The Catholic Spirit - January 5, 2012

Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

The Catholic Spirit January 5, 2012

CSJs helped by Friends for Life Page 3

Fishing for men Page 16

News with a Catholic heart

Immigrants give back to communities they now call home

Coming to America

TheCatholicSpirit.com

Pope says Christians should look to new year with hope and pray for peace Catholic News Service Christians should look toward the New Year with hope and a commitment to working for justice and peace, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“God is love. He is just and peaceable, and anyone wishing to honor him must first of all act like a child following his father’s example,” the pope said Jan. 1 during a Mass marking the feast of Mary, Mother of God and World Peace Day. The pope ended 2011 by celebrating an evening prayer service Dec. 31 in the basilica and offering God thanks for the past year. The next morning, he celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s and recited the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

He told the crowd in the square that thanks to Mary’s openness to God’s will, “the true light that illuminates every human being appeared and the path to peace was reopened.”

“I invite all of you to join me in praying earnestly for peace throughout the world, for reconciliation and forgiveness in areas of conflict, and for a more just and equitable distribution of the world’s resources,” he said.

Teaching virtues Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

From left, Shegitu Kebede and Frewoina Haile work in the kitchen of their Flamingo Restaurant in St. Paul. The two women came to the U.S. from Africa and serve East African fare at their restaurant. Kebede has written a book about her escape from the violence in her native Ethiopia called “Visible Strengths, Hidden Scars.”

READ MORE INSIDE:

Immigration Sunday, Jan. 8, offers a chance to understand what the Catholic Church teaches.

Read the compelling stories of four people who emigrated from Africa, Peru and Laos, and how they have established successful careers in the United States and are reaching out to others.

— Pages 12-13

Benilde-St. Margaret’s school community prays for injured hockey player, family The Catholic Spirit

Jack Jablonski, a sophomore at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, was seriously injured in a junior varsity hockey game Dec. 30 and is partially paralyzed.

According to a report posted on a CaringBridge site by his family, he JABLONSKI severely bruised his spinal cord and is waiting for the swelling to go down before doctors can move forward with his care. He will have surgery to fuse two

vertebrae in his neck sometime this week, once the swelling subsides, according to the CaringBridge site. He is in intensive care at Hennepin County Medical Center.

According to news reports, Jablonski was checked from behind by a player from Wayzata High School during a tournament game in St. Louis Park.

On Jan. 3, the school offered prayers for Jablonski and his family. A statement from the school was not available before this edition of The Catholic Spirit went to press.

For more information about Jablonski, visit WWW.CARINGBRIDGE.ORG/VISIT/JACKJABLONSKI.

Earlier, during his homily at Mass, the pope said Jesus’ birth changed human history, filling it with hope and promise.

“He is the mercy and the peace that the world, of itself, cannot give, and which it needs at least as much as bread,” the pope said.

For World Peace Day 2012, the pope focused on the theme of educating young people in justice and peace.

“In the face of the shadows that obscure the horizons of today’s world, to assume responsibility for educating young people in knowledge of the truth, in fundamental values and virtues, is to look to the future with hope,” the pope said.

While young people naturally are open, the pope said they often are targets of manipulation by those who are intolerant and violent, so “a solid education of their consciences” is important.

Education begins in the family, which must help children “develop a personality that combines a profound sense of justice with respect for their neighbor, with a capacity to address conflicts without arrogance, with the inner strength to bear witness to good, even when it involves sacrifice, with forgiveness and reconciliation,” Pope Benedict said.

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JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

I urge you to stand up for life!

That They May All Be One Archbishop John C. Nienstedt

Abortion is a violent assault against the entire social order

Just before Christmas, I was privileged to preside at the baptism of the newborn son of some friends of mine. Now, in my heyday as a pastor of a large parish in Royal Oak, Mich., I had the opportunity to do many baptisms. In fact, six baptisms were scheduled every Sunday of the year, including the Lenten season. Since becoming a bishop, my opportunities to preside at such a service is considerably less frequent so, when the occasion arises, it is special indeed.

What struck me as I prepared for that recent Rite of Baptism was the awesome destiny that this child was being given. It is summed up so powerfully in the words, “May the Lord soon touch your ears to hear his Word and your mouth to proclaim his praise to the glory of God, the Father.� Indeed, that young child had become a disciple, a son of God whose ultimate destiny will be life with God in heaven.

But there would have been no such destiny if his parents had chosen not to give the gift of life, or worse, snatched that destiny away in the vile act of abortion.

Many victims Sunday, Jan. 22, marks the 38th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which legalized abortion on demand throughout our country. What our forebearers had

Archbishop’s schedule ■Saturday - Friday, Jan. 7-13: Region VIII bishops’ retreat in Tucson, Ariz. ■Sunday, Jan. 15: 8:30 a.m., Rosemount, Church of St. Agatha: Sunday Liturgy. ■Tuesday, Jan. 17: 8:30 a.m., St. Paul, Archbishop’s Residence: Scheduling meeting with staff.

1:30 p.m., St. Paul, Chancery: Archbishop’s Council meeting.

6 p.m., St. Paul, Church of St. Mark: Dinner with priests and seminarians. â– Wednesday, Jan. 18: 10 a.m., St. Paul, St. Catherine University: Participation on Opus Prize jury. â– Thursday, Jan. 19: 9:30 a.m., Minneapolis, Minneapolis Club: Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Advisory Council meeting.

enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as the first of the inalienable rights given to every citizen of the land, had now been trod asunder as a modern day “slaughter of the innocent� became the law of our nation.

Indeed, this is institutional injustice in its most appalling form. For abortion victimizes the mother, destroys the child, tramples on the rights of the father, assaults the family and denies grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and cousins the experience of a new family member. In all, it is a violent assault against the entire social order.

Last year, I made my first pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., to participate in the March for Life. The marchers numbered a million strong.

The Catholic Spirit The Catholic Spirit’s mission is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It seeks to inform, educate, evangelize and foster a spirit of community within the Catholic Church by disseminating news in a professional manner and serving as a forum for discussion of contemporary issues.

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That is more than the make-up of any one demonstration of Egyptians before their government’s collapse.

Do you remember how much media coverage was paid to the Arab Spring uprising? Well, our million plus pro-life marchers received no coverage, not a mention, in the press or on the news. Could that have been a mere press oversight? I hardly think so.

Getting the message The good news, however, is that young people everywhere seem to be getting the message that life is precious from the moment of conception until natural death. Advanced technology unmasks the lie that a baby in the womb doesn’t feel or react to stimuli. Youth today get that PLEASE TURN TO EACH ON PAGEE 23

The big questions.

Vol. 16 — No. 28 MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT Publisher BOB ZYSKOWSKI Associate publisher

JOE TOWALSKI Editor

Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. All other materials copyrighted by Catholic Spirit Publishing Company.

Subscriptions: $29.95 per year Senior 1-year: $24.95 To subscribe: (651) 291-4444 Display Advertising: (651) 291-4444 Classified advertising: (651) 290-1631 Published bi-weekly by the Catholic Spirit Publishing Company, a non-profit Minnesota Corporation, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102 (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102. www.TheCatholicSpirit.com e-mail: catholicspirit@archspm.org USPS #093-580

Graduate Studies in Theology Master’s degree and certiďŹ cates for women and men who want to engage in a dynamic exploration of Christian thought.

Appointments 13 priests, 1 deacon receive assignments Four priests were appointed as representatives to the Presbyteral Council as of Jan. 1. The new deans and their deaneries are: Father Thomas Walker, Deanery Five; Father Timothy Dolan, Deanery Ten; Father Stan Mader, Deanery Six; and Father Rolf Tollefson, who will serve as Archbishop John Nienstedt’s appointee.

In addition, Father Douglas Dandurand and Father Thomas Dufner were each given second three-year terms on the Comprehensive Assignment Board, effective Jan. 1.

Also beginning Jan. 1: Father Daniel Griffith was named to the University of St. Thomas School of Law as a faculty member and to the Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Advisory Council.

Deacon James DeShane was named permanent deacon at St. Edward in Bloomington. He was ordained in 2004 and served Most Holy Trinity in St. Louis Park.

Father George Kallumkalkudy was named pastor of St. Canice in Kilkenny and Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery. Most recently, he served as pastor of St. Austin in Minneapolis. He was ordained in 1976 in India and first served the archdiocese in 2001 at All Saints in Lakeville.

He also served at St. John in Little Canada.

Beginning Monday, Jan. 9, two priests will serve as pastors, one priest will serve as a parochial administrator and one priest will begin graduate studies.

Father Eugene Tiffany was named pastor of All Saints in Minneapolis and administrator of St. Boniface, also in Minneapolis. Most recently, he served at Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights. After his ordination in 1972, Father Tiffany served at St. Matthew, Nativity of Our Lord and Immaculate Heart of Mary, all in St. Paul; Sacred Heart, Robbinsdale; St. Peter and Academy of Holy Angels, Richfield; St. Henry, Monticello; Holy Trinity, South St. Paul; St. Olaf, Minneapolis and All Saints, Lakeville.

Father John Mitchell was named pastor of Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights. He was ordained in 1996 and has served at St. John Neumann in Eagan, St. John the Baptist in Jordan and St. Pius X in White Bear Lake.

Father Fernando Ortega will serve PLEASE TURN TO APPOINTMENTS ON PAGE 23

s !DD AN INSPIRATIONAL DIMENSION TO YOUR PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL LIFE s )NCLUSIVE REmECTIVE AND RIGOROUS

Corrections

s -ASTER S DEGREE IN 4HEOLOGY WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SPIRITUALITY s #ERTIlCATES IN #ATECHETICS 0ASTORAL -INISTRY AND 3PIRITUAL $IRECTION 4O LEARN MORE CALL 651-690-6933 OR VISIT stkate.edu/theology.

■In the Dec. 22 issue, the location of St. Augustine Church was misidentified. The church is in South St. Paul. ■Also in the Dec. 22 issue, in a story about St. Austin merging into St. Bridget in Minneapolis, Father Anthony Criscitelli, pastor of St. Bridget, explained that some members of St. Austin, not “many,� live in nursing homes.

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.

Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’”

William A. Ward

Local News from around the archdiocese

The Catholic Spirit

JANUARY 5, 2012

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Friends for Life show support for Sisters of St. Joseph Alumni who are thankful for education they received from sisters are now raising funds to benefit their current ministries

By Julie Pfitzinger For The Catholic Spirit

Back in the days when Bill Miley was a high school student at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, he was still known as a “Luker” — someone who had attended St. Luke’s grade school (now St. Thomas More) in St. Paul.

“I had classmates who were always known as Markers — they were the kids who went to St. Mark’s,” said Miley, who lives in St. Paul.

Miley is one of many local Catholic school alumni who still identify strongly with their elementary school roots and have great fondness for the education they received from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, who once operated not only St. Luke’s and St. Mark’s schools, but Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul, St. Joseph in West St. Paul and others.

Giving support “We were really fortunate to receive an education from the sisters and fortunate that our parents made the sacrifices to make sure we had that opportunity,” said Miley, one of nine children. “The sisters have done so much for our whole community.”

As a result, a group of former Catholic school students — now grown with children of their own — have launched an initiative called Friends for Life. Their immediate goal is to raise $500,000 to help support the ministry network founded by the sisters, who are currently working with the Twin Cities immigrant population in several different areas, including the Learning in Style English language program in Minneapolis and several St. Mary’s Health Clinics, which provide health care to more than 12,000 uninsured patients each year.

Members of the Friends group have been meeting on a regular basis for the past nine months. In addition to some individual donor fundraising efforts, there has also been a “friendly challenge” established by Lukers includ-

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Friends for Life committee members Mike Flood, left, St. Joseph Sister Irene O’Neill, Kevin Berg and Bill Miley gather in Sister Irene’s office for a photo after a recent meeting. Not pictured are two other committee members: Tony Coffey and Mitch Berg (Kevin’s brother).

ing Miley, Michael Flood and Mary Pat McManus Weir, encouraging other Catholic school alumni to raise $50,000 per school or family to help fund and name a classroom or other ministry space.

“We thought the St. Luke’s group would be perfect to take the lead because so many of us get together on a PLEASE TURN TO FRIENDS ON PAGE 15

17TH ANNUAL INVESTMENT CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Church of St. Joseph 1154 Seminole Avenue, West St. Paul No charge to attend; lunch provided.

Pre-registration required.

You are invited to learn about the investment engine working on behalf of the 1000+ charitable funds managed by the Catholic Community Foundation. Current and prospective fund holders will gain an in-depth look at the Foundation’s investment performance, provided in the context of today’s financial market conditions.

Event details and registration are online at www.ccf-mn.org.

One Water Street West | Suite 200 | Saint Paul, MN 55107 651-389-0877 | www.ccf.mn.org

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Local

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

Deacon says hope comes from applying gifts we’ve been given to share

By Pat Norby The Catholic Spirit

Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit

Nichole Alberg plays with her 4-month-old son, Elias, at their home Dec. 31.

Life Fund offers a lifeline Program helps families with pregnancy or infant-related needs

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

Nichole Alberg has a little more time to stay home with her baby son this month before going back to work in February, thanks to an archdiocesan program called the Life Fund, which offers one-time emergency assistance to low-income pregnant women or couples and those with children up to 12 months old living within the archdiocese’s boundaries.

“Day care’s super, super expensive and I really didn’t want to go back to work right away so I applied for a grant through Life Fund to help with my rent,” said Alberg, who received $300 for the January rent on the house where she lives in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. “Half of it’s covered so that eases my mind.”

Decades of help Alberg, a St. Paul native, is one of 52 women or couples who have received grants since July from the Life Fund, an outreach started in 1990 which, through donations, helps women carry their unborn babies to term or care for their infants by providing funds for housing costs and other needs. Alberg found out about the grant through the Highland LifeCare Center in St. Paul, which helped her apply for it.

Funding for the program comes from responses to fundraising letters and donations collected at the Jan. 22 Prayer Service for Life at the Cathedral of St. Paul preceding the March for Life to the State Capitol and rally on the anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision le-

Pro-life Mass, march are Jan. 22 in St. Paul The annual Prayer Service for Life will be a Mass for Life this year at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday, Jan. 22 — the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion in nearly all circumstances.

The Mass, with New Ulm Bishop John LeVoir presiding, begins at noon. All are invited to attend.

The annual March for Life, sponsored by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, will follow at 2 p.m. at the State Capitol.

Don’t miss Teens from area high schools and youth groups to attend D.C. pro-life events. See page 22.

galizing abortion. (This year, since the anniversary falls on a Sunday, there will be Mass at noon instead of an ecumenical prayer service. The rally at the Capitol will take place at 2 p.m.)

Parishes also raise funds for Life Fund through second collections and other Respect Life projects. The program raised $50,000 during the 20102011 fiscal year, said Sonya Flomo, Life Fund grant administrator, adding that the archdiocese pays the costs of administering the program.

Economic uncertainty has meant greater need for assistance, Flomo said. “Unfortunately, the need is increasing with the economic situation as people lose their jobs and with cutbacks in government funding.”

According to Life Fund organizers, nearly every pregnant client who receives help from the program decides

to carry her baby to term. Since the fund was created, it has helped hundreds of abortion-vulnerable women with expenses including rent/mortgage payments, medical and hospital bills, food, prescription drugs, prescription formula and utility bills. .

The Life Fund often works with Cradle of Hope, a nonprofit organization also offering one-time assistance to pregnant women and mothers of infants, Flomo said. Life Fund grant applicants are sometimes screened by organizations such as crisis pregnancy centers and hospitals before their applications are reviewed and approved by Flomo. The grants, which average $300, are sent directly to the applicant’s landlord or other vendor.

Good opportunity Applying for a Life Fund grant was simple, Alberg said, adding that the Highland LifeCare Center has offered both material and mental support since her son was born in August.

“There’s a lot of things going on after you have a baby when your hormones are crashing,” she said. “It’s a hard time, so I had someone there to talk with, which really helped me at that time, too.”

The rent assistance Alberg received will make it easier for her to make ends meet as she returns to her job with the State of Minnesota next month. She said she appreciated the opportunity to apply for the grant.

“I thought it was wonderful,” she said. “I didn’t really know what was out there when I applied for it. It’s just one more thing that makes it easier and helps us.”

For more information about the archdiocesan Life Fund, please contact Sonya Flomo at (651) 291-4515.

Deacon Thom Winninger recently offered a preliminary look at his upcoming presentation at the “Fire of Hope: A Girlfriends Getaway for God” event for women Jan. 20 and 21. (See accompanying box.)

The author of “Get Out of the Boat,” Deacon Winninger said his primary message is that hope comes from applying the gifts that each person is given to share.

“In the discovery of those gifts and the application of those gifts to give to people around us, we gain hope in our journey of life,” he DEACON said. That also has been the theme WINNINGER of his ministry as a deacon at St. Olaf in Minneapolis and of his book, published in 2010.

As one of the male speakers at the women’s gathering, Deacon Winninger said he sees the beauty of the two natures of Mary: as a woman and the mother of Christ.

“I often pray to Mary that ‘I’m not hearing from your son, check in with him today for me will you,’” he said. “The role of women in life — both to themselves and those ‘Fire of Hope’ around them — is so weekend unique.”

The beauty of the upThe two-day conference for coming event is to see women, billed as “a faith from different pergirlfriends getaway for spectives, the deacon God,” is a celebration said.

Getting to know self

of faith, family and friends. It includes inspirational speakers, a marketplace with materials of general interest to women and entertainment.

When: 5-10 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 20; 8 a.m.5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21.

Where: State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.

Tickets: $99 for both days, $59 for Friday, $79 for Saturday.

Visit WWW.FIRE-OFHOPE.COM for more information or to register. Groups of 10 or more, call (650) 5034673, or email FIREOFHOPE. EVENTS@GMAIL.COM.

“To really know yourself is to know what hope is about, because we were created with gifts to share that bring us to the journey of our purpose,” he said. “Christ says, ‘to get to know me is to get to know self.’”

Deacon Winninger said hope is Christian in its very nature.

“Hope can only be fueled in faith. And faith, by its nature, is spiritual because faith is bigger than reality,” he said. “I believe faith is fueled by grace because I’m human and the reality of faith is divine, it’s something I can’t understand.”

It is impossible to have faith in a secular world, he said, because secularism calls for a scientific fact that can be proven. Faith calls for someone to cross the line into grace and a belief that things happen in life that make no sense in the present, but will in the future.

One way to fuel faith and develop hope is a concept he calls the “loop of daily prayer.”

“The loop of prayer says that in my morning prayer, I ask Christ a question, and, at night, I reflect on where that answer came to me during the day,” he explained.

“Reflect on the same Scripture in the morning and in the evening. That’s tuning yourself in to what I call ‘encounters with Christ’ during the day.”

In his own practice of the concept, Deacon Winninger said he has become cognizant of events that happen during his day that have “obviously” been brought to him by Christ.

PLEASE TURN TO DEACON ON PAGE 22

Local

JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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Father Bernard Reiser was visionary, spiritual father to thousands from full-time ministry.

The church complex also has several outdoor shrines, a cemetery, a perpetual adoration chapel, religious gift shop, library, meeting rooms, office space and a preschool and extended day program on its 72 acres.

Today, Father Dennis Zehren, pastor, oversees 5,000 families (20,000 parishioners), 600 students in the K-8 school, 1,000 students in faith formation, and many ministries started by his predecessors, Father Patrick Kennedy and Father Reiser.

The Catholic Spirit About 400 people lined up Dec. 30 at Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids for the beginning of the 11 a.m. reviewal and 24-hour vigil of Father Bernard Reiser, 86, the founding pastor of the parish who served there from 1964 to 2001.

He died Dec. 27, just two days shy Read more of his 87th birthday. about Father The vigil was a precursor to the packed church for the Dec. 31 funeral Reiser on Mass with Archbishop John Nienstpages 10, 16 edt as the main presider and Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, as homilist, which he later said in a telephone interview was “a tremendous honor.”

After Father Snyder was ordained in 1988 for this archdiocese, he spent two years serving with Father Reiser.

“When I first got to Epiphany, his advice to me was, ‘Whatever you do, don’t try to keep up with me.’ It was the most compassionate advice he could have given me, because I never could have — nobody could keep up with Father Reiser,” Father Snyder said.

While at Epiphany, Father Reiser pushed the young associate to play the newly installed pipe organ, so Father Snyder was surprised when the pastor asked him to be the homilist for the funeral, rather than play the organ.

In the homily, Father Snyder said the Father Reiser was “a man of great devotion” to Mary and the saints; a “man of great faith” who believed that his job was to “get people to heaven” whatever their church affiliation; and “a man of vision.”

Father Reiser’s vision for Epiphany parish was to create

Charity in his heart, hands

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

In this file photo from 2001, Father Bernard Reiser poses on the grounds at Epiphany in Coon Rapids, where he served as pastor from 1964 to 2001.

a spiritual campus that served people from birth to death.

During his pastorate, the parish built an elementary school, a convent for 20 sisters, a church that seats 1,900 and is connected to an assisted living facility and senior apartments, where Father Reiser lived after his retirement

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Father Reiser was the author of “Reiser’s Ramblings,” which helps support the charity he founded — Reiser Relief Inc. — to serve the people of Haiti, just one of several outreach missions that Epiphany supports.

Deb Pafko, whose son, Matthew, spent the last days of his 16 years helping to raise money for Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis, said that “everyone loved Father Reiser,” especially the Pafko family.

“He came to our house every week, Thursday at 4:15, for two years, through every weather, through every holiday. He came down to the hospital for Matthew,” who died July 20, 2009, from spine and brain cancer, Pafko said. Just weeks before his death, Father Reiser also had surgery to address a rapidly growing cancer in his brain, which Pafko said was another connection between her son and the former pastor.

Mary Jo Copeland said that Father Reiser always supported Sharing and Caring Hands — the charity she founded in 1985 to serve homeless people — by inviting her to speak at Epiphany, by regularly visiting the PLEASE TURN TO HOMILIST ON PAGE 6

Hearing Tests Set for Senior Citizens Announcement — Free electronic hearing tests will be given all next week Monday thru Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.

The tests have been arranged for anyone who suspects they are not hearing clearly.

People who generally feel they can hear, but cannot understand words clearly are encouraged to come in for the test, which uses the latest electronic equipment.

Everyone, especially those over age 55 should have an electronic hearing test once

a year. Demonstrations of the latest devices to improve clarity of speech will be programmed using a computer to your particular needs — on the spot — after the tests.

See (and HEAR) for yourself if newlydeveloped methods of correction will help you understand words better.

Tests will be performed at one of 20 convenient Greater Twin Cities Avada Hearing Care locations.

Call 1-877-328-9161

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New Year’s Resolutions — Time for a Change Walking Toward Eternity: Making Choices for Today The focus of this study is to prayerfully and actively apply Scripture to our lives with small changes in areas such as forgiveness, faithfulness, and thankfulness.

Through Jeff’s teachings, small group discussion and prayer before the Tabernacle, you will journey toward a closer walk with Christ.

Jeff Cavins will be presenting a new life-changing study “Live” at three locations.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Savage

Transfiguration Catholic Church, Oakdale

Cathedral of Saint Paul St. Paul, MN

10 AM-Noon, Tuesdays Starting January 24, 2012 10 week study Registration and information available on line at: http://www.stjohns-savage.org Contact: Brenda Schroll at bschroll@stjohns-savage.org Call (952) 890-9434, ext. 254

7-9 PM Tuesdays Study begins January 24, 2012 10 week study Registration and information available on line at: www.transfigurationmn.org Questions? 651-501-2233 Email: WTE@transfigurationmn.org

Wednesday Evening 7 to 9 PM Begins February 29, 2012 Runs 5 consecutive weeks Registration and information available on line at: www.cathedralsaintpaul.org Contact Person: Mark Croteau 651.228.1766

Taught live at 3 convenient locations by Jeff Cavins, Catholic bible teacher and author All registration forms can be found at www.jeffcavins.com under “Live Twin Cities Studies” tab.

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Local

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

Catholic regional school alignment changes The Catholic Spirit Following a recent appeal by one of the schools involved in plans for a new regional school in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, changes to Strategic Planning the plan have been made.

St. Michael School in West St. Paul, St. John Vianney School in South St. Paul and St. Matthew School on UPDATE the west side of St. Paul will form one preschool-through-eighth-grade school based at St. Michael’s, beginning next fall.

Holy Trinity Catholic School in South St. Paul, which was originally part of the reconfigured campus plan and which made the appeal, will remain a parish school.

Another school in the area, St. Joseph in West St. Paul, also will remain a parish school, as outlined in the original plan announced last October.

Addressing concerns In a mid-December letter to parents and guardians, Father John Echert, pastor of the parish overseeing Holy Trinity, said he appealed the decision to participate in the regional school following concerns raised by parents and parishioners and in consultation with school leadership.

“The Shared Resource Process was intended to allow each parish school to discern what was best for its community,” Father Echert wrote. “It became apparent through this process and in the wake of the initial decision that ‘best fit’ for us is parish-based.”

The future of the St. John Vianney school building, which will no longer serve as a second campus for the regional school as was called for in the initial plan last October, and the St. Matthew school building will be determined by their respective parishes.

The total enrollment of the three schools (St. Michael, St. John Vianney and St. Matthew) that will be part of the new regional school campus is 361.

Holy Trinity has 133 students; St. Joseph has 572.

The changes will strengthen Catholic schools in this region of the archdiocese by making better use of financial, human and other resources, Marty Frauenheim, archdiocesan superintendent of Catholic schools, said when the reconfiguration was announced last fall.

The plan also is consistent with the archdiocese’s Strategic Plan, which calls for more collaboration and efficient use of resources among parishes and schools, she said.

In March 2011, a local task force made up of pastors, principals, parents and other stakeholders from the schools began the shared resources discussion process that led to the original regional school recommendation.

Many factors led to the decision to reconfigure the schools, including financial sustainability challenges, Frauenheim said.

The pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, Father Kevin Kenney, was also involved in the shared resources discussions and will serve on the board of the regional school. He will assist the Latino community with the needs and interests of their students.

Looking ahead The boards of directors of the three schools and four sponsoring parishes that now will form the regional school have been meeting since the beginning of November and continue to plan for the future, said Mary Kane, assistant superintendent of schools.

In addition, steering committees for the regional school continue to meet around five topics: academic excellence, climate for learning, extracurricular activities, advancement, facilities and administration.

“My hope for the New Year is that all the excitement and energy I am hearing expressed by pastors, principals and the board of directors will energize all of us as we become part of the birth of a new Catholic school whose mission is to serve all the children and families in this region,” Frauenheim said.

For more information about Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, visit WWW.ARCHSPMSCHOOLS.ORG.

Homilist envisions throngs in heaven greeting Fr. Reiser CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Minneapolis site, himself, and by serving on the board.

“He did a great deal, not just for Sharing and Caring Hands, but for the church. He was a blessed man and a fine man and a wonderful servant and a presence of Jesus Christ to everybody,” Copeland said. He attended almost every board meeting and was active until just before he died, she added.

Father Snyder said that Father Reiser chose the challenging parable of the Last Judgment for his funeral Gospel reading.

“It starkly reminds us that in the end we will be asked to give an accounting of how we have responded to the poor, the needy and the marginalized,” he said.

“The image that I have in hearing this Gospel, today, is that of Father Reiser passing through the gates of heaven to find throngs of welcoming faces to greet him, all of them witnesses that he took this mandate of charity to heart and helped them in their struggle and need.”

Father Reiser was born Dec. 29, 1924.

He was ordained a priest June 4, 1949, and served at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake, before being named pastor of the new Coon Rapids parish. After his official retirement in 2001, Father Reiser served St. Nicholas in New Market, where he inspired parishioners to donate a truck and water tanks to Haiti.

After the funeral Mass, interment was at Epiphany Cemetery.

Depart April 30 with Fr. Thomas Speier, OFM “The solid education in theology and my own faith tradition will increase my ability to build bridges among diverse groups of people … I hope to find a career working to unite people of different cultures, religions and world views.”

European Pilgrimage Price Reduced

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Also departs September 3, 2012

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New course offering for spring semester Male and Female He Created Them: Complementarity and the Church Taught by Dr. Deborah Savage Monday evenings, 6:15-9:15 p.m. beginning Feb. 6

For more information, visit www.saintpaulseminary.org or contact us at gradtheology@stthomas.edu or (651) 962-5967.

ROME – VATICAN – PORTUGAL – FATIMA - SPAIN - FRANCE – LOURDES – PARIS Tour the Vatican including an audience (subject to his schedule) with Pope Benedict XVI! Tour Rome’s religious highlights including St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. See ancient Rome, the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore and more! Fly to Lisbon, Portugal; visit Lady of Fatima Church, celebrate private Masses at the Basilica of Fatima and Apariciones Chapel of Fatima; and tour the Batalha monastery. Travel to Salamanca, Spain; visit the Old Cathedral and New Cathedral; overnight in Valladolid, Spain. Visit Lourdes, France; celebrate Mass at the Grotto of Lourdes.

Take the high-speed train to Paris for two nights. Wednesday’s Paris highlight includes The Shrine of the Miraculous Medal with Mass at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Thursday’s highlights include a full-day tour of Paris visiting the Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Basilica of the Sacred Heart and more!

Includes 8 masses; 10 Breakfasts & 10 Dinners. Fr. Speier, OFM is founder of The Franciscan Spiritual Direction Program. He has traveled extensively in Europe, and currently works at St. Monica - St. George Parish Newman Center. *Price per person, double occupancy. Plus $299 tax, service & gov’t fees. Add only $700 for private room with no roommate. Airfare is extra.

For details, itinerary, reservations & letter from YMT’s chaplain with his phone number call 7 days a week:

1-800-736-7300 Check out MNCatholicSeniors.com

Local

JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

7

Cathedral to reap rewards from big event

Engaged couples wanted at Jan. 14 retreat in Albertville

The Catholic Spirit

The Catholic Spirit

Although the Cathedral of St. Paul will be challenged by detours, noisy crowds and limited parking during the Red Bull Crashed Ice event, Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 12, 13 and 14, the parish will reap some rewards from the international competition.

St. Michael parish in St. Michael is inviting engaged couples from other parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to attend a “God’s Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage” Want to go? retreat on Saturday, Jan. 14, at the St. When: 8 a.m.

Albert Parish Center, 11400 57th St. to 4:30 p.m.

N.E., Albertville.

Saturday,

First: The Cathedral provides the backdrop for the event, which will be seen in photographs and in video on both television and the Internet, offering an opportunity for some subtle evangelization.

Second: “The Cathedral will still be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the run of the event,” said Tim Schindler, the Cathedral’s director of operations. He also noted that there will be volunteers at a welcome table in the narthex with free self-guided tour brochures for visitors as well as information about parish evangelization initiatives and general information about the Catholic faith.

Third: Schindler said the parish will be operating a vendor booth in the parking lot during the event, where it will sell Cathedral merchandise, including fleece jackets, lace-up hockey hoodies, stocking caps, tote bags, post cards, Cathedral books such as “Stone and Glass” and “The Cathedral of St. Paul: An Architectural Biography,” the Cathedral of St. Paul Virtual Tour DVD, and cowbell noisemakers. Some items will also be sold in Red Bull tents.

Liturgies move during event In addition, Cathedral parishioners will spend time at the St. Vincent de Paul campus, where the Hmong community worships and which, on Jan. 1, merged into the Cathedral parish. All Cathedral liturgies, devotions and parish activities on Jan. 12, 13 and 14 — including the 7 p.m. Saturday Mass — will take place at the St. Vincent campus, 651 Virginia St. in St. Paul.

From the Cathedral, go two blocks west on Selby Avenue to Western Avenue and go one mile north to Blair Street and turn right.

Shuttle services — from and returning to other parking areas in St. Paul — will be available for weekend Masses from now through Sunday, Jan. 15, except during the event dates noted above.

Buses will stop at Twelfth and John Ireland Boulevard; Martin Luther King and Cedar Avenue; Sherburne and Park Street; and John Ireland Boulevard in front of the Department of Transportation building, and drop off passengers on Selby Avenue at the Cathedral entrances and return them after the Masses. The shuttle service for: ■ 7 p.m. Saturday Mass begins at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 9 p.m.; ■ 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon Sunday Masses begins at 7:30 a.m. and continues to 2 p.m.; ■ 5 p.m. Sunday Mass begins at 4:30 p.m. and continues to 7 p.m.

For more details about road closures and shuttle services, visit WWW.CATHEDRALSAINT PAUL.ORG/RED-BULL.

Jan. 14 The retreat, based on Christopher Where: St. West’s Theology of the Body retreats, Albert’s Parish provides a rich understanding of the Center, teachings of the church and offers Albertville tools to live married life as God inCost: $20 per tended, according to the flyer properson or $30 moting the event. per couple St. Michael, which is in its fifth Register: year of offering the retreats to enJOYFILLED gaged couples in the parish, would MARRIAGE like to have other parishes learn RETREAT.EVENT about and host a similar retreat, said BRITE.COM St. Michael parishioner Michelle Information: Steele.

Contact Jeremy Rohr Steele said retreat presenters talk to at couples about chastity before the (763) 458wedding, natural family planning, 1942 or the difference between lust and love, ROHR_JEREMY@ and the importance of praying as a YAHOO.COM couple and growing in their faith together. At the end of the retreat, she added, many of the couples have a new perspective of marriage.

For more information about the retreat at St. Michael, contact Jeremy Rohr at (763) 458-1942 or ROHR_JEREMY@ YAHOO.COM. For more information about the retreats, visit WWW.CHRISTOPHERWEST.COM or WWW.JOYFILLEDMARRIAGE.COM. Register at HTTP://JOYFILLEDMARRIAGERETREAT.EVENTBRITE. COM.

Put your money where it can enrich you and your favorite Catholic school The Catholic Spirit Get ready to buy a raffle ticket and support a Catholic school near you.

Fourteen Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are participating in this year’s Annual Catholic Schools Raffle sponsored by Catholic United Financial.

In 2011, nine schools in the archdiocese raised $66,495.

Last year, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings raised $22,855, Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers brought in $11,510 and St. Raphael in Crystal raised $6,390.

Among the schools joining the 2012 raffle, St. John the Baptist in Vermillion set a goal of $5,000 and Divine

Mercy Catholic School in Faribault has a goal of $60,000, according to Catholic United Financial.

Now in its third year with 62 schools in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota participating, Catholic United Financial’s goal is to bring in more than $500,000 for Catholic education.

The raffle program raises funds for participating schools at no cost to the school, while encouraging small donations from the whole community.

The Catholic Schools Raffle is paid for entirely by Catholic United Financial, which purchases prizes, promotes the event and provides all the materials and logistical support for the schools. Schools sell the tickets at $5 each and keep all the money. The tickets are collected by

the other

Holy Land

Prizes include$25,000 cash or a Ford Escape SUV, Caribbean Carnival Cruise packages, Apple iPads, Playstation3 Move bundles, Kindle Fire Tablets and Apple gift cards.

Ticket sales begin Jan. 13 and continue for six weeks.

Call your school or visit WWW.CATHOLICUNITEDFINANCIAL.ORG to see if it is participating this year.

The list of participating schools is now closed. Schools interested in using this program for their fundraising efforts in 2013 can visit Catholic United Financial’s website to learn more: WWW.CATHOLICUNITEDFINANCIAL.ORG

With Father Dennis Dempsey

by it red pir nso ic S Spo Cathol The

IRE L AND:

Catholic United at its expense and brought to the home office for the official drawing on March 1, 2012.

September 21 — October 2, 2012 For further information, please contact:

Martie McMahon The Catholic Spirit Phone: 651-291-4441 mcmahonm@archspm.org also go to: TheCatholicSpirit.com/ExploreIreland

“I want to be present wherever the people are found.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Nation/World 8

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

News from around the U.S. and the globe

For the pope, 2011 was year of evangelization, travel and technology

By John Thavis

January 5, 2012

Pope’s 2012 to include international trips, synod, proclaiming new saints

Catholic News Service

By John Thavis

An interfaith meeting in Assisi, a new book on Jesus of Nazareth and a website-launching tap on an iPad were among the highlights of 2011 for Pope Benedict XVI. Although the year saw a further cutback in individual papal audiences, the 84-year-old pope still enjoyed a productive and busy 12 months, meeting privately with nearly 400 church or civil leaders, addressing more than 180 groups and presiding over about 40 public liturgies.

He traveled to Croatia, Spain, Germany and Benin, delivering 60 speeches on the road. In weekly talks at the Vatican, attended by nearly half a million people, he gave a series of reflections on the great teachers of the church and on prayer — a continuation of the “back to basics” approach that has marked his pontificate.

The reduction of papal meetings and introduction of a rolling platform for his entrance into St. Peter’s Basilica fueled speculation about the pope’s health. Close observers say that, like most octogenarians, the pontiff tires more easily today but suffers no serious health problems.

Catholic News Service

Top 10 moments The year 2011 saw two of Pope Benedict’s favorite themes come into clearer focus: new evangelization and religious liberty. Increasingly, he has linked the two topics, telling bishops that both tasks require courageous truthtelling in sometimes hostile environments.

No doubt the pope has his own favorite remembrances of the closing year. From a journalist’s point of view, here’s a “top 10” list of moments from 2011 that seemed to capture what Pope Benedict is all about:

1

In October, the pope hosted an interreligious meeting in Assisi, Italy, but added his own unique twist: He invited four prominent nonbelievers, and gave one of them the speaker’s platform at the event. It underlined his conviction that new evangelization must reach beyond the church’s traditional borders.

2

In August, when a rainstorm threatened to cut short a World Youth Day vigil in Madrid, the pope could have bailed but chose to remain. After the rain stopped, a drenched crowd of 1.4 million fell to their knees in adoration of the Eucharist — a sight that must have impressed him deeply.

3 4

In May, he beatified Pope John Paul II at a Mass attended by 1 million people — the biggest crowd at the Vatican since the late pope’s funeral in 2005.

Publishing his second volume of “Jesus of Nazareth” in March, the pope gave readers his version of “The Passion of the Christ.” The book presents Jesus not as a political revolutionary or mere moralist, but as the son of God who inaugurated a new path of salvation based on the power of love.

5

In October, meeting with experts on new evangelization, the pope announced that he was convening a special “Year of Faith” in 2012-13 to help the church renew its missionary energy. The initiative underscored the pope’s belief that Catholics need to better know their own faith in order to share it.

6

In the first of a series of talks to U.S. bishops on their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican, the pope said in late November that responding to the challenges of a secularized culture will first require the “re-evangelization” of the church’s own members. He also encouraged the bishops to speak out “humbly yet insistently in defense of moral truth” on issues like marriage — an issue

that will surface during the upcoming election year.

7

The pope’s September trip to his native Germany was highlighted by his speech to the Bundestag, the national parliament, in which he strongly defended Christianity as a protector and promoter of social justice. But even more remarkable were his blunt remarks to German lay Catholics. He told them the church in Germany was “superbly organized” but lacking in spirit; new evangelization, he said, will rely less on big church structures, and more on efforts by small Catholic communities and individuals to share their faith experiences.

8

In a speech in May, Pope Benedict strongly critiqued the global imbalances between rich and poor, and zeroed in on the international financial system, which he said had “returned to the frenzied practice of drawing up credit contracts that often allow unlimited speculation.” Throughout the year, he challenged the consumerist underpinnings of modern economies, and the devastating consequences for the environment.

9

In Croatia in June, the pope led a vigil for 50,000 young people in a main Zagreb square that was remarkable for one thing: the near-absolute silence in a long moment of prayer. Pope Benedict has insisted that silence is important for spiritual reflection, and he has even made silence the theme of his message for World Communication Day 2012.

10

The iPad tap that launched the Vatican’s new online news portal in June was clearly a staged moment for a pope who still writes documents in longhand. But even if he remains wary of replacing direct human contact with virtual relationships, Pope Benedict is fully committed to using online resources — including social networks — to spread the Gospel. As he told an aide who proposed a papal YouTube appearance: “I want to be present wherever the people are found.”

A trip to Latin America, a Synod of Bishops on new evangelization, the start of the Year of Faith, creation of new cardinals and proclamations of new saints are all on Pope Benedict XVI’s calendar for 2012.

Of particular interest to the United States, the pope will also continue his meetings with groups of U.S. bishops making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican during the first half of the year. His talks to the bishops are expected to focus on themes of education, religious freedom and the relationship between culture and religion.

The 2012 highlights are only a small part of the pope’s day-to-day schedule, which includes hundreds of meetings, speeches, messages and liturgies. The German pope, who turns 85 in April, also pursues a “private” agenda of writing whenever he gets the chance, as he works to complete the latest in his “Jesus of Nazareth” series of books — this one on Jesus’ infancy and childhood.

Pope Benedict is virtually certain to call a consistory to create new cardinals in 2012. He may do so as early as February, when there will be at least 13 “vacancies” in the roster of voting-age cardinals (those under the age of 80); or he may wait until fall, when 10 more cardinals will have turned 80.

When he does name new cardinals, the list could include one or more Americans. U.S. prelates in line for the red hat — now or later — include Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem; and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.

Spotlight on Latin America Pope Benedict plans to travel to Mexico and Cuba in March on a trip that will turn a spotlight once again on Latin America, home to nearly half the world’s Catholics. It will also move the pope onto the radar of U.S. media, which have cut back on their coverage of the pope and the Vatican in recent years.

The pope may also travel to Lebanon, probably in the spring. Such a visit would give the pope a highvisibility platform to weigh in on religious freedom issues during a period of volatile political change in the region.

The fall of 2012 will bring several important events, including the world Synod of Bishops Oct. 7-28. New evangelization has become the theme of almost everything Pope Benedict does these days, and the gathering of bishops will help translate the term into practical pastoral initiatives. The essential idea is to find ways to energize Catholics, reminding them of their duty to witness the faith publicly and proclaim it to others.

The Year of Faith was designed by the pope to help Catholics rediscover the basic content of their faith, and the Vatican’s preparation materials — due out very soon — will have a strong doctrinal element. The special year will begin Oct. 11, 2012, which is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and some Vatican sources say the pope may publish a document that connects the two events.

Sometime during 2012, the pope is expected to proclaim new saints, including two with special significance to U.S. Catholics: Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

“Catholic schools ensure a broad values-added education emphasizing the lifelong development of moral, intellectual, physical and social values in America’s young people.”

From a resolution passed in 2007 by the U.S. House of Representatives

This Catholic Life JANUARY 5, 2012

Opinion, feedback and points to ponder

The Catholic Spirit

9

Seeking support for more choice in education Some states have made progress with tax-credit programs or school vouchers, but more needs to be done

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

When educational leaders look at ways to make Catholic schools more affordable, they are happy about some of the positive steps that have been made but fully aware that there is still a lot to do.

During a recent conference at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., a group of panelists focused particularly on the status of tuition tax credits and how they have enabled students who would normally not be able to afford Catholic schools to attend them.

Currently, there are 11 school voucher programs in the United States and nine scholarship tax-credit programs. Some states have more than one program.

The school voucher programs in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Utah and the District of Columbia offer private school vouchers to low-income students, students with special needs or children in failing schools.

The scholarship tax-credit programs in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island also are primarily for students from low-income families or those with special needs.

Tuition vouchers are funds awarded by a government agency to a low-income family to spend at any school of their choice. Tuition tax credits generate scholarships for Catholic schools by allowing individuals and businesses to subtract a portion of their income taxes to donate to education. These donations can go to public or private schools. Donations to public schools typically help pay for after-school programs, school trips or supplies.

Successes not easy Last April, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice of allowing Arizona residents to take a tax credit for their donations to school tuition organizations. During the 2008 fiscal year more than $54 million in scholarship money was awarded to students through the tax credit program.

“We have made a good deal of progress in the past 15 years,” said John Schilling, chief operating officer of the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group. In fact, he noted that “it’s as good as it’s ever been” as far as choice initiatives.

But panel members were not about to rest on these laurels and almost all of them at the conference pointed out that the successes were not easy and certainly did not guarantee similar actions in other states.

To keep these programs going and see similar legislation passed, they said, Catholic leaders need to garner a lot more support for tuition tax credits from leaders of both parties, the general public and even the wider Catholic community.

In a question-and-answer session, Michael Guerra, former National Catholic Educational Association president, asked: “Why do we want tax credits? Is it just to keep Catholic schools alive?”

In response to his own question, he said that approach “won’t fly” and the real reason to make Catholic schools an option for more students is “because they’re good for families and kids.”

Similarly, Frank Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, or FADICA, said: “We have to do a better job of making our case that we contribute to the common good through our schools.”

Butler asked what’s holding Catholics back from “a

CNS photo / Michael McArdle, Northwest Indiana Catholic

Luci Mazak tells her kindergarten students how the day begins in class during the first day at Notre Dame Elementary School in Michigan City, Ind., last August. Indiana is currently one of the states that features a scholarship tax-credit program.

“We have to do a better job of making our case that we contribute to the common good through our schools.

”

FRANK BUTLER President of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities

more robust and unified effort to enlist the public’s support for more choice in education” and speculated that Catholics tend to think locally and look to their parish and diocese for initiative on schools. He also said there has not been a lot of national leadership on this topic and “in many ways we have ceded the issue of tax credits to libertarian and conservative think tanks.”

He also said there has been a “hospice mentality” when it comes to Catholic schools as a result of recent closings and wondered if people lacked “confidence in the longterm survival of schools” coupled with a “passive disposition among Catholic laity when it comes to taking responsibility for the church’s mission.”

Gift for the community The Nov. 30 conference, organized by Catholic University’s Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies

and co-sponsored by the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders in San Antonio, urged educational and state Catholic conference leaders to essentially get back to basics: recognizing the good that Catholic schools do and promoting that.

In luncheon remarks, Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl said he was not just preaching to the choir but to the choir directors by pointing out the positive aspects of Catholic schools, which he said not only provide students with academic excellence but a moral foundation and hope for the future.

They are a “gift for the whole community,” he added.

Mimi Schuttloffel, who chairs the education department at Catholic University, also spoke of the benefits of Catholic education and said Catholic schools still have an important role in today’s society in their tradition of providing quality education to marginal groups and training future church leaders.

She lamented that this country, unlike many others, does not support religious schools and said Catholics as a whole do not support Catholic education if their children do not attend a Catholic school or their parish doesn’t sponsor a school.

“We have not been able to adequately sell Catholic education,” she said, emphasizing that this needs to be done more aggressively.

To keep Catholic schools alive and a viable option for the poor, she said, “We need leaders who get it, . . . who understand our story matters.”

This Catholic Life / Commentary

JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

10

Priest, retired teacher were role models for living out faith lessed Mother Teresa once said: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”

They are words that come to mind following the recent deaths of two people — one a priest, the other a layperson — whose lives exemplified the Gospel spirit at the heart of Mother Teresa’s quote.

Father Bernard Reiser, who passed away Dec. 27, garnered a good deal of praise and media attention during his 86 years. He was well known as the founding pastor of Epiphany parish in Coon Rapids and for starting Reiser Relief, Inc., a charity dedicated to helping the poor in Haiti.

Last year, KARE-11 honored him with an Eleven Who Care award.

But it’s the “small things with great love” that he accomplished that have been coming to light in the days since his death. The comment section that follows his obituary on THE CATHOLICSPIRIT.COM is filled with tributes to the priest who touched so many lives in quiet, but significant, ways.

One person wrote how Father Reiser used money gifted to him for a new car to distribute instead to families in need just before Christmas.

B

Editorial Joe Towalski

They preached the Gospel through their actions

Another told of how Father Reiser helped her “re-find” her faith one night when she talked to him for hours after showing up unexpectedly at the rectory door. A woman wrote about the comfort the priest provided when he made a special trip to a St. Paul hospital and prayed with her following the death of her child after she underwent an emergency delivery.

We want to hear from you What person, living or deceased, has made a big impact on your faith life by doing “small things with great love”?

Tell us in 200 words or less. The Catholic Spirit will publish a selection of responses in print and online at THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM. Send your answers either by email or postal mail: ■ By email to: CATHOLICSPIRIT@ ARCHSPM.ORG; Write “Faith Witness” in the subject line.

■ By postal mail to: “Faith Witness,” c/o The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.

Touching hearts, minds Like Father Reiser, Fidelis Lindner also did small things with great love.

Lindner, a retired schoolteacher who died Dec. 28, was perhaps best known outside of her parish of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings for her work helping to cultivate the solidarity partnership between the archdiocese and the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya.

Lindner traveled to Kitui several times, including last summer with the most recent archdiocesan delegation. Over the years since the partnership took root in 2004, she was instrumental in helping to launch and raise funds for various projects, such as building water dams to aid this drought-stricken part of Kenya.

She used her talents as a former schoolteacher to engage the hearts and minds of Minnesota schoolchildren in support of the partnership.

Although Lindner wasn’t the focus of much media attention for her work, she touched many lives as part of the partnership — both in Minnesota and in Africa. She was a mentor on how to treat others. Her dedi-

cation and lifelong commitment to social justice will be missed.

Worthy resolution to make Many of us know (or have known) others who have touched our lives by being quiet, consistent and determined witnesses of faith. They have never cared about receiving adulation or thanks; their only concern is responding to the Gospel mandate to serve God and our fellow human beings who are most in need — whether near or far away, whether personally convenient or not, and always with kindness.

There is no better time than the start of the New Year to reflect on the lives and actions of these people and resolve to model our own lives after their example.

The “new evangelization” — a reenergizing of Catholics to be stronger witnesses to the faith — will be a top priority of Pope Benedict XVI and the entire church during 2012. What better way to honor this than to follow the example of people like Father Reiser, Fidelis Lindner and all those who preach the Gospel by their actions and by doing small things with great love.

Defending marriage: Is the Church being too “political”?

The following column — the fourth in a series about the marriage amendment — is provided by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which advocates on behalf of the state’s bishops for public policies and programs that support the life and dignity of every human person. ome people, Catholics included, are complaining that the Church’s very public defense of marriage through the promotion of the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment is too “political.”

It certainly is political, but the complainants are mistaken about what that means and the Church’s legitimate sphere of activity.

This objection typically comes from three types of people: 1) well-meaning folks who genuinely think speaking out on controversial topics will get the Church in trouble, most likely with the IRS; 2) people who wish to intimidate Jason Adkins Catholics into silence; and 3) people who disagree with the Church’s defense of marriage and wish we were politically engaged on other issues, namely, the ones they care about.

In all three cases, the argument for silence is based on pseudo-knowledge about what “everyone” supposedly “knows,” which is that the Church should not be participating in the political arena because churches have no right to impose their religious views on others or be politically active. Churches will surely get in trouble, the naysayers claim, if they wade into the political thicket, so better to keep quiet.

The argument preys on people’s ignorance and fear.

But it is harder to be intimidated when one is well-informed. So, let’s unpack what the Church is actually doing to defend marriage in the political arena.

S

Faith in the Public Arena

Educational efforts The bishops of Minnesota are working to educate Catholics about the meaning of marriage, its importance as a cornerstone social institution that promotes human dignity and the common good, and the consequences for society if marriage is redefined.

In doing so, they are helping the faithful exercise their responsibilities as citizens, as well as put their faith into action by equipping Catholics to educate and advocate for just policies in their community.

And protecting marriage is decidedly a matter of justice — especially to children and society.

“Protecting marriage is

decidedly a matter of justice — especially to children and society

”

JASON ADKINS

This “political” activity is the same thing that the Church has been doing on any number of issues for years.

Along those lines, the same crowd of naysayers expresses shock and outrage that the bishops have asked parishes to form committees to work on the marriage issue. Again, the complaint is that this is so “political.”

But the development of these committees should surprise no one. Parishes have had respect life committees and Sowers of Justice/social concerns committees for years. Advocacy within the parishes and dioceses for legislation that protects life at all stages and defends the poor and vulnerable has been a key task of those groups.

Now that marriage is under attack, it is only prudent to ensure that our parishes are actively working to promote and defend marriage, which is not just a personal relationship between two people, but one with a very public component that affects us all.

In living this responsibility, the Church does not desire to “rule” over society or take the reins of power. Rather, the Church’s political activity is instructional.

According to Pope Benedict XVI, “This is where Catholic social doctrine has its place: It has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just” (“Deus Caritas Est,” No. 28).

In other words, the Church cannot impose her views on society. She has no bayonets, nor does she want to coerce others. Rather, she desires to appeal to the consciences of all persons and to witness to those truths written on the human heart by the Creator.

People are free to accept or reject the Church’s instruc-

tion, but she cannot remain silent because, in the words of Pope John XXIII, she has a responsibility given to her

by Our Lord to act as “mother and teacher of the nations so that all who would come to her fold might attain a fuller life on this earth and eternal salvation.”

As the “pillar and ground of truth,” the Church “has the twofold task of bringing forth, educating, and governing spiritual sons and of caring for the life of individuals and nations, the profound dignity of which she has always deeply respected and alertly protected” (“Mater et Magistra,” No. 1).

And as Pope John XXIII reminded Catholics 50 years ago, and as the U.S. bishops exhort us again today in the document “Faithful Citizenship,” this responsibility is not limited to the clergy. All Catholics have the duty to “take an active part in public life, and to work together for the benefit of . . . their own political communities.

“It is vitally necessary for them to endeavor, in the light of Christian faith, and with love as their guide, to ensure that every institution, whether economic, social, cultural or political, be such as not to obstruct but rather to facilitate man’s self betterment, both in the natural and in the supernatural order” (“Pacem in Terris,” No. 146).

Such is the task of Catholics today in defense of marriage.

The Church’s business Now, because we live in an adolescent culture, many will reject a “mother and teacher” who lovingly seeks to guide them and will try to silence the Church with the drum beat of “separation of church and state.”

But as noted in a previous column, Thomas Jefferson’s metaphor was not meant to deny churches the right to free speech and assembly. Instead, it meant that our Constitution forbade the government from interfering in the Church’s business, the core of which is giving public witness to the truth in both word and deed.

The marriage debate has exposed some latent threats to the Church’s identity and public witness, which all Americans who respect religious liberty should care about.

Catholics especially should equip themselves to adequately respond because these threats have implications far beyond the meaning of marriage.

Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

This Catholic Life / Commentary

JANUARY 5. 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

11

Processing on paper: Resolve to write in the new year enjamin Franklin was 27 when he dipped his pen in red ink, drew a seven-column, 13-row chart and resolved to master all the moral virtues.

It was Sunday and the first day of July. The last of the 13 British colonies to be founded, Georgia, was being settled, and each colony was working out its own system of self government.

Young Franklin was ready to look within and devise his own self governance. He broke down his day — eight hours of work, seven hours of sleep, a two-hour lunch break — and dedicated one week to each of the 13 virtues he had identified, beginning with temperance.

“I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined,” he wrote in his autobiography, “but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish.”

It is an impulse that returns each January: to systematically detect and diminish one’s faults, day by day, row by row, like yanking weeds or drilling cavities.

B Twenty Something Christina Capecchi

Writing is not just an intellectual exercise. It can also be a religious one

Calisthenics for the brain This month we adjust to a new year and celebrate the patron saint of writers, St. Francis de Sales (Jan. 24), and whether the prospect of 2012 has you feeling ambitious or

“We write to make sense of our lives and our world, to examine who we have been and who we hope to become. . . .

Every journey requires a journal.”

CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

overwhelmed, I can think of no better response than writing.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough owes part of his career to the fact that Founding Fathers like Franklin wrote prolifically.

“The loss of people writing — writing a composition, a letter or a report — is not just the loss for the record,” he told Time magazine last year. “It’s the loss of the process of working your thoughts out on paper, of having an idea that you would never have had if you weren’t [writing]. . . . People [I research] were writing

letters every day. That was calisthenics for the brain.”

McCullough uses a 60-year-old Royal typewriter to pound out his thoughts on the page. “I’ve written everything I’ve ever had published on it,” he said. “It’s a superb example of American manufacturing.”

But writing is not just an intellectual exercise. It can also be a religious one.

Making sense of the world I recently interviewed Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays With Morrie,” the best-selling memoir in history. The Detroit journalist told me

that writing is an inherently spiritual endeavor. “You need to be infused with a certain spirit in order to be able to create,” he said, “and I believe all our talents come from God.” We write to make sense of our lives and our world, to examine who we have been and who we hope to become.

That’s what Anne Bradstreet did.

Among the British colonists settling in America, she was the first to have a book of poetry published. She chronicled her first impressions, having found “a new world and new manners, at which [her] heart rose.”

She wrote about her pregnancy, her granddaughter’s death and the burning of her home. In a poem honoring Queen Elizabeth, written 13 year after Bradstreet had arrived in Massachusetts, she wrote of “terra incognita” — Latin for “unknown territory,” “unexplored land.”

Stepping into 2012 with our private struggles and secret hopes, our Catholic faith and our piecemeal education, each of us faces terra incognita, and we owe it to ourselves to process it on paper. Every journey requires a journal.

Christina Capecchi is an awardwinning writer from Inver Grove Heights. She can be reached at WWW.READCHRISTINA.COM.

Survey results confirm The Catholic Spirit’s valuable role Typical readers of The Catholic Spirit are: ■ Committed Catholics who regularly practice their faith.

■ Active volunteers.

■ Regular donors to both their parish and to charities.

■ And, according to researchers, they hold their archdiocesan newspaper “in high regard.”

They read The Catholic Spirit consistently, spending on average 35 minutes with each issue. They say their Catholic newspaper helps them Bob Zyskowski understand church teachings and provides information other news sources do not.

Those are among the findings of the most recent survey of those who receive the print version of The Catholic Spirit.

The survey, conducted by Stillwater-based Readex Research, sampled 1,425 randomly selected households from The Catholic Spirit mailing list. The survey generated a 35 percent response rate. The response yielded a margin of error of + or - 4 percent, resulting in a 95 percent confidence level.

More than half of readers say they discuss with others items they’ve read about in the newspaper.

Analysis

Valuable tool for the church It’s heartening to see these kinds of results because they confirm that The Catholic Spirit continues to play a valuable role in the lives of Catholics in our community.

Pastors and parishes that make the newspaper possible can look at these findings and be assured that funds spent on getting The Catholic Spirit into the homes of their parishioners is money well-spent. People are reading The Catholic Spirit, they are being kept connected to their faith with this reminder that comes in their mailbox, and they are being informed about their faith and inspired to better live it.

What’s more, the readership study shows that The Catholic Spirit motivates its readers.

When you see that two out of three readers say they’ve taken at least one action as a result of reading articles or columns in The Catholic Spirit, you can’t help but see the benefit to our parishes and to Catholic ministries.

Findings in the 2011 survey, conducted Oct. 5 through Nov. 18, are very similar to results from surveys Readex

did of The Catholic Spirit mailing lists in both 2006 and 2003.

Telling demographics As they have in the past, more than half of survey respondents said they pick up a copy more than once before they are finished reading it.

More than half say they discuss with others items they’ve read about in The Catholic Spirit.

One-in-four pass on to others an article they’ve read.

However, there is food for thought in the survey results.

The average age of The Catholic Spirit readers who responded to the survey jumped from 62.1 to 64.8. The percentage of respondents under age 44 slipped, while the percentage of those over age 45 grew.

There is a message in that statistic: Catholic Spirit readership is aging — not unlike the membership of many of our parishes. The question is, is the web the answer to reach the younger crowd? Everyone in publishing is after the answer.

Working at web solutions Lord knows we’re trying to find the answer, too.

THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM continues to be updated to better serve the needs of those who want to use a computer, a tablet or a smartphone to access Catholic news and information. Analytics our staff watches closely show that, on average, some 5,000 people (unique visitors) come to THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM every week.

This latest readership survey showed that print readers who ever visited THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM jumped from 5 percent in 2007 to 13 percent in 2011. But tellingly, 83 percent of print readers had not visited The Catholic

Spirit’s website.

To reach the audience that isn’t reading the print version and isn’t likely to go to THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM either, we launched another website back in August.

CATHOLICHOTDISH.COM delivers information and inspiration with a less-formal style and via a growing cadre of blogs on all kinds of interests. It’s been capturing an average of just better than 1,500 unique visitors every week.

But — and this is the important “but.”

Earlier this year the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University did an exhaustive study of the media habits of Catholics.

A major finding was that current readers of print Catholic publications like their printed Catholic news and aren’t likely to use the web to read that content.

An even more significant finding was that, although younger people are going to the web for all kinds of reasons, they aren’t going to Catholic or other religious websites.

Hard row to hoe CARA researcher Mark Gray put it this way: Print media may be changing, but it is not going away, and it still remains the best means of communicating with those who are the most active, the most committed and the most generous of your flock.

In Gray’s words: “Putting something online is not the same as getting something on someone’s coffee table, front porch, or even in their mailbox. The Internet is a much more vast space and is navigated by search and social network. You can’t force people to consume your content. You may not even get it on their screen unless they are interested in it and looking for it.”

At The Catholic Spirit, our approach is to continue to make all the staff produces — print and web — useful, attractive and vital no matter people’s preference for how the content is delivered.

But if the CARA study accurately describes the Catholic media situation where younger people are concerned, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Bob Zyskowski is associate publisher of The Catholic Spirit.

12

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Coming to giving back to th

By Julie Carroll The Catholic Spirit María Keller is a native of Peru who came to the U.S. after marrying her husband, John, who met her while serving as a missionary in her country.

The Catholic Spirit photos by Dave Hrbacek

Serving at-risk teens Many immigrants come to the United States seeking work. Others arrive to this country as refugees. Then there are those like María Keller, who leave everything behind for love.

Keller met her husband, John, when he was serving as a missionary in her native Peru. They married in 1990.

A few months later, Keller moved to her husband’s family farm in Stillwater.

At first, life was hard, she said. “It was like being a child again. I didn’t speak the language, I didn’t drive. I was very isolated.”

Eventually the couple moved to St. Paul’s West Side, where Keller joined a thriving Latino community. Today they are members of St. Joan of Arc parish in Minneapolis and also occasionally attend Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in St. Paul.

After learning English, Keller graduated from Metro State University in St. Paul, then went on to earn a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota.

Today, Keller, 50, is a psychotherapist at a school for at-risk teens and immigrants in St. Paul run by Guadalupe Alternative Programs. She also serves as a community faculty member at Metro State and is the mother of three children.

Giving back Keller, who was raised by a single mother in the fishing port of Chimbote, said she chose to become a social worker because she knows what it’s like to grow up under difficult circumstances.

As a child, Keller lived with her grandmother, mother and five siblings in a two-room cement block house with no plumbing or electricity.

“In Peru, there are no social services at all, so we had a very hard time when we were kids,” she said. “I worked since I was 8 selling things and helping my mom with [her laundry business]. . . . There were days when there was not a lot to eat.”

But she also learned from her mother how to be strong and work hard, she said. “There wasn’t a remote possibility for us to immigrate [to the U.S.], so we did our best in Chimbote. Because we were poor, there was no way to get a visa.”

If she hadn’t met her husband, now executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Keller believes she would be living a very different life in Peru.

“This country gave me opportunities to go to school and to do things that I couldn’t even think about doing in Peru,” she said.

Welcoming immigrants Every day, Keller said, she works with families who are suffering because of the current immigration system.

“When we come to this country, it’s not easy,” she said. “You’re homesick.

And then if we don’t feel welcomed, that’s very hard.

“Most people come to this country to improve their lives or because we got married and we’re coming to live here with our families,” she said. “I think we bring so many good things from our countries — family values, kindness, faith. I know [immigrant] families who work so hard.”

Keller pointed out that the U.S. has a long tradition of welcoming newcomers, and Americans shouldn’t lose sight of that fact regardless of their political beliefs.

“Every human being has the right to be treated with respect, with dignity, and especially if they are coming to this country to work and to improve their lives in a positive way,” she said.

Jan. 8 is Immigration Sunday in Catholic churches across Minnesota.

The state’s bishops began the tradition in 2009 to educate Catholics about the church’s teaching on immigration and to inform them of current immigration-related issues.

The bishops are asking priests and deacons to speak about immigrants’ rights and the urgent need for an immigration policy that keeps families together, includes a temporary worker program, and provides a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants.

“On this day,” it says on the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s website, “we are

Helping refugee women succe She was just 15, but already Shegitu Kebede had lost loved ones, suffered torture and been raped repeatedly.

If she hadn’t found the courage to leave her homeland, she likely would have been one more casualty in the civil war that ripped Ethiopia apart during much of the last half-century.

To escape the violence, Kebede set out with a friend on what she described as an “impossibly dangerous journey.”

“We knew we would die if we stayed in Ethiopia and we were almost sure we would die if we left — dead either way — so we decided we would die trying to escape,” Kebede wrote in a book about her life.

With only the baby growing inside her and the will to survive, Kebede crossed the African landscape in darkness on a path that, unbeknownst to her, would lead her all the way to the United States.

Lost childhood Kebede grew up in an orphanage with her three brothers, two of whom she lost when they were forced to fight in the war.

At 15, she left the orphanage to marry a man she had met only weeks before because it was too dangerous for a young woman to live alone. But even having a husband wasn’t protection enough from the government officials who raped women at every opportunity, she said.

So, despite being two months pregnant, Kebede set out for the Kenyan border. Because the penalty for trying to escape the country was often death, Kebede traveled at night, making her potential prey for hungry animals. During the day she blended in with the locals as best she could.

When she reached the border, she heard the cries of people being beaten to death by police for protecting refugees.

Kebede managed to cross safely into Kenya, but was later arrested at a checkpoint. She spent three weeks in an overcrowded jail cell before a judge, seeing the young mother’s predicament, gave her a letter of recommendation for the refugee camp in Nairobi. Without that letter, she later learned, she would have been returned to Ethiopia.

“Sometimes I look back and see so many things I could not have done by myself,” she wrote in her book, “Visible Strengths, Hidden Scars.” “I am grateful. I know I was carried in God’s hands through those times.”

After three and a half years in the refugee camp, where she nearly died giving birth to her son by Caesarean section, Kebede found a U.S. sponsor in Fargo, N.D. Eventually, she moved to the Twin Cities, where she was reunited with her husband from Ethiopia. Once again Kebede became a victim of violence when, she said, her husband turned abusive.

For years, Kebede endured her husband’s vicious attacks because she feared she wouldn’t be able to provide for their two children on her own. Only the thought of her children finding her dead kept her from committing suicide, she said.

Finally, she found the strength to leave her husband, setting out once again on a path to freedom.

Help and healing In 2006, Kebede received the Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service for a cleaning business she started. Going Home, Inc.’s mission was to give refugee women the training and experience they needed to succeed in this country. She also recruited student volunteers to tutor refugee children.

“My healing process began when I began working with others who went through my experience,” said Kebede, now 44. “Hearing their stories and helping them find solutions was a daily dose of

From left, Shegitu Kebede and African immigrants who are bui Both escaped countries torn by v

medicine for my recovery and m community.”

After her cleaning business suc omy, Kebede opened a restauran her friend Frewoina Haile, an Erit been at war with Kebede’s for clo Haile, 47, came to the U.S. in 1 a Sudanese refugee camp. In the U a bachelor’s degree in business management from National Ame degree in computer programming On a recent afternoon, Kebede Restaurant, tucked behind a Subw University Avenue. A customer en of spongy bread called “injera” as out of the kitchen. Christian m ground.

This month, Kebede is returnin versity students from the Twin Ci there, a project both she and Hail “A lot of East African refugees Kebede said. “There aren’t a lot o those refugees who are coming b there, the work experience is not th in the refugee camp for a year to 1 go there and train them and give skill, they will be better off when

A ‘blessed’ life

Kebede, a member of the evan tional Church in Golden Valley, s has experienced in her life, she fe

JANUARY 5, 2012

o America, heir communities reminded that all human beings — regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, race, creed or status — are ‘coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 3:6). As members of Christ’s body, this means that all people, including the newcomers to our country, are our sisters and brothers.”

Below are the stories of Twin Cities immigrants who spoke with The Catholic Spirit about their paths to the U.S. and what this country means to them.

For homily ideas, educational activities and other immigration-related resources, visit the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s Immigration Sunday website at HTTP://IMMIGRATIONSUNDAYMN.ORG

eed in U.S. promotes healing

her friend, Frewoina Haile, are lding successful lives in the U.S. violence.

motivated me to do more in my

ccumbed to the struggling econnt serving East African fare with trean refugee whose country had se to four decades.

986 after spending three years in U.S., Haile earned her GED, then administration and hospitality erican University. She also has a g. e greeted customers at Flamingo way franchise on St. Paul’s bustling njoyed a spicy stew served on top s Kebede and Haile darted in and music played softly in the back-

ng to Ethiopia with several uniities to start a school for refugees le envisioned together. are coming to the Twin Cities,” of jobs and it’s very difficult for because the language skill is not here. They have been warehoused 10 years. So we thought if we can e them a language skill and work they get here.”

ngelical Speak the Word Internasaid that despite the hardship she eels blessed.

“Every single day I thank God,” she said. “I escaped and I’m here in the most powerful, the most peaceful, the most wonderful country. And I have a house, I have a business, I have a car, I have healthy children, I’m healthy. And after all that I went through, I didn’t lose my mind. How can I not thank God? What reason do I have to complain? I’m blessed. I cannot count the blessings that I have.”

Kebede said she believes her life’s purpose is to help other victims of domestic abuse.

“My son got married this summer; my daughter graduated from high school this year,” Kebede said. “Could you imagine if I had killed myself? I could have been missing out on that. My cleaning project, the first year I had 38 women get a job somewhere else. It was in the newspaper. I would not have been able to see that. My youth program won a national award. I would not have been able to see that. I would not have seen my kids graduate from high school, college, get married. All these things I could have missed.

But because God woke me up and I am still alive, I have seen all these blessings, and that trouble came to pass.”

One of the blessings Kebede is most grateful for is her U.S. citizenship. “Oh man, I will never forget [the naturalization ceremony],” she said as a smile lit up her face. “I have my first ‘I voted’ sticker, and I have a picture right by it of when I became a U.S. citizen.”

As she recited the words every immigrant says during the naturalization ceremony, the thought that kept running through her mind was: “Now I belong here.”

“That’s a huge feeling,” she added.

Home at last Asked what this country means to Kebede, two words immediately come to her mind: “freedom” and “home.”

“You know, most Americans take this country for granted,” Kebede said. “This is the only country on planet Earth that you can be whatever you want to be and dream a dream, and your dream will come true. You can believe whatever you want to believe when it comes to religion or faith, and nobody can make fun of you, nobody can put you in jail for that, nobody shoots you. You have freedom.”

Kebede’s hope is that more Americans will make the effort to get to know immigrants and refugees.

“Right now, America is going through an economic tough time, and when you go through tough times it’s human nature to blame one another,” she said.

“The refugee community went through so many things. We know what it means to lose everything. We have lost our family members. Some Americans right now are losing their family members in the war, so talk to us because we know how that feels.

We’ve been there. We have been in a refugee camp and been poor and we know what poverty looks like. We came with nothing. So maybe you lost your job and you don’t know how to get by. Talk to us.

“There is something we can learn from each other instead of pointing a finger and looking at people as if they are the problem,” she said. “We may have a solution.”

Kebede and Haile are raising funds for their “Women at the Well” school project through their partner organization, the International Institute of Minnesota. For information about volunteering or making a donation, call (651) 917-9332.

Kebede’s book, “Visible Strengths, Hidden Scars,” is available for purchase at Flamingo Restaurant, 490 Syndicate St. N, St. Paul.

13

Pao Lee from Laos spent several years in a refugee camp in Thailand before coming to the U.S. in 1979. He has earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in computer science and now works for U.S. Bank.

Education transforms life Pao Lee remembers sitting in a grade-school classroom in Laos learning about the history of different countries. When the teacher began talking about the United States, he said, “It clicked in my mind that one of these days, if I have a choice, I’m going to go to America.”

Shortly after that, the Vietnam War ended, the government of Laos collapsed and thousands of Laotians who had fought with the United States in the war became refugees.

It was a dangerous time, especially for military leaders like Lee’s father. So in 1975, the then-13-year-old Lee set off with his parents and seven siblings for a refugee camp in Thailand.

In the camp, Lee convinced his father to apply for U.S. residency. A few years later, his dream of going to America came true. “We were scheduled to leave the camp on March 13, 1979,” he said. “I remember very well the date.

That was the end of life in the refugee camp.”

Lee boarded a bus with his family and never looked back.

Finding a church home In the refugee camp, Lee’s entire family converted to Catholicism. One of the first things he recalls his father doing when they arrived in St. Paul was look for a church.

No one in the family spoke more than a few words of English at the time, so they wandered around their neighborhood until they spotted the greentipped steeple of St. Agnes.

“That was the beginning of our new life,” Lee said, tearing up.

A few weeks after the family began attending Mass at St. Agnes, there was a knock at their door. They were surprised to see a religious sister standing on their doorstep.

Using gestures, the sister was able to communicate with the family that she was there to help them with whatever needs they had.

Almost every Sunday after that, the sister came to visit Lee’s family, he said. She would help them learn English, drive them to Mass and connect them with resources. She even helped Lee land his first job — for $2.90 an hour — at an Asian market.

Eventually, Lee’s dad found a job at a paper plant in St. Paul, and the children were all excelling in school.

“Our life was getting better every year,” Lee said. “Then true miracles happened.”

Seeing the light In 1982, when Lee was a high school senior, Father (now Archbishop) Robert Carlson offered him a scholarship to attend the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, where Lee went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

That was when he realized that education was the key to success in America.

“I started to see the light,” he said. He realized that if he worked hard and stayed focused, he could achieve whatever he set his mind to.

After graduation, he found a job at Xcel Energy as a computer programmer while simultaneously working on master’s and doctorate degrees in computer science. He completed both degrees in 1997.

Now 49, Lee works as an applications consultant at U.S. Bank. Despite his many achievements, he continues to set ambitious goals for himself.

“After almost 30 years, coming from a person who had nothing to the greatest country in the world, having the highest degree in a field that’s in demand, . . . working for a Fortune 100 company, I consider myself very successful as a refugee,” Lee said. “But as an American, I have a long way to go.”

Lee and his wife, Pa, who met in the refugee camp, have six kids, ages 12 to 24. They belong to St. Vincent de Paul parish in St. Paul, where Lee is active in various ministries.

Although life was difficult for Lee and his family during their first years in this country, he said, he feels blessed to be an American.

“America is a place for people who have big dreams,” he said. “If you have that, if you want to do it, if you’re committed to do it, then you will. That’s my story.”

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”

G. K. Chesterton

The Lesson Plan 14

The Catholic Spirit

Reflections on faith and spirituality

JANUARY 5, 2012

Let us be the stars that point others to Jesus his great feast of Epiphany is a commemoration of Christ’s manifestation to the gentiles in the person of the Magi, as well as his baptism and first miracle at Cana.

This feast day began in the East as early as the third century and soon spread to the West, where it is identified with the visit of the Magi.

In some countries, it is known as the 12th Night (after Christmas) and is the occasion for special celebrations.

In the Roman calendar, it is always Jan. 6 or the Sunday between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8. For centuries, this feast has been a holy day of obligation in many places around the world.

In our Gospel reading from Deacon Matthew 2:1-12, we encounter the Robert visit of the Magi to our Savior Jesus.

Abotzabire We are told these gentiles (Magi) followed the star that led them to Jesus.

Pope Leo the Great said that, “The Star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognize and adore the king of heaven and earth, Christ our Savior.”

The obedience of the star calls us to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we can, of the grace that invites all people to find Christ.

The Christmas season will soon be over, and in our corrupted relativistic world today, where there seems to be no objective truth, we as Christians are called to be a light and example. As Christians, we can echo the prophet Isaiah’s message from our first reading: that our light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon us; the darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples, but upon us the Lord shines and over us appears

T

Readings Sunday, Jan. 8 Epiphany of the Lord ■ Isaiah 60:1-6 ■ Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 ■ Matthew 2:1-12

For reflection Read Matthew 2:1-12 and recall who and what led you to Christ and what gift you might give the newborn king.

Sunday Scriptures

his glory.

Show us the way to shine This privilege that we have invites us to be stars that point others, gentiles, to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

We might ask ourselves what ways we can be stars.

Here are a few examples: When we stand up as Christians to defend the rights of the unborn, we are stars.

When we stand up to defend the dignity of marriage between one man and one woman, we are stars.

When we spend our precious time praying in adoration, we are stars.

When we go for confession, we are stars.

When we attend Mass every Sunday and every holy

day of obligation, we are stars.

When we spend time helping in food shelves, we are stars.

The list can go on and on. All those simple acts make us stars, pointing others to Jesus, for we never know what our actions may do to draw others to him.

As Jesus revealed himself to the gentiles (Magi) on this great feast, let us follow the example of the star in leading and pointing others — gentiles — to Jesus by the way we live our lives.

Deacon Robert Abotzabire is in formation for the priesthood at the St. Paul Seminary for the Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in Ghana. His teaching parish is Holy Spirit in St. Paul.

Daily Scriptures The Catholic Spirit’s longtime contributor, Terri Mifek, has retired from writing reflections for this Daily Scriptures column. The newspaper will continue to print the daily Scriptures, albeit, without her thoughtful reflections.

Sunday, Jan. 8 Epiphany of the Lord Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 Matthew 2:1-12 Monday, Jan. 9 Baptism of the Lord Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Mark 1:7-11 Tuesday, Jan. 10 1 Samuel 1:9-20 Mark 1:21-28

Tuesday, Jan. 17 Anthony, abbot 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Mark 2:23-28 Wednesday, Jan. 18 1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 Mark 3:1-6 Friday, Jan. 13 Hilary, bishop and doctor of the church 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a Mark 2:1-12 Saturday, Jan. 14 1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1a Mark 2:13-17

Wednesday, Jan. 11 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20 Mark 1:29-39

Sunday, Jan. 15 Second Sunday in ordinary time 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20 John 1:35-42

Thursday, Jan. 12 1 Samuel 4:1-11 Mark 1:40-45

Monday, Jan. 16 1 Samuel 15:16-23 Mark 2:18-22

Thursday, Jan. 19 1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7 Mark 3:7-12 Friday, Jan. 20 Fabian, pope and martyr; Sebastian, martyr 1 Samuel 24:3-21 Mark 3:13-19 Saturday, Jan. 21 Agnes, virgin and martyr 2 Samuel 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27 Mark 3:20-21 Sunday, Jan. 22 Third Sunday in ordinary time Jonah 3:1-5, 10 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

The following is the Vatican text of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks at his weekly general audience Dec. 28.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Our continuing catechesis on prayer leads us, during this Christmas season, to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

In the home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn to contemplate the mystery of God’s presence and to grow as faithful disciples of Christ.

The Gospels present Mary as the supreme model of prayerful meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life; in praying the rosary, in fact, we unite ourselves to her contemplation of those mysteries in faith and hope.

St. Joseph fulfilled his vocation as the father of the Holy Family by teaching Jesus the importance of quiet fidelity to work, prayer and observance of the precepts of the law.

Jesus’ unique relationship with his heavenly Father was reflected in the prayer life of the Holy Family and stands at the heart of all Christian prayer.

May the example of the Holy Family inspire all Christian families to be schools of prayer, where parents and children alike come to know that closeness to God which we joyfully celebrate in these days of Christmas.

From the Pope

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

Former Episcopal bishop to head new U.S. ordinariate for ex-Anglicans

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Pope Benedict XVI has established a U.S. ordinariate for former Anglicans who wish to become Catholics and named a married former Episcopal bishop to head it.

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter — functionally equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope — will be based at a parish in Houston. It will be led by Father Jeffrey Steenson, the former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande who was ordained a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., in February 2009.

The establishment of the ordinariate and the naming of its first leader were announced by the Vatican Jan. 1.

More than 100 former Anglican priests have applied to become Catholic priests in the ordinariate and 1,400 individuals from 22 communities have expressed interest in joining. In fall 2011, the members of St. Luke’s in Bladensburg, Md., and St. Peter of the Rock Community in Fort Worth, Texas, were received into the Catholic Church with the intent of joining the ordinariate.

It is the second such jurisdiction estab-

lished under the provisions of Pope Benedict’s 2009 apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus.” The first was the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, created for England and Wales in January 2011.

The parishes and communities accepted into the ordinariate will be fully Catholic but retain elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions, particularly in the liturgy.

Father Steenson and his wife, Debra, have three grown children — a daughter and two sons — and a grandson.

Because he is married, the 59-year-old Father Steenson will not be ordained a bishop and will not be able to ordain priests. He will, however, otherwise function as a bishop and will be a voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

After working briefly in a New Mexico parish following his ordination, Father Steenson has been teaching theology at the University of St. Thomas Center for Faith and Culture and at St. Mary’s Seminary, both in Houston, since August 2009. He also is an assisting priest at St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish in Houston.

Friends for Life show thanks to sisters CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 regular basis,” Miley said. “Our goal is to bring more people into this effort and enlarge the circle of support for the sisters.”

“This is a phenomenal effort by people in their 40s and 50s who believe so strongly in the education they received from the sisters. They really consider their elementary schools to be like family,” said St. Joseph Sister Irene O’Neill, a Friends for Life committee member. “Their gratitude is multiplying in ways that will greatly benefit today’s immigrant population.”

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Learning in Style, a free program based in Minneapolis, offers adult immigrants 18 and older the opportunity to learn English, math, computer skills and citizenship.

Alice Poon, a Chinese immigrant now living in Minneapolis, attended Learning in Style six years ago, not long after arriving in the Twin Cities. She had no English skills and no job prospects. Now in her early 40s, Poon credits the sisters with changing her life.

“I knew I needed to learn English.

There are so many teachers at Learning in Style that helped me,” she said. “I had zero computer skills and they taught me about those, too.”

Poon was a full-time student at the school for two years. Today, she works as a supervisor in the food and beverage department for a local hotel. She also volunteers at Learning in Style every Friday in the reception area and often encourages other immigrants she knows to enroll in the program.

“A lot of people don’t know about Learning in Style. It is such a good school and everybody gets the benefits,” Poon said. “My life would be so different if they didn’t give me my education. I feel like I am part of this place.”

Weir, who volunteers at St. Mary’s

Health Clinic in Maplewood, said she believes in helping the sisters carry on their mission of service to today’s immigrant population and credits the CSJs with working to fill many unmet needs.

“They have such a history of being good stewards of their resources,” she said. “The Friends for Life group is a ‘stake in the ground’ to help the sisters meet the commitment they have made to help immigrants become more independent.”

Weir, who came from a family of six children, attended St. Luke’s at a time when there were 1,000 students enrolled in the school. (Her husband, Mike, an alumni from St. Joseph’s, is also involved in Friends for Life).

“St. Paul would not be St. Paul without its Catholic schools,” she said. “Our group is just hoping to tap into the community of those who benefited from that tradition. It’s also a way for all of us to honor our parents and the way they supported the sisters and Catholic education.”

Future plans Plans are currently under way for an old-fashioned school mixer — an event that will be familiar to graduates of the St. Paul Catholic schools who may have attended the traditional gatherings when they were younger — at a time and location to be determined. According to Miley, this will also provide another fundraising and “friend-raising” opportunity.

“Our message is all about giving something back to the sisters who gave us so much,” he said. “We want to support them however they need us to do it.”

More information is available at

WWW.

CSJMINISTRIESFOUNDATION.ORG/FRIENDSFORLIFE,

including contact information for Sr. Irene O’Neill, who can provide tours of the sisters’ ministry center in Minneapolis.

Miley said the Friends for Life committee is also looking for additional Catholic school alumni for the identified schools listed on the website to serve as fundraising captains for each school or grade.

“It is our responsibility to help children and young people develop a prayerful relationship with Jesus Christ so they will know their vocation.”

Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations

Vocations 16

The Catholic Spirit

A Catholic Spirit special section

JANUARY 5, 2012

Two fathers helped nurture my vocation to the priesthood New fishing event is one way to inspire others to become fishers of men This past year I lost two fathers.

I know that this isn’t the best way to begin an article on promoting vocations to the priesthood, but the two fathers that I lost were instrumental in my vocation.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time on Mille Lacs Lake with my dad. Over the course of the years I learned how to fish, but I also learned important spiritual lessons for my Father Troy Przybilla life.

As I was discerning my “call” to the priesthood, I remember praying one day at my bedside, asking God to help me decide between all the career options in front of me and, more important, help me to know what he wanted me to do with my life.

I fell asleep and found myself at the counter of Tutt’s bait shop near Mille Lacs Lake. I was looking intently at a wide assortment of colored jigs when a voice came from behind the counter, “Which one do you want?” Without hesitation I said, “The one that catches the most fish.”

I immediately woke up and was reminded of Jesus’ call to Peter and the other fishermen, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Although I cannot say that I immediately left everything and followed our Lord, I realized that what I really wanted was to be a fisher of men — in other words to lead people to Christ. And the best way that I discerned to do this was to be a priest. I remember when I told my dad that I wanted to be a priest, his words were, “More power to you.” He was always supportive and sometimes embarrassingly proud of his son.

Father Troy Przybilla and his father, the late Ken Przybilla, caught their share of king salmon during a fishing trip on Lake Michigan in 2010.

Reflection

Courtesy of Father Troy Przybilla

National Vocation Awareness Week The U.S. Catholic Church will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week Jan. 9 to 14. It is time dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education.

People can visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Facebook page (HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/USCCB) during the week to see examples of clergy and religious. They also can view reflections under the Vocation Retreat tab where each day a Scripture passage, reflection and prayer will be posted.

Resources for promoting National Vocation Awareness Week, such as prayer cards, holy hour materials, prayers of the faithful and bulletin-ready quotes, are available on the USCCB vocations web page at HTTP://WWW.USCCB.ORG/BELIEFS-ANDTEACHINGS/VOCATIONS. — The Catholic Spirit

Thankful for two fathers My dad died of cancer just last May and, as hard as it was to watch my father suffer and die, I was always grateful for the gift of the priesthood because I was able to prepare my father, the one who gave me life, for eternal life. I couldn’t ask for anything more — or so I thought.

Just this last Christmas I was at home with my family celebrating for the first

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For For more more information, information, contact: contact: Br. Br. Michael Michael Taffe, Taffe, OSB OSB Vocation Vocation Director Director vocations@assumptionabbey.com vocations@assumptionabbey.com www.assumptionabbey.com www.assumptionabbey.com 701-974-3315 701-974-3315

time without my dad. I attended the midnight Mass at my home parish of Epiphany in Coon Rapids and was asked if I would celebrate Mass on Christmas morning in the room of Father Bernard Reiser, who was very close to death.

This was a great honor and privilege but was also very humbling.

The reason for this was that Father Reiser was my lifelong pastor. He gave fspa.org/called

D R AW N S TIRRED PULLED M OV E D

CALLED.

me new life when he baptized me on Jan. 13, 1974. Father Reiser taught me how to strive for holiness through his preaching and by his example. He nourished me with the body and blood of our Lord in the Eucharist. He reconciled me to God when I sinned. He helped me to discern the priesthood, he vested me at my ordination to the diaconate and he preached my first Mass.

Father Reiser was more than my pastor, he was my spiritual father. He was a constant and stable presence of God for me throughout my life.

And, now I, who had received so much from the consecrated hands of the man I called my spiritual father, was given the great opportunity to return the favor. Father Reiser inspired me to follow God’s call to be a priest, and now I was PLEASE TURN TO YOUNG ON PAGE 18

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Vocations

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

By Father Michael Van Sloun For The Catholic Spirit

Hearing God’s call

ocations are a special point of emphasis after Christmas with both the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jan. 9 and the feast of the Presentation of the Lord on Feb. 2. When Mary and Joseph presented their infant son Jesus in the Temple, he was “consecrated to the Lord” (Luke 2:23). This act of consecration was an official acknowledgement that God has a special purpose for every person, a vocation or a calling, and the parents promised to raise their newborn on God’s behalf and help the child build a solid spiritual foundation so that God’s plan for their child would be realized.

V

First vocation The initial invitation that Jesus made to Peter and Andrew, Jesus makes to every person, “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

Our first vocation is to follow Jesus, to be his disciple, to accept him as the Lord and master of our life, to be in a close and personal relationship with him, and to accept baptism and become a member of the Body of Christ.

As a disciple, a person is called to live a good and holy life: to listen attentively to Jesus and his Gospel teachings and implement them in every way possible; to advance in the virtues of faith, hope, and love; to pray each and every day; to actively participate in the life of the church; to receive the sacraments regularly; to steer clear of sin and live as blamelessly as possible; and to have love for one another, the decisive way to demonstrate discipleship (John 13:35).

How to know God’s call As states of life

Not predictable

There are different vocational states of life, ways to follow God’s call: clergy or ordained, priests and deacons; the consecrated life, religious sisters and religious brothers; and the lay state, married and single.

The call to follow God comes in all sorts of ways. God spoke to Abraham directly and then in a vision. Moses was called through a burning bush, Samuel by a voice in a dream, Mary by the angel Gabriel, Nathanael by his friend Philip, Paul by a voice from the sky, and Andrew and Peter by Jesus himself. There is no way of knowing exactly how or when the call will come. The secret is to be well-prepared and ready.

As professions God also has entrusted every person with a unique set of talents and abilities, which are to be put to good use so God might enjoy an excellent return on the original investment (Matthew 25:14-30; see also Romans 12:5-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-7).

The Scriptures are full of examples: Cain was a tiller of soil, a farmer, while Abel was a keeper of flocks, a shepherd; Joseph was a carpenter; Peter and Andrew were fishermen; Matthew was a tax collector; Paul was a tentmaker; and Lydia was a dealer in purple goods.

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faith, wisdom and grace, so that when God’s call came through the angel, she was ready to say, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Every Christian would be well-advised to prepare in a similar manner.

It is normal to hesitate when God calls.

Moses claimed that he was not an eloquent speaker, Isaiah resisted because he had unclean lips, Jeremiah hesitated because he was too young, and Peter objected because he was a sinner. Even if there were some truth to their excuses, God did not accept them. We all have our excuses. God is unwilling to take “No” for an answer. When God calls, the ideal reply is, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

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Getting ready After Mary was presented in the Temple, she was well-schooled in the faith by her parents Sts. Anne and Joachim. Anne is frequently depicted reading from Scripture to her young daughter. Mary learned the Bible, prayed at home with her family, went to the Temple consistently, and associated with other devout Jewish families.

As a young girl, she advanced in age and

St. Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it rests in thee.” Pay attention to restlessness. An agitated feeling can be an indicator that God is calling a person to something new or different. Peace comes when a person is doing what God wants.

Pray. God speaks in prayer, and God clarifies the call in prayer. Discuss the perceived call with a faith-filled friend or a spiritual director.

Watch for signs God may provide to confirm or verify the call. And test the call against a scriptural standard like the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If a perceived call helps a person be more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and self-controlled, it is movement in the right direction. But if the perceived call diminishes these fruits, it probably is contrary to God’s will.

Father Michael Van Sloun is pastor of St. Stephen in Anoka.

Walk the Walk

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Vocations

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

Young men respond to fathers who teach and encourage them CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 preparing him to follow our Lord’s call to come home. The man God used to give me new life in baptism was now being asked by me to renew his baptismal promises in the prayers of viaticum. I received the Eucharist from his consecrated hands Sunday after Sunday throughout my life, and after I had anointed the back of his already consecrated hands, he received from my hands, or rather my finger dipped in the Precious Blood, our Lord’s promise of eternal life.

Father Bernard Reiser was born into eternal life on Dec. 27. This was the feast of the beloved apostle, St. John. It also happened to be my birthday. I said a little prayer in the adoration chapel the night of his death that, for my birthday, I would like him to ask God to give me the grace to be a good and holy priest and spiritual father like he was to so many people.

Fishers of men In my position as vocation director, I don’t experience the close spiritual fatherhood that a pastor experiences.

Therefore, I am abundantly aware that the task of inspiring men to be fishers of men doesn’t rest on my shoulders. It’s

the task of the biological and spiritual fathers of men.

As a result, I am starting new Fishers of Men fishing events in our archdiocese. My dad always told me to “fish where the fish are,� so I will be going on the road with this vocations promotion. (For more information about these events, call me at 651-9626890.) The hope is that fathers and sons will sign up with their parish or be invited by their pastor and spiritual father to come to the event.

Young men respond to the fathers in their lives who teach and encourage them to mature and grow up to be fathers themselves. Whether this is biological or spiritual fatherhood is for their prayer and discernment.

Both of my fathers inspired me to follow our Lord’s call. My hope is that all fathers, including myself, will recognize our role of inspiring men to respond to our Lord’s invitation to become fishers of men.

Eternal rest grant unto Ken Przybilla and Father Bernard Reiser, O Lord. May they rest in peace.

Father Troy Przybilla is director of vocations for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

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Vocations

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

U.S. bishops awarded grant to study Latino vocations Catholic News Service The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been awarded an $85,000 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to explore why Hispanics are underrepresented among U.S. clergy and religious.

The survey aims to identify common and distinctive cultural traits that affect the openness and ability of Catholic youth to respond to a call to a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. The secretariat has commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University to conduct a national survey of never-married Catholics, ages 14 and older, to study their views about vocations and their own consideration of a vocation.

The grant from the Los Angeles-based group will also be used to fund a seminar on consecrated life for the U.S. bishops.

Statistical data found in two reports commissioned by the secretariat, “The Class of 2011: Survey of Ordinands to the

“This proposal is the single most important effort to find the best ways to provide the priestly leadership necessary for Hispanics/Latinos to flourish in the church.

”

JESUIT FATHER ALLAN DECK Former executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church

Priesthood” and “The Profession Class of 2010: Survey of Women Religious Professing Perpetual Vows,” indicate fewer than expected religious vocations among the Hispanic and Latino Catholic population in the United States.

Father Shawn McKnight, executive director of the secretariat, said Hispanics/ Latinos constituted 15 percent of the ordination class and 10 percent of the religious profession class, but they are 34 percent of the total adult Catholic population.

“There is not enough objective data to

explain the reasons for their underrepresentation,” Father McKnight said.

The secretariat seeks to identify specific reasons for their underrepresentation, to guide the efforts by dioceses and religious communities to promote vocations.

In the same reports, other cultures have shown a stronger representation of members becoming priests or religious. For example, Asians constitute 4 percent of the adult Catholic population in the U.S., yet 10 percent of the past year’s ordination class were Asian. This has been a consis-

tent trend during the past 15 years. In the 2010 class of women who made their religious profession of perpetual vows, 19 percent of the entire class was Asian.

The identification of cultural elements that support and challenge a culture of vocations among Asian, Latino and the general youth population would also help collaborating organizations, such as the National Religious Vocations Conference and the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors and those involved with the evangelization of young people.

“The success of ministry among a growing number of Hispanics/Latinos requires leadership from the Hispanic/Latino community itself, especially in the priesthood and religious life,” said Jesuit Father Allan Deck, former executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church.

“This proposal is the single most important effort to find the best ways to provide the priestly leadership necessary for Hispanics/Latinos to flourish in the church,” he said.

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“The serendipity of ‘I Am’ as the original utterance of God is beautiful and something I find to be no accident.”

Tom Shadyac, a Catholic film director speaking about his documentary “I Am,” which was to debut Jan. 1 on OWN

Arts & Culture 20

The Catholic Spirit

Exploring our church and our world

Cardinal’s new book encourages Catholics to challenge culture

Exhibit at Pax Christi takes closer look at homelessness

Catholic News Service

The Catholic Spirit A new audio and photo exhibition created from hundreds of conversations with individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Minnesota will be featured at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie from Jan. 7 to Feb. 12.

An opening reception for “Homeless is my address, not my name,” organized in collaboration with St. Stephen’s Human Services, is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 8.

Documenting daily life The source of the exhibit’s stories, the Oral History of Homelessness Project, documents homelessness in Minnesota through first-person narratives and portrait photography. Interviews and photos of individuals and families experiencing homelessness illustrate their daily lives, challenges and successes in overcoming extreme poverty.

The exhibit — located in the church’s Martin Luther King Jr., Room 247 — is presented as a collaboration between the Pax Christi Catholic Community Justice Grants Board, which works to end homelessness and alleviate poverty, and the Pax Christi Arts Committee,

“Gerald & his landlady, Hutchinson, MN 2010” by Cathy ten Broeke.

which provides the community with art that fosters introspection and action.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, visit WWW.PAXCHRISTI.COM or call Ken Reineccius at (952) 405-7250.

“Alisha & Emiliano & daughter, Minneapolis, MN 2010” by Barclay Horner is among the photos that will be displayed as part of a new exhibit on homelessness at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.

Great music for a good cause in honor of MLK Jr. The Catholic Spirit Close to 200 voices from the combined choirs of St. Joan of Arc and Mount Olivet Lutheran churches in Minneapolis will join Twin Cities vocalist Robert Robinson at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 in a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. The MLK concert, which is part of St. Joan’s 2011-2012 Concert Series, has been a fixture since the series started about 14 years ago, said Dan Chouinard, co-producer of the concert and former associate music director at the parish.

“It’s going to be a big logistical challenge, but a big beautiful sound as well,” he said.

The concerts present an opportunity to bring in people from the larger community and to raise funds for the St. Joan Care Fund, which provides emergency financial help for parishioners and nonparishioners in the Minneapolis neighborhood, he said.

The MLK concert is always “an occasion for us to bring in one or more of our regular musical guests drawn from the African-American community,” Chouinard said. “Robert Robinson is someone who has been collaborating with us at St. Joan’s for at least a dozen years, working a lot with our choir and as a soloist.”

Robert Robinson will sing with the combined choirs of St. Joan of Arc and Mount Olivet Lutheran churches in Minneapolis.

Want to go?

What: Annual MLK concert.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15.

Where: St. Joan of Arc, 4537 Third Ave. S. Tickets: $20 — WWW.STJOAN.COM; (612) 823-8205; send a check payable to: St. Joan of Arc Concert Series, 4537 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55419.

“Been to the Mountaintop,” the title of this year’s concert, is taken from a line in Martin Luther King Jr.’s last public speech,

JANUARY 5, 2012

before he was shot in 1968, Chouinard said.

“That text has been set to music, a piece of music that we’ll be doing in this concert,” he said. Robinson previously brought the two choirs together to present a concert and record a CD of the music.

“We decided that would make a great concert in our series, as well.”

Chouinard will host the concert that will feature the choirs and Robinson with numbers that come from Robinson’s life story growing up in north Minneapolis, in his work conducting the Twin Cities Gospel Choir and his foray into the world of popular music.

In Robinson’s perspective, the collaboration for the concert is like heaven.

“Heaven is a place where there will be no more division or separation. We will all be one, worshipping and praising together. When I get to sing with St. Joan of Arc and Mount Olivet, I get to experience a little heaven on earth,” he said.

In working with Robinson, Chouinard said, “our eyes and ears have been opened to the world of music that he grew up with and the sorts of expression that world employs.”

Seating is limited and this concert usually sells out, according to the St. Joan website, so get your tickets early.

In his new book, “Seek First the Kingdom,” Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl calls on Catholics to seek God’s kingdom and then reflect it in their everyday lives.

When Catholics deepen their own faith, their hearts are transformed, and when they share it with others, they can change their c o m m u n i t y, their nation and their world, the cardinal wrote in his book, which is subtitled “Challenging the Culture

by Living Our Faith.”

“To be in the kingdom is to be with Christ always, and to be for Christ always, in season and out of season, in private and in public, on the job and on our days off,” he wrote in the book, published by Our Sunday Visitor.

The book emphasizes the importance of Catholics taking up Pope Benedict XVI’s call for the new evangelization, to learn their faith, to live it and share it with others, especially family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers who may have drifted away from the faith or never heard the good news of Jesus. It also encourages Catholics to reflect their faith at home, in the workplace and in the community.

“You could make a very strong case that ‘Seek First the Kingdom’ is a response to the question, ‘How do we do the new evangelization?’” the cardinal said in an interview with the Catholic Standard, Washington archdiocesan newspaper.

Cardinal Wuerl wrote that, in the face of the world’s secularism, materialism and individualism, Pope Benedict has called on Catholics to be engaged in the work of the new evangelization.

The title and theme of Cardinal Wuerl’s new book also reflects his episcopal motto, “Thy Kingdom Come,” which is drawn from Jesus’ words in the Lord’s Prayer. “I see the work of the church, and, therefore, the work of each priest and every layperson as the task of manifesting, realizing the kingdom in our world,” the cardinal said.

Manifesting the kingdom, he said, can take place in the quiet moments of everyday life, in the form of a mother’s love for her children, youths offering a good example to their classmates, workers pursuing an honest living, and people serving others in their parish and community.

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JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Dining out Fish fry at Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington — Every Friday: 5 to 9 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Cost is $10.95. Call (952) 888-1492 for reservations.

Chicken and rib dinner at Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington — Every Wednesday: 5 to 9 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Cost is $10.95. Call (952) 888-1492 for reservations.

KC pancake breakfast at Transfiguration, Oakdale — January 8: 8 a.m. to noon at 6133 15th St. Cost is $7 for adults and $5 for children 6 to 12.

KC brunch at Epiphany, Coon Rapids — January 8: 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 1900 111th Ave N.W. Volunteer contribution with proceeds to go to men and women in formation.

KC pancake breakfast at St. Michael, Farmington — January 8: 9 a.m. to noon at 22120 Denmark Ave. Free will offering. Proceeds go to local charities.

Shrimp and steak dinner at Knights Events Center, Shakopee — January 13: 5 to 8 p.m. at 1760 Fourth Ave. E. Cost is $12 for shrimp or steak and $15 for both. Children’s meal available for $3.

Spaghetti dinner for vocations at Epiphany, Coon Rapids — January 14: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 11001 Hanson Blvd. Cost is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and children ages 5 to 12. $25 maximum per family. Take-out available.

Wild game feed at St. Timothy, Blaine — January 14: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 707 89th Ave. N.E. Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 4 to 12. Allyou-can-eat, with roast turkey for non-game eaters.

KC benefit breakfast at Knights of Columbus Hall, Stillwater — January 15: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1910 Greeley St. Cost is $8 for adults and $4.50 for children 12 and under.

KC lumberjack breakfast at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — January 15: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 12304 Church Ave. Free will offering.

Dad’s Belgian waffle breakfast at St. Vincent de Paul School, Brooklyn Park — January 22: 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 9050 93rd Ave. N. Cost is $6.50 per person, children ages 5 and under are free.

Turkey dinner at Knights Events Center, Shakopee — January 22: 4 to 7 p.m. at 1760 Fourth Ave. E. Cost is $10 for adults and $4 for ages 3 to 10.

Parish events Seven-week marriage course for married couples at St. Francis Xavier, Buffalo — Begins January 6: 6:15 p.m. each Friday at 300 First Ave. N.W. Course includes a candlelight dinner, practical talks, couple discussion, and no group sharing. All ages and stages are welcome. Dates are January 6, 13, 20, February 10, 17, 24, and March 2. Cost is $25 per couple for registration and books. Childcare available.

For information, call (763) 684-4075.

‘Joy to the World: A Christmas Cantata’ at St. Patrick, Oak Grove — January 8: 7 p.m. at 19921 Nightingale St. Features orchestra and choir members from several parishes. Pie social

Don’t miss Cursillo weekends offered in Minneapolis Twin Cities Catholic Cursillo is sponsoring two weekend retreats at Holy Cross in Minneapolis in February. A men’s retreat is scheduled for Feb. 9 to 12 and a women’s retreat is scheduled for Feb. 16 to 19.

The Cursillo is an encounter of self, Christ, and others (friends in Christ) with an abbreviated course in prayer, study and fellowship. It seeks to prepare participants for living the gospel in everyday life.

For information on the upcoming retreats, e-mail PRE-CURSILLO@TCCURSILLO.ORG, or visit WWW.TC-CURSILLO.ORG. to follow.

‘Our Gift of Song’ at the Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis — January 8: 2 p.m. at 88 N. 17th St. An Epiphany celebration of the birth of Christ as Babushka and The Three Kings journey around the world to see the newborn baby, told through story, dance, and world music. Free will offering.

KC Super Bingo at Mary, Queen of Peace, Rogers — January 8: 2 p.m. at 12304 Church Ave. Cost is $7 for one card, $12 for two cards and $15 for three cards. Kids are welcome.

Snacks and beverages will be available.

Catholics Returning Home program at St. Francis Xavier, Buffalo — January 12: 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 223 19th St. N.W. First meeting of a six-week program.

No registration required, for information, visit WWW.STFXB.ORG. Annual chili supper at Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville — January 21: 5:15 p.m. at 3333 Cliff Road. Registration for the chili contest begins Jan. 7 through Jan. 21. Tickets for the supper will be $5 per person with a family max of $20 and will be available starting Jan. 9 from the parish office. No tickets will be available at the door.

For information, call (952) 890-0045, ext. 232.

Prayer/ liturgies Sant’Egidio Community Evening Prayer at St. Richard, Richfield — every Thursday: 7 p.m. at 7540 Penn Ave. S. Legion of Mary prayers in front of Planned Parenthood, St. Paul — Every Friday: 3 p.m. at 1965 Ford Parkway.

For information, call (651) 439-9098.

Rosary of the unborn at Pregnancy Choices LifeCare Center, Apple Valley — every Thursday: 7:15 p.m. at 15026 Glazier Ave. For information, visit WWW.ROSARYOFTHEUNBORN.COM. Festival of Lessons and Carols: A 12th Night Celebration at St. Bartholomew, Wayzata — January 6: 7 p.m. at 630 E. Wayzata Blvd. For information, visit WWW.ST-BARTS.ORG. All night vigil with the Blessed Sacra-

ment at Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul — January 6 and 7: 7 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday at 401 Concord St. World Apostolate of Fatima Vigil of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary at Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Paul — January 6 and 7: 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 330 Exchange St. S. For information, call (651) 426-9401 or WWW.FATIMAON LINE.ORG. Healing Mass at Holy Name of Jesus, Wayzata — January 12: Rosary at 6:30 p.m., Mass at 7 p.m. at 155 County Road 24. Father Joseph Gillespie will be the celebrant.

Prayer/ Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays: For Catholic singles to meet and make friends. The group usually meets in St. Paul on Sunday afternoons. For information, call Judy at (763) 221-3040 or Al at (651) 482-0406.

Singles group at St. Vincent de Paul, Brooklyn Park — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at 9100 93rd Ave. N. Gather for a potluck supper, conversation and games. For information, call (763) 425-0412.

School events Preschool and kindergarten information night at Transfiguration School, Oakdale — January 5: 6:30 p.m. at 6135 15th St. N. For information, visit WWW.TRANSFIGURATIONMN.ORG/SCHOOL. Open house at St. Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights — January 8: 1 p.m. presentation with tours to follow at 949 Mendota Heights Road. For students entering grades 7 to 12.

Preschool and kindergarten roundup at Blessed Trinity School, Richfield — January 8: 2 to 4 p.m. at 7540 Penn Ave. S. To RSVP, call (612) 866-6906. For information, visit WWW.BTCSMN.ORG. Open house at Benilde-St. Margaret School, St. Louis Park — January 9: 6 p.m. at 2501 Highway 100 S. For students entering grades 7 to 12. For in-

21

formation, visit WWW.BSMSCHOOL.ORG. Open house at Holy Name of Jesus School, Wayzata — January 10: 7 p.m. at 155 County Road 24. For students entering preschool through grade 6. For information or to RSVP, call (763) 473-3675.

Open house at Holy Family Catholic High School, Victoria — January 12: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 8101 Kochia Lane.

For information or to pre-register online visit WWW.HFCHS.ORG. Open house at Holy Name of Jesus School, Wayzata — January 12: 7 p.m. at 155 County Road 24. For students entering preschool through grade 6. For information or to RSVP, call (763) 473-3675.

Middle school open house at Our Lady of Peace School, Minneapolis — January 12: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 5435 11th Ave. S. For students entering grades 5 to 8. For information, visit WWW.OLPMN.ORG. Trivia Night to benefit Nativity of Mary School at Knights of Columbus Hall, Bloomington — January 27: 7 p.m. at 1114 American Blvd. Registration is $20 per person until Jan. 20, $25 after.

Sign up in teams of 4 or 6 or singles will be assigned to a team. For information, visit HTTP://GOO.GL/TxPFG. St. Charles Learning Festival at St. Charles Borromeo School, Minneapolis — January 29: 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2727 Stinson Blvd. Features tours of the school and an art and science fair. For information, call (612) 7812643.

Open house at Holy Trinity School, South St. Paul — January 29: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 745 Sixth Ave. S. For students entering grades 1 to 8. For information, call (651) 455-8557.

Kindergarten information night at Holy Trinity School, South St. Paul — February 7: 6 p.m. at 745 Sixth Ave. S. For information, call (651) 455-8557.

Other events ‘Experience a Day of Quiet’ at Benedictine Center, Maplewood — January 7: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2675 Benet Ave. Participants will immerse themselves in a monastery setting by enjoying a private room, praying and eating with the monastic community, as well as exploring the grounds, library and its latest art exhibit. Cost is $10 and includes lunch. Register online at WWW.STPAULSMONASTERY.ORG. Minneapolis Deaneries Council of Catholic Women quarterly meeting at St. Patrick, Edina — January 23: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6820 St. Patrick’s Lane.

Speaker is Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society. The day also includes rosary, Mass and lunch. Cost is $13. Register by Jan. 16 by calling (763) 536-0553.

48th annual Conversation with Books at St. Catherine University, St. Paul — January 23: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 2004 Randolph Ave. For information and exact location on campus, visit WWW. STKATE.EDU/CONVERSATION.

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22

JANUARY 5, 2012 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Pro-life speaker sees hope in battle to end abortion

Local teens to attend national March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Josh Brahm is a pro-life speaker who will be presenting a talk entitled, “Making Abortion Unthinkable” at Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. He is the director of education and public relations for Right to Life of Central California. He produces YouTube videos and hosts “Life Report: ProLife Talk. Real World Answers,” a youth-oriented weekly netcast at WWW.PROLIFE PODCAST.NET. Catholic Spirit staff writer Dave Hrbacek recently interviewed Brahm.

By Susan Klemond

You speak to a lot to teens and college students. What do you see in that age group when it comes to the life issue?

Like most things, there’s both good and bad news. The bad news is that I sense our post-modern culture is affecting more and more teens in negative ways. I interact with so many young people whose moral views are BRAHM buried in relativism, which makes it hard to have a meaningful conversation about any issue. Even worse, some of them are apathetic to everything that doesn’t personally affect them.

Here’s the good news: The teens who do want to make a difference are out there, and they have the opportunity to change the world. The Internet and social networks give them more access to information and experts than young people have ever had. There are several great youth oriented pro-life groups, events, websites and YouTube channels that offer ways to actively fight abortion, even from home.

Some of the pro-life groups that are making the biggest difference right now, like Live Action and Students For Life of America, are run by young people.

My generation is standing on the very tall shoulders of two generations that have gone before us, but we are the generation that will finish what our grandparents started. We will end abortion.

You have publicly debated leaders

from Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Georgians for Choice and local abortion facilities in Atlanta. How did they respond to you and your pro-life arguments? Any success in engaging them?

Very much so. I always frame the debate the same way Scott Klusendorf, the most feared pro-life debater in the country does.

In my intro I say, “I believe my opponent is right. Abortion should be legal through all nine months of pregnancy, and allowed for virtually any reason whatsoever, IF. IF my opponent can demonstrate scientifically and philosophically that the unborn are not human beings like you and me. If she can do this, I will concede tonight’s debate and you can all go home early. Because as Greg Koukl says, if the unborn are not human, no justification for abortion is necessary. But if the unborn are human, then no justification for abortion is adequate. The issue is not that my opponent is pro-choice and I am not. I am vigorously pro-choice about women choosing all kinds of things, like their college, their career, their spouse and their religion, but some choices are wrong, like killing human beings because they’re in the way of something we want, like a preferred lifestyle. No, ladies and gentlemen, that is a choice that an inclusive, proequal-rights society should not allow.”

How can pro-lifers effectively dialogue with those holding opposing views?

I think it has more to do with relationships than we’ve ever thought before. People rarely change their minds about a sensitive social issue merely from driving by a protest, (whether the protesters are using graphic signs or not,) or from having one conversation with a stranger.

However, if you build a friendship with someone who is pro-abortion-choice, over time they’re going to get to know you better, and learn things about how you really are. A friendship also allows for more time to discuss a given issue, with several conversations over an extended period of time.

For The Catholic Spirit

Hill-Murray School senior Katy Goerke was against abortion before she really knew what it was. While she was in utero, she was incorrectly diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a genetic chromosome disorder.

Before the right diagnosis was made, Goerke wasn’t expected to live long after birth and her mother’s doctor suggested an abortion.

Attending last year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., helped Goerke combine her personal experience with the broader pro-life movement and find upto-date information she could bring back to share with her peers. Now Goerke, the founder of the Maplewood school’s prolife club, is going back as part of the second annual archdiocese-led youth trip to the march that will be held Jan. 19 to 24.

“I’m going again and trying to bring back more experiences to explain to the juniors in my school’s pro-life club how big of a deal this is,” said Goerke, who will be one of 160 youth from five area Catholic high schools and eight parish youth groups attending the march.

The march and other events help equip youth in pro-life apologetics and energize them to bring their experiences back to their parishes, said Sharon Wilson, respect life coordinator for the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage Family and Life.

“In general the youth really get the prolife message,” said Wilson, who will go

“It made me realize that it’s not adequate to just call yourself pro-life without doing anything about it.

”

MIRANDA EASTHAM Student who attended last year’s march

on the archdiocese’s trip with her son.

Providence Academy senior Miranda Eastham said she was invigorated by seeing so many youth at the march last year and came back wanting to do more for the pro-life movement. “It made me realize that it’s not adequate to just call yourself pro-life without doing anything about it,” she said.

As president of the Plymouth school’s pro-life club, she said she looks forward to finding out what is new at a studentorganized conference so she can help encourage and educate other youth, including the other members of her club.

“It’s easy for young people in particular to not be exposed to something like this,” she said. “But I think it’s important to, because we are the generation that can stop [abortion]. It’s important to know what’s going on.”

Read the full interview with Josh Brahm at THECATHOLICSPIRIT.COM.

Deacon shares views about hope CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 For example: One recent morning, the deacon asked God to help him recognize the talent in someone else that could help him with his business. Later in the day, a man who has been unemployed since August came in to talk with Deacon Winninger. During the conversation, the man mentioned that in his previous job, his primary responsibility was for a specific software program.

“That was a wake up call for me,” Deacon Winninger said. His part-time associate, who had worked with that software program, had just left and the deacon needed someone with those skills to finish a project by the end of the week.

“The man said, ‘If you trust me to take a look at it, I probably could get it done for you tomorrow,’” Deacon Winninger said.

“I asked this morning for someone with the talent or skills I can use in my business and then I have this guy show up at 11 for

something completely different and have this happen.”

In addition, the deacon said, the appointment became available that morning because a different client called and canceled.

“If something had not happened with the other person, I wouldn’t have met this guy,” he said.

In closing the loop of prayer during the day, he added, you make yourself cognizant of what is going on around you, you live in the moment more and you are willing to give with no expectation of getting something in return.

“It’s interesting to me that in reflection I find insight [and] in action I find confirmation,” Deacon Winninger said. “So when I sit with the Lord and say ‘give me the answer to this,’ I never get the answer.

I only get the answer when I get myself out of reflection and I’m in the action of the day and tuned in to what I thought about in reflection.”

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23

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • JANUARY 5, 2012

Appointments CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

(File photo)

Archbishop John Nienstedt joined other marchers from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at the national March for Life last January in Washington, D.C.

OFFICIAL Archbishop John C. Nienstedt has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Each of us can make a difference in promoting a culture of life CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 message and in increasing numbers are rising up to protest the destruction of human life.

Each of us can make a difference as well. We must be courageous enough to speak up for life at home, in school, at the workplace and in the public square. We must be responsible enough to vote for politicians who are committed to life and willing to work for restoration of these legal guarantees. We must be faith-filled enough to offer daily

as parochial administrator, with all the duties of a pastor, at St. Pius X in White Bear Lake. After his 2008 ordination, he served Divine Mercy in Faribault, St. Michael in Kenyon, St. Patrick in Shieldsville and St. Stephen in Anoka.

Father Nels Gjengdahl will serve St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, while he pursues graduate studies. He most recently served at All Saints in Minneapolis. After his ordination in 2007, he served St. Odilia in Shoreview, St. John Neumann and as chaplain at St. Thomas Academy.

Beginning Wednesday, Feb. 1, Father Michael Izen, will begin serving as pastor of St. Raphael in Crystal. His current assignment is at St. Timothy in Maple Lake. He was ordained in 2005 and has served at Divine Mercy in Faribault and its mission parish, St. Patrick in Shieldsville.

prayers for an end to abortion and to commit ourselves to forms of penance in order to promote and strengthen a culture for life.

On Sunday, Jan. 22, our Archdiocesan Mass for Life will be celebrated at 12 p.m. in the Cathedral of St. Paul. Afterwards, the congregation will be invited to march to the State Capitol, where a prayer rally will begin at 2 p.m. I encourage you to attend. I urge you to stand up for life!

God bless you!

Effective January 1, 2012 Rev. Thomas Walker, appointed Dean of Deanery Five and representative to the Presbyteral Council.

Rev. Timothy Dolan, appointed Dean of Deanery Ten and representative to the Presbyteral Council.

Rev. Stan Mader, appointed Dean of Deanery Six and representative to the Presbyteral Council.

Rev. Rolf Tollefson, appointed Archbishop’s appointee to the Presbyteral Council.

Rev. Douglas Dandurand, appointed to a second three-year term on the Comprehensive Assignment Board.

Rev. Thomas Dufner, appointed to a second three-year term on the Comprehensive Assignment Board Rev. George Kallumkalkudy, pastor of the

Church of Saint Canice of Kilkenny, Minnesota, and the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer of Montgomery, Minnesota. Father Kallumkalkudy’s assignment at the Church of Saint Austin of Minneapolis ended when the parish merged with the Church of Saint Bridget.

Rev. Daniel Griffith, appointed a member of the faculty of the University of Saint Thomas School of Law, and a member of the Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Advisory Council. Father Griffith’s assignment as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Edward ended with the appointment of Rev. Brian Fier as pastor.

Deacon James DeShane, appointed to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of Saint Edward of Bloomington, Minnesota.

Effective January 9, 2012 Rev. Eugene Tiffany, pastor of the Church of All Saints of Minneapolis. This is a transfer from his assignment as pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Columbia Heights.

Rev. Eugene Tiffany, parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Boniface (Minneapolis).

Rev. John Mitchell, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Columbia Heights. This is transfer from his assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Pius X of White Bear.

Rev. Nels Gjengdahl, assigned full time to Saint Thomas Academy and also given permission to pursue graduate study. Father Gjengdahl’s assignment at the Church of All Saints of Minneapolis ends with the appointment of Father Tiffany as pastor.

Rev. Fernando Ortega, parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Pius X of White Bear. This appointment is ad nutum episcopi, but is expected to continue until July 1, 2012.

Effective February 1, 2012 Rev. Michael Izen, pastor of the Church of Saint Raphael in Crystal, Minnesota. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Timothy in Maple Lake.

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“He is the mercy and the peace that the world, of itself, cannot give, and which it needs at least as much as bread.”

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking about Jesus during Mass Jan. 1

Overheard 24

The Catholic Spirit

Quotes from this week’s newsmakers

Wayzata edges out Cretin-Derham Hall in tourney final

JANUARY 5, 2012 “Children, inside and outside the womb, are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards and exposure to toxic pollutants in the environment.

Their bodies, behaviors and size leave them more exposed than adults to such health hazards.”

— Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, speaking in support of a new federal rule to cut down on the amount of toxins emitted from coal- and oil-fired plants

“To educate the young for peace and justice is an obligation for all believers if they want to uproot violence from the world, at CARDINAL TAURAN least that kind of violence that falsely cloaks itself with religious motivations.”

Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Junior guard Drake Mjaanes, right, of Wayzata High School in Plymouth gets his shot blocked by senior forward Jamar Kelly of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul during the championship game of The Catholic Spirit Christmas Basketball Tournament Dec. 30 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Wayzata won the game, 75-71, and won the championship for the second year in a row. The game was a rematch of last year's finals. Other Catholic high schools that participated in the tournament were: HillMurray School in Maplewood (third place), Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield (fourth place), Totino-Grace High School in Fridley (fifth place), St. Agnes School in St. Paul (sixth place) and Providence Academy in Plymouth (seventh place). Minneapolis Southwest High School also participated in the tournament and finished in eighth place.

— Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, speaking in the aftermath of the Christmas bombings of churches and other targets in Nigeria

Center for Mission’s student writing contest asks who/how someone inspired faith Entries are being accepted for the annual writing contest sponsored by the Center for Mission of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Writers in grades one through 12 must answer the questions, “Who inspires your Christian faith?

How has this person inspired you through words and actions?”

There are four divisions for student judging, as well as a new The teacher division.

Catholic Spirit Teachers are asked to submit their most innovative and creative way to present the writing contest to their students.

■ Division 1: Students in first through third grades are to complete the phrase, “My faith has been inspired by _______.”

■ Division 2: Students in fourth through sixth grades are to write an essay, up to 250 words typed or neatly printed, answering the above questions.

■ Division 3: Students in seventh through ninth grades are to write an essay,

News Notes

up to a 500 words typed answering the same questions.

■ Division 4: Students in grades 10 through 12 are to write an essay, up to a 500 words typed answering the same questions.

Prizes will be awarded to one winner in each division, $50 for divisions 1 and 2 and $100 for divisions 3 and 4.

Entries must be submitted on 8.5-by11-inch paper and include name, grade, Catholic school and/or parish name. Submit entries by regular mail or email with an attached Word document to: Writing Contest, Center for Mission, 328 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102; or missions@archspm.org with Writing Contest in the subject line. Submissions must be received by Feb. 29 or postmarked by Feb. 27. All entries become the property of the Center for Mission.

Christmas gift in Oak Grove As a way for families to extend their celebration of the Christmas season, St. Patrick parish in Oak Grove will present

“Joy to the World: A Christmas Cantata” at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8.

The concert, organized by parish choir director Kyle Picha, features the works of composer John Rutter performed by more than 60 choir and orchestra members from several parishes, including St. Stephen in Anoka, St. Paul in Ham Lake and Epiphany in Coon Rapids.

Also featured is soloist Michelle Hayes, a senior at Anoka High School, and the Anoka High School Seventh Avenue Carolers.

There is no cost to attend and a pie social will follow the concert.

UST contest to engineer peace The University of St. Thomas School of Engineering is seeking entries for its first “Peace Engineering” contest. The school, working with Minnesota-based Compatible Technology International, is looking for teams of two to three people to design, build and deliver a breadfruit-drying device to the Breadfruit Institute in Hawaii.

Breadfruit is an underutilized staple crop

recognized for its potential to provide food security in tropical regions. The fruit, named for its bread-like fragrance, is high in carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

Shredded, dried breadfruit can be milled into gluten-free flour.

The winning design will be implemented in Jamaica and Haiti to increase food security and promote small business ventures to stimulate local economies.

Teams should email their intent to submit to, CMGEORGE@STTHOMAS.EDU by Jan. 15 with final designs submitted by Feb. 1 to: University of St. Thomas, Peace Engineering Initiative, School of Engineering OSS 100, 2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105. Two winning teams will be announced Feb. 6.

The first place team will receive $3,000 and second place will receive $500. Funds will be available for the winning team to send a representative to Hawaii in March to build and demonstrate the structure.

For more information about the contest, visit WWW.COMPATIBLETECHNOLOGY.ORG.