The Catholic Spirit - May 24, 2024

Third-grader Joshua Dahlberg is back on track after many prayers and a remarkable recovery from partial paralysis. His mother, Jessica, places her arm around him as she holds his younger brother, Knox, at a track meet May 5 at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

PAGETWO

ARTISTS AND ARTISANS Jenny Keller, right, shares a laugh with Bella Eckert, center, and Hope Bleeker, both of St. Mary in St. Paul’s Lowertown, May 17 at Art-A-Whirl displays at St. Clement church of Holy Cross parish in Northeast Minneapolis. Father Spencer Howe, pastor of Holy Cross, prayed with the artists and artisans after they set up their paintings, icons, jewelry, leather goods, stone cross sculptures and more. Keller sold her pottery during the May 17-19 event, which is the biggest open studio tour in the country with 100 locations around Minneapolis and 1,300 artists. Keller, of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, recently commented on the “Practicing Catholic” radio show that pottery is part of her vocation, and she often thinks about the concept of God as a potter as she creates bowls, cups and other goods that are beautiful and functional.

AGGIES AT THE BALLPARK St. Agnes School Chaplain Father Paul Baker blesses members of the St. Paul school’s varsity baseball team at Minnesota Twins’ Target Field in Minneapolis May 9 before they take the field against New Life Academy of Woodbury. The game featured all the bells and whistles of a Twins game, with members of the school choir singing the National Anthem, a public address announcer and full use of the screens, cameras and video boards. More than 1,000 members of the Catholic school’s community cheered on the Aggies, who defeated New Life Academy 4-0, and later the Twins, who beat the Seattle Mariners 11-1. The high school game was part of the Twins’ High School Baseball Series. St. Agnes was one of 12 teams invited to play at Target Field this year, and the only Catholic school.

PRACTICING Catholic

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the May 17 “Practicing Catholic” radio show included a discussion with Bishop Michael Izen about how to understand the Gospel’s paradox of living in the world but not being of the world, which is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 15. Also, Rebecca Brubaker, founder and CEO of the Elija Institute, discusses the importance of an integrated Catholic psychotherapy. Wrapping up the “Countdown to Ordination” series are Deacons Christopher Yanta and Hjalmar Gudjonsson, who discuss their journeys to the priesthood ahead of their May 25 ordination. Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm org/faith-and-discipleship/ practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Vol. 29 — No. 10

MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher

TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher

JOE RUFF, Editor-in-Chief

REBECCA OMASTIAK, News Editor

There is no limit for holiness in your heart. The more you surrender to him (Jesus), the more he will work in you. What happens if the Holy Spirit actually begins to take over? What happens is you begin to love to pray. God's word comes to life, and you actually go there to seek practical answers for your questions. What happens is that you begin to be so in love with Jesus that you can't help but share him with others, because you just talk about what you love. What happens is that you begin to form friendships and small communities of people who support you, who are likeminded, who also want to see the Holy Spirit spread across the country.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens, of the Diocese of Crookston, said at an outdoor Pentecost Mass at Itasca State Park May 19, which launched the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage will be in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis May 24-31. Read Star of the North Eucharistic Congress coverage online: tinyurl com/432ejka6. Stay tuned for more National Eucharistic Pilgrimage coverage in the Juen 6 issue of The Catholic Spirit.

NEWS notes

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in New Franken, Wisconsin, is encouraging prayers for Archbishop Bernard Hebda and other bishops around the country as part of the shrine’s Shepherd Project. Shrine officials said the effort recognizes bishops as recipients of Our Lady of Champion’s injunction to teach the Catholic faith. “As our world faces a shortage of peace and an increase in division and attacks within our families and the Church, our Bishops are facing extreme challenges,” shrine officials state on their website. “This is why they need our prayers, now more than ever, for the grace necessary to heroically lead people of faith in these uncertain times.” In addition to daily prayers, the shrine is burning a perpetual candle for the bishops in the shrine’s Apparition Oratory. The project, which began May 1 and will conclude in October, prayed for Archbishop Hebda on May 19. The shrine is encouraging prayers for the heads of other Minnesota dioceses as well, including Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, on May 20; Bishop Daniel Felton, Diocese of Duluth, on May 21; Bishop Chad Zielinski, Diocese of New Ulm, on May 22; Bishop Patrick Neary, Diocese of St. Cloud, on May 23, and Bishop Robert Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester, on May 24. Learn more at championshrine org/shepherd-project

Unity Catholic High School (Burnsville) sophomore Lucia Augdahl recently won the high school division of the Catholic Textbook Project (CTP) essay contest. The Californiabased CTP, which is the publishing division of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, produces history and science textbooks grounded in the Catholic faith. The project’s annual history essay contest is open to all Catholic students in grades four to 12. Augdahl received $200 for her essay and Unity Catholic received a $400 gift card for CTP textbooks. Her essay will be published on the CTP website.

Head swimming and diving coach John Barnes of St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights is the eighth Minnesota coach to receive the NISCA Outstanding Service Award from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association since the program began in 1971. Barnes joined St. Thomas Academy in 1999 and has led the team to 15 state championships — a record among Minnesota high school coaches. Barnes is also the 2018 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Swimming Coach of the Year and a five-time Minnesota High School Coach of the Year. He will be added to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in June 2025.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Synod Evangelization has changed its name to the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization, the archdiocese announced May 16. The name change is intended to better reflect the office’s mission of advancing Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s “pastoral vision that all will encounter the living Lord Jesus and answer His call to ‘be my witnesses’ by living and proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world,” the office’s website states, referencing the archbishop’s 2022 postArchdiocesan Synod pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”

The Care for Creation Synod Team at St. Bridget of Sweden in Lindstrom sponsored the parish’s first Earth Day event April 27 and April 28. Ten parishioners created displays about topics such as recycling and installing an energy efficient heat pump. Attendees received LED light bulbs provided by Xcel Energy and samples of environmental detergent sheets. The event, which occurred after the parish’s monthly Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast, sought to share information about Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’” and his apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” about the stewardship of creation.

JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

COURTESY NEAL ABBOTT | ST. AGNES SCHOOL

FROMTHEBISHOP

ONLY JESUS | BISHOP JOSEPH WILLIAMS

Can you drink the cup? The priesthood of Jesus Christ

“

Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mk 10:38).

This question stands at the beginning of my vocation to the priesthood. I can still vividly recall sitting before the Blessed Sacrament in the Portiuncula Chapel at Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio, in the late hours of a warm July night and hearing these words of our Lord echo in the depths of my heart: “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

Originally posed to the sons of Zebedee, Jesus’ question reminds all those who aspire to share his glory that there is only one way: the way that he himself would travel.

Indeed, the “baptism” of this verse refers not to Jesus’ submersion in the waters of the river Jordan but to his passion-baptism in Jerusalem where he would be submerged in suffering.

The image of the cup further reveals that this suffering is not a generic kind of suffering but rather a vicarious acceptance of punishment destined for

¿Puedes beber la copa? El sacerdocio de Jesucristo

Puedes beber la copa que yo bebo o ser bautizados con el bautismo con que yo soy bautizado?” (Mc 10,38).

Esta pregunta está al comienzo de mi vocación al sacerdocio. Todavía recuerdo vívidamente estar sentado ante el Santísimo Sacramento en la Capilla Porciúncula en la Iglesia Franciscana

Universidad de Steubenville, en Ohio, en las últimas horas de una cálida noche de julio y escuchando estas palabras de nuestro Señor resuenan en lo más profundo de mi corazón: “¿Puedes beber la copa que yo bebo?”

La pregunta de Jesús, originalmente formulada a los hijos de Zebedeo, recuerda a todos aquellos que aspiran a compartir su gloria que sólo hay un camino: el camino que él mismo recorrería.

De hecho, el “bautismo” de este versículo no se refiere a la inmersión de Jesús en las aguas del río Jordán sino a su pasión-bautismo en Jerusalén, donde sería sumergido en el sufrimiento.

La imagen de la copa revela además que este sufrimiento no es un tipo genérico de sufrimiento sino

sinners, signified in the prophets by “the cup of (the Lord’s) wrath” which the wicked must “(drain) to the dregs” (Is 51:17 cf. Jer 25:15, Ez 23:32-34). Jesus, of course, would himself drink this bitter cup on our behalf and thereby turn the cup of wrath into a “cup of blessing” (1 Cor 10:16) for the very sinners for whom it was meant to be a “staggering” punishment.

This is the same “cup” that Catholic priests have the immense privilege of raising each day at the altar of God.

I had the opportunity to reflect on this privilege in 2013 when I was asked to share my experience as a 10-year jubilarian at our biannual presbyteral assembly in Rochester. My preparations stirred the memory of being a newly ordained priest in the Cathedral of St. Paul rectory and having the startling realization that I could not be happy as a priest unless I gave everything. I should not have been startled since I had already engraved this realization — and desire — at the base of the cup of my own ordination chalice with the words “Totus Tuus” (meaning “totally yours” Jesus through Mary). Jesus invites the priest to give himself totally to him because he — our “great high priest” (Heb 4:14) — has given himself totally to us. Indeed, Jesus loved us

más bien una aceptación vicaria del castigo destinado a los pecadores, representado en los profetas por “la copa de la ira (del Señor)” que los malvados deben “(drenar) hasta el fondo” (Is 51,17 cf. Jer 25,15, Ez 23,32-34). Jesús, por supuesto, bebería él mismo esta copa amarga en nuestro nombre y así convertiría la copa de ira en una “copa de bendición” (1 Cor 10:16) para los mismos pecadores para quienes estaba destinada a ser una copa de asombro castigo.

Esta es la misma “copa” que los sacerdotes católicos tienen el inmenso privilegio de levantar cada día en el altar de Dios.

Tuve la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre este privilegio en 2013, cuando me pidieron que compartiera mi experiencia como jubilar de 10 años en nuestra asamblea presbiteral bianual en Rochester. Mis preparativos despertaron el recuerdo de ser un sacerdote recién ordenado en la rectoría de la Catedral de San Pablo y tener la sorprendente comprensión de que no podía ser feliz como sacerdote a menos que lo diera todo. No debería haberme sorprendido, ya que ya había grabado esta realización (y deseo) en la base de la copa de mi propio cáliz de ordenación con las palabras “Totus Tuus” (que significa “totalmente tuyo” Jesús a través de María). Jesús invita al sacerdote a entregarse totalmente a él porque él, nuestro “gran sumo sacerdote” (Heb 4,14),

“to the end” (Jn 13:1), that is, he drank his own cup “to the dregs,” and wishes each of his priests to taste and see the same paradox in their own lives that when giving ourselves totally to others, the cup of vicarious suffering becomes a cup of immense joy.

In this edition of The Catholic Spirit, you will meet this year’s priest jubilarians. You will see how the “word” that I have written here has become “flesh” in their priestly lives and ministries. They have striven to “drink the cup” of their priestly calling to the dregs and have blessed thousands upon thousands of faithful in this archdiocese in so doing. The photos of three of those priests who share their stories and their faces bear witness to the fact that all of the priests share the same love for their vocation as the late Archbishop Harry Flynn, who would say to young men who were discerning a priestly calling, “If I had a hundred lives to live, I would live each one of them as a Catholic priest.”

Today, I echo these words to the 13 men who will be ordained priests at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Jesus will ask each of them on May 25, “Can you drink the cup that I will drink?” And together they will respond, “We can!”

se ha entregado totalmente a nosotros. En efecto, Jesús nos amó “hasta el extremo” (Jn 13,1), es decir, bebió su propia copa “hasta el fondo”, y desea que cada uno de sus sacerdotes pruebe y vea en su propia vida la misma paradoja que cuando Al entregarnos totalmente a los demás, la copa del sufrimiento vicario se convierte en una copa de inmensa alegría.

En esta edición de El Espíritu Católico, conocerá a los sacerdotes jubilares de este año. Veréis cómo la “palabra” que he escrito en este artículo se ha hecho “carne” en sus vidas y ministerios sacerdotales. Se han esforzado por “beber la copa” de su llamado sacerdotal hasta los posos y, al hacerlo, han bendecido a miles y miles de fieles en esta arquidiócesis. Las fotos de tres de esos sacerdotes que comparten sus historias y sus rostros dan testimonio del hecho de que todos los sacerdotes comparten el mismo amor por su vocación que el difunto Arzobispo Harry Flynn, quien decía a los jóvenes que estaban discerniendo un llamado sacerdotal, “Si tuviera cien vidas que vivir, viviría cada una de ellas como sacerdote católico”. Hoy hago eco de estas palabras a los 13 hombres que serán ordenados sacerdotes en la Catedral de San Pablo. Jesús les preguntará a cada uno de ellos el 25 de mayo: “¿Podéis beber la copa que yo beberé?” Y juntos responderán: “¡Podemos!”

Holy Spirit respects differences, creates harmony, pope says in Verona

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

Celebrating the vigil of Pentecost in Verona, Italy, Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit sows peace by creating diversity, blessing it and harmonizing it for the good of all.

At the end of a full day in Verona May 18, the pope celebrated the vigil Mass with an estimated 32,000 people in the city’s Bentegodi Stadium, giving a homily that was completely extemporaneous even though he held his prepared text in his hands.

One of the most beautiful things about the biblical description of Pentecost, he said, was how there were people there “from every nation, all languages and all cultures. And the Spirit, with all those people, builds the Church.”

“What does that mean? That he makes them all the same?” the pope asked rhetorically. “No, they are all different but with just one heart, with the love

that unites us. The Holy Spirit is the one who saves us from the danger of making everyone the same.”

“We are all redeemed, all loved by the Father, all taught by Jesus Christ, and the Spirit is the one that brings all of that together,” Pope Francis said.

“Friends, this is today’s miracle,” he said: The Holy Spirit takes people who are afraid and fills them with courage and takes people from every race and nation and makes harmony.

“The opposite of harmony is war,” said the pope, who had presided earlier in the day over a meeting of popular movements and Church groups committed to working for justice and peace.

The pope began his homily by saying many Catholics would not know how to respond if asked who the Holy Spirit is.

“One day, at a Pentecost Mass like this, with about 200 children, I asked, ‘Who is the Holy Spirit?’” he said. Many of the children raised their hands to respond,

and the little boy chosen to answer said, “‘He’s the paralytic’ because he had heard someone say ‘Paraclete’” and was confused.

“I’m not saying if I asked you, you would respond ‘the paralytic,’ but many of us don’t know who the Holy Spirit is,”

Pope Francis told the crowd.

And yet, he said, the Holy Spirit is the “protagonist” of the Christian life and is the person of the Trinity who helps people keep going in the face of trials, misunderstanding or even persecution.

“We all received the Holy Spirit at baptism and, even more, with confirmation,” the pope said.

But people need to ask themselves, “Do I listen to the Holy Spirit who is inside me? Do I listen to the Spirit who moves my heart and says, ‘Do this and don’t do that?’ Or does the Holy Spirit not exist for me?” he said.

Pope Francis asked the crowd to think about the Pentecost scene recounted in the Bible with the Apostles gathered in

the Upper Room and filled with fear. “And then the Holy Spirit came and changed their hearts, and they went out and preached the Gospel with courage.”

“Courage,” he repeated. “The Holy Spirit gives you the courage to live the Christian life.”

The Spirit’s gift of courage can help people change their lives, the pope said, recounting how people often confess the same sins over and over and tell the priest, “I wish I could change.”

Pray to the Holy Spirit, he said. “Even if you have just one more day (to live), the Spirit can change your life, he can change your heart.”

Meeting reporters later, Bishop Domenico Pompili of Verona said he and the pope were delayed getting to the stadium because after lunch at Verona’s Montorio prison, the pope said to him, “Let’s stop and say hello to your mother.” So, they made a little detour to greet the woman, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday.

SLICEof LIFE

The Cathedral of Saint Paul thanks you for your dedication and service of 35 years of priesthood and 12 years of ministry at our parish. Congratulations are in order

Archbishop Bernard Hebda greets Deacon Zachary Ochsenbauer after he was ordained a transitional deacon May 11 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. At left is Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen, the principal celebrant of the Mass, in which five men were ordained. The others were Deacons Benjamin Eichten, Alexander Hall, Alexander Marquette and Randy Skeate. The next step for the men is ordination to the priesthood in May 2025. The other concelebrating bishops at the Mass were Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams and Bishop Donald DeGrood of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. At far left is Deacon Marquette and second from right is Deacon

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Congratulations Fr. John Ubel

Eichten.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop Williams named coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was introduced May 21 at a news conference as the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, declaring he “woke up and found (himself) on the East Coast, how about that?”

“Pope Francis says our God is a God of many surprises,” Bishop Williams said at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden. “That’s been my experience of following our good Lord. This might be one of the bigger (surprises) of my life.”

Accepting a Philadelphia Phillies baseball jersey with his last name and No. 9 in honor of his anticipated succession in March as the ninth bishop of the diocese, Bishop Williams smiled while referring to the Phillies’ 34-14 record, “it’s pretty easy to get on the Phillies bandwagon. They’re hot right now.”

Ordained a bishop in January 2022 after 20 years of priestly ministry in the archdiocese where he grew up, Bishop Williams, 50, said he was surprised to receive a telephone call about his appointment May 11 from Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, but he is ready to minister in the Camden diocese alongside Bishop Dennis Sullivan.

“I have to thank my wonderful parents (Dr. Gary and Mary Williams). First of all, they celebrated 53 years of marriage on May 1. They taught me to say yes to the God of surprises.”

Bishop Williams also cited the inspiration of his brother, Mark, who has an intellectual disability and cerebral palsy, and sharing the priesthood with his brother, Father Peter Williams, pastor of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.

“Now my parents have two sons living in Woodbury: One in Woodbury, Minnesota, and now the bishop residence here in Woodbury, New Jersey,” he said.

Bishop Williams said he is eager to minister to the people of the Diocese of Camden and to work with the priests of

the diocese and others alongside Bishop Sullivan. The diocese is comprised of 2,691 square miles and has a total of 1.3 million people, of which 311,489 are Catholic.

Bishop Williams’ appointment as coadjutor bishop also confers on him the right of succession for the Diocese of Camden. Bishop Sullivan said Pope Francis recently asked him through Cardinal Pierre to remain bishop of Camden until he turns 80. That happens in March, Bishop Sullivan said.

Bishop Williams said he expects to arrive in Camden around mid-summer. There could be a welcome Mass sometime in September and “God willing, there could be an installation in March.”

Bishop Williams closed his remarks by thanking Pope Francis and Cardinal Pierre for having confidence in him. “I hope by God’s grace to be worthy of that confidence, and I promise to work hard to make Jesus known and loved here in South Jersey.”

Over the last 20 years, Bishop Williams

Legislative session ends, ERA fails

By Rebecca Omastiak

The Catholic Spirit

A proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) opposed by the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) failed to ultimately pass both the Minnesota House and Senate as the latest legislative session ended before midnight May 20.

The proposed ERA garnered much debate this session. In part at the urging of MCC, which represents the public policy interests of the state’s Catholic bishops, nearly 500 people gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul May 8 to speak out against the proposed language. May 13, the Minnesota House delayed its vote on the proposed ERA; legislators adjourned just before midnight. May 19, the House again took up, and passed, the proposed ERA. It did not reach a vote in the Senate before the session’s deadline. As a result, the language will not be submitted to Minnesota voters as a ballot question during a general election year.

“We are grateful for the engagement

and support of the Catholic community and people of all backgrounds and beliefs who value religious liberty,” Jason Adkins, MCC’s executive director and general counsel, said in a statement after the session’s end. The outcome, Adkins said, demonstrates “that ‘One Minnesota’ can mean unity in diversity and need not mean conformity around one narrow ideological viewpoint. We thank the legislators who listened to their constituents and acted to preserve religious freedom. We remain dedicated to upholding life, human dignity and the common good.”

The proposal was first introduced through SF37, with HF173 as its companion. In April, the House moved to amend the proposed language so it would state, in part: “All persons shall be guaranteed equal rights under the laws of this state. The state shall not discriminate against any person in intent or effect on

has provided ministry to Latino Catholics in the archdiocese. He also has developed training opportunities for parishioners to embrace the work of evangelization. He is known for his closeness to his parishioners and for his love of young adult ministry.

Like Bishop Williams, Bishop Sullivan has been known for his ministry to immigrant communities, including being assigned as a priest to the Dominican Republic to continue Spanish language and culture studies in preparation for assisting the growing number of Dominicans in New York. Bishop Sullivan attended the Dominican Institute for Pastoral Adaptation in Moca, Dominican Republic, and had mission experience in Tenares, Dominican Republic. While pastor at St. Teresa in Manhattan, Bishop Sullivan ministered to Chinese immigrants.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that in Bishop Williams, the Camden diocese “is blessed to be receiving a gifted shepherd with an

extraordinary intellect and a heart on fire for the work of evangelization.

“Bishop Williams’ ministry in the Archdiocese, first as a pastor and now as a bishop, has born phenomenal fruit,” the archbishop said in a statement. “I know that he will be missed by his brother priests and by the laity of this local Church, especially by the members of the immigrant communities that he has so generously served. I will always be grateful that the Lord blessed me with such a capable colleague just as we were preparing for our (Archdiocesan) Synod Assembly; his groundbreaking work in revitalizing parish life through small groups has been a great blessing for our Archdiocese.”

Bishop Williams was ordained a priest in 2002 by Archbishop Harry Flynn and he was pastor of several rural and urban parishes. In July 2022, Auxiliary Bishop Williams also was named moderator of the team ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul. On the archdiocesan level, he has also served as coordinator of the archdiocesan Outreach to Persons with Disabilities and as episcopal vicar for Latino ministry.

With those strong ties, leaving will be a challenge, Bishop Williams said in a statement before the news conference.

“The happiness that I am feeling at this time is not, however, unshadowed,” he said of his new appointment. “I have already begun to realize how difficult it will be to say goodbye to my family and friends and to the wonderful people of God here, especially the Latinos from whom I have experienced immense love and encouragement.”

Bishop Williams said the archdiocese is and always will be his spiritual home. “I look forward to returning to this corner of God’s garden, when I am able, to check on the ‘abundant harvest’ that is being prepared here by Archbishop Hebda, (Auxiliary) Bishop Michael Izen and the incredible priests, deacons and missionary disciples,” he said.

Archdiocesan officials said planning is underway for a Mass of Thanksgiving for Bishop Williams to be held at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

JORDANA TORGESON | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop Joseph Williams visits after the vigil of Pentecost May 18 with his parents, Dr. Gary and Mary Williams, in the Cathedral of St Paul in St. Paul.

Congratulations jubilarians!

The Catholic Spirit is honored to celebrate the priests who are marking 60, 50, 25 and 10 years of priestly ministry this year in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In addition to the jubilarians who spoke with reporter Susan Klemond and are featured on this page, men listed on the next page are observing these significant anniversaries of their ordination to the priesthood.

50 YEARS

FATHER BOB WHITE

Despite eyesight challenge, ministry still going strong after 50 years

During the second half of his 50-year diocesan priesthood, St. Victoria in Victoria pastor Father Bob White, 76, has had only peripheral vision because of a hereditary eye condition that manifested in the 1990s and has made it difficult for him to read, manage some parish ministries and, more recently, drive.

But through the eyes, hands and feet of his staff and parishioners whose service he considers a model for lay parish involvement, Father White has been able to continue pastoring the 1,600-family parish for 28 years.

“I’ve got parishioners who drive me around,” he said. “I’ve got a staff that covers not only the ministry areas but are just very supportive of me and I do my best to show up and support everything going on.”

Because of his vision condition, Father White’s more recent priestly ministry has looked different than in earlier decades, when in addition to parish work his roles included high school chaplain, Venezuelan missionary and seminary spiritual director. But he’s still busy biking, skiing and cooking.

Father White grew up in south Minneapolis in a Catholic family that encouraged him and his five siblings to consider priestly and religious vocations. He entered the archdiocese’s high school seminary in Roseville, Nazareth Hall, at 18. When it closed two years later, he transferred to the new St. John Vianney College Seminary at St. Thomas College (now the University of St. Thomas) in St. Paul.

After his second year at the major seminary, The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Father White took a year off to gain pastoral experience at a Winona diocese parish. He discovered he loved pastoral work and felt confident he could do it. Father White was ordained in 1974 and first served as associate pastor at Our Lady of the Lake in Mound followed by St. Mark in St. Paul. In 1979, Father White served on an archdiocesan vocations committee and worked at then-Cretin High School in St. Paul. He later did spiritual direction for five years at St. John Vianney College Seminary. In 1986, he volunteered to serve at the archdiocese’s Venezuelan mission, Jesucristo Resucitado, in Ciudad Guyana. During almost five years there, he said he expanded his horizons, sometimes requiring “going to Plan B,” such as walking more after the ministry truck was stolen. Returning to the archdiocese, Father White served as parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist in New Brighton from 1992 to 1993 and then as pastor the following two years at St. William in Fridley. With his 1996 assignment to St. Victoria, he also began a 14-year chaplaincy at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria. Considering his next years of priesthood, Father White said, “I just take it a year (at a) time and I’m blessed with good energy and good health. I’ll let God tap me on the shoulder when it’s time.”

25 YEARS

FATHER TOM MARGEVICIUS

Cleveland native drawn to the archdiocese by Companions of Christ

Before Father Tom Margevicius started grade school, he was already thinking about the priesthood and imitating his pastor’s movements during Mass at his family’s parish in Cleveland, Ohio. But the high school seminary he attended in ninth grade closed the following year, and for a long time, so did Father Margevicius’ pursuit of priesthood.

The vocation was still in the back of his mind as he led wildlife tours in Ohio state parks, worked with youth through NET Ministries and St. Paul’s Outreach in West St. Paul and traveled the country with a gospel music group before he finally entered The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul in 1995 when he was in his 30s.

When Father Margevicius, now 62 and celebrating 25 years as a priest, told his mother he wanted to be a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis because of a new community of diocesan priests called the Companions of Christ he’d helped found, she said, “Tommy, Cleveland needs priests, too. Why don’t you come here?”

Eventually, his parents, Lithuanian and East German immigrants who came to the United States after World War II, saw that even though the seventh of their 12 children would live 700 miles away, it was a good move. Through all his archdiocesan assignments, including current roles as director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship and pastor of four small rural parishes southwest of the Twin Cities, Father Margevicius continues to find community, transparency and accountability through the Companions of Christ.

After his 1999 ordination, Father Margevicius served at Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul until 2001 and for two years was parochial administrator at St. John the Baptist in Dayton. He began 17 years as a member of The St. Paul Seminary faculty in 2003 and was sent to Washington, D.C., to complete graduate work at the Catholic University of America. When he returned from the nation’s capital in 2005, Father Margevicius served for a year as ecclesiastical notary for the Chancellor’s Office. That year, he also began as sacramental minister to the archdiocese’s deaf community at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Minneapolis, where later he was pastor from 2010 to 2017. During the pandemic, Father Margevicius served as parochial vicar at Risen Savior in Burnsville, and then as sacramental minister at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul and St. Dominic in Northfield. Since 2022, he’s served as pastor of Nativity in Cleveland, Immaculate Conception of Marysburg in Madison Lake, St. Henry in St. Henry (an unincorporated community in Le Sueur County), and St. Mary in Le Center.

10 YEARS

FATHER KEVIN MANTHEY

Answering priestly call leads to 10 years of ministry and counting

When Father Kevin Manthey was 11, a priest celebrating Mass at his Wisconsin Boy Scout camp told the scouts they shouldn’t let fear of public speaking stop them from becoming a priest, and the shy boy from Farmington was inspired. “That was the spark that made me start thinking about it, kind of in a sideways way, but ever since sixth grade, it was always a possibility,” said Father Manthey, now 36 and celebrating 10 years as a diocesan priest.

As a priest, Father Manthey said, he has joined an international lay community, spent a formation year with the community’s international seminarians in Belgium and celebrated Mass outdoors in Quebec City in 15 below zero temperatures during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a priest, Father Manthey said, he’s privileged to be present for encounters between individuals and God as they receive God’s mercy in confession or spiritual direction or grow in faith in other ways.

“That’s been for me the greatest joy, seeing the power of grace working in people’s lives,” he said.

He sees this grace currently as a spiritual director at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul and a priest in solidum (team) for the St. Paul parishes of Holy Childhood and Maternity of Mary, along with Father Andrew Brinkman and Father Philippe Vigneron. All three priests are part of the Emmanuel Community, a public association of the faithful founded in Paris in 1972 in which Catholics of all states in life seek to grow in holiness and live out their faith. Father Brinkman introduced Father Manthey to the community while they were in the seminary. Father Manthey’s involvement led to his requesting permission to pause his seminary studies in 2010 to spend a formation year with the community’s international seminarians in Belgium.

Ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2014, Father Manthey said he has used his Spanish-speaking skills while serving as parochial vicar of St. Stephen in Anoka for three years. The next three years he was a Hill-Murray High School chaplain in Maplewood while assisting with sacraments at Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, St. Nicholas in Carver and Guardian Angels in Chaska. In the fall of 2020, Father Manthey rode his motorcycle to New York City to serve as chaplain at the Emmanuel School of Mission. The missionary boarding school’s session was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Father Manthey served until 2023 at two parishes with Emmanuel Community members in Quebec City. This summer, Father Manthey said, he hopes to take more motorcycle trips while he focuses on growing as a spiritual director and pastor.

COURTESY EMIlY JOHN PHOTOGRAPHY

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JOE RUFF THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

60 YEARS 1964 ORDINATION

FATHER RONALD (RON) BOWERS, 85, retired from ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2006; he has subsequently served as adjutant judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Prior to this, he served in the Metropolitan Tribunal of this archdiocese for many years, including as judicial vicar (1995-1996 and 2005-2006), adjutant judicial vicar (1972-1974, 1975-1977 and 1996-2005) and defender of the bond (1971-1974). Having earned a graduate degree at the Catholic University of America, he also taught canon law at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul (1982-1995, becoming professor emeritus in 1995). His parish work included service as parochial vicar of St. Andrew in St. Paul (1977-1979), St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada (19721974), Assumption in St. Paul (1966-1972), Annunciation in Minneapolis (1964-1966), and St. Thomas the Apostle in St. Paul (1964).

FATHER MICHAEL INCE, 88, retired in 2021 after serving as pastor of Holy Trinity in Waterville and parochial administrator at St. Andrew in Elysian (both 1991-2021). He served as parochial vicar at St. Agnes (19761991) and Holy Spirit (1974-1976), both in St. Paul, Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights (1969-1972), Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington (1964-1969) and St. John the Baptist in Hugo (1964). He also served as vicar econome at Immaculate Conception (1972-1974).

FATHER ROBERT NYGAARD, 85, retired in 2003 after serving as pastor of Corpus Christi in Roseville since 1987. Following his retirement, he continued to serve as parochial administrator at St. Andrew Kim in St. Paul (2004), director of the International Clergy Office at the chancery (2005-2008), and again as parochial administrator at St. Andrew Kim (2015). Earlier in his priesthood, he ministered at St. Mary of the Lake in Plymouth (1985-1987) and St. John Neumann in Eagan (1977-1985). He served as parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada (1974-1977) and St. Timothy in Blaine (1973-1974), director of the archdiocesan Office of Communications (1971-1977), instructor at then-Cretin High School in St. Paul (1970-1971), vicar econome at St. Francis of Assisi in Lake St. Croix Beach (1967), instructor at Nazareth Hall College and Seminary in Roseville (1965-1970), and parochial vicar at St. Matthew (1964-1965) and Nativity of Our Lord (1964), both in St. Paul.

FATHER JOHN PARKOS, 85, retired in 2004 after serving as pastor of St. Gregory the Great in North Branch since 1999. He also ministered at St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove (1994-1999) and at St. Joseph in West St. Paul (1981-1994). He also served as the archdiocesan director of vocations (1977-1981), associate pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis (1975-1977) and St. Joseph in Hopkins (1972-1975), vice chancellor and secretary for Archbishop Leo Binz (1969-1972), and assistant pastor of Presentation of Mary in Maplewood (19641969).

50 YEARS 1974 ORDINATION

FATHER KEVIN CLINTON, 75, retired in 2019 after serving as pastor of: St. Wenceslaus and the New Prague Area Catholic Community in New Prague (2011-2019); St. Benedict in St. Benedict and St. John

Milestone anniversaries

The Catholic Spirit is honored to celebrate the priests who are marking 60, 50, 25 and 10 years of priestly ministry this year in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In addition to the jubilarians featured on page 6, the men listed here are observing these significant anniversaries of their ordination to the priesthood.

Congratulations to all the priests celebrating milestone anniversaries this year. Religious order priests, brothers and sisters marking jubilees will be celebrated in the July 11 issue.

the Evangelist in Union Hill (both 2010-2011); St. Scholastica in Heidelberg, St. Thomas in St. Thomas, and St. Joseph in Lexington (all 2009-2011); and St. Wenceslaus in New Prague (2006-2011). He previously served as pastor of St. Peter in Mendota (1989-2006), pastor (1987-1989), parochial administrator (1984-1987), and parochial vicar (1983-1984) of Immaculate Conception in Faribault. He also has served as parochial vicar of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton (19801983), St. Richard in Richfield (1977-1980) and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis (1974-1977).

FATHER TIMOTHY (TIM) WOZNIAK, 75, has served as pastor of St. Thomas Becket in Eagan since 2011. In that capacity, he also served as canonical administrator of Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan (2014-2018). He has also served as chaplain of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park since 2007. His previous parish work included service as pastor of Risen Savior in Burnsville (1999-2011) and St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park (1987-1999). He has also served as parochial vicar of Assumption in Richfield (1984-1987), the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis (1982-1984), St. John the Baptist in New Brighton (1978-1982), and St. Edward in Bloomington (1974-1978). Moreover, he served as chaplain of Grace High School (now Totino-Grace) in Fridley (1980) and chaplain of the Archdiocesan Catholic Commission on Scouting (1975-1977).

25 YEARS 1999 ORDINATION

FATHER MICHAEL BECKER, 58, has been pastor of Sts. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee since 2022. He also has served as the Archbishop’s Vicar for Charisms since 2023. He previously served at St. John Vianney

Father Theisen was named a member of the Archdiocesan College of Consultors earlier this year.

FATHER JOSEPH (JOE) WHALEN, 63, has been the pastor of St. Timothy in Blaine since 2015. He previously served as pastor of St. William in Fridley (2001-2013) and Our Lady of Peace in Minneapolis (2013-2015). In addition to his pastorates, he has served as parochial administrator at St. William (2016-2017), as chaplain of Riverside Medical Center in Minneapolis (2008-2013) and as parochial vicar of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis (1999-2001).

10 YEARS

2014 ORDINATION

FATHER MICHAEL BARSNESS, 39, has served as the parochial vicar of Nativity in Cleveland, Immaculate Conception in Marysburg, St. Henry in St. Henry, and St. Mary in Le Center since 2021. Prior to this, he served as the parochial vicar of St. John the Baptist in Savage (2019-2021), St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings (2017-2019), and St. Vincent de Paul in Osseo (2014-2017).

College Seminary in St. Paul, where he was rector (2010-2021) and spiritual director (2009-2010). He earlier served as pastor of St. Michael in St. Michael (2002-2009), and parochial vicar of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton (1999-2002). He has also served as a chaplain for Legatus of the Twin Cities.

FATHER LAWRENCE (LARRY) BLAKE, 72, has served as chaplain of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul since 2016. Prior to this, he served as archdiocesan coordinator of pastoral health care and hospital chaplains (2013-2016), chaplain of Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis (2013-2016), parochial administrator of St. Joseph in Waconia (2006-2012), and parochial administrator of St. Hubert in Chanhassen (1999-2002). He also served as a National Guard chaplain (2002-2003) and as a chaplain for the Air Force Reserve (2003-2019) with intermittent deployment.

FATHER MARK MORIARTY, 50, has served as the pastor of St. Agnes in St. Paul since 2012. He has previously served as the pastor of Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers (2003-2012), and as parochial vicar of St. Augustine and Holy Trinity in South St. Paul (2000-2003), and St. Hubert in Chanhassen (1999-2000). He also served as parochial administrator of St. Bernard in St. Paul (2021-2022). He was named to the Archdiocesan College of Consultors earlier this year.

FATHER EUGENE THEISEN, 58, has served as the pastor of St. Wenceslaus and the New Prague Area Catholic Community since 2020. He had served there as parochial administrator (2019-2020) and parochial vicar (2018-2019). Prior to his ministry in New Prague, he served as a chaplain for the Archdiocese for the Military Services from 2002 to 2018. He was parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka from 1999 to 2002, during which time he also served as a chaplain for the Air Force Reserve.

FATHER JOSEPH (JOE) KUHARSKI, 35, has been on the formation faculty at The St. Paul Seminary since 2023, where he also serves as an adjunct instructor of theology. He had previously served as a formator at St. John Vianney College Seminary (2018-2023), as a sacramental minister for the Hmong community at St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul (2018-2021), and as parochial vicar of St. Stephen in Anoka (2015-2018) and Epiphany in Coon Rapids (2014). He also served as chaplain of DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis (2015-2018). From 2014 to 2015, he completed graduate education in Rome at the Lateran University’s Institute for Marriage and the Family.

FATHER MARCUS MILLESS, 36, has served as pastor of St. Helena in Minneapolis since 2023. He had previously served there as parochial administrator (2022-2023). He was the chaplain of Abbot Northwestern Hospital (2020-2022) and Hennepin County Medical Center (2017-2020), both in Minneapolis. He earlier served as parochial vicar of All Saints in Lakeville (2014-2017). In addition to his hospital assignments, Father Milless has served as an adjunct spiritual director at The St. Paul Seminary and as a sacramental minister at Holy Family in St. Louis Park (20172020) and for the Hmong community at St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul (2021-2022).

FATHER MARC PAVEGLIO, 38, has served as pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Roseville since 2019. He had earlier served there and at Corpus Christi in Roseville as parochial administrator (2018-2019). He was parochial vicar from 2016 to 2018 of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, and from 2014 to 2016 of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. He has also served as an external spiritual director at The St. Paul Seminary (2020) and at St. John Vianney College Seminary (2016-2018). Since 2022, he has served as one of the archbishop’s Vicars for Evangelization.

FATHER PAUL SHOVELAIN, 36, has been serving as pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton since 2020, having previously served there as parochial administrator (2019-2020) and parochial vicar (2016-2019). He was the parochial vicar of St. Peter in Forest Lake (2014-2016). He also served as chaplain of Totino-Grace High School in Fridley (2015-2018). He was named a member of the Archdiocesan College of Consultors earlier this year.

iSTOCK PHOTO | IWETA0077

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

Effective June 1, 2024

Very Reverend Brian Gross, assigned as Director of Pastoral Formation for the Saint Paul Seminary. Father Gross is a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck.

Effective June 1, 2024

Reverend Aric Aamodt, assigned as chaplain for Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of All Saints in Lakeville.

Reverend Tony Andrade, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Saint Paul Park.

Reverend Austin Barnes, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Francis Xavier in Buffalo. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Michael in Stillwater and the Church of Saint Mary in Stillwater.

Reverend Terry Beeson, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Olaf in Minneapolis. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Pius V in Cannon Falls and the Church of Saint Joseph in Miesville.

Reverend Lawrence Blake, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Mary in Waverly. This is a transfer from his current assignment as chaplain for the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul.

Reverend Michael Creagan, assigned as Vicar for Evangelization for Deaneries 1 and 4. This is in addition to his assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Mary and the Church of Saint Michael, both in Stillwater.

Reverend William Deziel, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Lino Lakes. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis.

Reverend William Duffert, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of

the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Saint Paul.

Reverend John Paul Erickson, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Oakdale.

Reverend Clayton Forner, assigned as formator and spiritual director for the Saint John Vianney Seminary. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of the Divine Mercy in Faribault.

Reverend Ryan Glaser, assigned as parochial vicar of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul. Father Glaser is returning to the Archdiocese after completing academic studies in Rome.

Reverend Joseph Johnson, assigned as pastor and rector of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park.

Very Reverend Michael Johnson, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi. This is in addition to his current assignment as Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese.

Reverend Colin Jones, assigned to academic studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and to the faculty of Saint Paul Seminary in Saint Paul. Father Jones has been serving as Formator for the Saint John Vianney Seminary in Saint Paul.

Reverend Jae Hyun Dominicus Kim, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Andrew Kim in Minneapolis. Father Kim has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Thomas Kommers, assigned as sacramental minister for the Church of Saint Matthew in Saint Paul. Father Kommers is a retired priest of the Archdiocese.

Reverend Nathan LaLiberte, assigned as chaplain for St. Mary’s University Minneapolis campus. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bloomington.

Reverend Brian Lynch, assigned as chaplain for Regions Hospital in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as chaplain for Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Reverend Matthew Malek, OFM Conv. assigned as pastor of the Church of Risen Savior in Burnsville. Father Malek has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Michael McClellan, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Pius V in Cannon Falls and the Church of Saint Joseph in Miesville. This is a transfer from his current assignment as chaplain for Providence Academy in Plymouth.

Reverend Connor McGinnis, assigned as chaplain for Providence Academy in Plymouth. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Michael in Saint Michael.

Reverend Nathaniel Meyers, assigned as pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Oakdale. This is a transfer from his current assignment as Pastor of the Church of Saint Francis Xavier in Buffalo.

Reverend Mark Moriarty, assigned as pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul.

Reverend Edwin Ngah, CFIC, assigned as chaplain for Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Parish of Saints Joachim and Anne in Shakopee.

Reverend Joseph Nguyen, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of All Saints in Lakeville. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in New Brighton.

Reverend Bruno Nwachukwu, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Charles in Bayport. Father Nwachukwu has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Marcel Okwara, C.Ss.R., assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Bridget in Minneapolis. Father Okwara has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Mark Pavlak, assigned as Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese. This is a transfer from his previous assignment as Formator for the Saint John Vianney Seminary in Saint Paul.

Reverend Matthew Quail, assigned as pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights. Father Quail has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Michael Reinhardt, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Rita in Cottage Grove. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wayzata.

Reverend Timothy Sandquist, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and the Church of Saint Patrick in Shieldsville. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park and as chaplain and instructor for Chesterton Academy.

Reverend Michael Selenski, assigned as chaplain to Totino-Grace High School in Fridley. This is in addition to his current assignment as parochial vicar for the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park.

Reverend Paul Treacy, assigned as canonical administrator for Community of Saints Regional School in Saint Paul. This is in addition to his current assignment as pastor of the Church of the Assumption in Saint Paul.

Very Reverend John Ubel, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor and rector of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul.

Reverend John Utecht, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi and as chaplain for Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar for the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Edina.

Reverend Chad VanHoose, assigned as chaplain to NET Ministries. This is a transfer from his current assignment as pastor of the Church of Saint Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi and Vicar for Evangelization for Deaneries 1 and 4.

Reverend Benjamin Wittnebel, assigned as pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Golden Valley. Father Wittnebel has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Reverend Timothy Wratkowski, assigned as pastor of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Medina. Father Wratkowski has been serving as parochial administrator of the same parish.

Retirements

Reverend Michael Anderson, granted status of retired priest effective July 1, 2024. Father Anderson has served the Archdiocese since his ordination in 1983, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Lino Lakes.

Deacon David Ingwell, granted status of retired deacon effective July 1, 2024. Deacon Ingwell has served the Archdiocese since his ordination in 1998.

Reverend Paul Jarvis, granted status of a retired priest effective July 1, 2024. Father Jarvis has been serving the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 2004, most recently as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Bridget in Minneapolis.

Reverend Kenneth O’Hotto, granted status of a retired priest effective July 9, 2024. Father O’Hotto has been serving the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1980, most recently at the Church of Saint Mary in Waverly.

Reverend Michael Skluzacek, granted status of a retired priest effective August 1, 2024. Father Skluzacek has been serving the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1980, most recently as the Director of Pastoral Formation at The Saint Paul Seminary.

Congratulates

Father Kevin Kenney on the 30th Anniversary of your Ordination to the Priesthood. HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY Father Joe Connelly

on your ordination to the Holy Priesthood. May God continue to bless you in the years to come.

EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

account of race; color; national origin; ancestry; disability; or sex, including but not limited to: making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy or decision whether to become or remain pregnant; gender identity or gender expression; or sexual orientation.”

The ballot question legislators were reviewing stated: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to say that all persons shall be guaranteed equal rights under the laws of this state, and shall not be discriminated against on account of race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex, including pregnancy, gender, and sexual orientation?”

Proponents of the proposed ERA argued it would protect against basic forms of discrimination. While the proposed language to amend the Minnesota Constitution would protect people against a range of discrimination, MCC argued it went beyond protecting against these basic forms.

Failing to protect religion within the language could enable “a whole host of anti-religious discrimination,” Adkins said during a news conference that preceded the May 8 rally.

“Religion should be included in the ERA as it is in most civil rights ordinances. Doing so is consistent with both good policy and core American values. In fact, 87% of voters agree that tolerance of others’ beliefs and the freedom for Americans to live according to their values are core to being American,” Adkins said.

“What’s at stake more than anything else, at least in my heart, maybe in the hearts of other bishops and pastors, is the right to be who we are in our places of worship, in our schools, in our religious institutions. To believe what we believe God has revealed to us about life ... about love ... about true human flourishing,” said Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams, who joined members of various Twin Cities faith communities, state legislators, lawyers and the public in the Rotunda May 8.

“We’re here as a diverse coalition, with people who believe that we have to fight

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Members of various metro area faith communities, state legislators, lawyers and the public gather in the Rotunda at the Minnesota State Capitol May 8.

to make room for God in our world and to protect our religious institutions. And I’m happy to do that,” Bishop Williams said in an interview.

Father Gregory Abbott, associate pastor of St. Peter in Forest Lake, said he was grateful for Bishop Williams’ message at the rally and for the “Catholic presence”

at the Capitol. Having attended the rally to support “equal rights for all people from conception until natural death, and religious liberty as well,” Father Abbott said he hoped the people in attendance would “be encouraged to go back and share with family, friends and neighbors the truth of this bill.”

MINNESOTA HUMAN RIGHTS ACT

May 15, Gov. Tim Walz signed into state law legislation that, in part, adds a new religious exemption to the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). HF4109 was among six bipartisan bills the governor signed into law.

The MHRA, which has been in place since the 1960s, aims to ensure all Minnesotans are treated equally and that no one is discriminated against based on personal traits including disability, race and sex.

The religious exemption pertains to employment, membership, admissions and governance practices within religious congregations and schools, according to the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), which represents the public policy interests of the state’s Catholic bishops and is based in St. Paul.

MCC has argued that an amendment to the MHRA passed last year included gender identity as a protected status, yet a religious exemption was not included. MCC argued this would challenge religious organizations, churches and schools in acting on beliefs regarding gender identity within their institutions.

Though the language passed was not the same as initially proposed language, MCC argued it does accomplish the original goal of restoring the religious exemption. Legislators spent weeks negotiating the final language.

The religious exemption addition in the MHRA was passed by both the House and Senate May 7 before Walz signed it into state law.

In addition to a lack of religious discrimination protections included in the proposed ERA, MCC argued it “goes beyond attempting to protect ‘sex’ as a class, but rather would protect people based on their ‘gender identity or expression,’” and thus it “would diminish the hard-earned rights and protections of women.”

Mary Stolz, 63, said she viewed the ERA as being “more about an agenda than it is about caring for women.”

“I hope to see that the Legislature really looks and listens and says, ‘Is this good for women? Is this good for the state of Minnesota?’” said Stolz, a nurse ultrasonographer at pregnancy care nonprofit Lakes Life Care Center in Forest Lake and a member of St. Peter in Forest Lake.

During the press conference that preceded the May 8 rally, members of various Twin Cities faith communities argued a lack of protections against religious discrimination was of particular concern with the proposed ERA.

“As a grateful and concerned Jewish Minnesotan, I call on the state legislators to fix this amendment to ensure that religion is still able to be practiced freely while protecting the civil rights of all people,” said Rabbi Avigdor Goldberger, CEO of Jewish learning center Minneapolis Community Kollel.

Rev. Steven Lee — pastor for preaching and vision at The North Church, a Baptist church in Mounds View — said the proposed ERA would “ignore the rights of over 80% of Minnesotans … most Minnesotans have some religious faith that should be protected.” It also “exacerbates Constitution conflict” and “discriminates in order to prevent discrimination.”

“As a pastor in this community who cares about all Minnesota, I urge our legislators to oppose this amendment that will not lead to a unified Minnesota,” he said.

Praying with portions of Chapter 17 of Acts of the Apostles in his closing prayer at the rally, Bishop Williams asked God to help all people of faith “fight discrimination wherever it might be found, including religious discrimination, that life, liberty and happiness might be the birthright of all your children.”

The staff and parishioners of Saints Joachim & Anne Catholic Church and Shakopee Area Catholic School extend our gratitude for answering God's call.

We deeply appreciate your leadership, dedication, and unwavering faith in serving our community with grace & patience. We are blessed that you are our shepherd!

REBECCA OMASTIAK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Cardinal Dolan: Catholic Rural Life provides important assistance to the faithful

By Anna Wilgenbusch

The Catholic Spirit

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, spoke about the late Bishop Edwin Vincent O’Hara, founder of Catholic Rural Life (CRL), at the May 8 celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He called the founder “perhaps the most influential leader in Catholic agrarianism.”

CRL is a national organization headquartered in St. Paul that seeks to promote rural life in America through a wide array of initiatives, which include supporting Catholic education and providing formation for Catholic pastors. The May 8 event, titled “Rejoicing in the Harvest,” drew CRL supporters from across the nation to hear Cardinal Dolan address the organization’s history and ongoing mission.

In his lecture, which was based on his 1992 book “Some Seed Fell on Good Ground,” Cardinal Dolan outlined the life and mission of Bishop O’Hara and identified continued needs of rural communities.

Bishop O’Hara grew up as the youngest of eight children on a family farm in Lanesboro. As he studied for the priesthood at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, which he entered in 1900, he grew in awareness of the many challenges facing rural communities, including a lack of Catholic schools, pressure to move to the city and the threat of bigger farms buying up smaller ones, Cardinal Dolan said.

“According to this farm boy-turned-priest, there was no greater challenge facing the Church in the United States than the strengthening of rural life,” said Cardinal Dolan.

“Year after year, some of the brightest and strongest young men were abandoning the land. That hemorrhage, Bishop O’Hara said, would prove fatal to the Church and the nation, and to heal it would be his top priority,” Cardinal Dolan said.

Cardinal Dolan said that although Bishop O’Hara worked a century ago, many of his concerns about the rural Church in America continue to be germane.

“The threats to small family farms by agribusiness are still towering,” Cardinal Dolan said.

He said that these numerous issues need to be addressed with a robust understanding of “Christian personalism.”

“All problems today in society come from a faulty understanding of the human person. If we get the anthropology right — that we are children of God made in his image and likeness, worthy of dignity and respect, whose life is worth the precious blood of our Savior and is destined for all eternity — if we get that view of the person right, everything else works out,” Cardinal Dolan said.

Organizations like Catholic Rural Life are vital to establishing Christian personalism, he said.

“A new challenge today is that the volunteer organizations upon which rural life depended are no longer vibrant,” he said. “We need to see the countryside as the natural arena for the lay apostolate.”

Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary in North Dakota, also spoke at the May 8 event about rural life, which he said is a “way of life which is worth fighting for, worth preserving.” Msgr. Shea grew up on a dairy farm, where he learned to drive

a tractor at age 7. He said that his “whole priesthood was formed (on) that farm.”

Msgr. Shea tempered the inclination of many urbanites to idealize country living.

“There is no room for nostalgia,” he said. “God is not in the future, which is the age of anxiety, or the past, which is the age of regret. He is in the present.”

Many organizations collaborate with CRL to expand their mission. Foremost among them is The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, where CRL offices. Seminarians attend a week-long rural ministry practicum and a day on a farm, where they learn about farming equipment.

“We are especially grateful for the influence of CRL on our future priests,” said Father Joseph Taphorn, rector and vice president of the seminary, which Father Taphorn said has a “deep connection” to CRL.

Led by Jim Ennis, executive director, CRL has a network of 30 chapters nationwide — a figure that the organization hopes to double over the next five years, especially at colleges and universities. Currently Kansas State is home to CRL’s only campus chapter. Students from the chapter attended the May 8 event to learn more about CRL’s ongoing initiatives.

Among them was Elizabeth Wright, founding member of the campus chapter at Kansas State.

Congratulations to Father Paul Shovelain

on the 10th Anniversary

As the Father loves us, so we also love you! of his ordination to the priesthood!

Wright grew up on a farm in Olsburg, Kansas, where she showed pigs in local competitions and raised goats.

“The speakers were very enlightening about the importance of rural life and how it is something that God has given us,” Wright said in an interview at the May 8 event. “It is such a gift that we get to cultivate the land and provide food for people.”

Wright, who now works as a communications and marketing specialist for the College of Agriculture of Kansas State, said she never wants to live in a big city.

“It is a very spiritual experience to go back to the farm,” she said. “(There is) just the fervent hope that God is going to provide.”

Among many other initiatives, CRL supports Native Americans through scholarships and in their efforts to preserve wild rice.

Michael Dockry, a faculty member of the University of Minnesota Forest Resource Department and member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation, works with CRL to support Native Americans.

“It is great to work with them,” he said in an interview at the event. “There is a lot of synergy ... not a complete overlap in beliefs but the idea that we are all human beings with the need to form those relationships, that is key, and really sustains us and makes this partnership work.”

The event promoted CRL’s capital campaign, “Sowing Seeds for Faith and Growth,” which aims to raise $5 million over the next five years to expand its programs, chapters and conferences. To learn more about CRL’s mission, visit catholicrurallife.org/ sowing-seeds-for-faith-and-growth

Congratulations Fr. Allen Kuss as you celebrate your 40 years of Holy Priesthood!

May God’s love and grace continue to nourish your ministry which touches the lives of so many.

PHOTOS COURTESY NEAL ABBOTT | CATHOLIC RURAL LIFE

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, speaks during a May 8 celebration of Catholic Rural Life’s 100th anniversary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

MSGR. JAMES SHEA

JIM ENNIS

Archbishop Hebda: The Holy

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

Comparing his excitement to that of a child on Christmas Eve, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he waits each year at Pentecost “to see what it is that the Holy Spirit is going to do in our local Church when we open our hearts to the gifts of the Spirit.”

“We heard in our readings how the Holy Spirit is able to breathe life into dead bones. Imagine that,” Archbishop Hebda said, referring to Ezekiel 37:1-14 read at the Extended Vigil of Pentecost May 18 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

“Just think what the Holy Spirit will be able to do through us when we offer ourselves ... as his instruments, when we really strive to be faithful and sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”

The archbishop noted that the feast of Pentecost, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, has been at the center of renewal in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 2019. That was the year the archdiocese — on Pentecost — opened three years of listening and prayer sessions, faith formation and educational opportunities that culminated with an Archdiocesan Synod Assembly held on Pentecost weekend 2022.

Now, implementing aspects of the archbishop’s pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room,” has led to at least 1,200 parish-based small groups forming over the past 12 months to promote faith and fellowship. More than 16,000 people are participating in small groups. This year, there is a special focus beginning in July on the Eucharist and the Mass, and the following year will focus on parents as the primary educators of the faith to their children.

“We know the power of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost,” the archbishop said in his May 18 homily, “and we know what it is that the Holy Spirit can do in our lives and in our Church. We’ve seen those first signs. But sisters and brothers, if you’re like me, you know that we can go further. We know that if we open up our hearts to the Holy Spirit, that the Lord is going to do amazing things.”

Archbishop Hebda also urged prayers for preparations for Pentecost 2025, when another assembly will be held to look at initiatives for years four and five

Spirit is at center of

archdiocese’s renewal

of implementing his pastoral letter.

Calling on the Holy Spirit continued after the Mass at a special prayer service led by Father Joseph Taphorn, rector and vice president of The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, and a band of musicians that included young adults from Mendota Heights-based college ministry St. Paul’s Outreach and charismatic community People of Praise.

With hymns rising and echoing through the Cathedral, many in the congregation raised their hands to join in prayer and song. A line formed as people brought their own petitions to prayer teams ready to focus on their needs.

Similar prayer services were held by the archdiocese after the vigil of Pentecost Masses in 2022 and 2023.

Brenda Studeman, 65, of St. Patrick in Inver Grove Heights, was among those who remained after Mass. She said she has been on fire with the Holy Spirit since retiring in January from her job as a project manager for an insurance firm. A friend invited her to the vigil Mass.

“I just wanted more,” Studeman said of putting time into her faith life, which has included participating in a Life in the Spirit Seminar, Encounter Ministries and

Congratulations

Celebrating 20 Years of Priestly Ordination Honoring FR. JAMES F. ADAMS

We are deeply grateful for your years of service and dedication. May God continue to bless you and your ministry in the years to come.

With love, your Parish Family of St. Francis de Sales

a 10-week School of Charism Discovery course offered by Father Michael Becker, the archdiocese’s vicar of charisms. “I wanted more, and he (God) gave me more.”

Studeman said she senses the Holy Spirit’s presence in the archdiocese, reflected in part by Archbishop Hebda’s pastoral letter. She is involved in a small group at her parish focused on lectio

divina (divine reading) of each Sunday’s Scripture passages. She also is a member of her parish’s Stewardship Committee, which stresses prayer, participation and generosity among parishioners.

“The Holy Spirit is doing something in our archdiocese” and in the wider world, Studeman said. “(And) to me, the basis of everything is prayer. If you don’t have prayer, you can’t do any of it.”

JORDANA TORGESON | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT Archbishop Bernard Hebda greets parishioners after the Mass.

JORDANA TORGESON | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

People raise their hands in prayer during a special prayer service after the Extended Vigil of Pentecost May 18 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

Boy’s remarkable recovery from debilitating illness begins hours after receiving first Communion

Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

No mom would ever want to spend Mother’s Day like this: in a hospital room with a 7-year-old son paralyzed from the waist down and told by doctors he might never walk again

Such was the scenario one year ago on May 14 for Jessica Dahlberg of Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Her son, Joshua, had been hospitalized after a fall while playing soccer five days previously. An MRI at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis May 13 revealed he had transverse myelitis, which, in his case, caused paralysis from the waist down. Doctors told her there was only a 10% chance Joshua would ever walk again.

Jessica, her husband, Andy, both 35, and their other five children were trying to process this radical new reality, which would mean Joshua using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. They also were thinking about how Joshua had to miss his first Communion at Epiphany, which took place the same day as his MRI, May 13.

The devastating news plus missing a sacramental event Joshua had been eagerly anticipating for months weighed heavily on the entire family, especially Jessica.

“Stunned, devastated,” she said of her reaction to Joshua’s condition and grim prognosis. “He always was the healthiest, active boy — loves sports, loves soccer and basketball. So, hearing that my 7-year-old was never going to do any of those things he loves again was heartbreaking.”

Joshua cried, Jessica cried, and now she was going to spend Mother’s Day in a hospital at the bedside of her paralyzed second grader.

Then, at 3 p.m. that day, there came an unexpected turn that the Dahlbergs say was the start of a remarkable — maybe miraculous — recovery, one that led to him running in three events at a middle school track meet just one year later, on May 5, in which he left all doubts about his return to health in the dust.

Father Paul Baker, at the time a parochial vicar at Epiphany, got a phone call from a parishioner the

weekend of Joshua’s hospitalization suggesting he go to Children’s Hospital to give Joshua his first Communion. Father Baker obliged, and while he was there also gave Joshua the sacrament of anointing of the sick.

Hours later, Joshua started wiggling his toes. In 10 days, he was home and walking with some assistance.

According to Jessica, this befuddled the neurologist who worked with Joshua, and he was not able to offer a medical explanation.

“He said he’s been in the field for about 40 years,” she said. “He said he’s never seen anything like this before.”

Joshua’s recovery continued after he got home, to the point where he played soccer just weeks later, scoring a goal in his first game. Then came basketball during this past winter and, after that, middle school track this spring. Before the recent May 5 meet, he even bantered with his older brother Lucas, one year ahead of him in school, that he would beat him in the 400-meter run, which he did.

“It had to have been some sort of a miracle,” Andy Dahlberg said. “I don’t know how you could deny it at this point.”

Said Jessica: “It is just clear in our heads now what an incredible thing that was. And to be honest, how could it not have been a Eucharistic miracle?”

Father Baker, too, sees something beyond modern medicine at work.

“I don’t have any authority to say whether something is a miracle,” he said, “but you know, how can you not see the hand of God in that?”

For the Dahlberg family, the start of the journey came when they enrolled their oldest four children, including Joshua, at Epiphany Catholic School at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. After previously sending them to public school, they became dissatisfied with how public schools handled the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues. Andy and Jessica felt they needed to make a change. Andy had gone to Epiphany Catholic School and felt this was the best choice for their children.

They knew it would be a financial pinch. But their faith, and a commitment by both the school and parish to make it financially affordable for all families, propelled them to enroll Joshua and three of his siblings: Lucas, 10, Lillian, 7, and Jonathan, 6.

Their decision would be powerfully confirmed months later.

“As the end of the school year was approaching, all of a sudden, this happens,” Andy Dahlberg said of Joshua’s illness. “Then, we get all these prayers from the whole school. ... We would have never had any of

Eucharistic

those prayers at a public school.”

That collective prayer might be the actual miracle of this story. By the time school resumed after Mother’s Day weekend, prayers were being offered by the entire school — students, teachers, parents, all the way up to the principal, Ann Coone, who mobilized intercession throughout the building. This was her battle cry: “Let’s assemble the army and pray.”

“The communion of saints is powerful,” said Coone, 65, who retired last August after being principal at the school for six years.

“It makes me cry thinking about it. And so, it’s just, ‘OK, Lord, what do we do for your glorification and for this little boy and his family?’”

The Dahlbergs were keenly aware of the intercessions being offered for them. “Our whole school was pouring their hearts and souls into praying for him,” Jessica said. “It was

amazing seeing our whole community come together.”

As the daily prayers in school continued, including the rosary during morning announcements, Coone came up with an idea. would create a ceremony to give Joshua the opportunity to offer flowers to Mary, something he been chosen to do for a crowning ceremony but missed because illness. This special ceremony Joshua took place after he regained the ability to walk but before his return to school.

Coone recalled visiting him hospital during his 10-day stay listening to him describe the disappointment of not only missing his first Communion, but also missing the chance to take part the crowning of Mary. During visit, she said to Joshua, “I promise you, you will walk flowers up Lady.”

MIRACLE ?

school rosary announcements, She give offer had crowning of his for regained his in the stay and missing part in that promise to Our

Her promise was fulfilled with a gathering of students assembled to watch him place a bouquet of flowers at the feet of Mary. As he processed up the aisle toward the sanctuary, “there wasn’t a dry eye in the church,” Coone recalled, noting that Joshua wore his first Communion suit. “It was so beautiful.”

Among those witnessing this event was third-grade teacher Jona Winkelman, who taught Lucas last year and who teaches Joshua this year. She has a sacred theological license in dogmatic theology from the Angelicum in Rome and has taught theology at both the high school and college level. She became a third-grade teacher at Epiphany three years ago because her daughters attend the school.

She paid close attention to Joshua’s illness and recovery, leading prayers in the classroom daily and playing videos of Joshua’s progress that Lucas

brought to class along with updates on his brother.

“We saw the videos and we were like, ‘Our prayers are being answered,’” Winkelman said. “It increased their prayer, and the prayer was more fervent and more eager. And we just knew that God was answering our prayers.”

This comes as no surprise to Winkelman, who believes in the power of prayer, especially the prayer of children.

“I have the conviction that God loves the prayers of children better than any other because the prayers of children are perfect and innocent, and they go straight to (God’s) heart,” she said. “And he can’t help but hear them.”

She also said that Joshua’s first Communion in the hospital connects strongly to his healing, noting that the “extraordinary grace of holy

Communion is a gift not only to his soul, but to his body.”

Interestingly, Epiphany is home to a display of Eucharistic miracles designed by Blessed Carlo Acutis before his death in 2006. The exhibit features more than 150 Eucharistic miracles that have taken place around the world, with panels showing images, evidence and testimony. Epiphany makes this display available on loan to other parishes.

That the display and Joshua’s recovery both are connected to Epiphany seems fitting to Father Baker, who now serves at St. Agnes in St. Paul.

“I was there for four years at that parish, and I would say it’s a parish where there’s a lot of people with a tremendous Eucharistic faith,” he said. “You could maybe even see (Joshua’s recovery) as a confirmation of that.”

Mixed in with the faith and prayers of so many at the school is the faith of Joshua himself, who cried “many tears,” his mother said, when he had to miss receiving first Communion with his classmates, and who continues to be a model for his family and classmates.

“He is a marvelous student,” Winkelman said. “He’s attentive. I see the grace of faith and prayer and conviction evident in not only his academic work, but the support and

interaction that he has with his classmates. And so, that God would give him a miracle is no surprise, because he lives it out.”

As for his future when it comes to possible recurrence of the illness, no one knows, not even doctors, Jessica said. For now, there are no restrictions on Joshua’s physical activities, which means he will continue playing all the sports he loves.

“Whatever he does, I know he’ll be happy just to be able to do it,” Andy said. “I’m a very athletic guy and like to get out and do things. I know he’s just like me.”

For Jessica, Joshua’s healing helps offset an earlier loss in her life. In 2009, her younger brother, Matthew, died of cancer at age 16. She knows the tragic side of serious illness.

“Seeing cancer take over his body was devastating,” said Jessica, who was in college at the time. “We prayed so hard for him. We prayed for his cancer to be healed. But God had other plans. ... It’s definitely hard to lose someone that you love, and to see them struggle and see them decline.”

With Joshua, everything that has taken place is, for her, “such a celebration.”

“God chose Joshua to give this miracle to,” she said, “and I am forever grateful.”

LEFT From left, Joshua, Jessica, Jonathan, Lillian and Lucas Dahlberg pray together during Eucharistic adoration at Epiphany in Coon Rapids May 2. They pray together once a week at the chapel.

ABOVE Joshua, left, and Lucas Dahlberg, right, compete in the 100-meter dash May 5 during a middle school track meet at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood.

A year of cancer, a new perspective: Laura Kelly Fanucci reflects

By Christina Capecchi

For The Catholic Spirit

Laura Kelly Fanucci, a 43-year-old writer, received shocking news on Easter Monday of 2023: She had invasive ductal carcinoma in her right breast. The stage wasn’t clear, but it was triple-negative, a particularly aggressive and rare form of breast cancer. She and her husband, Franco, told their five sons, now ages 4 to 14, all members of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove. One year later — after multiple rounds of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and surgeries — she is cancer-free.

Q You’ve already been through a lot of suffering, including the loss of your twin daughters right after their birth. Was it hard not to feel sorry for yourself with this cancer diagnosis?

A It can be a temptation to dwell in feeling like, “God, this is too much. This is unfair.”

There’s so much suffering. It touches all our lives. Mine has been intense. But I also think there are ways in which my life is so abundantly blessed. There’s so much suffering I haven’t known.

We’re never going to get some kind of equation that we can solve. But having cancer has taught me so much about God’s own nature. There are things we come to know of God through suffering that can help us bear what feels unbearable.

Q It seems like cancer gave you new eyes.

A The veil does get lifted in little ways. I look around and think, “Every person is walking through it in different ways.” If someone is driving like a jerk, I think, “I don’t know their story. They might be racing to get to the hospital because their mom is dying.”

Any time you try to use your own suffering as a lens to realize everyone is suffering, it helps see the humanity in people who we want to dehumanize.

Q What makes you such a good writer?

A I took to heart this advice Ira Glass gave years ago. He said that when you start creating things, you’re always going to see a gap between what you’re able to do and what you want to be able to do. What you have to do is a huge volume of work. Learning to write on the internet, I could do a couple blog posts a week and get that regular practice.

It’s fun to try on other people’s styles. I adore Brian Doyle. I read a lot of fiction. It’s wonderful to read outside your genre.

Q And you’ve taken up poetry, which can feel like a daunting leap for nonfiction writers.

A I’ve always loved poetry, and I didn’t think I could write it at all. But an unexpected side effect of cutting my chops as a writer on the internet is that it can be very playful and inventive. I don’t care if I’m just experimental with it. Blogging was great for that. It was like: Write a little thing and put it out there. It

made me braver to just share something. I wrote this little poem that went viral during the pandemic. I didn’t even think it was a poem. It was more “here are some thoughts I had.” The fact that it took off made me realize people are hungry for a format that’s bite-sized because the world is overwhelming. Sometimes I think, “Oh my goodness, I have no training in poetry.” But who cares? I can just play with it. It’s just using language in a new way. It’s made me more attuned to how deeply religious it is. This is a deeply human form of communication. It’s like music; it’s like songs. We all get to access that!

Q You’ve put out poetry prompts on Instagram and received many responses.

A When you invite someone to share even a sliver of their story, it comes rushing out of them. And the prompt feels like a low bar — just make a list of thoughts or feelings from this season in your life and put them together in a fresh or new way. You don’t have to be worried about the rhyme or format. There’s something about storytelling that’s deeply spiritual, that makes us who we are as humans. When you invite a person into that, there is a soul-hunger. It’s like a call-and-response. It’s an affirmation of the human person. You are good and worthy, and you have this ability to create.

Q You must receive great feedback on the writing you share online.

A I always laugh — the posts I craft where I think, “Oh, this is pretty good and cool,” it’s like crickets. Just my family responds. And the ones I almost don’t publish, sure that people will think it’s crazy, that’s when they say: “Oh my gosh! You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”

OK, I wrote that for you then — I just had to get out of the way. I’m just trying to be a channel. If I can just clear out my own junk, my own insecurities, and see how God can use me.

Q I’ve noticed you’re very funny.

A I come from an Irish Catholic family, so there is some dark humor. We knew

that’s the way we’re going to get through life: We’re going to laugh at hard things. A sense of humor was always highly valued.

But it has been strengthened as a coping mechanism. I’ve said to my husband: “I think I’ve gotten funnier since I got cancer.” And I think some of it has been a conscious decision; there is only so much a person can cry. You have to get these emotions out of your body. Weeping is one way and laughing is another. It does feel good to release in that way. It’s such a delightful bridge between humans. It’s been a really lovely companion to keep myself afloat this year and also connect with others.

Over the years, I have come to see that there’s actually very deep holiness in humor. I love that humor and humility share the same root. To have a good sense of humor, you have to be a humble person, be willing to laugh at yourself or admit when you’ve got it wrong.

Q In the wake of your diagnosis, what was most helpful when people reached out? What wasn’t helpful?

A Everybody had a book or a diet or an herb or an essential oil. I do think that’s unhelpful. You’re overwhelmed with advice. They are very well-meaning, but you have to trust that people are seeking the best medical advice that works for them.

What helps the most is when people make concrete offers. When we say, “Just let me know what you need,” we think it’s helpful because it’s carte blanche. But the person who needs the help can barely tie their shoes in the morning and they cannot think about what they need and even if they can, it’s hard to say, “It would really help if you could pick up my kids every day this week.” But if the person says, “I’m already going to the grocery store, can I pick up a bag for you and drop it on your front porch and you don’t have to come out?”

In grief, you need those basics taken care of: groceries and meals and gas cards and watching the kids. One of my best friends set up a GoFundMe for me. That was so humbling and hard to accept at first. I thought, “No, we have health insurance and some people don’t.” But she was insistent: You’re not going to

be able to work. You’re going to need help. And truly, that GoFundMe got us through the year. Even though people often want to do something physical — I got a lot of blankets and knit chemo caps — money can be so helpful for any family going through something hard because there are always additional expenses. That gift of money let us do what we needed with it. I remember one day I got to take my kids out to lunch and pay for it like normal. We have five kids; I don’t usually take them out. But I thought: What a gift! This person let me be a fun mom today!

Q Did you feel like you should keep a ledger to properly thank everyone or repay them somehow?

A I’m still not over it. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude and some old-fashioned guilt. I didn’t send a single thank-you note — and my mom lovingly drilled that into my head as a kid. But I was overwhelmed with the basics of my life and my own treatment. I had no time for that. I finally heard from people who said, “Please give yourself the gift of just releasing from that.” I had to laugh at my therapist, who is a Catholic mom. She said, “Anyone who gave you something expecting a thank-you note — you need to give them my number!”

There are times in life when you don’t get to reciprocate. I was so overwhelmed with this at the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday. This woman I didn’t know was washing my feet. I started crying. I thought: This whole parish — and so many people in my life — have been washing my feet all year. Sometimes it’s really hard to learn how to receive. We just have to let them love us.

Q How are you a different person now, having had this brush with mortality?

A I think there is a sense that, even more so now, I try to live into the sacrament of the present moment. This is where God is fully present to us. On Easter morning, I was taking pictures of all my kids. I thought: “You’re so alive! I’m so alive! We’re here!” I was blasting the Alleluia chorus (“Hallelujah Chorus” from “Messiah” by George Frideric Handel). I feel like I know a secret that a lot of people don’t learn still much later in their life, which is not to waste your time worrying about success or fame or what other people think. When you truly see what life is about, it does relax you.

Q What do you know for sure?

A I know for sure that there is a God who is love and goodness. I know for sure that the Resurrection is real. And even through losing our daughters, even through having cancer, I’m seeing how our own lives bring us that pattern of dying and rising.

There are so many uncertainties I wrestle with, but at the end the day, those are really big things that I know for sure. Holding close to that handful of truths has totally changed my way of being in the world.

And I always know that God is going to surprise me!

JOE RUFF | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

5 students of Catholic school in Savage ask to be baptized after catechesis

By Anna Wilgenbusch

The Catholic Spirit

Katharina Hagen, 11, a fifth grader at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Savage, was sitting in the back of her family’s car when she told her mom, Stacie, that she wanted to “get Catholic.”

Stacie, whose family lives in Lakeville, was initially surprised that her daughter wanted to become Catholic, since the family does not attend Mass. Then it began to make sense: Katharina receives religious formation at St. John the Baptist Catholic School, which she has attended for the past three years, and her greatgrandmother, who was devoutly Catholic, recently passed away and left Katharina a collection of rosaries, which she treasures.

“I just wanted to follow the path of Jesus,” Katharina said about her decision to be baptized in the Catholic faith. “I realized that (Jesus) did a lot for us so I just wanted to grow closer to him.”

By Rebecca Omastiak

The Catholic Spirit

A feature documentary set for release in June aims to draw moviegoers to a deeper understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

“Jesus’ love is made present through the Eucharist,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens says in the trailer for “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist.” “He didn’t want to leave us orphans; he left us himself in the Eucharist.”

Bishop Cozzens, of the Diocese of Crookston and chairman of the National Eucharistic Revival, is among prominent Catholics lending their voices to the film. Others include Scott Hahn, founder and president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology; Timothy Gray, president of the Augustine Institute, soon to be based in St. Louis; Father Donald Calloway, of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary; Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus; and the Sisters of Life.

These experts offer their insights and testimonies alongside scenes filmed

in the United States and in countries including Poland, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uganda, Canada and Slovenia.

“This movie will be a point of grace for every Catholic believer — those who are curious — and those who may have strayed from the sacraments,” executive producer Deacon Steve Greco of the Diocese of Orange in California, which co-sponsored the film, said in a news release. “This movie belongs to the body of Christ, and it’s our time to bring our brothers and sisters home to the true presence of Jesus Christ.”

“It’s not just a symbol; it is Jesus himself,” said director and producer Tim Moriarty of Castletown Media, which also produced “Mother Teresa: No Greater Love.” “As our team at Castletown Media worked on the film, we knew we needed to show the universality of our faith and how the Eucharist unites us as one body in Christ. We hope that it will spur a movement that leads people back to Mass, Eucharistic adoration, and ultimately, a belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.”

“We all have an insatiable desire for

Katharina was one of five students from St. John the Baptist who expressed a desire to be baptized. After a series of special faith formation meetings, the students — Charlotte Hoang (second grade), Dereck Espinoza (second grade), Benito Lettieri (seventh grade) and his sister, Sarah (fifth grade) and Katharina — were baptized at a school Mass by Father Ben Little.

Kayla Rooney, director of discipleship and religious education at the school, where roughly a quarter of all students are non-Catholic, said she hopes the witnesses of the newly baptized students will encourage other students to desire baptism, too.

“You have a peer-to-peer witness to those other youth in our school,” Ronney said. “Whether it is a witness to be baptized if they are not, or just to desire the Catholic faith on a deeper level, or to ask good questions ... I think this is just another way the (Holy) Spirit can move. It might just be a seed that was planted, at the very least, that might get watered and nourished into more.”

the infinite, and as we walk through life, we seek to undo this hunger in many ways,” said executive producer Eduardo Verástegui, an actor and filmmaker noted for his role in the 2023 film “Sound of Freedom” as well as for his films “Bella,” “Little Boy” and “Cabrini.”

“The Eucharist, however, is the way that God chose to stay with us. He is the only one that can satisfy our hunger,” Verástegui said. “With this movie, we have a powerful instrument in our hands to lead hungry, lost and broken men and women to the truth of Jesus Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.”

Through a partnership with Fathom Events, the film will be shown in select theaters nationwide — including cities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — June 4, 5 and 6. Find ticket information online at tinyurl. com/27hbdm7k

The film also includes a bonus feature, “Our Lady of Guadalupe: Woman of the Eucharist,” produced by the Knights of Columbus.

Learn more about the film online at jesusthirstsfilm com

COURTESTY SARA SCHNEIDER

Father Ben Little baptizes Katharina Hagen during a school Mass at St. John the Baptist in Savage on April 25.

COURTESY JESUS THIRSTS | FATHOM EVENTS

Through a partnership with Fathom Events, “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist” will be shown in select theaters nationwide — including cities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — June 4, 5 and 6.

FOCUSONFAITH

SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER WILLIAM DEZIEL

Accept the invitation into the life of the Most Holy Trinity

As we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity May 26, I think of a priest (true story) who was presiding at Mass at his small rural church without air conditioning in the middle of a heat wave.

He said, “Theologians have been trying to explain the mystery of the Trinity for over 2,000 years; I’m not even going to try.” With that he sat down, and his sweltering congregation was pleasantly relieved with his overly brief homily!

Often, when explaining the Trinity, there are diagrams with three overlapping circles, or triangles with lines and arrows, or a clover with three leaves, or mathematically 1+1+1=3 while 1x1x1=1, or other examples to try to convey the sense of one God but three distinct persons.

Such static examples can help us perhaps, but nothing from our world can really explain it and our limited human minds cannot really grasp it. At the heart of the mystery of the Trinity from human experience is Jesus. Jesus is either divine or not. There is no inbetween. The early Church fervently defended itself against heresies that denied the divinity of Christ (Arianism), as well as those which claimed he only seemed human (Docetism), or that it was the same God simply appearing in different forms (Modalism).

ASK FATHER MIKE | FATHER MICHAEL SCHMITZ

What

should we make

of celebrity converts?

Q I’ve noticed that there have been a number of “celebrity conversions” to the Catholic faith recently. These individuals seem to be getting a lot of attention from Catholics online (both positive and negative). How should we respond to these new (and well-known) brothers and sisters?

A I am grateful that you asked this question. In fact, I’ve been pondering this for a number of years now: What do we “do” with “famous” Catholics?

First, I think that it is potentially valuable to understand ourselves. What is it about famous people that moves us to give their thoughts and actions so much weight?

As human beings, we are oriented toward recognizing excellence. We are naturally (and divinely) disposed toward the true, the good and the beautiful. For whatever reason, celebrities often represent these qualities in our imaginations. Athletes reveal excellence in their sport (even if they do not always have excellence in other areas). Actors portray virtues (even if they do not always have those virtues in their own lives). Thinkers and politicians represent intelligence and influence (even if their thoughts and actions are not always in line with the true or the good). Models symbolize beauty (at least in the external).

Because of this, we place a certain burden upon these people. If they reveal excellence, portray virtue or represent our ideals in one area, they must be excellent or virtuous or live the ideal. Even when we know that this is not true, it is a strong temptation.

Not only that, but we as Catholic Christians can often feel a bit out of step with the rest of the world. While a person can still freely practice their Catholic faith in this country and culture without much fear, there is still something countercultural about being a fully committed Catholic. Clearly, we are meant to be “in the world, but not of it.” Yet feeling like we are on the outside can be a genuine experience.

Because of this, there is something about having someone famous “on our team.” It can give us the illusion of validation. It reminds us that there are people who believe what we believe. And there is

The Church proclaims that Jesus is fully human and divine, and because he is fully human and divine, he invites us humans into his divine life. St. Athanasius said, “He became human, that we may become divine.” Imagine that! We, our tiny selves, are welcomed and invited into the divine life of the Most Holy Trinity.

The Holy Spirit gives life to the Church and makes the invitation concrete in our day as we participate in this life. It begins at our baptism when we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as Jesus instructs in this Gospel (Mt 28:19). It continues as we live a life of grace through the Church’s sacraments, Scripture, Church teaching, and virtuous and charitable living, all of which is only possible with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Each Mass and our personal and family prayers begin with the Sign of the Cross: Father, Son and Holy Spirit — making us conscious that this is both the inspiration and the direction of our prayer.

The invitation is reflected in the three feasts we have been celebrating, including the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. With the May 19 celebration of Pentecost, the Trinity is fully revealed with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The feast of Corpus Christi on June 2 highlights how we powerfully participate in the life of the Trinity by receiving the most holy body and blood of Jesus.

The invitation can be seen in the Nicene Creed that we profess at Mass each Sunday. It begins with paragraphs about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the Church. It concludes with “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” That reminds us that we are invited into the very eternal mystery of God whom we are professing. That doesn’t mean that we become God, but rather, that we are called to share in eternal life with the Trinity. What an amazing invitation. May we all say yes to life in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Father Deziel is pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis.

something strangely comforting about that.

Nonetheless, I do maintain that it is merely the illusion of validation. The only thing that validates our faith is reality. The only reason to believe anything is not because someone we like or respect believes it, but because it is true. Any other reason is substandard and illusory. Despite all of this, there might be something deeper going on with our preoccupation with celebrity conversions, something that is not shallow and is not manipulative, something that speaks to the hope that we have as believers in Christ. It is the hope that stirs in us at every Easter Vigil when we see people come into the Church seeking baptism, full communion with the Church, and the other sacraments of initiation. Whenever we see all those people turning away from whatever kind of life they had previously lived and toward the Lord, it reminds us that no one is so far gone that they are ever truly beyond God’s reach in this life.

When we see someone say yes to Christ and to his Church, it reminds us that even those people who are close to us, our loved ones for whom we have prayed for years, could still allow God’s grace to break into their lives and bring them home. Sometimes the celebrities among us have lived very public lives far from God, and the fact that God was able to get their attention and draw their hearts to himself gives us the courage to keep praying for those we love.

In this sense, it is right that we give attention to converts. Whether they are celebrities or less well-known, they are a sign of hope. And, in their conversion, they have become our brothers and sisters. This is the heart of the reason we would attend to them: not because they are famous, but because they are family. Not because they are significant, but because they are now our siblings. Not because they are more important than the next person, but because they are no less important than the next person. We must attend to them in the same way that we would attend to our younger brothers and sisters. In their journey, they will need support, encouragement and prayers.

Of course, it should go without saying that converts do not need the help of a “keyboard warrior.” While their conversion to the Lord might be public, all guidance ought to be personal. This means that it ought to come from their pastor and their local parish, not from me, and not from you.

Any convert, famous or not, is precious in the eyes of God. He died so that they could have new life through the Church and the sacraments. And we ought to see them in this way, not because they are recognized by the world, but because they are known by God.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

DAILY Scriptures

Sunday, May 26

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Dt 4:32-34, 39-40

Rom 8:14-17

Mt 28:16-20

Monday, May 27 1 Pt 1:3-9

Mk 10:17-27

Tuesday, May 28 1 Pt 1:10-16

Mk 10:28-31

Wednesday, May 29 1 Pt 1:18-25

Mk 10:32-45

Thursday, May 30 1 Pt 2:2-5, 9-12

Mk 10:46-52

Friday, May 31 Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Zep 3:14-18a or Rom 12:9-16 Lk 1:39-56

Saturday, June 1

St. Justin, martyr Jude 17, 20b-25

Mk 11:27-33

Sunday, June 2

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ Ex 24:3-8

Heb 9:11-15

Mk 14:12-16, 22-26

Monday, June 3

St. Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs 2 Pt 1:2-7 Mk 12:1-12

Tuesday, June 4 2 Pt 3:12-15a, 17-18 Mk 12:13-17

Wednesday, June 5 St. Boniface, bishop and martyr 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12 Mk 12:18-27

Thursday, June 6

2 Tm 2:8-15 Mk 12:28-34

Friday, June 7 Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 Eph 3:8-12, 14-19 Jn 19:31-37

Saturday, June 8

Immaculate Heart of Mary 2 Tm 4:1-8 Lk 2:41-51

Sunday, June 9

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 3:9-15

2 Cor 4:13—5:1 Mk 3:20-35

COMMENTARY

FAITH AT HOME | LAURA KELLY FANUCCI

The ones in the back of church

When you are a parent, you clock many hours in the back of churches. Pacing with fussy babies. Corralling rambunctious toddlers. Calming down restless children.

But the hidden beauty found at the back of church? You get close to the ones Jesus loves.

Jesus loves all of us, of course. Make no mistake about the wild love which God lavishes upon every human being — each unrepeatable sacred soul, each imago dei that bears the imprint of our Creator, each beloved child loved by the Father.

But when you read the Gospels, you can’t help but realize how Jesus has a particular affinity for those left on the sidelines, the margins and the back of the crowd. Sinners, lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, widows, orphans, children, the poor, the sick, the disabled, the suffering — he draws each outsider close and draws them out of themselves, embracing them into the abundant love and mercy of God.

YOUR HEART, HIS HOME | LIZ

KELLY STANCHINA

She gave me the gift of grieving

Editor’s note: This column contains references to postpartum psychosis that may be upsetting to some readers.

There have been many moments in my life when I realized with sparkling clarity: My mother is a genius. The following was just one of them.

It was the first real tragedy I’d ever experienced. A classmate in seventh grade was suddenly and dramatically pulled out of shop class. He was told to leave his project, mid-sanding, and was rushed away by a frantic school secretary.

Later, we learned: in a postpartum psychosis, his mother said she heard voices telling her to stab her infant daughter and throw her out the window, which she did. The shock, sorrow and horror of this event pierced our little, rural Midwest town at the heart.

After the funeral, as my classmate was processing out behind the tiny coffin, he glanced up and

Little wonder that I sometimes feel closer to the kingdom of God at the back of church than in the front pew.

Parishes often have a practice of bringing the Eucharist first to those who cannot come forward to receive. This simple act makes manifest Christ’s words that “the last will be first and the first will be last” (Mt 20:16). Surely the Good Shepherd who leaves behind the 99 to seek out the one lost sheep would not hesitate to walk to the back of church and welcome anyone who felt uncertain if they belonged.

Dioceses around the country have long-standing traditions of televising Masses for those who are homebound. Many parishes continue their pandemicera practice of streaming Mass online. A small but growing number of dioceses are now offering sensoryfriendly liturgies with softer lights, quieter music, shorter homilies and the freedom to participate in the Mass free from judgment about noise or movement — simple accommodations that can make it possible for families, caregivers and all members of the body of Christ to be included in the Mass.

Once, I attended a workout class where the teacher would welcome latecomers with a smile, far from the sneers often side-eyed toward the tardy. “I always figure the last people here are the ones who need it most,” she’d remind us as she’d make room for each person who showed up — especially first-timers or late arrivals. Couldn’t our churches strive to do the same, since we are the hands and feet of Christ here on earth?

caught my eye. He was one of the smartest and most liked kids in our class, a leader. But in that moment, tucked into his Sunday shirt and tie, he looked so small and fragile, like he might collapse any second. I wanted to reach out and hug him, or more, hold him up, but he passed our pew, and the moment was lost.

Afterward, the rest of my classmates returned to school, but I found this impossible. I called my mother, and she came to pick me up. I can still remember her gloved hands on the steering wheel of our station wagon as she drove me home. She took one hand off and reached over to pet me, saying quietly, “Why don’t you go for a ride when you get home?”

She knew this was not a time for words but a time for feeling and being and sensing. And there was nowhere I felt safer as a child than with my horse, Windy, riding through the open countryside.

It was a warm, early spring in Minnesota, and as the day wore on and the sky began to glow pink, I remember riding in the snow and the sound of the crunch that Windy’s hooves made. I found Windy to be an especially tenderhearted, highstrung animal. Horses like that can sense the emotional timbre of their rider. I swear she almost tip-toed that afternoon, carrying her brokenhearted passenger through the country fields as though she were the pearl of great price, somehow intuiting that this mourning I needed to do was with the

Father Bob White

Congratulations and many blessings as you celebrate the 50th anniversary of your ordination!

May you continue to lead by example of how to be the Face and Hands of Jesus Christ.

With Love and Gratitude, St. Victoria Parish Family and Arlo

As my children have grown, I have been blessed with a few remarkable friends who have taught me what it means to welcome the ones in the back. They cheer for the teammate who needs extra encouragement, invite the classmate who gets overlooked for birthday party invitations, and strike up conversations with new faces at church or school. In ordinary ways, they model Christ’s inclusive love, seeking out the sidelined first.

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds us of the essential welcome — even inverting the world’s expectations — that is demanded of Christians: “We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves; let each of us please our neighbor for the good, for building up … May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom 15:1-2, 5-7).

Whenever we get the chance to welcome another in the name of Jesus, we widen our embrace of the people Jesus loves.

Even and especially the ones in the back.

Fanucci, a member of St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is an author, speaker and founder of Mothering Spirit, an online gathering place on parenting and spirituality at motheringspirit com

world itself — nothing less than the whole earth and sky could absorb it.

That dreadful day, my mother had the internal strength to reverence me and my sorrow and to release me to the barn, release me though she knew she could no longer protect me in the same way because I now knew a world where evil erupts, suddenly and with unspeakable, brute force. She released me to this sacred task of grieving and struggling to understand — it was not something she could do for me.

I will never be able to repay my mother, almost 91 now, for the restraint and wisdom she showed that day, allowing me to begin to learn that I was part hermit, that much of my spiritual and emotional work would be done outdoors and in solitude. She allowed me my introverted young soul and though I know she would have taken all my pain unto herself in a moment if she could have, she honored me enough to let me move through it the way that was best for me.

Bless you, and thank you, Mom, for that gift and a million others, equally valuable, in this month we celebrate the genius of motherhood.

Stanchina is the community leader for women’s formation at Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Institute and the award-winning author of more than a dozen books. Visit her website at LizK.org.

Why social justice requires the Church

Last month I suggested that people are fundamentally for the land, each other and God.

For the Catholic Worker movement, which we continue to introduce in these columns, this implied a deep critique of our present society, and indeed a corresponding effort to change it. But before we get into the details of that, I want to add an important preface.

Our problems have a great deal to do with the economy. For example, the work by which we sustain our bodies no longer unites local communities as it once did in a more agrarian society. Now work — through competition — divides us.

Consumerism draws our practical lives away from families, neighborhoods, local community, and land, and toward cheap, impersonal products coming from far away. In the process, we neglect our land and neighbors and harm other land and other neighbors far away. Our food and gadgets now depend upon gas and oil in inconceivable quantities, with the result that society is perpetually militarized to protect these supply lines, without which we could not eat, talk or move. As such, our daily lives depend on at least the threat of violence. This is a state of insecurity, dependence and destructiveness unknown in previous history.

There is no doubt that this economy has come to be, in part, by the opportunism of large companies

that have basically wiped out everything local, largely because doing so was profitable. And it’s easy to forget that what allows this economy to continue is the consumer demand that it continues. Cheap energy, cheap food, new technology, constant digital connection, unlimited choices, effortless shopping and fast everything — these are things most of us have no intention of living without.

The economy has created this culture, but it has not created it without our consent.

Every culture instills in its people a particular moral character — a set of habits, desires, loves, likes and tastes. In our case this means that we are addicted to the economy and only with the utmost effort can do without our cars, phones and industrial food.

The economy is a problem, but the problem is also that we are addicted to this economy. It follows from this that social justice takes a conversion — a commitment to overcoming our addictions. The kind of economy that corresponds to the Catholic vision of what people are for can only begin to exist if we are willing to live differently.

We will have to eat differently, for example. We’ll have to eat what is available in our local region, with regard and consideration given to the conditions in which it was produced. This will mean, as in most places in the world, less variety, less meat, less packaging, more cooking and more expensive food.

Yet most of us are unwilling to countenance such changes. This is because we are addicted to endless variety, lots of meat and super-convenient, cheap food. We don’t want to change, because we love the economy, even if we don’t know it. This shows how deeply it has shaped our moral character.

Sticking with the food example, before we talk about “structural changes,” the first thing we are going to need are personal changes — a willingness to be more temperate, less gluttonous, content with simplicity,

Mary, and crowning the Blessed Mother in our yards, parishes and schools reminds us of that devotion, as does Sacred Scripture — revealing that our queen mother had the experience of living with Jesus from birth through his resurrection.

“JMJ” occasionally accompanies a signature sign-off on cards, letters or memos from my Catholic friends and family. It reminds me that we as Christians are all family and are spiritual descendants of the first Holy Family. We are to embrace a true devotion to Jesus, Mary and Joseph with the Holy Family as our model.

Solemnities, feasts, memorials, religious devotions and even secular celebrations in May offer opportunities to worship, honor and devote quality time to the first and holiest members of the domestic church. I try not to weary of the examples they provide to both strengthen us in holiness and teach us sound living.

The month of May starts with St. Joseph the Worker helping us recognize the dignity of work. Through centuries of Catholic tradition, May is dedicated to

The two greatest commandments that Jesus taught — love God and love neighbor — cannot be separated, so it is quite practical that May closes with the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, during which she gives of herself in this two-fold example. Wasting no time post-fiat, she “traveled to the hill country in haste” to help her aging cousin Elizabeth who was also with child (see Lk 1:39).

Yet it is all about the first “J” in “JMJ” — and Mary and Joseph knew this. God Incarnate came as a baby and went through an ordinary childhood with Joseph and Mary to live as one of us, obedient to the word of God every step of the way. In the holiest of families, Jesus “advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk 2:52). He passed through the same stages of growth that the rest of us pass through — teaching his followers and all those who believed in him how to be fully human.

In our celebrations of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost, Jesus reminds us through his inner circle of Apostles how we must be obedient and diligent to the word of God to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19) and let the Holy Spirit work within us to do this work.

Being children of God makes us brothers and sisters

Any fundamental changes in society today are going to have to come from people willing and determined to change themselves as a necessary part of changing the world. The only solution to our social problems is holiness.

willing to be inconvenienced and willing to be poorer. We’ll have to cultivate, in other words, new virtues to inhabit a new economy. Our vices largely sustain the present one.

Any fundamental changes in society today are going to have to come from people willing and determined to change themselves as a necessary part of changing the world. The only solution to our social problems is holiness.

This is why social justice requires the Church. We cannot become holy on our own, but only through the love that is “poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5) through sacramental worship, prayer, the word of God and community life. A new world requires a new economy, and a new economy requires a transformed people. We should be skeptical, then, of converting structures without converting hearts. “The real question of the day,” Dorothy Day said, “is how to bring about a revolution of the heart.”

But it’s also true, as Peter Maurin thought, that real conversion means the Church must put into practice — must simply be — an alternative economy right now. That’s what we’ll begin to address in upcoming columns.

Miller is the director of the Center for Catholic Social Thought at Assumption in St. Paul.

of Jesus, and we are to do as he did in our own place and time. Jesus was raised in the first domestic church — the Holy Family. His human reality was, and is, to help us recognize and respect the body-spirit nature of our own humanity — the dignity of the human person in God’s likeness. Jesus also gives us an opportunity to become a real part of this Holy Family as adopted sons and daughters of God through the sacraments, starting with baptism.

As Catholic Watchmen, we provide, protect and lead by example the totality of our faith. Because families have varying degrees of dysfunction, we are to restore harmony in a somewhat disordered world, bringing order to our family by the way we live and lead others to live as followers of Christ. Jesus, Mary and Joseph understood this because they had to contend with human conditions as well — all its strengths and all its frailties. With our own commonalities guided by virtues of faith, hope and love, we are to emulate JMJ in the context of our own families, learning tirelessly from the greatest examples as we move through the stages of our sacramental lives.

Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen com for existing tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or any other questions regarding ministry to men, contact him at gordonbird@rocketmail com

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned its 2024 regular session May 20 at midnight. This session, shorter and with fewer bills passed than in 2023, posed significant challenges to religious freedom, affecting Catholics and all people of faith. In response, Catholics actively defended their faith and promoted the common good by engaging with legislators through the Catholic Advocacy Network, communicating with legislators via thousands of calls, letters and emails.

Stopping religious discrimination in the ERA

In November 2023, we discussed a proposed state constitutional amendment called the “Equal Rights Amendment,” aimed at protecting abortion access until the moment of birth, advancing gender ideology and weakening legal protections for those who object to both. The language also specifically excluded protections for all Minnesotans against religious discrimination. Simply put, the proposed ERA was special protection for some and punishment for others. MCC worked with legislators to propose amendments to the ERA, such as including religion and ensuring women, people of faith and the unborn would be protected. The ERA passed the House in the early-morning hours of May 19 but was stopped in the Senate due to effective advocacy by faith communities and others.

Protecting the rights of churches and religious schools

Another key issue this session was restoring the religious exemption from claims of gender identity discrimination in the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). The MHRA has been in place for decades and serves the purpose of protecting Minnesotans from various forms of discrimination. In 1993, sexual orientation was added as a protected status, and an exemption for religious organizations was included. The exemption was to allow religious organizations to act in accordance with their religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation because of the acknowledgement of

reasonable differences of opinion on matters of sexual identity. When legislators added gender identity to the MHRA in 2023, however, they failed to include the religious exemption.

In response to this admittedly purposeful exclusion of the exemption, MCC formed a coalition of more than 13 organizations representing different faith communities including Christians, Jews and Muslims. After months of persistent advocacy and negotiations by MCC and others, legislators passed a religious exemption and Gov. Tim Walz signed it into law May 15.

Stopping mandatory health insurance coverage of abortion

In addition, several bills mandating insurance coverage for abortion, assisted reproduction and genderaffirming care would have forced religious institutions to fund immoral acts that do not constitute authentic healthcare. Our advocacy and public testimony helped to defeat the assisted reproduction mandate and ensured the inclusion of religious exemptions in the abortion and so-called gender-affirming care mandates, protecting the rights of faith-based organizations. Not only will these exemptions save religious employers and their employees significant money, but they also ensure that religious employers can continue to provide health

insurance as a benefit without cooperation in harmful or lethal practices.

Practicing faithful citizenship

The bishops and staff of the Minnesota Catholic Conference are deeply grateful for the engagement and support of the Catholic community, as well as all those who value religious liberty. We also appreciate the partnerships we formed and renewed with other faith communities, who really came together this year to protect religious liberty. These ecumenical and interfaith partnerships bring with them diverse viewpoints and greater resources that often enhance our advocacy efforts and lead to significant progress. Over the past five months, our partnerships undoubtedly contributed to these important victories and underscored the importance of building common ground for the common good whenever we can.

To receive a full recap of all the issues concerning human dignity and the common good that MCC staff tracked throughout the 2024 legislative session, sign up for the Catholic Advocacy Newsletter at mncatholic org/ join and subscribe to our YouTube page at youtube.com/user/mncathconference.

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

iSTOCK PHOTO | HYDERABADI

Iam Catholic because my parents are Catholic (and their parents were Catholic, and so on). They had me baptized as a baby, and created a loving, faith-filled home. We regularly attended Mass as a family and received the sacraments. We had family rituals, traditions, pastimes and shared meals — sacramentality in the domestic church at its finest.

I remain Catholic principally because I continue to meet and love incredible people, first and foremost my wife, who live the faith with an ardent zeal. I cannot make this earthly pilgrimage on my own. Further, to be surrounded by Christian witnesses is to experience a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, and I could not willfully give up such an opportunity. Indeed, my wife and I continue the tradition of shared meals that I loved as a child, and we find tremendous grace in breaking bread with friends and strangers in our home just as the two disciples did with Christ in Emmaus after his resurrection.

Other reasons for remaining Catholic abound, including the reality of the communion of saints. I have a deep bond with a man named Charles de Foucauld who died over 100 years ago in a land I have never visited. I belong to a Church that believes this man, known as St. Charles of Jesus, continues to intercede for me and so many others.

Congratulations Father Ralph Talbot on the 20th Anniversary of your Priesthood

Why I am Catholic

By Will Peterson

That teaching and the closeness I feel to people all over the world who go to the same Mass as I do here in Minnesota speaks to the universality of the Catholic Church, another crucial reason for remaining in the faith. As mentioned earlier, I could not make this earthly pilgrimage alone. What a blessing to be Catholic and to walk side-by-side with my wife, my extended family, and the 1 billion brothers and sisters in Christ who share my faith in the Eucharistic Jesus.

Peterson, 32, and his wife, Katie, are members of St. Helena in Minneapolis. Peterson is founder and president of the St. Paulbased nonprofit Modern Catholic Pilgrim, which aims to deepen faith and build community across the United States through walked pilgrimage in the Catholic tradition. He has also helped to coordinate the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes crossing the United States to converge in Indianapolis, where the National Eucharistic Congress will convene in July. Peterson enjoys reading modernist fiction, playing chess and walking the neighborhood with his son.

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

Congratulations Rev. Dr. Tom Margevicius 25 Years of Priesthood

We are grateful for your service and dedication Churches of St. Mary & St. Henry (Le Center), Nativity (Cleveland), and Immaculate Conception (Madison Lake)

ANNA WILGENBUSCH | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

CALENDAR

PARISH EVENTS

A Celebration in Honor of St. Philip Neri — May 29: 4-9 p.m. at St. Mary, 267 Eighth St. E., St. Paul. Holy Hour, Mass, reception and dinner with a keynote by Father Byron Hagan. Tickets: $20 individual/$500 sponsored table of eight. stmarystpaul org

40 Hours of Adoration — May 30-June 1: St. Bernard, 210 Church St. E., Cologne. Via St. Bernard and Ascension. Adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, beginning with 8 p.m. Mass on May 30 at St. Bernard and ending with 5 p.m. Mass on June 1. st-bernard-cologne org/files/

St. Bridget Annual Rummage Sale — May 30-June 1: St. Bridget, 3810 Emerson Ave. N., Minneapolis. 2-6 p.m. May 30, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. May 31, $5 bag day 8-11 a.m. June 1, free rummage giveaway 1-2 p.m. June 1. stbridgetnorthside com

St. Rita’s Perennial Plant Sale — June 1: 9 a.m.-noon at 8694 80th St. S., Cottage Grove. The sale also includes yard art, statuary, garden tools and bird feeders. Plants included are hostas, lilies, black-eyed Susans, anemone and many others.

Prison Ministry Prize Bingo Night — June 1: 6:30-9 p.m. at St. Timothy, 707 89th Ave. N.E., Blaine. Support the Prison Ministry of the Twin Cities with a Prize Bingo Night. Prizes range from gift cards to kitchen gadgets and more. Cost: $10 for one card, $15 for two cards and $20 for three cards. churchofsttimothy com Feast of St. Boniface Picnic — June 2: 5-8 p.m. at St. Boniface, 4025 Main St., St. Bonifacius. Mass at 4 p.m., Corpus Christi procession around the church block. Hot dogs, hamburgers and refreshments will be served. Enjoy a bonfire, fun and fellowship. saintboni org

WORSHIP + RETREATS

Sand, Symbol and Source: A Soul Exploration — May 31-June 1: St. Paul’s Monastery, 2675 Benet Road, St. Paul. Through the imaginative method of playing with sand and symbol, enter into a time of discovery. tinyurl com/8xvbn969

Mission for Eucharistic Revival — June 2-6: 7-8 p.m. at St. Alphonsus, 7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center. Father Royce Thomas will speak on the presence and the mission of the Eucharist, with a concluding Mass on Wednesday. stalsmn org

Ignatian Men’s Silent Retreat — Thursday-Sunday most weeks: Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House, 8243 Demontreville Trail N., Lake Elmo. Freewill donation. demontrevilleretreat com

CONFERENCES+WORKSHOPS

Radical Discipleship and Catholic Community: 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

Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference and Curriculum Fair — May 31-June 1: St. Paul College, 235 Marshall Ave., St. Paul. A day of inspiration and encouragement for Catholic homeschooling parents. Workshops, presentations, curriculum fair, used book sales, and the chance to network with other homeschooling parents. mnconference org

Retrouvaille Marriage Help: Single Weekend Programs — May 31-June 2: Best Western Dakota Ridge Hotel, 3450 Washington Dr., Eagan. Retrouvaille is a lifeline for troubled marriages. Couples learn the tools to rediscover each other and heal their marriage. 100% confidential. helpourmarriage org

OTHER EVENTS

Memorial Day Mass at Catholic Cemeteries — May 27: 10 a.m. Memorial Day Mass will be celebrated at: Calvary Cemetery, St. Paul; Gethsemane Cemetery, New Hope; Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights; St. Mary’s Cemetery, Minneapolis (bilingual Mass: Spanish and English). catholic-cemeteries org

Online Evening Prayer with Young Adults — May 28: 7 p.m. Young adults ages 18+ 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

Walking with the Saints: A Sacred Heart Pilgrimage with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque — June 8: 9 a.m.-noon at St. Margaret Mary Church, 2323 Zenith Ave. N., Golden Valley. Start at St. Margaret Mary for a 3.5-mile pilgrimage walk to Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale. moderncatholicpilgrim com/pilgrimage-calendar/sacred-heart

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 or 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 612-327-4370.

Career Transition Group — Third Thursdays: 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. The Career Transition Group hosts speakers on various topics to help people looking for a job or a change in career and to enhance job skills. The meetings also allow time for networking with others and opportunities for resume review.

hnoj org/career-transition-group

Caregivers Support Group — Third Thursdays: 6:30 p.m. at Guardian Angels, 8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale. For anyone juggling the challenges of life, health, career and caring for an aging parent, grandparent or spouse.

guardian-angels org/event/1392201-2019-09-19-caregiverssupport-group

Gifted and Belonging — Fourth Sundays: 6-8 p.m. at St. Matthew, 510 Hall Ave., St. Paul. Providing Catholic fellowship for young adults with disabilities. Gather to share a time of prayer and reflection, followed by games and social activities. Invite friends and bring a caregiver as needed. For more information on monthly activities and/or volunteer opportunities, call Megan at 612-456-1572 or email giftedandbelonging@gmail com

Natural Family Planning (NFP) — Classes teach couples Church approved methods on how to achieve or postpone pregnancy while embracing the beauty of God’s gift of sexuality. For a complete list of classes offered throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, visit archspm org/family or call 651-291-4489.

Quilters for a Cause — First Fridays: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at St. Jerome, 380 Roselawn Ave. E., Maplewood. Join other women to make quilts to donate to local charities. Quilting experience is not necessary but basic machine skills are helpful. For more information, call the parish office: 651-771-1209. facebook com/profile php?id=100087945155707

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.

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

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HARDWOOD FLOORS

THELASTWORD

In this file photo from 2022, a Eucharistic procession starting from Holy Spirit in St. Paul to nearby Cretin-Derham Hall high school June 5 marks the beginning of the Archdiocesan Synod Assembly.

DAVE HRBACEK

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

WHAT IS A EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION?

By John Froula

For The Catholic Spirit

Editor’s note: The three-year National Eucharistic Revival of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has entered its National Eucharistic Pilgrimage phase of pilgrims traveling from four starting points around the country to converge July 17 in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress.

The procession on the northernmost Marian Route began May 19 at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The pilgrims on this route will be in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from May 24 to May 31. Hoping to illuminate a few of the basics, The Catholic Spirit asked, “What is a Eucharistic procession? Why is this form of devotion important? Why is the Eucharist known by so many as the source and summit of the Catholic faith?”

Associate Professor John Froula of The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul provides some answers:

Almost a thousand years ago, the Church faced a crisis.

There were open challenges to the belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Berengar of Tours, a prominent scholar, taught that Jesus was spiritually present but not bodily present in the Eucharist. In response to this crisis, there was a flowering of devotional practices and theological reflections that reinforced the Catholic faith.

That is when Eucharistic processions as we might recognize them started to develop in different places throughout Christian Europe. Christ in the Eucharist was carried, as a group of people accompanied him through some geographic area, with prayers, praise, song and Benediction.

The current Eucharistic Revival is similarly a revitalization of faith in the Eucharist, and through it we see similar devotional expressions, like the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

Carrying Jesus in the Eucharist from one place to another goes way back to the early Church. There was a custom, for instance, of one bishop sending a

consecrated host to another bishop for him to consume. This was a sign of ecclesial unity and goodwill in the one body of Christ.

Ecclesial unity extends from place to place and across time and generations. Eucharistic congresses are a reminder of that. The last National Eucharistic Congress was in St. Paul in 1941. The one faith in the one Christ expressed back then will be expressed in Indianapolis this summer. As a further reminder of that, the official monstrance used during the 1941 Eucharistic Congress will be used during the May 27 Source and Summit procession along Summit Avenue in St. Paul from The St. Paul Seminary to the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Why does the Catholic faith inspire a Eucharistic procession? The Church is a communion of charity. Human beings are social by nature. So, it is right that faith finds public witness, and that worship should be done in common. It is a beautiful witness that our belief is so visibly and obviously focused on Jesus during a procession.

A procession is also a reminder that we are pilgrims on the way. We walk with the Lord who accompanies us. Our destination is heaven, and the Eucharist is a pledge of eternal life and the medicine of immortality.

The Church embodies and extends the earthly mission of Christ. Eucharistic processions call to mind that we are sent by Christ to do the will of the Father. For example, seminarians processing from The St. Paul Seminary, where they discern and grow in their Godgiven vocation, to the Cathedral of St. Paul, where they are eventually ordained, heightens that sense of mission and call.

Pope Urban IV issued a decree establishing the celebration of Corpus Christi in the 13th century. In some ways, the solemnity of Corpus Christi was the consolidation of the Eucharistic revival that began 200 years prior. In that decree, Pope Urban wrote about the surpassing generosity in Christ giving himself in

the Eucharist, where the giver becomes the gift in a complete way.

In his 1902 encyclical letter on the Eucharist, “Mirae caritatis” (“The Wonders of Charity”), Pope Leo XIII echoes Pope Urban and writes that we “… can do nothing good except in God through Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable Eucharist …” (6). Pope Pius XII, in his 1947 encyclical letter “Mediator Dei,” writes “The head and center, as it were, of the Christian Religion is the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist.”

This understanding of the Eucharist as both origin in some way and highest in some way found its most classic and popular formula in the Second Vatican Council. The document on the Church, “Lumen gentium,” calls the Eucharistic sacrifice the source and summit of the whole Christian life. The original Latin is sometimes translated as “font and apex,” but “source and summit” has a certain ring to it. This teaching is repeated in many subsequent magisterial documents with various nuances, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

One way of seeing how the Eucharistic sacrifice is both source and summit is to see how it is both the presence of Christ in his saving acts, and an act of worship in which God allows the Church to participate. Christ in his redemptive sacrifice is made present in the Eucharist: the source of our supernatural life and union with God. At the same time, the Mass is the summit of Christian activity in the glorification of God, a vital activity that encompasses charity and the Church’s charisms.

While those who named Summit Avenue may not have been thinking about the Eucharist at the time, there is no summit that can’t remind us of the holy hill of Calvary, and the heavenly Zion where we ascend with Christ as food for the journey.

Froula is an associate professor of dogmatic theology and director of the Master of Arts program in pastoral leadership at The St. Paul Seminary.

JOHN FROULA