Issuu

November 8, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

New school to open for south metro Catholics

Virgins ‘betrothed mystically to Christ’

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

Three local women have become consecrated virgins this year, but the rare vocation remains largely unknown within the Church. Exploring the call during National Vocation Awareness Week. — Pages 10-11

A new high school set to open in Burnsville in the fall of 2019 hopes to serve Catholic families in the south metro of the Twin Cities. Local Catholic business leader Tom Bengtson, who helped launch Chesterton Academy in 2008, and retired NFL player and former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk are teaming up to open Unity High School at Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville.

Ministry to alcoholics rewarded in Africa A Uganda treatment facility is named for Father Bill Whittier, who dedicated ministry to international addiction outreach. — Page 5

Asking ‘Contraception: Why Not?’ in 2018

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop Peter Esterka greets Czech Heritage Junior Royalty after Mass at St. Wenceslaus in New Prague Oct. 28. Gathered around Bishop Esterka are, second from left, program directors Deb and Arnie Ziskovsky, Hailey Dunkel, Marissa Gare, Caitlyn Gare and Kayla Kubinski. Bishop Esterka, who was born in Czechoslovakia, celebrated the Mass in Czech.

Speakers explore various facets of “Humanae Vitae,” including how society has realized St. Paul VI’s predictions. — Page 6

Czech bishop celebrates Mass during heritage fest in New Prague

New sisters in town

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

Four members of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are teaching classroom and life lessons as newest faculty at St. Agnes School in St. Paul. — Page 12

Supporting retired religious Retirement Fund for Religious contributors often give their support as a “thank you” for the difference a sister, brother or religious order priest made in their lives. — Page 13

ozens of people greeted Bishop Peter Esterka, who grew up in Czechoslovakia and is a Czech Republic bishop, after he celebrated Mass in Czech at St. Wenceslaus in New Prague Oct. 28. Some of them conversed with the retired bishop in Czech, the language of their ancestors. “You don’t hear Czech spoken … very often anymore, so it was really cool for us to just experience that, as well as [have] our Catholic faith mixed into it,” said Rianna Doyle, a high school senior who attends Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery. Doyle, the Montgomery Kolacky Day Queen, was among the Miss Czech Slovak Minnesota Pageant royalty and Catholics who made a point to meet the 82-year-old bishop following the Mass, which was part of a two-day festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s formation. St. Wenceslaus hosted the event, which was organized by the New Prague Czech Heritage Club. “It means an awful lot to me because we have a strong Czech identity,” said Jim Simon, 65, a St. Wenceslaus parishioner. “I grew up with the Czech language in our house. My folks observed the Czech traditions.” At the celebration, Simon displayed his collection of artifacts from Czechoslovakia. It was one of multiple exhibits reflecting Czech history and culture. Other festivities at the parish’s activity center included Czech food, Czech bands and folk dancers. The festival also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring Reform — a significant era of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia — and the 25th

anniversary of the formation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Immigrants from Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, first came to the United States, including Minnesota, in the 1850s. According to George Mikiska, a Czech Heritage Club member and chairman of the festival’s Czech Mass, some immigrants who had been traveling along the Mississippi River arrived in the New Prague area by accident. They had intended to go to St. Cloud, but took a left at Pike Island and instead followed the Minnesota River to Jordan. The new immigrants were welcomed by Anton Phillipp, a German settler from Bohemia, who first settled the area at the recommendation of Bishop Joseph Cretin, Mikiska said. Phillipp encouraged the Czechs to stay when he saw they shared the same Catholic faith, particularly when he saw them making the sign of the cross at meals. The city of New Prague formed in 1856, the same year its founders established St. Wenceslaus, which they modeled after the Church of St. Wenceslaus in Prague. St. Wenceslaus, the patron saint of the Czech people, was the Duke of Bohemia from 924-929 and was known for his strong leadership and devotion to Christ Drawn by the opportunity to farm, Czech immigrants also populated the nearby communities of Lonsdale, Montgomery and Veseli. Locals call the towns the “Bohemian Triangle.” “We’re reminded that our religion is central to our identity as a people of Czech heritage,” said Father Michael Skluzacek, the homilist for Mass. “Our ancestors came to this country as a people of faith, and we’re reminded today that we need to renew that heritage of faith.” PLEASE TURN TO CZECH ON PAGE 7

The school will use existing classrooms at the church, and will begin with ninth grade in the fall, adding one grade per year until it reaches 12th grade. Bengtson said a Catholic high school was needed in this part of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Archbishop Bernard Hebda has approved the beginning of a three-phase process to determine whether the school would gain official recognition as a Catholic high school in the archdiocese. If that happens, the name would change to Unity Catholic High School. “I have known forever that the south metro — in other words … below the Minnesota River — has not had a high school, and yet it’s an area of booming population,” said Bengtson, 57, who graduated from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield in 1979. “You’ve got lots of Catholic families down there, you have 10 Catholic grade schools down there, and yet there are no Catholic high schools.” He estimates there are as many as 70,000 Catholic high school students in the archdiocese, and he said about 7,300 of them attend Catholic high schools per year. He said there is room for another Catholic high school without threatening enrollment at the existing ones. The closest Catholic high school to Mary, Mother of the Church is Academy of Holy Angels, just under 9 miles away. The site is slightly more than 9 miles from Convent of the Visitation and St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. The school will provide an emphasis on Catholic teaching and virtue. The founders chose the name “Unity” because they believe all local Catholic schools should work together. The school will offer weekly “real world Wednesdays,” in which students will learn life skills like changing the oil in a car and working on a personal budget. An open house will be 6:45 p.m. Nov. 27 at Mary, Mother of the Church. For more information about the school, visit unityhighschoolmn.com.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

CZECH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Father Skluzacek was born in New Prague and grew up in a family with Bohemian and Czech heritage. He currently serves as pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton. Many people, including the gift bearers, were dressed in Czech attire, known as “kroj.” A choir made up of area Czech music groups led the hymns. Some of the Mass’ 600 attendees knew Bishop Esterka from his time in Minnesota. He taught theology at then-College of St. Catherine in St. Paul from 1967-1993, and served at Immaculate Heart of Mary in St. Paul, which has since merged with St. Luke to form St. Thomas More. “Kids loved him. We all did,” said Myrna Engebretson, a parishioner of St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, who said the bishop baptized her children when she attended Immaculate Heart of Mary in the 1970s. Bishop Esterka grew up in Czechoslovakia and fled to Austria in 1957 because of persecution by the Communists, who took over Czechoslovakia in 1948. He later wrote a book, “Never Say Comrade,” about his escape. He studied for the priesthood in Rome, was ordained in 1963 and earned a doctorate in theology. He came to Minnesota in 1967 and occasionally visited New Prague because of its Czech heritage. Father Kevin Clinton, pastor of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, first met

Bishop Esterka while living at Immaculate Heart of Mary for a summer. Father Clinton said he lost touch with Bishop Esterka, but he was impressed to learn how his ministry progressed. Bishop Esterka became a U.S. citizen in 1968 and began ministering to Czech immigrants in the United States and Canada in 1978. His dedication to Czech immigrants factored into his appointment as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brno, Czech Republic, in 1999. He was assigned to care for Czech Catholics outside of the Czech Republic. Now retired and living in California, he continues to offer Mass in Czech for people in the United States and beyond. “It really is beautiful to be able to celebrate your heritage,” said Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who concelebrated the Mass, in his closing remarks. He added that when he worked in his native Pittsburgh, he frequently passed by a plaque commemorating the signing of the 1918 agreement to form Czechoslovakia. The weekend celebration began Oct. 27 with cemetery tours in 12 cemeteries in New Prague, Lonsdale, Montgomery and Veseli. More than 1,700 small Czech flags denoted Czech immigrant graves. “We kind of found a few relatives I didn’t know I had,” said Donna Eshleman, 60, a parishioner of St. Wenceslaus, who took a tour with her husband, Brian Eshleman, 68.

TOP LEFT St. Wenceslaus in New Prague was founded by Czech immigrants and hosted a Czech Mass Oct. 28. TOP RIGHT Flag bearers, from left, Heather Novak, John Novak, Arnie Ziskovsky and Deb Ziskovsky, gather before Mass. ABOVE CENTER Domaci Czech Folk Dancers prepare to perform. LEFT Items from Czechoslovakia beckon visitors to explore Czech heritage after Mass. The collection is owned by John and Susie Smisek of St. Mary in Le Center.

Community of Saints’ school gym vandalized during MEA By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit A maintenance worker at Community of Saints Regional Catholic School in West St. Paul discovered Oct. 21 that the school’s gym and kitchen had been vandalized over MEA break. The West St. Paul Police Department has been investigating the matter since the worker reported it. “It is one of our priorities right now because of the extent of the damage and [because] Community of Saints has been a fixture in our community,” said Lieutenant Brian Sturgeon. Police have accepted leads regarding the matter and will continue to welcome

leads or tips. Police know whoever is responsible broke into the school through a window by removing the screen and forcing the window open. “They don’t believe anything was actually stolen,” Sturgeon said of the school staff. “We believe it was probably some youth that got in there and just had a heyday.” School maintenance worker Ed Mendoza repaired the damage Oct. 22. “Our biggest thing was we want to make sure our families feel safe and our students — especially our students — are feeling safe and understand that things like that don’t normally happen when people are in the building,” said Bridget Kramer, the school’s principal.

FUNERAL CHAPELS, INC. Robbinsdale • Plymouth • St. Louis Park Please cut out form below and mail to: 3888 West Broadway • Robbinsdale, MN 55422

Name Address City

State

Zip

o Please mail information regarding pre-need funeral arrangements. o Please have a funeral director call me with information regarding prearrangements. My phone number is

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

PAGETWO

“

Anti-Jewish bigotry, and all religious and ethnic bigotry, is a terrible sin. As we pray for peace in our communities and comfort for the grieving, we must put prayer into action by loving our neighbors and working to make ‘Never again!’ a reality.

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh responding Oct. 27 to a shooting earlier that day that killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Congregation’s synagogue in Pittsburgh. The alleged shooter, Robert Bowers, shouted anti-Semetic messages before firing into the congregation during Saturday morning services. Bowers’ charges include hate crimes. He pleaded not guilty in court Nov. 1 and requested a jury trial.

NEWS notes

$2.4 million The sale price of a St. Paul mansion that had belonged to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, an order of priests and brothers. Situated along the Mississippi River at 104 Mississippi River Boulevard N. in St. Paul, the 15,500-square-foot home with 18 bedrooms and 19 bathrooms was the Oblates’ provincial house for the region until 1999. According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, the Oct. 12 purchaser is related to Wayzatabased Streeter & Associates, and it plans to subdivide the lot. The Oblates run Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo. COURTESY THE OFFICE OF MARRIAGE, FAMILY AND LIFE

PRAISE AND WORSHIP Bishop Andrew Cozzens sings and plays guitar for the worship song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” at Archdiocesan Youth Day Oct. 28 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. In the background is Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Adam Tokashiki, priest in residence at St. Mark in St. Paul and chaplain of Chesterton Academy in Edina. Organized by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Marriage, Family and Life, the annual event included speakers, Mass and eucharistic adoration. More than 1,050 youths attended from 39 parishes and schools in the archdiocese.

5,000 The number of students, faculty and staff at the University of St. Thomas that attended an anti-racism gathering Oct. 31 on the St. Paul campus. The event responded to a racist message found Oct. 19 in a men’s residence hall, and put the incident in the context of hate crimes across the U.S. and world. The event featured Dale Allender of California State University, Sacramento, and included an explanation of UST’s action plan for addressing racism. “This is an historic moment for our campus. This is going to be a turning point,” said UST President Julie Sullivan, according to UST’s Newsroom. “I pledge to you that as long as I am president … this will be my priority.”

72 The Pioneers uniform number of Zach Zarembinski, a Hill-Murray High School senior lineman who collapsed after taking himself off the field during an Oct. 27 football game. He was treated at Regions Hospital for a brain bleed and remained in intensive care as of Nov. 5. The Maplewood school offered a Mass for him Nov. 1. As of Nov. 5, more than $52,000 had been raised to help with medical costs at GoFundMe.

2 The number of University of St. Thomas students who have died suddenly in recent weeks. Freshman Joia Simpson of Bayside, California, died Nov. 1 after falling from the 10th floor of a Minneapolis apartment building. Sophomore Katie Mullen of Andover died in her dorm Oct. 19. Her funeral was Oct. 29 at Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Father Larry Blake, chaplain and campus ministry director, told Minnesota Public Radio that UST plans to hold more prayer services, and “students are making a real effort to be empathetic to one another and realize that not everybody is coming from the same place.”

1982 SOLIDARITY MASS From left, Vivian Mai, Maria Fasano, Lucas Nguyen and Vincent Nguyen process with the gifts during the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Solidarity Mass Oct. 21 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. The second annual Mass is a response to Pope Francis’ “Share the Journey” campaign and shows solidarity with people who are immigrants and refugees. Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated the Mass, and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens concelebrated.

The year Ministry Day was introduced for ongoing faith formation and reflection for parish and archdiocesan leaders. It has since evolved into Formation Day, held biannually in the spring and fall. The theme of the Nov. 29 Fall Formation Day at Guardian Angels in Oakdale is “A Durable Hope: Sustaining Faith in a Time of Darkness.” Presenters will include: Catherine Cory, associate professor of theology and chair of the Department of History at the University of St. Thomas; Justice Janine Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, retired distinguished professor of law at Marquette University and internationally recognized expert in restorative justice; and Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Bishop Emeritus Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida, was originally scheduled to speak but will no longer participate. For more information, visit archspm.org/events.

CORRECTION

COURTESY ANDREW PHAM

In “Local musician leverages talent to lift others’ voices” in the Oct. 25 issue, the name of Abraham Gross’ daughter, Liza, was misspelled. The Catholic Spirit apologies for the error.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 23 — No. 21 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher United in Faith, Hope and Love

MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

The years since the inaugural Give to the Max Day, Minnesota’s online fundraising drive for nonprofits and schools, which will be held Nov. 15 this year. Catholic parishes, schools and other organizations are among those to which people can donate. Find the list at givemn.org.

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year: Senior 1-year: $24.95: To subscribe: (651) 291-4444: Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444; Classified Advertising: (651) 290-1631. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS

Healing is rooted in holiness

he U.S. bishops are about to gather in Baltimore for their annual meeting Nov. 12-15. Given the current crisis the Church finds herself in, this meeting will be very important, even historic. It will begin with a day of prayer, specifically requested by Pope Francis, as we seek wisdom and strength for purifying and healing our Church. The next three days of the conference will be focused on several different concrete proposals which seek ways of promoting greater accountability for bishops. As is normally the case, the first three days of the conference are televised live by EWTN and also live-streamed on the Internet. Many people will be tuned in to see what the bishops are saying and what concrete action steps can be taken. I want to ask all the Catholics of the archdiocese to please pray for your bishops during this time. A daily rosary, an extra Holy Hour at one of our adoration chapels or offering your participation at daily Mass would be a great gift to give to the Church during this time. The healing of the Church will take time because the healing must run as deep as the problems. It will require many things of us as we go forward, including working for the healing of victims/survivors, clarity in teaching and living out the truth of chastity, as well as systems of accountability for those who fail. I personally have two simple desires for this upcoming meeting. First, we need to get to the bottom of the scandal involving former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. We need to know who covered up the abuse and how we prevent it from happening again. This investigation will take time, but it must be done. Second, we need to develop some kind of review board, made up mainly of lay experts, to deal with accusations against bishops. This will provide a place to investigate and fairly address accusations of misconduct against

Sanación arraigada en santidad

os obispos de los Estados Unidos están a punto de reunirse en Baltimore para su reunión anual del 12 al 15 de noviembre. Dada la crisis actual en que se encuentra la Iglesia, esta reunión será muy importante, incluso histórica. Comenzará con un día de oración, específicamente solicitado por el Papa Francisco, mientras buscamos sabiduría y fortaleza para purificar y sanar a nuestra Iglesia. Los próximos tres días de la conferencia se centrarán en varias propuestas concretas diferentes que buscan formas de promover una mayor rendición de cuentas para los obispos. Como suele ser el caso, los primeros tres días de la conferencia son televisados en vivo por EWTN y también transmitidos en vivo por Internet. Muchas personas se sintonizarán para ver qué dicen los obispos y qué medidas concretas se pueden tomar. Quiero pedirles a todos los católicos de la arquidiócesis que oren por sus obispos durante este tiempo. Un rosario diario, una Hora Santa adicional en una de nuestras capillas de adoración u ofrecer su participación en la Misa diaria sería un gran regalo para la Iglesia durante este tiempo. La curación de la Iglesia llevará tiempo, porque la curación debe ser tan profunda como los problemas. Exigiremos muchas cosas de nosotros a medida que avancemos, incluido el trabajo para la curación de las víctimas / sobrevivientes, la claridad en la enseñanza y el vivir la verdad de la castidad, así como sistemas de responsabilidad para aquellos que fracasan. Personalmente tengo dos deseos simples para esta

“

We must take action, but we must also beg God to purify and strengthen his Church by purifying and strengthening her members.

iSTOCK PHOTO | IPOPBA

bishops. Accountability like this could have prevented the many years of cover-up in the case of former Cardinal McCarrick. Over the months and years, many other responses will be needed, but I think these two are important first steps. However, just as important — if not more — than these necessary practical steps is our prayer for the renewal of the Church. Why? Because the Catholic Church belongs to Jesus Christ and not to us. It is his body, his bride. He is the one who has redeemed us by laying down his life for us. He is the one who must purify his Church and make her what she is called to be: his holy, spotless Bride who witnesses his truth, beauty and goodness to the world. Ultimately holiness is the answer to this crisis and integrity at all levels of the Church, most especially her leaders, and holiness is fundamentally God’s work, not ours. As we pray in the Psalms, “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor. If the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil” (Ps 127:1-2). We must take action, but we must also beg God to purify and strengthen his Church by purifying and strengthening her members. The Church lives in the

hearts of her members, and the Church will only be purified when the hearts of her members are surrendered and purified. Let us ask God to raise up saints who will lead us out of this crisis. Prayer has the power to change the world because prayer changes hearts. In fact, one of the main reasons I still have hope, despite the present crisis, is because I see so many people pursuing holiness in our Church. Whether it is the many young people with whom Archbishop Bernard Hebda and I spoke at Archdiocesan Youth Day Oct. 27, the religious of the archdiocese who shared with me a day of recollection Oct. 14, the seminarians with whom I live daily at the St. Paul Seminary, the many priests about whom I constantly hear good things in our parishes, or my close friend whose funeral I celebrated this week who was a beautiful, holy wife and mother of six — everywhere I go, I encounter people pursuing holiness. These people are the true heart of the Church; they are the true hope of the Church. Let us pray this week for our shepherds that they may also be filled with this same spirit of holiness so that the Church may be the light of Christ to the world she needs to be.

próxima reunión. Primero, debemos llegar al fondo del escándalo que involucró al ex cardenal Theodore McCarrick. Necesitamos saber quién encubrió el abuso y cómo evitamos que vuelva a suceder. Esta investigación llevará tiempo, pero debe hacerse. Segundo, necesitamos desarrollar algún tipo de junta de revisión, compuesta principalmente por expertos laicos, para tratar las acusaciones contra los obispos. Esto proporcionará un lugar para investigar y abordar de manera justa las acusaciones de mala conducta contra los obispos. Una rendición de cuentas como esta podría haber evitado muchos años de encubrimiento en el caso del ex cardenal McCarrick. A lo largo de los meses y años, se necesitarán muchas otras respuestas, pero creo que estos dos son primeros pasos importantes. Sin embargo, igualmente importantes, si no más importantes son estos pasos prácticos necesarios, es nuestra oración por la renovación de la Iglesia. ¿Por qué? Porque, la Iglesia Católica pertenece a Jesucristo y no a nosotros. Es su cuerpo, su novia. Él es el que nos ha redimido al dar su vida por nosotros. Él es quien debe purificar su Iglesia y convertirla en lo que ella debe ser: su Novia santa e impecable que es testigo de su verdad, belleza y bondad para el mundo.En última instancia, la santidad es la respuesta a esta crisis e integridad en todos los niveles de la Iglesia, especialmente en sus líderes, y la santidad es fundamentalmente la obra de Dios, no la nuestra. Mientras rezamos en los Salmos, “Si el Señor no construye la casa, en vano haga su obra laboriosa. Si el Señor no vigila la ciudad, en vano el vigilante vigila ”(Sal 127: 1-2). Debemos actuar, pero también debemos rogarle a Dios que purifique y fortalezca a su Iglesia purificando y fortaleciendo a sus miembros. La Iglesia vive en los corazones de sus miembros, y la Iglesia solo se purificará cuando los corazones de sus miembros se rindan y purifiquen. Permítanos, como Dios, levantar santos que nos saquen de esta crisis. La oración tiene el poder de

cambiar el mundo, porque la oración cambia los corazones. De hecho, una de las razones principales por las que todavía tengo esperanza, a pesar de la crisis actual, es porque veo a muchas personas que buscan la santidad en nuestra Iglesia. Ya sean los muchos jóvenes con los que el Arzobispo Bernard Hebda y yo compartimos en la Jornada Arquidiocesana de la Juventud el 27 de octubre, los religiosos de la arquidiócesis que compartieron conmigo un día de recolección el 14 de octubre, los seminaristas con los que vivo diariamente en el Seminario de San Pablo, los muchos sacerdotes sobre los que escucho constantemente cosas buenas en nuestras parroquias, o mi amigo cercano cuyo funeral celebré esta semana, que fue una bella, santa esposa y madre de seis hijos, donde quiera que vaya, me encuentro con personas que los persiguen santidad. Estas personas son el verdadero corazón de la Iglesia, son la verdadera esperanza de la Iglesia. Oremos esta semana por nuestros pastores para que también se llenen con este mismo espíritu de santidad para que la Iglesia sea la luz de Cristo para el mundo que necesita ser.

OFFICIAL Effective October 19, 2018 Deacon Anthony Pasko, appointed to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Patrick in Edina. This is a transfer from his previous assignment at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Excelsior. Deacon Bill Heiman, granted a leave of absence and a release from his parish assignment at the Church of Saint Patrick in Edina.

‘Angel’ among us

SLICEof LIFE

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

LOCAL

St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Avis Allmaras, center, talks with Rose Carter, left, and Irene Eiden at Peace House in south Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis goes to the center weekly and visits frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of St. William in Fridley, is a lay consociate of the Carondelet Sisters. Peace House is a day shelter for the poor and homeless. “It’s a real privilege to know these people and hear their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I Idalianot Moreno talks seventh-grader could survive onwith the streets like they Bah Gay of Catholic School in do. There areSt.soJerome many gifted people Maplewood duringofaSister soccerAvis: game against here.” Said Carter “She’s St. Odilia School in Shoreview Oct. 24. an angel. She hides her wings under that Moreno, 61,She agreed September to sweatshirt. trulyinisearly an angel.” coach the team thisCatholic year, which Dave Hrbacek/The Spiritincludes 14 students in grades six to eight from three Catholic schools: St. Jerome, St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada and Presentation of the Blessed Virgin National Sisters Weekgrandson, is Mary in Catholic Maplewood. Moreno’s March 8-14. An official component Tyler Courtney, a seventh-grader at of Women’s History Month andteam was St. Jerome, had told her the headquartered at St. Catherine University without a coach and might not be able to inplay St. Paul, the week celebrates this season. So, she steppedwomen in, religious andthe their the arriving on fieldcontributions for the team’stofirst Church and society. View local events, practice Sept. 11. The team, which including two art Catholic exhibitions, at competed in the Athletic www.nationalcatholicsistersweek.org. Association and wore Presentation uniforms, finished with an overall record of 8-4. “I’m glad that I had the opportunity to be their coach,” said Moreno, a parishioner of St. Bernard in St. Paul who had no prior soccer coaching experience, but who had watched her three daughters play. “It makes me happy to know that I was able to make something happen for DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT all the kids that wanted to play.”

Grandma to the rescue

SLICEof LIFE

Celebrating sisters

These real estate agents can help you find your Home Sweet Home From condos to castles, performance exceeds promise

Call Today

Kathy Kueppers

for all Your Buying and Selling Needs

Cell: (651) 470-0675 kathykueppers.realtor@gmail.com

Looking for your Kathy Kueppers REALTOR®, CRS Owner/Broker

Cell: (651) 470-0675 Office: (651) 365-0230

home sweet home? Office 651-452-3047

kathykueppers@realtyexecutives.com

33 E. Wentworth Ave. West St. Paul, MN 55118

Named a 2009 Super Real Estate Agent by Mpls./St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business

CHARMING 2 story, hardwood floors, natural woodwork, updated kitchen, master suite, large yard. Close to St Joseph’s school, parks, easy access to shopping, West St Paul $189,900.

From condos to castles, performance exceeds promise Kathy Kueppers

Cell: (651) 470-0675 kathykueppers.realtor@gmail.com

With historically Low Inventory of Homes for Sale, your home may be worth more than you realize. Call Today for a Free Home Value. Buyers are Waiting! (Bloomington and Eagan are most needed)

The Sue Johnson Team is now Good Company Realty Group

Janis Powers

The Powers to Move You!

Call us today! 651-329-1264

Call Today

GoodCompanyRealtyGroup.com

for all Your Buying and Selling Needs

Office 651-452-3047 Looking for your first home? Down-sizing for March any reason? 5BR/4BA 2 story in Blaine. $359,900. Home SELLER Seminar March 9th 7-8pm OR 25th 9-10am, 5 bedroom3400+ 4 bath sq. two ftstory with finished walkout basement, fenced yard, Sue Sue Johnson and Team the Good Company Realty Group can help. 4BR/ 4BA 4200+ sq. ft story in Plymouth $539,000. The Johnson 651-690-8591 two fireplaces, walking to St.inJoseph’ s church school. $335,000. Call 651-329-1264 or e-mail: suejohnson@goodcorealty.com 4BR/2BA 1800+ sq. ft distance 4 level split Maple Groveand $230,000.

If you would like to advertise on this page, please call The Catholic Spirit Advertising Department at 651-291-4444

Steve Conlin, Peggy GRI Langeslay

Direct: (651) 686-2033 plangeslay@cbburnet.com www.Steve-Conlin.com Now isRealtor/Broker the best time to

Now is the best time to sell home. sellyour your home.

For best results, call

651-335-8515

1519 Central Parkway • Eagan, MN 55121

Maple Grove 4BR 4BA, 3700+ sq ft modified 2 story, Impeccable! $429,000. Wayzata 4BR 4BA 2990 sq ft Lake Minnetonka views! $1,195,000 Mahtomedi 4BR 4BA 4200 sq ft 2 Story Historic residence $514,900.

The Edge You Need

612.636.7436 TopCall/Text notch service before, during and after the sale. No property too Find on large or me too small. Call Joe Cassidy, Keller Williams Classic Realty, www.janispowers@edinarealty.com 612-803-4301. Wow! Homes are Selling hotcakes. Sellers Market • Low Down like Payment for Best Buyers! in 14 years. What’s Homefor Worth? Call Janis Today. • FreeYour Staging Sellers! My success as a Realtor depends on the referrals I receive from wonderful people like you!

Peggy Langeslay FREE MARKET ANALYSIS

plangeslay@cbburnet.com

is the best to Jo AnnNow Johanning, GRI, time SFR, ABR sell your home. For best results, call

612-987-8200651-335-8515 jjohanning@edinarealty.com

The Edge You Need!

If you would like to advertise in this space, please call The Catholic Spirit advertising department at 651-291-4444.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Uganda rehab facility named for addiction ministry priest By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit Father Bill Whittier, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, spent his 84th birthday Sept. 25 being honored for his work with alcoholics in Uganda. That day, a new addiction treatment facility in Gulu, Uganda, was named for Father Whittier at its “inauguration and official launch.” For the celebration, Father Whittier made his fourth trip in a decade to Gulu, where he has assisted Father Samuel Mwaka Okidi in his work with alcoholics. Father Whittier said it was “so gratifying to see the work that had finally been accomplished, and hopefully it will go from there. And to tie it in with my birthday ... is kind of special also.” The facility was named the “Fr. Bill W. Treatment and Rehabilitation Center.” The priest wanted it to be “Fr. Bill W.” instead of his full name because one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, was known as “Bill W.” “Father Bill Whittier has ever impressed me as a selfless, dedicated, available and a very generous priest,” said Father Okidi, a priest of the Archdiocese of Gulu, in an email to The Catholic Spirit. Father Okidi said that Father Whittier helped him lay a foundation for his ministry advancing the care of alcoholics in north Uganda, an area beset by poverty due, in part, to the ongoing Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency. Father Okidi said “many people use alcohol and drugs as a coping

Father Bill Whittier cuts the ribbon Sept. 25 on a new rehabilitation center in Gulu, Uganda, that was named for him. At the far right is Father Samuel Mwaka Okidi, a priest of the Archdiocese of Gulu with whom Father Whittier has collaborated in addiction recovery ministry. COURTESY FATHER WHITTIER

mechanism in the face of many challenges” from the insurgency. The city of Gulu has a population of more than 150,000. In 2008, Father Whittier began assisting Father Okidi’s organization, Program for Prevention Awareness, Counseling and Treatment of Alcoholism, or PACTA. Father Okidi founded the organization in 2004. “The unfortunate thing is [that] alcoholism is the big issue over there because during the war, they drove everyone off their villages, so no one had anything to do but drink,” Father Whittier said. “But even over there, people talk about the importance of alcoholism as a basic problem, but no one does anything about it except Father Sam.” Father Whittier has trained staff in the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and worked with a weeklong treatment camp.

He primarily helped raise financial support for the new rehabilitation center and donated a vehicle to PACTA. He saw his work in Uganda as a culmination of the other work with alcoholics he’s done around the world. “Human nature is the same and disease is the same,” Father Whittier said. “Alcoholics and addicts are not bad people that need punishment, but sick people who need healing, and that’s so ignored.” Ordained in 1961, Father Whittier first became interested in ministering to alcoholics while serving as pastor of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake from 19711978. There he hosted a priest from Kentucky in an addiction counseling training program at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Center City. The visiting priest encouraged Father Whittier to explore counseling alcoholics and join him for training in Los Angeles.

Father Whittier went to that training in 1978 for a year. He returned to Minnesota as pastor of St. Edward in Bloomington from 1979-1982, but he didn’t work in addiction ministry there. However, as pastor of St. Bridget of Sweden in Lindstrom from 1982-1994, he ministered to people at Hazelden recovering from addiction. “It kind of got me moving into the whole ministry of alcoholism and addiction,” Father Whittier said. “They kind of modeled it [for me], too, because Hazelden started very small.” While at St. Bridget, Father Whittier also connected to a ministry for alcoholics in Nigeria. He went to the country several times and helped start a rehabilitation center. He later worked in India with the Kripa Foundation, a nongovernmental agency that assists people with chemical dependency and HIV. Then he worked in the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he learned of Father Okidi, who was recovering from hip surgery in the Twin Cities. Father Okidi shared about his work with Father Whittier, and Father Whittier said Father Okidi needed support in growing his ministry in a metropolitan area of north Uganda that didn’t have an addiction treatment center. Now that’s changed. The center will provide residential treatment for alcoholics up to 90 days, or more if needed, Father Okidi said. “It will carry on his legacy of dedication and love with support from men and women of good will who care for addicts,” Father Okidi said of the rehabilitation center.

Archbishop Nienstedt denies misconduct allegations in Vatican lawsuit By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Archbishop Emeritus John Nienstedt defended himself Oct. 24 from renewed allegations that he has engaged in sexual misconduct and that his judgment in the case of a former priest who sexually abused three boys was influenced by an “unusual social relationship” with him. The allegations are part of a lawsuit filed against the Vatican Oct. 24 by Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney. The lawsuit seeks the release of Vatican-held documents in its archives pertaining to clergy sex abuse. Its two plaintiffs include Jim Keenan, a sexual abuse survivor from the Twin Cities. Filed in U.S. District Court-Northern District of California, Anderson’s lawsuit is the third he’s filed against the Vatican. Courts have dismissed both of the two previous suits. The lawsuit cites the internal investigation commissioned in 2014 by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis into allegations that Archbishop Nienstedt engaged in sexual misconduct with adults prior to being named Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. That investigation produced affidavits alleging that Archbishop Nienstedt had sexually harassed and propositioned adult males and frequented gay establishments in Canada and Detroit. “I categorically deny all of those allegations, and I have never used my position to take advantage of anybody,”

Archbishop Nienstedt said in his statement. In previous responses to the allegations, Archbishop Nienstedt, who served as head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 2008 to 2015, has denied being gay and has speculated that the allegations are retaliation for his public stance against same-sex marriage and homosexual activity. The lawsuit also alleges that Archbishop Nienstedt assigned former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who was convicted in 2013 and 2015 for sexually abusing three boys, to Blessed Sacrament and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes in St. Paul and promoted him to pastor, despite knowing Wehmeyer’s history of sexual misconduct with adults, and that he and Wehmeyer’s relationship was “unusual.” In his statement, Archbishop Nienstedt said he was aware at the time that Wehmeyer had “conditions” placed on his ministry and that he was attending support group meetings, but that he was “unaware of any sexual misconduct allegations against him at the time,” and had he been, he would not have made Wehmeyer a pastor. To the allegation that he had an unusual relationship with Wehmeyer, Archbishop Nienstedt said, “I have never had an ‘unusual social relationship’ or really any social relationship with Rev. Wehmeyer. At the time, Rev. Wehmeyer was an archdiocesan priest and I was his

archbishop. I had three meals with him over the course of three years.” The lawsuit against the Vatican also restates an allegation that Archbishop Nienstedt “inappropriately touched a boy during a confirmation photograph.” St. Paul police investigated that allegation in 2013-2014, and the county attorney declined to press charges. Anderson also pointed to already public documents that he said support the claims he made in the Vatican lawsuit about Archbishop Nienstedt’s behavior. The documents include chancery memoranda regarding the internal archdiocesan investigation and interviews from a Ramsey County investigation into the archdiocese’s handling of clergy sexual abuse. Archbishop Nienstedt, along with auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché, resigned his role in the archdiocese in June 2015 “in order to give the archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face,” he said at the time. The resignation followed the Ramsey County attorney bringing civil and criminal charges against the archdiocese earlier that month, alleging that the archdiocese failed to protect children from Wehmeyer. The archdiocese had also entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2015 due to mounting clergy sexual abuse claims. The archdiocese settled the civil

charges in 2015, and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office dismissed the criminal charges in 2016. The archdiocese is now in the final stages of resolving its bankruptcy, with clergy sexual abuse victims expected to receive remuneration by year-end. Anderson represented most of the sexual abuse survivors with claims against the archdiocese. After the resignation of Archbishop Nienstedt, no further action was taken on the internal archdiocesan investigation. The investigation has recently received renewed media attention due to the involvement of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the U.S. papal representative at the time, who has issued several statements since August calling for Vatican accountability in the case of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. In the recent lawsuit, Anderson alleges that there was a Vatican “cover-up” involving Archbishop Viganò during the Archbishop Nienstedt investigation. In an Aug. 31, 2018, statement, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, one of the two archdiocesan auxiliary bishops at the time of the 2014 investigation, said the investigation “was doomed to fail,” and the situation shows that “the Catholic Church desperately needs an independent structure, led by experienced lay personnel, to investigate and review allegations made against bishops, archbishops and cardinals.”

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Speakers: ‘Humanae Vitae’ still offers hope for society’s future By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit Fifty years after the issue of “Humanae Vitae,” St. Paul VI’s landmark encyclical affirming the Church’s rejection of artificial birth control, the Church has a better explanation for its basis in natural law and more scriptural arguments supporting the encyclical’s teaching — thanks in part to St. John Paul II, said Janet Smith, an ethicist whose work has included significant scholarship on “Humanae Vitae.” Smith was among experts who spoke Oct. 22 at “Contraception — Why Not? Rethinking ‘Humanae Vitae’ in 2018,” a daylong event commemorating the document’s 50th anniversary. The event’s title referred to Smith’s popular talk “Contraception: Why Not.” Held at the University of St. Thomas, the event also featured speakers Matt Birk, Teresa Collett, Dr. Maureen Condic, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Robert Fastiggi, Mary Eberstadt and Deborah Savage. The interdisciplinary conference examined some of the far-reaching consequences of the sexual revolution — those both predicted and those unforeseen by St. Paul VI in his controversial encyclical — as well as the scientific, social and moral context for questions of married love, parenthood and the use of artificial birth control. Speakers considered the encyclical’s layers of meaning, which scholars and other Catholic thinkers continue to explore. The 1968 papal encyclical was issued in response to the rise of

contraception use in society, and it has sparked debate inside and outside of the Church over the past half-century. About 275 attended the daytime portion of the conference, and 250 attended an evening event. Topics ranged from the document’s infallibility and lessons from the sexual revolution, to contraception and the U.S. government, and living the truth in love. It featured perspectives from theology, philosophy, biology, law and public policy. Several speakers hailed St. John Paul II’s “theology of the body,” which articulated the Church’s vision for human sexuality. “We’re trying to show people today that [‘Humanae Vitae’] itself is not intended to place unnecessary restrictions on people’s lives, but [to] actually open them up to the great joy that life brings,” said Savage, a St. Paul Seminary professor and co-founder and director of the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture at St. Thomas, who presented and helped organize the conference. A professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Smith explained that the Church’s teaching on birth control is rooted in its understanding of sex. When it comes to sex, humans differ from animals because their reason enables them to know the truth and decide to act in accord with it, not solely rely on instinct, she said. As the encyclical states, both conscious parenthood and a lifetime marital commitment are part of responsible sex, she said, and in the mission they have of

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Mary Eberstadt, a senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, talks about “Humanae Vitae” Oct. 22 during a conference at the University of St. Thomas. transmitting life through sex, humans can be co-creators with God. “God wants spouses to transmit human life,” Smith said. “That’s what God asks of them and that advances salvation. … ‘Humanae Vitae’ has this deep, deep meaning of seeing that these are the two meanings of the sexual act: union and procreation.” The complexity of life issues, including embryonic stem-cell research, health care, abortion, and euthanasia and broader end-of-life issues can make it difficult to understand how they are interconnected, said Maureen Condic, a neurobiology and anatomy professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. Within the “life continuum,” people often make arbitrary judgments about when it begins or where it has value, she said. While some question when life begins, there are discrete, observable scientific characteristics that differentiate a human zygote, or early embryo, from other types of new cells, she said. “Many people look at the conclusion — that the human zygote is a human being — and even pro-life people tend to stage some sort of emotional revolt,” Condic said. “It seems so outrageous that [what looks like] the little Bayer aspirin and a mature human are the same.” Many are unaware that the sexual revolution was another industrial revolution and the biggest social fact of our time around the world, said Eberstadt, a senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. “The first revolution was about the way humanity makes things, and the second is about the way humanity remakes its very self,” she said. St. Paul VI predicted that widespread contraception use would have adverse consequences for women, and empirical secular evidence is bearing this out, she said. The pope also predicted that governments could impose artificial birth control on citizens, which is happening in places like Africa, she said. “Humanae Vitae” may gain a better hearing in the new, growing Catholic counterculture, Eberstadt said. And young people continue to learn from the encyclical, Smith said. “There are still great truths to be unearthed in ‘Humanae Vitae,’ she said. Event sponsors included the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the University of St. Thomas’ Center for Catholic Studies, the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute and Cana Family Institute.

Seminary theology professor Robert Fastiggi said the teaching in “Humanae Vitae” about the immorality of contraception stretches back to the Church’s beginnings. “This is a case where following the historical research, we don’t find any Church Fathers allowing for acts which deliberately frustrate the procreative end of marriage,” said Fastiggi, who teaches at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Fastiggi explained why the debate over the document’s infallibility is moot. He started by describing the three levels of infallibility outlined in the 1989 Profession of Faith, a pledge offered for Church leaders to profess their “acceptance of definitive teachings of the magisterium.” Level one applies to divine revelation, while level two includes “everything definitely proposed by the Church regarding teachings on faith and morals,” he said. The immorality of contraception and the related sin of “onanism,” which fall under level two, have been definitively upheld in papal encyclicals and other Church documents throughout the centuries, including “Amoris Laetitia” in 2016. “Would the Holy Spirit allow such a consistent rejection of contraception if the teaching were not true?” he asked. A professor at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul, Deborah Savage spoke of growing up in the 1960s during the sexual revolution and the response of “Humanae Vitae” to the birth control pill. She knew many female college classmates who felt pressured to have sex and regretted their decision. “It was there that I actually witnessed firsthand what the Holy Father’s teaching was intended to avert,” she said. “I recognize those events now as the beginning of a new kind of slavery.” She noted that the pill was perceived as a means to “cure the fertility problem,” thereby removing an “obstacle to unfettered access to sex without a penalty — or so we thought.” Almost a century before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ “contraception mandate” required employers to pay for contraceptives as a medical benefit, Margaret Sanger crusaded for government acceptance of contraceptives. That was a first, St. Thomas law professor Teresa Collett explained. She spoke of the Comstock Act of 1873, which Congress passed to ban the mailing of contraceptives. “In 1873, it was clear the legislative bodies around the country thought that contraception was contrary to the public good,” she said. Sanger’s founding of Planned Parenthood and the Anglican bishops’ allowance of contraceptives “in hard cases” in the 1930s augmented their acceptance in the first half of the 20th century, Collett said. Law surrounding contraceptive use became more permissive in the years following the sexual revolution. “It’s important then to recognize that Pope Paul was correct when he said that governments will be involved in the most intimate decisions of husbands and wives if, in fact, contraception is included,” Collett said. Bishop Andrew Cozzens and Catholic speaker Matt Birk offered insight on living out the teachings of “Humanae Vitae” in the final talk of the daytime conference. Birk, a former Minnesota Vikings lineman, compared the virtues needed to live God’s plan to what it takes to succeed on the gridiron. Both come down to discipline, he explained. Bishop Cozzens spoke of the graces of living married lives generously and “open to life.” He said that since he has been speaking about “Humanae Vitae,” the most common question he has been asked by young adults has pertained to serious reasons for the spacing of children and limiting family size. He said he often replies, “I have yet to meet a couple in their old age who has regretted that they had so many children.”

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FUNERAL CHAPELS, INC. Robbinsdale • Plymouth • St. Louis Park Please cut out form below and mail to: 3888 West Broadway • Robbinsdale, MN 55422

Name Address City

State

Zip

o Please mail information regarding pre-need funeral arrangements. o Please have a funeral director call me with information regarding prearrangements. My phone number is

8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

NATION+WORLD Caravans continue forming, despite uncertain welcome in U.S. By David Agren Catholic News Service Honduran migrants Karla Santos and her husband, Brian Maldonado, grew tired of paying extortion to gangs and not being able to make ends meet amid rising prices and stagnant salaries. Santos, 33, was looking for an out, when she saw a post on Facebook and heard a news story about a caravan forming in early October. She figured it was her chance to head north. “That’s where the dream began,” she said while trying to find transport for her family in the city of Matias Romero, some 425 miles southeast of Mexico City on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. With the caravan, she figured, “It would be easier than going it alone,” though it has not been easy. Her son, like many children, was suffering from a cough, and Santos’ feet hurt — chewed up by the flip-flops she was wearing as the family walked and took rides, averaging 40 miles per day. For the better part of a decade, migrant advocacy organizations have convened caravans, which crossed Mexico to the U.S. border. The annual “Stations of the Cross Caravan” convened during Easter week captured the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, who tweeted his disapproval as it progressed through southern Mexico. Trump has promised that the caravans winding their way north this fall will not enter the United States, and he ordered

more than 5,000 troops sent to the U.S.Mexico border. He said he might deploy up to 15,000 troops. Despite the president’s threats, at least three caravans have formed in Central America, where countries in the northern triangle — Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — rank among the most violent and impoverished in the hemisphere. While not new, caravans have become the preferred way for Central Americans to travel north through Mexico, where the risks of the road include rape, kidnapping and extortion at the hands of criminal gangs and crooked officials. Caravans also cut costs for migrants as the price of hiring a human smuggler has soared — observers put the figure as high as $13,000 per person — as the U.S. border becomes more difficult to cross. “These are the same people that have always been leaving,” said Rick Jones, youth and migration adviser at Catholic Relief Services in El Salvador. “The caravan forming in-country is what’s different.” The caravans offer security as “migrants protect each other,” said Sister Antonia Becerra, a sister with the Missionaries of the Risen Christ and director of a ministry providing medical care to the first of the caravans to enter Mexico. When caravans are in the open — with media coverage, civil society groups assisting and human rights observers watching — police are often unable to

CNS

A man flashes the peace sign as a group of Salvadoran migrants, part of a caravan traveling to the United States, gathers Nov. 2 in Tecun Uman, Guatemala. impede their progress, said one mayor in Chiapas state. Generous locals, municipal governments and Catholic parishes have provided food, clothing and medical attention to weary migrants. Mexico has sent federal police officers to the southern border, closed a port of entry and had Marines patrol the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico and Guatemala. But the caravans have forded the river anyway and moved northward. The Mexican government has tried to thin out the caravan by offering temporary work permits to migrants currently in Oaxaca and Chiapas states. Slightly more than 2,900 migrants have applied for asylum in Mexico, while 927 caravan participants have gone

home voluntarily, according to government figures. Scalabrini Sister Lidia Mara Silva de Souza, director of the Honduran bishops’ human mobility ministry, said at least one planeload of people abandoning the caravan has arrived daily in Honduras over the past week. Many, however, “return believing promises from the government to help them, but since there’s nothing here, they take to the migrant path again,” she said. Sister Lidia, who is also coordinator of the returned migrant centers, which receive returnees flown back from the United States, said caravans are forming organically, even though politicians in the United States have alleged otherwise. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez alleges the outflow of migrants has been orchestrated to make him look bad. “We have interviewed various people returning from the caravan,” Sister Lidia said, “and everyone says nobody paid them or tricked them. They joined due to the need to find a better life.” Central American migrants appear to be paying little heed to the political discourse in the United States. Santos spoke of hardship on the road: walking for hours under a scorching hot sun, worrying about security — especially after child-snatching rumors started spreading one night — and her 11-yearold son, whom she left in Honduras with her grandmother.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

HEADLINES uPope Francis prays for Coptic Orthodox Christians after terrorist attack. Seven Christians were killed and at least seven others — including children — were injured after armed gunmen attacked two buses near the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor in Egypt’s Minya province Nov. 2. Another attack took place in the same area in 2017, which left 28 people dead. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the latest attack, and Egypt’s interior ministry announced Nov. 4 that in a shootout, its security forces had killed 19 militants they accused of being behind the attack. Following the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Nov. 4, Pope Francis prayed for the victims, their families and the entire Christian community. u Joint newspaper report examines bishops’ responses to abuse allegations. The Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers teamed up for an article published in both daily papers Nov. 4 that examined ways it said the U.S. bishops have failed to police themselves even since their 2002 gathering in Dallas about clergy sex abuse when they “promised that the Church’s days of concealment and inaction were over.” uPakistan court sets aside death sentence for woman convicted of blasphemy. Asia Bibi, a Catholic, was sentenced to death in 2010 on charges of making derogatory remarks about the prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim farm worker. A three-member court bench announced the verdict Oct. 31. She is under heavy protective guard in a secret location with her family. uHuman bones discovered at Vatican nunciature in Italy. Italian media immediately surmised that the bones, found during

NATION+WORLD reconstruction work, could be those of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee who presumably was kidnapped in 1983 at the age of 15. The case has never been solved but has been the subject of speculation for more than 35 years. uSynod final document states Church should be stronger listener. The Catholic Church must get better at listening to young people, taking their questions seriously, recognizing them as full members of the Church, patiently walking with them and offering guidance as they discern the best way to live their faith, the Synod of Bishops said in the synod’s final document, released Oct. 27. The Oct. 3-28 synod brought together cardinals, bishops, priests and religious brothers with experts and observers, including men and women under 30, to discuss “young people, the faith and vocational discernment.” The final document focused on improving ways to support young Catholics’ baptismal call to holiness and addressed human sexuality, the role of women, young people who live in poverty or face discrimination, and the sex abuse crisis.

Conference of Catholic Bishops has confirmed that federal officials have asked the organization to keep documents and other files that might pertain to possible sex abuse allegations and other matters and to order the same of all dioceses around the country. News reports in late October said U.S. Attorney William McSwain, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sent the bishops’ conference a letter and instructions about the preservation of documents in early October, asking that it be sent around to the country’s 197 dioceses.

uWomen religious vow solidarity in fight against human trafficking. Held in Parma, Ohio, the Borders Are Not Barriers conference Oct. 25-29 drew 60 participants — mostly women religious with some priests and justice ministry workers — from throughout the Western Hemisphere working to stop human trafficking. They agreed to strengthen cross-cultural efforts; to collaborate more readily, share resources and information; and to advocate across international borders for stronger laws and government commitments to crack down on trafficking networks.

uFormer nuncio to U.S. heard rumors of McCarrick misconduct in 1994. Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, who served as pro-nuncio to the United States from 1990 to 1998, said Oct. 29 that he received a phone call from a woman in the months preceding St. John Paul II’s visit to the United States in 1995. According to the 92-year-old retired papal diplomat, the caller feared there would be a “media scandal if the pope goes to Newark,” Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s diocese at the time, because of rumors “about McCarrick’s behavior with seminarians.” Cardinal Cacciavillan said that he took the matter to the then-archbishop of New York, Cardinal John O’Connor, because he was “the closest bishop. No one better than the archbishop of New York would know what was happening in the Archdiocese of Newark.” Cardinal O’Connor carried out an “investigation, an inquiry,” he said, and told the nuncio that “there was no obstacle to the visit of the pope to Newark.” Cardinal Cacciavillan said that while he encountered Archbishop McCarrick frequently during the eight years he served as nuncio, he never spoke to Archbishop McCarrick about the rumors nor did he report the rumors to the Vatican.

uFederal authorities order USCCB dioceses to retain documents. An attorney for the U.S.

uGovernment seeks to survey church property for border wall. Federal officials sought entry to

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9 two properties belonging to the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, seeking to survey the land for construction of a border wall on it, but in an Oct. 29 statement, Brownsville Bishop Daniel Flores said he did not consent to such use because such a structure “would limit freedom of the Church to exercise her mission in the Rio Grande Valley.” uBishops sign document calling for action against climate change. Six bishops representing episcopal conferences on five continents issued a joint statement calling on the international community to take immediate action against climate change. Addressing world leaders who will be attending the COP24 Summit in Katowice, Poland, in December, the bishops urged them to take concrete steps “in order to tackle and overcome the devastating effects of the climate crisis.” The signatories were from Angola, Colombia, Luxembourg, India, Italy and Panama. uBishop removed from governance of Memphis, administrator named. Pope Francis has removed Bishop Martin Holley of Memphis, Tennessee, from the pastoral governance of the diocese and has named as apostolic administrator Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky. Bishop Holley, 63, a former auxiliary bishop of Washington, was installed Oct. 19, 2016, as the fifth bishop of Memphis. Some months after he was installed as bishop there, Bishop Holley came under heavy criticism from clergy and parishioners for his decision to reassign two-thirds of the diocese’s 60 active priests, except for five who were slated for retirement. The complaints about Bishop Holley prompted the Vatican — through the nunciature in the U.S. — to assign two U.S. archbishops to make an apostolic visitation this summer to the diocese, Archbishops Wilton Gregory of Atlanta and Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

Denise Degerstrom, FIC 320-384-0339 - Braham,

Cambridge, Isanti, Mora

Kevin Downie, FIC 507-202-5304 - Cannon Falls,

Red Wing, Hampton

Jon Ginther, FIC 612-644-0563

W. Minneapolis Suburbs

Daniel Jaimes 612-366-1305 - Minneapolis,

Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka

Joe Johnston, FIC 763-688-3466 - Annandale,

Buffalo, Maple Lake

Rick Mathiowetz, FIC 952-447-2546 - Apple Valley,

Lakeville, Farmington

Lynn Neumann 952-447-2546 - Carver, Chaska,

Cologne, Glencoe, Silver Lake

Peter Orme, FIC 651-235-0065 - Woodbury,

Stillwater, Oakdale, Bayport

Peter Ryan, FIC 763-972-8283 - Delano,

Waconia, Victoria & Norwood

Jim Suek, FICF 612-788-8051 - Blaine, Fridley, N. Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park

Kendra Turner, FIC 763-442-8711 - Anoka, Coon

Rapids, Elk River, Ramsey *Neither Catholic United Financial nor its standard Medicare Supplement insurance policy are connected with or endorsed by the US government or the federal Medicare program. Plan options vary depending on where you live. This is not a solicitation of insurance. Plan No: CUFMSBR-MN © 2018 Catholic United Financial MSNI918

Tara Donohue Weiss, FIC 651-765-6555

Medicare Supplement Specialist

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

VOCATIONS

A heart for C Three local women become consecrated virgins this year. What does that mean? By Jessica Weinberger For The Catholic Spirit

G ABOVE Susan Spiegelberg holds a candle she received during her consecration Mass June 8 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. LEFT Patty-Jo Mantel, who was consecrated Oct. 7 at St. Agnes in St. Paul, listens during the consecration Mass of Jackie Hintze Sept. 14 at St. Hubert in Chanhassen. BELOW Jackie Hintze, center, leads the procession at the start of her consecration Mass Sept. 14 at St. Hubert in Chanhassen. PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

oing on dates in her late 20s, Susan Spiegelberg, 42, recalls sitting at restaurants and instead wishing she could be at her parish chapel, adoring in front of the Lord’s eucharistic presence. It wasn’t until her mid-30s that she learned she could be the bride she always wanted to be — a bride of Christ. Now a member of the Order of Virgins, Spiegelberg, a parishioner of St. Agnes in St. Paul, is one of 12 consecrated virgins in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. She’s joined by the two newest consecrated virgins: Jackie Hintze, 39, an optician who was consecrated Sept. 14 at her parish, St. Hubert in Chanhassen; and Patty-Jo Mantel, 45, a nurse practitioner who was consecrated Oct. 7 at St. Agnes and who attends All Saints in Minneapolis. According to the Code of Canon Law, women who pursue this vocation are betrothed mystically to Christ and are dedicated to service, prayer and penance while remaining in a public state of life. Consecrated virgins were common early in the history of the Church; however, it wasn’t until the Second Vatican Council that the vocation was reestablished. In July, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued new norms on the vocation to clarify the role and mission of consecrated virgins. According to the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, there are more than 250 consecrated virgins in the United States. There are about 4,000 worldwide, with the most living in France and Italy. Nicole Bettini, 40, who was consecrated in 2007 and helped define the formation process within the archdiocese, described the primary charism of the vocation as “bridal.” “As our wonderful priests witness the love of Christ for his bride, the Church, a consecrated virgin complements that and witnesses the love of the Church for her spouse, the Lord himself,” said Bettini, a parishioner of Annunciation in Minneapolis. “It’s rooted in the local Church, and it really upholds the gift of our purity, of our chastity, in whatever vocation we’re called to live it.” Ahead of National Vocation Awareness Week Nov. 4-10, Spiegelberg and Hintze shared their stories with The Catholic Spirit. Spiegelberg, who works as the director of faith formation at All Saints in Lakeville, grew up Catholic in Honolulu, Hawaii, and moved to Minnesota to serve with NET Ministries. She

intentionally dedicated a year to visited several religious communi marriage. Discerning marriage ult her vocation as a consecrated virg “I love the complementarity of sacrificial love between the husba what my life should look like for said. “I show married couples the directed — that all of that love sh As she attended a retreat while degree in theology, Spiegelberg fe Dominicans of St. Cecilia in Nash community as a postulant in 201 she admittedly felt miserable. Six left the community and discovere Spirit via the Internet, she said, th vocation where she could marry J alone. Spiegelberg attended the U information conference in 2011, vocation was clear — she was me bride in the world. A self-professed “studier,” Spieg reading various encyclicals and re while starting to live the life of a virgin by praying the Liturgy of th later met with Archbishop Bernar path to her June 8 consecration, h Solemnity of the Most Sacred Hea the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Pa Spiegelberg lives out her call by available and responsive to whate puts in her path — such as taking babysit children at her parish so t enjoy a date night — while main discipline of a day rooted in the l rosary and continual prayer. At the recommendation of a pr consecration to everything she do All Saints to checking her email a realization of how to live that out simplest daily tasks by offering th become a gift, she said. “I’ve been sharing that with oth saying you can do the same thing marriage to everything you do — whatever it might be.” Only months into her consecra focused on her ultimate goal: to b that draws many souls closer to h “There is no doubt in my mind she said. Since an early age, Hintze recal

NOVEMBER 8, 2018 • 11

Christ alone

discern her vocation and ities, but she felt a call to timately prepared her heart for gin. f sacramental matrimony. The and and wife puts into flesh my beloved Jesus,” Spiegelberg e priority of where their love is hould be directed toward God.” studying for her master’s elt she should join the hville. She entered the 10. But sitting in their chapel, x months and 11 days later, she ed, by the guidance of the Holy hat there was, indeed, a Jesus and be his USACV’s and she felt her eant to be his

friendship with Christ as she grew up in Watertown and later Chaska, even as she began dealing with the complications of Type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed at 15 months, Hintze spent decades dealing with symptoms ranging from short spurts of lost vision to severe headaches, leading up to kidney failure at age 25. She underwent dialysis before receiving a donated kidney from her twin sister. A year later, a pancreas transplant and multiple kidney surgeries followed. “One of the greatest things we can do on this earth is to say yes to God and accept our crosses in any form they come in,” she said. “Suffering can be a beautiful thing for every one of us if we can share it with Christ, if we offer it all to him and unite it to his.” She began working at a local retail optical store and completed her two-year degree in health information technology, but knew she wanted to dedicate her life formally to Christ. With her complicated health status, Hintze feared that option would be out of reach. It was at a meeting with her priest, Father Rolf Tollefson, St. Hubert’s pastor, when she was in her mid-30s where she first heard about the gelberg began vocation of consecrated virginity. She eligious texts immediately felt an immense amount of joy There is no consecrated and an all-consuming desire for the Lord that he Hours. She doubt in my mind brought her to her knees. Hintze began meeting rd Hebda on her monthly with a consecrated virgin mentor and that I was born held on the dove into spiritual readings and Scripture. art of Jesus, at for this. As she strove to do prior to her formation, she aul. brings the Lord with her wherever she goes. She Susan Spiegelberg y remaining starts her day with prayer or Mass. Through her ever the Lord interactions with customers and co-workers, g up an offer to Hintze strives to bring a godly view by either the parents can talking about her beliefs or simply offering ntaining the positive encouragement to counter any negativity. liturgy, the Her personal prayers uniting her to her beloved weave through every aspect of her day. riest friend, she brings her “Even as I’m working, I bring him with me and always have oes, ranging from her work at him there, praying and talking to him, and just discussing my day and washing dishes. It’s the with him. How should I handle this or look at this?” she said. ut intentionally through the Since her consecration in September, Hintze has felt an he work to her Spouse that has incredible peace and joy, even as she continues to battle daily health complications. She hopes to use her experience to help hers who are married and g,” Spiegelberg said. “Bring your others who may be suffering to show how trials can ultimately lead to happiness when one says yes to the Lord. — changing that diaper or And just like the hundreds of consecrated virgins nationwide and across the world, she commits to saying yes every day by ated life, Spiegelberg remains living in the present alongside her faithful, loving husband — be a faithful and fruitful bride Christ. her husband, Christ. d that I was born for this,” “The only thing I want to do is serve him, completely abandon myself to him and have him lead the way,” lls feeling an incredible love and Hintze said.

“

WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Archbishop Bernard Hebda prays a blessing over Jackie Hintze during her consecration Mass Sept. 14 at St. Hubert in Chanhassen.

A UNIQUE VOCATION Although prevalent in the early Church, the vocation of virgins living in the world disappeared after the 11th century as women living a life of chastity came together in communities. By the time of the Second Vatican Council, the consecration of women existed entirely in conjunction with religious life. “The rite of consecration of virgins in the world dropped off over the centuries as monastic community life for women developed,” explained Mary Kantor, who studied the vocation extensively for her doctoral dissertation at Harvard Divinity School, where she earned her doctorate in theology/religion and society. “The rite for women living in the world was brought back with Vatican II. It is specifically noted in the liturgy document, ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium,’” Kantor, a theology professor at Merrimack College, a Catholic college in North Andover, Massachusetts, and a Catholic chaplain, told Catholic News Service in 2017. The renewed rite for virgins living in the world is both overseen and administered by diocesan bishops, making it necessary for each diocese to develop its own formation program if a woman within its borders feels called to the vocation. This requirement, combined with this rite’s novelty, slowed its spread in the United States in the decades directly following Vatican II. “During my research, I spoke with someone in the bishop and/or vocation offices of each diocese in the country,” said Kantor in an email interview with CNS. “Some had no knowledge of the rite.” She began her national survey in the early 2000s. By the time she finished her dissertation in 2008, much had changed, she said. “There were over 200 consecrated women; there was an established association of United States consecrated virgins. And along with the website and DVD, there was also a national newsletter about the rite put out by the USACV, yearly information retreats, information packets, and members of the United States association attended bishops’ meetings to inform them of the rite, the vocation, etc.,” she said. “International connections were being made across groups of consecrated virgins around the world and international conferences were held.” To be set aside as a bride of Christ, the woman must have lived a life of perfect chastity. This is another factor that distinguishes the vocation of consecrated virginity from religious orders, which women may join if they are widowed or if they resolve to live a celibate life from that day forward. As a member of “the secular state,” a consecrated virgin also provides completely for her own material needs, including medical care and retirement. A diocese is not financially responsible for her. Women called to this vocation do not live in a community as religious sisters do, nor are they called by a title like “sister” or wear distinguishing garb. They live simply and modestly. They may wear a wedding ring. — Catholic News Service and The Catholic Spirit

Commentary/ideas/opinion? Email catholicspirit@archspm.org

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

VOCATIONS

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Dominican sisters bring love for Christ and young people to St. Agnes classrooms By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

hen Dominican Sister Mary Consolata Klucik walked through the St. Agnes School lunchroom on a recent school day, excited kindergartners and first-graders shouted, “Sister!” For her, the moment exemplified the relationship she and three other Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are building with St. Agnes’ entire K-12 student body, not only the older students they teach. The four sisters joined the school faculty this fall. “There’s something about their love for the sisters that’s so natural,” Sister Mary Consolata, who teaches fourth grade, said of the students. “As witnesses of Christ, we’re supposed to be walking around showing who Christ is, and they get it right away.” The sisters, in their 20s and 30s, established a mission at St. Agnes in August. Their witness to “showing who Christ is” shines not only through their teaching ability and charism for forming students in truth, but also their prayerful, structured community life, which they say prepares them for anything. Sister Mary Consolata, mission superior Sister Teresa Christi Balek, Sister Mary Margaret O’Brien and Sister Mary Philomena Coon are now settled in a renovated convent on campus. With a motherhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Dominicans were invited to the archdiocese by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens. The sisters joyfully express a life fully committed to Christ, said Father Mark Moriarty, St. Agnes’ pastor and school superintendent. “To me, it seems very evident that they value their love of God and their love of their fellow sisters, as well as those whom God put in their lives, in particular the students who have been entrusted to their care,” he said. Inspired by the “new evangelization” and a papal document on consecrated life, in 1997 four members of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia congregation in Nashville, aka the Nashville Dominicans, founded a

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Sister Mary Margaret O’Brien of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist talks about her patron saint to fifth-graders in her religion class at St. Agnes School in St. Paul Oct. 29. community in Ann Arbor. Today, the Michigan community has 140 sisters with an average age of 32. They are present in most U.S. states as well as in Canada, Europe and Asia — often in “missions” such as the one at St. Agnes. The Ann Arbor sisters haven’t yet met the four Nashville Dominicans on staff at St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater, but they hope to soon, they said. The Dominican motto “to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of one’s contemplation” guides the sisters’ daily life, which includes praying the Liturgy of the Hours, Mass, eucharistic adoration and meals shared in silence. That structure prepares them to show “that religious life is supposed to be a radical witness of how you live in communion with one another and a foretaste of heaven,” Sister Mary Consolata said. She grew up knowing Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and joined the community after high school. “I just remember having the desire as a first-grader that when I grew up I wanted to be a sister,” she said. When, as a teen, she wondered why God wouldn’t want her to have a family, she sensed his response: “Do you

think if you belong to me I’d give you anything less?” The eucharistic devotion that is part of the sisters’ daily routine factored into sixth-grade teacher Sister Mary Philomena’s decision to enter the community. Growing up in Binghamton, New York, she was encouraged to discern her vocation. At a retreat with the Ann Arbor sisters, she fell in love with the community, and, like Sister Mary Consolata, joined after high school. Sister Mary Margaret teaches religion and Latin to third-through-sixth-graders. The Denver native thought about religious life in college while writing a thesis on happiness. When the sisters visited her campus, their joy convinced her to attend a community retreat. A year after college she joined them. “I could tell that it came from Christ, from their prayer life, from their knowledge that they were doing his will, and I wanted that,” she said. “I wanted to find my joy in Christ.” Teaching is close to preaching — and the Dominicans are the “Order of Preachers,” noted Sister Teresa Christi, who also joined the community after college and teaches theology and history to eighth- and 10thgraders. Dominicans generally carry the initials “O.P.” — Latin for “Ordinis Praedicatorum” — after their names. The sisters incorporate the faith into their lessons in all of the subjects they teach. The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have also developed a catechesis program called “Education in Virtue,” which the sisters at St. Agnes hope to introduce there. Whether they’re in class, playing soccer or attending a homecoming game with students, the sisters seek to help St. Agnes’ students become saints, Sister Mary Consolata said. They want the same for the St. Agnes parish and school community, which they say have welcomed them warmly. “We pray for our benefactors and their intentions,” Sister Teresa Christi said. “We just know that people have been so good to us and ... really what we can give back is our sincere prayer.”

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

VOCATIONS

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

Through Retirement Fund, Catholics show gratitude for religious men and women By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

he religious sisters who have recently overseen the Retirement Fund for Religious have a notable trait in common: They’re past the standard retirement age. School Sister of Notre Dame Midge Breiter, 81, had the role for nine years before she stepped into different part-time work. Another member of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Catholic Center staff took the helm for last year’s campaign, but now Sister Lynore Girmscheid, 72 and also a School Sister, has the reins. Their ages and work are indicative of professed religious’ lives: Many never really retire. “We’re always on mission,” Sister Lynore said. The annual local collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious helps religious communities with the medical costs of caring for elderly members. In 2018, the national fund distributed $25 million to 360 communities. Since 1983, it’s granted $803 million for the direct care of elderly religious. The Retirement Fund for Religious also offers retirement planning consultation and education programs for religious communities. The 2018 collection will take place nationwide in most parishes Dec. 8-9. The fund is necessary for several reasons, Sister Midge explained. First, religious men and women historically received stipends without benefits instead of salaries for their work. Before 1972, they also weren’t part of the Social Security system. The result has been, for many communities, insufficient savings or investments to fund older members’ health care needs. Second, retired religious are expected by 2028 to outnumber wage-earning religious by more than three to one, according to National Religious Retirement Office, which oversees the fund. Third, religious men and women, like many

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Sister Lynore Girmscheid, right, archdiocesan coordinator of the Retirement Fund for Religious, talks about the fund during an interview Oct. 24. At left is Sister Midge Breiter, former coordinator. Americans, are facing rising health care costs, and they’re living longer. “It’s a financial burden on religious communities to have their sisters getting sick,” Sister Midge said. Last year, contributions to the fund from the archdiocese totaled more than $745,000, but $263,438 — including a bequest of $141,569 — was received after the NRRO deadline, so those funds will be considered part of the archdiocese’s 2018 contributions. However, the $482,269 contribution from the archdiocese listed in the Retirement Fund for Religious’ 2017 annual report is the seventh largest amount from contributing dioceses. It has consistently been in the top 10 among contributing dioceses. Meanwhile, it’s the 22nd most populous diocese in the United States. That puts the archdiocese’s generosity into

perspective, said Catherine Turner, an executive assistant to the archbishop who oversaw the 2017 campaign. “That just tells me the love people have for the sisters and brothers that have taught them,” said Turner, who said her own affection for the religious sisters who taught her as a girl motivated her efforts as the temporary fund coordinator. “They raised us.” In the archdiocese, the fund’s local coordinator works under the Delegate for Religious Life, currently Sister Carolyn Puccio, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. When she speaks about the fund, she finds that people can relate to the rising cost of health care. She compares caring for older members of a religious community to caring for an elderly family member. “I’ve said, ‘You know what it’s like to have an elderly relative that you’re caring for and who has special medical needs, and how difficult it is to get the care that you would want for someone that you love,’” she said. The School Sisters of Notre Dame are among religious communities who receive grants from the fund, but it covers only a portion of their cost for medical care. The annual cost of care for all retired religious across the United States is an estimated $1 billion, according to the NRRO. A St. Paul native, sister for 52 years and longtime music and liturgical minister, Sister Lynore worked six years in development for her community, which prepared her for her new role as the fund’s local coordinator. She wants to promote the fund’s resources for retirement planning, so communities that aren’t yet applying for retirement fund assistance can be better prepared to support the needs of their older members. Communities cannot be financially viable if most of their funds go to members’ health care, she said. Religious men and women “have been a part of my life, so I want to be part of this contribution as well,” she said.

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

VOCATIONS

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Bishops to consider endorsing sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

he U.S. bishops will consider endorsing the sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman, the granddaughter of slaves and the only African-American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who transcended racism to leave a lasting mark on Catholic life in the United States in the late 20th century. The request from Bishop Joseph Kopacz of Jackson, Mississippi — where Sister Bowman grew up and also where she ministered in her last years while taking care of her aging parents while subsequently fighting cancer herself — will be considered in Baltimore during the bishops’ Nov. 12-14 fall general meeting, which happens to fall in the middle of Black Catholic History Month. In ecclesiological terms, Bishop Kopacz is asking whether it is advisable to initiate the sainthood cause at the local level, which is required by a 2007 instruction

from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Church has declared Sister Bowman a “servant of God.” “Consideration of the opportuneness of advancing the cause on the local level is an important expression of episcopal collegiality, and a helpful indicator of the servant of God’s ‘fama sanctitatis,’” or “odor of sanctity,” said a letter by Bishop Robert Deeley of Portland, Maine, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. The Jackson Diocese plans to celebrate a special Mass Nov. 18 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, during which the edict that opens the investigation into her life will be read. Sister Bowman was a trailblazer in almost every role: first African-American religious sister from Canton, Mississippi; first to head an office of intercultural awareness; and the first African-American woman to address the U.S. Conference of

Catholic Bishops. Bertha “Thea” Bowman was born in 1937 in Yazoo City, Mississippi, the daughter of a doctor and a teacher. She attended Canton Holy Child Jesus School, and at age 8 decided she wanted to become a Catholic. She knew by her early teenage years that she was called to consecrated life. She studied at Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wisconsin, while preparing to enter the convent. She went on to study at The Catholic University of America in Washington. She returned to Canton to teach and inspire the people in her community. She led the Jackson Diocese’s Office of Intercultural Awareness, taught at several Catholic high schools and colleges, and was a faculty member of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans. Renowned for her preaching, she took her message across the nation, speaking at church gatherings and conventions, making 100 speaking engagements a

CNS

The U.S. bishops will consider endorsing the sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman, pictured in an undated photo, during their Nov. 12-14 fall assembly in Baltimore. She died in 1990 at age 52. year, but her spreading cancer slowed her. Music was especially important to her. She would gather or bring a choir with her and often burst into song during her presentations. In addition to her writings, her music also resulted in two recordings, “Sister Thea: Songs of My People” and “Round the Glory Manger: Christmas Songs and Spirituals.” When Sister Bowman spoke at the U.S. bishops’ meeting in June 1989, less than a year before her death from bone cancer and confined to a wheelchair, she was blunt. She told the bishops that people had told her black expressions of music and worship were “un-Catholic.” She challenged that notion, pointing out that the Church universal included people of all races and cultures, and she challenged the bishops to consult those of other cultures when making decisions. She told them they were obligated to better understand and integrate not just black Catholics, but people of all backgrounds. Catholic News Service reported that her remarks “brought tears to the eyes of many bishops and observers.” She also sang to them and, at the end, had them all link hands and join her in singing “We Shall Overcome.” That fall, the Thea Bowman Foundation was founded to support black Catholic education at all levels. In its first year, the foundation gave scholarships to 46 black students at U.S. Catholic colleges and universities. It also established an annual award for outstanding contributions to black Catholic education. Less than a week before her death at age 52 in March 1990, she was announced as the winner of the Laetare Medal, awarded by the University of Notre Dame. Other honors included the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award, given at the White House in 1988, and U.S. Catholic magazine’s U.S. Catholic Award in 1989 for contributions to the advancement of women in Church and society. At her funeral Mass in Jackson, Father John Ford, a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity and a longtime friend of the nun who served as homilist, told the 1,000 mourners who packed the church: “We must find ways to imitate this woman. No other one is coming. We need to find ways to imitate Thea.”

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

ADOPTION

Network of homes provides love, hope, help for pregnant women Good Counsel homes dispel adoption myths for birth mothers By Steve Larkin Catholic News Service

hen Chris Bell was working in Times Square in the late 1970s, he was shocked to repeatedly see young mothers entering crisis shelters with their children, and he decided that he had to do something. With the help of Father Benedict Groeschel, a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and his spiritual director at the time, Bell founded Good Counsel, a network of pro-life maternity homes. Currently, Good Counsel operates seven homes — four in New York state, one in New Jersey, one in Alabama and one in Connecticut — and works with other homes all over the country. It also is looking to both grow and expand its network. “Good Counsel is one of the founding members of the National Maternity Housing Coalition,” Bell told Catholic News Service. “Most of the homes are small and limited in what they can do, but we can help find a place for any pregnant woman in the country.” Bell said that pregnant women can enter the maternity homes for free, and the homes will help provide them with opportunities to go back to school and find jobs. Good Counsel will even assist pregnant women with drug addictions or mental illnesses and help find suitable places for them. They also can help plan adoptions. Bell said that many women don’t realize that they can choose the couple who would adopt their child, and they fear that the child will be placed in the foster care system. Bell said that many women who are told that their child will have genetic defects can benefit from maternity homes. “I don’t know why the only response so many medical people have is to tell the mother to get rid of it, if it looks like the child will have genetic defects,” he said, “especially in the United States, where we’re rich and have the technology to help them.” He told the story of a woman whose doctor told her that her unborn son had a defect in every cell in his body, and the doctor recommended she abort. She then called Good Counsel, saying “I just want to be a good mother.” Good Counsel took her in, found a different medical facility for her, and prayed with her because she wanted to pray. When the boy was born, the fears of the doctor were unfounded. He had a hole in his heart, which required two surgeries, but by the time the mother left the home, her son looked like any other 1-year-old.

“

A woman holds a baby in 2016 at a maternity home in Riverside, N.J., one of seven pro-life maternity homes in the Good Counsel network. Good Counsel also has four homes in New York state and one in Alabama and works with other homes all over the country. The Riverside facility houses about a dozen expectant mothers, provides a safe environment for the women to continue their pregnancy, and offers continuing education, job training and material support.

Most of the homes are small and limited in what they can do, but we can help find a place for any pregnant woman in the country. Chris Bell

Adoption stories are tender and real. And they long to be shared. Join Bellis for an Evening of Adoption Connection This supportive gathering welcomes birth parents, adoptive parents, adopted persons, birth & adoptive grandparents, friends and family into a conversation about commonalities in their unique experiences. Learn more and register at mybellis.org.

All are welcome! 6 to 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 2 • 6 to 8 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 27 6 to 8 p.m., Sunday, March 24 • 6 to 8 p.m., Sunday, May 19 Location: 5910 Shingle Creek Pkwy, #150, Brooklyn Center. Meeting space courtesy of Headway Emotional Health Services.

PHOTOS BY JEFFREY BRUNO | CNS

A woman plays with a child in 2016 at a Good Counsel maternity home in Riverside, N.J. Bell also told another story of a mother who already had a 3-year-old when she came to Good Counsel. When she told the father that she was pregnant, he kicked her in the stomach and she left him. Within her first few months, she had obtained a home health certificate, and, after having the baby, she found a job. “When I think about where she was when she came to us and where she was when she left, it was a total turnaround,” Bell said. Bell said he thought that media coverage was one reason for a lack of awareness about maternity homes. “I think the media has a strong bias against anything anti-abortion,” he said. Despite that, he intends to continue his work. “The question I ask: Isn’t there enough love in the world for another baby? Where there’s love, there’s life, and where there’s life, there’s hope. We can change things by looking at one life at a time and one family at a time.”

Blogs and commentary: CatholicHotdish.com

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER TOM WALKER

How much do we actually give?

Our Scriptures this weekend invite us to consider the offerings of three different people, beginning with the widow of Zarephath. She encounters the prophet Elijah at a critical time for both of them. As a part of a prolonged conflict with King Ahab, Elijah is a refugee who relies on God’s promise to protect him and provide the basic necessities of life. The widow, herself part of a group of the least ones protected and favored by God, thinks she has come to the end for herself and her son. Yet, from the little she has, enough for a last meal for her family before death, she shares what she cannot seemingly afford to share with this prophet of a God she does not know. Perhaps her generosity is in part supported by her sense of solidarity with another desperate soul during a difficult time. God then keeps the promise made through Elijah that her jar of flour would not go empty nor the jug of oil run dry. The widow in our Gospel similarly exhibits a generosity that shames the scribes parading around her in all their

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

People say I need friends. Is that true? Q. I keep being told that I “need

friends.” I don’t know that I do. I have enough people in my life (and more than enough stuff to keep me busy) that I don’t think that I need “another thing.”

A. I appreciate your honesty. I can imagine that, with all of your busyness and all of the people to whom you are responsible, friendship can just seem so unnecessary. And it is likely that there are many people in our culture who would say the same kind of thing. There have been numerous articles written recently about the reality of friendlessness in our culture. One described how this is especially pronounced among men, particularly those who are 40 years old and older. They may have wives and children, people with whom they interact at work and even some “buddies,” but they experience a friendlessness in the midst of all of this. Even more, there are many people who don’t have families around them or children of their own. They merely have a list of relatively “disposable” relationships that are fine, but not what they might call “friendship.” And the number of people who experience this absence of friendship is growing, not shrinking. As you wrote, you indicated that you don’t experience friendlessness as a pain at all. It sounds like you are like the person who is being told that they need more calcium in their daily diet, but you don’t experience fragile bones yet, so at this point calcium still seems optional. Sure, you could take a supplement every day, but you aren’t going to feel your bones becoming healthier. Likewise, you could not do anything and you will not feel your bones becoming more fragile. Friendship is a little bit like that: We know that it is good for us, but as long as we are trucking along and staying busy, it is optional. But you have heard of osteoporosis. And you have heard of loneliness. So you know that there is something to all of this talk about the crisis of friendlessness, even if you haven’t felt it. This could be for a number of reasons, so let’s look at a few. First, maybe you are very much like the person who isn’t taking calcium supplements who remains relatively healthy because you get calcium from other sources (like your food). There are a few different kinds of friendship as well. Two of these friendships might already be present in your life, serving as a kind of stop-gap when it comes to loneliness.

finery. This story contrasts her giving from her poverty, from what she needed to survive, with their giving from their surplus. Indeed, with the widow as one of God’s favored ones, the situation should have been reversed, with the widow receiving support from the scribes. Rather than praising what the widow has done, is Jesus more weeping that the state of affairs in the temple had come to the point where widows felt obligated to give what they could not afford to give? Is this part of the reason for the passage which immediately follows, in which Jesus foretells that the temple in all its glory will soon be torn down? Finally, our reading from Hebrews focuses on the once-forall offering or sacrifice of Christ the high priest. The widows reflect the generosity of the One who set aside his divinity and became for a while lower than the angels — one with the brothers and sisters he came to save. He who was without sin freely offered upon the cross all he had — his very life — to take away our sins and one day bring us to salvation. As we approach the altar this Sunday, we are called to reflect in our lives the sacrifice made by the One we receive. Do we willingly place our lives in the Father’s hands each day, giving him the best moments of our day, or is our prayer more a routine offering of any leftover or surplus moments we have? Do we willingly make sacrifices when we see a sister or brother in need, or do we find ourselves too often confessing that we should do more to help others but don’t quite get around to it? Father Walker is pastor of St. Michael in Prior Lake. Aristotle taught about three kinds of friendship. There are friendships of pleasure, in which you spend time with friends for no reason other than you enjoy yourself with these people. They are the friends that you might most quickly call your “buddies.” The next kind of friendships are those of utility. While this might sound the most sterile, friendships of utility can often be enjoyed just as much as (or even more than) friendships of pleasure. These could be the people with whom you work, the people with whom you play on a sports team, or the people with whom you like to do projects. Useful friendships don’t have to be reduced to “use,” but they are friendships oriented towards a goal; once the goal is gone, the friends will often have to find a new goal to occasion their time together. The downsides of these two types of friendship are that they are both potentially fragile and fleeting. You desire something that is stronger and something that lasts. The friendship that transcends the first two that Aristotle described is called virtuous friendship. While the first two are based on mutual enjoyment and mutual help, virtuous friendship is based on “the Good,” in the sense of pursuing the virtuous life. What knits the two people together is the mutual pursuit of something bigger than they are that has captivated both of them individually, that they later discover has captivated them both together. That might sound highfalutin, but this pursuit becomes the source of the highest kind of friendship. The two (or maybe more) people who are in this friendship will enjoy each other’s presence and will often find this friendship useful, but those are not the reasons why they are in relationship. They experience something bigger than the friendship itself. Last thing. You may not want that kind of friendship because you are too busy. That makes the most sense. Because the single most important ingredient for friendship is time. But take a deeper look into this. Often, people’s loneliness is not felt simply because they have busied themselves so fully that not only do they not feel the sting of loneliness, they don’t feel much at all. Don’t be that person. And also, all of the great folks who have written on this topic point out that no one ever has many virtuous friendships; they might be lucky to have one in their lifetime. But you and I will never have that if we are living in a way that makes even one virtuous friendship impossible. This entire article I have written as if loneliness is a bad thing, but I do not believe that loneliness is the enemy. Loneliness can move us to a deeper interior life with Christ, and it can move it outside of ourselves to learn how to give to others. It can be painful, but it doesn’t have to be bad. Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday Nov. 11 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 17:10-16 Heb 9:24-28 Mk 12:38-44 Monday, Nov. 12 St. Josaphat, bishop and martyr Ti 1:1-9 Lk 17:1-6 Tuesday, Nov. 13 St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin Ti 2:1-8, 11-14 Lk 17:7-10 Wednesday, Nov. 14 Ti 3:1-7 Lk 17:11-19 Thursday, Nov. 15 Phmn 7-20 Lk 17:20-25 Friday, Nov. 16 2 Jn 4-9 Lk 17:26-37 Saturday, Nov. 17 St. Elizabeth of Hungary, religious 3 Jn 5-8 Lk 18:1-8 Sunday, Nov. 18 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Dn 12:1-3 Heb 10:11-14, 18 Mk 13:24-32 Monday, Nov. 19 Rv 1:1-4, 2:1-5 Lk 18:35-43 Tuesday, Nov. 20 Rv 3:1-6, 14-22 Lk 19:1-10 Wednesday, Nov. 21 Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Rv 4:1-11 Lk 19:11-28 Thursday, Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Sir 50:22-24 Lk 17:11-19 Friday, Nov. 23 Rv 10:8-11 Lk 19:45-48 Saturday, Nov. 24 St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest, and companions, martyrs Rv 11:4-12 Lk 20:27-40 Sunday, Nov. 25 Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Dn 7:13-14 Rv 1:5-8 Jn 18:33b-37

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

Seeing the best at the worst of times

Roxanne Loper was almost home. Her journey had begun 15 months before, when she spotted a picture of a baby girl on the World Partners website and sensed something special. She and her husband, Clark, ranchers in Alto, Texas, had not been able to conceive a child naturally. They inquired online about the girl, whose name was Alexandria, scraped together their savings and started the adoption process. On Aug. 18, 2001, they flew out of Dallas to Frankfurt and then Russia. Next came a six-hour car ride across the Ural Mountains into Kazakhstan. Their destination was an orphanage known as Baby House Number Two. Located on a dirt field, it housed 80 young orphans, including their 2-year-old daughter. For the next 14 days, they would visit the orphanage two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon so Alexandria could get to know her new parents. The Lopers finalized their adoption at a Sept. 5 court hearing and embarked on a protracted flight home. On the morning of Sept. 11, they were on their last leg, hours from Texas, when the pilot re-routed them to a town they had never heard of: Gander, Newfoundland. They were told something vague about the U.S. airspace being closed. Soon they became one of 38 planes re-directed to the Canadian island’s northeastern edge. Some 6,595 weary travelers descended upon Gander, population 10,300. And at the worst of times, they experienced the best of humanity. Their fear and fatigue were met with comfort and compassion. For the next four days, Gander locals embraced “the plane people,” as they were dubbed — Britons, Germans, Americans, Arabs, Dutch, Chinese, Germans, Russians, Pakistanis, Italians. Volunteers greeted them at the airport, smiling warmly. Bus drivers on strike got behind the wheel again to take

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Choosing gratitude

It’s so easy to see the things that are imperfect, drive us crazy or are disappointing in our lives. We know that allowing ourselves to focus on these aspects of life is not uplifting or energizing, and yet, if that’s what we’ve been doing, that’s where we so often go. Allowing ourselves to change our focus is often easier said than done. But it is possible, and, for lasting happiness, necessary. This idea is illustrated in “Two Wolves,” a legend attributed to a Cherokee chief. The chief is teaching his grandson and tells him that there is a fight within himself — “a terrible fight between two wolves.” One wolf embodies anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other wolf is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. “Which one will win?” the grandson asks. The chief simply replies, “The one you feed.” Every person feels this internal fight. He or she is constantly faced with a path: one is negative and dismissive, difficult and unappreciative. The other is

“

Some 6,595 weary travelers descended upon Gander, population 10,300. And at the worst of times, they experienced the best of humanity. Their fear and fatigue were met with comfort and compassion.

ISTOCK

them to schools, shelters and churches. They sang together, told stories and played chess. Locals invited the plane people into their homes for hot tea, hot showers and computer access, charming them with Gander’s unique lilt, their sentences ending with “me dear” and “me lovely.” Donations of every kind poured in: diapers, a stroller, toothbrushes, underwear. Pharmacists filled more than 1,000 prescriptions in 24 hours at no cost. A military general walking to a store was invited to a 7-year-old’s backyard birthday party, where she momentarily forgot how dangerous the world had become. The members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church welcomed Hannah O’Rourke, whose son, a New York City firefighter, was missing. She felt sustained by the Eucharist and, for the next hour, at home in the Church universal. The president of the Lion’s Club took special care of the Lopers throughout the week and rushed to their rescue when they almost boarded a plane headed back to Frankfurt. Eventually they made arrangements for a ferry and

car ride into the States. By then, Roxanne had the flu, but her heart was doubled over with gratitude: for her new daughter and for the strangers who had treated them like family. To know that a place like Gander existed offset the horror of terrorism.

generous and kind, loving and supportive. If we allow ourselves to move in the direction of negativity and disapproval, we will create more of that in our lives. If we allow ourselves to move in the direction of positivity and happiness, we will also create more of that in our lives. The question for the legend’s hearer is which perspective he or she will choose. As we anticipate Thanksgiving and reflect on gratitude, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves if we are feeding a positive or negative perspective of life. As with most things, our attitude influences our perspective, which often determines our approach to life. If we hope to be people with a more positive outlook, this begins with what we say and do to ourselves and others, as well as to the choices we make each day. If we are surrounded by negative or difficult people, we have a choice about how to respond — with more negativity, or with love and kindness. Truly, with God’s grace, our approach to the situation can make a difference in the response we give, as well as the response we receive. “Two Wolves” can serve as a reminder throughout this month and throughout our lives. We must each ask ourselves what kind of attitude and perspective we want to assume, for it is this attitude that will influence our thoughts and determine the kinds of interactions we have with others, as well as the degree

ACTION CHALLENGE

“It made me feel that people are mostly good,” Roxane told me when I called recently. She is now 46. She and Clark were surprised by three healthy pregnancies after adopting Alexandria, who is 19. The Christian couple is still inspired by Gander, where divine intervention was unmistakable. “We try to help whenever and however we can,” she said. “Little things. We pull over every time we see someone with car trouble.” In this season of gratitude, we too must “look for the helpers,” to quote Mr. Rogers, and be the helpers, remembering that one act of kindness begets another, believing in God and Gander and each other. Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

Spend time alone or with a loved one to think about what has been good in your life this year. Take time to focus on the positive and then extend gratitude. of happiness we expect and enjoy each day. If we entertain a negative attitude, we shouldn’t be surprised if we experience the world and our lives as hostile and difficult. However, if we strive for a positive attitude, looking for the good in what happens to us, we will likely find ourselves more contented. In preparation for Thanksgiving, take time to think about the people, experiences and events in your life and identify what has nourished and supported you. Then show that gratitude. Reach out to people whose involvement in your life has been meaningful. Send an e-mail to a group whose cause has touched your heart. Make a donation in memory of a loved one to an organization that held an inspiring event. Look for the good in your life and take time to be grateful this month. Feed the good wolf. Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

COMMENTARY

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THE LOCAL CHURCH | FATHER DAVID BLUME

Surveying the vocations landscape In this National Vocation Awareness Week, we take time to lift up the vocations of priesthood, consecrated life and the diaconate. There is plenty of good news to share! The Office of Vocations has been busy working with both men and women discerning their vocations. The result is that this fall we had seven local men enter St. John Vianney College Seminary’s freshman class. We also had seven men enter the St. Paul Seminary PreTheology I class, for a total of 14 new seminarians. In addition, we have six men who were already in the seminary who have moved into SPS’ Theology I class. For this school year, there are a total of 61 seminarians, and we anticipate there will be four ordinations to the priesthood next May. Bethany House is our discernment house in Minneapolis for women considering consecrated life. This is our second year of sponsoring this house of discernment, and it is going very well. Last year there were five women who lived at Bethany House from September through the end of May. This year we have a household of six women. The Institute for Diaconate Formation is experiencing increased interest in its Deacon Discernment Days for the aspirant class that will start in the fall of 2019. The events have drawn 85 men and some wives, who attend these events alongside their husbands. The new candidates will join the 18 candidates already in formation. The next permanent deacon ordination will be Dec. 7, 2019. In September, I attended the National Conference of Diocesan Vocations Directors meeting. It was an excellent meeting with more 300 people present, including 200 diocesan vocation directors. As you might expect, the most frequent topic of conversation had to do with the deeply troubling news from within the Church.

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

Use your words

Two groups ask me often what they can do to help their children grow in faith: parents of toddlers and parents of young adults. Surprised? While their ages and stages of life may differ, the two groups are closer than you might think. When I write about faith at home, I often hear from new parents. They want to know what prayers or books they can use to make sure their child learns the faith. Their enthusiasm and anxiety are evident: They want to get it right. When I speak in parishes, I always hear from parents whose adult children have stopped going to Church. They want to know why their children left and how they could encourage them to come back. Their faith and grief is clear: They want to know where things went wrong. Empathy makes my heart reach out to both groups, though there are no easy answers. I sympathize with parents of young ones. It’s the beginning of family life at home. The stakes for faith feel high. And I ache for the parents of adults who have left the Church. It’s beyond the years of family life at home. The stakes feel even higher. I want to tell the first group: Don’t worry. You’re doing more than you realize. God is at work in ways you can’t see. It’s not all up to you.

“

The work of calling forth vocations is a work of the Holy Spirit moving through the Church. It doesn’t stop in times of turmoil.

iSTOCK | JANPIETRUSZKA

Such news is always a reminder of the care that must be taken in accepting men for the seminary. Today, the application process is very thorough, taking about three or more months to complete, but that was not always the case. I recall visiting with a priest who was in his 80s and asking him what the application process was like when he entered the seminary. He smiled and said that back then, he just talked to his pastor, who wrote a letter to the seminary recommending that he be accepted. Like many others who entered the seminary at that time, he went on to serve well and he became a very holy priest. However, I have wondered what presentday sorrows might have been avoided if years ago the Church had the resources we have today to conduct a more thorough acceptance process. I do believe our present climate affects men considering priesthood: sometimes directly, but also

I want to tell the second group the same. But encouragement is not enough. We want to act, especially when our children and their faith is concerned. So what can we do? Take our own advice. “Use your words.” Just as parents coach and coax toddlers to practice their language skills (rather than throw a tantrum), we can encourage each other to use our conversations, witness and prayers for the children we love. First, use your words to share your faith. Remember the power of example. How often do you talk about God, prayer or the Church with the children or young adults in your life? Have you ever spoken about your own faith journey, struggles or questions? If you share what brings you joy, purpose, peace and truth, young people will notice. Even if they don’t always agree or understand, they are paying attention to the way you live your life and how your faith shows up in everyday conversations. Second, use your words to bear witness to your faith. Remember the importance of integrity. How do your children hear you talk about other people? Politicians you disagree with? Individuals or groups you don’t like? Children are listening from their earliest days. Despite the influence of friends, media and culture, parents still have significant influence on the beliefs and morals of their children. Think about the language and tone you use in conversation with your children. Do your words and tone reflect your values, no matter the topic? Finally, use your words to pray for young people. Ultimately our children’s faith — like every part of

through parents and others who have an influence on their vocation. Very likely, there are some who have been dissuaded and have chosen another path or have delayed a decision to enter the seminary. We will never know. On the flip side, there are men whose response to this present darkness has been to turn toward Christ. Knowing that the Church needs holy and healthy priests, they are prayerfully discerning whether they are called to the priesthood. Let’s support them with our prayers. The work of calling forth vocations is a work of the Holy Spirit moving through the Church. It doesn’t stop in times of turmoil. May our response be to lean into Christ and to build up the Church by praying for all those whom the Lord is calling. Father Blume is director of vocations for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“

If you share what brings you joy, purpose, peace and truth, young people will notice. Even if they don’t always agree or understand, they are paying attention to the way you live your life and how your faith shows up in everyday conversations.

their lives — is out of our control. But prayer reminds us that each child belongs to God. Remember the words we believe, the Word that matters most: “Be not afraid. I am with you.” If we start a daily habit of entrusting the children we love to God, we can find comfort, hope and guidance in God’s care. At the recent synod on young people, faith and vocational discernment, the Vatican’s preparatory document read: “The Church wants again to state her desire to encounter, accompany and care for every young person, without exception.” We can do the same for the children in our lives. We can use our words for good. Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on vocation at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville. She is the author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at motheringspirit.com.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR Parish events

FEATURED EVENTS

Fair and ethical trade sale — Nov. 10: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. at St. John Neumann, 4030 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan. facebook.com/Fair-Trade-SaleEagan.

Archbishop of Damascus visits Twin Cities — Nov. 9-15: Archbishop Samir Nassar, Maronite archbishop of Damascus, Syria, will be speaking about the experiences of Christians struggling in Syria during this time of armed conflict. His schedule includes: 5:15 p.m. Mass Nov. 9 at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. presentation Nov. 9 at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Boulevard NE, Ham Lake; 11 a.m. presentation Nov. 10 at St. Paul, 749 Main St. S., Zumbrota; 10:15 a.m. Mass Nov. 11 at St. Maron, 602 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis; 7 p.m. ecumenical prayer service Nov. 14 at St. Maron; 11:45 a.m. lecture Nov. 15 at the University of St. Thomas, O’Shaughnessy Educational Center (OEC), 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. lecture Nov. 15 at the University of St. Thomas, Schulze Hall, 46 S. 11th St., Minneapolis. archspm.org/events.

Craft and bake sale — Nov. 10: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 12508 Lynn Ave., Savage. stjohns-savage.org. St. Therese fall market — Nov. 10 and 11: 9 a.m.– 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10; 9-11:45 a.m. Nov. 11 at 18325 Minnetonka Boulevard, Deephaven. st-therese.org. St. John the Baptist turkey bingo — Nov. 10: 5:30– 8 p.m. at 638 Mill St., Excelsior. Proceeds benefit middle and high school summer youth activities. stjohns-excelsior.org. St. Alphonsus Christmas bazaar — Nov. 10 and 11: 8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Nov. 10; 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Nov. 11 at 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center. Hosted by St. Alphonsus Council of Catholic Women. stalsmn.org.

Mass for God’s Children — Nov. 19: 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane N., Maple Grove. A memorial Mass for families who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss. sjtw.net.

St. Mary’s turkey bingo — Nov. 10: 6–9 p.m. at 261 E. Eighth St., St. Paul. stmarystpaul.org. Council of Catholic Women Christmas craft and bake sale — Nov. 10 and 11: 2–6 p.m. Nov. 10; 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Nov. 11 at St. Peter, 2600 N. Margaret St., North St. Paul. churchofstpeternsp.org. Turkey bingo — Nov. 11: 1–3 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.

Bible study with Father John Echert — Wednesdays Nov. 28-Dec. 19: 7–8:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity, 749 Sixth Ave. S., South St. Paul. “Encounter Christ in the Mass.” The four-week series will draw on biblical and Church texts, and historical background, to provide a deeper understanding of the Mass. $20 per person. Sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization. For more information, contact Susanna Parent at parents@archspm.org or call 651-291-4411. To register online, visit rediscover-faith.org and click on “events.”

Minneapolis Deanery Council of Catholic Women meeting — Nov. 12: 9 a.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis. Speakers are Jean Stolpestad of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life and John Flanagan of the Laboure Society for Vocations. Register at 763-424-2203. Gold Mass for scientists — Nov. 15: 7 p.m. at St. Stephen, 525 Jackson St., Anoka. Celebrant Father Matt Shireman. ststephenchurch.org. Holy Cross Italian spaghetti dinner — Nov. 17: 6–8 p.m. at 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul. Tickets must be ordered in advance through Holy Childhood office. 651-644-7495. holychildhoodparish.org.

Dining out Spaghetti dinner and bingo — Nov. 10: 6–9 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com/fallfestival.

St. George holiday boutique — Nov. 17: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at 133 N. Brown Road, Long Lake. stgeorgelonglake.org.

Our Lady of the Prairie waffle breakfast — Nov. 11: 8 a.m.–noon at 200 E. Church St., Belle Plaine. Proceeds benefit sixth-grade Wolf Ridge trip. ourladyoftheprairie.com.

St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church’s Christmas boutique — Nov. 17: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. at 2201 Third St. NE, Minneapolis. stjohnsminneapolis.webs.com.

Pancake breakfast — Nov. 11: 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com/fallfestival.

St. Michael’s turkey bingo — Nov. 17: 5:30 p.m. at 22120 Denmark Ave., Farmington. Hosted by Knights of Columbus. Proceeds benefit food shelf. stmichael-farmington.org.

Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast — Nov. 18: 8 a.m.–noon at Guardian Angels Catholic School, 217 W. Second St., Chaska. gachaska.org.

Holiday bazaar — Nov. 17 and 18: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Nov. 17; 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Nov. 18 at St. Margaret Mary, 2323 Zenith Ave. N., Golden Valley. smm-gv.org.

Our Lady of Victory fall bazaar — Nov. 17 and 18: 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Nov. 17; 9–11 a.m. Nov. 18 at 5155 Emerson Ave. N., Minneapolis. ourladyofvictory.com. Holiday sale to support Quilters for a Cause — Nov. 17 and 18: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 E. Roselawn Ave., Maplewood. stjerome-church.org. Sausage supper and bingo — Nov. 18: Noon–5:30 p.m. at St. Mary, 8433 239th St. E., Hampton. Bingo 6–8 p.m. stmarysnewtrier.com. Christmas Faire — Nov. 18: 9 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 3953 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. stleonardmn.org. St. John’s of Little Canada turkey bingo — Nov. 18: 6–9 p.m. at 2621 McMenemy St., Little Canada. Sponsored by Men’s Club. sjolc.org. St. John the Baptist turkey bingo — Nov. 18: 4:30–8 p.m. at 12508 Lynn Ave., Savage. stjohns-savage.org. St. Boniface turkey and ham raffle — Nov. 20: 7 p.m. at 629 Second St. NE, Minneapolis. Sponsored by the St. Boniface Council of Catholic United Financial. stbonifacempls.org.

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date. LISTINGS: Accepted are brief notices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community. ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event u Contact information in case of questions ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/

Prayer/worship Evensong: Hymns of World War I — Nov. 11: 7 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.

calendarsubmissions

MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Conferences/workshops Interfaith dialogue forum: “Sharing Narratives of Peace” — Nov. 11: 6–7:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. saintvdp.org. Early Catholic Family Life (ECFL) training — Nov. 17: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at St. Peter, 6730 Nicollet Ave., Richfield. Joanne Foley at alanfol@gmail.com or 612-925-1203. earlycatholicfamilylife.org.

Schools Disney’s “Newsies” Broadway musical at Hill-Murray School — Nov. 9-11 and 16-18: 7 p.m. Nov. 9 and 10; 2 p.m. Nov. 11; 7 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17; 2 p.m. Nov. 18 at 2625 Larpenteur Ave. E., Maplewood. hill-murray.org/arts/theatre. St. Helena School turkey bingo — Nov. 10: 5–8 p.m. at 3200 E. 44th St., Minneapolis. Proceeds benefit junior high Eagle Bluff Environmental overnight camping trip. sainthelenaschool.us. All-school open house and kindergarten and preschool play date — Nov. 10: 9:30 a.m.–noon. Immaculate Conception School, 4030 Jackson St. NE, Columbia Heights. 9:30–11 a.m. play date. 763-788-9065 iccsonline.org. Kindergarten conversations — Nov. 13: 6–7:30 p.m. at

Good Shepherd School, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. facebook.com/events/1815843455131624.

Speakers “Free and Faithful: Reflections on the Impact of Father Bernard Haring on the Reform and Renewal of Vatican II” — Nov. 13: 7–8 p.m. at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 700 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Sponsored by Catholic Coalition of Church Reform and Council of the Baptized. Led by Marilyn Wegscheider. cccr-cob.org/events.html. “Pilgrimages in the Jewish and Catholic Tradition” with Rabbi Norman Cohen — Nov. 16: 9:45–11:45 a.m. at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road E., Burnsville. mmotc.org. “Speaking to Children and Teens on a Tough Topic” — Nov. 18: 4 p.m. at St. Timothy, 707 89th Ave. NE, Blaine. Led by counselor Jamie Mosley. churchofsttimothy.com.

Young adults Trivia night — Nov. 17: 6–8 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. guardian-angels.org.

Marketplace • Message Center Classified Ads Email: classifiedads@archspm.org • Phone: 651-290-1631 • Fax: 651-291-4460 Next issue: 11-22-18 • Deadline: 3 p.m. 11-15-18 • Rates: $8 per line (35-40 characters per line) • Add a photo/logo for $25 ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTIONS STAIR LIFTS - ELEVATORS WHEELCHAIR LIFTS FOR HOMES, CHURCHES & SCHOOLS Arrow Lift (763) 786-2780 AGING IN PLACE UNIVERSAL DESIGN/ADA Residential – Commercial CJG Architecture, L.L.C. (952-) 933-4950

ANTIQUES TOP CASH PAID For Older Furniture Advertising Signs • Beer Items • Toys • Misc. (651) 227-2469

ATTORNEYS Edward F. Gross • Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, Real Estate. Office at 35E & Roselawn Ave., St. Paul (651) 631-0616.

CABINETRY CABINETS, TV stands, bookcases – large and small, vanities, kitchen cabinets: White Bear Lake (651) 429-0426.

CEILING TEXTURE Michaels Painting. Popcorn Removal & Knock Down Texture: TextureCeilings.com (763) 757-3187.

CEMETERY LOTS FOR SALE Resurrection Cemetery: graves 3 & 4; lot 4; block 23; section 61, overlooking Lake Augusta. Value $1800/ea. Price $1500 ea. Al (612) 559-6484. Gethsemane Mausoleum: Prime Interior Chapel Aisle, true companion crypt, No. 35, Tier B. Transfer to be handled by cemetery. Value $22,580; Price $17,500 (651) 260-5869. Resurrection Cemetery: 1 lot. Value $1740; Price $1300. Sec. 62 Block 8 Lot 14 Grave 1, (651) 674-0720.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Hiring people to join our team as cleaning specialists! We clean mainly residential homes. We provide all the cleaning equipment & supplies to get the job done! Part- & Full-time hours available between the hours of 8a-4p Monday through Friday. Email us: corcleaning@yahoo.com (612) 799-1080.

EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY Initial free photos offered. Call Earl (651)734-0506, (651) 214-8292.

GREAT CATHOLIC SPEAKERS CD of the Month Club Lighthouse Catholic Media, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins and more! $5/month includes shipping. Subscribe online at http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia. org/cdclub Please Enter Code: 1195

HANDYMAN WE DO 1,162 THINGS AROUND THE HOME! Catholic Owned Handyman Business: We will fix/repair and remodel almost anything around the home. Serving entire Metro. Call today. Mention this ad and receive 10% off labor. Handyman Matters (651) 784-3777, (952) 946-0088. www.HandymanMatters.com.

HARDWOOD FLOORS

Sweeney’s Hardwood Floors

FALL IS HERE! Spruce up your home with new or refurbished hardwood floors: 10% off labor. Sweeney (651) 485-8187.

MEDICARE Time for your annual Medicare Plan Checkup. No Cost to review options. Jerry (612) 382-4363.

PAINTING For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND. COM or call (651) 699-6140. Merriam Park Painting. Professional Int./ Ext. Painting. WP Hanging. Moderate Prices, Free Estimates. Call Ed (651) 224-3660. Michaels Painting. Texture and Repair. MichaelsPaintingllc.coM. (763) 757-3187. Dennis Heigl Painting Interior/Exterior Serving Mpls. & suburbs. Free Estimates. (612) 819-2438

Ask a our 3 bout t speciaime l! PRAYERS

NOTICE: Prayers must be submitted in advance. Payment of $8 per line must be received before publication.

RELIGIOUS ITEMS FOR SALE Pax Enterprises Faithful Servants shirts, religious items. Call for brochure: Kaye (651) 330-9744.

VACATION/FAMILY GETAWAY Knotty Pines Resort, Park Rapids, MN. 1, 2 & 3 bdrm cabins starting at $565/week. www.knottypinesresort.com (800) 392-2410. Mention this ad for a discount!

WANTED TO BUY Estate & Downsizing: I buy Van Loads and Bicycles. Steve (651) 778-0571.

To advertise in the classifieds, email classifiedads@archspm.org.

20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

THELASTWORD

Tending to the heart

LEFT Migrant workers and seminarians prune young apple trees May 29 in a field in Prosser, Wash., as seminarians begin their first day in a migrant ministry program. All seminarians from the Diocese of Yakima are required to work in the agricultural fields with migrant laborers as part of their formation.

In Yakima Valley, working alongside migrant laborers prepares seminarians for priesthood By Chaz Muth Catholic News Service

eminarian John Washington was looking for a summer cultural experience as he prepared to end his academic year at Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary, and he found it in an agricultural field in central Washington. The seminarian from the Archdiocese of Atlanta spent his summer tending to Washington state’s bountiful apple trees, speaking “field Spanish” with Latino migrant workers, learning about life in the migrant camps and bringing the Gospel to the agricultural laborers. “I wanted an adventure this summer,” Washington said with a chuckle as he plunged a shovel into the dark earth while planting a replacement apple tree. “I’d say I got one.” He looked around and spotted a few other seminarians from the Diocese of Yakima and two Spanish-speaking migrant workers, who showed him how deep he should plant the tree. The future priest’s summer in the Pacific Northwest’s agrarian fields was part of the Diocese of Yakima’s migrant ministry program, which he learned about from a Mundelein classmate, who is a Yakima seminarian. All seminarians from the Diocese of Yakima are required to spend their summers working in the fields. It’s part of their formation to work alongside the migrant laborers, to understand their plight as well as their language, and to bring the faith to the people where they live and work. When Washington heard about this program, it was something he knew he wanted to experience. With favorable nods from both his vocation director at the Archdiocese of Atlanta and Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson, the seminarian joined the team out west for the summer of 2018. Yakima’s migrant ministry program began in the summer of 2011, shortly after Bishop Tyson became the shepherd of the diocese. The question of what to do with the seminarians during the summer months while they were not in school came up and the answer became clear, he said. “We decided they should go out in the fields and pick apples,” he said. “Good parents almost always require their children to get a job while they are home from college during the summer. It seemed natural to require the same from the seminarians and to do the kind of work that so many people here do.” In a nutshell, Bishop Tyson wants his future priests to

PHOTOS BY CHAZ MUTH | CNS

really understand the lives of the population they will be serving as priests, and since the largest sector of the state of Washington’s economy is agriculture, he decided the seminarian formation must include working with the migrants. “When they become priests, when they preach the Gospel, they’ll be able to aim the Gospel knowing the reality of the lives of the people they are serving,” Bishop Tyson said. So, when Daniel Sanchez completed his first academic year at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon, in late May, he returned to Yakima and joined the other seminarians. The seminarian, 22, rose four days a week at 4 a.m. at the Yakima rectory where he and the others in the migrant ministry stayed during the summer, prepared for a day of physical labor, met the others for morning prayer at 4:45 a.m. and left at 5 a.m. for the hourlong drive to the assigned apple orchard in Prosser, Washington. When Sanchez and the seven other seminarians and interns (those still discerning religious life) arrived at the orchard for their first day on the job, they were handed trimming tools by the foreman and directed to join the Latino migrant workers in the field to prune the rows of young apple trees. This work required the men to sit on the ground, kneel and bend over in awkward positions that strained their joints and made their backs ache, which was further complicated by the blazing sun beating down on them. “It’s humbling,” Sanchez said, as he acknowledged the work was more uncomfortable than laborious. This is now part of his journey to becoming a priest. “Not all of it is studying philosophy or theology or reading Scripture,” Sanchez said as he wiped sweat from his brow. “Sometimes you’ve got to just man up and get shoveling.” The intention of the experience isn’t necessarily to humble the seminarians, although Bishop Tyson said that is an encouraging outcome. “It’s important that our future priests know in their bones the labor of the bread and the wine,” he said, “and know the lives behind our agricultural workers.” The Diocese of Yakima has roughly 40 parishes and mission churches and regularly serves about 170,000 Catholics, but during the harvest, an additional 100,000 migrant workers reside in the region, most of whom are Spanish-speaking Latinos.

“The seminarians’ presence in those fields is very important,” Bishop Tyson said. “Many of those workers don’t have the ability to get to church. So, we need to bring Church to them.” Seminarian Jacob Sevigny is no stranger to the agricultural fields in central Washington. He grew up in the area and has worked different farm and construction jobs throughout his young life. He believes the migrant ministry will help him and his fellow seminarians become better priests, because “in the words of Pope Francis, it’s important for us to smell like the sheep and share our lives and understand the lives of our people,” he said. Since all priests in the diocese are required to be bilingual, the migrant ministry provides Spanish immersion. “Many of the people out here speak very little English,” said seminarian Matthew Ockinga, who practiced his Spanish while speaking with the migrant workers in the field. “About 60 percent of the Catholics in the diocese attend Spanish Mass. You have to know how to speak the language of your people, and the Spanish in the field is different than traditional Castilian Spanish.” Though the work in the field is a stark contrast to seminarians’ lives at school, Ockinga said he believes their contact with the migrant workers is more valuable than the labor they are providing. “I’m hoping that the migrant workers come away with the sense that they are part of the Church no matter where they are at,” Bishop Tyson said. “And that we love them and care for them, and they are always welcome. There’s always a place at the table.”

Prices starting at $2,499 ~ with Airfare Included in this price from anywhere in the USA

Several trips to different destinations: the Holy Land; Italy; France; Portugal; Spain; Poland; Medjugorje; Lourdes; Fatima; Ireland; Scotland; England; Austria; Germany; Switzerland; Turkey; Greece; Budapest; Prague; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Colombia; Brazil; Argentina; Domestic Destinations; etc. We also specialize in custom trips for Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

BELOW Seminarians learn how to prune young apple trees at an orchard in Prosser, Wash., from a migrant worker May 29.

Call us 24/7 508-340-9370 or 855-842-8001 www.proximotravel.com anthony@proximotravel.com (Hablamos Español)

NOTICE

Look for The Catholic Spirit advertising insert from

SHARING AND CARING HANDS in all copies of this issue.