One year, I remember being related to six of the students in my class. I have taught an entire family — Mom, Dad and their three daughters. However, I have not taught any grandchildren of former students — yet. Hopefully, that will not happen too soon. That just might make me feel old! The ability to infuse the Catholic faith into the education of each child is one of the main reasons why I have remained at St. Benedict for so long. It’s comforting to know that former students of St. Benedict find it just as important to do so by sending their children to carry on their Catholic heritage.
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LONNIE TUPA
Xavier Catholic Preschool, Leavenworth
M LEAVEN PHOTO BY LORI WOOD HABIGER
MARY FRANCES JAKSA Christ the King School, Kansas City, Kansas
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knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in the fourth grade at St. John the Baptist School [in Kansas City, Kansas]. I wrote an essay on it. Being the oldest in the family of eight children, it just seemed natural. After graduating from Benedictine College, I returned to St. John’s and taught there for two years before coming to Christ the King. I have been teaching for 39 years, 37 of those at Christ the King in the first grade. I have taught parents and children of the same family.
In having taught the parents and the children, a bond is created that often lasts a lifetime. We become like a family — they know me and I know them. It’s always a pleasure to see former students, who are now parents, and their families. Sometimes the students are like their parents, sometimes not. The parents are usually the ones to say, “He’s a handful like I was,” “You might want to retire before you get her,” or “You can’t leave until you’ve taught my last child.” I come from a family that believes in putting down deep roots. I’ve put deep roots into this family of Christ the King School. I hope I have shown the Christ the King community, school and families that I am as invested as they are in working for its success.
DEBRA O’SHEA
St. Matthew School, Topeka
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ello, I am Debra O’Shea. I have been a Catholic school teacher my entire teaching career. I taught one year at Luckey High School in Manhattan, three years at Hayden High School in Topeka, and I have been at St. Matthew School for 20 years. I have taught business classes in the high schools and at St. Matthew I have taught technology and served as the resource teacher working with all the students in the school. Currently at St. Matthew, there are seven students who I had the privilege of teaching at least one of their parents. I love to see former students with their own children and to watch them pass on their Catholic faith and love of Catholic education to their children. I am lucky to have this experience and it is one of the reasons that I love St. Matthew I LOVE ST. MATTHEW — THE FAMILY — the family atmosphere. I feel we ATMOSPHERE. I FEEL WE ARE A GIANT, are a giant, loving that is there LOVING FAMILY THAT IS THERE TO HELP family to help each other achieve the ultiEACH OTHER ACHIEVE THE ULTIMATE mate goal of going to heaven. GOAL OF GOING TO HEAVEN.” My favorite story is the fact that I was only 23 when I taught at Hayden High School. My first year there, I had both Father Jerry Volz and Father Tim Haberkorn as students. I was also blessed to have Father Jerry Volz as a parish priest for several years. I loved to tell the students that I was his teacher and that I was very old. The students never believed him when they compared the two of us — me with my gray-free hair and him with his beautiful white hair. They would just laugh and tell him he was wrong.
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y name is Lonnie Tupa and I have been teaching at Xavier Preschool in Leavenworth for the past 30 years. Xavier Preschool has a student population of 120, ages 3 and 4. Our preschool is unique in that roughly half of the children come from military families who are stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Their families are just here for one year. The other half of the students come from Leavenworth, Lansing and the surrounding area. I have taught many children of parents who were former preschool students of mine. It is absolutely thrilling to have this opportunity. I can always pick these children out because this is a small community and I have been able to watch my former preschoolers grow into adults, marry and start their
families. It is amazing to see how much they resemble their parents and have many of the same personality traits. I especially love it when I get to start with a family and then teach all the other siblings in the family, too. The added reward is when I see my former preschool students take on leadership roles within our faith community as adults. We were a military family and when we moved to Leavenworth in 1984, we knew we had found a real treasure in the Leavenworth Catholic school system, preschool-grade 12. I started teaching at the preschool in 1985 and fell in love with it. It didn’t take our family long to know we wanted to retire and make Leavenworth our home. It has been extremely satisfying for me to have had the honor of teaching families spanning the last three decades. It has never felt like a “job,” but rather like a whole lot of fun . . . and the blessings just keep coming.
ROSALIE DIVELBISS
Sts. Peter and Paul School, Seneca
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LEAVEN PHOTO BY DOUG HESSE
SISTER KATHY ATKINS
Resurrection Catholic School at the Cathedral Kansas City, Kansas
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hen I began my teaching career in 1973, we were assigned such short stays in a school that I never thought about teaching children of the children I was teaching. But times have changed. In 1985, I was assigned to Bishop Ward High School. For 25 years, I taught math and computer classes there and, for many of those years, I was a senior
class sponsor. So I knew, in some way, every student who graduated from Bishop Ward during those years. In 2010, I chose to resign, wondering where God was calling me to serve next. I was incredibly lucky to be hired to teach middle school math at Resurrection Grade School. I was thrilled to know that I would continue to teach the young people of eastern Wyandotte County. The most enriching experience of these past seven years has been the opportunity to teach children of the children I taught at Ward. I would guess I have taught about 10 of the children of my former students. Sometimes, a student
introduces him- or herself to me and says, “You taught my mom!” Sometimes, I don’t realize I am teaching the next generation until a parent walks in for conferences and I recognize a former student. I am always touched that they remember me, but most especially, that their experiences at Bishop Ward were rewarding enough that they entrust their most precious “possessions” to us to educate at Resurrection! And I look at those former students and have no doubt that their children will grow up into fine young adults just like their parents did!
have been teaching at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Seneca since 1974. Most of my career has been in the middle school, teaching religion, math and social studies. Twenty years ago, I earned a master’s degree in educational technology and a Kansas library certification. Since then, half of my school day is in the library where I meet with each class (preK–8) once a week. Besides the library work, this year I am teaching seventh-grade religion and world geography, and sixthgrade world history. Seneca is a small, close-knit, rural community (population 2000). I am to watch “CURRENT- privileged our students from the time they are LY, FIVE OF small at parish and MY FORMER community gatherings. This year, STUDENTS there are about 25 enrolled ARE TEACH- students at SPPS whose parents are my former ING WITH students. Working ME HERE AT with these students provides a warm [STS. PETER feedback; former students think so AND PAUL well of their time here, they willingly SCHOOL].” entrust their children to my care. Currently, five of my former students are teaching with me here at SPPS and another is on staff. The kindergarten teacher always introduced me as her “old” teacher, until this year when one of her former students joined the faculty. Now, she refers to us as “former” teachers.
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GARY BALDRIDGE
Christ the King School, Topeka
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have been teaching at Christ the King in Topeka for 22 years. I am a seventhgrade homeroom teacher and I teach seventh-grade religion and seventhand eighth-grade American history and sixth-grade world history. This past year, I got the opportunity to teach my first student of a student. There are several younger students whose parents I taught; sometimes they look like Mom and Dad, sometimes I have to see the child with her parents before I make the connection. I was truly excited to get my first student’s student. I enjoy seeing brothers and sisters, cousins and former students’ kids at CTK. To me, it allows for a continuity of teaching and relationships. My first student’s student is particularly great because I have taught with her grandmother since the beginning of CTK. I love teaching at CTK because I can incorporate Christ in virtually all of my subjects. I also get to teach middle school kids, the best in the world.
LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
NATION
Iowa ministry celebrates decade of helping women transition from prison By Joanne Fox Catholic News Service
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IOUX CITY, Iowa (CNS) — Franciscan Sister Gwen Hennessey, director of Clare Guest House, puts a different spin on the “What would Jesus do?” slogan. “I think what we provide is what Jesus would do,” said Sister Gwen, who directs the transitional home for women released from prison. Clare Guest House began as an initiative of the Sioux City Multicultural Neighborhood Project, a ministry approved by the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa, in 1998. Its mission was to respond to the needs of poor women and children, collaborate in the development of neighborhood communities and serve as an outreach to Spanish-speaking immigrants. “When we no longer had any Spanish-speaking Sisters for the project, it evolved into this project of providing a safe, supportive environment for women coming out of prison,” explained Franciscan Sister Grace Ann Witte, who resides at Clare Guest House with Sister Gwen. In 2005, Franciscan Sisters Shirley Waldschmitt, Mary Lee Cox and Grace Ann initiated planning for the halfway house. They developed a philosophy for the house, identified the type of women it would serve, and drafted rules and staffing plans before presenting their findings. “A small group of women agreed to continue to meet as an advisory group, colloquially described as the ‘Wise Women,’ to further finalize plans,” Sister Grace Ann said. “It was at that time the name Clare Guest House developed, in honor of St. Clare of Assisi, who lived an active life among the poor, serving lepers, before being forced into an enclosed contemplative life.” In July 2005, the project received a $20,000 grant from the Sisters of St. Francis Ministry Fund to begin Clare Guest House. They identified a two-story, five-bedroom house in a residential area north of downtown to locate the ministry. It had been a residential treatment facility for teenage girls, but it was vacant for about five years. Sister Gwen moved in Sept. 27, 2005, to serve as live-in director. “The first guest arrived on Dec. 12, 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” she recalled. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that first guest was half-Hispanic.” In 2006, Clare Guest House was incorporated as an independent organization, distinct from the neighborhood project and from the Sisters of St. Francis. The home has had 106 admissions since opening. Most have been women
CNS PHOTO/JERRY L MENNENGA, THE CATHOLIC GLOBE
Franciscan Sister Grace Ann Witte talks in December 2016 about the 10 years that the Clare Guest House in Sioux City, Iowa, has served as a transitional home for women who served jail time. released from the Iowa Women’s Correctional Institution in Mitchellville. Some have returned to the home more than once, Sister Gwen admitted. “We’ve had some women who were not success stories,” she said, “but we’ve also had many who have, who have kept in touch with us, thanking us for getting their lives back.” Sister Gwen could point to herself as a success story because she once “walked the walk.” Sister Gwen and her sister, Franciscan Sister Dorothy Hennessey, were among 13 women arrested while participating in civil disobedience in 2000 during a nonviolent protest at the former U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. Both received a six-month sentence, serving it at a federal prison in Illinois. Clare Guest House is the only transitional home of its type in northwest Iowa and the only one under the
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auspices of the Dubuque Franciscans, who founded Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. Sister Grace Ann, a former Briar Cliff sociology and criminology professor, explained that guests, who all are on parole, must commit to stay at least two months but no more than six months. “During that time, women must look for work, meet with parole officers and help with chores, such as cooking and cleaning,” she said. “In some cases, especially for health reasons, we have allowed the stay to be longer.” There is no typical Clare House guest, Sister Grace Ann said. “We have had women as young as 19 and as old as 64; however, the most frequently occurring ages were 25, 26,” she said. “We’ve had women who completed an eighth-grade education and ones who earned master’s degrees.”
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Congress urged to keep health care gains, protect life, conscience rights
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ASHINGTON (CNS) — The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee said Jan. 18 that a repeal of the federal health care law should not take place without immediate passage of a plan that preserves people’s access to adequate health care and also protects human life, conscience rights and the poor. “Important gains brought about by the Affordable Care Act must be preserved” as millions of people now rely on the law for their health care, said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. At the same time, he said, any replacement measure also must safeguard human life from conception to natural death, protect conscience rights and provide adequate health care for immigrants, the poor and others on society’s margins. Bishop Dewane made the comments in a letter sent to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The U.S. bishops “supported the general goal of the law to expand medical coverage for many poor and vulnerable people,” but they “ultimately opposed the Affordable Care Act because it expanded the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion,” Bishop Dewane wrote. “It also failed to provide essential conscience protections and access to health care for immigrants,” he added. “We recognize that the law has brought about important gains in such coverage and those gains should be protected,” he continued. President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law March 23, 2010. “We remain committed to the ideals of universal and affordable health care and to the pursuit of those ideals in a manner that includes protections for human life, conscience and immigrants,” Bishop Dewane told the lawmakers. “We urge you to approach the important debates in the days ahead seeking also to honor these principles for the good of all.” The bishop’s letter pointed out that U.S. Catholic bishops have “consistently advocated for access to decent health care that safeguards and affirms human life and dignity from conception until natural death.” He quoted a 2009 letter to Congress from a previous chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development that said: “All people need and should have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they can afford, and it should not depend on their stage of life, where or whether they or their parents work, how much they earn, where they live or where they were born.”
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
WORLD
Church must accompany couples before, after marriage, pope says By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service
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ATICAN CITY (CNS) — To ensure engaged couples are entering into a fully Catholic marriage and remain committed to their vows for life, they must be prepared properly beforehand and supported afterward, Pope Francis said. Addressing members of the Roman Rota, a tribunal handling mostly marriage cases, the pope said the church cannot ignore that there is a “widespread mentality” that is convinced eternal truths do not exist and, therefore, that many young people approaching the church for marriage do not understand what the sacrament is and that it is for life. “Such a context, lacking religious values and faith, cannot help but condition matrimonial consent,” one of the essential conditions for a Catholic marriage to be valid, the pope told the Rota members Jan. 21. The response of the Catholic Church, he said, must be to provide serious preparation for engaged couples and support that would help newlyweds mature in their vocation. “The objective of this preparation consists in helping engaged couples to know and live the reality of the marriage they intend to celebrate so that they may do so not only validly and lawfully, but also fruitfully,” he said. Citing Pope Benedict XVI’s last address to the Roman Rota — in which he highlighted the relationship between love and truth — the pope said some seeking marriage participate actively in the church while others “are guided by a more generic religious sentiment.” Educating young people so they rediscover marriage and family life according to God’s plan, he said, is a first “remedy” to situations where
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CNS PHOTO L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO, HANDOUT
Pope Francis poses with members of the Roman Rota during a meeting inaugurating the judicial year of the Roman Rota at the Vatican Jan. 21. The Roman Rota is the highest appellate court in the Catholic Church; it mainly handles marriage cases. sufficient preparation is lacking. “In this spirit, I would like to reiterate the need of a ‘new catechumenate’ for marriage preparation,” he said. Pope Francis explained that, just like a catechumenate period in preparation for baptism as an adult, “marriage preparation can become an integral part of the whole sacramental procedure of marriage, as an antidote that impedes the growth of null or inconsistent matrimonial celebrations.” A second remedy, he continued, is the church’s presence and formation after marriage to encourage newlyweds in their lives together. The Christian community is “called to welcome, accompany and help young couples” and care for their spiritual life through the parish’s pastoral ministry, he said. “Oftentimes, young couples are left to themselves, perhaps for the simple fact that they are seen less in the parish; this is especially true after the birth of children,” the pope said. It is in those “first moments of
family life,” he said, that the church must be even closer to young couples so they “may strive for the beauty of the Christian family, despite the destructive traps of a culture dominated by the ephemeral and the provisional.” “As I have said several times,” the pope said, “great courage is needed to be married in the times in which we are living. And those who have the strength and the joy of fulfilling this important step must feel the love and concrete closeness of the church near them.” Prior to their meeting with Pope Francis, the members of the Roman Rota celebrated Mass with Archbishop Angelo Becciu, a top official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, to inaugurate the Vatican court’s judicial year. In his homily, Archbishop Becciu said that like Jesus, the court officials are surrounded by real people who want to be listened to and who have had an “experience of failure, of pain.”
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Vatican Museums open doors wider with mobile-friendly website
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ATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an effort to share its masterpieces with even more people around the world, the Vatican Museums has established a YouTube channel and revamped its website to offer high-resolution images and mobile-friendly information. The “Musei Vaticani” YouTube channel lists short visual “tours” of some of its collections along with a handful of promotional videos highlighting specially tailored tours and services offered on-site, including signing guides for the deaf or hard-ofhearing. Its website, museivaticani.va, has been completely reBarbara Jatta, the new vamped to be comdirector of the Vatican patible with all platforms and devices Museums. in order to extend its reach to even “remote corners of the earth,” Barbara Jatta, the museums’ new director, said at a Vatican news conference Jan. 23. The site, offered in five languages, features a sleeker design, simpler texts and faster navigation, Jatta said. Links to pages can also be shared via Twitter, Facebook or email. The website provides information about booking visits and purchasing tickets to the museums, the Vatican Gardens, the “Via Triumphalis” necropolis under the Vatican hill and the pontifical villas at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. For now, the site showcases a little more than 3,000 high-resolution photographs of masterpieces in its collections. The “ideal” plan, Jatta said, is to complete within one year the addition of photographs of all 20,000 objects currently on public display and then begin working on adding images of all art objects in storage, for a total of more than 200,000 works of art. The site also allows the public to consult and search an online catalogue of some of the museums’ paintings, sculptures and other art objects. While the museums already had a registry of their entire inventory, migrating everything to the public-accessible database is still a work-in-progress, Jatta said.
Pope blesses Louisiana anti-trafficking project
ATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Francis posed for a photo Jan. 18 with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, it was not a protocol-dictated nicety; it was a recognition of the commitment on the part of the pope and of a coalition of state and private agencies in Louisiana to stop human trafficking. Joining the pope and governor for the photo-op were Col. Mike Edmonson, state police superintendent, and state legislators Father Jeff Bayhi, pastor of St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Zachary; and Consolata Missionary Sister Eugenia Bonetti, who has been a leading figure in the work of women religious to assist victims of trafficking, especially women forced into prostitution. In the center of the photo is the plaque for “Metanoia Manor,” a refuge being constructed for young women rescued from traffickers. The home, at a “secure location” in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, will be staffed by four members of the Hospitaler Sisters of
Mercy. The governor’s website said, “The Houston to New Orleans corridor has one of the worst trafficking problems in the country,” with the average age of victims being just 13. In 2016, it said, Louisiana State Police investigated 27 human trafficking cases, rescuing 19 victims; 16 of them were under age 18. Edwards told Vatican Radio the partnerships are crucial for identifying and assisting the victims. For example, he said, “police officers have always looked at individuals engaged in prostitution as criminals themselves,” but now they are being trained to identify people forced into the trade. “It’s not akin to slavery,” the governor said, “it is slavery.” Father Bayhi told Vatican Radio he met Sister Bonetti during a trip to Rome and “her passion is contagious” for rescuing trafficking victims. He invited her to Louisiana to promote awareness of the problem of trafficking. He set up Metanoia, which works in partnership with the governor, state
CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
Pope Francis poses for a photo with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and his delegation during the pope’s general audience at the Vatican Jan. 18. agencies and law enforcement officers to fight trafficking and assist the victims. “It’s been an incredible oppor-
tunity to see a state reach out and say, ‘Slaves no more,’ we need to care for these kids,” the priest said.
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
CLASSIFIEDS EMPLOYMENT Legatus chapter starter - Responsibilities include identifying and meeting with Kansas City’s Catholic businessmen and women and having them join the local Legatus chapter. The ideal candidate is a practicing Catholic with strong communication and organizational skills and not currently working full time. There is a base pay for orientation, followed by regular pay on commission. This is a local, part-time position with a two-to-three-month time frame. There is a possibility of remaining in the role and transferring to a long-term role with hourly pay. Send an email to Carmen Tate at: ctate@legatus.org or call her at (575) 973-7278. Principal - St. Andrew the Apostle Parish seeks a principal committed to Catholic education with strong leadership, communication and motivational skills. St. Andrew School is a parish school serving approximately 290 pre-K – 8th-grade students with a staff of 30. St. Andrew is located in suburban Kansas City, Mo., north of the river. Applicant must be a practicing Catholic, should have a master’s degree in educational administration, teaching experience and preferably three years’ administrative experience. This position leads school programs that ensure not only academic excellence but also the spiritual, moral, physical and emotional development of the school community. This person is supervised by the pastor of the parish and the assigned superintendent of schools. Job responsibilities: Ensure quality of Catholic religious instruction of students at all levels through the Catechism of the Catholic Church; promote Catholic community with parents, student, faculty and staff; applies a Catholic educational vision to the daily activities of the school; implements, identifies and monitors annual goals and strategies to ensure quality of academic program; works with parish to ensure financial processes for the school and maintenance; recruits, interviews, selects and provides orientation for school staff; works with parish to provide marketing and development for the school. To apply, go to the website at: careers.hireology.com/thecatholicdioceseofkansas
citystjoseph/94371/description.
Teachers and assistant teacher - The Goddard School in Olathe is seeking a preschool teacher, a pre-kindergarten teacher and a toddler teacher - all full-time positions - as well as an assistant teacher for multiple classrooms. Lead and assistant teachers work together. Daily responsibilities are: developing lesson plans; meeting the individual needs of the children; communicating with parents; participation in staff and training meetings; designing appropriate room arrangement to support the goals and development level of the children in the classroom; interacting with the children to support play, exploration and learning; presenting expectations that are appropriate to the child’s age and developmental level; plan and implement activities that develop self-esteem and social skills; communicate appropriately and professionally with parents and fellow staff; building teamwork; use assessment tools; and commit to continuing education. To apply, email a resume and cover letter to: olathe2ks@goddardschools.com. Catholic elementary school principal – St. Patrick Catholic School in Kansas City, Kansas, is seeking an individual with demonstrated skill in spiritual, academic and advancement leadership for the 2017-2018 school year. St. Patrick’s has approximately 333 students in K - 8th grades and 72 preschoolers taught by 27 teachers. Applicants for principal must be practicing Catholics, understand the mission of Catholic schools and have or be eligible for Kansas licensure in educational leadership. Apply online at: www.archkckcs.org and send resume and credentials to: Superintendent Dr. Kathleen A. O’Hara, Catholic Schools Office, Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. Deadline for applications is Feb. 3. Foreman or project manager - Great job opportunity! Kirks Remodeling & Custom Homes, Inc., is growing and looking for an experienced foreman or project manager with knowledge in most aspects of carpentry and finish work. Send resume to: Kirksremodeling@gmail.com or call Donnie at (913) 915-4701. Full-time teacher - Our Lady’s Montessori School is looking for a full-time assistant teacher. The position is Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., and offers competitive pay. Email resumes to: Alison Conemac, executive director, at: ourladysmontessori@sbcglobal.net. Check us out on our website at: www.ourladysmontessori.com or on Facebook Teacher assistant - Special Beginnings, Lenexa, is seeking full- or part-time after school teacher assistants at all locations. We are looking for a teacher assistant candidate who has an excellent work ethic, heart for children and a willingness to learn more about early childhood education. Experience and/or education is a plus, but we will train the right candidate. Teacher assistants will work with the lead teacher to care for and educate the children. Primary responsibilities include assisting the lead teacher with: care and supervision of children, lesson plan implementation, parent communication, and cleanliness and organization of classroom. Starting hourly pay ranges based on experience and education. Pay increases are based on job performance. Opportunities for advancement are available, as the company prefers to promote from within. Apply by sending an email to: chris@specialbeginningsonline.com or in person at 10216 Pflumm Rd., Lenexa, KS 66215.
Principal - St. Therese School has an open position for principal, effective July 1. St. Therese is an accredited, award-winning Catholic grade school (K - 8) with over 570 students that seeks to educate the whole child. The right candidate will have a passion for Catholic education and administrative experience in a Catholic school setting. A master’s degree in administration is required. This position requires proven leadership skills, outstanding people skills and organizational ability. Also required is the ability to work as part of a team with employees, volunteers and children. Supervises faculty, administration, support staff while overseeing a range of programs and services. Must be a Catholic in good standing and have a pastor’s letter of reference. Compensation according to diocesan guidelines with competitive benefits. To apply, go to the website at: careers.hireology. com/careers/98716/application? Now hiring warehouse workers - Vistar Kansas City is looking for hard-working individuals to join our team. We are hiring night warehouse order selectors and weekend warehouse order selectors starting at $14/hour, plus incentives, with earnings up to $23.50 based on performance and accuracy. If interested, email your resume to: veronica.hernandez@pfgc.com or call Veronica at (816) 746-4401, ext. 28313. Work hours: Sunday 2 p.m. – job completed and Monday through Thursday 4 p.m. – job completed or Friday noon - midnight, Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m.-7 p.m. and either Tuesday or Wednesday from 4 p.m. until job completed. Benefits: Health care insurance, paid vacation and holiday pay, air-conditioned warehouse and opportunities to move up within the company. Location: 4825 N.W. 41st St., Suite 100, Riverside, MO 64150. Administrative assistant - Applications are being accepted for an administrative assistant at Hayden Catholic High School. This is a full-time position, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; eligible for benefits. The ideal candidate will be well-organized, customeroriented and capable of handling multiple projects in a busy environment. This job requires the operation of a computer and related software including Microsoft Word, Excel and Publisher. Previous secretarial experience is preferred. Qualified applicants should email a resume to James Sandstrom at: sandstromj@hayden catholic.net. Part-time help - Fast-paced, home-based business is looking for a dependable, trustworthy self-starter who enjoys challenging work to help with answering customer calls, shipping packages and general inventory management. Experience with Mac computers, UPS WorldShip and QuickBooks is helpful, but will train the right person. Overland Park-based with fun, casual environment. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 1 - 5 p.m. or possible full time; benefits not available. To apply, send resume to: orders@roarpostalsupplies.com.
Part-time help - Mission, KS home-based medical equipment supplier looking for reliable, hard working and organized individual to handle marketing responsibilities. Duties include contacting surgical coordinators of Ophthalmology practices nationwide, assembling marketing materials for distribution to coordinators, and tracking distribution efforts and subsequent sales. Experience with QuickBooks and Mac computers helpful but not required. Flexible hours but no benefits. Initially only needing someone 6-8 hours per week but hours may increase. Call Colleen at (913) 312-1885. Part-time retail positions available - Trinity House Catholic Books and Gifts is looking for part-time retail sales associates to work in its Overland Park store. Candidates must enjoy the retail experience and helping its wonderful customers seeking to deepen their spiritual journey. Requirements: engaging personality, openness to learning, ability to pitch in with even the most mundane aspects of running a retail establishment and not shy about living out their faith. Must be flexible to work days and 20-35 hours assigned monthly. Compensation commensurate with qualifications. Send resume and/or qualifications to: trinityhouse01@gmail.com. Drivers - Special Beginnings Early Learning Center is seeking part-time drivers for its school-age program located in Lenexa. Candidates must be able to drive a 13-passenger minibus, similar to a 15-passenger van. CDL not required, but must have an excellent driving record. Candidates would pick up children from area schools and then work directly with them when arriving back at the center. Experience preferred. Must have strong work ethic and the ability to work with children. Insurance provided. Background check will be conducted. Great opportunity for retired persons or those seeking a second job. Job responsibilities include: ensuring safety and well-being of children who are being transported at all times, including loading and unloading. Driving short, round-trip routes to elementary schools in Lenexa/Olathe area. Summer only: Driving short, roundtrip routes to two Lenexa city pools. Maintaining mileage log. Keeping interior of vehicle clean. Apply by sending an email to: chris@specialbeginningsonline.com or in person at 10216 Pflumm Rd., Lenexa, KS 66215 Part-time sales associate - A Prairie Village boutique specializing in artisan homewares, is seeking a part-time sales associate for Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as for occasional coverage during the week and for special events. Duties and skills needed: 1) offering excellent customer service; 2) good work ethic and self-motivated with a consistently positive attitude; 3) receiving and tagging merchandise; 4) restocking and assisting in product displays; and 5) light cleaning. Send inquires with resumes to: megan@spinachhome.com.
Career opportunities - Catholic Charities of Kansas CitySt. Joseph is offering rewarding career opportunities to individuals interested in working in their finance department. There are two full-time positions: director of finance and senior accountant. To learn more about these opportunities, visit our website at: www.catholiccharities-kcsj. org or forward your resume to: hr@ccharities.com. Commercial construction accounting/bookkeeper – We need a person who can leap tall buildings with a single bound! Must be faster than a plane and be very accurate. Our well-established company needs a “company-minded person” with great experience who can begin the New Year with us. We use Peachtree Accounting for our midsize (4-6m per year) company. Must be adaptable to our way of doing business, but bring some new ideas and solutions. Proficiency in Excel, knowledge of Expesite Client software a bonus. Must be able to produce monthly financials and monthly project cost reports and work within clients’ programs for invoicing and project closeout. Salary based on experience and abilities. Must have 7-10 years construction accounting experience. ALL others NEED NOT APPLY!! Send an email to: GDAccountant87@yahoo.com. Drivers - Assisted Transportation is now hiring caring and reliable drivers to transport K-12 students to and from school and other activities in company minivans. Positions are now available in Olathe, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas. Competitive wages and flexible schedules. CDL not required. Retirees encouraged to apply. Call (913) 262-3100 or apply online at: AssistedTransportation.com. EEO. Groundskeeping position - $30K. Catholic Cemeteries is seeking an individual for a full-time groundskeeping position, hours Monday through Saturday. This position requires heavy lifting. Must be physically fit and experience operating construction equipment would be a plus. Must be a fast learner and flexible on hours. Interested individuals should contact Matt Wirtz at (913) 371-4040 or you may email a resume to: svallejo@cathcemks.org. Principal - St. Peter’s Middle School/McAuley Catholic High School in Joplin, Missouri, is looking for a principal. Requirements: active Catholic with a passion for Catholic education; Missouri (or other) educator certification. Master’s in education administration (or in progress) and administrative experience, especially in Catholic schools, preferred. Send resume with three professional references to Georgiana L. McGriff, director, Joplin area Catholic schools at: gmcgriff@jacss.org. Office coordinator – Wellington, a full-service event management and marketing company, is looking for a part-time or full-time office coordinator. The office coordinator acts as the face of the company, being the first person to greet guests and direct client, partner and vendor phone calls. As such, an always-pleasant and helpful demeanor along with the ability to problem solve are essential. They must be structured, disciplined and able to handle time-sensitive situations. The OC must be adept using the computer to complete assignments. Applicants may apply online at: www.wellingtonexprience.com/ careers/. Career opportunity - Due to the success and growth of the Knights of Columbus, we are adding a financial representative in the Kansas City metro, Emporia and Topeka area. 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. This is a full-time position. Please contact John A. Mahon, general agent, for more information or an interview at 1275 Topeka Blvd., Topeka, KS 66612 or call (785) 408-8806. You can also send an email to: john.mahon@kofc.org. Drivers needed - Medi Coach Transportation is looking for caring and reliable drivers for nonemergency transportation. CDL is not required. Contact Jeff at (913) 825-1921.
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT Seeking administrative position - Skills and background: Strong Microsoft skills, supported a director, excellent customer service, budgeting and project coordination. Call Karen at (913) 620-3023.
SERVICES Bankruptcy consultation - If debts are overwhelming you, seek hope and help from compassionate, experienced Catholic attorney, Teresa Kidd. For a free consultation, call (913) 422-0610; send an email to: tkidd@kc.rr. com; or visit the website at: www.teresakiddlawyer. com. Please do not wait until life seems hopeless before getting good quality legal advice that may solve your financial stress. Cleaning lady - Reasonable rates; references provided. Call (913) 940-2959. EVERFIT fitness community - We provide a variety of classes designed to make fitness fun while challenging you to a higher level of performance. Classes include boxing, cycling, HIIT, weights, PiYo, TRX, our signature EverFit Tri, and more. EverFitKC.com. Save 10% with this ad or Promo Code LEAVEN.
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Rodman Lawn Care Lawn mowing, aeration, verticutting. Hedge trimming, mulch, leaf removal. Fully insured and free estimates. John Rodman (913) 548-3002 Mike Hammer local moving - A full-service mover. Packing, pianos, rental truck load/unload, storage container load/unload, and in-home moving. No job too small. Serving JoCo since 1987. St. Joseph, Shawnee, parishioner. Call Mike at (913) 927-4347 or send an email to: mike@mikehammermoving.com. Winter tutoring - Available for K - 12 and homeschooler in music and academics. For more information, call/text Kathleen at (913) 206-1837 or email: klmamuric@yahoo. com. Tree Trimming Licensed and insured Free estimates/10 years’ experience Call Tony at (913) 620-6063 Clutter getting you down? - Organize, fix, assemble, install! “Kevin of all trades” your professional organizer and “Honey-do” specialist. Call or email me today for a free consultation at (913) 271-5055 or kev@koatindustries.com. Insured. References. Agua Fina Irrigation and Landscape The one-stop location for your project! Landscape and irrigation design, Installation and maintenance. Cleanup and grading services It’s time to repair your lawn. 20% discount on lawn renovations with mention of this ad. Visit the website at: www.goaguafina.com Call (913) 530-7260 or (913) 530-5661 Quilted memories - Your Kansas City Longarm shop Nolting Longarm machines, quilting supplies and machine quilting services. We specialize in memorial quilts - custom designed memory quilts from your T-shirt collections, photos, baby clothes, college memorabilia, neckties, etc. For information or to schedule a free consultation, call (913) 649-2704. Visit the website at: www.quiltedmemoriesllc.com.
HOME IMPROVEMENT 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!! www.elsolylatierra.com Call Lupe at (816) 252-1391 The Drywall Doctor, Inc. – A unique solution to your drywall problems! We fix all types of ceiling and wall damage — from water stains and stress cracks to texture repairs and skim coating. We provide professional, timely repairs and leave the job site clean! Lead-certified and insured! Serving the metro since 1997. Call (913) 768-6655 Swalms organizing - downsizing - cleanout service – Reduce clutter – Any space organized. Shelving built on-site. Items hauled for recycling and donations. 20 years exp.; insured. Call Tillar at (913) 375-9115. WWW. SWALMSORGANIZING.COM. Local handyman and lawn care – Water heaters, garbage disposals, toilets, faucets, painting, power washing, doors, storm doors, gutter cleaning, wood rot, mowing, carpet, roofing, etc. Member of Holy Angels Parish, Basehor. Call Billy at (913) 927-4118. DRC Construction We’ll get the job done right the first time. Windows - Doors - Decks - Siding Repair or replace, we will work with you to solve your problems. Choose us for any window, door, siding or deck project and be glad you did. Everything is guaranteed 100% (913) 461-4052 www.windowservicesoverlandpark.com drcconswindows@gmail.com Concrete construction - Tear out and replace stamped, stained or colored patios and drives. Retaining walls, footings, poured-in-place safe rooms, excavation and hauling. Asphalt drives and lots. Fully insured; references. Call Dan at (913) 207-4371 or send an email to: dan deeconst@aol.com. Custom countertops - Laminates installed within 5 days. Cambria, granite, and solid surface. Competitive prices, dependable work. Call the Top Shop, Inc., (913) 962-5058. Members of St. Joseph, Shawnee. Thank you for another great year - Through your support, my family has been blessed and my business has grown. We do windows, trim, siding, doors, decks, interior and exterior painting, wood rot, bathroom renovations, tile and sheetrock. If you need work done around your home, we can do it. Josh (913) 709-7230.
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
CALENDAR CREATION HEALTH Keeler Women’s Center 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas Thursdays, Jan. 12 - March 2, 2:30 - 4 p.m.
be loaded with a football theme assortment of flavorful snacks and beverages. The Zepster will be providing music.
Be your best in 2017: Find new energy, peace and good health! Ann Suellentrop is the facilitator in partnership with Shawnee Mission Health.
SMOKED RIBS & TURKEY BREASTS FOR SUPER BOWL Padre Pio Academy 5901 Flint, Shawnee Jan. 27 - orders received and paid Feb. 3 - orders may be picked up
Relax on Super Bowl Sunday and let Padre Pio Academy provide the main dish. Order slabs of pork spare ribs for $20 each and/or a double-smoked five-pound turkey breast for $35 each. Visit the website at: www. padrepioacademy.org for details and to place an order. You can also order by calling (913) 268-3155. All proceeds benefit Padre Pio Academy.
ST. MARY CHURCH, HARTFORD BEEF AND NOODLE DINNER Neosho Rapids Grade School Multipurpose room, Neosho Rapids Feb. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. TRIVIA NIGHT St. Paul Parish (center) 900 S. Honeysuckle, Olathe Feb. 4 at 7 p.m.
The event will include raffles, door prizes and prizes for the top teams. Trivia Night is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, Council 1913. Proceeds will benefit Knights of Columbus pro-life efforts in the state of Kansas. Call Chris Dieterman at (913) 7806428 for details and reservations.
SUPER SWEET AND SPICY COOK-OFF Holy Name Parish (cafeteria) 1007 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 4 from 6 - 9 p.m.
SACRED HEART BINGO NIGHT Sacred Heart Parish 1100 West St., Tonganoxie Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
An all-you-can-eat pasta dinner will be served from 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. The cost is $6 for adults; $4 for children ages 10 and under. Bingo starts at 7 p.m.; blackout at 9:45 p.m. Get a card to play through the evening for a $10 donation. The evening is sponsored by the youth group. Proceeds help send the youth to NCYC and camp.
OPEN HOUSE Resurrection School 425 N. 15th St., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 1 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Come see what Resurrection School has to offer. Open house will begin with Mass at 8:15 a.m. There will be student-led tours with both Spanish and English tour guides available. There will also be light refreshments, the sixth-grade science fair and the Scholastic Book Fair. Call (913) 371-8101.
TAIZE PRAYER Annunciation Chapel 4200 S. 4th St., Leavenworth Feb. 2 at 7 p.m.
Taize prayer is a meditative, candlelit service that includes simple chants sung repeatedly, silence, and prayers of praise and intercession. Persons of all Christian traditions are invited to participate.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMUNITY DINNER FUNDRAISER Divine Mercy Parish (Christian Formation Center) 555 W. Main St., Gardner Feb. 3 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
A spaghetti dinner will be served. The cost is: $7 for adults; $4 for kids ages 4 - 10; free for kids under the age of 4. Basketball fans and families from Gardner-Edgerton and Bishop Miege are welcome.
PRE-SUPER BOWL PARTY/DANCE St. Thomas More Church 11822 Holmes Rd., Kansas City, Missouri Feb. 4 from 7 - 11 p.m.
This party and dance is sponsored by the Beginning Experience ministry. Wear your favorite team jersey or gear (pro or college!) for a little extra fun. The “tailgate table” will
People are intrigued by holy people and aspire to being holy themselves. Sister Judith Sutera, OSB, gives an introduction to how the church makes saints and how we can identify with them. Freewill offerings are accepted.
Homemade beef and noodles, mashed potatoes, vegetable, salad, dessert and drink. Cost is $8 for adults; $4 for children under 10. There will be drawings for prizes. Tickets available at the door.
OPEN HOUSE Padre Pio Academy 5901 Flint, Shawnee Feb. 12 from 3 - 5 p.m.
Padre Pio Academy, which offers a Catholic classical curriculum, is hosting an open house for those interested in learning what makes it the right choice for their children. For more information and directions, visit the website at: www.padrepioacademy.org or call the school at (913) 268-3155.
Join the Holy Name Divas for their cook-off. There will be prizes for first, second and third place for chili, soup and desserts. Tickets (minimal prices) include a hot dog, chips and a drink. BYOB for adults. Live music will be provided from Stranded in the City. For more information, call Sharon Staab at (913) 631-1138.
WILLIAM BAKER FESTIVAL SINGERS IN CONCERT Holy Angels Parish 15440 Leavenworth Rd., Basehor Feb. 5 at 2:30 p.m.
The 50-voice Festival Singers have performed in prestigious venues across the United States. The concert will include works by Kansas City composers R. Douglas Helvering, Ed Frazier Davis and Sean Sweeden; classical works from Renaissance to contemporary; and the spirituals and gospel songs that have been a signature of the Festival Singers. A freewill donation is suggested.
PANCAKE BREAKFAST Good Shepherd Parish (social hall) 12800 W. 75th St., Shawnee Feb. 5 from 7 a.m. - noon
Boy Scout Troop 394 will be hosting this pancake breakfast. The cost for tickets is $6 each and can be purchased at the door on the day of the event.
SISTERS, SERVANTS OF MARY SPAGHETTI DINNER St. Patrick Parish (center) 1086 N. 94th St., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 5 from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
The meal includes spaghetti, Italian sausage, meatballs, salad, bread, dessert and beverage. Carryout is available. There will also be variety booths and a Valentine’s Day basket raffle. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance. For more information, call (913) 371-3423.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR SPECIAL-NEEDS CHILDREN Holy Cross Parish (hall) 8311 W. 93rd St., Overland Park Feb. 9 from 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Meet with financial advisers who will explain the Able Act and share their guidance on how to establish a special-needs trust. For further information or if you have questions, call Tom Rancunas, lead consultant of the archdiocesan special-needs ministry, at (913) 647-3055 or send an email to: trancunas@archkck.org.
‘SAINTS AND HOW TO BE ONE’ Sophia Spirituality Center 751 S. 8th St., Atchison Feb. 12 from 1 - 4 p.m.
PARISH MISSION Christ the King Parish 3024 N. 53rd St., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 13 - 15 at 7 p.m.
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>> Continued from page 12 HARCO Exteriors LLC Your Kansas City fencing specialists Family owned and operated (913) 815-4817 www.harcoexteriorsllc.com NELSON CREATIONS L.L.C. Home remodeling, design/build, kitchens, baths, all interior and exterior work. Family owned and operated; over 25 years experience. Licensed and insured; commercial and residential. Kirk and Diane Nelson. (913) 927-5240; nelsport@everestkc.net STA (Sure Thing Always) Home Repair - Basement finish, bathrooms and kitchens; interior & exterior repairs: painting, roofing, siding, wood replacement and window glazing. Free estimates. Call (913) 491-5837 or (913) 579-1835. Email: smokeycabin@hotmail.com. Member of Holy Trinity, Lenexa. Rusty Dandy Painting, Inc. – We have been coloring your world for 40 years. Your home will be treated as if it were our own. Old cabinets will be made to look like new. Dingy walls and ceilings will be made beautiful. Woodwork will glow. Lead-certified and insured. Call (913) 341-9125.
CAREGIVING Looking for high quality home care? - Whether you’re looking to introduce care for your family or simply looking to improve your current home care quality, we can help. Our unique approach to home care has earned us a 99% client satisfaction rating among the 1,000-plus families we have assisted. We are family-owned, with offices in Lenexa and Lawrence. Call Benefits of Home - Senior Care, Lenexa: (913) 422-1591 or Lawrence: (785) 727-1816 or www.benefitsofhome.com. Senior care and helper - I am a registered nurse with a master’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Virginia and the University of Mary. I am also a husband and father of two young children. I enjoy working with, learning from and exchanging stories with the senior population and America’s Greatest Generation. This may include, but not be limited to, nursing care, grocery shopping, yard work, medical appointments, companionship and helping around the home. Parishioner of Holy Trinity Parish. Call Matt at (913) 522-4938 to set up a no-obligation meeting to see if we are a good fit for one another.
“Spiritual Freedom” will be the theme of this parish mission. The mission will be presented by Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, a nationally known author and speaker. The presentations will be at 7 p.m. each evening. Father Pivonka will also preach at the weekend Masses. For more information, call Kimm White at (913) 287-8823.
Caregiving - We provide personal assistance, companionship, care management, and transportation for seniors in their home, assisted living or nursing facilities. We also provide respite care for main caregivers needing some personal time. Call Daughters & Company at (913) 341-2500 and speak with Laurie, Pat or Gary.
RETROUVAILLE Savior Pastoral Center 12601 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 17 - 19
Residential lifts - Buy/sell/trade. Stair lifts, porch lifts, ceiling lifts and elevators. Recycled and new equipment. Member of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Leawood. Call Silver Cross KC at (913) 327-5557.
Retrouvaille is a marriage program dedicated to helping couples grow closer and develop a stronger bond. The program is designed to help couples bridge the distance that has grown between them. For more information about this program for couples, contact the registration team at (800) 4702230 or visit the website at: www.helpour marriage.com.
BISHOP WARD ALUMNI GATHERING O’Neill’s Restaurant 9417 Mission Rd., Leawood Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.
Join fellow Cyclones for food, fellowship and fun. There is no cost to attend, and food will be provided. Drinks will need to be purchased. For more information or to RSVP, call Greg Duggins at (913) 371-6901 or send an email to: gduggins@wardhigh.org.
RECOVERY RETREAT Marillac Center 4200 S. 4th St., Leavenworth Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. - Feb. 27 at 11:30 a.m.
This retreat, based on the 12-step process, will provide an excellent opportunity to reflect on life and relationships. Donations for this retreat are $50 for commuters (includes lunch) and $150 for overnight guests (includes four meals). For more information and to register, call (913) 785-6552; send an email to: retreats@scls.org; or visit the website at: www.marillaccenter.org.
FOR SALE
For sale - At Resurrection Cemetery in Lenexa, interment in Holy Family Mausoleum (newest). Double niche, 12 x 24, A21, eye-level, glass front, Tier A (last one available). Beautiful corridor: Jesus Son of God. Includes perpetual care, two plaques and use of the chapel. $7500. Call (913) 897-3059. For sale - Maintenance free home. Backs up to Ascension Catholic Church. Two bedroom, 2.5 bath, study, open floor plan. Great for entertaining. Call for appointment. (913) 669-8178.
FOR RENT House for rent - Long Street in Shawnee, close to St. Joseph Church. One entry-level bedroom, one large loft bedroom. Kitchen with dishwasher, basement garage with opener. House is clean and well taken care of. Large yard, quiet, secure neighborhood. No smoking/ no pets. Available Feb. 1. Call (913) 238-2470. Serious interest only. Shawnee Sacred Heart member/owner.
WANTED TO BUY Will buy firearms and related accessories - One or a whole collection. Honest evaluation and top prices paid. Contact Tom at (913) 238-2473. Member of Sacred Heart Parish, Shawnee. Wanted to buy - I’m Mark Edmondson, a local parishioner at Holy Trinity, and I buy and sell houses in any condition. If you have a house “situation,” call me. I might have a solution for you. (913) 980-4905. Wanted to buy - Antique/vintage jewelry, lighters, fountain pens, post card collections, paintings/prints, pottery, sterling, china dinnerware. Renee Maderak, (913) 631-7179. St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee
FOURTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Jan. 29 FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Zep 2: 3; 3: 12-13 Ps 146: 6-10 1 Cor 1: 26-31 Mt 5: 1-12a Jan. 30 Monday Heb 11: 32-40 Ps 31: 20-24 Mk 5: 1-20 Jan. 31 John Bosco, priest Heb 12: 1-4 Ps 22: 26-28, 30-32 Mk 5: 21-43 Feb. 1 Wednesday Heb 12: 4-7, 11-15 Ps 103: 1-2, 13-14, 17-18a Mk 6: 1-6 Feb. 2 THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD Mal 3: 1-4 Ps 24: 7-10 Heb 2: 14-18 Lk 2: 22-40 Feb. 3 Blaise, bishop, martyr; Ansgar, bishop Heb 13: 1-8 Ps 27: 1, 3, 5, 8-9 Mk 6: 14-29 Feb. 4 Saturday Heb 13: 15-17, 20-21 Ps 23: 1-6 Mk 6: 30-34
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
COMMENTARY
Lessons of grade school don’t lessen over time
“A
nd you, too, Mark?”
Those words — spoken by Sister Decolata, my seventh-grade teacher at St. John the Baptist School in Kansas City, Kansas — still sting almost 50 years later. There was a student in my class back then named Bob (the names have been changed to protect the innocent!) and he was on the mischievous side. Sister Decolata put his desk immediately to the right of hers so she could keep a sharper eye on the little miscreant. One day, poor Bob fell asleep during class. Sister noticed it in the middle of a lesson and whacked the top of his desk with her wooden pointer. Because I sat in the front row, I had a bird’s-eye view of all this. When that pointer smacked the desk, Bob shot up like a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral. I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen and burst out laughing. Sister Decolata wheeled around, caught me and uttered those devastating words: “And you, too, Mark?” The implication was that I’d
MARK MY WORDS
FATHER MARK GOLDASICH Father Mark is the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Tonganoxie. He has been editor of The Leaven since 1989.
gone over to the dark side. Of course, my laughter stopped abruptly, but my punishment was to write, “I will not laugh in class” 1000 times. And it was due the next day. I tried to quickly write as much as I could of my “punishment” at home, hoping my folks wouldn’t notice. (This was one of those times that I was happy to be an only child, as no sibling could rat out my bad behavior to my parents!) Although I pretended it was my usual homework, my mom soon caught on and asked, “Did you get in trouble in
school today?” I explained what happened and she immediately went to the phone to call Sister Decolata. I put down my pen, stretched out my aching fingers and smiled that Mom was going to set Sister straight. I heard her talking for a bit and then she said, “Mark, come over here right now and apologize to Sister Decolata for your behavior today!” Mom then reminded me that she and Dad always told my teachers that they had permission to do whatever was necessary to keep me in line because “they’re right there watching you; we aren’t.” After I hung up the phone, I took pen to paper again. A bit passive- aggressively, I admit, I began to creatively number the sentences: 156, 157, 163,
171, 175, 190, 216, 333, etc. I turned it in the next day, not factoring in that, if Sister Decolata were truly a stickler, she would have counted my pages and busted me. At 26 lines per page, I should have given her over 38 pages of punishment. Mine wasn’t even close . . . but she never said a word, as the lesson was learned. It was a lesson to respect not only Sister Decolata and my parents, but my classmate Bob as well. It was a lesson that I’ve never forgotten. And I’ve never had to write out another “punishment.” (By the way, my hand finally uncramped during my junior year of high school!) We’ve devoted a number of pages in this issue to veteran Catholic educators. I’ll always be grateful, especially to those who taught me in grade school, for forming me in the faith, in my study habits and in my behavior. I’ll end with a little story about a young man named David, who was raised by his aunt and uncle after the deaths of his parents. David was preparing to leave for college and was at the train station. He looked at his
aunt, whose hands were battered from selling fruits and vegetables in all kinds of inclement weather. Her smiling face was ruddy, her hair white. David’s uncle was wiry, but bent over from lifting too many fruit and vegetable crates for too many years. The childless couple took him in when he was 7. As the train approached, David grabbed their hands and said, “How can I ever repay you for all you’ve done for me?” His uncle spoke gently, “David, there’s a saying: ‘The love of parents goes to their children, but the love of these children goes to their children.’” “That’s not so!” said David. “I’ll always be trying to . . .” His aunt interrupted saying, “David, what your uncle means is that a parent’s love isn’t to be paid back. It can only be passed on.” (Adapted from “The Nephew” in William J. Bausch’s “A World of Stories for Preachers and Teachers.”) The same, I think, is true for the wonderful teachers that we’ve all had in our school years. They don’t look for repayment — only that we pass on what they taught us to future generations.
Through Matthew, we, too, sit at the feet of the Master
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O
nce in a while, someone will come up to me after I have preached my homily and inform me that it seemed to them as though I was speaking directly to them. That can be embarrassing if they feel as though they have been singled out for some secret sin or held up as an example for all to see. It’s all a matter of perception. I do not set out to reveal anyone’s inner life or to draw public attention to them. It only seems that way. But that points to the purpose of the homily, to speak heart to heart. Sunday’s Gospel reading, Mt 5:1-12a, transmits to us an echo
POPE FRANCIS
THE GOSPEL TRUTH
FATHER MIKE STUBBS Father Stubbs is the pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Overland Park and has a degree in Scripture from Harvard University.
of part of the most famous homily in all history, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins it with those familiar
Christians who forge ahead with hope in God have the strength to endure life’s dark moments, Pope Francis said in a morning homily. However, Christians who refuse to fight for positive changes that benefit everyone are “stagnant” and selfish, he said Jan. 17 during the Mass in the chapel of the
words of the beatitudes. In the first Eight Beatitudes, Jesus speaks in the third person. He teaches about the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and declares them blessed. They may be present before him in the audience, or they may be far away in distant corners of the
earth. In either case, Jesus is speaking in general terms and addressing the persons in question. But then, Jesus follows with another beatitude where he switches gears. In this final beatitude, Jesus directly addresses his audience: “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” By these words, Jesus is alerting his disciples to what lies ahead for them. If they follow his teachings, if they embrace those values embodied in the previous beatitudes — such as peace, mercy, love for justice — they
Domus Sanctae Marthae. Christians who are “lazy” or “lukewarm” in the faith “have found in the church a nice parking lot” for themselves where their lives are protected “with all possible guarantees,” he said. It’s like “living in a refrigerator” that preserves things to stay just as they are, he said. “Lazy Christians,” he said, are “Christians that have no desire to move forward,
will face opposition from others. They will suffer in the extreme. But they will be blessed. By directly addressing the disciples, Jesus removes his teachings from the theoretical and brings them into the practical. He is issuing a challenge, as well as formulating a teaching. He makes it personal. Jesus is also speaking to us. Through the medium of Matthew’s Gospel, we also are present in the audience. It is as though we also are sitting on the grounds of the mountain at Jesus’ feet. They are not merely words spoken centuries ago in a far-off country. Jesus is speaking directly to us. He is speaking heart to heart.
Christians who do not fight for things that bring change, new things, things that would be good for everyone if these things were to change.” Such “stationary” Christians, he said, remind him of an old saying back home warning that stagnant water is the first to go bad. — CNS
JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
COMMENTARY
15
Early church’s use of deaconesses being studied by commission
S
ince accepting our third cohort of deacon candidates last year, I’ve received several inquiries regarding our candidate Jody Madden. Some people, upon reading the list of candidates, wondered whether Jody was a woman. They had read somewhere that the pope was possibly interested in ordaining women as deacons (or deaconesses) and were wondering if that was the direction we were taking. As it turns out, Jody is a man, and no, we do not have any women preparing for ordained ministry as deaconesses. But the question is worth examining a little
J
LEON SUPRENANT Leon Suprenant is the pastoral associate for administration in the office of the permanent diaconate. For more information on the diaconate, visit the website at: www.archkck.org/deacons.
more closely. There are two steps in the church’s logic in
not ordaining women to the diaconate. First, the church teaches that only a baptized man may validly receive the sacrament of holy orders. Second, the church teaches that the permanent diaconate (“deacons”) is one of three degrees of holy orders, the other two being the episcopate (“bishops”)
and the presbyterate (“priests”). The church recognizes that the fact that Christ is male and not female is neither incidental nor unimportant when it comes to the way God saves us. That’s because the ordained minister serves in the person of Christ the bridegroom in relation to his bride, the church. So why are there questions about this? If one becomes a deacon through the sacrament of holy orders, and holy orders may only be received by a man, what is left to discuss? Well, while the church has defined that the episcopate and presbyterate are reserved only to men, this formal definition did not extend
to the diaconate. So while we must be faithful to where the church is now, the door remains slightly ajar. Furthermore, there were “deaconesses” in the New Testament and early church. However, they were not understood to be ordained ministers. “Deacon” means “servant” or “minister.” Just as today we use the term “minister” both for ordained ministries as well as other types of church service, it is understandable that the term would be used in different ways back then. So we must be clear that if the church were to have “deaconesses” in the future, they would not be ordained ministers in the way that
bishops, priests and deacons are. More reflection is needed on this topic, which is why Pope Francis recently established a commission to study the matter. There is clearly a need for greater inclusion of the “feminine genius” at all levels of the church’s life, and many women, especially women religious, already “do” many extraordinary ministries. But ordination is about being, not doing. Deacons, in the person of Christ the servant and bridegroom, remind all the baptized — male and female — to embrace the universal call to service in the church.
Church calls us to see immigrants as people first
esus Christ wants to change your life. Before you change your life, you have to change your mind. A key concept for the life of Christian discipleship is “metanoia.” Derived from the Greek word “meta” — for “beyond” — and “nous” — for “thinking” or “mind” — “metanoia” means “thinking beyond.” Thus, the term “metanoia,” was coined by early Christians as a way to describe how encounters with Christ necessitate thinking beyond what was previously thought. This term also highlights how the Holy Spirit urges a life of conversion.
DO UNTO OTHERS
BILL SCHOLL Bill Scholl is the archdiocesan consultant for social justice. You can email him at: socialjustice@ archkck.org.
If we are to follow and worship the crucified God-Man, we must be open to paradigm
shifts in heart and mind. The call to “metanoia” is made by our Lord in his beatitudes. For example, poverty is a blessing, meekness is strength, and persecution for righteousness is glory. Bottom line? You can’t be a disciple of Jesus unless you are prepared and open to
changing how you think about things. Most often, this thinking will be opposed to the thinking of the world. Recently, the office for social justice was blessed to work with a great team of people to help Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann organize and celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees with a special Mass and multicultural festival. Catholics from the various immigrant and ethnic communities of the archdiocese came together in a liturgy that reflected the multinational, universal identity of the Roman Catholic Church by utilizing different languages and musical styles.
The Mass was followed by a potluck meal and fellowship, as families who had immigrated from Asia, Europe and Central and South America shared their food and culture with one another. People who weren’t accustomed to worshiping with each other came together to pray for all the migrants of the world. It was a time for “metanoia,” to rethink how our catholicity calls us to recognize that ultimately we are called to share a common home in heaven. Pope Francis reminded us in his message for that day that the church calls us to “the certainty that no one is a stranger in the Christian community,
which embraces ‘every nation, tribe, people and tongue’ (Rv 7:9).” He further said that “each person is precious; persons are more important than things, and the worth of an institution is measured by the way it treats the life and dignity of human beings, particularly when they are vulnerable, as in the case of child migrants.” As our government begins to revisit its immigration and refugee policies, let us as Christians be open to a “metanoia” on immigration that sees people not as enemies at the gate that we ardently resist, but as persons of inherent worth that we desire to prudently welcome.
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JANUARY 27, 2017 | THELEAVEN.ORG
NATION
16
Catholic schools plant seeds for vocations by example By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service
W
ASHINGTON (CNS) — Although priests and women religious say a variety of reasons led them to pursue their vocation, one thing many of them have in common is that they went to a Catholic school. Attending Catholic school certainly isn’t a magic bullet that leads to a vocation, but for some it proved that a religious vocation was not only a possibility but also looked appealing because of the example of priests and women religious they saw on a regular basis. That was the experience of Dominican Sister John Mary Fleming, a member of the Dominicans’ St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, who is the executive director of the Secretariat of Catholic Education of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Sister John Mary is convinced she wouldn’t be a Sister had it not been for the example of the women religious who taught at her school, Providence High School in New Lenox, Illinois, which was a Joliet diocesan school at the time and is now run by the Augustinian order. The teachers there in the 1980s came from five to seven women’s orders and men’s congregations along with diocesan priests. Their example — of living their faith and being happy — “debunked the myth that living a faith-filled life was not a happy thing,” she told Catholic News Service. Five graduates of the school entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville and other graduates chose other religious orders and the priesthood. Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, chair of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education and chair of the board of directors for the National Catholic Educational Association, similarly said the example of priests in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, who taught him were key to his vocation. The Catholic school experience also led him, as a Methodist, to join the Catholic Church as a fifth-grader. The bishop, who was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1979, said he wanted to be like his parish priest and the priests who taught at his high school. “I saw them as happy people — people we could put our trust in; day after day at the school or the parish, they were helping us and guiding us,” he said. These experiences confirm a 2014 study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate based at Georgetown University that linked Catholic schools to vocations. The report: “Catholic Schools in the United States in the 21st Century: Importance in Church Life, Challenges
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CNS PHOTOS/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ, LONG ISLAND CATHOLIC
Above, young women and men pray during a Holy Hour for vocations Jan. 20 at St. Patrick Church in Bay Shore, N.Y. The service, which invited teenagers and young adults to pray for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, was sponsored by the vocations office of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.
“
“IF FEWER AND FEWER CATHOLICS ENROLL IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, IT WILL BECOME EVER MORE CHALLENGING FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO FOSTER VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE.” and Opportunities,” points out that half or more of new priests and brothers attended Catholic primary schools as did 41 percent of new women religious and 45 percent of young lay ministers. “If fewer and fewer Catholics enroll in Catholic schools, it will become ever more challenging for the Catholic Church to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life,” the report said. Two members of the School Sisters of Christ the King, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is an order with a mission to teach in Catholic schools, said the religious Sisters that taught them inspired their vocation and now they both hope to do the same for their students. Sister Mary Maximilian, who teaches second-graders at St. Peter’s School in
Lincoln, said the teachers she had when she was in school “were normal and had a lot of joy — something my heart just longed for.” “I, too, try to share the joy that was shared for me,” she told CNS in a phone interview at the end of the school day Jan. 12. She said she does that by building relationships with the students and answering all their questions about what it’s like to be a Sister. Sister Regina Marie, who teaches second-grade religion at four different schools in Lincoln while also working as general treasurer for her community, similarly was impressed by both the “normalness and the prayerfulness” of the Sisters who taught her. She said she doesn’t promote vocations with her young students, but she impresses on them that they need a foundation of prayer. “I want them to know they need to pray — that God is real and he wants to talk to them. If there is a religious vocation for them and they have a foundation of prayer, it will be that much easier to understand,” she said. Sister Regina Marie said she hopes to counter the feeling a lot of people have about religious life “that it is a sacrifice” full of things you can’t do and hopes to instead show “that it is so life-giving.” She and the other Sisters also urge the boys in their classes to love and respect the priesthood. But even when Catholic schools aren’t staffed by women religious or priests — as is often the case today — the vocation message is still getting out.
Father Mark Ivany, director of priestly vocations in the Washington Archdiocese, said a Catholic school in the Washington Archdiocese — St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Maryland — has had a high rate of men entering the priesthood in recent years. For example, of the 11 men who entered the minor seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington last year, five were from that school. He said the school has “a handful of teachers that really love the Lord and the church and see their teaching as a vocation and ministry.” He also noted that the school offers something unique for its students by providing spiritual directors to any student who wants one, which is 200 this year. Eleven priests serve as spiritual directors meeting with students once every two weeks. Catholic schools also can foster vocations for teachers as proven by Holy Cross Father Louis DelFra, director of pastoral life for the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame. He wrote in a blog post last year that he found his vocation, planted by his schoolteachers, when he was filling in as a substitute teacher at a Catholic school. “Catholic schools teach us how to truly give ourselves to one another — as students and as teachers. In doing so, they plant the seeds for vocation in all of us,” he wrote. He also noted that “at a time when the call to religious life can be difficult to discern, Catholic schools continue to provide an environment where this call can be heard, nurtured and followed.”
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