The Catholic Spirit - January 10, 2019

January 10, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

GOLDEN MOMENT

O Holy Night

Embryo burial Local woman creates organization that provides final resting place for fertilized eggs discarded by IVF clinics.

— Pages 10-11

Capitol opportunities The Minnesota Catholic Conference sees potential for moderation and compromise in the 2019 legislative session that began Jan. 8.

— Page 6

Help for dads Life coaches at Pregnancy Choices in Apple Valley work with expectant fathers.

— Page 12

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Celebrating milestones St. Dominic in Northfield and St. Andrew in Elysian recognize anniversaries, while St. John the Baptist in Excelsior completes church renovation in time for Christmas.

— Pages 14-15

All about you?

Columnist Christina Capecchi writes on the benefits of self-care done with a Catholic worldview.

— Page 17

From left, Brandon and Jessica Zingsheim, playing Joseph and Mary, receive a gift of gold from one of the three Wise Men, played by Josh Willmert, during a live Nativity scene at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton Jan. 5. Sunday School Coordinator Jennifer Livermont implemented the idea three years ago before Christmas, and moved the event to Epiphany weekend this year. Called “Journey to the Inn,” the event also featured the Zingsheims’ infant son, Alexander, as the baby Jesus, and live farm animals brought in by Father Paul Shovelain, third from left, whose sister and brother-in-law, Theresa and Brian Beaudry, own a dairy farm northwest of the Twin Cities near Otsego. Father Shovelain, parochial vicar of the parish, brought four calves, two chickens and two barn cats from the Beaudrys’ farm. “A big part of it was to have the live animals there,” Livermont said. “I just think the event helps make Christmas [and Epiphany] come alive, especially for the children, being able to see Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men and the animals all together.”

With bankruptcy end, fresh opportunities to help abuse survivors

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

F

rank Meuers and Tim O’Malley meet every month or so, often for breakfast, to talk about the Church and clergy sex abuse. Meuers is the southwest Minnesota chapter director of the Survivors Network of those Abused

by Priests, aka SNAP, and O’Malley directs the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

Since its founding, SNAP has often positioned itself as an adversary of the institutional Church, which is why these meetings — and the men’s resulting collegiality — is so extraordinary. Meuers said he knows of no other SNAP leader with a similar relationship to a Church official.

Meuers, 79, is one of more than a dozen clergy sexual abuse survivors in regular — sometimes daily — contact with O’Malley and his office. O’Malley looks to them for advice and insight into improving and expanding the archdiocese’s outreach to survivors, and he expects that collaboration will broaden and deepen now that the

archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is complete.

During the bankruptcy proceedings, more than 450 survivors filed abuse claims against the archdiocese. While some of those claimants worked with O’Malley’s office during the four-year reorganization process, he had heard that others might be newly open to connecting with the archdiocese after the end of litigation.

And that’s already happened, he told The TIM O’MALLEY Catholic Spirit Jan. 2.

Since the bankruptcy’s Dec. 21 resolution, some survivors who were former claimants have requested meetings with him or Archbishop Bernard Hebda, and some of those meetings have taken place.

That may be the result of a midDecember public letter from Archbishop Hebda, in which he reiterated that he is available to meet with abuse survivors.

He said he is reserving Fridays through April for those meetings. In the same

letter, he reminded survivors who previously entered into a settlement agreement with the archdiocese that contained a confidentiality clause that they are released from the confidentiality agreement.

But neither statement was made without first taking the temperature of the local survivor community, said O’Malley, a former judge and superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension who joined the archdiocese in 2014 to revamp its safe environment efforts. Both a group of survivors and survivors’ attorneys were consulted to make sure the archbishop’s statement would achieve its objective.

“We don’t make any decision without asking for [survivors’] input, and it’s very valuable as far as moving forward, next steps,” said Janell Rasmussen, deputy director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. “It’s pretty influential in our work.”

That has included delving deeper into a proposal to follow the lead of other dioceses and establish an archdiocesan “year of PLEASE TURN TO SURVIVORS ON PAGE 5

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 10, 2019

PAGETWO

“

We must remember that Article VI of the U.S. Constitution forbids a religious test for public office, and the First Amendment guarantees our free exercise of religion, freedom of association and freedom of speech.

Any suggestion that the order’s adherence to the beliefs of the Catholic Church makes a brother Knight unfit for public office blatantly violates those constitutional guarantees.

CNS

CELBRATING THEOPHANY Father Tyler Strand of Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Church in Smithtown, N.Y., holds a crucifix as he blesses the waters of the Nissequogue River in Smithtown during a prayer service Jan. 6 marking the feast of the Theophany. The feast, celebrated by Eastern churches, commemorates the revelation of the Holy Trinity through Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River.

Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, in a Jan. 1 statement to all members of the Knights. Anderson was responding to statements made by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and Sen. Marie Hirono, D-Hawaii, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during a Nov. 28 confirmation hearing for Brian Buescher, nominated for a judgeship for the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. Buescher, who lost the Republican nomination for Nebraska attorney general in 2014 while saying during the campaign he was “avidly pro-life,” is a member of the Knights, joining when he was 18 years old. Harris expressed concern during the hearing about the positions on abortion and same-sex marriage taken by the Knights, which she called “an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men.” Hirono asked Buescher if he would recuse himself “from all cases in which the Knights of Columbus has taken a position,” adding that the organization “has taken a number of extreme positions.” Anderson told Catholic News Service in a Jan. 4 telephone interview that he wrote to the Knights more than a month after the hearing because the comments from Harris and Hirono had drawn a great deal of attention and many Knights requested a clear statement in response.

NEWS notes

1978

The year Annunciation House opened in El Paso, Texas, to serve the poor, especially immigrants living in the U.S. without documentation. Dominican Sister Margaret McGuirk and two parishioners of Incarnation/Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Minneapolis are volunteering with immigrant families at Annunciation House until Jan. 16. Read about their experiences at Incarnation’s website, inc-scj.org/sister-margaret-s-blog.html.

16

CNS

MIGRANT CHILDREN DEATHS Family members and friends attend the Christmas Day burial of Jakelin Caal in San Antonio Secortez, Guatemala. The 7-year-old girl died Dec. 8 at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, after she was detained along with her father Dec. 6 at a remote border crossing in New Mexico. On Dec. 24, an 8-year-old Guatemalan child detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection died at a hospital in New Mexico, the agency reported.

189

in REMEMBRANCE

Deacon Glover ministered 18 years in Stillwater

Deacon Guy Glover, a permanent deacon who served 18 years at St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater, died Dec. 19. He was 85. A funeral Mass was held Dec. 27 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lake St. Croix Beach. Burial was at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Ordained in 2000, Deacon Glover also served as a chaplain at Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital in St. Paul and with the Washington County sheriff’s office. He was coordinating deacon for pastoral ministry at St. Michael. Widely known for his white beard, he made a tradition of portraying St. Nicholas at St. Michael in Stillwater and St. Mark in St. Paul. He was a military veteran and retired attorney. Survivors include his wife, Virginia, and seven children.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 24 — No. 1 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor

The number of years Father Mark Dosh served as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Excelsior. The parish is honoring the priest, who died in February 2018, and his “lifelong love of learning and understanding that our faith is not static” with a new speaker series titled “Where Knowledge Leads to Love.” In 2019, the quarterly series will explore the four marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Biblical scholar Jeff Cavins will present the first talk, “The Church is One,” Jan. 31. The event begins with a 6 p.m. reception followed by the 7 p.m. talk and Q&A. Spiritual writer Father Jacques Phillipe will present “The Church is Holy” March 21, and Bishop Peter Christensen of Boise, Idaho, will present “The Church is Apostolic” Nov. 14. The speaker for the Sept. 19 presentation of “The Church is Catholic” is yet to be determined. For more information, visit stjohns-excelsior.org/parish.

The number of youths and chaperones traveling as part of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ delegation to the National March for Life Jan. 18 in Washington. The annual event marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. The evening before the March, the local delegation plans to attend the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Jan. 17, and they will participate in the Students for Life of America national conference Jan. 19.

2,608

The number of miles between Minneapolis and Panama City, Panama, which is hosting World Youth Day Jan. 22-27. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens will accompany a group of 28 youths and chaperones from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Father Michael Daly, parochial vicar of St. Odilia in Shoreview, is also leading a group of 25 from Latino communities in the archdiocese. Attendees will participate in the catechetical sessions, liturgies and other activities during the six-day event with Pope Francis and youth from around the world.

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JANUARY 10, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEMODERATOROFTHECURIA ONLY JESUS | FATHER CHARLES LACHOWITZER

God be with you

I

was on my annual visit to the Mall of Everything. I was not in collar and wore a Wild jersey and an old hat. The various stores were filled with people of every style of clothing.

As I stood in the checkout line, my inner curmudgeon grumbled each time I heard someone say to another, “Happy holidays!” I like saying “Merry Christmas!” since it is after all, the reason for the season.

Nonetheless, the Scriptures during the Advent and Christmas seasons got me thinking about the level of my awareness concerning global issues and my individual responsibility for them. Clearly the prophets proclaimed a vision for how we are to treat one another in a just world, and this vision is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

I’m not a big fan of the phrase “What would Jesus do?” With all due respect to those who wear WWJD on a bracelet, my opinion was skewered long ago by a comedian who said, “What would Jesus do? Well, he wouldn’t need to wear a bracelet to remind him of what to do!” But the question seems central to living out the Gospel. What would Jesus do in the Mall of Everything? What would be his seasonal greeting? “Merry Me”?

My sarcasm aside, I cannot escape the dilemma posed when by proclaiming in the Mall of Everything “Merry Christmas,” I may cause offense to some people, even those who are not Christian. The mandate of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church compel me to treat others, without exception, with respect.

Is my need to say “Merry Christmas” at the expense of the virtue of charity? I stood in the long line at the Mall of Everything and took the time to think of an acceptable greeting for the season. As I concluded my plastic transaction, I slightly bowed and said to the checkout clerk, “The best of the season be with you!” It sounded only slightly better than “happy holidays.”

The clerk smiled, thanked me and then, after a sideways glance at the line of people, said in a lowered voice, “Merry Christmas, Father Charlie. You were the priest at my grade school!”

As I walked away, I chuckled at the coincidence and how reality often erases the inner white board of my great thoughts. But it is no light reflection to imagine Jesus in the Mall of Everything. He would seek out the lost. Those most in need

Dios sea contigo

E

staba en mi visita anual al Mall of Everything.

No llevaba cuello y llevaba un jersey de Wild y un sombrero viejo. Las diferentes tiendas estaban llenas de personas de todos los estilos de ropa.

Cuando me paré en la fila de salida, mi cascarrabias interior se quejaba cada vez que oía a alguien decir a otra persona: “¡Felices vacaciones!”. Me gusta decir “¡Feliz Navidad!”, Ya que es la razón de la temporada.

No obstante, las Escrituras durante las temporadas de Adviento y Navidad me hicieron pensar en el nivel de mi conciencia con respecto a los problemas globales y mi responsabilidad individual por ellos.

Claramente, los profetas proclamaron una visión de cómo debemos tratarnos unos a otros en un mundo justo, y esta visión se cumple en Jesucristo.

No soy un gran admirador de la frase “¿Qué haría Jesús?” Con el debido respeto hacia los que usan WWJD en un brazalete, mi opinión fue contrarrestada por un comediante que dijo: “¿Qué haría Jesús? Bueno, ¡no necesitaría usar un brazalete para recordarle qué hacer! “Pero la pregunta parece fundamental para vivir el Evangelio. ¿Qué haría Jesús en el centro comercial de todo? ¿Cuál sería su saludo estacional? “Feliz conmigo”?

Dejando a un lado el sarcasmo, no puedo escapar del dilema que se plantea al proclamar en el Mall of Everything “Feliz Navidad”, puedo ofender a algunas personas, incluso a aquellas que no son cristianas. El mandato del Evangelio y las enseñanzas de la Iglesia me obligan a tratar a los demás, sin excepción, con respeto.¿Mi necesidad de decir “Feliz Navidad” a costa de la virtud de la caridad? Me quedé en la larga fila en el Mall of Everything y me tomé el tiempo para pensar en un saludo aceptable para la temporada.

Cuando terminé mi transacción de plástico, hice una pequeña reverencia y le dije al empleado de la caja,

“

There is a seasonal greeting I can use for all God’s children. It is the promise fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ — Emmanuel — God is with us.

Perhaps the most respectful and truest of all seasonal greetings is to say simply, “God be with you!”

would be drawn to him. He would treat everyone with great respect, kindness and much love. At some point Mall security would be alerted.

As Catholics, we enter into the mystery of the Incarnation every time we celebrate the Eucharist. As members of the Church, we are part of the One Body of Christ, the person and real presence of Jesus Christ in our world. To live in Christ is a far more authentic witness to the Gospel than mere confession on the lips when saying, “Merry Christmas.” How we treat the stranger either confirms or denies our faith.

I look forward to saying “Merry Christmas” to friends, families and at Mass all the way until January 13th. I do get odd looks. But in the Mall of Everything, especially when patience is tried and the virtue of charity challenged, there is a seasonal greeting I can use for all God’s children. It is the promise fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ — Emmanuel — God is with us. Perhaps the most respectful and truest of all seasonal greetings is to say simply, “God be with you!”

I am reminded that the old English greeting for “God be with you” was over the centuries shortened to “good bye.”

I think using the new English in the Mall of Everything is just fine: God be with you!

“¡Lo mejor de la temporada esté con usted!” Sonaba solo un poco mejor que “felices fiestas”.

El empleado sonrió, me dio las gracias y luego, después de mirar de reojo a la fila de personas, dijo en voz baja: “Feliz Navidad, Padre Charlie. ¡Tú eras el sacerdote en mi escuela primaria!

Mientras me alejaba, me reí entre dientes ante la coincidencia y cómo la realidad a menudo borraba la pizarra blanca interior de mis grandes pensamientos.

Pero no es un reflejo de luz imaginar a Jesús en el centro comercial de todo. Él buscaría a los perdidos.

Los más necesitados serían atraídos por él. Él trataría a todos con gran respeto, amabilidad y mucho amor. En algún momento se alertaría a la seguridad del centro comercial.

Como católicos, entramos en el misterio de la Encarnación cada vez que celebramos la Eucaristía.

Como miembros de la Iglesia, somos parte del Cuerpo Único de Cristo, la persona y la presencia real de Jesucristo en nuestro mundo. Vivir en Cristo es un testimonio mucho más auténtico del Evangelio que la mera confesión en los labios al decir “Feliz Navidad”.

La forma en que tratamos al extraño confirma o niega nuestra fe.

Espero poder decir “Feliz Navidad” a mis amigos, familiares y en la misa hasta el 13 de enero. Tengo miradas extrañas. Pero en el Mall of Everything, especialmente cuando se prueba la paciencia y se desafía la virtud de la caridad, hay un saludo estacional que puedo usar para todos los hijos de Dios. Es la promesa cumplida en el nacimiento de Jesucristo ­— Emmanuel ­— Dios está con nosotros.

Quizás el más respetuoso y verdadero de todos los saludos estacionales es decir simplemente, “¡Dios esté con ustedes!”

Me recuerdan que el viejo saludo en inglés para “Dios esté con ustedes” fue a través de los siglos reducido a “adiós”.

Creo que usar el nuevo inglés en el Mall of Everything está bien: ¡Dios te acompañe!

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Effective January 1, 2019 Reverend Nathan LaLiberte, appointed temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Our Lady of the Lake in Mound, while the pastor, Reverend Tony O’Neill, is on sabbatical until February 28, 2019. This is in addition to Father Laliberte’s current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Maximilian Kolbe in Delano.

Effective January 7, 2019 Reverend Stephen Adrian, appointed sacramental minister for the Church of Saint Matthew in Saint Paul. Father Adrian is a retired priest of the Archdiocese who also serves as canonical administrator of Community of Saints Catholic School in West Saint Paul. He replaces Reverend Robert Kelly, O.P., who has been reassigned outside the Archdiocese by his religious superior.

Reverend Richard Banker, appointed parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Matthew in Saint Paul. This is in addition to his current assignments as pastor of the Church of Saint Edward in Bloomington and as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Michael in West Saint Paul.

Effective December 11, 2018 Deacon James Nistler, granted incardination into the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, from the Diocese of Bismarck.

Effective December 12, 2018 Deacon Darrel Courrier, granted excardination from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, into the Archdiocese of Dubuque.

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 10, 2019

SLICEof LIFE

LOCAL

One in a million Charlie Keffer, left, of the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and a parishioner of St. Cecilia in St. Paul, hands a golden plate with food Dec. 19 to Zerelda Walks Out, who lives in south Minneapolis. The plate served at Holy Rosary represents the 1 millionth meal served by Loaves and Fishes last year, the first time the Minneapolis-based nonprofit has reached the mark, a goal set by its board for 2018. Holy Rosary in south Minneapolis is one of several local Catholic parishes that regularly host Loaves and Fishes. Founded in 1982 as a Catholic organization before becoming an independent nonprofit, Loaves and Fishes provides free meals to those in need around the metro and state. “I thought it was amazing.

Pretty cool that I got chosen to be the lucky person that got to eat off the golden plate,” said Walks Out, 40, who has been receiving Loaves and Fishes meals at Holy Rosary since her pre-teen years.

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LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Catholic Charities reports alleged housing fraud scheme

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Discovery of an alleged fraud scheme involving money intended to help the homeless obtain housing with the assistance of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resulted in charges against several people, and the investigation continues.

“The employment of Catholic Charities staff members suspected of being involved in the illegal activity was terminated, the individuals were reported to law enforcement, and the affected funding partners were notified,” the nonprofit organization said in a statement. The statement did not say how many employees Catholic Charities terminated.

An internal investigation began in March 2017, and findings from the initial review were brought immediately to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Catholic Charities officials said. Catholic Charities is cooperating with law enforcement and the governmental agencies

investigating the people allegedly involved, the organization said.

Catholic Charities is the “victim of a criminal scheme to defraud housing rental assistance funds,” its statement said. The total amount lost is expected to be less than $750,000, and Catholic Charities is working with its insurer to cover the losses, the organization said. The nonprofit regularly reviews its internal policies and procedures to prevent fraud and abuse and did so again in response to this incident, officials said.

MPRNews reported that five people face federal charges in the alleged scheme, which occurred from 2012 through early 2017. People allegedly posed as landlords renting to homeless people, got the nonprofit to send them checks and split the proceeds with at least one employee of the organization.

In statements about the alleged scheme, officials in Hennepin and Ramsey counties said Catholic Charities notified them in early 2017 about a federal investigation around misdirection of grant funds. The money came

SURVIVORS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 reconciliation” or other effort toward healing in 2019.

After some priests pitched the idea to archdiocesan leaders in late 2018, O’Malley’s office consulted its survivor network. Some thought the concept was premature, and others wanted to see more concrete plans before they could evaluate it. With that feedback, a committee has formed to determine what initiative would best serve the local Church.

“It’s not just us deciding ‘oh this is a good idea,’ it’s involving ... lay leadership and victims/survivors ... to help us understand what do they think would be helpful, and then we respond to that,” O’Malley said.

Rasmussen identified three “groups” of survivors her office works with: survivors who collaborate with the office regularly; survivors who have less frequent contact with the archdiocese but who help plan and attend events; and survivors who call her office with questions and ideas, but who aren’t directly involved with local outreach efforts. Survivors and “secondary survivors” — survivors’ family and friends who also live with the effects of abuse — sit on the archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board, which advises Archbishop Hebda on matters of clergy misconduct, as well as on the advisory board for the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth.

Local survivors have also influenced changes the archdiocese is making to requirements for VIRTUS training, the national program for employees and volunteers in Catholic institutions to increase sexual abuse awareness. Rasmussen has learned that many survivors find some parts of the training distressing, and that has prevented some from completing the training and volunteering in parishes or schools.

Rasmussen is working to amend archdiocesan policies in order to accommodate survivors, as well as communicate with VIRTUS with the hope of influencing future training materials.

Meanwhile, the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment has been working with parish leaders to organize listening sessions, informational meetings and restorative justice events. Meuers, who said he was abused by a priest as a 16-year-old in the context of confession, has been instrumental in helping the archdiocese shape its outreach to parishes.

With the bankruptcy resolved, parish leaders are asking, “What’s next?,” O’Malley said, and they want to help parishioners — and the survivors among them — be heard and to heal from their own experiences and the broader crisis in the Church. Restorative justice experts Janine Geske and Mark Umbreit have also led or participated in some parish events.

“Parishes are all different in terms of their history with this and what their needs are,” O’Malley said. At least four parishes have hosted events, and he expects interest to grow.

In his national and international work with SNAP, Meuers said he’s unaware of other dioceses that work so closely with survivors. “This is pretty unique,” he said of the archdiocese’s approach. “This is not something that’s just being picked up somewhere ...

from the Minnesota Housing Finance Administration, they said.

To date, Catholic Charities has refunded about $102,000 to Ramsey County for grants between 2013 and 2017, officials in that county said. The money has been refunded to MHFA and the county is reviewing earlier grant years, officials said.

Hennepin County has been reimbursed more than $19,000 and sent that money to MHFA, officials in that county said. “The county’s internal audit process is ongoing and we anticipate to be refunded an additional several hundred thousand dollars,” county officials said.

Catholic Charities said it discovered the alleged acts, took action and is cooperating with all involved in the investigation. And the alleged scheme has not deterred it from its mission.

“Throughout the investigation, Catholic Charities has maintained these housing rental assistance programs and continues to ensure that men and women in need receive critical services and support,” the nonprofit said.

Bankruptcy case closes

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Frank Meuers is one of more than a dozen clergy sexual abuse survivors who talk regularly with leaders of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Meuers is the southwest Minnesota director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. and we’re just implementing this. They had to start from zero, and there was a lot to be done here. I don’t think it was until Tim got there that they [the archdiocese] actually started putting some things together to make it work.”

Meuers first met O’Malley about two-and-a-half years ago. He said O’Malley understands that letting people share and be heard goes a long way in the healing process, and that’s why the healing circle approach the archdiocese has backed in several parishes works. The archdiocese also customizes its approach for each unique situation, Meuers said, and he hopes to see other U.S. dioceses adopt what he calls “the Minnesota model.”

“It’s a model that no one [else] has; it’s probably the only model out there, and it’s working,” he said.

Mike Finnegan, a child abuse attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates in St. Paul, also said that the archdiocese stands out in its proactive approach to reaching out to survivors and making sure they know they can meet with local Church leaders.

“I think Tim O’Malley — and all the people who he’s working with and working with survivors — have done a much better job than I’ve seen across the country in terms of respecting survivors and allowing them to have a voice in the process,” he said. “I also think it’s a marked difference from what went on in this archdiocese before Tim was involved.”

Within the next few months, O’Malley plans to fill a new position within his office focused on ensuring survivors’ perspectives are heard within archdiocesan management. That new staff member will also lead the office’s survivor and parish outreach. Meanwhile, his office will continue to connect survivors with resources ranging from individual counseling and local clergy abuse ombudsman Tom Johnson to survivor groups, including SNAP. “It’s just to open up opportunities for people to know that their voice can be heard,” O’Malley said.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case was formally closed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Dec. 21, three months after the $210 million plan for Reorganization was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel. Tom Abood, chairman of the archdiocese’s Reorganization Task Force and the Archdiocesan Finance Council, called the closure “the final signpost in a long journey that marks the end of one chapter in the history of the local Church and the beginning of a new day for us all.”

In January 2015, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of mounting claims of clergy sexual abuse dating back as far as the 1940s. Ultimately 453 claims were filed against the archdiocese during the claim-filing period, most of which were related to suits brought against the archdiocese during a three-year-lifting of the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims in Minnesota. In May 2018, the archdiocese announced it had reached a $210 million settlement.

In a Dec. 21 message to clergy and archdiocesan staff, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he was sharing the news “with great gratitude.” But while the judge’s action completed the legal proceedings, “our efforts to reach out to those hurt by people in the Church is just beginning and will continue indefinitely, along with our core commitment of creating and maintaining safe environments for all,” he said.

“Please know of my gratitude for your steadfast service during these challenging past four years,” he said to clergy and staff. “I ask you to join me in pausing during these final days of Advent and Christmas to pray for all survivors, their families and friends.”

Mike Finnegan, an attorney for Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represented most of the abuse claimants in the case, said that the majority of claimants have received payments from the trust established in the settlement. The trust is administered by a third party selected by claimants’ attorneys, who also established a review process to determine how the settlement funds would be allocated. The archdiocese was not involved in that process.

For Finnegan’s clients, the payment “gives them [survivors] a chance at closure at least of the legal process, and [it] gives them an opportunity to get healing and continue their process of recovery,” he said.

As The Catholic Spirit previously reported, $170 million of the settlement is from insurance carriers, including $20 million from parish insurers. The archdiocese contributed $35 million from the sale of property, unrestricted cash, reserves not required to cover claims in its general insurance fund and benefits plan, board-designated funds and a pending estate settlement. Nearly $3 million of the settlement came from voluntary pledges from some parishes and priests. The plan includes a provision that ends all litigation against parishes arising from settlement claims. The archdiocese will also pay $1 million annually for five years to the trust established for distributing funds to victims/survivors.

“It’s the effort of many people, survivors, advisers and lay leaders to bring this result, which we are pleased to see finally achieved,” Abood said. The Church, he said, will “move forward continuing to ensure a safe environment for children and serving the needs of the Catholics in this archdiocese.”

— Maria Wiering

LOCAL

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 10, 2019

As session opens, MCC stresses state budget as moral document

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit A divided state government during the legislative session that began Jan. 8 creates opportunities for moderation and compromise, which is a good place to forge legislation that might be overlooked in a highly partisan environment, said Jason Adkins, executive director and general counsel of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Democrats flipped control of the House to their side in the November elections, turning a 57-77 minority into a 75-59 majority, while Republicans kept a one-seat majority in the Senate. Newlyelected Gov. Tim Walz is a Democrat replacing two-term Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton, who is retiring.

“It’s a great space for trying to pull things out of a hyper-political environment,” Adkins said. “It takes the wind out of the sails of a big-ticket, aggressively partisan agenda.”

Budget: A moral document The divided state Legislature is working with a $1.56 billion budget surplus, as well as a governor determined to raise the state gas tax to create mass transit initiatives, Adkins said. Republicans don’t see a need for a gas tax increase in the face of a budget surplus, he said, and the budget will be a main focus of debate as lawmakers open their two-year session.

Lawmakers have a July 1 deadline to develop a budget that will cover the next two fiscal years.

As the public policy voice for the Catholic Church in Minnesota, the MCC can elevate the debate beyond self-interest and partisan differences by stressing that the budget is a moral document that must bring resources to bear on needs of the poor and vulnerable, Adkins said.

“State money should be directed to those most in need,” he said. “This surplus of resources can be used to improve lives.”

So the MCC will lobby for initiatives such as a boost to the cash grant allowed in the Minnesota Family Investment Program, the state’s welfare program for families with children. The MCC has lobbied for years for an increase in the cash grant, which has not been increased since 1986 — more than 30 years ago, Adkins said.

It’s hard for people to overcome poverty in 2019 on 1986 dollars, he said.

The cash grant program also should be indexed to the cost of living, another effort backed by the MCC, Adkins said.

In other issues directly related to the budget, the conference will continue to back efforts to create affordable housing with partners such as the Homes for All coalition. It will also promote school choice initiatives with the Opportunity for All Kids advocacy organization, Adkins said.

Protecting the environment Over the years, the conference has taken on environmental issues, and protecting water resources is high on that list, Adkins said. People need to be good stewards, as Pope Francis emphasizes in his encyclical on the environment, “Laudato si’,” Adkins said.

“We are a land of well over 10,000 lakes. Water is so precious. One day, it

will be more valuable than oil. How do we protect that as good stewards?” he asked.

One principle the conference plans to stress is that creating jobs in mining and other efforts is not incompatible with proper stewardship of the land, Adkins said.

“It does not have to be a zero-sum game,” he said. “The Church is calling for real dialogue among interests and stakeholders.”

Another longstanding, important and moral issue is criminal justice reform, Adkins said. Democrats newly in control of the House are likely to be interested in expanding the right of ex-felons to vote after they are released from prison or jail, ending the requirement that they wait until completing parole. The MCC backs that proposal, he said.

Society can continue to respect the rights of victims while helping to reintegrate offenders in the community, balancing justice with restorative healing, Adkins said.

Human dignity As one way to elevate the debate, the MCC has begun to group issues around common themes, such as the dignity of the human person. A common theme demonstrates connections and emphasizes their importance, Adkins said.

A successful effort last session, built around a theme of preventing commodification of the human person, was MCC-backed legislation that publicly recognizes the link between pornography and sex trafficking. Under a new law, the state is adding pornography to the list of issues studied in the Legislature’s annual human trafficking report. The law also directs fines collected for child pornography and dissemination of harmful materials to minors to the state’s Safe Harbor Program, which fights sex trafficking and assists victims.

The initiative makes Minnesota a leader in understanding that people exploited by sex traffickers are victims, not criminals, Adkins said. And the annual study will help demonstrate connections between pornography and sex trafficking, creating a record that can help solidify understanding of those interlocking evils and point toward ways to eliminate them, he said.

Sex trafficking victims, for example, often are the subjects of pornography, and some viewers of pornography try to act on what they see, becoming perpetrators of sex crimes, he said.

“The state is developing the data as public health information,” Adkins said. “There is a connection between trafficking and pornography. If that is the case, how do we regulate pornography in the interest of public health?”

Also along the theme of preventing commodification of people, the MCC is helping craft legislation to create a regulatory framework around the practice of gestational surrogacy in Minnesota, based on recommendations made by a 2016 legislative commission that studied the issue. MCC’s measure would ban commercial surrogacy, in which surrogates and brokers receive financial compensation. The measure didn’t pass last year, but similar legislation will continue to be discussed, Adkins said.

Commercial surrogacy treats women

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

From left, Jason Adkins, Rachel Herbeck and Shawn Peterson of the Minnesota Catholic Conference stand inside the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul ahead of the 2019 legislative session. and children as commodities, which can lead to additional evils, he said.

“When we treat children as a product for sale, what happens when that product is believed to be defective, or not living up to expectations?” Adkins said.

“There’s not been a lot of attention paid to that in the public debate.”

Pro-life issues Issues around the sanctity of life also will be important, from attempts to halt any movement toward legalization of assisted suicide to building a broader consensus against abortion, Adkins said.

One key to preventing assisted suicide is assuring people that they will receive proper end-of-life care, so people don’t need to fear they will die in pain, without comfort or assistance, he said. Society needs to provide “caring, not killing,” he said.

Support for early childhood care also is needed, and the conference will encourage legislation that assists children and mothers during the first three years of a child’s life — “the first 1,000 days from conception to age 3” — with maternity, nutrition, health and education initiatives, he said.

The conference also will support legislation designed to prevent gun violence, such as universal background checks, and prevent both gambling expansion and the legalization of recreational marijuana use, Adkins said.

Across the spectrum of issues, the conference will continue seeking ways to elevate the debate beyond partisan and other interests, stressing the common good and helping the needy, Adkins said. And in a year of divided government, there will be opportunities to get things done, he said.

“This really creates more space for policy,” he said. “A lot of legislation we work on is in that environment.”

CATHOLICS AT THE CAPITOL Advocating for public policy that protects life and human dignity is the mission of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, and that mission will underscore discussions at the conference’s Catholics at the Capitol event Feb. 19 in St. Paul.

Sponsored by the MCC, the daylong event at the St. Paul RiverCentre and the Minnesota State Capitol will include speakers Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who will talk about faithful citizenship, and actor Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ” in 2004. Caviezel plans to address discipleship, organizers said.

Archbishop Chaput also will concelebrate a 7 a.m.

Mass at Assumption in downtown St. Paul with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and bishops of the dioceses of Crookston, Duluth, New Ulm, St. Cloud and Winona-Rochester.

Catholic media personality Gloria Purvis will emcee the 9 a.m. gathering, and Catholic musician Danielle Rose will perform.

In addition to his keynote address, Caviezel will attend an 8 a.m., $250-a-person fundraiser breakfast. Tickets remain available through Feb. 3. The day of learning, reflection and training in political engagement also will include briefings on important issues for the 2019 legislative session and an opportunity to visit with state lawmakers.

Organizers expect more than 2,000 people to attend the day, from every legislative district in the state.

“We bring people together to join their voices” to the legislative process, said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director and general counsel.

The gathering is intended to inspire, engage and equip people in that effort, he said.

Registration is open through Feb. 3 at catholicsatthecapitol.org. The website includes details on costs, parking, the schedule for the event and other information.

— Joe Ruff

JANUARY 10, 2019

NATION+WORLD

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

Testimony, news reports swirl in Archbishop McCarrick abuse case Catholic News Service James Grein, a Virginia man who said Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington, sexually abused him for years beginning when he was 11, gave his testimony Dec. 27 in New York as part of a Vatican investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the former cardinal.

“He wants his Church back. He felt that in order to accomplish that end he had to go in and testify here and tell them what happened and give the Church itself the chance to do the right thing,” Patrick Noaker, a Minneapolis-based attorney who is representing Grein, told The Associated Press.

In a New York Times report in July about his allegations against Archbishop McCarrick, Grein only allowed his first name to be used, but he has since been more public and spoke during a protest that took place during the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting in Baltimore.

According to reports about Grein’s testimony, he spoke of repeated incidents of the archbishop groping him during confession.

The Catholic News Agency reported that Grein also testified Archbishop McCarrick sexually assaulted him in a car, later explaining a mess in the car by telling the boy’s mother Grein had spilled a soda.

Archbishop McCarrick, who has denied allegations against him, now lives in a Capuchin Franciscan friary in Victoria, Kansas. The Archdiocese of Washington

in a statement this summer said it had conducted an investigation and found no allegations of misconduct involving Archbishop McCarrick during the time he served as archbishop of Washington between 2000 and 2006. He earlier served as a priest and then auxiliary bishop in New York, and as bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, and archbishop of Newark, New Jersey.

The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 5 that a decision on whether to laicize Archbishop McCarrick could come as soon as mid-January because Vatican officials don’t want the decision to overshadow the pope’s meeting Feb. 21-24 with prelates from around the world about protecting minors.

Also Jan. 5, the online Catholic news outlet Crux reported that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles clergy sex abuse claims among some of its responsibilities, is reviewing a third case involving Archbishop McCarrick and a minor, one more case than previously reported.

In July, Pope Francis accepted Archbishop McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals and suspended him from public ministry, ordering him to a “life of prayer and penance” until the accusations against him, also about misconduct with seminarians, were examined in a canonical trial. Since allegations against him have come to light, Catholic laity and Church leaders, including bishops, have been asking who knew about the archbishop’s alleged

CNS

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, while in Baltimore in 2017. misconduct and how was it possible for him to move up the ranks in Church leadership.

Open letters to the pope asked him to investigate what happened, and a flurry of speculation was fueled by unsubstantiated allegations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former papal nuncio to the United States, who accused the Vatican hierarchy and Pope Francis, in particular, of being complicit in covering up accusations against Archbishop McCarrick.

In October, the Vatican issued a statement noting there had been a thorough preliminary investigation into an allegation against Archbishop McCarrick a year ago, which will be combined with further study.

“The Holy See will, in due course, make known the conclusions of the matter regarding Archbishop McCarrick,” the statement added.

— The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report

Minneapolis attorney: Desire to help sexual abuse survivors fuels work A desire to help sexual abuse survivors fuels the work of a Minneapolis-based attorney representing two men who have accused former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of sexual abuse.

The men Patrick Noaker of Noaker Law Firm is representing found his firm through referrals from other attorneys, he said.

One of the men is a former altar boy whose credible abuse accusation resulted in Archbishop McCarrick’s removal from public ministry last year; the other is James Grein of Virginia, who testified Dec. 27 to Church officials in New York.

A former public defender who has practiced law for 28 years and dealt with the gamut of criminal cases, including the death penalty, Noaker said victims of sexual abuse

who are not heard and who don’t get help can suffer from depression, turn to alcohol or drugs to numb the pain, or themselves become perpetrators of sexual abuse or other crimes.

“The whole system is checkered with people who have been abused as kids,” Noaker said.

“They try to numb the pain. Then things spiral PATRICK NOAKER on them.”

Noaker said he wanted to catch people at the “top of the cliff” to help them seek justice and encourage them to get therapy and counseling, rather than at the “bottom of the cliff” facing criminal charges of their own.

So he joined the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates of St. Paul about 18 years ago, and he formed his own firm about six years ago. Both firms specialize in representing survivors of sexual abuse and assault.

“If you get help to them early, everyone is better off,” Noaker said. “The person is better off, and there are no other victims.”

Pursuing justice with compassion also is important, said Noaker, 57. That includes helping survivors keep tabs on their cases through a secure website that tracks all court filings and other documents to help answer questions and empower clients to understand thoroughly their rights and the legal process, he said.

said. “It steals power — and we can provide more power.”

Being involved with a case going to the Vatican was humbling, Noaker said.

“I’m a courtroom lawyer,” he said. “I’m not a great policymaker. I’m pretty humbled to be in a position to be involved in a case like that.”

During his testiomy, Grein was treated with compassion, Noaker said.

“The ... interrogator was very compassionate,” he said. “He did not in any way try to hurt James. He asked hard questions, but he was compassionate.”

“Sexual abuse is so power driven,” he

— Joe Ruff, The Catholic Spirit

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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 10, 2019

Pope: Nationalistic tendencies threaten peace

Pope to bishops: Conversion, humility

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

As it did prior to the Second World War, the rise of nationalism in the world poses a threat to peace and constructive dialogue among nations, Pope Francis said.

During his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican Jan. 7, the pope said that the establishment of the League of Nations nearly 100 years ago ushered a new era of multilateral diplomacy based on goodwill, readiness among nations to deal fairly and honestly with each other, and openness to compromise.

However, he warned in his speech, the lack of one of those necessary elements results in nations searching “for unilateral solutions and, in the end, the domination of the powerful over the weak.”

“The League of Nations failed for these very reasons, and one notes with regret that the same attitudes are presently threatening the stability of the major international organizations,” the pope said.

Clearly, he added, “relationships within the international community, and the multilateral system as a whole, are experiencing a period of difficulty with the resurgence of nationalistic tendencies at odds with the vocation of the international organizations to be a setting for dialogue and encounter for all countries.”

In his nearly one-hour speech to

the diplomats, the pope warned that the re-emergence of populist and nationalist ideologies is “progressively weakening” multilateral institutions and subsequently creating a “general lack of trust, a crisis of credibility in international political life and a gradual marginalization of the most vulnerable members of the family of nations.”

An essential aspect of good politics, he said, is the pursuit of the common good that would enable individuals and the international community as a whole to “achieve their proper material and spiritual well-being.”

“Peace is never a partial good but one that embraces the entire human race,” he said.

Recalling the ongoing humanitarian crises in countries such as Ukraine and Syria, Pope Francis urged the international community to defend the most vulnerable in the world “and to give a voice to those who have none.”

Among those most affected by instability, he noted, are Christian communities in the Middle East, where many people have been forced to flee from violence and persecution, particularly due to the resurgence of attempts “to foment hostility between Muslims and Christians.”

The pope expressed his hope that his upcoming visits to the United Arab Emirates and to Morocco would provide an opportunity to “advance interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding between the followers of both religions.”

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The clerical abuse crisis and the “crisis of credibility” it created for the U.S. bishops have led to serious divisions within the U.S. Church and to a temptation to look for administrative solutions to problems that go much deeper, Pope Francis told the U.S. bishops.

Without a clear and decisive focus on spiritual conversion and Gospel-inspired ways of responding to victims and exercising ministry, “everything we do risks being tainted by self-referentiality, self-preservation and defensiveness, and thus doomed from the start,” the pope wrote.

In a letter distributed to the bishops at the beginning of their Jan. 2-8 retreat near Chicago, Pope Francis said he was convinced their response to the “sins and crimes” of abuse and “the efforts made to deny or conceal them” must be found through “heartfelt, prayerful and collective listening to the word of God and to the pain of our people.”

“As we know,” he said, “the mentality that would cover things up, far from helping to resolve conflicts, enabled them to fester and cause even greater harm to the network of relationships that today we are called to heal and restore.”

The “abuses of power and conscience and sexual abuse, and the poor way that they were handled” continue to harm the Church and its mission, he said, but so does “the pain of seeing an episcopate lacking in unity and concentrated more on pointing fingers than on seeking paths of reconciliation.”

Such a division, which goes well beyond a “healthy” diversity of opinions, is what caused him to recommend a retreat because, the pope said, “this situation forces us to look to what is essential and to rid ourselves of all that stands in the way of a clear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis said the retreat was a powerful moment of solidarity with Pope Francis and the U.S. bishops. Father Cantalamessa led the bishops in reflections on their calling as bishops, and in particular, on the role of the Holy Spirit in their ministry, the archbishop said.

“Drawing on his knowledge of sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, as well as on his 60 years of ministry, our retreat master did an extraordinary job of preaching a message of both hope and renewed commitment,” Archbishop Hebda said.

The pope said he had hoped “to be physically present” with the bishops for the retreat, but since that was not possible, he was pleased they accepted his suggestion to have the gathering be led by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

Pope Francis originally had suggested the bishops make a retreat in November instead of holding their annual general meeting. But the scope of the abuse crisis and the intense pressure the bishops felt to act led them to keep the November meeting and plan the retreat for January.

Plans for the November meeting and for the retreat came after a summer of shocking news: revelations of credible abuse accusations against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop

BOB ROLLER | CNS

Archbishop Bernard Hebda attends a prayer service at Mundelein Seminary Jan. 2 at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois, near Chicago. The U.S. bishops held a Jan. 2-8 retreat at the seminary in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. of Washington; the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report accusing more than 300 priests in six dioceses of abusing more than 1,000 children in a period spanning 70 years; and accusations published by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former apostolic nuncio to the United States, that Pope Francis had known about and ignored allegations that Archbishop McCarrick had sexually harassed seminarians.

In his letter to the bishops, Pope Francis said he suggested the retreat “as a necessary step toward responding in the spirit of the Gospel to the crisis of credibility that you are experiencing as a Church.”

“We know that, given the seriousness of the situation, no response or approach seems adequate,” the pope wrote. Still, pastors must have the wisdom to offer a response based on listening to God in prayer and to the suffering of the victims.

Pope Francis said Church leaders must “abandon a modus operandi of disparaging, discrediting, playing the victim or the scold in our relationships,” and instead listen to the “gentle breeze” of the Gospel message.

Encouraging the bishops to continue taking steps “to combat the ‘culture of abuse’ and to deal with the crisis of credibility,” he warned that credibility “cannot be regained by issuing stern decrees or by simply creating new committees or improving flow charts, as if we were in charge of a department of human resources. That kind of vision ends up reducing the mission of the bishop and that of the Church to a mere administrative or organizational function in the ‘evangelization business.’”

A restored credibility, he said, can only be “the fruit of a united body that, while acknowledging its sinfulness and limitations, is at the same time capable of preaching the need for conversion. For we do not want to preach ourselves but rather Christ who died for us.”

Humility “will liberate us from the quest of false, facile and futile forms of triumphalism” and from anything that would “keep us from approaching and appreciating the extent and implications of what has happened.”

— The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report

NATION+WORLD

JANUARY 10, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Irish bishops urge Catholics to ‘resist’ country’s new abortion law

By Michael Kelly Catholic News Service The primate of All Ireland insisted that the country’s new abortion law that took effect Jan. 1 has “no moral force” and “must be resisted” by Catholics.

Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, who also is president of the Irish bishops’ conference, said in a message to mark the legislation that the new law “in good conscience cannot be supported.”

“In a May 22 referendum, voters opted by a margin of 2-1 to lift the country’s constitutional protection of the right to life of unborn children. The new law will permit abortion on demand up to 12 weeks’ gestation. It also will permit abortion up to 24 weeks on unspecified grounds for the health of the mother, and up to birth where the child is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition that means he or she may not live long after birth,” he said.

Archbishop Martin urged Catholics to “continue to call and work diligently for its limitation, amendment and repeal.”

A small group of demonstrators gathered for a symbolic protest outside the Irish parliament in Dublin Jan. 2. Ruth Cullen, spokeswoman for the Pro-Life Campaign, said the protest stressed that the campaign to overturn the law continues.

“The pro-life movement is deeply saddened at what has happened to our country and about the loss of life that will inevitably result from this unjust law,” she told those gathered.

“We will fight on peacefully but ceaselessly to expose the lies that were told during the referendum campaign, and we look forward to a brighter day at some point in the future when unborn babies in Ireland will once again be welcomed in life and protected in law,” Cullen said.

Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin told Massgoers in his New Year message that Catholic politicians who had advocated for abortion had “chosen a position which is clearly out of communion with the Church.”

“There is no point in pretending otherwise,” he said.

Elsewhere, Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick appealed to politicians to ensure that women experiencing a crisis pregnancy do not feel that abortion is their only option.

People in Dublin react May 26, 2018, to the official result of the abortion referendum.

Ireland voted to legalize abortion, and bishops in Ireland are urging people to resist the law.

CNS

“Regardless of what way anyone voted and the reasons people had for voting as they did, it now behooves all to do our part to make sure that abortion is not the default response that characterizes people in Ireland when crisis pregnancies arise,” the bishop said.

“As a society, we need to recognize that while legislation now provides for abortion, it is not primarily what we want. Our moral compass must steer us in an entirely different direction. We must think of the possibilities of life and the love it brings,” he continued.

Bishop Leahy said “the question for us as a society is whether we still want to promote a culture of life that listens also to the child. I believe there is still a majority of people in Ireland who subscribe to a culture of the protection of the life of unborn, but many of those also subscribe to a culture of choice.

“We cannot let the child be swept away lightly when making these hard decisions,” he said.

Bishop Leahy also criticized the limited right to conscientious objection in the new legislation.

Doctors and other health care professionals will not be obliged to perform abortions, but the law does say they are committing an offense if they do not refer a woman who wants an abortion to another physician who will provide the termination.

He said the absence of more stringent protections for conscience was “outrageous” and called for the legislation to be amended to strengthen such protections.

“Forcing them [doctors] not to choose life would be a most inglorious watermark for this country,” he said. “It goes against the deeper demands of our common humanity to force anyone to do so.”

Ohio Legislature falls one vote short on restrictive abortion bill By one vote, the Ohio Senate failed to overturn the governor’s veto of a restrictive abortion bill.

Called the “heartbeat bill,” the legislation would have prohibited abortions at the first detectable heartbeat, or as early as six weeks of pregnancy.

On Dec. 27, state senators voted 1913 to override the governor’s veto; it needed 20 votes to pass.

Republican Senate President Larry Obhof said the legislation would come up again in the next session, and with a better chance of passing.

“We will have a supermajority that is pro-life in both chambers in the

next General Assembly” early in 2019, he told reporters. “And we have a governor coming in [newly elected Gov. Mike DeWine] who has said he would sign that bill.”

The legislation previously passed the Ohio House and Senate and was sent to Republican Gov. John Kasich, who vetoed the bill Dec. 21.

On Dec. 27, the Ohio House gained enough votes, 61-28, to override the governor’s veto, which then fell short in the Senate.

Kasich vetoed the same legislation two years ago, and the Ohio General Assembly was not able to override it.

The governor has described the bill as unconstitutional and one that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

to defend in court.

Three years ago, the Catholic Conference of Ohio said it was neutral on the bill. It said it supported “the life-affirming intent” of the legislation, but it had to “take into account the opinion of legal experts, who caution that the provisions in the proposed legislation are likely to be found unconstitutional.”

In a statement at the time, the conference said it was unlikely that a “complete ban of abortions after a heartbeat has been detected will be able to withstand court challenge.”

The Catholic Conference of Ohio, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, also said it “encourages the enactment of effective laws that will provide

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maximum protection for unborn persons,” adding that “legislation often involves prudential judgments as to the most effective and timely means for advancing the protection of unborn CathSpHoliday-Jan10-Feb7-2019.qxp_Layout 1 1/3/19 children.”

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10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

RESPECTLIFE

CARING FOR THE SMALLEST

IVF-focused work caused a local Catholic to dig deeper into the industry.

Now she offers burial for embryos who die in the process.

By Bridget Ryder For The Catholic Spirit

I

n August and November, 30 embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization, but who died before they were able to be transferred to a uterus, were laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights.

The embryos came to the Catholic cemetery from two fertility clinics, and their burial was facilitated by Laura Elm, founder of Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter.

Another burial is scheduled for February.

Elm’s work may be the first-known effort to offer fertility clinics burial of embryos as an alternative to disposing of embryos as medical waste. Elm believes that providing a dignified burial for these tiny humans is the least she can do to acknowledge their humanity.

“When you talk about the ‘fringes,’” said Elm, a parishioner of St. Peter in Mendota, “these are people who are really on the outermost of society, living in dishes, and they have needs, too.”

The mission of SHG is “to provide corporal and spiritual care for the youngest and smallest members of our human family.” Elm, 41, knows that as the practice of IVF increases, more and more embryos will be exploited.

Through Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter, she hopes to draw attention to these often-forgotten persons, as well as serve them, even if it is after they have died.

Elm’s motivation in this endeavor stems from her own experience in the fertility industry.

In early 2016, the married mother of four took a job in the fertility division of a national health insurance company. In this role, she served on a committee tasked with qualifying fertility clinics as centers of excellence for the company’s provider network.

“I took the job with the trusting belief that life begins at conception, but without understanding what conception was,” she said. “I had no idea what our faith teaches on IVF or why. I had a vague sense this wasn’t how God wanted babies to be made. I imagine there are a lot of people like me.” (See “What the Church teaches on IVF”) While taking classes for marriage preparation and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults six years before, she had learned the Church’s teachings on contraception within marriage. But, as far as she remembers, the flip-side of infertility and morally acceptable treatments were never addressed. She had experience in other areas of health insurance and pharmaceutical sales, but this job was her first close look at fertility treatments.

The committee she worked on analyzed the clinics using the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control data on IVF outcomes. By law, all IVF cycles must be reported to the CDC, either directly or by way of professional organizations such as the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. The CDC then publishes annual reports on IVF success rates for consumer purposes.

IVF involves five steps: ovum stimulation, egg retrieval, egg fertilization, culture and monitoring, and transfer of selected embryos to the uterus. What initially caught Elm’s attention was that data on one of these five steps, fertilization, was not accounted for in the CDC’s data. The data seemed to skip from retrieval to transfer without visibility into the total number of embryos created. “[The CDC report] is very focused on the adult female patient,” Elm said of the statistics the CDC publishes. “But [it] doesn’t acknowledge the other patients [who] are created.”

In her work for the health insurance company, though, she kept hearing about all the embryos created through IVF. Initially, the number of frozen, abandoned embryos in the United States struck her. The ideal goal of each IVF cycle is the live birth of one healthy baby, but, for a variety of reasons, the result is often multiple embryos, and not all of these embryos are necessarily transferred immediately to a uterus. Instead, some may be transferred to cryopreservation tanks, where they can be maintained if their parents choose to implant them at later dates.

Laura Elm of St. Peter in Mendota provides burial for deceased embryos from fertility clinics through a ministry she created called Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

It’s estimated that in the United States alone there are anywhere between 600,000 and more than 1 million cryopreserved embryos. Approximately 5 percent are considered abandoned, meaning their parents have stopped paying storage fees, lost contact with the facility where they are maintained, and left them at the discretion of the fertility clinic.

Elm’s 45-minute commute to work gave her time to think, and she started to wonder, are these embryos really human, and if so, is anyone doing anything to help them?

The incomplete statistics on IVF also continued to trouble her.

“Something felt ‘off’ about not understanding how many eggs were being fertilized,” she said. “People are pretty intentional about the data they record.”

Defining ‘conception’ To answer her queries, she dove into works by geneticists including Jerome Lejeune, the scientist who discovered the chromosomal anomaly that causes Down syndrome and who is considered the father of modern genetics. Now she understood what it meant to say that life begins at conception. Once the sperm penetrates the egg, the shell of the egg hardens to prevent any other sperm from entering.

At this point, the DNA of a unique person is contained in a single-cell membrane, and a new life begins to unfold.

Embryologists call this one-celled human a “2-pronuclei” embryo. “Fertilized egg” and “embryo” are synonymous.

To answer Elm’s question about how many embryos were being conceived during IVF cycles, she found a study published in 2010 in the journal “Fertility and Sterility” on a large fertility practice that analyzed four years of IVF cycles from start to finish. This study included information on how many eggs were fertilized. Combining those statistics with the CDC statistics, she estimated that in fresh, non-donor cycles alone the total embryo mortality rate is 82 percent.

A fresh, non-donor cycle means the eggs come from the woman the embryos will be transferred into, and at least one embryo is transferred immediately. According to the CDC’s 2015 data, these account for 39 percent of IVF cycles, the largest percent of any cycle type. Other cycles include those done with donor eggs and cycles where all embryos are frozen for later transfer.

Looking at fresh CDC non-donor data with this context of embryo mortality, Elm found that 76 percent of embryos that were transferred to the mother’s womb die before birth — the vast majority dying shortly after transfer and before implantation. According to the CDC, nationally, of the 110,062 embryos transferred in 2015, 75 percent did not survive to birth. In total, only 28,708 pregnancies were achieved from the transfers of more than three times as many embryos. But Elm found that embryos that survive to transfer account for less than 25 percent of the embryos conceived in IVF. Doing the math on the difference between eggs fertilized and embryos transferred in the fertility practice, she found that for every one embryo that was transferred, two die, either naturally or from intentional discard. Applying this ratio to the national statistics, she estimates that in the 91,090 fresh non-donor cycles begun in 2015, approximately 385,215 embryos were created by IVF. Of them, about 21 percent died in utero, and another 60 percent died in the lab. Another 11 percent were likely cryopreserved, with only 7 percent of embryos surviving to live birth.

Anecdotal evidence from online forums for parent patients of IVF supports the wider numbers. A thread on whattoexpect.com read: “They retrieved 26 eggs, all mature. 21 fertilized. But today I got the call that only 11 have made it to the 5-day blastocyst phase. We are having those 11 PGD’d [diagnosed before implantation] so I expect to lose a few more before all is said and done. . . . Is it normal to lose about 50% between Day 2 and Day 5?”

JANUARY 10, 2019 • 11

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES ON IVF One criteria the Church uses to evaluate the morality of fertility treatments is the respect it shows for the dignity of the human person. Scientists have known for decades that even in natural conceptions, approximately 50 percent of embryos do not survive past 10 days, unknowingly miscarried in the woman’s normal menstrual cycle. However, the situation in the fertility lab is different, where embryos are created knowing that many will never survive and some will be intentionally destroyed.

According to Paul Wojda, theology professor at the University of St. Thomas who specializes in medical ethics, it’s the singleminded focus of IVF, putting efficiency in achieving results over the value of each human life, that shows the moral problems involved. “‘Donum Vitae,’ Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day,” a 1987 instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed this aspect of IVF: “Such deliberate destruction of human beings or their utilization for different purposes to the detriment of their integrity and life is contrary to the doctrine on procured abortion already recalled.

The connection between in vitro fertilization and the voluntary destruction of human embryos occurs too often. This is significant: Through these procedures, with apparently contrary purposes, life and death are subjected to the decision of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree.

This dynamic of violence and domination may remain unnoticed by those very individuals who, in wishing to utilize this procedure, become subject to it themselves. The facts recorded and the cold logic which links them must be taken into consideration for a moral judgment on IVF and ET [in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer]: the abortion-mentality which has made this procedure possible thus leads, whether one wants it or not, to man’s domination over the life and death of his fellow human beings and can lead to a system of radical eugenics.”

“Donum Vitae” also states: u”These interventions are not to be rejected on the grounds that they are artificial. As such, they bear witness to the possibilities of the art of medicine. But they must be given a moral evaluation in reference to the dignity of the human person.” u“Although the manner in which human conception is achieved with IVF and ET cannot be approved, every child which comes into the world must in any case be accepted as a living gift of the divine Goodness and must be brought up with love.” u“Thus the fruit of human generation, from the first moment of its existence ... demands the unconditional respect that is morally due to the human being in his bodily and spiritual totality.” u“The corpses of human embryos and foetuses, whether they have been deliberately aborted or not, must be respected just as the remains of other human beings.”

— Bridget Ryder Elm explained: “In IVF, [embryos] are often treated as a statistical means to a desired end.”

It’s part of the numbers game IVF relies on for success, she said. The often inhuman treatment of embryos in the process is reflected in the common use of the term “fertilized egg” instead of “embryo,” she added. But, Elm pointed out, a “2 -pronuclei” embryo is not just “a very special cell,” but rather an organism with the intelligence to develop its life course — in this case, a human life.

Based on what she learned, Elm realized that she could not collaborate further with the IVF industry. In February of 2017, she left her product management position and founded Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter in Eagan.

From research to action “The first eight months of coming up with this was ‘What are we going to do, and who can I rope into this?’” she said.

For SHG’s board members, she not only gathered friends but also reached out to strangers. One of the strangers Elm brought on board was Paul Wojda, a theology professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul who specializes in medical ethics.

“I’d never heard of anything like this before,” said Wojda, who remains a supporter of SHG but whose term on the board has since ended. He thinks that Elm brings a unique experience to the endeavor of recognizing the humanity of embryos.

Elm also found Amanda Harding through a Catholic

News Service blog, Mama Needs Coffee. Through the blog, Harding, 34, had told her personal story of receiving a diagnosis of infertility, turning to IVF and then deeply regretting it. She lives in eastern Pennsylvania with her husband and three born children. The Hardings have two more embryos in cryopreservation that they plan to transfer. Harding joined the SHG board because she wants to bring awareness to the humanity of embryos.

“It was very near and dear to me,” she said. “I think that embryos are the forgotten ones.”

With the help of theologians and lawyers, Elm mulled over several ideas to assist embryos created in IVF. She wanted to take action in accord with Church teaching, but many possible interventions either had too many logistical or moral obstacles, or were focused solely on frozen embryos. Elm knew that embryos were living and dying at all stages of IVF. A bold yet simple idea emerged — provide burial for embryos while continuing to work for the recognition of their humanity.

State law already requires a dignified disposal of fetal remains, and several Twin Cities hospitals use the services of Resurrection Cemetery. As embryos have not yet formed the “cartilaginous structures, fetal or skeletal parts” defined by state law that require a dignified disposal, the common practice of IVF clinics is to dispose of them as medical waste. Elm has partnered with the cemetery so that embryo remains can be included in its quarterly fetal remains burials.

“The crucial issue is trying to convince clinics,” Wojda said.

Edward Furton, director of publications and an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, thinks the emphasis on human dignity in Elm’s work may make many clinics reluctant to give her embryo remains.

While the language in the literature Elm sends to clinics is diplomatic, she makes it clear that she is not offering another way to dispose of embryos that can simply be added to the list of already available options such as discard or donation for research. Instead, she is offering an alternative to the practice of disposing of already deceased embryos as medical waste. She is asking clinics to allow SHG to care for embryos that die during the process of IVF. “Please let us serve the smallest,” reads the postcard from the March 2018 round of outreach. “Embryo loss is a sorrowful reality of IVF, and until now clinics have not had an alternative to waste disposal for embryo remains. A better choice is available. Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter facilitates burial for embryos (i.e. 2PN zygote and on) who pass away in the IVF laboratory.”

As a strategic move, SHG does not communicate its burial services to the general public. When one of her pamphlets made it into the hands of a parent-patient, the parent contacted Elm to ask for burial for her cryopreserved embryos.

“What she said was, ‘I think I’d like to do this.’ What I heard was, ‘Since you’re offering this service, I’m going to thaw my embryos so that they can die and then be buried,’” Elm recalled.

Elm points out that frozen embryos are very much alive, and thawing them without intent to transfer to a uterus will cause their death. To avoid the unintended consequence of parents deciding to thaw their frozen embryos so that they may be buried, Elm only approaches clinics directly about embryo burial.

Elm started her outreach with the five IVF clinics in Minnesota. She then expanded her quarterly outreach nationally. Thus far, two clinics have decided to provide burial for deceased embryos as facilitated by SHG. Elm preferred not to name them as it is a delicate subject for clinics, but she did say that one clinic has made embryo burial through SHG its new standard procedure for deceased embryos. The other clinic is making the service known to its parent-patients as an option in case their embryos pass away. After each burial, Elm sends the clinics a letter with information on the burial site, a copy of the

program of the service and a prayer card. Clinics can make this information available to their parent-patients whose embryos have been buried.

Furton considers the work of SHG an act of charity. He notes that, unlike embryos that die in utero at the same gestational age — so early that a woman wouldn’t even know she was pregnant — embryos in fertility labs are watched, tracked and well known. And no one, not even an embryo, should knowingly be treated as medical waste.

“These remains are very important, and we hope for sanctification and life in Christ for these embryos,” he said.

Changing the conversation Meanwhile, Elm is working on other fronts to have the embryos recognized as equal stakeholders in the IVF process. In April 2018, she published her research on embryo mortality in “Ethics & Medics,” the monthly publication of the NCBC. The paper reframed IVF outcomes in terms of embryo life and death, instead of adult patient procedures and resulting live births.

In the article, she calls on the CDC to include statistics on how many embryos are created and how many embryos are available for transfer. The CDC consumer report on IVF is taken from the National ART (assisted reproductive technology) Surveillance System.

According to Elm, this large digital database includes reportable data fields for “2-pronuclei” and “embryos available for transfer.” In her paper, Elm urged the CDC to publish this data in its IVF consumer reports along with the explanation that a “2-pronuclei” is synonymous with human embryo. Elm hopes that if this information were available, people would take embryo outcomes into consideration in their decision to pursue IVF. Elm may be the first person to try to include this fact in the public discourse around IVF. “No one else has done what she’s trying to do, to understand what the true embryo loss is,” Furton said. “My hope is that she will track this material over years and make it available. She’s producing stats that no one is producing, and it’s important to the debate about IVF.” Wojda and Harding also see a need for more education on IVF and more support for infertile couples, even within the Church.

In Wojda’s experience, the Church’s position against IVF isn’t always known, even when it should seem obvious. He recalled how during debates about embryonic stem-cell research in the 1990s, he testified on the issue before the Minnesota Legislature, and afterward, was approached by a man who asked him, “If the Church is so dead set against stem-cell research, why isn’t it against IVF?” Elm hopes to meet this need, too. Part of her program is offering educational presentations on the humanity of embryos. She has already presented to one parish pro-life group. She also encourages prayer — not only for embryos and all those involved in IVF, but also for all couples carrying the cross of infertility. The SHG website includes a form for submitting prayer requests, which are remembered in a weekly holy hour. In 2019, SHG also plans to write and publish a resource pamphlet on grief for IVF parent-patients who have suffered the loss of their embryos in the lab, either through an IVF cycle where the embryo is transferred but fails to implant or miscarriage after implantation.

Although fewer than 2 percent of births come from the procedure, the use of IVF has doubled in the past 10 years.

Elm knows that it’s unlikely that the practice will end anytime soon. In the meantime, she plans to continue to advocate for embryos and offer burial as an alternative to disposing of embryos as medical waste.

It’s the least she can do, she said, to serve the smallest members of the human family.

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

RESPECTLIFE

JANUARY 10, 2019

Expectant fathers coached at Apple Valley pregnancy center

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

W

hen Allen Diaz’s girlfriend — who is pregnant — visited Pregnancy Choices pregnancy help center in Apple Valley last year, it led to more help for Diaz as an expectant father than he could have imagined.

“It helps a lot when you’re a new father, and on top of that, they give you a lot of very good tips,” said Diaz, 29, who participated in Pregnancy Choice’s life coaching program for expectant fathers.

Pregnancy Choices, part of the Elevate Life network of centers serving clients with unexpected pregnancies, is the only pregnancy resource center in Minnesota with a paid certified life coach for fathers, according to Elevate Life President Vaunae Hansel. The program helps fathers prepare for their new responsibility and support the mother. Luke Spehar, one of the center’s certified life coaches, has been working with fathers for the past two years.

“I think the biggest thing we offer men here is a listening ear,” Spehar said. “We really just listen and give them a voice to share what’s going through their heart and mind as they’re trying to navigate an unexpected pregnancy.”

When Spehar began working with Pregnancy Choices, he said he couldn’t find any men’s ministries at other pregnancy help centers to learn from. Also a professional Catholic musician, Spehar came to Pregnancy Choices looking to volunteer, but he was asked to become a life coach because of the growing presence of male clients coming with their partners.

“We kind of have had to blaze a trail with it so far,” Spehar said.

That trail has complemented Pregnancy Choices’ work with its female clients, Executive Director Becky Hanel said. Expectant mothers receive coaching from a certified female life coach, who helps clients make decisions toward their goals.

“As they are achieving these small successes, their belief in themselves and self-efficacy grows, and they can have fundamental change,” Hanel said. “We also believe that coaching is allowing us to act the way Jesus would want ... when they walk through our door.”

“We love them unconditionally, and we don’t put a judgment on them, and we recognize that it’s their choice no matter what,” Hanel added. “But by coaching, we’re giving them a chance to see that there’s

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Luke Spehar, left, a certified life coach, talks with Allen Diaz at Pregnancy Choices in Apple Valley. Diaz is participating in a program for expectant fathers. a whole possibility for them to choose life that they maybe never saw before.”

Spehar said life coaching helped Diaz support his girlfriend when she had hesitations about continuing the pregnancy. Diaz and his girlfriend are expecting the baby in April.

Coaches at Pregnancy Choices go through 150 hours of training in six to 12 months to receive accreditation from an international coaching school. Both male and female clients meet with their coaches for eight sessions.

Coaching is about asking the clients “powerful questions” that help them discover what they really want, Hanel said.

“They can see that they’re not in harmony [with their values] when they’re considering abortion, and many times it’s the first time that they thought about the impact of that decision, in that they’re acting in a way that doesn’t align with who they want to be,” Hanel said.

For fathers, that process often begins when they arrive at Pregnancy Choices with the mother for an ultrasound, or when the mother is informed about the coaching program for fathers.

“Every man that crosses the door we treat as a client,” Hanel said. “We offer an intake form to him just like we

do [for] the woman because he is in the unplanned pregnancy as well.”

The number of men seeking coaching has increased enough that Pregnancy Choices recently hired a second coach, Hanel said. The staff has seen that the fathers are “very interested and eager to participate in the pregnancy and really begin to see what their role is,” she said.

Spehar said he uses coaching to “awaken [men] to their own gifts and values and talents and desires” in the sessions. He helps them articulate their values because “so often, that what’s causing maybe a tension ... they value something that is either being honored or dishonored, and that’s creating tension within the relationship or dissatisfaction with a job that filters into their family life.”

Diaz said the coaching sessions were about discovering for himself what he could do as he faced an unexpected pregnancy.

Part of the fathers’ program entails video education on topics such as anger management, parenting, babies’ sleeping safety and car seat safety. Spehar, who is married and has two daughters, can also draw on his own experience if the clients have questions for him.

Spehar sees the need for more pregnancy help centers to reach expectant fathers and for the whole pro-life movement to better uphold the dignity of fatherhood.

“I think it’s not only the culture that’s bought into the concept that it’s only the mother’s choice, but I think it’s also bled into the life movement,” Spehar said.

“I think that’s something we’re trying to push back against. It’s to really give men a dignity to say it’s both of their decision, and we need to give that man a voice and dignity to say, ‘[I] can actually have a voice here.”

Hanel sees fathers as having an irreplaceable role in families and helping mothers in unexpected pregnancies move forward in raising their children. She noted that the biological father will always be the father of the child, no matter what happens in the relationship.

“It can make the complete difference for that family whether they’re romantically connected or not, whether they’re co-parenting in separate homes, or living together and co-parenting,” Hanel said. “To have that father be engaged in those kids’ lives, it gives [the mother] a little bit more financial stability, gives her emotional support; it gives her physically someone else who’s going to [help] manage all of it. It’s night and day.”

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e systems or robot vacuum cleaners — also presents certain risks, he said, if “houses begin to be built in a way that makes them more robot-friendly, more suitable for machines than for humans.”

And the use of robots in assisting the elderly or infirm, while it “could be of great help,” could also “risk triggering an attitude of delegating” the care of the most fragile and vulnerable in society “as if it were a task to be entrusted to machines” and not to fellow human beings, he said.

Similar problems may “also apply to the natural world,” he said, for example, when using robots for farming and livestock “changes our relationship with animals” FATHER and nature.

CARLO CASALONE Father Casalone said the answer isn’t a stance against technology but “guiding development so that it respects human dignity and the common good as much as possible.”

“It is about becoming aware of and agreeing about regulating these radically new possibilities we have before us, which are able to increasingly and more deeply affect living beings and the human body,” he said.

The two-day workshop in February will not be proposing specific guidelines, he said, but rather will lay the groundwork for drawing up “some criteria, given what is at play with the emergence of these cognitive systems in our lives.”

The radical and pervasive impact today’s new technologies will have on human beings and their relations “demands greater oversight,” public discussion and concern not just among experts or special interest groups, but by everyone, he said.

Throughout history, science and technology have invented or developed new capabilities that have taken the world by surprise and “transformed our lives,” Father Casalone said. “So, we have to expect something new” will always be around the corner and be ready to respond.

Current controls on “the atomic bomb and its destructive potential,” he said, show how human beings are capable of not using every new technology, “which means there are options for guiding development” so that it can better respect human life.

“This, in every case, is what we are committed to,” he said.

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“Pepper,” a humanoid robot designed to welcome and take care of visitors and patients, holds the hand of a baby next to his mother at Damiaan hospital in Ostend, Belgium. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life has added robotics to its list of specialized areas of study.

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ven though today’s modern tools and technologies are hardly human, the Pontifical Academy for Life is zeroing in on the world of robots and machines powered by artificial intelligence.

While the academy’s focus is on the protection of human life and dignity, the rapidly shifting and radical capabilities of robotics are having an ever-increasing impact on human lives, people’s relationships, communities and creation, said Jesuit Father Carlo Casalone, an academy member and consultant.

The need to reflect on the effects, opportunities and risks posed by artificial intelligence and robotics has led the prolife academy to launch a special look at this complex field, adding robotics to its list of specialized projects, which already includes palliative care, neuroscience, bioethics and human genome editing.

A major workshop on “Robo-ethics: Humans, Machines and Health” will be held at the Vatican Feb. 25-26 as part of this increased study; the workshop will focus on the use of robots and artificial intelligence, specifically in medicine and health care.

The use of industrial and personal-service robots is on the rise, according to industry reports. They are being used in manufacturing, housekeeping, assisting with surgery and even caring for the elderly. People with reduced mobility can be assisted with brain control technology, which converts brain waves into digital signals that can command or control external devices, such as artificial limbs or machines.

Father Casalone, who studied medicine and worked as a cardiologist before joining the Society of Jesus in 1984, helped organize the workshop. He became a member of the pontifical academy in 2017 and works in its scientific section.

He told Catholic News Service in December that the workshop will bring together ethicists, health care workers and researchers, including Hiroshi Ishiguro, a Japanese robotics engineer who creates humanoid robots and promotes discussion about the essence of being human. His lab has developed the interactive “Actroid,” a lifelike humanoid robot that can operate autonomously or be teleoperated. The lab also created an uncanny replica of Ishiguro known as the “Geminoid.”

Father Casalone said the academy wanted the workshop to include experts like Ishiguro who could explain “what sort of vision” guides their work. Members also will have the oppprtunity to “truly listen to what is going on in today’s world and to engage with this historic moment in time.”

“We are seeking to be fully aware of what’s happening so that we know what is possible” in the rapidly advancing world of “cognitive machines” and to highlight the ethical, social, cultural and economic impact these tools may have.

For example, cheaper automated machine labor may threaten emerging economies, and mineral-rich African nations often see their resources extracted and exported without receiving the benefits in what has become a new “robot divide,” Father Casalone said.

Meanwhile, using robots for military applications can be “very dangerous and very deceptive” if nations use such machines to cover up their responsibility and destroy others “behind the scenes,” he said. Automated systems also can lead to “a sort of gaming mentality” when soldiers can control weaponry remotely, far away from its effects.

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JANUARY 10, 2019

MILESTONES Editor’s note: “Milestones” is a new biannual section in The Catholic Spirit commemorating significant parish and school anniversaries and other historic events in the life of our local Church. The next Milestones section is scheduled to run in the July 11 issue. If your parish, school or Catholic institution is marking a milestone in 2019, please notify us at CatholicSpirit@archspm.org.

St. Dominic’s sesquicentennial: ‘Dedication to God and the Church’

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

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s early as 1858, Father Anatole Oster — one of the Diocese of St. Paul’s first priests — regularly traveled more than 30 miles south from St. Peter, Mendota, to celebrate Mass in the homes of Northfield-area Catholics.

Within the next few years, the need for a parish in Northfield became apparent when Immaculate Conception in nearby Faribault couldn’t accommodate the influx of Catholics from the Northfield area.

Father George Keller, the pastor in Faribault, asked three men — Dominic Moes, Patrick Murphy and Robert Halford — to garner support for a new church in Northfield. They led efforts to purchase land at St. Dominic’s present-day site, and construction began in 1867. Bishop Thomas Grace dedicated the church in 1869.

In order to help his parish prepare to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2019, St. Dominic’s pastor Father Dennis Dempsey mined “A History of Northfield and Dundas Churches,” published in 1952 by parishioner and former Northfield News Editor William F. Schilling.

The priest developed the information into a series of bulletin articles he began running last year.

“As with any parish, our history is one of people whose dedication to God and the Church resulted in significant commitments, in many cases quite extraordinary, of time and energy and finances to erect buildings, provide services, build community and pass on the faith,” Father Dempsey wrote in a June 2018 bulletin article.

Over its history, St. Dominic in Northfield has served a community that includes farmers, college students and Latino immigrants, residents of a growing community first settled by Irish and German immigrants. A parish of 1,270 households with four weekend Masses, including one in Spanish, St. Dominic plans to celebrate its sesquicentennial in August around the time of its patron’s Aug. 8 feast day.

During the parish’s early years, two colleges opened in Northfield — Carleton College in 1866 and St. Olaf College in 1889. St. Dominic has served students, faculty and staff from both institutions since their

St. Dominic’s church in Northfield built in 1913, pictured at left, served the parish until the mid-1980s when it was torn down to make way for the new church, built in 1986. The original church, dedicated in 1869, was moved from the original site and still exists as a house in the community. The parish celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

COURTESY ST. DOMINIC

founding. In the 1890s, Carleton honored St. Dominic’s pastor at the time, Father Tom Gleason, as its commencement speaker.

Father John Pavlin became St. Dominic’s pastor in 1875, and his tenure overlapped with the infamous 1876 Jesse James bank raid in Northfield. The raid didn’t affect the church because of its location in the hills north of downtown. But the parish has a visible presence with food trucks and a float at the community’s annual September celebration of the event, the Defeat of Jesse James Days.

Father Peter Meade, St. Dominic’s longest-serving pastor of 30 years, oversaw the building of a new church in 1913. It was a large Romanesque structure with two large bell towers. In 1927, he opened a school run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. It was named Rosary School because of St. Dominic’s devotion to the rosary; according to a Dominican tradition, St. Dominic received the rosary from Mary in an apparition in 1214.

Rosary School had almost 200 students in its first year, which included elementary students through high school freshmen. Enrollment hit nearly 300 students in 1959, the year the school’s name changed to St. Dominic School to clarify its relationship to the parish. The school now has 160 students in preschool through eighth grade.

In 1977, St. Dominic became one of few parishes to include a bishop among the vocations fostered by its parish. Bishop Paul Dudley, who grew up attending St. Dominic, was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1977 and then served the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from 1978 to 1995. He died in 2006.

Continued parish growth led to building a modernstyle church in 1986. The change coincided with the increasing diversity of the parish as a Latino community began to form. That community has grown to provide various ministries and cultural celebrations.

St. Andrew in Elysian powered by volunteers for 125 years

By Matthew Davis The Catholic Spirit

F

ounding members of St. Andrew in Elysian were more than ready to create a parish: they built a church five years before the official founding of the parish in 1894.

Celebrating its 125th anniversary, St. Andrew hasn’t slowed down. Plans are in the works for marking the anniversary later this year. The rural parish of 110 households has been self-sustaining throughout its history, mainly relying on volunteers.

“Everybody knows each other. There’s a wonderful sense of volunteering,” said Father Michael Ince, parochial administrator of St. Andrew. “They’re very much aware of each other ­— anybody’s sick, anybody needs help and anything like that.”

Before it officially became a parish, the community built a wooden church in 1889 for a visiting priest to celebrate Mass monthly, and later, on alternating

Sundays. The growing faith interest came about when Father Valentin Sommereisen of Sts. Peter and Paul in Mankato, part of the Diocese of St. Paul at the time, began celebrating Masses in nearby communities, including Elysian.

Because of its small size, St. Andrew has been a mission parish of Holy Trinity in Waterville, founded in 1879, for most of its history. That meant St. Andrew didn’t have a resident priest, but its parishioners took care of many things.

Outgrowing their original church, parishioners built a new one in 1975.

Father Clarence Zlotkowski, who served the parish at the time, had a background in construction and spearheaded the project. Parishioners worked with him on the church, and a committee worked on the funding.

Because that structure served as both a church and social hall, parishioners began work on expanding the campus in the late 1990s to create a sole worship space. After seven years of raising

COURTESY ST. ANDREW

Before St. Andrew in Elysian became a parish, Catholics in Elysian built a church in 1889 for Mass with visiting priests. The parish officially began in 1894, and the original church served the parish until 1975. St. Andrew celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. financial support, St. Andrew got the go-ahead from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to begin construction.

The concrete and stone-based church was completed in 2007 and dedicated by then-Auxiliary Bishop Richard Pates.

“There was always enough money … contributed month by month to make the payments,” Father Ince said about loans for the project. St. Andrew completed its mortgage on the new church in 2018.

In addition to its Sunday Mass, St. Andrew offers various activities such as local chapters of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women and Catholic United Financial. Volunteers take care of day-to-day parish logistics from funeral luncheons to shoveling snow. The parish also has a combined faith formation program with Holy Trinity. Father Ince noted that St. Andrew has been independent in arranging for priests to celebrate weddings and funerals.

“Right now, basically they are a freestanding parish,” Father Ince said of St. Andrew. “Everything is done there.”

JANUARY 10, 2019

MILESTONES

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

Excelsior parish completes long-awaited restoration

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit St. John the Baptist in Excelsior celebrated Christmas in its newly renovated church. While the project is ongoing, the first Mass was celebrated in the renovated sanctuary Dec. 22, with the dedication of the new altar scheduled for Feb. 17. The church renovation is the first phase of the parish’s $3 million Walking Forward in Faith Capital Campaign.

The primary reason for the renovation was to rotate the interior of the church 180 degrees, so that the plans of the 1993 capital campaign, which added a gathering space on the west end of the nave — where the congregation sits — could be completed. With this rotation, the congregation now faces east, and the church’s main entrance opens to the gathering space.

The recent renovation creates a more traditional floor plan, with the sanctuary and gathering space at opposite ends of the church. The change also allows more room for people to congregate before and after Mass, which is already creating a greater sense of community, parish leaders said.

While the renovation includes new items in the church, such as a permanent baptismal font, sanctuary furnishings and 10 stained glass windows, the structure of the exterior of the church building did not change. According to church leaders, many parishioners have commented that they can’t believe that it is the same church the first time they see it, but when they look around they see the original church building that has been interiorly renovated.

The project began with Archbishop Bernard Hebda decommissioning the old altar July 8, 2018. The new space was designed by Church Interiors, Inc. of High Point, North Carolina, and Firm Ground Architects and Engineers in Minneapolis. Construction was completed

by Westin Construction Company of Burnsville. Other completed parts of the project include a new library, a new confessional, a new bathroom on the church’s main level that is handicap accessible, and an updating of the eucharistic adoration chapel to improve accessibility.

“We’re really excited about it, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with the community,” said Kathy Hollahan, marketing and development coordinator. “It’s a beautiful space.”

COURTESY ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, EXCELSIOR

The sanctuary of St. John the Baptist in Excelsior, pictured above, is part of an extensive renovation to the parish’s worship space that included a reorientation of the church’s floor plan.

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER MICHAEL JONCAS

The Triune God

The Church offers us a multitude of readings for the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. In Year C, the Gospel reading is taken from the Lukan account of the event (Lk 3:15-16, 21-22), but the preliminary readings may be taken from either Year A (Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Ps 29: 1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 “The Lord will bless his people with peace”; Acts 10:34-38) or from Year C (Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 104:1B-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30: “O bless the Lord, my soul”; Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7). Since I do not know which readings will be chosen in the reader’s worshipping community, I am limiting my remarks to the Gospel passage prescribed for the feast.

Although centuries of theological reflection have made a connection between the baptism of Jesus and Christian baptism, the ceremony narrated in Luke recounts a mass baptism administered by John the Baptist. In the context of this ceremony, Jesus aligns himself with the Baptist’s message and submits to the ritual activity prompted by his preaching.

Part of John the Baptist’s message was that God was putting an end to human history with its burden of sin, but, unlike the similar divine activity in the story of Noah, God would not destroy the world by water, but by fire. Just as some animals and humans were saved from the Great Flood by means of an ark, so now a remnant of God’s people might be saved from the Great Fire by being immersed in water, a protection from fire, if they submitted to John’s baptism and transformed their lives morally.

In Luke’s version of the story of Jesus’ baptism, the ritual activity is relatively underplayed, noting only that Jesus had been part of a great crowd (“all the people”) who had been baptized by John. But very characteristic of Luke’s theology is the note that Jesus was

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

How can I be joyful?

Q. This time of the year is difficult for me. I

have so much uncertainty and pain in my life, and the holidays often only remind me of my suffering and loneliness. How can a person actually have joy in a world like this?

A. Thank you for your question. While I don’t

know your circumstances, from your email, it sounds like you have gone through a lot of suffering. In addition, the holidays can amplify feelings of loneliness and isolation like almost nothing else.

That is nothing to dismiss, and it is important that you hear that you are not alone in your experience or your pain. This is one of the reasons I wanted to write this response in a more public forum.

There are many people who share your experience and do not know what to do in the midst of it. Into this reality the Church breaks in and tells us to “rejoice”! How in the world can we be happy in a world of such brokenness?

First, for too long, we have been told that happiness is essentially the absence of sorrow and pain. To pursue this version of happiness would be to pursue smoke; it is a mirage. If this is what happiness is, then happiness would be, by its very nature, illusory, fleeting and conditional. It wouldn’t be centered on anything real but on the absence of something real. It would be fleeting, because we all know that time continues to roll on, and life continues to change.

If happiness were based on the lack of pain, it would be the most tenuous and most foolish of things to attempt to cling to. It would be conditional because happiness would be based on how a person feels, and there are few things more conditional than emotions.

Further, a study out of the University of California-Berkeley determined that most Americans have to learn how to be happy.

Apparently, most people will define happiness as a feeling of euphoria. We foolishly center happiness on ourselves. How I am feeling determines my level of happiness. And yet, the more people are preoccupied with their feelings, the less enjoyable those particular moments become. Because of this, we need to unlearn that bad habit and intentionally move away from “happiness as feeling good.”

We wouldn’t be the first. Roughly 2,000 years ago, some ancient Greek philosophers asserted that to be happy was not merely to feel good but to be good. The happy person was the one who chose the good and thus became good. Happiness was present if a person

praying in the time after his baptism. In fact, one could argue that for Luke, it is prayer that creates a state of altered consciousness in Jesus, which leads him to a deeper understanding of his own mission as a result of this baptism. Notice the eschatological sign of the heavens opening: Here is an in-breaking of divine presence, but it is not accompanied by flood or fire. Rather, visual and vocal signs bespeak Jesus’ unique mission as Son of God. There is debate over whether these visual and vocal signs were intended for the crowd to observe, or for Jesus alone. The versions found in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke have Jesus (alone?) seeing the Spirit of God descend like a dove over Jesus (Mk 1:10; Mt 3:16; Lk 3:22); in contrast, in the Johannine tradition, John the Baptist testifies that he saw “the Spirit descend like a dove from the sky and rest on” Jesus (Jn 3:32).

While the observers of the visible sign of the Spirit’s dove-like descent vary in the different Gospel accounts, the voice speaking from heaven has a different purpose depending on which narrative we read. In Mark and Luke, the voice declares, “You are my beloved Son,” i.e., the message is addressed to Jesus; in Matthew the voice declares, “This is my beloved Son,” i.e., the message is addressed to the bystanders; in the Johannine tradition it is John the Baptist who testifies, “This is God’s Chosen One,” i.e., the message is addressed to those who receive John’s testimony.

Whether or not the visual and vocal signs associated with Jesus’ baptism were intended for him, for the Baptist who testified to him or for the crowds who wondered about Jesus’ social status, we can interpret this biblical scene as a manifestation of the Triune God: the Father as the voice from heaven acknowledging Jesus as his dearly beloved, the Holy Spirit in bodily form as a dove descending upon Jesus (perhaps with a reminiscence of the dove associated with Noah and the Great Flood), and Jesus at prayer as he undertakes the mission given him as the Father’s beloved Son. Father Joncas, a composer, is an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

was virtuous, and it was absent in a person who lacked virtue. The happy person could be the person who engaged the (worthy) battle of life well.

While this perspective is a step in the right direction, it still remained incomplete. Christianity added quite a bit to it. While we Christians would support the notion that the virtuous life is the truly happy life, there is something more that Christianity brought to the world: joy. In fact, Catholic convert and author G.K. Chesterton once noted that “joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.” True joy is why martyrs could die with joy. True joy is why St. Paul can command Christians to “rejoice always.” Because true joy is not illusory or conditional. True joy is based on a foundation outside of the individual. I once heard joy defined in this way: It is the abiding and pervasive sense of well-being.

Joy is the abiding and pervasive sense of well-being.

This is why joy is the secret of the Christian. This world is uncertain and painful, yet we know that God is present. While there is real suffering and loneliness, we know that God knows your name. We know that he loves you (to the point of death). We know that he has allowed uncertainty and suffering and death to overwhelm him so that he could conquer and transform them into something redemptive. Therefore, there can be joy in the midst of uncertainty, suffering and even death.

If you would like evidence of this, simply consider the “Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.” While we refer to them as joyful, if you or I were living them, we might consider renaming them. In the first mystery, the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel announced that Mary would be the mother of the Messiah. Mary says, “Let it be done unto me,” and the next line reads, “Then the angel departed from her.” Are you kidding? Talk about uncertainty! The second mystery is the Visitation, where a pregnant Mary travels days and days to visit Elizabeth. She has no guarantee that she will be able to make the trek and return home safely. The third mystery, the Nativity, is even worse: Mary and Joseph have to make due in a stable and lay their newborn child in a feeding trough while the local king is actively trying to kill him. Each of the Joyful Mysteries is marked with uncertainty, suffering and loss.

And yet, they are also marked by joy. Because God is real and he is present and active. Because of this, every Christian can choose joy, no matter his or her circumstances.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Reach him at fathermikeschmitz@gmail.com.

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is experiencing a loss of joy due to depression or anxiety, please seek professional help and spiritual guidance.

JANUARY 10, 2019

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, January 13 Baptism of the Lord Is 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 Monday, January 14 Heb 1:1-6 Mk 1:14-20 Tuesday, January 15 Heb 2:5-12 Mk 1:21-28 Wednesday, January 16 Heb 2:14-18 Mk 1:29-39 Thursday, January 17 St. Anthony, abbot Heb 3:7-14 Mk 1:40-45 Friday, January 18 Heb 4:1-5, 11 Mk 2:1-12 Saturday, January 19 Heb 4:12-16 Mk 2:13-17 Sunday, January 20 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 62:1-5 1 Cor 12:4-11 Jn 2:1-11 Monday, January 21 St. Agnes, virgin and martyr Heb 5:1-10 Mk 2:18-22 Tuesday, January 22 Day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children Heb 6:10-20 Mk 2:23-28 Wednesday, January 23 Heb 7:1-3, 15-17 Mk 3:1-6 Thursday, January 24 St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church Heb 7:25–8:6 Mk 3:7-12 Friday, January 25 Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle Acts 22:3-16 Mk 16:15-18 Saturday, January 26 Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops 2 Tm 1:1-8 Mk 3:20-21 Sunday, January 27 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Neh 8:2-4A, 5-6, 8-10 1 Cor 12:12-30 Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

JANUARY 10, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

It’s OK to start 2019 with you

I’ve always appreciated the notion of self-care in an Oprah Winfrey, hot-baths-and-expensive-chocolates kind of way. We work so hard, the thinking goes, that we deserve a break here and there. So splurge on that full-price gift-to-yourself. Book the massage. Binge on the

new season.

This philosophy is easy to get behind.

But it was recently challenged when I encountered the writings of Julia Hogan, a 30-year-old therapist whose book “It’s OK To Start With You” presents selfcare through a Catholic worldview, giving permission to readers to take it up with greater resolve by understanding it in a clearer light.

The impetus for the book came through observations from Hogan’s private practice, seeing client after client who was suffering because she had neglected self-care. The consequences were wideranging, but they often circled back to the same root cause.

Julia had a message for them.

“True self-care is much more than a collection of sayings or self-indulgent, surface-level practices,” she writes in her book. “It’s a way of life that reinforces the fact, rooted in our dignity as God’s children, that we are worth love and care. It’s a set of habits, built over time, that takes seriously the Gospel command to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“We remember to look out for our neighbors but not always our own well-being, which can affect our ability to take care of our neighbors,” Julia told me, perched at the kitchen table of her Chicago apartment and framed by gold paper wheels on the wall.

The surest way to truly embrace 2019, she said, is to practice self-care. “When we think of resolutions, we tend to think ‘lose X amount of weight or go to the gym more or make more money.’ It’s appreciating

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

How emotional intelligence can save your marriage Throughout this new liturgical year (which began with the first week of Advent), we will hear from St. Luke’s Gospel, which is known for highlighting Jesus’ compassion.

As we hear the readings, we are invited to place ourselves within the context of the Gospel stories and become a more compassionate, caring person as well.

One way to achieve this ideal is to work toward the maintenance of a happy, resilient marriage, which is no small feat in our current culture. In fact, the Pew Research Center contends that the chances of a marriage failing for Baby Boomers has doubled since the 1990s to at least 50 percent.

According to noted marriage researcher and author Gary Chapman, “Keeping love alive in our marriages is serious business.” This is especially true in longterm marriages, where complacency and selfrighteousness often set in, preventing us from seeing fully our part in disagreements or dissatisfaction with our spouse. Particularly as couples become empty nesters, working out difficulties and disparities is of the utmost importance, for this is the period of the

“

For years I had seen self-care as a series of hastily justified, ‘I deserve this’ indulgences, not an ongoing discipline. How enlightening to consider it as long-term, sustainable habits that replenish the body, mind and spirit

iSTOCK | KLENOVA

who you are right now and investing in that. Self-care requires work. It’s a discipline.”

For years I had seen self-care as a series of hastily justified, “I deserve this” indulgences, not an ongoing discipline. How enlightening to consider it as longterm, sustainable habits that replenish the body, mind and spirit.

What that looks like differs for each of us and requires an honest assessment of our current needs held up against our big-picture goals.

It could mean saying no more often — or it could mean saying yes in order to proactively nurture relationships. It could require cutting back on social media — or it could simply necessitate greater mindfulness about when and why you scroll through Instagram. It might mean staying up later for a favorite show, but it may well call for an early bedtime. It might mean feasting on a Sunday brunch that deviates from the diet — or ordering the salad.

The discipline of self-care is softened by Julia’s call for leisure, which she distinguishes from idleness as a “much richer concept” — not an aimless passing of

highest incidence of divorce. Couples at this stage of life have to work on their relationship if they intend to stay together, for the children are often no longer the primary impetus for the partnership.

In order for long-term marriages to survive and thrive, couples must commit to remaining committed to each other and to their marriage, which can be achieved through a few simple steps. According to marriage researcher John Gottman, couples who are open to influence from each other — which means they are able to hear and care about what their spouse is saying — report they have happier marriages.

Couples in these marriages have a stronger bond with each other, which facilitates a greater chance of success in maintaining a long-term marriage.

Gottman says that “when both partners commit to making small but consistently positive shifts in their interactions, they can take their marriage to a much happier place.” He states it is easier to make small changes, rather than larger ones, because they are easier to do. As a result, spouses have many more opportunities to move in the right direction, rather than waiting for the larger moments to help achieve the shift they are hoping will occur.

In order to begin a difficult conversation to address a transgression, Gottman suggests a strategy he refers to as “the softened start-up,” which is the ability to begin talking with your partner about your complaint without criticism or insult. In addition, he suggests using the strategy of “turning toward your partner,” which means demonstrating the willingness to listen, be open and engage in the conversation your partner wishes to have, as opposed to turning away and ignoring his or her bid for emotional closeness, or turning against your partner with anger or hostility.

time but a happy pursuit intentionally engaged in to restore your sense of balance.

That’s what brought Julia to her watercolor paints on a recent Thursday morning, a hobby she turns to for enjoyment, not expertise. While we spoke, she painted a snake plant from Trader Joe’s.

“It’s exciting to provide an alternative to our conventional understanding of self-care that really resonates with people,” she said, tilting her head as she outlined the third leaf. “My work flows from my faith and the belief that everyone is loved by God. I’m not just helping my clients overcome depression or anxiety, but to understand who they are as a person.”

This winter Julia is offering digital workshops to supplement the free downloadable resources on her website, juliamariehogan.com. She’s hoping for a ripple effect.

She said, “Taking care of yourself fuels you to do good in the world wherever you are called.”

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

ACTION CHALLENGE Locate a copy of Daniel Goleman’s book “Emotional Intelligence” and implement his suggestions in your marriage to become a more emotionally-connected partner. In addition, read a book or watch a podcast by John and Julie Gottman and employ the strategies they suggest to strengthen your marriage.

These suggestions from Gottman require couples to develop and strengthen their emotional intelligence, which is a person’s ability to understand and manage his or her own emotions, as well as understand and remain open to others’ emotions.

According to author Daniel Goleman, an emotionally intelligent person thinks about feelings, pauses before engaging others, strives to control his or her thoughts, benefits from criticism, shows authenticity, demonstrates empathy, praises others, is able to apologize, forgives and forgets, keeps commitments, offers to help others, and protects his or herself from emotional sabotage.

At the beginning of this new year, let us commit ourselves to improved relationships through compassionately engaging our partner. This will be attained through the development of emotional maturity and becoming a more emotionally intelligent person.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

COMMENTARY

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

“

THE LOCAL CHURCH | DAVE HRBACEK

Dad’s legacy

How do you sum up the life of a 97-year-old man?

I’ll probably spend years trying to figure that out. My father, Ray Hrbacek, died Dec. 24 at Catholic Eldercare in northeast Minneapolis.

His funeral Mass was Dec. 29 at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony.

Since building a house in St. Anthony in 1960, my mom and dad have considered St. Charles their spiritual home. They watched priests come and go, and entertained some at their home, including two future bishops. So, it was only fitting that Dad’s final send-off would take place at this church.

In the midst of mourning his death, I am trying to process a flood of memories and reflections on his life that are rising to the surface like northern pike did for his Bass-Oreno lure during the many fishing trips of my childhood.

If I added up all the hours I spent with Dad over the years, time on a lake or in the woods would rank near the top. I don’t recall much of what was said, but I’ll never forget the sights and sounds of our time in God’s creation.

Dad had an amazing run in the outdoors, starting shortly after coming home from World War II and ending just three years ago with his final spring turkey hunt. Even though his hearing and eyesight were severely compromised and he was mostly confined to a wheelchair, he had a hard time turning down an invitation from one of my four brothers, Joe, to go turkey hunting one more time.

A look back more than 30 years helps to explain why. In the early 1980s, Dad had asked my brother Paul and me if we wanted to try turkey hunting.

With roots like these, it’s not hard for me to connect faith and the outdoors.

There are so many spiritual lessons to be learned from time spent in the field, and I think my dad was a good teacher — without trying to be and without using a lot of words.

Minnesota started offering a hunting season in the late ‘70s, and we all were intrigued by this new opportunity.

After our first hunt, which was unsuccessful, my brother Joe got the bug, too. All of us have hunted throughout the years, sometimes with each other, sometimes alone. As time went on, Dad needed more and more help in the field, and we all happily obliged, especially Joe. Dad and Joe forged a special bond during these trips, and I know Joe’s heart aches in a unique way with my dad’s passing.

With roots like these, it’s not hard for me to connect faith and the outdoors. There are so many spiritual lessons to be learned from time spent in the field, and I think my dad was a good teacher — without trying to be and without using a lot of words.

Maybe the most valuable thing he taught me was how simply to enjoy the experience and be grateful for the chance to be outside. In the last 30 years or so, fishing and hunting have become high-tech endeavors, employing tools and devices that can cost thousands of dollars.

But, Dad possessed one thing that money can never buy — the happiness of being out there.

It is best illustrated in an afternoon we shared in a turkey blind about a dozen years ago near Red Wing.

The weather was beautiful, but the toms weren’t

JANUARY 10, 2019 gobbling. We started telling jokes and laughing uncontrollably. It went on for a while, then Dad turned to me and said, “Well, I guess we scared all the birds away.”

It didn’t matter to either one of us. We shrugged our shoulders, smiled and kept reveling in the humor. The laughter continued until we decided to leave the blind and go eat dinner. I try to remember that day, especially when I push very hard to bag a turkey or deer and come up short.

Dad came up short many times over the years, but he never seemed to mind. He was content just to be with his sons and enjoy a beautiful day outside, soaking in the sunshine and letting a fresh breeze cool our faces.

In general, he made the best of things and never complained. After he died, I talked to one of the nurses who cared for him. He never could remember her name and would call her Gladys. In turn, she would call him Bob. It was their running joke.

Even near the end, when his health was going downhill, he would smile at her and say, “Hey, good lookin’, whatcha got cookin’?”

That line reminded me of the time Dad and I got back from a turkey hunt in May, and I spotted a wood tick on his head and pulled it off. I told him I had better check his body for more and instructed him to take his shirt off.

I then asked him to raise his arms so I could take a look at his armpits. With his arms outstretched, he joked, “I surrender.”

Those words were echoed on one of his last days, when he called out to Jesus numerous times while I sat beside him. He knew his time had come, and he made his plea to step into eternity. God answered this prayer the day before we celebrated the birth of his Son. I won’t forget what you’ve taught me, Dad. May you rest in peace.

Hrbacek is a staff photographer and writer for The Catholic Spirit.

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

LETTER

goodbye, add a quick prayer to your morning routine. At the school door, bus stop, daycare drop-off or kitchen table, pray for each one of your children in turn. Give thanks for teachers, staff and coaches, too. uPray while cleaning. While doing laundry, pray for each person in your family as you fold his or her clothes.

While scrubbing dishes or sweeping floors, ask God to make January dawns, fresh and clean. The clean what has been darkened by sin in your life. No task is beginning of a new year. too small to be made holy by prayer.

Although Advent is technically our uRecharge on your lunch break. Read the day’s Gospel new year in the Church, January offers while you eat. Try midday prayer from the monastic another jump-start — a chance to change tradition (available online). Or simply pray the Our Father and a renewed resolve to eat better, with your table grace, to give thanks for “daily bread” with exercise more or waste less time online. your noon meal.

Making time for prayer is a common uMaximize waiting. Time in the car need not be spent resolution. We might try to read more Scripture, make a idling. While waiting to pick up kids, read or Holy Hour each week or start praying the listen to the daily readings with an app on rosary. your phone. Remember you only need 10 But what if we looked for small moments Let this fingers to pray a decade of the rosary. Let each day — in the midst of what we’re already waiting become a spiritual practice. new year doing — to turn to God? uTake a coffee break. Sit in silence for a Here are 10 pockets of prayer to dig into for bring small few moments in the middle of your day. Turn the new year. Times and places where we can off the radio and commute in quiet. Let five moments of meet God between work and home, kids and minutes refuel your relationship with God. commute, chores and rest. uGive thanks while cooking. While powerful Try one and see where it leads. grocery shopping or making dinner, pray for uPray when you wake up. Start each day prayer. farm workers, truckers and all whose hands with the sign of the cross, or pray the words brought food to your table. Remember those of Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has who are often forgotten while you do work made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Rise 10 minutes that is often overlooked. before the kids get up and sit with a cup of coffee to center uEnd the day with God. Try a short Ignatian “examen” yourself in prayer. Let the word of God be the first thing to reflect on your day through the lens of faith. Notice your eyes see each morning. where you saw God, ask forgiveness for moments of sin and uBless your spouse. Say a prayer together before you pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you tomorrow. each begin your daily work. Or light two candles while Let this new year bring small moments of powerful you’re getting ready in the morning: one to remember your prayer. spouse’s callings and one to pray for your own. Recall your marriage vows as you say “I do” for a new day.

Fanucci, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple uPray while washing. Let the warm water of your Grove, is a mother, writer and director of a project on shower (or the baby’s bath) remind you of baptism: your vocations at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville. She is the belovedness before God. author of several books, including “Everyday Sacrament: The uBless before school. When you hug or kiss your kids Messy Grace of Parenting,” and blogs at motheringspirit.com.

Where are the funds for charity?

Ten pockets of prayer for the new year

“

There is a 2015 article in “Mother Jones” entitled “The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-effective Way to End Homelessness” that describes in Utah a 72 percent drop in homelessness in only nine years by a concerted effort of the state Task Force on Homelessness and the LDS Church Welfare Department. They find or build houses for chronic homeless, no strings attached. It reminds me of what the early Christians did. They served the poor. No strings attached. By living Jesus’ message they gained members.

Which brings me to the 2018 Financial Report (published in the Dec. 20, 2018, edition of The Catholic Spirit). Why do we not have a church welfare department? The sliver of the pie dedicated to “Community Services” ($75,050) can’t possibly make a dent. I know Catholic Charities and End Homelessness and others help fill this void. But imagine the rest of the $19 million going to housing people, feeding them and giving them dignity?

Elizabeth Rosenwinkel St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis Share your perspective by emailing CatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number.

The Commentary page does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

JANUARY 10, 2019

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR FEATURED EVENTS Annual Prayer Service for Life and March for Life — 10:30 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m.

Jan. 22. Join Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul to pray for the millions of lives lost to abortion and the men and women wounded by abortion’s aftermath. Then walk to the Minnesota State Capitol for the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March for Life rally. For more information, call the archdiocesan Office of Marriage, Family and Life at 651-291-4488.

Newly Married Retreat — 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anthony. For all couples married up to seven years wishing to have a happy, holy and healthy marriage. All are invited to the 8 a.m. parish Mass beforehand.

Guest speakers are Father Humberto Palomino, P.E.S., “Your Marriage Vows: Their Meaning for Everyday Life,” and David Rinaldi, “Marriage: The Great Competition.” The day includes continental breakfast and catered lunch, reconciliation and renewal of wedding vows. Breakout topics: Raising our children to stay in the faith, the many crosses of NFP and hope in difficult times.

Register online by Jan. 28 at archspm.org/ nme; $40 per couple. For more information, call the Office of Marriage, Family and Life at 651-291-4488.

Grieving with Hope — Second and fourth Tuesday each month: 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at St. Ambrose, 4125 Woodbury Drive, Woodbury. LeAnn at 651-768-3009. saintambroseofwoodbury.org.

Job transitions and networking group — Tuesdays: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Bob at bob.sjtw@gmail.com. sjtw.net.

Dementia support group — Second Tuesday each month: 7–9 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. RSVP sarnold@benedictinecenter.org. benedictinecenter.org.

CARITAS cancer support group — Wednesdays: 10:30 a.m.–noon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, second floor, maternity classroom 2500, 45 W. 10th St., St. Paul.

Career Transition Group — Third Thursday each month: 7:30–8:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. hnoj.org.

Parish events Holy Hour for Life sponsored by Respect Life — Jan. 20: 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s, 423 S. Fifth St., Stillwater. stmarystillwater.org.

Women’s Morning of Renewal — Jan. 26: 7:30–11:30 a.m. at Holy Family, 5900 W. Lake St., St. Louis Park. Mass with Father Joseph Johnson.

Speaker Elizabeth Kelly discusses St. John Paul II’s Letter to Women. signupgenius.com/go/20f0448afaa2da31-womens.

Prayer/worship “Come Together” with Mary Johnson, founder of From Death to Life — Jan. 13: 4–6 p.m. at St. Bridget Campus, 3811 Emerson Ave. N., Minneapolis. cometogetherrc.org.

Vespers to close the Season of Christmas — Jan. 13: 4 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. stjohnnb.com.

Music Metropolitan Symphony at St. Matthew’s — Feb. 10: 2 and 4 p.m. at 510 Hall Ave., St. Paul.

“A Dinosaur Extravaganza” features two one-hour concerts. st-matts.org.

Exposition, Adoration, Benediction — Jan. 19: 6–8 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist, 20087 Hub Drive, New Prague. npcatholic.org/st-john-the-evangelist.

Ongoing groups Calix Society — First and third Sunday each month: 9–10:30 a.m. at Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. A group of men, women, family and friends supporting the spiritual needs of recovering Catholic alcoholics. Kathy at 651-330-3387. calixsociety.com.

Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) — Third Sunday each month: 1 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1200 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis. 952-922-5523.

Pro-Life Memorial Mass — Jan. 25: 6 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo, 2739 Stinson Blvd. NE, St. Anthony. Father Doug Ebert will celebrate Mass. stchb.org.

Retreats

CALENDAR submissions

Men’s Silent Weekend Retreat — Jan. 11-13 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

“Be Patient in Affliction” presented by the King’s House preaching team. kingshouse.com.

Women’s Weekend Retreat — Jan. 11-13 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. “Rejoice and be glad: Our Call to Holiness Today.” franciscanretreats.net/womens-retreats.

Taize prayer — Third Friday each month: 7 p.m. at The Benedictine Center, St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. 651-777-7251 or stpaulsmonastery.org.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

Just Write: Making Time for the Love of Words — Jan. 11-13 at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Led by poet Vic Klimoski. benedictinecenter.org.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event u Contact information in case of questions

Men’s Silent Weekend Retreat — Jan. 18-20 at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo.

“Be Patient in Affliction” presented by the King’s House Preaching Team. kingshouse.com.

Women’s Weekend Retreat — Jan. 18-20 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16386 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake. “Rejoice and be glad: Our Call to Holiness Today.” franciscanretreats.net/womensretreats.

Standing Vigil: A retreat with Sunday’s Gospel — Jan. 19: 3–6 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. benedictinecenter.org.

Winter Women’s Retreat: The Lord is My Light and My Salvation — Jan. 26: 8 a.m.–1 p.m. at Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. Sponsored by Transfiguration Council of Catholic Women with talks by Father John Paul Erickson. transfigurationmn.org.

ONLINE: thecatholicspirit.com/calendarsubmissions MAIL: “Calendar,” The Catholic Spirit 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106

Jan. 10: 1:30–5:30 p.m. at 3200 E. 44th St., Minneapolis.

Personal tour at 612-729-9301. sainthelenaschool.us.

Open House for prospective families — Jan. 10 and 15: 6 p.m. at Good Shepherd School, 145 Jersey Ave. S., Golden Valley. gsgvschool.wordpress.com.

Speakers

Conferences/workshops

Father Michael Joncas on Vatican II’s Effect on Church buildings — Jan. 20: 1–2:30 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. stjohnnb.com.

St. Peter Claver Catholic Community: Conversation with Jason Sole — Jan. 13: Noon–1:30 p.m. at 375 Oxford St. N., St. Paul. eventbrite.com/e/conversationwith-jason-sole-tickets-53970045860.

Pax Christi social justice speaker on immigration — Jan. 20: 12:30–2 p.m. at Pax Christi, 12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie. Speaking will be Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, executive director of Navigate Minnesota. paxchristi.com.

Housing for All Legislative Breakfast — Jan. 23: 7–9 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane N., Maple Grove. Meet with NW Hennepin state and local policymakers. Register at sjtw.net/housing-for-all.

Singles Sunday Spirits walking group for 50-plus Catholic singles — ongoing Sundays. Kay at 651-426-3103 or Al at 651-439-1203.

Taize prayer — First Friday each month: 7:30 p.m. at St. Richard, 7540 Penn Ave. S., Richfield. strichards.com.

DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

Singles group — ongoing second Saturday each month: 6:15 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. 763-425-0412.

Schools St. Helena Catholic School PreK-8 Open House —

Young adults Theology on Tap — Wednesdays Jan. 23– Feb. 27: 6:30–8:30 p.m. at Crooked Pint Ale House and Event Center, 1734 Adolphus St., Maplewood. facebook.com/ groups/joincya.

Friday Night at the Friary — Third Friday each month: 7–9 p.m. at Franciscan Brothers of Peace, 1289 Lafond Ave., St. Paul. Men ages 18-35 are invited for prayer and fellowship. facebook.com/queenofpeacefriary.

Other events Knights of Columbus bingo — Wednesdays: 6–9 p.m. at Solanus Casey Council Hall, 1910 S. Greeley St., Stillwater.

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Commentary/ideas/opinion? Email catholicspirit@archspm.org

20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JANUARY 10, 2019

THELASTWORD

Stepping back in

time

From left, Rachael Salisbury Dimba, Ted Holien and his daughter-in-law Robin Holien stand outside the historic church at St. Peter in Mendota wearing 1850s period clothing for an event Jan. 3 called Historic Church Victorian Christmas Open House. They were there to sing Christmas carols inside the church during the two-hour event.

St. Peter opens historic Mendota church for evening of nostalgia

A

Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit s the glow of sunset faded Jan. 3, the historic church of St. Peter in Mendota was just starting to light up.

Parishioners and history buffs strolled past a row of luminarias and into one of the oldest existing churches in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Inside, carolers in period costumes provided a musical backdrop that added even more charm to this quaint, intimate interior adorned with Christmas decorations. It was all part of an event called the Historic Church Victorian Christmas Open House.

Held for the first time last year, its success motivated organizers to do it again.

Visitors like Marlena Hark pulled out their smartphones to snap photos. She was there with her mother, Maire Hark, and both were seeing the inside of the historic church for the first time. They had been to Mass at the current church several times, which made them interested in checking out the historic one.

“It deepens your faith by connecting to the old times,” said Marlena, a member of St. Maron in northeast Minneapolis, who has gone to Mass at many churches in the Twin Cities with her mother.

“Both of us, I think, have a love of art and history,” Maire said, explaining one reason they came. She added that she likes being able to see and touch historical artifacts, and doing so helps her feel connected to people who in previous generations saw and touched the same things.

One of the carolers, Robin Holien, was married in the historic church in 2016. Her father-in-law, Ted Holien, a St. Peter parishioner, also was a member of the trio who sang throughout the evening. They belong to a group called Tale of Twin Cities. Both were excited about the chance to sing carols inside the church, which was built in 1853.

“It has beautiful acoustics. We love singing here,”

Marlena Hark of St. Maron in northeast Minneapolis takes a picture with her smartphone of the historic church sanctuary, pictured at right.

At left is her mother, Maire Hark.

Robin Holien said. “It’s lovely to see all the ice [outside the church] with the candles [on the sidewalk], and it makes for a magical night.”

Even St. Peter members who have seen the historic church many times were excited to attend. Parishioner Tara Lanigan stood outside the church when she arrived and spent several minutes taking pictures with her phone.

“I came to look at the history again and just enjoy [the church],” said Lanigan, whose ancestors were founding members of the parish. “We were kind of going back in time.”

One couple decided to step more into the atmosphere and wear period clothing. Parishioners Karen and Chuck Dosh belong to the Living History Society of Minnesota, and they decided to attend to the event with an 1850s look.

“I just thought it would be fun to dress up, be part of the spirit of the event,” Karen Dosh said. “It probably, for other people seeing us, gives a little ambiance, which is fun for us, too.”

Event organizer Anne O’Keefe relived childhood memories as she stood near the back of the church before the evening began.

“I grew up here,” said O’Keefe, 42. “I’m the youngest

of 12 kids. These were our pews — back row on the right. ... My dad was always an usher and we were all altar servers. And, I remember Christmas morning we’d always get here early before 7:30 [Mass] and there’d be carols. It was just such a special thing to me.”

O’Keefe, the community life coordinator for the parish, started overseeing tours of the historic church five years ago. With weekend Masses all taking place in the new church, she wanted to create another opportunity for people to see the historic church, which is used primarily for weekday morning Masses.

She talked with the tour guides last year about having this event, and everyone endorsed the idea. Last year’s event drew people who had been parishioners at one time and left, and also people who had been married at the church.

O’Keefe said she hopes two hours inside the historic church can take “the hustle and bustle out of Christmas” for people who may have been experiencing a frantic pace in December.

“This is just simple,” she said. “There’s nothing to it.

There’s no TV; it’s just walking around and enjoying it.

And, I hope maybe someone who’s been away from the Church might come back here and find peace, too, you know. That would be a beautiful thing.”