Adoption, cont'd from pg. 7
The Rochester Serra Club gave the Great Promise Award to these Catholic youth who exemplify generosity of service and leadership: L to R: Andrew Pham, Caleb Devillbiss, Gretts Deick, Lacy Jewson, Grace Marshall, Xavier Stevermer, and Brandon McCrady. Also pictured: Msgr. Thomas Cook. Not present: Julia Kundel and Isabelle Lukes.
Students of Sacred Heart School in Waseca have placed at the state level in the Catholic Daughters of America 2017 Education Contest. They are (L to R) Second Place Winner Lucas McQuery and Honorable Mentions Addison Kelm, Esme Pearce, and Brayden Hesch-Priem. The entries were first judged on the local level by Waseca Court 1424, and the first place winner in each category (art, computer art, poetry, and essay) was send to the state competition.
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In the Diocese
At the final Mass of St. Joseph Parish in Jasper, Bishop Quinn awarded the Bishop's Medal to (L to R) Carolyn Baustian, Jim Baustian, Stella Lingen, and Dick Lingen for their years of service to the parish. Also pictured: Msgr. Gerald Kosse. Photo credit: Pipestone Publishing.
Dr. Grazie Christie, a radiologist and a policy advisor for The Catholic Association, agreed, and shared her own decision to adopt after having four children. “We didn’t need a child. We had plenty of children,” she said of her family, yet “we had so much” and wanted to adopt as “an act of love.” They adopted a child from outside the U.S. Yet she wasn’t ready for the skepticism and criticism she faced for her decision. “We got a lot of negativity from people around us,” she said, including questions and observations like “You’re crazy,” “You don’t know what you’re going to get,” “You’re going out to get other people’s problems and bring them home,” and “Don’t you have enough children?” “I was pained by it,” she said, but when she received her new daughter and began caring for her, “it was hands-down the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me.” More married couples, upon finding that they are unable to have children, are turning to fertility treatments or in-vitro fertilization, but there are thousands of babies available for adoption, aching for a home, Dr. Christie said. Ultimately, Christians and pro-lifers should be doing much more to promote adoption even if they themselves can’t adopt children, panel experts insisted. “We have to very much, very specifically, very purposefully build a culture of adoption,” Dr. Christie said. “It has to be seen as yet another way that God matches children with their parents.” “We all have a duty to practice this kind of radical hospitality” and “welcome the stranger,” Kirk said. And today’s stranger is the unwanted child in danger of abortion, she added. “Every couple is called to think about what they’re doing to help the orphan, to help the widow.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that all couples must adopt a child, however. For instance, Tina Andrews is CEO of ADORE Children and Family Services, which is a “therapeutic foster care agency” for children who have been neglected or abused. For prospective parents, she promotes “fostering to adopt,” where couples must undergo 40 hours of training and be involved in a foster parent support group before they can be paired with a child. ADORE monitors the placement of the child even after the family takes them in. Many parents may “want a child,” she said, but they lack the parenting skills or the necessary support system for a child, and so her group looks to make sure that the fit will be the right one. However, promoting adoption may be as simple as “educating people about the reality of what contemporary adoption looks like,” Kirk said. Now, a mother has more power to choose the family she will place her child with, and this growth in culture should be talked about. Dr. Christie said that while going through the adoption process, she was struck by the fact that adoption mirrors God’s relationship with us. “In bringing joy to others, in redeeming others” through adoption, “we allow ourselves to be redeemed in the process,” added Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin, resident research fellow at the Tikvah Fund. “We need to live by example in this area,” he said of pro-lifers. “I think it’s a cultural change that needs to happen.”
Local Christians gathered in front of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona on Saturday, May 13, to offer a public rosary for peace in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Fatima. Photo credit: Kathy Foerster.
St. John Vianney Parish in Fairmont recognized its 2017 graduates of Fairmont High School at a Baccalaureate Mass on May 21. Per tradition of the past 15 years, the junior class parents and students organized a postMass celebration featuring a luncheon, slideshow, and gifts. Pictured are (L to R) front row: Jenna Pavich, Madison Reischl, Lily Nordquist, Taylor Nuss, Maddie Hennager, Kierra Preston, Alexa Steele, and Aschdon Birkle. Back row: Alexis Jette, Evangeline Petrowiak, Cameron Militello, Justin Schwieger, Refugio Sanchez, Shawn Busche, Kenlie Pytleski (Holy Family Parish), Tony Joseph, and Jared Larson. June, 2017 w The Courier