February 22, 2018 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Hockey heroines Catholic schools cheer on alumnae sisters in Olympics. — Page 5
SUPER hospitality
Passion play Shakopee’s annual narrative of Jesus’ final hours a community effort. — Page 7
School shooting A parish impacted by the Feb. 14 tragedy at a nearby Parkland, Florida, high school is dedicating its Stations of the Cross observances to victims and their families. — Page 8
Torture victims Franciscan friars dedicated to caring for men who escaped persecution in home countries. — Pages 10-11
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Msgr. Thomas Richter, center, who in June will assume the role of rector of the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, walks back to the seminary after lunch Feb. 15 with Father Scott Carl, back left, and a group of seminarians including Phil Conklin, left, and Paul Hedman.
Forming priestly hearts
A good death Ahead of his Feb. 15 death, Catholic Studies founder Don Briel reflected on his vocation and dying well. — Page 12
Impact investing Catholic Community Foundation educates investors about how “doing well” can also mean “doing good.” — Page 14
Msgr. Thomas Richter prepares for new role as rector of St. Paul Seminary By Jessica Trygstad The Catholic Spirit
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sgr. Thomas Richter was thrilled with his first assignment as vice rector of the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. Having just arrived in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he traveled to the Holy Land in January with the third-year seminarians, who’ll be ordained transitional deacons this spring. “To be able to bond with them, get to know them [and] they get to know me was … a nice way to begin. So, I’m grateful to the rector for having me join them,” said Msgr. Richter, 50, a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota. Now settling into life at the 133-year-old seminary, he’s spending the months leading up to June — when he’ll officially take the reins as its 15th rector — shadowing Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, the current seminary rector who’ll retire after serving in that role for 13 years. “I am inheriting a strong, healthy organization, and I am indebted to the leadership of Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan,” Msgr. Richter said. “I am grateful for the firm foundation.” Believing it’s essential for those responsible for formation to share a meal with seminarians on a daily basis, Msgr. Richter has already begun that practice at the St. Paul Seminary. “Some of the most important formation happens around a table,” he said. “If a seminary is going to be a community of formation, it needs to happen in an integrated manner, not in a clinical manner … [but in] the way formation happens in a family — by parents eating … with their children, the same in a seminary with priests eating and living with seminarians.”
Road of resistance Msgr. Richter’s own foundation began 20 miles outside of
Bismarck on a “diversified dairy farm” — the family also raised beef cattle — where he describes a happy childhood with nine brothers and four sisters, and loving parents. His younger brother, Father David Richter, is also a priest of the Bismarck diocese. He graduated from St. Mary’s Central High School in Bismarck and didn’t enter seminary until after he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Most of his vocational discernment occurred during his college years, which he described as a time of “resistance.” “Part of me operated out of a certain idea that I came to see is not true: … that when you don’t have any other options, consider the priesthood,” he said. “So, there was a certain misguided stereotype that fed this resistance.” He said the Eucharist and confession were mainstays in his life, and a few men whom he respected had entered the seminary. He also recalls an important insight his father gave him when he was home for a weekend during college. He and his father were driving home after Mass from their country church when his father told him that the qualities he’s respected in priests throughout his life were the qualities he saw in him, adding he’d be honored if God chose one of his sons to be a priest. Those encouraging words, along with reading “Let the Fire Fall” by Father Michael Scanlan, helped eliminate some of his fears. Then one day while sitting in bed reading his engineering manual, he was preoccupied with thoughts of the priesthood, so he began to pray. What followed was a consolation: You can’t lose. “If you give one year to the seminary, you can’t lose,” he recalled thinking. “If you’re supposed to be a priest, and that’s your road to happiness, well, that’s the first year on that road. You won’t lose. If marriage is your beautiful vocation and road to PLEASE TURN TO SEMINARY ON PAGE 6