02 15 19 Vol. 40 No. 26

THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 40, NO. 26 | FEBRUARY 15, 2019

Want to have a Mass said for a friend? It’s just a message away

The Pontifical Mission Societies are providing a direct, simple and easyto-use method to have Mass offered for your private intention. Mission priests all over the world are available for Mass intentions through Facebook Messenger.

BY OLIVIA MARTIN PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES

K

ANSAS CITY, Kan. — Want a fast and easy way to have a Mass said for a friend?

Get a mission priest to say it — and support his mission work while you’re at it.

After decades of sharing the offerings of the Catholic faithful in the United States with mission priests around the world to celebrate Masses for their intentions, the Pontifical Mission Societies are now providing a more direct, simple and easy-to-use method to have Mass offered for your private intention through Facebook Messenger.

LENTEN DINNER NOTICES

Easy and accessible In many cases, requesting a Mass intention for oneself, a loved one or someone recently deceased is not always as simple as it sounds.

Arranging for a Mass has to be done during a parish’s office hours, and finding a date with no intentions yet scheduled can be difficult.

“Normally, a priest can only say one intention per Mass,” said Father Andrew Small, OMI, the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

How to request a Mass • Open Facebook Messenger on your smartphone — Mass requests only work using Messenger.

•Search for “MISSIO USA” on Messenger.

• Choose “Request a Mass” from the MISSIO USA Messenger menu at the bottom.

• Follow the prompts, including selection of e-card and donation fulfillment.

>> See “NEW SERVICE” on page 6

WHEN

DEADLINE

March 1.

Feb. 19.

The Leaven will publish a list of Lenten dinners in the archdiocese on

Because of space considerations, notices are limited to 40 words and are due

INCLUDE

• Time of event • Date(s) of event • Address of event

SUBMIT

Please email your information to: todd.habiger@ theleaven.org.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

ARCHBISHOP

I

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Roe reversal spurs states to codify ‘right’ to abortion

t was painful to watch Gov. Andrew Cuomo and many members of the New York state Legislature celebrating the passage of legislation that will keep abortion legal through all nine months of pregnancy in the state of New York.

Governor Cuomo echoed the morally incoherent views of his father, claiming his personal conformity to the teaching of the Catholic Church, while advocating and championing policies that allow the killing of unborn children up to the very moment of birth.

Of course, the Catholic Church provides clear moral teaching that the killing of children in the womb is a grave evil.

However, one does not have to be Catholic or profess any religious faith to know that every abortion violates the most fundamental of all human rights: the right to life.

Does Gov. Cuomo believe because the church teaches racial bigotry is evil that he cannot support public policies against racial discrimination, but must champion them?

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in his comments regarding a similar bill introduced in the Virginia Legislature went so far as to defend infanticide in the case of a child who survived an attempted late-term abortion.

LIFE WILL BE VICTORIOUS ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH F. NAUMANN Fortunately, the Virginia bill never made it out of committee. Meanwhile, Gov. Northam is embroiled in a potentially politically lethal controversy regarding racially offensive activity while he was in medical school.

The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion essentially for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy were built on a foundation of lies.

As abortion advocates fear that foundation is beginning to crumble, they are now refocusing their efforts on state legislation and state constitutions. Catholics and all who believe in the sanctity of human life must now increase and intensify our pro-life efforts at the state level.

The fear that the U.S.

Supreme Court might reverse its 1973 decisions and return the right to regulate and even prohibit abortion to state Legislatures has supporters of legalized abortion in a panic. This is why we see this flurry of activity in some states to codify on the state level a socalled right to abortion for any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

In states like Kansas, where there is no hope of passing such legislation, they are appealing to state courts to discover a right to abortion in state constitutions.

Tragically, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not the only Catholic in public office that supports legalized abortion. Every abortion is a grave moral evil because it violates the Fifth Commandment — Thou shall not kill.

Moreover, every abortion harms spiritually and emotionally every mother and father who authorized the killing of their own child.

While we must hold accountable those in public life who work to deny legal protection to the unborn child, we are not able to judge the state of their souls.

Nevertheless, we know there will be — for all of us — a judgment day.

Advocating for intrinsic evil, like abortion, is a seriously immoral act that constitutes the grave matter necessary for the commission of a mortal sin. Mortal sin endangers our eternal souls placing ourselves on a path to hell.

To receive our eucharistic Lord while in a state of mortal sin only further jeopardizes the eternal fate of our souls.

Sincere repentance, a conversion of heart and a genuine effort to make amends for the harm caused by our sin are essential to be able to receive God’s mercy.

As a bishop, I have a serious responsibility to do all in my power to make certain those entrusted to my pastoral care are aware of the moral gravity and spiritual consequences of their actions.

I also have a serious obligation to protect other members of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas from being misled by a seeming tolerance of the scandalous behavior of Catholics in public life.

Archbishop Naumann

Feb. 20 Bishop Ward High School eucharistic adoration — St. Peter Cathedral

Feb. 15 Women of Nativity event — Church of the Nativity, Leawood

Donnelly College board meeting

Feb. 18 “Shepherd’s Voice” recording Pastoral Council meeting — Savior Pastoral Center

Confirmation — Divine Mercy, Gardner Feb. 21 Kenrick board meeting — St. Louis

Feb. 19 Envisioning Team meeting

Feb. 22-23 Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher winter meeting — Omaha

Confirmation — Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Topeka

Feb. 24 Junior high rally Mass — Prairie Star Ranch

Pastorally, I am compelled first to attempt to enter into a dialogue with Catholics in public life that conduct themselves in a manner not only inconsistent with Catholic moral teaching, but that violates the most fundamental of human rights.

After efforts at such dialogue, if a Catholic in public life persists in scandalous actions, I have found it necessary to request that they not present themselves for reception of holy Communion.

I make this request in the hope that it will jar the conscience of the politician to repent and also to protect others

from moral confusion occasioned by the scandal of their public advocacy for abortion.

I invite every member of the archdiocese to pray for spiritual healing for all those advocating for legalized abortion. When we truly repent, God is always eager to lavish us with his mercy.

Please pray also for prudence and courage for me as I exercise my responsibility to teach the truth with love, to seek a conversion of heart of those who fail to protect innocent human life and to protect others from being led into moral confusion.

Want to help someone heal from an abortion?

Call or text 913-621-2199

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FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

LOCAL NEWS

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WORLD MARRIAGE DAY

LEAVEN PHOTO BY MARC ANDERSON

Mark and Gayla Schmitz, parishioners of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Lawrence, take part in the World Marriage Day celebration Feb. 10 at St. Therese Church North in Parkville, Missouri.

Married for 13 years, the couple attended the World Marriage Day Mass as part of their Valentine’s Day celebration.

World Marriage Day Mass celebrates ‘heroic love’

By Marc and Julie Anderson mjanderson@theleaven.org

P

ARKVILLE, Mo. — Undaunted courage.

According to Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, that’s one of the essential elements of Christian marriage.

The archbishop served as the homilist at the World Marriage Day Mass celebrated jointly by the archdiocese and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Feb. 10 at St. Therese Parish North in Parkville, Missouri.

Celebrated by Archbishop Naumann and Bishop James Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the Mass is held annually to pray for all married couples, but especially for those living in the region. The Mass was just one of many events held Feb. 7-14 to mark National Marriage Week.

Near the beginning of Mass, Bishop Johnston welcomed everyone present on this day on which “we thank God for the gift of the sacrament of marriage and all the

blessings that flow from that into the family and also into the larger family, into the church and into the world.”

In his homily, Archbishop Naumann discussed the universal call to holiness all Catholics have by virtue of their baptism, but also the particular call to the vocation of Christian marriage.

“I think sometimes when we speak of vocations, many think immediately of the priesthood or the consecrated religious life, and it’s true enough we need these special vocations of leadership and service within the church,” he said.

But it doesn’t end there.

“God has a plan and a special mission for each and every member of his church,” he continued.

Within the universal call to holiness, Archbishop Naumann said many receive a particular vocation such as priesthood or consecrated religious life, while others are called to the vocation of Christian marriage.

“It is indeed a call to heroic love, a very important call,” he said.

President Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann

Publication No. (ISSN0194-9799)

Editor Rev. Mark Goldasich, stl frmark.goldasich@theleaven.org

Noting there is “a crisis of marriage” within the United States as fewer than half of American adults are married, the archbishop said social scientists studying marriage today paint a bleak picture, indicating women are finding it increasingly difficult to find marriageable men, while many men are disengaged in relationships and addicted to pornography and video games.

The archbishop also noted it’s become normal for advertisements to promote cohabitation instead of marriage.

“One of the challenges that we face in our culture and in society today,” he said, “is to really renew the family and renew the importance of married love in our culture and society.

“Marriage is the foundation of the family, and the family is truly the foundation of culture and society.

Everything depends upon it. And without strong marriages, our families will be impaired.”

Elsewhere, the archbishop said undaunted courage provides couples with the ability to live out their

Managing Editor Anita McSorley anita.mcsorley@theleaven.org

Senior Reporter Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org

Reporter Olivia Martin olivia.martin@theleaven.org

Production Manager Todd Habiger todd.habiger@theleaven.org

Advertising Coordinator Beth Blankenship beth.blankenship@theleaven.org

Social Media Editor Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org

vocations daily, never knowing what is coming next, but trusting in each other and their love, as well as in God. “Thank you today for your own living out of this beautiful vocation,” he added, “this challenging vocation, this vocation of heroic love that is Christian married life.”

For Mark and Gayla Schmitz, members of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Lawrence, the day brought much joy.

Married for 13 years, the couple said they were pleased to see the church emphasizing the need for strong marriages.

“I think it’s good the Catholic Church is working hard to promote different marriage enrichment activities to reinforce marriage and family because, as the archbishop said, marriage and families are the foundation of society,” said Gayla.

Mark agreed, and said celebrating strong marriages will help renew society.

“And I think this celebration of World Marriage Day is one small way to do that,” he added.

Published weekly September through May, excepting the Friday the week after Thanksgiving, and the Friday after Christmas; biweekly June through August. Address communications to: The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. Phone: (913) 721-1570; fax: (913) 721-5276; or e-mail at: sub@theleaven.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. For change of address, provide old and new address and parish. Subscriptions $21/year. Periodicals postage paid at Kansas City, KS 66109.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

LOCAL NEWS

4

Judy (Meyer) and James McGrath, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Feb. 7. The couple was married on Feb. 7, 1959, at St. Dominic Church, Holton, by Father Anthony Lickteig. Their children are: Jerry McGrath, Janet Kenney and Jill Hiegert. They also have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Francis and Yoshiko Gerner, members of Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish, Topeka, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Feb. 15. The couple was married on Feb. 15, 1969, St. Mary Church, Eugene, Oregon.

LEAVEN PHOTO BY LORI WOOD HABIGER

Father Mitchel Zimmerman, chaplain/director of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center in Lawrence, drives the ball against the Serra AllStars in last year’s Runnin’ Revs game at Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park. This year’s games are scheduled for March 4 at Miege and April 29 at Hayden High School in Topeka.

Runnin’ Revs set to battle Serra All Stars

By Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org

K

ANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sometimes skillful, but always entertaining, it’s time again to “Rev it up” for the first of two Runnin’ Revs basketball games.

The Runnin’ Revs, a team of basketball-playing archdiocesan priests and seminarians, will take on their perennial rivals the Serra All-Stars in a game for hoops glory and bragging rights at 7 p.m. on March 4 at Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park.

“The annual Runnin’ Revs basketball games are always a favorite for parishioners and priests alike,” said Father Dan Morris, archdiocesan vocations director.

“In addition to the Pitching for Priests summer softball games,” he continued, “it’s one of two times a year that all the faithful can come out to see God’s wisdom on full display in just why he called us not to be professional athletes, but priests.”

It’s all in good fun. And although there will be no admission charged to attend, donations will be used to benefit archdiocesan seminarians.

The game includes a silent auction,

with a spot at Camp Tekakwitha and KC Royals tickets up for bids.

This year, the Revs have their work cut out for them. Although they usually and mysteriously win their games, this year they face an energetic All-Stars team coached by Bill Maloney. The All-Stars roster consists of two players from each of the Catholic high schools, and one 8th-grade player from each of the area Catholic elementary schools.

The second Runnin’ Revs game will take place at 7 p.m. on April 29 at Hayden High School in Topeka. This game, too, is open to the public and there will be no admission charged.

ANNIVERSARY submissions submissions ANNIVERSARY POLICY: The Leaven prints 50, 60, 65 and 70th anniversary notices. They are for parishioners in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas DEADLINE: eight days before the desired publication date.

INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: • The couple’s names • their parish • the date they were married • church and city where they were married • what they are doing to celebrate • date of the celebration • names of children (no spouses) • number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren; SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: • Announcements must be typed.

• Emailed photos need to be 200 dpi.

WHERE TO SUBMIT: Send notices to: The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109, attn: anniversaries; or email: todd. habiger@theleaven.org.

Snow Ball raises more than $3 million for families in need

By Carol Cowdrey Special to The Leaven

O

VERLAND PARK — No rain, sleet or snow could prevent the 45th annual Snow Ball from happening Jan. 19 at the Overland Park Convention Center. More than 1,800 supporters attended the gala, which raised $3,004,875 for Catholic Charities Foundation of Northeast Kansas.

Fran Watkins Douthat, a parishioner at St. Ann Church in Prairie Village, and her husband Neil led this year’s event as Snow Ball presidents.

“A year ago, when we started this journey, I was nervous, intimidated and doubtful that we could fill the immense shoes of all the past presidents.

How could we possibly raise enough money to fund all of these vital programs?” said Fran.

They were encouraged to stop focusing on the dollar amount and, instead, focus on the mission.

“So that is what we did,” she said.

“We placed our trust in God, all the good people involved and in the community.”

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann delivers the invocation at the annual Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas Snow Ball Jan. 19 at the Overland Park Convention Center. The Snow Ball raised $3,004,875.

Like Fran, Neil also attributed the evening’s amazing success to the dedicated Snow Ball patron and table committee members, hardworking staff led by the new Catholic Charities’ president and CEO Lauren Solidum,

combined with generous donors all passionate about the inspiring work of Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas.

“It was such a wonderful experience,” he said.

Joining the Douthats were Don and Patty Kincaid, parishioners of St. Agnes Church in Roeland Park. They were recognized during the evening’s program as honorary presidents for their longtime contributions to Catholic Charities. Recently, they helped the organization with a new Mobile Resource Bus to serve rural communities.

“Our budget was small for what we needed, but the Kincaids stepped up with a large heart,” said Denise Ogilvie, vice president of outreach and grants management at Catholic Charities.

Like previous years, Snow Ball included a cocktail reception followed by a formal sit-down dinner. The Lost Wax band provided the live music. But this year’s event came with an unexpected surprise — a marriage proposal.

Daniel Straub, son of Ernie and Susan Straub, dropped down on one knee and asked Laura Trickett, daughter of John and Jean Trickett, to marry him. She said “yes,” as Snow Ball guests shared in the young couple’s joy.

Like many in attendance, Snow Ball is sure to hold a special place in their hearts for years to come.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

LOCAL NEWS

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Communion ministry both humbles and inspires >> Continued from page 16

LEAVEN PHOTO BY JOE BOLLIG

Christine Wenger, upper left, makes a comment while other patrons of the St. John Café in Lawrence and Father Barnabas Eichor, OFM Cap., listen. The café is a place for parishioners to gather between the 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses to have a rambling, informal and guided dialogue about any number of topics with one of the Capuchin Franciscan priests who lead the parish.

Just another Sunday at the café

By Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org

L

AWRENCE — The transitional time after the 8:30 a.m. Mass on Feb. 3 was, as usual at St. John the Evangelist Parish here, a busy time as people socialized and cleared the parking lot.

Mike and Jocile Fisher were first out the door, headed to the St. Bosco Room in the lower level of St. John School. It was their turn to host the St. John Café.

The St. John Café is not one of those “hidden kitchens” that you may have heard about on public radio stations.

In fact, it’s not a real café at all, but a ministry established primarily to feed souls, although the food is a big draw, too. On Feb. 3, the menu included cinnamon rolls, a breakfast casserole, fruit and coffee.

The café is a place for parishioners to gather between the 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses to have a rambling, informal and guided dialogue about any number of topics with one of the Capuchin Franciscan priests who lead the parish.

Like the meandering conversations at the café tables, the ministry had a meandering founding, according to Father Jeffrey Ernst, OFM Cap. Around 2013, he and fellow Capuchin Father Michael Scully (now pastor of Holy Family Parish in Eudora) began a “theology on tap” type ministry at the Salty Iguana Mexican Restaurant in Lawrence.

The project, however, sputtered and died. A few years later, Father Jeffrey and Samantha Romero, director of stewardship and development at St. John the Evangelist Parish, decided to resurrect the idea but tweak it a bit.

They noticed that parents, who

dropped their kids off for religious education at the school, had time on their hands. Wouldn’t it be great, they thought, if they could catechize them, too? And wouldn’t it be great that, while creating something for the parents, they could create something that would promote fellowship for all parishioners?

After a bit of brainstorming, they hit upon the concept of an informal hangout place — a café.

Thus, the St. John Café was born: a few tables with white tablecloths for atmosphere, special coffee mugs (with an inscription from Rom 13:11: “The hour has already come to wake up from your slumber”), a mini buffet of breakfast food and a priest to lead.

And it’s free — no money changes hands. There are also no employees, just volunteers to host.

The café is open generally from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., August to June. On average, about 20 to 30 people show up but, on Feb. 3, there were only 15 because classes were not held that Sunday. Those who showed up were regulars.

That day, the presiding priest was associate pastor Father Barnabas Eichor, OFM Cap. While the café-goers sat at their tables with their food, he sat in a chair at the front and began the conversation.

Father Barnabas, who celebrated the 8:30 a.m. Mass, kicked it off with this question: “Any thoughts on my homily?”

Father Barnabas talked about Facebook friending, relationships in his family and his work in jail and prison ministry.

“What is the hardest thing we deal with in our lives? Relationships,” he said.

In regard to jail and prison ministry, he observed that many of the people in jails are there with mental health and alcohol- and drug-related problems. This eventually led to a dis-

cussion about the brain, the nature of addiction and the action of the Holy Spirit in transforming the lives of people who have seemingly intractable problems.

Christine Wenger is both a regular café-goer and a café volunteer host. “[I come] mostly for the socialization and meeting other parishioners,” she said. “It’s open question [format]. You can ask the priest any question you like — what’s on your mind or in the news — and get their opinions. And to learn more about our faith.”

Her husband Mike Wenger enjoys the socialization and the give-andtake.

“I come for the fellowship and the education,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to have a free-for-all conversation with people of faith.”

No matter how far-ranging the conversations, they always connect to the church.

“Father Barnabas and Father Jeff always manage to rein us in if we get too far out there,” said Mike. “They do a great job educating us . . . not how we should feel about topics, but to open the mind and heart to better evaluate the information out there, the feelings out there and where the Catholic Church stands.”

What Chuck Johnson appreciates about the café is hearing the perspective of the priests.

“They’re so knowledgeable and insightful,” he said. “You always learn something while you’re here.”

And then, it was closing time.

The café-goers and volunteer hosts loaded up the dishwasher with the coffee mugs, distributed the leftovers and cleaned up what remained.

The café was closed — but minds and souls remained open. Next week, they’ll be back.

Communion are doing so only under extraordinary circumstances.

The “ordinary” ministers are ordained — priests or deacons — and they are the ones who are the first ministers for the distribution of the sacrament, unless something important intervenes. A priest friend of mine was recovering from shoulder surgery and the repetitive motion of presenting the Eucharist would have been injurious.

Even so, he stood at the center of the altar to indicate his special status in this ritual.

Despite the primary role of the ordained, the church realized that it detracts from the flow of the Mass if the reception of Communion takes an inordinate amount of time. So, after the Second Vatican Council, laypeople were given the privilege of distributing the Eucharist when needed.

I’m delighted that lay ministers have become an expected and accepted part of Mass. For me, this role conveys the concept of the priesthood of the faithful. It extends the participation of the laity in the rituals of our faith.

I find it humbling and sometimes even emotionally charged to share the Eucharist. Although no one can read another’s thoughts, it’s touching to sense how some people come forward with an intensity that speaks to their prayerfulness in the moment.

There are those who seem to receive as if welcoming a lover, or others who smile with the knowledge they are encountering a friend who will spend time with them.

Of course, there are always those who seem bored, as if this is just a routine. There are those whose bow before the Eucharist seems very genuine; there’s the occasional person who insists on genuflecting as you pray silently that they won’t trip the person behind them.

But mostly, I realize that, as I present the Eucharist, I have no idea what pains or joys this person brings to the altar. I am touched that, even though I cannot read their hearts, the One who is coming to them knows them deeply.

When I distribute Communion, I like to look the person in the eye and smile slightly as I lift the Eucharist for them to see. I do not want my actions to seem routine or bored or pietistic.

This is not mechanical, this is person to person, the body of Christ — all of us — sharing the body of Christ.

Our very liturgical church has rules for the ritual of receiving the Eucharist, and we receive training, both practical and theological. For example, we know what to do if some of the consecrated bread or wine spills or falls. My fellow extraordinary ministers and I receive Communion first from the priest before we distribute it. Even if I see my child or best friend in line, I do not say their name. I simply proclaim to each communicant, “the body of Christ” or “the blood of Christ.”

This is the fundamental truth of this sacrament and nothing should detract from it.

Effie Caldarola is a freelance writer and a columnist for Catholic News Service.

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

FAMILY LIFE

Sent from the altar: The mission of marriages

A

s a marriage prep coordinator, I am brought into contact with hundreds of engaged couples each year. They come with optimism and expectations of marriage; my job is to invite them to see that the beauty and sacrifices of their marriage are not only for them.

That’s because — through the sacrament of marriage — Christ himself is taking couples on a journey toward holiness and inviting them to bear fruit, extending the gift of their love into the world and the church.

The graces flowing from this beautiful sacrament have inspired me to choose marriage as my own vocation. I’m most grateful to have the witness of my parents’ collaborative, committed marriage through every obstacle life has thrown their way — their witness to the strength of the sacrament has been the best preparation for

CATHERINE SUPRENANT Suprenant is the marriage prep coordinator for the office of marriage and family life for the Diocese of Columbus.

marriage I’ve received.

Then, there have been marriages in my life like Verne’s and Dorothy’s, which have provided a home for me when I needed a warm welcome. There have been marriages around me that have inspired me to sacrifice myself — like the old man who still faithfully attends Mass, prays for his wife then takes the Eucharist home to her.

I’ve seen a couple at my parish reach out to those on the margins and make our community more hospitable.

And these are only direct, visible fruit for

others to witness.

How many gifts of love are invested and only seen in later generations or in those touched by the married love of the couple?

This expanding circle of love and grace is the call of those who have agreed to enter into the great mystery of Christ’s love for the church.

The sacrament of marriage sends you, married couples, on mission.

But you are also equipped with an abundance of gifts. Sherry Weddell writes this in her book “Forming Intentional Disciples”: “The grace we receive is directly related to the personal faith, spiritual expectancy and hunger with which we approach the sacrament.”

If you feel like your married love has run dry, turn with that hunger to the graces of the sacrament. You receive in proportion to your desire and openness.

In turn, you are expected to give what you have received from the heart of Christ as a priceless gift to your family, the church and the world.

Adapted from an article called “Sent from the Altar: The Mission of Marriage,” that appeared in The Catholic Times, the official newspaper for the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.

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New service opens up Mass intentions worldwide >> Continued from page 1 So, in some parishes in the United States, “the whole year is filled with Mass intention requests very quickly.”

Then, the wait begins.

“There’s a real scarcity of opportunity,” he said.

“People should have a legitimate expectation of having a Mass offered when they need it,” he added.

That’s where the Pontifical Mission Societies’ new Mass intention program can help.

In November 2018, the Societies developed a new system, through their MISSIO USA Facebook Messenger, that enables users to request Mass intentions through Messenger and simultaneously support a foreign mission with their donations.

Desktop users need only to have access to Messenger to join the program; mobile users need both Facebook and Messenger.

The service makes requesting a Mass easier while maintaining a connection with the celebrant. The petitioner knows within 24 hours precisely who will offer the Mass, when and in what part of the world.

Father Small said he hopes this new method of requesting Masses online will enable the church’s ancient traditions to reach people — even when they’re online.

“In the context of the mission church,” said Father Small, “those intentions accompanied by an offering or donation actually help build up the local church.”

This means a donation could help fund eye surgeries in Nigeria or support the children of imprisoned mothers in Rwanda.

Lani Gonzales, a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in Danbury, Connecticut, is a user of the new Mass intention request platform and has been impacted by its accessibility.

“Everyone needs blessings and graces all the time,” said Gonzales, “and if I can give [Mass requests] as a gift, even better!”

Gonzales also said that being able to simultaneously support foreign missions has brought peace to her life.

What to expect By requesting a Mass intention with MISSIO USA via Messenger, you will: • Receive notification of celebrant, date, time and location of Mass within 24 hours.

• Learn about the grace of the Catholic Mass.

• Share your digital Mass card directly with friends and family to remind the living that we are joyfully connected with the dead.

• Be reminded the day before your Mass will be celebrated and receive confirmation that Mass has been offered for your loved one.

Taken from MISSIO’s landing page.

The online request form also allows users to send an e-card to the person they are requesting the Mass for, if he or she is in their Facebook Messenger contact list.

“It’s like buying a card, but done in a digital way,” said Father Small. “It might not be as tactile . . . but it does allow you to show love and concern in a holistic way that is linked to the sacrifice of the Mass.”

Launched in 2013 as a crowdfunding tool for Pope Francis’ Pontifical Mission Societies, MISSIO USA also hosts a website (MISSIO.org) that enables users to learn about mission projects worldwide, donate safely, communicate with project leaders and fundraise for projects users choose or create.

Several U.S. parishes with twinned projects in the missions have raised support for those efforts on MISSIO. As the Mass intention request platform on Facebook Messenger is still new, Father Small said loading times might not always be the fastest.

“But if there’s a passion and a desire there,,” he said, “I think people will be patient enough to follow through.

“We hope they want Masses celebrated as badly as they want Springsteen tickets!”

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FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

NATION

Indiana parish opens ‘Blessing Box’ as a gift to people in need

By John Shaughnessy Catholic News Service

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NDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — Father Doug Marcotte believes “there’s no better way to change a community than one small act of kindness at a time.”

So the pastor of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Jeffersonville embraced a plan from one of the parishioners to help individuals and families in the community when they don’t have enough food for their next meal.

The parishioner’s idea involved making a “Blessing Box” — a small, stand-alone structure that would be filled with nonperishable food items and toiletries that anyone in need could access at any time of day. The plan also would include placing the “Blessing Box” in a discreet setting on the parish grounds so no one would feel uncomfortable taking items from it.

“Everyone thought it was a great idea,” said Father Marcotte about the parish council’s approval of the plan.

“It is an easy way to do one of the corporal works of mercy — to feed the hungry.

“One of the things that’s a reality is that there are always people who slip through the cracks. We’re not trying to be a food pantry. We’re hoping to provide for people who need a meal for their family today. It’s a need we regularly experience.”

The “Blessing Box” is one more way to help people in the community in Clark County, a county where 12 percent of the population and nearly 16 percent of children younger than 18 worry about their next meal, the pastor told The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Set up Jan. 18, the “Blessing Box” was built by a parishioner and has been stocked by donations that include rice, pasta, canned goods, cereal and macaroni and cheese.

Personal items such as socks, toothbrushes and deodorant have also been donated.

“People are excited about helping,” said Father Marcotte, who noted that people “often feel overwhelmed

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Bishops condemn court’s denial of imam at execution

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

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CNS PHOTO/COURTESY MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS PARISH

Hadly Nickell and Hays Nickell pose by the “Blessing Box” on the grounds of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Jeffersonville, Ind., which was set up Jan. 18, 2019. The pastor said parishioners are excited to help individuals and families in need through the stand-alone structure, filled with nonperishable food items and toiletries that anyone in need can access at any time of day. by the injustices of the world” that are presented in media reports and social media. “I think it’s important to let people know there’s a way to make a difference. If everyone took responsibility for their neighbors, there wouldn’t be as many problems in the world.”

Students in the parish school also are excited about contributing to the effort, said the priest, who also

is pastor of another Jeffersonville parish, St. Augustine.

“One of the nice things is that this is a way everyone can be involved.

If someone needs help, it’s available 24-7. And if someone wants to help, they can do it 24-7,” Father Marcotte added. “The Blessing Box is a reminder to people that there’s something we can do.”

Trump defends rights of faith-based adoption agencies

ASHINGTON (CNS) — Touting efforts to protect religious freedom, President Donald Trump told the National Prayer Breakfast that his administration would defend the right of faith-based adoption agencies to place children in families based on firmly held religious beliefs.

“We will always protect our country’s proud tradition of faith-based adoption,” Trump said. “My administration is working to ensure that faith-based adoption agencies are able to help vulnerable children find their forever families while following their deeply held beliefs.”

Trump alluded to an American Civil Liberties Union federal lawsuit against

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the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that challenges a state law that protects child-placing agencies that deny adoption services because of a conflict with the agency’s religious beliefs.

The lawsuit argues that statecontracted, taxpayer-funded child placement agencies unconstitutionally discriminate by disqualifying same-sex couples from consideration for adoption or foster care.

Under Catholic teaching, St. Vincent Catholic Charities does not place children with same-sex couples. It is among the agencies contracted for adoption services by the state of Michigan.

The president also told the breakfast audience his administration is “speaking out against religious persecution

around the world including against religious minorities, Christians and the Jewish community.”

Trump then introduced Elan Carr, a former prosecutor in the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, as the State Department’s new special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

Applauding throughout the breakfast, the audience reserved its longest ovation for Trump’s pledge to uphold its pro-life policies toward unborn children.

“As part of our commitment to building a just and loving society, we must build a culture that cherishes the dignity and sanctity of innocent human life. All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God,” he said.

ASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court’s refusal to allow an imam to be present at a Muslim man’s execution Feb. 7 was “unjust treatment” that is “disturbing to people of all faiths,” said two U.S. bishops.

“People deserve to be accompanied in death by someone who shares their faith. It is especially important that we respect this right for religious minorities,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, in a Feb. 8 statement. They are the chairmen, respectively, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty and the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

In a 5-4 vote Feb. 7, the Supreme Court allowed the execution of Alabama death-row inmate Domineque Ray to proceed without an imam present as Ray had requested.

He had been told that only prison employees, which included a Christian chaplain, could be at his execution for safety reasons. Just days before the Supreme Court weighed in, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit had stopped the execution and ordered an expedited briefing in the case.

The Supreme Court’s decision on the emergency stay was not a typical ruling following oral arguments so the court did not have to explain its decision. It only said the inmate had waited too long to object to the prison’s decision.

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissenters — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor — called the court’s decision “profoundly wrong.”

She pointed out that with Alabama’s policy, a “Christian prisoner may have a minister of his own faith accompany him into the execution chamber to say his last rites, but if an inmate practices a different religion — whether Islam, Judaism or any other — he may not die with a minister of his own faith by his side.”

Kagan said that Ray “has put forward a powerful claim that his religious rights will be violated at the moment the state puts him to death.”

She also wrote that his treatment “goes against the Establishment Clause’s core principle of denominational neutrality.”

The U.S. bishops, in their statement, said Ray’s execution troubled them because “the death penalty itself is an affront to human dignity and the church has long called for its abolition in the United States and around the world.”

They added that Ray “bore the further indignity of being refused spiritual care in his last moments of life, in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Alabama law.”

Choosing Catholicism and celebrating Black History Month

By Cecilia A. Moore Catholic News Service

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rom the 1920s through the 1960s more than 300,000 AfricanAmericans across the country chose to enter into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Their choices to become Catholic set them apart from most African-American Christians who were members of Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Holiness traditions.

However, in choosing Catholicism, African-Americans were returning to the earliest Christian traditions of their ancestors. African Christians had figured prominently in shaping the Catholic tradition. They made their imprint on Catholic theology, doctrine and religious practices.

St. Augustine’s teachings on grace and sin, monasticism, and traditions related to intercessory prayer are just three examples of African influence on Catholicism. Christian kingdoms flourished for more than four centuries in Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan before Christianity had durable roots in Western Europe.

And, although Muslims were successful in establishing their faith throughout North Africa and in parts of sub-Saharan Africa by the ninth century, Christianity did persevere in parts of Africa and, by the beginning of the 16th century, Catholicism was reintroduced to Africa by way of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Twentieth-century African-Americans who chose to become Catholic were rich, poor, middle-class, famous, infamous, ordinary, eccentric, well-educated, poorly educated, Southern, Northern, Midwestern, Western, raised in various Christian churches, religiously unaffiliated, politically

engaged, apolitical and so much more.

No matter their individual characteristics, they had their own reasons for choosing Catholicism. Some did so to answer a call to religious life as a priest, Sister or Brother. Some felt an internal spiritual call to Catholicism. Some joined the Catholic Church because they were married to Catholics, while others were attracted to the faith because they had friends who were Catholics.

There were women and men who found Catholicism to be the truest expression of Christian faith, finding themselves deeply attracted to the rituals and theology of Catholicism. Many were children who learned about Catholicism while attending Catholic schools.

It was not uncommon for these children to bring their entire families into the church with them.

Some people became Catholic because when they were in need, the Catholic Church reached out to them.

The Catholic Church’s stance on political and social issues drew others to the church. There were also 20th-century African-Americans who became Catholic who said they experienced a sense of equality in the Catholic Church that they did not experience in any other aspect of their lives.

Whatever their reasons were for choosing Catholicism, African-Americans changed the look and the experience of American Catholicism in the 20th century.

February is Black History Month.

Why not use this February to take some time to learn about some of these 20th-century African-Americans who chose Catholicism and who made great contributions to the American Catholic experience? Here are three that you might consider.

African-American children’s book author Ellen Tarry became a Catholic when she attended St. Francis de Sales,

Members of the St. Augustine Gospel Choir sing during Mass in Washington. February is Black History Mo for Catholic worship.

Father Chester Smith, a member of the Society of the Divine Word, kneels in prayer on the second even bration at St. Rita Church in San Diego. From the 1920s through the 1960s more than 300,000 African-A communion with the Catholic Church. a Catholic boarding school for AfricanAmerican girls run by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in the early 20th century. As a young woman, she got involved in the Harlem Renaissance and in Catholic interracial justice work.

Tarry’s books for children featured aspects of Catholicism and African-

American life. She also published frequently in Catholic publications on issues that pertained to African-Americans. Her autobiography “The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman” is a fine way to begin learning about her and her contributions to American Catholicism.

CNS FILE PHOTO

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is pictured in an undated file photo. It should come as no great surprise that a generation of black Sisters and priests organized on the national level to confront racism in the church following King’s assassination in 1968.

No Catholic MLKs?

By Shannen Dee Williams Catholic News Service

T CNS PHOTO/DAPHNE STUBBOLO, ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON

onth. Black Catholic jazz artist Mary Lou Williams devoted all her years as a Catholic to writing music

CNS PHOTO/DAVID MAUNG

ning of an African-American Catholic revival celeAmericans across the country chose to enter into

Several of the more famous AfricanAmericans who joined the Catholic Church in the 20th century were in the performing arts. Mary Lou Williams is one of the most famous and interesting.

Williams was a renowned jazz pianist and composer. She became a Catholic in 1957. She devoted the rest of her life to

working to help musicians who suffered from various forms of addiction and to writing music for Catholic worship.

Williams came to regard jazz as a gift that God gave her to give the Catholic Church. Jazz inspired her composition of dozens of hymns and four Masses.

The most well-known of these Masses is “Mary Lou’s Mass.” To learn more about Williams, I recommend “Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams” by Tammy Kernodle.

Finally, an especially fitting way to celebrate Black History Month would be to read “The History of Black Catholics in the United States” by the late Benedictine Father Cyprian Davis. Father Davis’ work was integral to bringing attention nationally and internationally to the ways that people of African descent helped to develop Catholicism from the earliest days up through the middle of the 20th century. His work helped give rise to Black History Month.

But many do not know that Father Davis also chose Catholicism. From childhood, he was fascinated with the history of Africa and of Catholicism.

While a teenager in Washington, D.C., he became a Catholic. After graduating from high school, Father Davis entered the monastery of St. Meinrad in Indiana where he taught church history to generations of students.

Though trained in monastic history, Father Davis is most well-known for developing black Catholic history as a distinctive field of study and scholarship around the country, but especially at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Cecilia A. Moore is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton.

here is an enduring myth that African-American Catholics were largely absent from the freedom struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in the legal demise of Jim Crow segregation.

Some have even pointed to a 1961 observation that there was no Catholic equivalent of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as an indication of black Catholic complacency during the monumental era.

Among many things, such an observation ignores the fact that black Catholic men, women and youth did play pivotal, and oftentimes leading, roles in local and national campaigns for civil rights.

Beyond the well-documented examples of A.P. Tureaud Sr., the NAACP attorney who successfully sued to end segregation in New Orleans’ public schools, and Diane Nash, the student leader who famously defied Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s instruction to suspend the Freedom Rides of 1961, there are countless examples of black Catholics who fought and risked their lives to advance the cause of black freedom and civil rights.

One such example is Mary Louise Smith of Montgomery, Alabama. Two months before the arrest of Rosa Parks ignited a 13-month boycott of the city’s buses and catapulted a young MLK into the national spotlight, Smith was arrested after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger.

Although Smith’s case was initially unknown to local leaders, the 18-year-old cradle Catholic joined four other black female plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit to dismantle bus segregation in 1956. Despite threats against their lives, Smith refused to back down.

During her federal testimony, Smith also rejected the notion that the plaintiffs were sheep following MLK and not activists in their own right. As Smith put it, “We represented ourselves. We appointed him as our leader.”

In November 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision in Browder v. Gayle, which ruled bus segregation unconstitutional.

Black Catholics were also leading figures in struggles against racial segregation and exclusion within church boundaries. Unsurprisingly, black Catholics sometimes drew inspiration from secular struggles for racial justice as they mounted challenges to longstanding anti-black discrimination in the church.

For Patricia Grey, formerly Mercy Sister

M. Martin de Porres, the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till was a turning point in her life. “I remember seeing that unforgettable, grotesque photograph of 14-year-old . . . Till in his open casket in Jet magazine . . . and recalled how incensed I was as a young teenager, wanting to do something and not knowing how to even talk about it,” Grey stated in 2018.

Although Grey would not be among the ranks of young African-Americans who organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and pushed the movement forward in 1960, the 18-year-old cradle Catholic and Sewickley, Pennsylvania, native did join another brave group of black youth fighting institutionalized white supremacy.

During the 1950s and 1960s, scores of black Catholic teenagers desegregated the nation’s all-white seminaries and convents. Among this pioneering generation of black priests and Sisters in historically white orders were descendants of slaves once owned by the church and young people who had desegregated Catholic schools as children.

Some, like Grey, who desegregated the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh in 1961, had endured earlier rejections from white orders with strict anti-black admissions policies. Eighteen-year-old Patricia Haley had even been arrested for marching for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama, a few months before she entered the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1963.

And unlike their secular counterparts who desegregated public institutions, those who integrated white Catholic institutes often faced their trials in isolation away from the protection of television cameras and the communities that had nurtured their vocations.

It should come as no great surprise then that this generation of black Sisters and priests organized on the national level to confront racism in the church following King’s assassination in 1968.

Their stories and those of other unsung black Catholic activists like Mary Louise Smith constitute an essential part of the narrative of the African-American struggle for freedom and human dignity. As we celebrate Black History Month, it is imperative that we remember that these stories also represent the American Catholic experience.

Shannen Dee Williams is assistant professor of history at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She is at work on her first book, “Subversive Habits: The Untold Story of Black Catholic Sisters in the United States.”

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

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We also provide respite care for main caregivers needing some personal time. Call Daughters & Company at (913) 341-2500 and speak with Laurie, Pat or Gary.

Senior CNA - Has extensive nursing training. Will do private care, Johnson County area. Available Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Call (913) 701-6381. Fee negotiable.

FOR SALE Residential lifts - New and recycled. Stair lifts, porch lifts, ceiling lifts and elevators. St. Michael’s parishioners. KC Lift & Elevator at (913) 327-5557. (Formerly Silver Cross - KC) For sale - Two side-by-side crypts; tier B, 13 and 15, located in the St. Joseph Chapel at Mount Calvary Cemetery, the only two left in the chapel. Call (913) 269-6176 for pricing.

For sale - Two spaces at Resurrection Cemetery in Mausoleum, St. John Corridor. Reasonable rate. Call (913) 894-2448.

For sale - Two internal crypts at Prince of Peace Mausoleum, Nativity Cove, Resurrection Cemetery. For more information, call (913) 631-4348.

REAL ESTATE CASH FOR YOUR HOME (913) 980-4905 Any condition in the metro area Mark Edmondson - local parishioner http://www.buykcproperty.com We buy houses and whole estates - We are local and family-owned, and will make you a fair cash offer. We buy houses in any condition. No fees or commissions and can close on the date of your choice. Selling your house as is never felt so good. Jon & Stacy Bichelmeyer (913) 599-5000.

Whole Estates Need to sell a home and everything in it?

We buy it all at once in as-is condition.

Call (816) 444-1950 or send an email to: www.wholeestates.com.

WE SELL HOMES - Looking to sell? This is a seller’s market. Call for a free consultation detailing the steps to selling your home. Ask about our 39-day sales guarantee. Mention this ad for a special offer. Call Jim Blaufuss, Re/Max Realty Suburban, at (913) 226-7442. Jimblau fuss@remax.net

WANTED TO BUY Will buy firearms and related accessories - One or a whole collection. Honest evaluation and top prices paid.

Contact Tom at (913) 238-2473. Member of Sacred Heart Parish, Shawnee.

Wanted to buy - Antique/vintage jewelry, paintings, pottery, sterling, etc. Single pieces or estate. Renee Maderak, (913) 475-7393. St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee.

PILGRIMAGE Retreat and pilgrimage - There will be a retreat given

by Father Sudac and a pilgrimage to Medjugorje from March 20 - April 3, 2019. The cost is $3100 per person.

For more information, call Grace at (913) 449-1806 or send an email to: mgracelegaspi@gmail.com.

BUYING AN AD To purchase a Leaven classified ad, email The Leaven at: beth.blankenship@theleaven.org. Cost is $20 for the first five lines, $1.50 per line thereafter. Ad deadline is 10 days before the desired publication date.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

CALENDAR GARDNER COMMUNITY GARDEN Divine Mercy Parish (Formation Center) 555 W. Main St., Gardner Feb. 26 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

The Gardner community garden, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, invites you to attend our registration for the 2019 growing season. The meeting is open to all community residents. Volunteers to help maintain the garden are also encouraged to attend.

Individual plots are 15 feet by 23 feet and rent for $40. Multiple plots can be rented for a discounted rate. Hand tools and tillers are available to garden holders. For more information, send an email to: GardnerCommunity Garden@gmail.com.

VALENTINE DANCE St. Mary-St. Anthony Parish (basement) 615 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 16 from 6 - 10 p.m.

death of Servant of God Msgr. Luigi Giussani.

He was an Italian priest, educator, theologian and friend to many. From his charism and familiiarity with Christ, the movement of CL was born. All are invited to his memorial Mass. For more information, send an email to Marina Carrizosa Ramos at: mcarrizosa ramos@gmail.com.

AUCTION AND ‘BARN DANCE’ George Meyn Hall 126th and State Ave., Bonner Springs Feb. 22 at 5 p.m.

This fundraiser for Christ the King in Kansas City, Kansas, will feature a dinner at 6 p.m. and live auction at 7:15 p.m. Each $35 ticket includes dinner, drinks and a bid ticket and may be purchased at the door. For more information, call Kimm White at (913) 287-8823.

Piano music will accompany a dinner catered by Wally’s at 7 p.m. Toby Hobbs will DJ until 11 p.m. The cost for tickets is $25 for singles and $50 for couples. Tickets may be purchased at each Mass until Feb. 9.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST St. Bede Parish (hall) 7344 Drought St., Kelly Feb. 17 from 7:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Pancakes, sausage and eggs will be served.

The suggested donation is a freewill offering. All are invited.

BREAKFAST Sacred Heart Parish (hall) 106 Exchange St., Emporia Feb. 17 from 8 - 11 a.m.

The Knights of Columbus are sponsoring breakfast. The cost is a freewill offering.

MARGARITAS FOR MARGARITA Merchant’s Pub and Plate 746 Massachusetts St., Lawrence Feb. 21 from 4 - 10 p.m.

Merchant’s Pub and Plate will be donating 15 percent from margaritas and selected food items sold to benefit Centro Hispano. Mention this promotion to your server.

HEALING MASS Curé of Ars Parish (Father Burak Room) 9405 Mission Rd., Leawood Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

A Mass with prayers for healing, sponsored by archdiocesan charismatic prayer groups, will be held. For more information, call (913) 649-2026.

DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA LITTLE FLOWER CIRCLE Christ the King Parish 5972 S.W. 25th St., Topeka Feb. 24 at 12:30 p.m.

There will be a covered dish luncheon in honor of the Daughters of Isabella 89th anniversary. A business meeting will follow.

If anyone knows of a member or family in need of the circle’s prayers, call Theresa Smith-Lawton at (785) 640-1403. If you are interested in or would like more information about the Daughters of Isabella, call Cindy Keen at (785) 228-9863.

Members of the area chapter of Communion and Liberation (CL) will gather for Mass in remembrance of the 14th anniversary of the

This retreat is offered for women ages 21 and older. There will be group and breakout sessions, inspirational speakers, fellowship with other women and celebration of the sacraments. For more information and to register, go online to: camptekakwithawomensretreat.com. Registration opens Feb. 1.

This is a series of three classes in using the sympto-thermal method. A reasonable course fee is charged. For more information, call Shannon or John Rasmussen at (785) 749-1015. Registration is required. To register, go online to: live-the-love.org.

‘UNFAILING MERCY’ RETREAT: HEALING AFTER ABORTION March 2

If you or a loved one is hurting from an abortion, join our Project Rachel ministry for a one-day “Unfailing Mercy” retreat to share God’s mercy and healing after abortion. All communication, services and logistics are confidential. Call or text Ann Marie Alvey at (913) 621-2199 or send an email to: projectrachelkc@archkck.org for retreat time and location. For more information about this ministry, visit the website at: project rachelkc.com.

SYMPTO-THERMAL METHOD OF NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING Class begins Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m.

4700 Town Center Dr, Leawood (Pioneer Library conference room)

The $35 fee may be applied toward the cost of a complete natural family planning class series offered by the Couple to Couple League. To preregister, as required, send an email to Alison and Allen Greenlief at: aagreenlief@gmail.com.

SPECIAL-NEEDS RESOURCE FAIR Hilltop Conference Center 7700 W. 143rd St., Overland Park Feb. 26 from 5 - 8 p.m.

Information on camps and other recreational opportunities, therapies and equipment will be on hand, with opportunities to learn about and/or purchase equipment from over 100 vendors representing various disabilities. There will also be vendors from adult/ transition services, financial, legal, health and wellness institutions and much more.

Free child care will be provided by SOAR (Special-needs ministry of Grace Church).

The fair is sponsored by the Blue Valley School District and the Blue Valley Special Education Advisory Council.

‘INCLUDE MORE VEGETABLES IN YOUR DIET’ Keeler Women’s Center 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas Feb. 26 from 1 - 2:30 p.m.

LUIGI GIUSSANI ANNIVERSARY MASS St. Michael the Archangel Parish 14251 Nall Ave., Leawood Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

WOMEN’S RETREAT Camp Tekakwitha 1124 California Rd., Williamsburg April 26 - 28

NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING COURSES Classes begin Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m.

St. John the Evangelist School 1208 Kentucky St., Lawrence

The dance and meal, sponsored by the German American Edelweiss Society, cost $20 for adults. There are discounted prices for young adults and children under 5 eat for free. There will be raffles for prizes. No need for reservations; pay at the door. For more information, contact Patty Orth at (913) 371-2468 or send an email to: pattyorth@sbcglobal.net.

VALENTINE DINNER AND DANCE Divine Mercy Parish 555 W. Main St., Gardner Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m.

what it means? Come listen to Dr. Mike Scherschigt with Holy Family School of Faith walk through the Mass and explain each part. Be immersed in the beauty of why we do what we do and you will never see Mass the same way again. All are welcome.

Vegetables and fruits are necessary for optimal health. This program will be presented by dietitian Pat Callaghan. There is no charge to attend. Donations are welcome.

For more information, go online to: www. keelerwomenscenter.org.

THE MEANING OF MASS St. Ann Parish (main church) 7231 Mission Rd., Prairie Village Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

Do you question why you come to church,

SPIRIT OF BISHOP WARD SCHOLARSHIP DINNER Bishop Ward High School 708 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas March 2 at 6 p.m.

The scholarship dinner benefits the student scholarship program at Bishop Ward and serves as the Hall of Fame induction. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees are: Coach Dennis Hurla, Mike Peterson (’59) and Larry Ward (’54). For more information and to purchase a ticket, visit the website at: ward high.org/spirit.

ST. JOSEPH TABLE AND PASTA DINNER St. Joseph Parish (McDevitt Hall) 11311 Johnson Dr., Shawnee March 3 at 8:30 a.m.

The table will be blessed at 8:30 a.m. and viewing will continue until 2 p.m. A variety of items will be featured for sale. A pasta dinner will be served from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The cost is a freewill donation. Proceeds benefit those in need in the parish and the Shawnee community. For more information, call Christine Marion at (913) 268-6677.

DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA LITTLE FLOWER CIRCLE St. Matthew Parish 2700 Virginia, Topeka March 3 at 8 a.m.

There will be a corporate Communion Mass.

Arrive by 7:15 a.m.

13

RUNNIN’ REVS BASKETBALL GAME Bishop Miege High School (gym) 5041 Reinhardt Dr., Roeland Park March 4 at 7 p.m.

Priests and seminarians (the Revs) will challenge eighth-grade and high school youth from Catholic schools in a fun and competitive game. Donations and a silent auction will benefit seminarians. For more information, visit the website at: kckvocation.com.

‘WOMEN IN SCRIPTURE: MODELS OF SUFFERING’ Sophia Spirituality Center 751 S. 8th, Atchison March 7 from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Begin Lent by looking at women in Scripture who experienced suffering and responded in ways that are surprising and powerful.

The fee for the program is $60 and includes lunch ($20 nonrefundable deposit). To register, call (913) 360-6173 or visit the website at: www.sophiaspiritualitycenter.org.

JESUIT FRIENDS AND ALUMNI NETWORK SPRING BREAKFAST March 7

Are you Jesuit-educated or Ignatian-formed?

Want to reconnect with like-minded alumni and friends of Ignatian/Jesuit spirituality?

Join us for a breakfast conversation featuring the newly installed president of Rockhurst High School, David Laughlin. For more information, go online to: jfan-kc.eventbrite. com or send an email to Susan Friedrichsen at: jesuitfankc@gmail.com.

BEGINNING EXPERIENCE GRIEF SUPPORT WEEKEND Precious Blood Renewal Center 2120 St. Gaspar Way, Liberty, Missouri March 8 - 10

Beginning Experience is a weekend of healing open to men and women of all ages who have suffered the loss of a spouse through death, divorce or separation. It is a time to heal and a time to begin anew. Reservations are required. For more information and to register, visit the website at: www.beginningexperiencekc.org; send an email to: register.bekc@gmail.com; or call Michelle at (913) 709-3779.

AN AFTERNOON OF PRAYERFUL REMEMBRANCE AND INTERCESSION St. Thomas More Parish 11822 Holmes Rd., Kansas City, Missouri March 9 from 1:30 - 3 p.m.

The hidden wounds of abortion affect each of us, whether it is our neighbor, co-worker, friend, relative or ourself. Gather to pray and intercede on behalf of our nation, seeking forgiveness and healing in God’s merciful love. Confession will be offered after the prayer service. Mass begins at 4 p.m. All are welcome. This event is sponsored by the respect life office of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST Divine Mercy Parish (Christian Formation Center) 555 W. Main St., Gardner March 10 from 8 - 10 a.m.

The cost for a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs and all the fixings is: $6 for adults; $3 for kids 6 - 12; and kids 6 and under eat for free. Come join the fun and enjoy a hot and hardy breakfast.

CATHOLIC HEART WORKCAMP Kansas City area July 8 - 11

Do you need your house painted, inside or out? Or need your yard cleaned up? Do you need any minor home repairs? Contact the Kansas City managers online at: chwc.kc@ gmail.com or call (402) 306-9043. Leave a message and someone will return your call.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

COMMENTARY SIXTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Feb. 17 SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jer 17: 5-8 Ps 1: 1-4, 6 1 Cor 15: 12, 16-20 Lk 6: 17, 20-26 Feb. 18 Monday Gn 4: 1-15, 25 Ps 50: 1, 8, 16bc-17, 20-21 Mk 8: 1-13 Feb. 19 Tuesday Gn 6: 5-8; 7: 1-5, 10 Ps 29: 1a, 2, 3-4, 9c-10 Mk 8: 14-21 Feb. 20 Wednesday Gn 8: 6-13, 20-22 Ps 116: 12-15, 18-19 Mk 8: 22-26 Feb. 21 Gn 9: 1-13 Ps 102: 16-18, 19-23, 29 Mk 8: 27-33 Feb. 22 THE CHAIR OF PETER THE APOSTLE 1 Pt 5: 1-4 Ps 23: 1-3a, 4-6 Mt 16: 13-19 Feb. 23 Polycarp, bishop, martyr Heb 11: 1-7 Ps 145: 2-5, 10-11 Mk 9: 2-13

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I

Is there a message in life’s mess?

just noticed something missing from my Leaven office. It was one of the most useful things I possessed: an anti-stress kit.

It was a minimalist’s dream. The entire kit consisted of one sheet of paper on which was a large circle at the top enclosing the words: Bang Head Here. Its instructions were simple: 1. Place sheet on a firm surface.

2. Follow directions on front of kit — namely, bang head here.

3. Repeat until you are anti-stressed or unconscious.

Sadly, the kit is gone.

I’m not sure if I moved (read: buried) it somewhere, gave it away, if someone “borrowed” it or if it just disintegrated from too frequent use.

(Unfortunately, the kit itself always induced distress in my editor’s soul because the word “unconscious” was misspelled “unconcious.”)

In any event, I’ve figured out that I’m stressed because I feel overwhelmed. I’m like the kid in a cartoon who said, “The more I do, the behinder I get!” Suffice

W

14

MARK MY WORDS

FATHER MARK GOLDASICH Father Mark is the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Tonganoxie. He has been editor of The Leaven since 1989.

it to say that banging my head on a firm surface has sometimes seemed like a pretty good idea.

I feel a kinship with the woman in the following story, told by David Slagle of Atlanta: A few years ago, I got a call from a girl in my department who said her car had broken down and left her stranded about two miles form the office. So, I drove over there and found her leaning against her car, looking flustered.

I asked what happened.

“Well, I was just driving down the road,” she said, “and the car quit running.”

“Could it be out of gas?” I asked.

“No, I just filled it up.”

Well, that question pretty much exhausted my automotive diagnostic abilities. But I persisted, “What happened?

Did it make any noise?”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “As I was driving down the hill, it went brump, brump, brump, POW!” I asked, “When was the last time you changed the oil?”

“Oil?” she asked, puzzled.

As it turned out, she’d owned the car for a year and a half and had never changed the oil!

Slagle commented

that he gets that same look when he asks frazzled friends, “When was the last time you took a Sabbath rest?” (Found in “1001 Illustrations That Connect,” edited by Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof) This past weekend, I changed my spiritual oil and took a Sabbath rest.

I stepped away from all of my various screens and settled comfortably in the corner of a couch.

I began with a prayer written by Sister Pat Bergen, CSJ, which I have on a well-worn holy card. It reads, in part: “When it (life) grows difficult, surprise me, God, with new possibilities.

When life is overwhelming, call me to Sabbath Moments to restore Your Peace and Harmony.”

A pen and paper were part of that peace and harmony. I did what’s called a “brain dump,” letting my mind go crazy with all of the tasks, projects and worries filling up my head.

As each one popped into my brain, I quickly wrote it down on the paper. I wasn’t concerned with any order or prioritizing — or even the validity of the

concern. All I wanted to do was get it out of my head onto a concrete list.

Honestly, that list seemed to go on forever.

Eventually, though, I’d pretty much exhausted what was weighing me down.

Next, I simply asked the Holy Spirit to help me deal with the whole mess. What I’m doing is simple: I pick seven tasks each week from my list, write each on its own index card and then do one a day.

I shred the card or tear it up when the task is done, giving me a fuller sense of accomplishment.

Naturally, it’s not been all smooth sailing.

I experienced a day recently when I just didn’t feel like doing anything.

Taking my ennui to God, the Spirit seemed to be saying that the solution could be found by simply turning “stressed” around.

I did as the Spirit directed and — wow — it’s worked like a charm, because nothing motivates me more than “desserts”!

Dramatic contrasts illustrate choices before us

hen settlers first encountered what is now the state of Kansas and other parts of the Great Plains, they sometimes called this region “the Great American Desert.”

Compared to the eastern part of the United States, it received far less rain.

Instead of forests, prairie covered its vast expanses. At the same time, a few rivers and streams meandered through it. On their banks, cottonwoods and other trees would often grow.

The image of a tree next to a river figures prominently in Sunday’s first reading, Jer 17:5-8.

It holds up the example of the person who trusts

IN THE BEGINNING

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

in the Lord: “He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the

stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.”

This image of the tree planted next to the river contrasts with the image of the “barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.”

We might picture a tumbleweed out in western Kansas. That image stands for “the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”

These contrasting images, as different as black and white, as night and day, echo Psalm 1. It also employs the image of a tree “planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prosper” (Ps 1: 3).

One person who trusts in God and follows God’s will is contrasted with the person who turns away from God. This device of contrasting the two makes them stand out more clearly.

It is also the device

that we hear employed in Sunday’s Gospel reading, Lk 6:17, 20-26.

Four beatitudes contrast with four woes, which describe those persons who, while apparently fortunate in the eyes of the world, are lacking in what counts with God. Sunday’s first reading from Jeremiah anticipates the contrasting beatitudes and woes of the Gospel reading.

Its vivid images help us to picture how those beatitudes and woes might play out in real life. It helps to open our ears and hearts to the life-giving words of Christ.

Those words are like the waters of a river that brings life to a tree planted on its banks.

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Appealing to the world’s leaders and policymakers, Pope Francis called for protecting the unborn and seeing these new lives as people who will bring new beginnings and hope for the future.

“They are children of the entire community, and their being killed in large numbers with the backing of the state constitutes a grave problem that undermines the foundations of the building up of justice, compromising the correct solution for every other human and

social problem,” he said.

The pope made his remarks during an audience Feb. 2 with the board of directors of Italy’s pro-life movement. Italy celebrated its national day for life Feb. 3. The pope said the celebration offered him the opportunity to make “an appeal to all politicians, regardless of each person’s faith belief, to treat the defense of the lives of those who are about to be born and enter into society as the cornerstone of the common good.”

He said every new life comes into the world to bring “newness, the future and hope.”

— CNS

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

COMMENTARY

15

Know a young person full of questions? Help them find answers

T

hirteen years of age is the median age that Catholics are choosing to remain Catholic or not, according to a recent research study of young adults.

It further states that 74 percent of the sample population of this study said they left the faith between the ages of 10 and 20.

The research study is called “Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics,” released by Saint Mary’s Press of Minnesota, in collaboration with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.

Spiritually captivating young people in engaging and meaningful

SEEKING CHRIST’S HEART

DEACON DANA NEARMYER Deacon Dana Nearmyer is the director of evangelization for the archdiocese.

experiences is essential to developing them as “question askers” and lifelong believers. The questions that kids are

asking are real questions, and they deserve robust dialogue, counterquestions and understandable answers.

There is a window of time where young people ask a lot of questions, and whether they close up or blossom often depends on how we respond to these early questions.

In January, more

than 1,500 local young people experienced life-changing encounters and asked great questions at the March for Life in Washington, the Topeka pro-life rally and an archdiocesan commemoration of World Youth Day. Each of our young believers needs a tapestry of personal and communal encounters with Jesus to stimulate questions, reinforce and catalyze their minds, and develop wills that seek an ever-deepening relationship with God. Even though those inspiring experiences are now in the past, many more are coming up.

Camp Tekakwitha is a place where young people are led into a tapestry of personal and communal encounters

with Jesus while having a blast! Camp reinforces strong Catholic values thorough robust dialogues and exciting activities.

Please consider registering a young loved one at Camp Tekakwitha.

You can see amazing pictures and videos of the camp on Instagram, and register online at: archkck.org/camp.

The Camp Tekakwitha women’s retreat registration is open; it fills fast because it is so meaningful. Ages 18- to 90-year-olds rave about the women’s retreat.

Men, look into the Fire Retreat and Men Under Construction.

Families come back year after year to family camp!

Grandparents are a treasured part of family

camp, so consider inviting them. You can register for Camp Tekakwitha experiences online at: archkck.org.

Other powerful spiritual experiences to get on your calendar are Saint Paul Outreach young adult Mass and activities, City on a Hill young adult activities, Village Fires, marriage enrichment activities, Made for More and myriad opportunities for all ages and interests.

Check our website or call us; we can help you find encounters, and curate relationships in your own home, where you and your loved ones can encounter Christ face and face and have a rich dialogue about your questions.

Questions and opportunity in state government — a plea to Kansas Catholics

U

nanswered questions are dominating the 2019 Kansas legislative session.

Conflicting approaches between the governor and the Legislature for solutions to the state’s challenges are creating a sobering political reality. Can you say gridlock?

Many core beliefs of Kansas Catholics are trapped in the middle.

What will happen in this real-life mystery drama now playing out until early summer? Let’s begin with what we do know.

Any pro-life legislation faces a certain veto.

The Kansas Supreme Court is taking nearly two years to decide if there is a right to abortion in the 158-year-old

CHURCH AND STATE

CHUCK WEBER Chuck Weber is the executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference.

state constitution.

Meanwhile, a dozen unborn babies die each week in Kansas clinics by live dismemberment abortion. Are we the Midwest version of New York?

The welfare of orphaned and abandoned Kansas children, along with the fundamental First Amendment right to religious liberty, are in jeopardy. At issue is the new Adoption Protection Act. Governor Kelly stated: “If there is a way to direct the agency to not implement [the Adoption Protection Act,] then I will do that.”

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Can a public official not enforce the law?

Quality health care access for the poor, a critically important Catholic issue, faces fresh questions about unintended consequences. Doctors prescribe painkillers to Medicaid patients at twice the rate of others, who then suffer three to six times the risk for overdose.

With low reimbursement levels, will there be enough doctors willing to treat thousands of new Medicaid patients?

Will new Medicaid patients “crowd out” existing ones?

Do Kansans support increased public funding for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs? Will tax dollars be dedicated to “gender reassignment” surgery or therapy? It’s

happening elsewhere, why not here?

Catholics sacrificing to support two educational systems — their parish school and a neighborhood public school — wonder about poor families and their opportunity for educational excellence.

Will more public money change the negative outcomes of so many students?

Is there the political will to reform the predatory payday loan industry? Rural Kansas is disappearing before our very eyes. Can we elevate the family and revitalize the Kansas beyond our cities and suburbs?

Troublesome questions, but no less troublesome than this.

We yearn for prosperity,

yet we must ask: What does authentic prosperity look like through the Catholic lens? Is our idea of prosperity now reduced to the strength of our Wi-Fi connection, the comfort of our home or the quality of our car?

Or is there something more, something deeper?

Life, marriage, children and families matter. So does our neighbor. The freedom to not just worship, but boldly and audaciously live out our faith in the world matters.

Elected officials have difficult jobs. Talk to them. Pray for them.

They need wisdom, courage and integrity.

And divinely inspired answers.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | THELEAVEN.ORG

LOCAL NEWS

16

Called to celebrate a deeper communion

By Harry J. Dudley Catholic News Service

I

f the liturgy is truly the source and summit of the life of the church, the Communion rite is the source and summit of the liturgy. Several prayers and acts earlier in the Mass may give us insight into this fuller union we are called to celebrate: • As Mass begins, the celebrant invites us into the communion of the Trinity.

• Before the Gospel is read, we sign ourselves, praying that these words would be on our minds, on our lips and in our hearts.

• In the creed, we state our belief in the communion of saints.

• During the offertory, our offering is symbolic of the very gift of our daily lives.

• As the priest or deacon mingles water and wine, he prays: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

• In a prayer to the Holy Spirit, the priest asks the Spirit to come upon the offerings of bread and wine (and our lives) so that they (and we) may become the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

• We respond “amen” to the fact that “through him, and with him, and in him . . . in the unity of the Holy Spirit,” we are able to give “all glory and honor” to the Father.

• The priest reminds us that we are about to receive the Lamb of God, who takes away our sins and the sins of the world.

When the priest breaks the bread, we should recall how Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper. We are about to join in this sacred meal and sacrifice of the cross. The priest commingles a piece of the consecrated host and prays as he puts it into the chalice: “May this mingling of the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.” He (and we) should be praying that we might become more what we are about to receive.

Now so close to receiving the Lord, we are asked to pray the adapted words of the Roman centurion in the Gospel (Mt 8:5-13 and Lk 7:1-10): “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” How should we approach Communion as Catholics?

CNS PHOTO/AGENCJA GAZETA/MAREK PODMOKLY, REUTERS

A priest raises the chalice as he celebrates Mass in Poland’s Tatra Mountains.

We joyfully and silently (when not singing) approach in procession. We seek healing, knowing that we are among those blessed to be called to the table.

We reverently approach to acknowledge Jesus’ real presence. We are about to receive his very body, blood, soul and divinity.

Let’s not forget that this sacrament is also the third of the three rites of initiation: baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. It is through the Eucharist that we renew our baptismal and confirmation commitments to enter in and become the very body of Christ, i.e., to become more fully the church. Why should Catholics embrace this time during the Mass as a community, rather than as individuals?

Reception of Communion is less about Jesus and me and more about how communion with Jesus makes us one, affirming our communion with the whole church. Our Communion song expresses with one voice our union with Jesus, one another and, indeed, with the whole church living and dead.

This is one reason it is not appropriate

to leave right after Communion, as so many sadly still do. To do so makes it appear that holy Communion is only about me and Jesus rather than the moment to become most a people gathered into communion with him.

We are mostly such a community at Communion time. We should then return to our seat and complete the full prayer of thanks together. We are encouraged to stay, give thanks and only leave after we have been blessed and sent. Why is there a time of prayer that follows reception of Communion?

We pray quietly because we are now intimately united to him. We recall that we have entered into full communion with the saints (mentioned in the creed) and with all those whom we loved and who have preceded us in the pilgrimage to heaven. There is much for which to give thanks. We thank God for this great food for our journey of faith — to strengthen us against sin, to help us to become more concerned for the poor, to become more of the body of Christ for the world we are about to enter as we

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leave Mass.

Silence leaves us in awe of the union with Our Lord and one another. We ought to pray to become more of the body of Christ for the world that we are meant to be so that we may spread the Gospel by our lives as we are sent to do as the Mass is ended. And perhaps, more grateful, we may be a little kinder when leaving the parking lot.

Harry Dudley consults on curriculum development, leadership and ministry formation through his company, Ambulans Vobiscum. He holds a doctorate in ministry from Graduate Theological Foundation in Indiana.

Person to person, the body of Christ

By Effie Caldarola Catholic News Service

S

unday Mass is crowded.

Slowly, beginning in the front pews, people stand and head toward the altar.

You know the moment. Everyone is lining up to receive holy Communion.

As an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, I have observed this moment from a unique vantage point. I see the line snaking forward and have the duty — and honor — in this very physical faith we have of handing the host, now Christ’s body,

or the cup containing his blood, into the hands of my fellow Catholics.

People who perform this duty do not forget what a truly grace-filled moment this is.

I guess you might call it “extraordinary.” I chuckle about this title, because at first glance “extraordinary minister of holy Communion” suggests maybe I should don my superhero cape for Mass. The title sounds pretty special, doesn’t it?

But alas, I can leave my cape at home. What the title means is that the laypeople who distribute holy >> See “COMMUNION” on page 5

CNS PHOTO/KAREN CALLAWAY, CHICAGO CATHOLIC

An extraordinary minister of holy Communion distributes the host at a church in Elmwood Park, Illinois. The role of extraordinary ministers extends the participation of the laity in the rituals of our faith.