07-13-12 Vol. 34 No. 1

WWW.THELEAVEN.COM | NEWSPAPER OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS | VOL. 34, NO. 1 JULY 13, 2012

Leaven photo by Todd Habiger

Leaven photo by Lori Wood Habiger

Leaven photo by Lori Wood Habiger

Sean Biggins, a member of Church of the Nativity in Leawood, listens to keynote speaker Cathy Ruse during the Rally for Religious Freedom June 29.

Abby (left), Sami and Kenneth Micek, members of St. John Nepomucene Parish in Atwood, get some cold water from Joan Hampton, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Wichita.

Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita (left), Bishop John B. Brungardt of Dodge City, and Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Salina each lead a prayer during the Rally for Religious Freedom.

RALLY CRY

Thousands flock to Topeka in the name of relgious freedom

By Jessica Langdon Leaven staff

TOPEKA — Sweltering triple-digit temperatures had nothing on the fire that was building inside thousands of people gathered outside the Kansas state Capitol.

“We come here today not as Republicans or Democrats,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann told the crowd at the statewide Rally for Religious Freedom on June 29.

“We come here,” the archbishop continued, “as Americans and people of faith.”

He hoped inspiration at the rally would spark these Kansans — some 4,000 of them, according to the Kansas Catholic Conference — to spread the word at home and in their communities.

“We hope people go away perhaps better informed and motivated to talk to others and speak to others about the importance of protecting what our forefathers and foremothers sacrificed so much for us to have — religious freedom and the protection of conscience,” said Archbishop Naumann.

Defending religious freedom The rally, which was part of the “Fortnight for Freedom,” a two-week nationwide push for prayer and education called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, focused on defending religious freedoms that the bishops say are now under attack.

The principal offender, although there are others, is the mandate announced in January by the U.S. Department of Health and Human

To see more of the Rally for Religious Freedom, visit The Leaven’s website at: www.theleaven.com.

Services as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The mandate requires employers to include contraception, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees.

See “IT DIDN’T” on page 8

Leaven photo by Lori Wood Habiger

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann addresses the crowd at the Rally for Religious Freedom from the steps of the Capitol building in Topeka. The rally was part of the “Fortnight for Freedom,” a two-week nationwide push for prayer and education called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Ruling doesn’t end mandate showdown

By Joe Bollig Leaven staff

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 28 largely upholding President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act was a political and legal stunner.

For all the storm and fury, however, nothing has changed for Catholics.

Barring a change in heart by the Obama administration, or a political change in November, it’s full speed ahead for the health care law and its problematic contraception mandate that is opposed by the church.

Bottom line: The church and the administration remain locked on a collision course.

“Many people were putting hope in that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the whole health care reform act and that would solve this problem, but they didn’t and that makes our cause even more important,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Topeka on June 29.

The contraception mandate, part of the women’s preventive See “LAWSUITS” on page 7

2 LOCAL NEWS Joe and Virginia (Kolich) Orel, members of Christ the King Parish, Kansas City, Kan., will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversar y on July 19.

ANNIVERSARIES The couple was married on July 19, 1952, at St. John the Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kan. Their children and their spouses are: Kathleen Orel Kelling; David and Eileen Orel; Dan and Jodie Orel; Christine Orel; Dennis and Kathleen Orel; Nancy and Garold Baker; and Michael and Tammy Orel. They also have 22 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The couple will celebrate with their children at 8:30 a.m. Mass on July 19 at Christ the King.

James and Clara (Bielecki) Bogner, members of Sacred Heart-St. Casimir Parish, Leavenworth, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on June 23. The couple was married on June 23, 1947, at St. Casimir Church, Leavenwor th.

Their children and their spouses are: James and Terry Bogner, Omaha, Neb.; Jacqueline Bogner, Lawrence; Michael and Cheryl Bogner, Leavenworth; and Marian and Tony Cantu, Crown Point, Ind. They also have eight grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.

Anthony and Mary (Heintzelman) Wagner, members of St. Lawrence Parish, Easton, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on July 21 with a family dinner. The couple was married on July 14, 1962, at St. Joseph of the Valley Church, Leavenworth.

Their children and their spouses are: Joan and Robert Nye; Connie and David Eisenbarth; Rita and Lenny Oatney; Mike and Deanna Wagner; Liz and Bruce Hunt; and Ed Wagner.

They also have 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

Archbishop Naumann’s weekly calendar

Golden Girls

July 17-18 Installation of Archbishop Samuel Aquila — Denver

Leaven staff

Installation of Father Michael Hermes — Holy Name Parish, Kansas City, Kan. July 22 Installation of Father Bill Bruning — Prince of Peace Parish, Olathe July 24 “Shepherd’s Voice” recording

July 28 Administrative Team meeting Leavenworth Catholic schools corporate meeting

July 29 125th anniversary Mass for Salina Diocese — Sacred Heart Cathedral

Archbishop Keleher’s weekly calendar

July 19 TLC charity benefit dinner July 20 Mass and confessions — Prairie Star Ranch, Williamsburg July 22 Federal prison Mass July 31 Archbishop Keleher’s 81st birthday

‘The Shepherd’s Voice’ programming notes Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann’s radio program on KEXS 1090 AM airs at 10 a.m. on Sunday and is repeated at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.

NFP Week seeks to educate at parish level

By Joe Bollig

July 21 “Catholic Way” radio taping

July 26 Vocations meeting with Conception Seminary leadership

SECOND FRONT PAGE 3

Prioress Sister Maureen Hall, at podium, listens as (from left) Sisters Elizabeth Skalicky, Virginia Bartolac, Ann Lucia Apodaca, Michael Delores Allegri and Karen Guth of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth mark their golden anniversaries by renewing their vows.

LEAVENWORTH — Five Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (SCLs) celebrated golden anniversaries in the religious community at a special Mass June 24.

Sister Michael Delores Allegri of Denver, Sister Virginia Bartolac of Kansas City, Kan., and Sisters Karen Guth, Elizabeth Skalicky and Ann Lucia Apodaca of Leavenworth celebrated their 50th anniversaries this year.

Sister Michael Delores attended grade school and high school in Kansas City, Mo. She taught high school in Montana, Kansas and Missouri for 23 years. She also served as a mental health worker and director of residential care at Mount St. Vincent Home, Denver. Additionally, she was the principal of elementary and middle schools and cared for children as a foster parent.

After 40 years of teaching, Sister Ann Lucia returned to the SCL motherhouse.

She helps with transportation of other Sisters for appointments and errands.

Originally from Kansas City, Kan., Sister Virginia taught and administered for almost two decades in high schools.

In addition to other advanced degrees, she earned a doctorate in canon law.

She served as collegiate judge in Atlanta’s Court of Appeals, was chancellor of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo., and held positions in two Midwestern

Catholic Church tribunals. Additionally, she worked for Domestic Court Services in Wyandotte County. She continues to judge marriage cases for several Southern dioceses.

Sister Karen is from Topeka and entered the SCLs after one year at University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth. She taught elementary and high school students in Chicago; Joplin, Mo.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Grand Junction, Colo. In 1993, Sister Karen was recognized as a distinguished teacher by the National Catholic Education Association. She has also served as a spiritual director in Denver, Leavenworth and Kansas City, Kan. A lifelong educator, Sister Elizabeth currently serves at Xavier Catholic School, Leavenworth. She continues to enjoy her ministry of education that has taken her to Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming. She has been both a classroom teacher and administrator.

The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth serve in the United States and Peru, South America. They number 271 Sisters in ministries including education; health care; social service; pastoral service; spiritual direction; advocacy for peace, justice and the environment; and other service. For more information, visit the website at: www.scls.org.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Natural family planning’s benefits aren’t limited to avoiding or achieving pregnancy. For Angela Linville, NFP saved her son’s life.

During her second pregnancy, Linville went for a blood draw for testing on a Friday. When she went home, she used her NFP knowledge to make some observations of her body — and realized something wasn’t right.

Fearing a miscarriage, she put herself on bed rest.

“The nurses called on Monday in a panic over my hormone levels,” said Linville, a member of Twelve Apostles Parish in Platte City, Mo. “They were sure I had a miscarriage.”

“They told me to increase my medicine by three times,” she continued, “but because I knew my body and put myself on bed rest, I saved my son. That would have never happened if I hadn’t learned about my body through NFP.” The benefits of NFP are being touted across both the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the rest of the country during National Natural Family Planning Week, from July 22 to 28. The theme of the week, which is sponsored by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is “Faithfully Yours.”

The week also incorporates the 44th anniversary of the Pope Paul VI encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (“Of Human Life”) promulgated on July 25, 1968, and the July 26 feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“It’s an effort where we can have a week where we focus on the wisdom, the beauty, and the reasonableness of the church’s teaching on marriage, conjugal love and family,” said Deacon Tony Zimmerman, lead consultant of the archdiocesan marriage and family life office.

“It becomes particularly important this year in light of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate,” he continued, “which will force employers — and all of us as well — to pay for artificial contraception in health care plans.”

The goal of the U.S. bishops’ NFP campaign is to get information into the hands of people who need it, at the parish level, using various means. This includes homily helps for pastors, reflections, posters, bulletin items, brochures and lists of NFP providers. Information packets have been distributed to all parishes in the archdiocese, said Deacon Zimmerman.

There’s a definite need for education about NFP, said Linville, who is a Fertility Care System practitioner and center director for the Kansas City area.

She and her husband have been using the Fertility Care System of NFP for 10 years.

Her own grandfather, she admits wryly, can’t tell the difference between NFP and an older and obsolete approach called the rhythm method, developed in the 1930s

CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz

Dr. Anne Mielnik, founding director of Gianna — The Catholic Healthcare Center for Women, chats with patient Judith Guzman in the center’s newly opened office in New York Dec. 30, 2011. Located in midtown Manhattan, the center is dedicated to providing primary care, obstetrics, natural family planning and infertility treatment with a Catholic pro-life approach. but superseded by NFP decades ago.

“He’s Catholic and he knows I teach NFP, but every time he sees me he asks if this NFP is more reliable than it used to be,” said Linville.

Natural family planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancy, according to the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for ProLife Activities.

The methods are based on day-to-day observations of signs and symptoms of a woman’s menstrual cycle. There are three basic kinds of NFP: the two methods taught in the archdiocese are the Creighton Model as taught by Fertility Care, and the sympto-thermal method taught by the Couple to Couple League.

David and Christine Downey, members of Immaculate Conception Parish in Louisburg, have been practicing the sympto-thermal method for 23 years and have been Couple to Couple instructors for nearly as long. “[NFP] improved our communication skills substantially and taught us to respect each other more,” said Christine Downey.

Natural family planning necessitates good communication between couples,

which pays dividends in a better marriage, said David Downey.

“Our initial reason for NFP was that this was what the church approved of,” he said. “After we used it for a couple of years, we noticed the change in our marital life, especially in communication. NFP provided a stronger bond in our marriage.”

The couples they counsel get pretty excited about NFP once they understand what it is, said the Downeys. Women welcome the opportunity to learn more about their bodies and how to plan pregnancies without putting powerful chemicals into their bodies. Additionally, it’s easy to learn and effective.

“Taking into account user error, NFP is 96.3 percent effective,” said Linville.

Sometimes NFP is mistaken as just another form of contraception — just chemical-free and approved by the church. That is incorrect, according to Christine Downey. All women can benefit from a better knowledge of their bodies.

“I think most people think it’s just another kind of contraception,” said Christine Downey. “It’s actually a whole way of life, just like the way you live your

Publication No. (ISSN0194-9799)

Editor Reverend Mark Goldasich, stl frmark@theleaven.com

Senior Reporter Joe Bollig joe@theleaven.com

Reporter Jessica Langdon jessica@theleaven.com

President Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann

Managing Editor Anita McSorley anita@theleaven.com

Production Manager Todd Habiger todd@theleaven.com

Advertising Representative Jennifer Siebes jennifer@theleaven.com

faith is a whole way of life different from anything else. You can’t really understand NFP until you practice it yourself — just like faith. You can’t understand it until you grasp it for yourself.”

Mass of thanksgiving for ‘Humanae Vitae’

There will be a Mass celebrating the 44th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae” at 7 p.m. on July 25 at Holy Spirit Parish, 11300 W. 103rd St., Overland Park.

For more information about NFP, contact • Archdiocesan family life office: Libby DuPont, (913) 721-1570, ext. 126, or email: ldupont@archkck.org • Couple to Couple League: David and Christine Downey, (913) 837-3182 or email: david.downey@ieee.org • Fertility Care of Center of Kansas City: Angela Linville, (816) 858-0198, or email: admin@fertilitycarekc.com, or visit the website at: www.fertility carekc.com

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

4 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

GROWING WITH GOD

Birth mother, son meet after 45 years

By Jessica Langdon Leaven staff

By Katie Hyde

Special to The Leaven

SHAWNEE — David Hattaway calls her “Mom.” He reaches out and holds Paula Alwin’s hand in his own.

The gesture is easy and comfortable, despite the fact the two hadn’t seen one another for 45½ years — until this spring.

Although Alwin never stopped thinking about the baby she placed for adoption in October 1966, she never expected to see him again.

But all that changed this year when Hattaway, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee, reached out to find his biological mother.

And today, both Alwin and Hattaway believe God’s hand helped bring their families together.

A letter to a stranger Growing up in Kansas City, Kan., Hattaway often wondered about his birth mother.

He sought information about his biological parents in 2006 as his family dealt with some health issues, but he didn’t start searching in earnest until early this year.

By then, both of his adoptive parents had died.

He enlisted the help of Laura Long of Adoption Search Services to navigate the guidelines in Missouri, where the adoption took place.

In February, Hattaway wrote a letter to his birth mother.

This might be his only chance to tell her anything if they found her, so following Long’s advice, he poured his soul into four pages.

And then he waited.

Lifetime of ‘I love you’ Alwin’s first clue that someone was searching for her turned up in her mailbox in Gatesville, Texas.

Her husband Larry told her she had an “important-looking” letter from Missouri.

It was from Long, asking Alwin to call her about “an event” in 1966.

Alwin’s heart leapt.

She was 20 when she found herself pregnant. She thought she would marry the baby’s father, but that didn’t happen.

Her family sought advice from their minister, who recommended adoption.

So Alwin moved into a Florence Crittenton home in Kansas City, Mo., and soon learned that if she took a job in the nursery, she would get to be there for the first few days of the baby’s life.

For three days after the baby was born, Alwin jumped out of bed, threw on her housecoat and spent hours snuggling him.

“I whispered a lifetime of ‘I love you’ in his ear,” she said.

A short time later, the judge who handled the adoption told her sternly that the file would be sealed forever.

Good news Many things have changed since the 1960s, and Alwin was thrilled this year at the possibility she might get to know more about the man her baby grew up to be.

She received Long’s letter in the evening and made the call early the very next morning.

From several states away, Long read Hattaway’s letter to her.

LOCAL NEWS 5

Leaven photo by Jessica Langdon

Paula Alwin and David Hattaway, a parishioner of St. Joseph Church in Shawnee, met this spring after 45 years. Alwin gave birth to him in 1966 and placed the baby for adoption, believing she would never know him. Hattaway wanted to know more about her and searched for her this year. They began writing letters, made phone calls, and finally met in person. “Before we met, I see that God really allowed us to get to know each other,” Alwin said. They found they bear striking physical similarities and have many shared interests.

“I cried and cried,” Alwin said.

They were tears of joy: He wanted to meet her.

She felt the same way.

Hattaway’s wife Lisa will never forget the moment her family learned the news.

It was the first Friday of Lent and they had just returned home from the shrimp dinner at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

They opened their email and found Long’s message saying they had found Hattaway’s birth mother.

NASCAR and children’s songs The two wrote back and forth for weeks.

At first, no names were allowed, and they couldn’t say where they lived.

“Mom gave good clues,” Hattaway said. It wasn’t hard to pinpoint Texas.

For her part, Alwin saved, numbered, and reread all her son’s letters.

The two discovered they shared a passion for NASCAR, and both have soft spots in their hearts for animals.

Hattaway grew up liking the song “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” and learned that Alwin sang it to him during those few days they spent together.

First meeting Finally, in the early spring, and after the requisite legal paperwork was signed, the two were freer to share more information.

The first phone call came in the middle of April.

“It was a three-hour phone call,” Lisa said.

Then, at the end of April, Alwin and Larry drove to Kansas City for their first meeting.

The Hattaways had decided that this initial visit was to include only the adults.

Their children had already lost three grandparents in just a few years, Lisa said, so they wanted to see how things

LEAWOOD — While peering into a zinnia bush on his hands and knees, Kellan Quinn makes a discovery.

Sporting a toothy grin, Kellan approaches Nativity youth director Liz Hagen and holds out his hand. Gingerly held between his dirt-covered thumb and forefinger is a roly-poly.

“His name is Roly,” the boy announced matter-of-factly. “Father [Francis Hund] named him.”

This scene is very typical of Wednesday mornings at Nativity Parish in Leawood, where a group of about 20 children, ages 5 to 8, meets weekly to garden with pastor Father Hund. He began the Gardening Angels program along with Hagen to connect with the children of the parish and reconnect with his rural roots.

Father Hund, who grew up on a farm in Paxico, knows a thing or two about gardening. With the Gardening Angels, however, he not only cultivates zinnias and tomatoes and tulips — he cultivates a sense of community between these children, God and the church.

“My favorite part is seeing the joy in the kids’ faces,” Father Hund said. “I love that they come to Mass with the community and then spend time cultivating God’s creation. I hope it will be a memory later of connection with the church.”

Each Wednesday in the summer, following Mass and a brief story, the group of about 20 kids tends to the church’s gardens — watering plants, weeding flower beds and occasionally decorating the gardens with colorful rocks.

A much-anticipated moment each week is the prayer, written and read aloud by a different “angel” each week.

The prayers are then printed on cards and published in a book.

In addition to beautifying the parish grounds, the Gardening Angels make loaves of pumpkin bread for parishio-

Leaven photo by Katie Hyde

From left, Liam Quinn, Quinn Mozena, Cecelia Knight, Kellan Quinn and pastor Father Francis Hund pluck zinnia flowers June 27 outside Nativity Parish in Leawood to take home to loved ones. Every week during the summer the Gardening Angels plant, weed and beautify the gardens outside the church with Father Hund. ners, arrange flower bouquets for Father Hund’s house visits, and help the Art and Environment Committee of the parish decorate the inside of the church with flowers.

They even helped garden at Villa St. Joseph, a Catholic nursing home facility in Leawood.

“It is so good that Father Francis encourages the kids to be really active

parts of the church,” Hagen said. “These kids will remember this forever.”

In addition to the memories of praying together, gathering together and gardening together, Father Hund hopes the children remember the greater lessons of Gardening Angels — hard work, community and care of creation.

While most of the young children can’t articulate the difference between

stamens and pistils or perennials and annuals, there is one thing of which they are all certain: Gardening is fun.

“It’s fun to see things grow and come alive,” Cecelia Knight said, while writing a letter to her family that she will present along with a small bouquet of flowers.

“You can really enjoy the beauty of what God made,” she added.

Hands of service, hearts of love Leaven photo by Jessica Langdon

David Hattaway (left), a member of St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee, reads letters he and his birth mother Paula Alwin exchanged before they finally met in person this year. Alwin, who has been involved in prison ministry for years in Texas, has shared her story with inmates there. Her family and Hattaway’s have spent the past several months bonding and getting to know one another. would go. Alwin, in turn, wanted to ensure there would be no pain for the Hattaways.

When the moment arrived, Lisa walked into the hotel room first, followed by Hattaway.

“And then we just fell into each other’s arms and held on,” Alwin said.

“For quite a while,” added Hattaway.

‘Where we left off’ “It was like we just picked up where we left off,” Hattaway said.

And within only a couple of hours, the Hattaways’ kids joined the party.

Amanda, 24, 23-year-old Eric, 14-year-old Katie, 9-year-old Conner and 7-year-old Maureen all welcomed Alwin with open arms.

The kids call her “MeMaw,” and they dubbed Larry “MePaw.” Amanda has two children of her own, and 4-year-old daughter Kylie calls them her “new grandma and grandpa

from Texas.”

‘I’m just going to love him’ Alwin and Hattaway have seen each other a lot since their first meeting. She made a second trip to Kansas after her initial trip and he traveled to Texas as a Mother’s Day surprise — and then again with the whole family just a few weeks later.

Alwin, who, with Larry, has worked for more than 15 years in prison ministry, now shares her story with the inmates. It has struck a chord with some of them, giving them a new perspective on their own lives.

Alwin hopes her family’s story will continue to inspire the prisoners — and others.

The outcome for Hattaway has been a new sense of peace.

“I just feel like David can tell me anything — and has — and I’m just going to love him,” Alwin said.

By John Heuertz

Special to The Leaven

“The charity of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14).

Catholics down through the ages have taken St. Paul’s stirring words to heart by helping the poor — and the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth have shown the charity of Christ through their work locally since 1858.

Now, Sisters Irene Skeehan, Therese Steiner and Vickie Perkins are responding to St. Paul’s implicit challenge with an innovative program that is new to the Kansas City area.

“Heartland Charity Volunteers” pairs young women willing to donate a year of their lives to help the materially poor with ministries that exist to help the disadvantaged.

“Our goal is to offer volunteers the opportunity to catch the world on fire with charity by walking in the footsteps of St. Vincent de Paul,” said Sister Irene.

Volunteers will “live together, live simply, and live in service to the community in a spirit of charity” in a former convent building, said Sister Therese.

“As they form community, they’ll learn about community,” she said.

The first group of four volunteers from Montana, Idaho and Illinois will begin work this August and work through June of 2013. About a year of planning has gone into the August rollout.

“I think it’s just a wonderful opportunity for us and for them and for the Sisters of Charity, because we’re going to be exposed to them and they to us,” said Sister Vickie. “We’ve been saying all along we’re going to learn so much from them.”

Heartland Community Volunteers will benefit many local constituencies — not just the poor, but also individuals who want to help the poor, as well as agencies designed to do the same.

St. Vincent de Paul was known throughout 17th-century France for his love for the poor, and “Msgr. Vincent’s” charism of service to the poor has always been a part of SCL life.

Today, it’s the guiding spirit behind Heartland Community Volunteers.

As the brochure puts it: “Impelled by the love of Christ, the Heartland Charity Volunteers invite young women to be transformed in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul through intentional community living and direct service with those who live in poverty.”

“Vincent wanted dedicated women to work in the world,” said Sister Therese, “and we practiced the charism.

But we didn’t really talk about it.

“When people understand where the energy comes from, it gives it life.”

“Our dream was to have young women working side by side with Sisters in our ministries, and I think that is what we are accomplishing,” said Sister Irene, “to help them capture the charism of St. Vincent de Paul by working with people who try to live by it.”

The spirit of charitable volunteer giving sometimes turns into a religious vocation. “That’s the work of the Spirit,” said Sister Therese, adding, “I think it’s kind of ironic that we’re called religious when everyone is called to practice their religion.”

“Most of them will get married,” she continued. “But they’ll still be generous, work with the poor, and share the Vincentian spirit with their children.

“That’s why I’m excited about it being part of the Vincentian family. I’ve not met anybody who has done volunteer service and didn’t find that it shaped their life, their priorities and goals.”

The idea of starting a project like Heartland Charity Volunteers was first

More information about Heartland Community Volunteers is available on the website at: HeartlandCharity Volunteers@gmail.com; by calling (913) 912-1038; or by “liking” them on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ heartlandcharityvolunteers. recommended at the order’s 2010 general chapter in Leavenworth. Support for it was based in part on Jesuit and Franciscan successes with similar projects elsewhere.

“The 2010 chapter talked about it in context of vocations, whether religious or secular,” said Sister Irene.

“What’s been of real interest to me is that we have run across so many outstanding men and women who are interested in giving a year as a volunteer,” she added. “Some of them have a very deep spirituality, and it will be wonderful to work with them.”

“Sister Vickie called me in January 2011 to find out if I was interested in helping out,” said Sister Therese. “It was so hard to leave Montana, but I’m excited about the project.

“I prayed about it, and the Spirit moved me here.”

6 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

Lawsuits could affect heath care mandate

Quilters honor the women who came before

F

Continued from page 1

By Paula Ebert

Special to The Leaven

LUSH — It’s an announcement not made at the end of Mass of just any parish: “The quilt is out of the quilt frame!”

But St. Joseph in Flush is not just any parish. The women of the congregation have been piecing a quilt to be raffled off at the annual parish picnic since the 1920s. This year’s “sell-by” date is July 25; the picnic is traditionally held on the last Wednesday of July.

For the last several years, the quilting has been done at the rectory of the parish priest, Father Carl Dekat. This year, all told, 17 people donated 152 hours over the course of 24 days to the project.

Nancy Hubbard, who isn’t a member of the parish but is a local quilting enthusiast, said that she comes to help with the quilting to “honor the tradition of the women who came before us.”

She mentioned several women of the parish, now deceased, who led the way, including Clara Belle Ebert and Dorothy Ebert.

Other quilters, now deceased, who could be counted on year after year included Florence Noll, Loretta Straub, Viola Umscheid, Loretta Dekat, Angie Heptig, Eugenia Zoeller, Laura Dekat, Anna Marie Ebert, Mary Winter, Florence Noll, Genevieve Dekat, Mary Ridder, Elizabeth Umscheid and Alvira Umscheid.

“That’s why we need to keep it going — to carry on the tradition,” Hubbard said.

And what better way than to incorporate younger members into the group?

Penny Zweimiller brought along her granddaughter, 11-year-old Jana Kellogg, to help with the quilting.

“I’ve always wanted to learn to quilt,” said Jana. She already sews, making dresses for her cat, so she picked up quickly on the delicate process of pulling the threads so the quilt was pieced properly. Along the way, she also learned from the old hands there about different types of quilts.

While a quilt can be created in several ways, noted Marianne King, handstitched quilts are preferred by many collectors. And the group hand-quilting process in Flush provides an annual opportunity for the women of the parish to chat and get to know one another. Quilters new to the small community this

LOCAL NEWS 7

Photo by Paula Ebert

Penny Zweimiller, a member of St. Joseph Parish, Flush, teaches her 11-year-old granddaughter Jana Kellogg how to quilt. For nearly 100 years, quilters from St. Joseph have been building quilts to be raffled at the parish’s annual picnic.

Tickets are on sale for two quilts and can be purchased by calling Marge Magnett at (785) 456-1300, or by writing to 8200 N. Highway 99, Wamego, KS 66541. Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. The second quilt was hand-stitched and donated by parishioner Dorene Taylor.

Taylor’s is called “Block in a Block.”

The other quilt, which was made by the parish community, is called “Garden Glory.”

year were Patty Chrest, Gale Seller and Victoria Lacruccua.

Dorothy Ebert’s daughter, Marty Reed, has provided the quilt top since her mother died in order to keep the tradition alive. She said she did it in memory of all the women who had crafted a quilt to benefit the parish for almost a century now, and in appreciation of all their hard work and dedication.

In addition to the quilt — and the fried chicken — the picnic is noted for its

Photo by Paula Ebert

Marianne King carefully places stitches in the quilt for the St. Joseph Church, Flush, picnic, which is held the last Wednesday in July. homemade pies and the country store, with produce fresh from the garden and home-canned items. This year, the par-

ish is going to display “fancy work” done in the past, such as tatting, crocheting, crewel, embroidery, and more.

services provisions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, requires that all health care plans (except those meeting a narrow religious exemption or plans with grandfathered status) cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs without cost to the consumer.

Religious employers who do not meet the religious exemption, as well as private employers who have moral objections to the coverage, are not protected from the contraception mandate unless they are participants in a plan with grandfathered status.

Grandfathered status means the plan has maintained minimal changes in plan design and out-of-pocket costs within the restrictions of the health care reform act since its inception in March 2010.

A private health plan year that begins on or after Aug. 1 of this year must comply with the contraception mandate. Nonexempt religious employers have an extension until Aug. 1, 2013, to comply with the mandate. Nonexempt religious employers participating in a plan with grandfathered status will remain exempt as long as their plan remains grandfathered.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is protected both under the religious exemption and by the fact that it has a self-insured health care plan that has grandfathered status.

“This exemption extends to all institutions participating in the archdiocesan health plan, including Catholic Charities, Benedictine College, Santa Marta and other institutions that may not otherwise qualify for the religious exemption under the Women’s Preventative Services Mandate,” said Kathleen Thomas, archdiocesan director of human resources.

The archdiocese will do everything it can to maintain the plan’s grandfathered status, but nothing lasts forever — especially a self-insured, grandfathered health care plan.

If any significant changes are made the grandfathered status will be lost, and those nonexempt Catholic entities will be forced to comply with the contraception mandate.

“Ultimately, in the long term, [grandfathering] is not the answer,” said Thomas. “At best, it’s said that a group could maintain grandfathered

CNS photo/Bob Roller

A woman opposed to the administration’s health care reform law speaks shortly after a Supreme Court ruling in front of the court building in Washington June 28. The nation’s high court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as constitutional but placed some limits on the federal government’s ability to terminate states’ Medicaid funding. status for three to five years. We’re already at two years. By the end of 2013, we’ll be three years into grandfathered status. We understand that we may be presented with financial challenges we just can’t overcome.”

The Affordable Care Act was a large and complicated piece of legislation, and it presents a lot of unknowns and unanswered questions.

“The nitty-gritty details of the health care reform law are still unfolding, so we really don’t know what other issues will arise in the future to challenge our Catholic beliefs,” said Thomas. “We have to continue to pray that our religious freedoms are respected, so we can protect our families with health care insurance without compromising our beliefs.”

The pivotal year for employer compliance with the Affordable Care Act is 2014, said Thomas. It requires the socalled “play or pay” mandate.

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Employers with 50 or more employees will be required to offer adequate financially subsidized group health coverage to all full-time employees or pay significant penalties. These penalties are $2,000 per year per employee. Also, these employers must automatically enroll all new full-time employees in the health plan unless they specifically opt out of the plan.

“Neither of these requirements pose difficulties for us,” said Thomas. “Our plan is more than adequate in terms of the law and we believe ours will remain a competitive and cost-effective plan even when other health care options are available on the insurance exchanges.”

There is another factor in this struggle over health care and religious freedom, however: lawsuits.

Twelve lawsuits by 43 Catholic plaintiffs, several of them dioceses, have been filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contra-

ception mandate. And an additional seven Catholic entities, plus a number of private Catholic employers, have also filed lawsuits.

“I think we have to press forward on all fronts,” said Archbishop Naumann.

“We need to educate people about this issue — not just Catholic people, but the whole society and culture. And we’re hoping to get relief in the courts.

“But we saw yesterday [with the Supreme Court decision] how that’s risky.

And part of what the courts said is: ‘Don’t look to us to solve problems because of the people you elected to serve in the Congress.’”

“So I think our people have to be very attuned to who they send to Congress,” he continued, “and what their views are on religious liberty and conscience rights.”

Additional reporting by Jessica Langdon

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‘It didn’t have to be this way’ keynote speaker says Continued from page 1 The use of any contraception runs counter to church teaching.

Catholic colleges, hospitals and charities are not exempt, and U.S. bishops were not satisfied with a change that allowed insurance companies to pick up the costs when employers have objections.

A call to rally The four Kansas bishops invited all people of faith to Topeka for the rally.

Religious rights are a “bedrock foundational value of American citizenship,” said Bishop Edward Weisenburger of the Diocese of Salina in his remarks before the rally.

He expressed concerns about government attempts to push religion inside the walls of churches, and about changing what used to be “freedom of religion” to merely “freedom of worship.”

He sees an “erosion of rights” that is “startling.”

And this is not just a Catholic issue.

People of many faiths have spoken out, he said.

“This is a freedom issue,” agreed Erica Oliphant, a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in Wichita. “Everybody should take interest in this.”

“We come today as men and women of faith desiring to live out that faith in a way that would honor and glorify Your name,” prayed Dr. Timothy Boyd of the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists in his opening prayer.

Looking ahead The rally came a day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. With the health care act left standing, legal concerns raised by a number of Catholic entities are now all the more pressing to church leaders.

Keynote speaker Cathy Ruse, senior fellow for legal studies with the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., said the lawsuit filed by 43 Catholic organizations was “one of the largest legal actions to defend religious liberty in U.S. history.” The questions raised in those suits will be addressed at a future date.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” Ruse said. After all, contraceptives are readily available and widely used.

“So how can anyone say there’s a contraceptive crisis?” she asked. “A crisis so great that it calls out for federal intervention — intervention that must require Catholics to give up our religion?”

Thinking nationally, locally Gov. Sam Brownback, in his remarks,

urged the crowd to continue fighting the mandate for as long as it takes.

“This unconscionable mandate must not be allowed to stand,” said the governor. “And by your prayers and works, it will not be allowed to stand.”

State Rep. Jerry Henry, D-Atchison, received applause when he told the rallygoers about the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act. It was introduced this past legislative session and passed the Kansas House of Representatives, but is stalled in the Senate, he said.

“The act established that a government shall not burden a person’s right to freely exercise an individual’s religious belief,” he said. “The next legislative session in 2013 should continue to make every effort possible to see that this religious freedom act is adopted.”

Leaven photo by Lori Wood Habiger

Stephanie Oswald and her father Robert, members of St. Mary Parish in Newton, display homemade signs citing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Reasons to rally Catholic women care about this issue, said Katie Stuchlik, a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Emporia, adding that not everyone believes contraceptives are a form of medicine.

She attended the rally with her family.

“We’re also tired of the media always portraying things as a bunch of crotchety old Catholic bishops pretending they know what women believe and how they feel and oppressing us,” said Stuchlik. “So we felt it was our turn to show our beliefs and what we felt in a very public and vocal way.”

Nor did attendees feel their obligation ended when the rally was over.

Lindsay Drouhard, who will be a sophomore at Benedictine College in Atchison this fall, hopes people will keep thinking about religious liberty and the HHS mandate.

“Just talk to your representatives,” she said. “See if we can get this thing repealed. Just try your hardest.”

Leaven photo by Lori Wood Habiger

Religious leaders, politicians and community activists gather on the steps of the state Capitol in Topeka for the Rally for Religious Freedom June 29. The 90-minute event drew a crowd estimated at more than 4,000 and included contingents from all four dioceses in Kansas.

A message from Kansas Rosie Cresswell, a parishioner of St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City, Kan., hopes people take away from this that they can’t take their freedoms for granted.

She was particularly inspired, she said, by Archbishop Naumann’s closing remarks.

“Let the cry go forth from Topeka, Kansas, to the president, to the secretary of Health and Human Services to the Congress to the Supreme Court,” he said. “We will not accept, we will not acquiesce, we will not tolerate our liberties to be diminished or robbed from us.

“We will pray, we will advocate, we will vote, and we will never, never, never give up our religious liberty and our conscience rights.”

Paul Frantz, a member of Christ the King Parish in Topeka, looks to beat the 100-degree heat at the Rally for Religious Freedom. Despite the temperatures, thousands participated in the event.

Phyllis Hirsch, a member of Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish in Topeka, bows her head in prayer.

Eight-year-old volunteer Abigail Klausmyer, a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Wichita, distributes flags to rally participants.

From left, Benedictine monks Father Justin Dean, Father Marion Charboneau, Brother Christopher Smart, Brother Leven Harton and Father James Albers, prior, take cover in the shade before the start of the rally.

10 NATION

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

Exhibit tells immigrants’ stories

By Maria Pia Negro Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Wong Lan Fong brought her wedding picture with her when she came to America in 1927, but the photo of the 27-year-old bride was not a keepsake.

It was a proof to convince California’s immigration authorities that she did not come for “immoral purposes,” but to be reunited with her husband, a Chinese trader.

“They decided that it was important for them to arrive to the United States with a first-class ticket because they thought, rightly so, that the immigration officials would treat them better than if they came in steerage,” said Erika Lee, an immigration historian and Wong’s granddaughter.

Lee’s grandfather saved up for almost two years to buy the ticket, which allowed Wong to enter the country without prejudices faced by other Asian women. Wong’s slim file shows that her interrogation by immigration officials went smoothly.

Wong Lan Fong’s wedding picture is part of a new National Archives exhibit featuring the stories of 31 men, women and children who passed through U.S. entryways between the 1880s and the end of World War II. The exhibit, called “Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates,” features mural-size black-andwhite photos that were “attached” to immigration files. The original documents, letters and photos tell the stories of those who were entering, leaving or staying in the United States.

Exhibit curator Bruce Bustard said the exhibit illustrates the “long and complicated and contested history about immigration in the United States.”

Some of those entering were visitors; others came to America’s gates looking for freedom and prosperity for themselves and their descendants. Some brought a lot of money; others carried little. Some had their papers in order; others forged documents and had fake relatives sponsoring them.

These stories are drawn from millions of immigration cases on file at the National Archives. The exhibit is on display in the National Archives main building in Washington through Sept. 4.

One of the first pictures in the exhibit shows children arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor in 1908. The expressions on their faces show uncertainty, with some adults behind them smiling; others just stare at the camera.

Another view greeting visitors to the exhibit is a panoramic photo of Angel Island, the California processing facility that received half a million people,

CNS photo/US National Archives and Records

Immigrant children and some adults pose after their arrival in 1908 at Ellis Island in New York. The photo is part of the National Archives’ new exhibit “Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates.”

“It’s a wonderful exhibit.

It tells a number of really interesting stories about the difficulties people had.”

”

Quincey Johnson, a Maryland resident who was visiting the exhibit mostly Chinese and Japanese immigrants. It was built to be “the Ellis Island of the West,” but, under race-specific laws enacted in 1882, it also served as a detention facility, Lee said.

Like many other immigrants before and after them, some of the individuals featured in the exhibit could not enter America’s gates or were later sent home.

Among those featured are Rose and Emile Louis, an interracial couple coming from Britain. Emile was illiterate and was barred entry. Rose was denied entry as well, because her husband could not enter the country.

Pictures of six men deported because of “moral turpitude” listed their physical features to prevent them from reentering. They include Dubas Wasyl, an Austrian farmhand who was caught stealing beans in his homeland and Francesco Zaccaro, who was sent back to Italy for “applying (a) vile name to a woman.”

“America’s gates have always swung in both directions,” said Joel Wurl, a senior program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities, who on a June 20 immigration panel at the National Archives. “Emigration also

represents a part of the story.”

The exhibit also tells the stories of Mary Louise Pashgian, who came to the U.S. fleeing persecution in Armenia, or Kaoro Shiibashi, a Hawaiian raised in Japan who returned to his native land.

A picture of 13-year old Michael Pupa is attached to a file detailing how he hid for two years in the Polish forest after the Nazis murdered his parents.

After living in many refugee camps, he came to the U.S. in 1951 and ended up living with a foster family in Cleveland.

“His story was one of many in the 25,000 boxes of materials about children refugees after World War II,” Bustard said.

Pupa, the only person featured in the exhibit who is still living, visited the National Archives for the exhibit’s opening. Seeing his documents compelled him to share those experiences with his family for the first time, Bustard said.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the Archives also featured a series of events where experts discussed immigrant experiences at Angel Island, Ellis Island and other entry points, along with examples of global migration and exclusion.

“I love the original documents and the photographs,” said Quincey Johnson, a Maryland resident who was visiting the exhibit. “It’s a wonderful exhibit. It tells a number of really interesting stories about the difficulties people had.”

“It was interesting to see people from a number of countries, people who lost their families, people who were just trying to bring their families back together,” he told Catholic News Service.

Provision left after ruling could be model for other laws WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling overturning much of Arizona’s 2010 immigration law should limit other states’ efforts to pass some kinds of immigration controls, but legal experts predict more costly litigation lies ahead over the boundaries of the “show me your papers” provision the court let stand.

Doris Meissner, former head of the federal immigration agency, said she would expect states that want to dive into immigration-law waters might find something of a model for types of laws that could pass muster with the court, by targeting areas of law usually left to the states. In a 5-3 ruling, the Supreme Court tossed out as unconstitutional several key provisions of the law known as S.B. 1070. Namely, it rejected sections of the law that criminalized the act of failing to carry proof of legal immigration status (under federal law, being in the country illegally — called illegal presence — is a civil code violation); criminalized the act of applying for employment without a federal work permit; and allowed police to arrest someone without a warrant if the officer suspects the individual might be subject to deportation. The three sections were rejected as pre-empting federal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court let stand a fourth provision, which allows police to investigate the immigration status of an individual if the officer has reason to suspect the person might be in the country illegally.

Society spreads good news to the blind NEW YORK (CNS) — Evangelists at a century-old missionary organization in New York spread the word of God without leaving their nondescript building in midtown Manhattan. The people they evangelize never see the missioners, but they recognize the Light of the World in the materials they receive from the Xavier Society for the Blind.

The organization provides Catholic religious and spiritual material free of charge to more than 10,000 blind, visually impaired and physically restricted people throughout the United States.

Jesuit Father John R. Sheehan has been chairman of the Xavier Society since 2008. The society provides material in Braille, large print and audio formats.

It’s a huge task — literally: The Braille edition of the New American Bible fills 45 volumes and includes all the notes found in the print edition. Father Sheehan said the Xavier Society was started by a group of laywomen who asked Jesuit Father Joseph Stadelman to help supply free religious materials to the blind.

Nun ‘red-tagged’ for work on environmental issues “If people are dying by the thousands, it’s high time to go out from our chapels and do something.

By Paul Jeffrey

Catholic News Service DAVAO, Philippines (CNS) — Environmental activism is a dangerous vocation in the Philippines, but a Catholic nun in Mindanao is defying those who want her to return to her convent and stop raising her voice in defense of creation.

Benedictine Sister Stella Matutina works in Mindanao, the most conflictive island in the southern Philippines. Now 44, she spent 18 years studying and performing pastoral work in Europe before returning to Mindanao in 2007, when she says she quickly realized an environmental crisis was at hand.

“In the landslides and flooding and deaths, I could hear the cry of the poor and the groaning of creation, but our government was deaf. Thousands of people were dying every year, but our government was doing nothing to protect the environment,” she told Catholic News Service.

Several people were killed and thousands of families displaced by flooding in Mindanao in June. Last December, Typhoon Sendong killed more than 1,000 people, most in areas downstream from where hillsides have been logged, often in connection with mining. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

“Sendong is the apocalypse. It’s doomsday. It is a sign of our fate if we continue with mining and logging,” said Sister Stella, secretary-general of Panalipdan, an environmental activist group whose name derives from the Visayan word for “to defend.”

Sister Stella said a 2008 phone call to her convent near Mati beckoned her to get involved.

“A woman from San Isidro called and pleaded for help. She said the bulldozers were in her community and were going to destroy the mountains. I couldn’t understand why the people hadn’t been consulted, why they couldn’t say no to this big mining company. I felt the people needed me. It was my baptismal moment. We got involved and were able to send away the mining company and its equipment,” she said.

“After that, more people started calling. We started leading courses on the stewardship of creation, resisting the cutting of ironwood forests by the Chinese and speaking out against the destruction wrought by large-scale mining.”

Sister Stella started getting death threats in 2009 after she helped a community block the entry of heavy mining equipment. That confrontation led to the cancellation of the company’s mining permit.

”

Benedictine Sister Stella Matutina

CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey

Benedictine Sister Stella Matutina walks across a bridge in late May in Mindanao, Philippines.

Sister Matutina has been detained by the military and threatened because of her work to protect the environment in Mindanao, an island in southern Philippines.

“In our struggle we have death threats, but we continue because we have to stand with the people. They protect us. They tell us when to go and when not to go,” she said.

“Our convent is in the middle of nowhere, and if bad elements came, we could shout and no one would hear us. So when things get hot, the people come and guard us,” she added.

Sister Stella was detained by members of the Philippine army’s 67th Infantry Brigade during a nighttime raid Feb. 16, 2009, in the remote village of Taytayan, in eastern Mindanao. Along with three companions, including one novice from her congregation, she had gone to the village at the invitation of community leaders to lead a discussion about local environmental concerns.

The four were sleeping in the municipal office when the soldiers, wearing ski masks and missing the nametags on their uniforms, burst into the building in the middle of the night.

“We have this very Benedictine gesture where we lift our arms in surrender to God. We make it standing and kneeling, and in bed before death,” Sister Stella said. “I didn’t know at first who they were, and when they told us to put our arms up, I felt like I was making this gesture before they killed me, handing

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over my life to God.” The nun said the soldiers kept insisting the four were members of the New People’s Army, a rebel group. She said the squad’s leader, Lt. Ron Soria, announced they were waiting for an order over the radio to execute the detainees. The soldiers interrogated the four for most of the next day before turning them over to the head of a local Catholic school, who in turn escorted them to the local parish priest.

When the news broke that the military had detained a nun, the army claimed it did not know Sister Stella was a nun since she was not wearing a habit.

“I don’t know any congregations where the Sisters sleep in the habit and veil,” she said.

Marist Sister Noemi Degala, executive secretary of the Sisters Association in Mindanao, said Sister Stella is a victim of what’s known as “red-tagging” in the Philippines.

“She’s being vilified as a member of the NPA,” said Sister Noemi. “How can they do that to a Sister who is only being true to her religious calling to speak on behalf of those who are silenced?”

Sister Noemi said the violence and threats against church workers are just part of a larger pattern of repression.

“It’s not just church workers who are being attacked. The attacks on Sister Stella and Father Tentorio are better known because they are church people, but there are so many other ordinary people who gave their lives so that others can live lives worthy of human beings. There are lots of journalists, church workers and peasants who have given up their lives for the Filipino people,” she said.

Sister Stella said her congregation wants to send her back to Europe in October, and she’s torn about whether to go.

“If people are dying by the thousands, it’s high time to go out from our chapels and do something. But my community is afraid I will be killed.

The other Sisters are proud of what I’ve been doing, but they’re afraid for me.

They want me to live life happily. But why worry about my life if people are afraid, and ordinary people are killed every day?”

WORLD 11

Holy See budget shows major loss despite rise in donations VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Holy See sustained its largest budget deficit of the past decade in 2011 as a result of global financial trends, the Vatican said July 5.

But Vatican City State, which includes the income-generating Vatican Museums and Vatican post office, ended 2011 with a surplus of 21.8 million euros ($27 million). The budget of the Holy See, which includes the offices of the Roman Curia and its communications outlets such as Vatican Radio, recorded a deficit of 14.9 million euros ($18.4 million) at the end of 2011. It was the largest budget deficit recorded in the past decade and reversed the 2010 surplus of 9.8 million euros ($12 million). Total expenditures for the Holy See in 2011 were 263.7 million euros ($326.4 million) with 248.8 million euros ($308 million) in revenues. A brief summary of the Vatican’s financial report released to the press blamed the deficit on “the negative trend of global financial markets, which made it impossible to achieve the goals laid down in the budget.” The majority of the Holy See’s expenditures were related to wages and other personnel costs for some 2,832 people. The budget of the Holy See includes the Vatican Secretariat of State and its diplomatic missions around the world, Vatican congregations and pontifical councils, the Holy See’s investment portfolio and properties as well as the Vatican’s newspaper, radio, publishing house and television production center.

Church officials laud Mexican presidential vote MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The Mexican bishops’ conference expressed satisfaction with “the exemplary participation of citizens” in the July 1 federal elections, which returned the once longruling Institutional Revolutionary Party to power. “As pastors of the Catholic Church, we are pleased to notice that our call to go to the polls in a conscious and free manner was heard by the Catholic faithful and by men and women of good will in our country,” the bishops said in a statement released late July 1 and signed by conference president Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla and secretary-general Auxiliary Bishop Victor Rene Rodriguez Gomez of Texcoco. “We are joyful witnesses to the civility and republican conviction demonstrated during the election process,” the statement continued. “We’re pleased that democracy has been recognized as the privileged path for achieving the peace, justice and development that Mexicans long for.”

The bishops offered congratulations to the victors without mentioning names or parties. Mexican voters opted for Enrique Pena Nieto, 45, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

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THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

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Give your child the gift of music - Quality piano lessons. Positive, caring, and motivating teacher.

Call (913) 338-3022. South Johnson County area.

Quilted Memories - Your Kansas City Longarm shop is open in downtown Overland Park! Machine quilting services. Custom designed memory quilts from your T-shirt collections, photos, baby clothes, college memorabilia etc. We specialize in memorial quilts – wrapping you in your cherished memories.

For information or to schedule a free consultation, call (913) 649-2704. To see samples, visit the website at: www.quiltedmemoriesllc.com.

Machine quilting - by Jenell Noeth, Basehor.

Also, quilts made to order. Call (913) 724-1837.

Dog- and housesitting - Graduate of Rockhurst High School and Benedictine College, and member of Curé of Ars Parish, Leawood. Will also do basic yardwork, moving, errand running, etc. Call Seán Rielley at (913) 563-9333 or email: srielley@sbcglobal.net.

Need some help? - Maybe I’m the answer!

Perhaps you aren’t driving anymore or just prefer a chauffeur. I can get you to your doctor’s appointment, hairdresser or shopping. I can also run errands and grocery shop for you. Give me a call to discuss your needs. JoCo only. Call (913) 469-6211 or (816) 806-0564.

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 and based in Lenexa. Call Benefits of Home - Senior Care at (913) 422-1591 or visit our website at: www.benefitsofhome.com.

Have a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease?

Inquire about our fresh, unique approach to care.

ComfortCare Homes, a local, family-owned care option, opened its first home in 2005. We have now grown to four homes located in Overland Park and Leawood. All of our homes are located minutes from highways I-35 or I-435, allowing easy access from anywhere in the Kansas City metropolitan area including Lee’s Summit, Shawnee, Liberty and Olathe.

To learn more or take a tour, call Courtney Minter at (913) 609-1891 or visit the website at: www.Comfort CareKC.com.

Caregiving - We provide personal assistance, companionship, care management, and transportation to the elderly and disabled in home, assisted living and nursing facilities. We also provide respite care for main caregivers needing some personal time. Call Daughters & Company at (913) 341-2500 and speak with Laurie, Debbie or Gary.

Home Improvement

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.bankruptcylawinkansascity.com.

Garage door and opener sales and service 24-hour, 7-day-a-week service on all types of doors.

Replace broken springs, cables, hinges, rollers, gate openers, entry and patio doors, and more. Over 32 years of experience. Call (913) 227-4902.

Faith-based counseling to cope with life concerns - Kansas City area. Call Mary Vorsten, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, at (913) 9092002.

Masonry work - Quality new or repair work.

Brick, block and chimney/fireplace repair. Insured; second-generation bricklayer. Member of St. Paul Parish, Olathe. Call (913) 829-4336.

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: mikehammermoving@aol.com.

Lawn mowing Free estimates; references Insured, licensed and bonded Local parishioner Call Tony at (913) 620-6063 Rodman Lawn Care - Mowing, leaf removal, mulch and more. Call John Rodman, member of Holy Cross Parish, Overland Park, at (913) 548-3002 or send an email to him at: Rodman.Lawn@yahoo.com.

Tree service - Pruning trees for optimal growth and beauty and removal of hazardous limbs or problem trees. Free consultation and bid. Safe, insured, professional. Cristofer Estrada, Green Solutions of KC, (913) 378-5872. www.GreenSolutionsKC.com.

Agua Fina Irrigation and Landscape The one-stop location for your project!

Landscape and irrigation design, installation and maintenance.

Cleanup and grading services Receive $500 discount on an irrigation service with mention of this ad.

Visit the website at: www.goaguafina.com Call (913) 530-7260 or (913) 530-5661

Caregiving Retired nurse - With 20-plus years of caregiving experience is seeking to care for an individual and their home on a full-time basis. Live-in position is preferred. I will provide caregiving, meal preparation, housekeeping, laundry, errands, etc. My goal is to keep your loved one in their home. Reasonable rates and excellent references. Call (913) 579-5276.

EL SOL Y LA TIERRA *Commercial & residential * Lawn renovation *Mowing * Clean-up and hauling * Dirt grading/installation * Landscape design * Free estimates Hablamos y escribimos Ingles!!

Call Lupe at (816) 252-3376

Perfect Roof - Free estimates; roofing repairs if needed. Hail and wind damage inspections. Insured and reasonable. Call (816) 288-1693.

Brick mason - Installation and repair of all types of masonry work — brick, stone, and concrete.

17 years of residential and commercial experience.

Small and large jobs accepted. Free quotes in the KC metro area. Call Jim or John at (913) 485-4307.

Get a jump on your home repairs! - I specialize in painting, wood rot, decks, fences, windows, doors, siding, stucco, landscaping, drainage issues, and concrete. Fully insured. Now accepting all major credit cards. Call Josh Doherty (913) 709-7230.

Clutter getting you down? Organize, fix, assemble, clean! “Kevin Of All Trades” your professional organizing handyman. For a free consultation, call today (913)271-5055. Insured; references. Visit the website at: www.koatindustries.com.

Swalms Organizing Service - Basement, garage, attic, shop — any room organized! Items taken to donation sites, trash is bagged, and areas are clean and neat when job is complete. To view beforeand-after pictures, visit the website at: www.swalms. com. Over 20 years of organizing experience; insured. Call Tillar at (913) 375-9115.

Adept Home Improvements Where quality still counts!

Basement finishing, Kitchens and baths, Electrical and plumbing, Licensed and insured.

(913) 599-7998 Gardner Painting - Attention to detail — we actually use scrapers. Interior and exterior. WyCo and JoCo areas. Many references. Free same-day estimates. Call Ted at (913) 227-9230.

Interior and exterior painting and wallpaper removal - 30-plus years experience. Quality work; excellent references; reasonable rates. Senior discount. Member of St. Ann Parish, Prairie Village.

Call Joe at (913) 620-5776.

Custom countertops - Laminates installed within 5 days. Cambria, granite, and solid surface.

Competitive prices, dependable work. Call the Top Shop, Inc., at (913) 962-5058. Members of St. Joseph, Shawnee.

Exterior painting, drywall projects, wood rot repair, bathroom and kitchen remodels, and tile work - Quality products. 20 years experience.

References. Call (913) 206-4524.

Real Estate

Affordable cabinetry - 20 years experience creating quality woodworking, design, and detail for all your custom cabinetry and furniture needs.

Competitive rates; references available. Serving the KC Metro area. Call Dennis at (913) 850-3956. Visit the website at: www.dennisbilt.com.

Overland Park – Nall Hills subdivision; 4 BR, 2 BA, split-level home. Kitchen with eating area, family room, living and dining rooms. Large, fenced yard and a great location on quiet street. Home has been meticulously maintained. $189,950. Call (913) 6423550.

Electrician - Free estimates; reasonable rates.

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

Strawberry Hill’s finest home is for sale Large all-brick ranch home with a three-car garage, new roof, and a walk-out basement. You will be amazed what $157,800 can purchase. Call Larry or Cindy with Reece and Nichols at (913) 652-5346.

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.

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.

Tim the handyman - Small jobs are my specialty! Faucets, garbage disposals, toilets, light fixtures, ceiling fans, handrails, window screen repair, bush trimming and garden tilling. Free estimates. JoCo area. Call (913) 859-0471.

Decks by Jake - Power washing, wood preserving and staining. References available. Call Jake at (913) 909-6058. Member of St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee.

Merriam home for sale - 10124 W. 59th Terr.

Close to St. Joseph Church and School. 3 BR, 2-1/2 BA. Home is in move-in-ready condition. Mature trees and located on a friendly cul-de-sac. For information, call (913) 735-0074 or visit the website at: www.merriamhome.net.

For Rent Overland Park condo - 2 BR, 2 BA condo in excellent condition. Dining room; clubhouse with pool; water bill included; excellent condition. $845 per month. Call (913) 677-3070.

Continued on the next page

Continued from the previous page Houses for rent - Why play the stock market?

Become a passive real estate investor. If you want to discuss the possibility of investing in real estate that produces positive income with a seasoned investor, call (913) 980-3559.

Room for rent for college student - Fully furnished room with private bathroom in a Brookside home close to Visitation Parish, Loose Park and within walking distance of UMKC. $575 per month; utilities, kitchen and laundry privileges included; offstreet parking. Call (913) 831-0599, evenings.

Vacation Hilton Head, S.C. - 2 BR, 2 BA, completely renovated, fully furnished villa in a gated community just steps from the beach. 10 tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, bike paths, clubhouse with rec. room and playground area. Only $795/week. Call (843) 4155612. Refer to VRBO #391507. Mention The Leaven and pay only $625/wk.

Summer vacation - Winter Park, Colo. 2 BR, 1 BA, sleeps 6. Fully furnished, fireplace, rec. center w/ pool, fishing, golf, hiking, rafting, close to nat’l park. $100/night; $600/week. Call Joe Frederick at (913) 385-5589.

Mountain cabin in Winter Park, Colo. - 2 BR, 1 BA, fully furnished; sleeps four. View of Continental

July 14

The Johnson County Christmas Bureau will host a “Christmas in July” pancake breakfast and open house from 8 11 a.m. on July 14 at the Merriam Christian Church, 9401 Johnson Dr., Merriam. The cost is $8 for adults; $4 for children under 10. For information call (913) 341-4342 or send an email to: jccboffice@gmail.com.

15

St. Augustine Church, Fidelity, will host its annual picnic on July 15 in the parish hall. A chicken and ham dinner served family-style will begin at 4:30 p.m.

The cost is: $8 for adults; $4 for children ages 4 - 10; children 3 years and under eat for free. There will also be a cakewalk, bingo, children’s game and raffles.

The Singles of Nativity group is seeking 30 volunteers to serve at the St. Mary Food Kitchen on July 15. Volunteers will meet at 9:15 a.m. in the lower parking lot of the Church of the Nativity, 3800 W. 119th St., Leawood. For information or to volunteer, send an email to: susa_marcos @yahoo.com.

17

The Vitae Foundation will host its annual pro-life golf classic at noon on July 17 at the Loch Lloyd Golf Course in Kansas City, Mo. The registration fee is $300 per golfer. For information or to register, call 1 (800) 393-5791 or visit the website at: www.vitaefoundation.org.

19

A healing Mass, sponsored by archdiocesan charismatic prayer groups, will be held at 7:30 p.m. on July 19 at Curé of Ars Church, 9401 Mission Rd., Leawood. Father Anthony Ouellette will preside. Fellowship will follow in the Father Burak Room. For information, call (913) 649-2026.

The Curé of Ars Singles will host Vivian Crosby, author of “Peace Sign,” at 7 p.m. on July 19 in the CLC, 9360 Mission Rd., Leawood. Crosby will speak on the real truth of the baby boomers’ future. For information, call (913) 631-6873.

Divide from deck. Close to points of interest and activities. $75/night. Call (913) 642-3027. For pictures, visit the website at: www.tillmancabin.com.

Lake of the Ozarks weekly rental - Beautiful Sunrise Beach lakefront home with large dock and gorgeous views. Fully furnished 5 BR, 6 BA, flat screen TVs, barbecue grill, fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer. No pets or children. Call (913) 208-8074.

Breckenridge, Colo., condo - 2 BR, 2 BA; sleeps eight. Roomy first-floor unit with washer/dryer, WiFi, cable TV and covered parking. Two blocks to downtown; 30 steps to two hot tubs. For pricing and availability, call (816) 392-2730.

For sale - Five cemetery lots in the same row at Chapel Hill Butler, Garden of Everlasting Life.

Located near St. Patrick Church, at 94th and State Ave., Kansas City, Kan. Price is negotiable. Discount offered if two or more are purchased. For information, call (720) 244-5141.

Antiques wanted I buy old pocket & wrist watches; sets of silverware; souvenir spoons; advertising signs; coins; and Native American turquoise jewelry, arrowheads & rugs. Call Chris at (913) 593-7507 or (913) 642-8269.

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.

Miscellaneous

For Sale

2001 Bass Tracker boat – 17-1/2 ft. aluminum pro-crappie style with two aerated live wells for bait.

Mercury 40 horsepower, 4-stroke motor with power trim and tilt, plus 45 lb. electric trolling motor. Nice canvas canopy top; rod and reel storage; trailer included. $4000. Call Tom at (913) 620-6482.

For sale – Double-depth crypt in the Faith Lawn area of Resurrection Cemetery, Lenexa. Call Ken Christian at (816) 918-4075.

Wanted to Buy

For sale - Tandem crypt for two in the St. James Corridor at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Kansas City, Kan. Tier F; crypt 115. $8,000 for both or make offer.

Call Gene Skorija at (816) 584-0823.

*** Wanted to buy *** Antique/vintage jewelry, paintings, pottery, prints, sterling, etc.

Renee Maderak (913) 631-7179 St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee

For sale – Medical equipment and supplies – new and used. Wholesale pricing. Scooters, power chairs, wheelchairs, walkers, bath and shower items, lift chairs, vehicle lifts, ramps, hospital beds and other items. Call Ron Coleman (913) 299-9176.

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.

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

5th and Minnesota Ave. Homer Radcliff will present the results of the international convention.

on July 21 at Curé of Ars Church, 9401 Mission Rd., Leawood. The bereavement ministry will have its monthly support meeting following Mass in the Father Burak Room. For information, call (913) 649-2026.

Sophia Center, 751 S. 8th St., Atchison, will offer a one-day retreat, entitled “Centering Prayer,” presented by Benedictine Sister Marie Ballmann, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on July 21. Centering prayer is a prayer of deep silence that can be an important step in the process of interior transformation.

The cost is $50. For information or to register, call (913) 360-6151 or visit the website at: www.mountosb.org/sophia.html.

Christ’s Peace House of Prayer, Easton, will host a contemplative prayer retreat day from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. on July 21. Instruction will be provided on request.

Full- or half-day attendance options are available, with the noon meal included. The cost is $25 per participant. The retreat day may also be extended to include an overnight stay. Guests may attend the contemplation periods throughout the day and may schedule individual sessions with staff from 5 - 6:30 a.m. or from 6:30 - 8 p.m. For information, call (913) 773-8255 or send an email to: info@shantivanam.com.

St. Veronica Lodge will host a polka dance at 7 p.m. on July 21 in Mejak Hall at Holy Family Church, 713 Ohio Ave., Kansas City, Kan. The cost is $12 per person. Music will be provided by the Don Lipovac Band.

Proceeds will benefit the St. Benedict Abbey Capital Campaign. For information or to RSVP, call Julie at (913) 268-7640 or Chuck at (913) 631-2748.

25

The monthly Marian Mass will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, 333 Freeman Ave., Topeka, on July 25. The sacrament of reconciliation will be offered at 6:15 p.m., followed by a rosary at 6:30 p.m. and a Mass at 7 p.m. A 15-minute talk will be given after Mass, followed by Benediction. This service is dedicated to the sanctity of human life.

The Serra Club of Kansas City, Kan., will host a lunch and presentation at noon on July 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn,

CALENDAR 13

26

The Christian Widow and Widowers Organization will host a potluck dinner and ice cream social at 5 p.m. on July 26 in the Formation Room of Most Pure Heart of Mary Church, 3601 S.W. Stone, Topeka. There is no cost to attend.

For information, call (785) 272-0055.

27

A natural family planning information session will be held at 7 p.m. on July 27 in the Good Shepherd Room of Christ the King Church, 3024 N. 53rd St., Kansas City, Kan. For information, send an email to Sharisa McDaniel at: NFPkansas city@gmail.com.

27-28

Sophia Center, 751 S. 8th St., Atchison, will host a weekend retreat, entitled “Toasting the Women on Our Family Tree,” presented by Mary Kay Whitacre, from 7 p.m. on July 27 through 3 p.m. on July 28. Gather the women in your family for a weekend of laughter and tears, memories and dreams, time away and time together.

The cost is $100. For information or to register, call (913) 360-6151 or visit the website at: www.mountosb.org/sophia.html.

28

Marillac Center, Leavenworth, will offer a day of prayer from 10 a.m.

- 3:30 p.m. on July 28, sponsored by the Care of Creation Committee of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. Sisters Gail Worcelo and Rejane Cytacki will lead the “Moments of Grace” program. The cost of $15 per person includes lunch. Scholarships are available. For information or to register, call (913) 680-2342; send an email to: schase@scls.org; or visit the website at: www.marillaccenter.org.

A potluck picnic for couples that practice natural family planning will be held from 4 – 7 p.m. on July 28 at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, 87th and Lackman, Lenexa.

Bring your family, lawn chairs and games, and a dish to share. For information, send an email to Sharisa McDaniel at: NFP kansascity@gmail.com.

St. Ann Church, Effingham, will host a barbecue pork or fried chicken dinner

Donation needed - Chest-style freezer for the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging in Kansas City, Kan. Would prefer a 25 cu. ft. freezer, but will consider a larger one. Must be in good working condition. Call Colleen McKeone at (913) 384-7110.

Host families - Are needed for high school exchange students for the 2012 - 13 academic year.

Families choose from online applications. The students arrive in mid-August and will attend local high schools. For information, call Nicole Berg at (360) 536-6871.

Entertainment DJ Irishman - Colm Delahunt is available for parties, weddings, graduations, and any other function. Playing all your favorite hits from the Village People to U2. Call (913) 548-6765 or visit the website at: www.djirishman.com.

from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. on July 28. The cost is: $8 for adults; $4 for children ages 5 – 10; children 4 and under eat free. There will also be a raffle, bingo and an auction.

A Fatima rosary rally will be held at 3 p.m. on July 15 at St. Pius X Church, 5601 Woodson, Mission. Join in praying the rosary, followed by Benediction and enrollment in the brown scapular.

29

The Altar Society at St. Joseph Church, 306 N. Broadway, Leavenworth, will host the Leavenworth Region ACCW quarterly luncheon and meeting on July 29 in Kinzer Hall. All Catholic women are invited to attend the potluck luncheon at 12:30 p.m. A presentation on social justice will follow at 1 p.m. For information, call Judy Brose at (913) 773-0140 or send an email to her at: brosej2002@yahoo.com.

31

The St. Benedict Circle at Holy Cross Church, 8311 W. 93rd St., Overland Park, will host a card party luncheon on July 31 from 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. The cost is $12; men are welcome. For information or to RSVP, call Helen at (913) 381-4295 or Doris at (913) 381-2781.

Misc.

Notre Dame de Sion High School, 10631 Wornall, Kansas City, Mo., will host an all-girl soccer camp for girls entering grades 6 - 8 from 9 - 11 a.m. on July 16-19.

For information, visit the website at: www. sionstorm.com or send an email to Matt Darby at: mdarby@rockhursths.edu.

Marillac Center, Leavenworth, will offer a retreat, entitled “Evolutionary Christianity: A New Moment of Grace,” from July 29 - Aug. 5, sponsored by the Care of Creation Committee of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. Scholarships are available. For information or to register, call (913) 680-2342; send an email to: schase@scls.org; or visit the website at: www.marillaccenter.org.

14 COMMENTARY

Concrete Work

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

Any type of repair and new work Driveways, Walks, Patios

MARK MY WORDS

Member of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish

Catholic Press Association Award Winner

1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

FIFTEENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME July 15 FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Am 7: 12-15; Ps 85: 9-14; Eph 1: 3-14; Mk 6: 7-13 July 16 Our Lady of Mount Carmel Is 1: 10-17; Ps 50: 8-9, 16-17, 21, 23; Mt 10:34 — 11:1 July 17 Tuesday Is 7: 1-9; Ps 48: 2-8; Mt 11: 20-24 July 18 Camillus de Lellis, priest Is 10: 5-7, 13b-16; Ps 94: 5-10, 14-15; Mt 11: 25-27 July 19 Thursday Is 26: 7-8, 12, 16-19; Ps 102: 13-21; Mt 11: 28-30 July 20 Apollinaris, bishop, martyr Is 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8; (Ps) Is 38: 10-12, 16; Mt 12: 1-8 July 21 Lawrence of Brindisi, priest, doctor of the church Mi 2: 1-5; Ps 10: 1-4, 7-8, 14; Mt 12: 14-21

SIXTEENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME July 22 SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jer 23: 1-6; Ps 23: 1-6; Eph 2: 13-18; Mk 6: 30-34 July 23 Bridget, religious Mi 6: 1-4, 6-8; Ps 50: 5-6, 8-9, 16-17, 21, 23; Mt 12: 38-42 July 24 Sharbel Makhluf, priest Mi 7: 14-15, 18-20; Ps 85: 2-8; Mt 12: 46-50 July 25 JAMES, APOSTLE 2 Cor 4: 7-15; Ps 126: 1-6; Mt 20: 20-28 July 26 Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary Jer 2: 1-3, 7-8, 12-13; Ps 36: 6-11; Mt 13: 10-17 July 27 Friday Jer 3: 14-17; (Ps) Jer 31: 10-13; Mt 13: 18-23 July 28 Saturday Jer 7: 1-11; Ps 84: 3-6, 8, 11; Mt 13: 24-30

S

ua sponte.

Be more choosy in life

Let me start by apologizing for using a Latin phrase for the second column in a row. I can’t help myself. I recently came across a story that I just couldn’t keep to myself. And it just happens to hinge around sua sponte.

Tom Allen tells the story, which was triggered by the 1998 movie “Saving Private Ryan.” I have to admit that I’ve never watched that movie all the way through. Its opening scene, which shows Army Rangers taking Omaha Beach on D-Day, is perhaps one of the most gruesome — and I suspect — realistic depictions of the reality of war.

That scene lasts about a half-hour, and I’ve never been able to sit through it; the horror is just too much for me. I’ve watched most of the rest of the movie but can’t take that first part.

In any event, Allen is a former Army Ranger and was pastor of Grace Church Seattle. He said that he was proud as he watched the Rangers in that movie. You might remember that the film is about a group of them, led

by Capt. John H. Miller (Tom Hanks), that embarks on a mission to go deep into enemy territory and bring back Private Ryan, whose other three brothers have already been killed in the war. When they finally find Ryan, after a number of battles and the loss of several of the Rangers, he refuses to come with them.

Ryan knows that a big battle is coming up and doesn’t want to leave his fellow soldiers. In a nutshell, the Rangers stay and fight a horrific battle and almost everyone dies, except Ryan. Hanks’ character is sitting on the ground, wounded and dying,

and says to the private, “Earn this.”

Basically, Hanks meant that many men died to save Private Ryan and he needs to live a life worthy of that sacrifice.

It’s here that Pastor Allen said he got upset. He contends that no Ranger would ever say, “Earn this.” That’s because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years is “Sua sponte,” which means, “I chose this” (literally, “of one’s own will”). In other words, all of those Rangers volunteered for the mission. Pastor Allen said that Hanks’ character, if he were a true Ranger, might have said, instead, “Sua sponte.

I chose this. This is free. You don’t pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That’s my job.”

Pastor Allen says that’s what we should think of when we look upon Jesus on the cross. Jesus doesn’t say to us, “Earn this.” Instead he says, “Sua sponte.” Jesus volunteered for it; we don’t have to pay anything. (Adapted from “Perfect Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion,” edited by Craig Brian Larson and Drew Zahn.)

Wow. That’s a powerful way to look at Jesus, not just on the cross, but all through his public ministry. His love, his preaching, his healing — all were freely given. Jesus was the exemplar of what sua sponte entails.

At the Last Supper, in the Gospel of

John, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Then he says to them, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (13: 15). The example of Jesus is something to follow — not out of obligation, but out of love. Even the times where Jesus says, “Follow me,” it’s an invitation, not a command.

Our following of Jesus, if genuine and effective, must be sua sponte, of one’s own will, done freely and out of love.

Perhaps those two Latin words can transform the “duties” that we perform on a day-to-day basis. Although the phrase won’t make the task necessarily any easier, it can give our actions a deeper meaning. Choosing to sacrifice some of our time or our energy freely for the sake of another, without expecting anything — not even “thanks” — in return, can be tremendously freeing and fulfilling . . . and a way to grow in becoming more like Christ.

Sua sponte can give strength in situations that would normally try your patience, such as: • changing an infant’s diaper for the umpteenth time • listening to an elderly person tell you the same story for the fiftieth time or answering the nonstop questions of an inquisitive child • driving the kids to yet another ballgame . . . on the other side of the world . . . in the blazing heat • doing the laundry or cooking or cleaning . . . again and again and again.

The next time you’re tempted to roll your eyes and sigh in frustration, roll up your sleeves instead and whisper to yourself, “Sua sponte.”

You’ll make Jesus very proud.

IN THE BEGINNING

O

Prophet’s words continue to challenge us

nce, during a conversation about vocations, someone suggested to me that the church should offer higher salaries in order to attract more candidates to the priesthood.

The person noted that the current financial rewards were not competitive when compared to other walks of life. I replied that increasing the salaries paid to priests might indeed attract more men to the FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN priesthood, ORDINARY TIME but for the Am 7: 12-15 wrong reasons. If someone is in it for the money, the church could end up in deep trouble.

That is basically the accusation that Amaziah, priest of Bethel, levels against Amos the prophet in Sunday’s first reading, Am 7:12-15: “Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah. There earn your bread by prophesying.” Amaziah is claiming that Amos has gone into the prophesying business in order to earn his bread, and that Amos has left his home of Judah to prophesy in Bethel, where it will be more profitable.

In his defense, Amos replies that he did not choose to be a prophet.

Unlike some others, he did not join a group of prophets in order to pursue

that profession: “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets.” Instead, Amos was earning his living by working as a shepherd: “I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.”

But God had other plans for Amos.

“The Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”

This visit by the prophet Amos to the temple at Bethel bears a marked resemblance to the visit by a prophet described in 1 Kgs 13:1-2: “A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer sacrifice. He cried out against the altar the word of the Lord: ‘O altar, altar, the Lord says, “A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifice upon you, and he shall burn human bones upon you.”

Is this the prophet Amos? Or, was Amos joined by other prophets in his criticism of the worship taking place in the temple at Bethel? It is not clear.

In any case, the attack upon Bethel reflects the rivalry between the northern and southern kingdoms.

The northern kingdom had set up the temple in Bethel as an alternative to the temple in Jerusalem, which was in the southern kingdom. Jeroboam was king in the northern kingdom, while Josiah eventually came to the throne of the southern kingdom.

Politics definitely played a part in this religious conflict between the two sanctuaries of Bethel and Jerusalem.

Politics and economics often enter into religious matters. After all, it is impossible to entirely separate affairs of the world from those of the spirit. But the prophets can help us to distinguish between the two, to see more clearly where to draw the line.

Amos was accused of profiteering, of interfering in the internal affairs of the northern kingdom. But his words continue to echo down through the ages, to challenge us about justice and concern for the poor.

Father Mike Stubbs is the pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Overland Park and has a degree in Scripture from Harvard University.

Harvey M. Kascht (913) 262-1555

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16 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • JULY 13, 2012

Scaling new heights Camp Kateri Tekakwitha celebrates 15 years

by Shelia Myers

Special to The Leaven WILLIAMSBURG — The seeds of a dream sown in 1998 are sprouting faithfilled fruit in the archdiocese these days.

Camp Kateri Tekakwitha, the youth camp of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas for grade-, junior high- and high school-aged students, has reached the 15-year milestone of bringing children and families closer to Christ.

What started as a humble attempt to improve archdiocesan youth outreach has inspired thousands of “prayer warriors” to enhance parish life. Camp director Deacon Dana Nearmyer, who is also lead consultant for the office of evangelization and Catholic formation of youth, said the camp has impacted more than 20,000 people since its inception.

Deacon Nearmyer credits the camp’s growth and success to the generous support of the archdiocese and a Catholic community that contributed sweat equity and money.

“What’s blown our minds is how many people have invested in this camp and believe it’s theirs,” he said. “It’s amazing to us how a giant number of people understand the mission of connecting more deeply with Christ and, more importantly, tons of them have gone into church work.”

Kyli Maddox, of Church of the Nativity in Leawood, is now 26 years old. She attended camp from 1998 through 2001 and worked as a camp counselor in high school. She now works as a campus minister for St. James Academy in Lenexa and is helping to coordinate the 15th anniversary celebration.

“Because of camp, I know Jesus,” Maddox said. “I know love and I am blessed to live my life with joy and peace because of that. I am just one of the thousands whose heart has been opened to God’s love because of camp.”

Deacon Nearmyer said most of the Johnson County youth ministers are former campers and staffers.

And now that former participants are old enough to start their own families, he said, he sees them bringing their kids back as campers.

“We’re starting to see this whole circle,” he said. “These kids show up with an expectation we’ve never had before.”

Showing families the potential

Leaven archives

A camper climbs the rock wall at Camp Kateri Tekakwitha. The camp combines activities like this with religious formation and community building.

Interested in camp?

Camp Kateri Tekakwitha at Prairie Star Ranch offers three - to 10-day overnight camp sessions for students entering 5th through 12th grade. The camps offer horseback riding, high ropes challenge, canoeing, hiking, orienteering, rock climbing, rappelling, basketball, soccer, swimming, group party games, archery, volleyball, mountain biking, mountain boarding, outdoor camping,

softball, numerous Catholic prayer and sacramental experiences, and other outdoor camp activities. Cabins are air-conditioned and heated as needed.

During their stay, campers attend Mass and participate in activities designed to inform and enrich their Catholic faith.

Space for late summer sessions at Camp Kateri (grades 5-8) is still available.

To sign up online, visit www.archkck.org and click “Ministries,” then “Youth formation,” to find the Camp Tekakwitha page.

That was not the case early on. The biggest obstacle was showing people what was possible with summer camp.

“Parents didn’t grow up going to Catholic camp,” said Deacon Nearmyer. “My wife Debbie and I both went to ecumenical camps [as teens] and had extraordinary experiences. We were telling people, and nobody understood what we were talking about.”

Father Thomas Tank understood. He had been dreaming of a Catholic outdoor camp for youth since 1969.

“My hope was, through various activities, young people could have a different experience of Christ and the church — one that was fun and engaging as well as spiritually enriching,” said Father Tank.

As then-pastor of Nativity in Leawood, Father Tank invited the Nearmyers to help get the camp off the ground.

Twenty-eight campers and staffers participated that first year at Perry Lake.

In 2001, the camp outgrew the rented space and moved to the 292-acre facility in Williamsburg that is now Prairie Star Ranch.

The ranch is used year round for spiritual retreats and parish activities, but the heart of the program is Camp Kateri Tekakwitha.

Inspiring the next generation After 15 years, the Nearmyers see parents and kids enjoying the powerful experience they enjoyed at their ecumenical camps growing up.

But with a bonus, as Catholic campers get the sacraments. Add the serenity and beauty of nature, and you have a recipe for a transformational experience.

“For kids to have a weeklong experience surrounded by the Lord’s creation, submerged in a culture of Catholic faith, it’s going to make an impact on their hearts and on their lives,” said Debbie Nearmyer.

Trisha Miller, of St. Pius X Parish in Mission, has witnessed the impact.

She helped four teenage girls, religious refugees from Bhutan, attend camp last month.

The girls were nervous and scared when Miller left them on Monday, but “glowing with excitement” by the end of the session.

“I see new confidence in the girls, more willingness to try something and more willingness to make non-Nepali friends,” Miller said. “They learned a new kind of trust at camp. Their English improved.”

The reality of the camp far exceeds Father Tank’s initial vision, but he said there is always room for improvement.

“My main hope is that the camp will continue to do even better what it is already doing — engaging our Catholic youth people in a great experience of Jesus and the gift of life in Christ that we have as a church community,” he said.

This engagement will continue to bear fruit as camp alumni become enthusiastic leaders in their parishes and communities. Former camper and staffer Ginny Winter McCarthy, also of Nativity, said camp made her the person she is today.

“The person I am, the community I seek, the leader I strive to be, originated in the community that surrounded me and built me up at Camp Tekakwitha,” she said. “Here’s to 15 times 15 more grace-filled, divinely guided and endlessly impactful years!”

The camp invites former and current campers, staffers and their families to join in the 15th anniversary celebration of Camp Kateri Tekakwitha at Prairie Star, July 28, from 4 to 8 p.m. Bring memories, stories and pictures. For more information and to RSVP, contact Kyli Maddox at: kylisue@gmail.com, or visit the Facebook page, “Camp Tekakwitha at Prairie Star Ranch.”

Schedule of events: 4 p.m. — Welcome and tours 5 p.m. — Dinner 6 p.m. — Praise and worship 7 p.m. — Mass with Archbishop Joseph Naumann 8 p.m. — Mikey Needleman Band Concert