OND Oct. B 2015 Vol 69, No 19

VOL. 69, NO. 19

WWW.CROOKSTON.ORG

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Mission to love highlighted at Marriage Day

Mass and celebration draw from recent World Meeting of Families

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND CROOKSTON, MINN. — “Today we celebrate marriage as God’s gift to man and woman and each and every one of your marriages and families, … whose mission, given by God, is love,” said Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner at the beginning of his homily during Mass at Marriage Celebration Day. “The mission of love, of marriage and family, that’s going to change the world,” he continued. “There’s no group of people in a better position to change the world than Christian husbands and wives and Christian families … fulfilling their mission to love.”

The 20th annual celebration of marriage was held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Con-

ception on Oct. 4. According to the Office of the New Evangelization, more than 1,800 years of marriage were represented by the attendees.

The theme of the celebration, Love is our Mission, was pulled from the recent World Meeting of Families held in Philadelphia and attended by Pope Francis.

The theme and connection to the world meeting was present in many ways.

The gift given to the married couples, widows and widowers in attendance was an image of the holy family created for the World Meeting of Families.

Bishop Hoeppner blessed the gifts and greeted each person as they came forward. “Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom,” the official song for the World MeetCELEBRATION: Continued on Page 11

Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner delivers the homily at Marriage Celebration Day on Oct. 4. This year’s theme, Love is our Mission, mirrored the 2015 World Meeting of Families. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

Covenant Eyes software mailed to diocesan households Internet accountability company partners with Diocese of Crookston in first-of-its-kind effort

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND

By now, every Catholic household in the Diocese of Crookston has received a free 60-day trial of Covenant Eyes internet filtering and accountability software.

The Office of the New Evangelization partnered with Covenant Eyes on this largescale effort to support families and protect the people of the diocese from internet pornography.

According to Father Robert Schreiner, S.T.L., Director of the Office of the New Evangelization, use of, and addiction

INSIDE

VOL. 69, NO. 19:

to, pornography is disintegrating the quality of married life.

He said he encountered this frequently while serving as a pastor.

“It is an insidious addiction which the popular culture is rapidly mainstreaming as expected and ‘normal,’ for men,” Father Schreiner said. “A true feminine identity and strength is also being profoundly warped by pornography, which sexualizes our women and girls at younger and younger ages. It is simply devastating.”

“I am convinced that in our culture that is so overcome and overwhelmed by pornography, that if we don’t address the neg-

ative effects of pornography … and if we don’t shine our Lord’s mercy onto it, nothing else will be effective or fruitful in our evangelization and catechetical efforts,” said Amanda Zurface, J.C.L.. Zurface is the Coordinator of Justice, Marriage and Family Life for the Office of the New Evangelization in the Diocese of Crookston.

Three years ago, Zurface attended a marriage and family conference in St. Louis.

She heard discussions about pornography and its effects on marriage and family from a Catholic perspective. She also COVENANT: Continued on Page 10

Pg. 3 - World Meeting of Families Pilgrimage Pg. 6 - Vocations Awareness Week Resources Pg. 7 - Safe Environment Audit Results

Participants at the High School Youth Rally fill envelopes with Covenant Eyes materials as one of their service projects. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

2

October 21, 2015

A

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Voice from the Valley

BY BISHOP MICHAEL J. HOEPPNER

HOPE FOR THE DIVORCED There is so much good going on right now in the Church regarding marriage and family! Last year there was the Extraordinary Synod on the family and this year, another General Synod was held on the family.

Philadelphia hosted the World Meeting of Families and we all welcomed Pope Francis to the United States. Now, Pope Francis has issued an invitation for us to reach out and help the divorced. As we know, in accord with the Gospel, Pope Francis puts the poor at the center. Placing the poor at the heart – namely remarried divorced people who are held or considered to be distant – Pope Francis has urged us to “move beyond the limit of the few thousand declarations of nullity to the countless unhappy people who may be eligible for an annulment ... but are left out of the system currently in force.”

And so, motivated by charity and mercy, Pope Francis has modified the Church’s process for dealing with annulments and he has given us a totally new “briefer process” all aimed at expediting mercy and justice to the divorced.

Modifications to the current tribunal process include: removing some of the conditions curtailing a diocese from immediately taking on a marriage

annulment case; allowing cases to be handled by one judge instead of three and removing the requirement that every case receiving an affirmative decision (that is a “yes” to a decree of annulment) be appealed to an appellate tribunal for confirmation. These changes will greatly reduce the time people who want the decree of annulment will have to wait.

And now, there is even a “briefer process” to declare the nullity of a marriage. When both parties make a petition, or at least one does with the consent of the other; and sufficient information as to why their marriage ended in civil divorce has been gathered, and the information indicates “obvious nullity in incontestable facts,” then the “briefer process” is followed, resulting in a decree of nullity.

In this process, the diocesan bishop himself is central; the diocesan bishop is competent to judge. Pope Francis is asking bishops to exercise and live out the sacramental authority they receive from the Holy Spirit. He asks that bishops “once again take up the practice of the holy bishops of the early centuries of the church, who tended to personally exercise the sacramental authority of fathers, teachers, and judges, something received through the laying on of hands in the episcopal ordination,” said Msgr. Vito Pinto,

Dean of the Roman Rota.

So, indeed, there is much good going on these days in the Church regarding marriage. As one who was involved in the ministry of the marriage tribunal in the Diocese of Winona for 10 years, I am thrilled that I now, as a bishop, have the opportunity to exercise the grace of my episcopal ordination in helping divorced persons in this new process. With the help that the changes made to the tribunal process and the gift of the new “briefer process” our hope is that divorced and remarried Catholics will approach the Church for mercy and justice and, finding both more expediently, they will have their current union’s validated and return to the nourishment and joy of the sacraments.

THREE REMINDERS Households in the Diocese of Crookston will receive a free package to protect themselves from pornography and to help parents and children practice healthy online habits. The packages will include: a free 60-day trial of Covenant Eyes filtering and accountability software; a parent workshop DVD entitled “Unfiltered”; a Parent How-to-Guide and more. Once Covenant Eyes is up and working, you will receive a monthly report which will help you see just what kind of material passes to you as you use the inter-

BISHOP’S CALENDAR October 24

6:00 p.m.

October 25

10:00 a.m.

October 27

7:45 a.m.

October 29

Mass of Installation, St. Mary’s, Warroad Rite of Confirmation, Blessed Sacrament, Greenbush Mass, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston Catholic and Lutheran Bishops Meeting, St. Cloud

net. I hope you will make good use of these packages. I hope that they will assist you in your efforts to take care of your family. Additional information is available at: www.crookston. org/covenanteyes.

Also, please pray every day during this Respect Life Month that respect for life – from conception to natural death – will continue to grow in our hearts and in our land. You may have seen that California has now legalized physician-assisted suicide. Supporters call it “death with dignity.” Suicide is not death with dignity. Real dignity in illness and suffering is seen in carrying the cross. Then, illness and suffering can lead to resurrection and real life. No one wants to be sick, to suffer pain, or be a burden to others. However, in today’s world, with real care from physicians and medical workers and loved ones, pain can be controlled, suffering can be eased and burdens can be lightened. This allows love to triumph. Here again is our daily prayer for this

year’s Respect Life Month: Heavenly Father, thank you for the precious gift of life. Help us to cherish and protect this gift, even in the midst of fear, pain and suffering.

Give us love for all people, especially the most vulnerable, and help us bear witness to the truth that every life is worth living. Grant us the humility to accept help when we are in need and to teach us to be merciful to all.

Through our words and actions, may others encounter the outstretched hands of your mercy. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen (USCCB, Every Life is Worth Living).

My last reminder is a request to please travel to Bemidji on Nov. 1 at the close of Respect Life Month and the 40 Days for Life Campaign. A group will gather there for prayer at noon, directly across from the Planned Parenthood building located at 2504 Hannah Ave NW. Visit www.crookston.org/ justice for more information.

(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: $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

November 1

9:45 a.m.

Rite of Confirmation, St. Joseph’s, Ada

Editorial Assistant: Mrs. Katrina Genereux

kgenereux@crookston.org

November 3

7:45 a.m.

Mass, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston

November 5

Priests’ Study Day, St. Mary’s, Fosston

VICTIM 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 218-281-7895 (24-hour confidential number) or Lmcglynn@ 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

October 21, 2015

3

Diocesan pilgrims encounter pope, experience global Church

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND

From Sept. 22 through Sept.

28, a group of 10 pilgrims represented the Diocese of Crookston at the 8th World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Each day, the group left their hotel at 6 a.m. and did not return until around 10 p.m. Their long days were filled with Mass, presentations from internationally-known speakers, hours spent in line and lots of walking.

The pilgrimage was announced near the end of the diocesan Year of Marriage.

It was intended to be an opportunity to continue growing in faith while learning more about marriage and family life and encountering the universal Church, according to Amanda Zurface, J.C.L. Zurface is the Coordinator of Justice, Marriage and Family Life for the Office of the New Evangelization. She and spiritual director, Msgr. Roger Grundhaus, led the group of eight pilgrims through their journey.

Zurface said the group walked many miles in crowds of hundreds of thousands of people and spent three to four hours waiting to pass through security checkpoints. Despite the hardships of the pilgrimage, Zurface said people were joyful.

“At one point we were in line by a large group from Dominican Republic,” Zurface said.

“They were singing songs of praise to God!” “Overall, the enthusiasm of so big a crowd and their joy in experiencing their Catholic faith was certainly a highlight,” said Msgr. Grundhaus. He said there were around 20,000 people at the World Meeting of Families, and 900,000 more came for the pope’s visit and closing Mass.

Encountering people from around the world was the highlight of the trip for Nancy Gierszewski of Sts. Peter and Paul, Warren.

“It was exciting, being with the family of God,” she said.

“140 countries were represented.”

When St. Pope John Paul II was beatified, Gerzewski prayed along with a live, televised worldwide rosary on EWTN. At the World Meeting of Families, Gerzewski said seeing families from all over the globe made the concept of the universal Church take on a new

depth for her.

Betty Fuller of St. Peter the Apostle, Park Rapids, had a similar experience.

“The highlight of the whole World Meeting of Families was the wonderful sense of unity with one another,” she said. “It wasn’t just a small group in our diocese. This was worldwide.”

Fuller met pilgrims from New Zealand, Germany and Australia. “It is such a wonderful feeling to be part of a world full of Catholics,” she said.

The pilgrimage had some challenges, but they usually had a purpose. Zurface said there were times when it was frustrating to not be able to move where they wanted because of the crowds and security. However, she said, “The Lord put us exactly where he wanted us to be when we were in those situations. For our small pilgrimage group, that meant seeing the pope!”

Seeing the Vicar of Christ was the highlight of the pilgrimage for Ron Vasek of Holy Trinity, Tabor. He and his wife, Patty, travelled with the diocesan group. “We were within 20 feet of him driving by,” Ron said. The group was able to see Pope Francis during the Festival of Families, and a second time during the Papal Mass on Sunday.

“In both cases we were standing in line for hours and hours and hours,” said Vasek. “If we had been five minutes later, we would have never seen him.”

The group was not able to get to their reserved spots for the Festival of Families because of the crowd. Instead of being closer to the stage for the music and testimonies, they watched them on large screens.

However, because their location changed, they were able to see Pope Francis pass by them from only four yards away, Zurface said.

“It just brought tears to my eyes when Pope Francis came down the street,” Fuller said.

“I can’t tell you the feeling of touching so close to heaven.”

“It’s amazing the feeling you get when you are in the presence of the Vicar of Christ,” Zurface said. “He offers so much to the world! He brings Christ with him wherever he goes … and you can feel it.”

Being on pilgrimage and accepting whatever was going to happen or not happen was an aspect of the trip that stood out to Vasek. He said the group went from thinking they wouldn’t get to see the pope at

Pilgrims from the Diocese of Crookston meet up with Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner following Mass on Sept. 25. From the Left: Amanda Zurface, Betty Fuller, Elizabeth “Betty” Richards, Nancy Gierszewski, Ann Schellack, Patty Vasek, Bishop Hoeppner, Karen Beaulieu, Ron Vasek, Msgr. Roger Grundhaus and Tamara Day. (Submitted photos)

all to having him drive right in front of them.

“It was great to be with the whole mass of people who wanted to see the pope, be in his presence and hear what he had to say,” Vasek said.

Each day, the World Meeting of Families Congress began with Mass. Karen Beaulieu said these were some of the most beautiful celebrations of the Eucharist she has ever attended.

The group was waiting to move through a security checkpoint to go to Mass when a man approached Beaulieu and her sister, Tamara Day, and asked if they were from Minnesota.

He said the Ojibwe design of her barrette caught his eye.

Beaulieu was wearing her father’s favorite piece of beadwork as a way to bring him with her. The man previously worked at St. Mary’s Mission in Red Lake, and was one of her dad’s close friends. Beaulieu was amazed that he noticed the small piece of beadwork in the crowd of people.

“We were just thrilled to see him,” she said.

Another highlight for her was viewing an exhibit detailing the history of the Bible. The display started with the Dead Sea scrolls and ended with Bibles on iPads. Her favorite part of the exhibit was a Bible from the late 1700s or 1800s written in Ojibwe.

In addition to displays and exhibits, there were also many well known Catholic speakers at the World Meeting of Families.

“The keynote speeches at the World Meeting of Families were superb,” Msgr. Grundhaus said.

Attendees were able to hear from Bishop Robert Barron, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle,

Diocese of Crookston pilgrims catch a glimpse of Pope Francis as he passes by the crowd in the popemobile during the 8th World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Greg Popcak and Professor Helen Alvare.

“It was like a huge Catholic family reunion intended to give nourishment, encouragement, support and motivation ‘to keep going’ and to live marriage and family life according to God’s teachings,” Zurface said.

“It was completely edifying to hear all of the … well known Catholic speakers of our day in person.” Audio of some of the presentation is available at www.crookston.org/wmf.

In addition to attending the World Meeting of Families, the pilgrimage group visited the shrines of St. Katharine Drexel, St. John Neumann and Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Beaulieu said visiting the shrine of St. Katharine Drexel, who helped make St. Mary’s Mission School at Red Lake a reality, was especially meaningful. Beaulieu and Day brought holy water and images from the shrine back to Red Lake.

When the group landed in

Minneapolis near the end of their journey, Ron Vasek was talking with a woman on the plane and showed her his video of Pope Francis passing by their group.

“She said ‘I love him because he keeps talking about mercy and the Church is so merciful’,” said Vasek. She told him she had been away from the Church for 20 years, but if she had a chance to reconcile, she would do it. Vasek encouraged her to speak with a priest.

“We all felt God’s grace and his love and we came back with a broader meaning of our religion as well as a very intimate relationship with our God and the blessings he’s bestowed on us,” Fuller said.

“The pilgrimage is over,” said Beaulieu. “Now where do we go from here? How do we bring back and share this with our families?” These are some of the questions she said she is trying to answer now that she is home.

4

October 21, 2015

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Pope Francis offers a political examination of conscience Pope Francis’s recent speeches to Congress and to the United Nations were models of Church engagement in the public arena. By re-framing the task of politics and anchoring policy debates to the natural law, both messages were radical critiques of the prevailing culture of each institution and should serve as an examination of conscience for public officials at all levels of government.

From the beginning of his remarks to Congress, Pope Francis stressed that the task of politics is to serve the common good. This may seem obvious, but the reality is that modern political thought has often characterized politics as a battle for power.

For example, when one hears the word “politics,” the first thing that often comes to mind is elections, rather than a rational debate about how we order our lives as a community.

Pope Francis is reminding us of the classical vision of politics, and the nobility of its task.

Politics, as he has said, is one of the highest forms of charity because it serves the common good.

According to Pope Francis, we need public figures who have a spirit of openness and pragmatism, leaders who can put aside political ideology and

FAITH

IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

By Mr. Jason Adkins

Executive Director Minnesota Catholic Conference

the concerns of special interests to work for the well-being of everyone, and not just the well-being of donors, parties, interest groups, or their own ambitions. In other words, politics requires persons of virtue.

Surely, this was the message the U.S. Congress needed to hear above all others.

Rather than speaking abstractly about the necessary virtues needed to renew American public life, Pope Francis highlighted the witness of four Americans who embody these virtues: Abraham Lincoln; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

Pope Francis indicated that both Lincoln and Dr. King are models because they called on America to create “a new birth of freedom” for everyone, and without exclusion. The ordered liberty for which they called is rooted in America’s founding principles, namely, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

Lincoln repeatedly stressed that the American experiment in self-government and ordered liberty was a proposition, not a fact, meaning that it had to constantly be proven true.

Dr. King reminded us in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that our measuring stick in this task of renewing the American experiment is the Bible and the natural law. Building on this theme in his speech to the United Nations, Pope Francis stressed the importance of the natural law as the guiding principle of that body’s international development goals.

Paradoxically, Dorothy Day was cited by Pope Francis as a model of political virtue even though she rarely voted. She embodied the principle that politics is about civic friendship and showing solidarity with others, particularly the poor, rather than the power struggles of elites. She calls us to encounter those at the margins, and live among them. Rather than focus on top-down politi-

ACTION ALERT: PROTECT WOMEN, SUPPORT THE LICENSING AND INSPECTION OF MINNESOTA ABORTION FACILITIES. Call Governor Dayton at 800-657-3717 and ask him to support HF 606/SF 616.

Share this message: “Please support legislation HF 606/SF 616 to promote the health and safety of Minnesota women. Ensure abortion providers are following laws related to abortion and the disposition of fetal remains. This legislation applies similar, common-sense regulations to abortion facilities that other outpatient surgical centers must follow. Existing regulations are not enough.”

•The state already regulates facilities ranging from hotels and nursing homes to cosmetology salons and tattoo parlors. Why should women who are entering abortion facilities be excluded from the type of protection we offer women who are entering a nail salon?

• Unsafe abortion facilities and unscrupulous abortionists have been discovered in numerous other states. Our state currently lacks the ability to determine if the same dangerous conditions are present in certain Minnesota facilities.

• Ensure Minnesota abortion providers are not profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. The recent “Planned Parenthood” videos indicate that bio-labs are procuring fetal tissue from abortion providers in Minnesota. We need to know who may be breaking Minnesota law.

cal schemes to change society, we must build a new society from the bottom up, starting with one’s own soul, and then reaching out to the local community.

Finally, Pope Francis called attention to the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. In the quiet of the contemplative life we may, with Thomas Merton, discover the inner wellspring of grace to be people of peace — people who reach out across divides and overcome obstacles

to bring reconciliation and dialogue. Such prayerful witnesses may forge new paths once thought unthinkable.

For those troubled by the Church’s presence in the public arena, Dr. King clarified that the church does not seek to run the state, but instead to be the conscience of the state. Pope Francis’s political examination of conscience reminds us of the political virtues necessary for the challenges of today.

All these candidates, and no one to vote for I find it odd when people say the Church should stay out of politics. We hang mighty crosses in our churches and smaller ones in our homes and even wear them around our necks or tattoo them onto our body, yet some seem to forget the cross of Christ was about defeating political injustice as well as gaining our salvation.

Politicians today hang on the latest poll as if it were their life blood. As I have said before, the one official poll taken about Jesus cost him his life; the people chose Barabbas!

The cross, with Christ on it, demands the Church, his body, speak out for those who suffer silently on the cross, crying out “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” The Church has no choice but to raise her voice boldly and radically announce no one is abandoned; no single life has greater value over another.

Our political leaders make decisions on the value of hu-

LIFE FIRST

By Father Don Braukmann

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

man life every day. Do we feed the starving in central Africa or build a ship that will take us to Mars? Both have value, so who decides? How do they decide?

Why do they decide as they do?

Every decision a political leader makes is based on morality, what is right and wrong. Whose morality do we agree to live under?

The cross of Christ challenged the politicians of his day and they ran away in fear. Pilate tried to wash his hands of the whole spectacle; no scrubbing could wash away the blood he would spill.

It is disheartening to watch the recent presidential debates

as even the Catholic candidates seem to have a finger in the latest political breeze twisting and turning while quickly dismissing basic human rights and fundamental justice.

I would like to believe there is a candidate out there who embraces the “seamless garment” of morality which defines us as Catholic. One, consistent, seamless life ethic which reminds humankind we are all made in the image of God and share in the dignity God has given us.

Abortion must end. We can tell the truth to every woman and every man who find themselves dealing with a crisis or

unwanted pregnancy about the beauty of life they created with God. We can provide the best education and health care to every child if we choose to do so.

Education opens the doors of freedom and health care allows people to live productive lives building up the common good in simple and great ways.

The death penalty, killing someone to show people it is wrong to kill people, is barbaric and beneath us as Americans.

Stealing from any person the chance to repent and find salvation is simply wrong. Our prisons can hold them but will our hearts help them?

Some are calling for the deportation of millions of illegal “aliens” who live and work and pray among us. Justice demands a process that fixes what is broken while protecting the dignity of families.

We can joke about global warming when temps hit 97 degrees in October or 40 below in January. What are the poor

going to do if global warming is no joke? Do we dismiss the pleas of Pope Francis in the name of the poor (who will pay with their lives) or sit in our arrogance unwilling to find the truth together?

War must be a last resort. We have a right to defend ourselves as a nation but why do we seem to repeat the disasters of the past with the same actions in the present?

Food? Energy? There is enough of both if we decide to share.

Health care? Jobs? Both are basic human rights not to be denied in a nation with our wealth and resources.

Make no mistake; every law, every political decision involves someone’s morality being forced onto another. The cross of Christ and the Church, his body on Earth, will insist on justice. Polls don’t change the truth. A woman or man with character, willing to serve, won’t either.

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

October 21, 2015

5

Receiving Communion under the bloody cross [Note: This homily is from the Opening Mass of the Life Teen Training Conference on the Feast of Corpus Christi.]

“Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people saying: ‘This is the blood of the covenant the Lord has made with you ...” Ex 24:8 I wonder … Did people turn their faces heavenward when sprinkled with the sacrificial blood of the covenant?

Or did they merely surrender to the ritual and cower among the crowd hoping to get as little blood on them as possible when Moses passed by? Or to put the question another way, how open were they to receiving the cleansing power of the sacrifice? Any answer I would give would be mere speculation.

But the question is revealing if we have the courage to ask it of ourselves. Would you, standing there in that crowd - being offered a new relationship with your God - have turned your face heavenward so as to be drenched with every drop that came your way? Or would the ritual’s bloody realism repulse you and compel you to a conditional participation – which maximized the benefit and limited the exposure?

With these questions in mind, let us now bring ourselves to the foot of the cross of Christ. For it is the immediate place where the new covenant’s blood falls freely. Real blood, not a notion of it. Not yours, but another’s blood for you. If you have the nerve to stand your ground there, you will be covered with

CREDO A NEW EVANGELIZATION WITNESS

By Father Robert Schreiner, S.T.L.

Director of the Office of the New Evangelization

it. For this is certain: there is no room to cower amidst a crowd at the cross’ foot so to limit one’s exposure. It is a given that you are exposed when standing under the crucified one. So now, the choice is singular. Will you turn your face heavenward to face it full on? Or cast your face downward, away from it, so that the blood falls upon your back and rivers away?

The Blessed Mother and St. John stood that day on the blood soaked ground, now an earthen altar of sacrifice, for the new and everlasting covenant. What did they do?

Our hearts convict us with certainty of the mother’s choice. She looks up of course.

Son-ward, to behold her own blood falling; to receive upon her tear-stained face the rivers from her son’s own heart.

She held her ground as only a mother would, there; as only a mother could, there. And there her mantel became a corporal catching the sacrificial means of the world’s salvation. From there she holds in her heart eternally, a precious treasure of memory in which the Church is forever renewed.

What of John, the one whom the Master loved? His heart held him fast at the cross’ foot

2015 Fall Dinners For an up-to-date listing for the rest of the season visit: www.crookston.org/parishevents

SUNDAY, OCT. 25: ST. PHILIP’S, BEMIDJI Festival and Dinner 10:00 A.M. – 2:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 25: CATHEDRAL, CROOKSTON KC Fish Fry 11:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 25: ST. ELIZABETH’S, DILWORTH Spaghetti Dinner 11:30 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 25: ST. ROSE OF LIMA, ARGYLE Turkey and Ham Dinner 12:00 P.M. – 5:30 P.M. SUNDAY, NOV. 1: ST. JOSEPH’S, MOORHEAD Turkey Dinner and Bazaar 11:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 7: ST. JOSEPH’S, MIDDLE RIVER Supper at American Legion 4:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 7: ST. CLEMENT’S, GRYGLA Supper at Grygla Community Ctr 4:30 P.M. – 8:30 P.M.

no matter how horrifying, no matter how terrifying the sight.

But what of the blood? He had first tasted it the night before.

But this, this completed the memory. These drops at this moment reminded him of what lacked in his own love. This blood stirred in him echoes of his own weakness and doubt and pettiness, and he was tempted (as sin always tempts us) to turn away and offer only his back so as to let the memories river off to another more rocky place, less sacred than this, less exposed than this. But his heart held him fast and he desired to look up so as to connect the memories to the face which had looked at him with love throughout his life. To see that face which had never failed to wordlessly call him to a deeper way and a profounder love. There, then, that moment, his eyes traced the line of the wood upward past the bloody feet, beyond the broken ribs, and to those eyes, that face he looked up and saw that face looking back at him as it always had, with love. And then the taste of it, freely falling into his mouth and down deep into his soul, was the sweetness of Mercy itself - the salvation of memories.

“This blood,” reflected the great St. John Chrysostom, “causes the image of our king to be fresh within us, and produces beauty unspeakable.

This blood,” he continued, “if received rightly drives devils away and calls Angels to our side. This blood poured forth washed clean all the world. This blood cleansed the secret place, the holy of holies. This blood sanctified the golden altar. This blood consecrated priests. This blood is the salvation of our souls. By this blood, the soul is washed, by this blood it is made beautiful, by this blood it is inflamed and by this blood our understanding is set afire with brightness and our soul becomes more beaming than gold. This blood was poured forth, and made heaven possible, again.”

My brothers and sisters: when you come forward in a communion line, know clearly what you are approaching.

Consider the square foot of floor upon which a communion distributor stands, offering you the Body and Blood of Christ for your holy communion. It becomes, in that moment, by the power of its mystery, the foot of the cross again. It is not a place for hiding; there is no room for cowering. We either let the Mystery pass through our lips and fall deeply into our souls, transforming us with the sweetness of Mercy itself; or we don’t.

I know. Given the day in and day out of our life’s struggles and burdens, we can have a

myriad of distractions in any communion line in which we stand. But take heart in this: God has poured forth all of the angels and saints as well as the body and blood of his only Son so as to make such an intimate encounter with him possible for us. It is for us: to look up, to see and so to let it be.

What’s at stake in this? What’s the big deal in our daily struggle to be present to the encounter offered in our Holy Communion with him? About a hundred years ago, St. Gasper del Bufalo - the Apostle of Devotion to the Precious Blood, as St. John XXIII called him - presciently wrote something which has lost none of its relevance for us today.

He wrote: “In every era the Lord has inspired certain devotions to stem the tide of inequity. We also see in times past the Church was attacked for this or that doctrine. Today the war is being waged against religion as such, and against Christ crucified. We need, therefore, to re-emphasize the glories of the cross and of our crucified redeemer; to re-open the fountains of mercy just when the Devil would make us victims of wrath. We must let it be known how the Blood of Christ cleanses souls and sanctifies them, particularly by means of the Sacraments. We must arouse them from their insensibility by reminding them that His Blood is offered up every morning upon the altars of the world calling us forth to adore and to glorify.”

6

October 21, 2015

DIOCESAN

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

National Vocations Awareness Week: Nov. 1-7 WHAT IS IT? National Vocation Awareness Week is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States.

It is dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.

The U.S. Bishops started National Vocations Awareness Week in 1976.

TOP FIVE WAYS YOU CAN PROMOTE VOCATIONS 1. Pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Jesus says in Matthew 9:38 “to beg the master of the harvest to send laborers into the vineyard.” If we want more priests, sisters and brothers, we all need to ask.

2. Teach young people how to pray. Pope Benedict XVI said that unless we teach our youth how to pray, they will never hear God calling them into a deeper relationship with Him and into the discipleship of the Church.

3. Invite active young adults and teens to consider a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life. A simple, sincere comment should not be underestimated. An easy way to do this can be remembered by four letters: ICNU. “John, I see in you (ICNU) the qualities that would make a good priest, and I want to encourage you to pray about it.” It is a non-invasive way to encourage openness to a religious vocation.

4. Make it attractive. Show the priesthood for what it truly is – a call to be a spiritual father to the whole family of faith. Similarly, the consecrated life for a young woman is a call to be united to Christ in a unique way, and to be a spiritual mother to those she encounters in her life and service. The challenge for priests and religious is to be joyful models of their vocations.

5. Preach it, brother! Vocations must be talked about regularly if a “vocation culture” is to take root in parishes and homes. This means, first and foremost, the people need to hear about vocations from priests through homilies, prayers of the faithful, and discussions in the classroom. Vocations kept out of sight are out of mind.

Our Church desperately needs more priests and religious.

Join thousands of Catholics by pledging to pray daily or weekly at: www.invisiblemonastery.com

Diocese of Crookston Seminarians: 2015-2016 LOCATION:

LOCATION:

St. Meinrad School of Theology St. Meinrad, IN

HOME PARISH:

HOME PARISH:

St. Joseph’s, Brooks

Matthew Schmitz 2017

LOCATION:

St. Meinrad School of Theology St. Meinrad, IN

St. Paul Seminary St. Paul, MN

HOME PARISH: St. Francis de Sales, Moorhead

St. Joseph’s, Moorhead

Nate Brunn 2018

PARENTS’ PRAYER FOR VOCATION Gracious and loving God, you have blessed us with the privilege of becoming parents. We ask that you provide us with all that we need in accepting this awesome responsibility.

We pray that we will be open to your spirit, who is our source of strength, as we witness to our children your love for each of them and your desire for them to be happy and to live a full life.

We ask your help so we may guide and encourage our children to believe that they each have a special calling and to use their gifts and talents for others.

We pray, Heavenly Father, that our children will discover and respond enthusiastically to your desire for them, whether it be to the vocation of single, married, ordained or consecrated life.

We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Michael Arey 2019

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SEMINARY OR VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT, PLEASE CONTACT:

Fr. Vincent Miller Director of Vocations vmiller.cathedral@midconetwork.com (218) 281-1735 or Fr. Xavier Ilango Associate Director of Vocations xavier.ilango@gmail.com (218) 334-4221 www.crookston.org/Vocations

THE INVISIBLE MONASTERY PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS God our Father, you made each of us to use our gifts in the Body of Christ.

We ask that You inspire young people whom you call to priesthood and consecrated life to courageously follow your will.

Send workers into your great harvest so that the Gospel is preached, the poor are served with love, the suffering are comforted, and your people are strengthened by the sacraments.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER TO KNOW YOUR VOCATION Lord, my God and my loving Father, you have made me to know you, to love you, to serve you, and thereby to find and to fulfill my deepest longings. I know that you are in all things, and that every path can lead me to you.

But of them all, there is one especially by which you want me to come to you. Since I will do what you want of me, I pray you send your Holy Spirit to me: into my mind, to show me what you want of me; into my heart, to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love, with all my mind, and with all of my strength right to the end. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

DIOCESAN

October 21, 2015

7

2015 Safe Environment audit: Diocese of Crookston found compliant OND Staff Reports

In August of 2015, an onsite audit was conducted. The results were recently received and, once again, the Diocese of Crookston was found to be compliant with all the elements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The Safe Environment program for the Diocese of Crookston participates in an annual audit conducted by an independent company, Stonebridge and Associates, on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is to measure the processes and effectiveness of the program.

Two types of audits are conducted. The first is an on-site audit. Members of the audit team spend a few days conducting interviews, checking diocesan records and processes, and making parish visits. The second process is called a data collection audit. The Diocese of Crookston sends the auditors all the required information for review, they ask questions, and send back a letter of compliance.

“Each and every year since the Charter was passed by the U.S. bishops, the Diocese of Crookston has invited an audit of its efforts for the protection of children and young people and, I am happy to say, as in every past year, so too this year, the audit has found that we in compliance with what the Charter pledges for the protection of our children and young people,” Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner said in a statement on Oct. 12.

In 2011 the diocese had an on-site audit, and was found to be compliant with all the elements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The next three years, data collection audits were conducted.

Each year, the diocese received a letter of compliance.

This year’s audit showed there were 5,003 registered youth in programs throughout the diocese. A total of 4,639 of them were trained with ageappropriate safe environment materials. This means that 93 percent of the children registered in programs at parishes in the diocese received safe envi-

ronment training. The training is done at the parish level. Each year, a second attempt is made to train children that were absent for the initial training.

A total of 85 priests, deacons and seminarians received their annual certification through the diocesan Safe Environment program. Educators, employees and volunteers, totaling 2,439, received annual certification through the diocesan Safe Environment program. A total of 1,000 background checks were conducted this audit period.

Annual certification requires adults to authorize the Safe Environment Office to do a background check if needed, to review the Diocese of Crookston’s Code of Conduct for Church Leaders and to complete a training module, which is updated each year. A background check is required for those being certified for the first time and every five years thereafter. The only exception is if a person’s certification has been expired for more than two years; they are then treated as a new certification, and a new background check is performed.

“As Pope Francis said during his visit to our country, children and young people ‘are precious children of God who should always expect our protection, our care, and our love.’ Our ongoing efforts to provide safe environments – our ongoing prayer, care, education, review

and assessment – all stem from our firm conviction and understanding of just how precious is the life and dignity of each and every child,” Bishop Hoeppner said.

“We live at a time where, in our world, the rights of children are all too often ignored, for example, the right to life itself, the right to a father and a mother, the right to know their father and their mother,” Bishop Ho-

eppner continued. “Our ongoing safe environment work is an expression of the commitment of all of us in this local church to the well-being and safety of our children and young people.

Our continuing safe environment efforts give evidence that from God’s family the Church, all children and young people will receive the love, care and protection they deserve and expect.”

8

October 21, 2015

AROUND THE DIOCESE

Service projects at High School Youth Rally ‘Spark a Reaction’, impact local community, entire Diocese of Crookston

Internationally known speaker Matt Fradd delivers an engaging keynote address during the High School Youth Rally at Bemidji Middle School on Oct. 15. The theme Spark a Reaction tied into a variety of service projects performed by the youth throughout the day. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

FULL COVERAGE OF THE 2015 HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH RALLY WILL GO TO PRESS IN OND ON NOVEMBER 4!

Seven receive Ministry of Acolyte Candidates studying for the permanent diaconate in the Diocese of Crookston celebrated the Rite of Reception of the Ministry of Acolyte in Bishop’s Chapel at the Chancery in Crookston on Oct. 3.

Posing with Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner are (left to right): Aaron Kaiser, Mark Krejci, Robb Naylor, Tim Pribula, Paul Erickson, Ron Vasek and Mark LeTexier.

(Submitted photo)

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Diocese hires Director for Office of Worship OND Staff Reports

Mrs. Mary Dahl has been hired as the Director of Worship for the Diocese of Crookston. Dahl was also hired as the Coordinator of Liturgy for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. She will split her time between the two offices. She began on Oct. 1.

Dahl has been serving the Church in a related capacity since she began playing organ at Mass when she was 11.

She attended high school at Marywood Academy in Grand Rapids, Mich., graduating as salutatorian of her class in 1973.

Dahl started her Bachelor’s degree in Music at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids in 1973.

She met her husband, Chris Dahl, and life took off. The Dahls have been married for 40 years and have five children and eight grandchildren.

Mary eventually finished her degree at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wis., in 2007 and completed a Master’s degree in Lay Ministries from Cardinal Stritch University, also in Milwaukee in 2011.

Dahl has worked at parishes

Mary Dahl began working for the Diocese of Crookston and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Oct. 1. (Photo credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

as a music and liturgy specialist in Michigan and Wisconsin.

She even lived and worked in the Fargo and Moorhead areas in the mid-80s.

Her hobbies are baking and crossword puzzles.

Dahl says she is glad to be back in this part of the country. “It feels like coming home,” she said. She is looking forward to the challenge of ministry on the diocesan level and balancing it with her work at Cathedral parish.

Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition coming to Maplewood, Minn.

The Vatican International Exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World will be displayed at St. Jerome Parish, Maplewood, Minn. Nov. 1316. The exhibition will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

It contains an extensive assortment of photographs and historical descriptions of Eucharistic miracles which have been recognized by the Church.

There are 126 historically documented Eucharistic miracles in various countries around the world represented in this exhi-

bition. This exhibition has visited more than 3,000 parishes in Italy, the U.S., Canada and many other countries.

All faiths are welcome. Admission to the exhibition is free. There will also be 40 hours of Eucharistic Adoration during the exhibit.

St. Jerome’s is located at 280 E Roselawn Ave, Maplewood, Minn. For more information, or to schedule a tour for groups larger than 20, call Cathy at 651-353-7190 or email sjmiracles@gmail.com.

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

St. Francis de Sales holds pet blessing

Parishioners of St. Francis de Sales, Moorhead, gather Oct. 3 for a blessing with their pets from their Pastor, Msgr. Mike Patnode, in honor of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. (Submitted photo)

Winner of St. Michael’s School playhouse raffle announced

AROUND THE DIOCESE

October 21, 2015

9

Catholic Daughters show commitment to raising awareness of pornography’s harms The Catholic Daughters of Crookston, Euclid and Gentilly will be joining the nationwide observance of the White Ribbon against Pornography (WRAP) campaign to be held Oct. 25 to Oct. 31. The members of Court Bishop Schenk #2010 will wear a white ribbon to show their concern for the ways pornography harms people.

The white ribbon symbolizes their commitment to purity and their public protest against the “increase of obscenity” in today’s culture.

Many parents, teens and children are not aware of the quickness of pornography addiction and the ease of acquiring inappropriate pictures or sexual information – whether intentional or not.

Pornography Awareness Week is a national effort to spread information about the detrimental effects of pornography to individuals, families, and society as a whole. Thou-

Some members of Court Bishop Schenk #2010 take a photo with Father Vincent Miller, their chaplain, after signing the proclamation for WRAP. From the Left: Jean LaJesse, Regent; Father Vincent Miller; Kay Miller; Sister Pat Murphy, CSJ, and Margee Keller, Minnesota State Regent and Vice Regent for Court Bishop Schenk.

(Submitted photo)

sands of people across the country participate. Join the Catholic Daughters by wearing a white ribbon. It is intended to educate the public about the extent of the pornography

problem and about what can legally be done to fight back against the flood of obscenity.

Fighting pornography and obscenity in particular, however, is a year round challenge.

Twin Valley, Red Lake Falls rosary rallies part of nationwide effort Nan Martin of Hawley, Minn., won the St. Michael’s School playhouse raffle. She took a photo with students of St. Michael’s School, Mahnomen, in front of the playhouse, which was built and donated by Ahmann Construction. Wayne and Karen Ahmann are parishioners of St. Michael’s Parish and St. Michael’s School Alumni. Their four children are also St. Michael’s School Alumni. (Submitted photo)

St. William’s, Twin Valley, hosted a Rosary Rally at 12 p.m. Oct. 10, in conjunction with the national America Needs Fatima rally. The national website is www.rosaryrallytools.org. (Submitted photo)

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF ABORTION

THE DIOCESE OF CROOKSTON’S OFFICE OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION WILL LEAD A ROSARY FOR THE UNBORN:

Sunday, November 1 @ 12:00 p.m.

Outside Planned Parenthood: 2504 Hannah Ave. NW, Bemidji, MN

More than 60 people gathered on Oct. 10, for a Rosary Rally at St. Joseph’s, Red Lake Falls.

Participants walked from the church to the Red Lake County Courthouse to pray a public rosary and other prayers for the intentions of our nation and world. (Submitted photo)

10

October 21, 2015

DIOCESAN

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COVENANT: Continued from Page 1 visited many of the booths providing support services and resources including one for Covenant Eyes and spoke with the representatives.

“Prior to the conference, I was aware that pornography was very destructive, but it wasn’t until I heard the presentations, read the materials, and spoke with these individuals that I saw how harmful it really is,” Zurface said. “Porn is destroying families.”

According to Zurface, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that 56 percent of divorces occur because one party has “an obsessive interest in pornographic websites.”

Covenant Eyes has found that prolonged exposure to pornography can diminish trust between spouses, contribute to the belief that promiscuity is natural, cultivate an attitude of cynicism toward love and affection and feed a belief that marriage is sexually confining.

Each of the nearly 14,000 Catholic households in the Diocese of Crookston was sent a free 60-day trial of Covenant Eyes filtering and accountability software, a DVD to help parents have conversations about internet pornography with their children, a parent guide that gives insight into children’s online activities and tips for creating accountability in the home.

Father Schreiner said that using Covenant Eyes software can help people and their families in three ways. First, Covenant Eyes software is designed to support good parenting. It monitors Internet use and provides a report to an accountability person of search terms used and websites visited.

“More and more, parents feel like there’s little to help and support them,” Father Schreiner said, referring to the disappearance of many cultural and institutional systems that used to support Christian parenting values.

He also said that Covenant Eyes helps people be aware that although the Internet can be used for good purposes, it also is a portal to pornography whether it is viewed accidentally or intentionally.

“Covenant Eyes helps provide awareness that this technology is not innocent,” Father Schreiner said. “Covenant Eyes can go a long way to securing it to be so.”

The third benefit Father Schreiner sees is the opportunity for discussion between spouses and among family members about the virtue of chastity in all relationships.

“I think it can help couples and families grow more virtuously in love with one another,” he said.

The customizable Internet

use reports provided by Covenant Eyes are designed to start a conversation between the receiver of the report and the Internet user.

Zurface hopes these materials will provide healing, awareness, freedom for families in the diocese, while supporting healthy conversations about sexuality.

“People aren’t alone,” she said. “We have a Church that cares deeply for us and wants to see us happy, free, living holy and true lives.” Zurface added that she also hopes this initiative will help people further discover Christ’s mercy and love.

“Words can’t express our gratitude to God for his generosity to the diocese and ultimately to the marriages and families in the diocese,” Zurface said. “If the materials provided are read and used by the recipients, fruit will pour from it … into the lives of all in the diocese, it will just be incredible!”

This mailing is the first time Covenant Eyes has partnered with a diocese in this manner.

People outside the Diocese of Crookston can receive a free 30-day trial of the software by visiting www.crookston.org/ covenanteyes. More information about the company and support for people and families struggling with pornography can also be found there.

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER CHALLENGE The Diocese of Crookston’s Office of the New Evangelization will give prizes to the first 15 people who complete the #DoCCovenantEyes Hashtag Challenge.

To win the challenge: 1. Take a photo of yourself with the package you received from the Diocese of Crookston and Covenant Eyes.

2. Tweet the photo or post it on Facebook and include a challenge to a friend to do the same.

Be sure to tag: DOCMarriageFam (Facebook) @ DOC_MarriageFam (Twitter).

The first five people to post will receive Matt Fradd’s book Delivered or Matt and Cameron Fradds’ book Restored. The last 10 will win a copy of the World Meeting of Families official Holy Family painting.

HELP FIGHTING THE EFFECTS OF PORN COUNSELING REFERENCES – If you are looking for a psychologist or counselor, please contact the Office of the New Evangelization at (218) 281-4533, ext. 425.

All inquiries will be confidential.

Visit www.crookston.org/covenanteyes for free resources and information for parents and for those who struggle with pornography and their families.

wants your news and advertisements!

Find 2015-16 publishing dates and submission deadlines on the web: www.crookston.org/ond The next OND submission deadline is: Wednesday, October 28 by 12:00 p.m.

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

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

DIOCESAN

October 21, 2015

11

CELEBRATION: Continued from Page 1

ing of Families, was sung during this time.

Marriage Celebration Day is held each year to honor and bless marriages and families throughout the diocese, as well as pray for the strengthening of these relationships and those facing hardship.

“It is a blessing that they have this. It renews the spirituality of married couples,” said Richard Deschene of St. Rose of Lima, Argyle. He and his wife, Lorraine, celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Oct. 3.

Herman and Emily Gardner of St. Joseph’s, Bagley, have been married for 69 years and enjoy coming to Marriage Celebration Day. Herman said he is glad to receive the special blessing bestowed on married couples during the Mass.

“We thank God today for the wonderful things going on in marriage, in your marriages in your faithfulness throughout all these years,” said Bishop Hoeppner while welcoming those gathered for Mass. He added, “We also pray for what is not good regarding marriage in our world.”

“Marriage and family is the foundation of the Church,” Bishop Hoeppner said during the homily. “Marriage and family are the foundation of society. It’s God’s plan, it’s God’s dream. It does not change; it … calls us to work for a society to support family life.”

George and Lillian Maruska of Holy Rosary, Detroit Lakes, were chosen as the honorary couple for this year’s Marriage Celebration Day. Their pastor, Msgr. Timothy McGee, nominated them because of their dedication to Holy Rosary School and Parish.

The Maruskas have been married for 70 years. They sent all eight of their children to Holy Rosary School and have continued to be as active as they can

Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner greets Jill and Steve Kruta of St. Bernard’s, Thief River Falls, as they receive their gift during Mass at Marriage Celebration Day on Oct. 4. Deacon Gary Hager and Deacon Dan James assisted Bishop Hoeppner with the gifts. (Photos credit: Katrina Genereux/OND)

George and Lillian Maruska, the honorary couple, are escorted to the back of the Cathedral by Ron Vasek before bringing the offertory gifts forward.

be in parish life.

During Mass, the couple was awarded Bishop’s Medals and brought the gifts forward during the offertory. They also

The World Meeting of Families image of the Holy Family was placed throughout the Cathedral and reception space, reflecting the theme of the meeting and the day: Love is our Mission.

had a special table reserved for them during the dinner and reception following Mass.

Loretta Hromidko of St. Joseph’s, Bagley, attended Marriage Celebration Day. She would have been married 69 years, but her husband passed away 20 years ago. She still enjoys coming to Marriage Celebration Day. “It’s just fun to come and see these types of marriages in this time,” she said. “I think more young people should see this.”

Mary and Dennis Garry of St. Mary’s, Euclid, will celebrate their 52nd anniversary in November. They said being a farm couple helped them learn to work as partners in their marriage. The couple has six children, 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“Your family grows in a hurry,” commented Dennis.

Mary said the couple always enjoys coming to Marriage Celebration Day, especially the opportunity to see people from other parishes in the diocese.

Winton and Teresa Knutson live in Grand Forks now, but belonged to St. Joseph’s, Oslo, for many years. They have been married for 64 years. Their advice to other couples is to work at their relationship.

“Always say good night and say your prayers together,” Te-

Couples, widows and widowers stand and pray during the Marriage Celebration Day Mass.

resa said.

Edwardine and John Szklarski of Assumption, Florian, have been married for 54 years.

This was their first time attending Marriage Celebration Day. “This year I said ‘we have to go’,” Edwardine said.

She said the main advice she has is to compromise and pray every day.

Jill and Steve Kruta of St. Bernard’s, Thief River Falls, served as greeters for Marriage Celebration Day. They have been married 21 years.

Jill said she appreciated seeing all the priests celebrating Mass. Bishop Hoeppner concelebrated Mass with Msgr.

Michael Foltz, Father Vincent Miller, Father Augie Gothman, Father Robert Schreiner, Msgr.

Roger Grundhaus, Msgr. Timothy McGee and Msgr. David Baumgartner.

The Krutas said setting aside one evening every month as date night keeps them connected and strengthens their marriage.

“God has to be in the center,” Jill said. “Keep your eyes focused on God. The world is too distracting.”

To keep God at the center of their lives and marriage, the Krutas pray together every night.

Marriage Celebration Day is sponsored by the Office of the New Evangelization. The tradition of celebrating a diocesan Mass for married couples was started by Bishop Victor H. Balke to pray for and hold up marriages in the diocese. It is also an opportunity for couples, widows and widowers to come together for fellowship.

12

October 21, 2015

NATIONAL

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Chance to venerate St. Maria Goretti relics called ‘gift of lifetime’

By Michelle Martin Catholic News Service CHICAGO – For Mia Rocha, the opportunity to greet the relics of St. Maria Goretti at Chicago’s St. John Cantius Church Oct. 12 was the gift of a lifetime.

Rocha, 20, is a parishioner at St. John Cantius and chose St. Maria Goretti as her patron for confirmation.

“This is very personal for me,” said Rocha. “I’m hoping to spend all day here.”

The major relics of the child saint – nearly her entire skeleton, encased in a wax statue and enclosed in a glass casket – arrived at St. John Cantius escorted by Chicago and Illinois state police and greeted by hundreds of faithful who waited on the church steps.

The relics merited the escort because St. Maria Goretti is considered “a deputy head of state of the Vatican” and is being sent as a special envoy by Pope Francis for the upcoming Year of Mercy. In addition, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security assigned six agents to safeguard her relics and the Chicago Police Honor Guard stood by them that evening.

After she was carried inside the church, members of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius sang lauds as the congregation swelled. The church reported “record crowds” at the 7:30 p.m. Mass celebrated

by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago.

The relics remained in the church until 6 a.m. Oct. 13, when they were transferred to St. John Vianney Church in suburban Northlake. They were taken to St. Francis of Assisi Church in suburban Orland Park for veneration Oct. 14 and then to St. Mary Immaculate

Church in Plainfield Oct. 15.

The stops were part of a 25-diocese, 20-state U.S. “Pilgrimage of Mercy,” said Father Carlos Martins, a Companion of the Cross priest, who is the pilgrimage director. Timed to fall just before the opening of the Year of Mercy Dec. 8, Martins said he wants the tour to bring people awareness of St. Maria’s story of forgiveness.

Father Martins shared that story in his homily at the morning Mass: how the 11-year-old Maria was running the household while her mother worked in the fields after her father died; how her 19-year-old neighbor Alessandro Serenelli brutally stabbed her 14 times when she would not give up her virginity to him; how she died nearly a day later from peritonitis, having endured surgery aimed at stopping internal bleeding without anesthetics, how she said on her deathbed, “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli and want him with me in heaven forever.”

Serenelli, however, rejected her forgiveness and was imprisoned. Six years later, she appeared to him in a dream and gave him 14 white lilies, one for each stab wound, and he repented.

Now, Father Martins said, he believes that Serenelli will one day also be recognized as a saint, for his heroic act of accepting the forgiveness of Maria Goretti and of God, and for forgiving himself.

“He had to live 62 years after committing that terrible crime, and the world would never let him forget it,” Father Martins said.

Serenelli ended his days as a Capuchin Franciscan brother.

While St. Maria Goretti never left Italy as a child and this is the first visit of her relics to the United States, she has Ameri-

A member of the Missionaries of Charity venerates the relics of St. Maria Goretti at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago Oct. 12. The major relics, which are virtually all of the skeletal remains of the saint, known as the “patroness of purity,” are on a U.S. “pilgrimage of mercy” this fall that will go to nearly 20 states. (Photo credit: CNS/Karen Callaway,Catholic New World)

can connections. After she died, her mother could not work the fields and care for her five younger children, so St. Maria Goretti’s three brothers were sent to the United States to be adopted. Two lived to adulthood and their descendants are spread across the nation.

Also, American troops landed near her hometown during World War II, using the tower of what is now St. Maria Goretti’s basilica in Nettuno, Italy, to navigate. They taught the local boys to play baseball, and it remains more popular than soccer there.

St. Maria Goretti, who died in 1902, is very much a modern saint, Father Martins said. The youngest canonized Catholic saint, she is the only one whose mother was able to attend her canonization Mass. By the time she was canonized in 1950, devotion to her was so wide-

spread that the Mass had to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square because St. Peter’s Basilica was too small.

Nicole DeRoche, a parishioner at St. Clement, said she came to pay her respects because she’s known about St. Maria Goretti since she was in grade school at Everest Academy in Lemont.

“I grew up knowing about her,” said DeRoche, who got up early to welcome the relics on her way to work.

Mark Holterman of Peoria said he heard about the relics’ pilgrimage when he attended Mass at St. John Cantius Oct. 11, and made time to stop before returning home.

“I know her story very well,” Holterman told the Catholic New World, Chicago’s archdiocesan newspaper. “And it’s just the example we need in this day and age when kids have so many bad choices.”

Bridget Ney, who teaches an eighth-grade religious education class at St. Cecilia Parish in Mount Prospect, teared up when the casket carrying St. Maria’s relics was removed from the van and carried up the church steps by a police honor guard.

“I’ve loved St. Maria Goretti since I was a girl,” she said.

“She was kind and caring, and as poor as her family was, she thought of others first.”

Kathleen Fayard, from St. Mary Parish in Lake Forest, and her mother, Diane Fayard, from St. Pascal Parish, came together to St. John Cantius to welcome the relics.

Kathleen Fayard said the event was festive and celebratory.

“It was almost like waiting for a concert,” she said. “This is one of our celebrities,” Diane Fayard added.

Nebraska bishop’s stolen cross recovered; police still investigating burglary

By Catholic News Service LINCOLN, NEB. – The Diocese of Lincoln announced Oct. 16 that Bishop James D. Conley’s pectoral cross, taken from his home in a burglary, has been recovered.

The cross was stolen the afternoon of Oct. 10, when the bishop was not home. A tripped alarm alerted diocesan officials and the Lincoln Police Department to the break-in.

JD Flynn, diocesan spokesman, said in a statement that

Bishop Conley’s pectoral cross was recovered Oct. 15 in a location “on the bishop’s property.”

As the Lincoln Police Department continued to investigate the burglary, and Bishop Conley asked that “Catholics continue to pray for the conversion of those involved in the invasion of my home.”

The diocese said the cross was irreplaceable because it was a personal gift to Bishop Conley from Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the year the bishop was appointed to the Lincoln Dio-

cese.

In an earlier statement, Flynn said the stolen cross could be returned to any Catholic Church and could even be left anonymously.

He said Bishop Conley is “very grateful for all those who have already offered prayers and well-wishes,” and grateful for the recovery of his pectoral cross.

The bishop also is “sincerely grateful for the professionalism, diligence and excellent work” of the police department in in-

vestigating the crime.

After the burglary occurred, Bishop Conley said he sincerely prayed “the thief will discover that Christ died for him, loves him and desires to bring him eternal joy.”

“One of Christ’s last acts on the cross was the forgiveness of a repentant thief. Certainly, the church forgives the person responsible for this crime. God offers his mercy as well,” he added.

He described his pectoral cross as “a treasure for the

whole Diocese of Lincoln. It signifies the unity of our church in Christ.”

Bishop Conley, pointing out that the diocese offers counseling, shelter, food, employment training and emergency assistance to those in financial need, said he hoped the church could assist the thief in some way.

“I hope no one will resort to stealing because of some poverty. I hope people, including this thief, will know that the Catholic Church stands eager to help in whatever way we can.”

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

INTERNATIONAL

October 21, 2015

13

Fidelity, truth, love must guide Church outreach to families, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – In a world filled with challenges to marriage and family life, the Catholic Church is called “to carry out her mission in fidelity, truth and love,” Pope Francis said at the Mass opening the world Synod of Bishops on the family.

Formally opening the synod Oct. 4 with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope said the church must encourage families and defend faithful love, the sacredness of every human life and marriage.

At the same time, he said, the church must carry out its mission with charity, not only “not pointing a finger in judgment of others,” but also seeking out all who are lonely and in pain, caring for “hurting couples with the balm of acceptance and mercy.”

The synod was scheduled to last until Oct. 25, discussing ways to strengthen the church’s support of families and its outreach to those struggling to live fully the Catholic ideals of marriage and family life. Marriage

Pope Francis raises the Book of the Gospels during the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops on the family in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Oct. 4. (Photo credit: CNS/Paul Haring)

preparation, sexuality, procreation, communication, support for couples at risk of separation, accompaniment of divorced Catholics and possible ways to bring back the divorced and civilly remarried were all expected to be on the synod’s agenda.

The readings for the Mass were the same as those used in Catholic parishes around the

world for the 27th Sunday in ordinary time. But, the pope said, they seemed tailor-made for opening an assembly dedicated to the family. The first reading was the Genesis account of God seeing Adam alone and creating a helpmate for him; the Gospel included Jesus’ teaching that “what God has joined together, no human being must

separate.”

The Genesis story, the pope said in his homily, makes clear that the “drama of solitude” experienced by too many people – the elderly, the abandoned, widows and widowers, migrants, the persecuted – is not part of God’s plan.

Yet the experience of Adam, and of human beings through history, shows that “nothing makes man’s heart as happy as another heart like his own, a heart which loves him,” the pope said. Many people today doubt whether a lifelong marriage is possible or even desirable, thinking that it limits individual freedom and potential, the pope said.

Reciting the Angelus prayer after Mass, Pope Francis said the 270 synod members would keep their “gaze fixed on Jesus to identify – on the basis of his teaching of truth and mercy – the best paths” for helping families “so that the Creator’s original plan for man and woman can be realized.”

Pope Francis, synod members and tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s

Square Oct. 3 for a nighttime prayer vigil for the synod. Before the pope spoke, Italian families and an engaged couple shared their stories of finding love, overcoming obstacles and experiencing reconciliation and healing.

The formal prayer began with an invocation of the Holy Spirit on the pope and synod members.

In his homily, Pope Francis asked people to pray that the synod would show the world “how the experience of marriage and family is rich and humanly fulfilling.”

The pope prayed that the synod would “acknowledge, esteem and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy” about family life.

He also prayed that synod members would not forget those suffering because of “war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness.”

Pope Francis prayed that the synod would find a way to remind broken families “and every family, that the Gospel is always ‘good news,’ which enables us to start over.”

Families show beauty, blessing of family life, archbishop says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

*Register by January 15, 2016 for discount pricing!

VATICAN CITY – The Synod of Bishops on the family must find ways to give Catholic families a leading role in evangelizing and supporting other families, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the synod.

“Families who by the grace of God model tenderness, forgiveness and the joy of family life make marriage credible and show that the Gospel of the family is truly good news,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, USCCB president.

Each voting member of the Synod of Bishops is allowed one formal, three-minute speech to the assembly and must submit additional remarks or comments on other topics in writing.

Archbishop Kurtz was one of the first synod members to address the assembly. He released an expanded version of his synod talk Oct. 8.

The synod, the archbishop said, cannot focus only on the challenges the family faces or

on “wounded” families; it also must recognize the “incredible vitality and strength” of families.

To prepare a young man for priesthood, dioceses dedicate years’ worth of resources to his education and they ensure continuing education throughout his years of ministry, he noted. If Christian families are to fulfill their role as missionaries, dioceses and parishes must make a commitment to their training as well.

On a practical level, he said, it would be important to have “small groups of families who encourage each other in the ups and downs of family life and strong connections” between parishes and families.

But to be effective, Archbishop Kurtz said, church leaders and the families themselves must believe and trust in God’s promises and in the grace that is given through the sacrament of marriage, he said.

“We must trust in God’s grace as we help Christian husbands and wives embrace and live the truth of the sacrament they have received,” he said.

14

October 21, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Obedience is response to God’s love, not condition for it, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Obedience to God’s commandments must be the response to his limitless love, but it is not a condition for his love and for the salvation he offers through Jesus, Pope Francis said.

Celebrating the feast of St. Teresa of Avila Oct. 15, Pope Francis said that when the early Christian community was growing, and today as well, there are “doctors of the law” who think that they can know who is and is not saved by the apparent way they obey certain commandments.

“It would do us good today to ask ourselves: Do I believe the Lord has saved me freely?” the pope said. Or “do I believe that I do not deserve my salvation and that if I merit anything it is through Jesus Christ and what he has done for me?”

“Let’s ask these questions today; only that way will we be

faithful to that great merciful love, the love of a father and mother, because even God says that he is like a mother to us,” the pope said at the Mass in the chapel of his residence.

God’s love is expansive, boundless and limitless, the pope said. “We should not let ourselves be fooled by the ‘doctors’ who limit this love.”

The gratuitous gift of God’s son, his death and resurrection, is a mystery that is and always has been difficult for human beings to understand, the pope said.

One must obey the commandments and do what Jesus said to do, Pope Francis insisted, but this is “my response” to God’s offer of salvation, not a condition for it.

Looking at the day’s Gospel reading, Luke 11:47-52, Pope Francis said Jesus used strong and “very harsh” language when speaking of the “doctors of the law.” Jesus tells them, “’You have taken away the key of knowl-

edge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter,’ meaning the key of the gratuitousness of salvation.”

The doctors of the law “thought the only way one could save oneself was by obeying all the commandments and that whoever could not do that was condemned,” the pope said.

Their teaching “limited the horizons of God and made God’s love small, small,” in effect, reducing it to a human size.

The commandments must be observed, the pope said, but it is important to remember that they are summarized as “love God and love your neighbor.”

Jesus himself taught that all the commandments are found within the commandment of love because “the source is love, the horizon is love. If you have closed the door and thrown away the key of love, you will never live up to the gratuitousness of the salvation you have received.”

A statue of St. Teresa of Avila, Spanish mystic and doctor of the Church, stands in the sanctuary of the Serra Chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (Photo credit: CNS/ Nancy Wiechec)

Canonizing four saints, pope urges people to serve others with joy

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis called on people to replace their thirst for power with the joy of quiet and humble service, as he proclaimed four new saints, including the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux.

All of Christ’s disciples, especially its pastors, are called to model themselves after Jesus and “suppress our instinctive desire to exercise power over others, and instead exercise the virtue of humility.”

The pope said the new saints – a Spanish religious woman, an Italian priest and the first married couple with children to be canonized together – “unfailingly served their brothers and sisters with outstanding humility and charity in imitation of the divine master.”

On World Mission Sunday Oct. 18 in St. Peter’s Square, during the Synod of Bishops on the family, the pope created the following new saints: Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin (18311877), the French parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. They had nine children; four died in infancy and five entered religious life.

During their 19-year marriage, the couple was known to attend Mass daily, pray and fast, respect the Sabbath, visit the elderly and

the sick, and welcome the poor into their home.

Italian Father Vincenzo Grossi (1845-1917), founder of the Institute of the Daughters of the Oratory.

Spanish Sister Maria of the Immaculate Conception (1926-1998), a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross.

Some 65,000 people attended the Mass, including more than 300 cardinals, bishops and others taking part in the Oct. 4-25 synod on the family.

While the pope’s homily pointed to the new saints as inspiring examples of joyful servants who completely trusted in God, he dedicated the bulk of his reflection on the day’s readings and the Christian meaning of authority and hierarchy.

He said the prophet Isaiah said the servant of the Lord “is not someone of illustrious lineage; he is despised, shunned by all, a man of sorrows. He does not do great things or make memorable speeches; instead he fulfills God’s plan through his humble, quiet presence and his suffering.”

It was Jesus’ life and attitude of profound service that “were the cause of our salvation and the reconciliation of mankind with God,” the pope said.

Those who exercise “genuine authority” in the church and the

Christian community are those who serve others and “lack real prestige.” Jesus calls people “to pass from the thirst for power to the joy of quiet service,” the pope said.

Jesus’ teaching and example clearly show there is “no compatibility between a worldly understanding of power and the humble service, which must characterize authority.”

“Ambition and careerism are incompatible with Christian discipleship; honor, success, fame and worldly triumphs are incompatible with the logic of Christ crucified.”

Because Jesus fully shares in the human condition, with the exception of sin, he can empathize with human weaknesses, the pope said. “The fact that he is without sin does not prevent him from understanding sinners.”

“Jesus exercises a true priesthood of mercy and compassion” by loving and accepting God’s children; by sharing in their weakness; by offering them “the grace which heals and restores”; and by accompanying them “with infinite tenderness amid their tribulations,” he said.

Through baptism, all Christians must share in this ministry by opening one’s heart to God in order to receive his love and charity, which is to be received not only “for ourselves, but also

A tapestry showing Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, hangs from a balcony as Pope Francis leads the Oct. 18 Mass for their canonization in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

(Photo credit: CNS/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)

for others.”

Pope Francis again praised the new saints before reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square and called for their intercession.

He asked families to entrust their joys, dreams and difficulties to Sts. Louis and Marie Guerin Martin; he asked that the exam-

ple of St. Grossi be an inspiration for people dedicated to offering young people a Christian education; and he prayed that St. Maria of the Immaculate Conception “help us live in solidarity and in closeness with those most in need.”

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

WORD to LIFE October 25

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jeremiah 31:7-9 Gospel: Mark 10:46-52

Psalm 126:1-6

Hebrews 5:1-6

By Sharon K. Perkins Catholic News Service In the popular Lerner and Loewe musical, “My Fair Lady,” Eliza Doolittle – tiring of her suitor’s flowery declarations of devotion – impatiently sings, “Don’t talk of stars, burning above; if you’re in love, show me!” A popular adage similarly suggests, “Actions speak louder than words.” Today’s readings offer several illustrations of just how loudly God’s actions proclaim his love for his people.

Jeremiah the prophet conveys to the exiled remnant of Israel a vivid description of all the ways that God their Father will rescue them from enslavement and restore them to their home. Verbs such as “deliver,” “gather,” “console,” “guide” and “lead” make it clear that their God is one of action.

In the Gospel, Jesus encounters a blind man who begs for pity. Jesus doesn’t merely pat the beggar on the back, mumble a few platitudes and continue on his way. He asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” and then he does it.

On Dec. 8 this year, the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will commence with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, inviting all to enter it as a “Door of Mercy.”

Pope Francis’ explanation of the jubilee, “Misericordiae Vultus,” describes how God’s mercy – or his “loving concern for each one of us” – is indicated by “God’s action toward us. He does not limit himself merely to affirming his love, but makes it visible and tangible.

Love, after all, can never be just an ab-

October 21, 2015

15

FOR FAITH-SHARING GROUPS

November 1 SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a

Psalm 24:1bc-6

1 John 3:1-3

By Jeff Hensley Catholic News Service

straction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete.”

The Holy Father goes on to say that “this is the path that the merciful love of Christians must also travel. ... As the Father loves, so do his children. Just as he is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.”

How can flawed and sinful human beings be vessels of the Father’s great mercy? The writer of Hebrews gives us a clue by observing that the high priest, a human being also, “is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring for he himself is beset by weakness.”

We open our doors of mercy toward others when we honestly and sincerely recall our own need for God’s mercy – and then act accordingly, in the way that God acts toward us.

Questions: How have you most recently experienced God’s mercy and loving concern for you?

To whom is God inviting you to show mercy through concrete action?

"THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US; WE ARE GLAD INDEED." – PSALM 126:3

In June, I had the privilege of hearing a talk by a nun who will probably be one of the saints that future generations will honor.

Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe spoke of her work with women brutalized by the Lord’s Resistance Army and other violent groups in Uganda and South Sudan.

She and her sisters have provided a pathway for more than 2,500 of these women and their children to rebuild their lives.

It has been redemptive, as the sisters have helped these women, often rejected and blamed for what happened to them when they returned to their villages, to regain their dignity through work, faith and forgiveness.

On this solemnity of All Saints, we honor all the saints the church has recognized. In the reading from Revelation, John, in a vision, stands “before the throne [of God] and before the Lamb.”

There he sees a crowd so large that he cannot count its members, coming from every tribe and nation, washed clean by the blood of Jesus. They have prostrated themselves before God and are worshiping him.

In the second reading from 1 John, John writes, “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” That one statement reveals the power that enables some of us to rise to the level of heroic self-sacrifice on behalf of God for others – sainthood. That one statement gives the impetus to all of us to seek to rise to that level in our love of our families, our neighbors and the

stranger.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus gives definition to what it means to be a child of God, with an extensive listing of the “blesseds,” among them, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Sister Rosemary stands as one example, along with a multitude of others, who have gone before and been recognized as saints. May we seek to be among the blessed as well and find ourselves, washed in the blood of the Lamb, before the throne of God, among the worshippers.

Questions: How is God calling you to enter more deeply into the spirit of the beatitudes?

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY WILL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD.” – MATTHEW 5:9

Fall Dinners are now listed online!

- VISIT THE DIOCESE OF CROOKSTON’S PARISH EVENTS PAGE -

www.crookston.org/parishevents

16

October 21, 2015

PRAYER CALENDAR

NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 1 ALL SAINTS Fr. Bob Pryor (retired) NOVEMBER 2 THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED Fr. Joe Richards NOVEMBER 3 WEEKDAY Fr. Jerry Rogers NOVEMBER 4 ST. CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP Fr. Robert Schreiner NOVEMBER 5 WEEKDAY Fr. Luis Silva NOVEMBER 6 WEEKDAY Fr. Bob Stone (retired) NOVEMBER 7 BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Fr. Pat Sullivan NOVEMBER 8 THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Fr. David Super NOVEMBER 9 THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA Fr. JohnMelkies Suvakeen NOVEMBER 10 ST. LEO THE GREAT, POPE, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH Fr. Emmanuel Sylvester NOVEMBER 11 ST. MARTIN OF TOURS, BISHOP Fr. Craig Vasek NOVEMBER 12 ST. JOSAPHAT, BISHOP, MARTYR Fr. Dennis Wieland NOVEMBER 13 ST. FRANCES XAVIER CABRINI, VIRGIN Fr. Larry Wieseler (retired) NOVEMBER 14 BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner NOVEMBER 15 THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Bishop Victor H. Balke (retired) NOVEMBER 16 ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND; ST. GERTRUDE, VIRGIN Fr. Todd Arends

NOVEMBER 17 ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, RELIGIOUS Msgr. David Baumgartner NOVEMBER 18 THE DEDICATION OF THE BASILICAS OF STS. PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES; ST. ROSE PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE, VIRGIN Fr. James Bernauer (retired) NOVEMBER 19 WEEKDAY Fr. Don Braukmann NOVEMBER 20 WEEKDAY Fr. Luis Buitron NOVEMBER 21 THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Fr. Tim Bushy NOVEMBER 22 OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE Fr. John Christianson NOVEMBER 23 ST. CLEMENT I, POPE, MARTYR; ST. COLUMBAN, ABBOT; BLESSED MIGUEL AGUSTIN PRO, PRIEST, MARTYR Fr. John Cox, OMI NOVEMBER 24 ST. ANDREW DŨNG-LĄC, PRIEST AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS Fr. Bill DeCrans NOVEMBER 25 ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, VIRGIN, MARTYR Fr. Joe DeCrans NOVEMBER 26 WEEKDAY Fr. Larry Delaney NOVEMBER 27 WEEKDAY Fr. Antony Fernando NOVEMBER 28 BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Msgr. Mike Foltz NOVEMBER 29 FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT Fr. Tom Friedl NOVEMBER 30 ST. ANDREW, APOSTLE Fr. Augie Gothman

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 invitation 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.

DIOCESAN

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER INTENTIONS

NOVEMBER 2015

UNIVERSAL INTENTION:

DIALOGUE

That we may be open to personal encounter and dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ from our own.

EVANGELIZATION INTENTION: PASTORS

(Photo credit: CNS)

That pastors of the Church, with profound love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven their hope.

DAILY SCRIPTURE NOVEMBER 1 - Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps 24:1bc-4b, 5-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12a NOVEMBER 2 - Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-6; Rom 5:5-11 or 6:3-9; Jn 6:37-40 NOVEMBER 3 - Rom 12:5-16b; Ps 131:1cde, 2-3; Lk 14:15-24 NOVEMBER 4 - Rom 13:8-10; Ps 112:1b-2, 4-5, 9; Lk 14:25-33 NOVEMBER 5 - Rom 14:7-12; Ps 27:1bcde, 4, 13-14; Lk 15:1-10 NOVEMBER 6 - Rom 15:14-21; Ps 98:1-4; Lk 16:1-8 NOVEMBER 7 - Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27; Ps 145:2-5, 10-11; Lk 16:9-15 NOVEMBER 8 - 1 Kgs 17:10-16; Ps 146:7-10; Heb 9:24-28; Mk 12:38-44 or 12:41-44 NOVEMBER 9 - Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17; Jn 2:13-22 NOVEMBER 10 - Wis 2:23-3:9, Ps 34:2-3, 16-19; Lk 17:7-10 NOVEMBER 11 - Wis 6:1-11; Ps 82:3-4, 6-7; Lk 17:11-19 NOVEMBER 12 - Wis 7:22b-8:1; Ps 119:8991, 130, 135, 175; Lk 17:20-25 NOVEMBER 13 - Wis 13:1-9; Ps 19:2-5b; Lk 17:26-37 NOVEMBER 14 - Wis 18:14-16, 19:6-9; Ps 105:2-3, 36-37, 42-43; Lk 18:1-8 NOVEMBER 15 - Dn 12:1-3; Ps 16:5, 8-11; Heb 10:11-14, 18; Mk 13:24-32 NOVEMBER 16 - 1 Mc 1:10-15, 41-43, 5457, 62-63; Ps 119:53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158; Lk 18:35-43 NOVEMBER 17 - 2 Mc 6:18-31; Ps 3:2-7; Lk 19:1-10 NOVEMBER 18 - 2 Mc 7:1, 20-31; Ps 17:1bcd, 5-6, 8b, 15; Lk 19:11-28

NOVEMBER 2015 NOVEMBER 19 - 1 Mc 2:15-29; Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15; Lk 19:41-44 NOVEMBER 20 - 1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59; (Ps) 1 Chr 29:10bcd, 11-12; Lk 19:45-48 NOVEMBER 21 - 1 Mc 6:1-13; Ps 9:2-4, 6, 16, 19; Lk 20:27-40 NOVEMBER 22 - Dn 7:13-14; Ps 93:1-2,5; Rv 1:5-8; Jn 18:33b-37 NOVEMBER 23 - Dn 1:1-6, 8-20; (Ps) Dn 3:52-56; Lk 21:1-4 NOVEMBER 24 - Dn 2:31-45; (Ps) Dn 3:5761; Lk 21:5-11 NOVEMBER 25 - Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 2328; (Ps) Dn 3:62-67; Lk 21:12-19 NOVEMBER 26 - Dn 6:12-28; (Ps) Dn 3:6874; Lk 21:20-28 NOVEMBER 27 - Dn 7:2-14; (Ps) Dn 3:75-81; Lk 21:29-33 NOVEMBER 28 - Dn 7:15-27; (Ps) Dn 3:8287; Lk 21:34-36 NOVEMBER 29 - Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; 1 Thes 3:12-4:2; Lk 21:25-28, 3436 NOVEMBER 30 - Rom 10:9-18; Ps 19:8-11; Mt 4:18-22