OND Sept. A 2016 Vol. 70, No. 16

VOL. 70, NO. 16

WWW.CROOKSTON.ORG

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Reaching out to students

College students enjoy fellowship at a lunch at St. Joseph’s Parish following the 11:45 a.m.

Mass. The meals are sponsored by Moorhead Catholic Campus Ministries. (Submitted photo) TURN TO PAGE 3 TO READ ABOUT CAMPUS MINISTRY IN THE DIOCESE OF CROOKSTON.

The Butterfly Effect Project Second and third graders combined efforts and called on others to help them collect more than 1,000 items for the homeless. (Submitted photo) TURN TO PAGE 6 TO SEE HOW ACTS OF KINDNESS IMPACTED ST. JOSEPH’S SCHOOL, MOORHEAD, AND THE WIDER COMMUNITY.

INSIDE

VOL. 70. NO. 16:

Pg. 5 - 2016 Fall Dinner Listing Pg. 7 - Safe Environment Compliance Report Pg. 8 - Beutler Enters Novitiate

St. Teresa of Kolkata

Pope Francis kisses a prayer card presented by a Missionaries of Charity nun at the conclusion of the canonization Mass of St. Teresa of Kolkata in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 4. (Photo credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring) READ MORE ON PAGE 14.

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September 7, 2016

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COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Voice from the Valley

BY BISHOP MICHAEL J. HOEPPNER

HELP FOR LOUISIANA The destruction caused by the recent flooding in southern Louisiana stretches for some 25 miles. According to Red Cross officials, it is the worst natural disaster in the United States since superstorm Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In some places, more than 31 inches of rain fell in 15 hours; in other places, as much as two feet of rain fell in a 48-hour period.

The well-being and livelihood of countless people have been affected. Some put the number of homes damaged at over 110,000 and the recovery costs at over $8 billion.

Catholic Charities USA is on the scene helping the recovery and the U.S. Bishops have asked for a special collection to be taken up in every diocese of the United States “to support the humanitarian efforts of Catholic Charities USA and to provide pastoral and rebuilding

support to impacted Catholic dioceses.”

Here, in the Diocese of Crookston, we will provide the opportunity to contribute to this effort with a special collection to be taken up in September. As we reach out to help our brothers and sisters in the dioceses of the south, we should not forget our brothers and sisters in our own diocese who have also been adversely affected by an excess of rain, especially the farm families in the northwest corner of the diocese. Please remember to pray for them and for all hurt by flooding and other natural disasters this year and do what you can to help.

MOTHER TERESA On September 4, 2016, in this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis canonized Blessed Teresa of Kolkata. The Church celebrates; the world celebrates!

How this small, soft-spoken

nun from India so touched the world.

One of her favorite mottos was: “Do small things with great love.” That is exactly how she was able to touch the whole world, by doing small things with love for people, one person at a time. Mother Teresa reminded all of us that the most important things in the world are love and caring. She said: “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference toward one’s neighbor who lives at the roadside, assaulted by exploitation, corruption, poverty and disease.” She also said: “To me, the nations who have legalized abortion are the poorest nations. They are afraid of the unborn child, and the child must die.” Another time, she said, “If you know anyone who

does not want the child, who is afraid of the child, then tell them to give that child to me.”

In 1950, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity and today there are more than 5,300 Missionary Sisters in the world. There is more goodness, more love and charity in the world because of this small woman who is now a huge saint. Saint Teresa of Kolkata – Mother Teresa – pray for us. Help us to follow your example and do something small with great love daily for those in need.

WE’RE STILL GROWING The Statistical Yearbook of the Church reports the latest demographic information about the Catholic Church worldwide. You might be interested to know that the latest figures are for the calendar year 2014 and indicate that the number of Catholics in the world continues to increase, as does the

number of bishops, priests, and deacons. The worldwide Catholic population was reported as 1,272,281,000 at the end of 2014. This was a one-year increase of 42.6 million or 3.6 percent. Catholics as a proportion of the global population remained about 17.8 percent, but the number of baptized Catholics grew faster than the general population growth on every continent except Oceania. For the United States, the Yearbook reports the number of Catholics at 72,092,000 or 22.7 percent of the population. The U.S. is fourth in line with the most Catholics, following Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines. In the last five years, the Catholic population of the world has grown from 1,033,129,000 to 1,272,281,000.

That is an increase of 23.2 percent. (As reported in the summer 2016 edition of the CARA Report)

BISHOP’S CALENDAR September 11

9:45 a.m.

Mass of Installation for Father Bill DeCrans, St. Joseph’s, Ada

September 11

3:00 p.m.

Rites of Initiation, St. Francis de Sales, Moorhead

September 18

11:00 a.m.

(USPS 414-940)

Mass and Organ Dedication Concert, Holy Rosary, Detroit 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.

Lakes

Spetember 18

6:00 p.m.

Knights of Columbus Dinner & Meeting, Crookston

September 19

6:00 p.m.

Andrew Dinner, St. Philip’s, Bemidji

September 20

7:45 a.m.

Mass, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Crookston

September 20

12:00 p.m.

September 21

9:00 a.m.

September 22

12:00 p.m.

Priests’ Council Meeting, Chancery, Crookston

September 25

10:00 a.m.

Mass of Installation for Father Robert Schreiner, St. Joseph’s, Red Lake Falls

September 25

3:00 p.m.

September 26-29

VICTIM ASSISTANCE STATEMENT

Deans’ Meeting, Chancery, Crookston Minnesota Catholic Conference Meeting, St. Paul

Bishop’s Guild Dinner, Cathedral, Crookston Mission Bishop’s Conference, Lincolnshire, Ill.

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.

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:

Dr. Mark Krejci

Associate Editor: Mrs. Janelle C. Gergen

jgergen@crookston.org Editorial Assistant: Mrs. Katrina Genereux

kgenereux@crookston.org Proofreader:

Deacon Dan Hannig

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

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

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

LOCAL

September 7, 2016

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Ministries help college students encounter Christ

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND

At the 2016 World Youth Day welcoming ceremony, Pope Francis addressed the young people saying, “What better opportunity to renew our friendship with Jesus than by building friendships among yourselves! What better way to build our friendship with Jesus than by sharing him with others! What better way to experience the contagious joy of the Gospel than by striving to bring the Good News to all kinds of painful and difficult situations!”

This is the goal of Newman Clubs and other ministry to college students – to help them encounter and build a friendship with Jesus and then go out to share him with those around them.

“The most important aspect of our Newman Ministry is to bring the students to Christ – not just an overall knowledge, but a deep, personal relationship,” said Blake Quick, the director of Newman Outreach at St. Philip’s, Bemidji. “By giving them regular access to the sacraments, fostering Eucharistic Adoration, allowing for nonjudgmental conversation about faith and supporting an atmosphere of fellowship, we hope to encourage students to take their faith to a deeper level.”

Father Bryan Kujawa, Parochial Vicar and Director of Moorhead Catholic Campus Ministries at St. Joseph’s, Moorhead, echoed Quick’s sentiments.

“Nothing is more important than encountering Jesus Christ through the sacraments he has given to his Church,” he said.

“The Eucharist is so powerful for building up Christian charity in our hearts and Reconciliation is so powerful for restoring our souls to the sinless state they were in when we were baptized.

The sacraments provide a way for Christians to be in right relationship with God.” Father Vincent Miller is Rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and Spiritual Advisor to the University of Minnesota Crookston Newman Club. He sees ministry to college students as a bridge between the faith of their families and their own decision to live the faith.

“I would say more often than not, they’re coming from a Catholic faith tradition and seeking to try and keep that go-

Moorhead area college students gather August 31 for a game of Ultimate Frisbee led by MCCM. (Submitted photo)

ing,” Father Miller said. “It gives them the support to live out the faith they know is important to them in an area where maybe the context isn’t faith friendly.”

That is what Luke Alexander, the current Youth Minister at St. Philip’s, Bemidji, found when he left his hometown of Blaine, Minn., to attend Bemidji State University.

“I really enjoyed my time with Newman, it really helped me transition from my home parish … to come up here and to have that awesome community,” he said.

Sydney Stracke, from St. Cloud, Minn., is a senior at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. She looked up area churches as a freshman, and began going to the 11:45 a.m.

Mass and free meal for college students at St. Joseph’s.

“I kept attending every Sunday and then I slowly started coming to more events,” she said.

Stracke’s search for community eventually led her to live in the House of Mary, a discernment house for women. She also became a peer minister with MCCM. “It’s really hard when you’re around people who don’t have the same morals and the same faith as you,” she said. “Living in community is really helpful because I can rely on people here if I have questions … and when I come back at the end of the day, I know that I have real, authentic friends I can trust and talk to and grow closer to God with. The ultimate goal is to grow in holiness in this house.”

GROWING AS DISCIPLES MCCM operates two discernment houses, one for men and one for women. This year, there are seven women living in the House of Mary and eight men living in the St. Benedict House.

“The goal for these houses is obviously discernment of the primary vocation for each resident,” Father Kujawa said. “But even more so, we strive to help the residents grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, hopefully inspiring them to enter into the life of a missionary disciple, always looking for more ways to share the Gospel with their family and friends.”

The hope is living a life of discipleship in community with others striving to do the same, will help students grow in holiness and be moved toward a vocation.

“Of course we’re always looking for more priests and consecrated religious brothers and sisters, but we’re also looking for holy husbands and wives,” Father Kujawa said. “If these students are not called to live as priests or religious, then perhaps they are called to be holy spouses and parents who raise future priests and religious.”

Part of fostering the community life includes sharing a bedroom with another resident and sharing food as a house. The students living in the discernment houses are also looked to as leaders among their peers and are part of the core group of students in the MCCM ministry.

The houses also host activities such as bonfires and Ultimate

Frisbee, especially on weekends, to give other students alternatives to college parties.

“By choosing to live in the houses, they are already providing a witness for their peers – we only hope they share that witness with others,” Father Kujawa said.

Stracke has grown in her faith and her willingness to share it with others through involvement with MCCM. “Going to college, I was unaware that you could have a really personal relationship with the Lord, or I just chose to ignore that fact. The priests and people I met really taught me that you can talk to the Lord … and I have grown with my relationship with the Lord,” she said.

“Because of that, I’ve been able to go out and tell other people about how great God and Jesus are, and I would have never done that before. I was kind of shy to share my faith, and now I don’t go a day without doing that.”

Ryan Modahl is from Badger, Minn. He graduated from Concordia College this spring and now teaches religion at Sullivan Middle School in Fargo. He has lived in the St. Benedict House since January and also works with college students through MCCM. “Now I get the privilege to work with college students still and bring them into the community that I grew to love and longed for,” Modahl said.

Modahl’s involvement with MCCM and the discernment house impacts all of the students he comes in contact with.

“I have been praying not only for my ministry job, but also for my teaching job, and to paraphrase Pope Paul VI, ‘We are only as good of teachers as we are witnesses’. That is what I am trying to be for these students,” he said.

MCCM In addition to encouraging students in the discernment houses to grow in discipleship, MCCM offers a variety of opportunities for students on area campuses to share in the life of the Church and enjoy fellowship with each other.

They have an 11:45 a.m. Mass on Sunday followed by a meal geared toward college students.

Mass is also offered at 8:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays followed by time for fellowship. Eucharistic Adoration is available all day on Mondays and Thursdays and students have the opportunity to enter into charismatic prayer together each Monday evening.

Periodically, MCCM brings in speakers to share their witness with the students. The first of these events will take place when Nic Davidson speaks about being a missionary disciple on Sept. 11 at 2 p.m.

There are also Lord’s Day events one Saturday evening per month where students come together for food, prayer and fellowship.

Throughout the year, students will also have the opportunity to attend retreats and conferences including the Thirst Conference in Bismarck, N.D., and the Fellowship of Catholic University Students SEEK Conference in San Antonio.

In addition to these group events, MCCM has a staff of five who have weekly one-onone meetings with students throughout the school year.

“The purpose of this is to invest deeply in the personal lives of our students, to show them that we actually care about them and want to walk with them along the path to sanctity,” Father Kujawa said. “Large-group events are great, but that personal investment can be so transformative.”

Stracke is a peer minister and student leader who reaches out to fellow students in this way.

“I meet with younger women on a weekly basis and I try to disciple them and become friends with them – authentic friendship is really important – MINISTRY: Continued on Page 9

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September 7, 2016

COMMENTARY

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Prayer key for the ‘cleaving’ couple in the Parent Cab Company One of the more common concerns that couples have is: “We have no time for each other.” I know a couple whose children not only fill their time around the home but each of the children takes music lessons, are involved in sports and in school projects, they have many friends and, this next point is key, none of them are old enough to drive. This means that the “Parent Cab Company” is busy nearly every day. On top of this time with their children that they joyfully spend with them, the couple each have busy jobs and are involved with Church. With everything going on in their life, this couple has little time for each other.

I expect some will read and conclude that they only have themselves to blame. I am not writing to debate this point.

Instead, I want to point out something about this couple that all married couples should do. They yearn to be with each other! Even when they are glad-

PRAYING WITH THE FAMILY

By Dr. Mark Krejci

Director of the Office of Marriage, Family and Life

ly driving their children around or going off to work, in a part of their hearts they are missing each other and crave time together.

At the end of the creation account in the book of Genesis (Gen 2:24) we see the first reference to marriage in the Bible, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” When we marry, the two people are to become one in their lives. The two separate people at the time of the engagement become a new

creation on their wedding day and from that day they are to live “cleaving” to one another.

Cleave is one of the words in Sacred Scripture that we do not use on a regular basis. Why not use “cling” or “huddle together”? These definitions are too limiting because they suggest merely physical contact.

In marriage, “cleave to” means that you are connected emotionally, socially, personally, and spiritually. The husband and wife are to become so close to each other that they see their lives not as separate individu-

als but as one. What is God’s plan for this “cleaving union” of husband and wife? It is to reflect God’s love in the world.

Pope Francis writes that, “The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon … capable of revealing God the Creator and the Savior.“ How can married couples reveal God to each other and the world when they are so busy with things that separate them?

There are many ways to do this; too many for the space I have left. Keep reading this column in the future to hear more ideas.

For now, I will mention just one very powerful daily practice that allows couples to cleave to each other and in so doing be a “living icon” of God: Pray with each other! In my previous column I suggested that family members should pray for each other. Today, I am advocating to married couples that they also pray with each other.

Just think how marriage would flourish if every couple

came together in the morning or evening, held hands with each other and looked at each other and prayed the Lord’s Prayer, Glory Be, or Hail Mary.

This would only take 30 seconds a day. But the impact of this time of prayer built up over the days of the week and weeks of the year will have a remarkable influence on the marriage because the couple will be, during that act of prayer, reflecting God’s love to each other. God’s love experienced in marital prayer can hold together the cleaving couple. If you tire of these prayers, go to the Diocese of Crookston web page (crookston.org) and click on the link for the Office of Marriage, Family and Life.

You will see a link for “prayers” on the right side and this location will gradually be populated with more prayers for couples and families. May God bless your time of “cleaving” in daily prayer.

Saint Teresa of Kolkata, a profound inspiration, in her own words Mother Teresa’s canonization is just a week away as I write this column. She has been and remains a profound inspiration in my life. I dedicate this column to her and her words that have meant the most to me over the years. Saint Teresa of Kolkata, pray for us!

“Each person’s mission is a mission of love. Begin the place where you are, with the people closest to you. Make your homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. At the hour of death, when we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not how much we have done, but how much love we put into the doing.”

“So many people talk about the poor…how many actually talk to the poor?”

“God does not ask us to be successful, God asks us to be faithful.”

“For Mary, the annunciation was when Jesus came into her life, which was her first communion day. And she did something very beautiful. As she realized Jesus was with her, she went in haste, immediately to see her cousin Elizabeth who was with child. And we know what that unborn child did: leapt with joy at the presence of Christ, his Savior. John the

LIFE FIRST

By Father Don Braukmann

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

Baptist was the first to declare Jesus had come. It is wonderful to think that John, as an unborn child, had the first privilege to proclaim the coming of Christ.”

“Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother.

Abortion is profoundly antiwomen. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.”

“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has shown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships.

It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society.

It has portrayed the greatest of gifts (a child) as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government.

They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of their humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.”

“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion” “Many people are concerned with children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and

so on. Many people are also concerned about the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is the greatest destroyer of peace today- abortion which brings people to such blindness.”

“We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love.”

“Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on,

so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace in the world.”

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.’

“Hungry not only for bread but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing but naked of human dignity and respect.

Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks but homeless because of rejection. This is Christ in distressing disguise.”

wants your news and advertisements!

Find 2016-17 publishing dates and submission deadlines on the web: www.crookston.org/ond The next OND submission deadline is:

Wednesday, September 14 by 12:00 p.m.

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

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

COMMENTARY

September 7, 2016

5

Sexual desire is meant to be rooted in God’s gift of committed love calming state usually as avoid- which can produce an increased Sometimes we can lump lust INTEGRITY: ance of anxiety. This often or “obsessive” focus on a perand authentic sexual desire toHUMAN PERSON INSIGHTS gether. In other words, because of our own life experience we can start to view sexuality as something dirty or in a sense unholy. It can feel like our desires are not to be trusted.

However, sexual desire can be a positive force which when guided correctly leads us toward true happiness.

Underneath a distorted desire there can still be a hint of truth, or at least a longing for it. Part of the process for healing our desires is understanding how and where we have gotten off track. In addiction, our sexual desire has become compulsively derailed and thus inordinately focused on part of the picture of who we are as sexual people. Here’s what I mean: Sexual addictions, in fact all addictions, are believed to have three basic neurological pathways. Patrick Carnes, a researcher in the field of sexual addiction, summarizes these as:

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

arousal, numbing, and fantasy.

In terms of addictive desires, each of these three pathways is meant to provide a solution for difficult, unwanted emotions.

A person can become conditioned to follow basic neurological or emotional patterns rather than being governed by their will and intellect.

The “arousal” pathway is about seeking pleasure in the intensity of a sexual or relationship experience. It is a form of avoidance through thrill seeking, like a risky sexual encoun-

ter in an otherwise humdrum lifestyle. One form of this in relationship is a preoccupation with the pursuit of an object of interest, moving from one relationship to the next as a means of trying to recapture the excitement. Attraction is a natural component of new love.

Even though love and relationships in general are affirming, ultimately the courtship phase passes allowing us to grow into a deeper love.

The “numbing” pathway seeks to achieve a soothing,

involves a ritual or obsessive focus related to using a sexual experience for relaxation. Being easily overwhelmed or chaotic are good triggers for this pathway. So in this case the sexual urge becomes translated into a means of receiving detached comfort rather than the real nurturance that comes from a healthy relationship.

The final neuropathway, “fantasy,” is based on obsessive preoccupation with the fantasy world of sex and relationships.

It is rooted in shame. This pathway can also be viewed as providing an overarching fuel for addiction. Sex or sexual fantasy is used to avoid or ignore reality. Real relationships can involve conflict and disappointments, fantasies don’t. Within relationships this can take the form of an anxious attachment.

Romantic interest is known to increase dopamine and reduce levels of serotonin in the brain,

son. In an unhealthy person the “relationship” is sought as the fulfillment of a fantasy. This process in a healthy person naturally guides them toward the relationship. God has provided our bodies with natural ways to bond in relationships.

To be clear sexual desire is not merely biologically driven.

It is essentially personal. It involves a fully intentional and relational desire directed toward the value and good of another person. So our sexuality is very different from the merely instinct driven behavior of animals. Human sexuality certainly includes physiological and neurological processes, but is rooted in the God given gift of committed love between a man and a woman. We get into trouble, often unintentionally, by separating out the parts. Our sexuality is meant to express our whole person; body, mind and spirit.

2016 Fall Dinners in the Diocese of Crookston Our Northland Diocese is pleased to partner with the following parishes that submitted fall dinner information for publication.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 10: ST. JOSEPH, BROOKS Ham Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: SACRED HEART, ROSEAU Turkey and Meatball Dinner 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, OCT. 2: ST. JOSEPH, FERTILE Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 10: ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FISHER Turkey A’la King Luncheon 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25: ST. PHILIP, BEMIDJI Fall Festival Food Stations 10:00 A.M. – 2:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11: ASSUMPTION, CALLAWAY Roast Beef at Callaway Events Ctr. 10:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25: ST. MARY, FOSSTON Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, OCT. 9: ST. BENEDICT, WHITE EARTH Chicken and Meatball Dinner at the Ogema Community Ctr. 4:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11: ST. JOHN, NEBISH Roast Beef Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25: ST. WILLIAM, TWIN VALLEY Grilled Turkey and Ham Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: ST. JOSEPH, BEAULIEU Roast Beef and Ham Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25: ST. PATRICK, KELLIHER Chicken Dinner 11:15 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: ST. ANDREW, HAWLEY Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M.

SATURDAY, OCT. 1: ST. MARY, TWO INLETS Roast Beef and Pork at Park Rapids American Legion 4:30 P.M. – 7:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, LAKE PARK Chicken Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: SACRED HEART, WILTON Chicken and Ham Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M. SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: ST. ANN, BLACKDUCK Fall Festival Dinner 11:30 A.M. – 1:30 P.M.

SUNDAY, OCT. 2: ST. ANN, WAUBUN Ham and Meatball Dinner at Waubun Community Ctr. 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 2: ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, MOORHEAD Roast Beef Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, OCT. 16: ST. ANDREW, HAWLEY Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 16: ST. BERNARD, THIEF RIVER FALLS Swiss Steak Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 23: HOLY FAMILY, HALSTAD Meatballs and Fried Chicken 11:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 30: CATHEDRAL, CROOKSTON KC Fish Fry Dinner 11:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 30: ST. ELIZABETH, DILWORTH Spaghetti Dinner 11:30 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. SUNDAY, NOV. 6: ST. JOSEPH, MOORHEAD Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 19: ST. PETER, PARK RAPIDS Turkey Dinner 11:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

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

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September 7, 2016

LOCAL

OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

St. Joseph’s School puts mercy into action

By Katrina Genereux Staff Writer, OND

Near the end of the 20152016 school year, students at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Moorhead, had the opportunity to share mercy and change lives with kindness.

“Although it happened towards the end of May, the idea was inspiring to our students, families, staff and community, and I believe that by sharing the story and message, we could inspire others to take on this challenge to make a difference in others’ lives,” said Allison Fulton, the Development Director for St. Joseph’s School.

Each classroom received $100 and a challenge to spread kindness. It was called the Butterfly Effect Project. The Butterfly Effect is a physics concept theorizing that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the globe can start a hurricane on the other side.

“The idea behind it is that one kind act can ripple into many more good deeds within the community,” Fulton said.

HOW IT STARTED Shawn Erickson is the Adult Faith Formation Coordinator at St. Joseph’s. Her mother, Evonne Barnum, retired from Minnesota State Community and Technical College last fall.

To honor her mother, Erickson and her husband, Paul, wanted to create a scholarship for students at the school. Barnum matched their gift, and presented an idea inspired by a CBS News report from March 2015. Barnum watched the segment about Chris Rosati, who has ALS and is dedicating his remaining days to making other people happy. He tested the butterfly effect by giving two girls $50 and asking them to do something good. Eventually, because of the girls’ donation, he received an email with pictures of a village in Africa thanking him for spreading kindness.

“Mom suggested we try a new twist and give money to four students who earned financial scholarships to make a difference in someone else’s life, just as a scholarship for school expenses helped make a positive impact in their lives,” Erickson said. “Paul and I were inspired to see what St. Joseph School students could do with the butterfly effect idea and the impact they could make.”

The Ericksons brought this

“The idea behind it is that one kind act can ripple into many more good deeds within the community.”

– Allison Fulton, Development Director, St. Joseph’s School

idea to Fulton and St. Joseph’s School Principal, Andrew Hilliker. After some discussion about how to implement the idea, it was proposed to the classrooms.

“We wanted to teach the kids about mercy and helping others, so we presented that in an email to the teachers,” Fulton said.

The teachers then tailored the message to their classrooms, and took action. There were very few rules about what the students could do with the funds and they were able to choose who to serve and what impact to make.

WHAT THE STUDENTS DID The preschool students purchased cookies and treats for people living or working at a local nursing home. They combined their gift with a visit to the nursing home.

The Kindergarten students purchased leveled readers for the Kindergarten class at St. Mary’s Mission School in Red Lake. The teachers found out which level of books St. Mary’s needed and the St. Joseph’s students chose their favorite books in those levels.

The first grade students made care packages to give to new and expecting mothers at Birthright. The packages included cards and baby supplies.

Second and third grade students combined efforts and invited their friends and families to join in donating money or collecting items for Churches United for the Homeless. The students then purchased and packaged items and learned more about the mission of Churches United. They collected an additional $200 and were able to donate nearly 1,000 items including socks, underwear, shampoo, floss and pillows.

The fifth grade class decided to increase their donation and give it to Haley’s Hope Dyslexia Learning Center. They purchased supplies, made goodies

The fifth grade class takes a photo with their teacher, Keri Cole, during the bake sale they held to expand the impact of their donation. The students used their funds to purchase baking supplies and donated $290 to Haley’s Hope Dyslexia Learning Center. (Submitted photos)

and held a bake sale. Their donation totaled $290.

The sixth grade students decided to donate their money to Churches United.

Students in seventh grade gave their money to the St. Joseph’s School music program to purchase new music.

The eighth grade put their donation towards bean bag chairs for the library, hoping they will help foster a love for reading in younger students.

THE EFFECT “While we may never know the full impact of some of these acts of kindness, it was amazing to see individuals and non-profit leaders connect with our kids later to share their appreciation

and explain how the children’s simple efforts changed the lives of those they may never meet,” Fulton said.

Even after school ended for the summer, Fulton continued to receive notes and emails from those impacted by the project.

Some of them were impressed the students thought of them and said they now have a new perspective of who their supporters are.

She has also heard the students talk about their experience and how easy it was to help people.

“Sometimes it’s just being given that opportunity to help that makes it possible,” Fulton said.

Fulton loved that the Ericksons created this opportunity

for the students to apply their lessons about the Year of Mercy in such a hands-on way.

“We have our own talents and our own capabilities and some people might have the financial means to make a difference, but maybe not the time or ability to make the impact the same way that the kids were able to,” Fulton said. “The kids maybe don’t have the … jobs to provide for the financial piece of it, but they have the time and the energy and the enthusiasm to do something with that money. For me, watching it take place and seeing how each person took their talents and then worked together to make bigger things happen … I thought that was pretty impactful.”

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Audit finds diocesan Safe Environment program compliant OND Staff Report

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 onsite 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.

“I am very pleased that this

year’s audit by Stonebridge and Associates for the safe environment work for the protection of young people has again found that we are completely compliant with the directives of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the bishops in 2002,” said Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner.

In 2011 and 2015 the diocese had an onsite audit, and was found to be compliant with all the elements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, data collection audits were conducted. Each year, the diocese received a letter of compliance.

Jim Clauson, Coordinator of the Office of Safe Environment, reported numbers from the 2016 audit report to Our Northland Diocese. In the 2016 audit year, there were 4,923

registered youth in programs throughout the diocese. A total of 4,632 of them were trained with age-appropriate safe environment materials. This means that 94 percent of the children registered in programs at parishes in the diocese received safe environment 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.

Clauson said, “The work of the safe environment coordinators at the parish level is greatly appreciated. They work with great diligence to train youth and volunteers throughout the year while maintaining extensive records for our diocesan safe environment efforts. Diocesan compliance to the Charter would not be possible without their assistance.”

A total of 83 priests, deacons

and seminarians received their annual certification through the diocesan Safe Environment program.

Educators, employees and volunteers, totaling 2,432, received annual certification through the diocesan Safe Environment program.

A total of 908 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.

“Since the adoption of the charter we have spent well over a million dollars and have expended many, many hours of hard work in making our parishes and institutions safer for children, young people and vulnerable adults, and in educating ourselves about sexual abuse and teaching ourselves to recognize the signs of abuse,” said Bishop Hoeppner. “Our commitment remains strong and our determination firm so that our behavior might always respect with dignity each and every person and that our parishes, schools and institutions might be safe places for people young and old to pray and work together as brothers and sisters.”

Local student receives National Catholic Society of Foresters scholarship In 2016, National Catholic Society of Foresters nationally awarded ten 4-year college scholarships worth $4,000 ($1,000 per year for each recipient); eight 2-year in-college scholarships worth $2,000 ($1,000 per year for each recipient); and two 2-year occupational training scholarships worth $1,000 ($500 per year for each recipient).

Nicole Mazour of Moorhead, Minn. was awarded a scholarship worth $4,000.

The recipients of a scholarship worth $4,000 were: Ashley

Doebereiner of Mount Pleasant, Wis.; Hannah Erlinger of Peachtree City, Ga.; Sarah Faltz of Montello, Wis.; Brendan Held of Taylorville, Ill.; Kevin Hinterlong of Sugar Grove, Ill.; Lydia Kozlowski of Rockford, Ill.; Nicole Mazour of Moorhead, Minn.; Elizabeth Schmidt of Parker, Colo.; McKenna Schultz of Hubbard, Oregon; and Tyler Wiza of Fond du Lac, Wis. The recipients of an in-college scholarship worth $2,000 were: Austin Busse of Prior Lake, Minn.; Jacob Ganser of

New Haven, Ind.; Emily Herbison of Tigard, Oregon; Sarah Heuberger of Sublimity, Ore-

gon; Colin Humble of Marietta, Ga.; Lauryn Joiner of Chicago, Ill.; Grace Smith of Scio, Oregon; and James Votel of Forest Lake, Minn.

The recipients of an occupational training scholarship worth $1,000 were: Jarrett Mancl of Rudolph, Wis., and Ian McDonell of Wausau, Wis. Since 1891, National Catholic Society of Foresters has provided low-cost, comprehensive insurance protection and fixedrate annuity products for Catholic families. Headquartered in Mount Prospect-IL, NCSF is licensed to do business in 17

states.

Member-owned and memberdirected, NCSF enriches parishes and communities, fosters positive values and strengthens families through a variety of programs, social events, and NCSF benefits. Also awarded annually to members are ten Catholic preschool, thirty Catholic grade school, thirty Catholic high school, and twenty Religious Education grants.

For more information about NCSF, please visit www.ncsf. com or call 1-800-344-6273.

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OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE

Beutler enters novitiate, receives habit and name

A few children play on the newly updated playground at St. Bernard’s School, Thief River Falls.

St. Bernard’s School completes extensive playground project Fundraising for the playground project started during the 2014-2015 school year. The playground project was seriously pursued last fall and was an ongoing process through the first half of last year.

The total cost of the project was just under $40,000.

The funds were raised largely through donations from organizations, businesses, and private donors. The students and families also participated in several fundraisers that raised approximately $8,000.

In addition to monetary donations, many businesses, contractors, and individuals provided needed resources and services.

There was a great outpouring of support from volunteers when it came time to install the equipment. This project will ensure that the students of St. Bernard’s and the community have a great playground for years to come.

Upgrades that were done included: Complete resurfacing of playground with engineered wood fibers, installation of new swings and swing hardware, installation of a comet play structure, installation of a new slide, installation of 3 PVC benches, installation of boarder, installation of a custom playset for 2 to 5-year-olds and an addition of 2 portable soccer goals.

Volunteers put together a new play structure at the St. Bernard’s School playground. (Submitted photos)

Ashley Beutler, formerly of St. Joseph’s, Moorhead, transitioned from postulancy to novitiate with the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus in New Ulm, Minn. She received her habit and name of Sister Maria Benedicta of the Holy Name of Jesus on August 6. (Submitted photo)

Sacred Heart representatives attend St. Paul stewardship day Fr. Xavier Ilango, Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in East Grand Forks; St. Francis of Assisi’s, Fisher, and Holy Trinity, Tabor; and Karen Frisch, Development Director at Sacred Heart School, attended the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul Stewardship Day at the Church of St. Peter in North St. Paul on August 25.

Tom Halden, Director of Communications for the archdiocese spoke about parish communications during the morning session. Ryan O’ Hara, Director of Mission Resources for Saint Paul’s Outreach delivered the keynote address regarding the topic of Communication with Millennials. He also gave tips on how to engage young families in the life of the parish.

Father Xavier Ilango and Karen Frisch take a photo outside the Church of St. Peter in North Saint Paul where the 2016 archdiocesan stewardship day was held. (Submitted photo)

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MINISTRY: Continued from Page 3

and help them along their way with their faith or anything else,” she said.

MCCM is also trying to inspire student leaders to host Bible studies for their peers.

Father Kujawa is hoping two or three of them will start this semester and continue to build momentum.

“People everywhere are drawn to some sort of communal life,” Father Kujawa said.

“We like to have a place where we belong. So we’re trying to build up a community of authentic disciples of Jesus Christ, where we share the same conviction to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

BEMIDJI NEWMAN MINISTRY Newman Ministry at Bemidji State University is experiencing a lot of changes this year including the addition of Quick as a full-time minister and moving to a parish-based ministry.

“Having moved from a standalone building to a parish, we will better integrate our students into the parish community as a whole. Making a more welcoming, inclusive area, offering both integrated activities as well as Newman specific ones, we will foster an overall atmosphere where we can share Christ with each other and then take Christ out to the streets,” Quick said.

“With a full-time minister devoted to Newman, we can better focus on the needs of the students, freeing up our priests to better accommodate their sacramental needs.”

Quick sees personal relationships with the students as a key part of Newman ministry.

CONTACTING THE MINISTRIES Moorhead Catholic Campus Ministries: Call or text: 218-303-5684; e-mail: moorheadcatholic@gmail.com; visit www.mccm.catholicweb.com, or search for them on Facebook.

St. Philip’s Newman Ministry: Call Blake Quick at 218-441-4907; e-mail: bquick@stphilipsbemidji.org, or visit www. stphilipsbemidji.org/campus-ministry

UMC Newman Club: Contact Kamille Wahlin, UMC Staff Liaison for the Newman Club at: 218-281-8423 or email: kmwahlin@crk.umn.edu “Our main ministry for the campus is our ministry of presence,” Quick said. “We are available in the Union during lunch hours and actively attend campus programs.”

Mass and a Meal nights are held each Tuesday evening.

They begin with Mass, followed by a meal and a talk or discussion on a relevant topic.

“Our ministry … looks to feed the students both physically as well as spiritually, giving them a wholesome portion of both,” Quick said.

Additional Newman Events

are held once per month as a chance for students to relax and enjoy fellowship with one another. So far, a barbeque, bowling party and chili feed are planned. Service days are also planned, offering students an opportunity to give back to the local community.

A pilgrimage to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Crookston is planned to celebrate the Jubilee of Mercy by passing through the Holy Door.

During that trip, they will also visit the Newman centers at the University of North Dakota and at North Dakota State University. He is also working on planning a spring break mission trip.

UMC NEWMAN CLUB The UMC Newman Club is entering its fourth year of club

status at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. The Newman Club meets every other Tuesday at Centennial Hall.

Their meetings rotate from social nights to discussing current faith issues to focusing on spiritual topics.

Some things they have done in the past were an evening learning about Church architecture that included tours of the Cathedral and St. Peter’s Church in Gentilly, nights focused on vocations, bowling, or prayer meetings.

“I’ve done a busy person’s retreat where they check in once a day through maybe five weeks in Lent or take a week and have time set aside, they don’t leave campus, but they make a spiritual retreat week,” Father Miller said. He has also led prayer group and faith sharing nights with the students. They plan to do similar things in the coming year.

The club also chooses two service projects per semester.

Some of their previous service projects included reading books to students at Cathedral School and loading boxes at the local food bank.

“We have Mass there twice a year during finals week, because they’re usually pretty motivated to pray,” Father Miller said.

FRUITS OF MINISTRY No matter the location or structure, ministry to college students is aimed toward meeting and building the faith of each student, one at a time.

Father Miller has found that when students get involved, it is because their friends do.

“Some will find it by virtue of going to college and needing to find a church, and parents will often call us with that concern … but I think the most effective things is ‘hey, my friend is going – my friend is going to church, my friend is going to Newman,” he said.

Last year, a young woman brought her friend to the UMC Newman Club. She had been baptized, but never received First Communion or Confirmation. She entered RCIA and received the sacraments at Cathedral’s Easter Vigil last year.

“That’s a beautiful witness story of Newman ministry,” Father Miller said. “How can you keep the faith going? It really is personal friendships that support that.”

Father Kujawa said MCCM

has “lost” two of their students – one left to be a missionary with NET Ministries, and another is now attending seminary.

“Anytime young people can be inspired to sacrifice even part of their life for the sake of the Gospel, that’s a big victory for the Lord,” he said. “We’ve seen a bit of it this past year and we’re hoping to build off of that momentum this year. We won’t be completely satisfied with our apostolate until every student has had the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ into their lives.”

Quick said all of the students he was involved with last year have strong faith lives. He attributes that in part to the Newman ministry’s availability to the students.

“Without Newman, it would be just that much easier that the possibility of falling away from the faith may happen,” he said.

“On campus, we see an impact mainly by our presence, our open availability and welcoming attitudes towards all students contributes to evangelization.”

Quick has found that the presence of Newman ministers on campus can lead non-Catholics to become interested in the Church, or can bring back Catholic students who have not been taking care of their spiritual needs.

“It bring them into the parish life and allows us to walk with them,” he said.

Alexander encourages college students to search out Catholic ministries on their campuses and take action. He said being involved with Newman ministry was a relief after all the pressure in high school of getting Confirmed, taking tests, and keeping his grades up to get into college.

“What I found was a very relaxed environment where you could freely discuss issues involving life and your faith life,” he said. “It helped me become more of an open person and to be more open about my faith with others as well.”

Father Kujawa asks people everywhere to pray for college students.

“These young men and women face very difficult choices every day on campus, especially on weekends,” he said. “Our prayers may be a source of grace for them to receive the courage they need to stand firm in their faith or step out of a world of sin.”

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USCCB leaders call on Catholics to join in praying for care of creation

By Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ leaders called on Catholics to join people around the world in praying for the care of God’s creation Sept. 1, a day specially designated by Pope Francis and Orthodox leaders for prayer and action for Earth.

Prayer can unite people in understanding the importance of what the pope has called “integral ecology,” which calls for having right relationships with God, other human beings and Earth, said Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

In a statement released Sept. 1 to mark the day, the bishops said that prayer helps build a foundational relationship with God. “It (prayer) also reminds us that amidst the great challenges of global climate change, pollution in our local communities and the deepening ecological crises all around us, we can relate to a creator who is greater than any challenge and for whom ‘all things are possible,’” they said.

They explained that the pope’s 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” calls humans to be better stewards of the Earth.

The bishops extended the invitation to people of all religions, particularly “our Jewish and Muslim friends,” who, like Catholics, “see Abraham as our ‘father in faith.’”

The prelates also suggested steps to turn “prayer into witness.” Again citing the pope’s encyclical, the bishops point to the practical steps anyone can take, such as recycling, turning off unnecessary lights and using public transportation.

“We can begin, in these ordi-

“When we care for the environment, we are caring for ourselves and each other. Pope Francis speaks of an ‘integral ecology’ because no divide exists between serving as good stewards of the Earth and serving our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.”

– Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz USCCB President

nary settings, to care in deeper ways for the good things God has given us,” the bishops wrote. “This attitude of stewardship, forged in daily life, will, in turn, allow us to participate in the greater national and international efforts to care for the Earth and for future generations.”

In a separate message, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, USCCB president, asked people to pray for the life-sustaining resources God has provided humanity and “for the strength to sustain individual, community, national and global efforts to care for our common home.”

He said Pope Francis invited people to “a serious examination of conscience” in order to “confess our sins against the creator, against creation and against our brothers and sisters.”

“When we care for the en-

vironment, we are caring for ourselves and each other,” Archbishop Kurtz said. “Pope Francis speaks of an ‘integral ecology’ because no divide exists between serving as good stewards of the Earth and serving our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.”

He also suggested that practices of good stewardship can be found in daily routines of recycling, adjusting thermostats, consuming only what is necessary and using reusable containers. “These small seeds can grow into broader, stronger, sustainable public policy,” the USCCB president said.

This is the cover of the English edition of Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment, "Laudato Si." it was released June 18, 2015. (CNS photo/courtesy U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)

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Pope leads 11,000 pilgrims praying rosary for quake victims

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – After a strong earthquake struck central Italy and with the early news reporting many deaths and serious damage, Pope Francis turned his weekly general audience Aug. 24 into a prayer service.

While the pope and some 11,000 pilgrims and tourists recited the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square, six Vatican firefighters were on their way to the town of Amatrice, about 85 miles east of Rome, to help search for victims under the rubble. The pope sent six Vatican police officers to join them the next day.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.2 quake had an epicenter close to Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict and home to a monastery of Benedictine monks, who are attracting a growing number of visitors because of their solemn prayer life and beer brewing business. The monks and their guests were all safe, but the monastery and Basilica of St. Benedict suffered serious struc-

tural damage.

Smaller temblors – at least two of which registered more than 5.0 – continued even 24 hours after the main quake. By early Aug. 29, Italian officials said the death toll had reached 290. Some 260 people were hospitalized with quake-related injuries and rescuers had been able to pull 238 people out of the rubble.

When Pope Francis arrived in St. Peter’s Square for his general audience just six hours after the main quake, he set aside his prepared audience talk and instead spoke of his “heartfelt sorrow and my closeness” to everyone in the earthquake zone, especially those who lost loved ones and “those who are still shaken by fear and terror.”

“Having heard the mayor of Amatrice say, ‘The town no longer exists,’ and knowing that there are children among the dead, I am deeply saddened,” Pope Francis said.

Assuring the people in the region of the prayers and “the embrace of the whole church,” the pope asked the crowd at the audience to join him in praying

Pope Francis is seen holding his rosary during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Aug. 24. Pope Francis put aside his prepared remarks and led a recitation of the rosary for Italy’s earthquake victims. (Photo credit: CNS/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda, EPA)

that “the Lord Jesus, who is always moved by human suffer-

ing, would console the brokenhearted and give them peace.”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked U.S. Catholics also to pray the rosary for the victims in Italy, as well as for the victims of other natural disasters, including those suffering because of the flooding in Louisiana.

“Knowing all too well the personal toll of natural disasters in our own country, let us join with the Holy Father in prayer for everyone suffering from Louisiana to central Italy,” the archbishop said in a statement Aug. 24.

Bishop Domenico Pompili of Rieti, the diocese that includes Amatrice, said he received a phone call from Pope Francis at 7 a.m. the morning of the earthquake. The quake and first big aftershock were felt in Rome and woke the pope up, he said, adding that Pope Francis said he had celebrated Mass for the victims shortly after 4:30 a.m.

Caritas Italy and its diocesan affiliates mobilized immediately with volunteers rushing to the impacted towns, helping with the search and rescue operation, providing food and blankets and helping to staff the tent cities erected by the Italian government outside the damaged towns. The Italian bishops’ conference immediately pledged 1 million euros ($1.1 million) for relief efforts and asked all par-

ishes to take up a special collection at Masses Sept. 18 to aid the victims.

In Amatrice, one of the hardest-hit towns, the bodies of three nuns and four of the elderly guests they host in the summer were pulled lifeless from the rubble Aug. 25. Three nuns and two of the elderly were rescued at a home run by the Handmaids of the Lord.

Many of the small towns in the region have few residents who live there all year. But in the summer, people return to their families’ native towns to visit grandparents and escape the heat of the big cities. The victims of the quake included dozens of children who were spending the last weeks of August with their grandparents.

Government officials said an estimated 14,000 people were left homeless by the quake. In addition to houses and apartment buildings turned into rubble, dozens of churches and convents in the region crumbled or were heavily damaged.

At the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, the 15 monks and five guests were already awake when the first quake hit, Benedictine Father Benedict Nivakoff told Catholic News Service. Aug. 24 is the feast of St. Bartholomew and “on feast days we get up earlier” to pray, he said.

Within a half hour of the first quake, Father Nivakoff said, the square outside the monastery was filled with people “because it is the safest place in town -around the statue of St. Benedict.”

While no buildings collapsed, “the facade seems to have detached” from the rest of the basilica and major repairs are likely, he said. The monks announced later Aug. 24 that two Benedictines would stay in Norcia, sleeping in tents outside the city walls, but the rest of the community would move temporarily to Rome as a “precautionary measure” as the aftershocks continued.

Assisi is just 45 miles from Norcia and, according to Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, the quake was felt strongly at the convent and basilica that suffered major damage from an earthquake in 1997.

While the quake woke all the friars, many of whom ran to the Basilica of St. Francis, no damage was visible, he told ANSA, the Italian news agency.

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Catholic leaders: Pope’s call for mercy in Americas reinforces their work

By Ezra Fieser Catholic News Service BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – Pope Francis’ call for Catholics throughout the Americas “to treat one another with mercy” should reinforce the church’s commitment to come together to work with the neediest, Catholic leaders said at the start of a regional gathering in Colombia.

“The message of the pope is a call for every person as individuals, but also to us as a church, as communities and dioceses on this enormous continent, from the north of Canada to Patagonia,” Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, president of the Congregation for Bishops and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, one of the organizers, told a news conference Aug. 28.

Cardinal Ouellet, who celebrated Mass following a procession through Bogota to the Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica Aug. 28, said societal problems persist throughout the hemisphere that require the church’s attention.

“I think that when we want to change society, we should start with our own hearts,” he said.

That was a sentiment echoed

by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz

of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as he delivered the homily Aug. 28.

“We are invited to accompany those who are deeply in need of mercy, but only after having allowed Jesus into our hearts with his mercy,” he said.

At the news conference, Haitian Bishop Pierre Dumas said idea of mercy should be met with action by the church.

“When we talk about mercy we shouldn’t think about it as something conceptual,’’ said Bishop Dumas, who heads the Diocese of Anse-a-Veau and Miragoane, Haiti. “For us, it should be something experiential.”

The extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy on the American continent, Aug. 27-30 in Bogota, drew Catholics from 22 Latin American countries, the Caribbean, the U.S. and Canada. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos attended some of the sessions.

On Aug. 29, participants were scheduled to tour poor neighborhoods in Bogota, where the church is carrying out acts of mercy, said Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, president of the Latin American bishops’ council, known by its

Spanish acronym CELAM. “It will be an important experience because it will open eyes to the possibilities of acts of mercy in different parts of the continent,” he said. In Bogota, “the number of homeless people has multiplied due to many factors, above all due to drug addiction and alcoholism. The archdiocese is working to address this.”

In a 28-minute video message to the conference, Pope Francis told participants that all of their work – in religious education programs, seminaries, parishes, bishops’ conferences, clergy meetings and even theology – should be “about learning to show mercy.”

“We live in a society that is bleeding, and the price of its wounds normally ends up being paid by the most vulnerable. But it is precisely to this society, to this culture, that the Lord sends us,” Pope Francis told them.

“He sends us with one program alone: to treat one another with mercy. To become neighbors to those thousands of defenseless people who walk in our beloved American land by proposing a different way of treating them,” the pope said.

The importance of the church’s work with poor com-

A group of people listen as Pope Francis is projected on a large screen Aug. 27 during the Jubilee of Mercy on the American continent in Bogota, Colombia. (Photo credit: CNS/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda, EPA)

munities has been heightened by an economic downturn that has thrown some of the largest countries, like Venezuela and Brazil, into recession. As a regional economy, Latin America and the Caribbean is forecast to contract by 1.3 percent this year after seeing a 0.7 percent drop last year, according to the World Bank. That has forced governments to cut services to the most vulnerable in places like Puerto Rico.

In a testimonial provided by CELAM, Carmelite Sister Iris

Rivera Cintron, president of the Puerto Rico Conference of Religious, who attended the jubilee, said: “For me, personally, the act of mercy in my community is picking up children from a public housing project who are not cared for and teaching them and instilling in them values.

“Mercy has to start with yourself, opening up your heart to work with others, especially children, the sick, and the neediest,” she said.

Pope Francis proposes care for creation as a new work of mercy

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Calling for concrete actions that benefit human life and the environment, Pope Francis proposed adding the care and protection of creation to the traditional list of corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

As a spiritual work of mercy, the pope said, care for creation requires “a grateful contemplation of God’s world,” while as a corporal work, it calls for “simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.”

The pope reflected on the need for an integral ecology in Christian life in his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Sept. 1.

The message, titled “Show Mercy to our Common Home,” reflects on the day of prayer as an occasion for Christians to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation” and to thank God “for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care.”

Presenting the pope’s message at a news conference Sept.

1, Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the day of prayer follows the example of the Orthodox Church, which initiated the prayer day in 1989.

Pope Francis’ message, the cardinal told journalists, calls on Christians to be “honest with ourselves” and acknowledge that “when we hurt the earth, we also hurt the poor” and thus commit “a sin against creation, against the poor and against those who have not yet been born.”

“This means that we must examine our consciences and repent. I realize that this is not the way we traditionally think about sin. These are sins, Pope Francis says, that we have not hitherto acknowledged and confessed,” Cardinal Turkson said.

In his message, the pope said concern for the planet’s future unites religious leaders and organizations and draws attention to “the moral and spiritual crisis” that is at the heart of envi-

“We must not think that these efforts are too small to improve our world.”

– Pope Francis

ronmental problems.

“Christians or not, as people of faith and goodwill, we should be united in showing mercy to the earth as our common home and cherishing the world in which we live as a place for sharing and communion,” the pope said.

Pollution and global warming, due partly to human activity, he said, has turned the beauty of God’s creation into a “polluted wasteland” that impacts the world’s poor, who have suffered the brunt of “irresponsible and selfish behavior.”

“As an integral ecology emphasizes, human beings are deeply connected with all of creation. When we mistreat na-

ture, we also mistreat human beings,” the pope said.

The Year of Mercy, he added, offers Christians an opportunity to experience not only an interior conversion but also an “ecological conversion,” one that recognizes “our responsibility to ourselves, our neighbors, creation and the Creator.”

The first step on the path of conversion is to reflect on the harm done to creation by lifestyles inspired by “a distorted culture of prosperity,” which brings about a “disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary,” he said.

Ecological conversion, the pope said, requires a serious examination of conscience, recognizing one’s sins “against the Creator, against creation and against our brothers and sisters,” and sincere repentance.

Sincere conversion and repentance are shown by a firm resolve to change course and bring about concrete actions that respect creation, such as energy conservation, recycling and caring concern for others.

“We must not think that these

efforts are too small to improve our world. They call for a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread and encourage a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle,” he wrote.

A change of course also requires governments to take steps to protect the environment.

While praising the adoption of the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, Pope Francis called on world leaders to honor their commitments in halting the rise of global temperatures and on citizens to hold them accountable and “advocate for even more ambitious goals.”

Pope Francis said that adding care for creation to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy acknowledges human life and everything that surrounds it as “an object of mercy.”

“In our rapidly changing and increasingly globalized world, many new forms of poverty are appearing,” Pope Francis said.

“In response to them, we need to be creative in developing new and practical forms of charitable outreach as concrete expressions of the way of mercy.”

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Jesus’ mercy extends to even the Pope establishes office for promotion of integral greatest of sinners, pope says human development

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Jesus’ loving gaze of tenderness and mercy extends to all who seek forgiveness no matter how great or small their sins may be, Pope Francis said.

While many often feel “cast aside” because of their sins, Jesus offers encouragement and “tells us, ‘Courage, come to me,’” the pope said Aug. 31 at his weekly general audience.

“It is the moment of forgiveness, of inclusion in Jesus’ life and the life of the church. All of us are sinners; whether great or small, we all are. The Lord tells us, ‘Courage, come, you are no longer discarded. I forgive you, I embrace you.’ This is mercy,” he said.

Reflecting on the Gospel reading of Jesus’ miraculous healing of a woman suffering from hemorrhages, Pope Francis noted the woman’s persistence in trying to reach out to Jesus despite the fact that she was excluded from society because of her condition.

“She was a woman discarded from society. It is important to consider this condition – discarded – to understand her state of mind,” he said. “She senses that Jesus can free her from her sickness and from the state of marginalization and indignity in

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

Pope Francis greets a woman with tattoos as he meets the disabled during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Aug. 31. (Photo credit: CNS/Paul Haring)

which she has found herself for years. In short, she knows and feels that Jesus can save her.”

Through the Gospel story, he said, “we, including Christian communities, are warned against views of women affected by prejudice and suspicion, damaging their inviolable dignity.”

The Gospel vision, he added, restores the truth and allows women to be viewed from “a liberating perspective.”

“We don’t know her name, but the few lines in which the Gospel describes her encounter with Jesus outline an itinerary of faith capable of restoring the truth and the greatness of each

person’s dignity,” he said.

After touching Jesus’ cloak, the woman tried to hide and expected to be reproached, the pope said. Instead, she was met with his gaze of “mercy and tenderness” that not only welcomes her, but also “acknowledges her dignity.”

This gaze and encouragement from Christ, he added, also is experienced by all those who feel discarded and marginalized by their own sins.

The woman is not saved by touching Jesus’ cloak but by his words which “consoled her, healed her and restored her to a relationship with God and with her people,” Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – To promote Catholic social teaching and ensure appropriate assistance to vulnerable people – especially victims of war, refugees and the sick – Pope Francis has established a new office combining the responsibilities of four pontifical councils.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative) and published by the Vatican Aug. 31, the pope said the new “Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development” will merge the pontifical councils for Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, Migrants and Travelers, and Health Care Ministry.

The pope named Cardinal Peter Turkson, current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to serve as prefect of the new office, which will begin functioning Jan. 1.

In his letter signed Aug. 17, the pope said, “This dicastery will be competent particularly in issues regarding migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disas-

ters, and all forms of slavery and torture.”

According to the new statutes, the prefect will be assisted by a secretary and “at least one undersecretary.”

Laypeople can be chosen for either role.

While Cardinal Turkson will lead the new office, a section dedicated to refugees and migrants will be led “ad tempus” (for the time being) directly by the pope, who will “exercise it in the manner he deems appropriate,” the statutes state.

The new dicastery’s responsibilities include gathering news and information regarding areas of justice and peace and the protection of human rights, particularly in areas where people are plagued by violence, migration, slavery, torture and exploitation, the Vatican said.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integrating Human Development will have separate commissions for charity, ecology and health workers and will maintain a “close relationship” with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis approved the statutes “ad experimentum” (on a trial basis) for an unspecified period of time.

Retired Pope Benedict says it was his ‘duty’ to resign from papacy

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Retired Pope Benedict XVI said in an interview that he felt a “duty” to resign from the papacy because of his declining health and the rigorous demands of papal travel.

While his heart was set on completing the Year of Faith, the retired pope told Italian journalist Elio Guerriero that after his visit to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, he felt he was “incapable of fulfilling” the demands of another international trip, especially with World Youth Day 2013 scheduled for Brazil.

“With the program set out by John Paul II for these (World Youth) days, the physical presence of the pope was indispensable,” he told Guerriero in an interview, which is included in the journalist’s upcoming biog-

raphy of Pope Benedict. “This, too, was a circumstance which made my resignation a duty,” the pope said.

An excerpt of Guerriero’s book, “Servant of God and Humanity: The Biography of Benedict XVI,” was published Aug. 24 in the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica.

Pope Benedict said that although he was moved by the “profound faith” of the people of Mexico and Cuba, it was during his visit to the two countries in 2012 that he “experienced very strongly the limits of my physical endurance.”

Among the problems with committing to the grueling schedule of an international trip was the change in time zones.

Upon consulting with his doctor, he said, it became clear “that I would never be able to take part in the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.”

“From that day, I had to decide in a relatively short time the date of my retirement,” he said.

Guerriero noted that while many believed the pope’s retirement was a defeat for the church, Pope Benedict continues to seem “calm and confident.” The retired pope said he “completely agreed” with the journalist’s observation.

“I would have been truly worried if I was not convinced – as I had said in the beginning of my pontificate – of being a simple and humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard,” he said.

The retired pope added that while he was aware of his limitations, he accepted his election in 2005 “in a spirit of obedience” and that despite the difficult moments, there were also “many graces.”

The retired pontiff spends his days in prayer and contemplation while residing at the Mater

Ecclesiae monastery in Vatican City. For 19 years, different contemplative orders took turns living in the monastery with a mission focused on praying for the pope and the church.

Among the visitors Pope Benedict receives is Pope Francis, who “never fails to visit me before embarking on a long trip,” he said.

Asked about his personal relationship with his successor, Pope Benedict said they shared a “wonderfully paternal-fraternal relationship” and he has been profoundly touched by his “extraordinarily human availability.”

“I often receive small gifts, personally written letters” from Pope Francis, he said. “The human kindness with which he treats me is a particular grace of this last phase of my life for which I can only be grateful.

What he says about being open

toward other men and women is not just words. He puts it into practice with me.”

Pope Francis, who wrote the book’s preface, expressed his admiration for the retired pope and said his spiritual bond with his predecessor “remains particularly profound.”

“In all my meetings with him, I have been able to experience not only reverence and obedience, but also friendly spiritual closeness, the joy of praying together, sincere brotherhood, understanding and friendship, and also his availability for advice,” Pope Francis wrote.

The church’s mission of proclaiming the merciful love of God for the world, he added, has and continues to be exemplified in the life of Pope Benedict.

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Mother Teresa, ‘genuine dispenser of divine mercy’ canonized

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – With a large tapestry bearing the portrait of the woman known as the “Saint of the Gutters” suspended above him, Pope Francis proclaimed the sainthood of Mother Teresa of Kolkata, hailing her courage and love for the poor.

Despite the formality of the occasion though, “her sanctity is so close to us, so tender and fruitful, that spontaneously we will continue to call her ‘Mother Teresa,’” Pope Francis said to applause at the canonization Mass Sept. 4.

“Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,” the pope said in his homily during the Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

An estimated 120,000 people packed the square, many holding umbrellas or waving fans to keep cool under the sweltering heat of the Roman sun. However, upon hearing Pope Francis “declare and define Blessed Teresa of Kolkata to be a saint,” the crowds could not contain their joy, breaking out in cheers and thunderous applause before he finished speaking.

The moment was especially sweet for more than 300 Albanians who live in Switzerland, but came to Rome for the canonization. “We are very proud,” said Violet Barisha, a member of the Albanian Catholic Mission in St. Gallen.

Daughter of Divine Charity Sister Valdete, a Kosovar and one of the Albanian group’s chaplains, said, “We are so happy and honored. We are a small people, but have had so many martyrs.”

Born in 1910 to an ethnic Albanian family in Skopje, in what is now part of Macedonia, Mother Teresa went to India in 1929 as a Sister of Loreto and became an Indian citizen in 1947. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950.

Mother Teresa, Sister Valdete said, is a shining example of how “Albanian women are strong and our people are hardworking.”

In his homily, Pope Francis said God’s will is explained in the words of the prophets: “I want mercy, not sacrifice.”

“God is pleased by every act

Pope Francis celebrates the canonization Mass of St. Teresa of Kolkata in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 4. (Photo credit: CNS photo/ Paul Haring)

of mercy because in the brother or sister that we assist, we recognize the face of God which no one can see,” he said. “Each time we bend down to the needs of our brothers and sisters, we give Jesus something to eat and drink; we clothe, we help and we visit the Son of God.” Like Mother Teresa, he said, Christians are called not simply to perform acts of charity, but to live charity as a vocation and “to grow each day in love.”

“Wherever someone is reaching out, asking for a helping hand in order to get up, this is where our presence – and the presence of the church which sustains and offers hope – must be,” the pope said.

Mother Teresa, he said, lived out this vocation to charity through her commitment to defending the unborn and bowing down “before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road.”

She also “made her voice heard before the powers of this world so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created,” Pope Francis said. “For Mother Teresa, mercy was the ‘salt’ which gave flavor to her work, it was the ‘light’ which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for

their poverty and suffering.”

For all Christians, especially volunteers engaged in works of mercy, the life of the saintly nun remains an example and witness to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor, he said.

“Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of holiness!”

Pope Francis said. “May this tireless worker of mercy help us to increasingly understand that our only criterion for action is gratuitous love, free from every ideology and all obligations, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race or religion.”

As she made her way through the tight security and past several closed streets to St. Peter’s Square, Maria Demuru said, “I couldn’t miss this. Even if there’s no place left for me to sit.”

The small Italian woman said, “Mother Teresa is a sign of the times. In her smallness, she revealed the calling we all have.

She said we are all saints by our baptism and we must recover our original holiness. She lived in humility and simplicity like the poor of the earth and was never ashamed of that.”

Mother Teresa’s simplicity did not keep the powerful away from the Mass, though. Some 20 nations sent official delega-

Missionaries of Charity nuns present a relic of St. Teresa of Kolkata during the canonization Mass of Mother Teresa in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 4. (Photo credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring)

tions to the Vatican for the canonization. Queen Sofia of Spain led a delegation. The president and prime minister of Albania attended, as did the presidents of Macedonia and Kosovo and the foreign minister of India.

President Barack Obama sent a delegation led by Lisa Monaco, his assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.

The U.S. delegation also included Ken Hackett, ambassador to the Holy See; Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services; and Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA. The first reading at the Mass was read by Jim Towey, who served as Mother Teresa’s legal

counsel in the United States and Canada from 1985 to 1997, and as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, 20022006.

After the Mass, 250 Missionaries of Charity Sisters and 50 Missionaries of Charity brothers served pizza to about 1,500 poor people who had come to the Mass from shelters, dormitories and soup kitchens the order runs throughout Italy.

Pope Francis, through the office of the papal almoner, funded the lunch, which was prepared by a team of 20 pizza makers, who brought three ovens with them from Naples and cooked behind the Vatican audience hall.

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COMMENTARY

WORD to LIFE September 11

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19 Gospel: Luke 15:1-32 or Luke 15:1-10

1 Timothy 1:12-17

By Jeff Hedglen Catholic News Service One of the greatest fears of my childhood was of getting caught doing something bad and having to face my dad. It’s not that he was extra mean or abusive, it’s just that I did not want to disappoint him, and this caused a knee-jerk reaction of fear whenever such situations would arise.

Probably the worst and stupidest thing I remember doing happened when I was a senior in high school hanging out with friends. We were roller-skating in the street and then decided to go to another friend’s house. I’d borrowed my dad’s car that night and jumped in and started driving with my skates still on.

As you might expect, there was an accident. Thankfully, it was just a fender bender. It could have been a lot worse, but knowing that the next day I’d have to tell my dad what I had done caused me a terrible, sleepless night full of fear and trembling.

After I showed my dad his dented bumper I was expecting to never leave my room unless I was doing all my siblings’ chores forever! But instead of getting the worst punishment of my life, I got something wholly unexpected: mercy.

Sure my dad gave me a talking to about how our lives are defined by our choices and this was not a good choice on my part. He asked me to think about the kind of person I was going to be, and that was it!

This story came to mind as I reviewed this week’s readings. Each passage tells of God’s mercy, whether it is God re-

September 7, 2016

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FOR FAITH-SHARING GROUPS

September 18

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Amos 8:4-7 Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8

1 Timothy 2:1-8

By Sharon K. Perkins Catholic News Service

lenting on his plan to smite the Israelites, St. Paul reminding us that Jesus came into the world to bring God’s mercy or, most expressive of all, the loving father full of mercy and forgiveness welcoming the prodigal son home.

Benny Hester has a song about the prodigal son with a line that perfectly illustrates God and his mercy: “The only time I ever saw (God) run was when he ran to me, took me in his arms, held my head to his chest and said, ‘My son’s come home again.’” This is one of my favorite images of God, running to us to deliver his mercy!

Questions: When was a time when someone had mercy on you?

When have you experienced the mercy of God?

"I WAS MERCIFULLY TREATED." – 1 TIMOTHY 1:16

In this presidential election year, much is made of political candidates and their levels of experience, their platforms and their ability to communicate with their constituents. But nothing seems to raise as much debate as a candidate’s trustworthiness -- or the lack of it. In fact, millions of dollars are spent on campaign advertising for the purpose of exposing dishonesty in one’s opponent.

Why is this? I suspect that a candidate’s many favorable qualities are often secondary to the public’s perception of the candidate’s honesty. Whether it’s engaging in deceitful business practices, cheating on one’s taxes or fabricating information, even little falsehoods can add up to an unsavory reputation and seriously damage a contender’s chances of getting elected.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ parable of the dishonest steward illustrates the significance of little things as an indicator of trustworthiness in larger matters.

Given the propensity of human beings – especially those in leadership – to bend the truth to suit their purposes, it’s no wonder that the Letter to Timothy emphasizes the necessity of prayer for “kings and for all in authority,” knowing that the common good of all people depends upon their integrity.

The prophet Amos warns those who ‘trample upon the needy” and persist in dishonest dealings with the poor in order to advance themselves: The Lord has a long memory and does not abide injustice. Rather, God’s brand of justice “raises up the lowly from the dust” in

order to “seat them with princes.”

In this season of accusatory campaign ads and reciprocal mudslinging, it behooves Christians, as “children of light,” to discern carefully and to exercise their right to vote with prudence and responsibility. But today’s readings also challenge us to look at our own attitudes about wealth and our behavior toward the poor.

You or I might not be running for office – but the common good of our fellow human beings depends on our integrity, wise stewardship and fervent prayers for those who are elected to serve.

Questions: In what areas of your life do you tend toward deceit or dishonesty?

What part do prayer and discernment play in your own political decisions?

"THE PERSON WHO IS TRUSTWORTHY IN VERY SMALL MATTERS IS ALSO TRUSTWORTHY IN GREAT ONES." – LUKE 16:10

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