OND March B 2015 Vol. 69 No. 6

VOL. 69, NO. 6

WWW.CROOKSTON.ORG

March 25, 2015

CSJ Sisters: “We’re not done yet!”

The Congregation of St. Joseph continues working for the good of the dear neighbor

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND CROOKSTON, MINN. — The Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph, also known as CSJ’s, have been a staple of the Diocese of Crookston since before it was a diocese. They have worked in all sorts of jobs with all sorts of people here, in the nation, and world. As a religious order, they have experienced a lot of change, but above all have dedicated their lives to service of God and neighbor.

A RICH HISTORY OF SERVICE The origins of the Sisters of St. Joseph go back to 1650 in LePuy, France. A group of six Catholic women did basic social work on behalf of the poor, especially women and children.

They met regularly with their spiritual director, Jesuit priest, Father Jean Pierre Medaille.

At that time, religious life for women was limited to contemplative orders.

“Until that time, all sisters were cloistered,” said Sister Joanne Johnson. “Father Medaille, as well as the six women who became the first Sisters of St. Joseph, wanted to be where the people were.”

“They found a way to get around some of the prevailing rules regarding women at the time,” said Sister Pat Murphy.

“They dressed as the widows of the time,” said Sister Rosemarie Brouillard.

“At that time, only widows could go out unaccompanied because they had to earn a living,” added Sister Joanne.

Sister Clariet Perreault described the work the early sisters did saying, “They took the census, taught, did hospice care, worked in hospitals, asy-

INSIDE VOL. 69, NO. 6:

Crookston Congregation of St. Joseph sisters Joan Lanctot, Mary Ellen Proulx and Pat Murphy describe the rich history of their order. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/OND)

The lacy cross is a symbol of the CSJ sisters that recognizes their beginnings as lace makers in France during the 1600s. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/OND)

lums, women’s homes, etc.”

The order began as small groups of women living in community.

“They started as lace makers, and taught it to women who had very limited options for income,” said Sister Joanne. This beginning is honored by the lacy design on the crosses all of the sisters in the Congregation of St. Joseph wear as either a

pin or necklace.

“There isn’t anything you can imagine that we don’t do,” Sister Joanne said.

“We continue to go where the need is,” Sister Vivian Miron added.

“And we have changed with the needs,” said Sister Rosemarie.

In 1854, the first Sisters of St. Joseph came to the United

Pg. 3 - Faith for Tomorrow Grant Applications Available Pg. 7 - Measles Vaccine: A Look at the Controversy Pg. 8 - Minnesota Bishops Visit State Capitol

Turn to Page 6 to see a timeline illustrating the origins and history of the Congregation of St. Joseph in Crookston.

States.

“Sisters came to New Orleans and took care of the slaves and visited prisoners,” said Sister Pat. Six sisters from the convent in Bourg, France, made their way to Argyle, Minn., in 1903 to start a school at the request of the pastor. In 1905 they expanded to Crookston, and spread from there into the Twin

Cities, Wisconsin and southern Canada working in education, health care and ministry to Native Americans. At that time, the sisters were known as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg.

In the 1960’s, the order in the United States was reorganized into three geographic regions or provinces: New Orleans, Louisiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Crookston, Minnesota. To better meet the ministry needs surfacing in the United States while promoting the mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph, these three provinces became a separate congregation in 1977 and took the name Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille.

Other congregations of Sisters of St. Joseph whose origins dated back to 1650 in LePuy, France settled in various locations throughout the United States. Seven of these groups located in the heartland of the country discerned the call of the Holy Spirit to form a new congregation. In 2007, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille merged with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, Kan.; Wheeling, W.Va.; Tipton, Ind.; Nazareth, Mich.; LaGrange, Ill.; and Cleveland, Ohio, to form the Congregation of St. Joseph.

“The main center for us is in Cleveland,” said Sister Ruthann Scherer.

Reflecting on their communal history, the group of Sisters of St. Joseph living in Crookston commented that they have made vows in three different congregations: first after entering the order; second, when the group became an American congregation and third, with the formation of the new congregation.

Through all of these changes, CSJ SISTERS: Continued on Page 6

Pg. 9 - Divine Mercy Sunday Celebrations Pg. 13 - Word to Life Faith Sharing Commentary Pg. 15 - April Prayer Calendar and Scriptures

2 March 25, 2015

A

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Voice from the Valley

BY BISHOP MICHAEL J. HOEPPNER

HOLY WEEK Holy Week approaches, and Christ’s faithful throughout the world “slow down and enter in” to celebrate in a profound way the central event of all of human history: The suffering, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Son of God by which the power of the Devil and sin are overcome and our salvation is accomplished. We begin this Holy Week on Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord by commemorating his entrance into Jerusalem. During this Mass, we hear the reading of the narrative of the Lord’s Passion, read without candles and without incense, with no greeting or singing of the book. This profoundly sets up for us the meditation for the whole week.

On Monday of Holy Week, I look forward to joining with the priests, deacons and lay faithful from all parts of the diocese for the celebration of the Chrism Mass at our Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Crookston. At this Mass, I will bless the Oil of Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick and consecrate the sacred Chrism.

The liturgy of the Chrism Mass celebrates and affirms the priestly nature of all the people of God in a most beautiful way. The Chrism Mass, which the Bishop concelebrates with all the presbyterate, also offers

thanks to God for the gift of ministerial priests who share with me, the bishop, in the apostolic ministry in this local Church. At this Chrism Mass, the priests of the diocese re-affirm their commitment to serve God’s people here. I hope you will be able to be a part of this wonderful Mass.

Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are unique in the liturgical year and “their celebration is of utmost importance in the spiritual and pastoral life of the Church” (Ceremonial of Bishops). The Triduum forms one solemn celebration.

Holy Thursday is the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper during which we recall how Jesus, on the night before he died, gave us the great gift of the Eucharist so that his sacrifice might be made present for all generations. On Good Friday, we celebrate the Lord’s Passion. In contemplating the Cross, the Church commemorates its own origin and its mission to extend to all peoples the blessed effects of Christ’s passion. On Holy Saturday, we celebrate the Easter Vigil as a memorial of the holy night of the Lord’s resurrection. We await the Lord’s resurrection and celebrate it with the sacraments of Christian initiation. This night, this vigil, is the supreme and most exalted of all solemnities

in our liturgical year.

I pray that all are able to enter into the Church’s solemn prayer and meditation well this year. Please remember to pray especially for the Elect as they prepare to receive the Easter sacraments and for the Candidates, those already baptized, who will come into full communion with us as Catholics on Holy Saturday night.

MINNESOTA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE The first week of March, the bishops of Minnesota met with Governor Mark Dayton for breakfast and then spent the rest of the day at the Capitol visiting with State Representatives and Senators.

We had some very nice conversations on a number of matters of importance for the life of the citizens of this great state. Given the fact that there is a surplus of funds available in a “supplemental budget,” we asked for the Governor’s and our legislators’ support for a Prosperity For All bill that supports an additional $100 per month increase in the Minnesota Family Investment Program and for the Homes For All bill which would increase funding for the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Human Services.

We endorsed a bill that would

BISHOP’S CALENDAR

allow some sort of distinctive driver’s license for undocumented immigrants living and working in Minnesota. These people hold jobs, contribute to our economy and provide for their families, but often find it difficult to get to work and hold a job because they cannot drive.

Another issue we spoke about is surrogacy. In the past, there have been various attempts to legalize the business of surrogacy in Minnesota. While the Minnesota bishops certainly do not endorse this business, we do endorse the establishment of a legislative commission to study the issue. We believe that a thorough look at surrogacy will enlighten people on its dangers, particularly to the well-being of poorer and vulnerable women and children.

We also endorsed additional funding for the Safe Harbor bill that serves victims of human trafficking in Minnesota.

In the area of education, we endorsed two bills. We pushed

the Equity in Education Tax Credit Bill which, if passed, would allow private individuals and corporations to receive tax credit for donating to charitable entities that act as scholarshipgranting organizations, offering scholarships to eligible children from lower and middle income families so they can attend a school of their choice. In addition, we endorsed the Education Savings Account For Children With Special Needs Bill.

This bill would give parents of a child with special educational needs the power to choose the best individual educational options for their child. It would allow them to use their child’s education per pupil funding and allocated special needs dollars in ways they believe best serve their child. We hope our efforts prove successful as we bishops sought in our “Day on the Hill” to build relationships with our elected officials and work for the common good in accord with our Catholic values.

(USPS 414-940) 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: $13.65 per year in the diocese, $14.90 per year outside the diocese.

Publisher:

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

Chrism Mass, Cathedral, Crookston

Editor:

Rev. Robert Schreiner Office of the New Evangelization, Director

7:00 p.m.

Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Cathedral, Crookston

3:00 p.m.

Good Friday Liturgy, Cathedral, Crookston

Associate Editor:

April 4

8:30 p.m.

Easter Vigil Mass, Cathedral, Crookston

April 7

7:45 a.m.

Mass, Cathedral, Crookston

March 29

9:00 a.m.

Palm Sunday Mass, Cathedral, Crookston

March 30

7:00 p.m.

April 2 April 3

VICTIMS’ ASSISTANCE STATEMENT 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 218281-7895 (24-hour confidential number) or Lmcglynn@crookston.org.

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: 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

DIOCESAN

March 25, 2015

3

Fund provides grants to keep future of faith strong

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND CROOKSTON, MINN. — The Faith for Tomorrow Endowment fund has allowed parishes throughout the Diocese of Crookston to receive assistance in building up and sustaining their members.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Faith for Tomorrow grant cycle. The deadline for grant applications is May 15, and recipients of funding will be notified at the beginning of June.

The endowment has been around for more than a decade, but Joe Noel, Director of the Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) for the Diocese of Crookston, believes more parishes could utilize the grant funds.

“I don’t think a lot of people know what Faith for Tomorrow is,” he said.

The Faith for Tomorrow Endowment was an initiative started by Bishop Emeritus Victor Balke in 2000. Literature from the original campaign states: “For the sake of the future religious and moral quality of life in our area, we need to strengthen our lifelong religious education and formation programs and our Catholic Schools.”

The successful $4 million capital campaign has allowed for these goals to be supported in parishes throughout the Diocese of Crookston. Individual parish accounts were created with 25 percent of monies contributed by the parish. Those accounts are still maintained

by CCF, and Noel said parishes can still make use of the interest from their accounts, or continue to contribute money to their endowment account.

The following five priorities were created to be followed for the first five years: continuing education for lay leaders, salary subsidies for faith formation leaders, parish religious education and formation, Catholic school subsidy and developing educational technology. After the initial five years, the CCF board was given the ability to change them.

Previously, each year, the CCF board determined priorities, published them and ran grant cycles allowing parishes to apply for funds.

According to Noel, priorities for the grant cycles were announced six weeks prior to the deadline.

“There was no chance to

The CCF board discusses the Faith for Tomorrow Endowment during a meeting at the Chancery in Crookston. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

FAITH FOR TOMORROW FUNDING PRIORITIES FOR 2015-2020 CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR LAY LEADERS: Catholic school teachers, principals, presidents and administrators, coordinators and directors of religious education, volunteer catechists, youth ministers and others. Much is expected of those involved in the work of catechesis. The Faith for Tomorrow Endowment seeks to assist them through grants for education, continuing education, and personal/professional formation, and other initiatives.

PARISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND FORMATION: Imparting the truths of the Catholic Faith by providing quality Catholic education for all Catholics is a priority in the life of every parish in the Diocese of Crookston. The Faith for Tomorrow Endowment seeks to support these efforts by funding programs, materials and technology used for parish religious education/formation, marriage preparation, participation in My Catholic Faith Delivered and other initiations to deepen the understanding of our beautiful faith.

CATHOLIC SCHOOL SUBSIDY: Our parish schools provide an invaluable service toward the education and religious formation of our children. We will designate up to 25% of funds available in each grant cycle as a Catholic School subsidy to be divided equally among our schools.

EVANGELIZATION: TURNING HEARTS TO JESUS CHRIST: The goal of the Christian life is to personally encounter the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring Him to as many people as possible. The Faith for Tomorrow Endowment will support the work of evangelization by funding retreats, parish missions, mission trips, evangelization efforts and other initiatives, with particular interest in requests to serve lapse or fallen away Catholics. (www.crookston.org/CCF)

plan or budget, which kept some people from applying,” Noel said. “What we’ve done now is establish new priorities and made them broader so they will include more things.”

Noel said the board hopes this will allow more parishes to apply. The new priorities are: continuing education for lay leaders, parish religious education and formation, Catholic school subsidy and evangelization.

“For the next five years we will be following these priorities; this way parishes can plan ahead and budget,” Noel said.

Interested parishes can apply on the CCF page of the Diocese of Crookston website at http://www.crookston.org/ ccf. The entire process can be done online.

“The last cycle, we issued 25

grants,” said Noel. “A couple of parishes had five applications.” Applicants included religious education coordinators, principals, parish secretaries and pastors.

The parishes of St. Mary’s, Fosston and St. Joseph’s, Bagley, received grants for five different projects including religious education curriculum materials, a parish-sponsored retreat, a marriage and family retreat, vacation bible school and a vocations camp for teens.

“One of our goals was to equip ourselves with the knowledge of the New Evangelization so we would be prepared to know more about and implement our faith in the Lord,” said Father Manny Sundaram.

“We bought both books and DVD’s on Catholicism by Rev. Robert Barron, which was and

is extremely useful to the people of both of our parishes.”

Father Sundaram estimates that 30 people have used the materials so far and more intend to check items out to review at home.

“Exploration of Catholic faith, as a few have said, has opened their understanding of our Catholic faith and cleared certain doubts they had,” said Father Sundaram.

The parishes were also able to provide retreats for adults and youth, including bringing the Young Disciples in from Fargo to conduct week-long programs for 35 children and youth. They also hosted a vocations camp for teens led by Father Xavier Ilango and Seminiarian Matt Schmitz.

Janet Lhotka is the secretary and bookkeeper for the

Catholic communities of St. Ann, Waubun; St. Frances Cabrini, Big Elbow Lake; and St. Anne’s, NayTahWaush. She said the Faith for Tomorrow grant funds have allowed them to better meet the faith formation needs of approximately 100 families.

“Our religious education program is a collaborative one, serving six mission parishes on the White Earth Ojibwe Reservation,” Lhotka said. “With CCF Faith for Tomorrow funds, we have been able to purchase textbooks for grades Kindergarten through 10. We also were able to purchase the corresponding catechist materials and install wireless internet, which gives us greater audiovisual capacity.”

She added, “We do plan to apply for funds as long as we are eligible. Our churches are small, rural missions. The people are as generous as they can be, still, income is barely sufficient to cover basic operating and maintenance costs. CCF Faith for Tomorrow funds enable us to sow seeds today that will result in a harvest of ‘faith for tomorrow’. We will continue to use CCF funds received to enrich and expand our faith formation program and to advance the training of our catechists.”

St. Bernard’s, Thief River Falls, used Faith for Tomorrow grants to help purchase religious education materials. They also brought in Doug Brummell from Lighten Up Ministries to conduct a Parish Mission, and helped provide for a special Couples Night Out event.

The Couples Night Out provides a chance for couples to have dinner, small group sharing, hear a speaker share about marriage, and entertainment.

“We basically target people to attend an evening of fun and faith sharing,” said Jayne Miller, Youth Minister at St. Bernard’s.

“It’s meant to include reaching those who perhaps don’t often attend church so that if we get them to come to this, they will enjoy it and network with others and hopefully feel a desire to revisit church.”

“We are blessed to have the opportunity to apply and receive these funds,” said Margaret Rasmussen, Director of Religious Education at St. Bernard’s. “They help our parish offer up-to-date programs for our youth and other opportunities for our parishioners to renew their faith.”

4 March 25, 2015

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Celebrating Easter: We are not good at it!

During the second week of March, a couple of first graders at our parish school were convinced they saw the Easter Bunny running around out in front of the school at 7 a.m. (when the kids first arrive).

One of the staff tried to convince them it was a squirrel, to no avail. So, it is apparent fact that the Easter Bunny was getting things ready for the big day right in front of our school here in Bemidji. Ahhh, the eyes and faith of youth!

The Easter Bunny will be very busy, of course. So will all those involved with decorating the church for Easter. Yet, the Easter Bunny will run away and the lilies will fade and die. What about our faith in the God who refuses to run away and who cannot stay dead?

How long will we celebrate Easter this year? We work so hard at 40 days of Lent … aware of our sacrifices and the suffering Christ endured for us.

We have Lent down pat. What about Easter? The Church gives

LIFE FIRST

By Father Don Braukmann Parochial Vicar - St. Philip’s Parish, Bemidji and St. Charles Parish, Pennington

us 50 days to try and comprehend the fact that they tried to bury Jesus and it didn’t work!

Why are we so good at “doing” Lent and so awful at “doing” Easter?

Years ago, I jotted down a quote which has stuck with me: “Death is more universal than life … everyone dies, but not everyone lives!” How very true!

Easter, living life, becomes complicated when our culture is paralyzed by its obsession with death. The more we try to avoid it with our self-embalming (falling for the latest anti-aging secrets) the more obsessed we

become. Death has taken on a ghostly priority for too many.

The bunny runs away. The lilies die. What’s next?

In a way, we deal with Easter as we do with Christmas.

There is great hoopla as the day approaches. Yet, when driving down the street the day after Christmas, the boulevard is peppered with discarded Christmas trees and Glad supersize garbage bags filled with cast-off remnants of beautiful packages waiting for a gust of wind to break them loose to scurry down the street.

Easter Sunday we rejoice with

gusto and overindulge with food and sweets, all of which makes no difference on Easter Monday morning when we lurch back into the “normal” routine of life.

We are not good at Easter.

I pray that this year can be different for all of us. This year we will eat the candy left by the bunny as usual. We will buy lilies as we always have. But, this year, may we have fused onto our hearts the image of the Christ candle breaking the darkness at the Easter Vigil; may our ears ring with the litany of Scriptures documenting God’s faithfulness to us while humanity did all in its power to flee God’s glance.

May we hear again for the very first time the great Easter morning account of how Peter and John ran to the tomb with Peter flinging himself into the grave of the man he denied three times. Peter wanted to believe with all he had that yes, Christ had died, but that Christ had indeed risen! Peter

was overwhelmed with hope, his heart ready to burst as it all sank in … the tomb was empty!

John saw it too, as did Mary Magdala who first brought them the news.

And then there was Thomas who would not believe in a breathing corpse until he could put his hand into Christ’s side.

We put our hand into the side of a risen Christ each time we cradle a baby, laugh with a child, mentor a teen, stand with a friend in their darkest night and tenderly hold the hand of the elderly … a hand covered with transparent skin.

Christ is risen. He is risen in every moment of every day whether we see it or not, accept it or not, believe it or not.

50 days of Easter. 50 days of telling the devil to shut up and sit down. 50 days to embrace the enormity of life with both hands then lean into Christ and sigh … knowing, in the end, we win because he won. Death does not have the final say.

Faith as mercy: a jubilee year to come As you may have heard by now, the Holy Father has called for a Jubilee Year of Mercy starting Dec. 8, 2015 – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In his homily on March 13, during a penance service, Pope Francis said the formal announcement would occur on this year’s observance of Divine Mercy Sunday and that the task of carrying out the Jubilee year would be entrusted to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

The Holy Father indicated that he wanted this Jubilee Year dedicated to Divine Mercy to be seen as a fitting celebration of the 50th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council. Given this intention, it would seem then that Jubilee Year of Mercy will serve as a kind of historic book end to the other anniversary observed by Pope Benedict XVI who called for the Year of Faith (2012) to observe the 50th anniversary of the Council’s opening.

Faith manifested as mercy.

I suggest that this is a perfect expression of what Pope St. John Paul the Great imagined for the initiative of the New Evangelization. And it is precisely what is at the heart of the beautiful Gospel passage (John 4) chosen by the Synod Fathers

CREDO

A NEW EVANGELIZATION WITNESS

By Father Robert Schreiner, S.T.L. Director of the Office of the New Evangelization

of 2013 on the New Evangelization to best capture what is meant by the New Evangelization. The transformative encounter between Christ and the Samaritan woman is what is at the heart of the renewal of the Church and culture; and it is what is at the heart of the kind of Church and world that captivated the work of the Council; and it is an icon of the Church of the third millennium imaged

by Pope St. John Paul, which he frequently called “The Civilization of Love”.

I believe that this initiative of our Holy Father is in union with and inspired by the movement begun by Vatican II and the twin leadership of its holy pontiffs: Pope St. John XXIII and Blessed Pope Paul VI. It clearly breathes the same spirit of the architect of the New Evangelization, Pope St. John Paul the Great, who only saw himself as fulfilling the mission

and purpose of Vatican II. And it is in union with the thought of one of the great theologians present at Vatican II who was called to the chair of Peter as Pope Benedict XVI. The Office of the New Evangelization of the Diocese of Crookston, at the direction of Bishop Hoeppner, will surely be at the service of the diocese in providing opportunities for all of us to grow in our appreciation and integration of Divine Mercy into our hearts, lives and communities. Some planning is already underway and we’ll pass the opportunities on as we move through the months of preparation before Dec. 8, 2015.

It was very intentional of Pope St. John Paul – and one might suggest it was of Divine Providence – that the first saint canonized in the new millennium was St. Faustina Kowalska. Known as the “Apostle of

Mercy,” this simple Polish nun passed on to the world from Christ a message of and a hope for Divine Mercy, if we would but only “put our trust in” him.

At her canonization ceremony on April 30, 2000, St. John Paul (who had spoken of her very often throughout his pontificate) referred to her three different times as “a gift for our time,” and indicated the significance of her witness to Divine Mercy for the third millennium in this way: “Sister Faustina’s canonization has a particular eloquence.

By this act, I intend today to pass this message on to the new millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their brethren. In fact, love of God and love of one’s brothers and sisters are inseparable.”

Faith manifested as mercy.

Thank you Holy Spirit, you continue to inspire the successors of Peter as they encourage the Church in the way of holiness necessary for the third millennium of faith.

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

March 25, 2015

5

Driver’s license is chance to move immigration conversation forward Imagine St. Joseph struggling in Egypt to support his family as they await a time when they can return home. Or, think of the daily trials that the Holy Family faced as they fled the dangers in their homeland. These are problems that many migrants confront on a daily basis as they try to make their way in a new land.

Many immigrant families currently in the United States are in a difficult position: They want to be able to fulfill their basic obligations to their family, but do not want to risk family separation by being detained or deported for driving without a license.

The Catholic bishops of Minnesota strongly believe that establishing a provisional driver’s license for undocumented immigrants strengthens families and our communities (HF 97/SF 224). Allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a provisional driver’s license, if they meet certain criteria, would help immigrants maintain more stable, productive family lives — allowing them to attend church, go to school, shop for groceries, and fulfill other daily obligations with more ease and without fear of deportation.

MINNESOTA CAN ACT As federal immigration reform remains stalled in Congress, millions of people continue to live and work in the shadows of our society, unsure of what the future holds.

We know that, in all likelihood, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants will ultimately remain in the United States because it is both impractical and economically unfeasible to remove them. Recognizing this reality, we must ask what can be done in the absence of congressional reform to prevent the creation of an underclass of people relegated to the margins of society, struggling to fulfill their daily obligations to their families and community.

One way to help undocumented per-

FAITH

IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

By Mr. Jason Adkins Executive Director Minnesota Catholic Conference

sons in Minnesota is to allow them access to a provisional driver’s license to help them meet their basic needs without fear of deportation.

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES Immigrants from across Minnesota continue to show up at community forums and at churches to share their stories. At one gathering, as reported in the online journal Daily Planet, Maria, a housecleaner, explained why a driver’s license would help her: “I came here for a better life. ... But now I live and drive in fear. The other day I had to drive my daughter to the hospital because she was very sick with the flu, but I was driving in fear.”

In many parts of Minnesota, there is no public transportation, and undocumented persons have no ability to get to work, church, health services, or school, other than by driving illegally.

Every day they live in fear that getting stopped could mean separation from their children, spouse, or parents. A provisional driver’s license will help immigrants meet their obligations in ways other than transportation, by allowing them to rent housing, pay bills, and access community services, such as libraries—some of which provide English language learning classes to those who cannot afford them.

PROMOTING SAFETY AND RESPONSIBILITY Provisional driver’s licenses will not

only help immigrant families, they will help foster safer driving conditions in Minnesota.

Provisional driver’s license applicants can be subjected to the same written and skills-based test that other Minnesota drivers must pass, helping to ensure safer roads. In addition, a provisional driver’s license program could increase the rate of insured drivers. Such an increase in the number of people insured could actually reduce insurance premiums, as the pool of people paying premiums would expand and the number of accidents involving uninsured drivers would be reduced.

Additionally, a provisional driver’s license program will help law enforcement agencies. State-issued identification will help police know exactly who it is that they encounter. Crime victims and witnesses will be more willing to come forward knowing that they are not at risk of questioning or arrest for a

lack of valid documentation.

The business community, particularly in rural Minnesota, is supportive of a provisional driver’s license program because it helps create a more stable workforce and fosters more contributions of immigrants to their community as consumers and taxpayers.

While a legitimate one, the concern that a provisional driver’s license would be abused is unwarranted, particularly because a provisional license can be clearly marked in a way to distinguish them from other licenses and forms of identification.

Ultimately, the main objection to the proposed legislation is a concern about rewarding those seen as “lawbreakers.”

But as noted above, the causes and solutions to immigration are complex, and the reality is that most immigrants are in our communities to stay.

Do we wish to help our fellow brothers and sisters have better access to basic needs and strengthen their families, or are we comfortable with the current status quo on immigration, which people on both sides of the debate agree is not working?

Minnesota lawmakers need to hear from all of us that provisional driver’s license for immigrants can help move the conversation on immigration forward in Minnesota.

Contact your legislators today and urge them to support the following bills by sharing the messages below: HF 97/SF 224: ENCOURAGE MORE STABLE, PRODUCTIVE IMMIGRANT FAMILIES “I urge you to support HF 97/ SF 224, which is legislation that provides a provisional driver’s license option for undocumented immigrants.

There is bi-partisan support for this legislation. Creating a pathway for undocumented immigrants to fulfill the basic daily needs of their family benefits the well-being and safety of our whole community.”

HF 1529/SF 1313: ACCESS TO THE RIGHT EDUCATION OPTIONS HELP CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS THRIVE “Please support the Education Savings Account for Students with Special Needs Act, HF 1529/SF 1313. It would give families of children with special educational needs the power to direct their child’s per pupil funding and special education dollars in ways that can best serve their child.”

For Catholic teaching and public policy details on these bills, or for instructions on how to contact your legislators, visit the “Advocacy” tab in the MCC Action Center (www.mncc.org/actioncenter).

The Catholic Advocacy Network is an initiative of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

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March 25, 2015

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

CSJ SISTERS: Continued from Page 1 the sisters remain true to their mission: to live and work that all people may be united with God and one another. (www. csjoseph.org)

CHARISM In the early days of the order, Father Medaille asked the sisters to bring unity to the church and to society. He asked them to do “all the spiritual and corporal works of mercy of which woman is capable and which will most benefit the dear neighbor.”

“I would describe our Charism as reconciliation and the great love of God and caring for the neighbor,” said Sister Juli Caron. “If there is something to be done, we go out and do it.”

On the congregation’s website, part of their mission statement states: “Responding to the unmet needs in our church and world, we serve in education, healthcare, pastoral and parish ministry, social work, spiritual care and faith development, and in other ministries that respond to spiritual, social

and physical needs.”

The Congregation of St. Joseph is guided by four Generous Promises that help them to fulfil their mission. They promise to surrender their lives to work for change, work to renew the physical earth, work with others around the world toward a culture of inclusivity and be responsible for leadership of the congregation.

“We get involved in all sorts of things,” Sister Juli added.

“Right now we’re very involved in fighting human trafficking.

Anything that comes up, we try to tackle it.”

The sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph collaborate with others to stop the systems that create poverty, sex trafficking, the death penalty, and other social justice issues.

“The bottom line is the greater love of God,” said Sister Juli.

“Whatever is going to draw us closer to Jesus and draw others there too.”

LIVES OF ACTIVE SERVICE The Sisters of St. Joseph have served in a variety of roles

while striving to fulfill their four promises.

“For us in health care, we went with the poor,” said Sister Vivian. She spent time working in Baudette at the hospital, training staff and teaching them how to train others.

“We always want to be multipliers and work ourselves out of a job,” said Sister Joanne.

Sister Juli lives in Fargo and has worked at Sanford Hospital for 32 years. She started as a nurse, but has been a chaplain for 19 years.

Sister Juli lives by herself in Fargo. She rises in the morning for prayer and Mass, and then goes to work.

“My work is visiting the patients,” she said. “My responsibility is the cancer center patients.” She visits with and prays with patients receiving chemo treatment. Sister Juli then visits patients on the other floors at Sanford. She offers support to people in the emergency room by praying with them or calling their pastor if needed.

“For the most part, I love, absolutely love what I do,” said

Sister Ruthann Scherer and Sister Vivian Miron listen intently to a story being told by another sister during a group discussion at the Summit Apartments. (Photo credit: Janelle C. Gergen/OND)

Sister Juli. “Some days can be sad.” She is touched that the patients allow a stranger into the most vulnerable parts of their lives.

Sister Rosemary Toenyan worked at a nursing home in Baudette, Minn. for 23 years; Sister Rosemarie was a nurse’s

aide for 55 years.

Sister Clariet spent time working as a Research Analyst and a USDA Medical Technologist.

Sister Ruthann started out as a cook in the twin cities and then CSJ SISTERS: Continued on Page 10

Significant events for the Sisters of St. Joseph 1977: ESTABLISH AMERICAN CONGREGATION

On Nov. 30, the three provinces of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg located in the United States (New Orleans, La., Cincinnati, Ohio, Crookston, Minn.) were officially declared the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, thus separating them from the French motherhouse in Bourg, and establishing them as an American congregation.

1807: FOUNDED AGAIN

Mother St. John Fontbonne re-founded the Sisters of St. Joseph in Lyons, France.

Some of the sisters went to Bourg in the Diocese of Belley.

1854: TRAVEL TO USA

1650: THE BEGINNING The Sisters of St. Joseph started in LePuy, France by six women and Fr. Jean Pierre Medaille, SJ.

2007: FIRST GENERAL CHAPTER

Sisters from the Bourg motherhouse came to the United States to Bay St. Louis, Miss., and later established a central house in New Orleans, La. Their ministries included serving the poor and suffering in Louisiana and Mississippi and opening schools, hospitals and an orphanage.

The First General Chapter of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph (result of a merger of seven individual congregations of Sisters of St. Joseph located in the Heartland region of the United States) was held. The seven congregations were: Tipton, Ind.; Cleveland, Ohio; Wheeling, W.Va.; Wichita, Kan.; Nazareth, Mich.; LaGrange, Ill.; and Medaille, made up of MInnesota, Ohio, and Louisiana.

1903: HEADING TO THE NORTHLAND

Six sisters were sent from the Bourg motherhouse to Argyle, Minn. to staff a school.

1789-1799: DISBANDED

1905: CROOKSTON AND BEYOND

The congregation disbanded during the French Revolution.

1823: NEW MOTHERHOUSE

Sisters of St. Joseph living and ministering in the Diocese of Belley, France, were separated from the Lyons Motherhouse and became the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg,with a motherhouse in Bourg, by the action of Bishop Alexander Devie.

A convent and school were established in Crookston, Minn. During the ensuing years, the sisters started and staffed two hospitals in what became the Diocese of Crookston in 1910. They also established several educational ministries. These efforts extended to Canada, Wisconsin, North Dakota, the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and the Diocese of New Ulm.

1893: SPREADING TO THE MIDWEST

Sisters from the New Orleans group went to Cincinnati, Ohio, to care for the needs of working girls in Sacred Heart Home, a boarding residence later known as Fontbonne. Sisters also established educational and other apostolic ministries in Ohio.

2013: SECOND GENERAL CHAPTER Second General Chapter of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph was held.

1986 AND 1994: FROM 3 PROVINCES TO 5 REGIONS

Decisions made at General Chapters of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille changed the structure of the 3 provinces into 5 regions (Baton Rouge, La.; New Orleans, La.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Crookston, Minn.; and the Twin Cities, Minn.). This structure was designed to strengthen the unity of the congregation and to provide more creative service to meet the needs of the “dear neighbor”.

Source: Sister Pat Murphy, CSJ

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

NATIONAL

March 25, 2015

7

A parent’s dilemma: to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

Supporters and opponents of vaccine use cite moral, medical arguments

By Kathy Schiffer, National Catholic Register DETROIT, MICH. – The recent measles outbreak has sparked concerns about the ethics surrounding the measles vaccine, which is derived from cell lines from aborted fetuses.

The vaccine issue has polarized many Americans, including parents. Families on both sides of the issue are framing their positions in moral terms, arguing there is an obligation either to use or to refuse the vaccine.

“Yes,” said Mary Lou Rosien, a Catholic blogger from North Chili, New York, who spoke to the Register about the matter.

“I vaccinate my children because it’s the responsible thing to do — not just for my kids, but to protect others.”

“No,” countered Jo Joyce, a mother from Oklahoma.

She had vaccinated her older children, but after physicians urged her preteens to receive the Gardisil vaccine that immunizes against some strains of the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, she became more vigilant — and her research uncovered serious side effects.

Mary Bedard of New Hampshire told a sad story: She had taken vaccinations for granted until she attended the funeral of an infant girl, still too young to be vaccinated, who had died of whooping cough. At the funeral, the child’s older siblings still had the pertussis cough.

They weren’t vaccinated.

And still another mother reported that her daughter experienced febrile convulsions after receiving the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

When she later learned that the cell line relied on tissue drawn from aborted fetuses, she did not permit doctors to vaccinate her younger son.

Since Jan. 1, more than 150 cases of measles have been reported in California and 17 other U.S. jurisdictions, concentrated mostly in Southwestern states. The highly contagious disease was once thought to be eradicated in the United States, but measles has flared up among visitors to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

PROPONENTS Susan Peterson, a registered nurse who works as a disability analyst in New York and whose nine children are grown, is a strong proponent of the measles vaccine. Susan explained that she had seen firsthand the benefit of immunizations.

“I came from the era,” she said, “when the [diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus] (DPT) vaccine was new. My older cousin had whooping cough, and even as a small child, I understood that he was very sick. ... Children my age got polio ... and one saw them sometimes with their crutches and leg braces. So I viewed vaccinations as a great good.”

She added, though, that she supports parental rights and does not want to see the federal government mandate vaccinations.

Kristen Leigh Colleti-Geisler, another supporter of vaccination programs, is a nurse practitioner in a North Carolina emergency room, and she has seen firsthand how devastating these diseases are.

“Babies die,” she said in an interview. “Adults with co-morbidities die, and the elderly die.”

OPPONENTS Parents opposed to vaccines highlight potential side effects, as well as the link to abortion.

Those who cite safety concerns have read of serious side effects, including seizures, and

may be wary of a possible link between vaccines and autism.

(A study linking vaccines and autism that was published in The Lancet in 1998 has since been retracted; but some worried parents remain unconvinced that there is no connection.)

For example, in the state of New Jersey, where schoolchildren must be vaccinated unless parents submit a signed statement, more than 9,000 parents have signed a form citing “religious objections” as their reason for not vaccinating their school-age children.

The state of Oregon has the highest statewide percentage of unvaccinated children, with 7% of parents last year requesting exemptions for “non-medical reasons.” And in southern California, where a movement toward organic products and environmentalism spawns opposition to medical interventions, some communities report that more than 10% of schoolage children remain unvaccinated.

Rebecca Ledford, a homeschooling mother of four from northern Michigan, worries that the increased rate of neuro-disability among children is tied to vaccines and that diseases such as asthma, ADD, ADHD, acid reflux, diabetes and autism are now mainstream.

Her greatest concern, though, is the ingredients in vaccines, including a form of mercury called Thimerosol that is a component of some vaccines.

“I remember the big push to rid our homes of mercury thermometers because they were no longer considered safe if they should break. So how could it be safe to inject mercury into the body?” Ledford wrote in an email. She added, “When autistic children are tested for heavy metals, they almost al-

ways come up severely overloaded with mercury. ... [That] was not something I was comfortable risking with my healthy children.”

PRO-LIFE CONCERNS But pro-lifers, too, have reason for concern. Both the MMR and the MMR+ Varicella vaccines, combination vaccines which guard against measles, mumps and rubella, are derived from WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts — that is, lung cells extracted nearly 40 years ago from an aborted 3-monthold white female fetus.

According to reports, the research initially involved many more aborted fetuses. There are currently no alternative shots available in the U.S. Two Vatican documents state that the Church condemns the use of aborted fetal cells in the manufacture of vaccines, while at the same time permitting parents to have their children vaccinated when no alternative is available.

“Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived From Aborted Human Fetuses,” published in 2005 by the Pontifical Academy for Life, recommends that parents request an alternative vaccine, Attenuvax, to protect children against measles. However, in the U.S., the drug manufacturer Merck discontinued manufacture of Attenuvax in 2009. And vaccines that protect against other diseases, including mumps, rubella, chickenpox and Hepatitis A, are also derived from aborted fetal cell lines.

“Moral Reflections on Vaccines” makes four key points: There is a grave responsibility to use alternative vaccines and to conscientiously object to vaccines with moral problems; when there is no alternative, it is licit to use morally problematic vaccines to avoid serious health risks; the use of such vaccines should not be misinterpreted as a declaration of the licitness of their production, marketing and use; and the use of these vaccines is taking place in a context of moral coercion of the consciences of parents, a circumstance that must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Another Vatican document, Dignitas Personae, published in June 2008 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,

specifically condemns research utilizing fetal cells or “biological material” of illicit origin.

At the same time, Dignitas Personae grants parents permission to have their children vaccinated but recommends that they express their concern about morally problematic vaccines to the manufacturer or health-care provider.

OTHER CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVES Dr. Paul Cieslak, a communicable disease specialist in Portland, Ore., and member of the Catholic Medical Association, is concerned that measles is highly contagious. Once an individual has been exposed to the airborne virus, the disease can be transmitted even before the infected person shows any symptoms.

Cieslak warns that there could be a resurgence of measles in the U.S., but he adds that the blame must not be placed on parents who reject morally problematic vaccines. Rather, pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable and should be encouraged to focus their research on vaccines that do not rely on illicit use of cells from the human person.

Cieslak recommends that parents have their children immunized, but parents who wrestle with the decision should be able to opt out and to follow their own consciences on the matter.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) offers a list of frequently asked questions to help parents decide whether to immunize their children. Marie Hilliard, the NCBC’s director of bioethics and public policy, reiterated that since there is no alternative vaccine available at this point, the use of MMR can be tolerated.

“Parents feel the responsibility to protect their children,” she explained.

“In some nations, an alternative vaccine is available; but here in the U.S., where the only available vaccine is derived from aborted cell lines, parents who fear communicable diseases really have no choice.”

Kathy Schiffer writes from Southfield, Michigan. This story was reprinted with permission of the National Catholic Register, where it originally appeared. It appeared online on March 4, 2015 at http:// www.NCRegister.com.

8 March 25, 2015

DIOCESAN

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Minnesota’s Catholic bishops highlight policy priorities in meetings with governor, legislators

By Joe Towalski, Editor, The Visitor, and Maria Wiering, Editor, The Catholic Spirit ST. PAUL, MINN. — Bishops from each of Minnesota’s six dioceses met with Gov. Mark Dayton and state lawmakers March 5 to discuss legislation on a range of issues, from immigration and education to poverty relief and commercial gestational surrogacy.

The bishops’ day at the Capitol is an annual event coordinated by the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC). MCC staff advocates for public policy on behalf of the bishops, who serve as its board members.

Participating this year were Archbishop Nienstedt, Bishop Andrew Cozzens and Bishop Lee Piché of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston; Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth; Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm; Bishop Donald Kettler of St. Cloud; and Bishop John Quinn of Winona.

This event came as committee deadlines at the Legislature were rapidly approaching. Bills needed to get through the committee process in their chamber of origin by March 20; the other chamber must take committee action on the bills that met this deadline by March 27.

HIGHLIGHTING ISSUES As in previous years, the bishops began the day with a breakfast meeting with Dayton, where they took turns championing specific bills and asking for the governor’s support, should the measures pass the Legislature.

Archbishop Nienstedt focused on poverty-relief measures, including Homes for All, which supports an additional $39 million in funding for affordable housing, and Prosperity for All, which would boost subsidies to Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) recipients by $100 per month.

Bishop Hoeppner said he thanked the governor for his support last year of the Safe Harbor initiative, which provides a safety net of services to victims of sex trafficking. The bishops asked for his support for increased funding for the law in light of current needs and the state’s $1.9 billion budget surplus.

Bishop Hoeppner also spoke about the need to create a com-

lican lawmakers with whom he had met had listened thoughtfully to the bishops’ policy positions.

“I think there’s been a positive reception and a willingness to say they’ll look at the issues,” Bishop Sirba said.

“With both parties, we have areas that we have common ground, and with both parities, we have areas that we don’t have common ground,” Bishop Cozzens said.

“When we decide on legislation that we’re going to be actively lobbying in any given session, we try to find legislation that transcends the partisan divide,” Adkins said. “So, in almost every case, our legislation has a Republican as a House author and Democrat as a Senate author. It spans the broad range of concerns of Catholic social Bishop Paul Sirba, Bishop John LeVoir, Bishop John Quinn, Bishop Michael Hoeppner, Archbishop John teaching.

Nienstedt, Bishop Donald Kettler, Jason Adkins, Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Jason Adkins, MCC executive Bishop Lee Piché and Bishop Andrew Cozzens pause for a photo in the hallway at the State Capitol director, said the state’s Cathobuilding between visits with legislators. (Photo credit: Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit) lic conference has focused on championing bills that could atThe bishops see school mission to study commercial tract bipartisan support. choice issues as state cost-savsurrogacy — arrangements in “The business of ROLE FOR LAITY ers; Minnesota Catholic schools which a woman carries to term surrogacy is fraught save taxpayers $400 million ana child, who is not hers biologiEverything the bishops adwith problems, [and] nually, Bishop Cozzens said. cally, for the intended parents. dressed during their meetings Bishop Sirba spoke about a in St. Paul complements what not only morally The MCC has warned that such tax credit bill that would allow Catholics in the pews are hearcontracts often take advantage and ethically for us individuals and corporations ing about through the MCC’s of women in financial need.

Catholics. Anybody to contribute to scholarship- Catholic Advocacy Network, “The issue is so important who’s interested in granting organizations and re- said Jessica Zittlow, MCC assoand so complex that just to go vulnerable people and ceive a tax credit for the contri- ciate director for communicaahead and pass legislation on it bution. The SGOs would then tions. The network keeps Minwithout taking a thorough look respect for women award scholarships to students nesota Catholics updated on at what this is would not be a should be interested in from low- and moderate-in- policy issues and ways they can good idea,” he said. “That thortaking a look at this.” come families to offset tuition support legislation consistent ough look has never been done. expenses at the schools of their with Catholic social teaching. … The business of surrogacy –Bishop Michael choice. is fraught with problems, [and] (Sign up at www.mncc.org.)

Hoeppner Archbishop Nienstedt said not only morally and ethical“It’s really about having that Dayton joked that the breakfast group effort, that community ly for us Catholics. Anybody was “very expensive,” as several effort of Catholics coming towho’s interested in vulnerable people and respect for women ers whose babies are diagnosed of the bishops’ key measures gether,” she said. “That’s the should be interested in taking a with certain chromosomal con- would require state funding, really exciting thing about the ditions. The bishop spoke from but the archbishop perceived opportunity of these meetings look at this.”

Bishop Quinn presented on experience: he has a 30-year-old the governor to be “very open today: having that continuity of the importance of immigrants nephew who has Down syn- to the kind of concerns that we voice.” have.” without a legal U.S. status to the drome.

The bishops’ meetings with The state faces a projected legislators are important, but “Providing the information state’s economy, and the bishops’ support of a measure to is important because, a lot of $1.9 billion surplus, and Day- they don’t replace the need for allow them to apply for a pro- times, parents in that situation ton’s original budget proposal, lay Catholics to take an active operate in fear,” he said. “This released Jan. 27, identifies edu- role in helping to create good visional drivers’ license.

Bishop Kettler said he spoke would help them operate out cation, working families and laws and public policy, Bishop about religious liberty, includ- of knowledge and the feeling transportation infrastructure as Kettler said. ing the importance of the issue that they are supported — that his top funding priorities. The “I hope that people do talk internationally in light of the there is help and that these kids governor plans to release a sup- to their legislators about issues plemental budget soon. persecution of Christians and are really a joy. that are on their mind,” he said.

After meeting with the gov- “It’s important for two reaBishop Cozzens focused on other religious minorities in the Middle East and other parts of school choice issues, includ- ernor, the bishops met with sons: for legislators to hear the the world. He said a resolution ing the bishops’ support for an legislators, including leadership views of their people, but also on the subject has been intro- educational savings account for of both chambers, at the State for people to become better children with disabilities, which Office Building adjacent to acquainted with the issues, so duced in the Senate.

Bishop LeVoir spoke about would allow parents to deter- the Capitol. During a mid-day they can learn more and have a the bill to provide accurate in- mine how best to meet their break, Bishop Cozzens said he voice.” felt the Democrat and Repubformation to pregnant moth- children’s needs.

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

AROUND THE DIOCESE

March 25, 2015

9

Divine Mercy Sunday: promise Knights donate wheelchair of mercy and forgiveness Submitted by Elaine Grendahl Volunteer, Minnesota DMS celebrations

The Second Sunday of Easter is now also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

It ranks as a solemnity, and it is the eighth and final day of the Octave of Easter. Divine Mercy Sunday was established by Pope St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000. Both John Paul II, the Mercy Pope, and Pope John XXIII were canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday last year.

To encourage the faithful to partake in this merciful event, Pope St. John Paul II instituted a plenary indulgence.

On Aug. 3, 2002, Pope John Paul II announced that a plenary indulgence — the remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven — is available to those who observe the Divine Mercy feast with a sacramental confession, the reception of Holy Communion, a prayer for the pope and his intentions, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and a devout prayer to the Lord Jesus such as, “Merciful Jesus, I trust in you.”

Some of the parishes in the Diocese of Crookston and nearby areas who will be celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday on April 12 with a special obser-

vance are as follows: • Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, 702 Summit Ave., Crookston: Adoration beginning at 2 p.m., Confession from 2:30-3:30 p.m., Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m. and Benediction and Reposition at 4 p.m. All will take place in the church.

• Sacred Heart, East Grand Forks will join St. Michael’s, 524 5th Ave N, Grand Forks N.D., at 3 p.m. at St. Michael’s.

• St. Joseph, 218 10th St S, Moorhead: Adoration beginning after the 11:45 a.m. Mass, Confession from 2-3 p.m. and Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m. All will take place in the church.

• St. Joseph, 112 Edward Ave NW, Red Lake Falls: 2 p.m. Divine Mercy Holy Hour including exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacrament of Reconciliation, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Benediction and Refreshments • St. Philips, 702 Beltrami Ave, Bemidji: 4 p.m. Holy Hour

The Knights of Columbus Council of St. Elizabeth, Dilworth, has donated one wheel chair to Serenity Assisted Living in Dilworth. Mrs. Elaine Anderson accepts the donation and poses for a photo with Father Pat Sullivan, Grand Knight, Deacon Steve Nemeth, and several residents who gathered for the presentation. (Submitted photo)

St. Elizabeth free throw contest

To find a listing of celebrations throughout all of Minnesota, visit www.3oclockhour.org and www.faithfitnessclub.org/mercy.

The Knights of Columbus of St. Elizabeth, Dilworth, sponsored a free throw contest on Jan. 20 at Dilworth Middle School. The photo above shows the winners and several Knights of Columbus members. Winners in each category were presented with a water bottle and a certificate. (Submitted photo)

Spring Dinners in the Diocese of Crookston SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2015: ST. MARY’S, BADGER

Pork loin, meatballs and trimmings 11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015: ST. ELIZABETH’S, DILWORTH Spaghetti dinner 11:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.

10 March 25, 2015

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

CSJ SISTERS: Continued from Page 6 at the sisters’ Marywood location in Crookston. In 1972 she went to LPN training and then worked in a variety of nursing positions in Crookston and Park Rapids. She retired from active nursing in 2014, but remains the healthcare coordinator for the sisters.

“The Sisters of St. Joseph in the diocese have always been involved in education,” said Sister Pat. “We were involved in every level from child to adult education.” Sister Pat has filled many roles including Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Crookston, Director of the Office of the Word, and Executive Director of the Pastoral Leadership Program.

Outside of healthcare and education, the Sisters of St. Joseph also worked in parishes.

“I was a pastoral administrator in Bagley for quite a few years,” said Sister Joanne. “I led business and administrative meetings and also did a little bit of counseling. Father Jerry Noesen told parishioners: ‘I’ll always be there for you, but she’s the boss.’”

Sister Joanne worked with marriage preparation, helped people with annulment paperwork and helped prepare people to receive the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.

Sister Mary Ellen Proulx has travelled all over as a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph. For a time, she ministered

in San Antonio with Sister Vivian. While in San Antonio, they worked in a Hispanic neighborhood, even living with some of the families for a time to learn Spanish.

She also lived in St. Louis before moving to the Twin Cities, and eventually moved to Crookston. While in the Twin Cities, she worked in music therapy, did music ministry in parishes and taught music in schools.

Sister Mary Ellen also spent some time in Guatemala. “We were brought to see the people and go to the dump … There would be people picking up cardboard; the poor didn’t have housing,” she said. “They would live on the hillside in shacks … they had to bring pails to carry water.”

CONTINUING IN THEIR CHARISM A number of the sisters live at The Summit assisted living apartments in Crookston. Although many of them are retired, they still live out their vocation to consecrated life in many different ways.

“We’re not done yet!” said Sister Joanne.

“Our sisters are so present to those who move around here,” said Sister Rosemarie. “It touches all. I just love the way the Spirit works in our lives.”

Shortly after Marywood closed in 2006, some of the sisters moved to the Summit apart-

THE FOUR GENEROUS PROMISES OF THE CONGREGATION OF ST. JOSEPH Our congregation is rooted in our commitment to our mission and charism. We commit ourselves to build and deepen our relationships as sisters and associates, and to be faithful to our spiritual practice of sharing the “State of the Heart” and “Order of the House,” to respond to the unmet needs of our time. Recognizing that we are called to incarnate our mission and charism in our world in fidelity to God’s call in the Gospel, we commit ourselves to these Generous Promises: WE, THE CONGREGATION OF ST. JOSEPH, PROMISE TO …

Take the risk to surrender our lives and resources to work for specific systemic change in collaboration with others so that the hungers of the world might be fed.

Recognize the reality that Earth is dying, to claim our oneness with Earth and to take steps now to strengthen, heal and renew the face of Earth.

Network with others across the world to bring about a shift in the global culture from institutionalized power and privilege to a culture of inclusivity and mutuality.

Be mutually responsible and accountable for leadership in the congregation.

Source: http://www.csjoseph.org/our_mission_vision.aspx

ments. Sister Joan Lanctot and Sister Germaine Perreault invited the residents and staff at the apartments to begin recycling.

This practice is still being followed, and is one of many ways the sisters continue to live out their promises.

“I volunteer down at the child care center,” said Sister Jeanne Maria Campeau. The sisters continue to serve in whatever ways become available.

Some of the sisters living in apartments at The Summit meet

daily for sharing and prayer.

Once a month the area sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph come together for prayer and to make community decisions. They also spend time, in the words of Sister Mary Ellen, “Sharing the state of heart and prayer.”

The sisters utilize all the resources available to them to maintain their connections with the congregation. “We make use of modern technology,” said Sister Rosemarie. “It’s a constant

change. We use video conferencing and live streaming.”

Through their prayer and service they seek to deepen their relationship with Christ and with their neighbors in this changing world.

“It’s the deep faith I grew up with in my home, and the faith I encountered with the sisters,” said Sister Rosemarie. “It’s a movement of the Spirit; we all come together.”

PLEASE

pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life

wants your news and advertisements!

Find 2014-15 publishing dates and submission deadlines on the web: http://www.crookston.org/ond/ The next OND submission deadline is: Wednesday, April 1 by 12:00 p.m.

Email: Katrina Genereux, Editorial Assistant kgenereux@crookston.org

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

NATIONAL

March 25, 2015

11

Archbishop urges youth at congress to do deeds of love, mercy every day

By Catholic News Service ANAHEIM, CALIF. – Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez advised young Catholics to do three things: talk to Jesus, read the Gospels, and do deeds of love and mercy every day.

“The work of Jesus’ words continues through you and though me,” the archbishop said in a March 12 homily. “So in the same way, just be normal.

Have fun, enjoy life. ... Because Jesus wants to be your friend.”

Archbishop Gomez was the main celebrant and homilist at Mass with more than 15,000 young Catholics in attendance on Youth Day, the first day of the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.

This year’s gathering March 12-15 at the Anaheim Convention Center drew close to 40,000.

The annual event, which began in 1968, draws Catholics from across the United States and other countries. This year, attendees hailed from 49 different states and 21 different countries, with 13 coming from Pakistan.

“Congress,” as it’s referred to among participants, is four days of liturgies and religious education sessions that focus on theology, apologetics, spirituality, social justice and other aspects of the faith. More than 200 speakers presented over 300 workshops in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Richard Alan Jones, an expert

A man prays during a Mass with more than 15,000 young Catholics in attendance March 12, the first day of the annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. (CNS photo/Victor Aleman, Vida Nueva)

in Latin American migration with Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, spoke of the surge of Central American immigrants into the United States during a March 13 session.

“They aren’t looking for the American dream, they’re fleeing the Central American nightmare,” said Jones, who lives in San Salvador.

Gangs, poverty and even an

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improving Mexican economy have contributed to the steep increase in immigration from Central America, he said. With the lowest number of Mexican immigrants since the 1970s, human traffickers have targeted Central Americans.

Coyotes, who charge no less than $5,000 for transit to the United States, began stimulating immigration in Central America, even offering twofor-one deals, he said.

Congress attendees traveled to Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove for the second annual Immigration Summit. Bishops from dioceses in Southern California signed a joint letter to Congress, urging representatives to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform.

“No one denies that our response to immigrants and our immigration system itself has gotten off track,” the letter read. “We urge California’s congressional delegation and our leaders in Washington to come together to implement policies ... which promise to bring temporary relief and protection to millions of immigrants,” they wrote.

The bishops also underscored the need to defend the due process for unaccompanied minors, “who under U.S. law and under common humanitarian principles should not be deported without first having a court hearing.”

Leaders of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the dioceses of Orange and San Bernardino called all parishioners from Southern California to take action. Archbishop Gomez, Orange Bishop Kevin W. Vann, San Bernardino Bishop Rutilio J. del Riego and the auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles all signed the letter.

Later, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa spoke on the “Church of the Future,” em-

phasizing the need for ongoing catechesis.

“Many people think that catechesis is only the preparation for a sacrament, especially for First Communion and for confirmation,” Cardinal Rodriguez said. “And that is wrong.”

He called catechism a “continuous and systematic education of the faith,” adding “all of us need this kind of education.” A childish faith is not enough to support the adult life, he said.

Between sessions, participants visited hundreds of booths set up by Catholic organizations in the exhibit hall.

Some had Pope Francis cutouts so visitors could pose for a mock “selfie” with the pope.

The Argentine-born pontiff ’s presence was felt in the sessions as well, with Jesuit Father Thomas Reese giving his two cents.

“This is a workshop to evaluate the pope’s first two years, and -- spoiler alert -- he did good,” said a smiling Father Reese as he kicked off his engaging, positive discussion, eliciting laughter from hundreds of Congress-goers.

The priest cited style, pastoral priorities and the public presence of the Church as the top reasons for the “Francis effect.” From his simple words of introduction after being introduced as pope, to the focus on the poor, to being a vocal critic of globalization, the pope has won many fans.

12 March 25, 2015

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Pope announces Holy Year of Mercy

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis announced an extraordinary jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy, to highlight the Catholic Church’s “mission to be a witness of mercy.”

“No one can be excluded from God’s mercy,” the pope said March 13, marking the second anniversary of his pontificate by leading a Lenten penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“I frequently have thought about how the church can make more evident its mission to be a witness of mercy,” he said during his homily; that is why he decided to call a special Holy Year, which will be celebrated from Dec. 8, 2015, until Nov. 20, 2016.

The biblical theme of the year, he said, will be “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” an admonition that applies “especially to confessors,” the pope said with a smile.

Traditionally, every 25 years the popes proclaim a holy year, which features special celebrations and pilgrimages, strong calls for conversion and repentance, and the offer of special opportunities to experience God’s grace through the sacraments, especially confession.

Extraordinary holy years, like the Holy Year of Mercy, are less frequent, but offer the same opportunities for spiritual growth.

The doors of the church “are wide open so that all those who are touched by grace can find the certainty of forgiveness,” Pope Francis said at the penance service, which featured individual confessions. It was part of a worldwide celebration of “24 Hours for the Lord,” in which Catholic churches were staying open for prayer, eucharistic adoration and confession.

At each of the dozens of confessionals in St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as in simple chairs scattered along the walls, priests welcomed people to the sacrament.

The pope removed his liturgical vestments and went to confession before putting on a purple stole and hearing the confes-

Pope Francis gestures as he preaches during a Lenten penance service in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican March 13. 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. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

sions of others.

“God never ceases to demonstrate the richness of his mercy over the course of centuries,” the pope said in his homily, which preceded the confessions.

God touches people’s hearts with his grace, filling them with repentance and a desire to “experience his love.”

“Being touched by the tenderness of his hand,” people should not be afraid to approach a priest and confess their sins, he said. In the confessional, one has “the certainty of being welcomed in the name of God and understood, despite our misery.”

“The greater the sin, the greater the love, which the church must express toward those who

convert,” Pope Francis said.

The Gospel reading at the penance service was the story of the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Every time one goes to confession, the pope said, “we feel the same compassionate gaze of Jesus” that she did.

Jesus’ love, he said, allowed her to draw near, to demonstrate her repentance and to show her love for him. “Every gesture of this woman speaks of love and expresses her desire to have an unshakable certainty in her life, that of having been forgiven.”

“Love and forgiveness are simultaneous” in the story of each person, just as in the story of

the sinful woman, he said. “God forgave her for much -- for everything -- because he loved her much.”

Through Jesus, the pope said, God took the woman’s sins and “threw them over his shoulder, he no longer remembers them.”

Jesus’ encounter with the woman took place in the home of a Pharisee named Simon. Unlike the woman, the pope said, Simon “isn’t able to find the path of love. He remains stopped at the threshold of formality. He is not able to take the next step to encounter Jesus, who brings salvation.”

The Pharisee is concerned only with following God’s law, with justice, which is a mistake, the pope said. “His judgment of the woman distances him from the truth and prevents him from understanding who his guest is.”

Jesus scolds Simon, pointing out how the “sinful woman” has shown nothing but love and repentance, the pope said. “Jesus’ rebuke pushes each of us to never stop at the surface of things, especially when dealing with a person. We are called to look deeper, to focus on the heart in order to see how much generosity the person is capable of.”

Pope Francis said he asked the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization to coordinate preparations for the Holy Year so that it would be “a new stage in the church’s journey in fulfilling its mission of bringing the Gospel of mercy to each person.”

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

WORD to LIFE March 29

PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION Procession: Mark 11:1-10 or John 12:12-16; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Philippians 2:6-11 Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 By Catholic News Service I was barely a teenager when I learned a profound lesson in friendship. In physical education class at school the teacher appointed me one of two team captains to “choose up sides” for a softball game.

For my first choice I named Chris, my new friend since the previous summer when we had played together on a softball team. She was the obvious top pick for me since we loved playing ball together and she was quite good.

Even as I was calling out her name, I realized that my longtime “best friend” Margie wasn’t going to like that I didn’t choose her first. But I was concerned with selecting a winning team, I thought, so Margie would just have to deal with it.

After several rounds, I had all the players I needed to assure success. There were only three people left, including Margie, who by then was staring at the ground.

When I called her name, she pointedly rolled her eyes as she joined my team.

She didn’t speak to me the rest of the day, and I knew she was angry.

That evening we finally talked. “I’m your best friend. I couldn’t believe you didn’t choose me first,” she said. I argued that we weren’t picking friends, we were picking the best players. But I realized I had made a terrible decision.

I’d denied my best friend right in front of all our other friends and classmates.

Margie forgave me quickly. She was a loyal friend who knew that our relationship was not only more important than winning a game, but transcended the sting of betrayal. Her love was stronger than that.

I knew I’d hurt my friend and, even at that young age, was surprised by the weakness of my disloyalty. The incident was like Peter’s denial of his friend in today’s Gospel.

In the account of Jesus’ passion, our savior suffered in every way. He was wrongly accused, physically tortured, mocked, betrayed and denied by his closest friends. Broken and utterly alone, he endured the darkest moment a human being can experience.

Yet, he let it go, because his relationship with us was more important than the suffering – and his love more powerful than the failing of humanity.

Sacrificial love is our redemption.

Questions: When have you experienced love transcending hurt?

How have you denied or betrayed your relationship with Jesus?

How have you sought to restore it?

“ALL OF YOU WILL HAVE YOUR FAITH SHAKEN.” — MARK 14:27

March 25, 2015

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FOR FAITH-SHARING GROUPS

April 5

THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD THE MASS OF EASTER DAY Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8

Psalm: 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Gospel: John 20:1-9

By Catholic News Service We forget how little Jesus’ disciples understood of what happened when Jesus rose from the dead, proving God is the God of life. But when Mary of Magdala announced the empty tomb to the disciples who were gathered in prayer after Jesus’ crucifixion, they didn’t understand much at all. When Peter and John raced to the tomb and saw his burial clothes lying there, their eyes began to be opened -- but not all the way.

John, the author of the Gospel, says, “And he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he (Jesus) had to rise from the dead.”

Matthew’s Gospel recounts that the disciples failed to understand even on the day of Jesus’ ascension, even after having spent 40 days with him after his resurrection, even only moments before they were to receive their commission to go and make disciples of all nations. Matthew writes of the disciples, after seeing Jesus where he had told them to meet him in Galilee, “They saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.”

However, in the reading from Acts that opens this Sunday’s Scriptures, Peter has full understanding and boldly proclaims the Gospel. After being fully empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he proclaims the good news of Jesus to a gathering of gentiles: “He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one ap-

pointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Though I could offer witness to God’s miracles in my own life and those around me, nothing in my experience can come close to matching Jesus’ rising from the dead. And only the Holy Spirit, leading us to wisdom and understanding, can cause us to fully understand the significance of Jesus’ triumph over the grave.

Alleluia, he is risen indeed.

Question: Have you fully understood the power of the Gospel brought to us by Jesus’ resurrection, his victory over death?

“THEN THE OTHER DISCIPLE ALSO WENT IN ... AND HE SAW AND BELIEVED.” — JOHN 20:8A, C

THE OND IS NOW ONLINE!!

- ARCHIVED EDITIONS -

Vol. 69, No. 5 (March 11, 2015) can be viewed here: www.crookston.org/ond/

14 March 25, 2015

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DIOCESAN

PRAYER CALENDAR APRIL 1 - WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK Fr. Bob Pryor (retired) APRIL 2 - HOLY THURSDAY Fr. Joe Richards APRIL 3 - FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD Fr. Jerry Rogers APRIL 4 - HOLY SATURDAY Fr. Bob Schreiner APRIL 5 - EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD Fr. Luis Silva APRIL 6 - MONDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER Fr. Bob Stone (retired) APRIL 7 - TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER Fr. Pat Sullivan

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APRIL 2015

APRIL 8 - WEDNESDAY WEEKDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF Nate Brunn (seminarian) EASTER Fr. Manuel Sundaram APRIL 15 - EASTER WEEKDAY Deacon John Christianson APRIL 9 - THURSDAY WITHIN (seminarian) THE OCTAVE OF EASTER Fr. David Super APRIL 16 - EASTER WEEKDAY Deacon Bryan Kujawa APRIL 10 - FRIDAY WITHIN (seminarian) THE OCTAVE OF EASTER Fr. Emmanuel Sylvester APRIL 17 - EASTER WEEKDAY Matt Schmitz (seminarian) APRIL 11 - SATURDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF APRIL 18 - EASTER WEEKDAY EASTER Nathin Voeller (seminarian) Fr. Craig Vasek APRIL 19 - THIRD SUNDAY OF APRIL 12 - SUNDAY OF EASTER DIVINE MERCY Bishop Michael Hoeppner Fr. Larry Wieseler (retired) APRIL 20 - EASTER WEEKDAY APRIL 13 - EASTER WEEKDAY Bishop Victor Balke (retired) Michael Arey (seminarian) APRIL 21 - ST. ANSELM, APRIL 14 - EASTER BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE

CHURCH Fr. Todd Arends

APRIL 28 - ST. PETER CHANEL, PRIEST, MARTYR; ST. LOUIS GRIGNION DE APRIL 22 - EASTER WEEKDAY MONTFORT, PRIEST Msgr. David Baumgartner Fr. Bill DeCrans APRIL 23 - ST.GEORGE, MARTYR; ST. ADALBERT, MARTYR Fr. James Bernauer (retired)

APRIL 29 - ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA, VIRGIN, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH Fr. Joe DeCrans

APRIL 24 - ST. FIDELIS APRIL 30 - ST. PIUS V, POPE OF SIGMARINGEN, PRIEST, Fr. Larry Delaney MARTYR Fr. Don Braukmann APRIL 25 EVANGELIST Fr. Luis Buitron

ST. MARK,

APRIL 26 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Fr. Tim Bushy APRIL 27 - EASTER WEEKDAY Fr. John Cox, OMI

VOCATION PRAYER OF POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II: Lord Jesus, as you once called the first disciples to make them fishers of men, let your sweet invi-

tation continue to resound: Come follow me! Give young men and women the grace of responding quickly to your voice. Support our bishops, priests, and consecrated people in their apostolic labor. Grant perseverance to our seminarians and to all those who are carrying out the ideal of a life totally consecrated to your service. Awaken in our community a missionary eagerness. Lord, send workers to your harvest and do not allow humanity to be lost for the lack of pastors, missionaries, and people dedicated to the cause of the Gospel. Mary, Mother of the Church, the model of every vocation, help us to say “yes” to the Lord who calls us to cooperate in the divine plan of salvation. Amen.

DAILY SCRIPTURE APRIL 1 - Is 50:4-9a; Ps 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34; Mt 26:14-25 APRIL 2 - Is 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9; Ps 89:21-22, 25, 27; Rv 1:5-8; Lk 4:16-21; Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper: Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; Ps 116:12-13, 15-16c, 1718; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 13:1-15 APRIL 3 - Is 52:13-53:12; Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn 18:1-19:42 APRIL 4 - I: Gn 1:1-2:2 or 1:1,26-31a; Ps 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12-14, 24, 35 or Ps 33:4-7, 12-13, 20, 22; II:Gn 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps 16:5, 8-11; III: Ex 14:15-15:1; (Ps) Ex 15:1-6, 17-18; IV: Is 54:5-14; Ps 30:2, 4-6, 11-13; V: Is 55:1-11; (Ps) Is 12:2-3, 4-6; VI: Bar 3:9-15, 32-4:4; Ps 19:8-11; VII: Ex 36:16-17a, 1828; Ps 42:3, 5-43:3-4; or (Ps) Is 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 or Ps 51:12-15, 18-19; VIII: Rom 6:3-11; Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; IX: Mk 16:1-7 APRIL 5 - Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 2223; Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6-8b; Jn 20:1-9 or Mk 16:1-7 or Lk 24:13-35 APRIL 6 - Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps 16:1-2a, 5, 7-11; Mt 28:8-15 APRIL 7 - Acts 2:36-41; Ps 33:4-5, 18-20, 22; Jn 20:11-18 APRIL 8 - Acts 3:1-10; Ps 105:1-4, 6-9; Lk 24:13-35 APRIL 9 - Acts 3:11-26; Ps 8:2ab, 5-9; Lk 24:35-48 APRIL 10 - Acts 4:1-12; Ps 118:1-2, 4, 22-27a; Jn 21:1-14 APRIL 11 - Acts 4:13-21; Ps 118:1, 14-15ab, 16-21; Mk 16:9-15

APRIL 2015 APRIL 12 - Acts 4:32-35; Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31 APRIL 13 - Acts 4:23-31; Ps 2:1-9; Jn 3:1-8 APRIL 14 - Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93:1-2, 5; Jn 3:7b-15 APRIL 15 - Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21 APRIL 16 - Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34:2, 9, 17-20; Jn 3:31-36 APRIL 17 - Acts 5:34-42; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; Jn 6:1-15 APRIL 18 - Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; Jn 6:1621 APRIL 19 - Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Ps 4:2, 4, 7-9; 1 Jn 2:1-5a; Lk 24:35-48 APRIL 20 - Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30; Jn 6:22-29 APRIL 21 - Acts 7:51-8:1a; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 7b, 8a, 17, 21ab; Jn 6:30-35 APRIL 22 - Acts 8:1b-8; Ps 66:1-3a, 4-7a; Jn 6:35-40 APRIL 23 - Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20; Jn 6:44-51 APRIL 24 - Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Jn 6:52-59 APRIL 25 - 1 Pt 5:5b-14; Ps 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17; Mk 16:15-20 APRIL 26 - Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29; 1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18 APRIL 27 - Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3, 43:3-4; Jn 10: 1-10 APRIL 28 - Acts 11:19-26; Ps 87:1b-7; Jn 10:22-30 APRIL 29 - Acts 12:24-13:5a; Ps 67:2-3, 5-6, 8; Jn 12:44-50 APRIL 30 - Acts 13:13-25; Ps 89:2-3, 21-22, 25,, 27; Jn 13:16-20

POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER INTENTIONS

APRIL 2015

(Photo credit: CNS)

UNIVERSAL: CREATION That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God. EVANGELIZATION: PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS That persecuted Christians may feel the consoling presence of the Risen Lord and the solidarity of all the Church.

16 March 25, 2015

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