The Catholic Spirit - July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

thecatholicspirit.com

Tridentine tensions

Pope moves to tighten control of ‘traditional Latin Mass’ to foster Church unity —Pages 9-12 PILGRIMAGES

& CATHOLIC TRAVEL

St. Joseph sites, Catholic travel guide — pages 8, 13

SECULAR FRANCISCANS 5 | CONVERSION THERAPY 6 | BORDER CONCERNS 7 CUPPA JOE 15 | WHY I AM CATHOLIC 18 | MINNESOTA OLYMPIAN 20

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

PAGETWO You’d never know he’d been through such terrible things in his life.

Father Michael Miller, pastor of St. Patrick of Cedar Lake and St. Catherine of Spring Lake, speaking about the late Father Alphonse Kubat in a post on the Scott County Historical Society website titled “Alphonse Kubat, A Priest With a Past” by Charles Pederson. Born in 1916 in Czechoslovakia, Father Kubat came of age between two world wars. During his long life, Father Kubat was pressed into manual labor by the Nazi regime, struggled for religious freedom in communist Czechoslovakia and finally found a new home in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Father Kubat retired to St. Paul in 1991 and died of cancer in 2006.

NEWS notes

COURTESY TOTINO-GRACE

TRADES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY A student at Totino-Grace High School handles a virtual welding torch during a “trades through technology” session at the Fridley high school. The July 14-16, Big Ideas Mobile Learning Lab Camp was free to students entering seventh through ninth grades and funded by a grant from the Minneapolisbased Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. The camp offered a variety of simulated trade skills including excavation, industrial painting and welding. Campers and families also toured the engineering classrooms and got a first look at the school’s new research laboratory.

After considering a new direction, Minnesota Catholic Conference executive director Jason Adkins has decided to remain in his current position. The MCC announced July 20 that Adkins had reversed his July 1 decision to leave the MCC and plans to continue to serve as the organization’s executive director. “We are very grateful that he will continue to serve the Church in this role and bring his great visionary and leadership capabilities to the mission field,” the MCC stated. “For everyone who has sent their well wishes and notes of gratitude, know that Jason is also thankful for your support over the past decade. Our entire staff is grateful for all you do to promote life, dignity, and the common good. We are all co-workers for truth in the vineyard of the Lord.”

The director of college counseling at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights is being honored with the Distinguished Service Award for 2020-2021 from the Minnesota Association for College Admission Counseling. Norma Gutierrez is being recognized for contributing to the MACAC and for having a positive impact on students. Among Gutierrez’s unique offerings: A full-year elective course for juniors to prepare them for the college application process, testing and college itself.

An associate professor of theology at St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville has been named to one of several Vatican commissions preparing for the next Vatican synod called by Pope Francis. Kristin Colberg will assist with the October 2023 synod, which will have the theme: “For a synodal church: communion, participation and mission.” Colberg and others on the commissions will help leaders of the Synod of Bishops’ general secretariat review documents, draft resources and develop best practices.

CNS HENNING SCHOON, KNA, CNS

DEVASTATING FLOODS A grave marker is surrounded by floodwaters at a cemetery July 16 in Erftstadt, Germany. Officials have recorded at least 205 deaths due to flooding in western and southern Germany, eastern Belgium and parts of the Netherlands. More than 170 people remain unaccounted for. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the catastrophe the worst natural disaster in the country in 60 years.

Catholic school students, alumni, administrators, teachers, staff and parents are invited to respond to our next question: How has your relationship to a Catholic school deepened your faith? Please send answers of 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@ archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line. Your reflection may be included in a future edition of The Catholic Spirit.

PRACTICING Catholic On the July 23 “Practicing Catholic” show, host Patrick Conley interviews Bishop Andrew Cozzens about Church teaching on artificial contraception. The episode also features Bridget Busacker, founder of Managing Your Fertility, who discusses fertility awareness and natural family planning, and Mike and Ann Cerney, who describe Twin Cities Retrouvaille, a program that offers help to couples in troubled marriages. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com, soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic or tinyurl.com/practicingcatholic.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

United in Faith, Hope and Love

Vol. 26 — No. 14 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor

A lector at St. Peter Claver in St. Paul claimed a bit of fame July 23, competing on the game show “Jeopardy!” and taking home a second-place finish. John Roberson, 53, of Apple Valley, said he has been a “Jeopardy!” fan since 1984, the year the late Alex Trebek became host. A convert to Catholicism in 2005, Roberson serves as lector at the 4 p.m. Saturday Mass at St. Peter Claver. Roberson said he was excited to appear on the show and had fun while competing.

CORRECTIONS A July 15 story about City Connects in Catholic schools incorrectly stated the name of Ascension School’s principal. It is Benito Matias.

Also in the July 15 issue, the Official incorrectly stated the date of Father Richard Villano’s ordination. He was ordained in 1958, began ministering in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1970, and was incardinated from the Crosiers into the archdiocese in 1981.

The July 15 issue’s News Notes incorrectly stated that Blessed Stanley Rother was a Christian Brother. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

The July 15 story “Post-war parish boom” stated that St. John Vianney parish in South St. Paul raised funds through a nearby roller rink. During its construction, the church’s lower level was actually used as a roller rink to raise funds to finish the church and the school above it.

ON THE COVER Father John Gallas elevates the chalice during a Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal at St. Agnes in St. Paul July 25. Father Gallas, a faculty member at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, regularly celebrates such Masses at St. Agnes, one of six parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that regularly offer what some call the “traditional Latin Mass.”

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3

FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Discerning new norms around the ‘old Mass’

O

n Friday, July 16, Pope Francis issued new norms for the continued celebration of the Mass according to the Missal that had been used immediately before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The new norms, promulgated in a legislative document known as “Traditionis Custodes” (“Guardians of Tradition”), took effect that day. (See coverage on pages 9-12.)

In a geeky sort of way, I always get excited when new laws are issued by the Holy Father. From middle school civics, you will probably recall the three branches of government: the executive, the judicial and the legislative. In the Catholic Church, all three of those functions are united at the universal level in the person of the Holy Father: at the same time, the pope is the Chief Executive, the Supreme Judge and Supreme Legislator. As some of you may recall, I worked at the Vatican for 13 years in the office that assists the pope when wearing his “Supreme Legislator” hat. Our office would provide technical legal assistance to him when he was issuing new laws or when it was determined that there needed to be an authoritative clarification of the meaning of laws already on the books. When I began work at the Holy See in 1996, folks would quip that ours was the smallest office at the Vatican but had the longest name: The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. While the name of the office has since been shortened to the “Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts,” the staff remains amazingly small.

As you might imagine, the task of legislating for a global institution is challenging. How does one draft a one-size-fits-all norm for a Church that faces amazingly different challenges in the highlands of Papua New Guinea than in Rome or in the Twin Cities?

Pope Francis clearly recognizes that challenge.

We read in the letter that accompanied “Traditionis

Custodes” that he first consulted with bishops around the world to hear of their experiences. He evidently learned from that broad consultation that there were some areas of the world in which the celebration of the “old Mass” is leading to divisiveness and a rejection of the teachings and pastoral thrusts of the Second Vatican Council. Charged as Successor of Peter with maintaining the unity of the Church, he made the prudential decision to address that situation legislatively. At the same time, he acknowledges that local situations may vary greatly and that implementation of the norms will require further assessment and pastoral care at the diocesan level.

With that in mind, he gives each diocesan bishop the “exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese.” Pope Francis makes it clear that it won’t be his call, or the local pastor’s call, or the parish council’s call; it will be the responsibility of the diocesan bishop, having assessed the situation and having taken into account the text of the legislation and the existing expressions of the “mind of the legislator,” to make the determination.

In a letter to bishops introducing “Traditionis Custodes,” Pope Francis indicated that how we proceed locally should be dictated by two touchstones: the good of those who are presently “rooted in the previous form of celebration” and the “real need of the holy people of God.” The situation to be assessed in this archdiocese is relatively complex. On any given Sunday, Mass in what Pope Benedict called the “extraordinary form” is presently being offered at six of our 189 parishes, with over 1,300 members of the faithful in attendance. We have one parish, All Saints in Minneapolis, that only offers Mass and the sacraments according to the former missal and liturgical books, while the others offer Mass and sacramental care in both forms. Other parishes, schools or hospitals regularly or occasionally offer a weekday Mass in the extraordinary form. In addition, a

number of priests have written since the promulgation of “Traditionis Custodes” to ask for permission to continue to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 missal “privately” on their day off.

Discernir nuevas normas en torno a la ‘vieja misa’

El Papa Francisco reconoce claramente ese desafío.

Leemos en la carta que acompañaba a Traditionis Custodes que primero consultó con obispos de todo el mundo para conocer sus experiencias. Evidentemente, aprendió de esa amplia consulta que había algunas áreas del mundo en las que la celebración de la “vieja Misa” está provocando divisiones y un rechazo de las enseñanzas y los impulsos pastorales del Concilio Vaticano II. Encargado como Sucesor de Pedro de mantener la unidad de la Iglesia, tomó la decisión prudencial de abordar esa situación legislativamente. Al mismo tiempo, reconoce que las situaciones locales pueden variar mucho y que la implementación de las normas requerirá una mayor evaluación y atención pastoral a nivel diocesano. Con eso en mente, otorga a cada obispo diocesano la “competencia exclusiva para autorizar el uso del Misal Romano de 1962 en su diócesis”. El Papa Francisco deja en claro que no será su llamado, o el llamado del pastor local, o el llamado del consejo parroquial; Será responsabilidad del obispo diocesano, habiendo valorado la situación y habiendo tenido en cuenta el texto de la legislación y las expresiones existentes de la “mente del legislador”, tomar la determinación.

En una carta a los obispos en la que presentaba las Traditionis Custodes, el Papa Francisco indicó que la forma en que procedemos a nivel local debe estar dictada por dos piedras de toque: el bien de aquellos que actualmente están “arraigados en la forma previa de celebración” y la “necesidad real del pueblo santo Dios.”

Para ayudarme a evaluar a fondo la situación y tomar una determinación sobre cómo debemos proceder en esta Arquidiócesis, he establecido un grupo de trabajo asesor, bajo el liderazgo del Obispo Cozzens. Si bien al menos un comentarista se ha referido a esto como un “despeje”, en realidad es más un “tiempo de espera” para evaluar con calma dónde estamos en el campo y cuál será la mejor manera de encaminarnos hacia la meta que el Papa Francisco ha establecido. para nosotros.

Como reflejo de la urgencia de la legislación del Papa

Francisco, que entró en vigor el mismo día en que se anunció, el Grupo de Trabajo ya se reunió una vez. Sin embargo, han indicado la necesidad de recopilar más información antes de seguir adelante. Reconozco que puede llevar algún tiempo. Por favor, manténgalos a ellos y a su trabajo en sus oraciones en las próximas semanas.

E

l viernes 16 de julio, el Papa Francisco emitió nuevas normas para la celebración continua de la Misa según el Misal que se había utilizado inmediatamente antes de las reformas del Concilio Vaticano II. Las nuevas normas, promulgadas en un documento legislativo conocido como “Traditionis Custodes” (Guardianes de la Tradición), entraron en vigor ese día.

De una manera “geeky”, siempre me emociono cuando el Santo Padre emite nuevas leyes. De la educación cívica de la escuela secundaria, probablemente recordará las tres ramas del gobierno: la ejecutiva, la judicial y la legislativa.

En la Iglesia Católica, las tres funciones están unidas a nivel universal en la persona del Santo Padre: al mismo tiempo, el Papa es el Jefe Ejecutivo, el Juez Supremo y el Legislador Supremo. Como algunos de ustedes recordarán, trabajé en el Vaticano durante 13 años en la oficina que ayuda al Papa cuando usa su sombrero de “Legislador Supremo”. Nuestra oficina le brindaría asistencia técnica legal cuando emitiera nuevas leyes o cuando se determinara que debía haber una aclaración autorizada del significado de las leyes que ya estaban en los libros. Cuando comencé a trabajar en la Santa Sede en 1996, la gente decía en broma que la nuestra era la oficina más pequeña del Vaticano pero tenía el nombre más largo: El Pontificio Consejo para la Interpretación de Textos Legislativos. Si bien el nombre de la oficina se ha acortado desde entonces a “Pontificio Consejo para los Textos Legislativos”, el personal sigue siendo sorprendentemente pequeño.

Como puede imaginar, la tarea de legislar para una institución global es un desafío. ¿Cómo se puede redactar una norma única para todos para una Iglesia que enfrenta desafíos asombrosamente diferentes en las tierras altas de Papúa Nueva Guinea que en Roma o en las Ciudades Gemelas?

To assist me in thoroughly assessing the situation and making a determination as to how we should proceed in this archdiocese, I have established an advisory task force, under the leadership of Bishop Cozzens. While at least one commentator has referred to this as a “punt,” it’s really more of a “time out” to assess calmly where we are on the field and what will be the best way of heading to the goal that Pope Francis has set for us.

Reflecting the urgency of Pope Francis’ legislation, which went into effect the very day it was announced, the task force has already met once. They have indicated a need, however, to gather more information before proceeding further. I recognize that may take some time.

Please keep them and their work in your prayers in the weeks to come.

I would also ask your prayers for the faithful of our archdiocese who regularly attend the traditional Latin Mass. Some of them have already shared with me the anxiety that they are feeling at this time and even a concern that they will be regarded as “suspect” by reason of attendance at Mass in the extraordinary form. In the five years that I have been archbishop here, I have come to know many of them not only as faithful daughters and sons of the Church but also as very supportive of the overall work of this archdiocese and its parishes, often in humble and hidden ways.

I am grateful that the nourishment that they have found at the traditional Mass, and the support that they have drawn from their community, has enabled them to respond generously to Pope Francis’ call to be missionary disciples and compassionate servants. As I await the recommendations of our task force, I trust that the Holy Spirit will illuminate a path that will bring lasting fruit to this local Church.

También les pido sus oraciones por los fieles de nuestra Arquidiócesis que asisten regularmente a la tradicional misa en latín. Algunos de ellos ya han compartido conmigo la ansiedad que sienten en este momento e incluso la preocupación de que se les considere “sospechosos”por asistencia a Misa en forma extraordinaria. En los cinco años que he sido Arzobispo aquí, he llegado a conocer a muchos de ellos no solo como fieles hijas e hijos de la Iglesia, sino también como un gran apoyo al trabajo general de esta Arquidiócesis y sus parroquias, a menudo en humildes y ocultos formas. Estoy agradecido de que el alimento que han encontrado en la Misa tradicional y el apoyo que han recibido de su comunidad les haya permitido responder con generosidad al llamado del Papa Francisco a ser discípulos misioneros y servidores compasivos. Mientras espero las recomendaciones de nuestro Grupo de Trabajo, confío en que el Espíritu Santo iluminará un camino que traerá frutos duraderos a esta Iglesia local.

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

Effective July 15, 2021 Reverend Jerome Fehn, assigned as hospital chaplain for M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville. This is in addition to his current assignment as chaplain for M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in Saint Louis Park.

4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

LOCAL

SLICEof LIFE

A time to learn

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

During a Vacation Religion Program at St. Helena in Minneapolis, Belan Akal, who is going into third grade at St. Helena Catholic School, talks with Sister M. Magdela of the Missionaries of Charity July 16. The five-day program was started 33 years ago by John Sondag, director of religious education at St. Helena. He looped in the Missionaries of Charity to the program after they arrived in 2002 to live and serve in the Twin Cities. Currently, they have a convent in south Minneapolis.

“Certainly, their witness is very good, and their presence is very good,” Sondag said of the sisters. “But, they can be very effective teachers, too. They have a gentle way of working with the kids, and the kids like them.” About 50 children, mostly parishioners and students at the school, participated in this year’s program, which took place July 12-16.

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JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

Forest Lake embraces Secular Franciscans with seven new members

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit Karan Blackmer, 54, of St. Peter in Forest Lake said that as she enters into the Secular Franciscan Order, she is responding to God’s call to live fraternally, dive more deeply into her faith, and serve and sacrifice for others.

A fellow parishioner, John O’Brien, 47, hopes his profession into the Secular Franciscans might be a springboard into volunteering with youth, perhaps starting a prayer group and renewing others’ appreciation for the sacraments.

A third parishioner, Lyn Palachek, 72, trusts that the Lord is working through all of them toward something still larger in scope.

All three were among seven members of St. Peter accepted at a special Mass July 18 into the Secular Franciscan Order’s St. Pio of Pietrelcina Fraternity, with Archbishop Bernard Hebda presiding and a Conventual Franciscan friar, Father Matthew Malek, concelebrating.

“I was thrilled to be invited to be part of this, even though I’m not a Franciscan,” the archbishop said in his homily. “I love St. Francis. It’s beautiful, I think, that the local bishop would have the opportunity to be here and to really give thanks for the witness of the members of the Secular Franciscan community in this archdiocese. To recognize the way in which you continue to bless his local Church with your witness in the life of St. Francis in a very quiet way, in a very secular way, that is the leaven in our society.”

Fraternities are the smallest unit of the international order that St. Francis of Assisi founded 800 years ago, along with his earlier founding of the men’s Order of Friars Minor and the women’s Order of St. Clare. Often, about a dozen to 40 people make up a fraternity and meet as a group at least once a month for prayer, study, service and social time. There are eight fraternities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including one each in Bloomington, Coon Rapids, Forest Lake, Inver Grove

and pledged in their daily affairs to live in the spirit of St. Francis as an example to others. As a fraternity, they will help choose a ministry or ministries they can support with corporal works of mercy, part of the order’s call to service.

Fraser, who has been a Secular Franciscan since 2009, helped bring the order to St. Peter three years ago in hopes of building up the fraternity. “St. Peter is a spiritually strong parish,” Fraser said.

“We have a lot of committed people here.”

Blackmer said Fraser asked if she was interested in joining the order. “At that first meeting, it just felt right,” Blackmer said. “It was really the small group discussions. We dived into things.”

JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Pat DeVito, left, treasurer of the St. Pio of Pietrelcina Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, assists Kathy Fraser, the fraternity’s minister, center, and Paul Beery, the secretary, as Christine Milam makes her profession into the order July 18 at St. Peter in Forest Lake. Six others also entered the secular order.

Heights, Prior Lake and St. Paul, and two in Minneapolis.

The fraternities are part of the Queen of Peace region, which currently includes about 400 people in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and parts of Nebraska and Wisconsin. Regions report to the Secular Franciscan Order USA, which reports to the international order led by a general minister — currently Tibor Kauser of Hungary — who reports directly to the pope.

Members of the secular order are part of the Franciscan family of priests, brothers and Poor Clares of the Franciscan religious orders, but they do not take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They make a lifelong, public profession to live in the spirit of St. Francis, in humility, simplicity and service. Franciscans are not unique in having a lay component to a religious order, but they are the only canonically established third order begun by the founder of a particular religious order, St. Francis, said Kathy Taormina,

the Queen of Peace region’s spiritual assistant, a member of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington and formation director at St. John XXIII Fraternity of the Secular Order of Franciscans, also in Bloomington.

The class of seven at St. Peter participated in nearly three years of preparation that included reading books about St. Francis, learning the order’s rules and way of life and about the wider Church, while praying with Scripture and discussing their faith together once a month. It is an unusually large number of new members, said Kathy Fraser, St. Peter’s business administrator and St. Pio fraternity’s minister. Often, a fraternity might bring in two or three people at one time, she said. With the seven additional members, the St. Pio fraternity numbers a dozen people.

As part of the ceremony, the seven, which also included Cheryl Mancini, Bruce Nolden, Christine Milam and Kris Rehfeld, renewed their commitment to their baptism and confirmation promises

Fraser said she was first drawn to St. Francis by his love of animals. The order also provides a deep, shared spirituality and love, including love for the Church, she said. Palachek said she heard about the order in recent years, and knew it was for her. “I’ve had to live this long in order to be ready. It is my time now.” And O’Brien said he had been considering consecrated life, but that didn’t appear to be working out, when Fraser asked him about the secular order.

“I really wanted to do something with my faith,” he said. “It was, ‘How do I put that into action?’”

In his homily, Archbishop Hebda said the Holy Spirit has enriched the Church and the order’s seven new members, who benefit spiritually even as they serve the Church in challenging times.

“We live in a difficult time, when the Church is in need of such tender loving care,” the archbishop said. “To have people that are committed like St. Francis to rebuilding the Church, not just in terms of a rundown chapel, but really in terms of the Church that’s made up of living stones. I encourage you to continue building the Church, to be faithful witnesses to the charism of St. Francis, to be faithful to the teachings of the Church, those teachings that Jesus so much desired to pass on not only to his disciples, but to us, 2,000 years later.”

Minneapolis Basilica to host life-size ‘Angels Unawares’ sculpture in August

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit The life-size figures of 140 people of different cultures, races, eras and ages are all huddled together tightly in a boat. There’s a Cherokee man, an African slave, a young child, a pregnant woman. The fact that they’re cast in bronze only emphasizes their expressions and postures.

And then there are the wings.

“Angels Unawares,” a 20-foot long, 3.5-ton bronze sculpture, will be situated in front of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Aug. 1-30 for viewing as part of a U.S. tour before its final placement at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. It’s the second casting of a sculpture by Canadian, Catholic artist Timothy Schmalz that was commissioned by Pope Francis and installed in 2019 at the Vatican in St. Peter’s Square, with a smaller version installed in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The sculpture’s name comes from Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.” On this point, the sculpture is not subtle. Rising from deep within the mass of people is a pair of tall, pointed wings.

Schmalz’s website says the work “interprets this belief that there is to be found the sacred in the stranger, in terms of the refugee and migrant people.”

VATICAN MEDIA | CNS

Pope Francis attends the unveiling of “Angels Unawares” in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 29, 2019.

Since November, the sculpture has been on display in Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans and San Antonio. It will be installed permanently at Catholic University in October.

Johan van Parys, the Basilica’s director of liturgy, said he expects the sculpture to arrive at the Basilica July 30.

An unveiling and blessing of the sculpture are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 1, with an opening celebration at

3 p.m. that day. Other events related to the artwork are scheduled throughout the month.

The temporary exhibition will join another cast of Schmalz’s work — a sculpture of “Homeless Jesus” the Basilica installed on its campus in 2017. Designed to prompt reflection on seeing Christ in the poor, the statue features the figure of a man lying on a park bench, wrapped in a blanket. The only visible part of his body are his feet, which bear the wounds of the Crucifixion.

A friend of van Parys, Schmalz invited the Basilica to host “Angels Unawares” during its U.S. tour. Schmalz has met virtually with the Basilica’s docents, and he plans to participate in an Aug. 17 virtual panel discussion that will include Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Cheryl Behrent, director of Sarah’s ... an Oasis for Women, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet that serves women who are homeless, many of whom are immigrants and migrants.

Hosting the sculpture fits with the Basilica’s goals of celebrating sacred art and engaging social concerns, including complexities around migration and immigration, Basilica leaders said.

“There’s so many aspects to this that will allow us to really think about who we are, where we are, who our PLEASE TURN TO ‘ANGELS UNAWARES’ ON PAGE 6

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LOCAL

JULY 29, 2021

MCC sees counseling ban in ‘conversion therapy’ order

‘ANGELS UNAWARES’

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

neighbors are,” said van Parys, noting that he feels a personal resonance with the artwork, as an immigrant to the U.S. from his native Belgium.

Janice Anderson, the Basilica’s director of Christian life, said the Basilica has accompanied people who are migrants as they make a home in the Twin Cities, and she sees “Angels Unawares” as a complement to that charitable outreach.

She emphasized that it is also working with many community partners to host the artwork and offer prayer, education and other events around it.

“This whole process, the whole journey to bring it here feels like the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit moves in mysterious ways,” she said. “And art touches people in mysterious ways.”

Art conveys ideas differently than lectures, conversation or reading, van Parys said. “It sits there and invites people to dialog with the sculpture, and in a softer way, I think, allowing people in their own time and at their own pace, to come to the realization of what this sculpture is all about,” he said. “It’s like rain. We need rain. We don’t need a storm, but we need a soft, constant rain that gets into the soil and will nurture the plants.

Sometimes I think of lectures as a storm.”

Despite the sculpture’s social commentary, van Parys said the piece is not meant to be received as a political statement. He knows groups that plan to visit the artwork in the spirit of a pilgrimage, and he appreciates that approach.

“It’s prayerfully considering Hebrews 13:2,” he said. “There is need for political action and that sort of thing, but for us Catholics, unless we root it in prayer and in meditation and in Scripture study, then I think we lose the roots of what this is all about.”

To learn more about “Angels Unawares” and related events at the Basilica, visit mary.org.

A July 15 executive order from Gov. Tim Walz restricts a practice he describes as “conversion therapy.” But Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, views it as a counseling ban that denies young people who struggle with gender discordance and same-sex attraction access to the psychological sciences that could help them live in harmony with their bodies and with a healthy, rightly ordered sexuality that promotes human flourishing.

The order targets a broad spectrum of speech and viewpoints that Walz does not appear to like, Adkins said.

“In his view, kids are allegedly able to consent to puberty blockers and permanent body-altering drugs and surgeries, but supposedly need to be protected from seeking a counselor,” Adkins said.

The governor’s order defines conversion therapy as any practice by a mental health practitioner or professional that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward people, regardless of gender.

Walz described the therapy “especially concerning when used on minors and vulnerable adults.”

As the broader culture promotes sex transition — which Adkins called an impossibility — as a cure for young people struggling with all sorts of psychological wounds and mental health challenges, Walz’s order shuts off access to needed counseling services and, instead, routes children toward hormone treatments, surgery and other “genderaffirming treatments,” Adkins said.

“Under the counseling ban, therapists and families are prevented from working together to address the underlying psychological issues and trauma of which same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria are often symptoms,” Adkins said. “In doing so, Gov. Walz merely emboldens gender ideologues and enriches pharmaceutical companies and unethical doctors — all of whom prey on young people by promoting these irrational ideologies and harmful bodyaltering practices.”

Because the restrictions took effect by executive order and not legislation, any governor succeeding Walz could repeal them. The Democrat-controlled Minnesota House of Representatives approved a ban in 2019, but the Republicanmajority state Senate narrowly defeated it.

Adkins said the MCC will work with any families or counselors who wish to bring a lawsuit challenging state

or municipal counseling bans and connect them with the appropriate legal representation.

“And the Catholic Church will continue to provide spiritual accompaniment to young people and their families so that they can find peace with their bodies and embrace an integrated sexual identity,” he said.

Adkins said Minnesota should follow Great Britain’s example and ban sexchange surgeries for minors because of their inability to properly consent to permanent physical alterations.

“That is the real ‘conversion therapy’ GOV. TIM WALZ that needs to be stopped,” he said.

“Certainly, there have been specific false advertising and therapeutic practices used in the past that should be banned,” Adkins said, “but those are already governed by licensing regulations and deceptive trade practices laws.”

The governor’s order states that “so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ sometimes known as ‘reparative therapy,’ is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The scientific, medical, and education communities overwhelmingly reject conversion therapy because it lacks scientific validation, poses dangerous health risks to the individuals and communities involved, and contributes to health and social inequities.”

The order requires state agencies to pursue opportunities and coordinate with each other to protect Minnesotans, especially minors and vulnerable adults, from conversion therapy to the fullest extent of their authority. For example, by May 1, 2022, the Minnesota departments of health and commerce will request statements from health insurers that they are not covering conversion therapy services.

The executive order cites 15 health organizations — including the Minnesota Medical Association and the American Medical and Psychological associations — that have voiced opposition to the practices. It also cites seven professional education associations — including the National Education Association and the National Association of School Psychologists — that have denounced the therapy as harmful to children’s mental health.

The order says 11 Minnesota cities, 23 other states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and “a growing number of municipalities across the country” have taken action against conversion therapy.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

NATION+WORLD

Numbers of unaccompanied minors at border setting record

By Rhina Guidos Catholic News Service

TEXAS BISHOPS OBJECT

With a surge in the first few months of 2021 of minors entering the United States without a parent or guardian, figures from fiscal year 2020 already have surpassed the total of unaccompanied minors who made border entries during the previous fiscal year.

Statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that more than 76,000 minors entered the U.S. during fiscal year 2019, which for the government runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

By July 6 of this year, the latest figures available from CBP show that entries for fiscal year 2020 already have surpassed that number, with the agency logging more than 93,500 unaccompanied minors with a little less than three months left to go in the fiscal year.

In a July 23 opinion article for United Press International, Randi Mandelbaum, a distinguished clinical professor of law at Rutgers University, said that while the U.S. is legally obligated to care for the minors until they reach adulthood, defined as age 18, “the government often struggles to do so, especially when the immigration system is overwhelmed by high numbers of children.”

Unaccompanied children detained by CPB are supposed to be transferred to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement within 72 hours and sent to facilities such as a shelter or a detention center, where many wait until they are reunited with family living in the U.S. or go to foster homes. But with little bed space available because of the surge, the government has set up tent cities at military bases, such as one at Fort Bliss, Texas.

It was a practice widely criticized during the Trump administration but has continued under the presidency of Joe Biden. Migrant advocates have raised concerns about some of the large-scale facilities

HEADLINES u San Francisco archbishop to Pelosi: No ‘devout Catholic’ can condone the killing of children in the womb. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco issued a July 22 statement in response to remarks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made during her weekly news conference with Capitol Hill reporters in Washington earlier in the day. Pelosi, a Catholic, cited her faith while telling reporters she backed current efforts by her fellow Democrats to eliminate the

The bishops who head the El Paso and Dallas dioceses in Texas have asked Gov. Greg Abbott to halt an order that could result in shutting down, by the end of August, Catholic Charities’ facilities in Texas that care for foster and migrant children, saying that doing so violates state laws protecting religious freedom. “Motivated by our faith, Catholic Charities provides food, clothing and shelter to these children, following Jesus’ command to care for orphans and widows in their distress, to welcome the stranger and to care for those who suffer. But this work is now in peril,” wrote Bishops Edward Burns of Dallas and Mark Seitz of El Paso in an opinion piece published by The Dallas Morning News July 18. “A recent state-level executive order will soon strip the child care licenses from any organization that provides shelter to migrant children, including the six child welfare programs operated by Catholic Charities in Texas,” they said. Some facilities, such as Catholic Charities, have federal contracts with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to help care for migrant children.

— Catholic News Service

and whether they are appropriate for minors.

Many Catholic nonprofits throughout the United States, via organizations such as Catholic Charities and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, have been part of a network of faith groups active in caring for the minors in smaller, family-like settings and helping them until they eventually reach family.

But the ins and outs of caring for minors who are migrants and providing services they need, from legal to educational, are complex, even as they leave the hands of the government.

“Once a child goes to live with a relative, the Office of Refugee Resettlement provides little, if

once-bipartisan Hyde Amendment and other similar language barring the use of federal funds for on-demand abortions. u Pope prays for victims, families hit by devastating floods in China. Record rainfall in central China left dozens dead and forced more than 1 million people to relocate. After praying the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square July 25, the pope commented on the rains that triggered flash floods in the city of Zhengzhou and in Henan province and said he prays for the victims and their families.

DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS, POOL VIA REUTERS | CNS

Unaccompanied migrants, ages 3 to 9, at a facility March 30 in Donna, Texas, set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. any, oversight or assistance. Nor do they offer much support in such matters as enrolling the child in school, getting medical care or hiring an immigration attorney,” wrote Mandelbaum. “That burden falls on families and the states, cities or towns where the children land.”

Some localities, however, have shown reluctance in accepting the minors in their midst.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order in April to prevent use of foster care facilities and group care homes for immigrant children sent to South Carolina. He said “allowing the federal government to place an unlimited number of unaccompanied migrant children into our state’s child welfare system for an unspecified length of time is an unacceptable proposition.”

u USCCB general secretary resigns; report alleges ‘possible improper behavior.’ Msgr.

Jeffrey Burrill, general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops since November, resigned July 20 from the post after the USCCB became aware of an impending report from The Pillar, an online outlet that covers the Catholic Church, with analysis of commercially available Grindr app signal data correlated to Msgr. Burrill’s mobile device showing he had “visited gay bars and private residences.” The Pillar’s investigation has raised questions about journalism ethics in regard to high-tech data collection.

Gabriel & Alma Corona Owners of Los Padres Sts. Joachim and Anne, Shakopee Daniel Delmore Gearty-Delmore Funeral Chapels, Inc. Owner and Funeral Director St. Bartholomew, Wayzata Dr. James Koller James Koller Family Dental Owner and Dentist St. Peter, North St. Paul

Paul Kuhrmeyer Innovo Automation Owner Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul Tim Milner J. I. T. Powder Coating Company Owner and President Assumption, St. Paul

u Church helps Myanmar cope with COVID-19. Ucanews.com reported that a Catholic seminary in Yangon has been converted into a care center to accommodate 50 people needing oxygen support, and up to 70 beds are being arranged. More care centers are being opened in Catholic dioceses such as Myitkyina, Lashio and Taungngu. The military junta-controlled Health Ministry has estimated a daily average of 6,000 cases and 200 deaths.

Medics and charitable groups say the real figures are higher. ­— Catholic News Service

Sheila Oliver Senior Vice President and General Manager of KCPQ Q13 Seattle, Washington; formerly of KMSP – Fox 9 Local News Our Lady of Grace, Edina Stephanie Waite Medtronic Executive Assistant and Sales Project Manager St. John the Baptist, New Brighton

Join The Catholic Spirit in celebrating our Leading with Faith honorees at 1 p.m. on Aug. 11 with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, followed by an ice cream social.

The event is free but registration is required at archspm.org/leadingfaithmass.

8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

FAITH+CULTURE Wisconsin’s National Shrine of St. Joseph ‘a small, quiet place of prayer’ Editor’s note: In this Year of St. Joseph, devotion to Jesus’ foster father is heightened in parishes and sites named for the saint in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In addition, sites, shrines and cathedrals devoted to St. Joseph can be found across North America and beyond. This story and accompanying list provide a sample.

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

ational shrines can be huge complexes anchored by beautiful churches or basilicas. Visitors to the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, are more likely to be surprised by its simplicity, said Michael Poradek, the shrine’s director.

“It’s very, very small and simple, and very quiet, which we feel is representative of St. Joseph as being a quiet, humble saint,” Poradek said. “I think it’s a unique place.”

The national shrine is a prayer space attached to Old St. Joseph Church where visitors pray, light candles and leave prayer intentions in front of a crowned statue of St. Joseph.

People have asked, “Why not build something much larger?” Poradek said.

But there’s never been a sense of that tradition for this particular shrine, he said, and yet a strong devotion to Joseph is fostered there.

“It’s just a small, quiet place of prayer,” he said. “As we accommodate the sacramental needs of visitors, offering Mass, reconciliation at various times during the year, and prayer opportunities, we believe we’re continuing to touch people who wish to

N

The Loretto Chapel Sante Fe, New Mexico A mysterious, winding staircase with no visible structural support — and attributed by many to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters — draws visitors every year to a Gothic-style chapel in Santa Fe. The Loretto Chapel itself was designed and constructed by French architects for the Sisters of Loretto from 1874 to 1878. But their work ended before access to the 22-foot-high choir loft was constructed.

At a loss, the sisters prayed for nine days to St. Joseph, according to the chapel website, lorettochapel.com. On the novena’s final day, a carpenter appeared with a donkey and a toolbox. He put together the “Miraculous Staircase” with wooden pegs and wood not native to the American Southwest, and disappeared without payment. The staircase remains a marvel of architecture, with two 360-degree turns, no railing (a banister was added later to help people climb the stairs) and no center pole for support. The staircase’s weight rests entirely on the bottom step. “Some believe the carpenter was St. Joseph himself, while others believe that it was someone sent

by St. Joseph,” the chapel website says. “What is known is that the Sisters of Loretto prayed, and their prayers were answered.”

St. Joseph Cathedral Sioux Falls, South Dakota When the Diocese of Sioux Falls was in need of a new cathedral in the early 20th century, its leader, Bishop Thomas O’Gorman, sought the work of E.L. Masqueray, a French architect who designed the Twin Cities’ Cathedral

go to Joseph and pray.”

The shrine’s beginnings can be traced to the late 1880s, when Father Joseph Durin, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, served as pastor of St. Joseph church in De Pere, now called Old St. Joseph Church and located on the campus of St. Norbert College, 20 minutes southwest of downtown Green Bay along the Fox River. Father Durin started regular devotions to the saint in 1888, the same year the original statue of St. Joseph holding the Christ child was installed.

“That’s the start of the shrine, really,” Poradek said.

The original wooden church in De Pere burned down shortly after the shrine began, Poradek said, and one of the only things that survived the fire was the original statue of St. Joseph.

Following the fire, Poradek said, “The community really pulled together and built the existing stone and wood church that is present on the site.”

In 1891, Father Durin requested that the pope give his blessing to have the shrine’s statue “crowned,” which Pope Leo XIII granted. “He issued a papal bull of canonical coronation, which is a term basically saying he’s giving his blessing to have this statue crowned for devotion,” Poradek said.

By the time the bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay came to De Pere in 1892 to crown the statue, a new, larger statue of St. Joseph holding the Christ Child was in place — the same statue visitors pray in front of today. The De Pere statue shows St. Joseph wearing a flat “mural” crown, while the Christ Child in his

of St. Paul and Basilica of St. Mary. Those co-cathedrals were commissioned by Bishop O’Gorman’s childhood friend, Archbishop John Ireland. Masqueray died before the Sioux Falls cathedral was finished, but it was completed in 1919 by his associate Edwin Lundie, after construction was briefly interrupted by World War I. The resulting edifice overlooking downtown Sioux Falls is easily identifiable by its unique twin spires, textured in a manner some say mimics the heads of grain or prairie grass. The building’s interior was recently restored by classical architect Duncan Stroik with an eye to Masqueray’s original intention for the building. Its patron is acknowledged in several places: a nativity scene of the Holy Family in the apse above the high altar, the traditional St. Joseph chapel at the right of the sanctuary, St. Joseph the Worker in a large rose window, and a large bronze Statue of St. Joseph with the child Jesus on a landing of the building’s front exterior steps.

St. Joseph Oratory of Mount Royal Montreal

Each year, about 2 million people from around the world visit the largest shrine in the world dedicated to St. Joseph: St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal. St. André Bessette (1845-1937), a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross canonized in 1910 as St. André of Montreal, was devoted to St. Joseph. His dream was to build a chapel dedicated to the saint — an “oratory,” a small, wayside shrine where people could pray to his esteemed saint. The first chapel on site fit that bill: a 15-by-18-foot chapel built with spruce flooring and pressed metal ceiling and

COURTESY NATIONAL SHRINE OF ST. JOSEPH

A refurbished statue of St. Joseph with the Christ child at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wis. arms wears an imperial crown.

About a 4-hour drive from St. Paul, the shrine in De Pere is the only one in the United States with a “papal-crowned” statue of St. Joseph, Poradek said, and he believes it is one of only 17 in the world.

The next statue closest to the upper Midwest is in Quebec, at the St. Joseph Oratory of Mount Royal, he said.

The De Pere site has been called a national shrine since 1892, well before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved norms in 1992 for designating national shrines. Shrine staff are working with the USCCB and the local diocese

roof. It has since been enlarged four times.

However, the room above the chapel where Brother André lived is largely unchanged. The chapel remains, now dwarfed by a basilica and a crypt church. To reach the church, many pilgrims climb the 100 wooden steps on their knees in a gesture of prayer. The full construction project with the basilica was completed in the late 1960s. The shrine is open today, but as this issue went to press, the U.S.-Canada border remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral La Crosse, Wisconsin

During a meeting Jan. 4, 1863, at St. Mary’s log cabin church — the first Catholic parish in La Crosse — attendees decided a new parish was needed to serve German-speaking Catholics. Two days later, trustees determined it would be dedicated to St. Joseph. The 62-by-140-foot brick and stone church, built on the corner of Sixth and Main streets in today’s downtown La Crosse, was dedicated Oct. 2, 1870. Its bell tower was completed in 1884. In 1956, then-Bishop John Treacy determined the church would be razed and replaced by a new cathedral. On May 1, 1961, a bas-relief statue of St. Joseph was in place during construction for the sixth celebration of the patronal feast of St. Joseph the Worker, instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in response to Communistsponsored “May Day” worker celebrations.

Designed as a contemporary interpretation of the original church’s Gothic architecture, the new cathedral was dedicated May 14, 1962, and was consecrated May 7, 1969. While the cathedral’s steeple is currently undergoing

to update statutes and complete other paperwork, and expect to have the title of national shrine ratified soon, Poradek said.

Having been painted over the years, including with some earth-tone shades, the 1892 statue was restored in the past year to its original, more royal colors, and the crowns of St. Joseph and the Christ Child were repaired. From the 1960s until the early 2000s, the statue was located in the church’s crypt. Guests could visit it, but they needed to use steps, reducing its accessibility.

Now, the refurbished statue is back in its original location, a rotunda connected to the Old St. Joseph Church on the college grounds. The shrine became a ministry of St. Norbert Abbey in 1898. The statue that survived the fire is housed in the abbey.

“People are really drawn to the (refurbished) statue itself and to be able to pray with the statue,” Poradek said.

“We’ve seen a large increase in visitors over the past several years.”

After Sept. 7, shrine visitors can find accommodations, depending on availability, at the nearby St. Norbert Abbey Spirituality Center. Visiting hours at the shrine are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 365 days a year. While many shrines close earlier, extended hours are possible because security is present on the college campus, Poradek said.

The weekly Perpetual Novena has been celebrated every Wednesday since 1888.

The Solemn Novena occurs every March 10-19, concluding with the Solemnity of St. Joseph. For more information, visit norbertines.org/joseph.

extensive repair, the three bells dating to 1884 still ring from the tower. They each have a name: St. Joseph, St. Boniface and St. Agnes.

Shrine of St. Joseph St. Louis People visiting Shrine of St. Joseph church in downtown St. Louis will be standing in one of the few churches in the Midwest where a Vaticanauthenticated miracle took place. In 1864, German immigrant Ignatius Strecker was healed of an injury suffered while working in a local soap factory. After all treatments failed, he was given just two weeks to live. He came to the church, built in 1844, kissed a relic of Blessed Peter Claver and was cured. The miracle was authenticated by the Vatican in 1887. Blessed Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. Just two years after Strecker was cured, more divine assistance led to the creation of a monument dedicated to St. Joseph called the Altar of Unanswered Prayers, now the centerpiece of the church. During an outbreak of cholera, the pastor rallied parishioners to make a solemn vow to build a monument to St. Joseph if God would protect them from the illness. No one who signed the vow and made a monetary pledge to support the monument died of cholera.

The altar was completed and dedicated in 1866.

This beautiful historic church, featuring two large towers in the front and a magnificent Baroque sanctuary, is owned by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and leased to The Friends of the Shrine of St. Joseph. Tours are available after every Sunday Mass; private tours are available upon arrangement. Online tours are offered on the church website: shrineofstjoseph.org. ­—The Catholic Spirit

FAITH+CULTURE

JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

Mass change?

With local discernment of Pope Francis’ new restrictions on the ‘old Mass’ underway, Catholics reflect on their experience of the liturgy

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

I

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CA

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n 1984, Colin Cain and his wife, Jane, were on the way home from a late-evening grocery run in South St. Paul when they noticed the light was on in the rectory of St. Augustine’s parish. They stopped, and together, mustered the resolve to knock on the door with a deeply felt request for the pastor: Would he consider offering Mass as it was celebrated prior to the Second Vatican Council?

The celebration of a pre-conciliar-style Mass — not regularly offered since 1965 — had recently been made possible on a limited basis by Pope John Paul establishing that the faithful have a right to ask for II. The Cains, however, longed for it, and with some it, as Pope Benedict XVI’s “Summorum Pontificum” likeminded friends, hoped to find a priest who would had allowed, Pope Francis tightened bishops’ control begin offering it. Colin, then in his early 30s, was of the traditional use of Mass according to the 1962 16 when the new, 1970 Roman Missal was issued Missal, asking them to regulate it in their dioceses, with many changes to the Mass’ expression. In effective immediately. Among the motu proprio’s their 20s, he and Jane began attending St. restrictions is a ban on establishing more Constantine, a Ukrainian-rite Catholic “personal parishes” specialized for the parish in northeast Minneapolis. For celebration of Mass with the 1962 Missal. them, that liturgy, as well as the related Pope Francis issued the new Byzantine rite, expressed the same legislation, titled “Traditionis Custodes” familiar mystery as the pre-conciliar (“Guardians of the Tradition”), Mass. They married at St. Constantine following a questionnaire he had sent in 1981. by the Congregation for the Doctrine The priest who answered the of the Faith to bishops around the rectory door that evening was 60-yearworld regarding the implementation old Father Raymond Zweber, who A of “Summorum Pontificum.” In a letter J D was ordained in 1954 and remembered AN explaining the changes to the world’s COLIN celebrating the Mass prior to the reforms bishops, Pope Francis cited a concern for Church following the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965. unity, and concerns that some pre-conciliar Mass After briefly quizzing Colin about his intentions — devotees tend to think of themselves as the “true Why was he interested in a Mass in Latin? Did he Church” and Vatican II as an illegitimate or failed even understand what was being prayed? — and council. He also said that he wanted to apparently finding his questions sufficiently answered, re-establish in the Church’s Roman Rite Pope St. Paul the priest agreed to celebrate the Mass if permission VI’s goal of “permitting the Church to raise up, in the was granted by Archbishop John Roach. Within the variety of languages, ‘a single and identical prayer,’ year, St. Augustine began to offer what has become that expressed her unity.” known as the “traditional Latin Mass,” initially just In the letter, Pope Francis rejected language that has on First Fridays, but later expanded to Sunday and become common when describing the two “forms” of weekday Masses. the Mass: The 1970 Missal as the “ordinary form” and St. Augustine is now among a handful of parishes the 1962 Missal as the “extraordinary form” of the in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that Mass. (Although people interviewed by The Catholic regularly offer Mass in what the Church has called, Spirit used the terms to distinguish between the until just recently, the “extraordinary form” — a current and pre-conciliar celebrations of the Mass.) distinction from the “ordinary form” of the Mass Pope Rather than a Mass with two “forms,” Pope Francis St. Paul VI promulgated with the 1970 Missal, which stated unequivocally that the 1970 Missal, which Pope has been translated worldwide into the vernacular, or St. John Paul II later edited during his pontificate, is commonly spoken languages, and which is the regular the only expression of the “lex orandi” — the rule expression of the Mass experienced by most Roman of prayer — for Roman Rite Catholics, or the vast Catholics around the world. majority of Catholics around the world.

The pre-conciliar Mass (meaning prior to the Following the release of Pope Francis’ motu Second Vatican Council) uses the Missal — or book proprio, Archbishop Bernard Hebda released a of approved Mass prayers and rubrics — promulgated statement on the evening of July 16 stating that, in

by Pope St. John XXIII in 1962, that maintains the archdiocese, the status quo held, for the time continuity with a missal first promulgated in 1570, being, for Masses celebrated according to the 1962 following the Council of Trent amid the Church’s Missal, until a task force he had assembled could Counter-Reformation. That’s why that expression of study the motu proprio and determine how best to the Mass is also sometimes called the “Tridentine” proceed. Led by Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Mass, for its connection to Trent. that task force includes two priests who regularly Catholics who attend Mass according to the celebrate the pre-conciliar Mass, the archdiocese’s 1962 Roman Missal are a small community within director of worship and its canonical chancellor. the wider Catholic Church, but because they’ve so intentionally sought it out, many are deeply The motu proprio — and Pope Francis’ criticism connected to it. And that’s why Pope Francis’ — has spurred a social media wildfire and widepromulgation of a legislative text July 16 restricting ranging Catholic commentary. Some Catholics are its wide use is being met with strong reaction — from deeply wounded that the pope would “take away” both “traditional Mass” adherents and its critics. the “traditional Latin Mass” in the name of unity, In the legislation, known as a “motu proprio,” Pope while others say they share the pope’s concerns and Francis rolled back steps his predecessor Pope Benedict hope that this addresses divisions within the 1962 XVI took in 2007 to widen the celebration of the preMissal Mass community and the wider Church. Some conciliar Mass. Rather than permitting it to be up to commentators have suggested that the return of 1962 a pastor’s discretion whether to offer the Mass, and Missal devotees to regular parish life could help to

Father John Gallas distributes Communion during a Latin Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal at St. Agnes in St. Paul July 25.

DAVE HRBACEK THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

TASK FORCE WORK UNDERWAY According to a July 16 letter from Archbishop Bernard Hebda to clergy, a task force studying “Traditionis custodes” will include Father Tom Margevicius, the archdiocese’s director of worship; Father Bryan Pedersen, pastor of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale; Father John Gallas, a theology professor at The St. Paul Seminary; and Susan Mulheron, the archdiocese’s chancellor for canonical affairs. Father Pedersen regularly celebrates Mass according to the 1962 Missal at his parish, and Father Gallas celebrates Mass in that expression and has taught a seminary class on it. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens is the task force’s chairman.

“I am grateful to these individuals for generously offering to undertake this work, and I look forward to receiving their recommendations,” Archbishop Hebda said. “I will provide you with more information on this topic soon. For now, please know that I would welcome your thoughts or concerns, which I will forward to the task force.”

Archbishop Hebda has not publicly provided a deadline for the task force’s work. (For more information, see his “Only Jesus” column in this issue on page 3.)

“We are blessed in the Archdiocese by so many individuals and families who love the liturgy in both of its forms and find in the Eucharist the nourishment they need to live exemplary lives of service,” he said. “Nonetheless, on this Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, let us ask Our Lady’s intercession for an even greater devotion to the Eucharist so that we might be drawn together in even greater unity as we journey together towards the eternal liturgy of heaven.” elevate celebrations of the “new Mass.” Others have expressed a concern that the measures might result in Church schism, with “traditional Mass Catholics” leaving in droves for the Society of St. Pius X (a schismatic group that began in Switzerland that resisted Vatican II, and the group that prompted St. John Paul II to allow celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal in the first place) or Eastern Orthodoxy, or, in their disillusionment, even leave institutional Christianity altogether.

Seeking unity The motu proprio certainly surprised Colin Cain, now 67 and retired from longtime work as a maintenance manager at Nestlé Purina near Red Wing. He and Jane raised three girls at St. Augustine, and continue to be deeply involved in the parish, especially its celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal, offered daily and three times on weekends. He’s watched its attendance grow, a phenomenon confirmed by his pastor, Father John Echert, who said almost half of his parish attends the “Tridentine Mass,” with many alternating between Masses celebrated with the 1962 Missal and the 1970 Missal, depending on the weekend.

PLEASE TURN TO MASS CHANGE ON PAGE 10

FAITH+C

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

‘LIKE A RETREAT’ Elisa Armstrong, 38, recently joined All Saints in Minneapolis. A teenage convert to Catholicism from evangelical Protestantism, Armstrong had a negative experience at a Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal in another state as a young woman where she felt judged for her attire, and she expected never to return. But, after experiencing Masses celebrated with the 1970 Missal across the U.S. as a military wife, she found herself seeking deeper contemplation for herself and an atmosphere of greater reverence for her five children.

She lives in Chanhassen and maintains ties with St. Hubert’s parish there, but most Sundays, her family drives 25 minutes into Minneapolis for the pre-conciliar Mass.

“For me, it’s been like a retreat. I’m just so spiritually nourished,” Armstrong said. “I don’t even notice that I’m there an hour and a half, when I used to be the type of person (who thought to myself), ‘Oh, I love this Mass because it’s out at 60 minutes, whoo hoo! ... I got kids. I need to get out of here.’”

Now, she said, she longs for the Sunday High Mass she attends at All Saints. Discovering the “traditional Latin Mass,” she said, “has just been a huge blessing.”

In West St. Paul, Sarah Damm, 45, is also a new 1962 Missal Mass attendee. She still goes to Mass (celebrated — like most – according to the 1970 Missal) at her parish, St. Joseph in West St. Paul, but her family also attends St. Augustine in South St. Paul. She said the desire to go was “a prompting of the Holy Spirit,” and she decided to attend a pre-conciliar Mass one Saturday morning last August. She had been worried about not knowing what to do — standing when she was supposed to sit, or kneeling when she was supposed to stand — but she was surprised to find the liturgy felt familiar.

M M

And rather than making her feel like an outsider, the parish has been very A welcoming, she said. She SA R A H D noted that when she bought a 1962 Mass missal from St. Augustine’s bookstore so she could better follow along, the sales clerk helped her place the book’s ribbons so she would know where to start.

“Sometimes if I get lost in my missal, I’ll think, this is the holy sacrifice of the Mass,” she said. “This is bringing us to Calvary. You know, I’m with Mary and St. John and Mary Magdalene. I’m at the foot of the cross, and I’m just going to be present. I’m just going to be there and pray. And it’s OK if that’s all that the hour brings, it will be very fruitful.”

It’s not only adults who are attracted to the preconciliar Mass. Xavier Adkins, 14, calls it “the core of my faith.” He’s served at that liturgy every other Sunday for three years at his parish, St. Agnes in St. Paul.

“As a server, you learn many things about the Mass, while actively participating in it,” he told The Catholic Spirit by email July 22. “I love the (Mass according to the 1962 Missal) very much and everything in it speaks beauty and reflects God and what he has given us.”

MASS CHANGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 With Mass according to the newer missal offered with such variety from parish to parish, that Pope Francis would want to restrict availability of a Mass that is largely unchanging in the name of “unity” is puzzling, Cain said.

He recalls a time when the pre-conciliar Mass was a significant source of unity in

his life — when, in 2016, Nestlé sent him to France.

“I went into a parish where the traditional Mass is celebrated,” he said.

“I’m totally lost. I don’t understand French. I’m lonesome. I’m a long way from home. And I go inside for the next Mass, and the priest says, ‘Introibo ad altare Dei’ — and I’m home! All these are my brothers and sisters here, and I know it. What a unifying thing that the (Latin) language is.”

At least six parishes in the archdiocese regularly offer the pre-conciliar Mass, among them St. Agnes in St. Paul, St. Joseph in Miesville, the clustered Holy Trinity and St. Augustine in South St. Paul, St. Michael in Pine Island, Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale and All Saints in northeast Minneapolis. Most parishes that offer the pre-conciliar Mass are served by archdiocesan priests, but since 2013, All Saints has been in the ministerial care of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which as its mission exclusively provides Mass and other sacraments according to the 1962 Missal.

In 2017, Archbishop Hebda named All Saints a “personal parish” for Catholics seeking the pre-conciliar Mass. The parish is currently served by two FSSP priests.

Also tied to the parish are the Filiae Laboris Mariae sisters, an association of the faithful of women living in community with a shared apostolic life who exclusively worship according to the 1962 Missal. (All Saints’ pastor, Father Christopher Pelster, declined to be interviewed for this story, and the sisters did not respond to a request for an interview.)

Longtime controversy The pre-conciliar Mass has been a source of controversy since Pope St. John Paul II reinstated its celebration in 1984.

In a letter dated Jan. 10, 1989, from Archbishop Roach to priests and deacons announcing that the 1962 Mass would be permitted on a weekly basis at St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul (and would continue on First Fridays at St. Augustine), he notes, “For some people, its beauty is a profound source of intimacy with God. For a few, it has become a symbolic act of rejection of the Second Vatican Council.”

There’s a great deal to unpack in the Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal — the words of the liturgy itself and its additional prayers, its orchestrated gestures and baroque vestments, its use of Communion rails and exclusive reception of the Eucharist on the tongue. Many women veil, men and women tend to dress more formally, and girls don’t serve at the altar. The priest faces the altar instead of the congregation, whispers the prayer of consecration, and there’s less emphasis on congregational response. The 1962 Missal follows an annual cycle of readings, whereas the 1970 Missal follows a three-year cycle of readings.

The pre-conciliar Mass also follows the 1962 Missal’s liturgical calendar, which differs from the 1970 Missal’s revised calendar. That means some saints’ feasts fall on different days in the two Missals (for example, St. Thomas Aquinas is celebrated Jan. 28 in the 1970 Missal’s calendar, but March 7 according to the 1962 calendar). The “old calendar” also retains some fasting days, such as quarterly “Ember Days,” now optional according to the “new calendar.”

Critics of the 1962 Missal’s liturgy include those concerned about its posture toward Jewish people, as it includes

From left, Betsy and Mary Groetsch pray during a pre-conciliar Latin Mass at St. Agnes in St. Paul J

prayers calling for Jews to “be delivered from darkness” through conversion to Christianity. Others call it clericalist or sexist, since it restricts the roles available to laity, especially women, or a bastion for ultra-conservative Catholics unwilling to embrace a living, contemporary faith.

As a child, Father James Notebaart, 76, memorized the Tridentine Latin Mass, and he experienced the liturgical changes prior to the Second Vatican Council, such as changes in Holy Week and an emphasis, drawn from Germany, on the congregation praying with the priest during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. “There were changes going on way prior to the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

Ordained in 1971, Father Notebaart was the director of the archdiocese’s Worship Center from 1975-1986 as the reforms to the Mass and other sacraments were implemented following Vatican II. He cited the ancient Christian maxim, “Lex orandi, lex credendi” — “the law of what is prayed is the law of what is believed.”

Because the 1962 Missal doesn’t reflect the elements of the Church’s Christology and ecclesiology (the understanding of Jesus and the Church, respectively) that were emphasized at the Second Vatican Council, Father Notebaart said while he doesn’t dismiss the contemporary celebration of the pre-conciliar Mass outright, he approaches its use with caution.

He is especially concerned around implementation of the clergy and laity’s full, active participation in the Mass, called for by Vatican II. For him, the main question is: Why are Catholics seeking a pre-conciliar Mass in a post-conciliar world?

“Once you adopt that (pre-conciliar) ‘form,’ if you adopt the ecclesiology with it, you’re limiting the scope of the Second Vatican Council’s perception of ministry,” he said.

James Kremer, 76, has similar concerns as a member of the laity. He grew up in a devout Catholic family in Holdingford, northwest of St. Cloud, before Vatican II. He entered the Crosiers, leaving before taking final vows. As a child and seminarian, he attended daily Mass, and his experience convinces him that the

Church shouldn’t “backslide” toward Mass as it was celebrated before Vatican II. He remembers those Masses as rushed and mumbled, and they were something to be endured, rather than looked forward to. He felt like he was there simply to watch the priest pray in a regimented, choreographed way. If there was something for him to focus on, it was his own sinfulness.

Vatican II took place while Kremer was in seminary, and he welcomed the focus of the new Mass’ shift toward a theology of Eucharist as a shared meal, and not solely a sacrificial offering. He deeply appreciates the emphasis “Sacrosanctum Concilium” — the Council’s document on sacred liturgy promulgated in 1963 — put on the laity’s “fully conscious, and active participation,” which he thinks is only possible with Mass in the vernacular and the priest facing the congregation.

Mass, as Kremer, a parishioner of St. Ambrose in Woodbury, experiences it now, with the 1970 Missal, feels more like a true celebration, he said, and it’s more capable of resonating with non-Catholics who might attend for weddings or funerals. When celebrated well, he finds the revised Mass uplifting and affirming of its participants being “part of the community,” he said.

“If you read the documents from Vatican II, one of the things that they talk about is that no longer in the Mass is the priest the sole celebrant. The Eucharist is celebrated by the congregation,” he said. “And the priest may be the leader of that celebration, but he’s not the only celebrant. I think that’s the major distinction between the old rite and the present rite, is that theoretically one is a community celebration. The other is the priest’s prayer, being watched by a community.”

Karen Hastreiter, 43, also grew up with Mass according to the 1962 Missal, but under very different circumstances.

Her parents were among the Catholics who sought it out when it was first reestablished at St. Augustine. She was then 10. She doesn’t remember as a child having a strong preference for either Mass expression, but she recalls feeling “more freedom” during the pre-conciliar

CULTURE

JULY 29, 2021 • 11 wandering, and just wants to be holy and Catholic but doesn’t know where to look.”

‘I love both’

July 25. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

liturgy, because she felt she could choose whether or not she wanted to follow in the Missal, to say the responses or just enter into contemplative prayer. While she’s continued to attend Mass according to both Missals over the years, she — with her husband and six children — are now members of All Saints.

As she understands it, the Mass as it was celebrated prior to the council left a lot to be desired, and often both priests and laity had a sense of “going through the motions.” “That’s why the Second Vatican Council was called,” Hastreiter said. “Things had become rules, things had become ‘just what I do.’ I think there really was needed a renewal for what does it mean for us to be Christians, followers of Christ, to live a life of holiness, to be saints? I don’t think that was here in the 40s or 50s just because there was a ‘traditional Mass.’”

Over the years, she’s seen some of Pope Francis’ concerns about 1962 Missal adherents manifest. Some people were angry about “losing the Mass” and have gotten stuck in that place, she said. But, while she thinks stereotypes of “traditional Latin Mass” attendees as arrogant or separatist may have been true 15 or 20 years ago, they’re not anymore.

As more Catholics — especially young adults and families — have discovered Mass according to the 1962 Missal, they’re attracted to its beauty and goodness, she said, and they don’t get mired in the politics of her parents’ era.

Hastreiter also doesn’t think that attending Mass celebrated with the 1962 Missal makes a person holier, or that Mass according to the 1970 Missal doesn’t equally share in Christ’s sacrifice. The problems she sees Pope Francis wanting to address aren’t truly about the Mass, she said, but are about a fallen humanity, and problems abound among Catholics who worship according to the 1970 Missal, too.

If she could speak to Pope Francis, she would ask him to “analyze whether this is really about the Mass or about people needing to be reenergized into understanding what it is to have an interior life that is aligned with Jesus and following him,” she said. “This is about a Church that is broken and wounded and

One of Hastreiter’s greatest concerns with the motu proprio is its stipulation that, going forward, newly ordained priests must petition Rome for permission to celebrate the pre-conciliar Mass. “Rome isn’t known to move quickly,” she said.

“These young seminarians and priests could be — will be, actually, are — the future of the Church in reconciling the whole picture.”

Father Paul Hedman might be one of those priests Hastreiter has in mind. Out of curiosity, he attended his first Mass celebrated with the 1962 Missal during his freshman year in college, before he entered seminary. He discovered he liked its “contemplative experience.” As a seminarian, he trained to celebrate Mass according to both the 1962 and 1970 Missals.

“I love both,” he said.

Ordained last year, Father Hedman, 26, is the youngest priest in the archdiocese.

He hasn’t offered the pre-conciliar Mass at his assigned parish, St. Peter in Forest Lake, where he is a parochial vicar. But he does fill in from time to time at parishes that need a priest to offer the pre-conciliar Mass.

He said Pope Francis “rightfully points out that there are some issues in the traditionalist community, though I’m not sure if I would agree with perhaps how widespread he thinks it is. There’s a very loud minority. And as with any group, the loud minority will get more attention than the silent majority. I know so many people who attend the ‘Latin Mass’ who just find it to be beautiful and who also attend the ‘ordinary form,’ or who would have no theological problems with the ‘ordinary form,’ or who would even want to see Vatican II implemented more, with some of the things that the document on the liturgy said, that maybe the ‘ordinary form’ doesn’t even quite get to what Vatican II wanted.”

When Catholics with a preference for the 1962 Missal explain their view, they list spiritual, aesthetic, cultural and theological reasons. For many attendees, the main theological issue, Father Hedman said, “is that those who would more strongly prefer the ‘extraordinary form’ would say it more perfectly theologically demonstrates the sacrificial nature of the Mass, which is something they would say can sometimes be lost in the ‘ordinary form’ — that the ‘ordinary form’ would emphasize the meal nature, where the ‘extraordinary form’ would more emphasize the sacrificial nature. And they both do both — it’s both a sacrifice and a meal.”

Father Hedman is concerned that the motu proprio’s restrictions could displace the pre-conciliar Mass from where he thinks is the best place for it: Parishes that offer Mass according to both Missals. They “are able to be a bridge, and we don’t have to shove people into their own little bubble,” he said.

“I think that the Holy Father’s motu proprio will just sort of increase the sort of bubble in which the ‘extraordinary form’ exists, and that might just intensify these feelings of disunity. The people who like the ‘extraordinary form’ sometimes can feel as if they’re rejected by the Church, and sort of pushing them off even further like this, I’m not sure if it’ll have the intended effect that our Holy Father is looking for,” he said.

‘A BEAUTIFUL INTEREST’ In response to the motu proprio, Archbishop Hebda has asked priests who celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal and wish to continue to do so to request his permission by Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption. The archdiocese does not currently have a record of how many priests celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Most priests ordained prior to the use of the 1970 Missal are at or near retirement age, but Patti Kocur, business administrator at St. Joseph in Miesville, senses that the number of priests who can celebrate the preconciliar Mass is growing. St. Joseph has offered it since 2009, and sometimes it’s been a challenge to find a priest to offer the Mass, she said. In recent years, that hasn’t been the case, she said. And now, the parish has an assigned sacramental minister for the Mass: Father Cassian DiRocco, a Benedictine monk who is ministering in the archdiocese with the permission of his abbot.

the newer form.”

That makes a difference for the rural parish of about 375 families, located about 35 miles south of downtown St. Paul. In a boost Kocur attributes to Father Cassian’s ministry, 25 new families joined the parish last year. In prior years, she’d see three to five. Many of the families are young, she observed, with an above-average number of children. And they’re willing to drive for the liturgy. One family travels six hours round trip on Sundays from Wisconsin for a Mass Father Cassian celebrates according to the 1962 Missal.

Father Cassian summarizes his experience at St. Joseph in two words: growing and joyful. And he sees that everywhere the Mass according to the 1962 Missal is offered: “It’s true of the Fraternity (FSSP). It’s true of St. Augustine’s. It’s true of priests who discover the (pre-conciliar) Mass either early or later in their priesthood. They are sparked with the joy and impetus and desire to grow as a man and as a priest.”

Father Cassian, 45, who prefers the use of his first name, has ministered in the archdiocese since 2019. (At the time he was discerning joining the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.) Ordained in 2013, he celebrated his first Mass according to the 1962 Missal just a little over a month into his priesthood.

It was pivotal for his life.

The 1962 Missal’s ceremonies and rituals “demand a great deal of us,” he said of priests. “There is nothing left to chance or to my own caprice, to my own opinion, to my own choice. And this actually creates a tremendous interior freedom for the life of prayer. … It’s very clear that we’re worshiping God together, and this is a sacrifice which is worthy of our time, our attention and our energy.”

“There was no going back,” he said. “It made an indelible impression upon my soul. I felt like I was living and experiencing in my own person the faith of my fathers and mothers who fell in love with God in an irrevocable way. And that, at least in the Roman Church, this was the modality of their seeking him and worshipping him. For me, it was distinctly different than the celebration of Mass in

Father Hedman advises Catholics who attend different kinds of liturgies to seek to understand one another, instead of stereotyping or writing off the other’s experience. “There are a lot of people hurting right now by this decision, and to come to know and understand is very important — even if it’s not something you would ever consider attending — to come to understand the pain that people are experiencing right now because they’ve come to fall in love with this ‘form’ of the Mass, and many of them without any sort of schismatic feelings towards the Holy Father.”

Like Father Hedman, Father John Paul Erickson has concerns about potentially restricting parishes from offering Mass according to the 1962 Missal. A former archdiocesan director of worship and currently pastor of Transfiguration in Oakdale, Father Erickson had planned to begin offering the pre-conciliar Mass at Transfiguration next month, but tabled those plans after the motu proprio’s release.

“The pope’s beef is not about the Mass.

It’s not so much how you celebrate it.

It’s the attitudes of people who go to it and what commentators have really allowed it to become,” he said, pointing to “far-right” Catholic YouTube celebrities, commentators and talking heads. “They’re the real villains here.”

That doesn’t mean, he said, that Catholics who seek the pre-conciliar Mass see themselves in a parallel Church or “the real Church,” as Pope Francis’ motu proprio suggests.

He’s served as a retreat master and in various other roles for different communities around the country and world, he said, and “I’ve never, ever, ever — even in Society of St. Pius X circles — I’ve never heard the term ‘we are the true Church’ — never.”

“What I do hear,” he continued, “are things like, ‘This is incredible. This is beautiful. Where’s this been all my life? How can I get more? How can I come back?’ You know, there’s a lot of very, very, very strong interest. But it’s not an intransigent, calcified, ossified, angular interest. It’s a beautiful interest.”

For him, part of the attraction is the clarity about how the Mass is to be prayed.

He rejects the premise that the 1962 Missal is retrograde or stale. In Catholics who have discovered it, “it’s like watching a flower in constant bloom,” he said. “They continue to be fascinated, to want to study the faith more on their own, to want to learn how to pray more, to want to learn to live the ancient faith in a living way.”

“Anyone who actively promotes division within the Church — that is a very serious sin. I think they have a lot to account for, and I think they have contributed severely to the current situation,” he said.

Ordained in 2006, Father Erickson first learned about the pre-conciliar Mass while attending Thomas Aquinas College in California in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and his first impression was that there were “schismatic tendencies” within traditional Mass communities — “belief that the Second Vatican council was manufactured by the enemy and a product of the Masons — these attitudes were really attached to the ‘traditional Latin Mass’ in my mind,” he said, which turned him off from its celebration.

Then, in 2007, with the promulgation of “Summorum Pontificum” and Pope Benedict XVI’s explanation of the wholesome role the pre-conciliar Mass could have in the Church, Father Erickson explored the “old Mass” and embraced it, he said, although he didn’t celebrate a Mass with the 1962 Missal until 2011, when he was in residence at St. Agnes.

That parish has long offered the Mass according to the 1970 Missal in Latin, PLEASE TURN TO MASS CHANGE ON PAGE 12

FAITH+CULTURE

12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

MASS CHANGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 later adding celebrations with the 1962 Missal as well. He found celebrating the Mass with the 1962 Missal to be very moving, he said, and the moment of consecration to be very intimate. But, he said, although he has never been as familiar with the 1962 Missal as the 1970 Missal, he does not think that the preconciliar Mass is in any way objectively better than the Mass as it’s commonly celebrated worldwide.

From his experience, he thinks Pope Francis’ concerns about the culture around the “traditional Latin Mass” “are founded upon reality,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s found everywhere.

But yes, I have experienced those tendencies,” he said. “I want to be clear, however, that while you may not have those schismatic attitudes in other (Catholic) churches, you have attitudes like, ‘Why do I have to go to church?’

These are errors on both sides. It’s not just the ‘bad traddies.’ There are errors on the other side of the spectrum, too.”

Like others interviewed by The Catholic Spirit, Father Erickson expressed concern the motu proprio may cause further division, rather than the unity Pope Francis seeks. “I just wish that the solution had been accompaniment,” he said. “If you ever want accompaniment, now’s the time.”

Liturgical renewal In the letter to bishops accompanying the motu proprio, Pope Francis acknowledged liturgical abuses that have taken place with the implementation of the current missal, and he asked them “to be vigilant in ensuring that every liturgy be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses,” he said.

“Seminarians and new priests should be formed in the faithful observance of the prescriptions of the Missal and liturgical books, in which is reflected the liturgical reform willed by Vatican Council II,” he said.

In a statement to Catholic News Service, Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, an American theologian and Dominican who had served as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments and was involved with the Vatican’s dialogue with the Society

In

2021,

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of St. Pius X, said that previous popes’ efforts to extend latitude around the preconciliar Mass failed to restore Society members to communion with the Church.

“What we have got now,” he said, is a movement within the Church herself, seemingly endorsed by her leaders, that sows division by undermining the reforms of the Second Vatican Council through the rejection of the most important of them: the reform of the Roman Rite.”

Currently the adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith but speaking as a theologian and not a Vatican official, Archbishop Di Noia said Pope Francis explained in his letter to bishops that “his rationale for the abrogation of all previous provisions in this area is not based on the results of the questionnaire but only occasioned by them.”

“The decisive point is there for all to behold: the evident and ongoing betrayal of the intentions of the two pontiffs who permitted the celebration of the 1962 Missal to draw traditionalists back into the unity of the Church,” he told Catholic News Service. “What the Holy Father is saying is that the TLM (traditional Latin Mass) movement is working for objectives that are precisely contrary to what St. John Paul and Benedict XVI hoped for.”

Like his predecessors, the archbishop said, Pope Francis believes “the way to address abuses is not by adopting the ‘extraordinary form,’ but by promoting the true renewal of the liturgy which, in many places, has simply not happened.”

“Many people with a desire for Latin in the liturgy would have been better served by the ‘novus ordo’ (the modern Mass) in Latin than by the repristination of the pre-conciliar liturgy,” he said. “The TLM movement promotes the rejection of that which the liturgical movement sought above all: active participation of the faithful in the liturgical celebration of the mysteries of Christ. In TLM, there is little concern for active participation.

The ‘traditional Latin Mass,’ as in the past, becomes the occasion for engaging in various types of private prayer if the participants don’t follow the Mass with a missal.”

As the chairman of the task force studying the motu proprio, Bishop Cozzens said that in choosing the task force members, Archbishop Hebda

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JULY 29, 2021

LITURGICAL REFORMS

By Father James Notebaart For The Catholic Spirit We think of the Second Vatican Council as the Council of reform, but in fact reforms have been ongoing for centuries. Liturgical reforms took shape especially under Pope St. Pius X (papacy 1903-1914), whose motto was “To restore all things in Christ.” To do this, he focused, in part, on the celebration of the Eucharist: He lowered the age of first Communion to encourage reception and promoted the Belgian Monastery of Solesmes and its development of plain chant. These changes fostered a more active engagement with the liturgy.

Then, beginning in Germany, the “Missa Recitata” gave the response parts usually done by acolytes to the congregation. This began to replace the prayer books which people used to accompany the priests’ prayers. These prayer books were essentially private devotions. Now there was a union of congregational texts with the actual texts of the liturgy.

Pope Pius XII (papacy 1939-1958) wrote several encyclicals relating to the nature of the Church and on liturgy: “Mystici Corporis” (1943) and “Mediator Dei” (1947), furthering the relationship between assembly and presider. The idea that the priest alone “said” Mass was broadened to the action of the whole Church. Pope Pius XII also reformed the Holy Week Liturgies in the mid-1950s.

So, by the time the Missal of 1962 came out, (promulgated by Pope St. John XXIII) there were already clear indications of a value for liturgy that was participative and engaging: the action of the entire assembly.

The Second Vatican Council in its reforms broadened our understanding of the nature and mission of the Church creating renewed models of ecclesiology delving into the Church’s rich history. It talked about the communal nature of the Church grounded in our baptismal identity and expressing the Paschal Mystery: One Church, the mystical Body of Christ, head and members, with Christ being the head. It also expanded our Christology, giving multiple models of how we understand Christ. Now both of these had an impact on liturgy. The ancient phrase: “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi” (meaning: “The way we pray is an expression of how/what we believe” or, one shapes the other) became expressed in the reforms of the liturgy.

The idea that full conscious active participation we find in “Sacrosanctum Concilium” No. 14 was an evolution of what Pope St. Pius X had intended in the first decades of the Twentieth Century and Pope Pius XII as well.

The challenge in the contemporary use of the Missal of 1962 is to preserve the values enunciated by these popes while maintaining the breadth of ecclesiology and Christology enunciated at the Second Vatican Council. It isn’t one versus the other: It is one reality of the Church expressed in different forms, while maintaining a Conciliar expression of our identity as Church.

Promoting a revitalization of the Missal of 1962 in order to abrogate the Second Vatican Council is not the way of the Church. It is not good thinking. Rather, the use of these texts should stand alone, be valued for what they offer while nourishing not only us as a Church but promoting unity rather than discord. This is not the time in history for polarization.

Father Notebaart is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who directed the archdiocese’s Worship Center during the implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. sought “to bring together priests who were familiar with the ‘extraordinary form’ of the Mass and also had vast pastoral experience with the ‘ordinary form,’ as well as experts in liturgy and canon law.”

“We believe this combination of expertise will help us to be faithful to carrying out the motu proprio of our Holy Father, always with a pastoral concern for the good of the faithful that our Holy Father also expresses,” Bishop Cozzens said.

When he meets Catholics who worship according to the 1962 Missal, he said, “I am almost always edified by their deep faith, their love for our Lord, and their reverence for the liturgy and the gift of our tradition.”

“I would want them to know that these are beautiful things which are intended to bring them to deep union with our Lord,” he said. “That union always happens through his Church and the Lord will continue to work through his Church to bring us all to union with him.”

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FAITH+CULTURE

JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13

Catholic travel guide by Minnesota native a labor of love

By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit

Not me! I want a map! I guess I’m old-school. There was one site in Daniel, Wyoming, when I was talking to a historian about it, he said: “Please tell the reader not to use the GPS. They will be going over private land, ranch land, and they’ll have to stop and open the gate.”

So I wrote: “Inquire in Daniel for directions. GPS not recommended.”

Marion Amberg poured months of research into a new Catholic travel guide published by Our Sunday Visitor titled “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles: A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America.” Released in April, it is already heading into a third printing — and Amberg is working on a sequel.

The 60-something Minnesota native, now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, shared her journey.

Q Is it true you’re planning to move back to the Midwest?

A Yes. The things I miss are seemingly small to people

Q Tell me about your writing process.

A I get up at 3 a.m. My internal editor is dead at that

in Minnesota. I miss the water. I miss the cardinals.

I miss the occasional blizzard. There is something comforting about the wind blowing outside and you’re just sitting inside reading.

hour. I wake up, make a cup of French roast coffee — the darker, the better — and I pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, inhabit my mind, inhabit my words.” And then I start writing, in my pajamas.

Q Ten sites in Minnesota are included. I loved the

story of Venerable Frederic Baraga and his voyage from Madeline Island to the North Shore. Have there been any storms in your life where you, in essence, laid down in your little boat and prayed, just as he did?

Q Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A No. When I was in college, I had to take English

Comp 101. The provost who reviewed our tests asked if I had ever thought about journalism. I was walking in the hallway, and he stopped me and said, “You’re kind of a rebel. But I think that if you want to be great, you can be great.”

It was a turning point. I guess you could say it was divinely ordained.

Not that I was a model student. I would skip class. But he saw something. He saw something, and he took the time to tell me.

Q More than 500 Catholic sites from all 50 states

are included in the book. Was it difficult to decide which made the cut?

A I wanted to include little-known places along with

cathedrals, and I tried to cover different regions of each state. Each site had to have an intriguing story to tell.

Q The variety is wonderful.

A This book highlights that the Catholic Church in

America is a melting pot. We are one, but we’re not one in the same. We can keep our cultural practices. We’re not cookie-cutter Christians. The Germans bring their Marian traditions, the Italians have theirs, and oh my goodness, the Filipinos have some wonderful Christmas traditions! Lithuania, Vietnam — they have such vibrant cultures!

Q You probed countless tourism websites and diocesan newspapers for stories.

A Part of reporting is connecting the dots. You see

COURTESY DALE STELZ

then maybe when they got more money, they would build a frame church, and many of those wooden churches were struck by lightning and burned, which led to building a third one.

There’s an incredible story about Trinity Heights in Sioux City (Iowa). The priest and several parishioners started praying the rosary and never did any active fundraising (to build the site), but Mary brought in the money. The one thing I’ve learned from doing “Monuments” is: pray. Pray, pray, pray — and pray some more. So many of these places were started off as a promise to Mary or a promise to God. “I need help, and I will do this.”

Q Your writing is zippy. This guidebook has personality!

A I want readers to have fun. God is not

boring! The saints were not boring! Faith should not be boring. We should always be looking for the unexpected.

I didn’t want to be preaching at people.

It’s like, “Come and see for yourself!” The book is not written solely for Catholics. If you love mosaics, no matter your religion, you’re going to want to go to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, where mosaics cover 83,000 square feet.

patterns. For example, many churches across the country, the church that is now standing is the third building, and I find that number to be somewhat Q Maps play a central role in the book. significant.

CathSpMM-July-Sept-2021.qxp_Layout 1 6/30/21 10:5 They would build on the prairie a sod church, and A I was reminded that people travel today using a GPS.

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Go back to the ‘90s Digital print archives at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

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A Many times! If you’re hitting a roadblock, that’s a sign

you need to lay down in the boat and just turn it all over to God. It’s a sign that maybe God wants you to go in a different direction or wait or just let go of that stress.

Q What have you learned from your moments in the bottom of the boat?

A I have enough years on me that I can look back

on life and say, “God takes care of his people.”

Another gift of aging is acceptance. The older you get, the less you care what other people are thinking, so you become even truer to yourself and even truer to the gifts that God has given you.

Q What has helped you embrace the aging process?

A Walk, walk, walk! And don’t watch the

news! If you do, you become very fearful.

We can know what’s going on, but we don’t need to know every detail. Your dreams may change as you get older, but they don’t end when you retire. That’s when you can start to do things you really want to do! I hate the word “retire.” I prefer to call it “re-fire,” because you’re firing up for a different time in life.

Q Do you feel young at heart?

A I feel like the 60s are just the beginning of my life.

God’s graces don’t end when we start collecting Social Security.

14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER JIM PERKL

Rain, rain, reign: Bread of life, food of wonder and awe

St. Augustine, commenting on the Gospel of John’s “Bread of Life” passage in the fourth century, questioned the wisdom of living only for this present life when he wrote, “You seek me for the flesh, not for the spirit. How many seek Jesus for no other purpose than that he may do them good in this present life! ... Scarcely ever is Jesus sought for Jesus’ sake.” From the time of Moses in the desert, to Jesus in Capernaum, to our own day in a time of pandemic, do we live with our sights set on this world, or upon the Lord who has given us himself as the true Bread that has come down from heaven?

An experience I had with our archdiocesan delegation in our partner Diocese of Kitui, Kenya, in the fall of 2005 reveals what happens when we surrender ourselves into the hands of Divine Providence and exercise faith, when within ourselves we confess our poverty of spirit.

When have you felt overwhelmed by hunger, thirst or disease, like those with Moses in the desert or with Jesus in Capernaum? One of our delegates to Kitui wrote of our shared experience, “No matter what village our delegates visited, we all shared the same experience.

Each day in the ‘bush’ drew out a realm of emotions from each of us — feelings from the very depths of our hearts ... There was a profound heaviness of heart that we shared. How could these beautiful, faith-filled African people, who have become family to us, live day after day in these devastating conditions … ?

“The problem is as big as the continent and, at the time, we all felt that we who have everything — had nothing with which to help

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

When complaining takes hold

Q I’ve noticed something about myself. I used

to be someone who occasionally complained, but recently I’ve realized that I am constantly complaining about one thing or another. I seem to be able to find something to be upset about in every situation and with every piece of news I come across. What do I do?

A This is a very important question. I believe that it is possible to

lose your soul over this.

Now, I know that might sound overly dramatic, but bear with me.

In the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, he advises Christians to “do everything without grumbling.” This is not to say that every time we complain or grumble we are committing a mortal sin. There are powerfully positive aspects of complaining. First of all, when there are injustices or evil, pointing those out is a necessity. Further, there are times when a person might need to express their interior displeasure with something. This honesty is actually helpful for the people around us, provided it is delivered in a straightforward and appropriate way.

I was speaking recently with a friend who runs a small chain of stores. He referred to a book he had read about business management called “Complaint Is a Gift.” I realized that the book’s title was also the book’s thesis, and I understood the value of this perspective.

them. We were troubled and compelled to do something, but felt crippled and helpless. Recognizing our littleness, I stood up and said to the group, ‘We have all witnessed the many forms of suffering that is their daily life, and we want to help, but we all feel helpless! There is one thing we can do now. We can pray.’ Fr. Jim Perkl immediately offered to celebrate Mass for us and invited all to come.

“After singing our opening song, ‘Come Lord Jesus,’ ... Mass began as usual, but during the first reading we heard some intermittent taps on the tin roof of the Chapel. It had begun to sprinkle! We all looked around with smiles on our faces. ... Within a few minutes, the taps on the roof grew in amount and intensity and the beating began to sound like a train coming through! … This was amazing! It hadn’t rained in that area for 5 to 7 years, and drought and famine were a death threat to many, but as soon as we invited Jesus to ‘Come,’ He Came! ... We were struck with ‘Awe’ and ‘Wonder’ in His Presence, but He was not done with us, yet!

“As the priest . . . elevated the Host in Consecration, there was dead silence. Nature became so still we could have heard a feather drop!

It was as if every raindrop was suspended in mid-air in reverence to the King of love descending to the Altar. The quiet was deafening and God’s Holy Presence brought us to our knees. It remained silent during Communion, but gradually we began, again, to hear the pitter-patter of rain falling on the roof. When Mass was over, we left in peace ...”

It continued to rain through the night.

Do the experiences of the Israelite community in the desert, those in Capernaum or of others in Kitui lead you to wonder at the beauty of our Catholic faith and the way God chooses to feed his people?

St. Teresa of Kolkata expresses such wonder when she prays, “Mary, my dearest mother, give me your heart, so pure, so immaculate, your heart so full of love and humility, that I may be able to receive Jesus in the bread of life, love Him as you loved Him and serve Him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.”

These readings that belong to Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse provide wonderful preparation for our Archdiocesan Synod and the food we will need to accomplish the new evangelization!

Father Perkl is pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church, in Burnsville. He can be reached at jperkl@mmotc.org.

Essentially, when the people you are working with (or living with, or teaching, or leading) come to you with a complaint, they are handing you a gift.

First of all, they are giving you the gift of trust. If a person does not trust you, they will not let you know what is bothering them.

Second, when a person complains, they are directing your attention to something that is wrong. Now, this could be something that actually needs to be fixed. For example, if you are in charge of the work schedule, they might be directing your attention to the fact that you haven’t scheduled anyone to work a certain shift. Their telling you this is a gift.

On the other hand, it is possible that there is nothing objectively wrong that can be solved externally. In this case, the person offering the complaint is revealing something about their interior disposition or about their perspective. Now, their perspective can be uninformed or even wrong, but if they share their perspective, they are giving you the gift of knowing what is going on with them and having the opportunity to deal with that.

But not all complaining is productive. Not all complaining is oriented toward being helpful. There can be a point where complaining becomes spiritually deadly.

It begins by narrowing our gaze and our awareness of reality. While we need to see things clearly (we are not supposed to be Pollyannaish in our view of the world), to only be able to see the negative is to be partly blind. To allow the negative to dominate and define one’s life is to become a slave to the squeaky wheel or to the most negative voice. What is worse, we face the danger of becoming the negative voice.

I had this experience a number of years ago. My parents wanted a family photo with all of their kids and in-laws and grandkids. My mom had picked out polo shirts for every family group to wear (she PLEASE TURN TO ASK FATHER MIKE ON PAGE 19

KNOW the SAINTS ST. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS (EDITH STEIN) (1891-1942) The youngest of 11 children of a devout Jewish mother in Wroclaw, Poland, Edith was an atheist by her teens. After studying philosophy in Germany, she was deeply affected by reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Baptized a Catholic in 1922, she joined the Discalced Carmelites in Cologne in 1933, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Fleeing the Nazis, she moved to a convent in Echt, Netherlands, but was arrested with non-Aryan Christians after the Dutch bishops protested Nazi deportations. She was martyred at Auschwitz. Her feast day is Aug. 9.

— Catholic News Service

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Aug. 1 Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 Eph 4:17, 20-24 Jn 6:24-35 Monday, Aug. 2 Nm 11:4b-15 Mt 14:13-21 Tuesday, Aug. 3 Nm 12:1-13 Mt 14:22-36 Wednesday, Aug. 4 St. John Vianney, priest Nm 13:1-2, 25‒14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35 Mt 15:21-28 Thursday, Aug. 5 Nm 20:1-13 Mt 16:13-23 Friday, Aug. 6 Transfiguration of our Lord Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 2 Pt 1:16-19 Mk 9:2-10 Saturday, Aug. 7 Dt 6:4-13 Mt 17:14-20 Sunday, Aug. 8 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 19:4-8 Eph 4:30‒5:2 Jn 6:41-51 Monday, Aug. 9 Dt 10:12-22 Mt 17:22-27 Tuesday, Aug. 10 St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr 2 Cor 9:6-10 Jn 12:24-26 Wednesday, Aug. 11 St. Clare, virgin Dt 34:1-12 Mt 18:15-20 Thursday, Aug. 12 Jos 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17 Mt 18:21‒19:1 Friday, Aug. 13 Jos 24:1-13 Mt 19:3-12 Saturday, Aug. 14 St. Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr Jos 24:14-29 Mt 19:13-15 Sunday, Aug. 15 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab 1 Cor 15:20-27 Lk 1:39-56

FOCUSONFAITH

JULY 29, 2021

CUPPA JOE | FATHER KEVIN ZILVERBERG

Joseph, just and reverent

Matthew the Evangelist calls St. Joseph a just man in Matthew 1:19, and from this biblical chapter Father Donald Calloway (Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 2020) expands the saint’s title to “Just and Reverent Man” in his book “Consecration to St. Joseph.” Here are the two most pertinent biblical verses, according to the English Standard Version of the Bible, with three key words in bold: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly” (Mt 1:18–19).

The first key word here is “betrothed.” Our culture has courtship or dating, which sometimes leads to engagement followed by marriage. Joseph and Mary, Jews of first-century Palestine, were betrothed and then married. Betrothal, unlike engagement, legally bound the man and woman to marry. After about one year of betrothal, the man would marry the woman, who would go to live in his home.

This legally binding arrangement brings us to the word “divorce.” Jewish law made provision for divorce, as we know from the Pentateuch (e.g., Dt 24:1) and Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels (e.g., Mt 5:31-32). Some

scholars avoid the word “divorce” when translating Matthew 1:19, preferring more generic language to describe Joseph’s intended dissolution of his betrothal to Mary. Nevertheless, the same Greek verb (“apolu”) clearly means divorce elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 5:3132, 19:3-9). Catholics need not soften the translation “divorce” in order to portray St. Joseph in a supposedly better light. His betrothal was legally binding, and his intention to dissolve it by divorce did not imply the sinful abandonment of a wife; Joseph intended to act appropriately in accord with the Mosaic law.

Finally, Joseph is “a just man.” Biblical scholar Father Raymond Brown reviews the three most prominent interpretations of “just” (Greek “dikaios”) in Matthew 1:19 in his book “The Birth of the Messiah” (New York: Doubleday, 1993). Some say that Joseph was a just man because of his mercy — that is, his unwillingness to enforce the Mosaic law against Mary and to have her condemned for adultery. This approach fails to properly distinguish justice and mercy. Joseph tempered justice with mercy, but he was not “just” on account of his mercy.

The second approach holds that Joseph recoiled from his commitment to marry, because he so greatly revered the divine mystery of Jesus’ conception from the Holy Spirit. This, in fact, is Father Calloway’s basis for calling Joseph “reverent.” In the biblical account, however, Joseph seems to learn about the exceptional nature of Mary’s conception only in his dream, after he had already resolved to divorce Mary.

The third and best explanation holds that Joseph is just because he follows the Jewish law. Until the angel visited him in the dream, he assumed that Mary’s conception came about in the normal way, with another man. This meant that he could no longer marry her. Even so, he tempered his justice with mercy and did not wish to bring the full weight of the law upon Mary; he resolved to divorce her quietly.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

“Cuppa Joe” is a series of 10 talks by 10 theologians on the 10 wonders of St. Joseph taking place at 10 locations in our archdiocese entrusted to the patronage of our spiritual father.

These talks premiere the first Tuesday of the month, March through December, at 4 p.m. — just in time for your afternoon coffee. The next presentation, “Savior of the Savior” by Deacon Joe Michalak, will be posted Aug. 3. It was recorded at St. Joseph in Miesville.

— The Catholic Spirit St. Joseph stands as a model of justice for his fidelity to the law handed down by Moses. Since he resolved to divorce Mary quietly, he stands also as a model of mercy. Joseph did not wish to condemn Mary, a decision vindicated when he learned from the angel that Mary had, in fact, been faithful to her betrothed.

Father Zilverberg, SSD, is assistant professor of sacred Scripture at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls. He is also the founding director of St. Paul Seminary Press and the seminary’s Institute for Catholic Theological Formation. Father Zilverberg adapted this essay from his July presentation for “Cuppa Joe,” a 10-part series on the spiritual wonders of St. Joseph. It was recorded at St. Joseph in New Hope.

Parishioners live faith with determination at St. Joseph in New Hope, Plymouth Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in a monthly series on 10 places in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with connections to St. Joseph.

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit St. Joseph the builder might find it interesting that parishioners of St. Joseph in New Hope and Plymouth worship each Sunday in two very different churches in separate cities, more than 4 miles apart.

Whether they attend Mass in Plymouth at the traditional “little church,” built in 1877, or in New Hope at the 21st century church that seats 950, all 1,600 households trace their parish’s roots to a log cabin church near Medicine Lake in the 1850s.

That first church — and the two that followed — help tell the story of the originally French-Canadian community, which has seen growth and challenges.

“Twice that I know, this (little) church has been struck by lightning, set on fire, and if the Good Lord wanted it destroyed, he would not have put the fire out,” the late Catherine Ernst wrote about her parish in the 1970s.

In 1854, 10 families met for Mass in Eustache Francois Boucher’s Plymouth log cabin, said parishioner and parish history writer Leo Frank, 85.

Four years later, the congregation’s log cabin church was named for Boucher’s patron, St. Francis, and dedicated by Father Joseph Hurth, who ministered at the mission parish monthly.

In 1877, parishioners built the white

wood-frame church still on Rockford Road on land donated by Boucher’s sonin-law, Joseph Noel. Subsequently, they renamed it for Noel’s patron, St. Joseph.

Little evidence remains of the parish’s French-Canadian heritage, said Frank, a member since 2005 who attends Mass in New Hope.

St. Joseph remained a mission parish until 1934, when Father Nicholas Finn became its first resident pastor.

Parishioners had raised $5,200 for a rectory, but Father Finn didn’t think the parish would grow, current pastor Father Terry Rassmussen said.

With Archbishop John Gregory Murray’s permission, Father Finn used the rectory funds to start St. Mary of the Lake parish, also in Plymouth, archdiocesan archives show.

St. Joseph parishioners petitioned the archbishop for another pastor and permission to build a rectory. With his approval, the parish built the rectory and received another pastor.

“There were a lot of angry people, but once again the families got together and started having chicken dinners and whatever they could to raise money for the rectory, because the bishop told the people he would not assign a priest permanently to the parish unless they had a rectory,” Father Rassmussen said.

St. Joseph never opened a school because there were three Catholic schools nearby, he said. In 1965, while the western suburbs grew, St. Joseph’s parish boundaries were extended eastward.

It obtained property in New Hope because the Plymouth church couldn’t accommodate parish growth, he said.

St. Joseph’s “Little Church” on Rockford Road in Plymouth continues to serve the parish 144 years after it was constructed by French-Canadian parishioners. It is one of the parish’s two churches, with a larger, contemporary church in New Hope.

COURTESY JASON WITTAK

The parish offered Masses at a nearby elementary school before building its current parish center with more worship space. It was dedicated in 1972.

The parish added a new church onto the parish center in 2004. Inside is a statue of the Holy Family, while outside is a metal sculpture of St. Joseph and a statue of the parish’s first patron, St. Francis. The Plymouth church also has a St. Joseph statue.

Before the pandemic, the parish celebrated its patron’s March 19 feast day with Mass and a pasta dinner, Father Rassmussen said.

Social justice became a greater parish priority in the 1960s under then-pastor Father Blaine Barr. From July 8-Aug. 8 the parish is exhibiting “The Forgiveness Project” featuring photos and stories of victim-survivors and perpetrators of crime and conflict.

Father Rassmussen appreciates St. Joseph’s patronage of families, a happy death and workers.

“He seems like a universal saint,” he said, “therefore, I am pleased that our parish is named after St. Joseph, because so many people can relate to him.”

16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

COMMENTARY YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ KELLY

Diving deep into the simple disciplines At the pool where I swim, they sometimes open lap lanes adjacent to the diving pool. A young team of divers regularly trains there, and it’s hard not to stop swimming laps and just watch them practice. It’s a beautiful sport and its disciplines are always teaching me something.

I think of one young woman’s routine. First, she walks to the end of the diving board and stands there a while. I assume there is a mental exercise taking place in this moment. Maybe she is imagining her dive, playing out perfect execution in her mind. But it’s noticeable, there’s something settling about this practice. You can see a calm focus fall over her in this deliberate pause.

Then, when she’s ready, she pumps one leg and raises her arms, springs from the board and takes flight.

She jumps into the pool straight and light as a pencil, arms reaching skyward, toes pointed down. Before one acrobatic twist or turn or flip is added, she will spend quite a number of dives repeating this same, seemingly simple exercise: to jump into the water as perfectly straight and vertical as possible. Again and again, slipping into the water with barely a splash, plummeting quietly into the deep.

It is not until after she has completed this exercise multiple times that she moves on to the next simplest maneuver: a long, arcing swan dive. She seems to hang in the air forever, tipping her body forward with an easy self-control and again, slipping into the water with

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

A theology of gift and grandparents Grandparents rank among the best gift-givers.

In our house, they are legendary.

Presents tumbling out of suitcases.

Piles under the Christmas tree.

Birthday packages on the doorstep with Sunday comics tucked inside as colorful cushions.

Everyday moments are no exception. Extra cookies after dinner. Ice cream cones on a sunny afternoon. One more game of catch, one more round of cribbage, one more push on the swing.

Grandparents love to give, and grandchildren love to receive. Not every family knows this relationship, but wherever we see the outpouring of affection between generations, we witness a gift of human love.

Giving and receiving stand among life’s greatest joys.

Each time we receive the Eucharist, we participate in God’s generous gift-giving. Amid the latest debates about Communion in the Church, I’ve watched my children with their grandparents, wondering what our families might teach us about a theology of gift-giving.

Gifts are freely offered. They are not forced; they cannot be demanded. The way my children reach out their arms for a hug or a treat from their grandparents mirrors how we open our hands or mouth to receive the Eucharist. We learn not to grab out of greed; we wait with humility and patience — and joy awaits us.

By definition, true gifts are good, never cruel or conniving. They are treasures, not tricks. More than once I’ve watched a child turn wide-eyed to a grandparent and ask, “How did you know I wanted this?” with delight and disbelief. Gifts remind us that we are seen, known and cherished.

Gifts are meant to be enjoyed, not kept on a shelf gathering dust. Every present has a purpose, even (and

Maybe our young swimmer teaches us something in such moments — to master the basics first, to walk out to the end of the board and get settled, focused.

iSTOCK PHOTO | LEISAN RAKHIMOVA

barely a splash, plummeting deep and quick. Once that exercise has been completed perfectly a few times, she will then throw in a twist, perhaps a flip, a tuck or reverse.

It is good to remember that the simplest move still takes her quickly into the deep.

Sometimes the things the Lord asks of us can feel like a reverse tuck and pike with a twist, a high-degree-ofdifficulty-kind of high dive, something so sophisticated only years of training could achieve it — forgiving someone who has betrayed you, or accepting the diagnosis of a terrible disease, or that same diagnosis for your young child, or asking for forgiveness for an ugly wrong you have inflicted on another. Or, standing your ground when the world wants you to abandon Church teaching on life, religious freedom and human sexuality.

Maybe our young swimmer teaches us something in such moments — to master the basics first, to walk out to the end of the board and get settled, focused. To grow in confidence in the simplest things — praying the rosary, attending Mass and reconciliation thoughtfully and regularly, keeping the Lord’s Day for rest and worship, tending to our loved ones with joy and especially) when it is the simple gift of presence.

My kids remember special days spent with grandparents long after they leave favorite toys or books behind. Gifts draw together giver and receiver, just as we come closer to Christ in Communion.

Gifts are unearned. They are not payment for services rendered or conditional loans based on good behavior.

Gifts spring from a place of selfless love.

At every Mass, we remember we cannot control or earn God’s favor as a reward but only accept what is offered as mystery: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

Gifts invite gratitude. Saying or writing a word of thanks might feel forced at first, nudged by a parent’s prompting. But over time we hope to cultivate natural thanksgiving as a response of joy in return.

Likewise, the word “Eucharist” itself means thanksgiving — a reminder that gratitude is what we bring to God for grace that is unearned but overflowing.

As an adult, I love to find reminders of gifts my grandparents gave me decades ago. An inscription in a Bible or a card tucked in a book brings back memories of their affection, the warmth of knowing I was beloved to them, even among many cousins.

My husband and I laugh that each gathering of grandparents with grandkids convenes the mutual admiration society.

We as parents stand separate from their delight and affection for each other, pure and unburdened by the discipline (and drudgery) of daily parenting. But even this arrangement is wisely given by God, who knows we need to be seen and loved by many people in different ways.

All of us are called to be gifts for each other.

May we spend our lives in awe of the gifts we’ve been given, seeking to share them with those in need. May we learn from young and old how to give and receive in love, just as Jesus does for us.

A parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, Fanucci is a writer, speaker and author of several books including “Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting.” Her work can be found at laurakellyfanucci.com.

gratitude — before we move on to the more demanding maneuvers of heart. And to remember that even the simplest moves when practiced deliberately can still take us effectively and quickly into the deep mysteries of God’s grace.

Let’s not underestimate the power that is unleashed in practicing even the most basic spiritual disciplines, that these lay the foundation for more sophisticated and challenging spiritual works. That in their simplicity, they bear an extraordinary beauty and become witnesses to the world, unleashing grace all around us.

Lord, strengthen our foundations, help us to grow in our commitment to practice well the most basic spiritual disciplines so that we will be found unyielding when put to the test. Help us to honor the great beauty and grace of the simplest acts of faith executed with a heart focused on your holy and mighty face.

Kelly is the award-winning author of nine books including “Love Like a Saint” and “Jesus Approaches.” She travels, speaking and leading retreats throughout the country. Visit her website at lizk.org.

LETTERS Check the numbers It is unfortunate you chose to publish “Assuming the best” (Letters, July 15) which includes the same COVID-19 misinformation public health officials have been battling. “The data has shown that masks did not prevent the spread of the virus” is wrong, as numerous studies have shown. One need only look at the much higher rate of COVID-19 deaths per population in “maskless” South Dakota compared to Minnesota.

Secondly, the claim “experimental vaccines have come with many warnings and a multitude of side effects — some deadly” is at best sensationalized and at worst misleading. Anyone who has taken medicine knows every intervention today comes with many warnings about side effects — why should a new vaccine be any different? Fact: After 334 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the US, less than a handful of deaths are linked to the vaccine. If those 334 million were infected with COVID-19, we would expect about 4.2 million to die. So when people say they fear an outcome that may happen in (a) handful of cases to one that will happen over 4 million times, you can gently remind them that while the faithful should rely on God, God is OK with us using a little math from time to time.

Mike Hess Holy Family, St. Louis Park

Concern for the unborn?

George Floyd died 12 minutes from DeLaSalle, and Planned Parenthood is 12 minutes from DeLaSalle.

Why are DeLaSalle students and staff more distraught about his death than the MILLIONS of babies who are being killed at PP (“Schools help students talk through feelings about Floyd’s death, Chauvin trial,” May 27)?

Student Sasha Kirk’s friends speak as if police being around their houses is a bad thing. Sadly, aborted babies will never be face to face with the police.

PLEASE TURN TO LETTERS ON NEXT PAGE

COMMENTARY

JULY 29, 2021

CATHOLIC WATCHMEN | DEACON GORDON BIRD

Prayer matters — whenever and wherever

Watchmen pray. Not only at church, vigils and various gatherings, but in living an undivided life of faith at home, the workplace, sports and recreation, community events, etc.

You name it. That’s our goal anyway — to pray with persistence and with a devotion to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

We believe all prayer — whenever and wherever — matters to God. Spiritual warfare is so active nowadays — yet prayer continues to prevail as the best weapon for all ages and stages in life, emphasizing persistence, watchfulness, humility, all in the acceptance of the will of God the Father. Jesus is our model on how to live an active and holy life of prayer (see Matthew 5-7 for starters).

The first holy domestic church also is an example, in which our Lord incarnate “increased in wisdom and in stature” (Lk 2:52). Prayer is a conversation with God, and most certainly, the Holy Family had plenty of those talks. God sets no boundaries with us as well in this age of the Holy Spirit. Our part in active prayer for our own families, parishes, vocations and community life can collectively transform the world to a life in Christ.

No matter the locale, time, height, width and depth of one’s prayer — it matters to God. Here we release the annual monthly prayer

INSIDE THE CAPITOL | MCC

After session’s end, what’s next?

This past session, the Minnesota Catholic Conference engaged on policy proposals in the State Legislature’s House and Senate even though we knew that finding bi-partisan support on any given issue could be difficult.

The principles of our faith provide the proper footing to avoid falling into today’s deeply partisan trenches while also building bridges to bring people together.

So, where did these bridges lead to the passage of laws that will transform our state, and where will Catholics need to continue building?

Issues where Catholic voices helped pass laws to help defend life, dignity and the common good: uMinnesota Family Investment Program — Annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for MFIP families and an additional $50 per month housing benefit. The budget agreement also includes a one-time $435 emergency cash payment to MFIP families. uMedical Assistance — An extension of postpartum coverage under Medical Assistance from 60 days to 12 months to help ensure the physical and psychological well-being of moms which in turn supports families and their newborns. uEmergency Services Program — Additional funding of $6 million a year, ongoing ($12 million per biennium), with funding beginning FY22 to help address the needs of those experiencing homelessness. uDriver’s license suspension reform — The penalty for unpaid fines and fees for minor traffic violations will be a civil collections process rather than suspension of the individual’s driver’s license.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

intentions of the Catholic Watchmen movement of our archdiocese. It is fitting that they begin with our youth as they and their families prepare for the school year. We pray that our youth adopt an active faith life that teaches them the good, beautiful and true as they develop and mature in all subject matters. That our youth pursue virtue in a world where faith and reason are essential — subordinating their passions and senses to the intellect and will. God’s will.

August: For our Youth in Preparation for Upcoming School Year: That young people follow the example of Mary and Joseph that they experience from their home life, responding to the call of the Lord to communicate the joy of the Gospel to others.

September: For the Holy Spirit to Bless the Faithful and All People in our Archdiocese: That ardent prayer, sincere listening and heartfelt discernment guide all parish small groups that provide feedback for the Synod.

October: For the Family Rosary: That families enliven the holy rosary in their daily practices — no matter how turbulent their lives may become — continuing to hold fast to their faith through the intercessory prayers of the Blessed Mother, which always lead us to Jesus.

November: For Justice, Mercy and Peace: That God transforms the leaders of all countries in the world to serve and honor those who experience the perils of war and division — lifting their nations out of hostility and oppression.

December: For the Blessings of this Holy Christmas Season: That all families, and especially for those of our archdiocese, deeply encounter the child Jesus as given by the example of the first holy, domestic church.

January: For the Unborn and for the Safety of Pilgrims to Pro-life Activities: That the culture of death that surrounds us today be replaced with a culture of life, promoting the dignity of the human person in all stages of life from conception to natural death.

February: For the Gift of Self: That by loving God —

uStopping a statutory counseling ban on those offering and on those seeking the help of psychological sciences to address unwanted gender discordance.

Disappointing outcomes: uNo school choice legislation in the form of education savings accounts or tuition tax credits. uNo new nonpublic pupil aid programs to assist nonpublic school students were passed into law. Among proposals that were denied are an extension of counseling services to primary school students, fixing transportation aid problems and appropriating money for school safety initiatives. uNo creation of nonconforming driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. uNo increased support for workers in the form of mandated earned sick and safe time. uNo new protections or interest rate caps against predatory payday lenders.

Issues where Catholics can advocate during the 2022 legislative session: uPreventing physician-assisted suicide from gaining any momentum. Join our partner organization the Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare to support critical advocacy efforts. uOpposing a constitutional amendment constitutionalizing the right to an abortion and undermining religious freedom in the name of “gender equality.” uStopping the legalization of recreational marijuana. uMCC will monitor the progress of the Page Amendment to ensure it does not undermine school choice efforts or threaten parental rights in education. uFunding the Palliative Care Advisory Council to improve access to real care at the end of life.

“Inside the Capitol” is an update from Minnesota Catholic Conference staff. For more MCC resources, join the Catholic Advocacy Network at mncatholic.org.

first and foremost — and by the love of neighbor, we may no longer live for ourselves, but for Jesus, who died for our sake and was raised up to bring us to new life.

March: For the Dignity of Work that Models after St. Joseph the Worker: That all who are actively employed or seeking employment labor with dignity and in virtue as they provide for their family and contribute to society.

April: For All Aspects of Leisure, Recreation and Sports: That healthy participation and competition contribute to the development of the whole person, providing enjoyment that avoids any kind of reductionism that debases human dignity.

May: For Devotion to Mary and the Dignity of Women: That in every country of the world, women may be honored and respected and that their essential contribution to the family and to society may be highly esteemed.

June: For Men Striving to be Spiritual Fathers like St. Joseph: That on this month of the Catholic Father’s Day celebration, all men develop and strengthen in spiritual fatherhood as they protect, provide and lead their families in the faith.

July: For Purity and the Natural Order of Sexuality: That all embrace the virtue of chastity — married or single — to counteract the temptation toward lust, pornography, prostitution and crimes against humanity such as sex trafficking, which disfigure the dignity of women and men of all ages.

Catholic Watchmen are prayer warriors who know that a persistent, consistent, vital daily prayer life is essential to staying alive in Christ. Whenever and wherever an opportunity presents itself, please include these monthly intentions in your prayers.

Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville, and assists the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen movement. Learn about the Catholic Watchmen at archspm.org/faith-communities/men.

LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Principal Erin Healy wants “each life (to be) valued and seen as a child of God.” Where is her desire for the unborn to be valued and seen as such? I pray counselor Kia Burton focuses on students who are distraught over the millions of babies being murdered 12 minutes from DeLaSalle. Flowery words “open dialog” “share their feelings” “nice and calm space” should be replaced with “God forgive PP” “pray to end abortion” and “prayer vigils at PP” if DeLaSalle were honest.

Karla McNallan Epiphany, Coon Rapids

‘Put it beautifully’ “Communion and Social Justice” article in July 15 edition (“Letters”) sure put it beautifully. “Do this in memory of me.” And “Assuming the Best” sounds like a truly Christian way to respond.

Thanks for the reminders.

Esther Lenartz St. John Neumann, Eagan

Ministry needed I am wondering why in this large archdiocese there is no longer an Office for Separated and Divorced Catholics? There are large numbers of people who could be served through this ministry. This is especially true since there is so much misunderstanding concerning this topic of separated and divorced Catholics. Some people wrongly believe they are no longer the Church or members of the Church community once they are divorced. Some people don’t realize that there are numerous reasons to be able to get an annulment because one’s marriage was not sacramental from its beginning. These, and many other issues could be addressed by having an Office for Separated and Divorced Catholics. It is an injustice not to serve this group of Catholics.

Jeanne Conant St. John the Evangelist, Little Canada Share your perspective by emailing TheCatholicSpirit@archspm.org.

Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Read more letters from our readers at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

Why I am Catholic

By Kristy Lor-Ly

W

PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

hen the answer to most of your childhood

about that prayer as I learned to navigate a broken family

questions usually ends with “it is fate,” it begs

and young adulthood with minimal faith in humanity or

the questions of “Who am I?” and “What is the

purpose of my existence?” Part of my identity is that

I am a Hmong American woman born after the mass

myself.

But God heard my prayers even when I did not know him.

Behind the scenes, he was preparing me for my new family.

exodus of the Hmong people from southeast Asia following

He opened the door and led me to meet and marry my

the Vietnam War. With the trauma of war imprinted on

husband, a lifelong Catholic, under extreme circumstances.

the surviving generations, I saw that “fate” was a relevant,

I eventually became estranged from my family of origin as I

sometimes convenient, and perhaps the only way to explain

followed my new faith and way

my people and family’s circumstances. However, “fate” did

of life. In those lonely days,

not help me embrace who I was — and it definitely did not

God answered my prayers,

explain the purpose of my life.

bringing me into his divine

As far back as I could track, the Hmong people had traditionally practiced animism — the belief in the interconnected spirit world with all living things, and their

family with infinite love and mercy.

Now I live in the love of the

creation from a higher power. Our religious practices were

Father, the Son and the Holy

strongly tied to a shaman, who could interact and connect

Spirit. And my family extends

us to the spirit world. However, the family traditions and

to our Holy Mother Mary, all

spirituality could only be owned and practiced by the male

the saints and angels, and my

members of each Hmong family. The female members

dear Catholic brothers and sisters. God also blessed me with a

could not hold that role, as we are expected to one day

wonderful husband and two lovely children. I am no longer

leave our physical and spiritual families to become part of

defined by “fate,” but found my family in faith, and that is

our husband’s family and spiritual leadership. And into this

why I am Catholic.

Lor-Ly in handmade, traditional clothing.

world I was born and raised, shaped by that same idea of “fate” being my sole comforter through times of trials and tribulations.

As a child, I witnessed prayers from those who were

Lor-Ly, 36, is a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul, which ministers to the Hmong Catholic community. She and her husband, Eric, have been married for 19 years and have two

grieving, hopeful, suffering, anxious, scared and happy in

children. She became Catholic in 2005 at St. Vincent de Paul.

many shapes and forms. I wondered what a prayer was, and

She is a registered nurse and enjoys reading, travel and history.

felt it was something so powerful it may transcend the “fate” I was born into. My first heartfelt prayer came when I was a preteen experiencing the trauma of my parents’ divorce. My life was in turmoil, and I prayed a higher power would let me have a family filled with love. Years passed, and I forgot

“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Why I am Catholic” in the subject line.

JULY 29, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

CALENDAR PARISH FESTIVALS

PARISH EVENTS

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Corn Days — Aug. 8: 1–10 p.m. at St. George, 133 N. Brown Road, Long Lake. Join us for roasted and Mexican corn, live music featuring Welcome Drive and Leah and the Rattlers, kids’ activities, beer and brat tent, bingo, super raffle, wine pull, stage acts and more. corndays.com

Alpha — Through Sept. 1: Wednesdays 6:30–8 p.m. at St. John Neumann, 4030 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan.

Explore the Christian faith. Meal, video, small group conversations. sjn.org/events/alpha-program-2021

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has asked all parishes in the archdiocese to host Synod Small Groups this fall for Catholics to learn, pray and share ideas on three focus areas ahead of the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod. Focus areas are: Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. Small groups will meet for six 2-hour sessions between mid-September and mid-November. Watch for communications from your parish about how to participate in a small group there, and the specific dates and times they’ll meet. Learn more about the Archdiocesan Synod process at archspm.org/synod.

St. Wenceslaus — Aug. 8: 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. at St. Wenceslaus, 2015 Main St. E., New Prague. Polka Mass at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. followed by food trucks, bingo, kids’ games, beer garden, pull tabs, bucket raffle sales and live music. npcatholic.org SJA Jacs Jam — Aug. 14-15: 4–11 p.m. at Sts. Joachim and Anne (St. Mary of the Purification campus), 15850 Marystown Road, Shakopee. Polka Mass 4 p.m. Aug. 14, followed by a live band, food, beverage, raffles, adult and kids’ games. Mass at 9 a.m. Aug. 15 with a blessing for the 5K Joachim Jaunt and 5K Donut Dawdle participants. All festival activities to follow. ssjacs.org/sja-festival-jacs-jam 54th Annual Veseli Ho-Down — Aug. 15: 11 a.m.– 6 p.m. at Most Holy Trinity, 4939 N. Washington St., Veseli. Polka Mass at 11 a.m. followed by a grilled pork, dumpling and sauerkraut dinner. Bake sale featuring Czech favorites, games for all ages, silent auction, raffle, country store, food, refreshments and all-day music. mhtveseli.com St. Thomas the Apostle — Aug. 15: 11:30 a.m.– 3:30 p.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle, 20000 County Road 10, Corcoran. Free kids’ games, live music, turkey dinner, bingo, cash raffle, face painting, inflatables, lawn games, cake walk, bake sale, farmers market, silent auction. Mass before festival at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. saintsppta.org

National Night Out Block Party — Aug. 3: 5–7 p.m. at St. Mary, 261 E. 8th St., St. Paul. Live music, food, nonalcoholic beverages, games, church tours and visits by the St. Paul Police and Fire departments. stmarystpaul.org Rummage Sale — Aug. 12: 7 a.m.–7 p.m. at St. Victoria Church, 8228 Victoria Drive, Victoria. Clothes, books, electronics, small furniture, toys, games and more.

Benefits parish’s Catholic youth education. stvictoria.net

PRAYER+RETREATS Help for struggling marriages — Aug. 6-8 at Dakota Ridge Best Western Hotel, 3450 Washington Drive, Eagan. Retrouvaille offers couples tools to rediscover, heal their marriage. Confidential. helpourmarriage.org Widows’ Day of Reflection — Aug. 7: 8 a.m.–noon at Our Lady of Grace, 5071 Eden Ave., Edina. Registration and rosary followed by Mass and presentation by Msgr.

Stuart Swetland, president of Donnelly College in Kansas City. $25, includes lunch. olgparish.org Silent retreat — Aug. 12-15 at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 St. Francis Lane, Prior Lake.

Conferences, guided prayer, Holy Hours, reconciliation.

Sixty acres of forest and prairie trails or labyrinth. Men and women. 952-447-2182 or franciscanretreats.net/register.

ASK FATHER MIKE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 and my dad had one color, my sister and her husband and kids had another color, and so on). I got a color that I would not have normally chosen for myself. So, I started joking about it. At first, I was genuinely laughing about it. But then something happened. The more I complained (even in a joking way), the more I got cranky about it and the more I continued to genuinely grumble about it. At one point, I even noticed what was happening, but I couldn’t let go of the complaint.

CALENDAR submissions 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.

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.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: TheCatholicSpirit.com/calendarsubmissions

Exultemus — Aug. 14: 7–8 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 680 Mill Street, Excelsior. Adoration, praise and worship, brief reflection at 7 p.m. Confessions available. Weather permitting, events on back lawn. sreid@stjohns-excelsior.org

increase enrollment in local Catholic schools. cscoeopen.com

OTHER EVENTS Walk for Life and 5K Run Fundraiser — July 31: 10 a.m.–2 p.m. at Rosemount High School Athletic Field, 3335 142nd St. W., Rosemount. Fundraiser for pregnancy LifeCare center and pro-life education. All ages welcome.

Donations accepted online. knightsforlifemn.org.

CSCOE Open Golf Tournament — Aug. 23: 10:30 a.m. at Southview Country Club, 239 E. Mendota Road, West St. Paul. Join Catholic Schools Center of Excellence’s round of golf with friends, family or colleagues while supporting CSCOE’s mission to enhance excellence and

It had a hold on me. This can be the case with any “small sin,” whether it be resentment, anger, curiosity, gossip, jealousy or complaining. There may come a point where we want to let go of it and will be unable to because it will have a grip on us.

The way out of this is to surrender to Jesus. I found myself powerless to overcome my weakness in complaining. I had to do two things: ask Christ to help me and forgive me, and turn to my family and tell them what was happening. I had to tell them that I was sorry that I put myself in a bad mood and that I

Leading with Faith Awards Mass and Celebration — Aug. 11: 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will preside at Mass and present the 2021 awards as The Catholic Spirit celebrates executives, owners and other leaders of secular businesses who lead with their Catholic faith.

Ice cream social to follow. Free. Registration required at archspm.org/leadingfaithmass. Questions, contact Annie Smaron at smarona@archspm.org.

was grateful that we all had the chance to be together for the day. Sometimes merely acknowledging that we are under the influence of grumbling is enough to break its spell.

Above all else, we turn to God’s grace, asking God to help us see the whole truth of our situation, and giving thanks for the good that is there.

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.

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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JULY 29, 2021

PAGETWO THELASTWORD Champlin gymnast wins silver at Olympics; relies on work, trust in God

By Dianne Towalski Catholic News Service

T

he Twin City Twisters in Champlin is the home gym of Grace McCallum, a member of the 2018 World Championship U.S. gymnastics team.

A large banner hangs over the facility’s main entrance honoring that accomplishment. Now her supporters can put up a new banner that reads, “Home of Grace McCallum, 2020 Olympic Silver Medalist.”

With four-time 2016 Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles withdrawing in the team finals July 27, McCallum and teammates Jordan Chiles and Sunisa Lee scored 166.096, behind the Russian Olympic Committee’s 169.528 for gold. Great Britain took the bronze at 164.096 McCallum was selected at the conclusion of the U.S. Olympic Trials in St. Louis June 27 to be part of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team heading to the Tokyo Summer Games, which started July 23.

That was a lot of pressure for the 18-year-old from Isanti, who is a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a parish in the Diocese of St. Cloud. But she’s taking it in stride.

“I’m super excited,” McCallum said as she prepared for Tokyo. “I feel so blessed that I’ve been given this opportunity to go represent our country at the biggest meet in the world.”

The experience has been a little surreal, and as she prepared to leave, she was still caught up in the whirlwind of being chosen for the team, she told The Central Minnesota Catholic, the magazine of the St. Cloud Diocese, prior to leaving for Tokyo.

“I just try not to think about it too much, I’m going to go into the meet and just have fun,” McCallum said. “I mean, I got there; now I’m just going to enjoy it, enjoy every moment. So, I try not to let the pressure of it being the biggest meet get to me.”

Going into trials, she was confident, but still not positive she would make the team.

“I knew it was going to be really, really tight between me, MyKayla (Skinner from Arizona) and Kayla (DiCello from Maryland),” she said.

“It was basically whoever hit that day. I felt a little bit of pressure, but then I (thought), ‘I’m just going to have fun today and just do what I do.

Whatever God wants for me, he'll make it happen.’ I just had to kind of trust everything.”

Her team at the gym was excited to watch her compete in Tokyo.

“I have such a great support system here. They’re all super happy and excited,” she said. “I really lucked out with the amazing team that I have.”

In addition to her team at the gym, McCallum’s family watched her compete on television. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in place for the Games, no family members were allowed to attend.

“It will be an adjustment, but you know, it’s OK,” she said before the Games. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime

U.S. women’s gymnastics Olympic team member Grace McCallum, a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Isanti, takes a break from training at the Twin City Twisters gym in Champlin July 1.

DIANNE TOWALSKI, THE CENTRAL MINNESOTA CATHOLIC | CNS

McCallum competes on balance beam at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Boston Aug. 19, 2018.

BRIAN SNYDER, REUTERS | CNS

PANDEMIC CONCERNS COVID-19 is a concern at the Tokyo games.

At least 19 Olympic athletes have withdrawn after testing positive for the coronavirus, including American tennis player Coco Gauff, golfer Bryson DeChambeau and members of the men’s basketball and two-man volleyball teams. An alternate in the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team also tested positive.

experience, so you’re going to do whatever you can and you're going to follow all the rules.”

Her mom, Sandy, who has only missed one or two of her daughter’s gymnastics meets, had planned before the pandemic to travel to Tokyo.

“I’m kind of heartbroken about that and I know she is, too, but it’s OK,” McCallum said. “She'll be cheering me on from home. It would be nice to have her in the stands so I could see her up there.”

Japan announced July 8 that the Olympics would proceed under a state of emergency and without any spectators at events in Tokyo due to concerns about the coronavirus. The protocols put in place for the athletes are very strict, too, McCallum said.

Members of the team were to be tested before they left the U.S. July 14, as well as when they arrived in Tokyo.

Their temperatures were expected to be monitored and activity limited, McCallum said.

“I think this is a great team. We all work together really well and get along super well,” she said. “That’s going to be important because we’re stuck in our rooms when we’re in Tokyo. We go from the hotel to the training facility and that’s it. We’re not even allowed off the floor in the hotel.”

The pandemic has presented many other challenges, including keeping in shape to be ready for the rescheduled Games.

“It’s been hard having this whole last year all over the place,” she said.

“But our gym did an amazing job with keeping us in shape. We did lots of

at-home workouts ... so it wasn’t super hard when we came back.”

McCallum, disappointed the Olympics were postponed last year, said she had to trust in her faith and God’s timing. She planned to compete in 2020 and then take a year off to let her body recover before heading to college at the University of Utah.

Now she’ll head there this fall without that recovery year, but she is still excited for the school year to start.

She looked at the university because of its gymnastics program — teammate MyKayla Skinner is an alumna — but she also was impressed by the medical program. And she felt at home there, she said.

“I knew I wanted to go in the medical field somewhere because I feel, as a gymnast, you already know so much about your body,” McCallum said. “I would love to be able to help other athletes because I know what they’re going through. I know their pains, and so I think it would be really cool to help them in any way I can.”

There have been other challenges, too. In November her uncle, John McCallum, who was diagnosed with ALS several years ago, died.

“That was really, really hard on our family. It took a while to process because he was such a big part of our lives,” McCallum said. “But I just tell

myself I’m going to live like John. He lived life to its fullest. And he really, especially in those last couple of months, relied on God.” And then in January she broke her left hand and required surgery to put in a plate and seven screws.

“I thought my Olympic dreams were down the drain, but then I thought, ‘No, you know what? Everything happens for a reason.’ I just have to trust God on this one and that he’s looking out for me.”

She is now fully recovered and ready to take on whatever comes her way.

“I’m all good. All healed up and ready to go,” she said.

During the pandemic, McCallum and her family watched their parish’s livestreamed Mass. Now that parishioners are back in the pews, McCallum said she hopes they continue with the livestream so she can connect with her home parish while she’s in Tokyo and into the future.

When she travels with the team and can’t attend Mass, she keeps her faith close in other ways. She has a rosary in her backpack as well as a special cross from her grandmother.

“She travels with those things to kind of bring her peace and calm,” her mom told The Central Minnesota Catholic in a 2019 interview. “Grace won’t travel anywhere without them.”