The Catholic Spirit - March 7, 2024

PIPE ORGAN DISCOVERY DAY Kathrine Handford, the organist and music director of St. Mark in St. Paul, instructs Michael Durnev on the organ. The parish hosted an opportunity for children to learn about what is often referred to as the “king of the instruments” Feb. 17 in conjunction with the American Guild of Organists and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

SEMINARIANS AND SPAGHETTI Men from St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul pause in prayer as they begin serving a spaghetti meal March 2 at the annual Knights of Columbus Council 3827 seminary fundraiser. Eighty seminarians worked in the kitchen at the Knights Event Center in Bloomington, entertained the guests with a four-person musical set and visited with the guests, together with their rector, Father Jonathan Kelly. The late Mike Salvatore, the council grand knight at the time, and the late Father William Baer organized the meals to help the seminary beginning in 2006. Over the years, the event has raised a total of about $100,000.

PRACTICING Catholic

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the March 1 “Practicing Catholic” show included a discussion with Father David Blume and Father Peter Williams about Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s decision to move three members of priestly fraternity Companions of Christ to the Diocese of Crookston. Also, Hill-Murray School hockey coach Bill Lechner reflected on his coaching career and Catholic faith after 600 career wins. Also on the show, Deacon Charles Bobertz discussed his upcoming free lectures on the rich Eucharistic tradition of the Church. Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingcatholicShow com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.

OVERHEARD

Our mission is to empower people to build connections and work together across differences with others in their communities for the common good. We firmly believe we have so much more in common as members of the human family and as Americans than we have differences.

Kerry Alys Robinson, Catholic Charities USA president and CEO, in an interview with OSV News about Team Up Project, a new initiative to counteract rising polarization and isolation in the United States. Catholic Charities is launching the joint effort with Habitat for Humanity International, Interfaith America and YMCA of the USA. Robinson said it puts “the invitation from Pope Francis to live synodally into concrete practice.” The project will highlight and foster efforts to build bridges in community chapters of the partner organizations with stories, resources, toolkits, best practices and training.

NEWS notes

This Lent, Open Window Theatre in Inver Grove Heights is hosting “The Living Water.” The production includes the biblical stories of the Samaritan woman, the blind beggar and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and incorporates original music and multimedia projections, according to the theater. The production runs from Feb. 23 through March 27. Ticket information can be found online:

tinyurl com/2xky2d3c

Amid a conservation project at St. Thomas More in St. Paul, the community called upon the creativity of its school students. The Stations of the Cross project seeks to restore the over 100-year-old stations at the church through a partnership with the Minneapolis-based Midwest Art Conservation Center. To fill the spaces of the missing stations, 14 St. Thomas More School kindergarten through eighth grade students created art representing the stations. Information about the conservation can be found online: morecommunity org/conServation

Helen Alvaré — a member of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and a professor at George Mason University in Virginia — will present on themes she included in her 2022 book, “Religious Freedom after the Sexual Revolution: A Catholic Guide,” March 21 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul’s O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium. Through her work, Alvaré encourages a compassionate and compelling response from the Catholic Church when it comes to its defense of its teachings on life, marriage, family and sexual identity. The presentation is free and open to the public. Registration is available on the event website: tinyurl com/P8c48j2y

Two alumni of St. Hubert Catholic School in Chanhassen, Emmet Carlson and Rebecca Knauff, competed at the prestigious Harvard Speech and Debate Tournament in Boston over President’s Day weekend with Chanhassen High School. Carlson won the tournament’s Informative Speaking category. This win is Chanhassen Speech’s fourth win in seven years.

On the third Sunday in Lent, 25 seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome — including two from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — received the ministry of acolyte in the college’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia told the seminarians in his March 3 homily to “Make your life worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.” The seminarians from the archdiocese, Charles DeReuil II and Steven Lang, along with their classmates, are in their second year of formation at the college. They have two additional years of theological studies before being ordained to the priesthood, according to a news release from the college.

ON THE COVER: In this photo illustration, Bob Beck, director of marketing at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center in Prior Lake, reads a Bible in the chapel at the center. For information about retreats, visit franciScanretreatS net

COURTESY MANUEL LEON

ANNA WILGENBUSCH | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

ONLY JESUS | BISHOP JOSEPH WILLIAMS

Silent retreats: Time with Jesus in the desert

FROMTHEBISHOP “A

t once the Spirit drove (Jesus) out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him” (Mk 1:12-13).

We were confronted with this mysterious scene on the First Sunday of Lent. We may recall that the narrative of Jesus’ temptation in the desert comes right after his baptism in the Jordan, where the Holy Spirit descended upon him “like a dove” (Mk 1:10).

We cannot help but notice that the first work of the Spirit of Jesus’ baptism was to drive him into the desert. The Greek verb “ekballein” is forceful and is used elsewhere by Mark to describe how Jesus “drives out” evil spirits. The evangelist is telling us that not going into the desert was not an option for Jesus.

Pope Benedict XVI understood that Jesus’ 40 days in the desert was “an inner struggle for fidelity to the (messianic) task, a struggle against all the distortions to the task that claim to be its true fulfillment” (“Jesus of Nazareth,” p. 26). The fasting of the body and the silence of the desert brought Jesus to a place of interior recollection that allowed him not only to experience that “one does not by live by bread alone” but also to hear the words that “(came) forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4) and to use those very words to reject the counterfeit messianic temptations proposed by Satan.

Notwithstanding the many peaceful and formative years that Jesus enjoyed in the bosom of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Mark helps us to see that the most important preparation for Jesus’ messianic ministry occurs during his 40 days in the desert. So it is for us as

Retiros de silencio:

Tiempo con Jesús en el desierto

“En seguida el Espíritu lo empujó (a Jesús) al desierto, y permaneció en el desierto cuarenta días, tentado por Satanás. Estaba entre las fieras y los ángeles le servían” (Mc 1,12-13).

Nos enfrentamos a esta misteriosa escena el primer domingo de Cuaresma. Recordemos que el relato de la tentación de Jesús en el desierto llega justo después de su bautismo en el Jordán, donde el Espíritu Santo descendió sobre él “como paloma” (Mc 1,10).

No podemos dejar de notar que la primera obra del Espíritu del bautismo de Jesús fue empujarlo al desierto. El verbo griego “ekballein” es contundente y Marcos lo usa en otros lugares para describir cómo Jesús “expulsa” a los espíritus malignos. El evangelista nos está diciendo que no ir al desierto no era una opción para Jesús.

El Papa Benedicto XVI entendió que los 40 días de Jesús en el desierto fueron “una lucha interior por la fidelidad a la tarea (mesiánica), una lucha contra todas las distorsiones de la tarea que pretenden ser su verdadero cumplimiento” (“Jesús de Nazaret”, pág.26).

El ayuno del cuerpo y el silencio del desierto llevaron a Jesús a un lugar de recogimiento interior que le permitió no sólo experimentar que “no sólo de pan se vive” sino también escuchar las palabras que “(salieron) de boca de Dios” (Mt 4,4) y usar esas mismas palabras para rechazar las falsas tentaciones mesiánicas propuestas por Satanás. A pesar de los muchos años de paz y formación que Jesús disfrutó en el seno de la Sagrada Familia de Nazaret, Marcos nos ayuda a ver que la preparación más importante para el ministerio mesiánico de Jesús ocurre durante sus 40 días en el desierto. Así es para nosotros como seguidores de Jesús. A pesar de todas las gracias que la Iglesia nos extiende en nuestro caminar diario como discípulos (lecturas diarias, Misa, Liturgia de las Horas, compañerismo en grupos pequeños y oración), a menudo es el tiempo fuera de la vida diaria cuando también ocurre nuestra mayor purificación como también la preparación más importante para nuestra

followers of Jesus. Notwithstanding all the graces that the Church extends to us in our daily walk as disciples — daily readings, the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, small group fellowship and prayer — it is often time away from daily life when our greatest purification occurs as well as the most important preparation for our unique mission in the Body of Christ.

I understood this from a very early age. I have distinct memories of my father and mother leaving our domestic church to be in silence with God at the Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House and the old Maryhill Retreat Center, respectively. This became part of the yearly rhythm of their Christian lives, and it evoked some wonderment in me as a small child. Evidently, it evoked wonderment in my siblings as well since each of them have heeded their example and have incorporated a yearly retreat into the fabric of their own lives as disciples. When they return, the people around them (and perhaps especially my brothers’ wives!) can almost see the spiritual transfiguration written on their faces.

We know from Jesus’ own example, however, that time in the desert is also a time of confrontation. Pope Francis reminds us of this in his 2024 Lenten message: “The voice of God, who says, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved’ (Mk 1:11), and ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ (Ex 20:3) is opposed by the enemy and his lies. Even more to be feared than Pharaoh are the idols that we set up for ourselves; we can consider them as his voice speaking within us. To be all-powerful, to be looked up to by all, to domineer over others: every human being is aware of how deeply seductive that lie can be. It is a road well-travelled. We can become attached to money, to certain projects, ideas or goals, to our position, to a tradition, even to certain

misión única en el Cuerpo de Cristo.

Esto lo entendí desde muy pequeño. Tengo claros recuerdos de mi padre y mi madre dejando nuestra “iglesia doméstica” para estar en silencio con Dios en la Casa de Retiros Jesuitas de Demontreville y el antiguo Centro de Retiros Maryhill, respectivamente. Esto se convirtió en parte del ritmo anual de sus vidas cristianas y me provocó cierto asombro cuando era un niño pequeño. Evidentemente, también provocó asombro en mis hermanos, ya que cada uno de ellos ha seguido su ejemplo y ha incorporado un retiro anual en el tejido de sus propias vidas como discípulos. Cuando regresan, las personas que los rodean (¡y quizás especialmente las esposas de mis hermanos!) casi pueden ver la transfiguración espiritual escrita en sus rostros.

Sin embargo, sabemos por el propio ejemplo de Jesús que el tiempo en el desierto es también un tiempo de confrontación. El Papa Francisco nos recuerda esto en su mensaje de Cuaresma de 2024: “La voz de Dios, que dice: ‘Tú eres mi Hijo amado’ (Mc 1,11), y ‘No tendrás otros dioses delante de mí’ (Ex 20:3) se opone al enemigo y sus mentiras. Aún más temibles que el Faraón son los ídolos que nos erigimos; podemos considerarlos como su voz que habla dentro de nosotros. Ser todopoderoso, ser admirado por todos, dominar a los demás: todo ser humano es consciente de lo profundamente seductora que puede ser esa mentira. Es un camino muy transitado. Podemos apegarnos al dinero, a ciertos proyectos, ideas o metas, a nuestra posición, a una tradición, incluso a ciertos individuos… (Mientras que) aquellos que sirven a los ídolos se vuelven como ellos, mudos, ciegos, sordos e inmóviles (cf. Sal. 114:4), los pobres de espíritu están abiertos y preparados: una fuerza silenciosa del bien que sana y sostiene al mundo”.

Qué hermoso resumen de las gracias del tiempo en el desierto con Jesús. En una palabra, el Santo Padre nos enseña que la gracia es libertad: libertad de los ídolos que nos presentan nuestros egos y Satanás y libertad para la vida abundante y la misión que Dios el Padre ha planeado para cada uno de nosotros. Lo

individuals … (Whereas) those who serve idols become like them, mute, blind, deaf and immobile (cf. Ps 114:4), the poor of spirit are open and ready: a silent force of good that heals and sustains the world.”

What a beautiful summary of the graces of time in the desert with Jesus. In a word, the Holy Father teaches us that grace is freedom: freedom from the idols presented to us by our egos and by Satan and freedom for the abundant life and mission that God the Father has planned for each one of us. I have experienced this in my own life and in the lives of those around me. That is why, since the very beginning of my priesthood, I have preached to my parishioners the virtue of making a yearly retreat.

How thrilled I was, then, four years ago when a group of Latinos approached the Jesuit community at Demontreville about the possibility of having a weekend retreat in Spanish. I had the privilege in July 2022 of seeing that retreat house full of Latino husbands, fathers and single persons and of offering them all a blessing as they embarked upon the first Spiritual Exercises in Spanish offered in that place!

As you will read in this edition of The Catholic Spirit, the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully in our midst to raise up new opportunities for the faithful to make silent retreats — even retreats of eight or more days — in this archdiocese and beyond. This can only be the same baptismal Spirit that drove Jesus into the desert. May we allow the Spirit of our own baptisms to drive us into the desert this coming year. There is important work to be done in us there, and we will discover that this yearly gift we give to God is really his precious gift to us, to those around us and to the Church we love.

he experimentado en mi propia vida y en la vida de quienes me rodean. Por eso, desde el comienzo de mi sacerdocio, he predicado a mis feligreses la virtud de hacer un retiro anual.

Qué emocionado me sentí entonces hace cuatro años cuando un grupo de latinos se acercó a la comunidad jesuita de Demontreville sobre la posibilidad de tener un retiro de fin de semana en español. ¡Tuve el privilegio en julio de 2022 de ver esa casa de retiro llena de esposos, padres y solteros latinos y de ofrecerles a todos una bendición al emprender los primeros Ejercicios Espirituales en español ofrecidos en ese lugar!

Como leerá en esta edición de El Espíritu Católico, el Espíritu Santo se está moviendo poderosamente entre nosotros para generar nuevas oportunidades para que los fieles realicen retiros silenciosos, incluso retiros de ocho o más días, en esta arquidiócesis y más allá. Este sólo puede ser el mismo Espíritu bautismal que empujó a Jesús al desierto. Que permitamos que el Espíritu de nuestros propios bautismos nos lleve al desierto el año que viene. Hay un trabajo importante que hacer en nosotros allí, y descubriremos que este regalo anual que le damos a Dios es realmente su precioso regalo para nosotros, para quienes nos rodean y para la Iglesia que amamos.

OFFICIAL

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

Effective February 20, 2024

Deacon Del Wilkinson, granted the status of a retired deacon. Deacon Wilkinson has been serving the Archdiocese as a deacon since his ordination in 1983, most recently at the Church of Our Lady of the Lake in Mound.

Feb. 24

the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The awards were part of the annual Emblem Mass and awards ceremony sponsored by the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting. Affiliated with the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, the organization seeks to help parishes form Catholic Scouting troops for boys and girls, and to foster and recognize Catholic virtues. The Pillars of Faith award is the highest Catholic Scouting award, according to Pat Reardon, chairman of the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting, and is given to those who earn all four Scout Religious Emblems. More than 75 Scouts representing at least 20 parishes came to the Mass and awards program, Reardon said.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen gives Pillars of Faith awards to Owen Wong, right, and Jonah Sperrazza, second from right, of St. Ambrose in Woodbury, and Adrianna Cogger, left, of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton

at

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

An updated map shows the four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024. Pilgrims traveling in “Eucharistic caravans” on all four routes will begin their journeys with Pentecost weekend celebrations May 17-18, leaving May 19. They will converge on Indianapolis July 16, the day before the five-day Congress opens. OSV NEWS

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to include shrines, landmarks, diocesan events

By Maria Wiering OSV News

On May 18-19, groups of eight young adults will leave San Francisco; New Haven, Connecticut; San Juan, Texas; and Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota.

For eight weeks they’ll travel, mostly on foot, along four routes through major U.S. cities, small towns and countryside toward Indianapolis, where they’re expected to arrive July 16, the day before the opening of the National Eucharistic Congress.

Together, they’ll cover more than 6,500 miles over 27 states and 65 dioceses. With them every step of the way will be the Eucharist, held in a specially designed monstrance, or reserved in a support vehicle’s tabernacle.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a major prelude to the National Eucharistic Congress, which

expects to bring together tens of thousands of Catholics July 17-21 in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for worship, speakers and Eucharistcentered events. The pilgrimage and the congress are part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. Catholic bishops that began in 2022 with the aim of deepening Catholics’ love for the Eucharist.

“A cross-country pilgrimage of this scale has never been attempted before,” said Tim Glemkowski, CEO of the Denver-based National Eucharistic Congress Inc., in a Feb. 22 media release announcing updated routes and related events. “It will be a tremendously powerful action of witness and intercession as it interacts with local parish communities at stops all along the way.”

The pilgrimage’s four groups of Perpetual Pilgrims are young adults ages 19 to 29 selected in an application process to travel the full length of each

route. Their names will be announced March 11.

People who wish to travel as a “day pilgrim” or attend a pilgrimage-related event along the routes may register online at eucharisticpilgrimage org Day pilgrims must make their own arrangements for meals, transportation and lodging, as needed.

Each route passes religious and secular landmarks, including Folsom State Prison in California, Ellis Island in New York, the campuses of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Benedictine College in Kansas, and the shrines of Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin, the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Maryland.

Dioceses through which the routes cross have planned special events to welcome the pilgrims. Detailed information for these events and each of the routes — the St. Junipero Serra Route from the west, St. Juan Diego Route from the south, St. Elizabeth Ann

Seton Route from the east and Marian Route from the north — will be posted at eucharisticpilgrimage.org. Pilgrims on the Marian Route will be in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis May 24-31. (See story below)

Pilgrimage events will include Masses, Eucharistic adoration and prayer, as well as service projects. All public events are free.

Supporting the Perpetual Pilgrims spiritually will be a “rotating cadre” of 30 Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Father Roger Landry of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, plans to accompany the Seton Route pilgrims for the entire route.

“Following Jesus and praying through cities and rural towns is going to be life changing for the Church across America,” Glemkowski said. “I personally cannot wait to participate in this pilgrimage!”

— Joe Ruff of The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report

Procession on Summit Avenue in St. Paul to be part of national pilgrimage

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

Save the date: May 27.

That is when all people of faith are encouraged to join the source and summit of the Catholic faith — the Eucharist — in a procession on historic Summit Avenue in St. Paul.

Starting with a prayer service near St. John Vianney College Seminary and The St. Paul Seminary along the Mississippi River in St. Paul and proceeding east more than four miles to the Cathedral of St. Paul, the event will be part of the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which starts at Lake Itasca in the Diocese of Crookston on Pentecost weekend, May 18-19.

During that same Pentecost weekend, groups of eight young adults will begin from Lake Itasca, San Francisco; New Haven, Connecticut; and San Juan, Texas, with all four pilgrimages set to end at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21. Those days will be filled with worship, speakers and events centered on the Eucharist.

The gathering along Summit Avenue — which police will block off from traffic — will be the largest event planned for the pilgrimage from the time it enters the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis at St. Albert in Albertville May 24 to when the pilgrims leave the archdiocese at

St. Michael in Pine Island May 31, said Amy Tadlock, the archdiocese’s manager of organizational effectiveness and a key planner for the archdiocesan leg of the pilgrimage.

Details for the 36 public stops for the pilgrims while they are in the archdiocese are being worked out, but people from Catholic schools, parishes and ministries in towns along the route will be among participants, Tadlock said. The towns involved can be found at archspm org/eucharisticpilgrimage

Summit Avenue, known for its parkways, historic churches, Victorianera mansions and homes, and views from the Cathedral of downtown St. Paul, seems an appropriate place to

celebrate the source and summit of the faith, Tadlock said.

The three-year U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) National Eucharistic Revival, culminating with the four pilgrimages and the Eucharistic Congress, is a historic time for the Church, she said.

The USCCB’s goal is to “encourage renewed devotion to the Eucharist — and the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a unique element in the initiative,” Tadlock said. “It’s something that’s never been done before. The walk along Summit Avenue ... is an opportunity for the faithful to participate in this historic event.”

Spotlight is on religious sisters for Catholic Sisters Week 2024

By Anna Wilgenbusch

The Catholic Spirit

For 56 years, Sister Mary Willette, a School Sister of Notre Dame, served as a teacher. Although she retired from teaching in 2023, she now volunteers as a mentor for staff at an elementary school, serves on the board of East Side Learning Center in St. Paul, visits people in memory care and prays for needs of the world.

Sister Mary is one of hundreds of women religious in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who perform essential — yet often hidden — ministries.

“We don’t seek attention, and we don’t have the expectation of attention,” Sister Mary said. “Sisters do so much in the archdiocese and in other parts of the world that is sometimes just not recognized.”

Nicole Bettini, consecrated virgin and delegate for consecrated life for the archdiocese, decided to bring women religious to the forefront as part of Catholic Sisters Week, a nationwide initiative to honor women religious and their work.

“Fifty-two weeks a year, women religious stand with the poor and immigrants, teach children, fight injustice, heal the sick, share spirituality, empower women, defend the planet, promote peace, create community (and) offer hope,” the national website for the week states. “But for one week, March 8-14, we shine the spotlight on women religious and encourage a wide range of campaigns and events that invite all who follow Jesus.”

Locally, Catholic Sisters Week will be celebrated by a video series featuring 12 sisters, including Sister Mary, who live and work in the archdiocese. One video will be released on archdiocesan

social media every day of Catholic Sisters Week. They will remain on the archdiocesan website at archspm org/religious-sisters as a resource for individuals, Catholic schools, faith formation programs and youth ministries.

“I want to help tell the stories of consecrated men and women,” said Bettini, who initiated the video series. “It could be a resource for parishes but also for individuals (discerning religious life).”

Sister Leann Luecke, 32, who has been a sister with the Peru-based order Pro Ecclesia Sancta (PES) for nine and a half years, is a native of Iowa who now lives in the Sacred Heart convent

Sisters do so much in the archdiocese and in other parts of the world that is sometimes just not recognized.

Sister Mary Willette

out to the sisters to learn more about the order after viewing their videos, Sister Leann said.

Sister Joseph Marie Cruz, 72, has served the elderly as a Little Sister of the Poor for over 50 years. She said that the video series could be a good way for young women to hear about the Little Sisters of the Poor, who usually lead hidden lives within their homes serving the elderly.

in Bloomington. She said that she is thankful for technology as a means of spreading the Gospel and the sisters’ testimony to it.

“It is great that the Church is able to really take advantage of all the technology and the opportunities that the world offers (and) to use those things to really convey God’s message and share the gift that religious life is,” said Sister Leann, who talked about the vow of obedience in the video series.

“The media is a very tangible and accessible way for people to learn more about our order and other orders in general,” Sister Leann said. The PES sisters operate a website and YouTube channel. Some women have reached

“We are not that visible to the young people,” said Sister Joseph Marie, who is originally from Denver and has served in Columbia, Spain, Peru and France. She now serves at the Little Sisters’ Holy Family Residence in St. Paul. “(The video series) really gives them a possibility to see our work in action and to hear what our work is all about.”

Sister Joseph Marie said that above all she hopes that through the Catholic Sisters Week video series, others can witness her joy in being called to be a bride of Christ.

“I am very happy in my vocation. If I had to choose again, I would choose the same route, the same calling,” she said. “Since I am so happy and (ful)filled in my vocation, I wish other young women would be able to witness this joy and be able to give themselves totally to God in the service of the elderly.”

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

From left, Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen talks with Sisters Incarnata Apel and Gianna Marie Borchers of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, Sister Leanne Luecke of Pro Ecclesia Sancta and Sister Joseph Marie Cruz of Little Sisters of the Poor at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul Feb. 1.

Twin Cities Catholics gather in Burnsville to pray rosary for fallen first responders

By Anna Wilgenbusch

The Catholic Spirit

Over 75 Catholics gathered Feb. 24 at Burnsville City Hall to pray a rosary for two police officers and a firefighter/ paramedic shot and killed six days earlier while responding to a domestic disturbance in a Burnsville home.

The gunman, identified by police as Shannon Gooden, died by suicide in the home. He had barricaded himself with his family, including seven children, in a standoff with police that lasted more than three hours.

Police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and firefighter/ paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, were killed in the Feb. 18 incident, and police Sgt. Adam Medlicott was shot and wounded.

Father Jim Perkl — pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville and a police and fire chaplain in the city about 15 miles south of downtown Minneapolis — led the rosary. He stood next to a crucifix and in front of the patrol and fire vehicles of the fallen men.

Father Perkl also led a decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Gooden.

Father Perkl encouraged those gathered to not lose hope.

“A good shepherd does not abandon his church. And the officers … do not abandon their community either,” Father Perkl said.

The rosary was spearheaded by the Catholic Watchmen, a faith formation and support group for men in the

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Members of the Watchmen pray a rosary in a public place once a month.

Ruth Laursen, whose husband, Paul, is a member of the Catholic Watchmen, said she suggested to her husband that they pray this month’s rosary outside Burnsville City Hall, where community members have placed flowers, signs, cards and stuffed animals as a memorial to the fallen first responders. The invitation to pray soon extended beyond the Catholic Watchmen group and drew

Catholics from all over the Twin Cities.

“We’re going to pray for healing. It’s so sad, sad for everybody involved,” said Ruth Laursen, founder of The St. Michael Project, which distributes St. Michael medals to first responders across the country. “Pray for our first responders and law enforcement. They are under not only a physical but a spiritual assault, too.”

As the prayers of the rosary resounded off the walls of City Hall, community members drove by as part of several

commemorative convoys honoring the fallen officers. They signaled their support for the families impacted by the shootings by waving American flags and playing patriotic music as they drove past. Others exited their vehicles to place flowers or notes on the memorials.

Pam Keuler, who attends St. Michael in Farmington and serves with a pro-life ministry, came to the event to pray for peace.

“I’m here to support these families and pray … my heart goes out to all of the children involved,” said Keuler, who regularly volunteers as a sidewalk counselor outside a Planned Parenthood site. “We just have to keep praying for peace, putting our feet on the ground and praying for peace.”

The morning of the shooting, Archbishop Bernard Hebda called for prayer on the social media platform X. “Please join me in praying for those who lost their lives in this morning’s tragic incident in Burnsville,” the archbishop said. “We need to lift up as well their families and all first responders who risk their lives for our safety. John 15:13.”

According to local news media, authorities are investigating how Gooden, who had been barred from owning arms after a 2007 assault conviction, came to own the large number of firearms that the police found inside the home where the shooting occurred.

A memorial service for Elmstrand, Ruge and Finseth was held Feb. 28 at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.

Stillwater parish, home for pregnant women hold baby shower for Moms in Need

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

In a display of unity and assistance, St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater and a home for pregnant women who lack a home of their own set up a community baby shower Feb. 6 that drew more than 50 women.

Inspired in part by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Walking with Moms in Need initiative, the clustered Stillwater parishes’ Walking with Moms group and the Philomena House in St. Paul accepted

donations for the gathering that exceeded expectations.

“We have a God of abundance,” said Nancy Kiolbasa, director of Philomena House and a parishioner at St. Michael, where the baby shower was held. “We had more gift baskets and food than we could give away.”

Gift cards for shopping and gasoline, toys and games for children, baby clothes, diapers, blankets and diaper bags were among the items given away at the shower. Boxes of diapers, bath products, clothing and toys were stored

for the next baby shower.

“You could feel the Holy Spirit,” Kiolbasa said. “Oh my gosh, so much joy.”

Laura Marvin Nelson, a member of St. Michael and the Walking with Moms group, said the get-together was a huge success. It included handing out Our Lady of Guadalupe candles and explaining to the mothers that emails would go out alerting each of them when a mom among them was going into labor. The first email went out Feb. 26, encouraging the mothers to

light their candles in prayer.

“I think it was such a work of the Holy Spirit,” Nelson said. “We hope to do it again. We’ve got some energy behind it. We have more moms in need, and we are creating this safe, beautiful community where we’re all one.”

Another goal of the group: To share what they learned while putting the baby shower together with other parishes that might be similarly inspired. People who are interested can contact Kiolbasa at 651-373-1205.

ANNA WILGENBUSCH | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father Jim Perkl, pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville and a Burnsville police and fire chaplain, leads a rosary outside Burnsville City Hall with members of the Catholic Watchmen Feb. 24 for the three first responders who were shot and killed during a standoff with a Burnsville man who had barricaded himself with his family Feb. 18. They also prayed for the perpetrator, who died by suicide.

Calling men to daily discipleship

By Tim Montgomery For The Catholic Spirit

After returning last year from a forced hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Men’s Conference moves forward this year with a focus on daily discipleship.

Hosted by the Catholic Watchmen, the conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23 at St. Joseph in Rosemount. It’s part of an effort to get men together on a regular basis to share fellowship and strengthen each other as disciples of Christ.

What is a disciple? One who loves God and loves his neighbor, said Deacon Gordon Bird, a conference organizer and Catholic Watchmen leader. Christ teaches that we can’t separate the two, he said, pointing out that men promoting discipleship in their families and communities is in lockstep with an Archdiocesan Synod goal of small group evangelization. Men are encouraged to read Scripture, be spiritual leaders and engage with their families in prayer and ministering to others, he said.

“Men are isolated in our culture,” said Dean Patterson, regional director of Texas-based Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance and a member of St. Paul in Ham Lake. Patterson said he plans to attend the conference, and he hopes the event will inspire men to encounter Christ and form authentic friendships that will strengthen them as disciples and leaders.

Dennis Brummel of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings said he looks forward to attending the conference.

“The Holy Spirit always seems to have some way to work through the speakers and touch our lives,” he said.

The event will bring men together from throughout the archdiocese. Archbishop Bernard Hebda will celebrate Mass, Deacon Harold BurkeSivers and Jeff Cavins will be featured speakers, Luke Spehar (accompanied by Teresa Petersen and Bill Bradley) will provide music, and Auxiliary Bishops Michael Izen and Joseph Williams, as well as Deacon Joe Michalak, director of the Office of Synod Evangelization, will lead prayer and deliver addresses.

There will be opportunities for confession, lunch and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Throughout the day, various ministry leaders in the archdiocese will give three- to fiveminute “Watchmen witness” accounts, promoting their parish men's ministry movements and the impact they have on discipleship and spiritual fatherhood.

Recalling Jesus’ charge to his disciples to find and feed the lost sheep, Deacon Burke-Sivers has called

on men to be father figures and to live out their purpose to serve, protect and defend their families, their faith and their communities.

Known as the “dynamic deacon,” Deacon Burke-Sivers was born in Barbados to a Methodist mother. His mother became the first Catholic in the family after a friend invited her to Mass. Deacon Burke-Sivers was baptized into the Catholic Church and attended Catholic grade school and high school growing up in Hillside, New Jersey. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration and a master’s degree in theological studies.

He worked 23 years in law enforcement, during which he rose to a leadership role in charge of regional university and college campus police. He developed a straight-talking, no-nonsense approach to living his faith. As an ordained deacon, he has

Uniting our local Church through need-to-know news and stories of faith.

challenged men to put their time and effort into building their relationship with God, rather than pursuing

worldly distractions.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda greets men at last year’s Archdiocesan Men’s Conference at All Saints in Lakeville. The archbishop is expected at this year’s conference as well, on March 23 at St. Joseph in Rosemount.

“We are the laborers sent into the field,” Deacon Burke-Sivers said in a recent talk, “We are called to reap an abundant harvest of souls using the navigational tools of the Catholic faith to lead men to conversion.”

Cavins returned to the Catholic Church after 12 years as a Protestant minister. He is recognized as a dynamic Bible teacher who can make complex theological concepts understandable and give them practical application for everyone. Cavins has a master’s degree in theology, and he is director emeritus and a teacher at the Catechetical Institute at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.

“Discipleship is not a theological exercise, it’s a relationship with Jesus,” Cavins said about the conference and its theme, Men of Christ — Rising Daily in Discipleship. “How can we follow him today as his disciples followed him then?”

TIM MONTGOMERY FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

COURTESY DEACON HAROLD BURKE-SIVERS

COURTESY JEFF CAVINS

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, left, and Jeff Cavins, right, are featured speakers for the March 23 conference.

FROM ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA

Stewards of the gift of life

In one of my “Weekly Word” email newsletters earlier this year, I asked you to reach out to your representatives at the Minnesota State Capitol concerning the great harm that would come with the passage this term of proposed physician-assisted suicide legislation.

Even when that harmful legislation is couched in more euphemistic language to make it seem more palatable to the citizens of our state, we know that our Catholic respect for life begins at conception and continues until our natural death. Bishops and the faithful in other states and countries give eloquent testimony to the harm that follows when societies go down this slippery slope of disrespecting the dignity of human life.

We are blessed that opposition to assisted suicide is not limited to people of faith, who know we are stewards of the gift of life, and not its master.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops of Minnesota, has been a leading member of the Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare (ethicalcaremn org), a diverse, bipartisan coalition of more than 50 organizations dedicated to opposing assisted suicide and promoting better care.

The alliance has elevated the perspectives of doctors and nurses, people with disabilities, and veterans’ organizations. These opponents of assisted suicide highlight how legalization will exacerbate financial disparities, amplify already-existing health care inequities, erode the doctor-patient relationship, and

blur the line between life-saving care and life-ending treatment. For these reasons, the legislation has stalled and the chances it will pass this year diminish each day. Praise God!

In fact, if more people knew about the already existing options of advance-care planning and the importance of palliative care, the demand for assisted suicide would likely decrease significantly. Our message to our legislators has been to focus on policy mechanisms that promote better care, and not those that hasten death. That message has been resonating, but we cannot assume that the battle is yet won. I encourage you to please continue to keep this matter in your prayers and to share your thoughts with our legislators on this important topic.

I am so grateful to Jason Adkins and the staff of the MCC who not only help our Church to communicate our positions effectively to our legislators and those in the executive branch of government but also keep us, as Catholic citizens, apprised of what is happening at the Capitol. I encourage you to look at the MCC website for up-to-date information on the assisted suicide legislation and for end-of-life resources consistent with our faith.

Elsewhere in this issue of The Catholic Spirit, you will find the “Inside the Capitol” column from the MCC that describes the challenges we are currently facing this term as the conference strives to protect our religious liberty, especially our ability to teach what the Church teaches about how God creates us as male and female (see page 21).

While Pope Francis has been known for his own support for individuals who are experiencing gender dysphoria and for his call for our Church to be pastorally present to those who see themselves as transgender and have undergone hormone treatment and/or sex-reassignment surgery (and supporting the clarification that transgender individuals can be welcomed into the Church through the sacrament of baptism), he has also decried “gender ideology, which erases differences.”

As recently as March 1, Pope Francis has indicated

TAKING ACTION

As The Catholic Spirit went to press, the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee was preparing for a hearing and a vote at 10:30 a.m. March 7 on a bill (HF1930/SF1813) to legalize physician-assisted suicide. That followed a House Health and Finance Policy Committee hearing on the bill Jan. 25 and that committee’s decision to move the bill forward.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) urged people to ask lawmakers to oppose the bill through MCC’s Catholic Advocacy Network, submit written testimony to the committee and attend the hearing at the Minnesota State Capitol. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishops Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Daniel Felton of Duluth, Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Patrick McNeary of St. Cloud and Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester wrote a letter to Catholics about the legislation titled, “A Better Way Forward.”

Read the letter at mncatholic org

that to erase the difference between man and women “is to erase humanity.” For that reason, the Holy Father described gender ideology as the “ugliest danger” that we face.

Just as Jesus had to present at times what he called “hard teachings” that were met with resistance even though taught with love, we as the Church have to be able to continue to speak the truth with love.

We are blessed to live in a country founded on the ideal that the state should not interfere with the practice of faith. Sadly, that fundamental right is increasingly at risk and needs to be defended. I fear the day when Catholics could face repercussions for simply repeating the clear teachings of our pope. Let us keep this matter in our prayers and do our part to defend our freedom.

I encourage you to sign up to become members of the MCC’s Catholic Advocacy Network to stay up-to-date and communicate with our legislators about important issues. Information can be found at the MCC website mncatholic org

Eliminating differences with gender ideology is a danger, pope says

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

The gifts of men and women are “fruitful” together, and to erase the difference between men and women “is to erase humanity,” Pope Francis said March 1.

“Today the worst danger is gender ideology, which erases differences,” he said, underlining that he has asked for studies to be done “about this ugly ideology of our time, which erases differences and makes everything equal.”

“To erase difference is to erase humanity. Man and woman, on the other hand, stand in fruitful ‘tension’” with each other, the pope said as he opened an international congress in the Vatican Synod Hall titled, “Man-Woman: Image of God. For an Anthropology of Vocations.”

The congress March 1-2 was sponsored by the Center for Research and Anthropology of Vocations, which was founded in 2020 by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, retired prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, to promote and support research in the social sciences on vocations in society. The pope greeted the attendees and told them that he would have an aide, Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, read his prepared text because “I still have a cold and I get worn out from reading” out loud after a while.

However, the pope continued speaking off-the-cuff, saying, “I would like to emphasize one thing: It is very important that we have this meeting, this meeting between men and women, because today the worst danger is gender ideology, which erases differences.”

In his prepared remarks read aloud by the aide, the pope wrote that a basic truth needs to be rediscovered

“in all its beauty: the life of the human being is vocation.” Every person needs to discover and express himself or herself “as called, as a calling, as a person who finds fulfillment in listening and responding, sharing his or her being and gifts with others for the common good,” Pope Francis wrote.

People today sometimes “forget or obscure this reality, with the risk of reducing the human being to his or her material needs or basic needs alone, as if he or she were an object without a conscience or will, simply pulled along by life like a gear in a machine,” he wrote.

“We are part of a plan of love, and we are invited to go outside of ourselves and realize it, for ourselves and for others,” he wrote. After the aide finished reading the prepared remarks, Pope Francis urged participants to press ahead “with the courage to discern and risk seeking God’s will.”

Silent retreats: ‘The person who is waiting for you

By Anna Wilgenbusch The Catholic Spirit

On Feb. 29, snow crunched under Mark Vanden Berg’s shoes as he walked toward the chapel of Pacem in Terris retreat center.

The hermitage in Isanti (Diocese of St. Cloud) where he had spent the last three days in silence and solitude — praying for his family members who had fallen away from the faith and for his best friend who died by suicide — lay in his snowy wake.

As he drove home to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he felt renewed.

“I left overflowing with joy and peace,” he said.

Those who attend silent retreats say that silence and solitude is an essential, although initially challenging, prerequisite to an encounter with God.

The power of silence

Tim Drake was a father to five young children when he began attending an annual silent retreat at Pacem in Terris more than 20 years ago.

“I would come home refreshed, probably with a bit of a different disposition, probably was more patient with the children,” he said.

Now he serves as executive director for Pacem in Terris, which opened in 1988 and has 19 hermitages on 240 acres. It hosts almost 1,200 retreatants every year.

Silence can bring one’s deepest wounds to the surface, Drake said.

“We are wounded, so we all come into the hermitage with those wounds,” he said. “You are there, alone, in essence naked before God. It is just you and all of your strengths and weaknesses.”

But silence, Drake said, also allows one’s wounds to heal in the light of Christ.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that (when) people come here, angels minister to them,” Drake said. “We have had people talk about healing from past hurts and even abuse. We’ve had people talk about overcoming different kinds of addictions, people who have discerned religious or non-religious vocations, people who have returned to the Church or come into the Church in part due to their time on retreat in the hermitage.”

The hermitages at Pacem in Terris contain a twin bed, a propane stove and lamp, a basket of food, a table with a Bible on it, a rocking chair and two icons: one of the Holy Trinity and the other of the Blessed Mother. Drake said that the hermitages are designed to strip away the distractions with which people are constantly surrounded in their daily lives.

“The hermitage strips all the extra stuff of life away and gives you the opportunity to just be and to feel loved and to respond to God,” he said.

A call for a new center

In 2017, Sheryl Moran went on her first silent retreat under the spiritual direction of a retired priest in Virginia. She said that the silent retreat “powerfully changed (her) life.”

When she returned to her home in Edina, she wanted to recommend silent directed retreats to her friends but did not know where to find them.

“I wanted other people to be able to have this same experience of encountering God’s personal, particular love for them in a way that’s so transformative,” Moran said, “But I didn’t know where they could do that.”

Years later, Moran felt called to create a place for silent retreats under the guidance of a spiritual director. The result, Bethany Center for Prayer and Renewal, is now in the beginning stages of development in Scandia.

Moran said that the name of the center, Bethany,

carries biblical significance. Jesus himself retreated to the town of Bethany for prayer. In the Gospel, Bethany was also where Mary adored Christ, Martha served him, and where Lazarus was raised from the dead.

“We want to offer opportunities for the kind of prayer that Mary of Bethany experienced at the feet of Jesus; we want to serve them with the kind of hospitality that Martha served Jesus; and we hope that they, too, will experience resurrection, like Lazarus,” Moran said.

The center, on a former family farm, is currently not equipped to receive guests. Over the next two years, Moran hopes to raise the funds to convert the barn into lodging for retreatants and to convert the former grain silo into a chapel. The family home will also be converted into individual suites where spiritual directors can stay.

Moran hopes that Bethany will be a place for people to escape the noise of the world.

“In our world today, it is possible to go without any silence anymore. You could listen to podcasts on your earbuds for the rest of your life if you wanted to,” she said. “But if we want to hear the Lord, we need to make the space for him to speak, and for us to be able to hear (him).”

In contrast to most silent retreat centers around the country, Moran said that Bethany will offer 45 minutes to an hour of spiritual direction every day to all retreatants from a certified spiritual director in the tradition of Ignatian retreats. This director will listen to what the retreatant is receiving in their prayer and point them toward Scripture passages to pray with over four daily Holy Hours.

“The ultimate goal for each retreat is that (each) person has an encounter with the Lord,” Moran said.

Time spent alone with Love

Although Bethany is not yet equipped to the public, Father Brian Fischer currently lives the property and offers silent retreats and spiritual direction to priests.

Father Fischer, who is a spiritual director, received his own call to the priesthood through silent retreat.

“As soon as I heard the word ‘priest’ there much joy and confidence,” Father Fischer told Catholic Spirit in May 2021 about his experience

Outside and inside Pacem in Terris. Walking trails, freshly

in the silence is madly in love with you’

SILENT RETREAT OPPORTUNITIES

ABOVE

DAVE HRBACEK

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

LEFT

ANNA WILGENBUSCH

host lives on spiritual through a there was so told The experience

of discerning the priesthood on a silent retreat.

“This was a sign of the Holy Spirit. Of course, I said, ‘Yes, I’ll give you whatever you want.’”

Rather than serving at a parish, Father Fischer discerned a call to serve the archdiocese as a spiritual director for his fellow priests as well as for some laypeople.

Father Fischer told The Catholic Spirit on Feb. 26 that silence is vital to prayer.

“Silence is the gift of his presence that allows all of the traffic on the inside to start to slow down. And that is important because then in the silence

Pacem in Terris: Open every day. Suggested donation of $140 per night. Call 763-444-6408 to reserve a hermitage at the property near Isanti in the Diocese of St. Cloud.

Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center: Silent Retreat Weekends are offered in June, August and September at the retreat center in Prior Lake. Men’s Holy Week Retreat (silent on Holy Friday) will be held this year from March 28-30, and the silent Women’s Palm Sunday Weekend Catholic Retreat will be held March 22-24. Both retreats have a $40 registration fee and a $200 suggested donation. Visit franciscanretreats net/silent-retreat-weekends for more information.

Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House: Silent retreats in the Ignatian tradition are hosted most weekends from Thursday to Sunday in Lake Elmo for a freewill donation. Visit demontrevilleretreat com for more information.

we can hear the voice of God speak to us,” he said.

Silence can be frightening when we are accustomed to an atmosphere of noise that prevents us from encountering our own weaknesses, Father Fischer said.

But “there is no need to be afraid of the silence,” Father Fischer said, “because it is just love. The person who is waiting for you in the silence is

madly in love with you.”

Silence is healing, Father Fischer said, because it can bring us into an encounter with God’s love.

“What is (God) saying (in the silence)? He is often speaking words of love. This is the most healing thing that someone can receive — the words of love from a God who loves them.”

Sheryl Moran works on a sculpture of the Crucifixion scene for Bethany Center for Prayer and Renewal.

Tim Drake, executive director of Pacem in Terris, stands in front of a hermitage on the property.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

ANNA WILGENBUSCH | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT freshly baked bread for retreatants and the chapel.

Silent retreats help mom of 4 discern God’s will

By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit

Making time for quiet is a priority for Maria Andrews, 39, a homeschooling mom of four — whether she’s attending a silent retreat or building five minutes of silence into her morning prayer. “It sets you in the right place,” said Andrews, a member of St. Mary in Stillwater.

An optometrist, she also runs a small private practice in Stillwater called OKO Optometry. As a nod to her career, she and her husband, Charlie, chose names for all their children that mean light: Lucy, 9; Clare, 5; Luke, 2; and Stella Maria, 6 months (for Our Lady Star of the Sea)

Q I love that your kids’ names tie together, reflecting both your profession and your faith.

A There’s a couple more light names, like Philomena. We kind of had to stretch a little harder for the fourth, Stella Maria. When my sister met her, she said, “Oh, you have ocean eyes!”

She has the biggest, bluest eyes. I realized, “Oh my gosh! God knew, before we even knew her name, that she was going to be Stella Maria.”

Q Retreats are a crucial way to nourish your faith, the cornerstone of your life.

A My rule is: If you can make a retreat work, go! For a mom, it’s a lot to juggle to leave kids at home. But if things fall into place, take that opportunity.

A retreat is all about having the time and the place to do that interior work where God reveals to you what you need to do for your sanctification. You get that there, but then our everyday work is where we need to put it into practice, because our everyday is our means to our sanctification.

I try to live every day with a retreat mindset: to be intentional, to constantly do that interior work in all the little aspects of my vocation and primarily to put everything back into proper order, which is God as priority.

Q Tell me about the silent retreats you’ve made.

A It’s the time and space to go to a deeper level with God and discern what he wants me to do differently in life so that I can more effectively grow in holiness. I’ve left retreats with a daily rule of life — Schoenstatt (retreat center in Sleepy Eye) calls it “a spiritual daily order.” I even made a general confession on one retreat.

Q What does silence do for you?

A Look how many times in the Gospel Jesus went away in silence to pray with the Father, especially during big decisions, like who to choose as his Apostles. And we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and God dwells within our interior castle, as St. Teresa of Avila said, so we have to go deep interiorly in order to converse with him on that intimate level, and to do that we have to detach ourselves from all distractions and noise in our lives. That’s almost impossible to do without a silent retreat.

I’ve been on a lot of other retreats, even if it’s not a silent retreat, when I try to avoid using my phone. If you bring your phone on your retreat or you look at it, it just ruins it. You really need to be totally detached. I’ll check in at the end of the day with my husband, but I won’t look at text messages or email.

Q What else makes for a powerful retreat?

A I’ve never gone into a retreat with an agenda. It would be really easy to go into a retreat with an agenda and try to force something and then you get frustrated. I think you need to go into a retreat with no agenda and be completely open to listening to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If you’re trying to work on something yourself, it’s most likely that God wants you to work on something else.

Q You stumbled into homeschooling during COVID, and now you love it.

A When our oldest started first grade and schools were reopening, we decided to try homeschooling, and it’s gone so great that we haven’t looked back. What I enjoy most is instilling a sense of wonder in our children and giving them the space to ponder questions and then helping them to bring every subject and every question back to God, our creator. He made everything, and he loves us so.

Q What’s a typical day look like?

A After breakfast, we try to do a family rosary. It works better for us than in the evening. Then we do an hour of really good school work, and then we go on our run/bike ride, and maybe try to bring a picnic lunch and stay

but The St. Catherine of Siena Institute also has online workshops. I recommend doing an interview after the inventory.

Discerning charisms helps you narrow down what’s important in life. You can’t do it all. If you’re overstretched, take off those extra things that don’t involve using your charism.

I could have a perfectly clean house and cook gourmet meals and edit all my photos, but I would not be living out my vocation according to God’s will. My life is so much more fulfilled because I’m using my charisms for the sake of others — and that’s evangelization.

Q How do keep up your private optometry practice?

A It’s concierge style. I don’t have office hours, so I schedule patients by appointment, including evenings and weekends. My office is kid-friendly, so my patients don’t need to find childcare, and sometimes my kids come in to work with me.

outside for a couple hours. When the little ones go down for naps, that’s our one-on-one instruction time, and then we have a long period of read-aloud time, and ideally that’s outside. We have a swing in our front yard that’s a nice spot, and sometimes we go to our screened porch. After naps, we prep dinner so we can go to 5:30 Mass and then eat dinner when we get home.

Q I bet you enjoy that read-aloud time.

A I look forward to that! There’s a lot of research showing the benefit of read-aloud time even for kids who are old enough to read. It teaches them grammar and proper English and sentence structure and sparks their imagination. We’re currently reading “The Enchanted Castle” by E. Nesbit and “Spring Tide” by Mary Ray. The books relate to the history we’re studying.

Q Is there some learning on the fly for you or do you usually already know it?

A There’s both. Some things are review, but some are new. It’s nice to learn alongside them.

Through the Called and Gifted Workshop at The St. Catherine of Siena Institute, I have discerned that two of my charisms are teaching and knowledge, so that’s an explanation for why I have such a passion for homeschooling. You’re supposed to use your charism in the service of others for evangelization. They’re not for you, they’re for others.

Q Learning your charism can be empowering.

A I took a workshop on it a year ago,

I intentionally created my business to give me that flexibility to balance being a mostly stay-at-home homeschooling mom but also practice the career that I have such a passion for and went to school so long for. My oldest two can do the reception work and technician work. They give patients their registration forms and put together my charts, and my oldest is learning how to read glasses and use some of the equipment.

Q How cool!

A I think it’s good for them to witness a balance between family and career. I want to be intentional about showing my girls they can choose careers that allow them to pursue their vocations as moms, if that’s God’s intention for them. I don’t want them to feel stuck that they either have to work full time or they have to give up their career to be full-time moms.

Q What do you do for fun?

A I love to travel. My parents are from Poland, so we’ve traveled to Europe a lot. I grew up going on motorcycle rides with my dad across the country — just the two of us. We’d stay at cheap motels along the way. I saw firsthand how vast and beautiful our country is — especially when you go out west. You can’t help but allow that to move you, to ponder your Creator, the beauty of his creation. It’s almost that silent retreat experience — a lot of interior time.

Q What do you know for sure?

A God has chosen me, and I’m his beloved daughter. I think that’s the only thing you can know because everything else is uncertain. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Editor’s note: To get in touch with Andrews or learn more about her optometry practice, email OKO.OptOmetry@gmail cOm

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

More than 200 people participate in online Vatican synod listening sessions

By Joe Ruff

The Catholic Spirit

More than 200 people participated in online listening sessions set up Feb. 25 and Feb. 27 by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for the ongoing Synod of Bishops at the Vatican as Pope Francis encourages a more welcoming Church ready to walk with people in their struggles.

Participants included Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Cynthia Bailey Manns, adult learning director at St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, who is one of four laypeople from the United States and one of 10 nonbishop voting delegates chosen by Pope Francis to represent the North American region at the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops.

Both 90-minute online sessions drew people from urban and rural, big and small parishes across the archdiocese. They included remarks from Archbishop Hebda and Bailey Manns, who described her experiences in Rome with a process called Conversations in the Spirit.

“These spiritual conversations were welcoming, inclusive and affirming sacred encounters grounded in prayer and silence,” Bailey Manns said. “The spiritual foundation of the practice invited us to be present to the Holy Spirit, the protagonist, who challenged us to come together with the commitment to individually and in community be present to one another through prayer, deep listening and respectful dialogue; to open our minds and hearts to new understandings and responses to the different life experiences of others; and to engage in discernment, as we shared our concerns about, and dreams for, our Church.”

The first general assembly of the Vatican synod was held in Rome Oct. 4-29, 2023. A second general assembly will be held in Rome this year, Oct. 2-27. Between these assemblies, Pope Francis urged reflection, listening and sharing by the synod delegates with people in the dioceses from which they hail.

After hearing from the archbishop and Bailey Manns, the archdiocesan online groups were led in prayer and then entered virtual breakout rooms for prayer, silence and discussion of three questions:

u“Where have I experienced, or witnessed, ways in which Church structures, leadership, or life have encouraged or fostered our shared mission?

u“Conversely, where have I experienced, or witnessed, ways in which Church structures, leadership, or life have hindered our shared mission?

u“What is needed to help us all respond to our shared baptismal call to proclaim the Gospel and live as a community of love and mercy in Christ?”

Each group was drawn back into the large group online, sharing comments via video chat.

In his opening comments during the

archdiocesan online listening sessions, Archbishop Hebda noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), seeking to meet the pope’s request, in January asked all dioceses to hold listening sessions during Lent. The feedback, or fruit, of the archdiocese’s online sessions will be compiled in a report and submitted to the USCCB by April 8 — a week after Easter, the archbishop said.

“It’s been a busy six weeks trying to organize the behind-the-scenes things like schedules, event logistics, promotion, and also to reach out and train people to assist as breakout room facilitators and scribes — but we believe the effort has been worth it,” the archbishop told participants Feb. 27.

Archbishop Hebda also noted that the call by Pope Francis for the Synod of Bishops, often referred to as the synod on synodality, came midway through the archdiocese’s preparations for its own Archdiocesan Synod Assembly in June 2022. This was the culmination of synodal listening sessions Archbishop Hebda set up in the archdiocese that began in 2019 with large-scale listening sessions and small group discussions at the parish level.

the archbishop said.

“He could just send us a question,” Archbishop Hebda said. “We could all write off an answer. We could do those things. But I think what’s so significant, and I think Cynthia

Zach Jansen, digital content producer for the archdiocese’s Office of Communications, works the controls in the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul for the Feb. 25 online Vatican synod listening session.

TOM HALDEN OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Bailey Manns would say this, from her experience in Rome, is having that opportunity to be with others, and to listen to those different perspectives, and to try to discern where the Holy Spirit is in the midst of that.”

In answering the pope’s call for a Church ready to listen and accompany people in their journeys of faith, Archbishop Hebda said, the archdiocese shared what it had learned from its own synodal process. It also held some targeted listening sessions with victims-survivors of clergy abuse and other, often marginalized groups, he said.

After the Feb. 27 online session, Archbishop Hebda, who also led one of the breakout sessions, said he was grateful for the wide participation and fruitful discussions. By asking for such gatherings, Pope Francis was not seeking the most efficient means to encourage comments, but rather, he was after something more important,

U.S. bishops launch teaching initiative called ‘Love Means More’

By Kurt Jensen OSV News

“Love Means More,” a new teaching initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has a statement of purpose, a website and a promise to keep building the website to provide answers on a wide variety of questions about Catholic teaching on love, sexuality and marriage.

The premise speaks to the simple question of what “I love you” can portend.

“Imagine sincerely saying this to someone for the first time, and getting the response, ‘What do you mean?’ In that moment, the stakes would be too high to pause for a calm, honest exploration of this question. That’s why this site exists,” states the website, lovemeansmore org

The initiative is led by Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.

Bishop Barron also is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, author of numerous books and articles, and has a podcast and video presentations via YouTube.

“Conversations about love, marriage, sexuality, family, and the human person can be confusing and polarizing,” Bishop Barron said in a Feb. 21 news release, adding that he hoped the initiative would “help bring clarity and compassion to those questions.”

The U.S. bishops' new initiative comes as the Church is grappling with how to engage people in the modern world, helping them encounter the love of Jesus Christ within the life-changing demands of his Gospel.

“Love Means More” renews and replaces “Marriage: Unique for a Reason,” an initiative launched by the U.S. bishops in 2011. It will “still allow us to defend marriage, but now as part of a larger set of questions about family, sexuality, and the human person,” according to an announcement on the marriageuniqueforareason org website.

According to the USCCB, the new initiative has a broader scope than just the sacrament of matrimony, addressing “questions and concerns received from people who are uncomfortable with some church teachings. These include those who uphold the possibility of divorce

As you plan your charitable giving for this year, consider putting away the checkbook. Your best gift option might be in your IRA.

If you’re age 70 ½ or older, you can make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from your traditional IRA — and see new tax benefits.

and remarriage, LGBT-identifying individuals, and those who defend pornography.”

It was developed through “wide consultation” with bishops, pastors, educators, medical and mental health professionals, and lay Catholic leaders involved with family life ministry.

Reflecting long-held Catholic teaching, Bishop Barron observed in his statement that “cultural narratives tell us love is mostly about feeling good. True love is deeper than that, calling us to follow Christ’s example of sacrificial love so we can live in union with Him forever.”

The “Love Means More” website takes

a kind of “stacking doll” approach to unpacking the Church’s teaching. It starts with one question “What is Love?” which then opens into other topics and related questions: “Is love a feeling?” “Willing the Good” and “Eros + Agape.” Each new topic then leads into its own related subtopics. For example, “Eros + Agape” opens up two further topics — “biological sex” and “sexual relationships.” Those new topics in turn become the basis for opening into their own related subtopics, and so forth.

Teaching on other issues will be added over time.

The U.S. bishops’ new initiative comes as the Church is grappling with how to engage people in the modern world, helping them encounter the love of Jesus Christ within the lifechanging demands of his Gospel.

In December, the Vatican issued a narrow set of guidelines — “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) on “the pastoral meaning of blessings” — addressing the possibility of informal, non-liturgical blessings for Catholics in irregular or same-sex unions.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration said a request for a blessing can express and nurture “openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”

iSTOCK PHOTO | UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

FOCUSONFAITH

He gets us and he saves us

Perhaps you saw the commercial during the Super Bowl titled “He Gets Us,” depicting a variety of individuals washing the feet of others.

This campaign began a few years ago, and I believe it to be an earnest attempt at preevangelization, marketing Jesus to those in our modern culture who are on the peripheries of Christianity. “He Gets Us” mirrors a synodal Church that accompanies individuals in their unique circumstances without expecting moral perfection.

The message of Jesus relating to our real-life situations is a necessary and first step in proclaiming the good news — through the Incarnation, he meets us in our brokenness and misery. This is where the message begins, but if it stops here, it remains something that I would label “the partial Gospel.” The full Gospel that the Church proclaims throughout Lent to catechumens and rank and file Christians alike is something more akin to rescue and liberation. Jesus doesn’t simply get us, he saves us!

Over the past four weeks of Lent, we have heard episodes from the Old Testament that tell the story of salvation.

In the stories of Noah’s ark and the flood, Abraham and Isaac at the altar of sacrifice, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

The vestments and symbols of deacons

Deacons wear two special vestments unique to the order of deacons: the deacon stole and the dalmatic. They are worn when the deacon serves in a liturgical role such as at Mass or for the celebration of the sacraments of baptism or matrimony.

The deacon stole. The deacon stole is the primary symbol of the order of deacons. It is a band of high-quality cloth usually made of cotton, wool or silk. It is typically 4.5 inches wide and, combining the front and the back, about 9.5 feet long. It is worn over the left shoulder, goes diagonally across the chest and back to the right hip, and then hangs down the right side. It is worn over the alb, a full-length white robe, and may be worn under a dalmatic.

Deacon stoles come in each liturgical color — white, green, red, violet and rose — and the color worn corresponds to the liturgical occasion. Many are beautifully embroidered with spiritual symbols. A deacon stole differs from a priest’s stole, which is worn around the back of the neck and hangs straight down in front on both sides.

The dalmatic. The dalmatic is the outer vestment worn by deacons. It is a tunic with arm-length, wide sleeves. The sides are continuous or sown together, and the sleeves and the bottom of the vestment are squared. These features differ from the chasuble, a similar outer vestment worn by priests and bishops, that has open sides and is rounded or curved at the bottom of the vestment.

Like the deacon stole, dalmatics come in each of the liturgical colors, and the color chosen is appropriate to the liturgical occasion. Some dalmatics are plain, but most are decorated with piping, artistic patterns, or distinctive sacred artwork. The dalmatic always matches the color of the celebrant’s chasuble, and frequently is a matched set with ornamentation that is nearly identical.

KNOW the SAINTS

the rescue from Babylonian captivity, the love of God is on full display through extraordinary and tender actions. The reality of sin has dire consequences, and God saves his people time and again through covenantal relationship.

Sin is a big deal, even one sin, and it demands a savior. Outweighing vices with virtues or bad deeds with good deeds is not sufficient to save anyone. Only God can save us from sin and death. In the old covenant, he used patriarchs like Noah and Moses as mediators, but sin and disorder remained. The new covenant established by God’s son was necessary to break the ancient curse, once and for all.

Through the paschal mystery of Jesus, the Gospel finds its completion. We are attractive to God precisely in our sinfulness. Like a physician to pain, Jesus is attracted to our sin. His death and resurrection applied to our wounded nature is the only remedy that can save us. The famous lines from chapter 3 of John’s Gospel display the heart of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son … (not) to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17).

Jesus kept company with sinners, and they were the ones changed and converted. Those who prefer darkness to light are unable to receive the salvation he offers — they choose enslavement to wickedness over the life and freedom that he offers.

If we want to rejoice on this Laetare Sunday, we have to relate to our sins the same way that Jesus relates to them, nailing them to the cross. Jesus did not come to tolerate the ugliness of sin, nor did he come to make bad people good, but to raise dead people to life. I rejoice in the message of St. Paul, that “even when we were dead in our transgressions, (God) brought us to life in Christ” (Eph 2:5).

Father VanHoose is pastor of St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi.

In addition to the deacon stole, the two most common symbols for the order of deacons are a basin and a towel, and the cross. A basin and towel. Jesus used a basin and towel when he intentionally, voluntarily, humbly and generously served his disciples as he washed their feet (Jn 13:4-5). The items that Jesus used on this momentous occasion are profound symbols of humble service, and the diaconate is an order of service. The word deacon is derived from the Greek words diakonos, a servant, and diakonia, to serve. Jesus told his disciples, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (Jn 13:15). Deacons take the instructions of Jesus to heart and freely accept the invitation of their teacher and master to dedicate themselves to serve him by serving their neighbor.

The cross. The cross itself is another symbol of the diaconate. It is commonly portrayed as a cross draped with a deacon’s stole.

PLEASE TURN TO FAITH FUNDAMENTALS ON PAGE 23

DAILY Scriptures

Sunday, March 10

Fourth Sunday of Lent

2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23

Eph 2:4-10

Jn 3:14-21

Monday, March 11 Is 65:17-21

Jn 4:43-54

Tuesday, March 12

Ez 47:1-9, 12

Jn 5:1-16

Wednesday, March 13 Is 49:8-15

Jn 5:17-30

Thursday, March 14

Ex 32:7-14

Jn 5:31-47

Friday, March 15 Wis 2:1a, 12-22

Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Saturday, March 16

Jer 11:18-20

Jn 7:40-53

Sunday, March 17

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Jer 31:31-34

Heb 5:7-9

Jn 12:20-33

Monday, March 18

Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62

Jn 8:1-11

Tuesday, March 19

Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22

Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a

Wednesday, March 20

Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95

Jn 8:31-42

Thursday, March 21

Gn 17:3-9

Jn 8:51-59

Friday, March 22

Jer 20:10-13

Jn 10:31-42

Saturday, March 23

Ez 37:21-28

Jn 11:45-56

Sunday, March 24

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Mk 11:1-10 or Jn 12:12-16

Is 50:4-7

Phil 2:6-11

Mk 14:1—15:47 or Mk 15:1-39

ST. CLEMENT MARY HOFBAUER (1751-1820) A baker, Czech-born Johannes Hofbauer, after a period of solitary living and wandering between Rome and Vienna, established the Redemptorists north of the Alps and is considered the order’s second founder. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest at age 34 and served in Poland for 20 years, until 1808, when Napoleon suppressed religious orders. He spent the rest of his life in Vienna, battling state control of the Church, establishing a Catholic college and working behind the scenes at the Congress of Vienna. He is the patron saint of Vienna. His feast day is March 15.

COURTESY FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

Rough cross in the Scripture Garden in Bethlehem, Israel. A gnarled cross is a striking symbol for deacons of the hardships that often go with service.

2024 Mass of the Holy Spirit

PRESENTED BY THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

On January 29, 2024, the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) presented its third-ever Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The event gathered more than 7,000 4th-8th grade Catholic school students, principals, and teachers from 76 Catholic grade schools throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis to celebrate Holy Mass and the joy of Catholic community. We want to thank Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Izen, 60 priests, deacons, and seminarians, and all who attended. The Mass of the Holy Spirit is just one of many events and initiatives presented by CSCOE to enhance excellence and increase enrollment in Minnesota’s preschool-8th grade Catholic schools.

“I’ve always felt like the Catholic community is so small, but when I went to the Xcel Energy Center and sang and danced with all of the other Catholic schools, it felt like it was so much bigger.”

– 7th grader from St. Stephen Catholic School in Anoka

•

“For me, it was very special to receive the Eucharist from the Archbishop.”

– Student from The Way of the Shepherd Catholic Montessori School in Blaine

“I think the best testament is that I had two sixth graders approach me and tell me they want to be baptized.”

– Teacher from St. Thomas More Catholic School in St. Paul

• “I truly think that my overall favorite part of the Mass was when the band went silent and you could hear just about everyone in the crowd singing along and worshiping God. It reminds me that I am not on my mission of faith alone and that there are tons of Catholics following the same mission together.”

– 7th grader from St. Stephen Catholic School in Anoka

ECHOES OF CATHOLIC MINNESOTA | REBA LUIKEN

Early days of retreat centers in archdiocese

On the day after Thanksgiving, 1949, a group of Catholic women walked expectantly through the front door of 2321 Blaisdell Ave. in Minneapolis and were greeted by nuns in habits featuring distinctive purple capes.

Originally the home of George Nelson Dayton, the house had been transformed into a place of “cultivation of grace in souls,” where 40 women would gather each weekend from dinner on Friday until dinner on Sunday to deepen their relationship with God. The center was officially named the Convent of our Lady of the Cenacle Retreat Home, but it would become better known as simply Cenacle. It was run by members of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle, a religious order dedicated to providing retreat experiences. The word “cenacle” means an upper room, and it refers to the room where Mary and the disciples waited after Jesus’ ascension.

The retreat house in Minneapolis was part of a network of dozens of retreat centers run by the Cenacle Sisters around the world. But more than that, it was part of a movement across the United States and beyond that sought to use retreats as a tool to deepen faith. The year before Cenacle opened, the Jesuits had opened a retreat house for men in the Twin Cities at Lake Demontreville. In 1956, more than a thousand women gathered in Minneapolis as part of the congress of the National Laywomen’s Retreat Movement.

Just six years into their ministry in Minnesota, the

SIMPLE HOLINESS KATE SOUCHERAY

Affair-proof your marriage

This article has been on my heart to write for months, but I have been reluctant to write it, due to the topic’s sensitive nature. I would like to address fidelity in Catholic marriages.

Fidelity is the faithfulness, dependability and trustworthiness we extend to our spouse — and to our spouse alone. For Catholics, matrimony is a sacrament and the Catechism of the Catholic Church states “the well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life” (1603). And yet, Catholics also live in modern society and are exposed to the same trials everyone else faces.

According to PsychCentral of Healthline Media, approximately 50% of people in monogamous relationships become involved in affairs at some point in their relationship; the most likely time for an extramarital affair to happen is in the first few years of marriage. This research suggests that more men than

Cenacle Sisters had already outgrown the footprint of their home on Blaisdell. With the help of a league of laywomen devoted to fundraising, the Cenacle Sisters expanded their work in 1955 by building a new retreat center in Minnetonka on 20 acres of old-growth forest. Painted in soft blues, greens and pinks, with windows looking out onto the woods or garden, the new site offered more space for the religious sisters and their retreatants.

Some of the first women to be welcomed through the wide, red front door of the new house were women with disabilities from across Minnesota and beyond who were offered their first retreat with the support of Catholic nurses. This kind of expansive welcome was common for the Cenacle Sisters, who regularly hosted women from Catholic and ecumenical backgrounds for spiritual growth through lectures, spiritual direction, silent contemplation, confession and Mass. Their focus on spirituality even primed them for a role in the

women engage in relationships outside the marriage. It is not uncommon for affairs to begin online or in the workplace, often as an emotional affair, which often leads to infidelity.

According to the American Psychological Association, 20-40% of marriages in which infidelity has occurred end in divorce. While we read about resilience in young people, most children and adolescents would prefer to grow up in an intact home, in which their parents remain faithful and loving toward each other for the duration of the marriage.

And according to the National Institutes of Health, effects of divorce on young people can include emotional instability, anxiety and depressive symptoms that persist into adulthood. Clearly, there is a significantly negative impact on young people that has a lifelong impact.

What can couples do to prevent affairs from happening in their marriages?

According to Catholic apologist Trent Horn in his podcast “The Counsel of Trent,” remaining faithful to your spouse begins by cutting off the demand and the supply that would create the circumstances for an affair. If the marriage is loving and supportive, the demand for another partner will be considerably reduced; if couples are careful about their associations at work, in groups of neighbors or friends, and other venues where they meet people, the supply will be cut off.

Horn also advises that couples not allow their self-care to become unbalanced so that they look for someone

The Minnetonka retreat house once owned by the Cenacle Sisters now is home to a recovery program for people battling addictions.

DAVE

beginnings of the Catholic charismatic movement in the Twin Cities in the late 1960s.

Unlike their spiritual legacy, Cenacle’s physical footprint in the Twin Cities is no longer obvious. After the religious sisters left Minneapolis, the original Cenacle building on Blaisdell was razed to make room for parking for a neighboring business. Today, the site is home to the City of Lakes Waldorf School’s playground.

In the late 1990s, the Cenacle Sisters sold the Minnetonka retreat house, but they continued to host retreats there until the early 2000s. After Wayzata residents fought to keep the wooded area around the retreat house undeveloped, it was turned into a public park. The house itself is now home to a recovery program for people suffering from addiction.

Luiken is a Catholic and historian with a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.

else to meet their needs. He says sin is a shortcut to happiness that does not satisfy. When we lose our connection to God and our self-care suffers, we are more susceptible to sin. Therefore, we must nurture our prayer life and our spirituality every day and attend to self-care.

Horn also challenges his listeners by asking, “If your spouse was standing right next to you, would you say something flirtatious to that person? If your spouse knew you were about to do something that would compromise your commitment to the marriage, how would he or she feel about that?”

Perhaps the most important comment Horn made was that affairs are a threat to all marriages because Satan does not want marriages to be successful.

If he can instigate infidelity, he can significantly affect the stability of the family. We must all be alert to this danger and strengthen the marital relationship with our spouse. When we do, we not only practice the steps to affair-proof our marriage, we also provide an example of a loving, faithful, lasting marital union for our children and grandchildren, providing a legacy of commitment for generations to come.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.

Editor’s Note: Please find Christina Capecchi’s column “Twenty Something” on The Catholic Spirit website at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

Name

o Please mail information regarding pre-need funeral arrangements.

o Please have a funeral director call me with information regarding prearrangements. My phone number is

HRBACEK THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

ALREADY/NOT YET | JONATHAN LIEDL

‘Who cares?’

If you use the restroom in a certain brightly-colored, Mexicanthemed bar in Chicago’s Old Town, you’ll be greeted by a seemingly chill and flippant question on the door:

“Who cares?”

The message, which stands in lieu of any designation of whether the facility is intended for male or female use, is painted on the bar’s two single-occupancy bathrooms. Some art accompanies the statement-posed-as-a-question: On one door, a mustached skeleton wearing a dress; on the other, a feminine-looking, long-haired skeleton in a suit.

On one level, perhaps it doesn’t really matter whether single-occupancy bathrooms are designated for men or for women. If two or more people won’t be using the facility at the same time, then for the sake of practicality and limiting unnecessary waits it might make sense to have both rooms available to whoever is ready to use them.

But the hermaphroditic doors seem to be saying something more. Not merely that either men or women can use the bathrooms, but that distinguishing between the two is pointless — or even stupid.

This “who cares?” attitude pervades American culture — and it isn’t just applied to the difference between men and women and why it might be relevant for how we live our lives and organize society. “Who cares?” is also the prevailing response to any number of topics of profound significance, from the societal impact of casual sex to the dangers of AI and virtual reality, from the plight of the poor and forgotten to the ultimate meaning of life.

Instead of care, concern or intentionality — which

INSIDE THE CAPITOL | MCC Faith under fire

At a House Committee meeting on Feb. 29, it became clear that some Minnesota legislators not only do not respect religious beliefs, but they will also no longer tolerate them.

The House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee was considering amendments to the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). The MHRA has been in place since the late 1960s and serves the purpose of ensuring that all Minnesotans are treated as equals, and that no one is discriminated against based on personal traits including race, disability, religion, sex and others.

In 1993, two major changes were adopted to the MHRA: One, sexual orientation was added as a protected status, and two, an exemption for religious organizations was added to allow them to act in accordance with their religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference did not oppose this because it was meant to be a shield against discrimination for all persons regarding public accommodations and the necessities of life, such as housing and employment. The change

are portrayed as pointless or even laughably lame — the “who cares?” attitude suggests studied apathy and chill detachment.

At best, it seems to suggest certain questions are hard to answer, so we’re better off not wasting our time with them and instead getting on with our lives.

also guaranteed religious freedom and allowed Catholics and all other faith communities to live out their beliefs, choose their own clergy and teachers, and teach their values to their children.

Last year, the Legislature passed an amendment to the MHRA which added “gender identity” as a protected status but did not include a religious exemption. This change prohibits religious organizations, churches and schools from acting on religious beliefs regarding human sexuality. In practice, this could mean, among other things, that the MHRA requires a church to employ a transgender person as its religious education director, or that a Catholic school would be prohibited from teaching that God created people male and female and not “nonbinary.”

This is a drastic shift in the MHRA and a serious infringement on religious liberties in Minnesota.

On Feb. 29, an amendment to the MHRA was proposed by Rep. Harry Niska (R-Ramsey) that would restore religious protection from claims of discrimination based on gender identity. Leaders from the Catholic Church, Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, the Islamic Center of Minnesota, and the Association of Christian Schools International testified in person in support of this amendment, testifying to their organizations’ deeply-held religious beliefs regarding human sexuality, the need for those beliefs to be respected and underscoring the

At worst, it’s a smugly nihilistic attitude, a denial of any answers to these questions, and therefore to any ultimate purpose or coherence to life. If nothing matters, then who cares?

Either way, this attitude cuts us off from one of the most profoundly human postures: openness. It shuts down wonder, curiosity, asking important — though difficult — questions, and striving to find the answer. It too often reduces us to Nietzsche’s “last man,” preoccupied with comfort and routine, and unwilling to confront the greatest mysteries of life.

In fact, even elements of the activistic spirit that seems especially potent today can be animated by this mentality, insofar as they’re not concerned with ultimate justice and man’s eternal end, but with correcting perceived instances of people being deprived of comfort and self-determination — the greatest goods that the “who cares?” attitude can offer.

The Christian attitude is profoundly different. God has numbered every hair on our heads. Christ died for us not merely out of duty, but because God loves us and the whole world.

God shows profound care, from the minutest of details to the most significant of dilemmas. And we are called to imitate him: to have an interest in all of reality, to be concerned about every aspect of it, and to never let apathy, comfort or smug nihilism cut off the desire for ultimate truth, goodness and justice that is hardwired into us, and leads us to our ultimate destination.

When the question “who cares?” is posed, in any context, the Christian should answer: “I do.”

Liedl, a Twin Cities resident, is a senior editor of the National Catholic Register and a graduate student in theology at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

crucial importance of governmental noninterference with those beliefs.

It was hoped that not including a religious exemption to the new MHRA gender identity language was a simple oversight rather than an intentional infringement on religious liberties.

Unfortunately, legislators made clear that this was no oversight, and that the intent was to persecute some faith communities because of their supposedly bigoted beliefs.

Representatives opposed to the religious restoration amendment commented that it was disturbing, appalling and infuriating, and that the amendment is just an excuse for hatred. Of course, this is not the case.

These words are troubling on many fronts, especially when considered alongside the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” (ERA) (SF37) to the Minnesota Constitution.

The ERA would force women’s rights and religious freedom to take a backseat to harmful gender ideology. Like the new MHRA language, the ERA includes “gender identity or expression” as a protected status but excludes protection for “religion” or “creed.”

So, what does the ERA and the changes to the MHRA mean for people of faith in Minnesota?

The ERA is a blank check to courts to impose new forms of discrimination rules. For example, religious organizations may be prohibited from acting on their religious beliefs regarding human sexuality. They could be required to

cover gender “transition” procedures in their employees’ health plans, to hire individuals who are not living in accordance with the teachings of that faith, to affirm a student’s decision to transition, or be prohibited from teaching their religious beliefs. We can also expect to see more men allowed in women’s shelters, prisons, sports and bathrooms.

Most troubling, parents will likely lose their ability to raise their child and protect them from harmful gender ideology. Children could be taken from their homes to be gendertransitioned according to court order when their parents refuse. This chilling outcome should get everyone off their couch and into the public square opposing the ERA and similar legislation.

If the Legislature does not adjust course, the potential for persecution of fundamental freedoms will be cemented in the Minnesota Constitution, and rules about who our churches employ and what our schools teach will be decided by the government, not by our faith, with only the federal courts as a last defense.

Visit mncatholic org / era today to learn more and to send a message to your legislators asking them to support the religious restoration amendment to the MHRA and to oppose the ERA.

“Inside the Capitol” is a legislative update from Minnesota Catholic Conference staff.

COURTESY JONATHAN LIEDL

A restroom door in a Mexican-themed bar in Chicago’s Old Town.

By Thomas Hellenbrand Why I am Catholic

Not very long ago, I accompanied a Jesuit priest who lives in my community to a funeral Mass at a nursing home operated by religious sisters.

I knew neither the deceased nor his family, and so I sat near the back of the chapel to be less conspicuous. The congregation was relatively small, half of them being the gray-habited sisters and residents of the home. The three generations of the deceased’s family sat in the front few pews and moved about as if in a daze. They didn’t manifest any strong emotions, perhaps because of shock or a sense of stoic propriety.

Strangely, judging from my own back-pew vantage point, I might have been the only one to cry during the Mass. It all seemed too familiar to me because, five years ago almost to the day, my father died after a short fight with cancer. Like the deceased’s family, I, too, did not cry at my father’s funeral Mass. The tears came later. Yet as I prayed at the funeral of a man I did not know, my father’s love was again made present to me.

Acts of love are eternal whether we remember them or not. They are not erased by a bad act or negligence. In some mystical way, love endures.

That man likely did not know his great-grandchildren very well, yet his loving fidelity to his wife and children became realized in his great-grandchildren, as it will in their greatgrandchildren.

That is why I believe that my relationship with my father has grown after his death and why I continue to shed tears when I remember and pray for him. As I look back and recognize his acts of love toward me, he becomes even more present and real to me. And each act of love, no matter how simple, was a promise that he would always be with me.

Jesus communicated a promise of unconditional divine love to the Apostles when he told them that he would be with them “until the end of the age.” One way he remains with us is through the sacraments. Each Mass, I remember and participate in Jesus’s sacrificial act of love on my behalf. That love is totally and gratuitously gifted to me through his body and blood. That love even extends beyond the Mass through Eucharistic adoration, where I can bask in that love eternal. That divine love is

experienced in the confessional where his boundless mercy heals me and strengthens me to try again. It is a love that cannot be won or earned; rather, it is a love that can only be accepted and shared. The Church, despite all its blemishes, is a living link to the heart of Jesus and the joy of his presence. This is why I am a Catholic.

After Mass, the father’s casket was moved in procession down the main aisle of the chapel toward the hearse. His family followed behind him, an eternal stream of love pouring out from his own heart.

Hellenbrand, 28, is a Jesuit novice of the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus. He grew up in Waunakee, Wisconsin, with his six siblings. He has degrees from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame Law School. Hellenbrand normally lives at the Jesuit novitiate near St. Thomas More in St. Paul, but currently he is teaching at a Jesuit high school in Indianapolis. He enjoys playing basketball and pickleball, reading and cooking.

“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300500 words to CatholiCSpirit@ arChSpm org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

CALENDAR

PARISH EVENTS

Sung Stations of the Cross — March 15: 5:306:30 p.m. at 2260 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Sung Stations of the Cross with The Saint Paul Seminary and the Aquinas Chapel Liturgical Choir featuring Franz Liszt’s stunning Via Crucis for organ and choir. tinyurl Com/2a887tvu

Vatican International Exhibition of Eucharist Miracles — March 15-17: Transfiguration, 6133 15th St. N., Oakdale. On March 16, there also will be two speakers to talk about the real presence of the Eucharist: Father Tim Tran at 9:30 a.m. on “Tabernacled and Transfigured” and Father Thomas Dufner at 1:30 p.m. on “Eucharistic Miracles and True Presence.” tranSfigurationmn org/eventS/euChariStiCmiraCleS-of-the-world

Ham Bingo — March 23: 6-10 p.m. at Presentation of Mary gym, 1725 Kennard St., Maplewood. For more information, call 651-777-8116 or visit preSentationofmary org

KC Palm Sunday Brunch — March 24: 8:3012:30 p.m. at Epiphany, 1900 111th Ave. NW, Coon Rapids. Egg bake, pancakes, French toast sticks, sausage, toast, a fruit cup, coffee, juice and milk. Hosted by Knights of Columbus, Council 10138. kC10138.mnknightS org/eventS

WORSHIP+RETREATS

40 Hours of Prayer and Adoration — March 8-10: St. Ignatius, 35 Birch St. E., Annandale. A procession of the Blessed Sacrament from St. Ignatius to St. Timothy in Maple Lake includes two presentations by the Pro Ecclesia Sancta Sisters. StignatiuSmn Com

Men’s Silent Weekend Retreat: Do This in Memory of Me — March 8-10: Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. A retreat guided by the disciples’ memories of the Last Supper. kingShouSe Com

Lenten Day of Prayer — March 13: 9:30 a.m.2:30 p.m. at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center, 16385 Saint Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Experience a thought-provoking talk, opportunity for confession and spiritual direction, open prayer time and Mass. Hot lunch provided. franCiSCanretreatS net/ lenten-dayS-of-prayer-franC SCan-retreatS

Living Stations of the Cross — March 13-15:

7-8:30 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake. A powerful, prayerful portrayal of the passion and death of our Lord presented by the youth of the parish. No charge, no reservations required.

ChurChofSaintpaul Com/living-StationS

Wine and the Word: Jesus Redeemer — March 21: 7 p.m. at Christ the King Retreat Center, 621 First Ave. S., Buffalo. Father Hank Lemoncelli will give a short presentation followed by discussion. Wine from a local winery and light snacks. Free event. RSVP by calling 763-682-1394 or register online.

kingShouSe Com

Labyrinth Retreat — March 22: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Reflect on biblical stories while following the path of the indoor canvas labyrinth. For more information, contact development@StpaulSmonaStery org or 651-777-8181. tinyurl Com/yC6d8tjj

Triduum Retreat — March 28-30: St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, Maplewood. Join for silence, worship, group lectio divina and contemplation. For more information, contact development@StpaulSmonaStery org or 651-777-8181. tinyurl Com/mwuS5ymk

Ignatian Men’s Silent Retreat — ThursdaySunday most weeks at Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House, 8243 Demontreville Trail N., Lake Elmo. Let God meet you at a beautiful retreat location in Lake Elmo. Freewill donation. demontrevilleretreat Com

CONFERENCES+WORKSHOPS

Radical Discipleship and Catholic Community — March 18-May 30: Mondays, March 18-May 27, 10:15-11:45 a.m.; or Thursdays, March 21-May 30, 5:30-7 p.m. at Assumption, 51 Seventh St. W., St. Paul. This free, 10-week course envisions a Church deeply engaged with the liturgy, each other, our communities and the poor. Register online: CatholiCSoCialthought org/radiCal-diSCipleShip-Community

SPEAKERS+SEMINARS

Who Do You Say I Am? Reimaging God in Troubled Times — March 10, 11, 12: 6:30 p.m. at St. Bonaventure, 901 E. 90th St., Bloomington. Who God is to us can make a huge difference as we deal with the reality of our lives. Father Richard Kaley will walk event attendees through a Lenten mission. Saintbonaventure org/lenten-miSSion html

Morning of Reflection with Kelly Wahlquist — March 16: 9 a.m.-noon at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. Living the Joy of the Gospel theme. Tickets: $20. tinyurl Com/495zd35z

Helen Alvaré Presents: Religious Freedom after the Sexual Revolution — March 21: 7-9 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas, O’Shaughnessy Education Center, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Free and open to the public. Registration is available on the event website. tinyurl Com/p8C48j2y

From the Lord’s Supper to Adoration: The History of the Earliest Christian Eucharist — March 21, 22: 6:30-9 p.m. March 21 or 9 a.m.-1 p.m. March 22 at Emmaus Hall, St. John’s University, 2966 Saint John’s Road, Collegeville. Delve deeper into the history of the Christian Eucharist from the celebration of the Lord’s Supper to present day Eucharistic adoration. Free event. Registration is required. tinyurl Com/49z63txz

SCHOOLS

St. Patrick’s Day Gala — March 16: 5:30 p.m. at 125 Bridge Ave. E., Delano. A night of Irish fun to

Bldg #2; Tandem Crypt (2); Market Value: $50,000+; Price: $35,000. 612-518-7130

Sunset Memorial: one plot; $1,600; 612-308-2731

support St. Maximilian Kolbe School in bringing the richness of the Catholic tradition into every classroom. For more information, visit: StmaxkolbeSChool org/St-patriCkS-day-gala

OTHER EVENTS

Walking with the Saints: A Pilgrimage for St. Joseph — March 16: 9-11:30 a.m. A walking pilgrimage from St. Mary in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood to St. Joseph in West St. Paul. modernCatholiCpilgrim Com/St-joSeph

Council of Catholic Women Spring Craft and Bake Sale — March 16-17: St. Peter, 2600 N. Margaret St., North St. Paul. Shop for handmade gifts and baked goods. ChurChofStpeternSp org

Stabat Mater: A Lent Meditation Concert — March 23: 7 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis. A Lenten Meditation Concert featuring Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Salve Regina and Stabat Mater. Free and open to the public. ourholyCroSS org

Online Evening Prayer with Young Adults — March 26, April 23, May 28, June 25: 7 p.m. Young adults ages 18-plus are invited to pray online together with School Sisters of Notre Dame every fourth Tuesday. Learn more and register for the Zoom link at SSnd org/eventS

ONGOING GROUPS

Calix Society — First and third Sundays: 9-10:30 a.m., third Sunday in person hosted by the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul. In Assembly Hall, Lower Level. Potluck breakfast. Calix is a group of men, women, family and friends supporting the spiritual needs of recovering Catholics with alcohol or other addictions. For the Zoom meeting link call Jim at 612-383-8232 or Steve at 612-327-437.

Restorative Support for Victims-Survivors — Monthly: 6:30-8 p.m. via Zoom. Open to all victimssurvivors. Victim-survivor support group for those abused by clergy as adults — first Mondays. Support group for relatives or friends of victims of clergy sexual abuse — second Mondays. Victim-survivor support group — third Mondays. Survivor Peace Circle — third Tuesdays. Support group for men who have been sexually abused by clergy/religious — fourth Wednesdays. Support group for present and former employees of faith-based institutions who have experienced abuse in any of its many forms — second Thursdays. Visit arChSpm org/healing or contact Paula Kaempffer, outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, at kaempfferp@arChSpm org or 651-291-4429.

Secular Franciscan Meeting of St. Leonard of Port Maurice Fraternity — Third Sundays: 2:15-3:45 p.m. at St. Olaf, 215 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis. General membership meeting of Secular Franciscans who belong to the Fraternity of St. Leonard of Port Maurice. Any who are interested in living the Gospel life in the manner of St. Francis and St. Clare are welcome.

GREAT CATHOLIC SPEAKER

CD of the Month Club

Lighthouse Catholic Media, Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, and more!

$6/month includes shipping.

Subscribe online at:

www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/cdclub

Please Enter Code: 1195

HARDWOOD FLOORS

Comfort Crafter Hardwood Floors

Winter’s here! Enhance the comfort of your home this season with new or refurbished hardwood floors. Chris 612-442-7571

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 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:

uTime and date of event

uFull street address of event

uDescription of event

uContact information in case of questions

uThe Catholic Spirit prints calendar details as submitted.

TheCatholiCSpirit Com/CalendarSubmiSSionS

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

Another striking depiction is a rough or gnarled cross that represents the hardships that often go with service. Foot washing prefigured Jesus’ definitive act of service, his total gift of self, his death on the cross, which makes the cross the ultimate symbol of service. Jesus made a deliberate decision to serve in this manner: “No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down on my own” (Jn 10:18a). For Jesus, the cross represents his supreme act of loving service: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). The deacon, thus inspired by Jesus and his cross, makes a conscious decision to follow in his footsteps and to lay down his life in the loving service of others.

Father Van Sloun is the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of holy orders.

HEALTH COACHING

www.HappyHealthyandHoly.org

Health coaching and accountability that is affordable, effective, and grounded in the Catholic faith.

PAINTING

For painting & all related services. View our website: PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM or call (651) 699-6140.

Michaels Painting. Texture and Repair. MichaelsPaintingllc coM. (763) 757-3187

NOTICE: Prayers

PRAYERS

‘THE MUSIC MAN’

Deacon helps direct production designed ‘to glorify God’

Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek

The Catholic Spirit

To counteract a culture rife with tension and division, Deacon Jim Reinhard helped spread joy and hope by bringing Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” to the stage. Near the end of last summer, he and two others got the itch to put together a show that they hoped would bring people together and build working relationships that could become lasting friendships.

He got a call in August from his sister-in-law, Carolyn Reinhardt, of St. Helena in Minneapolis, who had been talking with a friend, Rose Marquis, of St. Bonaventure in Bloomington, about producing a play. Deacon Reinhardt, who had the same idea, quickly jumped on board. Shortly after that phone conversation, the three formed a partnership. They put together a cast of 46, with performances held Feb. 23, 24 and 26 at River Ridge Auditorium in Eagan.

“We started meeting in September,” said Deacon Reinhardt, 63, a father of 10 who belongs to Holy Family in St. Louis Park with his wife, Nadine, and

who ministers as a deacon at Nativity of Mary in Bloomington. “We quickly decided we were going to do a musical. And we quickly decided on ‘(The) Music Man.’”

The three directors liked the wholesome story line, and that they could use a wide range of ages to fill the roles, from children all the way to retirees. Deacon Reinhardt was looking to get back into directing after helping produce a variety show 17 years ago for People of Praise, an ecumenical Christian lay community in the Twin Cities. This was his chance. It also would rekindle a lifelong passion.

“I have always loved musicals — always,” he said. “Since I saw my first one with my mom.”

Deacon Reinhardt and Nadine have tried to instill that love of musicals in their children. It worked. Two of their 10 are in this production, along with two of their 24 grandchildren.

Other families had multiple members participating. Carolyn Reinhardt’s husband, Bill, played one of the lead roles, Harold Hill, a con man who comes to a small Midwestern town posing as a marching band organizer and leader to sell instruments and uniforms to the people. Bill and Carolyn also had four of their five children in the play. Marquis, a mother of five, had three children in the production. She has a college degree in theater plus acting experience, and Deacon Reinhardt called her a valuable member of the directing team.

The Reinhardt involvement goes further. Nadine, who has a college degree in costume design and is a sewing expert, made or altered most of the costumes. She had help, but still did “tons” of work, Deacon Reinhardt said. “It has been nice doing (the production) with Nadine. That has been a plus.”

The starting point for getting the production off the ground was finding people to play the two lead roles. Deacon Reinhardt said several talented men and women tried out for the roles, making it a difficult selection process. Bill Reinhardt was picked to play Harold Hill, and the female lead — Marian Paroo — went to Kristin Schmitz.

The production was sponsored by People of Praise. All three directors, Bill Reinhardt and Schmitz are members, as are many others in the cast. Deacon Reinhardt said practicing up to six days a week over seven weeks was a big push for the cast, but cast members responded enthusiastically.

“People are having a blast,” Deacon Reinhardt said the day before the first performance. “Everyone that I’ve talked to said they love practice. It’s just fun work.”

It also was prayerful. Every practice began with prayer, the deacon said, and there was a focused effort “to glorify God.” Although the play itself is not religious, he anticipated that the wholesome themes would warm the hearts of those who saw it.

He also said he thinks the production serves as “a beacon in our dark world.”

ABOVE Bill Reinhardt, foreground, as Harold Hill dances and sings with Kristin Schmitz as Marian Paroo during a dress rehearsal of “The Music Man” Feb. 22 at River Ridge Auditorium in Eagan.

FAR LEFT Claire Rubio as Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn sings a number while Bill Reinhardt (Harold Hill) observes.

LEFT Some of the younger cast members, including Izzy Cunningham as Zaneeta Shin (leaping) practice a musical number.