OND Feb. A 2016 Vol. 70, No. 3

VOL. 70, NO. 3

WWW.CROOKSTON.ORG

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

The Door of Mercy at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston, remains open for pilgrims, as seen in this photo from the opening on Dec. 13. People wishing to make a pilgrimage should call the Cathedral at 218-281-1735 so the Sacrament of Reconciliation is available during their visit. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/OND)

Mercy and reconciliation emphasis of jubilee year

Lent is time to receive and meditate on mercy found in the confessional

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND

Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, almsgiving and examination. It is also associated with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and even more so this year.

During this Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis has asked us to closely examine God and his mercy. In Misericordiae Vultus, the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which announced the holy year, Pope Francis urges us all to constantly contemplate the meaning of mercy.

“It is a wellspring of joy, serenity and peace. Our salvation depends on it,” he wrote. He identifies a few different aspects of mercy, calling it, “the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us,” and, “the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.”

Reconciliation is one of the

INSIDE VOL. 70. NO. 3:

most powerful ways to experience the transformative power of God’s mercy both for the priest administering the sacrament and the penitent receiving it.

Father Todd Arends is the pastor at St. Mary’s, Warroad; Sacred Heart, Baudette and St. Joseph’s, Williams. He said as a priest, it is humbling to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “In this one [sac-

rament] you can truly feel the mercy of God at work in our world.” He said he has gained a better understanding of God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and knows that God can bring people back from anywhere.

Carter Mosher, a high school student from St. Joseph’s, Fertile, said taking his Catholic faith more personally has helped him to better see the impact the Sacrament of Reconciliation has in his life.

“It has made me become more aware of my sins on a daily basis and made me a better person,” he said. “The sacrament has helped me overcome many boundaries in my faith and learn more about God’s love for me and for all. It has also made me more appreciative of priests and the Catholic Church as a whole.”

Cindy Urbaniak of St. Patrick’s, Hallock, said she finds peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“I like when the priest has a

Pg. 3 - Spotlight on Catholic Schools Pg. 6 - Pro-life Events in the Diocese of Crookston Pg. 8 - Lenten Reconciliation Opportunities

discussion with me about my confession and offers advice on how to view the causes of my sins differently. The priest often gives me a different perspective, and after Reconciliation, I can reflect on how to avoid my sin and strive to turn my behavior around and use it for God’s glory,” she said.

This Lent, the Church is inviting her members to journey to the confessional with extra emphasis on the mercy of God. Making a pilgrimage to the Holy Door at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is one way to embrace that journey.

While outlining the Holy Year of Mercy in the Bull of Indiction, Pope Francis wrote, “The practice of pilgrimage has a special place in the Holy Year, because it represents the journey each of us makes in life.”

He continues, “May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion: by crossing the threshold of the Holy Door, we will find the strength to embrace God’s mercy and dedicate ourselves

to being merciful with others as the Father has been with us.”

Pilgrims are invited to come to the Cathedral, pass through the Holy Door and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Individuals or groups of people who wish to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Door are asked to call Cathedral’s parish office at 218-281-1735 while planning their visit so the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be made available.

A booklet with prayers for the journey has been created by the diocesan Office of Worship and can be found at: www. crookston.org/yearofmercy.

“They are meant as a true pilgrim’s guide for the journey to and from the Holy Door,” said Mary Dahl, Director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy.

English and Spanish brochures explaining the Holy Door and its significance are also available at the Cathedral.

An indulgence is available to CONFESSION: Continued on Page 8

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February 10, 2016

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COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Voice from the Valley

BY BISHOP MICHAEL J. HOEPPNER

LENT IN THE YEAR OF MERCY Let’s go for a walk. Each Lent, Jesus invites each of us to take a walk with him. And as we walk with Jesus, we look together at how our life is going.

We talk about what is good and what is not so good and Jesus offers us insight on how our life might go a bit better. I hope everyone has a wonderful Lenten walk with Jesus this year.

In his new book, “The Name of God is Mercy”, Pope Francis says: “The corrupt man is so closed off and contented in the complacency of his self-sufficiency that he does not allow himself to be called into question by anything or anyone.”

We can’t be closed off, or complacent, or contented in our self-sufficiency, or too busy with other things if we are to take the Lenten walk with Jesus.

We have to give it the time. And we have to have the courage to let Jesus gently call our lives into question where change and conversion are needed. To look with Jesus and listen to him on

Turn to Page 8 to view opportunities for receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation throughout the Diocese of Crookston. this walk is to approach the door of mercy.

In the last edition of OND, in this column, we began to look at just how sacred scripture presents the notion of God’s mercy. Pope St. John Paul II wrote about how Jesus shows us that God’s mercy is God’s , saying, “love that is manifested with particular force with regard to the suffering, the unfortunate and sinners.” God is love and the light of God’s love shines brightly. Mercy is the flood of this love or light directed specifically to the suffering, the unfortunate and the sinner. Mercy “makes present and thus more fully reveals the Father, who is God ‘rich in mercy.’” (Pope St. John Paul II) In the Old Testament, mercy characterizes the life of the whole people of Israel. God

loves Israel as his own, his chosen people, his spouse, but the people keep turning away from God. Yet God does not stop loving Israel and so pardons its sins, infidelities and betrayals.

He pours out his mercy on Israel and becomes “the content of their intimacy with God,” said Pope St. John Paul II. “All the subtleties of love become manifest in the Lord’s mercy toward those who are his own.”

As we walk with Jesus this Lent, let each of us have the courage to allow Jesus to point out to us how and where we fit the profile of that suffering, unfortunate sinner upon whom God is waiting to show his mercy. From that place, standing in that profile, let us join in the prayer of Lent humbly calling out to God for mercy. And then let each of us go to God

Students from Cathedral School visit with Bishop Hoeppner during a tour of the Chancery offices on Feb. 1. The entire school came as part of their Catholic Schools Week celebration. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/OND)

in the Sacrament of Reconciliation to meet him who waits for us there to flood us with that

particular flavor of his love that is mercy.

BISHOP’S CALENDAR February 16

7:45 a.m.

February 16

12:00 p.m.

February 21

8:00 a.m.

February 21

10:00 a.m.

Mass, St. Ann’s, Goodridge

February 21

11:45 a.m.

Mass, St. Clement’s, Grygla

February 22

6:30 p.m.

Parish Mission, St. Michael’s, Grand Forks, N.D.

February 23

7:45 a.m.

Mass, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston

February 23

4:00 p.m.

Pastoral Visit, St. Joseph’s, Moorhead

February 24

Mass, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston Diocesan Finance Board Meeting, Chancery, Crookston Mass, St. Francis Xavier’s, Oklee

Classroom Visits, St. Joseph’s School, Moorhead

February 24

5:30 p.m.

Mass, St. Joseph’s, Moorhead

February 24

8:30 p.m.

Mass, St. Joseph’s, Moorhead

February 25

8:00 a.m.

Mass, St. Joseph’s, Moorhead

February 26

8:35 a.m.

Mass, Classroom Visits, St. Bernard’s School, Thief River Falls

VICTIM ASSISTANCE STATEMENT

(USPS 414-940)

If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, your first call should be to law enforcement. If you have been abused by a Catholic priest or another person in Church ministry, the Diocese of Crookston Victim’s Assistance Coordinator is also available to offer you help and healing.

Please contact Louann McGlynn at 218-281-7895 (24-hour confidential number) or Lmcglynn@ crookston.org.

Our Northland Diocese is a semi-monthly newspaper committed to publishing Good News for the purpose of strengthening and furthering the Reign of God in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston.

Subscriptions: $16.34 per year in the diocese, $17.88 per year outside the diocese.

Publisher:

The Most Reverend Michael J. Hoeppner Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston

Editor:

Rev. Robert Schreiner Office of the New Evangelization, Director

Associate Editor:

Mrs. Janelle C. Gergen jgergen@crookston.org

Editorial Assistant: Mrs. Katrina Genereux

kgenereux@crookston.org Proofreader:

Deacon Dan Hannig

For questions about subscriptions or address changes, please contact: Mrs. Renee Tate at rtate@crookston.org Periodical postage paid in Crookston, MN and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: send address changes to: Our Northland Diocese PO Box 610, Crookston, MN 56716-0610 Phone: 218-281-4533 Publishing dates and submission deadlines for news and advertisements can be found online: http://www.crookston.org/ond/

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

SPECIAL SERIES: CATHOLIC EDUCATION

February 10, 2016

Spotlight on Catholic Education: Cathedral School As Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner visits Catholic classrooms throughout the Diocese of Crookston, OND will shine a light on the uniqueness of these eight schools.

THOUGHTS FROM CATHEDRAL SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, PATRICIA JONES Why Mrs. Jones is passionate about working in Catholic education: As principal, I am passionate about working in a Catholic school because when an individual can experience faith and learning at the same time, he or she gains valuable life skills. As principal, to help a student learn respect for themselves and others, develop a firm educational foundation and cultivate compassion for others as Jesus taught; prepares the student to be the best version of his or her self.

She encourages parents to choose Catholic education: Come celebrate Mass with us and see faith in action, even if you are not Catholic! Our students learn life skills beyond the classroom. The weekly Masses, in which the children participate in the ministries, demonstrates their knowledge in the best way possible.

CATHEDRAL SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS

Cathedral School students and staff take an “all school” photo on Monday of Catholic Schools Week.

(Submitted photo)

Location: 720 Summit Ave North, Crookston.

Enrollment: 52 students in Kindergarten through sixth grade.

Website: www.cathedralschool.org Theme for the 2015-2016 School Year: The school is focusing on three themes for the year: Respect, fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Year of Mercy.

Mission Statement: Our Christ-centered mission at Cathedral School is to create a caring, challenging and supportive learning environment in which students develop and embody Christian values and the Catholic faith. We value prayer, faith, stewardship and academic excellence.

Maintaining a Catholic Identity: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Elementary School maintains its Catholic identity throughout the daily school schedule. There are signs and images in each classroom such as crucifixes, rosaries and pictures of the pope and saints. Our Catholic Identity is in our curriculum philosophy, our daily practice, Mass participation and teaching of mercy and respect to others.

Community Outreach: Cathedral School is very involved in the Crookston community through programs, service, and performance. During the annual Rake-A-Thon, students clean yards in the Crookston area. They also assist at the North Country Food Bank, provide Christmas Food Baskets, visit Villa St. Vincent and Mount St. Benedict, and participate in various projects for veterans.

Father Augie Gothman, Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner and Father Vincent Miller use candles to bless the throats of those gathered for the school Mass on Feb. 3, the Feast of St. Blaise.

(Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

CATHEDRAL SCHOOL PHILOSOPHIES We come to our greatest potential when we understand who we are. We believe at Cathedral School that this is fully understood in our relationship with Christ. Therefore, we commit to the following truths: • We acknowledge families as the primary educators of their children.

• We seek to work in partnership with them to provide an educational program enhanced by religious training.

• Every child will learn in a supportive, safe, caring and disciplined environment.

• Every child is called to engage in a personal relationship with God. • Every child will experience Christian stewardship through diverse service to family, parish and community.

All children are empowered to achieve their goals of academic excellence through participation in high-quality, challenging programs which prepare them to be a service to their communities and to their successes in life.

(Source: www.cathedralschool.org)

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February 10, 2016

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Surrogacy and the ‘throwaway culture’ Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has waged a war on the “throwaway culture”, in which anything can be commodified and given a dollar value, and where life itself can be, in his words, “considered a consumer good to be used and then discarded.”

The commercial surrogacy industry is a product of the throwaway culture. In surrogacy arrangements, a baby can be bought and sold, a woman’s body can be used as a human incubator, and those with the most wealth – i.e., the surrogacy industry – are in charge of the decisions. A surrogacy arrangement can cost between $100,000-$150,000, with only a small portion going to the surrogate mother. A good majority of the money goes to the surrogacy industry itself, a multibillion-dollar, ever-expanding international business.

This international business – which includes fertility clinics, doctors, lawyers, and third party brokerage firms – lobbies to create laws in states like Minnesota that would enable the surrogacy market to continue

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

By Ms. Kathryn Mollen

Policy and Outreach Coordinator Minnesota Catholic Conference

to grow unchecked by giving legal recognition to surrogacy contracts.

UNDERMINING HUMAN DIGNITY Often these contracts create an imbalanced preference favoring the industry’s financial interests over the surrogate mother’s well-being, not to mention the well-being of the unborn child. Recognizing this danger, some countries are starting to clamp down on the surrogacy industry.

For example, the European Parliament recently condemned surrogacy, concluding that the practice “undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.”

In the state of Tabasco in Mexico, surrogacy has been restricted in an attempt to reign in a rapidly expanding market.

Heedless of a global movement in which countries such as Canada, India, Cambodia, Mexico, and many European states have either banned or restricted the practice, our nation’s leaders have refused to take steps to protect citizens from the dangers of surrogacy. Without federal regulations banning or restricting the practice, states have cobbled together inconsistent laws – most that favor the industry and enable its growth.

In California, for instance, two separate cases recently emerged in which surrogate mothers were pressured to abort one of the three fetuses

they were carrying. When both mothers refused, the would-be parents’ attorneys threatened to sue them for breach of contract, claiming they were liable for money damages unless they complied.

One of the mothers, Melissa Cook, is now challenging the constitutionality of California’s surrogacy contracts, saying, “I no longer view surrogacy arrangements in the same favorable light I once did … [I] think that the basic concept of surrogacy arrangements must be re-examined, scrutinized, and reconsidered.”

A COMMONSENSE SOLUTION Similar stories continue to surface with increasing frequency, putting pressure on lawmakers to do something to protect women and unborn children from being put at risk and exploited at the expense of the financial interests of the more powerful bargaining party.

Last year, the Minnesota Catholic Conference assisted legislators in introducing a bill that would do exactly what Cook said was necessary: estab-

lish a study commission to reexamine, scrutinize, and reconsider surrogacy arrangements.

The bill was drafted to be a bipartisan, fact-finding mission where the practices of the industry could be brought to light – a commonsense approach necessary to protect children, women, and intended parents from the potential harms of surrogacy arrangements.

Despite the fact that this bill proposed nothing but the study of surrogacy, the industry strongly opposed it. If surrogacy arrangements are without any negative consequences, as proponents contest, their vehement opposition to examining the issue more closely leaves us to wonder what the industry has to hide.

This session, the surrogacy industry will undoubtedly try to block the creation of a commission again. The question will be, are we, as Catholics, willing to call our legislators, go to their offices, and attend hearings to stand up for the vulnerable, oppose a throwaway culture, and insist that – at a minimum – our legislators study this issue?

The Year of Mercy: A pilgrimage of purity As we begin 2016 with our intentions for the year to come, the Church also provides many opportunities to make a Year of Mercy pilgrimage to a holy place.

There are many types of pilgrimages, which also include the internal journey of receiving God’s mercy in our lives.

In a recent document entitled, “Create in Me A Clean Heart,” the U.S. Bishops apply the call of Pope Francis’ to the Church for purity, writing: “The Church as a field hospital is called to proclaim the truth of the human person in love, to protect people especially children from pornography, and to provide the Lord’s mercy and healing for those wounded by pornography.”

So this mission of the Church as a “field hospital” can certainly be applied to mission of purity. We are called both to be a church that proclaims the truth of human sexuality, protecting the innocent from exposure to degrading forms of sexuality promoted as “normal,” and to serve those wounded, offering them mercy and healing. This plays out in particular by recognizing and confessing the

INTEGRITY HUMAN PERSON INSIGHTS

By Mr. Dan Spadaro, MA, LPC Syndicated through The Colorado Catholic Herald

wounds in our own lives and forgiving those who have offended us, and responding to God’s call to us as a loving father.

As stated in paragraphs 1847 and 2840 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we discover the basic ingredients that dispose us to God’s mercy, first by confessing our own sin.

Humbly confessing and admitting our behavior is what starts the process of returning to relationships with others and God. This acknowledgement requires us to look at any ways in which we have created separation or harmed others. We examine and confess our sin, not as a shameful exercise, but as a means to empower us to return to the family of God. It

starts to clear away the distortions caused by sin and allows us to see the path ahead. As the prodigal son exclaims, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here in hunger!” (Lk 15:17) So too, we examine ourselves and confess our sin and what harm it caused. We also see the impact of our distorted thinking and desires on many areas of our lives. The reality is that as we confess and work to stop a habitual sin, we find that there is need to rethink, and change our reactions in ways which then help eliminate the vulnerabilities to sin. So confession leads to our repentance as pilgrims returning back to the Father’s love. Just as the prodi-

gal son returned to his father’s house, confessed his sins, and was willing to work as a hired servant. “I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and before you.’” (Lk 15:18) In going to sacramental confession, we have an opportunity to experience this mercy.

As St. Francis de Sales said, “it is impossible so to contend with (our faults) without seeing them, or to overcome them without meeting them face-toface. Our victory does not consist in being insensible to them, but in not consenting to them.”

Confession leads to a willingness to forgive others, the second ingredient towards receiving mercy. Forgiveness is an action of the will and the heart, which allows us to shed our resentment and anger that keeps us bound. This was the challenge of the prodigal son’s brother as his anger and jealousy kept him from joining in the celebration.

Forgiveness commonly lies in three areas: forgiveness of others, God, and self. As with individuals who have struggled with pornography, anger and

resentment increase the temptation to fall back into old patterns and detach from relationships. So forgiving others (often more than once) starts to reduce the temptation for falling back into old patterns of sin. Often people say that they don’t feel like forgiving or they are afraid to forgive. The catechism encourages us, stating in paragraph 2843: “It is there, in fact, ‘in the depths of the heart,’ that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power to not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.”

Forgiveness is not excusing someone’s behavior, as sometimes limits need to be set to protect someone from harm.

When we make a decision to forgive it can feel like giving up our “right” to take revenge, while trusting God with the outcome. When we are able to express our forgiveness we are able to experience new freedom and openness to the mercy of God.

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

February 10, 2016

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A rebirth of hope and a renewal of mercy The following was the homily I delivered at the evening vespers held at the Cathedral on January 22 during the “Holy Hour for Reparation” for the sin of abortion in our nation.

The meditation was on: Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14.

With the conception of every child, without distinction, the hope of man is reborn within the sanctuary of the womb.

With the birth of every child, without distinction, the mercies of the Lord are renewed and made manifest to the world.

How else does one understand the summation of the Messiah’s mission? What other meaning could possibly be ascribed to him calling over a child and saying for all the world to hear him: “Whoever receives such as a child like this receives me.” “Even their angels are beholding the face of God.” For you see: this is the kingdom. This is the purpose of it all. This is the direction the future is supposed to take! The future? Really – a child? Isn’t that backwards? Isn’t the way of the world that you start young and end old? Everything in life is set up for maturation; for getting older; for getting more and more self-sufficient and independent. We’re told to grow up and be ‘adult.’ That’s how it re-

CREDO A NEW EVANGELIZATION WITNESS

By Father Robert Schreiner, S.T.L.

Director of the Office of the New Evangelization

ally goes. Right?

But … no. The Messiah takes a child from among the crowd of all the adults. And he clearly arranged the visual so that all would know that it is not a mere notion of a child he’s referring to, nor a simple parable about childhood he’s talking about nor some kind of high minded mythology of children that he intends to teach. No – he takes a real flesh, real child, in real time – probably one with skinned knees and cookie crumbs clinging to the cheeks!

Then, Jesus fixes their attention upon that child and says in effect: This is what gets you into heaven. Becoming this is what saves you. Children are what God wants the world to be populated with. There is no resident of heaven who didn’t first succeed at becoming as like a child.

Thus endeth the lesson.

My, but we’ve forgotten this.

Our culture says it treasures children. But the truth is that the culture is breathlessly committed to recreating the world into a playground for adults.

Now the word “adult,” when used, often references any one of the 7 cardinal sins that have become mainstreamed, marquee’d or boldly blazoned with neon. Adult entertainment. Adult clubs. Adult language. Adult toys. PG-13, R and NC-17 all telling kids: Not for you! “No one under 21:” this has become the signpost of our age and it’s posted at every turn of life children travel. And our kids are sensitive to these signs.

They watch; they see and they learn – all too young they learn: The world is not for them. It’s for adults.

But that’s a lie. The world isn’t for adults. Not by Godly design it isn’t. It is and has been from the freshness of Eden’s first dew that the world is built,

designed and executed for the life of children. And time, the gift of time from God, is merely given us as the venue within which to perfect ourselves as God’s children, “holy and beloved.” (1 John: 3) At least as the world defines it, we are not meant to become “adults.”

No resident of heaven has ever entered it by destroying their spiritual childhood.

Heaven’s gates are not posted with signs which say: “No one under 21 permitted.” Quite to the contrary. If we are to understand Jesus correctly, and if there are any signs posted on the pearly gates they would say clearly: “Children only.”

Thus, with the conception of every child, without distinction, the hope of man is reborn within the sanctuary of the womb. And with the birth of every child, without distinction, the mercies of the Lord are renewed and made manifest to the world.

We gather this night as disciples of Jesus willing to take up the mantle of repentance for those who have yet to recognize their sin; for those who willfully deny their conscience; or for those whose ignorance of God’s ways is studied and sustained with hardened hearts.

We gather before the Lord of

Life. We kneel before the fullest revelation of the Father’s mercies and pray for mercy upon us all. We ask the rays of his Divine Mercy to heal the wounded, restore the broken, enlighten the ignorant and finally to destroy all darkness. We appeal to the throne of Mercy to blunt the horrific waves of sadness which the violence of abortion unleashes and instead serve to lead all safely home to the arms of true forgiveness and to a communion of love and life in God. We silently pray before Mary’s Son this night, asking her to join us in her Cathedral to pray for all in our diocese, in our families and all others who have been wounded through any connection with abortion.

We ask her to wrap her mantle of maternal love and affection around the wounded and bring them to Jesus her merciful Son. And of course, we prayerfully beseech God’s loving care and eternal mercies for all the martyrs of the womb.

With the conception of every child, without distinction, the hope of man is reborn within the sanctuary of the womb.

With the birth of every child, without distinction, the mercies of the Lord are renewed and made manifest to the world.

We contribute to the culture of death if we ‘just sing a little louder’ The following testimony came from a pamphlet by the organization Heritage House titled “Sing a Little Louder”.

A pro-life activist, was approached by a man and he shared the following story: I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. We thought, “What could anyone do to stop it?”

A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track.

We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews.

They were like cattle stuffed into those train cars.

Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin

LIFE FIRST

By Father Don Braukmann

Parochial Vicar - St. Philip’s Parish, Bemidji and St. Charles Parish, Pennington

to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people yet their screams tormented us.

We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns.

By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God

forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.

Now, so many years later, I see it happening all over again in America.

God forgive you as Americans for you have blocked out the screams of millions of your own children. The holocaust is here. The response is the same as it was in my country … just sing a little louder.

We “sing a little louder” when we give Planned Parenthood a pass and pay them to kill children. Pro-abortionists say Planned Parenthood provides critical health care services to women. They don’t tell the rest of the story in that other medical service facilities provide the

exact same health care without abortion.

We “sing a little louder” when we cheer politicians who say we should simply ship back to their home countries all those who have entered our nation illegally. We seem to refuse to hear or consider the pleading from whole families who have run for their lives from the places they once called home.

We forget that children born here are American citizens and still there are voices demanding their parents be dispatched from the country. Of course the issue of illegal aliens must be addressed … but, as Christians, as Catholics, do we shred families in the process?

We “sing a little louder” when we demand more gun control laws after the horrendous slaughter of innocent people.

Yes, the debate must be had but will we ignore the call for help of the mentally ill who are pulling the trigger? Why are we so afraid of addressing the crisis in mental health care?

We “sing a little louder” when

we don’t like what we hear from one side or the other about climate change: if it is happening and what is causing it? Surely we can sit down together and have that discussion using insights from Pope Francis on the subject as a starting point. His starting point is the poor, not the climate alone.

We “sing a little louder” when we insist that people must be put to death to show people it is wrong to kill people. The death penalty makes no sense in our day and age. It is simply a way for those seeking revenge to have their way. It has little to do with justice.

And, finally, we “sing a little louder” as a way to choke off our hearing when our hearts declare us guilty of sin in our own life.

Lent is upon us. What a great time for silence. No singing.

Just listening, whether what we hear is delightful or condemning, may we hear it all … and not be afraid.

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February 10, 2016

AROUND THE DIOCESE

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Anniversary of Roe decision marked locally with marches, prayer OND Staff Report Three events were held in the Diocese of Crookston to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in our nation.

On the evening of Jan. 22, the Office of the New Evangelization hosted a Holy Hour for Reparation and Healing. The holy hour featured adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, reading scripture and a short homily from Father Robert Schreiner, Director of the Office of the New Evangelization. (The text of his homily can be read in the CREDO column on Page 5.)

On Jan. 23, a March for Life took place in Park Rapids, Minn.

The walk was held to provide awareness of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, and involved participants of many faiths. The group followed a route from the Hubbard County Courthouse, to the main highways in Park Rapids, passing the pregnancy resource center and ending at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church for a rally.

A march took place in Bemidji, Minn. on Jan. 23 as well.

Around 100 people met in front of the Beltrami County Courthouse to pray before walking through downtown Bemidji and along the highway by the lake.

The march ended at St. Philip’s and was followed by lunch and presentations.

Father Robert Schreiner delivers a homily during the Holy Hour for Reparation and Healing held on the evening of Jan. 22 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Around 100 people gathered to adore the Blessed Sacrament and to pray for our nation on the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

Over 30 people gathered at the Hubbard County Courthouse in Park Rapids, Minn., on Jan. 23 to participate in the third annual March for Life held in that city. (Submitted photo)

Marchers were led by a large pro-life sign after praying in front of the Beltrami County Courthouse on Jan. 23 during the Bemidji Pro-life March. Around 100 people came to provide witness to the sanctity of life and pray for a change in the hearts and laws of our country. The march was followed by a lunch served by the Knights of Columbus, and presentations at St. Philip’s. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/ OND)

wants your news and advertisements!

Find 2016 publishing dates and submission deadlines on the web: www.crookston.org/ond The next OND submission deadline is: Wednesday, February 17 by 12:00 p.m.

E-mail: Janelle C. Gergen, Associate Editor jgergen@crookston.org

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

February 10, 2016

7

Let your servant go in peace: Part 3 Nuts and bolts. That’ll be the content of the next three parts of this series on death, dying, and celebrating eternal life.

Our Catholic Church gives us a gift in her wisdom and traditions of how we “connect” our earthly life with our eternal one – it is one life begun in God and ending in God. Our funeral rites are three-fold: vigil, funeral, and committal. Each step allows the mourners to express their grief in stages: the acknowledging of their loved one’s life and passing through story-telling and communal prayer; the celebration of the Paschal Mystery in Word (the ultimate “story-telling”) and Sacrament; and taking leave of the physical remains and taking home the consolation that all believers remain alive together in Christ’s Mystical Body for all eternity.

The first words written in the Order of Christian Funerals (OCF) begin: “The vigil is the principal rite celebrated by the Christian community in the time following death and be-

FROM THE OFFICE OF: WORSHIP AND LITURGY

By Mrs. Mary Dahl

Director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy

fore the funeral liturgy.” There are actually two provided for us: the Vigil for the Deceased and the Vigil for the Deceased with Reception at the Church. An aspect that sometimes isn’t well known is that this vigil may be celebrated in the home of the deceased (paragraph 55). There also may be more than one in order to accommodate all who may wish to express their care and concern for the deceased and the family, i.e., at the nursing home or assisted living facility where the deceased had resided for a time, and then again with relatives and friends at the funeral home, and, perhaps again, at the church with

the community of faith the evening before the funeral liturgy.

Allow plenty of time for stories to be shared before and after the “official” rites.

Many cultures, including Native American, hold very dear the art of story-telling and the treasure of oral history. Being aware of cultural traditions and expectations allow families to mourn with dignity and come to celebrate well the passing of their loved ones.

Paragraph 56 of the OCF says: “At the vigil the Christian community keeps watch with the family in prayer to the God of mercy and finds strength in Christ’s presence.” The struc-

ture of the vigil rites is simple: introductory, Liturgy of the Word, prayer of intercession, and conclusion. Music is an integral part of the vigil rites. The singing of one of the deceased’s favorite hymns, calling to mind deep faith in the resurrection and eternal life by all those gathered, is a most appropriate way to begin the formal service. The proclamation of the Word of God, a selected passage from scripture that the deceased or the family holds dear, follows a brief opening prayer by the presiding minister. This reading may be proclaimed by one chosen from family or friends. The singing of a beloved psalm from Scripture follows. Many choose a version of Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd. A chosen passage from the Gospels is proclaimed. This segment concludes with a brief homily or reflection connecting how all these Scriptures were lived out by the deceased, and are to be continued to be lived out by all.

Part three follows – paragraph 62 of the OCF says: “In the prayer of intercession the

community calls upon God to comfort the mourners and to show mercy to the deceased.”

This prayer consists of a litany (with response: “Lord, have mercy”), the Lord’s Prayer, and concluding prayer. After the concluding prayer, The OCF states, “a member or a friend of the family may speak in remembrance of the deceased.”

This is a ritualized story-telling, simple and brief, different from the stories and memories shared before and/or after the official rites during visitations.

The vigil service concludes with a simple blessing over the deceased and over all present.

Most often this vigil takes place at the end of a prolonged time of visitation. A final passing-by of the deceased’s remains by those in attendance, as they exit for home, accompanied by a music selection, with words or instrumental, would be appropriate as the family prepares for their own leave-taking for much needed respite for the next step on the journey.

Next issue: The funeral liturgy.

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February 10, 2016

AROUND THE DIOCESE

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

CONFESSION: Continued from Page 1 pilgrims who make a pilgrimage to a Holy Door as a sign of desire for true conversion. The pilgrimage should be linked to receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Holy Communion with a reflection on mercy. In addition, pilgrims should pray a profession of faith and prayer for Pope Francis and his intentions.

Another way Pope Francis has asked for dioceses throughout the world to participate in the Year of Mercy is through 24 Hours for the Lord. This will be the third Lent in which Pope Francis celebrates a penance service at St. Peters followed by select churches in Rome remaining open for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for 24 hours.

The global celebration of 24 Hours for the Lord will take place on the Friday and Saturday preceding the fourth week of Lent, which falls on March 4 and 5 this year. “Let us place the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the center once more in such a way that it will enable people to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands,� Pope Francis wrote in the Bull of Indiction.

The Diocese of Crookston is not hosting a specific 24 Hours for the Lord event, but the faithful can contact their local parishes to find out if adoration or confession will take place during that time.

A list of Lenten Penance Services and other opportunities to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at parishes throughout the Diocese of Crookston will be printed in Our Northland Diocese during the month of February.

Sometimes entering the confessional can be difficult or uncomfortable for people.

Mosher said he understands why people can be nervous. “Just acknowledging your own sins, thinking about them, and saying them out loud can be quite the event,â€? he said. “Even after feeling all the guilt and shame that comes with sin, all that is waiting in the confessional is forgiveness,â€? he said. “The feeling when the priest absolves you of your sins is one of the most beautiful and joyful feelings one will ever experience. ‌ If you are afraid to go, it’s all the more reason to go.â€?

Karen Gubbels of St. Patrick’s, Hallock, grew up in the Catholic Church and didn’t re-

EXPERIENCE THE EXTRAORDINARY GRACE OF GOD’S GIFT OF MERCY Lenten confession times in the Diocese of Crookston SACRED HEART, FRAZEE Confession will be offered frequently at varying times.

See parish bulletin for details.

ASSUMPTION, CALLAWAY Confession will be offered frequently at varying times.

See parish bulletin for details.

ST. ANDREW, HAWLEY: PENANCE SERVICE Thursday, February 17, 7:00 p.m.

Check parish bulletin for additional confession times.

ST. CECILIA, SABIN: PENANCE SERVICE Thursday, February 24, 7:00 p.m.

Check parish bulletin for additional confession times.

Pope Francis goes to confession during a Lenten penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican March 13, 2015. During the service the pope announced an extraordinary jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy, to be celebrated from Dec. 8, 2015, until Nov. 20, 2016.

(Photo credit: Stefano Spaziani/CNS)

alize the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “As an adult, more things have come up in my life and after I confess something that has been bothering me, I have a sense of relief and am so happy that I went,� she said.

Carol Olsonawski, Gubbels’ mother, also belongs to St. Patrick’s, Hallock. “Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, you will not be sorry,� she said. “If you have anxiety about confessing, you will have a sense of calm and relief after confessing.�

Father Arends said people are sometimes afraid to come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a variety of reasons. “I always encourage people to come back, and to never for-

get that the only sin God cannot forgive is the one we’re unwilling to confess, the only one we’re unwilling to ask forgiveness for. There’s nothing that we can’t be forgiven for if we just bring it to him and let the sacrament wash us clean,� he said. “The season of Lent during this Jubilee Year should be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy,� Pope Francis wrote in the Bull of Indiction. Hopefully Catholics in the Diocese of Crookston and around the world will respond to the Holy Father’s call to experience the depths of God’s mercy, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, MOORHEAD: PENANCE SERVICE Monday, February 29, 7:00 p.m.

Check parish bulletin for additional confession times.

Additional confession times for the rest of Lent will be printed in the next edition of Our Northland Diocese.

CORRECTION: An error was made in Vol. 70, No. 1, of Our Northland Diocese in the article “Diocesan schools and 12 parishes receive Faith For Tomorrow grants� (Pg. 3).

Holy Rosary School, Detroit Lakes, was omitted from the listing of Diocesan Catholic Schools that received a Faith For Tomorrow grant.

Our Northland Diocese apologizes for the error!

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OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

AROUND THE DIOCESE

Sacrament of Confirmation

February 10, 2016

9

Holy Rosary youth play games with local nursing home residents

Recently, the fifth grade faith formation class at Holy Rosary, Detroit Lakes, took a field trip to the nursing home. The students invited the residents to play games and had an enjoyable time. (Submitted photo)

St. Elizabeth’s, Dilworth. (Photo credit: Haney’s Photography)

Sisters sponsor prayer services for Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Lenten Practices Ash Wednesday (February 10) and Good Friday (March 25) are days of fast and abstinence.

Fridays of Lent are also days of abstinence.

Fasting is to be observed by all who are 18 years of age or older, who have not yet celebrated their 59th birthday. On a fast day, one full meal is allowed. Two other meals sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one’s needs, but together they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk and juices, are allowed.

Abstinence is observed by all who are 14 years of age and older. On days of abstinence, no meat is allowed. Note that when health or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige.

When in doubt concerning fasting and abstinence, consult your parish priest.

Fasting, almsgiving and prayer are the three traditional disciplines of Lent. The faithful and catechumens should undertake these practices seriously in a spirit of penance and of preparation for baptism or of renewal of baptism at Easter.

In observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the Sisters of St. Joseph and Sisters of St. Benedict of Crookston held two prayer services during the last week of January. The first was held at the Mount St. Benedict Chapel on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. The second prayer service took place Jan. 29 at the Villa St. Vincent Chapel.

Following the Jan. 29 service, Katya Zepeda, director of United Way of Crookston, posed with the Sisters of St. Joseph in attendance.

From left to right (seated): Sister Joanne Johnson, Sister Rosemary Toenyan; (standing) Sister Mary Ellen Proulx, Sister Rose Marie Brouillard, Sister Vivian Miron, Sister Joan Lanctot, Sister Ruthann Scherer, Sister Clariet Perreault, Katya Zepeda, Sister Pat Murphy.

(Submitted photo)

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February 10, 2016

NATIONAL

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Study says most entering religious life had parish ministry experience

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – A study issued Feb. 4 by the Washington-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate found that “a great majority” of those entering religious life had prior experience serving in at least one parish ministry.

“The most common ministry service reported was liturgical ministry,” said the report, “followed by some form of faith formation.” The study said 84 percent had taken part in some form of ministry either as a volunteer or in a paid position.

The survey was sent to 411 men and women entering religious institutes – a catchall term encompassing religious congregations and orders – with 278 responding, for a response rate of 68 percent.

While half had attended a Catholic grade school, a bit more than the 42 percent for the total U.S. adult Catholic population, the differences were more pronounced for Catholic high school (39 percent vs. 22 percent) and college (40 percent vs. 6 percent) attendance. Those entering religious life were well educated, with 49 percent having an undergraduate degree and another 21 percent having

a graduate degree.

One troubling note in the report was that 68 percent, or more than two-thirds, of all U.S. religious institutes reported no one entering religious life last year. One in seven institutes had one entrant, and about one in five reported having two or more.

While a majority of respondents reported receiving positive responses from their families about their consideration of a vocation, those numbers were in the mid-50 percent range, while they zoomed into the mid-90s when it came to support from vocation and spiritual directors and the institute itself.

While 64 percent said they had gotten to know a priest or a religious brother or religious sister while growing up who was not a relative, and 55 percent said starting a discussion with their family about their vocation was easy for them, only 19 to 29 percent can recall their mother, father or another relative talking to them about a vocation.

The top attractions to religious life, with at least half of those saying they “very much” were attracted to these aspects, were a desire for prayer and spiritual growth, a sense of call to religious life, a desire to be of service, a desire to be part of a

community, and a desire to be more committed to the church.

The qualities that attracted them most to the religious institute they entered were its spirituality, its mission, its community life, its prayer life, the example set by its members, the ministries of the institute, its fidelity to the church, and welcome and encouragement by members.

Items they said were most helpful in arriving at a decision for choosing a particular instate were contact with the vocation director, contact with institute members and a “come and see”-type experience.

The top Influences behind their choice of institute were its community life, its prayer life and prayer styles, its members’ lifestyles, the types of ministry of its members, and its practice regarding a religious habit.

Respondents reported that the top aspects of community life were living and praying with other members, socializing and sharing leisure time together, sharing meals together and working with other members.

They rated their respective institutes most highly on faithfulness to prayer and spiritual growth, commitment to ministry, opportunities for spiritual growth, fidelity to the church

and its teachings, opportunities for personal growth, the welcome and support of newer members, the focus on mission, and opportunities for ongoing formation.

Asked in a separate series of questions to rate their institute, at least half of those responding said they were excellent in projecting a sense of identity as institute members, their sense of identity as religious, the quality of community life, educational opportunities, relationships with one another, responding to “the needs of our time,” the institute’s formation programs, communal prayer experiences, preparation for ministry, efforts to promote vocations, and efforts to promote social justice.

Still, life has its challenges, and religious life is no exception.

“Asked what was the most challenging about the religious life, the respondents most commonly report that they find community life the most challenging aspect of their religious life experience. They have learned that living in community may involve loss of privacy, as well as struggles in living with the members who have different cultural backgrounds, points of views, ages, personalities and preferences,” the study said.

“Respondents also report the

challenge of recognizing and addressing limitations in themselves and others, while desiring to grow in religious life. They regularly mentioned their difficulty in overcoming ‘myself,’ ‘temptations,’ ‘weakness’ and ‘sins.’”

CARA said, “Respondents found challenges in adapting to the new lifestyle in their religious communities. This adjustment includes daily schedule, new life pace, food, prayer life (and) community life, among other things.

The report added, “Another emerging challenge that respondents shared was their decreased connection with their family members and friends.

The schedule and lifestyle in religious life lead religious to reduce their connections with families and friends. They live far away from their family and friends that sometimes leads them to homesickness. Some of them also felt that their family and friends did not understand religious life and their decision to enter the religious life. They also missed some other relationships and felt that religious life somehow reduces their opportunity for communication.”

Priest serving in Detroit says Blessed Teresa was his ‘spiritual sister’

By Dan Meloy Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, India, had a profound effect on just about everybody.

Whether it was her healing touch, her ministry to the poorest of the poor, or the millions of Catholics from around the world moved by her words, almost everyone felt like they “knew” her.

But one Detroit-area priest has a unique tie to the soon-tobe-saint: He was her driver.

On the bustling streets of Rome – where many aspire to be Ferrari’s next Formula 1 driver – Father Ben Luedtke, a guest priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit who gives missions and assists other priests across the archdiocese, was Blessed Teresa’s driver whenever she visited Rome from 1975 to 1982.

“Italians drive like crazy and I had a universal driver’s license,” Father Luedtke said. “I tended

to go slower, not take the corners as sharp. So I got to know her through that.”

Not quite a “Driving Miss Daisy” story, but Father Luedtke and Blessed Teresa got to know each other over the years.

Father Luedtke was studying in Rome to become a priest, being ordained by St. John Paul II in 1982. Upon his ordination, Father Luedtke and Blessed Teresa’s relationship continued in a special way – they became spiritual brother and sister.

“Every person ordained by St. John Paul II had a sister assigned to them to be their spiritual sister,” Father Luedtke told The Michigan Catholic, Detroit’s archdiocesan newspaper.

“The nun prays for the priest, and the priest prays for the nun for spiritual benefits. When a person prays for a priest, that nun receives a grace, and vice versa.”

During one of their drives, Father Luedtke told Blessed Teresa that he didn’t have a spiri-

tual sister yet.

“I told Mother Teresa that I didn’t have anybody, so I asked her,” Father Luedtke said. “She asked the Holy Father about it, then called me and said yes. She probably would have lived longer if she didn’t have to pray for me so much.”

On Dec. 17, Pope Francis confirmed the second miracle necessary for Blessed Teresa to become a saint – with Sept. 4, 2016, as the probable date of her canonization.

The entire world knew Blessed Teresa for her work in India, standing up for the poor and spreading the love of Jesus, but Father Luedtke gained insights few others might have enjoyed. In fact, if not for him, the world might not have gotten to see her much at all.

“Mother Teresa wouldn’t let anyone take pictures of her; she hated publicity,” Father Luedtke said. “I was talking to her and said, ‘You realize, Mother, you release a soul from purga-

tory for every time you offer anything up to God, so why don’t you offer the picture up to God?’ She said all right, and that’s why you only see pictures of her when she’s old.”

After 1982, Mother Teresa and Father Luedtke went their separate ways – occasionally running into each other at retreats or conferences. But he is quick to play down his connection to the future saint, noting that he always knew she would be canonized one day.

“She was very quiet, always prayerful,” Father Luedtke said.

“I did ask her once, what is the one criteria you look for in a person who wants to join the Missionaries of Charity? She smiled and said, ‘She has to be able to laugh. You need to see the humor in life, there has to be joy.’”

When the church was investigating possible miracles to attribute to Mother Teresa’s intercession, Vatican officials tracked down Father Luedtke

and interviewed him about his time with her – Blessed Teresa never wrote his name down, so it took years for the Missionaries of Charity to find him and finally did so at a retreat in Memphis, Tenn.

Looking back at his time driving around the church’s next saint, Father Luedtke doesn’t think of it as extraordinary – he was doing what he was asked to do – but he did learn a lot from a person who meant so much to so many.

“She prayed for hours. When I went to go pick her up, she would still be praying before we took off,” Father Luedtke said. “There was a reporter who once asked, ‘Mother, people are dying in the streets of Calcutta while you are at prayer; why do you waste so much time?’ She said she couldn’t do anything without the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and through prayer.”

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

NATIONAL

February 10, 2016

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New bishop ordained for Houston-based ordinariate for former Anglicans

By John Henry Catholic News Service HOUSTON – Envoys of the Vatican along with dozens of U.S. Catholic prelates gathered Feb. 2 with the faithful at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston for a historymaking Mass – ordination and installation Mass for Bishop Steven J. Lopes.

He is the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, established by the Vatican in 2012 to serve former Anglicans living full communion with the Catholic Church.

Bishop Lopes assumed his new post, declaring “Magna Opera Domini – Great are the works of the Lord.”

Appointed by Pope Francis in November, Bishop Lopes, a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, succeeds Msgr.

Jeffrey N. Steenson, who announced his retirement last year.

“We thank God for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his spirit-prompted vision of unity and faith in a diversity of expression which informs the apostolic constitution ‘Anglicanorum coetibus,’” Bishop Lopes said. “We thank God for our Holy Father Pope Francis for putting his vision into concrete expression.”

With “Anglicanorum coetibus,” Pope Benedict established the ordinariate Jan. 1, 2012, in response to requests by Anglicans in the U.S. and Canada seeking to become Catholics.

For the past 10 years, Bishop Lopes, 40, worked at the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, where he helped guide the process for American and Canadian Anglican congregations wishing to join the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the doctrinal congregation’s prefect,

Bishop Steven J. Lopes raises the chalice during his Feb. 2 episcopal ordination Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in GalvestonHouston. Bishop Lopes is the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter: which serves former Anglicans living in full communion with the Catholic Church. (Photo credit: Tom McCarthy Jr./CNS)

and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington were co-consecrators.

The homilist was Cardinal William J. Levada, the retired head of the congregation. He also is former archbishop of San Francisco and ordained the new bishop as a priest in 2001.

“Today is Candlemas day, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord,” Cardinal Levada said.

“On Candlemas Day in this year of grace 2016, Jesus has come again to meet his believing people in word and sacrament.

“The people of faith Jesus has come to meet today is us, you and me – the church. And the name that will go forward from this day in this encounter with Christ is that of Steven Joseph Lopes.”

Bishop Lopes’ appointment marked the continuation and a fuller maturity of Pope Benedict 2009 apostolic constitution that created a pathway for Anglican parishes to join the Catholic Church through ordinariates, akin to dioceses but national in scope.

Parishes of the ordinariate

will be fully Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions, including liturgical traditions.

In announcing the appointment of Bishop Lopes, a Vatican news release said Pope Francis’ decision to name him “affirms and amplifies Pope Benedict’s vision for Christian unity, in which diverse expressions of one faith are joined together in the church.

Pope Benedict’s action expanded St. John Paul II’s 1980 pastoral provision, which provided the framework for former Episcopal priests to become Catholic.

Bishop Lopes expressed warm approval for the faithful of the ordinariate, the descendants of “the noble patrimony of English Christianity” who “prompted us to seek the fullness of Catholic communion under the successor of St. Peter the apostle.”

“Men and women of faith, from St. Augustine of Canterbury down to our own day, who have helped us respond to the voice of the Lord Jesus,” Bish-

op Lopes said. “Who have enriched the church with the noble patrimony of English Christianity and who have formed in us a passion for truth and who have blessed us with that same passion.”

The new bishop also shared his inspiration for the maxim “Magna Opera Domini,” recalling a retreat of Ordinariate priests and seminarians in Florida.

Many there shared their stories of journey to Catholic reunification and their search for the truth in sacred scripture, along the way sacrificing and confronting suffering. They left behind what was familiar and comfortable for what at times has been a lonely path.

At that moment it was clear, Bishop Lopes said, that this was the work of the Lord, “and great are the works of the Lord.”

The Houston-based Chair of St. Peter has its headquarters at Our Lady of Walsingham Church. Its jurisdiction covers the U.S. and Canada and it is one of three ordinariates worldwide.

According to data provided by officials, the ordinariate includes 62 priests and more than 20,000 Catholics in 43 parishes, including St. John Vianney in Cleburne, St. Mary the Virgin in Arlington and St. Timothy in Fort Worth.

The other two personal ordinariates are Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom and Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.

Msgrs. Keith Newton and Harry Entwistle, who head the Walsingham and Southern Cross ordinariates, respectively, were also in attendance.

Bishop Lopes’ predecessor, Msgr. Steenson, was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1980. The former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande in

Texas, he became a Catholic in 2007 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2009. But because he is married, he could not be ordained a bishop and could not ordain priests. As head of the ordinariate, he was a full voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In an interview with Catholic News Service when Bishop Lopes was appointed, Msgr.

Steenson said, “I welcome this news with all my heart, for the ordinariate has now progressed to the point where a bishop is much needed for our life and mission. A bishop will help to give the ordinariate the stability and permanence necessary to fulfil its mission to be a work of Catholic unity.”

“That the Ordinariate would ultimately be headed by a bishop has been the intention of Anglicanorum coetibus. It is indeed an encouraging sign that we have reached that goal.”

Bishop Lopes’ installation coincides with the release of “Divine Worship: The Missal,” the definitive book of liturgical texts for Mass in the personal ordinariates.

The new bishop closed his remarks with a message from Pope Francis, whom Bishop Lopes met with after his appointment. He described the pope as “very well informed” about the ordinariate, knowing “where we had come and what we had sacrificed to get here.

He was excited for the church and for us.” “’Avanti!’” Bishop Lopes recalled the pope saying in Italian.

“Go forward! There is our mandate. Go forward and preach the Gospel. Show the world that the Christian disciple is indeed joyful and that the communion of the church is worth committing our lives to.”

New Mexico, Texas bishops to represent USCCB during pope’s Mexico trip

By John Henry Catholic News Service HOUSTON – Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, and Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, will officially represent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico Feb. 12-17.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who is USCCB president, appointed them as representatives. Both

of their dioceses border Mexico.

Bishop Flores, 54, has headed the Brownsville Diocese since 2009. Catholics number more than 1.2 million, making up 85 percent of the total population in the 4,300-square-mile diocese.

Bishop Cantu, 49, has been bishop of Las Cruces since 2013. The diocese covers more than 44,500 square miles and has a Catholic population of close to 235,000, or 42 percent

of the total population.

A Feb. 2 news release from the USCCB said Archbishop Kurtz was invited to appoint representatives by Cardinal Jose Francisco Robles Ortega of Guadalajara, president of the Mexican bishops’ conference, and Bishop Eugenio Andres Lira Rugarcia, the conference’s general secretary.

During his trip to Mexico, Pope Francis will visit some of the most marginalized communities in that country and seek to

bring hope to a country deeply suffering from crime, corruption and inequality, according to the Vatican.

He will stop in six cities, including two in the state of Chiapas and -- across from El Paso, Texas -- Ciudad Juarez, which just five years ago was considered the “murder capital of the world” as drug cartels disputed a trafficking corridor.

The pope said in November that he wanted to visit cities where St. John Paul II and

Pope Benedict XVI never went.

But he said he will stop at the capital of Mexico City to pray at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “But if it wasn’t for Our Lady I wouldn’t” go there, he had told reporters.

The pope will fly out of and return to Mexico City each day after celebrating Mass at the basilica on the second day of his trip.

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OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Pope asks Mexican people for time alone with Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY – In a video message one week before his apostolic visit, Pope Francis asked the people of Mexico for some time alone during his visit to pray before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

“I would like to ask – as a favor from you – that this time, which will be the third time I will step on Mexican soil, to leave me alone a few minutes in front of the image. That is the favor I ask. Can you do that for me?” he said in the video released Jan. 3 by the Mexican news agency NotiMex. The video featured men and women from different cities in Mexico asking the pope questions about the visit he has planned to their country Feb. 12-17.

“I’m going to Mexico not as a wise man bearing things, messages, ideas or solutions to problems,” he responded, but as a pilgrim in search of something from the Mexican people.

“I am not going to pass around the collection basket so don’t worry about that,” the pope said. “But I will seek the wealth of faith that you have; I want to come in contact with that wealth of faith.”

Their wealth, he said, comes from the fact that they are not an orphaned people but one with a mother who “forged hope” in them.

“You all know the joke of that Mexican man who would say, ‘I am an atheist, but I am Guadalupan.’ It makes sense,” he said, because it reflects the feeling of “a people who does not want to be orphaned. There, perhaps, is the great wealth that I will seek. I will go as a pilgrim.”

When asked about his thoughts about Our Lady of Guadalupe, the pope recalled his visits to Mexico in 1970 and 1998, adding that “safety” and “tenderness” are what come to mind when thinking of Mary.

“How many times I have been fearful of a problem or that something bad has happened and I don’t know how to react and I pray to her. I like to repeat to myself, ‘Do not be afraid; Am I not here, I, who am your mother?’” The words are those Mary said to Juan Diego when she appeared to him.

Several men and women asked the pope for help in confronting violence brought on by corruption, drugs and human trafficking in the country. The “Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico of cartels is

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, left, celebrates Mass in 2013 alongside other prelates at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. (Photo credit: David Maung/CNS)

not the Mexico our mother wants,” the pope replied, adding that people “must fight for peace, but not with war.”

“I would like to be an instrument of peace in Mexico, but only with you all,” he said. “It’s obvious that I can’t do it alone – I would be crazy if I said that [I could] – but together with you all, [I visit] as an instrument of peace.”

Pope Francis also said he will visit as a “servant of faith” for the people, in the hopes that the faith may flourish in their private and public lives.

“Our faith is not a museum faith and the church is not a museum. Our faith is a faith born from contact, from speaking with Jesus Christ, our savior, with the Lord,” he said.

Pope Francis, Russian Orthodox patriarch to meet in Cuba, Vatican announces

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – After almost three decades of tense Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations, Pope Francis will meet Patriarch Kirill of Moscow Feb. 12 in Cuba on the pope’s way to Mexico.

It will be the first-ever meeting of a pope and Moscow patriarch, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters Feb. 5.

As Pope Francis travels to Mexico and as Patriarch Kirill makes an official visit to Cuba, the two will meet at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport and plan to sign a joint declaration, Father Lombardi said. The pope will leave Rome earlier than planned to allow time for the meeting without forcing any changes to his schedule in Mexico, he added.

The meeting “will mark an important stage in relations between the two churches,” said a joint declaration on the meeting.

The Cuba meeting was not an “improvisation,” Father Lombardi said; it took two years of intense planning and negotiations to schedule. Even when the idea of a meeting was just a vague hope, both Catholic and Orthodox officials insisted it would have to take place on “neutral” territory rather than at the Vatican or in Russia.

Being the first ever meeting of a pope and Russian patriarch, he said, “is an event that, in the ecumenical journey and in the dialogue between Christian confessions, has an extraordinary impor-

tance.”

The meeting will come as representatives of Orthodox churches from around the world are preparing for a pan-Orthodox Council meeting in Crete in June.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, “naturally, has been informed” of plans for the pope and Patriarch Kirill to meet and expressed “his joy for this step forward,” Father Lombardi said.

Holding a simple meeting with a Moscow patriarch, spiritual leader of the world’s largest Orthodox church, was a failed dream of St. John Paul II and an opportunity that escaped retired Pope Benedict XVI as well.

Repeatedly after the Soviet bloc began dissolving in 1989 and the oncerepressed Eastern Catholic churches began functionally publicly again, Russian Orthodox leaders insisted there could be no meeting between a pope and a patriarch as long as Catholics were “proselytizing” in what the Orthodox considered their territory.

The Vatican insisted the Catholic Church rejects proselytism, which it defines as actively seeking converts from another Christian community, including through pressure or offering enticements. The Russian Orthodox had insisted such types of proselytism occurred in both Russia and Ukraine, although the Vatican said that when asked, the Orthodox provided no proof.

St. John Paul re-established the Latinrite Catholic hierarchy of Russia in 2002,

which led to the Russian Orthodox withdrawing from dialogue with the Vatican for several years. Even as tensions over the Catholic presence in Russia waned, the Russian Orthodox insisted a bigger example of proselytism was the loss of its churches in the newly independent Ukraine.

The Vatican recognized there were some instances of excessive zeal early on, but rejected the use of the term “proselytism” as a blanket description for the re-establishment of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The Ukrainian Catholic Church was outlawed by the Soviet government in the 1940s and its property was confiscated by the government, which in turn gave some churches to the Russian Orthodox. Byzantine-rite Catholics who once could worship only in a Russian Orthodox church, returned to Catholic services and sought the return of church property.

Father Lombardi said the fact that a meeting has been scheduled “allows one to think that on various points dialogue has matured and allowed some things that were once seen as obstacles to be overcome.”

Jesuit Father David Nazar, rector of Rome’s Pontifical Oriental Institute and a Ukrainian Catholic from Canada, told Catholic News Service, “If this were to take place, it would be big news in the Year of Mercy. To make a step in this direction is beautiful, but also irreversible.”

Especially for Catholics in Russia and Ukraine, he said, relations with the Russian Orthodox are complicated, includ-

ing because of the close relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government, which annexed the Crimea and is supporting fighting in Eastern Ukraine.

Father Nazar described his reaction to the news as “cautiously optimistic” and said he hoped it would mark “a new beginning” in Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations.

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Relics of St. Padre Pio, St. Leopold arrive in Rome for jubilee

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service ROME – Thousands of people waited hours outside a Rome church to glimpse the mortal remains of St. Padre Pio and St. Leopold Mandic, two Capuchins popular as miracle workers and known particularly for the long hours they would spend hearing confessions.

Pope Francis asked the Capuchins to bring the relics of St. Padre Pio and St. Leopold to Rome for the Year of Mercy, particularly the Feb. 10 celebration of Ash Wednesday and the commissioning of the official “missionaries of mercy.”

The hearse carrying Padre Pio’s crystal coffin was about 90 minutes late getting to Rome’s Basilica of St. Lawrence Feb. 3 because pockets and clusters of faithful repeatedly forced it to slow down as it drove from San Giovanni Rotondo, 235 miles to the southeast.

Posters pasted up all over the center of Rome giving the detailed schedule for Masses, prayer services and other devotions feature a large photo of Padre Pio and a smaller photo

of St. Leopold.

In the celebrations, St. Leopold “is given the backseat, but that’s been his life,” said Capuchin Father Clayton Fernandes, secretary-general of the order.

St. Leopold was a Croatian-born friar who ministered in Padua, Italy, and died in 1942. Father Fernandes said, “He was 4-feet, 5-inches tall,” and was known to prophesy and to levitate.

While St. Leopold is well known in Croatia and around Padua, his fame pales in comparison to that of Padre Pio, who was born in 1887 and died in 1968.

From 1918 to the very end of his life, Padre Pio bore the stigmata, wounds similar to those inflicted on Christ when he was crucified.

“For 50 years, he bore the marks of Christ,” Father Fernandes said, yet the marks disappeared as soon as he died.

There were accusations that they were self-inflicted, but the Capuchin said doctors examined them when he was operated on for appendicitis and said they did not believe they were self-inflicted.

“People realized that this was not just an ordinary guy; he had special gifts,” Father Fernandes said. His primary gift was the ability “to read hearts, he could tell you what you were going through before you told him.”

He also was said to bilocate.

“Padre Pio is special for all these reasons and more,” Father Fernandes said. “Padre Pio has won the hearts of the people because he spoke to their reality, the reality of a family that struggles because of economic difficulties, because they have

Pilgrims surround the exhumed body of St. Padre Pio at a Catholic church in Rome Feb. 3. Pope Francis asked the Capuchins to bring the relics of St. Padre Pio and St. Leopold to Rome for the Year of Mercy, particularly the Feb. 10 celebration of Ash Wednesday and the commissioning of the official “missionaries of mercy.” (Photo Credit: Yara Nardi, Reuters/CNS)

someone who is sick.”

“We need more Padre Pios today: priests, confessors, even laypeople who just take the time to listen to another and say, ‘I’m interested in what you are going through. Maybe I can’t do much, but remember, I think about you and pray for you.’

This is precisely what Padre Pio did and continues to do,” Father Fernandes said.

At the same time, there are stories of Padre Pio yelling at people and being harsh with penitents. While Padre Pio was not always gentle, Father Fernandes said, he seemed to know what was needed to bring each individual to conversion.

“He was tough,” Father Fernandes said. People would flock

to him, expecting him to work a miracle, “but they didn’t want to change.”

“Conversion is a process that starts with me,” he said. Padre Pio or any good confessor, spiritual guide or friend can help people on the path, but it takes a personal decision.

“This is the secret to his success, you could say: He was able to look deep into people and say, ‘Look, what you are asking for is not really what you need.

You need something more’ or ‘you need something different,’” Father Fernandes said. He was like any good father, who knew that sometimes what a child asks for is not what the child really needs.

The Capuchin also insists that

Padre Pio “was not a one-man show.” The other friars in his community and in his province supported his work and assisted him, especially in replying to the thousands of letters that would arrive each week. “They believed that he had a special gift from God, not that he was perfect.”

“There is one precise reason why Pope Francis wants Padre Pio and St. Leopold (at the Vatican for the jubilee),” he said: “It’s because they are missionaries of mercy. And mercy as encountered in confession. These are two friars who spent the big part of their life in the confessional.”

God triumphs by being humble, pope says

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY –The ways of man are not the ways of God, who triumphs through the grace of humility, Pope Francis said during his morning Mass.

This humility is exemplified in the life and death of St. John the Baptist who “did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God, the pope said Feb. 5 during the Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence.

The pope focused his homily on the day’s Gospel reading (Mk. 6: 14-29), which recounted John the Baptist’s arrest and beheading – both ordered by

King Herod.

John was the last of the great prophets and was considered

by Jesus to be “the greatest man born of a woman.” However, he not only suffered from the tortures of imprisonment, but also from “the interior torture of doubt” that made him question if Jesus was the Messiah, he said.

“He invited his disciples to ask Jesus: ‘But tell us, tell us the truth: are you he who is to come?’ because that doubt made him suffer. ‘Was I mistaken in proclaiming someone who isn’t (the one I thought)?’

(This is) the suffering, the inner solitude of this man,” the pope said.

He also noted that through his life and death, John “prepared the way for Jesus” who also “died in agony, alone, without the disciples.”

The pope invited the faithful to read chapter 6 of the Gospel of St. Mark in order to see “how God triumphs” through humility.

“God’s way is not man’s way,” he said. “Let us ask the Lord for the grace of humility that John had, and not ascribe to ourselves the merits or glory of others. And above all, (let us ask for) the grace so that in our lives there might always be a place so that Christ may grow, and we may lower ourselves, even to the very end.”

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COMMENTARY

WORD to LIFE February 14 FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15

Romans 10:8-13

By Jeff Hedglen Catholic News Service The most frequently asked question of Catholics at this time of year is, “What are you giving up for Lent?”

Giving things up and doing extra things is definitely a big part of the Lenten season. I suppose another big question is how long will we keep firm in these intentions before totally failing at Lent.

I think one of the best reasons to give something up or do something extra in Lent is that it helps us grow in discipline.

We are a culture that lets our emotions and feelings dictate our action or inaction.

Discipline can act as a balancing factor in our life. If we do what we do when we want to do it because we want to do it with no thought of self-control, we fall into the sin of gluttony or sloth. But if we can tame our passions with a little discipline, we can achieve greater heights of spiritual joy.

Strange as it may seem, there is more joy in discipline than in indulgence. One would think that giving in to temptation and enjoying the creature comforts would bring more satisfaction than denying ourselves or employing restraint, but this is not the case.

This week’s Gospel makes this abundantly clear when Jesus, in the middle of a 40-day fast, is tempted by the devil to give in to the moment and indulge his emotions. Yet, in the face of such temptation, Jesus reveals the truth that standing firm brings us closer to the will of God. The word “disciple,” not coincidentally, has the same root as “discipline.” A

February 10, 2016

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FOR FAITH-SHARING GROUPS

February 21 SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1 or Philippians 3:20-4:1

Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14 Gospel: Luke 9:28b-36

By Sharon K. Perkins Catholic News Service

disciple is one who follows the teachings of another person. When we discipline ourselves, we allow another’s teaching to guide and direct our paths. To be sure, disciplining ourselves is not easy. It takes, well, discipline.

So, when week two of Lent comes and we are tempted to abandon our resolve – eat the piece of cake or skip that daily Mass – let us be disciples of Jesus who disciplined himself in the desert and did not give in to temptation.

May this be our constant prayer: Jesus, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil!

Questions: How do you avoid giving in to temptation?

What are ways you can be a better disciple of Jesus this Lent?

"JESUS ... WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE DESERT FOR FORTY DAYS, TO BE TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL." – LUKE 4:1-2

I have a 2-year-old nephew who currently lives in Shanghai with his parents. He was born in China, but because my brother and his wife are U.S. citizens, their son received the full privileges and benefits of American citizenship even before his first glimpse of the United States; he only needed to obtain the necessary documentation.

When his parents’ residence in China ends, little Mateo, already the proud owner of a U.S. passport, will be welcomed into his “new” homeland and bound by its laws and obligations.

There’s a different kind of citizenship described in today’s readings, and we’re given a preview of it, beginning in Genesis. Abram, a sojourner and a foreigner, is promised more descendants than he can count and the possession of a land that is not his birthright.

Although no documents are signed, there is the solemn enactment of a covenant by which God binds himself to fulfill his promises. Before he even sees the land that God has given to him, Abram becomes its citizen.

In the Gospel, Peter, James and John saw the two great figures of their past, Moses and Elijah, on the mount of the Transfiguration. But Jesus also showed them a glimpse of their future citizenship. It was as if a curtain was pulled back and they were able to see a realm so glorious that they were overwhelmed, captivated, enthralled and frightened all at the same time.

St. Paul reminds us that “our citizenship is in heaven” and that “he will

change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.” Although we haven’t earned its rights and privileges, our citizenship has already been accomplished

by Jesus’ “exodus” in Jerusalem -- his suffering and death on a cross.

We are invited to inhabit a promised realm we have yet to see, living under its obligations while we “wait for the Lord with courage.” Like the psalmist, we can assert, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.”

It’s a land we don’t need documentation to enter -- only trust that the God who fulfilled his promise to Abram, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John will fulfill his promises to you and me.

Questions: When have you lived more like an “enemy of the cross of Christ” than a citizen of Christ’s kingdom?

What is the greatest obstacle to seeing God’s promises fulfilled in you?

"OUR CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN, AND FROM IT WE ALSO AWAIT A SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST." – PHILIPPIANS 3:20

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